Disclaimer: Don't own anything!

Gaara was in his office flicking his gaze over the security screens of the casino. Sipping his coffee while also pacing about in the room as he spoke to Kankuro on the phone. He imagined his brother doing virtually the same thing in Mizugakure.

"I'm going to talk to her in a few minutes," Gaara explained. "I want to let her smooth out a little."

"Tell me about her." Kankuro requested, knowing his little brother had a knack for people would give him a clear picture.

"I don't know. She's young. Skittish, a woman on the move to me. Trouble somewhere. She's way out of her element here."

Gaara kept moving as he talked, watching screens, the attitude of dealers. But his mind went back to recreate the image of Hinata Hyuuga, letting him hear that soft musical voice.

"She had an accent. I think from Konoha. Makes me think of a kindergarten teacher. The kind the kids love and would love to take merciless advantage of. She was broke and running out of fuel when she hit."

"Sounds like it was her lucky day, if your gonna win, might as well be broke, kindergarten teacher."

Gaara smirked.

"She apologizes all over herself. Nervous as a mouse in a cats convention. She's cute."

Gaara said thinking about those big moonlike eyes.

"And I have to guess naïve. The wolves are going to be tearing pieces off of her in short order if she doesn't have some protection."

There was a short pause on the other line before Kankuro replied.

"Wow. She must have made an impact on you with you are going to offer your protection."

"Just steering her in the right direction. The press is already hammering at the door. The kid needs a lawyer, and some straight talk, because the vultures circles the wolves."

He could see it now, her being overwhelmed by the barrage of requests and demands, begging for contributions, offering investments. A smattering would be genuine but the rest would be the oldest game in the world. Get the money and run.

"Keep me updated."

"Maybe. How's Haku?"

"Haku's good. Hosting some big charity fashion show here today. Making noise to come over about dropping by at your place. A quick visit. Misses the baby of the family!"

Kankuro sang the last part knowing it would irritate Gaara.

"Hn. So how is little Misa?"

"Great, just great. She's teething. Yuki and Shouta aren't getting a lot of sleep right now."

"The price you pay for parenthood."

"I had plenty of all-nighters thanks to you too, pal."

"Like I said…" Gaara grinned. "You pay money, you make your choice. I haven't forgotten that you both wanted a younger sibling so you got one."

Gaara glanced up at the quiet knock on his door.

"That must be the nervous fairy now."

"Who?"

"Our newest millionaire. Come in."

Then curled a finger when Hinata stopped only half way through the door.

"I'll keep you posted. Tell Haku I said hi."

"I got a feeling that you can tell her face-to-face in a couple of days."

"Good. Bye."

The minute he hung up the phone, Hinata launched into an apology.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude while you were on the phone. Your secretary, assistant, umm, came to bring me up and she said that I should just go in. But I can come back. If you're busy…I can come back."

Patience, Gaara thought. He waited until she'd run down. It gave him a good opportunity to look at her after a good nights sleep and food. She looked less fragile and incredibly…tidy, Gaara decided. In black khakis and a mint green blouse whose buttons were straining a bit in the chest area, a miscalculation on his part which he was not sorry for. And she was no less nervous than before.

"Why don't you sit down."

"Alright."

Hinata linked her fingers together and sat down in a deep-cushioned chair in hunter green leather. The chair dwarfed her, made him think of fairies again, a fairy on a toadstool.

"A question, are you of legal age?" Gaara went straight to the point.

"Yes, I am 23. Will turn 24 in December. Oh, I forgot to thank you for the clothes."

Hinata tried not to think about the underwear, not so to much to consider that HE was thinking of it. Gaara also didn't miss the color rising to her cheeks.

"It was very kind of you."

"Everything fit alright?"

"Umm…yes."

Her color deepened. The bra was a lovely dark blue with silver outlines of butterflies and edgings of lace. It was one size too small but to get it to that much precision. She didn't want to speculate on how he could have gotten it quite so accurate.

"Sleep well?"

"Like someone put me under a spell."

Hinata smiled, her eyes glowing a little in the dim lit office. Gaara noticed that she smelt slightly of Asian pear and red tea.

"Where are you from?"

"Konoha."

Hit number one but no elaboration, Gaara thought.

"What did you do in Konoha?"

"I'm…I was a librarian."

Close enough for hit number two, Gaara decided.

"Really? Why did you leave?"

"I ran away."

Hinata blurted it out before thinking. He was just staring at her intensely and was looking at her as if he was really listening to her. Also the fact that he had a demeanor that said you-can't-lie-to-me-for-I-can-tell.

Gaara push away from the desk and settled himself on the other chair beside her so that their faces were closer, eyes more level. He spoke softly, as if he was talking to one of his nieces or nephews.

"What kind of trouble are you in, Hinata?"

"I'm not. I would have been if I stayed, but…"

Then her eyes widened.

"Oh, I didn't do anything. I mean I'm not running away from the police."

Because she was obviously distressed, Gaara had to smother his laugh as best as he can, he couldn't even imagine her getting a parking ticket.

"I didn't think that, but people generally have a reason why they are running away from home. Does you family know where you are?"

Hinata's eyes dulled from the moonlight glow they were emitting.

"My family haven't worried about me since I was 10 years old. I've been disowned and if they wanted to have me back it would only mean they want the money. I have been on my own since I was sixteen, Gaara. They won't worry."

Gaara felt bad. In his teens, he was raving about how annoying and hateful his parents were to him and how he was arrested for the pettiest things, like thievery. He got pretty chummy with the police officers since he was a frequent delinquent. And here was a person who really had it hard.

"I'm sorry."

"It's nothing to be sorry about. I was pathetic to them so they washed their hands off me once I started to support myself. At least they have waited until then."

"So you decided to get away."

"It may have contributed but that is not why I ran away. I lost my job a few weeks ago."

Hinata remembered back to the humiliation.

"I was going to lose my apartment. Money was a problem. After college, I didn't have much saved and the bills were stacking up. I guess you could say I'm no good with budgets."

"Money won't be a problem now."

Gaara reminded her, wanting to see her smile again.

"I don't see how you can give me all that money."

"You WON the money."

Gaara took her hand and nudged her towards the screens.

"People step up to the tables, every hour, every day. Some win, some lose. Some play for the entertainment, some play to make it big. Some play the odds, some play the hunch."

Hinata could only watch in amazement. The way everything moved. Dealing of cards, stacking, racking or slipping away the chips.

"What do you do?" She asked.

"I mostly play the odds. And the occasional hunch.

"It looks like a theater."

"It is one, but with no intermissions. Do you have a lawyer?"

"A lawyer?"

The amused interest that was in her eyes disappeared.

"Do I need a lawyer?"

"I'd recommend one. You're going to discover you have friends you have never heard of, and people who will want to offer you a terrific opportunity to invest. The minute your story is out, the press will crawl out of the woodwork."

"Press? Newspaper? Television? No, I can't have that!"

Hinata started to pace before facing Gaara. Gaara thought she was tame as a kitten, but apparently this little kitten was more like a baby tiger. Young and scared but lethal claws and fangs at the ready.

"I will not talk to any reporters."

Gaara bit back a sigh. This one would definitely need a leading hand through the press.

"Young, cruel family background, financially strapped librarian from Konoha walks into Shukaku and drops her last thousand yen-"

"It wasn't my last." Hinata insisted.

"Close enough, into the slot and hits the pot. Kit, the press is going to do handsprings with a lead like this."

"I don't want it to get out. It will reach Konoha. He'll find me."

Gaara's eyes then started to freeze. His aquamarine eyes turned to glacier blue. (See those documentaries with the glacier bits underneath the sea. Yeah, that color."

"Who will find you, Hinata?"

"Sasuke Uchiha. He is a very prominent businessman in Konoha. For some reason, Sasuke wants to marry me. He insisted."

"I believe women have the liberty of saying 'no thank you'"

"Yes of course."

It seemed so simple when he said it, Hinata mused. He probably thought her stupid.

"But what Sasuke wants, Sasuke gets. He always finds a way to get what he wants.

"And he wants you."

"Well, at least he seems he does. It was an arranged marriage between my Father and his Father when we were young. We were told who we were supposed to marry since we could walk. When my family disowned me, I thought it would be canceled but he wouldn't let it. I don't understand what I have done to have caught his eye on a man like him."

"Are you kidding?"

Hinata blinked. "What?"

"Never mind." Gaara murmured. "So Sasuke wanted to marry you, and I take it that you didn't. What then?"

"A few months ago, I said I would when he officially asked me. It seemed like the only reasonable thing to do. And he assumed I would, anyway. He assumes very firmly and he would hear no other word. I regretted my decision the moment I said yes but he wouldn't listen to me. There was also the ring thing, too."

Fascinated and entertained, Gaara cocked his head.

"Ring thing."

"It's silly really. I didn't want a diamond engagement ring. I wanted something different, just …different. But he didn't hear that either. I got a two-carat diamond, which was properly appraised and insured. He explained the investment value. I didn't need to hear the investment value."

"No, I don't imagine you would."

"I didn't expect romance, from him. He is not the sort of man that would lavish a woman with romantic notions. But I wanted something, some sign that he loved me."

Hinata sighed.

"But he doesn't love me at all. I won't be able to settle. People say I'm lucky but I'm trapped, smothered. He was very angry when I tried to give back the ring. So furious, but then he wasn't. He said that I would come to my senses soon and that we would forget that ever happened. Two weeks later, I lost my job. Then my apartment. They talked about cutbacks and my performance evaluation. I was so shocked that it took me awhile that the Uchiha's own the library and they own the apartment building. He had to have known that I would be crawling back."

"Sounds to me that you gave him a good kick in the ass. Not as much as he deserved, but a solid shot."

"He'll be humiliated, and very very angry. I don't want him to know where I am. I'm afraid of him."

The ice returned to Gaara's eyes and he growled his next words.

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, Sasuke doesn't need to use physical force when intimidation works so well. I just want to disappear for a while. He just wants me because he can't tolerate being refused and I suit the needs in a wife. Neat, quiet, educated and behaved.

"You'd feel better if you stood up to him."

"Yes, but I'm afraid I won't."

Gaara considered a moment.

"I'll do what I can to keep your name out of the press. The press should be able to run with the mystery woman angle happily enough for a while. But it won't last, Hinata."

"That is all I need. Thank you, Gaara."

"Okay, let's deal with basics. I can't distribute the money yet. You don't have identification for one, so it makes things sticky. You'll need to get some. Your birth certificate, driver's license, that sort of thing. So we're back to a lawyer."

"I don't know any. Just the firm back home who handled the disownment documents and I really wouldn't like to use them."

"They wouldn't do, not for a woman who wants to start a new life from scratch."

A genuine smile bloomed on Hinata's face, drawing Gaara's attention to her full pink lips.

"I guess that is what I'm doing. I want to write books and draw my own illustrations."

"What sort?"

"Love stories, adventures, fantasy. I'd like to excel for adults as well as children."

"Sounds rational. You were a librarian, so you must love books. Why not write them. You might even consider in getting a laptop."

Hinata's eyes grew with his statement.

"You're the first person who hasn't laughed at me. Sasuke was appalled the rest have never taken me seriously. I-I-I…thank you."

"Sasuke is an idiot and so are the rest. Anyway, my brother-in-law is a lawyer and although he is as lazy as a hippo he is the best. You can trust him."

"Thank you so much. But what about you? I mean your part. What it means to you, this place. You don't have to pay me all at once," Hinata said in a rush. "It can be in installments or something."

On impulse, Gaara reached down, cupped her chin in his hand and studied her face.

"You're incredibly sweet aren't you, Hinata?"

Hinata's mind washed clean, her heart did one long, slow twist in her chest and seemed to sigh.

"What did you say? I'm sorry."

Gaara skimmed his thumb over her jaw line. Fairy bones, he thought absently, and catching himself wondering about her. He warned himself and stepped back.

"The Shukaku never makes a bet it can't afford to lose. And you should stop with the apologizing it's a bad habit. I'll advance you some cash."

He stalked over to his desk drawer and took out some money.

"A couple of thousands should hold you."

"What should I do?"

"Get your car towed, go shopping, go play, get a massage, a facial, sit by the pool. Enjoy yourself. Have dinner with me."

He hadn't meant to say that, hadn't a clue where it had come from.

"Oh"

He was frowning at her, which made her more confused.

"Yes, I'd like that."

Feeling awkward, she rose to put the bills into her pocket.

"I don't know what to do first."

"It doesn't' matter. Just do it all."

Unable to help herself she beamed at him.

"I should not take more of your time. You saved my life. I know it sounds dramatic but that is how I feel."

"You saved yourself. Now take care of it."

"I'm going to."

She offered her hand to him in which Gaara took and a red blush arose on Hinata's cheeks when she felt him skim his thumb over her knuckles. She quickly fled without her feet touching the floor.

Gaara shut the door and stuffed his hands into his pocket staring at nothing particular. Hinata Hyuuga the librarian was not his type, he mused. Far from his type. The little pull he felt was just concerned interest. He assured himself. A brotherly concern. Almost. It was her eyes, he supposed. How can anyone resist those big eyes that glowed like the moon? Then there was the shy hesitation in her voice followed by those quick outbursts of enthusiasm and energy. She was sweet, pure and innocent.

Which landed him right to the point. Not his type. Women were safer when they knew how to play the game. Hinata Hyuuga had no clue.

Just steer her to the right direction and wave goodbye. Gaara promised himself.

With this in his mind he went back to his desk and picked up the phone.

"Matsuri, get me Shikamaru Nara."