A/N: Yay! Chapter 5! I'm on a roll here, finally! I don't really know what to write next, but this chapter is full of pure, undiluted romantic Gaara fluff and-dare I say it-love. I also have a page of Mikomi's expressions at this site: http:/gaaraisking(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Mikomi-expressions-chart-181267365

Just replace the (dot)s with a . Thanks!

Sun shone through my window, straight into my eyes. I covered my face with my pillow, but the early desert sunlight was relentless, its golden light boring through my fluffy pillow.

"Mikomi?"

It was my mom, and she was shaking me.

"Five more minutes!"

"No! Get up right now, young lady! Temari's here, and she brought Yuki!"

This woke me up.

"Okay, okay!"

I scrambled out of bed, grabbed my hairbrush, and began attacking my bedhead. I got it under control in about five minutes (years upon years of practice), so I was out of my room yanking a black shirt over my head before Yuki and Temari had even sat down. I pounded down the stairs, nearly falling into the big poofy armchair that I loved so much it was slowly unraveling itself.

"Hi, guys! What brings you here at-"

I checked the clock on the wall.

"Nine thirty?"

Temari grinned evilly, and I suddenly felt chilled to the bone.

"We're taking you shopping."

Oh. No.

"Nooooo! Please, Temari, don't make me! Please!"

Yuki smiled at me too, still barely showing her teeth. Damn, they were both in this together.

"Aw, Mikki! I only agreed because I'm not the one being shopped for!"

As I filed away that interesting tidbit of info for later, I glared at Temari.

"And what, pray, is the occasion that has warranted this?"

Temari's grin widened, if that was at all possible. "Your date with my baby brother."

Oh crap. I was going to die.

"What?"

Oh, just great. Now my mom knew.

"Mikomi, what in Kami's name is going on?"

"Uhhh..."

Temari leaped to my rescue, then embarassed me further. "Oh, Nanaho, you mean she didn't say anything?"

"No...what is it, Temari?"

"Gaara asked her out yesterday!"

Now that was the understatement of the year. Actually, he had fallen on me, kissed me, admitted his surprise feelings, and asked me to dinner. I was sinking lower and lower into my squashy chair, shoving myself further into the cushions. Temari continued spilling everything Gaara must have told her.

"He's taking her to dinner tonight. And so I thought, well, this is Gaara we're talking about here. He doesn't really know all that much about dating and girls. So, I told him I would buy him something civilian he could wear to dinner, and I'd pick out her dress for her. Kankuro told Yuki, and she decided to help me. Right, Yuki?"

Yuki nodded her head, and that was when I freaked out.

"No way! I will NOT be shopping for a dress! I don't know what you were smoking last night, Temari, but you can't seriously be planning to drag me there!"

As soon as I said it, I knew I was screwed. Yuki and Temari both looked at me with evil little smirks on their faces, and, in the back of my mind, I heard Kinkou, who had used my dreams to communicate with me all night.

You, my sweet vessel, just sealed your own fate.

"Oh crap!"

The two far taller women each grabbed one of my arms. I dug my ninja sandals into the carpet, hoping against all hope that I would succeed in staying put. However, my mother decided that my ripping up the carpet would be a bad thing, and she picked up my feet and helped force me to the door, at which point she stood in the doorway and waved as my two friends dragged me away, aiming for Suna's only department store.

I gave up and let them pull me along, and then I walked with them as the scent of melted chocolate reached my nose. Suna's chocolates store made their chocolate on site, and they imported their cacao beans from Jungle country, which happened to be the finest grower of cacao beans. I loved their ultimate chocolate-lover sundae, which was six types of chocolate all mixed and melted over their midnight triple-chocolate coffee crunch ice cream, which I loved and always bought when I came in. I spoke to Temari, whose gaze was resolutely fixed on the dress store.

"I won't complain if we go to Shokora Tengoku." Literally, Chocolate Heaven.

She grinned. "Oh, don't worry. Yuki hasn't gone there once yet, so we have to make her, right?"

"Right."

Yuki's ice-colored eyes widened. "A chocolate store?"

I laughed. "Yeah, it's the best store ever! They have dark chocolate, and white chocolate, and chili chocolate-"

I nattered about all the chocolate in Shokora Tengoku until we were in the door of Aki's Fine Clothing. Then, Temari immediately waved the girl at the counter over. The young civilian stared, awestruck, at the three of us. Temari, in her black outfit with her huge fan on her back, cut quite an imposing figure by herself, but Yuki was simply scary. Now that I thought about it, that was probably partially due to the demon, Osoreru. Of course, her massive height, impossibly large sword, and multiple scars (all on her long legs) all attributed a certain air of menace. Her clearly visible Mist headband on her forehead didn't help either, and nor did her icily shining blue eyes.

I, on the other hand, was only scary if you knew what I could do. Compared to my two friends, I was tiny and thin, with such long hair that you could cut half of it off and stuff twenty pillows. Thankfully, I had managed to tame my still-damp mane into a braid, so it would be somewhat wavy when I finally took it out. I had even managed to pull back my spiky golden bangs. This made my thin, pointed face and slit-pupiled, purple-marked eyes stand out quite clearly.

As soon as the young woman was in front of us, Temari spoke commandingly, with an edge to her voice any sensei would envy.

"I'm here to fit Mikomi for a dress."

She waved at me. The girl nodded and picked up the phone on her counter. Her voice echoed over the store loudspeaker.

"Junko, I have a fitting appointment at the entrance, Junko, I have a fitting appointment at the entrance."

She waved us to the left. "Please wait here, our seamstress will be with you shortly."

We had been waiting for about a minute and a half when a short, squat civilian woman bustled through a nearby door with a roll of measuring tape and several dresses. I shrank further back against Yuki, but Temari, seeing what I was trying to do, yanked me forward by the arm.

"Are you the seamstress?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, my name is Junko."

Temari smiled. "Hi. Mikomi here," she gave my arm a pull, "Needs something for a really, really nice dinner."

Junko looked me over, her expert eyes taking note of everything from my height to my foot size. "I think I have something nice I can tailor."

We all followed her to a back room. She dug in a large closet for a moment, then drew out a plastic garment bag.

"Here we are. Layered cotton under watered silk. It should just require a small hem, maybe draw in the waist and shoulder. Here, try it on."

I tooke the bag, entering a small dressing room. I removed the dress from the bag and gasped. It was absolutely gorgeous, a bluish-purple color. It had flecks of gold thread throughout it, and it was soft and supple in my fingers. I put it on, and left the dressing room for an evaluation.

Temari said, "Oh, how cute!" at the exact same moment that Junko said, "It's too wide in the waist."

Yuki sniggered from her corner. Of course, Junko was a professional, and even I could tell that the dress was so much bigger at the waist than my body was that it hung on me like an extremely fancy paper bag. The woman was on me before I could say "How mean." She had a fabric marker in one hand and a measuring tape in another. As she wrote notes on the dress, I stood with my arms outstretched, a bewildered expression on my face. Yuki and Temari, meanwhile, were completely ignoring me. They were looking at a rack of men's shirts, as well as at a tiny sheet of paper. I was distracted again when Junko tugged at me.

"I'm done. Take it off and come back in an hour."

I nodded, reentering the dressing room. When I exited, handing Junko the dress, Temari looked up, grinning cheekily.

"Whaddaya think of this one?"

She held up a dark navy collared shirt. It had black buttons and long sleeves, and would, untucked, fall to just below the average man's belt. Beside her, Yuki held up a pair of khaki slacks and a pair of black ones.

"Which pants?"

My jaw dropped. "You're asking me?"

Temari rolled her eyes. "Well, duh. You're the one having to walk around with him, he needs to look good."

I deliberated for a moment. "Black."

Temari grinned. "Okay, so now we're done! We know what we're getting!"

With that, she made a beeline to the checkout counter, then headed straight for Shokora Tengoku.

I was nervous. Very nervous. Gaara was supposed to meet me at my house in twenty minutes, and though I knew how shallow it seemed, I couldn't seem to do anything with my hair. Yuki had suggested I leave it down, Temari that I tie it with a ribbon, and my mother that I should pin it. I had taken it out of the braid after I put on the new dress, which did fit wonderfully and looked absolutely stunning, flattering what little figure I had. It fell to just below my knees. My long locks were wavy and silken, so I decided to combine the advice of both my mother and Yuki and pin the shorter layers of hair back while leaving the rest down.

My moment of teenage obsessiveness over, I began pacing in the living room. My mother was watching some soap opera on our tiny TV, but I could see her tapping her fingers. She was probably more nervous than I was. Of course, she still didn't know about the fact that Gaara and I had already kissed. If she did, I didn't know what she would do. She fidgeted for another minute, her crimson hair falling over her right eye.

"Mikomi, sit down. You're going to wear a hole in the floor."

"But, Mom-"

"No buts, Mikomi. Sit."

I sat on the edge of the couch with a sigh, trying to massage feeling into my left little toe. Temari had decided to buy me very expensive, nice heels, but the toes narrowed uncomfortably. But I was a shinobi. It was nothing.

"Mikomi?"

"Yes, Mom?"

"Home by ten."

At that moment, the doorbell rang. Before I could even stand up, my mother was opening the door.

"Ah, Gaara-sama. Wonderful timing. Please, come in."

"Thank you, Nanaho-san."

As my mother closed the door, Gaara walked in to the room, and I had to hold myself from gasping. Maybe I was biased, but the combination of his dark clothing and flaming hair looked great. His eyes were glittering, the aqua color darkened by his clothing. He smiled, cautiously at first, but then he lost the unsure edge. I stood, carefully balancing on my high heels.

"Hi."

Damn. Was that all I could say, really? That was so lame. Fortunately, Gaara seemed to be just as nervous.

"Hello."

We stood there staring at each other for a full minute before my mother intervened.

"Well? Are you two going to say something aside from 'hi', or are you going to keep your date?"

I didn't really like the way my mom stressed the word 'date', but I knew she was right. Gaara obviously did too, since he turned slightly pink and cleared his throat.

"Of course. We should go."

My mother smiled. "Oh, Mikomi, I'm so proud of you!"

I turned pink. "Mom..."

But I couldn't halt her. "Your father would be so proud!"

Now this was getting out of hand. "Uh, Mom..."

My mom blinked. "Oh. Right. Get going already, what are you waiting around for?"

She began shooing us out, and we exited my house into the cooler night air of our desert village. Happily, the streets were almost totally empty, with the sole exception of a small family takng an evening walk.

I glanced sideways at Gaara. I felt better than I had all day, but I still felt a little uncertain. What was I supposed to do? Should I say something? I didn't know. So I just walked silently beside him, waiting for something to happen. Gaara, thankfully, spoke almost immediately.

"Would you like to know where we are going?"

I turned to him, smiling cautiously. "Of course. Where?"

Gaara smiled again, wryly. "So would I."

"You mean you don't know where we're going?"

"Not exactly. I'm not positive as to what your preferred location would be, so I had figured I would let you choose."

I thought for a minute. What a great opportunity! He was allowing me to pick.

"What do you like?"

"I'm not picky. Whatever you like."

"Hmmm..."

"I...that is, um...I thought that maybe we could eat and, uh, take a walk or...something..."

I could just see him closing his eyes in exasperation at his clear nervousness. So, I decided to dispel some of his uncertainty.

"Sure. That'd be really nice, Gaara."

It was the first time I'd said his name all day. He gave a slight jerk like he hadn't been expecting me to say that. He turned his head, and stopped. I stopped too, and waited. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then closed it again. Instead, he reached for my hand, clasping my tiny palm in his large, sand-calloused one.

"You are supposed to hold hands on a...date...right?"

I smiled. "I would guess so. I'm just as new to this as you are."

He smiled, too, and we continued walking toward the restaurant district of the village. I thought about the restaurants there, and I decided on one of my favorites.

"How about the Akabeko? Their beef stew is delicious."

"That sounds fine to me."

After a very quick walk past the curious people of the village, Gaara had secured, in his blunt, no-nonsense way, a place in the back of the Akabeko. The waitress, a girl my own age named Kimi, had gasped softly at us and darted away to the kitchen to get water. So, we were left alone in the small, traditional room. A very long silence filled the air, as neither one of us knew what we were supposed to be saying. I decided to take the initiative.

"So how was work?"

Oh, man. Did that sound stupid or what?

"Actually, it was fine. I processed your request to leave ANBU today, and I'm able to say it went through without any glitches. You're getting a potential genin team in three months."

"Really? I've never really taught genin before...should be interesting."

"Glad you don't have any problems with it. How was your day?"

I laughed and began telling him about being dragged to the store by his sister. When I finished, he smiled.

"You think that was bad?"

"What, and your day was worse?"

"If you consider my entire lunch hour being spent listening to Kankuro give me 'The Talk', then yes.'

I choked on my glass of water. "Oh, man! I'm so sorry!"

"Don't be. Temari beat him to it almost a year ago." He was clearly smirking now. Before I could say anything, the waitress bustled through the door with food, and we quietly started to eat.

After a quiet and delicious meal, Gaara attempted to pay for it, but was overruled by the manager, who insisted on placing the meal "On the house". We left quickly, the darkening sky setting the stone buildings aglow. Gaara and I walked aimlessly for a while before he turned towards the oasis. We ended up on the sandy beach. I took off my heels and plopped carelessly onto the sand, not caring in the slightest about the dress.

"You're going to ruin that dress."

"So? I don't wear dresses unless forced."

"But I like it!"

I blinked. "You do?"

He blushed again. "It looks very beautiful on you. Ninja attire isn't exactly flattering most of the time."

I nodded, positive my face was turning pink. "More functional. It's always strange when my mother's not wearing a stethoscope around her neck."

"If only to give civilians or refugees the feeling of being examined by a non-shinobi."

"True enough."

We were silent for another moment, watching the full moon. The only sound was that of the gently stirring water and...were those...footsteps? My eyes unconsciously flicked to the left, where the sound was coming from.

"Gaara-am I insane, or are there...footsteps?"

Gaara frowned. "You're only insane if I am, too. I hear them."

Our voices had dropped to the barest whisper. Gaara crooked his lips to one side in a rueful sort of half-smile. "Or maybe I'm insane, and you know it, so you're playing along."

"Of course not, I seriously hear footsteps. Not at a normal pace, either. To slow, too deliberate. Almost as if the person walking is in a trance, or asleep."

"But they're too light for someone sleepwalking. They're like bare feet. Or paws."

I listened for another moment. They seemed to be getting farther away, but...they were closer at the same time. And it sounded like a bipedal gait, not like an animal summon.

Then, something white appeared on the opposite shore of the pool. It was nearly six feet tall, humanoid, but...not. I knew Gaara had once become a demonic form of himself at full moon, but he had gained enough mental control over the Shukaku that it no longer affected him. I had felt Gaara's beastly aura from my bedroom on several occasions, just like everyone else in the village with the mildest shinobi training. This was different. This was worse.

The white shape resolved into a clear image, at which both Gaara and I gasped. No human could look like this.

Sleek, shining ice-white hair flowed to the figure's mid-back. Huge, rounded cat ears showed above the hair, glowing white as well. The figure, clearly female, wore a sleeveless, beltless white robe with splits up the sides of the long legs, which gleamed with white fur patterned with black stripes. The arms were the same, and the long-fingered, delicate hands were tipped with inch-long, curved black nails. The figure's feet were huge, and they actually appeared to be paws. They even had long black claws.

By this time, the figure had walked onto the pool, standing directly in the center. But not like a shinobi. White mist billowed all around it, drifting out onto the oasis, and I shivered with cold. Desert nights can be cold, it's true, but this was a different kind of cold. The mist blew to the sides of the strange female creature, revealing its paws again.

It was standing on a sheet of ice. The water that had been lapping gently at the shore where Gaara and I had been sitting was silvery and still. Glittering in the moonlight, the ice created an exact reflection of the creature. It tilted its head up, revealing more white-and-black striped fur that probably covered its entire body. A strange, teardrop-shaped jewel glittered in the center of a black circle on its forehead, impossibly blue. You could clearly see large fangs. When it opened its eyes, something inside me wrenched.

Ice-colored blue eyes, colder than cold, and more terrifying than the worst genjutsu. They were Yuki's eyes, but they were her eyes if she had been raised in the Mist Village's ancient history, the truly dark days of the Blood Mist Village. They were the eyes of a monster.

I clutched convulsively at my heart, which was thudding irrationally. Gaara, when I forced my head aside to look, was wild-eyed, the first time I had ever seen him scared. He stood with the slightest of movements, but the creature, who I finally realized to be Osoreru, Yuki, or both, took no notice. She merely raised her head to stare directly at the moon.

Gaara pulled me off the ground so fast I couldn't say a word. I wouldn't have been able to anyway, for my brain seemed frozen, just like the surface of the oasis. He scooped me up and ran, while I stared, stunned, at one of my best friends cloaked in the form of a spectral tiger-demon, a monstrous creature from the earliest edges of time.

The further away from the oasis that we got, the better I began to feel. Gaara too, as the tension in his arms and neck visibly loosened. We stopped about a block away from my house, and Gaara tightened his loosening hold.

"What the hell was that?"

Another first. Gaara had never sworn in front of me before.

"I-i don't know...but I didn't like it."

"That settles it. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Beg pardon? I have a mother and a curfew."

Gaara buried his nose in my hair. "I honestly don't give a damn. If it makes you happier, I'll let you go to bed, then come in through your window."

"That is so Twilight."

"Damn it, Mikomi!"

I stared at him, shocked.

"I REFUSE to leave you alone when that...that creature is on the loose! I don't care what this is like, I'm scared! I'm never scared! That thing even scared Shukaku!"

He shut his mouth hastily.

"Gaara, it's okay. I know and I don't care. I need to tell you something very important tomorrow, but that experience took a lot out of me. I'll agree to those terms. We should put on a good act for my mom, then give me...ten minutes. Okay?"

He thought about it for all of five seconds. "Done."

Placating my mother was easy enough, and by the time I returned from the shower in my pajamas (consisting of Happy Bunny pants and a green tank top), my mother was asleep and Gaara was waiting in my room. He'd chosen my desk chair as his perch, and as I came in, he said, "You're right, this is very Twilight. And that was twenty minutes."

I grinned. "Oops."

He smirkd a little. "You look cute."

"Uh, I'm in my pajamas."

"Yes, and?..."

"Forget it. Good night, Gaara."

I clambered into bed. Gaara immediately sat on the edge. He drew his fingers through his hair nervously, then leaned down to kiss me. Even scared, he still had the ability to make me melt like a bowl of Jell-O. When he released my mouth, he smiled. "Good night."

"Good night."

A/N: So, so sorry I took so long on this! I wanted to make it REALLY good, so here's hoping my time was not wasted! I'm not trying to bash Twilight in any way at all. Totally coincidental, I assure you. This will be updated sporadically, as with all my other slowly growing stories, so if you want to know how a particular chapter of a story is going, message me! I think the next update will be either Scarecrow or Shinobi Element(AKA my Harry Potter/Naruto crossover)

Oh, and I know Gaara is quite OOC here, but nobody's really ever seen his personal side. Maybe he would be like that, given the chance. If you really want it to e accurate, too bad! Call it artistic license or creative leeway.

Special thanks to Jayde Malao(owner of Yuki) for nagging this chapter out of my brain! If it weren't for her, none of this stuff would ever get past Chapter One, incomplete!