Description: Written for the G.I.S.T. (GaaIno Spring's Tale 2012) event of G.I.F.T. (GaaIno Forever True), a GaaraxIno Fanclub. Especially dedicated to el Cierto, who was the one who recruited me to join. Thanks for the inspiration, el!

Main Theme: Spring

Sub-Theme: Tea

Rating: T

Genre: Drama, Romance

Word Count: 2,262

Summary: They say marriage was a contract. So why was it that they never got theirs renewed?

Tea and Sympathy

By: Yuugiri

She had always wondered if love had an expiration date. People fall in and fall out of love on a daily basis, with a thousand different reasons they could think of, and convince themselves that it would be a good enough excuse to break up.

Or get a divorce.

Yamanaka Ino wanted a divorce.

Gaara looked up from the documents in his hand. Those teal eyes of his were as glassy and uncaring as always. He lowered the papers on his desk and made to stand. "What?" he asked flatly.

Ino smiled painfully and said, "We've drifted apart. So I think it would be best if we… if we let go. Of each other."

Gaara slowly sat back down on his desk, eyes trained onto Ino's face as if seeing her for the first time. "Let's talk about this."

Ino tilted her head to the side and waited for the rest of the sentence.

"After work."

Ino was not the least bit surprised. "Of course."

They had been married for four years. It had been a slow courtship, really. They had gotten together over a gathering between the Sand and the Lead. It probably happened by chance. He was there, and she was there. And they just happened to sit beside each other on the table for dinner. He wasn't one to talk, or to initiate a conversation, but they had found common ground in Naruto, Shikamaru and Temari.

Ino didn't even know how it ended up with letter-trading, not-so-frequent visits and the occasional present-sending.

And after a year of "dating", it led to marriage in the spring.

The Leaf and Sand were happy, of course. Sabaku no Gaara was one of the most eligible and desired bachelors in Suna, and Ino was one of the most beautiful and skilled of her clan. Some, of course, didn't see their union coming, but none ever said that it was a bad thing.

They were twenty-three. They had been young. They still were.

Gaara had never been much of the romantic, and she knew that even before she said "I do" four years ago. She didn't have great expectations with their relationship. He was not a bad partner. He did his job well, offered her a beautiful home in the desert, if not lacking in greenery, and he provided well. They never fought. There had been times when she had tried to pick fights with him on purpose – little stuff, like dinner, or what color they should get for their curtains – but he wouldn't take the bait. If anything, he looked nothing more than resigned and let her do what she wanted.

He never complained.

And Ino didn't know how to take that.

Of course, they were still just a man and just a woman. They had had sex a few times in the four years they were together. It was like making love to… to sand. Monotonous. Dry. She had tried her best to pleasure him. But it didn't seem like Gaara was too concerned of foreplay. It was like he did it because it was mandatory.

The first year of their marriage left Ino wondering if she was just not that desirable to him. By the second year, she started questioning herself as a woman. By the third year, she had started getting incredibly insecure. By the time their fourth year came, she just bacame extremely indifferent.

So Gaara did not like sex. So what? She did not have the right to judge a person – even if that person was her husband – if they were just asexual.

She had given up on the dream of having children.

She had always thought a son for a first-born would have been a wonderful thing.

She had herself to blame. She never even once tried to tell him how she felt. Maybe that was the problem. She had always been the assertive one in relationships, and deep down, she did not want to overwhelm him. He had his pride. He had his position.

And she wanted to be the loving, understanding wife.

And she tried to be understanding.

She really did.

Maybe… maybe love really did have an expiration date.

And theirs just… expired… ?

Or did they ever really love each other?

They were going nowhere. And Yamanaka Ino wanted to go somewhere. Anywhere. She had wanted to go anywhere with him. But he was just too busy. Or too busy being busy. Or too tired. Or too quiet.

Or too… Gaara.

It was funny. It was because he was Gaara that made her consider the marriage to begin with.

So what was the problem?

Everything was the problem.

She wasn't expecting him to stop her. She had already signed the papers with her blood. She had expected him to silently read the papers, maybe twice or thrice over, before nodding and signing it himself because for the past four years, this was what he always did with things Ino had decided.

That was why when she found herself cornered against the wall with Gaara looming over her like a menacing shadow, she was at a loss for words.

"When have you started feeling this way?" was what he asked, bearing down on her with that placid expression on his face that did not match the aura he was projecting.

Ino was not the one to be intimidated, but she could not look him directly in the face. When had she started feeling this way?

Three years ago?

"A while now."

Gaara frowned down at her as he backed away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why haven't I been… informed?"

Ino was at a loss for words. Gaara actually looked… disturbed.

"Why haven't I been informed that you were feeling this way?" Gaara asked again, a bit gentler this time.

Ino lowered her gaze. Why hadn't she told Gaara that she was feeling this way?

Because we never tell each other anything. Ever.

When she didn't say anything, Gaara took another step towards her, his arms uncrossing and gently landing on her shoulders. "What is it you want?"

That was what got Ino looking up, surprised. Gaara was asking her. Asking her what she wanted.

Yamanaka Ino wanted many things. She was, after all, just a woman.

She guessed she wanted romance. Maybe the occasional date on a weekend. A conversation over dinner about how work was for him.

Flirting.

Fighting.

Sex.

Children.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Ino pushed him away. He didn't even resist. He never did. "I want out." And she left the room.

She did not see Gaara crumple the divorce papers in one hand and throw it out the window.

He was never a demanding man. Ever since he was a child, he had never been given the opportunity to want things for himself. By the time he was old enough to control the beast inside him, he had learned to accept the things that were given to him, but he never once asked for it. And if he wasn't given it, he would work for it. Hard. When the beast was extracted from him, everything had changed. He started wanting more.

Yamanaka Ino was something he never worked hard for, or asked for or given to him. She had come into his life like a free, golden-haired sparrow in spring, speaking animatedly about flowers, and Naruto, and Temari and Shikamaru. That fateful dinner between Suna and Konoha that started their courtship had been one of the most uncomfortable settings for him, because she loved to talk, and she loved to touch him on the shoulder when she made certain points in the conversation. And the surroundings smelled like spring rain and cherries.

After that dinner, she had started sending short letters to him along with scrolls from Shikamaru to Temari. Gaara had no idea how to respond to her. He was never good at talking, more so writing, but he tried his best because he felt like it was only polite to return a reply. His responses were always short, and did not coax for another round of letter-sending, but after a week or so, another one would come from her, even longer than her last, asking about Suna, and about the food there, about the people there. And he had replied out of obligation,

Between a letter and another, he supposed, it started getting interesting, especially when she started talked about the flowers depending on the season, but it was strange because she wrote longer ones during the winter, even when there were no flowers a-bloom.

By the time he was asked to take a woman for his wife, she seemed to be the only one who he even wanted to consider. And so he asked. He was shocked when she had said yes. But he was happy.

Since he had never been used to living with someone, their start had been awfully rocky. She was never pushy, and she never asked for anything from him, just as he never pushed her and never asked anything from her. It had been a passive relationship.

No wonder she was unhappy.

"Are you unhappy with me?" Gaara asked her suddenly as she placed a cup of tea in front of him. Tea time was always the time she would spend a few minutes with him before work.

Tea and sympathy. Maybe he could get both tonight.

Her hand paused just a second too long before she pulled away. The question must have surprised her. She did not sit down on the table across him, but retreated to the sink, her back to him. She didn't say anything.

"Will ending this make you happy?" he tried again, keeping his eyes trained on the tea in front of him. He was surprised to see not his usual chamomile tea, but a different sort of flower floating on the surface of the steaming hot water. A Sakura blossom?

"What about you, Gaara? Are you even happy that you married me?" she suddenly asked. Her back was still to him, and her hands were busy with a rag, folding and unfolding it nervously.

He did not even hesitate with his answer. "Yes."

Her rag-folding ceased, and her shoulders hunched lower. "I never knew."

Gaara pushed his chair back, stood. "You make me happy. You just being here makes me happy. Have I failed you?"

She didn't say anything.

"Ino."

"What?"

"I love you. What can I do to make you change your mind?" He was begging. He knew it. And this was something he'd never done before, because he always preferred waiting for things to come to him, for people to give, because he did not think he deserved good things. He didn't know if he was doing a good job at asking or begging. But for the first time in his life, he felt like if he did not fight for this, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

She took her time in turning to face him, and he was shocked to see tears in her bright eyes.

Gaara moved away from the table, slowly made his way towards her. It was the first time he saw her cry. It was strange. She looked so beautiful. So beautiful it hurt. Taking her into his arms in a loose embrace hurt. "I was never perfect to begin with. But I'm willing to change. If it will get you to stay. Please stay."

She sobbed against his shoulder.

"Tell me what I can do to make you happier in this marriage."

"I… want… you to tell me what you're thinking," she started timidly, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Always."

He was guilty of keeping things from her, because he didn't want to bother her with his problems. But if that was what she really wanted… "It will most likely be about work. Nothing more. I don't really want to trouble – "

Ino shook her head vigorously. "That's exactly it. Trouble me! I want to be a part of that part of your life." She had started clinging on to his shirt. "That isn't so much to ask, is it?"

No, it was not. It was too small a price if it meant getting her to stay with him. "All right. From now on I'll tell you. Everything." He hesitated, then added, "Why did you have to wait this long before telling me something was bothering you?"

Ino buried her head further into his chest. "I don't know."

"You have to promise me you'll tell me what you're thinking as well. I'm not entirely smart, and I don't spot these things faster than I know you'd want me to. We've been together for four years, but you've told me more in the letters when we were courting than you have since we've moved in together." He was not accusing her. He was merely telling her what he honestly thought.

That made her look up at his face, eyes red from crying. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm equally guilty for the gap that's been forming between us. I guess I've been trying hard not to be a nagger. My friends at home say I am. And I had always thought you were too busy to bother about… me."

Gaara frowned. "You're my wife."

That had her smiling finally. "And you are my husband."

"I'll do better."

"I'll do better with you."

And he honestly believed that would be enough.

A/N: I honestly think that the three things that cause couples to separate are pride, lack of the desire to change and lack of communication. It's just a sad fact that people who have been married for so long could let go of a relationship when they have a choice to save it by admitting there is something wrong and then showing enough initiative to change it. And that's coming from a hopeless romantic like me. :P