Iris and Crimson

-Gaara-

Irises,

A flower that was like a drug to me,

A drug that no longer exists in this world of frenzy and love,

My life was over, and I knew it. Sara and Freya hates me, after all, I am at fault for what happened to their beloved little sister. And all this happened because I was too arrogant.

I could imagine Ayame’s white hair ruffling in the wind as she sat on the grass in a meadow, staring at the bird that was sitting on her finger. She was like a ghost, a ghost who I, unbelievably loved with all my heart.

But that love has been crushed, Ayame has no idea who I am, how could she possibly return the love I have for her? It was over, this was punishment, I was a fool, a red-headed bastard who only cared for himself, and the kanji on my forehead meant nothing.

I couldn’t sleep that night, whenever I closed my eyes, Ayame’s dead like figure would appear and she would ask the same question: “Who are you?”

I tried to remember the good times we had together, when she kissed me on our first date, when she nearly killed herself for my sake, when I bought her flowers and thanked me so weakly. All of that was gone; Ayame doesn’t even recall it happening to her.

Sometimes you get that desire to shake things right, that’s how I felt, I wanted to grab Ayame by her shoulders and shake her so hard that she would remember, I wanted to squeeze her body so close to mine that not even a sheet of paper would fit between us. But all of that was a dream, a long and eternal dream of love.

-Rin-

“Why do men make such stupid mistakes?” I asked my brother, Takumi at our campfire just outside the outskirts of the Cloud Kingdom force field (the area below Cloud Kingdom where it once lay, underneath Cloud Kingdom is a large barrier that protects the Kingdom itself and the area beneath it).

“Not all of us make mistakes, Rin, I guess this guy with red hair we have to kill is just stupid” Takumi said as he lit his long thin pipe and exhaled a large puff of smoke. I nearly choked and quickly gulped down some water I got fresh from the stream a few hours earlier.

“Would you stop smoking that stupid thing?” I asked. Takumi stuck his tongue out. I gave him the death glare and turned my gaze back to the fire.

It was silent for quite awhile and it was getting on my nerves how Takumi exhaled large puffs of smoke purposely in my face. I shot up.

“Would you stop breathing that damned smoke in my freakin face!? Do you want me to kill you, huh?” I yelled so loud, I’m sure the peeps in Konoha heard it. Takumi burst out laughing, making me even angrier so I kicked him in the balls.

“Holy cow! Ow!” Takumi yelled as he rolled on the floor in pain. I smiled in victory and walked away, getting into my sleeping bag and falling asleep.

-Gaara-

That morning I woke up and did my normal morning routine. I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I decided to walk through the palace garden.

I walked past Queen Maika’s garden and noticed that Ayame was there, again. Only today she was lying on the grass, staring at the sky, she had on the same outfit as yesterday only it was orange not blue. Orange looked good on her.

I smiled, just looking at her made me happy and wanted to make me smile. I decided to walk over to her and sit down next to her. Ayame didn’t budge but when she noticed me she shot up.

“H-h-ello” she stuttered and backed away a bit. The smile I had on my face fell, she was afraid of me.

“I won’t hurt you, I’m a friend” I said, trying to calm Ayame down. She relaxed a bit but still stayed away, but she realized I won’t hurt her so she sat right next to me. Our hands were inches away from touching, if only I could take a hold of her soft and warm hand, but that would scare her.

“Friend?” Ayame asked out of the blue. I glanced at her, confused why she asked such a confusing question.

“What is a true friend like?” Ayame asked me as she turned her head to look at me. Our eyes were gazing at each other; I was lost in her pink orbs alone. But her eyes have less life in them than she had one year ago.

“Someone who understands you and wants the best for you, you hang out a lot and yeah” I explained, I didn’t know much on the subject myself. Ayame watched as I picked up a stone and threw it into the pond. She stared at the ripples it made and then returned her gaze back to me.

“You are my only friend, then” Ayame said. I blinked in confusion at her words. She had million friends: Freya, Sara, Juuri, Naruto, Sakura, Temari, Kankuro, me and many others were Ayame’s friends, so why did she say that I am her only friend?

“You have your sisters” I said, trying to convince her that she had better friends than I am, I was a waste, and it’s my fault that she was like this.

The white haired girl stared at me in disbelief and then she turned to face the small pond.

“I don’t have sisters, Sara-sama doesn’t like to hang out with me, it makes her sad for some odd reason, Freya-sama hates me and Juuri-chan prefers to just talk about teddy bears” Ayame said. I frowned, Freya and Sara was ignoring Ayame? That was new, they used to adore her. Not only that, Ayame believed that they weren’t related and she even used a suffix like –sama to address them!

“But they still love you” I said. Ayame smiled a small smile and shook her head. She then turned her entire body to face me and she sat on her knees.

“Gaara-sama is your name, right?” she asked. I nodded, if I told her to just call me Gaara she’ll probably refuse, since she was no longer the casual Iris she used to be.

“Gaara-sama has friends, right?” she asked. I nodded again.

“Am I one of those friends?” she asked me, I could see the hope in her eyes, for the first time since I say her yesterday she seemed alive.

“Yes” I whispered softly. Ayame smiled and lay down, resting her head on my lap, it felt a bit awkward but it made my heart flutter so I allowed her to stay like that, it was weird that she was acting this warm to me already, even thought it’s only been a day.

“Gaara-sama, you’re warm” I heard Ayame whisper tiredly, I chuckled and stroked a bang from her hair out of her face, I touched her cheek in the process and she was freezing cold. Ayame used to be warm and soft, now her skin was almost like it was dead or it belonged to an immortal blood sucker.

I sighed as I imagined the face of the Ayame I fell in love with and then I looked back down at the Ayame in front of me now, they were so much alike yet so different……

“Gaara-sama, it’s nice when you stroke my hair” Ayame said suddenly. I smiled and stroked her hair slowly. I eventually heard her breathing slow, she has fallen asleep.

-Temari-

Death,

That was how my brother looked like,

Gaara’s eyes were dead, yesterday after we met Ayame again Gaara looked like he was about to hang himself.

Perhaps the fact that it was sort of his fault for Ayame forgetting everything, he was feeling that he should do something about it, and he’s conclusion isn’t always the right one.

Kankuro only laughed when I told him Gaara might kill himself. I remember the pathetic words that came out of that big idiot’s mouth: “Nah, Gaara won’t kill himself”.

I was now running through the garden of the Royal Garden, Gaara was nowhere to be found inside the castle, all the servants said they had no idea what happened to him. Now here I was, searching for him, hoping that he hasn’t killed himself, yet.

But a dead Gaara was not the thing I found. Instead I found him asleep in the Queen’s garden on the grass, Ayame was asleep as well, but what shocked me the most was that Ayame was lying in Gaara’s arms! Her head was resting on his shoulder while Ayame’s arms was wrapped around Gaara’s body and Gaara was apparently not asleep since his finger tips was running up and down Ayame’s back.

I nearly fainted. Sabaku no Temari nearly fainted!

I stomped over and stood over the two. Gaara ignored but when he realized I wasn’t leaving he opened his one eye and looked at me.

“What?” he hissed when he saw my expression. Ayame shifted, startling both Gaara and me.

Luckily we didn’t wake her up, since she just slept on and mumbled something about friends.

“You didn’t force her to do this, did you?” I asked. Gaara rolled his one eye and then closed it again.

“Like I could, Temari she has no idea who I am, she decided to lie like this by herself” Gaara said. I watched the skeptically. It was cute, Ayame and Gaara made a perfect couple and I couldn’t help that large smile spreading over my face.

“Why you smiling?” Gaara asked. I was shocked that he knew I was, after all his eyes were closed how could he know I was smiling? Then again, he was Gaara, so don’t underestimate him.

“I’m happy for you” I said and walked away to leave the two love birds alone.

Little did I know that that was the last time I would see Gaara and Ayame again….

3 Days Later………..

“Where are they?” The King roared in the throne room. I was standing with Kankuro, Freya, Sara, Sara’s husband; Juuri and Reira in the throne room, all of us were worried sick. Gaara and Ayame have been missing for three days already.

“Temari!” the King yelled. I stood straight.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Did your idiotic brother kidnap my daughter and elope?” the King yelled at me. I laughed nervously, Gaara would never force Ayame to elope with him……seriously.

“No, your majesty!” I said. The King snorted, he naturally didn’t believe me. The King went rambling on about how Ayame can’t take of herself.

“I wonder where she went?” Reira whispered to Juuri. Juuri shrugged. This really has become a problem…..

“Satoshi, clam down, I’m sure the groups you sent out will find them!” Haruna tried to calm the king. The King cursed under his breath and slumped down into his chair in defeat. I glanced at Sara over my shoulder who was smiling evilly. My eyes widened, did she have something to do with their disappearance?

The King dismissed us and I grabbed Kankuro by his collar and dragged him away from the others.

“I think Sara knows where Gaara and Ayame are” I hissed. Kankuro blinked in confusion.

“Temari, you doubt you own sister? Come on!” Kankuro said as he laughed. I glared at him and he shut up.

“You’re not serious, are you?” Kankuro asked. I sighed.

“You are! Oh my god, Temari! But how will we prove it?” he asked. He got me at that one…..if only we could find a lead…….I spotted Sara walking to the front door, she had on a cape and was checking if someone was looking and then she sneaked out. I smiled.

“Bingo”

-Gaara-

The room was dark and my vision was fuzzy when I awoke. I could feel the limb body of Ayame against my chest. It happed a few days ago, I think when a strange young man and woman, twins attacked us in The Queen’s garden after Temari left. They drugged me and Ayame and now here we were, in the middle of, I don’t where.

The door opened and a bright light came through, it hurt my eyes and someone walked in. I couldn’t see who it was since the door was closed soon after they came in. I wrapped my arms around Ayame in a protective manner, there was no way I will let Ayame suffer again like she did one year ago.

‘Why don’t you look at that? So protective aren’t we, little brother?” I heard a female voice say. My eyes widened.

“Sara?” I gasped. She chuckled. Why was she doing this?

“Why are you doing this? You hired those two ninjas didn’t you?” I asked. Sara chuckled again.

“Yes, little brother” she said. My grip on Ayame tightened.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because, little brother, Ayame is the most precious sister to me and you took her away! And since Ayame will never remember I decided you can both go to hell together! Oops, I mean, you can go to hell and Ayame can go to heaven” Sara said dryly.

I bit my lip, this wasn’t the Sara I knew, there was no way in hell that this woman was my sister. No way in hell. Sara came closer and grabbed Ayame by her hair. Ayame yelped and her eyes fluttered open. Now Ayame was awake, I was hoping she wouldn’t wake up so that she doesn’t get scared. Sara dragged Ayame to the door by her hair.

“Ayame!” I yelled, holding out my hand trying to grab her hand but it didn’t work.

“Gaara-sama!” Ayame yelled. I sat there, helpless.

“I love you” I whispered softly, I highly doubt Ayame heard.

The door opened and closed and Ayame was gone…was Sara going to kill her now?

I sat there, my face buried in my hands, I was unable to protect Ayame for the second time and I cried. That’s right, Sabaku no Gaara cried!

I heard a loud thump and I shot up. I heard the noise again, only this time a squeal as well. I followed the sound and found a young woman, maybe a bit older than Temari with white hair and dark eyes tied up with a rope. Her mouth was covered with duck tape and her feet were tied up as well. I pulled of the tape; the woman yelped and sat up, panting.

“Thanks” she mumbled.

“Who are you?” I asked. She resembled the fourth kazekage, Sara and Ayame a lot. I sat down and untied the ropes.

“Ugh, damn that Uryuu and his wife to hell” she hissed. My eyes widened, Uryuu was the one who did this to her? And his wife? Didn’t he try to kill me because I killed his wife? Now that I mention it, I don’t recall Uryuu being part of the Suna council!

I untied the roped and the woman stared at her raw skin. How long has she been tied up like this?

“How long have you been toed up like this?” I asked.

“About 3 to 4 years. It all started when my mother got married to the King, I was an outside child since my father was not the King so people saw me as an outcast. Uryuu is the older brother of Queen Haruna and he has always been in love with my mother. So he decided to get revenge by kidnapping me, his wife disguising herself as me and get close to the king and the royal family to kill them.” The woman explained. My eyes widened.

“It can’t be….you’re Sara?” I asked, shocked. The woman stared at in disbelief.

“Yeah, that’s my second name, how do you know, you’re not from Cloud Kingdom” the woman said.

“I’m your half-brother” I gasped. Sara or whatever her real name was stared at me, shocked.

“Wait, you’re my father, the something other kazekage thing’s son?” she asked. I nodded.

“Oh” she echoed, “well, that’s interesting”.

“That woman who has been posing as you these last few years, is she Uryuu’s wife?” I asked. Sara nodded.

“How come the King and the others didn’t realize you look different?” I asked.

“Apparently, she told them that she wears contacts now and she dyed her hair, she even slept with my beloved husband! That freak, I’m seriously going to murder her!” Sara yelled. I sweat dropped; somehow, the real Sara was the complete opposite of the fake one.

“Do you know a way out of here?” I asked. Sara nodded and stood up, but because she has been numb for 4 years she fell over. Luckily I caught her and helped her unto my back.

She blushed and laughed nervously: “I hope I am not too heavy, my first name is Shan by the way, what’s yours?”

I smiled, so my sister’s name was Shan, what a interesting name.

“Gaara” I said. Shan smiled.

“Well, little brother! Let’s roll!” she said a bit too enthusiastically. I headed for the door and was about to kick it off it’s hinges when it was ripped open by none other than Kankuro, Temari not far behind him.

“Hey, who’s the hot chick?” Kankuro asked when he saw Shan.

I glared at him: “Don’t get any ideas, Kankuro, she’s your older sister” I hissed and walked out. Temari and Kankuro’s jaws dropped.

“Say, are they your siblings?” Shan asked as she looked over her shoulder at the shocked Temari and Kankuro when we walked to the castle. I nodded.

“Hm, so we all have the same father, eh? Awesome beans!” Shan yelled and laughed so loud that she nearly fell of my back.

“Gaara, who is she?” Temari asked. And so Shan and I told them her story.

-Ayame-

Sara was dragging me by my hair down to the Kingdom’s lake. Their she pressed my head under water, trying to drown me, she pulled my head up again.

“Happy now? You can’t do anything, you don’t even know who I am!” Sara hissed. I choked and she pushed my head under water again. She kept it there, and I was starting to lose my breath. I was going to die.

I couldn’t die yet! I just remembered who I was! As soon as Gaara said the words: “I love you” it was like a key! And all the memories came flooding back to me, when we met, our first date, our kiss…..our sweet, gentle, loving kiss even if did only last a second.

Sara pulled my head up again and her eyes were no longer blue, instead they were brown and her blonde hair was lying on the floor, a wig, her hair was actually a dark brown. I gasped, I knew who she was, and she was my mother’s one best friend, Kyohaku! Why was she doing this? And what happed to my real sister, then?

“Aunt Kyohaku?” I asked, shocked. Kyohaku chuckled.

“So lovely to see you again, Ayame, looks like you remember who you are” she laughed.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“You see, your mother stole something from me which I always wanted, Satoshi, and Satoshi stole something my husband wanted, Maika. So we made a deal, and the deal was, to kill the royal family!” Kyohaku chuckled.

“You killed Shan?” I asked, shocked.

“Oh, don’t worry, your half-sister is still alive, dear, but nor for long!” Kyohaku chuckled and pressed my head in the water again. This time she didn’t lift me up again, I could feel my legs go weak, I was dying.

I felt Kyohaku suddenly letting go of my hair, like she was shocked and I heard a loud splash. I fell into the water and I noticed something red float in the water, blood……blood?

I looked up ahead, Kyohaku was dead……..but so was I and then everything went black.

Death is peaceful, calm…….especially now, after I knew that Gaara’s loves me…..I opened my eyes slowly and noticed that I was in my room, the ceiling was familiar and warm. I looked to my side, Gaara was asleep on the couch. I sat up, but my body was to sore so I plunged right down again.

The door opened, revealing Reira.

“Princess!” she exclaimed as she ran over to me. She sighed of relief.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alive!” Reira exclaimed so loudly it woke Gaara up. He stood up and walked over to me.

“Hey” he said. He was looking at me the same way he did when I had no idea who he was. I smiled.

“Gaara!” I yelled and attacked him. He fell over, taking me with him. He was now lying on the ground shocked.

“What the?” he asked but he didn’t get to finish since I locked my lips with his. Gaara tensed but eventually kissed back.

Someone cleared their throat and I stopped kissing Gaara and the two of us looked up. There stood all of our family.

“Sorry to bother, little brother, but we have to go?” Kankuro said as he backed away behind Temari, hoping he wouldn’t make Gaara mad.

“Wow, I never knew two peeps at their age was so intimidating!” I heard a familiar voice say. I spotted a familiar white haired girl with dark eyes standing with the Tsuchikage, his arm wrapped around her waist.

“Shan?” I echoed. Everyone’s jaws dropped, including Gaara’s.

“You remember?” Gaara asked, shocked. I looked at him skeptically.

“Would I kiss you of I didn’t remember who you are?” I asked. Gaara thought about it and shook his head. I smiled.

Haruna and my father were already in tears.

“My daughter is back!” My father said in between his sobs while Haruna just cried louder I rolled my eyes.

I looked back at Gaara who was laughing at Kankuro’s facial expression. He stopped laughing and turned to look me in the eye.

“I love you” I said, earning several awes from the others and a lot more from Shan, damn her and her romantic sense.

“I love you too” Gaara said with a smile and he kissed me again, it was a long kiss this time.

2 Months later………

“Gaara!” I yelled from the bathroom upstairs of our house. Well, technically our house since Temari and Kankuro still lives here with their families, well Kankuro is still single but Temari is getting married to Shikamaru today.

Gaara rushed up to the bathroom and knocked on the door, since I was helping Temari get dressed for her big day.

“What is it, babe?” he asked. I chuckled, Gaara and I have been going out for two months now and we just couldn’t get enough of each other, I’m not even a virgin anymore.

“Could you get the blue hair pin on the dressing table for Temari’s hair?” I asked. Gaara left and came back in an instant and opened the door. His jaw dropped at the sight. Temari was wearing a long white dress with little blue beads embroiled on it.

“Wow, sis, you look amazing!” Gaara said as he handed me the clip. Temari blushed. Since their father was dead, my father agreed to lead Temari down the aisle, after all, if he didn’t Shan was going to murder him, personally.

Gaara left the room and I did the finishing touches. And then we were off to the church!

Temari was very old fashioned, and she insisted on getting married in a church and have a big fat white wedding. And she got what she wanted since almost the entire Sand Village and Cloud Kingdom was here. I wasn’t married to Gaara, but Cloud Kingdom and Suna made peace and are now allies.

Often Shan would drop by out of nowhere, which annoys the hell out of me, I was actually missing the fake Sara who as calm and withdrawn.

Freya and her husband were expecting their first baby! I was really excited and happy for them! But I was already an aunt since Shan and her husband had twins. A boy and a girl and Shan insisted on naming the boy Gaara Jr and the girl Ayame Jr, we were like her role-models or something.

Juuri was doing extremely well in Cloud Kingdom’s new Ninja Academy, it opened thanks to Gaara and Shan (who insisted that Cloud Kingdom get ninjas).

Haruna was also expecting her first baby! And they say it was going to be a boy, I’m gonna have a little brother!

And here I am, standing with Temari outside the church, doing the last minute touches and then went inside to sit with Gaara.

The wedding was a huge success, and guess who planned it? Shan……and I think she went a bit overboard with the food…..who wants to eat such spicy chicken? Temari seemed to LOVE it though and nearly ate all the chicken!

Temari and her new husband, Shikamaru looked so cute when they did their dance, soon I was led to the dance floor with Gaara and more people joined in, I was shocked to see Reira dance with Kankuro!

Gaara and I was standing on the balcony now of the building where the party was. I shivered.

“You cold?” Gaara asked as he wrapped his arms around me to keep me warm. I smiled and noticed that Reira and Kankuro was making out in the garden below the balcony. I smiled.

“Looks like their will be another wedding soon!” I said.

“Oh please no!” Gaara moaned. I chuckled and snuggled up closer to Gaara for warmth. Gaara smiled and kissed me sweetly.

“I love you” he whispered in my ear. I smiled and looked up in to those beautiful eyes of his.

“I love you too”