Author's note: This story takes place during episode 220, It's a companionpiece to "Dance with the Devil", but can be read by itself. I don't really like it, but felt like I should write a story about how Gaara and Hinata fell in love. Please inform me about anny misspellings and gramarfaults.
Disclaimer: Naruto and all the characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, not me.
Gaara is fighting Seimei. This fight serves many purposes, apart from the obvious one of saving Matsuri and the world. This fights shows that Gaara is a responsible teacher, that he is in control of Shukaku, and last but not least, it shows the onlookers that he has changed. Hinata watches with mixed feelings as the boy she saw kill three other genins in the forest of death, without even batting an eyelash, now fights to save his student. She feels a mix of confusion, worry and relief wash over her as she watches the battle. Somehow she never believed he had changed no matter how much Naruto and the others who had joined in the hunt for Sasuke insisted. But now seeing him in a life and death battle to save his student, she couldn't help but see the change in him.
Looking out at the battle with her byakugan she sees how his chakra is being sucked out, but also that he is strong and will not fall. She barely hears the others talking next to her. Then when Gaara finally defeats his opponent, she can't help but feel relieved. Relief however turns to worry when he falls over, exhausted.
The next day Hinata went to visit Naruto and Gaara at the hospital. Yes, both of them. She walked up to the door of their room with two flowers in her hand. Yellow roses for friendship. She had asked one of the nurses for vases. "-wich was SO amazing!" Naruto stoped talking when the door slid open. "Hinata!" he called with a big grin on his face. "H-hi N-Naruto-kun, G-Gaara-kun" She felt the familiar blush creep up her face. "I-I… um… I br-brought you these." She said as she moved to place the flowers in the vases on each of their bedsidetable. "What does it mean?" Her head shot up at the sound of the low voice. This was the first time Gaara had ever talked to her, and the first time their eyes met since the fight between her and Neji during the chuunin-exams. "Yellow roses stand for friendship." She said, her smile making a faint blush spread over his cheeks. "Friendship…"
The following days Hinata made it a habit to visit the hospital at least once a day. She liked Gaara's company, and he somehow made her feel less self-conscious around Naruto. The three of them often talked for hours about everything and nothing, or they would play cards. She giggled a bit to herself as she thought of how Naruto always seemed to loose, but would still demand rematches.
Today she was training with Neji again, since he got beaten in the chuunin exams and after the apology from her father, he had become very nice towards Hinata. "Hinata-sama, lets stop here for today." "I can still-" "It's about time for him to be setting off. We won't be able to see him for a while."
Naruto had told her and Gaara about his plans to leave Konoha to train with the sannin Jirayia. At first it had made her sad. She had finally become friends with the person she admired most in the whole world, and now he was leaving. But she knew this was something he had to do. She understood how he felt, had tried to put herself in his place before. What if it had been Kiba or Shino, and not Sasuke who had left?
She ran to the village gates, but the nearer she got to them, the less brave she felt. By the time she finally caught up with Naruto, all the courage those days with him and Gaara in the hospital had brought forward was gone. So she hid behind a lamppost and bid her farewells in silence.
Returning to the hospital later that day, she found Gaara getting ready to leave. He turned to her, as she walked in to the room and with a faint smile he beckoned her to him. She walked up to him, wondering what he wanted. When she stood so close to him she could feel the heat from his body, he bent down, placed something in her hand and kissed her. Then he walked away, while she was still frozen in shock.
When she finally pulled herself together and looked at what she held in her hand, a smile graced her lips, he had given her a flower. A red rose for love.
A.N.: And once againg we have solid proof that I should stop trying to write and just stick to drawing...