A/N: Real short this time, sorry. But it's the almost-end, so yeah... Plus, I'm outta ideas now so I stopped it where I did. -shot-

At least now I can comprehend, and have experienced
the meanings behind a simple human touch.

Thirty different things flooded my mind at once as my eyes drift closed and I press my lips back, trying to match his movements. Twenty six of those things are emotions; fear, pleasure, adoration, worry, troubled, soothed, desirous, timid, and so many more. The remaining four things were facts.

One, that this is awkward. Naruto isn't doing it because he feels the same as I do. He has ulterior motives I don't want to think about currently.

Two, that this is wonderful. It's filling me up with bubbling warmth like a golden liquid sun, filtering in through my mouth from Naruto's, sending shivers down my spine and tingles throughout my body.

Three, that I want more. Let me feel more… let me taste more… let me be closer, linked more to the other teen in my arms. And let me have more time, because I know it'll end sooner than it began. So, to prolong that closing, I slide my hand into Naruto's hair and hold him, unsure of my own actions but too absorbed to care.

And finally, four: this is wrong. Like the physical contact of being pinned to the ground, only much worse. Because I know we're two males and such a thing is frowned upon by my people and most likely his, too. Plus, I'm the leader of my village, so if they don't support males with males, I doubt they'd support me in this instant.

Achingly slow, the blonde parts his lips and removes them from mine messily, since they had gotten stuck together (Naruto had licked his lips beforehand, but I hadn't, so it left some peeling away to be done). His breath washes over my face, moist and hot like a swamp, but smelling sweet, similar to honeysuckle. How it does this I have no idea, but I close my eyes once more to inhale it.

"Gaara," he says, snapping me from my daze. "We should go to sleep."

I can tell he's embarrassed and probably figured me out. I bet he knows I liked that kiss far too much, and I'm sure he's already regretting doing it. I want to kick myself. For not controlling my emotions… or hormones.

"Hai," I agree in a small voice; small compared to my usual deep responses, anyhow.

Naruto makes a sharp thud as he jumps from his bed and lands on the wooden floor. He's acting peculiar.

"'Night…" It's muffled by the pillow and blanket he's cocooned himself in.

Out of the corner of my eyes I watch his lids lift, fall shut, lift again a bit lower than before, fall shut, and lift a third time just a slit before falling shut and staying. 'Fluttering closed' takes on a whole new meaning as I watch him conk out.

I sigh to myself, knowing we either made a huge mistake (well, certainly a gaffe if nothing else) or just began a fresh road in our relationship. As much as I pray for the other, I doubt it'll occur.

I sit in the dark for quite some time, waiting for Naruto to fall sound asleep. At one point, I know he's slumbering when his breathing is even and he begins muttering incoherently while rolling a bit. His dreams sound pleasant, thank goodness.

I hop off the bed and pad the two steps over to him, kneeling by his side. I survey his face, watching the minute expressions in the winter moonlight and sense of peace about him. Gingerly, I reach my hand out to stroke his jaw and the side of his face, and I tense when he leans into my touch and smiles vaguely. My heart clenches and my stomach rolls, reminding me that the kiss we shared wasn't the same both ways. I know he doesn't… love… me the way I… love… him. Tch. That word is hard to express even in my own mind.

"Gaara…" Naruto says, almost whimpers, in his sleep. I withdraw my hand and clench it into a fist on my pants. It's sickening how I react to hearing my name said that way. I shouldn't get used to it. He's sleeping, which means he isn't aware of how caring and needy his voice sounds when he says that two-syllable word. It takes me back to when I returned to life and he spoke my name gladly, as if he never wanted me to leave him again.

"Naruto…" I say with the same tone, but softer, and I let my broken expression show on my face to match the emotions flooding through me. How did it come to this? A kiss, and then… flat nothing. And how did it come to this, me falling in love with such a stubborn, knuckleheaded, determined… handsome, courageous, gentle… being? And how, of all things, did he get stuck with a demon like I had? It makes no sense.

In the depths of my intuition, I'm silently told that this isn't the end, nor the beginning. We hugged, yes; we went further and kissed, yes; and for a long time, we'll both say nothing of it, I'm sure. But… that intuition is saying, 'Gaara, don't give up yet. Your souls match. He'll come around'.

And I desperately want to accept that as the truth. So for tonight, I do. I take things in stride and assure myself that Naruto will come to love me someday if I give him time. Unrequited… I hate that word, but I can accept (or pretend?) that it's merely temporary.

I lean down and brush my lips across Naruto's chin and lower lip, reminded by a thin electrical current that I'm bonded to him in some way, and that he kissed me first for whatever inner rationale. I gather hope from that fact, and lightly smile; inwardly or outwardly, I'm not certain, but I'm grinning nonetheless.