The Stand of a Kazekage

"Lord Kazekage, please, your attention is needed here."

Gaara came out of his thoughts when a folder, brimming with budget reports, slapped down on his desk.

"Another one? This is the eighth folder I've been through today."

His secretary pulled up a pile of papers and struggled to fit them all on his desk.

She wiped her brow and sighed. "The price of peace, Lord Gaara. We had to borrow from other villages for our resources during the war; rations, medical supplies, basic needs to keep our people thriving. Unfortunately, that means we now have to filter through all our receipts and start managing how to best pay them all back."

He felt a headache coming on.

Gaara poked at one from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. "What did we borrow from them?"

The mousey girl flicked up her glasses. "Weaponry, my Lord."

"Couldn't we just give them said weapons back?" Gaara grumbled.

The long list of numbers made his eyes cross, the headache growing with each minute he stayed focusing on them.

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Lord Gaara?"

"Yes, Kai?"

She hugged the folders closer to her chest. "You seem to be in pain, sir. Would you like me to help?"

He peeked one eye open. "How would you help?"

Kai looked away from him, a slight blush rising in her cheeks. "I could go over these budget reports and sign for you? It's all the same process after a while, just addressing it to the various needs of each village. If you'd like to go do something else, I could take this off your plate."

Gaara took in the piles of paperwork that never seemed to shrink, he'd be lying if the offer wasn't tempting. "No, this is my responsibility as Kazekage. I should see it through."

"But..."

Suddenly, the doors to his private study were thrown open with a crash and a woman with fire in her eyes, stood before him.

"Gaara! We need to talk, right now!"

He blinked a few times, trying to process the words she was yelling at him.

He looked behind her at the guards, who were panting and rushing into the room. "Our deepest apologies, Lord Kazekage! We tried to stop her!"

Gaara closed the folder and laced his hands in front of his face. "It's fine. Back to your posts."

They bowed to him and the doors closed, leaving a furious Rin, standing side-by-side, a much meeker Kai.

The comparison was astounding.

"How can I help you, Rin?"

Her face was flushed, hair tussled, as if she'd broken free from a scuffle. By the way his guards were heaving, it wouldn't surprise him, if she had.

She came closer to the desk. "Did you have any idea that the men you placed in charge of Haru..."

"The prisoner."

Her mouth slid to an angry line. "Fine. Did you have any idea that the man you placed in charge of the PRISONER, hasn't been feeding him for the past three days?"

"What?"

"Oh, you didn't? Then are you aware that he's also been beaten, deprived of medical attention and treated like a caged animal?"

"No, I was not aware."

Rin shook her head. "How in the world, could you have placed that terrible sergeant in charge of the prison? He's cruel and perverse. He should be strung up by his boots and left out for the vultures! His guts should be on display for all to see!"

The tiny gasp beside her, didn't even register with Rin, until Gaara rose from his seat.

She waited for him to approach her, but instead, he passed by and placed a hesitant hand on a young woman's shoulder. "My apologies, Kai. Why don't you take the rest of the day off? I can handle these reports on my own."

The woman looked like she was going to cry, but nodded and bowed her head. "Yes, sir."

Gaara waited until the door closed, before turning around to face Rin. "Well, that was pleasant."

"I'm sorry if my description was too vivid, but I stand by it. That man is a monster, he's vile, he's..."

"My secretary's husband."

Rin's jaw dropped, mid-sentence. "Oh."

"Yes, oh, indeed."

She felt caught, an embarrassed feeling sinking in her stomach. "I apologize for upsetting her, but I'm more disturbed at the knowledge that he's married at all. Let alone to that shy girl."

"They have a son, too."

The images she'd seen of his father in the shed, belt buckle in hand, made her cringe.

Rin hoped, for both their sakes, that history wouldn't repeat itself in the next generation.

By the cruelty of his mind, she didn't doubt it already had.

"Regardless, how can you place a man like that in charge of the prisoners?"

"He's the best interrogator in the village. Seemed like the perfect place for him."

"I pity the Sand's enemies, if he's allowed to handle them. They'll be nothing left when he's through."

Gaara's eyes caught her. "That's the point."

Rin stopped the pacing she'd started and stared at him, that sinking feeling turning into a full, downward plummet. "Do you support that kind of cruelty, Gaara?"

He brushed past her and looked out the window, hands laced behind his back.

It felt like he wouldn't answer at first, and when he did, she wished he hadn't. "I support keeping my people safe. Their health and happiness, are my main concerns."

"At what risk? Isn't this terrible reputation what the Sand is trying to escape? Are you going to continue to deprive him of basic human rights for your own gain?"

"Rin." His tone was sharp, the anger building.

She took a breath and stepped closer, trying to calm herself. "Please, I can't stand to see him in there anymore."

"What are you asking me to do?"

Rin knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn't help it.

The sight of his fresh bruises, the starkness of his bones, the faint smile he gave, that let her know he was trapped in his own mind, all of it drove her forward. "I want you to release him into my care."

"What?"

"I can't induce in that prison. It's far too cold and unpleasant. I need to relax him and then I can try to make progress."

"You want me to release a physically dangerous and mentally unstable man into my village?"

Rin stepped closer to him, disturbed he hadn't turn to look at her. "I know you don't like the idea, but I need this from you. Please, he's going to die in there."

"I can't do that."

"You must! Please, please, for me, release him into my care and I'll help him."

"No."

Her anger flared again, the fierce temper that so often took her reason, dripping in her words. "You can't be serious. Tell me, Gaara, is THIS how the Sand treats people from the outside? When are you going to shake off the traditions of the past and be better? When are you going to realize that cruelty isn't going to make this village any...?"

"And when are you going to realize that I'm not a normal man?!"

Rin stopped short.

Gaara turned around from the window, the blaring sun shadowing his frame. "I'm not some run-of-the-mill shinobi. I can't bend to your every whim because you demand it of me. I can't have you bursting into my office whenever something is upsetting to you and in turn, have you upset my staff."

"But I..."

"I am the Kazekage, Rin. Why can't you understand that?"

"I do."

"You don't. Clearly, you don't, or you wouldn't be in here, putting your friend's needs above what my security deems necessary. Placing my people at risk and then having the nerve to ask me to do it for you. I can't do that for you."

Her head dropped, the corners of her eyes brimming with frustrated tears.

She knew he was right.

It was ludicrous to ask him for this, but she still had to try. Haru wasn't going to make it much longer.

Gaara sighed, his anger subsiding.

The sounds of his steps as he approached her, echoed numbly in her ears. His hand came under her chin and gently tipped it up. "Rin."

She didn't say anything.

"Rin, please, look at me."

Though she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide, her eyes drifted up.

Gaara's expression seemed so much older than it should.

She knew that gaze had seen far more than hers. He walked in worlds of death and torture first hand and felt a loneliness she couldn't hope to understand; the vast, aching loneliness that came with leadership and couldn't be shared with her.

His voice was soft. "I'm sorry."

She sniffled.

He pulled her close and he rested his forehead against hers. "I want to give you the world, Rin. My first instinct is to do what makes you happy, but I can't this time. I can't put my people's lives at risk for your friend or your village, not even for you."

Her hand came to rest against his, cupping it to her face, her voice small and broken. "He'll die in there, Gaara. He's getting worse."

"I didn't think that was possible."

"It's worse because today I saw him for the first time. I saw the real Haru in there. Someone is controlling him."

Gaara froze and pulled away from her, so he could see her eyes. "Why do you think that?"

"I reached him. He said my number from the laboratory. He knew me and then, it was like someone reached in his head and crushed his mind as punishment. Whomever is controlling him, can see me, can hear our interactions. I don't know how, but it's true."

The Kazekage thought this over. "That means the threat is in our walls."

"I think so."

His arms dropped from Rin and he raced to the door, calling out to the guards. "Bring me Captains Temari and Kankuro, this instant! Tell them to go to the Hole, they'll know what it means."

"Yes sir!" They quickly left to do as he asked.

Gaara seized Rin's hand and took her to a section of the wall, that moved under his hand.

She startled at the sudden opening and stared into the hidden passageway. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you to a safe place. If what you say is true, we're in more danger, than I thought."

He pushed her in and she turned to face him. "But, what about Haru?"

Gaara joined her inside and even in the darkness, she could feel his intense gaze. "You're going to get your wish after all. We're moving him from his cell, to the underground facility."

"The prison already is underground. How much further down can we go?"

His hand took hers, helping her descend the dark staircase, holding her body close to his. "You have no idea."