Hinata was concerned. Both for Naruto and this woman that had just surprised them all. She could see that her reaction to Naruto's comment had even shocked the Suna natives. Meaning they hadn't known about this facet of the woman's personality. There wasn't much she could do, but she could see that the woman was shaking and got up to quietly make tea in the kitchen.
Sakura and Kakashi looked at each other, eyes wide. They had thought this woman wasn't a ninja, but she had moved faster than either of the two of them could follow when she erupted into the rage that had nearly choked the life out of their friend. Their silent conference was interrupted by the now extremely quiet voice of their hostess. "I am sorry. I make no excuses for my behavior tonight. Please forgive me."
Gaara had no idea what the Konoha ninjas would say, but he already knew what he would be saying. "You have been under a lot of stress these last two days Hoshiwara. Granted, erupting like that was probably not in your best interests, I don't blame you for losing your cool for the first time since you first came to this village."
Hearing this, Kakashi looked up at the village leader, curiosity rampant in his visible facial features. This was indeed something new. The entire tableau was broken however when Hinata returned to the livingroom. "I'm sorry for invading your kitchen, but you looked like you could use something to drink."
Everyone turned to look at the woman who had not moved even when Hinata spoke. Temari took the cup of tea from the young medic in training and ignoring the flinch from the older woman who had taught her quite a bit, she took Hoshiwara's hand and deposited the cup into it. Automatically the fingers closed around it to keep it from falling and once the scent of the tea reached her they could all see her visibly start to relax before taking a sip.
The taste of the tea surprised her. It was a cross blend of lemon and mint, and it was an herbal tea. Hinata had to have seen her collection and known which one to use in her situation. Looking up at the young woman finally she let the corners of her lips quirk up slightly. "Thank you."
Hinata continued to pour for everyone and as they all relaxed to the taste of the herbal blend Neiji was the one to finally speak up. "It's been a long day for everyone and I believe that it would be for the best if we were to all get some rest before the official meeting tomorrow."
"A good idea. We'll show ourselves out Hoshiwara. You just finish relaxing and I'll come back in the morning to check on you and make sure everyone gets to the meeting hall." Temari squeezed the woman's shoulder lightly, knowing that she was in no condition to finish out her duties as a hostess that night. If Temari didn't know any better, she'd swear right there in front of her brother that the woman had just come in off the desert again.
Everyone except Hyugas left the house after that. Hoshiwara was still trapped halfway in her mind with the guilt over what she had almost done. If the people she trusted hadn't been there to help defuse the situation, blood would have spilt and someone would have died that night. This was a nightmare.
Neiji and Hinata both knew where their rooms were and took the time to go and changes and get ready for the night. By the time they were done and back in the livingroom, Hoshiwara was also changed and wrapped in what looked to be a very cozy robe. She looked up at the two house guests and gave them both a shy smile. "Again, I'm terribly sorry for my display of temper earlier. Gaara was right about one thing. I have been under a tremendous amount of stress these last couple days. Temari is also right about something. We all need some rest. Good night. I will wake you in the morning in time to get ready for your council meeting."
Leaving the two to look at her back in curiosity she turned to her room and closed the door behind her before she broke down any farther than she already did in front of them. She had started crying into her pillow to muffle the sounds of her sobs. But apperently she had still been heard. A quiet shadow detached itself from the wall and walked over to her bed before carefully sitting on it, trying to keep from startling the woman.
She startled anyway, but before she could say or do anything a familier hand came down on hers to help steady her. "Kankurou, what are you doing here? I thought you were looking after the blond idiot?"
The taller ninja chuckled quietly before answering. "Naruto will be fine. He's sleeping and by morning he'll have more than likely taken care of any problems he may have had with you. Right now however Temari, Gaara and I are worried about you. What made you lose your cool like that?"
Hoshiwara blushed scarlet at the reminder of what she had almost done before realizing that while the question was serious, it was also a distraction so that she wouldn't notice that he had move himself up so he could lean against the headboard of the bed with her in his lap so she could lean against him. 'Same old Kankurou. How many times have you done this for me now?' She wondered silently before answering out loud.
"Gaara was right about me being under a lot of stress. But its not from having to prepare for the guests." Kankurou raised an unseen eyebrow at this, but stayed silent knowing that conversations like this were never smooth for her as she was still picking up the more advanced points of their language.
"I miss my home Kankurou. When no one from outside the village was here I could pretend that this was my home in the summer months. But people coming into the village only serves to remind me that this isn't where I came from, and that there isn't a place for me anywhere." Sniffling, Hoshiwara felt the tears in her eyes overflow their boundries again as she was speaking.
Kankurou on the otherhand was stunned. How could this woman say that there wasn't a place for her here, or anywhere else? Beautiful, intelligent, wise, funny, she had captured the hearts of many of the people in the village and even if they didn't care for her much she had the respect of everyone. She had a place here, she had even cracked the hard shell around his little brother, and that was no small task. But how could he tell her that she had a place here? That this village would feel the loss of her presence if she were to leave.
Giving her a brotherly squeeze to get her attention he started slowly. "You have a place here. You carved it out yourself from the day you came into this village half dead from the desert. If the people here don't love you, then at the very least they respect you. Is that really so bad a thing?"
The head below his chin shook in denial before answering. "My home isn't even on this world. I have an idea as to how I got here, but I know for certain that unless a freak accident or a miracle were to occure, I won't be able to go home. My family, and friends are all back there, probably wondering if I am even alive anymore."
Kankurou could see what was bothering her now. She was homesick and what made it worse was the knowing that she would probably never see home again. "You have a home here. You have friends that you can lean on with me, Temari, and Gaara. I know its not the home you're used to, but I know that the three of us would rather go on solo missions than to see you get hurt. The kids in this village love you and the older kids and adults have come to care for you as well. No one may ever say it, but you are special to them."
Hoshiwara looked at him wide eyed. This was almost too fantastic to believe. She could however see that he was quite serious about what he had just told her due to the fact that he was still watching her carefully in the low light of the room. She had been given much to think about, but the puppetmaster had achieved his primary goal, and that was to help her to calm down for the night. It wasn't the first time any of them had been watching her and had to take steps to comfort the woman. However tonight was the first time that she had opened up this far to any of them. There was hope for her yet.
"Gaara, Temari and I have all noticed that you have been a little tense around his office lately. Is there something wrong that you can tell us about? Did we do anything that has you upset?" Normally Kankurou was not this solicitus of anyone's well-being. But then again this was a drastically different case than anyone in the village was used to dealing with.
Hoshiwara again shook her head. It felt good to get all of this off her chest and she was so tired of dealing with it alone. "You three haven't done anything wrong. You've all been the best friends I could have asked for in these circumstances. It's just that some of the guards have taken notice of me and despite the fact that I have told them that I do not care for their attentions, some of them aren't giving up. Almost like they think they are the gods' gift to women or something."
Kankurou chuckled at the last description of some of the guards in the tower. Temari had said the same thing about them before Gaara gave her permission to teach them a lesson to get them to leave her alone. They were all good ninjas. Some of the best in the village. But that also went and extended to the size of their egos as well. Looks like he needed to have a talk with Gaara and Temari about taking them down a peg or three so that other guests would not have the same problems. "I'll talk to Temari about that problem in the morning. That is one stress you just don't need right now." He agreed on that point and started to tuck the woman into bed as if she were a little sister to him. "Right now you need the sleep. You going to be ok now?"
Hoshiwara nodded sleepily as she allowed herself to be tucked in. It wasn't the first time any of the siblings had done that for her, and she returned the favor on some nights when the others were up late with troubles. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. Knowing this she closed her eyes and silently wished Kankurou a good night before letting her exhaustion take her off to the realm of sleep.
The next day as everyone woke up, the Hyuga cousins found that they were treated to a breakfast spread that very nearly rivaled the meal they had the night before in taste and presentation. While they were eating two of the tower guards came to get the three of them for the meeting. One was to take the Hyugas to the meeting room, the other was assigned to take Hoshiwara to another meeting that she had been invited to. One that involved the Kazekage and his two siblings.
Rapping on the door She was admitted into the room that was more commonly known as the office of the Kazekage. Looking at the three siblings she pulled her hood back after the door was closed behind her. "You three have a meeting you should be heading to, why am I here?" She opened with.
The three were used to her blunt manner of speaking, knowing that it was a cultural hold over from wherever it was that she had come from. Gaara had also figured out long ago that it was her way of showing her respect for the people she was talking to. That she trusted them, so she could speak her mind. "Kankurou told us about what you had told him last night about the guards in this tower. You had mentioned that you didn't care for their attentions and I'm surprised that you hadn't done something about it on your own earlier."
Hoshiwara raised an eyebrow at the implied question and shook her head. "Gaara-dono," Gaara internally winced at this. She almost never used her land's title suffixes unless she was maintaining her temper. "They are fully trained Ninja. All ranks aside, even the young graduates of the academy could slaughter me in sparring without breaking a sweat. Just how do you propose that I do something about them without enlisting the aide of other ninjas?"
Kankurou and Temari were starting to see where this was going and nodded quietly. She was irritated that she was unable to defend herself from the advances of some of the shinobi in the tower. Granted if she was given time, she could make their lives a living hell in her own skills. But stopping them when they were giving her the attentions immediately was not something she was able to do. Looking at their younger brother they could see understanding on his face as well. There was something else there, something they couldn't put a name to, but they could feel the threat level of the room rise with its innauguration. "What were they doing to you?"
Hoshiwara could see that she had gotten his attention. "Some of them tried to use Genjutsu on me," There was a snort of amusement in the pause and her lips twitched upwards knowing what amused them. Due to her grounding and her own abilities she was immune to all but the very strongest genjutsu techniques. "Others tried ninjutsu and Kenjutsu to restrain me and make me listen to them. They were 'hoping' to convince me of their worthiness."
A low growl rumbled through the room causing Temari, Kankurou and Hoshiwara to look at Gaara. The dark circles around his eyes seemed to be enhanced as they felt the wave of threat roll off him. Kankurou and Temari were backing away as they recognized the signs of the Ichibi becoming dangerously close to breaking free again. Hoshiwara on the other hand smirked. "Awww, is Tanuki-kun worried about my safety? I'm touched!"
Gaara's eyes narrowed as both he and the spirit heard this. However the demon spirit won out again and answered. "Worried about you? No. However its clear that you deserve better than those idiots. Anyone that feels they have to use their training against a civilian to "win" them is no better than some of the ninjas in the bingo book."
Hoshiwara looked at Gaara wide eyed, shocked that the demon that she had thought to have feared her instead, respected her and felt her worth more than what the guards could provide to her. Blushing, she smiled and relaxed. "Thank you Tanuki-kun. but if you would let Gaara have control of his body back I'd like to hear what he has to say about this matter, considering he is the one that I need to deal with on this issue."
She could almost see the outline of the Tanuki behind Gaara giving her a put out look before retreating to wherever it was that he hid within Gaara. Once the Kazekage had gathered himself together again he looked at the woman across from him the wonder he felt at her abilities to talk down the demon within him not passing the mask he wore. "I will deal with the guards. Its clear now that Temari's lesson wasn't enough to teach them that they should stick to their duties and only those when they are on the clock."
With that he stood and with a minor readjustment to his clothing he gathered the other three in his sands and then with a flash of seals he transported them all to the meeting site.