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moorPAIRING: Gaara x Sakura, Sasori x Sakura
RATING: M
WARNINGS/SQUICKS: violence, bullying, injury recovery, emotional vulnerability
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Have the first chapter! I have about 22k words written, so here are the first few. :)
“Don’t stare,” muttered Sakura, peeking out of the corner of her eye at the new student in front of their class, in flagrant hypocrisy. Her half-up pony was the wrong style to wear her hair that day, she decided, as she didn’t have access to her bangs to hide her side-eye.
“He’s new, he’s used to it by now,” countered Ino, sitting in the row in front of, and ignoring, Sakura. She strained her long, graceful neck to get a better look at the newcomer to their grade 11 chemistry class. “He’s short.”
“Maybe he skipped a grade,” said Sakura. Biting her lip, she leaned a little to the left to see around Ino’s shoulder as their teacher, Mister Sarutobi called the class to order. The corners of her eyes dipped as she took in the new student’s oversized clothing, worn-out sneakers and backpack, and downcast eyes. Internally she winced; looked like another foster kid had wound up in their district. She instinctively felt sympathy for him; theirs was not a forgiving school to the underprivileged. She knew that firsthand.
“Come see me at the end of class and we’ll go over where you are with respect to the curriculum,” said Mister Sarutobi to the new student, his broad shoulders and weathered face comforting. Then he straightened and spoke directly to the class. “Everyone, listen up: this is our new student, his name is Gaara. He’ll be joining us going forward. I expect you all to be supportive. Gaara, you can take a seat beside Sakura—Sakura, raise your hand—and she’ll share her textbook with you for the day. You’ll be lab partners going forward.”
Sakura blinked, her hand still in the air. She looked at Ino, her usual lab partner, then back at Mister Sarutobi.
“Ino, you can join them today and I’ll re-assign you for next class. Maybe some of the gossip will quiet down?”
“I don’t appreciate the implication that I’m a gossip, Mister Sarutobi,” huffed Ino, flipping her hair saucily and smirking.
“I’m sure you don’t,” replied Mister Sarutobi dryly, while the class laughed.
“Hmph,” said Ino, rolling her eyes. It was goodnaturedly, fortunately; everyone knew Ino was one of Mister Sarutobi’s favourites, in spite of the sass she gave him.
Not bothering to hide his own grin, Mister Sarutobi turned to the white board and began erasing the previous class’s notes.
Sakura caught Ino smirking and staring at Mister Sarutobi’s butt and wanted to die.
“Turn to face the textbook, page 325,” called Mister Sarutobi, still erasing.
The soft thud of a backpack hitting the formica table top beside her distracted Sakura.
“Hey,” she said, looking up and smiling at her new partner. “I’m Sakura.” She waved.
“Gaara,” he said. He looked down at the textbook, his brows drawn together as he took a seat atop the lab stool. “Acids and bases?”
“Titration with acid-base colour indication,” elaborated Sakura, turning the book his way. “Have you set up a titration apparatus before?”
He nodded.
Sakura brightened. He was more intelligent than most in their AP chem class.
“This should be easy for you, then,” she said, smiling at him.
He stared at her.
Sakura swallowed and turned back to the front board where Mister Sarutobi was writing out the chemical formulae they would be investigating that day, along with a list of the equipment they would need.
While Gaara read over the introductory material, Sakura wrote her phone number and e-mail down on a scrap of paper and passed them to him. “If you have questions,” she said quietly, still copying down the notes from the board.
Again Gaara stared at her, and this time uneasiness shivered down Sakura’s spine.
“I know what I’m doing,” he said darkly.
“I didn’t imply you didn’t! I just thought if you had any… Nevermind,” said Sakura quietly, turning back to her own work, her shoulders hunched. She was just trying to be nice.
When it was time to start the experiment, they opened the cupboards under the counter and pulled out the titration stand, beakers, and other paraphernalia; Sakura gestured to Gaara to take their beakers to the front to collect their chemical samples.
They were the first to finish, and the most accurate, but they barely spoke a word to each other for the rest of the class.
“Great job, you two,” commended Mister Sarutobi when he passed by. “And no gossip.”
“He already turned Sakura down when she offered her number,” piped up Kiba from several seats away.
Sakura flushed to burning, her lips pressed together while the rest of the class laughed.
“Keep it down, keep it civil, Inuzuka,” warned Mister Sarutobi sternly.
The paper with Sakura’s name and contact information still sat on the table, sure enough, ignored by Sakura’s new lab partner. She wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. Swallowing over the growing lump in her throat, Sakura swiped the paper off the table and stuffed it in her bag.
With their experiment complete and her observations noted, Sakura shoved her books in her bag, rinsed half their equipment, and left the class early at a nod from their teacher.
“Can I have your number, too, Sakura?” called Kiba to Sakura’s back as she fled. “We can work together on—oof! What the fuck, Yamanaka!” snapped Kiba, shaking out his hands where his experiment had spilled across him and his desk.
“Inuzuka, language, detention after class,” sighed Mister Sarutobi.
“Oops, sorry,” lied Ino angelically, adjusting the backpack on her shoulder after ramming into Kiba. She hurried after Sakura.
“Mind your way, Miss Yamanaka,” said their teacher lightly.
“Of course, sir.”
Kiba’s grumbles followed the girls out of the class and down the hall where Sakura ducked into a washroom, Ino hot on her heels.
“I am going to ruin his life,” said Ino delightedly.
“Which one,” muttered Sakura, swallowing. She ran some water at the sink and splashed cold water on her face. Even the back of her neck still burned with humiliation.
“Your choice, Kiba or Gaara. We could lull Gaara into a false sense of security first, if you want?”
Miserable and embarrassed, Sakura pressed her lips together and shook her head.
“I was trying to be nice,” she mumbled.
“You are nice. You’re too nice. You need to beat them with your calculus book more often,” said Ino, planting her hands on her hips.
“That was just once. And it was Naruto.”
“And he deserved it!”
“He…” Sakura sighed. He had. Mostly. “Thank you for sticking up for me.”
“I didn’t. I was just suddenly very clumsy. You know how it is. These heels, sometimes,” Ino shook her head dramatically, then smiled. “Mister Sarutobi loves my heels.”
“Oh my god, please, you can’t say shit like that,” begged Sakura, gripping the sides of the porcelain sink. She stared at her best friend who only laughed. Eventually Sakura relaxed and hung her head. “How would you know?”
“He watches me just as much as I watch him,” said Ino serenely. “Poor, poor, recently divorced Mister Sarutobi… I bet he’s… utterly frustrated.”
“Ino, you’re a menace,” laughed Sakura, shaking her head.
“All I’m saying is, if he’s looking, he doesn’t have to look far…”
Forever impressed with Ino’s inflated self-confidence, Sakura let her best friend tug her arm and pull her back out into the hall towards their next class.
###
Pulling up in front of the guest parking lot in her second-hand BMW at quarter after two, Temari studied the quad in front of the school’s main entrance. No guards. No police. No cameras on the parking lot. No patrolmen. She timed it. No one was circling the building to ensure student safety.
Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, as did her jaw, but she forced both to relax. This was totally fine. There was nothing to worry about.
Finally, just after 2:30pm, she spied her youngest brother leaving the school, arms full of new, dog-eared textbooks. His chin was down but he walked calmly. That was… not a bad sign. She was almost ready to call it a good sign until someone jogged past her brother and made some kind of comment that soured Gaara’s tense expression.
Behind her broad sunglasses, Temari’s steely eyes drooped. Oh no.
Across the quad, another group of teenagers ‘bumped’ into Gaara, forcing him to spill his books all over the concrete and trip over them, laughing at him.
Shit.
Exiting the vehicle quickly, Temari locked the doors and strode forward. If she was fast, this wouldn’t escalate—
—But Gaara had already launched himself at the group of bullies.
###
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
“What’s going on?” asked Ino as she and Sakura approached the main doors of the school that afternoon, preparing to leave. The chant from outside had drawn a crowd.
“New kid got into a fight already! Holy shit, that kid’s fucking crazy!” called someone to their left.
Sakura and Ino looked at each other before pushing through the crowd.
Sakura sighed as they got closer.
“Hey man, just a second, calm down, I’m helping you!” they heard a familiar voice call.
“Naruto, it’s not your fight,” snapped Sasuke from the side, holding Naruto’s bag. He glared at anyone else who tried to join in the fray.
“Who’s the other guy?” wondered Sakura, spying the group.
There was Naruto, part of the glut of fighters. Sasuke stayed on the sidelines, his pristine uniform unruffled, but his sleeves pushed up, just in case. The new kid, Gaara, was brawling with four other guys who were known bullies. Someone else had joined in, too, another tall, broad youth with dark hair and face tattoos that Sakura hadn’t seen before. He, like Naruto, was trying to pry apart the group attacking Gaara… or was Gaara attacking them? It wasn’t clear.
Sakura’s heart went out to Gaara in that moment. He may have been a bit of a jerk, but she hadn’t wanted him to get jumped.
“Did you do this?” whispered Sakura, leaning into Ino.
Ino shook her head. “Nah, I did the Kiba thing earlier in class, since he was being a prick. I was gonna leave Gaara alone unless you wanted him narced.”
Frowning but touched, Sakura nodded.
“Touch my brother again and I’ll break your arm!” shouted the dark-haired young man.
“Gaara has a brother, I guess,” said Ino, folding her arms over her ample chest and shrugging. “News to me. Oh, he’s built like a tank,” she added appreciatively. “Boy works out. He must be a senior.”
Sakura looked around, surprised but not really that the teachers had not come out to defuse the fight. Technically, their hours ended at 2:25pm.
With a sigh, she handed her bag to Ino.
“Oh come on,” sighed her best friend, but Sakura shook her head.
“Might as well get this over with,” muttered Sakura. She removed her earrings and rings, and Ino dutifully held out her hand to hold onto them for her. She pulled out her gym shorts and wiggled into them under her uniform skirt, ignoring the stares around her.
“Try to leave the new guys some dignity,” suggested Ino half-heartedly.
“Ugh,” muttered Sakura.
Then she waded into the knotted mêlée and started yanking it apart from its roots.
“Go home!” she shouted at the first bully.
“Your mama’s disappointed in you!” she snapped at the second one.
“Hey, take a hike new guy,” she said nicely to Gaara’s brother, more gently shoving him out of the way. “I got this.”
“But—what—” he stumbled back.
“Oh shit, it’s Sakura!” screamed the third boy who had attacked Gaara and currently had him in a headlock.
“I warned you before, shithead!” Sakura yelled, grabbing him by the ear. Then she adjusted her grip, broke his hold on Gaara, and flipped him over in a German suplex. “No more bullying newbies!”
The young man screamed before his head cracked against the concrete, then he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura straightened up and looked at Gaara and the last bully, who were still eyeing each other. She stretched on her toes and turned her full attention to the bully, whose gaze darted between her and Gaara.
“You’re both crazy,” he spat at her feet.
“Wrong move,” said Sakura.
Then she punched him, once, a clean, right-handed uppercut that sent him spiralling back until he, too, collapsed to the ground.
There was a moment of silence before the crowd let out an ear-searing WHOOP!
“They got schooled!” called one voice, but Sakura ignored it all. She turned, looking around for the two newcomers.
“Hey,” she said, approaching them. “Sorry. This is a shitty school for newbies.”
Gaara glared at her murderously but his brother stared at her for a minute before laughing and offering her his hand.
“I’m Kankuro, Gaara’s older brother. So you’re Suckerpunch Sakura?”
“Can we please drop the Suckerpunch part?” groaned Sakura, blushing. She shook Kankuro’s hand.
“He said it,” said Kankuro, pointing at Naruto.
“I said they had to break it up before you got here!” said Naruto, coming over. “Also, Sasuke, did you time it this time?”
“Eight point two seconds,” said Sasuke, not approaching.
“See, I told you it’d be over within ten seconds of her arriving,” said Naruto, thumping Kankuro’s back. “Though Gaara wasn’t doing too bad.”
“Four against one is pathetic,” said Sakura, crossing her arms.
“Are you calling me pathetic?” asked Gaara softly.
“No, I’m saying they are,” said Sakura, gesturing to the unconscious bullies on the ground. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
She bit her tongue before almost accidentally blurting out, “And small.”
He wasn’t tiny by any means, but he was only half an inch or so taller than her, and she wasn’t known for her height, unlike Ino, the school’s resident Amazonian goddess.
“You should meet our sister, Temari,” said Kankuro, addressing Sakura again.
“Hm? You have a sister here, too?” asked Sakura, looking around.
“Right behind you,” spoke a no-nonsense, adult voice.
Sakura spun on her heel and was met with a navy-suited military officer, brimmed hat tucked neatly under her arm, white gloved hand outstretched.
“Hello, I’m Temari,” said the woman.
Swallowing at the imposing figure in her fitted uniform and many, many badges, Sakura nodded and shook her hand.
“Hi, I’m Sakura. Nice to meet you,” said Sakura very politely.
To her surprise, Temari grinned back.
“This is my work uniform. I’m only a few years older than you. Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You two ready to go?” she asked, turning to her brothers.
“Yeah. We’ll see you tomorrow, Sakura, Naruto,” said Kankuro, smiling and waving back at them.
Gaara said nothing, but glared at her before he turned and followed his siblings to Temari’s BMW.
“Damn,” said Naruto, whistling as they walked away. “If that’s their older sister, no wonder they can fight.” Then he glanced at Sakura. “Girl crush?”
“I do not have a girl crush,” snapped Sakura, whapping Naruto on the chest. She turned away from the siblings and shook her head at him. “What were you thinking? You know you’re not allowed to get suspended again,” she added, yanking on his arm and dragging him back to Sasuke. “And you were supposed to keep an eye on him.”
“Hn,” muttered Sasuke, offering Naruto his bag. “I’m not his keeper.”
“Don’t be a dick, Sasuke,” said Sakura and Naruto in unison.
They looked at each other before Sakura rolled her eyes and Naruto grinned.
“Still sticking up for the little guy? Literally?” teased Naruto as they walked through the dissipating crowds, looking for Ino.
“It was his first day. He’s a nerd.”
“So he’s like you.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean he’s smart!”
“He’s trained to kill,” interrupted Sasuke calmly.
Sakura and Naruto stared at him.
“What? No, that’s not—”
“I recognized some of his movements. Itachi moves like that. He’s trained.”
Sakura bit her lip. She’d thought Gaara’s movements were a bit too brutal to be a casual, untrained brawler.
“Maybe their sister taught him?”
“Maybe,” said Sasuke, his tone clearly not believing.
“Anyone know anything about their family?” asked Naruto, looking between them.
Sakura shook her head.
Sasuke scoffed under his breath. “Ino will know everything by tomorrow. Then so will half the school.”
“So you’ll find out tomorrow,” said Sakura airily, dismissing Sasuke’s not so subtle jab at Ino’s reputation for gossip.
“Hn.”
“You’re okay, Sakura?” asked Naruto as they paused by the school’s main doors.
Her brows rising, Sakura looked at Naruto with wide eyes.
“You didn’t look like you took any punches, but, ya know, you could have,” said Naruto, scratching the back of his head.
Sakura’s shoulders relaxed from their unconscious tension.
“I’m fine. Thank you for checking. How about you?”
“Hunky dory, emphasis on the hun—mph!”
“Later,” muttered a disgusted Sasuke after elbowing Naruto.
Sakura waved and watched them go, Naruto calling and chasing after Sasuke, while Ino meandered over.
“Is it awkward watching your exes get together?” mused Ino aloud, watching Naruto and Sasuke walk together to Sasuke’s car. Sasuke refused to set foot in Naruto’s beater, calling it a road hazard.
“Wow, Ino, thanks. I needed to be reminded that I turned my exes gay for each other after being publicly humiliated by being turned down by another guy today that I wasn’t even trying to get,” said Sakura aloud. “Do you think Gaara will invite them to a threesome so they can talk about how pathetic I am?”
“Nah, but this school is trash and you’re too good for anyone here anyway,” said Ino. “I take it we’re going to your place to finish the lab?”
“Yeah,” sighed Sakura, accepting her bag from Ino.
“Jewellery’s in your front pocket,” said Ino as they walked to Sakura’s.
“Thanks.”
###
Temari slammed down the bag of ice on the marble floor of their condo’s kitchen.
Kankuro winced while Gaara ignored her antics.
“I swear, the first day, The. First. Day,” Temari muttered under her breath, stomping her heel on the ice to really drive home her frustration.
“The worst is over. No one got in trouble,” cajoled Kankuro, moving to the fridge to pull out some broccoli. He rinsed it off and began chopping it at the counter. He glanced over his shoulder at Gaara. “Hey, put on a pot of water to boil?”
Gaara ignored him.
“Never mind,” muttered Kankuro, pausing in his veggie prep to put a large, stainless steel pot of water on the stove and setting it to HIGH.
“Did either of you make any friends?” asked Temari.
“I met Naruto and Sasuke, uh, at the end of the day. And Sakura. Some of the sports team captains came to introduce themselves. They said I could come to their next practices if I wanted to try out for a position.”
“That’s an improvement over the last school.”
“Right?” grinned Kankuro. “I didn’t have to break any fingers in my shop class, either.”
Temari paused and glared at him.
“I’m joking!”
“You better be,” muttered Temari. She turned to Gaara. “How was AP? I hear the science program at this school is one of the best in the country. It’s pretty well funded.”
“Did we make a donation? Is that why they let me in?” asked Gaara, pulling out his homework.
“No,” said Temari. She frowned. “We’re registered in this district, so you two go to that school. It’s the closest magnet school.”
“Registered here for now, you mean.”
Temari scooped out some ice into several smaller ziplock bags and handed one to Kankuro and the others to Gaara. Kankuro placed his on his shoulder where one of the bullies had hit him, but Gaara left his on the table.
“Put it on your bruises,” ordered Temari.
“They’ll go away fine on their own.”
“At least put one on your jaw and your head,” said Temari. “You don’t need to look like you got the shit kicked out of you.”
“It’ll be gone by tomorrow.”
“Gaara, just do as I—”
Slamming his books closed, Gaara stood up and glared at his sister who went quiet. From the stove, Kankuro held his breath.
Then Gaara gathered his things and stormed off to his room.
###
“Done. Were there any other assignments?” asked Sakura later that afternoon as the sun began its descent outside, the shadows lengthening. She checked her planner, flipping a page.
“I still can’t believe you use a paper planner.”
“It’s faster than opening up Google every time I need something,” said Sakura. “Also, privacy.”
“Your planner doesn’t tell you anything else is due?”
“Nope. But what about you? Do you need a hand with calc?”
Ino frowned and sighed. “Yes?”
“Let’s see… Pass me your worksheet and we’ll check.”
“It’s the new way we’re doing derivatives,” said Ino, pointing to the example she had copied from the board that morning.
Sakura looked it over, her brows drawing together.
“Give me a minute, I think I see a pattern…” murmured Sakura, copying several questions to a new piece of paper.
Smiling gratefully, Ino sat back in her kitchen chair and picked up her phone. She scrolled around for a minute or so before her muffled, “Oh!” caught Sakura’s attention.
“What’s up?”
Ino glanced at Sakura before putting her phone screen down on the table. “Nothing.”
Sakura stared at her, unimpressed.
Ino made a face.
—and wasn’t fast enough to catch Sakura before she had grabbed her phone.
“You’re snooping into them already?” exclaimed Sakura, recognizing the faces displayed on Ino’s phone screen.
“You can’t tell me you aren’t curious,” argued Ino.
Shaking her head, Sakura handed Ino her phone. “Come on, I figured it out… At the third part of the equation, you’re flipping these values instead of these other values… Try doing it this way.”
After a few minutes, Ino grinned at Sakura. “How did you figure this out so quickly?”
“I made a similar mistake when I first learned how to do this,” admitted Sakura. “Try another one. Want to stay for supper?”
“What are you having?”
“Salad and omelette rice.”
“Table for two.”
Sakura stood and made her way to the stove while Ino kept working. Within a few minutes, she knew Ino would finish and start filling her in on whatever she had learned so far about the new siblings at school. She just needed to make sure their work was done first before they gossiped.
###
“Oh shit,” breathed Sakura after Ino read the latest article aloud. “A political assassination attempt?”
Ino nodded sadly.
“Yeah. Looks like their big sister, Temari, was the one who saved them by arranging a political asylum-slash-escape here. Their country’s a total mess of civil war back home,” said Ino. “It’s kind of sad.”
“No wonder she seemed like such a badass,” remarked Sakura, pouring Ino’s omelette onto her plate.
“You met her?!”
“Yeah, this afternoon, she was there after we broke up the fight. Damn,” murmured Sakura.
“There are implications here that she was, and-or is, Special Forces Ops.”
“I’d believe it.”
“I bet she puts up with no one’s shit,” said Ino, impressed.
“Girl crush?” teased Sakura, only for Ino to nod quickly.
“Oh my god, yes! Who wouldn’t?”
Sakura nodded and poured the rest of the egg mixture into the pan again for her own omelette. “Any word there about Gaara or Kankuro?”
“Kankuro is the middle sibling, right?”
“Yeah.”
Ino scanned the articles, flipping between news sites on her tablet. She grinned. “He is said to play for both sides of the field.”
“I was thinking about what his fav school subjects were, but okay,” said Sakura, shaking her head.
“He’s into shop, welding, carpentry, biology, art—”
Sakura flipped the egg, folding it over in the pan on the stove. “That’s a weird combo.”
“Right? I was just thinking that,” agreed Ino. Her voice cut off.
“What?”
“Uh. Puppets?” offered Ino in a strange tone.
“Who has puppets?”
“Kankuro, apparently. He’s won awards for his puppetry art.”
Sakura turned fully away from the stove to stare at Ino.
“It’s right here. I swear to god, I’m not making this up.”
“I don’t believe you,” said Sakura deadpan, turning back to the stove.
“This family is fucked up,” muttered Ino. “Oh my god!”
“What now!?”
“You know that singer that made it big last year? Sasori?”
“The idol?” asked Sakura, lifting the edges of her omelette with a spatula.
“Yes! It looks like they’re all from the same area in Suna! Oh my god again, they’re cousins!”
“Small world.”
“I wonder if they know each other well? Sasori’s our age, right?”
“You’re asking me?”
“Point, you’re clueless about important shit,” agreed Ino. She read another page. “Yeah, Sasori’s like our age. Looks like he went to the same school as them. Wow, that was a fancy school. A bunch of elites went there…”
“Huh,” said Sakura, flipping over the omelette one last time. “And now the Suna Sibs are stuck in our backwater, armpit town.”
“Haven’t you heard? Our science department is the best in the country!” said Ino mockingly.
“Because of a single donation that the school has nursed for the last decade,” said Sakura, shaking her head. “Whoever “T. Senju” was, he or she had a good head on their shoulders.”
“Think they’d want a sugar baby?” asked Ino.
“You’re cheating on Mister Sarutobi already?”
“He’s clearly too slow to pick up on my charms.”
Sakura laughed and brought her plate of food over to the table to sit beside Ino.
“OK, now show me the dirt…”
###
TBC
