Gaara stared at the card in his hand before looking up at Naruto with uncertain eyes.
"What is this for?" he asked, waving the card in front of the blonde.
"It's an invitation to my party on Friday!" Naruto beamed proudly. "I'm surprised Yumi hasn't told you about it. It's going to be a sleepover and Yumi offered to house all the girls while all the guys stay over at my place."
"So in other words, I really don't have a choice."
"You guessed it!"
Gaara sighed and palmed his forehead, running his hand down his face. "How many people are going to be there?" The pale boy still had trouble with big crowds in small places, and Naruto's apartment wasn't really that big.
The hyperactive pre-teen thought for a moment. "Let's see… I invited Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kerri. Choji already had plans with his family and so far, Shino is refusing to come. Kiba is trying to convince him otherwise, but he'll probably be a 'no-show'. Wherever Hinata goes, Neji usually isn't too far behind, so he'll probably be there…"
"Just tell me how many people you think will be there," Gaara interrupted, growing more and more impatient by the second.
Naruto immersed himself in deep thought and started using his fingers, mouthing out the names of people as he tried to get an idea of who would be there.
"I'd say between seven and ten people," he estimated, "but definitely no more than ten. Iruka told me ten was the most he would allow."
Gaara nodded. That was a little bit too many people for his liking, but 75 percent of them were rather laid back people. The only two people that he knew were going to get on his nerves were Ino and Sakura. Whenever those two were put in the same room together, about 9 times out of 10 some type of fight would occur.
"Are you worrying about Ino and Sakura?" Naruto asked, quirking an eyebrow and smirking broadly. "Ino probably won't even show because she has to help her parents out at the flower shop the next day. Even if she does end up coming, everyone knows to keep those two on separate sides of the room and away from Sasuke."
Gaara smirked and Naruto laughed.
"Why do they have such an obsession with him anyway?" Gaara asked.
The blonde scratched his head, trying to think of a reasonable answer. "I guess girls like the heartless guys that couldn't give a crap about them. Either that or it's because he looks emo."
"Is he?"
Naruto shook his head. "Not that I know of. Anyway, everyone will start showing up around six thirty. Oh, and you don't have to get me anything either, okay? I just want you to come."
Gaara smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever."
"Sweet! And one more thing." Gaara looked at him, waiting for him to finish. "You have to play truth or dare with us. We always play it at my parties and everyone is required to play. Sasuke even plays, surprisingly enough."
The redhead shrugged again. "Whatever, I don't really care."
XxooooooxX
"Okay, everyone!" Naruto announced, standing in the center of the circle. The loud talking subsided and all eyes were on the perky blonde. "While everyone is still here, we have to get a few rounds of truth or dare in!"
"You're still into that game?" Sasuke asked, smirking at his friend.
"Since this is my thirteenth birthday, this is the last time. It is kind of getting old, but what the hell! One more time for old time's sake."
"Alright then," Kiba agreed with a grin. "State the rules Naruto and start off!"
Naruto brought his index finger to his chin and thought deeply. "Alright… no nudity, otherwise Iruka will kill me." Hinata blushed and the others just rolled their eyes at him. "Obviously, no dares that could get end up getting someone killed. And also, no daring someone to molest another person because Neji will kill you." A few people laughed and the Hyuuga boy glared daggers at party's host.
"Then anything else goes, right?" Kiba asked. Naruto nodded.
"Whatever," Shikamaru sighed. "Naruto, just go and get this over with."
"Alright then, you lazy jerk! Truth or dare?"
"Truth," Shikamaru answered with a yawn.
"Aw," Sakura whined. "You're no fun, Shika."
The lazy pre-teen shrugged and sunk back into the cushions. "You should've known I wouldn't have chosen dare."
"He's right," Kerri agreed with a smirk. "He's to lazy to do anything but answer a question, and even that is a bit too much for him."
Shikamaru smiled lightly and nodded. "Looks like we have a winner!" he exclaimed with false excitement. "Now would you hurry up and ask your question, Naruto? This whole game is really troublesome."
"I don't know… has your mom ever actually stuck to her guns and kicked you out of the house for being lazy?"
"Yeah, but only once."
Naruto sighed. "Well, that was a complete waste of a turn. Go, Shikamaru. It's your turn."
"Sakura, truth or dare?"
"Dare," she answered bravely.
The tired looking boy thought for a moment, closing his eyes and folding his hands in front of him. "Sakura, I dare you to take scissors to your hair and cut it at least to your shoulders."
The pink-haired girl's eyes grew big before narrowing into little slits, glaring at the brown haired boy.
"You are such a horrible person," she growled.
Shikamaru grinned mischievously. "You're the one who picked dare. Don't go blaming me."
Sakura growled at him again before heaving a sigh and turning to Naruto. "Where are your scissors?" The blonde laughed and scampered off into the kitchen.
XxooooooxX
"Okay guys," Naruto interrupted, "we only have enough time for two more rounds. And no more picking on Sakura, please. It's getting kind of lame." The group laughed and Sakura just pouted. "Okay, Sakura, choose someone."
"Kerri, truth or dare?"
The blind girl perked up slightly from hearing her name called. She was slightly surprised that Sakura remembered that she was even playing.
"Dare, I guess," she answered uncertainly, fingering the hem of her skirt out of boredom.
Sakura turned to Naruto and Sasuke, receiving a simple nod from the raven haired boy and a big grin from the blonde. Her lips slowly curled into a grin as well and she giggled slightly. "Okay, Kerri, I dare you to lock lips with Gaara for ten seconds."
A few giggles were heard as both Kerri and Gaara blushed deep red. The surprised boy eyed Kerri, watching her stare unseeingly at the ground.
"What if Gaara doesn't want to?" she asked shyly.
"He doesn't have a choice. A dare is a dare," Sakura pointed out. "Here, let's do it the other way around. Gaara, I dare you to lock lips with Kerri for ten seconds. Either way, there's going to be some lip locking."
The redhead sighed with aggravation and moved in front of Kerri, placing a slightly shaking hand on her shoulder. Kerri could sense his discomfort and felt really bad about involving him in yet another embarrassing moment.
"Why are they always making Gaara and I…?"
Before she could finish her thought, warm lips were suddenly crushed against hers. The owner of the lips had obviously never kissed someone before, but it was Kerri's first time as well.
Gaara's eyes were tightly shut and his cheeks were tinted with a light shade of red. He knew that Kerri was probably blushing as well but he didn't want to see, since he knew that would probably make him blush even deeper.
"Okay, you two!" Sakura announced. "Time is up."
Gaara slowly broke the kiss before quickly making some distance between him and Kerri. His cheeks were still burning and he could see that the blonde girl was blushing slightly too.
"You know you could have given me more of a warning," she murmured, bringing her fingertips to her lips.
"Sorry," Gaara apologized, doing his best to hide his embarrassment.
"Alright, Kerri," Naruto interrupted, chuckling slightly. "You get the last turn of the night."
"Sasuke, truth or dare?"
"Dare."
"I dare you to tie your wrist to Naruto's and to leave it that way until after breakfast tomorrow."
The two boys stared at her with wide eyes while the others around her all burst into laughter.
"Are you serious?!" Naruto steamed. The blind girl nodded, smiling innocently. "That is so cruel, Kerri."
"Oh well, you'll get over it. And Neji will make sure you guys stick to it while I'm not here."
Neji smirked and nodded.
XxooooooxX
The next morning, everyone got back together at Naruto's place for breakfast. Sakura almost keeled over from laughter when she saw Sasuke and Naruto still attached to each other.
"So I'm guessing that they actually stuck with it," Kerri commented with a giggle. Gaara was at the opposite end of the table, ignoring everything that was going on. He didn't really want to see Kerri at the moment. He was feeling too confused and just didn't want to see her yet.
Kerri could feel his disheveled aura and understood how he felt. She was feeling the same way, but she couldn't let that show. Who knows how everyone else would start feeling if she let herself give into her own inner turmoil. She would need to talk to Gaara about it later on when they had some privacy. Until then, she could take her mind off of it by poking fun at Naruto and Sasuke. Poor unfortunate souls.
Okay, so I realize that this type of thing has been done (quite a lot actually). But I felt that I was able to get things cooking a little more between Gaara and Kerri. Now they have to do some serious thinking. Hahaha!
So I have chapter 37 done and I need to send that over to my beta-reader. However, it might take me longer to post it because I am pretty displeased with it. It seems that no matter what I do to improve it, nothing works. So unless I come up with something better, I guess I'm just going to have to settle for what I have.
I want to give a BIG SPECIAL thanks to the following people for reviewing last chapter:
Black Claided Cat, Akasuna no Akane, Gaara-frenzy, Me and Gaara 4ever, Kit-Kat Punk-lover, MidniteCurse4Eternity, and pizzaslices.
I also want to thank my friend Hannah (aka 400 babies) for reviewing as well. ^___^
All of you guys are super duper amazing. You guys give me so much support and I'll never be able to say thank you enough. And for all you people who have this story on your favorites or on your alert list, you guys are pretty darn awesome too. It would be even more awesome if I could get a review from those people, but I'm happy either way.
I'm going to be leaving in a couple of weeks to go on a little trip. I'll hopefully have the next post up before I leave. Two weeks should give me enough time. So if you REALLY want me to post before I leave, make sure to REVIEW!!
Thanks again to everyone!!
PLEASE REVIEW!!! THANKS!!!! ^___^