I thought I'd start things off with a deleted scene from Gaara.
Warnings: Very un-edited.Takes place during chapter 14
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Gaara turned the page under the harsh
light of his table lamp, squinting at the text and studying the hand
drawn images.
“I thought you would be sleeping,”
Ebizo said. “You should if you want to stay sharp for all your
meetings, I've told you this already.”
“I've lived without sleep for a long
time,” Gaara replied like he always did.
Ebizo sighed. “That was before. You
need sleep now instead of staying awake and reading about... owls?”
Ebizo asked with a croak of his voice, his eyes fixed on the book in
front of Gaara. “Is Konoha gifting us owls.”
“No,” Gaara said.
Ebizo stared at him, waiting for an
explanation.
It took a moment for Gaara to collect
his thoughts. “Have you seen an owl catch and eat a snake?”
Unlike everyone else around him, Ebizo
considered his question carefully. “I have not. But it's not
impossible for a summon animal to do such a thing.”
“It was not,” Gaara said. “The
owl had no obvious chakra. And more than that, it shouldn't have been
able to catch a saw scaled viper.” He motioned at the book,
“According to this, white owls can only thrive in snowy conditions.”
Ebizo waited.
“It's an impossible creature,”
Gaara finished. “But it's real.”
It didn't take long for Ebizo to follow
Gaara's train of thought. “You think that Konoha's offer to fix Sasori's puppets is an impossible sort of offer but also a real one.”
Gaara nodded.
“If you've decided to take Konoha's
offer, then that's what you should do. You are our Kazekage.”
Gaara tapped his finger on the book's
coarse surface.
Ebizo snorted. "You're over
thinking it. The council doesn't need to hear your reasoning. They
just need to follow your decisions, no matter their personal feelings
of Konoha."
From past experience, Gaara knew that
it wouldn't be that simple with the council.
"You should get more rest. It's
undignified for our Kazekage to look so worn out," Ebizo said as
he turned away. "If you can't get them to agree then I could
spare some time to chat with the council as well."
The next afternoon, after the council
had finally agreed to give the Konoha repairman access to a puppet,
Gaara sat at his office desk
“Why aren't you eating?” Temari
asked from the other side of his desk, in between careful spoonfuls
of her soup. “Has it been cooked wrong? I'll go tell them to make
another serving.”
Gaara shook his head and took a bit of
the grilled meat. “Kankuro seemed pleased by the council's
actions.”
“You should have let that idiot
convince the council himself,” Temari said, her eyes narrowed in
annoyance. “He needs to learn how to deal with them properly. He
didn't even have thank you for your hard work before he rushed off
and...”
A tap on an office window interrupted
them.
Gaara stood before he could think about
it and opened the window to let the white owl inside.
“Gaara!” Temari chided, a small fan
already splayed open in her free hand as she tried to put him behind
her.
“It's all right,” Gaara said as the
owl sat on the back of his chair. “I've met this owl and her owner
before.”
“That owl just brought a live viper
into your office,” Temari said, voice high like when she scolded
Kankuro.
“I asked her to bring any vipers she
caught to the hospital for our anti-venom production.” Before
Temari could reply, he turned to the owl and said, “Do you not know
where the hospital is?”
The owl stared at him.
Feeling judged, Gaara cleared his
throat and ventured, “Are you unable to enter the hospital?”
The owl hooted.
“I see,” Gaara said as he moved to
the door. “I have some time before my next meeting. Let's sort this
out.”
The owl rose into the air and followed.
Even though Temari followed without a
word to the hospital, he knew she had questions.
Inside the hospital, the Director stood
at the reception desk and bowed. “Kazekage-sama, how can we serve
you today?”
“Did the hospital not get my message
about the owl?” Gaara asked.
The director blinked. “Baki-sama
mentioned something about an owl and snakes but...”
“But?” Gaara asked.
Temari narrowed her eyes. "You
doubted the Kazekage's word?"
“No,” the director shook his head.
“I, we...”
“Get something to collect the viper
she has brought in,” Gaara interrupted, not in the mood to listen
to any excuses. "And I suggest you be prepared for the next time
the owl drops by, Director."
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See you in the next post,
Polar
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