Elemental (Gaara Love Story) (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 15: A War is Coming Naruto

After a short while, we had arrived where Naruto was staying. It was snowing outside and getting dark so we walked up to the door and Naruto was quick to answer it. "Gaara! Hey guys! And hey Mariko? What are you doing here?" Naruto greeted us warmly letting us in.

"Well I was also at the summit Naruto, but decided to tag along with Gaara-kun," I say to the blonde boy with a smile. Something about his personality screamed trustworthy. "What do you mean Mariko? Were you one of the aids like Temari and Kankuro?" Naruto asks sitting on the sofa in the room completely oblivious of my new position. It was then Kakashi (if I remember his name correctly) entered the room along with some other man with brown hair. "She's the Mizukage, Naruto," says Kakashi nonchalantly while giving us a closed eyed smile with a wave.

"The what?! Just a few weeks ago you were a regular ninja!" Naruto explains shocked. Knowing I could trust these people, I move to sit next to Naruto. "Well, you see Naruto-kun, even when you first met me I was in the process of becoming Mizukage. Its no surprise to Kirigakure, it was my destiny," I say looking at Gaara, suddenly upset that my position in my village was preventing me from being with him. Kenji and Ren nodded in agreement and lean against the wall, while Kankuro takes a seat with Temari, Gaara remained standing. "Well then how are you guys dating?" Naruto questions bluntly gesturing to Gaara and I.

"Well, um," I say scratching the back of my neck but Gaara interrupts me.

"Naruto, as much as I'd rather speak of my and Mariko's relationship, we're here solely to speak of the events that occurred at the Five Kage Summit," Gaara says sighing but then looking Naruto straight in the eye. I see then Kakashi and the other man's curiosity spark in their eyes as Gaara continues to talk. "It was Sasuke, he attacked at the Summit. Naruto... Just so you know, there will be a war to protect the Eight Tails, and Nine Tails... in other words, you. For the sake of the ninja world and as Kage, Mariko and I will guard you with our lives. If as a member of the Akatsuki, Sasuke Uchiha stands in the way of the ninja coalition... we will show him no mercy," Gaara says and Naruto stands up to face him fighting back tears.

"No, I will save Sasuke! I promised Sakura I'd bring him back and I will! Believe it!" he yells but no one tries to calm him down. Gaara forms a small smile on his face. "Naruto," he begins, "I think of you as a friend. I used to think "friend" was just another word... nothing more, nothing less. But when I met you, I realized what was important was that word's meaning. If you are truly prepared to take on the mantle of a Kage, like I or Mariko, then as Sasuke's friend, you know what you have to do," Gaara says to him with hope in his eyes and I nod in agreement. With those final words, we were off to find an inn to stay in before our long journey home.

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We finally reached an inn, all of us were cold from the frightening snow storm outside. "Yeah we need a few rooms please, what do you have available?" asks Temari to the old desk lady.

"Well I have three rooms available, two are regular and the third is a couple's sweet, its very lovely," the lady says with a smile. We all nod and decide the sleeping arrangements. Immediately Kenji and Ren take one of the normal rooms claiming they were exhausted and were going to get some sleep. I felt bad sleeping by myself and the sand siblings having to share a bed. Just as I was about to offer Temari to stay in my room in the couple's sweet, Gaara says something. "Mariko and I will stay in a room together, so it isn't as crowded with you two," he says and Kankuro lets out a laugh.

"Sure little brother, that's why," he says to Gaara with a wink and him and Temari take the keys and head to their room. Both Gaara and I ignore him. I then approach the lady to grab Gaara and I's keys and she smiles warmly at me. "He seems like a lovely man, I hope you have fun in there," she says playfully in a whisper and I just blush and nod before leading Gaara to our shared hotel room.

It was nice and spacious, with a large circular bed and connecting bathroom. I knew even though Gaara didn't sleep, he'd want to lay in the bed with me to rest. "Gaara- kun, I think we both should shower, not only are we covered in debris, but it will warm us up," I say to him and he just nods and sits down on the bed.

"You can go first," he says to me as he begins to take off his cold wet clothes. We were definitely comfortable with each other, for him to stay in just his bandages in front of me, but I guess it wasn't the first time. With that, I took a quick hot shower, and soon came out of it with a towel wrapped around me, so he wouldn't be left cold. "Gaara-kun, you can go in now," I say to him and he turns around still in his bandages and blushes at me. He then gets up to walk to the bathroom, but stops to give me a sweet kiss. Once he stepped in I began to wrap myself in bandages again but left my regular clothes out to dry along with my Mizukage hat. I saw Gaara had done the same, and I couldn't help myself but to place my hat beside his. Soon later, Gaara came out of the bathroom in his bandage wraps showing off his chiseled chest and walked over to join me in bed. "Well I feel much better now," he says to me as he gets under the warmth of the sheets and looks at me.

"I'm glad," I answer him with a smile as he pulls me into his arms and I rest my head on his chest. But I knew this would be one of the few times we had to talk, so I took advantage of it. "Gaara-kun," I say to get his attention and he lets out a noise to signal he was, "Now that we're both Kage, how are we going to do this?"

"Well, common sense says we can't be public about this relationship, otherwise the other hidden villages will think we are teaming up against them. But I also know we will figure this out, soon too. We just have to wait and see how," he answers me and I nod in response.

"Gaara-kun I love you, but it is my duty to serve my village, and I can't do that if I stay with you in Sunagakure. I mean, I've only been a kage for a few weeks, but I wish it didn't have to be this way," I say to him.

"I love you too, but something tells me you don't want to be Mizukage, Mariko-chan," he says making him look at me.

"I feel honored that the elders deemed me worthy of becoming this title, and I love being able to protect my village more directly, but I wonder if I hadn't been so forced into it, if I'd still be where I am today."

"Well then, I suggest you talk to Mei, you can still give up your position now and give it back to her, and their are other ways you can protect your village, Mariko-chan. I want you to be happy is all." I look up at him and nod and soon we both drift away into sleep.

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I woke up the next morning to see Gaara still asleep next to me. 'Wait a minute, Gaara-kun's sleeping?!' I think to myself and get dressed in my now dry clothes. I know I have to wake him up, but a part of me doesn't want to. Oh well. "Gaara-kun," I begin gently shaking him, "wake up my love." He still hadn't woke up so I thought of what I could say that would wake him up. "Quick Gaara! Save me, the Akatsuki is trying to kill me!" I exclaim and he suddenly gets up wide-eyed. Well, that worked. Soon Gaara realized what I did and looked at me annoyed, but went right back to his shocked expression. "Did I sleep?" he asks in shock and I nod at him with a smile. He suddenly gets up and picks me up in a happy embrace and giving me a quick kiss. "Thank you so much Mariko-chan," he says with a slight smile on his face. I blush but he puts me down and changes as well.

Once everyone was up and ready, we met at the inn doors to say goodbye. "Bye Temari-chan! See you later Kankuro-kun!" exclaims my teammates and I say goodbye to them hugging them as well. I then give Gaara a quick kiss and hug before telling him goodbye. "Don't forget what I told you last night," he whispers to me and I nod signaling I understood and we all left our separate ways, Gaara to Suna and me to Kiri.