Broken Dreams

Part Two – Rebuilt

Gaara stared down at the miserable Hyuga at his feet. He sighed and ran a hand through his thick, dark red hair. He really didn't have a fucking clue why he was here (actually he did, but he didn't want to think about it – he still had hopes that those feelings would go away if he ignored them long enough). He'd just seen Naruto and Sakura kissing in a courtyard and had seen Hinata's stricken face as she watched them. She'd run from the courtyard and he'd felt compelled to find her. It had taken hours – she'd run deep into the forest surrounding the Village Hidden in the Leaves, so deep that he'd actually had to use a Jutsu to track her down, in the end.

"Hinata," he said her name again. "Can you just get up? Please?"

This time she actually replied him. "L-leave me alone," she gasped through tired sobs and shudders. "I j-just wanna be alone…"

Gaara dropped to his knees beside her, not quite sure of what he was doing but knowing that he couldn't just leave her here like this. He reached out and tentatively wrapped his arms around her shivering body, pulling her away from her tree and up against him.

She shoved at him for a second, wriggling and trying to get free, but when he just held her tighter, she gave up and collapsed sobbing against his shoulder. He hesitantly patted her back, totally lost as to what he should be doing here. He'd never had anybody start crying all over him.

Slowly she stopped sobbing and just leaned against him, totally exhausted. He held her close, not sure if he should be saying something, but knowing somehow that for now just holding her would probably be enough. Soon though she lifted her head and glared at him. "D-didn't I t-tell you to leave me alone?" she snarled in a totally not-Hinata type voice. Gaara couldn't help but smile, just a little.

"Uh, yeah, but when do I ever listen to anyone?"

"Never," Hinata said bitterly. "You c-can let go of me n-now." She shoved at his chest, trying to wriggle free. Gaara just tightened his arms around her. "I don't listen to anyone, remember?" he reminded her.

She swore at him. Gaara stared at her in amazement, then burst out laughing.

Hinata grouchily thumped him on the chest, furious that he was laughing at her, but somehow still loving the sound of his laughter anyway. It was weird. She guessed it was because she absolutely never heard him laugh, like, ever, before.

When Gaara finally got his mirth under control she shoved him again. "W-will you please let m-me go n-now?" she asked him, suddenly just wanting to get away from him and his far too nice sounding laugh. She could feel a blush beginning. She didn't want to be around when it arrived in all its crimson glory. Gaara just shifted her slightly to one side though, pulling her closer, if that was possible.

"I don't want to," he muttered in her ear, feeling his heart beginning to speed up, the way it did when he was in a battle, kill or be killed type scenario. But this wasn't a battle – it was much, much more dangerous.

He felt Hinata go still. "D-did you j-just s-say w-what I think you d-did?" she said, stuttering even more than usual.

"Depends what you think I said," he replied evasively, suddenly scared stiff that she'd keep trying to shove him away. He didn't think he could stand rejection at this point.

He'd felt… strange about her for so long, keeping his weird feelings a secret, that it was terrifying to finally have them out in the open. "W-what do you m-mean by that, Gaara?" she asked him, her voice soft.

Gaara took a deep breathe. "Look, I know that you're still kinda in love with Naruto," he began. "But I sort of care about you myself. So if feeling bad about him is gonna make you come out here and hurt your hand cos you're so upset, then I'm sorry but I'm gonna kill him. Cos I sort of love you…" It occurred to the young ninja that he wasn't really making much sense. But it didn't seem to matter. She lifted her chin and looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

Gaara froze. She had the power right here to either make him ridiculously happy or shatter his heart into a zillion pieces.

She smiled and Gaara waited, terrified in a way that he had never been before. He thought faintly that there was a reason he'd sworn to never love again – because the emotion had wayyyyyyyyy too much power over him…

"Gaara I just realized something." He waited breathless.

She laughed and leaned upwards to kiss him. It was all the answer he'd ever need.