Chapter seven, YAY!!! So…anyone ready for a very funny chapter with plenty of Hinata and Gaara action.

Gaara and Neji: -glares-

Eheh….maybe I should just start the chapter already…here we go!!!! Oh, and they haven't really fallen for each other yet. Gaara's denying his feelings, because right now he really doesn't feel anything for her. Hinata is feeling a little mixed. Anyway, it'll make sense soon enough, I have a plan! –Flies away-

Hinata raced through the village, running as fast as she could. She was so late! Oh no! Was Gaara going to get mad at her? She had been so tired from last night, that she had totally forgotten about Gaara. She had woken up, eaten breakfast, and trained with Neji for a while before remembering the date. Her long violet hair flowed behind her as she ran, like a mane on a graceful mare. She kept apologizing to people as she ran, since she kept running into them, or knocking them flat of their feet.

The dango shop was still a way of, but she didn't want the Kazekage to get angry at her. A shortcut, that was the only answer. She focused her chakra into her feet, and leapt into the air. Her feet connected to a wall, and she ran upwards at top speed. She reached the roof, and slid down a rope that connected the two buildings.

She leapt onto a pile of boxes, knocking them over with a loud crash. She winced and cried out an apology to whoever had stacked the boxes.

The dango shop was just one rooftop away now! She leapt from the water tower onto the roof of the next building. Yes, the dango shop was right below her. She leapt down, and landed gracefully on one foot, her hair falling over her shoulders.

"Impressive."

Hinata jumped, and turned to face the speaker. Gaara was leaning against the wall of the dango shop, one of his hairless eyebrows quirked. "If you were going to make a huge entrance, you could of told me last night."

"S-sorry…"

Gaara was wearing a plain red long sleeved shirt, with zippers on the sleeves, a black overcoat on over it. He had a long brown sash tied around his shoulder, wrapping around his waist. His sand village headband was worn on the sash. His pants were plain black, that blended in well with the overcoat. They were tied by metal bands at thigh and knee, to keep them secure. His red hair was as messy as ever. It looked like he didn't even attempt to brush it in the morning. He didn't have his sand gourd with him, but he did a small bag tied around his waist, that was surely filled with sand.

"What are you staring at?" Gaara had moved closer while Hinata was distracted. He was now about a foot away from her. His blue green eyes traced over her, scanning her like a machine programming something new.

Hinata looked away, "S-so…w-what are we d-doing?"

"You really should stop stuttering, it's annoying," Gaara muttered, a bored tone in his voice. "Anyway, Temari helped me plan it out last night." He raised one hand and held up his index finger, middle finger, and thumb. "One, we'll get some lunch," He put down his middle finger, "Two, we'll take a walk," He put down his thumb, "Three…" He pointed at her with his index finger, "Three is your decision."

"M-my…"

"What did I say about that stuttering thing?" He growled, lowering his hand, "yes, your choice. I don't really care what you choose." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her expectantly, "So, where do you want to eat?"

"Uh…" Hinata played with a piece of her hair, twirling it around her finger, "Um…there's this one place…It's nice…it's uh, just down the road."

Gaara gave a simple shrug as if he could care less, and turned to walk of. "Come on," He said over his shoulder to Hinata.

"Oh, right!" Hinata hurried after him, a bad feeling rising in her gut.

They walked down the road together, Hinata walking at Gaara's shoulder. Back in the chunnin exams, Gaara had been the shortest one there. Now that he was eighteen, he was quit tall, much above Hinata's own height.

"This the place?" He asked, stopping suddenly. He nodded his head towards a fancy looking restaurant.

"Uh, yeah," Hinata gave him a small smile. When he just glared at her, she frowned and walked on into the restaurant.

Gaara examined the sign above the shop. It read in bright red letters, "Sweet bean paste!" Great...I hate sweet stuff.He sighed, but followed Hinata into the shop, remembering Temari's first law. Always do what the girl wants.

They walked into the shop, and most of the people turned to look at the pair of them. Gaara's chakra was slowly leaking out, but he couldn't help it. Even though he was the Kazekage, even in his own village, he never went to close to people, ever. He just wasn't used to being around people, besides Kankuro, Temari, and Baki.

The waiter showed them to an available table, and gave them their menus. He stood there for a moment, staring at Gaara. That is, until the redhead sent the man such a deadly glare, that the man yelped and ran back to the kitchen.

Gaara sighed in boredom. He placed his elbow on the table and rested his cheek against his fist. He opened the menu with the other hand and scanned it briefly. There's really nothing good here...

"Um…" Hinata looked over at Gaara, "What…what are you getting?"

"Not sure…" He replied bluntly, not even looking up at her.

Ghee, Thought Hinata, He's the one who invited me to come, and now he's acting like he doesn't even want to be here!

In the end, Hinata ordered one bowel of cream pudding, and Gaara just ordered a glass of water, and some biscuits. They ate in silent, neither meeting the other's eye. The shop had gone very quiet ever since the odd pair had entered.

Gaara stared longingly to the outside of the restaurant. He didn't even know why he had suggested going on this date thing. Okay, clam down. It wasn't a date it was a…a…"Just a day to hang out…"

"What?"

Gaara looked up to see Hinata staring at him, her eyebrows raised curiously.

"What?"

"You said, 'just a day to hang out," Hinata told him, "W-what do you mean?"

Gaara blinked. He had said that out loud? He huffed and looked away, "Nothing, it means nothing."

"Oh….o-ok then."

They left the shop about an hour later, the whole hour had been spent in silence, and walked along through the village silently. Gaara put his hands in his pockets, and glared at anyone who dared to look at him.

"S-so…you said we were g-going on a walk…"

"What do you think we're doing?" Asked Gaara, looking at her. "Our feet are moving, and we're connected to said feet. Isn't that walking?"

"W-was that supposed to be a joke?" She asked hesitantly.

Gaara paused, "….I'm not really sure…I don't make jokes…" He stared into space for a moment, before shrugging, and continuing to walk.

He's so confusing...Thought Hinata. She sighed, and followed him.

Gaara walked up some steps, that led to an upper part of the leaf village. He glanced over the railing at the running water that swam by in the canal. He walked over and leaned on the wall separating him from the water. They didn't have anything like this in the sand village, that was for sure. The leaf was able to spare all this water, just for looks, while they had trouble gathering enough water to survive.

Hinata walked up to the silent sand shinobi who was leaning on the water wall, staring down at the shimmering liquid. She leaned on it as well, and looked at him uncertainly, "W-what is it?"

"….Nothing," He glanced at her, "So, we had lunch, we took a walk, what do you want to do now?" He stared at her, green eyes blank.

"W-well…I was thinking…" Hinata took a deep breath, "I don't know a lot about you, and you don't know a lot about me. I was thinking that…that we could just sit down and talk, you know? Get to know each other a little…a little better…" She looked at him.

Gaara seemed to consider it for a moment, his lips tightening slightly. "Fine, whatever."

Hinata nodded slowly, "I know a um…nice place."

She turned and walked of towards the lake, Gaara following her. Hinata stopped suddenly, and she herd Gaara do the same behind her.

"This is it," She said, looking over her should at him.

There spot she had led him to was a bench sitting on the emerald green grass next to the lake. Roses grew in a few bushes near by, swaying gently in the light breeze that stirred through the village.

They walked over to the bench and both sat down without a word. Gaara sat on the very end, trying to keep a bit away from Hinata.

"So…do y-you want to start?" Hinata asked, looking at him.

"Alright then…" he said shrugging, "There's really not much to tell. Being the Kazekage of the hidden sand village, I have a lot of paper work to do, you know. It's not all that hard really, but it's kind of hard to keep a good reputation." He frowned, "As the most powerful ninja of your village, everyone looks up to you. You have to gain, and keep their respect. Then, I also have Temari and Kankuro to deal with. They can be so bothersome sometimes."

Hinata gave a tiny laugh.

"Then again, I have to protect them. Even though they're older then me that is," He sighed and pushed his red bangs back from his eyes, "That's it really…"

"What about your parents?" Hinata asked. As soon as she said it, she knew she shouldn't have. Gaara's hand stopped halfway through his hair, and his eyes narrowed dangerously as a darkened look fell across his face.

"Sorry," He said darkly, "But I don't know you well enough yet, to share something as personal as that."

"Um…I-I'm s-sorry…"

He glanced at her, his frown increasing slightly.

"Oh…" Hinata looked at her feet, "Well…I guess their isn't much to say, expect that Neji has always been better then me, but I don't hold that against him. H-he's my cousin after all. My father…my father…he always expects so much of me, so it can be kind of hard sometimes, I guess." She shrugged.

Gaara glanced at her. He knew the feeling of having someone always expect so much of you. Having someone think you can do something deadly and huge, when you're barely five years old. He knew that feeling all to well.

The sun had begun to set, sending golden rays of sunlight spilling across the water. The liquid gold swam to the lake chore, and curled around Hinata and Gaara's legs. It swirled, making small whirlpools of light in the emerald grass, that danced along with the beautiful colors.

Red fell down and mixed with the gold, swirling to make a gorgeous color that resembled that of rubies and gold smoldered together into one lovely gem. The Hyugga heiress and the Kazekage watched the sun's display, the silence between them stretching even further.

"So…" said Gaara blankly.

"So…" Hinata repeated him, her eyes half closed in the uncomfortable silence. "I uh…had fun today."

He looked at her, frowning.

"Well…" She shrugged, "It was a really quiet day, but other then that…just getting to know you better was enjoyable."

"Oh."

Oh. That was pretty much all they really said to each other. Or, it was the most frequent thing either of them said.

"Oy, Gaara!"

The two of them looked around to see Kankuro running down the hill towards them. He stopped at the bench and grinned. "How's the date going?"

Before he knew what had happened, Gaara had grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down to his level, "I told you, it is NOT a date! It is just a chance for us to get to know each other!"

"Stop lying to yourself little bro!"

"Don't make me kill you…"

"AGH! Hinata! HEEEEELLLP MEEEE!"

"I didn't even do anything yet you idiot!"

"He's going to eat me!!!"

"WHAT!?"

Hinata watched the two brothers bickering, her eyebrows raised. She was surprised that Kankuro was still alive, if this was how he always acted around his younger brother. Gaara had such a tendency to change tempers so easily, it was indeed odd.

Hinata giggled, making the brothers look around.

"What's funny about Kankuro abuse!?" Cried Kankuro.

"Everything's funny about Kankuro abuse!" Hissed Gaara, pushing his brother away from him. He glared, the sand in his pouch whirling dangerously.

Kankuro rushed away from him and hid behind Hinata, glaring out at his younger brother, "If you kill me, Temari will be angry!"

"I'm not going to kill you," Gaara muttered, sitting back down, "yet."

Kankuro flinched.

"Why'd you come down here anyway?" The redhead asked icily, looking around at Kankuro, "You disturbed the peace."

The peace? Thought Hinata, frowning.

"Temari told me to come find you, Mr. Sourball," Said Kankuro. He stood and sat down on the bench in between Gaara and Hinata, "She wanted to talk to you about…about the thing, yah know."

"Ah…right…" Gaara stood, along with Kankuro.

Now that they were standing right next to each other, Hinata could see a great resemblance between the two sand ninja. Sure Kankuro's face was a bit broader then Gaara's, but minus the black around Gaara's eyes, their eyes were very similar. She couldn't help but give a small smile.

"We have to go," Gaara said simply, turning to look at Hinata, "I'm sorry."

Hinata blinked, not knowing why he was apologizing. After a minute, she nodded. "See you later then."

"Yah."

The two brothers turned away and began to walk backup the hills together. Hinata herd Kankuro mutter something in Gaara's ear. He then dashed of at top speed, Gaara chasing him furiously.

Hinata watched them until they were out of sight, then sighed. It was getting late, so she should probably get home as well. She stood and walked away in the opposite direction that Gaara and Kankuro had gone in. This day…hadn't been so bad.

In the shadows, someone shifted after having watched everything that had conspired. The figure clenched their fists, and grinded their teeth angrily. They didn't know why they felt rage bubbling up inside of them, it wasn't right, but this made the figure very angry. The figure looked up in the direction that Gaara and Kankuro had gone, and bright blue eyes narrowed in the dim sunlight.

BUM BUM BUM!!!! Who is that following Gaara and Hinata!? Oh, and yay Kankuro abuse!! Sorry for the short chapter, but the next one will be long and full of action! –Cheers-

Naruto: I'm bored…Give me my paycheck

After chapter eight, because you haven't done anything but look cute so far!

Naruto: -growls-

Anyway, please wait patiently for chapter eight!!!! 3