"Walk through the village?" He asked with a non-eyebrow up.
"We never leave unless Temari-nee-chan drags us out." She explained. "I want to see what the village is like from your perspective."
"I guess." He stood to her excitement.
Hinata walked close to him, holding his arm at the elbow with a bright smile up at him as they spoke. He explained more minor details about the village as they walked through Suna. People stopped to watch in shock and confusion. People had seen them out with Temari, but they had yet to see them just out in the streets with his future wife. He expected the reaction. He was respected, but he was still feared.
He was sure people had heard about the Konoha woman that their Kage had chosen to marry, but most had not seen her for more than a few brief moments or during the storm where they were all interested in something much direr. Maybe they had seen her in a shop, but no one would ever interrupt her.
The pale woman with equally pale eyes and light rap over her darkly contrasting hair was openly warmly wrapped around and speaking to their terrifying monster leader. No one had seen him touched even by his siblings, so her open affection to him was noticeably jarring. She seemed to not notice at all.
She was blissfully ignorant as they continued to walk through the town. Children played in the streets, unaware of their parent's behavior. Her smile dropped at them, commenting, pointing over to playing children. He nodded. She released his arm and passed the majority of the children to a small alley between two homes. Gaara idly watched the reactions of the parents. Most twitched, glancing between him and her wondering if they should gather their children out of her way.
She peered in and crouched down to the hiding figure. "Hello, I'm Hinata." She introduced, receiving no reply. "Not playing with the others?" She asked the hiding child.
"No." She mumbled, sinking into her spot where she thought she had gone unseen. She looked up only slightly, hair hiding most of her face. "Your eyes are scary."
Hinata blinked, she pouted. She didn't mean to scare her. "I'm sorry, would you like me to close them?"
"My face is scary, too." She whispered, barring her face deeper into her knees.
"I can make mine scarier." Hinata tilted her head to the side with a smile. "Want to see?"
The girl peered up slightly with a nod. She activated her bloodline limit showing the girl. The instant veins popped out of her face, and the girl looked up entirely blinking at her. Hinata saw what the girl was talking about now. Across the stretch of her forehead, brows, and eyes were deep white scars. The eye itself was missing small, almost unnoticeable chunks. An accident, birth complication? Not that it mattered.
The girl reached forward to her face. Hinata lowered it more to let her feel the veins. "Not so scary." She whispered. "If I go play with my eyes, will you play with yours?" She asked, holding her hands out.
The little girl was a little too eager to play. She let Hinata pull her to where the other children played and sat on her knees, giving a smile over to Gaara, who watched her like a hawk. Did he think she was going to do something to the children? Certainly, he didn't think the children were a threat?
She focused on the children who had found interest in the odd bulges out her eyes. The little girl touched her face again, mesmerized now that they were in full flight. She glanced around at the interested children. "Anyone else want to try?" She closed her eyes, and the children took turns, brushing their sand-covered fingers over her temples.
"Yours too." One of them touched the little-scarred girl's forehead without hesitation, making both Hinata and the little girl freeze.
The girl gave a large missing tooth smile as they took turns feeling the deeply healed scars. She had never seen a child so happy to be touched.
Gaara watched his fiancee with confusion as she let the children touch her and the girl she had found faces'. Her eyes activated veins in the side of her face. That's what they were touching. He glanced around at the parents who were now watching with small smiles and relaxed shoulders.
He wouldn't move closer and alert them of his presence again.
The children started to play around her, and she smiled up at him as she got up, brushing her legs off but not her face. She bent down to the girl she had coaxed out of the alley and pointed over to where he was standing. He stiffed as the parents looked to see him once more. The little girl nodded and hugged her legs, nearly throwing her off balance.
Hinata patted the little girl's head and walked back over to him, retaking his arm. Some of the children bolted for their parents to tell them what happened. Some continued to play with their new, less insecure friend.
"You still have dirt on your face." He raised a hand to brush some of it away. She stopped him with her free hand.
"Leave it there." She told him to smile at the playing children once more. "At least the children like me."
As to prove her point, the little girl ran over toward them, setting parents on edge as the other children followed. Hinata stepped forward to the little girl's open arms and gladly picked her up for one last hug.
He couldn't remember the last time he had seen children this willingly close to him. She turned to give him the brightest smile as she put the child down, promising to come back to play another day.
"Heard you made quite the scene yesterday." Matsuri sat across from her, glaring at the paperwork in front of her that she requested.
"Oh? Was it that mentionable?" She asked, confused.
"The Kazekage walking through town and his soon-to-be-wife leaving him to play with children in the street. Yes." Hinata felt the hostility and jab and frowned.
"Matsuri-san, I asked Gaara if he would mind before I went. I know he's not normally comfortable out." Though they returned shortly after, he had noticed her fair-skinned cheeks and nose turning red in the sun.
"How does that make him look?!" Matsuri slammed the folder she was holding down. "You might want to show off and act like some kind of angel, but it makes it look like he's gone soft!"
Hinata sighed, closing her notes. "Matsuri-san I'm not sure I'm the one you should be talking to. If you feel it is a threat to Gaara's image, you should speak to him. If he finds it concerning, he will speak to me about it."
"Why are you here?!" Masturi yelled.
Hinata looked down at her desk, confused. "My office?"
Masturi screeched in frustration. "No, you stupid stuttering wench. Why are you here marrying Gaara?" Hinata stared at her bewildered. "And while we are at it, why ARE you in this office? Why are you taking Temari's job?!"
"Were you not told what's going on?" Hinata was concerned that might be the case.
"A stupid treaty? That's it?! Hyuga trying to wiggle their way into Suna?!" Matsuri yelled. "Or is everyone lying to me that everything is fine?! Is the marriage to keep us from war? Don't you dare lie to me!"
"Not exactly." Hinata frowned. "Please, will you sit down? I'll tell you everything from the beginning. I think you are just misinformed."
Matsuri plopped heavily into her chair. She reminded Hinata so much of Hanabi it was painful.
"Before I met Gaara, I had made a deal with my clan for my position." Hinata began telling Matsuri how she and Gaara met, including the rough beginning. She explained how and why he came to consider marrying her and how she had asked. She fiddled with the ring on her finger while she spoke. She explained how she had forgotten what marrying a Kage would mean for her until they spoke about leaving. Why she was taking Termari's position not only because it was expected as his wife, but she wanted to stand beside Gaara and support the friend that was kind enough to marry her. Masturi listened silently, glaring at Hinata's left hand. She explained the basics of the negotiations being more of a formality to benefit both villages with the unexpected marriage and keep her unsealed, then she stopped. Matsuri should know from there.
"He asked you?" Matsuri asked after Hinata finished. "He asked you to marry him after hearing your story?"
"I don't know what it was that made him decide to marry me. I'm grateful. I'm so much happier here, and I have grown much closer to him in these few months than I thought I would with an arranged marriage in a few years." Hinata pierced her lip. "I don't tell you any of this to make you like me. I understand your distaste for the foreign woman marrying your teacher and Kage that I am sure you care about and want to protect. I just want you to know I never expected any of this or tried to get to this position. You don't have to believe me, but please know I don't resent you for your ill taste for me."
Matsuri trembled angrily standing, hesitating to run out the door. Instead slammed her fist down on the table, letting out a loud sob. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes were drowned in tears. Hinata quickly stood in alarm. "Matsuri-san?"
The girl shrank to her knees with another strangled sob. Hinata quickly tripped over her chair to get to the girl dropping to her knees to put her fingers on the girl's shoulders. She cried, crouched there into her hands, hiding her face with no given explanation. Hinata curled around her, making the girl freeze. "I'm sorry." She didn't know what exactly was wrong, but she knew she had to be the source.
Matsuri returned to sobbing viciously. She buried her face into Hinata's scarf and dug her fingers desperately into her shoulders. Hinata hid her wince and held her tightly. "Matsuri-san, I'm sorry." She repeated.
Gaara could feel the irritation directed at him when she walked in. Her arms crossed, her face stern. She was much madder than she was expressing. She was hiding her anger in the tightens of her fingers around her arms. Her lips were in a heavy frown as she approached his desk. He pushed his work to the side.
"Yes?" Gaara asked carefully.
"Why was Matsuri-san never told about what happened between you and I in Konoha?" Not what he expected.
"I didn't think she needed to know. I didn't think it was necessary." Her eyebrows knitted forward.
"Did you ever wonder why she hated me so much?" She asked with a raise of her eyebrow.
No, he hadn't, actually. Gaara assumed it had something to do with her usual attitude. "No."
"She's your student! You didn't even consider how she might feel if she suddenly had to answer to a foreign woman that you were forced to marry?" Hinata waved her hand in frustration.
"Forced?" He asked with a twitch, looking at Hinata in confusion.
"That is what she thought! She thought Konoha was forcing you to marry a Hyuga to keep the peace. She thought you were being nice because you had to be to keep from war. That poor girl thought I was trapping you in a miserable marriage so I could get the Hyuga here." Hinata crumbled. Her shoulders dropped, as did her arms as she waved them toward the door. "She is scared for you and has been beating herself up over it because she thought you haven't told her anything about it because you weren't allowed. She drew all this in her head because you never bothered to speak to her about it." She huffed and waved in frustration.
He hadn't thought she would draw that kind of conclusion. He sighed. He should have spoken to her. He just never thought she would be so concerned as to spin an elaborate fantasy of his marriage.
"I took her home," Hinata explained. He blinked, looking at the time. She was usually in his office around this time, giving her reports. "She might be quiet for a few days, but I think you should talk to her when she's ready." Hinata sat down into the chair on the other side of his desk with a heavy sigh as she released her stress. She relaxed back and squeaked loudly. He shot up. "Sorry!" She whispered, sitting up straighter.
"You're hurt." He commented.
"Just a small bruise." She mumbled, rolling her shoulder.
"She hit you?" He growled. He knew Matsuri had been unhappy with Hinata but to strike her?
"No! She didn't mean to hurt me. She was upset. No, that sounds worse." She fumbled, putting her hands up defensively. "They are just little finger bruises." She wasn't making him feel better.
"Show me." She blinked, nodding quickly, probably feeling his anger, pulling off her scarf, untying her sash, and removing the outer robe coat. She turned in just the black wrap dress and swiped her long hair to the side to show him her back.
He stood up, rounding the table, her shoulders held thin fresh darkening finger marks where she had been grabbed. But they weren't in a position where it looked like she had been shaken or held down. He shifted the fabric to see the full bruise.
"How did she inflict these." It was obvious Hinata was hiding it, but this wasn't a secret she should be keeping.
"She… hugged me too hard" She mumbled.
"Hugged?" Matsuri didn't hug.
"She was upset." Hinata was hiding the full extent of the incident. How upset had Matsuri been? "Please don't worry about it, I'll get them healed. Just speak to her when she comes to you. Not about these."
She was right. She was a second-hand source. It would be best to speak with his student first hand about this. He leaned forward, laying his forehead on her shoulder, letting the stress go into her skin. He could feel her soften, and he comfortably slipped his hands from her shoulders to around her ribs, centering them under her bust. She curled her fingers over his leaning her head on his.
Comfort.
Gaara sighed, making her go rigid. Her heart rate quickened under his fingers. He didn't want to retract. He tightened, sliding his arms more fully around her crossing his forearms across her ribs. Her arm followed, giving him the painful realization her finger brushing his forearms affected him as well. These feelings were getting more intense with each revisit.
Hinata closed her eyes tightly. Her heart rammed in her chest as he curled fully around her in response to her embarrassment. He calmly breathed, lifting his head from her shoulder.
Warm damp lips touched her shoulders. Hinata felt her skin tingle with a new level of heat. She squeaked loudly and unintentionally, jumping as her heart stopped. Gaara quickly moved to release her, but she dug her fingertips into his arm to keep him there. She didn't want him seeing her face or asking questions. She stared, blinking her wide eyes at the floor, trying to think of what to do next.
He took her refusal to leave as permission. He pressed another soft kiss higher to her bare shoulder. Her breathing hitched, feeling the tingling pressure spread, and she scrunched her eyes closed again to focus on the feeling. She loosened her grip on his arms, softly holding them in place, letting out a heavy breath.
He set another light press on his lips higher, and she let out a strangled sigh before he pressed his face shoulder so she could feel the heat in it. "We are being laughed at." He mumbled into her skin.
She squeaked, removing her hands from him to cover her face. "Shukaku-san privacy!"