He was sleeping.
And, judging by his movements...dreaming too.
It was the first time he had slept in his entire life.
The first time he had slept since Shukaku had been removed and they had returned him to Suna.
And also the night that marked their one year anniversary.
They were all in his room. Temari, Kankurou, Naruto, and herself.
They were all sleeping, apart from her.
She couldn't sleep.
She sat next to him on the bed, watching his movements, going over everything that had happened in the last year and she couldn't help but smile.
She couldn't help but endlessly thank the old woman who started out as a stranger but had managed to give her back the one thing she wanted most in the world...him.
She would never take for granted another moment she had with him.
Every minute, every second was a gift that she would treasure, whether it was good or bad.
Her thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly shot up with a gasp. She hadn't even noticed that he had started to sweat.
His eyes darted wildly around the room looking from person to person. Searching.
She gently placed her hand on his bare shoulder. It was slick and covered in sticky sweat, but none of that mattered to her anymore.
Sweat meant that he was still alive.
Sweat meant that he was still with her.
Taking a deep shaky breath in, he placed his hand on top of hers.
"I was dreaming."
"I know."
He stiffly and slowly shifted his weight to lay back down. Resting his head gently on her lap.
She ran her hands through his hair slowly, trying to calm him as he stared blankly at the ceiling.
"It all feels like a giant nightmare."
"What does?" she asked as her other hand began rubbing his shoulder.
"Everything up until now."
A knowing, remorse filled smile spread across her face as his low whispers were pulled from her memory and flooded her mind once again. His stories of his past still haunted her and will forever haunt her. The threat that he continuously said after every story was also fresh in her mind, don't pity me. She didn't pity him, but she couldn't help but feel for the immense pain that he carried around with him because of everything that had unfairly happened to him.
The resolve to start his life over for him, to replace all of the bad with good, to literally make his past seem like an imaginary nightmare flooded her being. She stopped what her hands were once doing and pulled him in closer to her.
A happy sigh came from his chest as he rolled over and wrapped his arms around her waist and used her as a pillow.
It wasn't until she knew he was asleep again before she whispered a response to him, "It was."