Orphans

Koji was a clever boy, despite what his teacher may have said. He knew how to survive on his own, how to wash his clothes, tend to his garden, try to fix the roof of his house when the fierce desert winds beat against it.

He was very clever indeed.

However, no amount of clever or logical reasoning could justify the sight before him.

Koji had never known grandeur. In fact, he'd never known anything beyond the scraps of a table and an empty belly that never seemed satisfied.

So, the long table, full of foods he'd only dreamt of, felt just like that, a bizarre, enticing dream.

His princess settled herself by the Kazekage, speaking a mile a minute about all the things they just went over in their study session. He nodded at the appropriate times, lifting various foods to her plate and settling it in front of her.

Only then did she stop talking.

Rin took her plate, full of meats, cheeses, fresh baked bread and fruit and set it in front of Koji. "My love, we have a guest. I know the Sand raised you better than that."

To Koji's shock and awe, the Kazekage, leader of the entire village, former keeper of the One-Tail and commander of the armies that untied the ninja nations, looked chastised.

The boy glanced from his plate of splendor to the face of the woman who felt bold enough to critique Lord Fifth.

What was so special to allow her to speak to him like that?

Koji knew the tales of Gaara of the Sand. He was legendary for a reason. Even in his tiny village, before he ever made his trek here, there was word of him. Koji was too young to remember the One-Tail vividly, but he listened to what the adults said.

That was always the safest route, after all. Always listen to the gossip and stay one step ahead.

They said he was cursed, violent, evil. It was whispered that if you crossed his path, he would crush you with his sand without giving a second thought.

How could that monster be the man sitting at the head of the table?

How could the demon of the Sand, be the one kissing the hand of the princess beside him and how could he have his eyes on him and not see the garbage that everyone said he was?

"So, Koji. I'd like to personally thank you for assisting Rin in her studies. I can't imagine she is a patient student." He said with a mischievous smirk in her direction.

Koji looked down at his hands. "Sh..sh…she's f..f..fine."

Rin gave a sudden. "Ha!"

He jumped at her volume and fixed his eyes back down.

Rin noticed.

She made up a plate for Gaara and then herself, nibbling on a piece of bread. "Hm, I can't decide if I like this or this one better. What do you think Koji?"

His eyes trailed up to her.

Rin��s smile was always warm when it was on him. "Try these two breads and tell me which one you like better. I'm terribly indecisive."

Gaara lifted a goblet of wine to his lips and watched the boy fiddle with the food in front of him. He knew exactly what Rin was doing and he was curious if this Koji did as well?

The small, dirtied hands picked at the pieces of bread, carefully trying one and then the other, savoring them in his mouth, working them around before giving her his answer.

Before the boy knew it, he'd already consumed the two large pieces and was looking to her for approval. "I l…l…like the s…s…spiced one better."

She nodded. "I completely agree. What about the meat? Do you think I should try the chicken or the beef?"

Koji set to his new mission like a mad man, grabbing each piece of meat and trying it, all with the same determined look on his face.

Rin spared a quick glance at Gaara and smiled behind her cup.

Sneaky.

By the end of the dinner, Koji had picked nearly all the food Rin would eat and, in the process, finished a meal that was more food than he got in three days.

He leaned back in his chair, unsure of the full feeling in his stomach; what a foreign sensation.

Rin laced her hand into Gaara's, enjoying the coolness that always followed his touch. Though they tried to at least spend the evening together, it wasn't enough time. She missed taking a walk through the village together and she certainly would snub her nose at another hot spring visit.

The Cleansing would be here soon enough and then it would be done. All this studying and worry, everything that was keeping her up late at night, would vanish into a painful memory and she certainly had her experience dealing with those.

She just had to keep pressing forward, but also, not forget to enjoy the little moments like this. The feeling of his hand in hers, the ability to share a meal together, simple joys that shouldn't go unnoted. This was why she was doing it after all, to continue having a place in his world.

Koji tried his best to listen to the conversation between these adults, but it was different than he was used to. They spoke quieter, but not in the whispering, conspirator way he'd heard in the past.

Their voices followed a cadence that rose and fell like a melody. It was pleasant and lulling.

The Kazekage finished the final pieces of his dinner, dabbing at the corners of his mouth with the hand that wasn't wrapped around Rin's. "So, what do you think about…"

She placed a finger to his lips.

Gaara stopped speaking, confused by her sudden movement. He followed Rin's gaze, when it rested on Koji, who's eyes were closing, his head nodding at the table.

Her smile at the sight was enough to make him melt.

She stood up from her chair, scooped up the boy and balanced him in her arms. He weighed so little; it made her heart hurt. A boy his age should have more to him.

She looked at Gaara, her voice soft. "We have my old room still set up, yes? The sheets are clean?"

"Of course."

"Good."

Without another word, Rin drifted out of the room, the Kazekage following the spectacle never seen within these walls.

As long as he could remember, there was never a child in this place, other than his siblings when he was young, and no one ever lifted them up from the dinner table.

Falling asleep there would have been punishable by rod and hand. His father always demanded a level of awareness in his children, lest anyone get the jump on them. It was unacceptable to be so ill-prepared, so is that why the sight of this boy draped in her arms, fascinated him so?

Rin's lilting voice filled the silent hallways, the same halls he'd traveled for endless nights alone. Never a sound besides the small shuffle of his feet or the occasional sigh. How had she managed to fill his life with song like this?

She turned to the room where she'd stayed before and looked at him expectedly, incorporating her request into the lullaby she was singing. "Open the door, please."

He heard the words, but it took a second to grasp them and he fumbled with the handle, letting out more noise than he'd hoped.

Rin didn't seem bothered though, she drifted into the room, her steps smooth and sure and laid the boy down in the waiting bed.

She pulled the covers up to his chin, brushed her hand through his messy hair and sighed. "Little thing."

Gaara waited at the doorframe. It was silly, but he didn't feel welcomed. Whatever scene she'd painted, it seemed like he didn't fit into it or maybe it was because he wanted to fit so badly, that his body feared what it would imply.

Rin turned to look at him. "I need a bowl of warm water and a clean towel, please."

He jumped at her request, but rushed to do as she asked, trying not to laugh at himself for how quickly he moved.

Rin never yelled at him, nor did she demand he do one thing or another, but, some part of him knew instinctually, that when it came to this boy, she would not be questioned and it was in his interest to do as she asked.

He retrieved the things she wanted and rushed back to the room, sloshing the water more than once.

Her lullaby had come up again, filling the room with its warmth, as she kissed his cheek and took the bowl from him.

Gaara stayed in the doorway, studying her every movement as if she were a work of art.

Rin sat on the bedside, squeezing the towel of its water and gently dabbing at the boy's dirtied face. How could she do that without waking him? Gaara felt like it took so little to rouse him from his uneasy slumber, but then again, he didn't have as much practice.

She cleaned his face, his arms, his hands, rubbing and massaging as she did.

Koji let out a little sigh now and again, but made no other sound, other than the occasional snore.

When she focused on his fingernails, she found them split and cracked and her voice became a sad whisper. "He's fought so hard."

Gaara memorized the look on her face. For some reason, he knew it was a moment in time he wouldn't forget. Pictures of memory that would rush back to him when his life was over.

The times his father tried to kill him, leading the ninja nations, making his first friend and the look of determined sadness in the face of the woman he loved.

She brushed back the boy's hair again and laid a gentle kiss on his clean forehead. "Goodnight, Koji."

To her pleasure and pain, the small boy let out a sigh and smiled.

Rin tucked the bowl and towel in her hip and came to face the Kazekage, who was studying her like a hawk. "You know we can't let him leave now?"

"What?" He asked, almost missing what she said.

"He's staying with us from now on."

"But…"

"He's. Staying."

Gaara felt the fire in her eyes long before he saw it and knew there was no argument at this moment. He wasn't foolish enough to take on the bull when it saw red, but that didn't mean this discussion was finished.

Gaara looked back at the sleeping boy and saw himself in those sheets. How different would his life have been if someone had carried him from the table or brushed his hair back or felt a scrap of the protectiveness that Rin did for this child?

He had the feeling it would have changed the course of history.

He slid the door close with little more than a click and followed Rin into their bedroom.

She was washing her hands in the jasmine soap she'd made herself, the scent filling his nose with her familiarity.

Rin glanced at him from the mirror and read his face. "Something to say, my love?"

Gaara leaned against the wall. "You know there are going to be questions about that boy."

"I'm sure."

"And what do you intend to say? That was just found him on the road and now he's staying with us?"

"More or less how it happened."

The Kazekage sighed and came over to rest his hands on her shoulder. "He can't stay here."

"And why not?"

She squirted some lotion in her hands and worked it into her skin, though Gaara believed it was more of a way to calm her nerves than anything else.

"Because we are not his legal guardians. Where are his parents?"

"His mother is dead, and his father is gone."

"Gone where?"

"He doesn't know. He doesn't even know who the man is, so I certainly doubt anyone will be looking to claim him from us anytime soon."

"So, who has been caring for him, then? Surely he has a guardian of some kind."

Rin put the lotion down with a little bit of force. She turned to face the love of her life and her eyes held the fire he knew came with the certainness that she was about to get her way. "You should spend more time with your people, my darling."

"You know I try. That's not fair."

"I mean all of your people. The noblemen and the lower class."

"It's who feels safe approaching me. I'm open to anyone who will speak to me."

She nodded and held his hands in hers, kissing his knuckle. "Then why have you never seen this boy before? He's been there and the village has been taking care of him, badly, but still."

"They have been?"

"Yes. What typically happens when a child is orphaned at his age?"

Gaara looked to the side, unwilling to see the anger that would surely fill her at his answer. "They're ignored, mostly. It's not just the Sand. I've heard other villages doing the same. When a child loses their family, the village is meant to come together to raise them, but that doesn't mean they are always raised in love. Just have their needs met."

Rin's hands trembled on his. "Well… that's unacceptable. How many orphans are in the Sand?"

"I'm not sure."

She nodded. "I think it's important for us to find out."