Chapter 11:Red water

Gaara's POV

It was Thursday, and as usual Naruto was next to me weaving his web of words. I was thinking about my portrait which I still haven't completed. Maybe I know that finishing the painting would be torture for me. I usually hate drawing images of myself. Not because I dislike the way I look, but because I dislike the way I portray myself. Memories always flash before my eyes, and I think of him, and all the other annoyances of my childhood. And I lose myself in that feeling, those memories. But I want to finish that portrait, for some reason I want to draw myself, and only me, no one else.

I was pulled from my thoughts by a noise, familiar yet in a different tone, almost …no it is a tune. I look at the blonde boy next to me. It's unmistakable, Naruto was singing, a lullaby entitled "Beautiful Dreamer". His eyes shift mysteriously in my direction as he stops his song and gives me that grin of his.

"That got your attention didn't it?" He says teasingly, chuckling a little under his words. "So I'll ask the question again, will you draw me a picture?" He asks of me. I look at him strangely. I had never given anyone a picture, I liked to keep them myself.

"Why would you want that?" I ask simply.

"Why do people like to look at strippers? 'Cause they think they're pretty!" The boy says it like that simple statement made his request clear. It wasn't though, I still don't understand. Another part of him that puzzles me. He does and says so many things that just don't seem normal. Or am I the one out of the norm?

"I like the way you draw…" he says looking off into the sky, and there it was, that sadness that he hides. It slipped, and his eyes show that usually unseen emotion. It only made the whole situation even more of an enigma.

"I sang for you. Remember you asked if I could sing? I don't think I can, but you tell me. I mean after all, you must think my voice to be rather lovely," He said this part with a fake English accent, "Or else you wouldn't let me rant on non-stop. You know I'm running out of material! Talking back every once in a while would help!" The energy and fake happiness was back. Doesn't it bother him at all to be like that? What makes him think he has to be like that?

"Why do you then?" I state simply in a monotone voice.

"Do what?"

"Talk on, why not just leave? What keeps you here?"

"You're my friend," he says it with such a sureness. I look at his face, that smile…is this really what a friendship is like? I doubt it, and we are far from friends.

"What makes you think that?" I say darkly. His expression drops for but a split moment.

"You don't like letting people in do you? I could care less if you think of me as your friend, the thing is, you're mine. I could care less if you never once talk back to me. I'll still come here, sit next to you, and blab on. You know why?" I say nothing and just stare at the boy. "Because I know you like it…need it. 'Cause every once in a while you just gotta ignore it…" the boy leans back on the edge of the flower bed.

"What would I ignore," I felt stupid for asking the question. Somehow he was singing his loralies, and I couldn't help but sink just a little.

"Ignore your loneliness."

"Just because someone is by themselves doesn't mean they're lonely."

"Ignore your sadness," the boy goes on to say, turning a blind eye to my statement. There was a long moment of silence. Why should he care if I'm alone and sad? I don't think pain should be ignored. I don't think it's healthy to do as he is doing, putting on a happy face when deep down inside something still haunts you.

"Sometimes it's best to accept your sadness. It's part of the healing process," I say.

"Draw me a picture please? With all orange, a pretty picture with someone who's smiling," he says in a sort of dreamy voice. I've never drawn a picture for anyone but myself. I've never given a picture to anyone who asked. My art… somehow it's the way I feel alive, and it's like giving away a part of me. A part of me that can't be understood by those who just see skill and beauty in my work… never the pain or hatred.

"Oh, almost forgot to tell you. You're coming to the mall with me tomorrow!" Naruto says sitting up and giving me a smile.

"No," I say simply. After all, how can he just assume I have nothing better to do?

"Come on, why not? Why can't we hang at some other place than the courtyard?"

"No."

"What do you have against the mall? Don't you want to leave the school sometimes? Go out to an ice-cream café or whatever. Don't you ever get sick of the food the school serves? Or get tired of doing the same thing every day?"

"No." So plain and simple. The boy lets out a sigh, and is silent for a little while.

"How about we go to the pool then?" He says, "That's still on campus."

I try to hide my discomfort, but I give it away with my stillness.

"What?" He asks.

"I …don't know how to swim," I say. Maybe it'll get me out of having to do anything with him.

Naruto looks at me unbelieving and then his eyes flashed with joy. "Then I'll teach you. Six thirty, meet me at the pool. Ok?"

There was no time to even say 'No' as the blonde left. I go sit in the courtyard for a little bit longer, I really didn't want to do this. I then slowly get up and head to my room. As I enter my room I glance over the many bottles of beach sand, and sit upon my bed. I hold one of the bottles of sand in my hand. I had tried once to learn to swim, to only nearly drown and have him save me from the rip current. Now though, I wonder if he would have let me drown. It felt like eternity that I was under water, and I opened my eyes to see him above me, giving me a weak smile. I doubt that it would have phased him at all if I had died then and there.

I trace my fingers over my tattoo, and then set down the bottle of sand on the nightstand where it had rested earlier. I lie back on my bed and think.

The nymph…what a strange boy he is indeed. I don't know what's wrong with the boy, or what he wants from me but I doubt I'll go meet him tomorrow morning. I don't mind him coming out into the courtyard and keeping me company, even bringing with him that noise of his, but doing anything else with him… I don't think I would. It just seems like he's trying to pull something, and I could get too attached. After all, he's just a luxury, and even if I let him think this is a friendship, and even if I have no other word to explain this tolerance with, I am not going to become his friend. I just can't…

On top of that I also don't really want to learn how to swim. Why did he even offer to teach me? Doesn't he have anything better to do? I know he has other friends, why not hang out with them? Why me? Once again he's picking at my brain, once again I can't figure him out. He's just an odd creature. The door opens and Kankuro comes into the room. He seems a little upset and he turns to me.

"You know it's all your fault I'm in this damn school. I met this hot babe, and I doubt I'll ever get to see her again. All 'cause I'm stuck in this damn all-boys school," he mumbles, just speaking to be heard, nothing else. I tune him out. My brother and I aren't very close, but I don't hate him. I don't know if he hates me. I could care less. He was all ready for bed and he turned off the lights and went under his covers. I pull the covers over me, but I'm not tired at all.

I start to think about Naruto once again, twisting and torturing my brain as I try to understand him. It's another one of those nights, I tell myself as I watch the digital clock. It's one of those nights where sleep doesn't visit me, where I'm forced to think about things and look around bored waiting for dawn to come. Slowly but surly the sun peeked over the horizon. I'm pulled out of my thoughts—which sadly only revolved around the little blonde muse—, and I look at the little beams of light that manage to come into the room. The room is still very dark, I make sure of that with the thick curtains and blinds. But still at least one stream of light always manages to enter the room in the morning. It was soft and orange. The color my muse likes to wear, he has truly settled into my mind. I let out a sigh, disappointed or annoyed at myself, I couldn't really tell. I do not get up off of my bed. My brother is still asleep so I can't open the curtains and let the light in so that I may read or sketch. The night was agonizingly long with nothing to do. Now I must wait for my brother to wake till I can do anything to occupy myself.

I sit quietly and then look at the clock. It read six twenty. Kankuro usually gets up around nine. I have a long time to wait. I lean against the headboard, and then once more try to get lost in my thoughts, trying to think of something of interest. But the little nymph came to me again, and once more I look at the clock, only a minute has past. I can't stand this slow ticking of time.

I get out of my bed and go to my dresser. I take out some cloths and head to the bathroom to get dressed and ready to meet Naruto at the pool. I have nothing better to do, and I suppose it's better than waiting with nothing to do until Kankuro finally stirs or heading out into the courtyard like I always do. There would be no noise this early in the morning, and I've gotten used to noises when I'm in the courtyard. That's the only reason I'm going, that it's a better alternative, that's all there is to it. I have no swimming trunks though, so that may even stop the boy's plans, and I can just go sit in the courtyard and have him babble.

When I enter the pool area, I see the blonde spikes right away. He's leaning against the glass wall of the enclosed pool, waiting. When I open the door his eyes light up as he turns to me. A smile is quickly spreading over his face.

"You ready?" he asks excitedly. I show no enthusiasm, and I ask myself why exactly is it that I'm here.

"Here, lets go change," he explains handing me a pair of swim shorts. "I didn't think you'd own a pair, seeing as you can't swim and all," he explains and heads to the locker room. The locker room was amazingly unlocked, and there were two others in the room. They passed us and Naruto greeted one, his name was Neji if I heard correctly. It was a polite exchange of good mornings, but the boy did give me a look that I'm used to. There was also another boy with a green cap on. I think he's in our science class, seeing as he looks familiar and Naruto also greets him. Lee was his name, and he looked like he was part of the swim team with a bathing cap and matching green goggles, and only the swim team would dare to wear a Speedo. The other boy Neji was just in normal shorts, and most likely just here to swim with his friend.

I wonder when they open the pool, seeing as it's so early in the morning. Maybe the doors are unlocked at six. The locker room had no privacy, the showers were open, and lockers were everywhere, along with benches. So anyone changing in here or taking a shower in here would be exposing themselves to everyone else around. I try to find some private area to change but the best I could do is go into the open shower section of the room, and hide behind the tile wall, underneath a shower head. If Naruto didn't walk in he wouldn't see anything.

The shorts the boy had given me were white with dark blue and gray trimmings that curved in a U shape, so that your thigh had a U of blue and gray on the bottom of the shorts, and the rest of the color turned up in the front to cover your crotch. Above the U of the trim on the thigh was an orange surfboard shape, surrounded by the basic white of the short. I strip myself of my clothes and pull on the swimming trunks. They were a little big at first, but I made them tighter by tying the strings that hung out of them tighter. Then I gather my clothes and step out from the open shower. Naruto had on orange shorts with black seams and trimmings. He was putting his clothes on top of the lockers, seeing how he couldn't open any of them. I did the same, giving my clothes at least a little protection from being taken.

"Ok you ready to learn how to swim?" Naruto asks cheerfully. I say nothing, not really being sure if I wanted to learn. I hear the sound of bare feet move across the tiles, and soon after I hear the nymph call for me to follow. Yes, the little nymph of the sea that sings to blind sailors.

When we get to the pool the two boys who had passed us earlier were there. The one with long hair was holding a stopwatch, sitting on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the deep end. The other boy was swimming very quickly across the pool, obviously doing times. Naruto enters the side of the pool where we wouldn't be disturbed by the boy's practice. After all, the pool was big enough to avoid one another. I was hesitant in entering the water. The blonde wasn't fearful at all, the water was all the way up to his waist, and this was supposed to be the shallow end. I look at the water, I felt a little comfort in the clearness and my ability to see the other's feet touching the ground.

"Come on, the first step is getting in," he says happily. I really didn't want to do this, especially with others around to watch. I didn't want to enter the water at all, and felt so weak for fearing it. But nearly drowning can bring that kind of fear. I just don't like showing emotion of any kind whatsoever to others. And fear was an emotions, one that I wanted to keep to myself the most, one that I thought was no ones business but my own. Displaying fear only brings out fake sympathy in others, or you get made fun of. I ask myself again why I came down here. I should have just went and sat in the courtyard, no matter how maddeningly quiet it would have been. Why had I decided to come here just because the blonde had asked me to… had offered to teach me something even after what he witnessed. Like that time, where I licked blood off my fingers after making another boy bleed, even though he saw that, it's like he shrugged it off. Just like when in that same situation he had wanted to stand up for me. What is it with this boy? What does he get out of starting this 'friendship' with me?

The sound of Naruto walking through the water and then a cold wet touch upon my fingers is what drew me out of my trance of staring at the water and pondering the ever puzzling odd behavior he displays. I look at equally blue eyes. "Are you scared?" He asks. I couldn't help the scowl that ran over my face. I really should just leave, what was the point of this? Why do I need to know how to swim? Why should I spend time with this boy just because he wants to. Naruto comes out of the water fully and wraps his hand around mine. I pull away.

"Come on, we'll go in together. You can hold on to me, don't be scared." He was treating me like a child, and though it made me angry it also gave me some comfort. It's been a long time since I've been lead by the hand into a new experience. I don't know why he wants to waste time teaching me how to swim, I don't at all understand very much about him and his motives. But when he reaches for my hand once more I let him lead me into the water. I feel so pathetic, really, I don't like showing fear. I also don't like to be comforted like some little child, yet I let him. Somehow I seem to let him do things that annoy me, anyone else I would be able to chase away. Just like I let him keep me company in the courtyard though it bothered me. I had not let anyone else do so, what is it about the nymph that he cannot be discouraged?

Naruto's POV

I don't know why simply reaching for Gaara's hand made me feel like I was sweating. Maybe I'm just imagining it, I mean I am in the water, so maybe I just think I'm sweating because I'm wet. Either way I'm glad the boy showed up so I could hang out with him. I slowly lead him into the water, he looked around himself, like he was afraid something would pull him underwater. The sound of Lee swimming back and forth had stopped, but I don't take my eyes off the red head slowly entering the water with me.

"Are you afraid of putting your head under water?" I ask. He only gives me a glare. I don't know if that was a yes or a no, but I go on to tell him why I ask that. "You see, I learned how to dive before I learned how to swim. It's easier because you don't have to worry about keeping your head above water, and you can just practice the movements."

"I'd rather keep my head above water," He mumbles.

"Ok then. Lets just try keeping yourself afloat," I say, not really knowing where else to start. Diving would have just been an easier place for me to start. I show Gaara how to keep his head above water, while slowly swimming circles around him. The sound of water splashing caught my attention, though it was only Neji and Lee on the deep end. From the looks of it Neji had just dived in. I continue to instruct Gaara. He was trying to keep himself afloat with only his arms now. It wasn't swimming, but you have to start somewhere. On top of that he wasn't doing a very good job at keeping himself afloat, and when I told him to move his feet just a little he refused to do so. The moment water touched his lips he would stand up. All in all he wasn't doing too good of a job.

"Ok, here, this will be easier and you won't have to feel afraid." The boy didn't look too happy, and I could tell he just wanted to leave. But I'm not going to let him, and maybe he knew that and so didn't try to leave the pool. I touch his stomach, and he pulls away glaring at me.

"Dude I'm not going to molest you. Just rest on my hands, I'll help keep you afloat until you're good enough on your own." He lets me help, and I tilted him slowly so that his stomach is flat on both my hands. Though he didn't like being tilted so far, and he started to splash and moves to try and keep me from resting him in the water.

"Calm down man. I'll make sure you won't sink, just concentrate on moving your arms and feet," I drag out the word feet, seeing as he didn't like to move them too much, failing in floating that way. When the boy relaxed a little bit and his movements were smoother, I slowly and, going unnoticed my Gaara, remove my hands from under him. The boy only realized my hands were gone once he had moved a couple of inches ahead of me and was now rapidly starting to sink. But he sat his feet on the ground and looked back at me, a little uneasy, and completely aggravated. I give him a grin, this doesn't help his pissy mood.

"See how well you did on your own?" I point out cheerfully. The red head's face went emotionless, and he just turns to leave the pool. I couldn't tell if he was upset at me, or if he just was afraid to stay in the water any longer. Either way I follow him trying to make him feel a little proud of himself. After all, for his first time and the fear he displayed of the water, I think he did pretty good. I tell him my thoughts, and offer him more lessons, if he was listening I had no clue.

After changing back into our normal cloths, Gaara hands me back the swim shorts I let him borrow. I look at the clock on the wall of the locker room and it read exactly eight o'clock. As me and the read head left, a lot of boys were coming in, wanting to take a morning dip too.

It was no surprise when Gaara stopped and sat down on the flowerbed edge in the courtyard. I throw the still wet swimming trunks on the side of the flowerbed, and sit between them and Gaara. I look at the boy, who only blankly stared at the floor. I won't make him ask this time. I let a smile cross my face as I start to talk about everything and nothing at all. For some odd reason even if it was just the beginning of the day, I felt like it couldn't get any better. Obsessed, huh? I don't know, but I like being around quiet, mysterious and weird Gaara. Blood sucker? I have no idea. I look up at the sky and begin in the middle of talking let out the things that were on my mind.

"You can try to ignore me, act pissy and hateful towards me, try and tell me we're not friends, but you know what?" I ask glancing over and happy to see, though his head was still down, that his eyes had shifted to look at me, "Doing that shit's only going to make me want to keep coming back."

A/N: Next chapter will hold creepyness, and growth. What kind of growth? You'll find out now won't you?