He was never good with words, but neither was the girl in front of him. She twiddled her forefingers, her eyes avoiding his, her head bent down low.

He could have laughed, if it weren't for the awkwardness of the situation. Imagine, he was attending his own omiai, and the girl his elders had picked for him was her. Well, who was he kidding? It just had to be her. Oh, the irony.

He glanced at her, just as she plucked up the courage to sneak a peek at him. Instantly, her face flushed bright pink and there was a strange, mysterious glow to that colour. Hurriedly, she stared at her knees, the table in front of them, the walls... Anything but him.

"Hi," he spoke, and she jumped at the sound of his voice. He suppressed an amused smile. Hey, if the girl was already thinking of him as a monster, why disappoint? He wanted to have his bit of fun first...

The kimono-clad girl established eye contact with him for a split second, before she went back to twiddling her fingers like a little child, embarrassed and confused, but curious nonetheless. He noted that her midnight blue tresses grew past her forearms, that's going to be inconvenient for her, he thought, musing at her child-like innocence. "It's rude not to answer when someone greets you, you know," he reprimanded gently, playfully, but his voice monotonous. He just wanted to hear her voice, for she had been silent for the past half hour.

"H-hello," she greeted, clearly unnerved and uncomfortable. Inwardly, he sighed. If she was this uneasy when they first met, he thought about her sanity when they started to live together.

In the adjoining room, the boy heard his village elders, his siblings and his own ex-Sensei negotiate with the Hokage and the girl's three family members. It's strange, he thought, I should be in there too. After all, I'm the -

"Kazekage-sama," Baki smiled wryly as the door slid open and the nine negotiators joined the awkward pair. The Shadow of the Wind nodded his acknowledgment, and told Baki to continue.

The man cleared his throat, and looked at his fellow eight counterparts, all of whom nodded slowly. "The Sunagakure and Konohagakure alliance will now be further strengthened by our Lord Kazekage-sama's marriage to the heiress of Konohagakure's renowned Hyuuga Clan, Hyuuga Hinata-sama, whereupon she relinquishes her birthright to her younger sister Hyuuga Hanabi and her cousin, Hyuuga Neji."

Through the corner of his eye, he saw Temari shake her head, her eyes closed and her face knotted up in a frown. He saw Kankuro sighing, as he patted Temari on her back and started to frown a little himself.

"Does Kazekage-sama agree to this partnership?" Tsunade questioned, not really expecting an answer.

Gaara looked to the timid girl in front of him, then to her father, her sister, her cousin. His gaze then set upon Baki, Temari and Kankuro, followed by the two Sunagakure village elders. Finally he stared at Tsunade, his eyes unfazed and his expression as deadpan as ever. He closed his eyes, exhaled deeply. He had thought about this for days, and even if they had presented the ugliest or the most beautiful girl alive to him, his answer would have been the same.

"Yes," he answered, his pale green, pupil-less eyes now fixated on his fiancée, "I do."