During lunch, Gaara did indeed, sit with Narumi and her friends. it was quite uncomfortable, as he was unused to being around people. those who sat there were as follows:

Kimimaro, the scrawny blonde artist living at the orphanage, Deidara, Another blonde Artist, but a clay artist, also living at the orphanage, Sasori, the redhaired puppeteer, also at the Orphanage. Omoi, the black boy who he was sure had a thing for Neji, the brunette with white eyes. Rock Lee,of whom was excruciatingly loud, Shikamaru, whom kept mumbling about 'troublesome', Sasuke, who sat silently watching, and a boy he hadnt met yet, with spiky brown hair named Kiba. he had red fangs tattooed on his face.

"Gaara-san," Sasori's low drone caught his attention, "Is your brother going to be returning?"

"yes." he said back.

"Then give him this," the redhead extended his hand across the table, in his hand was a grey scroll, a red scorpion stamp sealing it shut, "Its a formal invitation to join the puppet guild."

"That will make him happy." Gaara mused. a small smile gracing his lips. Narumi watched him lightly, smiling, the boy had a 'i don't really give a shit' kind of air about him, but she could tell he cared about his brother quite allot.

"Uh, hi guys," a light voice said softly, Gaara turned to see the redhead who had been with Suigetsu on his first day, "Sabaku-san I just wanted to apologize to you, for how i didn't do anything when Suigetsu was messing with you… Thank you for protecting my cousin." she gestured to Narumi. he glanced at the blonde, who had blushed about the same shade as the other girls hair.

"No problem…" he said, searching for a name.

"Karin" she supplied,

'Right. Karin. I don't like seeing people mistreat women, no matter who they are."

The rest of the day went by accordingly. he had his art, his Biology, Geography, P.E, normal classes and such. his last class was his music class, he pulled out his Bass, narumi, Neji and Kiba were in that class. Kiba played drums, Neji 6-String, and narumi was fluxuative, Guitar, drums, vocals, and she could probably play bass if she wanted.

"Naru…" Kiba whined, "How come you're so good at everything?" he asked as she peeled out a rib vibrating solo on the electric.

"i 'spose its because i wanted to do everything I could to forget I live in that god awful orphanage." she smiled at the doggish boy. Gaara clenched his jaw, that was the same reason he poured himself so fitfully into his Bass.

"How 'bout you Gaara?" Kiba piped up, "How good are you?"

Instead of answering, Gaara plugged his guitar into the amp, and turned it up. He plucked a string or two to check tuning, reveling in the abysmal dark tone. he then slipped the strap over his shoulder and began to play notes, they flowed out of the amp deeply, a cacophony of tones and melodies swirled around, and the other musicians were rapt. he let the notes play themselves, his fingers guiding them to the end. when he plucked the last note, he took a shaky breath, exhilaration and adrenaline stormed through his veins, as if he had raced through a red light on his motorbike, or run a marathon through and icy forest. Silence met him, he glanced up, his bright green eyes glittering with life, as is rarely seen.

"That was the literal best Bass solo I have ever heard!" Narumi squealed. Neji gave an appreciative nod, and Kiba grinned, whooping in agreement.

"Dude the four of us should so start a band!" Kiba hollered. the red haired teacher, Tayuya glared up from the yell, Kiba raised his hands apologetically.

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves." Neji droned, glancing at Gaara, who had paled considerably at the idea of starting a band with the other three students. Narumi seemed to have noticed herself.

"Its a good idea, Kiba, but, we would need to think about it quite abit. what do you think Gaara?" she asked tentatively.

"I-Im not sure." he mumbled. "My father expects me to have a respectable job in his company. "

"Screw what your dad thinks! Its your life!" Kiba hissed, earning a bark of

"Shut up you bloody brats and get back to practicing!" from Tayuya. Gaara began to play again, softly, thinking on what Kiba said. was he right? was his father not right to expect him to do this?

Gaara walked home, alone. his mind was still on what Kiba had said, it was his life. Why should his father dictate what he did? He crept into his house, happy to see his father was asleep, he went up to his room, Kankuro was also asleep, sleeping off the concussion he had no doubt. he lightly set his stuff down, and went into the kitchen, he know that once his father awoke, he would probably was food, and if he didn't cook it, there would be problem.

He pulled a slab of meat from the fridge and a pan, he was meticulously quiet about it. he seasoned it and cut it up, before putting it in the pan, he pulled another pan out and began cooking some noodles in that. he left it to simmer and went to check on Kankuro, the boy was awake now, the room was somewhat dark, so Gaara flicked on a dim light,

"Hey Gaara, how was your day?"

"It was fine, kankuro. how about you?" Gaara asked in a hushed tone,

"Boring. I cant wait till I return," Kankuro sighed,

'Well, here's something for you to look forward to," gaara pulled the scroll with the red scorpion stamped on it from his bag.

"Oh god, is that the Red Scorpion stamp, Sasori's?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to deliver this."

"Oh thank you Gaara, please, will you tell Sasori I said that I was honored for the offer?" he breathed, reading the scroll over and over. he was obviously excited.

"yeah, sure." Gaara sighed. "What do you think about bands?"

"Oh, well they generally are talented." Kankuro shrugged, setting his scroll on the bedside table.

"Oh, how about people who join them?"

"They're generally alright, Gaara," Kankuro looked up at him, "You're being fidgety, what's wrong?"

"oh nothing, I better get back to dinner." he got up and left the room. the food was done, so he began preparing plates, when his father walked in,

"Dinner?"

"yes, father." he said softly, not meeting his father's eyes, "Miso noodles over pork teriyaki."

"Smells good." he father said shortly, took the plate, and left. he prepared a plate for Kankuro and brought it up to him,

"here you go, Kankuro."

"Hey Gaara, you mind giving me my puppet stuff?"

"After You eat." Gaara ordered and set the plate down in front of Kankuro.

"Thanks bro." Kankuro grinned to Gaara, who smiled sadly back, he went downstairs and ate alone in the kitchen.


This chapter is for DarknekoKurai, thank you for the review, It was very appreciated and moved me to write more.

-Ari the AFox