Naruto, Gaara, and Kerri sleepily followed behind Yumi as they walked up the pathway to their middle school. Normally, the three pre-teens would still be sleeping, but they had agreed to volunteer to help set up the carnival fundraiser that was going to be held later that day. Yumi thought it was such a splendid idea and had volunteered to help too, which meant that the three students had a ride to and from the event.
"It's too early," Naruto grumbled as he rubbed his eyes and suppressed a yawn. Gaara sighed and nodded slightly. The redhead had had trouble sleeping the past couple of nights and the symptoms of sleep deprivation were starting to catch up with him.
The four of them walked through the door and saw that others were already busily setting up different stands and decorating the school.
Suddenly, the three younger ones almost jumped out of their shoes as a thrilled eighth grader bounded up to them and greeted them cheerfully.
"I am so glad to see that you all are here to help us set up!" Lee exclaimed, giving them a thumbs up. Yumi giggled at the enthusiastic child, smiling at him and getting his attention. "I am sorry; I have not had the pleasure of meeting you. Are you here to help out as well?" The brunette nodded.
"I'm Yumi," she introduced herself. Lee grinned and nodded.
"It is nice to meet you Yumi-san. I am Rock Lee. If you talk to Guy-sensei, he will be able to tell you what needs to be done." The teen pointed to where a man with a bowl cut hair style was standing.
"Thank you, Lee." The brunette turned to the trio that stood beside her. "Meet me back here in three hours, okay?" They nodded in agreement and watched as she walked off in the direction Rock Lee had told her.
"Now, there are plenty of things that you guys can do!" the boy clad in green exclaimed happily. "Just follow me and I can put you guys to work!"
XxooooooxX
Gaara sighed from his spot and looked down the goofball beneath him. He was standing on a step ladder, which wasn't too high but was elevated enough to make the fall down painful. Naruto had finally woken up and was now jumping around all over the place and making the pale-skinned pre-teen extremely nervous.
"Naruto!" he gasped when the knucklehead bumped the ladder, causing him to almost lose his balance. The blonde looked up at his angered friend and grinned sheepishly. "Will you please settle down? Hand me the banner so I can get off this thing already."
Naruto obliged and gave the banner to Gaara, watching as the boy reached up and secured it into place.
"Hey, Naruto!" Kiba called out, grinning mischievously. "Think fast!" Before the blonde could even respond, he was hit in the back of the head with a basket ball. Consequently, he was sent crashing forward, completely knocking over the ladder and causing Gaara to come crashing down on top of him. The banner lazily floated down after the big collision, settling on top of the fallen boys.
"Naruto," the redhead growled, "you are so dead." The blonde yelped and scrambled out from below Gaara, showering the irritated boy with apologies.
"What's going on?" Kerri asked with an amused expression on her features. In one of the girl's hands was a dozen or so balloons. Naruto immediately took refuge behind her, pointing at Gaara frantically.
"Kiba hit me in the head with a basket ball," he began explaining quite frenetically, "and then I fell over and accidentally knocked Gaara off the ladder and now he wants to KILL ME!!"
"Are you two okay?" she asked, sounding slightly concerned for the two boys. Naruto and Gaara nodded.
"I'll live," the quieter of the two boys told her. Kerri smiled and walked over to him.
"Will you help me beautify the school entrance with these balloons? I filled them up, but when it comes to decorating, I'm not too good at it." He smirked and held his arm out.
"Sure, I've got nothing else better to do." He turned to Naruto and frowned. "Finish putting up the banner since you were the one who knocked me down in the first place."
Kerri latched onto Gaara's extended arm and he led her down the hallway towards the school entrance.
XxooooooxX
"That was fun, wasn't it?" Yumi chirped happily to the grouchy redhead in the passenger seat. It was a little past noon and the woman had just finished dropping the others off where they needed to go. The duo was now heading over to Yumi's boyfriend's place for lunch, which Gaara was not too keen about. He didn't want anything to do with the man.
"Yeah, maybe for you," he grumbled. "You weren't the one who was getting injured whenever you went to go do something."
Yumi glanced at her young companion, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "What exactly happened, Gaara?"
The pre-teen sighed and slid down in his seat. "Just forget about it," he sighed, "I don't really feel like talking."
"It's not just this morning that's bugging you, is it?" The redhead didn't respond. He just turned his head away from her and stared blankly out the window as the scenery sped by. "Are you upset that I'm seeing someone?"
"That's not it," he replied, exasperated. "You can do what you want. I just don't like him, that's all."
Yumi pulled into Adrian's driveway, put the car into park, and shut off the engine. A smirk graced her lips as she stared thoughtfully at her friend.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she teased, laughing gently as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Gaara, you don't really like anyone that you end up meeting."
The boy frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, taking the woman's joke seriously. He wasn't much for jokes or teasing and Yumi was always sensitive to that fact. "It's not my fault that I don't trust people as easily as you do."
Yumi sighed and laid her head back against the headrest. "I didn't mean it like that, Gaara."
"And it's not like I don't like everyone I meet." Yumi remained silent and let the younger one finish. "I like you, Kerri, Naruto, Seiji, and a bunch of others." Sighing, Gaara rested his head against the door.
"I'm sorry," Yumi apologized. "Just deal with Adrian this once and I won't ask you to be around him anymore, okay? I didn't realize you felt this strongly about him. Forgive me?"
Gaara looked at Yumi before rolling his eyes and scoffing at her. "Whatever; let's just get this over with." He quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed the car door open.
Yumi and Gaara slowly trotted up the path towards the small one-story house. The fair-skinned woman reached out and rang the doorbell. Moments later, a brown haired man opened the door and they disappeared inside the home.
XxooooooxX
Yumi sat, silently watching Gaara and Adrian with worried eyes. There was a bit of regret in accepting the invitation. She should've known that the males wouldn't get along with each other unless there was a brick wall separating them.
"So… how is school treating you, Gaara?" Adrian hesitantly asked.
The pre-teen picked at the food on his plate before looking up at the man and responding. "Okay, I guess. There's nothing really special about it." His words were blunt and to the point, lacking any emotion.
"Oh, that's good. Are you keeping your grades up?"
Gaara finished chewing what was in his mouth and swallowed. "That's none of your concern," he responded coldly. Firm sea-green eyes pierced through the man that was sitting at the end of the table. Was he really that stupid? Didn't he understand that his questions were unwanted?
"Gaara," Yumi spoke up, looking at him sternly, "please be polite."
The twelve-year-old sighed. "Yes, my grades are fine," he responded, a hint of aggravation in his voice. There were a couple of moments of silence, but that didn't last long.
"Are you into sports, Gaara?" he asked.
Gaara's tolerance finally hit rock bottom. The twelve-year-old stood up abruptly, startling the adults with the sudden loud noise he made. Sea-green eyes glared at the brown haired man before slowly averting their focus to the woman.
"I'm going for a walk," Gaara told Yumi sternly. "I'll see you at home later." Without another word, he left the couple and hurried out the front door.
He felt guilty about putting on such a display in front of Yumi. She was obviously hurt by his actions and was probably embarrassed, but he really couldn't help it. There was so much about that man that made his blood boil.
"G-Gaara…?" questioned a small female voice. The redhead turned around and stared at Hinata through firm eyes, making the young girl even more nervous. "I-I'm s-s-sorry about b-bothering you on your w-walk. I j-just wanted t-t-to make sure y-you were okay. Y-You look really upset."
Gaara softened his stare and let his body relax a bit. There was nothing to worry about. It was just Hinata. She was practically the definition of harmless and was known by others to be very trustworthy.
"I want to vent to someone," Gaara said inwardly, "but I don't know if I can bring myself to talk about it."
The female seemed to have noticed his hesitance and smiled gently at him, her nervousness still making its way to the surface. "If y-you don't w-want to talk about it… y-you don't have t-to…"
"Are you busy?" Gaara inquired in his usual soft tone. He continued staring firmly into her eyes, keeping his emotionless mask in place.
The short-haired girl shook her head. "N-No… I-I'm free f-for some time. I-If y-you aren't busy, w-would you l-like t-to come over m-my house f-for awhile?"
Gaara nodded and the fair-skinned girl smiled again, motioning for her new companion to come along. The slender boy complied, walking alongside Hinata in silence.
After about five minutes, the two pre-teens were walking up the trail to the Hyuuga manor. Hinata invited the quiet boy inside and proceeded in taking her sandals off by the doorway. Gaara did the same, laying his shoes neatly beside hers.
"W-Would you like something to d-drink?" the young hostess asked politely. The guest shook his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Okay… w-we can go up to my room if y-you want."
"That's fine," he murmured. Hinata motioned for him to follow her upstairs, and she led him into a medium sized room. The walls were painted in a pastel shade of purple, giving the room a light feeling to it.
"Y-You can sit down," Hinata offered, pointing at the chair that was in front of the desk.
Taking one of his hands out of his pockets, he pulled the chair out and slowly took a seat. Hinata plopped down on her bed, nervously glancing up at Gaara every now and then.
"G-Gaara…? Umm…do you w-want to talk about earlier?" the girl asked nervously. The redhead watched as she twiddled her fingers in her lap, obviously uncomfortable about bugging him about the subject.
Gaara was silent for a moment, pondering over how he wanted to word everything. Did he even want to tell her?
"I really dislike Yumi's boyfriend," he confessed with a sigh.
"How come?" Hinata pressed on gently.
Gaara sighed again, running a hand through his crimson locks. "He reminds me of someone I despise."
The dark-haired girl blinked, not knowing what to say. "Umm…d-did you try telling Yumi…?"
"She likes him," Gaara interrupted, staring blankly at the carpet. "If I told her why he bothered me so much, I could ruin her relationship and end up hurting her."
Hinata nodded in understanding. "If she really likes him that much, then nothing you say c-could change that."
The two of them were silent for a while. Gaara mulled over everything Hinata had told him, knowing that she was right. It was still going to be difficult confronting the older woman about something so hard to explain.
"I can't even go into detail about it," he told himself. "He reminds me of my dad, but I honestly can't explain how, except for the fact that he kind of looks and sounds like him. Yumi will probably end up saying 'you can't judge a book by its cover' or something like that."
"G-Gaara…? Would you like to p-play a game of cards with me? If you want, I c-could get Neji and the three of us c-could all p-play a board game too." Gaara mustered a tiny smile, thankful for the change in subject, and nodded.
"What ever is easiest for you."
XxooooooxX
Gaara walked into the apartment later that evening and wasn't at all surprised to find Yumi sitting on the couch, obviously waiting for him. Sighing, Gaara sat down in the arm chair and started mentally preparing what he needed to say to her.
"You were really rude to him, Gaara," she told him, her voice coated with sadness. "I know you don't like him, but you only had to deal with him for an hour. Why did you have to blow things out of proportions?"
Gaara inhaled deeply and looked Yumi directly in the eyes. "He resembled my dad," he told her plainly. The woman's emerald green eyes widened with shock, causing Gaara to turn his head away with discomfort.
"Gaara," she breathed, standing up and approaching her friend. The redhead tensed up as he was pulled into an embrace. "Why didn't you tell me so before?" She kept her hold on him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"I don't really like talking all that much if you haven't noticed already." Yumi laughed and released the pre-teen, smiling gently at him. "Well, if something like that ever happens again, inform me softly that you're leaving. It creates less of an awkward atmosphere that way."
"I'm sorry," Gaara apologized.
Yumi nodded and pet him on the head. "Don't worry about it, Gaara."
Well, this wasn't as long of a wait as the last update was. I'm slowly getting over my slump, which has been keeping me from being able to write at all. It really sucks and I'm really trying to overcome it. I did for a little while and was able to get 2 chapters done before slipping again. XP I'm trying to think of a chapter 37 that will get me really motivated and will hopefully cause a chain reaction and let me be able to write chapter 38 as well. And if you haven't guessed it already, I already wrote chapter 36. ^__^ I will post it on July 6th and I will hopefully have a couple more chapters done by then as well so that I can make more regular posts.
I want to give an extra special thanks to the following people who reviewed last chapter:
nitrotiger17, Gaara-frenzy, Me and Gaara 4ever, ImmatureLady, Black Claided Cat, Kit-Kat Punk-Lover, MidniteCurse4Eternity, NeferNeferi, and pizzaslices.
You guys are amazing. All of your reviews have been the biggest motivator for me and I can't say thank you enough. ^__^
Until next time!!!
-Kari
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! :)