Thanks so much for your reviews! The last chapter had the most reviews submitted thus far in the story! Wooo! Go you! Lol!

Also, lots of thanks to Nyanonymous for helping me! More detail will be added this far! Thanks again!

Recommended song: Leona Lewis – Better in Time

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I also do not own Leona's song… obviously…

-The Average Lesson?-

-7-

"I honestly don't know why you say he is so bad!" Sakura said with an authoritative tone to her voice.

She had snuck up on her friends resulting in them all screaming, grabbing onto the next person or falling on the floor in shock; a delightful tactic in Sakura's books. They had been lounging around on the grass or standing with their backs to her, and because of all the hustle over three people being seemingly dangerous, she found it necessary for some payback.

"Y-You're alive!" Kiba said with a scared voice before looking around for the dangerous bad boy.

"Sweet, beautiful Sakura-chan! I'm glad you're okay!" Lee chimed grabbing her hand and kissing it in between words. Sakura cringed and pulled her hand away from him.

"What lessons do you guys have today?"

"We have the same lessons today, but in different orders… I'll explain…" Tenten began, pointing her finger to the side looking quite intelligent. "…Me, Shikamaru and Kiba have science first and then Maths. All 16 and 17 year olds have PE with Gai-sensei during third and fourth lesson. 18 and 19 year olds have PE during first and second lesson, to even out the classes. Every one has study time last lesson and our fifth lesson is English…"

"Oh…" Sakura tried to digest all of the information but didn't understand something. "You say even out the PE class, but shouldn't that apply to all of the lessons?"

"Well… there is only two PE teachers, whereas there are three or four for every other subject, except special pathways; they vary."

"Oh…" she said a little brighter, understanding more clearly.

A loud, ear-splitting bell was heard and Sakura covered her still fragile ears from the sound. The others chuckled at her before heading to tutor. "Wait! My lessons are different from yours!"

"You're probably with Hinata and Naruto…"

"Hey!"

"Lee too…" Tenten mumbled as an afterthought, walking into the tall, architecturally challenging building with Sakura, Naruto and Hinata following.

Now, by architecturally challenging, the building wasn't the average, everyday building one would see whilst on your travels. At the top corners of the building, strange swirls looped upwards giving character to the building, reminding Sakura somewhat of an old Japanese castle, only the rest of the building is what one would expect. White bricks were the structure's walls and stretched out windows with shut blinds were the classroom's eyes.

Sakura nodded at Tenten, understanding her logic, and walked along the corridors feeling nervous. After all, the previous day hadn't had as many people in the corridors since she went early to see the head of the academy. They made it to their tutorial room and sat down in their usual seats.

When Kakashi finally turned up and took their register, Sakura found herself grinning at Saki and her gang.

"Okay, you won Haruno, but remember what I warned you…"

"What would that be?" Sakura said refusing to give up her smirk.

"Stay away from Gaara-sama… you don't need to be talking to him any more…"

With that said they strutted away from Sakura's desk and out the classroom. Sakura watched them angrily. She didn't feel quite as confident as she did the day before and didn't want to get into trouble at school.

She let her thoughts wonder onto Gaara. Just like she had said with Sasuke, she really could see why he would have a fan club; he had a rough, bad boy charm around him and was very handsome.

'I wonder what it would feel like if I run my fingers through his hair…'

'…yeah…' Inner Sakura agreed in a breathy sigh.

'I can't believe I just thought that! Snap out of it!'

Sakura shook her head and stood up from her seat after hearing the bell. She followed Hinata out of the room since Naruto and Lee had gone on ahead. She lazily walked along the corridor fighting not to be pushed over by the crowds of people who chattered and strutted down the corridors.

By the side of one wall, Sakura could see a foaming Janitor, whose fists were clenched, turning his fingers white with rage. Foul curses escaped his mouth about some youths being disrespectful and messing with his clean corridors. Sakura frowned at the angry old man and let a little laughter escape her mouth from the amusing scene.

She made it around the corner when a flash of red hair caught her attention. She looked up to find a broody Gaara walking towards her but she looked away so she wasn't caught staring. She briefly wondered if he was looking at her, or even noticed they were in the same corridor but shook the idea out of her head. She didn't think that he would look at her; after all, she wasn't anything special and never got any attention before. Why would that start now?

Curiosity got the better of her and she took another sneaky look at the read head who… was looking straight at her!

'Oh god he's looking at me! What do I do?!'

'Act natural!'

'What?! What is natural? I can't now that I know he's looking!'

'What is so different now? You talked by yourself with him for five minutes before… and you even got in a few cheeky moves! He even wondered where you were going when you left!

'…'

All her thoughts seemed to pass by quite quickly until she settled for her 'natural' option. She tilted her head to the side and smiled at him, making him look away with his usual blank stare and walk into one of the many identical classrooms. She felt slightly rejected but followed Hinata into the same classroom.

She noticed him sitting at the back of the classroom, looking out of the window as if he didn't even know her. Hinata pulled her into an empty chair beside her and then she noticed Naruto and Lee were sitting in front of her.

"Hey!" Naruto called, even though he had only been with her minutes earlier.

"Hello Sakura-chan! Let's do our best this mathematics lesson!" Lee chanted grabbing Sakura's hand to kiss it again. She pulled away before he made the contact and laughed nervously.

Gaara hadn't been looking out of the window; in reality, his full attention was on his new pink classmate. He couldn't figure her out. Her logic was irresponsible and could get her into danger. That smile made him look away instantly, for Gaara Sabaku did not blush or grow shy. She- What the fuck did Lee think he was doing? Gaara made sure his attention was elsewhere in the moment Lee started to shower her with affection.

Affection; something he never was good at. How did one actually show affection? Sure, he seen it every day to know what it looked like, but that didn't mean he knew what to do.

"Alright class… I'm Asuma; let's begin our lesson…" The teacher said as he entered the classroom with a cigarette in his mouth. Sakura felt her jaw drop slightly at his ill manners and lack of morals.

The lesson went by uneventfully, if you don't include the delinquents who thought it was funny to soar paper aeroplanes around the messy, unorganised classroom and when the bell rang, Sakura practically jumped from her seat to head out. Maths was by far her most boring subject; it didn't help that it was usually the one she scored high on.

Lesson two was the same situation, only Sakura's attention was caught by the mention of a poetry recital as an examination of skills. She loved to listen and write poetry and part of her thought that hidden beneath the poetry of others was their true feelings and things they had or were experiencing. It was a great way to learn about people without actually asking.

She got up after the bell went once more and followed Naruto, Lee and Hinata out the class. The whole lesson had almost bored her to tears until that last piece of information sparked her interest. It was due in for the next lesson and she couldn't wait to here some of her classmates work.

She sighed when she thought about what they might say. Naruto, he is pretty predictable; it will be to do with Ramen probably. Lee? Oh god! She begged he wouldn't pick her. Hinata… she wasn't a predictable one. Gaara? She had no idea, but it only seemed to make her more excited about what he might write.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly until it came to science. Break was short and pointless in Sakura's eyes, but it let her spend time with her friends who weren't in class. The same went for dinner only she was physically worn out from two lessons worth of '500 of this and 1000 of that… now onto the push ups'. Gai Maito was not human… and his relationship with Lee was… creepy… enough to send shivers down her spine. But from looking at the two, she could clearly tell that Gai Maito was Lee's role model.

When she made it to science she became creeped the instant she walked through the door. The walls couldn't be seen for the shelves full of green and blue jars which were full of lizards and pig trotters and… ugh! She hoped that wasn't a human hand!

She walked in to sit by her friends when she noticed they were scattered across the room with people she only faintly recognised. Clearly the science teacher liked to assign people to their lab partners.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when a hand placed itself on her shoulder, making her jump. "Welcome to my science lab…" a voice said in her ear, attempting to sound mildly flirty. She turned around to come face to face with a white haired man with glasses, which did him no justice in hiding his downward gaze. He didn't look too far into his 20's and if Sakura had to take a wild guess, she would say he was 21 or 22.

"Err… Sakura Haruno…"

"I'm well aware…" He aid adjusting his glasses and looking around the room. Sakura followed his gaze to realise that only two people in the room didn't have a partner beside them: Gaara and Sasuke. She hadn't even noticed Sasuke was in her lessons today.

The moment she caught Sasuke's eye, he smirked over at her with a strange look in his eyes. Kabuto realised this and immediately looked to the back row. "Miss Haruno, meet your new lab partner; Gaara…"

She mentally sighed and headed towards the back of the room, not bothering to look at Sasuke. She knew the look Kabuto-sensei was giving her and it made sense to seat her with the dangerous guy she would be afraid of. Only, Kabuto didn't know that Sakura preferred to be his lab partner than the creepy Uchiha, who seemed to be at war with the teacher through staring competition.

She approached the back of the lab and grinned smugly at Gaara who returned her expression with his own, only his was barely noticeable. "Hey…" She said as she stood next to him, facing the bottom of the dark green benched lab.

He only nodded slightly as his reply making her get fired up for an argument about his lack of social skills. She contained herself knowing that it would make a scene and everyone seemed pretty tense next to their own partners.

"Alright everyone, as most of you know, I am Kabuto-Sensei and you are permanently with your current lab partner until you break up for the next holiday or until I say… any questions? Good… now…" He continued to ramble on pointing to the board for ten minutes until he ordered them to get their equipment ready. They each had their own bench full of carefully labelled and layed out materials.

"So… I guess you're stuck with me for a while, huh?" Sakura teased with a smile as she began to set out some of the pieces.

"Hn"

She sighed loudly at his answer and felt more at peace now that the class was all talking to their partner about where each piece went. She looked over at Gaara to see he hadn't moved a muscle from his position leaning against the marbled bench.

"Would it kill you to help?" She snapped.

He looked up at her with a blank expression but he was shocked inside. This girl just kept surprising him with her unexpected smiles and her fiery temper. Maybe he would have to give a demonstration of to how dangerous he was.

"You have it under control, Haruno." He answered normally with a playful hint in his eyes. She seemed to recognise that unmistakable glint and took his challenge.

"Ah, you're right… I wouldn't want a man to screw my work up…" She said looking back at the equipment. He didn't respond to her come back so she mentally added to her list that he didn't care for sexist comments. She quickly analysed what might get him fired up and began thinking of ways to put her methods in use. "Besides, I like to be in control of situations…"

That seemed to have worked all to well for Sakura, since his eyes flew open from their closed, relaxed state and he pushed her away from the equipment not needing to use his hands. The sheer force of his aura told her to back away from him. He began setting up equipment making Sakura laugh to her self. So… the bad boy Gaara is a control freak? How predictable…

"Was it something I said?" She taunted with a wicked grin. He turned around and fixed her one of his famous glares which shut her up on the spot. He felt himself smiling on the inside at this; he still had it.

More pointless talk emitted from their white-haired teacher about how to do the experiment and Sakura found herself frowning. It was pretty hard when your lab partner was speedily grabbing things and adding them to other liquids without as much as a blink. She regretted firing him up, but at least she learned something new about him.

As soon as the experiment began, Kabuto strolled over towards Sakura, occasionally lending a word of advice to the tables he passed so it didn't seem obvious. When he finally made it to their own bench, he sent her a charming smile. She smiled back feeling nervous about his intentions; this was not a good nervous. This was a sickening nervous, which made her want to rip her hair out.

"Everything okay? Haruno-chan?" He said leaning as he attempted to lean on the bench and flick his hair out of his face.

Barely notable, sharp intakes of breath caught Sakura's attention. Her eyes never moved from the intrusive science teacher but out the corners, she could see some heads turned in their direction. It was enough to tell her she was receiving special attention.

Sakura shivered at his tone and unconsciously moved a step back. She didn't realise she had backed into her partner, who had been staring at his Sensei with annoyance for many reasons: The first being that he was a teacher and shouldn't even think about doing that to a student; the second being that he was interrupting their experiment to flirt; the third, he partnered him with a girl he would flirt with. The fourth, which girl he was trying to flirt with. The fifth… he didn't really feel like continuing with reasons. The last made him pissed off as it is.

"Err… yeah… I mean, yes Sensei!" She said panicked, before turning around to face Gaara. "Sorry Gaara-kun…" She said making some space between them so he didn't get annoyed with her bumping into him.

"Please Haruno-chan, call me Kabuto, or Kabuto-kun…" He said hooding his eyes. He had momentarily glared at the red head when she called his name so casually. Even Gaara had been shocked. He was used to Gaara-sama or –san. This girl must truly not know fear.

But that wasn't on his mind at the moment. The annoying science teacher was beginning to test his patience, and standing up to him so courageously will be the death of him.

"Eh? That would be inappropriate Sensei…" Sakura said with a little more defiance in her voice.

Kabuto was about to protest when he felt something gritty climbing up his legs. He looked over to Gaara and noticed his pupils had turned a golden colour. He took the hint and thought up his get away immediately.

"I… uh… Do well… If you need me I'll be… err… yeah…" He turned around quickly after feeling the sand clenching against his leg roughly. He escaped the sand's clutches and made his way to the front feeling humiliated.

The few members of the class who had the balls to watch the speculation, turned away quickly and acted as if they hadn't seen or heard anything. Gaara's stare was enough to make the hairs on your neck stand on end, shrivel up, and then fall off.

"W…hat was that all about?" Sakura asked no one in particular. Gaara focused his attention on the experiment once more, only this time, a small grin was placed on his lips. One you could only see if you squinted and tilted your head to the side. "Gonna let me do something yet?"

'Oh… I'd let her do something alright…' Shukaku interrupted chuckling to himself.

Gaara froze up; he had never heard Shukaku say something so… vulgar before. Never had the demon took notice in women, so naturally this outburst made Gaara shocked. His stoic features would say otherwise, however.

"Gaara?"

'Hm? Where did the –kun part go? Did she just… use me to get rid of the asshole?'

"Hn?"

"Oh great…"

"…"

"I prefer you 'hn'ing me than silence…"

"Why are you still talking?"

Sakura felt deeply insulted, and silently hurt. She liked to talk to him, and it was unfair how he had such a deep, entrancing voice when he was so silent. Maybe she talked too much? "What do you… mean?" She asked a little fearful. She didn't want him to hate her.

"What I said…"

"I was just trying to make conversation…" She said a little weaker as her smile slowly vanished and her eyebrows furrowed sadly.

"Why?" He felt a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as her smile started to disappear because of him. His damn pride prevented him backing out. He needed answers.

"Because…You're my lab partner? What is wrong with me talking to you?" Her voice began to get steadily angrier at him and her last question came out more forced and demanding.

"You shouldn't…"

"Oh… I see what you're doing…" She said with anger written in her eyes. She marched up to him feeling brave and went to poke him in the chest. Gaara quickly told Shukaku to back off with the protection, since he didn't want to anger, confuse, annoy and freak her out all in one day. "…You want me to fear you like everyone else, don't you?!"

This time, a few more heads turned in their direction, shock could be seen without looking their way; or rather, the shock could be sensed. Several mutters of, 'touching him' 'the first' and 'she's dead' could be heard from the class.

Sakura immediately lowered her voice so the eavesdroppers couldn't over hear her conversation. She didn't want to be potentially embarrassed and attract unwanted attention. She also didn't want Gaara to hate her and have even more reason not to talk. He looked down with a blank expression. She didn't need words.

"I refuse!" She said harshly through her teeth, before turning around to look down at their experiment and picking the nearest thing up.

"Why?"

"Why, what?!"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't believe the rumours…"

"You should"

"Why? Because everyone else does? Grow up!" She said harshly, looking him in the eye now.

Gaara could feel the sand in the gourd on the floor behind him moving around, unsettled. Shukaku was chanting and shouting things in Gaara's head. He was partly annoyed yet amused. No one… and I mean no one talked to him like that. "You're putting your life at risk… what if they are true…"

"I've already proven some of them aren't true…" She said with a triumphant smirk.

"The rest?" She took a moment to congratulate herself on keeping up a conversation with the anti-social bad boy and then concentrated on the task at hand.

"I'll just have to single out which ones aren't true then…" She turned her smirk into a single smile which seemed to relax both him, and the sand behind him.

"How?" He was daring her now. This woman truly wasn't like the rest; she… excited him.

Her mood changed from serious to playful in a heart beat and she stood closer to him, lifting her hand up. He grabbed her hand with a little too much force making her jump in shock but she still continued to reach for him. More mutters followed form the people still listening in, some including 'rip her hand off' and 'he's gonna kill her!'

He felt his grip growing weaker under her touch until her hand landed in his head of hair. She ruffled the red, messy spikes and then grinned childishly making him lift an eyebrow.

She lowered from her tip toes and drew her hand back. "Well… there goes another rumour…" She sighed with an exaggerated sigh before turning around leaving him stumped.

"W-What?" 'Fuck! Did I just stutter?'

"He stuttered!"

"She's alive!"

"W-What's happening?!"

The whispers continued until Gaara shot them his famous, most threatening glare. They looked away immediately and continued with their experiments, which had fizzed over or began to bubble from neglect. He looked back down to the mysterious girl, who was trying her best to stand tall and return her own eyes to look into his intense ones.

"Well… they said you were the devil… but you don't have horns so… guess they lied" She turned around with her nose scrunched up. She couldn't believe she got to feel the infamous Gaara's unkempt, sexy hair.

Gaara ran a hand through his hair and walked beside her, picking up a glass beaker full of an unknown substance. Normally, he didn't care much for science and their unnecessary experiments; but she just seemed to make him do the unexpected. She didn't even know it…

oOo

"…will have to set a date for the meeting. We could be away for a week…" A sturdy, deep voice announced.

Several men around the long, rectangular table broke out in a low murmur, accompanied by head shakes and nods. The blinds around the room had been dropped and closed, leaving only the dim wall lights, which surrounded the table, to illuminate the faces of ten well suited men.

"Settle down… now, let's not dawdle. We have been meaning to discuss the matters of the daughters among our council for some time…" The murmur silenced and all heads turned towards the main man at the top of the table.

"You're right… we didn't adopt them for no reason… we have important customers to… entice, into co-operation…" Another added, sitting halfway down the table.

"Yeah… it's time to put our league into action!" Another shouted pounding his fist into the air.

"I agree gentlemen. Our exotic beauties will help us gain even more power throughout this town… first: our illegal, back alley gangsters, the local police, commercial and computer enterprises, and then eventually: the government!" The head of the table announced with a crazed look in his eyes. "Just one more town we will have power over…"

"…but not just any town… the legendary Konoha… the hidden country of fire… the central city to the continent of Shippuuden…"

"I-I don't understand!" A rebel voice yelled from the bottom of the table. "We've gained power in many towns already! Why go to the extreme to rule over this town?!"

"Because, my friend, this is the central town to the land… the mighty Konoha! Not a town to be taken lightly… we must use precision… Now then gentlemen… let's drop the business formalities and… relax a little" He stood up from his chair in the darkly lit room, followed by his companions and led them out through the door.

"Kensho-san?" A voice asked from behind the man leading the group of smartly dressed men. He stepped forward to reveal his dark brown hair and the small smirk which adorned his sharp features.

"Osamu-san?" The man in front answered back… "Weren't we supposed to drop the formalities?" The taller man asked with a smile present.

"Che, then why are you walking out in front?" The second asked with amusement written in his voice.

"True… what is it brother?"

"Where are we going?"

"The usual, drinks, music, company…"

"Ah, I see… well then, might I recommend the place? I found it whilst on a drive…"

"Sure… lead the way little brother…" Kensho answered gesturing out in front of him.

Yes, Kensho-san seemed to have the upper hand in the council, but his younger brother was in fact the money holder. He simply bought what his older brother recommended. Mainly, tall club houses with secret, illegal activities lurking behind every wall.

'…hmm, exotic beauties? I knew it was the reason why I chose her; but it doesn't feel right. I raised her for this year… right? I bought the clothes on her back… right? I gave her shelter and food… of course. It should be me who takes her. Do what they want afterwards, but 'my' little exotic beauty, will be mine firstly…'

That same, knowing grin was twitching throughout his face, threatening to take over the crazed, lunatic's face. He kept it together, and mused quietly to himself.

oOo

The front door creaked under the slow motions it was being forced to make. It finally came to a stop where a head peered around the gap, with alarming pink hair. Her eyes did the talking as she carefully scanned the rooms she could see, and listened to the noises the house made. She let out the breath she had been holding in and stepped openly into the entrance of the house.

No noises except the sound of doors shutting quietly thanks to the wind, leaking into the house via opened windows and the front door being open. She dumped her bag on the floor and slipped out of her boots, walking over to inspect the rooms more carefully, for any sign of life. What she did see, however, made the pits of her stomach burn a sickening feeling into her being. She power walked over to the thin message and scanned its contents.

Her eyes widened and a concentrated drop of sweat slid down her tensed features. The cars which frequently passed the outside of the picture-perfect home had suspiciously stopped in the moment and silence rang through the house. She only really needed three words to know hat would be happening:

'Late, meeting, council'

She was no fool and experience told her the night she was expecting. These meetings didn't come often; once a month at the most. But when they did happen, they took their toll on her. His work colleagues would come in drunk after being invited back, and tell him how to 'handle' her. In the end, the bruises and breaks would take weeks to heal, and when they did, they would come back from another drunken night and start from scratch. Perfect…

To Be Continued…

Hey! Thanks for reading supporting and giving me your thoughts! All of you who said Gaara would be her lab partner get…

Drum Roll A Cookie!! YAY!

You guys know what to do… click the blue button and tell me what you thought!

Next Chapter: Meet the council…