Well Hello Again!

Happy to see you here. It means you want to know what happens next :)

I've done a ton of reworking to this story, the character development, tense, person and continuity of detail and quality are so much better and I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

I want to give a monstrous sized THANK YOU to the following reviewers who gave me the desire to keep writing this story. These wonderful people would be Yoi no Chi, Air Angel32, Gaaras1Girl, and QuietShadowz. Thank you so much you four! Your reviews meant so much :)

In this chapter I'm giving you a little taste of our other lead in this story. I hope you like him, I certainly do.

xoxo
Rose

*~'~*~,~*~)~*~,~*~'~*

"Are you...well?"

"Hmmmm?..." I try to think through the muggy haze that fills my head; when...when had I fallen asleep?

The raspy, resonant voice speaks again, "Are you well?"

I blink my heavy lids and tilt my head up towards the source of the voice. "Hmm?" I hum sleepily. I vaguely register a broad swath of woven maroon a few inches from my nose. Why is that there? Wait...that's a hand so that must be...a sleeve? Those nails, they look so…strange… I shake my head in confusion and sit up slowly.

"Are you well?" the soft, masculine voice asks again.

I finally turn to look into the face of the inquiring stranger sitting next to me; "Yes I'm..." I choke on my words as our eyes meet, eyes that were much closer to mine than I had initially thought. They glow pale blue in the quickly darkening night around peculiar four pointed pupils and are surrounded by thick black rings. They are terrifying, terribly sad, tired eyes...but they seem to smile at me, stealing my breath away. "...fine..."

His brow creases a little above his eyes. "You lie." he reprimands

I draw a hissing breath through my teeth and rear back from the man sitting next to me. "Excuse me!" I sputter squeakily, "You don't! I don't! How dare! I don't even! You rude, assuming! I've never! Who are you?"

He chuckles at my confused and furious stammering before stopping the sound abruptly, his eyes widening in a way that looks almost as if he were startled.

"I said, who are you?"

He blinks and seems to come back to himself at my words, "...I am Gaara."

Incredibly irritated I rotate on the damp metal bench so that I can fully face the frustrating man. I take a good, hard, angry, look at him...and feel some of my aggravation fade into embarrassment as I take in just who it is I'm sitting next to. Because the man next to me, well it is one sexy man.

He's soaked to the bone from the earlier rain and through the blood red hair that clings , dripping, to his alabaster skin peek out the strangely pointed tips of his ears. His chiseled face wears an excited, hungry expression, only made stranger by an apparent lack of eyebrows, that somehow sends shivers through my frame and I hastily look away, sending my gaze towards the rest of his body. I quickly take in the straight back and broad, muscular shoulders that shift enticingly underneath the thin cotton shirt that covers the length of his arms all the way down to his strong corded hands that are tipped with strange pointed nails. Sitting, he, Gaara, I remember, his name giving a little thrrrumm inside my mind, doesn't look much taller than me but there is something about him that clearly says Power. It's intimidating as hell and the feeling combines with his exotic and bizarre appearance to make him all the more dahm captivating.

I sit straighter and throw back my hood, causing waves of tangled petal pink hair to spill out, trying to recall the feelings of ire I had felt a moment ago before they were swept away in a wave of attraction. "Ok then Gaara." I say with as much ice as I can muster, "Where the hell do you get idea that you have the right to accuse me of lying? You know nothing, nothing about me, so please tell me where you get the gall to say anything like that?"

Gaara looks back at me solemnly and I resist the uncomfortable urge to squirm under his unwavering gaze. "I know," he says, his voice quiet and commanding, "that you cannot be 'fine'. If you were 'fine' your wish would not have been able to call me here."

I stare at him and try to remember how to breathe, "What...what are you talking about..."

My attempts to acquire oxygen are sabotaged as Gaara bores his strange eyes even deeper into mine. In my peripheral vision I see the beams of headlights approaching from behind me.

He leans in closer to my stiff and immobile form and brushes a finger against my cheek, wiping away a tear I hadn't realized was there, "You aren't alone anymore." he whispers, the heat of his breath brushing against my ear and sending electricity through my veins.

The sound of shrieking brakes tears through the moment and I whip my head to the side to see the brightly lit bus pulling up beside the shelter. The old, portly bus driver opens the door and calls down to me, "You comin' sweetheart?"

I snap my head back to where Gaara was sitting. "What..."

Gaara is gone.

I stare at the empty space in a daze...he had been sitting there just a second ago...I had felt his breath on my ear...felt his finger against my cheek. I move a shaky hand to touch my face but instead look down in shock when I feel something scratch the inside of my wrist.

A white rose lies in my lap.

"You comin' or not?"

I stand unsteadily and heft my bag onto my shoulder, grasping the rose carefully in my left hand. I turn and climb the steps onto the bus but stop at the top step and lean in towards where the old driver sits. "Sir," I ask tentatively, "did you see anyone else on the bench?"

The elderly man looks back at me; his white, pillowy face wrinkled in concern, "No sweetheart," he says, "you were the only one there."

I feel a wave of dizziness wash over me, "Thank you..." I mumble before hurrying away and settling into a seat. Pushing my wet hair out of my eyes, I look back though the window at the empty shelter as the bus pulls noisily away. Unconsciously my thumb begins to stroke over the velvet petals of the rose.

What just happened?

*~'~*~,~*~)~*~,~*~'~*