Scars
By: Kayla
Chapter:
Summery: She comes from a bad family, where drinking and abuse is abundant. He comes from a family that hates his living guts, and would like to see him dead. Can they help each other in their time of need?
A/N: Sorry for the long update. My computer got a virus, and I lost everything I had been working on. Sad, I know. But, anyway here we go, I hope you like it.

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He felt the punch coming before it even made sweet contact with his ribs. This happened a lot. If his father even looked at him, a powerful hatred boiled up inside like a volcano about to burst. And he showed it by smacking Gaara around. He never fully understood why his father hated him so. It had to do with his birth though. He was a mistake. If Gaara never had been born, his fathers lovely wife would still be with him. And he held that against the red head. Some how he had gotten use to it. He was numb. He would always go back to his room, and lay on his bed. He couldn't sleep, but he liked to block out everything, and be nonexistent in the world. If only for just a little while.

He was going to a new school in the morning. It wasn't like it was his first time switching schools, 7th to be exact. He was what some may call, 'a trouble maker', or even go as far as a 'bully'. When in fact he was neither. He just didn't know how to control his temper very well. But he had a strange feeling that things would be different the moment he stepped into this new school. It was just a tiny tingle in his chest. Soothing his nerves, and leaving him in an almost calm state.

Yes, things were going to be very different.

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Gaara hated guys like Princess, a.k.a. Uchiha Sasuke. They annoyed him, made him want to hurt something. Guys who thought they could get whatever the hell they wanted with just a look disgusted him to no end. And the pinket was technically letting him feel her up! Why did that anger him so? It wasn't like he new her. But she could have at least smacked him, and sent him flying out the window. That's what Gaara sure wanted to do. But he left it alone after that little encounter. Princess did stop, after seeing the evil blood thirsty gleam in Gaara's darkened orbs. Which had left him trembling in fear. Not really, he just gave Gaara one of his own glares and went silent, not saying a word the rest of the class period.

Sakura silently laid her head on her desk and closed her eyes. She should have stopped him. She wanted to. She really did. But the scene reminded her to much of her home life. And that scared the hell out of her. She was grateful the red head behind her had stopped him. If she wasn't so shy, she would have tackled him to the ground in a huge bare hug. Sasuke had been trying to 'get in her pants' for a long time. And no one had every willingly helped her handle it. And this guy had. Someone she didn't even know. A Stranger.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. The sudden noise jerked Sakura out of her thoughts, and made her jump up surprised. She grabbed her books, and slowly walked out of the room. Not noticing the red head staring intently at her, and the heated glare from the princess. If she had noticed, she would have trembled in fear and ran out like a dog with its tail between its legs. For that's what she was, a scardy-cat. She couldn't even handle a little intimidation. Or at least that is what she thought.

She stood at her locker, trying to remember the code to get it open. There were to many thoughts running wild in her head. She couldn't think of one thing at a time. Finally remembering the code she opened the locker. Reaching in, she grabbed a text book for her next class. She had that with Hinata, a shy girl much like herself. They were what you may call friends. Sakura didn't have very many of those. None in fact.

Walking down the hall, and into her second class, she was greeted with many an eye on her. She dropped her head in embarrassment. Sakura hated being the center of attention, she just liked to linger in the background. She glanced around once, and spotted Hinata sitting on the left, closest to the window. Taking a seat next to her, Hinata smiled a worm silent hello. Sakura was use to this. The girl didn't talk very much anyway. And when she did, she tended to stutter.

Hinata was a slender girl, who wore a big coat that hid her figure, much like Sakura. She had short raven colored hair. With longer bangs that linger in her face. She was a shy, quiet girl. And when nervous her knees would buckle and she would twittle with her fingers. In a way she reminded Sakura of herself, maybe that was why she felt comfortable around her.

Sakura's eye lids started to lazily close. Her head was held up by her left hand, elbows propped up on the table for support. This was truly a boring subject. And she was already tired as it was. And Math just made it worse. She tried to stay awake, she really did. She was failing most of her classes due to sleep. She couldn't sleep at home. But, always found herself being awaken by a loud ringing in her ears, signaling the end of that particular class.

Feeling a nudge on her shoulder, she woke up. She looked over at the person who had woke her up. Drool lingered at the corner of her mouth. Eyes foggy, she said "Huh?" Getting a better look at the person in front of her, she noticed it was Hinata.

"Sa-Sakura, cl-class is over." Hinata said shakily, not sure if she should have woke up the pink haired girl, in fear of her wrath. She knew from experience that Sakura hated to be woken up when she did sleep.

"Oh." Sakura stood up, and slightly wobbled to the door due to a sleep fogged brain.

"Sakura, wo-would you like to barrow my n-notes?" Hinata offered.

"Sure." Sakura said and left it at that.

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The smell of food brought Sakura into the lunch room. Her stomach rumbled loudly, a resolute of not eating the day before. She never had anything to eat where she lived. All of it belonged to her 'parents', and they didn't like to share. Without school lunch she probably would have starved to death long ago.

Sakura walked up to the lunch line, plate ready to carry food. A chunky older lady with a hair net on her slightly grayed hair sneered as she placed an odd colored food on her plate. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Sakura slowly walked out of the lunch line.

Normally she would eat alone, but she spotted the red head sitting alone in the corner. Being new he wouldn't know anyone so of course he would sit alone. She decided to sit by him. Manly because there were no more empty tables left. But oh well, she had to thank him for earlier. And what better time to do it?

Gaara watched as Sakura walked over to the talk he was now occupying and timidly sat in the chair across from him. They sat in silence for a long while. Sakura, trying to conjure up some courage to thank the guy in front of her, and eat her food at the same time. Gaara, annoyed and wondering what she wanted. No one had ever dared sit with him at lunch before. Well, that was because he was feared elsewhere, he was unknown here.

"Tha..." Sakura stopped in mid-word. It had just occurred to her she didn't know this guys name. He didn't tell Sasuke, so maybe he didn't want anyone to know.

"What do you want?" He said sharply, breaking her thought process. This made her head jerk up in surprise, and her eyes spark with pure anger. How dare he ask what she wanted. And so mean. She just wanted to say thank you!

"I wanted to say thank you to the guy who helped me earlier. But, then I realized, I didn't know his name. And come to find out, he is a jerk!" Sakura growled. She stopped. How could she have got mad like that? It wasn't really anything to get mad over. Was it? She had never talked badly to anyone. This was a first.

"Wa-what is your name?" She asked after seeing the glare aimed at her.

"Gaara." He said calmly and got up from the table. "I bet if you talked to Princess like you did so openly to me, he would have left you alone." He said before walking away.

"Thank you Gaara-kun." She whispered, but he was to far gone to hear.

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A/N: Hope you all liked this chapter. Personally, it was a pain in the neck to write. Because, I lost everything I had been writing due to a virus on my computer. The next chapter is going to be much better, I promise.

Thank you for all the wonderful review. They really help.

R&R-Flames welcome. Also, if you have anything you would like to see happen in this story, please tell me.