Chapter 14

Everything was returning back to normal. Gaara was back to sleeping on her couch. Naruto and her still hung out, though, she had to admit, they didn't do it as often as before. He had a girlfriend now, and she was slowly coming to terms with it. Naruto kept suggesting that she finally meet the girl he was so passionate about, but Erina didn't think she was ready for that just yet. Especially when she still wasn't completely comfortable with Naruto talking about his dates with Sakura.

"Oh, I almost forgot." And here it comes. Naruto and Erina were sitting in the grass outside of Ichiraku's again for their weekly lunch. The blonde had worked hard on trying to find time for the both of them, and Thursday seemed to be the day that the both of them had any extra time, now that he was usually with Sakura. "Erina, can you help me out? Tomorrow night, I'm taking Sakura out on a special date and—"

The brunette's laugh interrupted him. "You have nothing planned?" she stated, shaking her head. Naruto's cheeks reddened as he scratched the back of his head and she knew she was right on the money. "Naruto, haven't I taught you better? Don't tell her you're doing something special without thinking of it first," Erina sighed, looking at her cell phone to check the time. "Well, let me think of something quick. Gaara's going to be here any minute. We're going to the movies."

The blonde quickly swallowed a mouthful of ramen noodles, so quickly, in fact, Erina was briefly concerned that the boy would choke. "Speaking of which," Naruto started with a sly tone. He nudged on the shoulder playfully, a smirk evident on his lips. "What's going on between the two of you?"

Erina found herself blinking in confusion. "What do you mean?" Why would Naruto ask something like that? And he was so enthusiastic about it, too. Did Naruto actually want there to be something going on between her and Gaara? Her heart sank at the thought.

Naruto shrugged, grabbing more ramen with his chopsticks. "Well, the two of you kissed, so there's got to be something going on there, right? And neither of you really told me what happened, so I've been wondering for a while." Oh, that's right, he knew about the whole Gaara-kissing-her thing.

"It... It didn't go exactly like that," the brandy eyed girl muttered, staring into her half empty foam cup. She wished he hadn't brought this up; she had been doing such a good job of not thinking about it. "I sort of pushed him away. And then we didn't talk for a few days, but then he came over and we decided that we're still just friends."

Pushed him away? Oh, that's right. Erina had said that Gaara kissed her. She never said anything about returning it. Suddenly, he felt really sorry for him. "And you're sure he's okay with that?" Naruto asked incredulously. Erina looked down at the ground. She didn't have an answer for that. She certainly hoped that Gaara was okay with it. "I think you should at least make it up to him somehow. It probably put him through a lot of embarrassment."

Make it up to him? How was she going to do that? "Oh, look, there he is," Naruto pointed out as he waved enthusiastically to the red head from across the courtyard. Gaara waved back, though a little more awkwardly. As he approached them, her mind continued to race. How could she possibly make it up to him?

Well, she thought of one thing that Naruto would probably get a kick out of. "Hey, Gaara," Erina greeted with a grin. She hopped up of the grass, leaving her empty foam cup with Naruto.

Gaara looked at her inquisitively, but when she placed her hands on either side of his head, he froze. Her lips met his in the softest of kisses. A kiss for a kiss; that made it up to him, didn't it? Their lips were connected only for a brief moment, but she tried to make it as generous as possible. It wasn't hard; Erina was surprised by the amount of spark radiating between them. Gaara felt his heart skip and jump erratically, and it continued long after she pulled away. He remained relatively still throughout the whole thing.

"Now we're even, okay?" Erina took hold of his hand and pulled him the other way, briefly turning to wave goodbye to the slack-jawed blonde behind them. At least now she wouldn't still wonder what it would have been like to kiss him back.

"... Okay," her companion mumbled in a dazed tone, tripping along behind her. Poor Gaara couldn't even form proper thought about what just happened. And he certainly wasn't sure if he was okay with just being "even", especially after a kiss like that.

Meanwhile, Naruto sat there, jaw still slacked in disbelief. That... wasn't what he had in mind.