A/N: Revised on 08 June 2012.

This was my first attempt at GaaSaku back in the day, lol. Now I've just edited the format of the story as well as some of the content. Overall, though, not much has changed :)

Ten Encounters
By S. Muffin

The first time he saw her he was at the hospital.

After having the misfortune of getting into a fistfight with some thug from his neighborhood, Gaara, despite his protests, was rushed to the hospital for a check-up, specifically because of a nasty gash he received on his hand from being thrown to the ground. As soon as his older sister saw it, she immediately insisted that it needed stitching. He had done everything to convince her otherwise, but Temari was a stubborn person to argue with, so he just gave up.

He was sitting in the waiting room, brooding, holding a wet washcloth to his injured hand while Temari talked to the woman at the front desk. He was growing quite bored from waiting and he just wanted to hurry up and get the hell out of this place. Hospitals had a tendency to be depressing and they smelled weird.

And then he saw her.

"Gaara." He looked up at the sound of Temari's voice, but his eyes landed on a pink-haired girl standing beside her. He shot his sister a questioning look.

"Who's she?" he asked as the girl tenderly took his wrist.

"I'm a volunteer here," she replied before Temari could, carefully removing the bloodstained washcloth from his hand. She hissed at the sight of his cut. "You were right, Temari-san. This needs stitches right away."

Gaara's eyes snapped to the girl in front of him. She couldn't have been any older than he was. Why was she even examining him in the first place?

She stood upright. "Please follow me."

Surely she wouldn't be the one to give him his stitches, he thought as she began to walk away. Temari took his arm and pulled him out of the seat, dragging him with her as she followed the pink-haired volunteer.

She led them to an empty room and instructed Gaara to sit down on the examining table while she washed her hands and put on a clean pair of gloves.

Gaara's eyes followed her movements closely. She was now getting a few things from the cabinets: cotton balls, disinfectant spray, and a gauze bandage. He tried to see if he could find a needle anywhere among the objects.

She then began to clean his cut, first with water and then with the disinfectant spray. He grit his teeth at the stinging sensation, but he didn't do anything else to show his discomfort.

"Tsunade-sensei should be here any moment," the girl explained once she was finished, removing her gloves and tossing them into an empty wastebasket. "She'll stitch you up quickly."

"You mean you aren't going to do it?" Gaara blurted without thinking.

She laughed. "Me? Of course not! I'm just a volunteer. I prepare the patients before Tsunade-sensei sees them."

Temari snorted. Gaara glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

"Honestly, Gaara," she said, "Sakura's no older than you are. Sixteen."

Sakura, he thought, returning his gaze to the pink-haired volunteer. It suits her.

Sakura laughed again and then went back to the sink to wash her hands once more. "I do want to be a doctor, though. Tsunade-sensei said volunteering in the hospital would look good on my application to medical school."

She dried her hands and made her way to the door, giving him a cheerful smile. "You can come back next week to get the stitches removed."

"Will I see you?" he asked without thinking again.

Sakura shrugged, still smiling. "Maybe. Depends if I'm volunteering that day."

She waved goodbye and then left the room.

-x-

The second time he saw her was four months later.

Gaara was beginning to grow frustrated. He had stopped by the hospital a handful of times since his last visit, the first time to get his stitches removed, and the next few times after that just to see if Sakura was there. But every time he came by to look for her, he either couldn't find her or the lady at the front desk would tell him that she wasn't volunteering that day.

He couldn't deny the fact that she fascinated him. Her pink hair couldn't have been natural, but it certainly suited her well. And her eyes; he'd never seen anybody with eyes that green. He considered that they were contacts at first, but then he realized that he himself had a rare eye color as well. Nevertheless, she was just too interesting of a person to forget about, so he made it his mission to find her.

But now that four months had passed by, he was beginning to lose hope.

Until a certain hyperactive blond he called his friend restored the last shred of it.

"Do you have to talk so loudly, Naruto?" Gaara asked, glancing at the blond from the corner of his eye.

"You'll love her!" Naruto went on, as if he hadn't heard Gaara's complaint. "She can be a bit violent at times, but I'm sure you'll get along great!"

Gaara nodded, though, in all honestly, he didn't really care. He tucked his hands in his coat pockets, hoping to warm them from the cold night air. He never liked the winter months, always preferring the warm heat of the sun than the bitter chill of the snow. But Naruto just happened to live on the other side of town, which was almost a separate city altogether with different school districts, so walking in the cold for so long was unfortunately inevitable.

Lately, Naruto had been rambling on about how nice his one friend was and he had finally forced Gaara to meet with him so he could introduce the two of them at Ichiraku's.

"Oi, what's wrong with you?" Naruto asked, suddenly calmer than he was a few moments ago. "You look pissed."

"I'm cold, you idiot," Gaara grumbled, his teeth beginning to chatter. "I walked all the way over to your house and now you're making me walk again, at seven o' clock at night, of all times. Why couldn't we have taken the bus?"

"I'm flat out broke!" Naruto exclaimed. "I can't pay for the bus!"

Gaara sent him a questioning look. "Then how are you going to pay for your ramen?"

Grinning sheepishly, Naruto rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Well, I was hoping maybe you'd—"

"Forget it."

"Ah, c'mon Gaara—"

"I said no."

"Hey, look! We're here!"

Upon hearing that, Gaara quickened his pace and went ahead of Naruto, entering the small restaurant. He felt his tense shoulders slump from the warmth inside. He closed his eyes and sighed. It was about time they got here.

He began to undo the first few buttons, but suddenly stopped when his eyes landed on the last thing he expected to see sitting at the counter.

Pink hair.

Sakura, he realized.

"Oi, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's voice exclaimed behind him. The blond rushed past him and threw his arms around her.

Gaara heard Sakura laugh, watching her as she tried to pry the blond off her. "Hi, Naruto."

Naruto looked back at the redhead, grinning ear to ear. "Hurry up, Gaara! Come meet Sakura."

Gaara allowed a small smile to touch his face as he approached the two. "We've already met."

The pink-haired girl turned in her seat, staring at him in confusion for a moment, before her face suddenly brightened. "Oh, now I remember why I've heard that name! You came to the hospital during summer."

He nodded, sitting down on the stool beside her while removing his coat. "That's me."

"Ah?" Naruto's eyes went from Gaara, to Sakura, and then back to Gaara again. "Wait, you two already know each other?"

Sakura smiled. "Sort of. Gaara came to the hospital over the summer to get stitches, but still, we weren't properly introduced." She turned around, facing Gaara. "Hello, I'm Haruno Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you."

She held out her hand and he took it, shaking it once. "I'm Gaara."

Sakura closed her eyes and laughed. Gaara smiled slightly again.

When they finished their meal, they exchanged e-mail addresses, promising that this time they would keep in touch.

-x-

The third time he saw her was only a week later.

His inbox had once been completely filled with her e-mails. He ended up making an entirely new folder labeled 'Sakura' to store each of her messages, since he simply refused to delete even one.

Sakura,

This might seem sudden, but since we've been talking a lot, I thought maybe you and I could meet at Ichiraku's tomorrow, this time without Naruto. Think of it as getting to know each other better.

-Gaara

He had sent her that e-mail just last night, and the next morning when he signed onto his computer, he was pleasantly surprised to see that she had replied.

Hey Gaara,

Sure, that sounds great! I'd love to get to know you more. And Naruto can be a bit distracting, can't he? I just hope he hasn't told you anything bad about me!

I'm volunteering at the hospital today (on a Saturday, of all days), but I get off around 5:30. Meet me there?

-Sakura

Gaara smiled slightly. He couldn't remember ever smiling this much before, even though his most genuine smile was nothing more than the corner of his mouth turning up a bit. Still, the thought of seeing Sakura again made him feel like smiling.

He left the house a little after five, taking the bus so he wouldn't freeze, and arrived at the hospital ten minutes early. He went inside and sat down in a chair away from the rest of the people, patiently counting to sixty ten times.

"Gaara, you're right on time!"

His head snapped in the direction of the voice, his eyes landing on Sakura's face.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, walking over to him as she buttoned her brown jacket and wrapped a long, red scarf around her neck.

"Not long," he replied. He stood up from the chair and offered her his hand. "Are you ready?"

She grinned, blushing faintly as she placed her hand into his. "Yep. And I'm hungry too."

Gaara gave her a small smile in return, leading her out the door and into the bitter cold.

-x-

The fourth time he saw her she gave him her scarf.

He met her at the hospital again, this time at seven, so they could go see some new movie that Sakura had been raving about. Much to Gaara's distaste, however, the movie turned out to be a boring chick-flick that only a girl would love. But he took it like a man and sat through it anyway.

After the film, when they were waiting for the bus to arrive outside, Gaara was so cold that every fiber in his being was trembling.

Sakura had looked at him with concern flooding her bright green eyes. She too was shaking with the cold, but not nearly as badly as he was. Not to mention that his face was pale and his cheeks were flushed and stinging from the wind. "You okay, Gaara?"

"It's s-so cold," he muttered through chattering teeth. "S-stupid bus..."

Smiling gently, Sakura removed her red scarf and wrapped it around Gaara's neck, folding it so it covered his jaw and the bottom of his ears. He tried to protest, saying that he didn't want her to be cold, but she ignored him.

"There," she said just as the bus arrived. "That should help. It matches your hair, too."

The bus stopped on her street first. Gaara was about to take the scarf off and return it, but Sakura said a quick goodbye and got off the bus before he could give it to her.

Gaara pressed the knitted material to his face, inhaling the scent of her. He then decided that she really wasn't going to get it back.

-x-

The fifth time he saw her he had been running an errand for Temari.

His sister needed sugar for her coffee that morning, so she sent Gaara out to the grocery store to get a bag. He put on his jacket, followed by Sakura's scarf and then left the apartment.

He was paying for the sugar in the checkout line when he saw Sakura, holding a shopping basket filled with chips and instant cup ramen. He called out to her.

"Oh, Gaara!" she exclaimed. She jogged over to him. "What brings you here?"

He lifted his grocery bag. "Temari needed sugar. What about you?"

She laughed half-heartedly and began to unload the snacks onto the black conveyor belt. "The hospital is filled with patients today and Tsunade-sensei is incredibly busy. She won't have time to go out for lunch." She looked at him from the corner of her eye, smiling. "Nice scarf, by the way."

He smirked lightly in return. "Thank you."

When he came home Temari yelled at him for being almost half an hour late.

-x-

The sixth time he saw her she asked him a question.

They were ate Ichiraku's that evening, grabbing a quick dinner before they left to see a movie of Gaara's choice this time.

"Hey, Gaara?" Sakura said quietly. "Are we friends?"

He looked up at her from his bowl of ramen, a questioning expression on his face. "I suppose we are."

She then smiled at him, that bright cheerful smile that Gaara felt he could grow accustomed to. "Good."

-x-

The seventh time he saw her he decided that he wanted to keep seeing her.

He had sent her another e-mail, inviting her to Ichiraku's for dinner yet again. She gladly accepted and met him there at seven thirty.

They each had a bowl of ramen, and after Gaara paid for the both of them they left to wait for the bus.

"Sakura," Gaara began as he turned around to face her.

"Yes?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

"I was wondering if you wanted to see me again," he said, straightforward and to the point. He only hoped she knew what he meant. "As in regularly."

Her cheeks were a light shade of red, though Gaara couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from what he said.

She then smiled softly. "I'd like that a lot, Gaara."

He smiled behind his scarf. "Good."

-x-

The eighth time he saw her they had their first kiss.

Gaara had his arm draped protectively over Sakura's shoulder and the red scarf was wrapped around both their necks to shield them from the cold. Sakura sighed happily, leaning closer to him.

"You could've at least let me paid for dinner tonight," she said when they arrived at the bus stop. "You always pay."

"Don't worry about it," Gaara replied. "I don't mind paying."

"Yeah, but—"

He silenced her with his lips, which were cold from the air around them but still very inviting. Sakura closed her eyes and kissed him back softly.

When they pulled away, Sakura smiled up at him before nestling her face into his shoulder. Gaara's lip curved up as he placed his arms around her back, holding her in a comforting embrace.

They hadn't even noticed that the bus left without them.

-x-

The ninth time he saw her he was in the hospital again.

Gaara swore under his breath, referring to the same thug that he had fought with over the summer. The last thing Gaara ever wanted was to run into him again, especially when he was out with Sakura, who could've easily gotten hurt as well. If he hadn't been there with her, he wasn't sure what could've happened. And frankly, he didn't want to know.

He winced when Sakura applied the disinfectant spray on his face. "Ouch."

Sakura smiled sympathetically. "I'm almost done."

She placed a piece of gauze against the large scrape on his cheek and secured with white medical tape. "How's your arm feeling?"

He looked down at his left arm, which was now wrapped in a red cast and suspending from a sling. "Better, I guess."

Sakura cleaned up the stray bandage wrappers and then washed her hands before walking back over to the examining table. She gently laid her head on Gaara's right shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay," she said softly, taking his free hand into hers.

Gaara turned his head and nestled his face against her pink hair. "As long as you're okay, I don't care what happens to me."

Sakura felt her lower lip begin to tremble, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. "But he could've—"

"What's important is that we're both all right," Gaara interrupted. He brought her hand up to his face and brushed his lips over her knuckles. "Look at me, Sakura."

She did as he said, looking up at him behind glossy eyes. Gaara placed his hand on her cheek and brushed her tears away with his thumb.

"Don't cry," he said quietly. "It's over. The bastard's in jail and my arm will heal in a few months."

She smiled, though hot tears rolled onto his hand anyway. Gaara laughed softly and bent down to kiss her.

-x-

The tenth time he saw her...well, I think you get the picture.