A Virgin Kiss

Chapter 43: The Ending

They got married in Suna a year later—Gaara, as Kazekage, was able to change the laws. It had taken a while to get Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga clan, to tolerate the idea. Hinata was the only Hyuuga at the wedding, but there was no shortage of friends from Konoha. To any teasing inquiries about who was the wife and who was the husband, they would just say they were partners. Once married to the Kazekage, Neji found he suddenly had access to Suna’s few secret gardens, so he didn’t miss the lush greenery of Konoha so much.

Gaara, moreover, was always able to sense from the beginning of their marriage when Neji needed to be sent away on some dangerous mission or to Konoha to deliver something urgently needed. It took two years or so before Neji figured out that these “urgent” missions and deliveries were simply Gaara’s way of giving Neji some space, some time away from the fact that in Suna, Gaara was always put before Neji.

Kankurou also was always willing to take over as village leader when both of them needed time away from Suna. “Shukaku needs to be appeased,” worked well as an excuse for almost five years, but by that time, people began to ask the couple, “When’s your next vacation?” After that, it seemed pointless to deny their time away was anything but that, a vacation when they could relax and just be together as partners, as equals.

They took pleasure in each other's achievements. Gaara always considered Naruto and Sasuke's wedding in Suna, one of his greatest ones, claiming it was that second dinner back in Konoha that caused the great romance that scandalized Konoha. Naruto and Sasuke's marriage certainly made Gaara and Neji old news and, in fact started a trend. Gay couples in the Fire Country would travel to Suna to get married since the treaty meant that their marriages were legal in both the countries of Fire and Wind. As more homosexual couples tied the knot, Neji's relative unbent a bit, and a few even came to visit him in Suna.

Over the years, a lot changed in Suna—Gaara in love, Gaara married, wasn’t a very scary Gaara. The younger generation of children would run to him and hold up their arms to be held. And Neji was befriended--although initially not from very pure motives, for there was no surer way to Gaara’s ear than through Neji. Moreover, those around the Kazekage found that an unhappy Neji meant an unhappy Gaara—and that meant odd sand twisters, maybe even a sandstorm, and general unpleasantness.

But despite the occasional unpleasantness, they became the gold standard for relationships in Suna. On their tenth anniversary, Neji had Gaara burn the kanji for love onto his forearm with his sand as he had done to his own forehead so long ago. His arm hurt for almost a month, but Neji didn’t say a word and would sneak away to apply pain medication. Gaara pretended not to know, but he never once jarred or jostled that arm the whole month. And at night, he would trace the new mark with his tongue before moving on to the rest of Neji.

The passions of the couple were well known; no one entered a closed door in the Kazekage’s building without knocking loudly and checking for chakra signatures—no one but Jiraiya. After a visit with Naruto, Jiraiya had come back to Suna for “research,” which mystified Neji and Gaara since they knew he was only interested in women. He did, however, during a visit of only two weeks, manage to walk in on them twelve times. The mysterious visit was explained, however, when Kiba sent them a copy of Jiraiya’s newest “Icha, Icha” book featuring, a tall, long-haired brunette babe and her redheaded lover. The brunette was a kinky woman, who occasionally would put on a strap-on . . .

Gaara had wanted to go hunt down the toad sage, but Neji managed to distract him from that plan by suggesting they act out some of the scenes. On his next birthday, Neji was horrified to receive the entire Icha, Icha series—signed, in hardcover—from Gaara. When their marriage survived that, Neji and Gaara felt pretty confident they could survive anything.

From their wedding day on, it was a habit of Gaara and Neji’s to try to spend every sunset together on the balcony overlooking the whole village. They would sip drinks, talk, and kiss. Sometimes they would fall asleep on the balcony on a bed of sand, watching the stars, their various cats curled up around them.

One night as they were sitting on the balcony rail holding hands, a child’s voice came up to them in the soft blue-violet light of a darkening twilight. “Papa, look—it’s the love man!”

“The love man, what are you talking about little one?”

“The Kazekage, Papa, see!”

“Why is the Kazekage the love man?” asked the father.

“Because he loves us all, Papa! He doesn’t sleep so he can watch over us day and night! That’s why he has the sign of love on him, Papa, didn’t you know that?”

“Aaaahhh, I know it now, son,” came the voice.

Neji had been watching Gaara’s face as they listened to the voices, holding his hand tightly. The two voices kept talking, now on other things as they moved away down the streets towards home. Tears ran out of Gaara’s eyes, and he tipped his head down.

Neji, knowing that Gaara didn’t want to be seen crying, ignored the tears, just saying lightly, “Well, Red, I am the luckiest man in Suna. It’s official now. I’m married to the love man.”

When he heard an audible little sob, Neji moved to pick up Gaara and began carrying him to their bedroom. Gaara buried his head in Neji’s chest, and by the time they had finally reached their suite, he was recovered.

Two hours later, Neji was complaining, “Love man? You’re a fucking love machine—god, Gaara, you do know I have to walk tomorrow, don’t you?”

“No, you don’t. I’m giving you a holiday, Nej.”

Neji, laying on his back, propped up on his elbows, looked at the Kazekage kneeling on the bed in front of him. He tilted his head, thinking about it, and then just put his hands under his thighs, pulling his legs up and out of the way.

It was hard being married to a love machine, but somebody had to do it.


THE END