I watched the new Shippuden movie 3 the other day (Omg, it's the definition of awesome), and it inspired me to start a new fanfic.

Enjoy.

I don't own anything but the words.

No amount of practice got me used to having a long, metal sword flying around in front of me like some piece of wire cutting through the air. It didn't matter how many times I was struck or how many lunges Mr. Kakashi made me practice while in fencing class, I still managed to make a complete fool of myself.

I inched forward on the mat; arm outstretched and ready to touch my opponent -- this was a duel, after all. Something created many hundreds of years ago and inspired by actual bloodbaths involving non-bobble ended swords. The sabre which my fingers squeezed the handle of developed a mind of its own as I jolted forward to strike. The blunt tip missed my opponents body, and I stumbled forward as he twisted away from my attack.

"Concentrate, Gaara," Mr. Kakashi shouted from the other side of the hall. His voice bounced off the walls, letting every other boy in the room know I was failing miserably again. "Keep your arm extended and don't leave your chest so open." Perhaps I wouldn't have been so distracted if I wasn't being forced to dance the sweet tango of death with swords swishing through the close proximity of my head. Sure, I was wearing all the protection gear. Mask; check. Gloves; check. Body jacket; check. But people had died from this sport in the past. I didn't fancy getting my eye poked out or an arm sliced off because our school forced us to take extra curriculum activities. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point.

Fencing wasn't my thing. I'd much rather be cooped up in the music room, letting my bow slide heavenly over violin strings. At least that created a pleasant sound. There was nothing pleasant about hearing grunts of pain and clashing of metal.

"Okay, class." Mr. Kakashi rubbed his hands together. "Go get changed back into your uniforms, morning liturgies are about to begin." He looked down at the watch on his overly hairy wrist. Seriously, that guy was a beast. "Looks like we've over run." Again.

My opponents face appeared. Sai ruffled his hair before placing the mask and sword under his arm. "You're getting better," he said, nudging me in the arm with his shoulder as he passed by me. I never knew if he meant to sound patronising or if it was just the way he spoke. Over the years I'd known him, I'd come to the conclusion that it was just the tone of his voice that made him sound like he was being sarcastic even when being deadly serious.

"You could always just let me win for once," I said, removing my own mask. The air was colder now, but that could've been because I'd had my head stuffed in the facial protection gear for almost thirty minutes.

"That would be cheating," he said as we placed our sabres back on their wrack. We dumped the rest of the gear in the trolleys next to the double doors leading to the changing rooms.

"Think of it more as helping out a friend." I tried to give him my most dazzling grin -- it was all toothy and everything -- but he was unfazed. Like always.

He Pulled his under-jacket vest off and started buttoning up his school blouse after pulling his arms through the holes. "Perhaps if you spent less time in the music room screeching that instrument and more time practicing your poor fencing skills, you'd be able to beat me fair and square."

I clicked my tongue off my mouth's roof while wiggling my school tie into place. "I'd rather be armed with a bow than a sword." I slipped my shoes on. "And I don't screech the violin." Unlike my dismal fencing skills, I was quite talented when it came to music. It was a passion which I'd held onto throughout my childhood.

"Whatever," Sai said. I pretended not to see him roll his eyes. He sniffed out some weird sort of laugh.

"Gaara." Mr. Kakashi stopped me before I had the chance to leave the changing room with Sai. The middle aged man sat at his desk near the door and didn't look up from the clipboard he was currently checking things off from. "It's your turn to put the gear away."

I gave Sai a sideways glance before answering. "But service…" It was his fault we were almost late in the first place. If I arrived after the aisles were full again, the priest would die of an aneurism or something. Oversleeping wasn't an excuse that lingered well with him.

"Just be quick and put the trolleys into the equipment room," Mr. Kakashi said as his eyes lifted from the clipboard. "If you hurry, you won't be late."

That was the problem with teachers these days -- no consideration for the pupils. "Yes, sir."

"Catch you after service." Sai said when we left the changing rooms. The rest of the boys passed, heading toward the direction of the school's church.

"You're not helping?"

"No way, it's my turn to help with the service. Your dad will probably accuse me of being the spawn of Satan if I'm late as well."

"Thanks a lot." Who needed enemies when you had friends like Sai. "Hey, Neji," I called over the black-haired boy's shoulder. Neji paused to glance over his shoulder at me. "Help me get this stuff into the equipment room." I pointed a thumb at the trolleys which had already been moved from the fencing hall to the hallway. The long-haired boy moved to grab one of the trolleys. I knew he'd come through for me.

The wheels on the trolleys squeaked as we pushed them through the now empty hallway toward the equipment room and Neji leaned his forearms on the metal around the top while he pushed it. His chin rested atop his arms as is back bent to keep the trolley moving. "Have you got much practice in lately?" he asked.

"Not as much as I'd have liked," I said, stopping and walking around the trolley to open the equipment door. I had to pull the bolts up from the floor before I could push the large door open. I leaned backwards into it while I brought the trolley in backwards.

I felt around the wall for the light switch before clicking it on. Different trolleys full of football kits, rugby uniforms, and other sport's gear hung around the outsides of the room. Old trampolines and badminton poles occupied the middle of the room. I had to step over the nets which had unravelled after being dumped beside the poles and pull the trolley harder so the wheels didn't get tangled up. All kinds of balls hung on the walls in their wracks.

"Miss. Kurenai will swap you with someone else if you can't pull this solo off," Neji said, following me into the room with his trolley. The school concert was coming up in a couple of weeks and this was the first time I'd been asked to take on a major solo in the show. Our music instructor probably saw my eyes light up the second she delivered the news to me.

"I know," I said, wheeling the trolley into its place in the store room and leaving it. "I'd practice in my room, but my dorm-mates are sick of hearing me playing." I narrowed my eyes. "Sai threatened to break my violin next time I played it in our room."

Neji laughed and bolted the door back up behind us once we were out. "He told me about that. Apparently you were playing it at one in the morning."

"That's an exaggeration. It was more like eleven."

"Whatever you say." We picked up the pace. Everyone was gone now, meaning service was probably about to start any second. "You missed one."

"What?" I followed where he pointed and saw a mask laying on the floor where the trolleys had once been. "God damn it."

"Blasphemy," Neji said with a hint of humour. "Your father would love that."

"At this rate I'm not even going to make it to the service. He'll love that even more." I sighed as I scooped up the black and white mask. "You go ahead. No point us both getting into trouble."

I didn't make a habit out of running, especially since I looked like a demented penguin whenever I attempted the aerobic form, but I was making an exception. I clutched the mask, making sure I didn't drop it while I rounded the last corner, skidding to a stop just in time to not introduce my head to the storeroom door.

I unbolted the door, and entered. Unfortunately, I forgot that the light wasn't on.

The door closed behind me, stealing away the light, and something grabbed my feet. I wobbled, dropped the mask somewhere and fell over whichever net had decided to tangle my feet up. This wasn't the time for inadequate objects to realize they had a grudge against me. My fingers lightly padded over the nets in the darkness, trying to find which one was attached to the bottom of my legs.

Clung. Clung. Clung.

I stilled when the church's bell rang. That was it, my dad was going to make me do one hundred hail Marys. I ripped at the net and tried to stand to kick myself loose, but as I stood, the net holding onto me pulled at the badminton poles. I listened to them wobble in the dark. The metal poles crashed against the floor, knocking over other poles.

I covered my head as loud metal clangs echoed through the dark room, and didn't uncover it again until the domino effect ended. That was close, I thought as I managed to untangle myself from the net. I stepped over the poles while feeling around the dark floor with my feet, making sure not to trip over anything. Perhaps if I just left quickly, no one would know it was me who completely wrecked the store room.

I found the light switch again and flicked it on. But soon wished I hadn't given myself the opportunity to see the damage. Seriously, it looked like it'd been hit by the wreck of the Hesperus or something.

Not only were the poles laying all over the floor, the balls had been knocked off their racks and one of the trampolines had been pushed in front of the door. I'd have liked to say that these sort of things didn't happen to me often, but I somehow managed to frequently find myself in some sort of trouble. It was only the week previous I'd gotten myself locked in the music room. I'd have been in there all night if Sai hadn't came looking for me a few minutes before lights out.

I pulled at the poles, but they were so tangled up in the nets that they wouldn't budge. I let the one I was holding fall and ran my fingers through my hair. The tips of my fingers traced the curve of my cheek as I sighed. Typical. Well, at least being stuck in a storeroom would be a good enough excuse for missing service.

I leaned over the poles and shook the trampoline to make some noise. "Hello?" I called, letting the bouncing apparatus knock against the thick door. "Is anyone out there?" The bolt had obviously dropped back into place.

No reply.

Well, might as well set up camp, I thought as I slid against the wall to sit on the cold floor. It didn't look like I was going anywhere anytime soon, anyway. I wrapped my arms around myself. The storeroom was always freezing, but I'd never had the pleasure of sitting inside it for ten minutes before. "Hello?" I called again meekly. What use would it be? Everyone was in church. I'd probably freeze to death before the next PE class came to free me.

"Hello?"

I moved onto my knees when a voice called from the other side of the door.

There was a tap from the other side of the door. "Who's in there?"

"I'm stuck," I said, feeling my cheeks heat up a little. "Let me out."

The guy on the other side of the door didn't reply straight away. "And what do I get out of it?" he said.

What was he talking about? I was trapped in a freezing cold storeroom AND missing service, and he was considering what he'd get out of helping me. Actually, why wasn't he in service? "Just unbolt the door." I hit against the thick wood.

"Fine. Fine." The door was unbolted and the boy on the other side of the door strained a little as he pushed it open enough to peek inside. Within all the equipment in the way, he wasn't able to open it anymore. "Woah. What happened in here?" he asked, squeezing his body between the wall and the door so he could push it open a little farther.

I'd seen this boy before. He wasn't in my year -- the year above, perhaps? His blond hair was due a cut and his blue eyes held an innocence that his scruffy uniform contrasted against. "The poles fell over," I said, climbing to my feet.

"Hmm." He moved from the door to let me out. "Getting yourself locked in a room is a bit extreme just because you wanted to ditch service, don't you think?" The blue eyed boy asked when I flicked the light off and dodged the horizontal poles to leave the room.

"I wasn't trying to ditch service," I said. "I was putting the fencing equipment away when everything fell over."

"Likely story, tampon head."

"Well… wait, what?" Tampon head? Did this guy just call me TAMPON HEAD? "Shut up."

He held his hands up in mock-defence. "Woah, sorry there." He laughed. "Run along to service, then." He slung a bag over his shoulder which had been leaning against the wall. "Wouldn't want to keep daddy waiting."

This guy was trouble. I could smell it all over him… and was that also cigarette smoke I could smell? He strolled past me toward the Fire Exit. "Hey, you can't go through there," I said when he pushed the bar on to door to open it.

He turned back to me with a look of boredom plastering his face. "Are you still here?"

"Where're you going?" I asked.

"Around the back for a cigarette, wanna come?" He nudged his head toward the doorway he was currently standing in. I looked past his shoulder at the cloudy sky. I couldn't go into the church now. Even if I wasn't risking having my dad go psycho on me, I didn't fancy having hundreds of pairs of eyes on me as I opened the squeaky door to enter the silent room.

I didn't fancy following blue eyes, either. Second hand smoke was something my lungs could've lived without, but a part of me was egging myself to go. The part of me that was sick of playing the role of a goody-toe-shoes just wanted to do something rebellious for once. And this guy was making it seem so natural that I wanted to feel that normalcy as well.

I peeked over my shoulder. No one was coming. No one would come for another twenty-odd minutes. "Sure," I said, feeling my heart skip a little at the thought of not going to service like I should have done.

"Come on, then. I'm not holding this door open for you all day." I nodded and caught up to him at the door. "And by the way," he said as we left the School building. "My name's Naruto." He held his hand out for me to take. "And you are?"

"Gaara," I said, taking his hand.

"Great," he said. "Now I don't have to refer to you as tampon head whenever I see you in the hallways anymore."

Chapter one. Done. Tune in next time.