Wooo!! Here's chapter 4! Hope you like it!!!

I think it's a tad on the boring side... But I don't know. You tell me.

I hope it's okay so far... . =]

I think there's a little OOC-ness. Haha. Oh well.

Thank you, Hanari-chan, for the fav!!

(I don't own anything, by the way!!)

Thanks to everyone who reads!!!! Please continue to read and review!!

Chapter 4: The Debate

A sharp, painful shiver brought her out of her sleep, yet she kept her eyes closed. 'My body… I… I can barely move. My muscles are so stiff…' She thought, groaning as she slowly began pushing herself up to a sitting position, stretching before opening her eyes. And then she froze, her heart thudding in her chest. "Wh-where am I..?" She wondered, looking around. She was inside the tent that she took, her blanket in her lap, her bag behind her. She looked down to see that she was bandaged up. "Eh?" She poked it with her finger. 'I couldn't have done this… It's too neat…' She thought sheepishly.

She looked up to the door of the tent, slowly pulling herself towards it, grunting with effort as she stood up outside. "Ooooow…" She moaned, stretching carefully. "What happened while I was sleeping?" She wondered aloud. She tensed. Someone had been here. They couldn't have been the enemy… She'd be dead by now, obviously. But who was it…? She sighed, looking around, nervously tugging her fingers through her long locks. It seemed to be close to the evening, the sun just above the mountains. She froze when she heard a sound on the other side of the trees, her breath caught in her throat. She leaned over and picked up a kunai from her pile, holding it out in defense.

A pair of opaque sapphire eyes appeared, locking onto hers and narrowing. She gulped, walking a few steps forward, struggling to hold herself steady. The figure emerged from the trees, taking a few steps towards her. She stumbled back, inhaling sharply as pain hit her shoulder. Her heart seemed to stop as he put down what he was carrying, raising his hands. She assumed the battle position, barely managing to stay standing upright. She watched as he put his hands up flat, palms facing her. She narrowed her eyes. Was this a technique or something else? She startled slightly as he started waving them slightly side to side.

"Ino, calm yourself." Her head jerked up. 'Wait, he knows my name..?' He took a step closer to her, and she took a half step back.

"I'm not here to do you harm… Relax. Do you remember me?" Ino's dull eyes slowly examined the tall man before her. She couldn't see him very well, but she could tell that he was definitely not one of the demons, because his clothes were still intact. He was almost well-dressed in a dark reddish-auburn trench coat. She followed the buttons with her eyes, until she reached his face. Dark rings encircled his beautiful eyes; short, brilliant blood-red hair falling over them. Her own eyes widened slightly when she saw the familiar mark upon his forehead.

"O-oh… Gaara? How did you..? Are you the one who..? How did you know about..? I… Don't quite understand…" She slowly relaxed her stance, her legs quivering dangerously. Suddenly they gave out, and she saw the ground whirling towards her face, but she didn't hit it. She stared at it. "Wha..?" She murmured, realizing she was pressed against someone's chest.

"You really should take it easy. You aren't exactly in the best shape of your life. You're still healing. You just woke up from 3 days of being completely out." Gaara's chest. With his arms around her waist, supporting her weight, making her blush. She grunted in pain as he lifted her up into his arms, bridal style. He looked down apologetically. She forced a smile. "Naw, it's okay. Not your fault in the least." She told him as he slowly carried her to the mouth of the tent, setting her just outside it.

"Wait…" She looked over at him putting wood in a circle together. "I was out for 3 whole days?" She asked in disbelief, watching him nod. "Yeah. One time I thought you were dead." She narrowed her eyes at his sad expression. "I couldn't hear your heart for a while." She watched him as he started a fire from the wood that he had gathered, lighting it with his Chakra.

"You were listening to my heart?" He nodded, doing a few hand signs. "Yes. I checked three times each day. I didn't know when you would finally wake. It was almost some sort of coma." He muttered, watching the flames flicker from his hands, licking at the wood. "Wow…" Ino muttered, holding her pounding head. Once it blazed successfully, he stood up and grabbed the bag that he had left, taking it into the tent. She heard some rummaging around for a minute before he came out with the tools to make rice.

The rain picked up to a heavy drizzle, purifying the air around them. Ino inhaled slowly, a small smile on her face. "Do you like the smell?" She nodded slowly. "Yes. It has always been such a calming scent. So natural and pure." She said softly, her hands around her knees. Then they were silent for a while as Gaara prepared the rice. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Ino shivered slightly, scooting closer to the fire. Gaara looked over at her.

"Are you cold?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." She replied, a little too quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well you look cold."

"But I'm not."

"Then why did you get closer to the fire?"

"Because I wanted to."

"So you're sure you're not cold?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

Silence.

"You're cold, aren't you?"

Silence.

"Yeah…"

Gaara chuckled lightly, standing up and unbuttoning his trench coat, laying it over her shoulders. Ino blushed. "A-are you sure? Won't you be cold? I could go and get the blanket if it's a problem…" Gaara shook his head, sitting back down. "It's okay, Ino. I'm fine." She stared at him for a long moment, then sighed, pulling it closer around her. "Thank you." She said softly, resting her chin on her knees. The rain had picked up a little more as they ate in silence, both staring at the slowly dying fire.

"Ino."

She grunted a soft, "Hm?", not moving.

"I think you should get some sleep. We'll be heading out tomorrow, now that you're up." She nodded slowly, pulling herself to her knees and crawling into the tent, not bothering to even get up for such a short walk. Once inside, she waited just inside the door, peeking out. "But, what about you?" She asked, frowning. He just shook his head, leaning over his shoulder. "I'll be fine here. Now go get some rest."

"But it's raining."

"I'll be fine. A little rain never hurt anyone."

"But it's cold."

"It's nothing."

"It's something."

"Ino, please." He turned fully to face her sitting just outside the tent door. She frowned, reaching out and hooking her fingers around the collar of his shirt. She pulled, and he didn't resist, knowing that she was still sore. She tugged harder, which only turned out to be a light tug, but Gaara had followed anyways, his head now in the tent. "Ino… It's okay. You don't have to worry about me. You should worry about yourself." She only kept on pulling, shaking her head. "It's not fair to you." She said, finally pulling him fully inside the tent.

"Ino—" She placed two fingers over his mouth. "Just sleep in here, please?" She pleaded softly. Gaara sighed. "Fine." She smiled, letting go and crawling over to her bed while Gaara shut the door. She began lying down, gasping as pain surged through her spine, leaving her breathless. She looked up to see Gaara suddenly at her side, helping her to slowly lie down.

"Thank you." She said softly as he pulled the blanket over her, then laying his coat over her. "It's nothing." He muttered, sitting next to her, leaning against the wall of the tent, glad he had put it up close to the tree. Ino frowned, slowly reaching up, her hand returning to his collar.

"Not again…" He groaned, sighing.

"Oh yes again. You're not sleeping like that."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not. You'll get stiff." She told him, pulling at his collar, grimacing when he didn't respond. He immediately relaxed upon hearing her pain and leaned down. "What?" He asked, annoyed, her face in his.

"Lay your ass down right now." She ordered, frowning.

He blinked. Did she just give an order to the Kazekage?

"Did you hear me? It's not good for you to sleep sitting. It's bad for your back."

He closed his eyes, sighing as she pulled again. Instead of getting angry for her order, he followed the direction of her pulling, having to shift a bit until he was lying down next to her. "Now go to sleep, Gaara. Please?" He heard her ask softly, her hand still clutched to his collar. He sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

"Thank you." She said softly, letting go of his collar and closing her eyes, soon asleep. Gaara followed after quickly.