So ta-da! Newest chapter and still on time despite school :p I am quite impressed with myself. Anyways enjoy and a special thanks to .Princess for giving it a quick looksie.

Enjoy!

Important: I'm balancing updating consistently with school, and sometimes the latter can get a bit hectic and I lose my train of thought on the former. If anyone is interested in giving some of the chapters a quick read-through before i post them please let me know. I'm not looking for a beta, just more so a second opinion.

In that instant Kankuro's words made two things clear to me. Gaara had returned home, and now the puzzle of where he had disappeared off to had been solved. The second was that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Had Shukaku returned? I hadn't figured out a pattern to his sudden appearance but it would explain the apprehension in Kankuro's eyes.

"What happened? Is he okay?" I expected him to start explaining right away, but he paused smelling the air.

"Is that… Did you make waffles?" I was a bit taken aback by the sudden change in direction. Was food all that boys cared about?

"I um… yes… but Gaara?" Kankuro shrugged, a bit more at ease before heading to the kitchen with a new purpose in mind.

"Yeah, it was really freaky. He comes downstairs all mopey and he apologizes. I mean… it's Gaara!" I stood still as I processed Kankuro's words, the situation not resembling anything I imagined.

"He… that's it?" Entering the kitchen he grabbed a plate and cutlery and began picking at the pile of waffles. It'd grown cold now but I suspected he didn't care.

"What happened to all of your maple syrup?" I frowned not liking how nonchalant he was about it all. Before I could call him out on it I noticed Sasori's box and letters spread out on the counter. I moved as slowly and calmly as I could, determined to remove them from his view.

"You realize you worried me for a second." He shrugged, eating the cold pancakes contently.

"Yeah well, Himawari it was weird. He was weird. He came down all mopey and sullen this morning, apologizing for everything. Literally that's what he said. 'I'm sorry for everything,' and then he left. His eyes were red, I mean he could've been crying… but it's Gaara. He doesn't cry. He also doesn't apologize." Despite his cool demeanour I could tell that Kankuro was shaken. Gaara had come down in the morning… so he must've left late last night.

"What… what makes you think I did something?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"You're the only person I've heard Gaara apologize to. It must've been your fault." Reaching the counter I began putting the contents of the box away, as though it was any normal box. "What's that?" I didn't let myself freeze at the question, shrugging apathetically.

"Just a couple of old letters." He raised an eyebrow, and had Kankuro not been so distracted, he would've pounced on it. He would've known I didn't want him to know so he would've ripped it from my hand out of sheer curiosity. He was indifferent to it, which meant the Gaara incident had shaken him more than he was letting on.

"That's it? He came downstairs and apologized?" Sure it was out of character, but no where near as dangerous or scary as Kankuro was attempting to make it seem.

"Himawari… it was weird. Too weird. He had this look in his eyes like…" I sat down on a stool then, attention rapt. Never once had Kankuro tried to discuss his brother with me. He'd hint, or make snide remarks, but this was an actual conversation about Gaara. We'd always acknowledged him and his eccentricities, but we never discussed it. Never.

"A look in his eyes like?"

"Like he didn't know who he was anymore."

I sat placidly in my room, trying to sort out what normalcy was. Kankuro had left, just as confused and disoriented as when he'd arrive.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since before the Gala." Lie. "Do you think something happened there?" Denial.

"No… I don't know what it could be." Truth. Kankuro was always honest. "I don't know where he went."

Where would he go? Should I have told Kankuro what had actually happened? He'd been so honest with me… and yet I felt like this wasn't my story to tell. Gaara wouldn't want… no, I no longer knew what Gaara wanted. I didn't even know where Gaara was. Where could he have disappeared off to?

A week ago, I'd been sitting in my room reading and occasionally glancing in on Sasori and whatever he was up to. I would've messaged Kankuro to go play pool, or ask Gaara to come over and watch movies. Now I was just sitting on my floor wondering how everything got so screwed up.

Sasori I couldn't rewind, but maybe I could forgive him. Eventually I'd have to return the box to him. The straw doll was still a mystery, but my legs were like lead and I was in no mood to traverse downstairs for more surprises. For all I knew it was a voodoo doll.

Nope, I would just sit here and sulk. Maybe I would paint my nails… A dull ringing pierced the air, and I recognized the sound vaguely.

"Shoot." I rushed downstairs as the echo of my ring tone rang louder. What if it was Gaara? He would definitely want to talk but maybe he wouldn't want to do it in person. As I reached the downstairs landing silence hung in the air, it only lasted for a moment before it began ringing again. Racing to the kitchen I found it back in my purse, opening it I was surprised at the number.

"Ino?"

"Hey Himawari, what're you doing?" I was a bit taken aback by the urgency in her voice.

"I um… nothing?"

"Are you at home?" I nodded, felt like a moron then spoke.

"I um… yes?"

"We're coming over." The blonde hung up the phone before I could even inquire as to who 'we' were. Ino's tone was very clipped, slightly business like and I tried to process just what was happening.

I glanced around the kitchen, picking up Sasori's box and hiding it in my room. My house, as usual was already really clean so I guess I wasn't unprepared for guests. But… guests?

First Sasuke, then Kankuro now Ino? It was about 12 in the afternoon, so not an unheard of time but still… to just invite yourself over?

Wait no… maybe this was a good thing. Did Sakuro and Ino view me as that close of a friend? I mean… I guess I did get them invited to a cool high school party. Does that carry a lot of weight in girl world?

Oh no… Ino had been a bit abrupt on the phone. Did she know about Sasuke driving me home? I winced at the thought. It'd been totally innocent but they were so smitten with him that they might not believe it.

I'd only had a few minutes to process the possibilities before my thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on my door. They'd gotten here fast… Moving towards the front entrance I glanced in the window and saw a small red buggy.

"Himawari! Open up this is an emergency." I rushed to the door, wondering what could've happened.

"Is everything… Sakura?" It took me a moment to process the sudden change in her appearance and by then Ino and Sakura had already stormed in, both looking furious. I stared at Sakura's pink hair, once long and now clipped to her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" There was concern in Sakura's eyes as she gave me a once over.

"Me… yeah I'm fine. Your hair…" She gave a fake smile, but I could tell she seemed a bit upset about it.

"That's good to know. Itachi Uchiha came up to us and told us you were feeling sick and headed out. Don't tell me you have the hots for him as well?" I ignored Ino's words, my eyes fixated on Sakura's once long hair. In the brief time I'd known her, she'd made it very obvious how much she loved her pink locks.

"You cut your hair?" Ino took over the conversation, Sakura's eyes slanting as she looked at the shortened strands.

"If someone didn't bail early, maybe you would know."

"Wait… this happened yesterday?" Ino nodded, plopping down on the counter, and Sakura sat beside her. I noted that Kankuro had finished the last of the waffles.

"Does anyone want tea?" They glanced at each other before shrugging.

"Yeah tea sounds good." Sakura said, running her hands through her hair and pausing once she recalled the length. Her eyes hardened with anger then. "We're in a war Himawari. Brace yourself." I nodded, hearing her words but not understanding. I guess war made people closer, right?

"So… what happened?"

"So this one spots Sasuke in the kitchen." Ino said motioning towards Sakura.

"And this one follows, and guess whose there as well?" I was a bit amazed by just how in sync the two of them were. Had they practised this?

"Karin." They spoke the name at the same time, and waited for me to flail in indignation.

"I um… I don't know who that is." I tried to rake my mind for a girl with that name, but I couldn't conjure a single image.

"She's that bitchy red head."

"Not to mention a total slut."

"Did I mention she was a frigid bitch?"

"Himawari she is the devil!" Ino and Sakura often bickered with each other, but I was beginning to realize that whoever this Karin girl was, they shared a mutual hatred of her, and must have for sometime.

"She put gum in my hair! On purpose!" Sakura motioned again to her shortened locks.

"And then that douche bag Suigetsu pulls out his knife…" Seeing my confusion Sakura clarified.

"He's the sword freak, the one whose obsessed with swords and carries a pocket knife all the time?" I nodded, pretending like I had some clue what they were talking about. At Suna, the most dangerous or strange person in any of my classes was Gaara. It was occurring to me that Konoha high was filled with eccentric characters and weirdos. A sword obsessed guy who carried a pocket knife? That had to be illegal… right? A brief flashback from last night sprung to my mind, of Shukaku pulling a blade from his pocket. I winced and felt my hands shake at the memory. Clearly I couldn't judge. Suna had it's fair share of pocket-knife wielding crazies too.

"Oh no, don't worry he didn't hurt me!" Sakura moved her hand clasping mine. She'd misread the look on my face, but I was grateful for the comforting gesture all the same. I still hadn't told anyone about what had happened. To be honest, I didn't even know if I had anyone to tell. "Anyways he offered to cut it off for me, and then Naruto came out of no where pushing him away." So I had heard Naruto yesterday. "But I mean… there was still gum in my hair, and I mean a lot of gum. That bitch definitely made sure she piled it on." Sometimes Temari would swear, but I wasn't used to such blatant profanity and to be honest it unnerved me a bit.

"So then Sasuke says-" Ino began but Sakura raised her hand, cheeks turning into tomatoes.

"We don't need to go there. So too much gum in my hair, we left the party early. My mom helped me cut it. The end."

"Nice try forehead. Sasuke tells her to just chop it off, and then Sakura starts crying." My eyes widened at the situation. That seemed to have escalated quickly.

"That's not how it happened!"

"You definitely started crying."

"Yeah but not because of Sasuke, because I knew I'd have to cut my hair." While they were bickering I began preparing the tea, deciding that their excitement was a kind I could enjoy. It was a normal type of excitement… not that it was really normal. At least it wasn't as crazy as what I'd gone through, and there was something funny about the whole thing. In a terrifying sort of way.

"I um… I'm sorry you had to cut your hair, but I think it looks nice short." Sakura paused in her bickering before smiling shyly.

"Thanks." She said, but still sounded unconvinced.

"She's right, it looks nice short. Don't get so hung up, it was just a stupid rumour." Confused again by their words I cut in.

"What rumour?"

"There was a rumour going around that Sasuke liked girls with long hair, so we both grew our hair out. It's silly I know." I bit my lip feeling my cheeks heat slightly. I'd done something similar because I'd heard Sasori liked long hair. I guess we were more similar than I thought.

"Anyways, so Sasuke tells her to just cut it and that it's no big deal, and she starts crying so Naruto starts yelling at him and it sort of just turned into this huge shit show." Slowly pieces of last night started making senses.

I'd definitely heard Naruto yell moron, and this explained why Sasuke was so upset when he thought he'd made me cry.

"Are you… are you sure she did it on purpose? I mean, that's pretty mean…" I'd heard about mean girls and girl drama but this seemed a bit excessive, almost borderline criminal.

"Oh she definitely did it on purpose. She was so smug about it… I'd love to cut off her hair…" There was no doubt in Sakura's voice, and a look of total agreement in Ino's.

"But… why?" They glanced at each other, as though suddenly recalling they had to explain everything to me.

"You really are that oblivious aren't you?" I knew I should've been offended but I wasn't really.

"Oblivious to what?"

"It's because we all want Sasuke." I nodded, more confused than ever.

"She put gum in your hair because you like Sasuke?"

"She put gum in my hair so that she could have Sasuke and warn me away from him, but it's not going to work. This is why we're at war." This was insanity. This was actual insanity.

"Okay, I've met Sasuke… but isn't this a bit excessive? I mean…" They shook their heads and I realized I'd clearly underestimated their affections. I'd always been infatuated with Sasori, but never to the extent that I'd actually harm a hair on someone's head, literally. I mean… this was just mean and vindictive.

"Sasuke Uchiha has been the guy that every girl has been fawning over for more than ten years. Himawari… he's perfect. He's smart, attractive, athletic, not to mention his family has so much money they could buy a country." I nodded, still not following. "But more than all of that… he's just special. Other boys are childish and immature, but Sasuke's always been kind of like a hero." Nope, still not following.

"When I was younger I was getting picked on by these older boys from Mist." Sakura chimed in, nodding gratefully as I filled up her cup with berry tea. "And Sasuke comes out of nowhere and gives them this look and they just back off. He does this all the time. He'll just swoop into the rescue, and then leave as if it was no big deal."

"He doesn't do it to brag or to gloat, he just does it cause it's the right thing and then he never mentions it. It's like it never happened."

"That's because Sasuke is so much more than what's on the surface. He's so deep below." An iceberg. Apparently Sasuke Uchiha was an iceberg.

"He's perfect." The two sighed in unison, coming together and fawning over the dark haired boy. I thought about their words and I realized they had merit. Last night he had come to my rescue. He didn't ask me to thank him or even try and gloat about it. In fact, he didn't even mention it today when he came over. When he came over to drop off my stuff because he knew I didn't have a car…yeah… they were right. He acted all cold and hostile, but at the end of the day he was really just a nice guy. I got what they saw in him.

"So Karin likes him as well?"

"Karin is trying to seduce him." This was a fair bit to process but I tried to play it along as best as I could.

"No offence… but isn't that what you guys are trying to do?" They glared. Ino was the first to recover, flipping her hair effortlessly.

"No. We want Sasuke to fall in love with us. She just wants him for his body." I nodded, feeling my cheeks blush at the idea. I couldn't imagine possibly being that forward but I guess some girls know what they want and go after it.

"Okay… so um…" I tried to figure out the politest way to ask them why they'd come here. "Now what?"

"Look what you did Ino-pig you confused her!"

"It was all your fault forehead!" The two bickered, glared, and then burst out into laughter.

"So, basically Karin spent most of last night flirting with Sasuke while Sakura cried in the bathroom." The girl in question rolled her eyes, but seemed in better spirits. I was a bit impressed at how quick she was to recover. "Anyways, she invited Sasuke and Naruto to her party." I nodded, seeing why that could be a problem.

"And you're worried she's going to bring Sasuke to her secret lair and then have her way with his body?" I'd said the words as a joke but Ino and Sakura tensed before nodding.

"That sounds like her plan."

"So, when is her party?" The two glanced intensely at each other and then at me.

"It's tonight." Tonight? How many parties did these Konoha kids have? It was only the first week back so maybe this is was a trend or something… but still it seemed a bit excessive. Ino moved her hand, placing it flat atop mine before Sakura followed suit. The air turned serious and conspiratorial as we all huddled in close.

"She's having her party tonight… and we're going to crash it."

Duh Duh Duh. No high school fic would be complete without some girl drama.

So, let me know your thoughts so far. Did anyone expect Gaara's reaction? Where did he go? Thoughts on Karin, Sakura, Ino and their relationship? What about Sasuke? His character is a bit different than a lot of other versions, and i tried to make him a bit more realistic. Your thoughts?

Important: I'm balancing updating consistently with school, and sometimes the latter can get a bit hectic and I lose my train of thought on the former. If anyone is interested in giving some of the chapters a quick read-through before i post them please let me know. I'm not looking for a beta, just more so a second opinion.

Review and let me know!