Chapter 5

Youthful displays are not all bad.

Tenten giggled as Gaara actually fell asleep beside her. She could practically feel Temari seething from where she was concealed somewhere nearby. She'd known the Kazekage would not be without bodyguards, and if it wasn't Kankuro then it was most certainly her sworn rival, the Kage's sister. Cloud watching on a hill was not something Tenten often did, but it was very enjoyable today, for some reason.

She reached out to stroke Gaara's forehead. He jerked slightly in instinctive reaction to her touch, then as her fingers steadily grazed his brow in a soft motion, he fell more deeply into slumber and began to snore. Tenten hummed.

Gaara had been a little befuddled upon waking up in a strange place and noting the absence of his sister, but Tenten dozed peacefully near him and no one was trying to kill them, which was always a good sign.

He looked up at the kunoichi, who was leaning against the tree and had drawn his head to rest on her lap. He rarely slept soundly but for a few precious hours today he had dreamt of a time before Yashamaru's betrayal, and the song his uncle would sing to soothe a little jinchuriki boy through the night.

"...?" Tenten blinked awake at the feel of something soft and warm and a little chapped, edging the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes found dark-rimmed raccoon ones, just inches away. Gaara withdrew, and Tenten realized with shock that the Kazekage had just kissed her.

His absolute defense protected him from subsequent slapping attempts.

"What was that for!" she hissed at him after he had pinned her to the tree with his sand.

"I meant no harm," Gaara informed her quietly. "I just wanted to warn you not to be too trusting."

Tenten glared at him, "Very wrong, Gaara. You should let me go now before it gets any worse."

He let her go. She wouldn't look at him.

"I know it was wrong." His version of an apology wasn't very convincing.

"So why?"

"I wanted to." At that, she looked at him.

"Gaara," Tenten sighed, wondering why she was such a schmuck. Of course, the only love consultant Gaara probably had before her was Kankuro, and this sort of thing was likely inevitable, "It's all right. This once. It's not all right with other girls though. You have to be sure they want it, too."

Gaara turned away with a sharp motion. He grabbed his gourd and got up, angry.

"Hey," she grabbed his sleeve, "What now?"

"The next worst thing to fear is pity," he gritted. "Let's go."

"Wait." She got a good grip on his hand and ignored his attempts to ignore her. "I don't pity you."

"Oh?" when he turned to her he was completely in control and his eyes were cold, "This entire day was an act of pity on your part. Comfort the poor, lonely monster."

"No," she said firmly, "it was because I think you're cute too. Also, I got mad not at your kiss per se, but your reason for it." His expression was unchanged, so she tried explaining further. "I thought you were using me for practice. I don't want it to be that way, because if I enjoy kissing you then I'll start to like you more and then I'll probably get hurt. Do you get it?"

"Of course. I hurt everyone." His tone was callous.

"You aren't listening," she insisted. "I said, I was worried you might be practicing for other girls. If a guy kisses me, I want him to kiss only me. It's not pity, Gaara. I'm just protecting myself. In case you really are just consulting."

Gaara was still angry, but her voice was calming, even if her words were taking time to sink in. They stood in silence for a while, as the shadows of dusk lengthened around them.

"What'd I miss?" Temari materialized. She had given in and gone off in search of another cloud-watching fanatic after observing an hour or so of inaction from Tenten and the sleeping Gaara, after posting detection seals to alert her if anything happened.

"Nothing," Gaara tried to control his urge to continue being brusque towards Tenten. "We're leaving."

"Hm," Temari refrained from teasing the two about a goodbye kiss as there seemed to be some tension in the air. "Guess we'll have to reschedule that rematch yet again, honey buns."

"Don't call me that, Fanny."

"Like I haven't heard that one before." Temari realized her chaperoning duties were actually called for at this point and ushered Tenten to walk beside her brother, "Date's not over yet till we escort her home Gaara, be a gentleman."

"That's ok. How about I walk you to the gates instead?" Tenten offered. She looked at Gaara and he looked back at her. After a moment, the young Kazekage sighed, and somewhat awkwardly offered his arm to his 'date'.

They were approaching the village gates. Temari could not believe she was setting her brother up with this loser kunoichi, but for some reason, Tenten seemed to make Gaara smile. That was enough for a big sister like her.

"You really should be honored, people from Suna don't usually date inter-species," she needled Tenten, who looked back at her and stuck a tongue out.

"I'm glad you admit we of the Leaf are more highly evolved than you," Tenten liked to use Neji's high-faluting speech sometimes to counter snobby snideness from people like Temari.

"Wow, there's even more hot air blowing around here than my jutsus can counter," Temari pretended to cover her hair from a tempest of wind. "What Gaara sees in you, I'll never know."

"I'm right here," Gaara sounded bored. "I like her because Tenten is like female version of her team mate."

The bun-haired girl stiffened and gave Gaara a dangerous look. "Which team mate Gaara, and please explain further?"

Gaara actually smiled at her. "Lee, of course. I feel relaxed around him. Same with you."

Tenten wilted and Temari almost cackled. It was so fun to tease this girl. Her brothers both agreed. And Gaara had smiled. Again. Whatever Tenten had was powerful medicine.

"I guess I should feel touched that you think so Gaara." Tenten tried her best to be polite but it was just not right to be compared to Lee.

"Maybe you should consult Lee on getting a girlfriend as well, since we're so similar." If she tried to step on Gaara's foot, accidentally of course, would his sand protect him?

She was so engrossed in her musings that she didn't notice the sand building up around them, until she realized it had gone very dark. Pitch black in fact.

"This is the first time I've included someone other than my brother and sister in the shield of sand."

Tenten found that she liked Gaara's voice, now that she had been deprived of her other senses and could focus on it. It wasn't quite as creepy as it used to sound during the Chunin exams, and had barely perceptible inflections that gave away a hint of his emotion despite his usual monotone delivery.

"You included your entire village in a shield of sand protecting them from the Akatsuki, Gaara," she smiled up at him, despite knowing he couldn't see it, "Don't sell yourself short."

He was quiet, and Tenten found herself focusing on another sense, this time, touch, as she felt the radiating warmth from how closely he stood in front of her. And smell, can't forget that. Gaara smelled... okay. Tenten grinned in the darkness, feeling like an Inuzuka as she gave a discreet sniff. Yep. If his sand contained the blood of the people he'd killed, as the stories about him said, he'd found a way to sanitize the odor, because all she could detect was his own natural scent, which was not bad. And lastly- she wasn't a sensor, didn't have Neji's eyes or the Sharingan, but she could faintly sense unconcealed chakra just as any well-trained shinobi could. Gaara's chakra had changed since the extrication of Shukaku. Actually, it had changed even before that, ever since that fight with Naruto... It was warmer now. Still potent, but less feral. Tenten didn't know that she could like someone's chakra, but apparently she liked Gaara's.

Oh no.

Okay, so she liked all physical aspects of Sabaku no Gaara. As she already knew, a lot of girls did. That didn't mean she had to act on it. She hadn't with Sasuke. She wasn't one to throw herself at a guy.

"Do you like Lee?" The question snapped her out of her sense-fest and she fumbled.

"As... a boyfriend?" she blinked blindly, "Of course not. After a team mate beats you to a bloody pulp a couple of hundred times during sparring, you kind of get over any notions of romance." She half-shrugged, "I'm not saying he's not a great guy, and certainly- cute- in his own way." She still had pictures of Lee prior to his bowl-shaped haircut and thought it had suited him better, but it hadn't affected her regard for him as a friend.

"And Hyuuga Neji?"

"Um." Of course, Neji was hot. She constantly beat fangirls off with a stick at his desperate (but dignified) request. It had been very good practice for what happened in Suna, actually. But, as she'd already stated, being pounded constantly into the ground every training session and practically growing up with the two boys and her sensei had caused a very close, non-romantic relationship to form between all of them. Tenten sometimes harbored ephemeral notions about herself and Neji someday, in the future, but...

"We're a good team. Like family." She said quietly. "Neji's not my boyfriend."

Gaara was silent. On impulse, Tenten reached up to determine what his expression was. Her tentative fingers ended up on the tip of his nose. She giggled.

Gaara's hand closed over hers and brought it to rest lightly against his cheek. Tenten could feel stubble. She tamped down on the sudden affirmation that she even liked this little bit of trivia about him. Face flaming, she realized that she was alone in the dark with a boy who felt, smelled and sounded very, very appealing to her right now.

"Why do you ask?" she queried softly.

He sighed into her hand. "Because I was never really consulting with you."

Then, very carefully, as if trying to remember how Lee and Gai did it, Gaara enveloped her in a loose hug.

In a way, it was an even greater gesture of affection for Gaara than a kiss. For someone who killed opponents with a jutsu that could crush their bodies, he cradled her in his arms as if she were porcelain.

Tenten was stiff in the boy's cautious hold, torn between a sudden thrill and doubt. Yes, he was cute, and wonderfully mysterious, but that very fact made him someone she barely knew, and he had kissed her earlier without permission.

"So this mission to Suna the Hokage sent Lee and Gai-sensei on-?" she asked, uncertain.

"Had some real merit. But I mainly wanted to spend some time alone with you," Aside from making the decision to persevere in his attempts to reach out to others, Gaara was not above using his authority to manipulate circumstances to increase the probability of success. This art of pulling strings, he had learned from his brother. Who was never getting a chance at Tenten, if Gaara had anything to say about it. Kankuro was the charming one, and had lured many a fangirl away from Gaara's club by simply being the cool older brother. It had taken a lot of doing to make sure he got left behind on this occasion.

"Kankuro. Do you remember how bloodthirsty I was back during the Konoha Chuunin Exams?" Gaara sat quietly as a weak sandstorm suddenly battered the Kazekage tower, dealing no damage to the building but conveniently blowing away all the paperwork he had to sign. It never happened while Temari was around but was a common occurence otherwise.

The puppeteer smiled easily at his younger brother, keeping firm hold of his hat as the dust swirled around them, "Ah, that's all in the past Gaara. You were dealing with a demon inside of you after all." He thought they had been talking about how wonderfully squishy that Tenten chick was, but apparently Gaara was in the mood for reminiscing further back.

"It would do you well to remember that people in love deal with other kinds of monsters within them. Of the green-eyed variety," Gaara said. "I wouldn't be coming close to Tenten any time soon, if I were you."

Kankuro's eyes widened, then squinted as sand got into them. "Ow. Got it."

Meanwhile, Tenten was resisting the urge to melt. Sending the Green Team to another country had to be the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her. She hesitantly raised her other hand and placed it on Gaara's chest, feeling his heart beat strongly underneath her fingers. She gulped, finding this sensation very different from when either Lee or Gai was shoving her unwillingly against the boy.

"A-and Neji?" her voice cracked, to her embarrassment. "Why wasn't he part of the mission today?"

Gaara's fingers lightly caressed behind her neck, playing with the loose tendrils that escaped from her bound hair.

"Him, I actually wanted to fight. In case he objected to my asking you out. I already know Gai and Lee approve of us."

"Hey." Tenten protested, "What's this 'us'? I haven't said yes yet."

The caress stopped.

Gaara said darkly, "He likes you, you know. Only platonically at the moment, but it's possible that will change if you start seeing other men. I've already stated my intentions towards you, Tenten. You should give me the first chance at courtship."

Tenten drooped. What was he going on about? There was no way the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan and the most powerful ninja in Suna both liked her. She wasn't one to attract anyone's attention.

"Gaara," she began heavily, but he cut her off, by gently drawing closer.

"Please don't sell yourself short either, Tenten. Your team and your village are very lucky to have you." He paused, and Tenten shivered at the puff of his breath against her ear. "You don't even realize how you look at people, how strong it makes them. The way you look at someone, and see just that person. You don't see me as the Kazekage, or the Jinchuriki. It's —"

Gaara suddenly wondered with a pang if Neji had ever told her anything similar. If he should open his heart to this girl, he would also be opening himself up to the danger of betrayal again, of emotional wounds, which took longer to heal than any other injury.

"Gaara," Tenten softly stroked his face, "Are you okay?"

Gaara smiled. Tenten was ruthless with Lee, but it seemed she could be considerate, if the situation called for it. She was trying to comfort him. He couldn't give up on hope. Or love.

"Tenten, when you look at me, it makes me want to be with you, all the time."

Tenten understood now the puddle of goo that Gai and Lee willingly morphed into every so often. Gaara liked her. She hadn't even done anything, and he liked her. She ducked her head.

"I'm-" her voice muffled into his shoulder, "I'm not at all like Lee, okay. If you're going to court me, that's my rule. No Lee or Gai comparisons."

She felt rather than heard a low rumble that might have been a chuckle from the Kage.

"You're softer. Easier on the eyes too." He tried for a marginally tighter grip, and was rewarded by Tenten leaning comfortably against him. "Much more enjoyable to hug."

"You're still comparing," she pretended to grouse, raising her arms to wrap them around his shoulders all the same. "But I like you too, anyway." This close, she could feel his heart speed up against her own chest.

Gaara often used to feel light-headed from lack of sleep. Now, he was experiencing a different sort of giddiness. It was a little terrifying, but it was also very good. "And- and I was wrong to warn you not to be too trusting earlier," he said. "Trust merits trust. I won't be kissing anyone else, believe it."

His echo of Naruto's catchphrase sealed the deal. He was attractive, he was sweet, and he had a sense of humor. The fangirls of Suna now had real basis to hate Tenten, because she had decided to set her sights on their life's love.

Tenten gave a small girlish 'squee!' and snuggled into him. She was smiling so widely she could rival the glint of Lee's awesome ivories even in the dark.

"Gaara! You okay in there?" What sounded like a large fan being rapped sharply against the hardened crust of sand accompanied Temari's voice. "There's rainbows and waterfalls and stuff coming from nowhere out here."

Inside, a boy and a girl, who were ready to fall in love with each other, laughed.

The End.

A/N: I am positive that the rainbow-waterfall-sunset-sparkles no jutsu is a special trademark jutsu of the entire Team Gai. Even Neji can do it. He just never wants to.