Paints
Chapter Two
Irony

Hello! To my reviewers, thank you! Some of you have been asking how old they are; Gaara is seventeen and Hinata is sixteen. And here's the second chapter, enjoy!

"...
It was pretty damn strange, don't you think?
Heaven knows if this irony would've ever happened
if you hadn't agreed with me that day
..."
It was the part of day when the natural light cooled out and a velvet calmness would blanket the land. Vendors in the sidewalks would begin lighting glowing paper lanterns, before people would buzz around prepared for a night of fun. It was sunset. And sunset was Hinata's new work-time.

'They're not there. Okay, okay. It's time to paint. Hmm...my work area today are those condominiums in the east wing of Konoha. Alright, brushes, paint, hat, ladder, clothes, let's go! If I can paint at least three roofs tonight, maybe I can make it home by two...'

Hinata didn't really mind what happened at her encounter with the 'redhead' -as she dubbed Gaara- and his fangirls, but the fangirls definitely minded. Because for nearly two weeks straight after that, those fangirls would follow her around to wherever she worked, calling her names, threatening her and trying to trip her. If they weren't verbally and/or physically abusing her, they were cutting the bristles off her brushes or pouring her paint onto the floor where the sun and ground would quickly claim it. They even tried sawing in strategic points on her ladder in such a way that if she stepped on a certain point on a certain rung, it would break and Hinata would fall to the ground. Fortunately for Hinata, that didn't happen but there was always that growing suspense whenever she had to climb up and down her ladder.

Over time, Hinata grew scared of those girls. She began skipping days off work. She took longer routes instead of her usual walk. She even began painting later and later into the day. Yes, it was much harder to paint at night, what without the light of the sun to see or dry up the strokes, making everything more susceptible to mistakes. But if it meant avoiding those girls and the redhead, she would do it.

Hinata smiled and swung her can of brushes happily as she observed the glowing heavens. How she loved the sky! One day she would ask the Hokage for permission to paint a large mural of the sky on a wall somewhere.

Hinata pulled her old hat down over her eyes as she walked out onto the public street. She hated being around many others, though when she wasn't exactly what someone would call center of attention. Even if a person were to give her a curious look or just a regular glance, she would feel the embarrassment sprouting from the center of her chest up to her skin and voice and face; everything was suddenly interesting, but the most interesting thing of all was also the most feared: the thoughts of others. Hinata read in a book somewhere that this was all natural, a part of adolescence, but was it? Wasn't she a bit too old to be acting so overly self-conscious?

As she walked through the streets and into an alley, Hinata suddenly caught sight of four familiar pairs of eyes, plus another pair of whom she didn't count much as a bully. But still, icy-cold dread hit her stomach like a boulder. Her walk grew even stiffer if that was possible, and she could feel the awkwardness in her every limb as she neared those hard, repulsive eyes.

"Hey."

Hinata refused to look up, pretending that no one had addressed her.

"Hey. I'm talking to you, shit-stained."

Suddenly, a hand struck out against Hinata's fragile shoulder. Hinata fell to the ground, clutching her shoulder and flinching from the pain. She looked up to see a very pretty girl with beautiful violet-colored hair, most presumably the leader of that small fan girl group. Hinata felt tears coming to her eyes as she surveyed the girl's face. Even though this girl was actually the one who bullied her the most, Hinata couldn't help but envy her looks. That girl grabbed Hinata's paint-stained collar and held her up to her face.

"What's wrong with you? Is that how your family taught you to treat others? By ignoring them when they call for you?" Three other voices agreed in unison.

Hinata shook her head rapidly as the girl lurched her back and forth roughly.

"Stop with the damn shaking. Don't you know how to use your voice?!" the girl growled, her voice rising as she tightened her grip on Hinata. Hinata opened her mouth to answer, but only a squeak came out. The girl bared her teeth, and Hinata could only stare back in horror. She began to shiver.

"STOP with the damn shaking!!" The girl shouted. Hinata squeezed her eyes shut and felt tears rolling down her cheeks. Then she heard a different voice amongst the laughing and jittering of the girls.

"Miyuki."

"What the hell's wrong with you? Too proud to answer just 'cause Gaara-kun helped you?" Miyuki continued to shout.

"Miyuki!"

"WHAT?!" Hinata felt Miyuki turn her head to face somebody else.

"We have a meeting with the others, and we're supposed to be there in five minutes, remember?" the voice replied calmly.

Miyuki sighed and dropped Hinata onto the floor. "You always have to ruin our fun, Kaourain," she groaned. "ALWAYS!"

Hinata recognized the name. Kaourain was a quiet but very attractive girl who gave Hinata extremely frightful looks now and then, but she never joined in with the bullying. It seemed instead that she was trying to have the girls be distracted by something else. Hinata internally thanked the girl Kaourain for coming to her rescue once again. But not before an almighty kick was sent to her shin.

Hinata looked up through blurry eyes at Miyuki, who was gazing down at her with penetrating contempt. "Stay away from our Gaara, or else," she threatened, her big purple eyes flashing as she walked away with the other girls.

Hinata nodded vigorously as she clutched her shin and frowned. 'Gaara?' she thought. 'She keeps mentioning that name...he can't be that redhead, can he?' She glanced up when she felt a gaze, but all she saw was a flop of black hair disappearing behind the wall. Groaning, she stood herself up and leaned against the wall, wiping away tears and trying to catch her breath. After recovering, she sighed and pushed herself from the wall, limping toward the direction of the condominiums.

'Well, that wasn't...super terrifying...at least I was able to...keep quiet...as usual...'

"ALRIGHT!! ALRIGHT!!! LEFTLEFTLEFTLEFT DODGE THIS, GAARA!! Oh, OH!!! I GOT YA!!! YEESSSS!!!" Naruto screamed and threw his controller at the game console as the TV screen flashed "FAILED" in large red letters on Gaara's part of the screen.

"YES!! I GOT IT!! I GOT IT!! I got it!!! I got...it..." Naruto eyed his best friend, who, instead of wallowing in despair, was just sitting motionlessly, "FAILED" blinking over and over in his glazed green eyes.

"Er...," Naruto waved a hand in front of Gaara's face. "Hey, man. You okay?"

Gaara looked up at his friend's blue eyes and nodded distractedly. Naruto frowned and slapped Gaara's shoulder. 'C'mon man," he complained. "Are you even trying to keep up with the game? ALSO, you're supposed to be drowning in misery now." Naruto did a little jig as Gaara continued to stare at the screen, none of Naruto's words having processed through his mind. Naruto stopped jigging and frowned.

"Did you have fun?" he asked. Gaara nodded.

"Do you even care if you lost?" Gaara nodded.

"Wanna eat at Ichiraku's for dinner tonight?" Gaara nodded.

"You're still not sulking over those rumors, are you?" Gaara shook his head.

'So he IS listening...' Naruto thought.

"Let's leave for Ichiraku's now, then..."

Nod.

Naruto frowned. 'Man, he's boring tonight. I hope I meet someone on the way to cheer him up.' Naruto did meet up with someone on the way back from Ichiraku, though Gaara wasn't cheered.

"Hey, Kiba," he yelled, flashing his teeth and waving energetically as usual. Kiba returned the gesture and ran to bump Naruto.

"Hey man, there's this HUGE event at the arcade right now, if you get highest score on at least three-fourth of all the games there, then..." Kiba spotted Gaara and his smile went down a little. He jutted his chin as a gesture of hello.

Gaara nodded, then nudged Naruto and muttered, "Well...you can go play with your friend. I'll be at your apartment."

----

Gaara stayed out on the balcony, watching the town activity from above. The bright lights and cheery attitude reminded Gaara of the bold colors of the town. And colors reminded him of He/she. Over the two weeks Gaara often wondered where He/she went. He knew He/she was still around because everyday he would wake up to see more painted roofs across the town.

'Perhaps He/she works at night...' Gaara mused. 'But wouldn't that be difficult? Speaking of difficult, I wonder what's going on in Suna right now. I sort of miss being a Kazekage.' But remembering the stacks and stacks of paperwork that were now off his chest, Gaara smiled.

THUMP! Gaara yelled and jumped backwards. After several seconds, he relaxed and slowly walked back onto the balcony, staring at the ceiling above. The sound had come from the roof. He leaned over the balcony and tried checking the roof. There was nothing there from what he saw. Gaara sighed and leaned against the cold railing once more. So what was I thinking about? That one large green fool of a teacher...

Wssshh Gaara looked up again. Suddenly, a rain of objects clattered off the roof and crashed on the floor way below. Extremely puzzled, he stuck his head way beyond the railing to get a good look...

"AHHH!!"

A bundle of clothes and sticks rolled off the roof, colliding with Gaara's head. He blindly reached out and somehow managed to grab one of the sticks. It was a wrist. Which meant this was a human!

"Help!!" the person cried, clutching Gaara's arm but failing to get a good grip. Without thinking, Gaara grabbed the person's waist and pulled them over the railing. He tumbled backwards before falling on the floor, but refused to let go of the person.

"Ow—stop—scratching—ow!!" he yelled.

"Let—go!!"

The person made a terrific fight to scramble out of Gaara's arms and ran to cower in the corner of the room, staring.

Gaara looked up and met the person's eyes. He froze. It was He/she! And He/she was drenched in bright orange paint. Groaning, Gaara lifted himself and looked into the nearby mirror to see orange hand prints all over his own arms, clothes, and face. Even smears were on the floor and the balcony railing. He looked back up at He/she to find them shivering. What was that awkward color on He/she's cheeks?

"I-I'm s-s-sorry," He/she squeaked, continuing to stare at Gaara with a mix of horror and surprise.

Gaara winced, pulling himself up to his full height and limping over to He/she. "Wait...you...," he muttered, pointing at He/she. Immediately, He/she scrambled towards the front door, threw it open and began running down the hall.

"Huh? Hey—WAIT!!" Gaara yelled. He tried following He/she down the hall but He/she was surprisingly fast for someone of...his? build... and pains, for He/she was clutching her back and wincing at whatever it was.

"Wait!!" he called again.

Gaara watched as He/she reluctantly turned back to look at him. But He/she didn't slow the pace, and before he knew it He/she was already running across the streets, without even bothering to pick up what they had dropped from the roof. Gaara groaned and looked himself up and down again.

()()()()()()()()()()

A big difference between Naruto and Gaara was the wealthiness. Gaara was pretty rich even though he wasn't Kazekage anymore, but Naruto was dead poor. He didn't have any proper cleaning soap for the paint stains, nor the right sponge for it. He didn't even have any extra pairs of attire, only his training, relaxing and sleeping clothes. So Gaara was forced to continue wearing his paint-stained clothes, which the bath soap and dish sponge refused to clean out.

He growled and inwardly cursed He/she as he imagined the storm his little blonde friend would kick up once he found out that his precious living space was splotched disgustingly with orange, and no money to afford any fix-ups.

Hinata was curled up in her bed, tears repeatedly springing to her eyes. She was nearly dying from embarrassment; the blush refused to leave her cheeks.

She replayed the events over and over in her head...
She was climbing up the ladder to paint. She hardly saw where she was going, or painting. She stepped on some wet paint, slipped and fell hard. She heard someone yell. Then she dropped all her supplies and heard them shatter. And somehow, when she fell, that same person was able to catch her and save her. But WHY did it have to be Redhead!!

Hinata groaned and reached for her hat to pull over her eyes, an old habit. It wasn't there. Hinata shot up in bed, and glanced towards the messy pile in the corner of her room. No hat. She frowned deeply, tears coming to her eyes once more, then threw the covers over her head with growing frustration at herself. What a swell evening.

The next day, early in the morning, Miyuki and her pack snuck over to Naruto's place to watch Gaara sleep as usual. But as they approached the apartments, they immediately spotted the familiar metal can with broken brushes strewn all over the place. They also saw huge orange streaks leading down from the roof, onto the balcony and into...into GAARA'S ROOM!!!

"Miyuki-chan...that bitch must've snuck into Gaara-kun's room!!" One girl cried.

"Who knows what she tried to do with our Gaara!!" Another one wailed.

"Let's go and ruin her right now!!" The third one yelled.

"No." Miyuki cleared her throat and glared at the girls. "Let's wait until she comes," she said, eyes glimmering with hate. "And while one of you distracts Gaara-kun, we'll take the bitch and beat her." All the girls cheered. Well, all but one. Kaourain just watched in silence as the obnoxious girls laughed endlessly, the hate reducing their cute faces to dirt.

Hello everyone. Hope you enjoy this chapter, or basically the story so far. Reviews are welcomed, enjoy the story, see you in the next chapter!! 8D