Gaara very nearly fell over when a blond ballistic missile hit him. The only reason he didn't use his sand on it was because of one simple fact.
Naruko was supposed to be in the village today.
He looked down to find said blond hugging him openly, with her girlfriend looking between horrified and exasperated.
"It's been a while, Naruko-chan," he said finally.
He then looked at the raven-haired girl Naruko brought with her.
"Subaku no Gaara, current Kazekage of Suna," he said, extending his hand.
"Uzumaki Nozomi, Naruko's girlfriend/bodyguard. I apologize for that, she broke away before I realized what she was planning."
Temari, who had watched the entire thing with open amusement, snorted.
"I've met Naruko. There's a reason why we had only the most trusted people join us outside the wall... it was so she could get it out of her system," she stated flatly.
Temari knew from brief exposure to Naruko that she was very much a touch-friendly type of person. If she could get away with hugging those she liked, she would. And considering how close she was to Gaara...well, it was only logical to have their reunion take place outside the village where the bodyguards wouldn't take offense to Naruko's antics.
Now that she had that out of her system, they could enter the village.
Normally diplomatic missions meant that they would have to stay in one of the nicer hotels. But since it was just Naruko and her girlfriend, Gaara insisted they stay with the siblings instead.
The council had been appalled, but Gaara overruled them. He knew Naruko would never dare try to hurt him or his siblings. Besides, it wasn't like Naruko would care.
"So do you want to eat first or show us what you're planning to trade for an allegiance with Suna?" asked Gaara.
"Food first," said Nozomi flatly. Naruko nodded in agreement.
"Wherever you would recommend. Nina-chan only lets me have ramen every once in a while and according to her I already used up the amount she'll let me have before we came," said Naruko pouting.
"I don't care if you are a stamina freak, or if the fox keeps you from experiencing vitamin deficiency. I refuse to eat ramen every single day," she stated flatly. Seeing the look on Gaara's face, she said "I know about the bijuu, and frankly I see no reason to treat the container as a monster just because some idiot didn't think things through."
Temari grinned at her.
"I have a feeling Nozomi-san and I will get along just fine," said Temari. It was like facing a raven-haired, somewhat flat-chested version of herself.
"Just don't try to steal Nina-chan to have your way with her...at least not unless I'm allowed to join in!" chirped Naruko. She wished she had a camera to catch the way Gaara stumbled on nothing upon hearing that.
Almost as funny as the looks on Kiba, Shino, Chouji and Shikamaru's faces when she told the same thing to Ino and Hinata with a straight face. And judging from the immediate nosebleeds they got upon considering that rather blunt offer, it was pretty obvious they were thinking about that scenario.
Much to Naruko's open amusement, Temari didn't seem as offended by the offer or embarrassed as Ino and Hinata had. Then again, considering any boyfriend (or girlfriend) she had before Gaara changed would have to eventually face a homicidal red head, it was little wonder she was somewhat open to suggestions.
Kankuro, who up till that point had remained silent, snickered.
"Would you be offended if I asked if you didn't mind taping it?"
Naruko snorted.
"Like I told Jiraiya...the only person allowed to speculate about my fun-time with Nina-chan is me. The one time I caught him spying on us for his stupid books, I burned all his research notes and let the girls slated to come here have a little target practice."
"So no chances of us reading about it in your own version of Icha Icha?" asked Gaara with a straight face.
Naruko grinned, and looked very much like a mischievous fox.
"Oh, I didn't say that. I just said I wasn't letting him write about it. Once Uzu is recognized as an official village and things more or less settle down, I'll write the series myself, with Nina-chan doing the editing," she replied.
"Suddenly the idea of this allegiance is looking much more appealing, and I'm hoping you'll send the first editions my way," said Gaara. Kankuro nodded in complete agreement.
Naruko put her arm around Gaara's shoulders with a fox-like smirk.
"Let me put it this way... you and Kankuro are far more likely to get first dibs on the books than Kakashi will, unless he does some extreme sucking up. He's still on my shit-list," said Naruko.
The cry of "Materialize!" echoed across the training ground. Nozomi and Naruko were in their Robes, and after a brief spar, demonstrated the Otome powers.
Gaara was impressed, but more importantly so were the council members. The Otome were going to be Uzushio's secret weapon and export, at least to the shinobi villages. Only those allied to Uzushio and more importantly, Naruko, would be getting one of the girls as bodyguards.
And because death was a common occurrence in the Elemental Countries, the scientists at Garderobe were removing the GEM function that would insure mutual death to the Master and Otome in the event one of the signals was cut off. Or to be more exact, it gave both parties a delayed reaction that allowed them to contact Naruko to establish a new contract.
A week might not seem like much, but it was more than enough time to send a messenger bird or fly to Uzushio and contact Naruko.
As the lone Pillar of the shinobi Otome, she was in charge of the entire thing.
"I do believe you've sold my council on the idea," said Gaara dryly.
From the looks on the miser's faces, he was correct.
Naruko beamed at him.
"Shall we talk shop?"
Gaara nodded.
In exchange for an alliance with Uzushio and sponsoring their claims as a shinobi village once more, Gaara would receive four Otome as bodyguards, all from desert climates. They would augment his shinobi guards, since they didn't have any set chakra nature.
Uzushio would also share medicinal plants in exchange for some of the more 'in-house' medicines such as anti-venom and plants from the more arid areas. Considering Konoha kept playing off the failed invasion to make Suna pay through the nose for their medicinal plants, except the bare minimum, the council was very happy that they could get the same plants for almost half what Konoha made them pay for it.
"GAH! I hate dealing with politics," said Naruko once the treaty was signed.
Nozomi would have pulled her pigtail, but it was braided up for the meeting.
Temari on the other hand, snorted.
"That's only because you're a simple creature, and politicians love to twist their words and their meaning," she stated.
"I would disagree, but sadly we had two different classes and four different teachers back at Garderobe teaching us to read between the lines of what people say."
"So Gaara, find any lucky girl or guy to date yet?" asked Naruko with an impish expression on her face.
"Sadly no. My reputation is unfortunately working against me, even after being elected. That, and there aren't many who have caught my interest," said Gaara.
Naruko's grin widened.
"I wonder if Mikoto-chan would be offended if I brought you along...to pick out your four Otome of course..." said Naruko.
"I thought you lose your those powers if you dated a man?"
"Not all girls are meant to be Otome. Besides, there are a few Uzumaki over there who might be interested in you. Or maybe people from the village who agreed to share their technology that's based on the Otome system but doesn't have that stupid no-dating guys requirement."
Nozomi groaned.
"You're not considering setting him up with..."
"What? Midori-nee-chan has trouble finding a date since people are turned off by the fact she leads the leftovers from the Black Valley!"
"Who is Midori?" asked Gaara.
"She's a victim of severe chakra-poisoning, though most of that problem has been taken care of once I figured out what it was. She's able to use something similar to Otome powers, but she won't lose them if she falls for a guy. Her people love her, but she has trouble dating because of the fact she's the village leader and her part in killing a few Otome. If you like her, we might be able to bring her over here and claim she's here for a diplomatic match up...they're used to limited resources like water and food," said Naruko.
Nozomi sighed.
"Come to think of it, Midori was interested in acting as a contat on this side, since it would be easier for her people to become shinobi and avoid the chakra poisoning if they came over. The problem being that they had no idea which village to settle in," said Naruko.
"I would have to meet them, but I'm sure we could arrange something," said Gaara.
"I don't think Midori-san will appreciate you trying to set her up with someone who's barely sixteen," said Nozomi.
"Considering she's always claiming to be seventeen, I don't see the problem," Naruko shot back cattily.
"Enough politics. Have you two ever been to the Kunoichi-only hot springs? Jiraiya's tried for years to find it, but we've hidden it so well it's never come up once in Icha Icha," said Temari.
Naruko perked up.
"Think they would be offended if I wrote about it?"
"I think so long as you ask first, they might not care. It's one thing for a super pervert like Jiraiya to see it, it's another for a known kunoichi to see it and do a little advertising," said Temari.
Gaara and Kankuro were eagerly viewing the kunoichi hot springs. Not even Gaara, who was the current Kazekage, had seen them.
To their surprise, it was perfectly ordinary...though Naruko made sure to point the camera away from any details that might give away the location. She had promised Temari not to share that even with her brother.
She said nothing about sharing what the inside looked like. Besides, she was going to use this as her 'research' later once things settled down enough that she could write it. Having an extra source of income sounded like a good idea, as she wouldn't be a kunoichi forever...and writing was one of the few things she could do even from a hospital bed in the event she fell sick.
"Naruko, quit perving on them," said Nozomi with a light tug on her braid.
Naruko had worn her hair down in a single braid, which gave Nozomi something to pull on to keep her in line.
"Why? Jealous I won't want to perv on you later, Ni-na-chan~?" asked Naruko with a light laugh. Temari snorted in amusement, as it was pretty clear that was the reason why Nozomi was jealous.
At first everything was normal...they entered the sauna and started to relax. Then Naruko got handsy about fifteen minutes in. She hated being still.
That was when Gaara and Kankuro both developed simultaneous nosebleeds. Mostly because when the older kunoichi realized Naruko was willing to share and Nozomi didn't mind either, it became a total free for all. And that was before Naruko used the shadow clone jutsu to outlast even the seasoned kunoichi.
By the time the two had passed out from blood loss (though Gaara outlasted his brother in that regard) it had devolved into an all out girl-orgy.
When they came back, Temari took one look at her brothers and then at Naruko.
"You didn't."
"I said I wouldn't reveal the location of the sauna. I made no promises about recording what happened inside for research later," said Naruko grinning.
"You mean they just saw..." said Temari, her face reddening in embarrassment.
"Judging by the dried blood, I'd say they got about half-way before they passed out from their nosebleeds," said Nozomi, looking at the stains.
Temari sighed.
"I am so not cleaning that up."
"Make them do it as punishment," suggested Naruko innocently. Temari laughed outright.