Fate
Authors Note: This is a co-written by me & Rin-Tsukihime13; you should go visit her because she's amazing and has more amazing naruto stories for you to enjoy. For some reason, she wants me to post this story up, even though I think she deserves to post it. This storys pretty AU, and random. Just hope you enjoy it! Also, we'll try to update as soon as we can.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don`t own Naruto or any of the charaters. All I own is this story, and the OCs.
--O.O—
Neba's P.O.V
"What's the point of putting up Valentines Day posters, already?" Amai grumbled, glaring at the poster, which advertised the annual Valentines Day dance. "It's still January!"
"The last day of January, though." Izumi noted, brightly.
I could hear Amai grumble something under her breath, as she ripped down the poster and crumpled it up. A few senior girls walked by and glared at us for it, immediately intimidating Izumi.
"Good job, Amai." I heard Izumi speak, stiffly and sarcastically. "First thing in the morning, and you already managed to piss three people off."
"I do feel quite accomplished now." Amai stated, as we headed inside.
We had actually arrived pretty early at school today, which was a surprise. Amai and I usually had to wait for Izumi to eat her hour-long breakfast each morning, which consisted of a bagel, two eggs, three pancakes soaked in syrup, two bowls of cereal and a fruit salad. Then, she made her even bigger lunch. Surprisingly, Izumi was probably the thinnest person I ever met, too. She had long blonde hair, and big, dark brown eyes, usually full of nothing but hunger.
"Neba, are you okay? You've been quiet this entire time," Amai asked. My head snapped up.
"I'm okay," I told her. She nodded in approval, as she probably already knew what was going on with me.
--O.O—
Amai's P.O.V
Let me lay it to you straight. I hate Valentines Day. Everything about it, well, except maybe the chocolate. When the senior girls glared at me, I wanted to smile. Alas, I did not, as I had already pissed them off enough. Thank god Izumi had finished her breakfast early, sometimes it feels like she'll never stop eating. I love that about her. It's so funny.
Don't get me wrong. I don't like women. I'm not into that kind of thing. It's called platonic love. Go look it up in a dictionary.
Neba was unusually quiet that morning. Maybe it was seeing that Valentines Day poster. Maybe it was that her mind would always wander to a certain boy, a certain LONG-HAIRED boy.
We were hanging around in the cafe', since we were early, as not per usual. Izumi's pants were too short, showing her pulled up socks. Neba and I would always point it out and she would insist that her father was the one who did the hemming, which made it all the funnier.
Neba had become more cheerful, as she had bought her usual cookie from the cafe'. She and Izumi were twittering on about how Kiba Inuzuka had asked Hinata Hyuuga out the day before. It wasn't particularly interesting to me, as was the case with most things. Well, I guess I did have SOME things that I liked. I noticed Kiba and Hinata walking into the cafe' with that LONG-HAIRED boy trailing behind them. I leaned down over to Neba.
"Your boy has arrived," I muttered. Her face went red. I saw her smirk out of the corner of my eye and she went to whisper in my ear.
"Right behind my boy is your boy," Neba murmured. I tilted away from her to see who was behind that LONG-HAIRED boy. That red hair, those turquoise eyes, I stared at his features for a while, until he caught me. I felt all the blood rush up into my cheeks, and I turned my head away quickly. Neba get up from her seat and runs over to that LONG-HAIRED boy.
"Neji, it's nice to see you again," she said loudly.
"I saw you only yesterday, Neba," he groaned. I chuckled to myself. Neba was so in love with him, that nothing could make her fall out of love with him. Izumi turned to me and sighed.
"I don't understand her," Izumi grumbled.
"Don't worry Izumi," I laughed, "It'll be your turn eventually."
"Boys are gross though," Izumi protested.
"If that's what you want to think, little Izumi," I replied. Izumi frowned.
"Just because you're asexual for the moment," I muttered.
"AMAI," Izumi shouted.
"I'm just kidding," I grinned.
"No you weren't," someone said from behind us. Izumi jumped a foot into the air and I shuddered. I shifted slowly, prepared for the worst possible result. There was the pink haired horror.
Sakura Haruno, well, she was a horror to me and Neba, I think. Izumi didn't seem to mind her though. Which seemed weird, since Izumi had a small crush on Sakura's blond boyfriend, Naruto Uzumaki a long time ago. Then again, Izumi has never really expressed any interest in love. It was like she was just waiting for the first person to come along and tell her that they had a crush on her!
"Hey Sakura," Izumi smiled.
"Hello," I muttered, turning to watch some more NebaNeji. That's what I called it when Neba was all over Neji, which happened to be almost the entire time. It was fortunate for Neba and not so fortunate for Neji that they had all the same classes.
"Oi, Amai," another voice rang into my ears. I looked over my shoulder and there was Naruto, hand already entwined with Sakura's.
"Hey Naruto," I said.
"Is Neba already over with Neji?" he asked, as Sakura and Izumi chatter about some biology nonsense. I nodded and motioned at them over my shoulder. Naruto stood on his toes to look past me. He started chuckling at the sight of them. Naruto's eyes widened for a second and then he grinned. I raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, there's a tapping on my shoulder. I turned my neck straight. There's Ino, her long flaxen hair bouncing around her face.
"Morning Ino," I said.
"Good morning," she smiled, "Neba's already preying on Neji?" I nodded and glanced around the room. Neba and Neji were in the corner, Neji buying something out of the vending machine while Neba's mouth is moving about a thousand metres a minute. My eyes darted around the cafe' a couple more times and I realize that he's gone. Oh well, it's not like, I like him a lot, or anything. I'm just concerned! Yes, I'm concerned about him! The bell rang, and I slung my knapsack over my shoulder and slid off of the table I was sitting on.
"Come on Izumi, you, Neba and I have English now," I said. Izumi said her good byes to Naruto, Ino and Sakura, and I yelled across the cafe' to Neba, who dragged Neji with her, as we all have English in the same class.
Neba waltzed into the classroom, arm interlocked with Neji's. There weren't many stares, as most of our classmates had gotten used to it. Izumi followed them and I followed her. I scanned the room again, just to be sure. He was there, in his usual seat, bobbing his head to the music being played in his ears. Our English teacher had given us assigned seating, and all the seats were arranged in pairs. My seat was next to his.
Was this a good thing, or a bad thing? I shook my head and dropped my books on my desk, not receiving a single flinch from him. In reality, he glared at me from the corner of his clearly sleep-deprived eye. Neba and Neji had their seats right up at the front. Neji always told Neba that they were not a couple, but that did not stop Neba. She would do anything for him.
"Morning," I mumbled, sitting down in my chair. I earned a grunt from him. I wanted to scream, 'ARGHHHH!', right out loud and pull the ear-bud out of his ear and poke and prod him until he got so annoyed that he killed me! He probably would kill me if I actually did that too. Perhaps I could talk him into talking. Maybe the reason he never spoke was because his voice was high-pitched and he was embarrassed about it! That would be the day…
"Are you not a morning person Gaara?" I asked him. He grunted again, irking me more. Gaara was probably the only person in our school who could piss people off better than me, which in turn, pissed me off! How ironic.
"So, this weather lately," I drawled, trying to get him into a conversation. I started taking down some notes about sabotaging the Valetines Day dance.
"Is conversation really necessary?" grunted Gaara. I flinched and turned to gape at him. Gaara, who everyone classified as the school weirdo and sometimes even his siblings didn't want anything to do with him, was actually talking! Today was the end of the world, I was sure of it. I couldn't speak. His voice, it was low, he sounded like a grown man, or maybe two.
"I think it is," I muttered, "because-"
"Well I don't want to talk to you," he said. "I don't like talking and I don't like you."
Wow, the guy knows where to hit where it hurts. That wasn't going to make me give up though.
"Well, that's good, because I don't like you either," I spat back at him.
"Why are you still talking to me then?" asked Gaara.
"Because you irk me," I blurted.
"You irk me too, by talking to me. Leave me alone or I'll kill you," he retorted.
"That's kind of hard since we sit right next to each other and there's a thing called the police," I mumbled. Gaara simply grunted, again. I was groaning profusely inside my mind, while trying to shake the thoughts of ever having been concerned about Gaara. They were holding fast though, screaming and shouting to continue to talk to him, and get him out of his shell. I wanted to get up out of my seat and shake Gaara as hard as I could. Alas, I did not. The teacher walked in and class commenced. The teacher was, something, as unusual didn't even begin to describe him. In fact, I don't think there even is a word that can describe him!
"Today class," he said, before coughing a couple times, "we are going to start another project." I heard Neba groan among many other groans.
"You will work in partners, and so I don't have to think of pairs or have you guys choose your partners, you all will work with the person who is sitting beside you," the teacher coughed. My eyes widened, and I glanced at Gaara out of the corner of my eye. He seemed a little pissed, maybe as pissed as I was. I could tell from the cheering coming from the front of the room, that Neba was ecstatic.
"For your project, well, you can do anything, as long as it relates to the topics we've been covering," the teacher explained. I sighed, as giving us free reign wasn't the best idea for a teacher. I turned to Gaara.
"Now we don't have a choice but to talk to each other," I said, smiling as fake as I could. Gaara furrowed his brow.
"As much as I hate talking to you, I have no choice," he muttered. Once again, I felt my self control being tested as I restrained from strangling him on the spot.
"Do you like pissing people off?" I blurted. I clapped my hands over my mouth. I said it. I said exactly what I was thinking. Oh god, Gaara was going to kill me! Gaara simply looked at me, as if he was thinking about answering me. Oh god, oh god, oh god, I was sorry that I ripped down that poster this morning. I was sorry that I ever thought about pissing other people off. I was sorry that I would die without even knowing what true love is! Gaara pulled out a piece of paper and started writing things down. He was engrossed on the piece of paper.
"Aren't you going to like, rip my head off or something?" I asked in a whisper. Gaara looked up from the paper at me. His eyes were piercing into my mind. I could practically feel him nosing around my brain. If I could describe that feeling, I would, but it was beyond words. Gaara slid the paper over and tossed the pen he was writing with to me too. I caught the pen, and to my consternation, it was warm.
"Ideas," he commanded.
"Your pen," I said stupidly, "it's warm."
"Despite popular belief, I am a warm-blooded mammal, like you," Gaara said quickly. I picked up the pen and started writing. I kept my head down, as I knew my face was beet red. I added a few things to our list of ideas for a project. It was very frustrating, picking a topic, as Gaara wanted to do something that did not grab anyone's attention and I wanted to do a reading of sorts.
"We are never going to agree on anything," I muttered. I got up out of my seat and Gaara glared at me.
"I'm just going to talk to Neba for a second," I said while walking away. I heard Gaara mumble something under his breath, but I ignored it. Neba was chirping Neji about doing something, fluffly? That was the word I heard when I was right behind them. I stopped for a second. Was interrupting Neba and Neji really worth it? I was about to find out.
"Neji, we have to do something that Izumi will be jealous of," Neba whined.
"Neba, what's the point of doing something like that?" Neji asked.
"'Cause Izumi's partner is Sakura, and Sakura just annoys us to our very core?" I interrupted.
"That's exactly why," Neba exclaimed. She smacked her palm on her desk, to emphasize her point. I nodded and trudged off, since Neba was getting on with her argument. I went back to my desk and sat down. Gaara glared at me again, and I simply smiled at him.
"Did you come up with an idea yet?" I asked him.
"No," he replied, slamming the paper and pen down in front of me.
"Since you left me behind here, you are going to come up with our idea," he commanded.
"Yeah yeah," I muttered, picking up the pen.
--O.O—
Neba's P.O.V
"I can't think of any good topics!" I whined. I was annoyed just by the fact I couldn't even remember anything we had done in English this year. Maybe it was because I got so easily distracted by a certain someone, or my memory was dead. Who knows? "Neji, think of something good!"
"If you're so interested in beating Sakura and Izumi's idea, why not just go ask what they're doing?" He asked, annoyed still with being my partner. "Izumi is your friend, is she not?"
"B-But!" I couldn't actually lose out on my precious Neji time, could I? Sure, we had the same classes, but this was the only class that I actually sat beside him in. He did his best to avoid me in the others. "Ugh, fine!"
I got up, and started making my way over to the back where Izumi sat beside Sakura Haruno. I could see Sakura chatting away, and Izumi nodding her head enthusiastically. It was sickening to watch the two, and how Sakura just brainwashed her whenever she came around.
"Izumi!" I smiled happily, grabbing a chair and plopping myself down in front of the pair. "What topic are you doing?" I could sense Sakura giving me a death glare beside me, but I did my best to ignore it.
"Um," Izumi glanced back and forth at the two of us, quickly. "We're tied at two right now. We might do something related to Shakespeare or—"
I wasn't surprised that Sakura cut her off. "I really think we should do the Shakespeare idea, Izumi."
"Okay," Izumi nodded. "Shakespeare's good. We're doing Shakespeare, Neba."
"No kidding…" I sweat dropped, slightly.
"Neba, shouldn't you be getting to work on your project? You're going to be so behind!" I glared, as Sakura kept on lecturing about taking class time seriously or something.
"Sure, sure." I mumbled, getting up, now more than ever determined to beat their idea. As I trailed off back to my desk, I pumped my fist in the air bravely, as if a sudden declaration of war. Then, the bell rang.
"Gah!" I shrieked. Neji was the first one out of his seat, and already heading towards the door as fast he could. "Eh… Neji, wait up! Or not. Okay, I'll meet you at your locker and we'll walk to Science together, okay? NEJI!"
"Neji seems rather pleased to be your partner." Amai chuckled lightly.
"He's just being stubborn." I sighed. "He'll realize how lucky he is to be my partner and to be in all my classes, eventually."
I grabbed my books, and noticed with the corner of my eye, the flaming red hair go through the doorway. "How's your favourite red head doing?"
Amai growled a bit, while blushing as we headed out. "I don't like him. He's being annoying and—"
"Sure, sure." I laughed. "You do like him!"
"No I don't." She stated, calmly.
"Yes you do!" I smirked.
"Ugh, where's Izumi?"
I frowned. "Don't change the subject, but with Sakura probably…"
We walked a rather quick pace, and stopped at my locker as I fiddled with the lock. "I better go find her." Amai looked around at the passing faces, rather annoyed. This was one of the only classes I didn't have with Amai or Izumi. I had science, they had math. "See you at lunch."
I waved a bit, and grabbed my books quickly. If I ran quick enough, I could still catch up to Neji.