Chapter 25: The cause of pain

Naruto's POV

"In a way, it has a lot to do with you, Naruto." Shino starts, and he pushes up his sunglasses while he thinks about how to continue. Shino isn't very good with words, and when he does speak he usually sounds robotic. That's just because Shino doesn't usually like to bother people with his problems, so he doesn't let his emotions show; that, and he's a very calm person. It takes a lot to piss him off. Even though Kiba threw him out the way he did, I can tell Shino will forgive him.

"I'm sure you have noticed his overreaction to the discovery about your sexuality, but it's me that he comes to complain to. I've attempted to make him see that he shouldn't ruin his friendship with you simply because you're gay. I've insisted that you haven't changed. Kiba, of course, feels somehow betrayed by you. I've tried to ignore his constant talking about the situation. It's just that, this morning, I'd had enough. I should have thought better of it, but my anger took over. Usually I keep my mouth shut, but this time I found myself saying something that I should have kept secret."

My eye brows come together in confusion. What was it that Shino said to piss Kiba off so bad?

Shino is about to continue when the loud slam of a door reaches our room. We look at our door, expecting it to open, but instead we hear heavy, angry footsteps walking away.

"Well, at least now that he's out of the room you can get ready for class," Sasuke says. Shino nods, but he makes no move to get up. Of course not; I can see Sasuke doesn't want him to, and I don't want him to either. I want to hear the rest of his story.

"As I was saying," Shino continues. "I'd had enough of listening to him, and I asked him a question I shouldn't have: 'and what would you do, Kiba, if I told you that Naruto and I are not so different in our sexual preferences?' For a moment Kiba said nothing, but then he told me that it wasn't a funny joke that I was making. When I told him there was no joke, and that I, in fact, have admired him since we were both twelve, he exploded. He went on a rampage about something. He was yelling so incoherently, I couldn't understand what he was saying. I said nothing more. Knowing Kiba, I just wanted to give him time to cool off. I never told Kiba how I felt about him before, mainly because I knew he wouldn't feel the same way. Anyway, after calming down a little bit, he walked back and forth. He glared at me, and every so often he would shake his head, as if he were disappointed in me. As though I betrayed him worse then you did, Naruto. Then he told me calmly – or attempted to tell me calmly – to leave. When I did nothing, he yelled at me to leave. So, I attempted to reason with him. I was forced to go in the end, as you saw."

"Shit. He really needs to see someone about his little homophobia problem." I mumble.

"Well, if you want to stay the night with us later on, you're welcome to." Sasuke offers as I get up to gather some books and such.

"Yeah, it's better than dealing with Kiba..." My voice trails off as I see said brunette outside, confronting my boyfriend.

"What the hell?" I make a dash for the door, dropping my school books; but Sasuke stops me.

"What's your hurry?"

"Kiba. He's outside with Gaara, and I don't trust that bastard. No offense, Shino, but Kiba isn't all that rational – I know he's going to pull some sort of shit."

"Don't you think Gaara can take care of himself?" Sasuke asks.

"Yes, but-"

"It might be better not to show up down there. It might just anger Kiba more." Sasuke continues, and he isn't trying to be mean. He's being honest; he honestly believes what he's saying.

"But the point is that Kiba is my friend, and my problem. Why should I let Gaara deal with him?"

"If anyone should go down there, it should be me. I obviously provoked him. Because of what I said, he's making some sort of rash decision." Shino explains in his monotonous voice, getting to his feet.

"You just worry about getting dressed. I'll handle this crap on my own," Not letting anyone stop me, I make my way out of the room.

Gaara's POV

I didn't expect anyone but Naruto to approach me this morning, so I am surprised when an angry brunette walks up to me and starts yelling at me about being a witch and turning everyone against him, taking his friends from him and such. I don't realize who he is until he backs away from my face, expecting me to say something in return.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say? You never fucking talk, you freak! Stay the hell away from Naruto! You fucking fucked him up!" He screams at me. Obviously he's having problems, he's decided to let it out on me. Not that it really is my fault – it's not. People do things like this all the time. I've come to realize that they like to blame me most of all. Blame me for my mother's death, blame me for being stuck in an all-boys boarding school, blame me for taking away a friend or changing them somehow. I just sit, waiting for him to leave. I don't feel like scuffling with him. However, he is very aggressive. He almost reminds me of a dog as he lashes out at me, grabbing the front of my shirt. All the while, I do nothing, I say nothing.

"Everything was fine before he started hanging around you. I wasn't seen as a bad person until you fucked everything up. Now, not only does Naruto weird me out, but Shino too. I have no one left, because you decided to show up. Someone doesn't become interested in a person just like that, even if they are Naruto! You did something to him!"

My head is hurting from his loud tone, and he has decided to add extra emphasis to his words by occasionally shaking me roughly.

"I did nothing. Don't blame me for your ignorance." I don't want to deal with a boy who can't come to terms with the fact that some of his friends are gay, especially if he wants to blame me and yell at me because of it. He doesn't understand what's going on between me and Naruto. He doesn't care to understand, so I don't care to listen to him, or to try and calm him down.

"What did you say?" He growls at me.

I hate it when people say that as if they didn't hear me, when I know they heard me quite well. After all, his anger has flared tenfold, so I know he heard me. Surprisingly enough, I feel a little irritated, and anger starts to form itself within me. It craves violence. Maybe it's been building up from all the shit I've been taking. Sometimes I let things go, but after a while of being blamed continuously and being treated the same way again and again, I just can't take that shit anymore. I feel like that's what is happening to me now. I'm tired of being blamed, I'm tired of people judging me when they don't even know me, and seeing me as dirt, and spitting in my face. If you don't like me, then stay out of my way – plain and simple. But he's confronting me, and it's annoying. I don't want to listen to him, I don't want to hear the excuses he's come up with, I don't want to hear him say something is my fault when it's not.

"You heard what I said," I say calmly after a long silence. He roughly pushes me back, and my head hits the edge of the flower bed pretty hard. I could have sworn I heard something crack, but I hope it's only my imagination. I get to my feet and stare at the boy.

"What good will that do you? For now, it might help you get your mind off the way you treated your 'friends', but later you'll see there is no reasoning behind your actions. You just want someone to blame. You're pathetic." I tell him. It feels good. I almost wish it's my father that I am confronting, so that I can tell him similar words. However, it is not, and I can't afford to say such things to my father until I'm eighteen.

I'm not at all surprised when the boy runs at me, and we both fall to the ground. It isn't a fist fight; instead, an enraged wrestling match. I can hear some footsteps around us; it must almost be time for class. However, I'm not expecting that the sounds of footsteps are coming from only one person.

"Gaara!" I can't look up, but I recognize the voice to be Naruto's. I get a good look at my muse after he pulls his 'friend' off me.

"Kiba, what the hell is your problem?"

"He's my problem!" He points a finger at me. I touch the back of my head, which has abruptly started throbbing.

"Leave him out of this. You know damn well this whole thing is between you and me. If you must know, I'm the one who asked Gaara out. I'm the one who first kissed him. I did everything first! So stop being an idiot, and go fucking apologize to Shino!"

"For what? I can't help it if Shino's one of you."

"Apologize for the way you treated him. You really want to lose the only friend you have left?"

Slowly, the words that are being exchanged between the two boys fade away, and my eyes become heavy. Still, I can hear them faintly...slowly fading, until there is complete silence. Darkness comes soon after.

Slowly, my eyes open, and I see nothing but white. At that moment, I know I'm not dead. If I were, I would see nothing but red flames.

"Well, you're awake. That's good," Says a female voice. I say nothing in return as I look at the black haired woman. "You're in the nurse's office. I'm the nurse." She giggles. "You passed out from your little fight. There isn't much damage, just a little bleeding. You're lucky. You're only getting suspended for a month; usually the punishment for a fight like that is expulsion."

Suspended. Great. I'm sure my father will be glad to have me back home.

"For now, just worry about getting better." The black haired women smiles at me kindly, and then leaves the small, doorless room that I am in. I stare at the ceiling, wondering why I got suspended this time. The other time I got into a fight, nothing happened. Of course, that time they saw that I wasn't really fighting back. Maybe they believe I'm causing trouble, now that I've gotten into yet another fight.

I don't dwell on this long. I'll simply have to put up with my father's yelling, and if he does something drastic – like kick me out of the house – then I will find help; a shelter or something. Of course, this won't look good if I decide to try and get into college, assuming I can afford to do so at all. Either way, it doesn't really matter. College is most likely out of my reach anyway, no matter how good my grades are. What is done is done, and I'll have to deal with the up and coming problems once they actually show themselves.

A knock against the wall alerts me to someone's presence. I am pleased when I see it is Naruto, though his face holds a sad expression. He walks over to my side, taking a seat in the chair placed next to the small bed. Other beds are in the small room, but they are all empty.

"I'm sorry," The boy whispers to me.

"It's not your fault." The words come out of my mouth quickly, but they don't seem to bring my muse any comfort.

"Yeah, it is. I'm bringing you trouble...You shouldn't have had to deal with Kiba...and..." He doesn't finish his sentence, sighing. He is angry, sad, and frustrated. But really, it wasn't his fault. He could never have guessed his friend would snap.

"It's fine. Suspension is no big deal." I mumble.

"Suspension?" His blue eyes hold surprise as they stare at me. Wasn't that what was making him so upset? I guess not. Must have just been that fact that his friend was acting stupidly. But now I've only added more aggravation by stating the fact that I am suspended.

Naruto's foot is tapping an irritated beat, and he looks like he is about to burst out into tears. I really don't understand why. It's nothing that can't be fixed later on. It isn't like I have internal bleeding because of my fall, and need to be operated on. It isn't like I got expelled. It could have been so much worse. However, I don't point this out to my muse. I don't believe words can comfort him right now. On top of that, I'm not too good with words, so it's better if I stay quiet.

"This isn't fair." He mumbles finally. His eyes loose their glaze. He doesn't look like he's on the edge of tears anymore. I still say nothing. "I'm bringing you problems, just like she brought him problems..."

"Who?" I can't help but ask. However, my question only seems to make things worse.

"It's not fair!" Naruto calms down rather quickly. He seems to be going through strange mood swings. Maybe it's because whatever is bothering him has been bothering him for so long. The things he's bottled up inside, the things he's tied to hide behind a smile. The things I've only seen for brief moments when his eyes show his sadness. "I don't want to be like her...I don't want to cause you pain and problems...I don't want to make everything worse for you. I want to have my own destiny. I don't want to repeat hers..." He isn't making any sense. His thoughts are really torturing him, I can tell by the look on his face. I hate to see him like this, so pained, and he won't stop blaming himself for what happened.

"Kiba was my friend. He didn't need to go after you. Why did he do that? It must have been something I did. Why didn't I see it coming? I don't want to bring you any more problems then you already have. I know you're an outcast, but you never had it so bad till I came around. And now you're being suspended because of me. Because of a friend of mine." He is babbling.

"You can't control what other people do." I tell him in a low voice, attempting to sound soothing; though I don't believe it's working.

"Yeah, but I don't want to be like her. I don't want to go crazy because of this."

"Then stop blaming yourself, and stop thinking about it." I tell him. He seems to listen. Finally, I am able to bring him some comfort with my words.

A/N: So the climax is really Naruto's break down, which is leading up to Naruto's' background story! I can't promise updates will be fast. I've fallen badly ill, and missed a lot of school, so school work is piling up, most likely. I won't have much time to work on this, and I'm still sick.