Disclaimer: copyrights are too expensive for me. Don't make me cry.
Kuroi-chan's disclaimer: The nickname Sagi-chan is copyrighted to Kuroi. Any other who uses it will be mocked, laughed at, and will ultimately suffer at the hands of her vengeful and depressing wrath. That and she'll nag me into yelling at you.
Saaski-chan's disclaimer: The nickname Leeni-chan is copyrighted to Saaski. Use it and die.


AN: Well, I feel kind of stupid... Last chapter, I completely forgot that Gaara doesn't have eyebrows... OMG!? What kind of bad fan girl writer am I??? I'm such a horrible person! Gaara! I'm so sorry... (sobsob) So, I want to thank Shiori-03 for pointing this out to me. I probably won't bother going back to fix that, but pretend that it says "the place where Gaara's eyebrow should be twitched", okay? Thanks. Other than that, enjoy this (also) short chapter.

Chapter 12

The next day, Naruto arrived at school with a fever. Stupid? Well, yes, but Iruka-sensei was never a very good bed-maid. And what could you expect from a man who waged war with pigeons? Not nursing expertise, that's for sure.

"Naruto," Gaara said when the blond arrived at their lockers, blurry eyed and fever flushed. "You look like crap."

"Thank you Gaara, I think that the crickets love me too."

Naruto's words only seemed to serve the purpose of confusing the red head. Shikamaru, however, seemed to understand why the blond was being extra random that morning. ...If resting his hands against Naruto's cheeks and leaning in close meant he understood.

"You have a fever-" he managed to say before Gaara growled and flung him away.

"Don't be silly." Naruto said, watching with glazed over eyes as Shikamaru slid to the floor - unconscious due to banging his head against a locker door. The blond bent down to poke his friend. "Iruka-sensei said that I'm fine and that my boyfriend would take care of me at school if I felt any worse than I do now. And I trust Iruka-sensei against my better judgment because, I mean seriously, who trusts a man who wages wars with pigeons?"

Chirp. Chirrrrp.

All time stopped. Gaara froze. Shikamaru... remained unconscious. The hallway quieted and the first half on Naruto's statement hung in the air - displayed for all who wanted to read them.

Naruto turned back to Gaara with a smile. "Ne?" He asked right before he passed out.

Thus, two teens were now sprawled in the hallway.

The new rumor took root and sprouted in each and every student of Konoha high. The rumor that Gaara and Naruto were passionate lovers - betrothed since birth - already planning on children... and other things that were mostly lies.

And... moments later the fact that Gaara was denying none of the rumors spread the idea that: "OMG!!11!!ichi!one1!!! It's true!!!"

After that, even the patented Death Stare of Doom, which Gaara finally managed to contort his facial features into, didn't stop the rumors. In fact, if anything, the rumors started circulating faster.

"He's so protective of Naruto!"

"Why didn't we see this sooner? Like, in chapter three?"

"SQUEEE!"

Homicidal laughter broke up the crowd as Gaara's fictional mental stability died - leaving Shukaku to take over.

"I have been silent for the last two chapters - but now I am back!" Shukaku screamed after taking over Gaara's body. "MWAHAHAHA!"

The hallway remained silent, both amazed at the sudden bout of stupidity and frightened by it. Not only that however, but Naruto's next move also freaked the crowd of rubberneckers out.

Because, Naruto suddenly stood up as well, his eyes glowing a demonic red. "I am Kyuubi!" He shrieked in a voice that was akin to nails on a chalkboard. "And though this is my first appearance in this fan fiction - I DO EXIST!"

Both boys and their demonic counter parts then proceeded to pass out. And thus, Naruto, Shikamaru and Gaara were now successfully barricading the hallway. And... well, the crowd decided to just leave them there in their haste to just get away.

The crickets, being the only conscious beings around, decided to break up the silence.

Chirp. Chirrrrp.

Lunch was a site to behold. There was a three table radius of empty tables surrounding Naruto and his friend (Shikamaru) and his "boyfriend" (Gaara). People weren't avoiding them because they were gay-

"I'm bi!" Shikamaru shouted at the author.

-But because of the demonic outbursts that morning, coupled with the fact that they were gay.

"Bi!"

Naturally - this three empty table radius was quite disconcerting. But... as Gaara and Shikamaru didn't really care about what others thought of them - and Naruto was in a fever induced haze of unawareness - none of them paid it any mind.

Something else which is natural at his point, is the infamous rumor mill. However, the proverbial gears of progress were jammed between two rumors. The first was the: "OMG! Gaara/Naruto!!!" rumor. The other was the: "OMG! Demonic Gaara/Naruto!!?". Needless to say they people at Konoha High weren't sure what they were supposed to fear at this moment, and thus settled for tense silence.

This silence was broken by the spastic clicking of an old tri-pod spy camera.

"Ino..." Naruto was muttering each time a picture was taken of Shikamaru.

Finally, the blond stood up (swaying slightly with his illness) and trotted over two tables to grab Ino's arm, drag her back to his table, and force her to sit down. "I swear I know you..." he said, squinting at her.

Ino glomped onto Shikamaru's arm, and began cooing to herself. Shikamaru stared at her with a look of annoyed surprise, if those two emotions even mix.

At this moment, the author has chosen to explain why there is a three table radius of empty tables, while Ino is only two tables away. Er... she was hiding. And thus, didn't exist in the chapter yet. Yes, that sounds plausible enough.

Naruto, now frowning and trying his hardest to make his brain work for him, stared almost through Ino. A little light bulb over his head fizzed every once in a while, but otherwise didn't serve him any purpose. "I swear I know you," he muttered. "Really!"

Shikamaru began edging away from Ino. Or, well, he tried to edge away from Ino, anyway. His arm was still caught in her claw-like grasp so he didn't get very far.

"He's my big bad elf in red," Ino murmured, now resting her head on Shikamaru's shoulder.

Shikamaru suddenly began wishing he hadn't so loudly insisted that he was bi and not gay. A gay man would now how to deal with that, right? Right? Curse his bad luck.

"I know!" Naruto suddenly shouted, standing up and pointing one finger at Ino. The little light bulb over his head cracked and short circuited due to the sudden burst of energy in the blonds head. "You're that girl from my old school who went insane because I-"

But he didn't get to finish his sudden revelation. Because, at that moment in time, Itachi had just run into the room - pink dress and all - and glomped onto Naruto's back.

"NARU-CHAN!" Itachi cooed, rubbing his cheek against the blond hair.

But, what really threw off Naruto's train of thought wasn't Itachi's sudden random arrival, but Gaara's reaction to Itachi's sudden random arrival. Because the territorial red head stood up, launched himself across the table at his blond, and attached his lips to Naruto's in both of their first kisses.

All of the guys in the room first cracked their knuckles because hey, a gay couple was an easy target. But then the guys realized that one: Naruto is pretty girly anyway, and two: Gaara isn't somebody that they want to attempt to make their easy target. And while the guys tried to decide how to react, every fan girl present squeed and giggled: "oh! HOW CUTE!"

Okay, Itachi added the "how cute" part, but the fan girls did squee.

Five minutes later, Naruto passed out due to lack of oxygen.

Sasuke (and Neji, by default) quietly snuck from the room, lest Itachi notice them. Itachi, having now noticed his little brother, chased after him and his flat chested girlfriend with a panicked cry of "SASU-CHAN! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

And Gaara? Well, he managed to not only convey his feelings to Naruto, but also contract the flu.

All in all, it was a fairly decent forth day back to school.

AN Yay! Finally a little Gaara/Naruto boy-on-boy moment! Aren't you glad you stuck with me for twelve chapters? I know I'm glad you are. Next time... probably more about Sasuke and Neji, just because they're feeling neglected in the boy-on-boy moments.