I finally updated! I finished my finals and am now in vacation. I will try updating more often! Thank you so much everyone for your patience.

Chapter 35: Terminal

When Riko opened her eyes, she found herself in an unfamiliar room.

"Riko-chan, good morning."

Tenten said as she yawned and got up from next to Riko. They were sharing the same futon for their stay in Sunagakure and had a room for themselves, since they didn't really want to share a room with the guys.

Riko waved at Tenten to respond to her good morning. They both then got ready for the day.

"I was so worried when I heard you collapsed from exhaustion yesterday."

Riko smiled sheepishly.

"I was even more surprised when someone came in carrying you."

Tenten added emphasis on the "someone" and chuckled. Riko cocked her head in confusion. She then took out her notepad.

Wasn't it Neji?

"Oh, Neji was there too. But the one who was carrying you was none other than your little sweetheart Gaara."

At the mention of Gaara's name, Riko's heart jumped. She then blushed and hid her face behind her notepad.

"Aw, you don't have to be so embarrassed! In any case, he said he'd come by in the morning to see how you're doing. Aren't you lucky?"

When Riko heard that Gaara would be coming to see her, she ran to the bathroom and started arranging her hair and trying her best to look good. Tenten couldn't help but giggle at how worked up Riko was getting.

Just then a knock is heard on the girls' door. Tenten went to see who it was, since Riko was still busy trying to adjust her appearance as best as she could.

"Well, look who we have here!"

Tenten said in a loud enough voice for Riko to hear her.

"Good morning. Is Riko here?"

Gaara said in a formal tone, not knowing how to respond to Tenten's over enthusiasm.

"Let me go check up on her. She's been quite worked up ever since this morning. I wonder why."

Tenten said in a playful tone while giggling to herself. She then went to the bathroom and opened the door slightly. There she found Riko sitting in the corner, her face buried in her hands. Seeing that, Tenten went up to her, feeling a little concerned. She crouched next to Riko and put her hand on her back, patting it gently.

"Riko-chan? Is everything alright?"

Riko shook her head.

"What's wrong? Tell me."

Riko then took her hands away from her face and wrote with her finger on the ground what she was feeling. Tenten followed along, reading as Riko wrote.

"I… feel… so… unattractive…"

Tenten then exhaled in relief, realizing it wasn't something extremely serious.

"Look, you're just being insecure. Doesn't that mean that you're realizing your feelings for Gaara?"

At the mentions of her feelings, Riko's heart jumped and her face turned a deep shade of red.

"I'm sure he finds you very attractive, anyway. You're just overthinking things. Come on, he's waiting for you!"

Before Riko could interject, Tenten had already dragged her out of the bathroom and brought her to the door where Gaara was still waiting. As soon as Riko saw Gaara, her knees became weak and she started shaking. She couldn't look him in the eyes and her face was still very red.

Gaara, worried that she might still not be feeling well, reached out to her and put his hands on her arms. His sudden touch only served to worsen her shaking.

"Riko, are you alright?"

Gaara was starting to seriously be concerned for her well-being. Tenten then decided to step in to the rescue.

"Don't worry about it, Gaara. She's perfectly fine. Actually, you should think of her behaviour right now as a more positive thing than you'd expect!"

Gaara looked at Tenten with question marks in his eyes.

"Man, you two are so oblivious to these things."

Tenten sighed with a smile forming on her lips.

"Riko-chan, if you don't get it together, Gaara will think that you hate him."

As soon as Riko heard that, she looked up at Gaara and violently shook her head. That was the last thing that she wanted.

"Alright, enough of this. Out, you two. I want to relax some more."

Tenten then pushed Riko and Gaara outside and closed the door behind them.

Confused by the whole situation, Gaara scratched the back of his head while still looking at Riko. She had managed to calm herself down and was now also looking at him with a small smile on her face. Seeing her smile, Gaara couldn't help but smile back. Without saying anything, he extended his hand to her. She took it with her slightly shaking hand. The contact immediately made her face turn red again.

Gaara was starting to get an idea of what was going on. He might be somewhat ignorant when it came to feelings, but he was logical enough to deduce what was going on to a certain degree. Riko was acting that way because of him. What Tenten had told him was to take it positively. Whatever feelings Riko was feeling, it caused her to act this way with him. He decided not to put too much thought in what type of feelings they were, however, wanting to instead just enjoy the moment with her.

"I talked to your squad leader, Might Guy, and he agreed to let me be the one to accompany you on your mission today."

Riko looked up at Gaara and nodded with a smile. She was happy to know that she would be around him more often.

After eating breakfast together at a steamed buns shop, they headed straight for the hospital. There, they were immediately greeted with a swarm of people shouting their gratefulness to Riko. They however kept their distances due to Gaara being there. Riko gave all of them the warmest smile ever.

"What's all this commotion?"

A strict sounding voice resounded from behind the swarm of people. When Riko saw who it was, she recognized Saboten, the head medic. Needless to say, he didn't look too thrilled to see Riko. An even bigger scowl appeared on his face when he saw who it was that was accompanying her.

"Why are you back? I told you we didn't need you anymore. Because you're causing all this disturbance right in front of the hospital, our patients are getting restless."

The people who had been thanking Riko started to quiet down after Saboten's accusations. Riko looked down to the ground, feeling somewhat responsible. After Saboten had said his piece, he turned around and went in the hospital. Gaara wouldn't have it, though. He lead Riko along with him and followed the head medic into the hospital. Saboten looked back, sensing someone coming in.

"What? Didn't you get the message?"

"I don't think it's up to you whether or not Riko can do the job she was sent here to do."

Gaara's tone was cold and menacing. It made Saboten flinch a little. He then smirked to himself, an idea popping in his mind.

"Tch… fine. Since she's so trusted as a medic, she shouldn't have a problem dealing with the terminal clients."

Gaara frowned. He understood what Saboten was trying to do. He was trying to get Riko out of the way. He wanted her to stay stuck with terminal clients, which he was so sure she wouldn't be able to take care of. Before he could retort, however, Riko stepped forward and bowed her head to Saboten, in agreement to his plan. If there were people that nobody could help out, then she would be the one to take care of them.

Saboten sighed in annoyance. He didn't get why she was so compliant.

"Alright, follow me."

He then walked ahead with Riko and Gaara in tow. He then lead them to a secluded area of the hospital.

"Some of these patients have extremely dangerous diseases, so they have been quarantined for the safety of the staff and other patients. If you want to help, you'll have to expose yourself to that risk."

Riko turned to Gaara, knowing that he would follow her if she didn't tell him not to. Looking into her eyes, he knew what she wanted.

"You don't want me to come along."

She nodded. He sighed in defeat, knowing that it was the best course of action, since Riko could probably protect herself from these diseases. For him, however, it could be lethal.

"Alright. If anything happens, you better get out of there or I'll come get you myself."

Riko smiled at Gaara and headed into the room where all the terminal patients were kept. She made sure create an invisible wall behind her to prevent Gaara from acting rashly and following her in. The doors then closed behind her.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you thought in the reviews :)