Drought

Naruto Fanfiction

Main Pairing: GaaSaku

Additional Pairings: NaruKiba HinaShino Leeten ShikaNeji Inochouji KakaIrukTemari

Chapter one: Happy Birthday Gaara

XXXXXX

They prayed for rain. They prayed for the moment when the heavens would open up and restore the Country of Fire to its former glory. Drought had ravished the land, turning the miles of once thick and plentiful tree into nothing but a jumble of dry bark and roots. Skeletons one might say; A mere phantom images of what once was the forests of Konoha. The ground which once grew with lush grass laden with all matters of vegetation was now hard, dusty and cracking under the temperature of the soil and air. Dust storms ravished housings, eroding away years of plaster and clay in a matter of seconds. The heat made working and travelling unbearable. Disease spread like wild fires, water became scarce as the rivers dried up due to the extreme heat and food had become a luxury. Feudal lords demanded money that the village just didn’t have. It was an understatement to say that they too were also suffering. With money and food in short supply, the lords and royals of other countries began taking their ninja business elsewhere. Even the hopes of the villages around the country had began to dry up. He was beginning to think he would never be able to see the cloud over with thunder and rain ever again.

This was not how he had imagined things would be when he had become the famous Hokage. The blonde released a heavy sigh as his broken nib pen hovered dangerously over a seemingly random form. Somewhere from the depths of his candle lit office, a shinobi coughed loudly. “Are you gonna sign that or are you going to look at it all night?” he asked, stepping into the light. The blonde looked up from his paper and focused his exhausted sapphire coloured orbs on the approaching ANBU captain, Inuzuka Kiba. “I…I just cant give up on her now, not after having to sign everyone else away”, he sighed again as he casted his eyes back towards his shuddering hand that gripped the ball point fiercely. Kibas eyes softened at the sight of his lovers quivering hand. “They felt honoured to leave in order to preserve the country and village”, he stated for what felt like the hundredth time. The blonde however didn’t look convinced. “The same words I keep telling myself”, he muttered in annoyance. He turned back to the ANBU captain with a weak smile. “How long as it been now? A year and a half?” he asked playfully as he ran a hand through his blonde locks. Naruto knew that they had both lost count. “It has almost been two years”, he answered with a frown and reached for the small canteen that hung on his belt. “Water?” he offered, shaking the canteen near the blonde, hoping to arouse his thirst. Giving the canine ninja a thankful smile, he reached out and took the canteen in his trembling hand. He took a small swig then handed the captain back his water. “Here, you need this more than me”, he cast his eyes back to the transfer paper that was sitting quite happily on his weathered wooden desk. Kiba slipped the canteen back onto his belt and slid onto the wooden desk. It let out a small moan of protest. “Well there is only for thing for it…You gotta sign it Naruto”, he whispered to his blonde friend. The said blonde picked up the broken pen again and placed the nib against the dotted line. With a few strokes of his nib, his blue signature glistened on the white paper. “I never thought I would have to give up the search for Sakura”, he muttered as his slumped down against his chair looking utterly defeated. The canine ninja scooped the papers up and bundled them into a small envelope. Naruto wiped his shimmering forehead and looked out the window. Although it was night and the stars danced in the sky; quite oblivious to the suffering of the mortal world, the temperature was unbearable. Kiba cast a worried glance at his lover. “Well the last I heard from the ANBU that she had made it far over the borders of the wind country. That’s about as much as we know and that was almost three months ago. Have you informed Gaara?” he asked cautiously taking a step towards the door. Naruto shook his blonde haired head.

“Yeah, but what can he do? He’s having problems of his own right now”, he whimpered, sounding utterly defeated. The canine softened his gaze at his blonde lover.

“Don’t worry I’ll entertain you tonight”, he grinned at his blonde lover. The said blonde winked and shuffled in his fire patterned Hokage robe.

“I expect nothing less”, he replied as a feral smile flickered across his face. The ANBU captain grinned again before stepping out of the candle, disappearing into the darkness of the sweltering office. The opening of his office door then followed by a small click alerted Naruto that Kiba had left the building. Wiping his head for what felt like the hundredth time, the blonde cast his eyes back to the open window behind his wooden desk.

It hadn’t been easy to make the decision. He knew it was wrong but he….Was the Hokage. It was his job to insure the safely of his village and smaller provinces. Even if that meant having to send his ninja away to do more…manual work.

Hinata had been the first go. When the drought had reached its worst stages, he was approached by a feudal lord; asking for a suitable bride for his son who had just turned eighteen. Hyuuga Hinata captured their attention rather quickly. As the village Hokage, he was offered several thousand ryous’ since she was the heiress to the Hyuuga clan. Any other time, that kind of sum would not have really mattered but with the effects of the drought increasing, the money that jingled in his well stitched pockets began to look rather tempting. When Naruto asked the lavender eyed girl and her father, he caused quite a stir that lasted several days before the Hyuuga heiress nobly agreed. Within two days, the purple haired had promptly been left leaving a heartbroken Shino behind and a guilt ridden Hokage.

Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru and Tenten had been lucky enough to be employed by the same household. Neji, being a Hyuuga and a genius was married off to a noble’s daughter. That of course didn’t please neither of his team-mates. Shikamaru, being a super mastermind, was given the position of a general while the weapons mistress became the captain of the guard. Although all three of them worked, their salary was low but enough to buy water from neighbouring countries and Neji had access to the small fortune that he had inherited from his new family.

After that, it became easier; Rock Lee and Gai left to do much more manual work for a building company, Ino gave up fighting in the battlefields left and became a wife to a nice enough lord somewhere in the wave country which broke Choujis heart and most of the Jounin, including the infamous Anko and the legendary Hatake Kakashi, had left to find work in order to feed their village. As a Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto could never ask for nobler shinobi.

But the drought continued to ravish the land, hearts and bodies of the people living in it. Hyuuga Hanabi was a victim of the Konoha Plague; a nasty disease that destroyed all the chakra paths and burned away the muscles and organs of the unfortunate soul. Hanabi suffered for three weeks before eventually dieing while clutching the hands of her distraught father and despairing sister who had returned briefly for the funeral. Iruka, the loved by all sensei, had also fallen victim to the plague as well as countless others dieing, committing suicide or just simply…disappearing. Sakura, his best friend and former crush packed up her belongings and disappeared one humid night without a trace; leaving behind only a tear spattered note containing a few well placed words along with the promise to return once she had a decent amount of money tucked in her pockets. The ever-so-strong Hokage collapsed into deep tears of sapphire after discovering her true intentions.

Sitting back at his weathered desk, the blonde surveyed his office with no real interest. The bottle of Sake given to him by Tsunade sat on his worn counter. Narrowing his sapphire blue eyes dangerously, Naruto reached for the bottle and shook it slightly. Ah good, still a full bottle. He promised Kiba he wouldn’t open it until Sakura come back or at least when the drought finally ended. Settling the bottle back down on its rightful place, Naruto spun around in his chair and cast his azure coloured orbs out onto the night horizon. “Sakura-chan…Where are you?”…

XXXXXXX

“Gaara! All this working isn’t good for you! I swear your coming more of a recluse every day!” A female voice barked from into the ear of her unfortunate red haired brother. Gaara, the Kazekage of Suna looked up from his pile of untidy documents then returned with little or no interest.

“And?” he asked his overbearing sister. Temari frowned and pushed back a lock of ash blonde hair that had come loose before leaning over her youngest brothers documents. She wrinkled her nose in confusion.

“Finances Gaara? I thought you hated that stuff? In fact, I always do it for you”, she questioned, narrowing her inky blue eyes suspiciously. The crimson haired boy didn’t even bother looking up and reached for his calculator.

“I did and now I don’t”, he replied, bitterness lingering in his tone. His sister folded her arms in annoyance.

“You can’t fool me Gaara”, she stated with a playful grin. Gaara coughed slightly before beginning to add up whatever calculations he had scribbled over the paper. Well well, looks like we will have to do this the hard way Temari thought with a devious smile plastered on her lips.

“Sabaku No Gaara! Put down that pen right now or so help me I’ll tell your fan girls what your favourite colour is!” She barked, marching into front of her brothers desk. His fountain pen twitched slightly before dropping onto the desk with a small clank.

“Alright, what is it?” he asked as he leaned back in his leather chair without even the slightest hint of fear lingering in his cyan coloured eyes.

“You’re spending too much time in this office…Well more than usual anyway”

“Point being?”

“It’s not healthy!” Temari barked at her younger brother. The Kazekage shifted in his chair with annoyance.

“I do not care, I have work to do”

“Your work isn’t going anywhere! You’re even here today, of all days to come in!”

“What’s so special about today?” he asked passively

“Your birthday is special baka!” Temari shot back defensively. Gaara recoiled slightly and cast his eyes down onto the document he had been working on before he was interrupted. Temari moved forward slightly and slid onto his desk; moving his documents out of the way before doing so, her inky coloured eyes lingering with warm and love.

“What’s the matter with you Gaara? You have been like this since you got word about Konoha’s desperate situation and Sakuras disppearence”, she asked softly, reaching over and squeezing her brothers shoulder in a reassuring way. Her brother tensed for a moment before answering his sister.

“I think I have seen her. Here, in Suna”, Gaara said eventually. Temari stared at her brother like he had grown a second head. The Kazekage picked up his pen and continued jotting down sums. Nothing was said for a few moments between the siblings, and then Temari suddenly reached over and yanked his pen out of his hand. Furious, Gaara opened his mouth to protest but fell short after Temari hurled the pen out a nearby window.

“Gaara! Get your sorry ass out of that chair and go home!” she barked again, sliding off his desk. Gaara stared at her for a few moments looking mildly surprised. Never had his sister had an outburst like that. He surveyed her for a moment or two before calmly getting out of his chair.

“Please try and remember who is in charge here, Temari-san”, he said coolly. Temari blinked and stepped aside to allowed her brother to the door. She shuffled nervously as he drifted past. Ok, she guessed she was a little out of line.

“Kazekage-sama, I was out of line and I formally apologise”, she said respectfully with a bow. Gaara paused at the door and glanced at his sister. She was under a lot of stress. Her ash blonde hair was unkept and unwashed, her clothes crumpled and her body trembled from either fear or lack of food. She had recently stopped coming home at night due to the crisis that face Konoha. As the liaison between Konoha and Suna, she was spending most of her time dropping supplies off to the once powerful village. His gaze softened slightly before turning around and placing a hand on her shoulder. The girl jumped slightly at the sudden contact but relaxed.

“You know…I got your birthday present…you might like her”, Temari said, breaking the silence that had iced over. Gaara recoiled his hand and stared at his sister in complete disbelief.

“Temari, you know I do not approve of that”, he stated, trying to cover up his annoyance but failing. The wind user winced at his tone of voice.

“Gaara, please at least go and see her. I know you have been under a lot of stress lately and I thought it might help. Please, do it as a favour to me”, she pleaded with her brother. Gaara stared at her for a few seconds. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. He was aggravated that his sister had gone behind his back and arranged such an encounter but then again…She was only trying to do it for him. The Kazekage of Suna sighed and turned to the door again.

“I will see her but I am not promising anything”, he said evenly. Temari let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

“I don’t know anything about her but I was told that she is their best”, she responded as she picked up a few stray documents and she turned around to say nothing else but her brother was already gone.

XXXXX

Gaara stood outside her bedroom door, his hands clenching into fists. He had it all planned out. He was going to go in, apologise to the girl for his sister’s misconduct then send the girl on her merry way with a pocketful money. Yes, that would do just nicely then he could return to the tower and finish up his work.

To say that he was complete and utterly disgusted would have only been half right.

Gaara clenched his hand around the door handle and pushed it open, not sure what to expect but what he did find almost practically knocked his socks off.

It was her. There was no denying it. The pride and joy of the Godaime Hokage Tsunade was sitting on the window ledge by his vast bed, looking out the window as if she had not noticed him. His teal eyes drifted down her body, drinking in her entire frame. To say that her costume was scant would have certainly been an understatement. Her outfit of that of a belly dancer except slightly more revealing if that was even possible. Transparent green hid indecent underwear and hung on her stomach, showing off the benefits of years of intense shinobi training. The emerald top covered her developed bust but only just and tied around her neck and under her sharp shoulder blades. Long pastel pink hair tied with various ribbons, flowers and braids hung above her waist line, shining beautifully in the pale moonlight. She was absolutely stunning.

Gaara was sure that he still had Shukaku; the demon would have probably had a nose bleed and fainted

The Kazekage felt his breath hitch and she noticed him for the first time. Lifeless emerald eyes stared into his intense teal coloured orbs. She looked nervous but didn’t show it, one shapely leg swung gently of the ledge. Her exposed back pressed against the frame of the window while her hands rested on her left knee that was pressed up against her chest.

At that point, he wanted nothing more than to drag her off the window ledge and proceed to have his way with her. Or at the very least, touch her creamy skin. Suppressing his animalistic urges, the red head took a speak forward and swallowed loudly which did not go unnoticed. The seventeen year old year slid off the wooden frame and bowed deeply against the floor. The Kazekage took a shuddering breath.

“Sakura”, he whispered….