Hinata brushed her now clean, sand-free hair, tucking it back into a braid. One thing was for sure. She didn't need to exfoliate anytime soon. Sand got caught in her clothes and rubbed while she walked. Her knees hurt where she fell. The water burned as it ran down her raw skin to rinse the sand off. Hinata dressed carefully back in warmer bedclothes and a robe and headed up to his office, knocking gently.
The door swung up to let her in. Hinata paused, startled. "Evening Baki-san." Hinata bowed her head as she stepped through the door, feeling more self-conscious about her choice of clothing. It was unprofessional.
"More like morning." Baki gave her a half-smile. "I hear we have you to thank for quite a few people getting into their homes safely tonight."
"I'm a tracking nin, Konoha, or Suna. It's my duty to protect citizens." Hinata straightened her back, subconsciously feeling under investigation.
"How humble. It's not, however, your duty to rock terrified children to sleep. We thank you nonetheless, and I hope your abilities will be useful in future sandstorms." Baki bowed his head as he left.
"Thank you," Hinata called after him as he closed the door, leaving her with her and her fiancé.
The air was stiff. Gaara stood from his desk, crossed the room to the couch, and sat, leaving her usual spot open. Hinata joined him cautiously. Why did he choose the couch to argue? She sat, tucking a leg under her.
"I don't scare." Gaara broke the silence suddenly.
"I didn't think you would." Hinata kept her voice low, wary of his new behavior.
"I was scared tonight," Gaara confessed.
"I thought this was normal. Sudden storms happen now and again." Hinata tilted her head, trying to see what she was missing.
"No." Gaara crinkled his nose and furrowed his brow in frustration. "Yes, they do, but that's not what I was speaking of." He closed his eyes, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, and put his finger into his hair. "I was scared when I didn't know where you were or how you were."
Hinata's heart melted. She reached forward to touch his shoulder. It was rigid and shaking. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm a nin too, though. I have a responsibility too."
"No, you're not understanding me," Gaara raked his fingers through his damp hair in frustration. "I know you are! I was still scared. It doesn't make sense!"
"Gaara, that's okay." Hinata rubbed her thumb over his shoulder. Was there anything more he would reject? "It's okay to let yourself be scared, even if you don't understand it. Fear isn't a weakness. It's a survival instinct."
Gaara's eyes showed her the unguarded fear he was talking about. Her heart broke, and she dropped to her knees on the floor in front of him and curled herself around him. Gaara stiffened. Was it a good idea to throw herself at him?
Gaara relaxed, dropping his head to her shoulder and circling his arms around her to hold her tightly to him. Hinata thumbed over his shoulder blade where her hand rested. He buried his face tightly into her neck. Her knees protested the hard floor, and some sand stuck into her skin that she missed.
The desperation in the way he held her made her heart crumble painfully. She hadn't meant to worry him. She hadn't thought about what he would think at all. If she had, she would never imagine he would react like this.
Gaara trembled in her arms. He held her tighter to try to make it stop. Hinata concluded Gaara liked being held. When he was like this. How could she refuse him?
Gaara clung to her. Focusing his senses on her instead of the gnawing fear. The incident was over, and it was still there. He took in her warmth. He focused on the small pattern she rubbed into his shoulder. Her calm breathing, her wet hair that fell from its binds to his temple, her soaked scent.
The world was not crumbling under him. Gaara came down from his anxiety attack to realize that was all it was. He felt foolish for letting himself so fully succumb to his newfound fears. As his mind cleared, he wondered what he would have done if she hadn't insisted on talking about it tonight. He would have taken his panic out on his room in the middle of the night. Maybe he would let himself simmer and blame it on her in the morning. Would she still try to comfort him? He hoped the answer was no. Hinata shouldn't be so forgiving of his cruelty, but he had no doubt she would have done something similar to what she was doing now.
Hinata washed away the last of the tremors and spoke. "Gaara?" Hinata waited, and when he didn't answer. "Gaara, you were out there too. You're thoroughly exhausted. You should head to bed." Hinata whispered. "I can try to help."
Gaara didn't want to let her go. His arms loosened just enough, so she could pull back to look at him. He didn't deserve her worried looks. "If you lay down, I can try it here." Hinata unwrapped her warmth and placed her hands over his wrists, gently pulling only once. She wasn't forcing him to let go. She was asking.
Gaara let her take his arms limply and pull them between them. Hinata stood, and he instinctively grabbed her arms. He released her just as quickly, he didn't even know what he wanted, but she seemed to. Hinata kneeled back down, taking his hand in hers, dropping back on her heels, flatting fully on her knees to look up at him, searching his face.
"I'm not leaving. I'm just going to sit with you, okay?" Hinata lifted herself off her knees, slowly releasing his hands one at a time to press his shoulders to have him a layout of his couch.s. She sat in the space left above his head and had him lift his shoulders to have him lay his head in her lap. "This is going to be just like when I put gel in your hair." Hinata started lightly, running her fingers back against his scalp. "I'm going to add little pulses of chakra that won't affect your brain. It will just calm the chakra that flows around it."
Honestly, her soft whispering was calming enough, but Shukaku panicked as she explained her process. Was he going to trust her with his head like that? She could have sent a chakra pulse and made him brain-dead last time if that was something she could do. Gaara stayed still. What would the beast do? Nothing came.
Tingling danced across his scalp as she sent light chakra bursts in patterns with her fingers. He watched her stare, focused with her eyes activated.
Shukaku silenced, returning to his observant behavior like he did when she was around.
Gaara closed his eyes and listened to her breathing. Why did it soothe him so that she was?
Hinata was startled awake by a knock on the door. "Gaara?" Temari. Hinata blinked awake. She was still in Gaara's office. The light shined through the window. She overslept, and Temari was probably looking for her.
Gaara slept in with her. She rubbed her eyes, whispering loudly for Temari to come in quietly.
Temari peaked in confusion to hear her voice. Hinata hushed her, putting her finger to her lip and pointing at her lap silently.
"Is he asleep?" Temari tip-toed toward them, looking over her brother like it was the first time she had ever seen him sleep in her life. "How long has he been like that?" She stayed a safe distance away to not wake him.
"All night." Hinata brushed her fingers lightly over the tip of his hair.
"I can't believe you got him to sleep." Temari checked the clock. "Gaara doesn't have any meetings for another 2 hours. I'll let you sleep." Temari's grinned giddily as she slipped back out.
How bad were his sleeping habits if just seeing him sleep got that reaction out of his sister? Hinata rubbed his hair between her fingers, hoping he would continue to allow her to help him. The worst thing that could happen now would be him closing off on her.
Gaara woke up in a panic. He was being touched! Why hadn't he woken up before he was touched!? He shot up fully alert and received a squeak in response. He turned to his spooked fiancée. Hinata's hands flew to her chest. His eyes flicked from her to around the room. It was daylight, almost lunchtime, and it was just the two of them, no immediate threats.
Was he unconscious? Was she injured?
Hinata searched his face, recovering from being startled. "Gaara, calm down. You just slept in." Hinata reached out to touch him. He didn't sleep. Had she made him sleep?
Had she slept there upright?
They stared at each other. Hinata looked worried. Had he scared her?
"Temari-san said you had a meeting, and it's almost time someone brings our lunch," Hinata explained. "I'm going to go change." Hinata stood, straightening her robe into place.
"What happened?" Gaara asked, still unsure.
"I put you to sleep, then fell asleep myself." Hinata waved her hand at the door. "Temari-san came looking for me, and her knocking woke me up…"
"I don't sleep through knocking," Gaara explained his confusion.
"You also don't scare," Hinata commented with a smile.
Gaara could hear calm rumbles in his head. It wasn't the normal angry growling he was used to hearing. Was Shukaku purring?
"Sleep well?" Temari teased.
Gaara didn't like the new comfort zone his siblings were swimming in. "It would seem."
"Is she just that calming?" Temari prodded.
"She did something with the chakra around my head. I assume it's a Hyuga procedure." Temari's face dropped the amusement.
"You let her use chakra on your head?" Obviously, he just said that. "Shukaku, let her do that?"
"I'm not sure why he let her. For once, he doesn't have anything to say. At first, he was bothered by the idea, but he didn't stop her." Gaara wasn't sure why Shukaku trusted her. Maybe he was tired as well. He wasn't answering his questions, so he had no answers.
Temari blinked at him. "Sharing a room with her might be beneficial to your health."
Hinata was startled by Matsuri, bowing deeply. She stared through the stands of short brown hair draped over and around her face. Was she mistaken for someone else? "Matsuri-san, what….?"
"The woman and children you brought in yesterday are neighbors of mine. Thank you." Matsuri continued to stay in her respectful bow.
"You don't need to thank me," Hinata hoped she would stop bowing so uncomfortably.
"I do," Matsuri stated.
"Did you thank Gaara?" Hinata asked.
"No." Matsuri stood up. "Why would I?"
"He brought us back, and he brought probably twice as many people in as I did," Hinata explained.
"That's his job." Matsuri countered.
"It's mine too. I went out because I could help. I may still be a Konoha nin until I marry, but it's still just as much my job to protect the people of the village. It doesn't matter where I am." Matsuri's brow furrowed at her. "So you don't need to thank me unless you thanked everyone else."
Matsuri turned back down the hall from where she came without another word. There was no hope for the girl liking her, but she didn't want to make it worse either.