Day 10
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Before the sun had risen, Sakura slipped from her sleeping mat and, in the dim light cast by the remaining stars, she quietly tiptoed passed those sleeping in camp and made off for a nearby trail. No one stirred in the encampment, though the woman bed down next to her did turn away at the disturbance when Sakura pulled closed the zippers on her shoes. She’d forgone her blanket for her cloak, it was thicker and would provide better warmth when she left the windbreak of the large dune and stepped out into the open skies of the desert.
Nearly unnoticed, there had been only one that witnessed her departure from camp, and he soon followed a good distance behind her.
With quiet footsteps, her shoes found the hard-packed earth of the trail and she pulled the deep hood of the cloak over her head. Stepping off the winding path, she was now exposed to the winds whipping across the open landscape as she hiked up the side of the towering dune it encircled. She clutched the stiff fabric of the cloak tightly around her as she ascended. Her feet sunk into the sand as the slopped edges of the dunes adjusted to bear her weight, and she huffed quietly as she climbed the few hundred feet to the top. It was exhausting to travel with the ground constantly slipping away under her feet and, ever since they entered this land of endless dunes, she’d wondered how the ones to call this place home managed on a daily basis.
Their hosts had insisted that they have adequate gear for their journey out and, even so, they’d been given a few top rank guides to help them along the way. She had thought it overkill at first, the insisted upon gear alone was twice what she brought with for missions back home, but after their first afternoon of glaring sun, followed by a sudden windstorm kicking up a milewide cloud of dust and sand, and the jarring temperature drop when day shifted to dusk, she began to have a new appreciation for the weight that she carried.
Sakura sat with her cloak pulled around her knees at the crest of the dune, nose going a little pink from the chilly breeze of the early morning, and she looked out to the east. She wondered if the sun had already risen over Konoha, they had come so far in their journey to Suna for the chunin exams, everyone back home was likely already starting their day. She smiled to herself, hoping to return with a new title and a boastful tale or two to regale her parents with. As for now, though, she simply wished to see the sunrise.
At the base of the dune, standing in its shadow, Gaara watched as she huddled in the breeze. He’d been perplexed to see her leave camp and didn’t want her losing her way, but she hadn’t gone far and figured he could let her enjoy the sights that morning in the desert had to offer. He of all people understood the desire; he’d seen nearly every sunrise out here during his lifetime, they were one of the few quiet moments of beauty he’d been privileged to.
Far off in the distance, with no tree lines to obscure the horizon, the dark blue skies began to lift. Overhead was still a kaleidoscope of stars; twinkling, dazzling, illuminating the black backdrop until the light of the rising sun began to snuff them out one by one. Once cool tones of blues and purples, the horizon now began to shine in a pale yellow, chasing away the stars and casting immense dune shadows across the undulated landscape. Yellows turned to oranges turned to reds, a blended swath of masterful design set alight.
Brighter and brighter still, until suddenly the fiery orb of the sun broke past the horizon and the desert that stretched out before Sakura glowed warm and golden. Blazing, obscured by the atmosphere, she watched it ascend in a swift and smooth trajectory, passing behind the wispy faraway clouds and setting their edges aflame. Bewitched, Sakura removed her hood from about her face, wanting to feel the light of the morning grow warm against her skin, wanting the refreshing breeze to blow through her hair.
The frazzled strays from her bedhead caught the sun and, just as the clouds had, the pastel pink of her hair glowed in haloed welcome of the oncoming day. Gaara felt his sand stirring at his feet, a compulsion to weightlessness, and then all at once and without sound, he was standing behind her watching the same sunrise that had beckoned her away from camp.
She must’ve been used to his presence by now, she didn’t seem to notice him at first, and he was able to silently observe for a moment as she pulled some of her windblown locks behind her ear.
“Is it to your liking?” he asked, enjoying the way her eyes widened and swiveled around to look up at him; the fiery red reflection of the sun contrasting vividly with a bright emerald green.
She flinched back and gasped. “Gaara – I mean, Lord Kazekage,” she floundered, surprise and mild embarrassment evident on her face as she glanced down the dune behind him. She cleared her throat, not expecting to use her voice yet. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he said back, his own voice a little groggy after rousing from his meditation, and he took a moment to ponder her greeting before offering, “It’s just us, it will be all right if you call me by name.” She nodded, securing her cloak around her once again. “So?” he continued. “How is it?”
She laughed a little nervously to herself at being taken by such surprise, and looked back out to the ocean of sand glittering like gold under the growing light. “Amazing, I’ve never seen a sunrise quite like it,” she said quietly after a moment, gripped by the devastating and raw beauty of this landscape that had evaded her until now. “The sights are stunning out here.”
Gaara looked out to the desert she admired, his desert in a way, it always gave him a feeling of being at home and at peace, even as a little blip in the vastness of it all. “There is a certain charm to it,” he had to agree with her. “Those lacking in discernment struggle to see that, though.”
Sakura smiled at this. “I’m glad I’ve had no trouble, then.”
True, he’d been noticing the same ever since he rendezvoused with the oncoming contestants from the east so that he and his siblings could escort them safely to the hidden city. A bit perplexed but accepting of their extensive precautions, she had welcomed every challenge of the desert with a wide-eyed excitement and wonder for a world so unlike her own. In the sweltering heat and glaring afternoon sun; she had been awestruck, when he’d conjured stillness in the presence of the windstorm; she’d grinned with excitement at the monumental force of it overhead and all around, and here she sat in mesmerized appreciation of the artful gift gracing the desert skies each morning and each night.
Looking over her shoulder, she caught his gaze and asked, “Will we be leaving soon?”
Gaara shook his head, studying the way her skin glowed in the unobstructed light. “The camp hasn’t woken yet; enjoy the sunrise.” She looked back out to the landscape before her and shivered a little as a gust flew past them. “May I join you?”
She didn’t look back up at him after his question, but she gave him a nod. “Of course,” she said pulling in the side of her cloak, offering him a spot next to her. “It’s beautiful.”
He took a second longer to study the way the warm gradient of light painted a perfect backdrop for her silhouette, musing that he never thought something so light and delicate looking; like the flower of her namesake, could look so perfectly bathed in the morning glow of the arid landscape that he called home. Peculiar thoughts swam about in his head; skin in the sunlight, hair in the breeze, eyes quietly aflame.
“Yes,” he muttered quietly, the rising sun all but forgotten to him. “It is.”
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