I've known him my whole life, but will we spend the rest of it together?

Chapter 20

~~~~~~~~~Raksha's POV~~~~~~~~~

A week has passed since the day Gaara convinced me to give up on my quest for revenge and to stay with him. Many times in the past seven days I've thought about what had happened, what the Akatsuki did to the man I love, and my anger spiked, and my urge to enact revenge simmered inside, clouding my thoughts.

However, I had to remain on the path I'd chosen and had promised to follow through with; my marriage to Gaara and my place by his side. That was the goal I had to keep in mind from now on. Rather than putting him through hell with worry, I instead intended to be his strength from now on. I would be by his side to help with any and all matters he couldn't handle on his own.

Even though everything in me said I needed to get even with those who'd done the one I love harm, the thought of the future I'd now chosen was calming. Whereas I used to live for getting stronger and being successful in my goals-no matter how challenging or life threatening they might have been-knowing that I would be able to put my years of experience and training to good use in ensuring the well-being of others gave a level of satisfaction I hadn't felt before.

All these years I'd grown, both physically and mentally, but I think in the past few days I had grown even more so mentally. It took a lot to let go of my revenge, and I was still working on letting go of the anger, but I was at least working on it. I was trying. I was who I needed to be in the years I'd spent by myself, but now it was time for me to be who Gaara needed me to be as well. Which was myself, but more considerate and understanding. 

I could do that. For Gaara, I would do anything. Which is why I now stood in a room filled with different traditional wedding kimonos with KiKi and Every, who were going berserk looking through them all to find the 'perfect' one for my wedding later today. We were a bit late on this part of the planning, but considering everything else was planned in only a few days I think my dress wear was the least of my concerns. 

Since I didn't have my mother's traditional kimono passed on to me, I needed to choose a new one for myself, one that I could pass down should Gaara and I ever have a daughter. I kept this in mind as Every and KiKi showed me several different selections to look at. After what felt like ever, but must have only been an hour or two, I'd selected a white silk flower patterned undergarment with a black and red silk kimono. 

Red and black had always been my favorite colors, but should my future daughter not like those colors for some reason, she could always simply wear the white undergarment as an outerwear instead of under. Satisfied with my selection, we moved on to jewelry and hair pieces.

With my full outfit decided, my two best friends helped me into my kimono before setting out to fix my hair and makeup. I didn't much care for wearing makeup or putting the effort into fixing my hair a certain way other than what was convenient, but both insisted that I had to look my absolute best today, if not for any other occasion, then at least for my wedding day.

We chatted about the things we'd all been through together, when we all first met, Every's sudden entrance into my life even though she'd stalked me for like, 8 years. We talked about their futures as well, KiKi and Kiba had been dating for quite some time now, and she was thinking about moving to the Village Hidden in the Leaves to be with him. Apparently, Akimaru and Aky had also been getting along rather well, KiKi admitted how she was unsure, but thought Aky might be pregnant with pups already.

We congratulated her. That would explain a lot of her absence as of late, KiKi said she wanted to keep her safe and make sure she didn't overexert herself in case she was. Which was completely understandable. Aky was practically her daughter, it would kill her if anything happened to her furry companion, or her possible pups.