𝙰𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚍𝚎r. (𝙶𝚊𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚡 𝚘𝚌)

Gravestone ( Chapter 27 )

The Hokage sat in his office, another cloudy day for Konoha, a sign that winter was not so far away. Though the winter was beautiful and enchanting, Naruto enjoyed the summer more. He had heard that Ura had returned a day ago, but he has been too busy to go see her. In fact, Naruto was worried about Sasuke, he didn't know whether or not Gaara would actually go through with killing Sasuke.

"Lord Hokage!" Sakura bursted in, "Sasuke is back! He's wounded!"

Naruto quickly ran with Sakura to the entrance of the village, everyone was gathered around the battered Sasuke. The Hokage knelt to his friend, "Sasuke, are you alright? What happened? Did Gaara's men do this to you?"

"No...Naruto...It...It was that man," Sasuke croaked, "He...He's a threat..."

"What's going on?"

Lee turned around to see Ura, he was a bit worried to let her see Sasuke near death, but..as her friend, he had no choice, "Sasuke came back..."

Ura pushed Lee aside and, to her horror, saw Sasuke scratched up, several kunais sticking out of his back, and his clothes all torn up. She held her hand to her mouth, "S..S-Sasuke..."

The Uchiha looked up at Ura, then...fell into Naruto's arms, going all white from blood loss. Sasuke...was dead. Naruto held Sasuke's body close to his, he began to lightly shake from the shock of the truth, "Everyone..prepare for a funeral. Ura...send for Gaara, I want to see if he was the cause of this."

Lee helped Ura send for her lover, who appeared in the sand, the way that Ura found very creepy. Gaara was told the news and his eyes looked somewhat remorseful. Ura buried herself in his arms as she cried, her friend had died in cold blood.

Gaara wore his black Kazekage uniform while Ura remained in her own clothes, Naruto and Gaara were the ones leading the casket to where it will be burried. Ura walked behind Gaara while Sakura stood next to the Sand Kunoichi, both crying for their friend. Naruto glanced a few times at Gaara, the Kazekage did the same, but both did not shed one tear or speak one word. The Hokage did not fully trust Gaara, there was just an air about the Kazekage that told Naruto he was up to somehting. But..no one can accuse on just a hunch or how they feel.. Once they huge crowd stood around the casket before it fell into it's hole, Ura stood in Gaara's arms, still crying her eyes out, Naruto stepped forward and said, "We all knew Sasuke very well enough to know he probably died with honor. Sasuke..was like my brother, he always made fun of me, but he was always there. And..."

Even Naruto couldn't hold his own tears in, he choked out the last few words, "He was always loved..."

One at a time, people dropped flowers into the grave as the casket lowered into the ground. Ura was one of the few in the middle, and when she tossed her desert flower inside, she stepped near the railing and looked down at the grave. Fresh tears dripped on the casket as she said, "Sasuke...you were always very close to me... I wish I could've given you what you wanted, and I wish I never hurt you... Please...I hope you knew how I cared about you."

Gaara was the last, he just looked into the grave, but he was satisfied that his plan was going well. When he turned, his heart wrenched at the sight of his lover crying in Naruto's arms, who was also trying not to cry, but failing. He did not care that maybe Sasuke was dead because of his orders, but Gaara didn't realize how much Ura felt for the Uchiha. Gaara stepped away from the fake death and walked over to the Hokage, "I'm sorry for the loss of your Jonin, and I will be more than willing to fund for a memorial for Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto looked at Gaara as he held Ura, he half-believed him, but as much as he wanted to know who killed Sasuke...Naruto will never know for sure to fully trust Gaara, "Thank you... Sasuke may have been cold and rude to you, but...deep down, he was just like us when we were Genin."

Ura released herself from Naruto and stood by Gaara, wiping her tears away, "I can't stay here...it's...hard."

Lee, Sakura, and Ino walked over to Ura, Lee placed a hand on Ura's shoulder, "We know how hard it is for you, Ura, but please stay for a day. It will be easier if we know you're ok after...well...you know."

"If you don't mind Gaara," Ura looked at her lover.

"Go ahead, i'll stay as well seeing how it will be pointless to go now," Gaara answered, turning to the Hokage, "You don't mind if we stay at your mansion?"

"Go ahead, as long as you two like," Naruto was too depressed to make a joke, he just went to Sasuke's grave to remember all the times with Sasuke he had.

The four Shinobi and Kunoichi went to a local bar, the one that Ura and Sasuke had reunited under. The commoners gawked at the Sand Kage that was at their bar, but the four didn't mind. Ura had a hard time concentrating on trying to have a nice time, but she kept glancing at the spot where she sat, once talking to Sasuke, before...before she and him got to know each other a little more. Gaara noticed how silent Ura was being, and he lightly nudged her, "If you'd rather get some rest, we can leave any time."

"I'm fine..." Ura sighed as she made a sad smile at Gaara, "A lot has happened in so little time."

Lee turned to Ura and handed her some sake, "Drink some, it will loosen you up."

Ura just looked at her sake, what was the use of drinking when she'll end up getting drunk and getting screwed by Gaara again. Yeah, sex was great with Gaara, but...tonight just wasn't the night that she wanted that from the Kazekage. There was so much she could've done to Sasuke before his death, she...she could've saved his life, but Ura took too long. Her eyes watered up again as she stared at the sake cup, it was her fault that Sasuke had died, she had wasted her time.

"Ura..." Lee, who was half-drunk, looked at Ura again and gave her a hug, "Don't cry, Ura, you'll just make me cry."

"I'm trying...but...but it's my fault," Ura choked on her own tears again.

Gaara was getting uncomfortable by watching Ura cry for another time, he didn't know how to act around her when she was like this. A part of him wanted to comfort her, but another part wanted to just take her back to their village and try to forget all about Sasuke.

Once Ura and Gaara were at Naruto's mansion, Gaara had put Ura to bed by soothing her to sleep, but it was harder than he thought. When she finally slept, Gaara went to where he sensed Naruto, in his office, there was the matter of the mystery man that he had to discuss. Though his main plan was to kill Sasuke, the other plan was to see if the mystery man was a threat or not. Naruto was drying his tears at his desk when Gaara walked in, "Get a hold of yourself, you're a Kage, not a squandering academy student."

"Hmph..." Naruto was a bit embarressed to be caught like that in front of a fellow Kage, "Is there a reason why you came?"

"To discuss that mystery man, from what my men had told me, he is a dangerous threat," Gaara informed Naruto, "Next week you, your body guards, me, and my own guards have to set out to find the man. It was bad enough he managed to kill the Uchiha and a few of my men, but we cannot have our people be killed because of him."

"Right," Naruto stood up, "I will bring Sakura, Lee, and Shikamaru. It would be wise if you brought your siblings and Ura, they seem to be very strong."

"They were the three I was planning on bringing anyways," Gaara commented, "You should rest, it has been a long day for all of us."

"Gaara..." Naruto called to the Sand Kage before he left, "Tell me the truth...did you order to kill Sasuke or not?... I need to know who did this to him."

The Kazekage paused, but just briefly to clear his throat, "No... Personal feelings are to be left out from the path of a Shinobi, especially for mine. What the Uchiha meant to me was left out from the expidition. If I ever find out who did it...i'll be sure to let you know."

With that, Gaara turned and left the room that the Hokage was still standing in. Gaara knew his plans were done, now that he had Uchiha and Ura out of his way, he could find out who this man was and begin to device how to kill him too. Even though he had grown into a more dignified Kage, the thought of death and blood still aroused satisfaction through him, though not as strongly as it used to. As the Kazekage walked down the hall, he began to think of the many ways he could kill this mystery man...

It was not too long ago Gaara had heard all of the men that he sent with the Uchiha were killed by the mystery man. Baki had barely survived when he saw the many dead bodies, then the man himself, but it was still dark out so he couldn't get a good look at his face.

"Gaara..."

The Kazekage looked up to see Ura in her see-through night dress at the entrance of their door way. His gaze lingered her body, she seemed so enchanting, standing there looking like one of the fairies he had heard in myths. The way the white fabric hung loosely around her bodice made Gaara feel like he was only in a dream, that the woman in front of him was not the Ura he had seen before. Ura's eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying again.

Ura stepped forward to him before flinging her arms around him, crying against his chest, "Gaara.... I-I thought you had died instead of Sasuke, and...and..."

"It was a dream, nothing more," Gaara embraced her again, by how she was reacting to all of this...Gaara could predict this was her first loss, "Nothing more."

"Come lay besides me," Ura murmured as she tugged on him to follow her.

Gaara allowed her to command his movements by leading him to the bed, there he layed on his back as she cuddled close to his chest. She rest her head next to his as she placed her left hand on his chest, "Gaara, do you remember how we were when we were Genin? How isolated we were..?"

"I try to forget that," Gaara commented, "It's best that it remained that way..."

Ura faintly smiled, "When I was a Genin, I would day dream about rescuing you, always wondering what would have happened if I had the courage to have a conversation with you. I always felt bad for being too nervous to become your friend earlier, I thought...I thought you would have turned me away."

Gaara glanced down at her head, he felt more like a fool than what he already was. Was he that blind for that long? Even when he was just a growing weapon for the Sand, this woman had loved him that long? For 18 years...she could've forgotten him and found someone who loved her before him, but no, she waited.

"Sometimes, I would day dream about you and how I knew I had to the impossible for you to notice me. When you did start...I wanted to fight you, so that you could see my purose for living was to prove to you that I am not what you thought I was. Back then, you thought I was your prey, and I wanted you to see that I was the one that loved you," Ura closed her eyes as she told him everything, "That was why I trained so hard and long, that was why I did so many drastic things was to get your eyes on me."

"Why?"

Ura shifted her body to where she could look up at him, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you go through all that trouble...just for me?" Gaara sat up, he didn't understand why she risked her life just to be noticed, "You know I was different from everyone an-"

"And I loved you enough to make you see that I was alive and I had a reason for living outside of being your prey. That's the thing about love, we do what is right and best for the ones we love, and we do crazy things just to get noticed. It's not a bad thing, it's just what we do," Ura smiled.

Blood-loss. Near death. Threats. Beaten down to nothing. All that they both went through, and just so they could end up like this, in each other's arms. Though it was a stormy start, somehow, they made it, and to what Gaara wanted, it would never end. He turned her to where she layed on her side facing him, as he did the same, then he asked, "Then why didn't you just find someone else?"

"Because the thought of another woman in your bed infuriated me," Ura slightly laughed, "I just couldn't stand that thought, even though I was on the verge of giving up."

Gaara was getting fed up with just talking, he leaned closer to her and kissed Ura's lips softly, trying to soothe her into a lustfull mood. When he started to taste her lips with his tongue, that was when Ura finally pushed him off of her slightly, "No, Gaara, not tonight. It's...it's just not right today."

The Kazekage, a bit angered by her 'not-being-in-the-mood', pushed away from her and got up from the bed with a growl of frustration. Ura sighed, then gave a stern look at Gaara, "You don't make love on the day a dear friend was known as dead."

"Is that what you call it?" Gaara turned and met her stern stare with his icy glare.

"There are just things that you do and don't do on certain events! Sasuke was a dear friend of mine, and to pay my respect I shouldn't just forget about his memory by making love to you," Ura got on her knees, she was getting upset by having to explain something like that to an adult Kage.

"It would seem he meant more to you than just a friend if you refused to have sex with me," Gaara crossed his arms.

"Oh come on, Gaara, now you're just acting like a teenaged Genin!" Ura exclaimed, "You, of all people, would know that Sasuke was an ally of ours, nothing more. Whatever gave you the idea that Sasuke was more!?"

"The fact that you'd rather not have sex with me on the night of his funeral," Gaara answered simply, then he glared at her again, "For your first comment, that is a high insult, especially one from you."

Ura watched as he went to the door, but he stopped at the open doorway, "You're willing to allow me to leave?"

"I'm not running after you, Gaara," Ura layed on her back, eyeing him, "I'm sorry if you took that as an insult, but that was what you were reminding me of. The point is that it's been a very long day, and I just want to wake up tomorrow knowing Sasuke is at peace within himself. Then everything can go back to a steady flow with life."

Gaara turned fully to Ura, shutting their door behind him, "I want you to forget about him for just one night and concentrate on something else."

Then Ura finally understood why he was trying to lure her into sex, he was getting jealous by how she was reacting to Sasuke's death, and he just wanted some attention as well. She put on a seductive smile and sat on her stomach, "Why didn't you say so?"

**Leila**

Little Leila and her mother were both in their old hut, but her mother was asleep. It has been a tough week, Leila was getting the blunt of her mother's frustration over Ura, but she was used to that by now. The child had been doing some after-hour chores, like fetching for water for the next day and finding some desert flowers to decorate the house with. She wandered outside and looked up at the moon, for so long Leila had wondered if she had a sibling, and she did, but they didn't want to believe that.

"Ura...i'm sorry for what Daddy did to you, but come back..." Leila's eyes teared up, she had missed Ura so much.

As she began to pick the desert flowers she could find, she noticed something moving in the sand. Since she was just a child, Leila payed no mind to that, and continued to find more flowers to put in a vase for tomorrow's breakfast meal. When she finished picking the flowers, she turned to see a giant snake with bright red eyes hovering over her! Leila dropped all of the flowers and screamed bloody murder!....