Remember everyone, I'm just borrowing the Naruto characters. I don't own 'em.

Kankurou walked into his brother's office. To his surprise, Gaara wasn't pouring over the unending pile of paper work like he usually was. He had rolled out his meditation mat, and was sitting quietly with his eyes closed. Kankurou wondered if he should leave him be. Gaara only meditated at work if he was extremely stressed feeling.

"Kankurou, come all the way in. Don't just stand there with the door wide open." Gaara opened his eyes. To the puppeteer's relief, they were fairly calm looking. "Yes?"

"I'm done with work for the day, so I'm heading home. Temari put me in charge of dinner. Said she'd be busy."

Gaara smirked. "Yes, she's probably dragged Hotaru to the market now that she has a female in her clutches. I told her to show the girl around. And since she passed on dinner duty to you, we can get something that's palatable."

He knew Gaara was not pleased about the extra guest in the home. Kankurou grinned back, realizing what Gaara was doing. Gaara was attempting to enjoy what his brother probably thought of as his 'last hours of privacy.' "Aw, come on Gaara. Temari's food tastes all right...if you add enough salt and pepper."

Gaara smirked a little more widely, then got up and stretched. He sighed, his expression becoming serious. These displays rarely lasted long, but it was an improvement on how he once was. "Kankurou, are you sure there is no dissuading the council from this?"

Kankurou shrugged. "Sorry bro, but they aren't going to budge. I'm sure it won't be all that bad."

Gaara gave a short laugh devoid of humor. "No, not bad at all. At least she has sleep to restrict her from being on duty all the time."

Kankurou nodded. "True. If you ever need a break that badly from her, you can always suggest to Temari to cook Curry for her."

"You said if I wanted to take a break, not kill the girl with horribly over spiced food." Gaara shrugged, and started putting away papers. He too was ready to leave work, even if it was only early afternoon. "I am not ready to go home yet. Kankurou, we'll simply pick up some fried rice on the way there. Join me in the training fields for a while."

Kankurou nodded agreement. "Sounds fine. I want to try out my new puppet anyways." He frowned at his brother. "Just kindly don't get too carried away. I'd like to be able to get it home in mostly one piece. It took me ages to fix the last one..."

Ack! What on earth did I get myself into? Hotaru was no longer thinking of her impending duty as body guard. Temari had brought her to one of the market squares that hosted bazaars, and Hotaru had lost sight of the blond Kunoichi in the throng of people. People, all around her, in the amounts that Hotaru usually went out of her way to avoid. She shied away at contact as people brushed past her, looking for this vendor or that stall. She was a bounty hunter. She usually observed from the sidelines, not jumped into the middle of the crowd.

"Hotaru! Over here!" Temari waved her over to a shop front. Hotaru made haste to reach her, doing her best to hurry through the crowd with minimal contact. She knew that crowds like this were favorites of pickpockets and other such thieves, which was reason enough to try to maintain personal space.

"We went through several markets on your tour of town. Why did we have to come to the most crowded?"

Temari smiled. "It's only the most crowded because the bazaar is here this week. We're here because you said you'd rather have your clothes custom made, and this is the best place for that."

Hotaru glanced down at the fabric she had bought. It was tough and sturdy, material she'd gotten at one of the supply shops that provided for those who made jounin and chuunin uniforms. It wasn't cheap material, but she figured if ninjas used it, it was good for bounty hunting clothes. Or rather body guard cloths at this point. Temari held some bolts of silk. At first Hotaru had thought Temari was having formal wear made for herself, but she only smiled and shook her head. "No," she'd said, "I've got formal clothes. It's YOU that need them. As Gaara's guard, you may need to attend state functions with him. His position requires that even if you are his guard, you still need appropriate attire." Arguments of silk not being effective against attack didn't hold. Temari simply refuted them by noting if all the ninjas surrounding those sorts of functions didn't ward off attack, then the enemy was unstoppable by one young woman.

"Good afternoon Saihoushi-san," Temari chimed upon entering the store.

Hotaru followed her in, and glanced around, her eyes landing on an old woman. "Ah, Temari-sama, good to see you again." Her brown eyes were bright at she greeted the Kunoichi, and she gave a polite smile when she noticed Hotaru. "And who is this?"

"This is Hotaru. She's been...traveling the desert. She has decided to stay here in Suna, and is in need of clothes."

Saihoushi's friendly demeanor took on a brisk, business like tone. "Well you've steered her to the right place." She looked at what the two young woman were holding. "Dress wear and something serviceable. A nin outfit?"

Hotaru shook her head. "No, just something serviceable, like you said. Something along the lines of this actually." Hotaru withdrew some sketches from her pouch. It was a drawing of what she had designated her personal uniform.

Saihoushi took up the drawing and looked at it, then to Hotaru's current outfit, which was approximately the same design. "This will be easy enough to make. And the silks?"

Temari stepped in smoothly. "She's something of a guest in our house. I figured if any formal dinners were held, she might like to attend."

Saihoushi smiled. "We'll take measures, and then we can begin discussing design. Oh, I haven't had the chance to make formal robes for quite a while..."

Hotaru had a feeling this was going to be tedious. If Temari wasn't the sister of her new boss, she would have started making revenge plans. But after watching Saihoushi pull design books off the shelf and start discussing styles with Temari animatedly, she began to reassess that thought. Revenge was looking better and better as they argued over design...

Next time: ...They had learned the hard way that Kankurou's puppets could break, and Gaara's sand fail..."I'm sure Hotaru will appreciate the tour, but I doubt she'll feel the same for Temari's shopping vice"...She'd have to get used to being surrounded by the crowds...

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