Beautiful Silence

Chapter 32: Beside You

When Riko woke up, she found herself soaring through the trees. She then realized that she was actually being carried. She didn't even need to look at who was holding her to know. His familiar warm scent made her feel so safe.

Gaara felt Riko move in his arms.

"You're awake?"

"Mm."

Riko affirmed. Gaara sighed in relief. He had been worried about whether Riko's condition was dangerous or not. Seeing her getting better so quickly put his mind at ease.

Riko then put her arms around Gaara's neck so that she can lift herself up to look around. Gaara gave her leverage with his hand supporting her back. He tried not to show it, but the sudden closeness of her face next to his was making him nervous. He felt his heart beating faster and his face heating up.

Riko was too busy looking around her to notice. She saw Temari and Kankuro traveling alongside them. Ahead, there was Lee carrying an unconscious Naruto. Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and Kiba were also there. None of them seemed to have any serious wounds. Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Riko deduced that Naruto was not able to bring him back.

"Are you alright, Riko?"

Gaara whispered to her. He saw the expression on her face grow grim as she looked around. She turned her head towards Gaara and slowly nodded, just realizing then how close her face was to his. She quickly looked down, her face turning a deep shade of red. Gaara looked up at the same time, his face having the same coloration as Riko's

"We're here."

Shikamaru informed everyone. They all then landed down on the ground in front of the Konohagakure gate. Gaara put Riko down, keeping his arms there in case she couldn't stand on her own. After he made sure she was alright, followed her to the entrance of Konohagakure. Riko ran up to Lee who was still carrying an unconscious Naruto. She was worried about his condition and wanted to check if he was alright as soon as she could. She motioned to Lee to hurry to the hospital with her.

When they got there, she immediately made her way to one of the vacant rooms where she told Lee to lay down Naruto on one of the hospital beds. Shikamaru, Gaara, and Temari had followed them there.

Shikamaru felt responsible for Naruto's condition, since he was supposed to be the leader of the team for that mission. Temari followed him because, even though she would never admit it to herself, she was worried that Shikamaru would blame himself too much for the outcome of the mission. Gaara was there for Riko mostly, but also because he was concerned about Naruto.

Some of the hospital staff came into the room to help Riko. They started bandaging his wounds. Riko then put her hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes and started looking for the reason why he was unconscious. As she thought, he had used up quite a bit of chakra, which resulted in his coma. Usually his wounds would heal by themselves because of the Nine Tail's chakra, but his body was too strained from the excess usage of chakra that he didn't self-regenerate.

Riko held his hand, concentrating on healing his wounds. The bandages helped her know exactly where to concentrate her energy. Having worked at the hospital for so long, she was able to figure out how her powers worked a little better.

After about an hour, when she was sure that she had healed every single injury he had, Riko let go of Naruto's hand and headed towards Gaara who was waiting for her in the corner of the room. She smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. He understood that she meant to say that Naruto's condition was stable and they headed out of the room. Shikamaru and Lee, as soon as they saw Riko come out, ran up to her.

"How is he?"

Shikamaru asked.

"He's going to be alright."

Gaara answered them for Riko. Riko gave him a shy smile, feeling happy that he's helping her communicate with the others.

Shikamaru, Lee, and Temari sighed in relief.

"The Hokage offered to give us a place to stay for the night. Kankuro's already there. You coming along?"

Temari asked Gaara. He looked at Riko who extended her hand and held onto his sleeve.

"I'll catch up to you later."

He answered Temari without taking his eyes off Riko. Temari snickered at seeing the two of them acting this way. She never thought she'd see so many different sides of Gaara because of this one girl.

Gaara and Riko got out of the hospital together. They walked side by side, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company. Riko then held Gaara's sleeve, not having enough courage to hold his hand. Gaara then moved his arm away and went for her hand himself, holding it tightly in his. Riko felt her heart skip a beat.

Unknowingly, she was transferring her positive energy to Gaara as well, making him feel a comforting warmth within him. Riko was the only one who made him feel that way, not only because of her powers, but because who she was. She was so kind and gentle towards everyone, without exception. Her caring nature was what had saved him from himself. There was also something else. He was attracted to her. Her personality, but also her appearance made him discover new emotions that he'd never felt towards someone else. Her beautiful flowing black hair and her striking blood red eyes made him just want to look at her and admire her. Just seeing her made him happy.

Riko was also feeling similar things towards Gaara. She just wanted to be close to him all the time. Whenever she wasn't with him, she would constantly think about him and feel lonely without him. She had talked to Kurenai about it a few times, but all Kurenai would do was giggle a little and tell her that she'd understand those feelings once she got older. She had an idea of what it was, but she didn't feel like thinking about complicated things. She just wanted to fully enjoy being with Gaara for what little time they had.

That night, they spent it sitting on the roof of one of the buildings in the village, watching the stars together. Riko spent that time teaching him her sign language so that they can easily communicate without her having to use a notepad. Gaara was genuinely interested in it, since he really wanted to be able to understand Riko better.

"So... I'm hungry is like this?"

"Ah! Ah!"

Riko shook her head fervently then took Gaara's hands to form the sign for that sentence.

"Oh, yeah... It's like that."

Gaara knew the right answer, but he just found Riko so cute when she tried correcting him with an exasperated look on her face. He couldn't help but smile mischievously as she helped him.

Riko then looked into his eyes and figured out that he was joking, again. And she fell for it, again. She puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms. Gaara chuckled and poked the air out of her cheeks. The sound it made made both Gaara and Riko giggle.

When the sun started to rise, they both gazed at it, admiring the pastel colours of the sky. Riko then rested her head on Gaara's shoulder while still looking at the sunrise. He then rested his head on hers and they stayed there until it was time for Gaara to leave.