Fanfic Title: I Love You, Kitsune-chan
Anime: Naruto
Pairing: Gaara x Naruto
Author: keadeblue264
Hello everybody! This is my first GaaNaru story and I am still digging myself in the "Hole Of So Far Incomplete Stories"!! *dramatic violin music* …Awwwwkwarrrrrd… I decided to try out a different font on this story. I usually use Times New Roman or Book Antiqua in italics, but I wanted to change it up a bit. You know, I freaking loooove Gaara even though he was a psychopathic serial killer. KEYWORD BEING WAS! But I love the prospect of a shy, innocent Gaara. He's just so cute when he's so innocent like! *fangirl squeal* So that's why he's gonna be the innocent one in this story! Get it? Got it? Good.
Summary: Gaara is the new kid at Naruto's high school. His looks belie his shy, innocent nature and that's what may have attracted Naruto in the first place. That and Naruto thinks he pretty freaking hot. But will Naruto be able to go over the road he needs to take in order for Gaara to like him or will it be riddled with bumps?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. And that makes me sad… *starts to cry* Quick! To the emo corner!! *emofide "Batman" music begins to play*
Warnings/Notes: Boy-boy romance, Innocent! Gaara (cuuute!), AU (obviously). Not sure about anything else besides those few…I'll let ya'll know when I think of them.
Chapter 1: The New Kid Looks Scary
The bell rang throughout the hallways and the school day began as usual, numerous teenagers talking with their friends as they headed towards their first class of the day. The new school year had just started and today was the first day of the one hundred and eighty days the students would have to spend in their own personal hell as some called it. Most were just glad that the school board had finally decided to get rid of the uniform rule, meaning that the students could wear whatever they wanted as long as it followed the new dress code.
Lockers could be heard shutting from a short distance away and the occasional sound of a freshman dropping their books in the hallway was also heard. It would only be a matter of time before the poor freshmen would be under the wrath of the few seniors that got their kicks from seeing the younger students shake in fear. But it was the same old routine at this school as always as some of the older students would say. One of them was a seventeen-year-old who was in his senior year.
Uzumaki Naruto.
He was ready to get the hell away from this place as soon as possible and the only thing that stood in the way of his freedom were the one hundred and eighty god-forsaken days. And his adopted father Jiraiya. The old man made sure that Naruto stayed in this school, but it wasn't as if Naruto didn't like to go. It was just so boring day in and day out. Of course Naruto had his regular circle of friends that he had practically grown up with, but not all of them were always in the same classes together.
Like the one he was in right now. Ancient Japanese History. It practically had the word 'boring' written all over it, but Naruto had to take it anyway. The old man insisted it would be good for him and he needed the credit for the class to graduate anyway so it didn't really matter what Jiraiya said. The blonde sat in the middle of the seating arrangement with his hand on his cheek and his head to the side, ready for the bell to signal the end of first period. Since the uniform rule was repealed, Naruto decided not to go all out in the clothes department today. He was wearing baggy jeans, a white short-sleeve shirt, and a dark blue vest that matched his jeans. A small chain with the yin yang symbol attached to it dangled from his neck, the matching ring that came with it on his ring finger. He didn't really care if people thought it was stylish or not, as long as he had on clothes that suited him, he was content to wear whatever he could manage to get out of his closet.
The teacher walked in the classroom, the room's design mirroring that of a typical college classroom with somewhat tall bleacher-like stands with long pieces of wood that acted as the student's desk area and the bleachers were also fashioned so that the students had enough space to move around if they needed to.
"Alright class. My name is Hatake Kakashi and welcome to Ancient Japanese History. I know some of you really don't want to be here right now, but you know what? I don't either. I was assigned to this class because the other teacher quit and I was the only choice," the teacher said, a rather bored expression on his face.
But the students that he had already taught, like Naruto, knew he looked like that all the time except on rare occasions. He was already a rather odd looking teacher, his grayish hair defied the laws of gravity and he wore an eye patch over his left eye.
"By the way, if anyway of you are wondering about what happened to my eye, that's none of your business," Kakashi continued, earning a some whispers amongst the students.
Most of his old students would say he was only wearing the eye patch to look cool though they didn't really have any proof of that claim since he never told any of them either. But that didn't stop the rumor mill from kicking back into gear whenever he got a new student that had never seen him before. Rumors had been flying about the man ever since he started teaching at this school five years ago and the gossip train had some wild things to say about what he did on his private time. Some people said that he sold questionable material before becoming a teacher and those people still believe that he continues to sell his wares sometimes to earn a little side money.
But despite the accusations, he managed to keep his job for the last five years. The principal usually demands proof of foul play and because no one had any actual evidence to support the abundant claims, the matter was dropped and forgotten by the principal and the rumors steadily stopped, but they always started back up eventually.
Kakashi started to write on the chalkboard when a knock was heard at the door.
"They always knock when I'm ready to get started," Kakashi said to himself, putting down his chalk and opening the door slightly.
"May I help you?" Kakashi asked the woman standing at the door.
"Can you come outside please? I have a student here who was transfered to this school at the last second and he's supposed to be in your class," the woman answered.
Kakashi sighed a little and exited out of the door, closing the door tightly behind him. As soon as the door closed, the students talked loudly and without a care.
"So Naruto, what do you think the new kid is like?"
Naruto looked over to his right and saw Inuzuka Kiba, one of his best friends since grade school. Kiba had a doggish appearance, which inherently earned him the nickname "Inu" among his friends.
"I don't know, Inu," Naruto said, deciding to call Kiba by his nickname, "He--"
"Or she," piped the pink-haired girl sitting to next to Kiba.
"Ok Sakura. Or she might just be some meek freshmen or something."
Haruno Sakura was also one of his best friends since grade school. He always questioned himself about whether or not her hair was naturally pink, but he had never seen her hair a different color. There was only one way to find out about her real hair color, but Naruto wasn't about to get on her bad side just because he was curious about the authenticity of her hair.
"Ahh freshmen. They keep getting smaller and smaller every year," Kiba said.
"I know. I just saw one that was like half my height," Sakura added.
"No kidding," Kiba said back.
"Yeah. I--oh! Hold on a sec," Sakura said and pulled out her cell phone, hiding it carefully between the section that stuck out from the desk area and her lap.
"Sakura, please don't get in trouble for texting Ino this year," Naruto warned.
"Don't worry. I'm being extra careful this year."
"I'm just telling you to be careful. You don't want them to have to confiscate your phone again, do you?" Naruto asked, receiving a cringe from the pink-haired teen.
Yamanaka Ino was another person in Naruto's friend circle, but she was spent most of her time with Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata, the only other girls in their group, than with him or any of the other guys lately.
"Besides, that's what you said last year," Kiba reminded her.
"I know I said that last year. You don't have to rub it in my face," Sakura replied, her thumbs moving back and forth across the phone's keypad.
"I give it a month," Naruto whispered to Kiba.
"Two weeks tops," Kiba whispered back.
"Don't you dare make any bets," Sakura forewarned, squinting her green eyes at the two boys.
"We won't Sakura," Kiba and Naruto said in unison.
"Oh like I'm gonna believe that," Sakura said, putting her phone back in her pocket.
"Come on, Sakura. You can trust--"
Before Naruto could finish talking, Kakashi came back in the room with a pile of papers tucked under his right arm. Everybody else had quieted down with the reappearance of the teacher. All of the students in the classroom were anxious about what the new student would be like.
"Okay. As some of you may have heard, we have a new student entering our class. He was originally home schooled so please be nice and try to make him feel comfortable," Kakashi said before turning his head towards the door, "You can come in now and please close the door behind you."
A brief moment passed by before a red-haired teen came into the classroom. Some people gasped at him while others just stayed quite. The boy looked intense and it scared some of the younger students. The teen closed the door like he was told and stood next to Kakashi.
"Everyone, this is Gaara," the gray-haired man said.
Gaara bowed slightly and said, "Hello."
Gaara was like the love child of the goth lifestyle. He was wearing black pants with wide leggings with a chain attached to two of the belt loops and a long-sleeved black shirt. It also looked like he was wearing thick black eyeliner around his eyes. Some would've said he was over applying to the extreme while others had already started calling him "Raccoon Boy". Gaara even had a tattoo of the kanji for love on his forehead.
"Ummm. Is it just me or does he look scary?" Sakura whispered.
"Depends. Are you taking about the way he looks or how he is practically giving all of us the death glare of the century?" Kiba whispered back.
"The glare."
"Oh. Then yes he looks kinda scary. What do you think, Narut—aww crap…It's happening already."
"What—oh no. Not again," Sakura groaned.
They immediately recognized the look in Naruto's eyes as he stared at Gaara. It was the same look he gave the last new student, Uchiha Sasuke. That look started their entire conflicted relationship, from dating for six months to absolutely hating each other. Naruto's friends knew about his sexuality and supported him as much as they could, but Naruto hit a bump in the road when he had started dating Sasuke when he transferred to their school last year and after six months, Naruto realized how much of a jerk Sasuke was and broke up with him.
"Naruto, please think about this before you rush into things. You remember what happed with Sasuke, don't you?" Sakura whispered to the blonde.
"Uh-huh," Naruto said back, obviously not paying a lot of attention to what Sakura had just said.
"Yep. It's too late," Kiba said, a weak smile on his face.
"Alright then. Let's get you seated somewhere," Kakashi said to Gaara, "Hmm. Why'd don't you go sit next to Naruto for now?"
Most of the students silently sighed, relieved that the strange new student wouldn't have to sit next to them.
Kakashi pointed Naruto out to Gaara, who only looked up to see where he would be sitting and didn't even notice the look the blonde was giving him.
Sakura huffed a little before saying, "Kakashi-sensei did that on purpose. I bet he saw how Naruto was looking at that kid."
"Well, you've got to hand it to him. Whether he means to do it or not, he knows how to make a situation worse," Kiba said, feeling the sweatdrop roll down his face.
By the time Kiba had finished his sentence, Gaara had already gathered his things and sat down next to Naruto. But there was about two feet of space between them and that made Naruto puff up a little on the inside.
"Hey there. I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said to the redhead, offering his hand out for a friendly handshake.
"Hi," Gaara said back, not looking at Naruto and ignoring his hand.
Sakura, on the other hand, was about to explode from annoyance when she saw the way Gaara disregarded Naruto like that. She also was not paying a spec of attention to Kakashi's lesson or the fact that her phone had started vibrating in her pocket again. Kiba just felt like the middleman in the situation and decided it would be best to stay out of it completely.
Naruto retracted his hand and continued, "So…what year are you anyway?
For the first time since he had gotten in the classroom, Gaara looked at Naruto. A sudden blush rushed to his face and he turned his head back to the chalkboard. Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at his two friends, who both had the same 'what the fuck was that' look on their faces.
"…I'm a senior," Gaara answered finally, his voice bordering on a whisper.
"So are we," Naruto said, pointing to himself and his two associates, "Anyway, I wanted to know what--"
The fire drill bell rang and cut Naruto short, the other students acting all giddy about being able to leave class even if it was only for about five minutes. Kakashi, on the other hand, was once again complaining about being interrupted during one of his lessons, but his former students knew he would get over it eventually. The fire drill ended a few minutes later and all the students and faculty returned to their respective classrooms and offices. Kakashi continued his lesson though few people actually paid enough attention to care what he was talking about.
Naruto attempted to continue his conversation with Gaara, but the only kind of reply he got from the redhead was either a nod of his head or some sort of short sentence, a slight blush reappearing on his face every once in a while. The blonde figured that Gaara wasn't the talkative type and ultimately stopped talking. Surprisingly, Kakashi doesn't really care if people talk quietly during his lessons. As long as they don't speak too loudly and manage to get notes from other classmates, the only thing he really cares about is actually finishing the lecture. This kind of attitude gave him the reputation of the lazy, carefree teacher in the school, but there had to at least be one in the place for it to seem slightly normal.
The bell that singled the end of first period rang and the students rushed headfirst into the hallway. Gaara was also one of the first ones out the door, leaving Naruto behind in the classroom.
"Well, he sure was quick to leave," Sakura commented, gathering her books into her arms, "So anyway, what did you two talk about?"
"Nothing much really. He didn't really say a whole lot," Naruto replied, walking down the steps and heading towards the open door.
"I realize he's the new kid and all, but he could at least talked to you a little bit. And what the hell was with all that blushing?"
"Sakura. Please quit attempting to be a critic about things. You have a bad habit of doing that," Kiba said to the pink-haired girl.
"I do not," Sakura said back, sticking out her tongue.
"Anyway, at least you did get to talk to him a little…despite the wall covering his face," Kiba said to Naruto, motioning his hand around his face for emphasis.
"Yeah yeah, say what you like, Kiba, but I'll be the one laughing last," Naruto said, stopping at the door.
"Why's that?" Sakura asked with her head tilted to the side in confusion.
"Because I'm gonna get Gaara to go out with me," Naruto answered before racing out the door, not seeing the surprised looks on Sakura and Kiba's faces.
"He's such an impossible bastard," Sakura and Kiba said at the same time, both thinking that the poor blonde was going to get hurt all over again.
But what they did not know was that Naruto already had a plan at the ready this time and for all intents and purposes, he was going to get Gaara to open up to him at least a little bit. At least, that's what he hoped anyway.
Author's Notes: Yay! The end of chapter one! *does a clumsy dance and falls over* …What?? I have no coordination whatsoever and that was the best I could do on short notice. By the way, I'm sorry about the awkward summary…it was the only thing I could think of. I wanted to make this chapter a little longer, but I figured I had to put a stop to it before it got too long and out of control. _! I usually try to keep chapters between 6-9 pages long (that doesn't include author's notes, summaries, and warnings), but I sometimes end up coming up a little short. I did that in one of the SasuNaru stories I'm working on (it came up to about 5 pages including all the extra stuff)…I'm trying to make it a little longer before I publish it. Anyway, see you guys in chapter 2!! And read and review dammit!!