"Gaara? Gaara-kun."

His eyes snapped open as he woke, instantly alert instantly. His pupils dilated, then shrank in the unexpected light of dawn.

Dawn?

"How long have we been out here?" he asked, curious. He sat up without obstacle, sand running off him in waves and assembling back into the familiar gourd shape. He hadn't noticed it of course, but the sand had packed itself on him like an impossibly thick blanket, protecting him from freezing where he lay overnight.

No danger of that now. The heat was oppressive, even this early. He was used to the desert and its fluctuations of temperature, but Hinata wasn't. She couldn't last out here.

Had she stayed beside him, all through the bitterly cold night, even without the sand to keep her warm? He turned to her for the first time. Hinata's eyes were tired, but she smiled wearily at him as he rose unaided to his feet. Her eyes followed him as he stepped closer to her, not quite understanding why she had stayed with him.

"You're still here? Didn't you die?" Gaara asked her bluntly. An amused smile touched the corners of her lips.

"I spent the night practicing my taijutsu. It was the only way I could keep warm. I tried to get in next to you, but the sand wouldn't let me."

Of course...

"Why did you stay?" he demanded sharply. "You could have left me. You didn't have to suffer."

Hinata stared at him incredulously. "Where would I have gone? I don't know which direction Konoha village is. I don't even know if we're still in the Fire country. I couldn't get home by myself."

Gaara nodded. Simple practicality. If anything, he felt reassured by that answer. For a moment, he had thought...

"And I... wanted to stay with you," she added softly, twisting her fingers around each other again and dropping her eyes. "I didn't want to leave you here by yourself."

He acted as if he hadn't heard her. "I'll take you home now. It'll be too hot for you to live here soon."

Let her burn Shukaku rumbled, bitter about his submission the night before.

No. No questioning today. For as long as it lasted, Gaara was in control. The desert rose to embrace them both, bearing them back towards Konoha on the sandy foam of two crashing waves. The ride was so smooth that Hinata didn't even notice when she fell asleep, exhausted after her vigil.

Gaara noticed. "Aishiteru, Hinata-chan," he whispered, though of course she couldn't hear him over the slipstream. Shukaku moved them far too rapidly for that. "It's almost over now. I won't trouble you again."

Hinata yawned, trying to make it discreet. The Third Hokage himself had made a point of inviting the four Sand-nins back to the Academy in front of the entire household, instead of allowing insulting whispers of what had really happened to spread. And in the Hyuuga house, a distinguished guest meant formal garb, fomal manners, exquisitely delicious food and just as exquisitely boring speeches.

Hiashi remounted the lectern at the head of the hall as they finished their meals. This was his fourth oration of the morning, and he showed no signs of winding down yet.

Hinata wasn't listening. She didn't want to be here, but knew she didn't have a choice. Her eight-year-old sister Hanabi sat where she had as a child, at the head table as the Hyuuga heir. The Third and the Sand-nins, as guests, also knelt with Hiashi's direct family. Senior branch family members knelt at the tables around them, in descending order of importance to Hinata and her cousin.

Even Neji was ashamed to be here. As a branch-family member and still only a Genin his place was below his pride, relegated to the lowest table with the failed heir of the head family. He kept his eyes averted from Hinata, and she had no choice but to do the same.

Hiashi's speech drew to a close as he finished exploring the outer limits of his vocabulary, and conversations began at the tables. The gathering was almost finished, and everyone was anxious to get out of the stiff formalwear. There was a sudden commotion at the head table—Baki had given Hanabi a kunai as a parting gift, the first she had ever owned. Hanabi immediately became over-excited, and the outcome was inevitable.

"Ouch!" she squeaked. A line of blood ran down her thumb from a long slit. Hanabi's face heated up for a moment, her eyes flashing into the Byakugan and suddenly resembling Neji's more than her father's. Then the moment passed, and she was just a little girl with a cut hand. A few tears ran down her face as, having gained everyone's attention to her shame, she bound the digit tightly in her napkin. Hiashi nodded in approval of her reaction, then lifted a tiny porcelain vessel from the centerpiece of the table to her cheek. Carefully, with a delicacy that belied his sheer size, he caught every tear.

Hinata had seen that many times, but the Sand-nins hadn't. She could just barely overhear them from where she sat. "What was the fuss about her tears?" Gaara was asking in his dead voice. "I don't see what the big deal was."

"It's an old legend," Temari explained. "They say that if you save up a hundred tears in a bottle, your wish will come true." There was a pause, and Hinata could imagine the expression on Gaara's face. "It's just an old story," Temari defended herself. "This is such a traditional family, I can barely believe it."

"You're a romantic, Temari-chan, knowing a story like that," Kankurou rumbled. Then they fell silent as the Third Hokage ascended the lectern.

Hinata didn't pay much attention to the speech, although she did note with some amusement that the Third carefully avoided any mention of Gaara's actions. In her mind, she couldn't reconcile the person she knew he was with what she had learnt about him in the last few days. It felt like the Sand-nins had always lived in her house. She would be sad to see them go.

Well... Gaara and his sister at least. The other two hadn't even shown her the courtesy that harsh Temari had.

The Third finished his speech, which concluded the formalities. Hyuuga family members and guests began to drift between tables, talking and laughing amongst themselves. Hinata, of course, had no-one, and she knew better than to try to start a conversation with Neji, his fierce gaze steadfastly turned away from both her and the head table.

With her hands out of sight below the table, Hinata pulled a cloth doll from inside her jacket and walked it through imaginary conversations between her knees. Being alone almost all her life, she had long ago perfected the art of concentrating her attention and totally absorbing herself in the game. She knew she was too old for dolls and had passed most onto her sister Hanabi, but this one had been with her since as she could remember. Nothing wiled away the hours quite so pleasantly, although she would be punished if her proud father knew her hobby...

"What is that?" Hinata jumped—she hadn't realised she was being watched. Her porcelain cheeks flushed red with shame, then fear as she realised it was Gaara asking, of all people. He stood behind where she sat, looking over her shoulder. She glanced at the head table, but luckily neither Hiashi nor the other Sand-nins had noticed their conversation.

"Well... it's a doll," she said, lifting it so he could see. It was a perfect miniature of Hinata herself, complete with Byakugan and her very own hair. A shift in the stuffing had even given it Hinata's trademark worried expression, and the resemblance was so close it was ludicrous.

"What do you do with it?" Looking absolutely fascinated by the figure, he leant down to peer closer.

"Ano... you play with it," she explained awkwardly, knowing he couldn't understand. She hadn't meant to call this much attention to her childish game, and now regretted bringing the doll to the meeting.

He surprised her. "I had a teddy bear once."

She felt a little better. "Hai, something like that." She waited a few moments, but that seemed to be all. "What was its name?"

"Pochi."

"Isn't that a dog's name?" she couldn't help but ask. He shrugged. "What happened to Pochi?"

Gaara was silent for a little while. "I killed him. He was weak."

"Oh." Try as she might, Hinata couldn't think of a reply to that.

Neji snorted and turned away, still not looking at Gaara. "Baby's toys. You're thirteen now."

Gaara looked at him, too intrigued to remember his anger. He had never imagined anything like this. "You know about these?"

Neji rose and walked away without replying. Hinata, by now wishing she could sink into the ground and disappear, started to tuck the doll safely away in her jacket.

A barrier of sand caught her hand roughly and stopped her. "Hinata-chan... could... could I have the doll?" Gaara asked, the only expression on his face that of curiosity.

He initial response was, NO! DON'T TOUCH HER! But she caught her tongue and looked differently at him in that moment, then glanced around at Neji's back.

It seemed that was all she ever saw of Neji.

"Hai, Gaara-kun," she told him, settling herself further onto the matt and holding it up to him. "But you have to be careful. I've had her for many years. She carries many of my tears, and even my blood inside her."

He blanched for a second, then thrust the doll back at her. "Maybe you should keep it. I don't—"

She pressed it back into his hands as she stood up. "She might even have a hundred tears," she whispered as she brushed past. Two more drops glistened in her eyes, but she knew he would attribute it to her Byakugan.

"Temari told me..."

"I know. What would you wish for, Gaara-kun?" she asked whimsically, brushing past him and heading quickly for her rooms before anyone saw her crying.

No matter her feelings for him, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to hear the answer to that question.

That's everything." Temari scanned the rooms they had used in the Hyuuga house; they hadn't brought anything other than their weapons and packs. Shinobi traveled light. "Sensei will be out soon. We'd better wait for him outside," she added, leading Kankurou out.

"Where's Gaara?" the robed Sand-nin asked in a carefully neutral voice. "I haven't seen him since the meal."

"With Baki," Temari told him as they emerged into the bright sunlight of Konoha village. "Sensei's been..." She shuddered. "Talking to him," she finished uncomfortably. "He's getting too wild closer to the full moon."

"Amen," Kankurou muttered. Frantic footsteps caught their attention as they waited for their companions.

"Don't tell me," Temari sighed. "The annoying Hyuuga girl."

Sure enough, Hinata swung around a corner in the hall and skidded to a stop when she saw them, nervous as she was around most people. "Ano... is... is Gaara-kun here? Has he gone yet?"

Kankurou's eyes widened at the title she used. Temari just shook her head, looking bored. The Hyuuga girl hesitated another moment, then ran towards the door. As she was about to pass him, Kankurou grabbed her shoulder hard, almost spinning the slight girl around. "Stay away from him," he hissed, thrusting his face close to hers. "We have the Chuunin exam to worry about." And so much more than that. The Hyuuga family was marked high on Orochimaru's threat list, and would be the first to be neutralised.

"Don't give away our secrets," Temari told her, standing behind him with arms crossed. "I still don't like you, Hinata-san."

"Don't worry," Hinata told them both, her hands automatically moving to twist nervously around each other. "I just want to say goodbye."

Both Sand-nins gave grudging nods and turned away. All of a sudden, however, Temari spun back and wrapped Hinata in an embrace. "I don't like you, but I can't deny what you've done," she murmured to the stunned Hyuuga girl. "Thank you." She released Hinata, and walked away without another word.

"Think that'll change him?" Temari muttered to her brother as they waited for Gaara to emerge with Baki.

"Shouldn't think so," Kankurou replied, hoisting Karasu onto his shoulders with a grunt and shrugging several times to settle the marionette in place. "When you think about it, nothing significant really happened. He didn't win anything to fight for."

"Maybe," Temari replied, her voice doubtful. "Still, that first love was a strange one."

"Strange doesn't begin to cover it," Kankurou told her. "This is Gaara we're talking about."

"True," Temari acknowledged. "Still, you never know. I think a seed's been planted." She pointed to the doorway where Hinata waited with anxiously clasped hands. Gaara and Baki walked out side-by-side straight past Hinata, but both stopped and whirled at the running footsteps behind them.

"G... goodbye, Gaara-kun," Hinata told him, coming to a halt a few feet away and suddenly unsure what to say. Gaara was unmoving, arms crossed as always, and Baki glowered at her from behind his veils. The night before still seemed like a dream, and if Gaara took offence to her decision... "I..."

"Hai. Farewell, Hinata-chan," Gaara told her, the usual cold expression on his face. His words, no matter the emotionless, vaguely threatening tone he spoke in, underscored the changes he had been through in the Hyuuga mansion. "We will not meet again." He paused for a moment,

"Gaara-kun, can't I... see you again?" she asked almost inaudibly, hopeless tears welling in her eyes. "Not now, but... later?"

Baki snorted and moved to join his other students, shaking his head meaningfully at Gaara

Left with no choice, Gaara turned to follow. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder, but didn't reply directly to her words. "Stay away from me until the Chuunin exam is over," he told her instead, not a shred of emotion in his face or voice. "I'll kill you." With that final promise, he turned to rejoin his companions.

Hinata clasped her hands together in front of her chest, not doubting him in the least but happy with her small victory. She would obey him, she knew, that was her nature. But she hadn't finished, couldn't let him go just yet.

"Gaara-kun!" she cried as Gaara reached them and they moved away as a group. "Aishiteru! I will wait for you!"

He paused again, only for a moment, and didn't turn around, barely stopping. But from his gourd came the sand, rising in front of her unflinching gaze and forming into a mask... no, a true face. Gaara's face. Was it genjutsu?

She kissed his lips anyway, feeling their warmth and softness, knowing that just once, it was real at last.

Hinata Hyuuga could be happy with that.

I am the angel of death, but the force of light. Unemotional. Serene.

I am what I am, and I am your doom.

I live for no one but myself. I fight for no one but myself.

I am Gaara. Fear me.

... only white eyes stay my hand...

END.

A/N: I know I promised seventeen chapters, but I didn't want to drivel for a quota so I lengthened this one instead. Fun, wasn't it? Hinata finally got her first kiss, the loving one she deserved. I couldn't give them a fluffy idyllic relationship; it wouldn't fit the anime storyline, much as they deserve it. The idea was that from here, Temari Kankurou and Gaara run directly into Naruto, Konohamaru & co. and Sak, hopefully fitting the timeline without too much of a seam. I hope we all learned a lesson here—never get involved with demon-possessed Shinobi, no matter how broodingly attractive they are. Always chase failed Byakugan-specialists instead. /moral

Naruto Epic Series of fanfiction (NES) in the works now... that last little Hyuuga family scene with the doll is becoming a TEN YEARS LATER fic about Gaara, Hinata, Neji and the others in ANBU (I can't let Neji die!) and Uchiha family too, after Itachi rapes a Hyuuga woman and an illegitimate genius child is born possessing both Sharingan and Byakugan and torn between her duty to two families. Hanabi will be a Chuunin and have a new generation of Genins, involving OC's and new bloodline limits. It's going to be fun. Oh, and the hundred-tears thing is part of the basis behind my upcoming Hanabi fic. I LOVE that girl!

AMV Update- I have viewed what I think is the best AMV it is possible to make for Naruto. Lee and Gai-sensei to, of all things... Will Smith, 'Just the Two of Us.' It. Is. SUGOI. Mad props to S!th for it.

Thanks to everyone who read and especially those who reviewed, you kept me writing when I would have let it sit. You guys rock. Completely. You're officially invited on our next adventure, hope to see you then!

Charm.

Fanfic stats-

Pages: 46

Words: (excluding Author's Notes): 28, 795

Begun: 4th June 2004.

Finished: 7th August 2004, much later than I'd hoped.

Reviews as of final chapter posting: 97. My other fanfics are in obscure categories so no one reviews them grr...