A/N: Chapter 3's up!

Disclaimer: Naruto and all characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. Please heed rating.

3.

Hinata felt her stomach lurched. Oh god.

"Where did you hear that from?" She asked lightly.

He shrugged nonchalantly, but she saw the predatory glint in his eyes. "Someone else."

"Well he was a little annoyed because the museum folks complained to Kakashi about having a hard time removing it, but we managed to help them clean it up."

And by we, she meant her, but again, he didn't need to know that.

"Did you tell him I suggested it?"

"I - well, I - can't remember," She said breezily. God, she sucked at lying. She hoped he couldn't tell she was lying.

Gaara leaned back in his seat, his gaze calculative. "What's with the ass covering for me?"

She gave him a mildly annoyed look. "Please."

"I heard Asuma gave you hell for the snow thing. You could have just told him I suggested it."

"There's no point crying over spilt milk. We were in a hurry then, and I wanted to clean up the mess and move on, Gaara."

"Okay, then what's with the gift basket?"

"What's with the int-interrogation?" Hinata's brow furrowed. "Is it a crime for the team to bring someone a gift basket?" She asked.

Crap, she had slipped up there. She hadn't stuttered in such a long time.

He did that to her, and she hated it.

"You should know by now that agreeing to dinner with me immediately qualifies you for a free interrogation," Gaara said, folding his arms across his solid chest. "So, 'fess up, Hyuuga. Why are you being so nice to me?"

Her pride pricked, Hinata turned back to her food. "It's just a gift basket. You can leave it if you don't want it."

There was a beat of silence. "I didn't say I didn't like it." He said. "I was just curious."

"We thought it might cheer you up." Hinata glanced at him.

His jade eyes gleamed. "Who's we?"

"Everyone," She said vaguely.

"Yeah? Then how come they don't know about it?"

Sweat gathered at the small of her back.

"Because they were busy." Hinata gave him a pointed look, deliberately pasting on a calm look. She pointed her knife at him. "No more questions about gift baskets."

"Why?" A devilish gleam entered his eyes. "Because you specially bought it for me, but you're too embarrassed to tell me that?"

Her cheeks heated up. "Speculate all you want, b-but that's not true."

"For someone who took a cab, the soles of your heels were pretty muddy." He leaned forward. "You walked here didn't you?"

Hinata set down her knife, and realised she was trembling slightly.

"I walked here because I couldn't find a motorcart. And I thought it would be nice to get you something because it's Ch-Christmas Eve, and you're cooped up alone in the room with dengue." She exhaled. "Satisfied?"

Gaara leaned back. His expression was inscrutable.

When he spoke, his voice was husky. "Thank you."

She couldn't quite meet his gaze. "You're welcome." She was famished, but after Gaara's ruthless interrogation, she barely felt like eating.

Despite her lack of appetite, Hinata concentrated on putting food into her mouth, until the plate was clean.

"So," She said brightly. "What's next?"

"TV?" He turned the volume up with the remote control. Hinata watched, transfixed, as the actress - a slender blond in a gold sequinned dress - kissed a brawny man passionately. One large hand of his cupped her breast, while the other raked her dress up her thigh.

Passionate sounds of lovemaking filled the room as the scene cut to them having wild sex. The gleam of a naked curve, bare pecs and abs, breasts bouncing…

She cleared her throat and picked up the papers he'd left at one corner of the desk. Disappointed to see that he had completed the crossword successfully, she flipped it over and set it aside.

Her gaze landed on her phone.

"Do you have a charger?" She asked. "My phone's running low on battery."

"Yeah." He got up and handed her his own phone charger. "Does it work for your model?"

"It does, thank you." Rising, she tightened the belt around her waist before padding over to the row of power point and hooked her phone up to it.

She took a moment to scroll through her Facebook feed. Some funny memes, a few news articles about the weather, Christmas updates from her friends and… a post from Otsutsuki Toneri announcing his engagement to his girlfriend.

Hinata swallowed and closed the app. Yikes. Bad move.

She set down her phone and turned, only to realise that Gaara was staring at her chest strangely.

She looked down. Apparently, her right breast had decided to take a little peek-a-boo without her noticing. With a yelp, Hinata quickly turned away from him and covered her exposed breast with her bathrobe.

"Oh god," She went to his bed and took a seat on it, giving him her back. Hastily, Hinata re-belted her robe and made sure the collar of the robe covered her collarbones.

It took Gaara a few seconds to reply.

"Don't be," He said, his voice thick. There was a beat of silence. "Shit. That sounded like a sexual harassment line. Fucking hell. Forget I ever said that."

Despite her situation, Hinata felt laughter bubbling up within her. She pressed her palms to her eyes and laughed.

She was trapped in a hotel room with Gaara. She was naked, except for a bathrobe. Her ex-boyfriend was getting engaged, a mere year after their breakup. And she had apparently just exposed herself to Gaara, of all people, who was apparently worried he had just sexually harassed her.

She heard his tread, almost silent, on the carpeted floor. The bed sank slightly as he sat next to her.

"Okay, what's so funny?"

She let her hands drop to her lap and bit back a smile. "No, I was just… I'm the one who exposed myself to you. If anything, I should be the harasser."

"The difference is that you would have to be doing that deliberately in order to qualify as a sexual harasser." He raised one brow. "Did you?"

"Of course not."

"Must be some message you just received, huh."

"It wasn't a message. I was on Facebook." She gestured inanely with her hand. "People are getting married or knocked up, or both at once. And then there's me, working on Christmas Eve, in Kumo."

Something about the way he listened intently to her made her plough on.

"And then there's my ex-boyfriend, who apparently moved on really quickly with someone new." She spread her palms open. "She looks really sweet and she probably gets on really well with his mum, so I guess everyone wins, except me."

Silence ensued.

She swallowed and shook her head. Embarrassment engulfed her in a hot rush. "Sorry. That sounded terribly bitter."

"It's nice to know someone like you has got all these dark thoughts swirling around in your head." He grinned slightly.

"Someone like me?" That was, like, the second time he'd said that.

He gave her a duh look. "You're Little Miss Polite. Even when shit blows up, someone hurls vulgarities at you and trashes you via email, you're still fucking polite."

Her forehead creased, and she opened her mouth, ready to ask him where he'd seen that, when he beat her to it.

"I was cc-ed in that email that bastard sent. I saw it." He leaned back on the bed on his palms, his legs stretched out alongside hers. "So to hear that you, a prime example of virtue, feels bitter about some guy… it makes you a little more human, y'know?"

Hinata glanced at him, brows knitted together. She opened her mouth, then closed it.

"Look, if he can't appreciate your charms, then you're better off without him." He paused, then added, "You sure he's straight?"

Hinata glanced at Gaara and chuckled. Heat flooded her cheeks. "He is."

"Just checking to make sure." Gaara drawled.

"So before this, you thought I was… inhuman?"

"No, not inhuman. I meant like-" He broke off and gestured with his hand dismissively. "Like a saint, alright?"

Hinata wrinkled her nose. "You mean like… a rigid nun?"

He shot her a dry look. "No. You look like anything but a fucking nun."

She glanced at him and smiled as cautious pleasure thrummed through her.

Gaara closed his eyes in a grimace, as if realising what he'd just said. "Shit. Sorry. Probably shouldn't have said that either."

He exhaled. "My point is that people think you're this woman who's untouchable. Perfect. It wouldn't hurt to let them see a few chinks in your armour. Makes you a lot more approachable."

She digested his words, feeling amazed. Perfect? Had he just called her perfect? Brushing that aside, she latched onto his second point. "You find me unapproachable?"

He stared at her for a long moment. "No. It's not that."

He groped around for a word, then gave up. "Okay, you know what, I'm gonna turn in and quit talking."

Hinata felt her body turn warm as she watched him go over to the desk, popped two Panadols into his mouth and gulped it down with water, his throat rippling. As soon as he disappeared into the bathroom, she heard the sounds of him brushing his teeth and then rinsing his mouth out.

It was such an intimate moment, this. Hearing every little thing your partner did…watching them get ready for bed. Sleeping beside them in the same bed.

She pushed aside those thoughts. Uh-uh. Not relevant. They were just bunking in the same bed and in the same room, no thanks to the notorious Kumo fog.

When Gaara appeared a few minutes later, Hinata was already curled up on the other side of the bed, her back turned to him. She could hear him slipping into his side of the bed.

"Got enough of these?" He asked, throwing her the duvet covers from his side of the bed.

"Yes. It's enough, thank you." She murmured quietly, pulling the covers high around her shoulders.

It felt incredibly weird to be sleeping in a bathrobe and sharing a king-sized bed with Gaara, but Hinata supposed there were worse ways to spend the night.

Turning on her side, she stared at the digital numbers on the clock.

Just a couple more hours until Christmas.

Thanks!