Rain had settled in today, but that did little to dampen Gaara's spirit. He accepted the oncoming workday as it was, knowing what was to come later that day. It helped that he had Matsuri to talk with about it, too.

"So, how did it go?" asked Matsuri.

"Oh, it went quite well, thank you for asking."

"That's nice. Where did you go?"

"We went to a cafe named Brewed Awakenings in Johnston. Have you ever been there?"

"Not the one in Johnston, but my boyfriend and I went to the one in Warwick."

"What's that one like?"

"It's huge! One time, I went with one of my Meetup groups, and there was this event being held for a gubernatorial candidate."

"That must've been quite a time."

"Yeah, it was pretty fun!"

On his trip to the gym, Gaara encountered Naruka again.

"Hey, good to see you again, babe!" Naruka gave Gaara a big hug.

Gaara smiled. "The pleasure is likewise."

Naruka broke away from the hug. "So, wanna run with me on the treadmill?"

"You're on!"

Gaara and Naruka took the nearest available treadmills, and after the short wait that came with hitting the "Quick Start" buttons, they set their speed and were off. Initially, Gaara found the whole thing fun, especially considering he had the privilege of running with someone who looked smokin' hot in a sports bra. As time went on, however, he found the novelty of the whole thing ebbing along with his speed, so he decided to punch the "Cool Down" button on his treadmill. Once it had slowed down and stopped, he hopped off, bent over and rested his hands on his thighs. Naruka took notice and stopped her treadmill.

"Gaara, are you OK?"

"I...I'm...fine..." Gaara huffed and puffed.

"OK, I'm just checking!"

"Th...thank you..."

Finally, Gaara mustered the strength to stand upright and wiped his brow. "I'll never understand how people can run so fast for so long."

"Well, how else?" said Naruka. "It's all about practice! Believe it!"

"I suppose you're right."

Naruka looked at her Timex. "Gee, I can't believe it's already almost 5:00! I better hurry back home if I'm gonna be on time for tonight's date!"

"I'm about done too, so I won't keep you. See you in Providence!"

Time kept on slipping into the future, and both Gaara and Naruka made it to Ganko Ittetsu on time. The place wasn't especially packed tonight, but there was still a fair number of college students looking to get their fill of ramen. Nevertheless, Gaara and Naruka got a table soon enough.

"So, what are you gonna have?" asked Naruka.

"Well, I've always been partial to their Gankara Miso, so that's what I'm having."

"Hmmm…" Naruka stroked her chin. "That looks interesting, but I'm going with the regular Miso."

"Whatever suits you."

Naruka smiled.

Then, their waitress arrived.

"Hello, welcome to Ganko Ittetsu!" said the waitress. "Can I start you two off with drinks?"

"Coke, please!" said Naruka.

"I think I'll try a Ramuné," said Gaara.

The waitress left the two lovebirds to their own devices.

"Ram-what?" said Naruka.

"Ramuné is a type of soda from Japan. To open it, you use a plastic stopper to push down a glass marble."

Naruka squinted at Gaara. "That sounds unnecessarily complicated."

"And you're telling me that a bottle opener isn't?"

Naruka crossed her arms. "Point taken." She loosened her stance. "Now, what exactly got you into the stuff?"

"Actually, I've never tried it before; I've only seen a friend try it when I went to this anime group that I went to. Personally, I'm surprised I didn't go for it then."

"I know, right?"

Soon, enough, the waitress returned with their drinks.

"What can I get for you two?" she said.

"I'll have a Miso ramen with extra pork, crunchy garlic and black garlic oil!" said Naruka.

"I'll have a Gankara Miso ramen with crunchy garlic," said Gaara.

Once again, the waitress left to get their orders ready.

"You like garlic?" said Gaara. "I thought you'd be turned off by it."

"Oh no, babe, I loooove it!" said Naruka. "As a matter of fact, garlic turns me on!"

Gaara blushed. "Right. So uh…where do you see yourself in five years?"

"The way you're acting around me, I could see myself travelling the globe with you in five years!"

Gaara sank down in his seat. "Er…I uh…don't you think we're maybe jumping the gun a little on this one?"

Naruka giggled. "It's so cute how you act so shy around me!"

"Look…as much as I like hugging you and everything…I think now may not be the best time to talk about us, savvy?"

"Hey, I'm only teasing you, boy!"

"Th-that's very nice and all, b-but…will you excuse me for a second?"

"Sure!"

Gaara got up from his seat and gently rushed for the bathroom. In the bathroom, he rested on the sink with his hands and lowered his head, trying to collect his thoughts. Was Naruka seriously thinking about marrying him at this point in the game? Perhaps she was merely teasing him, but in any case, it was causing a serious heat rush to his face.

(Maybe I should've had a drink to cool off…)

Gaara turned on the sink and splashed his face with cool and possibly not all that clean Providence water. After looking in the mirror, his eyes were drawn to the kanji on his forehead: "愛"…"love". Maybe it was giving off a signal to Naruka, or maybe it was a sign that somehow this whole thing was really meant to be. Whatever it meant, Gaara smiled and decided to try humor on Naruka. He'd been meaning to incorporate such a thing into his daily life ever since he'd watched a TED Talk about it a couple of weeks ago, but he hadn't thought about it much, if at all. He exited the bathroom and sat down just in time for the waitress to bring their food to them.

"Wow, you really took your sweet time!" said Naruka.

Gaara rubbed the back of his head. "I was…just playing it cool! Yeah, that's the ticket…"

Naruka chuckled. "Whatever you say, boy! Now hurry up and eat, I don't wanna see anyone eating cold ramen!"

Naruka stirred her ramen, scooped up a hearty portion of pork, noodles and crunchy garlic, and bit down into it. Not long into the meal, she dropped her spoon and gasped.

"Naruka, what's wrong?" Gaara set his spoon down. "Is it too hot?"

"OH…MY…GOSH! THIS IS THE BEST FREAKIN' RAMEN I HAVE EVER TASTED! IT'S LIKE SOMEONE SET OFF A FLAVOR BOMB IN MY MOUTH! I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA HAVE AN ORGASM IF I EAT ANY MORE!"

Gaara smiled. "Glad you're enjoying it!"

"'ENJOYING' DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW I'M FEELING ABOUT IT!"

"It doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling seeing your reaction to it, either!"

Naruka laughed. "Stop!"

"Hey, you refuse to stop with the flirting, so I refuse to stop with what I'm doing!"

Naruka continued laughing, and she even pounded the table a few times. Gaara couldn't help but smile.

Finally, when Naruka's laughing fit subsided, she scarfed down the rest of her ramen. Once they received the check, Gaara and Naruka agreed to split the bill, although the former snuck in a little extra for the tip as his way of making up for making her cry at the library. Naruka interlocked hands with Gaara as they left the restaurant.

"Thanks again, babe!" said Naruka. "That was the best restaurant I've ever been to in my life! Believe it!"

"You're welcome! A woman like you deserves to be treated to her favorite things!"

"You're so sweet, Gaara!"

"Wait…didn't you already say that before?"

"Well, why don't I show you how I feel about you?"

"And how do you intend to do that?"

Naruka rested her arms on Gaara's shoulders. "Just watch me, babe!"

With that, Naruka pulled Gaara in and kissed him. Gaara's eyes widened, his heart rate soared into the stratosphere, and with it, he turned red like never before. Even so, he retained enough composure to place his hands around her waist. After spending so long without a woman, it really warmed him to finally receive the kind of touch he could only have dreamed about. When Naruka broke away, Gaara was panting like crazy.

"You OK there?" asked Naruka.

"Naruka…I…m-may I have another?"

"Certainly!"

And with that, Naruka gave Gaara another kiss. He found it no less pleasurable than the first one even though he had been the one to ask for it. He moaned with delight as he took in her taste. She lingered on his lips just a moment more before backing off, though she continued to hold him. This time, Gaara couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you so much, my darling," said Gaara.

"Awww, you're welcome, sweetheart!" said Naruka. "Can I do anything else for you?"

"I think I'm good for now, but if I do think of anything, I'll call or text you, OK?"

"You got it, babe!"

Naruka let go of Gaara, and the two parted ways.

Back at his house, Gaara looked around for Kankuro, who strangely enough was nowhere to be found. Using this to his advantage, he grabbed a pen and paper, and wrote the following note:

"Dear Kankuro:

HA HA!

3 Gaara"

Then, Gaara went to bed with a smile on his face. Suddenly, the future looked as if it were above his head.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.