Okay friends, let me just say I had every intention of getting this chapter out this weekend. First off, the writing was slow going. All my music was wrong, the words just came out clunky, and a lot of the material I had planned to revise and use here just didn't work anymore. That meant a lot of original brand new content. With the holiday being in a mixed family everyone wanted a chunk of us this weekend. We were at three houses today. THREE. That being said, I have been a completely irresponsible adult and stayed up two hours past my bedtime to finish writing/editing this chapter for you guys. So please enjoy and be forgiving of any grammar mistakes towards the end. As I have mentioned before I am taking requests of what you would like to see illustrated from my story. I have my first request up on my deviantart (same name: ponchoninjax3) already. I love hearing from you all and it's super helpful to hear what you like, what you don't like, and what you would like to see more of. For example, do you like the romantic stuff, the action stuff, etc. I get a lot of helpful/encouraging feedback from you guys about how I write specific characters and that has been great. My sleep deprived rant is almost done. I'm going to be super busy still for the next weekish, but I have a lot of great stuff in store for you guys so check back often.

Beki ignored the raised eyebrow that the guard gave her by the door as she ran down the steps. Any other day she would have stood her ground and gave it right back to him, but all she wanted to do right now was run away and hide. It had been a very long time since she had felt so many conflicting emotions. She was furious with herself for acting like such a fool, embarrassed by being seen so slovenly, but also very excited. In spite of how out of sorts she had been the Kazekage had asked her to lunch.

As she made the trek back to the Hyuga mansion her thoughts were consumed with analyzing the situation over and over. Did he feel guilty or embarrassed for her and that was why he asked her to lunch, or did he actually find her conversation interesting? Part of her still worried it was all just business. Beki was upset with herself for setting the bar so high. The Kazekage? She thought. I'm getting my hopes up for nothing. Beki's father had been in politics long enough for her to know what kind of women politicians married. Girls that ran around with stuffed alpacas and teddy bear undies were not those kind of women. They wore jewels over their impeccably tailored silk dresses or stylish suits.

He just wants to be friends, Beki, she told herself. Don't overthink it, don't make it weird. There's a good chance you'll have to work with him someday so keep it together for your own sake. And your dad's, she reminded herself and then blushed. Gaara had seen her in her underwear and now he was going to have to work with her dad. She groaned out loud at the though. If Seiichiro ever found out he'd send her off to the shrine.

It was still fairly early when she walked through the door to Hinata's house. Judging by the silence that greeted her, Hinata hadn't come home that night. Beki sighed as she crumbled up the note Tsunade had left on the counter and threw it in the trash. She opened the fridge and stared blankly at its contents. That morning's escapades had left her with no appetite. In an attempt to try and calm herself down she slapped on her training shoes and went out into the woods for a jog. After a half hour run, she made her way back to shower and get ready for her lunch with the Kazekage.

Beki turned on the shower and sat on the counter while she waited for the water to warm up. She really wished Hinata was home. Whenever Beki felt conflicted about something, which admittedly happened pretty often, Hinata could always help her sort things out. When left with her own thoughts Beki tended to overthink things and interpret the situation in the worst way possible. Hinata would always comfort her and say just the right thing to pull Beki's mind out of the gutter. Beki decided to try to be positive about the lunch and take lots of mental notes to share with her friend later.

She carefully washed her hair and scrubbed herself down with tangerine scented sugar scrub. After she had toweled off, she blow-dried her hair and borrowed some of Hinata's hair oil to keep it from frizzing up. Beki stood in front of her closet in her underwear while she tried to decide what was appropriate. She remembered her gold top but as she reached for it she realized she had lent it to Sakura. Beki went in her drawers for her green shorts but then remembered Hanabi had them. Every item she went to grab was out and about for one reason or another. Beki kicked the dresser in frustration. If she wore a dress it would look like she was trying too hard. She took stock of the outfits she did have in her closet and pulled out the only one that was even remotely acceptable. It was a slouchy heather gray blouse and a pair of white pants. Beki hated wearing white because it was so easy to get it dirty but it was literally the only outfit she had that even remotely matched.

After a spritz of perfume and putting some powder on her face she headed out to meet the Kazekage. Okay Beki, she thought. This is your chance to prove to yourself that you've actually learned something being an ambassador's daughter. You can't mess this up. If you mess this up, you'll embarrass yourself, Konoha, your father, and Getsugakure and will probably have to commit seppuku for reals. Beki's favorite show had come back from a two-year hiatus and she would be damned if her own social incompetency caused her to miss out. Then again, how could she embarrass herself beyond this morning? The guy had already seen her in her most juvenile pair of underwear so there wasn't much damage to be done beyond that. It could only get better from here, she thought.

…

Kankuro leaned against the wall of a building across the street from the Hokage's mansion with Karasu wrapped up beside him. He had all but run all over town looking for the Tsukimori girl but she was nowhere to be found. What had made it more difficult was that he didn't want to advertise that he was looking for her, which limited how much he could ask around. Usually he would work like a beat cop and take a picture around to the shops to track someone down. The situation with Gaara aside, a Suna official trying to track down the daughter of a Getsu official would raise a lot of red flags he didn't need to deal with.

The door opened to the Hokage's office and Gaara stepped outside. He said a few words to the Hokage before closing it and beginning his descent to the street. Kankuro adjusted himself against the wall. He had wanted to help Gaara with his first crush and had failed. Now it would have to happen when they ran into her at random and Gaara would have to wing it. Kankuro sighed and started across the street to meet his brother. Can't win them all, he thought.

"Bad news," Kankuro tossed Karasu up on his back. "I couldn't track her down. We'll just have to cross our fingers we run into her at some point."

"Actually we crossed paths this morning," Gaara motioned towards the Hokage's office. "She was in Tsunade's office this morning pet sitting."

"What?" Kankuro smiled. "Wait, you're making a joke. That was pretty good."

"I'm serious," Gaara folded her arms. "We had a few minutes to talk before Tsunade arrived for our meeting."

"Well then," Kankuro dropped his voice in case anyone was listening in. "How did it go?"

Gaara looked off to the side for a moment as he tried to decide how to word his response. Uh oh, Kankuro thought. Please tell me she didn't friend zone him.

When Gaara finally looked his brother in the eyes there was no sadness or pain there, just a hint of mischief as he said:

"What base are we at if I've seen her in her underwear?"

There was a loud thunk as Kankuro dropped Karasu on the sidewalk. He stood there slack jawed for a moment as Gaara watched him with a slightly smug expression. Kankuro did the only thing that he could in that situation: he punched his brother in the shoulder.

"You whore, you just met her!"

"It wasn't like that," Gaara looked down at his feet. "It was an honest misunderstanding- "

Kankuro punched him in the shoulder again.

"Did you even bother asking her out?"

Gaara fortified himself with a thin coating of sand armor on his arm in preparation of further blows and rubbed his shoulder where Kankuro had punched him.

"We're going to lunch."

Kankuro threw up his hands in exasperation.

"I leave you alone for one morning and this is what happens," He sighed. "You want me to go book you guys a hotel room or something…?"

"Shut up, Kankuro," Gaara looked away as the slightest hint of color rose in his cheeks. "Here she comes."

Beki was walking up the street looking at her feet self-consciously. When she looked up and caught sight of them she broke into a smile and waved. Kankuro looked at Gaara smugly as he watched his brother's mild panic set in.

"What are you doing? Wave back." Kankuro nudged him on. Gaara stared at his feet and used the sand to form a hand and give her a shy wave in return.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Kankuro leaned on Gaara. "I could sit at the next table and tell you what to say."

"No, Kankuro," Gaara gently bumped him away. "I'll be fine."

"Alright, if you say so," Kankuro began to walk away slowly. "I'll just be…around."

Gaara gave him a pleading look.

"Please refrain from interfering. Whether this ends in success or failure, I want it to be my own doing."

"Just remember, you and the Hokage reconvene in an hour," Kankuro turned away and picked up speed to a normal pace. "If you aren't in her office I'm going to come looking for you."

"Must be hard," Gaara's attention was on his brother so Beki spoke to announce herself. "Having your older brother be head of security."

"Only when he confuses those roles," Gaara turned to face her. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Well, you kind of have me painted in a corner after this morning," Beki joked.

"Blackmail for life," Gaara didn't miss a beat. In a way Beki liked that but at the same time he delivered everything with the same stoic expression of a police officer at your door to tell you a relative had died.

"I'll make a point of not taking any jobs with high security clearance," Beki looked around. "So where are we headed?"

Gaara froze. He hadn't actually considered that they would make it to this point. He had asked her to lunch, so taking her somewhere expensive would probably seem pretentious. At the same time, she was an ambassador's daughter so he needed to invite her somewhere worthy of her station. Gaara looked around and realized the flaw in his plan. No matter where they went they would be the object of scrutiny and could have no expectation of privacy. He realized he had been quiet for quite some time but before he was able to say something she spoke:

"Worried about privacy?" She jerked her head toward some gawking passersby.

"A little," He admitted, hoping she didn't think it was because he didn't want to be seen with her.

"I get it," Beki shrugged. "I'll take care of it. Be right back."

Beki ran off into one of the diners and came back about ten minutes later with a couple of well-made bentos.

"Let's go eat up on the roof," Beki jerked her chin at the Hokage's mansion. "Tsunade owes me one and you're less likely to be late for your meeting."

"Beki, wait," He held out a hand to her. She looked unsure but took his hand anyway. Gaara gathered his sand beneath them and gently raised them to the roof. Once they stepped off onto the tiles the sand returned to his gourd.

"Have I ever mentioned how ridiculously cool that is?" Beki handed him his bento. "I would give anything to fly."

"I have to admit it saves a lot of time," Gaara accepted his lunch.

"You are the only person in the whole world who likes flying because it 'saves time'," Beki shook her head and smiled. After a moment of silence, she looked up at him and said:

"I hope this isn't too personal of a question but the curiosity is killing me: is that a tattoo on your forehead?"

"Oh," Gaara reached up and touched the mark self-consciously. "I was going through some things as a kid and I carved it into my forehead with the sand."

He looked at her, searching for the telltale signs of revulsion. All she did was blink and take a bite of her rice.

"That's pretty hardcore."

"That's all you have to say about that?" He asked with surprise bordering on suspicion.

"I don't know; I think out west everyone seems so shocked by the cruelty of the world. They act like if they ignore it it'll go away and nothing bad will happen to them," Beki explained. "Out where I'm from EVERYONE is messed up and we all just kind of accept it."

"In what way?" He asked as he opened his lunch.

"Think about it: up until recently, in the Rain village for students to graduate the academy they had to kill all their classmates," Beki elaborated. "In the town I grew up in, if my father hadn't been all but disowned by his father there's a good chance I would have had to marry my first cousin. Maintaining bloodlines and all that jazz."

Gaara had a good feeling about Beki when he met her and after meeting Seiichiro, Gaara had built up the impression that they were a "normal" family. When he had been debating with himself whether or not he should ask Beki out this had caused him some anxiety. How could a perfectly well adjusted girl like Beki deal with all the baggage he was carrying around?

"My mother died giving birth to me," Gaara said very quietly. "It was my father's decisions that led to her death but he blamed me. He hated me and he made it his mission to make the whole village hate me. I didn't have a single friend as a child. It made me bitter and angry and violent."

Beki was listening patiently, her face unreadably steady.

"When I was eleven we came to Konoha for the chunin exams. It was all part of a plot my father had conspired with Orochimaru to destroy the Leaf Village. When the plan fell apart, Orochimaru killed my father."

"He killed my mom, too." Beki took a bite of her food, careful not to make eye contact.

"My father?" Gaara asked, praying that wasn't the case. This was sounding so promising but it would be just like his father to cock block him from beyond the grave.

"No, Orochimaru," Beki explained. "My parents' clans are hundreds of years old, but my mother was the last of her clan and the kekke genkai in my father's line has all but died out. When word got around they had a child, Orochimaru came for me. I was five, and my mom sacrificed herself so my father could get me to safety. He took a job as a clerk in Getsugakure to try to keep us safe and later accepted the position as ambassador to keep us on the move. Unfortunately, everyone just thought anything we had or earned was just based on royal favor from my father's promotion to ambassador to my acceptance at the academy."

Beki looked at Gaara and started to say something but stopped herself and looked away. Gaara feared the worst. She had given him a shot but either he had more damage than she was ready to take on or she was just another girl who had idealized him because of his job.

"I know you have some rough patches," Beki began. "I really like you for who you are now, so I'm not going to lie to you. I've heard some rumors about your past, but anything bad you did before helped you become you who are now. That being said, I really appreciate you being up front about it. I just wish our paths could have crossed when we were younger."

Gaara blinked. That was the exact opposite of what he was expecting.

"Why would you have wanted to get to know me when I was so angry?"

"You didn't start out angry," Beki shuffled self-consciously. "It sounds like you were lonely and when I was a kid I was lonely, too."

Gaara felt his heart beating so hard he was surprised Beki couldn't hear it. He had been lucky with her so far, so he decided to push his luck a little farther. Go for broke, Kankuro would have said.

"That's just the beginning," Gaara watched her as he spoke. "It would take a whole dinner to get through the interesting parts."

Beki looked down at her empty box and smirked.

"Are you asking me on another date?"

"Are you saying that this lunch was a date?" Gaara asked.

"Of course it was," Beki folded her arms and huffed. "We're getting the order all mixed up. It's supposed to go coffee/lunch date, nice romantic dinner date, THEN you see me in my underwear."

"So once we've had the romantic dinner date we'll be back on track?" Gaara hid his smile behind his folded hands.

"Exactly," Beki smiled. "Maybe I can get some of my dignity back."

"No," He shook his head. "That's long gone. You could say you lost it a 'beary' long time ago."

The grin instantly fell off her face and was replaced with a look that could cut glass.

"You are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Well first it was the flour, now it's the bears," He explained. "I'll tease you about the next cute thing you do as soon as it comes along."

"Gaara!" They heard Kankuro call from the door of the office below. "Come on, the meeting's starting again,"

"So I'll meet you here tomorrow night around six," Gaara said as he stood.

"Alright," She smiled as she headed for the side of the roof with the empty bento boxes. "I'll see you then."

He watched her jump off the roof and land lightly like a cat. Beki was not what he had expected at all. He found himself wanting nothing more than to sit and talk with her for hours, to find out what she thought about everything. His position as Kazekage had taught him how to assess the potential problems of a situation and also how to resolve them. As he walked through the doors for his meeting with Tsunade, he knew he would have to use all of his discipline to focus. Even as he sat down at the table, he was trying to work out a way to keep the connection between him and the Getsu ambassador's daughter alive.