Okay...this is my first/second ever fanfic. I was writing a longer story and I intended for this to be a flashback...but it got too long. So whatever...I turned it into a one-shot.

Pairings: ShikaTema

Main Pairing: GaaraxHinata

Yes, this is a GaaHina.

(Don't shoot me!)

I recently got into this pairing and it's become my all-time fav.!

They're so cute together!

kawaii!

Anyways...if there's anything weird about this fanfic it's because I was crazy enough to write it in a day.

(2 hours to write, 1 to edit and 1 to type – I'm a slow typist!)

Another thing: I like the way Gaara and Hinata's personalities differ but end up being quite similar.

Inspiration came from link no miko's "Enigma in the Dark"

A fanfic I just adore

So please read, review, and enjoy!

Jan ne!

(I'm a crazy Gaara fangirl! – I just had to write about him!)

Plus, I wanted to explore how his personality changed after he fought Naruto, but before the timeskip. The whole fight with Kimmimaro was frickin awesome! Ahem

I thought it was sweet how Gaara saves Lee :) No Yaoi!!!!

(Just as friends...)

Okay enough of my Gaara-fangirlness...here goes...

Song I listened to while writing this: Change Your Mind By: All American Rejects

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this storyline:)

Lost & Found

"Kiba-kun!" She cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled louder. "Kiba-kun!"

"Shino-kun!"

They didn't hear her – and now she was all alone.

After a surprise attack on them by another group, Hinata had become separated from her teammates.

She huffed standing up again.

"Shino-kun! Akamaru!"

The deadly silence that greeted her was scarier than she could imagine. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She would get through this – she had to.

Hinata and her teammates were taking part in the Chuunin exams again this year along with all the other Genin teams. After Sasuke had left Konoha, Shikamaru had been assigned to go after him. The results were terrible – they didn't get Sasuke and nearly their whole team was obliterated. Kiba had been badly injured and so had Naruto – but they had both managed to survive. Neji, Choji, and Akamaru had been on the very brink of death, but with Tsunade's excellent medical care they were able to make a full recovery. The Genin teams of Konoha had regrouped – since Sasuke left, Naruto had gone off to train with Jiraiya-sama, his mentor. Shikamaru had already become a Chuunin, so Ino's team had to find a third person to join their team. Sakura had consented.

Even though Sakura and Ino fought most of the time – Choji was glad to have Sakura on the team. She was smart and very skilled, in fact she was training under Godaime Hokage at the moment.

And...without Sasuke around, Ino seemed to pay more attention to him...

They were in the second part of the Chuunin exams – the forest of death, and Hinata had managed to lose her teammates and find herself stranded in middle of the forest.

Not to mention the other thing – while another group had attacked Hinata's team, Kiba had given her the scroll to protect, while him, Akamaru, and Shino warded the enemies off and fought.

But she...had lost the scroll.

She couldn't help it.

Kunai clashed around her, and her voice was drowned out by Akamaru's loud barking, Kiba's low growling, and the swarm of Shino's bugs.

Which was precisely how she had landed herself here – alone, hungry, and without a scroll.

Hinata had tried to guard the scroll, but an enemy Genin had appeared in front of her, twisted her wrist (which was why it now throbbed and Hinata had a sinking feeling in her stomach that it was broken), and stolen the scroll.

Her teammates hadn't been paying attention to her – they had been too caught up in the fighting. There they had somehow gotten dragged further and further into the forest and she had lost all sight of them.

Her wrist hurt more than ever now and blood seeped through a bruise on her wrist.

She staggered and collapsed, then out of hunger (she hadn't eaten in the past day or so), she passed out against a tree.

His team was here (his brother and sister that is), and the strange thing was he actually wanted to be here, too.

"Kankuro, go get some food. I'm starving!" Temari groaned.

"Okay fine, someone's got to do it around here."

He grumbled before asking: "Hey Gaara, you wanna come?"

Gaara sat against a tree arms folded, eyes closed. He cracked open an eye.

"Not particularly."

"Fine then. I'll go by myself. I'll leave you two completely lazy ninja to stay here by yourself. See if I ever come back." Kankuro retorted.

Temari laughed and Gaara cracked a small smile.

"That wasn't supposed to be funny. I'm serious, you guys."

These days he was a lot closer to his brother and sister. Things had somehow been fixed between them, when during last year's Chuunin exams he had apologized and they – still hesitating – had accepted it.

"Being lazy isn't sp bad, I mean look at Shikamaru – he's lazy and he's already a good Chuunin." Temari commented sitting on a tree stump, hand on her knees, with her fan strapped to her back.

"You mean, your boyfriend. Huh?' Kankuro teased, his hand stuffed in his pockets.

"N-no! I just meant..."

Temari said defensively. She couldn't help the blush creeping over her cheeks.

"Sure, Temari." Kankuro said rolling his eyes.

Gaara smirked.

It had been roughly a year and a half since the past Chuunin exams.

Gaara was fourteen, Kankuro was sixteen, and Temari was seventeen. And rumor had it, that she was going out with the leaf Chuunin, Nara Shikamaru.

"Come on, everybody knows you guys are going out, so why don't you just admit it?" Kankuro teased.

"We are not going out. Plus what about the girl from our village that I saw you hitting on last week? Huh? You're not so innocent yourself!" Temari snapped back brazenly.

"I was just talking to her, lighten up."

"Shut up, Kankuro. You're such a liar."

Gaara stood up and rolled his eyes. His siblings were are you going at it – again.

"Huh? Gaara, where are you going?" Temari asked.

"Just for a walk." He said with a bored look on his face.

"Honestly, you two fight worse than a married couple." Gaara said.

"What?" Kankuro said offended.

Gaara shrugged.

Temari ignoring her brothers' exchange of death glares, said concerned:

"When do you think you'll be back?"

"Soon enough. "He said, turned around and left.

"I'm a little worried about him, Temari."

"Hn? Why?"

"Well it's just that he's already fourteen...and he hasn't shown any interest in girls, so far."

"So? Gaara's a little different. I wouldn't worry about it."

The two watched Gaara's back fade further and further into the distance.

"Hn. Those two...always arguing about something stupid." He said to himself, running a hand through his spiky red hair.

He walked a little further and passed a small clearing. He walked some more and stopped.

Huh? What's that noise?

It sounded like raspy breathing...or even worse someone struggling for breath. His eyes wandered through the forest, checking for the cause of the sound. Until...they fell on a girl, slumped against a tree. His eyes rested on the bright red blood leaking from a wound on her wrist, which she grasped with her other hand.

Not good.

He knelt down next to her.

He placed two of his fingers on the right side of her neck – to check if she was still breathing.

Gaara's fingers left the touch of her soft, smooth skin. He had felt a pulse. He knew he could bandage the wound, but he had better wake up first. He almost decided against it, until he saw the familiar Konoha forehead tied around her neck. All the other villages' Shinobi competing in the Chuunin exams weren't necessarily his allies, but he felt he had a special duty towards Konoha.

He shook her shoulder gently.

"Wake up." He said.

It seemed that she had passed out. She wasn't waking up. He decided to wrap her hand anyway.

A few minutes later, Hinata opened her eyes. She heard the sound of cloth ripping.

"Huh?" She asked blinking in the dim sunlight.

A figure knelt beside her, sleeve rolled up and was ripping cloth off his arm. She pulled back startled.

"W-w-who are you?' She stammered.

He pulled the cloth off his arm, and rolled his sleeve back down.

She had woken up – and he noticed that she gazed up at him through scared lavender eyes.

He caught his breath.

"I'm...well...it's not really important who I am...but I came here to help you. Did you now that you passed out?'

"N-no. Gomen., for helping m-me."

His ice blue eyes scrutinized her. She seemed to melt under his gaze.

"I'm Sabaku no Gaara." He said blandly reverting back to his blunt demeanor.

Wait. It was him.

But...it appeared that he had changed. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm...H-hyuuga Hi-Hinata." She said wincing at how her voice sounded.

He thought that he had vaguely remembered her. She had been the girl who had fought, her cousin, a year and a half ago in the preliminaries.

He made a mental note to remember her name.

Wait. Why does it matter to me so much?

"I better bandage your wound before you lose any more blood." Gaara said.

She winced and then held out her hand. He took it and began wrapping it, making sure to apply pressure so it would stop bleeding.

She blushed at his touch.

How could he be so...so gentle? She wondered and looked away.

When he was done, she looked down, poking her two index fingers together and said: "Arrigatou-gozaimasu,Sabaku-san." A faint blush spread over her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it." Ws his reply as he stood up. She also stood up shakily against the tree, grasping it for support.

"How did you get stuck here anyway?" He asked folding his arms, waiting for a plausible answer.

She briefly and quietly recounted the story of how she got separated from her teammates.

"And then...one of the enemy Shinobi broke your wrist?" He asked quirking a brow.

"Hai." She said quietly and nodded.

"But then...what about the scroll you were protecting?"

She looked down ashamed. "Th-they took it."

Her sad eyes looked downwards, and her cheeks tuned a brighter pink.

His eyes watched the fragile, ashamed girl. She had tried so hard...and now she had failed.

Gaara felt a sense of regret for her. Now, her team would probably lose. He knew how hard it was for everyone else to get a scroll.

Considering they weren't bad ass like he was.

He dug into his pocket and produced a heaven scroll – the same as she had lost.

"Here. Take this." He said, shoving it in her direction.

"B-but. I c-c-can't." She said blushing.

"It's okay. I can get another one. It's no big deal." He shrugged.

Wait. Why am I even doing this? He asked himself.

He couldn't help it. Something about this girl intrigued him.

"A-arrigatou-gozaimasu, Sabaku-san." She said gratefully beaming up at him.

He was momentarily knocked off his mental balance.

That smile...

But he shook it off. He had better quickly find another scroll and get back to his brother and sister, who were probably wondering why he was gone so long.

"Don't worry about it." He said, looking at her.

"There's as stream nearby, if you're hungry." He said jerking his thumb behind him.

"And...if you want your teammates to find you, just focus your chakra. They can sense you. I'm sure they're out looking for you, anyway."

She nodded her head and said shyly.

"I really appreciate your help."

"No problem." He grunted and then was off.

She watched him go. Hinata put her hand over her mouth and giggled... She couldn't help noticing how cute he was.

Sabaku no Gaara... maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

He returned with a new scroll – not like his brother and sister would ever know – they were all identical.

"Hey, Gaara! What took you so long?" Kankuro asked turning a fish on a stick over a small fire. Temari sat on a stump, also roasting a fish. She looked up at her little brother waiting for an answer.

"Nothing." He said and shrugged.

Somehow...he couldn't get the image of Hinata smiling out of his mind.

"Gaara, do you want some fish? We brought you some." Temari offered.

"You mean I brought him some fish. I didn't slave my butt for nothing." Kankuro glared in Temari's direction.

"Fine. Overemotional, aren't we?" Temari teased.

"Urusei, Temari." Kankuro retorted.

His siblings were at it – again.

Gaara wrinkled his nose. He hated fish. But he would have to deal with it, as long as they were still out camping in the forest.

He sat down leaning against a tree and folded his arms. He closed his eyes.

He hoped she would find her teammates. But, he made himself not worry about her – he knew she would.

Hyuuga Hinata...that was a name he that he wanted to remembered.