Danielle was trembling uncontrollably and tears were slowly trickling down her cheeks. Gaara felt a sharp pain in his heart. He felt as if he was going to be sick. How did he get into the house? Why wouldn't he just leave him alone?

"I thought I told you to get rid of this sorry excuse of a female," his father spat.

"I couldn't," he whispered. "P-Please...just leave her out of this. She didn't do anything. This is between the two of us." His father smirked maliciously and cackled dryly.

"I can't just let her go after going this far." Gaara bit his bottom lip, anger welling up inside of him. He winced as the man of his nightmares knocked Danielle out, letting her fall to the wooden floor with a loud thud. The gun was then pointed in his direction. He stood his ground as his father slowly approached him.

The man grinned wickedly as he stood directly in front of his son. He grabbed a fistful of the redhead's t-shirt, jerking the teen forward. Gaara grunted as the man's fist connected with his face. His father kept him from falling backwards, holding on to the teen's shirt firmly. Gaara got kneed in the stomach, causing his legs to give out beneath him. Still, his father kept him from falling to the floor. He received another blow to the face before being thrown against the wall.

Gaara weakly stared up at the man as he pointed the gun toward him again. The redhead was unfazed by this, however. He deserved whatever was coming for putting Danielle in harm's way. If he would've just called the police in the beginning, none of this would've been happening.

"I'll make sure you're really dead this time you little piece of shit," he growled, cocking the hammer back. Just when Gaara thought he was about to pull the trigger, he heard the sound of wood connecting with bone. His eyes widened with shock as his father fell forward, revealing an angry looking Naruto. The blonde was gripping onto a now broken wood broom handle. His deep blue eyes met with Gaara's, which calmed the redhead.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, tossing the broken piece of wood aside. He walked up to Gaara as he slowly nodded an affirmative. The blonde held out his hand, which his friend gratefully accepted. He was pulled to his feet and led away from the older man. Naruto went back over to the fallen man and pried the gun from his hands. He walked back over to Gaara and handed it to him.

"Stay here and check on Danielle. I'm going to call the cops. If he wakes up, use the gun to keep him here. We need to make sure the cops get him."

Gaara nodded and walked over to where Danielle was still lying unconscious. He set the gun down as he crouched beside her. The redhead carefully rolled the female onto her back and gently patted her cheek. She groaned as she slowly came to. Her eyes immediately filled with tears. He helped her sit up and tightly embraced her as she broke down crying. All the while, he periodically kept looking back to make sure his father wasn't up yet.

"It's all right," he whispered, kissing her forehead. "You're okay. He's not going to hurt you, I promise."

"W-What about you?" she asked, sniffling and raising her head to look at him. Gaara winced as she gently ran her fingertips over the places that his father had hit him. "You're going to get a nasty bruise," she told him solemnly. He sighed and nodded, looking back over at his father again.

Just then, Naruto came back into the room. "The police are on the way," he told them. "They want us out of the house." The two other teens nodded and got to their feet. They followed Naruto out of the house and stood on the sidewalk. Gaara still had his arms wrapped around Danielle and was hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry about getting you involved like this," he whispered. The black haired female nodded, nestling her head against his chest.

"It's okay, Gaara," she sighed. "Just learn to use your head better." The teen chuckled and nodded again.

Naruto stared at the two, a look of disgust on his face. "I'm really glad that the two of you are back together and all but can you please save that stuff until later?" Danielle smirked at the blonde and continued to rest her head against Gaara's chest.

"What's wrong Naruto?" she asked innocently. "Did you want to get in on this?"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock and he immediately shook his head. "No thanks. I'm perfectly fine."

The black haired female giggled and nodded. "I thought so."

After the cops arrived and hauled Gaara's father off once again, the three teens answered a few questions before heading inside. They sat on the couch, looking at one another in silence.

"For once, I'm glad that you showed up Naruto," Danielle finally told him with a grin. Gaara nodded in agreement.

Naruto blushed and chuckled nervously. "I'm just glad that he didn't notice me, otherwise it probably wouldn't have gone so well."

"Thanks Naruto." The blonde nodded and grinned.

"Of course! There's no way that I'd let that bastard hurt you guys." Gaara smirked at his response. He knew that his friend meant those words, and he was glad to have a friend that cared as much as he did.

XxoooooooooooooooooooooooxX

A day had passed since the incident with Gaara's father. The young redhead was now sitting on his bed, staring blankly at his wall. He had spoken to his siblings earlier and had done his best to convince them that he was fine. Though, they were still coming up that weekend to check up on him. They knew that they didn't have to, but it would make them feel better to see their younger brother in person.

Gaara sighed to himself and lay back on his bed. He had two dark bruises on his face from where his father had hit him. His lower torso was also sore from being kneed. He had taken some painkillers, so it wasn't as bad as before, but it was still painful to touch.

The teen raised his head as someone entered his room. A young female hopped onto the bed, landing right beside him and causing him to bounce. He grimaced in pain from the sudden jerk. Danielle quickly apologized, placing a gentle hand on his stomach.

"I forgot that you were hurt there too," she told him softly. Gaara nodded, letting her know that it was all right. He closed his eyes as she traced the bruise on his cheek with her index finger. "He got you pretty good there, didn't he?" The redhead smirked.

"That was nothing," he sighed. "Compared to what I usually got from him, that was a mere love-tap." Danielle frowned at him, feeling rather sorry for her friend. She didn't understand why anyone had to go through that type of suffering. It just wasn't fair.

Danielle began to run her fingers through Gaara's blood-red locks. The teen sighed in relief, causing the female to smirk in amusement.

"You better not fall asleep on me," she warned him, giggling slightly. He smirked and slowly opened his eyes.

"I can't help it if I somehow accidentally fall asleep," he told her plainly.

"Yeah, I can't help pouring a bucket of cold water on you if you do." Gaara chuckled softly, taking her wrist in his hand.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did. It's definitely something that you would do, although I would think that you would do it to Neji before you would do it to me."

"But Neji is away at college, so you got bumped up a space on my list."

"Oh how wonderful for me," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Danielle bent over him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "What did I do to get one of those?" he asked teasingly.

"We haven't kissed for close to a week, since you have been avoiding me up until yesterday." Gaara frowned and turned his head so that she couldn't see his face.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. His body grew tense when he felt Danielle's lips on his neck. He slowly turned his head and was greeted with another kiss on the lips. She placed a gentle hand on his cheek, being careful of the bruise, and deepened the kiss. Gaara kissed her back, remembering how much he had missed the feeling.

When Danielle finally pulled away, the redhead was left feeling slightly saddened. He slowly sat up and looked into Danielle's blue eyes.

"Why do you put up with me?" he asked in a hushed voice. The female traced his lips with her thumb, gazing into his sea-green eyes.

"Because I care about you too much to let little things get in the way," she explained.

"That wasn't little," he sighed.

"You're never going to do it again, right?" Gaara shook his head. "Then everything is good. As long as you learned your lesson, I don't mind." The redhead smirked and kissed the female on the lips.

"I don't deserve you," he whispered into her ear before kissing her again.

Yay! Everything is better!!

Thanks to the following reviewers:

AddictedtoBleach, Misfit band geek, Me and Gaara 4ever, Dimly, TimeCougar, Yume Ninja, ReaderFreak10, Lyris88, Cuzisme, and NeferNeferi.

Thanks a bunch!!

I might be awhile before I post the next chapter, since I haven't typed it up yet. Sadly, this story will also be coming to an end soon. I'm not sure how long, but the end is approaching.

PLEASE REVIEW!!