~~**~~Only side note are some words. "Jinchuriki" are the "humans who house one of the tailed demons within them"; there are nine. "Bijus" are "the tailed demons housed within humans"; again, there are nine.~~**~~

"Just Dropping In"

"Ahhh, Gaara-kun! I didn't know it was you, I would've abandoned my game to meet you at the door!" She watched him regard her with those bloodless eyes that he looked at everyone else with. These days she rarely got to see GAARA'S eyes. "Why in the world did you come all the way out here again?" She got up and smiled brightly, setting her cards down and walking over to him.

She wrapped her arms around him, able to feel the warmth of his sun baked skin beneath her own. He barely put his fingers on her lower back before stepping away from her. "I was on business and decided to come by. I see you have another to keep you company." He was glancing over her shoulder at Nikoru as he said this; she was still focused on her reflection on the table. Hotaru nodded and smiled, stepping back and gesturing for him to come into the room.

"Oh yes, Nikoru-chan decided to come stay with us for a bit. She gets so lonely on those trips her father takes her on." She giggled softly, giving him her seat at the table, kneeling next to him and gathering up the cards she had spread out on the table. He glanced down at the worn and tattered pieces of paper.

"I've never seen you play with those." She looked at the cards, then at him, blushing lightly as she wrapped the frayed piece of rope around them again and handed them to Nikoru, who took them numbly.

"Their Nikoru-chan's. They were her father's apparently." Nikoru nodded stiffly at the remark and put the cards in her lap, breathing a bit quicker beneath her silken shell. Hotaru had actually stolen them from Hidan a little after their botched poker game. She had been hiding them from him for a while now and he still had yet to realize it was her that had jacked them. She was refusing to give them back until he stopped being an ass or he realized it was her and asked for them back. So far, neither had happened. Now the girls just played with them, hoping he would come in and catch them red handed, and snickering together about his stupidity.

Hotaru sat down across from Nikoru, upset that she was still in the room, but unable to say a damned thing. "So, Gaara-kun, how have you been? It's been so long since I've seen you." He looked back to her, his bright red hair falling over the love kanji above his brow, distracting her eyes for a second.

"Busy. There's a group out tracking down bijus and killing their jinchuriki." Hotaru gasped at this, so did Nikoru, both girls interested suddenly.

"That's horrible, why would someone do something like that?" Hotaru put her hand over her lips as she thought of how much danger both Naruto and Gaara could be in. He shook his head, looking down at the table as he did, still stern as ever.

"We're not sure. We think they're capturing the demons in effort to use them all for something...but, no one has proof. The group is stealthy and lethal for sure." Hotaru shook her head, looking at the table for a moment herself. All of his life Gaara had been hunted...now he was evidentally trying to help protect others who were suffering the same fate. "Hotaru, I need to talk to you." She glanced back up at him as Usagi came in and sat tea down for both of them, along with a plate of seinbei crackers. Hotaru wasn't fond of them, but she had seen Gaara nibble on them a few times, though he rarely ate at all.

"Alright...is there something you want me to do to help?" He shook his head curtly, glancing at the girls.

"Not about that. I want to talk to you alone." Usagi flinched and Hotaru glanced over at her, but she gave a small nod to show that she understood.

"Of course, Gaara-kun. Nikoru-chan and I will get out of y'all's way. We're sure y'all have alot to catch up on." Usagi started to help Nikoru up, patting her upper arm as she did, but the girl suddenly snapped out of whatever silent spell had been put over her. She drug herself back down, giving Usagi dead weight to do it, and looked a bit viciously over a Gaara.

"No, not yet. I want to hear more about this mysterious group." Hotaru looked at her with wide and upset eyes as Gaara focused on the thin blonde.

"No, no, Nikoru, honey. Maybe you and Gaara-kun can talk about it later, but right now he wants to chat with Hotaru-chan." Usagi tried to usher her up again, but Nikoru glared up at her, jerking her arm away again before looking back at Gaara.

"No. This is a serious thing. I want to hear about it." She wasn't really sure what a jinchuriki was. And she only vaguely knew that a biju was a demon within someone. But, she had to distract him from talking to just Hotaru. She had told herself long ago it wasn't going to happen again.

"Well, Nikoru-chan, I'll tell you all about it later. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it in your travels already." Hotaru laughed softly, waving her off dismissively.

"But, it sounds important. Maybe we should know about this incase one of those group members comes here." Nikoru glared at Hotaru, who glared back from behind her sleeve.

"Some other time, Nikoru. I would prefer to talk to Hotaru right now." She jerked her head back to Gaara's steely calm voice and frowned again.

"No! Tell me about it right now!" She slapped the table and Hotaru saw Gaara's fingers flinch on his thigh as she did. She looked up at Usagi with violently begging eyes, Usagi looking like she would nod if she could.

"Nikoru, I said let's go. It's not fair to try and hog Gaara all to yourself when he came to visit Hotaru." Usagi grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet as casually, but as forcefully as she could.

"I'm not! He shouldn't of said something so frightening when he didn't really want to talk about it with all of us in the first place!" Nikoru argued loudly as Usagi drug her out of the room, forcing polite smiles over her shoulder at them as Gaara watched their every move. The door finally shut, bouncing back a little with the force of the shut, leaving a small sliver of a crack.

He slowly turned back to Hotaru who blushed and laughed quietly, "Sorry, she's a bit like Naruto-kun sometimes, she just forgets her manners." She waved the thought off and rolled her eyes a bit, touching her forehead as if she apologized like that often. Gaara relaxed just enough to ease forward and wrap his fingers around his tea cup.

"You're tense when I'm around her. You talk stiltedly and heatedly." She jumped a little, blinking in surprise as he murmured this to the table. He looked saddened by this, his eyes almost softening to the boy she missed the most.

"No, no...I just...it's just them..." She let her cheeks turn bright red, rubbing the bare back of her neck and looking away as she said this. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings.

"Do you think I'll hurt them?" She turned to look at him again as quickly as he turned to look up at her.

"No! Gaara, I know you never meant to hurt anyone." She smiled softly as she said this, meaning it with all her heart, feeling more and more at ease around him as he talked to her. "Other people just make you uncomfortable is all. I understand that." He let his eyes harden at her though.

"You're afraid I'll hurt them. Like I hurt you, right?" She let her eyes widen again.

"Gaara, it's nothing like that. I promise!" She laughed a bit nervously, waving her hands a little as she did. "You've never hurt me to the point I don't forgive you. I understand it's not you." She reached out and put her hand on his arm, smiling lightly one more time. "Now, why don't you tell me how you've really been doing. I'm sure you've been tired due to business, but what about everything else? How are Tamari and Kankuro?" He looked at his tea and brushed his fingers over the smooth surface of the cup, shaking his head tiredly.

"They matter none. I didn't come here to discuss them." She pulled her hand back, nodding slowly as she set it in her lap. "I came here to discuss you coming home with me."