Lesson Number One

Gaara didn't move.

Kankuro looked from his brother, to the man who just announced he'd be taking his woman away.

"Rin won't be going anywhere."

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks. "Is that so?"

The puppet master sneered, crossing his arms. "It is. You're not taking her from this village."

"Is that really your decision? Seems to be like this is an issue settled between Kage, not lower shinobi."

Kankuro glared and looked to Gaara, who remained uncommonly still. "Gaara, tell him!"

"Kankuro." The tone set a chill through the room, sucking the air out.

Gaara's pale gaze set on his brother, his voice low and dangerous. "You've spoken out of turn. Don't hold up our guest any further."

He stammered, his voice catching. "Of... of course. My apologies, Orochimaru."

"Lord Orochimaru." The Sound leader said, with spiteful grin.

Kankuro bit the inside of his cheek. "Yes. My deepest apologies, Lord Orochimaru, for my offense."

"None taken. I'll see myself out. Good day to you both."

When the door closed, the breath Gaara was holding, came out in a slow exhale.

Kankuro turned on his heel, hands outstretched to his brother. "What in the world are you thinking?!"

"About?"

"You're going to let that monster come in and take your woman from you?"

Gaara closed his eyes and returned to his desk chair. "She isn't my woman."

Kankuro came to the front of the desk. "What? What do you mean? She belongs to you, doesn't she?"

"She doesn't belong to anyone. Rin belongs to herself."

"You know what I mean."

"Kankuro..."

"You can't let him do this. You can't just sit back and let him take her away from you."

"Please..."

Kankuro slammed his fist on the desk. "No! I'm not going to stand by and let you sabotage yourself! You love Rin! I know you do!"

"She doesn't love me."

"That's bullshit!"

Suddenly, Kankuro's hand came shooting across the desk and took hold of Gaara's collar, pulling him up from his chair.

The sand came rushing to protect him, curling up Kankuro's arms, encircling him in its hardening shield.

Gaara's eyes widened at his brother's boldness, but turned away. "Put me down, Kankuro."

"Not until you listen to me."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"There is! You think Rin doesn't love you? Why? What makes you say that?"

Now it was Gaara's turn to get angry. The sand tightened on his brother's arm, forcing him to release his grip.

Kankuro stepped back a few feet, a trail of blood dripping from the torn skin of his stitches.

Gaara stood his ground. "Think about it, Kankuro. No, really, think! The council was right from the start. It was suspicious that she was the one sent. She may not be an assassin, but she was specifically sent to me for a reason."

"Because her mother was a psycho. Even Orochimaru knew that!"

"No, because she'd make me lower my walls and that's what he was counting on. I was comfortable around her, so much more than anyone I've known. It was so easy to fall in love with her, because she's been made for just that purpose. I don't even know if my feelings are real or just what she made me believe."

"Gaara, you haven't seen the way she looks at you. You didn't see what I did at the Oasis."

"What did you see?"

Kankuro held his bleeding arm. "The first night you slept through, when such a thing has never been possible, was because you spent it with her. I saw you there, before you woke up. You were curled around her, resting peacefully and do you know what she was doing?"

Gaara didn't say anything, his stance unwavering.

Kankuro bridged the gap between them, coming around the side of the desk. "She was holding you to herself, loving you. If she were just here to play some kind of game with you, she would have left you there and went about her night. She didn't."

His hands were out open and vulnerable. "Even with everything that's happened here, in this village, with people who don't trust her. When suspicion and fear were high, Rin could have betrayed your trust and spilled your secrets to the villagers, but she didn't."

Gaara's body shook, despite trying to maintain his previous calm.

Kankuro's voice softened. "She loves you Gaara. I know she does. Please, don't give up on her. Fight for her. Let her know you want her to stay. Don't let that woman walk out of your life before you even tell her how you feel."

He didn't say anything.

Instead, Gaara took two steps closer to his brother, sizing him up. They stared each other down, Kankuro steady, Gaara questioning, until he took hold of the bleeding arm. "Get yourself cleaned up."

"What are you going to do?"

The Kazekage walked towards the door. "Rin should know her mother died. I'll tell her."

Kankuro watched him walk out the door, his voice low. "Yeah right. As if she doesn't already know."

~~

Gaara walked the streets of his village.

All around, people were rebuilding their lives. The sounds of hammering echoed off the walls, as homes destroyed by the bombs were cleared out and re-built.

He'd assisted with the heavy lifting in the beginning, until Temari shooed him off to deal with other matters.

It was for the best though, everyone wanted answers from him.

Answers about the captives. Answers about future measures. Answers about the girl he'd been seen with.

He couldn't give anything more to them.

No one made an effort to approach him and that was fine. He wasn't in a talkative mood anyway.

The past few weeks brought chaos in their wake and that all started from one woman, who came into his world and turned it on his head.

His gaze went to the jewelry stand, where he'd seen her listening to the legends of his village and holding a small boy on her lap.

He'd thought back then, how easy it was for her to find her place in the village and, more embarrassingly, what a good mother she would be.

Gaara believed in his heart, that given enough time, his people would come to love her, the way he loved her.

They just needed to give her a chance.

His steps brought him to the prison, where the darkness of her past sprung up and the love of her life was held and tortured.

He thought about the fire in her eyes when she burst into his office and demanded compassionate treatment for Haru.

Would she have that amount of passion for him?

"Lord Gaara!"

A voice drew his attention away from the door and settled on his sister, who was waving as she approached.

"Temari."

"What are you doing here? Orochimaru is in the village and I thought he was on his way to see you?"

"He did."

She lowered her arm. "How did that go?"

"He killed the prisoner. I'm on my way to tell Rin."

Temari felt the gnawing swell of guilt in her stomach.

Rin told her not to say anything, but she couldn't keep it from Gaara. Her loyalty to him was more important than whatever punishment would befall her.

"I know."

"You do? How?"

Temari sighed, bringing her head down. "I was impulsive this morning. Rin shared some information with me last night and I felt it was her right to say some parting words to her mother before the execution. I brought her to the room and Orochimaru came and... well... you know the rest."

Gaara didn't say anything.

Temari bowed forward, hands at her sides. "I know I went against your orders and I'll accept any punishment you see fit. I acted rashly."

"She has that effect, doesn't she?"

"Sir?"

Gaara stared at the door of the prison, his voice absent. "To make others act rash. She has that way about her. You want to give her the world and it blows up in your face."

Temari raised her head, scanning her younger brother. "What's happened?"

"How do you know something's happened?"

"Because I'm always watching you, Gaara. I know your moods by now. What did Orochimaru say to you?"

Gaara turned away and looked at his sister. "He told me he'd killed Yua and that he'd be leaving in the morning."

"Oh, well, that's not so bad. At least we don't have to go through a week-long trial of his presence."

"And he's taking Rin with him."

Temari froze in her tracks, her eyes assessing the Kazekage. "Say what now?"

"Orochimaru is leaving in the morning and he's taking Rin with him."

"And you're okay with that?"

Gaara said nothing.

She stood in front of him. "Gaara."

"What?"

Her gaze narrowed. "What's wrong with you?"

"Many things, apparently."

"Don't be flip with me!"

The villagers stopped what they were doing, drawn to the arguing voices.

Gaara raised a hand to silence his sister. "Kankuro already scolded me, Temari. I don't need it from you too."

"But..."

"Enough. Please."

"Gaara."

She watched, helpless, as he passed her and made his way to the hospital.

Rin wouldn't go with that psycho and Gaara couldn't be okay with it, even if she did.

Something was off here.

A cold wind went up her spine, wrapping around her body and she held herself tight, thinking of the voice Rin used to thank her for her treat.

"She's different when Orochimaru is near. Maybe too different to fight him off? Will she really leave us, just like that?" Temari thought to herself, looking at the sun, which drifted in the middle of the sky.

~~

The scent of the hospital assaulted his senses, as the Kazekage made his way to the third door on the left.

His feet brought him past the room beside it, where evidence of Yua's death had been removed. Not a shadow of her presence remained; replaced instead with the smell of bleach and the sight of new, fresh sheets.

How quickly people could be erased.

Gaara's hand came to knock on the door frame, but stilled, when he saw Rin, curled up on her side, her chest rising and falling steadily.

The thought to come back later occurred to him, but without realizing he was moving, his feet brought him to her bedside.

The machines that reported her life-force were removed. She'd be able to leave soon, if not later today.

"A journey tomorrow wouldn't harm her. There goes one of my excuses." He thought to himself.

Gaara settled in the chair by her bed.

His eyes drifted along her body, dancing on the dip of her waist and the curve of her hip. "Rin?"

She didn't move.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but I have something to say to you."

He sighed, lowering his head. "I'm sorry about your mother's death. I know she did terrible things, but I also know that it doesn't matter the pain they do to us. Children love their parents, even when we shouldn't."

Gaara looked down at his feet, the words he wanted to say, tumbling out of his mouth without his permission. "I heard you saw Orochimaru. I know he spoke with you. He spoke to me too, told me what he did. He said he's leaving tomorrow morning and..."

He raised his head. "That he's taking you with him."

There was silence.

Gaara felt something within him, some emotion he couldn't identify, or several, for that matter. "I know you're going with him. You told me from the beginning, you have a life in the Sound, a business and a family. I also know you face prejudice and fear in my village."

He gripped his hands, fighting to calm himself, but quickly losing the battle. "And I know you don't really love me, either. Yua told me what the plan was with Orochimaru. I know you were sent because you'd be more appealing to me than your mother. You'd find your way into my heart and further an alliance between our villages."

Gaara took a breath, his troublesome emotions coming to the surface. "But I also know this. I love you, Rin. Even if you don't really love me back. Even if it were all a political scam to gain my trust, I've fallen in love with you. I don't have any right to ask you to stay here, but if you would, I'll promise to make it better for you. Make myself better."

Suddenly, a pair of arms reached out, took hold of the Kazekage and pulled him down into the bed with her.

Rin threw the sheet up over their heads, trapping him in their own private world.

Gaara stared surprised at her quick movement, but softened at the tears running down her face.

"You're dumb."

"I'm what?"

"You're dumb, Lord Kazekage."

"Why do you say that?"

There were many things Gaara had been called in his life; monster, demon, murderer, but he was always an intelligent murderer, at least.

Rin rested her head in the crook of his neck, the intimate sensation sending chills down his spine.

"You're dumb if you think that what I feel for you isn't real and that I, for one second, would want to go back to Orochimaru's fake love, when I have something as wonderful as yours."

Gaara's eyes widened. "Then, you're saying you..."

Rin gave a small, tearful laugh. "I don't know what love is either. Despite being designed to be a comforting presence and heal those around me, I don't know what real love is. I felt something for Haru, but we were children and he was damaged because of it. I loved my mother, but she turned and used that against me."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she placed a finger there, shushing him. "I don't know what I feel, but I know that it's real and that I want to stay with you, Gaara. I want to stay with you more than I've wanted anything and I feel selfish for it. I don't deserve the great love you have for me and that's why I haven't said it in the past. I don't know how to love authentically on my own."

Gaara's hands came to her face, cradling it, so she'd look in his eyes. "Well, we're a perfect match then, aren't we? I'll teach you how to love, if you'll teach me?"

Rin smiled and tilted her chin up to meet his lips. "Lesson number one... kiss me."