All kids bragged about their amazing new friends from abroad. Hinata was lucky to have a friend who invited her to her house in Suna. Of course, Hinta's parents didn't let her go, but it was impressive nonetheless. Kiba was friends with a boy who wanted to come to Konoha only to play with his dog because there were no dogs in the desert. Shino talked to a girl who had an impressive collection of spiders. Even Ino talked about a blonde girl like her, who made dolls and promised to send her one. Sakura told her classmates about the story book she received from Gaara. She was very happy because nobody in Konoha had ever heard them before. She was eager to share them with the rest, but her colleagues considered it a silly and uninteresting idea for a gift.

"How can you be happy you received a book?"

"Yes, get out of here. Your friend is a loser, just like you."

They pointed at her and laughed mockingly.

"He is not a loser. He's great! He's more awesome than any of you!" Sakura screamed with her high-pitched voice.

"More awesome than Sasuke?"

Sakura blushed and didn't know what to say anymore. A boy snatched the book from her hands and threw it to his friend, on the other side of the classroom, before Sakura's fingers could reach it. They were throwing the book from one to another, while Sakura was running after them.

"Wait! I have to return it. You are going to ruin it!"

"What's this noise?" Iruka-sensei asked because he entered the class right at that moment.

The child dropped the book on the floor and all kids scattered like bugs to their seats. Sakura lifted the book carefully before she also returned to her seat. She started crying because the book was ruined, just like she had predicted.

"Sakura, what happened? Iruka-sensei asked.

Sakura replied through tears and hiccups, pointing to the boys:

"These 3 destroyed my book. I borrowed it, but how am I supposed to return it in this state? All pages are either ripped or bent."

"Big mouth!"

"You liar!"

"Shut up!" Iruka-sensei's words struck them like thunder. "You'll stay after class today. You're grounded and apologize to Sakura."

The boys frowned, but offered their fake apologies to her, before they started whispering again:

"We'll take care of her for snitching tomorrow."

Sakura overheard them and she suddenly felt scared. It was like she had been sitting on thorns all day at school, thinking of what could happen.

When the class was over, Sakura went home and had a shower before she put on a red dress with ruffled straps. Her small feet travelled from the desk to the window, then back to the desk. She stood up from the chair and went to her small cupboard to pick up some things that filled her arms. She scattered all of the things she had brought on the desk and smiled. She was grateful she at least had Gaara to talk to. He would never talk to her like those boys did in class.

To Gaara-kun

I guessed Gaara-kun's favourite color. Yey! You will notice how I am writing this letter with a brown crayon to make sure you like reading it.

Gaara-kun likes scary animals. Gaara-kun must be very brave if he is not scared of scorpions. I think if I saw one, I would scream until I'd have no voice.

Gaara-kun, I am sorry, but I don't understand why your brother is not allowed to play with you. Why don't you try to sneak into his room, then? Or maybe Gaara-kun can ask his mom to help him. My mom always takes my side if dad doesn't want to let me do something. I ask her and she convinces him. Gaara-kun's sister seems pretty-fair hair. My friend has got fair hair. Actually, she is my former friend. She doesn't want to be my friend anymore since she found out we like the same boy, Sasuke. I am so happy to know Gaara-kun finds me interesting, although I doubt I am at least half as interesting as Gaara-kun.

Gaara-kun, please send me a photo of yourself. I will put my photo in this envelope together with another drawing. By the way, what did you do with my previous drawing?

What else should I tell Gaara-kun? I like strawberries and pumpkin pies. What is your favourite food? What should I tell Gaara-kun about my village? I am not sure what could possibly be of interest to him.

Gaara-kun, I think you are joking. How can I drink the water of a poisonous plant? I only drink water and tea when my mother brings me. I am upset with her, you know? Do you wonder why? I will tell you. Iruka-sensei asked me what my parents' names are and I told him 'mom and dad'. But I saw a weird look in his eyes. He told me to bring my parents to school the next day. I came with my mom and Iruka-sensei asked her the same question. Do you know what she said? 'Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno'. How was I supposed to know? Mom was angry with me and she said she is afraid maybe I forget my own name, so she sewn it on the inside of all of my shirts and dresses. It's so embarrassing! If word gets out, everyone will laugh at me.

Gaara-kun, if you want to keep the cherry tree flower the same color as the day I gave it to you, it must be placed between the pages of a book. Now I realise the one I gave you has probably withered by now. That's why I am going to send you another one together with a book I love.

Gaara-kun, I am ashamed to admit, but the book you sent me is destroyed. I am very sorry, but my classmates snatched it from of my hands and ripped it to upset me. I know it was Gaara-kun's favourite book and I feel like I disappointed him. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, please let me know. I understand if Gaara-kun doesn't want to send me other gifts. I am really sorry.

I hope Gaara-kun can forgive me and continue to write to me. Gaara-kun's letters are the only things that make me happy.

From Sakura Haruno

Ever since he sent the previous letter, little Gaara feared his father might try to cut off his ties with Sakura anytime, so he thought very hard of a way to communicate with her without written words involved, so that his father won't have proof that Gaara made a friend. The new bond was precious to the little boy, so he set his mind to do anything in his power to protect it. The many hours of research and experiments have finally paid off. He was going to tell Sakura a new secret in his next letter, even if she said she has a big mouth. It was worth the try.

He was very happy to find out Sakura also sent him a box, not just a letter. This time, Gaara ran to a secluded place because he didn't want to risk and draw his father's attention with a big box. Until then, Gaara had hidden all letters he had received in the inside of his blouse, close to his chest, and only opened them when he was alone in his room.

He was in an abandoned building made of clay and stucco, which was half broken. It looked like a cocoon. He lowered his body to place the box on the floor before he opened it with a wide grin. There was a pink envelope and a book underneath it. Cool! It must be Sakura's favourite book. I wonder if she liked my book. He flipped through the pages and a cherry tree flower along with a photo fell from between the pages. He picked up the photo and said:

"Sakura, waa! She is so pretty!"

Her hair was pink indeed and her eyes were big and green. Beautiful. He opened the envelope and started reading. He didn't even notice the girl wrote the letter in brown until after he read her first lines. How sweet! Sakura wrote the letter with Gaara in mind. Then he noticed stickers were glued from place to place. Sakura was trying to cover her writing mistakes behind stickers. That was so cute! When he got to the part where she explained what had happened to his book, his eyes darkened and a knot formed in his throat. Not because of her, because she had no fault. That part of the letter was stained with some small round dots. They looked as if she had dropped water on the paper and then it dried. She cried. Gaara realised. Nobody had the right to make Sakura cry. She was his friend and he needed to do something to help her. These colleagues of hers were worthless. Gaara couldn't bear the thought of them upsetting her. If they dared do something like this with the book, then who knows what they did to Sakura? He swallowed air and tried very hard to ignore the voice of the demon sealed inside of him that screamed for blood. He looked at her photo again and calmed down. He couldn't write anything to Sakura that day. He needed to clear his thoughts before he grabbed a pen and end up writing something that would scare her. On the next day he was ready to reply to her letter because he had spent the whole night thinking how to approach the problem.

To Sakura-chan

As always, thank you very much for the gifts. I will carefully read the book Sakura-chan had wrapped for me. I found the flower and the photo of Sakura-chan. Thank you for explaining how to keep a flower. Now I can see the same beautiful flower again years from now. As for the photo, Sakura-chan's hair is very special. I have never seen pink hair before. Were you born like this or did you paint your hair? Sakura-chan's forehead is not unusual at all and I can tell Sakura-chan's favourite color from her dress. I will send you a photo of me. Don't worry; I kept Sakura-chan's drawing. I never throw away gifts. Especially since I have never received a gift before.

I ask Sakura-chan not to worry about the book I sent her. It is not important. It is more important for me to know that these people (Gaara grimaced when he wrote this last word) will not hurt Sakura-chan again. I will send her a vial with my sand. All you have to do is open it and the sand will protect you. Nobody will be able to hurt you anymore. I am sorry I am not there with you. I could protect you from them. Nobody would dare pick a fight with you again.

If Sakura-chan never heard her parents call each other by their first names, then she is not guilty of not knowing their names. It is important that Sakura-chan has a good relationship with her parents. Sakura-chan is embarrassed that her mother sewed her name on the clothes, but in truth I wish my mother would be able to do the same for me. Sakura-chan doesn't know, but my mom died when she gave birth to me.

Sakura-chan finds me interesting. That's so good!

I wonder what strawberries and pumpkin pies taste like. I have never had them before. When I come to Konoha one day, I ask Sakura-chan to let me taste her favourite food. I promise I will do the same for you, although I am not sure I have a favourite dish. A while back, I really liked miso soup because it was my uncle's favourite, but now that he's gone, I don't feel the need to eat it anymore. If I find something that I like a lot, I will share it with Sakura-chan in the future. I promise.

There is no need for Sakura-chan to make it up to me because she didn't do anything wrong. Still, if Sakura-chan insists, I will forget everything if Sakura-chan receives my sand and continues to send me letters.

There is no need for Sakura-chan to tell me about her village. I will be able to see it with my own eyes in the future, so I can wait.

Sakura-chan, what were you up to this week? How tall are you? How many years will you stay in school? Is this Iruka-sensei a good teacher?

I want Sakura-chan to know I will continue to write dozens of letters to her and I won't stop until she gets bored. That is why I ask her not to forget about me and write to me fast.

From Gaara

Gaara didn't want to write too many details about his family because it was a sensitive topic for him. He also didn't want to insist on finding out about her village. If she didn't want to say anything about it, then so be it. If I were to insist, Sakura might think I am a spy or maybe she is afraid she will tell me too much because of her big mouth.

When he went to the post office to send the letter, he was surprised to find out Sakura had sent him another 3 post cards, all with photos from her village. Waa, so pretty!

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