Well took me forever but here is chapter four to Behind Blue Eyes. Once again nice and long. Hope you all like it and reviews are loved.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It belongs to it's rightful owner. The only things I own are my ideas.
When Monday rolled around Naomi found herself eager to go to school for some unknown reason. She got there and looked around for some of her friends but didn't spot any of them at first. She looked around a bit closer and spotted Shikamaru sitting at the school steps. She grinned and wandered over to him, sitting down beside him.
"Sup Shika?" She asked "Where is everybody?" She added.
"Dunno, around." He answered with a shrug. "Gaara's with the other three for some type of emergency band meeting." He added.
"Who said I was looking for Gaara?" She asked though feeling slightly disappointed after hearing he wasn't around.
"Just a guess." He replied with a smirk. "Temari said you two were hanging out all day Saturday."
"Temari?"
"Gaara's older sister."
"Ah. I only met his brother. She a friend of yours then?"
"Yeah, her and Kankuro are friends with the gang. They're just really busy with college these days so probably why you haven't met them yet."
"Ah cool." She replied.
When the bell rang she went to History with Naruto and spent the hour talking to him and Hinata as they worked (Kakashi had them doing book work so he didn't really care). As she headed towards English she began getting that same eager/nervous feeling in her gut.
"Hey Gaara." She greeted when she walked in and took her seat.
"Hey." He muttered.
"What's up?" She asked and he shrugged. "As talkative as ever." She muttered sarcasm but grinned.
"Not going to say hi to me Naomi?" Shikamaru cut in smirking.
"Oh hey Shika." She waved and went back to talking to Gaara.
Shikamaru smirked again and leaned over to her to whisper in her ear. "Still wonder why I figured you'd be looking for him?" He whispered.
Naomi flushed pink for a moment and glared at him but ignored him (and Gaara) and focused on the class now with unnecessary focus.
When English was over Naomi walked with Gaara to Chemistry. It was silent as ever but she was getting used to silence now and it didn't bother her as much as it did. When class began Naomi went to help Gaara again and they got to work quietly.
"I'm amazed. You've managed to come to class for two weeks straight it's a record." Orochimaru stated as he appeared behind them. Naomi jumped in surprise but Gaara remained unfazed. "Your grades are also improving slightly as well. No doubt due to the help of your new friend." He continued nodding to Naomi
"Yeah I help him a lot." Naomi replied.
"Just remember the test we're taking tomorrow you have to do alone. I hope you've been studying after all she can't help you." He finished and slipped off to go scare some other students.
"You know he's really fucken creepy." Naomi muttered as he left. Gaara remained silent and she looked at him, expecting at least an agreement or a smirk or something. "Something wrong?" She asked, he seemed to be in deep thought about something.
"Naomi would you..." He began and she blinked at how uncomfortable he looked (and also tried to ignore the sudden wave of nervousness/excitement that erupted in her stomach). "...want to... come over... after school... to study?" He asked awkwardly.
"Oh um sure. No problem." She replied (the sudden wave now gone). She paused and then grinned. "Man you're really not used to asking for help are you?" She added while giggling.
"Whatever." He muttered sulking.
"What about band practice? Shouldn't you guys be getting ready for that concert?" She asked curiously.
"Naruto's got a game tonight and Sasuke's got a dentist appointment so there's no practice today."
"Oh, ok."
Once class was over Naomi headed to lunch with Gaara and Neji flanking her sides. As they got closer to the cafeteria she told them to go ahead and she went to the bathroom. On the way back she called her dad and got permission to go over after school. She went and got her lunch and then sat down with her friends.
"Dad says it's cool." She stated to Gaara as she sat down.
"What's cool?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Oh I'm going over to his house after school to..." She paused for a moment, she didn't know if Gaara wanted everyone to know he was getting help when he was so uncomfortable asking for it in the first place. "chill for a bit." She finished.
"Oh. Cool." Naruto responded and went back to eating his lunch and Naomi missed the glare Neji sent into his food and him stabbing his lunch violently as he ate it.
"You two are really friendly these days." Sasuke teased.
"Whatever duck-butt." She muttered sticking her tongue out at him.
"Something we should know about?" Kiba added grinning.
"No." Naomi and Gaara both retorted shortly.
Neji looked up from his defenseless food as a thought occurred to him and he glanced at Naomi. "Hey Naomi do you still need help with your math? I can tutor you if you want..." He offered.
Before Naomi could answer him Gaara cut in. "I'm tutoring her." Gaara responded.
Gaara mentally blinked in confusion. Why the hell did he just blurt that out? It was true he was considering helping her with her math in return for all the chemistry help but he hadn't agreed to anything yet. Why was it the idea of Neji tutoring her (most likely alone) pissed him off so much? Moreover why did he get angry whenever she was hanging out with other guys or planning to? Why was it Neji being close to her pissed him off more then anything?
"What? You're seriously willingly helping someone?" Lee asked confused as everyone looked at Gaara in surprise (including Naomi).
"I owe her." He muttered, which was actually true so it wasn't a complete excuse to cover up what he just said.
"Well there's no reason you can't get help from both of us then. If you'd like some more help ask me, I'm a genius after all so I would be more help anyway." Neji stated.
"I'll keep it in mind." Naomi responded and most of the group missed the dirty looks Gaara and Neji were sending each other.
"So Tenten did you get permission for Friday?" Ino asked trying to change the subject.
"Yeah I'm good." She answered with a grin.
"What about you Naomi you in?" She asked.
"What's Friday?" She asked curiously.
"It's my birthday." She answered as if it was obvious.
"Oh cool. Happy birthday." Naomi replied.
"That's right we never told you our ages or birthdays or anything did we?" Sakura stated.
"Nope." She replied.
"Well technically my birthday's Thursday September 23rd but we're celebrating it on Friday." Ino explained. "I'll be turning seventeen." She added.
"I'm turning seventeen on Wednesday." Shikamaru stated.
"Cool, doing anything fun?" Naomi asked.
"Nah too troublesome, just dinner with the family." He answered.
"My 17th birthday is October 10th." Naruto stated eagerly.
"July 23rd." Sasuke stated boredly.
"March 20th." Sakura continued.
"May first." Choji chipped in.
"December 27th." Hinata mumbled shyly.
"July 7th." Kiba said.
"January 23rd." Shino muttered
"January 19th." Gaara muttered as well.
"Cool and you're all turning seventeen right?" Naomi asked and they nodded. "I turn seventeen July 20th." She added. "Ok so Tenten, Neji, Lee you guys are seniors right? So you're turning eighteen?" She finished.
"Yeah I turn 18 March 9th." Tenten answered.
"November 27th." Lee stated enthusiastically.
"And July 3rd." Neji finished.
"And Sai's a senior and turning 18 too then?" Naomi asked.
"Yep. Where is he today anyway?" Naruto asked curiously.
"He's sick." Ino answered. "So you're in though right Naomi?" She added.
"Yeah sure what will we be doing?"
"Us girls are just going to hang out at my place and then maybe go out to the movies or something." She answered
"Fun, I'll ask if I can." She answered.
Talk went all over the place until lunch was over and the day progressed normally. Naomi arrived with Neji to their art class and sat down at the table while the teacher passed out canvases to draw and paint on.
"What are we doing?" Naomi asked and Naruto and Choji shrugged.
Their teacher Sasori finished handing out canvasses to everyone and he faced the class. "Alright today we're starting a new project. I'm going to set you up in pairs of two and you're each going to draw each other on the canvasses and when you're both done paint them. Understood?" He explained and a girl raised her hand.
"Are we going to be able to pick our partners?" She asked.
"No I'll pair you all up." He answered and set to work pairing everyone.
Naomi looked at her table, there were five of them so she wondered how it would work. It turned out that Choji was paired with a random girl who came and joined their table and Neji and Naomi were paired together. Lastly Naruto and Gaara were stuck together.
"Alright begin." Sasori stated and everyone got to work.
"You want to draw first?" Neji asked and Naomi shrugged.
"You can go first." She stated and grinned. "Just don't make me look ugly okay?" She laughed.
"That'd be impossible for you." He responded softly and Naomi stopped laughing. Her cheeks flared at the compliment and she looked down shyly before posing comfortably.
Gaara overheard them talking and glared daggers at Neji. Neji smirked smugly for a moment before getting to work. "Hey Gaara you going to draw yet?" Naruto snickered and Gaara turned his glare onto the blonde before starting to draw him in his retarded pose.
"Watch it Naruto or I'll give you a dumb curly French mustache." He muttered.
"Hey don't do that!" Naruto exclaimed. The table worked in somewhat silence for awhile, talking on occasion and every now and then Gaara kept glancing up from his work and looking at Naomi. He didn't know why he kept doing it, it was almost involuntary. It was even starting to annoy him a little. "Hey Gaara you're drawing me not her." Naruto muttered quietly, kicking Gaara in his shin to get his attention.
"Shut up." He growled and kicked him back.
"Neh." Naruto responded, sticking his tongue out at him.
When class was over everyone started packing their things and Naomi quickly stuffed her stuff in her bag. "Ok so I'll follow you with my car again then." She spoke to Gaara as they got ready to leave and he nodded.
They drove to his place and got inside. "Alright this time I want a tour ok? Last time all I got to see was your kitchen." Naomi stated as they walked in and took their shoes off.
"Fine." He responded.
Gaara showed her around the first floor briefly before heading upstairs. "Where's your siblings?" She asked curiously.
"Class. They won't get home till around five today." He replied.
"Ah." She responded and looking around at the rooms he showed her. "How old are they then if they're in college?"
"Kankuro's turning nineteen and Temari's turning twenty." He answered.
"Really? I figured they'd be older." She muttered.
"Why?"
"Well Sasuke said you live with your sibs so I assumed they were old enough to support you."
"No, two and three year old difference from me." He answered.
"So where are your parents?" She asked curiously, it was confusing that he lived with his siblings who were college students, no parents, and yet they were super rich.
"Mom died, dad just doesn't like to stick around much." He muttered quietly.
"Oh." She responded unsure of what to say.
Gaara showed her around some more and then showed her to his room. It was rather dark looking (much like him). The walls were painted black and had blood red borders. She noticed from the ajar door his closet was also blood red. The floor was a plush black carpet, dark cherry wood furniture (a queen sized bed, a dresser, desk, bookshelf, and table with a TV on it), black curtains and a Gothic bed set. There were posters, band posters, and Gothic pictures all over the walls. For a teenage guys room it was pretty clean. There was stuff on the desk and dresser and a pile of dirty clothes in the corner but otherwise it was rather clean.
"Cheery." She laughed as she looked around at everything and he just shrugged. He threw his bag beside his bed and pulled a T-shirt out from his dresser, tossing it onto his bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. "What are you doing!" She blushed, trying hard not to stare.
"Changing my shirt? I want out of my uniform." He answered as if it was obvious. He stared at her for a moment and mentally smirked. "Didn't think it'd bother you after trying to rip my clothes off the other day." He stated and her blush darkened.
"I thought we went over that already." She snapped blushing and he just shook his head taking off his shirt and tossing it into the laundry basket.
Naomi tried not to be too obvious with her staring but couldn't really help it. She stood there mentally drooling, but as she stared she again noted a large nasty looking scar on his chest near his shoulder. She stared at it curiously and decided to ask about it this time. "How'd you get that?" She asked.
"Get what?" He asked confused.
"The scar." She clarified and pointed at it.
"Oh." He responded and sat on the bed and pulling his T-shirt on. "Long story." He added.
"Well we got the time." She responded sitting down beside him.
"Why do you want to know?" He retorted.
"Curious?" She answered. "We're friends right?" She added.
"I guess.." He muttered, nodding slowly.
"Friends tell each other about themselves." She continued inwardly cheering gleefully at his admitting they were friends now.
Gaara sighed and laid back on his bed; staring up at his ceiling. "Sasuke gave it to me." He stated.
"Huh?" Naomi asked confused.
"The scar. It was from Sasuke." He clarified.
"Sasuke? I thought you were friends? How the hell did he give you that nasty of a scar?" She asked in surprise and confusion.
"We weren't always friends." He replied. "I wasn't the nicest person for awhile..." He added sitting up again.
"Not nice? Gee I never would have noticed." She teased lightly.
"Do you want to know or not?" He retorted.
"Fine, fine, no teasing." She responded, grinning.
"It's only been these past few years that I've actually had any friends. I didn't have the best past..." He began.
"What happened?" She asked curiously.
"My mother died when giving birth to me... " He began.
"Wow going that far back? You're right it is a long story." She cut in giggling and he glared. "Sorry I'll be quiet." She responded.
"She died and for whatever reason my family blamed me for her death because of that.." He began.
"How is that your fault?" She demanded in annoyance, that was just cruel to blame a child for birth complications.
"Don't know but they did." He replied and continued. "My father is the head of a huge company and hardly ever comes home, he's always traveling. Doesn't give a damn about me either. Growing up it was just my siblings, me, and my uncle. When I was little I thought my uncle was the only one who loved me, he was the only one to treat me kindly and I thought cared about me."
"Thought?" Naomi asked curiously.
"He was my mother's twin and took her death pretty hard. Like the rest of my family he blamed me for her death, when I was six, he went off the deep end and tried to kill me for 'killing her'." He answered darkly.
"What?" Naomi asked in disbelief.
"Obviously he didn't succeed. He went to the nuthouse instead of prison and killed himself there. Another thing I got blamed for; making our uncle go crazy and kill himself... Never mind the fact that he tried to kill me I'm still to blame..."
"That's not your fault." Naomi retorted irritated that he kept getting blamed for these things.
"Needless to say I was a very violent child. Dad spoiled me and the other two but was never home to give us love, uncle tried to kill me, and siblings blamed me for ruining our family. I was always getting into fights, lashing out at anybody who crossed me or looked at me funny. I never understood why I had to be treated that way, why everyone hated me, why I couldn't have friends, I did what anyone would do and lashed out against everyone and everything. For years my siblings were afraid of me. When I was twelve my father finally had to stop turning a blind eye to it all. Instead of coming home to do something about it he sent the three of us here to Konoha. Set up a house for us, charged servants to watch over us and enrolled us in school. He had hoped moving to a new place would help us start over."
"It did didn't it? That's why you're like this now right?"
"Yeah but not at first. At first nothing changed, Temari and Kankuro were still afraid of me and I still lashed out at everyone. That's how I met Naruto and them. Sasuke- though he had friends unlike me was a bit like me, he held a lot of anger and resentment in his eyes too and had a lot of the same hate." He continued.
"From his family dying?"
"More than likely." He answered. "I viewed him as a challenge and decided to fight him. It was a pretty brutal fight and it soon turned into us trying to kill each other. I got this during the fight- " He paused to point to where the scar was. "and it pushed me over the edge. I was determined to kill him for that. I got close to it too, then Sakura got involved. She got in my way to protect him though she knew she couldn't fight me..." He paused.
"You attacked her?" Naomi asked knowingly.
"Not too bad... Just one smack that knocked her out of the way." He answered "But that got Naruto involved. I hurt both of his friends and pissed him off so we went at it. He ended up beating the shit out of me."
"Naruto kicked your ass?" Naomi asked surprised.
"Yeah... I changed because of that fight." He answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Naruto was just like me, he was alone, he didn't have a family, the city marked him as an outcast, he grew up being treated the same way I was yet he didn't lash out at the world. He was finally able to make a friend and more came with it. At first I viewed friendship as weakness, I was alone so I was convinced I didn't need anyone that I was stronger on my own. But Naruto was able to beat me because of his friends, he had so much power because of his anger at me hurting his friends. I understood that it wasn't a weakness it was a strength. I began to wonder, if we were so much alike why couldn't I make friends? That made me realize I'd be alone the rest of my life if I didn't change. I figured if Naruto could do it so could I. I've been trying to change since then. I apologized to Sasuke and Sakura and Lee too."
"You beat up Lee too?"
"Yeah, before my fight with Sasuke. I... broke his arm and leg..." He answered.
"Ouch..." She muttered.
"So I apologized and worked on being a better person. Siblings and I get along now and despite the fighting when we first met I made friends with all of them."
"So it worked out in the end." Naomi stated with a smile.
"You're not running from my room screaming? Having a raging psychopath as a friend doesn't bother you?" He asked and she detected some slight humor in his first statement.
"Nope not at all. What bothers me is how you were treated. That wasn't right." She stated "But then... there's families like that..." She muttered quietly. "At any rate, it doesn't bother me. I understand why you were how you were. I know how you felt..." She finished.
"How do you how I felt?"
"Heh because we're a lot alike I guess. Trust me, I know how it feels not being wanted even in your own family and being blamed for things you have no control over." She answered sadly.
"What do you mean?"
She didn't really want to talk about it again but figured she should. He told her his life story it was only fair she returned the favor. She explained to him exactly what she told Hinata (though he didn't ask many questions). " I know your pain." She finished.
"I guess you do..." Gaara muttered.
"Though I did fight I don't think I was quite as violent as you." She joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Probably not, doesn't sound like you've ever tried to kill someone before." He responded.
"Nope. Though the thought of killing certain people has crossed my mind before." She laughed.
"Guess you're crazy like me too." Gaara joked lightly; she wouldn't have been able to tell it was a joke if not for the small smirk that flashed on his face.
"Did the great doom and gloom Gaara just try to be funny?" She laughed and he shrugged. "Well we psychos got to stick together." She stated, pushing him jokingly. "Now that we've shared these tear-jerking emo stories together we are officially close friends." She decided.
"We are?" He asked curiously.
"Yep. Which means, as a close friend of yours, I have the right to now snoop around your room." She laughed and got up to go explore his room. She wandered around the room examining knickknacks and such as she went and thought about random things. "So you've tried to model yourself after Naruto a bit right?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Does that mean you'd protect your friends and risk your life for them too?" She asked curiously.
"It's never happened yet but... yeah I guess I would." He answered thoughtfully.
"So as your friend you'd protect me too right?" She asked curiously.
"I guess." He answered shrugging.
"Heh sweet." She responded grinning.
Naomi wandered over to his desk and looked at all the stuff on it. "Your drawings?" She asked as she picked up a drawing notebook. Gaara nodded and got up to stand beside her. "Can I see 'em?" She asked.
"No." Gaara responded quickly and snatched it away from her.
"Aww why not?" She pouted.
"Because." He replied lamely.
"Why not? I've seen your work in class, you're a good artist." She pressed.
"No."
"What is it like a diary or something?" She teased.
"No I just don't want you to see."
"Please?" She begged.
Gaara sighed in annoyance. As she begged he carefully slipped a folded piece of paper out of the notebook and hid it in his back pocket. "Here" He decided and handed her the notebook. "So you'll shut up." He added.
"Yay!" She cheered and began flipping through the pictures. They were mostly dark and gruesome pics in graphic details. As she flipped through the book Gaara watched curiously. "They're really good." She decided when she was done.
"Thanks.." He muttered and placed it back on his desk after she handed it back to him.
"Heh it's not fair that you're so talented Mr. Famous-Rock-Star-Artist." She laughed.
"I'm not famous, or a rock star." He retorted.
"Not yet but you will be." She responded with a grin.
Gaara opened his mouth to say something but as he did they heard the front door close. "Sibs are back." He muttered.
"Already? Damn we've been talking for awhile." She laughed.
"I guess so."
"Well come on, I want to go meet these siblings of yours." She stated.
They left his room and wandered back down stairs to go find them. Temari and Kankuro were in the living room when they got down there.
"There you are Gaara." Kankuro stated when he saw him come in and paused when he saw Naomi. "Hey again." He waved.
"Hey, you're dressed this time." She laughed.
"Yeah sorry about that." He apologized embarrassed.
"It's cool." She responded with a shrug.
"So you're Naomi?" Temari stated, coming over and shaking her hand.
"Yeah, Temari right?" She responded.
Naomi looked her over as they shook hands. Temari was very pretty, she had short, choppy layered, dirty blonde hair that stopped just above her shoulders, bangs that framed her face, and deep blue/green eyes. She looked to be a good four or five inches taller then Naomi and had a skater/rock kind of appearance to her. Though she had a tough girl look to her she also had a rather nice figure; curvy and well developed.
"Nice to finally meet you." Temari stated when she too was done looking her over.
"Ditto." Naomi grinned.
"Shikamaru's told me a little bit about you." Temari continued.
"Yeah same here, he mentioned you this morning actually." Naomi responded.
"Really? What he say?" She asked.
"Nothing much really, just who you were." Naomi answered, and noted how Temari's eyes lit up when she said Shikamaru talked about her. A little something she was going to have to ask her lazy friend about.
"Quit hogging Gaara's girl Temari." Kankuro laughed.
"Oops, sorry. Well glad to see my baby brother's bringing home a girl." Temari grinned and Gaara glared darkly at both of them..
"I already told you she's just a friend." Gaara growled at her.
"Just teasing you bro." Kankuro grinned.
"Whatever, morons." He grumbled and grabbed Naomi's wrist, pulling her out of the living room and back up to his room. "They're idiots." He grumbled as he let go of her wrist and they walked back up the stairs.
"It's cool, my sis did the same thing the first time Naruto came over. Must be a big sibling thing; teasing about something that's nonexsistent." She responded.
When they got back to Gaara's room they set to work on what they actually planned on doing. An hour or so of studying later Temari came up with some take out for them and over dinner Naomi quizzed Gaara on what they had studied. By nine o'clock they had studied all the could, did their actual homework, and Gaara returned the favor by with Naomi's math.
"See ya tomorrow." Naomi stated as Gaara walked with her to the door. "Later Temari, Kankuro!" She called and they both shouted a similar response from somewhere in the house.
"Bye." Gaara muttered and shut the door after she left.
Gaara made it to the stairs before his siblings appeared and stopped him. "So..." Kankuro began with a wide smirk.
"So?" Gaara asked wirily.
"Study night huh?" He asked.
"What of it?" Gaara responded.
"You sly dog, using that as an excuse." He laughed patting him on the back proudly.
"It wasn't an excuse. That's why she was here." He responded in irritation.
"Well she seems nice and she's cute. I approve." Temari decided also patting him on the back.
"Idiots." Gaara grumbled and left them to go to his room, it'd be pointless to try argue with them about it.
Gaara went back to his room and cleaned up the mess they had made before sitting down at his desk. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the paper he unfolded it and looked down at it. After staring for a moment he pulled out some pencils and started working on finishing the drawing.
When Gaara finished the picture he set his pencil down and looked it over. It looked just like her... Sighing he folded the paper back up and shoved it in his desk. What was wrong with him? Now he was drawing pictures of Naomi?. Shaking his head he turned away from his desk.
For the rest of the week things passed pretty boringly for Naomi. With the help of the studying Gaara managed to pass that test and she spent her art classes talking and laughing (though she was doing the laughing) with Neji, completely oblivious it the death glares Gaara was sending Neji behind her back (Neji continued to remain smug from all the irritation he was causing Gaara). It was now Friday and she was sitting up in her room bored. She had asked earlier on in the week if she could go to Ino's party but she was told she couldn't go. Sighing and staring at her ceiling she heard her phone ring.
"Yo?" She greeted when she answered.
"Hey what you doing?" Ino asked from the other end.
"Staring at my ceiling."
"How fun."
"Yeah well Mom wouldn't let me go to your party so bored now."
"Yeah. We were thinking of heading out to the movies. You think you could go to that?"
"I don't know..."
"Well technically you're not asking to go to a party..." She stated.
"True..." Naomi sat up. "I'll go ask." She decided.
Naomi got up and after maneuvering her way around her dogs she got out of her room and went down stairs to the living room. She saw her mom watching TV. "Hey can I go to the movies?" She asked as she strolled into the room.
"No." Her mom responded shortly.
"What, why not?"
"I said so."
"It's Friday night, you already won't let me go to one of my friends' party and now you're not going to let me go to the movies?"
"Nope."
Naomi glared in annoyance before marching out of the room and walking over to her dad's office. She walked inside and looked at him. "Hey daddy can I go to the movies?" She asked hopefully.
"That's sudden." He muttered in surprise.
"Well mom wouldn't let me go to a party and it's Friday night so me and a few friends wanted to go catch a movie. Please?" She explained.
"Sure why not."
"Yay thank you dad!" She replied happily and ran out of the room. "I can go." She told Ino when she went back to her phone.
"Awesome we'll be there to pick you up in twenty minutes." Ino replied happily and they got off the phone.
Naomi went around her room and dug up some clothes to wear. She threw on a a pair of black shorts, some studded belts that hung around her hips for decoration, some gray and black thigh high stockings, black skate shoes, and a gray tank top with black lining and black skull designs along the right side. She brushed and straightened her hair and put on some makeup before throwing on some jewelry. By the time she got her purse and everything she wanted shoved in there Ino was texting her and telling her they were there.
Naomi grabbed Ino's gift and sped out of her room and down the stairs. "I'm leaving!" She shouted through the house to let her dad know she was gone and was out the door. Naomi waved to the girls and headed over to Ino's blue convertible. "Hey!" She waved.
"Hey, just hop in the back." Ino greeted.
Hinata moved over into the middle to make room for her and Naomi hopped in the backseat with her and Tenten, Sakura was up front with Ino. "Alright lets go." Naomi stated once she was buckled. As they drove Naomi looked over at the girls.
Tenten was wearing a pair of short, light blue, jean shorts that had a signed fringe around the bottom to look like they were cut offs and designed rips on the shorts themselves. Her shoes were white and red tennis shoes, she had on a white spaghetti strap shirt with red trim and it was a low cut, v-neck. Her usual braided hair was down and straight, she had a little bit of makeup and a few pieces of jewelry.
Hinata was wearing a pair of dark blue pants, black wedges, and a three-quarter-length sleeved, V-neck, light lavender, shirt. She had on a simple silver necklace with a small charm, a charm bracelet, and a little make up . Her hair was how it usually was, down and straight.
Sakura was wearing a dark pink miniskirt, black thigh high stockings, black heals, and a light pink top. The top was snug fitting (showing off her curves), had sleeves that went over her hands to around her fingers, and there were dark pink hearts around the bottom of the shirt, the sleeves, and the rounded cut. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, covered in black cloth and tied with string with hearts hanging down from it. Her bangs were left in her face, she had a few pieces of jewelry and make up on.
Ino was wearing a purple midriff halter top with silver swirl designs on it, a black miniskirt, and black knee high heeled boots. Her hair like always in a ponytail, jewelry, and makeup. Her jewelry was a silver necklace, a charm bracelet, and silver hoops.
"Ok so we're meeting up with some of the guys at the movie theater too." Ino stated as they drove.
"Oh?" Naomi asked curiously.
"Yeah I invited Naruto for Hinata." Sakura explained with a grin.
"And he convinced Sai, Sasuke, Gaara, and Lee to come with him too." Ino added.
"Ok then." Naomi stated. "Some type of hidden motive I think?" Naomi added with a grin.
"What? I have no idea what you're talking about." Sakura responded quickly.
"Mhm sure." Naomi laughed.
"Hey why do you think we got Naruto to bring Gaara along?" Ino laughed.
"What do you mean?" Naomi asked confused.
"Don't play dumb." Tenten laughed nudging her lightly.
"Huh?" Naomi responded.
"We all know you like him." Sakura laughed.
"What?" Naomi jumped, blushing brightly. "I don't like him." She added quickly, her blush darkening. "We're just friends." She finished shaking her head no.
"Yeah ok." Ino, Sakura, and Tenten all responded at the same time. Hinata just patted her shoulder comfortingly while fighting a smile.
"Whatever." Naomi responded.
They got to the movie theater/mall and as to be expected on a Friday night it was packed so they had to park pretty far away in the far end of the parking lot. "Man I hate walking." Sakura complained as they walked.
"Shouldn't have warn heels then." Naomi laughed.
"Hey, heels make us look good." Ino laughed as she examined the gift Naomi gave her. Naomi wasn't too sure what to get her so she figured she couldn't go wrong with jewelry for someone like Ino. She got her a set of three hair clips: a flower, a butterfly, and a heart, all silver with fake diamonds forming the shapes. "Thanks again for the clips." She thanked as she took out her plain ones and replaced them with those.
"No problem." She responded. "So how come Temari's not with us too?" She added curiously.
"She couldn't make it. She's got a couple of tests on Monday to cram for and a research paper due Monday to finish as well. So she's stuck at home getting Shikamaru to help her finish all that up." Sakura answered.
"What's the deal with those two?" Naomi asked curiously, she hadn't had a chance to ask Shikamaru about it.
"They're just really good friends. Personally I think there's something there between them but at the moment they're just friends." Ino answered.
"Ah." Naomi responded, nodding in understanding.
They got to the theater and after buying their tickets went inside. They were planning on seeing a new release so as to be expected there was a line they had to wait in. However they saw that the guys were already there and slipped into the line with them.
"Hey girls." Naruto and Lee waved when they reached them. Sai and Sasuke both nodded in acknowledgment.
"Where's Gaara?" Ino asked curiously.
"He's running late. He's on his way now though so he should be here soon." Naruto answered. He then leaned over to whisper in her ear. "He wouldn't agree to come until I was sure Naomi was coming." He whispered to her and Ino grinned knowingly.
The group stood around boredly for awhile. Idly chatting as they passed the time standing in line. Ino dug through her purse for something and then groaned. "What's the matter?" Sai asked curiously.
"I left my wallet in the car." She grumbled in annoyance. "On the way up we had to make a sharp turn to avoid some asshole cutting us off and my purse fell over, the stuff spilled out into the back seat and we must've missed my wallet." She explained.
"How'd you get your ticket then?" Naruto asked.
"We're out for her birthday so I bought the ticket for her." Sakura answered.
"I'll go run back to your car and go get it for you." Naomi offered.
"You sure?" Ino asked.
"Yeah no problem, beats standing around here bored. I'll be right back just save my place in line." She answered.
"Alright, be careful it's dark." Ino replied as Naomi left with her keys.
Naomi walked through the parking lot sighing boredly. She really wished they were able to park closer. Muttering to herself she finally reached Ino's car and unlocked it. They put the hood up earlier so she wasn't able just to reach in and look around. She crawled into the back seat and after digging for a few minutes she found the wallet under the driver's seat.
"There you are you little bugger." She muttered and stuck it in her purse.
Naomi crawled out of the car, locked the door and then turned around to head back but froze. Three guys maybe a few years older than herself were standing there. Choosing not to panic she quickly looked down and turned to walk the other way, imagining they were just going to their car.
"Hey girl." One called out to her.
'Shit.' Naomi cursed. "Uhh sorry I don't speak English." She tried lamely, eying possible escape routes.
"You're speaking it right now." One of the boys retorted.
"Hmm well love to stay and chat but I really should be going back to my friends now." She tried, starting to back away from them.
"Give us your bag." One demanded, approaching her.
"What this? There's nothing of real importance in this." She responded nervously 'Aside from my wallet, Ino's wallet, a cell phone, IPod, credit cards, and cash.' She thought.
"Hand it over." He ordered again.
Naomi took a deep breath, prayed for her safety since she knew what she was about to do was stupid, and started to hand the bag over to him. As he dropped his guard and reached for it she quickly glared, kneed him in the balls, and moved. She jumped back from him, leapt away from him and the other two, jumped onto the hood of Ino's car (she made a mental note to apologize to Ino later), and kicked one of them in the face as he reached for her. She leapt off to the other side of the car and ran between the cars in front of her, appearing into the lane and started to run towards the theater (again cursing that they had to park so far away).
The three guys quickly followed her and chased after her, now pissed (and one with a broken nose). "Get back here!" They shouted after her.
"Leave me alone!" She shouted back.
One managed to catch up to her and stopped her in her tracks. She cursed and skidded around him, racing between cars and climbing on top of one again. "That trick isn't going to work twice." They snapped her and circled the car. Naomi glared and leapt off the car, right on top of one of them, bringing him to the ground.
"It just did." She responded as she got up fast and tried to run again. One of the other two blocked her path to the theater so she started to run the other way and think of a way to circle around and get closer to people. She could zig zag through cars but that was risky, it'll hinder their movements but also hers.
Naomi tried to run around one of them and got a few feet away from him before she was tackled and thrown to the ground. "Get off me!" She yelled as she struggled to throw him off. Her bag was ripped away from her and tossed off to the side. 'Damn it!' She thought and continued to try to get free, forgetting the damn bag at this point.
"Keep her still." The apparent leader ordered as he rummaged through her bag. "Nothing important? Really now?" He stated as he looked through it and saw all the things in there.
Naomi suddenly found her face shoved into the asphalt by the third boy. She winched as she felt it cut her face. "That's for breaking my nose." He growled; words slightly hard to understand from the blood and injury. "Things could have gone so much smoother if you cooperated." He continued, shoving her face in the ground again.
"Piss off, you have my bag so let me go." She growled.
"I don't like your attitude." The leader muttered walking over. "And that kick happened to hurt."
"Tough shit, tell this fat ass to get off me and we can all pretend this never happened." She hissed.
"You sure have a hell of a mouth on you." The one pinning her snapped, and yanked her head back by her hair.
"Ow!" She hissed in pain. "Fuck you." She growled and wished her mouth knew how to shut up. She was terrified and all she could do was mouth off and make things worse for herself.
"What should we do with her?" The broken nose guy asked.
The leader stared down at her for a moment. "You had a pretty nice car. Care to hand over the car keys? They weren't in your bag." He stated. "Give us the keys and we'll let you go." He added.
"It's not my car." She gasped, trying to ignore the searing pain in her scalp from the guy pulling her hair to keep her looking up.
"That's a shame? The blonde's right?" He asked waving Ino's wallet at her and sticking it back in the bag. "She your friend? Wonder how she'll take it, you letting her wallet and car get stolen." The leader stated.
"You have both of our wallets, my IPod, and cell phone. Isn't that enough?" She growled.
"It could have been if you didn't run." He retorted. "Check her pockets for the keys." He ordered.
Naomi was yanked up so she was kneeling on all fours. A tight grip kept on her hair to keep her in place. With his other hand the guy holding her reached into her front pocket and pulled out the keys, tossing them to the leader and he dropped them into her bag.
"Can I go now?" Naomi pleaded, eyes watering in pain.
"What do you think boys?" The leader asked.
"I say she pays for all the trouble and my face." One of them stated.
"I kind of think we can get more out of her." The one holding her stated.
"Majority rules." The leader stated.
"I don't have anything else." Naomi hissed, now even more frightened.
"Well we can think of something I'm sure." The leader stated, crouching down in front of her and examining her. "You're rather attractive..."He stated and brushed her bangs out of her face. "How 'bout a kiss?" He asked, grasping her chin. "We can start with that..." He finished.
Naomi's eyes widened to the size of golf balls and as he leaned in to kiss her she panicked. She ignored the pain in her head and head butted him as hard as she could and twisted as hard as she could out of the boys grip. She broke free, jumped up and ran, dodging the one with the broken nose and bolting. She ran a good distance before smacking right into someone. She started to stumble backwards but they grabbed her and held onto her.
"Let go of me! Help!" She screamed, panic stricken by this point and not even seeing who grabbed her. "Help!" She screamed again.
"Naomi!" The person shouted, trying to get her to stop.
Naomi froze and looked up to see just who she smacked into. "Gaara!" She exclaimed in relief and latched onto him tightly. "Help me!" She begged him, eyes starting to water again this time from fear and relief and not pain.
The three boys who were chasing her skidded to a halt upon seeing Gaara holding her. "What's going on here?" Gaara demanded darkly.
Naomi looked up from Gaara's chest to glance at the boys. "Uhh nothing at all. Afraid we gave the girl a little start by accident." The leader stated eying Naomi. Naomi held onto Gaara tighter.
Gaara glanced down at Naomi's disheveled look and scratched up face before looking back at the boys and looking at the guy with a bloodied (and crooked nose) face, and then stared at the guy holding a woman's purse. "Right I'm sure that's what's going on." Gaara hissed and the three glared back at him.
"Just run along now girl, you got off lucky." The leader stated.
"Gaara lets go." Naomi muttered, just wanting to be safe now.
Gaara glared at them and stuck out his hand. "Give me the bag." He ordered.
"Excuse me?" One of the three demanded.
"I said hand it over. Give it back." He hissed.
"Gaara, come on, let's just go." Naomi begged.
"You should listen to the girl." Another retorted.
"I'm warning you now, give it back." Gaara hissed.
"Ha, dude there's three of us and one of you. I don't think you grasp the situation here." The broken nosed one stated.
"Gaara I don't care about my stuff let's just go." Naomi begged again. Gaara moved her behind him and cracked his knuckles as he took a few steps forward.
"I've been under way too much stress lately. Taking care of you three assholes will be a great remedy." He muttered darkly. "It's been way too long since my last fight." He added.
"You talk way to big you little shit." The leader stated and before he could say more found Gaara's fist in his mouth.
Naomi couldn't do anything but stare as she watched Gaara fight all three of them, and not get his ass kicked. He was knocking them around and beating the shit out of them. He was brutal as hell and went for all of their weaknesses. Naomi watched him fight and noticed a new persona take over him. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes and he grew a sadistic look on his face. He didn't even seem to care when he got hurt. In fact the guy with the broken nose managed to get a blow into his face and Gaara just laughed almost insanely before bashing the guys face into the ground.
Gaara got two of the boys to the ground and tackled the third, the one that had been restraining Naomi earlier. He had him pinned to the ground and was repeatedly punching him in the face with both fits, over and over again. He grew a wide sadistic smile as he did this too. Naomi could do nothing but stare with wide eyes, this new Gaara frightened her slightly. Naomi snapped out of her staring as movement caught her eye. The boy with the broken nose got up and pulled out a knife. Naomi's eyes widened even more as he went after Gaara.
"Gaara look out!" Naomi exclaimed.
Gaara looked up from the now unconscious boy in time to see it and blocked the guy. The knife cut into his arm and cut down it but he was able to knock it out of his hand, kick the guy in the gut causing him to stumble back, and grabbed the knife; turning it on him.
Naomi was too engrossed in watching this chaos to notice the leader had also gotten up. She didn't notice anything until a knife was suddenly being pressed to her throat and the guy grabbed onto her. Her eyes widened in fear and she let out a small meep in fear.
"Gaara!" She cried too afraid to struggle with the knife pressed into her throat.
"Drop the knife." He shouted at Gaara and Gaara didn't hear, too involved in his attacking. "Drop it or the girl gets it!" He shouted.
Gaara froze, his threat and Naomi's cry now registering in his mind and he stared at him. "Damn it." He growled.
"Drop it."
Gaara glared at him darkly but tossed the knife onto the ground. "Let her go." He ordered.
"I'm calling the shots." He snapped. "Now stand there perfectly still." He ordered and Gaara reluctantly obeyed, his eyes not leaving Naomi. "You and your little girlfriend have caused me way too much trouble tonight." He stated.
"Shouldn't have tried to rob me in the first place then." Naomi gasped.
"Be quiet." both he and Gaara ordered. Though Gaara's was more of a warning out of concern whereas his was a warning as a threat.
"Now I have some unfinished business with this little bitch so you're going to drop your wallet on the ground and stand there perfectly still while I take care of it." He hissed and Gaara glared murderously as he did what he said. The guy then glanced down at Naomi. "I was going to settle for just a kiss sweetie but now you're going to have to pay for your boyfriend's mistake of fighting us." He stated and bent down to breath in her ear. "And I'll be wanting plenty of payment." He breathed, kissing the side of her neck.
Naomi glared at him in disgust but the fear of the knife digging into her throat prevented her from moving (and kept her mouth shut for that matter). Gaara's glare got darker and he moved forward, having difficulty controlling his rage.
"I thought I told you not to move." He hissed and dug the knife into Naomi's neck, making it bleed. Naomi winced and whimpered in pain. 'Why the hell are there no people in this parking lot!' She thought darkly. Gaara froze again and his glare got even darker.
"You, teach him a lesson." He stated nodding to his buddy with the broken nose. "Stand still and let him hurt you or you'll regret it." He told Gaara, grip tightening on Naomi.
"No, come on this has gone far enough. Please don't hurt him." Naomi pleaded.
"Don't think so."
The guy picked up the knife Gaara had taken from him and grinned at Gaara. "No!" Naomi exclaimed in fear.
Gaara glared at him with the darkest look he could but didn't say anything. He didn't even say anything when the knife came and stabbed him in the torso. He groaned but no words escaped and he stayed still.
"Gaara!" Naomi cried.
Naomi glared murderously at the guy holding her, eyes once again watering but this time in anger. She glanced again at Gaara as the other guy attacked him (though thankfully using his fist and no longer the knife). Naomi then looked back down at the knife keeping her pinned. This was all her fault. Gaara couldn't defend himself from that guy because of her. Her glare darkened and she took another deep breath, preparing once again to do something stupid.
In a quick motion one arm came up and her hand smacked into his holding the blade and the other grasped his arm and she bit into it as hard as she could. The knife flew out of his hand (cutting her as it did so but thankfully not deep) and he tried to rip her off of him as he yelled out in pain. Instead he ended up bringing both of them to the ground.
The sudden motion gave Gaara the opening he needed and he attacked the guy that was beating him. Naomi continued to bite onto the guy's arm and tried to ignore the pain as he repeatedly punched her in the face to try to free his arm. Finally when he realized that wasn't going to cut it he grabbed a fist full of her hair and ripped her off of his arm. Crying out in pain as she took a good chunk of him with her. He threw her to the ground and Naomi cried out in pain from the yank on her hair and from her head smashing onto the ground, right onto a rock. She grew dizzy and felt warm liquid leaking down the back of her head but ignored it as the guy was now on top of her with his hands around her throat. Naomi responded with claws. She couldn't get him to release his grip so she settled for scratching his face and clawing at any flesh she could reach to try and get him to stop strangling her.
As Naomi began to start seeing spots in her vision and breathing was not only impossible but painful she began to cry and fight more. Suddenly the guy was being ripped off her and air came rushing back into her lungs. She began to cough and chock as she tried to breathe again and rolled over onto her hands and knees; gasping for breath and trying to calm herself.
A hand being placed on her shoulder made her practically leap out of her skin and she spun to attack but stopped when Gaara's face came into view. "Gaara!" She exclaimed in relief. "Are you alright?" She asked urgently.
"I'm fine." He responded. "Are you alright?" He asked and she nodded slowly. She stared at the three now unconscious boys before turning back to Gaara.
"Thank you so much." She muttered and he nodded. Spotting the knife abandoned on the ground made her remember something. "Gaara you're hurt!" She exclaimed and knocked him onto his butt in her rush to inspect where he was stabbed.
"I'll live." He hissed as she lifted up his shirt and found the wound.
"It's bad Gaara. You're really hurt and not just there." She retorted and shakily went over to her bag and dug out her cell phone. "This is all my fault." She mumbled and quickly went back to Gaara.
With some difficulty she got him standing and supported him on her as she lead him over to a car and leaned him against it. "I'm going to call the cops. Just hang on." She explained and managed to dial 911 with shaky hands. They picked up and it came out in a rush. "Yes please I need help. Some guys tried to mug me and my friend stepped in, he's badly hurt. No they're unconscious. He protected me. We're in the parking out outside of the movie theater in the mall." She explained hurriedly while answering the questions. "Ok just hurry." She stated and hung up.
"They're on the way." She stated as sat back down beside him. She took her shoes off and then slipped off her stockings.
"What are you doing?" Gaara asked confused.
"We need to stop the bleeding, take off your hoody and shirt." She ordered and he complied though confused.
Naomi folded up his shirt and pressed it against the wound, using her stocking to tie it and keep it there. It wasn't much but it was something to add pressure and stop the bleeding. With her other she wrapped it around his bleeding arm.
"It's something." She muttered.
"I'm fine." Gaara stated though clearly not.
"No you're not." Naomi retorted.
Gaara looked away and sighed leaning his head against the car. "You should take care of yourself not me, you're hurt." He retorted.
"I'll live." She responded.
"So will I." Gaara responded right back.
"They'll be here soon." Naomi muttered. "I'm sorry." She added.
"Don't be." He muttered back. "The others were concerned at what was taking so long so I went to find you. I fought them by choice." He explained.
"But-" She protested but Gaara cut her off by tossing his hoody at her.
"Put it on, you're covered in blood and shaking." He stated and she nodded slipping it on.
A few more minutes later and the parking lot was filled with commotion. The police and ambulances arrived and people were coming out of the theater to see what was going on. Naomi and Gaara were being loaded into the ambulance when their friends came flying through the crowd and forced their way over to them.
"What the hell happened!" Naruto yelled when he reached the scene and was blocked by a police officer.
"Stay where you are kid." The officer stated.
"Those are our friends! What happened!" He yelled.
"From what we can gather Naomi was attacked by those three older boys, they tried to rob her and Gaara intervened. She doesn't want to tell us too much until she's sure he's safe." The police officer explained.
"Safe? What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked.
"They're both pretty beat up." The police officer explained.
"We're ready to go." The paramedic called to the cop and got into the ambulance.
Naomi and Gaara were rushed to the hospital (and the other three) with their friends hot on their tail. The girls had to ride with the boys though since Naomi still had Ino's wallet and car keys.
Not long afterwards Naomi was sitting outside of hospital room Gaara was in. She was already treated and they were working on Gaara. Naomi hugged her knees as she waited in the chair. Band aids were on her arms, knees, and face, her head was wrapped in gauze from the back of her head bleeding (she already got a cat scan and no brain trauma), and gauze was around her neck from the knife. She was also covered with minor scrapes and bruises, she had a black eye, and her face was swollen and bruising. Thanks to painkillers and her worry of Gaara she wasn't actually feeling much pain at the moment though.
She pulled Gaara's hoody tighter around her as she waited and a police officer came back with a cup of water for her. "Your parents are on their way now." He told her as he handed the water to her. "When they get here you can explain everything ok?"
"Alright." She muttered.
Commotion in the hallway got their attention and they looked up to see Naomi's sister bursting through the doors and rushing over to them, closely followed by Itachi. Both of which looked like they had just came from a date. "Naomi! What happened!" Megumi exclaimed when she rushed to her.
"Long story." Naomi muttered, smiling weakly.
"Are you alright? Sasuke and the others are in the waiting room freaking out." Itachi asked.
"I'm alright... Gaara's going to be ok too..." She answered.
"I'll go calm the fools down then." Itachi responded and quickly left to go to them.
"Are you her mother?" The police officer asked.
"No I'm her older sister." She answered and turned to Naomi "Mom and dad are on the way. I just came as soon as dad told me. Itachi and I were at dinner on the other side of the city. I came speeding down here like a bat out of hell as soon as I heard." She told Naomi.
Naomi opened her mouth to speak but more commotion revealed her parents bursting into the ward as well and coming over.
"Naomi! Sweetie are you all right?" Her dad exclaimed and raced to her. "You're covered in blood." He stated, Naomi was still wearing her blood stained outfit (and of course Gaara's hoody), she didn't want to have to wear the annoying hospital gown for a head injury and was more concerned with Gaara then herself.
"I'm fine dad." She muttered.
"What happened? I told you not to go out tonight!" Her mother exclaimed.
"Are you ready to talk about it?" The police officer asked.
"Yeah. We, the girls and I we went to the movies and met up with some of our friends. My friend Ino left her wallet in the car so I went back to go get it for her." Before Naomi could finish there was more commotion in the ward and Temari and Kankuro came flying down the hallway to them.
"Where is he! Where's my baby brother!" Temari demanded when bursting in.
"Where is he and who's the bastard that put him here!" Kankuro roared.
Naomi almost wanted to laugh at the giant scene they were causing but flagged them down. "Naomi! Oh my God are you alright?" Temari exclaimed when she saw her and rushed over to her.
"What happened?" Kankuro asked.
"Who are you?" The police officer asked.
"Gaara's older siblings. We were told something happened." Temari responded.
"Gaara? That boy in there?" Naomi's dad asked.
"How's he involved?" Her mother asked.
"Gaara saved me." Naomi answered.
Naomi repeated the brief part she got to tell to Temari and Kankuro and then explained to them all what happened. "The minute those bastards are out of the hospital their asses are going to be in jail! I'll hire the best lawyer in the city if I have to." Her dad exclaimed.
"Calm down sir, they will be charged for their actions don't worry." The police officer stated.
"Those injuries you got in order to help Gaara? Thank you Naomi." Temari muttered and hugged her as gently as she could so she didn't hurt her.
"Don't thank me, Gaara got hurt because of me in the first place." She muttered.
Naomi's father stood up and looked at the two. "Your brother saved my daughter from being... from those boys and saved her life. Thank you." He stated and shook Kankuro's hand.
"Uh. Your welcome but Gaara should be the one you're thanking, not us." Kankuro answered awkwardly.
"I intend to. Please, I'm in your family's debt. Let me make it up to you, I'll.." He paused to think of a repayment of some kind. "I'll take care of getting a lawyer for your brother as well." He offered.
"Honey!" Naomi's mother exclaimed.
"That's kind but not necessary. Lawyers aren't cheap. We've got the money to cover for it so you don't have to..." Temari stated.
"Then let me make it up to you in some way. I know! When Gaara is well I will take you all out to dinner. My treat and we'll spare no expense. It's the least I can do for him." He decided.
Temari and Kankuro were going to protest more but gave in. However Naomi's mother still looked like she had an issue with his willingness to spend so much on him. She opened her mouth to protest but Megumi stopped her.
"Let him mom." She stated.
Before they could really talk much more the door to Gaara's room opened and the doctors stepped out. "Is he ok!" Naomi, Temari, Kankuro, and Naomi's father (surprisingly) all exclaimed at once.
"He's fine. He's all stitched up and treated. He's resting now but he'll be just fine. Sore for awhile but fine." The doctor stated with a smile.
"Thank God." Temari muttered and the others nodded.
"Naomi do you need to stay in the hospital?" Megumi asked.
"No, nothing's seriously wrong. I'm fine." She answered.
"Then let's go home, we can visit Gaara first thing in the morning." Her dad stated as he and her mom filled out all the paperwork (Temari and Kankuro were doing the same for Gaara).
"No I want to stay." Naomi responded quickly. "I won't be any trouble I just want to stay and make sure he's ok." She added.
"Naomi, it's late and the doctors said he'll be fine. You can see him tomorrow." Her mother stated.
"It's cool mom, I'll stay here with her." Megumi offered.
"Megumi." Her mother started in annoyance.
"Let her, she's been through a lot tonight and it'll make her feel better." Megumi argued.
"Fine. Just don't get into any trouble." She ordered.
"I won't." Naomi muttered in annoyance.
"Since you're staying watch over Gaara for me alright?" Temari stated and Naomi nodded.
"No problem." She muttered.
Not much later Naomi was sitting down in one of the chairs in Gaara's room. Her parents and Gaara's sibs had left, and Megumi went to go talk to their friends and Itachi and explain to them what was going on (and give Ino her stuff). Naomi sat in her chair with her legs pulled up under her. She stared at Gaara's sleeping figure. His torso and arm were wrapped up and stitched shut, his knuckles were bandaged, he had two black eyes, a busted lip, bruises on his face and chest, a huge bruise on his shoulder, random scrapes and cuts, and a bandage on his cheek. "It's all my fault." She muttered quietly, she wished she just gave those guys her purse then this all could have been avoided.
Megumi came back and sat down beside Naomi. She put her arm around her comfortingly and Naomi leaned against her. "Guess I ruined your date. I'm sorry." She muttered.
"Don't worry about it. We can always go on more. Heh, Itachi might not have shown it but he was worried about you guys too." She stated. "Don't worry he's got ties with the police department too so he'll help to make sure those guys get what they deserve." She added. Naomi smiled a little and got comfortable before dozing off.
Gaara blinked his eyes open slowly. His whole body ached and he felt too stiff to really move. He stared up at the hospital ceiling before looking over at the clock. It was 4:30 in the morning. He sighed, it had been a long time since he got seriously beat up in a fight. He supposed if he hadn't let Naomi get dragged into the fight then his injuries could have been avoided. He heard a sniffle from the other side of the room and turned his head to look the other way. He was surprised to find Naomi and her sister sleeping in the two chairs in his room. Naomi was curled up in a ball in the chair and using his hoody as a blanket while she leaned against her sister. It was too dark to tell how badly she was hurt but he could see the outline of some bandages on her. 'She stayed for me?' He thought in confusion. He stared back up at the ceiling and let himself think about all that happened until he fell asleep again.
Naomi woke up early the next morning. It was only seven. She tried to sit up and groaned. Her whole body ached even more, sleeping in a chair really didn't do much for you when you were already hurt. She tried to crack a few stiff joints but quickly thought better of it as it shot pain through her body.
"Finally up?" Megumi asked and moved Naomi off her so she could get up and stretch. "Mom's on her way to bring you some clean clothes so I'll go meet her in the waiting room. I'll raid a vending machine for our breakfast too while I'm at it." She spoke.
"Alright." Naomi yawned.
Megumi left the room and Naomi got up to stretch slowly. She tried to rub the sleep from her eyes but winched as one of her eyes was sore and swollen. "Damn it all to hell." She growled.
"Morning to you too." Gaara grunted.
"Gaara you're awake!" Naomi exclaimed and went over to his bed. "How are you feeling?" She asked concerned.
"About as good as you look." He muttered and Naomi glared slightly.
"Well I see your attitude is still the same." She laughed. "I'm glad you're alright. I was really worried." She added.
"Told you I'd be fine." He responded.
"I know. Still, I'm really sorry for putting you through all this." She muttered.
"I told you, don't be sorry." He responded.
"I can't help it. You got beat up because of me, you got stabbed because of me! It's my fault you're in the hospital!" She exclaimed and cursed herself as her eyes watered.
"It's not like I'm dying Naomi." Gaara stated.
"I know but I feel so guilty, you had to just stand there and let him stab you because of me..."
"I promised I'd protect you didn't I?" he responded.
Naomi blinked in surprise and her memory went back to last Monday when she asked if he'd protect her if she ever needed it and he said he would. "I didn't mean for you to be reckless like that. You could have avoided it if we left and let them keep the bag."
"I couldn't just walk away." He retorted.
"Why not? I know you enjoy fighting but why couldn't you? There were three of them."
"They stole from you, hurt you, and tried to... I couldn't let them get away with that. You're my friend." He responded, anger again rising in him as he thought about what they did. He wanted to murder them for hurting her.
"If I had just given them my bag in the first place I could have avoided all of this." She muttered.
"You don't know that, you don't know if they would have left you alone after giving it to them." Gaara answered. "You were brave for trying to fight and escape. Though you're being a little weak now." He added.
"I'm sorry Gaara." Naomi apologized again and Gaara rolled his eyes, she was set on feeling guilty.
Gaara stared at her for a few minutes taking in more of her appearance. She really did look as bad as he felt. Her face was bruised and swollen, she had a black eye, she had cuts on her face, there was dirt and dried blood all in her tangled hair, a bandage was wrapped around her head and neck, she had band aids on her legs and lots of bruises. Gaara smirked lightly.
"What?" Naomi asked curiously, confused as to why he was smirking.
"You look like shit." He smirked, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Well you're not exactly looking your best either handsome." She retorted and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Heh yet you still think I'm handsome?" He responded.
"That was sarcasm dumbass!" She retorted, blushing.
"I know beautiful." He responded, throwing in the sarcastic beautiful comment to mock her.
"You're mean." She retorted.
"Maybe but got you to stop being sad." He responded. Naomi glared playfully at him and Gaara turned to stare up at the ceiling. "I should be the one that's sorry. I tried to protect you but I got too carried away in fighting those guys that I let you get dragged in and hurt." He muttered.
"Don't worry about me Gaara." She responded.
"Then you're not allowed to worry about me either." He replied.
"Whatever." She responded but grinned nonetheless. "Still... Thank you so much Gaara..." She muttered.
Gaara rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond but his mouth clamped shut and he froze as she leaned in and pecked his cheek. Gaara's eyes widened and he laid there in shock from the sudden kiss. His cheeks suddenly felt like they were burning and blood began to flood to his face as his heartbeat quickened.
Naomi giggled lightly as she watched Gaara's face flare red, her own face was a little pink herself from her bold action but Gaara's face was rapidly turning to the same shade of his hair. She giggled more and he tried to glare but it wasn't very threatening with a bright red face.
"See now you're not quite as pure as Naruto anymore." She laughed and Gaara shook his head; making the color leave his face and acting as if nothing happened.
"Whatever." He muttered and she grinned.
"Hey you're awake." Megumi stated as she stepped back into the room and saw Gaara up and talking with Naomi. "How you feeling?" She asked and tossed him a candy bar. "Figured this would be better than that stuff the hospital tries to pass off as food." She added and passed one and a bag of clothes to Naomi. "Mom just dropped them off." She finished.
"Right, I'll go change then." Naomi responded and set the candy bar down in her chair before wandering into the little connected bathroom.
Megumi looked over at Gaara when she was gone. "Thanks a lot kid." She grinned and he nodded. "You seem a little out of it. Too much painkillers?" She asked; noting his kind of distant look and lack of response. Gaara was still thinking about the fact that Naomi kissed his cheek and so was really out of it.
"Fine." He muttered and shook his head again while opening the wrapper.
"So.." She stated; plopping down in a seat.
"So?"
"What made you try to fight those guys?" She asked curiously.
"What do you mean try? I kicked their asses didn't I?" He responded.
"True. Still why?" She asked.
Gaara shrugged before answering. "I was furious at them for hurting Naomi so I went after them." He answered.
"Hmm." She responded as she looked him over.
"What?" He demanded, curious as to why she was studying him.
"Oh nothing." She grinned and laughed.
Gaara shook his head and they sat in silence until Naomi came back out of the bathroom. "Leave it to her to bring me a pair of shorts and a spaghetti strap shirt when I look like this." She muttered when she came back out. She had been hoping for some pants and a shirt that could cover most of her bruises. Instead her mom brought her clothes that revealed most of them. She managed to carefully clean all the dirt and dried blood off that wasn't cleaned the night before and with the help of a comb and lots of water she got most of the dirt and blood out of her hair and combed it out. She looked presentable at the least (aside from the bruises, cuts, and bandages anyway).
"You can keep wearing my hoody." Gaara offered.
"Nah it's covered in dirt and blood and I just got myself clean. I'll take it home and wash it for you though." She laughed and stuck the hoody in a bag with the rest of her soiled clothes.
"Well you'll have a nice story to tell about your battle scars when you go to school on Monday." Megumi laughed and got up.
"Oh yeah.. School, that's going to be interesting." Naomi muttered.
"Well I'll leave you guys be now then. It's almost visiting hours so I'm sure your friends will be here the minute they're allowed." Megumi stated and grabbed Naomi's bag. "I'll start washing these for you then. See you later." She waved and left.
Until their friends arrived Naomi and Gaara passed the time silently. Gaara (with the help of all those lovely painkillers) fell back asleep and Naomi made a makeshift bed out of the two chairs in the room and snoozed there for awhile too.
The door bursting open was the sign that their friends arrived. "Gaara! Naomi!" Naruto exclaimed when he burst into the room and made them jump awake in surprise.
"Hey Naruto." Gaara growled tiredly and Naomi laughed while sitting up.
Naruto was followed by Hinata, Sasuke, Lee, Sai, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten, all who were there last night, even Neji tagged along. Kankuro and Temari were right behind them as well. "How are you guys feeling?" Sakura asked as they all crowded into the small room.
"Been better." They both muttered.
"Jesus Naomi." Neji muttered as he inspected her injuries and gently placed a hand on her face as he looked over the damage.
"It's not that bad." She muttered, a little embarrassed by him placing his hand on her face and looking down at the ground.
Naruto and Sasuke both noted the dark glare Gaara was now sending Neji. They glanced at each other curiously before watching the scene before them.
"Hinata mentioned you wanted me to teach you some kung fu moves, now I got a good reason to teach you how to defend yourself." Neji muttered.
"That'd be helpful. If it wasn't for Gaara I'd be way worse off then I am now." She responded.
"Saved the day huh Gaara?" Lee asked grinning.
"Yup, he saved me from getting hurt." Naomi answered.
"Clearly." Neji muttered sarcastically and Gaara glared even more.
"I would have been... It could have been really bad if Gaara wasn't there." Naomi defended, frowning.
"So how long are you going to be in here?" Naruto asked, quickly trying to change the subject.
"Not that long." Gaara muttered.
"He lost a good deal of blood from those wounds but they weren't too serious or life threatening. No vitals hit or anything." Sakura added, looking over his chart and going over all the stuff on it.
"You understand all that?" Tenten asked as she glanced at the records.
"Yeah I'm going to be a doctor after all." Sakura replied.
"Awesome. Sorry about ruining your birthday night Ino." Naomi apologized.
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you guys are ok. Besides this was more eventful and dramatic then the movie we were going to see." Ino replied and laughed, trying to lighten things up.
By mid afternoon almost everyone had left to let Gaara rest. It was now just Naomi, Naruto, and Kankuro. Temari wanted to stay but she still needed to do all that college work so left Kankuro in charge of staying. Naomi got a call from her mom and was finally ordered to go home and rest. Her sister was now here to pick her up and so she said her goodbyes and gathered her stuff together.
"See you guys at school. Heh we're going to have fun Monday, Gaara." Naomi laughed and Gaara rolled his eyes. "Thanks again Gaara and I'll have your jacket clean and blood free on Monday." She added as she shut the door behind her.
"She has your jacket?" Kankuro asked confused.
"I let her borrow it last night and she's determined to clean it for me." Gaara answered.
"So..." Naruto and Kankuro both stated, appearing on either side of his bed and grinning down at him.
"What?" Gaara demanded.
"What's the deal?" The both asked.
"What deal?"
"You getting the shit beat out of you for a girl." They stated.
"She's my friend?" Gaara responded though even to him it sounded more like a question then an answer.
"Taking a knife for a just a friend is pretty generous." Kankuro stated.
"So? Naruto you've risked your life for Sasuke before. What does that make you?" Gaara retorted.
"Well he's my friend." Naruto answered.
"Exactly." Gaara responded.
"Still that's like Naruto. This isn't like you." Kankuro answered.
"Whatever."
"You can admit it Gaara. We know you like her." They both stated.
"Do not." Gaara replied stubbornly.
"Mhm sure." They responded.
"I don't." Gaara hissed.
"Yeah, ok." Naruto and Kankuro laughed.
"Whatever." Gaara grumbled and didn't acknowledge them with even looking at them after that.
Gaara scowled at the wall, they were just idiots reading too much into it. Yeah that was it. He didn't like her at all. Never mind the fact that he'd never been so angry at someone before then with those bastards just for hurting her, ignore the fact that he took a knife for her, felt guilty about letting her get hurt, and of course the fact that he blushed bright red and his heart started pounding when she kissed his cheek met nothing at all either. Nope no feelings for her at all.
Naomi sighed as she got to her house. She wasn't really looking forward to go inside. She knew now that there were no people, police, or doctors around she was really going to hear it from her mother. Her father too probably but she knew she was going to get bitched at for hours on end by her mother. She was seriously not looking forward to that. She wasn't in the mood to have that headache added onto all her other pains right now. She'd have to deal with that headache and then the headache sure to come on Monday.
