A/N- Hey everybody! I'm back from vacation. Sorry about that temporary unannounced hiatus thing... I'll cut that out. Thanks to everyone who's still here! Your comments are love.

xXx

Temari looked around the room. A young woman was arranging flowers on small tables. Men uniformed in white dashed back and forth through swinging double doors with trays and plates. Everything looked good, and not a moment too soon. Precisely at nine, guests would begin arriving.

Temari smoothed her kimono idly, her attention still wholly given to the preparations. The days when she cared so deeply about how she looked were gone. They disappeared with the first wrinkle that had appeared at the corner of her eye. Temari was getting older and the hard life of a kunoichi would not make the process of aging easy. With the title and position she had created for herself, she was going out less often now. Her priorities were different now and though it was less active, it was perhaps even more fulfilling. She spent time caring for her family now.

Her main goal was to get Gaara a woman. Kankuro wasn't so helpless- she heard enough through the grapevine to grit her teeth. Gaara was the one who needed it more. Temari smiled to herself at the thought of a nice girl for Gaara to date. She would need to be patient, definitely patient, and interesting. A dull girl wouldn't hold his attention no matter how kind she was. She wondered how much it would matter what she looked like. Hopefully, not too much- it was hard enough finding any suitable woman in the first place, much less an attractive one.

The clock chimed so pleasantly that Temari nearly forgot what that meant. Quickly, the hall exploded into action. All of the kitchen staff disappeared from sight as if with a jutzu and the girl arranging flowers scampered off to stand by the door and accept coats. Perhaps she would be interested in dating the Kazekage... she was attractive...

xXx

Light grey; that is the color she had chosen to compliment the blue kimono. The softness of the color lended her an aura of confidence and trust that would make diplomacy easy. That was the point of this, right? It seemed like Suna had a different concept of diplomacy than Konoha. Perhaps every man on the floor had asked for a dance with her. Hinata was not naturally graceful, and asked for a reprieve after only a few dances. Temari had motioned the shaky girl over to her small table and offered her a seat.

"How are you this evening?" asked Temari.

"I am well," replied Hinata smiling charmingly. "And yourself?"

"I'm good. You certainly seem to attract a lot of attention on the dance floor."

Hinata blushed. "I can't for the life of me figure out why."

Temari snorted. "Don't kid with me. You're new blood... attractive new blood, I might add. I think the young men here have already dated all of the eligible women here." Hinata wasn't quite sure how to feel about this, flattered or worthless. Temari noted the puzzled look in her eyes and changed topic. "How has your stay here been? I would have checked on you earlier, but I had work and Kankuro assured me you were well."

"My stay has been well enough," responded Hinata, still considering her answer as she spoke, "Of course, I had expected to be gone by now. This was a one-day-on-site mission, I don't even know why a messenger-hawk couldn't have been sent! And the Kazekage, what is the matter with him? You don't simply lock visiting nin away in your home and ignore them!" Hinata hadn't realized how rankled she still was by her situation until she heard the venom in her voice.

The sand kunoichi heard it, too. "Gaara can be a bit... insensitive to the needs of others when he is swamped with work," she offered soothingly.

Far from being comforted, Hinata turned crimson and buried her face in her hands. "Oh Kami, I'm so sorry! I just spoke badly about your brother and village leader. Forgive me! I knew I shouldn't have been chosen for this mission!"

Temari patted her on the shoulder. "I'm not offended, don't you worry. It was wrong of him, however, to house you in his own home. What was he thinking?" Hinata only shook her head and willed her cheeks to stop flaming. "Well," asked Temari directly, "We can change your accommodations very quickly, I can put you..."

"No!" Hinata exclaimed rather more forcefully than necessary. "I mean... don't go to the trouble; I'm not going to be here much longer anyway."

The older woman raised an eyebrow, but acquiesced. "Suit yourself. And I'll see what I can do about Gaara getting things moved around so he can see to you."

Hinata smiled sheepishly. "Thank you."

"Why did you make me come to this?" The voice was hard to mistake.

"Because you're the Kazekage and it's good for people to see you. I also don't want to see you become married to your desk."

"This has got to be the most useless thing you make me do. I could be working."

"What did I just say? If you're bored, you can dance with Hinata."

"W-what? T-that's not..."

"Nonsense. It's a grand idea. You two kids go have fun on the dance floor."

"B-but..."

In a blink, Hinata found herself fairly dragged away by a man whose facial expression clearly expressed his desire to be anywhere but here. All composure lost, Hinata felt her hand taken and she only just remembered to lay her left arm lightly on his right.

The pair spent a couple of minutes staring away from each other, content for the moment to pretend they were elsewhere. He was a good leader and his grip was strong, so she didn't have to think too much about the steps of the dance. Hinata fought off the oncoming blush as long as she could stand until she heard blood roaring through her ears.

"S-so... how is y-your evening?"

Gaara sniffed. "Well." The bare minimum for polite conversation with a foreign ninja.

He offered no complementary question, probably hoping that she wouldn't persist, but Hinata's training in politics didn't allow that. "Your sister has done well with the arrangements."

He grunted noncommittally. Now she knew he really was trying to stop conversation. As it was now, Hinata had a few options available to her. She could continue to pepper him with short, obvious statements and chatty questions, she could be completely forward and ask when she could get him to meet with her or, by far the most effective method, she could try to become fascinating and make him want to meet with her to learn more about her. The last might be the most effective, but it was also the hardest. There was a very good chance that she could fail utterly and come off as boring and desperate. No one wanted to meet with a desperately boring person. Until she thought of a good way to be interesting, she would amuse herself by seeing what sort of responses she could provoke from the young Kazekage.

"That kimono suits you well."

"Thanks."

"The weather here is very hot. Is this typical?"

"Yes."

"Your brother is nice."

"Hn."

"What do you like to do on a Sunday's afternoon?"

"Look, what do you want?"

Hinata shrugged innocently. "Just making conversation with you."

"Well, could you stop, please?"

"If you insist."

"Thanks."

"I can make enough conversation for the both of us."

"What?"

"Do you know what I like? I like rain. You don't have much of it here in the desert but the way the sky smells just before..."

"Don't you have an off-switch?"

"Nope."

"How much longer is this song?"

"Now you're getting the hang of this conversation thing."

"You are going to drive me insane."

"No more than you me."

"How am I driving you insane? You're the one talking my ears off!"

"Conversation is healthy human interaction. Silence indicates an inactive mind. The simpler a mind, the more susceptible to manipulation and thus, insanity."

"You don't make a bit of sense."

"It's a defense mechanism, really."

"What could you possibly be defending yourself against?"

Silence.

"Right. Ninja. Stupid question."

"Aww, how sweet! It learns!"

"Oh for the love of..."

"Ah, ah. Let's have friendly relations. We have countries to represent."

"Grrr..."

Hinata thought this was going swimmingly. Gaara looked annoyed, but not angry, so he wasn't wholly disliking her social manipulation. It was mere banter, but every jab that provoked a response kept him engaged. He had hardly noticed that the last song ended and they were dancing to a new beat. A whole evening of this, and they might even be friends. 'I don't want to hope for too much, though,' thought Hinata. 'Friendly terms are enough for a meeting.'

"Let's talk about your past."

"Why?"

"Because it interests me."

"Well it doesn't interest me."

"That's only because you were there."

"Let's talk about something else."

"So you want to talk now?"

"Wha... no! I don't want to talk!"

"But you're so good at it."

"Does this conversation have a point?"

"Does it need to?"

"Why do you answer a question with a question?"

"Because it forces you to answer yourself."

"You're a little too pleased with yourself."

"Shouldn't I be?"

"You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Answering a question with another question."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I might stop talking to you."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because... because I don't like it."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Because... I don't want to offend you."

"Why?"

"Is this twenty questions?"

"It could be."

"Excuse me, may I cut in on the lady?" Both ninja looked at the newcomer, holding out his hands expectantly.

Gaara's face was unreadable. "Excuse me, but I am in the middle of a conversation with 'the lady.' You may dance with her when I'm done." The other man shrank back and slunk away. Hinata was impressed.

"Be careful with that stuff, I might start thinking you like me."

"I just... don't like ending a conversation in the middle."

"Right... you big softie."

"Hey... that's 'big Kazekage softie' to you."

"Oh... so sorry. Forgive me!"

"Hm. You may live."

"Thank you, oh glorious one. May I live forever in your presence?"

"Why would you want a thing like that?"

"Because I like you."

"...What?"

Gaara had stopped dancing and was staring at her very intently. Hinata blushed and quailed like the man a moment ago, her confidence slipping away. She hadn't intended it to be such a big deal- they were friends now, right? What did he think she meant?

"Why did you say that?"

"B-because it's true..." stammered Hinata as she watched other dancing couples stumble around them. They were blocking traffic. "Um..."

"You... like me," he stated slowly as if she had told him that grass was blue and the sky was purple. He didn't notice at all the looks people were giving him and Hinata. He appeared to no longer even notice that she was there. Slowly, he dropped her hands and, lost in his own world, wandered away. Hinata stared slack-jawed after him, utterly bemused.

What was wrong with him?

xXx

A/N- Nothing to say here! Read and Review, if it please you.