Oh my goodness! Another chapter? Already! It must be Christmas break! Yea, here you are. And I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU ALL! NOT A SINGLE REVIEW ON THE THIRD CHAPTER! I demand reviews for this one, or I just might not finish it! So… THERE!
Chapter 4: Kisses are Troublesome
It wasn't a kiss… it couldn't have been a kiss, Shikamaru told himself over and over in the back of his head. He had leaned up and gotten close to Gaara's face; their noses had touched gently, their breath tickling past their skin. His lips had ghosted over Gaara's, almost tasting the soft pink of his mouth, rubbing the tip of his nose on the side of the pale nose. It was so close, but it wasn't a kiss – it didn't have a chance to become a kiss. Shikamaru remembered himself, and remembered Gaara, pulling back so suddenly that he fell back on the ground.
They stared at each other, both in denial. Nothing had happened, the blushing meant nothing. There was nothing between them, except the slow and staggered breathing of the sand ninja, whose eyes were wide and excited with fear. Shikamaru stared with the same fear and nervousness, doubting that he had really done what he had done.
Silently, Gaara spoke. "…If you don't do that again, I'll kill you."
"You- What!" Shikamaru shouted, face turning in the least bit pinker. "You can't order me around! I didn't mean to do it in the first place, so you can't just make me do it again!"
"Then I'll kill you." Gaara's eyes weren't menacing, Shikamaru couldn't see him as any real threat anymore. He was something softer… something human. He crossed his arms and glared steadily at Shikamaru, who sat confused and bewildered on the floor.
The threat didn't make him get up, something more did; not because he wanted to, but because he felt he needed to. Shikamaru walked over to Gaara and stared at him. No thoughts in his genius mind could explain why, or what, but a feeling that had no thoughts answered everything; Shikamaru bent down, and gently close the distance between the lips. Officially, undoubtedly, and completely, it was a kiss.
Gaara closed his eyes again, moving his lips back against Shikamaru, with only a vague idea of what was going on. All defenses crumbled at the feeling of the friction between their soft lips, which became comforting and confusing at the same time. He felt the Chuunin sit beside him and wrap two arms around his middle, and Gaara wrapped his arms around Shikamaru's neck, pulling him closer. Their noses allowed small breaths to sustain their bodies while their lips sustained their souls.
Somehow the kiss ended, though neither broke it. Shikamaru stared at the Genin in his arms, wildly appalled at his own behavior. He hated girls… but he didn't know that that made him gay. Yet, he didn't have as much of a problem with it as he should have, and instead of dwelling on the troublesome detail, he caught Gaara by surprise and captured his lips again, seeing more and more colors in the back of his head the more he kissed. Mouths melted together, tongues slipped between boundaries in an endless game of tag, and the lips met and separated and met again. Shikamaru's shoulders were becoming numb from the fingernails clasped to his neck, but he was beginning to like it. After hours passed of these pleasures in a span of a few minutes, Gaara pulled back, panting gently against Shikamaru's lips, a single string of spit connecting the two mouths. "Do…you think this is alright?" Shikamaru nodded briefly, taking another chance to seize Gaara's mouth in a heavenly kiss. His arms held the desert ninja close, unaware of anyone else in the world. A sudden shiver wrapped around Gaara as he pulled back for a second time, and leaned his head down, red bangs covering his eyes.
"Y-you…" Gaara began, his voice quivering as violently as he was. Defeated and painful, he kept talking. "You're making my chest hurt… and I don't know why…" Wet drops fell onto Shikamaru's shirt from the darkly outlined eyes above.
Shikamaru didn't say anything as Gaara began to shake and sob, gripping his own chest. A slow sigh passed his lips and the Chuunin pulled Gaara into his lap and hugged him. It wasn't desperate or forced; Shikamaru just hugged the Genin close for comfort, feeling him crying into his shoulder. Slowly the feet had begun to bleed again. "Don't try to figure it out," the genius drawled out softly into the pale ear. "You'll get more confused. It's too troublesome… Just try to sleep, Gaara."
The two ninjas curled up on the bed. Shikamaru drew the blankets over them and continued holding Gaara as he cried. For once, tears didn't seem all that bothersome. He was too proud at the moment to admit it was anything like love, so he wouldn't have to admit it to Choji… but it was beautiful, whatever the feeling was. Maybe he wouldn't defy the stars as much as he had wanted to. If the small body in his arms came with the love contract, he would have to sign his name, regardless of what he had to put up with.