Hi everyone, this is the first of hopefully two weekend updates. If nothing else, the Sunday update will be postponed until Monday because sometimes Game of Thrones gets in the way of things. Like me being a responsible adult and not finding ways to incorporate GoT one liners into everyday conversations. Seriously, I have made so many "fire and blood" and "the night is dark..." comments while playing the new Doom and Dark Souls 3 I think Tallman will hit me if I do it again. That being said, please enjoy, and I look forward to hearing from you all. I really appreciate any and all feedback and it makes me very happy.

Beki stepped through the door of Hinata's house feeling relieved. As much as she had been humiliated throughout the course of the night, the date was over and had a positive outcome. She didn't know when she would hear from the Kazekage again. Part of her was afraid that he had actually had an awful time with her and his offer to write her had just been his polite attempt to end the night on a positive note. As she set her bag down on the entryway floor (it too had gotten soaked when she fell in the river) she was greeted by the smell of freshly baked cookies. Hinata was pulling out a cookie tray from the oven and without turning around she said:

"Welcome home Beki! How was your day?"

Beki smiled at Hinata's kindness. She had been on a mission that had gone three days over schedule, come home, made cookies, and was asking Beki how she was doing. Any day now this girl is going to sprout a pair of wings and a halo, Beki thought as she shook her head.

"It was, uh, good overall. Had some rough patches here and there but, yeah. Good day."

Hinata had finished setting the cookies on the stovetop to cool. They were her matcha green tea shortbread cookies cut in the shape of little flowers. Beki loved those cookies. They were mildly sweet with just the tiniest hint of green tea to them. A batch was cooling on the kitchen island so Beki snuck over and stole one. It was still warm and had the tiniest bit of crunch to it as she bit the flower in half. There is no better way to end a night than hot cookies and a shower, Beki decided.

Her friend finally turned to face her and balked. "Beki, what happened to you?"

After she had fallen in the river, Beki's hair had turned black as part of a fight or flight response. The anxiety she had built up over the night had delayed its return to normal, so even though the event had happened almost a half hour ago her hair was the color of charcoal. Hinata took ahold of Beki's face with one hand and rotated it into the light.

"You look like death, sweetie. Did you get in a fight or something? Where did that dress come from?"

Beki sighed. Hinata was such a mom.

"Well I went on a date tonight, and even though overall it went pretty good, like I told you some parts went very very bad."

Hinata snapped Beki's face back so they were eye to eye. "Who did you have a date with?!"

Beki smiled sheepishly. "The Kazekage."

Hinata slapped an oven mitt on the counter. "I'm gone for a few days and you are already on a dinner date with the Kazekage?!"

"And he's seen my underwear," Beki's grin widened as she popped another cookie in her mouth. "Twice."

The gasping noise and look of horror on Hinata's face reminded Beki of an overturned turtle. It was priceless.

…

After Beki had summarized the events of the evening, Hinata shook her head.

"What a bunch of freak accidents."

"Tell me about it," Beki started to unravel her braid. "It was like someone out there was on a mission to make that date go wrong at any cost."

"And they started with your outfit," Hinata looked at Beki with surprise at her hurt expression. "Honey, you know red is NOT your color. At least, not that red. It makes you look like a tomato."

"His favorite color is red, Hinata!" Beki griped. "Besides, I've lent out my clothes to half the freaking village and the rest of what I have doesn't fit very well…"

"Don't worry about it," Hinata patted her knee. "It sounds like the Kazekage was impressed with you."

Beki sighed. She sure hoped he was. If not, that was going to create some very awkward situations in the near future. Without a doubt she would run into him again, and if he hadn't written her beforehand it would be obvious he hadn't actually been interested. It was times like this Beki envied Hinata with her secure future and clearly loving and devoted fiancé waiting in the wings.

"I think I'm going to go shower," Beki stood and walked for the stairs. "You wanna tell me about your mission?"

Hinata followed her up. "Sure. So the reason we were held up so long was because it turns out the person who hired us was actually a ronin who wanted revenge on his old teammates and was trying to get us to take them out for him while operating as his bodyguards. It would have been a nasty mess because they were Iwagakure ninja and Konoha doesn't exactly have a good relationship with them in the first place…"

Beki held up a finger for pause. "Does this story end with the ronin getting due justice?"

Hinata sighed and glowered at her. "Yes Beki. His teammates pushed him over a cliff."

Beki held out her hands like "See?" and Hinata swatted at them. "Sorry we're raised to believe there's a better way."

Beki turned on the water and climbed in. "Okay Hinata. I'll make sure if you're ever attacked by ronin I'll take them out, ok? So your conscience can be clear."

Hinata flushed the toilet and walked out of the bathroom to the sounds of Beki's shrieking as the water skyrocketed in temperature.

…

"So do you just want to announce to the whole world you're going out with this girl?" Kankuro blocked Gaara's path on the street leading to the flower shop.

"Can't we just say I'm sending her flowers as a gesture of friendly goodwill between villages?" Gaara's sand was slowly siphoning out of his gourd. If Kankuro continued to bar his path he planned on having sand hands come out of the ground and holding his ankles so Gaara could make his break for it.

"No one is going to buy that, Gaara." Kankuro shot an angry glance at the sand hand creeping for his ankles and it shrank away. "The two of you have pushed the friendship boundary enough already. Flowers is just going to set the gossip papers to press."

Gaara saw his point, but after all of the events of the night before he wanted to send Beki something as both an apology and a thank you. As far as he knew the only thing that met both those criteria were flowers. If he had more time he would just go see her in person, but they were already running over schedule on getting back to Suna. He had postponed his departure until this morning and had no time left to waste coming up with solutions.

"What if you bought them for me?" Gaara held out the note he had written to put in the flowers and some money. Kankuro pushed the money and the note back to Gaara's chest.

"That won't work. People aren't stupid enough to fall for that. You go on what looked like a date, then I buy flowers and the girl you went out with gets them. Real covert there, bro."

Gaara was just about to throw caution to the wind and just go buy the flowers when he spotted Neji walking up the street towards them. All of Team Gai had been so supportive on his date last night, what was one more favor?

"Neji, may I speak to you for a moment?" Gaara waved him over with the sand.

Oh no, Neji thought as he saw that menacing sand hand beckoning to him. He's figured out that I was behind everything last night and now he's going to kill me.

Neji did his best to walk over to the pair as casually as possible. "Kazekage sama. How can I help you?" He said with a bow.

"I know it's poor taste to repay a favor with another request, but I find myself with no other choice." Gaara held out the envelope and money to him. "I wanted to send Miss Tsukimori some flowers. Would you mind picking something and bringing them to her with that note?"

A wave of relief swept over Neji, not only with the realization his life was not in danger, but also because the night must have gone so poorly the Kazekage was sending Beki flowers to apologize. He was left wondering what tantrum she threw after she was thrown in the river or if Gaara had said something to set her off at the end of the night. Either way, it was clear the two were not going to become an item. Neji gave the Kazekage another slight bow.

"Of course, I'm happy to help. And I'm sorry about all of those unfortunate incidents last evening."

Gaara gave a small nod.

"These things happen for a reason. We just have to move past them. Thank you again for your help."

Neji watched them walk off towards the gates and then stepped out of sight. He couldn't help himself. He had to see just what the Kazekage was apologizing for. With his Byakugan activated, he scanned the contents of the note:

"Thank you for the memorable evening. You made quite the 'splash'. I look forward to hearing from you soon."

No, Neji thought. It couldn't be. All of his efforts to drive them apart had actually brought the two of them together. He weighed the money and the note in his hands. It would be very easy for him to not buy the flowers and destroy the note so Beki was left in limbo. However, that would make it very easy for them to track it all back to him and he did not want to face both the Kazekage and Beki's wrath. The safest move for him at this point would be to buy the loveliest flowers he could find and try to undermine their relationship in the long haul.

…

"Oooh Neji, breaking the bank?" Ino grinned slyly at the bouquet of velvety roses he had picked out. The Kazekage had given him plenty to buy just about anything in the store but came just short of the cost of the sea of crimson. Neji decided to put in the extra effort and shell out the difference.

"And who are these for?" Ino's eyes were locked on to detect any signs of deception. He would have to be very careful how he responded.

"They're for Beki," Neji's face was completely passive. "I want to express how deeply sorry I am that she was born so homely and ogre-ish."

Ino's jaw dropped and instantly clamped shut as she dipped into her reserves of professionalism so as not to burst out laughing.

"Sure thing, let me just wrap these up for you. Good luck with that, pal."

After she had wrapped the bouquet in paper, Neji left the shop and headed back to the compound. It was still early morning and he was fairly sure that Beki would sleep in after the night she had before. He caught a few curious looks on his way home and he was sure he would get asked about this later, but fortunately after he delivered the flowers Beki wouldn't be seen with them. That was the last thing he needed was for people to think they were an item.

In spite of what he said to Ino, Beki wasn't truly ugly. Physically she was fair of form and face, but her personality left a lot to be desired. She was boisterous and loud at all times and was downright crass and downright unladylike on occasion. In essence she was volatile and the Hyuga were all about stability. As a houseguest she was refreshing but Neji imagined as a partner she would be hard to deal with. He was surprised that the Kazekage had taken an interest in her. Then again, his face was the calm eye of what Neji was sure was a perpetual storm. Neji had seen photographs of tornadoes that had crossed paths with a fire, and the resulting decimation in the wake of the blazing whirlwind was what he imagined their relationship would be like.

This is none of my business, he thought as he passed through the gate. Hinata was home now, so maybe she could talk some sense into Beki. As he approached the front door, he heard an argument going on in Hinata's kitchen.

"I said 'no'!" Beki's voice was accompanied by the scrape of a chair.

"You won't get any of the medicine on you," Hinata's voice was slightly frantic. "It's a poultice. It will reduce some of the swelling and bagginess under your eyes."

"It'll go away on its own," Beki said with more defensive chair scraping.

Neji figured it wouldn't stop any time soon, so he knocked on the door. There was a drawn out silence before he heard Beki walking over to the door. She opened it and almost immediately Hinata sprang up behind her and wrapped a lumpy eye mask over her face.

"MRPH!" Beki struggled but Hinata hit a few points on her back, rendering her arms useless. "This is so not cool Hinata."

Hinata gave Neji a questioning look.

"Who are the flowers for?"

"They're for Beki," Neji took Beki's hand and put the bouquet in it. "It's from your date last night."

"It's okay, Hinata knows I went out with Gaara," Beki tipped her head back until it was almost parallel with the ceiling so she could see the room through a slit in the bottom of the mask. Then she walked over to the kitchen and started fumbling around for a vase. "He's got damn good taste. These roses are gorgeous."

Dammit, Neji thought. I really shouldn't be helping this along so much.

"Is there a card?" Hinata asked as she walked over to the bouquet.

"Yeah," Beki lifted up half of the poultice and opened the card. The pleased look on her face instantly sank. "Too soon, Gaara. Too soon."

"What did he say?" Neji feigned ignorance.

"That I made a 'splash' last night," Beki rolled her eyes and put the poultice back on. "You know, because I fell in the river."

"You're right, that's a little insensitive," Neji offered.

Hinata shook her head gently. "He just doesn't understand social situations that well. It must have been hard growing up without any friends."

"Naruto did and he turned out fairly well," Neji countered. "If not a little, well, too enthusiastic. Then again so is Lee and he doesn't really have an excuse."

Hinata sighed. "Not everyone can be as perfect as Naruto."

Beki and Neji rolled their eyes in unison, even though Beki's was unseen behind the mask.

"Did he say anything to you about me?" Beki asked trying her best not to sound too concerned.

"No, he was in a hurry this morning," Neji took a seat at the kitchen table. "That's why he asked me to bring you the flowers."

Hinata put a kettle on for tea. "You'll just need to be more direct with him."

Beki plopped down at the table across from Neji. He could smell the mix of herbs in the poultice mixing with Beki's tangerine shampoo. It made the whole kitchen smell like potpourri.

"You make it sound so easy Hinata," Beki sighed. "The guy is pretty hard to read, and I've spent a good chunk of my life around unreadable people. It took me about three conversations with him before I figured out when he was making jokes and even so I'm still not one hundred percent sure he isn't serious."

"What has your father said on the matter?" Neji asked as casually as possible.

Beki cringed a little. "I, uh, haven't discussed it with him yet."

She could sense Neji's disapproval without having to see it. If it was anyone else she would have told him to shove off, but he and Hinata had bailed her out of too many situations for her to do that. Instead she felt forced to defend herself.

"My dad doesn't seem like it but he's overprotective enough to put Hiashi to shame," Beki explained. "One of the reasons he's always kept me with him was because he didn't want me getting tricked or forced into being married young or to inadvertently get wrapped up in politics."

"Which is the path you're headed down with the Kazekage," Neji said almost completely under his breath.

"I know," Beki leaned back her in her chair and lolled her head back. "But as hard of a nut as the Kazekage is, it could easily be argued I'm not that easy to deal with myself."

"Nonsense," Hinata cooed as she put the cups of steaming tea on the table. "You're a delight to have."

"Only because we're friends, Hinata, and I try to behave more around you," Beki sighed. "I doubt like 90% of the village shares your opinion about me."

"You aren't so hard to deal with," Neji felt guilt pulling at his chest. As much as he had been trying to keep Beki's best interests in mind it was clear he had missed how lonely she was.

"Which reminds me," Hinata turned her gaze on Neji. "How could you let Beki out of the house in that horrible red dress?!"

"It wasn't that bad!" Beki barked. "The color was just…off."

"As much as everyone seems to forget it, I am a man, Hinata," Neji glowered into his cup. "I will not be held accountable for people's fashion choices."

Hinata shrank a little. "Sorry."

"If I could go back in time, I would have told her to put some damn shorts on underneath it," Neji scoffed.

Beki froze up in her chair and Neji instantly regretted saying anything. She had untied the back of the eye mask, so as she slowly sat up in her chair and turned to face him, it slid down her face and plopped on the table.

"That street was abandoned," Her eyes narrowed. "So either you were there or you were peeping."

"I was not peeping, Beki," Neji leaned away from her only to be met by Hinata's suspicious glare.

"Start talking, pretty boy." Beki snatched up the end of his hair and gave it a yank.

"Ow, leave my hair out of this," Neji snatched back his hair tail and sighed. "The Kazekage asked Team Gai to help him with the date. We were all there."

Beki's eyes widened until they were saucers. "How long? How long were you all there?!"

Neji looked into his cup and mumbled. "Pretty much the whole time."

"It all makes sense now," Beki put her face in her hands. "It was the blind leading the blind."

Neji balked. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"At least 75% of Team Gai is socially inept," Beki grumbled. "And you were advising Gaara."

"Excuse me?!" Neji cried.

Beki rolled her eyes. "Come on, Neji, you dress up as vegetables."

"And he cross dresses sometimes," Hinata added quietly.

"That does not make me socially inept!" Neji slapped the table in desperation.

"No, but you don't have a boyfriend or a girlfriend AND you run around as an eggplant, Neji." Beki glowered at him.

Neji looked down at his hands. "He just wanted some help and you're our friend. We figured we could at least guide him in the right direction."

Beki gave a heavy sigh and got up from the table with her cup. She put it in the sink and said:

"I'm not mad, but seriously. I'm going to go shower so I don't walk around smelling like old person for the rest of the day."

"It doesn't smell that bad!" Hinata called after Beki as she walked up the stairs grumbling about becoming a shrine maiden. A silence fell over the table until the sound of water in the pipes filled the room.

"Did you really try to help him with the date, Neji?" Hinata took a sip of her tea while watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course I did, Hinata," Neji eyed her suspiciously. "What are you insinuating."

"Nothing, just that maybe, you know, without realizing it, you might not have tried that hard to help with the date…" Hinata's voice trailed off.

Neji sighed.

"Look, the Kazekage and Lee are…friends. They were the ones who arranged the date. Tenten and I just kind of supported what they came up with," Neji shook his head. "I was just here to drop off the flowers. I should get going."

"Those are really pretty by the way," Hinata sipped her tea innocently. "The Kazekage has good taste."

"Yes, he does," Neji said uncomfortably as he opened the door. "Good day, Lady Hinata."

Hinata smiles. "See you later, brother."

As Hinata watched Neji's shadow fade from the door she shook her head. Her cousin was a lot of things, and being too stubborn and proud to see what was right in front of him was one of them.