What the Water Gave Us

Ocean Eyes

The first day of the summit had finally concluded. Gaara felt fatigued and his voice was hoarse. He had just dismissed the others and they were slowly filing out of his office.

Chojuro and Misuno were exiting with Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi. It seemed they were intent to follow through with their dinner plans. As Chojuro had made it clear he was not romantically available, Gaara did not worry. He could use a break from the pressure of Kazekage for a spell, though he knew he still had a few items he wanted to wrap up before leaving for the night.

When the door closed behind them all, including his brother, he sighed, rubbing his black eyelids. Two more days of this was sure to get tiresome quickly. He hoped to get a little bit of sleep this evening.

He wanted to catch up with the Mizukage again though he wasn't sure how that was supposed to work, considering how tired he was. At least Shinki was not waiting up for him tonight.

Gaara returned to his computer desk and reviewed several messages that had been left for him during the day. There fortunately was nothing too exciting. He typed out a few lengthy responses to several high priority constituents. As he typed, he also played back the events of the day in his mind. He grinned to himself. He had enjoyed lunch with Chojuro, though he did think the man had been more reserved than usual. He supposed that was to be expected traveling to a new land on official business in a public space. Gaara hoped to have more intimacy and privacy during their next interaction.

Gaara hit the "send" button on his last message about an hour and a half later. His vision blurred. Maybe calling it a night would be the best thing to do. He stood and rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms then slowly walked for home at the adjacent mansion.

As he walked outside he noticed a strange thick mist. His eyes widened in surprise. Mist, here? No, this had to be a type of jutsu. Suddenly he was in a thick cloud of it, unable to see much else. He was suddenly alert, sand whirling to life around him, preparing for defense.

Chojuro stepped out into his field of view, hands up in a placating gesture. "Gaara, wait. This is a special type of genjutsu I have been practicing. Those in the mist see what I want them to see. It's crude but effective, considering I'm not very experienced with genjutsu."

"Why a genjutsu?" Gaara asked, lowering his guard.

"For privacy. But for this to work the way I hope it will, you need to be inoculated. For that, you need to consume something belonging to the genjutsu caster."

The sand slowed, suspended in midair like particles in sunlight, though they were hard to see in the mist.

"What did you have in mind?" Gaara asked.

Chojuro retrieved a small vial from a pocket of his Mizukage robes. Gaara recognized it at once. Blood.

Chojuro held it out for him to take. Gaara took it and opened the vial. He hesitated briefly. He was certain this wasn't one of his better ideas. He looked at the other man and the intense gaze through his glasses made him remember that he wanted to see where this strange thing blooming between them would go.

He lifted the vial to his lips and tilted his head back, doing his best to keep the liquid from touching his tongue and going straight to his throat. The taste was acrid and metallic and felt thick.

Gaara's vision swam suddenly and his ears rang. He stumbled forward and Chojuro caught him. "Gaara? Gaara!"

When Gaara came to everything around him was pitch black. He looked down at himself to discover his purple flack jacket that he had not worn in years. He knitted his brows together in confusion. He held out his hands and noticed they looked smoother somehow.