And so it continues!
...Chapter Two :)
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"Tch."
Gaara had to consciously stop himself from grinding his teeth in frustration. The boy with whom he now spent an inordinate amount of time didn't seem to notice, his back facing Gaara as he pointed to various spots on the ridiculously long sheet of white paper now taped to the wall. Sasuke had just finished going over all of rules which he blindly expected Gaara to follow and concluded with his signature annoying sound, as if it were all some great strain on him to live there.
"You can't be serious." Gaara intoned, thinking how quaint it was that Sasuke actually looked surprised that Gaara wasn't cooperating with his dictatorship.
"... I beg your pardon? I believe this comprehensive chart, particularly this diagram here, speaks well to my intent. My only goal is to make this arrangement as pleasant as possible. You stay on your side of the room, I'll stay on mine, and I'm sure we'll get along beautifully."
Don't cross the line Gaara had come back to find taped to the floor, don't talk to him or make noise in general, spend as little time as possible in the room, keep everything perfectly clean, no food, no pets, no visitors (this Sasuke had made especially clear regarding girls, there being an entire clause dedicated to the subject, causing Gaara to wonder if the boy didn't have some sort of phobia).
Gaara couldn't remember feeling so annoyed. This would never fly if Sasuke were afraid of him... Just a couple bruises and he could have some peace- No Gaara, fight it!
Not quite ready to give up on being friends, Gaara took a deep breath and continued in a more friendly tone. "It's a very long list, I don't know if I'll even be able to remember it all."
Sasuke's brow cleared as if some great confusion had just been cleared up. "Ah, well I suppose you may take it down to study tonight, but it should generally remain here for reference." He explained, gesturing to the poster. "I don't have time to quiz you in person, but perhaps you could sketch me a spider diagram so I know we're on the same page." Sasuke's tone made it clear that it wasn't a suggestion.
Pretentious bastard.
/POV/
"Hahh... hahh..." Naruto was bent double, leaning against the wall to catch his breath after running from one end of campus to the other. Where on earth could the red-haired boy be? Naruto was sure they'd agreed to meet at the cafeteria and had waited there for what felt like hours before realizing he'd told Gaara to meet him at the gym instead as it turned out that the school was holding a private dinner for the staff, something about community.
Had Gaara somehow forgotten? But they'd been talking about it for most of last period (or Naruto had, Gaara usually didn't have a lot to say) and that was only an hour ago. They were supposed to catch the afternoon showing of Black Swan to avoid the crowds. Might Gaara still be waiting at the caf? No, surely Naruto would have seen him, there weren't many places where one could hide.
Naruto knew this first hand form when he'd tried to lose Kakashi in the modest crowd after an assembly back when Iruka had assigned him assembly-watchers. It was so ridiculous and showed just how paranoid Iruka really was. Just because Naruto had snuck off once and accidentally pulled the fire alarm didn't mean he planned on doing it again. He hadn't even planned on doing it the first time!
Naruto thought of all this as he double-checked the stage for angry red-heads, then the stands, then the boy's change room. He would just have to go on faith that Gaara wasn't in the girls'.
Argh! Where had Naruto not looked? And when had this turned into hide and seek? Not that Naruto necessarily didn't want to play... But it was times like this that Naruto wished Iruka would someday give in and buy him a cell phone. Then again, Gaara didn't have one either so it wouldn't actually be of any help... Still, he wanted one.
The bathroom! Of course! He hadn't even thought to check there before. Naruto slapped his forehead gently and, mostly recovered, took off for the cafeteria again. Hopefully Gaara would understand and they could still catch most of the movie.
/POV/
Perhaps this arrangement would work out after all, pondered Sasuke as he reorganized his bookcase by the Dewey Decimal system. He'd previously had them by subject, which turned out to be a disaster of the highest sort. When Itachi had asked to borrow an anthology of poems not too long ago, Sasuke'd had to fumble around for nearly a minute before recovering the requested work. So embarrasing.
The pale red-haired boy had worried him greatly at first, but between Gaara's apparent eagerness learn and comply with the rules and his naturally quiet demeanor, Sasuke was feeling a lot more at ease about sharing a room with him. Done. Sasuke nodded in approval, now he would be able to find anything quickly and easily. He was even a library regular, having excused himself from Sasuke's helpful lecture to take out a book he needed for English. In fact, as a show of good will, Sasuke decided he would even organize Gaara's bookcase as well.
Sasuke wandered over the line of tape he'd forbade Gaara to cross (it wasn't hypocritical, he was doing the boy a favour) to the mostly empty, erratically filled shelves on the other side. It had pained him to take down his collection of encylopedias after losing his private room but now he was curious as to what had replaced them. Выря... Предложение... Медведь... Most of them were written with strange letters, Crilic if Sasuke remembered correctly. No, of course it was Cyrillic. Yes, he knew that. It seemed that his delicately featured new roommate was fluent in some Eastern European language. Or was there some other reason he had them? Was the tragic death of a Russian lover causing him to hoard anything that reminded him of her? Of him? Sasuke blushed and began placing each one neatly on the middle shelf, examining each cover with interest though few had any illustrations.
Ah- finally, English. So Gaara was also a fan of Virginia Woolf and Shirley Jackson. Sasuke recognized various other volumes as written by prominent authors and wondered if the red-head might secretly enjoy the works of Lemony Snickett as was his own guilty pleasure. He found none however, but that didn't necessarily mean Sasuke was wrong as one did keep these things in one's own possesion. Sasuke found himself finished cataloguing Gaara's books alphabetically by last name sooner than he'd expected as there were so few of them compared to his own ample collection. Sasuke nodded his approval again before scanning the room for any books he may have missed (was this really all?), eventually coming upon the locked upper drawer of Gaara's Konoha Seconday engraved desk. Locked? Sasuke jiggled the handle again- definitely locked.
Now that was just curious, what was so important to hide that Gaara had to lock the drawer even though he knew Sasuke would never so much as come near it? Practically never, he amended, one must allow for chance. And it wasn't as if he'd tried to find out Gaara's secrets on purpose.
Sasuke jiggled the handle again, listening for what might be inside but hearing nothing. Just as he was bending down to examine the keyhole there was a loud, hurried knock at the door. Startled, his heart beating hard in his chest and his palms suddenly sweaty, Sasuke ran back to his side of the room and flung himself on his bed, pretending to be asleep.
But it was not Gaara who had knocked, though to do so had been one of the things on Sasuke's chart. There was no sound of a key turning in a lock, but rather that of retreating footsteps as whoever it was apparently decided no one was home.
Sasuke let out a sigh he hadn't been aware of holding and felt his body relax. For the remainder of the evening he studied Phsyics and though he occasionally glanced at the locked drawer, was too nervous to approach it again.
/POV/
Naruto frowned as he walked through the halls, hands cradling the back of his head. Gaara hadn't been at the cafeteria, nor the gym, or even his room. Had the boy gotten tired of waiting and just gone to the movie without him? But he knew how much Naruto wanted to go with him. Argh, the tickets Naruto had gotten from Iruka were going to waste. This sucked.
Naruto began to close his eyes but stopped when he remembered how that had turned out the other day. Come to think of it, he hadn't spoken once to that black-haired grouch since bumping into him. Naruto honestly had meant to apologize... Tomorrow in class? They didn't sit anywhere near each other and besides, he and that guy with really long hair were psycho about grades so they probably wouldn't want to be distracted. Did that make sense? Naruto scratched his head. There was always after school, but Naruto had no idea where Sasuke hung out, having never seen him outside of class.
The best way was probably to track down the guy's dorm room...
/POV/
Even in the dark, the school courtyard was a lovely sight to behold. Its autumn shades of oranges, reds, yellows and subtle greens had all been carefully chosen by the school's internationally studied gardener. A bit excessive perhaps, but Konoha Secondary had the budget. Evening twilight dimly illuminated the crimson-haired boy sitting among the grasses and flowers, next to a small stack of books. The flora swayed gently in the night air and the sounds of Konoha's domesticated owls perched atop tall evergreens cooing quietly filled it with sound.
Gaara was so grateful to be away from Sasuke's continuous drills in roommate etiquette that he almost didn't mind that Naruto had stood him up after begging for two and a half days to see some movie together. All of the blond's other friends had declined on grounds that they'd either seen or slept through it far too many times at Naruto's behest and that ballet wasn't exactly their favourite subject. Kiba gave it props for being an erotic thriller but even he had limits.
Gaara wondered if the blond hadn't forgotten his own plans, having switched their meeting location at least four times before deciding on the courtyard for its proximity to the theatre. Then there was the whole debate Naruto had held with himself over the merits of afternoon vs. evening showings, eventually deciding on evening as the best time to appreciate its dark imagery and deep psychological plot.
At least the scenery was nice.
"Hoo. Hoohoo."
/POV/
Shizune massaged her neck as she walked out of the theatre. It felt so good to finally be walking after spending hours in those cramped little chairs. All around her people were discussing the movie they'd just seen, but Shizune tuned them out. She'd seen it four times already and really wasn't in the mood to hear about it again now. Or ever.
Phase two of Tsunade's plans, Operation Afterschool Hangout, had failed- she knew that much. There'd been no sign of the blond kid or the scary anywhere near the theatre all day. Tsunade wouldn't be happy, those free tickets to Naruto's favourite movie were supposed to be foolproof.
Shizune hadn't exactly been thrilled when she'd received orders to watch showing after showing of Black Swan, she was not much of a movie person. Nor did she enjoy having to disguise herself with a shawl and sunglasses to avoid detection which she had a feeling actually made her easier to spot in a crowd, but Tsunade had picked it out special and she hadn't wanted to be rude. It didn't matter anyway, since no one had shown up.
Her legs still felt sore, maybe she would take a hot bath when she got home.
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You are so awesome reviewer(s)!
And I hope every got that that 'Hoohoo' was an owl. ^^;