.

.

And so 'round and 'round they go
Where they'll end up
Nobody knows

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Hourglass

Chapter 8: Prima Volta

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She was avoiding him— that much was clear. Usually he caught glimpses of her around the building before she left for her shift and she'd wave or acknowledge him each time they passed. Today he rounded a corner and almost bumped into her, but she'd turned and ran.

Gaara frowned, folding his hands across his chest and feeling mildly irritated. She was reminding him of a time he'd rather forget, a time when people used to flee at the sight of him…

And then there was the matter of that blasted upper class affair tomorrow…

Gaara's frown deepened as he leaned heavily on his desk. He failed to see the importance of such frivolities but nevertheless knew that class politics were important in village matters. The upper class was full of very influential people with connections extending to even the elders in the council. Some things never changed in history, he supposed. While their use and purpose had been severely cut down after the war, their reputation was still highly regarded. It was something he hoped to diminish somehow— that stupid boundary between the classes.

He wondered if his appearance at their little gathering would only establish this boundary more firmly. He grimaced at the thought. If he failed, yet again, to make an appearance, they would be offended. Yet if he did, then it would only serve to boost their rank amongst the common people. He failed to see how he could come up with a solution that would emerge in his favor—that is, his desire for the class boundaries to dissipate— unless he were to take matters into his own hands without the consent of the council and pass it as a formal law. But he was already unpopular with the upper class as it was; he didn't need more opposition on his plate. It was supposedly a time of peace, after all…

A strange commotion outside his office door willed him away from his thoughts. There was an urgent knock and Gaara hastened to say, "Enter," before two harassed-looking Chunin guards burst into the room.

"Gaara-sama, there's trouble at our borders!"

He stood up immediately. "Which one?"

"The north—" one of the Chunin gasped out, but Gaara was already gone in a flurry of sand before she could continue.

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They were running through the thick woods, the darkness disabling their speed as they stumbled over unseen branches and leaves in the canopy. Their pursuers were slowly gaining on them, no doubt due to the familiarity of their own terrain.

Lee was up front and she was taking the rear. Neji was keeping his pace in the middle with his Byakugan activated, checking to see how close they were to the border.

"Just a little further, up ahead!" he called, prompting them to double their pace despite the risk of falling.

Tenten reached for one of her short scrolls and let it unroll after her as she struggled to keep up with her faster comrades. She let loose a smoke screen and a stream of kunai behind her, not bothering to take aim, and felt the enemy fall back slightly.

"Almost there," Neji said, through gritted teeth, "I can see Gai-sensei waiting for us…"

The rogue ninjas were close on their heels again and Tenten feared that they wouldn't make it before—

"ARGH!"

"LEE!"

Time seemed to stop as they watched their friend fall from the branch; ugly, twisting vines met him halfway as the enemy's trap slammed him roughly into the bark, binding him tightly to the trunk of a tree several feet below.

Neji immediately dove to release him, but their pursuers had caught up—

Rough, coarse hands enclosed around her throat as a sharp pain pierced through her stomach. She fell back against a wiry chest, coughing blood, and knew no more.

"Ah…"

Tenten sat up slowly, rubbing her tired eyes and willing the dream back into the shadowy recesses of her mind. She'd had frighteningly similar dreams before, all of which featured Team Gai fleeing from an unknown enemy, resulting in their untimely deaths. For some reason, Gai-sensei was almost never in them, though Tenten supposed dreams had every right not to make sense. They were only dreams, after all.

Tenten got to her feet and stretched out her limbs. She gripped the edge of the tower and leaned out cautiously, staring moodily at the ground below. She was surprised when her eye caught something in the horizon.

It was a tiny speck in the distance, growing larger and larger as it blazed through the sand in her direction. Alarmed, Tenten made a frantic search for her telescope and pointed it northwards where the sand was swirling.

What the—?!

A band of five ninjas— rogue ninjas by the look of them— were running towards her tower at full speed, their identities masked by the cloths tied around their heads, obscuring half of their faces.

Who are these people? she thought, leaning out of the tower to get a closer look. They can't possibly be visitors here… could they? As far as she was concerned, nobody was due to arrive today from the north. No one had told her about a squad coming in and these guys were definitely not traveling civilians. Tenten watched, finally fully alert, as the one leading the group began forming hand signs.

Hell no! Tenten thought angrily, gathering up her battle scrolls, that bastard's not attacking my tower!

She almost lunged straight into battle but thought better of it. There were five of them and even with her long-ranged fighting style, Tenten didn't know what they were capable of.

Shit! Where's that damn signal flare? Dropping her scrolls, Tenten dug around her pockets for the seal and activated it. A long, red streak of light shot up in the sky and exploded into a hundred red sparks, spiraling to the ground like a firework.

The rogue nins slowed their run at the flare but showed no signs of retreating.

"Where the hell is everybody?!" Tenten yelped, as a loud crash below her made the tower shake. She was under attack without reinforcements! "Hey you assholes!" she shouted, trying to buy some time, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Another loud crash brought her stumbling to the floor of the tower. "Argh!" Tenten grabbed her scrolls before they could roll out of reach and got to her feet. She had to do something before they reached her. If she let them pass, they were home free to the village's northern gates. But then…

"Whatever! I'm pissed!" With that, she leapt off the ledge, forming her hand signs— tiger, serpent, monkey, hare, serpent— and shooting upwards into the air, unraveling her scrolls as she went. The familiar feeling of freedom lifted her senses and for the first time in a long time, Tenten felt light and carefree. She felt her spirits soaring as the wind picked her up and her jutsu held her in midair—

"Soshoryu!"

Metal rain cascaded in a deadly storm below her, scattering the enemy's formation as they moved to avoid the attack.

"AAUGH!"

"Quick, counter it!"

She felt a strong gust of wind blow, scattering her weapons and throwing off her aim. One of the nins had activated a jutsu— a wind-type jutsu!

Great. Just my luck! Wind elementals! She may as well call it quits now. Hadn't she learned from Temari just how useless her Soshoryu was against wind?

"ARGH!"

She'd hit a couple of them with the clear senbon needles she'd spiked with poison, designed to target the possible spots the enemy would move to when avoiding the obvious metal onslaught of shuriken and kunai. But that wasn't enough. She was falling now as the enemy was getting up, brushing themselves off like the needles were nothing. The incorporation of poison on her weapons was fairly new— an idea given to her by Sakura— and despite being given an extremely potent formula by her pink-haired friend, Tenten hadn't had time to perfect her brewing skills.

Damn it! I knew I should have paid more attention when Sakura was showing me how to stir the stupid pot.

What the hell did she know? Stirring a pot looked easy enough. Apparently not, she thought, grimacing as her feet touched the ground lightly, her opponents looking fairly fine as they advanced on her.

Oh well. She'd just have to try something else. Soshoryu might be useless against wind jutsus, but she'd developed stronger jutsus with her new and highly improved arsenal. She reached behind her, ready to hurl her big scroll out, but felt nothing. Panic began to set in as she realized she was now empty handed.

Tenten, you big idiot! She'd left her big scroll back up in the tower where she'd been alphabetizing her weapons before getting bored and dumping them in a corner. And then she had fallen asleep.

In other words… she was unarmed. The rogues were starting to close in on her. She could see them falling back on their formation. She had to think, fast!

Rummaging in her back pocket, Tenten felt a small relief when her fingertips touched the wrinkled paper of her smoke bombs. It wasn't enough, but at least it would buy her even a little bit of time…

She ran towards them, faking another assault as she grabbed a kunai on the ground from her Soshoryu. With the speed of a trained kunoichi, Tenten wrapped the paper bombs around the kunai behind her back and hurled it at her attackers.

"Take this! Hyah!" A thick cloud of black smoke began to fill the field and Tenten shot to her feet, running blindly back in the direction of the tower until she broke free from the suffocating smoke. There! Doubling her speed in a way that would've made Gai-sensei proud, Tenten leaped as high as she could and began to run vertically up the watchtower.

"There she is!"

The enemy had broken free of the smoke bombs and she could hear their footsteps running after her, but it didn't matter… Just a few more steps and she could jump over the ledge and get her scroll—

"Nawa Jutsu!"

"Ah!" A long, black rope shot out from the leader's hand and the cold, sharp hook at the end caught her by the collar of her shirt and began to tug her back. Tenten lunged forward, her fingertips managing to grab hold of the ledge and winced as she heard a small tear ripping out a part of her collar.

No… no, no, no, no, no—! This could not be happening to her. Tenten refused to believe that she was being overtaken by some dumb thugs who though it'd be fun to pillage the village. Dumb thugs or not, five shinobi against one was still completely unfair… and she'd been careless to leave her big scroll at the tower. Although she adamantly refused to believe her current situation, Tenten could feel her grip on the uneven stone walls slipping.

So close… Must… hold on…

Even as she thought this, she could feel the enemy's malicious chakra trickling up the rope, slowly but surely making its way to shock her into submission. And damn it all, but she didn't even have a single sharp weapon on her to cut the line before it—

A cold, furious pain shot through her body like lightning and suddenly she was falling. She felt herself losing consciousness. But no— she was stubborn. Struggling to remain awake and bracing herself for the impact of the harsh, sandy terrain, Tenten could no longer keep the mind-numbing pain at bay.

She could no longer feel as her body fell into a strange bundle of sand much nearer than she remembered the ground being, enveloping her body like a cast… she could no longer hear as her captors opened their mouths to scream, wide-eyed with terror as a large wave of sand fell upon them… she could no longer see as her vision began to blur and her mind began to slip into darkness… though Tenten could have sworn she saw a familiar flash of red hair before the world around her began to fade away.

.

She could hear their voices calling her name, screaming, pleading… and she hated them all. She hated each and every one of them, and her hatred grew as she flung herself up in the air, her tears blurring out the sky she was glaring up at—

Why me, God?

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Tenten's first thought as she awoke was that she felt like throwing up... and unless she had a hangover, Tenten never felt like throwing up.

"Ugh…"

What happened to her? Her body felt like a ton of bricks and Tenten was sure she'd probably throw up for real if she dared to move her limbs. She'd fallen asleep during guard duty, some rogues came, outnumbered her… and…?

"So you're awake."

She tensed. Tenten knew that voice anywhere, but she didn't dare open her eyes. "I'm…" her voice was raspy from disuse and she cleared her throat before continuing. "I'm alive…?"

There was no response and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. Hell… her eyes were shut, so why not? Tenten rolled her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked hoarsely, after a moment of silence.

"You almost died, that's what happened."

There was such a furious, bitter edge to that sentence that Tenten couldn't help herself. She moved her head to the direction of his voice and opened her eyes to glare at him. She almost gasped at what she saw— he wasn't just furious, he was downright livid. If she hadn't been hanging around him for the past week and a half, Tenten knew she wouldn't have been able to discern the slight trembling of his shoulders, nor the tightness to his jaws as he stared her down with his penetrating blue-green orbs.

But why the hell was he mad at her?

She fought the urge to avert her gaze as he pushed himself away from the shadows of the corner he'd been keeping watch at— Tenten realized they were inside her bedroom— and began to close in on her helpless form on the bed.

Tenten opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out.

"Care to tell me…" he began ominously when he was standing right next to the bed, leaning down on her. "Exactly what you were thinking earlier?"

She gaped at him like a floundering fish, completely taken aback by his misplaced anger, until she finally found her voice again.

"Excuse me?" she screeched, struggling futilely to sit up as anger began flooding through her and overriding her other senses, "what I was thinking? I was doing what I was assigned to do… I was doing my job, protecting your village!"

Gaara stood up straight, his eyes never wavering from her own as his glare turned darker. He was wearing his sand gourd, and Tenten quickly deduced that he must have been the one to save her from those rogues.

"By yourself?" he spat, showing the most emotion she'd ever seen from him. "And you didn't think to call for help? Or wait for reinforcements?"

Tenten could not believe what she was seeing and hearing. To the normal observer, Gaara's face displayed a neutral expression, but those who were accustomed to his everyday expressions would know that he was completely infuriated. He was also speaking… speaking more than he'd ever spoken, as far as Tenten was concerned. At least now she knew she preferred him as a mute. But Gaara wasn't done with his little tirade.

"Did you really believe you could take on five experienced shinobi alone? Don't you know your weapons are useless against wind-natured chakra and wind-release techniques?"

She gasped, extremely hurt though she'd never admit it. He might as well have slapped her in the face.

"What the hell is your problem? You think you're better than everyone else? For your information, I did call for backup! I signaled the flare! I wasn't trying to be some kind of vigilante, if that's what you're thinking," Tenten retorted, fully incensed. "If I knew that this was the kind of thanks I'd be getting for sticking my neck out for your village, then I wouldn't have bothered!"

She could feel her worn, tired body shaking with fury and the aching was all but dulled out by her anger. She'd done what she was supposed to do… and for what? All of a sudden, everything was her fault. Lately, it seemed, every damn thing was her fault. She just couldn't do anything right anymore, could she?

Gaara looked down at her coldly, unmoved by her speech. "Good. Then consider it a lesson learned."

Before she had any time to retort, he'd turned his back on her and was out of the room in three quick strides, slamming the door with an earthshattering bang as he went.

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It was a slow day and Ino lounged sloppily on her seat behind the counter, indulging herself by reading the latest tabloid newspaper. She'd been avidly following the latest scandal in Rice Country involving a torrid love affair between the daimyo's wife and cousin for weeks.

She sensed someone looming nearer, the soft footsteps of a trained shinobi, and hoped that it was Sakura coming back for another chat. The pink-haired girl had stopped by earlier while she'd been on break and they'd exchanged the latest news and gossip until Sakura had to return to her shift in the hospital. Ino looked up eagerly and the newspaper slid from her fingers when she saw a familiar set of white-eyes staring stonily at her from the doorway.

Eyebrows raised, she hesitated for only a fraction of a second before prompting a perplexed, "May I help you?"

Neji Hyuuga stepped slowly into the shop, glancing indifferently at the various flower arrangements laid out on display and shaking his head. Ino shrugged in response, more to herself than him, and let the stoic Hyuuga browse their stock. She bent to pick up the newspaper on the floor and set to ignoring her strange customer with determination. Of course, she couldn't help her curiosity, and as the minutes ticked by, Ino found herself glancing more and more out of the corner of her eye to see what Neji was doing. She could barely remember the last time she'd seen him in her family's flower shop.

He'd come to a complete halt, his body frozen as he bent down to examine a display of purple heliotropes. Ino frowned and bit her tongue, replaying a long-ago memory in the back corner of her mind…

It was a blistering hot day in the middle of July when a customer she had never seen before within the confines of her shop stepped inside.

Neji Hyuuga, looking quite unsure with himself, stood just past the doorway with his arms folded tightly across his chest.

"Ooooh," she'd gasped, clapping her hands together behind the counter, her dreary exhaustion with the tiring weather all but forgotten. "Is this for Tenten?"

He'd flinched visibly and made a sharp turn back towards the open doorway, ready to bolt—

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait—!"

She'd leapt to her feet before she could even process what she was doing and had taken hold of his arm. They froze for a second before Ino snatched her hand away, laughing nervously.

"Ahaha, sorry," she said, grinning cheekily under the older boy's stoic gaze. "It's a bad habit of mine, trying to guess who the flowers are for!"

He avoided her gaze and muttered, "…You guessed right."

The blonde was absolutely floored. Well, of course she'd known she was right, but she'd never have guessed that the Hyuuga would have admitted to it so easily.

"Well, you came to the right place then," she'd declared, wasting no time showing him around the shop and pointing out all the flowers that declared love. He didn't bother to question her assumption and let her wheel him around on the little tour. He kept silently tense as Ino explained the language of flowers and how different breeds and colors determined the meaning of each flower.

He left the shop in a hurry a short moment afterwards with a beautifully arranged bouquet of purple heliotropes and Ino waving him goodbye from the doorway with a knowing look, beaming ear-to-ear.

She couldn't believe how different things were now. Ino grew more and more irritated as the minutes ticked by with neither word nor motion from the Hyuuga. She felt compelled to say something.

"Those foxgloves over there are really pretty," she commented airily, as though mentioning a passing thought in mere conversational chatter, "Not to mention those lobelias in the corner have grown nicely…"

The Hyuuga prodigy glared at her, too smart not to understand her implication. Ino was sure he was none the wiser as to what the flowers meant, but it seemed that he most assuredly knew she was pointing him out to those with ill meaning.

A little while later Neji stormed out of the shop with his purchase, silently and inexplicably furious that Ino didn't ask him who the flowers were for.

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Gaara paced furiously in his office, his mind turning the argument over and over in his head. The girl had been foolish, no doubt, to think that she could handle all of those nins by herself. It was obvious to him now that Tenten had some sort of inferiority complex— one that baffled him at most. Why was it that she was always trying to prove her strength and abilities? Even if she wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone but herself, why was she so doubtful about her own powers in the first place?

He sighed, knowing that even if he were to confront her about it, she would never admit to his (rightful) conclusion. The girl had a whole lot of pride too.

But still! Gaara stopped his pacing and slammed a fist upon his desk. Her Hokage had entrusted her to him for safekeeping and what does the girl do? She runs off and tries to get herself killed.

But… No. That wasn't fair. He knew that Tenten had been reacting on instinct. It didn't help matters that her fellow guards on duty had been sleeping on the job (thus why nobody had responded to the flare… he'd given them quite a scolding). She'd done what she was supposed to do: fire the signal flare and engage in combat with the enemy. But not alone, the angry-half of him screamed. Why didn't she wait for someone?

Maybe she did, his rational-half reasoned, but those incompetent fools on duty couldn't have seen the flare.

It was a good thing he had extra guards watching the village parameters. But even then, most of them had been patrolling the eastern gate. He willed himself not to imagine what would have happened had Otokaze not been on watch.

His reeling thoughts slowed as he recalled the image of an injured but proud Tenten looking up at him, her eyes shining with hurt and angry tears. She'd done what she could in her situation; she stood her ground and didn't abandon her post. She'd done what most other shinobi would have done. Gaara ran his hand through his hair in exasperation, his calm rationality finally returning. Why the hell had he gotten so mad at her?

He stilled momentarily at the thought. He'd gotten so angry because…?

"She's supposed to be safe here with me," he growled under his breath, resuming his pacing. The Hokage had entrusted her to him, had given him that blasted report that was now locked inside his desk drawer.

The thought of the report stopped him in his tracks as his head pieced together something he hadn't been aware of until now. He was treating Tenten like she was some kind of helpless and fragile civilian. Was it because of…?

"Damn it all," he cursed, striding to the door and trying not to think about what he was going to do. He knew he had to make amends.

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Tenten refused to cry, and because she was currently incapacitated, she spent all of her energy focusing on not crying. It had been more than a couple of hours since the argument and she was still burning with anger and adrenaline from being unjustly reprimanded and insulted by someone who claimed to be her 'friend.'

Friend my ass, Tenten thought, seething with newfound rage. What complete bullshit. I can't believe I respected that son of a bitch when he obviously thinks I'm nothing but a worthless piece of trash.

Her life had finally come to a complete and total dead end. First her long-time boyfriend dumps her for no good reason, then she finds out her Hokage sent her on a cock-and-bull mission, and now her good friend makes it clear to her how completely and utterly useless she is.

Damn backstabber.

She knew she was no good against five fully experienced shinobi, especially against wind elementals considering her expertise. She knew that and yet… did he have to rub it in? She wasn't some freaking amazing ninja who could drown people in a sea of sand or punch a hole through a sky-high mountain. She wasn't the apprentice or student of a Hokage or Sannin. Heck, Gai-sensei didn't even work with her that much after he fully adopted Lee as his very own apprentice. Neji, at least, had his clan techniques and training, but her… she had no one to help her. Gai-sensei trained her as best as he could, but ultimately she was left to fend for herself. She had to find her own way of specializing her weapons, of refining her techniques, and of creating them herself. She didn't have anyone who could hand her down special jutsus or clan techniques. She was a self-made kunoichi and she was damn proud of that fact. Yet, it only took a few words from the mouth of someone stronger than her to tear her down.

She knew. Tenten was aware that she was falling behind her comrades. She didn't need anyone telling her that. Everyone else in the infamous Konoha Eleven had someone to guide him or her… someone who shared clan jutsus or special techniques. Everyone but her, it seemed. It was a truth she still struggled with, one she didn't need so harshly brought to light by Gaara, of all people.

Another pity-party, Tenten? Her inner mocked. Aren't you worn out from all this hard partying you've been doing lately?

The voice was right. Where did all of her confidence go? When did she begin being so… weak and unsure? Didn't she hate those kind of people the most?

Oh god, I'm turning into someone I hate.

And just like that she was back to sucking in her breath and trying her mightiest not to let a teardrop fall. She knew where it began, no matter how hard she tried not to think about it… about him… He absolutely destroyed her.

Neji…

He was the one who she'd be running to for comfort right about now. Tenten had no one. She'd been alone for as long as she could remember. But back then she had a lot to be thankful for. At least she wasn't hated like that Naruto kid. At least she had a place to live and a bed to lie on. At least she had friends in the orphanage, most of whom were married young and are now living mundane lives as working civilians.

Perhaps I would've done well as a normal civilian, thought Tenten glumly, letting out an enormous sigh once she felt safe from the unwelcome tears. I would probably be married now like Megumi, and maybe even have some kids…

No. She just couldn't imagine it. She'd always dreamed and dreamed about becoming a kunoichi and now that she was… she had absolutely no regrets. Being a ninja was the best thing that ever happened to her and it still prided her to know that she actually did it. She worked so hard and she was rewarded for her efforts. Sure, she wasn't a natural born genius. In fact, she didn't really have much going for her other than her tenacity and stubbornness and drive to succeed. Even then, she was subpar at most. No matter how hard she tried, it seemed she was always one step behind.

But he… he never thought of her like this. Even when she was at her lowest, at least she could always turn to him. At least she had her teammates, her sensei, her new shinobi friends who understood the dangers they face everyday in their professions. At least she was loved…

Until now. She was back to where she started. No— it was worse. She had completely walked into new, uncharted territory surrounded by people who no longer cared for her. Now she really had nobody to turn to…

She wasn't close enough with Sakura, Ino, or anybody at all, really. He had been her best friend… her lover and sole confidante. He was the only one she really poured her heart and soul into.

I guess there's Lee…

But she could only tell him so much. Lee was a happy-going and cheerful sort of person who didn't like self-pitying people such as herself. She didn't want to bring him down with all her mopey-ness… then he'd never want to hang around her anymore. Besides, she wanted to keep Lee as he was: happy and easy-going. Planting all of her problems on him would only burden him and cause unnecessary (and most assuredly dramatic and troublesome) scenes she would rather not partake in. He's definitely the kind to blow things way out of proportion. She was also quite sure that if Lee ever saw this side of her, he'd lose some respect for her as a teammate, though unintentionally. It was bad enough he saw her crying that day… and she could still remember the concerned look on his face… she hated it.

I want to go home.

…What a baby. Can you sound any more pathetic?

I don't care. I've had enough of this…

Tenten. You've changed.

A sharp knock on the door brought an abrupt stop to her inner struggle. She barely had time to try and identify the presence standing outside when the very person burst into the room.

Gaara shut the door quietly behind him, his blue-green eyes flickering around the room before resting on her own. There were countless emotions swirling behind his gaze and Tenten knew she could no longer doubt the fact that Gaara, the once bloodthirsty psychopath, actually did possess feelings, however undeveloped they may be.

But he was the last person in the world she wanted to see right now. Tenten eyed him warily, too exhausted to muster up a glare. She had a hunch as to what he came back for. Obviously, he was here to apologize for his rash and unjust treatment of her. The idiot must have realized that he'd overreacted.

She could see that the silence was affecting him and was spitefully glad for it. For once, he was the one fidgeting about what to say. This time, Tenten was absolutely certain that she had done nothing wrong and she knew that he knew it too.

Gaara's head was bowed down but he was looking at her through the gaps of his crimson hair. It wasn't the first time she'd noticed how much longer his hair had grown and she found she liked him better this way. The fire in the hearth bathed him in an orange glow that made him look… softer, somehow. He took a step towards her across the shadowy room and Tenten remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him.

What am I thinking about anyway…?

He was taking another step towards her… and another and another. Try as she might, she couldn't pull her eyes away from his intense gaze.

She could feel her heart beating just a tiny bit faster. Where was this tension coming from? He was standing over her now, his hand coming to a rest on the wooden frame of her bed.

"I'm sorry."

She stared up at him, bathed in firelight as the last of the sun sank down into the Suna sand. "Is that all?" she asked quietly.

There was a pause as they looked at each other. There was something… strange…

Gaara wet his lips, shaking his head once. "No… I shouldn't have said what I did."

Something turbulent was swirling within the depths of his blue-green orbs. Could he feel it too?

"Then why did you?" she whispered. He was standing too close...

He shook his head again. "I…"

He looked so lost and confused that Tenten felt her lips lifting into a small smile. "Did you get angry when you saw me hurt? Is that it?"

Gaara turned his head away, shocked. She'd hit the bulls-eye. That was exactly the reason but he hadn't been willing to confess that to her. How did she know?

"You remind me of someone I know."

He turned his head back to her but Tenten wasn't looking at him. She was staring out the window, looking into another time…

"He used to do the exact same thing."

Her… ex-boyfriend, then? He recalled the conversation they had of him and said nothing. So she was still mourning their break up.

"Tenten—" he began, but she cut him off.

"I'm sorry."

Gaara was stunned into silence. Why on earth was she apologizing?

Her gaze was gentle and her voice soft. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

And there it was— as they stared at each other in the slowly darkening room—that feeling again… There was something different about them, around them. Neither could tell exactly what it was, but…

Why did he suddenly want to touch her?

Tenten, however, wanted nothing more but for Gaara to leave the room. She was suspicious of this feeling. She had a guess as to what it lead to and what it would start… but it couldn't be. She must be more jacked up with her meds than she thought. Perhaps she was just hallucinating. She was scared.

She became aware of his hand sliding down the bed frame, inching slowly to where her head rested.

"Gaara-sama? I… I'm tired."

His movement stopped. He withdrew his hand and straightened up, his eyes burning with such emotion that it left her throat dry.

"Of course." His voice was unintentionally husky and it sent a shiver down her spine. Gaara began to turn away, but stopped abruptly as a sudden thought came to him.

Tenten eyed him warily, watching him war with himself as he tried to sort out some inner debate. He stayed there frozen for a moment before Tenten found she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't explain it, but she needed him gone… now.

"Gaara-sama?"

Her voice snapped him back to his senses, his eyes flickering up to meet her own. They were still burning.

The words tumbled out before he could stop them.

"Will you be my date tomorrow?"

Tenten's jaw dropped. "Y-your… what?"

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Kankuro froze outside the doorway, hand forgotten in midair, still poised to knock. He had just gotten back from a mission and, after hearing from the gossipy Isago about the events that had taken place, decided it was the perfect time for him to 'make his move' and cheer the poor girl up. However, it seemed as if he'd arrived at exactly the wrong moment. He'd just heard Gaara's question and still could not believe his ears. His brother had stolen his date.

Not yet! His mind screamed, as the conversation went on behind the door, Tenten didn't answer y—!

"Oh, for that?" He heard Tenten's halting voice. It was spoken so softly, he almost missed the next part. "Well, then… alright."

Kankuro might as well have turned to stone.

Gaara asked Tenten to be his date. Gaara had beaten him to it.

Gaara.

A sort of hysterical giddiness was bubbling up inside him; it was absurd. He wanted to laugh and slap Gaara on the back and shout, "Way to go!" as he felt brothers should do, but it was not an action he could do with Gaara. At the same time, he felt numb from the shock of witnessing (hearing) Gaara— Gaara, for crying out loud— ask a girl to be his date for a party.

And then, for some reason, he also felt betrayed that his younger brother had just stolen his— the older brother— date. Gaara stole his date.

His brain refused to process this simple fact, and as he ran it over and over through his mind, his heart began to sink.

Temari will never let me live this down.

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.

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Bound by the wheels of fate they go
Spinning with their lives at stake
What will be lost? What will be won?
Who will be the first to break?

'Round and 'round they go…

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End Chapter 8.

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A/N: The next couple of chapters are going to focus on the relationship between Gaara and Tenten. It is crucial for the "secret" to be kept secret until the end of the story so it may be best to keep it out of mind for now.