Hana woke up late the next morning. She slowly sat up and looked at Gaara with a loving smile. He was sleeping peacefully, his pitch black eye lids greatly contrasting with his pale skin.

"He does look like a panda," she thought to herself, giggling softly. Hana glanced up at the clock on the wall, realizing how late it was. "I should probably wake him up now." She didn't really want to, though. She just loved watching him sleep. She never got to see him sleep when they were younger because the Shukaku was in his body. Since it had been removed, he was able to sleep.

Hana gently put a hand on the side of his head and ran her fingers through his crimson red hair. Gaara let out a deep breath, still not opening his eyes. Hana bent over him and gave him a peck on the forehead. Gaara slowly opened his eyes and saw Hana peering down at him with a simple smile on her face. He blinked a few times, and then attempted to sit up. Hana grinned, pushing him back down with her hand. She leaned in and kissed him. Gaara slowly sat up, his lips not separating from Hana's. After a few more moments, he pulled away from her. They were surrounded by an uncomfortable silence.

"What happened?" Gaara finally asked, his voice a little scratchy. He looked at Hana with weary eyes. Hana knew that he was going to ask her that question.

"It's really hard to explain," she told him. "I was experiencing an event that happened in the laboratory through the eyes of one of the prisoners. I guess everything that happened to that person happened to my body in the physical world, at a lesser extent though."

"You were in a coma for three days," he told her, his voice grave. Hana sighed deeply.

"You promised…."

"I know I promised!" he interrupted, his voice firm and rougher than normal. Hana looked at him with concern in her eyes. The two of them were silent for the longest time. "I just don't want to be alone again," he finally told her, his voice returning to its normal softness. Hana took Gaara's hand in both of hers and looked deeply into his eyes.

"Gaara," she began, making sure he was looking into her eyes. "I love you more than anything in the world and would never leave you alone. Not even death can separate you from me." Gaara looked at her in disbelief. "I promise you that." Gaara nodded, making Hana smile. She kissed him on the cheek and scooted onto his lap, snuggling up against his chest.

"How is Kankurou?" she asked, knowing that he was probably taking everything hard as well.

"He blames himself for what happened to you," Gaara told her, his voice sounding grim. Hana nodded.

"I need to go talk to him." Gaara nodded and got up. Hana got up, stopping Gaara. "I need you to promise me one more thing," she told him with a simple smile.

"What now?" he asked.

"Promise me that we will get married when we get older." Gaara's eyes got wider, his face starting to turn a light red color. Hana smiled at him and laughed.

"Why do you want me to promise that?" he asked, emotionlessly.

"I don't see why not, unless there's another woman that I don't know about." Gaara immediately shook his head.

"I promise," he quickly said, his voice almost inaudible. Hana smiled and gave him another peck on the cheek.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sorry to make you wait. I had to do a lot of changes and other stuff. please review and let me know what i could do to make this better. JUST TO LET YOU ALL KNOW... THERE WILL BE SEVERAL TIME SKIPS FOR THE NEXT TWO CHAPTERS.