Neji, Ten Ten, Lee, and Gaara were all sitting at a table in the guard's quarters. Nobody would question what Garage was doing there, because for the moment he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of the princess. He wasn't allowed off the castle grounds until his name was cleared and he was to be accompanied by, coincidentally, Neji, Ten Ten, and/or Lee at all times.

Now however, Ten Ten did something with some string, a piece of paper, and her fork that made it so that no one was interested in the quartet sitting at the table. Gaara hoped that when this was all over she might teach him that trick. It would definitely come in handy for clandestine meetings out in the open. Meetings that Gaara, who always had the public eye on him, was fairly used to conducting.

Gaara refused to be the first person to talk. They were here because he demanded it. They would do what he wanted eventually, which was tell him what was going on. So, instead of talking, Gaara made eye contact with Neji, the ringleader. Now it was just a waiting game...

Ten Ten's eyes flashed back and forth between the two. The testosterone was so think in the air that it was practically choking her. She was really loosing her patients with this power battle they were having. She glanced over at Lee, who was staring at the two with large sparkly eyes.

'Any second now he's going to try and hug them,' she thought cynically, 'Then he's going to spout some nonsense about the "flame's of youth." Now, the question is do I want to stop that? It might be amusing.'

Ten Ten decided that the potential amusement of that scenario was not worth the time that would be wasted. There was still the dead line that Gaara set up, and if he felt like being a complete ass the "dire consequences" that Neji alluded to would come to pass.

With a sigh Ten Ten tested how deeply the power struggle was being waged. Slowly she put her hand directly between the two and waved her hand up and down, making sure to pass over their eyes two or three times. Neither man even blinked.

Ten Ten then rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath. Then, with a deceptively slow motion she snaked her right hand behind Neji's head and her left behind Gaara's. She waited a second to see if the two would notice their impending doom.

They didn't. So with lightning speed she brought her hands together, and incidentally crashed Gaara's forehead into Neji's nose. The surprised undignified squawks they made were enough to more than make up for the missed amusement she would have gotten from Lee's actions.

Lee handed a handkerchief to Nevi that he kept with him at all times for just such an occasion. Neji accepted it with a nod and turned his glare to Ten Ten.

"If you guys are done flirting..." Ten Ten drawled, pretty used to Neji's glares.

"Is she always this impertinent?" Gaara asked Neji and Lee, completely ignoring her.

"The Spring time of youth is strong within her," Lee confirmed solemnly. Neji just nodded curtly.

"She is," Ten Ten answered with a grin. "And if you continue to talk about her as if she weren't here, she'll show you some of the strange and terrifying things she can do with just a rubber band and some finger paint."

Gaara just raised an eyebrow and proceeded to spend the rest of the conversation on topic. Neji told him everything that they had decided to tell him. Which was that the princess was alive the last time any of them had seen her and that she probably wasn't going to be showing up any time soon.

"Why not?" Gaara asked quietly. His tone sent a shiver down her spine.

"Unfortunately that information is to be given out on a need to know basis," Neji answered gravely.

"I need to know," Gaara growled.

"No, you just want to know," Neji answered.

The conversation ended when Gaara got up and walked away from the table with Ten Ten following. He wasn't happy with the information he was given, but there really wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment. He knew he didn't get all of the information, but he also knew that he wasn't lied to.

Hinata had a difficult time going to sleep that night. She hadn't noticed it earlier when she had taken her nap, but the sleeping room was shared by everybody. This would be the first time ever that she shared a room with people. It was rather exciting!

She had over heard some of the servants talking about something they called a "sleep over" once. Where everybody stayed up late and told ghost stories. Hinata was very much looking forward to it. But that didn't happen. At first it seemed like it would, because there was talking and laughter, but suddenly as though a switch had been flipped, everyone was laying down and closing their eyes. Before she knew it the lights were off and the quiet had been replaced by snores of varying volumes.

Once the excitement wore off, everything else seemed to keep her awake. She lay on the mattress that was firmer than she was used to with her eyes closed in a vain attempt to trick her mind into thinking it was already asleep.

Everything was new. Her environment, the people around her, her status. Even the food she was ate was new. All the good thoughts swirled around her mind making her smile only to be chased away by the bad thoughts. But the good thoughts weren't giving up with out a fight!

'They're so nice... for now. I've never had to do a job before... but you're finally going to be useful, which is what you've always wanted. Or you'll do horribly and they'll kick you out... but they're all so nice that I don't think they'd do something like that...' On and and her thoughts chased one another, until finally she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew there was a strange, persistent ringing sound that didn't go away.

Something was thrown, it sounded soft and soon grumbling joined the ringing. Finally there was a pointed clearing of the throat from above her. Hinata took this to mean that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep so she crawled out from under her covers and peeked out of the curtain.

She found that the source of the ringing was a small clock by the door. No one seemed to be getting up to turn it off however. Were they still sleeping? That can't be right. They were talking to each other. If Hinata concentrated she could understand exactly what they were saying.

"Dickless' missed."

"Don't call me Dickless, Asshat."

"Will someone just get off their lazy ass and take care of it?"

"You're one to talk about lazy asses," there was a chuckle from everyone at this last comment.

Hinata was confused by their exchange, but it was too early to make a fuss. Instead she just got up, walked across the room and stared at the ringing clock. She had never seen anything like it before. There seemed to be two bell on top of it and a little hammer thing hitting them one after the other. She stared at it for several seconds before deciding that the easiest way to deal with the noise was to leave.

Besides, didn't she have breakfast to make? After all, this was the first day of work she'd ever had. What should she make for everyone?

Maybe pancakes... but there was no syrup... well, she could make some. All she needed was brown sugar and some water... So pancakes it was.

She hummed happily as she made her way to the bathroom. She needed to take care of some things before she would allow herself into the kitchen. Chef was always particular about hygiene and presentation. If she were to slack off now, even though he wasn't here, she would be letting him and everyone else who allowed her into the kitchen at the castle down.

Quickly she took care of her morning grooming and changed out of her pajamas into one of her new outfits. When she left the bathroom, she noticed that there was a line forming. Everyone looked rumpled and sleepy. They were still in their pajamas except for Sai, who might have been naked. He was standing between Chouji and Naruto, so she couldn't see very clearly. Not that she wanted to see him naked. It was just that she wanted to know if he was naked so that she wouldn't wonder about it later...

"G-good morning," she said, suddenly remembering that she had manners. It was very impolite to stare at people. They were probably disappointed in her for being so rude.

"Good morning Princess," Sai answered smiling. Hinata froze. 'They Knew!!!' "That's your new nickname. I give everybody nicknames, because that's a good way to make friends."

"O-oh," Hinata stuttered. Her heart was beating too loudly to completely understand all of his words, but it sounded like it meant that he didn't know that she really was a princess. But, everyone was staring at her now. She had to leave before something else happened.

"I-I b-better go st-start br-breakfast," she excused herself.

There was an awkward silence that followed when Hinata left. All eyes turned to the grinning boy, who was still looking entirely too pleased with himself, despite the heat of the glares from his friends.

"Nice going Asshat!" Naruto snarled. He tried to slap Sai in the back of the head, but Sai dodged. Naruto ended up smacking Chouji's shoulder instead. Chouji just snorted, being an easy going guy.

"I called her Princess because that's what she is," Sai stated. Everyone but Naruto froze up. Naruto wasn't supposed to know that yet. "She's kind and gracious enough to agree to live with you cavemen and clean up after you. Don't you think her nickname should reflect that? What better nickname than Princess, which is the highest social position a young woman can achieve."

"Princess isn't the highest social position a woman can achieve," Kiba argued, completely missing the main focus of the discussion. "Queen is."

"So you want her nickname to be the same word used to describe gay men?" Shino asked quietly, further derailing the conversation.

"I never said that," Kiba argued, "I was just pointing out that Princess isn't the highest social position for a young woman. Besides I don't think you can "achieve" being a princess. It's something that you're born into. Not something that you earn."

"Hmm," Chouji said, "I wonder then, what is the highest social position a young woman can earn."

"President," Shikamaru answered before disappearing into the bathroom. No one else seemed to be in a rush to get to breakfast now.

"But, guys can become presidents too," Naruto argued.

"No one said a guy couldn't also earn that position," Chouji pointed out reasonably.

"This is stupid," Sasuke grumbled, shutting everybody up. It was best not to piss Sasuke off before breakfast. He had low blood sugar or something and tended to be particularly vicious when he had an empty stomach.

In the silence that followed they realized that Shikamaru, who took forever in the bathroom, was the first person to enter. At that moment they smelled the breakfast that Hinata was preparing. They began banging on the door to get Shikamaru to hurry up.

In the kitchen Hinata was beginning to calm down. 'It's only a nickname. He doesn't know that you're a real princess. They aren't going to send you back to the palace,' she assured herself as she took out the ingredients to make pancakes.

She soothed herself by worrying about the serving sizes for the boys. She herself was usually full after two pancakes and some bacon, but she had the feeling that the boys would want more. Plus, they didn't have bacon yet. Chouji said that that was to arrive later this afternoon.

If she made too little they would be hungry and probably fire her for incompetence... but if she made too much they could fire her for wasting food... Of course if she made too much she could always use the extra batter later.

With that in mind she got to work. It was a little nerve wracking actually. She had never had to cook for other people. Usually any food she made was for herself. Would they like it? Would she be so nervous that she made a mistake?

A deep cleansing breath and a bowl full of freshly mixed batter later, Hinata finally poured the first dollop onto the waiting pan. True to tradition, the first pancake was lumpy, so Hinata decided that that would be hers. But after that, it was smooth going.

By the time the first hungry breakfast eater arrived, freshly scrubbed and yawning, Hinata had made enough pancakes so that everybody could have one. She was starting on the second batch when Shikamaru, the first to arrive, asked her for something she hadn't thought of.

"Any coffee?"

For a moment Hinata's world crumbled. Any peace of mind she received from making her first batch of pancakes was shattered into a million pieces with those two words. She didn't know what to do.

"C-coffee?" she asked, hoping that she would remember how to stop panicking at any moment.

"Yeah," Shikamaru answered, sitting down and resting his arms on his head.

"N-not yet," Hinata answered, going over to the cupboard where she had put the coffee the night before. It was where it was supposed to be, and so was the coffee maker and the coffee filters. Now she just had to remember how those three things went together.

"What's burning?" a new voice asked.

In her rush to save the poor pancake, Hinata dropped the bag of coffee and went running to the stove. What was burning was the first in her second batch of pancakes. It was black on one side and completely raw on the other. She turned off the stove, cleared the frying pan of any left over burnt pancakes, re-greased it and poured the next pancake onto the surface.

But nothing was happening. There was no comforting sound of sizzling. The pancake didn't become firm then fluffy. It just stayed as wet goop sitting in the middle of the frying pan.

A quiet voice from directly behind her said, "The stove isn't on." Hinata jumped and turned around. Shino was standing behind her, gathering coffee mugs from the cupboard. He then moved to the coffee maker.

"O-oh," Hinata blushed and stuttered, turning back to the ice cold stove. She fumbled with the stove for a bit but finally got it going again. Someone else had taken the plates with the one pancake each and distributed them along with the butter and syrup. Everyone had finished their first pancake when the second batch of pancakes and magic coffee were ready.

Hinata wasn't sure where the coffee came from, but she would worry about that later, because she was busy making a third batch of pancakes and possibly a fourth. Finally, after what seemed like ages, everyone was full of pancakes and coffee.

"Thanks Princess," Sai smiled putting his plate and empty cup in the sink.

Behind him was Kiba, "It was great Princess," he offered, moving closer to Hinata suddenly. Hinata backed away, unsure of what he was doing. Kiba just smiled and put his dirty dishes in the sink. One by one everyone filled the sink with dirty dishes and Hinata's self esteem with praise.

It wasn't enough to completely erase the the debacle that was breakfast from her memory, but it was enough to make her more determined to get it right. It also made her relax. They weren't going to throw her out anytime soon, even if she did make mistakes.

After shopping and eating ramen for the first time in her life, but before it became dark, Hinata took inventory of the pantry, which was pretty bare before they put all their purchases in, and the garden. Now she had a pretty good idea of what she had to work with. She was thinking that because today would mostly be spent cleaning, she would do sandwiches for lunch. Now all she needed to know was what time lunch would be.

Everyone was gathered in the living room, which looked like a war zone still. The damage from Chouji and Sai's argument the other day was still there as well as all the messes that the guys had made up to and past that point for the last month or so. That was the last time Chouji said they attempted to tidy up.

"U-um, wh-when d-do y-you all us-sually have l-lunch?" she asked quietly, hoping that she wasn't intruding on anything important.

"We don't usually eat lunch here. Yesterday was a lucky fluke," Sai answered, with his smile firmly in place.

"O-oh," Hinata answered. "D-do y-you n-need me to m-make l-lunches?"

"Not today," Shikamaru answered. "We'll take care of it today. But from tomorrow on we will."

"O-okay," she answered uncertainly. She was going to be alone. "T-then w-what time sh-should I h-have d-dinner r-ready?"

"Chouji can answer that. It's his turn to stay in," Sasuke answered testily. "Can we leave already?"

Hinata blinked at the tone. He seemed rather grumpy. Last night they had warned her that he was surly before breakfast, but he had just eaten... Did that mean that it was bad? Even though he had several servings and asked for seconds many times.

"Keep your pants on Grumpy," Kiba answered, slinging an arm over Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke glared at the other man before shrugging of the arm and leaving the room. Hinata suspected that he might have been in a huff, but she wasn't sure.

"Dude," Naruto grumbled. "Thanks a lot. Now I get to spend the rest of the day with that."

"You're welcome," Kiba answered with a huge grin. "Glad I could help."

One by one everyone except Chouji left. They each said goodbye very politely and ordered her to have a good day.

There was an awkward silence once every was gone. Chouji didn't seem to know what to do and neither did Hinata. They stood there, looking at one another unsure of what needed to be done.

Eventually Chouji cleared his throat, "I have some paper work that I need to do. If you have any questions I'll be in the study." He walked over to a door that Hinata hadn't noticed before. It lead to a tiny room, that unlike any of the other rooms in the house was actually clean. Needless to say Hinata was confused by this. She didn't say anything because it wasn't really any of her business.

Hinata stood alone in the messy room staring at the closed door. Slowly her eyes slid away from the door and to the rest of her surroundings. There was dust everywhere, boxes, clothes, toys, books, and other things in piles all around the room. The couch and chairs had been lost long ago under a pile of coats, pillows and blankets, and every available flat surface was covered in paper, more books, dirty dishes, and nicknacks of all shapes and sizes.

She thought of the day to come and the battle she would fight against the clutter. Maybe she should start with the dishes in the kitchen, then tackle the living room. While that was happening she could start some laundry. Then it would be time for lunch...

She took a deep breath and nodded to herself. Time to earn a living.