"Uzumaki Naruto"
"Here"
"Uchiha Sasuke"
"Here..."
A man with red hair called role from the front of a classroom. The interior of the room had various paintings and sculptures in it, indicating a high school art class. It was a small classroom, about fifteen students total. As the teacher finishes role, a young man rushes through the door. He was tall, almost six feet with red hair, light skin, and a pair of black glasses. He was dressed rather formally, a white button up shirt with a black tie and black dress pants, with white sneakers to match.
"S-Sorry I'm late..." he stuttered as he made his way to an open seat.
"Name?" the teacher asked.
"My name? Right. My name is Gaara" the boy answered in a serious tone.
"Well welcome to konoha highs advanced art class. I'm your instructor for the year, Sasori" the teacher addressed the class, while Gaara was having problems. The table he sat at had three other students, who were giving him a hard time.
"Hey nerd, hey I'm talking to you ." the blonde boy tried to goad a a response from Garra, hoping to irritate him.
"C'mon Naruto leave him alone" a blonde haired girl spoke out from the same table. "Yamanaka Ino, nice to meet you" the girl whispered as the teacher continued talking. Gaara gave no response as he kept his eyes on the teacher.
"So does everyone understand the guidelines for your first project? Good. Class dismissed" the bell rang just as he finished talking, and students begun stampeding out the door. As gaara was the last to walk out the door, someone was waiting for him outside. It was the blonde girl from his table, Ino was it?
As Ino started to walk next to Gaara, he remained silent, not giving any acknowledgement to her presence.
"So you're new here right?" she asked with no response. "What school did you come from?"
"Sunagakure school of the arts" he finally spoke.
"Really!? So you must be really talented" she was clearly trying to make a friend out of Gaara, but he wasn't all for it.
"I suppose" he replied.
"So what's your next class?" Ino asked.
"Calculus" he replied in his low uninterested tone.
"Really? Me too. I can walk you there if you'd like" Ino kindly offered as they kept walking.
"Just leave me alone.." Gaara stormed off leaving a disappointed Ino behind.
Three hours later
It was now B period lunch, and Gaara was heading to his locker to put his backpack inside. The only problem was that a couple was getting intimate against his locker. He recognized the Uchiha boy from his first class, but not the pink haired girl he was sucking face with.
"Excuse me, youre blocking my locker" Gaara tried to input his combination, but kept getting pushed by the couple.
"Get lost loser. Can't you see I'm busy" Sasuke scoffed as he went back to groping the pink haired girl.
"C'mon man, I just need to get to my locker" Gaara pleaded with the boy.
"Go cry to you mom about it" the boy laughed with his insult. But before he knew it, Gaara had him by the throaght, back against the wall. The anger in his eyes and face was very visable. "Hey! What's your problem!"
"My mom is dead! That's my problem! It's hard enough to live with, without people like YOU reminding me about it every damn day of my life!" Gaara had snapped, letting out his emotional fury on Sasuke, as he now stood silent. "I'm not gonna ask you again, get the hell out of my way!"
Gaara threw Sasuke on the floor and slammed his backpack into the locker. Before he left, a regretful Sasuke tried to muster up an apology.
"I-I-I didn't . I didn't mean to..." he started.
"Shut up!" Gaara stopped him before he could could continue, and walked away to the cafeteria. He waited in the lunchline, and bought a chicken teriyaki rice bowl along with a bottle of cherry flavored sports drink. The tables outside full, he sat under a nearby tree in the grass. As he eats his lunch, someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns around to see that pink haired girl from earlier, and that Ino girl from first period. They asked if they could sit with him, and he gave no answer, so they went ahead and took their seats near him.
"I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Are you ok?" the pink haired girl asked.
"Why would you care" he said sternly as he continued eating.
"You said that you mom was...dead." the girl felt guilty bringing up the subject again. "What happened, if you don't mind me asking"
"If you must know, me and my family were in a car accident a month ago, on highway 17. I was the lucky one. My parents, my brother, my sister, they never walked out of the emergency room." it brought horrible pain to bring up this horrible event, and the girls could tell as he clenched his fists.
"Highway 17? I remember hearing about that on the news. That was you?" Ino placed a gentle hand on Gaaras shoulder, trying to show her sympathy. "Im so sorry"
"You don't need to act like you care" he said, taking a drink of his cherry beverage.
"But I'm not acting" she defended herself.
"People just need to shut up and mind their own business" Gaara took another bite of his food and popped a pair of headphones into his ears.
"But if you open to people, it will help ease the pain" the pink haired girl spoke out.
"But will it bring them back? My family. Will it bring them back to me? You need to stop pretending to understand what I'm going through." he turned up the volume of his music to tune the girls out, with poor results.
"Haruno Sakura" the pink one finally introduced herself, reaching out a hand which was brushed away by Gaara. "Don't mind Sasuke, he's nice when you get to know him."
"Here. It's my phone number. Gimme a call sometime, ok?" Ino handed Gaara a slip of paper as the two girls left, the bell signaling lunches end.
Over the past week, Garras reputation grew at school. Many people not knowing his name, he was dubbed, "The Orphan" by most of the students. Also, the Yamanaka girl kept pushing for his friendship, failing every time. Although, Gaara did make a friend in Nara Shikamaru, who like him, was a loner at school. They were alike, and shared similar interests, like the arts. They met when Shikamaru was transferred into first period art. Shikamaru, actually, was the only person who Gaara would have a serious conversation with.
Right now, it was Saturday morning in konoha , and Gaara was cooking breakfast for two, since Shikamaru slept over the night before. Gaara, very familiar with the culinary arts, made an amazing dish, a three meat, four cheese omelet, which they both scarfed down immediately. Gaara lived in an apartment complex just a few minutes away from school, so he saw many students who lived nearby. Although it was an apartment, it was very well furnished. He even had a room filled with musical instruments, which he played daily.
All of a sudden, Gaaras cell phone rings. He answers the phone to hear the voice of Yamanaka Ino, which surprises him.
"How did you get this number" he asks.
"Shikamaru gave it to me, why?" she talked casually, like he wanted to talk to her. Gaara shot a glance to his friend , who wore a smirk on his lazy expression. "Hey, I was wondering if, if your not busy, maybe we ca-" Gaara hung up on her before she could finish.
"You gave her my number?" he asked Shikamaru who nodded slowly. "What did you do that for?"
"I did you a favor. She likes you. Give her a chance" the lazy boy yawned as he chugged a glass of orange juice.
"Well do me another favor. STOP DOING ME FAVORS" he pinched his nose as Shikamaru chuckled.
"How bout a game of basketball? That sounds like fun" Shikamaru suggested.
"Since when do you like fun" Gaara teased.
"Hey I'm a normal teenager just like everyone else." he replied. "So? Are you up for it or not"
"Fine. Let's go" he grumbled.
Thirty minutes later, the two friends found themselves at the local park, enjoying a one on one game of basketball. Gaara was winning five to three, when the game is interrupted. It was that blonde jerk from the school, along with Sasuke and Sakura. The couple was quiet, but the blonde seemed like he wanted to pick a fight. He snatched up the basketball and kicked it into the street, where it got run over immediately.
"What the hell was that for!" Gaara was pissed.
"Oho, so the little orphan thinks he's tough eh?" the jerk started to toy with his emotions. "Well are you gonna answer me, highway 17?"
"Naruto you shouldn't do that" Sasuke advised while Sakura hid her face in his neck.
"Well it is funny isn't it? Only you survived the car crash, I find that hilarious" Naruto was egging him on to fight him, but Gaara held himself back.
"C'mon, let's go..." Gaara led Shikarmaru to his car, And they drove away. He headed towards the nearest supercenter, to buy a new basketball, along with other groceries he needed. On the way to checkout, his shopping cart contained the new basketball, eggs, milk, and various other cooking ingredients. He loaded his items onto the conveyor belt, and the market employee begun scanning them. It wasn't until she was finished that Gaara saw that it was Ino.
"Hey! Nice to see you!" she greeted as he handed her a credit card.
"Hey..." he said quietly. "So you work here?"
"Yes, unfortunately. Don't you have a job?" she asked while bagging his items.
"Yeah. I teach music lessons at the studio downtown" he answered bordely. Before the conversation could drag on further, Gaara grabbed his bags and headed for the entrance.
"Bye..." she said quietly as the two boys walked away.
"Since when are you a music teacher" Shikamaru asked as he helped load the goods into the car.
"Since I moved to the city" Gaara answered.
"So you can teach me how to play the guitar?" he asked.
"You sound like you're doubting my skills as a musician." Gaara said.
"No. Id actually like to learn how to play. But I'd probably give up after a few days anyway" the two friends were now in the car and on the way back to Gaaras house.
On the drive back, they pass the park again, and see that Naruto boy again, watching them drive past. Gaara became irritated as he saw Naruto and the other two walks in their direction. Five minutes later, Shika and Gaara are walking up the stairs with the groceries, with Naruto and his friends on their tails. They barely make it inside before Naruto starts banging on his door. He makes so much noise that it prompts the landlord, Inuzuka Tsume to check it out. She sends the hooligan off, and quietly knocks on Gaaras door, which of course he opens immediately.
"What was that about?" she sternly asks.
"Sorry Ms Inuzuka, just a couple jerks from my school" Gaara explained his situation.
"Well you're a good kid. You shouldn't have to deal with people like that" she complimented.
"I have the months rent right here. Would you like it now?" he held out a small stack of money, but she shook her head.
"Keep your money, this months on me" Tsume smiled before she said farewell.
"You have a nice landlord." Shika said, balancing a spoon on his nose.
"I'm going to bed. You can stay if you like, but lock the door if you leave" Gaara threw himself on a sofa and quickly fell into a deep sleep.