I suck at summaries but here it goes: This story is about GAARA!! GaaraXOC. Akira is in love with Gaara and is trying to fight her feeling for him. She can't be with him...too many people have told her to stay away from. But life won't let her. Will she give in to her heart? Rated M for some strong language.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…but would definitely love to own Gaara!! lol

A/N: Hi everyone!! This is my first fanfic. This story had been in my head for awhile. So I decided to share and see what you think. Hope you enjoy!!

LOVE AND SECRETS

Chapter 1

Once she looked into his eyes she knew it was over. As she stared into those pale green eyes she felt herself lost in him, this always happened when they locked eyes. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to tell her heart what to think. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try. She braced herself to be as mean as possible.

"Out of my way Gaara," Akira said. That's my best? I'm fucking pathetic, she thought to herself.

Gaara just looked at her with his arms folded and a stone face and simply said, "Walk around me."

He had a slight smirk on his face. He couldn't help it. She looked stunning today. Her shoulder length fire-red hair almost matched his. Her milk chocolate eyes said everything she was thinking and right now they were telling him she was ready to kill him. Why does she hate me so much? He thought. And why do I even care? But he knew why.

She knew he was savoring this moment as long as possible, she could see it in his eyes. That made Akira's blood boil; Who does he think he is…god he gets on my nerves…damn lucky he's hot, thought Akira. She brushed past him and when their shoulders touch, she felt like every one of her nerve endings was on fire. She gasped…I can't feel this way she told herself as if that would change anything. She could feel his eyes on her as she took her seat in the front of the class.

Ayame was Akira's best friend. She sat right next to her in class even though she hated sitting in the front. She was more of the trouble maker type and hated having senseis looking at her. She was just as beautiful as her best friend, even though her best friend's beauty was much more subtle. Ayame had short magenta hair and ocean blue eyes, her mom often said her eyes looked like a cat's. Ayame was much louder then her soft spoken friend. She smiled as her best friend sat next to her. "You should just give in Akira, you can lie to yourself but not to me and you want that boy…really bad," Ayame told her best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about Ayame," Akira said. She hated how well her best friend knew her.

Ayame rolled her eyes and whispered to her friend, "What I'm talking about? Now that's a lie right? You know damn well what I'm talking about! Gaara!! The redheaded hottie that is obviously interested in you! You know, you two are meant to be together. I should tell him about your tattoo. Let me tell you—"

"Shut it Yame!! You know I'm with Neji!" Akira cut her friend off. If her best friend ever found out the truth about her tattoo…Oh god.

Of course I know you're with Neji, Ayame thought bitterly. She was the one who helped them get together even though she was totally in love with Neji; she didn't care. Akira had been really down these past few months and Ayame figured she needed a boy toy. If that meant giving her best friend her boy toy, then so be it. Akira did seem a little happier after that. But Ayame knew that her friend's moodiness was somehow related to that redheaded hottie two rows behind them.

Akira sighed…she could still feel Gaara's eyes on her. She loved Gaara, that she could not deny, he was still the only one who could make her heart skip a beat every time she look at him and she had tried everything to get over him but he just wouldn't let her; everywhere she went he was there. Damn it she thought. She was pulled into a memory she would have rather forgotten.

"Where are you going?" Gaara asked still holding her hand.

"You know I have to be home before 2 or my brother will kill me." Akira said trying to pry her fingers out of the redhead's strong grip.

"Yeah but you said you'd spend the night. Come on, for once in your life do something wild…get in trouble…with me." Gaara demanded not letting her fingers go.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing with you? You know damn well I'm not supposed to be near you." Akira said still struggling with the sand nin. She wasn't doing a very good job, mainly because she really wanted to stay with him.

Gaara grabbed her and started assaulting her neck with kisses, first slowly and then frantically. "Stay," he said in between each kiss. "Stay with me. Who cares what anybody else has to say."

But she couldn't, she knew her brother would murder her if she wasn't home in the next five minutes. All she really wanted to do was stay and have Gaara kiss her all over. All she wanted was to stay in this room with his strong muscular arms around her. But she always did what was right. So with much self-loathing she tore herself from Gaara's arms and kissed him good-bye. She knew she disappointed him but she knew he would get over it, after all they did love each other.

Damn it Akira thought. She did not need to remember that at a moment like this. The reason Gaara knew her so well was because at one point they had been together, they had actually been inseparable. But they never told anyone, she hadn't told Ayame. And if Ayame found out about her and Gaara's affair then she'd never hear the end of it. Akira was a very closed off person and the only person who knew her inside out was that redheaded punk. She knew him inside out too. She knew what made him tick, in fact she knew what he was feeling right now. She could feel his pain of not knowing why she ended it so abruptly. She could feel how much he loved her. She could feel his pain so strongly it hurt. Stop it Gaara she thought absent-mindedly.

You know I can't, was his response in her mind.

Damn it I thought I shut you out, she thought.

You did…your defenses are low in the morning. Your not a morning person remember? he told her.

She smiled, of course she remembered. He wasn't a morning person either. But he had always teased her about it. Get out Gaara! She responded.

Just talked to me he asked.

No was her answer and with that Gaara felt her put her mental barricade back up. He tried to get pass it but it was no use. She was on alert and she was not going to let him back in. He was surprised he missed her so much. He was surprised he loved her the way he did; mainly because he never really showed emotions. But Akira had changed him, he actually fell in love with her. It actually hurts every time he sees her and she snubs him. Of course he never shows it because he never shows his emotions. He's always had great restraint over his emotions. But she's the only one who's ever been able to look into his sea foam eyes and know exactly what he's feeling. In fact Gaara was pretty sure she could feel his pain right now.

Gaara remembered the day they discovered they could slip into each others mind. He smirked at the memory.

"Shit!" Both redheads said at the same. They had just cut themselves on a metal sheet they were trying to remove from the wall of Gaara's bedroom.

"I said pull."

"No you said push."

"Why the hell would I say push, we're trying to take it out of the wall."

"Well I thought we were trying to push it into the wall and outta the way." Gaara said

"Shit…I'm really bleeding." Akira said.

Gaara walked over to inspect her hand. Although he had been cut, it felt like a paper cut because the sand had mostly protected him. But she was really bleeding. He felt a pang of guilt for misunderstanding what the hell they were doing.

As if Akira was reading his mind…she told him, "It's not your fault, don't worry, I can heal myself remember!"

Gaara held her hand tenderly for a minute and was about to let her heal it when the little blood from his cut and the blood from her deep cut mixed and something strange happened. As their blood mixed together in each ninjas cuts, both redheads felt as though they couldn't breathe. When that pasted, Gaara knew everything about Akira he ever wanted to know…all her memories…things she didn't talk about. And Akira knew everything about Gaara…all his childhood memories until now. Gaara took a deep breath. "Did you feel that…"

"…our chakras…"

"…just mixed." He finished her sentence.

"So what the hell does that mean?" asked Akira. She was a little scared but liked this feeling…feeling as though Gaara was totally hers. Gaara was wondering the same thing but really didn't care because he felt as though Akira was inside him, underneath his tingling skin and he rather liked the feeling.

Both stood there looking at each other liked they has just seen each other naked. Their blood mixing together had caused their chakras to unite which had caused a new level of intimacy that both ninjas had to take in and think about. Neither ninja knew what to do.

Gaara made the first move. He grabbed Akira by the waist and kissed her. It never stop surprising her how soft his peach colored lips were. She had him kissed over a dozen times, after all they had been seeing each other for almost a year, but THIS time when he kissed her she felt like his lips were all over her body, her skin was tingling all over.. She felt as though she couldn't breathe but didn't care in the slightest because Gaara was supplying her with enough air. She felt his tongue explore the cavern of her mouth. Her tongue in turn slipped itself into his mouth. This feeling was new to the both of them. They hadn't felt a kiss like this since the first time they kissed each other.

Gaara could feel all her burning desire for him and the already passionate kiss intensified. Akira felt his hands slip under her shirt and start exploring her body. In the past she had stopped him but now she didn't care. She hunger for more…for more of him. She undid the buttons of his jacket.

Gaara could feel she wanted more. His lips moved from hers to the base of her neck where he nipped and sucked until he heard her moan, that's all he needed to hear. As he tasted her golden skin he was reminded of cinnamon and apples. As his hands moved down to her pants, Akira worked on his shirt. She felt his pale strong muscular arms, his taut shoulder muscles, his washboard abs. She was about to unbutton his pants when…

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!! What the hell is going on?!" Yelled the spiky ponytailed sister of the sand nin.

Both Gaara and Akira stopped in their tracks. Shit Akira thought.

Both redheads were shirtless and Akria's pants were nearly off. Both half naked ninjas were flushed. Akira was rapidly turning a deeper shade of red. Gaara on the other hand had his poker face on.

"What the hell are you doing in my room Temari?" He demanded.

"Oh no, you don't get to take that tone with me. You're going to tell me what the hell is going on." Temari shot back.

In the short period of time Gaara and Temari had stared at each other, Akira had managed to pull her pants up and was looking for her shirt.

"I can explain Temari, if I can just find my shirt." Akira said.

"Its in the corner Ai." Gaara told her.

Akira blushed even harder at her nickname. Shit, she thought, we're fucking screwed.

Temari couldn't help but chuckle. She knew her brother and Akira had the hots for each other but every time she asked him about her, he always said they weren't anything but classmates. Lair she thought.

Before Akira got any words out of her mouth, Gaara simply stated, "We're together."

"Well I can SEE that." Temari responded.

"Temari…we…just…please…don't tell anyone!" Akira managed to say while buttoning her shirt.

One look from Gaara told her she better not say anything.

"How long?" was all the sister asked. Temari knew damn well that they had been together for a while. Why it has been a secret she didn't know.

"Almost a year," the redheaded girl told her.

Damn, Temari thought, they've kept it a secret this long? "Why?"

"Why what?" asked her brother.

"Why not tell anyone?" She asked.

"Because Akira's brother doesn't like me and I don't want to get her in trouble," stated the sand nin. He said it with no emotion but Akira could hear the pain his voice. In fact she could actually feel his pain. This is weird, she thought.

"Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone. But almost a year and nobody knows? You guys are good at being secretive." Temari said. They are almost as good at hiding a relationship as Asuma and Kurenai and she thought she and Shikamaru were closed lipped. She was also thinking: if its been almost a year then that means it getting serious…in fact what I just witnessed means its getting serious…they should let people know. Who cares about her brother

"Do you need someone to walk home with you?" asked Temari the already composed Akira. She bounces back fast Temari thought.

"No…I'm fine. I really should get going. Bye Gaara, Bye Temari…thanks." She gave Gaara a kiss on the cheek and was out the door.

"Damn Gaara next time you might wanna lock the door." Temari laughed.

"Next time you should fucking knock," said her brother while slamming the door in her face.

It was late at night and Akira was thinking about Gaara. She was wondering what the blood mixing was all about. She was wondering how their relationship seemed to have gotten stronger after their chakras mixed into one another's. She was thinking about is soft, pale skin, how she melted at the sight of his pale jade eyes. She could still feel his lips all over her. She thought about what Temari had said. Gaara, she thought, what are we going to do?

Ai is that you? a voice she recognized responded in her head.

Gaara?

Yeah he responded.

What the hell is going on? She asked extremely confused.

You tell me…I'm lying in bed thinking about you and then your voice pops into my head asking me what are we going to do. responded the confused sand nin.

You think this has anything to do with our chakras mixing with each other? She asked him

Maybe…I don't care. We can talk to each other when we are apart…this is interesting.

Interesting? This is perfect. Even though I can see you I can talk to you. Akira exclaimed. Gaara I have to talk to you about—

Gaara was awakened out his reverie by a very annoying blonde.

"Earth to Gaara" Naruto said. "I've been trying to talk to you for the past five minutes. Your thinking about her aren't you?"

"Want do you want Uzumaki?" growled Gaara.

Naruto Uzumaki was Gaara's best friend. Although they were completely opposites, they had a lot in common. They understood each other and had same tortured childhood. It was this understanding that made the emotionless sand nin and the hyperactive blue-eyed blonde best friends.

Naruto knew his redheaded best friend very well. He could tell just by looking at Gaara that he was thinking about Akira. Gaara was so tight lipped about his and hers relationship that it took Naruto four months of coaxing to get Gaara to tell Naruto that Akira and him had been seeing each other for a year and half. Naruto couldn't believe they had kept it quiet that long. He was genuinely happy for Gaara, mainly because Akira made Gaara smile and it wasn't easy to get the famous sand nin to smile. He knew Akira loved Gaara because one day Naruto had caught them kissing each other goodbye and there was so much passion and intensity in their kiss, it had made Naruto blush. He had actually thought they would start telling people about their relationship but then…a little after their two year anniversary Akira broke it off…no explanations. Gaara still doesn't know why she ended it. Naruto knows it hurts him. Naruto knows Gaara thinks about her everyday and he knows the answer to his this questions but he still needed to ask it. "Why are we sitting in this class?" he asked his best friend.

"Because she's in it." responded Gaara with out much emotion. Because I need her to tell my why? he thought.

"Why don't you just grab her and ask her, instead of playing this song and dance game?" asked the overactive blonde as if reading Gaara's mind.

"Naruto, would you just sit down." Gaara said ignoring the question.

Fine, he thought, but this is just going to end badly. Maybe I should ask her why she decided to break my best friend's heart.

Their sensei just entered the room and Naruto was happy to see a familiar face. It was Iruka-sensei.

The young handsome sensei stood in front of his class and sighed. He knew they did not want to be there. He prepared himself for the welcome speech he had written last night. Fuck it, he thought, I'm just going to tell them the truth.

"OK class…I'm not going to bullshit you. I know most of you don't even want to be in this class because you registered late and this was the only class open. I also know none of you really care about teaching non-combat courses to young ninjas. But you're stuck here. You're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you. Good news is this class will be relatively easy. Bad news is it involves a semester long group project. You will be assigned a partner and you will design a course on a subject that is non-combat related but is still useful for a ninja to know…"

Akira lifted her head off her desk as soon as she heard Iruka-sensei's voice. She did want to be here, she had actually fought for this class to be formed. She was glad to hear about the semester long group project she was actually thinking about subjects when she realized Iruka-sensei said you will be assigned. Shit, she thought, please let me and Ayame be paired up.

"OK now listen up, I'm going to tell you who you're paired up with. When you hear each others name please go stand next to each other. Naruto Uzumaki and Ayame."

Shit, Akira thought.

"Ino and Choji. Shikamaru and Temari. Kiba and Hinata. Akira and Gaara-" Iruka-sensei was interrupted by...

"Shit!" Akira said quite audibly.

Everyone in the class looked at her, Ayame and Temari chuckled.

Now you have to talk to me, Gaara words slipped back into her mind.

A/N: OK guys what do you think? PLEASE review! Should I continue? Let me know what you think. I'm open to any suggestions!!