Disclaimer: Do I have to keep saying it? ... still not mine

If: ... I'm totally inspired apparently. I've been listening to The Dresden Dolls new cd (totally addicted to it too) and I started being inspired to write. I also heard Coming Undone by Korn (love that song, and the band of course) and now I'm inspired for the next chapter, but that's the next chapter... Anyway, another chapter for your reading pleasure!

xCrAzYxGuRlx: Woo! I'm glad you're enjoying this! I totally agree with you about Gaara's inner demon (aka: Shukaku), he is the best part and should totally be used more often. Its fun to write crazy Gaara. And who knows what's happened to Sasuke. I'm sure we'll find out soon, though I have an inkling it won't be good.

wIthOUt A nAmE : lol, you so don't want to piss Gaara off. He's not stable. -; ... but yeah, thanks for the review!

Brooklyn'sGurl: Ah yes, Gaara's punishment... we'll find out won't we? And Gaara does have a dad. See, in the series his father was the Kazekage, but Orochimaru killed him off and pretended to be him. In this story Gaara's dad isn't dead... yet. (actually I have no idea if he'll die or not)

YINGYANGBLOSSOMS : Woo! I'm glad you're enjoying this so much! And I'm sure Kakashi will show up, it just might take him some time to get here (he is always late after all).


Torture:

Infliction of severe physical pain as a means of punishment or coercion.

An instrument or a method for inflicting such pain.

Excruciating physical or mental pain; agony: the torture of waiting in suspense.

Something causing severe pain or anguish.

(Wikipedia)


Gaara stared at the door in front of him. He had been here one too many times for the same reason that he was here this time. It was a conspiracy, he was sure of it. Just like aliens. The truth is out there you know, as Mulder would say. The universe was conspiring against him. That was it. That would explain this horribly unlucky day he was having. The universe hates him and his shirt was cursed. Gaara scowled. Sasuke was probably wondering why they were just standing outside the door and not actually going in the office.

"Gaara Sabaku!" came the scream from inside the office. Gaara cringed inwardly. "Get in here! I know you're out there!"

Gaara sighed and turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. Pulling Sasuke after him, Gaara entered the cluttered and disorganized office. Keeping his eyes glued on the floor, Gaara noticed Sasuke staring at the principal out of the corner of his eye. Gaara couldn't suppress a short chuckle, which snapped Sasuke out of it. He caught Gaara's eye with his own and Gaara quickly turned away.

"So Gaara," the principal said, her voice booming in the cluttered and carpeted space surprisingly. "Who did you beat the crap out of this time?"

Gaara blanched. Surely she wasn't serious?

"And who's this nice looking guy hanging all over you?" she asked. Gaara twitched.

This wasn't happening to him. Really. Nothing remotely like this was happening right now. Surely she would know by Sasuke's split lip (which he really should get looked at, Gaara noted) and the way he was leaning heavily on Gaara that he was obviously the one he had been "beating the crap" out of.

"My name's Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. "And I'm the one he was fighting."

Gaara snorted. Surely the principal was right this one time in saying that Gaara had "beat the crap" out of him. Gaara shook his head; pride was such a crazy thing.

"Gaara!" startled, Gaara looked up. Blinking a few times, Gaara always seemed to find it hard not to stare at the giant boobs the principal had. Gaara glared at Tsunade.

"What?" he snarled. Tsunade glared right back, her tone becoming icy.

"Did you really beat this guy up?" Tsunade asked somewhat incredulously. Gaara twitched.

"Yes," Gaara said. He felt Sasuke stiffen at this and turn to glare at him. "What?"

"You did not beat me up," Sasuke said, offended. Gaara barked out a laugh.

"Like hell I didn't. Look at you! You have a split lip and you can barely stand without help! I'd say that's beaten up," Gaara retorted, once again getting annoyed by the Uchiha. Sasuke's glare intensified.

Mumbling something Sasuke sniffed and turned his head away from Gaara. Gaara snorted again.

"Just like I thought. You can't deny it you bastard," Gaara said smugly. Sasuke turned to glare grim death at him.

"I'll kick your ass next time Sabaku," Sasuke stated. Gaara started laughing. Sasuke was getting angry. "Anyway, I would have won if you hadn't gone all crazy scary on me."

Gaara shut up immediately and Tsunade leaned forward in her chair and across her desk. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the awkward silence.

"Gaara?" Tsunade prodded gently. Gaara looked at the ground again.

"I… I might have slipped up a bit," Gaara said, locking his eyes on the very interesting spot where something had spilled on the floor.

"'Slipped up a bit?'" Tsunade asked. Gaara's face darkened a bit.

"Yeah… Naruto stopped it before it got out of hand," Gaara replied, a small smile on his face. Sasuke felt a pang of jealousy. He wanted Gaara to think about him and smile softly like that, not Naruto.

"Well that's good at least…" Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair. "Now, what should I do with you two?"

Sasuke paled a bit, Itachi was going to kill him later if he got detention, or worse, suspension. Gaara just sighed at his side. Sasuke found himself wondering what it was that he had seen during lunch had really been that big of a deal. Was there something wrong with Gaara? What was going on? Why was Naruto the only one that could apparently stop whatever it was?

"I think I'll let you off the hook… this time," Tsunade said. Both teens' heads shot up to stare at her, stunned. "But you need to be careful Gaara, one more time and you will be expelled, not even I can stop that. And you, Yusuke…"

"Sasuke," Sasuke interjected. Tsunade waved a hand at him.

"Fine then, Sasuke be careful not to get into another fight, next time its detention for you," Tsunade said irritably. Sasuke heaved a sigh of relief. Tsunade squinted at him, as if noticing him for the first time. Gaara raised one of his invisible eyebrows and Sasuke felt very uncomfortable at the scrutiny he was receiving. Finally, a light went on above Tsunade's head.

"You're the brat's friend!" she exclaimed. Gaara brought a hand to his face. Sasuke just looked confused. Surely he knew who she meant by "brat." Sasuke still looked like he was missing a piece of a jigsaw. Gaara couldn't believe these people.

"You mean the dobe?" Sasuke asked eventually. Gaara rolled his eyes. It had taken the Uchiha long enough.

"Why can't you people just say Naruto?" Gaara asked, exasperated by the whole situation. Tsunade and Sasuke both glared at him.

"Because Gaara dear, we like to torture you," Tsunade said. Gaara's face went blank, even his eyes.

"I never refer to him by his real name…" Sasuke muttered. Gaara turned to him.

"Why?" he asked, unable to stop himself.

"Don't know. I called him dobe when we met in elementary school and I haven't called him anything else every since," Sasuke said, pleased that Gaara wanted to know something about him. Sasuke shrugged.

"Why did you call him that?" Gaara said, entirely too interested for his own good, and totally forgetting that Tsunade was there.

"Because he had been trying to get a block out from under a pile of toys, and didn't notice that if he pulled on it the whole pile would collapse on him. He pulled it…" Sasuke said nostalgically, he could clearly see the chibi Naruto pulling on the block and the all of the toys falling on him. He snickered.

"That is pretty stupid," Gaara said a tiny smile on his face. Sasuke looked at him and his grin grew.

"Yup, so ever since then I've called him 'dobe.' He just seems to do stupid things," Sasuke said nodding his head. Gaara snorted.

"You're telling me? You've missed three years of stupid things," Gaara said, his smile becoming more visible. Sasuke was floating on Cloud 9.

"Oh? Like what?" Sasuke asked, honestly interested in what the dobe had done, and of course wanting to continue his conversation with Gaara, it really was the first conversation they had had without Gaara yelling at him.

"Could you two lovebirds move this out of my office?" Tsunade spoke up from her desk. Gaara's face turned slightly red and Sasuke's turned a lovely shade of pink. "As cute as you two are, I think Sasuke needs to see the nurse. Talk to Shizune in the office about getting a pass back to your classes."

With that Tsunade waved her hand dismissively at them. Gaara mumbled something and Sasuke had noticed his face was once again unreadable. Sasuke sighed, some day he would get rid of that mask so he could see just Gaara…

"Hello Gaara, long time no see," Shizune said as they exited the office. Gaara glared at her. "Need a pass?"

"Yes," Sasuke replied quickly, seeing that Gaara was going to snap at the poor girl. Shizune smiled at him.

"Hey Gaara, you caught yourself a good looking guy," Shizune said. Gaara sputtered incoherently for a while, and Sasuke just smirked, pulling Gaara closer. Gaara glared at him, ignoring Shizune's laughter.

"Would you just get us some passes?" Gaara growled. "He needs to get to the nurse."

Shizune, still chuckling, looked up at Sasuke and frowned. She looked down and rummaged through her desk, grabbing some passes.

"You know how these work Gaara," she said. Gaara nodded and reached for the passes. Shizune suddenly winked and Gaara took the passes. "Don't let that cutie go."

Gaara froze on his way out of the office, turned and even though his face was slightly pink, managed to give her a glare that promised a slow and painful death. Sasuke laughed.

Once in the hallway, Gaara took a good look at Sasuke's face and instantly regretted it. His lip wasn't too horrible considering… it was split and the blood had stopped, but Gaara could see it on his chin and a bit on his shirt. Gaara was mildly surprised that Sasuke wasn't hollering about it hurting. But now that Gaara looked at it, the blood was going to drive him nuts. He was still slightly unstable from his close call of slipping mentally and the blood covering Sasuke's face was only making his barely stable mental state tip to the crazy side. Gaara had the urge to just lean over and lick the blood from Sasuke's face, and to bite his lip to make more of the elixir come out. Gaara shook his head. This wasn't good. They got about halfway down the hallway before Gaara lost control. He could swear he could smell it, and he couldn't stop looking.

Gaara slammed Sasuke into the lockers on the wall. Sasuke grunted at impact and opened his mouth to yell at Gaara, but he took one look at his face and stopped. Gaara had that crazed smirk on his face again. Sasuke watched as Gaara shook his head and his impassive face was once again in place. Gaara was trying his hardest to stay in control, but found himself leaning forward inevitably. He didn't even know how he had come to have Sasuke pinned against the lockers. Gaara could hear the music in his head, that crazy song that always signaled that he would be going off the deep end.

Coin-operated boy
sitting on the shelf
he is just a toy
but I turn him on
and he comes to life
automatic joy
that is why I want
a coin-operated boy

Gaara's tongue peeked out from between his lips and Sasuke felt himself stop breathing. Sasuke stared as Gaara licked his chin, mixed feelings rushing through him. Part of him was loving this, wanting this so bad, but the other part was telling him that it was so wrong and that it wasn't really Gaara doing this. Sasuke also noted that he was licking the blood from his chin, not doing anything else. Sasuke shuddered. He could feel Gaara's hands pin him to the lockers and only had a split second to realize what was going to happen. Gaara's mouth closed over his own. Sasuke melted, but then felt Gaara bite down on his split lip. Sasuke cried out, but Gaara ignored him and started to suckle on his lip. Sasuke reluctantly tried to push Gaara away, and his feeble attempts seemed to spark something in Gaara.

Gaara pulled back from Sasuke as quickly as he could, covering his mouth with a hand and not believing what he had just done. Sasuke just stared at him.

"I… I'm sorry!" Gaara sputtered, turning and dashing down the hallway, stopping by the exit to the outside world. He turned. "Tell Tsunade that it got to me and that I went home!"

And with that he was gone, leaving behind a very confused and once again bleeding Sasuke.