Iris and Crimson

-Ayame-

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. This whole marriage thing was sort of, weird. I wanted to know Gaara better. He seemed like a nice person. But, I was such a klutz, such an idiot. And I didn’t want to get married! I sighed and eventually fell asleep.

I woke up to the chirping of birds and the sound of my sisters giggling in the hotspring outside. I sat up and stretched and then inhaled the fresh morning breeze. It felt good. I got out of my bed, got undressed and dressed in my bathing kimono. I then headed downstairs to join my sisters in their morning bath.

When she spotted me, Sara smiled widely. Sara was the oldest of the four of us. She was 23 years old and lived with her husband, the Tsuchikage (Leader of the Rock Village) in Iwagakure. After her was Freya, of course. Then it was me and after me was my 8 year old sister, Juuri. Juuri was sitting on a rock, a pink towel wrapped around her body and a white one wrapped around her head. She was staring at the water. She always day dreamed like that.

I sat down and Sara smiled again.

“Oh my little sister is getting married!” she exclaimed. Well Sara was a very cheery girl. She lived in Iwagakure for a few months, and then she and her husband moved here for a few years. They were going back soon though. Haruna will be glad when that happens. Freya was merely here for the wedding with her husband and Juuri, well she lived here, obviously.

“So, is he hot?” Sara asked me, her eyes shining with bright excitement. I sighed. Juuri snapped out of her daze and joined in on the conversation.

“Well, yeah” I mumbled but Sara moaned in disappointment. She wanted details. And details she would get, I guess.

“He has red hair, teal coloured eyes, lots of muscles, yeah he is hot” I said, Sara smiled, pleased. Juuri was trying to picture him, but her eyes grew wide and she shook the thought out of her head. She spotted me frowning at her and smiled an innocent smile. I rolled my eyes.

Soon the door to the dressing room opened and Haruna walked out. She groaned when she saw you girls.

“Good morning ladies” she said and smiled a fake smile.

“Morning” we said as we sighed and got out. Haruna always wanted the hotsprings to herself. So unfair! I headed upstairs and saw that Reira was preparing my purple kazami. I smiled at her in greeting and she smiled back. I kicked out my slippers and fell over on my bed.

“Do you think, I’ll be happy with Gaara?” I asked out of the blue.

“I’m sure you will, Princess, he seems nice” Reira said as she stared at one of my pearl necklaces and shook her head. Something told me that Gaara isn’t who I think he is. Like he’s hiding something. I sighed and tried to think what it can be.

At breakfast I was forced to sit next to Gaara. I knew it was my duty and all, but still. I sat down, feeling a bit uncomfortable and nervous when Gaara sat down as well. Sara was sitting on the other side of me and squeezed my hand to make me feel better. I smiled. She then whispered something to her husband and he just nodded. I glanced at Gaara. He seemed tense for some reason. He sat as far away from me as he could. And whenever he glanced at me and I was staring he would just look away. Perhaps this wedding won’t work after all. Yesterday was just an act to impress my father, eh? I felt instant hurt and anger.

After breakfast I decided to go for a walk in the village. The villagers seemed surprised to me walking through the streets, browsing the small stalls and talking to some people. I stopped at a apple stall.

“Good morning, your highness” an old woman with long grey hair greeted me. She wasn’t a beautiful woman but I knew she had a heart of one.

“Good morning” I greeted back with a huge smile. She smiled back.

“In to buy some apples, Milady?” the woman asked me as I picked up one of the juicy, yummy looking red apples.

“I’d love to, but I didn’t bring any money” I said with a faint disappointment in my voice. The woman grinned at me, which made me confused.

“Milady, you may have as many apples as you want for free” the old woman said. I shook my head.

“I couldn’t do that!” I protested but the old woman handed me a bag filled with apples. All sort of different kinds too.

“Say hello to the king for me, oh and your fiancée of course” the old woman said and then she turned to help another customer. I sighed and walked away, taking the apples. Fiancée, huh? He didn’t seem to like me. The way he glared at me earlier. Then again, I never really liked the idea of getting married to him.

That’s when an idea popped in my head. If I could get him to do something crazy to me, father would call off the wedding! Perfect! Then I am free to choose who I want to marry and marry when I am older. I grinned at my own wonderful idea. Now, what should I do?

-Gaara-

I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom and staring at the wall. I didn’t want to get married to Ayame. Yesterday I thought it might be good, but now, I have cold feet. I want to marry who I want. But I will marry Ayame for the alliance and that’s all.

There was a knock on my door.

“Come in” I mumbled as I sat back and rested my head on the bed, my eyes closed. It was Temari.

“Gaara, Ayame has climbed in the tree again” Temari said. I sighed. Does that girl want to die or something? I stood up and followed Temari to the garden.

Ayame was sitting on the highest branch of the tree. Her kazami was tossed on the floor, which means she only had on her under garment kimono and her back was turned to where I was standing. What was this girl doing, walking around in her under garments?

“Ayame, get down here!” I yelled. I don’t want my fiancée to die and then we get no alliance with the Cloud Kingdom. Ayame looked down over her shoulder and snorted. Now I was angry.

“Ayame, if you don’t come down this second I will come up there and drag you all the way” I hissed loud enough for her to hear. Ayame snorted again and looked away from me. The king came running out of the building and gasped when he saw his daughter in the tree.

“Ayame, love, come down sweety” the king begged. Ayame snorted again and ignored us. I growled and focused my chakra in my feet and ran up the tree. Ayame gasped when she saw me next to her. I grabbed her by her arms and she struggled to get free from my grip. I jumped down the tree and didn’t let go of her and forced her to look in my eyes. She tried to look away but I was too strong.

“Do that again, and the wedding is off” I hissed.

“Who cares!? I don’t want to get married to you bastard anyway!” Ayame yelled in my face. My grip on her tightened. She yelped in pain as I squeezed her arms.

“Ayame! Don’t insult the kazekage like that!” the king scolded.

“I can do what I want! I want to choose how my life goes! Not you!” Ayame yelled. My grip tightened even more and Ayame struggled more to get free.

“Let go of me you bastard!” Ayame yelled. Now I have had enough. I didn’t think straight but the next thing I knew my hand glided across Ayame’s face. A red mark remained on her cheek where I slapped her. I dropped her. (Since she is shorter than me I had to lift her up from the ground)She fell on the floor and I stomped off. It was silent.

In my room I sat down on my bed and buried my face in my hands. I slapped a fourteen year old girl. But she was so rude, she deserved it. And I hate her anyway. Temari came in and sat down next to me.

“The king decided to punish Ayame” Temari explained to me. He didn’t care that I slapped his beloved daughter?

“Oh really, and me?” I asked.

“No, he says what you did was understandable” Temari said as she shook her head.

“What’s her punishment?” I asked.

“I don’t know, he’s deciding right now” Temari said and she gave me a hug , then she walked out. I sighed and lay on my back. Ayame will be too frightened of me to do anything like that again, hopefully.

-Ayame-

I was standing in my under garments, my kazami hung over my arm and I was standing in front of my father’s throne. I was staring at the floor.

“Ayame, If you call kazekage-sama a bastard one more time, you will be punished even worse than the punishment you have now!” my father yelled at the top of his lungs. I didn’t feel guilty about calling Gaara a bastard but I felt bad since my father was mad at me.

“Gaara will be sharing a room with you from now on” my father said in an angry voice.

“That’s my punishment? No!” I yelled. There was no way in hell I am sharing a room with that bastard.

“Yes, Ayame, you must learn to like him, he is your fiancée” my father said in stern voice. I growled.

“Of course, you don’t have to share the bed, yet” my father said and I felt a little bit better. There was no way in hell that I am sleeping next to that idiot. But I was still mad. I stomped off to my room where Reira was cleaning up, so that Gaara can move in. He was so sleeping on the couch!

Gaara entered my room with his bags. He looked pretty pissed off himself over this whole “share the stupid bedroom” thing. We glared at each other for awhile until Reira took Gaara’s bags and put it in the walk-in closet.

“You may use this open rack here” Reira said with a huge smile. Gaara nodded.

“And you sleep on the couch!” I hissed. Reira sighed.

“Why should I sleep on the couch?” Gaara hissed back.

“Because this is my room, and I live here, and I am the princess” I hissed and stomped out of the room to take a bath. Gaara growled and sat down on the couch.

I got in the bath and tried to relax but it didn’t help. This was the beginning of my life in hell.