Distance

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Gaara is a monster, or so rumor says. He never comes out in daylight, or in public for that matter. When Sakura befriends his family will she be able to get close to him? Or will he push her away like he did so many others?

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Beep beep beep. The alarm went off loud in my ear. I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head, wishing for just a few more minutes of sleep. I stared into the darkness and sigh.

"I guess I better get up." I mumbled to myself, and threw the blanket off me.

I sat up and shook my hair loose. The long pink strands settled softly around my face. I sighed and walked over to the mirror. My green eyes were clear and wide, and my pale skin looked smooth. I tried out a smile and my pink lips slid gracefully into place.

I frowned for a second. It was my first day at my new school, Konoha High, and I was extremely nervous. My family had just moved here from Iwa so I didn't know anyone. Plus it was the start of second semester, so it might be hard to catch up with classes.

Back at my old school I didn't have many friends anyway, and I had lived there for the sixteen years of my life. Most people had called me a freak because of my pink hair and my strange ways. The thought of making new friends suddenly seemed impossible. "At least I'm used to being alone." I thought to myself. "This town won't be much different. I guess that's why it wasn't hard for me to move."

I pushed away from the mirror and went to the bathroom and began to strip. When I was fully naked I examined my body for a second. I was sort of tall, at least 5' 5", and had nice long legs, smooth white skin, C-cup breasts, a slim stomach. My body had some muscle since I always ran track and worked out. My fingers were long and slim. "Piano fingers" my mom always called them.

I stepped into the shower and turned the water to completely cold. The sudden shock jolted my body and woke me up the rest of the way. When I was done I turned the water off and wrapped a towel around me. I stepped out and rubbed my arms, enjoying the warmth of the friction.

I quickly walked to the closet and pulled out some black pants that fit me snugly and flared a little at the bottom, and an off the shoulder black shirt that I wore over a green tank top and black and white converse. I towel dried my hair then brushed it until it was completely smooth and soft, and put a green bow on the right side. After that I applied a little bit of eye liner, mascara, and some clear lip gloss.

I grabbed my messenger bag and slung it on and ran down the stairs. I decided to skip breakfast, as I usually did, and went out the front door quietly. My mom was already at work, something that I had always used to.

I began walking down the street at a comfortable pace and pulled out my iPod. I turned it to "Hold it In by Jukebox the Ghost" and put my headphones on. It took me about 30 minutes to walk to the school, and when I got there it was 7:15. I walked around the campus for about five minutes looking for the office, and when I found it the sign said "Open at 7:45".

"Oh great." I said out loud to myself. "What am I gonna do for twenty minutes?"

I looked around and spotted a bench. I walked over and sat down and dug through my bag until I found my book, "Duma Key by Stephen King". I began to read, and quickly got entranced by the story. I was unaware that people had begun to arrive to the school until Smack! Something hit me on the side of the head.

I let out a small yelp and looked up quickly. A group of people were looking at me with a "Oh my god, I'm sorry!" expression. I blinked and looked down to find a hacky-sack in my lap. I picked it up slowly and took out my headphones. "Um... I think this is yours." I said to the group, and stood up.

A girl ran over and took it and smiled at me shyly. "Thank you. Sorry about that."

I smiled. "It's no problem." When they walked away I sighed and looked at my phone for the time. It was 7:43, so I decided to head to the office.

When I got the office there was a pleasant looking lady who had short black hair and kind eyes. She smiled and said, "Hello there. What can I do for you?"

I smiled back. "Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno, I just transferred here from Iwa. I was coming to pick up my schedule?"

"Oh, that's right dear. I have it right here." She ruffled through a small stack of papers and pulled out a small green one. "This has all your classes on it, and the room numbers. If you need any help finding a class, there's a map on the back. And if you still can't find them I could assign someone to help you."

I started to say, "Oh well, I think I can find them, thank you." but I got cut off at "Oh,", when she said, "Well, actually, I think I will assign someone to show you them. I think Temari has the same classes as you. You can just have a seat until she gets here."

I nodded a little, and sat down. It's not like I really had a choice. I took these few minutes to read my schedule carefully.

English- Kakashi

Science- Orochimaru

Art- Tsunade

German- Zabuza

-Lunch-

P.E.- Gai

History- Kurani

Math- Ibiki

"Okay hun," the lady at the counter said, "Temari will be here really quick, so you can get your things together and get ready."

I guess she noticed the anxious look on my face because she said, "Oh, and don't worry. She might come off as tough, but she's a total sweet heart. I'm sure you two will be the best of friends."

I smiled a little at the lady, and secured my messenger bag. Just then, the door opened and a girl with sandy blond hair pulled into four pig-tails walked in. She was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. Her shoes were white and clean and she had dark blue eyes.

"Hey Shizune, who I am supposed to be escorting?" she said. She had a cocky and sure voice, but also likable at the same time. I could instantly tell that I was going to like her.

I stood up. "Um, that would be me." I smiled a little when she turned to me. "I'm Sakura, by the way."

"Hey Sakura, nice to meet you. I'm Temari." She grinned, and stuck her hand out. I shook it uncertainly and stepped back. "So you're new here?" I nodded my head. "And you came from Iwa?" I nodded again. "Must be a lot different here in Konoha. Not nearly as much rain. Why'd you move so far?"

"Oh, um, my mom got a better job here. We needed the money, so she took it." Her question took me by surprise. No one else had asked that, or rather, no one else probably cared.

She smiled. "Oh cool. Must have been hard, moving so far. I bet a lot of people are missing you, huh?" For some reason, this really choked me up. I had no one that was missing me right now. I bet no one even noticed. By now we were walking, so I didn't have to look at her. All I did was shrug, but I guess she got the point because she didn't say anything else about it.

Finally, we came up to the English building and went in. Kakashi's class was about half full of kids. There were a lot of empty seats scattered around, and the kids sat in small groups. I looked around the room for the teacher, but came up empty.

"Um, Temari, where's the teacher?" I looked at her, and she starting laughing hard. "What's so funny?" I asked with a slight frown.

She stopped laughing a wiped a tear from her eye. "Oh, it's just, Kakashi is never on time. Usually he's about a half hour late, on good days."

"Oh." "Well, that explains it, I guess. I wonder if the rest of the class is late too, or if this is it."

I followed Temari and sat down next to her. "So," she said, "Tell me about yourself."

"Um..." I said, and began to think. "Well, I'm usually quiet, not really into group things, I like to draw some, I play piano, I love night time... I dunno what else." I looked at her and smiled a little. "What about you?"

She grinned, "Well, as you can tell, I'm not that quiet, I'm pretty nosy, I have two brothers." she paused for a second, and a strange look flashed across her face. "I play the drums, I like being one on one with people usually, I don't have many friends but that's okay with me. I do my own thing."

I smiled to myself. "It sounds like me and her have some things in common. Maybe we can be friends too."

Just then, Kakashi walked in the door. "Hello class. Sorry I'm late. I got attacked by a pack of wild wolfs and..."

I stopped listening to him talk and instead looked him over. He had silver hair that stood straight up, and a mask covering one of his eyes and his mouth. The eye that I could see seemed kind and wise, and I could tell that he was smiling.

Suddenly the whole class shouted, "Liar!" at the same time and brought me back to reality.

"Oh come on class, can't you believe me once? It's true!" He said, and looked a little flustered. I couldn't help but laugh. The whole class looked at me and Kakashi smiled again. "Well, hello there. Please come down to the front for a moment, would you?"

I stood up and walked slowly to the front and faced the class.

"Well class, this is Sakura Haruno. She just transfered here from Iwa so I would like you all to make her feel welcome." He turned to me. "Okay Sakura, you can go sit down."

I smiled at him and turned to walk to my seat. As I passed a guy with a black hoodie that had cat ears on it he gave me a cat-call. I froze for a second and blushed furiously.

"Ugh, Kankuro stop being a perv!" I heard Temari shout from her seat. I started walking again, at a faster pace, and sat down in my seat.

"Who is that, Temari?" I asked her in an urgent whisper.

She just rolled her eyes and said, "That's Kankuro, my brother. He's a total perv. You might want to watch out for him. He doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself." She shot him a death glare. "He'll probably try to go after you since you're new, and gorgeous." This time she smiled at me, and I could feel a small blush creeping up my cheeks.

"I'm gorgeous? This is news to me. I always thought I was ugly... Maybe because I've never had a boyfriend or anything."

When the bell rang I goatherd my things and walked out the door with Temari. "Okay, so now we have Science. I warn you now: Orochimaru is a total creep."

I giggled and we kept walking. When we got to his classroom everyone was silent and in their seats. Temari went and sat down and I went to the front. The teacher was facing the board so he didn't see me.

"Um, excuse me sir." He turned and I almost fainted. His face looked like a snake, and he had long black hair, and his skin was white as paper. "I, um, I'm new, and I was just wondering where my seat was?"

He looked at me with a blank expression and pointed to a boy with blackish blue spiky hair. "You sit next to Sasuke Uchiha." His speech was slurred like he had a snake tongue.

I nodded quietly and sat down. I glanced over at the boy, Sasuke, and smiled slightly. He was staring at me, his face unreadable, but I could see a small glint of something malicious in his eye. I blinked and turned my eyes to the front of the class.

At the end of class I walked over to Temari and we walked down the hall together. I was extremely tired now, after sitting there, silent, for an hour.

We got to the art classroom and first off I saw a woman who had long blond hair and, excuse me, huge breasts. She looked very nice, but also strict. I smiled at her she smiled back.

"Hello, I'm Sakura Haruno. I just transferred here."

"Hello Sakura, I'm Tsunade. I hope you're enjoying our school so far. As for your seat, you can sit where ever. All I ask is that you use your time wisely and keep my room clean."

I smiled again and went to sit next to Temari. Her brother, Kankuro, was sitting across from her, and winked at me when I sat down. I couldn't help but blush a little. He was good looking.

Before either one of them could say anything I put my headphones in and began listening to Manchester Orchestra. I pulled out some plain white paper and began to sketch.

I couldn't hear the bell when it rang, so Temari tapped me on the shoulder. It startled me and I jumped and hit my knee on the table. I put my hand to my heart and breathed slowly.

When I took my headphones out Temari was giggling. "Oh man Sakura! Your face was priceless!" I laughed a little too and stood up.

"So what now?" I asked her. I was already feeling very relaxed around Temari.

"Now we go to German. It's a pretty easy class. I usually just sleep in there, or read or something. Zabuza is a cool guy." I smiled and nodded and we walked down the hall.

When we got to the class everyone was sitting down talking loudly to each other. I walked to the front of the class, over to the teacher. He was a huge guy, way over 6ft and had a lot of muscles. I looked up at him for a second, speechless.

"Ah," he said. "You must be Sakura." I nodded and he continued, "You can sit anywhere. Right now we're watching a movie, so there's no work today." He smiled at me and I went to sit next to Temari.

When I sat down she grinned. "You know, my brother thinks you're dead sexy. He wants to know if you want to go on a date." She started laughing loud. "I told him to get lost."

I laughed along with her and smiled down at my desk. "That's so crazy. I can't imagine being with anyone, especially not someone who even resembles cute. Wow, this town is pretty amazing already."

Just then someone came to the door with a pass. It was for Temari, calling her to the office. When she left I put my head down on my arms and closed my eyes.

I heard someone sit in the seat beside me. "Hey," and voice said, "It's Sakura, right?"

I sat up and looked at who was talking to me. It was that boy, Sasuke Uchiha. "Um, yeah, hi. You're Sasuke, right?" He nodded slightly and kept looking at me.

"So, you're friends with that Temari girl?" I nodded, though I wasn't sure if we were actually friends. "Well, I would stop talking to her if I were you. She's a freak. Her whole family is screwed up." I blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean? She's perfectly normal, and so is her brother." I said in a defensive tone.

He snorted and shook his head. "Shows what you know I guess. Listen, her brother Kankuro might be 'normal', and she might be too, but she has another brother you know. He's a total freak." He sneered as he said this. "His name is Gaara. He never comes out in public because he's a monster. I hear that he killed someone before. So if I were you I would just stop associating with the whole family. People might start hating you."

I looked at my desk and began thinking. "A monster? I don't believe this guy. I mean, Temari is a nice girl, and she's pretty cool. And Kankuro seems cool too, even though he is a perv. And I bet their other brother is perfectly normal too."

I shook my head. That didn't explain why Gaara never went out in public... "Maybe he is a monster... No, I will just ask Temari about it when she gets back."

I fell asleep after that, and woke when the bell rang. I looked around and Temari was standing in front of my desk grinning at me. "Come on sleepy head, it's lunch time."

I smiled and walked with her to the cafeteria. When we got our food we sat down out side at a table, and Kankuro joined us.

They talked and joked, and I listened, laughing occasionally, until the bell rang.

When we got to the gym I immediately saw the teacher. He had a bowl cut hair style, bushy eyebrows and a green jump suit. He was smiling and his teeth were white. They almost blinded me.

"Hello my youthful students! Today is a free day, so just do some running and stretching and be youthful!" He said in an excited and cheesy voice.

"Um... Temari, what's up with him?" I asked in a slightly scared voice.

"Oh, he's always like that. You get used to it after a while." She smiled. "Now then, lets go change and get to running."

We went to the dressing room and put on our P.E. uniforms. They consisted of short black shorts that reached barely mid thigh, and tight black tank tops. I looked in the mirror and frowned.

"Do we really have to wear these?" I asked in a miserable voice.

Temari sighed. "Yeah we do. But at least you have great legs, so you have nothing to be embarrassed about." I rolled my eyes and we headed out to the gym. I turned my iPod on again and started to run around the track. After a while I was breathing hard and running fast. It felt good for my body to stretch and work and I couldn't help but smile the whole time.

When class was over we went to the dressing rooms. I showered quickly and put my normal clothes back on.

"Hey Sakura, you're a fast runner." Temari said as I was fixing my hair.

"Oh, um, thanks. I've been running track since 6th year."

"That's pretty cool. We have a track team here, if you want to try out?" She smiled and I nodded.

"Yeah that would be pretty cool."

When we were dressed we left and went to History class. The teacher had me sit next to Temari, and before I knew it I was asleep. When the bell rang I woke suddenly and stood and stretched.

"Oh man, I didn't mean to fall asleep. What did I miss?"

Temari just smiled and started walking. "We just took notes is all, nothing important." I nodded and followed her to math class.

Math was my favorite subject so I payed attention in that class. I had already learned what we were doing in my other school, so I relaxed and looked around the room for a minute. When I turned my head to the left I saw Sasuke staring at me intently. I blushed and quickly looked back to the front of the class.

When the bell rang I walked over to Temari. "So," she said, "How was your first day?"

I smiled. "Not too bad I don't think." I frowned a little. "Except that Sasuke guy kept staring at me."

Temari grimaced. "Eew, Sasuke. He's such a creep, and he totally hates my family. He's such an ass."

I blinked for a second, remembering what he had said to me earlier. "Why does he hate your family?" I asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "I guess it's because of Gaara, my other brother. He has insomnia, and used to have schizophrenia, so he stays home all the time. He hates being around a lot of people at once, it freaks him out. He used to be home schooled, but he finished early."

I nodded and she continued. "A couple years back, we were at the store and he had an anxiety attack. Sasuke was there and kept agitating him, until finally Gaara couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Sasuke by the throat and started choking him. Kankuro was able to pull him off of Sasuke before anything permanent was done."

I nodded and thought for a second. "Well that explains a lot. Now I know why Sasuke said those things. I knew Gaara was not a monster."

"Hey Sakura," Temari started, "Do you want to come to my house or something? We could hang out and watch a movie. Maybe you could even meet Gaara..."

She trailed off and looked down for a second. Was she embarrassed to ask me over? "I guess that makes since, seeing as she has basically no friends. I know how that feels."

I smiled at her. "Sure Temari, that sounds great."

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Authors Note: I hope that wasn't too long and drawn out!!! I really hope you like it! I promise the next chapter will be better. This one was just to introduce the situation and such. Anyway, if you would like for me to continue then please please please review! I need feedback! Thank you so much for reading :)