So I feel like I use the word lesbian way too much in this chapter, but I had to do damage control... I hope you'll find this appropriately adorable. ENJOY!

Shizune let Hinata go back to her and Tenten's room to get some rest. But the rest of them still had to get through the rest of the day. Karin's sneers and jokes didn't really mean anything, but the way everyone else looked at them stung. Some were curious, others confused, and some plain disgusted.

"You'd think people would have something better to gossip about," said Ino.

"We'll work on damage control with of the rest of the school later. First, we need to get Naruto on the right track," said Tenten.

"I'm going to talk to Gaara. Maybe he'll know a way to tell Naruto without letting him know Hinata is in love with him, so she can tell him herself," said Sophia.

They agreed that this should be their first action. After English class, Sophia cornered Gaara. "Hey, do you think we could talk?"

"Sure," Gaara replied, coldly.

Sophia was shocked by this. He acted like this with other people, but not with her, they knew each other too well. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. You tell me," he spat. "Or am I too inconsequential to even merit that information?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I told you everything. Things I haven't told my best friends and you couldn't even tell me that…"

She finally understood. He was upset he hadn't confided in her. She was afraid he was rejecting her just because she wasn't straight. She softened her voice and grabbed his hand. "Karin is a lying manipulative bitch. She spread the rumor about me and the girls. I suppose I haven't been entirely honest. I'm not straight. I'm bi, but it didn't really occur to me to tell you. The rest of them are straight, though. Karin just thought the rumor that we were in some sort of lesbian tryst would hurt us. I guess if you were angry at me, then it has…"

"I just, I thought we told each other everything. I don't even know that much."

"We only just became friends. There are so many things we have yet to learn about each other. Our favorite colors, songs, times of day. Childhood memories. I can't wait to tell you about all of them. I'm so sorry. I just didn't think about that, because being bi isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I try to define myself. But you and I. Tonight. If you aren't too upset with me, do you think we could go on a walk? You can ask all the questions you want, and I'll answer every one."

He just nodded.

"There's just one more thing. You know how we were talking about Hinata and Naruto earlier today…" She relayed her friend's dilemma. "So do you think you could mention it to Naruto, and really the rest of the guys that they aren't lesbians? We aren't having hot lesbian sex and that we aren't the least bit inclined to do so. Please?"

"You didn't even have to ask. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have overreacted. It's just hard to trust people, and you're the only person who I've been able to, ever."

"Don't apologize. I know exactly what you mean. I hate to leave you, but I need to get to Hinata and Tenten's place to check on her and tell them what's going on. I don't think I can thank you enough. Ummm. I'll swing by your place around 5?" He nodded. "Great. Bye!" she beamed and dashed out of the classroom.

Gaara walked out of the school. "I don't understand. Why was I so upset? So she hasn't told me everything about herself. We've only known each other for a week. I just wish I knew everything there was to know about her. It's like she said. I want to know her favorite color, the song she sings to at 5 in the morning, her favorite food. I wish I knew what she got up to when she was a little kid. I want to know all of those stories she tells. Still, I don't understand why I was so upset."

A voice in the back of his head said, "You like her. A lot."

"No. That's not it. I just trust her. I want her to trust me back."

"Whatever you say..." Gaara scowled at himself.

When he got back to his room, he found the rest of the gang there. Naruto was hanging his head and half-heartedly eating a bowl of ramen. "What's going on?"

"Hinata only likes girls," said Naruto, with a sob.

"No, she doesn't."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sasuke. "Everyone's saying that all of those girls are lesbians."

"It makes sense. They're the least troublesome girls we know," added Shikamaru. "What a pity."

"Tenten's always been so strong. I should have suspected she was a dyke," said Neji, disgraced with himself.

"How many times do I have to say it? THEY ARE NOT LESBIANS!"

"How do you know?" sneered Sasuke.

"I was just talking to Sophia." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Karin spread the rumor to get back at them for that song they did yesterday."

"Oh. Karin's a total bitch. That should have occurred to us," said Sasuke, mentally slapping himself. He was really afraid that the pink-haired girl who had so frequented his dreams was out of his reach forever.

"Anyway. Naruto. Hinata's into guys. So that means you still have a chance. Personally, I think she likes you, so maybe you should tell her how you feel. With the way you acted earlier, she'll probably be too afraid to tell you anything if she does like you," said Gaara.

"When did you get so smart about girls?" asked Neji, secretly wanting the same information.

"I started hanging out with one. She's pretty…" He almost stopped there, but quickly added, "bright. She's pretty bright."

The rest of them just smirked. He glared at them. Naruto had perked up from the information. The ramen he'd been picking at mysteriously vanished. "So all-knowing medium between guys and girls, how should I tell Hinata?"

Gaara was stunned. He had no idea. He thought about how he might tell someone, that is if he liked someone… "Just spend time with her. When the time feels right, maybe then? Can I make a quick call?" He slipped out into the hallway and called Sophia.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's Gaara."

"Hey. I thought we were meeting at 5."

"Yeah, but I have to ask something. So Naruto is asking about how to tell Hinata he likes her."

"No. Really? YES!"

Gaara heard in the background, "What the hell are you talking about over there?"

Sophia just replied, "Never you mind."

"Anyway, so I don't really know what to tell him. I figured you'd know best. I told him to just slip it in when the time felt right."

"You're better at this than you think. I agree completely. Just tell him not to wait too long to tell her, or she'll lose hope. Also, since she has anxiety, I'd say to make sure it's in private. Or she might get really embarrassed."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I want this to work just like you do. I'll see you in a bit." She hung up. He walked back and relayed her advice, making care not to imply in any way that Hinata definitely liked him back.

"You know I'm surprised you're so invested in this," said Neji.

"Yeah. Normally you're about as involved as Shikamaru." Sasuke gestured to his friend, who was currently sleeping on the carpet.

"You're my friends," he said succinctly.

"Yeah, but. Oh never mind." Sasuke just rolled his eyes at his roommate. He silently wondered what's been bringing on the change in his previously cold friend. It wasn't long before the answer came knocking on the door.

"Hey. You ready?" she asked through the door.

When he saw her, Gaara beamed. "Just a sec." He grabbed his shoes and quickly put them on. They went on their way.

Sasuke wondered aloud to the group, "You don't think he likes this new girl?"

"It's taken you this long to notice? You were teasing him about it not that long ago," said Neji.

"Yeah, but. I didn't think it was actually true."

"Wow, Teme. You're even stupider than me," teased Naruto.

"Even I knew that," said Shikamaru, who everyone thought was sleeping.

"Fine, but I bet you didn't know that you liked Ino."

Shikamaru actually sat up at this accusation. "What? I don't like her. She's the most troublesome person I've ever met."

Neji replied instead of Sasuke. "That hasn't stopped you from staring at her since freshman year."

"What about you and Tenten?" snapped Shikamaru, eager to get the focus off him and his

'secret' crush.

"What about me and Tenten?"

"You've been mentally undressing her in every class you've had together for the past year," said Naruto.

"I gave you my blessing with Hinata because I don't want her with that weirdo Kiba, but I can retract that at any time."

Naruto was keen to have Neji on his side where Hinata was concerned so he turned back to Sasuke. "Sasuke likes Sakura!"

Sasuke had no retort, so he just stuck with his reliable, "Hn."

Gaara and Sophia were off on their walk. They had no destination, they just wandered downtown streets. "I guess I should start with me being bisexual…" Sophia began awkwardly. "I don't know. I just don't see why someone's sex matters when it comes to love."

"You said that you'd been through a bad break-up," he said, remembering their conversation about the crazy sleepover the girls had last week.

"Yeah. She and I well… Her parents weren't okay with it and I was going to come here anyway, so we just called it quits."

"Do you miss her?" he asked, a strain in his voice.

"Yeah. It's not like I don't still care about her, but I've had the whole summer to get over her. She and I aren't going to happen. I've accepted that and so has she." He nodded his head. "Can I ask the next question?" she said, eager to get off the subject of her ex. "What is your favorite color?"

"Red."

"Same here… But not like cherry red. More like a blood red, but not in a creepy way. Just less bright than that. Not quite a burgundy."

"So… red."

She blushed. "Yeah."

"Okay. So tell me about a really good memory."

"Well hmm. I suppose that'll work," she said, mostly to herself. "When I was little, there was really long wooden fence behind my house. Me and my best friend of the time would ride bikes along it every time she came over. There were a lot of college students in the area and they dropped tons of bottle caps. We started a collection of them, old, new, rusty, shiny. It didn't matter. We had them all lined up down the fence. I think we managed to get over a hundred."

"Then what?"

"Oh. I moved. I haven't seen her since. But I told her to take the caps. I wonder if she still has them. I doubt it, but I hope she does."

"That's really sweet."

"Sweet? I didn't think that was part of your vocabulary, Gaara." He just kept walking. "Alright, well I want to hear something from you now."

"Well, you know my family history." She nodded solemnly. "But there was a lake I used to go to during the summer. All the way on the other side of it, there was a bench swing. I spent hours there every day I was in the area. I found out that I love swimming. I'd swim until I got all pruny and then I'd dry out on that swing. The people I was staying with didn't really care where I was, so sometimes, if I wasn't hungry, I'd skip dinner and just stay out there all night. We were so far away from any light that I could see the milky way, a big shining white stripe in the middle of the sky."

"And the moon?"

He smiled. "And the moon."

"That sounds amazing. I've never been out far enough from city lights to see the milky way. I tried to get my dad to take me out during a meteor shower, but he had work the next day. I tried to see them from my rooftop. I didn't manage to see a single one, and I fell asleep up there…"

"I'll have to take you sometime."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Now that's sweet." He blushed, but Sophia didn't notice. She was too busy staring up at the sky.

"So… your turn?"

"Oh yeah." she said, snapping her head down from the sky. "Well there was this one birthday…" They kept swapping stories until Gaara's stomach did a soft rumble. So they went to a restaurant and had dinner.

From all of their stories, Gaara figured that Sophia cares a lot about people. She never had more than a couple of friends at a time, but she was incredibly loyal. Sophia found that Gaara never had anyone to care about. In all of his stories, before Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru and Neji came along, he was alone. His favorite memories were when he got away from everyone else. The stories started to tear at her heartstrings so much so that she just wanted to give him a huge panda bear hug. She knew he didn't want to be patronized by her tears or hugs. He spent all that time making an image of a tough guy, the one who didn't get hurt by anything. Still, she couldn't bear it any longer. It was past nine and pitch black outside, so she started shivering. She latched herself onto him for the "warmth."

"Are you really that cold?" he asked. She just nodded into his back. "Here. Take my jacket." And he took off his sweatshirt and plopped it over her head. She inwardly sighed. Now she was overheating and couldn't give him a hug.

"Thanks," she said, trying to conceal the sarcasm. Before they knew it they were back at the dorms. They silently went their ways back to their rooms. Sophia just collapsed on her bed, exhausted out of her mind. Gaara, however, had his roommate to contend with.

"So, did you have fun on your date?" teased Sasuke.

"What are you talking about?" said Gaara, not in the mood for anything but bed.

"You are so clearly smitten."

"You're one to talk. Just because I have a friend who's a girl doesn't mean I want to jump her, unlike you. By the way, while I was gone, did you make use of my absence and get out that picture of Sakura you keep under your bed? I'm sure she would have enjoyed the privacy." That shut Sasuke up. Gaara smirked and went to bed. "Good night," he called over his shoulder.

I hope you guys liked it. I don't have a clue what I'm putting in the next chapter so it might be a while before I get it out.

Thanks so much to everybody who reviewed the last chapter: iluvninjas BrookieHyuga naruto1305 Shadow-Ninja-Captain69 Annerizu-san. I really liked the suggestions about what to do with Karin. Maybe I actually do know what I'll put in the next chapter... Who knows?