Once again I thank you all for reading, and for reviewing. Love all your comments and am excited to write more!

In this chapter you get to see a bit more emotion in Gaara then just a sad lonely kid, he also gets angry. Hope you like. There should be only one more chapter after this where Sakura is 6 in Suna. And possibly a chapter after that where she is seven, but her parents are in Suna not her.

Chapter 4: Things you shouldn't see

Gaara sat in his room that night looking at the picture of his mom. He kept thinking of Sakura's injury. It must have hurt, but she still acted like it was nothing. What was pain anyway? How did it feel? All he could do was wonder… He fingered the Kunai in his hand and just thought.

Her parents had fussed over her leg, and she had to admit, it did start hurting after she realized it was there, but the wound wasn't too deep and medicine easily soothed the pain. She had wrapped a bandage around it before going to bed, and again when she woke up. It really was like she was doing ninja training, she even insisted on applying the medicine and bandage herself, of course she did have her mom instructing her - but still, it counted for something that she did it herself.

Sakura and Gaara played for 3 days straight, with her parents in meetings every single day she had plenty of time. She had such a good time with Gaara, she really hoped they could stay friends forever. He seemed to be so happy around her and his personality was really starting to come through more. Everyday before leaving they promised that they would meet each other there the next morning.

Today was Thursday and just as she had thought, her parents had another meeting with the Suna council and Kazekage so she had all day to spend with Gaara. The thought alone made her smile. She told the lady at the front desk where she was headed and then sat on the swing, just as she had the day she had met him. As she waited she thought about her knew friend.

Gaara was so much fun! It took a while to get him out of his shell at first but after that he was one of the most fun people she had ever spent time with. He was so sweet and quiet sometimes and he only seemed to be concerned about the well being of her and the other people he met. She didn't understand for the life of her how people could hate someone as nice as that, who was only offering kindness to those around him. How sad… to care for others and to have no one care for you… Sakura frowned at the idea.

How lonely. She had her own share of trouble as a kid, with others always picking on her because of her forehead and hair color. She was so shy and lonely, until Ino came around and reached out to her. She knew what it was like to be lonely, but never hated. Such a feeling…. She clenched tightly onto the swing's chain…. Should never be felt by someone so pure of heart. It hurt her to think people could truly be so awful to someone like Gaara. He was fragile enough as it was.

She was still caught up in her musings when some feet got in her line of vision, she looked up with a smile thinking it was Gaara but her smile dropped a bit seeing it was just a kid with sandy brown hair, and cream colored shorts and shirt with a black belt around the waste. He seemed a bit older then her. Perhaps as old as Gaara, come to think of it she hadn't asked Gaara his age yesterday.

"HEY" The boy waved a hand in front of her face. "Are you listening? I asked if you wanted to play soccer with us." He said with a slightly annoyed look on his face – no doubt he wasn't used to being ignored.

"Oh thanks for the offer but I'm actually waiting for a friend." She smiled politely as she declined. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."

He just shrugged at her reply.

"Well when he gets here he can join. What'dya say?" He asked, a hand reached out towards her. She thought about it, Gaara did say that everyone hated him, but maybe if these kids saw that Sakura and Gaara got along well they'd give him a chance. So she smiled, grabbed his hand and they began a game.

It had been fun up until the point one of the girls on her team kicked the ball onto a high wall. Sakura assessed the situation. Even if she got on the tallest building there which only went to 2 stories in the general area, she wouldn't be able to leap onto it. the hotel was distanced to far from the wall to jump from there.

"I don't know any wall climbing jutsu, do you?" one girl asked.

"Let me try something." Sakura said. She closed her eyes and focused her chakra into her feet concentrating like she never had before. "Make room" She said through gritted teeth. Then she opened her eyes and ran, she sprinted up the wall as fast as she could, hoping to hold her chakra in her feet, but a quarter of the way up she lost it, the chakra wouldn't stay in her feet - after all she didn't have the best chakra control – and she began to fall, her body tipping so her head bas like an arrow towards the ground and body parallel with the wall. She tried to throw her weight into a backflip, but was failing and the ground was approaching faster and faster by the second.

Then she felt the familiar sensation of soft sand around her, floating her onto the ground and on her feet. Gaara must be here! She thought turning around to see him standing there holding his hands out for the ball as it glided into them and the sand dispersed. The kids all stared at him in terror, and she saw his self conscious side again, just like when she first had met him. He looked up a bit and gave a small smile.

"Here." He said, holding his arms out a bit more for them to take the ball.

"Its Gaara….." some kid in the crowd said, their voice shaking. Sakura thought this might be a good time to step in.

"Gaara!" She said going up to him and retrieving the ball. "You're here!" She turned to face the crowd of kids standing besides her friend. "This is my friend I was waiting for." She said smiling.

"That's who you were waiting for?" The kid who had originally asked her to play with them stepped forward. He pointed at her "That must make you a freak too! Just like him."

Another girl in the crowd scoffed, " Should have guessed she was a freak by her hair color!"

"And that huge forehead." Another voice in the crowd came out. They didn't look at her with fear though, they looked at her with scorn and glares.

Sakura put the ball down and took a step forward. "Look here." She pointed a finger at all of them and took on a strong stance. "You call us freaks but you know nothing about us. Gaara is one of the sweetest kindest people I've ever met and you won't even come near him because he can do something you can't? That's pathetic and monsterous!" she backed up then took a running start and kicked the ball right into the cream clad boy's stomach.

Some of the other kids crowded around him.

"YOU little BRAT." One girl, Sakura recognized as the girl who kicked the ball on the wall in the first place, glared sharply. She picked up the ball and tossed it as hard as she could at Sakura's face. If the flexing of the arm muscle was anything to judge by, then Sakura assumed she had a good throw as well as kick. She wasn't going to be quick enough to dodge it so she put her hands in front of her face to take the brunt of the blow. She heard a thud, a thump on sand and waited until the pain from the blow registered to her brain.

But it never came.

She moved her eyes from her face and saw Gaara in front of her and sand wall in front of him.

Gaara had arrived at the park, just hidden by the shadow of a tree. He was going to sneak up on Sakura, surprise her. But then he saw one of the neighborhood children walk up to her. He didn't hear the full exchange but he saw her go to play with them.

His chest ached. He couldn't approach her now. Was she choosing them over him? Maybe she thought the prospect of many friends sounded better then just one. But hadn't she been listening? He thought a bit bitterly. I told her they all hated me, and she said that she cared about me and to ignore them. didn't she? Maybe Temari was right…

He sat down in his usual spot and watched them play. He glared slightly. How could she? A few times when she kicked the ball or someone else's leg collided with her bandaged one, he saw her wince. Although he was upset she was playing with them, he couldn't help the way his sand jumped up slightly when he saw her hurt. Then it happened.

The ball was stuck and Sakura tried to control her chakra and failed. She was falling, he could picture her neck hitting the ground and cracking. The image scared the life out of him. For a few seconds all his anger vanished as he ran across the play ground and his sand automatically went to catch her. As soon as he knew she was safe, he was able to exhale. The anger returned a little, but when she turned to him and smiled that smile, and her eyes lit up, it all vanished. He noticed the other kids staring at him like they always did and knew that if Sakura really picked them over him she would be with them, giving that same look.

He retrieved their ball, and daring to hope they might accept it, he held it out to them. Why does he even bother hoping? The first thing he heard was the terrified way one of the kids said his name.

That's when Sakura stepped in. He knew for a fact she was on his side then. And he could genuinely smile, she really did care about him. She really did want to his friend. For a moment he was happy until -

"That must make you a freak too! Just like him!"

" Should have guessed she was a freak by her hair color!"

"And that huge forehead!"

He saw them glaring at her, sneering and his sand swirled in anger, anger unlike anything he ever felt before. He was going to step forward, but Sakura did first. He was impressed and even more so by the way she hit the brunette boy right in the stomach with the soccer ball. But he wasn't at all pleased with what happened next. One of the girls tried to toss the ball back at Sakura, and as the ball flew towards her, Gaara stepped in front of her as swiftly as his untrained seven year old legs would carry him and instantly the sand shot up to protect him – no, to protect them.

When the wall fell he stood, glare firmly in place staring down the very people who used to fear him for no good reason. He was sad, deeply sad but also extremely angry, how dare they say those things about Sakura. How dare they judge him without knowing him?

"That's enough." He hissed, his emotions taking over. "Apologise. To. Sakura. Right. Now."

They didn't do anything but back away and try to run. His sand shot out to grab them, wrapping around the ankles of some. They screamed and had those eyes again. He started shaking. Of all the time he'd known these kids this is the first time he'd ever actually been threatening to them and they always looked at him with the same eyes they were right now. Never again!

Sand shot out to attack one of the captured, but arms wrapped around him and another person took the brunt of the blow for the young girl laying in the sand.

"You can't do this Gaara!" He heard a voice call. It was a familiar voice… it sounded like…

He came back to reality instantly. The arms around him belonged to Sakura and he could barely hear her saying "pleasestoppleasestoppleasest op, Gaara, you're better then this. Better then them. Pleasestoppleasestop…." When the sand dispersed from its target, he saw his uncle and his eyes widened even more.

"Yashamaru…"

He looked around at the kids… at Sakura's arms around his him, at Yashamaru's injured arm and forehead. And he sank to his knees. Sakura kneeled beside him and Yashamaru walked up to them. The kids had run off screaming as soon as the sand had released them.

"I think its time for you to go home little girl," Yashamaru said, directing his attention to Sakura.

"No." She said firmly. "I'm not leaving Gaara."

"You should go.." Gaara spoke up. "You shouldn't… shouldn't have seen that…." His eyes were trembling, sight going blurry eyes burning. "I… I.." He collapsed into his hands, shoulders shaking. Sakura tried to put a hand on his shoulder but his sand blocked the touch. "GO!" he yelled. And after a few of the longest moments of his life… she went.

That was the first time they didn't promised to meet again.

Alright things are a bit shaken up now. Gaara gets a bit angry at Sakura. However, as stated in my author note before, Sakura is a breath of fresh air to him because she's the only person who doesn't fear him and treats him like a human and he really needs that. Well… she didn't fear him we'll have to see if that's changed due to recent knowledge she's gained.

I mentioned Sakura's past in this chapter because I figured she needed to be able to connect to Gaara's emotional pain to a certain degree. Now, she can't comprehend it as well as Naruto can because she's never been despised by all the people she's ever met like those two have. But She does know what its like to be lonely and in that dark place of loneliness.

Also I didn't really change anything about him attacking the kids then what it was like in the anime. When he went to attack, he was mad at them for looking at him that way, and here he was mad for the same reason. His reason to try and pull them back to him in the anime had been so he wouldn't be lonely and here it was so they would apologize to Sakura so that is something I did change.

Also did you notice that Gaara hasn't been able to stay mad at Sakura for long periods of time. Also have you noticed she falls a lot?

Cause she does.

Twice already.

I think there will be one more chapter with Sakura in Suna.

NEXT TIME ON AN ALL NEW: WHAT FATE BRINGS FORTH! (Que Naruto music.)

What is love? What is pain?

Meeting the parents?

Is it Assassins or sand?!

Find out in the next chapter: The Sand who despise the Leaf.

I might change the title of the next chapter but that's what I have for it so far.