Chapter One

He was a demon, and there was no changing that. Gaara Subaku was far from your ordinary person. He was deemed insane, unstable, and a threat to society. Nobody trusted him, not even his own family. He was a menace, and he knew it. That’s why he didn’t care about anything, or anyone. He lived for himself, and that was all he ever needed.

That’s why when Gaara was forced into yet another school after being kicked out of the last; he had no qualms about reigning in his nature. He didn’t care who he pissed off, or if he would go to jail for the next violent reorganization of a student’s face he partook in.

Narrowing his green eyes, Gaara looked up at the brick building of his third new high school in two months. His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, stood uneasily on either side of them. With each new school he was sent to, they were forced to come along due to the thought that they may be able to ‘control’ their younger sibling.

That was not the case, and it never had been.

“Leave.” Gaara ordered, his raspy voice low and chilling. The two older siblings obeyed his order instantly, scurrying towards the school building as fast as they could so that they could put as much distant between themselves and Gaara as possible.

Sakura watched the exchange with a curious expression, looking completely innocent on the outside while within she was running over the exchange and picking out each individual detail. The one exchange she saw and Sakura was able to deduce that Gaara had supreme control over who she assumed were his siblings. They were terrified of him, and knew that being a very large distance away from him would be safe, if the way they relaxed as soon as they were within the building was anything to go by. She also observed the unrestrained anger that filled his eyes, the same anger of isolation and frustration that filled hers whenever she allowed it.

Interesting. She mused, tilting her head before turning around stepping away from the open window. Her first period was empty, not even the teacher present within the room. It was the place where she always stayed in the mornings, at least for the last two months. No one had found out yet, but once they did she would promptly change her hiding space. There were plenty of them, after all.

____

Pink. Pink hair and big, bright emerald eyes. Gaara instantly hated her.

Narrowing his black-surrounded eyes, Gaara glared at the girl that had been assigned to helping him around the school. He didn’t need any help, and he instantly hated his first period teacher that had assigned him such a thing.

Meanwhile, Sakura was staring at the new student with a smile as she ignored all the snickers and side comments her classmates made. The expression on her face was used so much that no one could recognize how fake it actually was.

Gaara, however, had not become accustomed to the expression. He could see the fakeness in it, the practiced ease at which she wore it. And that is what changed his hatred to mild annoyance and curiosity.

“Subaku-san, please sit next to Haruno-chan.” Asuma Sarutobi ordered, spurring the black-clad teen into moving towards the brightly-dressed pink-haired girl.

Sitting beside the girl grudgingly, Gaara stared at her for a few more seconds before turning an icy glare to the rest of the class that caused them to freeze and shut up in a matter of moments.

Internally, Sakura was beyond amused. She found comfort in the glare he sent everyone; it wasn’t like she cared about how terrified they were.

“Scary, aren’t you?” Sakura murmured under her breath in amusement. Gaara’s eyes instantly snapped to her, watching the cheery expression she wore while also taking apart the sarcastic and dry comment that had just left her mouth in a whisper.

“And you’re a contradiction I’m amused to decipher.” Gaara quipped back, his tone and expression flat.

Sakura snorted in amusement. “Good luck. Every here has had years and they’ve yet to break the surface.”

“Interesting.”

____

Every class. She was in every single one of Gaara’s classes. The redhead frowned, watching with narrowed eyes as the bell rang for lunch and everyone filed out of the classroom. He took his time, unconcerned with eating any of the school’s most likely disgusting food.

Gaara instead watched as Sakura stayed in her seat, packing away her belongings slowly until no one else was in the class except the two of them. Even the teacher, Kakashi Hatake, had vacated the room.

Zipping her pink backpack closed, Sakura rose from her seat and paused, noticing the redhead had yet to move. Meeting his blank gaze, Sakura stayed still for a few moments, debating whether to leave or say something. After a few moments she shrugged internally and strode over to the door intent on heading towards the library and returning a few books she had borrowed.

“What’s your story, Haruno?” Gaara suddenly questioned.

The pink-haired girl froze, her face turning blank as she continued having her back face the new student. After a few moments of thought, Sakura turned to the seventeen year old with a wide grin. “What do you mean, Gaara-san?”

“You’re a liar. You’re hiding something, and it’s painfully obvious. Yet no one in any of our shared classes has even batted an eye. I’ve been listening, watching, and observing. And yet, you never crack once even when I know you can hear everything they’re saying.”

Sakura allowed a wicked smirk to climb onto her face, the happy look in her eyes fading away to something crueler, eviler. Gaara held back his surprise and waited for the female to speak, the gears in his head turning at the familiar look her eyes held.

“Oh, Gaara, you’ll learn. If you’re really listening, you’ll learn.” With that, the girl headed out of the classroom without a backwards glance, her face returning to the cheerful expression no student had ever seen her face drop from. Not until Gaara.