Gaara just nodded his head, a little apprehensively.

He was watching Sasuke's face.

It was rather amusing.

Clenched and tense.

Probably waiting for the blond to shove him away and beat the shit out of him.

That made two of them.

For a moment, they were all frozen.

Naruto was frozen. Sasuke was tense, but refusing to let go until the blond did or said something.

Brave.

The warning bell rang and most kids scurried off to class, not without a few glances at Sasuke and Naruto.

Gaara didn't move. He wanted to wait this out. Screw class.

Something distracted him, though.

Something white haired and slimy and somewhat of a rapist.

He could hear the albino yelling something as he ran through the halls, scattering kids all on their way to class.

And the redhead knew he was looking for Sasuke.

Shit. Now was not the time. Now was not the time for Suigetsu Hozuki.

Gaara didn't think. He lunged around the corner and tackled the white haired boy, swinging his fist out and catching Suigetsu in a fierce clothesline hit. Taking a great deal of satisfaction out of the boy's surprised gasp and instant fall to the ground with a thud. What a stupid thing to do, Gaara realized later. But totally worth it. He wanted Sasuke and Naruto to have alone time. He wanted them to have a sensitive moment where maybe they both cried and hugged and made up. Gaara tackled Suigetsu, knocking him to the ground and shoving him down hard. Suigetsu cussed at him, flailing and punching his gut, then his face. The redhead gritted his teeth, but refused to let go, digging his own fists into the boy's gut and covering the kid's mouth to keep him quiet, or at least muffled. No way was he going to let Suigetsu ruin a moment, whether it was good or bad. Their moment would be progressive, if not in the direction he was hoping. He cussed as Suigetsu bit him.

Naruto shook for a moment. Sasuke couldn't tell if he was crying or if he was trembling with some other strong emotion.

The next action told him exactly what.

Then he shoved Sasuke away.

He lunged forward and his fist snapped out with all of his force and power. Sasuke became limp, knowing it wouldn't hurt as much as it would if he was tense. It didn't hurt as much, but the downside: he careened smack into a locker with all the force Naruto exerted. He groaned as stars burst into his skull and his head began to throb. This wasn't fair. He'd been sick recently and his head had just stopped hurting. He closed his eyes and leaned against the slightly dented metal, taking a deep breath. He dared open his eyes.

The blond stared at him, blue eyes wide.

This had to be first time Sasuke couldn't read his emotions through his eyes.

They were blocked from him. Filled with an emotion he couldn't name. Naruto, a closed book. For the first time.

And it made the raven sad. He bit his lip and stared back. He didn't move, just waiting. There was nothing more he could say or do, just wait.

As Naruto opened his mouth, maybe to cuss, maybe to scream, maybe to forgive him, they both heard a loud bang and then a teacher yelling. Both of them looked to the right. And Naruto ran off as he heard Gaara's pained yelp and Suigetsu's dirty mouth as he swore. Sasuke sighed. What now? Suigetsu was such a pain. But what was going on? What was Gaara's deal? Had he started the fight? Had Suigetsu started it? Whoever started it was definitely ruining the moment. Sasuke would have to set Suigetsu straight and end their "friendship." If it could be called that.

Sasuke sighed and got up to go investigate with Naruto. Since there was no point in just sitting here and doing nothing.

Gaara yelped as Suigetsu elbowed his gut. He snarled and kicked approximately where the boy's lungs would be. Suigetsu let out a long stream of curses, a near constant flow of dirty words, rolling off him, gripping his chest as he attempted breathing in properly. Damnit. Gaara didn't want him to make noise. It was distracting. Any moment, Naruto would come barreling around that corner.

Damnit, he was here already.

But before Gaara could get up, Suigetsu flung himself onto Gaara, attempting to straddle him. The redhead leaned back and kicked him with both feet, square in the chest and sending him reeling back.

"Hey! Break it up!" a familiar voice exclaimed.

The redhead lunged at Suigetsu, seeing red, but Naruto grabbed his shoulders and gently pulled him back, restraining him firmly.

Gaara struggled for a moment, but Naruto's arms comforted him and he sighed.

He flinched in alarm as a hand touched his shoulder.

And looked up.

"Hey," Kakashi smiled. "Nice job. That was a great hit there at the end-"

Several teachers were looking out their doors and a few hurried over.

It took three teachers to restrain Suigetsu, who was spilling profanities like a waterfall.

And one teacher to send the four of them, including Sasuke who, for once hadn't been fighting and had arrived at the last second, to the principal.

Apparently it was a good day to get in trouble. Naruto and Sasuke were sent to Tsunade for the usual no-fighting lecture. A lot of kids were there, so the groups of kids had to be split to get their meetings done quicker. Half of them went to Shizune, the vice principal, and the other half went to Tsunade.

Sasuke zoned out completely for the principal's lecture. He heard it too much to be interested. Instead, he spent the time staring at the desk, trying to keep himself from looking at Naruto. It was hard. He was so tempted. Naruto was being uncharacteristically quiet and it made him nervous. Was the blond still angry? Would he hit him later? And what would he do if Naruto forgave him? What should he do? Hug him again? Or would that be too uncomfortable and/or inappropriate?

They both went back outside to sit on the chairs with five other kids. Naruto sat next to Sasuke, but the raven didn't find this encouraging, seeing as how every seat was taken by a grumpy looking teenager. Naruto didn't look at him. Sasuke didn't look at him either. Neither was sure how things were between them. Not until Naruto, tired of being quiet, decided to break the silence. Well, not the silence. Kids were chattering and cussing each other out all around them. Naruto meant the silence between the two of them, the unnatural silence that just felt so wrong. Yeah. Naruto was so tired of this silence. It didn't feel right. And he didn't want to admit it, but he really did miss Sasuke.

He got out of his seat, but again, before he could speak, an adult interrupted him.

"Okay brats! You're free to go to your third period period! Oh wait no, fourth period," the woman said, checking the clock. Most of the students were out in a flash.

Naruto and Sasuke included.

They both walked out quickly, but neither were going to their fourth period.

They stopped at Naruto's locker.

And the blond hugged the raven, a goofy Naruto smile on his face. He chuckled, his throat vibrating against Sasuke's neck as he breathed, "you're forgiven, you bastard."

And Sasuke hugged him back as hard as he was able.

Yes. Forgiveness.

It lightened the burden, in both of them.

Shizune tried to quiet the two of them down. Suigetsu and Gaara were really going at it, probably yelling loud enough to be heard outside the office. She sighed, gripping her hair in her hands. She hated meetings like this. Lecturing children was time consuming and pointless. And they'd always, always do it again. Children would be children. They'd get into quick and furious rages urged onn by hormones all the time, no matter how often they were lectured. They got the message from the first meeting. The message always went out their heads the moment another teen sticks his tongue out.

"And this nut job attacks me-"

"Suck it up, you slimy bastard-"

"He hits me for fun-"

"Yeah, and I took a lot of pleasure out of it-"

"For no reason at all, no provocation-"

"Ooh, a four syllabled word, bet this is your first time-"

"You little cunt sucking faggot-"

"Hozuki!"

"No witty comebacks, then?"

"Fuck you, you-"

"OKAY, THAT'S IT! I'm calling your parents, right now!"

Gaara's eyes widened, but he relaxed almost immediately.

"No one's home at my house," he shrugged.

"No one gives a fuck at my house," Suigetsu shrugged.

"We'll see!" Shizune shouted, wanting to wipe what she considered smug grins off their faces.

She dialed the first name her eyes landed on in the student directory.

"Hello?" a gruff voice answered, yawning. "Who's this? Make it quick, I just switched Time zones."

"Hello sir, sorry to bother you, this is Shizune and I'm the vice principal of your son, Mister-" she checked the name. "Sabaku?"

Gaara's eyes widened.

Shizune noticed this.

"I guess someone's home after all, huh?"

I don't think Shizune has two names, so she's just Shizune.

Ooh, and suspense. I hope, that is.

It's reaching the climax of my trilogy.

I'm a little sad. But it's been a fun ride for me.

And I'd like to thank all of you for reviewing and reading this far and giving me such positive feedback.

I don't know if I already said I don't own Naruto, but I don't own Naruto. Damn, I always forget. I'm going to get sued.