SPOILERS: Through Episode 32 of Shipuden. Later stories may have later spoilers but will be AU to fit what I've done in this one.

Story One- Desert Flower

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. *sigh* My husband probably wouldn't let me keep him anyway. No profit is made on this work. It is just for fun. Here we go then...

Chapter 1: The leaf ninja's question.

Gaara heard the leaf ninja coming well before the blond boy burst into the office.

"Ano...you can't just go in there without an appointment!" The, recently back from the dead, ex-jinchuriki recognized the voice of Shinta.

Shinta was the young Kazekage's new personal assistant. Having an assistant was one of Temari and Kankuro's conditions for the redhead's return to work just a few days after being rescued from the Akatsuki.

"But, I have to talk to him right away!" Naruto's voice rang out in protest.

"Temari-san left strict orders that Gaara-sama was not to have unauthorized visitors. He is still recovering from his ordeal." Shinta explained.

Gaara's eyes narrowed and the Kazekage briefly contemplated causing Temari to have sand in some very uncomfortable places. No, that would be wrong. After all, she was only trying to protect her "little brother". Since the youngest sand sibling's abduction (and subsequent untimely death), the older two siblings had become a little bit overprotective, and while it was nice to know they cared, their concern and constant mothering had quickly begun to feel smothering to the fiercely independent ex-jinchuriki.

"I need to ask Gaara something important." Naruto's voice rose in volume. He was obviously getting quite frustrated.

"I'm sorry, if you could just..."

The confrontation outside was escalating. The Kazekage stood and headed for the door to put a stop to it.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Gaara reached for the door, but had to leap back as it burst open and Naruto dashed into the large office. There was just time for a brief glimpse of Shinta, struggling against a hoard of orange-clad ninja, before the leaf shinobi slammed and locked the office door, leaning against it for good measure.

"Oy, Gaara." Naruto grinned, "How are you feeling?"

The young Kazekage's arms crossed and the pale face cleared of expression, "I was recently dead for a few hours," A hint of a wry smile appeared as Gaara continued, "Otherwise, I suppose I am well."

"Ah, good." Naruto seemed to not really be listening to the answer.

Instead he was staring at his friend in a way that was making the redhead a little uncomfortable.

A sudden sharp impact on the closed door broke the tension.

"Kazekage-sama!" Shinta yelled in a panic as the door once again shuddered.

Gaara gestured for Naruto to move out of the way and calmly opened the door. Shinta rushed in looking flustered but unharmed.

"Kazekage-sama, are you alright?" He asked, glaring at Naruto who was leaning against the door frame smiling sheepishly.

Gaara nodded, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Shinta frowned, "I'm sorry, Gaara-sama. I was not expecting him to summon so many shadow clones. The real one was able to slip by while they had me occupied. Shall I remove him from the premises?"

Gaara's eyes grew hard, "No." that tone of voice left no room for argument. "Now, if you'll excuse us. My friend was trying to speak to me privately."

Shinta looked slightly nervous as he realized the extent of his error. Apparently this Uzumaki kid wasn't just Konoha's answer to their request for aid. The Kazekage called this leaf ninja his friend; a title not lightly granted by the suspicious and isolated jinchuriki. Obviously his suggestion had upset the sand-wielder and it had been drilled into sand ninja for years not to piss off Gaara. Though much had changed about the Fourth Kazekage's youngest child in the past few years and even more in the past week, it was better not to tempt fate.

"I'm terribly sorry, Kazekage-sama. I did not realize this young man was a friend of yours. I will ensure you are not disturbed." He bowed deeply to both of them and backed out the door looking decidedly nervous.

Gaara frowned at the fear in Shinta's eyes and tried to relax and look less threatening. It seemed to work because the young man shot his leader a shy smile as he shut the door.

"I assume you did not attack my assistant and force your way into my office to inquire about my health." The redhead turned curious aqua eyes on the suddenly nervous-looking jinchuriki.

"Um, no. I needed to ask you something else." The usually brash ninja seemed oddly flustered, refusing to meet the other's eyes.

"What?"

"Well, when we found you, that is...when I pulled you out...um...while you were...uh..."

"While I was dead." Gaara supplied flatly, hoping to help the stammering ninja along.

Naruto flinched at the memory but pushed on, "Yeah. Um...well, I was too busy to really think much of it at the time...er well, it wasn't even actually me but...er..one of my clones, ne."

The sand-ninja nodded slowly, unsure where this conversation was leading.

"Anyway, well...I was er...holding you, up in a tree, and there was some fighting and um...an explosion...and I had to grab you, ya know, to move you."

Gaara frowned, but waited for the orange-clad boy to get to the point.

"And when I....er...grabbed your uh..chest, I noticed something strange."

The redhead's mind stuttered to a halt, 'Damn. He knows.'

"So, um...Gaara...I need to ask you. Do you..." Naruto's face was as red as Gaara's hair, as he finished the question in a rush, "Do you have boobs?"

Now it was the young sand ninja who would not meet the leaf ninja's eyes. Arms once again came up across the chest in question, the redhead's unconscious way of creating a barrier between the two of them.

'Well, there is nothing left but to explain I guess...' Gaara thought ruefully. 'It was stupid of me to think I could continue to hide it without Shukaku.'

"Um...Gaara?" Naruto's nervous voice broke into the young Kazekage's thoughts.

"Yes."

"Um...Yes as in you heard me, or yes as in...." The blond trailed off, unable to voice the question a second time.

"Yes, I have breasts, Naruto."

"WHAT!? Why!? HOW!? Did the Akatsuki do that somehow?" The leaf ninja practically exploded.

A thin, pale hand shot up to stop the flow of questions. Naruto's mouth snapped shut and a sweat drop formed on his brow. Gaara belatedly realized that the same hand motion usually preceded the Sand Coffin Jutsu. The hand dropped immediately and a flash of hurt crossed the reformed ninja's face for the briefest of moments.

"No, Naruto. No one did this to me. I have breasts because I am a woman."

"A woman?" the blonde echoed incredulously. "No way! When I fought you during the Chunin exams you weren't a girl!"

Gaara covered the hyperactive ninja's mouth with her hand. "Please don't shout. No one else knows."

Naruto nodded and continued at a more reasonable volume once the blocking hand was removed. "How is this possible?"

The redhaired ninja went back to her desk and sat down before she answered, "You're wrong. I didn't know it at the time but I was a girl then too."

"What the hell? What do you mean, you didn't know it?" Naruto gaped, "How could you not know?"

Gaara sighed, "That is complicated."

Naruto crossed his arms stubbornly, "I have time. Explain."

The kage thought for a minute before she stood again and nodded firmly, "Fine, but not here. Come."

With that she headed for the door. Naruto trailed after her silently.

"Shinta."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama." The young man snapped to attention at his leader's appearance.

"I am going home for the day. Please reschedule my appointments." She was careful to keep her tone formal and polite.

"Of course, Gaara-sama" Shinta bowed sharply.

Gaara swiftly left the office and made her way through a maze of corridors. Finally she stopped at an empty stretch of wall, deep inside the Kazekage's Tower. She pressed a hidden switch and a slab of the wall slid smoothly up into the ceiling. She waited for Naruto to go in ahead of her.

Trying to ignore the nervousness she felt at having someone other than her siblings in her private rooms, she followed him in and closed the wall behind them. With the ease of familiarity, she found the light switch in the dark and flipped on the overhead lights. Her windowless sitting area held only a couch, two armchairs, a large bookshelf, and a couple of potted cacti. There was a door at each end of the space, one leading to the kitchen and the other opening onto a small hallway where the toilet, bath, and her bedroom were located. Both doors were closed, as she always left them.

"Sit." She pointed at the couch in the center of the room. "I'll make us some tea."

"Arigatou." Naruto said automatically as she vanished through the kitchen door.

He flopped down on the couch, but was soon back up on his feet, too agitated to remain still.

'Gaara is a girl.' he mulled over this new information, 'How did she hide it? Why didn't I see it sooner? I mean, her face is kind of too pretty for a guy. I wonder what the rest of her looks like.' Naruto felt his nose start to bleed and he quickly shut down that train of thought and attempted to rip up the tracks. 'Whoa! What the heck! I did not just try to picture her naked. It's Gaara for heavens sake! Fifteen minutes ago I thought he...er...she was a guy!' He mentally kicked himself and tried studiously to stop thinking.

It seemed like hours before the kunoichi returned with a small tray of refreshments, though it couldn't have been more than ten minutes.

"Okay." Naruto flopped back down on the couch, "Explain...please."

Gaara took a moment to settle herself in one of the room's two chairs before she began.

"As I said, it is very complicated." She frowned, "I'll start at the beginning."

Naruto nodded and leaned forward in his seat.

"Sand village is not like the leaf village. Men have always held the power in this village and every Kazekage has been a son chosen from my family line. Kankuro showed no aptitude for leadership and it seemed unlikely he would be a strong Kazekage. My father wanted another son, so when my mother got pregnant with me he was very excited. He was determined that I would be a boy and I would be the strongest Kazekage ever. When my mother was far enough along, he had Chiyo-sama ascertain my gender. When she told him I was a girl, he flew into a rage. Then he ordered her to tell no one else, not even my mother."

"Why?" Naruto blurted.

"Because he had a plan. I warned you it was a long story, now shut up." Gaara took a deep breath before continuing her story, "My father had heard that shukaku was always a male jinchuriki. So, he approached Chiyo-sama and told her he wanted her to implant the demon in me while I was still in the womb. I believe he thought it might change my gender but he convinced her by saying I would be a great asset to the village."

"You are." Naruto put in quickly.

Gaara smiled very slightly, "Anyway, as you are aware, they did seal Shukaku in me and I was born appearing to be male." Gaara did not mention her mother's death, it was still a painful subject.

"Appearing to be?"

"Yes, the demon didn't actually change me, it just created a false appearance, a sort of shell around my body."

"Your sand armor?"

"Exactly, I was never without it, even at birth. Medical scans couldn't penetrate the chakra infused sand, anyone seeing me naked would see a young boy's body, it lowered my voice, and it even..." Gaara trailed off slightly blushing.

"It even what?" Naruto asked curiously, having never seen the redhead blush before.

"I learned to pee standing up." She said quietly.

Naruto blushed also, this was too weird. "Oh."

"Yeah, so I thought I was a boy." She hurried on, eager to be finished with this somewhat painful and embarrassing story, "I didn't find out otherwise until last year."

"What happened? How did you find out?"

"I hit puberty." She said calmly, her expression carefully neutral.

"Huh? How would that...." Naruto stopped and you could practically hear the gears grinding in his head.

"I began experiencing stomach pains that I couldn't explain. They were reoccurring on a monthly basis." She frowned, "My figure was changing too, I guess, but the sand covered that up completely. After a couple of months of that, Temari noticed me one day holding my stomach. She insisted I go see a medic but they couldn't find anything wrong with me. Finally, I ended up seeing Chiyo-sama. She figured out what was happening and told me the truth. That's the only reason I know any of this."

"So, you...er...you mean..." Naruto was beet red as his brain finally allowed him to deduce where she was going with this story.

"I was having my period." Gaara confirmed. "The sand took care of the blood, but it couldn't do a damn thing for the cramps. It took Chiyo-sama hours to convince me that what she said was true. She finally had to convince me to remove my armor. It was very difficult, Shukaku did not want me to know, but when I finally manage to banish the sand..." she trailed off, lost in the memory of that first look at her real body.

"Why didn't you tell someone?"

"Because I had just become Kazekage. I had worked for so long to overcome what I was and earn the acknowledgement of this village. I was, at the time, barely tolerated by some of the council members and still greatly feared by many people. To have to announce that I was female and therefore not actually in line for the title of Kazekage....it would have destroyed all of that. I felt I had no choice but to keep pretending." She leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. "Except now I don't think I can. Shukaku maintained the disguise without any effort on my part. It took me twenty-four hours after my return just to replace the vocal disguise."

Naruto was quiet for a minute, "Maybe you don't need to." He suggested softly, "These villagers love you as their leader, Gaara. I don't think they will really care if you are a woman."

"It isn't that. I've been lying to them, Naruto. I don't deserve their trust, I've already broken it." She glared at her feet and crossed her arms across her chest. She could feel the rise and fall of her breasts through the thick layers of her kage robes.

"But you said yourself you didn't know. I mean...you've basically been a guy all your life except for the last three days, right?" He asked thoughtfully.

"Sort of." She frowned.

"So tell them the truth. It would be better if you announce it rather than having it leak out like some big secret."

"I suppose." She stared up at the ceiling, imagining the reactions of the people she had come to care for in the last few years. Temari, Kankuro, Matsuri, all the villagers...how would they react when they found out her secret. She decided to shove that thought away as another thought struck her.

"In some ways it was a relief to find out I was a woman." She said softly.

"Hmm? How so?"

"Well, I had begun to think I might be gay." She smirked at him.

"You, uh...OH!" He blushed fiercely. "You like guys then."

"Yeah...well, some of them. I definitely don't like women." She wrinkled her nose in disgust, which Naruto suddenly thought was kind of cute.

He shook the thought away, 'Idiot, this is GAARA! Girl or not, Gaara and cute do not belong in the same universe much less the same thought!' and yet his thoughts began to wander towards what the young woman looked like under those heavy robes...a body no man had ever seen.

"So, Naruto, what are you going to do now?"

'Have a nosebleed' he thought, scrambling to find an appropriate response and reel in his overactive imagination. 'That's what two years traveling around with the Pervy-sage will do to you.' He thought ruefully.

"Um...Well, I guess that depends on what you are going to do." He said carefully, not looking at her as he forced the vivid images his mind had created out of his thoughts.

"I..." Gaara frowned, "I should tell my family first."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, they can stand with you when you tell the others."

Gaara wasn't so sure they would, her family was more then a little dysfunctional. She hadn't even met her siblings until she was ten and they had been terrified by the stories of her for years before that. Then she had tormented them for a couple of years before the fight with Naruto. 'Are the past few years really enough to have washed all that away?' She thought doubtfully.

"Hn," She stood and stretched, "I guess it is time to find out."

Naruto stood as well, "Ano, Gaara. I could go with you...when you tell them. That way you'll know you have someone on your side, no matter what."

Gaara looked at Naruto with wide eyes, 'No matter what? He couldn't possibly know how much that means to me....then again,' she thought eying the leaf ninja, 'he just might be the only one who would know something like that about me.'

"A-arigatou, Naruto." She stammered, the common courtesy still strange on her tongue even after several years of careful social interaction. "I would be grateful."

"Okay, when do you want to do this?"

Gaara hesitated for just second before her usual impatience asserted itself, "No, time like the present."

"Yosh," Naruto thrust his fist into the air, obviously fired up to be helping, "Let's go!"

Desert Flower

Chapter 2: Family matters.

Naruto had no idea where Temari might be, but Gaara obviously did. The leaf ninja was slightly surprised when his companion stopped outside the door right next to the guest room Naruto was sharing with Kakashi. Gaara knocked firmly and, a moment later, the door was opened by a pink haired girl. What the hell was Temari doing in Sakura's room? Were they friends or something?

"Is my sister here?"

Sakura had been looking at Naruto, obviously expecting the brash blonde to speak. She quickly recovered her composure and addressed Gaara instead.

"Yes, she is. Won't you come in, Kazekage-sama?" she asked, stepping back to allow them room to enter.

The redhead nodded and brushed past her. Naruto trailed behind her silently. Sakura frowned at the unusually serious looking boy, but she couldn't catch his eye. He was watching Gaara intently.

'That's strange,' inner-Sakura seemed almost hurt, 'Naruto is always eager to see me.'

"Temari," the Kazekage stopped just inside the room. "We have to talk. Come with me...please." she tacked the courtesy on as an afterthought.

"Sure." The blonde sand ninja said, looking puzzled. She quickly stood and grabbed her fan. "Sakura, thank you for your hospitality. I'll see you later. Tell the crybaby I said hi." She grinned at the pink haired girl and followed Gaara out the door.

Sakura caught her teammate by the arm just as he reached the doorway.

"Naruto, is everything okay?" She whispered hesitantly. "What's going on? What does this have to do with us?"

The jinchuriki shrugged, "Nothing. It's personal. Please excuse me, Sakura-chan."

"Personal?" but he was already gone. "What does Naruto have to do with Gaara's personal life?"

Temari followed her "little brother" and Naruto silently. She soon realized where they were going.

'So, this is a family matter?' she pondered. 'Then why is the leaf boy here too?'

She knew Gaara and Naruto were close. Her youngest sibling's respect and admiration for the leaf shinobi was obvious. 'When Gaara was...taken', her mind shied away from the word killed, 'Naruto was so distraught; like he'd lost a brother....or a lover.' her mind supplied the last part snidely.

The blonde girl's eyes widened.

'No way!' but it was possible. 'Gaara never was much interested in girls. In fact...' Temari cut off her thoughts as they reached a familiar door. 'Stop jumping to troublesome conclusions, woman. You'll find out soon enough so why waste energy worrying about it?' Temari was a little disturbed by the fact that her voice of reason sounded just like a certain lazy leaf chunin, but she took the advice and tried to stop speculating.

Gaara knocked firmly on a nondescript door that Temari was all too familiar with. After all, the middle sand sibling spent more time in that room than he did anywhere else. Sometimes he even slept there.

"Come in." came the terse reply from inside the room.

The redhead opened the door, revealing a cluttered workshop. Half finished puppets hung on racks all around, blueprints were tacked up all over the place, and shelves of tools filled one entire wall. At a work bench in the center of it all, with his hood down and up to his elbows in puppet pieces, was the middle sand sibling.

"Kankuro." Gaara spoke quietly.

"Yeah, little bro. You need something..." the puppet master frowned as he spotted the three of them. "What's wrong? Why'd you bring the fox kid in here?"

With a twitch of chakra strings, the work bench was hastily covered with a tarp.

"I need to speak with you." Gaara told him firmly. "Please follow me."

"Um...alright." Kankuro pulled his hood up and locked up his workshop before following the other three down the hall.

Both the older sand nin were surprised when, instead of going to Gaara's office or the official Kazekage's quarters (which were just there to confuse assassins), they arrived at the secret door leading to their youngest sibling's actual apartment. A glance at the leaf ninja showed no surprise as the wall slid away, and he even flipped on the lights as he entered the room.

'Naruto has been in here before." both sand ninjas noted with some confusion. Gaara had never let anyone except them into these rooms before. The blond boy flopped down onto the couch.

"What is this about?" Kankuro finally asked after the door had slid silently shut behind them.

"Sit." Gaara pointed at the chairs before going to sit next to Naruto.

Her siblings settled nervously into the two chairs.

"Is something wrong, Gaara?" Temari asked. "Are you okay? Damn it. I knew it was too soon for you to go back to work. Did you make yourself sick? Or..."

"Temari." Gaara's stern voice cuts her worried rant off mid thought. "I'm fine."

Temari bit her lip. "Then what...and why is the leaf here?" She glared at Naruto, resenting his inclusion in something that seemed like it should be private family business.

"Naruto is here because I want him to be here." There was steel in the young Kazekage's voice. "As for why I called you two in here..." The carefully expressionless mask wavered for a moment. "I have been keeping a secret from you."

"A secret?" Kankuro echoed in confusion. "We all have secrets, little brother."

"This is a secret I can no longer keep and..." the redhead paused, "And I need your help."

Both of the older sand ninjas sat up straighter at that. Even though they were close to their youngest sibling since his long ago fight with Naruto, Gaara almost never asked them for anything.

"Tell us." Temari said solemnly. "We'll do whatever we can."

Gaara took a deep breath and decided to just blurt it out.

"I'm a woman."

Confusion filled her brother and sister's eyes. Kankuro was the first to find his voice.

"What? How? No way!"

Gaara retold the entire story but she could still see skepticism on their faces when she finished. She thought for a moment before she steeled herself for what she knew she had to do.

"I can prove it." She said calmly.

Reaching to her throat, she pulled off the scarf that went over her kage robes. Then she strted to remove the robes themselves.

"Whoa!" Naruto hastily covered his eyes.

Gaara ignored the leaf shinobi's outburst and dropped the robes off her shoulders to pool in a heap at her feet, revealing a tight black tee shirt with a mesh under shirt and tight black spandex shorts. The outfit left no doubt about the sex of the wearer.

A small part of Temari's mind noted that the outfit was almost like the one Gaara had worn when attacked Konoha all those years ago. However, the larger part of her mind was cataloguing the differences in her little brother, scratch that, little sister's figure. Gaara was smaller and more lithe than she remembered. She had noted the weight loss even with the thick clothes her youngest sibling had started wearing, but she had attributed it to the recent ordeal. Now she saw that she was mistaken, this was more like she'd never seen Gaara at all.

Gaara's shoulder were slightly less broad, she'd never been burly but now she was fine boned and petite. Her arms and legs were thinner, her feet a bit smaller. She had small breasts and her hips were gently rounded. She was a little on the bony side, too.

A small vain part of Temari noted, 'It seems like I got the looks in the family.' She was immediately ashamed of herself for the thought. After all, a lifetime of not sleeping was bound to stunt your growth and the thinness could have been from not eating for most of four days recently. Gaara had never had much fat to spare.

Meanwhile, Kankuro just gaped at the redhead, unable to think much at all. It was a lot to process, half an hour ago she had a brother and a sister and now he had two sisters. 'One was bad enough.' he thought ruefully.

Naruto peeked out from between his fingers. Relieved and oddly disappointed at seeing Gaara fully clothed, he too took a moment to study her.

'She reminds me of that picture of a pixie that was in one of Hinata-chan's books.' he mused silently, 'Except the pixie looked fragile. I can't see anything fragile about Gaara.'

Indeed, with his well trained eyes there was no mistaking the flex of steel muscles as she shifted under their scrutiny, or the way she held herself in a state of readiness, prepared to react to whatever might happen. Only long years of training and struggling to survive made a body that strong, or left a person so perpetually wary.

'She's beautiful.' the thought struck him with the force of one of Lee's kicks. All he could do was stare.

Gaara was beginning to feel somewhat anxious at the long silence. Her siblings were never quiet for very long, always arguing and cracking jokes. This was unnatural. Their faces weren't giving her enough clues to figure out what they were thinking and they were just staring at her.

Surprisingly, it was Kankuro who recovered his composure first. Never one to go for that mushy stuff, he cast around for something to say. Spotting Naruto, he smirked.

"Oi, Leaf. Quit ogling my little sister!" He drawled, trying to make the title roll easily off his tongue.

Naruto blushed and averted his eyes hastily.

Gaara looked from one boy to the other in slight confusion, but she was relieved that Kankuro seemed to accept her.

Temari decided to chime in before her brother could pick on the other blond any further.

"Gaara." the redhead met her eyes with nervous turquoise ones.

Temari realized she had no idea what to say. She wasn't exactly good at kind words and deep emotional moments. Acting on instinct, she stepped forward and hesitantly wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, resting her cheek on Gaara's soft red hair.

The youngest sand sibling's eyes went wide and she stiffened for a few moments before melting into the embrace. They were not a physically demonstrative family. She could count on one hand the number of times either of her siblings had hugged her this way.

"Kankuro," Temari lifted her cheek from the top of her little sister's head to glare at the puppet master, "Get over here and hug our baby sister before I kick your ass."

The young man muttered but didn't hesitate in wrapping both women in his arms, almost like he'd just been waiting for an excuse to join them.

'Wow,' Naruto smiled as he watched the family moment, 'That's gotta be one of the sweetest, most screwed up things I've ever seen.'

Gaara smiled slightly and closed her eyes, secure in the arms of her only family. Even though this secret might cost her the title of Kazekage and the trust of the village, she knew she would still have her brother and sister beside her.

'And Naruto.' She added mentally, 'No matter what happens.'

She could get through anything as long as she had her precious people.

Desert Flower

Chapter 3: Confronting Demons

Gaara lay in bed late that night, staring up at her ceiling. Even without Shukaku, she had trouble sleeping. There were always plenty of memories to give her nightmares. She'd gone to sleep after her siblings and Naruto finally left, only to jolt wide awake less than two hours later, covered in sweat and letting out a strangled scream.

The scream was probably what woke her. After the little group had settled down to talk, she had removed her vocal disguise. The low alto voice, with just the slightest raspy edge to it still sounded so strange to her.

Temari had laughed and told her she could have just done that to prove her point, rather than stripping.

The redhead had scowled, knowing her sister was right and embarrassed to have not thought of it herself.

Then rest of the afternoon and much of the night had been spent planning the best way to let her secret out to the rest of Suna. The four of them had made and subsequently discarded over a dozen plans. They ranged from ridiculously simple (Naruto suggested that she just go out in something revealing, at which point Kankuro decked him) to the immensely complex (one of Kankuro's plans would take at least eight months to execute). Finally, they settled on a relatively simple and straightforward plan.

She would call a council meeting first thing in the morning. Her siblings would accompany her. She would have liked to have Naruto there as well, but outsiders were strictly forbidden in the council chamber. She would tell a slightly altered version of her story. Instead of admitting that she had known for about a year, she would claim to have only known the truth since her resurrection. She was to say Granny Chiyo had secretly passed a letter to Naruto before her death, and the letter explained everything. Gaara had destroyed the letter after reading it but, after a few days of debating with herself, felt the truth needed to be told. The story was almost entirely true and it portrayed the Kazekage as being cautious rather than dishonest, thus removing that as an excuse to remove her from her position.

Gaara would then have to throw herself on the mercy of the council. That part of the plan made her more nervous than it would have the week before. She was vulnerable without Shukaku. Her chakra was recovering quickly but her jutsus were barely at one tenth of their previous strength. Her ultimate defense was gone, possibly for good, and her sand armor was shattered. It would take time for her strength to return and training to relearn some of her jutsus without the tailed beast to help her.

She could be killed now and the council knew it. The success of the first part of the plan hinged on the idea that they would be reluctant to hurt her or remove her from office so soon after she had protected the entire village from the Akatsuki, even at the cost of her life.

It was the best plan they had come up with and it gave the council very little to find fault with her. Still, Gaara feared they wouldn't need much of a reason. She was a female and therefore unfit to lead the village, but more damning than that was her current weakness.

At the moment, she wasn't even close to being the strongest Suna ninja, a position she had held since she was four years old. That would be reason enough for the council to force her to retire.

'Retired at seventeen.' She scowled at the very idea. Her life finally had a purpose and she wasn't about to let some old men take it from her. 'I have to win.' she reasoned, 'I have to convince them that I can regain my old strength.'

Closing her eyes, she forced her thoughts to stop there, exerting the iron will she had developed when she learned to control Shukaku.

'Sleep.' she told herself firmly, but it was still many minutes before her carefully blank mind allowed her to drift off and steal a few more minutes of much needed rest.

At first, only stunned silence followed Gaara's story the next morning. Finally, one of the council members, Takanaka, cleared his throat.

“Kazekage-sama,” He said slowly, obviously choosing his words with utmost care, “This is quite a shock to us, as I’m sure you know.”

The young woman nodded curtly in agreement, she knew.

“Perhaps we should take some time to discuss this.” He looked around to find most of the other council members nodding. “Yes, if you would leave us to deliberate for a time. We can call you when we reach a decision.”

“As you wish.” She bowed very slightly.

“Thank you, Kazekage-sama.” The old man bowed back.

Without another word, Gaara spun on her heel and left the room. Her siblings fell in behind her like an honor guard. Naruto pounced as soon as the door to the council chamber had closed behind them.

“So? How’d it go?” The blonde was bouncing with nervous energy, a habit that Gaara found rather cute.

‘Shut the hell up!’ She growled at the rarely active part of her mind that had supplied that errant thought. Aloud she merely said, “Nothing has been decided yet. They asked for time to discuss the matter.”

“Which translates to: Time to argue without Gaara finding out which of us are against him...er...her.” Kankuro rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Sorry, Sis. Still getting used to that.”

“It’s fine.” The redhead said absently, more preoccupied with thoughts of the conversation going on behind her than the one she was taking part in.

Naruto noticed how stressed Gaara looked; the frown lines by her eyes and the little crease between her eyebrows. Suddenly he felt compelled to do something to erase those signs of stress, even if it was just for a little while.

“Well, there’s no sense in sitting around worrying.” He insisted. “Why don’t we go out? You can show me your village.”

Gaara blinked, ‘Did Naruto just ask me out on a date?’ She mentally smacked herself, ‘Of course not idiot. Two days ago he thought you were a guy. He’s just trying to be a good friend.’

Kankuro spoke up while she was thinking, “You wouldn’t make it twenty yards out the front doors.”

Naruto and Gaara both looked at him in bewilderment so Temari decided to chime in, “Gaara’s fan club is outside. They’ve been camped out there for days because we won’t let them in to see Gaara-sama.” She mimicked the high pitched squeals of the girls in question, “I think they may have gone a bit feral. They’ll tear Gaara apart before you can get past them.”

Naruto shuddered and Gaara’s carefully expressionless face paled a bit.

Suddenly, Temari’s face lit up, you could practically see the light bulb floating over her head. “There might be a way.” She mused, eyeing her little sister speculatively, “That is, if you want to go.”

Gaara hesitated, not liking the way her sister was sizing her up. However, even if it wasn’t a date, Naruto would be leaving soon and who knew when she’d get another chance to spend time with her best friend. Plus, he absolutely right about needing to do something to get her mind off the old men deciding her fate a few feet behind her. Taking a deep breath, she nodded slowly.

“Alright! Come with me.” Temari grabbed her by the hand and dragged her down the hall. “Kankuro, bring blondie boy to my room in two hours, kay. Gaara will be ready.”

The two boys were left speechless, staring after the retreating figures until Temari had yanked her younger sister around a corner.

“What was that all about?” Kankuro frowned, wondering if he should rescue Gaara from their eldest sibling. Temari got some pretty weird ideas sometimes. Then again, Gaara knew that and agreed anyway so she would just have to deal with whatever tortures the blonde girl could think up. ‘She must really like the leaf brat to agree to go along with one of Temari’s plans without even questioning her first.’ Kankuro shook his head. With that thought in mind, he turned his attention back to Naruto, who was looking very puzzled.

“Oi, fox boy.” The puppet master waved a hand in front of the leaf genin’s face.

“Huh? Wha...?” Naruto seemed to snap out of the thoughts that had been troubling him.

“I’m glad Temari took Gaara away for a little while. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”

Naruto did not like the way that word sounded when Kankuro said it, and was it just his imagination or was Kankuro’s smile showing a few too many teeth to look friendly.

“Actually, I was just going to go back to my room to wait. I’m sure you’ve got other things to...”

Crow’s hand came down heavily on the stammering boy’s shoulder.

“Or we could talk.” Naruto amended quickly, “Yeah, talking. Sure.” He gulped. “Sounds great.”

End of Chapter

Important Author's Note: In this story, Gaara has eyebrows. They were just under the sand armor, kay.

Short Chapters here so I'll squeeze them into one post.

Desert Flower

Chapter 4: The many uses for sand

Gaara stood stiffly in the center of her sister's room, where the blonde had deposited her a few minutes earlier. At the older girl's insistence, they had picked up Sakura on the way (she'd been thoroughly filled in about the whole gender situation late the previous evening by Naruto).

Now, the pink haired Konoha ninja and the blond Suna shinobi were deep in contemplation and debate over a large pile of Temari's out grown clothing. Gaara had a sinking suspicion about what her sister was planning, 'but how the hell does she plan to pull it off?' The redhead frowned thoughtfully.

She was snapped out of her thoughts to find her sister just inches from her.

"What?" She snapped, surly from being caught off guard.

"I said you need to go take a bath and shave." Temari said slowly.

"Shave?" Gaara rubbed her face. She didn't have any facial hair, she barely even had eyebrows.

Temari giggled, "Not your face, sis. Your legs and your underarms."

Gaara blinked, "Why?"

"Because you're a woman now, Gaara-chan." Temari's grin was unsettling. "Time to learn to act a bit more like one."

The look on Gaara's face was a mixture of skepticism and distaste as she bristled, "Do you expect me to parade around like one of those brainless idiots that chase after me?!"

Temari waved her hands in front of her to ward off the smaller girl, "No! No, of course not." Her tone softened, "I just thought you might want to know how to dress a bit more feminine. You know, for special occasions and stuff."

Gaara frowned but relaxed a bit. The irony of her violent, tomboy sister telling her how to act feminine was not completely lost on her.

"Fine. How do I do this shaving thing?" She grumbled.

Temari was all business as she explained, "There's an extra razor under the sink. First you bathe. Then you put some shaving cream in your hands and rub it all over the area you want to shave. In this case, your legs. Once the whole leg is covered, you use the razor to scrape off the foam and the hair." She pantomimed shaving for the blank faced younger girl. "Careful not to press too hard. Simple, ne?"

Gaara really had her doubts about that, but Temari was a force to be reckoned with when she got an idea in her head and it would most likely be easier to go along with it.

Ten minutes later, she wasn't so sure about that. Bathing was the easy part and she had found the razor and can of shaving cream without any trouble. The foam looked and felt sort of like marshmallow fluff, but a quick taste test proved that the similarities ended there. Gaara spent a few minutes rinsing the foul soapy taste out of her mouth before she returned to the task at hand. Next, she slathered the foam all over her legs. She ten went to sit down on the edge of the tub but some of the slippery foam was on the bottom of her foot and it went out from under her. Her ninja reflexes were all that saved her from taking a nasty spill as she managed to grab the towel bar. The thing came off the wall in her hand, but by then she had regained her balance.

Throwing the broken towel bar into the corner with a growl, she settled herself on the edge of the tub and picked up the razor. Taking a deep breath, she ran the razor gently over her leg, scraping off the foam.

'Too gentle.' She mused as she saw the fine hair spring up in the razor's wake.

Exerting a bit more pressure she tried again. This time she was alarmed to see a swath of bright red well up where she had tried to shave.

'I cut myself.' She marveled as she watched the blood drip down her shin. A fierce stinging sensation penetrated her shock and she sucked in a breath. 'It hurts.'

She hadn't even considered this aspect of Shukaku's absence. She could hurt herself. She couldn't count how many times she had tried to do just that when she was a child. She had wanted so badly to understand what physical pain was. She didn't find out what it felt like to be hit or injured until she fought Lee and then Naruto in the chunin exams. Since then there had only been a handful of enemies strong enough to crack her defenses.

She watched the blood cut little rivers in the shaving foam, following with her eyes as globs of red stained fluff ran down to her heel and plopped into the tub below her. She had no idea how long she sat there, mesmerized by her own blood.

A knock on the door startled her into motion again. She grabbed a hand towel and wiped the blood and foam away quickly.

"Gaara?" Temari's voice drifted through the door, "Hurry up, okay? We only have a little time."

"Just a minute." Gaara was thankful for the years of practice that allowed her voice to come out completely calm.

Eyeing the razor warily, she decided to try a different method for removing the hair. She wiped what was left of the foam off her legs and quickly opened the small window set high in the wall next to the sink. With a small flow of chakra she called some sand into the bathroom. She'd seen sand strip off flesh and score rocks; surely it could be used to scrape off some unwanted hair.

Without the demon to help her control the sand it was a lot harder to precisely direct it. She grimaced as some of the granules got into the wound on her leg, but after a few minutes she managed to buff the hair off to her satisfaction.

She was slightly out of breath from the drain on her recovering chakra, she was still bleeding sluggishly, and her legs were a bit red and raw from the scouring when she finally stepped out of the bathroom with a towel firmly tied around her.

"Finally. Okay, next we need to-What the hell?" Temari gasped as she rushed over to examine the damage.

"It's nothing." Gaara muttered, "Just a small accident."

Temari eyed the raw skin; a desert dweller knew sand burns when she saw them. She frowned but decided not to press the issue. "Humph. Sakura, can you please do something about this?"

"Sure," Sakura smiled at Gaara, "Just stay still for a minute, okay?"

The damage was all superficial and the pink haired medic was able to heal it in just a few minutes.

"Sorry," Sakura frowned, eyeing the leg where the large gash had been. "It seems to have left a scar."

"It's fine." Gaara nodded, not really understanding why the leaf girl thought she would care. "Thank you, Sakura-san."

"Okay!" Temari broke in excitedly. "We've got to hurry now. Naruto will be here in less than an hour."

Gaara scowled as her sister shoved a wad of clothing into her arms.

"Try those on." The blonde ordered.

The redhead suppressed a sigh as she spotted several more piles of clothing on Temari's bed. This was going to be a difficult hour.

Forty-five minutes later, Gaara was frazzled. This was an unusual state for the unflappable Kazekage. Ten outfits had been picked through and nine had been discarded. Her sister had forced her to sit while she tried five different wigs before she settled on one that served their needs. Finally, Gaara had been subjected to the unpleasant experience of allowing the other two girls put makeup on her.

However, as she eyed the strange woman in the mirror before her, Gaara couldn't help but feel it had been worth it.

She wore a knee length black dress with a v neck. A two inch band of bright red framed the neckline and a wide matching red sash was wrapped twice around her waist and tied in a knot in front of her. She wore black ballet flats that laced up her calves with crimson ribbons. She was extremely grateful Temari had not tried to force her into heels.

The wig her sister had chosen for her was a deep auburn, darker than her natural color, which was far too eye catching according to Sakura. 'Yes, so says the girl with bubblegum hair.' She smirked at the thought. The wig flowed in soft waves down to just below her shoulder blades and it had soft bangs that combined with the makeup to hide the kanji on her forehead.

The makeup itself was a feat. They had toned down the circles around her eyes, but opted to not try to cover them completely, declaring it to be futile. Instead they had made the rings look intentional and added red lipstick to give her a sort of gothic look. The drastic wardrobe and hair change, along with a set of emerald green contact lenses, made her nearly unrecognizable.

All together she decided she kind of liked the look. She thought she might grow her own hair out someday, now that she had nothing to hide. Then she thought about the type of hair that ran in her family. A glance a Temari made her realize why her eldest sibling had so many wigs. The desert air tended to make their hair frizzy, brittle, and completely unmanageable. Yes, short hair was much simpler.

The other two girls were looking at her in nervous expectation and she turned to face them slowly.

Gaara offered them a tiny smile, barely a twitch of her lips, "Thank you, Onee-chan. Sakura-chan."

The shy smile she got in return from the pink haired girl and the glowing grin from her sister showed they were thrilled with her reaction.

Now, they just had to wait for her brother to bring Naruto.

End of Chapter

Author's Note: This did not end up coming out the way I planned but I couldn't resist the shaving bit. Gaara's first two tries at shaving were based on my first attempt at it when I was twelve. I still have a scar on my shin and shaving cuts do usually take a minute to start stinging....so yeah. Hope you found this chapter as fun as I did. I'm never sure if the situations I find funny are funny to everyone else. Please let me know. *laughs* I picture Temari going into her bathroom after Gaara leaves for her date. Blood and shaving foam everywhere, the towel bar broken, a hand towel ruined, the window open, and sand scattered about the place. Yep, next time she's going to make her sister get ready in her own bathroom. *giggles*


Important Note!:I forgot to make it clear last chapter that Naruto had permission to tell Sakura what was going on. He got permission before he left Gaara's apartment the night before, because he knew his teammate was going to pounce on him as soon as he tried to go back to his room. I had something in there to that effect, but I think it got cut out when I was editing. Terribly sorry for any confusion.

Desert Flower

Chapter 5: The Talk

Meanwhile, Naruto had problems of his own. Kankuro had dragged the blonde down to the workshop they had found the puppet master in the day before.

"Sit. Don't touch anything!" The black clad ninja ordered. "Half of this stuff is coated with poison.

"Right. Got it." Naruto sat where he was told to, careful to not brush against anything as he navigated to the chair.

Kankuro pulled another chair out of the corner and sat down facing his guest. He glared at the younger boy and waited. His face paint making him look rather menacing.

"Umm....what is this all about?" Naruto asked after a few minutes, unable to sit quietly for very long.

"Gaara." The puppet master said simply.

"Er...what about her?" The blonde blinked in confusion.

"What are your intentions toward my little sister?" Kankuro leaned forward and did his best to look intimidating. "Are you trying to take advantage of her?"

"What?!" Naruto blushed to the roots of his hair. "Gaara's my friend! I would never...!" He sputtered.

"Where are you going to take her on this date?" The sand ninja sat back and crossed his arms.

"Date?" Naruto thought for a minute. 'Did I really mean for this to be a date? Does Gaara think it's a date too? I don't want to hurt her feelings. Crap! Do I want to date her?!'

He pictured the girl in question, thinking over his feelings towards her. Gaara was one of his closest friends, even though they didn't see each other very often. She probably understood him better than anyone else in the world. When he thought she was dead, though he thought she was a guy at the time, he felt like his heart was being ripped in two. Now that he wasn't thinking of her as a guy, he could admit she was pretty in an unconventional way. She didn't have curves or long pretty hair like Ino, she wasn't sweet like Hinata, and she didn't have the girlish charm that Sakura did. However, he was drawn to her in a way that he couldn't explain. She was strong, most people would have been destroyed by the things she had gone through, but she just kept coming out stronger. She was smart and serious, two things that balanced out his tendency to jump into things without thinking. Did he really like her as more than just a friend?

"Ahem." The sand ninja was obviously out of patience with Naruto's silence.

"Um...what was the question?" The blonde scratched his head nervously.

"Where are you planning to go with my sister today?" The puppet master sighed in exasperation.

"Oh, she's supposed to be showing me around so I don't know..."

"Did you intend to ask her on a date, or is this just friendly?" Kankuro squinted one eye as he considered the blonde's previous reaction to that word.

Naruto took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'd like to call this a date if Gaara is okay with that."

Kankuro frowned, "Fair enough. Back to my original question. What are your intentions in dating my sister?"

Naruto blushed, "I don't know. I just...like her."

Kankuro eyed the other boy, trying to discern the truth of his statement. "Okay, I hate beating around the bush so I'll just lay it out for you. Gaara hasn't had a lot of good experiences with people. Our mom died when Gaara was born. Our father was a bastard who put out a standing order for her assassination when she was just a little kid. The only person she trusted took on that mission and you can imagine how that turned out. She shut everyone out for a long time. Our sensei tried to get through to her, but nothing worked until you came along."

He paused to let that sink into the other boy's thick skull. Naruto nodded as he considered the information he had just been given, 'No wonder she was so screwed up.'

"What I'm getting to is this; Temari and I are the only family Gaara has and as such, I feel you need to know something." He leaned forward and his eyes glinted.

Naruto jumped as one of Crow's arms dropped heavily onto his shoulder. He froze as he spotted the poisoned needle protruding from the limbs wrist.

"If you hurt her, if you try to take advantage of her, if you make her unhappy in any way; you won't get a second warning. Most people know Gaara is dangerous; Temari too. But I can kill you without you ever even knowing I'm there." All trace of the brash, snarky puppet master were gone and Naruto was left staring into the eyes of a murderer, "I can make it excruciating and drawn out and I can make sure there isn't enough left of you to identify the body. Temari's a powerful ninja and Gaara used to be a killer, but I'm a trained assassin. I can't beat you head to head, but I don't have to. It won't be safe for you to eat, or sleep, or even breathe if you hurt my little sister. Do I make myself clear?"

Every finished and half assembled puppet in the room seemed to shift towards them in that moment and Naruto gulped nervously.

"Totally clear." He squeaked.

The puppets settled back on their hooks and Crow removed his arm from around the blonde's neck.

"Excellent." It was like flipping a switch; the loud, brash Kankuro was back like nothing had ever happened. "Come on, fox boy."

The puppet master stood and headed for the door but Naruto hesitated as he stood to follow.

"Kankuro?" He called as the cat eared ninja reached for the door.

"What?" The older boy turned to face the blonde.

"I won't ever hurt her." Naruto said firmly, "She's one of my precious people."

Kankuro nodded slowly, "I know." He turned back to the door. "That's the only reason you aren't already dead."

Naruto smiled despite the threat in the statement.

"Now get out of my workshop before I kick your ass." The sand ninja growled as he opened the door.

"Sure." Naruto grinned as they headed down the hall towards his first real date. Now that he had discovered his intentions towards the redhead, he only worried that Gaara might not like him the same way. Without Kankuro pushing him he might not have realized that he even wanted to date Gaara at all.

"Hey, Kankuro." He said hesitantly, "Thanks."

Kankuro paused, unaccustomed to receiving gratitude for threats, "Baka." he muttered.

They walked the rest of the way to Temari's room in silence.

Important note: I modeled Gaara’s dress off one of my own. I have put a photo of this dress up on my imageshack account. Please do not comment on the dumpy woman wearing the dress. That is me and I’m not looking my best in that picture. It was taken in a hurry so I could post it with this chapter. http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/3...arasdress. jpg

Desert Flower

Chapter 6: Flowers in the desert

Naruto hesitated at the door Kankuro had indicated led to Temari's room. They had taken a leisurely walk through the building to kill time. Finally, he raised his hand and knocked lightly.

He was a bit confused when Sakura practically ripped open the door. She was smiling brightly as she stepped back to let the two boys enter.

Naruto had only taken a single step into the room when he spotted Temari and...

'Whoa! Who's that?' He gawked at the daring, black and red dress and the very nice legs below it.

"Eyes up, pervert." A sharp shove from the older boy, got the blonde to shuffle a few more steps into the room.

Naruto snapped his gaze up to the face of the girl he had been ogling. Amused, dark rimmed, green eyes met his from beneath a fringe of deep red bangs. The eye color and hair color were wrong but the face and those shadows around her eyes were very familiar.

"Gaara?!" Naruto gasped as his brain processed the fact that this was indeed his date.

'Temari dressed Gaara up like a real girl.' He thought, knowing Sakura would beat the crap out of him if he said that out loud. 'That's definitely going to fool the Kazekage fan club.'

Gaara's eyes had lost their amused glint and she was trying hard not to look away, hurt by his long silence. 'He hates it.' she thought to herself, 'He probably didn't mean for this to be a date and now he knows I thought it was one.' On the outside she carefully maintained the blank expression she was well known for.

A glare from Sakura and a subtle nudge from Kankuro reminded the stunned jinchuriki that he should say something, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Remind me to keep the Pervy Sage away from you."

He got three confused looks from the sand ninjas, and Sakura burst out giggling.

"My master can't resist a beautiful woman." Naruto scratched his head and blushed, but never took his eyes off the redhead.

Temari and Kankuro relaxed. The eldest sand sibling even broke into a lopsided grin.

Gaara blinked as she realized the leaf ninja had just called her beautiful, in a round about way. She flushed pale pink, 'He likes the disguise, baka.' Her insecurities chimed in snidely, 'Not you.' 'Damn, I thought I was done hearing voices.' She shook her head to clear it.

"Ready to go....um, I don't guess I can call you Gaara when we're out in the village, with you dressed like that, can I? Since nobody else knows you're a she."

The other four ninjas frowned.

"I hadn't thought of that." Temari admitted sheepishly.

"You can call me Sunako." Gaara spoke up.

Kankuro nodded, "It's a pretty common name. No one will question it."

"Yosh!" Naruto smiled and held out his hand, "Let's go, Sunako."

Gaara hesitated for just a moment before she took his hand in a firm grip. "Yes." She had just a few seconds to consider the feel of his hand in her own. Since losing her sand shield she had discovered that not everything felt like...well, sand. Naruto's palm was calloused and scarred and she could actually feel it. 'There are some good points to losing that protection.' She mused. Texture was a great thing.

"See you later, everybody." The blonde dragged her out the door.

The petite girl was once again glad her sister hadn't tried to force her to wear heels. Naruto fled the room with her in tow, like he was afraid of being chased. He didn't slow down until they were on the ground floor, three stories away from Temari's room.

She glanced at her date and focused on trying to keep her breathing even. She didn't want him to know how taxing that little run was for her. Days of unconsciousness and with having her chakra drained along with losing Shukaku had left her more weakened than she was prepared to let anyone see.

"Shit, G-Sunako." The blonde caught himself as an aide passed them in the hallway. "Sorry, I didn't even think about you still recovering from...uh...you know. Are you okay?"

'Guess I wasn't hiding it very well after all.' Gaara frowned. "I'm fine; just don't tell my brother or sister about this. Please." They'd never have let her go anywhere if they knew she couldn't run down the stairs without being winded. She'd have to start training in earnest as soon as possible.

"Sure. No problem." Naruto agreed, almost too quickly. 'If I have my way, I'm never discussing anything with your brother, ever again.'

"So, where would you like to go?" Gaara asked after she had quickly caught her breath.

The leaf ninja thought for a minute, "I'm hungry. Anywhere around here serve good ramen?"

The sand ninja shook her head, "We don't usually serve hot soup during the day here." She explained, "It makes the heat worse."

"Oh." Naruto frowned.

"I know a good place, though, if you trust me." She looked away, expecting to hear more questions or for him to outright refuse to trust her.

"Sounds great." He took her hand again, "You just lead the way."

She nodded and started walking, unable to come up with a reply in words.

They reached the doors leading out of the tower. This was the real test of her disguise. If she could get past the horde of obsessed fans waiting just beyond the door, they'd be free to go where they pleased.

Naruto squeezed her hand gently, "Ready?" He whispered, mindful of people around them.

She answered by shoving open the door with her free hand.

Gaara's rabid fan club consisted of seven women, ranging in age from 12 to 34. These women were hanging out in front of the building in a little bunch, waiting for the young Kazekage to come out. A few of the women glanced up at the sight of someone with red hair coming out of the building, but most quickly dismissed the pair as 'not Gaara' and therefore, not important.

One, however, recognized Naruto and headed over.

"It's Matsuri." Gaara whispered as she fell back to be out of the younger girl's direct view.

Naruto forced a smile when the girl got close to them.

"Ano..." she paused and looked at the ground shyly. "You're Naruto-san, ne? Gaara-sama's friend."

The blonde nodded, "Yeah, and you were Gaara's student, Matsuri-chan, right?"

She nodded and smiled briefly, "Yes." Her smile fell as she glanced down at her feet again. "Um...is...is Gaara-sama okay? They won't tell me anything specific."

Naruto grinned brightly, "Gaara's fine. Don't worry. Sh-Things will be back to normal in no time."

Matsuri frowned at being told the same thing again but she bowed slightly anyway, "Thank you, Naruto-san." She finally remembered that the blonde was not alone when she had first spotted him. "Oh, I'm sorry." She turned her attention on the little redhead waiting unobtrusively behind Naruto. "Hello. I don't think we've met. Are you a friend of Naruto-san?"

"Yes." Gaara nodded.

"I'm Matsuri." She bowed politely.

"Sunako." Gaara nodded.

"Yeah, well, we've gotta go. Sunako has promised to show me around. Nice seeing you again, Matsuri-chan." He grabbed Gaara's hand to pull her away.

"Um...Sunako?" Matsuri called hesitantly.

The redhead and her blonde date froze.

"Well, I noticed you kinda...look a lot like Gaara-sama."

"Oh?" Gaara turned to face her former student, trying to look surprised.

"Yes, I was wondering if you might be related to him?" The younger ninja asked nervously.

"In a way, yes."

"Oh, then maybe you could tell me..." The girl seemed to pull on some deeply hidden well of confidence, "Everyone keeps saying he'll be fine, but they mean physically. I want to know how he's doing in other ways."

The redhead's eyes widened slightly.

"He's the strongest person I know, but I worry that he pushes himself too hard. He won't let anyone help him. Have you seen him? Is he really alright? Is he working too much? Does he have nightmares now that he can sleep? Is he eating? He forgets to sometimes and you have to remind him." The young ninja was almost in tears. "I know I've been acting silly, fighting over him, but none of those idiots are good enough for him and he refuses to just tell them off. I'm stronger than they are. He trained me well. He's the closest thing to family I have and I had to do it to protect him. He won't let me help any other way."

Gaara's expression betrayed her shock at the younger girl's outburst. She knew Matsuri was important to her but she had no idea her student thought of her as family.

"I-I'm sure Gaara will be fine, Matsuri-chan." Naruto interjected when it became clear the redhead wasn't able to respond.

A tear trickled down Matsuri's face at the same vague answer she'd heard a dozen times already. "Yes, of course. Sorry to have bothered you." She turned to go.

"Matsuri," a pale hand caught her wrist as she was moving away. "Wait."

The young girl whipped her head back towards the readhead who held her in a steel grip. The voice was wrong, the body was wrong, but the way this woman said her name was unmistakable. "Gaara-sensei? Is that really you?" She whispered shakily.

Gaara frowned, but she nodded. "Please don't say anything. Just come to my office first thing tomorrow. I'll explain everything then.

Matsuri nodded dumbly, still trying to reconcile what her eyes were seeing with what her heart was telling her.

"And..." Gaara hesitantly wrapped her arms around her former student, giving the girl ample time to pull away. "Thank you, Matsuri. I really will be fine."

Silent tears rolled down Matsuri's cheeks. She could finally believe it now. Gaara-sensei said it himself, or herself rather. She had questions but they could wait for tomorrow.

The redhead let her go awkwardly, stepping back to take Naruto's hand, "I'll tell the guards to let you in tomorrow. Go home and get some rest."

"Yes, Gaara-sensei." The brown haired girl smiled brightly, "I'll see you tomorrow."

As she sped home, she couldn't help but think how content her sensei had looked holding Naruto's hand.

"Be happy, Sensei." She whispered what she knew she could never say to the face of the person who was her parent, sibling, teacher, and best friend all rolled together. "No one deserves it more than you."

Naruto watched the retreating girl for a few moments. "Are you sure it was a good idea to tell her?"

Gaara nodded firmly, "I can trust Matsuri with my life. She won't say anything."

Naruto's stomach chose that moment to announce it's displeasure at the delay. The blonde clutched his growling midsection with his free hand and blushed lightly.

"Hn," The redhead started walking, pulling Naruto along beside her. "Unless that was the nine-tails awakening, we should hurry to the restaurant."

"Yeah, I guess I'm more hungry than I thought." Naruto laughed and scratched his head. Then his eyes widened, "Wait a second, did you just make a joke?"

A small smirk was all the answer Gaara would give. Naruto cracked up laughing, less because the joke was funny than because Gaara seemed to be having fun and that made him happy.

Gaara led the blonde to a small restaurant near the village gate. Workers were still hauling off carts of debris and carefully shoring up the canyon walls that separated the village from the rest of the desert.

A tall, thin man with brown hair and an odd hat, smiled at them from behind the counter. "Welcome! Take any seat you like. My sister will be with you in just a minute." He told them in a friendly tone. "Lenari-chan, customers!" He practically sang out.

Gaara took them to a booth in the corner.

A few seconds later, a young woman with long, greenish-black hair tied up in pigtails, clattered down the stairs. She glanced around for a moment, before spotting them and walking over to their table. She bowed quickly.

"Welcome. I'm Lenari and I'll be taking care of you today. What would you like?"

Naruto looked at Gaara blankly, realizing he still didn't know what kind of food the place even served.

"If I may order for you..." Gaara suggested.

"Sure, just no salads or anything like that, okay?"

Gaara nodded and then turned her attention back to the smiling waitress. "Two house specials and two bowls of summer soup."

"Coming right up."

When the food arrived, Naruto eyed it warily but Gaara fell upon hers with gusto/ The blonde ninja pick up a piece of the grilled meat from his plate and put it in his mouth. Chewing slowly, he pondered the flavor. The meat was slightly chewy and had a slightly smoky, grilled flavor. It was drizzled with some sort of brown sauce that was sweet and spicy and savory all at the same time. Next he took a small sip of his soup. It was different, cold and sweet and just a little bit tangy. All together it wasn't bad at all.

"Hey, this is pretty good." He exclaimed, picking up the pace of his eating, now that he was certain Gaara hadn't tried to poison him with vegetables. "What is it?"

"Lizard." Gaara pointed to the meat, "And soup made from cacti." She gestured at the bowls. "These are local delicacies and this place does them the best."

Naruto's eyes went wide and he considered spitting out the food he'd just put in his mouth, but the worried look in Gaara's eyes stopped him. Not that anyone else would notice the girl's expression. He idly wondered when he became so adept at reading Gaara's subtle expression changes. He forced the bite down and managed a small smile.

"Sorry, just never ate lizard before."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think." She frowned, "We can go somewhere else..."

"No!" Naruto shook his head quickly and smiled. "This is good, see?" He took a big bite of the lizard meat and smiled. It really did taste fine as long as he didn't think about what he was eating. "I was just a little shocked, that's all. This stuff's really good. Thanks for bringing me here." He continued to eat steadily as he talked. Choji would have been proud.

Gaara hesitantly continued her own meal, "If you're sure..."

By the time the food was gone, the awkward moment had passed. Lenari brought the check and Gaara reached for it. Naruto grabbed it at the same time.

"I've got it, G-uh-Sunako." He said firmly.

"No, you are a guest in my village. Let me." She argued.

"I can't let you pay." Naruto shook his head, blushing.

"Why?" Green eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Because this wouldn't be much of a date if I didn't treat you to lunch." the blush had bloomed all the way to the leaf ninja's ears.

Gaara was so shocked, she let go of the check, allowing Naruto to jump up and pay the bill. He came back smiling happily.

"Okay. Where are you taking me next?" He asked excitedly.

Gaara thought about her favorite places in Sunagakure. She smiled a little as she thought of one place in particular.

"Come on." She said, taking Naruto's hand, an action that was starting to feel very natural.

"Where are we going?" He asked curiously.

"It's a surprise."

She led him to an open area in the middle of the village. The area was covered with...

'Sand?' Naruto thought, bemused. 'Leave it to Gaara to show me sand in the middle of the desert.'

Seeing his puzzled expression, the redhead pointed at a woman coming out of a sidestreet with a small basin of water. "Watch." She said simply.

Naruto watched the woman fling the dirty water out over the sand. What he saw next was one of the prettiest things he had ever seen. Everywhere even a single drop of water landed on the sand, tiny red flowers popped up like magic. The woman smiled at them for just a second before turning to go back the way she came.

"Wow." Naruto breathed, following Gaara as she crossed the scalding sand to kneel next to the patch of flowers. He crouched down next to her, wondering for a second how she could stand to let the burning sand touch her bare knees, but quickly let it go with the explanation of 'She's Gaara.'

"These are sand flowers," Gaara explained quietly. "They can bloom with just a tiny drop of water, even dirty water works. We use them to filter dirty water back into the village supply."

"They're beautiful." Naruto reached out to touch one of the tiny blossoms gently.

Gaara nodded. "They'll wither soon. They only bloom for as long as the water lasts, but while they last they are among the prettiest things you'll find in Suna."

Indeed, Naruto could see that some of the flowers on the edge of the splashed area were already turning brown and they crumbled when he tried to touch them.

"They'll be back when someone throws more water on them." Gaara assured him, seeing the blonde's look of distress. "The roots are still there, even if the flower is gone."

"Yeah." But Naruto wasn't really thinking about the flowers anymore.

"Does it upset you?" Gaara frowned, puzzled. "That they die so quickly?"

Naruto shook his head slowly, "Not exactly." He mumbled.

"Then why do you look so...so..." She scowled, unable to identify the emotion she was seeing.

The leaf ninja sighed. "I was just thinking that...these flowers are more beautiful than any I ever saw before, and I think I know why."

The redhead looked at the flowers, "Why?"

"Because they have to struggle; because they have to live brilliantly, knowing they could disappear at any moment."

Gaara nodded, that made sense.

"But I was also thinking that if someone would just keep watering the flowers, struggling with them, then the flowers might bloom even more beautifully, because someone else cared about them." Naruto was blushing fiercely as his blue eyes met Gaara's wide green ones.

Gaara blushed too as she suddenly got the idea that he wasn't really talking about the flowers anymore.

"You're really pretty in that outfit, Gaara." He whispered as he leaned towards her.

The little voice was back, 'It's just the dress, stupid. Don't get your hopes up.' but his next words blew that theory away.

"But I think you're much prettier when you're able to be yourself." Naruto's face was very close to her own now.

'Is he going to kiss me?' Gaara blushed almost as red as her hair, a feat for someone so pale. She saw him close his eyes and copied the action, unsure what else to do, she sat very still.

SPLASH!! Cool water shocked her into opening her eyes. A stooped old woman was standing nearby with an empty wash tub and a surprised expression. Naruto and Gaara sat dripping in the center of a patch of the tiny red blossoms. Naruto sputtered incoherently.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry." The old woman bowed deeply, "I wasn't paying attention. I didn't even see you there. Are you two alright?" She fussed and fidgeted around them.

"Fine." Naruto grumbled. "Look. It's okay, lady. Don't worry about it." He forced a smile.

The little old woman bowed a couple more times and finally shuffled off. Naruto turned around to find Gaara with both hands clapped over her mouth and her eyes scrunched tightly shut.

"Oi, what's wrong? Did you swallow some of that soapy water or something?" The leaf shinobi asked in concern.

That's when Gaara burst out laughing for the first time in her memory. Not a dry chuckle or an insane cackle, this was a genuine laugh. She decided it felt kind of nice.

Naruto couldn't help it, he laughed with her. Neither noticed when the little old woman hopped up to join a shadowy figure on a ledge in the nearby alley, and neither heard the shadow whisper to her. "Let's go, Crow. I don't think she needs us here anymore." As he watched his little sister laugh for the first time ever.

"Just...can't...get...a...break...ne, Naruto?" She managed to gasp out when she finally lay exhausted and snickering in the midst of the withering flowers.

"Yeah," Naruto smiled as he flopped down beside her, "but it's better if you have to fight for it."

Gaara blushed and they lay there for a few more minutes as the last of the flowers crumbled to dust around them, until the sand got too hot for Naruto. He stood and reached down to help her to her feet.

"Will you?" She asked as they walked back towards the Kazekage's Tower.

Naruto looked at her quizzically.

"If I remain Kazekage and you become Hokage, it won't be easy to stay together." She explained, not meeting his eyes. "Will you fight for me? Should we fight for this?"

Naruto caught her by the chin and turned her face towards his own. They had just reached the plaza in front of the tower.

"Do you want to?" He asked her, as insecure in that moment as he had ever been.

Gaara froze up, 'Do I want to fight for this feeling? Is it worth it?' She asked herself. 'If the council finds out they'll probably exile me at best.' Still the only answer she could truthfully say was, "Yes." She'd never wanted anything so badly in her life.

"Me too." Naruto grinned in relief.

He leaned towards her slowly and this time Gaara met him halfway.

This time there was no little old lady throwing water. Their lips met and it suddenly didn't matter that they were standing in a dusty Suna alley; that Gaara's wig was still dripping dish water; or that people had stopped to stare at the oddity of two soaking wet teenagers, kissing in the middle of a desert town. None of that mattered, the moment was perfect. The kiss was chaste but lingering and they were both thinking the same thing.

It was much sweeter because they knew they would have to fight for it.

End of Chapter

Author's Note: Yay! I hope everyone liked that. I'm afraid they may have gone a bit ooc but people always act weird on a first date. Yeah, that's a good excuse. *grins* I hope it wasn't too bad. This chapter is the reason for the name of the story, as you may have guessed. The flowers are made up for my plot.

Desert Flower

Chapter 7: Decisions and Departures

The next morning, Gaara was showing Matsuri out of her office when the news came. The council had reached a decision. The younger girl balked and begged to be allowed to accompany the redhead as far as the hall outside the council chamber. When they arrived, Gaara was mildly surprised to find her siblings and all three leaf ninjas already waiting.

She shot Kakashi a puzzled look. 'Does the jonin know what this is all about? Naruto didn't ask me whether he could tell him...'

Kakashi shrugged and smiled with his one visible eye, "The guest rooms have thin walls, and I have good ears." He explained simply.

Gaara frowned, "I see. I'm sure I can trust your discretion."

Kakashi grew serious and nodded firmly, "Of course, Kazekage-sama. I just thought I should be here to ensure that the Hokage receives an accurate report. You are a powerful ally in our peace treaty with Sunagakure. Tsunade-sama needs to know of any shifts in power here."

Gaara nodded, 'That makes sense. I would probably send a spy if I heard the Hokage's power was unstable. They don't even have to be circumspect about it, since they are my guests.'

Matsuri suddenly hugged her tightly, disrupting her thoughts, "Good luck, Gaara-sama." She whispered nervously, "Just know, you have my support. I don't care what the council has decided to do." She let go just as quickly and stepped back, embarrassed by her outburst.

The redhead squeezed the younger girl's arm and managed a small smile. "Thank you, Matsuri."

"I hope they decide in your favor, Kazekage-sama." Sakura bowed deeply, knowing Gaara could lose that title at any moment.

"Come on, Lil' Sis." Kankuro said grimly, waiting by the door.

"Yeah, let's go see if any of these old men need to be kicked in the head." Temari said, only half joking.

Naruto caught her hand and gave it a quick squeeze, flashing her a bright smile. "You're a great Kazekage, Gaara. They'd have to be stupid to get rid of you."

She smirked at his logic; feeling oddly comforted by it just the same. Finally, she turned towards the doors and her features slipped back into the mask of apathy that she had cultivated for years.

"Kankuro, open it."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama."

Her siblings filtered in behind her and the doors swung silently shut behind them, leaving the Konoha ninjas and the Sand genin to wait anxiously.

By the time the door opened an hour later, Naruto had walked nearly four miles in that hallway. He froze as soon as Gaara and her older siblings stepped out of the room and pounced once the doors had shut them off from the chamber.

"So, what did they say?" The blonde boy asked eagerly, unable to guess from her pensive expression.

Gaara frowned at the assembled group, "Matsuri, Sena should be in the mission room right now. Go get her and bring her to my office immediately."

The genin nodded and hurried off. 'What does she want with my other sensei?' She worried her lower lip between her teeth. 'This could be bad, but she said her office, which means she is still Kazekage, right?' The girl sped up, knowing she would only get her answers after she returned with the jonin woman who had replaced Gaara as her sensei when he...er...she became Kazekage.

Gaara ushered the others into her office, sweeping up Shinta on the way. The twenty-two year old chunin was more than a little confused by his inclusion in the meeting, but he asked no questions. He sat stiffly in the chair he had been pointed to and nervously smoothed his strawberry blonde ponytail. His blue eyes darted surreptitiously to each ninja in the room, clearly waiting for someone to explain what the hell was going on. Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat but bit his tongue because he wasn't sure what Shinta knew. Thankfully, they only had to wait a few minutes before Matsuri returned with a tall, darkly-tanned woman of around twenty years old. She had short, curly, black hair and laughing, brown eyes.

"Sena, sit." Gaara had replaced her vocal disguise before they had reached her office. It struck her how strange the masculine voice sounded, now that she had had a few days to get used to her real voice, "You too, Matsuri."

Sena flopped into a chair, seemingly uncaring of the other ninja in the room. Matsuri sat more properly next to Shinta.

"A mission has come up and I am giving you a choice in whether or not you take it." She told them simply.

The three Sand ninjas' eyes widened; Suna was always short handed so only the most dangerous missions were optional. Most S class missions didn't even qualify.

"Before you decide, I can tell you it will be a long mission. If you take it on, you will be away from the village for at least two years. It could become very dangerous; you'll be charged with protecting a woman who has many enemies."

Matsuri shot Gaara a sharp look and the redhead nodded slightly, to confirm her suspicions. "I'm in." The genin said firmly. 'I don't know what's going on, but I'm not just going to sit around while Gaara-sensei leaves the village for years.'

Shinta stood, "I accept the mission, Kazekage-sama. It is my honor to serve the village."

Sena snorted and stretched fluidly, "Since my student has already agreed to go, I guess I don't have much choice. I'm in too." She said, eyeing Matsuri suspiciously. She turned her attention back to the young Kazekage. "So, who's the client?"

"I am," Gaara admitted.

"Wait. I thought you said it was a woman?" Shinta frowned, running his hand over his long ponytail out of habit.

"I did, allow me to explain." Gaara quickly told the two older Suna shinobi the same story she had told the council. Halfway through, she dropped her vocal disguise and that seemed to help quell their disbelief. "This morning, the council informed me of their decision."

The Leaf ninjas perked up at that. Kakashi didn't move from where he was leaning against the wall, but Gaara would have bet the jonin wasn't actually reading the dirty book he was holding. Naruto leaned forward eagerly and Sakura sat up a little straighter.

"The council decreed that I am not strong enough at this time to serve as Kazekage." She held up a hand to forestall the outbursts that came from a surprising number of the room's occupants. "They are right. The loss of Shukaku has weakened my jutsus greatly. However, the council decided to give me time to recover before they force me to retire."

"Two years?" Sena asked incredulously, "The best Kazekage we've ever had and they want you to retire at seventeen years old!? Are they stupid?!"

Gaara blinked, shocked at the feeling in the older woman's words. She'd picked Sena for the mission primarily because she was Matsuri's new teacher; she hadn't expected the woman to be so vehemently on her side.

"Hopefully not. The two year leave of absence should allow me to train and regain my strength. If I can prove myself worthy at the end of that time, I keep the position." She explained calmly, pleased that she sounded more confident than she felt. She hadn't controlled more than a handful of sand since the one-tail was ripped out of her, and that effort had left her chakra drained far more than it should have.

"Why do you have to leave to train?" Matsuri asked hesitantly.

"I have a lot of enemies. When word gets out that I am weakened..." She didn't have to finish that sentence. "It is best if I'm not where assassins expect me to be."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense."

"Who will rule Suna while you're gone?" Sena questioned, "The village can't be left without a Kage for two years. The council tried to rule without one when the fourth died and the village nearly fell apart before you stepped up."

"I have appointed Baki to act as my regent. He is trustworthy, and powerful enough to not be pressured by the council."

Sena nodded slowly, it was a good choice. Baki was already a member of the council too, so they would have had no reason to protest the choice.

"Any other questions?" Gaara asked formally. When none were forthcoming, she pressed on. "The council granted me five ninjas of my choice, to serve as my guard and to aid in my training. I chose you three to act as one team. Sena will lead. Temari, Kankuro and I will serve as the other team and you take your cues from us. You have a couple days to prepare for our departure. I'll contact you when I decide upon a time to leave. I should not have to mention that this is a highly classified mission. The council will announce my departure after we leave and there is to be no whisper of it outside this room before then."

The three sand ninjas nodded their understanding.

"Good. Dismissed."

All three blurred out of the room, only then did Gaara return her attention to the foreign shinobi team. Kakashi was still looking at his book, unreadable behind his mask. Sakura was frowning and Naruto looked very thoughtful.

"Where will you go?" The orange-clad ninja asked.

"I haven't decided yet." She admitted. "Most of the desert is too inhospitable for long term inhabitance. The few places with water already have villages around them and I don't want to draw enemies into a civilian village. A nomadic lifestyle is an option, we can survive in the desert indefinitely if necessary, but it wouldn't leave much time for training."

"Do you have to train in the desert?" Naruto frowned, obviously hinting at something.

"No, not really." The redhead shrugged a little, "But I don't know where else we could go. Wind country is pretty much all desert."

The blonde grinned, "But fire country isn't." He said happily. "You could come stay in Konoha."

Gaara balked, "Naruto, I-I don't think that is a good idea."

"Sure it is! Suna is our ally and you had a lot to do with keeping it that way. You just write a letter, explain everything to the old lady and ask if you can come stay in our village for a couple of years." Naruto made it clear he really thought it should be that simple.

"Being our ally is one thing, asking the Hokage to allow six foreign ninjas to live and train in Konoha for two years is something else completely."

"Actually, if the Hokage agrees, it could be the best choice we've got." Temari spoke up, cutting off Naruto's protest before it could reach his mouth.

"How so?" The redhead frowned.

"I'm well acquainted with Konohagakure." Temari explained calmly, "They have excellent training grounds, strong security, it is far enough from Sunagakure to throw off some of the less determined enemies, and big enough that we can disappear into the woodwork if the need arises."

"Plus, her boyfriend is there." Kankuro grumbled under his breath, but he had to admit her other points were valid.

Gaara thought over the suggestion for a few moments. "Kakashi-san."

The silver haired jonin tucked his book away and met her eyes squarely, "Yes, Kazekage-sama."

"What do you think, as the ranking leaf ninja in attendance?" Gaara asked him seriously.

"Hmm..." The jonin pondered the question. "The Fifth Hokage keeps her own counsel. It is hard to say what she'll do. I think the only way to find out would be to ask her."

"The birds are too easy to intercept and their letters go through too many hands. I'd like for this to stay quiet if possible." The young Kazekage frowned.

"I have a way, if you need to get a letter through securely." Kakashi swiftly summoned Pakkun and deposited him on the Kazekage's desk.

The redhead thought the dog looked vaguely familiar. "Oh, he was with Naruto when we fought during the chunin exams.' she remembered suddenly.

"Hm, it's you again." The little brown dog sniffed at Gaara for a minute, obviously taking in the changes in her scent since he'd last seen her, before turning back to his master, "Yo, Kakashi. What do you need?"

"I need you to deliver a top secret correspondence from the Kazekage to the Hokage, and bring back a reply." Kakashi smiled at the ninja hound.

Gaara pulled out a scroll and started writing, trying to ignore the stage whisper from the dog.

"Kazekage? Really?" The dog eyed her speculatively, "Things sure do change fast for you humans, ne. You need to keep me more up to date, Kakashi."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, Pakkun."

Half an hour later the dog was on his way.

"You need anything else, Kazekage-sama?" The masked ninja drawled lazily.

"No. Just let me know the minute he returns."

"Sure." Kakashi pulled out his worn copy of Make Out Paradise and wandered out of the room with his nose buried in the perverted book.

Temari suddenly stood and grinned, "Come on, sis. We have to get you some things for the trip."

"Huh?" Gaara's brow furrowed at her sister's words. 'I don't need any travel supplies.'

"If you are planning to travel as a woman, you'll need some clothes." The blonde girl explained happily.

"Temari, I-"

"First, we'll disguise you, then we're going shopping. You can't just keep wearing your old things. They're all way too big. Nobody can even tell you're a woman. Wanna' come, Sakura?" The blonde was steadily dragged the stunned redhead towards the door.

"Sure." The pink haired girl jumped up to help. "You'll need to get some proper underwear too, Gaara-sama. Women's clothes just don't fit well if you don't wear a bra."

The girls had managed to move the little redhead into the hall but at that she balked.

"No." She growled.

"Gaara, as your older sister, I have to insist. It will reflect badly on me and Kankuro if you go around indecently dressed. Not to mention how it would look for Suna if the Kazekage looks all disheveled all the time."

Gaara frowned, she knew her sister was manipulating her but, damn it, the older girl had a point. They had no mother, and she still blamed herself for that sometimes, so it fell to Temari to teach her womanly things. If Temari said she needed women's clothes, even women's underthings, she was obligated to go along with it for her family's sake. She didn't want to do anything else to sully their reputation, her father had done enough of that and she'd done some herself before she met Naruto.

"Fine. Just get it over with." She acquiesced gracelessly.

Naruto and Kankuro were soon left completely alone as the girl's dragged the sulking redhead away.

"I'm so glad to be a guy right now." Naruto mumbled.

"Ain't that the truth." Kankuro agreed immediately.

Pakkun arrived back in Suna four days later, in the middle of the night, bearing both the reply for Gaara and a letter for Kakashi's team. He sniffed out his master and patted him awake. Kakashi took the two scrolls from the exhausted ninja hound.

"Good work." The jonin briefly scratched the little dog behind the ears, "Go home and get some rest." He released the summoning jutsu and Pakkun disappeared with a pop. "Oi, Naruto." He kicked the sleeping blonde awake."

"Ow!" The jinchuriki sat up and rubbed his side and his eyes, "What was that for?"

Kakashi held up the reply scroll, "Do you know where the Kazekage might be at this time of night?"

Naruto nodded, "Probably in her rooms..." He stood and grabbed his pants and jacket hastily. "I know where they are so I'll take it to her."

The silver haired man handed the hyperactive genin the scroll as soon as the boy was dressed. The blonde was out the door in a flash.

"I wonder if I should've told him to take his sleeping cap off." Kakashi grinned to himself, "Nah."

Naruto banged on the wall in the area he was fairly certain contained Gaara's hidden door. After a few minutes, the wall a few feet to his left slid away, revealing the redhead wearing a black tee shirt and shorts.

She glared at him tiredly, having been just falling asleep when he started making all that racket. "What is it, and what is that thing eating your head?" She crossed her arms and leaned in the doorframe.

Naruto blushed and snatched his black and white nightcap off before running a hand through his messy yellow spikes. 'Wow, she looks cute when she's sleepy.' His mind blanked for just a second before he remembered what had brought him to her door at two am. "Pakkun got back with the reply." He held out the sealed scroll, "Kakashi-sensei sent me to deliver it to you."

She wordlessly took the scroll and stepped back to let him in. Naruto followed her, feeling oddly self-conscious about being in her rooms so late at night. He just felt like it was wrong for him to be there unchaperoned now that they were dating.

Gaara stifled a yawn as she made her ay to her worn leather couch. Naruto sat down in the chair across from her and watched as she released the seal on the scroll and opened it. Naruto allowed her about ten seconds to read it before his patience ran out.

"So, what did she say?" He asked eagerly.

Gaara fought the urge to sigh, "So far all I've gotten to is, 'To the fifth Kazekage, Gaara of the Desert.' Stop interrupting and let me read."

"Right. Sorry." Naruto smiled sheepishly. He was silent for a few seconds. "Would you mind reading out loud?" He asked hopefully.

This time the redhead did let out a small sigh.

"To the fifth Kazekage, Gaara of the Desert." She read, knowing the hyperactive blonde wasn't going to shut up until she did. "In response to your situation and your request for sanctuary: On behalf of the people of Konohagakure and myself, I would like to extend this offer of hospitality."

"Yes!" Naruto exploded, jumping to his feet with a grin. "I told you she'd say yes."

Gaara raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes, you did. Now, did you want me to keep reading or not?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." The blonde scratched his head and sat back down, but his grin never wavered.

"Lodging is being secured for your party and you will be under the full protection of the village and myself for the duration of your stay. I will assign you and your group a guide when you arrive. See you soon. We'll have a drink. No wait; you're still under age, aren't you? How the hell do you deal with this job if you can't drink? Nevermind, we'll just talk. Sincerely, the fifth Hokage, Tsunade." She finished reading and rolled the scroll back up. Her expression was pensive, "The council have changed their minds and asked me to tell the villagers I'm leaving before I go. They seem to be afraid there will be riots if anyone gets the idea that I didn't leave of my own free will." She informed the leaf ninja.

"There might be, you didn't see how upset everyone as when you were taken." Naruto told her confidently.

"It would be a lot safer for us if we could wait to announce our departure the day after we leave, but that would require me to be in two places at..." She trailed off, eyeing the orange and black ninja thoughtfully.

"What?" Naruto frowned in confusion.

"How far away can you get from your shadow clones?"

"Huh? I don't really know, several miles I guess."

She nodded, "That could be enough. How long does it take to learn? I would only need one clone."

Naruto shrugged, "It isn't that hard. I learned it in just a couple of hours. How would cloning yourself help?"

"I want to leave at dusk, but wait until morning to announce that I'm leaving." She explained.

"Oh, I see. To give you a head start, ne?" Naruto nodded, it was a good plan if they could pull it off. "Do you want to start now or wait until morning?" The blonde fought back a yawn as he spoke.

Gaara paused, but realized that not everyone functioned on as little sleep as she could, "We'll wait for morning, but we'll need to start early. If you like you can stay here." She offered without thinking.

Naruto's eyes widened and he felt his face turn beet red. "Uh...um..."

Gaara blushed also as she registered her mistake. "On the couch." She clarified quickly.

"Oh." Naruto laughed nervously, "Yeah, of course. I guess that would be a smart thing to do. Um...sorry for thinking..."

"Don't mention it." She snapped hastily and the blonde had the feeling she meant that literally. "I'll get you a blanket."

She returned a few minutes later and shoved a brown fuzzy blanket into his arms.

"Thanks." Naruto smiled. "Goodnight, Gaara-chan." He leaned in and kissed her forehead before she could move away.

The redhead blinked, unsure of how to react, "Yes, goodnight, Naruto." She turned and made her way quickly down the hall to her room.

Naruto shrugged out of his jacket and put on his nightcap before he stretched out on the couch.

'How does one person manage to be blunt and shy and beautiful and awkward and deadly and innocent all at the same time?' He fell asleep with a grin on his face, still pondering the many mysteries of Gaara.

The next day started at dawn for Naruto. Gaara woke him with a plate of toast and a cup of tea to make up for waking him so early after the late night. They passed the whole morning training in the privacy of Gaara's living room. By noon, Gaara could make and hold a single clone indefinitely. She'd never be the natural shadow clone user that Naruto was, but it would serve her purpose.

She made them a quick, stir-fried noodle dish for lunch. Naruto was very impressed with her cooking, but then, he only knew how to make instant ramen and cold cereal so it wasn't hard to beat that.

The blonde finally returned to his room in mid afternoon. Kakashi was out but the jonin had left him a note and a cream colored cloak.

"Meet at the gate at dusk, night travel is cooler. Wear the cloak and hide you leaf emblem. We will be traveling with the others and don't want the attention such a large group of ninjas would draw. See you there. Kakashi."

When Naruto reached the gate a few hours later, there were already several people waiting. Matsuri waved cheerfully at him from where she leaned in the shade of the canyon walls. Shinta eyed him warily, no doubt remembering their unfortunate first meeting. It took Naruto a minute to recognize the young man standing near them with the hood of his cloak pulled up, holding the lead rope of a heavily laden camel.

"Kankuro? Is that you?" The leaf genin sputtered in disbelief. Without his unique, pointy eared hat and kabuki face paint, the puppet master looked like a different person. 'He looks so normal, why does he wear all that weird stuff anyway?'

"Yeah, who did you think it was?" The older boy's tone was hostile and Naruto backed off, getting the distinct impression that he'd hit a nerve without meaning to.

"Nobody, you just looked different. That's all." He waved his hands in a placating manner before going to sit against the wall next to Matsuri.

The sun had just touched the horizon when Gaara, Temari, and Sakura arrived. Gaara wore her cloak's hood pulled down over her forehead and she had on a pair of goggles to further cover her features. Temari was leading a second camel, just as loaded down as her brother's.

Gaara looked around, 'Someone is missing.'

"Where is Kakashi?" Temari asked, eyeing the setting sun.

Sakura and Naruto exchanged alarmed glances.

"You don't think he would..." Naruto muttered.

"Not with the Kaze-with everyone waiting." Sakura caught herself before she could mention the girl at her side, fighting a feeling of dread. Inner Sakura was fuming and threatening death and dismemberment for the silver haired jonin if he embarrassed them with his tardiness in front of the Kazekage.

"We'll give him until the sun sets." Kankuro spoke up, "Then he'll just have to catch up."

The two leaf ninjas spent an anxious few minutes, watching the sun slip further and further over the horizon. Finally, just as the last sliver of sunlight was disappearing, Kakashi strolled into the other end of the canyon. He was wearing a travel cloak like the rest and a red scarf was tied around his mouth and nose. He had switched out his crooked headband for a simple black eye patch.

He grinned at them with his one visible eye. "Sorry, there was this old lady-"

"You're lying!" Sakura and Naruto snapped simultaneously.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, "I see you two still haven't learned any patience."

Gaara decided to interrupt, "Let's go. I want to be as far away as possible before dawn, and we have to travel slowly for the camels."

She started walking and the group fell in around her. They were nearly a mile away, at the crest of a particularly high dune, when she turned to look back at Sunagakure. She'd pulled off the annoying goggles and if she looked carefully she could just make out the tops of some of the buildings within the hollowed out mesa. In that moment she was swamped with doubt, 'How am I going to become as strong as I was with Shukaku? How will I protect my precious people? If I can't protect them, then what good am I? What will my purpose be-?'

Something of her thoughts must have shown in her eyes, because Naruto suddenly took her by the hand. He leaned in close to her ear.

"You're like those sand flowers, you know?" he whispered, almost too softly to hear, "The roots are still there, you just need to water them a little bit."

Gaara felt the panic in her heart ease a little. It was stupid. She wasn't a flower, and getting her sand jutsus back up to strength might very well be impossible without Shukaku, but hearing Naruto say it, she could almost believe it might be that easy. After all, the blonde was a terrible liar.

"So, Naruto," Kakashi cut in, grinning wickedly. "You never came back last night after I sent you to the Kazekage's room with that letter. Where did you end up sleeping?"

Naruto blushed at the innuendo implied in the jonin's question; Kankuro took that blush the wrong way.

"I'll kill him!" The puppet master roared, lunging at the blonde genin.

Naruto dodged and, because he didn't want Gaara to be pissed at him for hurting her brother, he turned and ran down the far side of the dune. All the while trying to explain, "It's not what you think! I just slept! It was late and we had to get up early! Nothing happened!"

The orange clad ninja tripped and Kankuro might have caught up, but the sand under the puppet master's feet suddenly gave way and he sank in up to his neck before he stopped.

All eyes snapped back to the redheaded ex-jinchuriki. She was kneeling, with both palms pressed flat on the sand in front of her. Her eyes locked on her brother's and he blanched, she hadn't looked that pissed at him in a very long time. The sand around him was soft, he couldn't gain any foothold to burrow out, but she wasn't trying to hurt him. In fact it seemed like she was keeping the sand from settling in around him, but he still felt a trickle of uneasiness at being at his little sister's mercy.

"Maybe you should reconsider you hasty accusations." The redhead practically growled as she struggled to maintain her hold on the sand around her brother. She hadn't tried to control more than a handful of sand since her rescue. She had simply acted on instinct to stop her brother, loosening the sand and letting gravity do the rest, except now she had to hold Kankuro up because if she relaxed he'd sink further into the soft sand. Her control needed work but she wasn't about to let her brother know how close she was to accidentally smothering him with sand.

"Yeah, sorry Uzumaki. I should have remembered my little sister can take care of herself. Sorry, Sis." The older ninja said quickly, shooting an apologetic at the sister in question.

"Damn right I can." Gaara snapped as she extricated her elder brother from the deathtrap she had inadvertently made. Only when he was standing firmly on ground that wasn't about to swallow him whole, did she release her hold on the sand and let it settle back with a soft whump. She stood, ignoring the wave of dizziness that washed over her and fighting to keep her breathing even. She hoped she hadn't screwed up her shadow clone.

Fighting off the chakra drain symptoms, she started walking, suddenly glad for the slow pace they were maintaining. Naruto was the first to join her, catching her arm so she could lean on him surreptitiously.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly, not wanting to be overheard by the others who were just starting to move behind them.

"I will be." Gaara assured him. A content expression settled on her face as she realized she really meant that. Shukaku was gone, but she still had control over sand and the raw power would come back with training and time. 'The roots are still there.' Naruto's earlier words echoed in her mind and she smirked, 'We'll just water them and see what comes up.'

THE END for now....

Author's Note: Oh, thank God that is done. I had so much difficulty with this chapter. I'm still not entirely happy with it but, I've rewritten it twice already, so here it is. I hope it isn't as terrible as I think it is. I feel like I tried to put too much in but I just couldn't break it up. I had to put in description of my two original characters (because I forgot to describe poor Shinta before and Sena is of course new). I hope neither of them is mary-sue-ish because I will have to kill them if they try to be. I cut out large chunks and streamlined as much as I could, because the original draft was repetitive, oddly worded garbage that I wrote very late at night. Then, it went very weird on me at the end, but that part I liked and couldn't bear to part with. *sigh*. I'm hard at work on the sequel. Please review so I don't feel like I'm completely wasting my time.

This was amazing :)

Author’s Note: Thanks! I'm so glad you like it. As a reward for being a nice reviewer, here is chapter one of the sequel. Please read and review! I hope you enjoy it.

Important Note: I noticed that I did not mention Gai and his team in the previous story. That was a severe oversight on my part and I apologize for it. I had intended to mention that they had gone back to Konoha and left Kakashi and his team to recover a bit before making the trip (because Kakashi was so exhausted from using his sharingan) but somehow that got lost in the editing. I intend to go back and do a bit of revising on Desert Flower once this story is out of my head.

Fresh Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Gaara or any other characters from Naruto. I do not own Konoha or any other recognizable setting. I make no profit off of them. I did make up Shinta and Sena, but I don’t make any money off them either. If anyone wants to borrow them for their own fics, please give me credit for creating them and let me know what story to look for them in. Thanks. On with the fic...

Sandstorms and Falling Leaves

Chapter One: Arrival

Gaara was relieved when her small band of ninjas arrived at the gates of Konoha. The trip had taken nearly double the time it normally would have, because they had to accommodate the camels through the desert. Then they traded the camels out for an ox-drawn cart at the edge of the desert, which was just as slow. They had kept their cloaks on and tried to draw as little attention as possible in the hopes of throwing off any pursuit the announcement of her departure may have generated.

The redhead was pleased that her shadow clone ploy seemed to have worked. She had released the jutsu midway through the day after they left Suna. She had been suddenly filled with the knowledge that the announcement had gone smoothly and the villagers were taking it fairly well. She was a little surprised by that, Naruto hadn’t mentioned that she would receive the memories from her clone.

They had not encountered any trouble on the journey. ‘Though there are downsides to that.’ She mused, casting a glance at her siblings. Temari and Kankuro had been at each other’s throats for days, arguing to relieve the tension and boredom. It was a behavior Gaara was well acquainted with and she knew they didn’t mean ninety percent of what they said to each other when they were fighting, but it still grated on her nerves that the only emotion her family reliable portrayed towards each other was anger. ‘Not that I’m any better.’

Having to worry that someone might kill her was a novel experience for the ex-jinchuriki. People had tried all her life but before the Akatsuki, no one had ever come close to succeeding. Now the worry that she might not be strong enough to defend herself, and worse that someone she loved might be hurt defending her, ate at her constantly. The stress, combined with her insomnia, made her irritable and withdrawn. Even Naruto couldn’t get more than a few words out of her after the first couple days had passed. Thankfully the blonde boy didn’t seem to take it personally and instead spent hours chatting with Matsuri and her jonin sensei, Sena.

Shinta had struck up a conversation with Sakura about medical ninjutsu on their third day of traveling, because he had thought about becoming a medical ninja and he was curious about the technique she had used to remove the poison from Kankuro’s body. That lead to other topics and the two soon discovered they had quite a bit in common. The Suna chunin still eyed Naruto with distrust but he seemed resigned to dealing with the orange clad ninja’s presence because the Kazekage obviously liked having him around.

Kakashi acted as scout while Kankuro drove the cart. Gaara was kept to the center of the group, just behind the cart, the safest spot in case of an attack. The little redhead was unused to needing protection and the restriction bothered her more than she let on.

“We’re home!” Naruto shouted excitedly, “Ichiraku here I come! Ramen, ramen, ramen! Yeah!” The blonde seemed oblivious to the stares most of the Suna ninjas were giving him as he bounded towards the gate. He looked back with a huge grin while still rushing towards the gate.

Crash!

The leaf genin slammed into something and went sprawling.

“What the...” Naruto jumped back to his feet and glared at the thing that was rude enough to knock him down.

The thing didn’t bother to glare back, looking bored and exasperated at the same time. His hands were shoved in his pockets and you got the impression that he could have avoided letting Naruto bump into him, but it would have been too much trouble.

“Hey, Crybaby!” Temari shoved her way to the front of the group, grinning at the leaf chunin. “So did you make jonin yet?”

Shikamaru yawned, “Don’t be stupid, Woman. You were only gone a couple weeks. I’ll get to it.”

“Lazy.”

“Bossy.”

“Ahem.” Kakashi cleared his throat, amused at their antics but eager to get home and relax a little, away from all these teenage hormones. Plus he wanted to read his new book for the fifteenth time. All the nuances were really starting to sink in the last time he read it.

Both teenagers blushed but Shikamaru recovered quickly.

“I have orders to escort the Kazekage, her party, and team Kakashi to the Hokage’s office.” He announced dryly.

He had actually been lazing around near the gate for days, waiting for them to show up. He had a strong suspicion Tsunade gave him the mission early, to give him a chance to take a break from planning the upcoming chunin exams. He had been immersed in those plans for months: choosing proctors, organizing security, providing lodging and escorts for the ninja teams taking the exam, and working with the troublesome Suna ambassador. Chunin exams made him nervous, the memory of the sound invasion always moved to the forefront of his thoughts when it came time for Konoha to host the event. He wasn’t about to allow a fiasco like that on his watch, so laziness had taken a back seat to necessity. He’d grumbled and complained, but he did a thorough job and he knew Tsunade appreciate his hard work, even if she never mentioned it.

Gaara moved smoothly to the front of the group, noting that the Nara boy had said ‘her party’, obviously he had been told about her by Tsunade. He didn’t seem to care, but then apathy was a look Shikamaru pulled off very well according to conversations she had overheard from her sister.

She nodded tersely and the spiky haired chunin turned towards the gates. Naruto fell in beside her as the group moved to follow the Nara heir. He was visibly disappointed to not be going straight to Ichiraku but he rallied quickly.

The blonde boy turned to her with a big grin, “Wanna have some ramen after this meeting is over? My treat.”

Gaara hesitated. She wasn’t even sure if she liked ramen, having never tried it, but she did like spending time with Naruto. After a few seconds she nodded at him.

“Hey, Naruto.” Sakura chimed in brightly. “Was that offer for everyone?” She grinned evilly as Naruto nervously pulled out his froggy wallet and eyed it’s contents. He glanced at Gaara, who just shrugged to show that she didn’t care if the pink haired girl came along. It wasn’t like going to eat ramen was a date or anything, “I guess you can come, Sakura-chan.” The leaf genin said slowly.

Sakura smiled but inner Sakura heaved a great big sigh of relief. ‘What the hell was Naruto thinking? Asking Gaara out in front of Shikamaru! That guy is way too perceptive. Good thing I was here to cover for them.’

If Shikamaru noticed the exchange, he showed no sign of interest as he led them up the exterior stairs of the Hokage’s building. He knocked once on the office door and waited patiently for a muffled “Enter” before he pushed it open and stepped aside to let the Kazekage and everybody else enter before him. He was about to close the door and slip away, when Tsunade caught sight of him.

“Nara, stay.” she ordered.

The lazy young man sighed and slumped against the wall near the door.

Tsunade stood and nodded politely to Gaara. “Welcome Kazekage-san.”

“Just Gaara.” the little redhead corrected with a nod in return, “I’m not the Kazekage right now.”

Tsunade frowned, “Stupid chauvinist attitudes can’t take away who you are. You earned the title of Kazekage and you deserve to keep it,” the fiery older woman said firmly, “but if it makes you more comfortable, Gaara-san it is, and you can call me Tsunade.” She finished with a grin.

Gaara nodded.

“Now, down to business,” Tsunade sat back down at her desk and leaned forward, “I have arranged three apartments for your group. I assumed you would want to stay in pairs rather than alone.”

Gaara nodded again.

“Right, Shikamaru will show you to them when we are done here. The rent is reasonable and the landlord has even offered a substantial discount if he can advertise that you stay there. Before you go, however, I would like to make sure there are no new developments since you sent me that letter. We have the Chunin exams coming up in two weeks and we can’t afford any surprises. I realize you have your own security, but I must ask that you keep us informed if you find any threats within or around the village.”

Gaara shrugged, “We’ve noted no threats.”

“Good.” Tsunade smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Shikamaru.”

The lazy chunin raised an eyebrow at her in answer.

“Kindly escort the Kazekage and her party to their living quarters and help them settle in.”

The sand ninjas looked to Gaara for instructions.

“Go. I’ll join you later.” She waved them away before turning back to Tsunade. “Naruto has offered to introduce me to ramen, so I‘ll wait for him.” She hesitated, “Should I wait outside?”

Tsunade shrugged, “Makes no difference. This is Naruto’s business mostly. If he doesn’t mind, I don’t care.”

The blonde boy perked up at her words, “Me? What about me?” He asked excitedly.

Tsunade cast a pointed glance at Gaara and her siblings, who were wavering in the doorway. The redhead waved them away imperiously and they hurried to follow the leaf chunin.

“Oh, she can stay. Now, what is this about me?” The orange clad boy was bouncing in place with eagerness.

Tsunade looked at the blonde boy seriously, “Naruto, you are the only member of you class who has not yet reached the rank of chunin.”

The young man slouched in depression, she had hit on a sore subject.

“As I said earlier, the next chunin exam is being held here two weeks from now.” She studied him thoughtfully. “You are going to attempt the exam again.”

Naruto’s head shot up and he grinned, “Really? Great! I’ll definitely pass it this time.”

Tsunade nodded, “You had better, because this is the last mission you will ever receive as a genin.”

Sakura gasped at the ultimatum and Gaara’s eyes widened slightly. Kakashi showed no reaction except to glance at Naruto thoughtfully. The blonde genin clenched his fists and looked down at his feet for a minute before he drew in a deep breath.

Tsunade preempted whatever he was going to say, “After all, the future Hokage can’t stay a genin forever.”

Naruto visibly relaxed and a small grin crept onto his face, “That’s right. I won’t let you down, Hokage-sama.”

“I’m looking for a team for you to take the exam with since Sakura has already passed.” She purposefully did not mention the other member of their three man squad.

“Would an international squad be allowed?” Gaara asked thoughtfully.

The four leaf ninjas looked at her in confusion.

“Matsuri has yet to take the chunin exam. I was planning to suggest she take the next one but she is ready.” The redhead explained.

Tsunade pondered the idea, “It has never been done before, but I don’t know of any rules against it. They’ll still need a third.”

Gaara shook her head, “She is the only genin with me.”

“Naruto, do you think you can work with the sand genin?” The Hokage asked seriously.

“Sure, no problem.”

“Very well.” Tsunade nodded. “I suggest you begin training with Matsuri of Sunagakure as soon as possible and I’ll find you a third before the exam.”

Naruto nodded.

“I will inform Matsuri tonight.” Gaara told them.

“Excellent, that saves me a little bit of trouble. Naruto, Sakura, you may go. Gaara-san, if you don’t mind going with them. I will have Shikamaru find you later to show you to the apartments. Kakashi, stay.”

The three young people left the office and shut the door behind them.

Naruto’s exuberance from the gate reasserted itself, “Ramen! Let’s go, Gaara, Sakura-chan.” He grabbed both girls by the hands and dragged them off down the hall, past the startled faces of Tsunade’s assistant, Shizune, and her pet pig, Tonton.

*************************************************

Meanwhile, Neiji and Tenten were waiting for their unibrowed teammate to arrive at their usual meeting place. They had returned from the rescue mission to Suna over a week ago and had spent the downtime training while they prepared to serve as security for the upcoming exams. The two less “youthful” members of Team Gai had arrived early to present a united front against whatever hair brained training regimen Lee was sure to come up with.

Neiji spotted the Suna ninjas first, as a jonin he had been told about the Kazekage’s impending stay so he wasn’t surprised to see the puppet master driving a cart, and the fan-wielding blonde walking beside Shikamaru. He didn’t see the redheaded Kazekage among the other three sand ninjas walking behind the cart, which was a bit disappointing because he had been briefed about her recent gender revelation and wanted to note any changes.

“I guess the Kazekage must have finally arrived.” He gestured idly to the group as he said it.

Tenten was just turning to see what he was talking about when a green blur landed between the two teammates.

“My eternal rival is here?!” Lee struck a pose as he landed. “I must go and greet him immediately! We will have a youthful challenge!” The green unitard wearing ninja sped off towards the Suna ninjas, screeching to a halt in front of Shikamaru and Temari, who were leading the small group.

“Where is my eternal rival, the esteemed Kazekage Gaara-san?!” He demanded cheerfully.

Shikamaru frowned but decided to answer, in the hope that it would get the troublesome ninja to go away, “With Naruto.” He drawled tiredly.

By the time Neiji and Tenten had recovered from their green clad friend’s abrupt proclamation, the younger green beast of Konoha had already moved on from the startled sand ninjas. The Hyuuga boy and the brown haired girl hurried after him without delay.

“Hurry,” Neiji encouraged, activating his byakugan to make following the green blur easier, “I didn’t get the chance to tell him that Gaara is actually a female and he’s sure to make a scene when he finds her.”

“Wait a minute,” Tenten gaped at him but did not stop running, “Gaara’s a girl? Since when?”

“Since always apparently. It is a long story and one I have not been told the details of, just try to act normal when we find her.”

Tenten nodded gravely, mulling the new information over and trying to reconcile it with the deadly, slightly psychotic guy who nearly killed Lee during their first chunin exam, or the quiet, serious young man who had become Kazekage at only fourteen years old. Neither image looked quite right so she pushed both away and resolved to stay open minded.

Neiji spotted Naruto, Sakura, and Gaara with his byakugan and cut sideways hoping to head them off and warn them of Lee’s approach. The exuberant young man probably wasn’t even considering the fact that the redhead was still recovering from her recent ordeal and he might not give anyone time to point that out before issuing his challenge. Neiji scowled and increased his speed, ‘That idiot is going to cause an international incident if I don’t stop him.’

Tenten didn’t question the sudden course change, she trusted Neiji implicitly. He was her best friend and, she had long ago admitted to herself, she had a huge crush on him. The thought made her blush and she quickly refocused on the task at hand, mentally berating herself for being foolish. ‘As if he’d ever want to date a plain faced, second rate kunoichi like me. Ino is prettier, Sakura is stronger, and there are any number of other girls throwing themselves at him now that Sasuke is gone. He’s a genius, girl, don’t get any ideas.’ By the time her mental tirade was finished she could see the three distinctive hair colors of the group they were aiming for. She focused on speeding towards the bobbing red, yellow, and pink heads and pushed the other depressing thoughts away.

Too late. Lee came around a nearby corner and spotted his target at that moment.

*****************************************

Gaara spotted Lee just half a second before he spotted her. She watched his eyes light up with excitement as he charged forward.

“Esteemed Kazekage Gaara-san! My Eternal Youthful Rival!” He shouted as he aimed a kick at her stomach.

She just barely had time to get her arms in place to block, and the impact reverberated through her whole body. ‘That is definitely going to leave bruises.’ She mused as she ducked his follow up swing at her head. Naruto and Sakura stepped back, not sure whether she would want them to intervene in the fight.

“Yes! I have come to challenge you, My Esteemed Eternal Rival! I will prove the power of youth can overcome any opponent!”

Gaara was just fraction of a second too slow to block a blow to her chest as she processed what the odd ninja was saying. As the open handed hit connected, she was knocked back a few feet and she would have skidded further if two sets of insanely strong hands hadn’t caught her by her arms. Lee jumped back and prepared to launch another attack.

Just then, Neiji and Tenten dropped from a nearby rooftop to land between the two combatants. Neiji landed closer to Gaara, quickly apologizing to the redhead for Lee’s behavior.

Tenten landed facing the green clad boy, “What is the matter with you?! Don’t you remember rescuing Gaara-sama just a couple weeks ago?! Do you think a victory would mean anything with her still recovering? Where is your honor, Lee?” She knew exactly which buttons to push and the excitable leaf ninja hung his head in shame, dramatic tear streams running down his face as he dropped to his knees in front of the stunned redhead, who was still being supported by Naruto and Sakura as she tried to catch her breath.

“Forgive me,” The young man pleaded tearfully, “In my youthful joy at hearing of your visit, I failed to consider your weakened condition. It was dishonorable to attack you when you weren’t at your peak strength.”

Gaara coughed as she tried to speak, and had to try again. “Don’t worry about it.” She said slowly, wanting the weird guy to stop crying at her feet. “It was good training.”

Lee shot to his feet with a sparkly grin and a thumbs up, “Ah, your youthful attitude makes me proud to have you as my rival!” He paused and cocked his head to one side as he studied her. “By the way, is something different about your voice? I didn’t think I hit you that hard....”

Gaara was saved from having to use her recently abused lungs to answer as Neiji stepped up and whispered in Lee’s ear.

“WHAT?! My Eternal Rival is a woman?!” Lee looked at her again and Gaara stared back, refusing to give in to the self-conscious urge to avert her eyes. “Is that true?” Lee asked quietly.

She nodded.

He seemed to think it over for a minute before a toothy grin once again lit his face. “I will surpass you yet! Don’t think you can get out of meeting my challenge just because you are a woman. You are still My Eternal Rival and I must beat you so I can prove my ninja way!”

Gaara blinked at him in confusion, but her pride wouldn’t let her refuse a direct challenge. She shrugged off the supporting hands of her companions and stepped towards the green clad young man calmly.

“I accept.” She said simply, “Once I have recovered my strength, you can help me test it.” A small dangerous smirk played across her face but Lee did not catch the warning in it.

He turned around to expound upon the joy he was feeling at her acceptance of his challenge and did not notice her quick hand signs. He heard movement behind him and looked back at her just in time to see her place her palms flat on the earth. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet was no longer solid and he sank into soft sand up to his neck. Gaara stood and brushed off her cloak, satisfied that her practice during the long, mostly sleepless nights of their trip had paid off. Her control was much better than when she had thoughtlessly tried the same jutsu on Kankuro a week ago. Lee wouldn’t sink any further and she didn’t feel dizzy at all, which meant her chakra levels were returning to normal.

She stepped around the strangely happy looking head sticking out of the sand and continued in the direction they had been going before Lee’s sudden arrival. She nodded to Neiji and Tenten as she passed them, grateful for their intervention. Her ribs hurt and her arms ached but she was fairly certain nothing was broken. Neither she nor Lee had been seriously injured and no buildings had been damaged. Neiji nodded back and went to help Lee extricate himself from the ground.

Tenten grinned brightly at her and bowed quickly, before she too went to see if she could help her teammate out of his predicament. She had been a bit nervous when she saw Gaara performing a jutsu, remembering Lee’s broken form after the chunin exam, but the green clad boy looked merely startled rather than hurt and the redhead seemed decidedly amused by the whole situation.

Gaara paused as Naruto caught up with her. Sakura looked back at Lee with a conflicted expression on her face before she shook her head and went over to the bowl cut boy.

“What are we going to do with you?” She muttered before looking back at Gaara and Naruto. “I’m going to help dig Lee out. You guys go on ahead, but you’ll owe me ramen later, Naruto.”

Naruto nodded and took Gaara’s hand as they continued towards Ichiraku. Lee’s excited prattle and Tenten and Sakura’s angry voices followed them for a few minutes as they walked.

When he was sure they were out of earshot Naruto glanced sideways at the sand ninja, “Why didn’t you just reverse the jutsu the way you did with Kankuro?”

A smirk played across her pixie-like features and she shrugged, “Because I didn’t want him following us.”

Naruto grinned, “Yeah, Lee can be pretty persistent company. He’d probably want to help you train or something.”

Gaara nodded.

Naruto spotted Ichiraku up ahead and the incident was pushed aside for a more important matter, namely ramen.

He sat down on an empty stool and Gaara removed her cloak before she took the one beside him, looking around curiously. Sunagakure didn’t have any ramen stalls, and no Suna restaurant would be open to the air like this one, because the frequent sandstorms and fierce heat made such a layout impractical.

The owner, Teuchi, and his daughter, Ayame, smiled warmly at Naruto and greeted the jinchuriki warmly before the old man turned his attention to his other patron. He blinked at the petite redhead, obviously recognizing her as the Kazekage, but not knowing what to make of her obviously feminine figure. Gaara suddenly regretted wearing the snug black t-shirt and shorts under her cloak, as they left her feeling rather exposed now that she had taken it off.

“So, Naruto,” Teuchi drawled, his smile still firmly in place. “Who’s your friend?”

Naruto smiled cheerfully, “This is Gaara. She’s come to train in the village for a while and I told her the first thing she needed to do was try your ramen because Ichiraku’s is the best ramen in the world.” He announced seriously.

Teuchi looked to Gaara for more information but the redhead was silent and merely nodded a greeting at him. Giving up on figuring out the weirdness of ninjas for the time being, he nodded back and switched his attention back to his best customer. “Okay then, what can I get for you and the young lady?”

Naruto rattled off his order and looked at Gaara. She shrugged to show she had no idea what to order and he rattled off something else to the old man, who immediately set about preparing their food.

“You’ve never tried ramen at all? Really?” Naruto gave her a disbelieving look.

Gaara shook her head and spoke quietly, not comfortable talking in front of the old man and his daughter who were still staring at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. “I told you, we don’t serve hot soups in Sunagakure and I’ve never spent much time in other villages, at least not socially.” She frowned as she thought about the fact that many of the villages she had visited when she was younger weren’t even there anymore because of her.

“But you stayed here for the chunin exam...” The blonde stopped as Ayame dropped a bowl in shock.

Gaara scowled at the orange clad ninja, as the man and his daughter scrambled to clean up the spilled soup and broken pottery. “I ate whatever Kankuro handed me.” She gritted out. “I wasn’t here for the food at the time.”

Naruto looked blank for a moment before comprehension dawned on his face, “Oh yeah. We’re such good friends now, I just don’t often think about...uh...before.” He said lamely.

Gaara just shook her head, ‘Only Naruto would condense my murderous, psychotic past into ‘before’ and think nothing of it. It is a wonder he has survived as a ninja for this long, he’s so quick to want to trust people.’

“I’m terribly sorry.” Gaara glanced up at Ayame in surprise, she thought the girl was afraid of her. “I just didn’t know the Kazekage was in town and I couldn’t believe you would be here in our restaurant. When I finally realized it really was you...I’m sorry but it was a shock to me. Please forgive my clumsiness, Kazekage-sama.”

Gaara nodded, not bothering to correct the girl about the title and too shocked to otherwise reply.

Just then Teuchi set their ramen in front of them with a flourish. “Thank you for your patience. I wanted to make sure it was extra special for the Kazekage, especially since I heard you say you have never tried it before.” He smiled at Gaara and she nodded her thanks as she took a pair of chopsticks from the container Naruto held out for her.

The blonde then began to demolish his own ramen with gusto. Teuchi and Ayame smiled fondly at him for a moment before turning to watch Gaara try her own food. The audience made her a little uncomfortable but it wasn’t like she was unused to being stared at and the looks weren’t always so pleasant.

Cautiously, she brought the steaming hot noodles to her mouth and slurped them the way Naruto was doing, only slower because she liked being able to breathe. The old man and his daughter were watching her expectantly so she swallowed her first bite and nodded at them.

“It is just as good as Naruto said it would be.” She said slowly. She couldn’t say it was her favorite food but it was pretty good, and there was no reason to alienate the proprietor of Naruto’s favorite restaurant.

“Well, you’re welcome to come back anytime. Naruto is one of my best customers and any friend of his is a friend of mine.” Teuchi smiled brightly and he and his daughter got to work on more ramen for Naruto, who had already decimated his first bowl.

“See, I told you, you would like it.” Naruto grinned at her.

They continued to eat in silence. Naruto was on his third bowl when Gaara finished her first. She ordered another with extra fishcakes, since fish was an expensive delicacy in Suna.

She was halfway through that when the curtain was pushed back and two ninja’s she vaguely recognized as being the Nara boy’s teammates came in, arguing over the choice of restaurant.

“But we always have barbeque.” The tubby young man was protesting.

“Exactly!” The blonde girl sounded thoroughly exasperated. “We always eat there and I tired of having the same thing week after week. From now on we have to go somewhere else at least once a month or else! Got it?!”

The fa-husky young man hung his head. “Okay, I got it. At least it’s Ichiraku and not that salad place you like. It would cost a fortune to fill me up there.”

“It costs a fortune to feed you anywhere, Choji.” The girl muttered sourly.

“Hey, Choji! Ino!” Naruto waved at the bickering pair as they took the remaining two seats.

“Hey, Naruto.” Choji said cheerfully, he then noticed the redhead on the other side of the blonde boy. He studied her intently for a moment, “Gaara?” He asked hesitantly. “Is that Gaara with you, Naruto?”

The blonde nodded, strings of ramen hanging from his mouth as he continued to make up for his time away from his perfect food.

“You...uh...you look different, Gaara-san.” Ino ventured curiously.

“Not really.” Gaara said, resigning herself to answering this sort of question for a while. “You’ve just never seen me without my sand armor. No one had until recently. Not even me.”

The redhead could practically see the blonde girl’s train of thought as she sorted out that statement. Ino’s eyes lit up with excitement and Gaara suddenly regretted speaking to the girl at all.

“So, you’ve always been a girl? Wow! I never would have guessed. Why the disguise?”

“It wasn’t my idea, it came with the one tail.” Gaara explained reluctantly, suddenly remembering that Ino liked getting into other people’s heads.

“Ooo, I see. Now that the demon is gone, no more disguise. That’s gotta be weird, right? All of a sudden finding out you are a woman. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for you to adjust.” The blonde girl’s pupiless blue eyes were wide a she considered it.

Gaara went back to finishing her ramen, not acknowledging that question at all. Ino ordered a diet ramen. Choji was already well on his way to catching up to Naruto.

Thankfully Naruto declared himself done after his fifth bowl and Gaara was done after her second.

As the blonde boy was paying the tab, Ino leaned over to Gaara and whispered conspiratorially, “If you have any questions or need any help with anything just let me know, okay. I’m a good listener.” The girl’s strange blue eyes sparkled as she smiled at Gaara.

Gaara kept her face blank and didn’t respond to the offer, retreating outside to wait for Naruto. When the orange clad ninja joined her a few minutes later, he seemed oddly amused and Gaara raised an eyebrow at him in question as they started to walk away from the ramen stall.

“Well, I think you just took care of explaining your situation to everyone in town.”

Gaara’s expression became even more puzzled.

“Ino is the biggest gossip in the entire village. In a couple of days everyone will know everything you just told her and more if she can weasel any information out of anyone else.”

Gaara frowned but her feelings on the matter were mixed, ‘I don’t like people gossiping about me but in this case it is true, so I can’t really say anything. At least it will save me from having to repeat myself to everyone who recognizes me.’ she shrugged, “What’s done is done. I don’t care who she tells as long as it is the truth.”

Naruto nodded, “She’s usually pretty good about that as long as you aren’t Sakura.”

Gaara didn’t have to ask the blonde about the rivalry between Ino and Sakura. She had seen their fight at the chunin exam and the two girls obviously had issues that went deeper than Sasuke.

Just then Shikamaru and Temari came around the corner ahead of them. The eldest sand sibling hurried over to the pair, the lazy leaf ninja trailing behind her reluctantly.

“Hey, the apartments are mostly set up. They were furnished already so we don’t need to buy much. I hope you don’t mind rooming with me. We put the boys in one apartment and Sena and Matsuri in the other which left just me and you for the third.”

“That’s fine.” Gaara assured her apathetically.

“Since Temari knows the way back, you don’t need me anymore.” Shikamaru announced, edging away.

Temari looked ready to protest his departure but she apparently couldn’t come up with a valid excuse and so she simply scowled at his retreating back until he turned the corner, heading out of town and back towards his family estate. Once he was out of sight, the older girl shook her head and turned to her youngest sibling with a small smile.

“Are you ready to go check out our new home, Gaara?”

The redhead nodded thoughtfully. ‘Home. I guess I’ve never really had one of those before.’ She mused to herself as they walked, ‘I thought I finally had a place in Suna, but when I lost my usefulness my home went with it. No, that isn’t true. Temari and Kankuro are my home. They stay with me no matter what. Isn’t that what a home is? Wherever the people who love you are...’ She glanced at the young man at her side, marveling as she realized he felt like home to her too. She shoved the thought into the back of her mind, which was thankfully a much less crowded place now, and resolved not to get ahead of herself. ‘Naruto likes me right now and he wants to help me, but this probably won’t last forever. Why would anyone stay with someone as screwed up as me when they have so many better choices around? I just hope we can remain friends...’

Naruto must have spotted the troubled look in her eyes, because he reached over and squeezed her hand, continuing to hold it as they made their way through town. Temari grinned at them but said nothing. Her natural inclination was to tease the young couple, but Gaara had a habit of taking her teasing seriously so she decided to keep her big mouth shut for once and let her little sister enjoy her first boyfriend, ‘At least for a little while, then I’m not making any promises.’ The eldest sand sibling thought with a grin.

When they arrived at the apartment building, Gaara invited Naruto in and asked Temari to get Matsuri and Sena to join them.

“You really think I’m ready, Gaara-sama?” Matsuri asked nervously when the redhead told the girl she had registered her for the chunin exam.

Gaara nodded.

“Of course you’re ready.” Sena assured the girl. “You’ve been ready for months.”

Matsuri frowned, “But I thought the exam was only open to three person squads. Are more genins coming from Sunagakure?”

“You will be on Naruto’s squad.” Gaara gestured to the blonde boy. “The third has not been chosen yet, but the Hokage assured me she would find someone.”

“Naruto? Is that even allowed? He’s from a different village....” The younger girl stammered.

“It will be allowed and I expect you to train hard for the next two weeks. Learn to work well with Naruto.” Gaara ordered, leaving no room for argument.

“Yes, Gaara-sensei.” Matsuri bowed before she stood and looked at the single leaf ninja in the room. “When do we start, Naruto-san?”

*****************************

Dawn the next day found six figures standing in team seven’s old training area. Shinta had stayed home to guard the apartments, since they had not finished installing sufficient traps to satisfy the paranoid sand ninjas. The training they had planned would involve one team tracking and sparring with the other group in one on one battles, since the opponents were all jonin or higher. Matsuri and Naruto were to be the pursuing team, to practice working together. The rest of the Suna ninjas would serve as their opponents. Gaara, Kankuro, Temari and Sena got a ten minute head start and then the other two ninjas went after them. Matsuri was an accomplished tracker so they found a trail right away.

*************************************

“Naruto, stop!” The brown haired girl called out and the leaf ninja obediently jerk to a complete halt. It was a good thing too, because just a foot in front of him was a nearly invisible trip wire attached to a paper bomb on the branch above him. It was a training bomb so it wouldn’t have killed him, but it would have been unpleasant.

“Thanks, Matsuri.”

“No problem.”

***************************************

They had to travel slower after that, wary of more traps, but by midday they had rounded up Temari and Kankuro, both of whom had put up a good fight. Naruto overpowered the puppetmaster with his shadow clones while Matsuri occupied the newly repaired Crow. Both ninjas knew the battle might have been a lot more difficult if Kankuro’s other puppets hadn’t been out of commission. Later, Naruto’s clones served as decoys for Temari’s attacks while Matsuri waited for a chance to tangle the wind user in her johyo and render her fan useless. Thankfully they managed to trip her up before she could summon her flying weasel.

*******************************************

Sena was an expert tracker, which made finding her exceedingly difficult, but Matsuri used a sensory jutsu that allowed her to follow the jonin woman’s scent. They caught up to the dark haired jonin in a small clearing surrounded by booby traps. Naruto used his shadow clones to set off all the traps at once in the hopes of disguising their approach and throwing her off guard. It almost worked but she performed a substitution and almost took out Matsuri with a sweep kick before the girl could dodge. Naruto was just able to force Sena back with a hastily thrown kunai, giving Matsuri time to escape.

Twenty minutes and many more unsuccessful attacks later, Naruto gave in and summoned Gamakichi who had grown considerably in the last two years. The man sized toad lashed out at the jonin woman with his tongue and managed to pick her up by her feet, allowing Naruto and Matsuri to force her to surrender. All three jonins had moved on to other pursuits after being ‘defeated’. That left only Gaara and the two genins in the training area.

************************************

Naruto and Matsuri finally tracked down Gaara late in the day, after taking a break to recover from the earlier sparring with the three jonins. The redhead was waiting patiently in a field, and she had obviously been busy because she was surrounded by a pile of sand when she hadn’t brought any with her. When Naruto had asked her about her gourd that morning, she had muttered something about it being broken and needing to make another soon.

The young woman wasted no time in attacking them, she sent her sand to grab them but it wasn’t up to her old speed and they were able to dodge. Naruto made a few dozen shadow clones to further occupy her with figuring out which was the real ninja. Matsuri was fairly busy just dodging her old sensei’s attacks but she occasionally managed to throw a kunai or attempt to entangle the redhead with her johyo. As the battle dragged on, all three ninjas were visibly tiring. Gaara had not used her jutsus for any prolonged period of time since the loss of Shukaku, and the other two had already fought three battles that day.

However tired he might be, Naruto was enjoying the battle. Gaara was a cunning opponent, making up for her current weakness with calm forethought. She really forced him to strategize and try to outthink her.

By the time the sun had begun to set, Gaara was thoroughly frustrated with herself. Her sand wasn’t responding as quickly as it used to, she had to consciously direct it to shield her from projectiles and other attacks, a Kunai had grazed her arm and one of Naruto’s clones had managed to get through her defenses to land a kick on her side. ‘I know I can do better than this.’ she thought angrily. Suddenly, her slight scowl shifted into a small smirk.

“Naruto,” She called out.

The blonde boy and the younger girl stopped and looked at her curiously.

“Dodge this.” She ordered, before starting a series of hand signs.

Naruto didn’t recognize the signs but Matsuri did, “Oh shit! We need to get off the ground now!”

The blonde boy didn’t question her, he just started his own hand signs, biting his thumb and summoning Gamatatsu. “I’ll get you some snacks if you take us and jump really high.” He promised the portly young toad, who was just as big as his brother.

“Okay.” Always ready to work for food, the toad allowed Naruto to jump onto his back with Matsuri in tow.

By now they could see a wall of sand starting rise in front of Gaara.

The tsunami of sand swept towards them. Gamatatsu leapt high into the air as the wave passed just a few feet below the toad’s webbed feet. They touched down briefly on the shifting sands before the portly toad’s powerful legs launched the trio skyward again.

By the time they landed the second time the sand had settled, turning several hundred yards of meadow into smooth desert.

“Wow!” Naruto blinked around in awe as he hopped down off the toad’s back. “I didn’t know you still had this kind of power, Gaara. Way to go!”

Matsuri hopped down beside the bonde, looking around in concern. “Naruto, do you see Gaara-sama anywhere?” She asked hesitantly.

The orange clad boy’s grin slipped and rushed over to the last place he had seen the red head.

After a few frantic moments of searching, a flash of red against the beige landscape caught his eye.

“Gaara?” He called, half hoping that this was just a trick to catch them off guard. He rushed over to the crumpled figure, half covered with a heavy dusting of sand. ‘Please be alright, please be alright...’ He pleaded silently, trying to banish the image of Gaara’s still, cold corpse lying on the grass with Sakura shaking her head. ‘Not happening again.’ He insisted to his subconscious, firmly pushing the image away.

Carefully, he rolled the young woman over and brushed the sand from her face. He breathed a sigh of relief as her breath passed across his hand. He checked for signs of injury and found none other than a couple of minor cuts from their sparring match.

Matsuri hovered nervously on Gaara’s other side. Naruto forced himself to remain calm for her sake.

“Come on.” He said firmly, “Help me get her on my back and we’ll take her to Tsunade.”

The younger genin nodded and helped Naruto situate the limp redhead on his back in a piggy back position.

“I’m probably over reacting.” The blonde said, not sure whether he was trying to convince himself or the sand genin. “It’s most likely just chakra exhaustion, but I’ll feel better if the old lady has a look at her.”

Matsuri nodded and they took off for the village at top speed.

************************************************** ****

To be continued....

Author’s Note: Okay, sorry for the cliffhanger. I was going to put the whole two weeks in one chapter but it would have been fifty pages long in Word. I broke it so you wouldn’t have to wait as long for the story to start. The next bit is just waiting to be typed so it won’t be long in coming. Let me know what you think, please! I tried to keep Gaara more in character because I was told by a friend that she was talking too much in Desert Flower. *laughs* The final paper in my college class is due next week so I probably won’t get the chance to type up chapter two until after next Tuesday. I’ll get it posted as soon as possible. Thanks for reading.

Wonderful! Can't wait to read the next chapter!

Thank you for the kind review. I'll try to get the next chapter posted sometime this week.

Yay! *happy dance*