I do not own Naruto or any other characters. READ AND REVIEW. I WILL NOT UPDATE UNTIL I HAVE 7 REVIEWS.
Shikamaru silently watches as Kiba made his way over to the new kid. His name is Subaku no Gaara, and Kiba loved to pick on him much to the older kid's annoyance. Other kids were smirking.
"Hey, shrimp! Kill anyone lately?" Shikamaru heard him say. He sighed and rubbed his temples. Gaara was looking pissed. His eyes grew clouded when Kiba pushed him to the ground. A growing sense of apprehension swelled in the shadow nin's gut. He didn't like the sneer on Kiba's face. He rose to his feet and took a step his hands sighning in front of him. The shadow that streched across the floor went unnoticed by the Inuzaku but he saw gaara's eyes glance in his direction.
"Look at me when i'm talking to you, twerp!" Kiba yelled and drove his fist into Gaara's cheek, cracking the bone. The red head didn't flinch. Just as kiba drew back a leg to kick him his muscles locked in place. His eyes darted to the side to see Shika staring at him. A growl of frustration emerged from his throat.
A smirk started to form on Gaara's face but he stopped as a painful twinge reminded him. He stood upand rubbed his cheek, he could already feel the bruise forming.
Kiba was now face to face with Shika. He released the jutsu and smiled at the redhead. Before Kiba could react he he hit him square in the nose. The force of the blow sent kiba into the bushes a few yards away. Laughter erupted in the courtyard. Kiba emerged from the bushes with blood dripping down his chin.
When Shika turned in Gaara's direction the red head was already gone.
_
Gaara winced as he touched his cheek. It was throbbing. When a shadow fell over his form he glanced up to see his older brother Konkurou and not far behind him was Temari, his older sister. Gaara just waited, he knew what was coming.
"Why do you let them bully you?" Konkurou started softly. Gaara just shrugged, he didn't want them to fear him like his siblings had for so long. He wanted friends. Someone to talk to and understand him for once. Temari came to the other side of him.
"Raise your head and let me see." Reluctantly he did as he was bid. A hiss escaped her lips when she saw the bruise which was a deep indigo, almost black. He lowered his head once more. When he reached his apartment his siblings left and he entered. He flicked on the lights and walked into the bathroom.
Shikamaru silently followed the trio of siblings down the street. When the other two left and Gaara had entered his apartment , Shika quietly followed behind him. He heard the shower turn on and followed the sound to the bathroom.
When he entered he could see the cloudy form of the red head behind the glass. He walked closer to the shower stall and shucked his clothes off and silently slipped into the showerand pulled Gaara against his chest.
Gaara's breath left him in a shocked gasp and he stiffened until he recognized the form pressed against and relaxed. He reached up and pulled the pony tail holder out of Shika's hair loving the feal of it against his skin.
Shikamaru smiled and put his lips to Gaara's wet hair. As he felt his hair fall around his face he inhaled deeply, taking in the spicy scent of his redhead. "Why do you let them hurt you . . . ." Shikamaru's voice was barely audible over the thundering shower. It was filled with love and grief.
"I want them to accept me, not fear me." Gaara's voice was equally soft as he turned in his lover's arms and pressed a soft kiss to the shadow nin's chest.
"You need to stand up to him before he hurts you worse." Shika sighed, he knew Gaara wasn't going to listen.
Kiba smacked Gaara and pushed him into the locker room wall. Gaara didn't flinch. He just watched, waiting for an oppurtunity. As Kiba went to hit him again his fist was caught. The brunette looked over his shoulder to see who had stopped him and was surprised to see Naruto's blue eyes blazing in anger and flickering from red back to blue.
"Release him." The blond's voice was dangerously low. Kiba dropped Gaara to the ground and watched as the red head automatically rubbed his throat. Gaara stood up slowly, a little sore but with no lasting damage done to his form. Even as Naruto watched the younger kid's bruises faded, the only one that wasn't gone was the one on his cheek from the other day.
His facial expression didn't change as he gathered his dropped clothes and dressed. His shirt did nothing to hide the finger marks around his throat that hadn't faded. Being dragged out of the showers was a regular occurence and Gaara was used to the beatings, in fact it was almost to the point where they had started to feel good. But, they didn't need to know that.
Naruto's interference today only meant that he was going to get beaten until he passed out at his house. Gaara picked up his back pack and walked out mildly surprised to see the Hyuuga prodigy, Neji, waiting for him. Neji fell into step beside Gaara and inconspicuously checking him over for lasting damage.
"I'm fine. Just a few new bruises." Gaara's voice shocked Neji. He had thought that the red head was completely oblivious to him. "Ok." Neji recovered enough to say. Gaara reached the class and walked to the back and sat down. The seats around his desk that were usually empty were filled. The Uchihas Sasuke, Itachi, and Madara were seated in them. All of them were senoirs just like him.
Itachi's eyes followed him as well as Sasuke's and Madara's. It was kinda' creepin' him out with how silent they were. As Gaara sat he noticed that the class was utterly silent and still, as if they were waiting for him to say something. Gaara simply pulled out a book and read. He could feel their eyes drifting away from him as he ignored them.
Madara watched him as he read waiting for a sign of pain as the bruises on his cheek and throat changed colors, the ones on his throaght darkening even as the one on his cheek appeared to heal. The sand nin never flinched. The teacher claimed the class' attention then and Madara had to glance away every now and then to watch the teacher. Gaara never had to as he had finished all the work from all of his teachers for the entire year.
When the bell rang Gaara put up his book and gathered his things preparing himself for the questions his brother would ask. He began walking home. "Hey Gaara! Wait up!" A shout came from behind him and he stopped and let the blond catch up.
"What?" He was begining to get annoyed, everyone had kept giving him looks as though they thought he would either break or explode.
"You look as though you could use a few friends and . . . I'm sorry I didn't get to you sooner." Naruto looked down at his feet and a dark look crossed his face, a testament to the memories of when he was alone with no one to help him.
"Don't worry about it, it happens every day so it quit bothering me. Anyways, I don't know why you're bothering to be my friend." Gaara was slowly walking as he let his mind drift through his thoughts when he heard a diffrent voice than usual enter his mind.
Shukaku, are you not guarding this child? He is suffering needless abuse from some punk!
Gaara gripped his hair and pulled when his demon answerd.
What? You think I would allow harm to him if he could not supress my will! This child is powerfull! The most I can do is heal his body as its damaged!
A moan escaped him and he dropped to his knees. Their voices were so loud! It hurt. The pain was over ridding him and he curled into a ball. Naruto dropped to his knees and pulled the red head into his lap.
'Kyuubi, please lower your voice. You are hurting Gaara.' Naruto spoke softly knowing that if he didn't he himself would be hurting him. He felt her relent.
Shukaku lower your voice, you are hurting your host. As for his strong will, I'm not saying take over I just mean resume making the sand shields.
As their voices lowered Gaara slowly uncurled and let his head rest comfertably on the blond's lap. There was a small trickle of blood running down Gaara's cheek and Naruto, like the kitsune he was, bent over him and lapped it up. The sand nin's eyes widened and he stared into Naruto's eyes. They were in the exact same position when shikamaru walked up.
Well read and review and tell me what you think. I have more chapters written but I won't update until I have 7 reviews.