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~ CHAPTER 2 ~
Redefinition
When they arrived at the café, Naruto was already sitting down in a booth with an order of udon—in Naruto's case merely an appetizer to the real meal he would have as soon as his companions showed up. He greeted them with an enthusiastic wave, noodles dangling from his chin like gooey stalactites or the tusks of a terminally ill-equipped walrus.
"Gaara!" Naruto enthused when he saw his friend. "I haven't seen you in a million years, I thought you were dead or something!"
"No luck," Gaara said sliding into the booth unencumbered by his gourd which he left at the consulate along with his guards, much to their disapproval. Gaara sat in the middle of the bench, expecting Hinata to sit next to Naruto, and so was surprised when she remained standing, awkwardly. Naruto, coming to her rescue, blurted out.
"Oi, Gaara. Don't hog the seat. I know you like personal space, but sheesh!" he joked.
Confused and surprised, Gaara scooted towards the wall as Hinata sat down next to him, the brush of her knee against his making his leg jerk as she sat down. Gaara closed his eyes and tried to ignore the thought that this was the closest he had ever been to her before, but then he realized that closing his eyes only made him more intensely aware of light sent of peonies that she wore when she was not on assignment.
"Ne…Sabaku? You okay?" Naruto asked.
Gaara's eyes snapped open and he glared at Naruto. It was his fault he was so uncomfortable right now, if he only knew.
The reason for their strange seating arrangement soon arrived, accompanied by Ino.
Hinata watched Naruto light up like a stadium the moment Sakura walked through the door. She felt her stomach sink in tandem. Did he have to be so damn happy to see her? She thought, before scolding herself for such a selfish thought.
"Sakura-chan!" he cried and went to kiss her on the mouth as soon as she slid into the seat beside him. Sakura sensing correctly that Hinata would probably not appreciate any displays of affection between them deftly turned her head and their embrace became a chaste kiss on the cheek which Naruto grumbled about.
Gaara was shocked by his friend's behavior to say the least. His gaze snapped to Hinata and he saw her looking down at the table top, trying to ignore them. Did this mean…?
His thoughts were interrupted when Ino, deciding she'd rather sit next to Hinata than Sakura and Naruto's roving hands, sat down, spurring Hinata to scoot in next to Gaara, their legs touching now.
Gaara stared at the table top himself now, trying to not betray the heated way that his body reacted to Hinata's and the new realization that something had drastically changed between Naruto and the girl sitting next to him, whose short dress he couldn't help but notice had bunched up considerably, revealing what was no doubt a bright expanse of unutterably soft, white skin beneath the table.
Gaara crossed his arms against his chest to suppress the way his hand twitched at the thought of casually letting his digits pass over the surface of her bare thigh. His thoughts were broken when the waitress came to take their order, flustered to find who she recognized to be the leader of the Hidden Village of Sand wedged in the corner of the booth looking extremely pissed.
After she bustled nervously off, Ino's too cheerful voice chimed in.
"Hinata…So tell me about that liaison from the Hidden Village of Grass. He was a hunk and a half!"
Hidden Village of Grass? Gaara thought, his brow knit.
"Oh…um. Married, actually," Hinata said, to which Ino made a disappointed noise in her throat. "I was really only meeting him to discuss what sort of exchange program they might have to offer."
"Exchange? With the Grass Village? Why?" Naruto asked, incredulous.
Because it's very, very far away from here, Hinata's thoughts interjected darkly.
"Well, they do have a variety of botanical centers devoted to…" she could see that Naruto's gaze had already glazed over. "…Um. It doesn't matter anyways, I'm afraid that since the Stone Country has began to show some rather…well, not so friendly gestures lately. As a result they are not entertaining any exchanges that might be a liability."
"Oh, that's too bad," Ino said, smirking. "He was cute!" she added flippantly, just because she knew it would annoy Hinata.
Sakura rolled her eyes at Ino knowing that she was trying to get under the pale girl's skin. Hinata really bugged Ino, she knew, because it was impossible to get the girl angry. Ino had described her alternately as a robot or a little pill bug that rolls into a ball whenever it's upset. The descriptions were perhaps not flattering, but no less true, she thought as she gazed at the beautiful, shy girl.
"Sand has a very well-established exchange program…" Sakura commented, dangling the obvious in front of Hinata, knowing full well that Gaara, the man capable of determining her approval was sitting right next to her, staring at Hinata not too subtly out of the corner of his eyes.
Turning her gaze to Gaara, whose leg and shoulder she was aware were very much touching hers at the moment, Hinata blushed a deep red and then looked away quickly, her hand trailing down to pull nervously at the hem of her skirt which she knew had trailed up a little too far, causing her fingers to flutter over his leg accidentally.
"Uh…well, I had thought about it, certainly," Hinata said, uncomfortably conscious that they were all looking at her now. "But, the caliber of ninja that are accepted…like Shikamaru…"
"That lazy bastard," Ino interrupted. "You could do circles around him."
"I doubt that," she grinned timidly, swallowing hard. "Besides, the program or, at least so I understand," Hinata continued glancing shyly at Gaara for confirmation, "Focuses on building combat skills and exchanging training methods. My areas of expertise are in medical botanicals and team dynamics. I don't know that I would be terribly useful…" her voice trailed off and she looked back at him, waiting for a response.
"That's the way it has been…" Gaara trailed off, struggling to convey ineptly that she could persuade him to change things, if only she showed an interest.
But to his disappointment she let the topic drop and then asked to be excused so she could go wash up before eating. Frustrated with his inability to engage her, he watched her walk away.
"Sakura," Ino said suddenly. "Come with me to the bar. I think Sabaku-sama here scared off our waitress," she said, offering Gaara a flirtatious grin. He noted as they walked away a contrived sway to Ino's hips and snorted. Gaara looked up at his friend.
"When did this happen?" Gaara asked.
"Sakura?" Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Two months ago."
"And Hinata?" he asked.
Naruto shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest in a rare sign of defensiveness.
"Hell if I understand it," he said staring at the table.
"What did you do?" Gaara asked, his tone modulating an unspoken menace if he didn't get the truth.
Naruto's hands flew up in the air in an expression of exasperation.
"Aaah! She broke up with me, okay? I didn't do anything. Nothing that I've been able to figure out…" Naruto said thinking back to that last night of passion that he and Hinata had shared. It was like she had been a different person then, so intense; it had frightened him a little, made him wonder where the gentle girl he had to coax to hold his hand in the street had gone. And then in the morning she said goodbye to him, to them, for good, like all her passion for him, all her love had evaporated in one intense exchange and then left nothing in its place. He didn't get it.
"I asked her…she said that…she just didn't feel the same way. Chicks, huh?" he shrugged and then realized again who he was talking to as he met the black rimmed gaze of his seemingly celibate, ambigiously gay friend. "Well, anyway. Take my word for it."
Ino and Sakura returned triumphantly with their drinks. Gaara sneered unconsciously as Ino squeezed onto the bench, sliding up next to him with his unopened beer in her hand and that stupid smile on her face again. Hinata came back to the table shortly and stood a bit dejectedly a few feet away from the table, biting her lip.
"Ano…I'm not feeling very well. I'm sorry, I think I'm just going to go home," Hinata said, bowing slightly and fidgeting with her hands again.
"Okay," Naruto said with genuine disappointment in his voice. This "being friends" thing was a lot harder than he thought it would be. "I hope you feel better."
"Thanks, I'm sure I will. Goodnight," Hinata said before turning.
Gaara watched her go but his gaze was eclipsed by Ino's face darting into his vision, her hand cupped in her chin while she pouted suggestively.
"Move," he said.
"Huh?" Ino uttered dumbly.
"Move, I'm leaving," Gaara replied, elbowing his way out of the booth and following Hinata's path across the restaurant and through the door.
"Oi, Gaara. Nice seeing you after six months!" He heard Naruto drawl sarcastically as the door shut behind him.
Inside the restaurant Ino looked at her two companions.
"What the hell's his problem?" she asked.
"Ino," Sakura said, grasping her eternally optimistic, if incurably single-minded friend's hand. "He's Sabaku no Gaara, that's his problem."
Naruto's gaze on the other hand was fixed on the dark street through the window, wondering if Gaara's quick exit could really be so coincidental.
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"Stop!" Hinata said sharply.
Gaara froze in his tracks, fifty feet behind her. He had been following Hinata home, quietly undetected, or so he thought. It was not that he had intended to refrain from greeting her, but as soon as he caught up with her outside the restaurant he realized that her shoulders were shaking, and that he could hear the muffled sounds of her crying. Gaara didn't deal with that sort of thing. He didn't know how.
Now it seemed that she had noticed him, and he tried to calculate if it would be better to bolt now knowing that she might already have identified him or to stand his ground. He decided that the later of the two would be less…well, weird. Gaara stood and waited for her to turn. But Hinata did not, instead she approached one of the wide oaks that lined the street and leaned against it, her one arm encircling it like a friend.
"Stop," she whispered again, and he realized that she was talking to herself, her forehead now resting on the cool textured bark of the tree. "Why are you so…fucking useless?" she asked the cool night air. He ducked behind the trunk of another tree as she turned to lean against her own, staring up at the moonlight through its leaves.
"…Gaara," she said finally, smirking at the moonlight as she wiped at her tears. He froze again, waiting for her to call him out, but that moment didn't come, and as he looked at her smiling up at the sky he realized that he would have given anything to be inside her head at that moment.
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A/N:
Okay, so did anyone else laugh at the "terminally ill equiped walrus" line?
I could not stop laughing when I wrote that. I had the chance to try the line out in conversation the other day and neither of my friends even blinked! I was totally scandalized. Perhaps it doesn't paint a vivid enough picture?
Think of it, walrus with noodle tusks! Do it! Are you visualizing it? Can you see it???
Where does the funny end? Ah, okay. done with my dorking out about that image. I just feel the need to ensure that it's properly appreciated.
If you like and you know it, please review. 3
