The Flower Shop [A Gaara Love Story]

28: Gratitude

It wasn't until the fourth day of their visit that Gaara and Momoko had time to themselves. It had been a rapid blur of seeing friends, talking to Tsunade, making arrangements with the Yamanakas, and they were glad to finally have a moment to enjoy each other in this new place. Of course there had been their moments at the inn, but that had been limited to nights and mornings alone.

The bed nearest to the window had remained unused, as the nights spent on the road had spoiled Momoko with having Gaara at her side as she drifted to sleep. After the lights would go out at night, Momoko would lift the blanket and only then would Gaara slide into bed next to her. They would sleep with space between them, only connected where their hands remained intertwined through the night. Gaara was often up before her but could not pull himself away from her just yet until she herself had awakened.

This morning, however, was a little different. Momoko woke with a soft stir, a sigh, and her eyes fluttered open to meet the bright light of morning. Her fingers subconsciously flexed around the ones between hers, before her grip returned and she held onto his hand again. As she had every other morning, Momoko expected her gaze to meet pale green almost instantly, but her tired mind was surprised with the sight of Gaara still peacefully sleeping beside her. It took her a few more moments to blink the sleep from her eyes and come to understand the sight in front of her, but once her wits were more about her Momoko relaxed again and simply stared at the man before her.

He looked the most at peace now than he ever had before. Usually, being in her presence seemed to sooth him and put him more at ease, but she had never quite seen him like this before. His features were relaxed, gentle, clear of any traces of worry or stress. Though the expression he wore was usually blank and void of emotion, this lack of it was entirely different. His lips had been parted as he breathed softly, no knot to his brow or tension in his jaw. The hand in hers was loose, limb, but still in hers nonetheless.

She allowed herself a few moments before she woke him to simply watch the steady rise and fall of his chest and the way his eyes seemed to roam behind his closed lids. Despite her mind still being thick with sleep, Momoko's heart was warm and her lips were smiling even before words had formed. She wondered what he would look like waking up, if he would gradually stir awake or come to consciousness with a sudden opening of his eyes. It had been nearly a week of having Gaara beside her at night, but she had never seen him sleeping before. He was always awake, alert, long before she was. It was a new sight to her, and Momoko took it in eagerly.

Momoko thought back on these few days, how nice it had been to see him interact with old friends and colleagues. The animosity the Leaf nin may have harbored for him had long since faded, and most people greeted him with as kind a smile as they gave her. Momoko was thrilled to see her old friends again, and though he was never one to show too much emotion, she knew Gaara enjoyed it as well. They had nearly every meal with a new group of people, Sakura and Ino being the most frequent. Naruto had yet to come around, but they knew he needed time. So they enjoyed the people they saw and the business that needed tended to, until finally they had a day like today.

She wanted to show him all of the important spots of her childhood: where she was raised, where her parents' shop had been, and the fields where she had come to love the flowers who made her who she was. Gaara had seemed rather interested in this tour of her past and Momoko was all too excited to guide him. They had talked about Gaara's own life in length, but it was rare that they really dwelled on hers. Mostly because she lacked the excitement that a shinobi's life was bursting with, but now that they were in the place of her youth, Momoko found an opportunity to share more of herself with him.

She was pleasantly surprised that there were things they were still learning about each other. Though their friendship had been solid and their current relationship strong, each new day seemed to bring with it new things about each other. She learned that Gaara thought holding hands in the street was a little too intimate for public: she giggled when he said so, but accepted it nonetheless. Gaara had found that Momoko snorted when she laughed too hard, something he brought up later that night that made her blush red to her ears. They were just little things, not so much secrets as they were facts that had yet to be revealed. It made the days exciting, knowing that they were getting so much closer to knowing each other entirely.