Chapter 7: Presentation is Everything

Okay, so I lied. I said that Gaara would be the only Naruto character but his brother and sister are gonna be in it. There's going to be one more, I figured, but its going to be a surprise. It's killing you, isn't it? Fine, I'll give ya a clue: Stone

I also don't own 'It's Goin' Down' the popular rap song by a band I can't remember

"Gaara! Gaara, over here!" Kazakii waved at him. He stood frozen still holding his trey. "C'mon!" she called. Gaara couldn't move. Kazakii ran up to him. "What's wrong with you? Are you blind, c'mon!" she started to shove him towards the table. Since the day he realized his crush for her, Gaara's emotions had deepened dramatically. He had constantly thought of her, and he knew he had to act normally. He wasn't near ready to reveal his feelings. No, not yet. He needed to find out if she liked him at all, first. "Gaara, this is Mirra and Akail," Kazakii introduced her two friends to the boy.

"Hi!" they both said together.

"…Hi," he sat between Kazakii and Mirra.

"Kazakii? You have my CD?" Akail asked.

"Nnnnooo…" she answered.

"Kazakii!"

"I'm sorry!"

"C'mon, Kazakii! I need to barrow it too!" Mirra complained.

"I'm sorry, I keep forgetting!" she cried.

"If you don't bring it back tomorrow, it's goin' down!" Akail threatened.

"Meet me in the mawl, it's goin' down!" Kazakii responded.

"Meet me in the club, it's goin' down!"

"Okay, okay, it's goin' down, we get it!" Mirra halted the rap song.

"Seriously, bring the CD tomorrow."

"Promise." Gaara looked from Kazakii to Akail, to Mirra, then back to Kazakii. "Welcome to my life, Gaara."

After lunch, theatre…

"Kazakii, I really don't think we'll have enough time to practice."

"We will to."

"Mr. Drune never said-"

"Trust me!" she pointed to herself. "I know Mr. Drune!" the two walked into the class.

"We're presenting as soon as I take roll, be ready," Mr. Drune announced. Gaara slowly turned to Kazakii.

"What?"

"You said…you knew him," he said darkly.

"I do, he's just changed since the last time I saw him."

"Kazakii, what the hell are we gonna do?" Gaara sounded worried.

"We'll just improv."

"What?"

"Make up as you go. You'd be surprised how easy it is."

"I-I can't do that."

"Why?" Gaara's odd behavior peeked Kazakii's interest.

He was silent for a moment. "I-I get nervous on stage. And unless I know what I'm doing, I shut down. My mind goes blank…"

"Aw, poor baby," she patted his head. His face turned a light blush as he turned away.

"Don't mock me."

"I'm not; I have the same problem, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"I do better thinking on my feet than memorizing. Being nervous on stage is nothing to be ashamed of, Gaara. It happens to all of us." He didn't respond. "Tell ya what, you be narrator."

"What? Why?" he asked confused. "I thought you wanted to be narrator?"

"I do, but narrator is always easy. Plus it requires no emotion whatsoever. And people never do the best at what they don't like anyway. I mean, that's the point isn't it? If you don't like comedies, you must not do them well."

"I can too," Gaara mumbled, pouting.

"You're missing the point. It's the same as saying someone doesn't like to draw because they suck at it. Or singing, or sports, or whatever. Get it?"

Gaara blinked. He actually did. He had never thought of it that way before.

"And don't get nervous about improv. Scripts are nothing but guidelines, half of the time. As long as you know the basis of your act, you can wing it."

"B-but Kazakii…" he said pathetically that made him look so huggable. But Kazakii resisted.

"I got your back, Gaara, don't worry. I'll lead ya along," she reassured and smiled.

He swallowed dryly, "Okay."

Minutes later…

"Kazakii and Gaara," Mr. Drune said clearly. The two stood up and moved from the audience to the theatre.

"Remember, breathe, Gaara, breathe," Kazakii whispered. He tried; it didn't work very well.

Kazakii stood center stage, and Gaara stood upstage left. "I feel sorry for Kazakii," whispered Kelo, "she normally does good."

"Yeah, and with that weird guy as her partner, he'll ruin it probably," Dran whispered back.

"Has this ever happened to you?" Gaara held up his hand towards Kazakii.

"Ah, what a beautiful day! I can't wait to breathe in the crisp, fresh air!" she breathed in deeply. "GAH!" she fell over, holding her neck as if choking. She rolled around on the floor as the class begun to laugh.

"Well if it has…" Gaara stopped. He didn't know what to say. He started to panic, his heart racing.

"Don't tell me we've sucked up all the air!" Kazakii gagged.

"Then…you're one unlucky victim of lack of oxygen," Gaara heard himself say. "These days, people are selfishly breathing in large amounts of oxygen for themselves."

"I'm dieing, someone help!" Kazakii said with a raspy voice. The class laughed more.

"If we keep breathing the way we do now, there'll be none left…"

"You! Help! I c-can't breathe!" Kazakii crawled over to Gaara.

"So…so…" his mind slowed down.

"How can you help prevent this from getting worse?"

"So…everyone at Air-in-Us are hard at work packing up as much oxygen as we can…"

"Call 9-1-1!" she grabbed and hugged onto Gaara's leg. He stared blankly at her, unsure of what to think or say at all. "Kick me off," she mouthed.

"So, if…you want to have…enough oxygen…to live a long, healthy…life…" Gaara tried to kick Kazakii off his leg. She fell limply on the ground. "Then call 555-Imcallingthisnumberbecauseisawthiscommercialthatmademewanttobytheproduct now for 10 cases of oxy-bottles for only 10 easy payments of $1000. But if you don't call now, you may end up like her."

Kazakii twitched a number of times, making gurgly noises. Then she sat up, criss-crossed. "Air-in-Us, Air-in-Us, because living is really cool!" she sang. Gaara helped Kazakii up. They turned towards the audience and bowed; they clapped. "Gaara, why did you say you were bad at improv? You were great!"

"I'm…normally not."

"Well, maybe you're outgrowing it," they both sat down.

"Very good, you two," Mr. Drune checked them off the list.

"I can't get over how good you did!" Kazakii whispered, praising.

"It was only because you helped me…"

Kelo looked at Dran, "He wasn't that great."

"Have to admit, he did better than I thought."

"It was all Kazakii."

"Kelo…you're not jealous are you?" He didn't answer.

End Chapter