I have edited previous chapters, and I'm pretty sure spelling mistakes have been fixed, though if they are still not fixed, please do tell me. R/R.

The last month for both Hinata and Gaara had flown by fast. Each day they would talk on the phone, and although it was mostly filled with soft whispers and a long silence, they just both enjoyed the presence of the other. So much so that Hinata would take long walks to the dojo where Gaara was often found. Although she wasn't as brave or daring enough to walk in and see Gaara, she would often catch a small glimpse of him either walking in or out of the dojo. Of course, she would duck behind a bush or pole so he wouldn't see her; he would often look back as if he did. She would mentally kick herself for being so foolish.

Gaara was the same as he always had been, yet he was different. He was still grouchy; he frowned and rolled his eyes at his blonde friend and other dojo members. However, he was a lot less violent and a bit nicer. He wouldn't shove people out of his way as much or glare daggers, providing no one had done something to provoke him. He enjoyed Hinata's company as much as she did, and she was making him feel something other than hatred.

He smirked when he thought of how she would come to the dojo every day and hide as quickly as possible before he could see her.

But he did.

He always saw her. She was an odd character, shy and very timid, though she wasn't as vulnerable as she probably would have thought of herself. He might have once thought of it as pathetic and weak, but with her, somehow, he didn't know of her as weak or pathetic.

The phone calls with her told him so.

Hansuke was the latest addition to the many caretakers the girls have had. She told him that, living with a wealthy family, she was often cared for by maids or nannies; her mother died some point after the little demon, Hanabi, was born. Her father, naturally, was overseas on a business trip to a foreign country. Of course, Hinata being the oldest was expected to take over her father's place and be the next head of the business. Recently, however, he had resigned from Hinata's role and was going to hand over the company to her little sister instead. Surprisingly, Hinata found no fault nor resentment with this decision. She accepted it.

That was what made her strong in his eyes.

Sitting on the cool bench on the wall opposite the lockers, he wiped his forehead with his damp towel and stretched his legs in front of him, enjoying the blood rushing to his legs.

Of course, he had told her some things of his life, though, like many people, he left out the things he knew she wouldn't be able to stomach. He told her he didn't have a fortunate upbringing like her; his mother died when he was very young, well as she was giving birth to him. He did have older siblings, though he hasn't spoken to them since he moved halfway across the country to get away from his abusive father, he used to fight as a young boy, and the dojo is what saved him from getting into the wrong crowd, Naruto is the one who saved him from an incident a while ago and is the reason why he had found out about the dojo and, also, he works another job to make ends meat.

Though he never told her what the incident was or where he worked, she never probed too far if he left out a few details.

He was very grateful.

Yashamaru. Especially his work. There were some things in his life that he could not and would never ever speak about again, such as his father or...

He killed people for a living.

He killed.

He was killed because he had no choice of it. Sasuke made sure of that. He was barely scraping by; he only had enough to pay rent and get food for Shukaku and himself, but that was it; even then, he barely had enough food for either of them. He couldn't afford the new shoes he desperately needed; he couldn't afford new clothes or furniture. Although it was a shady neighbourhood and crappy apartment, the rent always cost him.

If he wanted more money, he would have to work more for Sasuke. And he didn't want that; working at the secret downtown fight club was bad enough, but having to clear out entire buildings filled with Sasuke's enemies and killing them was worse.

Hinata didn't have to know.

"Gaara!" Naruto said he was leaning his shoulder on the doorway, towel resting behind his neck.

"Hm." Gaara nodded, looking towards him.

"Sasuke called..." He sighed.

He was needed again.

He sighed, "What does he want?" He asked, looking away to stare at the lockers again.

"Downtown tonight." Naruto pushed himself off the wall and walked over to sit beside the redhead, "If you were rich and lived outta here, I would recommend you to say no... But you aren't rich, and you aren't moving outta this shit hole anytime soon."

Gaara nodded, "Hm." he crossed his arms over his chest, "Your point?"

"Hinata." He nudged him in the arm.

He sighed, "No, I haven't told her... I can't tell her what I do just to get by."

"She will figure it out someday. He rolled his eyes and laughed. They always do."

"Hm." He closed his eyes, "What has gotten into you? You seem to be giving me advice on girls lately. Should I be worried or happy? Was that pink harpy of yours able to change the almighty Naruto into a good man?" Gaara scoffed.

"Hell no!" He shook his head, "I haven't spoken to her since I fucked her." He laughed.

"Thought as much.."

"I've just known you far longer than you'd like to admit; I understand your past just as much as anyone else... Love doesn't come easy for people such as yourself." He looked at his friend.

"Love doesn't come to me at all." He cranked his neck.

"Maybe, maybe not. She'd probably be a good fuck." He chuckled.

Gaara punched him in the gut, which resulted in a loud 'Hmf' from the blonde. He smirked, and then he got up from the bench and threw his damp towel at the blonde.

"I'm off." He said, not looking back at his blonde friend.

"And leave me to close up again!" He roughly gripped the towel over his head and threw it on the ground.

"Yep." Gaara nodded and continued to walk outside the dojo, hearing the faint whine of his blonde friend behind him.

He had to go when Sasuke called, he didn't have a choice, or else he would pay the price.

Hinata waited outside the dojo. Today was going to be the day. She would finally have the guts to walk past the pole she often hid from and see Gaara.

Today was going to be the day.

Hinata had prepared herself all day with Hanabi. She got up early to shower and, with the help of her little sister, was dressed to impress. She wore a purple cardigan, black single, and skinny blue jeans with black sandals. It wasn't her first reference, but Hanabi had just insisted.

Hinata sighed.

She took a deep breath, eyes closed and arms held up to her chest. She really wanted to see Gaara again. After their first date at the ice cream shop, Gaara had been extremely busy and couldn't meet up with her other than for her to see him at the dojo.

Of course, she did see him; well, more like she would hide behind a pole the moment she saw him; she was too timid to actually go up to him. Of course, he would ask if she would like to see him at the dojo and watch him train; she would stand outside the dojo often and debate whether or not she would go in.

She never did go in.

She was sure Gaara knew what was going on and probably laughed at how ridiculous she was, though he never said anything to her on the phone.

Opening her eyes, she saw Gaara walk outside with his old, worn-out slacks and shoes with no top.

He must have been done with training.

Taking another deep breath, she expected him to turn left to where his home was, which then she would run after him and demand another date, well, at least offer him a dinner date. Today, however, he turned right instead. Narrowing her brows, she dumbly stood on the concrete footpath as she watched his back walk to the completely opposite way he usually would go home.

She would know; she often watched him.

Stalked him.

Today, it seemed, he hadn't seen her, or she hoped he didn't. Shaking her head, she decided to follow him. Looking left and right on the opposite streets, she quickly ran across the road before a car could come speeding past.

Keeping a fair distance between the two, Hinata started to mentally slap herself for being so silly. Now was her chance; she could run up to him and ask him if he would like to go on dinner with her and maybe walk around the city. And yet, she was stalking him just as the sun was beginning to set.

Where was he going other than home?

Letting out a sad sigh, she was about to turn around when she saw Gaara walk down the end of a street into a building with a tall musclier man standing in front of the door. Gaara and the man exchange knowing looks, and the man lets Gaara in without a moment's thought. She wondered if he had something important tonight that she might be interfering with and that she should turn back now so she wouldn't embarrass herself or him.

Hinata twiddled her fingers.

Should she go in? Or should she turn around like she was doing before and go home? No, Hanabi told her she wasn't allowed back until she had spoken to Gaara, but where had he gone? Was it a club? Was he meeting up with someone important? Was he in trouble? God, she hated thinking that.

Was he seeing someone else?

Hinata's heart ached.

She shook her head. No, he wouldn't. He told her he hated cheaters and liars and wouldn't do it to her. Taking another deep breath, she mentally prepared herself.

She had her answer.

Bringing the cardigan closer to her body, she walked down the end of the street. Gaara was seen and walked up to the musclier guy. He was taller than she expected, scarier and brooder. He held no smile when she walked up to him, nor did her offer her a polite greeting; he just stared at her.

"U-Um, h-hello..." She greeted the tall man.

The tall man just nodded.

"U-Um, m-may I-I p-please g-go i-in?" She asked.

He still said nothing.

"U-Um..." Hinata trailed off.

"Hinata!" Hinata turned around to see a raven-headed man next to a blonde woman.

"Hello." The blonde woman greeted.

"U-Um, h-hello." Hinata greeted back.

"Hinata... This is Ino, my secretary." He introduced the blonde woman, wearing a sexy grey business suit that hugged her curves in just the right places and sexy black stockings with black shoes.

"We've spoken on the phone, actually." Ino walked up to Hinata and took her hand in hers, "Sasuke is a big grout, isn't he?" She winked at the confused girl.

"Ino..." Sasuke warned.

She waved her hand, "No harm, Sasuke." She looked at her boss.

Sasuke sighed, "J, please let the young girl and us in."

He didn't take his eyes off her, nor did he say anything; he stepped aside and let them through. Ino quickly grabbed the poor girl by the arm and led her through the doors before she could say 'thank you'.

It was then Hinata could smell the pungent stench of alcohol and cigarettes. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and held her breath for a moment.

"The atmosphere here isn't clean, I am afraid." Ino said, having read her mind, she tapped her nose, "After a while, you get used to the smell and forget it is there altogether." She laughed, looking back at Sasuke, who had a smirk on his features.

Ino frowned deeply.

Hinata let out a breath but almost coughed when she smelt the scent more potent than before. She looked at Ino, who was frowning deeply, "I-Is t-there s-something w-wrong?" She asked.

Ino looked at her, "Hm?" her eyes brightened when she looked at her, "Oh heavens! Everything is just peachy" She hugged her cheek to Hinata's.

Hinata's eyes widened at such closeness with the blonde woman; she wasn't as nearly as close with her own sister or even Sakura.

"U-Um..." Hinata began, tearing herself from the other woman's cheek and settled with her holding onto her own arm, "I-I've c-came t-to s-see-"

"Gaara?" The blonde interrupted her; Hinata nodded her head, "Why! That is just where we are going, too!" Ino laughed. "But we must let him finish his business before we can see him." She gripped the young girl's arm to steer her away from the hallway they were walking down into another hall.

"No." Sasuke finally said after a period of prolonged silence.

"Hm?" Ino questioned; she held a tight grip on Hinata's arm.

He offered her his arm, "Why don't we see Gaara now?" Sasuke raised a brow and moved closer to Hinata.

"O-Oh..." Hinata timidly grabbed his arm, and she was roughly ripped from Ino's grasp into Sasuke's.

"Sasuke!" Ino cut in.

"This way." Sasuke ignored Ino and walked down the narrow hall.

She could hear the music much louder; the piece was drumming in her ears. She could clearly smell the spilled alcohol and sweat of the others in the room; when she came down the end of the hall, she could see hundreds, no thousands of people sitting with others on small tables that held their glasses and cigarettes and in the middle of the table was money.

Money.

She couldn't hear anything but the loud crowd roaring; smoke littered the room like a thick coat of a blanket. When her eyes and nose adjusted to the smell and loud shouting, Hinata's eyes were trained into the middle of the room.

Gaara.

His back was turned away from her as he leaned on the red ropes; she could see the ripples in his back and muscles that adorned him; he was still top-less and wore his old slacks and shoes, although he had white bandages around his knuckles. He cranked his neck as the music changed and became louder; on the other side of the ring, a reasonably large man walked up to the ring, pulled the rope, and fling-shot himself onto the ring.

Gaara didn't seem at all too fazed; in fact, he seemed pleased.

Hinata held her breath as the referee introduced the two appointments; the large man was named large Triple XXX while Gaara was called Red sand.

She shivered.

She saw the referee lean in towards Gaara and whisper something into his ear, Gaara nodded, but his eyes were trained on the large man.

"Gaara is my best man; he is a brilliant fighter. He is the top man tonight; there is a hefty price on him for winning!" Sasuke shouted over the roaring crowd; they were still nearest the door, so she could still hear him clearly.

The bell went, and Gaara pushed himself off the ropes into the middle of the ring where the large man was waiting. At first, Gaara held his fist up and danced around him while the man started to throw the first few punches, which Gaara all dodged with ease.

Hinata played with the loose strings on the bottom of her cardigan; she was nervous just watching the fight and even more so when Gaara looked so small compared to the other one.

He looked puny.

"He will be alright; he always is. It will be over soon; just watch." Sasuke leaned towards Hinata's ear; Hinata jumped a little and looked at Sasuke; he nudged his head towards the ring.

Large Triple XXX was beginning to tire out, getting sloppy with his punches and puffing for breath. Gaara smirked.

He was more than ready.

Throwing himself at the bigger guy, he threw punch after punch until Large Triple XXX was beaten to a bloody pulp. Hinata had to look away from the scene; her stomach couldn't handle it.

Who was this Gaara?

This wasn't the man she really liked, was it? Maybe Hansuke was right; he was nothing but trouble. Hinata shook her head no. She was just being silly; Gaara had another job. Granted, he didn't tell her what it was; maybe this was illegal fighting downtown.

After Gaara beat the man bloody, he stood up, his once-white bandages dripping with blood; he raised his fist as several people from the crowd erupted in cheers.

"Come with me," Sasuke whispered in her ear, making her tear her eyes from Gaara to Sasuke. He lightly tugged her away from the doorway, and loud applauses and cheers filled the air as Hinata was steered away from the room.

Gaara tore his bandages from his hands and threw them in the garbage bin on his way to Sasuke's office. He had won another match, which of course, was a given. He was victorious; he triumphed.

Gaara stretched his hands and cracked his knuckles as he neared Sasuke's office; Ino was standing outside, nibbling on the end of her fingernails as if she was agitated.

She whipped her head around as she saw Gaara coming, "Gaara!" She rasped.

He gave a curt nod and walked into the room before Ino could stop him.

"Hinata!" Gaara whispered, his brows narrowed in confusion, "What are you doing here? How did you get here?" He asked. she was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Sasuke.

Naruto was right; girls always find out.

"I-I w-was... I-I w-wanted t-to-"

"She wanted to see you, of course, Gaara." Sasuke cut in; he had a glass of whiskey in one hand. He outstretched his hand, "Care to join us?"

Gaara narrowed his eyes dangerously; he walked to the chair beside Hinata and sat down, not taking his eyes off Sasuke even once.

"How long have you been here, Hinata?" He glanced at the girl next to him.

"I-I... I-I s-saw y-you f-fight..." She twiddled with her fingers.

Gaara closed his eyes, then opened them again and looked at Hinata. "I am sorry." He said.

"The almighty Gaara apologise to a girl." Sasuke laughed, "Isn't this a sight..." He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" Gaara glared at the raven-haired man.

"What do I want? Hmm, that is an excellent question, Gaara. I want a lot of things." Sitting in his chair, he put his glass down and looked at Gaara. "I simply couldn't let poor Hinata stand alone in the middle of the street where a bastard could come by and stanch Hinata right under your nose, now could I?" He laughed.

"So?" He questioned.

"So I thought, a life for a life." He smirked.

Hinata gasped and held onto her jacket tighter; damn Hanabi for making her wear this outfit.

"So then. What are you proposing." Gaara asked again.

"I want more jobs for you to do." He grabbed the glass again and drowned the rest of the contents.

"No." Gaara scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Well, you have to... Or else..." He pulled a gun underneath his desk and pointed it at Hinata, "Hinata's life will be the one taken."

Hinata started to shake. Hansuke was right.

Gaara growled, looking at the shivering girl beside him; he only had one choice. "What jobs do you need me to do..." Gaara said through gritted teeth.

"Well, more of the jobs I have been giving you." He smirked, putting the gun down, "I must say, I am quite surprised you agreed so easily."

"... I will do it... For Hinata." He looked at the shaking girl beside him, mouthing the words 'I am sorry'.

"On one condition." He said.

"Another condition?" Gaara growled.

"Yes, another condition." He nodded his head.

"What?" Gaara sneered.

"Hinata must be with you on the missions."

"No!" Gaara shouted.

"Well, you see..." He opened his palms, "You kind of has to... Hinata's life is in your hands right now..."

Gaara looked at Hinata; she was shaking like a fragile leaf. Not once did she look up to see him.

"...Alright... But she needs protection; she isn't cable of what I can do..." He reluctantly agreed.

"Why, of course... That is why you are going to train her." He smirked.

"T-Train m-me?" Hinata questioned; she whipped her head up to meet Sasuke's eyes.

"Yes... You must be trained if you are to do what I want Gaara to do." He poured the whiskey bottle next to him into his glass and took another sip.

"W-What d-do y-you d-do G-Gaara?" Hinata looked towards him.

His eyes were closed, and his head bent; he didn't want to look her in the eyes if he told her. He could just see the disappointment already.

"He kills people, of course," Sasuke answered.

I am terribly sorry for the wait, but here is the next chapter, R/R.