Chapter Four
Pint-sized Confrontations and Cookies
The next morning Gaara was treated to a unique breakfast of freshly made muffins. He had never had a muffin before, and the ones that Hinata gave him were delicious. After brushing his teeth and trying to comb his hair, it was off to the Kazekage Tower, in hopes of straightening out a few things with his father. This was not something that he was looking forward to.
Hinata, however, wanted to get this out of the way as soon as possible, so off they went. It was about six in the morning, and the streets were quiet for now. Gaara had her hand in a death grip. He was frightened of the council and the guards. At least this time he wasn't going to face them alone.
However, as they drew nearer his confidence began to wane, and he became less sure of Hinata's motives. What if she was just trying to get rid of him? Was last night some kind of ploy to gain his trust? What was her plan, exactly? He stole a glance at her face. She was an oblivious, yet determined girl, and her eyes seemed sincere…
They passed the guards at the entrance; who gave the couple glares and snide comments. She whipped around and gave them a scorching look of her own, which surprised them. She was normally more timid than this.
They sat in the waiting room for a little while, then went in. She wanted to make sure that the slime-ball Kazekage was there. Gaara's grip on her hand relaxed a little, but she was a bit thrown off as to how still he was. He had also retreated behind a mask of sorts; his face had become expressionless. Most kids his age were unable to sit still for more than a few seconds.
When they entered the meeting room, she was faced with a bunch of glares and looks of disapproval.
"What is that doing here?!"
"Get that thing out of here this instant! This is no place for monsters!"
The Kazekage stood up, throwing a look of such hatred at Gaara that it shocked her to her core. This only strengthened her resolve.
"Since you asked, I have brought Gaara here because I had hoped you might have been concerned for your son's welfare. Evidently that was too much to ask."
"Watch your mouth, girl, you should know better than to speak in such a way to those who are better than you." Gaara's hand tightened around hers, but otherwise he looked unchanged. Hinata glared at the man across from her.
"If you are better than me, than I hope I remain a commoner for the rest of my life! I just thought that you should know that I'll be taking care of Gaara from now on. It is not good for a little boy to be on his own like this. Good day gentlemen." She walked out without bothering to get permission. She was late in opening her shop anyway.
Gaara was still trying to come to grips with the fact that he had a home. Even after being asked to get his things he was still in shock. He had a load of boxes to unpack; but most of it he didn't want, and he was torn between giving it away or selling it. Most of the toys were brand new; he had never played with them. His father and caretakers had given them to him before he had been kicked out. They had all hoped that he would amuse himself with them and wouldn't want to bother them.
The problem was that nobody had ever bothered to see what he liked to play with. They also never took into account just how much it sucked to play all by one's self all of the time. He was only keeping his books, pens, pencils and markers. He didn't want any of the other stuff. At least he had access to his clothes now, and the teddy bear that he kept hidden away.
While he was unpacking in one of the inn's many rooms, Hinata was busy filling an order. She had to bake five dozen cookies in five different flavors. Gaara wasn't sure what a cookie was, but they smelled really good. The inn was sort of run down, at least most of the rooms. The paint had peeled, the pipes had been shut off for the most part, and the electricity was spotty at best, a good reason for the breakers that controlled this section to be turned off. However, Hinata kept things very clean around here, and had given him one of the few working rooms that also functioned as her office.
The main entry room of the inn and the connecting restaurant served as the store of the bakery, although there were serious renovations that needed to be made. She simply didn't have the funds, and Gaara was acutely aware that he would be, quite literally, be eating up the few funds that were there. He had every intention of paying for his upkeep, first by dealing with the issue of the lack of shelves. He knew of several scrap yards in the area that may be able to help him in that department.
He also intended to get rid of the graffiti that was on the front of the building. These thugs were also going to have to go, one way or another. This was his new home, and Gaara was more than a little territorial, and he didn't like the idea of these guys acting like his new home was theirs. They thought that they ran the streets, and that they owned the night, but we'll just see about that. Tiny or not, he had more strength than most of the ANBU around here, and now that he had a good source of food, he would be only stronger, and he knew it. It was amazing what could happen once you found someone who cared about you.
In the meantime, he had a more important task to do, and that was figuring out just what these cookies were. He made his way stealthily to the kitchen. He knew that if any of her customers saw him, business would go down, and it was bad enough as it was. Eventually the people would figure it out, but he wanted Hinata to get a chance to prove herself to them before that happened, there would be more customers that way.
Hinata had made a few extra cookies of each kind and had set them aside. She thought that Gaara deserved a treat, especially with what had happened today. It still rankled her that his father could be so heartless.
A light tug on her shirt made her aware of his presence. She turned to see him gazing at her with those big green eyes of his. How could he look so adorable? She smiled at him.
"What are cookies?" His head cocked slightly to one side, adding to his cuteness.
"Cookies are a sweet treat, Gaara. Lots of people like to eat them with milk. There are lots of different kinds of cookies, but the most well known are perhaps chocolate chip and sugar."
"They smell good."
"Aw, thank you,. Here, you can have these, I had a few extra. This one is chocolate chip, this one is sugar, this is spicy oatmeal, this is lemon, and this is white chocolate macadamia. Want some milk?"
"Yes please," he said happily. They were still warm! The chocolate chips were still gooey! How lucky could he get?
That day he learned a very important lesson: cookies were, quite possibly, the cure for all of the world's problems.