Matsuri and Gaara pairing, mostly in Matsuri POV. For reference, everyone is about 17 or so.
Oh, and Italics are for thoughts.
Oh good lord, Matsuri groaned mentally. Running down the streets of Suna, in the middle of the day, was not a good idea, by any means. But unfortunately, if everything was going to be ready for tonight, she was just gonna have to suck it up and keep running. She sighed and hustled her butt, hauling the big heavy bags she'd just gotten from the store to the meet-up point.
When she had seen Naruto, Temari, Kankuro, and even Baki at the training grounds earlier today, she never would have guessed that she'd become part of this grand mission Naruto had concocted. Well, I wouldn't have guessed he'd have concocted the plan to begin with, so of course I wouldn't have…oh never mind. She shook her head, irritated by her lapse in focus. Apparently Naruto had managed to recruit Temari and Kankuro, but from the sound of it, Baki wasn't interested and had left soon after she'd arrived on the scene. So when Naruto saw her, he got all excited and asked her to join up with them on this 'mission.'
The mission: put together a birthday party for Gaara.
Lots of people were invited, all of Gaara's closest friends, which by now was actually a pretty decent number. Of course, a lot of them he'd gotten from Naruto. So there were going to be a lot of Leaf ninja in town. She sighed in relief as she saw the building she was running towards, the sight wonderful to see, and busted through the door to the location Naruto had rented. It was a pretty good-sized space, with plenty of room for everyone. It was also quite lovely, wooden floors, lots of big porthole windows, very open and inviting. There were small round tables set around, with bunches of comfy chairs, and even some sitting areas with sofas. She was pretty sure she'd even seen some big poofy chairs, big comfy sand bags you could sit in.
Naturally, as Matsuri came in the doorway she tripped over the doorjamb and was going so fast that her and the bags were sent to the floor and skidded a good ways into the room.
"Watch out!" She yelped as she careened towards Naruto's legs, but he was about as graceful as Matsuri sometimes, and his wide eyes spotted her right as she hit him. He was sent to the floor, on top of her and they ungracefully continued for a few feet more in a tangle of limbs.
"Wha'MatsuAAAAAAHHRRRRIIII" He yelled, his arms and legs waving around frantically. They finally slid to a stop under a table, after knocking over some chairs. Naruto did most of the knocking over, what with the way his arms were cartwheeling rather violently, trying to stop their forward momentum.
"Sorry Naruto…" She mumbled, detangling herself from him and blushing as red as a tomato.
He huffed and they clambered out from under the table and onto our feet. "No problem Matsuri!" He said with a broad grin and bounded off to do who-knows-what.
The bags were at least still intact and so the stuff hadn't gone anywhere. She collected them all together and sorted through them. She had picked up decorations and food and a lot of both. Temari and Kankuro padded in, from the back room, probably drawn by the loud raucous that she had just cause upon her arrival.
"Oh good! The food is here!" Temari exclaimed and gathered it up, hustling it off to the kitchen. Meanwhile Kankuro took over the decorating, using his puppet master skills. Matsuri watched in amazement as he strung paper lanterns all along the ceiling, with little lights in them so they glowed. The walls were quickly draped in banners, and confetti sprinkled on all the flat surfaces. Meanwhile, Matsuri set to work blowing up balloons with the can of helium she had bought, and then tying them off with ribbons. She made several big bunches and tied them to various things throughout the room, and then tied single balloons here and there, mostly to chairs.
Temari put together some snack plates from the things Matsuri had bought and tastefully arranged them on a big table in the middle of the room. It looked great, and it was perfect timing because people were starting to show up. Lee and Guy Sensei, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi Sensei, and bunches of other Leaf Ninja popped up. Sand Shinobi also started coming in, and Matsuri couldn't help but notice that somehow a few of Gaara's fanclub had also managed to sneak into the party.
Most people thought Matsuri was part of his fanclub, but really, she kind of hated those girls. They were generally incredibly shallow, and just liked him for his good looks and power and position as Kazekage. And they hated her for being his student. They were jealous of her and the closer bond she shared with their heartthrob, and that made them hate her. Or at least, that was the only thing she could figure out to explain why they seemed to always be so angry and rude around her. Of course, that was one of two reactions she typically got from them. The other one, where they would corner her and interrogate her for information about Lord Gaara, was even worse.
She heaved a sigh, knowing they were going to be annoying, but there weren't too many of them, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem. If they got too annoying she would make sure they got shown out of the party. She was determined that Gaara would have a good birthday party, and if they ruined it, they were going to have to deal with her rope javelin.
As people trickled in, Temari ran out to pick up the cake, and soon returned bearing the massive confectionary gourd. Matsuri took one look at the thing and burst into surprised laughter. She could just picture Gaara's face when he saw it, that funny mix of sardonic humor and disbelief that he sometimes got at his sibling's antics.
As the hour drew closer to the allotted time, she parked herself near the back as everyone took up positions with streamers and confetti to throw at Gaara's red head when he walked through the doors. Naruto winked and ran out, his job was to go fetch the Lord Kazekage and bring him here without letting him know what was going on.
Gaara POV
He was in his office, doing his normal thing, and going through paperwork, when Naruto burst into the room, looking wild-eyed and potentially high on something. Gaara jerked upright, immediately concerned. "What is it Naruto? Why are you here? Is something wrong?"
"Gaara! You've got to come see this! It's so cool!" The yellow-head yelled, his eyes bright with excitement.
Gaara sighed, relieved that nothing was wrong. "Naruto, I have things I need to finish. Can it wait?"
"No! You have to come now! Like right now! It's urgent! It's not bad, but it's urgent!" Naruto barked and grabbed Gaara's wrist dragging him out from behind his desk.
Gaara grunted and huffed, his eyes wide in shock at the abrupt physical contact. He was dragged out of the office, down the hall, and into the street. Guards throughout the building had tried to stop them, but Gaara had just told them to stand down, and that nothing was the matter, and they had reluctantly obliged. They ran down through the streets, and Gaara was starting to think Naruto really was high or something and was growing just a little concerned for his friend's mental state.
They skidded to a halt in front of some large building, from the outside it almost looked like a restaurant, and Gaara was utterly confused as to why they were there. He didn't have to wait long for an answer, because as soon as they walked through the door Naruto whirled around and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
And suddenly Gaara found himself in the epicenter of a confetti bomb. Confetti, streamers, ribbons, sparkles, and who-know-what-else, was thrown at him and he quickly closed his eyes to prevent any stray confetti pieces or other stuff from invading his eyeballs. After a minute or two he felt the sensation of little bits of paper hitting him stop and he gingerly opened his eyes, and flushed with a mixture of shock and pleasure to see all his friends gathered into one space apparently for the sole reason of celebrating his birthday.
Matsuri POV
As soon as Gaara walked in the door everyone shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and started throwing confetti and other stuff at him. He flinched and closed his eyes until the impromptu shower was over with and then reopened them. Matsuri grinned at the look of shock and happiness that flooded his features when he saw everyone and he blinked at them all, apparently at a loss for words. Naruto took pity on him and dragged him out of the spotlight, hooking him around the neck and pulling him around the room to show him the food and everything else.
At first Gaara was completely surrounded by people wishing him happy birthday and giving him gifts, which Naruto took and put on a table over by one wall, so he wouldn't get overloaded, which was a distinct possibility at times. Gaara looked a little overwhelmed, but very happy. Not that he was smiling or anything, Matsuri wasn't really sure she had ever seen Gaara actually smile. But he had this glitter in his eyes that showed his enjoyment of the proceedings.
Everyone gathered around him and lit the candles sticking precariously out of the upper curve on his gourd-cake, and then the whole party group started singing happy birthday, rather loudly and without any melody whatsoever, but with plenty of enthusiasm nevertheless. At the end of the song, Gaara didn't seem entirely sure what to do and Naruto whispered in his ear that he was supposed to make a wish and blow out the candles. Gaara blinked and then a whoosh of his sand zipped over the tips of the candles, snuffing them all out with a single slash. And not a grain of sand landed on the cake. There was a round of applause and then the cake was cut and everyone dug in.
With so many people around him, Matsuri wasn't totally comfortable with approaching him, so she waited until everyone had calmed down and grouped off into two or three people here or there scattered throughout the room. Once there was just Gaara and Naruto and Temari hovering around the cake, Gaara's expression very similar to the way she had pictured it before, she timidly made her way over to them.
She and Gaara, or Lord Gaara as she called him, had been spending more time together lately, much to her delight and consternation. She had no idea how it had happened, although ever since she became his student they had spent regular time together as he taught her how to be a ninja. After she had become a full-fledged ninja of the sand, they had spent less time together, although he had still trained with her regularly. However, once he became Kazekage, they had barely seen each other at all for months.
She had missed her Sensei deeply, and by that time he was way more to her than just her teacher. At the time, he was really her only friend, though she had made some new friends in the various squads she had been a part of since then. But even more than that, she had harbored a crush on him for the longest time. That crush had slowly grown deeper and deeper as she grew up, and now she knew she was very much in love with the young Kazekage.
She supposed that his workload must have finally calmed down, for him to have sought her out again. But whatever the case, he had, and they had restarted their training sessions, and even hanging out some outside of the training fields. And the more time she spent with him, the more she fell in love with him. But even though they had been spending so much time together lately, and had built a comradery and comfort level while being together, she still couldn't help but sometimes be shy around him. She still found approaching him to be a little difficult at times, due to her shyness.
She eventually made her way over and stood behind him and a little to the side. As always he seemed to sense her presence because he immediately turned and looked at her. She blushed, but smiled up at him and said, "Happy Birthday, Lord Gaara."
His lips curled a little at the corners, which was the Gaara version of a smile, and Matsuri blushed a little pinker. Even that tiny little smile made her feel warm and fuzzy. It was so difficult to get even the tiniest twitch out of his lips, so every time she managed to get one of those teeny tiny grins out of him she felt super accomplished and happy.
"Thank you Matsuri." He said, his voice a little more melodic than usual, showing his happiness. And then he narrowed his eyes at her and she knew what he was going to say next. "And don't call me lord."
She blushed even redder. Lately he had been trying to get her to stop with the titles, but she had always called him something. Before, she had called him 'Gaara Sensei,' and so it was easy for her to translate that habit over to call him 'Lord Gaara.' Although occasionally she would slip up and call him Sensei now and then, which was always very embarrassing.
She cleared her throat, noticing the way Naruto and Temari were eying the two of them. Under their knowing gazes Matsuri began to feel a little self-conscious, and really hoped that her feelings for Gaara weren't as obvious as she felt like they were.
"Um…But you're Kazekage. It wouldn't be proper for me to call you by your first name." She mumbled at Gaara's continued stare.
He sighed. "Perhaps in my office you would be correct, but when it's just us, or when we're among friends, it's fine for you to drop the honorifics."
"Th-thank you, that's good to know." Matsuri stuttered, not entirely sure she was actually capable of just calling him by name. By adding an honorific she was creating a little bit of distance, and she was afraid that if she actually just called him by name it would feel too intimate, and maybe her feelings would be heard in the way she said his name.
She heard a very quiet growl come out of his throat and jumped, not expecting the aggravated sound of an animal to come from him. He sighed and shook his head, obviously exasperated with her, and yet there was affection in his gaze as his eyes met hers.
She felt very hot and shifted uncomfortably, and then decided that maybe it was time for her to go away. She cleared her throat again and shuffled back a step saying, "Well, I don't want to keep you from all the other guests, so…"
"Who are you referring to?" He asked, his head cocked to the side, and she heard that gentle teasing note he often got in his gravelly voice when he was playing with her.
She blinked and glanced around. Both Temari and Naruto had moved off, and at the moment, there were no other guests around the two of them. Oh dear.
"Um…"
He chuckled, the sound low and deep and sending shivers up and down Matsuri's spine in a way that was very pleasurable and somewhat embarrassing. He turned and loaded up a plate of food briskly and efficiently, and then walked towards one of the sitting areas scattered throughout the room. His eyes met hers and there was a clear request within them, the same sort of silent message that he had given her so many times when meeting up with her to train. She followed out of habit and soon found herself seated next to him on a very cushy couch, with a little round table holding up the plate of food in front of them.
After a moment of somewhat awkward silence she noted the large amount of food he had piled onto the plate. He never seemed to eat all that much the few times they had eaten together, and so she was a little surprised.
"Hungry?" She asked, her amusement making it easier for her to start up a conversation.
She glanced over and his eyes caught hers, as they always seemed to do, the intensity of his gaze almost inescapable sometimes. His lips twitched, and he replied, "Yes, but I also thought you may be too."
Matsuri blinked, shocked. "You mean…eat off the same plate?"
"Does that bother you?"
"No! Not at all. Thank you." Matsuri couldn't keep the shy grin off her face, actually really delighted by the little gesture. It seemed very friendly, almost intimate in a way, and that really made Matsuri feel exceptionally happy, almost giddy.
Gaara's eyes widened for a second, perhaps surprised by her enthusiasm, and then softened. After that, the awkwardness seemed to ease between them, and a certain comfortable togetherness that she had grown somewhat accustomed to took over. Matsuri had found that she was growing more and more comfortable with Gaara, the longer she was around him. Usually it was just the first few minutes that her shyness made things awkward.
They visited happily for a while, and then towards the end of the night Temari came over and sat down next to Matsuri. Naruto came over shortly after and practically dragged Gaara away to do something or other. At that point Temari grabbed Matsuri and started hauling her somewhere. She was shocked when they left the building and struck off into the night, soon to be joined by Kankuro. Her protests were quickly silenced by Temari and Kankuro telling her that they were planning a special surprise for Gaara and they wanted her help. She agreed, because there was nothing she wouldn't do for Gaara, and they made their way to the Kazekage tower.
Naruto POV
As Naruto grabbed Gaara and dragged him off, he gave Temari the signal, and then Kankuro when he saw him. They whisked Matsuri out of the party and off to the Kazekage tower. Naruto grinned, keeping Gaara busy for a while.
Along with this party, he had devised another plan for Gaara's birthday. He had seen the way Matsuri and Gaara looked at each other, and though he had a tendency to be stupid sometimes, he had a good nose when it came to sniffing out people's emotions.
He had easily recruited Temari and Kankuro, who had also noticed the way their younger brother felt about a certain someone, and Kankuro in particular had really pushed the envelope on the plan, upping it from a simple scheme to a full on kidnapping venture, with high risk of injury if anything went wrong. What they had planned would work, if everything went smoothly, but if Kankuro messed up and Gaara was able to break their carefully laid plans before the desired outcome had been reached, they all knew the young Kazekage was going to be very angry indeed.
But the danger was worth it, because as long as Kankuro did his job right, Matsuri and Gaara wouldn't have a choice, and hopefully they would be so happy by the end of it, the kidnapping wouldn't be held against the three conspirators.
Or that was the plan according to Naruto.
Matsuri POV
Temari, Kankuro, and Matsuri made their way up to the Kazekage quarters, much to Matsuri's shock. As they came up to the door Matsuri dug in her heels and stopped, not wanting to invade Gaara's personal space. But Temari wasn't having any of it though, and grabbed her, pulling her in despite her protests. And then, as Matsuri was dragged into Gaara's living room and then came to a halt, she watched in shock as Kankuro started to put sealing jutsus all over the room. He put them everywhere, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the living room, and Matsuri began to think that this might be something she didn't want to be a part of.
"Um…I don't think…" Was all she was able to get out before Temari hushed her and dragged her into Gaara's bathroom, which Matsuri wasn't at all sure how to feel about. She was also starting to get really sick and tired of Temari man-handling her.
"Don't worry, Gaara's going to love his surprise. Trust me." Temari chirped and Matsuri relaxed a little. That is, until Temari closed the bathroom door and said, "Strip."
"Wh-what?!" Matsuri yelped, backing away.
"You know, take off your clothes. You can leave your underwear on, but take off your shirt and pants and shoes." Temari continued.
"Uh…why?"
"It's part of the present!"
"How is me being naked a present?!" Matsuri squeaked.
"Oh good god, you are so innocent. Just strip already!" Temari barked, obviously losing her patience.
"No!" Matsuri said, quite firmly, finally getting over her shock, somewhat, and starting to get a little mad.
"Yes!" Temari responded and grabbed her, deftly undoing her jacket and having it off her arms before Matsuri knew what had hit her. She yelped and scrambled against Temari, embarrassed, shocked, shy, and furious, all at once.
"Stop that!"
Temari didn't listen, just wrestled her shirt up over her head, nearly choking her to death with the headband tied around her neck, and potentially breaking her nose in the process. Once the shirt, and her headband, was over her head she gasped and wrapped her hands around her throat, flushing and glaring at Temari. There was a reason she had always worn scarves and her headband around her neck, she had a really big nasty scar on her neck from where she had nearly been killed in the attack that had killed her parents. Temari stared at the scar in horror and shock, even Matsuri's hands unable to totally hide the thing. It was strait across her neck, and was wicked looking with jagged edges. Really that had been the thing that had saved her; the blade had been so rough and crude that it hadn't quite managed to break through to her jugular.
Temari got over her surprise, used to seeing scars on her comrades and got back to business. She probably also didn't want to make Matsuri too uncomfortable by making a big deal out of it. As Temari started back on her, yanking at her clothes again and being a general nuisance, Matsuri quickly got over the shock of having her neck bared, and got herself together enough to fight back. When Temari went for her pants she smacked her hands away with a sharp slap to the wrists.
Temari wasn't deterred in the slightest, and came at her again. Matsuri once again smacked at her, and they ended up having a rather violent scuffle over Matsuri's pants button, which Temari eventually won by just yanking the button off entirely. Her zipper met a similar fate, the tag being yanked down so hard eventually that it came right off.
And then Temari tripped her, grabbed her pants and yanked them down to her thighs so she was left writhing around and somewhat tied up by her own pants as she yelled bloody murder. Then, Temari grabbed one of her feet and started yanking off her shoe. Matsuri managed to yank her foot away and kick the loosened shoe off at Temari. Temari, still totally undaunted, despite the scrapes and bruises she was accumulating, grabbed up Matsuri's other foot, and repeated the process. After that, Temari yanked on the bottoms of Matsuri's pants and dragged them off, dragging Matsuri a good ways too as she refused to give them up.
Eventually though, Temari had gotten Matsuri down to her underwear, which was thankfully just a plain white set, and then she darted over to the door and opened it, which sent Matsuri scrambling for cover. She ended up hiding in the tub as Temari tossed Matsuri's clothes out the bathroom door, where Kankuro snatched them up, and then Temari closed the door again.
"Sheesh, why'd you have to make that so difficult?"
"Well, what would you do if someone started undressing you?" Matsuri responded, utterly infuriated.
"True. Here, put this on." Temari tossed Matsuri a red dress.
She grabbed it and held it out to look at. Really it was more of a slip or a nightgown than a dress. It was super simple, just a red satin shift with a little ruffle at the bottom and it had spaghetti straps. Matsuri sighed and put it on, knowing she wasn't going to get her clothes back. She had no idea what these two were up to, but it gave her a really bad feeling that they were forcing her into another set of clothes.
When she stood the red dress only reached her upper-thigh and Matsuri scowled, not liking the amount of exposed leg. Temari beckoned her over and Matsuri grudgingly went, pretty sure there was nothing else Temari could do to her. Temari produced a long white satin ribbon and tied it around Matsuri's waist. Matsuri twisted her head and watched over her shoulder as Temari made a big beautiful bow in the back. Then she produced four red satin ribbons and tied each one to one of Matsuri's wrists and ankles, tying big decorative bows on all of them. She tied another red ribbon around Matsuri's neck, which substantially eased her anxiety about having her scar exposed.
Matsuri was beginning to feel like Temari was trussing her up like a present, and she wasn't at all sure what to think about that, but she was starting to get really, really nervous.
Temari pulled out a tiny scroll and attached it to Matsuri's wrist with the ribbon saying, "Don't open this yet."
Matsui blinked down at the little scroll, not sure what the purpose of it was. "Okaaaay." She mumbled.
Then Temari opened the bathroom door and ushered her out into Gaara's bedroom, which made Matsuri blush when she remembered exactly where she was. Kankuro trotted into the room, looked her up and down, and said, "Very nice Temari, if that doesn't get him…"
Temari hushed him, but Matsuri had heard enough. She made a break for it, but between Temari and Kankuro she was grabbed and they frog marched her over to what looked to be some sort of really huge gift box. They lifted her up and dropped her in. Thankfully the inside was filled with stuffing material and pillows and shit, so it was super comfy, but it was definitely not where she wanted to be.
But before she could orient herself to try and climb back out, the top of the box was being snapped shut and tied.
"Hey! Just what do you think you guys are doing!? Let me out of here! I really hope what I think you're thinking isn't what you're thinking, because if it is, then you're wrong!" Matsuri yelled, banging on the inside of the box.
"Don't worry Matsuri, Gaara will be here soon to let you out." Kankuro called and she heard some supposedly comforting pats land on the top of the box.
"THAT'S WHAT I'M WORRIED ABOUT!" Matsuri yelled.
They ignored her and she heard them walk off.
Matsuri was stuck. No matter how she tried to break out of the box she just couldn't. It was pretty damn sturdy for a gift box. Eventually she just gave up and lay back in the soft stuffing surrounding her. She groaned and covered her eyes, preparing herself as best she could for the humiliation she knew was coming. All she could figure, was that Kankuro and Temari were playing some sort of stupid prank on their brother, but she really wished they hadn't used her. Although, she wouldn't have wanted them to shove any other somewhat indecently clothed women into Gaara's bedroom either, come to think of it.
As she waited, Matsuri got more and more anxious and embarrassed, shifting restlessly in her little space, which was becoming increasingly stuffy. She didn't have to wait long, and she wasn't sure that made her happy, or really not happy. After just a few minutes she heard the sound of the door opening, and then the sound of Gaara's voice.
Gaara POV
He had no idea why Naruto insisted on walking with him back to his apartment, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed visiting with his friend on the way back, even though Naruto seemed a tad distracted. Although, when they arrived, he sensed people in his apartments and tensed, immediately on guard.
Naruto noticed and slapped a hand on his back saying, "I arranged to have Kankuro and Temari set up a little birthday surprise for you in your room! I hope you don't mind!" His voice was very excited and happy, which immediately put Gaara at ease and spiked his curiosity.
"Oh really?" He said, keeping his voice mild, but unable to entirely keep the intense intrigue out of his tone.
Temari and Kankuro walked out of his room, and he was mildly alarmed by Temari's bedraggled appearance. She had a swollen lip and one of her ponytails was almost entirely undone. She had all kinds of scrapes and bruises along her arms, and frankly she looked like she had been in a fight.
"What happened, Temari?" He asked, immediately concerned.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all. Just got into a little argument. Nothing to worry about." She said dismissively.
He wasn't entirely convinced, but they were all obviously waiting him to go into his apartment to see his surprise, so he stepped into the open doorway, despite the slight sense of foreboding he was starting to get. That instinct was proven right when the doors slammed shut behind him and he whirled around, shocked. He was even more shocked when he felt the distinct feeling of a sealing jutsu being done on the other side of the door, which shone briefly and then went back to normal.
And then he realized that there were sealing jutsus all over the room. The kind that could only be undone by the person who made them. He was good and truly locked into his quarters, and he had no idea why.
He yelled, "What is going on?!" Just a tad irritated now.
"We've arranged for you to have a few days off!" Temari yelled back through the door.
"And you're not getting out of your rooms until you've thoroughly enjoyed your present!" Kankuro added, and then Gaara heard the distinct sound of Temari whapping him upside the head and scolding him.
"Happy Birthday! I'm sure you're really gonna like your present!" Naruto added.
And then he heard them all walk off. He was bemused, but not necessarily opposed to the idea of a few days off. Although, he was a little pissed by the manner in which they had gone about it. He then checked the fridge, and it had been stocked with enough food for several days. After that, he went into his room and noticed the huge box. It was a huge present, all wrapped up with a big bow on top.
He had absolutely no idea how he should react to the thing. It actually made him a little nervous for some reason, probably due to the unusual size, but his curiosity was also peaked. He slowly walked towards it, and gingerly reached out to untie the ribbon on top.
Matsuri POV
Matsuri could hear his footsteps coming closer and closer, and snuggled down into the padding, pulling some of it up over her to try and hide. In fact, she burrowed down as far as she could, and huddled in a ball, doing her very best to try and be invisible. She didn't know what Kankuro and Temari were thinking, making her into some kind of present like this, but she thought it was utterly ridiculous.
She flinched when she heard the box being touched, the unmistakable sound of a ribbon being untied making its way down through the warm stuffy darkness. She shivered and then froze as she felt the box being opened, and some light filtered down through all the padding she had managed to pile on top of her.
"What the…? What is this?" Matsuri heard Gaara murmur.
She felt stuffing being moved around, and then his hand touched her back and they both gasped. He jerked his hand back and Matsuri flinched. After a moment she felt the stuffing being moved around some more, and felt part of her knee and upper thigh be exposed, based on the cooler air. Well, there's no use hiding now, she supposed. If she made him dig her out, he was going to see a lot more of her than she wanted him too, since her dress had hiked up somewhere around her hips.
She shifted, shoved some of the stuffing back over her thigh and sat up. The top of her head poked out, and then slowly rose up until just her eyes were peeking out over the stuffing. She peered out of the stuffing and the box at Gaara, whose eyes were wide and shocked and his mouth was open. Matsuri didn't think she'd ever seen him look quite so shocked. And he was blushing.
She flushed, his blush making her feel very strange inside, kind of warm and gooey.
She poked her hand out, the one with the scroll, and whispered, "I have no idea what's going on. I was just sort of shoved in here with no explanation. But Temari tied this scroll to me and said not to open it, so…maybe it'll tell us something."
His eyes looked down at the hand and he very gently untied the scroll from her wrist, his fingers brushing against her skin as he did so. Matsuri shivered and ducked her head down even more into the stuffing, her face super red now.
She peeked and watched as Gaara read the scroll, his eyes widening impossibly and then narrowing with aggravation and then fury.
He growled. And then rolled it up and handed it back to her. She took it, and supposed that he wanted her to read it. So she did. She sat up a bit so her head poked out from the stuffing entirely now and sat back to read it.
It said:
"Happy Birthday!
We all know how much you love each other and we're sick of your pussyfooting around
So this is your birthday present Gaara
You can't come out until you've admitted your love for each other!"
And then in separate handwriting, that looked suspiciously like Kankuro's it said:
"That means sex!"
Matsuri gaped at it, her eyes wide and glassy, unable to comprehend what it was telling her. Surely they don't mean…oh hell; this is Naruto and Kankuro we're talking about. Of course they mean it.
And they could do it too. And as the Kazekage's siblings no one would question that Gaara was taking the time off. In fact, if push came to shove, she suspected Kankuro could even make a substitute for Gaara with one of his puppets. She had seen him make a perfect double of himself before, and of other people.
So they could be stuck here for a while.
And then she blushed, harder than she'd ever blushed before. I'm a virgin goddammit! What the heck?! And what do they know anyways? What makes them think Gaara loves me? They had pinned her down pat, but she highly doubted they were right about Gaara. Sure, they had been spending more time together lately, and he had even been training with her relatively regularly. But she was convinced that he only saw her as his student, and maybe his friend. Maybe. That was the most she could hope for. And he was so busy, and not exactly talkative, that it was difficult to even determine that much.
Matsuri dropped the paper and sighed, really not sure what to do about it. Eventually she said, very softly, totally embarrassed, and unable to come up with anything better, "I'm sorry. If I had known they were going to try to force me on you, I would have fought them harder."
"Force you on me? I hardly mind that. But I despise the fact that they forced you to be here against your will." Gaara responded, sounding very cranky indeed.
Matsuri blinked, trying to figure out what he meant by that. She supposed that he meant he didn't mind her being here, which made her feel all warm and fuzzy and happy. The fact that he was up in arms over the fact that they had forced her, and not the fact that she was here, helped her to relax some. One of her chief concerns had been that he would be mad at her, or upset at the invasion of his privacy.
"Well, I got Temari a couple of times for it. And I was planning on challenging her to a dual when we get out of here. So don't worry about me." Matsuri grumbled, reminded of just how pissed off she was, at Temari in particular.
Gaara blinked, looking a little surprised, and then chuckled, making her heart pound. "Why Temari exactly?"
"She's the one that forced me into this dress." She grumbled, still really peeved about it.
Gaara sobered up really quickly. "She did what now?" He asked, sounding rather angry again.
"She yanked my clothes off and then gave me this to wear! See?!" Matsuri said and got over her shyness, it wasn't like the dress was exactly indecent or anything, just a lot shorter than she was comfortable with, and she stood with a huff. Her hands first grabbed the edge of the box to pull herself up and then went to her hips in aggravation. She glared down at the dress, which was clinging to her in a way she didn't like, thanks to the stuffing and satin mixture. She was now all staticky, and pinched some of the material between her fingers, pulling it away from her skin with a series of audible pops. She grimaced.
Gaara meanwhile, was staring at her, his lips parted on a gasp, his eyes wide, and a flush starting up on his cheeks. She glanced up to see his utterly shocked expression and naturally misinterpreted it. She blushed and asked timidly, "Wow, does it really look that bad?"
Gaara swiftly shook his head, schooling his features back to normal. "You look lovely." He said, just a tad roughly.
Matsuri blinked, surprised. She wasn't sure whether she believed him, but the complement still had her blushing like mad.
Then she awkwardly attempted to get out of the box, putting her hands on the side and pushing up, but it was a little too tall, and she'd have to hike up a leg to clamber out. Suddenly a gentle band of sand snaked around her waist and she gasped, shocked. She had never come into direct contact with Gaara's infamous sand before, but it didn't frighten her in the least. If anything she found herself blushing, again.
She was delicately lifted out of the box, her skirt riding up as the sand took her weight over the slick material. She was set down on her feet on the ground and she quickly tugged her skirt back down to her thighs. It crackled and popped with static electricity against her skin.
"Thank you, Lord Gaara." She murmured.
He rumbled. "Even in my bedroom you call me 'Lord Gaara'?" He asked, sounding exasperated.
She gasped and her eyes flew up to meet his. The way he had worded that was so suggestive, even though she knew he didn't mean it that way, and she flushed bright red. "It's a habit!" She squeaked.
"Habits can be broken." He said, his voice a little too deep and his eyes narrowing.
"Um…y-yes. I suppose so." She stuttered.
His eyes tightened, just a little. "Do I frighten you?"
She blinked. "No." She answered honestly. She wasn't afraid of him, she was just really shy and embarrassed by the situation. And she was usually shy around him due to her feelings.
"Then why do you always act so timid and afraid around me?" He asked, sounding as if he didn't entirely believe her.
"I-I…I'm not afraid of you, Lor…" She stopped herself before she said 'Lord Gaara' at the sharp look he gave her. "Ehm. Gaa-ra." She tripped over the middle part of his name, but otherwise she was pretty proud of herself for saying it. But it was as she'd feared, it felt way too intimate coming out of her mouth without the honorific, and she had felt the way it changed the way she said it. It had definitely rolled off her tongue in a different way and sounded softer, even despite the choking up in the middle. She flushed, her eyes darting off to the side, missing his eyes widening and the flush that pinkened his cheeks.
She cleared her throat and attempted to finish her sentence. "I'm just shy. That's all." She managed to mumble, blushing at the admission. She brought a hand up to her cheek and felt the heat radiating. She sighed, really tired of blushing all the time. Her shyness and easy blushes drove her nuts. "See? Now I'm blushing." She grumbled a little, aware that she was pouting and unable to stop it.
Gaara chuckled, which drew her gaze back to him in surprise. "I like it when you blush." He murmured.
She gaped at him, and of course, blushed. She had absolutely nothing to say to that, and had no idea why he would even say it in the first place. All she could come up with after a few minutes was, "Buh-why?"
He shrugged, chuckling yet again at her garbled response, and said, "It's cute."
She turned bright tomato red and she squeaked, "Eh?!" totally not expecting that.
His eyes glittered with mirth as he took in her beyond pink face, and the way it was slowly crawling down her neck.
After a few awkward moments, for Matsuri at least, she shuffled back and forth, deciding that there wasn't anything more to say about that, and determined to change the subject. "…uh…so…what now?" She said, her voice a little unsteady, but impressively clear, considering how she wanted to mumble and whisper.
Gaara blinked, and then sighed, his eyes shifting to the side for a moment as he thought about it. "I suppose that depends."
"On?" Matsuri prompted him after a lengthy pause.
"On how we feel about each other." He said matter-of-factly.
"Oh? How so?" She managed weakly, after she got over her shock.
"If we do in fact feel romantically towards each other, as they suggested in that note, then we could pursue one course of action. If…that is not the case, then we could do something else."
She gaped at him, her mind all confused and jumbled up and making no sense whatsoever, because the way he worded it, it sounded like he might also have feelings for her. This was such a delicate situation, if she was wrong, she could potentially jeopardize their previous teacher/student bond, and their current relationship, which she had hoped was turning into a friendship.
But…he said 'if we love each other,' and that means that he thinks that's a possibility, and he knows how he feels, he just doesn't know how I feel, so for him to think it's a possibility means that his part of the equation has to be fulfilled, which means he loves me, right? Matsuri's head started to hurt.
It didn't help that he was watching her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.
"W-well…if we did…have uh…feelings…for each other, how would we know? I mean, if…a person has feelings for someone else, they won't necessarily want to say anything for fear of being rejected." She finally managed to stutter, her face flushing as was usual.
"We would simply have to tell each other." He stated, once again in his matter-of-fact way.
"B-but…"
He heaved a sigh. "Matsuri, if all you feel for me is friendship, please tell me."
"I-I…uh…" She swallowed thickly, and then managed to whisper very softly, "N-no. Not just…friendship." Her face was bright red and she was having a very difficult time meeting his eyes.
She heard him exhale loudly, and she flinched, unsure if it was out of relief or aggravation, until he said, "Thank god for that."
She gasped and her eyes flew to his, hoping that meant that he also felt something for her. "Does that mean…?"
He blinked at her, his eyes shining, and then he took the two big steps necessary to close the distance between them. Matsuri yelped, surprised by the sudden move, and then jumped when his hand was suddenly on her face, cupping the side of her cheek.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you…" He whispered, his face and body closer to her than it had ever been before. Their noses were almost brushing against each other now, and she stared wide-eyed up into his pale eyes, which were even more beautiful up close like this.
"I…uh…no problem." She managed to squeak.
She was hyperventilating and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Her mind had gone numb with shock, her lungs felt like they were on fire, her heart was pounding like a wild animal was stuck in her chest, and her whole body felt feverish. She was intensely excited, unbelievably surprised, completely in love, nervous as hell, and simply didn't know what to do with herself. So she just stood there, trembling, his hand cupping her cheek and his nose brushing hers, as she stared up into his eyes feeling like she was caught in his gaze just as securely as a piece of metal caught by a magnet.
He nuzzled his nose against hers and she blinked, shivering at just that tiny touch. She was unable to return the caress, simply because she was stiff with shock.
And then he whispered, "May I kiss you?" and Matsuri's eyes widened.
She managed a tiny nod, her heart thundering in her ears, and Gaara closed the distance between them. Even though she expected it, she gasped when she felt his lips brush against hers, so lightly that she barely felt them at all. He pulled away, barely a hairsbreadth and then groaned and pressed his lips to hers again, this time a little more firmly.
Her eyes fluttered closed, her brain stopping all higher function and just focusing on sensation, as his lips very tentatively moved against hers. It took her a few seconds to get up the courage to respond, to also move her lips and kiss him back. But when she did, she was rewarded by a tiny sound from Gaara's throat and by his lips becoming a little more active. It was a little awkward, neither of them knew what to do exactly, and Matsuri found herself amazingly aware of all the tiny little muscles in her lips, and just how many subtle ways she could move them. It was like speaking almost, like they were whispering into each other's mouths, minus the whispering.
It started out innocently, almost fumbling just a little, their lips brushing against each other and then pulling apart, lingering longer each time their lips touched, and Matsuri was amazed by how soft it felt to have another pair of lips on hers. But the longer their lips were in contact, the more contact she seemed to want, the teasing, gentle brushes not quite enough anymore. And it seemed that Gaara was experiencing something similar, judging by the way he wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her against him.
Matsuri found herself wrapping one of her arms around his neck, without any real conscious decision to do so, her other hand touched his side, under the arm that was still raised for his hand to cup her cheek. His arm pulled her flush up against his body and she squeaked into the kiss, flushing. His lips pressed to hers more insistently now, and she found herself panting, and quickly discovered she needed to breathe through her nose while kissing, otherwise she would pass out. Even so, some of their panted breaths mingled inside their mouths, passing between their lips and making the kiss more humid.
The longer they kissed, the wider the range of motions their lips performed, and she found her lips parting more and more against his, the damp inner parts of their lips coming into contact and making the kiss decidedly more moist. Matsuri felt feverish, her body so warm now that she shivered, and she panted, running out of air in her excitement.
Gaara POV
He was starting to lose control, and that was not a good thing. To finally have her in his arms, her body pressed up against his, it was doing things to him that was making rational thought rather tedious and difficult. He had wanted this for a long time now, long enough that the actuality of it was making him giddy and dizzy.
Matsuri and he had formed a rather special bond right away, as student and teacher, compounded by the fact that she was the first person, outside of his own family, to accept him without reservation. At her first decisive request to "please teach me," he had become mildly obsessed with her. Although he had kept his distance, and kept their relationship to strictly student and teacher during that time, he slowly grew more and more attached to her, emotionally, and though at first he didn't recognize the warmth growing in his chest, or the way he wanted to be around her more and more, the feelings continued to grow.
When she had finally become a full-fledged ninja of the Sand, he had relaxed his boundaries some, finally feeling that he could pursue something more than just a working relationship with her. He hadn't known exactly what it was that he wanted to pursue, in terms of a relationship, or even how to go about cultivating something of that nature, so he had settled for simply continuing their training sessions, while at the same time attempting to increase their contact beyond that. He had been able to visit with her often outside of the field by seeking her out on a regular basis, and it had seemed that her shyness slowly changed as she grew more and more comfortable with him.
That had all stopped when he became Kazekage, as his workload was immediately insane and he spent all waking hours of the day, all 24 of them, in his office, sorting through the mess the council had left him to deal with. It took months of hard work, but eventually he had gotten to the point that he could once again pursue Matsuri. During those months of hard work he had missed her desperately, missed their training sessions, and missed the easy way they had grown to relate to one another, missed seeing her and talking to her, and just being with her. And so, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he immediately began to seek her out again, on both the training fields and in more friendly environments. He had done his very best to help her to be comfortable with him again, since the separation and his new title seemed to have scared her off somewhat, and after a while it had felt like they had grown closer, even meeting for lunch or dinner now and again.
And the more time he spent with her, the more he had realized that his feelings had deepened into something new, something he hadn't really ever felt before, or had a name for. He only knew that she was precious to him, and that he wanted to be with her as much as possible. It had taken a while for him to realize the truth…that he had fallen in love with her.
Apparently his feelings had been more obvious to his friend Naruto and his siblings than they were to himself, for them to have set this whole thing up. He was still a tad pissed at them for forcing Matsuri into such an uncomfortable situation, but overall, he was growing to appreciate the plan more and more, especially now that she was in his arms, kissing him with an enthusiasm that had his head spinning and other body parts doing things they really shouldn't be doing at the moment. It was making it very difficult for him to stop, and he knew that he had to stop, because they needed to discuss their situation. He highly doubted Matsuri was ready, right off the cuff like this, to go to bed with him, as that scroll had demanded they do. He honestly didn't know what her feelings were exactly, other than she liked him as more than a friend, and apparently really loved his kisses.
So he forced himself to pull his lips from hers, even though that was the last thing he really wanted to do at the moment.
Matsuri POV
After a long moment, in which time ceased to matter or even exist, Gaara pulled back a tad, ending the kiss, and she was left breathing heavily, flushed, and rather excited in ways she wasn't sure she was completely comfortable with. She opened her eyes, confused why he had stopped, and was immediately ensnared by his intense gaze, the normally almost invisible pupils huge and dark in his pale eyes.
She blinked, licked her still tingly lips, and stared up at him questioningly, unable to really get words to her mouth since her brain hadn't kicked back into gear yet.
Gaara sighed and said, his voice a bit more gravelly than usual and pitched lower, "We should discuss our situation before we…continue."
Matsuri flushed at the implied suggestion, realizing that if he hadn't stopped, she wasn't entirely sure she would have either, although she supposed that certain things probably would have snapped her out of the passionate daze she had sunk into. She cleared her throat and managed, "…uh…right. Good idea."
He released her and stepped back, but reached out to lightly touch her hand, almost as if he was asking to hold her hand. She flipped her palm over and let him link his fingers through hers, and he gently led her out of his bedroom, which was probably a good idea, and sat down on the couch, tugging at her hand to suggest she sit next to him.
He turned his body to face her, and she did the same, as he started the conversation. "As far as I can tell, we are stuck here. The jutsus that Kankuro placed around the rooms can't be undone, by anyone but him."
"So that means that we can't leave until he feels like letting us out."
"Exactly."
Matsuri sighed and glanced at the door, slightly irritated by the bossy way Kankuro had gone about this, whatever this was. It was at that point that she noticed a piece of paper that had been shoved under the door that certainly hadn't been there previously. She blinked, got up off the couch, walked over to the door, and bent, very carefully, to pick it up and bring it back to the couch.
"I think someone shoved this under your door. Maybe it has to do with the prank Temari, Kankuro, and Naruto pulled." She said while handing it to Gaara.
He unfolded it and glanced over the contents, his non-brows crunching up a bit on his forehead. "It says that…well, perhaps you should read it yourself." He grimaced and handed it to her.
She grabbed it gingerly, remembering the contents of the last piece of paper he had handed to her, and took a look somewhat hesitantly. It said:
"Oh and by the way, there's a jutsu on the bed that will unlock the sealing jutsu on the door when you guys finally do it. That's the only way you're getting out of there. Have fun!"
Matsuri blinked, re-read it, and then blinked again. Her face flushed ten shades of progressively hotter red, so that by the third read, she was a fiery tomato. "C-can he do that? Is that even possible?" She sputtered, shocked by the jutsu that was described.
Gaara shrugged. "I've heard of jutsu like it before, but never used in this particular context."
"Oh dear." Matsuri murmured weakly, seeing no way out besides the obvious.
"Hm." Gaara made that particular small huff/hum that he often used instead of speech.
"So what do we do?" Matsuri asked, feeling super overwhelmed.
"I'm not going to force you, no matter what that or the scroll says. It's your decision what we do. If you don't want to…go to bed with me, then we could try outwaiting them. Knowing Kankuro, he'll probably lose patience relatively quickly." Gaara rumbled.
She blinked, realizing that he had essentially said that he was fine with having sex. She flushed at the thought. Of course, she wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea herself, it was just very overwhelming and made her extremely shy and embarrassed and nervous to think about it. Her feelings for him were so intense, and had been that way for so long, that the notion that he was okay with being with her, in that way, made her feel all feverish again. She very much wanted that, had fantasized about it countless times at night while she touched herself, which was something she would never own up to of course, but still, now that it was a distinct possibility she found her body heating up and getting aroused. That only made her situation more uncomfortable though, because now she had to deal with a distinct sensation of warmth and wetness that made her feel like she needed a change of underwear.
She shifted, still thinking about it. Yes, she definitely wanted to have sex with him. But on the other hand, she loved him, so of course she wanted to have sex, yet she still didn't know how he felt, aside from apparently he liked her, and had wanted to kiss her, and was okay with the idea of having sex. Perhaps she was overthinking things, but she simply wasn't comfortable with the idea of just having sex without knowing that he at least cared for her. And then there was the other complication, the fact that she was a virgin, and a blushing virgin at that. Her shy factor in this area was through the roof, and the idea of everything that went into having sex, getting naked, touching, pleasure, and him being inside her, overwhelmed her just to think about. She honestly didn't know if she could go through with it, no matter how much she wanted to, her shyness and embarrassment was crippling.
Eventually, after a few minutes of thinking about it, she realized that Gaara was still patiently waiting for an answer. She licked her lips, cleared her throat, accomplished blushing preemptively, and said, "It's a little sudden, and overwhelming. I need more time to think about it."
Gaara nodded, seeming perfectly fine with her answer. "We have plenty of time."
"Oh good." Matsuri sighed, relieved. And then after a moments pause, she added, "So now what?"
Gaara shrugged. "I don't know."
Matsuri gasped, finally comfortable enough now to tease him a little. "The great Lord Kazekage doesn't know what to do?!"
He blinked, surprised by her joke. She had teased him before, when they were comfortable like this, but it hadn't happened that often, and she was rather surprised herself, given just how shy she was a while ago. But she supposed that the intensity of everything, and the fact that they had had to just discuss sex, had actually put everything else into perspective. And now that she didn't feel pressured about it, she actually felt quite relaxed.
His lips twitched and he replied, "This isn't in my job description."
She giggled, amused and delighted that he was playing along. "So being locked in your apartment doesn't happen a lot as Kazekage?"
He said very simply, "No."
They chatted lightly for a while, enjoying each other's company. Matsuri shifted, and the damn dress crackled and popped with static electricity, but overall it was rather comfortable. She relaxed back into the couch, tilting her head to rest against the back, and looked up at the ceiling.
After a few moments of silence, in which Matsuri thought about their predicament, she said softly, "Do you think they got it right?"
"Hm?"
"The note. It said, 'we know how much you love each other.'"
There was a long pause. "That depends on you."
Matsuri sucked in her breath. He hadn't said it word for word, but he had basically admitted that they got him right, if it depended on her. Which means…he does love me. She swallowed the lump in her throat, finding it really difficult to believe. He'd never really given any indication that he felt anything for her. Although, if she thought about it, he always seemed to be exceptionally happy in his quiet Gaara way when he saw her, and he had been seeking her out more and more lately. And his eyes always seemed just a little softer when they looked at her, but she had always written that off as affection for his student or something. But maybe…
She sucked in a deep breath, her heart beginning to pound. The only way to resolve this, once and for all, was for one of them to go ahead and just say it, point blank. He hadn't said it, but he might as well have. She flushed, trying to get her courage up to tell him her feelings, but her shyness and the nerves running through her body were making it difficult.
She cleared her throat, and managed to murmur very softly, "I…I do…I mean…yes. I do…love you." And then she bit her lips, her cheeks heating up in an intense blush. Her heart was pounding like mad at the admission, and she waited with baited breath for his response.
He sucked in his breath and she felt him jerk and sit ramrod straight beside her. She tilted her head to the side, just enough to peek at him from beneath her lashes to determine if he was mad or upset, or anything like that. What she saw had her head popping off the back of the couch, her eyes wide.
He was wide-eyed, and blinking fast and more often than she thought she'd ever seen him blink in a whole day. After a moment his blinking calmed down some, and moisture gathered in his eyes. She was completely and utterly shocked when a few tears slid down his cheeks. It was at that moment that she realized this might be the first time anyone had actually said the words, 'I love you' to him. She knew that his siblings loved him, that was obvious, but she highly doubted that they ever actually said it. And with his history, and the meaning of the scar above his left eye, it made sense why he was having such a strong reaction to the words. He had told her briefly about his uncle and how he had been told to love only himself when she first became his student and he was explaining why he used his weapons to protect people. That was after she had shared her own painful past with him, how her parents had been killed right in front of her.
His hand rose and cupped her cheek, and she could feel his palm trembling, just a little, as he sucked in his breath and blinked. His eyes were so soft, so devastatingly tender, that she found herself mesmerized, lost within the pale turquoise depths. He leaned forward, and touched his forehead to hers, a shuddering sigh coming from his deep within his chest.
She pulled away a little bit and tilted her head up to kiss him on the forehead, right over his scar, and his breath stuttered a second. His other hand came up and cupped her other cheek, bracketing her face now as he pulled back and looked her in the eye, his eyes intense as he searched hers. His gaze was intense, and yet gentle, and sweet, and conveyed the emotion she had just voiced, so clearly that he didn't need to say the words.
Even so, any lingering doubt was laid to rest as he said very clearly, "And I love you Matsuri, so very, very much."
It was her turn to gasp, and her cheeks flooded with warmth, this time more from pleasure than embarrassment. Heat bloomed in her chest, and it felt like her heart was pumping fire through her veins instead of blood. The love she felt for him in that moment burned so brightly within her that it very nearly hurt, her chest aching with fullness. She shivered, and then her lips molded to his as he brought his mouth down on hers.
This kiss was so full of their emotions, the gentleness and care with which he moved his lips against hers, easily saying how much he loved her without a word being whispered. And her lips responded to his, matching the luxurious strokes and delicate movements of the slow tender kiss, everything about it unhurried and meant to convey all their emotions strait from one mouth to another.
The kiss gradually deepened, as their lips parted more and more against each other, fitting together better and able to use a wider range of motions. As it grew wetter, it grew hotter and more arousing, the tenderness giving way for mounting need. The gentle love from before changed into the more urgent side of love and passion. And as their passion increased, the urgency of the kiss intensified.
At the first touch of his tongue to her lips she jumped, not expecting it and not entirely sure why it had happened in the first place. The kiss stalled for a moment, as his tongue glided along her bottom lip and along the seam of her lips, almost as if he was seeking entry. That seemed a little gross to Matsuri, but she faintly remembered something one of her girlfriends had said, about some sort of kissing involving tongues, so she supposed that Gaara was trying to initiate that kind of kissing. It frankly seemed a little unsanitary to her, but she decided to give it a try.
She very hesitantly parted her lips, just a little to see if that was what he wanted, and his lips pressed more snugly to hers as the tip of his tongue took advantage of the small opening. Encouraged by his response she parted her lips a little more, and that allowed his tongue to slide fully into her mouth. She didn't really know what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't that, and a tiny muffled yelp came from her throat. What was really shocking was the way his tongue sought out hers, stroking against it with an exceptionally surprising silky press of his tongue. It was slippery, and little bit gross at first, but that was almost immediately forgotten when the heat and wetness of the kiss, and the smooth glide of his tongue against hers became more pleasurable than icky.
His tongue withdrew, his lips moving against hers again, and then his tongue joined in the rhythm of the kiss, sliding in and out of her mouth in conjunction with his lips gliding moving against her, and the movement of his tongue was so suggestive of something else that it made her flush all the way down her neck. After a few passes, she regained some sense and resolved to respond. The next time his tongue stroked into her mouth she actively met it with her own, and that opened up a whole new world of kissing possibilities, and soon their mouths were moving against each other almost feverishly, their tongues engaged in a dance along with the sensation of lips against lips, and the kiss turned into a brand new language.
This level of intensity in their kiss soon had Matsuri much too excited, and she pressed closer to him, rising up onto her knees on the couch. Gaara's hands left her face and grabbed her hips instead, making Matsuri gasp against his mouth as he lifted her and brought her into his lap. Her knees took her weight where they rested on either side of him now, and she sat on his thighs. Their lips sealed back together, and Matsuri's hands buried themselves in his hair. They kissed for another long moment and then Gaara moved forward on the couch, sitting on the edge now, in a move that had their teeth clacking together.
His hands tightened on her hips and pulled her forward, until she was snug against him. She gasped, her thighs tightening on his hips as a certain part of her came into contact with a certain, very hard, part of him. All she had on to cover the junction of her thighs was a pair of underwear, so she could very distinctly feel the rather stiff fabric of his pants, and she could feel his even stiffer coat against her thighs and knees. But the fabric wasn't really what she was paying attention to; it was the bulge underneath it that had her freezing in place, a surprised sound coming out of her throat a bit loudly.
She flushed, shocked by the moan that had been pulled out of her without her permission, and tried to pull back. All she managed to do was dislodge his lips, and they moved down her neck instead, kissing and sucking and occasionally nibbling and licking against the sensitive skin there. When he got to the ribbon he gripped the end with his teeth and pulled, the bow coming undone, and then he delicately bit another portion, pulling it off her. She let him, even though it made her a little shy and feel very self-conscious.
When the ribbon came off and her scar was exposed, he drew back a second, his wide eyes taking it in. It was pretty self-explanatory, obviously she had had an attempt at her life, with a very crude sword of some sort. And he stared at it for a long moment, his eyes growing hard and pained.
"Is whoever made this still alive?" He asked, a particularly dark sounding growl in his voice.
Matsuri blinked, collecting her thoughts enough to murmur, "I would imagine so."
He snarled, "Not for much longer he isn't…" and his lips pressed right over her scar. In contrast to the fiercely spoken threat, his lips were devastatingly gentle against the painful reminder.
She gasped, both at the words and the sensation of him kissing her there, and she trembled as he pressed his lips to her, mapping out her entire scar with a tenderness that showed just how grateful he was that she had survived. Then his lips dipped lower and his hands slid upwards at the same time, and she jerked as his hands slid up underneath her dress now, stroking the bare skin of her waist. His kisses landed on her collarbone and she jumped when he nipped her sharply there and then sucked to leave a mark. A small sound was drawn from her, which once naturally made her blush brilliantly, and so he did it again.
This was quickly going in the direction it needed to go to free them from the room, but she still wasn't quite ready for that yet. She needed just a little more time to acclimate herself to the idea, since it was still such a new and foreign a concept. She would imagine that she might be ready within the next day or so, but not just yet.
She shivered and tugged on his hair to get his attention. His head came up and his eyes met hers questioningly. She swallowed and said, a bit huskily, "I'm not quite ready to…go all the way yet. Which is where this seems to be going. I just need a little more time to adjust to the idea, I mean, this has all been so sudden…I'll probably be ready in a day or two…but…"
Gaara's eyes lit up, apparently he had thought she might not want to do that at all, and he nodded, his lips going right back to her throat.
She huffed and then sighed and then groaned, "Gaara…?! What are you doing?"
"Can I still kiss you?" He asked, his words somewhat muffled against the skin of her shoulder.
She shivered as his tongue licked her there. "W-well, yes…but…won't that make it more difficult to stop?"
"Perhaps." He mumbled into the dip at the base of her throat.
He did withdraw his hands from beneath her dress though, and repositioned them over the satin, but then his hands slid down and over her thighs, stroking her there. Which wasn't helping her to calm down at all. At this point she was sure she had probably soaked through her underwear and was going to leave an embarrassing wet spot on his pants, but she kind of didn't care at the moment.
After a good thirty more minutes of him kissing her neck and shoulders and upper chest and then going back to her lips, and of his stroking her thighs and her arms and her back and sides over her dress, she was squirming on his lap and having a very difficult time remembering why she had said no to anything more than that. Eventually he sighed, and stopped kissing her, just wrapping his arms around her and hugging her to him. She went with it, leaning her head against his shoulder and catching her breath. After a while she calmed a little and enjoyed just cuddling with him like this.
Later that night
After snuggling for a while and then visiting, they ate some of the food that had been thoughtfully stocked in the fridge for them, and then visited some more. It had already been evening when Matsuri had made her way to the Kazekage tower with Gaara's siblings. So by this point, it was late at night, and Matsuri began to feel the weight of exhaustion pulling at her eyelids and she started to yawn.
Gaara chuckled after the tenth time she yawned within five minutes and he said, "You should go to bed, it's late."
She blinked, "Okay." And then she yawned again. She chuckled and continued, "I guess I am pretty tired. I'll bunk on the couch."
"You take the bed. I don't need it. After all, I don't sleep." Gaara murmured.
"Oh. Uh…" She glanced towards the huge bed from where she could see it through the doorway to his bedroom. She didn't feel comfortable taking over his bed, and it was a massive bed, so maybe they could both use it. She flushed, thinking about it. Considering the fact that they would probably be doing stuff on that bed within the next day or so, it seemed silly to be shy about just sleeping with him.
"W-well, it's kind of a big bed…" Matsuri started, her face flushing bright red. "So…if you wanted to…you know…uh…well…" She trailed of her face super-hot.
Gaara blinked, looking a little shocked, his eyes widening just a smidge and glittering with excitement. "Are you suggesting that we share the bed?" He clarified mildly, in a carefully moderate tone so as not to scare her probably.
She nodded, glancing away and blushing even hotter.
"Certainly. If you're comfortable with that, then I would very much like to sleep with you." Gaara rumbled.
Matsuri was still blushing, of course, and she fanned her face with her hand to try and take away some of the heat. She did her best to ignore it though and turned to him, smiling happily, even despite her shyness. She may be shy and embarrassed, but she was still ecstatic and giddy about everything, finally being with Gaara made her feel like she was in a dream.
After a few awkward moments they made their way into the bedroom. Matsuri went into the bathroom and hesitantly used Gaara's toothbrush in her night routine. After she was done getting ready for bed she scooted back out into the bedroom, and switched places with Gaara who then disappeared into the bathroom to do his nightly routine. She approached his bed, biting her lips and blushing as she tried not to overthink things.
We're just going to sleep dammit! This is silly! She grumbled to herself, realizing she was being utterly ridiculous, and just forced herself to get on the bed. She slid under the covers and snuggled down, slowly relaxing into the luxurious mattress. As Kazekage he sure had things nice, his bed was fantastic. She sighed, immediately starting to get sleepy, which wasn't surprising since she had already been practically falling asleep earlier.
She heard the bathroom door open and shut and then felt the bed bounce a little as Gaara got on, and she woke up again, tensing with slight nerves. She felt him lean over her, then felt the soft sensation of his lips gently kissing her behind her ear, and she shivered.
And then he paused, "Are you still wearing those ribbons?"
"Huh?" Matsuri looked down at the wrist that was near her face, and sure enough it was still all fancy with the ribbon and the surprisingly intact bow. "Oh, yeah, I guess so." She murmured and started to untie it.
He stopped her and asked, "May I do it?"
"Uh…sure?" She blinked, a little nonplused.
He gently put his hand on her shoulder and tugged, suggesting that she roll over. She acquiesced to his request and rolled over for him, noticing once she got a look at him, that he seemed to have changed into a pair of red pajama bottoms and a black t-shirt. He gently grabbed her wrist and untied that ribbon, and then switched to her other hand to repeat the gesture. Then she sat up and he untied the ribbon behind her back, after which he pushed the covers down to get to her ankles. Once he got all the ribbons off her, she pulled the covers back up and lay back down on her back, but noticed that he lay down on top of the covers beside her.
She was somewhat confused by Gaara staying on top of the covers and asked, "Don't you usually sleep under the covers? Or do you always sleep on top?"
He blinked at her bemusedly. "I've done both, but I thought this might be more comfortable for you."
"Oh." She thought about it for a moment and drowsily concluded, "It doesn't really bother me. If you want to get under the covers that's fine." She was too tired to blush, or really consider what it was she was suggesting.
She rolled over onto her side as Gaara promptly took her up on her offer and slid under the covers, and Matsuri realized that maybe she had made a rash decision. Under the covers, her dress turned nightgown had ridden up to her waist, and so she felt his pajama clad legs meet the skin of her entirely bare legs as he scooted up behind her. She was on her side, facing away from him, and he curled his body around hers and wrapped his arm over her waist as the lights went out.
Matsuri jumped at the abrupt darkness, not at all sure how it had happened. "Wha…?" She squeaked, startled.
"My sand." She heard Gaara say, and it took her a moment to realize he was answering her question, and that he had turned off the light with his sand.
"Oh." She murmured, and slowly relaxed, though his body right behind hers took some getting used to. His body heat was intense, and she had to wonder if that was from being a Jinchuriki. But the heat felt wonderful, and soon that warmth lulled her into slumber, her muscles relaxing and her body softening and curling even more into his as his arm wrapped around her.
She sighed contentedly and drifted off into peaceful dreams.
Author's Note:
So yes, I know this was a few days late, but I only found out about his birthday the day before. I'm planning on writing a second chapter with a full-on lemon, if anyone's interested. :3
And a huge thanks to my wonderful proof-reader Socrates-Symchych. You rock.