He says it in front of you. "My feelings haven't changed." He alludes to his emotions in front of Kankurou, but he admits it to somebody, at least.
Questions, questions, questions. "What's wrong?" x2 He's genuinely curious about why she's scared. He tries to figure out what makes her so afraid of sharp objects. His siblings and the other s4tudents just ridicule her and scare her with "you'll die if you think that way." and "you made Gaara mad. I don't like you anymore."
He leans in. He leans in when they argue, telling her to leave the scene and let him deal with Houichi. She reciprocates, getting in his face and insisting on staying.
He comes up to you. He insists on being near her as much as possible.
He acts slightly different when you're around. He can talk to Neji, Fuu, Naruto, etc... but he's speechless at the end in front of her. (Neji teases him about this)
His body is turned towards you. His feet are turned towards her as the sand shield is let down. He ignores her teammates in favor of speaking with her.
"My eyes are not on my chest." When he releases the sand sphere, he's caught 'checking her out'. I've done the measurements with a straight-edge. His eyes are glued to her chest.
His pupils dilate. He doesn't have any visible pupils, so we can't tell if his pupils dilate, but he does have a gentle edge of 'bedroom eyes' sometimes when he smiles at her, as if he would rather be alone with her in his room than out in the middle of the desert with her team.
He stares all the time. He can't take his eyes off of her for very long when she's around.
He smiles for you. He does smile for her. A lot.
He agrees with you. As Kazekage he has his own opinions and beliefs, but she does have an influence over his decisions.
He's nervous around you. After she says 'thank God you're safe' he seems to be concocting an answer, not wishing to make himself look like an idiot while stumbling over his words. Plus he's touched by the fact that she came back for him.
He has liked you from a long time ago. He gets flustered and nervous when he tries to explain something to her on the first day. He is 13 years old, she is either 14 or 15 years old. They stare at each other across the way, and it looks like he's fallen in love at first sight. Two years later during the chuunin exams, he is finally making romantic attentions to her.
He's alpha male. He is becoming extroverted because of her, and is very much 'alpha male'. He's jealous that Fuu got there first to rescue her.
He protects you. He's super protective.
He shows off. He's not boastful, but he's flashy with his jutsu. I mean, come on. A 'Great wall of China' made out of sand? A giant halberd-like spear? It's a little much, don't you think?
Just one second longer... He lingers after they run off into the desert, staring after them. This is partly because he's worried about what's to come, but it's also an excuse to check her out from the back.
He 'stalks' you. He uses his third eye to watch them, but we know that only his optic nerve is connected. Not his aural nerve. He can't hear anything, so why is he staring? Can he read lips? If so, is this an excuse to notice her lips? If not, he seems to enjoy staring at her when she doesn't know anything about it. Let me know what you guys think: is it creepy or cute?
He gives you compliments. When Neji says 'Matsuri did well, too' during the rescue mission, Gaara agrees with him, offering a smile and a nod. It's indirect, but a compliment nonetheless.
He touches you. He lifts her to her feet when he knew perfectly well that she could stand on her own, and then proceeds to hang on to her arm for a while. When she tries to help him stand after he's been resurrected, he seems uneasy/pleasantly uncomfortable with her attentions, and shrugs her off in embarrassment.
He suggests a quieter venue. He prefers talking to her alone, or with a few others, rather than in front of a crowd.
He helps you. He offers advice (albeit rather vaguely), and he always protects her.
He invests time, money, and effort in you. He tells his brother that he wants to be proctor in the second exam because his feelings haven't changed, and he wants to prevent any casualties. What he really means is that he likes her, and he wants to make sure she doesn't get caught in the middle and possibly die in the fight against the opposition.
He doesn't talk about other girls in front of you. He's mentioned Fuu in front of her, but that's only because he thinks she deserves credit for saving them and is grateful to her for protecting his most precious person.
He is more groomed than usual. He changes the style of his battle uniform while in their training years, and lets his hair grow a little so it looks bishounen. Could part of the reason be that he wants to look good for her?
He doesn't eat. He skips dinner, because he's so worried sick over her that he has lost his appetite.
He escapes his usual group of friends to come and 'hang' with you. He ditches his guards to come and save her, partly because he knows that no one else can get through the Eastern route to do so because of the quicksand pits, and partly because he's worried about her.
His friends notice that he acts differently with/without you. Both Neji and Fuu (to their own respective extent) notice that he's depressed in the cocoon. This is likely due to the fact that he's dying and he's on bad terms with her because of their argument. He thinks he's never going to see her again.
Go with your gut feeling. You can tell in the exam filler that they know about each-other's feelings. She remembers his shyness, and catches him checking her out, and he realizes that by coming back to save him, she's saying 'I love you too, Gaara'.
