Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. It has been a busy week. I hope you like this. It isn't what I intended chapter 15 to be but this popped into my head and demanded to be written instead. I promise 16 is in the works. This is just to tide you all over in the meantime.

Sandstorms and Falling Leaves

Chapter Fifteen: Robes and Pants

If Naruto noticed that Gaara suddenly always wore her cloak when she snuck into his room, he didn't think much about it. The redhead was relieved not to have to explain. She was afraid he might say she needed to stop sleeping over, for the sake of her reputation.

She would protect her reputation. It was none of his concern.

The redhead had written to Baki as soon as she and her siblings had arrived home from their meeting with the Hokage. Her letter asked if the council was trying to stir up any rumors about her and also requested his opinion on Tsunade's plan to show unity and strength at the chunin exam.

It had been nearly a week and she was expecting a reply any day. She didn't expect the package that was delivered by a breathless Suna ninja as she was training with Hinata one afternoon.

"Kazekage-sama." The young woman knelt in respect and held out the large package.

Gaara noticed a scroll tied to the top of the box and took it first.

'Kazekage Gaara,

I have heard only that you have been seen spending a great deal of time with Konoha's jinchuriki and that you seem to be very close to each other. It is suspected that you are romantically involved with him but that is purely speculation at this point.

As for the other matter, I believe you forgot some things when you left Sunagakure. I have rectified this small oversight for you. I believe my answer will be apparent when you see them.

Sincerely,

Baki

Jonin of Sunagakure'

The redhead turned her attention to the box, still held out by the dark haired Sand ninja. She cut the cord holding the lid on, with a kunai, and then lifted it off slowly. Inside were her Kazekage robes.

She replaced the lid and took the box from the messenger. "Well done. Rest in Konoha for tonight and return to Sunagakure in the morning...and tell Baki that I got his message. Dismissed."

The dark haired Suna ninja nodded sharply and vanished.

Hinata stood back and watched the brief exchange. It was interesting to see how different the redhead was with her subordinates. The messenger ninja had been deferent and her eyes had shown with pride as she addressed the young Kazekage. The redhead had commanded the woman's respect without even trying.

'It's nothing like the way she interacts with her siblings or anyone from Konoha. Though I guess her brother and sister are her subordinates too...but she doesn't command them like that.' The Hyuuga heiress pondered the quiet Suna ninja thoughtfully. 'It's easy to forget sometimes that she's the Kazekage. She treats me like an equal.' Hinata felt a flush of pride at that knowledge and wondered if the redhead had any idea how much their friendship had come to mean to her. 'Probably not.'

Gaara had taken the top off the box again, and was touching the heavy fabric almost reverently. Baki's message was perfectly clear. He wanted her to show the council she was still the Kazekage. He certainly didn't want the job. It was part of why she had picked him to serve in her absence.

Baki preferred to fight his battles in the field, rather than behind a desk. Oddly, though she enjoyed a good even fight every now and then, Gaara had found she had a knack for politics and a level of patience for desk work that both her siblings found disturbing. It was soothing to deal with forms all day, and it was far easier to relate to people from a professional standpoint rather than a personal one. It also gave her something to protect, a focus outside of herself that she had desperately needed when it first occurred to her to take the job.

She thought back to her rather unorthodox rise to power. The council had actually been trying to pressure Kankuro to take their father's place for some time before Temari suggested Gaara do it instead. The blonde had been mostly joking, at the time half the villagers in Suna still made signs to ward off evil when the redhead passed by. It had gotten Gaara thinking though, with Shukaku mostly under control and Matsuri beginning her genin career, the redhead had had little to occupy the long hours of Suna's days and nights. After a week of mulling the idea over, Gaara had simply gone before the council with Temari and Kankuro in tow and informed Suna's flustered elite that the position of Kazekage had been filled. They had barely protested, too afraid of the demon.

Gaara smirked at the memory. She had planned to try to win the council's support that day, had a whole slew of arguments already mapped out in her mind. Instead, it had been their ingrained fear of Shukaku that got her the position of Kazekage. None of her words then would have mattered in light of what the council thought the redhead was, an unstoppable monster.

'And now, it doesn't matter to them that I was a good leader for Suna. It only matters that I'm female...and without Shukaku I'm no longer a threat in their eyes.' She smoothed out a wrinkle in the sturdy fabric she was still eying. 'I think it may be time they were shown otherwise.'

Hinata cleared her throat and the redhead hastily closed the box before turning to her friend.

"Are we going to train any more today?" The blue haired girl asked with a raised eyebrow that would have looked more at home on Kiba.

"I need to take this back to my apartment first." Gaara said slowly. "It would not do for these robes to get stolen. Not with so many foreign ninjas around."

Hinata nodded. "Of course. May I walk with you?"

The redhead blinked, the Hyuuga girl had never asked to see where she lived before. Still, she didn't see the harm in it so she nodded agreeably.

Hinata didn't know exactly what she had been expecting Gaara's living quarters to look like, but the modest apartment didn't fit the mental image she had conjured. She followed the redhead through the sparsely furnished living room and down the narrow hallway.

Gaara pushed open the door to her room and the blue haired ninja trailed after her as she went to a chest at the foot of her bed. The Suna ninja knelt and carefully stored the blue and white robes inside the battered chest, covering them with other clothes. She would hide them better later but this would do for the moment.

Hinata wandered around the room, noting the carefully made bed and the desk strewn with half finished missives and writing utensils. She peered out the window and smiled at the two cacti soaking up sunlight on the tiny balcony. They were the only personal touches in the redhead's room. Just then, something hanging on the footboard of the bed caught the Hyuuga girl's keen eyes.

Something orange...something Hinata would recognize anywhere.

'How did Naruto-kun's pants end up in Gaara's room? Unless...' The shy girl turned crimson at the turn her thoughts had taken.

"There. We can go now." Gaara announced, standing and brushing dust off her pants. She looked up when her words failed to produce a response from the other girl. "Hinata...is something wrong?"

"I...um...no!" The flustered teen finally managed to squeak out, shaking her head vigorously to dislodge the suspicions that had settled there. "Let's go."

Gaara slipped through Naruto's window that night with a parcel crudely wrapped in brown paper. "Here."

"Oh cool! How did you get them clean? I thought they were ruined." The blonde asked as he looked over the orange fabric, noting the carefully mended hole where the shrapnel had caught him in the leg.

"I have...substantial experience with blood stains." The redhead pointed out, sounding slightly uncomfortable with the admission.

Naruto blinked as he realized what she was talking about, but soon his smile returned in full force. "Well, I can't thank you enough for salvaging these for me. With Tsunade-baachan cutting me out of the mission roster until I make chunin, money is a little tight right now."

"It was nothing." Gaara shrugged one shoulder awkwardly. "I'd do the same thing for Temari and Kankuro if they asked." She didn't point out that her siblings never wore anything as impractical as orange pants. Getting that blood out of the bright fabric had taken over an hour, and the careful mending was a favor she now owed Kankuro, since she couldn't sew to save her life. She just knew she'd regret it when he called it in.

Still, as Naruto leaned in and kissed her gently, she suddenly felt it was well worth the trouble.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Super short chapter and mostly fluff, but this little idea wouldn't leave me alone and it doesn't really go with what I'm doing in the next chapter. So you get it as a little bonus to tide you over until I get that one done. I'll try to be quick about it. Please review! It feeds my creativity.