The town square was silent, surrounded by the floods of villagers awaiting the ritual that would begin the true birth of the festivities. They sat upon roofs and stood on crates, all stretching to get the best view possible. Lee had found a perch atop one of the buildings nearest to the square and had a perfect view of what appeared to be a patch of sand with a red circle dead center. The silence was shattered as the sound of drums beating in a loud rhythm exploded through the air. A few villagers gave a breath of anxiousness, some having been startled. The drums rumbled at a faster pace until it seemed they could get no faster - and then the sound of a gong. Just as this happened, the sand at the center of the circle erupted up into the air, scattering the red grains outward.

The sands barely had a chance to settle before they were swept upward into a whirlwind and scattered further, falling to reveal the the figure of a woman. Her hair draped long and wavey down her back, her hazy eyes peering outward as if in a trance. The sleeves of her intricately decorated burgundy kimono flew up as her hands seemed to ignite with light, flickering to reveal two small fans in her grasp. She swept her arms down again, beginning to move in a graceful fan dance as the drums and a flute followed her motions.

Off to the side, Kankurou couldn't help but smirk at this performance. It was so flowing and perfect that he would hardly admit that this woman was his sister. Every year that she performed this ritual it seemed like she turned into a different person altogether. She had done it since she was young - a duty as the daughter of the Kazekage. She continued it now, she said, purely out of duty and the fact she was used to it. She had no desire to waste the time teaching it to anyone new. Kankurou suspected that Temari actually liked doing this dance of hers. He thought, perhaps, it made her feel powerful; she was to be representing the natural forces of the desert - and the gods that granted the village good fortune and health. It was her wind that was brushing away the Red Sand and keeping it from harming the people of Sunagakure. The Red Sand represented much - and every year Temari seemed more and more determined to drive it as far from herself as possible.

Lee watched this dance intrigued. There had been plenty of festivals in Konoha - many with their share of dancers. His eyes focused on the deliberateness of her motions, and the passion with which she moved and gestured. The girl looked really familar to him but he couldn't place her, not from this distance. He was also constantly distracted by how controlled her movements were. She must have done this a long time, or else was trained in the shinobi way in her off time.

As she went through the motions, Temari's eyes skillfully skimmed the crowds for her target. Black hair...red kimono. It wouldn't be hard to spot amongst her fellow sand-folk. None of them wore such vibrant colors these days, particularly today. The color red was the worst color to choose - in fact. Red had never been very popular in the village as it represented turmoil and bad luck. Sadly, she thought, most of this had come about when her youngest sibling had grown up in the village. Gaara was born bloody, sported red hair, and was the cause of many bloody deaths. He had since earned back the trust of his people, but he did not deny them the association. His red hair and association with the color red, he had told Temari, would be something to remind him of things done past. He would have this, always, to let the people know he hadn't forgotten.

Still, she spotted the fool, standing on one of the rooftops. She squinted a little, a shimmer of recognition skimming over her mind. He looked...oddly familiar... Was that really him? Black hair...red kimono... There weren't many that fit that description, after all. It must have been him. For a moment Lee caught Temari's gaze on him and startled, the blood rushing to his cheeks. She looked at him - right at him! The dancing, graceful beauty had acknowledged him. Oh, thank the merchant for his kind advice about the kimono!

Temari swept her feet together in the final motion of her dance and became engulfed in a pillar of flame - then she was gone. The crowd cheered joyously and eventually began to scatter about the square. Lee remained where he was, just blinking. Just like that, she was gone. He couldn't get the look she'd given him out of his head. What did it mean? He began to wonder where she had vanished to. His thoughts were suddenly jarred when one of the sand-nins that had escorted him in appeared next to him now.

"Come. You will meet with her now," he said. Lee shook himself from his reverie and nodded - no time to get distracted! He followed the nin closely to the home of the Kazekage.

Temari hastily shed the red kimono for one of a lavender color. She smoothed her hair absently to make sure it wasn't entirely in disarray. There was no time to be wasted. She had an important meeting to be at in just a few moments.

"You look like a wreck," Kankurou commented from where he'd snuck in at the back of her room. Temari didn't allow herself to startle but simply glared at him over her shoulder.

"Quiet," she warned. "Now.. you've seen this guy, right?"

"Yes."

"So how do you propose I approach him? Do I make him believe I am really an innocent young maiden? Or shall I be aloof...and then attack him when I get the chance?" she asked.

"Hmn. I don't know, Temari," her brother responded with a crooked grin. "I mean I think we aught to be sure this guy is really a spy before we go killing him... But I can hardly picture you ...as an innocent young maiden.." He snickered and one of Temari's performance fans promptly nailed him in the forehead.

"This is no time to be an asshole," she fumed. "Though is there ever a time when you're not??"

"Alright, alright. In all seriousness I think you should put up a facade - whatever it happens to be," he said, rubbing his forehead slightly.

"Fine," Temari growled under her breath. She had really hoped he'd choose the option that would let her murder the spy. Getting to her feet, she made one last attempt to straighten up and slipped out of the room and down to the private conference hall.

Lee paced the room now, unable to keep still as he waited for this meeting with the temporary head of the village. His fingers fiddled together as he tried to remember everything he should say to be proper. He found he was horribly distracted, though, by something else...

That something else just happened to walk in the door at this point.

"Hello," she said politely, offering him a slight bow of her head. Lee blinked and then remembered himself, bowing repeatedly.

"Oh, hello! Yes! I ...! Hello!"

"I am glad you've come," she said with a smile and gestured to a couple of high backed chairs for them to sit across from each other in. "Please, sit."

"Yes!" Lee said, feeling his cheeks redden again as he moved to do so. What was she doing here? This beauty? Where was the head? She took her seat gracefully in front of him and rested her hands on the arms of the chair.

"So I understand you've come on some important business," she started, watching him without even a slight blink of her hazy eyes.

"Oh, yes. I ... I meant to ask..." He patted himself to find the scroll but found he was coming up short. Did he leave it in his backpack when the nin's took it from him for this meeting? "I think.. I think I may be in the wrong room, Miss," he said as he continued to search the baggyness of the red kimono he still wore. Temari kept the smile rigid on her lips, though the corner of her brow quirked in agitation at the gall of him. How could he wear that awful red kimono in her presence?? And what sort of formality was this? He certainly was no LORD like she had heard rumors of. He was definitely a fake - definitely a spy. If only she could kill him now! But...what was it nagging at the back of her mind that stopped her? She couldn't quite grasp it.

"What ever do you mean?" she hummed out and came to her feet slowly.

"Well, I mean. I was supposed to meet the Kazekage's second...," he replied, his eyes turning intently towards her and his hands forgetting the scroll he was searching for.

"Of course. What makes you think I'm not?" she asked, approaching his chair.

"I didn't mean...that you...might not be ... I mean... Well, I mean..," he stammered, tapping his fingers together.

"What do you mean?" Temari leaned forward almost challengingly, resting her hands on the arms of his chair and staring in his wide eyes.

"Miss, I just mean I didn't expect the second to be so lovely. You move like the leaves on the wind during a light spring breeze... That was you dancing right?," he finally conjured a full thought. Lee was known for his forthrightness and honesty - particularly when he was feeling a little walled in.

Temari blinked and looked at him puzzled for a minute, her brows furrowed. She wanted to yell 'what??' at him but manged to hold back and drop the sour expression. What was all that supposed to mean? She rose back up to a standing position and took a breath.

"Thank you," she finally managed. That was the proper response, right? It WAS a compliment, right? He wasn't mocking her...was he?

"Welcome," he responded, sitting up straight again. The sand-nin whirled away from him and chewed on her thumbnail a moment. Innocent maiden! Innocent maiden, remember? she insisted to herself. "Did I say something wrong, Miss?"

"No, not at all," she reassured him and whirled with a smile and an awkward giggle.

"Honestly, I was quite taken with your dance. Are you perchance a shinobi as well?" he asked eagerly.

"What makes you think that?" she replied, almost a little too anxious. How could he know that??

"Your... your motions and your techniques. They remind me...remind me especially of a nin that came to Konoha before. Actually, she was the Kazekage's sister, I think!"

Temari went completely stiff. How...? Lee leapt to his feet exuberant.

"Oh, but you've inspired me! I could watch you dance forever! Will you show me how you do it?? Though I could never do it so well as a lovely young maiden like you - I would love to know how!"

The sand-nin startled a moment from her confusion and flushed involuntarily at this. What was the deal with this guy? Throwing around compliments left and right? She had to stay composed or he would get the best of her! He was already running her head in circles! Lee, on the other hand, had completely lost track of what he was there for in the first place.

"I am a lovely maiden...?" she murmured.

"Of course! Does anyone disagree?"

"No," she replied. No one said much of anything about her looks, really. "Listen, just stop that...!"

"What?"

"All the compliments and everything. You're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not. It's important to express your respect for someone if you really feel it!"

"Respect?"

"Yes, yes!" he nodded. Temari shook her head to clear the clouds again and advanced on Lee.

"Now you listen! Don't think you can come in here and sweet-talk me! I'm ON to you! You think we don't have people watching you day and night?!"

"Huh?" Lee asked, completely puzzled, though he backed up from her till he was against the wall.

"Just waltzing in and thinking we wouldn't know! We know our own people, you jackass! We are not fools! You're the idiot for wearing this awful kimono and giving yourself away! Oh! I don't care what Kan says! I'm dealing with you now!" She grabbed him by the kimono and shoved him to the wall.

"Uh... uhm... Pardon..but..what are you talking about, Miss?" Lee asked lightly.

"Call me Miss again and I'll tear your tongue out!" She slammed him to the wall and something tumbled out to the floor by her feet. Lee glanced down and Temari followed his gaze. "What is that??"

"It's... It's our new peace treaty, M...um... Second in command... From Konoha. I was sent by Hokage Tsunade...," he said. Temari stared at him a moment and then at the scroll on the floor. Suddenly that little thing she couldn't find before came and smacked her right in the face. She dropped Lee and picked up the scroll in disbelief, unfurling to to see for herself.

"Ohhh..no! No! Not today!" she groaned.

"Is there something wrong?" Lee asked, getting to his feet slowly and shedding the kimono, since it really seemed to offend the lady.

"YES!" she said, whirling on him again so suddenly he stood up straight, ready to fight or flee. "I KNEW you looked familiar! You're the ambassador from Konoha! The guy my brother crippled before!" She clenched her fists up in exasperation.

"Oh. You are the sister of Subaku no Gaara!" Lee smiled with triumph at being right.

"Why, today?! I completely forgot about this! I'm going to have someone's head!"

"Am I missing something?"

"Mmgmghfff...!" Before she could utter any coherant words there was a knock on the door. "Yes, plenty. And you're just going to have to miss a lot more. I have another meeting to get to. Uggh, but I can't send you out that door - what am I going to do if he sees you in here and thinks the wrong things??" She glanced to Lee. "You're a shinobi - make yourself scarce, would you!?"

Lee blinked. "Will we talk later?"

"Yes, yes, whatever! Just go!" she shooed him with her hands. He nodded quickly and before she knew it he was out of sight.