Time Travel Lovers **BEING REWRITTEN/EDITED WITH MAJOR CHANGES**

Chapter 41: Forward

"The Hyuga and Nara inter-clan meeting on this day, September 10th, shall now commence."

Hiashi Hyuga and Shikaku Nara bowed to each other before sitting down across the table. To their respective rights sat their heirs. With Neji to Hiashi's immediate right and Hanabi next to him and Hanabi's attendant next to her. At only three, Hanabi could in no way contribute to the meeting but she was there for proprieties sake. It was well known that Neji was acting heir currently, but Neji insisted that Hanabi still be treated like the true heiress. 

Shikamaru sat next to his father, very bored and not wanting to be here but he was also interested in seeing Neji Hyuga and what he brought to the table. This was Shikamaru's first time seeing Neji in a meeting, he had only seen him on the streets before and had never met him. So far, Neji was sitting respectably and properly, something Shikamaru groaned at internally, but he himself sat up a  little straighter himself. 

Shikamaru watched as Neji listened to the meeting intently. Every few minutes Neji would shift slightly towards Hanabi when she squirmed with her restless energy that was barely contained. He only broke focus from the meeting a few times to actually interact with Hanabi for a few seconds. After each interaction Hanabi would be still for a few minutes before she started to squirm again. They were halfway into the meeting, a boring meeting that was a formality between the grownups, some sort of agreement discussion about the tie the families had created after Hinata and Naruto's disappearance.

Shikamaru had met Naruto a few times when playing in the park but he never interacted with him a lot. When Shikamaru was about five Naruto stopped coming to the park everyday. He still came by every now and then but he was always with Hinata when he did. Shikamru had only seen Naruto at the park three times without Hinata since he started to hang out with her. Then they had disappeared almost two years ago. Shikamaru remembered the buzz that went around the village. Shikamaru had been witness to 7 year-old Neji's out-lash against the gossiping grownups.

So now the two boys sat. Both doing their best to pay attention to the boring meeting. But both were failing and having their attention diverted. Neji's being diverted by Hanabi and Shikamaru by watching the two Hyuga heirs. Shikamaru snapped his attention back to the meeting briefly and was glad he did. He paid attention enough to know how to answer the question directed at him by one of the elders sitting to Hiashi's left.

"I don't know how well clan relations for the younger generations are. Anyone other than Choji is a drag to hang out with."

"And you Neji? What would you say of the clan relations for younger generations?"

Neji didn't even register that he had been asked a question. Hanabi had started to seriously squirm and wiggle, Neji had fully turned to Hanabi to try and placate her and help Hanabi's attendant. Silence filled the meeting room for a few seconds before someone cleared their throat and Neji's head popped up. He turned and at noticing the attention was on him he immediately lost his composure. Nothing big but Shikamaru could read the panic in Neji's body language. He had no idea what was going on.

More silence. The air was growing tense and Shikamaru had had enough of it. 

"Hey Neji, what do you think of clan relations in the kids our age? I'm only friends with Choji though, and you're always watching Hanabi."

The relief was evident and Neji regained his composure. He looked at Shikamaru, the thanks lightly concealed in his eyes. "I don't know many other kids outside the Hyuga clan. I'm always with Hanabi-chan or with Hiashi-sama."

Shikamaru nodded and let a bit of mischievousness play into his next words. "That's gotta be a drag. I don't have any siblings but it doesn't look all that fun."

Neji cautiously replied. "It's not always fun but Hanabi-chan is very important so helping her is also very important."

Shikamaru just nodded again before side eyeing his father who had been watching their interaction like a hawk. 

"You should come over to the Nara compound some time and hang out with me and Choji."

Neji glanced at Hiashi quickly before he nodded. "I'll have to do that sometime."

The tension had fully released and the grownups took back the conversation. Both clan leader's appraised their heir's thoughtfully though. The budding friendship between the two of them would prove an interesting course in the future.

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Hinata snuggled into Naruto's side. The wind howling and blowing sand outside the cave's entrance. They were currently trapped in a  sandstorm half way to the Hidden Sand Village. The storm had caught them almost a day ago now and they were anxious to get moving. Now that they had a course of action every day was important. Naruto didn't want to leave Gaara alone any longer. He already felt guilty for leaving Gaara alone as long as he had. If they had headed to help Gaara sooner than they would have been able to save his friend so much sadness and grief.

Hinata looked up to Naruto, worry and anxiety etched lightly into his face. She sighed softly and poked Naruto's arm to gain his attention. He looked down to her and smiled softly, planting a soft kiss on top of her head. 

"What?"

Hinata let a small smile fall onto her lips. "I know you're worried but we are going to make a difference. We are not going back to change time again so it is as it is. We are going to save Gaara and give him a life worth living."

Naruto chuckled softly. "No more time travel, agreed. And I know. I just wish I would have thought about Gaara sooner. I was so caught up and worried about you and everything else that I forgot how awful Gaara's childhood was. But now I can't stop thinking about it."

Hinata stayed quiet or a few seconds then spoke. "What was Gaara's childhood like? He never talked about the bad parts when he visited, only his happier memories like Yashimaru and making sand sculptures with Temari and Kankuro. He almost never mentioned his father."

Naruto pulled her a little closer to his side. "Gaara didn't have a happy childhood after the incident with Yashimaru. Shukaku made Gaara's life miserable. Add in Rasa trying to kill Gaara and he had become so angry and cold at the world. By the time I first met him at the Chunin exams he was indifferent to the world and craved blood. He was sleep deprived and driven half insane with blood lust. He believed that Shukaku was the voice of his mother and listened to all of Shukaku's suggestions to kill anything that got in their way."

Hinata held in her gasps. She had met and talked with Gaara many times. He was still reserved but he was also very nice to talk with and a leader worthy of respect. Naruto admired and respected him deeply, aiming to follow his friends lead to becoming a Kage. 

"He's only 7 right now isn't he?"

"Yeah. His birthday is in January I think."

Hinata hummed slightly. "We'll have to celebrate his birthday when it comes around."

Naruto laughed. "Believe it. We'll do everything we can to help him."

Hinata leaned her head into Naruto's chest and nodded. "We will."

Welcome back everyone! How'd you like the return? So in preparation for the next chapters and any further interaction with Gaara, this is a notice about how Gaara's thoughts and speech will be ordered. Any time the perspective is in Gaara's head the thoughts are very singular and individual with very little introspection. I am writing him like because I see it as, with Shukaku's influence on Gaara's young mind, any development he had under Yashamaru's care was severely stunted and regressed. He'll get better but for a while his thought process is gonna be very choppy and almost scattered. 

I hope you all have a great day and I'll see you next Friday for the next chapter! Leave me a comment about your predictions or things you liked about the story so far!