"I've said it before, but you really are an idiot." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes.

Gaara was too deep in thought to pay attention to Shikamaru's insults. He just shrugged.

"She said she loved you?" Shikamaru repeated what Gaara had said earlier, his voice incredulous.

"Yes," Gaara replied, studying his faded denim-covered knees in an attempt to avoid Shikamaru's judgmental stare.

"And you said…?"

"I said we were enemies." Gaara said helplessly, "And she ran off, crying."

"Are you still taking this war seriously? I thought you two were just flirting."

"Flirting?" Gaara repeated, his face blank.

"Gaara doesn't know how to flirt." Temari interjected.

"I can see that now." Shikamaru took a sip of his tea and surveyed the teenager sitting next to him.

They were all sitting in Gaara's living room (he had bought the house and allowed his siblings to live him), Temari sprawled on Shikamaru's left, legs tucked underneath her, chin resting on her boyfriend's shoulder. Gaara was fidgety, his legs twitching restlessly, his eyes flicking from side to side as though searching for an escape.

"Look, Gaara… Sakura likes you. Obviously. I guess you don't like her back?" Shikamaru dared to ask, his mug of tea warming his hands up quite nicely.

Gaara looked away from his knees long enough to glare at him. "I don't hate her. She's funny. I had fun with the war. But now I don't know what she wants."

"You kissed her, Gaara," Temari said with a hint of exasperation in her voice, "You can't blame her for thinking you cared!"

"I kissed her three times, actually," Gaara resumed his fierce staring competition with his knees, "And I do care."

"Three times," Temari shook her head, frustrated, "You kissed her three times. Perfect."

"And that's not all." Shikamaru grinned lazily, "He also told her not to go out with Sasuke and that he didn't want her to kiss anyone else."

"Gaara." Temari said his name like a curse and dropped her head back down onto Shikamaru's shoulder.

"What exactly do you want from her?" Kankuro spoke up for the first time.

Gaara didn't answer, seemingly fascinated by the thread in his jeans.

"How would you feel if she went back out with Sasuke?" Kankuro asked cautiously.

Gaara looked up at that, his mouth open in a silent snarl, "What? Did she tell you that? Is she?"

Shikamaru laughed.

"No! Jeez, calm down. So, we've established you don't want her to go out with anyone else." Kankuro said, his tone like a therapist who'd finally achieved a breakthrough.

"I just don't like the Uchiha." Gaara said stubbornly.

"Great. That's just peachy. What if… I went out with Sakura?" Kankuro said, pointing at himself with both thumbs.

For a moment Gaara just stared at Kankuro, the intensity of his gaze and the sudden underlying threat of violence hanging in the air making his older brother nervous. Then Gaara seemed to realise what he was doing and he scoffed lightly.

"I don't care." Gaara said firmly.

"Great! I'll ask her out then. She seems vulnerable at the moment. She'll definitely say yes." Kankuro said, his eyes fixed on Gaara's face to pick out his reaction.

Gaara turned his head slowly and pinned Kankuro with a chilling glare, "Like I said. I don't care. Stop trying to manipulate me. Ask her out. If you really want to."

If you really want to was said like if you feel brave enough.

Temari made a throat-slitting gesture and widened her eyes at Kankuro. He got the message.

"You know what?" Kankuro said carefully, "I don't think I will ask her out, after all."

Gaara didn't smile, but the frostiness of his glare lessened a bit.

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Little shreds of paper landed in the bin neatly as Sakura ripped up her essay, groaning. This was the third attempt she had shredded. Her mind was more complicated things than Hamlet and Ophelia's relationship. She just couldn't concentrate on her English homework.

She sat back down at her desk with a thump. Her pen scratched out rough words. She circled them absently. She blinked in surprise when she registered what she had written. Gaara Gaara Gaara.

Shit.

She hurriedly crossed out the offending words and glared at the smudges of ink that now covered the boy who she had been trying to forget's name.

Gaara.

The delinquent with hard eyes, knuckles scraped raw from fighting, ripped clothes and a general air of danger.

How could she have been stupid enough to fall for someone like that? Someone who had spread her private life around carelessly, someone who had shown his lack of care for her, a boy who had hurt her so much it was as though she carried around a constant ache in her chest.

There was a quiet knock on her door.

Her mother entered the room, her hair tied up in a loose ponytail, her sleeves pushed up.

"Sakura, dinner will be ready soon." She said, eyeing the screwed up pieces of paper in the bin.

"OK, I'll be down in a bit." Sakura tried to smile back, feeling her mouth tremble.

Her mother had always been perceptive.

"What's wrong?" She frowned and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

Sakura looked away, her jaw clenched. Her eyes felt sore from all of the secret crying she had done in her room that morning, ever since she came home after being so thoroughly rejected.

"Mum? If – if a guy you like kisses you, and acts jealous if you like someone else, but doesn't want to be with you… what should you do?" Sakura asked, her eyes seeking comfort as she looked into her mother's face.

The older woman paused. She had privately assumed Sakura would not bother with romance and what she herself had deemed, 'the infantile problems of teenagers,' and had been relieved that her daughter would never feel the need to come to her for advice on matters of the heart. How could she advise her daughter when her own marriage had failed?

She sighed, and wiped away Sakura's tears.

"It sounds like you like this person more than he likes you. Teenage relationships are hard, honey. Sometimes girls want more than boys want to give. Sometimes boys want girls to give something they don't want to. If this boy likes being close to you but doesn't want to commit, maybe he isn't worth crying about." Her mother spoke from experience. She pulled Sakura to her and hugged her gently.

Sakura laid her head on her mother's shoulder and breathed in slowly. Comforting, familiar Mum-smells, disinfectant, spices and perfume. She pressed her face harder into the soft wool of her mother's shirt, knowing she was shaking and wishing she could stop.

"Yeah," She said, and her voice sounded hoarse and weak even to her, "Maybe."

"Relationships are all about give and take, Sakura," Her mother said softly, "You shouldn't be prepared to give this boy anything that he wouldn't give you. Even if he seems like a nice guy now, trust me, teenage boys can act like the nicest people on Earth when they want to. I don't want you to get hurt, honey."

Gaara didn't act like a nice guy. He got into fights, he skipped school and drank beer and kissed –

It means I don't want you to kiss anyone else.

That was all Gaara was prepared to offer her. Stolen kisses every now and then, maybe he'd be kind enough to drag her out of school, open a bottle of beer and watch as she tried to drink it, an amused smirk on his face all the while.

Even Sasuke had offered her more than that. She'd been his girlfriend, he'd been her boyfriend. Simple.

Maybe Gaara didn't think she was good enough for him.

Sakura could easily recall the expensive, lavish office Gaara's father had spoken to her in, the large oil paintings hanging up, the crystal decorations, the chandelier. His father himself, dressed to kill in an obviously costly suit, his shoes newly shined and his silk tie perfectly straight.

He'd sat there and eyed her, and priced up her entire life and judged her to be worthless. Even for a son he cared nothing about, she was still not good enough for him.

And no matter how Gaara tried to separate himself from the wealthy lifestyle he had come from, it clung to him in the way the teachers hung on to his every word, the way the students scattered when he approached, the way he'd found Sakura's attempts at being threatening funny.

Maybe she really wasn't good enough for him.

Gaara had been able to buy the teachers and have the school eat out of the palm of his hand, sometimes Sakura struggled to pay for her school lunch.

She was a typical geek, obsessed with studying and grades and following the rules. He obviously didn't care whether he passed or failed and he hated following the rules.

The Student Body President was never meant to be with the delinquent. She was meant to be alone, her head buried in a book, her shiny new golden sash tightening and constricting her with the rules and restrictions Gaara so hated.

Even if Gaara had been willing to start a relationship with her, how could it have possibly worked? They were far too different. They knew nothing about each other. Well, scratch that, she knew nothing about him, whilst he knew far too much about her.

Her mother gently moved away from Sakura's tight hug, her expression still concerned.

"Sakura? Your father called for you yesterday, when you were out. I wasn't sure whether or not to tell you…"

Her father sent birthday and Christmas cards like clockwork, but he never ever called.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, I think he just wanted to talk to you." Her mother replied, studying her.

Sakura paused. "You can tell him he's four years too late."

"Sakura!" Her mother gasped, face unhappy and shocked. Whoops. Was that something she wouldn't normally say?

She was about to take it back when she saw Gaara's face in her mind, his bare eyebrow raised coolly as though asking, why are you letting him walk all over you again? He didn't want you four years ago and he still doesn't want you now.

Sakura sucked in a breath. The truth hurts.

"I'm going out, Mum." Sakura said in a low voice, grabbing her coat.

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Ten minutes later and she already regretted leaving the house without gloves or a scarf.

It was so cold that the air stung her exposed hands and face, turning her cheeks pink and making her breath come out in clouds.

"So, I hear my brother's an idiot." Kankuro said casually from behind her.

She squeaked in shock and nearly fell over, grabbing one of the neighbour's fences for support. She turned to face the source of her shock.

Kankuro stood before her, loosely gripping a bag bulging with clinking bottles of dark-coloured liquid, his face fresh and uncovered by Kabuki face-paint. He wore a hoodie with two hands dangling a puppet on the front.

"Aaah." She said quietly, her heat beating furiously.

Now Kankuro was looking amused, "Aaah? Did you just whisper-scream? I'm not that scary."

"Says you." Sakura muttered darkly, tucking her hair behind her ear self-consciously. She really didn't want to get into an argument with Gaara's big brother. Not after she'd decided not to bother with Gaara after all.

Kankuro tilted his head and studied her. She shifted awkwardly under his calculating gaze and glared at him.

"Do you love Gaara?" Kankuro asked bluntly.

Sakura spluttered, wheezed indignantly and shook her head fiercely.

"No?" Kankuro looked rather amused.

Sakura continued to shake her head, ignoring her blushing cheeks.

"Don't get all verbally constipated on me now Haruno, I kind of need to know this." Kankuro raised one eyebrow at her.

Sakura flapped her hands at him and tried to fire up her brain again, which had frozen at the mention of love.

"No." She finally said firmly, pointing at him for emphasis.

"Oh really? 'Cause Gaara told me something different." Kankuro said slowly.

Words failing her, Sakura turned on her heel and rather awkwardly made her escape, slipping away alarmingly fast on the ice.

To her horror, she looked to her side and saw Kankuro casually jogging beside her, not even out of breath.

"Gaara's never been a relationship." Kankuro said, cutting in front of Sakura and ignoring her furious glare, "He doesn't understand love. He was brought up to think of it as a weakness, as something people would use against him."

"Well, I wasn't brought up that way so that's one more reason we shouldn't be together." Sakura said angrily, trying to sidestep Kankuro only to have him nimbly dart in her path again.

"Sakura?" Kankuro looked at her closely, disbelief colouring his features as he caught sight of her face, "Are you – are you crying?"

Kankuro had never seen the tough, composed ice-queen Student Body President ever yawn, let alone cry, and yet there she was, standing in the middle of the street, tears trickling down her face even as she angrily tried to scrub them away.

"No!" She said fiercely, "I'm – I'm just… God, just leave me alone, Kankuro." She said, suddenly weary.

"Oi! Look, just calm down! I'm trying to explain why Gaara couldn't understand when you said you loved him! He's all hung up on this war between you, in his world he only cares about what's fun for him, and anything that gets boring he gets rid of. He doesn't want to get rid of you, obviously, but he's worried that without the war he'll get bored again. And a bored Gaara is not something you want to see, trust me." Kankuro held his hands up in a placatory gesture.

"Wow, I'm really sold now, let me go ask him out now." Sakura gave a sarcastic clap.

"Tell your brother he can stick his stupid war. Let him get bored, poor baby. Maybe he'll leave me alone and I won't have to fear for my secrets or whether or not my friends are secretly feeding information about me to him." Sakura shoved past Kankuro and started to walk off.

"He loves you, Sakura." Kankuro said softly.

Sakura flinched. Slowly, she turned round to face the older boy. It was his turn to flinch when he saw the raw pain in her face.

"Then why didn't he say it back?" Sakura said coldly, "Why did he let me leave? I'll tell you why. Because he's a spoilt little rich boy who doesn't care about anything but getting his own way. Other people's feelings get in the way of his fun. He doesn't love me, Kankuro. He finds messing with me fun. That's it. I was stupid enough to fall for it."

This time when Kankuro tried to block her way she just swerved around him and walked away.

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Sakura stormed down the halls of the school the next day, her golden sash glittering and her whistle bouncing on her chest as she charged. Her face was determined.

Reasons not to be with Gaara.

"Detention, Inuzuka, don't think I can't see that dog in your shirt," Sakura pointed at the offending student and his dog as she passed.

He has a violent reputation.

Students were hurriedly tucking in their shirts as she passed, pulling at their ties and desperately trying to hide cigarettes. The school had gotten the message. It didn't matter how rich and powerful your parents were, Haruno Sakura would punish you for any rule-breaking.

Gaara was proof of that.

He published all of my secrets.

Sakura could see Hinata talking quietly with Naruto and Ino. Ino poked Naruto in the chest and gave him a scornful look whilst snapping something at him. Whatever it was she said Naruto obviously didn't like because he batted Ino's finger away from his chest and started gesturing furiously.

He gets bored easily.

Ino put her hands on her hips and glared at Naruto. Hinata was looking nervously between the two. Sakura frowned and started to walk towards them.

He hurt me.

Tenten smiled at her as she passed. Sakura felt pleasantly surprised. Before, only Hinata had smiled at her in the hallway.

Sakura was just thinking about how nice it was to have friends when she got closer to Ino, Naruto and Hinata and realised Gaara was standing opposite them, staring in their direction whilst leaning against the lockers.

Gaara.

He doesn't love me.

Sakura had frozen in the middle of the hallway at the sight of Gaara, a few students bumped into her and scurried away, fearful of her piercing whistle and cavalier attitude to giving out detentions.

Gaara's hair wasn't spiked up as usual, it was neatly flat compared to the messy, ruffled style he always wore it in, He wasn't wearing any eyeliner either, and his eyes looked tired without the usual ring of black around them. His arms were folded and he was frowning slightly as he watched Ino and Naruto argue.

The sounds of the other students faded away until all Sakura could hear was a dull roar in her ears that seemed to be getting louder and louder.

Gaara's eyes slipped from Ino's face and across the lockers, his gaze moving in Sakura's direction.

He first glimpsed Sakura's shoes, neat and shining as always. Sakura watched, unable to move despite the emotions raging inside her, as Gaara stiffened in recognition. His eyes slowly swept up her white tights, the knee-length plaid skirt, the crisp, freshly ironed blouse, the glittering sash across her chest, the whistle around her neck until he finally reached her face.

He doesn't – Sakura tried to repeat inside her mind, even her own mental voice sounding weak. She could remember firmly thinking to herself at home about how when she saw Gaara again she was going to be civil to him and she wouldn't freak out.

She took a step backwards.

Ino very distinctly said, "Bitch, please," and looked away from Naruto, her face exasperated. She spotted Sakura standing in the middle of the hallway, looking shocked. Ino saw Gaara take a step towards her.

Ino's face hardened. She didn't know what Gaara's problem was, but she knew he and Sakura had been feuding for a while but they'd been spotted kissing recently. Ino had been worried when she'd heard about that. She knew Gaara had been expelled but Sakura had persuaded the teachers to give him another chance. Ino scowled at the redhead. If he thought she'd just stand by and let him hurt her friend he was an idiot.

But Sakura took one look at Gaara walking her way and ran.

Gaara had every intention of chasing her if not for the hand that suddenly shot out and seized his arm.

Yamanaka Ino had grabbed him, her long nails digging into his skin and her pretty face murderous.

"What do you think you're playing at? Why was Sakura so upset?" Ino demanded.

Naruto had been angry with Ino before but he now stood next to her, anxious that Gaara would get violent if the blonde girl pushed him too far.

"I don't understand it much myself. Let go of me." Gaara said calmly, though he was itching to find Sakura.

"Not until you tell me why Sakura just ran away from you." Ino said stubbornly.

Gaara sighed.

"I kissed her," He began, his eyes looking far away as though he was lost in his memories, "A few times. I told her not to go out with Sasuke. I told her not to kiss anyone else. She asked me if we were 'boyfriend and girlfriend.' I said no, she cried and ran off. Now she won't talk to me. Now let go of me."

Ino's grip loosened and Gaara pulled his arm away.

"You told her not to go out with Sasuke?" Naruto repeated, scowling.

Gaara regarded Naruto coolly for a moment and snorted.

"You didn't tell her Sasuke was using her?" Gaara said in the same indignant tone Naruto had used. When Naruto looked suitably abashed, Gaara laughed derisively.

Ino glared at him darkly.

He went to go after Sakura, irritated that he'd been delayed this long, when a little voice piped up.

"Please don't upset Sakura-chan." Hinata said quietly, her cheeks flushed and her eyes averted.

Gaara stared at her so long she squeaked and turned bright red.

"Fine." He said finally, walking away from the three of them.

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Sakura burst into the staffroom and slammed the door behind her.

Kakashi, Anko and Genma stared at her.

"Hi. Do you have any jobs for me?" Sakura asked desperately. This was the one place Gaara could not follow her, if she could just hide out here –

"Nope," Kakashi said brightly, "Kurenai made us all do it ourselves. She said using you was child labour."

Sakura stared at him blankly.

"Ridiculous," She said finally, "You must have some paperwork, at least."

"I did all of that!" Genma said proudly.

Sakura gave him a withering look.

"I could do the register for all of the –"

"I did that like an hour ago." Anko interrupted her, scooting around the office on her swivel chair to get a better look at Sakura.

"Letters!" Sakura burst out frantically, "Grading papers, I could tidy the office, er, I could- "

"Kurenai did all that," Kakashi said, now sounding slightly concerned, "If you really want to work, why don't you supervise the kids in detention?"

"Oh." Sakura said, feeling deflated, "I guess so."

"Great! I was supposed to do that. Don't tell Kurenai." Kakashi winked at her.

Genma sniggered.

"The next detention's in an hour." Kakashi said.

"There goes my lunch break." Sakura scowled. She couldn't complain, she'd wanted to work. She'd just hoped it would be in the staffroom.

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Detention was no longer just a few scholarship kids in one classroom; the sheer amount of students Sakura was punishing had forced the teachers to expand the detaining areas. She was not looking forward to confronting a room full of angry rich kids that she had put there.

Sakura pushed open the door and slipped inside, slightly late because her last lesson had only just finished. As she had expected, the students were already misbehaving, throwing paper and shouting at each other.

"Settle down!" Sakura said authoritatively, walking into the room and sitting down at the desk at the front of the room.

The students all sat down, grumbling.

Sakura smirked to herself – the students obviously hated her, but they all did as she asked anyway. Would they do the same for any of the real teachers?

Sakura tapped her pen against the desk, bored. She looked up to make sure none of the students were passing notes or doing anything that could be classed as fun.

Gaara was sat at one of the desks, staring at her.

Sakura dropped her pen.

"Class, I'm going to be a few minutes, talk amongst yourselves." Sakura said abruptly, pushing back her chair with a screech and moving towards the door.

"Sakura." Gaara said, standing up hastily.

"Don't follow me." Sakura said quietly.

Sakura had fully intended to get one of the teachers to cover for her with the detention and then go home, but before she knew it she was heading to the roof.

The roof was where she went to think, mostly. Hinata and her and hid up there many times, just to talk away from other students. It was where Sakura had gone the day after Ino had shouted at her in the hallway and she suddenly had no friends. The roof had become a sort of safe haven. Students rarely went up there and if they did they never stayed for too long.

The roof was also the place where Sakura had cried in front of Sasuke for the first time.

She could hear Gaara's footsteps behind her even as she opened the door to the roof.

She ignored him and sat down on the bench where she always sat, breathing out slowly to calm herself down.

The door creaked open again and Gaara stepped onto the roof.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend," He blurted out as though fearing Sakura would interrupt him, "That's what you want, isn't it?"

Sakura stared at him. Was he mocking her?

"Yes," She said slowly, "But that's not what you want."

"I've asked around." Gaara said, gazing intently at her face, "If you were my girlfriend, you would never kiss anyone else. That's what I want."

Sakura put her head in her hands and groaned lightly.

"If you ever get the chance," Sakura said, standing up, "Ask Sasuke what having me as a girlfriend is like."

Gaara's eyes hardened, "Sakura, I'm asking you to be with me."

"Yes Gaara, but you don't know what that means! You don't! You think being boyfriend and girlfriend would mean I would never kiss anyone else and that would be it! Well, that's not what I want. I want to see you all the time and sit next to you in class, I want to go to your house and be friends with your family, I want you to meet my mother, I want to go out with someone who loves me back and would offer me more than just kisses!" Sakura ranted.

Gaara's eyes widened in surprise, "…You want me to meet your mother?"

"I know what your real problem is," Sakura said shakily, "You're perfectly happy to kiss me on park benches and in school, but you wouldn't want to be with someone like me. I'm difficult. I'm a bitch. You have more money than you could ever spend, if you were with someone like me, you'd be laughed at."

Sakura felt her shoulders slump dejectedly. She wasn't good enough for Gaara. She could finally see that now.

She gasped as her back hit the wall next to the roof door. Gaara pinned her there firmly, but not hard enough to hurt.

"Don't assume things about me," Gaara said sternly, "You don't know anything. It's true that if I turned up to a fancy event my father hosted with you on my arm, I'd be laughed at. But that wouldn't be because of you. It would be because those people are morons."

Sakura tried to look away from his stern face just inches from her own.

She jumped when he placed his hands on either side of her head and leaned in.

"This is all you want, isn't it?" She said, glaring into his eyes as he got closer, "Kisses. My mother warned me about you."

"Did she? She sounds like a smart woman." Gaara said, never once taking his eyes off of hers.

"I'm not the kind of girl who'll waste her time pining after someone who doesn't love her back, so let's call this quits, yeah?" Sakura smoothly ducked under Gaara's arm and made for the door.

"I surrender." Gaara said softly.

Sakura froze, hand on the door, "What?" She said weakly.

"I surrender this war. Now we aren't Student Body President and a criminal anymore," Gaara said frankly, "I don't want the war anymore. I want you."

I'M SO SORRY FOR THIS HORRENDOUSLY LATE UPDATE! I've been so busy with uni! I'm also sorry about this massively humongous chapter, lol!

Quick poll take: Who has the best character design in Naruto?

A) Naruto

B) Hinata

C) Tsunade

D) Other! Let me know!