"He died with God's name in his lips,
and a bullet through his heart."
Sasuke was in a terrible mood.
Granted, he was often in a terrible mood, but in that moment, he had no way of relieving the tension that had been building up since the other day. He glared across the table at the source of his problem, the blond messy head pointedly turned towards the other direction. Beside Sasuke, Haruno Sakura sat uncomfortably close, apparently determined to talk his ear off.
Azuma-sensei, their Science teacher, had grouped the class into threes as Lab groups. Sasuke and Naruto were put into Team Seven, abiding by the rules of Jiraiya that the Uchiha-Uzumaki pair must be constantly forced into cooperation. Both wore matching expressions when their third member was introduced.
Sasuke bit back a biting comment when Sakura exclaimed how this must be destiny. Personally, Sasuke thought it was the Universe trying to fuck with him.
"Complete the worksheet that I have provided, as a group." Azuma-sensei said, going around the room. "You are going with these people all the way to the end of the year. Make sure you get along."
There were muffled groans around the room which the teacher completely ignored.
"Soon, we will be going into preparation for our Group Science Projects, which will encompass most of your final grade. Keep that in mind and start thinking of interesting topics you would like to pursue."
Naruto wordlessly picked up the worksheet and began writing their names on the blank spaces provided. Sakura had not once acknowledged the blonde's presence and Sasuke wondered for the umpteenth time what kind of relationship they had. It had been on his mind the entire weekend, and despite trying to corner the blond, he proved to be elusive. And now that they were finally pushed together in a group, the girl was an effective mood killer, so Sasuke kept his mouth shut and waited impatiently for the bell to ring.
When it finally did, they had managed to get through the class without speaking. But before Sasuke could open his mouth to address the blond, Naruto was already halfway out the door. When Sasuke moved to follow, Sakura was there, blocking his path with an eager invitation to have lunch together. Sasuke gritted his teeth when he spotted Gaara, who paused long enough to give him a death glare before following the blond out the door.
He felt like punching something in the face. Preferably with Gaara's body attached.
"Listen, Haruno." Sasuke looked at her impatiently. "Get this through your head. I don't like you and I'm never going to like you. So Get. Lost."
"That's mean, Sasuke-kun." Sakura crossed her arms. "After all, we're going to be in the same group for the whole year. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other."
Sasuke made a sound of disgust and walked away, intent on finding the blond and maybe wringing his neck a few times.
Sakura watched him walk away, a thoughtful expression on her face. Ino appeared by her side, letting out a disgusted sigh.
"I have the worst group mates. A lazy slob and a fat-ass. I'm going to fail this year!" Ino gave a wistful sigh. "You're so lucky, Sakura. Group-mates with Sasuke-kun! If only!"
"It's fate." Sakura laughed airily. "The universe is on my side, Ino. Sasuke will be mine. I'll just have to work on him."
"Goodluck, darling." Ino sniffed. "Girls leagues away from you have tried and failed. He's a star that we should be content to just look at."
Sakura smiled slyly.
"But this is the future, Ino-chan. When you want a star, you can simply put your name on it and make it yours."
Sasuke couldn't get his hands on the blond idiot, so he settled for cornering his red-headed shadow instead. The corridor they were standing in, which was normally bustling with people heading down for lunch, was inconspicuously empty.
"Sabaku."
The other boy stood unmoving as a statue and Sasuke regarded him, suspicion itching against the back of his mind.
"I'll be blunt. Were you the one that beat this shit out of that idiot?"
The reaction was immediate and Sasuke dug his heels in as Gaara grabbed him violently by the shirt and slammed him against the wall.
"Drop it, Uchiha."
If nothing, it confirmed Sasuke's suspicion that Gaara was a fucking psychopath.
"Let go."
"Leave him alone."
"Let go," Sasuke repeated slowly. "Before I break that hand."
"I'd like to see you try."
Tension rose between them and Sasuke was just gearing himself for a serious fight when they were interrupted by a stern voice.
"Well. I thought I'd never see the day."
Sasuke and Gaara glared up at the newcomer, who stepped up with a frown on his face.
"Fighting in school is strictly prohibited." Continued the boy. "Desist immediately."
"Stay out of this, Hyuuga." Sasuke snapped.
Neji calmly crossed his arms.
"Unfortunately, my duty prohibits me from walking away. Uchiha, may I remind you that as the captain of the soccer team, you have a responsibility to yourself and to your team to maintain a good record? I hear you're already on a two-week detention." Neji turned his gaze to Gaara. "You, on the other hand, have enough on your record to get kicked out of school and face a detention facility for juvenile delinquents. Don't force my hand. Now, step away from each other."
The three locked into a contest of will, each refusing to be the first to back down. It was at this moment that Naruto appeared around the corner, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the frozen tableau.
His mouth dropped open as the three pairs of eyes turned to him.
Neji was about to greet the blond when his eyes fell on the swelling and bruises mottling the blonde's face. He stiffened in shock and, eyes dark, moved to grab the blond by the wrist.
"Who did that to you?" He demanded.
Naruto flinched back, eyes wide with fright, and in a flash, Sasuke and Gaara were there, each grabbing at the arm that held the blond captive.
Taken aback, Neji let go. He regarded the blond with wide eyes as Naruto slowly backed away, looking confused and wary.
"Naruto," said Neji, in a calm he didn't feel. "I apologize if I frightened you. I'll talk to you again soon, so could you leave me with these two for a moment? I have things I need to discuss with them."
"Oh," Naruto smiled weakly, edging away. "Um, sure. I… sorry, you just surprised me."
Neji waved a dismissive hand. "You have nothing to apologize for."
Naruto turned to Gaara awkwardly. "I'll, uh… wait for you downstairs."
Gaara gave a short, terse nod, not taking his eyes off Neji. Naruto gave them one last uneasy look before practically running away the other direction.
"Waiting on each other? What, do you braid each other's hair too?" Sasuke mocked, dropping Neji's hand with a disgusted snort.
"Shut up."
"You two." Neji crossed his arms sternly. "Explain it so I can understand what the hell is going here."
"None of your business." Gaara growled.
Neji narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Out of respect for the ties between our families, Gaara of the Sand, I will let that comment slide. That boy," Neji jerked his head towards the direction Naruto went. "…is obviously a victim of physical abuse. Putting aside the fact that this needs to be reported immediately, I want to know what you two are doing, sticking your nose into his business."
"You have some goddamn nerve—" Sasuke began.
"Don't report him." Gaara interrupted.
Immediately, the air between them changed. Neji turned the full weight of his gaze onto Gaara.
"This is not a joke, Sabaku. What you are asking of me… I need a valid reason, or I would be neglecting my duty as Head of the Student Body…. and as a fellow human being."
"Reporting him won't help him. It'll only make things worse."
They stared at each other, the silence lengthening between them. Finally, Neji backed off.
"Rash decisions never did serve well." He sighed. "I'll keep an eye on him."
Gaara did not reply, glaring down at his shoes.
"Uchiha," Neji turned to the other boy. "Give that boy a break and leave him alone. I heard about what happened in the hallway the other day."
Sasuke chose to remain silent as well.
"I mean it." Neji said sternly, as he turned to leave. "If I hear that any of you, for any reason at all, laid a finger on him, I will personally ensure that you be suspended for life."
And with a flutter of long, dark hair, he was gone.
Sasuke's temper flared once again. How did the blonde manage to get these overprotective assholes on his case?
"Uchiha," Gaara muttered, eyes still refusing to leave the ground. "I mean it this time: Fuck. Off."
"You're not his fucking keeper." Sasuke snarled.
"What the hell do you want anyway?" Gaara snarled back. "You talk big, walking around with your self-entitled bullshit—but what the hell do you know? You don't know anything."
Sasuke balled his trembling fists and held back his tongue as he watched the red-head storm away from the hall. He was loathed to admit it, but Gaara was right. He didn't know the first thing about the blond. He had no fucking clue. Most of all, he still didn't understand why he fuckingcared.
But Sasuke had a straightforward way of dealing things he didn't understand.
He squared his shoulders and turned to walk towards the Teacher's office. He needed to speak with a certain Kakashi-sensei.
Iruka didn't have a very easy life growing up, but somehow, he had always found time to spare a kind thought for other people. It was a trait, he'd been told, that he had gotten from his kind mother. He had never met his mother.
He sighed, absently rubbing the scar on his nose as he stared out the window, watching the blond figure standing listlessly by the school grounds.
"Do you know what Jiraiya-sama was thinking, when he decided to stick those two together?"
"Who?"
"You know who."
"Naruto again?" Kakashi stuck his head from under the desk, where he was rifling through his things. "You really took a liking to that boy, huh?"
"I can't help it. The poor boy." Iruka shook his head, gazing at Naruto's bowed head. "You saw him that day, he looked awful. He's obviously being abused. Why we can't do something about it—"
"School rules." Kakashi reminded him gently. "We can't interfere unless the student directly asks for interference—"
"That's a stupid rule, and you know it—" Iruka argued.
"Such is the nature of this school. We can't risk stepping on any toes here; these families are powerful enough to destroy the very foundation of this nation."
"I still don't think it's a good idea that he's spending so much time with Sasuke." Iruka insisted.
"Relax. Naruto's a good influence on him." Kakashi stood, joining Iruka by the window. "Sasuke needs something to occupy his mind other than dark, creepy things."
"And now, somehow, he's gotten involved with Gaara too." Iruka continued as if he didn't hear him. "I don't think it's in Naruto's good interest that he's getting involved in their world—"
Kakashi placed a finger against Iruka's lips, effectively shushing him.
"They're just kids." He said calmly. "Hokage-sama brought them here so they can have a chance to be that. And Naruto is that chance for them."
"Yes, that's all very well for them." Iruka sighed, leaning against Kakashi's warmth. At the corner of his eye, he spied Naruto through the window being joined by an unmistakable red-head. "…but can we say the same for Naruto?"
When Naruto woke up that morning, the first thing he saw was sunlight.
The cotton sheets were soft against his cheek, and Naruto slowly blinked away the sleep from his eyes. He was warm and comfortable—and that was his first clue that he was not in his own bed. And as his memory returned from last night, so did the feeling in his body, and with it, the gripping pain that paralyzed him.
He barely felt the bed dip beside him, but suddenly, there were cool, clammy hands brushing back his hair and resting against his forehead. Somehow, that helped him relax enough for his muscles to unclench.
"Gaara?" Naruto croaked.
His right eye was swollen nearly shut and his mouth tasted awful—probably dried blood. He didn't need a mirror to know that he must look like death warmed over.
"You have to get up."
Naruto closed his eyes.
"And go where?"
"To school."
Naruto couldn't help it—he laughed.
"Are you freakin' serious?"
"You have to show up today."
"I'll show up tomorrow."
Gaara nudged him again. "Today. You can't lose to them."
Unbidden, Naruto's eyes began to well up with bitter tears. Gaara did not push him, he simply stayed there, a solid warmth beside him as the blond gathered his wits.
Gaara waited, with patience he didn't know he was capable of, as Naruto slowly sat up, wincing with pain and regulating his breathing. He waited as Naruto took a moment to stare down at his hands. He waited until Naruto was the one who nudged him to move, and they got out of bed together.
Gaara had, against his better judgment, brought Naruto to his house.
It had been one of those nights, plagued with insomnia and migraines and the suffocating desire to be anywhere but inside. Gaara had sneaked out of the walled estate and wandered around the empty streets for almost an hour. He was so caught up in his turbulent thoughts that he would have passed by the park entirely, had it not been for the disturbance of the flickering lamp light.
And then he heard it—a slight shifting of weight, the scratch of sound, and a whimper.
Gaara had not expected to see the infuriating blond from school, now quiet and bruised, lying on the cold ground. And it was like a slap to the face—the sight was too painfully familiar.
They were probably fated to meet, Gaara realized. The moon must have called him out that night. And as he stared down at the pitiful form of the blond, instead of feeling hatred or anger, all he felt was the pathetic urge to cry.
What have they done to the world to deserve this?
So Gaara took his hand and took him in—what else could he do? He was not going to leave him there. At that moment, nothing could have ripped him away from the boy's side.
When he came back to the house, he found that the gates were unlocked. Someone must have figured out he had gone, but did not wake the entire house to hunt him down. Probably Temari, then. He spared a moment to thank her in his mind as he half-dragged, half-carried the boy into the house.
It's been three days since he'd last slept properly, but when Gaara laid the boy down in his bed, he climbed in with him, closing his eyes and finally allowing himself to let go.
For once, the nightmares were silent until morning.
