The lights from the trees above their heads reflected on the water under the bridge. The usually quiet, moonlit bridge came to life in the night and the lanterns for the festival shone over their heads and gave the area a nice warm glow, while leaving plenty of shadows. They were far from the fun and carefree atmosphere the annual Celebration of the Leaf created, which made Gaara wonder why lanterns were hung so far from the actual festival itself. But after that thought entered his mind, it was immediately followed by a wave of gratefulness. If it was any darker, he wouldn't have been comfortable out here alone with his company.
Gaara stood, leaning against the railing that lead from one side of the bridge to the other and looked out over the river. He felt Kiba's presence behind him, but made no move to acknowledge it. After the confrontation between himself and Kiba about how sincere Kiba was being in his pursuit for Gaara's heart, and then that followed by Kiba's admition to acutally using Kankuro to get to Gaara, and not the other way around...Gaara felt smothered. Gaara felt absolutley smothered with emotions. He had never felt so many different things at one time, and all because of some Jounin from the Leaf.
Gaara quirked his eyebrow, or lack thereof, as he considered that perhaps this is how normal people went about aquiring romantic interests. Then his eyes narrowed when he realized the trouble and emotional turmoil he had been put through this past 6 hours. Why do normal people do this?
"Gaara?", Kiba's voice disrupted the quiet balance of the night, even though it was a whisper.
Gaara stayed facing away, though he became less tense. Something about the dog-nin's voice did that to him as of recently. He mentally shrugged it off to have Temari check it out later.
"Listen, Gaara. Oh, boy. Not sure how to go about addressing this one...", a nervous laugh irrupted out of Kiba and Gaara's breath caught when we realized how contagious the jounin's laugh could be.
"I'm just going to say it, Gaara. I really like you. Like, more than I should probably like someone not even from my village. One day Kankuro and I were talking and it just slipped out. Please don't think I was using your brother, because I do like him as a friend. He was a great way to help me get to know you more, and he even volunteered to wingman and-"
"Why?" Gaara's voice, despite it's lack in volume, ended Kiba's somewhat nervous rant immediately. It also caused Kiba's head to shoot up in Gaara's direction and see that Gaara had turned to face him somewhere along his little speech when he had averted his eyes to the ground.
Kiba's face showed slight confusion, "Why what?"
Gaara's look of slight annoyance at having to repeat himself was apparent on his face, "I said, why? Why do you like me? What about a person could possibly be so unique or different, it could make someone else biased towards said person?"
Gaara stood with confidence, more confidence than he had when the demon was inside him, as he listed out reasons Kiba could be acting so silly, "Is it my power? My ability to control the sand like I can? Or maybe the power I have over my village? The position I have in my village?"
Gaara's arms crossed as he raised a non-existant eyebrow at Kiba. Kiba couldn't help but let a bright smile spill across his face as he looked at Gaara. He took a couple steps towards the defensive Kazekage, "It's really none of those things, Gaara. And honestly, it's just so many of the small things that it would take me all night to list them out."
Gaara stood his ground while Kiba slowly approached. Arms still crossed, he looked Kiba in the eye, "Well. Get started then."
Gaara wondered where the hell that last bit came from. Was he really, truly interested in why Kiba liked him? Did it matter? Despite everyone supporting his would-be relationship with Kiba, could he support it himself?...did he even know how to support, let alone, be a part of a relationship this intimate?
Kiba seemed to take it all in stride as he reached his destination, just a mere 7 inches from Gaara, "I like your eyes."
Well, that was a surprise for Gaara. His whole life his eyes had terrified people, and now all of a sudden they were apparently attractive?
Kiba went on, "And the way you're so quick to answer things. It takes me a couple minutes to think of something to say to people sometimes, but you are always so quick to the punch."
Gaara proved him right when he was quick to shoot that reason down, "I'm quick because I have to be, I'm the Kazekage."
But Kiba's smile slipped into one of a more lazy nature as he gently gripped Gaara's arms and pulled them out of the crossed position and down Gaara's sides, "You're quick because you're special."
Gaara's eyes narrowed, "I'm different."
Kiba had to stop himself from reaching down to brush away the tense look on Gaara's face with his fingertips. He settled for giving Gaara's arms a gentle squeeze before pulling away and countering Gaara's last comment with, "You're special because you're different."
The emotion on Gaara's face became un-readable for a moment before a questioning look came out and he titled his head up even more, they were closer together now, to look into Kiba's eyes, "Am I special too, because you like me?"
Kiba's heart literally skipped a beat and his breath hitched once he realized how sincere Gaara was being. Kiba's hand went to Gaara's shoulder, and Kiba's prayers were answered when Gaara let him slide his hand up to the side of Gaara's neck and Kiba's hand stayed there while his fingers stretched to play with the hair on the nape of Gaara's neck.
Kiba let out a small smile while his other hand gripped Gaara's hip and Gaara's hands remained hanging lifeless from his body. Kiba, not sure how the shorter ninja would react to so much physical contact, kept his confident act up while he looked at Gaara's eyes.
"Gaara, you're not special because I like you," the hand on Gaara's neck slid up to cup Gaara's cheek while Kiba's other hand slid further around Gaara.
"I like you because you're special, Gaara." Kiba almost jumped when Gaara's hand flew up to grip the wrist of his hand the was holding Gaara's cheek. Kiba thought for a moment that Gaara was going to pull his hand away, but when Kiba went to move it back on his own, Gaara pulled to keep it there, "Why do you say things like that, Kiba?"
Kiba swallowed, because the sound of Gaara saying his name made is throat go numb, and he answered, "I think you deserve to know them."
Kiba's face was just a breath away from Gaara's now. The lanterns still glowed, and the reflection they created in Gaara's eyes kept Kiba's attention. But Gaara's eyes were looking at Kiba's mouth now, "And you asked what I liked about you, Gaara."
The combination of Kiba's hands, Kiba's lazy smile, Kiba's bright eyes, and the curiosity of what it would feel like were too much for Gaara as he pressed his lips to Kiba's own cautiously. It lasted a moment and Gaara pulled back. His eyes were wide, they never closed during the kiss.
Gaara had a exactly 3 seconds to collect himself before Kiba pulled him back in for their second kiss. This time his hand slide into Gaara's hair and the other completely around Gaara. Gaara's own hand, that gripped Kiba's wrist, loosened and slide down Kiba's arm to his elbow before his hand tightened again. Gaara's other hand just held Kiba's shoulder. And for the first time since he had been away from home; without any worries and a slight comfort of feeling safe, Gaara let his eyes close.