Dicslaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Chapter Seven - Gaara!

Naruto made his way slowly to his next class, thankful that he hadn't needed a physics book yet since he hadn't ever made it to the library. Hopefully he could get through the day without his books so that he didn't miss out on anything. Next class: Algebra. His teacher seemed too young to be a teacher, again, and had the same golden blond hair that Naruto did. His name was Deidara; it was written on the black board. What made Naruto happy about this class was the familiar redhead that walked through the door a moment after he had taken his seat. Naruto waved to get his attention and gestured to the desk next to him. "Gaara! Thank God you're here. I've been having the worst day. Seeing someone I know was definitely much needed."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Gaara replied, his smile turning into a frown. "What exactly has been happening?"

"Well, I haven't slept at all since Friday night, and even that sleep sucked, so I was having trouble really focusing on anything. I get here and head to the library to get my books and wham! Next thing I know I'm sprawled on the floor and I can't breathe. Then I wake up in the nurse's office and she says I just jostled a few of my broken ribs and I'm good to go, but I'm already late. I HATE being late. Then when I get to class everyone is staring at me and my teacher is way over the top. When I go to sit down, the only empty sit is next to, guess who, the guy who slammed into me in the hall and he's a total prick. Now I'm stuck at the same lab table as the stupid teme and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"Wow. That does suck. Um, why do you have broken ribs?"

Naruto felt his face flush and he muttered, "Nevermind."

Gaara looked suspicious. "Are your new foster parents treating you right?"

"No it wasn't them! It was my last ones. My new ones have never been anything but nice to me. Please don't say things like that or someone might report it and I'll be taken away."

"Sorry." Naruto just gave him a half smile. "So, who was this jerk who knocked you over?"

"On the sheet of questions that Gai gave us he wrote Sasuke Uchiha."

"Oh. I know him. He is a shit head. And wow. You have Gai. That sucks. I'm not taking science this year. I did AP biology for one of my electives last year, so I thought I'd take a break."

"I wish I could take a break. That guy is just so effervescent."

"Um, he's what?" Gaara asked, perplexed.

"Um, enthusiastic or bubbly. Sorry. It's one of my favorite words so I use it a lot."

"Okay. I've never heard of it before."

Naruto laughed ruefully and then Deidara called the class to order. "Hello everyone. As we all know, nothing really happens on the first day, so today we will be introducing ourselves and talking about our syllabus." Everyone groaned. "First we'll do roll call." It took him almost five minutes to do that since he didn't know everybody in here. "Alright miss. Please stand up and tell us about yourself."

A pretty blonde stood up and smiled confidently at the room at large. "My name is Ino Yamanaka. My family owns the only flower store in this town. My dad is a detective at the local police station. My mother is an entrepreneur. I'm going to be a doctor when I get done with my schooling. My favorite food is grapes and my favorite color is purple." She sat down.

"Thank you Ms. Yamanaka." And so it went. When it was Gaara's turn Naruto got nervous. That meant he was next.

"My name is Gaara Kage. My family owns a very successful horse training business. My dad is the head of the operation. My sister is going to college to be an FBI agent, and my brother is currently at an acting school on the west coast. I plan to be a journalist. My favorite food is anything with apples in it and my favorite color is black." He sat down. Naruto gulped.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My dad Kakashi is the chief of police at the local precinct. My other dad, Iruka, is a professor at the university here. I'm going to be a social worker. My favorite food is pretty much any kind of mexican food and my favorite color is orange." He said it all as quickly as possible and plopped back down into his seat then paled from the radiating pain that caused. Gaara gave him an encouraging look. Class was very boring when everyone was done because all they did was listen to the teacher talk about the calculator they would need, as well as all the cheaper items like grid paper. Even though he was nearly falling asleep again he didn't want to go because he knew he didn't have history with Gaara. The bell rang and the two of them walked as slowly as possible until they were the last ones out of the class and then bid each other goodbye. He found his history class and saw that all of the desks were arranged in a circle. He thought it was rather odd, but didn't object when he saw that there were little index cards with their names on them. He found his seat and sat down. When the teacher came in he was practically followed by a cloud of smoke and Naruto tried not to cough. The man waved at him and took his seat at his chair in the middle. The other students filed in and Naruto groaned when he saw that usuratonkachi. He mentally sighed at himself as his old habit got the better of him. He'd picked up some nicknames from that comic he'd read when he was a child and they happened to be in Japanese, so he liked to call people names in Japanese. He'd thought he had outgrown the habbit. History was boring for the first day. The teacher called roll, talked to them briefly, and then let them have free time. It seemed like everyone had someone to talk to except for him. Then the boy on his right, Shikamaru Nara according to his index card, gave him a lazy look and said, "They act like they never get a chance to talk outside of this class. It's annoying."

He grinned. The boy on his right leaned around him so that he could be part of the conversation. "I know, right? Hey Shikamaru. This is that new kid I was telling you about that was in my physics class." He turned to Naruto. "I'm Choji Akimichi."

"Hey. I didn't realize you were in that class. I was a bit flustered, with being late and meeting Gai and all."

"That's understandable. I hate being late."

"Me too."

"Doesn't bother me," Shikamaru interjected.

"That's cuz you're lazy Shika," Choji pointed out. Naruto tried desperately not to laugh.

"Only when it comes to school. Otherwise I'm at home cleaning for my mom or out sparring with my dad at my karate class. I should get to be lazy sometimes and this is the only opportunity I get. It's not like my grades suffer."

"Stupid genious," Choji muttered.

"So when did you move here Naruto?" Shikamaru inquired politely, trying to re-include him in the conversation.

"About two weeks ago."

"Do you have a job yet? You are sixteen right?"

"Yes and yes. I train this horse for a friend of mine. They seem to think he's stubborn though I don't see it. I think he's just playful."

"That's cool. Who are your parents? I haven't heard of anyone new moving in?" Choji asked.

"Kakashi Hatake and Iruka Umino." They're eyes widened.

"One of your dad's is the chief of police? Did you live with your mom before or something?"

"Yeah he is, and no. I'm, uh, in the system."

"Oh. Sorry for bringing it up. My dad is a karate instructor. He's a martial arts nutt. Choji's dad is a massage therapist. Our moms are both stay at home types. What about that Iruka guy. What does he do?"

"He's a professor."

"That's cool. Who is it that you work for? I might know them," Choji said.

"Shukaku Kage." Shikamaru blushed slightly and Choji chuckled. "Do you guys know him?"

"Shikamaru here dated Temari for a while. That's Shukaku's daughter in case you didn't know. They tried to do a long distance relationship, but it didn't work out because they didn't even get to talk much so she told him to hurry up and graduate already so that he could get his butt out there. His birthday falls after the cut off so he started a year later than she did even though he's older than her by eleven months. She also skipped a grade when he did, so he couldn't catch up to her. They're both turning seventeen now, but Shikamaru is a senior and he's planning on leaving to go live with her when he graduates. She lives with her brother out on the west coast."

"Wow. I had no idea. Well, good luck man." Shikamaru sighed.

"Thanks. I'm going to need it. I swear she's like a whirlwind. At least I'm graduating after winter break."

"That's good at least. How long has it been since you broke up?"

"About two months... until she came back the other day..."

"YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO ME!" Choji pretty much shouted, but everyone was making so much noise that they didn't notice.

"Well maybe if you didn't tease me so much."

"Okay. I won't. Now spill."

"She said that she was miserable without me and wanted me back even if we didn't get to talk much. She said that's why she decided on a surprise visit home. She just couldn't go a day longer without seeing me and seeing if we could go back. She said that in her mind, we were never even broken up, she just didn't want me to follow her because I felt obligated and wanted to give me an out if I decided that moving out there wasn't what I wanted. And then we, well, you know."

Naruto cleared his throat a little uncomfortably. "Well, I'm glad everything worked out."

"Me too. I was starting to go stark raving mad without her." He looked a little pale at the memory. "I thought I might kill someone soon."

"Glad you got back together before school started then," Choji remarked. The rest of the class passed in much the same way. When the bell rang he went to the library to finally get all of his materials. He ran into Gaara who happened to have A lunch, which meant it came after the second class period, and then had the third class slot empty. They made their way to a vending machine where Naruto got lunch, donuts and a soda, and then worked their way over to the place Naruto had been trying to get to all day. He finally got all of his books and he sat down in front of his locker to seperate them.

"Why do you have two backpacks?" Gaara questioned with a quirked brow.

The orange one is for 'red' days and the black one is for 'green' days. I like to keep my days straight." Gaara shrugged indifferently. Naruto left both backpacks in his locker since he had no homework yet.

"Do you have to walk home?"

"Yeah. My dad thinks it builds character or something like that."

"Huh. Well, Iruka doesn't get into town until four thirty and Kakashi is usually gone until six or so, so I can walk with you."

"You really want to stay at school longer than you have to?"

"I don't mind. I might go back to the library and check out a book, or even visit the prinicpal again."

"Okay. It doesn't sound appealing to me, but I wouldn't mind someone to walk with so I won't try to change your mind."

"Hey Gaara? Did you know Temari has a boyfriend?"

"You mean Shikamaru? Yeah. They've liked each other since she beat him up when she was in sixth grade and he finally asked her out when they were in middle school together. See, he skipped sixth and she skipped seventh, so it was only a year before they were together."

"Wow. And they've made it this far? That was what, five years ago?"

"About that, yeah."

"That's amazing. It gives a guy hope, you know?"

"Have you had a bad relationship or something? I mean, most relationships don't last that long unless you find the right one, so I don't see why it would change how you feel about anything."

"No. I've never had a girlfriend or anything. I just thought it was nice, that's all. Most of the couples I've met who've been together a while are pretty messed up." He bit his lip. Moment of truth. Did he tell him all of it? "But, I did have a boyfriend once. He was quite a bit older than me and it only lasted a couple of days if I remember correctly."

"Wow. I didn't know you were gay."

"I'm not... I don't think..."

"Then curious, perhaps?"

"More like convenient." Gaara just waited patiently. "I was kind of like his rebound... after he got out of jail... and it was hard to say no to someone who was so nice to me..."

"Wow. I'm sorry. That sucks. How long was he in jail?"

"Six years."

"When you say older, how much older do you mean?"

"Um. He was twenty-five and I was thirteen..."

"Holy shit Naruto! That was jailbait! How far did you take things?" he gasped. Naruto was silent. "You didn't. Please tell me you didn't sleep with him? God, that was statutory rape!"

"I didn't sleep with him. Honest. It just... went farther than it was supposed to..."

"How far? Naruto, you're killing me here."

"Um, well, he wanted a blow job..."

"Did you give him one?"

"Not exactly..."

"You mean he... forced you?" Naruto refused to meet his eyes. He just shrugged a little jerkily. Suddenly he was in Gaara's arms. The redhead was actually hugging him. "I'm sorry. That sucks. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I've just never had a regular relationship so I only have that one to compare things with."

"I get it. You don't have to explain. I just hope you find someone who's good for you this time."

"Me too." Naruto pulled away and foced a smile. "You're going to be late for class." Naruto really laughed at the comical way his friend's eyes widened as he said a quick goodbye and rushed off to the other side of the school just as the bell rang and the hall became crowded. Naruto made his way to the library again.

To be honest, this story is set in the U.S. because that's the only place I've ever lived. Mentions of out west are Arizona and thereabouts, the west coast is Cali, the whole thing with Zabuza is on the east side of the map, Tennesse, as well as the part with Nagato which takes place in Kentucky. They're currently in Colorado. I figured I'd leave out names, but it's been bugging me that I'm writing in America and have exclusively Japanese names. My reasoning? Everyone already knows those names. So, because I don't want to offend anyone of that orientation or culture I am not even attempting to place it in Japan and would like you disregard the names of the characters. Just pretend it's perfectly natural for EVERYONE to have a japanese name since it is fanfiction after all. :D