Back to Hell, I Mean School
By: Shozetsku
Disclaimer/Warnings/Authoress Notes:
For the disclaimer and warnings see the first chapter and the prolouge. I'm tired of writing them, so the disclaimer and the warnings will go for the rest of the fic plus any new ones I may deem necessary.
I'm going to be toying with POV's to see if I can get into the heads of the charas; please bear with me. Is cell phone one word or two? This chapter is a little humorous because I don't want this story getting too intense. I think I'll do that every so often.
THANK YOU Momiko and blue-genjutsu for giving me a great suggestion for who the pretty girl should be! A plushie of that character to you both with my appreciation! ... Now! On with the ficcie!
Chapter 3: In The Mind... There's Something There
Naruto's POV:
Oh, HELL no.
I am not going to a school with Itachi. Screw this crazy brain fart of Kyuubi Oji-san's, I'm calling to get a ride home. I value the little mental stability I've managed to accumulate during my years of intensive therapy far too much to throw it to the winds like this. As soon as class was over I ran out of class not caring that Gaara was yelling at my back that our next class was in the other direction. I rounded a corner and dialed Oji-san's job on my cell. It rang twice... com'on Ojisan, pick up...
"Hello, Uzumaki speaking." Yes! We're in business now! I can explain the whole thing and get out of here, I feel a jerk and my cell no longer is on my hand. I heard it snap shut. No... Who the hell? Why is it always, always just my luck?
I turn; there is a woman with brown hair pulled up in a clip with matching eyes holding my closed cell phone. The screen is still flashing '00:00:17' for how many seconds I was using it. She's smirking at me.
"The use of cell phones is prohibited during school hours, kid."
My mind is numb; nothing she's saying is registering with me. "Huh?" I ask stupidly.
"You not allowed to use your fucking phone in school you damn brat."
Okay, that got my mind working again. Gee, curse much? "Give it back! I need to call my uncle!"
"By school rules I get to keep this. If you ask me nicely after school I might consider giving it back before the school year ends." She tells me with a smirk on her face that clearly states that her giving it back is about as likely as penguins riding flying pigs the size of elephants and performing a five star musical in the middle of the hallway... sorry about that, I get a little erratic when I'm upset.
I've made up my mind. I hate this woman, whoever she is. Nothing I can do now, anything I say will insure I'll never see my phone again. But someone up there has taken some pity on me, Gaara rounded the corner.
"There you are Naruto, come on, you can't get away with being late for Kakashi-sensei's class no matter who you are and it's in the other direction."
"So your name is Naruto huh?" She asked without wanting an answer, I was so pissed at her I couldn't have if I wanted to. "Well Naruto, breaking the rules on our first meeting isn't the way to start out."
"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to use my cellphone, ma'am." I manage to grit through my teeth.
"Well, they weren't allowed in your old school were they?" this woman retorts, she is trying to catch me in a lie I'm not telling.
"The last real school I went to was when I was eight years old and I didn't have a cellphone to be taken away." Whatever she was expecting me to say it wasn't this. She went wide eyed but she quickly got over it.
"Well, now you know." She said lamely.
When it happened it was all over the papers, it happened in my elementary school with a teachers meeting going on down the hall. The evidence of his guilt was so overwhelming that he took a deal. But Oji-san sued the school for negligence along with a bunch of other stuff for a lot of money. It was all over the papers for a while with pictures of the school, him, and the courtroom. But by my uncles request there were no pictures of me even though some were taken; that film was destroyed. This woman probably hadn't figured out I was the unnamed boy in the articles but she probably had some idea in her head to have made her face turn white like that.
She stepped quickly away from me. "Well, get going to class, you better not be late." She turned to walk away but stopped to call over her shoulder, "Nice whiskers."
HOLY SHIT! I left those things EXPOSED? I felt around in the pockets of my cargos to find--
Gaara's POV:
I didn't know Uchiha and Naruto were acquainted. Nor did I realize Naruto used make up to hide the fact that he had whisker marks on his cheeks. Nor do I understand why Naruto had turned the color of sour milk when Uchiha started talking to our sensei, or why the color never really came back to his face. Maybe Naruto wasn't joking when he said he was feeling sick, he sure looks it.
At the end of class Naruto was out the door before most of the class had properly stood up from their seats. I ran after him, the moron was going in the wrong direction to our next class. As Naruto turned the corner I saw a glimpse of what he had in his hand, a cellphone, was he calling to go home? He can't get too far and I needed to get back in the class to get my things.
When I found Naruto just a little ways down the hall he was face to face with Anko; aww shit, not on his first day! She was holding the cell I had seen in his hand and looking particularly smug.
"There you are Naruto," I said coming to his rescue because the poor kid looked to pissed off to speak. "Come on, you can't get away with being late for Kakashi-sensei's class no matter who you are and it's in the other direction."
"So your name is Naruto huh?" Anko said smugly, have I mentioned I hate this arrogant woman? "Well Naruto, breaking the rules on our first meeting isn't the way to start out." How the hell did she know it was his first day? I swear they have cameras or something in this damn place.
"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to use my cellphone, ma'am." ? How could he not? It's a rule on every school.
"Well, they weren't allowed in your old school were they?" for once she and I are in agreement... I vow this will never happen again. For all those who don't know yet: I hate Anko.
"The last real school I went to was when I was eight years old and I didn't have a cellphone to be taken away." What, was Naruto home-schooled? Why eight? That would put him in what? ... Third ... fourth grade? There's more to this new kid then his whiskers, and I want to know what.
"Well, now you know." Ok, now I'm confused, what happened to humble the arrogant Anko? Whatever, we need to get to class we're gonna get detention and I can't miss the city bus home...if you can call it a home...
"Well, get going to class, you better not be late. Nice whiskers." I think they're kinda cool too but I think I know a bit better then her why he has them. But what kind of demon would leave whisker markings? A cat?
At this last comment from Anko however Naruto freaked out again. He started digging in one of his many pant pockets. Damnit, we don't have time for this! I grab him by the hand and run down the hall to our next class, dragging the shorter blonde behind him.
"Hey, what are you--" he stammered from behind me.
"I'm not going to be late because of you." I say flatly. There's the door, bell please don't--
Beeeeeeeeeeepp!
--ring. Damnit! I punch the wall hard, alerting Kakashi-sensei that there are students who are late.
"Don't bother coming in, just stand in the hall 'till I get a chance to deal with you." Came the voice of that infuriatingly calm man.
I guess I'm walking home. Damnit.
"Oh, good." Breathed Naruto from beside me. He really doesn't get it, does he? Naruto began rummaging, yet again through his pockets. He pulled something out that looked like, but it couldn't be... it just couldn't be...
Naruto POV:
I found my concealer!
Ok, so it's a ladies compact that my shrink gave me, but it conceals my marks so I gave it a less embarrassing name. But yes, it is still a compact.
I flip it open and lean against the, thankfully windowless, wall and examine my appearance in the mirror for a second before applying the cover up to my markings. I always feel like such a girl when I do this; but I don't like people looking at them. The lesser of two evils I suppose.
As soon as I remember that Gaara is right next to me watching my every move. I feel like banging my head against the wall. I hate my life.
"D-don't, don't get the wrong idea, Gaara. I-I-it's just for my whiskers, I-I-I'm not like--" but Gaara is laughing at me.
"You sound like Hinata-chan."
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later, and don't worry; I'll keep your secret, if..." oh god, there's an 'if', why am I not surprised?
"You'll keep mine." I look up at him, what does he mean his secret?
Gaara licked two of his fingers and brought them up to his eyes. He wiped the wet fingers over one of his eyes to reveal that Gaara was wearing eyeliner. The eyeliner hid the fact that Gaara looked like he had never slept in his life. Gaara pulled something out of his back pocket. His wallet. He flipped the back open to reveal a small mirror where his ID should have been; from a zipper Gaara produced a travel sized black eyeliner pencil. He remade his large circle around his eye and wiped away the smudges.
We came to a silent understanding; we each had a secret we hid physically with make up, like a mask. But we also each had an underlying secret that caused us to create and use our masks in the first place. Without saying anything to each other we became best friends, maybe words weren't what we needed. Maybe we just needed to know.
Normal POV:
"You better treat me to lunch if I get detention and miss my ride home." Gaara said staring at the wall opposite them.
Naruto chuckled a bit, Gaara didn't join in. "You're serious?" Naruto asked nervously. Gaara nodded. Naruto was about to say something when the door opened revealing a tall man with an untidy mop of silver hair.
"Alright, care to give me your lame excuses for being late?" he said bluntly.
"You're one to talk Kakashi-sensei, the only reason you're never late to your own classes is because you don't have to leave your classroom to get there." Gaara said acidly.
"True, but my total lack of punctuality isn't the issue here, it's yours." Kakashi said calmly. Naruto vaguely wondered what his face looked like. But this was because he wore a mask that covered everything from his nose down to his neck, and his silver hair fell into his left eye. The one visible eye turned to notice him for the first time, "And you are?"
" Uzumaki Naruto, I'm the reason Gaara's late, I'm new and I went the wrong way and some crazy lady that likes to cuss held us up. I'm sorry." Naruto apologized.
Kakashi seemed either to not hear the apology, or simply not care. "Cuss? Must be Anko then."
"She's the one that made us late sensei, but it's my fault in the first place."
"You say you're new right? Great, now I have to interrupt my class to introduce you." Kakashi said offhandedly, still not entirely listening to Naruto.
Naruto shot an agitated look at Gaara as if to ask, 'Is he like this all the time?' Gaara nodded. Naruto sighed exasperatedly; this seemed to catch Kakashi's full attention.
"Well, what are you standing around for? I gotta disrupt my class now, get in."
"Are we getting detention for being late?" Gaara asked. Kakashi shook his head, "Nah, you've gotta show the newbie the ropes, you're excused for now, just don't get used to it."
Naruto wasn't sure if he liked being referred to as a newbie, but said nothing. They were ushered into the classroom. The first thing that Naruto noticed as Gaara walked past him to his seat was that the pretty girl from the stairwell was in this class, not only that but she was the only one with an empty seat next to her. (please note that this classroom is made up of two person tables, not individual desks)
As Kakashi was making Naruto's introduction, which Naruto didn't listen to in the slightest, his eyes roamed around the room, Sasuke, Gaara, and the pretty girl were the only people he recognized. Then Naruto realized that Kakashi was telling him where to sit.
"-ruto, the only seat left is next to Haku, so that'll be your seat for the year and your partner for the group projects in this class."
The pretty girl's name was Haku, wow, and Naruto would be sitting next to her for the rest of the school year. Maybe school wouldn't be all that bad after all.
Health class, (Kakashi's class) was over far too soon for Naruto's liking, he wasn't sure if the very pretty Haku found him funny or a hindrance but all the same answered every question Naruto had. Naruto was sure he was in love.
-Boy, is he going to get a shock! I can't wait to write it!-
Naruto didn't pay the slightest bit of attention in his next class and as he was following Gaara out into the hallway asked him, "Hey Gaara, what class was that just now?"
Gaara stared openly at him, Naruto had participated in class, he had finished his work even before Gaara had, and even helped Gaara answer some of the questions. Now he was asking what class they had just had? This new kid made no sense at all. But temporarily putting this aside Gaara answered his question.
"Psychology."
Naruto looked confusedly at Gaara, "What? Psychology? Why am I taking psychology? I don't need to take that stuff I--" Naruto had a sudden revelation and changed what he was going to say in mid sentence. "am going to KILL her!"
Gaara looked at the blonde with something akin to amusement. Weird or not, he's still pretty cool even if he has random thoughts about murder. Gaara thought to himself, Confirmed, I may actually get along with this kid.
"What class do we have next Gaara?" Naruto asked suddenly.
"Morning break." Gaara answered silently wondering if he ever even glanced at his schedule.
"Do you have a cellphone?"
"Yes." Gaara said hesitantly.
"Can I use it?"
"Not if you're going to get it confiscated like you did yours."
"I won't. Where can we go that I can make a call?"
"The roof but-" Naruto cut him off.
"Where's that?"
"What is this, twenty questions?" Gaara asked frowning.
"Gaara!" Naruto said with a note of urgency in his voice.
"Down the hall and all the way up the stairs but-"
"Thanks!" Naruto took off down the hall.
"Wait! Who're you calling?" Gaara called running after him.
"An old hag!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder.
Gaara just didn't get this new boy at all. (Can you guess who his psychiatrist is?)
Before he had even burst through the door he was finished dialing the number. Panting slightly he waited for the secretary to pick up.
"You have reached-"
"Shizune! Let me talk to that old hag of a shrink right now!"
"Uzumaki-kun! I suppose you realized you're taking psychology, huh?"
"Just put her on!"
"Dr. Tsunade speaking."
"You decaying, senile old bat!" Naruto shouted into the mouthpiece.
"Decaying!" Came an angry voice on the other line, which Gaara could hear from a few feet away. Gaara winced, this woman, for it sounded like a woman on the other line, was so loud Gaara was worried that she might bust his speaker. "Who's senile? You better watch your mouth you little brat. I don't have to care about you, you know."
"Who asked you to care? You're my shrink, and since when do you have a say in what my curriculum is, huh?" Gaara neither knew nor cared what was going on, he just wanted his cellphone back.
"I don't. I merely suggested that you take psychology to your uncle."
"Liar! You probably shoved the idea down his throat!" Naruto shouted into the mouthpiece. Gaara was really regretting lending Naruto his phone now, he was so worried that he would break it. The door to the roof opened behind Gaara, but he didn't bother to look to see who it was.
But Naruto turned.
And Naruto saw.
Face to face, for the first time since the trial.
Itachi Uchiha was standing behind Gaara with a look of disdain on his face.
"Hey! You! Stop shouting! Some of us are actually studying! So be considerate of you superiors!"
Naruto dropped the phone. His face was utterly devoid of color. His whole self refused to function; his mind stopped working, he stopped breathing, and his heart may have even stopped beating.
Once again it was Gaara who came to the rescue. "Sempai! Can't you wait a week or something? Pickin' on a new kid is low even for you!"
"Low even for me? Now how would you know anything about that, Kouhai?" Itachi smirked evilly. For Naruto it wasn't his first time seeing that look, the memories were jumbling around just under the surface there was a barrier as thin and as weak as wet paper keeping them from utterly over whelming him. Itachi turned back to Naruto.
"You seem somewhat familiar, that bothers me. I remember a face like yours. I know who you remind me of... well, maybe you'll share his fate, would you like that?" If possible Naruto's face went even paler.
"Sempai! If you're going to talk in riddle do it to someone else. We're sorry if we disturbed you." Gaara bowed and walked over to grab his phone and Naruto by the arm and drag him down the stairs.
"Damn that Uchiha-sempai! He's so creepy don't you think Na...ruto?" Gaara stopped talking. Naruto's face was completely expressionless, he stared straight ahead and said nothing.
"Hello? Hello? Naruto did you drop the phone?" Gaara realized that his cellphone had not disconnected. Didn't Naruto say that this woman was his shrink?
"H-hello?" Gaara said pulling Naruto into a storage room to not get caught on the phone. He winced, he hated it when he stuttered.
"Who's this?"
"My name's Gaara, there's something wrong with Naruto."
"Put him on."
"I don't think that's possible. He's like he's not there."
"What the hell happened? The brat was fine and yelling at me a minute ago!"
"We ran into an upperclassman."
"Who was it?"
"Does it matter?"
"Just answer me!"
"H-his name's Uchiha Itachi!"
Naruto flinched visibly.
"Naruto? Naruto!" Gaara called out, "Naruto can you hear me?"
"Must you shout?"
Naruto's POV:
I'm running.
But then again I knew that. I've always been running. Running away from something terrible that happened. Someone terrible.
Red eyes that completely freeze you up, you can't move, shout, or even look away. Such scary red eyes; they're eyes from hell.
It's behind me, the memories; they're catching up to me. I just can't let them catch me; I just have to keep running. I don't know how long I've been running but it feels like forever. I shut my eyes to block out the noises I hear. But with my eyes closed I can't see where I'm running.
Pain. I've hit something in my path and I can't go on any farther. But what is it that I've run into?
A cage?
Something shoots out from between the bars, something massive. It blocks the memories from coming closer. Whatever's in there I'm grateful to it.
You don't remember me? Typical. Typical Naruto right there for all to see.
Who are you? What are you? How long have you been here?
I have no name, but I am a Kyuubi.
Kyuubi? Like my uncle?
If it means anything he got the name from me.
But how long have you been here?
Since your birth. Haven't you ever wondered why you never get sick? Or why your injuries heal faster then everyone else's?
Because of you?
Precisely.
You're the one who sealed away my memories for me! The friendly shadow from those dreams! The one with lots of tails! The nine tailed fox form Oji-san's stories!
So you do remember something. What has scared you so much that you've come running to my cage yet again?
Again?
You've done so before.
He's back. I saw him. He thinks I'm someone else 'cause I hide my marks now. He said 'you remind me of someone, maybe you'll share his fate.' I can't face that again. I'll break this time I know I will.
He? Uchiha Itachi?
Something hits me in the back. Some of the memories had gotten around the Kyuubi's tail. I clutch my head in agony and cry and scream. More tails shot between the bars, two to fend off the memories, one to cradle me in it's soft fur, and the last shot off beyond where I can see.
Maybe I should handle things for a little while. You rest, kit.
I remember... you used to call me that.
Yes, I still do.
I know nothing more, in the soft fur of the Kyuubi's tail, I fall into the bliss of peaceful sleep.
Normal POV:
"Naruto can you hear me?" Gaara shouted.
"Must you shout?" Naruto snapped, suddenly fine.
"Wha? Naruto?"
"Who do I look like? Is Tsunade on that?" Naruto asked pointing to the phone.
"Y-yes."
"Tsunade-san?"
"Get over here right now! Do you hear me? I don't care if you're still in school! If you're not in my office in twenty minutes there's going to be hell to pay!"
"Will you charge for this surprise session?"
"Get over here!"
"You do know I don't know how to get there right?"
"You have thirty minutes then."
"What's the address?"
Naruto wrote it down on a little pad of paper from one of his pants pockets.
"Alright."
"Remember, thirty minutes!"
There was a loud muffled sound from outside the door, Kyuubi them realized that Naruto was standing in a closet with another boy. With the kanji for 'love' on his forehead... the Kyuubi didn't know much about humans but it knew that that wasn't normal.
"That's the bell. We better get going." Gaara said without caring.
"Well, I've got to get to Tsunade-san's office." The Fox demon said flatly. He held up the paper that had the address on it. "Do you know how to get to this address from here?"
Gaara took the paper from Naruto. He smirked, "I've been looking for an excuse to cut school."
"You need an excuse?"
"Sometimes, or else it keeps me up at night." Gaara smiled bitterly.
The Kyuubi didn't really know how to take this statement. Dry humor wasn't something you just understand overnight. It was hard enough trying to understand regular humor.
Gaara showed, who he thought was Naruto a way to sneak out of the school. They were out onto the main road and Gaara was the only one of the two who had any idea where they were going.
"We should go up the road a bit and take the subway." Gaara took off down the street and the Kyuubi followed, trying not to betray the fact that it was completely overwhelmed by it's surroundings. They rode the subway for a few stops, and had to walk the rest of the way to a rather large office building. Gaara and the kyuubi checked the directory to figure out which floor Tsunade's office was.
"But don't you know already Naruto?" Gaara asked, confused.
"This isn't the place where she and I normally talk." This was true enough, the last time the Kyuubi and the doctor had had their last discussion was years ago in an institute for the mentally unstable. The Kyuubi hated that place because it smelled of an unnaturally awful clean that it found out was bleach.
They rode the elevator up and exited to see a rather unimpressive room with a receptionist on the phone with what sounded like her boyfriend. But the Kyuubi knew which secretary was Tsunade's by sight and this wasn't their girl. They followed a hallway in the opposite direction, turned a corner, and there she was.
"Uzumaki-kun!" the secretary said happily, "And with time to spare! Tsunade-san will be impressed!"
"Shizune-san." The Kyuubi said with a little bow. The girl seemed to lose some of her enthusiasm.
"Go right in." Naruto stepped towards the door and Gaara silently followed behind him.
The two teens stepped through the door behind the desk into a large office. "Come on in." said the Blond woman in the chair behind the desk. "Oh, and I've phoned Uzumaki-san about the whole thing so when you want you can get a ride home."
"I'm not sure if that's good news." The Kyuubi said scratching his head in thought.
"Well, lets have the damage report."
"Well, first off Naruto is sleeping off his shock." The Kyuubi said in an apologetic tone. "I'm back."
Tsunade sighed heavily. "Not to be rude or anything but I had hoped we'd never speak to each other again."
"Oh, no offence taken, I'm a little insulted that I can't even handle the meager job you gave me."
"So Naruto really saw him again?"
"Yes, and his suppressed memories are pushing themselves onto him. I was having a relatively nice reprieve and the whole mess starts up again. Why is he going to a real school again anyways? I thought I made it plain that it could break him if he went back. I don't understand humans, I couldn't pose as him in the real world even if I wanted to."
"For a demon you always have been awfully humble and generous."
"Well, there's a story behind that; one that you already know. That, and we have an unwanted listener." The Kyuubi said turning around to look at Gaara, smiling. "I'm sorry I don't know your name."
It was Naruto's face, Naruto's voice, and Naruto's eyes, but nothing about that ice-cold look was in any way Naruto. The Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox. That was the demon that possessed Naruto.
"You must be 'Gaara'-kun from the phone call. Didn't anyone ever teach you that eavesdropping was bad?"
Gaara was speechless. Tsunade stood from her chair.
"I hope you realize just how much trouble you're in, kid." She said.
End the drama here!
I would have written more but I just got writer's block, but I really wanted to break 5000 words but alas, it was not to be. Did I screw up the Itachi encounter? Yes I know, the ages are fucked up but I needed Itachi in the same school, and the Kyuubi is SOO OOC that it's almost bad but I have a reason for that too. As always this fic is dedicated to Kyuu-san my very valued and cool beta and fellow angst lover.
Suggestions for what to happen next will be worth more then gold to me! Reviews will be held with the same regard! You all seem to love this fic so please keep reviewing me!
Tell me if you flashbacks of Naruto's past, the day he was born and the day he was raped, or do you want to know what will happen to Gaara, personally, I wanted to save the flashbacks for later but I don't know where to put them in yet.
-Novelist