Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, its plot or characters. I own any OC, my plot, and anything else you don't recognize unless otherwise stated.

Taffdog19943: Me too. Lol jk. I only have one idea for it so far.

I'm so afraid to admit that you're real
Cause I'm afraid of what I might feel
When your words start to come to life
And it brings my demons into the light but I know you're here.

-No Ordinary Love - Memphis May Fire

When Rin entered the class one day she was surprised to find Gaara already in his seat. As she sat down at her desk she noticed a note. She looked at Gaara but he didn't acknowledge her presence.

"Good morning, Gaara." she said with a smile before picking up the note. Gaara glanced at her from the corner of his eye and when her face lit up with joy he felt something in his chest.

How does she do that? he thought. This ache in my chest unlike the pain I normally feel… Why does her smile do this to me?

Rin sat on the swings and looked up at the sky. She hadn't been there for a long time; she'd been too busy at the academy or home. She heard footsteps in the sand and looked to see Gaara walking over. He stood in front of her but didn't look at her as he held out a box. It was a small wooden box with designs carved into it. Some of the carvings looked a bit choppy but it was the work of a six year old.

"This is adorable!" Rin squeaked with a big grin as she took it from him. "How do I open it?" Rin asked as she turned the box all around in her hands. Gaara pointed to the key on her neck silently. "Oh! So that's what it's for." Gaara nodded once and turned his head away again. She put in the key and lifted the lid. Gaara heard the rustling of paper and looked to see a small note in her hand.

What is-? He saw her name written in his six-year-old self's handwriting and his eyes widened as he remembered what he'd written in the note. He quickly snatched they paper from her. "Hey!" She whined.

"Did you read any of it?" He asked.

"What if I did?" She asked with a smile. Gaara swallowed and his cheeks went pink for the first time in a long time making Rin's eyes widened. She tried to grab the note back but Gaara shoved it in his pocket. "Awe, come on Gaara-kun!" Gaara's face became an even deeper shade of red and he turned and started walking away. Rin suddenly hugged him from behind and he immediately tensed. He'd gotten taller so her face was against his back. "I've missed you." She whispered. Gaara suddenly gasped quietly and gripped the front if his shirt over his heart. Rin quickly snatched the note back and ran to the swings.

"Rin!" He quickly went after her. She stood on the swing as she held up the paper out of his reach so she could read it. "Rin." He held onto the swing's chains his left hand almost touching her right.

"'Happy 6th birthday Rin.'" She read with a smile.

"Rin." Gaara reached up to grab the note but Rin held it higher.

"'you're my best friend.'" Rin read. "'I hope we stay together forever. I lo-' whoa!" Gaara put a foot between hers and stood making her wobble on the swing. Rin fell back off the swing and Gaara grabbed her, turning them so he'd hit the ground. His sand caught him and lowered them. He quickly snatched the note and shoved it back into his pocket. "Don't think I can't get it." Rin said as they stood. "I still have my secret weapon." She wiggled her fingers and Gaara took a step back as his eyes widened a fraction.

"Rin, no." He said holding up a hand.

"Give me the note, Gaara." She went to take a step forward and Gaara brought up a wall of sand. Rin let out a small scream of surprise and fell back. The sand fell as quickly as it had risen and Gaara's eyes were wide. He moved over to her and quickly scanned her for injuries. "I'm fine you just surprised me." She said giving him a smile. Gaara let out a sigh of relief and fell back to sit next to her. "You okay?" Rin asked. "I'm still your friend. You're my best friend." He glanced at her. "Forever and always." He looked down before closing his eyes and putting a hand where the pain had started to fade.

'A demon that loves only itself. As you must love no one else. Care for no one's existence than your own. Fight only for yourself and that way you will be sure to survive.' Gaara remembered what Yashamaru had told him before he died. We'll survive together then.

"Forever and always." He whispered back to her.

A week after he'd given Rin her birthday gift, two years late, he'd started hanging out with her at her house again. Her parents knew by now, even if he hadn't said it aloud, that Gaara would protect Rin and would do anything to make sure no harm came to her from him or otherwise. Her brother, Kenta, on the other hand still didn't trust Gaara. Kenta was friends with Kankurō, since they were in the same class, and Kankurō would often talk about how creepy Gaara was or how he threatened to kill anyone who bothered him or messed with Rin. Gaara never made any threats in front of Rin though; sometimes a glare said it all. He remained calm around her; his mood would settle drastically when he was with her.

At school he still wouldn't talk to her but instead of throwing away her notes he simply pocketed them. When she greeted him with a smile every morning, instead of ignoring her completely, he would look at her from the corner of his eye to meet hers before looking forward again.

During lunch Gaara would always leave and come back five minutes before the class started up again. One day Rin went to follow him with her lunch and the teacher stopped her.

"Rin!" The teacher called. Gaara turned to glare at the teacher who cleared his throat. "Make sure you're back in time for class." he said.

"Of course sensei!" Rin said with a smile before following Gaara out of the room.

…

The two headed to the roof and sat down. Rin held out her lunchbox to Gaara. He blinked at the box before looking at her.

"You never bring a lunch. You must be hungry." Rin said putting it in his lap.

"What about you?" he asked.

"I'm not that hungry." she said with a smile. It was that moment her stomach decided to growl. "Heh." Gaara sighed and handed her the box back. "Why don't we share it then?" She suggested as she opened it.

"You only have one set of chopsticks." He pointed out. Rin blinked and tilted her head.

"So?" she asked. Gaara blinked.

"Fine." He said. Rin grinned and handed him the chopsticks so he could eat something first before he handed them to her. He swallowed when the chopsticks touched her lips.

…

As Rin was putting her lunch box back in her bag Gaara noticed a grain of rice on her cheek.

"Rin." he said.

"Hm?" She turned to look at him. He reached out and picked the rice off her face before he held it up for her to see and watched her face turn pink. He almost found himself smiling as Rin put her hands on her face. "How long was that there?" She squeaked.

"Not long."

"Thanks. That would've been so embarrassing to go back into class like that." She leaned over and kissed his cheek making him tense up and stared at her. It was the first time in two years she'd kissed his cheek. He swallowed and stood.

"Let's go." he said.

"Okay!" Rin said jumping up. She slipped her hand into his and he immediately jerked away out of reflex. They stared at each other for a moment before Rin smiled with her eyes closed. "Sorry! I won't do that again." Gaara stared at her.

That smile, he thought as he frowned. It's not the same.

"Let's go." Rin said. She turned to leave. Gaara grabbed her wrist before she could take the first step. She looked back at him and blinked. He swallowed and looked down at their hands before holding hers. She smiled again and gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back before they headed inside. Before they reached the classroom Rin was the one to let go. Gaara looked at her and she smiled the smile that made his chest flutter before they went inside. The two sat down silently and a moment later class started up again.

"Do you wanna come over for a sleepover?" Rin asked. Gaara turned his head to look at her as they walked. "Your parents don't like me."

"My mom adores you!" Rin said with a laugh. "She's always asking about when you're gunna come over again."

"And your dad?"

"Well, he never really met you before." Rin said. "You guys saw each other… I think twice when he got home early."

"He knows about me."

"I know about you."

No you don't, he thought. And I plan on keeping it that way.

"He knows me and mom trust you, unless you hurt me," Gaara opened his mouth to reply but Rin quickly finished what she was saying. "which I know you would never do." Gaara frowned and his eyes landed on the scar on her upper arm. He stopped walking, making Rin stop as well, and lowered his head.

"But I did." he whispered. Rin looked down at the scar then back at Gaara before she frowned.

"It was an accident. You were upset." she said. He reached over and traced the scar with one finger slowly. His teeth clenched and he dropped his hand before he kept walking.

The next day when Gaara walked into the classroom he immediately noticed the bandage on Rin's upper arm. He made his way over to her and before she could greet him he grabbed her wrist and pulled her from the classroom then up to the roof.

"Who hurt you?" he growled as he let go of her wrist.

"No one." Rin said as she shook her head.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing." She turned to leave but Gaara grabbed her wrist with one hand and pulled her bandage off with the other. Gaara's brow furrowed in confusion; there was nothing there, just her old scar. "It makes you hurt when you see it." Rin said. Gaara's eyes widened a fraction and he met her eyes. "I can see it on your face. I didn't want you to feel guilty every time you looked at me."

"It's a reminder of how I couldn't protect you from myself." he said.

"I think…" Rin looked down at the scar. "I think it seals our promise." Gaara blinked. "It's like a … a blood promise."

"But … you didn't give me a scar." he said as he shook his head with a frown.

"No, but you did." She pointed to the kanji on his forehead. He reached up and touched it briefly. "Then you did this." She pointed to her own scar. Gaara frowned deeper.

"I don't see how that relates to the promise." he said.

"The same sand that scarred you scarred me, right?"

"Yeah but I still don't see how that has anything to do with a blood promise." Rin pointed to his kanji again before she poked it.

"Love." she said. Gaara blinked. "You promised you'd protect me, right?" Gaara's face went pink and he nodded. "Why?" Gaara blinked.

"What?"

"Why do you want to protect me?" she asked with a smile. Gaara swallowed and his face turned redder. Rin poked his kanji again. She smiled up at him before turning to leave. "Come on. We're going to be late for class." Gaara swallowed and followed her. From that day on Rin never covered the scar and always wore long sleeve shirts with sections cut out where the scar was and in the same spot on the other side.

Rin knocked on the door and a moment later Kankurō poked his head out.

"Oh it's you again." He groaned. Rin stuck her tongue out at him. He frowned and stuck his out at her. Rin saw Temari walk into the room behind Kankurō and stopped before Temari saw her. Temari opened the door more so Rin could come in.

"You're such a child." Temari said to her brother as she shook her head.

"But she-! You're only a year older than me!" He shouted.

"Stop being so loud." Temari said with a glare. "Gaara's in his room." She told Rin. Rin walked past her. She turned and stuck her tongue out at Kankurō who pointed at her.

"She's doing it again!" He shouted. Before Temari could turn around Rin was out of sight.

…

Rin giggled to herself as she walked to Gaara's room. She knocked on the door before opening it. He was sitting on his bed with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed. Rin smirked and tiptoed in. Gaara opened one eye.

"You're not very good at sneaking." he said. "You should pay more attention in class." Rin pouted and crossed her arms.

"Dang it." She said as she sat on the bed. She let herself fall back so her head was in front of him. He looked down at her with still only one eye open as she smiled up at him. A small smile came to his face and Rin grinned. He closed his eye and didn't open them again until he felt Rin's fingers brush against his cheeks. He looked down at her as she continued to smile up at him.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Rin shrugged her shoulders and moved her fingers to go through his hair. Gaara closed his eyes and let out a silent content sigh.

"We should have a sleep over." she said. Gaara blinked. "We could have it at my place. Mom will make an extra plate for you." Gaara opened his mouth for a brief moment before closing it. "If Kenta's a jerk we can just eat in my room." Gaara nodded. "Great! I'll tell mom when I get home." Rin said with a smile. Rin took her hands from Gaara's hair, making him frown slightly, and reached into her pocket to get her music player. She offered Gaara the headphones that were around her neck. He took them as she found a song. Gaara stared at the headphones instead of putting them on and Rin tilted her head as she looked up at him with a frown. "What's wrong?" Gaara looked at her. "We used to listen together all the time."

"We were six." He said.

"Yeah, and? We're only four years older." Rin said. She didn't understand until she noticed his cheeks going pink. When they used to listen to music the two would have to hug each other in order to listen to it with the single pair of headphones. "You're right, they probably won't fit both of us anymore." she said with a nervous chuckle. Gaara handed Rin the headphones back and she sat up. "So whacha wanna do?" she asked as she turned to face him. Gaara was silent. Rin frowned for a moment before smirking. Gaara raised a brow in curiosity and a moment later Rin was tickling his stomach. He bit his lip and tried to move away as Rin laughed. He didn't trust his voice at that moment so he resorted to tickling her back to get her to stop. Rin squeaked and tried to get away from his fingers as she continued to tickle him. Gaara started to grin as Rin slowly started to stop tickling him. When she stopped completely he kept going until she was near tears. He stopped and looked down at her with a smirk. She slowly stopped laughing and looked up at him as she wiped away a few tears. Gaara reached down to wipe away one she missed. He let himself fall next to her and she turned to hug him. He was tense for a moment but eventually relaxed and put his arms around her, pulling her closer and burying his nose in her hair.

I think that was a nice long chapter. Hope you all enjoyed. BIG thank you to every reviewer! ^_^