Hinata wiped her face again, but the tears kept coming. They blurred her vision and kept her from finishing her personal torture. She knew it was going to hurt, but not this much. She had become numb to her memories, and now the wounds were all fresh.

Hinata covered her mouth as a sob squeaked out. She dropped the letter in her lap to cover her face entirely.

What did she tell them? That she was happy? That she finally didn't feel alone? Or … she hadn't.

Now, she was reminded just how alone they were out here.


Gaara listened to her cry. This was his fault, after all. He should be punished for it.

'Go in.' Shukaku pushed. 'Comfort her.'

"If she wanted that, she would come out," Gaara mumbled. "She wants to be alone."

'Humans crave comfort even if they close themselves away from it.' Shukaku chastised. 'You know what that is like.'

"I caused this pain." Gaara reminded him. "We did this."

Gaara stiffened as Hinata crossed the room toward the door and opened it to find him. She whipped her face with her sleeve. "Are you waiting for me?" He looked down to avoid her raw eyes. She crouched down to him. "I thought I heard you. Is Shukaku-san giving you a hard time?"

Gaara didn't answer. His face heated up. He didn't like this version of this feeling.

"Thank you for checking on me." Hinata's arm slid her arm around his shoulders and laid her face down on his shoulder.

Gaara blinked and raised his hand to her arm. He wasn't expecting this.

'I told you.' Shukaku mocked.

Gaara lowered his face into her circle. This felt much nicer.


Temari laughed. "It looks stupid."

Kankuro frowned at his craving. "It's not that bad."

Hinata looked over her shoulder to the closed door that Gaara was hiding behind. Would he come back out before they left?

"How is he doing?" Temari wondered.

Hinata rubbed her finger over the lip of her cup. "Well, before you got here. I just think the letters are bothering him."

Temari frowned down the hall. "Are you going to write replies?"

"I will write what I can. Maybe I can write something longer for next month." Hinata could barely get words out on paper. Maybe the promise of more to come would be enough for now.

Temari sighed. "You think he will let me in there?"

Hinata pressed her lips together. "Don't drag him out, but if you can make him feel better."

"What about you?" Temari turned her attention back to her. "How are you feeling?"

She probably shouldn't lie. "I think I'll be fine once I process all of it."

"But you're not now." Temari filled.

"Should we have been sending him letters?" Kankuro wondered.

Temari smacked his arm. "We would deliver them, idiot. What is the point?"

Kankuro flinched and rubbed his arm. "Ow. I just thought he was upset he never got a letter."

It was much more lively with them here. Hinata was more worried about the letters once it was just her and him, and she had to sit with her feelings in the silence he was hesitant to fill.


Hinata waited until his sibling said their goodbyes before knocking on the door that was still closed. If she tried to pull him out, would he close himself in entirely?

The door opened, but Gaara wasn't standing there. She peered in but hesitated to invade his room. She was surprised to see it nearly bear. There was a stack of books in one corner. A sand desk with pages scattered about and a single large chair in the middle of the room that crudely came out of the floor like it had been made by hand instead of most of his other creations that mimicked normal furniture.

Despite how bear the room was, she didn't see Gaara. With the bathroom door open, there was only one place for him to be hiding.

Hinata took her first step into the room and waited to see if he would react. When he didn't, she rounded the sand throne to find Gaara curled up with his knee to his chest, sitting, waiting for her. He didn't even look up when she came around the corner.

She crouched down to him, wrapping her arms around her legs to join him on the floor. "Did do something to upset you?"

Gaara's eyes shift away from her.

Always so closed off when she needed his bluntness. Nothing changed if he didn't tell her what was on his mind. She laid her head to the side on her knees. She didn't know what to do.

Her head perked up as she focused on the walls.

The room was empty, but now that she was closer to the wall, she noticed the details. Etched and raised were lines mimicking her many drawings of trees, making a full mural of a forest complete with birds, flowers, and bushes she had drawn.

Hinata stood up to get closer and see the detail, running her finger against the trunk of one of the trees. It even had knots and bark. It was like the forest had been encapsulated in and flattened into a sheet. "You make such wonderful things."

Gaara said nothing, but she could feel his eyes follow her as she walked along the wall to see more of the details. All four walls were littered with his sand forest. "You made all these." He finally replied.

They did look like her drawings, but there were some details she knew she didn't add. "Did Shukaku-san help? These look better than mine."

"He likes to correct things." The slightest annoyance in his voice told her that he wasn't a fan of Shukaku's corrections.

"Is this what you have been doing in here?" Hinata came back around to him.

Gaara looked up at the walls. "No. These have been here."

Hinata couched back down. That must mean he did this ages ago before they started sleeping in the main room. "Looks like you ran out of room. Maybe you should start spreading out to the rest of the house." She held out her hand, wondering if she had distracted him enough to bring him out.

Gaara took it and let her pull him up.

** Lavender Long Stories **
Hey, with how many issues has been having I would like everyone to know I cross post to AO3 under Lavender_Long_Stories and I have an active tumblr lavender-long-stories