Okay, time for chapter 28! I am so nervous because our finals are in one week, and today, I've got to read a chapter from The Violet Rose in front of my mum's college class! I'm in middle school folks, seventh grade, 13 years old, so guess how nervous I am!? Yeesh!

So, I'll just stop complaining and write now…-sighs- Oh, and about the cloud ninja guys. The Hyugga's gave them Neji's dad because he looked so much like Hiashi. Now the figured out that it wasn't Hiashi, -took them long enough XD- And are now really pissed. Just wanted to clarify that.


"If we stop at sunset, we can get some rest in before night," Gaara muttered, "Then once the sun fully sets, we can set of again since it's colder at night, then it is in the daytime," He traced a line in the sky with his finger, frowning slightly, "the rest won't be that long, but we can at least get a drink and relax for a few minutes at best."

Hinata nodded, smiling slightly. Gaara was actually really good at figuring out good times to move, and good times to rest. Well, this was the desert after all, the place he grew up and the element he controlled. She wouldn't figure any less from Sabaku no Gaara, after all. She glanced up at the sky, to see the sun slowly heading to the other side of the sky. So they'd be walking for a few more hours then. She sighed and secured her bag over her shoulder.

They continued walking, Gaara staring fixedly at the bright blue sky. He narrowed his eyes slightly to see…a cloud was coming their way? A dark cloud at that. He stopped in his tracks, staring up at the cloud as if trying to read some hidden code hidden within its depths.

"Gaara?" Hinata looked from the redhead to the clouds, and frowned, "it's just a cloud Gaara."

"A rain cloud…" He murmured, "You don't see many of those around here." His frowned increased.

"Maybe it's the rainy season for the desert."

"Bu that's just it," he said quietly, "It's not the rainy season, which is very light mind you, for another four months. It never rains here, except in the rainy season." The cloud made him very suspicious.

"Well, maybe it decided to come a little earlier," said Hinata absently, shrugging and looking wistfully toward the east, toward Konoha.

Gaara made a frustrated sound that made Hinata look at him with shock. Had she said something wrong? She didn't know why Gaara would be mad at her…she hadn't done anything, had she?"

"Let's just keep an eye on that cloud," he muttered, and resumed walking.

Hinata stared at the cloud for a moment. She herd Gaara call her name, and jumped. 'Uh…r-right! I'm coming!" she called, running after him.

For some odd enough reason, she couldn't help but agree with her lover. The cloud, once you thought about it, did seem suspicious. In the hidden leaf village, a cloud would be normal and no one would think anything about it, but in the hidden sand village, no…in the land of wind, this was a very odd occurrence.

Gaara was definitely worried by the cloud, she could tell. His eyes were narrowed dangerously, and he was muttering quickly under his breath. Hinata figured that he was coming up with, and throwing away ides about why the cloud would be hovering above the vast desert.

There was a boom of thunder, making both of them look up. Neither had noticed that the sky had grown dark, and more clouds had gathered.

Hinata felt a, plink on her nose, as the first raindrop fell.

"Shit…" She herd Gaara hiss. He looked around and spotted a sand cave, (Hinata didn't even notice it.) He grabbed her hand and rushed over to it. They dropped down into the cave just as the rain began to fall.

"Are you ok?" Hinata asked Gaara. She remembered the time Gaara's student Matsuri had been kidnapped by a weaponry village. Gaara had gotten wet, and because of his sand armor, no good came of it.

He nodded shortly, "no water got on me…" he glared outside of the cave and the heavily pouring rain, "But this is going to delay us." He was right. When it rained, the sand got heavy and murky. It made it very hard to run in. During the rainy season, most sand shinobi and citizens would stay indoors, unless need be to go outside. No one from the sand all very much liked rain.

"This is really odd," he muttered, frowning. Possibilities ran through his mind as he stared at the rain outside of the cave. It could just be a fluke, like Hinata had said; then again it could be something more serious. He knew that cloud village ninja could summon up clouds at will. Any kind of cloud, even rain clouds. But what would cloud ninja be doing here, when he had sent Temari on a mission to negotiate with them? He hoped that she was alright, the cloud were very violent people.

"Do you know anything about the cloud village?" he asked Hinata quietly, his eyes blind as they stared out at the rain.

"A bit," She said shrugging, "When I was little, they came to our village and tried to kidnap me." Gaara looked at her. "My father killed their leader, and they got mad. Really mad. They wanted my father dead, but he was the head of the clan. Neji's father, my uncle, Hizashi, volunteered to go in my father's place," She frowned, "I herd after they mistook my uncle for my father, everything was fine again. Why do you ask?"

Gaara stared at her, his green eyes narrowed. So…the cloud did have something to hold against the leaf village. He sighed and looked away, "Nothing," he muttered.

Hinata leaned her head against the warm stone of the cave. It was…was very warm indeed. She closed her eyes, and very slowly, drifted of to sleep.


"Hinata."

Oh…it was warm…that's right, she was in the desert cave with Gaara, and it was raining outside. Raining in the desert, how funny.

"Hinata, can you wake up? My arm is getting tired."

Gaara's voice sounded very close. Hinata's eyes opened slowly, and she realized where she had fallen asleep. In Gaara's arms.

Hinata gave a convulsive jerk away. She rolled off of Gaara's knee and slithered to the ground with a thump. There was only one word appropriate for the resulting sensation.

"Oooow."

Gaara was looking down at him, face unreadable.

She looked up at Gaara and swallowed.

"Erm, why didn't you put me back down?"

Gaara's face could have been carved from black and white marble. He was massaging his right arm with his left hand.

"Th-thanks for taking care of me. I…I was a bit loopy just before I passed out. Ahhh…I didn't mean you had to- to-er…to prop me up like that for more than a few minutes." It was the most neutral way Hinata could think of describing the position they'd been in.

Gaara stood up slowly, straightening in a way that spoke of muscles stiffened from sitting in one position for hours. Hinata had gotten good at reading Gaara these past weeks, but she couldn't begin to guess what her lover was thinking now.

"I didn't mind," Gaara finally said, as if the words were well chewed over, and this would be the final declaration on the subject he cared to make.

With a massive effort, Hinata managed to focus back on the problem at hand. What went through Gaara's mind was a mystery sometimes, and Hinata didn't have the time to puzzle him out right now. She had to concentrate on the fact that it was raining in the desert, in what was not the rainy season.

Oh…She saw out of a crack through the cave that it had stopped raining, and the clear night sky was holding a full moon.

A canteen appeared in front of Hinata's nose.

"The last of the water. Drink it."

Hinata looked up past the canteen into a pale face brushed with color along the nose and cheeks. Under a shred of moonlight reflected off of rock and sand, Hinata could see that Gaara's lips were cracked and dry in a way that spoke of sunburn and dehydration. Hinata opened her mouth-

Gaara's eyes narrowed. His gaze took on a quality that reminded Hinata a bit of the Old Gaara, the one you didn't argue with.

Hinata took the canteen morosely. She had the growing suspicion that Gaara was learning to turn that look on and off like a light switch, now that he'd figured out it was a way of getting Hinata to follow at least some of his orders.
She was still very thirsty. The water was tepid and tasted flat and leathery from the container, but it went down her parched throat like ambrosia. She could feel the energy flowing through her body increase a bit as a result.

She placed the empty container in her bag and looked at Gaara, "When did it stop raining?" She asked.

"About an hour ago."

Her eyes widened, "And…how long was I asleep?"

"About three hours."

No wonder his arm was hurting so much….

"S-should we get on our way then?" She asked, getting to her feet. Ow. Her legs were stiff from being asleep in that uncomfortable position for so long. Uncomfortable? She had been in Gaara's arms…it was sort of pleasant.

"Yeah, the rain delayed us as expected," Gaara said, standing as well. He grabbed his sand gourd and lifted it over his shoulder, still frowning. That little rainstorm had worried him…quite a bit. "On the bright side," he added, "This means we can go all night, no stops. You did get your fill of sleep, right?"

She nodded.

"Good, then let's go."


Tsunada rubbed her head and threw the scroll aside, "I can't read that thing!" She scoffed, glaring over at Shizune. The black haired woman blushed and looked away, frowning.

Tsunada ran a hand through her ash-blonde hair and sighed. Most of the ninja in the village were very fidgety right now. Hinata hadn't yet returned from her little trip to the sand village. Naruto and Neji were constantly badgering her about it. She had angrily snapped at them one day, then felt bad. She knew they were just worried about her, and she was herself a bit.

The door opened and Neji and Naruto walked in.

The dynamic duo of Konoha…Tsunada rolled her eyes and looked at them, "You two brats are trying to give me gray hairs, aren't you?"

"It's not like you don't have um already Granny," Sneered Naruto, crossing his arms.

Tsunada groaned and rubbed her temples, "What is it?" She sighed, already knowing the answer.

"Has Hinata come back yet?" They both asked at once.

"Bui…bui bui bui…" Muttered Tonton, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Listen to the pig, boys," Said Tsunada, gesturing at Tonton, "her answer is the same as mine."

They both gave her a disappointed and worried look.

"Don't look so worried," She said dismissively, "I'm sure she's on her way back right now. Mind you, it takes three days for each trip between Suna and Konoha." She raised her eyebrows.

Naruto muttered something under his breath, but Neji nodded.

"Yes, thank you Tsunada-sama," he said bowing.

"Thanks for nothing…"

"WHY CAN'T YOU BE MORE POLITE LIKE NEJI!?"


Sakura knocked Sai out of the way as a chair fell from the sky and almost crashed right into them. She looked up to see Tsunada's office window broken. "What now?" She muttered.

"Ah, I see," said Sai, smirking.

Sakura followed her gaze and sighed at seeing Naruto running down the stairs as fast as he could.

"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" He cried, throwing himself at her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and began to cry, "Control your sensei, please!" he howled.

"Get the hell of me, Cha!" cried Sakura, kicking him in his crotch. She crossed her arms and 'hmphed' before looking away from the very much in pain Naruto.

Sai watched from the sidelines, imagining Naruto and Sakura to be wrestlers. He chuckled to himself.

"What are you laughing at," Growled Naruto, "Sakura just kicked me in mah balls!" he cried.

"Not that you have any," Sai answered happily.

"Why you…"

Sakura shook her head at their antics. Boys, sometimes she just couldn't understand them. She sighed and looked around, "What did you do to make Tsunada-sama so pissed?" She asked him.

"I just told her thanks for nothing…"

"Idiot!" Snapped Sakura, punching him in the head, "that will definitely piss her of, and you should know it by now!"

"Tsunada-sama's really more of a man then you Naruto-kun."

"Shut the hell up Sai, or so help me-!"

"EH!?"

"…P-please don't hurt me, Sakura-chan…"

"What are you lot up to?"

They all looked around to see Kakashi walking toward them, Yamato at his side. Kakashi was reading his book as usual, and Yamato was just smiling.

"You might want to put Naruto on a leash, Kakashi-sensei," growled Sakura, "before I tie a leash around his neck!" She cracked her knuckles.

Yamato looked at Sai, frowning.

"I haven't done anything wrong," He said, shrugging innocently.

Naruto grumbled something under his breath.

Sakura punched him again, and sat down on his back, crossing her arms over her chest in triumph.

"Now I know how Gaara felt those three years ago…" He muttered, "Sept that was that weird guy Deidara, not you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura rolled her eyes, and kicked him in the side. She looked up at the sky, wondering when Hinata would be back…would Gaara come with her?


HAHA! Finished, nya! And over 200 reviews wow! Thanks everyone for supporting me through my first story! Next chapter will be even better, I promise, please believe me!

ACK! I gtg to the college reading! BYBY!