Restoration: Book 2/3

Chapter 35

-Matsuri's POV-

I glanced over at the two Subaku brothers yet again as we walked silently. Last night, while drunk, I made an absolute fool of myself. Not only did I jump Gaara, but I did it in front of his brother! If Kankuro remembers what happened, he wasn't saying anything. I prayed he didn't. He'd been much drunker than us, so hopefully his entire night was blacked out.

The tall man caught me looking and I averted my gaze to the ground in front of me with a bright blush. I jumped slightly when he suddenly removed his scarf and handed it to me, "You should cover your face, Matsu. It looks like you're already getting frostbite."

My eyes shot over to meet his and he gave me a big grin before focusing back on the road. With a humiliated frown, I did as he said, if only to take advantage of the excuse he'd just given me that explained my red cheeks. Kiba was on his other side and made a teasing comment about how chivalrous he was just then, but I tuned them out and looked over at Gaara with my brow furrowed.

When I passed out last night, I'd been on top of him and he'd been completely stunned. This morning when I woke up, though, all three of us were in bed like normal, only he wasn't cuddling me and had his back turned. A guilty heat rose into my face and my eyes watered up. I tried to blink them back as I looked away from the handsome boy.

My hesitation to come clean about my feelings for him was because I thought he wouldn't react well to such foreign emotions and actions. Even if it was my fault for rushing a bit while inebriated, it was starting to feel like I'd been correct to worry.

We've been traveling for maybe five or six hours now and according to our maps, it was going to take at least another five or six hours to reach our destination.

A weird sensation crossed my mind, reminiscent of how it felt to partake in M.A.T., but it faded as quickly as it'd risen. I blinked a few times in confusion, but it didn't happen again so I brushed it off as my mind playing tricks.

We continued traveling throughout the day and what I thought was a one time slip in my imagination, occurred multiple more times. After setting up multiple traps around the entrance of the small building, the four of us called it a day at the edge of the business district in a small law office because it didn't have many windows or cold linoleum floors.

We hadn't run into anyone the entire way here and Kiba said he hadn't heard anything either, but I still couldn't fall asleep.

Gaara was cuddled up behind me with his arms wrapped firmly around my waist, but I couldn't feel relieved because there was no heat in this building, meaning we'd reverted to relying on one another's body heat. I frowned as I felt Kankuro's chest rise and fall against my face. The man was big on cuddling, as everyone knows, and had his arms wrapped loosely around my head to hold me against him.

While I should be grateful because I wasn't cold in the slightest, I was still annoyed that he and Kiba hadn't switched places. The Inuzuka boy lay on his other side, curled up against the taller man's back.

Finally, after hours of laying there, I managed to fall asleep.

When I woke in the morning, I was on someone's back. My eyes crept open and I saw red hair, almost letting out a sigh of relief that it was Gaara and not one of the others. I pulled back slightly to rest my forehead against his shoulder and groaned before tapping him softly, "Can you put me down?"

The other two turned back to look at us as he bent slightly so I could reach the ground without a word. I rubbed my eyes, noticing Kankuro hand Gaara his backpack, and then we were walking once more, "Why didn't you guys wake me up?"