(A/N): I am very sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter out. I need a couple art credits at my school, and me being the genius i am chose to take an oil painting class. I'll admit, since nobody here knows who I really am, that i was totally thinking ' I'll be like Sai and be an awesome painter!'. Well, it's a hell of alot harder than you'd think! So not only have i been trying desperately to make the vase i'm painting turn into a vase instead of a block, but i've been working alot too. Now that my pity party and excuses are out of the way! I know this chapter is pretty cheesy and really not my best, but it's the best i could do for this. I Know that it took me way to long to get another chapter up, and i really couldn't think of the best way to write this scene out. I promise the next chapter will be much better. Hopefully this doesn't torture you to much!

"Gaara?" Gaara slowly opened his pale eyes. He half expected her to be calling out to him in her sleep again. His entire body was sore from sitting cross legged against her wall for the past day and a half. After Sasuke left, Gaara took Emiko to the nearest town. That's where he met up with Sakura and his siblings. Sakura's heart broke when she heard what happened. Temari and Kankuro were torn between worrying about their little brother, and worrying about the broken girl he carried in his arms. Not once the entire journey back had he set her down. Gaara refused to let anyone else watch over her. He ran with her on his back, and waited during the night with her cradled in his arms. He was used to going days with out eating because of his childhood, so it was nothing to him to refuse food in order to keep holding her. It was his fault she had gotten hurt. That's what he thought anyway.

The only time he let her down was when Temari had to undress her to wrap up her wounds. Even than he sat by her side with his back turned. Inside, he was hurting. On the outside, he refused to show his pain. When they finally made it back to Suna, Sakura left to report back to Tsunade. Gaara immediately took Emiko to her room and locked both of them in there. Temari and Kankuro kept trying to get him to come out and eat, but he refused. He would suffer until he knew she was better. She had a bathroom joined to her room, so he really had no reason to leave.

Despite the terrible circumstances, Gaara found himself sorely tempted to look around her room while she was out. That had been the first time he'd been in this room since she moved in. He did wonder why as he stared at the strange colored lights she stuck to her ceiling. It'd been four months, and he'd barely talked to her.

" I was actually happy, when i remembered who she was." He thought, looking at the pictures on her desk. He scowled at the picture of her with an arm around the Uchiha. " So why did i avoid her for so long?" He didn't even try to talk to her while she trained in Suna. He just watched her walk home at night to make sure she was safe. " Was i scared?" Yes, he guessed he had been. What if she hadnt still liked him? What if she finally realized how much trouble he would cause her? What if she never really wanted to return to Suna? But at the same time, he hadn't really cared about those things. She was finally with him again. She was finally his, in a way. They way she made him feel...like he was finally alive. After so many years of feeling alone, un-wanted, empty...He finally felt like someone wanted him. It was the little things she did.

Waiting for him to come downstairs before eating dinner with everyone.

Staying up all night with him at least twice a week.

Discretely shocking the annoying girls in his class.

Brushing her hand against his when they walked through the town.

Giving him her warm smile even when the council was glaring at them.

Knowing when to exactly when to stop or push things any further with him.

Trying to hard to make him laugh when he was quiet for a long period of time.

Saying his name the way she did.

The look in her eyes that only ever seemed to be for him.

Emiko did so much more to let him know she was there for him. Although she isn't as touchy as she used to be as a kid, he still knew she cared. " She used to hug me to much" he thought with some humor when he picked up the picture of her, her mother, and Hiroshi. He only vaguely remembered her kid brother. He'd seen him when he warned her to hide during the Chunin exams. It had been an impulse. He didn't want her to die until he remembered who she was. Gaara's eyes shone with a rare display of sadness for someone else. " She lost everything." Gaara set the picture back down and went back to his spot against her wall. He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the purple wall. Emiko had repainted the room a light purple with white trim without any of them knowing. Shows how much attention he payed to her. Her desk was filled with her three framed pictures and a notebook. He wanted to open it, but it didn't seem right. " I wonder who she is now." Gaara sighed and crossed his arms and legs. " What would Naruto do?" Naruto would make her talk, he realized. He would make sure he found out the truth, and make sure that Emiko was happy. " That is what i'll do to." Gaara decided, smirking to himself.

" Gaara?" Emiko was actually awake this time. Gaara hesitated for a moment but as soon as she tried to sit up, he was at her side.

Emiko was still half asleep as Gaara helped her to sit up. He had a hand on her back, and one on her waist. She blushed and lightly pushed him away. When she was finally sitting comfortably, she noticed Gaara standing awkwardly by her bed. " You can sit down." She laughed, pulling her legs close to her body. Emiko laughed again when she saw the look of discomfort pass through his eyes. " I'm not one of your crazy fan girls, Gaara." He growled at her but finally moved to sit on the end of her bed. " I promise i won't tie you down and rape you."

"..." Gaara hung his head and put it in his hands.

" I'm sorry!" Emiko felt like face palming at her stupidity. " Of course that was a dumb thing to say! What the hell was i thinking!"

"No...I'm...sorry." Emiko's eyes went wide at Gaara's apology. He never apologized out loud! He might do something, to show that he was sorry, but he never apologized out loud! " I...wasn't myself."

"Gaara, I know, that's why i'm not mad." Emiko pushed the covers off of her body and scooted closer to Gaara. She ignored the searing pain in her torso and sat in front of him. " I already told you didn't i? No matter what you do, or how much you hurt me, i will never leave you." The room was dark, except for the colored lights casting an eerie glow around the room. Emiko's hair was down, cascading down her back and shoulders like silk. She only had her purple tube top on, along with her black muscle shorts.

" Why do you do that?" Gaara asked, glaring at his friend. Emiko's smile faltered, than dropped all together.

" Do what?"

"Smile like that when you should be upset!" Gaara closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to be careful. If she thought he was loosing his temper, she would completely turn everything around to him. " Why do you pretend?"

" Pretend?" Emiko looked down at her lap. Gaara's gaze never left her face, patiently waiting for her answer. He was going to make her talk today. " I...I always had to for Hiroshi." Gaara saw all the sadness and sorrow that had been trapped inside of Emiko for so long when she looked at him. Her purple eyes were shining with all of her pain. " After my dad left us, i was all he had left. Our mom had to work two jobs to keep us alive, so I was always the one taking care of him. If he saw me sad all the time, than he never would have learned to move on."

" Your father left you?"

" Yeah, ironic isn't it? The very person that forced me to leave you behind left me only a few years later. I don't even know where he is right now." Gaara was in shock. her father, the one that had forced her to leave him left her? So she had left him all alone for no reason!

"Why...Why didn't you come back?" Emiko flinched at his words. She tightened her grip on her blanket and stared at him with tearful eyes.

" I couldn't. I never wanted to be a ninja Gaara! I just wanted to stay here with you! I wasn't given a choice though." Her voice got quiet as she looked down again. " There is a man in Konoha, one who runs part of their ANBU. He found out about me alot faster than the third thought he would. He was the one who made it so i would train with an ANBU that was also one of my clan members. Though the man never said it out loud, i knew what would happen if i ever tried to stop training. I ran away from training one day and saw him with Hiroshi. he had picked him up from school...all it took was the look on his face."

" Everything i ever did was to protect my family Gaara. you...you have to try to understand. After i was taken away from you, they were all i had left. My parents were always fighting here, i know that you knew that. I would see you sitting on the roof across the street sometimes. Hiroshi was to young to know what was going on when i still lived her. But when we moved to the leaf, he got older. I Had to protect him from them, so i always smiled. I smiled every time i felt sad, or lonely. That way, he would learn to smile when things got bad. I kept him from turning into somebody who only knew hatred and anger."

"Why would you go so far for just one person?" Gaara had shifted so he was facing Emiko now. She was hugging her knees to her chest and hiding her face from him.

" He was my little brother. I...I just couldn't let anything bad happen to him. I had to protect him, even if it meant i was miserable. I would go even further for you, Gaara." Emiko mumbled the last part into her blanket.

He almost hadn't caught that last part. " She would go further for me?" Gaara's eyes had never gotten so wide before. "W-why?" It didn't make sense! He had been horrible to her! This entire time, she was suffering, and he had only just now asked her about it. It made sense now though, why she smiled all of the time. It wasn't because she was trying to trick herself into thinking everything was okay. No, she seemed to understand better than anyone when things were going wrong. She smiled for everyone else.

" You don't get it?" Emiko looked up at him with a sad smile. Gaara was still frozen in shock in front of her. She let go of her legs and gently cupped his cheek. He almost jumped out of his skin at the contact. " Everything i've ever done has been to protect my family, but also to come back to you, Gaara. I fought so i could become strong enough to stand by your side. I knew, when i saw you again for the first time in Konoha, that you had changed. You weren't the jumpy, nervous, sweet little boy that you were when i knew you. You had become something else, and if I ever wanted to stand by your side i was going to have to become stronger."

" You..." Gaara was lost for words as he stared into her eyes. They were so deep, an endless ocean of purple. She had suffered so much just to come back to him? " Why...do i matter so much to you? I've...i've never mattered that much to anyone." He was shocked again to find himself admitting that to her.

"You've always mattered that much to me. There wasn't a single day i didn't think about you. You have no idea how much it hurt, to leave you behind like that." A single tear made it's way down Emiko's cheek. She let go of his face and clutched at her heart." I know that it's my fault...everything that happened to you. And i know there isn't much, if anything, that i can to do make it up to you."

"Emiko-"

" If it's any consolation, my heart wasn't defective until after i left you." Emiko gave a short, sadistic laugh and smirked. She turned her head from Gaara to look outside. She almost missed the trees and colorful houses she would always see in Konoha. " I-"

" Your talking to much." Gaara silenced Emiko by slapping his hand over her mouth. She stared at him with wide eyes as Gaara loomed over her. " I've been selfish, since you returned to Suna." He didn't relinquish his hold on her mouth in the slightest when he started talking. Emiko's colored lights cast a strange glow on Gaara. He almost seemed softer...more vulnerable. But that was impossible. He was still Subaku no Gaara, an extraordinarily powerful teenager. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was so powerful that Emiko was blushing. It might also have been because his hand was pressed against her face, making the first time that he had touched her intentionally without his sand armor. And maybe, it was because the lighting was accenting just how handsome he was becoming.

Emiko tried to tell him he was wrong, but his hand remained firm over her mouth. " I knew you had to be suffering. I was there when your family was killed." Emiko stopped trying to pry his fingers away from her face and stiffened. " I watched as the man ended your little brothers life, and yet, I've never asked you about it. It is...strange," he admitted, his blank expression didn't match the wariness in his voice. " I've never found myself caring about other people before. Not after you left. After you left i decided i didn't want any more 'friends'. I decided that I would only love myself, and always fight to protect only myself. But now..." He finally let his face slip into confusion as he looked away from her. Emiko watched him, relishing the fact that he hadn't shaken her hands off of his arm yet. He was so warm.

" Now i find myself wanting to protect you, and others. It hurt so much when you left me." Gaara put a hand lightly over his heart. His red hair looked dark with the poor lighting and easily hid his eyes when he hung his head. " For as long as i remembered you, I blamed you for my pain. Eventually I forgot who you were. I just remembered the pain, and that trusting someone had brought it upon me." He looked over at Emiko when he felt her wince against his hand. Tears were slowly falling down her cheeks. Gaara wanted to wipe them away, to hold her and do anything possible to stop the tears. But he had to say what was on his mind.

" I do not blame you for my pain, Emiko. You have suffered just as much as I have, and yet, for the sake of your little brother you refused to fall into the darkness. You had people you loved, and they motivated you to keep living as yourself. I was weak and gave into my hatred while you were strong and moved past it." Gaara finally let go of her mouth and carefully cupped her face like she had to him. He thumbed away a tear, absent mindedly marveling at how smooth her skin was. She shuddered under his touch and closed her eyes.

" How can you forgive me?" Emiko's whisper was barely audible. However, Gaara sighed and let go of her face. He got off of her bed and walked a few paces until he was at her door.

" You did nothing wrong. You were forced into becoming a ninja but instead of allowing them to control you, you made yourself into someone you saw worthy to stand by my side." Gaara put his hand on the door knob before turning to look at her over his shoulder. " You don't have to bare the burden of my pain any longer."

"Gaara!" Before he could even turn the knob, Emiko was behind him and clutching onto his hand. "Please...don't leave me tonight." Emiko mentally cursed herself for getting up so fast. Small dots swam in front of her eyes as she wobbled on her feet. Before she could fall and injure herself further, Gaara hooked an arm under her legs, and carried her bridal style back to her bed. He set her down against the wall and even pulled the blankets up over her.

"How does she make me feel like this?" Gaara wondered as the strange, warm feeling started up in his heart again. What was it about this situation that was making him feel so...warm toward her? "She looks beautiful." He mulled the word around in his head and decided that yes, she was beautiful right now. Though she was tired and worn down, she still managed to take his breath away. She had her purple comforter pulled all the way up to her chin. Her light brown hair was flared out behind her, leaving her purple eyes uncovered and staring up at him. Gaara hesitated by her bedside. She had asked him not to leave, but what was he supposed to do? Was it even okay to get in the bed with her? " Could i even handle that?" he wondered, trying his best to fight off the images that threatened to cloud his thinking.

"Please." She whispered again, tentatively reaching a hand out to grab his sleeve. Any improper thoughts were pushed to the furthest corner of his mind when another tear fell down her cheek. He mentally sighed and carefully laid down on the bed next to her. She scooted even further away to make enough room for him. Gaara cautiously laid his head down on the pillow, Emiko's purple eyes following him down. For several tense seconds, the two of them just stared at each other.

" This is weird." Gaara finally broke the silence, and Emiko soon followed in a fit of giggles. "What?" He narrowed his eyes at her in an attempt to be scary, but it just made Emiko laugh more.

" I havn't seen you like this since we were kids." She laughed, hiding half of her face beneath her blanket. " Your always so cold and distant now. Ya know? I like you alot better when your not afraid to act human."

" Act human?" Gaara now raised a brow at her. Her random fit of laughter had successfully gotten his mind off of the awkward fact that they were sharing a bed.

" Yeah, humans tend to interact with each other. You avoid being near people like their all diseased!" Emiko playfully glared at him and poked his nose. Gaara now raised both brows at her strange behavior.

" You cannot talk," he caught her wrist and moved her arm back to her side. Emiko pouted at him but let him hold her wrist anyway. " You don't...interact with others either."

" My family was never big on the whole ' hug and say i love you' thing. We were just there for each other in different ways." She shuddered from the memories that flooded through her mind, but also from the small circles Gaara was absently drawing on her wrist with his thumb.

" You need to sleep." Gaara retracted his hand to lay it in front of himself. Emiko's eyes were already half way closed despite her efforts to keep them open.

" No...I...You'll be lonely." Gaara almost laughed at her very weak attempt to stay awake. Instead, he settled for a very small smile.

" I've spent worse nights alone." Emiko's bottom lip stuck out in tired pout.

" Don't be...lonely...tonight..Gaa...ra.." Her eyes finally fell closed as her breathing almost instantly became slow and smooth.

" She doesn't want me to leave." He whispered, daring to smile wider. Now that she was asleep, he wasn't to shy to smile. He tentatively brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. He traced his finger tips down her jaw, stopping at her chin. He very lightly ran his thumb over her lips. " You are beautiful, Emiko." His deep voice was a whisper. " and stronger than i could ever hope to be. That is why...I love you."