"I'm not sure. You would have to tell me what they mean. How does it go on?" Hinata light touched the jewel settings of the headdress pieces with the tips of her fingers. It just looked like a big necklace to her.
"They're usually passed down in families, I'm not sure if we have mother's." Temari wondered, picking it up. "How about I put one on you, and you'll see."
Hinata bowed her head, and Temari draped the metal into her hair. She adjusted it into the proper place.
Hinata looked up. It was gorgeous. Pieces fell over her hairline and framed her face with glittery metal pieces and cut jewels.
"I'm not sure, gold is your color. "Temari committed. "Maybe silver." Hinata nodded, making the headdress move and jingle.
"The colors are a little much." She agreed.
"I saw mothers, it was silver with clear crystals, maybe it was just glass and polished stones." She wondered. "I'll have to go looking for it." She mumbled, thoughtfully pulling the piece from Hinata's hair. "Would you be interested in it?"
"Of course, if that's okay with you." Temari lit up.
"Always wanted an excuse to go through mother's things."
Hinata huffed in the heat, wiping her forehead, standing up from her work stretching her back. "Do you think it will be done this time?" She asked Kankuro.
"The pace you're pushing. Yeah." He reached forward and tugged the fabric draped over her head further past her face. "Your cheeks are getting burned." He commented.
"I'll go get it healed before I meet Gaara for dinner." She sighed, looking over what she got done. It never felt like she was moving fast enough.
"Before your shower this time." She nodded, cringing. "Have you told him about your trip yet?" He asked, wiping his hands.
"No, I'm worried how he will react." She shrank.
"He's not usually one to be bothered by something like that." She pierced her lip. She hadn't seen him break down. He looked at her expression and his nose scrunched. "You think?"
"Our time together is our own, but I think after recent events, he might be opposed." She mumbled.
He raised his eyebrows in realization. "You mean when you went missing." She gave a small nod. "He did look mad. I haven't seen him that angry in a long time." He gave her a worried look, and she shook her head, negating what he was thinking.
"It just worries me he might worry for me while I am gone. Also, I think he's becoming accustomed to sleeping." Kankuro started to laugh, Hinata blinked at him.
"That's a fancy way to say he's going to miss you." He continued to laugh.
Hinata fidgeted with the damp braid, standing in front of his desk rather than taking her spot.
"Is there something you would like to discuss?" He asked.
"I thought it would be best if just you and I talked about something to do with the treaty." She mumbled, sitting down in the seat across from him.
"And that is?" She was scared of what he would think, which worried him. She usually was open to what they needed to talk about.
"Kankuro-san and I need to go back to Konoha to help finish the marriage treaty. There are a few things that are specific to secrets that we must be careful of. So I am going to be the neutral party in the treaty. Suna doesn't need to know the Hyuga secrets to be benefited by them." She was leaving. She was nervous about it, did she think he would be mad? She stared at her wringing hands rather than look him in the eye. It bothered him she didn't think this was something they could talk about.
He felt a sudden wave of discomfort and anger coming not from him, but Shukaku. He ignored the beast for now.
"You assume I am opposed?" He asked. She tensed, glancing up.
"I didn't know if you would be okay with it." She explained. "My concern lies in if you have calmed fully from the sandstorm and if you are okay with not receiving sleep treatments for a week or two."
She was worried about his comfort again. She never seemed to stop caring. "I will notice you're gone." He confirmed. "But I understand your duties."
She smiled, raising her hand to cover her lips. Was something funny? "I'll miss you too."
Hinata stared at her bag and wondered how it had happened. Had she gotten that used to being here that she hadn't even thought about it?
She got a knock on her door, and she went over to open it. Temari smiled at her and stepped in. "Was there any other paperwork you wanted to take with you?" She asked. "I'm wrapping it up now."
"Oh no, I think I've got all that I needed." She looked back down at her suitcase and started unpacking it.
"You packed your Suna clothes?" Temari asked.
"I wasn't paying attention and packed what I have been wearing. I'm sure they would be fine, but I should have nin clothing at least." She opened her closet and pulled out her long-loved jacket, but it just didn't feel right anymore. She was used to the new fabrics and style she had taken on.
Temari pondered for a moment and stepped forward, taking the jacket tossing it on her bed. "How about we go shopping." She pulled Hinata toward the door. "A Suna nin needs good Suna nin clothes, can't have them think we are going to let you go back, and you can't go back out in another Sandstorm in house clothes."
Temari stood behind her in the large curtain dressing area. "I never realized how hard it is to bind a chest like yours. Do you wear both bindings and standard-issue binding bras?" She commented on the fabric only covering Hinata's chest.
Standard issue binding bras in Suna were white, not black like she was used to. Instead of a stretchy tube, it was a wrap of fabric you stretched as tight as you needed and could wrap up over a shoulder for support. Something she had started doing with her normal wrappings after she finished puberty, it was nice to have more support.
"I was the first to get to start puberty among girls my age. At first, I tried to flatten them, but after a while, it was just to keep them in place while I trained." She explained.
"Not fun, huh?" Hinata shook her head. "Yeah, female nin's get the short stick when it comes to our bodies. We can be smaller and faster, but we have to tuck everything to not hurt ourselves with our own bodies." She started passing her clothing to try. "Lucky in the Suna chest isn't the standard for beauty, it's hips."
"Birthing hips." Hinata agreed reluctantly.
"You've got both." Temari chuckled.
"I'm not a fan of it." She mumbled.
"Yeah it can get in the way, and some guys don't know where to keep their eyes. Luckily in Suna, it's socially acceptable to point out his sexism." She grinned. "However for your comfort, we can find something that covers you up more."
"Thank you." Hinata bowed her head.
After an exhausting amount of rejections and things that simply weren't made for her figure, she and Temari finally found something that made some sense.
"I think it suits you." Temari stepped back, looking around her. "It should be good for both climates, and movement covers everything you wanted."
Hinata liked it too, a simple black short sleeve wrap dress cut comfortably just above her knee, showing her legs didn't bother her much. They had covered it in a long, light lavender robe coat that came up high to her neck. Temari wrapped a darker cloth around the small of her waist over the robe and hung it off down the side of her hip. The outer robe opened under the cloth belt at her waist and flowed to her ankles. Just the right level of comfort, Suna style, her touch, and free movement.
"What made you pick the coat?" Temari straitened the loose opening to the long sleeves.
"I liked Gaara's." She mumbled, picking at the fabric.
Temari smiled. "Well, you'll match at least in style. Oh! One more thing." Temari stepped out of the room and came back with a large white piece of cloth. She draped it over the crown of Hinata's head and around her neck, once letting the extra fabric hand down over her shoulders. "For sandstorms and sun." She chuckled. Hinata looked in the mirror. It also looked nice. Temari pulled it off her head just to drape it as a scarf. "For Konoha, you'll probably want to keep it down, or the humidity will kill you."
Hinata liked the final product.
Temari unceremoniously tugged Hinata round to twirl her for him to see.
Gaara stared at them, confused. What was going on?
"Do you like it?" Temari asked, pulling the fabric of the scarf up to the crown of Hinata's head. A style usually worn by housewives and outside labor to protect their heads from the sun.
"It all seems practical." He commented. His sister frowned and tugged on him. Since when did she scold him?
"Really?" She asked.
Hinata giggled. "I don't think Gaara is going to give you the answer you want. I don't think he's interested in what I wear." It was a welcome change. The pale, loose robes she wore were practical indoors, but if she did take on nin duties, they would be impractical and bulky. She wasn't a house mother. She didn't need to dress like one.
"We thought she should start looking like the Suna nin she was going to be." Temari grinned proudly.
"Is this a power play?" Hinata giggled. "Are you trying to tip negotiations by making me look like Suna already has me?"
"No, but hey, that's a good idea!" The two women dissolved into laughter.
He wasn't sure what had happened, but he's glad his sister and bride got along well.