Echoes in the Rain ~Completed Story~

Chapter 2: Could it be?

Hinata walked into the kitchen where Temari was killing her brother, stared for a moment and then walked out, bumping head first into Gaara. Hinata gasped and fell backwards. Luckily for her, Gaara managed to catch her. Unluckily for Gaara, everyone looks around at him. Including, Neji.

"Oh! They look so cute!" Sakura squealed.

Temari and Kankuro both say, "Huh? What on earth is Gaara doing?"

"I wish Sasuke would do that for me..." Ino trailed off.

"Hinata and...Gaara?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"Someday, I will do that for the beautiful and talented Sakura!" Lee boldly stated, while Tenten laughed.

"What precisely are you doing?" Neji asked, trying to restrain his anger but failing. Miserably.

"Oh! N-Neji-nii-san!" Hinata said blushing while Gaara quickly backed away.

"Not right now, Hinata-sama. I want to speak with Gaara," Neji said, pushing

Hinata out of the way.

"N-Nii-san! Y-you don't u-u-understand!" Hinata protested, stepping in front of Neji. "I-I bumped into G-Gaara."

"I really don't care," Neji said, pushing her out of the way again. "Right now, this is between Gaara and me. Let him defend himself."

Gaara stands there, looking quite confused. He finally managed to say, "Everything happened so fast."

"A likely-" Neji started to say, but Temari interrupted, "Neji-kun, relax. Please."

"Why can't I ever finish a sentence around here?" Neji shouted angrily.

"Because," Kankuro answered.

"This has nothing to do with you!" Neji shouted.

"Wrong! It has everything to do with us!" Temari shouted back. "Gaara is Kazekage and our brother."

"Hinata is my cousin who I am sworn to protect!" Neji retorted.

While all this was going on, Hinata lead Gaara toward the back door. Then, whispered to him, "T-thank y-you v-v-very much."

"Your welcome," Gaara said, using words he had almost never used before.

They stood there for a moment, and then Gaara held out his hand. Hinata hesitated and then shook it. The explosion of shouts coming from the kitchen reminded them that Hinata had better go back and Gaara had better leave.

"Bye," says Gaara to Hinata.

"B-bye," Hinata replied.

As Gaara ran into the rain, Hinata was wondering why she felt so strange. Everytime she looked at him, the feeling intensified. Little did she know that Gaara was wondering the same thing.

Hinata walked into the mess that they called a kitchen. Neji was being restrained by Tenten, Ino, Sasuke, and Lee. Temari was being restrained by everyone else, with Shikamaru holding her face and staring into her eyes and was saying, "Stop. Settle down."

"Hello? Is anyone here? We knocked three times. My map of life didn't work very well and I need to get another one," Kakashi said, walking into the kitchen, followed closely by Gai and Kurenai. "What happened here?"

Gai asked, "Neji, what happened here?"

"You shouldn't ask him!" Temari cried. "He hates Gaara!"

"What does this have to do with Gaara?" Kakashi asked, while Neji shouted, "You shouldn't ask her! She hates Hinata!"

"I don't hate her!" Temari shouted back. "I hate you though!"

"You should not fear! Might Gai is here!" Gai shouted. "I will make everything

right!"

"And what difference does that make?" Kurenai asked.

"Do not question the great Might Gai!" Lee said while watching his teacher with joy.

"Ah! My young pupil!" Gai sighed.

"Ok, can we please move on?" Kakashi asked.

"Hang on," Gai said. "Do you guys have any super spicy curry rice?"

After giving Gai a weird look, Temari answered, "No. We did, until Kankuro burned it."

"Which of you is Kankuro?" Gai asked. Kankuro raised his hand. "How dare you burn super spicy curry rice! That is a crime!"

"Gai, please return to earth. There are more important things than super spicy curry rice. We can go shopping later for some," Kakashi reasoned.

"It will be a duel! At sunset!" Gai said comically.

After a long pause, Sasuke walked over to Gai and hit him over the head with Temari's full-sized fan that she had snuck out of her room during the argument. Finally, Gai got control of himself.

"All right. Now that that is over, I want a status report. Sakura! What happened?" Kakashi ordered.

"Well, um, what I got was that Hinata fell into Gaara. Gaara caught Hinata and Neji got all crazy, because he thought that Hinata and Gaara were in love, but he thought that Gaara was just going to use Hinata and somehow super spicy curry rice got into the mix. And, I got confused."

"Well, why precisely are Neji and Temari being restrained?" Kurenai asked.

"Well, first Temari was all like 'you can't do that to my little brother. He's Kazekage!' Then, Neji started yelling about it not being about them and Temari was all like cracking her knuckles. And then Kankuro brought out 'Crow and was ready to use him. And then, everything got out of hand and we all had to restrain Temari and Neji."

Kakashi gave a confused look to Sakura and asked after looking around, "Where is Gaara?"

Hinata looked around innocently as everyone started looking for Gaara. Finally, Temari noticed the open back door and said, "Oh, he left."

"Well, how about we all go out and get some super spicy curry rice?" Gai asked to general nodding. "Let's go!"

0oo0oo0oo0oo0

Gaara ran through the rain. He really didn't care where he was going, he just wanted to get away. He had to get away. There was this strange feeling he kept having. It was somehow connected to that girl. Hinata.

Seeing a rock protected by a large tree, Gaara sat down. He had to figure out these feelings. Breathing slowly, he closed his eyes and thought. Was it sadness? No. Happiness? Maybe. It was a strange emotion. Fear? No. The feeling when he was waiting for them to announce the Kazekage. Temari had said that it was... what was it called? Anticipation, nerves. Tension. Like being pulled in opposite directions, but good. That was the part that confused him. How could it feel good?

It was so strange and mysterious. But, more importantly, what did the feeling mean? He wanted to ask Temari, but he wasn't sure if she would take him seriously. Usually she took him seriously, but sometimes she hadn't. Like when Gaara had asked about why she was happy about going back to Leaf. She had laughed it off. Would she just laugh him off again?

Vaguely, in the back of Gaara's mind, a voice asked, could it be love?

0oo0oo0oo0oo0

As they all ate super spicy curry rice, Hinata was distracted. She kept remembering him. He had taken her breath away and then saved her. He had caught her when she started to fall. He had actually paid more attention to her than Naruto had ever.

But, I love Naruto! Hinata thought as she looked at the blond haired boy. Or, do I? I haven't felt any different around him for a long time. I haven't ever felt like I do around Gaara when I'm with Naruto. What's happening to me? Am I losing my mind?

Hinata looked over at Gai's and Kakashi's super spicy curry rice eating competition. Could it be? Could it be love?