High School Endurance

Chapter Ten

-Stalker-

Akito was sitting at his desk, trying not to think about what had transpired the day before. Toshiro walked in, a brilliant smile on his face. He sat down in the seat next to Akito, since Natsumi was up and talking with Ino and Sakura about trivial things. "Hey man!" he said, giving him a small punch to the arm. "How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun or exciting?" he snickered, elbowing his friend a couple times.

"Nope. I did nothing of the sort." He answered shortly, schooling his expression so as not to give anything away.

"Really?" his smile fell and he looked disappointed. "Aw, well that sucks man. So you didn't go to the dance and you did nothing? But I did hear about your fight with Itachi. What was that about?"

"Hello Toshiro," Natsumi's beautiful voice sang. "Hey Akito," she smiled, giving him a small wave.

"Hiya Natsumi, how was your weekend?" the redhead asked curiously.

She looked to Toshiro and thought about it, "Well the dance of course and then Akito came over yesterday and we watched a whole bunch of movies." She said happily, giving the Uchiha another winning smile.

"Is that so?" Toshiro pondered and then gave Akito an accusing look.

"Yup. That was pretty much all I did over the weekend." Akito said, not bothering to explain why he hadn't said anything about his weekend to Toshiro earlier. "What did you do Toshiro?" he asked, not wanting the subject to be on himself anymore.

He seemed to perk up at the topic, "Well the dance was amazing. Minako and I had a wonderful time and then we hung out all day Saturday. She's really great. I'm so glad she asked me to go with her. We're actually going to go to the mall later today."

"Aw that's wonderful Toshiro! I'm so glad you had fun. So did you kiss her?" she asked curiously, placing both her hands on the black table and leaning forward.

Toshiro blushed slightly and scratched his cheek, "Well, just a small one." He said, making a small measurement with his fingers. "Though I hear that I wasn't the only one that got some action." He snickered, making Natsumi go wide eyed and glance over at Akito. "Yeah, Sasori said that Itachi kissed you at the dance."

Natsumi's blood turned to ice in her veins. Akito stiffened and slowly brought his gaze up to meet Natsumi's. "Is that so? Tell me, Natsumi, how was it?" Akito asked as he crossed his arms, his voice scarily calm. Only Natsumi could tell that he was angry.

"Now Akito, it wasn't like…what didn't happen at all. It was nothing, just a kiss. It didn't mean anything at all." She said quickly, turning paler by the second.

"Like what didn't happen?" Toshiro blinked. "What?"

Akito glanced at his friend and then looked away. "I'm not sure what she's talking about." He said.

Natsumi frowned, since Akito would no longer look at her. She grew a bit angry. How could he be mad at her? It didn't mean anything, and like he had a right to be angry with her for not telling him one tiny little thing. But before she could say anything, there was a loud shriek that got everyone's attention to the front of the room.

There in the doorway was a young brunette, with dim brown eyes that were focused on one person alone. "Oh my GOD! Gaara! I found you!" she screamed, sounding like a fan girl for a boy band. She was dressed in the girl's uniform and the symbol on her tie showed that she was a freshman.

The redhead turned and went completely wide eyed. "Oh. My. God. Matsuri? How the hell did you find me?" he demanded, actually looking scared.

Sasuke tackled him to the ground, covering the upper half of his body with a bag. "Evasive maneuver number five!" Kiba ran to Gaara's head, and he and Sasuke picked him up together, running out of the room using the other door in the back.

"No! Come back here with my husband!" the girl yelled, chasing after them. Everyone was just wide eyed and absolutely perplexed.

"What…" Ino began. "Just happened?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Sakura said, staring at the door that Gaara had left through. What was she, some ex-girlfriend or something?

Toshiro was up and standing, looking extremely alarmed. "How the hell did she get here? She's supposed to be in Peru!"

"Who is she Shiro-kun?" Minako asked.

"That's some crazy stalker that's been in love with Gaara for like, four years. She lives somewhere near Okinawa, near one of our mansions. But we don't go there anymore, because she started getting real obsessive and crazy." He explained.

"So Sasuke, Kiba, Gaara and I came up with multiple escape routes in case this ever happened, but we never thought we'd have to use them." Naruto explained to the entire class.

It was then that Kakashi walked in, reading his book. "Kakashi-sensei!" Toshiro exclaimed, slamming his hands on the desk as the silver haired man sat down. "This is a code blue! Class needs to be dismissed!"

He glanced up, sighing. "That crazy girl is here? I thought you had her shipped off to Peru last year in an iron cage."

Naruto ran up to the man's desk. "Yes, sensei! She came here and we had to evacuate Gaara ASAP! Please cancel class, he needs our help!" the blonde boy exclaimed.

"Whatever." He said, returning to his book. "I don't care. New class project. The pair who catches the stalker gets a homework pass and a free one hundred on their next test." He said, gesturing for them to pair up. Ino slapped her hand on her desk and gave Sakura a look.

"Let's go hunting Sakura!" she pointed off, standing.

She sighed and stood. "I'll get a one hundred anyways, but let's go." The two left the room then. Naruto grabbed Hinata.

"Come on Hinata-chan! Let's go, otherwise I'll fail the test!" he shouted, dragging the flustered girl out of the room.

Toshiro turned to Minako and gave her a nod. "Time to save Gaara!" he declared, grabbing his bag and leaving with the stuttering girl. Natsumi glanced over at Akito, who was still seated and hadn't moved.

He stood silently and picked up his bag, heading for the door of the classroom. When he got there, he looked at Natsumi. "Coming?" he asked, opening the door. She did the same and followed him without a word. When they were gone Shikamaru sat up, looking around sleepily. "Where did everyone go?"

"I dunno." Kakashi shrugged, turning the page in his book.

"Akito…I was going to tell you…" she finally spoke after there had been silence between the two. He had gone straight to the roof, not really caring enough to search the school for some girl. And this way he could talk to Natsumi alone. He turned to her, his eyes guarded.

"When? After you finished comparing me to my cousin? To Itachi?" he asked, his hurt showing through his words.

His posture put her on edge as well and she glared back. "Are you really going to hold this over my head? It was like a day, and for the record you big fat jerk, I was going to kiss you first if you don't remember. What was I supposed to do?" she demanded, throwing her hands in the air. "Say 'Oh thanks for telling me about all those girls you've slept with, by the way your cousin and I kissed.' Or maybe you would have preferred, 'I know that we're making out and everything but I just wanted to tell you that I like kissing you a whole lot more than your cousin, who by the way I shared a kiss with.'" She snapped.

"You liked kissing me more?" he asked, sounding surprised.

She just stared at him, trying not to groan. "No Akito, I just got on top of you and pressed my body against yours because I didn't like it." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "When I kissed Itachi it was nice and all but there was just…nothing. And he tried to deepen it, but it just felt odd and I didn't want to."

He walked over to her. "I'm sorry, it was just…a bit of a shock." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know…I'm not really good at explaining things, especially when it has to do with feelings." It was true, for the most part. And, all in all, he wasn't entirely sure how he had felt. Angry, for sure, but there was more to it. He had felt…betrayed. Used. But he didn't want to think about why he had felt those things, because the discovery would most likely change the way he thought about Natsumi, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that.

"I mean," she began with a loud huff. "I still kissed you and no offense but if we compare lists, you kinda take the cake."

He crossed his arms and sighed. "Don't remind me."

"Then don't be mad at me." She pointed out, giving him a stern look. He returned the glance and sighed once more. "Hey." She smiled, stepping up to him and gripping his uniform. "If it makes you feel better," she breathed out, getting up on her tip toes and giving him a quick kiss. "When you kissed me, I might have let you take me all the way around the world."

He placed his hands on her hips. "I wouldn't have just taken you around the world, I would have showed you heaven." He said, placing his forehead against hers. She giggled, placing her finger over his lips.

"You'd have to be gentle, I'm still a little white flower."

"I wouldn't dream of treating you otherwise, you are, after all, extremely important to me." He said with a smirk.

She smiled. "As you are to me."

Gaara ripped the bag off his head and sighed, looking around the AV room that was above the gym. "This is horrible. How did she escape?"

"I dunno man," Kiba sighed, pulling down the blinds a bit and peeking out to make sure they weren't being followed.

Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned against one of the tables. "What's worse, is this could ruin your chances with Sakura. Especially if Matsuri gets wind of your feelings for her." He pointed out.

The redhead went wide eyed. "Oh God, she'll try and kill her." He panicked and headed for the door only to be stopped by Kiba.

"Dude where are you going?"

"I have to make sure Sakura's okay. It's not like it's a secret that I like her." he snapped at his friend, shoving him aside and throwing the door open. He ran out and almost collided with a blur of pink. "Sakura!" Gaara went a bit wide eyed and looked around, "Come on we need to get you safe." He said, grabbing her hand and dragging her away from Ino.

Sakura just blinked. "Huh?"

"Hey!" Ino shouted. "That's my partner Gaara!"

He threw open a door and dragged her in, slamming it after them and locking it from the inside. They were pressed closely together, since the space was small, and happened to be the janitor's closet.

Sakura blushed darkly at their close contact. "Gaara, what's going on? Why do I need to be safe?" she asked, confused.

"Because Matsuri will try and skin you alive." He said, looking around the closet to make sure it was secure. He was trying to find a light switch as well so they would no longer be in the dark.

"Why?"

"Because she's psycho." He said, trying not to get annoyed with the fact he had to explain himself.

"But I don't know her." She said, not really understanding everything that was going on.

Finally he found the switch and the small room was illuminated with a soft, low light. "She just will, okay? Stop asking questions." He said, resting against the wall.

She crossed her arms and pouted, leaning against the opposite wall of the closet. "You know, we'll have to leave eventually, we do have other classes to go to." She said, not wanting to be late.

"What? You've never skipped before?" he smirked.

Her eyes widened slightly. "Are you asking me to skip with you? But, my perfect attendance, and there could be an important lesson…" she stopped, her brow furrowing a bit. "Oh screw it, I didn't really want to go to class today anyways, and Natsumi will take notes for me." She said, smiling slightly at him. She didn't know where her sudden rebellion was coming from, but the thought of getting to spend the whole school day with Gaara alone appealed to her greatly, so she decided to go with that.

"Great." Gaara said, actually giving her a small smile. "We can go do whatever you want." he offered his hand to her, which she took. He opened the door and pulled her out after making sure the coast was clear. They ran down the hall, heading towards the parking lot as fast as they could. "Come on," he urged as they slipped out the doors. He fished for his keys and led her to a dark, crimson red Chevy camaro. "Ready?" he asked, hitting the unlock button.

"Yes. I think this is the most exciting thing I've ever done in my entire life." Sakura told him, and excited smile coming to her face.

He slid in, tossing his bag in the back. Sakura did the same and shut her door, buckling as soon as she was situated. "So where to?" he asked, starting the car so they could hear the purr of the engine.

She tapped her chin, appearing deep in thought. Suddenly she perked up. "I know! We could go to the amusement park! Nobody will be there at this time of day, so we can have the whole park to ourselves." She said, smiling at him. It would be kind of like going on a date with him, something she had always wanted to do ever since she was little. He just laughed, giving her another small smile. Something that seemed to occur a bit more around her.

"Sure thing. Sounds like a plan." He agreed, pulling out and drove out of the parking lot taking off into the street. The drive didn't take too long since the park was just outside of the city. When they arrived it was just as Sakura had said, there was hardly anyone there. And of course, being who he was, Gaara parked in the V.I.P. valet parking. They got out and Gaara looked around, finally letting his gaze fall on her. "Well this is going to be fun." He smirked.

Sakura looked around, completely in awe of the place. It had changed a lot since her last visit with her parents when she was eight. Then her gaze landed on Gaara, and she smiled. "Let's go! I want to go on every ride." She said, running around his car and grabbing his hand, pulling him towards the entrance. He just allowed himself to be pulled and watched her excited face. He was glad he was the one to cause it instead of his brother.

They got to the front and Gaara pulled out his wallet, handing the woman his red credit card. She blinked and looked down at the name and then back up at him. "Mr. Sabaku, aren't you supposed to be in school?" she arched a delicate brow but ran it anyway.

"Yes well, that crazy girl found me so it was an evasive maneuver." He laughed.

She went w bit wide eyed, handing him back the card. "That horrible little brunette girl?"

He nodded and took their admittance, walking in with her to the nearly empty park. There were a few groups of kids, probably on a field trip from school or some people who were on vacation. Sakura went straight for the park directory scanning the map. "Okay, if we start here, we can do a huge loop of the park, and effectively go on everything." She said, drawing their route with her finger on the board. "What do you think?" she asked, looking at him.

"Sounds like a plan to me. Lead the way." He gestured, stepping back and allowing her to pass.

She walked off, leading them to the first ride, which was a huge roller coaster with tons of drops and turns in it. Sakura gave it a doubtful look, not really believing that it was entirely safe. This was one of the new additions since her last trip, so she didn't know if it was fun or not. But she didn't want to seem like a chicken in front of Gaara, especially since she had said she wanted to go on every ride. So, after taking a fortifying breath, she walked to the front of the line. Which took a lot of walking since there was no one in it. Gaara watched her form curiously, noting the tension and sighed. "You know…if you're nervous we don't have to ride it. I'm not going to make fun of you or anything."

She looked at him and smiled. "No, I want to ride every single one, since I don't know the next time I'll get to come back."

"You know you can come back whenever you want." He said, looking down at her. "I would lo-um, like to go with you anytime." He offered, glad he had saved himself. He didn't want to freak her out with such strong words.

"Really?" she asked with a bright smile. Then she hugged him. "That would be great Gaara, you're the best." She said, snuggling into him a bit. Catching herself about to sniff him, she let go of him quickly, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Well, um, let's go to a different one then."

"Sounds fine to me. You can work yourself up to this one if you wish." He said, placing his hand on the small of her back and walking her back down as they headed towards another one Sakura actually wanted to ride. "Cause you know you don't have to impress me with being all fearless. No one is."

She huffed, but blushed at their intimate contact. "Who said I was trying to impress you? Maybe I just have a childhood fear of big roller coasters that I'm trying to get over." She said, trying to act as if that was the real reason.

"Uh huh." He smirked. "That might have been believable." He pointed down at her, poking her forehead playfully. "If you weren't so transparent." He snickered, running off and up the steps so she couldn't hit him for his jab.

"Gaara! Come back here!" she yelled with a smile, running after him.

"So you can hit me?" he laughed, keeping ahead of her. "Yeah, I don't think so!"

"Who said I was going to hit you?" she called up to him. "What if I was going to do something else?"

He slowed his run and stopped, only being one level ahead of her. He leaned over the railing and stared down at her. "Like what?" he asked curiously.

She stopped and looked up at him. "Um…" she blinked, thinking of what else she could do to him. Well, there were tons of things she wanted to do to him, but none were appropriate to the situation in the least. "I could kick you." She said, crossing her arms and nodding. "Or pinch you. Yup, that's what I could do."

"And I would let you do that because…?" he trailed off, another smirk creepy up his face.

"Because you deserve it?" she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Do I?"

"Yes?" she asked more than said, since she wasn't entirely sure anymore.

"Mmm. I don't think so." He smirked and pulled away from the railing. "Well I'd hurry up if I were you." He called, starting up the steps.

Sakura huffed once more and ran up after him. "You're so mean." She pouted once she caught up to him.

He shrugged. "I'm not mean. I'm the captain of the soccer team. I have to push people and you are no exception. It just means I care about you," he laughed, bumping into her on purpose.

She giggled, bumping him back. "Likewise."

They walked up to the top and Gaara stopped, "Oh! You know what, I just thought of something."

"What?"

"Well," he began. "You know it's almost Winter break and us and the Uchiha's always go up to Hokkaido for two weeks for skiing and snowboarding and stuff. This year the Hyuuga's are coming as well. Do you want to come? Naruto is coming, so is Kiba who's bringing Ino."

"I'd love to. I just have to ask my parents, but I'm sure they'll say yes when they hear you'll be there. They like you." She said with a smile.

"Really?" he blinked, looking a bit confused. "I mean after I accidently lit your kitchen on fire at your thirteenth birthday, I thought she kind of hated me."

"Nah." She waved it off. "It gave her a reason to redecorate the kitchen."

"Well alright then." He nodded and then frowned. "And ask Natsumi if she wants to come…after what I saw…I just…I dunno, I can't stop thinking about that."

She nodded. "I know. It's hard to believe that my happy, carefree cousin puts up with that all the time. But I'll definitely ask her, I'm sure she'd be delighted to come."

"Good." He smiled and then stepped aside so she could go ahead. "Well ladies first."

"Such a gentleman." She said with an easy smile, getting on the ride. Gaara followed her, and in no time at all, they were zipping through the tracks.

They spent the rest of the day at the park, riding as many rides as Sakura wanted to go on, and even playing a few games. Gaara won her a stuffed monkey, which she named Kong, and the rest of the day was spent with tons of laughs. As it started to get dark, they left, grabbing a bite to eat before driving to Sakura's apartment building. He walked her up the stairs, wanting to make sure she got there safely, and to be there in case he uncle came out.

"Thank you for today. It was a lot of fun." Sakura said, turning to him when they were at her door.

"No problem. It was more for my benefit if anything." He smiled, brushing some of her hair from her face. His eyes widened just a fraction and he stopped, pulling his hand back quickly. "I'm glad we got to hang out, it's been a long time since we've done. You know with Soccer and Clinical taking up most mine and yours time."

"Yeah." She sighed. An odd look came to her face then, and she appeared to be having an inner battle with herself. Coming to a decision, Sakura got on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. When she pulled away, a crimson blush was on her face. "I'll see you at school tomorrow." She said, giving him a shy smile.

Gaara just stared at her for a little over a minute and then seemed to snap from his daze. "Uh, yeah. See you tomorrow." He smiled, waving as he walked off. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried to keep calm. It was just a thank you kiss and nothing more. He breathed out, feeling another smile creep across his face. Maybe it was getting closer to being the time to tell Sakura how he felt. With those thoughts in mind, he got back in his car and headed home. Already excited for the next day. She was really one of the only things that made school bearable.