Haunted, Chapter four

Disclaimer: I do not own the manga, Naruto or any of its characters or the book "A Child Called it." by David Pelizter.

a/n: Again sorry about the late update! I know a few things might sound familiar from the book called "Child called it", I don't mean to copy it, I may have used few ideas that seem similar from the book for Itachi's "torture" for Sakura. Sorry about that. Thank to all my reviewers.

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Recap:

Sakura finally arrived at school.

The walk to school was different. No screaming ladies at their husbands, no kids shouting, no early drug dealers dealing drugs to kids, no perverts that lingered around the homeless shelter, and no pimps trying to recruit more prostitutes. The walk to school was peaceful, and she got to admire the beautiful sun rising.

She didn't arrive early, either. She arrived just in time, for school to start, and enough time to) go to her locker without getting bothered. Which was a good thing. If she arrived early, she would be a victim of early morning bullying. And that wasn't pleasant.

Maybe, it was a sign, that today would be better.

Sakura slightly smiled. She hoped.

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Chapter 4

Sakura slammed her locker door shut. There was nothing much in her locker; a small picture of her and her mother, heavy textbooks for each class, a tattered binder, and some pencils.

Her morning had gone well so far. No one had bugged her, but she bet that it would only be some time before her peace would be interrupted.

The bell rang. It was time for her first class. Sakura took out one heavy textbook, some pencils and her tattered binder.

As she walked through the hall, Sakura kept her head down. She hated walking through the halls. Too many people, different colors, different smells, and different looks. But the reason why she truly hated walking through halls was facing the looks people threw her at her or the expressions on their faces, and the whispers about her(self) as she passed people in the hall. She could hear them.

"What a weirdo."

"I heard that she works as prostitute to keep money rolling in for her family. What a slut."

"Look, there's the girl who's the school outcast."

"I heard that she's so poor that she digs out of dumpsters for her stuff."

"I heard she lives with a drug dealer who's also a pimp."

"Ew. Look at her clothes and stuff."

"I can't believe she sucks up to the teachers."

"Whore."

"Bitch."

"Freak."

"Nerd."

"Ugly."

"Loser."

The whispers would whirl around her and seemed to echo in her head. They wouldn't leave her alone.

And she knew those looks and expressions were of disgust. Everyone hated her.

But not everything was bad today.

She continued through the hall to her first class of the day, Advanced Calculus, with Kakashi Hatake.

He was her favorite teacher. Sure, he might be a little strict and read porn, but he was always so kind to her, like the father she didn't have. He always answered any questions she had, and he didn't go into her personal life like most teachers liked to. He didn't give too much homework either, which was always a plus.

The bell rang, and Sakura took what she needed, and headed toward Kakashi's classroom.

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He was on time because he really didn't want to be late on his first day. It didn't take too long to walk from his apartment to the high school he would be going to.

He walked up the stairs to the entrance of the high school, and went to where the office was. After talking with the secretary, Shizune, and getting his schedule, he went to his locker. After putting, the items he didn't need in it, he memorized the locker combination and headed to his first class.

As he walked to his first class, he did not bother to ask to directions. Most of the new, unfamiliar people he was surrounded by, were sneering at him, calling him the "New kid" under their breath. Girls were swooning over him. Guys were glaring at him, some just dying to pick a fight with him.

Then he noticed a room and the room's number. So, this is where my first class is. Advanced Calculus with Hatake Kakashi, he thought, while opening the door, not knowing that a person who would change his life would be sitting right there...

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Advanced calculus hadn't started yet. Kakashi was still waiting for students that had not showed up yet. And so Sakura had a bit of free time, so she was reading her advanced calculus book, going ahead of the class and scribbling down answers, so she wouldn't have it has homework. And besides, if Itachi came home, she wouldn't have time for anything. She had to be careful

Class was filled with chatter and it was hard to concentrate, so Sakura stopped. She had already gone ahead enough and it was no use if she couldn't concentrate.

She touched the back of her hair. No one had put gum in her hair yet, today. She hated it It was sticky and it took forever to remove. Then she checked her back for the "Loser" sign which people daily on her back. Nope. No one had stuck it on her back yet. Then she checked herself for spitballs. None

Sometimes, people would steal her glasses from her, if it was a really unlucky day.

But it wouldn't be long before someone puts gum in my hair, tapes the stupid sign on my back, and hits me with spitballs. Sakura thought bitterly.

"Settle down, class." Kakashi said lazily. Class begins.

"Let's begin now. We have a new student today. His name is Gaara Sabaku and he has transferred from a high school in Japan. Please welcome him." He continued to say.

And right then, the new transfer student walked in. He just stood there and seemed to stare at the class. He was handsome and tall. He had red spiky hair that seemed to fall in his kohl outlined green eyes, slightly tanned skin, and a muscular build. He didn't look very happy. He had dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in ages. And he was wearing a black leather bomber jacket with a black beater underneath, and black jeans with a belt and chains with black boots. But what was most unique about him was the tattoo of a Japanese character on his forehead

Sakura squinted. It was too far off to see what Japanese character it was.

"Ah. Gaara, welcome to our town and high school! Please take a seat next to Sakura. She will be your tour guide and show you around school." Kakashi said, motioning where Sakura was.

Sakura wanted to kill Kakashi at the moment. Another new student who would be kind to her and then the minute he would find out her social status as an outcast, he would sneer and spit at her like the rest of them. But Kakashi understood a small part of what she had to go though, so he wouldn't do this just because she was role-model student and all that crap. There must have been something about this boy that Kakashi sensed was different from the rest of them.

He didn't look like one of those weak kids that people picked on or the school outcast.

He wasn't goth either.

Sakura went through all the possible reasons why Kakashi choose her to show him around the school. Maybe this was another teacher's attempt to make someone be friends with her. But Kakashi wasn't an ordinary teacher like the rest of them.

He looked normal, but there seemed to be something different about him. Sakura decided in the end.

But this wasn't a good thing that Kakashi had assigned her to do, to show him around the school. Girls were already glaring daggers at her and throwing nasty glances her way, probably planning to kill her at lunch. Guys were staring angrily, already deciding he was a jerk, planning to make his life miserable. And Girls and guys were already deciding he was the perfect addition their clique and were glaring at Sakura.

She was going to be killed for doing this.

Sakura pretended to read a book, so when he passed her, he wouldn't see her face.

He doesn't need to see my ugly, tired face, she thought sadly. I won't get to know him or really talk to him, just in case if he's like the rest. I'll just get through it and show him around the school briskly. Besides, it's not really like I can have a friend...Because of Itachi.'

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Gaara scanned the room to find this so-called this Sakura. He locked onto her seat and began to make his conclusions of her. He couldn't really see her face, since she had her head buried in a book. From this, he was betting that she was a book worm. She was wearing old black pants that was extremely baggy on her, and an old, woolly, ugly brown sweater that was too big for her and had holes in it. It made her look lumpy and big. She was also wearing old, torn and ripped converses.

Hm. It doesn't look like she cares much about her fashion sense. Or she's one of those shy people who like to hide their selves. The only thing he could really see about her, as Gaara made his way through to his seat nextto hers, was the shocking color of her hair ; which was pink.

A girl with pink hair? Gaara wondered with amazement. He then began to wonder whether it was natural or if it was dyed.

He was betting she wasn't, like a girl jock, a goth, a nerd, a cheerleader or one of those annoying people that were staring at him in hope that he would join their clique. And, hopefully, not one of those girls who were drooling at him already making a fan club for him. He knew he shouldn't judge her by stereotypes, but what could he do? It was a habit.

He was pretty sure she looked like one of those people who he could generally tolerate, even though he hadn't seen her face. And there were not too many people that he could generally tolerate.

"Hello." She whispered, behind her thick book which her head was buried in.

Gaara looked at her in surprise. She actually said something. "Hey," he said curtly.

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Sakura smiled in surprised. At least he said hey. Most people decided I'm an automatic freak when they see me.

Sakura scowled and mentally slapped herself. What are you thinking? Even if he liked you, you couldn't be friends. Itachi would hurt him...Try to stay away from him for his own good, she told herself.

But deep down inside, she hoped that they could be friends.

The bell rang and class ended. Sakura gathered her stuff and went to her next class.

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While, walking through the halls this time, Sakura didn't hate it so much. She ignored the glares directed at her and the whispers about her. She was happy. For once, in a long time, she was a teensy bit happy. Someone had acknowledged her as a human and said something to her. For the first time, someone didn't regard her as trash or some kind of filth.

Her day so far had gone smoothly. No one had bugged her surprisingly. Suspiciously, no spitballs were shot at her, no one had put gum in her hair, and no one had pasted a "loser" sign on her back. No one seemed to know that she was there today. She wasn't anybody's "victim", yet.

Now, it was the hardest part of the day for Sakura. The time of the day where she risked getting in trouble. Her stomach grumbled. She looked up at the clock on the wall: 11:30

Half an hour until lunch. I should do it now.'

Sakura raised her hand.

"What is it, dear?" asked Sakura's world history teacher, Mrs. Peterson.

"I need to use the bathroom." Sakura lied.

"Go ahead." Mrs. Peterson replied, going back to her lesson on World War II.

Sakura left the classroom. She looked both ways to make sure no one was in the halls. Then, she sneaked down the hallways into the cafeteria. Perfect. The lunch ladies are probably are out on their cigarette break, she thought happily. She looked around. No one was there. She licked her lips, the delicious smell of food wafted up to her nose.

She snuck behind the area where the lunch ladies served food. Her eyes shone in hunger and greed. There were trays of steaming pizza laid out, probably which the lunch ladies planned to serve today for lunch. It was her lucky day. Sakura looked for the supplies of what she would need. She smirked. Everything she needed was there. This was going to be easy.

First, she took the pizza cutter and carefully sliced every pizza slice on a tray. She set aside one slice and arranged the rest of the slices of pizza so it didn't look like a slice was missing Then she took the slice that she laid aside and wrapped in up in a piece of foil that was lying around. She grabbed a paper bag, which was also lying around, and put the foil wrapped pizza slice in a brown bag, then she stuffed it in her sweatshirt.

Sakura looked at her clock. 11:40. Ten minutes. 'Not bad,' she thought. But now she had to hurry back to class.

This is what she did almost everyday to survive. She stole lunch from the school to feed herself some true food. There was no other way. She couldn't steal other student's lunches, so this was this easiest way. The lunch ladies did have suspicions that someone had been stealing some of the food, but they never truly cared enough to catch the person.

She felt guilty for committing such a low act, but she needed to do this. The food Itachi fed her was barely fit for animals. And he only fed her once in a while.

Sakura snuck out of the cafeteria and ran down the hall until she reached her world history classroom. She walked back in and sank her seat. No one said anything. Sakura looked at the clock: 11:45. It had taken her fifteen minutes. She had beaten her old record.

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The ball rang signaling lunch. Students who had fourth lunch rushed into the hall, heading towards the cafeteria. Unlike everyone else, Sakura took her time, slowly walking to the cafeteria. Sakura liked lunch, it was one of the only times she got to eat a proper meal or some food. But she hated the cafeteria. There were so many people and it was too loud. She wanted to eat her lunch in peace.

She would normally eat in the girl's bathroom, but lately there had been too many popular girls coming up, to worship the porcelain gods after eating their lunch. It wasn't safe anymore.

She made it to the cafeteria and opened the door. She hung her head to avoid any eye contact. Sakura picked the lone table in the way back which nobody could really see. She grabbed a seat and sat down. Then she slowly took out her lunch, and unwrapped the foil which the slice of pizza was wrapped in. It was still hot. She stared at it in hunger. It wasn't an illusion. She ate it like an animal, gobbling it all and ripping off the cheese from the crust. It was gone in seconds. She licked the grease off her fingers.

Her stomach rumbled. She was still hungry, but there was nothing left to eat, not even one, measly little crumb. So, she looked longingly at the people that were eating food and resentfully at the people throwing food away.

But at least she got something to fill her belly today. Something good too. It was a small taste of heaven.
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Gaara looked disdainfully around the cafeteria. There were so many people. So many people that were staring at him, too. He wished he had made his own lunch, after seeing what was on the menu for the school's lunch.

"What would you like?" The lunch lady lazily asked him. There wasn't much a choice. It was either a smashed ham sandwich or a greasy, disgusting piece of pizza that had a piece of the lunch lady's straw-colored hair on it

"Please give me the ham sandwich." Gaara said. The lunch lady dumped the ham sandwich on his tray. "Thank you." He said. She looked at in him in surprise. From the look on her face, Gaara was guessing many people here didn't have manners. He wasn't a person who really had manners, either, before he went to rehab. Rehab pretty much etched in the importance of manners in his head. You could say he changed in some ways, but there was always the cold part of him.

Now, it was time to pick a table to sit at. He had already received invitations from a bunch people to sit with them, mostly annoying fan girls. People were already waving at him, gesturing him to sit at their table. Gaara ignored them. He scanned the room for an empty table. No such luck. But he found a table (in the way back) in the shadows, way in the back, with only one occupant; that girl who he sat next to in Calculus. Hmmm. What was her name? It was Sakura. She doesn't look so bad.

He made his way to the table, ignoring the stares that were watching him and the hushed whispers and gasps as he passed by. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and put down his tray, picking at his ham sandwich.

There. That wasn't so hard.

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Sakura just stared at him, her jaw almost dropped in shock. "Why are you sitting next to me?" she asked him quietly.

"There were no more appealing seats." Gaara answered simply.

"Leave. People are talking. You shouldn't sit next me. Have you heard what people say about me? That I'm a freak. You're ruining your chances to make friends." Sakura whispered quietly.

"I don't care. I already have friends. And besides these people don't look like they could be good friends." Gaara said. He took a closer look at her, considering now he could see her face (, since earlier he couldn't.) Her skin was pale. Her eyes looked tired, dark rings under her them, hiding behind her large, ugly glasses that were cracked. Unlike most girls, she wasn't wearing any make up. Her skin was clear of any marring such as acne. Her face was gaunt. The look on her face was downcast. Her lips were cracked and bleeding.

It looks like this girl has no self-esteem. She looks miserable. It looks like she has given up on life...

"Stop staring at me." Sakura said. She didn't how intently he was looking at me.

"... You know, you would look better, if you stopped looking so miserable and actually smiled." Gaara said.

"Whatever. It's not like anyone would notice." Sakura said, focusing her gaze on the floor.

"People notice more than you think. People can tell when someone is happy or sad. Sometimes, they ignore it and sometimes they take advantage of it," Gaara said. "If you are hurt, put on a fake smile. Hide the pain or fear, so people don't notice."

"It's not as easy as you say it is." Sakura said, now focusing her gaze at Gaara. He seemed to be serious about this. Now, that she could clearly see what Japanese character was tattooed on his head. It was Ai, the character for love. But why in the world would he have that tattooed on his forehead?

"That's because you are not good at hiding your emotions. You are easy to read like an open book." Gaara shot back.

"I'm not that easy to read. I've hidden too many things to name from people." Sakura said.

"But it looks like your dying to tell someone all these things. It's not healthy to bottle everything up." Gaara noted.

"I'm sorry." Sakura said, her head down.

"What are you sorry for? Stop apologizing. You haven't done anything wrong. You treat yourself like you are something low and you blame everything on your self. Stick up for yourself. You are a human, you have rights." Gaara said.

This girl treats herself like a dog. How sad. Kind of like what I use to be like. But what reduced her to this? Gaara wondered, disgustedly.

Sakura looked up. "Don't you think I have already noticed my flaws?" Sakura asked him, sighing. "You don't need to list of all of them."

"You haven't. Because, obviously, you haven't changed any of them. When a person learns of his or her flaws, they strive to change them. Because they want to be perfect." Gaara said.

Sakura had enough of this. She didn't need to hear anymore. She was trash and that was that. "You don't know what it's like to be me. Just be quiet." Sakura said.

"I know what it's like to be you. Because I was once in a position like yours." Gaara said, suddenly quiet.

"I would have not said anything, If I didn't experience it myself." Gaara said softly.

All was silent between him and Sakura. Sakura was dumbstruck. He had gone through what she was going through? The hell of pain, sadness, loss, and anger? All of that? Impossible. No one had gone through she had to go through. But he wouldn't lie. But how did he escape it? Sakura wanted to know.

Her stomach growled, breaking the silence.

She stared at his ham sandwich in hunger.

He smirked. "Here, have it. I'm not hungry." He tossed the sandwich to her. Sakura caught it and stared at it if she had just won a million dollars. Then she just stared at him, looking suspicious.

Is he being kind or is playing with me?

"Is this a gesture of friendship?" She slowly croaked out.

Then Gaara smiled, just a tad bit. "Maybe." he said.

She unwrapped the sandwich and ate it like a hungry animal. She ate everything until there wasn't a crumb left. Her belly was full and that rarely ever happened.

Then suddenly, Sakura for the first, she too smiled. "Thank you." She said softly. And for it was a true smile.

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After thanking Gaara, Sakura left the cafeteria and headed towards the girl's bathroom. She entered the bathroom, humming happily, before noticing she was in bundle of trouble. Finally, she looked up and she froze. Almost every single girl in her grade was there, not just the girls that liked to pick on her. Each girl had an angry, smug, but particularly nasty, expression on their face. She was surrounded. There was no way out. They all started to advance on her, like a pack of wolves on their prey. She was their prey.

Finally, the leader stepped out of the ground. It was the girl who had made Sakura's life miserable from the first time she had started middle school. It was Maya Michaels. She was a tall, thin, bony girl that loved to humiliate Sakura in anyway possible.

"You slut." She sneered. "How dare you, bitch, have the nerve to sit next to Gaara?" She was breathing on Sakura's neck. "He's ours, four-eyes. Stay away from him. We don't want him associated with smelly filth like you. You aren't worth his time, whore. He will never be friends with you! Once he knows what a freak you are, he'll stay away from you." She continued on. "Really, what a slut. You probably flirted with him to get him to sit next to you, trying to get in his pants. He was probably so annoyed, that to get you to shut up, he sat next to you. Besides, who would love you? You are too ugly, smelly, and fat. No one in the right mind would like you." Maya grabbed Sakura's hair and pulled it hard. Sakura cried out in pain.

"Shut up you, ugly bitch!" One of the girls said, slapping Sakura hard across the face before gagging her with a rag.

"You probably think you're so sexy, but you are not! And remember, we won't let a weird bitch like you take him away." She whispered in Sakura's ear, before pulling her hair again and smashing Sakura's face against a bathroom stall.

Sakura slid to the ground. Her glasses were, once again, broken, and blood was dripping for from her nose. But she did nothing. She had no energy to fight back. Sakura just closed her eyes, just waiting for this to be over. Which was the wrong thing to do. "You think you can ignore us, you little whore? Well, think again, while actually using that pathetic, big brain of yours." Maya said smirking.

The rest of the girls closed in on her.

"Get her." Maya commanded. Then, all the girls were kicking her everywhere for what seemed like forever. Sakura fell down and the girls started kicking her ribs. She was in excruciating pain. Sakura screamed again and again, but no one could hear her muffled screams. One girl took away her glasses and smashed them to pieces beyond repair.

Tears kept on rolling down Sakura's cheeks. 'God, please let this end,' she prayed. The girls took turns punching Sakura. Then finally, one girl hit her with a baseball bat. Sakura clutched her head in pain.

"Did you learn your lesson?" Maya asked Sakura. Sakura managed shake her head. Yes, now just fucking leave me alone! She screamed inside of her head.

Maya pretended to think it over. But then she smiled. "I guess that's a no. Show her some more, girls." She commanded.

One girl delivered a painful blow to Sakura's ribs. Sakura suddenly couldn't breath. She struggled for breath as tears rolled down her cheeks. The girls laughed at her misfortune, until Sakura was slowly breathing in ragged breaths.

Maya bent down to Sakura's height. "I heard that you are a prostitute and your mom used to be one, too. Well, what do you know? Like mother, like daughter." Maya said, clearly saying the comment to hurt Sakura.

And it did. The comment stung Sakura more than anything. The tears rolled down her cheeks faster and Sakura clenched her bruised and bloody fists. My mother wasn't a prostitute! She was a nurse. I'm not going to let her say that about my mother! That bitch can say anything she wants about me, but she will leave my mother out of this.'

And suddenly, Sakura gained strength. Strength to protect herself and her mother's pride. Sakura kicked Maya hard in the face. "Don't ever say again say anything about my mother." Sakura said trembling.

Maya got back on her feet, shocked that Sakura defended her self. "You'll pay for that! Girls do it." Maya spat out.

The girls pulled Sakura up by her hair and then Maya took out a pair of scissors. "Guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to cut your stupid pink hair." Maya sneered. Maya got closer and closer ready to cut Sakura's hair with the scissors...

"Stop." Someone suddenly said. Everyone froze.

Then Sakura's savior stepped out of the shadows. It was Gaara.

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"You are going to kill her if you go on any further." Gaara said.

Maya dropped her scissors. "Gaara, you've got this all wrong! Sakura here suddenly tried to attack me for some no good reason and you just saved me" Maya said nervously.

Gaara stared at Maya. "I'm not a fool. Don't lie to me." He said coolly. "Leave. Before I tell the school administration what you did to her." Gaara barked.

"But Gaara!" Maya protested.

" I said LEAVE." Gaara said dangerously.

The girls scrammed out of the bathroom, as Sakura lay bloody and bruised, on the floor. She stared at him. "How did you know?" she croaked.

"I heard them talking about it at lunch. They were planning to target you, when no one was around. So I followed you up here." Gaara answered.

Gaara observed the bloody, bruised, and injured Sakura before him. Her face had minor scratches, blood was smeared across her face, her nose was bleeding, she had a lump on her head that looked painful, visible bruises, and her glasses were smashed to pieces

He bend down to her level. "You are a mess." He noted, stating the obvious.

Sakura spat out the bloody rag, one of the girls stuffed in her mouth as a gag. "You think?" she asked him sarcastically.

"I think you need to go see the school nurse. Scratch that, you need to see a doctor. Gaara said.

Sakura's eyes widened in fear. "I don't want to see the school nurse. And I can't go see a doctor." She said frantically.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "I can understand why you wouldn't want to visit the school nurse, since you want to keep this quiet. But why not a doctor?" He asked her.

"Because I don't have insurance. It would be expensive." Sakura lied.

Gaara was suspicious. But he decided not to pry any further in her own matters for now. "We need to get you out of here." Gaara said, helping Sakura up.

Where would he take her? She didn't want to go to the school nurse or a doctor. But she needed to get treated. Finally, Gaara found an abandoned classroom. He helped Sakura get inside and sat her down.

"You, know you the girls are going to hurt me even more if they see you helping me." Sakura croaked. She was hurting all over.

"They won't." Gaara replied.

"How do you know?" She asked him dryly.

"Because I won't let them." Gaara said.

His answer shocked her. For once, someone was actually helping her and sticking up for here.

"But why? Why are you helping me?" She wanted to know.

Gaara ignored her. "Stay where you are. I'll be right back." He instructed her before leaving the abandoned classroom and Sakura all alone.

But inside, he knew the reason why he was helping her. It was that haunted, broken look her eyes. That was the exact same look he had in eyes before he met Naruto.

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Gaara couldn't believe he was doing this. He was resorting to what he did in the old times when he had gotten hurt in fistfights. But he had no choice. Sakura didn't want to see the school nurse and she didn't want to see a doctor. And she needed treatment. Gaara briskly walked down the halls, scanning for the nurse's office. Ah, he had found it. The office was empty and on the door was a note hastily scribbled: "Out. Lunch break. Will be back soon."

This was perfect. But if he was caught, it would lead into big problems for him. The school was already wary letting him in, because of his past. If they saw he causes any problems, they would probably expel him in a heartbeat. He went over to the nurse's cabinets where she kept all the medicine.

He opened it and searched for the supplies he would need. He grabbed gauze, band-aids, some antiseptic, cotton swabs, aspirin, q-tips, and a bottle of water. Then he dumped everything in a plastic bag and left the nurses office.

He hurried back to the abandoned classroom. Nobody was watching. He had gotten away with it. He slipped behind the door.

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"I'm back." Gaara announced. He held up the bag upside down, letting everything it contained fall out.

Sakura widened her eyes. "How did you get that?"

"I stole it." Gaara said.

"You shouldn't have done that." Sakura told him.

"Too late. I already did it." He said.

"Did anyone see you?" She asked him, afraid.

"No." he replied.

"Good." she said sighing, in relief.

He gave her aspirin and the bottle of water. "Here, you need it." he told her. Sakura had no objections, and swallowed the aspirin with water.

Then Gaara carefully applied antiseptic to the q-tips, and dabbed some on each cut on her face.

Sakura winced, and squirmed.

"Be still or I can't get it on." He told her angrily.

She stood still.

He treated every single cut carefully, putting some antiseptic and a band-aid on each one. Until there was one cut left. There was certain nasty large cut on her leg that was seeping out blood. He reached to roll up her pants, so he could see the cut better. But Sakura saw what he was doing and stopped him before he could do it. She lightly slapped his hands away.

Gaara looked up at her in surprise. "Why won't you let me roll up your pants?" He asked her.

Sakura thought fast. There was a particular scar right up above the cut Itachi had given her and she didn't want him to see it. "I'm self-conscious." she blurted out.

Gaara cocked his head to one side, looking suspiciously at her. "Hn." he said. And he went back to applying antiseptic to the cut, then he carefully wrapped her leg in gauze to stop the bleeding.

Then he stood up, lightly dusting his hands. "You are fixed up. But I would recommend you to go see a doctor. Now, all you need to fix-"

But he was interrupted, by a certain buzzing noise. His cell phone. Gaara sighed and picked it up. It was Naruto. "Hello, Naruto." He said, clearly quite annoyed.

Right when he mentioned Naruto, Sakura stiffened. "Naruto?" She asked. "Uzumaki Naruto...?" She said with a hint of recognition.

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "You know him?"

"Yes... He was my best friend, before I moved here four years ago." Sakura said slowly.

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END OF CHAPTER 4.

End of chapter, a/n: So, did you guys like it? I know all have you have been waiting in anticipation for this chapter. I will try to update this story sooner. And so Gaara and Sakura finally met. Next chapter, we learn a little about Sakura past. Thank you to all my reviewers again! And a special thanks to one of my BETA reader, who BETAED this chapter, La-Garce-Fille. I couldn't have done it with ought her. Anyways, until the next chapter.