An Off Coursed Road
IsaDaYDrEaMer
Translated by Sirvycat
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters!
Chapter Two: Night Spy
Hinata had the idea that the first impression would affect the way you'd see someone or something forever, and for her that was pretty much true; just now she knew that her first imprison of Suna was 'I'm going to die because of the heat.'
For a person who was accustumed to what could be called 'the average,' the desert was something intolerable. During the day, the hellish heat was flueled by the dry and continuous winds which would sometimes become so powerful that they threatened to gulp down the village. During the night, on the other hand, the mortal cold enveloped everything, giving life to the plants and a cool place for the animals to wander; the wind would play again with the sand, this time with freezing, cutting gusts.
Hinata heaved a sigh when they reached the other side of Suna's entrance which was like a small corridor, and soon enough, they spotted Sabaku no Temari waiting for them impatiently.
"Dear, dear... It was time already that the Konoha ninja found it fit to appear," she stated, looking especially at Shikamaru, though she wasn't annoyed at the fact that Hinata and Ino were trailing behind him. "Welcome to the Wind Country and its capital, Suna."
"I apologize for the delay; we had a difficulty on the way."
'Difficulty,' what a way to say that we got lost in the desert.
"Isn't it that you got lost, Nara?" Shikamaru looked away huffing as Ino laughed under her breath; Temari was surely suspicious to tease the boy. "Whatever, it'll be good if we hurry, the Kazekage awaits for your report."
The roads were busy; lots of people went back and forth hurriedly. Everyone was dressed with something white over their mild colored robes. What called more Hinata's attention was the great number of children that were running around; it didn't seem late enough for them to be out of school, but she wisely chose not to ask. She didn't have much time to admire the enviroment since Temari dragged them so quickly that in a few minutes they were in the administration building, passing by offices, meeting rooms and jogging up the many sets of stairs. She could tell by the direction they were walking that this was the east side of said building.
"Here," Temari pointed out lackadaisically. She knocked a door labeled "Kazekage's Office" and a cold voice invited them in and they complied obediently. "Gaara, the three shinobis that the Hokage sent have arrived."
Sabaku no Gaara, Hinata's mind repeated slowly. Of course she remembered him, but he had changed so much. He was a lot taller; his blazing hair was a bit longer, though he still had those unexpresive aquamarine eyes. The Kazekage was mostly hidden behind his messy desk, filled with papers, books, several pieces of parchment, quills and ink bottles. He seemed quite busy.
The disorder was applied to all the room which was filled with more books and papers. Definitely, the room would welcome someone who would put some order.
"Nara Shikamaru," Gaara sighed under his breath. Honestly, Naruto, you sent Temari's boyfriend? With all the time he spends here and she spends there, it's enough. "And your names are…?"
"Yamanaka Ino."
"Hyuu... Hyuuga H-Hinata."
"Hnn… Temari will show you your rooms. Tomorrow show yourselves here after having breakfast and I'll assign your mission." He ran his gaze at the three shinobis and after returning to his papers, he dismissed them.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Temari." A black-clad man with his face painted with purple approached them. "Oh... I didn't know that you've already arrived. Sabaku no Kankurou," he introduced himself immediately, after spotting the group of Konoha shinobis. "Hey, Shikamaru! Here again? Can't you live without Temari?"
Kankurou obtained a punch on the head from Temari. With a scolding, she continued guiding them to their rooms. Kankurou walked shortly behind Hinata and Ino in order to avoid his sister's good mood while Shikamaru seemed to have a 'Gaara-ish' attitude, like Ino had said.
"Hey, Ino, won't you introduce me to your pretty friend here?"
Hinata blushed wildly within half a second.
"That, Kankurou, is Hyuuga Hinata. Tomato-chan, this is Gaara's older brother," said Ino with a wide smile.
Both Kankurou and Temari had been in Konoha several times for political reasons and Ino and Shikamaru had been appointed as their guides some times and they seemed to have a decent relationship. The only one who knew nothing about no one in Suna was Hinata, who felt quickly out of place.
"This is your room, Ino," Temari called out. "Make yourself at home, we'll see each other tomorrow, I expect."
"Hai! Arigato."
Shikamaru and Kakurou took another path, leaving Temari and Hinata alone, walking up to the upper corridors, where everything was quiet.
Silence... I wouldn't like it better.
After all, Hinata lived in a house where no one made any sound and she was more like a ghost than a living being. Her mind started to wander in thoughts about her home, her cousin and her friends, when a voice pulled her out of her reverie.
"I apologize for your quarter being so far away from ours, but there were no more rooms left and the Hokage had said that you liked to have a bit of silence, more so than Ino."
The Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto to be more exact, had a few months of being Hokage, but he had already embraced his post with everything that came with it. He didn't just work day and night, something that Tsunade appreciated a lot, but the first thing he had done was contacting his friend, the Kazekage, to negotiate about alliances and how to mantain them. That was how the three of them ended in Suna like 'support ninja.'
When Temari leaved, Hinata found herself looking into a modest, spacious and comfy room, with little decoration and a cold appearance. In fact, the room was cold. She walked over where the futon was laid out and started to unpack, storing the clothes in the bureau and putting some extra duvets over her futon. As she removed her jacket, she noticed the sand dripping from it.
Great, I look like a sand bag now.
"Hmm... that was just what I needed," Hinata sighed, getting out of the bathroom after having taken a shower. As she dried her hair, her gaze fell into two doors made of glass which were opposite to the entrance. They were closed, but they led to a balcony.
Leaving the towel on the floor, Hinata walked over and opened the doors. A cool breeze received her along with an image deigned of being framed by the best artist: Suna bathed in a lively orange color, the sunset in that city was simply beautiful. Hinata had the impression that all of them lived under the shadow of a monster, or rather, on the back of a creature, taking what they strictly needed because they didn't have to awake the desert, capable of taking down everything. The capital of the Wind Country was starting to fall asleep. There were very few people in the roads which seemed to be returning to their homes after a tiring and long day.
The wind began to play with her purple hair. She tried to put a lock of hair back in its place when she noticed that someone was enjoying the natural sight that the sun offered too. On a higher balcony located to her right, the Kazekage was sitting on the rail, gazing his city with an impassive face.
Gaara... Sabaku no Gaara.
She couldn't tear her eyes off him. Hinata could still remember how he ravaged those three ninjas in the Chuunin Exam. Nevertheless, now that she could see his eyes, the sadistic and demonic glint thet they had held in the past had disappeared.
Gaara turned to look at her so suddenly that her heart missed a beat, though Hinata's eyes didn't leave his.
His eyes... they're... human.
She closed her eyes when she felt a merciless wind lashing out at the tower. When she looked up at his balcony again, he was gone.
oOoOoOoOoOo
She's very beautiful, yeah...
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Temari's head appeared at the doorway while Kankurou remained behind. Without waiting his brother's answer, he entered the room. As soon as she did so, an amazed expression crossed her face. Gaara seemed... dimwitted?
"What are you doing here?" His features became stoic again.
"Well, Temari here wanted to ask you something and couldn't wait till morning." Kankurou said entering the room.
The blonde tried to ignore what she had just seen and nodded.
"What kind of mission will you assign to Konoha's shinobi?" she asked.
"I assume what you wanted to ask is if I will send your boyfriend away from Suna," he
stated. Temari tore her eyes away from Gaara with a huff. "Well, I'm sorry, he and Yamanaka will be scorting one of our delegates to one of the farthest villages.
"What?" Kankurou said, looking at his brother. "Isn't that proper from Suna? it isn't very recommendable to send them, it would be better to leave it to our teams."
"I know what I'm doing," was the only answer Gaara gave.
"Well... What about Hyuuga Hinata? What will she do?"
"…"
"If she doesn't have anything to do, maybe it would be good if someone cleans up what you call an office. Each time you are out and I have to help with your paperwork I can't find anything," Kankurou stated, trying not to make eye contact.
"It is not a bad idea."
oOoOoOoOoOo
By the morning, Shikamaru and Ino were going with four people more to their first mission while Hinata stayed there with no idea of what to do next until a ninja clad in black approached her.
"Well, Hinata-san, we have a much simpler job for you," Kankurou smiled, trying to sound as if what awaited her wasn't that terrible, but failed. "Follow me."
The office of the Kazekage? Hinata wondered.
"Hinata-san, have you ever worked in cleaning up?"
"Cleaning up?" Please, don't let it have to be something with this office. "You want me to clean up this mess?" She pointed to the floor and the desk with a terrified face.
"... Good luck!"
oOoOoOoOoOo
Five hours later, she had only achieved to take out of the bookcase whatever that wasn't a book. Gaara was in a meeting, so she supposed she would have plenty time left to clean. But with each thing she ordered, other four misplaced objects appeared and they multiplied with each minute that passed. She had tried to throw away what she could, but everything seemed important in that office.
"How can somebody be this disorganized?" Hinata asked herself in a tired whisper.
"I do not have much time to put things back to their place." A chill raced up her back when she heard Gaara's deep voice. "If that bothers you, I can reassign you another job."
"No... It is... It is fine." Great, Hinata! You're stuttering and blushing again! "I-I'm retiring now, Kazekage-sama."
"Retire? I thought you had a misión to complete here." His arrogant pose was the only thing she received. His arms were crossed against his chest and he was looking at her indifferently.
"Hai!"
Hinata wanted to ask if it would be better to leave him work and then return later to continue her work, but restrained herself from it when he passed her and sat down behind his desk, messing its contents a bit more.
After four days of cleaning up the Kazekage's Office, everything was almost done and Hinata had grew completely accustomed to the cold and distant presence of Gaara. Hinata could say that she liked to be near him, but immediately blushed violently at the thought. By the sunset, she realized that she just had to put the last bookcase in alphabetical order and she would be done.
"Coming to eat, Gaara?" Temari asked from her place by the door frame. She obtained a shake from her brother's head as an answer. "What about you, Hinata?"
"Arigato, Temari-san, but I'd like to have this finished today," she said, giving the bookcase in front of her a look.
"Whatever you want, just don't work 'til too late."
It was around ten o'clock when Gaara retired to a late meeting with the elders. Hinata looked up, seeing that most of the books were in their place, but her eyes couldn't resist anymore.
I must have listened to Temari-san... I'm too tired to continue with this...
Little by little, she couldn't think anymore and she succumbed to the nothingness.
oOoOoOoOoOo
How soft... But it's so hot... but I'm so confortable here… It's sooo soft...
"... So hot…"
Ino looked at her friend like one who looked at a mentally disturbed person. It was late, nearly lunch time and Hinata was deeply asleep in her bed, like if debating with herself to wake up or not, murmuring something that sounded like, 'so soft' and 'too hot.'
"HYUUGA!" White eyes opened and focused tiredly on a blonde girl who had a smile plastered on her lips. "It was time already," Ino told Hinata before the mentioned finished to understand. "It's quite late, you know. I don't know what job they assigned to you, but it must have been pretty rough since you're always awake at nine, at the very least."
"What?" Hinata suddenly realized that she had been so tired that she couldn't remember her return to her room. "What time is it?!"
"Eleven o'clock," Ino said, smile still on face. "I would hurry, if I were you."
"Ino, when did you return?" Hinata forcer her mind awake, trying to understand what had happened around her.
"Three hours ago. Shikamaru is giving the details of the mission to Kankurou."
Hinata stood up and went to take a shower while Ino shook her head and began to knock the bathroom's door.
"What have you been doing all this time?"
The sound of the shower was the first answer she got and then Hinata's tired reply, "Cleaning up the office of the Kazekage, but I don't know if I'm done. Yesterday I was so tired that I can't remember when I came back to my room. Well, that was because I didn't
listen to Temari-san's advice."
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Temari." For the first time in many years, Gaara's eyes weren't emotionless; confusion flickered in them, though it seemed very distant. She could only see it because she always tried to see something else in her brother's eyes.
"What, Gaara?"
He was still a very distant person, with no apparent emotions and a very strange way to show that he cared for someone. That was exactly what his sister was noticing, one of his weird forms to show that someone had his attention.
"When Nara takes your hand in his," Gaara began, and Temari flushed bright red, but she didn't take her dark eyes from Gaara's light ones, "what do you feel?"
Her face went pale then. "I... well... I feel good… I don't know… happy?" He didn't seem very satisfied with her answer. "Like if I don't w-want him to… well, like if I don't want him to loosen his grip never..." His eyes widened a little bit, yet he still seemed unsatisfied. "At the beginning, it was hard for me not to blush... I don't know... What else do you want me to tell you?"
"Nothing," he murmured and turned around to leave. Shortly after, Kankurou and Shikamaru entered.
"Temari... look, I brought Shika –do you want me to leave you two alone?"
She didn't even take her eyes off of the floor, something both shinobi found strange.
"Temari?"
"Nara Shikamaru, go find your two comrades and bring them here immediately," she ordered with a cold glare that made him obey without protest.
"You don't need to be so cruel with him around me, you have nothing to hide," Kankurou said.
"Shut up and hear me out." She approached him, making sure no one was at the vecinity. "Gaara just asked me what I feel when Shikamaru holds my hand." His eyes widened. "When we went to his room the other day to see what he would do with those three, I thought I saw a... dim-witted look in his face. Just imagine it for a moment... Gaara… Our Gaara.
oOoOoOoOoOo
What is happening to me? What am I doing? he was inwardly scolding himself for what he was doing, there he was, resting against the railing of Hinata's balcony, observing her sleep calmly after running around Suna all day. He had spent part of the night there, only watching her. He felt kind of fuzzy and confused. Everything Temari had told him was exactly his situation.
--Flashback--
"... it's hot even and it's midnight." He was pulling off his white tunic, but he froze when he opened the door.
There, on the floor before a bookcase, was Hinata. She seemed to be asleep, but he wasn't
very sure. He approached her, dropping his tunic. Yes, she was soundly asleep. Carefully, he craddled her in his arms and settled for taking the kunoichi to her own room. Gaara took two steps when Hinata nuzzled her face against his chest for a more comfortable position. He felt warm and completely out of character, but he pushed those thoughts away and continued his way.
While he walked, he couldn't take his eyes off the sleeping kunoichi he had in his arms. She looked so fragile, with her hand unconsciously holding onto his shirt like if her life depended on it. Something about that image of hers made him feel strong, with the need to take care of her; sensations that perturbed him a great deal. He entered her room and immediately felt like an intruder.
Hmph, how ironic. Me, feeling like a intruder in my own tower.
Gaara laid her on the bed carefully, and he wished to get out of there as fast as his legs could carry him. But the problem there wasn't his legs, but the hand that was gripping his unyieldingly.
He turned around to see that Hinata was the one who had her hand closed around his, still asleep, for what Gaara was thankful, because the color of his cheeks didn't fade quickly. He took a deep breath and free his hand. He found it hard to do so, since he wanted to remain that way, his hand in hers.
There are sometimes I'd like to have Shukaku here; at least with him mocking me, I wouldn't have these kinds of thoughts.
When Hinata's arm hit the bed softly, she groaned in protest in her sleep. Gaara blushed at that. He could not longer stay there, he had to get out. And get out was what he did. He nearly ran to his room to try to take everything out of his head, but the more he tried, the more clearly he remembered.
--End Flashback—
oOoOoOoOoOo
Final Notes
Hi, Isa-san! Would you allow meh a brief entry? Yosh! Tenkyuu!!
So, hiya! I'm Sirvy-cat, the lazy translator of this story. Sigh So, firstly, sorry for the delay! Like I said, I am L-A-Z-Y. And since I don't like Gaara (he was in my 'ok list' before I started translating this), I'm taking forever! But I'll try to bring you the next chapter sooner (because of Isa's constant prodding). Secondly, it is to thank you for your good comments! And thirdly, SURPRISE! My first language isn't English x3 Ta-da! Lol. Completely random, I know, I know. I apologize for any error in advance.
Now, I shall say good-bye, since I can almost feel Isa's eyes boring into my back. Ja!
Hello mina! That was my translator… and a very good friend, well sorry for the delay again, I hope you have enjoy this chapter, a like Gaara here, he so cute jejeje. Well I am waiting for your reviews!! Thank you for reading.
Hiei-and-shinoGirl! You make me so happy and pride of my fanfic, thank you so much for reading! So you like it? You're right it is better in spanish, but I want to give it a try in english too…. Well hope to see your review as well this time! Bye!
Suzume-kage Thank you for your comment, it make me feel so good jejeje I hope you like this chapter as well and your right, this couple is the best and I already have a one shot coming up.
mysterygal02 and cherry blossom rain Thanks a lot to both of you for your nice comment, see you in the reviews!
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