Oh, dear Gravity. I totally didn't realize that a crucial three sentences regarding the Ino/Sai thing weren't typed –probably a 'it's already in my head why do I need to say it again' thing. I apologize. All is explained here – more or less. T'will be touched upon later as well. *headdesk* This Author apologizes for having scatterbrained Muses.

Oh, and the aisle/isle thing shall be fixed momentarily.

.

.

.

"This is getting stranger and stranger," Ino muttered. Next to her, Gaara snorted. "You haven't seen strange."

"Phantom is pretty twisted. This is just on crack."

Gaara stared at her blankly. It translated as 'what?' and meant that he was at a loss.

But he was Gaara, so he'd never actually say anything.

"You know," Ino whispered. "Phantom of the Opera. The musical? Guy with a half-mask. Gerard Butler with some sunburn. Angel of music -?"

"Sounds like some stupid play production aimed at saps."

"Yeah, that's pretty much the definition of Broadway," Ino deadpanned. "But the point was, the whole Phantom and Christine thing is twisted. This? Pure mindfuckery."

"That's the definition of a Burton movie," Gaara said flatly.

Ino snorted. Leave it to a guy in black to denounce one of the greatest musicals of all time. Shikamaru had said the same thing, until he gave under her nagging to watch it (because listening to her nag was troublesome) and he had admitted that it was good. (And, troublesome as it might be, he wouldn't agree with her for the sake of agreeing with her. Well, maybe he would. But he had gone to the trouble of going to the store and getting the soundtrack, so that had to mean something.)

The movie ended about thirty seconds before the bell rang. Ino slung her pack over her shoulder, and as she made to go, Gaara asked, "What's so 'twisted' about it?"

Ino turned. "Watch it and let me know." She threw the words over her shoulder and then continued walking to her locker.

When did you get so smooth?

Psssh. She'd always been smooth….even if she did almost just hit herself on the forehead with the damn locker.

Lunch held the typical hype of students excited for the break – everyone talked about plans and presents and that new movie that was coming out and how break was going to be awesomesauce.

"Glad to see you're joining us," Tenten nudged Ino.

"Uhh…." Ino stared at the girl uncomprehendingly, cookie halfway to her mouth. "Sorry, what?"

"You kinda went AWOL yesterday," Sakura put in with a laugh. "Remember?"

"Oh," Ino said blandly. "Yeah. Sorry – I got caught up between classes."

Tenten bought it, but Sakura didn't – she knew that Ino had been absent because she hadn't wanted to face Sai. Ino had made the mistake (stupid, stupid, stupid) of dating him previously in the year.

Bad. Idea. That guy had absolutely no filter between his brain and words – which wouldn't be a problem, usually, because Ino was frank herself – but he didn't know where to cut it. On top of that, he really was a douche. She was over him –totally – but she didn't want to face him. Boys had a way of being pushy like that.

It's pathetic, she admitted to herself. She was Ino Yamanaka, dammit! She walked all over boy's hearts in stiletto heels.

Then again, Sai wasn't a typical boy. Hell, he wasn't even very human.

Whatever. Soon enough, this will all be over. He'll forget, I'll become less awkward, and maybe pigs will fly. Break couldn't come quick enough.

"Hey," Sakura poked Ino. "We still on for tomorrow?"

Ino grinned. "You bet."

Break could not come quick enough.

x.x.x

Ino was late. So late.

Her eighth-period class was at the north wing, third floor of her school. Her locker was on the first floor, north wing, and the exit she'd go through to catch her bus was on the ground floor, south wing.

Normally, she'd have more than enough time. But because today was the day before a holiday, the busses were coming right after school (as opposed to twenty minutes after.) Normally, the busses weren't on time and Ino wouldn't have to rush – but she had gotten caught up in eighth period, desperately asking her maths teacher about extra credit –

-and she was running so late.

The halls were largely empty – like anyone wanted to hang around school on the day before break – so Ino had no qualms about making a mad dash down three flights of stairs, skidding to a halt at her locker, frantically opening it (because the lock was broken…she really needed to fix that) and exchanging books for books, slamming it shut, spinning around, making another mad dash and –

-and running straight into a very solid something, apparently.

She hadn't bothered to shove anything into her backpack, so her books went one way, her folder went another, and the papers that had been inside the folder scattered about her.

"Shit," she muttered, gathering her papers. "Sorry – Gaara."

Great. I'm a freaking mess, running into him again, and late. As. Fuck. Lovely. Just. Lovely.

Gaara made a noncommittal sound –actually, she wasn't sure if he said anything at all. She sort of had more important things to worry about at the moment that had nothing to do with translating Goth into English.

When she looked up from cramming her papers into the folder, she was surprised to see Gaara kneeling down, proffering her books to her.

She was thrown off guard, but she didn't let it show. "Thanks," she said, standing. "You taking the bus? Did it leave yet?"

He blinked at her. God, it wasn't a hard question. Yes or no. Simple as that. Was it her, or did boys always take too long to answer the simplest questions?

"I haven't checked yet," Gaara said, after what was probably normal-people time but ten minutes in Ino-time. She nodded, and began walking. "But you should probably hurry."

Right. So much for speeding down the hallways.

She and Gaara continued down the hallway in silence. Ino was actually allowing herself to believe that she could make the bus – after all, it was only two fifteen, and it was snowing outside. That meant delayed traffic, right?

Wrong, apparently. When she and Gaara exited the building, the last of the busses was pulling out of the school parking lot…which was a grand total of 200 yards away.

F.M.L.

The only thing keeping her from shrieking obscenities to the heavens was the presence of Gaara. And even then, a rather shrill, strangled shit escaped.

Gaara must've sensed her misery, because, being the sick fuck that he was, he looked amused.

She glared at him, daring him to say something. Just try me, Gothboy. Just. Try.

"Better start walking," he remarked. "It looks like it's going to snow."

And with that, he headed down the steps. Ino was left standing, still recovering from the shock of the fucking bus left. And no one gets home till six. WTF.

She jerked herself out of her thoughts, scrambled down and half-followed, half-walked with him. They continued on in silence until they reached the school parking lot exit; to the right was a brief section of woods, then a highway; to the left was the route that would take them to the residential area.

Gaara turned right.

"Where are you going? You live in Suna, right?" He was on her bus; he had to live in the Suna neighborhood. Briefly, she wondered why she was even walking with him – associating with him outside of being with Sakura who was usually with Naruto would cause unneeded rumors if anyone saw.

He stopped and turned to look at her. "Shortcut, Blondie. Go through instead of around. It's faster."

"Is it now…gingie?" Ino said, nonetheless following him. He shot her a glare over his shoulder. "Burgundy. My hair is burgundy."

"Which is red, which is redhead, which implies…ginger." Ino grinned. It was hard to get a rise – or any kind of reaction, for that matter – out of him, but when he was irritated…

It was so goddamn amusing.

"'Red' and 'ginger' are two different things," he scowled. "Learn colors."

"You know what that sounds like? A ginger in denial."

"Watch it…" he growled. Ino smirked.

"Whatever you say…Gingie."

She wasn't prepared when he yanked the strap on her backpack down – she stumbled and almost fell. He continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"Hey! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to mess with a girl?"

"I was told not to hurt a lady. As there are none present…" he trailed off and shot her a small smirk over his shoulder.

Ino narrowed her eyes. She couldn't tell if this was friendly abuse or if she had pushed him too far. She and Sakura abused each other all the time – but friends were allowed to do that. Seeing that Gaara wasn't particularly friendly, it was probably the latter.

She rolled her eyes and continued to follow him, this time in a stony silence. He led her across a field – the ground was hard and covered with frost, grass dead and wildlife silent – and through a stretch of woods. She could hear the highway off in a distance and –

Oh, god. I'm alone. With Gaara. In a woods. No one's around. I just pissed him off. He's known to be unstable and is arguably psychosocial. ohshitohshiohshitOHSHIT –

"Hold on."

Ino blinked away the nightmares (daymares?) of being slaughtered and left for carrion to find Gaara herself staring at Gaara's back. The trees had thinned and they were almost to the highway. "Huh?"

"You have to time it right. Two steps forward and that's it."

She did as instructed – best not to piss off a possible killer – and gaped when she got her first good look at the street.

Ino hadn't known what highway Gaara was talking about, but certainly not this. Red Lion Road was the widest, busiest highway in the area – three lands going in either direction with a small stretch of grass in the middle.

How the hell does he expect to make that?

"Now." And he walked – quickly – out onto the street. Ino scrambled to follow him, nearly running. There was a lull, but that car was coming and –

"Watch it," he said lowly as she bumped into him. "Sorry," she muttered. They were on the strip of grass, cars whizzing pass on either side of them.

"Stay with me, Blondie…now." And out into the traffic they ran.

Safely on the other side, Ino stopped to catch her breath. Fun. Just flippin' dandy. But they were in the back of the development – and it had been a shortcut. They continued on in silence, then Gaara said, "My idiot brother managed to get hit by a car doing that."

O-kay. Was Gaara actually making conversation? Was the world coming to an end? "Doing what?"

"Crossing the road."

"…So, naturally, you continue to cross the same road and bring innocent young females along with you?"

"Only so they trust me. Then I lure them to my lair and smote their immortal soul."

Ino wasn't sure whether he was being serious or joking; in the time it took her to formulate a response, he snorted. "It's a joke, Blondie. Kid-ding."

She rolled her eyes. "You know, it's hard to tell when someone's deadpanning when their default voice is a monotone. You might learn a thing or two by joining the Forensics team."

He was silent.

"Or, you know, continuing to confuse people. That works too."

He offered no answer.

Awk-ward. They continued in an uncomfortable silence; the don't-fuck-with-me waves were back, and something about the set of his shoulders made him appear uncomfortable. Then Ino had to turn down her street. "See you," she said. If he answered, she didn't hear it.

Break had officially begun – she had more important things to worry about than Goth Boy and his mood swings.

Now…I wonder where they're hiding my Christmas presents.

.

.

.

So, whatchya think? I don't own Naruto, BettleJuice, Phantom of the Opera, or anything else mentioned.

Poll. You know the drill.

As always, let me know your thoughts.