The Flower Shop [A Gaara Love Story]

20: Its a Date

It was odd, admitting that he was nervous. He woke up from a restless sleep with a pit in his stomach, and just barely made it through his morning routine in time. His thoughts were racing a million miles a moment, going through the list of what there was to do today, who he had to see, lunch with Momoko, paperwork he needed to get done, and a seemingly endless amount of other important things. Though it didn't show, Gaara felt a little off kilter this morning.

Gaara had come to terms with something last night as he lay awake: he did, indeed, want something more. After Temari had left him to his thoughts, the only thing on his mind was Momoko. His sister had been right, as she often was- he did want to take her places and show her new things. He just wasn't didn't know how. He had seen couples in the streets (Since the moment in Momoko's shop, Gaara had wondered more and more what that felt like) and he wanted that, too. He had never really thought about these things before, about taking someone into his arms or holding their hands in his own. Gaara had never seen himself as the type, had never thought anyone would ever spark this kind of flame inside of him, but somehow she had. He had sat up in bed, holding tight to his chest, both relieved that he could indeed feel this way about someone and terrified that he was feeling this way now.

The Kazekage didn't know the first thing about women, or dating, or anything of the sort. He had just barely managed to befriend her, but to be more than that? He didn't know where to start or what to say. He was never very good with picking up emotions or social ques, but the way she had smiled at him that day had even Gaara a little confident that she felt something, too. It was that confession that had allowed him to finally feel the extent of whatever this was. Of course he had always found her attractive, had always been drawn to the warmth that she radiated, but the small reassurance had been nice amongst all of the confusion. Even though he didn't know what to do, Gaara was relieved that he still knew her.

He went to work as he always did, listened to his assistant as she laid out his schedule for the day and filled out the paperwork that was given to him. The flowers that sat on his desk did not need to be switched out just yet, so that meant she wouldn't be by until lunch. In the meantime, he would lose himself in the papers on his desk and try to occupy his wandering mind. The paperwork today held little interest, save for the report of a few missing shinobi. That one did catch his eye for a moment, and he read through the file of a man named Yoshio Suzuki before having to set it aside when he realized that he was the last of a family Gaara had killed in his grief after losing his uncle. He didn't look at the rest of his file or any others of the missing shinobi, and instead set them aside to be dealt with another time.

When lunch time came around, Gaara removed his Kazekage robes and settled for his casual attire. He stood from his desk and went to the window, looking out onto the village below him as he and waited for the door to open. It didn't take very long, and Gaara froze for a moment after he turned to look at her.

Momoko always looked nice, with her hair done well and her clothes always flattering, but today was by far the best he had ever seen her. Her hair was left loose but had been spun into curls, and her lips were painted with a cherry red color that he couldn't remember seeing on her before. Her dress was the very same color as her lips, bright and beautiful- had he ever seen her wear red before? Surely not, because he would have remembered it in clarity and seared the image into his memory like he was doing now.

He tried to search his brain for the right words to say, any words to say, but she picked up where he fell short.

"Good afternoon, Gaara!" She said with a smile, pulling up a chair to his desk like any other afternoon, as though she hadn't just come into his office looking the way she did, "Hungry?"

Gaara could only nod mutely, glad that he was usually silent so she wouldn't find his lack of words odd, and took a seat across from her. She sorted out their food and handed his half to him, before opening her own meal.