Gaara walked into the health class room and took his seat next to Sakura. This was the only class that Naruto wasn't with them. He waited until Kabuto passed out the worksheets before writing a note to Sakura.

(Gaara note Sakura note)

Did you do anything with the Uchiha before moving here? Gaara came strait to the point.

I went to school with him before he moved here a year before me. Sakura replied

Not what i was asking.. did you have some sort of a relationship with him?

..I had a crush on him for a while.. but when i confessed.. he pushed me down and called me annoying...

Gaara looked down at the note in surprise. The Uchiha had been lying. Which shouldn't come as that big of a surpirse but it did. Realizeing he must have opened up an old wound he wrote back.

Oh.. I'm.. Sorry.. So you never had any realtion with him?

He was most definatlly not good with consoling people.

No.. Why?

He told me that you had been with him before. He decided to leave out the part about him.

WHAT? THAT BASTARD! I thought he was like me.. He had no one, so i thought we where similar and could help each other.. but then he refused my feelings and thats when i decided that people arn't worth the pain that comes with them.. that is... until i met you and Naruto...

Gaara smirked at this. 'so Narutos persistance paid off.. but i don't think shes ready to call us friends yet.'

The rest of the class was spent with Sakura silently cussing Sauske and Gaara drawing in his sketch book. When the bell rang they began walking to their next classes which where right by each other. Gaara walked a little further up than Sakura due to her still being angry at the Uchiha.

Sakura was still fuming because of Sauskes claim on her virginity.

'that teme... i'll kick his ass!

'Damn strait we will!' Her inner kept a sting of threats to his life and.. manhood.. going. Fortunatly for Sakura, Sauske was arragant and ignorate. So instead of staying away from her obviously dangerous aura he walked up right behind her and wraped his arms around her mid-section before huskily whispering in her ear.

"my my, it seems like someone has pissed off my pretty little flower" He said. Sakura whirled around and kicked him in the stomach.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but don't fucking touch me!" She cried angrily

"Heh, come on blossom we both know you still love me."

That was it. After treating her like shit and walking all over her, this asshole had the nerve to say that?

She punched his face and her a satisfying crack, letting her know that his nose was broken. Then she kicked his crotch. Hard. She grabbed his shirt in her fist and held his face up to hers.

"Listen carefully asshole. I. DO NOT. LOVE YOU! Now back off or i will make sure you never have kids." She dropped him and started walking away. She felt someone behind her and thinking it was Sauske she whirled around ready to punch, but when she did she found her fist firmly caught in a hand and looked up to see aqua eyes and blood red hair.

"Did he hurt you?" He asked.

"No"

"Good.. You have a good left hook." He stated before walking away. She took notice of how when he walked, his steps where smooth and his strides where long. His eyes looked stern and cruel to those who didn't bother looking past his exterior, but to her they where calm, like a desert before a sandstorm. He looked like art work set in motion. 'he's beautiful... WAIT A MINUET! Why the hell am i standing here checking out Gaara? AND DID I JUST CALL HIM BEAUTIFUL?" Clearly she was losing her mind.

'Nope. You're just getting a crush :p' Came the voice of her inner.

'impossible! i swore off stuff like that remeber?'

'just because YOU swore it off didn't mean I did :p'

'but you're me...'

'exactly. Face it girl, we're fallin fast for Gaara.'

'but... i don't want to... it'll just end up in pain..' Sakura did NOT want to fall in love again... She had enough pain, she didn't need to add to it.

'just wait.. I have a feeling this time will be different'

She had made it to the last class of the day, and she still hadn't talked to Naruto about her coming over. She didn't want to, and she had a plan but every time she tried to put it in place he got distracted. Soon after the bell rang their teacher came in and gave them their assignments and began the now ritualistic hugging scene between him and his mini-me. "Guy-sensei!" "Lee!" "Guy-sensei!".

No one but Lee finished the grueling workout once class was over. Sakura went to the girls locker room to shower and change still thinking of how to put her plan in place so she wouldn't have to go to Narutos' house. She quickly changed and went to walk out the door, but found it blocked by three girls.

"You shouldn't have done that to Sauske-kun!" the one on the left screeched at her. She was slightly over weight and had long bright ugly red hair.

"Yeah! Plus we know you like him, he said so himself!" sneered the one on the right. You could tell she dyed her hair blonde, her roots where showing through.

"Well girls, i think we should teach her a lesson about trying to get my Sauske-kun." said the middle girl. She was obviously the leader of the group. She had long dark purple hair and ugly brown eyes. Her eyes where shallow, the kind of eyes that Sakura despised. They meant that she thought she was better than anyone else, and that the ground on her feet should be worshiped.

"What are we gonna do Ami-chan?" the larger one asked with an evil grin across her face. "Tie her down and put something over her mouth." Said Ami.

Sakura had no time to react as the large one grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides. Normally Sakura could have gotten out of this easily, but she was worn out from gym and the large girl had a strangely strong grip. They tied down her arms and Ami grabed her hair.

"Sauske-kun likes long hair, so if we cut yours all off he won't like you anymore!" Ami screeched before taking out a pair of scissors. When Sakura tried to cry out the large on punched her in the face and put tape over her mouth. Ami took a strand of Sakuras' hair and began cutting. When they had finished Ami dropped the scissors and they ran out of the empty locker room. Sakura managed to get over to the scissors and began cutting the ropes. She got up and looked into the mirror, her hair was short and all over the place. She hadn't cried in a long time, but now with her hair gone she felt the tears silently spill over the edge.

flashback

"Sakura? Sakura where are you?" her mothers voice rang out across their back yard. Sakura looked up from where she had been playing by the cherry blossom tree. Her mama had come home today. She hadn't seen her mama in a very long time, papa had said that she was very sick and needed to go to the hospital for a while. 'but papa said now she's well enough to come home now!' she thought happily. "MAMA! MAMA!" Sakura smiled as she ran into her mothers waiting arms. "Oh how i've missed you my little flower!" said her mama as she picked her up and spun her in a circle. The wind picked up and blew the hat her mama had been wearing off. "MAMA! what happened to all your hair?" gasped the shocked little mama set her down and knelt down and looked her in the eyes. "Well you see, mama had to lose it to get rid of the sickness." Her mother said before smiling her beautiful smile. "oh.. Well don't worry mama! I'll grow my hair enough for the both of us!" Sakura promised. She loved her mama very much, so she wanted her to have pretty hair again.

end flashback

Sakura sank to the floor silently weeping. Her mother had died shortly after that, but she had kept her promise of keeping her hair long for the both of them. After that, her father was never really the same.

flashback

"Papa! papa!" a now six year old Sakura shouted. "Papa! Todays my birthday papa!" She happily giggled as she ran into his study. It had been a year and a half since her mother died, and all her papa did anymore was sit in his study and stare out the window. The window had been mamas favorite place in the house. You could see the mountains behind the cherry blossom tree they had in their backyard. "Papa, did you hear me?" she asked. Her papa looked down at her and smiled, but it was a broken smile put there just for her benifit. His eyes where still hollow and empty. "You look so much like your mother, little flower." He whispered almost to himself. Sakura smiled at this, her mama was beautiful and if she looked just like her that meant she was beautiful too. "Do you remember the promise you made mama?" He asked with a pained yet happy expression. "Of corse papa, why?" she asked. "Because, i think your long hair is beautiful. Promise to never cut it short okay?" He said. "I promise papa!" She laughed. Her papa smiled with a little bit of life in his eyes, but it was soon gone and replaced by a pain no one could fathom. He got up and put on his coat and hat. "Papa? Where are you going papa?" she asked. "Don't worry papa will be back later, go play with Chiyo." He said with a dead sound in his voice. "But! Shes boring and mean!" huffed Sakura. She wanted to spend her birthday with her papa, not their maid. He looked back at her huffy figure and walked over and ruffled her hair. "I'll be back in time to have a special birthday dinner with you okay?" "okay papa..." She ran off to go play by the cherry blossom tree.

Several hours later her father came home smelling funny and stumbleing around the house. He went up to Sakura's room and found her curled ontop of her covers fast asleep. It was dark in the room but he didn't want to wake her so he left the lights off. He went over and sat on her bed and looked at her peacfull face. He was crying and began sobbing into his hands. "Oh Yuuka... I miss you so much..." He whispered. "Papa?" came a sleepy voice. His crying had woken her up and she was worried about why her papa was crying so much. "Papa are you okay?" she asked. "Yes, im fine little flower." He knew it was a lie, but he didn't want Sakura to know how much pain he was in. She curled up against him and fell back asleep. He lifted her up and tucked her into her bed. "Forgive me... my little flower.." He whispered before placing a kiss on her forehead. The next morning Sakura woke to a scream. She ran out of her room looking for the origin of the sound. She ran into her fathers study, but a hand was placed over her eyes by Chiyo. "No Sakura! don't look.." She said. But it was too late. Sakura had seen her fathers limp form hanging from the window, slightly moving in the breeze from it being open. A cherry blossom drifted in and floated to the ground by her feet as she stared wide-eyed at he dead father through the cracks in between Chiyos' fingers.

Sakura sat in the cold locker room floor crying more than she had in many years.

End 'o' chapter..