Hiei-and-Shino- thank you for reviewing! I'm glad u like it! don't worry, I update fast, I have lots of free time.
disclaimer I do not own naruto in any way!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The war between Konoha and the sand began, and so did the battle between Kakashi's team and Gaara. He fought blindly, Gaara, yet as he lay there wounded, touched by the determined, yellow-headed Naruto, something clicked.
Naruto- Hinata's friend, whom she'd spoken of so admiringly. Hinata. His memory of her came back, the girl who'd been nice to him…
Naruto edged closer, crawling on his chin. "NO!" Gaara cried, panicked. "Get away from me!" He screamed. Temari and Kankuro came to his rescue and whisked him out of danger, and as they were running away, he realized what a fool he had been.
"Temari, Kankuro?"
"Yes, Gaara?" asked Temari, cautiously.
"I, I'm sorry."
Temari and Kankuro looked at each other, taken aback by their brother's changed personality, then went back to taking him back to the village.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hinata heard of Gaara and Naruto's battle from, well, Naruto. She felt an anger brewing as he described the battle with himself obviously superior. But she was happy when she heard of Naruto's admiration of him. When Naruto mentioned how he felt he had many things in common with Gaara, the rejection, and the pain, she felt a longing for the secluded boy with the blue eyes and the red hair.
The next time she saw him was when he, Temari, and Kankuro came to establish connections with Konoha. He was busy, but she unconsciously found herself following him as he went shopping for some fruit to eat. He'd stopped in front Ichiruka's ramen place when he noticed her.
"Hi," he said, in a new voice that had, just a little bit lost, a bit of it's previous lack of emotion. "Is the food hear as good as Naruto says it is?"
She blushed and gave a little bow. "It is very good!" she said, smiling. "It's great to see you, Gaara-kun!"
No one had ever been to kind to Gaara as this girl, Hinata.
"It- it's nice to see you, too. Why don't you join me for lunch?"
More than happily, Hinata obliged.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Temari?" Gaara asked his sister that night at their inn. "What- what are you supposed to do when you think you like a girl?
"Think?" Temari asked, confused. "The truth is, I don't know. Ask Kankuro, he's a boy."
Gaara posed the same question to Kankuro, and got the same answer, except he was directed to Temari's new boyfriend. The boy with the ponytail, named Shikamaru, had asked Temari out, and Kankuro figured that Shikamaru therefore had experience and authority.
Therefore, the next day Gaara hunted down Shikamaru at the ninja school. "Shikamaru, I need to ask you something."
"Fine," Shikamaru replied. "As long as it's not troublesome."
They arranged to meet at Shikamaru's favorite place to watch the clouds, after Shikamaru's and Gaara's work was done.
"Women," said Shikamaru, handing Gaara a drink of water, "are troublesome. What came over me when I asked your sister out, I don't know. I guess love, love is something that can't be explained. Heck, even Neji Hyuuga, legendary genius, gets confused when he's around Tenten. I've been thinking all day of what to say to you, and the fact is I don't really know. But what I do know is that if you find someone that you really love, like in my case, your sister, you can't let them go, or they'll never come back. You need to take the risk is all I can really say to you."
"But how do you know if you really are in love?"
"Well, I guess that person makes your heart leap, and you always want to be with them. You feel… different, shy around them."
Shikamaru seemed rather embarrassed by his inability to give educated answers, and Gaara left to get some Ramen again. Maybe- maybe he loved Hinata. And so maybe, maybe he'd see her there.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hinata had asked the same questions to Kiba, and on his way to Ichiruka he overheard them talking about… Hinata being in love. His heart pounded.
"Whenever I'm with him, I feel happy. My whole day perks up just seeing him, and yet when I'm with him I become so scared, so scared of making him not like me anymore…"
As he overheard her words, he became worried. Who was the person that Hinata spoke of so lovingly? Naruto? Over ramen yesterday they'd talked about so many things, and Naruto was one of them. Jealousy ran through him, but then another possibility came up, one he wanted to hang onto so dearly yet dismiss to spare him the pain if he was wrong. Maybe… maybe that person was him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
does the story sound close to a finish? you may think so, but I say nay! hehehe…
rubs hands in glee of power to control character's lives