Chapter 3

~x~"Heard you kicked ass!"~x~

Sakura decided she would stay home for the day. Her head was throbbing and her fist was all bandaged up. She just didn't feel like she should be going to the school. Good thing is her mom wouldn't care, she never really showed any care for her schooling. She figured whatever Sakura did, she could handle it herself. She is seventeen after all. The school would end up contacting Sakura anyways.

Sighing, Sakura stood up from her couch in the living room and walked towards the kitchen, running her slender fingers over the cool granite before she grabbed a granny smith apple from the fruit bowl her mother leaves on the counter. She took a small bite of the juicy and bitter fruit while she slugged over to the window that was over the sink, staring outside. She saw people strolling down the sidewalk and walking dogs. She leaned forwards against the counter and stared outside while munching on the bitter apple.

Just as she looked up at the sky, she saw a flash of raven colored hair and instantly glanced back down. A slender smile slipped over her lips and she rushed towards the door after throwing her apple core away. She unlocked and pulled the door open, being greeted by her friend Hinata in her normal dark purple hoody and dark blue jeans with converse.

"Hi, skipper." Hinata spoke in a her normal soft voice, a small smile on her lips when walked in through the doorway. "I brought you your homework and a copy of my notes."

"Ugh... you're too good of a friend..." Sakura groaned, "And I hate you for that.. Why would you even think I'd want to do homework?"

Hinata just giggled while Sakura led them to her bedroom. The pinkette opened the door to her room and Hinata went to her desk, opening her bag to pull out the homework and notes, placing them on the dark desk. She slouched in the seat in front of the desk, looking over at Sakura who was sitting over in the window sill, watching the storm clouds rolling in the sky, noticing they were dark.

With a small sigh, Sakura looked over at the raven haired girl and spoke, "So did I miss anything interesting at school today?"

Hinata looked at her friend and gave a 'not really' face. "Karin didn't show either.. She apparently has a huge bruise and she didn't want to be seen with it.. Mind telling me what that's about?" Hinata smirked then.

Sakura couldn't help but snicker and roll her eyes, staring up at the cloudy sky, noticing a few raindrops already hitting the window she sat at.

"But.. someone did ask if you were alright.." Hinata trailed off, looking up at the ceiling.

Sakura looked over at the girl and raised a slender pink eyebrow. "Who?"

"Eh.. I can't remember.." Hinata just shrugged her shoulders.

Sakura glared halfheartedly at the girl and stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm not looking forward to going to school tomorrow.. These bandages aren't coming off anytime soon.." She mumbled.

"Well.. I should probably get going.. I'll see ya tomorrow, Weirdo.." Hinata gave a slight wave before showing herself out.

Sakura just nodded in acknowledgement and climbed out of the window sill and towards the desk where she would be stuck at for a good hour or two, doing her homework.

'Fun...' she thought to herself and sighed out loud.

The next day, Sakura stepped into the school grounds, and just like always, ignored EVERYONE who stared at her. Her black faded jeans hanging around her hips with a stud belt barely holding them up. Her pink tank top covered by a blood red hoody. She kicked a pebble on the sidewalk with her combat boots while walking up towards the entrance to the school. Her shoulders tensed when she felt someone watching her. Letting her eyes trail around her surroundings before she found a pair of sea foam eyes piercing into her. A small chill ran down her spine while she stepped into the school and towards her first period.

The class was fairly empty when she walked in, which allowed her to sit in her normal spot, in the corner of the back by the window. Sighing, she crossed her arms and leaned back in the seat, closing her eyes while waiting for the bell to ring. When she heard voices coming into the class, she pulled her hood over her head. A yawn slipping from her lips when the bell rang.

Opening her eyes she looked over at Gaara who just sat down in the seat next to her. His eyes were closed as he slouched in his seat, a brand new set of headphones in his ears. Sakura couldn't help but roll her eyes and look over out the window. She heard a small chuckle and her head moved towards the direction it came from. Of course, it was Gaara.

A small snarl graced her lips and she glared at the male. "What?" she snapped.

Gaara's smug facial expression didn't fade when she glared at him. "Oh nothing... you're just so darn cute when you're mad." His voice was taunting, and he knew she hated that.

Sakura cracked her knuckles on her good hand but decided against hitting him upside the head, staring up at the late teacher walking into the class.

Kakashi just waved everyone off, his signal to do whatever.

'Of course,' Sakura thought to herself and slouched more into her seat.

She couldn't help but glance over at the group of girls surrounding Karin in the front of the class. Hinata was right. She had a huge bruise where Sakura had punched her. She couldn't help but smirk when Karin shot her a death glare.

Once again, Gaara just chuckled, causing Sakura to loose her smirk and just growl under her breath.

She reached up and took her hood off of her head, glancing over at Gaara while the rest of the class talked and did some homework from the night before. Ino walked over to Sakura and smiled at her, her black tipped hair tied in a high ponytail, her bangs covering one of her eyes as always.

"Sakura! Are you alright? I hear you kicked that bitch Karin's ass!" Ino couldn't help but grin at her pink haired friend.

"Eh.. I really didn't.. I got a good punch in, that's it.." Sakura shrugged and looked up over at Choji who followed Ino.

"Yeah a punch that left a huge ass bruise on her slutty face." Choji said with a mouth full of potato chips.

Sakura just smiled and shrugged her shoulders again. "She would have gotten a good punch too if Mr. Raccoon over here didn't stop her."

Gaara grimaced at the nickname and shot a glare at the pinkette, saying 'What the hell?!'

Sakura just smirked to herself and just waved him off.

This conversation continued until it was time to go to first period. Sakura grabbed her bag and walked out of the classroom, knowing Gaara was following her. She huffed a bit and glanced over her shoulder to look at him, he was staring at the back of her head, causing her to whip her head back around just as she made her way into the classroom and took her seat. Gaara, followed closely behind, and sat right next to the grumbling pink haired teenager.

Sakura leaned back and just payed attention to the lesson in class. Every once in a while she would look at the redhead beside her, each time she saw him, he was staring intently at the whiteboard, as if everything the teacher was writing would stick in his head to the exact point.

Sakura caught herself smiling a little when she noticed how passionate he was with his music. Shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts, she looked towards the front, not even wanting to look at the male for the rest of the class.

During lunch, Sakura sat with Kiba, Ino, Hinata, and Shikamaru. She poked her food with her fork, not even sure if it was alive or not, when she saw a head of red hair. She groaned, noticing he was making his way to their table and looking behind him there were two others following, each holding a tray of food. One was a female and the other male. They were the same people as the day of the fight. The female has short, curly, sandy blonde hair in four pigtails on her head, a little shorter than Gaara, also with teal colored eyes. The other person was a male with shaggy brown hair, the same length, if not shorter, as Gaara's, but his eyes were a really dark brown, you would swear they were black.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the trio before looking directly at Gaara.

"May we sit here..?" He asked politely.

The others had no problem with it, but Sakura just groaned, pushing her tray away, completely sure that the food had moved on his own.

"Hey, I'm Temari! Gaara's older sister." the blonde spoke with a bright smile, her attitude completely different than the redheads.

"Kankuro's the name, rockin' your world's the game!" the brunette male said before Temari smacked him upside the head with a fan that she pulled from her pocket. "Owwww!" he whined as he rubbed the back of his head, pouting.

"He's my younger brother, but Gaara's older brother." Temari said while sticking the fan back in her pocket.

"I'm Ino," the quirky blonde said with a friendly smile, waving at the two, having already known Gaara.

"Name's Kiba!" a brown haired male said, his eyes also a dark brown color, though a bit more lighter than Kankuro's. When he smiled or spoke, you would swear he had larger canines than normal.

Hinata gave a kind smile that she was alwas known for, "Hinata Hyuuga." Her voice was friendly and sweet.

A male with dark brown hair in a spikey ponytail yawned before waving, his voice very bored, as always, "Shikamaru Nara.. Man introductions are such a drag.." He mumbled the last part.

"Guess I'm the only one left huh?" Sakura sighed a little and sat up, "Sakura Haruno.."

"Oh you're Sakura!" Temari exclaimed.

"Yeeeeah?" Sakura sounded confused.

"Heard you beat a girls ass for shoving you in the locker.. Also saw my little bro over here helping you.." Kankuro smirked while munching on an apple. "You must be pretty special for him to waist his time on you.. He never does anything like that. Not even for family."

Gaara shot his older brother a death glare, causing him to snicker while waving him off and continuing to eat his apple.

Sakura just stared at Kankuro in confusion before looking over at Gaara, whos eyes were dead set on hers. Sakura squirm in awkwardness before tearing her eyes away and looking at the tray of food still on the table infront of her.

"I'm so bringing my own lunch from now on..." she said as she swear she saw it move infront of her.

Her statement causing a few chuckles at the table, even getting a snicker from the cold Gaara, who was still staring at her, a mouth full of cookie crumbs.

When Gaara noticed her staring, he reached over with another cookie in his hand and handed it to her.

"Want one?" his voice was low, and husky, just like when he introduced himself.

The way he asked made her feel like she couldn't say no, so she took the cookie and took a bite of it, smiling and closing her eyes while savoring the taste. When she opened her eyes finally, she noticed he was smirking at her and she just rolled her eyes, munching on the last bit of the cookie, earning a chuckle from the red head across the table from her.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!