Loopy

By MadnessinmyMethod

Matsuri was the type of person who usually had very little to say, but when she did speak, it was important. Perhaps that was why she had gotten along so swimmingly with her teacher in her pre-genin days. He was the quiet sort who knew what he was talking about. Every word that came out of his mouth seemed to be laced with a deeper meaning.

His name was Gaara, a rather famous name in the Hidden Village of the San. "Monster," "hero," "that guy" were all terms that went along with his name. A few years after Matsuri had officially become a genin, Gaara became the leader of the village, the Kazekage, and people started to call him some other things. "Gaara-sama," "Kazekage-sama," or "that jerk-sama."

As Gaara began to take on his new duties as Kazekage, he grew away from his former student. Their paths crossed ever more rarely. Matsuri was away on missions and Gaara was immersed in paperwork and dull meetings.

But Gaara had forgotten one thing about his student that would force her back into his life. She had more compassion and heart than hardly anyone Gaara had ever seen save Uzumaki Naruto. Matsuri had also learned to never give up in what she believed in.

It so happened that one summer about ten years after Matsuri achieved genin status or about six since chunin, an interesting bit of legislation was working its way through the village's governing body of advisors. The law would entail signing over a semi-unused plot of land to a local business for development. The lot however was used as somewhat of a park by the local residents, particularly the children. Matsuri had grown up in this part of the village and had an attachment to the lot her herself. Needless to say, Matsuri was compelled to fight the passage of the legislation and as she failed to persuade the Councilmen and other officials to see her point of view, she turned her attentions toward capturing the mind and heart of a higher authority.

Matsuri had an entire speech planned out when she knocked on Gaara's door. His older sister, Temari, answered and a smile spread across the woman's face. "Hello, Matsuri-san."

"Temari-sama. I thought you were staying in Konoha with—"

Temari cut her off. "Yeah, it's rather complicated. I'm home for a bit. So what can I do for you?"

"Is Gaara-sama around?" Matsuri asked.

"Upstairs," she replied, her smile growing disconcertingly wider. "Go on up," Temari added, gesturing to the stairs down the hall.

"Um, okay," Matsuri said uncertainly. She had been in Gaara's home numerous times, but never beyond the first floor. Furthermore, Matsuri discovered with some dismay that there were more than two floors to the house and Temari had not indicated which floor or where on which floor Gaara was.

She wandered aimlessly around the expansive second floor, running into Kankuro who told her with a little more detail that she ought to try the third floor of the house.

Matsuri was getting rather tired now. She had spent more time in that house than she had planned and worst of all, she was getting quite hungry. "Damn, I could use a soldier pill," she muttered, as she stopped in front of another boring door. Turning the knob, she knocked half-heartedly. "Gaara-sama?"

She cracked the door open.

"Huh?"

Matsuri screamed and slammed the door shut, her cheeks tinged a flaming red and her heart beating fiercely. She had seen Gaara undergoing the peculiar task of winding a towel around the lower portion of his body. Matsuri had her back against the door, breathing in irregular gasps. She felt the brassy knob turning in her hand. Subsequently, the door opened away from her and she fell to the floor.

She looked up to see a rather wet, clearly just bathed Gaara standing over her with a large amount of confusion displayed on his face. Matsuri closed her eyes as they strayed towards his fluffy white towel.

"Matsuri, what are you doing here?" Gaara asked.

So much for the speech, she thought. "I came to discuss something with you, Gaara-sama. Temari-sama told me to go on upstairs, but I suppose I assumed that indicated you were more fully clothed. Clearly I was wrong."

"And why are your eyes closed?"

"Well, you see, Gaara-sama, you are only wearing a towel which provides very little covering considering my position on the floor at this moment," Matsuri replied. Goddamn it! I'm babbling! A hand gripped Matsuri's and pulled her to her feet where she felt it might be remotely safe to open her eyes again. Matsuri sighed and rubbed her temples as she came face to face with what could only be described as Gaara's magnificent chest.

"If you wait a moment, I might be able to do something about the towel as well," Gaara said.

Matsuri nodded and mentally slapped herself as her mind strayed in somewhat perverse directions. Gaara disappeared into his room and closed the door with a click. Matsuri felt a great desire to curse violently, yank out her hair, and perhaps break a few things, but she decided it would be a better idea to maintain the small amount of dignity she had left for the day.

Gaara bit his lip as he glanced idly at the mirror on the far wall. I really must be appalling to look at to make her scream like that, he thought to himself. But it wasn't like there was anything the poor, newly self-conscious shinobi could do about his appearance.

He found Matsuri pacing curiously out in the hall tapping her chin as though trying to convince herself of something. "Oh, nice to see you covered, Gaara-sama," she said absently.

Gaara wasn't sure how to respond to that so he chose a different direction of conversation. "I believe you said you came to talk with me about something," he prompted.

"Yes," Matsuri said eagerly. Okay, cue speech. "It's about the construction proposal going through the Council right now."

Gaara grimaced, trying to remember what she could possibly be talking about. "Ah… the one in the Thirty-Fourth Precinct?" he asked.

"Yes. The vacant lot the village is selling," Matsuri said. "But that lot it part of the neighborhood. The kids play in it. It's like a park really. What'll they do when there's a building there?"

Gaara felt like he was taking a quiz he hadn't studied for. "… Play somewhere else?"

"No, Gaara-sama! You can't do that!"

"Honestly, Matsuri, the Council has not even discussed it yet," Gaara told her. "You do not need to be so worked up about it."

Matsuri was turning a deep red, but there was no embarrassment behind her blush this time. "Gaara-sama, I came to you because I wanted your help in protecting this piece of land from development. Please tell me you'll help."

"Matsuri, as Kazekage, I cannot promise such a thing without even discussing with the Council. I must look into the best interests of the entire village."

Matsuri turned and left, leaving Gaara alone and blinking in the hallway, wondering how could the world have gone so loopy during his ten minutes in the shower.

"That went rather badly, don't you think?"

Gaara turned to see his older brother striding down the hall. "If you mean it was rather bizarre then you would be correct," he said calmly.

Kankuro's eyes seemed to dance with joy. "Come now, Gaara. Surely you realize why she came to you for help," he said.

"I am her former sensei that is true, but I do not quite get your—"

"I meant more along the lines of why our dear sister sent Matsuri upstairs when she knew full well that you were scantily clad," Kankuro interrupted.

"I still don't—"

Kankuro cut him off again, this time with a groan. "I feel like I'm talking to a fence post. The girl is in love with you, Gaara!"

His words echoed in Gaara's ears mysteriously. "No," Gaara said at last. "That can't be right." He silently reminded himself of her scream. "Shukaku may be gone, but I still feel like he's a part of me. Who could love a monster?"

Kankuro coughed loudly. "Gee, I don't know, how about your brother and sister?"

"That's not what I meant," Gaara said.

"Then what did you mean?" the painted man asked.

"… I don't know."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and walked away muttering to himself, of which Gaara caught a few distinct phrases like "crazy Kazekage" and "why do we bother."

Only a few weeks ago, Matsuri had had a canvas punching bag installed in her apartment. She had little occasion thus far to break in the training device/stress reliever, but today seemed like an excellent opportunity.

Matsuri had wrapped some plain white bandages around her knuckles for protection especially since canvas tended to be pretty rough on the skin. That was the extent of her thought process as she burst into her apartment unceremoniously (which severely disturbed her cat) and began to expend her aggression by pummeling the bag without mercy.

"Son! Of! A! Bitch!"

Several hundred punches into her fit, Matsuri realized that the downside to being a ninja meant having incredible tolerance and stamina. She wasn't exhausted at all and anger still hung heavily in her thoughts. Matsuri also remembered that she was hungry, so instead of unproductively wailing on a canvas bad she now considered a useless purchase, Matsuri decide that large amounts of comfort food and trashy romance novels would best allay her consternation.

Matsuri's speckled cat seemed to have finally forgiven her for the undue amount of noise she made upon arrival and now circled around her mewing softly. "Yes, Buckethead, you can have some ice cream too," Matsuri told the cat.

"We now bring to the Council's attention Proposition Two-hundred and Seventy-Three concerning the empty lot in Precinct Thirty-Four. Here to explain the proposal is the potential purchaser. The Council now recognizes Geblo Cufri as speaker."

Stupid formalities, Gaara thought as he sat in another boring Council meeting. There wasn't even any obscure art to stare at while pretending to be interested.

"Thank you esteemed members of the Council and Kazekage-sama," Cufri said slavishly. Gaara hated him already and proceeded to give him a cold stare. Somehow the Council was enamored with him. Gaara repressed the urge to upchuck the waffle or whatever that carbtastic, starchy thing he'd had for breakfast was.

There was unfortunately a certain set of behavioral standards for a Kazekage, and Gaara was obliged to maintain some semblance of politeness or at least civility by not vomiting on his neighbor's shoes. And so he listened as Cufri described all his plans as if the Council and Kazekage had already granted him permission to build with a perverseness that further disgusted Gaara.

Gaara left the Tower about an hour later accompanied by a member or two of the Council who were avidly discussing Cufri's proposal. These discussions, however, were very much inaudible as there was a familiar young woman stationed outside the doors, holding obnoxiously bright signs and shouting spirited slogans.

"Kazekage-sama," said a Councilman with a particularly long beard that amused Gaara, "is that not one of your former students?"

The young shinobi turned his head to look at the woman more closely and subsequently realized with a small amount of horror that the protestor was none other than Matsuri. Keeping a very neutral expression he replied, "I believe so."

"Interesting…"

Matsuri was still planted outside the Kazekage Tower when Gaara returned several hours later to fill out a large amount of boring and inconsequential paperwork. His student did not remain outside heckling pedestrians as he had previously but entered the Tower a good distance behind him, shouting angrily at various people that looked particularly alarmed.

Gaara was rather unsure of what to do about her violent presence in the lobby of the building. As he stopped at the front desk to leave off a few things that needed mailing, the clerk was especially inattentive because of Matsuri's shouted slogans.

The Kazekage frowned in annoyance. Matsuri's behavior was becoming an impediment to the smooth running of his political epicenter and, he feared, the village as a whole. Gaara turned to the desk clerk. "In exactly fifteen minutes, please ask that young lady who is distracting you to meet with me in my office."

The clerk blushed fiercely. "I, uh, what if she leaves, Gaara-sama?"

"She won't. Fifteen minutes," he repeated, then went off down the hall to the elevator that made him feel slightly claustrophobic (He doubted that the mechanics of the system were sound, but the Council refused to provide the funds for repairs. They'd be sorry when someone died, but of course they'd cover their asses.).

But Gaara survived his elevator adventure and by the time he figured out what boring paperwork he would have to do that day, a small hand knocked on his door and the brassy knob turned slowly.

Matsuri entered looking confused and somewhat harassed. "Your desk clerk tackled me and told me to show up," she said accusingly.

"I assume that you were making it difficult for him to get your attention, Matsuri," Gaara replied. Matsuri quietly fumed, having expected an apology, not a sarcastic retort. "Unfortunately, you have had no trouble obtaining the attention of the staff. I must ask you to at least keep your protests outside."

Matsuri colored quickly, a rate which astonished Gaara immensely. "I protest where I want to! That's my right!"

"Why are you making this so difficult? Don't you realize your behavior reflects on my teaching?"

An eerie calm fell over Matsuri and Gaara began to feel deeply afraid of her. "So this about your reputation," she said coldly. "I never knew that you were so selfish, Kazekage."

Gaara realized he had said something very, very stupid. "No, that's not what I mean—"

"I know exactly what you mean."

"No," he said, slamming his fist down and startling Matsuri out of her cold fury. "No, you don't understand at all!"

"Are you going to stop them from building?" she asked plainly.

"The Council head Cufri's proposal this morning."

"And?"

"I don't know."

"What does the Council think?"

"We have not officially discussed it."

"May I ask what you suspect they believe?"

"They liked him," Gaara said blandly. "But that may or may not mean anything."

Matsuri was quiet for a long time and then she asked, "What do you think, Gaara-sama?"

Gaara sighed. "Matsuri, you are putting me in a very difficult position."

"Gaar—"

"Don't you understand that I cannot show loyalty to an individual over the best interest of the entire village?"

"I'm not asking you to do something that will hurt the village. Letting that Cufri bastard build on that lot will probably bring more harm than good!"

Gaara put his head in his hands. "I can't give you the promise you're looking for. I can't promise that nothing will be built on that lot!"

"That's not what I want you to do, Gaara-sama."

He looked up. "What?"

"I know you cannot go against the entire Council. I want you to fight with me."

The Kazekage breathed deeply. "Okay." And then everything was a blur as Matsuri jumped him in her ecstasy and they fell to the floor. "Thaaank youuuu!"

"C-can't br-breathe!" Matsuri's elbow was crushing his throat.

"Oh, sorry," she said, moving the offending arm. And then she blushed, realizing that she was once more in an awkward position with Gaara, her former teacher, the Kazekage, and one of the most attractive people she had ever seen. She bit her lip. "Um, yeah. I'll just get up now then."

Gaara let her pull away, feeling rather reluctant since he had enjoyed it as soon as he had actually been getting oxygen, but then perhaps that had all just made him rather fuzzy in the head.

Matsuri held out her hand to him and helped him to his feet. He didn't let go. Gaara kept holding her hand. It was warm. Covered in calluses from his years of training. His hands were always bigger than she remembered them being. She coughed softly and he realized with embarrassment that he had been holding her hand and instantly let go. "Sorry," he muttered.

She looked away, trying to focus on anything but him. It was awkward now that she was no longer royally angry. "Anyway," she said, beginning to dig herself an even deeper hole. "I'm really sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to stumble upon you like that. I—"

"There's no need for an apology. It was Temari's fault. She knew perfectly well that I was in that state. She and Kankuro have certain notions about—" Gaara stopped himself, realizing that Matsuri was probably the last person he ought to be confiding in for this sort of thing. She would probably be horrifically embarrassed.

"Notions about what?"

Ahg! Why didn't you let it go?! "… Breakfast cereal."

"What does breakfast cereal have to do with anything?"

Good one, Gaara! "… Well, it makes me siblings act ridiculously like that, but they think its fantastic and all." That was the best you could come up with?!

Matsuri stared at him. "Are you… feeling alright, Gaara-sama?"

"Great. Never better." Liar! What the hell is wrong with you? Are you in love with her too now?

Matsuri continued to look at him strangely. She suspected that he was lying about something, but she could not begin to discover what. "So, anyway, I guess I'll come talk to you later about organizing some protests then?"

"… Yeah. I have a lot of paperwork to get to. Just come by the house." What kind of drugs are you on? If you love her just take her! What? That's what all the romantic people do. Come on now! Hey, she's leaving stop her!

"Matsuri!" Gaara said hoarsely.

She turned around, her right hand on the door knob. "Yes?" she asked, severely worried about his health. He looked horribly nervous, something she had never seen on Gaara. It had taken her until now to realize that is was nervousness.

Gaara moved quickly, afraid that she would open the door and walk away if he didn't move fast enough. He curled his fingers over her right hand and cupped her cheek. He saw the blush creep in but continued to press his lips against her own.

Matsuri gasped slightly, feeling his fingers run through her hair. She had never expected to feel these things in anything other than a dream or fantasy. Her knees went weak.

But a sharp knock on the door interrupted them. They sighed and pulled apart. "What is it?" Gaara asked calmly.

"Your sister," Temari answered severely. "We need to talk about your girl problems! Let me in!"

Matsuri stifled a giggle and Gaara sighed. "I'm rather busy. Could you come back later?"

"No, we need to—" Temari paused, having opened the door and discovered Gaara and Matsuri pressed closely together. "Nevermind. I'll see you at home later tonight."

"It's going to be hell when I get home," Gaara said.

Matsuri smiled. "You are a fence post."

"What?"

"Ah, Kankuro may have mentioned the phrase once or twice."

And there we have the other GaaraxMatsuri story I've been promising. I actually rewrote the ending because the old one was lame, so if it's a bit disjointed, that's why. Sorry. Anywho, please review because it makes me smile!