TITLE: Tutor 5

GENRE: General, (Fluff), (Humor)

RATING: K

Their second meeting was in the house, about three miles away from her university's housing complexes where the apartments stopped and the houses began. It was an adobe fashioned with an interior that screamed "wealth" which she almost anticipated with the standoffish way Gaara had acted before, but it amazed her nonetheless. Her family's success in the toy business had never amounted to much luxury, though it did allow for a simple life she'd always been thankful for.

Mei waited on a beige couch in what she supposed was the living room while Temari fetched her youngest brother. The blonde woman who was roughly twenty years old had explained that their mother passed away while birthing Gaara as well as their father a few years earlier due to a heart condition. She had a younger brother, Kankuro, who was older than Gaara and nearly over his rebellious phase, just not quite, but that was why he was never home and Mei wouldn't meet him for a while unless she really tried to.

Temari's openness was refreshing, to say the least. In a world where people kept secrets and hid behind masks, Mei found it easy to talk to her, appreciative of the fact that there were genuine people left on Earth besides herself. Lies had always been a sore point for Mei, so she made a point to be honest and cheerful.

"…and I hope to God you don't take after your brother!" The voice of Temari echoed after Gaara as he grudgingly came down the steps, clearly not pleased with his situation, and Mei had to fight a laugh at the fact that he still got scolded by his older sister at this age. His head was down until he reached the bottom stair where he looked up, bangs falling in his eyes that he didn't bother to move away.

Despite feeling unwanted, Mei stood up from the couch and forced her mouth to curl upwards. "Good morning, Sabaku-san! How are you?" she asked politely.

Gaara stared.

"I am well, too, thanks for asking," Mei said with a hint of annoyance that he didn't seem to catch. Gaara had been called shy by his sister who probably knew him better than anyone, but this was beyond that. He was being plain rude. She kept the smile going. "Please, have a seat."

At this order, Gaara finally moved and seated himself diagonal from her on an entirely separate couch even though there was still room for several more people on her couch. Mei's eyebrow twitched, the smile slipping from her face.

"You can sit next to me, Sabaku-san," she prompted gently. "I won't bite. Much."

Gaara's eyes were fixed on the vase in the middle of the coffee table that was between them until that comment. He lifted those green orbs to Mei's face and subtly raised an eyebrow which she took as a little improvement on his attitude.

"That was a joke," she clarified, patting the space next to her with her hand. "Please, come sit. It will be difficult to teach you when you're sitting over the—"

"My eyesight is 20/20," Gaara interjected, blinking once calmly. "I can see from here."

Mei opened her mouth to protest and closed it, thinking twice before going off on her one and only student. She took a breath to clear her head and then plastered her smile back on.

"Okay, then, let us begin." Mei reached down into the bag near her feet and pulled out two workbooks, flopping them both on the table. As her hand rummaged through the bag a second time for a pencil, Gaara suddenly spoke again.

"You smile too much."

Lifting her head, Mei looked at the boy who had hidden behind his hair, facing the ground instead of her. She pursed her lips together to hold back a laugh. This whole time, she'd had a stupid grin on her face, trying to make him feel at ease with her, comfortable enough to learn without seemingly hating every moment, and yet he had the balls to say that she was smiling too much when it was all for him.

And to spite him, Mei smiled the rest of the lesson, not even stopping when her cheeks started to hurt.

On their eighteenth meeting, Gaara said the same thing.

"You smile too much."

Mei set her pencil down slowly and looked sidelong at the boy who was working on the page she'd assigned, lying down on his bed. His head was up, watching her, and she wondered how long he'd been staring at her with those intense green eyes. She turned herself around completely in the spinning chair at his desk and heaved a sigh. "I wasn't even smiling, Gaara," she commented, too tired to deal with his antics today.

He lifted an eyebrow ever so slightly, as if to say, "Exactly," but no words came from his mouth. They didn't move at all, but she heard him clearly.

A small smirk tugged at Mei's lips. Fighting it only made it worse so she ducked her head, grinning for absolutely no reason. When she looked up again, Gaara had gone back to working and she shook her head, still smiling. "Thank you," she said, and he nodded once in acknowledgement.