Elemental (Gaara Love Story) (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Preparations for War

The war is coming. It's been a few months since the last time I saw Gaara. I had taken his advice like he asked me to and spoke to Mei-sensei of my desire to hand over the position of Mizukage. She was very understanding, and together we both brought it in front of the elder's council. They were not as understanding about it as she was. Nonetheless, we came to the agreement that I would give the position back to Mei-sensei once the war was over, and I would become the Five Nations' Communications Organizer. Basically, in order to ensure all the villages stay in peace, I will organize meetings and approve requests that attend to outside village relations. This would still mean I would have to attend the Five Kage Summit, but as a neutral figure. Sure it was a lot of work, but with this position I would be allowed to move to Sunagakure and travel to any village whenever I want without permission. This position had already been confirmed with the other Kage at our last meeting where we received the new shinobi headbands, which look quite nice if you ask me. "Milady," begins a male voice and I look up from my paperwork at my desk and nod at him to continue, "You have received an important letter from the Regimental Commander-in-cheif." I look up to see one of my ANBU ninja and smile at him as he gives me the letter. Oh yeah, did I mention Gaara was appointed Commander-in-cheif of the Allied Shinobi Forces, and even better, I volunteered to be second in command so I could be in the same section as him in the battlefield.

"Thank you. Be back here in an hour to send my reply to Lord Kazekage," I say to him and he nods teleporting away. I then take out the letter and read its contents, sure it would be about the war, since we haven't had time to just casually write. It read:

Mariko,
I hope you are well, as you know the war is approaching soon. This may be sooner then expected, but we will have all shinobi organize and meet in four days at sunrise. You and all your shinobi will go to the destination we mentioned in the previous meeting. Furthermore, we have appointed captains for all five divisions. They are based on skill set, you will be in co-command with me in the Fourth Long Range Battle Division. The other captains are Kakashi Hatake, Darui, Mifune, and Kitsuchi. I need you to organize your shinobi by their battle strategy, aside from your people already part of the supporting divisions. I will see you soon Mariko, be safe.

~Gaara

I contemplate what he said in the letter before making a quick reply to have ready for the ANBU to send out. I knew that we would have to have all shinobi head out tomorrow in order to arrive on time. Therefore, I sent an alarm out to the village saying that all Mist shinobi must meet outside the gates to go to war at sunrise. I sigh, stressed that I'd have to organize all Shinobi tonight, meaning I'd get no sleep. 'Hey, if Gaara can do it for nearly all his life, I can do it once. Besides, its not like I was going to get any sleep anyways.' I think to myself, only for my thoughts to be interrupted by my loud teammates. "Mariko-chan!" exclaims Kenji as both he and Ren barge through my office doors, "We're leaving to war tomorrow?" Ren looked calm while Kenji was in utter shock at the news.

"Yes, we have to leave tomorrow morning to be there on time to meet the rest of the Hidden Villages. Both of you will be serving in Kakashi's division when we get there," I say with a straight face. I couldn't help but worry about the lives of my village, friends, and Gaara. I pray to Kami that they will be safe. "Alright, so we'll meet you at the gates tomorrow morning Mariko-chan. We'll get going now so we can get some extra rest, you should too," Ren says looking at me seriously. I nod to him agreeing, although I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep. Afterwards, they bowed and left and I continued with my organizing for the rest of the night.

~-~-~-~-~
"Well good morning Lady Erementaru," I hear a voice say to me as I look up at my sensei who just stepped in the office. I then gather my surroundings and realize I must have fallen asleep last night while organizing ninja into the different divisions. I suddenly freak out and look at my papers to see I actually finished all of the names and let out a sigh of relief. "You don't look so good Mariko, did you not get much sleep?" Mei-sensei inquires to me as I shake my head 'no'.

"I had to organize all the shinobi last night. I couldn't," I tell her getting up from my desk and changing out of my Mizukage uniform and into my ninja clothes. She nods signaling she understood and sighed. I pulled my shirt and shoes on and scrambled around looking for my new ninja headband. "Ugh, where did I put it," I say confused and see Mei-sensei laugh at me.

"Mariko, you must be really tired, you're wearing it already," she says to me and my face flushes red from embarrassment and look down to see the new headband around my body being worn like a sash. I just sigh and we both walk together to the front gates. Once we get there I see all the Mist ninja ready for battle. To my surprise, I don't see fear in their eyes, but confidence and readiness. I smile and walk in front of the large crowd. "Ninja of the Mist," I begin getting everyone's attention, "Today we leave the comfort of our village to fight in a war against the Akatsuki. Some of you will not return, but I give you my word that each of your efforts will not be of waste. Together we will fight to save our world! All of you follow me!" I exclaim and hear cheers and clapping and begin to run in the direction of the battle field. Alongside me are Ren, Kenji, and Mei-sensei, all following me to their possible ends.

~-~-~-~-~

It has been a few days and we finally made it to the Allied Shinobi Forces base, all shinobi are together and prepare themselves for what lies ahead the next day. Tomorrow is the day we attack. This will be the last day of many lives. As soon as the Mist makes it, I walk to what I recognize to be the Commander's tent and enter. Inside, we have all the Captains of every division including some of the Supports, like Kankuro and Shizune. "Mariko," I hear Kankuro say as he walks up to hug me. It was then a certain red head looked up from the map they were all circling and met my eyes. He wasted no time to walk up to me and give me a quick kiss. "I missed you Mariko, are you ready for tomorrow?" he asks me, and I give him a big toothy smile.

"As ready as I will ever be," I say and greet everyone else. Soon after my greetings, we go right back to business.

"My main concern is the lack of trust among the ninjas from different villages, I'm afraid they won't work together," says Kakashi, diving right back into the meeting.

"I agree, if these ninja aren't motivated, we'll definitely lose this war," says Darui.

"Well then lets motivate them," I say to them simply and everyone looks at me with a questioning look.

"Mariko, you say that as though all you have to do is flip a switch, it won't be that easy," says Kankuro and I look at him with a small smile.

"Tomorrow, before we leave, we will address them one last time about why we're here and who the enemies really are, so to inspire them right before battle," I say to them with a shrug. Surely a good speech can motivate them.

"Yeah well who would do that?" Asks Kakashi and I look over at Gaara. He sighs and looks at me then at everyone else. "As commander-in chief, I will address the main regiment," he says and everyone nods at him satisfied. We all believed in Gaara and his ability to inspire people.

~-~-~-~-~

Finally, the meeting had ended and Gaara and I walked to the tent we would be staying in for the night. As we walked in, I began to undress down to my bandages to sleep in, I was so exhausted from the travel here. Gaara did the same until we were both lying down in the sleeping bag prepared to sleep. "Gaara, have you been able to sleep since I saw you last?" I ask him and he shakes his head no.

"I wish you could be there every night, then I would be able to sleep with you there," he says with a sigh. Although he knows of my new position, he doesn't know that I plan to move to Suna with him, I thought it would be a sweet after war surprise. "I know I'm sorry," I say with a sigh. He then embraces me and kisses me on the lips. I smile into the kiss and lick his bottom lips for entrance. We then begin to make out and let out all the passion we had built up over the past few months, and in addition to that, the worry of this being our last exchange because of the war. We continued this for a while, until things got very heated, and lets just say we spent a very pleasant night together, as though it was our last.

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