A/N: Hehe... Miss me? XD Sorry the fourth chapter took sooooo long. I've just been really busy, and writers block doesn't really help either. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 4

A shock of blonde hair obscured her vision. Naruto was standing right in front of her and he was smiling. How she loved it when he smiled. Hinata longed to wrap her arms around him and hug him tight. An echoing voice shook her out of her thoughts. "I love you Hinata…"

Naruto's smile grew wider and he chuckled sheepishly as he hugged her. Hinata's heart could've exploded with happiness, but soon, Naruto faded away and the light blue ceiling of her room came into focus. Hinata let a few silent tears slide down her cheeks. It had been a dream, as usual. Why was it always a dream? Why couldn't it become a reality?

She was about to start openly crying, when she heard a soft scratching at the window. Her curiosity overcame her sadness, as she lifted herself from her bed and walked over to the window. Maybe it was a tree branch? No… there hadn't been any trees planted near her window… She nearly screamed. Staring back at her through the glass was Gaara.

Hinata took a step backwards to support herself on her desk. When her breathing was back to normal, she shuffled towards the window and opened it. Gaara leaped off the window ledge and landed lightly on the dark blue carpet of her room. He surveyed his surroundings and then his eyes came to a rest on Hinata.

"Y-you surprised me!" she said shakily.

Gaara looked at her quizzically. "You're a ninja. Little things like that shouldn't scare you."

Her eyes dropped. He was right. She felt a single tear slide down her cheek, but she wiped it away, hoping that Gaara hadn't seen it. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She wanted him to take her seriously, seeing as they were going to train together.

"I'm sorry." she said.

Gaara had seen the tear. Tears were strange and foreign to him; he had never cried. But, he did know that people cried when they were sad. He began to wonder why he had never cried. His childhood certainly hadn't been a fun one. Assassination attempts… stealing his mother's life… For a moment he felt a burning sensation near the bottom lids of his eyes, but then the feeling passed and his eyes felt normal again. Curious, he thought. "I'm sorry." His thoughts were interrupted instantly.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked.

"B-because… I, um, shouldn't have been s-scared…" Hinata forced out.

Gaara rolled his eyes slightly; any thoughts of tears were gone. He was about to reply when Hinata's bedroom door opened.

Hinata, whose back had been to the door, heard it open. She whirled around to see her father standing there. He looked the same as ever. She then remembered who was with her. What would her father say when he realized that there was someone else in the room? She closed her eyes and waited for an explosion. Gaara was a boy, and she wasn't sure that her father would approve of a boy in her room. But no explosions came.

"Hinata, why are your eyes closed? What's wrong?" asked her father.

She opened her eyes and glanced behind her. Gaara was gone. "N-nothing's wrong." she said, her voice shaking a little more than she would've liked.

"I see… Well, then, you'd best hurry and get to your training." With that, he turned around and shut her bedroom door behind her.

Hinata, who had been holding her breath, let it out. That had been too close. But, where did Gaara go? She thought. Her question was soon answered when she glanced out the window. There he was, standing on the lawn, looking up at the window. She waved weakly in his direction and indicated that she'd be down in a few minutes.

A few minutes later, she was out on the dark lawn, standing with Gaara. His eyes were closed. Hinata wasn't sure what he was thinking about. It could be anything; his facial features sure weren't giving anything away.

A sudden urge to wave her hand in front of his face took hold of her. Should I? What would happen if she did, she had no way of knowing. Would the sand come bursting out of the gourd?

Slowly, she raised her hand and shook it lightly in front of his face. Gaara's form disappeared in a burst of sand. Any feeling of calm Hinata had been feeling was gone. The training had obviously just begun and Gaara was no longer in her sights…

A/N: You like? The fifth chapter is in process. Hopefully it won't take too long.