Sakura watched the interaction between the two.

In the time she had been on Middle Earth, she had not once heard of hobbits. To say they were surprising was pretty accurate. They were about three feet tall, all of them, and were soft looking but hardy with laugh lines and no worries beyond their home. The brief amount of time she'd been in the Shire was nearly entirely different than what she had come to know in the human settlements here.

Where the hobbits were peaceful, the humans were tense. Jumpy. Suspicious. She'd been met with hostility in the more paranoid villages. There was unrest in the world of man, but she had seen no sign of what it was that the human's were afraid of.

The hobbit in front of her was in general everything the hobbits had turned out to be but, the longer this encounter between the wizard and halfling went the more cracks the hobbit's person revealed; and she didn't like the darkness that was seeping through.

His voice was lowering, he was talking more to himself now, there was a rasp in his tone but it wasn't warm or kind. There was something about it as he caressed the ring that chilled her. She looked to Gandalf who she could see was experiencing the same unease she was.

'I think you should leave the ring behind.' The hobbit snapped at him.

'You want it for yourself!' Bilbo accused the tall man and it was so obviously the wrong thing to say.

'BILBO BAGGINGS!'

Gandalf just seemed to grow, filling up the limited space around him with presence and power, the light dimming as his anger shown through.

'Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks!' The floor rattled with the depth of his voice, 'I am not trying to rob you!'

As the hobbit cowered, Gandalf seemed to gather the wave of ominous shadow and reign himself in until he was just a man again. He gave the aged hobbit kind eyes.

'I'm trying to help you.'

The hobbits' resolve crumbled and he was drawn into a hug from his oldest friend, seeking comfort and forgiveness which Gandalf readily gave. Sakura waited in silence, only slightly embarrassed to be watching something that was private and none of her business.

She was curious about the ring, and the affect it had on Bilbo. There was reason to be worried, she realized, and while he hid it well, she could tell that Gandalf knew it too. Whatever that ring was, it was bad news.

Bilbo left, getting Gandalf's word that he would keep an eye out for his nephew, singing to himself as he disappeared into the night. Gandalf and Sakura watched until he could no longer be seen before shutting the door and turning back to the fire.

Gandalf settled himself close to the hearth, smoking his pipe and losing himself in thought. Sakura slipped back until she was wrapped in shadows, the only thing to stand out were the green of her eyes as they reflected back the light. She was watching her traveling companion for any change, feeling concern creep up on her as the man displayed an intense yet vacant stare down with the fire, muttering words just low enough to prevent her understanding them.

The night wore on a bit, Sakura in silence from her shadowed corner, Gandalf in muted conversation with the flames, until the door opened with a clatter and a shout of 'Bilbo!', effectively catching Sakura's attention.

She had almost lashed out, the tension that had been building since Bilbo's stunt building inside her making her more than a little jumpy. She clenched her fists and leaned further back until she was pressed to the wall.

The boy looked down, saw the ring, and picked it up, unknowing of what it was and strolled up to the wizard, talking of Bilbo. The man snapped out of his fugue, eyes flicking from the ring to the boys' face and gave a weak chuckle, 'Bilbo's ring'

After that things started to happen quickly. The wizard rushed to the door giving the hobbit a warning to hide the ring and tell no one, and telling the young woman to 'keep safe', with a peculiar look in his gaze. Having become fond of the shire and wanting to know what he would know when he got back she chose to remain there, and was allowed by a worried Frodo to use Bilbo's now old room.