Sakura, I survived to 10 years old! Can you believe this?

Yes! That's great!

Hihihi!

Gaara-kun, I think I am older than you.

What do you mean?

My birthday is in November and yours is in March. You are 4 months younger than me.

Actually, I am older than you.

Gaara-kun is trying to fool me.

No, I am not. When a child is born in Suna, he is already 9 months old, so 3 months since his mother gave birth, he will be 1 year old. I was born premature, at 7 months. The difference in the calendar between my date of birth and yours is 4 months, but I was already 7 months old when I was born, so I am 3 months older than Sakura.

What? Gaara-kun, this doesn't make any sense. Liar.

I am not lying. It's true.

I have never heard of anything like this before.

It's a rule that only applies to Suna.

I believe you less and less.

Fine, now that my dad stopped watching me like a hawk, I am free to send you letters again. I will send you my biology book and you can see for yourself that I am not a liar. Plus, I would never lie to Sakura-chan.

Gaara-kun, you are cute. Sakura giggled.

Gaara ignored her remark because he didn't like being told he is cute. A boy is smart, strong and fierce, but never cute. Thus, Gaara redirected the flow of speech.

So, what are you going to do today?

I will go to school, then I will train.

Why?

I know the teacher said there is no need for girls to know techniques, but I don't want to enter a genin team and be the weakest member. I will embarrass myself.

Sakura-chan made the right decision. Please do your best!

Thank you. Gaara-kun, what will you do today?

I will put the book to the post office. Then I will go to school; after that, I will train hard. Lastly, I will watch the city from the top of the rocky mountains with Kankurou. We will meet at night so my father won't find out.

What if he notices you are not in your rooms?

Kankurou made a doll that looks exactly like him. He will put it in the bed to make it look like he is sleeping.

What about you?

I will leave a sand clone behind.

Waa! Gaara-kun is amazing! He can already made clones.

Gaara felt proud.

I want to learn to make clones, too. I could leave a clone here while I travel to Suna to meet you in person.

As touched as he was, he had to bring her back to earth.

Don't do something so risky. Please be patient. I want to meet you more than anything, but you can't come here without a visa or else you'll get into trouble. I think we can meet at the chuunin exams the earliest.

I will surpass Gaara-kun until then! Sakura said proudly.

Gaara laughed.

I doubt it, but you can try.

His manly ego didn't let him be surpassed by a girl, so he decided to train harder than before.

As soon as Sakura was ready to go to school, she said goodbye to her parents and closed the door behind her. Sasuke appeared before her all of a sudden.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?"

"Good morning. I thought we could go to school together."

"Why? You don't even live close to my place."

"Yes, but it happened that I had something to do in your neighborhood and figured we might as well go together."

"Fine, but just for today. I don't want to give you the wrong idea."

Sasuke was pleased, but not quite. She at least accepted this time, so he didn't feel humiliated. But he knew he couldn't use the same excuse in the future. He was going to have to try to approach her in some other way. For now, the plan worked.

Sakura wasn't very talkative, which was weird. The main reason Sasuke didn't like her in the past was that she talked too much. 'Is she that uncomfortable near me?' Sasuke thought. What he didn't know was that Sakura was talking to Gaara instead. Gaara found out Sasuke tried to get close to her, so he tried to keep Sakura busy, so she wouldn't have time to chat with his rival. Sakura's answers to Sasuke were very slow and her eyes seemed unfocused as if she was thinking deeply about something.

Sasuke swallowed air and stuffed his hands in his pockets. When they were almost in front of the school, Sasuke stopped in his tracks.

"Sakura?"

She turned around since she was 2 steps ahead of him.

"What is it?"

"I am sorry about how I treated you before."

Sakura's eyes became as big as onions. Sasuke had never apologized to anyone before.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's fine."

Sasuke smiled before he ran to the school. Sakura remained glued in the same spot.

What did he say this time?

Sakura replied happily, which annoyed Gaara a little.

Gaara-kun, Sasuke has just apologized to me.

Gaara frowned.

It's a little late for that, isn't it?

I don't know. I feel relieved.

Sakura, he would say anything to get closer to you.

Gaara-kun, you overreact. I don't think Sasuke-kun would do such a thing. I think he really meant what he said.

Gaara sighed. There was no point in going further into that topic or else they would have gotten into a fight.

Sakura, do you still like him?

No. I have you now.

Her answer made him a little happier.

What do say if we have lunch together today?

OK.

That way Gaara made sure Sakura is all his.

Among many interesting lessons that Iruka-sensei taught the pupils, he had the bad habit of holding a class once a week, when a pupil stood in front of the class and talked about what Iruka-sensei thought was the pupil's flaw. It all started with Naruto because he always pulled pranks, interrupted his lessons, made bad jokes, didn't do his homework... So Iruka-sensei decided to embarrass him in front of everybody. He asked Naruto to talk about immaturity. Sakura looked around and noticed how the classmates started laughing already. Poor Naruto. She thought. Sakura couldn't laugh at him because she knew what it was like being in his shoes.

"What does it mean to be immature?" Sensei asked Naruto.

"I don't know."

"I think you do. Anyone in class?"

"Yes! It means to be stupid, just like Naruto."

The others started laughing immediately. Iruka-sensei yelled at them to make them stop, but as long as they didn't get a good beating, they didn't quiet down. They even mimicked Naruto, saying he is a monkey or handicapped. Naruto was tough and pretended they were only jokes, so he only said meaningless words and never said what Iruka-sensei expected him to say, such as 'it's bad to be immature' or 'I have to grow up'.

All those 'lessons' were just an occasion for the pupil in front of the class to become the target of mean words and bad jokes. Naruto was strong, but others left there crying. Those lessons stressed Sakura the most. She never felt comfortable. Two girls whispered behind her loud enough for Sakura to hear:

"I can't wait for her turn."

"Yes, I bet she will cry in less than two minutes."

Sakura stilled. One of those girls raised her hand:

"Sensei, I think next time we should talk about arrogance."

"Good idea."

"I think Sakura should talk about this."

"Ok then. Sakura, next week is your turn to talk."

The girls thought Sakura is arrogant because she declined to stay with them during the breaks. Sakura would rather talk to Gaara than spend time with girls who always made fun of her. She was tired of being a door mat.

Ino didn't seem happy. She didn't like to know that her friend was going to be humiliated. She couldn't protect Sakura from a whole class and with the teacher present. Sakura was already considering to become ill by the following week, so she wouldn't have to come to school.

The bell rang and Sakura hurriedly run towards the schoolyard when Ino caught her by the wrist.

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Ino."

"Whatever you do, don't cry next week."

Sakura looked at the floor.

"And don't even think about staying home. Everyone will say you are a coward and they will just keep laughing at you."

"Mhm. I will try."

Sakura saw Sasuke getting closer to them and thought of something to get rid of him.

"Ino, can you keep Sasuke busy?"

"What?"

"He is coming here. I don't want to talk to him."

"Sure." Ino replied happily.

Sakura ran to the yard while Ino jumped on Sasuke. She followed him everywhere and wouldn't let him be. He had never been that annoyed in his life. He was like a thistle.

Sakura was sitting on the shadow of a tree situated further from the other kids. She didn't want to be bothered. Sakura sat down with her back to the pupils, so they wouldn't see her laughing by herself or gesticulate even if there was no conversation partner in front of her. She didn't have enough patience to wait for Gaara before she opened her lunch box. Gaara's teacher took 2 or 3 minutes from the kids' break. She looked at her pea and talked to the beans. Whenever she ate beans or meatballs or any other food made of many identical small parts, Sakura imagined each bean spoke: 'Eat me!', 'No, eat me!'. When Sakura put one into her mouth, the other beans felt disappointed and sad. Sakura felt bad because she didn't want the beans to feel like nobody wants them.

"Don't be upset. I will eat you next." Sakura said, pointing to the beans with her chopsticks.

Gaara frowned trying to figure out who she was talking to.

Sakura, what are you doing?

Oh, Gaara-kun. Is the class over?

The teacher has just let us go. Who were you talking to?

To the little pea in my lunchbox.

A loud laughter escaped Gaara's lips and it scared all of his classmates.

Gaara-kun, what do you have in your lunchbox?

Rice, fried fish and tsukemono.

I want to taste. It's too bad you aren't here. You could try my food and I could try yours.

I would love that.

Sakura was lost in her thoughts again. Sometimes Gaara got a headache from the huge load of useless information she thought of.

What's bothering you?

Iruka-sensei wants to humiliate me in front of the whole class next week. What am I going to do?

I thought you said he is a good teacher.

He is, but...

Don't think about it too much.

But, Gaara-kun...

Don't worry about it. I will tell you what to say to them. You will shut their mouths. You need to be more confident.

But I am not like that.

I know. Sakura-chan is very sensitive and this is very good if I am there with you. Then, nobody would dare pick fights with you.

Sakura smiled.

Otherwise, Sakura-chan has to be strong in situations like these. Soon, you will leave on missions and not all customers and enemies will treat you well. Look at it as training. Rule no. 64...

A shinobi must never show his emotions.

Bravo! Let's train together this week. Yell at the ducks. Practice what you will say back to your classmates. Make sure to avoid a trembling voice. Nothing will happen to you. You have my sand to protect you.

Right when Gaara cheered her up, Sasuke unexpectedly sat down next to Sakura. Ino must have failed.

"Can I try?" Sasuke asked while pointing to her food.

"No." She closed her lunchbox and stood up to leave when he caught her wrist.

"Wait, I just want to talk."

Sakura, what's going on?

"I don't want to. Let go." It's Sasuke again.

Is he hurting you?

Sakura tried to get out of Sasuke's grip, but he only tightened his fingers around her wrist. The sand felt the danger and turned into sharp thorns that tore his skin. Sasuke hissed in pain and retracted his hand. Sakura lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"How did you do that?"

Sakura got scared when she saw Sasuke holding his bleeding hand, she stood up and ran away into the class. Thankfully the bell rang just in time.

Sakura! Sakura! What's wrong? Did he do anything to you?

Gaara asked desperately.

Gaara-kun, the sand attacked Sasuke.

Why?

Well... he was holding my hand a little too tight.

He was holding your hand?

Not really. I wanted to leave and he tried to convince me to stay, so he held onto my wrist to pull me back when I was trying to leave.

He got what he deserved. He tried to force you to do something you didn't want to.

Gaara-kun, you will never force me to do anything, right?

Of course not.

Thank God.

Sakura sighed in relief. She could get over the day faster thanks to Gaara. She tried to avoid Sasuke's eyes later. He still couldn't grasp the meaning of what had happened. He couldn't tell anyone about it because he risked making a fool of himself. He had to find out on his own what is up with Sakura. That was why he decided to follow her.

ℬ

Notes: Thank you very much for your feedback.

How soon shall I make a time skip?