A/N: Ok, our couple will have more brushes with each other from now on...hehe! Thanks for waiting so paitently! And niakay, I hope I have 'converted' you...HAHA! Just read with an open mind yeah? As always, I appreciate the reviews you guys have lavished on Rollercoaster. THANK YOU. 8D

Disclaimer: Naruto and all characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto

Ten

Hinata couldn't help but notice something was amiss.

She had just gotten off the train at the train station and finished a five minute walk from the station to east of the Tanzaku castle, which was often used as a landmark by tourists and the locals who lived here.

Hiroki was not with her: Hinata had dropped him off at the special creche school in the morning. Natsu would bring him home later that afternoon. Then, her cousin would take him out for dinner tonight. She had sent a text message to Neji, telling him of her plans to travel to Tanzaku Gai, but he hadn't replied. He was apparently in an important meeting, so she wasn't too worried about it. The meeting with the deisgner had gone pretty well, but Hinata had an uncomfortable feeling that Hayano Kosuke just wanted her approval so he could alter her designs freely. Hinata declined to approve yet, for she was having second thoughts about giving her consent so freely to him, well known designer or not. She had yet to talk this over with Ino, and she wanted the blond's take on the matter.

The Hyuuga had gotten pretty tired of the whole affair, and she was considering withdrawing the designs, even if there was indeed a chance that she could earn quite a hefty amount of money.

Hinata had set off by herself on Monday after saying goodbye to Natsu and leaving a text message for her father as well. Hiashi wouldn't be too worried either. He knew she was being granted (or rather being tricked into) a week-long leave, so it wouldn't be a surprise to him.

Now that she was here, staring at the neat and tidy red-brick cottage with its windows, lace curtains, and colourful tulips flourishing happily in the front lawn, she couldn't help but feel that their house was being...well, inhabited and used. Along the side of the cottage, dark green vines and trellises crept up and twined itself around and through the bricks.

But that idea was ridiculous. The last tenant had moved out a few weeks ago. And Neji nor Hiashi had said they had a new tenant.

Odd. Could it be an intruder?

Hinata felt goosebumps pop up in the surface of her skin. She shuddered, but only for a few seconds. Then the Hyuuga squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and made her way to the doorsteps, which led to a white door. Hinata fit the key into the lock and turned it.

It clicked, and she pushed it opened smoothly. The hairs on the back of her neck stood at alert as she gave the interior one sweeping glance, taking in all the neatly arranged furniture: the white comfy sofas, the flat screen TV in the corner all making up the living room and to the left, a black wood dining table complete with the same set of six chairs.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked as it should be.

Wait. There was, however, the muted sound of water running. It was very faint, so faint that she wondered if she had conjured it up herself. Hinata made quick but silent steps to the master bedroom adjacent to the living room. She went down a corridor, where the first room was the master bedroom.

The Hyuuga paused, retraced her steps, glanced around and then picked up a hardback book before returning to the master bedroom, where she concealed herself by leaning next to the doorframe. The water suddenly stopped running, verifying that there indeed had been someone using the bathroom linked to the master bedroom.

Fear and curiosity tumbled within her. Her throat was dry and she had to swallow nervously. Damn, even her palms had become slicker.

There was a sound of bathroom door opening. Hinata didn't enter the bedroom first. If it was a male, she didn't want to catch him stark naked.

On the other hand, maybe it would be a good idea to distract him...

Before she could regret it or catch herself, Hinata strode into the room confidently and held up the book with one hand.

"Wha-"

Her words died on her lips as embarrassment and heat swamped her.

Gaara was standing in front of the bathroom, his deep jade eyes filled with shocked. His crimson hair was wet, which gave the shade of red an even darker look than his usual hair colour. His muscled chest had water droplets clingling lovingly to it while some ran in enchanting rivulets down his hard chest. Gaara wasn't wearing anything from what she could tell, and the only thing between her and the word naked was a white fluffy towel which he held in one hand.

She whirled quickly, her cheeks flaming up.

"I'm s-sorry!" She squeaked, thoroughly embarrassed. "I didn't e-expect anyone to be h-here."

There was a beat of silence.

"Neither did I."

He sounded casually amused, making her slightly miffed by his tone. She had just caught him in the nude! Why couldn't he be embarrassed, like her?

Because he's used to situations where women have seen him in the nude?

As if this was the important answer right now.

She took a deep breath, tightened her grip on the now useless book, and plunged on. "Why are you here?"

"That's a question I would like to ask you too." Gaara said. She heard the rustle of clothing behind her. "It appears that your cousin did not inform you that I will be occupying your...premises from now on."

Hinata wanted to turn, but she stopped herself just in time to hear Gaara's deep chuckle, which sent pleasure pooling in her. Darn, and he hadn't even touched her.

"Neji?"

"Yeah."

Her forehead creased. Why hadn't Neji breathed a word to her about his arrangements?

"You can turn around you know. I'm dressed." He added, nonchalantly to her stiff back.

Hinata turned around reluctantly, trying not to allow her eyes to stray below his neck. The redhead had on a pair of old jeans that looked extremely snug and comfortable. He was towelling his hair dry with one hand with quick, jerky moves, which did incredible things to his arm muscles. His other hand remained dormant at his side. It was then Hinata knew that that was his injured hand. He was holding it a little stiffly as well.

To say she was feeling a little hot under the collar was an understatement. The Hyuuga averted her gaze and focused her eyes on his face instead. From what she could tell while having her eyes trained on his, she could vaguely make out the well defined muscles sculpting his torso. He was somewhere in between lean and bulky, but veering more towards bulky. It was not surprising, considering the fact that he was a pro rugby player - one of the very best, Hinata knew, after spending years and years reading, watching and learning about him.

She sounded like a stalker.

"Neji allowed you to stay here?"

"He gave Kankurou the keys and told him I could recuperate here." Gaara raised an eyebrow as he took in her puzzled features. "He didn't let you know?"

Or maybe he did, and you didn't know...

"One second."

Hinata shoved her hands into the front pocket of her jeans and pulled out her cell phone. She had a new message. The darkhaired woman groaned inwardly as she jabbed at the handphone. Sure enough, there was Neji's message informing her of his plans to let Gaara use their family house till he recovered and was fit enough to fly back to Suna.

Hinata sighed. She was such a fool.

"You're right. He did tell me, but I didn't see the message. I'm really sorry for intruding in on you, especially since y-you were, uh, having a bath..." Her voice trailed off awkwardly as she backed away. "I'll just...get going now."

If she didn't flee from this house at once, she would probably take a knife and do the harakiri.

"Hang on." He said, following her. "You intended to occupy this house."

It wasn't a question. More like a statement. Hinata answered anyway.

"Yes."

He waited patiently for her to elaborate more.

"I'm on leave. For a whole week." Hinata said in a rush. "I thought that spending some time here would be good, so I made a trip down here and found you."

Just right out of a shower.

Apparently, the same thought had skittered through his mind, for his gaze slid from her eyes to her lips for a second. Then she remembered that he had kissed her before, amongst other things. Silence descended between them, lengthening as they stared at each other.

"I see." He said, his deep voice huskier than usual.

He stepped back, glanced around him, then grabbed a dark green shirt and tried to pull it on carefully with one hand, but it bunched around his head. He had to pull his ears free from the collar of the shirt, and struggled a little with getting his arms through it. Plus, his movements made short stabs of pain burst through his back.

"Uh, d-do you need a hand?"

Normally, women lent a hand in taking off his shirt, not putting it on. Now this petite woman with long black hair, black spectacles, cleanly scrubbed face and beautiful white eyes wanted to help him pull on his shirt while he fumbled with it like an idiot. Sure, she looked worlds apart from that sexy siren on Temari's wedding night, but she was still a woman damn it.

"Its alright." He didn't wince as pain shot through his back again, his sprain reminding him of his limited activites. Gaara managed to get his arms in, but Hinata stepped forward anyway, pulling down the hem of his shirt and helping hs arms to get into the proper place. Along the way down, her blunt fingernails scratced his flat abdomen gently, sending heat and desire straight down his jeans.

Bloody hell. He needed get a grip on his senses. Gaara noticed the tinge of red on her cheeks, and was a little gratified to know that he wasn't the only one who was feeling the heat.

"Thanks." He said thickly, tugging the hem again.

"You're w-welcome." Hinata flushed again.

He remembered what he wanted to say.

"I don't see why two people can't live here." Gaara gestured casually around him after straightening the shirt. "This space is huge enough for the both of us, and there are plenty of rooms as well. You could stay here if you want to. I'm perfectly fine about it."

"No, I c-can't." Hinata shook her head. Hell, she couldn't spend a week under the same roof with Gaara! By the time she returned to work, she'd be a whole pile of goop oozing on the floor! She couldn't. Besides, he needed to recuperate. Gaara didn't need someone hovering around him, when he had been promised an empty house.

The redhead was heading for the living room now - he'd spied her blue duffel bag and black backpack dumped on the floor. Gaara reached for them, but her voce stopped him.

"Gaara, its alright, r-really. I don't want to-"

The redhead stared at Hinata.

"Look. You won't be disturbing me. Trust me. You travelled for max. two hours to get here. I'm sure you don't want to waste your time going back to town again."

Oh, he wasn't going to push her around. So what if she had an infatuation for him?

Hinata's eyes left his and trailed over the entire house. She felt as though she was sliding on ice. Out of control. Unsure of what to do. She had been looking forward to this so much, but she didn't want Gaara to be deprived of having the house, all by himself.

"You're uncomfortable around me. Because of that night?"

Well yes. Partly because of that. She would be dong a diservice for him, and for herself too, if she stayed. God knows what kind of embarrassing situations she would land herself into.

Gaara took in a deep breath. "Which brings me to something I've been wanting to do since that day at the shoot."

"When you called me? Right before that accident?"

The redhead nodded. "I wanted to apologise. But of course, I couldn't." He said wryly.

He wanted to apologise. Hinata felt her stomach flutter. She didn't think he would ever do that. It was kind of... well, sweet.

"A-apologise?"

"Yeah. I didn't meant to push you too far that night. I thought we wanted something, and that we were both willing. Then I got angry at you for turning me down. You were right to do what you did. I apologise." He gazed into her eyes, intense and waiting for her to say something.

Hinata twisted her fingers together.

Whoa. She couldn't believe this - Gaara apologising, both of them standing alone in her family's house, her catching him just out of the shower, she helping him put on a shirt... She felt a little giddy.

"Well. Its all over now." She began, smiling a little hesitantly. "Apology accepted."

His mouth quirked up in a sexy smile. He bent to retrieve her bags and winced slightly.

"This is your house." He pointed out, sensing that she still had doubts about staying. "I didn't pay rent for it. Don't be so apologetic about living here. Besides, I could use a hand from you, like just now."

He didn't mean to load it with sexual innuendo. It just came out the way it was. Well to him at least, it had been fully loaded with inuuendo. Gaara felt his own eyes glazed over as Hinata stared at him, and her lips parted.

"Oh. R-right." She said weakly.

Then, as though trying to defuse the charged atmosphere, Hinata looked around and rubbed her hands together.

"I'll take the room upstairs, if you don't mind." She started picking up her two bags, and he helped her with duffel bag.

"Sure." He bobbed his head. "What about your nephew? Why isn't he here?"

"Hiroki?" Hinata glanced at him as she tugged at her duffel bag. "Why don't you let go of this supremely light bag, and I'll tell you? Plenty of people are waiting to see you back on field, you know?" She laughed.

Gaara raised an eyebrow, smiled and handed to over to her. "Okay."

She started up on the second flight of stairs, slinging her backpack over one shoulder. "My cousin's bringing him out today."

"I see."

He was watching her ascend the stairs, her jeans clinging to her curvy body as her butt swayed. Gaara turned away before she caught him watching her.

It had to be pretty tough, for someone who wasn't married and who was saddled with a child, especially one with disabilities. He wondered what had happened to Hiroki's mother/father, which had to be her sister or brother. Gaara wasn't sure if his housemate had how many siblings, but he wasn't going to probe. If she wanted to tell him, she would. If she didn't want to, it was alright too.

Tearing his eyes away from the stairs, he went to the kitchen, leaving more of his weight on his unhurt feet. There was nothing in the refrigerator, or cupboards, save for a few packets of oat crackers and expired coffee packets. He dumped the coffee packets into the bin and looked around. He needed to stock up on food...whether for both of them or for himself, it didn't really matter.

The redhead didn't mind sharing a house with her. He would get pretty bored by the end of the week, even if Naruto, Temari or Kankurou, or any of his team members came to Tanzaku Gai. In the end, he would still be alone. Besides, Hinata didn't look like the sort of, well, foxy woman who would try to get into his pants while sharing the same roof. He doubted he would get tempted too, after that incident at his sister's wedding. That, wasn't going to happen anytime again. Not that he wanted it to repeat itself.

All he wanted to do was focus on recovering, then getting his career back on track.

His sister had promised she would pop by sometime - she just hadn't said when. It was just as well. Temari had her own life to lead now after being married to Shikamaru. He wasn't her problem.

Hinata came down the stairs, her hand sliding across the banister as she descended it quickly.

"I don't think we have anything in the house right now." She said, crossing to the kitchen, as though reading his earlier actions. "I know the last tenant cleared out everything. I'm going out to get re-stocked up again. Do you want me to get anything?"

"Just coffee." He said. "I would go with you, but I think I'd be more of a nuisance-"

"Of course," Hinata nodded, smiling as though she had planned to say it herself. "It'll be fine. I do that all the time."

The last sentence made him realise that Hinata was pretty much self-reliant. Hiroki depended on her alot, but she didn't have anyone to lean on. The responsibility for Hiroki on Hinata was heavier than he initially thought. Well, her father probably helped out too... which grandfather wouldn't?

The Hyuuga went to a cupboard near the kitchen sink and pulled out a few shopping bags.

"I'll be going off now. Just coffee? Any specific brands?"

Gaara thought for awhile. "Nope. Any brand will do. Could you throw in milk too?"

A smile teased her lips, and he thought she looked pretty cute and young, standing there with her hair in a ponytail, her bangs covering her forehead and black specs. If he didn't know her, he swore she was in her early twenties.

"Sure." She answered. "I'll be right back."

By late afternoon, he was alone at the cottage, watching the latest news (which had a short footage of him) on the flat screen TV. When Kankurou had said 'cosy little cottage', it was more like a sprawling mansion. Ok, so it didn't have a swimming pool, or a backyard garden, but it was pretty big for a cottage. The lace curtains were a little girly, but he could live with it. Besides, it looked homely - very different from the smooth, polished walls of a hotel or an expensive penthouse downtown.

Simpler and more down to earth.

On the second floor, there was an entertainment room with another flat screen TV hanging on the wall. There was a number of DVDs lining the wooden rack underneath the TV, all belonging to different genres - rom-com, action, fantasy, sci-fi, animation... Behind him, a huge bookrack with three shelves stood in a corner, next to the sofa directly opposite the TV. That too, held quite a number of books. The title on one of the spines caught his eyes. It wasn't a book, but a magazine.

As he pulled out the magazine (50 Best Rugby Players of All Time), the magazine behind it slipped out too, bearing the words Rugby's Top 20 Hottest Players.

Christ. Judging from the dates and the condition of the magazines, they were pretty old - about nine years back.

Who bought them?

There was a beat.

Nah...couldn't be her.

But would Neji buy something with the words 'hot and 'players' in the same sentence? He seriously doubted it.

On the other hand, if it was Hinata...

So she's interested in rugby too. He told himself. Maybe that's why she bought the book. Besides, it has plenty of Fireblade team members in it too.

He flipped through the pages of the first magazine and found a younger version of himself staring out of the pages, a rugby football in hand. No.15: Gaara of the Sand Hawks.

Gaara caught words like talented and skillful but he played like shit when he was younger. Sometimes, watching those videos of old games were cringeworthy, and Naruto often tease him about them. He started flipping the magazine again, glancing at the familiar faces in the pages. He replaced the magazine, then turned to the other one. The redhead had never seen this one before, much less read it.

Gaara hesitated for a moment before turning the cover. Normally, he avoided reading about himself, especially in gossip magazines. Sure, he read sports magazines but not ones like these where not a word was written about a player's potential or skill. This dog eared magazine was the one of those which he wouldn't pick to read if given a choice. Advertisements filled the pages at first, then the content page followed. He flipped to page 9 of the magazine, and was greeted with a collage of the supposed top twenty hottest players. Familiar faces abound again and he spotted a younger Naruto, somewhere in the middle.

Gaara smirked. Like hell he was going to be a pretty boy-

Jade eyes froze as he spotted his name.

He held third place.

Ironically, he was assigned the very same number on the field as a centre.

Gaara turned to the page where his profile was, doing it almost half-heartedly.

They had a picture of him on the left, shot from waist up. He was dressed in his signature black jersey, his hands at his sides while he stared somewhere off to the right. Red tendrils stucked to his forehead, a sure sign that he'd just finished a long match/practice. Printed beside the photo was a profile of him - his name, birthdate, height, weight the year and age he started his career and the accomplishments he had so far.

He then realised that this magazine was published just before he became Captain of the Sand Hawks. Considering the reign of his captaincy, it had been quite an old issue.

Then he started reading the paragraphs that followed.

Sunagakure's talented centre is rumoured to be bound for captaincy next year, or even this year, as some might say. With his flaming red hair and sexy, tousled-

He stopped reading, closed the magazine and shoved it back in its rightful place.

Gaara liked rugby, fast cars and women, but he didn't like reading about himself in such magazines. It was creepy, especially when he was being written in such a voyeuristic way. He left the entertainment room and made his way to the other two rooms, but they were all bedrooms. One of them, however, was obviously Hinata's.

The room was very cosy, and it appealed to him.

He stood at the entrance and surveyed the room, unwilling to step in and poke around at her items. A bed stood at one corner, with a pale blue bed spread. A short chest of drawers stood beside it, holding a digital clock. A few hair ties were scattered beside the clock, and a feminine looking pouch had fallen on its side. A tall mahogany wardrobe stood at a corner opposite the bed. Adjacent to the bed was a window which had a lovely view of the ancient Tanzaku castle. Perhaps he should visit the castle since he was here. It was funny to note that the many times he'd travelled to Konoha, he never had time to soak in the natural scenery and the history of the hometown of the Fireblades. He'd been too busy concentrating on his matches.

A ledge ran along the windows. Several photo frames were placed there, including a much younger version of Neji and Hinata, and the adult versions of Neji and Hinata, with a beaming Hiroki sandwiched between them. The redhead felt a twinge of deja vu when his eyes landed on the last photo.

Back home at Suna, he had a similar picture too, the only difference being he was the one sandwiched between Kankurou and Temari.

When Gaara had met Neji (through Naruto), he knew the Hyuuga was bound to be someone he could identify with. Unlike Naruto, Neji didn't talk at the top of the voice, didn't make stupid or crude remarks, and was quieter, save for the times when he saw the need to speak up. The Hyuuga had a lot of traits he respected, and after knowing him for a few years, Neji had gained his trust. He expected some sort of rich, spoilt Hyuuga, much like his team owner, but the Hyuuga proved him wrong.

So did Hinata.

Gaara retreated back down to the first floor and wondered about plans for dinner. He was already feeling bored. He wanted to get out and move about. Besides, he wasn't going to treat himself like a fragile China tea set. He knew he wouldn't exert himself too much either.

Hinata could probably recommend a nice place to eat out...or maybe he should ask her to come along too.