382: warning: this is shounen-ai, since sj seems to really be into gaaraxneji now adays, so everyone who has something againsted the idea of two boy together, leave before sj currupts you as she's done to me.. and fuck, I'm a guy... do you know how bad it looks for a guy to be into this kind of stuff? all your fault, sj!

sj: me? what did i do? you were kissing boys long before i met you!don't be blaming your bisexual self on me, mister :O

382: ... ignore her... moving on, this fic is one of sj's first attempts at writing multi-chaptered fics. This was originally going to be a one shot, but her beta convinced us to do other wise :) thank you, mI.ShOe, for beta-ing for sj... she needs all the help she could get and shes constantly screaming at me for not being as helpful as you are xP

sj: your making me look bad, hon D: ... anyway.. enjoy the fic :)

Kismet
by simplyjoox382

It was July 7, the day of the Star festival, or better known as Tanabata. Sabaku no Gaara wasn't really sure what had possessed him into celebrating this holiday with the rest of the city, but he somehow found himself out at night on the streets of Konoha, admiring the colorful streamers and the pretty red lanterns that floated along the river. Not that anyone could tell he was admiring them from the death glare he was giving, but he admired them all the same.

Usually at this time of the night, even the most widely used streets in Konoha were deserted. Gaara would know this because of the nights where he would walk along the city streets alone. But tonight was different. Tonight, Gaara was pleasantly surprised to find that the streets were not empty at all; Konoha was full of life. The streets were lit with decorative lanterns, beautiful streamers filled the night skies, and the busiest streets, which were always reserved for driving and only driving, were packed with people of all ages.

He was surprised at how happy everyone seemed to be. It was only a simple holiday. The city that Gaara lived in before this one, Sunaga, had long stopped celebrating this day, saying it was too silly, too pointless a holiday. A month ago, Gaara would have agreed with Sunaga. It was stupid to celebrate the meeting of two imaginary figures who were separated by the milky way, and it was even stupider to write down one's wish and hang it up on a bamboo tree; but seeing all these smiling figures made Gaara forget how silly this all was. Gaara was almost glad that he and his siblings had moved to Konoha.

"GAARA!" the red head heard an obnoxiously loud voice call out for him from behind, but the voice got lost within the lively chatting of everyone else present. He didn't bother turning around and continued walking, knowing that even if he searched for the owner of the voice, it would be near impossible to spot out who it was within the crowd. Besides , it wasn't as if he knew anyone from Konoha anyway; he had just recently moved in.

"GAARA! HEY! GAARA!" the voice was getting closer and soon, a hand rested itself on Gaara's shoulder. The fourteen year old red head glared at the hand, then looked up at its owner, only to glare again at the grinning face that greeted him.

"Uzumaki," he greeted with a nod. The blue-eyed blond frowned.

"Friends don't call each other by their last names,"

"We're not friends,"

"Nonsense! You, Sabaku no Gaara, and I, Uzumaki Naruto are bestest buddies,"

"I met you yesterday,"

"Bestest buddies," he repeated. When the blond saw that Gaara was in no mood to answer to Naruto's frivolity, he simply filled up Gaara's silence with loud jabbering of his own. "My friends are at the Ramen stand right now and I wanted to introduce you to some people you haven't met yet from school. So come on! Follow me," He turned around, facing the direction he came from, expecting Gaara to follow, but when seeing Gaara walking in the opposite direction, Naruto quickly grabbed on to the others' hand and dragged him along.

"Let go," Gaara said simply, not bothering to fight for his freedom.

"Come on! It'll be fun. We'll all be one happy family!" Naruto gave his trademark grin while making his way to the ramen stand that was now in sight.

"I have no family," the red head stated, eyes narrowing and glaring daggers into the back of Naruto's head. Naruto just chuckled in response.

"Quit being so emo, it's bad enough you wear eyeliner."

Gaara would have normally punched anyone who made any sort of remark about the black rings around his eyes, but for some odd reason, he felt no insult from Naruto when the blond had spoken those words. What was it? Friendly teasing perhaps? Gaara wouldn't know. He had no friends in his old town and his siblings know better than to tease the younger boy.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO IS BACK, EVERYONE!" the blond shouted and raised both his arms, making Gaara raise his right hand (the one that Naruto took hold of) in the process. The people at the stand looked up, recognizing the owner of the voice, but continued what they were doing after witnessing Naruto's flashy entrance. Naruto didn't seem to mind, while Gaara was just annoyed with the fact that he was here.

"Yo, utsuradonkachi," the raven haired boy seated in the corner of the ramen stand greeted.

"SASUKE TEME!"

Naruto stomped his way over to who Gaara assumed was Sasuke. Of course, Gaara was dragged along, seeing as Naruto had forgotten to let go of the poor boy. Naruto grabbed onto Sasuke's collar with his free and forced the smirking boy to be lifted from his seat. Their faces were only inches apart when Naruto growled out,

"Say that again, bastard," this only caused the raven hair boy to smirk more.

"U-tsu-ra-don-ka-chi," he said, making sure to take his time on each syllable.

Naruto looked just about ready to punch the bastard in front of him, but was interfered when he saw that Sasuke's eyes had diverted to the glaring boy behind Naruto.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto immediately let go of Sasuke and turned around only to be glared at by green eyes. "Everyone! Say hi to Gaara, Gaara, you remember Inuzuka Kiba, right? He's the guy in our gym class." Naruto asked, pointing to the boy a few seats away from where they were standing now.

"Yo!" Kiba greeted before going back to his ramen. The boy had two tattoos running down his cheeks, which Gaara found a little strange, but Gaara figured since he wore eye liner and had the kanji for "Love" tattooed on his forehead, he had no right to complain about another's body art. He was clad in a plain black t-shirt and khaki shorts and had a puppy seated on top of his head. The puppy gave a bark of acknowledgment.

"That's Akamaru, Kiba's dog. Next to Kiba is Nara Shikamaru, I don't think you've met him before, but he is the laziest person ever," Naruto pointed at the boy wearing a high, gravity-defying pony tail, dressed in green traditional Japaneses clothing. Shikamaru huffed out a sigh and mumbled,

"Troublesome.." Naruto continued with the introductions.

"And then there's Shino, whom we have homeroom with," He was in his usual sunglasses, wearing a plain white shirt and green shorts. "and next to him is Chouji, call him fat and you'll die by his hands," Naruto whispered the last part. Chouji didn't bother looking up at Gaara, he was busily inhaling his pork ramen.

"And this!" he said, pointing at the raven hair boy he had attacked earlier. "Is my one and only bestest buddy, Uchiha Sasuke," Gaara studied the pale boy in front of him. He was dressed in the traditional samurai outfit, hakama and all . His outfit was all navy blue, with the Uchiha crest embedded over his left chest.

"I thought I was your bestest buddy," Gaara said, looking very intense. Intensely at what, Naruto didn't know, but he looked intense all the same.

"You're both my bestest buddies!" the blond said with a grin.

"Hn, I thought I was your one and only," Sasuke said, imitating Gaara's intense look. Gaara could tell that he was going to get along with the Uchiha boy. Naruto frowned a little while going into thinking mode.

"Well.. Sasuke could be my bestest buddy number one and Gaara could be bestest buddy number two!" Naruto grinned, feeling as if he had solved the mystery of life. Gaara gave the grinning boy his trademark look.

"I come second to Uchiha, should I be offended?" The grin was gone and Naruto now looked troubled. Gaara thinks he's getting the hang of this "friendly teasing". Naruto was about to answer but the hakama-clad boy beat him to it.

"Sasuke. You come second to Sasuke. Feel honored." Sasuke's smirk was greeted with a twitch of Gaara's nonexistent eyebrow. Oh, they were going to get along just fine.

"Naruto-kun," a new voice interrupted the three from their conversation. Naruto turned his attention to the voice while Sasuke and Gaara continued glaring each other down, both thinking that they were going to enjoy this newfound possible friendship.

"Ha- Hanabi, Neji-nii-san, and I have to go now. Fa-father wants us home be-before it's too late," a timid voice said, barely above a whisper.

"Aww.. That sucks man! Just wait a second though, I haven't introduced you guys to Gaara yet. Gaara! Come here, there's more people I want you to meet." he yelled, grabbing the boys attention.

"What?" the red head asked, looking up. Next to Gaara was what he thought of as one of the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. She had the most unique, milky eyes and pale skin, which contrasted greatly with her black- almost-blue short hair., Gaara secretly had a thing for long hair, but he thought for someone this beautiful, he could make an exception. She was dressed in what Gaara guessed to be an incredibly expensive Kimono. It was midnight blue decorated with the repeating pattern of white lilies. The pink Obi wrapped around her waist blended nicely with the rest of the Kimono.

"Gaara, this is Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata, meet Sabaku no Gaara."

"Hello.." she said as a blush painted her cheeks. She was cute, but a little too timid for Gaara. He simply nodded in response. His eyes then traveled to the nine year old tugging on Hinata's Kimono.

"Aneki, Chichiue and Hahaue will be worried if we're not back soon," said the little girl.

"Alright Hanabi, we'll be leaving shortly," Hanabi looked up at the red-headed stranger to find that he was looking back at her. Her milky white eyes blinked almost innocently. The eyes must run in the family.

"Ano... Gaara-kun, this is my little sister, Hanabi.." Hanabi waved up at Gaara, and again, Gaara only nodded.

"Hinata-sama, we must leave now. I promised your father that we'll be home before eleven."

Gaara looked up at see the male speaker, only to have his voice caught in his throat.

"Neji! At least wait until you've been properly introduced to Gaara! Gaara, this is Hyuuga Neji, he and Hinata are cous..."

Gaara somehow couldn't hear Naruto's voice as he stared at the boy behind Hinata. He too was dressed in a hakama looking very similar to Sasuke's, but had some sort of elegance to it. The black top hugged Neji's toned chest in a way that complemented his body and the hakama that was tied around his waist showed the boys slim figure.

He had beautiful eyes, the same ones that Hinata and Hanabi had, but somehow, this boy's eyes were different. They were firm and Gaara could tell by looking into his eyes that the boy had power. He was pale, like the other two Hyuuga's he had met, and he had a strong jaw line that Gaara couldn't help but notice. One thing about him that Gaara could definitely not ignore was his hair. Neji's silky brown hair reached down to his waist and it looked so soft that Gaara was almost tempted to reach out and comb his fingers through it. He was mesmerized by that long, beautiful hair. Gaara was wrong to claim Hinata as beautiful. Compared to Neji, Hinata was nothing.

"It's nice to meet you, and I'm sorry but the three of us are in a hurry," the long haired boy said, snapping Gaara out of his train of thought. He wanted to say something, ANYTHING really, but Gaara couldn't seem to find his voice. His insides were screaming at him to respond to the beautiful boy in front of him, but the expression on his face remained the same: intensity.

Without saying a word, Gaara nodded and the three relatives left.

-------

Neji was walking a few steps ahead of Hinata and Hanabi, who were walking side by side. Hanabi looked back and forth from her older sister to her cousin, figuring that it would be alright to leave her sister to talk with the older boy. She sped up her pace, catching up to the long-haired boy to tug on his sleeve. Neji glanced downwards to his right, giving a quick look of acknowledgment to the younger Hyuuga before looking ahead again. If she were anyone else, Hanabi would have felt ignored, but she knew her cousin wasn't one for many words. Hanabi just smirked knowingly.

"He was eying you, you know," she said, still holding onto his sleeve. Anyone with an untrained eye would have missed the split second stiffening of Neji's shoulders before continuing their path home.

"Naruto would never," he responded, not bothering to look at her. Hanabi was almost tempted to smack her own forehead at Neji's ignorance.

"You are hopeless."

-to be continued-

-edit-

sj: hahahaha sorry for all those who read everything that was down here.. that was just me talking to by beta, and i didn't realize that i left my/her comments up xP

382: ... leave it to sj to do something like that

sj: hey! wuts that supposta mean :O ... anywayy... review please x3