Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata would end up together and life would be unicorns and rainbows.

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Do all girls out there have that stage in life where people constantly try to to kill them?

Perhaps it's just a phase.

Hinata glumly walked down the stairs, only to be met with a pregnant silence in the living room. She surveyed the guilty looks on the gang members' faces, "What happened?"

There's a psychotic killer out there who plans to chop her into minuscule pieces and then bury her in his backyard. That's what happened.

Temari gulped and scratched her cheek, "Well, what had happened was-"

Shikamaru quickly slapped his hand over her lips in order to not alarm Hinata, "Nothing. It's just that Naruto hasn't come home yet. We were just a tad worried."

Hinata slightly gasped and looked up at a poker-faced Gaara, "Maybe we should go look for him."

Gaara shook his head, "He's a 'Shinobi', he can surely handle himself. Besides we have a date to go to."

Hinata meekly nodded and stayed silent as Gaara whispered some incoherent words to Temari.

"I want several of you to follow us."

Temari gaped at him as she turned him around, his back facing the frequently targeted girl, "What? Why?!"

"She may be targeted once again and I might need back-up."

Temari briefly turned around to smile at Hinata, "Come on. It's your first date. Having us around practically spying on you two will fuck up your date."

Gaara stoically stared at her, "Well, her being stabbed to death by a lunatic on the loose will also 'fuck up' my date."

Temari opened her mouth as if to say something but stopped herself from speaking for several seconds, "Good point. We'll leave five minutes after you do."

Gaara gave her a nod of acknowledgment as he walked over to Hinata. He wrapped a protective arm over her waist and walked out with Hinata.

Temari sighed and fixed one of her ponytails, "We have to go follow them. They may need back-up."

Temari walked over to one of the big wooden cabinets and opened it wide revealing numerous loaded assault weapons. She casually began to throw them to several of the present gang members.

Shikamaru easily caught the heavy gun and bullet pack. He slipped the bullets in the gun, "You know he can handle the Akatsuki and Suigetsu by himself right?"

Temari was cleaning a blood stained switchblade with the hem of her shirt, "I know."

Shikamaru lazily stretched, " He probably only wants us to come because it's his first date and wants some occasional guidance."

Temari chuckled, "I know that too. Do you remember our first date?"

Shikamaru smirked at her, "The waitress threw me a wink and then you slit her throat. How could I forget?"

Temari laughed as she continued to hand out weapons to the others. Meanwhile, Gaara was leading Hinata to his black car. Hinata stopped and Gaara knitted the area on his forehead where his eyebrows should be, "What's wrong?"

Hinata tilted her head to the left and pointed to Gaara's left, "What's Neji doing here? And what happened to his car?"

Gaara quickly remembered Neji saying something about taking away Hinata to live with him. The slight possibility that she would agree and leave Gaara angered him. He gently tugged on her wrist to rush her.

He bitterly spoke to her in distaste, "You'll speak to him when we come back."

That's a lie. Of course she won't speak to him. She'll never see him again either.

He'll ensure it. He'll call his old acquaintance Ayame who , unfortunately for Neji, works with poisons and drugs. She'll work her magic and he'll wake up tomorrow in Mexico on a chicken farm with his only memory being that his name is Pablo and his occupation of a cabbage seller.

Lovesick bastard.

He opened the shotgun seat for her and soon enough, they were on their way to the restaurant. It was a silent ride with a few Shinobi following at a safe distance. Hinata quickly screamed, "Gaara! Stop the car!"

Gaara looked at her in confusion as he immediately stopped the car on the semi-deserted street , "Hinata! What's wrong?"

Hinata pointed to an exhausted, limping figure in the dark, "It's Naruto!"

Gaara looked in the direction that Hinata was pointing to see an obviously struggling ramen lover. He simply continued on driving much to Hinata's surprise, "What are you doing? He needs a ride home!"

Gaara just shrugged his shoulders, "He'll be fine. That's probably not him anyway."

Hinata rolled down her window just in time for Naruto to scream that his last wish was for a bowl of steaming hot ramen, "See? It is him! Go back!"

Gaara just continued driving, "Gaara!"

Sometimes he felt bad about occasionally torturing Naruto because of his jealousy but then he remembers that frankly, well, he doesn't care.

Hinata's eyes swayed around the car hoping for an idea to come to mind, "If...if you don't turn around for him, I'm not going to talk to you for the rest of the day!"

Gaara upon hearing these words slammed his combat boot on the reverse gear. He rolled his eyes as Hinata quickly got out of the car to help Naruto. Hinata put Naruto's arm around her shoulder for support.

But you know Gaara. He assumes everything on the Internet is true and now he was beginning to put things together.

Always caring about Naruto? Always wanting to help him? Always wanting to heal him?

The thought that she was just a selfless person who cares about others completely slipped his mind. He immediately assumed that Hinata had fallen for Naruto! Again!

Gaara clenched his teeth as he saw Hinata and Naruto whispering. He began to slam his calloused hand on the car's horn. Repeatedly.

"Hinata, leave! Leave me here," Naruto begged as he felt Gaara's murderous aura radiating from the car.

Hinata shook her head, "Don't be ridiculous."

Naruto silently whimpered as Hinata opened the car and helped him in. She closed the door and got back in her original seat, "So um...Gaara, maybe we should go home."

Gaara continued his driving and kept his cool composure, "Why? Is it because you don't want to go on a date with me?"

Hinata gaped at him, "What? It's not like that and you know it."

Gaara's driving sped up, "I know that it's exactly like that. You don't like me. You never did!"

An anime sweat drop appeared on Naruto's forehead as he rolled down his window and looked down at the fast-moving road. He could either A. Jump out the window and limp back home if he doesn't die doing so. B. Open the door even though Gaara is definitely going over the sane speed limit and jump out and die . Or C. Stay inside the car and await his death by Gaara's hands.

Choice C it is.

Hinata knitted her eyebrows together, "Why do you think that?"

"Because the first time I called you my girlfriend you broke up with me!"

Hinata gasped, "It was the second day that we had ever met!"

"So? I was in love with you the moment I saw you!"

A red blush painted her cheeks but it soon disappeared, "Was?"

Gaara gulped, "No, I didn't mean it like that."

Hinata crossed her arms and looked out the window in order to avoid Gaara's beautiful sex god face so he wouldn't see her watery eyes.

"Hinata, don't...don't cry. Look, all I'm saying is that you don't seem to like me very much."

Hinata simply just shook her head in fear that her voice may break if she spoke.

Gaara stopped at a red light, "I can't force you to love me but...Am I that horrible?"

Hinata began to wipe the tears that had started to fall down, "You're not horrible at all."

Gaara continued his driving as Naruto contemplated ways to get out of the damned car, "Give me one chance. Just one. If tonight's date doesn't work out, I'll never speak nor bother you again. I'll allow Neji to take you to live with him in his new apartment."

"Fine," Hinata whispered as he continued the silent ride.

He parked his car in front of the expensive restaurant and stepped out with Hinata in tow. She opened Naruto's car door so he could step out much to Gaara's dismay, "What are you doing?"

Hinata slumped his arm over her shoulder even though he tried to refuse, "I'm helping him inside."

"The Internet clearly states that a date only involves two people. The two people being you and I," he bitterly said.

"So? We'll just pretend he's n-n-not there. He looks like he's starving. Poor thing."

Gaara grit his teeth completely misunderstanding the situation, "Oh so now you're on a date with him and you're going to act as if I'm not there!"

The lovestruck fool.

Hinata wailed her arms in the air in confusion, "I never said that! How can I pretend you're not there when I... Never mind."

Gaara rolled his eyes, "Let's just go in."

"Let's," Hinata then noticed that she had knocked down Naruto, "Naruto!"

Gaara walked off ahead of them, discreetly mocking them, "Oh Naruto! Naruto! You're so much better than Gaara! You're so hot! Kiss me in front of Gaara cause he's just an obsessed boy who I don't care about even though he's in love with me and saves my life four days out of seven each week yet I like you better cause you always reek of ramen...Look at me. I'm Naruto. Come here Hinata so you can give me pity and ignore Gaara. Ramen, ramen, ramen. Hinata, kiss me! Wow, look a ramen special," said Gaara as he angrily mimicked Hinata and Naruto in a high-pitched tone.

"Do I really sound like that?" asked Naruto.

Hinata just shook her head, "I don't know what's wrong with him today. He's acting different and I don't l-like it."

At least he had the decency to open the door for Hinata. When she walked inside, he pushed the door so it would hit Naruto, "Accidents happen."

Naruto grumbled in his misery as Gaara spoke to the man in the front. The man led them to a table in the far back and Gaara's eyes widened as he saw the table's centerpiece.

Flowers?!

Gaara pointed to the opposite wall of Hinata, "What's a naked Neji doing here? And why is performing some sort of rain dance?"

As Hinata swiftly turned around, Gaara grabbed the flowers from the elegant vase. He took them and looked around for a place to hide them from Hinata. He heard her begin to question the 'distraction' and he quickly shoved the daffodils in the waiter's pants.

He turned back around as he handed the waiter a very large bill to compensate for the wet flowers in his pants, "Sorry. It must have been something else."

The uncomfortable, confused waiter handed them their menus. Gaara snapped Naruto's menu out of his hand and handed it back to the man whose name tag read Danzo.

"Gaara, why'd you take away his menu?"

"It's okay, I wasn't that hungry anyway. Let him do as he wishes," Naruto nervously said while attempting to telepathically tell Hinata to shut the hell up before he gets stabbed to death.

"This is our date, as in you and me. Not you, me and Naruto."

"Just please give him his menu b-back.."

Gaara sighed as he took back the menu and threw it at Naruto, "You just want him to be fed so later on, his stomach won't grumble so much when you're consummating your love for each other."

Hinata's jaw almost dropped to the floor, "Gaara! What did you just say?"

Gaara casually just dug his face into the menu; completely ignoring Hinata's question. Hinata took a big breath in and let it out to calm herself. She felt something poke her repeatedly and she looked down to see a napkin that Naruto set on her lap.

She threw him a questioning look and opened the napkin.

'Don't say anything that's going to get me killed tonight!' it read in smudged ink.

She titled her head in confusion as she grabbed the pen that he had used from the table and wrote 'What do you mean?'. She then slid it back to him and he began to write on it.

"Oh, so now you two are exchanging secret messages. What's the topic this time? Debating on baby names?"

Hinata snapped her head up to meet his cold gaze, "I don't know w-why you're acting like this, Gaara. You know very well that I don't feel that way about Naruto."

Gaara licked his lips, "Then let me see the napkin."

Naruto nervously chuckled, "You want to see the napkin? This napkin? The one I have in my hand?"

Gaara merely nodded and outstretched his hand towards Naruto, "Well?"

Naruto looked at the napkin, at Gaara, at the napkin, back to Gaara and his eyes finally landed on the napkin.

The last message he had written was not one that would please Gaara. If Gaara read it, tonight would be the night that Naruto would take his last breath.

He panicked and when Naruto panics, he does crazy things. Crazy things such as shoving the napkin in his mouth and violently chewing on it.

Hinata mentally face palmed herself as Gaara clicked his tongue, "Fine. I didn't want to read it anyway. Let's just order. I'll take the large fried shrimp, an order of sweet and sour chicken and a large sprite."

Hinata skimmed the expensive menu, "All of this is really expensive."

"Order whatever you'd like. It's on me."

Hinata gulped, "I'll just take an order of sweet and sour chicken and a Pepsi."

Naruto spit out the napkin and looked up and down his menu, "I want the-"

He was suddenly cut off by a cold Gaara who had an accusing finger pointing to Naruto , "You get nothing!"

Naruto just nodded and prayed to whatever was in the sky that Hinata would not speak a word. (But since when do things go right for Naruto in my stories?)

Hinata sent Gaara a look of disapproval, "Gaara, stop it. Please. Naruto order."

"I'll take the-"

"Oh so Hinata's love isn't enough for you? You want more, is that it? Selfish bastard."

Crazed bastard.

"Gaara," Hinata sighed, "Naruto, what do you want?"

"I..I want some pork ramen and a water," Naruto nervously said.

"I said you get nothing," Gaara exclaimed.

"I want some pork ramen and a water then," Hinata spoke out.

Gaara rolled his eyes as they handed back their menus to the obviously struggling waiter. He waddled back to the kitchen with the wretched flowers still where Gaara had left them.

The table drowned in a pregnant silence until Gaara's phone rang. He stood up and took his phone out of his pocket, "I have to take this. Try not to elope while I'm gone."

He indifferently walked away to a far wall of the restaurant leaving Naruto and Hinata to bicker amongst themselves over Gaara's strange behavior.

Gaara unlocked the screen, "Hello?"

"Gaara, how's your date going?"

Gaara sighed, "I think it's going okay but Naruto keeps messing it up."

Oh sure. It's all Naruto's fault.

Go re-read that in a sarcastic tone.

Temari laughed on the other line, "It doesn't look like that to me."

Gaara looked around the restaurant, "Where are you?"

"I'm four tables away from yours on the right. Shikamaru's with me, Kiba is near the kitchen with Shino and Sasuke is by the restrooms with Kankuro."

"Good. May I ask for some advice?"

"My little brother is growing up! Of course you can. What do you need advice on? How to ask for another date? How to ask her to be your girlfriend?"

"How do I kill Naruto without actually killing him?"

Shikamaru laughed and took the phone from Temari, "You don't."

Gaara sighed, "You're right. It's illegal."

"That hasn't stopped you before," Temari sang as she took her phone back.

"Never mind that. I have to hang up now and go back to the table before they start swapping spit," he hung up and returned to the table.

He was met with their steaming hot meals. The table was silent besides the scraping of silverware on the fancy plates and Naruto's ramen slurping, "So Hinata..."

"Hm?"

Gaara's tongue was stuck. What the hell do people talk about on dates?!

He took out his phone and searched it.

The Internet would be the death of him.

It suggested to play a game of some sort to break the tension. Gaara clicked his tongue and set his phone down, "Would you like to play truth or dare?"

Hinata gulped, "Sure. You go first."

"Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Is it true that you're not in love with Naruto?"

Hinata sighed, "Yes, that is true."

"Okay, I dare you-"

Naruto foolishly decided to butt in, "Gaara, I don't think that's how the game is played."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at him, "Well, that's unfortunate. I have decided to change the game. It is now truth and dare and I dare you to let me strangle Naruto to death!"

Hinata sent him a look of disapproval, "Gaara, please let's not start another fight."

"Oh so you're saying that I start all the fights?"

"N-no.. I'm just saying that you seem a little cranky tonight."

He leaned back in his chair, "You'd be pretty cranky too if the one you were in love with was flirting with your idiot best friend on your date."

"Well, one would be cranky too if the guy that person was in love with thought I was in love with his idiot best friend when I'm obviously in love with that person," Hinata encountered back.

"That made no sense whatsoever. It's probably because you have all these thoughts about a certain blond boy in your head."

Hinata licked her trembling lips, "That's it. Don't t-talk to me until you're ready to apologize."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Great."

"Lovely."

"Awesome."

"Fantastic."

"Can I just say that-"

"Be quiet, Naruto," they simultaneously spoke at the same time.

Naruto scratched his cheek, "I'm just saying that maybe-"

Gaara grit his teeth and held up one of the utensils that the restaurant had kindly set beforehand on the table, "If you say anything else, I'm going to cut off your ear with this butter knife."

They silently continued to finish their meals without any interaction besides lustful glances when the other wasn't looking. Gaara paid the bill as he awaited for Hinata and Naruto to finish their dinner. Gaara's phone rang and Gaara stayed at the table this time, "Yes?"

"Hey, it's Shikamaru. How's your date so far?"

Gaara narrowed his eyes at a poker faced Hinata, "Great, just great. She hates me and she's not speaking to me. And I just want to knock several of Naruto's teeth out. But besides all of that, the date has been a total success."

"Well, are you almost finished?"

"I guess. Is there a problem of some sort?"

Shikamaru rubbed his neck, "Well... You see what had happened was... Our waitress asked me for my number right when Temari came back from the bathroom and uh..now let's just say that the world's population may be decreased by one if I don't get a homicidal Temari out of here."

Like brother, like sister.

Gaara sighed, "We'll be on our way. Get her out of here."

He hung up as Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief, "It's time to go."

He held the door open for a silent Hinata and opened the car door for her. He started the car and began the long drive home.

He didn't even look at her during the ride.

Not even a glance.

The rest of the 'Shinobi' members arrived minutes before them. Gaara parked his car and left. Naruto scrambled to get out and inside the mansion before he could feel Gaara's frequent wrath. Hinata sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt. She opened the car door and closed it. She closed her eyes and began to repeatedly hit her forehead off the window, "I'm an idiot."

She soon felt strong arms encircle her waist, "That makes two of us."

She opened her eyes and saw Gaara's face in the window's reflection. She turned around and wrapped her hands around his neck, "I overheard you on the phone. I don't hate you. I'm sorry. It's j-just that I get really upset when you think I have feelings for someone else."

Gaara stared into her eyes and a cold breeze flew by, "I'm just frustrated over the fact that I'm crazy for you but you don't feel the same way. Just the thought that someone else can make you happier than I can makes my chest ache."

Hinata's lower lip trembled as she struggled to get the words out, "I'm not very pretty."

"I think you're beautiful."

"I have a really bad personality."

"So do I."

"I don't ever think things through beforehand."

Gaara let out a raspy chuckle, "You're speaking to the guy that almost strangled his best friend to death over a napkin with a little bit of ink plastered on it tonight."

He brought her closer to him as if he feared that she would leave, "I'm in love with you."

Hinata gulped down the invisible lump that had formed in her throat, "I love you too."

A crimson red tint painted his cheeks, "Hinata, can I kiss you?"

Hinata closed her eyes and rose on her tippy toes, "I love you."

Gaara's soft lips met her plump ones. He squeezed her waist as he felt the loud thumping of her heart. He slightly pulled away from her lips, "You're mine and only mine."

Hinata smiled at him and nodded, pledging her love for him. He bit his lower lip as his eyes glanced from her eyes to her lips, "Does this mean we're.."

Hinata giggled and nodded. She closed her eyes once again she kissed Gaara again.

Twelve chapters, three failed homicide attempts, one crazed fangirl, one crazier fanboy of a crazed fangirl, two kidnappings and one misunderstood claim of flower hatred later they finally became a couple.

But how long can this half-psychotic half-sane couple stay a couple?

"Wait, what d-did you say about strangling Naruto just now?"

"Nothing."

He smiled.