I got my license yesterday and today I got a swishy skirt. Life is good :3

New chapter! Yay! Reviewer Red-velvet-sash568904 I don't know if you know but your PMs are turned off and I keep wanting to reply to all of the beautiful reviews you've left me but I can't, so just so you know, thank you so much for all of them and I hope you turn them on one day so I can reply properly :)

Chapter eight: the trained eye

The application process is tedious. Of course, I'm not the one in charge of my own application, can't have me fuck that up too. Instead I'm prepared. I cannot be allowed to have any evident ties to the Uchiha. I have to have my story straight.

They give me the surname Sabaku. It feels strange on my tongue. Foreign, like it doesn't belong alongside my first name. Gaara Sabaku. How odd.

The tattoo on my forehead was done on a dare, made by my comrades. They all signed on for deployment and I didn't. Why not? Couldn't be fucked fighting and dying for a rich man's greed.

As to why I'm an orphan, I was given up for adoption shortly after birth and was never adopted. In and out of foster homes, I joined the reserves to work out the inevitable anger issues that arose from that.

Got back to Konoha just last month and now here I, Gaara Sabaku, definitely not Demon and certainly not in any way affiliated with the Uchiha, am. Broke and needing a job. Guarding is something I'd be good at (don't forget the 'sir') sir, because I ain't very smart but I know how to shoot a gun without shooting myself and how to follow orders. Please hire me, I'm so very broke and really just want to kill myself sooner rather than later.

At last, the application is finalised and processed, all kinks in my story ironed out and all holes, like a basic background check on the internet, are gone. I am watertight.

It takes a day for my application to be accepted, and another for them to call me on the cheap phone I was given to ask for an interview, which I readily accept, putting on my best grateful and relieved voice. But don't lay it on too thick. It'll contrast with the character Hinata already knows me as, and I refuse to arouse suspicion.

The interview isn't as hard as I thought it would be, and in the end, unsurprisingly, I'm accepted. I'm put on duty in the front lobby, to check everyone who comes in and out. Not exactly where I wanted to start, but something's better than nothing and Hinata's bound to come out of her apartment at some stage.

The Hyuuga building is huge, though. Hiashi spared no expense in its extravagance. The damn place smells like roses. It makes me feel slightly ill, like they're infecting me with their wealth. White marble floors are veined black, while black marble pillars stretch up to hold the twenty foot high roof. The walls, in contrast to the floor, are black marble speckled with white, and the walls hugging the entrance feature a lazy waterfall trickling down its front, so that it shimmers and distorts like the midnight sky. A grand staircase slopes slowly upwards towards the lobby, where all guests are signed in and out and must have a formal invitation from Hiashi himself to be allowed entrance.

Normally I'd go looking for her. I'm itching to do so, desperate to get this out of the way. But the Hyuuga are all insanely on edge, so stressed it's making me antsy. I'd always imagined the Hyuuga to be uptight but this is intense – you can feel it in the air, a smothering blanket of nerves and anxiety. I know it's because of my assassination attempt on Hinata, that much is embarrassingly obvious, but normally I'd be able to get away for a short period of time to go and find her.

But not here.

Here they've installed next level security, you need a fingerprint just to get into the elevator or stairs, and I haven't even got that far yet.

I overheard that they've installed bullet-proof glass into all of the windows, and Hinata is always accompanied by at least two guards, one of them always being someone named Neji. Apparently he's Hinata's cousin or something, and I listen as some guards make bets on whether he watches her pee or not. The overwhelming majority agree that he definitely does.

Apart from that, they have cameras trained on just about every angle of the building (the parts I've been in, at least) and someone comes around between every ten and twenty minutes to ensure that we're all where we should be.

I was both surprised and yet not surprised to learn that the person who makes those rounds is Tenten. My assumption that she's one of Hinata's bodyguards was correct.

It takes a week for her to finally come down. The one I assume is Neji is doubling as her shadow, eyes the colour of pearls darting like a hawk throughout the room, looking for the slightest sign of danger. Tenten is there too, pleading with Hinata to go back upstairs, back where it's safe. It's not working.

"Tenten, please, you know I love you but I can't spend the rest of my life cowering in my room," Hinata says, calm. I can see where my bullet scraped her temple. It's about two inches long, has stitches and is covered in gauze. I know just by looking at it that it'll scar. The numbers above her head indicate that she'll die in a month. Thank a deity that they've stopped their frantic spinning.

Neji's and Tenten's are odd though. They are both rolling on four months, a few hours difference, but not enough to put it down as coincidence. It makes me wonder desperately what my countdown says. One month and a day? That would be perfect.

Tenten is still pleading with her. She's covered in weapons, almost all of them hidden to the untrained eye, but I know where to look so I see them easily.

I wonder if it's possible to shoot her right now, while we're here in this lobby. My eyes dart around, assessing the situation, and quickly decide against it. Security riddles the place like cockroaches, all of them on high alert now that Hinata's made an appearance. I'd have barely touched the gun before ten guys would be on me. And then I'd never get to her.

She and Tenten are still compromising on whether she can go out. They're nearly at the bottom of the stairs now. I move a little, make myself a little more obvious. Knowing Hinata as little as I do, chances are, if she sees me, she'll want me as a guard. I did save her life, after all. She's just a bit too trusting.

They reach the bottom of the stairs. Hinata gives a slight roll of her eyes at something Tenten says, and that's when she sees me.

Her eyes lock on to mine like an anchor, her irises the colour of captured moonlight. I can see multiple emotions play out across her features, at first confusion, then recognition, then shock, surprise, and finally joy. Her eyes are a pool of emotions and I find myself drowning in them for a moment before I drag myself back to reality. I nod at her, recognising her recognition, and then fireworks light up her eyes and a smile creeps on to her face.

"Gaara!" she exclaims, breaking free of her guard and running up to me. She's hugged me before I even register what's happening, and lets go before I can force her off.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," she says, a blush marring her cheeks. She turns away, ashamed of her behaviour, and though I find it annoying I wonder why she could possibly be ashamed of a hug. It seems, from what I've observed, to be a normal part of interaction between two people who know each other.

"Hi," I say, forcing the word out. Neji catches up to us then, and suddenly there's a gun pointed in my face and I'm staring down the barrel.

"Who are you?" he demands, turning the safety off. His voice is the antithesis of Hinata's: cold, controlled, calculated. He's looking at me with narrow, suspicious eyes, positioned himself between Hinata and myself.

"Neji, put your gun down!" Hinata says, horrified, trying to pull his arm down. "I know him, his name's Gaara, he saved my life!"

That gets Neji's attention and he lowers the gun slightly, safety still off, pointed at my chest now. Hinata continues, encouraged.

"You remember how I told you the other week I was nearly hit by a truck? Gaara's the one who pulled me out of the way!" She turns back to me, happiness an annoying halo on her face. "I thought I'd never see you again, what are you doing here?"

I shrug, one eye still on Neji's gun. The room around us is still, every available gun trained on me, waiting for Neji to give the signal that they may fire. "I needed a job and this was advertised," I lie easily. Neji is still looking at me funny, Tenten attempting an unsuccessful wall between Hinata and I. Hinata is a hilarious mix of worried and ecstatic.

Neji takes a moment, then finally lowers his gun, prompting the rest of the room to do so too. Questions are swimming in his eyes, and I know, right then, that this job will be harder than I ever imagined.

Must sleep. So tired. Leave reviews? They make my little fanfiction world go round :)

All my love, Alia xoxo