Disclaimer: do not own Naruto-kun

Chapter 1

The Anticipated Bathroom Mishap

When Hinata woke up, it was already dark.

She rolled over, looked at the clock on her bedside table, then cringed when she saw it was already eleven in the evening.

Which meant she missed dinner. Which was probably a good thing, since it was Temari-chan's turn to cook. Er. Not that her cooking was not up to scratch. Not at all…

But Hinata digresses.

Right. Dinner.

Hinata got up from her bed and wandered into the halls until she reached the kitchen, where she located the fridge and started rummaging through it; she found an apple, a bowl of leftover from dinner (which looked like it was hazardously thrown into a pan in glazed panic; probably Temari-chan's cooking), a loaf of bread, a carton of milk, a tub of chocolate chip ice cream (the Kazekage's favourite; Temari-chan and Kankuro-kun often complained about Gaara-sama's addiction to it) and a bottle of water.

Hinata took the apple and the bottle of water. (She didn't dare take the ice cream, as appealing as it looks. She didn't want to be buried alive in sand, thankyouverymuch.)

Nibbling on her apple, Hinata's thoughts strayed (inevitably) to, guess who, who else? – Naruto-kun.

Naruto-kun and his stupid blonde hair and his stupid whiskers and his stupid smile and his stupid determination.

Damnit. One month away from him and he's ALL she thought about the whole time. Something was terribly wrong with her brain.

Tossing the apple core to the trash, Hinata decided that a nice long shower was in order after the hell she's been through today – slipping face first onto the floor and receiving an impromptu paint bath and all. (The heavens above coughed.)

Hinata downed the bottle of water in three large gulps. Then, she went back to her room, grabbed a towel, and headed towards the bathroom.

(Somewhere, in a place where mere mortals like us cannot reach, Fate laughed evilly.)

(The heavens above sighed and despaired.)

Hinata walked down the hall with almost mechanical ease; though her body resided in Suna, her brain was hovering somewhere in Konoha, and as cliché as it sounds, her heart was somewhere near the vicinity of Ichiraku Ramen…

-cough-

Hinata grimaced at the door of the bathroom that she had been using for the past month.

As a ninja, Hinata had no qualms about bathing in small, cramped spaces. Bathing in a lavish bathroom meant she was back in the dreary atmosphere of the Hyuuga compound.

But, damnit, she had fallen on her face, twice, had been late to work, and had rushed to the Academy only to be hit with a balloon filled with pink paint.

She deserved that damn lavish bathroom.

(The heavens above cringed.)

Smiling to herself, Hinata walked further into the hall. Once she reached a door, her smile turned to a full fledged grin once she saw the green, emerald tiles, the sink that looked like it was actually cleaned from time to time, the toilet that didn't seem to be attached with a putrid smell, the glistening shower, and – Hinata's heart skipped a beat – a bathtub.

Hinata activated her Byakugan silently, looked around for a minute, deactivated it, and grinned.

As far as she was concerned, this bathroom was seldom used by anyone. And, well, Temari-chan did say she can use any bathroom she wanted in the building…

Anyway, even if it was prohibited, Hinata doubted anyone would take a bath at this hour… Besides, she checked. No one was in the hall.

What were the chances of things going incredibly wrong?

(Fate smiled rather maliciously.)

Hinata woke up when a noise that suspiciously sounded like a door being opened then closed reached her ears.

Disoriented, Hinata's senses noted the lavender scented water she was submerged in, the bubbles and foam that hid most of her body, and her fingers that resembled prunes.

Then, her brain alerted her that someone else was in the room.

Hinata panicked.

She submerged herself lower into the tub until only half her face was visible. She cast a furtive glance to the intruder…

…and almost drowned herself when a gasp escaped her.

There he was, the Kazekage, in all his red-haired, oblivious glory, taking his clothes off.

Hinata let out a tiny 'meep' and closed her eyes before she could see anything.

…okay, that was a lie. She may have had peeked a bit. But only when he took his shirt off! She didn't see past his chest, honest!

And what a glorious chest it was.

Ack! Naughty thoughts, naughty thoughts! Think of Neji-niisan kicking a puppy, or of what Gai-sensei and Lee-kun looked like after Tenten-chan made a pin cushion out of them, or of Kiba-kun's face when he stepped on dog poo, oh, and of what Gaara-sama would do to her when he realizes he's not alone in the bathroom!

…but with that body and hair and eyes he could do anything he wantedto her –

Oh god, there it was, the hormones that she thought were non existent for the whole of her eighteen years of living. Damnit, of all the opportunities it had to make itself known, it just had to choose now.

She's been keeping her eyes closed for a while now. Maybe he's stepped in the shower, hidden behind a shower curtain, where her suddenly-turned-perverted eyes would not be able to see?

She peeked just to make sure.

…and froze when she saw the Kazekage was naked and was only about to get in the shower.

Hinata's brain, which had been residing in Konoha, rushed cheerily back to her head in an instant. And her heart, which had been following around a certain blonde jinchuuriki, sprinted back to her chest and proceeded to beat loudly against her ribcage. And of course, her blood, which had been happily circulating in her bloodstream, all rushed up to her face.

…holy shit. He is a fucking god…

If Hinata had been herself, she would have admonished herself for sounding too much like Kiba-kun.

Her eyes, now bulging out of their sockets, soaked in the perfect view of the Kazekage's naked back; his fiery red mane, down to his elegant neck and lean back, then down to his perfectly sculpted butt –

Hinata fainted.

When Hinata woke up (for the third time that day) the shower was already running.

She wasted no time; she was in full 'save-your-life-before-the-Kazekage-sees-you-and-buries-you-in-sand' mode.

But then again, she already had an eyeful. If Gaara-sama killed her now she'd probably die happy. Provided that he does it naked, or at least scantily clothed, of course.

-cough-

Right. Back to business. (Before her hormones decide to show its ugly head again.)

Hinata rinsed as quietly as she could, grabbed the towel on the counter (and profusely thanked whatever heavenly force was up there that made her put the towel so close to the tub), and proceeded to stealthily make her escape.

Stealthily meaning quiet, fast, and not slipping on the glistening bathroom floor. So far, she was doing well.

But then, she made the mistake of glancing back at Gaara-sama's outline (damn hormones!). Though the shower curtain hid most of his figure, Hinata was still able to make out his lean form. See, there's this thing called the Byakugan –

Survival instincts overrode hormones. Hinata threw stealth out the window and sprinted towards the exit while clutching her towel so tight her knuckles turned white.

She almost cried in relief when the door closed softly behind her.

But Fate was not done with her yet.

When she was about to go back to her room – her beloved safe haven where there weren't any achingly beautiful Kazekages walking around naked – she found herself face to face with a heavy-eyed eyed Temari-chan and a sluggish Kankuro-kun.

Hinata wondered what the hell they were doing wandering the halls at midnight.

"Oh, Hinata-chan, hi!" Temari-chan said.

Hinata smiled uneasily. "Hello Temari-chan, Kanukuro-kun. Ano, what are you doing up so late?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "We should be saying the same to you, squirt. And what are you doing walking around like that?" Kankuro gave her towel-clad form an appraising stare. Hinata promptly turned into a tomato.

"Ano- !"

Temari scowled and viciously smacked her brother on the head. "Stop it you pervert!" She turned her head and looked back at Hinata with a cheerful smile – the change of annoyed sister to jovial friend was so fast it almost gave Hinata whiplash.

"Hinata-chan, did you just get out of that bathroom?" She asked.

Hinata felt herself begin to sweat. "Er. Depends. Am I in trouble if I said yes?"

Kankuro gave an amused snort while Temari rolled her eyes. "No, silly," she said. "It's just weird, is all."

Hinata had a good idea why it was weird.

"Yeah," Kankuro continued. "This is Gaara's favorite bathroom in the building. No one ever dares use it in case he does."

She should have known that – would have saved her the trouble, and, her virgin eyes –

"It was the only one with the bathtub, so…" Hinata said, just to salvage a little bit of her dignity.

Kankuro chuckled. "I sure hope it's worth risking being attacked with sand -"

"Damnit Kankuro, you're scaring her!"

"I'm scaring her? One look at your face makes people run away in terror!"

"At least I don't wear make-up!"

"It's face paint, damnit, FACE PAINT."

"Ano, I'm just going to go now…" Hinata inched away from the bickering duo.

"Eh? But Hinata-chan, it sounds like you left the shower running."

Hinata stopped mid-escape and paled considerably "Oh. Er." She forced out a laugh. "I must have forgotten. How silly of me!"

With one last awkward smile, she turned and dashed inside the bathroom as quickly as she could, leaving Kankuro and Temari in the dust.

There was a pause.

"Well," said Temari. "Let's get that goddamn glass of water."

Kankuro grumbled after her. "It's fucking face paint."

Hinata wanted to cry. She really did.

She leaned back to the door and checked if Gaara-sama was still obliviously cleansing his to-die-for body.

Okay. She was safe.

For now.

She waited anxiously (meaning she was trying not to hyperventilate and collapse into a pathetic excuse for a human, and so far was succeeding) for Temari-chan's and Kankuro-kun's voices to fade away into the kitchen.

When there weren't any telltale signs of loud arguing and of the sound of fists hitting flesh echoing in the hall, Hinata deemed it safe to come out of the bathroom, stealthily, race back to her room, quickly, close the door, and proceed to hyperventilate.

But what do you know, who suddenly decides that he was done showering?

(Fate cackled at her sheer genius.)

Gaara stepped out of the shower wrapped in a towel (He's wearing a towel! Pity – er, I meant, thank god!). He ruffled his (delicious, pretty, and oh-so-red) wet hair, caught sight of her, and stared.

Oh god. She was going to die.

Hinata proceeded to take the expression of a deer caught in headlights (to which Gaara found extremely cute, but she didn't need to know that.)

Gaara continued to stare. Unblinkingly.

"Ano…" said Hinata. Her large eyes looked at Gaara imploringly; Hinata hoped it was enough to delay the gruesome end of her rapidly shortening lifespan.

When she was about to shout the standard "I'm sorry!" in the awkward (albeit cute) fashion only she could, Gaara's mouth curled upward.

It wasn't the kind of smile that he wore in his younger years; the one that promised lots of blood and gore and ripped flesh and impending doom. This smile was, actually, more of a smirk; the kind that people used when a friend of theirs did something unbelievably stupid, like, say, locking oneself out in his own house.

Hinata dared not think it, but he actually looked amused.

She wondered vaguely if this was some sort of twisted mind game that killers played with their intended victim.

"Why are you still here?" Gaara asked. If he had eyebrows, he would probably be raising one.

Hinata tried to burrow herself into the door, but monumentally failed. She wanted to say "I was taking a bath, then suddenly you waltzed in and ruined everything," but she only managed a small, squeaky, unimpressive "eep."

"I thought I gave you enough time to leave," Gaara continued leisurely, as if a kunoichi (a hot and incredibly cute one, at that) violating his private time was a daily occurrence.

Hinata's mind paused, made an effort to process what it heard, then reeled once it was able to analyze his words.

"Eh?" She said, intelligently. He knew she was there?

That made sense. Gaara was the Kazefreakingkage, it was stupid to think that he didn't notice her, at all, even with the little to no noise she had made. It would explain why he wasn't seething and wasn't trying to chop her head off. Heh. Her life wasn't in danger, he knew she was there all along-

Waitaminute.

"You knew I was here? All this time?" Hinata asked, bravely, after she found her voice.

Gaara had the audacity to look amused. "Of course I did." Then he gave her a look that implied he thought she had asked a very stupid question.

"And now you've overstayed your welcome. Leave."

Gaara's word was law. No one defied him unless absolutely necessary, or if you were suicidal, or if you were Temari-chan.

It seemed as if Hinata was in a very suicidal mood that night.

"But, ano…" said Hinata, uncertainly.

Her sensitive ninja senses were tingling, and they were telling her that Kankuro-kun and Temari-chan had just gotten their fair share of water and were heading back to their rooms; which meant they were somewhere in the far end of the hall and would probably see her come out of the bathroom, see that Gaara was inside still, and come to the conclusion that they had used the bathroom at the same time.

Which would probably be a bad thing. Because then a rumor about a secret tryst between the Kazekage and the Hyuuga heiress would spread like wild fire in Suna, and would possibly reach all the way to Konoha, where all her friends were, and-

Oh god. What would her father say?

This train of thought passed through Hinata's mind in just a few seconds.

"But, I can't, Kankuro-kun and Temari-chan are out there!" She said, bravely.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Leave." He said. He meant business. He was using his Kazekage voice.

"But- but! What if they see us! They'll think something's up, even though there isn't, and there'll be rumors-"

"I said. Leave." There was the unspoken threat there, she knew, but Hinata would rather die than face the wrath of her father.

"But-"

"Rumors do not concern me."

"It concerns me!"

Gaara regarded her thoughtfully for a minute. His sea-foam eyes took in her rigid stature, her hands that were wringing her towel so tightly her knuckles were turning white, her eyes that were glazed in panic, and her lips that were trembling slightly in trepidation.

It was the standard posture to follow when one is agitated.

This was the first time an agitated person stood before him and shuddered because of something else.

Impressive feat, he reckoned.

"Hn." He said, finally. He watched as Hinata changed from absolutely terrified to pathetically hopeful. "Fine. Stay. I don't care what you do."

Hinata felt as if a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. She could distinctly hear Kankuro-kun's and Temari-chan's voices getting nearer.

Just a few more minutes, and she could leave this horrifyingly embarrassing experience and store it in the part of her mind that was labeled 'forget immediately'. On a lighter note, Gaara seemed to be ignoring her and was busying himself with something on the counter.

Hinata's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

Gaara stared at her blankly. "What does it look like?"

She watched with growing horror as Gaara fished out his clothes, then hooked his fingers on the towel on his waist and started to unwrap it.

"S-stop!" said Hinata. She covered her eyes with her hand that wasn't clutching her towel. "You can't do that now. I'm still here!"

Gaara snorted uncharacteristically. "I saw you staring earlier. What's stopping you now?"

Hinata proceeded to impersonate a ripe tomato. "I d-didn't see p-past your w-waist, honest!"

Oh good lord, her stutter was back with a vengeance.

"Hn." Gaara said.

Hinata, embarrassed within an inch of her life, turned around and opted to listen to the voices outside instead of the rustle of cloth behind her.

It seemed as if Kankuro-kun and Temari-chan were trapped in a heated argument that involved a lot of violence. By the sound of things, they had stopped walking to focus on their, er, disagreement.

It sounded as if they were only ten steps away from the door.

Hinata despaired.

"I'm done."

She turned to see a (thankfully) dressed Gaara. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hinata wondered why she didn't think of bringing a change of clothes to the bathroom.

Oh, yeah. She was under the assumption that no one wandered these parts of the building at midnight. How utterly wrong she was.

Gaara moved purposefully to the door, to which Hinata was trying to glue herself to, and glared at her.

"Please move, Hyuuga-san," said Gaara.

Hinata, in an act of bravery (and quite possibly stupidity), scowled at him. "No." No way in hell, Kankuro-kun and Temari-chan were still out there!

"Hyuuga-san," said Gaara, with a tone that one may use on a friend whom you want to kill but cannot because of your belief in ethics. "You may want to stay, but I want to leave. So. Move."

Hinata looked up to his face and tried to glare, but failed once she saw his tired, exhausted face. She remembered, once, how Temari-chan constantly complained about Gaara-sama's tendency to push himself to his limits; to the point that he did not sleep for a week.

Tonight was probably one of those days, and it seemed as if he has already reached his limit.

Outside, Kankuro-kun's and Temari-chan's voices continued to rage.

"Just a few more minutes, Kazekage-sama. Temari-chan and Kankuro-kun are bound to leave," reasoned Hinata.

"No," said Gaara. Hinata felt herself begin to panic. "Goodbye, Hyuuga-san."

Gaara moved closer and wrapped his hand around the doorknob. Before he could turn it, however, Hinata's hand enclosed around his.

Gaara's eyes flashed. Hinata gulped and saw her life flash before her eyes.

"Wait-!" Hinata tried to say, but it was no use. His hand began to turn, and Hinata was utterly useless in stopping him.

Desperate situations call for desperate actions.

And so, in an act that may possibly end her life, Hinata tiptoed, put her other hand on his cheek, and raised her lips to his.

The birds stopped chirping. Cats and dogs and rats all stopped what they were doing. The world titled on its axis and stopped turning. The universe as we know it sucked in on itself. Lee-kun shaved his eyebrows and set fire to his green leotard suit. (No, not really.)

Gaara remained very still as Hinata's soft lips touched his own.

Why isn't he moving? Why isn't he stopping me? More importantly, why isn't he trying to kill me?

Hinata, not thinking anymore, swept her tongue to his lower lip. Gaara, though not responding, allowed her tongue to dart into his warm mouth. Her tongue caressed the inside of his cheek, his teeth, and his tongue.

Vaguely, Hinata could make out a shout of "SHUT UP KANKURO" and a noise that sounded like a massive fan hitting a head.

Hinata tried to pull away, but at the exact same moment Gaara's soul seemed to return to his body. His hands encircled her waist and his warm tongue met hers.

Her response was instant; she moaned softly and her arms moved to wrap around his neck.

Kankuro's and Temari's voices faded from the hall completely, but the two occupants of the bathroom didn't take notice. Instead, they busied themselves with the sweet union of their mouths.

Hinata felt his hands move lower to her hips, and his lips disengaged from her mouth and traveled to her jaw, then down to her neck. In the haze of her mind, the sensible part of her screamed to not let herself be affected in his (wonderful, delicious) ministrations.

Hinata managed to snap out of her Gaara induced haze when she felt something hard push on her thigh.

"Ano!" Hinata said, her face resembling a tomato. "I-can't-hear-them-anymore-so-bye!"

She moved to open the door, but when she was about to turn the knob Gaara's hand enclosed around hers.

Gaara was wearing a smirk that could only be described as devious.

"No, I think I can still hear them."

"Eh-?"

His lips connected to hers before she could react. She tried to fight it. Really, she did. But then his tongue started doing wonderful things to her mouth, and she felt herself relent. Involuntarily, she felt herself succumb to his warm lips and tongue and intoxicating smell.

In a matter of seconds, they resembled more of a lover's tangle more than anything.

His body pulled hers into his, as if they were trying to mold into each other. His lips and tongue trailed where he left off earlier. He'd leave little bites here and there, and as he did Hinata voiced out a cute little whimper.

Hinata's hands busied themselves in pulling his hair. Her lips would occasionally meet his, until he went lower to abuse her neck with his teeth and tongue.

Hinata only acknowledged the loud warning bells in her head when she felt Gaara's hands slowly loosening her flimsy towel.

In an instant, Hinata had pulled away from his warmth and had forcefully shoved his body away from hers. "They're-not-there-anymore!"

She tightened her towel, opened the door before Gaara could make a grab of her, and made a beeline to her room. When she was sure she was in the privacy of her room, she leaned on the door and promptly began to hyperventilate.

Gaara watched her leave and didn't try to stop her.

If she had perchance looked back when she was making her grand escape, she would have seen the devious smirk on his face and the predatory gleam in his eyes.

(Fate patted herself on the back for a job well done.)

Well. I hope you guys enjoyed. Please review, I would REAAAALLY appreciate it! I was thinking of making more chapters for this story, so what do you think?

Feedback please! And review! :D