The principal had decided to give the three siblings a personalized tour of the school; meaning the principal took them all around campus only glorifying his own achievements as the overseer of Konoha High. Not wanting to start off leaving an awful impression, Temari and Kankuro stayed only to listen to the elderly man babble on about useless factoids. Meanwhile, Gaara decided to take his chances with figuring out the school layout on his own.
'I mean, it's just like any other damn school. How hard is it to find homeroom?' Gaara, visibly disgruntled, hoisted his black backpack higher onto his right shoulder and began to wander the large school.
Tousling his red hair for the fifth time in frustration, Gaara squinted at his schedule one more time in an effort to figure out what room he was in; LEVEL 2, WING H RM. 13. Whipping his head around, Gaara knew he was in the right building and level. However, the ever elusive room number was eluding him. Quickly getting enraged, he crumpled his paper and punted it down the hall, only to see it hit a pair of feet. Realizing the occurrence, green eyes traveled up the legs only to find a face he hadn't seen in ages.
The boy that had been hit stooped low to pick up the crumpled source of Gaara's anger, uncrumpled it, and read it.
"So you guys are in the same class." Shikamaru stated quietly. Unbuttoning his top button on his gakuran, to gain some type of ventilation, shuffled towards Gaara. He thrust the paper towards him lazily.
"How's it been?" Gaara took the note from his sister's long distance boyfriend.
"Lonely, I suppose." Shikamaru only nodded to signify that he held the same belief as Gaara felt.
Although the two never talked very often, they understood each other well enough. They never seemed to enjoy being swept up within discussion that were unnecessary or simply put troublesome. The two had bonded over mutual respect to one another's space, something Temari never really understood. But it worked well so there were no complaints.
"You ready to face Hell?" Shikamaru motioned for the other to follow.
"Does it matter." Gaara fell into step with the ponytailed man.
To that, Shikamaru only shrugged. They continued their walk in a comforting silence. Upon reaching the door, Shikamaru turned around and was making his way down the corridors towards his usual spot: the rooftop. Shikamaru often skipped class only to take naps in the sun, to watch the clouds, or to just think about his own findings. The teachers stopped bringing up his attendance, or lack thereof, when they discovered he was getting some of the top scores in the class. Whatever's working is working was the general mentality of the faculty.
Gaara looked towards his sister's boyfriend, only to tear his eyes away from the figure and turn his attention to the door; the only thing separating him and the utter chaos he could hear that was erupting from inside. He could clearly hear voices yelling and cheering. Deciding to bite the bullet, Gaara reached for the handle and tugged on it.
Kakashi had finished his math lesson for the day and decided to have the last twenty minutes of the period be a free for all: students could do whatever they wanted within the classroom. Today the students were enjoying the lukewarm weather and students had congregated onto the balcony to bask in the sun, some just got together in small groups. Others were watching Sasuke and Naruto have their famous daily debates, today's debate was what to get for lunch.
"C'mon Sasuke, let's pick up some melon bread." Naruto whined at his raven haired friend.
"No, idiot. Besides you don't even like melon bread." Sasuke retorted while shifting his stance against the wall next to Sakura's desk.
"I love melon bread." He looked towards Hinata. "I really do, especially when you bake it. It's the absolute best."
Hinata calmly smiled, knowing full and well how much the blonde hated melon bread. But, it was Hinata's guilty pleasure which meant Naruto would always buy some just in case she wanted any. It was something Hinata always treasured about her boyfriend: how much he cared about the little things.
Sakura was laughing at their debate as it progressed further, only to have her attention taken away by the opening of the door. As she looked upward, emerald and forest green eyes collided and immediately began to take the other in.
His evergreen eyes were exactly the same as they had been years ago, but they held much more sorrow than ever before. His red hair had grown longer in the years apart now reaching his eyebrow bone while still maintaining an air of unruliness. The tattoo he had upon his forehead seemed to stand out in comparison to the dark circles upon his alabaster skin. He had grown in both height and muscle mass, which was evident as his uniform was well fitting around him. Sakura could tell that he had grown a few more inches, possibly reaching 5'6, at least from what she could tell.
Her jewel eyes had become muddled, not enough to affect their beauty but to show her inner turmoils caused by the aftermath of everything. Her pale pink hair, now free from her updo, flowed towards the slope of her back, and framed her heart shaped face. Her ivory skin seemed to glow and was unmarred by any imperfections. Sakura had grown more beautiful throughout the years in Gaara's eyes.
"Ah, new kid, you're finally here." Kakashi interrupted the stare down as he stood from his chair, resting his romance novel on his oak desk. Clapping Gaara on the shoulder, Kakashi urged him to introduce himself to the class, all of whom were staring at him.
The most Gaara did was stare at everyone, picking out faces he already knew. Upon seeing only a handful of those he knew, Gaara sighed.
"Gaara." Was all he said, turned towards Kakashi and simply stared. As if trying to challenge the teacher.
Knowing he wouldn't get much more out of the red head, Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and looked around towards the empty seats.
"Pick whatever empty seat you want. The next period starts in a few, so pick one quickly." Kakashi began to walk towards his desk. "Oh, Sakura, come help me pass these out."
Sakura, too nervous to make a sound, rushed out of her seat towards her teacher; She was very grateful for the brief distraction. As she passed, Gaara and Sakura's hands brushed ever so slightly. It wasn't much but it was just enough to send a shock through both teen's bodies. The hair on Gaara's neck felt as if they were being tugged mercilessly to look towards his first love, however he knew that if he did he wouldn't be able to stop himself from making a scene. Sakura could feel her face heat from the contact. Realizing the situation, she quickly bit back the feelings that were rekindling.
'Think about everything that he ever did to you. Don't ever let that happen, Sakura. Besides you have-' Sakura's thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi plopping the stack of handouts in her arms. He then began to look over them to make sure what he was going to say for the next lesson.
During class, Sakura found her eyes drifting towards Gaara's back constantly.
'Someone up there must really get a kick out of making me suffer.' Sakura was visibly disgruntled from the ordeal of having Gaara occupy the seat right in front of her. On top of that it was hard to see the board considering he had grown since the last time they had seen one another.
Suddenly, a vibration broke her out of her inner rant. She pulled out her cell phone, making sure the bell strap attached didn't jingle, and checked the screen. After pressing a few buttons, Sakura managed to bring up a text message she had just received from Sasuke: who was sitting right behind her.
'Hey, how are you doing?'
Sakura smiled at the kind gesture he had offered to her.
'Meh, I mean obviously a little rattled but not terrible...Thanks though.'
'Roof lunch?'
'Yeah, Naruto and Hinata will be meeting us up there.'
'Ok.'
That was the last message throughout the entire period.
Softly sighing, Sakura leaned back in her chair feeling much more relaxed about the whole situation. Knowing she had a support system and someone who really cared for her made all the difference to Sakura.
"Alright, food time!" Naruto pumped his fists in the air in celebration as Hinata simply gathered their bentos she had prepared.
"You act super excited but you're always sneaking food in class." Sasuke cocked his head at Naruto.
"What? Psh, no I don't. I have no idea what you are talking about…" Naruto trailed off acting suspiciously while shoving his hands deep into his pockets, thus producing a crinkling sound. No one said anything but shared a quiet laugh.
"How did you know that Sasuke?" Sakura asked while their group began making their way towards the roof stairwell.
"One of the privileges of sitting in the back." He casually stated.
Gaara was lying on top of the roof entrance looking at the sky, something he had picked up from Shikamaru from the years of knowing him.
'Shikamaru always said this was relaxing.' Gaara had to admit that his sister's boyfriend knew something helpful for once. After coming in contact with Sakura had sent his mind into overdrive all day, so of course sitting right in front of her did not help at all. If anything the smell of her citrus shampoo had sent his entire being skyrocketing. Now here he was, alone, trying to figure out how to convince her to come back to him; let alone acknowledge him in the slightest.
He heard a click come from below him then a rush of voices follow afterwards. Immediately recognizing them, Gaara decided to stay silent. A few moments passed and he just couldn't help himself, so Gaara took a peek at his love.
There she was in all of her glory. Now long pink hair flowing in the breeze behind her, while she tried fruitlessly to tame it. He couldn't help but be entranced by her. Before he was discovered, Gaara hid himself once more. Then the conversation piqued his interest.
"Sakura," Hinata delicately said "are you alright?"
Everyone looked at the pink haired girl who was nervously laughing.
"Yeah, totally." Sakura was holding the back of her neck. "How are you, Naruto? You're the one who has to sit next to him."
"I'm alright." Naruto's tone was somber. "But, he won't even acknowledge us. Like we were the ones who abandoned him. That douche!" Naruto was beginning to get angry.
"Hn. Idiot." Sasuke uttered catching Naruto's wrath.
"Oh, you wanna go bastard?" Naruto got up and began to stalk towards Sasuke.
"You can't even handle me at the dojo." Sasuke dodged Naruto and wrapped him into a headlock. After struggling a little, Naruto simply began to laugh loudly as Sasuke smirked.
Sakura sadly smiled as she was watching two of her best friends vent out their feelings. Unable to hide her contempt for much longer, Sakura excused herself for the restroom.
Gaara could feel her frantic footsteps vibrations as she ran down the stairs.
"You think she is alright?" Naruto asked, completely oblivious as usual.
"No, stupid." Sasuke answered as he released Naruto from the headlock.
"I have to agree with Sasuke. She seemed pretty shocked to find out Gaara was coming back." Hinata wrapped her arms around her torso in nervousness.
Gaara simply stayed there, even after the group left to find Sakura. He stayed thinking of everything that went wrong, every single thing he had done to hurt her. To drive her away. But, he knew that somewhere along the line he had been the one to run away. He had been the one to leave not the other way around. Gaara stayed there until it was time to go home, which was when it began to rain. Shuffling down to the classroom, he noticed how empty the school had become within half an hour. But, he didn't blame them. Gaara definitely would not want to stay any longer than mandatory at this prison.
At least that's what he thought until he opened the door to the classroom and saw the one person he had been so anxious to see again. There she was.
Sakura was sitting in her seat, looking out the window at the light rain that had begun. The only give away that it was her was her petal pink hair softly falling against her back. After hearing the door open, she glanced over her shoulder to meet Gaara once again. Emerald and forest green eyes met once again.
"S-Sakura…" Gaara was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Sakura. He had imagined her avoiding him like the plague until he finally could figure out a plan to win her back, then, and only then, would he start pursuing her. Now with her standing to take her bag as well as his, Gaara's entire strategy had just been flung out the window and run over by a huge semi truck. Before he could think of anything intelligent to say, Gaara felt his bag shoved against him roughly.
"Here. Next time show up for class duty." Sakura seamlessly kept waking as she slipped him the class journal.
Confused Gaara looked towards the board to see his and Sakura's names placed on the chalkboard with the words; Class Representatives. How he got elected, Gaara had no idea, but he thanked whatever God was up there for this chance. Snapping out of his thoughts, Gaara knew this was his chance to reconnect with Sakura. After the revelation, Gaara shoved the notebook into his backpack and sprinted towards the school doors in hopes to catch up to...
"Sakura!" He frantically yelled.
There she stood with her red umbrella shielding her from the rain. And that's exactly where he ran to.
"Gaara, stop. You're going to get soaked." Sakura reasoned as she began to back away very slowly, both out of worry for herself and simply because she wasn't ready to face him so intimately.
"Then stop and let me talk to you." Gaara, slightly annoyed, pleaded.
Startled, Sakura realized that she was backing away and stopped. She began to stare at the ground, only looking up at his face when his ragged breath could be heard right in front of her. They stood there. One slowly becoming drenched, the other safe and dry.
The silence was becoming much heavier with every passing second. Becoming uncomfortable Sakura began to shift her weight from foot to foot while Gaara was trying to figure out something to say...anything to say really. After a few minutes of the awkward silence, the drizzle from earlier had gradually increased into a downpour. Seeing how wet Gaara was becoming, she held her umbrella a little farther from herself in order to shield him from the onslaught of water. She saw the surprised look Gaara gave her.
"I don't want you dying of hypothermia." Sakura said in response to his look. "Come on." She was beginning to walk away, giving Gaara no chance for a rebuttal. Instead, he followed along managing to take the umbrella from her hand. Gaara held it up higher to accommodate his stature underneath the red umbrella for two.