Lost and Found
By: Junsui Kegasu
A/N: Hi people! I'm back with chapter two! I'm glad people like it. It's my inspiration to write more.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did…um…you don't want that.
Chapter Two
The walk to school was not a very talkative one. Temari sighed inwardly. It never had been. Gaara wasn't one to really say much at all, and Kankurou was always listening to the music that was blaring from his headphones now. It was almost an uncomfortable silence, and that kind of bothered her.
Taking a fleeting glance at her youngest brother, she noted that the bruise was kind of apparent, but it didn't look so much like a handprint as it did a large blob. Which was probably better off for him. It did look kind of dark though…what did he do? Slap him with steel!
Gaara spent most of the walk looking down, more or less contemplating life. He didn't really see the point in it. He was just…there. Things just…happened. Almost like he had no control. He felt entirely numb. He didn't know reality from dream anymore. He could feel this aching in his chest if he searched far enough. If he chose to delve into said ache, he found a much sharper pain, so he didn't go there often.
Except…the pain was kind of satisfying. He had felt physical pain, but never something that he had inflicted onto himself. He kind of liked it. It gave him a sense of control.
Too bad kid. That's not part of my bargain. Knowing you, you'll chop your arm off.
'Just shut up.'
He looked up. They were at the front of a large building with a sign that said 'Konohagakure High' on a big sign with the villages symbol in it. Lot's of students were gathered here, but a few stuck out more than others.
There was a boy with bright blond hair wearing a pair of orange pants with blue stripes down the sides and an orange tee-shirt. He was such a bright spot, the siblings could hardly stand to look at him.
The orange boy was running from a girl with pink hair, who struck our trio (mostly Kankurou) as the stereotype 'bopper'. Whether or not this was true, they didn't know. But she certainly dressed like she wanted to attract a lot of guys. She wore a very clingy, almost skin tight, red mini-tee that exposed most of her stomach and had a low neckline to show cleavage. Gaara thought she must have shrunk all her clothes, because her skirt didn't really hide much past what it needed to. It hardly wentfour inches down her thigh. (I don't even know if they make skirts that short, but hey, Sakura's special. Konoha High didn't really have much of a dress code)
Chasing this girl was the strangest creature that they had ever seen. His hair wasn't all that abnormal, just a black bowl cut. He wore a green long sleeved shirt and green pants with orange leggings over them. Okay, not too strange. Now let's go up to his face and stare at the two fuzzy caterpillars that boy called eyebrows.
Temari could only think one thing. 'EW! EWWWWWW!' Of course, she only thought this. Her face didn't betraysaid thoughtsat all.
"Sakura-san! Please, allow me to assist you in whatever you may be doing!" yelled the eyebrow-boy romantically. (Or overdramatically. Whatever floats your homemade raft.)
"NARUTO! YOU JERK! DON'T YOU EVER TALK TO SASUKE-KUN LIKE THAT!" the pink haired girl was screaming at the blonde. Kankurou guessed that 'Sasuke-kun' was the person in a crowd of females dressed about the same as the bop (in Kankurou's words, that's what she was) whom they could hardly see, much less describe.
Gaara gazed ahead. He really didn't have time for this. Class started soon, and the last thing he needed were teachers on his rear end on his first day. The side effects of his nap were still taking place, and the fatigue was almost unbearable.
"Gaara? Hey!" Temari exclaimed as the small redhead moved forward, right across the fields, as if in a daze. Miraculously, none of the running students collided with him during his slow walk.
Of course, this meant bumping into the person that WASN'T running. Gaara looked up blankly.
"Watch where you're going, punk." Sneered a tall boy with jet black hair that was held back in a low ponytail with two strands framing a pale face set with cold, emotionless white eyes.
"…" Gaara didn't really feel like responding. Looking down, he tried moving out of the taller boy's reach.
A hand reached out to prevent him from doing so.
"No apology? Listen, I don't know who you are, but in this place, things are done with courtesy."
"Let me go. Or I'll kill you." He said smoothly.
Neji blinked. What nerve this little kid had! Although, he wondered if those words had any meaning. He didn't look like he could manage anything that could kill him.
The redheaded boy he saw in front of him had a paler complexion than his own. Solid milky green eyes were framed with dark circles, which made Neji wonder about his health. Very prominent on the left side of his face was a dark bruise, from who knows what. Maybe some girl got pissed at him for being rude. Observing this child further, he saw that the pants he wore seemed to be a very small size, yet they were very baggy on him. His shirt was hanging and normally skin-tight fishnet sleeves were just barely clinging to his pale arms, with prominent wrist bones.
Looking back into those green orbs, he was shocked to see waves of turbulent emotions before they hardened to reveal no emotion he could have been feeling on the inside.
"Fine. I'll let you go this time, only because you're new." He sneered, still startled about what he had seen through the boys eyes. "I'm Hyuuga Neji, sophomore here at Konoha High. You are…?"
Gaara sighed. There was no point in ignoring him. "Sabaku no Gaara. Freshman, I guess." He mumbled monotonously. He looked at the hand in front of him for a moment before the older boy put his down. Gaara turned away and walked to the doors, just as the bell to go into the building was ringing.
Temari and Kankurou watched this scene from where they had stayed rooted to their places on the far side of the grounds.
"Why is he not dead?" Kankurou inquired, shocked.
"I don't know. I think Gaara may have had somewhat a conversation with him." Temari said. She knew Gaara much better than Kankurou did, but she still didn't know if or not that was the case. "We best catch up to him. We all have to go down to the main office together."
"Sabaku no Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara?" the secretary lady said, smiling.
Temari put a polite smile on her face. "Yes, ma'am. We need our schedules, please!" The teachers always had mistook her for little miss perfect, so this time shouldn't be too different.
"Oh! Such a sweet child! Of course! Now, this one's yours, and this is for Kankurou, and this one for Gaara. Unfortunately, although we would've liked too, we couldn't place you three in the same lunch period."
"That's okay, ma'am. We should be okay." Supplied Kankurou, knowing that Temari was probably very crestfallen.
"So, where are your lockers?" Temari asked, looking at her schedule. "Mine's 700."
"807." Kankurou scowled. The lockers in this school were tiny (A/N: I'm making it like my school. We have microscopic lockers.) which meant he was probably close to Temari.
"739." …And even closer to Gaara.
"Okay! Good, we're close. Now! Where's your homerooms? Mine is 132."
"108." Kankurou inwardly sighed in relief. At least Temari was further away this time.
"107." …CRAP! That was the room directly behind 108, and you had to pass through a room to get there. (There was a map on the paper with his schedule on it)
"Well! We best get to our lockers then! Just for small talk, what's your class line up?" Temari really liked school. She was good at it. "Mine is math, reading, science, world studies, lunch, English (as in our language), grammar (like english class), and physical education."
"You have lunch early!" Kankurou groaned. Fifth hour was at 11:25! "Mine's science, English, grammar, reading, world studies, math, health, lunch." Last hour! Last hour was at 1:47!
"…Science, math, grammar, reading, world studies, physical education, lunch, English." Gaara stated blandly. He really didn't want to do physical education, for the sake of changing in front of others. It's not like he was embarrassed, but some of his markings were very grotesque, and the teachers might figure it out.
Kankurou groaned as he looked at his schedule. 47 minutes of him paying attention? How could they expect that! Sure, it wasn't any different in Sunaga, but he was still going to complain!
Temari found herself quite satisfied. She was in all honor classes, so she wouldn't mingle with the moronic seniors that all high schools had. "Alright, we really should get going. Here, Kankurou, it's your locker. Have a nice day!" She gave him a grin and continued down the hallway with Gaara.
Homeroom – Gaara
The classroom, Gaara concluded, was very obnoxious. The orange boy from before was here. So was the girl who shrunk her clothes, and some boy she was swooning over. He had occupied himself with describing everyone's physical appearance in the room. The teacher hadn't even noticed he was about ten minutes late, the class was so bad.
Starting at the table in the corner, there was a boy who wore a large jacket with the collar very high. He also sported sunglasses. Gaara had figured by now that Konoha High hardly had a dress code, as both these items were forbidden in Sunaga High. His hair was very dark; if not black, almost there, and stuck up in a way that mildly resembled an afro.
Moving to the right, sitting next to him was another boy with a hooded sweatshirt, who had his fur-lined hood pulled over his head. Like Kankurou, he wore face paint, or his markings were actually real and therefore there for a reason.
Next to him, there was a girl, clad in a purple tee shirt with fishnet under it, who was probably the quietest one in here besides him. Her blue black hair was held back away from her face with two little purple clips, and she was busy staring at the table, every so often responding to something her two comrades said.
Next to her was a girl with brown hair pulled into a messy ponytail at the back of her head. (OC) She wore a forest green hooded sweatshirt and green cargo pants, with the zippers halfway unzipped so that her knees were visible. She was chatting happily to the quiet girl, who answered sometimes, as far as Gaara could tell.
He'd only gotten this far when the teacher managed to get the obnoxious people to quiet down and started taking attendance.
"Aburame Shino"
The guy with the high collar and sunglasses raised his hand.
"Akimichi Chouji"
A large boy in the back somewhere wearing a light blue tee shirt that was a bit tight on him with jeans raised his own hand. In his other, there was a bag of potato chips, which he was chomping on happily.
"Chiyuna Arisa"
The green girl smiled. "Here".
"Furikama Naoko"
A blond girl who wore clothing that seemed like a second skin flipped her hair back and raised her hand. Kankurou would describe her as a 'slut', Gaara noted.
"Haruno Sakura"
The pink girl with shrunken clothing preppily flipped her hand into the air before bringing it back down.
"Hiran Tsugu"
A tough looking boy with flaming red hair raised his hand and plopped it back down.
"Hyuuga Hinata"
The shy girl in the back raised her hand before quickly placing it back down.
"Inuzuka Kiba"
The boy with the fur lined hooded sweatshirt barked, and some students laughed.
"Irusawa Kyou"
A boy in the front who was quite obviously the nerd of the class raised his hand, readjusting the glasses across the bridge of his nose.
"Kamiyama Keiko"
A girl with long black hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while, wearing clothing laden with chains raised her hand, making a clinking noise when her chains moved.
"Nara Shikamaru"
Nothing happened for a while.
"NARA SHIKAMARU!"
A boy in the back snapped awake. "WHAT! Oh." Realizing what was going on, the boy, who had a gravity defying ponytail, slumped back onto the table.
"Orihime Sanjiro"
A blond boy with pants that sagged (you know how boys wear them nowadays…) nodded.
"Rasuude Noriko"
The first thing that most people noticed about this girl (Even Gaara, although, he didn't think much of it) was her chest, which bulged from her body in a flaunting matter. She must have been friends with Naoko and Sakura; they all dressed the same at any rate. Raising her hand, she gave the teacher a seductive smile.
"Sabaku no Gaara"
Gaara blinked, almost in surprise. Grabbing a hold of himself, he mentally scolded. Of course he would be coming up, they were in alphabetical order! The class turned to stare; he was a new face, after all.
Although he was used to people staring at him (it's not like he was very normal looking), it still made him uneasy, so his glance turned to the table.
The teacher continued.
"Tsuyoru Tsukiko"
A pale girl with jet black hair and heavy powder-grey eyeliner raised her hand.
"Uchiha Sasuke"
A expensive looking boy with hair that stuck up in a thousand different angles smirked and raised his hand. He sported a navy blue shirt with a large collar and white cargo pants. Naoko, Noriko, Sakura, and another girl sighed lustily.
"Urinura Koupi"
A smallish boy with dark brown hair raised his hand.
"Uzumaki Naruto"
The orange sunspot grinned happily. Now closer, Gaara noted the three whisker marks on either side of his face. "Here, 'Ruka-sensei!"
"Warai Fuunde"
A punkish looking guy raised his hand, still banging his head to music that was blasting obviously from his earphones.
"Yamanaka Ino"
The other girl who sighed in response to Sasuke'sfacial (I know that sounds wrong...)giggled her presence. She wore a lime green tee shirt and a white miniskirt, with long blond hair pulled into a high ponytail at the top of her head.
The teacher turned to the class. "My name is Umino Iruka, Gaara-san. I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. I'm also a counselor, so feel free to speak to me about any problems you might have." He smiled.
Iruka-sensei was a kind looking person, with dark chocolate hair pulled into a ponytail and a scar across the bridge of his nose, which was the same tan as the rest of his face.
"Now, as we're supposed to have a discussion in here, Gaara, will you share a few things about yourself for the class?"
Gaara felt himself constrict inside. He had never been asked of this before. There was nothing he could do to avoid it now. "Um…I come from Sunagakure in the Kaze District…I have two older siblings…my father was a political leader in Sunaga…and…um…that's…it. …Any questions?" It was amazing how modest he could be when he didn't know what to say.
Naruto raised his hand. Without waiting for Gaara to acknowledge him, he blurted out "How'd you get that bruise?" The class, stared, and a murmur of awe went through the class. "That looks kinda dark. What happened?"
Gaara felt his breath hitch and he found himself unable to speak. To say it was his father would grant him death, but to lie may not be very convincing.
Luckily, Iruka, as a counselor, could tell that the small redhead was nervous. "Naruto, that's a bit personal. You don't have to answer, Gaara-san."
Gaara nodded blankly. Was this how class was going to be for most of the year? Restraining like this? It was very uncomfortable.
A/N: SORRY THIS WASN'T OUT SOONER! To my three reviewers: LUFF YA! Thanks for the reviews! They made my day n.n.
REVIEW ANSWERING CORNER THINGEH
Hurricane-rider (And Sand-nin-gurl too, since she was mentioned in there n.n): Whoo! I'm glad you guys like it! Here's your Neji! Since you're the one who gave me the idea for NejiGaa, thanks. It was originally going to be NaruGaa. You actually already got some of the little details…cheater. Shukaku? Can't think of something to say? OMG! CALL 911!
Hkokuryuha: I hope this is 'soon'. I didn't think so TT. I like that you think it's awesome n.n.
spork ai: His dad IS a bastard! Him being so was actually the inspiration for this. o.O The tee-shirt is slightly unoriginal; I have the same thing. I always thought Gaara and his siblings would be pretty close in a relationship like this. I like close sand-nin-sibling relationships. I hope this was soon enough for you.
REVIEW PLEASE!