A/N: I know I've been away for a while and there are several factors for why. One, my mother has been in and out of the hospital since the beginning of the year, which has been exhausting for the whole family. On top of that the last few chapters have not been overly well received, at least from the PMs I have gotten and a percentage of the reviews I have been getting, so that has killed my motivation for writing.

Hinata and Matsuri stand a few meters apart; one clutching a bundle of clothes while wearing a bedsheet as a makeshift dress, and the other wearing the now very wrinkled and haphazardly redressed clothing she wore to the party last night. Both young women blush and shrug guiltily to the other before Hinata opens her door and gestures that Matsuri should follow her inside. Once inside Hinata dumps her bundle of cloths on the bed and reaches into her backpack for the t-shirt Naruto gave her a few days ago.

Matsuri closes the door and stares away politely for a moment while Hinata lets the sheet fall to the floor and puts on a t-shirt with the Uzumaki symbol on the back. "Well Hinata, I guess we both got caught leaving the scene. I'm glad it was you and not Temari-sama that was standing in the hall." Matsuri lets out a long sigh of relief and leans up against wall. "She would enjoy teasing me ever chance she got until I begged for mercy, and even then it probably wouldn't quit unless Gaara-kun found out and ordered her to stop." Matsuri is a little surprised when Hinata pulls out a scroll from her backpack and summons a neatly folded set of clothing. Matsuri is a little confused as Hinata smiles and hands her the clothes she just summoned. "What's this, Hinata?"

Hinata covers her mouth with one hand and giggles while pointing with the other hand at Matsuri's wrinkled outfit. "If anyone sees you walking back home wearing the same, now wrinkled clothing you wore last night, they will start to gossip." She snaps her finger and taps the side of her head a couple times. "Wait, wasn't Matsuri wearing that same outfit at the party last night? You know what, wasn't she coming from the direction of the Kazekage's house wearing those wrinkled clothes?" Hinata covers her mouth with one hand in shock dramatically.

Matsuri cannot believe that she hadn't thought of something so obvious. She was so busy leaving Gaara's room after he mentioned needing to take a shower before breakfast that she wasn't thinking of anything other than wishing she could join him and offering to wash his back. "Oh thank you Hinata. I guess I owe you more than one favor now."

Hinata knows that Naruto really has begun to change her because she can't stop herself from asking the obvious and very un-Hinata-like question. "So, I am guessing things went REALLY well after the party last night?" Hinata can't help but smile at how much Matsuri has changed in just one evening. The nervous girl standing in this room yesterday talking about her crush, now looks like a confidant woman completely in love.

Matsuri nearly melts as she sits down in a nearby chair clutching the clothing to her breast. She doesn't know where to start about last night. Maybe it should be her first dance with the Kazekage, or their walk in the botanical gardens holding hands after the party, or their first kiss while in the botanical gardens. How about when their long walk ended up outside his home and he invited her to come inside, both knowing exactly where things would end up if she said yes. "The whole night was magical right from the very moment I found out that Gaara has feelings for me too, all the way to when we…" Matsuri eyes flutter and she lets out a trembling breath as she remembers how gentle he was as they held each other last night. He acted as if she was made of fine porcelain and was so nervous that he would break her if he didn't maintain control of himself and take things slow. 'I guess persuading him to cut lose and let me see his passionate side is something that I will get to enjoy as we grow closer.'

"So, the two of you wasted no time, huh?" Hinata cannot believe that she said something so uncouth to Matsuri. She should not be making fun of someone whose own situation has mirrored her own, but she can't help but feel a little jealous as well since she and Naruto might have become lovers last night if she hadn't passed out. 'That was something Hanabi would have said to me to make me feel uncomfortable and probably will say once I am home just to see if she can trick any information out of me about how things went.'

Matsuri is used to being teased by Temari so her shock is only from hearing it come from Hinata and not the teasing in itself. Seeing that Hinata is immediately appalled by the salaciousness of her own words Matsuri turns the kunai right back on her attacker. "Well I am sure that we didn't make nearly as much noise as you and Naruto did last night. I just hope they didn't put anybody in the bedroom directly underneath Naruto's, or they probably heard a better show than we did last night from down the hall." She crosses her arms triumphantly as Hinata's mouth repeatedly opens and closes soundlessly. "I'm not sure who was louder, you last night or Naruto's moaning this morning. That is what woke us up by the way, not the lady knocking on Gaara-kun's door."

Hinata covers her mouth with her pillow and wonders if she should just suffocate herself now rather than look Gaara in the eyes during breakfast. While Hinata is distracted, Matsuri takes advantage of the situation and changes into the clothes she was just loaned. Oh how Hinata just wants to crawl under the bed right now and hide till Matsuri changes and leaves. She will need to warn Naruto before they go downstairs, just in case somebody else did hear them last night. 'I know that Shikamaru and Choji are on the second floor, but I have no idea where on that floor, or if Shikamaru spent the night here or at Temari's place.' She looks up as she feels a hand pat her head reassuringly.

"I'm sorry, I should not have teased you about what we heard. You said yesterday while we were getting ready for the party that you had to overcome your own insecurities before you could even talk freely with Naruto. Plus I am pretty sure how much courage it took to even get undressed with him watching, let alone what happened afterwards." Matsuri sits down beside Hinata and folds her clothing neatly so that it would more like a package she is delivering for the Kazekage than a bundle of clothing from last night. "It is funny, even though some people would say that I am a woman now; I really don't feel any different physically just because I gave up my virginity to Gaara. I guess I do feel closer emotionally with Gaara-kun though. Is it the same for you after last night?" She thinks about how once things got started last night that her brain kind of shut off and her body took over. Now her stomach feels all weird as she thinks about last night wondering if she really did experience all of that or was it some sort of wonderful dream.

Hinata looks down at her now fidgeting fingers for a moment before she goes on to explain that the noise they were making last night was not from intercourse, and that she is still a virgin. Last night was their first time, mostly unclothed, together in a bed. The sounds she was making was from Naruto touching… her intimately… down there and things got…

"Wait, he made you scream like that just from fingering you off?" Matsuri looks away and decides not to make a remark about whether Naruto is just that good, or if Hinata was just that pent up from years of unrequited love and physical frustration. "So, are you saying that when Naruto screamed this morning… you…" She giggles and taps her lips with one finger while giving Hinata a look of admiration.

Hinata stares at the young woman with a clueless expression for a moment before she realizes what Matsuri is asking. Her head shakes back and forth so violently that she begins to feel dizzy. All she can do is nod slightly when Matsuri makes an up and down motion with a closed fist. "Yes, I… touched him down there like he did to me last night. I had no idea that we had made so much noise, or that the walls are so thin." A dozen little chibi-Hinata's are fainting from shame or digging little holes to crawl into as she thinks about how their private moment last night was not so private after all.

Matsuri trying not to laugh leans over and whispers into Hinata's ear. "They are not; the walls are made of stone." After quite a bit more giggling and story swapping about their perspective nights the two young women part feeling that their friendship has grown even closer, almost sister-like. Hinata gives Matsuri an empty scroll case telling her that it will make it look like she is delivering a message from the Kazekage to anyone seeing her walking out of his home so early in the morning. Matsuri promises as she leaves that she will one day find a way to reciprocate all of the kindness that Hinata has shown her in the last 24 hours.

A little while later Naruto is standing out in the hall patiently waiting on Hinata. He was sure that he had heard Hinata and another girl giggling out in the hall when he stepped back into his room after his quick shower. Curious about what she was laughing about he had quickly gotten dressed only to find that Hinata was not there and she must have gone back into her room. So being unsure whether it would be proper to knock on her door while she is getting ready Naruto, even though he would be happy to give her a hand, he instead stands outside his door thinking about everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours.

He had spent days trying to find the right moment to talk with Hinata so that it would be perfect. Just when he had gotten good advice from Gaara to stop overthinking the whole thing and just tell her everything as soon as he could, the perfect place and time was there for them to talk. They were both able to open up and talk while the night sky seemed to be celebrating their moment as well. 'I think the next time there is a big fireworks show in the Leaf Village I am going to see if we can't just put down a blanket and lay there on the roof of my place and watch privately. That is if Konohamaru has some luck with Hanabi and they will want to be alone as well, preferably some other part of the village.' Naruto laughs as he wonders if it will be him and Hinata chaperoning the two genin after their mission is over. After the pajama trick he is pretty sure Hinata is going to make life very interesting for her little sister. Maybe that would be a fun subject to talk about on the trip home, especially if they could come up with a few ideas to tease the young couple until they beg for mercy.

He looks up with a smile when he hears a door open only to be a little disappointed when he sees that it is Gaara stepping out of his room and not Hinata out of her own. Naruto waves at Gaara who nods in return and when the man approaches Naruto raises his eyebrows questioningly. "So, how did it go last night? Hinata told me that Matsuri has feelings for you too, so that should have made things easier, right." He thinks about how cool it would be if his friend was able to find someone to ease his loneliness like Hinata has done for him since they started dating. Heck even Sasuke seems to be ready to give up his loaner lifestyle and take a chance at what has been staring him in the face for years.

Gaara pauses for a moment and looks deeply into Naruto's eyes to see if he can gauge just how much his friend might know and if he is waiting to make a jest, or is his question just friendly curiosity. Seeing nothing more than honest curiosity in his friend's face and no knowledge of what happened with him and Matsuri last night, Gaara nods. "Yes, it seems as though she and I have much to discuss when we can find time to be alone. As you know I was trying to avoid the situation just in case her feelings were not mutual. Also, I did not want it to seem as though I was using my position to prey upon the feelings of someone who only loves me as their Kazekage." He pauses uncomfortably as this is an issue that both men have had deal with in the last few years.

Naruto chuckles to lighten the mood as he thinks about how things have changed for him recently in that area. He warns Gaara that Matsuri might get some weird looks for a little while when some of the women who had their eye on him see them together. Thankfully Hinata just ignores those girls, he can't imagine if one of them was to ever cause his girlfriend to lose her temper. A few times he would just play up how happy he is being with Hinata by holding her hand or walking close together when he would catch some girl glaring at Hinata. This seems to be working because ever since the beginning of the year he has seen fewer girls glaring at Hinata, either way Hinata's light blushing when he acts like this in public is an extra treat.

Gaara nods his thanks at the offered advice; it is something that he had been thinking about for a while. "I am not as open with my emotions as you are Naruto, but I will take that advice into consideration." He probably should just make it clear to everyone in the village that he is seeing Matsuri and that is a fact that anyone wishing otherwise needs to accept.

Without a second thought Naruto hooks one arm around a now surprised Kazekage's neck and gives him a pat on the chest. "Don't overthink it, besides I suspect that you will find out pretty quick how nice it is to allow yourself to emote a little. I bet the people of the village would enjoy seeing a slightly softer side of their Kazekage. It might make them feel a little closer to you Gaara." Naruto laughs and taps himself on the side of the head. "Dang that sounded a lot like something Hinata or the Hokage would say. I guess all of this time studying and stuff is finally starting to sink in a little."

Gaara politely shrugs off Naruto's arm and gives him a crooked smile. "I agree with that assessment, you are much less loud and annoying than when we first met."

After a moment of silence from the shock of being burned by Gaara of all people, Naruto throws his head back and starts laughing. The two men share a few chuckles, well Naruto chuckles and Gaara smirks, for a moment or two before Gaara asks a question of his own. "So after the events of last night I am going to assume that you have finally expressed your feelings and that things are going well between you and Hinata?" The corner of the right side of Gaara's mouth twitches for a moment as if resisting an urge to say more.

Naruto rolls his eyes at his own stupidity for not expressing himself to Hinata sooner. "Yeah, I am pretty sure that if she had not been so happy to hear me finally say it, she might have given me a good hard slap with a gentle fist for waiting so long." He gives a little shrug admitting that she probably should still do it just on principle. "I apologize if I made a big scene last night with that Tomogiro guy. I hope it doesn't cause you any problems later."

"No, I think you handled it fairly well under the circumstances and Lord Tomogiro did not seem upset when he left the party last night." Gaara lifts up his hands in a gesture of hope. "I was not aware until after Temari had told me last night that there was a connection between Lord Tomogiro and Hinata. She passed up a chance to marry into a royal bloodline while waiting on you to come around." Gaara gives Naruto a reprimanding look and reminds him of their conversation yesterday and how being patient really doesn't suit Naruto's personality, or was he being even more unpredictable by actually being patient.

After a reassurance that he plans on going back to his old rash self, Naruto and Gaara give each other a fist bump as Gaara announces that he should go downstairs and greet the other guests and make sure that breakfast preparations are complete.

A few minutes later Hinata comes out of her room, and to Naruto the whole hallway seems to brighten when she flashes him a gentle smile. Before she can say anything Naruto steps up to her and wraps his arms around her waist. "I missed you Hinata-tenshi."

Hinata places both of her palms on his chest as they share a quick kiss. "Naruto-kun, it hasn't even been an hour since I left your room." She places her head on his collarbone and inhales deeply at the smell of a freshly showered Uzumaki Naruto. Honestly she is feeling the same and had rushed getting ready so that she could see him again as quickly as possible.

'I am going to be so sad once we get home and have to spend more than just an hour apart each day.' She tries to not think how lonely she is going to be the first time one of them has to leave on a mission. Just being a few blocks away from each other is going to feel like they are in different villages. It makes her wonder how Shikamaru and Temari have made their relationship work these last few years without going crazy.

Naruto lets out a deep sigh at the mention of an 'hour' of time. "Yeah, if it had been longer than an hour I might have started getting really lonely." He reaches out and scratches like a puppy on the door to her room. "Why don't you bring all of your stuff over to my room this evening? It's not like we haven't already spent a night together in a room, so you know I can mostly behave."

"Mostly?" Hinata looks into Naruto's eyes and raises her eyebrows in curiosity. "What have you been doing after I fall asleep, Naruto-kun?" She reaches up and playfully adjusts the collar of his jacket before pretending to brush something off of his shoulder.

Naruto can feel his cheeks redden as his mind immediately goes back to last night. As he laid there beside his completely vulnerable girlfriend he had to force himself to not think about turning on the lights and exploring Hinata's mostly naked form and committing to memory every detail that is normally hidden from view. His eyes begin to glaze over as he remembers how wonderfully soft and smooth the flesh of Hinata's waist and belly had felt when he slid his arm around her and snuggled closer last night. How about the inviting warmth of her breast as he cupped one of them in his hands? Naruto's thoughts are interrupted as a pair of fingers, deceptively strong for how delicate they look, pinches his chin and pulls his face to look directly into her eyes. "Uh… nothing. I hardly did anything after you fell asleep last night." He lets out a little yelp as her fingers pinch tighter and give his chin a little shake. "All I did was wrap an arm around your waist and think about how soft your… skin feels. I might have thought about touching you down there some more. Hey I'm the one who woke up being touched in a very sensitive area so I think I get a pass for having dirty thoughts about my beautiful girlfriend."

As Hinata tries to turn away in shame Naruto pulls her tightly against his chest. "I am not complaining, Hinata-tenshi. It was a wonderful way to start my day." Naruto leans down and plants several light kisses up on Hinata's neck as his right hand slides slowly down to her waist. "Maybe I can wake you up like that someday."

The combination arousal and shame is an odd mixture going through Hinata's mind and body right now. The stimulation of his lips upon her neck and the suggestion of his wonderful hands exploring her body to find and stimulate all of her erogenous zones is making her shiver a little in anticipation. The muscle tightening shame of being caught touching his manhood uninvited stifles her body's erotic response to just a mild tremble. As a woman, the fear of being molested has been instilled in her for as long as she can remember, and isn't that exactly what she did this morning, molest her boyfriend in his sleep. She should really be ashamed of herself for enjoying the memory of his reaction over-and-over as she got ready to go down for breakfast.

Sensing that Hinata is about to regress into her old habit of shutting down, Naruto grabs one of her hands and starts walking towards the stairs. "I don't know about you, but I am really hungry after last night. I almost wish we had stopped for a couple more bowls of ramen on our way back from the festival, and I do mean almost." He gives her hand a gentle squeeze and smiles broadly when she looks up at him with a grateful smile. He knows that nothing good would come from teasing her any more about this morning, especially since she might never do it again, and that would be a terrible price to pay for a little teasing.

"Wait!" Hinata tugs on Naruto's hand and forces him to stop at the top of the stairs. She pulls him back a few paces to make sure that their voices do not carry down to the next level. "About what we did…" She places a single finger on Naruto's lips as he begins to interrupt and probably apologize for the teasing. "Gaara heard us, you this morning and… me last night." Hinata hates that she might be breaking Matsuri's trust, but Naruto needs to know just in case somebody on the floor below them heard as well. Hinata tells him about bumping into Matsuri this morning as both of them were leaving their boyfriend's bedrooms, and that she and Gaara both heard the moans coming from Naruto's room.

"Why was she coming out of Gaara's room so early this… morning?" Naruto immediately blushes as the obvious reason catches up to him, that and the evidence is clearly etched on Hinata's blushing face. "Okay, is that what all the giggling I heard this morning was about?" If it was any other girl he knew except Hinata, Naruto might have been worried that she was laughing about him this morning. Another reason for him to be thankful that it is her he loves.

Hinata shrugs a little while trying to decide how much more she should tell Naruto, especially in an open hallway. "That, and a few other things, but nothing that can't wait till we are sure no one can overhear." She points towards she stairs and after a nod of understanding from Naruto the two of them make their way down to the dining room. Along the way he tells her about what he learned yesterday about the places unique construction. "Wait, this place is supposedly made of sandstone, just how much noise were we making?"

When they enter the dining room Naruto and Hinata can see that most of their friends are already sitting at the table, while a few people that neither one of them know are busy bringing out food and drinks from the kitchen. Gaara, Shikamaru and Temari all nod as the two of them enter the room. Gaara gestures to a pair of empty chairs to his right and after they are seated the older of the two women serving food places a steaming cup of tea in front of Hinata and bows deeply. The quick appearance of the tea immediately elicits a snicker from Naruto and slight blushing from Hinata who just stares down into her cup of dark tea.

The sound of footsteps shuffling heavily diverts everyone's attention to the doorway. A few moments later they watch as the ragged looking figure of Choji enters the room. The heavy set man's shoulders are hunched as if straining under some great force as he slowly makes his way over to a chair and sits down slowly. Choji doesn't look up or say a word to anyone, instead he looks down at the table breathing very slowly.

"Choji, how…" Naruto's question is interrupted when Choji lifts up a hand in a stopping gesture. After a moment the hand slowly lowers to horizontal and then down onto the table. Naruto chuckles quietly and looks over at Shikamaru who is shaking his head sadly. Now speaking in a much softer voice he says, "Hungover a little huh?"

"Well he should be after drinking a couple bars nearly dry last night. A few of them may have to break into their emergency stash to make it through the festival." Kankurō steps into the room and places his hands on his hips. "I was on my way back to my place last night when I passed by here and found him sitting outside with his back to the wall. I felt pity for him so I brought him inside and up to his room." Kankurō looks over at the Kazekage and then to Temari before going over to sit down beside Choji. "The whole time up the stairs you kept mumbling an apology, but don't worry about it buddy we've all partied a little too hard before and needed some help from a friend. I remember Temari one time after her birthday…" Choji lets out a little groan and covers his ears as Temari shouts over his head and tells her brother to shut up or else.

While everyone else is distracted Naruto waves a hand at one of the servers and when she comes over he whispers something into her ear. After she leaves he reaches into his pouch and pulls out a small scroll. It is the word etched on the side of the scroll the gets the attention of almost everyone in the room.

Shikamaru presses his index finger thoughtfully to his lips wondering if he should dare ask about the scroll. Seeing that Naruto is looking empathetically towards Choji as he places it on the table Shikamaru decides to ask. "Does that scroll really have the word 'hangover' written on it, Naruto?"

Naruto blushes a little as he looks down at the object lying on the table between his hands. "Yeah, there was a time not too long ago that I needed this thing pretty much every morning. I wrote that on the outside to help me find it in my time of need." He looks over at Hinata grateful that those times are long gone. "To be honest I had forgotten I even had it in my pouch until Choji walked into the room." His smile broadens as he feels one of Hinata's hands brush his leg in acceptance for his obvious thank you to her for giving him a reason to stay sober. As the server enters the room with a small glass of water Naruto opens the scroll and extracts two objects from the seal.

Curiosity gets the better of his pain and Choji looks up to see what Naruto has produced. He lets out a gasp that he immediately regrets as his sudden intake of air rekindles the massive throbbing right behind his eyes. "Is that one of those limited edition Uzumkai Naruto instant ramen bowls?" There on the side of the large container is the picture of Naruto in the outfit her wore during the war with a big grin on his face, giving a thumbs up. On his thumb is a swirl pattern that could be either his Uzumaki clan symbol, or to represent the swirl of a narutomaki.

Naruto gives a big grin as everyone in the room shakes their head in realization that it should have been obvious that his hangover cure would involve ramen. "Yeah, after the war I got approached by the makers of my favorite instant ramen. They had heard of my love for ramen and offered me a bunch of money if I would allow them to put my face on a new line of ramen they were wanting to release." He tells them that after he mentioned that he sometimes has to eat a couple of containers after a big workout they offered to make an over-sized version for sale if they could use that as an advertising quote. "It sold pretty well and I missed a chance later to renew the agreement when I left the village for a year or so. I did take part of my payment in several cases of the ramen, which they thought would be great if people actually saw me eating it too. This tonkotsu bowl may be the last I have left from that shipment, I guess I should try and contact those guys and see if they still want to do another release. I bet it will be a big seller once I become Hokage, and I can keep a couple of cases in my office for any night I have to work late." Naruto asks the server to pour in hot water and then closes the lid to let the noodles soften.

Choji tries to shake his head in refusal of eating Naruto's last limited edition ramen, but the pounding in his head when he starts shaking makes the room spin so he immediately closes his eyes and drops his face into his palms. Naruto tells him not to worry, it is being eaten for a good cause and that the broth is really good for getting fluids and stuff back into the body after a night of heavy drinking.

Naruto picks up three small packets that were sealed beside the ramen container. After reading their labels he pours the contents of one into the glass of water and stirs the white powder with a chopstick till most of it is dissolved. He repeats this with the second packet, and when the third and final packet is poured into the glass the liquid instantly reacts. Everyone but Naruto immediately flinches away from the glass in fear that Naruto has done something completely crazy and the contents are going to explode at any moment. Naruto waves a hand dismissively and pushes the glass towards Choji who immediately groans that the fizzing is too loud. "Wait until the fizzing stops before you drink, and don't worry that stuff really works. It is something that Master Jiraiya used on more than one occasion while we were gone together on my training mission. He told me it was something that Tsunade had come up with for herself and passed it on to him when they were teammates. Shizune was the one who gave me the list of ingredients and where to find them at an apothecary when I asked about the stuff some time back."

Temari and Kankurō still glance over at the now bubbling and fizzing liquid inside the glass with a questioning look wondering if Naruto still used the correct ingredients and in the right proportions. Shikamaru lets out a little chuckle before telling Choji that it is okay. He recognizes the symbols on the packets and he is pretty sure that Naruto is right about them being helpful for a hangover.

As the fizzing comes to an end Choji grabs the glass and sniffs at the liquid hoping that it won't smell like dirty feet or even overly medicinal, he knows his stomach would just refuse either at the moment and may just throw up on the Kazekage's dining room table. Choji is surprised by the citrus-like smell coming from the effervescing liquid and takes a tentative drink. At first the citrus flavor is pleasant, but the liquid leaves a bitter taste in the back of his mouth that nearly forces Choji to spit it back into the glass. Deciding that Naruto would never play a trick on a sick friend, even one who had been the unknowing assistant of a nasty trick by Ino, he downs the rest of the contents in one swallow. Choji's whole body quivers when the bitter taste mixes with the bubbles tickling his nose making him nearly throw it back up, and by the way the others are looking at him his face must look like he is about to hurl. Instead he closes his eyes and uses his considerable will to force his stomach to accept the medicine and stop complaining.

A short while later as Choji slowly sips at the aromatic tonkotsu broth, Matsuri now wearing her normal mission outfit enters into the room carrying a few small scrolls. She walks over to Gaara, sparing a quick look in Hinata's direction, and waits patiently for Gaara to acknowledge her presence. Her wait is not long and it is obvious that she is trying not to blush when he motions for her to come closer.

"I know that you have some plans with your guests early this morning so I went by the Kazekage Tower and collected everything that your assistant said needs your urgent attention. I hope that you don't mind, Kazekage-sama." She puts down the scrolls and takes a few steps back to give him the privacy he needs to read. Matsuri stares down at her feet refusing to meet the gaze of Temari knowing that the woman will try to interrogate her with her eyes and learn about what may have happened after the party.

Hinata watches both women waiting to see who will break first. When Temari looks about in frustration Hinata gives her a nearly imperceptible smirk and nod. She just couldn't help herself, she is feeling giddy at seeing Matsuri trying hard to not let the intense glow of the love she is feeling get in the way of her duties. 'I would be trying hard to not jump up and down if I was in her shoes. Actually I did do a lot of that in my room after my first date with Naruto ended in a kiss.' Hinata silently applauds Matsuri for picking up the Kazekage's messages as a pretense to see him again so soon. Maybe after Naruto becomes Hokage she can personally deliver messages from the Diplomatic Division over to him as an excuse to see Naruto. Maybe they can have some of that ramen together as a quick lunch.

Gaara looks over his shoulder and pauses for a moment as if searching for the right words. Hinata and Temari were watching him closely, they could see the usually stoic Kazekage's eyes linger on Matsuri when he paused. "Have you had anything to eat this morning? This may take a little while to go through so you might as well join us for breakfast." Gaara tries to not let the mental groan at his near slip escape his lips. Nearly everyone in this room had a hand in getting him and Matsuri together as a couple last night, but he just can't let Temari have a complete victory. At least not on the very next morning, or she will be completely insufferable for weeks. He still feels like a complete ass for acting so formal to Matsuri especially after the night they spent together, and all he wants is for her to be right by his side.

Naruto let's out a little grunt when he feels Hinata elbowing him in the ribs. When he looks over she gives him a slightly scary smile and then glances over at the empty seat beside her and then back at him expectantly. Miraculously he catches on to her hint and stands up with his plate in hand. "Here Matsuri, why don't you take this seat beside Gaara? That way he won't have to yell across the table if he needs you for something." He gives her a conspiratorial wink and smile that causes Shikamaru to cover his face in shame for Naruto's complete lack of subtlety.

Matsuri tries not to blush at the sound of Hinata and Temari's barely contained giggle and just sits down into the chair without protest. She is afraid that protesting would not only draw more attention to her, but it might also insult Gaara. Matsuri immediately feels out of place having breakfast with the Kazekage and his family, plus the well-known shinobi from the Leaf Village. Her feeling of being completely out of her league is soothed by a few whispered words of encouragement from Hinata, who reminds her that she has already been accepted by Gaara and his siblings, so she should just relax and enjoy having her first breakfast with her boyfriend.

As she finishes her pep talk Hinata notices that Matsuri raises a trembling hand and points across the table. She turns her head and follows the direction right towards Temari, actually Matsuri's hand is pointing downwards a little, right towards…. "OH MY…" The rest of Hinata's words are cut off as her hands reach up and cover her mouth in absolute shock.

Shikamaru lifts up his tea cup and stairs down at the floating steam wondering if it really is a sign of good luck, or if the kami are wishing him good luck on the storm that is about to come down on him.

Choji winches at the squeal coming from not only Hinata and Matsuri, but the servers as well, as Temari holds up her left hand to show off the diamond ring that was not there yesterday. At least it is only discomfort at this point and not nausea inducing levels of pain shooting through his brain. He will have to personally thank Naruto later and maybe get some more of those powders from him just in case they wear off before his body can recover from last night.

Temari's face is beaming with joy as she leans up against an obviously uncomfortable with being the near center of attention, Shikamaru. "He asked me last night while we strolled on the shield wall after the party." She turns her head slightly and kisses Shikamaru on the cheek. "He got down on one knee and everything. He was so cute as he stammered out the question, I have only seen him that nervous once before." Her shoulder rubs against her fiancée and a crooked smile leaves no doubt about when he was that nervous before.

The embarrassment inducing 'Ohhhhsss' echoing through the room is cut short by an annoyed throat clearing sound coming from Gaara as he looks up from his reading. The Kazekage fixes his gaze on Shikamaru as the servers decide that now is a good time to head back to the kitchen and fix something to eat for Matsuri.

Shikamaru nervously tugs on his collar as he realizes that the floating stem really was the gods wishing him good luck. That he might need it to be around long enough for the wedding, if his girlfriend/fiancée does not get him killed for being improper with the sister of the Kazekage. At least Gaara was once feared for his temper, but has been known for his calm demeanor since his first fight with Naruto.

"Oh lighten up, we are all adults now. Okay most of us are adults now. We all think about it and do it, at least once we met the right person." Temari's eyes leave Gaara's and wander over towards Matsuri. The scrutiny holds for a moment before she fixates her gaze on Naruto and Hinata with a little smirk. Temari, seeing out of the corner of her eye an edge to the annoyance in her younger brothers face, knows that she is dancing a little too close to the edge of his patience, so she decides to deflect everyone's attention towards Kankurō. "How about you Kankurō, I noticed that yet again you came alone to a party. When are you going to settle down, with something other than a puppet that is?"

Kankurō just waves dismissively at his sister and shrugs.