Comfort Zone

It's said that as people grow older, their comfort zone expands, from their family, as a baby; to their friends, as a child; to their college, as a student; to the world, as an adult. However, for Temari it was the exact opposite. When she was young, the world had been her comfort zone. And then, when her mother died, and Gaara was born, that zone had shattered, forming again around her brother and herself. Then, later, shrunk within her own skin, to the point where she was only comfortable when she was completely alone. She'd built up a persona of bluster and bluntness, hiding her weakness from the world. Her small comfort zone was also the reason she'd decided never to get involved with anyone, the though of letting anyone into her deepest place, where she felt safe, was to much to bear.

And then she met him. At first, she hadn't noticed it, how he slowly wormed his way under her armor, into her life. At first, they'd just been friends. But then, as they got know each other better, she'd realized how honest she could be with him, how he gave her such calm, and made her feel so secure. It had frightened her, at first, but she soon began to accept it, and even embrace it. Her comfort zone still hadn't grown much, it was still very small. But it now covered two people, because he created her comfort zone, he was her comfort. He was always there for her.

When she was tired, he was there to rub her shoulders; when she woke up with nightmares of her mother dying again and again, he was there, wiping the tears from her eyes, caressing her, touching her hair and face so gently that it calmed her almost instantly. When she tripped, his hand was there to catch her; when she bled, is hand was there to heal her. He was her guardian angel, and he looked after her.

The real wonder of the thing was that it was him. He was the person who had come into her life, and made her armor slip, her persona of strength falter. He shattered what little comfort zone she had regained, but then he replaced it with one much better, much safer and strong. He who had come into her life unwanted, had now become something so indispensable that she thought if he were to die, she would die too. He was everything she had never wanted, and everything she had always needed.