Chapter 01: An unlikely attraction.

Rating: PG-13 (for now)

Note: The characters are now sixteen.

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Naruto… or else this wouldn't be fanfiction now would it?

A/N: The first three chapters have been reviewed, re-edited and reposted! New updates will follow soon! Thanks for all your patience everyone!

Unbeknown to her, someone watched her from a tree branch not too far away.

Leaning casually against the tree trunk, he surveyed the scene below him with something akin to interest. No, he couldn't really call it interest. In truth, there was really nothing remotely interesting about a girl doing her daily training. Yet… here he was, watching her, when he really should have been long gone. He was expected somewhere, he was sure of that. He could vaguely recall his sister pestering him this morning about a meeting that was to take place today. Though try as he might, he couldn't recall where it was supposed to take place. Oh yes, that was because he had been too busy trying to get away from her.

He didn't usually resort to running away but he had been in a particularly bad mood this morning. He had finally fallen asleep, after hours of trying, when his sister came waltzing into the room, very loudly might he add. This pissed him off for a number of reasons. One, he was cranky from a lack of sleep; two, she barged in without knocking; and three, he had finally, finally been able to fall asleep before he was so rudely woken up. But on top of it all, it was to bug him about some stupid, boring meeting. He hated meetings with a passion. He had better things to do then sit around and listen to a bunch of old people arguing with one another. Yet, attending meetings was all he ever did these days, aside from sifting through mountains of paperwork. You can probably imagine how happy he had been this morning. So as to avoid going insane and killing his sister, he… ran away, for a lack of a better term.

He had been wandering through the forest when he stumbled upon her. Literally. In fact, he had almost fallen on top of her, had he not caught himself in time. Yes, he'll admit it, he was careless. Though to his credit, the trees were still wet and slippery from the rain that had fallen last night. But… as a shinobi, that mistake was inexcusable.

When his feet were once again firmly planted on a tree branch, he quickly jumped away to put some distance between him and the girl below. To his… amazement, she seemed oblivious to his little… miscalculation.

This all happened a little over three hours ago. Yet, here he was, still watching her.

If it wasn't her training that enthralled him, and he was most certain that it wasn't, then it was… the girl herself that captured his attention. Yet the reason why escapes him as he surveyed her. Was it her looks? No… there was nothing remotely captivating about her appearance. She was rather plain looking, to be honest. Was it her skills? …definitely not. In fact, she was rather weak in his books. Then… why?

"Gaara." Came the sudden voice of the person he least wanted to hear right now. Still annoyed at her, and the fact that she managed to sneak up on him without him realizing, he chose ignore her and continue his pondering.

Realizing that she was being ignored, Temari tapped her foot impatiently.

"Gaara!" But he still refused to acknowledge her. Temari furrowed her brows and prepared to yell at her brother when she suddenly realized that he was intently watching the scene below. Following his gaze, she spotted the dark haired kunoichi in the clearing below them, who was currently in the process of practicing her shuriken throws.

"Hyuuga Hinata." Temari announced the identity of the girl.

Turning towards his sister, Gaara arched an invisible brow at her, "You know of her?"

"Had you attended the little welcome party yesterday, you would have known she was introduced as the heiress of the Hyuuga clan."

"She's the heiress?"

"Yes, rather weak, isn't she?" Temari nodded in concurrence.

"She also participated in our first Chuunin exam. She lost her match against her cousin, Neji." Temari added as an afterthought.

"Anyways, why are you interested in her?" She turned towards her brother, amusement evident on her face, and waited for his response.

"I'm not." Gaara replied, his voice thick with annoyance. Turning away from the scene in front of him, he departed, heading towards the direction of their temporary dwelling.

Temari watched as her brother disappeared from sight. She flickered her gaze back to the oblivious girl below, before she too took her leave.

"Interesting indeed."

He came back again and just as he had thought, she was there, dutifully training. He came back again… the thought of it astounded even him. He didn't know why he came back. Okay… maybe he did.

He had to find out why she interested him.

So here he was. Trying to figure out just what it is that attracts him to her so that he could move on with his life.

The girl was definitely persistent. She came to train everyday, rain or shine. She even came after her missions. Despite being tired to the bones, she still persisted with her training.

Bleeding was a frequent occurrence for her. Gaara has seen his share of blood, more than any sane person actually should. He's not ashamed to admit it; the sight of blood excites him. He loved seeing other people bleed. He used to think that this sadistic fascination was caused by the demon… but this notion proved faulty. For even now, after Shukaku has been extracted from him, the sight of blood pleased him.

Yet, for some reason, he… disliked seeing her bleed.

This realization, of course, bothered him to no end.

Thus he kept watching the girl to try and figure out why. Which, in turn, raised more questions than answers.

It's a vicious cycle. And one he can't seem to break out of.

Maybe it's her determination that attracted him to her.

He had been observing her for almost two weeks now. From his perspective, she hasn't improved at all. Yet this did not deter her in the slightest.

Hinata, despite possessing a bloodline limit, was currently too weak to make jounin. This much was obvious from watching her. In fact, the girl knew it herself. The expression on her face, as she returned home everyday, clearly indicated her anger and frustration. Yet she kept coming back… and so did he.

For Gaara, skills came easy to him. He trained to pass time, not because he needed to and years of protecting himself from assassins only served to hone his abilities. Gaara was just shinobi material.

Hinata was not.

Thus she has to work harder than others to try and close the gap between the hardworking and the gifted.

For a person like Gaara who has never had to work hard for anything, her motivation was… admirable.

Yet, he couldn't help but think that her determination is verging on the edge of stupidity.

Gaara almost, almost, felt sorry for her.

It had almost became a game. Or rather, a test if you will, to see just how close he could get to her before she finally noticed him. As it stands right now, she was losing… badly. He was currently perched on the closest branch to the clearing. Surely, she should have noticed by now.

Gaara couldn't help but wonder just how useless her byakugan really was. Even a normal ninja would have noticed his presence now!

This realization angered him, for reasons beyond his comprehension. Unfortunately for Gaara, his sudden flare of anger caused him to unconsciously channel too much chakra to his feet… which blew up the branch below his feet.

This was, of course, a mistake that should never have happened. He seemed to be making a lot of these little mistakes around her.

Quickly doing a back flap, Gaara landed gracefully on the ground and locked eyes with a very bewildered looking Hyuuga.

Hinata, being Hinata, quickly dropped her eyes as a light blush speedily spread across her cheeks.

"K-kazekage-sama." She feebly addressed him.

"Y-you're here f-for the jounin exam…" he watched her stutter. It was… amusing.

Had Gaara been any other person, he would've rolled his eyes at her for stating the obvious. After all, why else would he be here if not for the ranking exams? He was certainly not here because he wanted to be here (all the people that perked his interest had long made jounin).

But as the Kazekage, it was part of his duty to observe the exams.

Ignoring her comment, Gaara continued to stare at her. This of course, caused Hinata to become even more nervous. She kept her head bowed and fidgeted with her fingers nervously.

This action annoyed Gaara to no end.

"You're scared of me." Gaara's comment caused Hinata's blush to deepen.

Gaara waited for her answer but the girl merely stood there awkwardly… as if wishing he could magically go away…

And that is exactly what Gaara did. Usually, he would be fluttered, yes fluttered, if he succeeded in terrorizing others. For some reason, her fear did not sit well with him. So with a swirl of sand, he departed for Gaara was not one to dwell where he wasn't wanted.

And she clearly did not want him here.

He was not pleased… not pleased at all.