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New Beginnings
Gaara walked slowly towards the small courtyard of Konoha High School. He looked around for a few minutes, desperately looking for even one familiar face. "Gaara!" Gaara looked up at the familiar voice just in time to see Sasori run towards him. Gaara's lips curved in a rare, slow smile as he watched his cousin run towards him. Gaara froze, and then forced himself to relax as Sasori hugged him. Finally Sasori let go of him and led him over to a group of people. "Hey! Idiots! Pay attention! Everyone, this is my little cousin, Gaara." One of the boys looked up, a tall senior with silver hair. "He doesn't look all that little to me." Gaara blushed and started to walk away, but Sasori saw this and caught his elbow, spinning the smaller boy so that he was forced to look at the group of people. "Hidan, shut-up and go back to kissing Deidara. That's the only thing you're good at." Hidan's lips curved in a wicked grin as he replied. "No, it's not." The blonde boy on his lap rolled his eyes and bent to kiss Hidan before he said anything else. Gaara only blushed a brighter red and looked away. "The blonde kissing the ever-flirtatious dumbass (also known as Hidan) is his boyfriend, Deidara." The blonde lifted his mouth from his boyfriend's and smiled. "The blind-looking brunette is my boyfriend, Neji and sitting next him are Sasuke and Naruto. The blonde is Naruto. The girl with blue hair is Konan and the orange haired guy is Pain. Yes, his name is weird. The oh-so-sexy long haired guy in the dark corner is Itachi." A long dark shadow moved in the corner, then resolved itself into a tall boy's frame. The boy walked out and Gaara found himself staring into obsidian eyes. "Hello, Gaara. I've heard a lot about you." His voice was deep and rich, and Gaara had to wait a second before he replied to be sure he was breathing. "That would be because Sasori doesn't know the meaning of the word quiet." Itachi grinned and glanced up at Sasori's face, then looked back to Gaara. "You just might be right. So, why'd you move, kid? Didn't like the big city?" "My stepfather wanted to by a house closer to his hometown. So we moved." Itachi nodded, his lips curving in a slow, thoughtful smile. "Itachiiiiii!" Itachi looked up and turned just in time to catch the brunette whirlwind that flung herself into his arms. After a minute, the whirlwind looked up and stared at Gaara for one long minute, then looked over to Sasori. "Who's the jailbait?" "My cousin, Gaara. Gaara this is Haku." "Isn't Haku a guy's name?" Haku's eyes narrowed and Itachi raised one eyebrow, and then they shared a look and burst out laughing. Gaara blushed and stared at the floor until Haku put his hand under Gaara's chin, forcing him to look up. "I am a guy. I'm just pretty enough to be a girl." Gaara blushed again, and then looked up into Itachi's eyes. Itachi smiled at him, a slow, thoughtful smile that made everything in the room spin, that somehow made Itachi the center of that whirlwind. Then Gaara blinked and he was released from the power of that gaze. Gaara glanced at the floor and then back up into those obsidian eyes. Itachi was still smiling at him and then Haku spoke up. "I've got to go find Kabuto before class, so bye, Itachi!" Itachi turned his head to grin at Haku, and then returned his attention to Gaara. "Who's Kabuto?" Itachi looked surprised at the question, but answered it nonetheless. "Haku's boyfriend." "You mean he's not…well, that is…" "No, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a flirt." "Oh." Silence stretched between them until Itachi broke it with a soft question. "Why are you so interested, kid?" Gaara blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm not a kid." Itachi's lips curved in amusement. "How old are you?" "Sixteen." The little half-smile became a smirk. "I'm eighteen. You're a kid." Gaara tilted his head back and closed his eyes so that he could gather his thoughts. "You're right. Most sixteen-year-olds are kids." Itachi's smirk widened. Then Gaara's eyes opened with an almost audible snap. "But I'm not most sixteen-year-olds." Itachi blinked at the barely contained despair in that voice. Gaara watched Itachi's eyes for another minute before he glanced at Sasori. "I'm gonna go to the orchestra room a little early. See ya, guys." With that Gaara turned and walked away. Itachi watched the boy for one long minute before he looked at Neji. "What do you get from him?'' "He's hurt, but I can't tell how or by whom. He doesn't like being touched. He almost jumped out of his skin when you walked up to him." Itachi raised one eyebrow, then closed his eyes and leaned back for one long minute. Finally his eyes opened again and he walked away without a word, leaving Sasori to wonder after him. Sasori looked at Itachi's back, but after a moment he only shrugged and turned back to Neji, who was smiling down at down at him, silver eyes glowing with love.
Gaara was sitting against a wall just outside the orchestra hall. Itachi walked over to the smaller boy and sat down beside him, moving as silently as possible. The boy jumped and turned, before relaxing when he realized who it was. Itachi smiled at the boy, slow and thoughtful and Gaara turned to face him. "You okay?" "I'm fine." "You don't look fine." Gaara tilted his head to the side, but stayed silent, waiting for the older boy to explain. "You look like someone who's been hurt. Badly. You were trying not to limp the entire time you were walking. What's wrong?" Gaara's face had gone cool and unfriendly during the other boy's words. "I don't know what you're talking about." With that, Gaara stood and turned to walk away. Itachi scrambled to his feet walked up behind the boy and wrapped his arms around Gaara's waist from behind. Gaara's entire body froze and then he went stiff as terror rippled through him. "I did this once, to my brother before we went into foster care, and he reacted to it the same way. Our father had been raping him for two years by the time the authorities got to us and stopped it." Itachi's lips were moving against his ear and he shivered, a light tremor that rippled down his spine. Itachi carefully let go of the smaller boy who spun to stare into his eyes for one long moment before he ran. Itachi watched him run away with a heavy heart, but now he knew the boy would come back.
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