I could feel an enormous amount of chakra in my presence, so much so, that it woke me from my sleep only to find Gaara sitting at the foot of my bed.

"What the hell are you doing?" I groaned and sat up

"Why didn't you eat breakfast with us?"

Shit

"Eh... too sleepy," I lied

He folded his arms, I knew he didn't believe me.

"Right, of course," He replied sarcastically "Well in any case, thank you for breakfast... it was great,"

I felt my cheeks flush

"Your welcome..." I mumbled

He was silent for a few moments. I gazed out of the window at the swirls of golden sand blowing by, slapping against the house every few seconds. I could feel those fierce eyes looking dead at me. Why must he gawk at me?

"Its gonna be a boring day," He said "I think I'll go have a bath later..."

"Bath? You're gonna walk to a bath house in this storm? I know you have your lovely little sand shield and all, but even so—"

"We have a fully functioning bath house on the third floor,"

Theres a third floor? This place is bigger than I thought.

"Really?"

He nodded

"Hm... That may be the best idea you've had since we met. You smell," I joked

"Ha-ha-ha. Fuck you,"

I laughed openly this time, I had no need to hide it.

Gaara was beginning to see that they had similar senses of humor. The kind of crude, sarcastic, half-serious-half-joking type of humor that most people get offended by. He'd never really had anyone to share that side of himself with until now.

"I guess I'll take one too..." I said

His face rose where his eyebrows should've been

"NOT WITH YOU, YOU FUCKING PERVERT!"

"You're the one that said it, not me," He stated calmly, but his face was a rosey shade of pink.

"Whatever, I just meant we could go at the same time if there are seperate baths,"

"There are," He reassured me

"Well just come back up and get me when you're ready to take one,"

"I never said I was leaving, and maybe I'll just wait until tomorrow to take you up there... I'm feeling kind of lazy..."

I dramatically fell backwards into my pillows.

"You're insuffrable,"

"You're unbearable," He retorted

"Well, what do you want to do? Sit here and stare at me some more?"

He gave a slight laugh, and ran his fingers through his rust colored hair.

"Hardly, but—" Gaara noticed something from out of the corner of his eye. There was a photo sitting on Mei's dresser. He summoned some sand from his gourd that stretched over to the photo and enveloped it, bringing it to his hands.

"Gaara, you can't just grab people's shit without asking!" She huffed

But he barely heard her. The photo was of a woman who looked nearly identical to Mei, she was holding a little girl with plum colored eyes and hair that was as black as night.

"Is this little girl you?" Gaara asked

"Yeah..." I crawled next to him "And that is my mother. Can I have that back now?"

Without waiting for him to reply, I snatched it out of his hands and returned it to the dresser.

"Now you owe me," I said "You have to show me a picture of your mother now,"

"...Before the end of the day, I will. I promise,"

"Promise..?" I asked, puzzled

"A promise is—"

"I know what a promise is," I said "Its just that—"

"I'll keep mine."

How did he know what I was thinking?

Gaara knew how he used to view promises... and he didn't. He never believed a word anyone said, so he knew how much it meant for him to at least reassure her and give her something to believe in.

I shrugged

"Your eyeliner looks especially nice today, Gaara-kun," I joked.

He yanked a lock of my hair

"Ow! You bitch!"

He smirked as I felt his sand beginning to blanket itself around my arm, trying to weasel the manga I'd bought yesterday out of my hand. I'd fallen asleep with it next to me. I quickly used my chakra to slice the sand away.

"Show it to me, or at least tell me what its about," He pouted

"Gaara I never pegged you as the type to be into romantic manga,"

DAMMIT I JUST GAVE IT AWAY

The left side of his forehead crinkled, giving away a supposed eyebrow raise.

"Never pegged you as the type to be into romantic manga,"

I rolled my eyes

"Your voice sucks,"

"Excuse me?" He asked

"You're voice is just so monotone. Do you ever get excited or anxious about anything?"

I was lying. He had no idea that I thought his voice sounded like heaven on earth, and I intend to keep it that way.

"Of course I do," He replied flatly "I'm human aren't I?"

"Are you?"

He chuckled

"Whatever, Mei,"

He layed down beside me

"I meant to ask you last night... Did you have any siblings?"

She was so pretty it made his heart skip a beat. She moved her bangs out of her eyes, and twisted her face.

"Do we have to talk about this serious shit again?" She asked

"Why, yes. We do,"

I was already feeling too vulnerable, too naked. I had already let Gaara in too far as it was. I wasn't ready to talk about everything just yet.

"I have an older brother. Thats it. Case closed, not talking about it anymore."

I turned away from him

"I—"

"What did I just say? I don't want to talk about this anymore. If you want to stay in my room, you're gonna have to talk about something else,"

"Tch." He sneered

God, he's annoying. He's fucking lucky he's a looker.

"Come on." He directed as he stood up

"And just where are we going?"

"My room."

What..?

"I don't want to—"

He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me off of the bed

"What the hell?!"

"Part of your problem is that you're just difficult for no reason!" He exclaimed "Just be open to things..."

Why does he constantly try to help me? I've spent hours trying to think of reason. Its not like I asked for this. And besides, he had come so far and I was still stuck in my issues. Why would he waste his time?

I jerked my arm out of his grasp and looked away from him.

"Fine, lets go." I muttered