Author's Note: Here is my first story in English. The idea actually came from Shiorinsan's fanfiction called 'Inveiglement by Sand'. I have been a fan of hers for quite a while and am saddened by the fact that she never continued 'Inveiglement by Sand'. So I decided to create my own version, and I hope you all like it!

Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine, and while this story is mine, it is heavily inspired by Shiorinsan's 'Inveiglement by Sand'.

Chapter 1

It All Started With A Lie

Sunagakure
The Kazekage Headquarters
Late night

Sabaku no Gaara always knows that this day will come.

Ever since he was appointed as the fifth kazekage, and received his proper training on kage's personal life, he already knew that one day he had to prepare and raise his successor who would continue what he had built now.

Of course, around four or five years ago, the council raised this issue, but he always thought that it was not yet pressing and he still had some ten good years left.

But apparently, the council does not share his opinion.

Gaara sighed loudly as he entered his office and closed the door behind him. He was unusually exhausted that day. He dragged his feet to his table and sat there. He did not even bother to turn on any lamp. It was a full moon tonight. The clear sky of the desert is showing the moon in all of its glory, illuminating his office.

He closed his eyes and reminisced about the meeting earlier that night which caused the pain on the back of his head.

The law is clear, Your Highness. You must have a successor by the age of thirty, said the council head, Ginji Deshiko.

Like four years ago, Gaara argued that he still has some good years left, and by the time he turns thirty, he will definitely have someone whom he will call the future kazekage.

But then the council ganged up on him. Apparently, his father, and also his father before him, each already had their spouses at the age of seventeen. Gaara was the only kazekage in Suna's history who still retained his bachelor status at the age of twenty-seven.

Among the eldest of them, Sanjo then argued: You are now twenty-seven, Your Highness. It will take almost one year for your future spouse to carry your child, and at least one year for you and your spouse to conceive. This means you only have one year to propose to your future wife and get married, which in our tradition will require another one year.

That also means Gaara will have to find a woman he's going to marry within a month or two because Sanjo is not kidding when he says that a proposal and wedding can take up to one year.

Their ancestors take marriage seriously.

And because he is the kazekage, obviously his people also want to celebrate the supposedly "happiest day of his life" with him, so they have to hold a festival for Suna's people after the wedding ceremony at the temple.

Ginji rose from his seat and walked over to him, "We have done our best to assist you in finding the best wife for you, Your Highness. We understand that with our village's current situation, finding a bride will interfere with your responsibility to the village. So we have taken the liberty to select the best and most suitable bride for you." He then bowed to him. "We hope you will find her appealing."

Before Gaara could retort, Ginji spoke again, "Our village must have a successor, Your Highness. It's only for the village, nothing else."

For the first time since he became the kazekage, he was speechless before the council.

That was an ultimatum.

He might as well have said that Gaara had no other choice but to marry whoever this girl is, otherwise, they are going to pull the constitution on him, stripped him off his title, and gave it to Kankurou, his elder brother, who previously was the first in line for the kazekage title.

Gaara sighed.

The woman that the council chose for him is the eldest daughter of Toshiki Nobuki, leader of the Nobuki clan, who happened to be one of the oldest and noblest families in Sunagakure. This girl also happened to be the granddaughter of none other than Ginji Deshiko himself, from her mother's side.

Gaara is supposed to meet her tomorrow. Amongst other things that he should take care of tomorrow, that particular schedule gives him a severe headache.

This is all happening too fast.

A rapid knock was heard on the door, and Gaara straightened himself. "Come in," he said.

The door was opened and a beautiful white-haired girl entered. She curtsied a little, before straightening herself and smiled at Gaara.

"What are you still doing here, Chisa? I thought I already dismissed you after dinner." Chisa is the chief of his secretaries who is also acting as his personal assistant. She follows him everywhere to ensure that he gets everything that he needs and that he does not miss any of his schedules.

"You did, Kazekage-sama. But I was preparing your schedules for your business trip to Konohagakure and double-checking everything to make sure you are not forgetting anything."

Gaara cursed under his breath. He totally forgot that tomorrow he, Kankurou, and some of the council members are going to travel to Konoha because next week they are going to renegotiate their alliance treaty with the Konohagakure's Hokage and council.

But wait a second. "What time do we leave tomorrow?"

"After lunch, Sir. May I remind you that you have that conference with the botanists in the morning?"

Gaara's face lightened up hearing that. "That's great. You see, the council wants me to meet lady Nobuki, Deshiko-sama's granddaughter, tomorrow. Because we have to leave for that trip, I want you to write her a letter on my behalf and apologize that I have to reschedule. Also, arrange a flower bouquet and send it to her."

Chisa is writing down everything that Gaara asked her in her notepad. "Very well, Sir. When do you want to reschedule that meeting?"

Gaara shrugs, "I don't know, maybe in two weeks after we're back from Konoha? And try to fit it among other schedules so I don't have to be with her for very long."

"Well noted, Kazekage-sama. Is there anything else that you need, Sir?"

"I'm good. Please go home and rest, Chisa. You have to travel tomorrow too."

"Of course, my lord." Chisa bowed down, and this time really left him alone.

Gaara stood up and went to the window overlooking his village, his beloved village.

When he was appointed as the Kazekage twelve years ago, he swore by his life that he was going to do anything in his power to ensure the peace and welfare of this village.

And twelve years later, he has no plan to break his oath now.

He loves his village with every ounce of his being.

So much that if marrying a girl he doesn't know is what it takes to keep serving this village, then that's what he's going to do.

Konohagakure
Cafeteria of Konoha's Hospital
Lunchtime

Three kunoichis sit at that table that afternoon, chatting animatedly while enjoying their lunch. For the past four years, it has been like an unwritten rule that such table is reserved under their names.

Although two of them, namely Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuuga, do not work in Konoha Hospital, they always choose to have lunch together in its cafeteria, mainly because it has the best food, compared to Konoha's Ninja Academy. Meanwhile, the Jonin Commander's Office does not really have any decent cafeteria to begin with.

Since one of them, namely Sakura Haruno, is the top medic-nin under the tutelage of the Godaime Hokage herself, no one ever dared to even think to try to sit at that table. A new medic apprentice in the hospital once tried to sit there, but people around her quickly told her who that table belonged to, and she scattered away before the woman and her friends arrived at the cafeteria to get their lunch.

Sometimes, they will also be joined by Tenten—if she is not on the mission, and on rare occasions, even by the Godaime Hokage herself. From afar, people always wonder what this exclusive group of ninjas always converse about. Most of the time, people will stare in envy at them when they seem to be laughing out loud, particularly if they are joined by the Godaime Hokage, the first lady of Konohagakure.

There are many reasons why those women love that table so much. Apart from the fact that it is near the food line, which makes them able to get their orders quickly, it is also not that close to making them unable to have private conversations.

What people are not aware of is that these people rarely talk about anything important. They believe that since they have always worked all the time, during lunch, no work discussions are allowed. At least that's one of the rules that Ino had come up with a few years ago.

That afternoon, Sakura tried to suppress her giggle, in the middle of her lunch, as she gave a non-too-subtle suggestion to Ino. "Do you know that doing it in the shower can be much more fun?" another giggle following such a suggestion.

Ino's eyes widened as she gasped at her friend's idea. "Are you really doing that in the shower?" her cheeks were tinted with pink, obviously she was already imagining of her and Shikamaru doing that in their bathroom.

"Yeah, what are you doing after you're getting down and dirty anyway? Of course, you have to take a shower! Especially to clean that part between your legs..." and the two of them burst out in giggle again, while Ino said, "Oh, you minx!"

Hinata, always being the quietest in the group, silently watched her fellow kunoichi friends as they were chatting animatedly about their partner's latest action in the privacy of their bedrooms. Not only the quietest, she is also the most bashful one, so her friends never pressured her to share any of her sexual experiences.

Not that she has anything to share anyway.

But Sakura suddenly turned her head towards Hinata, "How are you doing with your boyfriend, Hinata? What's his name again? You rarely spoke about him."

Hinata almost choked on her salad, but she managed to maintain her composure. "He's…fine."

Across her, Sakura and Ino raised their eyebrows. "Fine? Just that?" Ino tried to dig further.

Truth be told, Hyuuga Hinata had never been in any relationship in her lifetime. She is famous for being "the" shiest kunoichi of Konohagakure, and more importantly born into such a traditional family, which always makes her behave awkwardly around any potential partner. She never really had any meaningful interactions with any other men, except for her father, her cousin Neji, and her fellow ninja friends.

However, once upon a time when the young Hyuuga just started in the Konoha Academy, a certain blond-haired ninja, namely Naruto Uzumaki, caught her attention. People might have thought that Hinata's feelings for Naruto were merely a childhood crush that would fade over time. But as she grows older, instead of getting over him, Hinata knows that her feelings only grow stronger.

She could write a book about a thousand things that made her fall in love with him.

One winter day when she had just turned seventeen, Hinata finally found the courage to let her feelings be known to Naruto. Unfortunately, right when she was about to confess, Naruto had chosen the exact same time to proclaim his undying love towards Sakura Haruno, (arguably) one of the prettiest kunoichi in Konohagakure, who also happens to be one of Hinata's best friends.

Hinata will always remember that day like it was yesterday.

She was stupefied when Sakura declared the same thing to Naruto, and foolishly chose to run away instead of congratulating her best friend for getting together with the man that she loves.

That was the first time Hinata had her first alcohol. And also the first time she was drunk.

From that day, she also began to learn to channel her heartbreak by training furiously, day and night, to endure the pain of seeing Naruto and Sakura cuddling each other every now and then in public. It was the most unbearable whenever she hung out with Sakura, Naruto would sometimes come along. And she had to endure two or three hours watching them flirt with each other.

The pressure became bigger each day when she realized that one by one her friends started to form a couple. Ino and Shikamaru, Kiba and Ayame, Shino and Ageha, and even her cold-blooded cousin, Neji dated Tenten. And, yes, even Rock Lee got a girlfriend.

So, she's the only single one left in the group.

A few years ago, one of her colleagues, Reina, had a cousin who worked as a medic-nin in the hospital and Hinata agreed to go on a blind date with him. His name is Sanada, he is handsome and a gentleman, and Hinata thought the date went great. Sanada even told her that he was going the contact her again. But after weeks of waiting, no letters arrived at her house.

She asked Reina about this, and she told her that Sanada is busy and cannot date anyone at the moment.

But later that day, when Hinata went to the toilet, she accidentally heard Reina tell her friends that Sanada thought Hinata looked pathetic and miserable, because she stammered a lot, and kept looking down when he talked to her. Sanada even told Reina that he could not believe that Hinata was one of the lead investigators in Konoha's Jounin Force. Apparently, he also thought that Hokage probably promoted her to that position because of her clan's influence on the government.

Hinata is so used to everyone talking about her behind her back, but what pisses her the most is Reina told everybody about her failed blind date, and now everybody in her unit (and possibly the entire Konoha's shinobi) knows about that cursed blind date.

After that, Hinata never agreed to any blind date. Ever.

Because of such misfortunes in these past years, Hinata then somehow found comfort in alcohol and martial arts. Sometimes, when she was alone at night and those horrible memories crept back at her, she would practice her martial arts…and when she was tired, she would drink, secretly of course. She does not consider herself an alcoholic…yet, mainly because she knows that her job requires her to be sober all the time.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, when she was alone in her bed, she would also wonder why men tend to avoid her. She washes her hair and face every day, so she knows that she has good hygiene. She also bears the name of one of the noblest clans in Konoha, and currently, she is one of the lead investigators in Konoha who specializes in interrogation. In summary, she does not appear bad, has a good background, and has a good career.

The lie started one evening when they celebrated Kiba's birthday party, and Kiba—after having four or five bottles of sake—told Hinata that at this rate, she was going to die as a virgin. At that time, Hinata honestly wanted to choke him with her bare hands. How could he humiliate her in front of Naruto and everybody after their years of friendship?

Refusing to lose her composure, Hinata just smiled and told them easily how she has a boyfriend named Tetsuga from Iwagakure (which is quite far from Konoha to not really raise any suspicion if he never showed up).

But that afternoon, Hinata realized that this lie had been going on for quite a while. And she's kind of tired of always having to lie to her friends whenever they are inviting her non-existent boyfriend during their group's get-together.

That's why Hinata made up her heart and finally told another lie that she thought would end her string of lies. "We broke up," she said easily.

Sakura and Ino gasped unanimously. While they were bombarding her with questions, Hinata scrambled in her thoughts to find a cool break-up story, only to realize that none of those sappy romantic novels she had been reading all these years, had she ever stumbled upon any "cool" break-up stories.

You do not have to be in a relationship to know that all break-ups are heartbreaking, despite how much you need it.

"It just did not work between us." Hinata calmly sipped her iced tea as she worked another lie to her friends. "His family married him off to…some rich girl from the Water Country."

Sakura's and Ino's face contorted when they heard that. Then Ino asked, "Is he destitute, poor or something? I recall you mentioned that he's a noble."

Hinata shrugged. "He is. You know how rich people are…rich goes with the rich."

"But you are rich too! And you have…" Sakura insisted.

Hinata immediately shook her head, and raised her fork to stop her, "I'm not, Sakura. My clan is the one that has the money. And the fact that I am not the heiress anymore, is probably not too appetizing for his family."

"Yes but surely that can't be all of it?"

"I don't know…or maybe he just does not like me anymore," Hinata added a sad smile to make her story seem more believable. "We can't force our feelings on someone, Ino." It was spoken from her heart, by secretly referring to Naruto.

Her friends then moved to each of her sides to hug her. Sakura to her right side, and Ino to her left side. "You should have told us sooner. You must be very very sad when it happened," Sakura said as she laid her head on Hinata's shoulder.

"I really appreciate that. I know you are going to say that. And I would hate it to see you sad." Besides, it never happened anyway. She just kept up with all of these to make them stop underestimating her for being single. Now everything is over, she does not have to be sitting on the edge of her seat anymore whenever someone asks about her boyfriend.

"So you're single now?" Ino asked from her left side. "I can introduce you to someone from the academy, you know." Despite starting her career as a medic-nin, some years ago, Ino volunteered in the academy and fell in love with the kids. Since then, she dedicated herself as a teacher. "There are some cute teachers who just transferred from Sunagakure."

"What are you talking about, Ino? Of course, Hinata is still broken-hearted. She needs time to heal first," said Sakura.

"Really, Hinata? Are you still sad?" Ino raised her head to look at Hinata in her eyes. Her blue eyes are filled with genuine concern. Hinata gulped, then looked to her right and found Sakura also staring at her with the same genuine concern.

Hinata just could not stand people to feel sad for her, especially over something that is not even true. It makes her feel guilty. "Thank you, Ino." Hinata smiled at her, "I-I already have a new boyfriend."

There goes her plan of ending the lie.

Now Sakura and Ino sit straight again and squeal at her. "Really? That is so exciting! Why didn't you tell us sooner? Tell us about him! We want to know everything."

Fuck me and my big mouth! Hinata cursed internally.

Hinata is not ready for this surprise attack. "Well, I was planning to tell you guys in our next get-together, when there is everyone, so I don't have to repeat myself over and over, you know."

"Ah, that's right," said Ino. "But can't you at least give us a teaser? Like how old he is, where he lives, what he does for a living, something like that."

Well, that's not difficult, Hinata thought. And like a trickster, she said, "He's around our age, he lives quite far from here, and…. well, he's also a shinobi, like us."

Sakura frowned at her answer, "That's very unspecific. How did you guys meet? Are you planning to introduce him to us?"

Hinata does not want to make any promises before she is certain about her next move. So, she pretended to just remember some work that she had to finish, and stand up, "Oh shoot! I gotta go now to finish my reports. Shall we continue this later?"

Sakura and Ino immediately stand up which stops Hinata in her tracks. "Let's walk together to the entrance, Hinata," Sakura said diplomatically.

As they walked together, Hinata silently groaned inside her head. Sakura suddenly speaks beside her, "You should bring him to Tenten's birthday party this Saturday, so everyone will know him. We don't get to meet your last boyfriend, so we gotta meet this one."

"Yes! That's a brilliant idea!" Ino beamed happily. "It's the weekend, so I assume he doesn't have to work. Besides, three days are enough for the journey, I think. And this time do bring him Hinata. The last time he couldn't make it and you left early too."

Hinata is trying to find a clever non-suspicious comeback towards that. But she cannot.

One of many weaknesses when you are lying to your friends about your non-existent boyfriend is when they ask you to bring him to a party; you do not have anyone to bring.

In Hinata's case, she usually pretended that her boyfriend could not make it there. The reasons ranged from a sudden sickness to the non-existent boyfriend having a huge fight with his family. Either way, all her friends easily swallowed those lies.

In the latest party, which was held by Lee, Hinata actually pretended to be sick and left early, and to make it more believable she left a message at Sakura to tell her non-existent boyfriend she left early that night. If he came.

Of course, there was no shinobi showed up that night admitting as Hinata's boyfriend.

"I don't think I could make it. I have to work this weekend." Hinata tried to lie herself out of this.

"Nonsense! I'll ask Shikamaru to let you off this weekend." Ino's boyfriend, Shikamaru, is the commander of Hinata's division, which means he is also Hinata's boss. So, Ino knows that he is authorized to let or not to let Hinata work. "Besides, it's Tenten's birthday party and I already made sure Shikamaru is going to come. So, you better get yours and your boyfriend's ass down to Tenten's house."

They have reached the hospital's entrance, and Hinata could not think of anything else to counter Ino, so she only nods weakly. "I'll see what I can do, okay? But I do not promise that because he's a busy person. I don't want to bother him."

Before any of her friends could say anything, Hinata quickly ran off in the direction of the Jounin Commander's Office. She needs to cool off her head tonight and start to think of a new plan to get herself off this mess.

She also makes a pact with herself that she is not going to ever lie to anyone in her life again, ever.

Author's Note: So, how was it? Let me know what you think in the review! Your feedback is important for this story! See you in the next chapter!