Sunday Night's Horrible Dinner:
Temari: Hey guys! This is my fiance, Yuki!
Me and Kankuro: (monotone) Hi Yuki...
Yuki: Hello! What charming little children!
Me: (thinking) You smart alecky asshole you think you can win us over with that kind of flattery?
Temari: Why don't we all sit down for dinner?
(All sit down at dining table. Temari wisely ordered takeout today)
Yuki: So... What grade are you in?
Me: Are you talking to me?
Yuki: Yes.
Me: Eleventh.
Yuki: Oh, so you're a sophomore!
Me: No, I'm a junior.
Yuki: Oh... my bad.
Temari: (pats his head like he's a dog) Now, Gaara, don't be mean to Yuki, he's an artist, not a mathematician.
(Kankuro and I exchange looks of disgust)
All: (eats dinner)
(Insert Awkward Silence)
Yuki: (slowly puts hand down Temari's pants)
Temari: (blushes and giggles) Tee-hee, Yuki!
Me: (steps on Yuki's foot)
Yuki: Ow! You little--!
Me: (acts like nothing happened)
Yuki: (twitches)
Me: Do you like deer?
Yuki: (looks puzzeled) Uh... why?
Me: Just because.
Yuki: I don't like deer because they smell bad and poop a lot.
Kankuro: You poop a lot too.
Temari: Kankuro! (pats Yuki on the head again) Don't listen to either of my brothers, they're both insane. And I don't like deer all that much either. One peed on me once.
(Temari and Yuki exchange lovey-dovey glances)
Me: (picks up plate and puts it in sink. Walks down hall)
Temari: Where are you going?
Me: My room. (slams door. Feels satisified as all paintings and furniture in the house shake on impact)
Moral of the Story: I liked Shikamaru better.
--
Breaking the Music
By FlightAngel
--
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story: so you steal, I kill
--
I promised dog-boy and Shikamaru (I still remember his name, at least) I'd help them, and I would. But, obviously, it was something beyond my control.
"What does your note mean 'ask Sabaku no Gaara'?" I say exasperatedly as I examine the little frilly love note in my hands, "I don't talk to anyone… How would I know…?"
Dog-boy groans, ruffling his hair, "Damn it! Shikamaru I told you that he won't help! Who wrote this stupid note, anyways?" We're seated in the back of the drama class stage-seat bleachers thing, Shikamaru and Dog-boy sitting a step below me on the rungs while I'm squinting at the letter in the dark.
Neji's singing some musical-thing on stage and half the class is falling asleep.
It wasn't because of his lack of singing-talent. Actually, out of the whole class and maybe the whole school even, Neji's voice and singing abilities are so remarkably and unusually skilled and way more advanced then the average student that even the Drama Teacher stands in awe of his awesome vocal chords.
The reason behind our yawning was all the Drama Teacher's fault.
"Hyuuga," The brown-haired sensei had beckoned him onstage the first ten minutes of class, "I just recently wrote a song for a musical I'm writing and I think you have the perfect voice for the part. Will you sing for me?"
Neji, who is always the teacher's pet, had nodded and took the paper, lifting himself onstage.
Ending up now, thirty minutes later, still reciting things about 'Fair Maidens' and
'Wondrous Knights' who were actually the love children of 'Thy Monstrous Beast' and
The Queen and how they were off to 'go see the wizard'. Ok, that wizard part was made up, but you know what I mean.
"For the sake of me, I cannot say…" Neji squints, showing nervousness only by fiddling with his little charm necklace, "…that your love has vanquished all… death from my heart?" He pauses, then sets the papers down.
"Sensei, I don't think I'm suited for this part at all…" He fiddles with his necklace even more, even placing it into his mouth several times (he only does this when he's really nervous), "I seem to have the correct voicing for the music, but my personality cannot relate…"
I'm only slightly paying attention, still trying to dissect who it was writing a silly anonymous love letter to dog-boy. Was it the same person who wrote the anonymous note to Naruto? How would I know who wrote it? Was it someone I know?
"Is it possibly someone you know?" Shikamaru asks me in a low tone and I shoot him an irritated glance. I hated it when people did that—even more then Naruto (who gets pissed whenever Sasuke accurately guesses his next word). I quickly fold up the letter and prop my chin in my hand, glancing at the two boys below me at the corner of my eye.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on me.
"Hey," I say, a little excitedly (or as excitedly as an ex-serial-killer can get), "I think I know who—"
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
I jolt from my speech and I and everyone else in the room swivel their heads in the direction where the cry had been heard. Being drama class, it wasn't unusual for random outbursts to suddenly shake the classroom apart, and were actually very entertaining as it got us out of class work and gave the teacher a good reason not to give out homework today.
When I turn my head around, I expect to see one of the more over-spontaneous students to be whining, like Lee (is the world ending, or did I just remember another name?) or this weird brown-haired girl that had braces. What I don't expect to see is one of my best friends, tears almost falling down his cheeks, almost biting the little crystal-turtle charm hanging from his necklace off and choking on his sentences while trying to talk to the teacher.
"B-but—s-sensei!" He's got that teary trace of desperation in his voice now, slowly chewing on the chain of his necklace, "I-I j-just can't!"
It was not every day Hyuuga Neji is standing just ten feet away from you, almost crying and holding a pale, innocent-looking piece of paper scrunched up in his hand.
I stare.
Shikamaru stares.
Dog Boy stares.
Everyone else in the classroom stares.
The drama teacher is trying to console the poor boy because the contents on the sheet of paper he was holding had so obviously affected him, "Now, Hyuuga, its not that bad—I don't know what's with that and you but you can just—"
Neji's temper flies loose, "Sensei! I said I can't work with him, ok? I can't work, so I can't work! So just deal with it!" He completely crumples up the sheet of paper as the drama teacher's expression widens and gapes.
"Excuse me--?"
Turning heel, the senior boy runs full-speed out of the classroom, throwing the crumpled piece of paper violently against the wall as the door slammed behind him. We all stare at the sort of swinging door that had refused to close due to the amount of force applied to Neji's raging closing, and we all listen to the pitter-pattering of his feet running down the hall. We stare at the paper fluttering, lifeless, to the floor, then to the lurid drama teacher.
We stare for a long, long time.
He sort of traces his chin-guard, troubled, as he turns to us. "Ok, break it up—class is going to be dismissed a little early today ok? So just go." He waves us off and we quietly scurry off to our next class like quiet little mice (seriously… like the mice in our old living room in Suna…).
Dog-boy manages to grab his love letter back from my hand and he and Shikamaru stumble out of the classroom loudly gossiping with Lee, who was looking pretty troubled (ok, Kiba was the one doing most of the gossiping and Lee being troubled was just weird).
As I pass by the door I quickly pick up the crumpled up piece of paper on the floor and stuff it into my jean pocket.
--
I'm walking down the hall, pushing past hordes of rabid, mad, hormonal-raging teenagers aiming to get a good pinch of my butt, trying to find a bare spot where I can quickly check my schedule when I finally see a small empty space next to the passageway to Physics.
No one ever dared go near the physics lab if they had a choice, due to both broken lights in that hallway and the teacher's habit of looking at the students like they were all pieces of scrumptious meat that he couldn't wait to get a hold of. Feeling secure that I would not be bothered in a place like that, I push and pry myself to the space and round the corner.
And then I stop, and gape.
Naruto and Sasuke are making out.
On the floor.
In front of Professor Orichimaru's Physics Lab.
With Sasuke's hands up Naruto's shirt and a knee in between his thighs.
And Naruto with his arms draped around the taller boy's shoulders, chest arched forward. In pleasure.
And me, standing there, staring at them while they stop kissing and stare at me.
Cue moment-of-silence.
"G-Gaara…" Naruto stammers, a little, pushing Sasuke off of him as if I was homophobic and was about to go on rabid-rampage or something.
I think he was just frightened by the killing-intent expression rising on my face.
There were two sides of me that were arguing about this situation as I stare at Sasuke get up irritably from where Naruto had thrown him, brushing off specks of dust from his nice navy blazer.
There was that part of me that was their best friend, and couldn't believe that there had been something like this going on for so long without me exactly knowing. Of course, I had known their small relationship but I hadn't realized it had come to the point where both of them were eager to start jumping out of their pants.
The other side of me was my crush-on-Naruto side which was threatening to take me over, take out my switchblade, and slice Uchiha Sasuke into a million, tiny bits and pieces. This side was raging inside of me, beating at my heart with a miniature hammer making me immediately aware at how mixed my expression must be.
I felt like laughing, crying, and killing someone at the same time.
Naruto's looking sheepish and apologetic, trying to come up with the words to explain the situation away in a logical manner, while Sasuke's just standing there, looking at me in a way that asked if I had a good reason to speak badly of their relationship. I open my mouth, then close it, gaze hardening as I see the edge of a smirk creep onto the Uchiha's face.
The little crush-on-Naruto side has now taken out a butcher's knife and is starting to sink it into my heart. The pain just causes me to take a step back, throwing my backpack over my shoulder in a faster-then-normal fashion. Looking down, so that they couldn't see the entireness of my face and therefore can't decipher my expression, I mumble, "Sorry, I'll leave you alone…"
Naruto swivels back, reaching for me as I rush down the hall—"Gaara!"
But by then, I'm already gone, melting into the hordes of students intent on their next class, totally unaware of the discontent and discomfort blossoming right in front of them.
--
There is absolute silence at our lunch table, a silence that has not been there at all anytime in the past.
Naruto's poking at his food and refusing to look at me, shooting glares at Sasuke in the meantime.
Sasuke doesn't seem to care and is eating away at his meat bento like nothing has happened.
Neji is nowhere to be found, and it has been reported that he wasn't in any of his classes today after Drama.
I'm sitting here, trying to eat in the silence and continually looking at the half-sheet of paper I had snatched from my escape out from Drama class, the paper that had caused Neji to be so upset and leave in the moment I needed him the most.
Though he didn't look like it, Neji was probably the voice of reasoning in our little group of loners. Of course, what else would you expect from an A+ honors student planning to go to Harvard and the Student Council President for seven consecutive years, no less? Although to the rest of the world, he was the perfect teenager, we knew that wasn't the case.
When we first met Neji, he was a mess.
It was during the Junior High pep assembly, second year. I was still wary of other people—especially Sasuke—and was uneasy when Naruto had selected Sasuke and I as 'assembly buddies' in the auditorium. In other words, he dragged us to our seats and forced us to sit next to him throughout the whole thing.
The air smelt like burnt paper, testosterone, gum and cotton candy, while the whole auditorium was a darkened shade of burgundy that shone even darker in the dim light. The stage was brightly lit, however, so each and every representative and student council member could be seen from even the furthest seats in the back with no problem.
I slumped in my chair as this year's goals, prospects, representatives, successes and failures were read out loud by the large, fat principal in a deathly boring monotone. This man's voice just had this tone that made you want to get out a bazooka and blast him and his throaty voice chords out into oblivion.
He read from the script for about twenty minutes, at least, then started introducing the three students from each grade he had chosen to give a three to four minute speech about goals, overcoming obstacles and 'being spectacular pupils'. I always thought pupils were those holes in the middle of your eyes.
The first girl was from first year, small, mousy and had one bucktooth and a normal other, making her teeth stand out like a shining beacon. Even more shining then my red hair, of course. She lisped some weird comedy act where she was acting out two people at once about the importance of goals and how they helped you become a successful student in the future. Hearing her voice was almost as bad as hearing the principal talk.
She was quickly ushered off the stage after four minutes (she was still reading but it was obvious she'd never make it in the time limit) and our year's representative went up to read. This was probably one of many instances where Shikamaru has wiggled his way into my life. Maybe this is why I can remember his name so easily.
He was an ok presenter, first starting out with a sort of dry joke that talked about how most students start slacking off in junior high since they felt it was unimportant, then he dragged us into his main point by listing a bunch of facts on how blah percentage of the people from a junior high who got a blah average then went on to either drop out of high school, get into drugs, get pregnant during teenage years (for girls) and become fathers during teenage years (for boys). The way he spoke made a lot more people sit up straight and listen, including me. Maybe it was the way he used his words and the tone of voice he chose—casual, laid-back and matter-of-fact. We just felt more connection with him then most other students' speeches, and, before we knew it, it was over and he was off the stage.
The third year student was a lot quieter, shyer and meeker then Shikamaru could ever be. Standing upright in front of more then three hundred students, his hair was pulled back in a loose braid with white barrettes holding bangs back from his eyes. A white linen cloth surrounded his head, creating a much cuter effect then Sasuke and his dorky-looking navy headband (which he had yet to take off…). Eyes a dark hazel, he was wearing a black turtleneck, dark blue jeans, and such clean white sneakers that it was quite obvious they were either new or unused. He was nervous, hands looking sweaty from the reflection it was giving off in the stage light, and he had this mixed-pieces expression flitting across his face as if he wasn't sure if he would rather bolt, stay, cry, or scream at the situation he was being presented in.
"Everyone please welcome our third year student representative," The principal announced proudly, "And Student Council President, Hyuuga Neji. Let's all stop fiddling around and show some respect as he presents his speech." Again, I hated how the principal always added the 'show respect' to every other sentence he said when he opened his mouth. I glowered at him, but the principal was too busy paying attention to Neji. The brunette reluctantly squirmed in the principal's intent gaze.
His eyes darted from the staff, then to the students, and then to the paper sort-of crumpled in his shaking hands. I was looking at him with this odd nasty smirk on my face, and he caught my eye and held it there. A look of determination set on that confused face and he started his speech, "Ladies and gentlemen I am here to inform you of a serious crisis occurring in our school today…" I was still looking at him and Naruto was poking me, trying to get me to stop.
"Gaara," He whispered into my ear, "Don't do that, you're making him nervous…" I can't stop, though, it felt addicting—staring at people and scaring the shit out of them.
Neji gulped again, and hastily continued, "T-this is something that has been k-kept top secret for years in the school, but we all know what it is on some i-inner deep level…" I coughed purposely, and the older boy faltered.
"T-the constant backsliding in this junior high will not continue any longer…" I started snickering at the expression of confusion on his face, which quickly morphed to one of desperate nervousness. "The c-core of bad schooling these days is probably the l-lack of attention teachers issue out o-on b-bullies…" He stopped, gulped, and looked like he was going to cry. "A-and…"
He breathily stopped, mouth a little open as if he was just about to pronounce the next word but couldn't find his voice and looked at the staff that was so anxiously looking at him. He closed his mouth, then opened it again and his voice choked, "A-and…" Putting a hand to his mouth, tears fell from his eyes as he dropped the paper in his hand, turned heel, and ran off the stage into the curtains.
There was an uproar, then, the staff attempting to calm the audience and find Neji at the same time, Naruto yelling at me because he seemed so nervous already and I just made it worse and Sasuke yelling at Naruto to stop yelling at me because we were creating a racket. The teachers decided the best way to solve the issue was to send everyone back to their classrooms and discuss it among themselves.
On the way out of the classroom, however, I managed to sneak away from the crowd and go off Neji-hunting on my own (of course Naruto was pretty pissed about this later, shouting that they were everywhere looking for me and I shouldn't have gone off and blah…). When people ask me why I went after him, my best reply was that I felt a sort of connection with the older boy—that look in his eyes were creepily similar to one I held in my own on days where I felt desperate. Putting my hands into my pockets, I strolled down the hall, looking in empty classrooms and full ones (the teachers yelled at me, of course) when I decided to look outside.
And who do I find sniveling on the steps to the Spring Shrine just two blocks away from the junior high?
His hair was mussed, barrettes gone (they might have fallen somewhere) and his once-white sneakers were covered with dirt. He was sobbing quietly into his knees, curled up into a little ball as he cried. I stared down at him, and I knew he knew I was there because he had stiffened a little when he had heard my footfalls, and he looked up, a little.
I noticed, faintly, that a piece of brown plastic had fallen from his eyes, leaving the eye white and blank. I felt a shiver run up my spine as the fleeting thought that his iris had fallen out of eye passed my brain, and then I realized that the brown-thing was just a contact and that his eye color had already been white.
As I was thinking this, I was staring blankly at the older boy, unaware of my rude conduct.
"What do you want?" He said, quietly, "Do you want to make fun of me too?"
I looked down at him, eyes narrowing.
"No."
He stared at me a little longer, sharply as if tracing every aspect of my posture would help lead him to a closer understanding of me and how I tick. I feel the scrutiny of his gaze and looked back down at him. He wiped his face with a black handkerchief he had dug out of his jeans' pocket and stood up abruptly. Staring at me for a good while longer, he turns around a slowly walked away as I looked after him.
Stopping and turning around, he caught my eye and I caught his—and he said, "Tomorrow, lunch?"
I nodded slowly, and the forlorn boy cracked a smile.
To this day he never told me what he was crying about, and why he had been so upset. Of course, since I was never one to push it, I never asked either, so I guess you could say the event was well-forgotten. But then, it wasn't forgotten, since it's still here imprinted into my mind, fluttering around in my brain as I finish my lunch and stiffly walk off, leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone at our lunch table to finish their meal.
Of course, they probably like it better that way.
--
--
Ring…ring…ring…ring…
"…Hello?"
I'm sitting spread across my bed, lamp on my desk half-lit and the digital alarm clock on my windowsill reading 2:07 AM in the dark shadows of the night. Calling someone up at two in the morning would seem extreme to some, but Suna had a six hour time difference from us so it was only about eight there and thus wasn't a problem. I clutch the receiver to my ear, biting my lip and looking at the tattered sheet of paper I had ripped out of the will sitting in front of me.
"Baki-sensei?"
There is a pause at the other end of the line, before the throaty speech of my old-time guardian comes through with static.
"Gaara? What do you want?"
His tone seems surprised that it was me, but not surprised that someone was calling him. Looking at the will, and then to the back of my hands, I say, trying to stay in an unshakable monotone.
"Lots of things have been happening here lately."
"Yes," The older man says, slowly, "But this is the first time you've called me personally in two years." I cringe on the inside at his icy comment, but I know he had neither been expecting me nor wanted me to send him letters or call in the first place, so it wasn't like I was hurting him. When Baki left two years ago, during freshman year, he had given his cell phone number to Temari and his apartment address to Kankuro, just in case anything came up.
Note that he had given nothing to me.
Being a tall, yet stocky and slightly muscular, middle-aged man, he was and still is probably the only thing close to becoming a 'father figure' in my life. When I was born, he had been appointed as a sort of legal and physical guardian for Temari, Kankuro and I. He had been there while our mother grew slowly paler, weaker, sicker, and had been there when the incident happened. He was the one that took care of us, like a parent, but still expected us to know how to take care of ourselves.
When I was charged for being a serial killer and insane, he was the one that took the blame from Father, for raising me up to be a shame to the family. Even towards the end—where he slowly distanced himself away from us because he knew it was about time we grew up properly—he was still the strong, worldly and logically-set man I've always known all my life.
"I don't know. Things are getting hectic…" I examine my bitten nails in distaste. I had actually taped masking tape over my nails so I wouldn't be able to actually bite them, but had then taken it off because it is very hard to masking-tape your nails and try to paint them at the same time. "I wanted to catch you up on some things. Has Temari called you recently?"
"No," I can imagine the man shaking his head with that signature distasteful look in his features, "She called me a lot when I first left, but she gradually stopped after a while."
I pause, then decide to blunder on, "Did you know Temari's getting married?"
I can hear him sputter at the other end of the phone. "What?"
"It's this guy we don't know, too. His name's Yuki and he's a pain in the ass. He was trying to grope Temari through the whole dinner with us, and he's kind of ugly too. I don't like him much."
Baki-sensei is silent at the other end, and I wait for him to recover his composure. Being a lawyer and a guardian for three unruly, obnoxious children has caused Baki to create stone-set habits which include always trying to be cool, calm, and collected, speaking with that now-you-listen-to-me-tone, and always looking at us like we were kids.
In so many ways we still were.
"…do you like him?"
"No."
"I see… is there anything else going on?"
I narrow my eyes as I drill holes the size of Japan into the glass with my almighty glare-of-doom, "My love life has gone down the drain, the only friend that is sensible in my life has chosen to disappear, Temari is getting married to a pervert, I'm picking up habits from Kankuro, I just found out I inherited my Dad's company, I am starting to get fat, my friends are keeping secrets from me and I'm sitting here talking to you, what do you think?"
There is silence. I focus on the paper beneath me as I struggle to get my murderous anger under control. Baki seems to be waiting for me to get my murderous anger under control. Why can't I get my murderous anger under control?
"So… why don't you start from the top?"
So I tell him a slightly edited version of my soap-opera-of-a-life, changing Naruto into a girl (as much as it pained me), taking out the mushy gushy parts which he wouldn't have wanted to know anyways and sugar-coating the nice moments. He listens silently at the other end, obviously knowing my story is edited and knowing that I know he knows the story is edited. It was a common occurrence between us while speaking, mind you.
"Alright…" He says, slowly, "What do you want me to do about it?"
"'Respect your elders'," I mimic in a high-pitched voice so uncharacteristically unlike myself, "'Because they know more then you since they have more experience'. Therefore, I am taking the advice of my lawyer," Baki coughs sheepishly, "and asking for advice because I am only seventeen and you are at least twice my age and thus knows so much more."
Any normal person would never have gotten away with back-talking the way I did towards Baki. Before becoming a lawyer, he had gone to the army and lived in the barracks for a good five years, being drilled the necessities of strictness, properness, and accurate behavior in combat. Things that he now drilled into the skulls of anyone unfortunate enough to get in a twenty-mile radius of him these days.
However, no one would've gotten away with sounding so maddenly sarcastic with me, either. Having a reputation in Suna as being a legal serial killer that had gotten away with more then twenty-six killings was kind of nice, sometimes.
All in all, Baki and I had this little mutual agreement between us that I am surprised still existed after two years.
"Ok… then I shall rain down upon you the wisdoms," Here, he coughs again, "of my experiences to help you on your conquest to goodness."
If Baki was here right at this moment I would so punch his teeth out right now.
It's kind of unsettling, realizing it's been two years but it's just like he never left. I always wanted to punch his teeth out when he was still living here, too. Thankfully back then he resided in a room that was not next to mine, which was turned into a study room when he moved away.
"Ok, then," I say, softly, in a low gravely voice I reserved for being dangerously angry, "Spill."
And, though I hate to admit it, I listen to him intently as he gives me some tips to help me in my chaotic life.
Because I need all the help I can get.
--
Naruto won't look me in the eye and Sasuke doesn't look at me at all. We're in the only class we all have together—Physics, and we're all trying to avoid each other like the plague. Since Neji's a senior, the only class I have with him is Drama and he hasn't been showing up lately. The crumpled piece of paper I had stuffed in my pocket now belongs to my corkboard wall, yet to be opened and read. I don't know—I think it'll be better for Neji to tell me himself what was wrong, instead of reading it off some worthless note.
Shikamaru's stealing glances at me, first with a look of distaste, then interest, and then finally a mix between irritation and curiosity. He puts his head down, scribbles something on a piece of notebook paper, and then chucks it at my head. I look back at him and catch it in my mouth, almost gagging at the industrial paper-waste taste seeping into my teeth.
Spitting the paper out of my mouth, I suddenly wish Neji was here at this exact moment, offering me peppermint gum. For once, I could've used it.
I'm opening the letter when another paper-cannonball zooms by and hits me in the ear. I look around, but can't spot the person who threw the new little crumpled up piece of notebook paper. Contemplating whether curiosity would win over politeness (Shikamaru threw the note first, after all) I finally decided to go with politeness for the sole sake of proving to myself that I was in control and can resist temptation anytime I damn pleased.
Gaara:
Any clues to Kiba's love letter?
My Tel #: (456)-334-9987
My Cell #: (854)-224-0245
Call when you get a clue
Call at Five PM tomorrow
Shika
Slipping the paper into my pocket, I curse myself for promising to help Dog-boy and Shikamaru with their little love-letter problem. Heck, it really had nothing to do with me except the person had referenced me in their little ramble, which meant it was either a person I know, a person I know who knows someone else, or someone in one of my classes.
I had actually almost gotten the answer to the riddle in Drama, but then Neji's little tantrum made me lose my train of thought and I had spent hours yesterday racking up my brain for the missing piece for the sake of solving the mystery quicker because of it.
I sigh, look at Shikamaru, and we exchange an agreeing nod. It was a 'ok I agree to help you but stay out of life nod' and not a 'I'm helping you and now we're best friends' kind of nod. I don't make friends that easily—it actually took me four months to finally accept Naruto as a friend in the first year of junior high, and seven months to finally accept Sasuke. Neji came easier, though, which was good.
As the teacher is talking about velocity and how it affects the world of Physics (of course it affects the world of physics: why else would we be learning it in class? I hate it when teachers act like they were so smart, and I would usually openly show my distaste except that this was Professor Orichimaru and even I didn't want to get into a mess with him.) I quietly open the second note.
It's very crumpled up, and the person had the stupidity to use a gel pen to write and then crumple it up before the ink dried, smearing it all over the page. Thankfully, it was still legible, and after I read the note I was more then thankful.
Gaara,
I know that you're really hurt, because of the thing between Sasuke and I, and I just want to say I'm really, really sorry. I'm still trying to figure out my feelings and I'm really lost right now, and I know I don't deserve it but I need someone's guidance.
You see, I'm not sure if I like Sasuke, or not, and Sasuke doesn't seem to care. It was just… at the moment, it was like, it just went so fast and it probably would've gone further if I didn't see you and break out of my trance. So I guess I have to thank you too, for preventing me from doing something I was probably going to regret many times over.
Anyways, I know the group's been shaken up a little bit recently but I hope we can all meet at that café near Neji's house again, except this time on Wednesday? We have a lot of things to catch up on.
From, Naruto
P.S. The Battle of the Bands is coming up in the Konoha Convention Center and we have to submit our entries by March 26th! Hope you can think about a song you'd like us to sing, then!
I sigh, feeling a thread of anxiety, warmth, happiness and anger seep into my heart. I am happy that Naruto and Sasuke weren't officially an item yet, in either social or mental means, but was angry because Naruto may have been just trying to make me feel better by softening the blow. I felt warm because the way he apologized and thanked me was sincere and… something else. I wasn't sure. But the warmth sparked a little ray of hope in me that I was just a little afraid to let blossom, and that was where my anxiety kicked in.
Does Naruto like me? As in, like me? Or is he just being a good friend?
Half of me want to act like an overactive fan girl and squeal, pretending that he likes me, but the innermost me that is probably smarter then overactive fan girl knows that he probably just thinks me as a friend. A good friend.
I sigh, crumpling that piece of paper into my pocket as well, and cup my chin in my hands.
Why was my life so much like a soap opera?
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Author's Notes: Forgot the notes last time heh... ; Yay! Reviewers/Hugs all and hands out marshmallows/ I love some of your critiques. I feel like they give me set standards I should focus on /holds up fist/ I will PREVAIL! And yeah, I know my writing is starting to detoriate (along with my plot line)... but that's how I write after writing for two hours Lol thank you!