Disclaimer: This will go for all of the chapters! I do not own Naruto what's so ever!

Chapter 1

The pink-haired woman walked through the market with her nine-year-old daughter in hand. Although the woman was having a little bit of trouble keeping her child from wandering, off. Her daughter was a very curious child and believed that everyone was her friend. So therefore, the woman had to keep a special eye on her daughter. As they continued there walk through the market street they met up with her daughter's little friend named Ino. "Oh mom can I please go play with Ino while you shop?" When Sakura saw her mother's face she added in "Pretty, pretty, pretty please, with sugar and a cherry on top!" Once her mother smiled she knew that she had won she jumped up with glee and ran over to catch up with Ino.

"Good Morning Saikuya-san." A young man had said to Saikuya as she was inspecting vegetables she merely nodded her head towards the man. She was not even sure if she knew the man. Once she had deemed a few vegetables worthy of her purchasing, she turned to go find Sakura. She bumped into a tall man who had a cloth covering half of his face. Saikuya had barely managed to save her freshly bought groceries. The man had dropped a scroll on the floor so being the thoughtful person that Saikuya was she went to pick it up for the man. When she bent down to grab the scroll, she noticed that the man had a little boy about the age of her daughter behind him. He was a strange looking boy that much was for sure. He had red hair with light aqua green eyes. He had heavy black bags around his eyes, Saikuya guessed from lack of sleep. However, the strangest thing about the boy was his tattoo on his forehead that meant 'Love'. The tattoo's ink look closely to that of human blood but that could not be…could it?

Saikuya yelped when the man grabbed the scroll rather roughly from her hands. "Ah, I'm sorry I guess I dazed off. Well, again I'm very sorry for bumping into you." Saikuya gave the little boy a warm smile but only got a cold glare in return. Saikuya felt a shiver go down her back when the boy looked at her but she ignored it and began to walk away. When she finally got to the park where her daughter was she did not call for her right away, because she wanted to watch her play. That was what she enjoyed most about being a mother was watching Sakura, the joy of her life, smiling and playing. She began to get lost in her daughter's actions. Sakura was a very pretty little girl she had inherited her mother's unique pink hair and her father's jade green eyes but she had gotten a slightly large forehead but Saikuya thought it just made her all the more adorable. Saikuya finally realized that it was time to get back to the house. "Sakura, it's time for us to head back home." Sakura nodded and began to follow her mother.

Saikuya noticed her daughter fiddling with her hair, which meant something, was wrong or she was nervous about asking a question. "Sakura what's wrong?"

Sakura snapped her head to look up at her mother. "Well I wanted to ask if maybe I could well…you know start going to the academy?" Sakura knew her mother did not want her to become a kouinchi because her father had died on a mission when she had only been an infant. Sakura watched as her mother stiffened and her lips began to form a thin line, signaling she was getting angry.

"Why on earth would you want to do that, Sakura?" Saikuya's voice came out very strained as she was trying to keep her temper under control.

"Well I want to be able to protect you and myself. Therefore, if anyone ever makes fun of my forehead again I will not have to hide behind Ino. Please I promise to be really careful and I'll do my very best!" Sakura also had another reason that she did not add. Her crush on Sasuke was mainly behind her reason for wanting to join. She was not sure why she liked Sasuke but all the other girls did so she should like him too right?

"I'll think about it Sakura." Once Sakura's mom said that it was the end of the discussion and that was all there was to it. When they got back to there, small apartment Saikuya began making supper.

Sakura quietly snuck away from her mother's view and into her room. Then she began to open her window and sneak out of it. Luckily, Sakura lived on the very last floor of the apartment building so she did not have to climb down the building wall. Once she was sure that the coast was clear, she began to run towards the park. Sakura ran to the spot where Ino was supposed to meet her but she did not see Ino. 'Figures she wouldn't come. Great so now I'm gonna get in trouble for no reason!' Sakura was suppose to meet up with Ino so they could discuss how to convince Sakura's mother that it was alright for her to join the academy.

Sighing Sakura was ready turning around to make her way back home when a voice stopped her. "Look what we have here it's Sakura and her big forehead." A few girls around Sakura's age were standing behind her with smirks etched on each of their faces. "Leave me alone." Sakura knew they would not let her leave until they got in a few jokes so she would just endure it. "Oh my gosh is somebody shining the sunlight into my eyes with a mirror? What is that? Oh my gosh it's coming off of your huge forehead, Sakura-chan!" The girl that was supposedly the leader of the group spat out the 'chan' with sarcasm. She was standing there pointing a Sakura with a smile on her face as the other girls laughed at the joke. Sakura thought the joke was lame so she began to walk off. 'Just do what mom and Ino said…ignore them and they'll go away.'

"Hey wait forehead girl we're not done playing with you." The girl picked up a rock and threw it at Sakura's face. Sakura was in shock that the girl was actually trying to harm her. They had never tried to hit her before. Before the rock could damage Sakura's face a wave of sand blocked the rock. All of the girls including Sakura turned their faces to the newcomer. The person was the same boy that Sakura's mother had seen earlier that day. He stood there for a while and stared at the girls who had been picking on Sakura. Finally after a long pregnant silence he spoke.

"I'd leave if I were you." The boy began to walk towards Sakura. Upon reaching her, he looked her over from head to toe. Then he turned back to the girls and was in front of Sakura, shielding her from the other girls view. "Oh really, and what if we don't?" The girl crossed her arms defiantly as and raised her eyebrow as if to challenge the boy.

"I'll kill every last one of you." The boy began to let sand out of the huge gourd strapped to his back. Sakura gasped at his words and by the way, he said it and the look on the other girl's faces she knew that the boy was not kidding.

"L-let's get out of here!" The girls ran away screaming things like 'monster', 'demon', and Sakura's personal favorite 'I want my mommy'. Sakura watched as the boy's sand went back to its original place in the gourd. Sakura was scared of this boy he had a creepy essence to him. She wanted to run but was afraid that he would chase her down. Therefore, she decided to thank him for saving her. "Um, uh, thank you for saving me from those girls. They've never actually tried to physically hurt me they usually make fun of my forehead and leave." Sakura began to look at her feet.

The boy turned around to face her. He was not sure why he had helped her; no one had ever helped him. He should just kill her but she was too intriguing to kill. She smelled of jasmine and lavender and it seemed to attract him. The demon inside of him was beginning to stir. For once in his life, he did not want to kill this person standing before him. He knew if he stayed, he would either kill or harm her so he began to walk away from the girl. However, he turned once more "What's your name?"

Sakura's head jerked up towards the boy when she had realized that he was speaking to her. "It's H-Haruno, Sakura and what's your name?"

"Hn, its Gaara."

Once Sakura was sure that Gaara was gone, she dashed back to her house, running for her life. The boy had truly given her fright. True, he had never actually done anything in front of her to prove that he was dangerous but Sakura was frightened for an unknown reason. She did not stop running until she came up to the apartment that her and her mother lived in. She began to sneak in through her window. Unfortunately, she found that the window was locked giving her no other choice but to go in through the front door, she only prayed that her mother had not noticed her being gone. If her mother had not looked for her than she could say, she had been playing outside the apartment. She opened the front door being careful not to let it squeak. She poked her head in and looked to see if her mother was anywhere in site. Once she figured her mother was in another room she walked in and closed the door behind her.

"Where have you been? You had me worried to death!" Saikuya walked to Sakura and began to inspect her daughter for any scratches or bruises when she was satisfied she gave Sakura a hug. "Your punishment will be no dessert or spending the night at Ino's for two weeks."

Sakura did not complain about her punishment. She figured it could have been a lot worse.

"So where exactly did you go Sakura? Be sure to tell me the truth." Saikuya walked into the small kitchen and sat at the table motioning for her daughter to do the same. Sakura sat in the chair and told her mother that she had went to the park but said nothing of the girls and Gaara.

"Well honey, if you would have told me you wanted to go to the park I would have taken you there tomorrow." Saikuya's mom had gotten up from her spot and made Sakura a plate of the dinner. She set the plate in front of Sakura who had her head down.

"I know I'm really sorry mom." Sakura began to feel the beginnings of guilt build up in her stomach and suddenly was not too hungry anymore. Nonetheless, she began eating so her mother would not think something was wrong.

"Well I have thought about you joining the academy and I suppose that it would be fine for you to join. But I want you to show me everything you learn and you must work hard at becoming a fine kouinchi for Konoha is that clear?" Saikuya had her back turned away from Sakura but she could picture Sakura's delighted face and her shining jade eyes.

"Oh thank you mom! I promise I'll pay attention, take notes, listen to the teacher, follow all the rules, and will try not to come home with a detention." Sakura counted what she had said on her fingers mentally making sure she had not missed anything.

"Your welcome sweet heart, now come on it's time to get you to bed." Saikuya made sure Sakura took a bath, brushed her teeth, and got into bed.

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Gaara had finally made his way back to the hotel that he and Baki had rented out for a few days. Shukaku had been egging Gaara to go back, grab the girl, and force her to come back to Suna just to have her there with him. 'What's the point in bringing her to Suna?' Gaara finally asked Shukaku hoping to get him to shut up.

'She makes you feel calm does she not?'

'Hn'

'She also smells nice and she didn't run away from you like all the others.'

'Shut up and leave me alone Shukaku.'

'I'll leave you alone if you promise me one thing.'

'I know I'll regret asking this but what?'

'At least give her a nice little tattoo like yours before we leave for Suna.'

'Hmm, you've actually given me a good idea.'

Gaara knew why Shukaku wanted the girl he was not stupid. The elders had always talked about Shukaku's chosen one for Gaara. Gaara did not care about that sort of thing at this point in his life; for god's sake, he was only nine-years-old.

When he walked into the room he saw bake reading a scroll. Baki of course would not say anything about Gaara being gone because even Baki was scared of what Gaara would do. "How much longer will we be in Konoha?"

Baki was surprised Gaara had said something but nonetheless he answered. "We're leaving tomorrow morn-" Baki did not finish sentence for Gaara had walked right back out the door. Shrugging his shoulders, Baki continued to read his paper.

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Sakura was sleeping peacefully and dreaming of the next day when she would start the academy. She turned over in her sleep and snorted for a moment before her breathing evened out once again. In Sakura's dream, her teacher was calling her name repeatedly. Sakura soon woke up and felt a smooth hand over her mouth. She began to struggle against the person. The person leaned over towards her ear and whispered "Open your eyes and stop struggling, Sakura." Sakura did as she was told and saw Gaara when she relaxed a little her cautiously took his hand away from her mouth. However, did not put any space between them. "You know I think your forehead is rather nice, Sakura."

Sakura only nodded and managed to mumble out a small 'thank you'. She tried to create some space between them but her back soon hit the smooth wood of her bed's headboard "Sakura why are you trying to get away, it's not because your scare of me is it? I'm not going to hurt you." Gaara brought a hand up to her forehead and began to caress the right side of her forehead and then got to a spot in the corner of her forehead and applied a small amount of pressure, which made Sakura yelp in pain. "What are you doing?"

"I'm giving you a gift before I leave." Gaara began to massage the same spot and then brought a small amount of sand and began to carve out her tattoo. When Sakura went to scream from the pain, Gaara stuck two of his fingers into her mouth blocking any sound to come from her. Gaara looked down at her terrified face. "Bite down on them if you have to. It won't hurt me I promise."

For the next hour or two Sakura was biting down on Gaara's fingers. Gaara finished off the last bit of the tattoo. Sakura finally felt the immense pain in her forehead lessen a bit and Gaara pulled his fingers away from her mouth. She felt her blood flowing down her face. Gaara wiped all of the blood away with a small cloth that he had found on Sakura's dresser.. Sakura looked up at Gaara who simply took her hand and led her to her mirror.

Sakura looked at her image in the mirror and she saw the bloody tattoo on her forehead. She brought her hand up towards her forehead but Gaara intercepted her hand with his. "Don't touch it for awhile or it will hurt even more." Sakura nodded her head.

"I will come back to Konoha for you in a few years." Gaara lightly pressed Sakura's pressure point and she fell into unconsciousness. He picked her up bridal style and laid her in her bed. Gaara looked at Sakura one last time and left the room.

When Sakura woke up the next morning, she ran to the mirror and saw that the tattoo was there. For the first time she actually looked to see what the tattoo meant and she realized it meant 'love'. She wondered how she would explain it to her mother. She decided to try to put a band-aid over it and say she just liked to wear the band-aid because she thought it looked cool.

When her mother saw her, she said nothing of Sakura's band-aid. She merely thought it was a scratch and was not too worried about it. Saikuya insisted that she walked Sakura to school even if she did not want her to. Once in front of the academy Sakura gave her mother a quick hug, kiss on the cheek, and walked into the building with the other kids. She had not seen Ino yet and was itching to tell someone about what had happened the previous night.

Once she found her classroom she walked in and the first thing her eyes landed on was Sasuke. She was about to walk straight towards him however, the teacher walked in that same moment. "Now kids I have given you assigned seats so find your name and go to the seat." The teacher was a young man with brown hair that put into a ponytail; he also had a long scar going across his nose.

Sakura groaned when she saw that her seat was across the room from Sasuke. She found her seat and saw that she was at the end of the row therefore; she would only have one person to sit beside her. Once she had all of her things situated, she heard a load plop coming from beside her. She turned her head and saw a blonde haired boy with sky blue eyes. He wore an obnoxious orange suit, which Sakura scrunched her nose up at; the boy looked back at Sakura and smiled a sloppy grin towards her. "Hi there my name is Naruto, Uzumaki and I'm gonna be Hokage one day!"

"Yea I'm sure you will be Naruto." Sakura was trying her best to ignore this annoying boy but he kept talking to her.

"Hey what's your name?" Naruto realized that she was not going to answer him so he leaned over and looked at the sticker on her desk that read 'Haruno, Sakura'. "Sakura-chan…I like that name a lot! Hey did you know that you're really pretty!"

Sakura wanted to slap this boy so badly at the current moment.

"Knock knock."

'Ignore him Sakura just ignore him.'

"Sakura-chan I said knock knock." Naruto scooted his desk closer to Sakura's and began to say knock, knock repeatedly.

Finally, Sakura turned towards Naruto. "Fine who's there?"

Naruto smiled. "Interrupting cow."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Interrupt-

"MOOOOOOO!!!!" Naruto yelled and began to laugh so hard that he fell out of his chair, which caused the whole class to look towards the two of them. Sakura's face turned a deep scarlet red as she did her best to hide her face.

'Why do I have to sit by this idiot?'

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A/N: I know what you are thinking…why did I start a new story. Well I just did but do not worry it will probably be deleted unless people actually like it. Any comments or constructive criticism would be appreciated. Please and Thank-you!