Iris and Crimson

-Gaara-

I woke up that morning, feeling extremely tired because of the concert yesterday My head was also spinning in circles for some odd reason. I got out of bed and did my usual morning routine.

I then headed downstairs for breakfast and nearly fell over in surprise at what I saw. There in the kitchen was Temari cooking food without blowing up the kitchen, Kankuro was sitting at the dining table chatting to..Yume! What the hell was the stupid Uchiha girl doing here now?

“And so, Sasuke got like a heart attack and then bam! I shot up alive out of the flower pot!” Yume said as she swung her arms around. Kankuro burst out laughing and nearly fell of his chair (as usual).

“Morning, Gaara!” Yume yelled so loud I had to cover my ears. I glared at her and sat down at the head of the table.

“Aw, not going to say hello to me? Fine, be that way, meanie” Yume said as she stuck her tongue out, “Kankuro here at least says hello!”

Kankuro flashed a smile and I just rolled my eyes, since when did Yume care about Kankuro? I thought she always hated him and joked with him….just like she did with Sasuke and Naruto.

“You know what, Kankuro?” Yume asked as she ignored me. Kankuro shook his head. Yume grinned.

“We should like totally go on a date!” she yelled too loud again. Kankuro’s jaw dropped.

“W-w-hat?” he stuttered and blushed. I sighed, ok, so that answers my pervious question….maybe Yume has a crush on Kankuro? Now that is really weird…

“That sounds great, Kankuro say yes!” Temari said as she placed a plate of omelet in front of each of us.

‘O-K” Kankuro said as he looked away. Yume smiled and dug into her food. Temari joined us and started eating as well but I just sat there staring at the plate.

“Gaara?” I heard Temari ask me. I looked up.

“Yeah?”

“You ok? You seem out of it for some odd reason” Temari said as she looked into my eyes. I could see the worry.

“I’m fine, I’m just tired” I lied. I wasn’t tired at all actually, I was confused and lonely…..

-Someone’s POV-

“Have you found them?” I asked over the walkie talkie.

“No” I heard my companion reply to me. I cursed under my breath and ran faster through the bushes. I spotted the river we were looking for and ran for it, hoping to find our target there.

I froze when I saw a young woman, with long blonde hair sitting on the bank of the river, her feet in the water. Her eyes were closed and she was humming an unfamiliar song.

“I found someone, over” I said into my walkie talkie again and started to approach the woman slowly and carefully.

The woman didn’t notice me, which is good so I got extremely close to and was about to knock her unconscious when a hand grabbed my wrist.

“Ow, let go!” I yelled and came face to face with a young and handsome man. He had on a ninja outfit and I could see he was from Iwagakure. He glared at me and the woman with blonde hair was watching me skeptically.

“Takanari, don’t hurt the poor girl” the woman said to the guy. The guy dropped my arm.

“Mind telling me why you tried you attack my wife?” the guy asked. I stood still, not listening at all, ignoring everything he asked, my eyes was focused on the woman, she reminded me so much of Temari-sama. Her hair, her eyes…they were like twins.

The woman must have noticed my stare since she smiled and stood up, dusting off her skirt.

“Your name is Rin, right?” she asked me. I gasped that a complete stranger would know my name!

I swallowed my pride and asked her emotionally: “Yes, how do you know my name?”

“Easy, you and your brother is the Kumo Twins. You’re the King’s top spies.” The woman said.

“I see, if you know that you must be here to request a mission?” I asked emotionally again. The woman nodded.

“You do realize that you need the King’s permission…” I began but was interrupted by her.

“My father knows. Now, about the mission” she said. My eyes widened. No wonder she looked like Temari-sama!

“Princess Sara? Oh my god I am so sorry!” I said as I bowed. Sara chuckled.

“I’m not a real princess….calm down.” She said. I nodded and stood straight again.

“So, what do you want me to do?”

-Gaara-

One day later…..

I was walking to my office, people passing me and greeting me. I greeted them back but not as cheery as they did. I was even more pissed of than yesterday This whole thing about people telling me to see Ayame again was making me so mad! Why can’t they just leave me alone?

I reached my office and sat down behind my desk, staring at the massive mountain of paperwork. I sighed and started signing. There was a knock on my door. I sighed.

“Come in” I said as I sat back and playing with the pen in my hands. The door opened revealing Matsuri.

“What do you want, Matsuri?” I hissed. She smiled innocently and bowed.

“Um, kazekage-sama, a strange carriage showed up out of nowhere?” she said. I frowned, a carriage out of nowhere? What the hell? I stood up and walked out of the building with Matsuri following me.

I saw a guy with a ninja outfit get out. He seemed familiar but I couldn’t remember who exactly he is. I walked up to him.

“Look, you can’t just burst into someone else’s village without contacting Kazekage-sama first-“ Matsuri began but was cut off when the guy helped a female out of the carriage. Her long blonde hair was tied up on top off her head with fancy wooden chopsticks. Her blue eyes were surrounded by eyeliner and blue eye shadow and she had on a blue kimono, the type Ayame loved.

My jaw dropped and I immediately knew who my guests were.

“Raikage, Sara?” I asked, shocked. The Raikage turned to me and smiled while Sara stared at me emotionless. I don’t blame her, she did hate me after all.

“Nice to see you too, Gaara” Sara said and walked off into the kage building. The Raikage scratched the back of his head.

“Forgive her, she’s kind of…..pissed off……and stop calling me Raikage! Just Takanari will be fine” Takanari said and shook my hand. I nodded and the two of entered the building.

“It’s good to see you again” I said as Sara, Takanari and I seated ourselves in my office. Sara was ignoring me, staring out the windows while Takanari answered my questions etc.

After some catching up I finally decided to ask them what they were doing here.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked. Takanari was silent and turned his gaze to Sara who was now staring at me. Well more like glare at me. I gulped.

“Sara, what are we doing here? I don’t know myself!” Takanari said, “the last time I saw her was about a few months ago…..when she left here she spent most of her time in Cloud Kingdom and I Kumogakure. But she came back after awhile and then she returned to Cloud Kingdom. I haven’t been to Cloud Kingdom since last year”

I nodded and waited for Sara to speak.

“Come back” was all Sara said. I frowned and wondered what she meant.

“Haruna sends you this message: ‘Come back’” Sara said.

“Why should I go back to the Cloud Kingdom? They don’t need me!” I exclaimed. Sara closed her eyes and let out a long big sigh. It was silent for awhile.

“You say that, but if you come to see for yourself you will understand” Sara said very softly. I slammed my hands on the desk, scaring Takanari.

“Dammit! Why does everyone say I will understand when I do something? Can’t you see my business with Cloud Kingdom is OVER?” I yelled so loud the people in the street could probably hear me and was now staring at the office building wondering what was going on.

Sara was now biting her lip. And then I noticed the tears flowing down her cheeks. I cringed, I made her cry….my own sister…..I hurt her feelings. I sat back down and buried my face in my hand.

“Sara? Why are you crying?” I heard Takanari ask. Sara was now sobbing loudly and I could imagine her burying her face in Takanari’s chest. How I wish Ayame would do that to me….wait….did I just SAY that?

Yes, I did…I love Ayame and for the first time in my life, I actually regret pushing myself away from someone……now I truly understand what Naruto meant with companions and love.

My face was still buried in my hand when I felt a small warm hand take hold of my other free one. I gasped and noticed that Sara was now kneeling beside me, holding my hand. I wasn’t the only one who seemed surprised by Sara a Princess’s gesture, Takanari’s eyes was the size of dinner plates.

“Please, Gaara, do it for Ayame’s sake…….ever since you left she has never bee herself. Please, just for a few days and then you can come back!” Sara said in between her sobs and she buried her face in my hand. I hesitated and looked away, ashamed.

“But, if I leave, Ayame will be depressed again” I said. Sara shook her head.

“Ayame will be fine…..just a few days…please!” she begged again. I wondered what she meant by Ayame will be fine? Won’t Ayame be crushed from the beginning? But, if I tell her that I love her as well…..then….I don’t have to leave without her….I smiled to myself about my idea, but I was not going to give up my pride in front of Sara so I lied.

“Fine, a few days, but that’s it!” I said and pulled away from Sara. Sara smiled and mouthed ‘thank you’ to me and then she sat down next to Takanari, wiping away her tears with a tissue.

I sighed at my defeat and decided to go home to get ready for our journey, and since we will be going in a carriage and then use the Cloud Kingdom portal to get inside it will only take us 2 days.

-Juuri-

I was in the front garden of the palace, tending to the flowers with Yuna the gardener. I liked Yuna, she was kind and caring and we both had the same hobby: Gardening. I was still looking for weeds etc when I heard a familiar voice yell from all the way from the gate. I stood up and tried to see who it was but it was too far I could only see small human figures. Five of them to be exact, excluding the Gate guards.

The one female figure waved to me. I recognized her, it was Sara. I smiled and waved back, wondering where on earth my half-sister disappeared to for the past 6 days. I noticed she was holding hands with someone so she must have been to Kumo to see Takanari. I smiled at the husband and wife whose marriage was arranged but they still seemed to love each other.

When they came into view I dropped the equipment and plants in my hand, I was that shocked. There with my sister came three people who I thought I would never see again. I ran into the palace, leaving Yuna confused behind.

“Haruna! Father!” I yelled and burst into the throne room where my father was helping Haruna try on a new pair of shoes. The turned around and frowned at me.

“What is it, love?” Haruna asked as she brushed some of her hair out of her face.

“Gaara is back!” I yelled so loud, Reira and Freya came running in, shocked.

“What did you say?” Freya asked me as she shook my shoulders.

“Gaara is back” I repeated. Haruna was smiling while my father just stood there, shocked. She dropped Haruna new fancy glass slipper and it broke into pieces. Haruna ignored it since she was happy that Gaara was back most likely.

‘What, when?” my father asked. It was silent, none of use knew of course…..about this….

‘It’s a good thing!” Freya said, “this way, Ayame might remember something!”

“Enough, Freya. Remember, Suna is not our ally. We are enemies so don’t get your hopes to high. Now prepare, stand straight so that we can welcome our unwanted guests” my father said. Haruna cleared her throat.

“Oh, right, our beloved guests” my father corrected. Freya, Reira and I rolled our eyes and stood in a line facing the door, waiting.

Sara and Takanari were the first ones to enter, followed by Temari, Kankuro and Gaara. They were standing in front of us now in a row. It was silent and even though I couldn’t see my father I could feel his deathly glare.

“What do you Suna clowns want now?” my father roared. Temari looked taken aback and so did Kankuro but Gaara stayed emotionless, not taking my father’s insults seriously.

“To see Ayame” Gaara said flatly as he examined the room. Of course, Ayame was not there, he frowned confused on why she wasn’t there.

“And what makes you think I will allow you to see her?” my father growled again.

“Well, I didn’t travel to another country just to say hello now did I?” Gaara growled back. The two men glared at each other.

Haruna sighed and stood up, walking down the stairs and talked: “Now now, Satoshi, they have come quite far.”

“Who asked you to come here?” my father growled again.

“I did” Sara said. My father’s face was red with anger.

“You what? Sara! How could you be so stupid?” He growled. Sara cringed.

“Stop it, Satoshi, I asked Sara to go get them” Haruna said as she walked and stopped next to me. My father calmed down a bit.

“Well, if it was you…” my father mumbled and just sighed, “fine, take them to Ayame, Reira”. Reira nodded and gestured to them to follow her. My father and Haruna followed us down the hallway and into the garden.

-Gaara-

We reached Ayame’s mother’s garden. We stopped at the pillar so the pond was quite a few meters away. My heart swelled at the person I saw. There on the bench sat Ayame, her back was to us but I recognized her gorgeous white hair. Her feet were in the water and her clothing was different than normal.

She had on a long very pale blue boob tube dress tat had a sash that sat right under her chest. Over the dress she had on a long jacket that went way beyond her feet so it hung on the floor. The jacked was a darker around Sky-blue color and the seem was pink. Her hair was messy and was hanging way down her back.

She also wore her jacked very loosely so we could see a large part of her naked shoulders since the sleeves was hanging very low on her shoulders.

“Ayame?” Reira asked, almost cautiously, like Ayame might be afraid of her own name. Ayame didn’t budge. Instead she held out her index finger and a small bird sat on her finger. She brought her finger closer and smiled at the bird while the bird was chirping.

“Princess Ayame, there is someone here to see you” Reira tried again. Ayame didn’t move so Reira gestured for us to come closer which we did. We were now standing behind Ayame and Freya was reaching out for Ayame’s shoulder.

Ayame nearly jumped out of her skin she was scared that quickly. She turned around and I was shocked at what I saw. It was not clumsy lively Ayame I came to love….her eyes were lifeless and she looked at me like I was a complete stranger.

“Ayame, look, Gaara came to see you!” Freya said with a large smile.

“Hey” I said, unsure of what to do. I waited for Ayame’s greeting and maybe even hug but it never came. She just sat there, staring at me like I am some stranger.

“Who are you?” she finally asked. Temari, Kankuro and I gasped and my eyes widened. No wonder Sara said only a few days, Ayame wouldn’t mind….Ayame had no idea who I was!

I heard the queen sob behind me and the king trying to console her but it didn’t help.

“Even after Gaara came, she still doesn’t remember” Juuri said as she walked away with her shoulders hanging. Freya glared at me and then stomped off along with Sara.

“What happened to her?” I asked the King when we were back in the throne room.

“Ever since you left, her memory has been fading…..after 3 months she forgot who or what she was completely. We were hoping that you would maybe awaken her memory…but it didn’t work” the King said sadly. I was shocked, it was my fault Ayame was like this…..all my fault……..