Finally an update right? It took awhile to write because of summer writer's block then computer problems but yea. It's here now. But now there's one more problem. I'm sorta kinda banned form using the computer because of some school stuff so I'll only get away with using it now and then. You can imagine that updates won't be very often then. I'll be my best though. Until next update. Later.

Chapter 20 - maybe a change

"Finally!" Temari exclaimed jumping up happily. Sanji opened an eye to watch her lazily for a moment before closing it once more.

"Yes, yes, yes. You get to go to Konoha and see your precious boyfriend that you refuse to tell us about." Kankuro said waving her off from his place perched on the edge of Gaara's desk. "Just remember you're going to plan for the chunin exams not to hang out and get laid."

"Whatever you say bro." Temari said before smiling at the group of girls that would be going with her on the mission. Etsuko grinned right back at her. This was her chance. The other three girls would be going as well so it was obvious that they would all be aiming for the same thing. Temari was lucky that it was Etsuko that found out and not one of the others. If It had been Aiko the others would have found out simply because she wouldn't be able to stop the teasing. Hoshimi would have gotten a mission to Konoha sooner to scour the village until she found some one who fit the bill and stalk them until she either deemed them fit or threaten him in to breaking up with her. Natsu would be right behind her doing pretty much the same thing. She could live with Etsuko knowing because the girl would be satisfied just to know that she was the only one who knew especially if she found out on her own reasoning. It would be testament to the fact that she wasn't that useless. Temari had never doubted her. This trip was bound to be interesting with them trooping along, even if it was unnecessary.

"When can we leave?" Aiko asked seriously.

"You can leave now if you want." Gaara told them as he tended to his paper work. Paper work never ended for a kage.

"Great. My bags already packed." Temari commented brimming with excitement.

"Mine too." Natsu said and Hoshimi nodded in agreement.

"What?" Temari asked surprised. She hadn't expected for them to be prepared for this mission.

"We're going hunting." Natsu

"We had planned on find some way to get ourselves into any mission you had that went to Konoha." Hoshimi explained smiling serenely at them.

"Well I guess Etsuko and I have to pack then." Aiko commented

"Nope. I'm packed too." Etsuko said and Aiko glared at her.

"Fine. I'll go pack." the red head said throwing her hands up. She stomped irritably out of the room slamming the door behind her. The girls chuckled at their friends behavior.

"All of you go get ready. I wanna leave now!" Temari said happily. She just couldn't stop smiling. Hoshimi rolled her eyes but said her good-byes and left. Etsuko followed quickly behind her.

"You know, you can always just tell us who it is." Kankuro said when they were gone. Temari's smile grew wider.

"I know."

"We will find out. It makes no sense to keep it from us." Gaara stated and watched with a frown as Tenari approached them. Why would his sister keep this away from them?

"It's not that I don't want you to find out." Temari said resting a hand on each of her brothers shoulders. "It's that I don't want to tell you. I'm sure you'll eventually find out on your own and that's so much more fun then me telling you."

"You're playing with us?"

"Why would I do that? I merely don't want to tell you yet." Temari answered before almost skipping away from them. Sanji rose from his nap by the wall to follow. "I'm off! See you in a awhile!"

The brothers watched as their cheerier than usual sister exited the room. Gaara sighed softly before turning back to his work. Kankuro stared at the door in thought.

"I'm not sure if her being so happy is a good thing. It's weird." he said finally. Gaara gave a grunt of agreement. It wasn't something he saw often or at all. She was happy but not that happy. "Too weird."

"We must find this person. We have many things to discuss with him."

"Many is an understatement."

"Kankuro." Gaara called catching his brothers attention. Kankuro turned slightly to look at him. "Get off my desk."

The blonde look up at the huge gates before them. They were finally there. She could hear Etsuko send up a cheer from somewhere behind her. They practically breezed through the formalities at the gate and rushed their way to the hokage tower. the meeting was unexpectedly short since Tsunade wasn't feeling that into anything but the sake she was hiding under her desk.

The minute they stepped out of the tower Temari was approached by an excited Sakura.

"So anyway," Sakura began after she was introduced to the four girls. "I just came to collect you to come hang with a few of us out on one of the training grounds. It's more of a welcoming back, quick catch up thing cause some of us have mission a little later."

"Uh sure." Temari agreed inwardly hoping Kiba was there. She turned to look at the girls that had come with her. "You coming?"

"Yup." Etsuko answered immediately.

"That would be nice." Hoshimi agreed politely.

"Obviously." Aiko stated.

"No thank you." Natsu said flatly.

"Come on. What if he's there?" Aiko tried to convince her. Natsu didn't answer and Aiko knew she had her.

"Well. Let's go then." Temari said before they followed Sakura. Temari and Sakura talked about how they had spent the time they had apart. Soon enough they got to the meeting place and Temari couldn't help but smile at seeing her friends and Kiba. Sanji ran over to Akamaru immediately for the bigger dog to check him over. She quickly introduced everyone to the girls from Suna. The girls were busy watching her interaction with everyone except Etsuko who was examining everyone. Soon a grin spread across her face and she turned to Temari. Temari instantly knew they had been found out.

The little meeting went well and soon everyone was heading back to their business. Kiba looked up from attending checking Sanji to talk to Temari.

"Are you going to see Hana? He looks fine but she'll want to see him." he told Temari.

"You're right."

"Who's Hana?"

"Sanji's vet." Temari answered at the same time Kiba answered: "My sister."

"Oh. I going to the hotel then." Aiko said and Natsu agreed with her. The search had proved futile.

Hoshimi looked the two worriedly then told Temari. "I'll go with them and make sure they don't do anything stupid."

"I don't want to go yet." Etsuko said immediately and grabbed onto Temari's arm. Kiba watched in well hidden annoyance until Hoshimi, Aiko and Natsu left. Now he couldn't have any free time with Temari.

"She knows." Temari said instantly. Kiba stared at her blankly.

"What?"

"She saw us that time in the alley." Temari explained. Kiba looked at the beaming girl beside Temari. "Didn't see you at first but she recognizes people easily."

"Hey, you gonna try and kill me now?" Kiba asked Etsuko.

"No but I'll let you know I will kill you at the first sign of anything I don't like." she answered sternly before smiling at him brightly. "So shall we go?"

"Isn't she sweet?" Temari asked and Kiba grunted. This was going to be a long trip for him. Akamaru and Sanji followed behind playing around with each other.

"So what's your rank?" Etsuko asked Kiba.

"Chunin. What about you?"

"Jo-nin." she answered easily. She glanced back at Sanji trying to get a stick from Akamaru. "How come he's so big? He's huge!"

"He is?" Kiba asked looking back as well. He vaguely remembered hearing that question before. "Didn't realize."

"It's so cool!" she said excitedly. Temari watched them talk with a small smile. Etsuko was just checking what he was like but she could tell the girl already liked him.

"What do you think of bugs?" Kiba asked after a moment of thought.

"They can be cool." Etsuko answered with her usual smile.

"What do you think about bugs that suck peoples chakra?" he asked more specifically.

"Thats so cool as long as you don't mean my chakra. Where do you find those?" she asked wide-eyed

"My friend has them," he paused for dramatic effect. "in his body."

Etsuko's eyes widened spectacularly. "How does he do that? Can I see them?"

"You'd have to ask him."

"Can I meet him?" she asked excitedly already bouncing on her feet. She turned to Temari. "Can I go see him please? I want to meet him. Can I? Please? I promise I'll return Kiba when we find him."

"Uh..." Temari fumbled and looked at Kiba who shrugged. "Um, ok."

"Be back soon. See you at the house. Akamaru will stay with you." Kiba said pulling Etsuko with him at full speed. Temari watched them leave before turning to the two dogs who were watching her expectantly.

"Wanna run too?"

"So what was that about?" Temari asked when Kiba finally got home and found her simply sitting in the kitchen. He smiled brightly at her before giving her a hug.

"Now we don't have a shadow." he said in her ears.

"You just gave her to Shino." she stated taking in his scent and his warmth like a sponge.

"Yup, they look sweet together." he said with a smile as he looked down at her.

"Sweet? Together? Are you trying to set them up?" Temari asked with a disbelieving look.

"Not really. Just introducing them to each other with the hope that they end up interesting each other enough for friendship and even better, love." Kiba told her and she slapped him lightly. He smiled at her again before releasing her. "Did you see Hana?"

"Yea, Sanji is fine. He just has to keep taking the medicine for a while." Temari answered happily. "He's outside playing with Akamaru. They get along pretty well, don't they?"

"Yea. Akamaru really likes Sanji. He's like a little brother to him, I guess." Kiba told her.

"Can we talk?" Temari asked and Kiba's smile faltered for a moment.

"We're talking now..." he commented and Temari gave him a look that said 'obviously'. "Ok, yea, go ahead."

"I was thinking about us over the past few weeks." she began and Kiba instant turned his full attention to her. It was already coming to an end. "I like our little arrangement. It's so much fun playing with these people and it's funny to see what they bet on. It's so fun hanging out with you too. I really like it but there's something missing."

"I get it." Kiba said nodding. He hadn't expected it to last but that didn't stop him from wanting it to continue. His mom was right: he was stupid and nuts.

"I don't think you do." Temari told him. She had watched him carefully. He may think he had hidden all emotion but she had grown close enough to him to be able to tell when something bothered him at-least a little. "The thing that is missing is the actual real feel."

"What?"

"I want us to actually do this." she said and Kiba gave her the 'are you serious?' look. "I still want to mess with everyone's head but I want to really date too. I realize I really like you and it'd be great if we could be serious about this. What about you?"

For lack of any properly functioning thought, Kiba simply replied: "Ok."

"Just ok?" Temari asked with a frown. It was like he was just going along with it. Did he actually want to do this?

"Sorry. You just kinda caught me by surprise." Kiba said sheepishly, coming back to reality. Temari raised a brow at him. "I just never really expected you to do this for real."

"You know if you don't want to, you can just say so."

"But I do. I want to." Kiba said quickly before his cheeks tinted lightly under his Inuzuka markings. "That's kinda what I wanted from the start."

"Are you serious?" Temari asked surprised. Kiba nodded with a small smile. "You liked me?"

"Well yea. I told you before, right?" Kiba said.

"No! You haven't!"

"Yea I have. I tell you that a lot of times." he told her. She could remember him saying that that he liked her before.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that's what you meant?" Temari said slapping him. He chuckled and shrugged. It hadn't even stung.

"I can't believe you didn't figure that out." he told her before looking her in her eyes and leaning nearer to her. "Can I kiss you now 'cause it's driving me nuts?"

"And tomorrow we can have a real date?" Temari asked putting her arms on his shoulders lightly.

"Yea."