Hinata stared at him for a minute. The redness of her cheeks started to fade, and she gave him a grateful smile.
"Well, it started when we were rather young." She explained herself and her affections toward the boy. It would seem she always had sympathy for monsters. He absorbed the story that she told him. He was paying more attention to the details of her life that he could wonder about later, but now it was about his best friend and fiancee. He needed to stop avoiding it.
When she got to more current events, she stopped to take slow breaths for a moment.
"When I made the deal with the council, I had to accept the consequence. I never told him how I felt, and now it was far too late for me, but I thought he still deserved to know because everyone else did." Hinata rubbed her thumb over the vein in his arm, looking down from his face. "I asked him to meet and told him the decision of the council. He immediately hated the idea, but I made him calm down so I could say what I needed to. When I told him that I had liked him, he wasn't sure what I meant, which hurt. He didn't notice any of my affection for years to the point he couldn't understand when I spelled it out for him. I guess that better than him knowing and just ignoring it. Once I explained, he apologized for not noticing and looked guilty about it. I didn't want him to be, but I also didn't want an answer because I knew the answer. So, instead, I wished him luck with Sakura-chan."
He tightened his grip on her hips. This story of her affection was driving Shukaku so insane he was having a hard time telling what he thought about it with the creature's rage.
She noticed the pressure but continued. "I'm not sure if nii-san told you, but I begged him to stay with me when Naruto-kun wanted to have a meal together. I didn't want to be alone with those feelings. When I told him I was letting him go, I was fully ready to still be in love with him forever and have to ignore it."
Gaara wasn't told that. His stomach dropped. His relationship with her was making her uncomfortable to spend time with her friends.
She took notice of his distraction and nudged his arm. He looked up to a soft smile he wasn't expecting. "But I didn't need him. I was so surprised. I don't have any of the feelings I used to at all." Shukaku went silent. "I was expecting pain and discomfort, but I just realized that he's just a friend to me now, just another person. I have no idea what happened, maybe it was the time away. I don't love him at all anymore."
Gaara's distaste and discomfort puddled to the floor out of him in an instant as he realized what she was saying. He could, now in the silence, see the range of emotions he just went through clearly. Had he been so angry and resentful of his friend because she was affectionate toward him, more so than she was toward him?
He didn't expect feelings like that from her, so why did it bother him she held them for some else. While wracking his brain trying to find answers to his own damn emotions, his face must have looked odd. Hinata bent forward with a giggle.
"Did you not like the idea?" She asked. He became suddenly aware of her utter closeness and comfort.
Honest answer. "No. Neither did Shukaku. He's been grumbling and growling since we started. He has a particular distaste for Naruto and his beast."
"Oh." She pierced her lips. "Well..." She thought. "I'm not sure how to respond to that."
"I do not understand myself right now." He admitted.
"How to respond?" She asked.
"No, quite literally me or rather how I felt in response to the conversation." She listened intently with a tilt of her head, her hair that he realized was laying on his arms moved and brushing his skin. It was an odd feeling. "I shared Shukaku's distaste for the idea. It may be years of being around him or a competition complex, I don't know." He let out a frustrated huff. "But I am extremely and overly possessive..."
"Of me?" She filled. He nodded with an irritated huff.
She smiled, seemingly knowing something he didn't. "I'm okay with that."
"I don't understand why my relationship with you would make me resent him." He growled at himself.
She offered no explanation, though she seemed to know the answer, and it made her smile more and giggled at his irritation. "Stop that." She giggled harder. "You know something, stop hiding it." He growled lightly at her.
"Maybe you should ask Naruto-kun." She offered, removing her hands from his arm to cover her mouth as the giggling got worse.
"I don't find this amusing." He told her flatly.
"I'm sorry." She showed no sign of letting up. He sighed and hung his head. On a childish whim, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead to her collarbone. He pressed it there, letting his frustration and growing headache melt into her covered skin.
She took the free hand and placed it in his hair, pressing her cheek to his head.
His.
Was that it? Was he so uncomfortable with the thought of her loving Naruto, a feeling he didn't even understand because she was his? Was he so possessive that even a portion of her forever being for someone else frustrated him so much? Was it the potential that she could not have been here and his? This information didn't bother him when it was first brought up. It only bothered him once she had comfortably pushed her way into every part of his life, his work, his meals, his sleep, his free time. He made time for her in his day where he never had for himself.
He could feel the rise and fall of her breathing in her chest. It was calming, causing purring to start. He slid his arms around her hips, resting his arms on the desk she sat on, moving closer in his chair. Her knees bumped his chest, keeping him from coming fully in. She moved them to either side of his ribs to let him closer. Her hand now free, she curled it under his arm, gripping his shirt, the other one moved from his hair over his shoulders, pulling him in.
He buried his face in her neck. He felt ridiculously childish. His inability to control and understand his own emotions because this woman had taken over his life. The worst part is he had no plans to detach. He intended to keep her. His grip would only tighten from here.
Shukaku mused an agreement.
He huffed a sigh heavily in frustration.
Hinata went rigid. He froze.
She didn't soften again, so he started to move back to see what was wrong, but her gentle arm on his shoulder tightened, keeping him just shy of being able to see her face. Her heart rate was heightened, as did her breathing.
Was she scared? He went into a panic, pulling back harshly to see her. Once she had lost the battle, she quickly removed her arms to cover her extremely red face.
"What did I do?" He stared at her in confusion.
She squeaked as a response fidgeting out of his grip.
His face dropped as she unwrapped his arms from her hips with trembling hands. He had upset her?! How? What was going on? She stopped once he was retracted and held his hands in the air between them.
"I think it's time we head to bed. It's getting late." She mumbled, looking directly at their hands, her face still blood-colored.
Shukaku laughed, further confusing him. "What?" He asked again.
She slid off the desk, leaving his hands. He quickly grabbed for her again, making a firm grip on either hip, stopping her. She stared directly at the floor but allowed him to stop her. "I'm tired."
"You're lying." He pressed. What did he do? Was she afraid of him now? Was the possessiveness really what finally pushed her away? Why the hell was Shukaku laughing!?
"Please..." She mumbled. He instantly let go, afraid of her fear. He retracted back into himself, feeling rejected and sick.
He felt her look up. Suddenly her entire demeanor changed. "Oh! I'm sorry, nothing wrong." She quickly fidgeted with her hands in the air until she decided to crouch down and place them on his knee to see his face. "I was just uncomfortable. It wasn't your fault. It's been a long day." She was lying again, but not nearly as much.
Uncomfortable? Shukaku's laughing got more unbearable.
"Shukaku finds this funny." He mumbled irritably.
Hinata's face became redder. She scowled. "I find him rude."
"What happened." He pressed, feeling his insides clench at the look on her face.
"My neck..." She squeaked out.
"I hurt..."
"No." She declared firmly. "Nothing is wrong."
"Then why won't you tell me." He asked, defeated.
"I'm not comfortable talking about it right now. Please, just understand you did nothing wrong. It will come up again." She begged with her eyes and the grip on the fabric over his knee.
He sighed nodding.
"Bed?" She asked.
He nodded, taking her hands, helping her up as he stood.
"As long as nothing is wrong." He noted.
She shook her head. "Promise."
His ears rang with Shukaku's laughter.