I am so sorry that this hasn't been updated. I would bore you with details why, but I can tell you don't really want to know...basically I'm having allot of problems at the moment which I'd prefer not to take medication for...but anyways I hope you had a good chrismas and new year...consider this a late present...and thankyou freexflyer for recommending Blue October to me...they're so good...and thankyou to Batty Angel for recomending Pollen and Salt...it's such a good song, so sad but so wow ^^ Thankyou for all the reviews so far and I hope your ready...this is quite a long chapter (by my standards)

sorry again and onto.....

chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything at all really...I do own my amazing cat Ninja-Mocca-Glowstick-Havok however (who is pawing at my feet right now)

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Naruto seriously considered just giving up. Just laying down and giving up...

He was never going to change his alarm from Swedish rave. It just wasn't going to happen. No matter how many buttons he shoved and annoyed noises he emitted, Caramelldansen was forever going to be the bane of his life, the sound he heard whilst waking every morning. The cheery rave song grated on his very soul (...maybe just a slight over exageration there, but hey it was early morning and he was tired). Grabbing his phone, he turned off the alarm and scrolled though his songs, pausing over Caramelldansen...grinning slightly sadistically he did it. He deleted the song. It gave him more pleasure then deleting a song from his phone should, but still the deed was done. He ticked it off his mental list.

He peered over his bedcovers, stifling a small exited squeak at the sight of his laptop (because that would be unmanly and if there was one thing that Naruto was not it was unmanly...so he kept telling himself). His precious shiny laptop which was sitting on his desk looking so new and...shiny...did he mention shiny? He could practically see his scars in it it if he looked hard enough (not that he would go out of his way to look at his scars. If anything he'd go out of his way to avoid looking at them, but considering he looked in mirrors allot it was a pretty hard task to achieve).

A laptop of such shinyness definately needed a name. He nodded mentally. It had to be a name which not only described the amazingly high tech piece of machinery before him, but also added style, class, a touch of royalty. A name such as...Shiny. Yes, Shiny. Oh the originality.

All he had to do now was get that amazing invention known as 'the internet' onto Shiny. He sighed thinking about it. It required actually going out and finding the one known as Shikamaru and begging him to tell him how to put the internet. Well, maybe not beg as such, but ask him in a pretty pathetic way. Yup. Naruto was definately looking forward to that (sarcasm anyone?).

Sighing he shook his head and managed to get out of his bed and leaving the warm cocoon that were his bed covers, he slouched over to his shower room. He looked in the mirror, eyeing his scars automatically, his finger lightly tracing the thin line before running his hand through his hair. God he needed a shower. Looking at his wrist he saw the time: 6.06. Nah. What was the point. It 's not like he cared enough for anyone to see him...

Well maybe one person...maybe one person with red hair. I'll give you a clue. His name's Gaara. Gaara...even thinking about his name caused an unhealthy blush to appear across his face. He didn't even want to try actually saying his name, for considering he was blushing from just thinking about it. But then again when he thought about the name he couldn't help but remember the kiss and...

Oh god the kiss. The blush intensified and Naruto was glad for the lack of people in his shower room. Well he didn't think there was anyone in his shower room...he hadn't checked behind the curtain yet! Oh, okay, no one there. There. Now he was certain he was alone and he was glad for it.

Shaking his head at the thoughts of the other boy he ran his hand under the tap, splashing his hot face with cold water. Looking once more at his reflection, he turned the tap off and stepped back into his room. He needed to distract himself so decided to go through his mental checklist of the day.

1. He needed to find Shikamaru and ask him to sort out his internet...joy.

2. Talk to Gaara about..er...stuff.

2. Go to school and try to survive.

There. Three things that when listed as so seemed so easy to achieve. Yet really were the complete opposite. Gaara. That was a hard one. Were they (godforbid) dating? The word seemed so foreign on Naruto's tongue (even though technically he thought it so his tongue wasn't really used...he'd used it yesterday though...). They'd kissed. That was what couples do right? And Gaara lent him films and books. That was couplish? Naruto pushed his confusing thoughts back. He had number one on his list to achieve first. Then he'd find Gaara.

Picking up his laptop and shouldering his back he kicked his door causing it to swing back on it's hinge. Soon enough he found himself standing outside Shikamaru' room, knocking on it lightly with his knuckles as he heald his laptop under his arm. The door opened a crack and the tired face of Shikamaru appeared looking none too happy.

"What?" Naruto heard him say, rubbing his eyes slightly. No doubt the boy had been asleep. Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes and put on a bright overly happy smiling giving the world a perfect view of his pearly whites.

"Hey Shikamaru," he said cheerfully. He saw how the other boy seemed to wake up at his voice and his eyes widen in slight shock (this was very slight shock...we're talking about someone who looked like they were about to fall asleep during most points of the day, a look of total shock wouldn't really be possible).

"Naruto?" he asked, sounding uncertain. Naruto allowed his jaw-splitting smile to widen even more.

"In the flesh," he said with a wink. That was it. Keep the overly happy 'my tears of joy are so happy they're made of rainbow' front up and everything would be fine.

"Er...why were you knocking on my door?" Shikamaru said playing the amazing let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes game. Yeah, he'd really wondered when that would start. So far Shikamaru was winning, gaining 50 points for managing to appear interested by his own foot. Oh what a fun game that let's-not-look-Naruto-in-the-eyes was.

"I was wondering if you knew anything about laptops," Naruto said, gesturing to his own laptop. Funny that, Shikamaru didn't see, to be as amazed by it's shinyness, and just seemed to look at it for a seconds before nodding.

"Yeah, I know about laptops. What do you want me to help with?" Shikamaru asked, slouching against his door frame placing his hands into his combat trouser pockets. Naruto was a bit confused (more then normal) as to why the boy was being so nice to him? Inwardly, he wondered if it was a ploy, a plot against him, whether it was a trick to get him to drop his defences. Outwardly he grinned, appearing grate full.

"Oh it's just that I really want to get the internet up on it, but it's all going on about modems and dial ups and stuff!" Naruto said, gesturing wildly with his free hand at 'stuff'. Shikamaru just nodded.

"Yeah, the house has a modem that part of the school's fee's pay for, so we should be able to connect to that here," he said sounding bored. Naruto nodded. That just went straight over his head (not exactly hard to do considering his height). It sounded impressive though.

"So can you do that now?" Naruto asked, leaning forward towards the laptop which had been pulled onto the other boy's lap. Funny that, Shikamaru seemed to lean as far away from him as possible. Inwardly Naruto slumped dejectedly. Outwardly, he stopped and asked the boy again.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, and Naruto noticed how his eyes drifted over to the door, the wall and the ceiling. Seriously, lack of eye contact was really getting to him.

"I'm going to connect it now to the wireless modem," he said. Naruto nodded again, his eyes glazing over as the other boy did a load of clicking and whizzing about on the screen. He concentrated on the little computer in the bottom right and watched as the cross disappeared and a little box saying 'successfully connected' appeared.

"Does that mean there's internet?" he asked pointing to it.

"Er...yeah," Shikamaru said, practically throwing the laptop back at him. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"I'll go then," he said, momentarily forgetting to put on the false happy-voice and standing up, clutching Shiny to his chest (not shutting the lid...he didn't want to break the connection thing).

He walked out ignoring the stare he could feel the other boy give him or the quiet call of his name and it was only when he felt a hand touch his shoulder that he turned around, his mask still not in place. He made sure to lock eyes with the boy, if only for a second.

"What?" he asked. The genius before him seemed to actually be at a loss for words! Or so Naruto thought until he started speaking.

"Look...if you...If you ever want to talk, then I want you to know that I'll listen," and with that the boy turned and walked back into his room.

Okay. Yeah. That was random. Not to mention slightly stupid. Sure, he was just about to spill his inner most secrets to the boy so he could tell the whole school and make his life worse then it already was. That was such a great idea! (Notice the sarcasm literally dripping from those sentences).

Or worse. A thought took hold of the blond which made a chill run down his spine. Like when you jump in your sleep and wake up feeling disorientated and confused. Could Shikamaru have read his notebook? Could that be the reason he was behaving so disgustingly nice? But then again, if he didn't why was he acting nice? Did he use his geniusness to figure out he was suicidal? He had no idea how that was work, but he wasn't closing any of his options.

Was he just too see through? Not see through as in invisible, god if only that were true. If you can't be seen, you officially can't be touched as no one knows your there. Well, unless they wander into you while your hanging about invisible...

Naruto stopped arguing with his own metaphors and stepped into his room, slamming his door shut and leaning against it. No. He just had to do two things here. He had to be more careful about everything. He had to password his laptop up to it's eyeballs. Wait, laptops don't have eyeballs...it's metaphorical eyeballs then. He also had to destroy his notebook. Burn it or something. Just make sure that no one could ever read it.

Calming himself down he sat cross legged on his bed, Shiny in front of him. Double clicking on the internet, he opened google. Now what would be incredibly useful to look at? For some reason Gaara flashed into his head. Yes, that would be useful, but he somehow doubted that Gaara would come up with anything on a google search.

Worth a try thought right? Feeling slightly stalkerish he typed it in. Oh look nothing came up.

And now he was bored...

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Gaara didn't sleep. At all. It wasn't unusual. Many a night he'd just lie there thinking about how great it would be to be able to bite peoples neck's and drain them of their blood. However, what was not usual was the fact that he had stayed up thinking...well happy thoughts. Gaara didn't have these so called 'happy thoughts' very often, and they were usualy classed as 'not happy, just slightly deranged thoughts'. But no. He'd spent an entire night thinking about...him. Naruto. The blond idiot who had occupied his thoughts with him happy smile and overly large bug-like eyes.

He'd actually started off just reliving the kiss in his head. Just going over it again and again like a loop, only each time adding something. Like, adding the part where Gaara had been the one who'd definately initiated the kiss, or when he'd come in (with cape) and pinned Naruto (with dress) to the side of the stall. Yeah, only adding small insignificant details.

Then his head had decided to continue the scene, and imagine them walking to the bus stop hand in hand, Naruto leaning ever so softly into Gaara. Them sitting close on the bus. Them walking into the house and him defeating Sasuke in a duel for Naruto's heart.

See these were happy thoughts. They were genuine 'happily ever after' thoughts. And this is what scared him. He'd never had these before in his entire life. Ever. And what scared him most was not even the fact that his entire body seemed to be on fire at these thoughts, and the overwhelming urge to touch himself in areas barely thought of. No it. It was the fact that he liked it. He liked thinking them. He didn't want to run away from these thoughts (well...maybe only a little, but he's certain he'd run straight back and state very firmly that it was 'just a jog'). He actually wanted to act on them. Go straight up to Naruto and jam his tongue in his mouth.

Maybe, if he acted on these feelings, they'd go away. Maybe if, as soon as he saw Naruto this morning he kissed him hard and fast, the urge to kiss him hard and fast would fade as he acted on it. He didn't want to consider that maybe he was just inventing reasons to kiss Naruto, and that maybe his urges would multiply. No.

He pushed his fear (it was a small fear mind you...Gaara does not have fear over a certain size. Let's say guinea pig sized) back and shook his head slightly. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the clothes he'd worn the day before (mind you they were very nice clothes). It was a bit disgusting he thought as he felt his clothes stick to his skin, a think layer of sweat between the two.

Normally he'd have a shower. This was at home though. Here, he had no clue at what to do. He knew that there was school on today (joy) and that he'd have to suffer though multiple lessons with multiple people he was sure to hate. And that was just the teachers. Thoughts of his fellow 'classmates' caused him to shudder (inwardly mind you).

He walked over to his drawer and took out his towel. It was the 'nightmare before christmas' featuring Jack Skellington in the front next to Sally that Temari had bought him last year as part of his birthday present. He glared at it, suddenly being aware that the two figures were romantically inclined to one another. Basically, the whole thing was a romance. Just the thing he needed to be reminded of. Picking it up and turning it so that Jack was against his arm (ha, take that Jack), he grabbed his two in one Treseme bottle and some random shower gel and headed out his room to the shower.

Luckily, there was no on in and he hastilty (though quite smoothly if he could say so himself) slammed the door shut and locked it. It was only as he stepped into the shower and was applying his shampoo/conditioner that he realised that he had not brought a change of clothes in with him. Finishing his shower (and ignoring the urges he had) he stepped out and dried himself only now hearing the banging on the door.

"Can you hurry the fuck up I've gotta shave!" he heard pouring though the locked door. Gaara realised it was one of the boys whom he had met, the one that Naruto had called, 'Sasuke's bitch'. Kiba something or other. Funny that he should have to shave, Gaara thought, glancing at his reflection in the steamed mirror and his distinct lack of facial hair.

Wrapping the towel round his hips and securing it, he grabbed his stuff and unlocked the door stepping back. Immediately the other boy rushed in.

"Finally, what the..." Kiba seemed to realise who it was mid sentence and glared. Gaara glared back..no he hadn't stopped glaring since he'd gotten up to technically, he'd glared first.

"Fucking woman," Kiba said, dropping his gaze and shuffling past him. Gaara smirked, considering it a victory and ignoring the insult. He knew he spent ages in the shower. He also knew he didn't care.

Walking into his room he locked it behind him. He hadn't bothered locking it before. If stuff was stolen it wasn't exactly a big mystery who had taken it and it wasn't like he couldn't smash their face in (again) until they gave it back.

Dropping it all into a neatish pile, he pulled on some clean clothes. As it was the first day of his new school he stuck with a painfully studded belt, some low riding baggy black and tartan jeans and a long sleeved top. A bit of eyeliner didn't hurt (unless it was carefully aimed at someones eye) and as he took a look in his small cracked pocket mirror, he deemed himself worthy to go downstairs and have a coffee.

When he went down it seemed the majority were still in bed of getting ready upstairs as only Naruto was in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee. Gaara noticed how the blonde's eyes lit up as he noticed him.

"Oh hey Gaara," he heard him say, smiling. Naruto was obviously not bothered by the whole 'we made out in a dressing room' thing. Gaara took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

"Hi," he said. He attempted slightly to make it sound less monotone, but it still came out as a dull note. Naruto seemed to be happy he'd replied however.

"Shiny's working," he said, grinning. Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Shiny?" he asked (it sounded like a statement however).

"My laptop," Naruto said happily.

"You named you laptop...Shiny," Gaara said, deadpan. Naruto nodded.

"Yup and you shall refer to her as that from now on," Naruto said, taking a sip of coffee.

"Her?" Gaara said, sounding slightly amused. His vocal chords were warming up now so the monotone was less mono.

"Well you can't call a boy Shiny. It just doesn't work," Naruto replied as if it were obvious.

"So you would call your daughter Shiny?" Gaara asked...never before could he have imagined himself saying those exact words.

"Well, no. But it's not like I'm ever going to have kids is it?" he said, chuckling. True, Gaara thought. You're gay. And suicidal but...Gaara for some reason didn't want to think about the blonde's mentality and decided to leave it at that. The whole, 'he wants to die thing' was really unsettling him, which was strange considering he'd not cared at all barely a few days ago.

"Anyway's who have you got for your first lesson?" Naruto asked. Gaara gave a barely detectable shrug.

"Haven't been given a time table," he said. Naruto mouthed 'oh' and nodded.

"Didn't they send you one?" he asked. Gaara just shook his head looking uncaring. Nonchalant. So what if they forgot to sent him a timetable. It was just a piece of paper.

"I'll show your where the office is," Naruto offered, sounding unsure. Gaara nodded slightly, ignoring the primal urge to tell him to leave him alone and get on with his own life. The fact that Gaara was staring at the blonde's lips helped. The way they moved as he spoke, and how his soft pink tongue would lick the corner of his mouth after each sip of coffee. Gaara felt his face heat up and decided enough was enough. His theory must be tested. If he had to kiss Naruto to prove it, then so be it it must be done!

Standing up out of the chair he walked round the table and stood before Naruto, for some reason just staring into his eyes for a second or two ignoring the other boy's soft 'Gaara?'. He leaned down, pressing his lips to the other boy's, his logical way of thinking 'this is just to banish the urge's' dissolving along with his resolve. He felt his mouth was melting, and they hadn't even done that thing with their tongues yet.

It was less awkward then the first, Gaara following the same procedure that he had the first time, hands behind Naruto's head, deepening the kiss by licking slightly at the other boy's lips. This time he found it easier, probably because he'd initiated it, and they both managed to find a rhythm much easier then they had the day before. The only difference was the fact that Naruto's hands seemed to be moving everywhere, like they couldn't keep still. They seemed to touch him everywhere. When Gaara pulled away, they where almost down the back of his jeans. Funny, Gaara didn't really mind. If anything he seemed a bit disappointed.

It was at that moment that Gaara realised that by acting on his urges they didn't seem to vanish. In fact he didn't even see them as urges anymore. He just saw them as Naruto. And he now saw Naruto as addicting. Very addicting indeed.

They both sat down, for some reason not avoiding eyecontact. Something about the way Naruto was looking at him made it impossible to look away. Like by looking away he'd betray him. So they sat there. Just staring. Until someone came in, in which case they both cast their eyes on them.

It was the boy with long hair. Naruto hadn't really mentioned him, so he presumed he hadn't done anything majorly bad to the other boy or he would have been mentioned in the small bitch-fest. The boy nodded at Naruto.

"Morning," he said. Gaara noticed how Naruto's smile suddenly became much more guarded and almost...fake.

"Morning Neji," he said. Oh so it was Neji. Well then Neji seemed to be completely ignoring him. In fact all he seemed to be doing was staring at Naruto when he wasn't looking and avoiding eye contact whenever he did. Safe to say it looked suspicious, and Gaara couldn't help narrow his eyes. He was so busy with his eye-narrowing he barely noticed Naruto talking to him.

"...and the bus leaves aroud then. Is that okay with you?" Naruto asked. Gaara turned to him and noticed this Neji turn to him as well, if only slightly as if he was being discreet. If really wasn't working.

"Yeah whatever, " Gaara said brushing it off. He allowed his thoughts to drift back to the last seven minutes (minusing when that Neji walked in). What was he going to do now? Date the blonde...that actually seemed like a good idea. As his mind mulled over this thought, it vaguely registered the fact that Naruto had grabbed him by the wrist and was pulling him out of the chair and into the hall.

"Look," he heard the smaller boy whisper. He waited for him to continue.

"What you saw that night on the bridge...I want to talk to you about that later okay. But what I want to know now is whether you meant what you did in the kitchen,"

"Why wouldn't I?" Gaara asked, sounding mildly offended.

"So you like me?" the other boy asked him. He didn't reply. There didn't seem to be a need for one. He heard Naruto sigh.

"Okay, we'll talk about this later after school...to early to think of complicated stuff," he said rubbing his temples. Gaara couldn't help but agree. He watched as Naruto's expression changed eerily quick, what was one second a look of confusion and weariness, was a look of sheer happiness almost annoyingly so, and a childlike stupidity. Gaara decided to take Naruto's word on that and talk later. Not because he trusted him or anything. Just because he didn't have anything better to do. Yeah. That was it...

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Naruto walked into the office, almost pulling Gaara behind him. After what felt like a never ending 'discussion' Naruto had managed to convince Gaara that sitting at the back of the bus was dangerous to his mental health. Which it was considering who sat there. Sasuke sat in the middle at the back surrounded by Kiba, Lee, Neji and Shikamaru on the seats in front and verious other Naruto-haters. So why Gaara had had his mind set on the back of the bus Naruto had no idea. So they had sat near the front, with Naruto talking almost the entire way.

He'd only done this because he was nervous. He had decided to take the big leap and talk to Gaara about the night he'd ruined his suicide. The red-head obviously knew he was...is suicidal, so that wont be a shock to him. He just wants to warn him that he will be killing himself anytime-soon. Definitely. As soon as he re planned it all out. He decided that he needed to make sure Gaara was willing. First off willing to, well date him. And second, whether he'd mind the fact that he was planning on killing himself. Even if he did mind it wouldn't change the plan he was about to make. It would just mean that Naruto would distance himself from him. So there would be no emotional attatchment.

He was broken from his flashbacking-thoughts by a polite cough. He looked and saw Gaara, arms crossed, glaring at him and the receptionist smiling slightly at him. No guesses who had coughed. Naruto felt his arm fly behind his head in a traditional 'sheepish' expression.

"Oh sorry," he said. The elderly woman behind the counter chuckled slightly.

"Oh no problem my love," she said, pushing her glasses up on her nose "how may I help you?" Naruto ignored the creepiness of the woman and smiled brightly at her.

"Well it's my friend here you see," he said gesturing to the 'friend' who was still glaring.

"He's new and needs a timetable," he continued. "It was supposed to have been posted but it never showed up,"

The woman looked over at Gaara and his attire and her smile seemed to shrink, and Naruto could have given her points for trying to look happy as she forced it back on.

"Oh, new here I see. What's you name?" she asked. Naruto watched as Gaara seemed to turn as if on wheels towards her, gliding over the the desk.

"Gaara. Gaara Sabaku," he said. Naruto wondered if he knew how James Bond he just sounded. Had the red-head even seen James Bond? He made a mental note to ask him later.

They both watched as the old woman typed it in to her keyboard at arthritic speed before clicking print and slowly handing the piece of paper to Gaara.

"Thankyou," Naruto said for both of them as the taller boy walked off into the corridor.

"Hey wait up," he said, grabbing the paper.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked him, glaring slightly. Naruto ignored him and continued to read through.

"Right, well you've got History first with Iruka. He's real nice, he'll help you pass any exam. Then you have art with me! I mean I'm in that lesson but the teacher's Deidara. Yeah, he's a bit...crazy? But he's amazing at sculpting. He'd got a bit perfectionist complex though, destroys alot of his work. But he's cool, let's you try out different media," Naruto said, walking along side the red-head as he lead him to his first lesson.

He found the piece of paper ripped from his grasp and pouted slightly.

"Hey, I was helping," he said, feigning hurt (even though it did hurt quite a bit to think he didn't want his help).

Gaara just shrugged and Naruto shook his head sighing dramatically.

"Fine then. I won't help you. See if I ever help you in the rest of the day, no the whole of my entire life," he said, gesturing wildly, ignoring the strange looks he was recieving from those still walking to lessons. Luckily for him they all seemed to be looking at Gaara.

"Where's the history classroom?" Gaara asked, smirking.

"Oh it's right up there to the left....shit...you did that on purpose didn't you?" Naruto said glaring up at the smirking boy who just seemed to look at him as if to say 'yeah. So?'.

"Fine then. Ignoring that I will never help you to find a history classroom again," Naruto declared.

"I wont need your help you just told me," he heard Gaara mutter. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, but the beauty of that my friend is that you in fact have two history classrooms," he said.

"Do I have two today?"

"Well....no...but on Thursday I will not be helping you find your other classroom. Then you shall regret ever...what did you do again?" Naruto said, scratching his head automatically.

Gaara just seemed to be looking at him as if to confirm that someone like that really exists before nodding, muttering a 'whatever' and wandering off up the stairs. Naruto pouted slightly when he ignored his frantic cries of 'byeeeeeeee!' and wondered if he was laying it on a bit thick. Yeah. He'd tone down the Narutoness at lunch, he thought, wandering of to science...

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If Gaara could have chosen one person he did not wasnt sitting next to him in his History lesson it surely would have been this one. Ino. A whole hour of blond hair being flapped into his face was not a pleasant one. She completely ignored him (that, he did not mind), yet spent the entire lesson speaking to this girl on her left about this girl in front of her. He'd never been surrounded by so many girls (Temari and her friends didn't count. They weren't 'girls', they were just female. Completely different).

"Sakura!" he heard her whisper the second he sat down and he knew without a doubt that he was going to fail History. The seconds she opened her mouth. Or was it the second the girl with pink hair reciprocated with a 'What Ino! What is it?' in one of those overly exaggerated stage whispers which isn't really whispering, just a way of gaining attention. Either way, the only thing Gaara had heard that entire lesson from Iruka, the teacher was 'You can sit there next to Ino!'. After that his ear's were surrounded by talks of a girl called Hinata.

"Look at her! Ive heard she does the diry with Neji!"

"You're joking right? Neji's her cousin! And he hangs around with Sasuke,"

"Sasuke? OhmigodIsawhimearlier!"

"Ohmigodwhere?"

Gaara found it amusing that the more they talked about the pretty boy bastard, the higher pitched and more grating their voices went. He gave them a once over and noticed that they weren't exactly bad looking (not that he knew or was particularly interested). But he immediately disliked them as soon as they spoke. Well, more then he did before seeing them. He disliked everyone in this school. Just that he disliked Naruto a little less.

So that lesson was all in all rather pointless. No notes were taken, and no information on prehistoric medicine was learnt. Had he been anyone else but Gaara he would have sprinted out of that classroom at the sound of the bell. Being Gaara he prefered to glide out of the classroom like it should have been honoured he was even in it. After calmly making his way down the stairs and realising that he in fact had no idea where to go, and letting Naruto tell him would have been a good idea, he decided to take action.

Asking directions was one thing he would never do. His sense of direction was so presice that it was unnecesary. It was just broken. His internal compass was having a bad day. So he went for the next option. He followed the next person who passed him who also looked vaguelly arty.

It wasn't hard. The guy had a ponytail for starts. And this big bang over one of his eyes. If that didn't strike you as 'arty' and slightly gay well, your a lost cause. So Gaara, having nothing else to lose, decided to follow the guy. The fact the guy was carrying a sketch book wasn't the reason he thought he could possibly take art either, no it was Gaara's amazing sense of judgement. So when the guy lead him into an art classroom, Gaara wasn't surprised.

Looking round he saw about twenty students all working on different projects, and one student waving frantically at him. That one student was Naruto ladies and gentlemen.

"Gaara!" he said. Gaara ignored him, but sat down next to him none-the-less.

"How was your first lesson?" he asked. Gaara shrugged.

"That bad eh? Well at least you didn't have Sasuke in your class. He spent the whole lesson lobbing bits of paper at me. Seriously I could have hit him by the end of it," Naruto said nodding.

"You should," Gaara said automatically. Naruto gave him an odd look.

"Not here I couldn't," he said. Gaara decided to leave it there and instead turned to the teacher. Or rather the guy he'd decided to follow.

"Hey hey, look here for just a second yeah?" he said. What did Naruto call him again? Oh yeah, Deidara. Funny name for a funny looking guy.

"Is everyone nearly finished with their projects yeah?" he asked. There was a vague 'yeaah' rippling across the classroom. Gaara watched as the guy seemed to noticed him.

"Oi you, new kid. Ask the guy next to you what to do yeah," he said before turning to scribble something on the board. Gaara turned to Naruto who seemed geared up to tell him what to do. He decided to let him.

"You need to do a project in a certain artists style, copy some of their work and write critical appraisals on what you copy. Know what that is?" Naruto asked. Gaara shook his head.

"You can borrow my guidelines sheet, it says what to include. Wanna see mine?" ah there it was. The real question that Naruto had been dying to ask him. It was so obvious. Gaara considered saying no, but decided against it. It wouldn't do anything, just piss the blond off. So he nodded. The smile that appeared on Naruto's face almost made it worth it for some reason. Almost.

He looked down at the work before him.

"Bleach?" he said, looking at the pictures of the manga in the sketch pad. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah Tite Kubo is one of my favourite artists," he said smiling slightly, tracing one of the characters he'd drawn with his finger. Gaara watched on, slightly surprised at the others actions, but then again not really. It was Naruto he was watching. He felt the need to say something encouraging for some reason.

"It's nice," he said, the words foreign against his tongue, feeling slightly bitter and sounding insincere. Naruto smiled at him though, and thanked him.

That lesson was also a waste of time Gaara thought, thinking back on it as he lay on his bed, lights off, arms folded on chest.

All he had done is watch Naruto draw and forget to ask him to borrow the guidelines sheet. The whole day was pointless.

The lesson he'd had after that had turned out to be double Science with some creepy guy called Orochimaru, who Gaara really didn't want to have detention with the following Friday for having no equipment in his lesson. Safe to say the guy was a twat considering the fact it was his first day in school...ever. But he really couldn't be bothered to argue. He considered hitting him and getting permanently suspended for GBH and assualting a teacher, but that would have caused him to get arrested and he could not be bothered with that. So he was stuck with detention.

Last lesson was English, barely worth mentioning considering he'd spoken the language since he was one. And there was his shitty day, topped off with a bus ride where some idiot had decided that a food fight would be an amazing idea. Where they had got the food from Gaara would like to know. Especially since some of it had gotten on his shoe. Had Gaara actually been paying attention on the bus and noticed this, there would have been trouble. Trouble as in the guy who had thrown it would have been thrown out of the window...or through depending on his mood.

And so he was lying in the dark wishing he'd had coffee that morning. He'd had to have two cups full to the brim as soon as he got back into the house to make up for it. Damn that Naruto for...distracting him. But he was surprised. He was fully expecting before he arrived here to enter the school and go on a mass killing spree. Heck, that's what Temari and Kankurou had expected as well. But no. He'd actually lasted an entire day without maiming another student. Yes, it was probably because he hadn't had coffee or sleep, therefore was not particulary awake, but still it was a small achievement.

A knock against the door caused him to sit up. Even though he knew who it had to be, he couldn't help but be slightly suspicious. Whenever Temari knocked it was to tell him she had cooked some god-awful meal, and whenever Kankuro...well he just didn't avoided Gaara's room altogether. This knocking however was followed by a soft.

"Hey Gaara, can I come in?"

Gaara turned on the light (he was not risking another conversation like the one he had had the day before) and opened the door. He saw the smiling face of Naruto...well not just the smiling face. His body was there as well. His body in tight jeans.

"I see you took my advise about the light," the tight jeans...er, Naruto said gesturing upwards. Gaara ignored him and walked in. His eyes were still adjusting to the the change and he blinked a few times, hoping to clear the fuzziness. When he had eradicated all fuzz, he turned to see Naruto sitting on the floor in his trademark cross-leggedness looking different. Gaara pinned it on the serious expression across his face.

"Okay. Right," the other boy started. Gaara decided against rushing him and just sat patiently waiting for him to continue. He noticed that the other boy had one hand behind his head like he had done earlier that day in the office. Maybe it was a habit.

"You saw me about to jump off the bridge right?" the blonde continued. Gaara nodded feeling slightly uneasy. Or he thought it was uneasieness, he'd never eally felt it before.

"Well, why didn't you stop me?" he heard Naruto ask, and he made the mistake of looking down into wide kicked puppy eyes. Gaara swallowed, clearing his throat slightly.

"It wasn't any of my bussiness. You wanted to die, who was I to stop you," he said, looking straight at Naruto to gage his reaction. He saw the other boy nod.

"See I thought you'd say something like that," Naruto said, and Gaara could see the small smile on his face as the boy watched his own twisting hands lying between his crossed legs.

"I just wanted to tell you that, I'm still going to die," Naruto said, looking up again. Gaara ignored the clenching in his gut as he heard that declaration. He decided not to answer.

"I just wanted you to know. Because, you seem to er...like me," Naruto said. Gaara waited.

"I just want you to know what you're getting into if you er...date me," Gaara couldn't help but notice the blush "because I'm still going to die,"

Gaara also couldn't help but notice the fact that Naruto never once mention the words 'suicide' or said he'd 'kill himself'. He always said 'die'. Gaara decided to test this.

"So you're still going to kill youself?" he asked, seeing the small barely noticable flinch.

"Yeah I'm going to die,"

The way the blond was phrasing it was like he had no choice in the matter. Like he was dying of a disease, not that he was taking his own life. It was almost like the boy was losing his resolve before Gaara's very own eyes. And for some reason, Gaara was glad of that.

"I still want to date you," he said in a monotone in a moment which should have been inappropriate, yet seemed to be the best time to say it. Naruto looked up scrutinising his facial expression, before visibly relaxing.

"Okay then," he heard the blond mutter. Gaara decided to continue.

"When exactly are you planning on doing it?" he asked, fully aware that he was being insensitive, yet justifying it with his own reasoning.

"When I've planned it right," Naruto said. Gaara narrowed his eyes.

"Planned it?" Naruto nodded.

"Everything's got to have a plan. It's all one big plan," he said. Gaara wasn't sure the other was aware of what he had just said. It was unsettling to see such a void expression on the other's face, and was almost glad when the boy seemed to snap out of it with a grin.

"I'll talk to you tomorow," he said, jumping up (quite literally) and planting a small kiss on Gaara's cheek, so fast the red-head could barely react. The boy had left the room before he'd even turned to face the door.

His face burning red (his will power did nothing to battle the raging hormones), he sat feeling confused, not only for himself but the other boy who clearly had no idea what to think. Gaara wasn't even sure Naruto wanted to kill himself anymore. He knew the other boy was saddened, and knew that most of what you saw of him was a careful act, but he seemed to be wavering in his decision.

Gaara, in a spur of the moment kind of thing (whilst still buzzing slightly from Naruto's innocent kiss) decided to make a plan of himself. Naruto was interesting. He (dare he say it) almost kind of maybe liked him. So if the boy killed himself it would be bad on his part also (who else would he kiss?). So Gaara had a plan. He was going to stop Naruto killing himself. He was going to do what he saw in a film one time very late at night on one of those real-life-film programmes. He was going to 'convince him to live'...

tbc.

Tada! I didn't like it..I never do [is nervous] but maybe you did?

It was quite long though, maybe that makes up for it? Please review...I'm losing confidence in my fanfictions...and by the way I AM going to add a new chapter to Pretty Rave Boy (if ya know what I'm talking about) soon...because I have to. And please read my other fic if you like the pairing GrimmIchi...if you don't then read it anyway or some other GrimmIchi because that pairing is love 3 hehe I'm so advertising myself here :)

But please review and give me some advise...this is un beta'd (probably because no beta could put up with my long term writer's blocks) but I hope you liked it ^^

Next chapter: Gaara begins his master 'plan' and possibly learns somethings along the way. Naruto questions his resolve for suicide, but could an incident involving a certain friend of Sasuke set him back? And will Naruto need proffesional help? Tune in for the next installment...when I have written it :3 [goes off to write]