Day 3
(AU)
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The last time had been different from her others; the last time had hurt.
Much like the others she’d found herself in, Sakura’s last relationship hadn’t even lasted six months before she was yet again left for greener pastures. Dating had been negligible in the beginning; her first boyfriend in middle school had been a classmate that she only saw for one period and then hadn’t even called once the following summer, her second was a friend of her friend – a trend she would end up developing – and that had lasted about three weeks during her freshman year before they both just…fizzled out, and she hadn’t bothered dating again until she had been introduced to the first man that she would have an actual breakup with.
Sasuke was a good friend of her neighbor, Naruto, and had started visiting quite a bit during their third year in high school. She and Naruto had grown up next to each other their whole lives and had a very kindred and platonic friendship that she cherished, though his friends he introduced her to usually had different hopes in mind. But Sasuke was very charismatic and he had a lot of confidence, she quickly fell for him and he’d swept in ready for the catch. To Sakura, her junior year ended in bliss; she’d gotten her driver’s license, had a boyfriend who was constantly visiting her neighbor, her parents even met him, and she thought she would start off her senior year the same way.
But she had been wrong.
One summer night before the start of the fall semester, Naruto had come knocking on her door. He was looking down with his hands in his hair, he was conflicted and upset. She had managed to get him to talk and he spilled about he’d gotten back from a bonfire out of town and saw Sasuke, his friend that he had introduced to her, cuddling up with another girl by one of the fires, and he refused to go further into detail.
It had been messy after that; phone calls, lots of yelling, lots of tears, Sasuke tried to deny it and that only set her off more, Naruto hadn’t stopped apologizing even though her boyfriend never did. They were finished after that.
The start of the school year had come and, with every new subject she walked into on that first day, her heart was pounding at the possibility of him being in her classes again. She didn’t want to see him, she was sure her blood would run cold, and it did when she got to her third period English class and saw him sitting at the far side of room. She’d been thankful for the relatively empty classroom she’d walked into; it allowed her to pick the seat furthest from him with plenty to choose from, and she buried her nose in a book, bunkering down for a long semester of this discomfort.
Four long weeks had passed and it felt like an eternity, but at least her classmates didn’t give her side glances anymore. A lot of them knew what happened at the bonfire, or heard about the fallout, and she’d begun her senior year of school embarrassed beyond belief. During that Friday lunch period, however, she and Naruto were sitting together and he was excited to tell her something.
“Sakura!” he called out as he tossed his cafeteria tray down on the table beside her. He quickly took a seat next to her and shoved her things out of his way. “Sakura, guess who I saw!”
His blue eyes were ecstatic and she choked back a laugh at his sudden appearance while swallowing her mouthful of food. “Your dad, for once?”
Naruto, her dear friend, the closest thing she had to a sibling, cackled at her. “Shut up, you bitch!”
“Oh my god - What? I’m eating!”
“Guess who I saw!” he cried out again, a toothy grin covering his face. She merely shrugged and took another mouthful of food as he scoffed at her, answering his own question with a gleeful declaration. “I saw Gaara in town last night after the movie with Hinata!”
Sakura felt her stomach suddenly flip and wasn’t sure if she could swallow without choking. “What?”
Naruto began to go on about how he and Hinata left the movies and went walking around the old lake park on the other side of the city. They ran into Gaara there, of all people, and spent a little while catching up. Sakura stopped eating and let Naruto regale her with the night’s conversation, disbelief ringing in her ears. That was the last name she had expected him to say.
Splitting hairs, Sasuke wasn’t the second friend of Naruto’s that she’d fallen for; he was the third. The first had been years ago, even before her first boyfriend in middle school, after Naruto found him kicking gravel down the street by himself on the outskirts of their neighborhood.
Gaara Sabaku was a young boy at the time, rough around the edges, and poorly equipped with social skills. She remembered Naruto saying that he was new to town and didn’t have any friends since his family moved around a lot; military father, or something like that. He took a while to warm up to someone, but with Naruto’s boisterous and social personality, it wasn’t long before Gaara became another addition to his ever-growing roster of friends. He would often come over to hang out with the two of them, or get invited over when Naruto was hosting his other friends, too, and there were even a few times he’d knocked on Sakura’s front door after finding that Naruto had gone out for the day.
As a young girl herself, Sakura found that his standoffish nature and aloof expressions were as much a deterrent as they were an intrigue. He was of few words, prone to a stubbornness at the time that rivaled that of a bull, but his company had become a welcome one and, once she finally got a little under his skin, she discovered an exception for herself against that cold exterior.
But that was as close as they got before his dad was reassigned right before eighth grade and the family moved again; friends, and only friends.
The Sabaku’s moved a few states away, none of them had the means to keep in touch, and Sakura had been so sad when he left town. That was her first time having a good friend move away but it was likely his third or fourth, always trying to remake a space for himself. She’d been sad over it for a while. Time marched on, however, and after a few months, new norms set in and new people came over to her neighbor’s house. Sakura had always carried a little torch for him, though. The Gaara from her memories filled such a unique mold of confidence and intelligence, as well as indifference and quiet passivity that was difficult to balance, a little exciting to partake in, and now she wasn’t so sure if that flame she carried for him had ever gone out.
“He lives on the other end of the city now,” Naruto continued. “They didn’t get the old house back, but since his brother and sister graduated already, he reenrolled over here to finish out his credits. Isn’t that great?” he beamed.
“I had no idea, that’s awesome,” she agreed, keeping that lump in her throat in check. “Did he say when he was starting class?”
Naruto said something about the following Monday, and then proceeded to gush about how he’d already told Gaara that if he needed somewhere to stay a few nights a week, he’d let him crash at his place like old times. Sakura listened quietly, absentmindedly pushing her food around her tray, and just like that; another one of Naruto’s friends was back on the forefront of her mind.
Her weekend had been spent close to home trying to convince herself it wasn’t because she wanted to see if Naruto invited Gaara over, and she tried to pass her time focusing on her homework or helping her mom with errands. She never noticed any visitors at her neighbor’s place, especially Temari’s old car that Naruto said Gaara was using, and she ignored the feeling of dejection upon going to bed Sunday night after an uneventful weekend.
Monday morning had been like a repeat of the first of the year, her heart was beating in her throat the entire walk through the school parking lot, scanning the whole way for a familiar car. She’d been indecisive on what to wear, though she ended up dressing no differently, and was badgering herself for this sudden flustered behavior over an old friend that might not even remember her. The cafeteria at breakfast was crowded but she hadn’t seen Gaara as she waited for class to start with her friends, she didn’t see Naruto all morning either. First and second period passed by at a snail’s pace and each time she stepped foot out of one class to walk to another, she felt that anxiousness spread through her blood again. Her short walk up the stairs to her third period English class, however, had her taking hesitant steps. This time when she walked into class, she hadn’t wanted to see her ex for a whole different reason.
Her halfway-excitement for English fully died when she walked up to the door and noticed Sasuke down the hall with his new girl. They were leaned up against the lockers talking quietly between themselves and Sakura felt that familiar cold pang shoot through her gut. Quickly ducking into class, Sakura found her seat before he would have to follow in after her to make the bell. Her stomach turned; she didn’t want to be mad at anyone, it was too exhausting to maintain that anger, but seeing it right in front of her was just…humiliating.
Sakura reached into her bag and pulled out her most recent book from the library, she was nearly done with it and thought if she made it to her classes early enough, it could be a distraction while she didn’t wait to see if Gaara was really starting school today. She was a quick reader, and she had a few pages done by the time the bulk of the students began filing in. Chairs screeched against the waxed floors, a distinct before-class murmur resonated between the walls, and with a couple minutes until the bell, students began to find their seats.
Someone’s bag also found its way on her desk.
She jumped a little at the sound of the backpack thumping down in front of her, the book she held now suddenly clutched to her chest as she gasped. Looking up, she stared at the young man in front of her before trying to find her words. He smirked, seemingly amused by her surprise, and she glanced away, her face growing unexpectedly hot in the middle of class.
“Hey, Sakura,” Gaara said, extending a casual greeting, his tone and demeanor as if he’d just seen her the week before. He pointed over to the empty desk next to her and asked, “Is this one taken?”
“Hey,” she managed to croak out, her voice certainly could’ve been smoother, and she shook her head and offered, “No, go ahead.”
Gaara slid his bag off her desk and took a seat in the one next to her. A few of their classmates that they’d gone to middle school with recognized him and gathered around to welcome him back. He caught up with them before class started, his voice sounded different then it did in the distant memories that Sakura kept of him, and she took the opportunity to glance over from her book to get another look.
He'd clearly gotten taller, and back in the day he’d mentioned that his father had been teaching him some martial arts from his training, that appeared to be…going well. Some things were still the same; his disheveled red hair and dark eyes, the silver chains always tucked under his collar and dangling from his belt, his wardrobe that looked like his father supplied it from the military surplus. The piercings in his ears were new, though, as was what looked to be a healed tattoo. Once the bell rang and everyone took their seats, Sakura spent the class period unable to focus on her teacher; there was static in the air around her and she was sure she could see Gaara stealing glances from her peripheral. Maybe she had changed, too, and maybe he was noticing.
Fifty minutes never felt so long.
When the bell rang again, everyone got up and exited into the hall and Gaara had been right behind her in the line out of the classroom. Pressed together by the commotion of the student body, he stuck close to her, so close that he even steadied a hand on her hip when the person in front of her suddenly stopped in their tracks. He said it was good to see her again when he leaned in from behind to speak closer to her ear – she felt her hair stand on end – and that Naruto had mentioned being excited for the three of them to hang out like they used to.
“Yeah,” Sakura agreed, clearing her throat a little as she nodded. “That would be great, whenever you want. It’s really good to see you again, Gaara.”
He had been observing her face as she spoke and seemed satisfied. Continuing to follow her down the stairs, they made some small talk that Sakura was sure she was bombing, and as they crossed through the front lobby toward the other end of the school Gaara asked, “What’s your next class?”
“Horticulture,” she answered. “Yours?”
He shrugged, readjusting his bag at his shoulder. “1-13C, I don’t know, something about plants or some shit,” he said as he returned a wave from another one of Naruto’s old friends that recognized him in passing.
Sakura bit her lip as he looked away, trying not to give into the smile pulling at her lips. “You don’t remember what the subject is called?” she teased a little. Of course not, he countered back, and she had to agree. He possessed a mind for numbers and math when they’d first been friends, and if he was still any similar to back then, remembering names and subjects probably wasn’t how he was going to get around his first day. “I’m pretty sure that class about ‘plants or some shit’ is Horticulture.”
He glanced over at her, his expression a little different now, and he grinned. Sakura watched the hall ahead of her after that, he hadn’t been one to smile so much when they were younger, and – shit, it was infatuating. “That’s perfect,” he said with an uplifted tone. “Lead the way, then.”
They walked to their next class together and Sakura only had a mild moment of panic when she misread the number on the horticulture door and thought for a second that she had actually taken him to the wrong room, but no; she had been right. Being an elective and often used a free credit slot for seniors like themselves, it wasn’t a very full class. With open seating available and the desks swapped out for two-person lab tables, Sakura soon found herself with two classes in a row sat next to her old friend, and he’d scooted his chair closer to hers before the start of the period.
He said he wanted to see the book she was carrying around, and she had showed him but, when class was about to start, Gaara didn’t move his chair back. The teacher walked in, students all began to sit down before the bell rang, and he leaned over toward her. He was close enough for her to feel the heat of his arm against hers, ironically it gave her goosebumps, and he asked her quietly, “Do you have lunch after this?”
She busied her hands with putting her book away in her bag and nodded, hoping she was coming off as collected and casual. “Yeah,” she murmured, trying to ignore the few people in class that had noticed her behavior with the new kid. “Naruto and I both have lunch after fourth period.”
“Good,” he said, leaning back in his chair. Sakura couldn’t feel the heat from him anymore, but he’d made himself comfortable and the boot of his left foot was definitely invading her space. It was like the whole atmosphere around her had shifted; heavy and charged, and if she couldn’t keep her face from blushing, she was going to die of embarrassment. “From now on, I want you to save me a seat next to you.”
Sakura swallowed as she tucked her feet under her chair, her anxiousness ringing in her ears, rejecting the urge to fidget with the hem of her t-shirt. “Okay,” she said with shrug. As the teacher moved to the front of class, she took the chance to lean over slightly and whispered, “Or you could just walk with me to lunch, too.”
Gaara smirked again, his bottom lip pulled from between his teeth. She was quickly growing frond of how those expressions complimented his face and made her heart beat a little faster, and before the teacher called for class to start, he whispered back, “I was hoping you’d ask me that.”
×愛×▬▬▬×愛×▬▬▬×愛×