A storm of sand and blaze (Gaara fanfiction and The Love Story He Deserves)

Chapter 9: Correspondence

The train from Konoha arrived some minutes after the sunset. Kankuro had gone to the station to pick up Shinki from his current travel to visit Kaji Feza. When the boy came out of the train he said hi with a brief unusual smile and reached the place where his uncle was waiting quickly.

"Is my father gonna have dinner with us today?" Shinki asked while they were walking towards the residency.

"I guess so. The job hasn't been so tough this weekend", Uncle Kankuro replied. "Are there any important news from Konoha?"

"Hmm, no. But I have to give him something".

The boy didn't reveal yet what was the thing he had to deliver, but at the same time, he didn't seem in a hurry. Of course, Kankuro wondered what it could be but he didn't ask at that moment.

Once in the residency, both of them waited for some minutes in the dining room for Gaara. Kankuro tried to restart the conversation in order to know what was the important delivery the boy had to do. However, Gaara arrived in the dining room before the talk could get deeper.

"I'm sorry for making you wait", Gaara apologized after warmly greeting his son. "How was your weekend in Konoha?"

"It was good and rewarding", Shinki replied happily. "I could practice a lot with Feza-san. She's completely recovered now and has learned a lot with Hatake Kakashi these weeks. We also went fishing and we had a barbecue afterward. She sends kind regards to you two".

Gaara smiled a bit and nodded, then the conversation turned into other topics. Kankuro waited for the whole dinner for the kid to finally say what he was going to deliver from Konoha but the meeting finished and the three of them left to their room to sleep. The Kazekage took a shower and later he sat for a while next to his window to look at the city under the night sky. It was at that moment when someone knocked at his door. He stood up and approached the door wondering who could be at that hour.

"Father," Shinki said "I'm sorry to disturb you at this improper time. Where you already sleeping?"

"Oh, not at all, Shinki. It's okay. Wanna come in?"

"It's fine like this. I just wanted to deliver something to you". The boy took out a lavender color envelope and extended it to his father. "Is from Feza-san".

"Thank you", Gaara replied taking it carefully with his hands "Did she tell you what is it about?"

"Not really. I didn't read it either".

Gaara dedicated a smile of gratitude to his son and then the boy said goodbye. The Kazekage closed his door and went back to his bed. After breaking the envelope with carefulness he took out a handwritten letter.

Dear Kazekage-sama,

Hello, it is me, Kaji Feza. First of all, I want to apologize if there is any mistake in this letter since I learned how to write and read almost by myself. I am also using this time in Konoha to improve these skills but, I can't promise there is not gonna appear a horrendous misspell since no one is going to read this letter to correct it before I send it to you.

Gaara smile without even noticing it. Somehow he felt that the way she spoke in the letter was more confident and open than in person. Perhaps that was the Feza that Shinki was familiar with and not the reticent woman who was concerned about his political title.

Second, I hope you are doing fine. I thought about what you told me the last time we met and finally, I decided to write to you. I know you offered me your help sincerely, but I didn't even know how to start. What is the correct way to write to a Kazekage? Of course, this is not my first attempt and I just hope my letter doesn't interrupt any of your activities so, I will be brief.

The last weeks have been very tough. My new teacher is a very mysterious but kind man. He explained to me things about my fire jutsu I didn't even have an idea that existed. I tried to pay a lot of attention and I showed him what I can do so far. I almost burnt part of his hair, but fortunately, he is swift and nothing happened. There is no doubt I have a lot to learn and so I have been practicing every day from morning to evening.

There are a lot of things I am more aware of and that I have learned to control since I started training. This weekend, with the help of Shinki, I realized that my eyes can change color when my mood changes. Can you believe that for all these years I never knew this? No one ever told me...Unbelievable!

Another important step was that I could communicate with Shukaku briefly. It happened during my sleep. He told me he has been trying to talk to me for a while but that I haven't been enough receptive. I wish you could share some advice with me on how to be more receptive to his call. What can I do? I really want to be able to talk to him every night like we used to do in the desert.

Thanks for reading my letter. I send you my best wishes.

Yours respectfully,

Kaji Feza

Gaara read the letter several times until he almost learned every word by heart. It made him very happy that someone wrote him not for a working or political purpose. He took a pen and despite being already too late he wrote a response back.

Dear Feza-san,

I read your letter with a lot of bliss after Shinki delivered it to me. I am glad to hear that you are learning a lot with your new sensei. He is one of the greatest shinobi I've met. Thus, I am sure he is teaching you well. As I told you before, I wish I could be the one training you in order to teach you more about Shukaku, but I hope that at least my advice will be helpful for you somehow as well.

Regarding this topic, try to have enough sleep. Perhaps that's the only way (at first) of how you two are going to be able to communicate. So, don't stay too long awake at night or otherwise you won't reach a deep enough phase to see Shukaku. Additionally, if you can reach him, don't panic. I know he can be very noisy, but you just have to follow his voice until you get to see him clearly. Practice this and the rest will come along by itself.

Finally, I just want to say that you don't have to be concerned about how to write to me. A Kage is just a title that is given to a person whose job is to protect his village and its people. And I know I can look very serious, but you can write to me as a friend.

Yours sincerely

Gaara

The next morning, when Gaara woke up again he took the letter and read it twice just to get sure he didn't sound too excited. He looked at the sunny sky outside and just wondered what would be better: to send the letter back immediately that morning or wait two weeks till Shinki went to visit Feza at Konoha?