A Kiss with Two Meanings
A/N: This is just something that popped into my mind while eating a Hershey's Kiss. This is my first one-shot, so please give me some pointers if you find anything horribly wrong with it.
Happy Valentine's Day!
"Happy Valentine's Day, Temari!" A little boy exclaimed. He held out a palm-sized box. It was wrapped with bright pink paper, and held together with a lacy red ribbon, tied extravagantly at the top.
The little blond girl smiled brightly, taking the present from the boy. "Thank you, Kayo-kun!" She leaned her head close to his and gave him a small kiss. The boy blushed furiously, but he had a huge smile plastered on his face.
Watching the two children from the swings was a small red-headed boy. He hugged his teddy bear tightly, not even daring to blink as he watched his eldest sibling and that boy. They weren't the only ones acting all lovey-dovey that day, oh no. All day, everywhere he went, there were people who were acting just as strange…but why? What was with this certain day?
Maybe it's just something a monster like me can never understand. Gaara thought to himself. Yes, that was it. Someone like him can never understand, no matter how much he wanted to know, no matter how much he wanted to be a part of it. No one ever talked to Gaara, so why would they now? It wasn't surprising that everyone avoided him, even Temari, who was supposed to be keeping him company. So why did he feel so sad today?
He squeezed his teddy bear, almost to the point of popping its head off. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. I want a friend, too.
"Why are you crying?" Gaara gasped, snapping his head to the right. His jade eyes met with a pair of big jade eyes. A girl? A faint blush appeared on Gaara's cheeks. She was cute! The girl had bubble-gum pink hair, held back by a red ribbon. A sweet smile adorned her face. Her skin was flawless, Gaara noticed, unusual for someone who lived in the desert.
"Why are you crying?" The girl asked again, but this time her smile disappeared. Her eyes showed worry. Gaara hesitated. Is she talking to me? She's not afraid to die…? He looked away from her, desperately trying to stop his tears. "Hey, what's—AAHH!"
Gaara looked at the girl. Her hand was a mere inch away from his shoulder, but it was being repelled by a rope of sand around her wrist. "It hurts…" She whispered. He released her hand from the sand and immediately squeezed his eyes shut. Nothing happened. She didn't scream or run away.
Gaara opened his eyes. The girl was sitting in the swing next to his, looking at him curiously. Her wrist was red. He dropped his head, not daring to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry. Please…go away. My powers will only hurt you even more."
"I don't believe that." The girl stated, "You have weird powers, big deal. You wouldn't hurt someone on purpose, would you?"
"What?" His eyes widened. This girl was really strange, unlike anyone he ever met. Usually, one would run away after an attack from his sand, but this girl was still here. "No, I wouldn't..."
"So I don't see why I have to leave.Now, why were you crying?" Her voice had more persistency. He didn't answer her, but instead, he looked over to where Temari was flirting with the boy. The girl noticed, and a huge smile appeared on her face. "Do you have a crush?"
"Crush?" He gave her a confused look, but the girl just giggled. That only made him more confused. "I'm not sad because of her." He paused. The girl was silent, and Gaara took that as a sign to go on, "I'm sad because I'm…alone." He whispered the last word, making the girl lean in to hear.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said I'm-" He looked up, but immediately stopped talking. The girl's face was…close. Too close for Gaara. He turned his head away from the girl, a blush on his face, and finished his sentence, just loud enough for the girl to hear, "…alone."
"Alone? Well, you're not alone anymore, right?"
Gaara's eyes lit up. He quickly looked at the girl again, "Really?" He asked. His voice was full of hope.
"Sure! I'm here now, aren't I?" The girl smiled at him, and, for once in his life, Gaara smiled back.
I'm not alone anymore…
The girl looked around, and after a second or two, she gasped. "Wait right here! I'll go get something." Before Gaara could say anything, the girl ran off. He watched her run to the sidewalk, where she stopped in front of a vender. After a minute or so, the girl ran back. She had something hidden in her hand. "Hey! Have you got a Valentines Day present yet?"
"What's Valentines Day?" Gaara asked.
"You don't know?" The girl took her spot next to Gaara, and for some strange reason, his heart felt warmer. "Well, it's the day when you spend time with that special person. You give out presents to the people you love, and you get presents back!"
Gaara was eager to learn more. He asked, "What is love?"
The girl paused. She had a weird expression on her face, and Gaara couldn't tell what she was feeling. "You...don't know what love is?"
Gaara shook his head. After a moment, the girl stood up. She walked right in front of him and faced him with a small smile. "I have a present for you."
"Really?" Gaara asked, "What is it?" She opened her palm and extended it to him. On it laid something small. It was wrapped in silver foil, with a strip of paper sticking out at the top. Gaara had never seen something like it before, so he couldn't help but ask again, "What is it?"
"It's a kiss." She grabbed his hand with her extended one, Kiss still there, and leaned her head towards him.
She kissed him. It was a simple kiss on the cheek, like any mother would give her child, but to Gaara, it was the happiest moment of his life. Once she pulled back, Gaara was tremendously red. She giggled. Gaara noticed a slight blush on her cheeks as well.
"Your powers didn't hurt me that time." The girl pointed out, "So it can't be that bad, right?"
"Uh, yeah!" Gaara laughed. It sounded strange to him, like a foreign language, but it felt good to laugh. Maybe, he thought, she's right. The sand didn't hurt her. Why, though...?
"Sakura! Time to go!" A woman with bubble-gum pink hair called out from the sidewalk.
"Okay, Mom!" Sakura called back. She looked at Gaara apologetically. "Sorry, but I have to go now."
Gaara nodded hesitantly. "Um, Sakura, right? Can we play together tomorrow?" He asked. There was an almost desperate look in his eye, so powerful it made Sakura falter.
"Actually…I don't live here. My mom and I came here to visit someone, and today was our last day here. I'm really sorry!" She added quickly, "I promise I'll come back some day."
The red-headed boy was silent for a minute. "You promise?" He finally whispered.
"Of course, um…" Sakura chuckled nervously, "I never learned your name."
"Gaara." He said quickly, "My name is Gaara of the Sand."
"Alright, Gaara. I promise that one day we'll meet again." With that, Sakura ran off towards her mother. Once she stopped, she looked back towards the swings. The strange red-headed boy was still there, watching her with a small smile on his face. "Goodbye, Gaara."
Once Sakura and her mother were out of sight, Gaara looked at the "kiss" in his hands, He carefully peeled the foil off, and he was surprised to see a chocolate, shaped in an almost tear-like way. He popped it into his mouth. It was great; it was even better than lizard tongues and gizzards! His mood immediately lightened. He glanced towards Temari. She and that boy were still talking, but somehow, Gaara felt that he understood them a bit more. All thanks to that girl, the girl with the bubble-gum pink hair. "Goodbye, Sakura."
A/N: 'K, well. I guess I got it out of my head. I might redo this at some point...but for now, I'll leave it be. Tell me what you thought!
Oh, by the way, since Sakura and her mother were foreigners, they don't know about Gaara. So yeah. xD