It was a hot day, much too hot as Hinata walked through the streets of Sunagakure on her mission to deliver herself to the Kazekage for a special assignment. Three days earlier she had been summoned by lady Tsunade. The assignment was vague saying only that Hinata was the only person they wanted sent. It was an A rank mission so Hinata had worried about it the entire time she had spent coming over to Sunagakure. She wondered why she had been picked for this and more importantly why had she been specifically requested.

The breeze that day felt good as it swept away some of the heat of the sun. Hinata had a feeling that a tan would be only one of a few things she would be getting while here in Wind Country. The heat even permeated the Kazekage's mansion as Hinata timidly made her way up to one of the Anbu guards standing outside a large door.

"Uhmm...excuse me...I was sent by the Lady Hokage to come see the Lord Kazekage." Hinata said shyly fearing she would be too loud and instead almost ended up too quiet.

One of the Anbu simply nodded and opened the door for Hinata and motioned her inside. The room she had stepped into was certainly the Kazekage's office but it was much cooler than anywhere else Hinata had been since the forests had given way to gentle rolling sands. Gaara sat at his desk with Temari standing on his right. He spoke solemnly as Hinata entered the room and stood before him. "It is good to see you've arrived safely."

"Th-thank you Lord Kazekage." Hinata said as she tried to not stutter.

"Please, sit for a moment while I tell you why you were summoned here." Gaara said as he motioned for Hinata to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. She sat down slowly and then Gaara continued speaking. "My sister Temari wishes an escort on her journey to the Land of Snow and she specifically asked for you. Your mission is to do whatever it is she wishes. She has been told the specifics of what your mission is to entail and it did warrant the A rank it was given. I'll take my leave of the two of you so you can get better acquainted."

Gaara quietly left the room and Hinata stared at Temari who only glared at her brother as he left the room. As soon as the door shut behind him, Temari spoke in a commanding voice. "Lady Hinata, While I am fully aware that you are treated like a princess back home. Do not expect the same of me until you have earned my respect. Until then I shall treat you like I treat the newest of servants are treated at the Hyuuga household. Get up, you shall not sit when I am not seated."

Hinata hesitated for a second and then followed the command. It was so confusing to see how different Temari was from her brother. Temari smiled slightly and said, "Good, at least you know how to obey quickly enough. As my brother told you, I am in need of an escort . You will be accompanying me as I travel to the Land of Snow. As you may also be aware, this time will take considerable time. I've been told it is a two month journey on foot. However I have managed to provide us with an alternate way to get there. The transport is a ship which is in a harbor a week's journey from here."

Hinata's heart sank. To be gone from anyone she knew for so long was one thing, but to be so far away somehow made it different. She quietly asked, "How long are we going to be there?"

Temari glared at her and sharply said, "Did I ask you to speak? No, I don't think I did. However your boldness merits your question being answered. Our council of elders has asked me to go and negotiate an agreement with the ruler of The Land of Snow. They simply want to establish trade between our villages. We leave in three hours. You will meet me by the village gate as soon as you have acquired the proper attire for the trip. You are dismissed for now."

Hinata bowed slightly and left the Kazekage's mansion and immediately headed for the merchant shops. She was terrified of how cold Temari had been to her. She spent the better part of an hour trying to find a shop that sold cold weather gear which seemed insane to her. In a place that was constantly so hot and dry, no one would have need of such things and it would have to be provided to shinobi of this village from either Konoha or another village Sunagakure had ties with.

She finally found a shop that did and upon asking was surprised to find the shop keeper all too happy to move the gear out of his shop for very little. She paid the man and put the items carefully in her pack. She quickly ran down the streets to a place that sold food fit for a trip of such length and bought as much as she could stuff into her pack. Her mind briefly drifted across the idea of trying to see what made Temari act the way she did but she quickly shook it out of her mind. She made her way to the village gate with time to spare and stood facing the seemingly endless looking sands. With her Byakugan she could have tried to see to the end of the sands but for now, she was content to just watch the small whirlwinds shift the sands around.

A light tap on her shoulder caused Hinata to gasp slightly. She turned around and was facing Temari who was smiling. It was like she was a different person outside of the town. Temari stared right into Hinata's eyes and said, "I'm sorry for how short I sounded back there. As to where we are going I am telling the truth but as for how I will act toward you I was lying so that the council did not think I was weak and remove me from protecting my brother. I will treat you like any other shinobi I would call an ally or friend. That damn council is filled with elders who value the strong and women who are not strong they considered beneath them. So for appearances sake to them I act cold and harsh while inside that building. Outside of it you will find I am much easier to be around. I still expect orders to be followed though. They will just be far more important than the ones I gave you earlier."

It took Hinata a moment to process all of this. She understood why Temari had acted the way she did, it sounded very similar to how her father treated Hyuuga clan members. It was a good thing though that she didn't have to worry about how to act around Temari. "I-I can see why you did that. It's because they have a perception of you as this tough harsh woman and yet you've changed from that into someone a little bit gentler. It good that I'll be able to relax a little around you. I was so nervous about everything."

"I'm glad that you see that you can simply be yourself around me." Temari said as they set out on their journey. "Frankly this trip would be boring with anyone else but you. You're so different from how I am. You're shy and timid and I'm outgoing and bold. I guess what I'm getting at is that you spark some interest in me to want to find out more about you."

The comments from Temari made Hinata blush slightly. She was a little unsure of how to take what Temari had said. It was true that Temari also made her want to find out more but she hadn't been able to think about it without her mind thinking it would not end up well. She decided to be a little brave for once and she hesitatingly said, "I-I also want to find out more about you. I just, am not sure of what to ask first or what you will do if I ask the wrong thing."

Temari smiled and said, "I don't get offended very easily. I grew up with two brothers, one who's a Puppet Master and the other was host to the One-tailed Beast. I learned how to take offense not so personally at a very young age. If anything I don't wish to offend you. I may be the sister of the Kazekage but you're the daughter of the head of the entire Hyuuga clan. Offending you might be taken as offending the whole clan which could ruin Sunagakure's relationship with Konoha."

"You don't have to worry about me. I've never taken insults and offending things personally. It was simply a part of growing up in the Hyuuga household. It is to be expected. So, why don't you start? I'm terrible with this sort of thing." Hinata said shyly as she blushed a bit more.

Temari thought for a moment about what to say. "Well, most of what I know of you is from visiting Konoha and talking to people who know you but there is just one thing I want to ask.' She paused for a moment and then asked, "Can you really see through only what you want to?"

Hinata smiled and said, "Yes but it takes a lot of training to do that and even then most of us only see chakra. Neji says he can use it like that without seeing only the color of the chakra. I can't even begin to think of using it like that. Walls and things like that are the easiest to see through."

The sands were hot but Hinata found it bearable as they walked along talking. After a moment Hinata finally got up the courage to ask Temari something. "Is...Is there a reason why you picked me as the person to accompany you? Surely someone like Sakura or Ten Ten would be better suited to this mission."

Temari stopped for a moment causing Hinata to have to so the same. Temari walked over to Hinata and looked straight into her eyes before saying, "You'll find my reasons for choosing you as we go along. It is something I want you to figure out for yourself. It is like taming the whirlwinds that cross this desert. Something best done on your own with no clues. That after all is how you get the greatest reward from it."

Wind swirled around the two of them as they stood there for a moment. Hinata was confused by what Temari had said. Surely the reason was something easily given, so why did Temari want her to find out what it was? Temari smiled slightly before resuming walking. She knew that Hinata was smart enough to figure it out eventually.

Hinata's mind raced with so many thoughts and possible reasons why Temari had chosen her for this mission. One thought kept coming back to Hinata but she tried to push the thought away. After all there was no way Temari would ever think of her like that. But the thought still kept surfacing no matter how hard Hinata tried to get rid of it. She buried the thought once more, telling herself that she would ask Temari about it later. Hinata sighed slightly and stared out into the shifting sands. Maybe Temari was right and it would be more rewarding to find out the answer for herself.

Temari wanted to take her time with the trip. Hinata had noticed that right from the start Temari wasn't in any great hurry but wasn't exactly taking it slow either. It was like Temari was giving her time to figure out exactly why she had been specifically requested. This certainly had been an unusual mission so far. Hinata wondered to herself how the rest of the mission was going to go. For now it looked like everything would be relatively easy. Hinata caught herself staring at Temari as they walked. Hinata could see that, even though Temari was a tomboy in how she acted, there was certain thing about her that Hinata found attractive. Hinata blushed at the thoughts and blushed even deeper when Temari said, "See something you like? You've been staring at me for the past few minutes."

Hinata's blush covered her entire face in a deep red hue as she tried to find something to say. "S-Sorry. I'll try not to."

"Don't apologize when you don't mean it." Temari said sharply. "There has to have been a reason why you were staring at me and I wish to hear it."

Hinata stopped walking and stood there fidgeting. She was nervous about saying what was really on her mind, not to mention how Temari would take it. She looked at Temari and then took a breath. Telling her the truth would be the only way out of this. "I think I know the reason why you asked me along. You like me. That was part of why I was staring at you. The other part was, despite how you act you're still a surprisingly beautiful person."

Temari was surprised by how forward and open Hinata had just been. Normally the girl was so shy that getting anything out of her like that was almost an exercise in futility. Temari smiled and said, "You're right, about my reason for asking for you. I want to get to know you better but I also wanted to be able to be myself. With the work I get assigned coming to visit you in Konoha was impossible and you've seen that I can't be myself inside the walls of Sunagakure. I'm amazed with how open and honest you were answering me."

Hinata was nervous beyond words but hearing that she had been right let her relax just a bit. "I knew that if I hadn't been honest about what I said you would have been able to tell. I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I am right now."

Temari walked over to where Hinata was standing and hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss. Hinata was surprised by the suddenness of it but found that she wasn't as nervous anymore. Still holding on to Hinata Temari smiled and said, "That help to make you any less nervous?"

Hinata nodded and said, "What made you kiss me?"

Temari smiled and said, "You were standing there looking so cute and I just couldn't help myself. Frankly I'm still sorting out my own feelings as I'm sure you are as well. We can just take things slow for now. After all, taming whirlwinds isn't something you can do in one day."

Hinata was glad she wasn't the only one still making sure of her own feelings. She was still a little confused about the kiss Temari had given her. The feelings running through her mind were blocking out all other thought. Hinata still was a little unsure with herself if she should be feeling like this toward Temari. Temari was right though. This was something that was simply going to take time.

(Author's note: Hinata and Temari are far and away my favorite two girls from Naruto. I've been wanting to do a pairing of these two for a while but couldn't think of how to get it off the drawing board and into written word. This is going to be what I hope is a nice return to manga and anime fanfiction after Another Side, Another Story. Read and enjoy.)

Shinobi of the Onyx Sands