The village of solemn faces stared at her from their homes as she headed to the Hyuga compound. She intended to inform them that she would have to lower her visits with her new responsibilities. She didn't want to send a message and make them feel pushed aside, so she went to do so in person. That might have been a mistake.
Before long, she was surrounded by worried faces.
Hinata slowed to a stop as she was surrounded. She raised her hand, signaling her guard to back off as they started moving closer. These were their citizens. She would not have her guard involved.
"Is he dead?" Someone finally asked.
"I have reason to believe that the Kazekage has died." Hinata voiced, her hand coming up to the jar around her neck subconsciously. "However, we have no way to confirm, and until then, we should keep hope that he will return to us alive."
"Why are you not looking for him?" Someone she couldn't see cried at her in frustration. "She was hurt!" Someone else barked at them.
Hinata put her hands to quiet the raising voices. "I am more helpful here. I would be happy to aid the search for my husband, but I would be no more used to them as any other Hyuga would be. I am here to serve Suna while my husband can not."
"Why are you, Kage! You weren't even born here!" Someone else snapped.
Hinata pierced her lips together and nodded her head. "It was his wish I take his place until the Kage he chose was ready for the position. I am temporary. I apologize if this upsets you. It was a decision made in case of emergency. We hoped we would never have to use this plan."
More questions came. Hinata answered them the best she could before Kankuro stepped in between her and the group, seemingly from nowhere. She asked him to step away. She had no problem speaking to the people, but he shook his head and handed her a note. "This just came for you," Kankuro explained.
"Who from?" Hinata accepted it and broke the seal.
"A clone," Kankuro explained, eager to hear the news. "Konoha, I believe. They seemed low on chakra and in a hurry."
Hinata opened it, and her mouth opened without the ability to make words. She flinched toward the gates, back, and then at the gate with her mouth agape.
She shoved the scroll in his hands and ran for the gate with all her strength.
"Get me a full medical team at the front gate!" Hinata called behind her as Kankuro juggled the scroll to read it.
Naruto could barely see someone squeezed through the gates as they opened, far enough to fit through sideways.
"Put me down," Gaara told him over his shoulder, eyes locked on the person bolting for them. There was no mistaking that hair in this dessert.
Naruto started to kneel when he was roughly pulled back up. "Kazekage-sama, you're too weak to walk." Sakura protested. She was not in a good mood. Gaara refused any more medical treatment until he got home. He was weak and sickly, still adjusting to not being, well, dead.
"Put me down," Gaara repeated.
Naruto wasn't going to argue with him. He lowered himself and helped Gaara stand. He held him up by his arms as he found footing. Hinata finally reached them, stumbling to a full stop in front of him, panting, and holding her hands shy of him like she expected him to collapse. Though it looked more like she would.
Neither of them said anything. They just stared. Eyes locked, breathing, and wind filling the silences. Hinata's face was streaked with tears, which made sand that blew around in the wind stick to her face. They both looked like a mess.
Gaara simply reached for her weakly. Hinata took it, fully burying her face in his chest and wrapping her arms around his chest. Hinata whimpered loudly in a way Naruto never heard from her before, harsh balling. Gaara let go of him to fully engulf her. Naruto grinned as Gaara buried his face in her scarf.
"Woah!" Naruto rushed forward as Gaara's legs gave out, Hinata took his weight, and between the two of them, they guided him to the ground.
Gaara's name and title were called in the distance as more realized he was home. Gaara looked up as two new sets of arms wrapped around the two of them.
"Wipe that grin off your face," Sakura shoved Naruto's arm.
"Told you." Naruto knew Gaara's rush home was for her. Naruto threw his arm around Sakura's shoulder and pulled her in as she frowned at him. He loved seeing a little love in the world.
Hinata sighed as the last reporting nin finally left. She felt her robe tugged on and turned to Gaara's medical bed. "You're awake." She smiled, sitting down next to him.
"I have been," Gaara rolled his head toward her.
"We didn't keep you up, did we? I could go to another room." Hinata didn't want to leave him, but if her work was bothering his rest, she could keep an eye on him through the wall instead.
Gaara shook his head. "I did not want to interrupt."
"I think the Kage is allowed." Hinata leaned over in her chair onto his mattress.
"You're Kage." Gaara corrected her.
"Not anymore. You can have it back." Hinata smiled. She was emotionally and physically exhausted. She would be sore tomorrow after straining her wounds.
"I failed." Gaara glanced at her flatly. "I failed to protect the village, and I failed to protect you."
"Both the village and I are alive because of you," Hinata argued.
"You are alive because Shukaku protected you." Gaara had anger in his tired eyes. Anger at himself. "I did not act quickly enough. If he hadn't removed you when he did, you would have been crushed."
At least she could freely cry now. "I don't care. I am alive, and the village is safe. You cannot blame yourself when nothing is wrong."
Gaara rested his head back, annoyed.
"I will miss him," Hinata's nails clicked against the glass as she fiddled with a small bottle of sand held to her by a string, turning it and watching the grains fall.
"What's that?" Gaara lifted his hand to it. Hinata let go, and he turned it, feeling that it was his sand.
"It's what's left of my ring." Hinata whimpered. "When it fell apart, I knew." Gaara stared at her red-rimmed eyes, and his chest felt an odd sharp pain. She knew the second he died and lived with that until he returned. He felt an emotional jerk back as he thought about the opposite. He violently shoved the thought away. He didn't want to think of her death.
Gaara rolled the glass between his fingers. Would it still obey him freely? He shifted his thumb over it. The sand popped the cork open, flowed out, and fell into his hand, back in the form he wanted. It was more difficult, but he assumed it was because he was weak.
He held the ring flat in his hand up to her. Hinata took it with shaking fingertips, slid it back into place, and then wiped her cheeks of tears.
Gaara pulled her hand to himself and pressed his lips to her fingers, breathing in her scent again. He couldn't get enough of it. He may have never experienced any of her again. He found that he disliked that more than the idea of his death.
Hinata leaned over on his bed, folding herself to kiss him before laying her head down. She was tired. The darkness in her eyes gave him a good idea of how much she slept. "Lay with me."
"Spouses aren't meant to stay in the bed…" He knew she didn't believe that. Hinata had him lay with her when she was in the hospital. "But don't worry, I'm staying right here." She closed her eyes. Though her position didn't look comfortable, he wouldn't argue with her.
Gaara watched her fall asleep and raised his hand, summoning his sand. If there was any gift Shukaku gave him in their parting, it was that he kept this ability, if for nothing more than to make sure she made it to bed.
With her soundly tucked under the blanket, he dismissed the sand, then frowned. He moved his hand, formed a small solid sleeping tanuki replica rolled up by her side, and stared at it momentarily before closing his eyes.
It would fill the silence in his head tonight.