Warning: Includes shounen-ai, uh yuri (I think, better safe than sorry) and omfgosh, het! If you don't like, click the nice button as the top of the window and please for your sake and my sanity leave this page.
Author's Note: Yes this is AU which means WOW! Everybody is everybody's friend. Uh, no. But still. And no this is not a high school fic. No it does not have a plot. xD Yes it is basically everyone being paired off with everyone else. And no I don't want to know whether you like (well if you like the pairing then okay, I am happy :D) the pairing or not. If you have a problem with gay relationships I don't wanna know. If you hate the way I write, I don't really give a fuck. If you are an intolerant moron, then seriously if you tell me I'll hunt you down and your firstborn child and his/her first born child and so on and so forth. If you flame me, you basically prove that you are an idiot but hell I love knowing that I am pissing someone off. So have a massive flame-orgy (er I don't think that makes sense ) and tell me how much you hate me. I love to feel the love. Uh sorry for the rather massive rant about basically nothing. I should have said you could have skipped it I guess. If you read it and are still gonna read my story, cheers to you and thank you lots hugs
Definite Pairings: Gaara x Hinata (main) Naruto x Sasuke (side) More if you want :D
Disclaimer: Hell if I owned Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto would be fucki…-ahem- so yeah I don't own Naruto.
Chapter One: Stay Away From a Gaara with a Knife
"Come on Hinata, you aren't chickening out already, are you?"
Naruto's smile was teasing as he dragged her through the swaying sea of human bodies. Hinata sighed and bit her lip. She had known him for twelve years, and yet every casual taunt still made her heart ache. His yellow head bobbed ahead of her, highlighted in blue and green and red as the room's lighting shifted erratically over the crowd.
He would never understand.
He stopped suddenly and Hinata skidded, bumping into the person who had stood up to greet Naruto. Murmuring an apology, she dodged back behind Naruto quickly. When she finally raised her head, it was when Naruto, with a great cry of 'Damn! I forgot Hinata' pulled her by her arm and introduced her around the table to his friends.
"That's Lee and, yup, those eyebrows are natural, and that's Gaara, and he…."
The rest of Naruto's words were lost to Hinata as she stared at Lee with an expression akin to horror on her face.
"My God, are those are caterpillars?" she breathed to herself, watching the black furry things wiggle with an almost morbid fascination.
Hinata woke up from her thoughts when Naruto choked into his drink, bubbles splashing his chin. She blushed a bright, tomato red almost simultaneously with Lee and muttering apologies as fast as she could, she got into her seat.
The eyebrow incident was forgotten quickly as Naruto launched into an epic retelling of his latest prank. However, she could only catch a few phrases, like: "then I took the magic marker…" and: "I always knew that pink tutu would come in handy…" because most of her attention was spent in eying the ways Lee's eyebrows had an evil life of their own.
"Gee Hinata-chan, stop staring at Lee and just ask him to dance." Naruto's cheerful voice caused Hinata to choke on her water.
"No thank you, Hinata-san, though passing up the opportunity to spend such a wonderful and glorious evening dancing and demonstrating our youthful vigor is a shame because it would have been pleasing…"
Lee's ramblings allowed Hinata to ruefully stare at Naruto, who seemed to have forgotten that he had said anything and was angrily retelling something else, making rude hand gestures from time to time.
He would never, ever, ever understand.
"Would you like to dance?"
The question was spoken so quietly that Hinata barely heard it and continued to look at Naruto, blushing from time to time. It was when silence reigned (except for Naruto, who was, as always oblivious to everything) that she tilted her head up to look at the questioner.
Black hair. Black eyes. Pale skin. Absolutely gorgeous. He couldn't have been asking her. But, she was the only girl here, so…
Her thoughts were still spiraling in differing directions as a pale hand grabbed Naruto by the upper arm and hauled him up.
"…and the bastard, he fucking – what the heck!"
"Would you. Like to. Dance." He enunciated each word carefully and slowly, rolling his eyes and then added for good measure, "…dobe."
"Hey what… wait, wait, wait…hey! I am not… Damnit! Shut up bastard, you can't call me that!"
Still rolling his eyes, Absolutely Gorgeous dragged Naruto off in the direction of the writhing mass of bodies, ignoring his protests.
Hinata gulped down her water and for good measure tried to gulp down the closest amber filled glass, and gagged.
He takes the time and breath to protest an insult, but he—he didn't protest being manhandled and being considered… this is so UNFAIR!
Groaning, she buried her face in her hands, ignoring Lee's delighted cries of "young love" and tried to feel the tears that should be prickling behind her eyes. Instead she found red, hot, burning anger.
He couldn't be that stupid. Even if he wasn't the brightest bulb on the wall, he couldn't have missed all those times she blushed and stuttered (over a period of twelve goddamn years) and helped him when he needed money, or shelter, or ramen, or an extra box of Kleenex tissues every time he was sick…and all those fucking Valentine Day's chocolates…
She had wasted so much money last Valentine's Day, getting a make over – Hinata Hyuuga, the person who thought a short sleeve was too revealing, in a dress. In a Dress. She groaned again but curbed herself from viciously attacking someone (preferably Lee who was now onto marriage and children) as she finally raised her head.
She glanced moodily at the dance floor, still ignoring Lee's enraptured cries and Gaara, who was flipping the blade of his pocketknife in and out, while also watching the dance floor with an odd expression on his face. He flicked the knife shut with a loud click and stood up, scraping his chair even more loudly across the floor.
Grabbing Hinata by the upper arm (none to gently, she thought angrily, later when she had recovered sufficiently from the shock), he walked purposely into the heart of the thumping music and pushed aside rippling dancers, going God-knows-where. She was left to apologize to the vague, blurring faces and stumble after him. What the hell had been in that cup?
Finally he stopped and swung her around.
"Dance."
Hinata's eye twitched. She was facing an imminent emotional melt down, she barely knew him, and he wanted her to dance.
And he hadn't even asked her politely and even more appalling, he hadn't even greeted her, or talked to her, or anything, before. She opened her mouth to stutter out – forcibly protest - when he tilted his head and looked at her.
She squeaked and closed her mouth with a snap and shuffled her feet according to the beat. Not that he helped at all. He just stood there like a lump and barely inched along the floor and where in hell could he be looking if he was supposed to be dancing with her?
Hinata followed his gaze and her eyes widened as she saw Naruto and the (she was too sheltered to dig up any good, creative obscenities) guy who had dragged the love of her life away from her, literally.
Naruto looked a bit uncomfortable, but that could have been because of two girls who were glowering at him and trying to maneuver him away from that guy (again Hinata tried to envision a good adjective, and failed). Her eyes trailed back to Gaara, who was watching the four-some with an almost scary expression on his face.
Hinata bit down hard on her lip to keep herself from squeaking and wondered for just how long Naruto had been… (say it; say it, quickly so it won't hurt so much) gay. He had to be: her crush (her love, she corrected) was gay because he had—my god—he was dancing with a guy, and it hadn't been a dare, and there hadn't been ramen involved, or anything.
The song was ending and the DJ was introducing another song, its quick, electrifying beats vibrating across the mob of dancers. Gaara's gaze flickered to her for a second before shifting back to Naruto.
Was it her imagination or was he scowling? Hinata held back the urge to step on his foot, hard, because not only was he providing more evidence for the fact that Naruto was… But he was also ignoring her. It wasn't that Hinata wasn't used to being ignored, but she was angry, sad, bewildered, and heart-broken and she wanted to make someone else hurt more than she was.
Instead, she took the time provided by monotonous, automatic dance steps, to study the man who was supposedly dancing with her. If he and Naruto had been (she shuddered a little)… boyfriends, then shouldn't she have seen him before this?
Certainly she wouldn't have forgotten him if she had seen him. His hair was wild and in this lighting, was the color of crusted blood. It stood out in stark contrast against his pale skin (did Naruto have a thing for pale skin?) and although his eyes were averted, she could see that they were some weird shade in between blue and green.
He shifted slightly and his hair slid back from his fore head to reveal a tattoo. A kanji symbol? She frowned a little and leaned a little closer, murmuring a few words before… Love? Her gaze flicked to his eyes again and though she could see sparks of anger in them, behind everything was a cold wall of blankness, not stupidity, just well blankness, a lack of emotions.
She shivered. Love? Was it supposed to be in irony?
Hinata suddenly noticed how close she was to him, almost pressed against his chest, and stumbled back quickly. She almost fell onto the dancing couple behind her, but the figures, laughing, pushed her back onto her feet.
Gaara hadn't stopped staring at Naruto.
Men were such pigs. They had women and they wanted other men.
She shook her head lightly; trying to shrug the situation away, and turned around, ready to go home.
She knew she shouldn't have come tonight: her instincts were always right. Her instincts, however, had not held up against a pleading Naruto, and now could not hold up against Gaara.
Feet moving again with the next song, she shot outraged looks at Gaara who in turn ignored them. If she bit her lip further, trying to restrain herself, she would draw blood.
Actually she already had and the metallic taste in her mouth and the sharp pain as her lip tore open brought tears to her eyes. She sniffled, and suddenly, the tears that had mysteriously eluded her before were there, and she was angry at Naruto, and Gaara, and at the horrible music, and the bad food, and every other thing that was going wrong.
And, leaning close, she made perhaps the worst mistake of her life. Her lips close to his ears, she took a deep breath and whispered, mockingly; "He doesn't want you anymore. Why don't you give up?"
He whirled around so fast that his face was a blur, a red, peachy blur. She took an unsteady step back and pressed her fist into her mouth to keep from whimpering.
Ohmygodohmygodohmyohmyohmy….
Hinata cringed a little and kicked herself mentally. She provoked him, and yet, like the coward she was, had pulled away from his impending anger.
She would never change.
Hinata shuddered, and he was so close that she shuddered against him, and her eyes flew up to his face, to his blue-bright eyes.
And maybe this was her biggest mistake because she was caught in them, and not in the lovey-dovey romantic way, more like a deer mesmerized by the tiger, who was slowly and surely grinning to reveal his fangs.
He, too, was smiling, his lips curving just a little at the edges; she almost looked away, because that smile was really a mockery of a smile. All those brave thoughts, all those complaints against him and the lightness of the evening before, Lee and his eyebrows, Naruto and his prank, Gaara and his…and his… knife disappeared.
I am sorry, I am so, so sorry, and I don't want to die an early death.
Those words were at her lips, her palms poised to push him away. Was he angry; was he insane; was he…? His eyes and his smile, with his teeth a little too sharp and a little too white, she tried to step back, but she had wasted too much time: one of his arms had curved around her shoulder, awkwardly as if though he was unused to human contact, but still clenching, his nails digging into her upper arm. His other hand fingering the plain, sleek hilt of his knife and she really did whimper then.
Why was he so mad? Why was he so mad? That comment hadn't been that hurtful, and even then –
"And I could say the same to you."
It was the equivalent of saying 'boo' and he let go off her, knife sliding back into the folds of his shirt. Eyes widening in shock and adrenaline rushing from her body, she fell backwards.
Authors Note: So um nothing much happened in this chapter, I think. Er Naruto and Sasuke got together (it was unpreventable, sorry folks who don't like the pairing) and Hinata and Gaara got introduced. So I guess good start. Chapter two up sometime this week, hopefully what with my computer having a major virus on it TT. If you read the chapter do this poor author a favor and post a review. Critic, corrections, comments, or just simply something about if you liked it or not. Anything's welcome PLEASE PLEASE also give thanks to my beta, celinae-chan and I shall have a link up soon, for turning my mess of a chapter into something readable :D