Gaara elected to call in sick for the day. He felt like an asshole for doing so considering that others had to pick up his slack. However, he gave it a three-pronged rationalization: 1. He had worked hard enough, 2. He hated the job anyways, and 3. He needed an excuse to avoid Naruka.

"So, what are you gonna do today?" asked Kankuro.

"I'm just keeping my ass at home, away from all those annoying bugbears."

"Anybody in particular annoying you?"

"Right now, I just don't want to deal with people. You should know this by now."

Kankuro nodded. "Right."

Gaara attempted to amuse himself, first by firing up his Nintendo 64 and playing Blast Corps. However, that got old quickly, so he switched to playing BattleTanx. That also got old, so he decided not to bother with the N64 and instead played Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction on his Xbox. Again, Gaara found that he could only kill so many North Korean soldiers before he got bored. Instead of video games, Gaara decided to watch a movie. After poring through his DVD/Blu-ray collection, he decided to watch Mr. Arkadin. He managed to entertain himself with the movie, but when it was over, he found himself in the same damn rut.

(Great, now what am I…wait a minute…when was the last time I checked the oil in my car?)

Gaara threw on his leather jacket and shoes, and then went outside to check his GTO's oil. Sure enough, it was really low. Thus, he checked a nearby shed for some more oil. He only found one bottle, so he put in what he could and drove down to AutoZone in Johnston, twenty minutes east of Glocester. He got what he came for with no fuss and decided to have lunch at a nearby Burger King. After wolfing down a couple of Whoppers, Gaara drove to the Marian J. Mohr Public Library, the only public library in Johnston. He got out and got an unexpected surprise…

"Hey!" Naruka waved at Gaara and gave the flirtiest wink she could muster.

Gaara furrowed his brow. "Naruka, are you stalking me!?"

"Nope!"

"You're a liar, you know that? You're a rotten, dirty liar!"

"Gaara, that's not a nice thing to say to a young woman!"

Gaara began flailing his arms about. "I DON'T CARE! Ever since you introduced yourself at Dino's, you've been nothing but a goddamn thorn in my side! I don't know what the hell you even want from me, but the fact is, you're NOT going to get it!"

Naruka felt her smile beginning to waver, but she persisted.

"Babe, what are you talking about?" she asked.

"OH, DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME! First you take my bananas, then you have the audacity to pay for a model with a rich person's credit card when you clearly LEECH off the system, and apparently, you now think it's funny to blitzkrieg into my dreams!"

In spite of Gaara's rant bringing about fear within her, Naruka kept up her smile.

"You're funny!"

"'FUNNY' NOTHING! Just go away! I hate you!"

This time, Naruka stopped smiling. She gasped out of pure shock.

"What did you just say!?" exclaimed Naruka.

"YOU HEARD ME! I HATE YOU!"

Naruka could take no more. She began tearing up, and in spite of her best attempts to hold herself together, she cried her eyes out and ran back to her car, a Hugger Orange 1970 Chevelle SS. Gaara watched in silence as she slammed the car door shut and peeled away from the library parking lot.

"Son, what the hell did that young lady ever do to ya?" asked an old man in a blue jacket.

Gaara growled. "What business is it of yours, old man!?"

"Back in my day, we didn't yell and cuss at women!"

"Know what I think of your ass? HERE!"

Gaara flipped off the old man and stomped his way back to his GTO while enduring shouts about how rude today's youngsters were.

Back home, Gaara slammed the front door shut as well as the door to his own room, which he slumped against. He knew he'd made a huge mistake, but at the moment, he was in no mood to fix it, nor was he in the mood to answer Kankuro's knocking. He gave into it soon enough, however.

"You know," said Kankuro, "you really should be careful with the noise. Other people are trying to nap here."

Gaara took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Sorry…brother."

"OK, I can tell something's really bothering you this time. What is it?"

"If Temari still lived here, I would talk, but considering she's out in Colorado, I…"

Suddenly, Gaara heard "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" by Black Sabbath, which happened to be his ringtone. He then answered his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gaara!"

Gaara faked a smile. "Ah, hello, Temari! What's up?"

"I bought a round-trip ticket, so I'll be coming over next Saturday!"

"Ah, that's great! I can't wait to see you again!"

"Can't wait to see you too, little bro! Say, is Kankuro there?"

"He is. Do you wish to talk to him?"

"Well, duh!"

"Very well then." Gaara handed the phone to Kankuro.

"Hello?" said Kankuro.

"Hey Kankuro, what's up?" said Temari.

"Ah, you know, just living the dream!"

"That's nice! Is your MMA career taking off?"

"It's getting there!"

"Great! By the way, I told this to Gaara, but I might as well tell you: I got a round-trip ticket, so I'm coming over next Saturday!"

"Hey, that's awesome! I'll be looking forward to it!"

"Me too! Bye!"

"Bye!" Kankuro hung up and gave the phone back to Gaara, who closed the door cautiously.

Without another word, Gaara went over to his bed and curled up in the fetal position with his pillow. In spite of his general hatred for mankind, he lamented the fact that he pushed away somebody who was showing obvious signs of interest in him. What really hurt was that he worried that he might have goaded Naruka into killing herself. Granted, the idea did seem a bit farfetched, but for somebody who secretly suffered from feelings of anxiety and depression, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"Naruka…" said Gaara, "…if you can hear me…I hope you can forgive me for how badly I've treated you…"

Gaara then closed his eyes and cried, hoping for the pain to go away.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.