Hinata smiled across the room as she sat in the sun. Watching Gaara cater to his cacti was so sweet. He was gentle with the little pots. Was he afraid he would break it, or was he avoiding being pricked? Maybe one of the reasons he started was it forced him to be gentle.
"I don't know what this is." Gaara pointed to one of the plants she moved out of the sun.
"It's spinach. I'm having a hard time with it. It's too warm" Hinata moved over to it, spraying it with her water bottle. "Have you ever had it?"
"I do not believe so," Gaara admitted.
"If I can get it to grow, I'll make sure you try it." Hinata smiled.
"Have you ever had a prickly pear?" Gaara wondered.
"What is that?" Hinata blinked.
"It's a cactus fruit," Gaara explained.
"I didn't know they had fruit." Hinata looked at the little cactus around the room. "They don't grow on these, do they?"
"No, they grow on bigger ones." Gaara showed her the size of the fruit with his hands.
"Oh, well, I will have to try that when you try spinach." Hinata smiled.
The best time to see Gaara at his calmest was early in the morning. He wasn't quite awake enough to be irritated, and he just let anything blow over him till he was awake enough. Hinata loved the calmness in the morning, especially now with his change in temper, being so quick to irritation.
Gaara slipped his arms around her shoulders as she brushed her hair, effectively impeding her efforts. She set her brush down, placed her hand on his arm, and looked up at him in the mirror. "Are you alright?" Hinata closed her eyes, leaning back on him.
"Yes," Gaara laid his face on her shoulder.
"Is there something you want?" Hinata enjoyed his heat. The sun hadn't yet warmed the desert.
"I want to go back to bed," Gaara said that more and more, the lack of power catching up to him. He was becoming more 'normal' by the day, needing more regular meals, recognizing when he was hungry, needing more sleep, and wanting to sleep.
"Maybe we should append our schedule so we get to work later or to bed earlier. You don't take naps toward the end of the night as I have." Hinata picked her brush back up, working around him.
"Perhaps," Gaara mumbled.
"How do you feel?" Hinata gave up on brushing her hair while he was clinging to her.
"Hungry."
Hinata smiled. "You're always hungry now." Hinata looked at him through the mirror. His eyes closed, his hair still a mess. She set a hand in his hair and gently combed through it. "Do you feel weak at all?"
"In general," Gaara admitted.
"I mean physically, not power-wise." Hinata clarified.
"More heavy and tired," Gaara answered, sighing. "Is that not to be expected?"
"If you're feeling heavy and tired all the time but constantly eating, you probably are not sleeping enough for the amount of energy you are outputting. You probably don't feel weak because you are eating all the time. If you eat a normal amount, you would likely have fainted by now." Hinata frowned.
"I will adjust our schedule accordingly." Gaara was not happy about getting less work done in a day, but his health came first. It would be worse if he got sick.
"Thank you." Hinata hummed.
"For?" Gaara glanced up at her in the mirror.
"For taking care of yourself." Gaara stared, confused at her soft look.