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Desert Rose	By : TsurugaRin Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 2025 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this fic.

Chapter List
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Hinata woke up a few hours before dawn, or rather, got up at that time.
She’d been placed in a spacious room with a guest table and chairs in the centre of the room and a single bed pushed up into a corner. It also had its own bathroom, separated by a sliding door and private balcony.
Hinata had temporarily packed her things neatly up against a wall, having been too tired to put away her belongings into the dresser provided.
Unfortunately even though she’d been exhausted she hadn’t slept a wink in her unfamiliar surroundings. It didn’t really help that she’d been placed in the room adjacent to Gaara’s with only a flimsy door, locked on her side, between them. They had insisted on that location and she was in no position to refuse. Still, being in a room next to the Kazekage of Sunagakure was not ideal. On the other side of the wall she heard only silence but it didn’t really help. She just needed to get out.
Quietly she dressed and escaped from her confines via the balcony. She jumped, touching down lightly on the next building. For a moment she just sat there using her eyes to check for followers but she felt none but Gaara’s chakra signature in the building behind her. The realisation relieved and irritated her at the same time. They trusted her that much? Regardless of the bond between their two villages, she still wasn’t a shinobi of the sand; it was in their best interests to have her guarded in some capacity. Wondering who else they made these kinds of allowances for, she made a mental note to bring this up with the Kazekage the next chance she got. Getting out of the village was just as easy, though this was no surprise. A villages defences were aimed at keeping unwanted guests from getting in not to keep its residents from getting out. To the village guard she was justly mistaken as a shinobi deploying on a mission.
The night air was cold enough for her breath to create fog. She suppressed the urge to shiver. These extreme conditions of boiling hot days and equally freezing cold nights were normal desert conditions and she had long since been trained to handle these kinds of weather changes. Soon enough she came across a rocky outcrop that she thought would serve nicely as a training ground and slowed to a stop. She had always trained on water previously. Not only did she need to maintain a constant flow of chakra to stay afloat but then also inject a steady stream of chakra into the water to draw it up and around herself to form her free flowing chakra shield. It was true she didn’t need to use the water for this however it helped her refine her chakra usage and along with her Byakugan she could easily see how steady and precise her chakra flow was. It helped immensely toward the new jutsu she was working on.
In the Wind Country, she was very limited to her access of any great body of water and around Sunagakure there was none. All their water came from wells or was pumped up from underground via a unique plumbing system. With no other choice, Hinata tapped the sand with her feet a moment before deciding to give it a try anyway. It was lucky she didn’t need to maintain a chakra flow under her feet after all. Unlike water which was naturally cohesive, the sand did not want to flow up in a steady stream. Hinata had to use more chakra, straining to maintain any flow at all against a resisting force. To make matters worse, it didn’t knit together the way water did, so creating just her basic shield was difficult as sand hit sand, slowing down her movements. What should have been a frenzied whirlwind of sand and chakra turned out to be more like a tightly woven net. At best she would only get ninety per cent coverage from enemy fire. It wasn’t good enough. Again and again she tried, ignoring the breaking dawn, and each time only inching in progress, her respect for Gaara’s precise control of sand growing.
Just when she was about to stop and head back before anyone missed her, internal alarms went off as she felt the presence of a very strong chakra signature. She faltered in her actions prematurely, not allowing to sand to flow back down and in a panic raised her arms to shield herself from the expected rain of sand on top of her.
It never came.
Instead when she looked up to see what had happened she found herself encased in her own chakra shield shaped sand net – except it wasn’t her chakra that was holding it up. Slowly, before her eyes the sand began to lose its form, flowing down and around her without a grain of it touching her person.
From behind a rocky formation Gaara himself appeared, walking toward her calmly.
Of course it was him. Who else had such a strong chakra signature around here?
“I’m sorry for interrupting your training,” he said. “My advisers told me you were here so I came to get you.”
So they were keeping tabs on her after all. Good. But why had Gaara himself come to get her? That didn’t make any sense, but she couldn’t ask.
“No,” she said bowing, “I am sorry for you having to come fetch me.” She meant it too. For anyone to have to come get her was a little embarrassing. She hadn’t wanted to create a fuss with all that had happened yesterday.
It looked like shinobi of Suna started their days earlier than Konoha. She would have to remember that…
***
He had lied.
Gaara had followed her from the beginning. He’d been on the roof when she’d emerged from the room. With the One Tailed Shukaku gone, he had no more concerns about sleeping but it would take a while before his body’s routines would catch up and he’d found himself once again sitting on the roof of his building staring at the moon. He looked down just in time to see her sneak out.
Curious, he’d sent his sand after her and followed at a safe distance. When he’d gotten close he’d used his sand eye jutsu to observe. What he witnessed was nothing short of beautiful. The girl moved as if she was dancing, forcing the sand to flow around her in graceful arcs by infusing it with her chakra Her long unbound hair swirled around her and her body swayed seductively under her tightly bound kimono.
Gaara had never thought of a shinobi’s skills as beautiful before. All the jutsu he had seen were designed to spy, confuse, maim or kill. There was nothing of beauty to them, they were just a means to an end, but the Hyuuga girl’s technique could be described as nothing else. It was mesmerising to watch and before he knew it, Gaara was slowly edging forward toward her.
He realised his mistake too late. Hinata had sensed his presence. For a brief second the world moved in slow motion. He saw her falter, then raise her hands to protect herself from the downpour and he reacted automatically. Seizing control of the sand he held it in place then let it slid down to the ground without harming her.
With his cover blown he came out from behind the rocks to greet her, lying through his teeth to explain his sudden appearance. She’d accepted his explanation readily, having no reason to doubt his word, even if it didn’t seem plausible that the Kazekage himself would do such a menial task. He could see it in her eyes. She wanted to ask why but was too embarrassed and he tried to ignore it.
To move away from her questioning eyes he said, “Breakfast.”
“Pardon?”
“You haven’t had any. They should be serving it now in my room. We should go eat.”
From anyone else’s mouth that may have been a proposition and Hinata’s mouth gaped for a second, but Gaara missed the cues completely, not understanding why the girl beside him blushed profusely.
“O-okay,” she said. She had been glancing at him furtively before then, but for the rest of the trip back, refused to make eye contact.
To be honest she couldn’t maintain it. Did the Kazekage really just ask her to breakfast? She tried to shrug it off as her being too self-conscious but couldn’t deny the fact that he did indeed just invite her to dine with him. She’d only said yes because it was rude not to.
He’d worked with kunoichi before but the more he was around her, the more Gaara realised she was an enigma all of her own. Unlike the gushing girls or practical and brash ones he’d been surrounded with she was entirely mystifying. What was she thinking? Why was she making that face? He didn’t understand any of it and for some reason he really wanted to.
***
They ate, sitting opposite each other. At first she still averted her eyes, caught up in some sort of internal battle, but as the food was set in front of her, her eyes widened in surprise. For Gaara food was also a means to an end; the body required sustenance to fuction so he ate. Hinata on the other hand, cut up her food evenly with fingers that shook, trying to resist just devouring her food, than she made a face of pure wonder every time she took a bite. She chewed slowly, savouring every mouthful.
The food was amazing. After three days of nothing but shinobi rations of plain onigiri and powdered green tea, the transition back to a properly cooked meal was a little to much for her. There was just no substitute for deliciously flavoured food.
Gaara looked down at his own food with a frown. It was only the sliced meat he’d always had, in some sort of gravy with stir fried vegetables and a side of steamed rice. Was it really that tasty? Hinata’s face said yes.
After breakfast was cleared he went upstairs to his office and she followed obediently. At the door she bowed at him and closed the door behind him as he entered. Surprised that she hadn’t followed, he pushed a tendril of sand beneath to door to find her standing guard. Not sure of what she should be doing instead, he sat down at his desk and began his day.
***
What was a liaising emissary supposed to do? Hinata had asked herself the question many times but as she stood guard outside Gaara’s office, the answer didn’t come to her.
This sort of vague assignment, she’d never had one before. She supposed daily reports by bird were a given and she’d take any requests from Suna for Konoha to relay? But surely Suna could contact Konoha directly. She would have to confirm with Tsunade sama what she was expected to do as an emissary to keep her cover up later.
With that sorted she stood wondering what she should do now. She have never really had idle time, when she found herself without anything to do she'd always spend the time practicing. As a bodyguard she wasn't really able to do that.
She wasn’t given much time to really think about it before one of the councilmen from the day earlier came up the stairs to her right. He was holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. He was surprised when he saw her and she knew she looked rather awkward standing there like a sore thumb, than after looking at her thoughtfully, he handed the clipboard and pen over to her.
“All yours,” he said cheerfully and left before she could say anything. Looking down at the clipboard she found it was a schedule and itinerary for the Godaime Kazekage. She didn’t find out until later that the councilmen had been rotating the PA duties since Gaara had refused to appoint someone to the position. By midday, Hinata realised he seriously needed one!
Not long after the councilman had left a queue of people started forming up the stairs, all with various reasons for being there. She found out Gaara personally saw to all the mission deployments of every single shinobi cell in Suna, took in requests from villagers and livestock farmers, went through daily reports from ANBU, his foreign affairs minister, treasury and a few others, then went through a giant list of casualty and incidents reports. Between all that he also had a morning meeting with the elders and a midday meeting with the elders and councilmen on the impending Chuunin and Jounin exams. What amazed her the most wasn't the amount of work he seemed to take on but the fact that he never seemed to say no, all day and she had yet to see him delegate tasks but rather everyone that went through his door came out having sorted out more things than they'd come to see him about.
By one pm, Hinata finally waved the elders and councilmen off from the meeting room and walked back up to Gaara’s office behind him, marking off the meeting as complete on the list. It was only supposed to take half an hour but Gaara dutifully let everyone have their input on the matters at hand. When they arrived a long line of people had formed again. Hinata looked down at the schedule for cues but found none.
In the afternoon, he was scheduled in for more paperwork and after that there was a meeting on the state of the older buildings in Sunagakure with the councilmen again, then he had another few hours of debriefing with people returning from missions…
What she didn’t see was when lunch and dinner were scheduled into this.
As soon as the line of people saw their Kazekage, they began to scramble for attention, the person at the front of the line being the most vocal. It was all Hinata could do to usher Gaara into his room and close the door behind him before the Godaime got mobbed.
She’d turned to the first gentleman who was a farmer who wanted to know when his request for someone to help him shear his sheep was going to be filled.
“They’re really getting shaggy now,” he whined.
“Yes,” she said timidly. “The Kazekage will see you shortly.” She thought to give Gaara a moment since he’d just come out of a meeting and needed time to digest the information he’d gleaned from it and she too needed a moment to try and figure out how she was going to fit this long line of people into his already packed afternoon schedule.
“I really need to see him now!” he continued to complain. “If I don’t get them shorn soon I’ll be behind on cleaning and shipping off the wool to the factory, which will push back productivity for the whole year and –”
“ENOUGH!” Hinata lost it. “Kazekage sama is having lunch now – in fact, you!” she pointed to a servant who was on their way upstairs change the sheets. “Go downstairs and let the kitchen staff know they are to have lunch sent up every day at one pm and that they should send something up as soon as possible, NOW!”
The servant nodded, face ashen and scurried back downstairs.
“And you,” she turned to the farmer. “Give me your details and request information and I will check where you are in the queue and see if I can’t get someone out there tomorrow to help you. Next time add a timeframe to your request so we can prioritise your request.”
From inside his office, Gaara's eyes widened at Hinata's booming voice. He was duly impressed, as he didn't know she had it in her.
Nor did Hinata, who became incredibly embarrassed at her outburst and hastily apologised to everyone, which was hastily accepted by a stunned line.
Lunch came and went, with Gaara having his in his office and Hinata eating while working. Efficiently she began to cull the line down, sending only those that really do need to see the Kazekage on into his office and sorting out the minor issues herself.
Around two pm disaster struck. Scrambling up the stairs, pushing everyone else aside a young messenger came up to up to her huffing. He handed her a note which made her face go white.
“EHHHH!” her cry rang out all over the village, causing birds perched on the roof of the building to scatter.
She burst into Gaara’s office and the whole room froze. Gaara stared at her wide eyed, mid action of handing over a mission slip and the four man cell receiving it also had their heads turned toward her.
“S-sorry Kazekage sama,” she stammered. “J-just that… W-well, w-we’re, uh…” She struggled to find the words.
The messenger who had come in behind her gave her an encouraging nudge and she finally spat out, “We’re out of TOLIET PAPER!”
She held out the message which detailed the breakdown of the delivery cart two days out of Sunagakure.
The four man cell collapsed in their spot and a sweat drop formed on Gaara’s forehead. He set the mission slip down on his desk and took the sheet from Hinata’s hand.
“Your new mission,” he said weakly to the four man cell. “Go get us some, um, toilet paper?”
The rest of the day continued smoothly and as she sent the last person in to see Gaara she was surprised to note the time was seven forty five pm. She frowned. Where was dinner?
Heading downstairs to the kitchen she was shocked to find it completely empty. Everything looked like it had been cleaned and put away as well. They’d gone home.
Seriously! Who ran this place? What kind of people leave to go home without organising dinner for their own Kazekage? Between all the work and no set meals she was starting to understand how Temari could be so worried about her brother to stir up the whole village; she was sorely tempted to whip some people until they bled out.
Putting down the clipboard she rummaged around the kitchen. She was rewarded with steamed rice keeping warm in a rice cooker.
“Right!” she said, pushing up the sleeves of her kimono, deftly she preheated the oven and started miso soup cooking on the stovetop, then she scaled and gutted two medium sized fish, added seasoning, and popped them into the oven to cook. While they cooked she coated and fried some tempura vegetables and turned a kettle on for tea. Serving everything up onto two small trays, she placed them both onto a larger tray to carry and headed back upstairs. When she got there she could see the last person leaving Gaara’s office and quickly raced over to jam her foot in the door to stop it closing behind him, making it just in time. She checked the tray to see nothing had spilled and sighed in relief. Awkwardly she knocked.
“Come in,” Gaara’s voice drifted out and she nudged the door open, carefully carrying the trays inside. As she entered, she wondered if she was being to presumptuous about dinner, but it was too late and she was already there.
As she entered Gaara’s head was down and he was mumbling to himself as he wrote. She placed the tray on the end of his desk, prompting him to look up in surprise. Looking at the tray of steaming food, he said, “The kitchen staff have gone home.” It was a statement. He knew they'd gone home earlier and wasn't expecting dinner.
“Y-yes,” she said. “Sorry it’s not very glamorous; I’m not really that great a cook.” She didn’t look at him but pulled one of the smaller trays off and placed it in front of him on the desk, making sure it wasn’t sitting on any paperwork.
"It’s fine. Normally, since I don't have any set schedule each day, I tend to miss lunch and dinner unless Temari is around."
"That's terrible!" she cried, forgetting herself for a moment. Was this what Temari san had meant by looking after the Kazekage as a person? "Even shinobi on missions break to eat their rations. If you don't look after yourself, the tool of your profession, how can you hope to do a good job?" Remembering her station again she went pink. "Sorry," she said hoping she hadn't offended him. Then she picked up the large tray and stood to leave.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“T-to my room to eat,” she said flushed with embarrassment.
“It’s fine, you can stay and eat here.” With that, his sand shot up and pulled out a table and two chairs from the corner of the room, than it retrieved a table cloth from the bottom draw of his desk, laying it out over the table. Meanwhile Gaara stood, removing the outer Kazekage haori and hung it over the back of his chair before picking up his tray and the oil lamp on his desk and placing them on the table creating a very intimate setting.
Seeing this, Hinata went a deeper shade of red, but finding no way to refuse him without insulting him again, she sat down as well with her tray.
“Itadakimasu,” she said nervously and began to eat.
***
Gaara really didn’t understand.
The Hyuuga girl was doing it again. Nervous at first but as soon as she began eating became clearly oblivious of Gaara's eyes on her. It was fascinating to watch her, to the point that he'd forgotten about his own food. Her face lit up every time she took a bite and finally he couldn't take it anymore.
"Is the food really that delicious," he asked suddenly, startling the girl. She visibly jumped in seat, going bright red when she realised where she was.
Another shade of red.
Gaara didn't know there were so many until now. So far it seemed she could go anywhere from a light pink to a dark crimson, starting on the bridge of her cheekbones to covering her whole face.
"Um, I was in a hurry to make it to Suna and didn't stop for food so..." she said, feeling self conscious again. She couldn't believe she'd been so involved in her food that she'd ignored the Kazekage. She then noticed he hadn't touched his food.
"Do you not like it Kazekage sama?"
"Gaara," Gaara prompted.
"S-sorry?"
"Call me Gaara," he said. "There is no need to be so formal."
"R-right, G-G-Gaara sama," she gasped. Even though he'd asked her to call him that, it was still nearly impossible for her to do, it was like calling her Hokage Tsunade sama to her face.
He sighed. He'd meant for her to just call him Gaara, but seeing how hard it was for her, decided to settle for Gaara sama for now. Bringing his attention back to his food, he took a bite of the fish and was rewarded with a mouth full of intense flavours. In fact the only thing that was unchanged was the black tea and rice. The tempura vegetables had extra crunch and even his miso soup seemed to have an extra level of flavour to it. For a second he considered firing his whole kitchen staff and just hiring this girl instead but after considering how well his day went with her in charge of his schedule, quickly changed his mind.
"I'm impressed," he said, finishing his meal. "Your cooking is very good. This is the first time I've enjoyed my food so much."
"Oh, t-tha-thh."
Gaara could only watch as the girl turned the brightest shade of red yet, her stuttering getting so bad he had no idea what she was trying to say.
"Sorry?" he said, leaning in to try and catch her words, however instead of hearing a coherent sentence he was rewarded with a choked splattering before the girl fainted, falling back on her seat. His sand moved fast, cushioning her fall.
Seconds ticked past as he stood at a loss of to what to do. He finally figured it probably wasn't a good idea to just stand around all night and manipulated his sand to place the girl in his arms. She leaned into him but otherwise didn't stir. She was soft and smelt like the wildflowers of Konoha and fresh soap, a pleasant smell that reminded him of spring. He resisted the strange urge to take a deep breath and headed downstairs, his sand trailing behind him holding the oil lamp for light.
Standing in front of their rooms, Gaara was struck by another problem. Because Hinata had left her room by her balcony window, her door was locked. For him this was a simple matter of using his sand to unlock the door from the inside but if he did that than Hinata would find out when she woke that not only was there only a single flimsy door between their two rooms but that he could pick the lock at any time he pleased. He wondered again why his sister had insisted that the girl stay in the guest room next to his personal quarters. To look after his person? What did she mean by that?
He felt the girl move in his arms and looked down to see the girl was grasping a buckle on his vest, a strained expression on his face. Hurriedly he sent his sand to open his own room and slipped in silently. Gently he laid the girl under the covers of his canopy bed and tucked her in. Her face was relaxed now, the red fading away. In the glow of the oil lamp he looked at her for the first time. Flawless ivory skin, full puckered cherry lips and he knew under those long dark lashes were those infamous pale grey eyes, that could pierce a persons soul.
A feeling that he had not felt since that first fight with Naruto welled up inside him. Agitation and... desire? Desire to do what? He leaned closer to her, sand skittering at his feet excitedly and heart beating out of his control. What was this feeling stirring him up as he closed in on the helpless girl who's curves were visible under those sheets - his sheets? Not the desire to kill. No. He knew that feeling well and this was definitely not it.
Closer, until his lips were inches from hers, until her breath caressed his skin. If he leaned forward any more they would touch, just a little farther and they would be ki-
"Naruto kun..." the whispered name from those luscious lips sent cold water down his spine and he backed up hastily, mechanically even. Of course, Naruto was one of his best friends. The very reason for his change was the guys empathy and understanding. Heck, he'd even just saved the Kazekage from certain death! So why did he suddenly feel like punching the guy in the face, hard?
Disturbed by all these new unbidden feelings he swung around, away from the bed. He stalked over to his own private balcony and swung the double doors wide open. The rush of cold air was a welcome relief across his hot face. Now he breathed in deep, looking up at the half moon, welcoming the familiar; even his sand hand settled down. Whatever had happened, whatever she'd stirred up in him was making him lose control, and he could not afford to lose it. Had worked to hard resisting old urges to forget himself again. This time he didn't even have the excuse of the Shukaku to fall back on.
Well, the thought to himself, Perhaps it was best if I don't spend any more time alone with this girl.
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Desert Rose