Hinata bolted up out of bed. Something was happening. Gaara blinked at her questioningly, also awake. Her chest raised and fell with her overreacting lungs as she looked around with her Byakugan.
"What's wrong?" Gaara sat up. Sand jittered around the air anxiously.
"Matsuri-san?" Hinata got out of bed and headed to open the door before Matsuri could knock.
"Hinata." Matsuri addressed her. "There is a team here from Konoha for you."
Hinata looked back at her husband, getting out of bed with equal confusion. "We weren't expecting them?"
"I was not informed," Gaara noted. So no, they weren't.
"Are they hurt? Is it something urgent?" Hinata asked.
"I have no clue it's your cousin's team," Matsuri explained, frustrated. "They won't tell me anything. They just asked for you specifically."
Hinata nodded, closing the door briefly to dress in house robes. Giving her husband a meaningful worried look. Gaara frowned before following the two women down to where the team was asked to rest.
"Neji-san?" None of them were hurt. They didn't seem in a panic.
"Hinata-sama." Neji stood up immediately, crossing the room. "I need to talk to you."
"Gaara, will you excuse us for a minute." Hinata prompted him not to follow as Neji led her away.
"No," Hinata told him flatly.
"This could be dangerous, Hinata-sama. Hanabi-sama asked specifically for you." Neji insisted. "As head, she has that authority."
"I can't just pick up and leave, and I can't be ordered even by the head of the clan," Hinata told him stiffly. "I have responsibilities, and I can't just leave Gaara here. Shukaku-san wouldn't allow it."
"Hinata-sama, Hanabi-sama needs you for this. She will fail without you. The council is talking about breaking contracts, and that might cause a war." Neji pressed.
Hinata chewed her lip. "I need to speak with Gaara about it. I can't just pick up and leave in the middle of the night." Neji fell silent. "I will see what I can do."
Gaara sat beside her as she put her stress into the sand, giving the pampered demon attention.
"I have been called back to Konoha to settle a matter," Hinata explained.
Gaara was overwhelmed by Shukaku's sudden possessive anger. His tail curled tighter around her, and the growling was loud in his head.
Hinata curled her fingers over the sand in an attempt to soothe him. "I said I couldn't leave you." She promised, lowering her face, so the tanuki could press its nose into her cheek. "But the matter could cause our contracts to become broken. I understand the need for my presence."
Shukaku was not assured. 'She is not leaving us.'
Gaara rubbed his temple. "We would both have to go." There was no other way. It annoyed him that this was so limited.
"I can't ask that," Hinata leaned on him. "You have responsibilities."
"You didn't," Gaara noted. "Avoiding war is my responsibility."
"That's an excuse." Hinata buried her smile into his shoulder.
"Shukaku will not see us separated that far." Shukaku proceeded to press his sand face into her stomach. "Repeating events will have consequences."
"We are going to have to disperse our responsibilities." Hinata chewed her lip. "Do you think Matsuri-san would be able to take on some of my work?"
"Not Temari?" Gaara curled around her.
"Your job needs two people easily. She will have her hands full." Hinata yawned. "We can think about it in the morning."
Gaara agreed, crawling into the bed beside her as she removed the layer she put on to meet her cousin. Shukaku curled up over the blanket at her back. They decide he stayed out of the blankets after an incident of his deforming and Hinata waking up in a bed of loose sand.
Gaara started a list in his head of what tasks he would delegate to who if he was going to be gone for a couple of days.
Hinata sighed into his shoulder as she buried her face into it. "Don't worry about it. Just go to sleep."
Gaara glanced at her. She was already asleep. He agreed silently.