"Sakura… Sakura dear, don't cry. I'm ok now, I promise. I'm alright."

I wake up and realize that I'm no longer dreaming, that these words are truly being said to me. I wonder; did I ever actually fall asleep?

It dawns on me then, that if there is someone speaking to me, then there is someone in my room, and they are very close to me. I turn over slowly, tired of people sneaking up on me while I'm in bed. This whole trust thing they've got going here, leaving the doors unlocked and all that, just isn't working for me.

When I see who it is though, I don't mind the being surprised at all.

"Luo!"

He grins slowly and nods. I stare at him for just a moment, to be sure that he really is there, before throwing my arms around him.

"I'm glad you're alive and well." He says.

I pull back for a minute to look him in the eyes. He looks good, as if he's just had a long rest, which is true. "I should be saying that to you." I say. "You're the one who almost died."

"From what Temari says, I'm not the only one." he says soberly. I let go of him then, and sit back on my feet, regarding him seriously.

"What did she tell you?"

He shrugs. "She said… Well, it doesn't really matter right?" he smiles again then, mischievously, and pulls me off the bed in a huge, rib crushing hug. "I'm just so happy to see you again!" He starts rubbing his chin against my cheek, which makes me laugh.

"You're awfully affectionate," I tease him, wriggling out of his grasp, "especially for someone who just woke up out of a coma."

He stretches and breathes deeply, theatrically. "I feel great!" He exclaims loudly. "And all thanks to you!"

I make shushing noises at him, and gesture at the door. "There are people outside my door! And it's the middle of the night! What will they think of me?"

He smiles suggestively at me. "What will they think of you indeed?"

"Oh shut up. Obviously your near death experience did nothing to improve your stupidity."

"On the contrary, it has improved my stupidity very much." He says, his grin changing from perverted to sarcastic. "I am quite possibly the stupidest man alive now."

I laugh. He stands and just watches me laughing, with a smile on his face. When I've finished laughing I smile back at him, and we just stand there, like that.

"So, how have you been?" he asks after a long silence.

"Bored out of my mind!" I burst out, letting out a long breath at the same time. Until this moment I hadn't realized I'd been holding it in. I've been holding it in for weeks now, until this very moment, seeing Luo alive and well. "Thank god for Temari and… and Seri." For some reason I don't say the name that first came to mind; Gaara.

"Ah. So you must have missed me terribly." he says.

I scoff. "Since when are you so cocky?"

"Since you told me I am your type."

I stop at his newly serious tone. When I look him in the eye he looks straight back at me. No more jokes then.

I can feel a smile spread itself across my face, and I'm not sure where it came from exactly. Is Luo really my type? Maybe I just said that in the heat of the moment, when I could think of nothing else to say.

"Are you sure you're not just doing this because you've been encouraged to?" I ask, trying for some sort of comedy, some way to distance myself from the situation a little. If I just had a moment to think clearly maybe…

But then he steps towards me and kisses me, and it doesn't really matter anymore what I was thinking. It was probably ridiculous anyway.

He doesn't kiss me for long; it's a very quick kiss actually, but it gets the point across. And it's strange, but I don't feel like exploding. I've always thought that to be kissed by the one I love would make me feel like exploding, or something equally romantic, you know?

"Definitely not." He says quietly. He kisses me again before I can say anything else, but I had nothing to add anyway. And I'm liking this more and more, as the kissing continues.

He soon pulls away again though. "Would you stop that?" he asks, "It's hard to kiss you when you're smiling like that."

I realize that I am smiling from cheek to cheek. "I can't help it." I say simply, and it's true. All I really feel like doing now is laughing. "Is that bad?"

"No." He says and hugs me again, pulling me off my feet. "No that's just perfect! You look beautiful when you smile."

I roll my eyes at him. "You're not really one of those mushy people on the inside are you?" I ask.

He grins. "I know I put out such a tough guy image, and everyone thinks I'm so macho and cool, but it's true, on the inside I'm just a big ole softie. And a hopeless romantic."

"Oh, I'm one of those too." I say quietly. And I realize how true it is. I've been thinking of myself as such a practical person, as such a realist, for so long, that I've never really realized that all this time I've been harboring so many romantic ideas and notions inside of myself. I'd always thought I was stronger than that.

"How perfect that we have that in common." he murmurs, and kisses me. This time I manage to keep down my smile and kiss him back.