When Gaara and I pass the Academy on our way home, classes have already ended for the day. That doesn't stop Matsuri from running out from the Academy's training grounds and hugging Gaara halfway to death before releasing my startled son. "Your back!"

One of the instructors follows close behind her with another student in tow, a girl who is about Gaara's age with long dark brown hair. His eyes widen as he sees Gaara's new chunin vest. "I see you passed the Chunin Exams." He offers him a hesitant smile. "Congratulations."

The girl behind him laughs. "Of course he did. What did you expect?" She moves to stand beside Matsuri and nudges her in the arm. "If he's even close to as strong as she says he is, it's a wonder he's not a jonin yet."

I can't resist bragging about Gaara's promotion a little. These days, shinobi seldom become jonin until they are at least in their twenties. "Actually, he is a jonin now. The Daimyo thought he was skilled enough to completely skip the chunin rank."

The man whistles. "Damn. I can't remember the last time someone got to skip a rank."

Matsuri frowns as the full implications of Gaara's promotion sink in. "Does this mean you won't be teaching here anymore?"

"I won't be able to participate in the mentorship program anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm not willing to continue teaching you outside of the Academy. That is, assuming you still want me to help teach you." How Gaara could have any doubts about that is anyone's guess. Matsuri looks like she would never leave his side if she could.

"Of course I want to keep learning from you!"

The other girl pipes in. "Can you teach me too? I need all the help I can get before the graduation exam next month." Ah, so it's that time of year. It's always nerve-wracking to see how well the children will apply what they have learned on the two day survival test in the desert, but the area the test takes place in is one of the easiest to handle for most shinobi and the children will be watched from a distance by their instructors just in case something unexpected happens. There's always at least some festivities afterwards too so the village can celebrate the children's accomplishments. They'll have earned it after dealing with the desert's harsh conditions and various surprise tests set up in advance by the instructors.

"Of course," Gaara says, fidgeting slightly. All of this positive attention must be pretty weird for him. It's about time at least some of the villagers started appreciating him. "I'll probably be sent on a lot more missions now that I'll be part of the regular forces, but I promise I'll practice with both of you whenever I can."

"Thanks for rejecting my lessons so quickly." The instructor maintains a hurt expression before cracking up as the girls hurry to apologize. He composes himself, although his lips still twitch with suppressed laughter. "No worries. He'll probably do a better job preparing you for the test than I ever could. He was born to handle the dunes like a fish is born to swim."

He's not exaggerating much. Gaara wasn't even the least bit tired after he took his graduation test. Granted, Shukaku was more than enough of a problem back then to make sure the process wasn't a complete cakewalk.

The three resume their training soon enough in order to take advantage of the wonderfully cool air for a while before they call it a day. As happy as Gaara was to see his student, he seems much more relaxed once we arrive home. He has a long way to go before he'll be ready to handle the enormous amount of attention the kazekage receives, assuming he does manage to reach his goal.

With Temari already resting from the trip in her room, now is as good a time as any to talk to Gaara about all the attention it looks like he's going to be getting from girls soon. Matsuri already looks like she has a crush on him or at the very least a very strong attachment. I sit him down on the couch so we can have some time to ourselves. I should say nearly to ourselves. Atami is dozing across the room. His ear twitches when we come in, but he doesn't wake up.

"Gaara, there's something I'd better talk to you about to take sure it doesn't become a problem in the future."

"If this is about Kira, I already promised I'd stay away from her until things calm down."

Come to think of it, Kira does tend to act really weird around Gaara. Nothing about that girl is normal anyway, but I'd better make sure she doesn't become an exponentially worse issue any time soon. "Just a second." I run over to where I was keeping Takeo's old love letters, grab them, and return to my seat. I show them to Gaara. "These are letters Takeo sent me when we were younger." And when he was alive. Just thinking about his absence makes me feel as lost and alone as I have ever been.

"He wrote all of these?" Gaara delicately takes one of the letters, taking care not to disturb any of the gold dust on it. He skims through it. "That's really sweet, but what are you trying to tell me?"

I take a deep breath. I haven't actually needed to have this kind of discussion with anyone before. It's tough to know where to start with such an awkward topic. Hopefully this doesn't get too embarrassing for both of us. "Now that you're older, it's about time we had a little chat about what you should do when a girl is interested in you."

He hands me back the letter. If he had any eyebrows, I get the sense they'd be raised right now. "I already heard that talk in the Academy a while before I graduated. I'm really not interested in that sort of thing at all."

That was fast. We're only two minutes into this discussion, and we're already entering embarrassing territory. "That's not what I meant." I try a different approach. "Have you noticed anyone taking a special liking to you yet. You know, blushing a lot, putting a lot of effort into spending time with you, smiling every time you talk to them, that sort of thing."

Gaara puts a hand to his chin. "Now that you mention it, a few girls have been acting strangely around me for quite a while now. I didn't realize so many of the older students at the Academy might feel that way about me." He looks pretty disturbed. "Shukaku apparently thinks that's the funniest thing in the world. He doesn't usually laugh this much."

"They probably just have crushes on you. That should pass eventually. Just make sure you let them down gently if you aren't interested. They'll recover soon enough." It had better pass. Otherwise, I might have to make that phase pass for them if they start harassing my son. "Just remember to take it slowly if you do return their feelings. It takes a lot of time and effort to make sure you've made the right choice, and even then you'll still experience some hiccups in your relationship at some point."

"I'll remember that. I don't really have time to date people right now. Assuming I did, I'm not really interested in anyone in that way." He turns bright red and purses his lips. "Regardless of what a certain sand spirit thinks," he hisses under his breath.

Not Gaara too. It sounds like both of my kids are trying to hide their feelings from me. "Are you sure? You know you can tell me if you do feel that way." So I can make sure this girl is up to my standards. "That's perfectly normal for someone your age."

"I'm sure. We're just friends, Mom. That's it. Just friends. Nothing more than that." He scowls. "And that goes for both of you."

I'd give just about anything to hear what Shukaku is saying right now, I'll just have to wait for Gaara to open up on his own assuming he really is falling in love. "Alright. I'll take your word for it, but please let me know if your feelings change, okay?"

He rolls his eyes. "Sure. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go meditate for a few hours." He grits his teeth. "Shukaku is really on a roll tonight."

As soon as Gaara leaves, Atami opens his eyes and jumps next to me. He twitches his whiskers. "I think he's lying." He licks a paw and begins rubbing his ears. "It's not like him to get that irritated by Shukaku these days. Something's up."

"I hope your wrong." I reach over and rub his back. He leans into it, purring. "How are the kittens doing? It's been a while."

He stretches out. "At this rate, it's starting to feel wrong to call them kittens. They're growing up so fast it feels like Neko and I have nothing left to teach them." He gives me a wink. "I'd be more than happy to give whoever Gaara is infatuated with a few scratches for you to make sure she knows who she's dealing with, if Gaara does actually feel that way about someone. It isn't easy to keep kittens out of trouble even when they're just about grown up, you know."

"Thanks for the offer. I could use the reinforcements."