"Gaara…" Kankurou leaned in close to his brother. It was late in the evening and the siblings were relaxing in their shared quarters. Gaara had brought a few final bits of paperwork from the office to complete while Kankurou slowly swilled a glass of wine in his hand. "Have you noticed something different about Temari?"

Gaara put down his pen at his older brother's serious tone. "What do you mean?"

"She seems… happy." It was true: she did have a certain spring in her step. For weeks now, she had seemed distracted, gentled. Tonight, she had spent the evening baking cakes, humming quietly to herself. "I think she might be seeing someone."

The Kazekage suppressed a smile. Was his brother truly so clueless? "You think so, Kankurou?"

"Don't you remember years ago, when she'd float around like this when she was seeing Daimaru?"

"She was never this bad with Daimaru."

"No…" Kankurou mused. "But you agree that she's behaving as though she's…"

"In love?" Gaara went back to his paperwork, letting his brother think aloud to himself.

"But with who?" He took a sip from his glass. "Maybe the weaponsmith's apprentice. Or the faulkner. Or your new office assistant."

Gaara was silent, listening to his brother barking up all the wrong trees.

"It could be a girl."

"I don't think it's a girl."

"It could be… No. It couldn't be someone like Baki?"

"She's not into older men."

Their discussion was interrupted by their sister entering the room. She was barefooted, in her nightclothes, carrying some string and brown paper through to the kitchen.

"Guys, I'm sending a package to Konoha in the morning." He could hear her cutting the paper as she boxed and wrapped her confections in the next room. The sweet smell of them still hung in the air of their quarters. She hadn't allowed the boys to take any but Gaara didn't mind: his sister was not a good cook. "If you need anything else posting, let me know."

Gaara kept his voice hushed, just loud enough to push his brother's thoughts in the right direction. "Maybe it's someone from Konoha."

"No way. She's got more sense than that."

Gaara rolled his eyes at his brother's ignorance, but it didn't take long for Kankurou to ease into the idea.

"Although... she has been spending a lot of time there recently. And she's been getting all those letters from the Leaf. And now she's sending cakes to someone..."

Kankurou drained the last of his wine in one gulp and narrowed his eyes at his sister as she passed through the room again on her way back to her chambers. There was a soft smile on her lips as she looked down at the package in her hands; gifts for someone. The black shirt she used as pyjamas was long enough to completely cover the little shorts she had on underneath. It was a man's shirt. As she exited the room, the clan sigil on the back of it was obvious: a white circle, with waves through the centre.

Kankurou gasped. "Gaara!"

"Yes?" The Kazekage dropped his pen on top of his paperwork again and turned to his brother to see his eyes wide with revelation. Surely, he must have finally figured it out by now.

"...do you think it's Neji?"