Title:Candy Kisses
Author: Yi Xue Sky (aka, myambergirl on DA)
Rating: PG ( K+ )
Challenge:Chocolate Kisses
Pairing: GaaHina

Second Place Winner!!

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Her name was Hyuuga Hinata. She was quite a lovely girl, too. Always nice to everyone she knew. Always willing to help anyone in need. The Hyuuga was a sweetheart. She was as much timid as she was sweet, though. Which was a wonderful trait as well as not-so-wonderful. Her shyness usually caused most people to believe she was as innocent as they come. But it also led many to believe she was not at all a very good shinobi. This was a major downside to the girl.

That being known, Hinata had always tried her hardest to change herself. Her attempts were all in vain, though. The girl had given up on ever finding a chance to prove that she could be shy and strong at the same time. Never had she dreamed she'd be working at a candy shop. But that's how life is, you know? Unexpected.

"Hinataaaaaaaa!!" came a loud cry from the back of the store.

Jumping in surprise, the young girl quickly hurried to the door leading to the back, poking her head in with a blink.

"Yes?" she called back.

The blonde who had just called walked up to the door from inside the back of the shop, placing her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow.

"Hinata, did you put out the candy yet? We're opening in five minutes," she told her.

Hesitantly, the lavender-eyed girl gave a few small nods. "Y-Yes, Ino-san… I'm almost done."

"Well, you might wanna hurry it up just a little," whisking back around, the Yamanaka girl disappeared into the back of the shop.

As Ino went back, the shy Hyuuga returned to her place at the small wooden boxes she'd been filling with candy. Most of the new candies they'd received were Valentine's Day candies. Little cutesy things. Like candy hearts with little love messages on them. And M&M's in colours of pink and white instead of the usual colours. Carefully, Hinata poured each new bag of candy into its wooden box for customers to pick from. That was what they did at this particular candy shop. Bags of candy were shipped to them, and it was Hinata's job to place all of the candies in their correct boxes, then to mind the customers as they bought. And there were many customers considering this shop was Konoha's only place where candy could be bought.

Hinata quickly finished emptying the big bag of tiny bags of M&M's and other bags of the different candies into their places before looking up at the clock that hung upon the wall. Realizing there was but only about a minute left before the store opened, she hurriedly made her way to the door, flipping the "closed" sign to "open" and getting back to her place behind the counter.

The early morning was always the least busy time of the day for them. A few people would show up during the time, but usually only one. The only problem was…that one person would stay…for hours.

And Ino did not like that…at all.

As if just remembering what was to happen soon (as the particular person did come every day), Ino came into the store from the back again, looking around before giving Hinata her command.

"Hinata, don't let Gaara in today," she told her. "Just…tell him we can't let anybody in with red hair anymore or something. …You're allergic to red hair. Okay?"

The shy girl blinked, her lavender eyes widening a bit. "B-But…Ino-san…I…I can't do that!"

"Why not??" the blonde scowled.

"Ino-san, that's mean!" Hinata turned completely around, facing her with worried eyes. "If you want to be mean…then you do it…because I won't."

Quickly after the words, the Hyuuga's eyes widened with fear. She covered her mouth, looking away from Miss Yamanaka's glare. "I-I'm sorry, Ino-san…"

Ino raised a brow. She sighed, opening her mouth to respond; tell Hinata she was going to do the job, even if she didn't want to. If only the sound of the shop door opening hadn't interrupted.

Both girls quickly turned around. Sure enough, there was Gaara. Ino rolled her eyes, turning back around and leaving Hinata to the customer. Hinata, on the other hand, gave a relieved sigh. She then smiled to the blue-eyed Sand Ninja.

"Good-morning, Gaara-san," she greeted. "Can I help you?"

"You can," he said in response, then after a few second's hesitation. "I think I've been here enough for you to know what I want."

The girl smiled. "Kisses?"

He nodded once, hesitating before approaching the counter Hinata was behind and scanning the boxes for the chocolate kisses. Immediately, Hinata helped him find them, tilting her head as she smiled and spoke again.

"We just got these new ones in. They're Valentine colours instead of our usual silver ones."

And that they were. Gaara's eyes widened the smallest bit at seeing the new red and pink wrappers hugging the kisses. He picked up a few, looking at them curiously. Hinata stifled a tiny giggle at the confusion in his eyes.

"How many would you like?" she asked. "They taste just the same."

The boy looked up at her again. "Twenty."

Hinata smiled again, beginning to reach down into the wooden box to count out twenty of the kisses. But just as she was about to pick out the first one, she was stopped.

"No!"

Quickly pausing, the shy girl blinked, her wide eyes looking up to Gaara in surprise. Then, suddenly, she remembered what she'd forgotten.

"Oh!" she put her hand to her face for a second. "I-I'm sorry, Gaara-san! I almost forgot… Which ones?"

It was practically a tradition. Gaara would come into the shop, always wanting chocolate kisses, and never would he let anyone pick the ones he wanted for him. He would always demand that he was to inspect them first…and choose the right ones. While this would most likely make any owner of the shop Gaara went to annoyed, Hinata found his actions amusing. She never minded letting him pick his kisses at all.

So, he did. It was quite a long process, too. Which was why Ino despised letting Gaara come into the shop. He did, though. Hinata was a strong supporter of her customers. And even if she let Ino run over her with everything else, she'd never let Ino hurt the customers.

About an hour would pass before Gaara was even done choosing half of the twenty chocolates. And still, Hinata went on; letting him do as he wished. By the time the boy was done choosing the first half was when the first big group of customers would come into the store, most of them always very angry due to Hinata letting Gaara spend so much time picking out his kisses.

After about two hours was when Gaara would finally finish. And pay for the candy he'd gotten, and finally, go back home.

And luckily, those two hours were finally up. A very long line of customers was now behind Gaara (as always), all of them tired and angry. They all anticipated the moment when the shop door opened and out went Gaara. And when he finally did, Hinata gave a long sigh. She didn't mind doing what she did for him at all…but she was always relieved to finally be able to mind the other customers as well.

Following the sigh, the Hyuuga gave the line of customers a shy smile. She quickly bowed to them, apologizing deeply for the wait. And then got started with exchanging their money for the candy they wanted. She never did get too many comments on Gaara. But today was one of those days when she did.

"You know, Hinata…," said Kiba as he came to meet her at the counter. "Maybe you should stop letting Gaara come here to get candy. All he ever does is make everyone else wait for hours. He doesn't even belong here. This isn't his village."

Hinata averted her eyes from him at the words. She silently answered him with a no… Never would Hinata not allow Gaara to come. Nor would she ever allow anyone else to stop her from letting him. It wasn't as if Gaara was…her boyfriend. Or anything. But even still…there was something about him. Something Hinata loved. Something that never failed to make her smile. He was quite a sweet boy if one took the time to get to know him… Solemn…but sweet. Her thoughts broke up as the familiar voice cut through them once more.

"Just saying," Kiba continued. "…I'm just telling you what's going to be best. Your store would get a lot more customers without Gaara."

Finally, Hinata looked up at her friend. "Kiba-kun…you know me better than to ask me to do something like that."

The dog boy smiled. "Yeah…I know. Well, see ya, Hinata."

"Bye," she replied as Kiba turned and left the shop.

Try as she might, it was hard for Hinata to simply push the words from Kiba completely out of her mind. What if she should stop allowing Gaara to come? But…she could never hurt him like that. She knew how much he loved the chocolate kisses. And she knew he enjoyed coming to the shop every day (even if he didn't tend to show it). No…Hinata would never do what the others wanted her to. Never.

Gaara slowly made his way back to Sunagakure, the bag of chocolate kisses in his hand. The freezing winter weather was extremely cold, however, did not bother Gaara at all. He was quite fond of the cold, actually. As he walked, he looked down into the bag. He'd only gotten the ones with red wrappers. Red…just like the adorable uniform Hinata always had on as she minded the candy shop.

Thinking of the image, the boy closed his eyes contentedly as he walked, purring the Hyuuga's name quietly. Not quietly enough, apparently. For just as he did, a certain white-eyed male walking past him blinked in surprise, eyeing him with quite a strange glance. Gaara, not even noticing, only continued to walk.

The long walk back to Suna ended soon enough. And walking into the home he shared with his siblings, Gaara was greeted.

"Back at that candy place again?" Temari asked.

"…Yes," the boy replied, walking past his sister and going to Kankurou's room.

Once he'd passed, Temari gave a long sigh and rested back in the chair she was in again. Gaara continued his walk to Kankurou's room. When he got then and went inside, he went straight to the closet, opening it up and pouring the bag of chocolate kisses into it, along with the other thousands of them he had in there. However…this time, Gaara kept one of the kisses. He couldn't bear to throw all of them into the closet…even if he did hate the taste of them entirely. These ones were different….they were red. Gaara loved red. Red was passion…which he oh so wanted to give to the shy Hyuuga girl at the candy store. And red was the adorable little uniform she wore every day as she minded the store… The sand ninja closed his eyes again, feeling the inner-demon purr longingly at the thought of Hinata again.

After looking down into the closet at the nineteen red kisses mixed in with the silver ones, he finally closed the door again, leaving Kankurou's room. He often wondered if Kankurou would ever discover the huge pile of chocolates in his closet…

"Hinata…look. I'm sorry, but I'm not giving Gaara anymore chances after this one. You have to tell him that he cannot spend hours in here any more."

The Hyuuga blinked up at her blonde associate. She knew instantly Ino wasn't sorry as she said. Even still, Hinata looked away from her, answering quietly. "I will…"

"I mean it, Hinata," she continued. "If he comes in one more time and stays for as long as he did today…I'm not letting him in here again. That's a promise."

"Okay," said the Hyuuga. "I'll…I'll fix it."

"You better. This is your only chance."

And with that, Ino slipped her coat on and left the store to get back home for the night. Hinata sighed silently, looking down to the floor as she hoped she really could fix it. If she could…it'd be a miracle. If she couldn't…Hinata didn't even want to think of what might happen.

Finally finishing her own store minding for the night, Hinata too slipped her own coat on and left the warm shop, making the chilling walk back to the Hyuuga residence. She could figure out a way to tell Gaara without potentially hurting his feelings or anything else tomorrow.

Tomorrow came soon enough, too. It barely felt like even five minutes before the time for Hinata to wake up and get back to her job arrived once again. Sleepily (as Hinata would sleep in all day if she could), the girl dressed herself and left the house, heading back to the shop for another day.

The morning wasn't busy at all (as expected), and Gaara arrived for his chocolate kisses a lot later into the day than he usually did. Hinata was beginning to worry he wouldn't show up, and grew a tad bit sad that day. Until he finally did show up, that is.

Seeing him, Hinata gave a sigh of relief, smiling contentedly. There would always be something about the boy that never failed to brighten her days. Gaara came to the counter, letting his eyes scan the woman he came every day just to see. After doing so, he ever so slightly returned her smile. And seeing the smile, Hinata couldn't possibly be able to tell Gaara he couldn't stay as much as he wanted. She made a mental note to tell him a bit later and then finally spoke.

"Kisses?" she asked gently.

"I'll just take fifteen today," Gaara told her.

Hinata gave a nod, picking up the wooden box of chocolate kisses and placing it on the far side of the counter. "Gaara-san…if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to ask you to pick out your kisses over here today. Is that alright?"

Gaara was a bit confused as first, but he gave a hesitant nod and moved to the side of the counter where the box had been set. The Hyuuga girl gave him another smile.

"Take your time…," she shyly said. "When you finish picking them out, just tell me."

Looking from her to the box, Gaara began to pick each of his chocolates out. Once again, he decided to pick out red ones. Red was the nicest colour, after all.

The Hyuuga, satisfied with her genious idea, then smiled to the next customer in line. She had her plan; Hinata would multi-task. Allow Gaara to choose his candies on the side as she made sure the other customers were satisfied as well. The plan was perfect. And with it, Gaara was causing no trouble at all for the store. Of course, Hinata didn't even consider the things that could go wrong. …Nor did she know of the particular one that would go wrong…very wrong.

The next customer was someone Hinata had never seen before; a male, looking a bit older than she was. Hesitating a moment, Hinata asked him what she could help him with. As the guy was telling her, he would trail off every few moments, scanning the girl with his brown eyes. Gaara paused his kiss choosing and kept his eye on the boy. He could already tell the boy was eyeing the Hyuuga's curvy body over anything else. And he would've stopped him right there if only he didn't want to get Hinata into trouble.

Hinata hadn't even noticed the boy ogling her as he continued to speak. And Gaara would give anything if she would notice. …The Sand Ninja didn't want anyone coming to the candy shop to gaze at Hinata's body. It was entirely disrespectful to her. Even he didn't completely ogle the girl; all Gaara ever did was glance at her every so-often. And even more than that, Gaara didn't simply want to come look at how sexily adorable the Hyuuga was in her store uniform; he wanted something much more. All Gaara really wanted was love. From her.

The red-haired boy decided to let it go this time. After all, it was quite hard not to look at Hinata. She was lovely; from head to toe. Gaara's decision was soon changed though, as the boy buying candy ever so slightly leaned inward to "accidentally" knock her pen to the floor. As Hinata bent down to pick up the pen, the boy leaned a bit more inward, trying to get a peek down her shirt.

The sight instantly enraged the inner-demon. Gaara's sand acted on itself, slowly making its way to the boy and swirling around his legs, trailing upward. When the boy realized what was happening, he screamed, causing the entire store to silence and see what was happening. The glaring Sand Ninja with a raised hand was all anyone needed to see to set them all into panic.

Most people in the store added onto the boy's scream, hurriedly running to the door and outside, while some people ran to the back of the store. Either way, all there was now was panic.

Quickly, Hinata covered her mouth with the two of her small hands at the sight.

"Gaara-san!" She ran around the counter and to Gaara, grabbing the raised arm and pulling it down as she tried her best to make him stop. "Stop!!"

The raged Gaara hesitated a moment. But just as he did, a shocked Ino quickly came from the back of the shop.

"What is going on here??" she yelled.

Hinata, still clinging to Gaara, and Gaara, still holding the sand in its place wrapped around the boy, both looked to Ino. After a moment's hesitation, Hinata tried to speak.

"I-Ino-san, I—"

Ino cut her off. "Get Gaara out. Now."

"B-But, Ino-san!"

"Hinata, I said now. Get him out, or I will," she threatened.

"B-But…"

"Do you want me to throw out both of you?? GET-HIM-OUT."

Ino growled in annoyance, walking around the counter as well and doing her best to get the sand off of the terrified boy. "I'm so sorry about this…it won't happen again."

Gaara lowered his head, breaking his arm free from Hinata and leaving the store. Hinata quickly ran after him, leaving the store as well.

"Gaara-san!" she called him. "Wait! Please!"

The Sand Ninja stopped at her plead, hesitating before turning around to face her. She blinked up at him worriedly. There was no way he could've simply attacked someone for no reason. Even if no one else would believe him, she would.

"…Why…did you…," she began.

"…Don't worry yourself, Hinata," Gaara told her, turning away as he spoke. "Forgive me for causing you any trouble."

The Hyuuga shook her head at the words, gently taking his hand in her own. "Gaara-san…I know you would never… Please…why did you…?"

"He was…," he sighed a bit, looking to the ground. "Just…stay away from him, Hinata."

There was a long moment of silence before the lavender-eyed girl spoke again.

"I-Ino-san…told me to get rid of you…," she told him. "And…I….I just….want you to know that…if you aren't allowed to come anymore…if you still come to the village…I'll still bring you your chocolate kisses."

Gaara looked up at her again. Never could there be someone so sweet. He averted his eyes again, hesitantly responding.

"…I think it's time you know that…I don't like chocolate kisses," he said. "Chocolate isn't the reason I come every day… I come to see you."

The Hyuuga blinked, looking up at him in surprise. A bit of a blush began to coat her cheeks at the words. Her? What made her so special?

"M-Me…?" the blushing female responded.

Gaara gave a nod. "You… You're different from most I've known."

"…How am I…different?"

A faint smile grew upon his face. "You just are."

Blushing again, the shy girl looked away, the small smile still present. "Thank you…Gaara-san."

Gaara hesitated a long moment before slowly bringing his hand to her delicate face. He gently brushed his thumb over her soft lips as she blushed even more. Closing her eyes, Hinata accepted the chaste touch of his lips against her own.

About a week had passed. Hinata no longer worked at the candy shop. In fact, she'd quit the job, herself. Hinata's days were now spent training again. As her confidence had been boosted a great deal now thanks to Gaara. The two made sure to visit often. Sometimes Gaara coming to Konoha, sometimes Hinata going to Suna. Either way, it always found a way to work out.

Hinata enjoyed being free from the candy shop; though she did miss it sometimes. Some days passed feeling as if a part of her life was missing now. Then on the other hand, some days passed feeling as if a part of her life she'd lost was found again. But on bad days and good days, having Gaara there beside her never failed to make life better.

Authors Notes: Okay… This is another story for a contest. This one is GaaraHina, though. In all honesty, I don't like GaaHina that much. But I like it more now that I've written this. :)

I know V-Day is over, but meehhhh. Leave me alone. DX

I hate this story. It's so….I don't know. :P But I hope everyone else liked it. …I just like the beginning. The ending sucks. But maybe it's just me…

I think I got Gaara WAAAAYYY OOC. But oh, well.