I think that if someone was waiting for something really adorable, this is it! Enjoy!

Gaara made his way up to Sophia's room. The nurse at the reception desk tripped all over herself when she saw him come in, so he didn't really have any trouble finding out which room it was. He walked in she was still asleep from some drugs the doctors put her on. He decided to wait there until she woke up. He sat down and pulled out his homework. He managed to finish all of it without any trouble. She still hadn't woken up, so he pulled out a deck of cards and played solitaire, while giving her the occasional glance.

During his third game she began to stir. Her eyes opened with a pained expression on her face. Her hand immediately flew up to the back of her head. She looked around and saw Gaara next to her bed. "Gaara? Where am I? The last thing I remember was getting out of the locker rooms to get to the pool," she said, not mentioning Karin taking her trunks.

"You slipped and fell and hit your head. You went unconscious and lost a lot of blood. You're at a hospital right now."

"A hospital? Damn it! I need to get out of here." She tried to get up, but collapsed instantly; her head was so light. "Fuck my life!"

Gaara got up. "Just lay back down, or you'll be here even longer." She frowned but obeyed. "What's your deal with hospitals?"

"You too?" He nodded. "Bad memories."

"Which were?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

He looked away, not sure if he should bring it up, but it had been weighing on his mind. "I know about the cutting."

"Shit. I knew I should have put them somewhere else. Well, I feel like if anyone would understand, it'd be you. But hey, will you tell me the truth about your "tattoo," if I tell you my story?" He nodded. "Well, the last time I was in a hospital, they were pumping my stomach. I had a headache and let's just say I took one or two or maybe fifty more advil than I was supposed to. It's not a fun experience, calling 911 and explaining that you just tried to commit suicide. Your turn," she said, completely emotionless to keep from crying.

He took a deep breath before starting. "My mother died while giving birth to me. My father always hated me for it. But I had an uncle who took care of me, so my father wouldn't have to see me. Once, my father stopped by and told me to leave the room, so he could speak to my uncle. I left, but decided to listen because I almost never got to see him, and hearing him speak was close enough. They talked about some monetary stuff and then he asked my uncle how he could like me. My uncle said that he hated me, but the money my father gave him was enough for him to deal with me. As soon as I heard that, I went to my bathroom and carved it there. So that every time I saw myself in the mirror, it would remind me that nobody loves me, nobody cares." Gaara, like Sophia, had kept his voice emotionless and distant, but he still didn't look her in the eye.

Sophia was used to her story, recounting it countless times in her head when she thought about how much trouble she made, and how she shouldn't chicken out the next time, but Gaara's story was brand new. She didn't have enough time to put up the emotional shields. When he finished, she started crying and shaking her head.

"No, you weren't supposed to cry."

She stopped crying just long enough to croak out, "How could I not cry? And how could I not care?" Her eyes watered up again, but she squeezed them shut to stop the tears flowing down her face. "I hate this, you know?"

"Hate what?"

"Feeling this way. And I know you do too. Not feeling secure in yourself, and then having all of your paranoid feelings confirmed. When you feel like you suck in every way imaginable, and the only way you can keep moving on with your day is if you listen to that tiny voice that gets quieter all the time. The one that says, 'Those thoughts aren't true. You are worthwhile. You don't suck at this. You're not a burden.' And then just when you're about to have an anxiety attack because that voice has been tied up and gagged by the other voices—you know the ones, the ones that say all of those things in the first place—well then someone comes along and tells you that you weren't being paranoid. That you really do suck, and whether it confirms one of the voices or all of them, you wonder, 'If one of them was right, then what about the rest of them?'" Her voice broke. "What about the rest of them?" She squeezed her eyes shut again, stopping the tears from falling.

"I know. I feel the same way, all the time. Every time someone says, I'm emotionless or scary. Every time someone says I'm bad at just one thing. I feel like I'm bad at everything. I know. But screw them. And screw those thoughts." He was so passionate, but then he wavered, and his tone fell. "Who am I kidding? If it was so easy, no one would be depressed. We wouldn't need Prozac."

"You know. You're not emotionless. I know you aren't. No one who hurts that bad, feels nothing. Keeping all the pain, all of it inside, with a poker face to cover it, that's just normal for you and me. Speaking of which, does anyone else know about the cutting?"

"You tell me. Did you tell anyone?"

She raised her eyebrows. "And I was supposed to work that into the conversation, how?"

"Good point. No one knows I'm on anti-depressant medication either."

She looked away and thought for a bit, then asked, "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I thought we were hanging out today."

"Oh yeah…" Her expression brightened "Well, besides shrugging, what are we going to do?" He showed her the deck of cards and raised an eyebrow, asking if she'd like to play. "Oooh. Yes. But what will we play with just two people?"

"Poker?"

"But we don't have any chips."

"I have a pencil and paper."

She considered it for a minute, but she couldn't think of anything else to play so she consented. Gaara knelt down on the floor and dealt the cards. "What are you doing on the ground?" she asked. She scooted over, so she was on the right side of the bed. "Come on. Get over here." He rolled his eyes, but sat down next to her anyway. It turned out the two of them were fairly evenly matched. After an hour of playing, they had the exact same amount of money they had started with.

Around eight Gaara said, "They'll probably kick me out soon, so I think I'm going to head out. Okay?"

"No."

"Sorry?"

"Can you please stay?"

"I don't think they'll let me."

"Hide under the bed, then!" She looked down at her hands. "Please…? I don't think I can fall asleep tonight, not here." He nodded and slid his stuff under her bed. When they heard a knock on the door, he too went under her bed. A doctor came to check in on her vitals.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yep. Just a little light headed."

"You should get some sleep. See you in the morning!" She left. Gaara crawled out from under the bed, brushing the dust off his shirt and hair.

"Well that was simple enough," said Sophia, brightly.

"Maybe for you," said Gaara, eyeing his clothes to make sure there wasn't any more dirt. Then he rejoined her on the bed.

"Can I show you a game?" Sophia asked.

"Sure."

"So it's a lot like Uno, you want to get rid of your hand as fast as…" She continued to explain the game that her mother had taught her.

"How are you so good at this game?" Gaara asked. "It seems simple enough."

"Practice. Years and years of practice. I can kick my mom's butt from here to the states."

"Now I know why you wanted to show me this game so bad."

"Yep! It's not that hard, you just need to minimize your losses when you know you're going to lose. I'm winning overall, but I've lost about as many hands as you have. You keep ending up with cards that are worth a lot. Get rid of the ones that are worth more, first."

"Okay." They played several more hands, and then it was Gaara who was kicking her ass. "Mm. You were right. It's not that hard."

"Merrr. Fine. Why don't we do something else, then?"

Gaara put away his cards and tossed them under the bed with the rest of his stuff. "What do you want to do?"

"Can you tell me a story, any story?"

"Sure. There was once a very lonely boy who had no one in his life. He spent his time alone. He never even tried to find anybody to share time with him. He was so afraid of rejection." Sophia put her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. "He lived this way for many years. Until one day, when a stupid little blonde boy came up to him and asked him why he was so sad. The boy was taken aback. No one ever talked to him. He took a breath and then told the boy, 'I don't have any friends." The blonde boy smiled and laughed. 'I thought so too, but it turns out, they were right here. I just had to look for them." The lonely boy suddenly saw them, as if they had just appeared. Behind the blonde boy were three more, extending their hands, extending their friendship. From then on, the lonely little boy wasn't so lonely anymore."

"Oh, Gaara. That was beautiful. Can we make each other a promise?" Gaara looked at her, confused. "Will you promise me that if something happens, anything at all, that we'll find each other? Will you promise me that if I'm awake at three in the morning that I can call you, and you'll pick up? Will you promise me that if your day sucks, you'll come over and hang out with me? Will you promise that-."

He put a hand over her mouth. "Yes." He could feel her smile on his palm and pulled it away.

"Thanks." She burrowed deeper into his arms to hide the blush erupting all over her face. She pressed her ear down to chest and fell asleep to the steady beating of his heart and the warmth of his embrace.

He fell asleep soon after she did, and despite his awkward position, he slept better than he had in months.

So a couple of things: One, I'm going up to the mountains tomorrow and will not have internet, so I can't post anything for several days. Therefore, this is probably going to be my last post for a while, unless I can finish another chapter before we leave tomorrow. Two, I have some interesting vengeance planned for Karin and them, so don't worry. Three, I'm sorry to disappoint some people, but Sophia and Gaara will be the last to enter a relationship, so the next few chapters will contain a LOT of the other couples and their adorableness.

Once again, comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms, etc. are ALWAYS appreciated so please review.

Thanks to: Naruto lover, iluvninjas, and QueenGaara for their reviews. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

~MorwenKazul