This time when Hinata woke up, and she couldn't see outside, she knew exactly what was going on. She was dressed and downstairs in mere minutes.
"Hina, over here!" Temari called. Hinata hurried over. Gaara turned to her and nodded his head in greeting. "Gaara, take her with you. It will be easier if she can be your eyes."
"That sounds like a good idea." Hinata agreed. Gaara gave a nod.
They headed toward the door. Hinata tugged the scarf over her head. "You won't need that." He told her as he pulled her closer by the hip and encapsulated them. She blinked, then activated her eyes.
"It looks like much less chaos when we know it's coming." She mumbled.
"The one you went out in was unexpected and out of season. During storm season, we monitor and stay alert. However, there are the occasional out of season storms from time to time, and they can be the worst." His arms curled more completely around her ribs as they circled the village. Hinata sighed comfortably, realizing how disorienting getting up so quickly had been.
"I don't see anyone out." She assured him. "No one in or outside the walls of the village seemed to be struggling." She turned her head to see Gaara's face, which was in her blind spot.
Gaara nodded, taking them back. Hinata deactivated her eyes as they landed. He released her as she stepped out of the curling sand. "That was fast," Temari commented.
"I currently have a seven-kilometer radius," Hinata explained.
"That far?" Temari gasped.
"It's a lot to pay attention to, though." She added. "I can see that far, but I can't focus on it all at once."
"Understandably, and here I am having trouble holding my toothbrush in my mouth while I pull my hair up." She joked.
The two women laughed as he received reports. This would be much easier with a Hyuga. He was now seeing the value of having one around. The small compound of Hyuga may prove to have its benefits.
His fiance didn't stray far from him. She kept at arm's length no matter where he traveled. He was unsure she was doing it on purpose. Shukaku growled at him that she was too far, like there was danger. She seemed to feel it as well. She activated her eyes and wasted no time bolting toward the door dragging him by the arm. He stumbled probably the first time in years. "The west wall has lost pieces." She explained as she threw the door open, letting him go off him as she bolted out into the sand without him. He turned to give an order for everyone to stay inside while they checked the wall.
Shukaku bolted the sand without his help toward and around her until Gaara caught up with her. She squeaked as she was yanked back into the ball. "That was rough." She mumbled, rubbing her head where it had his chest.
"It wasn't me." He growled. He berated the demon for not being more gentle. His excuse was 'she should have waited'. "Is anyone hurt? Why are you in a hurry?" He wondered openly. He knew the houses to the west were far enough from the wall that if he was losing a piece, it shouldn't fly far enough to hit the buildings.
"The pieces are safely away from the homes, but that doesn't mean they are okay." She pressed.
"You're worried about the people who live near?" He filled.
"Can you fix it?" She asked, clearly planning.
"I can keep it patched up until the storm passes." He confirmed.
"Put me down in the residential area. I want the people to know that it's okay." She explained.
He blinked at her again. Shukaku growled against it.
She bolted out into the storm to tell the people the damage was minimal, so they did have to worry though the night it might collapse. That was her reason for bolting from his reach. They usually sent out nin to check on the homes, but they did it rounds. However, they wouldn't know about the wall unless they were close enough to have heard the pieces fall.
He nodded against the anger growing, not from him. The sand started to jitter and struggled against him. "We're stopping." She noted, more confused than scared.
'She's a ninja. She can handle herself.' He growled at the beast, forcing them to continue. He knew what this was about. The beast's new affections and protectiveness were not lost on him. He wanted her safe too, but she could handle something like this. She could handle much more, according to her records and Temari's statements.
"Gaara?" She asked, placing a hand on his chest, realizing he was in distress.
"He's fighting me." He growled truthfully, trying to focus, pushing further.
"Is that normal?" She asked.
"Not when I'm trying to work." He admitted.
"What's going on…!" She squeaked as they abruptly stopped, and she got tossed out of his grip to the wall of the sand. He reached forward, pulling her back up. She blinked wildly at him rubbing her forehead. "If it's me, put me down. I can get there on my own."
"That's exactly why he's fighting me. He doesn't want me leaving you out there." Another jerk knocked them both of their feet and crumbled at the bottom of the ball.
She sat up, throwing a mass of loose hair back, hitting him in the face with some of it. "I'm a ninja. This is ridiculous." She huffed.
"You explain that to him," Gaara grumbled, rubbing the now sore part of his head. His ultimate defense was hurting him. How ironic.
She turned her head to him in a stern frown. "I should." She sat up to glare at the sand. "Put me down!" She told him.
The ball suddenly plummeted to the ground. Hinata let out a surprised squeak launching forward, curling her body around his head protectively as they fell.
They stopped harshly before they hit the ground. "Well, we're down." Gaara muffled in her shoulder. She released him holding his face.
"Are you okay?" She checked his head for damage, not easy to see in his blood-red hair in the dark ball. When she found nothing, she turned to sand again. "Now let me out."
The sand gave her no reply, and Shukaku simply growled at her inside Gaara's head.
She stood in her attack stance. Gaara blinked. Was she going to try to force her way out? Could she do that? He didn't know about her fighting style, something to do with targeting chakra. Would she be able to find a weak spot and blow her way through? Was that how it worked? Would she have to try to attack him directly if it didn't?
Would she attack him to get out to do what she thought was her duty?
They may never know, she threw a hand forward, and the ball opened, making her tumble out into the storm. She gave a surprised squeak as she fell forward on her hands and knees. She turned with a fit of hair, wiping around her to the ball as it reclosed.
Gaara blinked alone in the ball. Shukaku relinquished control and stopped fighting. Gaara felt him recede to… pout? He was annoyed, offended?
Hinata had offended him by defying him, something he had been doing for years.
He felt a sudden warm spot to the side of the ball and a jolt to Shukaku as he responded.
Hinata ignored the swirling wind and hair. She placed a hand on the side of the ball. No doubt she had upset Shukaku enough that he gave her what she wanted out of spite. She would have to make it up to him somehow. She felt the sand respond, softly moving underhand, and between her fingers, before she removed, it had gone back to the task at hand. Pulling her scarf back around her head as she could, she bolted toward the homes.
The ball eventually sped over her head past her destination as Gaara went to fix the damage.
She had different damage to help. She started with the closest houses to the wall and backtracked. She knocked, was let in.
She probably looked horrible. She was always often offered shelter and water before she could explain what she was there for. She explained who she was and why she was there, explained the noise and that it was minor and was being solved by the Kage. She was thanked with relieved faces and good wishes to continue in the storm.
She didn't stay long in each home. She moved quickly from each house, keeping low, feeling she might be swept into the air at any moment and was a few times. She visited each home until she found people who claimed to not hear anything. She headed back toward the wall to join Gaara.
She barely broke the house line and was joined and covered by Gaara. She openly coughed in the new clean air. "How's the wall?" She asked, knowing full well he fixed it. She could see the holds.
"It will do until the storm passes." He reached forward, pulling back her scarf dumping the sand around her.
Hinata turned, placing her hand on the sand wall. "Is he still mad?"
"I don't know what's going on with him. Honestly, he should know better." He mumbled. "We can deal with it when we get back if we can get back without incident."
She nodded as they started to move. She and Shukaku needed to talk.
She stood in Gaara's bathroom with her head over the bathtub shaking her hair.
Gaara stood leaning against the door frame. "Why not wash it out."
"If I added water with this much sand in it, it would cake," Hinata explained. Her robe was discarded on his sink. Her shoulders and arms were exposed, showing the scratches and bruises she had received in the storm, light marks mostly and one large one peeking out of the shoulders of her dress. He had his supposition that one was his fault or rather Shukaku's.
"I'm sorry. I'm getting your bathroom covered in sand." She mumbled as she flicked her hair back into the tub more.
He handed her his hairbrush. "I don't think I mind." He said, slightly amused. They lived in the desert. He controlled sentient sand. He was the sand demon. All this she knew, and she was worried about getting it through his living space?
She brushed the tangles and sand out over the tub. "Is he still angry with me?"
"I think he's angry with himself right now." She blinked at him pausing her task.
"Why, was the fight that bad?" She asked.
"Can you feel that bruise?" He asked genuinely.
"What?" She looked down at her arm and legs, looking for the offending bruise. She hadn't noticed.
Gaara offered a hand. She took it, letting him spin her around in the mirror, sweeping her still mangled hair to the side and pulling the hem around her shoulder to show the purpling bruise over the unhealed finger marks from his student. She kept getting hurt by things he should be able to control.
This was his fault.
"Oh, no, no. I got thrown into a building." She explained quickly. "I didn't get that from when Shukaku-san stopped us. When I fell, I got a bump on the head, but it was light and doesn't even hurt now." She added, pointing to her forehead where he noticed a slight redness hidden by her bangs. "And this one on my back looks worse than it is. It didn't hurt that much." She promised. "It was just an odd angle that caused that." She turned her head in the mirror to see the extent of the bruise. "I'll go to a healer in the morning."
"You'll be sore if you leave these." He brushed his fingers over the edge of the bruise, causing her to shiver. "Are you cold?" It was rather warm in the room from them both being in the small space.
"No, I'm fine." She said quickly, turning her head back in the tub. "We can talk about this all with Shukaku-san tomorrow."
He nodded. He didn't need to worsen his headache tonight. "You may use the shower."
"No I'll use my own I'll be fine. Are you okay now?" He had been the one to ask her to spend some time with him before she went off to clean up. He was stressed about Shukaku's reaction and just wanted her near to calm both him and the beast.
"Yes, we can wait, get some rest." He offered.
"After I put you to sleep. I don't want you two fighting all night. Wait for me." She said pointedly, not really at him.
Shukaku grumbled childishly.