Chapter 20: I'm on a Boat
(In which the Princess talks about love, sleeps a lot, discovers the use of potatoes, and realizes she forgot her flippy-floppies)
It wasn't until after Temari finished packing her things, mumbled something about talking with Kankurou, and left the room that I allowed myself to break down and cry. I laid on my bed, my back to the door, and sobbed with the blanket clenched tightly in my fist. If someone happened to walk in I would be able to pretend I was sleeping and then I wouldn't be embarrassed.
I don't know how long I cried for, but the next thing I knew I was waking up, it was daylight, and I was disorientated. It took me a few minutes to regain my senses and remember that I was sleeping on a ship on my way to stay at Naruto's castle.
With a sickening lurch in my stomach, I remembered that my Father was, in fact, dead. Before I found myself dissolved in tears once again, I forced myself to hop off my bed and find Temari. On my way out I passed the mirror and froze. My eyes were all red and puffy from crying, and I looked like an alcoholic after a long night.
Thankfully, Temari opened the door at that moment and took in me staring at myself in the mirror. "I'll be back," Temari said, turning right back around and disappearing down the hallway and up the stairs.
I wondered where she was going and for one brief, panic-filled moment I was afraid that she was going to go get Gaara and he would see me at my worst. But she returned holding a potato and a knife.
"Put these on your eyes and they'll reduce the swelling," Temari said as she took the knife and cut two slices from the potato and handed them to me. I took them in my hand and gave Temari a questioning glance and she gestured for me to go ahead. So I climbed up on my bed and put the potato slices over my eyes, feeling more than a little bit ridiculous.
"Thank you," I said, trusting Temari not to go out of her way to embarrass me.
"You slept for three days," Temari said after a moment.
"What?" I yelped, sitting up straight quickly, knocking off the potato slices and hurting my rib at the same moment.
"Careful!" Temari said, moving me to lay down and handing me the potato slices. "It was the most agitated I've seen Gaara in a long time."
"He'd feel guilty if I died on him," I said, barely repressing a sigh as she started on the tired subject of Gaara's undying love for me that I have yet to see.
"He hates to see you hurting because he's in love with you," Temari said. "He doesn't recognize the feeling of love, and it scares him. So he stays away and distant."
"Temari, he doesn't love me," I said. She opened her mouth and then closed it again, obviously deciding to let it go. I heaved a sigh of relief and winced at the sharp ache in my rib cage.
"When we get to Lord Naruto's Kingdom we'll have a doctor take a look at you," Temari said. She climbed up on the bunk beside me and checked my bandages. "You'll need your bandages changed. You know, the potato slices aren't going to help if you don't put them over your eyes."
I laughed, careful not to take too big of breaths, closed my eyes, and put the potato slices over them.
"Gaara insists on changing your bandages. He's worried that we'll hurt you further if we make a mistake," Temari said, laughing lightly. "He's such a control freak at times." I barely had a chance to worry about my appearance when Temari added, "I'll wait until the swelling in your eyes goes down."
"Temari," I said, stopping her as she was almost out the door, "I love you, you know that? You're like the sister I never had."
"I love you, too, Ino," She replied with a smile. After she left, I laid there, potato slices over my eyes, and wondered how long it would take for the swelling to recede.
Out of reflex I sat up quickly when a knock sounded at the door and winced.
"Ino?" Gaara called through the crack of the door when I didn't answer right away.
"Come in," I said, my voice wheezy from the pain. I hated the pain, I hated Deidara, and I hated the Akatsuki. I just wish that the pain would go away, that I wouldn't be doubling over in pain every other minute.
"What's wrong?" Gaara asked. He'd only been aboard the ship for three days and his skin was already a healthier color from being up on the deck and in the sun.
"I just sat up to quickly," I said, clutching my side as I tried to catch my breath.
"It'll be easier to change your bandages if you move down to Temari's bunk," He said. When I swung my feet over the side, he helped me climb down. I didn't need it, but I didn't say anything because any physical contact from Gaara was welcome.
I sat on the bottom bunk as Gaara unwrapped the bandages from my middle. It felt strange to have so much freedom in my middle and the sudden whoosh of breath in my lungs made me dizzy and made my rib hurt. I grabbed onto Gaara's arm and squeezed it tightly while I tried to regain my senses and keep from fainting.
After the dizziness went away, Gaara set about bandaging me, with new, clean bandages. When we'd been on the cart, he didn't have time to do it properly and just wrapped it over my clothes. This time he insisted on doing it correctly, and for that I had to change out of my dress and into a blouse and skirt while he waited outside the door.
"You'll have to wear a blouse and a skirt until it's healed, so I can bandage you easier," Gaara said, with my blouse hitched up to an almost inappropriate height as he wrapped the white cloth around my lower rib cage. I couldn't help but blush, it was the most skin I've shown a male in my life.
After he secured the bandages and made sure they weren't too tight, he looked up at me, his gaze intense, and asked, "What did that man say to you?"
"The man with the tattoos?"
"Yes."
I balked at answering the question. I was afraid that if Gaara knew the connections this man had to my Kingdom that he'd send me off with him. I was also afraid that he would find out that I was royalty. Even though I trusted them all with my life, I was still hesitant to tell them that I was a princess. Plus, I did not know this man and he easily could have been one of Akatsuki's thugs.
"I've never met him before, but he talked about seeing my father die in battle against Akatsuki," I said. Technically it was still the truth, but I still felt guilty because I knew I was misleading Gaara.
"He could be working for the Akatsuki," Gaara said, quietly and looking out the small, round window, the only window in our cabin.
"That's a possibility," I said.
When my stomach decided that it was time to find dinner, I finally made my above deck and looked around for either Temari, Kankurou, or Gaara. Sometimes my dependence on them really scared me and I wondered if I would be ever able to live without them when they returned me to my home.
I was relieved to find Temari, almost immediately, sitting on a box and leaning on the side of the ship. I made my quickly over there, fearing to run into Kiba again, and sat on the box beside her.
"Are you feeling better, Ino?" She asked, looking away from the ocean and at me.
"Much better, thank you," I answered, mindful of how I sat to avoid bringing myself any more pain. So far the only good thing about my encounter at the barn was Gaara wrapping my bandages, besides that it was miserable. I should have just stood out in the rain.
We sat in silence for a little bit, just looking out over the water. The ocean was beautiful from this point, but I still felt nervous sitting so close to the rail. I wondered if I would ever get over my fear of the water.
"Temari, do you miss him a lot?" I asked her. "Do you think about him all the time?"
"Who?" Temari asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. I clasped my hands in my lap and licked my lips.
"Your sweetheart," I continued hesitantly. She looked away from me and returned her gaze on the waves.
"All the time," She said. I patted her hand and we sat in companionable silence.
"I think I'm in love with Gaara" was what I wanted to say, but afraid to admit my inter-most feelings I kept it to myself. Temari was already convinced that Gaara loved me, if I told her about my feelings to Gaara, then there'd be no stopping her. And someone would get hurt. And it would probably be me.
So I said nothing. And she said nothing. And neither of us said anything until my stomach growled loudly at me. Temari smiled at me and said, "How about we get you something to eat?"
"Sounds like a great idea," I answered, patting my protesting stomach.
I followed Temari down into the kitchen of the ship. Compared to what I knew of kitchens, and the only kitchen I had ever seen was the one in the castle back home, it was very sparse. There was a small wood stove and a counter where you could chop food. To even get to the kitchen you had to scale over boxes full of foodstuffs.
"You missed Dinner, so we'll see what we can do," Temari said, rummaging through one of the boxes that we had to climb over to enter the kitchen.
"Where's the cook?" I asked. Wondering how a person could live on a ship with such limited options for food.
"There is no cook. If you're hungry, then you make your own food," Temari said with a shrug. "We mostly live off of potatoes, they last longer than other foods and can be used in several different dishes, but at least we only suffer the lacking diet for three weeks. Imagine if you worked on the ship."
"So, potatoes for supper?" I asked.
"How would you like them cooked?" Temari asked, pulling out a large back of them.
"Surprise me," I said, with a small smile.