Hinata curled up in her bed with her covers over her head, embarrassed. She had given Gaara his sleep treatment as quickly as she could and scuttled off to the safety of her room.
Shukaku knew exactly what happened and thought it was hilarious! She had never been so mortified. Gaara hadn't meant it. She knew that when it happened, and it was the exact reason she had to immediately get out of the situation. Suddenly the position they were in was different, highly uncomfortable, and embarrassing. They had just been so open with each other, and she had to slam the door in his face.
Hinata whimpered. She had scared him horribly. She hadn't noticed his change of body language or tone at first in her embarrassment. She felt horrible. She wasn't sure if she was grateful for his lack of understanding or not.
On one hand, he was unaware of the reason for her embarrassment. However, Shukaku was aware, but she had worried Gaara. On the other, if he did understand, she wouldn't have worried him, and he would give her his real reaction, but what if he was disgusted and rejected her!
This was embarrassing and confusing! She was sick with worry. She knew her reaction was expected. He was attractive, and he was her fiance, but it was not something they had talked about, and she wasn't sure she was ready to talk about it.
She had avoided thinking about their relationship in that way. As far as she knew, he thought of her as a friend, the friend he was marrying. She was okay with being just that, but what did he think?
She swirled scenarios in her head. Did she? Did he? What if he didn't, she shouldn't. If he did, did she?
He had been so isolated from human interaction, did he even understand?
She was getting no sleep, it would seem.
Hinata was tired at breakfast. Gaara noticed the shadow under her eyes. He didn't know what to do. She looked like she hadn't slept. She nibbled slower than usual like she wasn't feeling well.
He didn't feel like eating either.
Should he ask? She stonewalled him last night. He stared at his breakfast, trying to figure out what he should do.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled into her tea.
"What?" Had he missed something?
"Last night, I'm sorry." Her eyes brimmed with tears, but none fell.
He stared at her blankly, now she was apologizing for it? She told him it wasn't something his fault, but he was doubting more by the second. Shukaku started his annoying amusement laughter once more.
"Why can't you just tell me, we've talked about everything that has come up." He sighed.
"It's very uncomfortable." She whispered.
"So is he laughing." He added.
She flushed. "Well if you think it is so funny Shukaku-san, you tell him!" She shrunk despite her tone.
He waited. The beast found her outburst even funnier. 'What!' He shouted in his head.
'Your breathing affected your little partner.' The beast continued to laugh.
"Breathing?" He asked aloud.
Hinata squeaked, covering her face. That was it? His breathing? He's breathing now? Was he an idiot? 'On her.' The beast clarified.
He huffed, irritated. "Hinata come here." He ordered.
She froze but hesitantly got up from her chair and shuffled over to him.
He sighed and lightly pulled her down toward him. "Just show me."
She tried to pull away, but he tugged her hands back down gently. "I would like this all to stop, and I would like it to stop with me understanding why you are acting strangely. It's distracting."
She chewed her lip and fidgeted before closing her eyes and moving down to his neck where he had been the night before. She took a deep, deliberate breath while he waited and blew a hot gust of air on his neck.
Gaara went rigid. He suddenly understood the reason she was acting so odd.
He felt heat some to his face. Was that blushing? Did he look like she did? He felt his heart rate quicken and the hairs on his neck stand up. She started to move away, but he held tighter to her fingers, keeping her there for a moment. "Oh." He mumbled, unsure of what to do.
He noticed this misunderstanding was once again the fault of his lack of contact with others. No one had ever breathed on him, let alone breathed on him like that.
Gaara now had different questions, was she bothered by the feeling? Had she just been embarrassed because he didn't know he had done it?
"Yeah." Hinata sighed skittishly, unintentionally bringing back the feeling to his neck. He quickly gave her room to pull back. She did keep a firm but shaky grip of his hands like she was holding on as to force herself to not run from him. She shrank, looking away, chewing her lip.
Hinata was highly uncomfortable but deliberately trying not to run from him. She was waiting for his answer to her unasked question. He had to make a decision now. Waiting to give her an answer on his position on this would make her doubt herself. He had no doubt it was what kept her up.
What now?
Gaara had never even considered their relationship being more physical than it already was. This was, after all, an arranged marriage, he reminded himself. She was his friend, she was his fiance, and would be his wife. He had never expected anything more than the title and the sleeping arrangement to change on their wedding night, and that was just a formality. He was a grown man. He understood physical relationships, but he never considered him being a part of relations with anyone and he honestly didn't know-how.
Kisses came first. From what Gaara understood, full kisses meant something. He would wait for that. He gazed at her trembling fingers with an idea. He brought the delicate trembling fingers to his lips, testing the feeling and giving her his answer.
Hinata sucked in a breath, audibly gasping. She stared at him, red and surprised. She stopped trembling, and then she wobbled.
He had just enough time to catch her.
Hinata woke to purple, she squeaked. She sat up smacking, Kankuro square in the forehead. Rubbing her now sore face, she looked at him with confusion. What happened? Why was she unconscious?!
She looked around Gaara's office. Gaara was sitting at his desk, his cheeks holding color, his eyes piercing the paper a little too hard to be reading it. He was embarrassed.
Kankuro chuckled. "You are quite the lightweight." He mumbled.
"Eep!" She covered her mouth as she realized Gaara had had to tell him why she fainted.
"Come on, work to do." He chuckled, helping her up off the couch.
Hinata crumbled onto his couch. She was still heavily embarrassed.
Gaara's stomach twisted. Shukaku laughed. Kankuro said it was a good sign, but how was fainting a good sign? He was annoyed with his brother, who pressed to the point he had to tell him why his fiance was unresponsive.
"I'm sorry." He said suddenly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
"No, it's fine." She straightened, looking over to him. "I'm just embarrassed. I've been teased all my life for it." She mumbled.
"What?" He asked.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, noticing the disconnect.
"The kiss," Gaara replied flatly.
"Oh! No, don't apologize for that!" She fidgeted with her ring. "I was talking about me, fainting." She was okay with the kiss, but not her response?
"I did that." He pressed.
"No, I was tired and flustered and not expecting it." She mumbled, fidgeting further with her fingers rubbing the spot his lips had touched. The spot on her he had pressed his lips.
His.
He shook the feeling.
"I'm fine, really. Just surprised." Hinata mumbled.
Gaara didn't look like he believed her. The whole thing had upset him and was making him doubt his decisions.
She felt dreadful again.
She gathered her courage and got back up, and came over to his desk. He blinked, putting his pen down lightly, offering his hand as she came forward, she took it. She leaned on his desk, embarrassed, losing her nerve already. He placed his other hand on her hip, looking at her with curiosity.
She was comforted by his willingness to still so openly touch her without even really thinking about it.
He looked up, not understanding why she had come over. He was more innocent than she was, it would seem. She took a deep breath and laid the hand he gave her out in hers, palm up. He watched her idly, giving no resistance. She could feel the curiosity coming off him in waves. She gently brushed her fingers to open it fully flat, and with what was left of her courage, leaned down to lightly press her lips to his palm. She was sure her reaction was unwarranted, but he was not going to be expecting it either. She kept her eyes close out of either fear of rejection, nervousness, or just what she saw people do when they kissed.
Gaara stiffened.
Hinata pulled his hand away as she straightened, opening her eyes only to stare at the floor. Should she go back to her spot? She made her point. Her courage was gone. She glanced up at his red face, and her nerves melted instantly, and she covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh. He looked shocked and possibly mortified.
Gaara quickly tugged her forward to bury his face in her stomach. It hid his confusion of his new embarrassment as she started to giggle at his reaction. At least he didn't faint.