#1 First Kiss
Their first kiss was nothing romantic or exciting. It did not make him see stars and her gasping for breath. He's sure he would not be retelling the tale to either his friends or family, but it doesn't matter because they would have heard it from her lips or had already been there themselves.
Their first kiss was brief and abrupt and left him wondering if it had happened at all. It did, by the way, because her hands were still on his collar that she used to pull him down and her face inches from his.
He vaguely hears hooting and catcalls from somewhere around him (pretty sure it’s Naruto and Kiba) but can't make out the muffled words due to all the blood rushing to his face.
"Huh, so you blush to your ears, that's so cute!" Is she teasing him? If yes then, the nerve.
It made him wonder if first kisses were supposed to be like this because if it is, then all those love dramas that Temari watched, and made him swear never to tell, can all go and stab themselves in the face with a dull kunai.
#2 Final
It doesn't matter that her father thinks she's too young to date; all fathers are like that anyway. She's already a jonin for crying out loud, there are kids younger than her who's already married and she's not gonna die alone for god sake.
It doesn't matter that Shikamaru said he's from Suna and she won't survive a long-distance relationship. He's dating the sister and she doesn't see them having any problem.
It doesn't matter that Sakura said he's Kazekage and will probably be too busy to pay too much attention to her. She's not those clingy girlfriends that need constant attention and he definitely will not be the center of her world.
It also doesn't matter that maybe he has some qualms about all of this because she's sure all of those will be gone in a short amount of time, and why would he have one anyway.
Ino already decides that she wants Gaara and nothing anybody says can change her mind.
#3 Numb
There are many different kinds of numbness.
The numb that comes after pain, the type that hurts so much you don't feel it anymore, or the numb that comes before the pain, like the time your arms fell asleep and the pins and needles that follow when the circulation starts working properly. The figurative numbness that people always mention along with heartbreaking news, pun intended.
Ino long since declared numbness a bad thing, but when one certain red hair Suna ninja swoops in for their second kiss, he started it this time, Ino felt numb from head to toe, except for her practically flaming lips.
The moment he pulls away Ino realizes her life was a lie and there is certainly a good kind of numbness.
#4 Broken Wings
Gaara's favorite pastime is looking at the sky.
It's nothing like cloud watching, mind you, because cloud watching is that bastard-that's-courting-his-sister's pastime. Also, Gaara can't call him that out loud unless he wants Ino to give him the eye because the bastard happens to be her childhood friend. She's the only one who can call him that; well, her and Temari.
He likes looking at the sky, preferably from a high place, because then there's nothing to block his view. When he was little, he used to fantasize about being a bird so he can fly away from here where people fear him. He can fly now, in a matter of speaking, but it's not the same because he's not a bird, and if he is, his wings were either crippled or broken.
Somehow he's not so sad about it because if he can fly, he'll be free but alone, lost in the vast blue. Down here, even though broken and pathetic, he learned to stand on his legs, walked forward, and found hope along the way.
On some bad day, he'll look up to the sky and wish that he's a bird, but he would throw away that idea as fast as it comes because no matter how bad a situation is, he can't imagine himself to be anywhere else; down here where he'll never be lonely.
#5 Melody
Dinner had become their family time since when he can't remember, and he's quite sure Kankuro doesn't either. He remembers coming home late one day and found his siblings at the dining table with all the food untouched. His sister looks about to kill someone while his brother looks at the food dejectedly. Seeing him made Temari flew into a furious lecture about being on time and the such. When he argued that he's busy she suddenly burst into tears and wail that he doesn't love them. When he looked to Kankuro for help he's met with the same accused glare, but that was mostly from hunger. He doesn't understand what "that time of the month" has anything to do with the situation when Kankuro talked to him in private, but from then on, he made damn sure to get home on time for dinner. Kankuro does too, at least during the time that Temari is not out on a mission.
"You seem happy lately," his brother said out of the blue during one of their dinner time.
"What made you think that?"
"Well, you're humming a lot nowadays." His sister pipes up.
"Am I?"
They nodded.
He looks sideways. "It's stuck."
"Ah."
Gaara was never the talkative type contrary to his Konoha counterpart, and sometimes it's hard to know what he's referring to. It took them some time, but now they're quite used to the short explanation and one-word answer.
"What song is it? I never heard it before." Kankuro asked absentmindedly before biting into the yakitori.
"Ino was singing it when I last visited."
Their hands stilled for a second before resuming, both sporting a small smirk.
"Oh, is that so." Temari purrs sickeningly sweet, making him frown. "What were you thinking about when humming the song?"
Kankuro smirk wider "Ino, I bet."
He chokes on the rice and Kankuro hands him the tea. His sister sure didn't help when she suddenly said, "huh, you do blush to the ears," which in turn made him choke on the tea. He quickly finishes his food and leaves the table without meeting their eyes.
"He's daydreaming about her."
"How adorable."
He enters his room with the sound of his siblings' laughter filling the house.
.
.
.
"You're doing it again," Kankuro sniggered the next morning during breakfast, halting him mid-note.
He pulled the newspaper closer to his face and growls out a "shut up," which he's sure couldn't even threaten a child. Not with the blush splay across his face.