She could see the thin, lithe Ino catching up with Sasuke, his tall, muscular form towering over her. Nevertheless, Ino pushed herself to keep up, having caught Sakura's desperation and realised the truth.

The clouds were steely grey and rolled across the entire sky, blocking out every trace of blue.

"Ino! I'm not being forced into anything! I love Gaara!" Sakura shouted.

She could see Ino repeating her words to Sasuke, who shook his head and sped up. Sakura felt a surge of anger. What, did they think she was too weak and wimpy to say no to Gaara when he asked her out? She had rejected him! More than once!

Sakura quickly had to stop for a rest, panting. She could see Ino and Sasuke getting smaller and smaller, disappearing across the track field.

It was freezing cold and Sakura's panting came out in clouds.

"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled desperately, cupping her hands around her mouth, her voice echoing across the field, "If you touch my boyfriend I will kill you!"

Sasuke stopped and turned back to look at her. Sakura could barely see his face from the distance, but she could certainly hear him bellow, "I'm doing this for you!"

"Like hell you are!" She repeated, taking off again.

She was supposed to protect Gaara like he protected her… He couldn't fight Sasuke back, he'd be expelled and Sasuke would get away with it…

Sakura felt a new burst of energy and hurtled forward. She wasn't an athlete, she never exercised, she was much more at home in her room with her books rather than running on a track field.

And yet, there she was, running with all her might, whistle bouncing on her chest and panting. She could not let Gaara get hurt because of her… Never.

I won't let him hurt you. Gaara had said that to her earlier that day, fully intending to defend her if he needed to.

Well, she would do the same for him.

She finally crossed the field and burst into the school, looking around wildly.

"You!" She pointed at a younger student, who yelped in surprise and actually backed away a bit, "Have you seen a tall guy with dark spiky hair and a blonde girl in gym clothes?"

He nodded, still looking terrified.

"Where?" Sakura asked desperately. At this rate –

The younger boy pointed towards the canteen.

"Ah! Brilliant, thank you!" Sakura bestowed one of her rare smiles upon him, not noticing his eyes go wide in shock.

She tore off in the direction of the canteen. Of course Gaara would be in there, it was lunch time, she'd skipped hers to try and find Ino…

She slowed down upon finally reaching the canteen and entered cautiously, expecting to see a bloodbath.

Gaara was calmly eating his lunch with Shikamaru and Temari as Sasuke shouted at him, Ino hanging off him helplessly.

Sakura was ridiculously relieved that there was nothing violent taking place – and the only teacher present, Genma, was doing his best to ignore Sasuke's shouting – and hurried over to Gaara's table.

She reached over and seized Sasuke by his tracksuit jacket and swung him around to face her.

"What's this?" She growled, "Shouting? Disturbing the other students? Threatening another student? Detention!"

She leaned in closer and hissed, "I said, don't touch my boyfriend."

Sasuke glared back at her, "Have you gone mad? This is the guy who tortured you for fun! You cried!"

Gaara put down his sandwich and stared at the back of Sasuke's head until he turned around to look back at him. Shikamaru looked uneasy, Temari was all set to leap out of her chair and defend her brother.

"You forced her into this, didn't you?" Sasuke spat at Gaara.

Gaara took a deep breath and slowly unclenched his fists.

"Actually, he didn't. He may be a lot of things, but my brother would never force Sakura into anything." Temari said seriously, standing up, "Congratulations, Sakura, I always thought you'd make a nice sister."

Sakura was touched, "Really?"

"Yeah, so relax, you big idiot." Ino wheezed, still doing her best to drag Sasuke away and not managing to even shift him an inch, to her embarrassment.

"You… you weren't forced?" Sasuke said, looking at Sakura, confused.

"Of course not! As if he could force me to do anything!" Sakura shook her head.

Gaara smirked.

Unfortunately, Sasuke saw the smirk and grew enraged, "You bastard, I know Sakura. She'd never associate with someone like you. A criminal."

"Sasuke, I will hit you so hard." Sakura glared at him. Nothing she said seemed to penetrate the protective wall of stupidity that surrounded him. He was determined to believe that Sakura hadn't chosen this, that it had been forced upon her.

Gaara stood up abruptly.

"Get out of my way." He said quietly, his eyes blazing.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and stood his ground. Ino let go of Sasuke's neck instantly and slithered to the ground, more than a little terrified of Gaara in a rage.

"You're in my way." Gaara said, beginning to scowl.

"I know I've done some unforgivable things, Sakura," Sasuke said, addressing her without looking at her, "But I still don't want to see you hurt. If you go out with this guy then you will get hurt."

"Stop talking to her as though you care," Gaara said viciously, "Because she doesn't care about you."

Sasuke flinched, "You –"

"In fact, she hates you," Gaara carried on ruthlessly. He looked at Sakura, "Isn't that right, Sakura?"

Gaara was angry, she realised.

Sasuke was staring at her, a naked kind of vulnerability obvious on his face.

But Gaara was subtly appealing to her – he wanted her to side with him, obviously and in public, so Sasuke would have no choice but to think of Gaara and Sakura as a couple, not enemies, on the same side.

"Yes." Sakura whispered, feeling truly awful.

Sasuke was seething with rage, he brought his leg up to kick Gaara, lightning-quick. Sakura gasped, Gaara moved back slightly –

Rock Lee seized Sasuke's leg with ease. He looked at them all steadily, blushing slightly. "Please do not fight," He said formally, "I do believe you are upsetting, um, Sa-Sakura-san…" He said with difficulty.

They all looked at Sakura, Sasuke wobbling slightly on only one leg.

"I'm not upset, just angry." Sakura clarified.

"Get the fuck off of me." Sasuke growled, trying to pry Lee's fingers off his leg. They remained where they were, his grip like steel.

Neji came over, his face like thunder.

"Lee," He said, exasperated, "You idiot, let go."

"Oh!" Lee let Sasuke's leg fall abruptly, wincing when Sasuke let out a pained yelp, "I am so very sorry, Sasuke-san! As punishment for this gross overestimation of –"

"You're both in my way now." Gaara interrupted them both.

Lee backed out of the way respectfully.

Sasuke stood his ground, glaring at both Lee and Gaara. He rubbed his leg resentfully. Shikamaru half-rose from his seat, looking panicked. Temari's eyes were on Sakura, coolly assessing the other girl's reaction.

Neji tugged Lee away, but not before he glared, hard, at Sakura, to her bewilderment.

Gaara lost his patience and shoved Sasuke out of the way, the taller boy stumbling back.

Sakura saw Genma rise from his chair slowly, his eyes fixed on Gaara.

Sasuke's mouth flashed into a smirk for a split second, before he shoved Gaara back.

Gaara's face darkened with rage, and his hands clenched into fists again -

"Sasuke!" Sakura intervened, darting between them, her hands outstretched, "Let's go have a chat, yeah?"

Sasuke paused, examining her face. He looked over her shoulder at a thoroughly pissed off Gaara, and smirked.

"Fine." He said, something like triumph flashing in his dark eyes, though he appeared indifferent.

Sakura winced at the look on Gaara's face as she walked away with Sasuke - he was not happy. At all.

Genma sat back down as the tension in the room lessened and Sakura and Sasuke disappeared through the cafeteria door.

Gaara charged forward, fully intending to follow the two of them, when Temari caught his sleeve and shook her head slightly.

"If she still likes that moron, she's welcome to him. If she's just getting him away from you to stop you getting into a fight, then good on her. Either way, let her go with him." Temari said sternly.

Gaara looked away from his sister's serious expression, his jaw clenched in anger.

"Sakura doesn't love Sasuke anymore, don't worry 'bout it, Gaara." Shikamaru said lazily, his anxiety dissipating the moment Sakura took control of the situation.

Gaara closed his eyes. "And what would you know about Sakura, Shikamaru?" He said calmly, despite his twitching, clenched fists.

Shikamaru frowned, confused, "What do you mean? We're friends."

"Friends." Gaara looked down at his fists, "Then why am I so angry?"

Temari looked between her boyfriend and her brother a few times, "Gaara, what's wrong?"

Gaara had turned around, still seething with rage, but had stopped himself from shouting at Shikamaru when he saw Temari's face. He should not infect her with his jealousy. That was all it was, he told himself. Jealousy, a feeling of strong envy towards someone or something. It didn't matter that he could sense something between Sasuke and Sakura whenever they were near each other.

It didn't matter.

"Nothing," Gaara shook his head, swallowing back his anger and his secret fear, "Nothing's wrong."

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Sasuke pulled her into the first empty corridor he could find, pressing her against the wall before she had the chance to react.

"You wanted to chat," Sasuke said, his eyes burning down at her in the dark gloom of the hallway, "So chat."

Sakura squirmed furiously, angry with him for manhandling her and angry with herself for not seeing this coming.

She kicked him in his sore leg, right where Lee had gripped him. He swore and moved away from her to clutch his leg.

"I don't know about you, but I find it difficult to chat when I've got someone I hate hanging all over me." Sakura said scathingly.

His face grew colder at the word, 'hate.' He let his leg fall back to the ground when he was sure it was not bruised, and tilted his head, the dark spikes of his hair tucked against his collar.

He was so familiar to her - this boy who had infected her dreams and her heart for four years, with his dark hair and eyes, his pale, expressionless face. It was difficult to believe that it had ended the way it did, with the relationship souring through his deception. Even now, Sakura had trouble getting her head around the concept of Sasuke lying to her like that, using her. Not after she'd fallen in love with him back when he was a serious little boy who had offered her his umbrella.

"Are you really going out with Gaara or is this some sick power trip he's on?" Sasuke asked, his voice low and intense.

"I'm really going out with him. I love him, Sasuke." Sakura replied honestly.

Sasuke's head dropped down a little further until Sakura could actually feel his breath on her cheek. His eyes were shadowed.

"Since when?" He asked, no inflection or colour in his voice to indicate any emotion he might be feeling. He was a closed book. Sakura couldn't read him - he could be angry, amused, upset, and she'd never know.

"We started to go out pretty recently - I guess I'd always loved him, but I only realised it after I hit you and we were talking afterwards - he was being really nice, nicer than usual, and he was cleaning my cuts and, and, I just... I knew." Sakura said, her sentences running into each other in a confused mess as she tried to gather her memories into something that made sense - not the violent hatred blending into tender love, because that didn't make sense to her.

What she felt for Gaara made no sense.

"Are you ever going to forgive me?" Sasuke asked, but it was impatience, not remorse, in his voice.

"Why should I?" Sakura raised one eyebrow disbelievingly. Was he really irritated because she wasn't forgiving him fast enough?

"Do you love him more than you loved me?" Sasuke's face came closer to hers, and she realised he was once again pressing her against the wall, though his touch was gentle now, both hands lightly grasping her elbows, the heat from his fingertips seeping through her sleeves.

Sakura hated herself as her cheeks practically glowed red, blushing furiously.

"Yes." She answered at once, looking into his eyes and seeing her own, red face reflected there. She looked angry, "Now get off."

"You loved me for four years, Sakura. That doesn't just go away."

"Oh, what would you know about it?" Sakura snapped, suddenly losing her temper for real, "Look at you! You never loved me. You've probably never loved anyone. You didn't want me for me, you wanted me to fail for you. So stop acting like you care! Stop threatening Gaara, stop pushing him, stop cornering me, just stop all of it, now."

Sasuke leaned even closer, his eyes on her mouth, "Or what?" He said quietly.

"Or I'll - I'll,"

His breath was mingling with her own.

Sakura chose to solve her current situation nonverbally.

She kneed him between his legs and stepped around him as he crumpled to the floor.

Then she blew on the whistle around her neck.

Eventually Kakashi entered the dark hallway, stopping short at the sight of the downed Uchiha.

"Oh dear." He said, his eyebrows raised, "Did Sasuke have a little accident?"

"Yep," Sakura said, hoping her blush had gone away, "An unfortunate accident in which he somehow managed to knee himself in the -"

"I see, I see. Did he deserve it?" Kakashi asked, idly scratching his cloth-covered chin, looking down at Sasuke, who was writhing on the floor in agony.

Sakura nodded fervently.

Kakashi gave a little chuckle, "The only reason you're getting away with this is because it's funny."

Sasuke made a choked noise of protest from the ground.

Kakashi shushed him cheerfully and helped him up, draping his arm around his shoulder.

He half-turned, Sasuke safely anchored in his grip. When he spoke, his tone was solemn, "You used to work too hard, and you didn't let yourself feel emotion. Now you do, and it's becoming too much for you. Be careful around this one, he seems to know all the buttons he can push to hurt you. I know us teachers might seem like we don't care, but we do."

Sakura could only nod.

Kakashi led Sasuke away.

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Sakura peeked out of the doorway. Snow was falling gently onto the courtyard. The benches had been buried under mounds of snow. The paving stones were iced over, each one covered with an icy sheen, making it too slippery to cross without hauling yourself over whilst clutching the wall.

Even though she was wearing a woolly hat, scarf and gloves, she could feel the cold very easily. It felt as though a frozen hand was stroking down her spine, making her shiver violently.

She cautiously stepped out into the courtyard. It was mostly abandoned, though she could see a few students spending their free period trying to walk across the iced-over fountain.

She shook her head in disapproval, assuming an icy bath would be enough punishment for their stupidity.

Science class was next, and she never seemed to have a enough time to get there before the late bell sounded. Mind you, she'd never get there if she didn't stop lightly sliding across the paving stones and squealing.

She took a step forward carefully, hand reaching out to touch the cold stone wall -

"Sakura-san." A polite voice said loudly behind her, making her jump.

Lee was standing behind her, holding out an umbrella. He looked serious, tall and lean, muscles obvious even through his school uniform. His overly large eyes were grave and his usually carefree expression had been replaced by a sober, humourless look.

The snow fell gently all around them. Sakura noticed just how much taller Lee was than her.

"I don't need an umbrella, thank you." Sakura waved her hand to indicate she didn't mind the snow. She was impatient to get back inside, she was absolutely freezing. At this point, she was fairly certain her toes had turned black and dropped off.

Lee pulled the umbrella back over his head wordlessly, shaking the snow out of his hair.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san." Lee said, so quietly she had to lean forward to catch it.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked, worried.

"I love you." Lee said earnestly.

Sakura felt her mind go blank. The only thought buzzing about her mind frantically was, 'What?'

She was speechless.

"I know you are with Gaara-san. I have no intention of trying to split you up. I would never wish to hurt you, Sakura-san." Lee's face was shadowed by the umbrella, but Sakura still caught a glimpse of the pain in his eyes.

Don't be so careless. You can hurt people without meaning to, you know.

Neji had warned her.

"I just wanted to tell you. I thought you deserved to know that someone thinks you are the most beautiful girl in the world. To me, you are perfect." Lee said, his eyes shining.

"Thank you for listening." He said with a small smile, "I'll go now."

He turned and walked across the courtyard, not slipping or sliding at all. He reached the doorway to the school and closed his umbrella, shaking the snow off of it.

Sakura saw his face as he entered the school. It was wet.

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Gaara shut his front door behind him and closed his eyes. Images of Sasuke and Sakura kept dancing behind his eyelids, like they were burned on his brain. How could he ignore the fact that Sakura used to love Sasuke? It was so obvious, even in the way she looked at him now, with eyes so full of pain and regret... And the way Sasuke looked back at her... Like she was the only person in the world.

Like they were meant to be together.

Gaara was not a romantic person, every romantic gesture he had instigated with Sakura had been carefully discussed with Shikamaru and Temari beforehand, but even he could see that Sakura and Sasuke were well-suited.

He hated this feeling of being on the edge of a cliff, his precarious relationship with Sakura doomed to fall at some point.

"Is that Gaara or a burglar?" Kankuro called from the kitchen, having skipped school, as per usual. Sakura had already warned Gaara that if he tried to skip school again, she would drag him there by the ear.

"It's Temari." Gaara responded dully, dumping his bag on the floor and kicking it moodily.

"Oh, hi, gimme a second, I'm making cookies." Kankuro said cheerfully.

Gaara aimed an incredulous look at the closed kitchen door. Cookies? And they had thought the puppet-making was bad.

The door opened and Kankuro came in, bearing an oven tray of steaming cookies.

Gaara rolled his eyes and took one.

"So, why the angry face, little bro?" Kankuro asked casually, depositing the tray back in the kitchen to cool.

"I'm not angry." Gaara mumbled through a mouthful of perfectly baked cookie.

"Oh yeah? Is that why Temari texted me to tell me that Sakura had gone off with Sasuke?"

Gaara felt his hands begin to clench and forced them to remain relaxed at his sides.

"She did not 'go off' with him. She went to talk to him."

"And that's why you're pissed." Kankuro said, nibbling a bit of cookie dough and giving his younger brother a knowing look.

Gaara didn't bother arguing, just threw himself down upon the settee and hoped Kankuro would leave him to stew in his anger in peace.

He did not.

Kankuro sat himself down next to Gaara, peeling off his oven gloves.

"You need to let the whole Sasuke and Sakura thing go. He ripped her heart out and tried to sell it on eBay. That sort of thing puts girls off guys." Kankuro said wisely.

"So why can he get to her like that? If he didn't mean anything to her, his pathetic attempts to get her attention wouldn't work. But they do." Gaara scowled at the ceiling.

"Listen, I'm not the person you should be talking to. I guess that's Sakura. If it helps, me and Temari totally approve of her. She's scary, but in a nice way." Kankuro shoved Gaara's shoulder affectionately.

"It's a shame our father doesn't feel the same way." Gaara said absently, his eyes still tracing patterns on the ceiling, lost in thought.

"Huh? Why do you care? You're not the one who has to go to business meetings with the old man. That's me. It's dull. I swear, four executives died in the last meeting. Just died, and no one noticed. Or if they did, they didn't care. I could be next." Kankuro said sullenly.

"Stop complaining. I smell burning, by the way." Gaara pointed to the kitchen without looking.

"My Victoria sponge cake!" Kankuro cried, leaping up and running to the kitchen.

Gaara's phoned beeped at him. He glared at it for surprising him, then flipped it open.

Matsuri is calling, the little words on his phone's screen informed him.

He pressed a button and held the phone up to his ear.

"Yes, dear?"

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Sakura got home a little earlier than usual, guilt making her steps quicker than usual. Every step she took she pictured Lee's tear-stained face. She was such a horrible person for not noticing it sooner! Neji had even warned her, glared at her! How much of a fool was she? Couldn't tell when Sasuke didn't love her, couldn't tell when Lee could!

"Sakura?" Her mother called out as she usually did. Her voice sounded strange, high-pitched.

"I'm home." Sakura called back, pushing the door shut and taking her shoes off, tapping them on the welcome mat to dislodge the more stubborn snow that was encrusted upon them after her long walk home. Her toes had officially migrated to warmer climates.

There was a rhythmic thump of heavy feet hitting the ground and the sofa squeaked as someone got off it.

"Hello, kid."

Sakura felt her face tremble and her knees weaken. It couldn't be. Not after all this time...

"Aren't you going to say hello back? Has your mother raised you with no manners? Sakura, at least do me the courtesy of looking at me."

Snow dripped off of Sakura's coat onto the welcome mat.

She lifted her head, painfully slowly.

Her father was standing in the doorway of the living room.

Yes, Kankuro bakes. Well, why not? It's cute :)

I have a soft spot for Lee, if you hadn't noticed.

Sharp-eyed readers will have spotted a Love Actually quote, my favourite one!

Sorry for updating slower than usual and for the very short chapters, best I can do around homework :(

Draaaaaaaaaama. And you thought it was ending...!

To be fair, so did I.

Anyone remember Matsuri? Quick, go back a few chapters!

Sasuke just won't slink into a dark corner and die, will he? Urgh, I control his actions in this story and he STILL pisses me off! Just shows how irritating he is, I guess :)

Quick poll take: Best plot twist in Naruto? (There will obviously be spoilers in this poll)

A) Naruto's parents being the Fourth Hokage and Kushina.

B) Itachi turning out to be good.

C) Tobi turning out to be Madara/Not Madara/Maybe Madara/Who the fuck knows?

D) Other! Let me know!