Chapter 14: Gikochinai (Awkward)

Akina woke up the next morning in still wrapped in Gaara's arms. She smiled to herself and looked at her sleeping husband. She carefully slipped out from beneath Gaara's arms and sat up, staring at him with loving eyes. The red-head was lying on his stomach with arm stretched out from where Akina had been. A peaceful look was etched on his face.

Akina looked up at the clock that hung on the wall and smirked. It was almost 11 o'clock in the morning. On normal days, Gaara would already be gone.

"I should probably wake him up," Akina thought to herself. She grinned and carefully pulled back the covers, revealing Gaara's bare back. She gently placed her hands on his lower back and slowly ran her hands up towards shoulders. He softly groaned to himself, clutching at the sheets with his hand. Akina giggled as he slowly opened his eyes. She lay down on her side, looking into his sleepy eyes. He smiled and brought a hand to her cheek, gently stroking it with his thumb.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning," Akina replied sweetly. Gaara inched closer to her and planted a soft kiss on her lips. "How are you feeling?" she asked as he pulled away.

"I feel the same way as I usually do. I thought that I would feel different."

"We're going to have to talk about some stuff." He nodded.

"Let's talk now, while I'm still in a good mood." The white-haired girl nodded and smiled, taking Gaara's hand in her own hands. "You start."

"Well, now that we're married, is the council expecting anything else from us?" The red-head stared into his wife's emerald green eyes.

"I'm not really sure. I'm sure that they'll be expecting us to have a child, but I'm not sure when they were expecting that to happen."

"Have you even thought about children before this?" Gaara shook his head.

"It has crossed my mind a few times, but I haven't given it any deep thought. What about you?"

"I don't even want to think about having children yet. We're only 17. If the council brings up anything about children, you remind them about this. I'm not ready for anything like that." Gaara smirked and nodded, gently kissing her hand. "Is there anything else on your mind?" Gaara blushed slightly and nodded.

"I need to ask you about this," he told her. "Sex." Akina blushed slightly and looked away from Gaara. He took her chin in his hand and brought her head back up so that she was looking into his eyes. "We don't have to unless you want to. I mean, we haven't really done much of anything, so I think it would be kind of rushing it." The white-haired girl nodded.

"I want to wait a little longer," she told him softly. Gaara nodded and kissed her lips.

"Then we'll wait. We still haven't tried other things." Akina looked up at Gaara with a smirk.

"What other things?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. A light blush was painted onto Gaara's cheeks. Akina giggled. "Come on, you can tell me. What other things are you talking about?" Gaara's blush deepened.

"It's nothing," he assured. "I was just thinking about something Naruto showed me in a book." Akina laughed, making Gaara feel incredibly embarrassed.

"Tell me!" she told him. "We're married now. You shouldn't be embarrassed about telling me anything." Gaara took in a deep breath and looked into Akina's eyes.

"I'm not really sure," he told her. "Naruto called it making out." Akina laughed again.

"You don't know what making out is?" Gaara though for a moment and shook his head.

"Kissing I guess, but we already kiss." The white-haired female grinned and him and caressed his check with the back of her hand.

"You are so clueless Sabaku no Gaara, but I love you anyway. You being clueless makes you so damn cute."

"How am I clueless?" he asked, looking at her with stern eyes.

"For one, you have no idea what making out really is. Secondly, you were completely new to the whole 'love' thing."

"If I'm so clueless, why don't you explain it to me," he demanded. Akina smirked at him and sat up.

"Explaining this to you is too much work," she sighed, "but I can show you if you want." Gaara raised an eyebrow at her. He nodded and slowly sat up. Akina scooted in close to him and placed a hand behind his head. She crushed her lips against his and he kissed her back. His eyes widened slightly when he felt Akina playfully nip at his bottom lip. He didn't even realize that he had opened his mouth until he felt her tongue slip inside. His eyes widened even more as a weird sensation pulsed throughout his body. He unconsciously inched his hands around his bride's waist, drawing her closer to his body.

Akina finally pulled away after a few minutes when her lungs were screaming for air. She looked down at Gaara with a smirk. Gaara noticed that there was a faint blush on her cheeks, which made him blush a little in return.

"How was that?" she asked in curiosity. Gaara opened his mouth to speak but nothing would come out. He casually closed his mouth and gave her a simple smile as an answer. Akina giggled and laid her head against his chest. "I sure hope that you were paying attention, because I'll be expecting you to do that sometime." Gaara chuckled lightly and gave the white-haired girl in his arms a little squeeze before kissing her on the forehead.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear.

"I love you too Gaara-kun," she cooed, wrapping her arms around her husband.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

A few months had passed by, and a few things started changing between the couple. For one, they have been much more intimate with each other. Like most couples do, they started confiding in each other even more. Things that Gaara would normally try and hide now came out into the open when he was asked about it. He trusted Akina and it seemed to help by telling her things.

It was on the third month that Gaara came home more furious than ever. Akina was already home, having left the hospital a bit early. Concerned for her husband, she quietly entered their room and sat down on the bed beside the fuming Kazekage. She hadn't seen him this frustrated before. Gaara was hunched over with his elbows on his knees. He was clutching onto his head with his hands, his fingers tangled up in his hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Akina asked softly. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, causing the young red-head to jump in slight surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Gaara nodded, still looking down at the ground in frustration. Akina moved so that she was kneeling behind him. She placed a hand on either shoulder, slowly massaging them. The red-head closed his eyes and sighed. After a few moments, his body began to relax. Akina stopped and ran her hands down his back.

"Better?" she asked softly. Gaara nodded and looked up at her with sad eyes. She greeted him with a soft compassionate kiss, slowly pulling away a few moments later. "What's wrong?"

Gaara laid his head against her chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. No one would have believed that this was the Gaara everyone knew, because it kind of wasn't. When Gaara was out in public, he held himself up with dignity. He wouldn't complain about anything and would just push through any hardships that he faced. He would go through everything alone. He used to think that he would have to trudge through life being alone forever, but it wasn't the case any more. He liked the feeling of having someone to come home to. Akina was the only person he opened up to, and the only person he had ever really opened up to. He wasn't afraid to tell her anything because he knew that she of all people would never judge him. She would always accept him, no matter what he did. He could put all his faith into her.

"It's the council," he sighed. Akina nodded and ran her fingers through Gaara's blood-red hair. "They're expecting a child soon. They want to know when we plan on having our first child."

"Tell them to wait a few more months, and we'll let them know what our plans are." Gaara looked up at her in confusion. "I don't even want to think of things like that until I'm eighteen. My birthday is in January, and I'll be eighteen at that time. They can expect to hear news around then." Gaara pulled away and looked into her emerald green eyes.

"I'll tell them, but I don't know how much good that will do. I think that the only reason they do this to me is to make me miserable."

"You'll be able to overcome it all," she encouraged him. "You're strong, and it's not like you to let them bother you like that."

"Yeah, but now they are starting to say things about you."

"I don't need you to protect me. They can talk about me all they want. Besides, I can always get back at them the next time they need to be admitted into the hospital." Gaara smirked at her and planted a small kiss on her cheek.

"Why do you put up with me?" he asked softly. "You could easily rid yourself of all this trouble."

"Why would I do that to you? That's just mean and coldhearted. I want to stay by your side until the end." Gaara kissed her again.

"Then I will be by your side whenever you need me." She grinned and hugged him even tighter.

Finally, I got another post up. I'm really sorry about taking so long with this. It's just that I've been lacking inspiration lately. I'm really trying to do my best, but I've been getting a bunch of writer's blocks lately. I don't know what's going on. It's extremely annoying, I know, just try and bare with me for now. The reviews really do help. It's just getting the chapter to the point of where I'm ready to post it. I'm always finding something to change in it and that make it take longer.

Anyways, a big thank you to all of my fellow reviewers. The reviews and encouragement really keep me going and give me liitle bursts of energy in which I use to write.

Kita Kudai- Yeah. This one is kind of short, but I don't really have much to write about.

Yume Ninja- Thanks

AddictedtoBleach- Lol. Thanks.

flower391169- Thanks. Like I mentioned above, it's just a lot harder for me to come up with stuff now, especially since I've been putting a lot of time and effort into my other story "Make Me Whole". Sorry for the wait. I really am. Thank you for the review.

Hinata11235- Sorry about the slow update.

NeferNeferi- True. I guess this is one of them. Lol. Thanks for reviewing.

Christina Angel- Thanks. I know. I love just imagining it. I could see him making a hole in the floor from where he was pacing back and forth. Lol. thanks for reviewing!

I'll try and get the next chapter out soon, but I can't make any promises, because then I feel really really bad if I can't keep it. The reviews really help motivate me though, so keep them coming, okay? Thank you all so, so much. You are all awesome and I really am sorry about making you guys wait so long. I hope you can forgive me. .

Review!