So, no reviews for the last chapter. That's okay. I was kinda looking forwards to feedback, but at least I got followers/favoriters. Thanks, guys; it means a lot to see that you all enjoy my story. So my thank-you's go towards: Aki666, Yu Nguyen, kaito kenshin! You're all so nice! :)

On with the chapter! I hope you guys like it :)

AGES OF THE MAJOR CHARACTERS (for all those curious): Gaara-20, Hinata-20, Naruto-20, Shikamaru-20, Temari-23, Kankuro-22.

Upon becoming one of the two official bodyguards of the Sixth Hokage, Shikamaru had been ecstatic, a feeling that confused him due to the fact that being a bodyguard for the leader of Konohagakure would be… well, work. Shikamaru was usually one of those guys who honestly didn't aspire to be anything; and he was happy at whatever point it was at. Some found it ironic when Shikamaru sped through the shinobi rankings; becoming an ANBU agent and a damned fine one at that. He consistently; though somewhat hesitantly, took each mission and new ranking bestowed upon him. But when he became a bodyguard of the most powerful shinobi in the village; he'd felt a surge of… pride.

I guess my kid has something to be proud of when it comes to his old man, he thought in a happy tone. Shikamaru took the position with the widest grin Naruto had ever seen on his face.

Of course, he wasn't prepared for how truly (in his terms) troublesome the job would be. Every stupid request that Naruto asked him for he'd have to adhere to. It was annoying, retarded, and it didn't sit quite to well with him. Being the bodyguard of the Hokage did finally get Sabaku no Temari interested him romantically, that he would admit; but in all other respects the entire job was an immense pain in the ass.

This was, sadly, one of those moments. He'd expected that upon arriving in Sunagakure that he would get to relax and spend time with his Temari. He even brought something for the baby; the one she insisted she would give birth to in Suna instead of Konoha—a concession that he had to give, for he wanted her happiness above his own. He just wanted to spend time with her; which both their busy scheduled seemed intent on preventing.

But, no, he would not get to relax and spend time with Temari. Instead, he was standing in front of Naruto and Gaara, staring at them as if they'd lost their minds—which, in Shikamaru's mind, they had. They're interrupting time I could be spending with the fucking LOVE OF MY LIFE for this bullshit? And they're saying it's a mission too? Are they fucking insane? Now, while Shikamaru was lazy; he was by no means of the imagination stupid. Obviously, these two Kages seemed to be forgetting how much of a genius Nara Shikamaru was. His mind went through all of his options and different scenarios, and all he came back with was a bruised, beaten, and bloody remnant of his body. After Hinata beat him senseless.

"So, let me get this straight," Shikamaru finally said to the two serious village leaders. "You want me to spend the entire Kage's summit trying to get Hinata; the emotionally damaged kunoichi who can kill me with her pinky, to admit out loud in a public space that she's in love with Kankurō; the equally emotionally damaged and incredibly insecure brother of the Kazekage, also known as 'that murderous asshole from the sand without eyebrows'?"

Gaara's eyebrow-less face twitched, and a vein bulged in his temple. As the sand rose up around him, twitching to kill the father of his yet-to-be-born nephew; Naruto tried to 'diplomatically' gain a hold back on the conversation.

This meant that he would somehow make it a little bit worse.

"Hey, Gaara's not a murderous asshole!" said Naruto without thinking.

Stiffly, the red-head turned to his fellow Kage, his aquamarine eyes flashing murderously at him now. Truth be told; Gaara wasn't upset at being called a murderous asshole: he was called that all the time by Kankurō and Temari; not to mention other villagers. What pissed him off was that Shikamaru said he didn't have eyebrows, which technically was true but he didn't like his physical flaws being pointed out to him; like his apparent insomnia problems. What tipped him over the edge was that Naruto defended him about being a murderous asshole but not about the part of having no eyebrows.

Naruto shivered with the apparent bloodlust in Gaara's eye, and for the second time that day raised his hand up shakily, repeating his earlier statement in an equally shaky voice: "Gaara… no need to be hasty…" Unlike before, the Kyūbi wasn't laughing at Naruto's fear. It was instead saying, YOU FUCKING IDIOT! YOU KNOW HOW GAARA FEELS ABOUT HAVING NO EYEBROWS! NOW WE'RE BOTH GONNA DIE AND IT'S ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT! From the amount of fear, Naruto passed out, falling out of his chair and onto the floor, drool falling out of his open mouth.

Gaara sighed, shaking his head and letting the sand pool around him on the floor again. "He's such a baka," he said, sighing again. Shikamaru pondered whether or not he should pick up his body and at least drag him back into the chair; but all he ended up doing was grabbing the chair, pulling it around Gaara's desk and using it for himself. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his back pouch, putting one in his mouth and lighting it.

Gaara wrinkled his nose but he didn't make the Nara male stop smoking. "And to answer your question," said Gaara, putting his elbows on the desk, "I do want you to make Kankurō and Hinata admit it."

Shikamaru already knew about their little relationship. Hinata had once gotten a pregnancy scare while in Kirigakure when Naruto was busy with diplomatic relations, and Shikamaru had been forced to run out for the pregnancy test that he affectionately called 'The Pee Stick of Truth'. It had come out negative, thankfully enough for Hinata; but she had to tell him who it was that Hinata was with that she'd even had a pregnancy scare. He'd assumed that she was pristine and pure… a virgin. It shocked him when he'd realized she wasn't; but even further that the prospective father would be Kankurō, of all people.

Of course, from that point on he seemed to hear them whenever they were doing it, so the shock wore off rather quickly. He paled as he remembered the first time he'd heard them going at it. It was almost three AM, and they were going at it like they'd just done cocaine! Plus… it was scary. And, beyond that, loud. Shikamaru had to buy special-grade earplugs that he couldn't sleep without anymore.

"How did you find out?" asked Shikamaru, sighing.

Gaara's face turned bright red, a color Shikamaru hadn't seen on his skin before… he was sure, up until this point, that Gaara wasn't capable of the emotion of embarrassment. "It… it doesn't matter," said Gaara shakily, "I just need you to make them admit it… they shouldn't have to hide or anything."

"Technically speaking, they're not hiding. I'm pretty sure that they don't lock the door," said Shikamaru, his own blush kicking up. No, he knew for sure—he'd almost walked in on them once because Kankurō didn't believe in locks. If it hadn't been for Hinata screaming out in ecstasy… well, God knows what he would've seen. "Plus, if you've ever been in the same country with them while they're going at it… you'd know that they tend to be kind of…"

"Loud, I know," interrupting Gaara, his shade of red reminding Shikamaru of those cherries people put on top of ice cream sundaes. Shikamaru grinned inwardly; amused that he wasn't the only one subjected to the torture of Kankurō and Hinata's lovemaking.

"Well, yeah…. But the problem with your plan is that Hinata entrusted me with a secret. I can't just ruin it now because you two want to play Cupid. I think it's much better should you let them admit it to you over time."

"Why can't they just admit it now?" asked Gaara, confused.

Shikamaru sighed; realizing Gaara was about as attuned to human emotions and realities as a rock. Shikamaru sat forward, feeling obligated to give Gaara a piece of knowledge.

"Okay, look. Hinata's emotionally damaged due to the fact that her father can't accept who she is to her face or even show any hint of pride towards an accomplishment of hers. Besides that, she's an heiress to a clan where they think that love is something for children… their loyalties lie in the passing of the Gentle Fist from generation to generation; which means that they are constantly intermarrying with each other. Of course, it doesn't help her that she happens to have what Hiashi's referenced to as a 'baby-bearing body'… which, in case you don't know, is large hips, healthy and strong bones, and a kind of, erm, ample chest."

Gaara squirmed awkwardly. He probably never got the sex talk when he was younger. Shikamaru knew that Gaara didn't want to have this conversation, which Shikamaru understood perfectly; he didn't want to have this conversation with his lover's little brother either. Yet, he continued.

"Hinata has been taught from day one not to love, not to give oneself over to the temptations of sex, and to only be with a Hyūga. Obviously, Hinata has broken all three of these cardinal rules; and she can't let her father know about it. If he does realize that she isn't pure come time for her to be wed; he'd disown her so fast her head would spin. And she'd consider herself a shame."

Gaara nodded, and Shikamaru let himself continue.

"And on the case of Kankurō… he was born with the expectation to be as great as his father; the Kazekage. He then was cast aside the moment you were born, as you contained Shukaku. All of your father's time was spent on training you to be a weapon instead of paying attention to Kankurō. It didn't help matters that your mother died in the process of giving birth to you, leading to Kankuro's deep hatred of children.

"Kankurō was cast into your shadow when you began to kill; even further when your reputation started to precede you, while nobody knew of him. He stopped showing feelings of love towards anyone; and he's only just learning how to accept things now. He still feels that he's out-shined by you; who everyone wants to be with. He's afraid that if he lets people know about Hinata, she might change on him. He's afraid that she'd only want the title of being Sabaku no Kankurō's girlfriend and the fame that comes with it. And then he'd be ashamed of himself for letting someone not related to him by blood in and close up again to the world."

Gaara seemed shocked. "How do you know that?" he asked.

Shikamaru smiled grimly and tossed the remainder of his cigarette onto the ground, crushing it with the toe of his sandal. "I strategize and observe for fun, Gaara," he said, "And it's so easy to read emotions and problems within people just by the way they hold themselves." He heard a groan, and he looked down at the waking Naruto. "Ah, Naruto, how nice of you to join us. Gaara and I were having a great conversation."

"You asshole, you took my chair," groaned Naruto, holding his head.

"That I did. It was my charge for you being so troublesome."

Naruto groaned again and pulled himself up, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "But… will you do this for me, Shikamaru? As a friend?"

"Friend is a relative term, Naruto."

"Acquaintance?" tried Naruto.

"I didn't even know that word was in your vocabulary."

"Har, har. But will you? I just want them to be happy."

"They are happy," said Shikamaru, once again lighting up a cigarette. "I say just let 'em do their own thing. They'll come around once they're ready."

Gaara seemed lost in thought. "They might not," he finally said. Both Leaf ninjas looked at the tattooed Kazekage. His aquamarine eyes were filled with intelligence. "Based on what you've just told me, the chances of them going public with a relationship like theirs are slim to none—actually, I should say that there's roughly an eighty-percent possibility of them actually being public about it. With those figures being counted, odds are that without the proper pushing they might keep it to themselves. Then Hinata would be stuck in a loveless marriage with a second or third cousin; popping out kids like a Pez dispenser pops out candy. And then Kankurō might be filled with regrets and become one of those guys who asks random little girls to come into his shop to play with his puppets." Shikamaru doubted the latter; but the rest he definitely agreed with. Gaara's eyes darted to the side and his face went red again. "Plus, maybe if they admit it to everyone… they won't fuck so often."

Now Shikamaru was sold.

Operation 'Get Kankurō and Hinata Together Legitimately' was a go.

"Achoo!" cried out Hinata, placing her hand on her nose. Was someone just talking about me? she wondered.

Kankurō pulled his face out from her neck and those achingly pleasurable movements he was making with his fingers ceased. His brow creased in concern for this woman. He raised his cleaner hand to her forehead, pressing against her skin to see if she was running a temperature. "Do you have a cold? Because if you do, I can get you some medicine…"

Hinata smiled. Kankurō was just too kind to her. She shook her head and kissed him, running her thumb along his stubble-covered jaw. "No," she murmured against his lips, "I'm perfectly alright."

"That's good to hear," he whispered, kissing her back. His hand didn't return to those movements it was making in her lower regions. He instead rolled off of his lover, lying down on his back. The thin linen blankets were strewed around their hips, disguising their most private of body parts. Though the room was cold, their bodies glistened with light sweat, making the glow from the sun coming through the window seem to play on their skin. He sighed as he stopped kissing her, his eyes trained on the ceiling.

She snuggled against him, laying her head down on his chest. His hand automatically went to rub her hair, running his fingertips against her scalp. She felt more alive when she was with him more than she was when she was anywhere else. She loved the feeling; and it ached at her when she had to let it go for months at a time. She wished she never had to let him go, but she was firmly attuned to the realities of her situation. Eventually, despite her intense feelings for him and him for her; they would have to let each other go.

"What's wrong? We can't be sad during this time," whispered Hinata, her hand rubbing Kankurō's wet skin. As she touched, she tried to absorb the little details of him into her body and mind: the speed at which his heart raced, the little hairs that covered his chest, the softness of his skin, the scars that covered his entire torso. Little things that she couldn't afford to miss.

"I'm not sad. I'm just… well, fuck it, I am sad," admitted Kankurō, sighing. "I just… I don't… I don't want to lose you, Hinata. I love you too much to lose you."

She raised her head to place her chin in his chest, looking up at him. Kankurō's eyes were filled with determination to never let her go. "You know as well as I do that it has to happen," she whispered, "It's… destiny, I think. You know I was born with this obligation to my clan…"

"And I was born to be my father's copy. Obviously, that hasn't happened," said Kankurō, biting his unpainted lip. "Hinata, you can be with me if you want to, and I know you do. Just forget about your clan and stay with me."

"I don't want to lose my family," she said, holding back tears. "I love you, but I don't know what I would possibly do if I were to lose my family over you. Besides, my father would put you to death if he knew I gave my heart to you; if I renounced my claims to the clan and left it for you. He'd put you to death and force me to marry in the same day, probably the same hour, and force me to take over the clan. He'd break me like that and have fun doing it."

"If your father loves you, he'd set you free," said Kankurō stubbornly.

"You don't understand," said Hinata, pushing off of Kankurō and sitting up in the bed, preparing to pick up her clothing and get dressed. She refused to have this type of conversation with him. She didn't want an argument when they didn't have the time for one. This time was spent for loving each other and savoring every touch and every moment; not for fighting and being angry with each other for points the other couldn't understand.

"No, Hina, don't leave," said Kankurō, sitting up and grabbing her shoulders, massaging them with her thumbs. Kankurō knew he'd pissed her off, and he knew she was right in her anger with him. He pushed her after they'd specifically agreed that they wouldn't do that to each other. He kissed the back of her still slick neck. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I know you hate talking about your family; and I just pushed you on it… just don't leave." He trailed kisses along her neck and shoulder. "I just love you so much and I don't want you to get hurt…"

She sighed, leaning into him. He relaxed now that he was sure that she wasn't going to leave him alone. "I know you love me, Kankurō," she whispered tiredly, "I would feel the same way if your family were trying to marry you off to your cousins. But please don't talk about it. I don't want these moments spoiled." She laid her head against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around his lover's nude body, their breathing in sync. "You know, if we were normal people, we wouldn't have to worry about things like this," she said. Kankurō smiled and kissed her hair. It was a situational game they often played; wondering what it would be like to not be shinobi; to not be with so many conditions because of family. To be a regular couple.

"If we were normal people… I would've asked you to marry me the moment I realized that you were it for me." She smiled and let her hand travel to Kankurō's. They were larger than hers, almost double the size of hers; but they were warm and soft. And they were beyond gentle.

"When did you realize that I was it for you?" she asked out of curiosity.

"When I saw you holding your own against your cousin during the Chūnin exams. You might've lost, but… I thought you were the strongest thing I've ever seen in my life for going against him." Hinata turned in his arms. Her eyes glistened with tears. Kankurō smiled at her and pressed his lips against her cheeks, directly under her eyes. "I loved you for being so much stronger than I would ever hope to be."

"You're stronger than you think," murmured Hinata, her hands splayed against his bared chest.

Kankurō pulled back, grinning sheepishly. "I don't know about that."

She giggled. "Kurō-koi. You're so self-conscious and shy. I love that about you." He pretended to pout, and she giggled more and kissed his bottom lip. "I'm tired. I think my journey is finally taking its toll on me."

"It may just be all the love making," suggested Kankurō.

"Uhm, don't be dirty!" squealed Hinata, pushing him onto his back. Kankurō kept snickering. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed a pillow; hitting him in the face. Kankurō kept laughing, wrapping his arms around Hinata's hips and pulling her down to lay on top of him; the both of them laughing. Their laughs left the room, resounding through the house and into Shikamaru's ears.

"Maybe this won't be as troublesome as I thought," he said, smiling.