He looked up at you and blinked twice. Your eyes widened and you immediately scrambled off him. He stood up and looked anywhere but right at you. Everything was quiet for a few minutes. "Uh, hi..." you said with a cough.

He didn't reply. Suddenly, there was a clap and Kioko came out of her hiding spot.

"Well, we're going to... uh... get... get... get some... snacks! Yes, we're going to get some snacks. We'll be back in uh... I don't know, later!" She grabbed her purse and motioned for everyone to follow. There was along, awkward silence after they left.

"So... why are you here?" you croaked out.

"Ms. Owen said the story was due Monday..." he whispered.

Forgetting everything about this awkward moment, you exclaimed in shock, "Are you serious?! Damn!" You bit the bend in your finger. "Wait a minute... how'd you know where I lived?" you asked suspiciously.

"I, uh, went to the front office and asked... "

You snorted. It shouldn't be that easy. What if he was some kind of crazy rapist that wanted to murder her? To think that they would just hand out your address to any person that asked enraged you. You were going to have a nice little chat with them, come Monday,

"Oh, well, let's, uh, go out back. We really need to talk."

"Yeah..." he agreed, obediently following you. Once outside, you chose a shady place, under a tree. There was a small lake in their back yard; it was looking right on it. He sat down next to you.

At that point in time, you had pushed the fact that you had not seen him in over five years to the back of your mind, and you grabbed hold of his upper arm and leaned your head on the crook of his neck.

"Why?" you whispered loud enough for him to hear. "Why did you leave without a goodbye? Why did you not say anything when you saw me for the first time in five years?! What did I do to make you hate me?!" you had practically screamed the last question. Tears were now streaming down your flushed face. He was silent for a while.

"The day before I left, my uncle, Yashamaru, tried to assassinate me. He told me that everyone wanted me dead. He said… he said... that even... even you hated me..." He tried to hide it by turning his head, but you still saw the sparkle of a tear glitter in the moonlight. You hugged his arm tighter.

"Gaara-kun, you know I don't, didn't, and could never hate you." He looked down at you and smiled. A real smile. The first genuine smile he's had since he last saw her.

"How come you never said anything to me?" he inquired in return. Your eyes moved towards the ground, and you played with a blade of grass.

"Because, I was mad, mad that you left without letting me know, without a goodbye. You just disappeared, and I had no idea why. I wondered off again, looking for you, and I stumbled upon Kioko, kind of like I stumbled upon you. Except she didn't have a wall of sand blocking her body." You joked. You both chuckled a bit.

"Anyway, we became really good friends, and her mom felt bad that I didn't have a home to go to when it got dark, so she took it upon herself to be my mom. It's quite troublesome..." You both sat there quietly, listening to the crickets, chirping away their happy, troubleless lives.

"You've grown so much." You said, trying to make conversation. He looked at you for a minute, trying to get over how random that was, and then he looked you up and down.

"Well what about you? You've got boobies now!" he replied without thinking. You just laughed and stood up.

"Well, we better go and get started on that damn story. What was the topic again?"

"Whatever we wanted, but it had to be a real life experience..."

"Hmm... what story do you want to write about?" you pondered this... thinking about random things that happened to you, that would make a short story...

"What about... our story?" The way he said it, so innocently, just made you smile. Without hesitation, you embraced him in a tight hug.

"Okay!"