I woke up the next morning to somebody running their fingers through my hair.

I smiled, and snuggled closer to Gaara.

As soon as he felt me move, his fingers stopped their relaxing motions, and he rested his cheek on top of my head.

''Good morning.''

I yawned. ''Morning.''

I pulled back slightly, so I could look at him, and wondered if he had slept last night. I reached up to touch the dark ring under one of his eyes as I spoke.

''Gaara, did you sleep at all?''

He smiled softly. ''No. I told you that I don't sleep much. That old habit of staying up all the time hasn't gone away yet. So even though I am able to sleep without worries, I don't.''

I nodded understanding. He smiled again, and continued.

''Besides, its interesting watching you sleep. You move a lot.''

I smiled back at him. ''Yeah, I've been told that before. Dolly refused to let me sleep in his bed very often because I would move around so much that I would actually kick him. It wasn't like he really needed the sleep, and it didn't hurt him, but that still had to be a rude feeling. To be lying there relaxing, and then somebody randomly kicking you.''

Gaara smirked. ''I would imagine.''

I looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:45 in the morning. I turned back to Gaara with a curious look in my eyes.

''What time are you leaving today?''

I had thought that the ninja's would be leaving early this morning, but if Gaara was still here then they must be leaving later in the morning.

He untangled himself from me, and stretched as he answered. ''Well, I'm planning on leaving around ten tomorrow.''

I sat up, and stared at him.

''You're not leaving until tomorrow? But what about everybody else? Are they not leaving until tomorrow either?''

He shook his head. ''No, they left around 4:30 this morning. You slept through all the commotion they made, though I don't see how. Naruto was yelling, and Sakura threw him into a wall. She's got a worse temper then I do.''

I smiled, and Gaara gave me a questioningly look. I shook my head, and stretched, as I spoke.

''So, how did they know that you weren't going with them? Because obviously they would have realized that you weren't downstairs when they left.''

He smirked. ''I decided yesterday, before you got back that I was going to stay with you for a little bit longer. I told Temari, and though she wasn't happy with it, she wouldn't dare tell me that I couldn't stay.''

I laughed. I supposed that Temari was still a little bit frightened of Gaara. But because of that I was able to spend some extra time with him.

I turned my attention back to him, and noticed that he was watching me. I grinned at him, and saw that a smile was tugging at the corners of his lips.

''So you're with me another day, huh? Is there anything in particular that you wanted to do?''

I watched as his expression became thoughtful.

''Well, Kankuro left a note for Misa, and Sai left a note for Mona. They wanted us to deliver it to them. So we probably need to do that first, but otherwise I don't care. I really just want to spend as much time with you as possible.''

He smiled softly at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. A day with Gaara. That sounded nice.

After a little while of lying in bed, Gaara had gone back to his room, so we could start getting ready for the day.

We had decided that we would spend most of our time at the market. I thought that we might see Weasel, and the twins. They spent a lot of their time there. The twins had been getting bored a lot recently, since Dani was too tired to play with them outside.

So Weasel had been taking them to the market to give Dani a break, and to tire out the children before dinner. He said that they would sleep better that way. I just thought that he was spoiling them.

After I had finished getting ready, I walked down the hall to tell Salem where I was going. He didn't like it when I randomly disappeared. When I got within sight of his door, I saw that a piece of paper had been taped to the outside. I gently tore it away from the wood, and began reading.

''Gone to Toru's. Be back later, or maybe not. I don't know yet. Anyways, see you later. Love you.

Salem. p.s. Have fun with Gaara. And don't be surprised that I know about the two of you. You know that I'm psycic. =D''

I laughed when I finished reading. It did seem like Salem was psychic. And the Toru person that he mentioned must be the girl he met at Aubry's. I hopped that, that was going well.\

I was still thinking about Salem's note, when I stopped outside Gaara's door.

I knocked, and a moment later heard his voice giving permission to enter. I opened the door to find him standing in front of the window staring at the scenery outside.

I walked over to him, and placed my hand on his arm. He looked at me, and I saw a sad look buried deep in his eyes. I looked at him questioningly.

''What's wrong Gaara?''

He didn't say anything as he grabbed my hand, and led me to sit on the edge of his bed. I stared at him, waiting for his explanation, and he stared at something across the room. He started rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand as he spoke.

''I was just thinking about the future. If Sasuke succeeds in destroying the Leaf Village, then a lot of things will be screwed up. The other hidden villages will have to reconsider the treaties that they have made. Most likely they will refuse to align themselves with the other villages again. They will think that it is a liability that they cannot afford again. Then it will only be a matter of time before they start fighting with each other. The villages have been waiting for an opportunity to break away from each other for years, and if the Leaf Village is destroyed then they will have it.''

I paused a moment, processing what he had said, before speaking.

''Well, then Sasuke can't be allowed to win.''

Gaara looked at me, startled. Like he couldn't believe that I thought things were that simple.

I smiled. ''Naruto will get to him in time, and well, if he doesn't then Sakura will. I have a feeling that he's still in love with her. Though Naruto is the first, and loudest to tell me that Sasuke never loved anybody, but himself. Otherwise he would have stayed when Sakura begged him too.

But I think that Sasuke loved Sakura more then he ever let on. I've been around guys that have pretended that they had no interest in a girl most of my life. In reality though they care about them deeply.

I think that if he sees her, and they begin to talk that he'll give up on this whole 'destroy the Leaf Village' crap.''

Gaara was looking at me with such a surprised expression that I had to laugh.

He shook his head. ''I really don't understand any of this love stuff. It's confusing. I can see how you would stop something that would hurt the ones you love, but wouldn't he have thought about that before he began planning his revenge?''

I shook my head. ''Not necessarily. He may not have thought about it all the way through, or he may not think that seeing Sakura will stop him.

Or, he may just be planning on her not coming with Naruto to stop him. She's a medical ninja after all. He may injure enough people that he would think that she would be needed in the E.R. It could really be anything. There's too many possibilities to know for sure.''

He looked confused, and I smiled, and pulled him to a standing position with me. I pulled him towards the door, and grabbed the letters on his desk on the way. I turned to look at him while we walked.

''Don't worry Gaara. Everything will turn out okay, and the whole love thing is confusing to everybody. There's not one person in this world that understands it completely.''

He smiled slightly at me, and I led him out the front door. We were off to deliver love letters to some seriously opposite girls. Then we could have some time together, before he had to go face whatever was waiting for him in Konoha. I sighed. I felt like a postal person.