The first day of September, a girl named Sakura Haruno moved to the hidden sand village with her family. Together they went around to meet new people while the kids were staring at Sakura with their distasteful looks. She was wondering why they were so fixated on her large forehead. Even though, it wasn't big as a brick.

Born with a little bit of intelligence and inherited her mother's temperness and attitude, there was more of her than just decent looks. Some people really like how cute she was when she's being shy. Unfortunately for some kids, mostly girls, think that she was just trying to get everyone's attention. But she wasn't that kind of person.

Later that day, they went to go meet the 4th Kazekage, who was signing all the papers that was piled on his desk at the office.

Sakura and her parents approached the door and knocked three times until they heard a voice called out politely. "Come in."

As they entered in and closed the door behind them gently, the 4th Kazekage looked up from his paperwork to them in surprise.

"Hello, you must be Mr. and Mrs. Haruno," he greeted them with a smile as they nodded. "Yes, the 3rd Hokage told me all about your clan. I must say, you have such a unique power hidden from any other shinobis who would mostly wanted to claim it as their possession. Since I'm busy with all this paperwork, I will assign you an A-rank mission."

"Thank you. It would be an honour to fulfill our duties, sir," Mr. Haruno said and asks. "What is this A-rank mission about?"

The Kazekage folded his hands together and explain. "Recently, I've heard that Orochimaru's subordinate; Kimimaro has attacked the sound village in the land of rice last night and several people were killed while the few of them were wounded. Apparently, he was there to steal a forbidden scroll then went to Orochimaru's hideout. Orochimaru has a research on taking over a young person's body as his new vessel so he could gain more power and use it on his own will."

"That's terrible," Mrs. Haruno said softly. "A shinobi who is obsessed with jutsu is absurd."

"Of course. We do not know what his motives are and what will happen in the future. Right now, I'm here to assign you this kind of mission," he said sternly.

"No problem, sir. We'll do it and Sakura," Mr. Haruno turned his head down to look at his daughter, who looked up at him with a worry expression. "Don't worry sweetie, everything will be just fine as always with your mom. I'm sure we will return safely no matter how long the mission is and as long as you stay here with your aunt Rose. She will be taking care of you."

"Your daughter has the same age as my son, younger than his two siblings," the Kazekage said smiling warmly.

"Really? Where is your children?" Mrs. Haruno asked suprisingly.

"They're playing together as always. Sometimes, they get into a heated argument but their uncle is always there to stop them from fighting each other," he explained thoughtfully at the memory.

"Wow. That's good... well, our daughter; Sakura has some trouble making a lot friends around our village, so is it alright if she gets along with your children? I'm sure she will appreciate it because she never had a friend, only her teddy bear," she said frowning as she looked over Sakura in concern.

"Mom. I'll be fine," she said as her cheeks were light pink in shyness.

"Are you?" Her mother asked raising an eyebrow when Sakura nodded.

"Yeah... I can handle this, so may I please go to the park?" She pleaded to her parents, who replied back.

"Of course, honey. But be careful on the way there," they said in unison.

She gave them a curt nod as she smiled at them when she went through the door and closed it behind her, leaving them there to discuss things with the Kazekage in a friendly manner.

While she was walking through the hallway and exiting the corner, a small shadow figure's pair of pale blue-green eyes was staring at the sight of her with interest.

It was a bright and sunny day outside, the clouds were swiftly drifting away as time passes when a young girl with pink hair walked down the street towards the park. Along the way, she saw some group of kids playing soccer and walked over to them.

"Excuse me, is it okay if I play with you guys?" She asked, putting up with some confidence.

"You... play with us? Hmm, don't make me laugh. Nobody wants the pink-haired freak with a huge forehead. Besides, you can't just ask me or any of my friends to play with you because you're a freak and a loser," a boy with brown hair and blue eyes said rudely.

On the other side of the park area, a boy with a red hair overheard the conversation between the girl with the pink hair and the kid, who was practically scowling at her harshly. The group of kids was surrounding them in a circle, waiting to see what was happening.

"Hey, I've seen her before and I don't understand why that kid is so mean to her. I could lend her my help," he thought frowning.

"How sweet of you. Well, I never expected a young lad to be so kind towards that girl. Very lovely," the inner demon said with his dull expression.

"Lovely?" He repeated. He didn't know what he meant.

Suddenly, Sakura's inner voice commanded her to hit the boy right in the nose. A smack filled through everyone's ears when the kid threw his hands up in exclaim.

"No way... she... hit him?!" Gaara thought surprisingly.

"That girl must have some fire of rage within her. She's mostly not like those ordinary ones who ran away and cry to their parents seeking for comfort," Shukaku said, placing his paw over his heart dramatically. "It's a good thing you are somewhat interested in that girl but what is so special about her?"

"Well, first of all, you can't be calling her 'girl' because that's not really her name," Gaara thought, getting annoyed by his inner demon.

As he looked back over to the kids, he saw the boy going to hit Sakura with his fist. Gaara, on the instinct, made his sand go to the boy and slammed him into a wall, who got knocked out cold.

All the kids saw Gaara fearfully and ran away from him as fast as they could near the village, which made him feel upset on the inside. Sakura, on the other hand, turned around and looked at him with curiosity.

"Now she's going to run too," Gaara thought sadly.

"Hang in there, kid. Look in her eyes. Fear of a person will only increase fear and cowardice inside," Shukaku stated.

Gaara looked at the girl and into her eyes. He looked really hard and saw no fear.

"Did you lay off that boy who was going to hit me?" Sakura asked raising both eyebrows.

Gaara looked around to see if she was talking to someone else, but nobody was there.

"Are you talking to me?" Gaara asked pointing at himself, feeling surprised.

"Yes. Who else is there, silly," she said shrugging.

There isn't even a word for how shocked and surprised he was. Not at all. This girl right in front of him wasn't afraid of his existence. Didn't she know about the demon that was sealed inside of him? Not yet, though. Both of them were still standing in front of each other in silence.

"She didn't run now, did she? I must admit, she's starting to have an interest in you," Shukaku said smirking.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. Thanks for stopping that kid," she said with a warm smile on her face. She held out her hand to offer a shake of greeting. He just looked at her hand as a bomb or something that will burn his.

"I won't hurt you, I promise," she said sweetly.

When Gaara reached over and took her hand, their hands made a contact as he closed his eyes for a second until he realized that nothing bad happened. Although, it made their hands feel warm. It felt like a bit longer until they let go.

"I'm Gaara... Gaara of the Sand," he said shyly.

"That's a nice name," she said with a warm smile.

Gaara smiled so big, he thought his lips were going to crack up in half. Thought of this day of finding the person who will acknowledge another is now happening.

"So... may I play with you?" Sakura asked kindly.

"Yeah," Gaara said very happily and excitedly, grabbing her arm and ran towards the playground. He pulled her onto one of the swings and sat on another one. He began swinging back and forth; just when he noticed her just sitting there.

"Aren't you going to swing?" He asked.

"Well... it's just... I'm not used into this sort of thing," she said in a tone of embarrassment when she looked down with a blush on her cheeks.

"It's alright. I'll show you," he said in surprise as he stood up straight and walked up behind her.

"Oh... Thank you," she said.

"Y-you're welcome," he said as he never felt so happy in his life.

As he grabbed the chain to her, he pulled her away gently and pushed her high up properly.

Sakura was surprised that Gaara was pushing her on the swings. She suddenly smiled, almost as big as Gaara's. She laughed as Gaara laughed along with her.

He never felt so alive to meet such a nice friend like her. They had been playing all day until they collapsed in exhaustion as they laid on the rooftop watching the stars began to show up clearly at night. When Sakura realized it was dark and starting to get cold, she opened up her green eyes. "What time is it?" She asked in a panic tone of her voice.

"I'm guessing it's 8:00," Gaara said, feeling confused by her sudden action.

"Oh no! I was suppose to be home at 7:00 and eat dinner with my auntie," she said, freaking out. "I'll come back tomorrow, I promise." She quickly waved at him goodnight and ran.

"Okay, only if you come back to the swings at 9:00 in the morning," he called out with a wave.

"I will," she said, giving him a smile and headed down to her home.

Gaara smiled back went back to his home also, and started thinking about how much fun he had with Sakura. She was the first person who interacted with him.

"So how's your first day here, my niece. Did you make any friends?" Her aunt asked after they finished their dinner.

"Not really, but I did make a new friend. He's very nice and he protected me from those kids in the park... They're all just the same as the other ones in our village," She said sadly in deep thought.

"Oh, Sakura... Don't be upset. At least you made a new friend who matters to you. I'm sure one day you and your friend will have plenty of friends. You two should get to know each other and talk freely whenever you both like. Always be true about yourself," Her aunt said smiling.

"You're right... Thank you, Aunt Rose. You always spoke the words of wisdom and encourage me to be more confident," Sakura said as she admired her so much.

"You're welcome, my dear. Whenever you're having problems, just ask me so I can help you since your parents are away on a mission now," Rose said.

"I will... *sigh* I just wish Mom and Dad were here."

"Don't worry, they are only investigating one of the scrolls that has been stolen," her aunt explained, only to make Sakura confused a little. "You'll learn and understand it by the time you get older to become a ninja and go on missions... just like your mother and father."

"Yeah..." Sakura nodded and had a pleasant smile on her face in deep thought of it. Same goes for Gaara as well.