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It Was You, Hinata	By : Rockrgrl4 Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1843 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters. I will not make any money by publishing this.

Chapter List
- 7
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Here's chapter 8! Hope you enjoy!

-K.

The sun was just now rising over the many hills of sand that adorned Suna. It was early-too early in the morning for some-but nevertheless the sounds of scuffling, small explosions and yells of battle echoed throughout the area, along with the telltale grunts and groans of discomfort and pain at Suna's most remote training grounds. It is here that two young shinobi of differing nations are training relentlessly, and it is here that our next chapter begins.

"Kyaa!" A soft, feminine voice punctuated the otherwise quiet atmosphere, and the cry was almost simultaneously accompanied by the crunching sound of bones coming in contact. When the cloud of sand finally settled, the kunoichi who had delivered the assault was bent over, her hands on her knees. She was panting for breath.

A flash of a shadow flickered behind her, and suddenly the dark shape was airborne, looming over her head. "Do not let your guard down, Hinata," the shadow growled out before it lurched downward to strike, "or you will be too easy of a target."

The shadow brought his arm down on the smaller kunoichi, his elbow making a hard impact on the girls' skull. A resounding crack echoed throughout the landscape as the shadow stuck and then settled on the ground. The light had finally made its way over the dunes, and now reflected the former shadow's face, and it was none other than the Godaime Kazekage. His red hair was dusty, with random sand particles spread throughout his crimson locks. Dirt was streaked across his face and clothes, giving him a rugged appearance. His eyes were the same familiar sea green which his villagers had at first learned to fear, and then respect. Gaara had never understood their fear before, or what it felt like.

He understood now, though. His entire body screamed it.

"Hinata!" He gasped out as he fell to his knees. "Hinata! Are you alright-" He took in the crack on her skull, and the blood running from the wound he had caused. Her eyes were closed, she was unconscious, and she wasn't breathing. The sight was terrible and gruesome. He tried to control his panic. He had thought that she would move out of the way; it had been a simple enough attack. Really, he should have-

"Release!"

The slumped, injured Hinata disappeared from his arms, and Gaara's eyes widened with sudden realization. He suddenly found himself on his knees, his arms pinned to his sides, and a kunai to his throat.

"Really, Gaara," a horribly familiar and at the moment angelic voice muttered from right behind his ear, "you shouldn't have let your guard down like that."

A click was heard, and his weapons pouch dropped from around his waist to the ground.

"It makes you too easy of a target," the Kunoichi finished, fighting to keep from giggling and the overall tone of laughter out of her voice. The sight of Gaara as surprised as he was now was just too much. He was face-down on his knees, and although he was facing away from her, she could plainly see his astonishment. It was just hilarious to think that he had probably underestimated her-exactly as everyone else had all her life-and he had just been proven wrong. Hinata was amused-and proud-at the same time.

"Enough," Gaara firmly stated, as he skillfully removed her kunai from its former position around his throat and pushed her off of him. For reasons he himself didn't understand, Gaara had to resist the urge to laugh for the first time in his life. Before today, he had never really felt the need to laugh or enjoy a joke, but today…

Still giggling, Hinata stood up from her position now several feet away from him, and exclaimed, "Good! I was going to ask for a break; I'm starting to get tired," She stood up the rest of the way and took in Gaara's expression. His face was solemn, and while he hadn't exactly ever been an open book over the past few weeks he had been certainly much more open to Hinata. Now he appeared to be like he was several years ago. Suddenly Hinata was concerned.

"Gaara? Are you okay?" She asked, clearly bothered by his lack of reply. "Gaara?"

Gaara barely turned his head in her direction and said in reply, "I am fine, Hinata-san. If you wish for a break, we may rest a few minutes."

Hinata slowly made her way over to a spot of ground in the distance, and she gracefully sank to the ground, elegantly crossing her legs at the ankle so that her delicate feet were facing him. As if Gaara hadn't been distracted enough before at her beauty, but now she was practically (although admittedly unknowingly) flaunting it. It was just unfair, damn it!

'Back to the point,' Gaara inwardly chastised himself, 'now is not the time!'

Throughout the duration of this training session, Hinata had taught him many things…how not to underestimate someone, how not to be too confident in his own techniques and he even got a glimpse into the power of her genjutsu's. He should have known better on that last point, he admitted. She was the student of Kurenai Yuhi, perhaps one of the most renowned genjutsu specialists within all the nations. He was a fool for not realizing that.

Although, the most precious lesson he had learned from the Hyuuga today was that he had trouble with separating emotions from duty. In the past, it was something he had never really had to worry about-he only cared for himself, lived for himself. He was his only reason for existing. He had never before cared about someone so much as to totally panic when they got injured in the middle of a battle-whether it be a spar or not. He now knew that he had much to work on-emotionally, anyway-and that it would be a long, daunting task.

Not that he wouldn't do it.

He glanced over at Hinata, who was rubbing her now tan legs, sighing to herself in a peaceful sort of gesture. She had closed her eyes and was leaning back on her arms, taking in the warmth of the early morning's sun's rays of light. She looked like a goddess in human form.

Gaara looked down at his own callused and weathered hands, turning them over so he could examine them. They were bruised and beaten from the hard work of the rigorous training he had undergone in the past few years. When Shukaku was extracted from his body, a great portion of his chakra and his ability to control sand had disappeared along with the sand demon. Therefore, the Kage had to learn a great deal of shinobi moves and techniques in a very limited amount of time. He trained restlessly and almost absurdly, working himself to exhaustion often and depriving himself of not only sleep, but of meals and liquids as well. He had worked himself to an almost suicidal point, though, for one reason and one reason alone-his village. He was the Kazekage, and if he was weak, if he let them down, then who was he to hold that title? His predecessors (and yes, even his father-regrettably) had all earned that title, and he had been given it because of a demon contained inside him who had given him an almost insane amount of chakra. When he had been "reanimated" and brought back home, he thought of one thing and one thing only-Naruto. Had his blonde, crazy leaf friend not said, over and over, that he would fight until he was good enough, that he would earn the title of Hokage that he cherished and wanted more than his own life?

When Gaara had thought of it that way, his own appointment to Kazekage seemed a lot like cheating. Therefore, to his siblings' and his sensei's great astonishment, he had asked them for their help and guidance in learning how to become a good shinobi. In essence, the poor Kage had to start over his shinobi career from scratch, but now he was an even better shinobi than he was when Shukaku had once thrived within him. He understood many more concepts, and many more things than he had when he was a crazy insomniac with a nearly unquenchable bloodlust.

Yes, he knew that he had learned many things in the past few years, but it seemed he had much more still to learn. As he gazed at the beautiful Hyuuga girl, he knew soon enough, she would supply him with new questions and answers.

The Godaime Kazekage Gaara also realized, as he not so fondly remembered his defeat by said beauty only moments ago, that he had also just found something besides his village and siblings to protect-and that he would be willing to protect with his life.

2 MONTHS LATER:

"Higher!" Gaara bellowed as he leapt backward, narrowly avoiding Hinata's gentle fist attack, "You won't hit me if you aim at my stomach!"

"But I don't want to hit you!" The Hyuuga breathed, "If I did it would really cause you serious damage!"

Gaara's lips twitched-he was trying to keep from laughing-but when the seriousness of her words hit him, he instead settled into a frown. "Hinata," he started, "Stop for a minute."

Hinata stopped, and stood a few feet in front of him, clearly puzzled with his request to stop. They had just begun training about 10 minutes ago, surely he couldn't have been tired-

"Hinata, why are you afraid to hit me?" Gaara questioned, confused, "We are sparring-the point is to practice our techniques. Even if you did accidentally hit somewhere that would cause me serious damage, the village is not too far from here and you are a highly skilled medic ninja. I'm confident that you would be able to heal me in time." He was truly puzzled by her comment and honestly wanted to know why she would be afraid of such a thing.

"Uh-well, because I-ah…" The Hyuuga suddenly lost her confident edge, and reverted back to her younger, stuttering self for a moment-although thankfully she didn't press her fingers together anymore like she used to. She had broken that habit. "Well, you see, I-"

Gaara suddenly took a few steps toward her, his confused expression becoming one of concern. "Hinata, are you-"

"I don't want to hurt you!" Hinata suddenly blurted out, and then covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. "My family's jutsu causes some serious damage to the heart-it can kill a man with one blow-and I've been on the receiving end of that attack. I know how it feels, and I've been experiencing the aftereffects of it for years now-don't tell Neji-nii-san, please!" Her sad, somber expression suddenly turned to one of pleading, "He'll worry, and he'll take it out on himself again. Please don't tell him!"

Gaara was, for one, astounded. The fact that she could be worried about damaging his heart was one thing, but begging him not to tell her cousin that his attack on her in the past had had lasting effects on her heart? She really was something else.

That was Gaara's second major lesson Hinata had taught him-that people can have weaknesses that are not only physical, like they were taught in the Academy, but people can have emotional weaknesses too for the people that they care about. Naruto had always spouted that nonsense since they were both young-chunin exam time young-but Gaara had not always been able to comprehend the exact meaning of Naruto's "Precious people" speech. Now, Gaara understood though. People can have weaknesses for the people they care about-or that they love-that can't be seen by the physical. It was part of the reason he himself was so willing to defend his village, his siblings, and even Hinata to his own death-because they were all precious to him.

And now he understood that Hinata's own greatest weakness was her heart.

2 MONTHS AFTER THAT-4 MONTHS TOTAL SINCE THE MIST TEAM'S REVIVAL

Gaara hurriedly made it through the hallways of his office at a brisk pace, nearly running down a few people in the process. Of course, the people he nearly bowled over immediately bowed and backed away, muttering apologies. At any other time if this had happened Gaara would have stopped and at least apologized for his rude behavior, but he just didn't have the time today. He was late for a very important meeting as a result of his last training session with Hinata. An involuntary smile crossed his lips as he crossed the threshold into the lobby that contained his assistant Seiji's workspace, and the doorway to his own office. He paraded through the lobby without a second thought, the smile still unknowingly fixed on his face. He nodded at Seiji to allow his next appointment to see him within moments, and he disappeared through the door to his office, his mind still thinking only of Hinata and their morning together.

It was too bad he didn't notice Seijis' knowing smile or the twinkle of knowledge in his eye. It was too bad that he hadn't thought about all of the important parties he had been missing, especially since he had been squeezing in Hinata's training with his Kazekage duties. Although what was perhaps the worst thing was that he hadn't been paying attention to exactly what Seiji had been doing with all of his messages concerning Hinata. It seemed that several of the clan heads and eligible bachelors of Suna had sent in their requests to receive permission to court the lovely ambassador from the Leaf. Seiji, knowing that although there was nothing between his Kage and the woman (for now, at least) still did not want to upset his Kage (friend) any more than necessary. Some of them he had stealthily sneaked into the trash, but others he kept wrapped up in a rubber band, and hidden in a drawer in his desk. He had originally planned to throw them all away, but Seiji knew his Kage was not a forward person, and one day he might need a little…encouragement to court the beautiful woman. So, Seiji kept a steadily growing pile of envelopes in his drawer, hoping that soon the redhead would find them. Not only was time running out for Hinata and his Kage to get together, but Seiji's drawer was starting to get full. It seemed everyone wanted a piece of the beautiful Hyuuga woman from the leaf.
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It Was You, Hinata