K, so this one is really short, 'cause I have a really short camp break this time. So, I'm doing this one fast. There was a comment about how fast Gaara told a dear secret to Zaku, and some one (Go-ruden) asked why there were two teachers. So, this is just kind of an explanation chapter. Not much happens. There will be another… better class in the next chapter. No flames, I don't own. And I can't spell either.
3
Truths
Gaara slammed his locker. He lied… again. It was a good lie… a damn good lie as well as a good reason… but he had lied again. Did the teacher realize it? Gaara had always told the story of his mother dyeing to give him life, but it wasn't the truth. No where near. Yes, his mother died in childbirth, yes, he had sworn to protect his sister, and yes, their father had left them. But that wasn't the whole thing. Temari had never sworn to stay with them, nor did she want to be in the same house as Kankurou. That was no where near the reason. Kankurou had asked them. Not in words, but in actions.
The first night that Kankurou had gotten drunk, he had slapped Temari. Not much, didn't even leave a mark. But he had also hurt Gaara… in the worst possible way. After waking up and having slept off the effects of the alcohol, Kankurou had begged his siblings to forgive him. He had told him that he would never hurt them again, he told them that he was sorry, he told him that he would never drink again. Lies. All of it lies. Gaara was still healing when it happened again. And again, and again. Gaara was so shaken that he had locked himself in a closet for a week, not speaking, not eating, nothing… to anyone. The voices had come, and had told him that it was safe in the closet… he listened to them. After Kankurou had left for the weekend on a fishing trip with his friends, Gaara nervously crept out of the enclosed space. The voices had told him too… he listened to them.
He found Temari waiting there for him in the hall.
After about two minutes of staring at her, he crawled into her arms, and wept. He had lost a lot of weight in the closet. Not having much to begin with, his oldest sibling knew that it wasn't a good thing. She comforted him as best as she could. He was dehydrated, exhausted, and there was a strange change in his personality.
Gaara kept mumbling to himself, trying to get as close to his sister as he could. It was like he was trying to bury himself into her skin. After a while, he quieted, then he got angry. He swore that he would beat Kankurou, that he wouldn't let the older man get the best of him. He would fight until he got the upper hand. And that is why neither of them had left. Temari wanted to be there for her youngest brother, knowing that he was going to be just as stubborn as his older brother. So she stays with Gaara to help him whenever possible.
But there would be a cold day in hell before Gaara told that to anyone. He remembered Cough Cough's reaction when the roll call was taken, and he remembered Zaku's hands right in front of his eyes. Cough Cough was the roll teacher on some days… and on other days, he takes over for Zaku. As the actual P.E. teacher. Now he knew why they had two teachers, not just one like the other classes. But why did Zaku have those pipes? And who put them there?
Putting his head against the mirror, Gaara glared at his newly-re-make-upped reflection. His left eye was still swollen, only not as badly as it had been earlier. And his hair was now wet and flat. Sighing, he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the voices that were taunting him again. Telling him that he wasn't worth it, that he should just give in. He wouldn't let them win. He wouldn't… not after what Kankurou had done to him. He knew that Zaku was watching him. The other students had come in after all, and were now waiting for the damn bell to ring so that they could go to their next class. Knowing that the teacher was there, Gaara flipped him off, grabbed his backpack, and walked outside, into the light of the unknowing day.