Gaara rolled his shoulders as he tried not to place the acrid smell permeating from every corner of the homely town bar and inn. As welcoming as a mission was for the Kazekage, this was far from the amenities he was used to receiving at his comfy tower, and the scent of what he could only imagine was a combination of stale beer, damp molding wood and hillbilly sweat was less than desirable after such a long journey.
Tenten was coming back from the front desk, deftly avoiding some of the more troll-like figures that lurched towards her in a lecherous manner.
"One left, sorry, we'll have to share," she gave Gaara a small smile as she exchanged a key for a warm glass of beer.
"That's funny, I didn't think there was a lot of inbreeding in this part of the country," she mused at the less than desirable male figures lurking in the corners of the smelly bar attached to their accommodations for the night.
Gaara had to agree, though he stood perfectly still as he leaned next to the edge of the bar. The company around them was just as much of an eye-sore as the smell around them was rancid. He couldn't tell if his eyes were starting to water from the smell or from the mere sight of the locals.
He almost regretted taking this mission, as it wasn't technically fit for the Kazekage to traipse around the country with a single escort. Nor was it really safe, but the importance of the mission took precedence. The elders reluctantly had come to the conclusion that the Kazekage must go, after days of deliberation, but not after requiring a companion to accompany him. After finding no suitable candidate in Suna, they looked to their allies, the leaf, for someone to expertly fit the bill. The blade they were looking to recover from a feudal lord was extremely rare, extremely priceless, and extremely dangerous to procure. They needed someone who knew their way around weapons and explosives, as well as someone who could spot a fake blade a mile away and be decent at detecting traps. The feudal lord was skittish and would only relinquish the sword to the Kazekage himself. The sources for the information given actually seemed reliable, but they were to prepare for a trap anyways.
"I'm really glad that I don't have a room all to myself: I wouldn't want to give the impression to these guys that I was single." Tenten unconsciously moved closer to Gaara as two troglodyte-looking males bellied up to the bar beside her.
Gaara frowned at the pair, who were now peering over their glasses of home brewed piss-water to ogle the twin bunned konoichi openly. She cringed under their glare and her face showed that she had gotten a good whiff of sweaty armpit stank coming off of them in droves.
"I think I will go to bed early tonight," she said and pushed aside her cup, leaving the last few dregs of her beer. No doubt she was probably nauseated by the proximity of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Scum. He certainly was.
"It's late." He remarked without emotion, "We should both get some rest."
The cavemen beside them grumbled their protests before they left, not liking that the only eye-candy in the dump had decided to retreat for the night.
The room, to their surprise, was not as bad as the junk hole downstairs. It had sparse accommodations, but the place seemed to be clean despite the clear fact that the last person who stayed in the room smoked like a chimney.
Tenten unraveled her camping scroll and pulled out a backpack and sleeping bag for the night. She disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared after a short shower in her pajamas, which Gaara noticed lacked a considerable amount of fabric.
She had her hair back up in their usual buns, slightly damp, and she promptly unrolled her sleeping bag and hopped in before fluffing her pillow generously.
"Take the bed," Gaara commanded, unstrapping the heavy gourd on his back and setting it against the door. He didn't bother waiting for her to reply as he headed into the bathroom to take a hot shower and drench himself in steam. The journey had been long and arduous, but he could hardly complain about the company. Tenten was charming and comfortable. He didn't feel the need to fill their journey with anything more than he had to offer by way of conversation, which he was grateful for, that, and, he found her amusing. He also felt amicably safe with her, something he thought he would only be able to feel with his siblings. He had just grabbed a towel from the hook beside the stall when he heard a loud knock on the hotel door.
The drunken brutes had found out where they were staying.
Tenten, smartly, did not answer the door or even acknowledge that she was there. As the knocks turned into bodies being slammed into it trying to break it down, Gaara only had time to wrap the towel around his waist before moving his gourd out of the way of the two bodies hurling their way through it.
Tenten had already taken one out with an iron skillet by the time his sand reached out to knock the other one unconscious.
Tenten flipped the blunt instrument of the beastly churl's demise expertly, and gently huffed on it with her breath before she buffed it on her shoulder.
He noted that her camping gear had been close to her bed roll, and she had grabbed the nearest metal instrument from the bag in haste to incapacitate the Neanderthal. One of them groaned as she stepped on it's head as she crossed their room to slip back into the bag.
"I thought I told you to take the bed." Gaara scowled as he noted that she had not bothered to move from her spot on the floor when he had been busy showering.
"I can't have the Kazekage of Suna, Sabuko no Gaara, sleeping in my old sleeping bag," she reasoned, "it smells like campfire and woods."
And her, he thought suddenly, wanting the use of the sleeping bag even more now.
"I insist as the Kazekage." Gaara spoke with authority even as his wet red hair dripped quietly onto the carpet. With his arms still folded menacingly across his bare chest he blinked as if to say that was the final say on the matter, and disappeared into the bathroom, only bothering to put some pajama bottoms on before coming back out.
"Let's move them," he said and they each took an end of a body and shuffled it well out of site of their room downstairs on an empty bench just inside the lobby. They did the same with the other, and Gaara noted that she had positioned their arms around each other, in a romantic embrace. She stepped back at her handy-work, then brushed her palms off and said, "well, they ain't getting any prettier, or better smelling," she looked at her hands as if to make a note to wash them thoroughly when they got back to their room, "let's head back before we get noticed." Strolling half naked in around the hotel was a sure fire way to get unwanted attention and he had half a mind to tell the konoichi to henge as they headed back. Those shorts she was wearing were hardly covering her ass and the white tanktop was nearly completely see-through. Gaara tried not to let his mind wander as he watched the long legs in front of him lead the way back to their room.
After nearly scrubbing their hands raw, they fixed the door back in place with the help from a tool box Tenten had managed to hide away in a scroll.
"Do you think those creeps will be back?" Tenten asked wearily, eyeing the half broken door. It offered little comfort that it would do anything more than cave in if some were to sneeze on it.
"Probably," Gaara announced sitting on the side of the bed, and hunching over with his hands on his knees. "We should try to get some sleep anyways."
Honestly, he was hoping to actually get some decent sleep tonight.
He should have known better.
Not that he could get any sleep knowing that the little half-naked konoichi would be sleeping in the same room as him.
He perked up slightly as he realized that he would at least be able to sleep in her sleeping bag. That sole fact alone was worth having to heave those local drunken louts around the hotel.
He pulled himself off the bed and headed for the small bed roll. He picked it up and placed it up against the splintered door. At least this way, he would know first if someone tried to attack them again.
…
Gaara was vaguely aware, before the morning rays of light illuminated their hotel room, that he was somehow not in the same spot he had been sleeping in against the door last night. As he was too groggy and comfortable to care why he wasn't, it also somewhat occurred to him that he was wrapped around a certain slender figure. He became fully awake when he realized that the figure was Tenten and his arm was passively clutching her to his side. Gaara wasn't one to panic. He remained cool and calm and stoic and well, Gaara, in the face of mortal peril and life threatening circumstances. So when the tattooed red-head opened his eyes to see that she was quite happily enjoying the cuddle, his heart began to race with alarm.
What the hell happened last night? He wracked his brain searching for answers. Rolling his eyes in the back of his head, he fuzzily remembered beating some more drunken thugs down, before hastily making his way back to bed. Except, he had forgot that he was sleeping on the floor, and settled in beside the warm, soft body already occupying the bed instead. He must have unconsciously followed the alluring scent from her sleeping bag back to its original source.
Gaara took a deep breath. Despite having his sleep disrupted by the lively gang of trogs, he seemed surprisingly refreshed. He wondered to himself if the girl nuzzling into his shoulder in her sleep had anything to do with it.
He should really try to slowly pull out his arm out from under her head and replace it with a pillow. Or say her name to wake her up. He should really do something other than just lay there and stare at her.
But instead he took in her soft features and let his eyes roam over every curve of her body. He wondered to himself how he had decided, even in his half-dozed sleep, that he could fall asleep beside her and not remember. Or not try to do anything other than sleep.
She was stirring now; her body was squirming ever so slightly as her body roused itself from sleep.
"Good morning," she whispered to him without opening her eyes. Gaara expected for her to react, and to react badly. He closed his eyes and waited, but all that she did was gently push herself into a sitting position while he appeared to be still dozing and hop lazily off the bed. She took off to the bathroom for a quick shower and change. She packed up her bags and supplies as Gaara took his turn in the facilities.
Gaara wasn't one to offer apologies. He had killed people. A lot of people. Somehow saying something along the lines of "hey, sorry I killed your family and loved ones" didn't quite make it into a conversation and things were just better left unsaid. Now was no different. He wouldn't bother explaining things to her unless she asked, and she seemed, for the moment, that it had not upset her in the slightest. Apologizing would make things more awkward, and that was one thing that he noticed had not happened between them yet. And he was determined to keep it that way.