The Samurai's stronghold, like everything else in the Land of Iron, was cold, damp and dreary, with battlements rising high over the snow-capped mountains like grey, quiet ghosts. Unlike the buildings and houses in Konoha which were built with wood and brick, theirs were made of hard stone, polished glass and shining steel. It was big enough to hold the parties of the five nations that were gathered for that day, and unlike Suna's administration dome, whose passages were intertwined like a rat's maze, the hallways were pretty linear.

Ino did not have to try too hard to remember where they were being led to rest, and she was grateful when the armor-clad samurai, looking as cold and as stiff as his surroundings, gestured to one of the narrow corridors to the left side of the main hall. Both parties of the two Hidden Villages followed the man through the empty walkway, their footsteps echoing loudly through the walls of the stronghold.

"These lead to the chambers prepared for the party from Konoha, Hokage-sama," the samurai said, pausing in front of one of the first doors to their right. "Down the hall are the public baths. If you go straight past it, there would be the banquet hall where we will be preparing a small feast in a few hours."

Naruto nodded briefly, slapping the samurai on his back enthusiastically. "Thanks a lot. We'll need just that to rest up and, ah… recuperate, so can you tell Mifune-san that I'll see him after I get my party settled in?"

The samurai bowed his head low. "Of course, Hokage-sama. The other Kage had been informed of the Kazekage's return as well."

"Tell them we're sorry to have made them wait," Naruto said.

The samurai shook his head. "Believe me, sir. They are not the least bit bothered. In fact, they seem to love the excuse to stay a bit longer while getting away from work. Onoki-sama, especially, is very, very pleased."

Naruto laughed as he led the way inside the room. Ino moved to follow.

"Kazekage-sama," the samurai suddenly said. "The chambers for the party from Suna are right across the hall. Let me take you there."

Ino looked over her shoulder tiredly and saw Gaara and his siblings behind them. She was suddenly reminded that she was… well… she was not herself. Temari sighed. Kankurou scratched the back of his neck. Gaara blinked at her, expectant.

Ino swallowed hard before saying, "The Hokage and I have… matters to discuss. Our chambers are the ones across from here?"

The samurai nodded. "Yes, sir. They aren't far."

"Then we can manage. Thank you for your hard work."

The samurai gave a formal salute, turned on his heel stiffly, then left them in front of the rooms prepared for Naruto's party. The six of them waited for the man to disappear around the hall before letting out deep sighs.

"Explaining would be… a pain," Kankurou said, stating the obvious.

Ino had to agree. It was not something needed to be hidden from the other Kage, she knew. But she was tired. They all were. And explaining to everyone they met was, as Kankurou had put it, a pain.

Naruto peeked his head out the door, as always, looking as relaxed as ever. "Well, standing in the hall isn't going to help. It's freaking cold out here. In the meantime, let's all just get inside. All right?" He disappeared through the door once more.

"Naruto's right," Gaara seconded as he gestured to his siblings who were still uncomfortably standing there, unsure of what to do. "It is wiser if we try to put everything into perspective before we retire into our bedchambers."

Temari blinked at Shikamaru and weakly pointed a finger to herself. "I have to report to Baki about the events happening here, and why there was a delay in the Summit. He wasn't expecting us to return a day late."

"Are you heading for the aviary, then?" Shikamaru asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Temari shrugged.

Shikamaru scratched his neck, looking bothered.

Ino stared from Shikamaru to Temari to Shikamaru. Her teammate's face was slightly flushed, and his ears were red. When Shikamaru didn't say anything, Naruto appeared out of the door again and gave the Nara a good shove towards the hallway, nearly mauling Temari over.

"Go with her. I don't even care what you guys do in the aviary. But if you scare the messenger hawks and the samurai sue us for it, I'll have your hide, Shikamaru. Now get," Naruto said.

Ino buried her head into one hand, embarrassed. Kankurou didn't even bat an eyelash, as if this was nothing new. Instead, the puppet master pushed past Shikamaru and Temari and went through the door into the Konoha party's chambers, whistling. Naruto followed after him.

Ino watched Shikamaru give Temari a warning look, which Temari chose to ignore. Instead, she gestured with her head down the hall and started away silently, not even giving Gaara or Ino a final look.

Shikamaru muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "Women," before he trailed after the Sand kunoichi. Ino followed them with her eyes until they finally disappeared around the hallway.

Gaara was watching her watch them walk away. "You look bothered."

Ino jumped in her place, suddenly aware of Gaara's abrupt appearance beside her. "What? No. Why would I be bothered?"

"They're always like this when they're relieved of their posts. I think it's a wonderful thing," Gaara said, shifting from under the blankets he had over his shoulders.

Ino couldn't help but frown. She had known that the two were quite… intimate… when off-duty. But she was surprised to find that Shikamaru was willing to do their usual rendezvous given their current situation.

And it was as if Gaara was reading her mind. "This isn't as bad as you think it is, Ino. Just because they ran off together does not mean they're not worried about us. Don't take this too seriously."

Ino turned away from him. "How do you expect me not to take this too seriously when it's my fault?"

"No one's blaming you. Things happen. That's all."

Well, of course they do. Ino felt a vein throb on her forehead and she rubbed at it irritably with a palm. "Why are you taking this too lightly, sir?"

"Why are you taking this too seriously, ma'am?" Gaara shot back, the irritation evident as his light eyebrows furrowed over his eyes. So that was why she had always thought Gaara to be emotionless; it was a miracle what eyebrows could do to a person.

Ino shook her head, not even sure of what to say to him. He was right. There was nothing they could do at the moment until they meet up with a Yamanaka. Naruto did not look too bothered by it either. If anything, the Hokage looked particularly amused with their situation. "Let's get inside. It's cold here," was what she said, stepping aside to let Gaara enter the room first.

"Very gallant of you," Gaara said dryly, but walked past her to enter the room anyway.

Ino followed him inside and was greeted with a welcoming wave of warmth emitted by a cheery fire in the iron hearth, fed with an abundance of coals that glowed a fiery orange in the dimly lit room. She immediately shed her blankets and threw them over an uncomfortable-looking hardwood chair situated by the wall of the narrow antechamber. Gaara on the other hand did not bother to remove his layers and was almost immediately in front of the fire, holding his small hands out and sighing in relief. Ino wondered if her body was really that weak against cold climates.

As Ino ventured further into the room, she found that the quarters that were provided for them were not as impersonal as she thought they were. If anything, the room looked very homey. Two fairly big beds were located on opposite sides of the room sandwiching a space laid down with a thick wolf-skin rug. A low table surrounded with floor pillows was located in the middle of said rug, where Kankurou was already busy with brewing tea from a tea set on top of the center table. At the other side of the room was an arched doorway that led to another room with a bigger bed and a huge yew desk housing scrolls, quills and other things Ino could not make out. There were no windows except for the one right in front of the desk in the annex room. Naruto was already positioned on said desk, looking very serious and very un-Naruto-like as he pulled out a fresh scroll from the stack and begun jotting down something.

"How do you insulate yourself without an iota of extra fat in your body?" Gaara suddenly asked, and he almost sounded like he was complaining. He did not take his eyes off the fire as he huddled inside his blankets deeper.

Ino froze in place for a few seconds before she dropped down across Kankurou, who was now pouring four cups of steaming green tea on brown clay cups. "I will the cold away with the power of my mind, sir. It's very effective," she said sarcastically as she reached out for one of the cups and wrapped both hands on it gratefully.

Kankurou clicked his tongue against his teeth as he looked at Ino, amused. "You're awfully cranky. You have a burr in your pants or something?"

Ino bared her teeth at him. "No. I have a penis in my pants. And the last time I checked, women aren't supposed to have penises in their pants."

Kankurou was left choking on his cup at what Ino said and after a moment he was laughing heartily and pounding on the table with a fist. The two untouched cups of tea nearly toppled over. "Ah, Ino. You made this year's Peace Summit interesting for me. Tell me, will you be coming again next year? Coz if you are – "

"No. Never. Ever," Ino snapped, annoyed. "The only reason why I'm here is because Sakura couldn't come. And here I had expected you to be whining about her not coming this year."

Kankurou wiped a few tears that had spilled from laughing too much. "I can always visit the Leaf, what with your Immigration granting Suna residents free passage starting this year."

Ino smirked at him. "You don't even have the decency to deny it, do you?" She sipped her tea leisurely. "I'll just have to let it slip on Sakura that you're coming over one of these days just to see her."

And that had Kankurou choking on his tea again, this time, not out of humor but out of shock.

Ino leaned an elbow on the table and put down her cup, grinning mirthlessly. Count on Kankurou to laugh at her misfortunes. Given, she laughed back at him for his, but still… She couldn't believe he would still poke fun at her even in this predicament. Well, if he was low enough to make it look like exchanging bodies was some sort of joke, then she would stoop as low to poke at his non-existent love life with her best friend.

Kankurou did not look too happy with her doing so. He downed his tea, eyes watering from the stinging in his throat from drinking too hot liquid too fast. He pushed himself up on his feet. "I'm soaking in the public baths," he declared.

Ino snorted. "Go. Goodbye."

"Don't snort with my body," Gaara said, finally deciding to get up from the front of the fire. He looked absolutely awkward as he stepped on his blankets, nearly falling backward as he seemed to stumble on his own feet. "A bath doesn't sound too bad. I could use warmth in my bones right now."

"I'll go get the towels from our rooms, then," Kankurou said, crossing to the antechamber in five large strides and he was gone out the door.

That was the time when Naruto poked his head out of his room. "You guys off to the public baths?"

Ino rolled her eyes and slouched on the table lousily. "Get out of here, all of you. I don't feel like going anywhere."

Naruto raised one of his eyebrows skeptically. "Are you sure?"

Ino narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course I am."

"You're letting Gaara – who is, yeah, in your body – to soak in a public bath? With a few other naked men?"

It had slipped her mind. How could she have let this tiny fact slip her mind? She slapped her forehead with a hand, giving herself about five seconds to compose her thoughts. When Gaara walked past her, her hand shot out and she grabbed his ankle. "You're not going anywhere," she said.

Gaara, looking surprised, looked down at her with wide blue eyes. "I'm cold," he said, as if that was a good enough excuse for indecent exposure in a public bath.

"You're in my body!" Ino seethed between clenched teeth. She let go of his ankle and scrambled to her feet, towering over her menacingly. "You will not bathe while you're in my body!"

This did not please Gaara, which surprised Ino. The Kazekage had been very passive about almost everything that concerned their switch, but it was the first time she had gotten a negative reaction from him. He crossed his arms over his chest. "The Kazekage bathes when he wants to bathe," he said.

Ino crossed her arms across her chest as well. "When we were stuck in that cave, you've been more than adamant about me forgetting about you being the Kazekage, who, may I remind you, is a she right now."

Gaara furrowed his brow. "Then I will bathe in the women's bath."

Ino's jaw dropped open in disbelief. "And let you see my private bits? I don't think so!"

That had Gaara blushing for some reason. "I have no interest in your private bits," he said after a very, very long unconvincing silence.

Naruto was watching them in interest as he stepped out of his room, tapping a quill on an open palm. "Gaara wouldn't do anything bad, Ino. Trust me."

Ino turned to Naruto sharply. "No, you trust me. I will not leave my body naked and defenseless in the hands of… of… "

Naruto nodded, encouraging her to continue.

Ino felt her cheek twitch in irritation. Gaara hadn't actually been the perfect gentleman when they were alone back in that cave. How many times had he fondled her private bits that he claimed he didn't care about?

"In the hands of whom, Ino?" Naruto inquired when she didn't say anything for a while.

Ino gestured at Gaara, who tried to look wide-eyed and innocent with those blue eyes of his. "In his hands."

"This is Gaara," Naruto pointed, eyes shifting from Gaara to Ino.

"Exactly," Ino said.

Naruto shrugged. "You've been in the outdoors for a day and a night. As your Hokage," – he nodded at Ino – "And as your friend," – he nodded at Gaara – "I'm gonna have to insist you take a long soak, warm yourselves and get ready for dinner. We've caused enough problems for Mifune-san already, so I've decided we're not gonna bother them any further with… this." He gestured at the two of them in a careless wave.

Gaara blinked at his friend. "What do you mean, Naruto?"

Naruto patted Gaara's shoulder lightly. "Simple. We'll go on with the Summit with Ino as you and you as Ino, attend the Summit as if nothing were out of the ordinary and leave once it's over. The samurai wouldn't know the better."

Ino gasped in incredulity. So was Naruto assuming she would be sitting with the five Kage without even complaining about it? Unforgivable! "You've decided this all by yourself? So, what? You're going to lie to the Allied Shinobi Nation Leaders in a peace summit?"

Naruto gave her a level look. "And whose fault is that?"

Ino bit back a remark, her fight dying down almost instantaneously. She ducked her head.

Naruto shuddered, and his hands were shaking Ino's shoulders sharply. "Do. Not. Sulk. Gaara doesn't sulk. Now if you're more than desperate to save your face in front of people who don't have to know about this, act the part. You know, like, act stiff as if someone stuck a rod up your – "

Ino shoved Naruto's face away. "Don't even try to continue that sentence."

"I do not have a rod up my ass," Gaara suddenly said, looking small and very frail between Naruto and Ino at the moment, his eyes – those blue eyes that Ino had trained to look cunning and sexy and alluring and kind depending on the situation – were watching her and Naruto, reproachful.

"I never said you did," Naruto said, grinning despite himself. "You just act like you have one. You know. Stiff and all that."

Gaara frowned and he came to actually jutting out his lower lip. He did not say anything.

Naruto sighed. "Look, if you don't trust him at all, why don't you just go and give him a bath yourself? Heck, come to think of it, why don't you just go take a bath together?"

Ino let out a sound that sounded like something between a hiss and a snarl. "Can you hear yourself talking, Naruto?"

Naruto was starting to get annoyed himself. And that was something she had not seen in quite a while. "You're the only one making a big deal out of this, Ino. So take responsibility for your little girly needs. You make it sound as if Gaara's invaded your body on purpose to do perverted things with it when everything is the way it is because you were careless. Now, the Kazekage wants a bath. Scrub your private bits on your own if it'll make you happy, but you will not deprive the Kazekage what he wants. Especially not after the trouble you've caused him. Do you understand?"

Ino could not argue. Because the stupid Hokage was, once again, right. She watched Naruto stalk towards the antechamber where the crude intercom that was most probably connected to the communications tower of the stronghold was. He pressed a small button found on the small device and started to speak.

"Hey. Anyone there?" Naruto asked quietly.

There was a few second interval of silence before someone replied. "Hokage-sama. Is there anything you need? Mifune-san is still a bit preoccupied at the moment."

"No, it's all right. Mifune-san can take his time. I'm calling to ask a favor."

"A favor, sir?"

Naruto looked over at Ino pointedly. "A year ago, you were kind enough to let me use one of the private hot baths within the stronghold. I was hoping if maybe you'd be able to provide the Kazekage one of those for his disposal before dinner?"

There was another pause on the other end of the line. Then, "For the Kazekage, sir? I'm sorry to inform you that the open air baths are all being used by the other Summit delegates at the moment. Uh… but we have the less grand bath cloister in the inner rock garden available, though. If that would suit the Kazekage-sama's taste."

Gaara raised his eyebrow curiously, and Naruto nodded. "Is there anything that you think the Kazekage wouldn't approve about it?"

Another pause, then, "Uh, it's smaller than the open air baths we usually leave for a Kage's disposal. But this is of short notice, and the Kazekage had never used them before so… "

Ino felt her blood run cold. This was not happening. She was starting to wonder what could be worse: having Gaara take a bath by himself with her body, or being alone with Gaara in a small bath cloister in the middle of a freaking rock garden.

Of course, Naruto had to answer for her after smirking at Gaara whose face was as placid as a frozen lake. "The Kazekage approves of the small cloister."

Ino felt even sicker, and she tried to convince herself that this was the lesser evil.

Kankurou decided to return with a couple of towels then. "Hey, Gaara. I just remembered, but are you all right with taking a bath in Ino's body?" He had realized too late, of course. Because he was Kankurou and all.

Ino didn't even bother to explain to him what they had decided upon. She dropped weakly in front of the center table and buried her head into her arms.

"That's all right, Kankurou," she heard Naruto speak. "Ino doesn't trust Gaara to take care of her body. So we've come to a conclusion that Ino would be a lot more comfortable if they took a bath together."

And Kankurou was silent. After a few seconds, the puppet master let out a low whistle before saying, "O… kay. I mean, wow. That's… kinda kinky."

Ino looked up to give Kankurou a good punch in the gut. Once again, Gaara beat her to it. The Kazekage had delivered a very handsome left hook to Kankurou's lower abdomen, causing Kankurou to double over and drop the towels in his arms.

"I've warned you once. Don't let me warn you again," Gaara said under his breath that admittedly would have looked quite convincing, if he weren't a girl.

Kankurou coughed a few times before waving a hand at Gaara carelessly. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

Gaara turned to Naruto as he picked up two of the fallen towels from the ground. "Let us have a proper meeting about this after dinner, Naruto."

Naruto grinned and shook his head. "Yeah. Kankurou and I will be in the public baths, so if you need anything, you know where we are."

Gaara held out a hand at Ino, who stared up at him, unsure of what to say. "I doubt we would need anything of utmost importance."

Ino could not believe this. She swatted his hand away and got up by herself. "Exfoliating cream."

Gaara blinked at her. "What?"

Ino grinned evilly. She might as well take this as a good enough opportunity. She was sure that her body would need a good, old-fashioned leg wax sooner than later.

Preparation meeting opportunity, right? So maybe could be lucky after all. She had always hated the feeling of waxing her legs. She was sure Gaara was not going to like it, either.

A/N: Your reviews have inspired me. I may use some of the scenarios you guys have brought up because you're all awesome!