Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor Princess Princess. Pity me.
Warnings: Yaoi; AU; WAFF.. sort of.
Pairings: GaaNeji.. Maybe NejiGaa too. If I'm feeling craaaaay-zee. XD And, uhm, KakaIru and SasuNaru/NaruSasu, I haven't decided that either.. Che, I suck.
Rating: M for eventual sexual content.
Author's Note: Enjoy!
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Neji Hime
Arrival Time: 1:04 PM
Gaara exited the airport, thankful to have gone through customs without any problems. He parked his two suitcases next to a bench, shrugging off his backpack and-
"GAARA!"
-getting tackled to the ground. The redhead looked up into the grinning face of his cousin and grimaced at the shockingly blonde hair and blue eyes. "Naruto.. long time no see." He pushed the younger boy away from him and stood, brushing himself off before glancing towards the two approaching figures.
"Ah, hello, Uncle." Iruka smiled brightly, walking forward to hug his nephew. "I'm so glad you're coming to live with us, Gaara. Naruto hasn't been this excited since we agreed to make Wednesdays 'Ramen Night'."
Gaara laughed uncomfortably, stepping back and rubbing his arms. "Well, I'm very thankful that you're letting me stay-"
"Wow, Gaara! You still speak Japanese, huh? Say something in English!"
"..No."
"Naruto, stop being so rude!" Iruka scolded. "He hasn't even been in Japan for five minutes and you're already bossing him around!" Naruto stuck out his lip in a pout, crossing his arms over his chest. Gaara spared him a wondrous look (Is he really fifteen?), then returned his gaze to Iruka and the mysterious person beside him.
"You must be.. Hatake Kakashi-san?" He bowed, hoping he had remembered the name correctly. Yashamaru had told it to him countless times, but he had tuned him out after being told 'Don't forget your clothes!' for the third time.
The silver-haired man gave a simple nod of his head, his arm resting comfortably around Iruka's shoulders. "That's right. Nice to meet you, Gaara." Iruka glanced at his watch, frowning. "We should get going if we want to catch the Skyliner at three. Naruto, take one of Gaara's suitcases for him."
The blonde heaved a sigh, taking the handle of a suitcase, then jumping in front of his cousin. "So you're going to transfer to my school, right, Gaara? It's a pretty cool school even if it's not co-ed, except for this one guy who I've known since I was little. He really bugs me, y'know? Sasuke-teme is a real jerk; he thinks he's all high-and-mighty just because his dad is the head of the police or something. He still wasn't smart enough to get into a private school, though.."
xxx
"Sorry, Gaara, but you're going to have to share a room with Naruto until we clean the junk out of the guest room." Iruka said, leading the group into Naruto's semi-clean room. "Hopefully he won't be too much of a bother.."
"Dad!" Naruto scowled, dragging Gaara's suitcase into the middle of the room. Gaara only laughed, setting down the rest of his things. "I'm sure it'll be fine. I came a little short notice, after all."
Kakashi stretched his arms, dropping his hands to pat his belly. "Well, I'm starved.. let's go get some sushi and worry about getting settled in later."
"Sounds good to me!" Naruto squealed, running out to the front door. Once everyone had donned their jackets and shoes, the two adults led the way to the nearest sushi bar as Naruto fell back to continue his previous conversation with Gaara.
"So anyways, Sasuke-teme is in my class, unfortunately. He's even the class president! After our first year he's probably going to join the student council.. I don't see what's so good about him, but all the teachers adore him.." Naruto continued to ramble on, and Gaara helplessly looked to Kakashi and Iruka for help only to find them looking at Naruto in a knowing way. Like, a knowing knowing way. Gaara put two and two together and slowly smirked, suddenly finding Naruto's stories a little more interesting than he had before.
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One Week Later – 1.5 hours before school
"Gyaaahhh! Iruka, where's my uniform! What happened to my Japanese-English dictionary?"
Kakashi turned to Gaara as Iruka and Naruto ran frantically around the house, searching for basically every single thing Naruto would need for school. Gaara had a distinct feeling this happened every day. "You should go on ahead if you remember the way. Naruto has a tendency to be late for class, so I wouldn't bother waiting for him to get ready."
"Oh.. Alright. Ittekimasu."
It took Gaara approximately an hour to get to the school. At his old home where he lived with Yashamaru, it had taken about ten minutes. Needless to say, he was extremely happy when he finally passed into the school grounds.
"So, I have to meet with the headmaster, then hopefully meet my teachers before class.." Gaara sighed, brushing back a lock of hair. He was used to switching schools, but was still a little glad that he had been put in Naruto's class.
Gaara adjusted the bag on his shoulder, wrinkling his nose with a frown. Attending an all-boys school was something he hadn't done before, though. It couldn't be that different from a regular school, right? There'd just be no-
SMACK.
….Girl? Gaara stared numbly at the beauty before him. He'd never really found any girl attractive, but this one was different.. unique. Long, chocolate brown hair spilled over her shoulders and fanned across her chest as she stumbled backwards, pearly white eyes widening into saucers. Her creamy pale skin was accented by the white, lacy lolita dress, while shapely legs were clad in white embroidered stockings. In addition to the plain shoes, a simple headband failed to hold back the thick and silky tresses. A closed umbrella was in her right hand, held forward like a weapon.
"Wha..?" Gaara internally smacked himself at his cracking voice. It was her fault.. Why was a girl at an all-boys school! Especially one dressed like that?
"I-" She sounded breathless, and indeed, her cheeks were flushed pink as though she had been running.
"Hime! Hime!" The voices steadily grew nearer, and the girl gave Gaara one last look before turning and running towards the school, leaving the redhead in a state of utter confusion.
Who the hell was that..?
xxx
Gaara eventually recollected himself and made his way into the school, knocking on the door of the office. A tall, dark haired man emerged, pulling a cigarette from his lips. "Saa, are you Gaara-kun?" He had long sideburns and a beard, not appearing to be any older than thirty. Wasn't that a little young to be the head of a school?
"Yes. Good afternoon," He greeted, bowing. "Are you Sarutobi-sensei?"
The man flicked ashes onto the floor carelessly, shaking his head. "I'm his son, Asuma. I handle most of the school affairs for him, since he's such an old geezer." He chuckled, beginning to lead Gaara down the hall. "You're in class 3-D, right? And Naruto's cousin.." He gave the redhead what appeared to be a look of pity, making the teen frown.
"He's not that bad.." Gaara insisted. "Just a little hyper."
Asuma shrugged, proceeding to show Gaara where to put his shoes, the gym, the club and faculty rooms, and the small cafeteria. After showing him around most of the school, he glanced down to his watch. "Class will be starting in a few minutes. All of the teachers are friendly, so don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Are you ready?" He stopped in front of the classroom, opening the door when Gaara nodded.
"Class, settle down. I'd like you to welcome a new transfer student, Gaara-kun. I'm sure you've all heard about him from Naruto." Gaara took a deep breath and walked inside when directed to do so, turning to the class. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara." He bowed deeply. "Yoroshiku." Everyone gave murmured welcomes, much of the class excited, while Gaara noticed one boy giving him a threatening glare. Black hair, black eyes, a derogative stare.. Must be that Sasuke guy, Gaara mused.
After sitting down in the back of the class, Gaara turned when the boy to his right started talking to him. "Yo, I'm Inuzuka Kiba. You're from America, right? Why did you move here?" Gaara raised a hairless brow, eyeing the strange markings on Kiba's cheeks. He absently raised a hand, fingers ghosting over his own tattoo.
"I was born in Japan," He finally stated. "I came back because I like it better here."
Kiba opened his mouth, but closed it when the teacher entered the room and began speaking with Asuma.
"Naruto isn't here yet," Asuma informed him. "Neji is going to be late because of student council. Gaara-kun is already here."
Yamato nodded, stepping up to the teaching platform and setting down his things. Sasuke stood as Asuma exited the room, turning to the rest of the class. "Kiritsu!" He hissed. Everyone stood up abruptly, giving mutual sighs of exasperation. Kiba rolled his eyes. "What a Nazi," He whispered.
Sasuke shot him a glare, his eye twitching uncontrollably. "Ki wo tsuke!" When everyone was standing at attention, he finally said 'rei,' leading the class to bow. When Yamato nodded his head in approval, the students sat back down.
"Alright, get out your homework from last night. Kiba, I expect you to explain to Gaara what we're doing. I'm going to go around and check to-" He paused when the door opened and a huffing Naruto stumbled inside, bowing repeatedly. His uniform jacket hung open, while the white shirt beneath it was only half buttoned to reveal his tan chest. Gaara noticed Sasuke staring at him rather slack-jawed.
"Gomen nasai, sensei! I couldn't find my uniform, then I lost my homework, and-"
"Just sit down, Naruto." The blonde flushed, walking to take a seat in front of Gaara. He glared at Sasuke when he caught him staring, though he was too dense to completely understand why he had been staring at him in the first place. Completely oblivious, Naruto turned to give his cousin a wide grin before fixing his uniform.
Gaara watched as Sasuke sneered, turned away, but shifted slightly in his seat so that he could see Naruto from the corner of his eye. The redhead smiled devilishly- perhaps school would be more interesting than he'd thought it would be.
xxx
As soon as class ended and Yamato exited the room, everyone immediately began talking, reading manga or studying for the next class. Naruto turned around, appearing to have just woken up. "Did you get here alright, Gaara? Dad freaked out when Kakashi said that he had told you to go on ahead."
Gaara nodded his head, suddenly remembering the girl he had seen at the beginning of the day. He had forgotten all about her, too worried about catching up in his classes to think about it. "Yeah.. Actually, it was really weird.. This morning, I saw a-"
"So, you're the cousin Naruto's been talking non-stop about for the past month?" Gaara glanced up, finding Sasuke looking down at him in a rather superior way. Naruto scowled, the look seeming foreign on his face.
"That's right," Gaara replied, speaking before Naruto had the chance to. Sasuke crossed his arms, leaning against Kiba's desk casually. "Well, there is one similarity I see between you two.."
Naruto brightened, looking to Gaara, then to Sasuke excitedly. "Really? What?"
"Neither of you looks the slightest bit Japanese," He stated smugly, causing Naruto to look crestfallen. Gaara frowned, feeling a pang in his chest at seeing his usually abnormally happy cousin with such an expression. He turned to Sasuke, smiling widely.
"Oh, you must be Uchiha Sasuke, right? I hear you failed to get into a private school.. And imagine that, you just happened to end up attending Naruto's high school.." He pressed a finger to his lips in thought, rolling his eyes skyward. "But to think, although you couldn't get into a private school, you ended up becoming the class president here.. With the highest GPA, too, I believe. That's rather.. interesting, wouldn't you say?" He returned his gaze to Sasuke, continuing to smile despite the Uchiha's eyes narrowing dangerously.
Naruto raised a brow in surprise when Sasuke simply walked away, muttering something not too pleasant about his red-haired classmate. "I don't get it.. What did you do, Gaara?"
Gaara laughed softly, reaching forward and ruffling Naruto's hair. "Nothing at all, Naruto." He returned the smile the blonde gave him, wondering how he had grown to care so much about his cousin during the past week. At first, he'd simply thought of him as annoying, but something about his determination and ability to smile whatever the situation made it hard to dislike him.
"Our next class is English.. lucky you." Naruto stuck out his tongue, then grinned. "You probably speak it better than Neji.. he'll be jealous."
Kiba glanced over, catching the last part of Naruto's sentence. "Where is that guy, anyway?"
"Student council, Asuma-sensei said," Another boy piped up, polishing off a bag of chips from the looks of it. The darker haired boy beside of him sighed. "I feel bad for him.. Kabuto-tachi are always following him around."
"That's because he's the cutest guy in our school," Kiba pointed out. "He's the most feminine guy I've ever seen. Well, besides Haku."
"Ehh, Haku is too girly, though. Neji is the captain of the judo club, and he's only a first year."
Gaara shook his head slowly, unsure if he was hearing correctly. "Are you actually fighting over which guy in this school is more attractive?"
"Yeah!" Naruto said loudly. "It's obvious the most attractive one is me!" Kiba and the others rolled their eyes.
"You wish, Naruto."
"Mm.. Gaara is pretty cute, though."
"Kiba, how can you say that when he's sitting right in front of you?"
"Who cares, Chouji? It's a pity Gaara didn't get to run for princess."
Naruto gagged. "Ew! Gaara could never be the princess.. It doesn't suit him at all."
"Well, it doesn't suit Neji either, but he's still doing it.."
"Probably just because of the benefits."
"Yeah.."
Gaara blinked. Okay, he was definitely lost now. First of all, not only were these boys discussing how cute other boys were, they were calling Gaara cute! And what was this about a princess, anyway?
"What in the world is this 'princess' thing? And who is this Neji guy?" Four pairs of eyes blinked, then Naruto shifted to sit backwards in his chair, sighing. "Neji is this year's princess.. It's sort of a school tradition. You see-"
Click.
"Hime!"
"There he is!" Chouji stood excitedly with the rest of the class, who had begun cooing 'Hime! We missed you!' teasingly. Once the excitement died down and the group dispersed (i.e. Neji went into 'If you don't move within the next three seconds, you won't be able to move for two weeks' mode), Gaara was given a perfect view of the so-called 'princess.' Iie, he was no princess.. He was the girl from that morning! Sure, he was now clad in a school uniform, but Gaara would recognize her.. him anywhere.
Naruto looked at Gaara quizzically when the redhead's eyes widened in realization, shock, and something akin to admiration. "Have you seen him before?"
"This morning.." Gaara didn't notice how his voice came out hoarse and raspy; his eyes were locked on the porcelain skin and glossy hair of the angel who had reappeared before him. Suddenly, the angel's ivory eyes turned towards him and two pale lips parted in surprise.
"You.."
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The End!
..Just joking. Had to do a cliffie, just 'cause I'm feeling particularly evil at the moment. Well, and it seemed like a good place to end.
I hope you guys liked this chapter.. This wasn't the story I had originally planned to put out.. butttt, eh, oh well. Next I'm either going to update Ditto or add another new story. Feel free to tell me which option you would prefer, it'd help me out, actually.. XD
Annnnnyways! Review, tell me what you liked and what I should work on.. I'll reaaaally appreciate it :D Oh, and during the conversation between Naru-tachi, I'm aware that at times I didn't specify who was talking.. That's because I don't find it particularly important. o.o It's a Gaara x Neji fic, after all.
If you're wondering how the crap Naruto and Gaara are cousins, Iruka and Gaara's father are brothers. How? Magic. --;
Lastly, words that you may not know that I used in this chapter (A lesson in Japanese! Hooray!):
Hime: Princess (If you didn't guess this one, you have issues)
-tachi: Basically, it means "and company." That's how I used it, anyway..
Ittekimasu: "I'm off!" or, "I'll leave and come back."
Yoroshiku: "It's nice to meet you."
Kiritsu – kiwotsuke – rei: Stand up; Be quiet / stand at attention (In Sasuke's case, "stfu you bastard T.T"); bow.
..I think that's it. o.o I tried to refrain from writing 'Hai!' and 'Iie!' for 'Yes' and 'No,' because I find it incredibly annoying when people do that in an English fic.. And this is an extremely long A/N. Sorries! ;; I'll end it nowwww.. v.v
JA NE.
