Chapter 2 - Saya-chan and... this beast

Time went by. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Slowly but surely, Sakura's little adventure in the forest was remembered more like a blessing in disguise, more dreamlike than reality-based. But like every other story, just before she forgot about her extraordinary friend, they met again.

- - - - - 10 years later - - - - -

"Kiba-kun, hurry!" Sakura screamed desperately. It was early morning; the air was chilly but fresh. There was still light in Kiba's room, so the pink-haired student knew he was still in his room. Why does he always have to be this late? Kiba lived just around the corner to her house. On the other side was the bus station. So sadly, for Sakura, they met every morning in front of his house and went to school together.

"Sorry, sorry, Saya-chan! Akamaru had to take a dump."

"Yeah, sure. Inside the house. Right." Sakura sighed and left it at that. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the bus.

"Shit!" She murmured under her breath and sprinted to the bus station. Moments later Kiba and Akamaru were next to her. Both looked so happy and she had to suppress her smile, less Kiba-kun's not going to stop babbling the whole day again.

"Just why are you so happy to run in the morning", asked Sakura rhetorically, to divert his attention.

"Morning jog is the best!" Kiba hollered and Akamaru barked his agreement. They found themselves a place at the back of the bus and settled down.

"You know Saya-chan, I haven't played League of Legends for a while now, so yesterday I finally started again!" Great, here it goes again. Sounds like he did see her smile. Sakura didn't even have to try to sound disinterested, but she smiled to herself anyway. An ordinary day like every other day, she thought. Absentmindedly, she reached for Akamaru, leaned on Kiba's shoulder, closed her eyes and hummed every now and then. Her greatest challenge this morning – like all the other mornings – was to get Kiba to lower his voice to a decent level.

"... so I reached Plati-"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Kiba was interrupted mid-sentence. In front of the entrance to Konoha High School, a huge crowd of students were blocking the way. It looked like some upperclassmen were bullying an underclassman. Just where are the teachers when we need them. Sakura wanted to drag Kiba-kun away from the crowd, but he didn't budge one bit. Annoyed, she turned around to reprimand him, but he stubbornly shook his head and pointed to the fight scene.

"We need to help him. Why did he have to piss off Hidan-senpai of all people." Kiba murmured and tried to fight his way into the crowd. Sighing heavily, Sakura followed him.

"Are you mute now too? EH?" Before Hidan-senpai could start a real fight, Kiba-kun intervened. Sakura, on the other hand, took her time to survey the area. It had always been like this, Kiba, the hot-headed one, jumped right into a fight and Sakura, the rational one, checked the surroundings for unexpected danger.

Now that she was more focused on the ruckus in front of her, she realized, that the students forming the crowd weren't actually staring dumbly, like she thought they were. In fact, they were trying to move around the fight, but because the Senpais were literally standing in front of the gate entrance, they couldn't pass. Everyone knew that the Senpais – or more precise the Akatsuki as they liked to call themselves – weren't fun to be around when they weren't in a good mood. Okay, they were never fun to be around.

Content that nothing was going to be of a greater threat than the fight in front of her, she let her eyes wander to the troublesome guy. Facing the Akatsuki, his back was turned to Sakura, his long dirty red mane the only notable characteristic, other than his clothing. Even though he did wear the official school uniform, he didn't follow the dress code. Despite the frosty air he only wore a simple white shirt, not even bothering to button it up. The navy-blue jacket wasn't in sight anywhere and neither was his necktie. At least he's wearing trousers.

This sight shouldn't have surprised anyone, since the Akatsuki wasn't any better. They weren't exactly perfect role models, but due to their high status in society nobody was able to touch them. Even the headmaster was lax when it concerns them. With the right connections and enough money, you could even kill someone in front of the whole police department and walk out of the trial with clean hands. That's how scary the country was, they're living in.

The school bell chimed, marking the five-minute countdown 'till the beginning of classes, and right on cue, the bizarre guy walked straight towards Hidan. The crowd was abruptly silent, nobody dared to move. Even the Senpais were wordlessly observing his next step. Ignoring everything around him, the small guy stepped around Hidan and trudged inside the school ground. You could almost hear what everyone was thinking.

Not good…

"What the fuck is your problem!" Hidan roared. Despite Kiba-kun's persistent attempts to block Hidan-senpai's way, he was of no hindrance for the well-build upperclassmen. However, before Hidan could grab the meager red-haired boy, he vanished.

Meters away from the raging trouble, the red-head reappeared, crouched on all four. A wind gust came up and his long mane was blown out of his face. Even though his face was impassive, his stance said he was anything but. His thin shirt too was blown backwards, showing his thin, naked body.

Wait… Sakura's eyes widened. No way. This posture… This reaction… It can't be…

It was the same bony, sun-tanned body. Less dirty than last time, but, aside from those prominent scars marring his body, almost an exact replica of her memory. His bright blood-red hair had turned a few shades darker and so much longer, obscuring his view on them. But also, from ours on him.

"A… Akio?" Sakura whispered confused. The red-head turned his eyes away from the inconvenience in front of him and stared, just as perplexed, into nostalgic green eyes. Strange how nobody heard her, even though they were standing so much closer to her. Yet the one, whose name she called, crouching meters away, did. She wasn't even aware that she was moving towards him, until an arm blocked her way.

"Don't." Sasuke was standing protectively in front of her, arm outstretched, holding her back, his watchful eyes trained on Akio.

"Who's that?" Kiba too has moved next to her with Akamaru growling intimately beside him. This only seemed to agitate Akio more and while hissing softly, he edged a step back. Still observing him intently, Sasuke shifted his foot an inch forward, trying to deviate the beast's attention from Sakura to himself. Any moment now and the wild boy was going to pounce.

"Stop it, both of you!", Sakura tried to push Sasuke's arm away, "You're making him nervous!"

"He's the one who's making us nervous!" Kiba felt uneasy and sensing his distress, Akamaru started barking. It didn't even look like Sasuke's arm was going to budge an inch and hearing Akio shift restlessly, Sakura stopped in her motion. I have to calm down. Closing her eyes briefly, she took a deep breath in and out. You're not seeing the whole picture, sweetie, her mind supplied helpfully. Feeling the weight loss on his arms, Sasuke glanced back and retreated his own arm back towards his side.

The crowd had dissipated, undoubtedly either because the Akatsuki or Akio made them. Itachi had been standing next to Sasuke for a while now, and even the other Senpais were nearby. They stood a bit away from each other, still near enough to act fast, in case something happened. It looked a bit like they were caging the scared boy in. Nothing less expected from the student council.

Hidan was nowhere to be seen, but he was definitely heard by everyone, cussing every single profanity existing out there. He must have been dragged away to prevent an escalation. Moreover, someone must have alerted the teachers, because from the school building Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei were running towards them.

Straightening her back and looking calmer than she really felt, Sakura flashed a bright, honest smile.

"I've missed you, Akio."

Unbeknownst to her, just this one sentence made him happy for the first time in a long while.

Kiba had never been the most patient guy. Hell, he might even be the first one you'd think of, hearing the word 'impatient', right after Naruto maybe. So, when Sakura told him to 'be patient' and to 'wait until I come back', it wasn't the easiest request for him to do. Sure, he knew Sakura wasn't 6 anymore and yes, she was able to protect herself when needed, but this 'Akio'-guy smelled of bad news. Even Akamaru didn't like him, and Akamaru liked everyone!

Tapping his foot nervously, Kiba sighed for the hundredth time. It has already been 15 minutes since she went with this skinny-freak to the headmaster's office. And Kakashi-sensei wasn't even here yet.

"Damnit, Kiba, stop that!" Sasuke wasn't in any better mood either. However, he was better in controlling himself than Kiba was. If they hadn't been in the same class since primary school, Kiba would have thought it didn't bother him in the least. However, he did notice how Sasuke was glancing at the classroom door every now and then.

All of a sudden, the door swung open. Several eye pairs were drawn to the entrance. Almost instantly, Kiba and Sasuke stood up from their respective seats, both hoping to see a certain pink-haired beauty.

"Hey guys! What's up!" But in came Naruto. Half-grunting, half-sighing, Kiba sunk to his seat once more.

"Guess what? Guess what?", the loudmouth screamed excitedly, "We're getting a new student! As of today!" That peaked Kiba's interest. Even Sasuke thought better than to insult-greet him.

"Please don't let his name be Akio." Kiba just barely managed to stop himself from shaking Naruto. As the son of the Hokage, he still had valuable information.

"Akio? No, his name is Gaara. Who's Akio by the way? And where's Sakura-chan?" Turning his head around, he searched for his female best friend. Strange, Sakura usually came with Kiba, and everyone else seemed to be in the classroom.

"N-Naruto-kun! Good morning." From the back of the classroom, Hinata and Ino were approaching the boys. "You're pretty late, Naruto! You know something about the fight this morning?"

Both girls were already in the classroom when the fight happened and only heard about it from their classmates. When Kiba and Sasuke entered the room, they thought it was better to leave them alone for the moment. Both guys looked quite distraught and so, the girls decided not to bother them.

Naruto smiled brightly and gave Hinata's cheek a peck. On any other days, Kiba would have made fun of Naruto, how he was acting all gentlemanly, even though he was radiating off tons of testosterone whenever Hinata's nearby, but not today.

"Focus for once Naruto. Does this Gaara has long red hair and acts like a wild animal?" Even Naruto noticed how edgy Kiba was. It definitely had something to do with Sakura's absence, if Kiba didn't outright say that she was at home with an illness. Even Sasuke hadn't insulted him once this morning. He's been silently brooding over something and Naruto didn't like their combi one bit.

"I don't know how he looks like, but Dad said we'd get a 'special' classmate. He even drove me to school today, said he'd have to meet up with Oji-chan to talk about this Gaara guy. That's everything I know."

"So, M-Minato-san is in the headmaster's office now? Together with Sakura-chan, Sarutobi-sensei and Akio-san? I wonder what they are talking about..."

In the next second, Kiba was up and disappeared out of the door.

"Hey, where are you going? Classes might start every second!"

"That's why you'll stay here and tell Kakashi-sensei that something urgent came up." Sasuke went after Kiba and left a dumbfounded Naruto behind.

The first few seconds alone in the infirmary were rather awkward, with silence greeting them and only blank walls to stare at. So, Sakura figured they could also use the time to get to know each other better.

Having made up her mind, she turned around and leaned back in surprise, seeing Akio a few inches away. I didn't even hear him getting closer. He paused and - Sakura guessed by the air movements of his hair in front of his face - seemed to be sniffing the air, until he leaned over her and snuffled again, near her neck. He's trying to memorize my body odor... or something like that.

Growing up with Kiba-kun, she was in contact with a lot of dogs, especially Akamaru and thanks to that, she learnt one or two things considering animals and their behavior. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't blushing violently. Just imagining someone seeing them like this.

Remember; slow movements don't agitate him as much as fast movements do.

Well, gee, thanks I know that already. Bit by bit, Sakura moved her hands towards Ak- No. Gaara. I shouldn't call him Akio anymore.

"G-Gaara." Sakura tried to use his 'given' name. Even though she wanted nothing more than to punch whoever came up with such an awful name - which sick bastard would call his son self-loving monster? - unperceived by her, he seemed to like it whenever she called him by his name.

"Gaara-san." She tried again and this time she saw his tiny little smile, hidden beneath his long messy hair. Sakura smiled reassuringly and stopped her hands, balm turned downwards, right before where she guessed his nose was. He sniffed on it a few times and gave her knuckles a tiny lick of approval.

They were standing opposite each other - her slightly taller than him - in the infirmary, which was located just around the corner to the headmaster's office. Only moments ago, they were gathered in there together with Sarutobi-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Shishou, Yashamaru-san (who was Gaara's guardian), and even Hokage-sama himself. After asking about their relationship, Sarutobi-sama reprimanded her, "Sakura-kun, his name is Gaara now. Please refrain from using your chosen name for him to avoid confusion."

Kakashi-sensei then assigned her to help Gaara-kun around, until he's gotten used to it all. She didn't mind that, after all, as one of two class representatives, it was already a part of her job.

Gaara was fully capable of understanding them and according to Yashamaru, he was also able to speak, if only broken. If they weren't authorities Sakura respected, she would have given them her two cents. Talking about people like they weren't sitting right next to them. She absolutely hated that. Surprisingly, at least to Sakura, Gaara wasn't bothered at all during their whole conversation. From Minato's view, he would even say Gaara-kun was content with only having a specific pink-haired woman around.

Both students were dismissed after that and her shishou told her to wait in the infirmary. She wanted to do just that, but someone didn't want to leave her side even when she told him, "You should head back to class first, I'll follow in a minute." As a result, she took him with her. Shishou won't mind, I think.

Feeling rough hands on her own, Sakura was drawn back to the reality. Calmly, she opened her hands and let him snuggle his nose into it.

"Sak... Sakur... a..." Absolutely speechless, Sakura almost dropped her hand. If it hadn't been this silent in the room, she was sure she wouldn't have heard him. The initial shock faded, and she rewarded him with a happy smile instead of her gaping-fish-look. Though, in the next moment, she wanted to snort, as a result of him tardily whispering a 'kun' after her name.

"Yes. I'm Sakura. Do you remember me?" Tentatively, she reached behind his thick hair and cupped his cheek gently. Rough. Like sand. The startled boy stilled immediately, both hands still on hers. Sakura took that as a good sign, seeing as he didn't distance himself and with newfound vigor, she reached towards his hair with her other hand.

Putting a few strands aside, she cupped both of his cheeks and watched as his face was revealed to her. His eyes were slightly widened, yet they still held the same intense, light green eyes. The black circles encasing his eyes got more prominent as well, but what got her attention was the scratch on his forehead.

Because of the distance earlier outside, she wasn't sure if she didn't just imagine the scratch on his forehead, but up this close she could see it clearly. It couldn't be called a scratch. On the left corner of his forehead was the kanji 'Ai' engraved. Love.

"Who would hurt you so badly... Just what happened to you during all these years?" Visibly upset, she raised her hand to the scar, yet before she could touch it, Gaara yanked his head away and took an impulsive step back.

"I'm sorry, I-" Alarmed, she took a retreating step back herself and withdrew her hands. She didn't succeed due to him grabbing her wrists though. At the same time, a knock resounded inside the room and Tsunade opened the door.

"So, Sakura, there's something I need to... What's going on?" Perplexed by Gaara's action, Sakura tried to pull her arms once more, but his hold on her didn't lessen at all. Confused, she stared questioningly into his blank eyes. Still watching them closely, Tsunade half-heartedly muttered something out into the corridor, then proceeded to close the door and laid some documents on her desk.

On approaching the younglings, the red-head, feeling intimated by her advance, hissed at her. Even going so far as to drag her apprentice behind him. This resulted in said-apprentice scolding the wild boy and then him looking like a rejected-puppy. Sighing heavily, Tsunade turned back to her desk and plumbed down. Opening the document, she scribbled something down.

"Suits me just fine. I wanted to talk to you in private about a new assignment I'd like to give you, concerning a certain someone", here she looked pointedly at Gaara, "but it might be even better for him to be present."

"As we've told you before, Gaara-kun here was raised by a wolf until two years ago and sadly, even after his adoption, he didn't get the rightful treatment he deserves, which is why he was sent here..." She considered on adding something, but at the end decided against it.

While Tsunade was skipping through the shamefully thin files on Gaara, which was given to her by his incompetent guardian, Sakura was trying her best to follow her shishou's talking. Gaara on the other hand, who noticed Sakura's diverted attention from him to this noisy human, was unsuccessfully attempting to get her to focus on him again.

"... So, I want you to evaluate him. As practice. Of course, only if he is willing to let you. Try to find out how much he understands, where his problems lie, how he interacts with his surroundings, etcetera etcetera. You know the deal. Oh, and if you see it fit, try to teach him a few things." She left the 'You seem to be the only person he lets in'-part unsaid.

Hearing a slap resonating around the infirmary, she turned towards the children. Tsunade wasn't sure if she was supposed to snicker, to punch his daylights out or to ignore it. For her apprentice's sake, she chose the latter, still, she took a mental note to write down 'Likes to get touchy with Sakura' for future references anyway.

Brat, she thought somewhat pissed, you sure are particular. Last time she checked, he hated being near anyone and everyone who breathed and had two arms. If it wasn't for Sakura's once in a lifetime expression - who was beet red and frozen still - I'd have chopped off your hands before you could even try to comprehend what happened. You sure got guts to do that in front of me, of all people.

Somewhere, during Tsunade's monologue, Sakura felt her hands being pulled to Gaara's messy hair, or more precise, to his head. He seems to like getting patted on the head. To keep him satisfied, so as to be able to fully concentrate on what Shishou has to say, she patted him and gave his scalp a massage. Just like how she would give one to Akamaru every morning.

However, after a while, her attention was abruptly drawn to Gaara. She wasn't sure why the hell he did that, but all of a sudden, she felt his hands near her breast area. Acting on instinct, she slapped him with as much strength she could muster in a split second. It was strong enough to resound throughout the room and fast enough for him to be unable to sense her intention beforehand.

"What happened!" Almost instantly, the door slammed open and Kiba barged in with Sasuke right behind him. It took another split second for Kiba to count two and two together and in the next one, he was about to tear off this beast-in-human-form.

Luckily, Tsunade was standing in front of the bewildered boy and caught the punch meant for him with ease.

"I told you not to interrupt us!" An angry Tsunade was never fun. "GET OUT!" Never.

Author's note
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.
Sorry to disappoint anyone, who doesn't like HighSchool-fics. I'll assure you, you won't regret it though (I hope).
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows! I never knew they'd motivate people (me) this much!
And also, thank you for reading my humble story.