Hello all my lovelies!
I'm back with another chapter.
As usual reviews are always welcomed.
I apologize for spelling mistakes, darn those errors!
So now onwards my dears!
Kiba wasn't sure why Gaara was staring at the woman lying in the hospital bed with such rage. It almost made him want to go find a deep hole and never come out the look was so intense. He was going to ask but immediately thought otherwise not wanting to further enrage the already furious Kazekage.
The red head couldn't form a single thought he was so deeply angry. This bitch who had tormented him for the last time was once again back in his life. Matsuri was like a cockroach; those disgusting insects were nearly impossible to get rid of. She just kept coming back again and again. Gaara was surprised that Matsuri was still alive even after all this time. Shikamaru's research had been right on the money. Why else would the unconscious woman be before him right now. Gaara's body started to shake from fury and it was taking every ounce of will power not to finally put her out of her misery. As much as Gaara wanted to kill Matsuri, he was much more civilized then that. It wouldn't do his title any good to act without reason and deep down Gaara knew that Hinata wouldn't want him to do it. Even though she wasn't here she still had a very strong influence on him and her kindness had somewhat rubbed off on him. No, there were other ways of killing people. You simply had to know the right methods required to do so.
Gaara's gaze snapped over to the now scared Inuzuka. Even Akamaru hid behind his master the look in Gaara's eyes was so intense.
He opened his mouth to give the dog ninja a piece of his mind but instead he scowled pinching the bridge of his nose muttering something to himself. Gaara knew that Kiba wasn't to blame, he was only doing what any other person would've done.
"Kazekage-sama?"
His attention turned towards the door where a doctor was standing outside with two nurses. His eyes narrowed "As soon as she's able I want this woman sent to the asylum and locked up. I want guards posted outside of this room for security. You are to inform me the moment she is well enough to leave this hospital am I understood?!" The poor doctor didn't have the guts to ask why Gaara wanted this but from the look on his leader's face it was better not to ask questions.
"O-of course L-Lord Kazekage".
Gaara nodded sharply before looking back to Kiba "Inuzuka follow me". His voice was sharp as he gave the command not bothering to turn around and see if the dog ninja was able to keep up with him.
In a matter of minutes they had arrived in Gaara's office and he still looked beyond pissed. "Alright then talk, why did you come here!" Kiba jumped a little at the harshness of Gaara's voice. He would have to tread carefully so not to upset him even more.
"Your friend Abraume Shino told me that you have some unfinished business with my wife, care to enlighten me".
Kiba raised his hands in a submissive gesture. "Don't worry I'm not going to cause any trouble, you have my word. I just need to talk to Hinata it's something that is between only us". Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow "Inuzuka this better not be an attempt to rekindle an old romance". The dog ninja shook his head "I swear it's nothing of the sort I know that Hinata loves you and I've come to accept that. I want to talk to her as a friend". The red head gave him a long hard stare; Kiba didn't know how much longer he could last under that intimidating gaze. But eventually Gaara gave a quiet sigh "If you truly wish to speak to my wife then do so. But I'm warning you I expect no funny business whatsoever or there will be consequences regardless of what Hinata thinks".
Gaara's voice made good on his warning before walking past Kiba. He had other more important things to worry about. His family needed to know about Matsuri's return, she was a danger to all of them so long as she was still alive.
"Kankuro".
His older brother turned around from his work as he looked towards the door to his workshop. He was a little confused to see Gaara out of his office. It must've been something important if he went out of his way to find him so soon. Kankuro put his tools down wiping his hands on a nearby rag "Gaara what is it? Is something wrong?"
His little brother didn't speak right away, he seemed to be in his own little world of thoughts. "Oi, Gaara what's the matter?"
Kankuro was surprised when his brother's eyes looked cold and dangerous. He knew that look all too well from the past. Something really bad must've happened for that look to reappear again after so long. "Um...Gaara wha-" "She's come back". Kankuro raised an eyebrow "Pardon me?" "Matsuri...she's returned". Gaara's voice was dripping with venom as he spoke. His older brother looked very surprised.
"What?! How? I thought that she was-"
"It was all a trick. She wanted to make everyone think that she was gone. I had Shikamaru do an investigation and his suspicions were correct. Matsuri had us all fooled". Gaara had to remind himself to keep calm. He did not want to do anything that he would regret but at the moment he really wanted to destroy something, mainly someone.
It only took a moment for Kankuro to figure out the rest and a scowl appeared on his face. "You mean to tell me the bitch is still alive! That's repulsive!".
Kankuro looked to his younger brother "Where is she now?" Gaara's voice was strained with anger "At the hospital".
"How did she get back in the village?!"
"Hinata's former teammates found her, they were at the time heading here. According to the information that was given Matsuri was found unconscious and barely alive. Inuzuka took her to the hospital". "So why didn't they just leave her die, good riddance I say!". Gaara chuckled darkly "You can't blame either of them. They had no idea of knowing".
While Kankuro ranted for a few minutes Gaara was trying to think of a solution to solving this little unexpected problem.
He knew that Matsuri would try to escape again. She did it last time, so what was stopping her from doing it again. At this point there was nothing to lose; he knew that despite Matsuri's mental health she wouldn't stop till she succeeded and that's what scared him. When it came to matters concerning his family, Gaara took full responsibility to make sure that they were all safe. His sister had just had a baby and his own child was still in great danger. Should Matsuri decided to go after either of them there would be trouble. But the red head suspected that her primary target was still Hinata. After all Matsuri hated Hinata and it was her obsession that lead to her current situation. Gaara grinded his teeth in frustration there had to be something that he could do. The question now was finding a peaceful solution. He knew that his wife would have something to say when he did eventually tell her; as much as he didn't want to Hinata needed to know for her own safety but because of her kindness she would probably tell him not to have her killed.
"Gaara what will you do?"
"I don't know...I really don't". Truth to be told, Gaara was tired of having to deal with Matsuri over and over again. He didn't need her in his life anymore, she had served her time already and he wanted to move on.
It was almost like fate had this twisted way of repeating itself.
"What will you tell Hinata?" Kankuro's question had been one of concern, he cared very much for his sister-in-law and he knew that it would crush Gaara should something happen to Hinata. The red head ran a hand through his hair "I'll think of something, please inform Temari and Shikamaru at once, also give word to Baki and have him arrange an escort for my wife I don't want to take any chances". The puppet master could tell that Gaara was tired by the tone of his voice but he didn't know exactly what he could say. This problem was not going to go away as quietly as he thought it would take a little before, all of them could move on.
Gaara left without another word as he went back to his office to find Kiba still there. Pinching the bridge of his nose he let out an irritated huff before speaking "Alright then I'll take you to my wife".
There were no words spoken as Kiba followed quietly behind Gaara. He was in his own world of thoughts at the moment; it had been months since he had seen Hinata and he wasn't exactly sure if she would understand his feelings. He should've known that Hinata was too good for him, nothing he did now could fix the past. He could only try and move on now; it was best for him as well as Hinata if she agreed.
The red head suddenly stopped suddenly causing Kiba to nearly walk into him. "Hinata is here". On the inside he was feeling a little jealous that Kiba was still trying to involve himself with his wife, but he wouldn't force himself into someone else's business. This was between the Inuzuka and Hinata.
Kiba was told to wait in the hall while Gaara fetched Hinata. Akamaru could sense his mater's nervousness as they waited. Being a dog loyal to his master Akamaru wished that there was something he could do to help.
A few minutes later Kiba saw the couple approaching him. Hinata was holding their squirming daughter in her arms as she gave a small smile to her friend. "Kiba-kun it's so nice to see you again".
"Hinata-chan you look well. Desert life is treating you well". He tried to lighten the mood a bit. "I suppose it did maybe". Kiba's eyes drifted to baby he was awed by her appearance she looked like Gaara but he could clearly see her mother in her also "This your daughter, she sure is pretty takes after her daddy I see". Hinata smiled wider as a light blush came to her cheeks "Thank you, this is Hena". "Shino will like her a lot, the three of us will have lots of fun". Gaara resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll leave you two to talk". Taking Hena into his strong embrace Gaara walked off leaving them alone for the moment, he would tell Hinata of Matsuri after she was done with Kiba.
Once her husband and daughter were out of sight Hinata looked back to Kiba. She had been told that he had arrived in Suna with Shino about an hour ago and that there was something that needed to be discussed with her but she wasn't sure what it was. Gaara had seemed a little peeved when he told her about Kiba needing to speak with her.
"Kiba-kun, Gaara-dana told me that you wanted to talk?"
"Yeah...it's something rather important to me at least".
"What is it?"
The dog ninja was even more nervous now. He didn't think that it would be this hard just to talk; it had seemed so much simpler in his head when he thought it through. But he could back down now. He didn't come all this way and beg for Naruto to let him have this chance only to chicken out without never solving anything. It wasn't the honorable thing to do. Kiba was raised better than that, and one way or another he had to tell Hinata everything so that he could put it all behind him.
"Hinata-chan, you remember when we were genin right? What a bunch of stupid kids we were never doing anything right". Kiba mentally kicked himself this was off to a bad start.
"Um...Yes I guess we were. But we were only children at the time". Hinata was a bit confused as to where this was going. Kiba wasn't making any sense.
The dog ninja decided to try again "Do...do you ever get the feeling that sometimes things happen that you don't quite plan but they just happen anyway". 'Oh that was smooth. Idiot! She doesn't have a clue what you're saying'. His inner voice was screaming at him. Hinata just looked even more confused than before.
"Yes I...do? Kiba-kun is everything all right?"
He sighed "Not really, I have something I have to tell you".
"So tell me".
"Right it-well-um...I don't know how to say this". Hinata waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts. Kiba was irritated with himself he was acting like a total fool in front of her. He couldn't just keep her waiting but he couldn't stay quiet forever.
"Hinata-chan I have to come clean I have a confession to make. What I meant before was that when we were still Team Eight, I...I-I had feelings for you!". Kiba's face flushed from embarrassment; Hinata's face flushed from shock. "Kiba-kun you really-" he held up a hand "At the time you were still crushing on Naruto, but I thought that maybe you'd eventually love me in the way you once did for him. Why did you think I went out of my way to show off my skills part of the reason was to try and catch your eye". Kiba gave a sad smile "I wanted for you to notice me, because I thought you were beautiful. My feelings for you only grew as we got older and I never felt more proud of you all those times you proved to everyone that you could handle yourself".
The bluenette was a bit too stunned to take in everything. Hinata had always known that Kiba liked her but she never thought it was anything like that. It made sense actually if she thought back to her memories with her old team. But something didn't add up if Kiba had liked her why didn't he say anything.
As if reading her thoughts Kiba answered her hidden question.
"I didn't say anything because I was being a chicken. I knew that you liked Naruto and I didn't want to force you into liking me so I waited a bit to see what would happen. I had hoped that you'd eventually return my feelings". Kiba scratched the back of his head sheepishly "But I was wrong on that also. By the time I finally worked up the nerve to tell you, it was too late and you were already married to Gaara".
The dog ninja chuckled nervously "I got angry at myself for waiting so long, but part of me was also angry that Gaara won you over. I had hoped that you would love me. That's why I lost my temper on our last encounter, I was jealous of Gaara for stupid reasons". He sighed "I can't keep living in some hopeless dream, you have your own life and I need to live mine...that's the real reason I came all this way. I had to tell you what I felt in order to put this behind me. I know that you'll always love Gaara and I have no objections to that. I only ask that we can continue our bond as friends like we always have. What we have can't be broken Hinata".
It was quite for what felt like a long time, when in reality it was only twenty minutes. But that amount of time was needed for Hinata to put the pieces together in her mind.
She felt rather bad that she hadn't noticed sooner. Kiba had made multiple attempts in the past to make it obvious that he liked her; but she had her fascination with Naruto so it would've been harder to notice him. That still didn't stop her from caring about him. Hinata cared very much for her friends and Kiba was no exception. She only wished that she could've done something sooner so things didn't have to end up the way they did now.
"I kinda owe your husband an apology. I might have called him a few things from our last meeting".
Hinata shook her head slightly with a small smile. "Kiba-kun thank you for telling me. I wish that I had known sooner...but to be honest I don't think it would've worked out anyway. Neither of us would've been willing to take that final step". She did have a point, one that the dog ninja couldn't argue with. Kiba's feelings for Hinata were the ones that you experience when you have a silly first crush, it stays for a while but then it suddenly fades. That didn't mean however that his feelings weren't different; Kiba still loved Hinata but after coming to terms with his past and current feelings he knew that it was the love you have for a close friend.
"You are right, our friendship can't be broken. But we can't ignore the past".
"I told you Hinata-chan I'm over it. Yes, I still love you but we both know that it's for a good cause".
Hinata had to laugh a little. Kiba was being very honest with himself and she respected that. "Yes I do believe that your right". The dog ninja gave her a wide smile "Whatdaya say Hinata-chan we still friends?" She nodded "Of course and we always will be. You, Shino and I for always".
The bluenette heard Akamaru bark from behind and she smiled at the ninja hound "And you as well Akamaru-chan". Kiba laughed a bit "I'd better go find Shino, we won't be here long in a few days we'll be out of here. I don't want to keep Naruto waiting for too long he'll have my hide". Hinata giggled softly "Thank you Kiba, I'm glad you could put this behind you". He simply touched her shoulder in a friendly gesture "So am I".
Hinata then walked down the halls to try and find her husband; he had informed her of something important that she should be aware of. Hianta hadn't liked the sound of his voice it sounded very urgent if it had something to do concerning her. She knew that Gaara would be waiting for her in his office and so she tried to remind herself to keep calm. She was aware that Suna's issues were still in full swing so she wondered briefly if that's what this was all about. Then she dismissed it, Gaara had informed her that he didn't want her involved with such nonsense so it wasn't that. Before she knew it she was outside the door to his office and she walked inside not bothering to knock. Gaara perked his head up and watched his wife come in. In his arms was their now sleeping daughter that he somehow managed to put down. "Hinata we must talk". She nodded and made her way over to him "What is it Gaara-dana?"
The red head was very resistant at first that he needed to tell his wife the news; but if she didn't know now it might be a disaster. So exhaling through his nose, Gaara looked into her lavender eyes.
"When your friends Shino and Inuzuka arrived they brought a woman with them".
"Oh, who was this woman?"
Gaara mentally pushed himself to keep talking no matter how much he didn't want to. This was for her own good, better now than never.
"They found her unconscious not to far from the village. Inuzuka took her to the hospital where she is now. But as soon as she's able I'm having her moved to the asylum". Hinata suddenly paled she was almost reluctant to ask this even though she probably knew the answer already.
"You mean..." Gaara nodded grimly "Yeah, Matsuri is back".
Hinata felt like she was going to faint it was like the past was repeating itself all over again. Sensing this Gaara stood from his chair and wrapped one arm to support his wife while the other arm held their still sleeping daughter. "I didn't think this would happen either". "But didn't the tests say that she was dead?" Gaara bit his lower lip "That's what we all thought, turns out it was a fake. Shikamaru looked into it and he discovered that Matsuri wanted us to believe that she was dead. She fooled us into thinking that, all this time she's been alive".
Hinata leaned into her husband too lost for words. She didn't want to think that Matsuri was capable of something like this, but it turns out she was wrong.
"So does this mean she's still after me?"
Gaara wasn't sure he should answer that, and Hinata knew what he was thinking. She paled even more as her eyes landed on their daughter "No...she can't. If she learns about Hena then-" her eyes widened in horror "Gaara-dana what will we do?! I won't let that mad woman harm our child!".
The red head was just as concerned for their daughter as she was. But he had to say something to calm his wife down. "Hinata try not to panic, I'll think of something. Nothing will happen to Hena or to you. I refuse to lose my family to the likes of her". Gaara didn't know if this was helping but knowing Hinata, if he didn't say something to try and help her she'd worry herself to death. Even if she didn't take his words seriously he was at least assured that she was listening to him. He felt moisture drip onto his shoulder and he looked to see Hinata in tears. She wrapped her arms around his torso giving him a squeeze.
"I know that's it's hard for you enough as it is. But I still can't help but feel sorry that Matsuri had to come back". Hinata sniffed trying to get a hold of herself it didn't do anything. She wasn't sure why she was crying or when it started but she suddenly felt very vulnerable for some reason and it scared her. She hadn't felt like this since she was a small child.
"I don't want her to hurt you".
The tears came down harder "I don't want that devil woman to hurt you Gaara-dana, I know she'll do anything to get rid of me. But she might hurt you also".
Gaara knew that his wife would feel that way about him. It was sweet that she cared for his safety but at the same time it was also a little predictable of her for thinking that way. Hinata was the kind of person that always put others first before she even thought about herself. He knew that she would want to do something to help, she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Don't worry we'll think of something. Matsuri's a danger to everyone as soon as I'm sure of a plan I'll take action right away". Hinata suddenly kissed him she did it as a way of reassurance. Gaara had no objections to it as he kissed her back he needed it as much as she did. "I'll do my best to keep you safe" he murmured before pressing his lips against hers once again. Hinata could've said something, but instead she chose not to. She already knew what he meant anyway.
I'm a little worried that this chapter was a bit slow, sorry about that.
Next one, I'll have some excitement in I hope.
At least I updated faster than I have been recently, I will try to change that but it's not a total guarantee.
Reviews are much appreciated.
Goodbye!
