I'm really really sorry its so late. I was up in the mountains with no internet for way longer than I thought I'd be. So please enjoy!

Gaara wasn't the only one who was thinking about Sophia. Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, and Ino were making their own plans.

"If she can't come over to watch the movies, we'll bring the movies to her!" declared Ino, with enthusiasm to rival Tenten's during a competition of who has the most epic knives. Deciding that they'd make it an all day movie marathon, the girls woke up very early that Saturday morning to go see her in the hospital. They went to her room and were shocked to see her and Gaara asleep, together. They immediately shut the door.

Ino started babbling incoherently, reaching such a high pitch that Sakura was forced to yell at her. Hinata blushed a bright red upon seeing them together, and no doubt, imagined what it would be like to be asleep with Naruto in a position like that. Tenten was just kind of stunned. She stood there without moving, just staring off into confusion. Sakura decided to giggle between that and what everyone else had done, though she felt much like babbling, blushing, and being stunned all at the same time.

"Come on," she said, while dragging them away from the room. "We should let them get their sleep. We'll come back later for the details." She smiled a mischievous smile and skipped away, leaving the other three in her wake.

Later that day, Gaara woke up to find Sophia still asleep in his arms. He looked at her for a while, the way the morning sunlight reflected off her hair, the slight pink in her cheeks, the peace set on her face. He felt so contented. He knew he had to go eventually, but he didn't want to wake her up, and more than that, he didn't want to leave her. Unfortunately, his leg went numb, so he shifted his weight slightly, hoping not to disturb her, but that did it.

She stirred and stretched her arms. Turning her head, she saw him there. She beamed. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Thanks. For everything."

"Not a problem," he replied, meaning every syllable.

"If you have to get going, go ahead. I think I'm going to go back to sleep anyway."

"You sure the hospital isn't too scary for you?"

"Not anymore." She buried her face in the pillows and drifted off again. Gaara smirked and went on his way back home.

It was noon, when she next woke. The sun was streaming through the windows. That, combined with the sterile white of the room, made her shut her eyes again. She sighed. "What am I going to do? It's not like there's anything here. Merr." She looked around for a bit, and then she spotted it. A TV. It seemed a bit weird that she hadn't noticed it earlier, but she had been pretty distracted. Her heart leapt at the chance to escape the crushing boredom that was the hospital room. She searched frantically for a remote. It was on a tabletop all the way across the room. She slapped herself on the forehead. "Really? I can't get up because I'll feel faint and collapse, so you put the TV remote on the other side of the room? Ugh." She pouted and decided that she would try to get back to sleep. This proved unfruitful. She was about to get up and risk potentially falling over, when in burst four, extremely cheerful girls.

They were carrying cookie dough, ice-cream, popcorn, and about 50 movies. "Hello salvation! " cried Sophia.

"I see you've been bored to death without us," said Ino.

"You have no idea I wish you guys could have gotten here earlier."

"Well… We had figured that you'd want us sooner which is why we came around 8. You were asleep… And not alone…" smirked Ino.

"Wait. You don't mean Gaara do you?" They nodded. "I can totally explain He had visited me last night, and we fell asleep. Nothing happened!"

"If you say so."

"Anyway we're here for our movie marathon! Which one first?" said Sakura.

"Popcorn first." And Sophia took a huge handful. "Why don't you guys get up on the bed and we'll put in I don't know, Princess Bride?"

"Ooh good choice." Said Hinata, grabbing a handful for herself.

"You okay with that Tenten?" asked Sakura. She nodded. "Alright Ino. Put it in."

"Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I said so."

She pouted, but eventually got up and put in the movie.

"You know what? I'm surprised Tenten would consent to watching a movie with the word princess in it," said Sophia.

"What's not to like? Sword fights, giants, death, fire, screaming!"

"Uhhhh… I suppose you're right… err….."

Despite Tenten's fairly disturbing description of her favorite aspects of the movie, they found themselves quoting the lines and doing the accents throughout the entire movie. It was fairly entertaining to hear Hinata's rendition of the "mawwaige" speech. It turned out Sakura had been practicing Inigo's accent for several years and had perfected it to a T. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die," she said every time, just before Inigo said it himself. It was really nice to forget that they were in a hospital room, that Sophia was hurt, that they had work to do, and troubling topics to discuss, and just watch a movie, together.

When the credits finally started to roll, they seemed to awake from a completely different world, where everything ended with a happy ending. It was quite a shock to see the caustic white walls of the room instead of a rainbow of pastels and soft lighting. Tenten decided to break the silence. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sophia.

"Why are you in here?"

"I slipped and fell. I hit my head and went unconscious. I'm still here because I lost a lot of blood, but I'm getting out tomorrow, apparently."

"Yeah, but why'd you fall?"

"It's slippery in a locker room leading to a pool, and I was running-."

"And you were running, why?" cut in Hinata.

"Karin… goaded me. She.. um…"

"We saw her throw your shorts into the pool," said Ino.

"Yeah, she –uh- took them."

"Why did you run, though?"

"Fuck it. There's something you should probably know." They all looked concerned which made Sophia feel even more awkward. "I wore those shorts to cover up some scars."

"What happened?" asked Sakura.

"Did you fall off of a bike, or through some glass or something?" asked Tenten.

"No. Um. These scars aren't accidental." They looked confused. "Um. I suffer from severe depression. I'm taking medication for it, which makes me better, most of the time, but I still self-harm. I don't do it for attention, which is why I try to wear shorts to cover them, but it didn't work as well as I had hoped. I kind of didn't want to be known as "that emo girl" my first week of school. Which, side note, I'm not. Emo refers to a type of music that I don't listen to and a fashion to which I don't subscribe. I listen to indie music and wear black leggings. I'm more of a hipster than emo, but it doesn't matter. If you guys change your minds about me, if you think I'm crazy now, or that you don't want to be friends with me, go ahead. I won't be surprised." She sighed and closed her eyes as though she had given up on trying. If they wanted to forsake her, she wouldn't stop them. She was too tired to give a damn if people hated her anymore.

They were shocked. She seemed normal, happy, fine. They wouldn't have thought for a single second she had demons that consumed her thoughts when she tried to sleep and scars to prove it. They still didn't waver when Ino said, "There is no way we're leaving you because of that."

Tenten asked, incredulous, "How could you even think that?"

Hinata replied, in a soft whisper, "Those with depression and anxiety are often afraid that they aren't good enough for other people." She paused. Sophia pulled her into a tight hug.

She whispered into Hinata's ear, too soft for anyone else to hear, "You are good enough. You know that, right? Even for that blonde twit." Hinata smiled and nodded.

"We're just glad we got to know you better," said Sakura.

"And glad because now we can give Karin what's coming to her without feeling the least bit guilty," said Tenten with a malicious grin.

"Thanks guys, but it's not that big of a deal. I'm not sure we should make that much of a fuss," Sophia said, worried that Tenten was going to break into Karin's room and slit her throat, perhaps perform a Satanic ritual while she's at it.

"Nothing like that," said Tenten, as though reading her mind. "Just a bit of fun, you know. Rough her up a bit." Sophia was still extremely hesitant, but agreed just to get her off the subject.

"So, what did I miss during our last two classes?"

"Nothing interesting happened in history," said Ino. "We just have to read the next chapter. Asuma assigned us a group project for Monday. Gross."

"I thought it was pretty interesting," said Hinata.

"What is it?"

Sakura answered this time. "We have to do some sort of performance in English in front of the class. A skit, a song, just something that takes up less than five minutes and that we can explain the cultural significance of for about another five minutes."

"That sounds interesting enough. Can we work together on it?"

"Sure. That works for us, since you're the one fluent in English and with all the cultural know-how," said Ino.

Sophia laughed. "I wouldn't put it like that, but thanks."

"Any ideas?" asked Tenten.

"As a matter of fact, I think I do."

I think the next few chapters will be deliciously enjoyably silly and sweet, so be prepared for some adorable. And of course, vengeance. Once again sorry, the next update will be very soon to make up for the tardiness of this one.

Thanks to: iluvninjas, SummerSmilingSkies, Ninjadog1305, and BrookieHyuga. I always love reviews, it makes me feel like I'm not just pissing in the wind, so please review!

~MorwenKazul