sorry about not updating sooner, I'm swamped with things to do with school, and I can relate to Matsuri in this chapter when she talks about stress. anyway i'll update sooner now and enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 17

I didn't want to wake up. I was warm, comfortable, and relaxed. The perfect feeling of laziness and I wasn't quite ready to let that leave me. My mind, for once, was not going into a complete frenzy and I didn't have anything to stress me out at the moment.

The bright, shining, over joyful world could wait a few more minutes. My mind was foggy, and I was trying my hardest to sink back into that wonderfull oblivion. But, my body just wouldn't do what I wanted. It knew it was time to get up, and something in the back of my head kept nagging me. Like it would be in my best interest if I woke up now.

Against my will, I became more and more aware. I knew it had to be about five o'clock in the morning. At least my internal clock wasn't as fogged as my brain.

I cracked my eyes open a fraction, and peered through the darkness of the room. I did a few double takes, not sure of what I was seeing. Confusion twisted inside me as I gazed at my side of the dorm. How was my side of the room over there? Why wasn't I on my side? Isn't that were..I was..supposed to...Oh no.

...HOLY SHIT!! PLEASE LET THIS JUST BE A DAMN DREAM!!

Without moving my body, lest the person I was clutching to still be in the deep catacombs of sleep, I swiftly looked up at the red-headed male laying part ways underneath me.

My breath hitched in my throat as I gazed up at him through the darkness.

Oh, god. He looked like an angel. His hair outlined by the fading moonlight, his pale skin looking like silk in the glow. His chest rising and falling rythmetically. It all formed a soft lullaby that was threatning to make me do something the wouldn't be good for him or myself.

He looked so peaceful, so innocent. And I was there, using his chest as pillow with one of my legs entangled with his, and one of my hands fisted into his shirt while the other stay tucked up against my chest and slightly touching his ribs.

My nose felt fuzzy from where I had been breathing in his scent continuously all night. And then I worried about everyone else, what were they thinking? Did they know? And if they did, what was going to happen to me? Most importantly, what the hell was I going to do now?

I continued to worry and think, and think and worry for I don't know how long. I was sure of one thing though... I had absolutly no idea on how to get myself out of this. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place..Well more like Gaara and a hard place.

Biting my lip, I carefully withdrew my leg from his, pausing for half a second when he twitched in his sleep. Oh, god. I really didn't want to do that. Part of me wanted to cling to him while the other part, the more logical and smart part of me, knew that I should let go and step away.

I mean, I was a guy after all. And I know that Gaara isn't gay, so how do you think he would react if he woke up to see a male clutching at him? He would probably kill me...

Blowing my hair out of my face, I worked on moving my arms away from him. I didn't get very far, however, before I froze.

My blood ran cold, and my heart beat so fast in my chest I believed people next door could hear it. I was hyper aware of two things, and I wished that I had never woken up.

One: My hat was gone. I don't know why or how, but it was. That was why my hair was in my face. The hat that had hidden by brown locks was gone and obscured from my veiw. Exposing me and giving away what I am.

And then two: Gaara wasn't asleep, and hadn't been since the moment I untangled my leg from his. I knew this since I had been concentrating on something else and not him, taking my focus frm him. Doing this I realized how forced his deep breaths were, but what really gave him away was how my body was reacting to him.

The more aware he became, the more my heart beat faster and faster. Maybe it was like a sixth sense. My 'Gaara Awareness Sense'. Whatever the hell it was, it was going into overdrive.

I bit my lip again, so hard that I could taste blood in my mouth, and turned my face to look at him in the dark. His eyes were still closed, but I could tell he was listening to what I was doing.

"What am I going to do now." I whispered in a worried tone. "What's going to happen to me?"

He was good, I'd give him that. He didn't move when I spoke, though I could feel him tense up the slightest. But the movement was so small, it could have been my imagination.

I wasn't speaking to him, no, I was talking to myself only outloud. It helped doing that, relieved some of the panic that was welling in my chest. God knows I needed it. I never believed that a person could spontaniously combust before, but I think I'm a believer now. Because that is exactly what I feel like I'm about to do.

I shifted my weight, getting up to go to my side of the room and prepare for the onslaught of accusations and insult and threats. All the bad things I knew would come. Usually I could have a good guess on what the day would bring. Now...I had no idea, only that I was scared. And that worried me.

With my head filled with these thoughts, I didn't really comprehend that I had stopped moving. Well, not until I felt like my arm was to warm and my veins had turned to fire. I froze. It was the only thing that I could do. The only thing I knew how to do at the moment.

With wide eyes, I turned. My heart beat even harder and faster in my chest, if that was even possible. I wanted to flinch from the pain of it, but I didn't. I wanted to cry out from the turmoil of things going over and over and over in my body, but I couldn't. I finally understood torture. Maybe this is how they got bad people to confess to their crimes, make them so stressed out to the point where they didn't know up from down.

I stared at him with black, doe like eyes. He gazed at me with the most beautiful shade of blue eyes I'd ever seen. I never noticed that in the dark, or shadows, his eyes were a cool, ice blue. A shade that shivers down my spine, and surprisingly...seemed to ease some of the stress that was overtaking me. Slightly reining it in.

His left hand encirled my upper right arm, and he was sitting up with his right hand propping him up on the mattress. His unruly red hair spiked out from his head in a crown that seemed to suit him. A king. I almost smiled.

I gulped and I could feel myself begin to tremble. 'Here it comes' I thought. 'This is what I have been so afraid of, the one person I didn't want to cause trouble to. Now it's his move.'

"Your shaking." he whispered in soft, deep voice.

His tone remined me of the wind. Deep and soft. Caressing.

"Y-yeah." I answered. My stutter giving away just how worried, scared, and nervous I really was.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and he slowly put pressure on my arm, pulling me back. I didn't know what to do, so I followed his pull. Which landed me on my back at his side. I could actually feel myself explode on the inside.

He leaned over me, placing his hands on either side of my head on the mattress. I could feel his body heat coming off him in waves, and it felt so good. Temptation. It was a bitch.

"Where do you think you're going?"

His deep husky voice rumbled through me, and I could see the humour shining in his twin orbs.

That night, I'm sure I experienced the feeling of death and rebirth. Because I'm postive without a doubt that I dyed, and then came back to life, so intense was the feelings that he was causing to coarse through me.

I know it's not very long, but I made it that way for a reason. So anyway leave a review and please feel free to put in your own thought for what should happen next. What do you think should happen? PLEASE!!