Title: Changes
Rating: M, just to be on the safe side. Has some language, will have violence, and might have have a bit of mature, yaoish stuff later on.
Author: Xlbkcaxoctnaignox (Say that five times fast), but you can call me Cax.
Summary: A year ago, Gaara and his sister and brother, Temari and Kankuro, transferred to Konoha High School. Gaara was a psycho, his siblings not much better than thugs, and they and those willing to side with them clashed with Konoha's students and teachers in repeated conflicts, each with more violence than the last, until all things came to a climax a week before the school year ended. At the end of the day, half the school was on fire, the lawns were covered in blood and broken glass, and wailing sirens filled the air. The casualties were many. Only two were dead, killed of smoke inhalation, but there was hardly anyone who went unmarked. Eleven had been shot, although not fatally. Many had knife wounds or deep cuts from broken glass. And Gaara had attempted suicide. If one boy hadn't intervened, saved Gaara's life, and stopped the fighting, countless lives would have been lost. But Uzumaki Naruto did intervene, and gave everyone a new outlook on life.
Well… almost everyone.
This story takes place a year later, a week or two after school has started, and is shown from numerous points of view. Some old wounds have healed, but others are still raw and open. Hearts will break, hearts will mend, friendships will start, enemies will be made, romances will start, blood will be spilled, and this year promises to be one of the most interesting Konoha High School has ever seen.
(Sorry I suck at summaries. Dx I know I explain things horribly here, but don't worry, it'll make more sense later on in the story, if I write more. Flashbacks and such, y'know.)
Warnings: This story will contain yaoi, shounen-ai and such. If you don't like it, too bad for you. I don't know if there will be anything explicit, probably just kissing and serious making out, because I've never written smut or anything like that. If enough people ask (That is, if anyone reads this. xD) I might have a lemon or two, but it'll take me a long time to build up to that. Plot is very important to me, so don't expect much yaoiness for a while. But there will be some, I swear!
In addition, there might be some violent stuff and blood, but nothing really terrible. There might be a bit of gore in the flashback stuff.
Pairings: I'm not sure on this. There will almost definitely be some GaaNaru (Or NaruGaa, whichever) and probably some SasuNaru. I might even throw in a bit of NejiNaru, because I've recently become a bit of a fan of that pairing, but nothing big. There will also be other pairings not very important to the plot, like ShikaTema, and maybe a teensy, teensy bit of NejiHina. I'm just going where the story takes me; I have no idea what's going to happen, really. So I can't say too much for sure. I might introduce a few original characters, and maybe pair them up with characters from Naruto, but I don't know.
Disclaimer: This is my first actual fan fiction, so please, please don't flame me. If it sucks, just give me constructive criticism. I'm only fourteen, so it's not going to be like a work of Shakespeare. In addition, I've never really posted anything up on this site, so if I do something really stupid please tell me so I can fix it. The chapter sizes might end up being too long, or too short, or different every time, I don't know. I don't really know anything. If anyone has any advice, please tell me, because I need to get things figured out. xD Also, don't expect me to update regularly. I have homework, I have friends, and I have other websites I'm on that are important to me. You might get two updates in a week, and then not get another update for a month. My muse comes and goes constantly. This is the first time I've actually tried to write something aside from a short story in a long time, and I really have no idea how it will turn out. And it could be that no one will even look at this, and I'm writing all this stuff for absolutely no reason. That's probably what will, happen, actually. Anyway, thanks for bothering to read all this, because it's really pointless.
I'll shut up now.
- C a x
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It was, as they say, one of those days. He'd woken up that morning with a dreadful headache, lost track of his car keys, and wasted twenty minutes looking for them before he realized that they had been in the pocket of his jeans the whole time. As a result he'd been late to pick up his best friend, Uzumaki Naruto, and they'd both been late to school. For Naruto, it hadn't been a problem (He had sex ed first period, with the laid-back Hatake Kakashi for a teacher), but for Sasuke (Who had math with Tsunade), it had been a disaster. After the notoriously sharp-tongued teacher had finished ranting at him, class was half over and he (Along with the wide-eyed rest of the class) was under the definite impression that she was not a morning person.
Second period wasn't much better; he'd left his science homework beside his computer at his house. And neither was third. By the time lunch rolled around, he was feeling shitty enough that he didn't even bother to get in line. He just elbowed his way through the crowd until he reached the table in the furthest corner, away from the giggling cheerleaders and the swaggering jocks, where he slammed his books down and slid into his seat. He rested his cheek on the cool cover of his English textbook and let his mind drift, absentmindedly tracing the graffiti on the table with his pale fingers.
For a few moments, he felt almost content, sitting there alone at the empty table. The light above him flickered and went mostly out, with a panel in one corner struggling in vain to remain lit, casting flickering shadows on the scarred tabletop. The lights in this corner didn't work very well. The faculty ignored this table for the most part. They never scraped the gum off of the table's undersides, never washed of the profanity inked into the wood. Maybe they were afraid to. This table was the home of the outcasts, the ones who didn't fit in. The goths, the artists, the emos, the individuals, the druggies, the shy kids. No one was the same, so they all fit in. Like the pale chick who hardly ever said anything… What was her name again? Wasn't she Neji's cousin, or something?
Suddenly he jumped, head shooting up, as someone slammed their tray down in front of him. He glared up at the grinning blond teen, his dark eyes meeting light blue ones, and scowled. "Dammit, Naruto," he snapped.
"Having a bad day, teme?" Naruto asked, voice oozing sympathy, as if he hadn't just done his best to irritate the Uchiha, plopping down in his seat. Although his mouth was pursed into a pathetic little pout, his eyes were dancing with held-in laughter.
Sasuke, in no mood for Naruto's games, merely growled and put his head down again, this time with the bottom of his chin resting on the books, so that no one would be able to sneak up and surprise him again.
Naruto arched an eyebrow at his friend's behavior. When Sasuke still said nothing, he sighed and lowered his head until their eyes were roughly at the same level. In a much more serious tone, he asked, "Seriously, Sasuke, what's wrong?"
Swiftly, before the other boy could move, Sasuke reached out and tugged on a lock of his messy golden hair. Naruto jerked back a second too late, wincing as a few hairs parted from his scalp. Sasuke smirked.
"Teme," Naruto growled, scowling.
"Dobe." Sasuke shot back at him.
"Fighting again?" Came an amiable voice. "Tch. How troublesome…"
Naruto looked up, a grin flickering up to replace his scowl. "Shikamaru! What's up?"
The lazy youth gave a noncommittal shrug, sitting down beside Naruto. He has no books to set down; he never carried anything anywhere. It was, as he often said, 'too troublesome'. To him, everything was troublesome. Girls, schoolwork, games, appearances. He never spent more than the two seconds it took him to tie his dark hair up on appearances, but still somehow managed to have a perfectly neat appearance, with not a hair out of place. It was, Sasuke reflect with an internal sigh, immensely unfair.
Noticing the immense contrast between his laden tray and their lack thereof, Naruto rolled his eyes. "You guys are anorexic, I swear," He said in an offhand way, taking a huge bite out of a slice of greasy pizza. A strand of cheese oozed down his chin; he wiped it off and licked his fingers. Sasuke wrinkled his nose in disgust; how could anyone eat that?
"That's nasty," another boy remarked, sliding into the seat beside Sasuke. It was Inuzuka Kiba, a boy renowned for his intense love of dogs and wicked sense of humor. His hair, although brown and not blond, was just as messy as Naruto, perhaps even more so, and he had the same mischievous grin, but therein the similarities ended. Kiba was taller (Really, who wasn't taller than Naruto?), had overly large canines, and had two reddish marks on his face, each below an eye, shaped like fangs. His arrival marked the appearance of the rest of the mob and the end of the peaceful time beforehand. They came by themselves or in groups of two or three, chattering animatedly, waving to friends, comparing tattoos, rolling eyes, and usually smiling.
Akimichi Chouji, a plump but cheerful boy with swirl marks on his cheeks, came to sit by Shikamaru and chat whilst sharing a bag of potato chips. Hyuuga Hinata, a shy, pale girl with short dark hair, sat by Naruto and turned a brilliant shade of pink when he greeted her with an enthusiastic hug. Rock Lee, a usually exuberant youth with notoriously large eyebrows and a bowl cut, came slouching over from the cheerleaders' table looking dejected. He was accompanied by his friend Tenten, a girl with her brown hair in buns, who was patting him sympathetically on the arm.
"It's okay, lee," she was saying consolingly as they sat down. "She's a bitch anyway."
"Who's a bitch?" Naruto asked, leaning around Hinata to quirk an eyebrow at Tenten.
"Sakura."
"No she's not!" Lee and Naruto protested in unison, voices outraged.
"Yes she is," Sasuke stated, matter-of-fact, as he helped himself to one of Naruto's French fries. "You two are just too infatuated to realize it."
"No I'm not!"
"Sakura, my radiant flower, why must you always reject me?" Lee mourned, slumped into a position of utter dejection.
"What do you think, Gaara?"
Immediately, all voices fell silent. All eyes turned to Sasuke, who had spoken, and then to the three people now standing by the table. The tallest and oldest-looking was a blond girl, sharp-eyed, her bushy hair pulled back into four tufts. She stood casually, confidently, a little smirk playing about her lips. She wore a pair of low-slung, baggy jeans with ragged holes in the knees and a tight, sleeveless black top with a pattern of dark blue sequins proclaiming the name of a popular heavy metal band. This was Temari, Gaara's older sister, a haughty girl with a sharp tongue. Although she looked like your average wannabe tough girl, she was no one to be messed with. Two years ago, she'd beaten a tall, muscly jock to a pulp when he insulted her reputation, and did the same to another smartass a year later.
The second tallest was a boy, wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood up, almost completely covering his brown hair. His hoodie bore a symbolic looking circle on it, half yellow and half red, bordered in white. He also wore jeans, although his weren't as low or at loose as the girl's, and they didn't have holes in them. He had a pattern of purple lines drawn on his face, down his nose, under his eyes, and around his mouth. One anyone else it would have looked almost clownish, if not entirely ridiculous, but it gave him the look of one of the jungle warriors, from the cannibalistic tribes they'd read about in history class. He certainly looked like he could eat someone. His name was Kankuro, a tough-speaking teen who tended to come off as rough and unintelligent, maintaining a C average and a reputation as your average toughie.
The smallest and definite youngest was a thin boy, harmless-looking, but he was the one everyone was regarding with such apprehension. He didn't seem very threatening, he just looked like one of the little goth kids that hung out on the front steps after school, with the loose black pants, the unmarked black hoodie, and the thickly-applied eyeliner. But there was something subtly creepy about him, about his quiet face and the hands thrust into his pockets, like an invisible cloud of poisonous gas you could barely see or smell, but you knew it was there. Aside from the quiet eeriness, though, he was completely normal. Well, almost completely normal. His hair was dark red, the sort of hair that went in every direction and somehow still managed to look perfect. His eyes were pale green. Those were normal. What wasn't normal was the red tattoo in the left corner of his forehead, partially covered by his hair, the kanji ai (Love).
Gaara.
Several people shifted uneasily in their seats. Gaara was no longer the terror he had been when he first transferred to Konoha High School a year ago, mostly due to Naruto's influence, but many people found it hard to forget the things he had done. And not everyone had all the facts. Most people had only a distorted version of what had happened last year, and the new school year was fresh enough that not many people had had the chance to witness how much he had changed, especially since he had been in and out of the mental hospital throughout summer break and the beginning of school. But lately, he'd been spending more time in school, and less time in counseling. Maybe, some thought, he had changed.
Or maybe not.
"Gaara!" Naruto beamed, leaning back around Shikamaru and waving so enthusiastically he almost toppled out of his chair. Sasuke leaned forward, grabbed the front of his jacket, and pulled him back into his seat with a roll of his eyes and a muttered 'dobe…'.
Gaara's eyes immediately flicked to Naruto's face. Without a change of expression, he stepped around the table and strode over to stand beside him. Shikamaru instantly vacated his seat, brushing wordlessly past the redhead and slipping into the empty seat on Chouji's left. Gaara took the seat, folding his arms on the table and resting his chin on them, never once taking his eyes off the blonde boy sitting beside him. An almost imperceptible wave of unease swept over the others sitting at the table; other conversation had ceased to exist, except for a few nervous whispers and murmurings as his two siblings came to stand behind him, leaning against the wall and folding their arms, expressions of disinterest on their faces.
Naruto, who was as always oblivious to the tension in the air, swiveled around in his seat to grin at the other boy. "So, Gaara, what do you think?"
"About Haruno Sakura?" His reply was as empty as his facial expression, revealing nothing. But his voice had changed. Before it had been threatening or demented, depending on the occasion, accompanied with a manic grin or narrowed eyes, never this expression of polite interest. To some of those looking on it, it was a bit unnerving. Some even looked a bit disturbed. But no one dared to say anything outright; their memories of the previous year kept them from doing anything that might draw his attention. Better safe than sorry…
Naruto, however, had no such qualms. "Yeah, Sakura. Is she great or what?" He craned his neck to peer over at the cheerleaders' table, hoping for a glance of pink hair or green eyes. But she was nowhere to be seen, concealed behind a gaggle of squealing adolescents with overactive hormones. He breathed a sigh of disappointment, then turned back to Gaara with an expectant look in his eye.
Gaara looked back at him, a somewhat odd expression on his face. Behind him, his sister turned to look at him, her eyes narrowing slightly, the first time she'd shown any sign of emotion except boredom. "You like her, then?" Gaara inquired softly, his voice retaining the same impassive tone.
Naruto's face turned slightly pink. He raised a hand, running his fingers self-consciously through his hair. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, she's cool and stuff." (His vocabulary tended to suffer when he felt embarrassed) "Right?"
Gaara shrugged disinterestedly, inspecting his fingernails. "I guess."
"She's an idiot." Sasuke said abruptly, disgust evident in his tone. It irritated him to see his best friend fawning over someone like Sakura; the very thought of the pink-haired girl made him twitch. Always squealing and whining and squabbling with other girls for his attention. Why they couldn't all just leave him alone, he had no idea. Frankly, he found girls repulsive…
"No she isn't!" Naruto protested, indignant, turning to glare at the other boy. "She's-she's-" He fumbled for the right words.
"An idiot," Sasuke supplied, helping himself to another of Naruto's fries.
"Shut up, teme!" The blonde snapped, red-faced, slapping his hand away. "And those are mine!"
Gaara had fallen silent, tilting his head to rest his left cheek on his folded arms, still refusing to take his eyes off the other boy. Temari frowned slightly, watching him. Maybe she needed to get her eyes checked, or maybe her imagination was getting away with her, but she could have sworn that Gaara had almost smiled….