Gaara didn't reply. He didn't blush or react in anyway as they talked to him. He stared straight ahead, trying to keep his attention on... nothing. Ignore them, ignore them, ignore them, where was Kurenai? Oh yeah, she'd left the classroom to talk to Kiba about his grades. Or something. He hadn't really been paying attention. Not until she'd left and suddenly everyone was talking. At first, everything had been fine. Gossip. Gossip. Gossip. All about people he didn't know or particularly care about.

And then he'd heard Naruto's name.

That got his attention.

"I heard Naruto's gay."

"Yeah, tell us something we don't know. What a freak."

"Yeah whatever, like you said, old gossip. He's a faggot."

"Guys, seriously, not cool. I know Naruto, he's cool. He's just being a freak like always. He likes going against the crowd, that's all."

"Yeah, this is kind of pushing it, though if he just wants attention. I don't think he's faking it, but man, is that weird to consider. Seriously, who would've ever guessed?"

"I know, right? He seemed all hung up over Sakura for so long and now, suddenly he swings for the other team?"

"That's not nearly as shocking as that Sabaku kid being gay."

"Oh yeah! That's totally weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah, Gaara doesn't seem gay or even interested in any gender at all."

"Yeah and why would he go for Naruto, of all people?"

"Maybe they both want attention?"

"Are you kidding me? Naruto I could see doing that, but Gaara? No way, the kid's been siddling out of the spotlight all year!"

"They're kind of cute together-"

"Are you kidding me?"

"What? Guys can like girls making out but girls can't like guys making out? Geez, I think it's hot."

"You're as weird as they are."

"Bite me!"

"I would, but I don't know who did you last."

"Oh my god, he's right, I heard you hooked up last Friday!"

After that, they started bantering and Gaara's attention had drifted. He hadn't learned anything new, except maybe that he should stay away from that weird girl who'd spoke at the end. In all honesty, the word gay seemed kind of awkward to him. Gay just seemed like a label to him. He wasn't sure what he thought of it. So he was attracted to guys. And was a guy himself. Okay. In all honesty, though, he wasn't really attracted to guys. He was just attracted to Naruto. And there wasn't a word for that. There wasn't a label for that. But if there was, he'd wear it proudly.

And then, his thoughts had been interrupted.

A few guys and girls came over to him.

And he felt panic jump through his chest as he realized he was surrounded.

He didn't like large groups of people. Especially not around him. Especially not this close to him. He felt trapped.

At first, it seemed friendly enough.

"Hey Gaara, what's up?"

And then, they started joking. But the thing is, the stuff they were saying might've sounded light-hearted and casual, but it was embarrassing and kind of offensive to him.

"So uh, do you guys... you know, get freaky?"

"Some people saw you two getting out of the closet once-?"

"Is it cramped in there?"

"That's kinky, man. Which one of you, like, you know, tops?"

Now Gaara was doing his best not to blush or move.

They didn't seem to care that he wasn't responding. They just kept chattering and laughing at each other's jokes and talking over each other, apologizing, then doing it again, then lapsing into giggles.

"Go away," he said quietly. But of course, his raspy voice wasn't loud enough to penerate their loud chattering.

He hated them. He hated their chatter. With Naruto, at least he could block out the blond's words and focus on his warm emotion and tone. But with them? There was nothing to their chattering. They were empty. Just hot air. No depth, nothing to them. He wished Naruto was in this class. Heh. Strange. At the beginning of the year, he would've been glad the blond wasn't in his class. Actually, he had been. But now, things were different.

He hated how jocular they sounded. They had this tone of voice that he didn't like. It seemed nice and joking, but was really teasing and uneasy. In a way, it was worse than being bullied, because at least when he was being bullied, he could respond with sharp words. But he didn't know how to respond to people who were insulting him unintentionally. Or perhaps intentionally, he thought darkly. "Be quiet, it's none of your business," he said. "Ooh, someone's touchy. If you're regretting coming out of the closet, then maybe you should've stayed in. Literally, the world didn't need to see your little freak show. Real subtle guys, real subtle. I've heard of coming out of the closet, not falling out of the closet."

For some reason, they all found this incredibly funny.

"And seriously, if you're gonna make out in a closet, then why not with a girl? Do girls offend you or something? Cause that's the fun part about them, really."

Gaara eyed the speaker. Sometimes when teenagers start laughing hard, they have a hard time stopping. And then they get this strange look on their faces and they start talking faster and their eyes get unfocused. It's like they're on drugs and high. And it's like they don't know what they're saying or doing. Sometimes, they could get really crazy and start laughing with abandon. Gaara had figured this out after about two weeks. But never before had this kind of behavior been directed anywhere close to him. He wasn't sure how to respond.

Teenagers were so strange. He could never imagine getting this high off... air.

And suddenly, two hands grasped his shoulders.

And the redhead flinched.

He didn't think. All he did was react.

Both hands flew up and , standing up, he shoved the kid away from him.

The boy knocked over two desks and hit the ground hard.

"Leave me alone."

And just his luck, Kurenai came back to the classroom at that moment.

Her red eyes widened as she took in the large amount of kids standing up and talking.

And widened even more as she saw the motionless kid sprawled on the floor, possible unconscious. The redhead let his hands drop to his sides and he sat back down.

"Gaara!"

The redhead sighed. He's in for it now.

"So, uh, why'd you hit that kid?"

No response.

"Uh, Tsunade said I should talk to you."

Still no response.

"But we kind of talked yesterday and I don't see why we should talk today-"

Gaara ran a finger up the underside of his arm. Earlier in Math class he'd drawn a picture of a gnarled, convoluted tree on it with an ink pen. Now it was smeared a little.

"-Besides the fact that you hit some kid for 'no apparent reason' as I'm told."

Kakashi stared at him, fingers interlinked before his masked face.

"Well, I don't think you're the kind to attack people unprovoked."

Wrong. I attacked Sasuke Uchiha on the first day of school, remember? And Tsunade already thinks I attacked Suigetsu for no reason. That's why I'm in counseling, right? Because I attack kids unprovoked.

"How's Naruto?"

Gaara looked up.

Kakashi smiled. "Knew that would get your attention," he said. "I've been hearing some, ahem, interesting rumors about you two-?"

"You're such a pervert."

"Don't you know it?"

Gaara scowled at him, remembering that embarrassing, embarrassing moment when he'd found out Kakashi had watched his first kiss with Naruto.

"Details."

"Go to hell."

"Language, I was just joking, Gaara, lighten up... oh wait, that's Naruto's specialty. Listen, there's really no point in counseling you. We have an appointment today afterschool anyways, so you can go and join Naruto out in the hallway."

"Naruto?"

"He's waiting for you. I don't know how he knows you're here. That's a little creepy, don't you think?"

Gaara glared at him. But as soon as he turns away from Kakashi, he smiled. Naruto was waiting for him. Sure, an outsider could see it as creepy.

But then, an outsider could never understand what goes on between two people. That was apparent. If everyone knew what was going on between the two gay kids, then would they be so quick to judge?

"It wasn't your fault," Naruto said immediately after Gaara was done muttering the story.

"It was my fault. I hit him, didn't I?" Gaara said with some amusement.

"Yeah, I heard he went flying across the room. Believe it!"

"He exaggerated to get me in more trouble," Gaara said.

"That ass. But still, I hope it hurt when he fell down." The redhead shrugged. Naruto grinned.

"So, uh, you still got it, then huh?"

Gaara stopped walking. "How do you mean?"

"I mean, you-you thought you were... eh, weaker. Without Shukaku, remember?"

The redhead tensed. Just the mention of Shukaku made his gut tighten. Naruto had promised that he wasn't gone, but Gaara couldn't feel him anymore. And, like earlier with Suigetsu, he didn't have strength to fight anymore. Shukaku's strength, his anger, his everything felt gone. And Gaara had a hole where he'd been. Naruto usually filled that space, but when he wasn't around, that hole seemed horrible overbearing. And he'd feel the darkness hovering somewhere on the edge of his mind, just waiting to grab him again. But he no longer desired that safe feeling darkness. He'd learned that he could be just as safe in the light. Truly safe. Temporarily, but truly safe.

"I am. That was just... he tripped."

"Why is your self-esteem so bad?" Naruto sighed. "Sss-uuuurrreee, Gaara, he happened to fall back and trip into a wall, right?"

"Naruto, I'm not kidding or being modest or anything. It wasn't, it was... harder," the redhead muttered. "You-you wouldn't understand."

No, Naruto didn't. It didn't make any sense. But then, maybe it did. Confidence had a lot to do with strength. If Gaara didn't think he could do it, then he couldn't. It was Naruto's job do convince him that he could. Naruto rubbed his cheek and chuckled, remembering the time Gaara had punched him. He was sure Gaara still had it. Now all he had to do was maybe provoke Gaara into hitting him again. Then maybe he'd realize he was being stupid. Maybe he'd realize that he still had it. Whatever it was Gaara thought he'd lost.

"Why are you laughing?"

"No reason, just being... me."

Gym class next. Suigetsu's in their Gym class. Just wanted you to know.

No other comments, really. I know, that's weird since I usually have something stupid and meaningless to say. but I can't think of someway to waste your time, so I'm just going to say...

Later.