#justgaaraweekly

It’s Gaara Week!
- just kidding, Gaara Week is in January - this is Gaara Weekly.
So I heard the topic this time is:

“what Gaara would do together with Shinki if he had some time off” 

now that’s just wholesome, how could I not at least *attempt to* provide some headcanons?

*side note: I have no idea how I ended up with this mess of a post but here you go*

So we know their hobbies:
Gaara likes “battling” according to the second databook and by the time the third came around, he added “cultivating cacti” to the mix. Shinki likes both “gardening” and “embroidery” according to character trivia from Boruto. Makes sense that they would bond over tending to plants right? In fact, most would probably assume that Shinki adopted this hobby from his father. And while I do believe they get some rare father-son time tending to Gaara’s cacti together - I don’t know if that’s what they would actually choose to do if they had a significant amount of free time.

If I was being realistic:

They would probably spend their days off training.

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Yeah I hear you people in the back screaming “booo” - but this seems to be the most realistic scenario - to me at least.
So let me explain:

His people and village always seem to be the priority for Gaara and Shinki is the future of Suna, not only as the Kazekage’s heir but simply as part of the next generation who will take on leadership positions after the current decision-makers retire. There is not a single doubt in my mind that Gaara views mentoring future generations as one of his top priorities. Shinki wants to make his father proud and properly represent his family and village. He is hugely appreciative of any training time his busy father can spare for him - such an opportunity doesn’t come every day. Both of them have very no-nonsense, goal-oriented personalities.

- So if Gaara had a couple of hours to spend however he wanted, he would invest them in the future of his village: Shinki. If Shinki had the chance to get some in-depth one-on-one training with his father, he would jump at the opportunity.

We know that Gaara, unlike Naruto with his son, has at least somewhat regularly been training Shinki in person. He has mentioned how he taught his son ‘everything he knows’ and Shinki actually training directly with his (very busy) father just makes sense: The two of them are the only people we know of with their kekkei genkai - and Gaara is the only one with abilities almost identical to Shinki’s. It’s true that Gaara only knows the basics when it comes to iron sand - or rather, that was confirmed to be the case until at least the early blank period. But he would know next to every use of regular sand and that’s still more than any other jonin in suna. Of course, as the Kazekage, Gaara simply doesn’t have the time to do the majority of Shinki’s training - but I wouldn’t question that he’s the one giving the crucial advice, reviewing his training progress and telling his son what abilities need more work.  

So if he has a little bit of time to spare - I have no doubt he would (and does) put most of it into training Shinki. And that includes days off. 

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But y'all didn’t come for that - don’t lie.

*enter Part 2: “But what if we talk about cats instead?”

We love these two (and the entire Sand-family for that matter) so naturally, we want to see them use their time off for anything BUT work or training. Gaara and Shinki are definitely the worst offenders here, they always seem like those people who would rather work on their duties than cut cake on their birthdays - Gaara more so because he seems very focused on always putting his own pleasure behind doing 'something useful to others’ and Shinki because he’s just beginning to realize the value of friendship. *Insert mlp meme here*

So for the sake of fun, we will just assume SOMETIMES Gaara decides that his son should do “normal activities” instead of training and ends up going somewhere with him.

But where?

If for some reason, Shinki were to accompany his father to another village for a diplomatic meeting, I think they would definitely walk around that village a bit and just take in the local culture: food, sights, and the like. Imagine the way Lee and Tenten showed Gaara and Kankuro around Konoha in episode 497 and had them try ramen for the first time - kind of like that. But this example also shows just how rarely Gaara seems to get time off during official visits: it took him being Kazekage for 4 years until he ate his first Ramen - but ok, if the war hadn’t been in the way I guess Naruto would have made him try it sooner.

Now, if we are talking about “regular” time off, the place would definitely need to be in Suna - Gaara is important for the protection of his village so he can’t just leave whenever he wants.

I’m also going to assume that Gaara can walk around relatively freely without being bothered by crowds - if simply for the fact that we have seen him do so before, at least in other villages.
Gaara strikes me as a character who could very much enjoy new experiences - there was once a time when most things “normal” people did were foreign to him and he had to go through a very steep learning curve after his first encounter with Naruto. I can see him trying new things when he gets the chance and also wanting to encourage Shinki to do the same - so long something falls not too far outside both of their comfort zones.

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We established all the little details but no one has gone anywhere yet. So if we are going for something interesting:
> how about we bring cats into this?

Gaara and Shinki strike me as having a lot of, for the lack of a better word, “cat-people energy” - were they aware of this before this fateful day? Probably not. Were they aware of it afterward? - you bet!

• Gaara felt a bit confused when he heard that Suna would be hosting a big pet show for the first time in a few years *he had to sign the paperwork after all* - what was that again? People bring their cats and dogs to show them to visitors and a jury?
  
• “Must be another unique way humans manage to be vain about their property” - the concept of placing much importance in the things one owns and how they reflect on you was something Gaara understood as a concept but never fancied.
• He didn’t understand very well why visitors would want to see such a spectacle until Kankuro said something along the lines of “sometimes people just want to see animals do cute stuff I guess? You know how girls and kids are - show them a dog rolling over and they will go crazy - don’t worry too much about it, I’m also not much of a fan.”
  
• On a second thought: “Oh but maybe Shinki likes that stuff? I mean he’s a kid - ….. although he doesn’t behave like one most of the time.”
• - and with that comment, the deal was settled: there would be father-son bonding time scheduled and they would go observe cute animals!!
  
• Shinki wasn’t very thrilled but what can you do - he wanted to train but was too well behaved and respected his father too much to object any of his decisions - no matter how strange some of them sounded.
  
• In the end, none of them had high expectations for this trip but they went anyway because
  “At worst we have made a valuable experience” - Gaara
• *Shinki didn’t dare question what could be “valuable” about this*
• As it turned out, the date they picked for their visit was designated for cats of all breeds –
  
• Of course, both Gaara and Shinki had seen cats before - from afar. No one in their family owned any animals - if you didn’t factor in the deer raised on the property of the Nara-clan.
• But they had also HEARD about cats before
  
• ——— mostly because Shukaku never seemed to miss an opportunity to insult them:
  “cats are the most useless creatures, it goes to show how stupid humans are for domesticating them”
  -“and you are sure you aren’t just saying this because kids always seem to mistake you for one?” -Kankuro would add
• *Needless to say: Kankuro still enjoyed provoking people he really shouldn’t.* ————-
  
• Well now the two shinobi were in front of one - their first close encounter with a feline - a big sand-colored persian with her owner, a friendly-looking old lady, standing next to her.
• “Well I suppose they are quite endearing with their big eyes” -Gaara noted
• Old lady: “Oh dear would you like to come closer? She really enjoys being pet behind her ears - she’s even calm with most strangers”
• Gaara was a bit hesitant
  
• When you’ve only ever heard bad things about cats and their temper you might think twice about petting them when you get the chance
  - at least until you take the courage to hold out your hand and they start purring like you are their best friend and they will love you forever.
  
• Now, if anything gets Gaara - it’s being shown unconditional love and acceptance in unexpected places
  
• yes apparently this does not exclude kitties
  
• *holding out his hand while the cat is purring and meowing*
  Gaara : O.O
  Shinki, next to him: O.O
  Both of them internally: “ohhhh so THAT’S what all the fuss is about”
• - Instant non-verbal agreement that cats are awesome
  
• After that encounter, both might or might not have been extremely tempted to adopt a cat.
• But since Gaara knew no one in this family had much time to spend at home - *and because he had this lingering sense that the cat might develop a taste for his succulents* - he had to resist.
• This however wouldn’t mean that their next “family day” wasn’t already planned to be a trip to the local animal shelter.
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  Bonus:
  
• eventually, Shukaku finds out about their trips and is NOT amused that they considered bringing one of “those things” home.
  
• Yes- he’s still fuming from that one time he was carried by Shinki in his more “compact” form and a toddler pointed at them saying “oh your cat is so chubby! can I pet it? Pleeeeese!!” (*needless to say both Shinki and Gaara were mortified back then and hurried to get Shukaku away from the little girl before any casualties were to occur*)
• He continues to sulk for at least a full month about this “betrayal”.