Okay, Gaara is a little OC in this chapter. I'm trying to get the point across that he's got a stoic front for others, but he's really kind of an aloof guy. Sorry if it annoys a lot of readers…

Sakura sat against the mirrored wall, her back pressed against the cold reflective glass, her knees brought up to her chest, her face buried between them.

I'm sorry D, B, everyone… You must be so worried, but I can't go home yet. I haven't even asked him…confronted him… I don't think I can ever go home…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening and a body coming through.

"Hey." the newly familiarized voice called in a gruff greeting.

The pink haired girl looked up at him, just in time to catch a spherical object thrown at her. It was green, and round, and smelled fresh and delightful. Something she had not had in a long time.

"How did you know I liked apples?" she mumbled to herself, rolling the firm fruit around in her hands. Apples were what her Master had always fed to her before their journey on Christmas Eve. Since he brought her one it only made her more certain that he was the one they had all been looking for, for so long.

"Don't get your hopes up, I just grabbed something." Gaara mumbled back tiredly.

He dropped to the floor, landing in an awkward sitting position, yet he seemed completely comfortable sitting that way.

"Food should be ready in about five minutes. It's nothing special, only vegetables and rice."

Sakura nodded. The information wasn't necessary, for she could smell the food cooking from the moment he put it in the water to boil, but she was still grateful that he was considerate enough to tell her…still grateful to hear the sound of his voice…

She couldn't keep her eyes off him, his eyes, his face, his figure. She liked the sight of his chest rising and falling with each breath, his hair slightly stirring with each gentle wave of air form the open window behind him. It was like she was drawn to him, like she couldn't look away from him, even if she tried.

He noticed, and it was starting to piss him off.

"You have a problem with me?" he growled, and edge to his voice. He didn't like it when people watched him.

"No." she answered quietly.

He glared. "Don't be so full of yourself. I'm not going to pounce on you and rape you, if that's what you're scared of. You're not even my type."

She gripped the apple in her hands tightly, her eyes watering slightly with hurt, her body tensing in protest. "That's not it!" she yelled, her voice much louder than she had expected it to be. She blinked a few times, startled herself by how ferocious she had sounded, allowing a few tears to make their way down her face.

Gaara was unaffected by the outburst, in fact, it made him somewhat angry that she dared yell at him. "Then what is it then! Why do you keep staring at me!?" he demanded, his voice not even trying to hide the sharp edge to it.

"Because I'm afraid you're going to leave me again!" she suddenly screamed.

He sat silent for a while, stunned by her sudden outburst. Sakura's lip started quivering as she held back her sobs, the tears flowed down her face none-the-less.

"Look, if you can't even take me going to the store, then you need some serious help." he hissed, the most threatening of all glares illuminating from his eyes.

"It's not that! It's before!" Sakura cried.

"What are you talking about!? I just met you today!" he demanded, his hands balling into fists.

"But I've been searching for you my whole life!" she yelled, standing up and taking a step forward, her own hand clutching into a ball at her chest, trying to hold her beating heart in place.

"What the hell does that mean!?" he yelled back.

No, no, no! This isn't how it's supposed to be! I wasn't supposed to tell him through an argument. I need to calm down! Calm down, calm down, calm down… she pleaded with herself.

Sakura bit her lip, letting the pain and the metallic taste of her own blood calm her

emotions.

She took a deep breath.

"You may not believe this, and I'm not going to force you to, but you need to at least listen to what I have to say. After that I'll be quiet. I'll leave if you want me to."

No. I don't want to leave him… I've finally found him!

Gaara sat up, walking over to the chair and positioning himself in the same aloof position he was in before.

He was still glaring.

"Fine, I'll listen. But it better be damn good."

Sakura nodded.

She wasn't sure how she had done it, she wasn't sure if she could do it again, but for some reason the raging teen in front of her had calmed down. He was still irritable, yes, but he was willing to listen, and for that she was grateful.

"It all happened eighty years ago, when Santa Claus-"

"Santa Claus?" Gaara laughed accusingly.

Sakura dared glare at him. "Yes, Santa Claus. You said you'd listen."

He said nothing except a small "Hn." for an answer.

"Eighty years ago Santa Claus went missing…"

"I didn't know anything when I was little. I didn't know who I was or why I was even living. All I knew is that I was…different. The other kids… they were always wary of me…always…" she tried to think of a word to describe it. "Distant."

"I always felt I was out of place, like I had to search for something. My parents assured me that I was theirs and not adopted, but I didn't believe them. I couldn't believe them. It was like an instinct. Something screaming in the back of my head, a steady repeating voice saying I do not belong to them.

"The first time I shifted I was eleven years old. I had thought I was dreaming at first. I mean, what eleven year old could turn into a deer and fly through the air? I knew it wasn't a dream when I woke up on top of a telephone pole. The firemen and police were called and everything. My parents denied every accusing question I asked, saying I needed help, and sent me to a counselor.

"Everything was fine for the next couple of years. I didn't have anymore strange dreams, and I didn't shift again. I learned to accept things. I was a better athlete than everyone in my school because my grandmother was a track star. All the animals came to me whenever I was outside because I lacked a threatening aura. I was a vegetarian because of the documentary we had to watch in school about how beef was made, and I didn't drink milk because I was lactose intolerant. I was perfectly ordinary. That was what I had convinced myself."

"And then…when I was fourteen…I…" Sakura wrapped her arms around her knees, "I…stopped aging."

Gaara coughed, a choking like sound, as though the air was trying to kill him.

"I look fourteen but I'm really over twenty years old! My mom…she left…and my dad…he…he thought such a freak shouldn't exist…and he tried to kill me.

"I ran away. I'm not sure where I thought I could go. All I remember is that it was cold, and wet, and I was so tired, and so frozen, and then he came. A man with silver hair and a gentle voice. He took my hand and brought me to a big house by the riverside, right next to the forest. There were others there, seven it total. It was the first time I felt at home…and I had only just met them.

"That's when he told me everything, the silver-haired man. I was a reindeer of Santa Claus, reincarnated, after he had gone missing eighty years ago. Everyone, all the reindeer, were in the house, all of them wanting to look for him. All of them connected. That's how he had found me…through our connection. He was Blitzen, the oldest and most experienced of the reindeer. We were all supposed to look for Santa, each and every year, until we found him at last. He said it would be unmistakably him. You would feel at ease around him. You would feel at home around him. You could not deny what you were, and neither could our Master. And I do feel that way around you!"

Sakura leapt up, wanting to desperately be next to Gaara, but not brave enough to move.

"Gaara, you are him! I cannot leave your side! I feel pained every time I see you leave! You're aura is nostalgic, that's why I wasn't afraid of you when I saw you for the first time! You have to come back with me, please Gaara! I cannot live without being by your side. After knowing, seeing, talking to you, I can't leave you like you didn't exist! I do not have it in me separate from you once again! I need you! Gaara, you are my master. You are our master. We love you! I love you! So please, Master, come back home!" she cried, holding out her hand to him.

He didn't know what to think, what to do. Instead he did the only thing he could think of.

"You're crazy. There is no connection between us at all."

"Then how did you find me in the woods. How did you know exactly where I was!?" she protested.

"It was a coincidence!" Gaara stammered. "I just had the urge to go on a walk in that part of the park! It had nothing to do with you!"

"It was our connection that caused the urge!"

"You-you have no proof that I'm-"

"You never had any friends when you were little. You were like me. They feared you. Ran from you. Called you a monster because they knew you weren't fully human! Animals aren't afraid of you and come close to you. When you look at people you instantly know if they're good people of bad. You also know what their intentions are! You've even stopped aging haven't you!?"

"SHUT UP!" Gaara yelled, his hands clutched tightly against his ears to block out the sound of her voice. "You know nothing! You're just a crazy little brat that I found in the woods! Stop acting like you know me! I am not your master! You are not my friend!" he wailed, his eyes slammed closed.

"Maybe I am crazy…" Sakura whimpered quietly, her eyes looking into the distance, her mind thinking of what it would have been like if things were different. "Maybe you aren't. Maybe I'm wrong. But if that's so…I want you to say it."

Gaara took in a quick breath, his hands releasing his ears, his eyes daring to open and look at her. They were scared, uncertain, lonely…"All you have to do is say I am not Santa Claus, and all of this will go away. We cannot deny who we are, which means if you can, you are free from this burden."

"I" he started quietly, "I am not" but he couldn't finish the rest. He tried, his mouth formed the words, his voice tried to speak them, to scream them, but they refused to be said. His eyes widened, fearful of why his voice had betrayed him. "What does that mean?" he demanded.

Sakura walked toward him calmly, her hand extending toward him once again.

"It means you don't have to be alone anymore." She said, a gentle smile on her face, a voice soft and caring, like the voice the silver-haired man had so long ago. "If you take my hand, I'll take you to where we reside. It'll be alright."

"And if I refuse to go?" he challenged, not liking the idea of having to go to an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people.

Sakura sat down beside him, her hand still willing to be grasped. "Then I will stay here by your side forever."

"But don't you want to go home?" he demanded.

Sakura nodded. "Yes, I do."

He snarled, "Then why would you-"

Sakura smiled at him again, her head tilting to the side to try and be reassuring.

"I am Dancer, the most loyal among your reindeer. I would not leave your side for the world unless you order it of me."

There must have been something in the way she talked to him, looked at him, smiled at him… He felt calm, relaxed, safe… Peaceful. That was the word. He wasn't sure what the outcome would be, what the dangers would be, or even what his life would be, but he could not fight his instinct. He found himself reaching out, and taking her hand.

"Hold on tight!" Sakura said happily once he grasped it, startling him, her smile turned into a wide grin.

"What do you mean hold on tight, you-" his thought was cut off by his body being lifted as it was hoisted up on what appeared to be a deer's back. "Wow, now, hold on a sec! What do you think you're doing?"

"What reindeer do best!"

Gaara was startled, his eyes widening, his face contorting into worry and shock. He had accepted that Santa Claus was real and that he was him, but he was still unprepared for a talking deer. One could only take so much unbelievable discoveries in a night without being affected.

He felt the muscles of her body move beneath him, and gripped her silken copper coat a little tighter, just in time for her to spring forward in a run toward the open window.

He let out a small yelp of fear. "You don't mean… You're not going to-"

She burst through the window into a full fledged gallop, a cheerful little laugh escaping through the air. "Fly!"

This may have been crappy, but read and review anyway people! Please!?

Hope you liked it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!