You stretched and peered at the brilliant full moon above you. You smiled with joy and thought about your recent elevation to Jounin rank. Hokage-sama gave you your exam mission this morning and you passed with flying colours. Basking in the light from the moon, you continued to walk to your house. With a light skip to your step and humming softly to yourself, you walked down the street and approached your door. Just before your hand reached the knob, you paused. Something didn't feel right.
Before you had time to further asses what was amiss, the door swung open and a chorus of congratulations broke out. "Huh?" Was all you could muster. "Congratulations on passing your Jounin exam." Sakura happily pulled you through your own door. "Oh, thanks…" You were still flustered by the group. Once you got into your home, you looked around at the group gathered in the house. Everyone was there. Your friends from the leaf village, the sand siblings, and even Sasuke lounged in your living room.
"Now that everyone's here, we should play this game I read about." Ino announced.
"Great, this'll be troublesome." Shikamaru sighed and you couldn't help but agree with him.
"What's the game?" Naruto asked full of curiosity.
"Well it's called 'Seven Minutes in Heaven'." Ino smiled.
"How do you play?" Tenten asked.
"When you have a party with guys and girls together you have the guys write their names, favorite animals, favorite colours, or something on a sheet of paper and put it in a bowl. The girls then draw the slips of paper out of the bowl and have to stay in a closet for seven minutes with the guy who wrote on the paper." Ino explained.
"What happens in the closet?" Kankuro asked.
"Ummm…the thing I read said the guy gets to do whatever he wanted with the girl." Ino answered. You looked around at everyone's faces and saw some people were excited while others looked like they dreaded the game
"I knew this would be troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.
"Let's play!" Naruto excitedly shouted. After some cheers mixed with a small amount of grumbling, you retrieved the materials needed to play. Ino passed the paper and pencils to the guys and told them to write the name of their favorite flower. Sakura passed the bowl around and the guys put their paper in it. "Since this party is for ______, she gets to draw the first name." Sakura smiled and handed you the bowl. You reached your hand into the bowl and pulled out a slip of paper with Marigold boldly written on it.
"Marigold." You lightly spoke wondering who that could be. A few barely audible gasps filled the room and you saw Gaara walk to the closet. You smiled and followed Gaara into the closet. Sakura wished you luck and closed the door. The Kazekage walked to the back of the wall and leaned against it. You followed suit and leaned against the door. "What do we do?" Gaara asked with what you thought might be curiosity.
"I don't know. We could make sand castles." You jokingly suggested. Gaara never really scared you, in fact quite the opposite. You thought he was an attractive boy and always thought he'd be the best at making sand castles.
"Sand castles? What do you mean?" He queried.
You looked at him, though you couldn't see much in the dark. "You know, sand castles. You get a group of friends together and get some wet sand to make little castles and things out of." You smiled brightly at him.
Gaara hung his head a bit, "I've never made sand castles."
"No way. Then Kazekage-sama, we'll have to make sand castles sometime. I bet you'd be really good at it." You smiled and walked over to him. Gaara just kept his head slightly lowered and you wondered if he believed you'd play in the sand with him. On impulse, you reached your hand up and touched his cheek. At your touch, Gaara shot his head up and backed away a bit. "Oh, sorry, I just wanted to see if your sand defense would let me touch you, or if it would block me. Since I'm not going to hurt you I guess it will let me touch you." You smiled and delighted in your little discovery. Gaara looked down again and you wrapped your arms around his neck and hugged him. You could feel him freeze at your touch, but you didn't let go. "Kazekage-sama, I promise we'll make sand castles together." You declared and lightly brushed your lips to his. "That's so you don't forget, okay?" You explained as a slight blush coloured your cheeks. In the dim light, you saw Gaara nod and a light blush covered his cheeks as well.
You smiled at him, and suddenly felt his arms wrap around you. He pulled you close to his body and held you in a tight embrace. Your light blush turned into a deeper one. "Kaze…" You began, but he pulled you tighter to his body, and you didn't want to break the mood. With a light sigh of content, you leaned into him and let him hold you. The two of you spent the rest of the time like that and were disappointed when the time up call came. "Time's up!" Temari shouted and opened the door.
The two of you quickly backed away from each other, and Gaara was the first to exit. You followed him out and could see a faint blush still on his face, and felt yours burn as well. "Ooohhh. Looks like my little brother has a friend." Temari teased. "That's my brother." Kankuro joined in the teasing. The rest of the group joined in, but more muted since they didn't know how Gaara would react. Temari passed the bowl on and you followed Gaara to a corner and spent the remainder of the game telling him about the sand castles you and your friends used to make.