Chapter Text
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Ten years had passed since the chunin exams when Gaara and his village had betrayed Konoha. In those days, he’d been in a constant state of rage from his tailed beast. He was no longer an enemy of Konoha, but his village was their strongest alliance — an alliance forged by friendship.
Which was not to say an infallible alliance. Perhaps his sister’s upcoming marriage with Shikamaru Nara would help secure their connection? Their relationship was forged through mutual affection. They weren’t a political arrangement.
Gaara’s mind flashed back to his father. He’d never truly understood the man. Even now, he struggled to comprehend Rasa’s choices. As the kazekage himself, he understand the pressures of the position, especially with the council breathing down his neck about securing a wife. Gaara had been given an ultimatum of finding a wife on his own within the next six months, or accepting one of the young women they kept suggesting.
Perhaps it was too much to ask that he be given the chance to marry for love as well. He was happy for Naruto — truly. Naruto Uzumaki was Gaara’s first true friend. At one point, his obsessive mind thought he might be in love with Naruto himself. And maybe he was, but seeing as he was a guest at Naruto’s wedding, such feelings were obviously unrequited.
Though, when Gaara had been trapped within that godtree, living his dream-life, it hadn’t been Naruto at his side. It had been the female member of Team Seven, the one that had worked with him to keep Naruto alive after Kurama had been extracted. He tried not to think of that false reality, but dreams were still a new experience for him after so much of his life had been spent suffering insomnia. He wasn’t sure why it was Sakura that he dreamed about, but maybe it was related to Elder Chiyo. The woman’s spirit brought Sakura back from a mortal wound and resurrected him from the dead. Maybe the residual of the old woman’s life-force connected them?
Shinobi of all five major hidden villages were in Konoha, protecting it from enemies so that the Leaf shinobi could celebrate Naruto’s marriage to the Hyuga princess. Gaara had always assumed that Naruto would marry his long-time childhood crush. He had nothing against the dark-haired Hyuga heiress, but she hadn’t been the one that literally held Naruto’s heart in her hands and kept him from dying.
“Gaara, we’ve got this,” Kankuro assured him for the third time. “Go on. Temari is attending the ceremony. There’s no reason you shouldn’t. Naruto invited you because you’re friends, not because you’re the leader of another village.”
Temari had never tried to kill the groom, though that was ten years ago and most of the blame fell upon Shukaku’s unbridled rage. “Very well,” Gaara agreed. He left behind his Anbu guards, his sand armor was more than enough to protect him from any threat. Though, he didn’t expect to find any enemies at this wedding.
It truly was a time of peace. The blooming cherry blossom trees added a lovely floral scent and the pink flowers drifted to the ground in an ephemeral beauty. His thoughts drifted to the pink-haired kunoichi that Naruto wasn’t marrying.
Gaara settled into one of the chairs in the back of the congregation, noting Temari’s blond hair in the second row as she sat next to Shikamaru Nara. He wondered if their wedding would be the next one he attended. He tried to not be envious.
Then he studied the front of the assembly. Naruto was dressed handsomely in a black formal robe, his unruly golden hair tamed into submission. Next to him stood an older man with a scar across the bridge of his nose. Then the silver-haired hokage also stood alongside Naruto as his final groomsman. Where was the Uchiha? Gaara thought that surely Naruto’s proclaimed best friend would have been present on such an auspicious occasion. He caught Naruto’s sky blue eyes and offered a nod of his head in acknowledgement.
Then the music started and the bridesmaids started their march up the aisle. It’s when he saw her.
Her hair— the same pink as her namesake that was currently in bloom— was longer than when Gaara had last seen her. It was pulled back into an elegant braid adorned with yellow and purple flowers halfway down her back. She wore a strapless pale green dress (that may have been the same shade as his eyes) that reached just above her knees. Gaara struggled to draw his attention away from the toned muscles of her long legs and her powerful arms. Sakura was a strong woman and he found her extremely attractive as such.
He shifted his attention back to Naruto, carefully gaging his friend's reaction. The smile on Naruto’s tanned face was pleasant, but there was no heat in his gaze. Perhaps the future hokage had truly gotten over his first love. Sakura stood on the bride’s side and waited, the breeze ruffling the skirt of her dress. Then the younger Hyuga sister made her way, carrying a framed photograph of the Hyuga prodigy that had passed during the war.
The music shifted and then the raven-haired bride with her pale eyes and white wedding kimono adorned with crimson flowers began her march. Gaara observed the dopey smile on Naruto’s whiskered face as Hinata approached him.
Gaara folded his arms over his broad chest, watching the ceremony while feeling strangely light without his gourd. He tried to focus on Naruto and Hinata sharing their vows, but his attention kept landing on the second bridesmaid. Green was a great color on her and he couldn’t help but wonder what she would wear at her own wedding. That faceless groom was a lucky bastard and Gaara wanted to kill whomever he was already.
As the ceremony ended with the bride and groom kissing before everyone as husband and wife, Gaara stood with the other witnesses. His attention focused back on the pink-haired kunoichi that saved his brother’s life and the silver-haired hokage escorting her arm-in-arm down the aisle.
“Gaara!” Temari latched onto his arm, smiling radiantly up at him. It had actually been a couple of months since they’d last seen each other. She’d been serving as Suna’s liaison with Konoha. Shikamaru was a few paces behind her, catching up at a sedate pace. “I’m glad you came. You can sit with us at the reception.” He allowed himself to be pulled along towards the food and beverages. “The wedding party will be taking pictures for a while,” she explained.
He sat with his sister and her boyfriend at one of the many tables. The floral centerpieces were elegant sprigs of lavender and golden sunflowers — a bit on the nose considering the bride. Hinata meant sunflower after all.
“So, how are things back home?” Temari asked, bracing her forearms on the table. The way Shikamaru casually draped his arm over her shoulders made Gaara narrow his eyes. The shadow-manipulating shinobi retracted his arm back to his side, muttering about ‘troublesome brothers.’
“The council has been even more tenacious of late without you to fend them off,” Gaara admitted.
“Oh, trying to pressure you into marrying?” Temari asked. Before she came to Konoha, they’d been focused on finding her a match. Gaara had been more than eager to help her escape that unhappy situation. “I thought that since you’re younger, they’d be less persistent.”
“The kazekage position is hereditary,” Gaara pointed out. He left unsaid that it was either him, Kankuro — who while he enjoyed sleeping with half the population of Suna didn’t want to marry, or Temari that would need to produce an heir.
“Oh, there they are,” Temari whispered, sitting back, her eyes trained just behind Gaara.
He turned, assuming she’d be speaking of the bride and groom, but instead, it was the Rokudaime with Sakura Haruno on his arm. Gaara felt his throat tighten for some strange reason. When was the last time he’d really seen Sakura? It wasn’t in that strange dream, but it had been on his sand cloud as she literally pumped Naruto’s heart with her bare hands during the war — six years ago. She’d been both fearsome and beautiful.
“Sasuke is an idiot,” Shikamaru muttered.
Gaara forcefully drew his attention away from Sakura and Kakashi to face Shikamaru. “Why do you say that?”
“Sakura offered to go with him on his last mission, but he turned her down. He said he didn’t want to burden her any more.” Shikamaru explained. Gaara merely stared at him, willing him to explain more. “She finally broke up with him. Now she’s making arrangements to leave for Cloud to help with their hospital.”
She was leaving the village? “Why Cloud?” Gaara asked.
“Apparently the Raikage’s assistant, — Cee? He and her had some sort of connection during the war. They met in the medic corp,” Shikamaru explained. “She told Ino that she wanted a change of scenery. Now that Naruto is married and Ino and Sai are together, she didn’t want to feel lonely.”
“Is it finalized?” Gaara asked. If she was willing to leave Konoha and have a fresh start somewhere, why not Suna? They were closer allies and she was a hero in Wind for having been the one to fight alongside Elder Chiyo to take down the notorious terrorist Sasori. And he and Sakura shared a literal connection — Elder Chiyo’s life-force brought them both back to life from the greedy maws of death.
“No, it’s not finalized.” Shikamaru frowned and he looked between Gaara and then Sakura with a calculating look in his dark eyes. “I suspect she’s evaluating her options.”
“Maybe you can offer her something better?” Temari suggested.
Gaara drummed his fingers over his crossed arms, his eyes settled back on the woman in green. As if feeling his attention, Sakura turned towards him. A soft smile of acknowledgement crossed her lips before she turned back to speak to Kakashi.
“If you were interested,” Shikamaru murmured, drawing Gaara’s attention. “She’d appreciate someone that was upfront with their intentions. She’s spent a lot of time wasted on a man that while they may care about each other, he didn’t seem to understand what she needed.”
“And what is it that she needs?” Gaara asked.
“A man strong enough not to be intimidated by her power and smart enough to keep up with her mind,” Temari answered. She laid her hand upon his shoulder and bent close to his ear. “Suna would be lucky to have her as the next kazehime, little brother.”
Naruto and Hinata joined the guests and after a few speeches, people began to mingle. A crowd had formed around the bride and groom, so Gaara would wait to offer his congratulations later. He strode with purpose towards Sakura. She stood in a loose circle with Kakashi Hatake, Ino Yamanaka, and Sai. Their conversation ended abruptly when Gaara joined them.
“Kazekage,” Kakashi acknowledged, standing close to Sakura, but not touching. It was an indication of their close bond, yet it wasn’t anything improper between a former teacher and student.
“Hokage,” Gaara answered, his eyes focused on Sakura. She smiled at him tentatively. Her teeth were even and white and he had the unbidden desire to run his tongue across them. “Sakura-san.”
“Kazekage,” Sakura greeted. “Naruto will be so glad you made it.” A gentle breeze swept through again, a few cherry blossoms fluttered into Sakura’s hair.
Gaara could vaguely hear the blond kunoichi and the dark-haired young man saying something, but Gaara kept his attention wholly on Sakura and the way her jade eyes looked even more lovely with the fabric of her dress so similar in shade to his own green eyes. He brought his hand close to her face and pulled one of the cherry blossoms from her hair. He rubbed it between his thumb and index finger, watching as it crumbled. Then he kneeled on one knee directly in front of Sakura and took her hand.
She was too stunned to do anything but let him hold her hand as he made his very public, very loud declaration.
“Sakura Haruno, will you marry me?” Gaara asked, bringing her hand to his mouth and pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her knuckles. He kept his eyes trained on hers, wide with shock. “Be my kazehime, the mother of my children, and inspire future generations with your knowledge and skills?”
Her cheeks burned crimson as the attention of everyone at the wedding reception was now centered on them. “Gaara?” She squeaked in surprise.
“I am willing to go to war for you,” Gaara added, flickering his gaze briefly towards a narrow-eyed Kakashi. The smell of ozone began to grow thick around them.
Sakura cleared her throat. “I don’t think we need to go to war.” She pulled him to his feet, her face flushed under the attention.
He could feel Naruto start to make his way towards them. He couldn’t understand why there seemed to be so much killing intent coming from his friend and from the hokage. He said he was willing to go to war, not that he was declaring war.
“I say do it,” Ino whispered. “It’s not every day a kage proposes marriage.”
“Oh, is one supposed to announce their intentions to copulate at a wedding?” Sai asked. He mimicked Gaara and knelt in front of Ino and took her hand in his. “Ino Yamanaka, I wish to fornicate with you and have you shout my name until your voice is hoarse.”
“Oh my Kami,” Ino hissed pulling Sai up and burying his face in her cleavage. “Just shut up!”
“I quite like this method of shutting up,” Sai answered, his voice muffled by her breasts.
Gaara ignored the murmurings amongst the wedding guests and kept his attention focused on Sakura. She hadn’t given him an answer yet. He took her hand and using his skill with sand and magnetism, took gold dust from his sand armor and forged a golden bracelet. The bracelet wrapped around Sakura’s left wrist with a chain that led up to her middle finger— the traditional Suna jewelry for a royal bride.
“Um, so, what’s going on?” Naruto asked, laughing awkwardly. “It sounded like Gaara just proposed to Sakura-chan.”
“He did,” Sakura answered, her eyes studied the bracelet on her hand. She curled her fingers around Gaara’s where he still held her gently. “And I accept.”
A slow, satisfied smile curled Gaara’s lip.
In the distance, a hawk screeched angrily.
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