Gaara and Hinata's beautiful days

6. Thoughts and Feelings

It was a beautiful rainy day.

But Gaara laid on his bed staring at the grayness outside his window.

His book was on a table not far away.

But he couldn't stand to look at its cover.

"A perfect velvet cover hiding a terrible sadness…"

Today was supposed to be a busy day. He was supposed to go to the Hokage's office so he could leave for Suna the next morning without a hitch.

But his mind was overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings.

He couldn't get the image of the dead lovers out of his head. He couldn't stop himself from feeling sad for fictional strangers.

Last night seemed like a dream.

((flashback))

Hinata was in desperation as well. She clung on to Gaara as he closed his eyes to feel her presence. They were both in pain that night. He had let her lay her head on his chest and he stroked her hair.

After awhile, she slowly lifted her head and he stared into her eyes.

Gaara: "I'm sorry for doing that… Are you alright?"

Hinata nodded her head.

She stood up. Her body felt so heavy as it left Gaara's. She walked over to the screen door like a white apparition. She turned around and looked at Gaara who looked back.

Hinata: "Goodnight…"

Her voice was like a faint whisper.

Gaara: "Goodnight."

She closed the screen door behind her.

Gaara's body also felt heavy as he lifted himself up from the spot he had held Hinata. He took his book and walked home in the dark.

That beautiful night had but only one star to glow in his wake.

((End flashback))

Gaara left his room to find his siblings.

Maybe he would bump into Hinata.

Lee and Neji met with Kiba and Shino at a bridge.

Kiba: "I haven't seen Hinata all day."

Neji: "I think she stayed up pretty late last night."

Lee: "With Gaara-kun?"

Neji: "Uh I'm not sure…"

Kiba: "That doesn't sound like something she would do."

Lee: "Hinata might not see Gaara-kun for awhile after tomorrow."

Kiba: "That's right. He's leaving for Suna tomorrow."

Lee: "Hinata and Gaara-kun………"

Neji: "It could be a painful goodbye. They seemed pretty close… as friends I mean."

Lee: "The secret we have kept could have opened a path to confusion and sadness for those two innocent souls."

The green beast was worried. Lee's words of guilt stirred guilt among the others.

Shino: "No."

He stepped into the conversation even though he was off the bridge observing some bugs.

Shino: "We somehow have brought a new meaning to their lives… and an unknown feeling between their souls."

Through his sunglasses, Shino watched two butterflies float through the beautiful drizzling sky together in an unknown enchanted dance toward a heavenly light.

Hinata's scarf barely stayed around her neck as she walked through the empty street. Her umbrella was the least bit steady.

Her mind was somewhere else.

Suprisingly, it wasn't about N-a-r-u-t-o.

She looked at herself through the store windows and saw how awful she looked. Her eyes were still a little puffy and her skin looked clammy.

She continued to walk through her thoughts and the streets until she was at the academy. The swing looked inviting.

She sat down carefully so the wet wood wouldn't touch her clothes but only her coat.

For awhile she sat there very still.

Then the swing slowly moved in a steady rhythm.

Then her feet were lifted off the ground.

The swing and Hinata were eventually high off the ground.

Hinata: "Wait! Stop!"

"Too high? Or too fast?"

Hinata looked back and she saw a soaking wet Gaara on the ground smiling at her. He had ran from the Hokage's office once his meeting with Tsunade was over.

Hinata: "Gaara…"

He continued to push her more gently on the swing. She eventually let her umbrella go and she smiled as the rain hit her face.

Hinata started to recite some lines of Juliet from Gaara's book.

Gaara answered back with lines from Romeo.

Hinata: "O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
Methinks I see thee, now thou art below,
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale."

Gaara: "And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
Dry sorrow drinks our blood."

Gaara stopped pushing Hinata on the swing. His smile faded away.

Hinata's smile faded when she saw how his mood had changed so suddenly.

He stood behind her silently thinking as his hands cupped around hers that held on to the swing.

Gaara: "What are these feelings between us?"

Hinata was confused by his question. But the truth was she really didn't want to answer it.

Was he asking for Hinata's love?

Gaara: "Why does it make us sick?"

Hinata: "It's out of our control……."

The Kazekage saw how she still looked pale like last night.

Gaara: "Am I hurting you, Hinata?"

She cringed while trying to find an answer deep inside her.

Nothing seemed to break the silence and thoughts between them.

Gaara hesitantly stepped in front of her and lifted her head to see the wet white orbs in her eyes.

Hinata felt a strange warmth from his hands and closed her eyes as she let her head rest.

Then Gaara kissed her wet cheek.

Gaara: "Goodbye, Hinata."

Hinata: "Goodbye…"

That day Gaara left for Suna with his siblings.

Not all tragedies end in a romantic death…