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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
- 8
- 9
- 10
Thank you muchly to everyone who's been reading my story, it definitely motivates me to continue writing.
Hope you all enjoy the latest chapter.
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It was by far the hardest decision he'd ever had to make and Gaara couldn't help regret it even though he knew it had been the right thing to do. She was safer in Konoha. She had people who cared for her - who could protect her better than he ever could. It would have been selfish to keep her here.
"You're a fool," Temari had growled at her little brother. "How could you let her go?"
She was incredibly annoyed. The councilmen had to take back Hinata's duties and if it wasn't for the girl’s concise notes on the clipboard for the next few weeks she was sure the whole village would have fallen apart. As it was, there were still a lot of times where people in line would say with impatience that they were there for their usual appointment and if Hinata sama were there she'd have already sorted things out! Even Gaara had been caught out once when someone had asked him about who was on Isawa sama duties that week.
"I don't know," he'd said. "Hinata usually assigned someone...”
Temari contiued to rant and finally Gaara had to grab her to stop her talking.
Temari was surprised at his touch. Gaara had never been a physical guy, usually using his sand for everything.
"Temari, she doesn't belong here," he said. "Look around you. This is a desert, a beautiful rose like her was not designed to live in these conditions. To keep her here would mean restricting her to a glasshouse. I wouldn't - couldn't do that to her."
"You've changed," Temari said softly.
Yes, he had changed, so much that he barely recognised himself anymore. He was just no longer whole without her and the hollow ache in his heart was slowly consuming him alive, worse than the sucking abyss from being a past host.
"That doesn't change the fact that you pushed her away," Temari continued, thinking of the way Suna had become so subdued. "We need her."
Neither of them truly realised how much until a few days later.
Temari was escorting Gaara to his office as she usually did on her days off - with the Chuunin exam coming up, Kankuro was doing missions without her - when one of the elders met them at Gaara's office door.
"Ah, Kazekage sama," she said. "I have finally found you. The temporary office has been set up."
She turned and walked off assuming they would follow, which they did, albeit a little puzzled.
"Um, where are we going," Temari finally said after they went down two flights of stairs and were heading toward the end of the hall on the third floor toward the storage room.
The elder stopped in front of the door and turned to them. "So, the Hyuuga girl didn't tell you? We were all reluctant to create more work for ourselves but then the Hyuuga girl mentioned how Konoha was doing things this way and be damned if Suna was going to be left behind in their practices."
Well, that explained nothing at all! The blonde thought with a grimace.
The elder opened the door and she gasped. Not only was the round room no longer a storage space but the walls at the back had been removed and replaced with floor to ceiling windows. The room had been emptied and a round rug with the Suna symbol dominated the floor while a long curved, one sided table stretched the circumference of the room in a semi circle.
Already four councilmen, the other elder and the teacher from Suna's Ninja Academy were sitting at the table, backs to the glass windows. Two free spots in the centre were left for Gaara and the elder beside him.
"From this day forward this room will be reserved for handing out missions and mission debriefing, excepting top secret missions that will still be handed out by you in private of course. This will replace some of the meeting time we have daily since you will not need to brief or debrief us separately for current missions. It will also mean we can all make decisions on the spot as information comes to us directly instead of calling emergency meetings all the time."
By doing things this way it meant Gaara had another hour or more free in his day even though it took up more of the elders and his councils time during the day.
"Hinata set this up?" Temari asked.
The elder nodded. "The girl was very insistent. She felt the Kazekage didn't have enough time to himself."
Temari gave her brother a look that could not be mistaken - they really did need Hyuuga Hinata back!
***
Something had fundamentally shifted in Hinata from her time away and everyone around her noticed it too. Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino were shocked when Hinata greeted Naruto with a polite nod and gentle smile, letting the exuberant youth practically lean on her while enthusiastically questioning her on her mission. Every time Neji saw her, he activated Byakugan, trying to read the new her but always fell short of finding an answer, frustrating him immensely, while Hanabi just plainly stared at her older sister in awe without knowing why. Then there was the fact that Akamaru followed her around all the time, telling Kiba that the girls presence soothed him. It got to the point that whenever he found his dog missing, Kiba only had to locate the grey eyed girl to find his loyal pup walking gaily by her side. Not that he minded, happening to agree with his canine partner. The girl was practically oozing pheromones, turning more than a few heads. Whispers of her sudden beauty were circulating around Konoha and Kiba did not like it.
Hinata just took it all into stride with a soft smile on her face. She wasn’t quite aware of her emotional shift as much as the rest of the world. To her, apart from a few changes, life fell back into a regular rhythm of her creating.
Tsunade had dismissed her from missions until she had recovered fully. The Godaime had set up daily sessions with Hatake Kakashi to help the girl recover her memory. The infamous Copy Ninja used his sharingan to manipulate time and space for Hinata to relive her memories in her subconscious, thereby regaining her memory.
Through their sessions she was able to regain most of her long term memories. All the time Naruto had been away, all the visits from Temari for the Chuunin exam, Gaara becoming Kazekage, Naruto returning… She’d also managed to gain back most of her time in Suna, all her practice and the kiss she’d shared with Gaara. What she couldn’t remember no matter how many times they revisited the event, was what had happened to her and Gaara in that desert that had left her in this state of memory loss.
Apart from that, she spent her days practicing and working a lot. She found she'd spent so much time on her shinobi duties she'd neglected her flower arranging and tea ceremony skills. She also began to hover around Nara Shikamaru more.
For some reason he always had a wealth of information about Suna's affairs and through him her connection to Gaara was able to continue if only in some small capacity.
On one of those very occasions Shikamaru let something slip that made her heart stop.
She'd found him lying in his usual spot, staring up at the clouds when he should have been doing his mission reports.
"Good morning, Shikamaru kun," she said, gracefully approaching him.
He didn't even turn but just said in a lazy tone, "Oh Hinata chan. Hiding from Kiba again?"
"It's not that I don't like Kiba kun but between him and Akamaru I'm feeling a bit smothered!" she lied. It was true the Inuzuka and his pup were acting strangely protective of her but not overwhelmingly so. She’d just needed an excuse to talk to the young Nara and surprisingly Kiba disliked hanging around the youth if he could avoid it. He'd previously said to Hinata he didn't like the way the other youth had no motivation but was still able to see right through him. She didn't make comment that the Inuzuka was really easy to read and that the only difference between Shikamaru and everyone else is that the Nara had no qualms telling the dog master his faults to his face.
Shikamaru chuckled and Hinata couldn't help but think the genius had a nice laugh. She didn't really understand why he didn't have more friends. Sure he gave off an 'everything’s much too troublesome' kind of vibe but, when approached, he never turned anyone away.
"Well, I'm glad I could help you with your problem," he said.
She sat down next to him and they fell into a comfortable silence.
"The clouds look so carefree. I wonder if there are clouds floating through Suna right now too."
"I doubt it." Apart from the yearly storm that rolled through the Wind Country, Suna pretty much stayed azure blue aside from the blaring sun.
"Temari will be coming here soon."
"For the Chuunin exam?"
Shikamaru had mentioned it many times during their conversations. He clearly enjoyed the blondes company and spoke of her often, always with a shadow of respect in his voice.
"Two more days."
"So soon. Do you think Naruto kun will take it?"
The shadow master shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he's forgotten it's going to be on. He's gotten a troublesome team mate lately."
"Sai kun? I've never met him."
"You don't want to," the Nara said darkly. "Trust me."
Hinata didn't say anything and they fell into silence again.
"Kankuro is coming too," Shikamaru suddenly broke the silence.
The grey eyed girl frowned, missing the youth's eyes trained on her face.
"Why? Is he going to be an examiner too?"
"No, Temari convinced him to help her smuggle their Kazekage out of the village."
That caused a reaction and Shikamaru caught it all.
Hinata froze, her heart seeming to have stopped before it began to pound against her rib cage violently.
"Gaara kun is coming here? In two days?" The calm she'd worked so hard on maintaining since her return flew out the window. Why was he coming? Was it to see her? Of course it wasn't to see her. She was being silly.
But you will get to see him, a voice said in the back of her mind. Yes, she would. And what was she going to say? Was there anything to say? There was nothing between them anymore so why would he even want to talk to her. She was the one that had been enraptured. This was nothing more than the visit of the Kazekage to an allied nation. She would just have to act normal. Who knows, they may not even meet at all.
"I hope he has a nice visit then," she said, somewhat stiffly. "Excuse me."
She stood and wondered off.
Shikamaru watched her leave with interest. "Che! Looks like you've won the bet this time, Temari."
***
The day the Suna Siblings arrived, Hinata was going on a stroll with Kiba and Shino. Akamaru walked so close to the Hyuuga that his body brushed against her leg and her hand rested on his back while Kiba hovered as close on her other side as possible without touching her. Every once and a while he would give her furtive glances, while Shino walked at an appropriate distance to them all thinking, Really, why is he like this?
Upon their arrival, Shikamaru had invited the three sand nins to lunch where they met the newly formed team seven trying unsuccessfully to bond over a meal. They'd all settled into their meals when team eight walked past.
Shikamaru saw them first but didn't have time to prevent Gaara and Temari from seeing them.
"Shit," Temari cursed under her breath, seeing the way Kiba leaned into the Hyuuga girl. Before anyone could stop him, Gaara was gone, appearing in front of team eight in a flurry of sand.
"Sabaku no Gaara," Shino greeted the young Kazekage first just as Akamaru started growling at the red head.
"Akamaru, calm down. He's our ally now," Kiba quipped giving his dog a stern look. Akamaru just whimpered a reply and Kiba looked surprised, sniffing the air and looking back and forth from the red head to his female team mate.
Sensing the sudden tension, Shino hastily grabbed the dog master.
"Kiba, I hear your mother calling. We must not anger her by keeping her waiting."
"Huh? Hey, wait a minute!" Kiba protested but Shino dragged him off without a backward glance. Akamaru followed the two anxiously leaving behind Hinata and Gaara to stare at each other awkwardly.
Neither of them said a word, not sure what to say.
It was as bad as Hinata had expected. To the outside world she had become a woman worth noticing and if she’d cried herself to sleep every night since she’d returned to Konoha, only her pillow and herself knew. Seeing the object of her pent up emotions in front of her threatened to crumble the wall she’d built around herself. Even now she could feel her eyes moisten.
Suddenly, coming smashing through the restaurant window, Naruto went flying past them both. His limp body skidded across the ground and hit a light post with enough force to split the wooden pole in half. It fell to the ground with a loud crash.
"Damn you Naruto, just what kind of stupid things are you saying to our esteemed guest?!" Sakura cried coming through the open hole after her lifeless team mate, her whole body radiating anger.
"Eh, it's okay Sakura chan," Kankuro said a weak smile on his face, hands raised.
"He's right," Sai said. The intensely pale youth gave Sakura a fake smile.
"He was asking a legitimate question,um," he looked her up and down. "Unkempt Hair."
Sai’s attempt at a nickname once again earned him Sakura's fist and he landed on the recovering Naruto.
"Damn you both!" she cried shaking them both vigorously.
Somewhere in all the craziness, Temari and Shikamaru had disappeared, obviously wanting to stay out of the mess.
"This place never changes," Gaara said dryly, the tension between them broken.
Hinata giggled softly, hand over her mouth, which soon turned into full blown hysterical laughter. It was true, this place never changed, and it was good to laugh for once. It lightened her heart a little.
The red head watched her with a pang in his chest. She was more beautiful now than ever before, obviously blooming wonderfully without him. It was hard to watch. He wished he could have been the one to do it.
"It is good to see you Hinata," Gaara said so softly Hinata almost missed it. "As I guessed a rose like you is better suited to Konoha's climate."
She gave him and odd look but didn't say anything.
"Oh, so it's true!" a voice made everyone in the vicinity turn their heads.
Tsunade stood there with a stern look on her face.
Sakura hastily dropped her two team mates, whom both crumpled to the ground lifeless. She had the presence to look sheepish at her shishou but Tsunade ignored her, her eyes trained on Gaara.
"To what do we owe the pleasure, Kazekage sama?"
Gaara bowed to her. "I apologise for dropping in so suddenly, Hokage sama. I am actually not here on business. With the Chuunin exam on this week my sister suggested I should come visit..."
"Ah, in that case," Tsunade's cheeks reddened slightly, "how about we go for a drink?"
Everyone sweat dropped and Sakura's eyes bulged. "Shishou! You can't use the Kazekage's visit as an excuse to slack off!!"
"No, no," the Hoakge brushed off her words. "This is to strengthen our relations. Really strengthen them." Even as she said the words, her eyes sparkled at the thought of a nice warm saucer of sake.
Hinata smiled at Tsunade sama's gull. "Looks like you're being challenged."
Gaara raised an eyebrow (or not >.> it sucks being browless...). "I will see you later," he said, leaving with the other Godaime before Hinata could react.
Was she going to see him again?
"Oh, Naruto, you better fix that restaurant and light post before I come back this way,"
Tsunade's voice floated back to them.
Naruto blinked, coming out of his daze. "Ara? Fix the light post?" He looked around and saw the extensive damage around him and his eyes widened.
"EHHH!!!!!!"
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Thought I’d end it on a bit of fluff this time J So the lovebirds meet again eh? Gaara has promised to see her again too… What will happen next?
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Desert Rose