Her lack of charm didn't afford her many friends in the upper echelon of Suna, but then, she had made it abundantly clear that no matter her background- it was no friend of hers who would select a woman's companionship based on her ability to be sweet and soft. Bold opinions and innovative ideas came to her as naturally as breathing. Although she was never one to shirk duty, she could also never seem to perform her duty in the exact manner requested of her. She spoke out of turn, carried herself like the strongest of warriors, and fought with all the bone-chilling fury a shinobi who knew precisely what she was fighting for.

A sweep of her fan could level landscapes, but perhaps more impressively, a flick of her tongue could silence a room of the most disapproving of her peers (not that their ill-directed and pompous disdain ever occurred to her of something of any note or value).

She was clever, grounded, educated, and contained the raw power necessary for when the former three attributes made no impact.

In short, despite her averagely pretty appearance: she was magnificent.

A busy and independent woman, it came as a great surprise to many when she expressed her intense desire to be a mother. (Though, he mused, it oughtn't. Who better to raise children than a parent who thinks for themself, and shall encourage and inspire their offspring to do the same. A woman, a person, like that could raise world leaders).

He was not, in the strictest definition, a talker, preferring to keep to himself and let his silence carry the weight of his thoughts. But for her, he would make the exception.

She was exactly the kind of person they would warn him away from, but therein lay her most dangerous attraction. Quiet though he was, he was haplessly curious, and could see no better an acquaintance than a woman who represented all which he had been told to avoid in a potential wife.

He was impressed and very slightly intimidated by her. Rumours held that she had a notoriously sharp and confrontational manner. His instinct told him that their exchange would leave him-nose wrinkled in annoyance at her blunt observations- no friend of hers.

But, then, his instincts made a habit of being disastrously wrong.

Perhaps it would have been better if they hadn't met (he blames himself for this entirely), but from the moment she greeted him, not with a bow or by flattery, but with a harsh critique of the orders he delivered in a recent A-rank mission, he knew that avoiding her company was a virtual impossibility. Few had the gall to offer him, pegged as the next Kazekage, any real criticism; let alone question his decisions. Yet, with steady gaze and set jaw, she had declared him indecisive and the governmental powers-that-be ridiculous for electing him a leader over a woman of equal talent and merit (herself).

He could do little else but respond with the first genuine smile to cross his lips in years, hands forming a seal and voice issuing a challenge.

"You think you're the better choice for Kazekage?"

There was a loud thud, a thick swirl of dust and sand as she brandished her fan.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoO0

She was, as it turned out, the better choice- but, when she none-too-gently tended his broken wrist and black eye, she informed him that repeated incidents of misconduct had left her ineligible for the role.

"I think we would do well to temper one another's arrogance." He mused aloud.

"If that was a marriage proposal;" she replied teasingly, "it was terrible."

"But reasonable."

"I would make a dreadful wife."

"Perhaps it is a good thing, then, that I am looking for an advisor."


A/N: So I wrote this about six months ago and completely forgot to upload here. I think because the title is shitty/ill thought out.

Critique is not only welcome, but begged for. I was trying out a new style.