Chapter Fourteen

-Matsuri's POV-

Sakura looked exhausted when she finally arrived in the bedroom where Ino, Temari, and I had laid Hinata down on her stomach. The Subaku woman and I put our differences aside because the unconscious girl before us mattered more than our spat earlier today.

It took almost an hour for our pink-haired friend to extract the glass shards we weren't able to get, not to mention the bullet lodged in the girl's shoulder. Judging by the ruckus we'd heard downstairs earlier, we were lucky Hinata didn't wake up during the process. After cleaning everything, Sakura completely closed the glass wounds before healing the bullethole enough that the girl wouldn't need stitches.

After doing our best to get all the smoke residue off of our unconscious friend, we helped hold her up as Sakura wrapped a bandage around her, going under the left arm and over the right shoulder so it'd stay firmly in place over the wound. Then, we dressed her in a thin bathrobe so she wouldn't have to wear something more constricting while healing and got her into bed.

The moment he was given the okay, Naruto shoved past Tenten, who'd been acting as our security guard, and came to sit at Hinata's bedside with a look of relief. Sakura didn't bother asking his permission and lifted his shirt up to inspect the big black bruises across his back. We probably could've done almost anything to him and he wouldn't have cared.

Once she was convinced she'd healed him as much as possible for the night, she motioned for us to follow her out of the room and give Naruto some space. I stole one last glance at him before closing the door behind me. Although it was scary to imagine how he'd been feeling, I hoped someone would come to care about me like that in my life.

My forehead hit someone's back and I lifted my gaze to see Sakura standing there with a hand over her eyes and a look of discomfort on her face. "Are you alright?"

The other three girls turned back to see what I was talking about, only to rush over when our pink-haired friend suddenly collapsed. "Sakura!"

After helping the other girls get Sakura into bed, which was coincidentally the one Sasuke was resting in, I went back downstairs and fell heavily into one of the giant couches with an exhausted sigh. The injured Uchiha boy had glared at us the entire time we were in his presence. I hoped he wasn't mad at us for bringing her in there. He should be grateful to the girl for literally saving his life. Sharing a bed was the least he could do.

One by one, those who weren't injured or unconscious joined me in the family room. It'd just gotten dark out when Shikamaru finally spoke, breaking the tense and silent aura, "I think we should stay here until everyone's fit for travel. If we only use the electricity for bathing and heat, it might last long enough. We can send people into town each day to look for food and supplies. What do you guys think?"

I nodded, eyes heavy with exhaustion. Today had been more exhausting than the two days in a row that we'd traveled by foot from morning to night.

No one argued so he continued, "I don't see it taking more than a week, two at the absolute most. Let's set up some portable barricades at each entrance in case more of those weird guys come around."

By the time I could freshen up and find a shirt in the owner's closet that wasn't button-up so we wouldn't have a repeat of this morning, I could barely stay on my feet. My head fell heavily against the pillow and I was asleep before either of the two boys could even get situated.

Ever since we were sent to the asylum, I haven't really been having dreams. They hadn't made me take any medications or anything, but they just stopped happening. Maybe it was my subconscious deciding it would do more harm than good. I dreamt this time though.

We were searching the town for Hinata, like we had earlier, but when we got to that house with the barricade, I was the one shot rather than Sasuke. It felt like a pinch, right in the center of my breastplate, and then I could see myself in third person. Everyone was looking at me as the big hole in my chest bled, but when I searched their faces, no one seemed to care.

I watched in horror as those weird veiny things that were on the back of that orange-haired man's neck slowly spread from the bullet wound, protruding from my skin and moving around in a terrifying and creepy way. The feeling was awful, like someone had put a syringe in my skin and started dragging the needle around carelessly.

Then, I was awake and staring into Gaara's eyes in terror.

A ragged gasp shook through my lungs and my hands shakily pressed against my chest to feel for that disgusting veiny thing. My eyes dropped down to peek under my shirt as tears welled up. After ensuring nothing weird was on my skin, the awful sensation from my dream slowly started to fade and as it did, I re-met the redhead's gaze and let out a sigh of relief.

How terrible.

It was horrible.

I turned onto my back and held my hand against my chest as I tried to catch my breath, averting my eyes up to the ceiling. If my dreams were going to be like that every night, I'd prefer to go back to not having any at all. I glanced over to see Gaara was still staring at me and felt my face warm in embarrassment.

Earlier, I lost my temper in front of him and just now I nearly cried because of a stupid nightmare. He was probably staring because he couldn't figure out why I was being so crazy. My brow furrowed and I turned my back to him, relieved to see that Kankuro wasn't facing me like he had last night. My hand clenched against my chest again, a ghost of the dream's sensations rising for just a moment and making me shudder.

To my surprise, I felt Gaara's arm snake under my body and up to slide under my hand and press firmly against my chest like I'd done when I first woke up. My face burnt bright red, but I didn't shove him away. He was likely mirroring my earlier actions to see what I'd been trying to do.

Neither of us moved for a moment, but then he swiftly moved his arm back down to slide under my shirt so he could press his hand back into the same spot but directly against my skin.

My breath hitched in my throat and I hissed out in a panicked whisper, "G-Gaara!"

My entire body felt like it was on fire with humiliation. If he moved his hand even slightly below where it was, this would technically be considered copping a feel. He wouldn't do that…would he? Since I only touched a boy's face for the first time yesterday, I've definitely never had one touch my bare skin like this.

The boy behind me paused before spreading his fingers slightly and pulling himself slightly closer to me before whispering at a barely audible level, "This scares you?"

To anyone else, the question probably seemed like he was teasing me for being shy, but I knew better than that. Gaara was likely trying to verify if I wanted him to stop because I didn't like him being so close.

It'd thoroughly surprise me if the boy had any interest at all in sex, relationships, or anything else of that nature so his reason for not removing his hand immediately when I started to panic was probably curiosity. I'd even go as far as guessing he's never come as close to a person as he has with me over the past week.

For that reason, I forced myself to shake my head with eyes squeezed tightly closed. Thank god he hadn't pressed himself directly against my back or I would've likely fainted by now.

"Why is your heart beating so quickly if you're not afraid?"

That's when I realized what he was doing. Gaara was feeling my heart beating so hard in my chest because of how surprised I was at his actions and it piqued his interest. Being able to confirm that he wasn't actually trying to make a move on me in the cover of night helped me relax a bit.

"I'm just really nervous."

Even if his tactics in doing so would appear questionable to anyone else, I found it kind of endearing that he wanted to feel my heartbeat. He didn't say anything for a long time and we lay there in silence. His fingers were so warm against my skin. It was hard to keep reminding myself that he didn't mean anything sexual by touching me like that because, even if I was mortified to admit it, I liked the feeling.

After another few moments, I turned slightly to look back and meet his eye. For once, he didn't bother putting on his usual angry glare and simply stared back. My face re-heating, I whispered bashfully, "There's another way, if you want."

He didn't respond, but didn't stop me as I turned to face him, either. I was so relieved his eyes didn't stray downward that I almost thanked him out loud for being respectful, at least in that sense. When I reached for the hand against my chest, he handed me his other one instead and my brow furrowed shyly, but I still guided it up to the side of my neck.

His fingers twitched and he seemed about to pull away, but I couldn't figure out why. I gave him a confused look and he didn't verbally respond, but hesitantly wrapped his fingers around my neck.

Ah…That's why.

Back then, during The Program, we were forced to fight to the death in M.A.T. and that's how he'd done it. That was the one and only day that I sensed an iota of regret from him as he watched me struggle to overcome my terror upon being released from the awful machine.

I swallowed nervously and his fingers brushed softly against my skin as he moved them back to rest on just one side of my neck. In an attempt to stay calm and try and force the terrible memory away, I closed my eyes and worked on soothing my breathing out.

"Where else?"

Without reopening my eyes, I grabbed his hand shakily and gently led it up so he could feel the pulse-point behind my ear.

"Are you scared yet?"

I shook my head again, "Still just nervous."

"Next."

I had to stop myself from smiling in amusement as I finally looked back up to see he hadn't averted his eyes at all. Was he going to make me show him every single one? Surely he was aware of where at least some of them were located. I bet he was only having me do it so I can choose what I'm comfortable with. For someone so lack-luster when it comes to communication, he was doing a great job, at least tonight.

My hand carefully guided his fingers up to press against my temple, "This one's probably the weakest."

He didn't say anything for a few moments before wordlessly insinuating he wanted to move on. Fingers felt the inside of my elbow and then my wrist and then I hesitated to go forward. There was one specific spot that I was one hundred percent not about to let him touch, but there was one on the inside of the knee and then one on the ankle that I'd be okay with. I just wasn't sure if he'd want to or not. He'd only recently gotten comfortable touching my hands and moving to my neck and face seemed to push him close to his breaking point.

Gaara stared as he waited and I squirmed under his gaze, "U-Um, I'm not sure if…" My words trailed off because I didn't know how to say it.

"Now you're scared."

My heart ached in my chest. The boy thought he was some type of monster because of how everyone treated him and it made me temporarily forget my nervousness.

My brow furrowed and I frowned at him, trying to make sure my whispers didn't get too loud and risk waking his brother, "I'm not afraid of you, Gaara," my hand came up to lightly grasp his free one, "You'd stop if I said I was, right?"

He didn't respond or even nod, but I got the sense that he agreed, so I continued, "Then I'm okay with this type of stuff. Here-" I bent my leg and pulled my knee up a bit so we could reach it beneath the covers before guiding his hand to the pulse point there.

His eyes widened before hesitantly dancing downward toward where he was touching, snapping me out of my courageous mood. There wasn't even a chance he couldn't see my bra and bare stomach, but I couldn't tell if he could see anything lower than that because of how high the thick blanket was.

The unbearable blush from earlier returned to my face and I tried to maintain my composure, "This is the last one I can show you, okay?"

His eyes came back up to meet mine and he unbent my leg slightly so it rested against his in order to more easily press his fingers on the pulse point. After a moment, he spoke in a softer voice than I've heard from him before, "I'm nervous, too."

My mouth went dry and I felt my heart flutter in my chest. Surely he didn't realize how his words sounded because he likely didn't realize what I actually meant when I said I was nervous. A small wave of guilt came over me. Everything I did in the past ten minutes was incredibly selfish. Gaara wasn't used to these types of things, just like me, but at least I can properly identify certain emotions that he probably couldn't. I'd unintentionally taken advantage of that because I got caught up in the moment.

"T-That's alright. I'm sorry for pushing you too far. You don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Tell me next time, okay?"

I tried to straighten my leg back out, but his hand swiftly moved to grip it and stop me from moving. My eyes shot up to meet his, only to widen further when I saw that his were actually closed. Gaara's lips were slightly parted as he appeared to be trying to keep himself calm. The slightest hint of color had risen to his cheeks, stunning me right to the core.

"I said I was nervous, not uncomfortable. Don't move."

His fingers moved against my chest and I realized I'd completely forgotten his hand was there to begin with. Since I'd rolled over, it was probably getting sore from sitting at the slightly awkward angle. The redhead pulled it out from under my shirt and tugged the item of clothing down to cover my chest as I stared at his face in disbelief. The way the boy did it told me he knew that me letting him see that much of my skin was something I wouldn't do for someone else.

Even so, I stuttered out, "D-Don't do that kind of thing where someone else might see, okay?"

"Go to sleep now," his voice was back to normal and the color in his cheeks had faded. He brought his now free hand up under my neck and I adjusted my head on the pillow so he could do so more easily.

His swift mood change threw me off for a moment, but I was too tired to dwell on it and ended up doing exactly as he said.