Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO, if I did, Konohamaru's "Sexy Style: Double Knockout Guys Technique" would have featured a Naruto-seme, I mean, there is no way the kid should've have known how older Sasuke would look like.
FYI: Hey, guys! Have you noticed that most of the NaruIno here are becoming repetitive? It's either "Naruto has been wronged and now is destroyed" or "We are both blondes, hurray!" Well, at least in the fanfics I've read because if you must know I have stopped reading any NaruIno fanfic were those two have always been in love with each other but never acted on it. If one simple act of kindness was all that was needed for those two to fall in love with each other then they would have become a couple right after Kakuzu was destroyed.
A/N: Thanks to your amazing reviews I got into spirit to revive this chapter, for you see, the minute I uploaded the previous chapter I got into a major writing spree and started typing my Gaara chapter from my mind to the computer. I told myself, "Hey, in four days I can already upload this mega awesome chapter!" But on the third day when I already had 13-14 pages saved I came home to find out that my computer had crashed. Not only was my chapter gone but also my upcoming deviations, school written projects that were still to be printed, scholarship acceptance speeches and all the stories I've written but didn't bother uploading. And as you could imagine this was not a good thing to happen to someone who only had three weeks left into the semester. Oh well, what past is past. I had to start everything from zero again.
WARNING: Indecent amounts of fan-service! Haha, I'm joking… or am I? Aside from that, beware of Gaara (syn. Violence).
-x-x-x-(Love only yourself and fight only for your sake)-x-x-x-
Chapter Seven: "A Meaningful Existence"
"Relax, Temari" they said. "Take it easy, Tem" they said. But who do they think they were telling her how to react?
It was not relaxing. It was not easy.
Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Take a deep breath. Let it out. Relax.
She glanced at her younger brother with affection in her eyes. He really was a sight to be seen. His short blood colored hair, wild and untamed, his translucent white skin that showed no evidence of bruises, his smoothly sculpted face and those mesmerizing blue-green eyes held captive by thick dark rims. On his forehead there was a vivid red kanji for the word "love". Still to this day she had no idea how her brother got that kanji there. His bone structure was slim and light-weight but his body still held defined clear-cut muscles that showed he was no pushover.
He kept himself quiet, entrapped in his little world as he built his sandcastle. As always, he used sand from a specific spot, leaving there a crater next to his castle. Playing with the sand had always calmed him. Temari knew this and that's why she had suggested they go to the beach today. Around the sand her brother was so tranquil that no one would suspect how mentally perturbed the redhead really was. His name was Gaara.
Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Take a deep breath. Let it out. Relax.
She glanced at her other brother with slight annoyance in her eyes. He was a sight to be ignored. He was a seventeen-year-old and he still played with those dolls he calls "puppets". Right now he was calmly putting together a deformed figure with four arms and two legs. She believed he called it "Black Ant". It irritated her because she knew no girl would come near a guy who plays with dolls.
Thankfully she managed to get him out without him wearing that purple face paint nor that full-body black attire of his. Sure, his swimming trunks were still black but now the world could see his brusque and bulky physique. Ripped arms and legs, broad chest and shoulders, and a strong back. His face wasn't what someone would call "sculpted by the gods", particularly his wider nose but like his siblings he still had those same mesmerizing blue-green eyes, even though his eyes were more green than blue. His name was Kankuro.
Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Take a deep breath. Let it out. Relax.
She glanced at both her brothers again. They looked calm, so carefree and tranquil. She couldn't take it anymore.
"How the heck can you two just sit there and act like nothing is wrong!" she shouted, gritting her teeth in annoyance, "Am I the only one that sees the problem here?"
Kankuro, shifting his attention to his sister, tried to ease her by pronouncing the accursed word, "Relax," only to end with her glaring at him. "Look, Tem," he tried to reason, "Gaara got into a fight, got expelled for sending some kid to the hospital but he also already got enrolled to another school. Problem solved." He announced proud of his reasoning, "Nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about?" Temari retorted, sounding offended by Kankuro's reasoning, or lack of, "My baby bother sent someone to the hospital… AGAIN!" she shouted, her urges to strangle someone becoming too apparent. She sighed loudly before opting to confront her younger brother about it, albeit with a sweeter tone to her voice. "Gaara… did you at least had a good reason for beating the brat up like that?"
Kankuro could tell Temari was trying her hardest to contain her fury. A fury she was more likely to take out on Kankuro than Gaara. That's why the brunet hoped with all his might that if justice really did exist in this world, Gaara's excuse would be reasonable.
But when Gaara nonchalantly answered "He disrespected the funk." Kankuro face-palmed himself for forgetting that for a middle child like himself and so many others out there, there was no such thing as justice.
"The funk?" Temari all but exploded, "Are you telling me that the reason you got expelled is because some no-name disrespected THE FUNK?"
"And the looked at me the wrong way."Gaara added quickly, as if it would somehow validate his actions.
Some silence ensued until Kankuro figured they were waiting to the middle child to speak, after all, proud as they were, none of them liked monopolizing the conversation. "Relax, Tem," the middle one said, "at least dad managed to get Gaara enrolled to Konoha High."
"I guess," the eldest figured, still somewhat irked by how guilt-free everyone was about this, especially her misunderstood little brother. "Gaara!" she barked, "For father to get you enrolled into another school this late in the semester he had to pull some big strings. At least tell me you showed him some gratitude. You owe him that much."
Gaara pause his work on the sandcastle for a second, upset by what Temari dared assume. So without even sparing her a glance he answered with his usual restrained impassive tone. "I owe that man nothing. I got accepted at Konoha because of my scores. He is no father of mine."
Temari rolled her eyes at that. "You can't keep being this cold to people. Can't you warm up a little?" she asked, having had this conversation with her little brother many times before, "You're never going to get friends like thi-"
"Tem!" Kankuro shouted, trying to prevent her from finishing that sentence. But it was already too late; the forbidden word had already resurfaced.
"Friends"
The elder siblings kept themselves at bay, watching with morbid fear as Gaara clenched and unclenched his hands into fists. They knew it was taboo to remind the redhead how severely lacking in the "friend" department he was. The perturbed child hated the hypocrisy that surrounded said word. At anytime Gaara was sure to explode into a tirade of self-hate and rage. That's why Temari and Kankuro were so taken off-guard when their little brother resumed with his sand project. The crater next to his castle only becoming deeper.
"Say…" Temari started, trying to dissolve the tension that accumulated in the air, "how about you let your sister apply you some sun-block?" she said sweetly to Gaara before barking at the other, "Kankuro, pass me the lotion."
"Eh? Weren't you supposed to bring it?"
"Nooo, I drive and you bring the lotion. That's how it works, now where is it?"
"I… um, didn't bring it."
"You know how sensitive Gaara's skin is!" She said between gritted teeth, showing her disappointment in him. She swore she always felt like if her brothers didn't appreciate all her hard work as the oldest sibling. "Forget it," she said dismissively, grabbing the keys to the car, "I'll go buy some."
"Gum," Gaara quickly voiced, "get me gum."
"Sure thing," Temari replied, happy that her baby brother was still talking to her even after her slip. Then she scowled at the other one and waved a finger at him. "Kankuro, don't forget to look after Gaara."
"Yeah yeah," Kankuro agreed unenthusiastically. It was always like this. Temari would act very protective of Gaara but would bark orders at Kankuro. He hated his position in the family. He was not a blonde like she was, not a red head like Gaara, he was just a plain brunet. The unappreciated middle child.
Well, at least now that Temari has gone elsewhere, Kankuro was sure the ladies would start coming his way now. Not that Temari was bad looking but her imposing presence always kept people at a distance. So "eh?" he felt a tight knot in his insides. "Heheh, nature calls. I'll be back in a sec."
This time Gaara did spare a glance to where Temari and Kankuro were previously stationed only to see none of them were there anymore, leaving him alone to his sand. Not that the redhead minded, he liked being alone.
His sandcastle was complete. He was sure that if Temari was here she would say, "It's perfect. How do you do this? You should be an architect or something." But Gaara could care less about the future. He had no plans for it.
Maybe he should take a picture of the castle, just for keeps. It's not like if he had anything better to do. Yet when he turned to search for his camera phone he heard a loud "thump" coming from the location of his craft.
"The fuck?" cursed a man with Speedos on, presumably of the same age as Temari, digging his hands through the remains of the castle to find his phone. "Damn," he cursed again when he noticed he accidentally hung it off. His eyes immediately darted off to meet with the blue-green eyes of Gaara. "Hey brat, I was having an important call."
"Then maybe you should pay attention to where you walk." retorted Gaara through gritted teeth. His morning work, destroyed.
"Shut it, smart mouth". The stranger said, standing upright and easily towering over the relatively shorter redhead. "Well lookie what we have here," the stranger leered sliding his fingers under Gaara's shin to pull him closer. "Who let a cute little hole like you all alone here?" The stranger then ogled the redhead from head to toe, a perverted grin plastered on his face. "Yeah, I think you owe me something."
--(Elsewhere at the beach)--
Ino was still furious about her recent school week and she was letting every bystander know of it as she kept ranting and cursing the name of Tsunade. The Queen Bee was still sore about the outfit restrictions principal Tsunade had imposed. "Pfft… the hypocrite! At least I wear a bra!"
Still, she knew that complaining about it wasn't going to solve her current issue. That's why she opted to go through a morning walk. Maybe some healthy exercise was all she needed to come up with a fail-proof plan to further secure her position as the most popular girl in Konoha High.
Before she knew it she was jogging around the beach and in the middle of her wailing she happened to caught a glimpse of Tenten in a red bikini. "Oh yeah, that junior high student is on lifeguard duty". She recalled. A little farther ahead she saw the oil painter she remembered as Sai. "I think that dark haired pretty boy is in the same year as that hottie, Neji." Then just a few spaces ahead she spotted Kiba arguing about something that Shino was clearly not listening to.
"Okay, so that's four people I know." Ino counted to herself, "It's a shame there aren't more of them. Then I would just go out there and show off my perfect bikini figure".
"Hey…" she said, her voice becoming cheerfully devilish, a clear sign of schemes developing in the inner sanctum of the Yamanaka mind, "it's not like if I couldn't make more people come around."
Oh yeah, she liked the direction her plan was heading. She rubbed her hands together as she cooked up a strategy. She, of course, couldn't make it seem like if she just invited people over so that she could flaunt her stuff. But then again, who said she had to be the one sending the invitations?
She grinned evilly. Her plan would require a little manipulation, but then again, mind manipulation was always one of her favorite pastimes.
She called Shikamaru and Chouji – correction – she called Shikamaru's and Chouji's mothers. She was pretty aware that those two boys were pretty capable of saying "no" to her but if she called their mothers, said mothers would get excited because a pretty girl had called their sons. In other words, the boys wouldn't be able to deny her invitation because if they did their mothers would start questioning their reasoning and more importantly, their sexuality. After all, what guy in their right mind would say "no" to pretty and innocent little Ino? And the heavens knew that the last thing any growing boy wanted was to give their mom a reason to question their sexual preference. Parents could be relentless with the topic when their minds were set on it. Ino also took the opportunity to order them to invite any other classmate they were friends with.
Needless to say, Shikamaru and Chouji resentfully agreed to come.
That oh so clever banshee!
--(Back to Gaara)--
When Temari and Kankuro came back from their recent activities they noticed three things were not as before.
Number One: Both of them were away for a measurable amount of time, meaning, Gaara was left without surveillance for that same amount of time.
Number Two: The sandcastle Gaara had built was no longer there, nor was the crater he had dug. Instead, a single plastic bucket laid there.
Number Three: Gaara sat against a palm tree, looking appeased, with a barely noticeable smile on his face, but a smile no less.
"With sand I can do anything," were the only words offered by Gaara.
Temari broke out of her stupor first and handed her little brother the gum he had requested. The redhead accepted the gum and began chewing, expecting the girl to move ahead with whatever she wanted to do next. When she refused to leave his side he looked up and noticed the "I know you did something" look in her eyes.
He started at her with disinterest and answered the unspoken question with a "Now I owe him nothing."
The jaw of both elder siblings dropped, and when Temari's eyes drifted towards the plastic bucket, Kankuro understood that it was up to him to investigate. Slowly he made his way to the bucket; afraid it might somehow come to life and attack him.
Taking one last step forward he lifted said bucket.
"What the heck is this?" Kankuro asked angrily, pointing at the beat-up face of a stranger with his mouth stuffed with what probably were his own Speedos.
"A sand burial." Gaara answered, scowling at Kankuro for asking something that looked so obvious.
"Gaara!" Temari complained, massaging the temples in her head, "You can't keep doing stuff like this! This is why you got expelled!" but then she turned to her other brother and said "But I understand its Kankuro's fault for leaving you alone."
"My fault? You're the one who forgot the sun-block!"
"No, I'm in charge of the car keys, you of the sun-block! Besides, why weren't you watching Gaara? You know better that to leave him without surveillance!"
"Well I'm sorry nature decided to call. I had to shit, not my fault."
"You're a male, dammit, can't you do your business on a palm tree-eh? Gaara? Where are you going?"
Gaara was already eleven steps away from them with his bucket, his camara-phone and his sun-block in hand. Sighing with impassiveness, the redhead answered, "Away, you people are too loud."
This time it was Kankuro who snapped first from his temporary stupor and ran after Gaara, "Wait up, you can't leave!" but when the redhead paid no heed, the brunet grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. "Dammit Gaara, I said stop!" he scowled, "Sometimes you got to listen to your big brother."
Gaara's eyes narrowed at that. "Then it's a shame I've not once thought of you guys as my siblings. Get in my way… and I'll kill you."
"Don't say such cold things." Temari interceded, "Please listen to your sister, okay?"
Gaara started at the pleading looks of both his siblings before replying with less murderous instinct, "I want to be alone."
--(Back to the students of Konoha High)--
Today wasn't anymore interesting than any other day that Tenten had kept watch of the waters. Nobody ever came close to drowning and needing a lifeguard to rescue them and treat them to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She recalled a blonde girl that always had her hair tied in a ponytail once saying that the reason Tenten was always bored on duty was because no guy ever faked drowning just to get a kiss from her.
The nerve of that blonde girl! Was she suggesting that Tenten wasn't attractive?
Even so, Tenten had made a conscious effort today to look more alluring. Instead of the usual one piece she wore to work she decided to try on a red bikini. She was pleasantly surprised when she noticed how well she managed to pull off that perfect bikini line. Now if only she was a little more stacked in the upper regions, oh well, in time it will come. She was also glad of how comfortable she felt in her bikini, she had an even toned body because of all the sports she played, adding perfectly defined arms, legs and stomach as a bonus. She even braided her usual hair buns.
Now if only the man of her dreams would search for her and say, "Ah there you are, Tenten, I've been looking everywhere for you."
She blushed at that. Was her ability to fantasize becoming stronger or did she actually really hear Neji's voice.
"Tenten, I suggest you look me in the eyes when I speak to you." A commanding voice said.
"Eh?" Tenten snapped out of her daze to notice that Neji in fact was in front of her. She blushed. "N-Neji, what are you doing here?"
"As I said earlier, I've been everywhere looking for you." He answered diligently as always. The girl wanted to squeal right here and then but played it cool instead. It seemed that sporting a bikini actually helped her get her man. So playing it cool she leaned forward and asked, "You've been looking for me, what for?"
"Here," Neji answered by shoving Rock Lee towards her, "You forgot you were suppose to keep watch of Lee today so to erase your little blunder I went to the trouble of delivering him to you personally." He stated matter-o-factly, "But worry not, now the world doesn't have to know of your little act of negligence."
"…" Tenten stared at Neji with narrow eyes. That had to be the most unromantic furthest thing from a love confession he had ever said to her. He couldn't even compliment her bold bikini choice? How could this day possibly get any worse?
"Oh my gosh! Everybody set their eyes to the east!" Rock Lee shouted enthusiastically, impolitely pointing at his targets, "It would seem that Naruto-kun and his friends are having a very youthful get-together between guys our age. And our most un-youthful classmate Sai seems to be joining them. We should all extend our desires of male bonding with them while our flames of youth are still burning with passion!"
With that he held a bone-crushing grip on Neji and Tenten and dragged them towards Naruto's direction, blissfully ignoring the complaints of the two. Tenten shouting, "Male bonding? Let me go I'm a girl!" and Neji saying something along the lines of, "A gathering of idiots is hardly something I would like to partake in,"
Neji in particular did not want to greet the oil painter. Sai was a new student this semester and when those two had first met, Neji was quick to let the other know what his thoughts were on the way Sai dressed. Neji found it offensive how small Sai's shirts were, so small in fact that it would always rise up to expose everything but his chest. But all Sai did was to offer a little creepy smile as a response. That unnerved the Hyuuga to no end. If Neji was going to insult him, he could at least have the decency to look offended.
--(Naruto and Friends)--
"And then SMACK!" Naruto retold, smacking Sasuke's back for some added sound effects, "Kakashi-sensei threw his porn book at my face for wondering if Hinata was blind." Shikamaru and Chouji started to laugh at that. Even Sasuke did after playfully smacking Naruto hard on the back as well.
They'd been enjoying Naruto's retelling of everything that had happened to him during the week as they searched for a spot to settle down. The blond clown was about to tell another story when from beside a palm tree a shadowy figure murmured, "It's been quite some time, Naruto."
"Eh?" Naruto stopped moving when he heard his name being called. The one who spoke it was standing tall against a palm tree, his skin was very light from lack of sun exposure, and his brown hair was untamed but kept up with a headband. His eyes hidden behind dark lenses.
"Who are you?" asked the blond.
The addressed stranger took a step forward and answered, "It's me."
"Huh?" the blond wondered, eyeing the other closely 'til he noticed a bug flying by. "Ahhhh," Naruto announced excitingly when he thought he was coming up with a name, but his brain efforts failed and he resumed with an unsure, "umm,".
The tall figure sighed and said, "Even if it's been a while, you should remember your classmates' faces. Why? Because otherwise you will hurt their feelings when they call out to you."
"Um," Naruto pondered, "That annoying way of talking…" "AH!" he nodded to himself before smiling at the other, "You must be… Shino!"
"So you finally remembered?" Shino asked, clearly disappointed in the other. So Naruto, feeling like he needed to defend himself from the low standards his friends were probably having of him, added loudly, "It's not my fault! No one's gonna recognize you without your coat hiding your entire body!"
Shino was about to reproach to that when a third party interrupted him. It was Kiba.
"Oi Shino, got us some drinks!" Kiba jeered, his voice sounding a little tipsy, a clear sign that the piña coladas in his hands were not virgin coladas.
"Dog breath!" Naruto waved "hello" flailing his hands like and idiot as he ran his way towards Kiba, unintentionally leaving Shino internally sulking that the blond managed to recognize Kiba at first glance.
"Oi, Fox boy!" Kiba hollered, and as usual, once Naruto was at arms length he wrapped one arm over the shoulders of the blond and smirked. Only to realize the mistake he just did. Sure, he had wrapped an arm around Naruto many times before but this time they were both shirtless. It meant that their skins were brushing against each others', that their body heat were mixing (rising in Kiba's case), and that the little body hair they had was tickling each other.
Kiba's brain was staring to function slowly on account that all of his blood was being pumped toward his other head. And he was also trying to fight off the sudden need he had to lean even closer against Naruto and there he say it, cuddle. He was sure anytime now Naruto would begin to wonder why Kiba's body temperature kept getting hotter and hotter but Kiba couldn't just suddenly pull away from the other. Not only would it raise suspicion but he sorta really kinda liked Naruto's body heat. Meaning, he just had to look for a way to distract everyone from noticing the reactions his body was having towards blond. And with a little scouting, find it he did.
"Oi Naruto," Kiba said, controlling his voice so that it sounded bored, "don't look now but the ice princess is coming our way."
Naruto followed the direction of Kiba's gaze only to see Neji, Lee and Tenten heading their way.
"Hey bushy brows!" Naruto said excitedly and Lee returned the gesture with equal fervor. "Bushy brow, you doing ok?"
Kiba felt himself relaxed then, but made a mental note to not have any further physical contact with Naruto for the rest of the day since apparently the brunet had some sort of fever that started up every time Naruto got too close. "I don't have a crush on Naruto! I don't have a crush o Naruto! I don't have a crush on Naruto!"
"I am doing great, Naruto-kun," Lee answered, releasing the iron grip he had on Neji and Tenten, "after my failure at the DDR Hall of Fame I feel like I have been revived ten times stronger than before. I am just burning with the flames of our youthful years! So much that I feel like if can do twenty laps around the beach, in fact, I think I will do forty!"
"No no," Tenten shook her head rapidly, trying to dissuade her muscle jock of a friend from attempting any physical labor, "No need to push yourself too much!" But her words fell on deaf ears.
"Time me, Tenten!" Lee shouted in what was to be dubbed his 'declaration of will' cry.
"No, Lee, you shouldn't really…" sighs, "One second, two seconds, three seconds," she repeated to herself dreadfully as she watched her timer go by. Lee was already leaving a trail of sand clouds as he ran. When met with the questioning looks of the other guys she sighed and answered, "Yes, this has happened so many times before that I actually always come prepared with a timer".
"Damn," Shikamaru thought, "With friends as troublesome like Neji and Lee, I can't help but to pity the girl". He went to share his thought with his best friend only find Chouji crying his eyes out as Rock Lee acted like a drill sergeant and made the Akimichi run laps around the beach with calls like, "C'mon my fat friend, run with all your youth!" "Yosh! You are already sweating this much, my fat friend? That is very un-youthful." and "Do not worry my fat friend, after this is all over I will treat you to a nice and healthy salad but without the dressings".
Neji, seeing that Lee and Tenten were already occupied, deemed that he had set the world straight once more and could now leave with a peace of mind. And would've done so if not for the loud "Charlie's Angels" music that started pounding into his ears and that of every other that resided within a three mile radius.
The guys all stared in awe and shock. Tenten tilted her head in confusion at the display before her. Neji narrowed his eyes dangerously, the veins around his eyes now evident.
The Angels had arrived.
The angel at the right side had defining curves everywhere the eye could meet. From the waist down, her smooth and curvy legs paced elegantly through the unforgiving hot sand. From the waist up to the neck she was covered by a white jacket so there wasn't much to peep at. But the timid little smile set on that wholesome beautiful face went well with the heartwarming pale eyes of the Hyuuga girl. Her long dark-blue hair was flowing elegantly with the soft saltwater breeze, contrasting perfectly with her light eyes and skin. Her name was Hinata.
The angel on the left-side had stomped on the sand with sheer confidence. Every bit of her body was sculpted and defined with smooth muscle fiber. She was sporting a two piece, her top being strapless and with frilly layers, perfect for showing off her sculpted shoulders and her fitted stomach. Her beautiful oval face containing what might be defined as the perfect nose. The brilliant sun enhancing the luster of her waist long pink hair and sparkling emerald eyes. Her name was Sakura.
The angel in the middle, however, showed no halo as she strutted her way through the sand. It was her usual walk and smirk, the one that told you she knew a secret you were dying to find out. Her hips swayed with a sensual rhythm that invited the guys to follow. Her risqué yet tasteful lace bikini tempted all bystanders to glance and appreciate her long legs and her evenly toned body filled with the lithe muscle that suggested she was very flexible. She sensually flipped her long blonde hair so that the breeze could get a hold of her ponytail and fling it to frame her flawless face.
Once the angels arrived to where the Konoha guys were, the "Charlie's Angels" music died down and the angel in the middle slowly grazed her index finger horizontally over her supple bosom as she said, "Hola boys, lucky you to find us here."
Her name was Ino, and now she had expertly managed to get the guys to focus on her breast (which is the real reason she invited Sakura and Hinata to come along. She knew that the shy Hyuuga girl would probably wear a jacket over the swimsuit, and Ino also knew Sakura's bra size. In other words, not only were Sakura and Hinata no competition but by comparison Ino would have the only set of boobs the male eye could concentrate on).
Ino really had to hand it to Shikamaru and Chouji, though. When she told them to invite people over she expected them to invite Naruto and a couple of no-names. But how they managed to have both Neji and Sasuke here was beyond her.
Ino was pleasantly delighted to see that Sasuke was all she dreamt of in his topless glory. Everything about his body was manly yet lithe. Perfect for her hands to roam without encountering any unnecessary bumps. His light skin and oddly shaped dark hair gave him that vampy look she loved on guys.
"Tenten," Neji whispered dangerously low behind gritted teeth and Tenten understood what he was asking of her. Neji was not keen to the idea of Hinata hanging around socialites with a reputation like Ino and Sakura had, attention craving fangirls, meaning that he won't have a peace of mind unless Hinata was being chaperoned. And since Neji couldn't exactly follow Hinata to the ladies' room if the event were to occur he was soliciting Tenten stayed to fulfill that role.
"Hai, hai," Tenten agreed dejectedly, mentally reprimanding herself for selling herself short just to relieve the guy she was crushing on, "just let me see if I can get someone to fill my lifeguard duty for me."
"Very well," Neji conceded, heading straight towards the Uchiha. Well if he had to stay he might as well have some fun. "Well it appears that fate once again had played to my favor," he announced, snatching a volleyball Shikamaru was using as a pillow and throwing it towards the Uchiha who caught it with relative ease. Neji bypassed the girls, not even sparing them a glance, and challenged the vampy looking guy.
"It's been said the Hyuugas and the Uchihas shared a common ancestry, would you care to prove the worth of your name in a simple game of volleyball?"
Sasuke was about to respond when Naruto intervened and asked if he could also play, but when Neji dismissed the blond as a nuisance, a part of Sasuke felt like ripping Neji's face apart. "No one dissess my dobe but me!"
"Hn," Sasuke responded feigning complete disinterest in Neji's proposal, "Sorry, but I'm not interested in your pointless clan wars".
If Neji was going to snub Naruto then Sasuke would do the same to Neji.
But before Neji could verbally criticize and disvalue Sasuke's decision, Ino intervened by snatching the ball from Sasuke's grasp before saying, "How about us girls play some beach volley instead," then she winked, "You guys can watch".
--(Back to Temari and Kankuro)--
"Darn, were did Gaara go?" Kankuro wondered, tucking his puppet into the backseat of their family car. "He said he'd be back by now."
"He knew, didn't he?" Temari asked but it was more of a statement, "Gaara knew we had to convince dad to enroll him to another school."
"Yeah, I guess. But we couldn't let Gaara be held back a school year."
"Hey Kankuro," Temari said thoughtfully, "I've been wondering. When dad said he'd be sending Gaara to either Oto or Konoha High, why were you so adamant in Konoha? You know we have better relations with the Oto."
"Well, dunno how to explain this but," he told her about how the other day this kid that was wearing the Konoha symbol had come to the doll house he worked at. He told her about how jovial that kid seemed and about how nice it would be for Gaara to be in an atmosphere like that. And after Temari retorted with a skeptical, "Just because this kid seemed happy doesn't mean that Gaara will be as well." Kankuro explained to her what was really so special about this kid. "You don't get it cuz you weren't there but this kid's face was totally scarred! Six scars total, three in each side of is face and he still acted like the rest of us, Tem, he wasn't at all self-conscious about his scars."
Temari couldn't help but to raise a hand to her mouth at that revelation. "Holy shit that must be one unfortunate looking kid!"
--(Back to the Konoha kids)--
The guys were watching, the girls were playing, and the events couldn't have turned any better for Ino. Since Tenten had apparently called in Coach Gai to fill the lifeguard duty for her, the girls could play an even game of volleyball, and after Neji had insisted that Tenten and Hinata played in the same team, Ino ended on the other side of the net with Sakura.
Their scores were even. Sakura and Tenten a.k.a. the Tsunade girls, being the front runners, the first receiving eager praises from Naruto and the second receiving snide praises from Neji.
Sakura was happy she had someone cheering for her but every time Naruto said, "Sakura" without the added "-chan," her body would recoil.
Tenten was happy Neji was paying attention to her but she would have preferred it if Neji said something more constructive than, "Tenten, you must work harder in order to make up for Hinata's lack of talent. Hinata, don't tell me you are trying. Trying is to set yourself for failure. You will not try, you will achieve! Tenten, I know you can do better than that. Show them what you can do."
Rock Lee was torn between cheering for Sakura or Tenten.
Hinata was having a somewhat hard time playing since she lacked some aggressiveness, which would have turned the tide in favor of Sakura and Ino, that is, if only Ino paid at least minimum attention to the game instead of at the guys that were watching. Every move she did was to show off a different angle of her body and sometimes she even did this.
"Oops," Ino said as she accidentally hit the ball so that it will fall between the legs of an utterly bored Uchiha. Then she would make her way towards the ball with a walk of a cheetah about to pounce on her prey. She would sway her hips and then let her hair cascade down to caress the legs of the Uchiha as she bent down to grab the ball. Slowly she would rise up so that Sasuke could get a clear view of what she had to offer and then, she would head back to the volley court, slowly so that he could see the way her lace bikini would slowly rise up and down with the rhythm of her firm ass.
Sasuke, of course, stared with disinterest as she did this. Those kinds of things had happened to him so many times before that he couldn't care less if he wounded the girl's pride by ignoring her. He groaned when he remembered what happened on his way to the beach.
--x-(brief flashback)-x--
"Hello Sasuke," Karin gushed over his name and gave him her 'smothering eyes' that begged to be dominated. Complete with the bottom lip pursed between her teeth. Oh God.
"Did you just have an orgasm?" Sasuke asked rudely, "'Cause I haven't even done anything yet."
Karin just faked an insulted look when it was obvious she was turned on. Sasuke could swear that someday this girl would be a big deal in the porn industry.
"Let's go," Sasuke said assertively, gesturing Naruto, Shikamaru and Chouji to follow him. Karin jumped to his side and clutched his arm. "How easy are you?" the Uchiha asked rudely, as he shrugged her off, and was bewildered when she giggled shrilly as he walked away.
--x-(end of flashback)-x--
Unlike Sasuke, Naruto and Kiba were kind enough to whistle at Ino's sexy efforts. After all, Naruto had been taught by Jiraiya that when women made the effort to lure men, it would be impolite if the male didn't offer a courteous whistle to show their appreciation. Kiba had been taught by Tsume and Hana, his mother and sister, that sometimes women with strong personalities did obvious thing to gain the attention of the one they liked and if they did not receive a very responsive feedback, their egos could easily bruise.
"Hehe," Ino giggled, sure, she did not get the response she wanted from the Uchiha but she did get Sakura to glare at her and she even got whistles from Naruto and Kiba. Those two, she took a mental note to shower them with popularity points later on.
As the game progressed, Hinata kept moving slower and slower to which Naruto called, "Hey Hinata! Take off your jacket!"
The silence that followed was deafening. But after Neji glared at Naruto, he explained his reasoning, "Well Hinata is sweating a lot, maybe if the took off her jacket she could breath better."
Hinata blushed at the prospect that Naruto was actually paying attention to her, and Kiba, not being one to pass up an opportunity to tease Hinata around Naruto, seconded that motion with a, "Yeah Hinata, show us that one piece swimsuit of yours!"
"Um… okay," Hinata responded, her pale face becoming pink with embarrassment, "if you think it's for the best… that is…" she said as she shyly undid her zipper and took off her jacket. What was exposed from those confinements made every girl there feel self-aware of their size, and every single bystander stare incredulously at how charitable nature had been with Hinata's stack. Even Sasuke had to bat an eye.
On a side-note, Ino stormed off the volleyball court to grab a towel to cover herself up and decided to sit as far away from Hinata as she could.
Since Ino clearly refused to play anymore, Hinata too decided to take a break so that it wouldn't be two vs one. So while Tenten and Sakura kept going at it for the sake of the sport, Hinata was being showered with the attention of all her fellow classmates, and a very protective Neji backing them off.
Ino was furious. After all that careful planning she did to make sure that tomorrow all the guys talked at school about how hot she looked in a bikini, her plan just had to backfire like that. Now tomorrow all she was going to hear on the halls was "how gifted Hinata was on certain areas".
"It's not fair!" she mentally screamed. How would she be able to maintain a solid lead on the popularity charts if one of her best qualities had to be kept under wraps. "Wait! Maybe I've been relying too much on physical beauty." But it's not like if she could go abusing her manipulative abilities. That can get pretty tiring.
In her wailing she caught sight of the other dark haired pretty boy she'd been ignoring since she arrived. Sure Sai was no Sasuke but he still fit her fetish.
She made her way towards him as he was sitting a little ways away from the rest of the guys. Sneaking up behind him she caught sight of the oil image he was sketching. At first it looked like a black abstract picture, but as she focused on it she managed to tell apart figure from background. The background was the very beach they were standing on and the figure, she managed to make out strong wide feet, firm and outlined legs, a broad chest and shoulders, manly arms and a strong built. The body was clean-cut and chiseled. The body in the picture had an empty space were she guessed the swimming trunks would be. When she got to the face of the man in the picture she noticed the trademark scars of Naruto Uzumaki.
She immediately looked up to see Naruto in the distance only to notice that he did in fact have a chiseled body. She was again very surprised that he didn't have a pudgy belly from all the ramen he eats. But his muscles didn't look that hard so she wondered if Naruto simply had a naturally gorgeous tanned body or if he worked out a little.
Now that she thought about it she didn't take time to peep at the bodies of her other classmates since she was so focused on Sasuke. She already knew how Shikamaru and Chouji looked like, Lee was dark haired but too much of a muscle type, certainly not the definition of a pretty boy. Neji looked like a Greek god with his clean-cut profile and long silky hair but his personality left little to be desired. Shino, she couldn't really keep her eyes on. It was so evident the lack of sun contact on his skin that it blinded her eyes. And Kiba had a body extremely similar to that of Naruto's, albeit a little darker in the skin.
Her musings of the boys in her class were briefly interrupted when Sai voiced, "I wonder what his size is?"
"Eh?" Ino was caught slightly baffled by his question until she saw that Sai's eyes were focused on Naruto. "You mean his shoe size?" she asked.
That's when he gave her that creepy little smile of his and answered, "His penis."
That was all it took for Ino's little infatuation on Sai to die down. She immediately left Sai's side, leaving him wondering if he said anything wrong.
"His penis?" Ino's mind raged, "What kind of guy would ask such a question? What, was he planning to draw Naruto nake… Oh my gosh he IS planning on drawing Naruto naked!" At that realization she wondered if Sai was homosexual but then again it wasn't her problem since with today's statistics there should be at least one gay in every classroom.
That revelation led her to another. Is the statistics were true, shouldn't there be somebody gay in her homeroom? As far as she was certain there was nobody gay there unless that person could still be hiding in the closet. "That's it!"
If she could only be able to out that guy then something like this was sure to place her name on the subject and predicate of everybody's sentences. Something this juicy was too good to pass up. But she needed to handle this topic carefully since something this sensitive could easily backfire on her. The guy couldn't be extremely popular nor could he be a "nobody". That's when it occurred to her that all the guys from her year with names that mattered were already gathered here.
There was Shino but frankly she suspected no one would really care what his sexual preference was.
There was Sasuke but he being gay would be counter productive to her goal of bedding him. Not to mention that because of his popularity the others girls would attack her if she even suggested such a thing.
There was Shikamaru and Chouji but she would never do something like that to her childhood friends. The fact that all their parents were best friends added against it.
There was Naruto but he was so obviously in love with Sakura it still sickened her how intense his devotion to her was. No one would believe her if she said Naruto was gay.
And then there was Kiba. He was fairly popular and was obviously a dog person. His triangular tattoos gained him attention, especially since it was a family thing. He was the only boy in a house filled with women and recently he had started to act buddy-buddy around Naruto.
"Hey…" Ino pondered. Ever since she arrived she hasn't seen Kiba pull an arm around Naruto all day long like he usually did at school. He has also been keeping a safe distance from the blond but every time Naruto would get too near, Kiba would find an excuse to get away. And whenever Naruto was talking to somebody else, she would see Kiba pretending to talk to Shino but his eyes would always stray towards the blonde's direction.
"Kiba," she mouthed with pure malice, almost licking her lips at how tasty her developing plan was.
"Hey Shikamaru," Chouji nudged his lazy friend, "you noticed it too, right?" he stopped to munch on more barbecue chips before continuing with his observation, "Ino has been staring at Kiba for a while and she has that grin on her face."
"Eh?" Shikamaru groaned as he woke from his nap only to notice what Chouji was referring to, "I would warn Kiba about it but something tells me Ino will get what she wants no matter what. It's too troublesome to get involved".
--(Back to Gaara)--
The redhead was minding his own business, absorbed in bringing out his demons into the sand. He could faintly make out in the background two girls playing volleyball, and each time it sounded like if they were coming closer. But he chose to ignore it.
"A demon that loves only himself, that is what you named me." He thought aloud, remembering what his late uncle had told him in his last seconds of life. That had been several years ago but the event replayed itself every time he closed his eyes. The reason his mother named him Gaara. A mother he never met and his father made it a point to remind him it was his birth that caused her death.
"It's finished," he commented at the deformed raccoon figure he crafted from the sand. It was five feet tall and pretty wide. The giant crater beside it was enough proof of his efforts. "You are the nightmare that keeps me from sleep. I will call you Shukaku. The demon my mother saw when she named me"
He hadn't thought much about his uncle or his parents in quite sometime. For him it was already a buried history. But the recent events again showed him that his father could care less about his upbringing, and when wondering if a mother would look out for her son's best interest, he remembered that his mother hated him.
That's ancient history now, yet however, this was the first time he had been able to craft Shukaku out from his mind, it'd be a waste if he didn't at least take a picture of it. He had been working on it all afternoon.
As he continued chewing his gum he took out his camera-phone and focused it on Shukaku and clicked 'ok' to get the desired image. When the image showed up pink, he lowered his cell and was astonished to find that his efforts were now a relic of the past. A pink haired girl now sitting on top of what it used to be.
"Tenten," the pink haired girl whined as she grabbed the volley ball and brushed the sand off her body, "you served it too far". Then she noticed the redhead beside her and in a cute tone of voice said, "Sorry about that." And with that she stood up ready to leave.
Gaara kept staring at what once was his finest piece of art until the pink haired girl added, "It was one ugly sandcastle anyways," as an after thought. As if it somehow made it all better.
"You…" Gaara felt his insides boiling, "you fucking bitch!" He shouted as he grabbed her by the arm and threw her to the crater he had dug, immediately kicking the sandy remains of Shukaku toward the crater so he could bury the bitch alive.
"Today your blood will mix with the sand and only then will my thirst be quenched" He yelled.
As he did this he could hear a stampede of people heading his way until one of the bunch forcefully pushed him to the ground.
"What the hell do you think you're doing to Sakura!" shouted the pusher, gritting his teeth in anger.
"Shut up you piece of trash!" Gaara growled, he hated being touched by others, "I… I haven't had enough yet." he then said standing up so he could take a good look at the person who pushed him. His blue-green eyes widen when he saw the scars on the offender's face.
The offender's eyes, now revealed as Naruto's, also widened in recognition of the Sakura attacker. "He is the one that beat bushy brows at DDR." Pointing at him he said "Let Sakura go!"
"Yeah," the rest of the Konoha guys taunted in perfect unison, all looking ready for a fight.
"An interesting gathering of people you got here". Gaara observed, staring at Naruto with disgust, "You must be the type of person who only values his existence by what others think of him."
"Those eyes…" Naruto was slightly stricken by the look of disgust in the redhead's eyes, "I've seen them before." Either way, reminiscing could take a backseat. Sakura was more important. If anything bad was to happen to her, Naruto would, he would… he didn't want to think about it. "I said let her go!"
"Do I see hatred?"And Gaara pondered the reason behind said hatred. "What does this bitch means to you?"
"She's my friend!" Naruto shouted, "Leave her alone or else… I'll kick your ass!"
At that moment Sakura had recovered from her temporary dizziness at being so forcefully thrown to the ground. She also recovered her eyesight after having sand thrown to her face. When she noticed she was in a hole she did her best to climb out but it was at that same moment Naruto had threatened Gaara, and Gaara all too willingly answered the threat.
When Sakura started climbing out, Gaara stomped on her hand and kicked more sand into her eyes. "What's wrong?" Gaara asked at Naruto's shocked expression, "Weren't you going to kick my ass?"
"Damn you!" Naruto shrieked, flinging himself at Gaara to take him down with him, but Gaara easily use the momentum to flung Naruto out like a catapult into the air and away from him.
"Why you!" Kiba started but Ino quickly stretched her arms and yelled, "This is Naruto's fight!" in a commanding voice. Making all the others halt their attack, "We all know Naruto likes Sakura, let him be the one who protects her. If it gets out of hand, then we go in."
Everyone seemed to examine her but stopped all attempt to assist Naruto, though Sasuke and Kiba looked pretty agitated by not being able to offer any help. Ino herself was shaking but was still glad that even outside school grounds she could still impose her authority as class rep into her classmates.
She then heard two fists connecting, causing her to turn around and notice that both Naruto and the redhead were sporting chapped lips. Apparently they had punched each other in the mouth while she was ranting.
"Pathetic."Gaara growled, "Friends? You make me laugh. You are no different from me. You fight for your sake alone because you love only yourself."
Naruto lowered his fists to stare at Gaara incredulously, "Those eyes again… eyes with such solitude." He then noticed that Gaara was standing between Sakura and himself. He then remembered that Shikamaru had told him that he had to be smarter if he wanted to win fights against Neji. Maybe fighting this redhead could be a good opportunity for him to practice how to outsmart his opponent. He figured he'll have to distract the redhead until he could reach his Sakura by countering the redhead's remark. "You're wrong." Naruto said, "I love Sakura and all my friends. I mean, don't you love yours?"
"Friends?" Gaara's mind went haywire at that godforsaken word, "Shut up!" he shouted turning around to spit his gum at the girl who again tried to climb out of her grave, before kicking even more sand towards her. But before he could even begin to kick the second round of sand he was forcefully tackled by Naruto.
"Don't touch her!" Naruto yelled as he pinned the redhead to the ground and fisted his face repetitively, with every fist connecting he screamed out his words, ""I. Told. You. To. Leave. Her. Alone. Damn. You!""
Naruto stopped at that last word, somewhat frighten by his lost of control. He saw that the redhead's face was pretty battered up and he was going to apologize when Gaara took the chance to punch the blonds' jaw so that he would get off.
At Naruto's temporary loss of self, Gaara grabbed him by the hair and forced him to the ground so that their roles could be reversed and now it was Gaara who was pummeling Naruto down while screaming, "Friends? Open. Your. Eyes. Idiot. They. Aren't. Defending. You!"
"Damn you!" Naruto grunted as he grabbed Gaara's arms but Gaara did the same and now they where rolling in the sand trying to pin the other down, kicking each other every step of the way.
Gaara was like a madman, trying to inflict as much damage on the blonde as it was possible but every blow he landed the blond would return with equal power. Both of them had stopped thinking about the reason they were trying to strangle each other and now all that mattered was who would come on top.
"Enough!" And extremely loud voice commanded, pulling Naruto and Gaara off each other with extreme ease.
"S-Super Bushier-Brows-Sensei!" Naruto said, already feeling like if he was about to black-out from head trauma, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to stop this disgraceful exchange of blows," Maito Gai scolded, pulling Naruto closer, "The behavior you showed today should be enough to get you expelled from Konoha!" Maito Guy reprimanded, and Gaara's eyes widen in recognition of the name, "Konoha".
"But you won't get expelled," Maito Gai then said, his face going from furious to proud as he gave offered his blinding white smile and watering eyes combo, "because today you met the requirements needed to behave in such a way. To protect someone who is precious to you".
Gaara growled at that, "Release me you annoying mother hen,", he ordered, shrugging off Gai's hold on him, then turning to whisper something in Naruto's ear as he left. Something that left Naruto wondering if he should start fearing for his life and the lives of his classmates.
--(The following morning)--
"How horrible!" One of the girls said and all others agreed. At homeroom the students had all gathered around Sakura since the teacher was still to arrive, all curious about her current appearance. Sakura slowly told them about yesterday's events and about how this redhead psycho had attacked her. Everyone who wasn't there was quick to offer their sympathies to their vice-president, while the people who were there while it happened only listened to the retellings.
Ino, of course, was by Sakura's side also elaborating on the story and letting the people know how awful she felt about inviting Sakura to the beach that day. Sure, Ino really did feel horrible about it but she wasn't going to let Sakura get all the sympathy points either. After all, the reason Ino even invited everyone there was so that she could have a story to tell.
Sakura was finishing describing how Naruto had rushed to her defense when Sasuke stood abruptly from his desk and swung the room door open to reveal the referred blonde. The crowd gasped at the noticeable bruises in his whiskered face and the purple eyes and chapped lips he was sporting. Naruto met with all those eyes and looked downcast, ashamed of himself.
Sensing the uneasiness, Sasuke placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze while saying, "You did good, dobe." Naruto smiled at the gesture and Sasuke sighed, moving aside so that the blond could see Sakura.
Blue eyes met with green, and Naruto was saddened when he saw the little blisters Sakura had all over, plus her long and beautiful hair was now shoulder length.
Sakura noticed he was staring at her hair and she said, "Don't worry, Ino and mom did the best they could to make it look good. The gum and the sand got stuck pretty badly"
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said, rushing to kneel before her desk and taking out a toad plushie with a royal crown that said "kiss me". He offered it to her and said with a shaky voice, "I'm sorry you got hurt. I'm so sorry."
"Its okay, Naruto," She said grabbing the plushie and giving it a hug, "Thank you for saving me." But her voice also sounded like if she was about to cry.
At that Sakura offered him a sincere and thankful smile that made Naruto blush so heavily he started scratching the back of his head while grinning like an idiot. The crowd was about to "aww" at that NaruSaku moment when teachers Kakashi and Iruka entered the classroom. Kakashi sat at his desk while Iruka cleared his throat to give his students the important news.
"As of today a new student will be joining this class. I know, it is quite late in the semester but his grades showed us great promise. He had an unfortunate accident yesterday but I'm sure you guys will make him feel at home in no time so please give a warm welcome to…"
"Gaara," the redhead said as he entered the room. The killer intent radiating from him was enough to make the students sit up straight. His seriously thick 'guy-liner' made the murderous glint in his eyes all the more evident. The way he walked with his arms crossed sent shivers down everybody's spine. "The name is Gaara."
When Sakura and Naruto flinched at that revelation, the rest of the students pieced two and two together and figured that Gaara was the redhead psycho who would even hit a girl. His face was as battered as Naruto's.
"Now Gaara," said Iruka, offering a smile to his new student, "Will you like to share some words with your fellow classmates?"
Gaara closed his eyes at that and opened them to stare directly into Naruto's. "Those who fight to gain the respect of others are people who live and die by what others think. If you cannot measure your own existence without the prejudice of others then I'd rather see you dead."
Naruto gulped at that, remembering well the words Gaara had spoken the day before as he left the beach.
"I will kill you, mark my words, I will kill you all."
--x-x-x-( End of Chapter Seven: "A Meaningful Existence" )-x-x-x--
A/N: Woot! There you guys have it. Now that I got all the character I plan to use settled in the same school, I can start developing the real drama, and by that I mean be ready for the "Sasuke Arc" that will start as of Chapter Nine. The next chapter however will be dedicated to the pairing that my most consistent reviewers adore. And Yeah, that means that the chapter will revolve around Naruto, Kiba and Ino.
PS: Noticed that Naruto called Sakura "Sakura-chan" in the end? Haha, I'm evil I know. Every chapter Naruto seems to end up with a different future pairing.
PS2: Gaara has come and unintentionally questioned the reason Naruto wanted to become class president. I love Kishimoto for giving Naruto so many rivals. We have Neji, Gaara and just you wait for Sasuke. Until next time!