.

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Time ticks by, and my heart beats more slowly
Counting my life away
When will it be my time to go?

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Hourglass

Chapter 5: Guilt by Association

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"Come closer, dear…" the mystical voice urged from within the black depths of the shadowy tent. "Come, come… do not be afraid…"

She took a small step forward hesitantly, looking left and right around the deserted fairgrounds for her companions. The place was supposed to be abandoned, so why…?

"Quickly!" the voice commanded sharply as a chilling breeze swept by, flapping the folds of the dark tent and bringing a stale, stagnant smell to Tenten's nose. She took another reluctant step forward, trying to peer through the thick darkness inside, trying to find the owner of the voice—

Suddenly, a pale, old, gnarly hand shot out from within the dark tent. The long, ancient fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist, and Tenten gasped as she felt herself being pulled forward inside roughly, into the unknown…

"Tenten."

Another hand grasped her by the shoulder from behind, tugging her back gently but urgently. It was a large and reassuring hand, and a comforting warmth spread throughout her body like wildfire at the feel of it. The pale, ugly hand on her wrist jerked back as if burned and receded silently back into the black depths of the shadowy tent.

She whirled around to face her savior—

Tenten gasped, her eyes flying open at the deafening clang of the weapon dropping to the tower floor. She groaned and put a hand to her face when she realized where she was.

It was the sixth day of her mission in Suna as a hired shinobi on border patrol and already she was falling asleep on the job. Tenten's eyes immediately shifted to the right and left of her, trying to inconspicuously check that she was still alone on the tower. When her eyes and senses betrayed no other presence, Tenten let down her guard and sighed. Her gaze drifted down to the fallen sword breaker and she bent at once to retrieve it. She held an endless fascination for the foreign weapon and had been deep in thought as to how to use and incorporate it with her other weapons and techniques when she had— quite accidentally, for sure— fallen asleep.

Tenten stretched out her sore limbs and let out a huge yawn. She tried hard to remember the contents of her dream, but could summon no more than images of a darkened tent. Twirling the dagger in her hands, she peered down the tower for what was probably the second time in four hours, her eyes expecting the usual barren desert lands. She was not disappointed in her assumption. The wide expanse of the outer border was lifeless as usual. Visitors and travelers to Suna were quite rare.

Sighing, Tenten made to turn back to examining the sword breaker when a far-away speck of color to the left caught her eyes. It was immediately visible in the bland, rusty brown terrain and she squinted, trying to make heads or tails of the strange appearance. It was rapidly approaching from the west. Abandoning her position, Tenten pointed her telescope towards the western border and a happy gasp escaped her lips.

Temari and Kankuro are back!

A wave of excitement filled her, and Tenten was momentarily taken aback by her longing. It seems she'd become spoiled in Team Gai; a mere few days in her own company and already she was turning into a needy attention-seeker. Lowering her telescope, she quickly squandered the idea of calling out to them. It was childish and immature to ask for their time when they were most likely worn out from their journey.

Her chocolate-brown orbs were glued to the fast-approaching duo. There were so many questions she wanted to ask them about their mission, a few being "How's Konoha?" and "Did you see any of my friends?" and perhaps even, "What was your mission about anyway?" The last question was an unspoken taboo between allied nations— that is, asking friends from other villages about their missions— but it wouldn't hurt to try, right…?

She watched as they came closer and closer to the entrance of the western border up until they disappeared from view. Tenten reluctantly returned her attention back to the much-ignored northern expanse and glumly fulfilled her remaining hours of duty for the day.

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"Um… hello?"

She snapped to attention, whirling around wildly in surprise. "Huh?" she managed intelligently, trying to cover up the fact that she had been caught, once again, in a dazed stupor.

A man her age, maybe older, was standing on top of the tower's staircase with an uneasy smile on his face. He was tall, with dark inky violet-brown hair. His looks were above-average, but nothing extraordinary. He scratched his head anxiously.

"Hi… I'm supposed to be on duty now?"

Blinking, Tenten quickly scanned the horizon for the sun's position and her mouth fell open. She brought a hand to her face roughly. "Ugh! What's the matter with me?"

"Miss?"

Tenten peered at the man between her fingers and sighed. "I'm sorry! I was just a little distracted…"

The lie of the century that, the back of her mind mocked.

Tenten felt the beginning pricks of shame and she was almost certain that the man would start criticizing Konoha due to her poor representation. To her utter surprise, he began to laugh instead.

"It's okay, no worries!" he said, his eyes lighting up with amusement. He came forward and extended his hand out to her. "I fully understand! In fact, I sympathize with you. I'm Yaoki, by the way."

Tenten took his hand with a sheepish grin and shook it once. "I'm Tenten."

They exchanged smiles before dropping their hands to their sides. Yaoki forced a cough, looking away somewhat awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you Tenten-san… but why haven't I seen you before?"

"Oh! I'm the Konoha recruit, didn't you hear?"

Yaoki looked back at her, his face completely confused. "Konoha… recruit? You mean you've been assigned to watch our borders as a mission?"

Tenten shrugged and nodded, slightly wary of her new acquaintance's surprise. "Yup. I thought everyone knew about it."

She watched as he frowned in thought. He hesitated before replying, "If you don't mind, Tenten-san, may I ask why…?"

"Why what? Why I was recruited?" said Tenten, her eyebrows shooting upwards. "Isn't it because of Suna's ninja shortage…?"

"Huh? Ninja shortage?"

"Yeah! I mean, isn't there—?" the brown-haired kunoichi paused suddenly, folding her arms across her chest. Something weird is going on around here...

The two shinobi stared at each other in a baffled silence before Tenten began anew. She chose her words carefully and when she spoke, it was with a slow and controlled voice masking her frustration. "Apparently, according to our respective Kage, there has been a short supply of ninjas in the hometown watching over borders… That is why I was sent here."

The man before her crossed his arms as well. "That's strange… All of my friends are still in the village and they aren't even on any missions. Is there something that Gaara-sama is hiding from our village?" he mused, getting lost in his thoughts. "But he wouldn't… he promised to never operate behind closed doors… that he'd always inform the people of what was happening…"

"Maybe it's something that only our Kage knows about?" Tenten suggested, frowning when an overwhelming feeling of deja vu washed over her. If she remembered correctly, she'd had the same conversation with Kankuro and she'd even suggested the same thing. Maybe only the Kazekage knows, Tenten repeated unconvincingly in her head, her mind working overtime. She'd just assumed it was something that was top secret without really knowing. Come to think of it, on the first day that guy… Isago or whatever… he didn't know anything about it either….

What the hell's going on around here?

"Ah, you're right!" Yaoki exclaimed suddenly, making Tenten jump. His smile returned and his expression was relieved. "Perhaps Gaara-sama is working with your Hokage on some problem your village is having."

Tenten fought the urge to scoff at him. "What? My village? I'm here as a RECRUIT to guard your village's borders!"

Yaoki visibly deflated at this. "Y-you're right… but Gaara-sama would never keep anything hidden from his people! That's why it must be Konoha's problem. It would make sense as to why he's not saying anything, don't you see?"

"No, I don't," said Tenten flatly, biting down the rude remarks that almost spilled forth, "Sorry, but I just don't know the Kazekage enough to have that much faith in him. Besides, if that's true, then that would mean that my Hokage lied to me… and why would she? Lady Tsunade would never—"

But you don't know your Hokage that well either, right Ten-chan? a sickly sweet voice taunted in her head, born of the nagging doubts plaguing her mind. Tenten clenched her fist and wished with all her might that she could fight the evil figment of her imagination. So then why all this faith in her, hmmm?

"Impossible! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"W-wait a minute!" Yaoki exclaimed in surprise, holding his hands out in surrender.

"How dare you suggest that my Hokage is lying to me!"

"I never—!"

"Why would she do such a thing, huh? You're just making things up!"

"Wait a min—!"

"You just don't want to admit that your perfect Gaara-sama isn't telling you everything—!"

"Tenten-san, please—!"

"Maybe it's your village—"

"Will you—"

"—not mine, thank you very much—"

"—just stop for a sec—"

"—and—!"

"HEY, HEY, HEY!"

Their shouting match came to an abrupt halt at the sound of the third voice. Yaoki and Tenten glanced at the unwelcome intruder on top of the staircase, their faces flushed— one being flustered and the other enraged. Isago met their eyes with amusement and curiosity. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"What's going on here? I'm not exaggerating when I say that half of Suna probably heard you two just now."

Yaoki took this opportunity to finally get his say in, taking advantage of Tenten's momentary silence. "Tenten-san, I never meant anything of the sort! Truly! I was merely theorizing. Everything I said, please forget about it! I…" he trailed off, flushing a darker shade of red, "I did not mean to upset you, and I apologize. T-to make it up to you… may I see you again?"

The other two shinobi stood frozen on the spot, shocked. Isago looked like he was witnessing the new gossip of the century while Tenten was just beyond stunned. A new pink tinge crept up on her cheeks for an entirely different reason than the first. Is he… asking me out on a date?

Time ticked by torturously slow and Yaoki was visibly losing confidence with each passing second. When he finally decided that he had made a fool out of himself and should just vanish from sight, Tenten heaved a bemused sigh that broke the thickening silence as well as the mounting barriers of tension. She cocked her head to the side, seeming to contemplate her new suitor. "Well…" she said slowly, biting her lip, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to…"

"Really?" the young man badgered at once, his face lighting up. "Then can I meet you here tomorrow night?"

"I guess," said Tenten slowly, wondering whether she was leading him on. Truthfully, she just was not looking for a relationship at the moment. Her "Neji problem" had dealt a seriously damaging blow to her emotional state. Then again, she shouldn't mope forever, right? It wasn't wrong to be open to new possibilities. Although I doubt I'll ever end up with this guy, Tenten thought idly. Besides, it would be a fun change from being cooped up in my room polishing my weapons… right? And anyway, this guy looks like a total pansy… If he tries anything, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to handle him…

Tenten watched as Yaoki twisted his hands anxiously, looking terribly flustered. The weapons mistress had a fleeting vision of Hinata Hyuuga. "G-great!" he stuttered brightly, "I'll wait for you Tenten-san!"

And with that, Isago and Tenten made their way down the tower staircase, both silently mulling over the events that had just occurred. When they reached the last step, they turned to each other simultaneously.

"What were you two yelling about earlier?"

"You really don't know anything about the ninja shortage?"

There was a bland silence, and Tenten reached up to rub the side of her neck awkwardly. "Um, you first," she offered.

Isago took the offer with no contest. He was a shameless busybody, and he glared down at her with the purpose of extracting every last detail of the earlier events. "I'm sorry if I happened to interrupt a lovers' spat," he said carefully, luring her in to take the bait.

Tenten shrugged nonchalantly, waving off the incident like it was nothing. "Oh, don't worry about it. Anyway, it wasn't a lovers' spat. He just said something stupid and I got all worked up over it. Nothing big."

Isago frowned at the young woman's impassiveness. "Yes… perhaps it was nothing, seeing as you two made up pretty fast."

His face fell comically when the young woman waved this aside also with an indifferent flick of her hand. He had been anticipating a blush, or furious denial of some sort. "Nah. I'm not really looking for a relationship right now."

"And why is that?" Isago pressed on, trying hard to maintain aloof.

Tenten raised an eyebrow and made a mental note to introduce Ino, Konoha's own infamous busybody, to Isago someday. "It's too much of a hassle… especially long-distance relationships. They never work."

"Why meet with Yaoki tomorrow, then?"

The kunoichi sighed. He gets points for persistence, she thought wryly. "To be honest, I don't know. Maybe I just didn't have the heart to let him down."

Isago seemed to struggle over what to say next and Tenten took advantage of his momentary silence to ask her question. "So… do you really know nothing about the ninja shortage that Suna is having?"

The older man paused in his thoughts and considered her briefly. "Unfortunately, I am none the wiser. Truly, it would be best to ask the Kazekage directly, if you wish to know so much."

Tenten frowned, her expression becoming stony. She had a bad feeling about everything that just was not adding up. "You know, I think I'll do just that!" she said, before heading off to the Kazekage's building at a sprint without so much as a goodbye. She was determined to get some answers, and answers she will (hopefully) get.

Time to get to the bottom of this.

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"She's outside."

They had heard her sprinting down the hallway, breaking them out of a very heated debate.

"Thank you, Kankuro, for stating the obvious."

The face-painted man rolled his eyes at his sister's snarky reply. She'd been unbelievably tense throughout the entire meeting, and it looked as though she wasn't about to loosen up any time soon. After all, it seemed that she was alone, pitted two against one, in the argument.

The three sand siblings were quiet as they listened intently to the sounds and voices coming from outside the office door.

"Hey, hey! You there!" came the weapons mistress's agitated voice, "Do you know who's in here right now?"

"Um, Gaara-sama's brother Kankuro and his sister Temari are debriefing their mission with him at the moment," a jonin passing by replied. Temari quickly identified the voice as Otokaze's, one of the building's guards.

"Bullshit!" the girl yelled, causing Kankuro to smirk slightly, "I saw them return over two hours ago! What kind of mission report takes that long?"

"Hey girly, don't ask me…"

They heard the jonin's footsteps resume its journey further down the hall until it was inaudible. Tenten, however, stubbornly remained outside, grumbling. Silence fell on both sides of the office door and Kankuro and Temari turned back to face their younger brother. He was staring aimlessly down at his desk, lost in thought.

"I still think we should just tell her," said Temari stiffly, renewing the earlier debate with a hot-headed stubbornness that she was known for.

Gaara and Kankuro sighed simultaneously. "No," said Gaara, glaring when Temari opened her mouth to retort, "And my decision is final."

Temari glared back defiantly, but said no more on the subject. Gaara motioned to the door in the silence. "Let her in."

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Tenten's eyes were watering from her extended effort of trying not to blink. She was convinced that if she stared long and hard enough, the door would somehow magically fly op—

"Hey!"

Kankuro and a sullen-looking Temari emerged from the dark depths of the Kazekage's office, looking somewhat sheepish. The puppet-master returned the brunette's greeting half-heartedly while the blonde beside him busily ignored the both of them.

"How was the mission?" Tenten asked brightly, wishing desperately for any news of her home village.

"Oh, uh, fine. It was fine," said Kankuro, while Temari shot a not-so-subtle glare in his direction. Tenten gave the two siblings a strange look before turning to the older kunoichi.

"What's up with you?" she asked.

Temari turned away so fast that she was already halfway down the hallway before Tenten could even process that she'd moved. "Tired," the blonde responded stiffly, her back turned to them. She raised a hand in a nonverbal farewell before disappearing around a corner.

Tenten placed a hand on her hips, her lips pursed in a frown. "Wow. She's a little grouchy, isn't she?"

"Nah… hahaha…" Kankuro denied awkwardly, forcing out a laugh that had the brunette looking more suspicious. "She's just tired, like she said."

"Could've fooled me," retorted the weapons mistress tersely. Here she was, waiting for the two of them in excitement, and off goes one of them like she was running away from the plague itself!

Kankuro forced out a cough. "Anyway," he said, casually tugging on the hood of his hoodie, "Are you here to see Gaara?"

Tenten nodded slowly. "Yeah, I was just gonna—"

"Oh! Well don't let me hold you up!" Kankuro interjected hastily, cutting her off with an abruptness that wasn't all too subtle. "I'm feeling a little tired too, so I'll see you later okay?"

Tenten stared after the quickly retreating back of the puppet-master in wonder, both a little offended and surprised at the two siblings' less-than-warm greeting. What's with them? she thought curiously, watching as Kankuro disappeared around the same corner his sister had passed through earlier.

Shrugging off the strange incident for later perusal, Tenten whirled around to find blue-green eyes staring straight at her.

"Whoa!" she screeched, her hand flying to her heart in surprise. "What the—?"

There stood Gaara, hands impassively folded across his chest. He said nothing, only inclined his head to his office door, as if to say after you.

"Kazekage-sama! You scared me!" she wailed, taking deep breaths to still her rapid heartbeat.

Gaara shook his head. "No," he murmured. "Gaara."

Ahh… not this again, Tenten thought sullenly, recalling every moment it had happened so far. After the 'incident,' as she liked to call it, when Gaara had dubbed her his official friend, he refused to answer her whenever she addressed him by his formal title. She just wasn't comfortable with the informality, but for some reason the man before her stubbornly refused to move on with the conversation unless Tenten called him by his name. She had been surprised at first by his childish insistence, but along the way, it had somehow begun to turn into a game. Being friends with him is more troublesome than I thought… Man, I'm starting to sound like Shikamaru…

"Okay, okay… Um, Gaara," she said slowly, and as an afterthought added, "—sama…"

The redhead stared at her stonily.

"Look, can we just…?" she began, stepping forward to enter his office. He sidestepped smoothly in front of her, almost glaring.

"Say it…"

Tenten stared back stubbornly. She didn't know why she was acting equally childish, but for some reason—

"Is that an order, Gaara-sama?"

"Yes."

"I didn't think friends had the authority to order each other around."

"Friends call each other by name."

"But Gaara-sama, I am calling you by name."

He glared her now, for sure this time. "Say. It."

Tenten sighed heavily. "Why do I have to?"

"Why don't you want to?"

"Because! You're the freaking Kazekage!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. So what? he seemed to be asking.

"Geez! Why do we have to do this every time we see each other?"

When he didn't answer, Tenten frowned.

"Alright, alright!" she relented, giving in as usual. "Gaara, can we please go in now?"

His only response was a curt, approving nod as he turned around to lead the way through the door.

"God, we really have to stop doing that…" Tenten muttered, half amused, half annoyed. She thought she caught a glimpse of a smile on his face before it vanished in the darkness of his gloomy office.

Tenten followed him inside and stood unsurely— but determined as all hell— in the middle of the room as she waited for Gaara to seat himself behind his desk. When he finally looked up, she stepped forward and took a deep breath.

"I just want to know…"

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It was nearing midnight, but sleep would not come to her.

Temari stood, facing the moonlit panes of her window. Her head was swimming with thoughts of Konoha's recent problem and she tried in vain to keep focused on trying to forget the entire affair. Somehow, flashes of a blonde, blue-eyed girl wrapped around a tall, lazy shinobi kept invading her already-muddled mind.

It shouldn't have bothered her so much. And yet… here she was, sighing like a lovesick schoolgirl.

Temari gritted her teeth and shook her head free from thinking of such things. She pulled on her ninja attire and grabbed her battle fan, striding out of her room, down the hallways, and out of the building. A walk might soothe her.

The chill of the night was a welcome distraction, and an oddly pleasant calm descended upon her being. Already, she was feeling much better. The normally busy streets of the village were quiet for once, and the silence was warm music to her ears. She was barely ten blocks away from the Kazekage's building when a figure, cleverly hidden in the shadows, caught her eye.

The girl was lying on one of the side benches of the street, her arms tucked and folded behind her head. One leg was dangling down from her perch, her toes almost touching the dirt beneath her. She was gazing intently at the dark sky above her, and Temari identified at once what she was doing.

"Looking for stars? I thought that was a kids' game."

Tenten jolted from her intent search and turned to face the sand-nin. She smirked as she made to sit up, allowing the older girl room to sit beside her. "Great! Looks like I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep tonight… But I thought you were resting?"

Temari lowered herself next to her and sighed, offering no answer. She tilted her head back while Tenten did the same. They were quiet for a long time, searching the black sky for stars.

"Hey…"

Tenten glanced at the blonde kunoichi, a little surprised by her uncharacteristic hesitance. "What?"

Temari turned her face away so that Tenten could not see her expression. The older girl seemed to be resolving some inner conflict within herself, and Tenten wisely waited while her companion found the words to say. After a short moment, Temari turned back to her with a solemn expression.

"Do you… Do you know that blonde bimbo from your village?"

Tenten blinked. "Huh? Bimbo?"

"That— that annoying blonde chick that's always hanging around that lazy-ass!"

Tenten raised an eyebrow, taking in Temari's angrily flushed face. Wait a minute. Blonde bimbo? Lazy-ass? That sounds familiar…

"Are you, by any chance, talking about Ino and Shikamaru?"

Temari snorted, folding her arms to her chest. "Ino?" she sneered, "Is that her name? How fitting!"

Is this what's been bothering her? Tenten's lips curved in a small, knowing smile as she settled herself back against the bench, stretching lightly. "What about her?"

"They're dating, aren't they," said Temari dryly. It wasn't a question.

The weapon's mistress shook her head, bemused. "Them? No way! Shikamaru thinks all girls are troublesome, while Ino… well, let's just say she likes 'em pretty," concluded Tenten, thinking back on Sasuke Uchiha and the blonde's newest conquest, Sai.

"Didn't look like that when I was there. They were practically all over each other, it was disgusting!"

Tenten shook her head again, smirking slightly. It was tempting to tease the sandy-blonde, but Tenten figured it was too early for such comments. The older girl was clearly distraught, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

"No," said Tenten placatingly, "Ino's just really, really possessive of her teammates."

"You don't say," Temari deadpanned.

Tenten laughed. "Seriously! She'd be like that with Choji too, if you decided to go for him."

When Temari said nothing, Tenten continued. "Ino's not used to competition when it comes to Shikamaru and Choji, so she's been spoiled by their attention. Those two don't have many female admirers in our village…"

Tenten's brows furrowed in deep thought. "Actually, come to think of it… I don't think they have any," she mused. "Maybe all the girls think that Ino has dibs on Shikamaru… and as for Choji, well…"

The brunette trailed off, mentally cringing at the direction that her explanation was taking. She immediately changed the subject, taking another route. "Anyway, you've probably noticed it, but standing next to Ino—"

"Makes you want to punch her in the face?" Temari interrupted seriously.

Tenten laughed. "No! Well, okay, maybe sometimes…" she conceded. "But it's enough to make any girl feel like a dirty sack of potatoes. It's not Ino's fault, of course… but then you understand why no one goes for Shikamaru. No one wants to compete with the feisty, gorgeous blue-eyed blonde." Well, maybe except Sakura Haruno, Tenten added quietly in her head, but she's another story…

"And yet you think that that lazy-ass doesn't want her?" The blonde's voice was heavily laced with skepticism, and it wasn't hard to understand why.

"Well, Shikamaru likes Ino, everyone knows that," said Tenten offhandedly, making the sand-nin freeze. "But as to what kind of like… it's pretty much safe to assume that it's nothing more than brotherly affection."

She paused, trying to read the sudden lack of expression on her friend's face. "And well, if it happened to be more than that, then I'd feel sorry for the guy. I don't think Ino would ever date Shikamaru seriously."

Again, Temari kept silent and said nothing. She seemed to be in very deep thought. Tenten smiled. "Still, don't expect that it'll be easy— Ino will fight to the death to keep what belongs to her. Better get your game on if you ever want a chance with her darling Shika."

At this, Temari stood up abruptly, dusting her clothes off. "Hmph," she replied, looking away. "You're mistaken. I never said I wanted that lazy-ass! As if!"

Tenten smirked as she watched the flustered girl storm away haughtily and called out, "He likes red dresses and lacy underwear!"

The weapons mistress only laughed when she received a rude hand-gesture, followed by a ferocious gust of wind that almost knocked her hair down.

And blew her worries away.

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"I just want to know… if there's something going on that maybe I should know about?"

He was staring at her impassively, his face the epitome of expressionlessness.

"Such as…?" he asked her slowly, his words weighing heavily upon her eager heart.

Tenten bit her lip anxiously, trying desperately to read his non-existent expression. She hated being left out of things! She hated being lied to! It was her number one and number two pet peeves, respectively. She hated it, hated it!

"I don't know. I guess this whole ninja shortage thing would be a good place to start," she said, calmly as she could. She took even breaths to simmer her rising temper. For some reason, she had an ominous feeling about all the recent events that had been happening to her, and Tenten wished with all her heart that it would go away. She needed to be soothed, to feel at ease…

But Gaara remained silent. He was looking at her with a solemn face, and Tenten's heart fell. She though in a panic, he's not going to tell me.

But no… He has to! I have to know—!

"B-because, I was sent here… for a whole freaking month, for crying out loud! Doing guard duty! I just— I mean, shouldn't I have a right to know, Gaara-sa—?"

"Perhaps."

Tenten blinked, surprised at his response but taking care not to show it. She waited apprehensively for his next words, but the silence stretched on.

"…And…?" Tenten prompted impatiently, frowning.

Gaara sighed and pulled open his topmost desk drawer. When he withdrew his hand from the compartment, Tenten saw that he was holding a silver hourglass in a carved, three-legged stand. It looked to be about nine inches tall, attached to a matching silver chain on one side.

"I will keep this hourglass right here, on my desk," he said, placing the small artifact on the right-hand corner of the mahogany desktop. They both stared at it for a short moment, before he continued. "You may visit my office whenever you wish during your time in this village, but I will not tell you anything regarding the shortage or other details I may or may not know about your mission."

His blue-green eyes flickered to her, effectively halting the retort she was about to make.

"I will not tell you anything," he continued slowly, his voice soft enough to be carried away by a passing breeze. "Not until the last grain of sand falls in this hourglass."

She stared at him, confused. "But wouldn't that mean that I'd only have to wait for an hour before—?"

She stopped in mid-speech as Gaara turned over the silver timer, her face contorting with disbelief as a mere pinch of sand fell slowly to the bottom glass and no more. The rest in the top glass remained still, unmoving.

"Hey! You're controlling the sand, aren't you?" she accused angrily, trying not to stomp her feet childishly in frustration. "That's not fair!"

He said nothing to her, and Tenten pouted in defeat. "The rest will never make it to the bottom, right?" she said dejectedly, her shoulders falling in resignation. "Is there even a chance for that last grain of sand to fall?"

He smiled a very small, enigmatic smile that she wasn't entirely sure was real.

"Perhaps."

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Only time will tell.

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End Chapter 5.

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A/N: Thank you so much to all of my kind reviewers.