Hinata brushed her hand over what used to be a window. Now, it was more sand wall closed over the glass.

"The wind is getting too strong," Gaara answered her unasked question. "There is an early sand storm starting. My siblings will likely be delayed."

For just waking up, he looked more awake than she felt. Did he not feel tired ever? Hinata rubbed her eyes. "What about the greenhouse?"

"It's covered." Gaara relayed.

"Hmm." Hinata was glad he knew what he was doing. She looked back at her bed. She got up late with no overbearing sun to wake her up, but she still just wanted to curl back up in bed. "I'll make tea." She paddled off into the kitchen against her own wishes. "What do you do during storms?"

Gaara tilted his head. "Wait for them to end."

"No, I mean…" He wouldn't have any concept of rainy-day activities, would he? Maybe Suna didn't have games they played inside during storms, or maybe he just never learned them. "We had thunderstorms in Konoha, and when it wasn't safe to be out in the rain because of the lightning, we had games we played to keep ourselves busy."

"I've never played a game," Gaara admitted.

"Never?" Hinata started the kettle.

"No. Who would want to play with a monster." Gaara said things like that with such a straight face. Not even pain, like it wasn't something he accepted but something expected.

"I would play a game with you." Though she didn't have a game board, maybe she would come up with something.

Hinata looked at her dwindling tea jar. She would be out soon, and if the storm delayed Temari and Kankuro, maybe she would be out before they got back. Hopefully, they were able to get more, or maybe she could gain a taste for the weird mushroom tea Kankuro liked.

"You fall asleep with your eyes open." Gaara broke her thoughts.

"Huh?" Hinata wondered, blinking to try to appear more awake.

"You talk, and then your eyes stop moving, and you… shut off?" Gaara explained.

Hinata felt her cheeks heat up. Gaara was getting more comfortable just pointing things out that he didn't understand that she did. He wasn't trying to be rude. She wasn't even sure he knew what he hoped to gain other than straight answers to his wondering curiosity. "I am just thinking. I guess it's rude of me to stop to think in the middle of a conversation."

Gaara didn't look sure.

"I'm just not fully awake yet, either." Hinata stretched to fix it. "Let's have tea. We can go wash up, and then I will teach you a game."

Gaara nodded and looked down at the kettle for the first step to be ready. When he had a list, he wanted to focus on it until it was done. Maybe he would be good at games.

Hinata moved the stones in the dents he put in the floor as their game board. It did what it needed to do. "My cousin used to be so much better at this than me."

"Cousin?" Gaara wondered. Had she not mentioned Neji before?

"He died in battle a few years ago." Hinata pressed her lips together. "Protecting me." Gaara frowned. He looked like he still had questions. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned his death. "Do you have any cousins?"

"I don't know what that is." Oh, is that what he was confused about?

"Cousins are like your aunt and uncle's kids." Oh. Maybe she shouldn't go there. "If Temari-chan had children and you had children. Those kids would be cousins."

"I don't believe I will have children." He completely missed the point, didn't he?

"Did your…" Hinata held her tongue. Don't ask that.

"No," Gaara answered, playing his turn. "My uncle did not have children." Hinata felt terrible for even thinking about asking. "But if he did, I would not consider them related to me."

"Maybe that's a difference in culture." Move away from his family. "In Konoha, we have close-knit clans. Families usually foster a skill that is useful to the village. Kiba-kun's family raises and bonds with dogs. Shino-kun's family specializes in insects. My family has the Byakugan."

"Your eyes?" Gaara asked.

Hinata nodded, playing her turn. Gaara was either better at strategizing than she was, or he was lying about playing this game before. "My whole family has it."

"With the seal to keep it in," Gaara added.

"Well, not everyone has the seal." Hinata corrected. "But yes."

Gaara nodded. Hinata did her best to explain that before, but he was a fountain of questions. "You don't use them."

"There isn't much reason to." Gaara used his special ability almost constantly. Maybe it was strange to him to have something that was only for special cases. "It drains chakra, and here, so much of your chakra is in the walls I can barely see, though."

"You can see my chakra in the walls?" Gaara's hand hovered over the board.

Hinata nodded. "Your chakra is in just about everything. I've never seen anything like it. The only place it looks normal is in the greenhouse… well, maybe not now." She nodded at the covered windows. "All the plants have their own faint chakra signatures. Usually, I don't even notice, but there is nothing else around to focus on."

"What does it look like?" Gaara watched her play, and his eyebrows knit together. Did she mess up his plan?

"Uhm." How did she explain that? "A bit like… light in your body. Most people have their own glow to them that I can tell apart. You have a lot of excess chakras. You're lit up like a Christmas tree."

"You haven't shown me one of those." Gaara looked over at her sketchbook, which was getting a little too full.

"I haven't shown you what?" Hinata folded her hand in her lap to wait for him to take his turn.

"A Christmas tree." Gaara looked back at her curiously. "I didn't know trees could make light."

Oh, dear. How did she explain Christmas?