"Hey Gaara!"
Gaara awoke to a strange tapping sensation. As it turned out, Kankuro was giving him a slight kick.
"Urgh…I'm not awake…Kankuro…"
"But don't you have work today?"
"I may not…be awake…but I know damn well…when I'm not scheduled to…work…"
Kankuro backed away. "Well OK, forgive me for my concern…"
Kankuro left. Nevertheless, he retained enough concern for Gaara that he returned with Gaara's favorite mug, which said "GOOD MORNING MY ASS" on it, and set it down next to Gaara, who was still curled up in the fetal position. Taking in the distinct smell of black coffee, Gaara put in the strength to sit up and cradled the mug in his hands.
"You know," said Gaara, "for all of your shortcomings, I appreciate that you know the way I like my coffee."
Kankuro smiled. "You're welcome!"
After drinking his coffee and having a light breakfast, Gaara freshened up.
"Hey Kankuro, I'm going out. Do you need anything?"
"Yeah, we're all outta Salisbury Steaks!" said Kankuro. "Also, we need more Mountain Dew!"
Gaara briefly glared at Kankuro before heading on out.
Gaara headed to Staples first in order to get a new keyboard. It didn't matter to him what he got so long as it just did its job.
"Hey Gaara, what's up?" said a long-haired brunette who worked at the store.
"Not much, Yukata," replied Gaara. "I just came in to buy a new keyboard."
"I can help you get a good one."
"I'm sure whatever you pick will be good enough. I don't need anything fancy."
"OK!"
And so, Yukata led Gaara over to a mid-range Logitech keyboard.
"That'll do," said Gaara. "Thank you."
Yukata smiled. "You're welcome! Have a good day!"
"You too!"
After buying the keyboard, Gaara headed down to Dino's Park 'N Shop, located in Glocester on Route 44. In operation since 1957, Dino's was Gaara's favorite place to shop because even though they didn't carry every product under the sun, it had a nice hometown feel to it and caused him less anxiety than stores such as Stop & Shop. Also, pretty much nobody bothered him unless he felt like it. Today was no different. He hummed "No Remorse" on his way to the checkout.
"Excuse me…"
Gaara elected to keep on pushing his carriage when he heard the female voice address him.
"Excuse me!"
Gaara paused briefly, but kept going. It wasn't that he had a "woman filter"; he just had little desire to interact with a random stranger in a small-town grocery store.
"Hey boy, I'm talking to you!"
Gaara stopped when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He then turned around.
"What do you…"
Gaara froze in mid-sentence when he saw who was addressing him, and in spite of not having seen her whisker-marked face before, he immediately recognized the blonde woman from the gym yesterday. Her blue eyes complemented her hair, which now that he had a closer look at it, Gaara could recognize as her natural color. What he found ironic was that although she had that big, long, curly eighties-style hair, her brown cashmere coat screamed "SEVENTIES!" The black leggings and brown Dehner patrol boots rounded off her look nicely in Gaara's opinion.
"…want?"
Now suffering from "Vaseline vision", Gaara finished off his sentence flatter than a tire.
"Where did you get those green bananas?" asked the woman.
Gaara pointed his thumb in the direction of the produce aisle. "Back where all the other damn bananas are."
Gaara kept pushing his carriage, but the woman got in his way, much to his annoyance.
"But I looked everywhere and I couldn't find any!" The woman pouted. "Besides, yellow bananas are no fun!"
Gaara sighed. "All right, if it matters to you THAT much, you can take my friggin' bananas…"
"Great!" The woman smiled, and without waiting, she took Gaara's bananas.
"Now, is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Nah, I'm good for now! Thank you, uh…"
"My name is Gaara. What's your name?"
"I'm Naruka…Naruka Uzumaki!"
Gaara faked a smile. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too!"
Naruka took Gaara's right hand and shook it with both of hers. Gaara kept his mouth shut as he marvelled at how soft her hands were.
"Well, see you around!" Naruka waved at Gaara.
"Bye!" Gaara waved at Naruka as she headed off.
Meanwhile, Gaara turned around and went to get another bunch of bananas. He didn't pay attention to anything else during this time.
"Wait, I forgot…!"
Gaara recognized Naruka's voice, stopped and turned around.
"What now?" said Gaara.
"You're cute."
Naruka winked at Gaara. He tried to maintain his usual, soulless stone face, but being called "cute" was way out of the ordinary for him. By his own account, he looked more like an assassin for a Yakuza gang. How was that even cute? Furthermore, the way she put the emphasis on the word "cute" was a bit much for him to process.
"Thank you," said Gaara.
Naruka laughed and pointed at Gaara. "Aw look, you're blushing!"
It was only at this moment that Gaara felt the unbridled warmth in his face. He growled, turned away and made his way to the checkout area.
On the way home, Gaara blasted an Annihilator tape to keep himself together. Even the heavy riffs of "Alison Hell" couldn't keep Naruka out of his mind. By the time he was home, Gaara was still blushing. He rushed to the kitchen and worked to put away the groceries as quickly as possible before Kankuro saw him.
"Hey, welcome back, Gaara!"
Gaara kept himself turned away from Kankuro. "Thanks."
"Hey, why so shy all of a sudden?"
"Mind your own business, Kankuro."
"Oh, you wanna go, brother!? FINE!"
Kankuro laid a hand on Gaara's shoulder, which incited rage from the latter. Being touched by a strange woman was one thing, but Gaara knew that Kankuro was deliberately breaking the "don't touch the leather" rule, so he grabbed Kankuro's hand and squeezed as hard as he could. Kankuro grimaced as he attempted not to scream. Not wanting to break his brother's hand, Gaara let go a moment later.
"All right, I'm SORRY!" yelled Kankuro. "Is that what you wanna hear?"
"Hmph."
Gaara decamped to his room, where he collapsed in his swivel chair. He didn't particularly feel like doing anything at the moment. After all, what was the point of looking for a new job or a lady if it was going to lead to disappointment? Sure, Naruka said he was cute, but as attractive as he thought she was, he didn't think he could handle her forthright personality. Instead, he fired up My Summer Car and attempted to blow off steam by finding the Ruscko and punching the wasps that inhabited it. It only led to his character dying, but he didn't give a rat's ass. As long as it gave him something to keep his mind off of Naruka, he wasn't going to question it.
When night fell, Gaara took a shower, freshened up and collapsed in his bed. He had a little trouble falling to sleep because of one thing…
(Naruka…where did she come from…and why does she think I'm cute? No other women have ever said anything like that to my face…)
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.