Hiraeth

Ino tucked a pencil behind her ear as she waited at the school gates, typing a quick text to Choji since she hadn’t seen him yet today. Intent on catching her new friend and exchanging numbers she decided to hang back after the day ended. She looked down at her nails and sighed, the purple polish already chipping after attempting to scrub all the blood out of Gaara’s hair. A surge of white hot anger flew through her at the thought of what she’d do if she found out her brother was being treated the way the redhead was.

“Yahoo, Ino~” came a sickly sweet voice, and with a badly concealed groan she looked up to see Sakura trotting towards her, the usual group of boys not far behind. “How’s it going with your new boytoy? Never thought you’d be into freaky guys.”

Ino raised a brow and snorted before flashing the other girl a syrupy smile. “Oh it’s great, believe me. But I think I’d rather have him as a friend anyways.”

Sakura laughed gleefully as her eyes widened, cheeks puffing out in laughter. “Oh really? He’s too much even for you? That’s not surprising, even you’re not that creepy-”

“No, he’s actually really sweet and super attractive Sakura. The real creeps are the ones who’d fuck up a kid when he was having a panic attack.” She looked pointedly at all of the boys who had gathered behind Sakura, sending an extra-evil glare at Kiba who just scoffed. “Besides, I think he plays for the other team if you know what I mean. You should’ve seen the way he and Lee were acting, like the true love at first sight kinda shit.”

Sasuke looked up sharply at that, suddenly seeming incredibly agitated and Ino jotted the reaction down in her head. She took a calculated guess and looked directly into Sasuke’s eyes when she said, “And I don’t betray my friends. I bet they’ll be dating within a week tops.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened in shock and anger, hand tightening around the strap of his book bag and Ino smirked. Bingo. She’d always been good at that, getting in people’s heads, an ability that had gotten her labeled as a mean girl and ‘bitchy’ in the past, but now maybe she could use it for good. If Sasuke condoned the bullying of someone he used to call a friend, even if it was out of pity (which, after his scintillating reactions, she didn’t believe) then he really wasn’t that attractive to her anymore. It’d be good to make the little fucker squirm.

“In fact, once I get his number I’ll probably pass it along to Lee. They have such good chemistry, you feel? Sasuke, you know Gaara best, so tell me: do you think he and Lee would be cute together?”

“No,” Sasuke said sharply, causing everyone to look at him in alarm. He quickly appeared to calm himself down, taking a few deep breaths before scoffing and turning away from the group. “I mean, he wouldn’t be good with anyone. He’s just a burden as is. Besides, I doubt he can even feel love.”

The group erupted into laughter as Ino’s eyes narrowed, about to chew out Sasuke or for christ’s sake even deck him right then and there when her eyes widened in abject horror, catching sight of a small boy a few feet behind the group standing there, his face showing more shock than she’d seen it show the whole day combined, before his delicate features crumpled and his book bag fell out of his trembling hands with a loud thud, causing the rest of the group to look behind them and stare at Gaara’s pathetic figure.

If the laughter was loud before, it was deafening now, (Ino didn’t even register Naruto’s concerned expression) but Ino didn’t have time to listen to it, pushing past a shocked looking Sakura and rushing towards the shaking boy. She placed a hand on his shoulder, not surprised when he pushed her away harshly and sprinted off in the opposite direction.

“What the fuck, Sasuke?” She screeched, heading over to the expressionless Uchiha and slapping him cleanly across the face, not even caring about the reactions she’d face later on. “What the fuck is your problem?!”

Sasuke staggered back, unprepared for the blow and tensing at Ino’s last sentence. Ino felt herself being pulled back by two people and let them, simply allowing herself to stare down at the handsome boy in disgust and taking a small amount of pleasure at the red handprint appearing on his cheek. She angrily shoved the two boys off of her and stormed off in the direction of wherever her new friend had gone, not paying any mind to the muttering of the group or Sasuke’s blank stare.

God, she really hated boys.

——-

For the second time that day Ino searched the entire school, even checking both the library and the roof to no avail. Gritting her teeth she stepped out back where the dumpsters were and felt a rush of relief when she saw the telltale sign of red hair. Making her way over to the huddled boy, her frown deepened when she heard the faint sound of his voice, like he was repeating the same phrases over and over again despite him being alone.

“...Don’t, I’m sorry, okay? I can’t do it when he’s there I didn’t mean it I didn’t mean it I-”

Ino coughed loudly, causing Gaara to jump loudly and look around like a wounded animal, only relaxing slightly when he caught sight of her. He remained rigid, poised to flee at any moment, and Ino felt a twinge of sympathy pang at her heart. She stayed silent for a moment, not sure what to say. Only when she sensed the boy about to bolt did she decide to say the first thing that came to mind.

“How were you ever friends with that asshole?”

Gaara looked up at Ino, pausing in his escape attempt before settling back down on the ground and shrugging. “Dunno. He wasn’t like that back then.” He let out a hollow chuckle, hands beginning to absentmindedly fidget like Ino noticed they always did when he was uncomfortable or nervous. “Then again, I guess I didn’t really know him at all. I just thought he was my friend.”

Ino let out a snort and extended her hand down to Gaara, who hesitantly took it and allowed her to pull him up. “Sasuke’s full of shit, okay? Don’t take anything he says at face value.”

Gaara frowned at her, silence stretching as he waited for her to elaborate. Instead she just linked their fingers together and Gaara didn’t pull away. Smiling at this she handed him his dropped bag, and after his word of thanks interlaced their fingers and began leading him towards the school entrance.

“Besides, you can do so much better.”

The small boy flushed, glaring up at her to which she merely stuck out her tongue. “Speaking of which, you want to go over to Lee’s house? We’re having a study sesh there. It’s crazy, it’s just the first day and we already have so much homework. I swear to god if all of senior year is like this then I’m dropping out.”

Gaara’s scowled at the implication but made no attempt to dispute it. Ino ruffled the top of his hair and squeezed his hand gently. “I’ll take that as a yes.” After a beat of silence she spoke up again, “You know, I’m surprised you’re letting me hold your hand. You don’t seem like the touchy-feely kind of guy.”

Gaara looked away and shook his head. “You just... kind of remind me of my sister, Temari. And also like my brother.”

Ino grinned, this kid really was too cute. “I’m honored I remind you of them, even if I don’t know ‘em yet.”

He snorted, shaking his head again. “Trust me, it’s not a compliment to compare you to Kankuro.” She squawked and lightly hit him on the shoulder, causing him to snicker softly. She allowed her self to feel a small victory that he didn’t flinch away and held her head up high as she said:

“It has to be a compliment. If he’s anything like you he got cute boy genes to spare.”

Gaara looked at her in question, seemingly about to ask her something when they abruptly stopped in front of a nice two story house. “Here we are, Lee’s place and hangout central. He has really chill parents who aren’t home half the time so we can basically just do whatever we want.”

The boy’s eyes widened, opening his mouth only to be shushed by a manicured finger pressing against his lips.

“Shhhh, don’t talk. Just come in and enjoy yourself for once, alright?”

Gaara frowned but nodded, and allowed himself to be pulled into the house, looking around uninterestedly at the decor. It was the standard upper-middle class deal and Ino was pleased to see none of it seemed to be new him.

She led them up a white, carpeted staircase and down a hall to the second to last door, knocking briefly before throwing the door open and entering with Gaara right behind her.