A/N: Remember to review after reading! Compliments and critiques welcome~

"Sayuki! Are you alright?" Sakura came rushing over to the horrified Sayuki as she sat there frozen. Sakura touched her shoulder, and tried to lift her up. Sayuki began to tremble as she looked at the mass collision she had caused. That in itself was bad enough, but who was in it made it all the worse for her. She was like dead weight, and refused to stand up even as Sakura struggled to pull her up.

"You!" Karin's scream echoed through the class. Sayuki flinched at the sound of her high pitched scream. The trembling didn't stop. Karin's eyes pierced through her skin and into her heart stopping it from beating. Finally Sakura managed to yank her up to her feet, but she leaned against Sakura lifelessly. Karin growled angrily in a beast like way. "You clumsy bitch! Don't you look where you're going are you stupid and blind!?"

"It was an accident, cool your jets," Sakura snapped at Karin. Karin turned her glare to Sakura, as she roughly stood up, pushing her friend back down who had also fallen. She brushed her arms off violently, her scowl never perishing from her face.

"I'm-I'm sorry! Let me help you-" Sayuki finally found her voice, as shaky as it was. She reached out to help dust Karin off, but Karin slapped her hand away angrily. Sayuki felt a sharp pain in her hand, but the numbing in her legs was worse.

"Don't you dare touch me after what you did! This was an expensive skirt and now it's filthy and dirty!" Karin flared as she clenched the hand she had used to smack her hand away. Sayuki's mouth hung open, ready to apologize even further, but the sudden shock that appeared in Karin's eyes stopped any words. "What is this!? Is this gum on my skirt?!" Karin shrieked as she noticed the pink sticky mess at the center of her leg of the black skirt. Her eyes widened as she let out a sound of disgust.

"It's just a skirt you dumb ass..." Sayuki's frightened eyes looked down to see Gaara. That's who she had heard fighting outside the class. He must have been the first person she had hit. She looked away from him ashamed for abandoning him the first time and for now causing him even more problems. "It was my fault anyways, [I] princess [/I], so lay off her. It was an ugly skirt anyways, you should be glad." Gaara muttered the last part after rolling his eyes.

"Please... I'll buy you a new one." Sayuki offered hopefully, stopping Karin from snapping on Gaara. She wiped the tears from her face as she said this, and tried to put on a friendly smile. To Sayuki's surprise Karin smiled back. Sayuki's smile brightened into a genuine smile, until she felt the sharp stinging on her face as Karin's hand whipped out of nowhere. Sayuki stumbled back, completely startled.

"You wouldn't be able to afford a string of this skirt." Karin replied coolly. Pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket, she wiped her hands on it, disgusted. She glanced around the class; the stares of their classmates looking at them. Half of them were shocked and afraid, while half looked nervous but amused. Karin scowled as she looked back down to her dress. "I need to change out of these rags now. Let's go." Karin ordered, and her two friends nodded, their eyes locked on the shocked Sayuki.

"Why you bi-" Sakura began but stopped when Sayuki's shaking hand grabbed her. Karin raised an eyebrow, but when Sakura gritted her teeth she laughed haughtily and headed for the door. She glanced out to see the teacher coming. She flipped her hair back, and turned to look back at Sayuki.

"You better watch your back."

"Does your face still hurt?" Sakura asked Sayuki as they sat eating their lunches. Sayuki simply stared at her food though, not bothering to even try. Her stomach felt like it had been kicked repeatedly. She knew that if she even tried to eat it wouldn't stay down. So instead she pushed her food away and shook her head slowly.

"It's fine." Sayuki whispered. Even though she could no longer feel the stinging from the slap, it still hurt. She knew that it wouldn't end just like that. She was going to become like Gaara, but she wasn't strong like him. Even with Sakura she was sure she couldn't handle it. She wasn't a heroine with a strong personality and a profound determination who overcame anything. She was a weak hearted fool.

"Okay... well I'm going to go buy something to drink. Do you want anything?" Sakura asked as she stood up from the desk. Sayuki shook her head. Sakura nodded and headed for the door. Sayuki felt even more frightened as she realized she was all alone now. She wouldn't be able to protect herself if something went wrong.

Sayuki looked to her left where Gaara sat, his eyes closed. He posture made him seem so off guard and care free, but the tension in his face and wrinkles between his eyebrows showed the opposite. He looked ready to strike anyone one down who dared to enter the space around him. She wanted to go over to him and apologize but she was too scared to. He had stuck up for her; that didn't mean he liked her though. He probably hated her. Not probably, she was a hundred percent sure that he hated her.

Still, Sayuki didn't want to sit there alone and she needed to apologize to the red haired boy. She took a deep breath and moved her leg to move. But she stopped. She felt something drop on her head, several things. They fell down passed her shoulders and onto her lap. She looked down to see rice scattered across her lap. Squares of omelette clashed against her purple skirt and little octopus faces looked up at her, grinning happily. Sayuki looked up to meet the gaze of Karin.

"You didn't seem to like your food, so I thought I'd share mine with you. How is it?" Karin asked sweetly as she held two bento pink and yellow boxes above Sayuki's head. She slammed the containers onto the desk, a syrupy smile on her face.

"She looks thirsty," A pink haired girl beside Karin spoke. She didn't bother to smile like Karin, but kept a small arrogant smirk on her lips. Sayuki's wide eyes darted across the three girls who stood in front of her escape route. Her hands reached up to her head to touch the sticky rice. Her mouth dropped as it all sunk in. She began to rapidly pull the rice from her hair.

"I think you're right for once Tayuya," Karin agreed nodding. She held her hand out and a girl with black hair handed Karin a bottle of tea. Sayuki's eyes widened, and she pushed her chair back to leave, but Karin quickly unscrewed the bottle. Sayuki sat shocked as the cold liquid dribbled down her hair and down her neck. Her shirt began to soak as Karin slowly poured the liquid down. Once the bottle was empty, Karin shook the bottle to rid the last drops.

"No need to thank us. You can repay us with lunches tomorrow and some juice." Karin spoke slowly. She kept her smile glued to her face as she threw the bottle to the ground. Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the pathetic looking Sayuki. "This is only the beginning of our [I] friendship [/I]." Sayuki trembled at the word friendship. Karin's eye brightened again and she waved before she walked off.

Tayuya's smirk grew, and she turned to leave, smacking everything on the desk at Sayuki, including her own uneaten lunch. It fell on her lap, creating a larger mess, but she still didn't move until both the girls followed behind Karin. As soon as they were out of the room, Sayuki began to tremble, their laughter ringing through her head.

"Why...?" Sayuki cried softly and dropped her head to the desk. The few in the room bore holes into her back with their stares, but she was already too humiliated to care anymore. She shook from her sobs as she cried on her desk. She hated them, she truly hated them. She was going to be ruined before she knew it. She would rather be dead.

"Get up." Sayuki slowly looked up as the rough voice commanded her. She looked up to see the annoyed look on Gaara's face as he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. He roughly wiped rice off of her shoulder and head, before he began to drag her towards the door. "Are you planning to just stay like that the rest of the day?"

"No..." Sayuki managed to say through a sob. She followed him as he tugged her out the door and down the hall. She looked down, ashamed to look at anyone. She knew they would all laugh at the site of her, and she couldn't take anymore ridicule. It was all too much for her. "Thank you... for helping me..." Sayuki gasped out. "And I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."

"It's one or the other. Be thankful or sorry. More importantly have more pride and stand up to those cowardly bitches..." Gaara lectured impatiently as he pulled her along. Sayuki nodded limply. He sighed, and stopped. He let her arm go, and Sayuki looked up to see why.

"Sayuki! What happened to you!?" Sakura's voice filled Sayuki's head and she immediately began to cry harder as she saw her. Gaara pushed Sayuki towards Sakura who caught her against her chest and looked at her worriedly. "Did she do this to you? You're covered in rice and your wet..."

"Go get her cleaned up." Those were the last words Sayuki heard from Gaara before Sakura straightened her up and lead her towards the entrance doors. She looked back once towards him as he watched them leave. She bowed her head slightly with her face tear stained and whispered a thank you to him. He just nodded quickly, before quickly turning around and heading out another set of doors.