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Not once had he ever hoped or even dreamed of this moment. A moment where he, too, found someone special.

Sure, he had siblings. But that was different.

And this. This was something else. He could tell. At first there was an odd feeling pounding in his chest when he first laid eyes on one of the kunoichi who frequently did solo missions for the sand.

She was jonin. About the same age as he was. Talented and very very quiet. Not saying that she was untrustworthy or anything, and she wasn't shy either. She just kept to herself a lot of the time. And when someone would ask her out to eat or something along those lines, she always always had an excuse lined up and ready.

Some of the excuses she came up with didn't make much sense, and they always caused him to smile just a tiny bit.

His favorite so far was when she would tell someone that she had to go walk her pet fish.

"Today's the day," Kankuro said off to the side, Gaara glancing over at him as he finished up the last bit of paperwork for the day as Temari took the document to submit it to the council.

"For what, pray tell," Temari asked with her usual tinge of sass.

The puppet user spun on his heel as he gave his siblings a confident smirk.

"I'm going to ask y/n put for dinner again."

Gaara kept his usual poker face plastered on while Temari bursted with laughter. Her arms hoksing her stomach as doubled over. Kankuro immediately getting offended.

"Hey-"

k n o c k

k n o c k

k n o c k

"It's y/n. Just here to give my report."

"Come in."

Gaara could feel his heart start to pound again. Truth be told, he wasn't worried about Kankuro. Mainly because he already knew that y/n wasn't into him. He was sure of it.

Walking in, y/n looked as laid back as usual. Stress was clear off her face, and she held a slightly bored expression.

"Here. Another mission a success."

"Thank you, you're one of the few who actually make this village look good."

"No need for the flattery, Temari. Just trying to earn a living here."

Y/n looked to Gaara for a sign of approval and a sign of dismal. The two never really sharing much of a conversation. Not that she minded. She hated small talk. What was she going to talk about? The various sand dunes she passed by? Or how she got sand stuck her teeth when she was almost buried alive?

Yeah ... some mission details are best kept secret.

Then, as Gaara gave a nod of approval. She took her chance to leave, but not as Kankuro stopped to talk to her.

Honestly, when was he going to give up?

"Hey, so tonight, how 'bout we-"

"Sorry, I and my pet fish were going to do a nightly calisthenics course. See ya," she said with a wave of her hand as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kankuro immediately deflating as he went to sulk in a corner.

Gaara, all the while, merely smiled.