"Hey, Naruto, is it ok if we go somewhere to eat this Friday?" A nervous glance.
"Eh--? But where will we eat?"
"Um..."
"Wah! What about Ichiraku Ramen? Please?" Puppy-eyes.
"Well…I don't like ramen... that much."
"Gaara! You said we should go somewhere to eat this Friday!" A pout.
Think fast. "Well, there's a new japanese/chinese restaurant that just opened... near Neji's place... is that alright?"
Consideration. "Yay! That sounds great! Wait, you're paying, right?"
A sigh. "Yes, Naruto, I am paying."
"Yay! All you can eat ramen!"
"Naruto, be aware I have a budget--!"
"Ha! I'll reach that budget to the max!"
"Naruto…" A light shake of the head the curve of a smile tugging at the edge of the lips.
--
Breaking the Music
By FlightAngel
--
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story: so you steal, I kill
--
Sitting almost half-asleep on my desk at approximately seven thirty in the morning in Writing Skills has definitely made me aware of my lack of the ability to sense time. I have my iPod volume turned up to the highest it can get before starting to leak, which was pretty soft anyhow, and my head slumped down on a paper that said 'Compare and Contrast: Metaphoric Analysis!' We were supposed to be analyzing this weird book I was supposed to be reading but obviously hadn't and writing a report on said book, which I obviously didn't know about either.
I sigh as I try to move my head into a more comfortable position.
Recently, my grades have been plunging as I've forgotten various things: homework assignments, projects, discussions, reading activities, going to class, which class I was supposed to be going to, if I was even supposed to go to class that day (I went on a Saturday twice by accident), etc, etc… It was all due to my thought-process going something like the following.
Go to school. First, Writing. Then, Spanish. Did Kankuro do the laundry? Wait, don't I mean Temari? But then, she's gone, so… After that, Trig. After that, World History. I hate World History. The stupid teacher won't shut up! I hate him. Drama with Neji. Lunch. They serve bad food. Food… reminds me of Itachi… he's been stealing all our food for the past couple of days. I still need to practice for the Battle of the Bands. Naruto's going to get mad at me, and I don't want him to mad at me, though he's kind of cute when he's mad… no! What am I thinking? Am I turning into one of those modern day jock/emo people? Wait; is there such thing as a jock/emo person? Physics with creepy Professor Orochimaru and finally Art.
Since I tend to lose my train of thought after the first two sentences, I often lose my way, and, embarrassingly, even end up crashing into poles, walls, lockers, or doors that seem to pop out of nowhere.
Neji says I was under too much stress and thinks I need to take a day off. I say if I take a day off I'd definitely pull some 'F's' this semester, and that wasn't too great of a standing on my report card. Good report cards equal Good Colleges. Wait, colleges? Crap, I forgot all about the SATS…
"Sabaku, what is your opinion on Marie's feelings towards the Professor?" I glance upwards and see the teacher towering above me. Slowly sliding up in a nonchalant manner, I blink at her sleepily. What?
"Hn?" is all I manage to say before she takes out her grade book and a red pen and marks something that was probably not good next to my name.
"I see. Alright, Haruno! What is your opinion on Marie's feelings towards the Professor…" Her voice is fading away as I let my head fall back onto the desk. I. Need. Sleeeeeeeep. Sure, I never really cared about sleep when Shukaku was around, but after taking a few well-deserved naps after he left I realized that being more alert feels good and having slightly smaller eye-bags were more attractive. Now, I was positively addicted to sleep.
But, that was beside the point. Why wasn't I getting enough sleep?
Ask Kankuro. Or Itachi. After last night, who in the world could have fallen asleep under those circumstances?
After bursting dramatically into the flat at six at night, Itachi had quickly made himself home in the study room in Baki's old bed. "Don't worry," He said when I eyed him suspiciously with my rather cold green irises, "I won't stay long-- Sasuke's just locked me out of the house." I stared. Why would Sasuke lock his older brother out of his own home?
The first thing he did was raid the refrigerator and eat all my cookie dough ice cream, which got me pretty pissed off, then stole the bread to make 'bread men' and after that, cooked up some weird Chinese Stir Fry he insisted would be 'good' for our 'spiritual being'. Kankuro just happily shoved it into his mouth (anything that was relatively edible he liked) and belched loudly. This lead to a belching contest with Itachi finally winning in the end after downing ten bottles of Mountain Dew and pulling out a 'big one' right into my face.
"I win!" He crowed, giggling, doing a little jiggly dance as Kankuro roared with laughter, "Got you, Gaara!" My eyes were large, wide, and menacing. Was this guy drunk or something? He was acting particularly insane, perhaps because we were in front of Kankuro, but it was positive that he had had something put into his system to make him this crazy.
After 'dinner' he'd insisted we take our Playstation Set, which was practically hidden a mound of dust as none of us really had enough spare time to actually indulge in it—Kankuro was too busy cramming and having sex with his multiple girlfriends, Temari was off camping at Shikamaru's, and I was almost always out: at Neji's house, at Naruto's house, eating at the Ice Cream Shoppe, napping in the park, going to work, meeting up Umino-san, and about a thousand other things that took me far and away from my flat. After searching through some of our rusting games, Itachi squealed when he found our Dance Dance Revolution set that Baki had brought home one day so he could force Kankuro to exercise and look at the TV at the same time.
"Gaara!" He screamed, literally hanging off my neck as he jumped up and down in excitement, "DDR! DDR! NOW! I'll verse you!" I was in a daze as he hopped off me and onto our couch, laughing maniacally as he bounced for a while there, muttering to himself excitedly with a few "Paranoia!" and "Butterfly!" heard from his ramble. I picked 'Sandstorm', my favorite song, and he immediately moved from excitedly bouncing on the couch to seriously poised over the DDR pad. "Gaara," He said, seriously looking at me in the eye with his own crimson ones, "This is… a matter… between life… and death."
The song started and then suddenly he was screaming again, prancing all over the pad in a frenzy as I coolly pressed the buttons in a slow monotone order. After I beat his butt ten times over, Itachi clung like a leech to Kankuro until my older brother reluctantly left his porn to go and dance with Itachi too.
By that time I was pretty much worn out, as Itachi had made me dance to the same damn song twenty times and was slumped over on the table drinking this watermelon juice that Temari had made for us before we left. It was this rather stomach-turning brown color because Temari had said that grinding the skin along with the meat was healthy, and our family needed healthy. I just glared it down and drank it anyways. Tasted like bug-eaten squash, but who really cared about what I think?
"I totally killed you!" Itachi screamed at Kankuro, who was hyperventilating on the floor because of too-much-exercise, "Die! Die! DIE!" After I stopped Itachi from ripping up our DDR pads and packed the system away, I went to the bathroom to take a shower and found, to my horror, Itachi peeking at me through a crack through the door.
"Nice butt," he giggled before I slammed the door in his face. Looking at the mirror, I had to breathe in and out, in and out, repeating—I cannot kill him, he is Sasuke's brother, I cannot kill him, he is Sasuke's brother, I cannot kill him, he is Sasuke's perverted brother who likes to stare at boys' butts and giggle, I CANNOT KILL HIM, EVEN IF I WANT TO GO OUT THERE AND STRANGLE HIM WITH MY BOXERS—before turning on the water and giving myself five minutes of peace under its downpour.
After tugging on my pajamas which basically consisted of a pair of dark maroon pants, I trudged to my bedroom and fell on top of my bed, fully intending to get a good night's sleep.
But, it seemed, it was Itachi's life goal or something to make me get as least sleep as possible and it didn't really make me all that happy. "GAA-GAA AND I WALK DOWN THE RAAAAAAAILROAD!" He was shouting at the top of his lungs, "AND WE GO AND PEE AT THE SIIIIIIIIDE!" I moaned and buried my crimson locks under my pillow. What was he doing?
There were moments of pure silence for a while, before he would start whining, loudly, "I wish Kisame was here! Kiiiiiiisame! My little goooooldfish! Pretty little goooooooooldfish with a pretty little taaaaaaaaaaail!" I set my teeth on edge and endured. It was two in the morning when he suddenly burst into my room, causing me to embarrassingly jump up in fright as he suddenly launched himself at me.
"Gaara!" He screamed with a crazy smile on his face and I swear, my eyes were probably so big they filled up my whole face, "Have sex with me!"
"What?" I shrieked, high-pitched (Hey, it was two in the morning, I was sleepy, and I don't really look after my reputation when I was sleepy), "Itachi, get off!" But he was rubbing against me, arms wrapping around me in a no-escape hold as he straddled my leg.
"Pleeeeeease?"
As I told Umino-san before, I was a gay virgin that was in love with Uzamaki Naruto, and had no plans to fool around with one of my friend's older brother. With the help of both panic and adrenaline I roughly kicked off the man, chased him into the hall, locked my door, and quickly buried myself back into my bed.
"Wah!" I could hear Itachi wailing outside, "Gaara won't do it with me! Kankuro! Kankuro, are you free?"
So yeah, you basically get why I'm drooling on my paper in my sleepy-daze right now.
"Hey, Gaara?" Dog-boy's standing over me, "Dude, the bell rang…"
"Hn…" Is my reply.
--
Today I got to see Lee have a haircut. It was a total accident, I swear.
"Neji—" I'm holding a pair of jeans in my left hand wishing it was one size larger so it could fit my butt, "Do you think—?" I stop the minute I set a foot in his room, eyes widening.
Lee is sitting absolutely still on a large wooden chair, heavy white cloth bound around his neck and spilling over his knees. Behind him is Neji, dressed in the usual black turtleneck and white-jeans, poised with his arms above Lee, scissors glinting menacingly in the light. Snip. Snip. Delicate finger entwine themselves with longish black strands as another perfectly manicured hand holds a pair of scissors that snips off the extra length with precise calculation. Snip. Snip. Lee fidgets a little as Neji moves down to the area behind his ear and the Hyuuga pinches him irritably.
Lee lets out a yelp and Neji pinches harder, "Shut up and hold still." He mutters darkly, and I faintly surprised that he didn't add a 'loser' to the end of that as well. The other senior whimpers half-heartedly and attempts to slump down in his chair without his 'hairdresser' noticing. Neji just sighs and continues snipping his hair. Snip. Snip.
"Neji?" I finally manage to strangle out, "When did Lee get here?"
"Mm?" Neji is distracted, trying to get a particularly nasty piece of hair down to the desired two inches long, "Lee, where've you been rolling in? Cotton candy? Get—Off!"
"Ow!" Lee starts to cry because Neji's tugging hurts and I think I am having a heart attack—what should I do? Neji, however, is totally oblivious of the boy's sobs and instead, manages to yank out the stick-tangle of hair and throws it into the trashcan.
"There, I got it out."
"Along with the rest of my brain cells!"
"Shut up, loser," Neji snaps in his My-Word-Is-Final-Tone. "Don't be so hot-blooded you get riled up over a piece of hair. Now sit still, I'm almost done. Gaara, those pants are too small for you no matter how hard you try to fit in them—there's some more in that cabinet over there. If you still can't find anything you like you can always sneak into Hinata-sama's room at the risk of my uncle's impending doom, hold still and stop fidgeting!" I obediently follow Neji's orders not because I was scared but because I didn't want to see anymore of Lee's tears.
I didn't mind tears all that much in general, it was just that Lee, who was usually such a happy person, crying was kind of upsetting, you know? Reminded me of Naruto crying, which I still have yet to see. I rummage through some of Neji's more exotic pants, like leather, jeans with various cuts on them, jeans with feathers and jewelry or something, jeans that weren't really jeans, more jeans, slacks, weird pant-things that had holes in inappropriate places, more holes, holes, holes, wait, are this even considered pants? some weird skirt-pant thing (skort?) and other items I would really rather not talk about. What did Neji do with this stuff?
My mind flashes back to the one time Kankuro dragged me over the TV to watch porn with him where I had watched the process of making children for five life-changing minutes before running out of the room and shocking myself in the process of totally discharging our flat's electrical system. Unfortunately, the system didn't get fixed a week later, which meant we had to embarrassingly borrow the next-door neighbor's bathroom and kitchen white Baki went to go and rent some home appliances. Fortunately, Kankuro couldn't watch porn for a whole seven days, which must have killed him. Anyways, all these… clothes… made me think of those five minutes of groaning, sweating, screaming, and all these words I don't dare say due to the safety of my own well-being and caused me to end up, a few seconds later, burying my face in a shirt because I had just replaced the woman in the scene with Neji and the picture was horrifying.
"N-no! No—that's too muc—stop it! Agh! N-no! Not th-that fast!"
I raise my head and turn to see what Neji was up to before I let my underused imagination explode. Since I was basically a realist, I never got caught up in the whole 'creativity-imagination' deal so there were actually less images in my head then actual phrases like 'Does Neji have sex' or 'Wonder what I will do if Naruto was dressed in this', which were almost just as bad.
Neji's hands are covered with some sort of slimy, sticky stuff that I immediately identify as gel and he is roughly pulling Lee's now shortened strands into spikes. Lee is wriggling madly now, not caring if the Hyuuga pinched him or not. "N-Neji that's cold! Stop it! I can d-do it myself—ah!" Neji's gelled hands had reached the bottom of his scalp, causing the gel to ooze down the poor boy's back. Lee thrashes in an effort to stop Neji's metaphorical assault and I stare shamelessly. What were they doing?
"There, there, done, now hold still and don't move while it dries. Gaara, did you look in that wardrobe yet? It's got some pretty good stuff that I think you'll like…" Neji says in his short, curt voice as he sort of stumbles into his bathroom to wash off the gel and hair from his fingers. Lee is now sulking while standing straight, which was a funny image, trying not to whimper on the chair as I investigate the last damn wardrobe in the whole frickin' room.
Fortunately for him, Neji's intuition was right, as usual, as I found the contents of this cabinet much more suited to my tastes. "Neji!" Lee's voice was in the background while I slipped into some more comfortable normal black pants, "My hair is a little too short over at the left…" Pull on a red tang top and the black jacket I still have yet to return to Kankuro, and I was pretty decent-looking. I can hear Neji growling in the background.
"Are you insulting my hairdresser abilities?"
"No, but you could have put more effort into making my hair neater?"
"What?" Neji's getting pissed off. I can feel his thoughts vibrate through the air—I just spent approximately forty minutes cutting your damn hair and all you give back is a lousy 'I don't like it'? Screw you!—thoughts he'd probably never dare voice out loud in his life at the risk of his wounded reputation. Lee turns his chin up in a visibly defiant manner.
"Besides, I never said I wanted my hair cut!"
"Excuse me?"
Feeling satisfied that I wouldn't completely scare Naruto off a second time and not really wanting Neji at Lee's throat, I stride over to where the two were glaring each other down (with Neji doing most of the glaring and Lee doing most of his turtle-pouting) and bend down. Examining Lee's hair, I furrow my brow.
"I like it," I say lowly, and Neji starts with surprise, "It suits you." Lee's eyes are large, big, and round as they widen. Neji coughs embarrassingly into a hand and goes to clean up the dusting of hair on the ground with a broom.
I don't usually give out compliments. But I had to get the two to stop arguing somehow, and this was the only way I thought of. It worked too, didn't it?
Lee unties the large cloth from around his neck and shakes his head free. After cracking his various bones and stretching his muscles for a little while, he gives me one of his blinding smiles and says, "Thank you, Gaara, but you should really be praising Neji. He is the one that did such a wonderful job in the first place!"
As he happily gathers his stuff and prances away, I look at Neji, who had been hiding his head in a towel, and knew immediately that he had been blushing.
"Lovebirds," I say sweetly in such an uncharacteristic way he snaps.
"Gaara! Shut up! Why did fate tell you to come and interrupt us? Shoo! Go on your date already!" He's throwing shampoo and gel bottles at me and for some reason I'm laughing, just totally out of control, like years of real laughter were bursting out of me through just one small moment. Covering my head with my backpack, I run out of his room and into the hall, him throwing more and more appliances at me, including the hair dryer and what looked to be a hair-straightener, until I'm out the door and onto my motorbike, still laughing as I drive away.
"Gaara! You better bring back those pants and tang-top!"
Sure, like I'd ever forget.
--
The small restaurant was humming with activity, bright lights hung within and people brightly talking outside its door as I carefully slowed down my motorcycle and looked for a parking space. As the place wasn't particularly popular or extremely busy enough to have mile-long lines, it wasn't that hard finding a small corner where an equally small red motorbike could fit in, right? Naruto, who had been clinging to me around the waist, pops off his helmet and peers at the restaurant with his large, crystalline-blue eyes.
"Looks homey," He finally chirps and, after some maneuvering, slides off the motorcycle seat with no damage whatsoever. It had started out a rather promising night, me driving over to Naruto's place and suffering the silent threats his aunt kept shooting at me, him hugging me around the waist (because he didn't want to fall off) and me finding the damn restaurant before I got too lost it was obvious.
"Table for two," I muttered under my breath when the hostess looked at me expectantly. She stares for a moment between us, flushes, and then giggles behind the menus she brought out.
"Y-Yes sir." Naruto and I exchange blank looks. Um, gay fangirl moment? After successfully leading us to what was probably the most romantic table in the whole place (set next to a large balcony-like window and even had candles) along with fits of giggles and looks along the way, she leaves us in peace.
"Huh," Naruto says questionably as he casually flips open the tall menu, "Weird girl." I nod in agreement and try to focus seriously on the choices placed in front of me. Being a naturally serious youth helped, but I felt an odd longing to stare at the person in front of me. Which is, ultimately, weird.
"Ah, Gaara!" Naruto is scratching his head in frustration, "I don't know what to get! Should I get the Miso Ramen with Seafood, or Cold Ramen with Vegetables and Shrimp? Oh, wait, this 'Volcano Island Beef Ramen' sounds pretty nice too…" Regardless of what the blonde is saying, I peek at him from cover of my menu.
He is dressed up in a black turtleneck that looked absolutely flattering on his lithe form and some jeans. Pretty casual wear, though he still looked good in it. Casual. Casual. Breathe, Gaara, breathe—this is a casual dinner where nothing is really supposed to happen. I force myself to stare at the menu, green eyes probably searing the words off the laminated paper.
Ramen—no, I don't like ramen that much, much to Naruto's utter horror.
Seafood—for some reason, shrimp makes me a little sick to the stomach. I always ended up sneaking pieces of it onto Kankuro's plate without him noticing.
Noodles—this is different from ramen? Oh, who cares? I scan the list and find this: House Lo Mein, Chicken Lo Mein, Beef Lo Mein, Shrimp Lo Mein (ew, no), Crab Lo Mein, Pork Lo Mein, Mystery Lo Mein…
Did they have anything but Lo Mein and Ramen? Next.
"Hey, hey, Gaara, look at the special! Doesn't that sound nice?" Naruto's taken a hold of my menu and was viciously jabbing his finger at the particular dish he wanted, "It's within your budget too! Please?" I blankly stare at him before staring at where his finger was.
Japanese Dinner Special: One large bowl of Udon Noodles large enough for two: egg, vegetables, chicken, beef, and tempura! Two Sushi Sets: yellowtail, tuna, and shrimp. Soft Drinks and Refills Free!$29.99
I widen my eyes. 29.99?! My budget had been thirty dollars. I glare at Naruto and he smiles back. "You really want to meet my budget to the max, huh?"
"Yup!" He chirps with that cheerful, happy-go-lucky grin and I can feel my resistance crumble. Sighing, I nod and fall onto my menu. Naruto cheers and would have done a victory dance if we weren't in a booth where he'd probably upturn the table and set the whole place on fire with the candles.
After a whole field of waitresses came over by us, not to take our order but to giggle, we finally got our order down and waited for the food to come. Naruto sips at a Dr. Pepper as he leans back on his comfy red-padded seat and I stare at him, brain trying to summon up a topic to discuss.
"How's Sasuke doing?"
"Hm?"
I mentally wallop myself over the head. Fool! Never mention another rival's name in front of a date! My exterior is perfectly emotionless, however, due to years and years of experiencing inner-turmoil-while-being-blank moments I had shared with Baki. Take one step in a room where he and I were having a fight and you could feel ice form on your toes due to the subtle insults we threw at one another. It was pretty fun, until he moved away, of course.
"I heard he kicked Itachi out of the house two nights ago."
Naruto looks genuinely interested, "Really?"
I nod seriously. "He's been camping out at mine because of it."
At this, Naruto really just bursts out laughing. His lips curve upwards, revealing perfect white teeth, his cheeks rise and his whole face just opens up. Ok, so maybe I wasn't much of a poet, but you get my point. He giggles into a hand, snorts, and then rolls over so I can't see him anymore, body-wracking laughs emerging from where I thought his head was.
"I-Itachi? At your house?" He lifts his head up enough for me to see his eyes full of tears, hopefully of joy, "H-have you died yet?" I fold my hands together as he regains his composure; face still a little pink from the laughter.
"Well, if you count being a walking zombie 'dying'." I rub my temples in exaggerated weariness (which wasn't hard since I was tired) and he does this weird clucking thing that makes me almost stop rubbing my temples to look at him oddly. He leans over and I feel his rough fingers gently push my own away as he starts to rub my temples for me.
There are several thoughts running through my brain right now, most of them incoherent. Finally three complete phrases surface:
One--I think. I have. Died.
Me and all those waitresses fainting from blood loss behind my seat.
Two—what were those waitresses doing behind me anyways?
I want to lean back and glare them down into little piles of soot, but then Naruto would stop massaging my temples.
And Three—Feels. So. Good.
I let my eyes close for a moment as I turn to putty under Naruto's fingers. It just feels really, really nice, because I was truly sore in that area, not just all pretend. First he presses his thumbs up near my hairline, and then slowly works his way down until he's almost at my brow, caressing each set of sore muscles in the area. Even if I want to sigh, I don't make a sound. Years of self-restraint kicking in. Just don't stop.
Much to my displeasure, however, he does stop after a while because it must feel pretty uncomfortable with the edge of the table jabbing into your stomach, and says, "There, better?"
"Better." I confirm. He just laughs.
"Man, Itachi's real good if he can get our Gaara-chan sore!" I twitch. Gaara-chan? Don't treat me like a teddy bear! Instead of voicing this thought aloud, however, I cough. For some reason, every time I hang around one of my three friends, my cold exterior seems to unwind, no matter how desperately I try to catch it within my fingers. Wishing that the waitress hadn't taken the menu away because I swear my face was probably the color of my hair, I instead try to pull a mask of iciness onto my expression as I look at him.
"How so?"
"Well," The blonde drawls out as he leans back and crosses his arms, "I don't know, you always have that air of 'I'm antisocial don't you dare touch me' and all that, you know? Worse then even Neji, sometimes, it's like you're always unwilling to speak. In the end, even when we do get you to talk, you talk as little as possible and don't give us specifics. Plus, you almost never show any normal reactions, like stress, sadness, true happiness…" He leans over again, face totally believing everything he is saying, "And it's like, Gaara, open up! And anyways, you always look really handsome when you smile, too."
Widening my eyes, I try to somehow brush off the last comment in a normal way without acting too flustered, "What, so I'm a total beast when I'm not?" Naruto just ruffles his hair, like he wanted to ruffle mine but was too scared of getting his hand bitten off, and chuckles.
"No, I never said that. Pretty suave as you are. But," He waggles his eyebrows, "not as suave as me."
"You're so conceited." I tease lightly, playing along. It wasn't often I teased people, but it wasn't often people called me suave, either. Before I get another word in, however, that blasted waitress comes charging in, arm full of a humongous out-of-proportion bowl of udon, ranting off something about how the cook had been up to his elbows in orders and she was so sorry that she was late, that the sushi orders were going to come out later and if I wanted we can even have a free pie when we leave (which Naruto was like "Yah! Lemon Meringue!") and that she really needed to get back to the kitchen or else the boss will kill her, bye!
"C'mon, Gaara, Lemon Meringue?" Naruto's widened his eyes so his crystalline blue irises shone with a newfound teary manner, "I haven't eaten it for soooooooo long! Actually, the last time I ate it was when Itachi made it for Sasuke's birthday party three years ago and he won't make it again because he says it's easier to make apple pies. Please?"
I feel the urge to give in pulling me down, but despite him being my crush I didn't bend down that easy. "No, Naruto."
"Why not?"
"I don't like marshmallows."
"Along with hot tamales, shrimp, ramen, air heads, candy in general, salami and Pepsi!" Naruto whines, sighing as he takes the store-wrapped chopsticks and very messily breaks them in two, "Man, just one pie won't kill you!"
I don't even bother to tell him the real reason I hated Lemon Meringue pie was because Temari had made some for me when I was around five, claiming that it was good. I had taken a bite out of it without realizing the yellow tint on the marshmallow was because Kankuro had peed on it before Temari had taken it into the kitchen. I also then remember taking a hold of that idiot brother of mine's throat and repeatedly banging his head against the kitchen wall until Mother told me to stop. Regardless of whose fault it was, in the end the result was the same: I never touched any pie that was yellow ever again in my life.
"Gaara, why aren't you eating? If you don't eat fast, I'll eat it all!" He cackles in an attempted evil manner, though he just manages to sound like he's gagging. I look down and realize that we were going to have to share a bowl. After Temari's gushing voice that murmured in my ear about indirect kisses was abruptly shoved off a cliff, I pick up my own chopsticks, jab it into an innocent lettuce-piece floating by and take a vicious bite out of it. I'm pissed and pleased at the same time; I just hope my face doesn't look too odd…
I bathe in the pleasant atmosphere created with Naruto chatting away about normal things like how he had just managed to pull an 'A-' in art because he'd finally let go of his pride and begged Neji to help him on his hands and knees and how Sasuke had been avoiding him lately because Itachi has been going on 'Drunken Rages' ever since Kisame had left for a week-long business trip (explained why Sasuke had locked his brother out the house and why he was currently camping out at mine) and how he just didn't have time to deal with the blonde, which made him pretty mad. I just nod and say "Uh huh," and "Oh, really?" at the right times while he talks and he's apparently satisfied with my almost-silence.
I watch as the udon in the bowl shrinks from overflowing, just below to rim, halfway, and, finally, to just-soup. Once or twice we accidentally grabbed the same noodle, but then I just let go of my end since I wasn't particularly romantic and wasn't about to kiss Naruto at the end of the strand like those dogs in 'The Lady and the Tramp'. Or something.
Finally, after Naruto's conversation sort of trickles off, the bowl is empty, the sushi platters are cleaned off (they came after the bowl was almost finished) and it's obvious he's pretty full because of the content smile that has crept onto his face, he looks at me expectantly. "Gaara…"
"Hn?"
"I just wanted to know…" He leans over a little and for some reason his breath smells a little like peppermint. Do not ask me why. Especially after eating Udon. I hold my breath for a second as I waited for what he wanted to know. If I felt for him that way? What did I think of Sasuke? Did I really have a crush on Neji? "…why do you wear eyeliner?"
My first reaction is to deadpan and my second reaction is to pick myself up. My hopes, though futile in the first place, are gently crushed and I can feel Naruto-Gaara beating himself over the head inwardly, though my exterior reveals null of my thoughts. "Let's," I answer curtly, "just say I got into Temari's makeup bag one day when I was little."
"Ah." He answers, and I feel almost immediately guilty because my reason was an almost complete lie. True, I did get into Temari's makeup bag once, but that wasn't the real reason I wore eyeliner. It was because I was suffering from eye bags due to lack of sleep and needed a way to make myself not looking like a walking zombie. It just so happened that one day I had been clearing up the living room and encountered one of Temari's fashion magazines with tips on 'applying your eyeliner and make the boys swoon!' Apart from the 'boys swoon' part, they basically had everything I needed to become an eyeliner-addicted freak. I wasn't about to tell the clueless blonde that I actually had eye bags. No way.
"Question to you too." I say in my quiet, sort of gravely voice, "So what did happen at the Harvest Festival?"
Naruto groans. "Gaara! Why are you bringing that up now?"
I am curt. "Last time you waved it off."
He scrunches up his nose in this cute, little rabbit-like way that makes me want to sneeze (because seeing his noise wrinkle up makes me think of my nose, which then, obviously, makes me want to sneeze), "Ok, so you want to know? Well, I asked Hinata out for the dance at the risk of Neji cutting my throat," I remember that, Neji was raving mad for about two weeks and practically bit anyone that tried to talk to him, "and she had said yes. We went together, everything was fine, blah, blah, blah, and then Hinata got sucked into a conversation with Tenten and Sakura and I was so frickin' bored. Plus," He eyes me, "you weren't there either." I don't even bother to inform him that I was there, just that I had been the unwilling wallflower that stuck to the shadows and became basically invisible compared to the crazy strippers out there on the dance floor. "Anyways, I was bored and then Sasuke came up to me and was all like 'Hey Naruto, let's go outside!' and so we did, snuck out there under the moon and…" He scratches the back of his head uncomfortably, "well, he tried to make a move and I… turned him away?" The last part sounds uncertain.
I don't feel like kicking him under the table to let him know I know he was lying. Well, I lied too, so I guess it was lie for a lie, huh? After grudgingly letting Naruto get a Lemon Meringue pie on the basis that he would eat it all and not force some down my throat, I sigh as I realize the date was over. Taking out my wallet, I carefully tug out a twenty dollar bill and then a ten dollar one. There is a shrill shrieking noise, and I look around irritably before realizing it was emerging from Naruto's parted lips. "Gaara!" he squealed, high-pitched, "Don't forget to, don't forget to, don't forget the tiiiiiiiiiiiiip!"
I throw my water bottle at him (even though the special came with drinks I still carried around my handy-dandy water bottle) and shout, as he runs out the door, me chasing after him, "Shut up!"
"Ha!" Naruto giggles as he attempts to hide behind my motorbike, "Gaara is so cute when he yells!"
I don't pay any attention. I don't make a sound as I straddle my motorbike with an unusual calmness that had somehow managed to wash over me as a chorus of "Let me drive! Let me drive!" echoes from somewhere behind me (Naruto, of course). I start the thing, and, with a rumble, drive off into the night.
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Author's Notes: I HAVE UPDATED! (hallelujah!) Bunches of other nonsensical things, however. For those who don't remember, Gaara first asks about the Harvest Festival in Chapter Two, when the two were passing around notes. Yes, a long stretch, but that's how I work sometimes... Another date! Should they follow the three dates rule or should they have some more? Anyways, R/R and I'll be real grateful! I'm already at the mercy of those loyal readers of mine who are kind enough to leave reviews (bows down to reviewers) Thank you! You give me the support I need to continue on with the story! XD More things happening next chapter, promise! Another session with Iruka... heh...