When Onyx Met Lavender

XI | "Square One"

It turns out Gaara had a small town not too far from the resort almost completely... rented out?

"Geez, how much power does this guy have? Sure wouldn't wanna try messing with him again..." the rowdy brunet babbled on with his blond friend as they slung their arms around each other's shoulders, pointing out every little thing they could see or think of.

Another certain blond duo trailed Neji, Hinata and Gaara chatting amongst themselves. The two ladies adored Hinata... and their intuition about her every situation was pretty much 99.9% on the spot.

Even from where they were standing, it was evident on Neji's face he was not too fond of the familiarity of the kazekage with his dear cousin. Gaara was in shoulder-to-shoulder laughter with the maiden, and he really didn't know how his heart could take it.

(A/N: Ultra Dramatic Neji, amirite?)

The cold winds were blowing in this place, luckily they all seemed to be prepared for it.

Although just to be sure... Gaara thought, he casually wrapped a nice lavender scarf around Hinata to keep her warm.

The doe-eyed maiden seemed to be pleased, seemingly nonchalant about what just took place.

On the other hand, everyone else who witnessed the little exchange was baffled. And especially, dear Sasuke Uchiha.

His jaw dropped at the familiar interaction between the duo; crestfallen.

Shikamaru, standing to his right, and Sai, who stood to his left, endlessly gazed at the ravenette, afraid at how upset he would be.

But all he did was heave a sigh of exasperation. He felt he was back to "square one", especially now that he knows he's competing against none other than the kazekage. How pleasant.

As they slowly closed in on their first stop, Gaara halted, trying to calm himself from a bit of giggling with the cause presumably something between him and the female Hyūga.

"First, you all need to warm up."

They looked up at the quaint Japanese restaurant that stood before them, exchanging glances and little smiles as their stomachs grumbled in unison.

-----

The old couple that owned the restaurant happily watched as the group of millenials dug into their wide selection of food. Hinata stood in the center, surrounded by wild creatures raving for food.

"Oh dear, what a handful..." Gaara playfully whispered as he leaned over her to protect her from all the pushing.

Sasuke's new trio, (created all due to his cowardly ways) stood down the line watching Gaara and Hinata act so close. Shikamaru and Sai held unusually irritated expressions, making faces behind the Uchiha.

They could all imagine how Hiashi would ever feel if Hinata had somehow ended up with Gaara. Well, years ago he would have surely flipped and pulled strings to keep the redhead away from her.

But who would deny the kazekage of love now right?

Nudging Sasuke out of his misery, Sai shoved as much food as he could onto Sasuke's plate, Shikamaru ushering him to a table shortly after.

They chose one that sat fairly close to the Hyūga's and, well... Gaara.

"Why do you think they're suddenly so close? They barely even knew each other even before and after the war right?"

Shikamaru nodded at Sai's question, his eyes darting to Hinata who seemed to be so concentrated on whatever Gaara was explaining.

Sasuke watched beside him too thinking how unfair it is that he simply gets to strut beside her like that, and in Neji's presence nonetheless.

How long has Gaara even actually known her? How long has he liked her? Why was she slowly drifting away from him again?

He looked down at his food, hoping he'd surely get all the answers to those questions if he gave it a bit of time.

"So what do you have in mind, Mr. Suave?"

He glanced back at Hinata, her back turned to them. Heck if he knew, how exactly could he possibly win her from someone like Gaara?

"Wait a sec."

Shikamaru halted, spreading his arms and even gently pushing down on Sasuke's shoulder as he came to realization.

"Are you being pessimistic right now? You totally are, right?"

He nodded, carefree. What was so wrong with that? Not even he could help but feel down occassionally.

"Wow. I have really got to get Hinata's autograph one of these days. You, Sasuke Uchiha, turned into a "lover not a fighter" kind of fellow?"

Shikamaru and Sai broke into laughter soon after the brunette's baffling dicovery.

His face immediately flushed red in embarassment as that very fact slowly sunk in for Sasuke.

Agh, why was this happening?

First, she's got him flustered and asking people for advice.

Second, she's got him asking people for favors.

And lastly here she's got him acting like a downer?

Dear goodness, Sasuke now definitely, undoubtedly was very much in love.

He looked up once again to catch a glimpse of her only to find her staring at him with similarly flushed cheeks and worried expression.

He playfully slapped Sai and Shikamaru to calm them, getting up from his seat to go and clean up.

He mouthed a thank you at the old couple before walking off back to street to cool his head.

He had a lot to think through. He still wasn't sure how he felt about being back to square one but he knew he needed to think about his next move.