A/N: =_= OK, if I ever give myself a deadline again, hit me or something. Why is it when you tell yourself you have to do something, even if you like doing it, it suddenly seems a drag XD o yeah and even though I cut chapter in half this chapter still turned out reeeeeeally long o_o;; hope you guys like long chapters . I just had to much fun XD.

Oh yeah, and thank you for all the reviews, favouriting and story alerts!!! It makes me feel so proud =^-^=

Naruto and Gaara waited outside Iruka's classroom as Iruka spoke to the class. It was meant to be a warning to the class that they weren't supposed to hear but they could hear every word.

"Alright class, we have two new students in our class now. They've had a rough time up until now so I hope you'll be welcoming to them."

There was a lot of muttering in the room but it was clear that they were finding it interesting and that they would be nice, so Iruka continued.

"Kiba, for now they have the same timetable as you because you seem to get on with everyone. Do you mind showing them around?"

There was a laugh from the middle of the room. "Sure, sir. Whatever."

"Good, I'll bring them in then." There were footsteps towards the door, before it opened in front of them. Iruka smiled down at them. Naruto looked nervous and Gaara looking the same as always. "Come on, it's nothing to worry about."

Naruto walked in first with Gaara trailing behind and stood in front of the class. The class started muttering again and staring.

"Come on you guys, you're being mean." Iruka said as he closed the door, causing the class to become silent. "Go on, introduce yourselves." He smiled at the two understandingly.

Naruto put his trademark grin on. "I'm Naruto. It's good to meet you."

The boys in the class laughed as the girls giggled and whispered about how cute he was.

Naruto turned to see Gaara still standing behind him staring off into space. "Oi, Come here and introduce yourself." He pulled Gaara forward, bringing more laughter out of the class.

Gaara glared forward. "I'm Gaara."

The class went silent, the laughter dying in their throats. It was hard to keep laughing with Gaara glaring at them, most wondered if he was going to be a hard one to handle.

Iruka sensing the mood change, laughed. "Right, there we are then. If Naruto you could sit there at the front and Gaara behind him." He pointed out the seats and they took their places. "Kiba, can you introduce yourself?"

A guy in the second row a few seats away from Gaara raised his hand. "Yo."

Iruka sighed. "Is that it?" When he didn't get an answer he carried on. "Fine, Naruto, Gaara if you need any help with getting to your lessons Kiba will be able to help you. Luckily enough your first lesson is with me so you won't have to go anywhere." He went to his desk and grabbed the register off of his desk. After adding Gaara and Naruto's names to the bottom, he started calling out the names.

Naruto stared at each person as their names were read out trying to remember them all so that he could get to know the people properly later on. He was so excited, having this many people here to him meant making a lot more friends. He grinned to himself.

A bell rang causing Gaara and Naruto to jump and spin around, wondering what was going on. The rest of the class stared at them and they both realised it was normal and settled down, pretending nothing had happened.

Naruto heard a tut behind him and turned to see a raven haired boy in the back row glaring at him. Naruto tilted his head not understanding how the boy was acting. The boy, seeing Naruto had noticed, quickly looked away.

"Don't you think the blond ones cute?" Gaara looked to the side to see two whispering girls staring at Naruto, one blonde and one with dyed pink hair. He glared at the two of them, feeling suddenly protective of Naruto. He was worried that with all these people here, that Naruto might not want him as a friend anymore. He frowned, when had his attitude changed? Before he hadn't even cared if Naruto liked him. He shook his head absently. Gaara jumped slightly, so lost in his thoughts, when some books were put on his table.

Naruto whispered to Gaara. "We have to pass these back, but keep one for yourself." He then turned back to the front, eyes fixed on Iruka, not wanting to get into trouble on his first day for not paying attention.

Iruka, standing in front of the class, also had a book in his hand. "Alright guys, let's get cracking then. We've got a few more poems to get through before the end of the-"He was interrupted by groans from the class, to which he raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "What are you moaning about? You normally get into the poems and start debating about them. I thought you liked this unit."

The blonde girl that Gaara had seen whispering spoke up. "Well, we probably would but none of us know the right answer to what the poems are about and it's really frustrating."

Iruka frowned. "But Ino, that's the point of poems, so that each individual can look at the poem and see how they interpret it. Anyway the more original you are with your answers, the more marks you'll get." Kiba's hand shot up. "Kiba, if you're going to say 'if that's so why didn't I get a good grade in the last test?' It would be because the points have to be relevant and not you trying to make everything related to dogs." The class laughed as Kiba's hand fell down and he started to sulk.

Naruto laughed along with them, liking the atmosphere of the class. It felt so good to be around people and be truly happy and the happiness not to be because of some prank he had pulled earlier. He once again looked around at Gaara to see if he was smiling but found him with the same expressionless look on his face. Naruto turned back quickly, feeling a twinge of sadness. He hoped Gaara would get happier like he was here. He looked back to see Iruka arguing more with various members of the class.

"That's not the point, Shikamaru." Iruka pushed his hair back wondering how he was going to get the class to do their work. "The point is that you have to know this stuff for the exam otherwise you'll fail it. And another thing—oh great." While he was talking he'd decided to lean back against his desk, causing a pile of papers on it to fall off.

The people in the front row started to help pick up the papers while the others in the class laughed. Naruto grabbed a piece that had fluttered underneath his table. He read it as the others in the class started to talk to Iruka.

The pink haired girl spoke up, still giggling. "What is all that paperwork anyway, sir?"

Iruka coughed, his face going pink. "That's none of your concern, Sakura." He went about collecting the pieces from the people who had helped pick them up. "Thanks."

Kiba swiped one of the pages from the guy in front of him before Iruka could take them. He was able to read some of it before it was taken from him by Iruka who was steadily going redder. "Hey! These are poems. Is that it?" Kiba frowned for a second, wondering what the big deal was before it clicked. "Sir, did you write these?"

Iruka coughed again, before turning around as if he hadn't heard Kiba. He went back to the front of the class, still not noticing that Naruto still had one of the pages.

Ino giggled. "Come on sir! You can't do this to us now! We want to hear one!" This was mimicked by others in the class, causing Iruka to sigh.

"Do I have to?" Iruka grumbled, realising he had no choice now. He flicked through the papers, still muttering. "They aren't any good anyway." He frowned slightly. "Which one to show you guys...?"

Naruto looked up at Iruka and raised the page he held up. "This one."

Iruka stared for a second, blinking. "Ehh? Since when—" He shook his head and took the sheet from Naruto and smiled slightly. "Ahh, this is one of my favourites anyway." He looked up at the class. "But just in case, do I really have to do this?" When all he got was a few nods and the silently expectant faces he sighed and started to read.

"If I were to close my eyes for the last time,

Would you be there to hold my hand?

And guide me into the night?

For if you could show me this final act of kindness

I would gladly walk into the dark,

And wait for you wherever I end up."

Iruka looked up at the silent class and smiled nervously. "Come on guys, don't leave me hanging here. You could at least tell me what you think."

Ino flopped forward onto her desk. "Sir, why the hell did you write such a sad poem?" She frowned up at him. "You're not depressed, are you? We're not that bad a class, are we?"

Iruka pouted. "Ino, it's nothing like that! It's not even meant to be that sad." He looked down at the poem frowning, wondering where the message he'd been trying to convey went. A hand near the back of the class rose shakily, catching Iruka's eye. He smiled. "Hinata? What do you think?"

The girl's hand slipped back down and she started to twiddle her thumbs. She blushed slightly as everyone turned to her expectantly. "I-I-I think it's romantic." She hid her face, worried about their reactions.

Iruka beamed. "Exactly! That's what I was trying to get across. It's not about death; it's about how love can overcome anything." He blushed as he said it realising how cheesy that sounded. He laughed slightly, embarrassed. He looked over at the two new students, wondering how they were getting on. Naruto just sat there grinning, liking the interactions between the people in the class. His eyes paused on Gaara, who was staring out the window, looking indifferent. Iruka's smile slipped slightly before he forcibly replaced it. "Gaara, what do you think?"

The class went quiet as Gaara shifted his gaze to Iruka. "What do I think?" He pulled himself up slightly and crossed his arms.

Iruka tried to keep smiling, finding it hard to keep eye contact with Gaara. "What do you think about the poem? What catches your eye in it?"

Gaara seemed like he wasn't going to answer, but was actually thinking the poem through. "You talk about death but you never actually say it."

Iruka, relieved that Gaara was participating tried to keep it up. "And? What do you think that suggests?"

Gaara stared some more at Iruka, as if measuring him up. "You're scared of death."

Most of the pupils in the class laughed. "Aren't most people?" Sakura managed to say through the giggles, staring slightly worriedly at Gaara.

Naruto looked disbelievingly at Gaara, Gaara's eyes only flickering to him for a moment. "What's scary about death?" Gaara slumped back down into his chair and faced forward. "Death is only weakness. If you die, you deserve to."

The class turned silent, the ones sitting nearest to Gaara shuffled their chairs back slightly. Kiba laughed trying to destroy the heavy atmosphere. "Well, that's a different point of view, probably better than worrying about death." He grinned around and turned to Naruto. "What about you then? You two are friends, right? What do you think about death?"

Naruto tilted his head to one side, frowning. "Isn't death a release?" He pondered for a second longer, on how to say it. "Like, it's not a punishment but...uhh..." He tried to think of the word he was looking for and smiled when he thought of it. "It's peaceful."

The rest of the class stayed silent but it was not as heavy an atmosphere as before, sympathy was felt for both boys as the class realised that Gaara had hidden himself in a shell because of what had happened to them whereas Naruto was striving to go forward. The question in all the pupils' heads though was 'what had happened to them to make them think like this?'

Iruka coughed wondering what to do and how the class had turned out this way. He smiled slightly as he watched the members of the class eased back their seats to their normal positions, even if Gaara only took a small glance and had that indifferent look on his face. He was saved from having to talk as the bell rang for the next lesson; he sighed quietly to himself in relief and then laughed at the class. "Looks like you lot got out of doing the proper lesson I had planned for today." He fake glared at the class as they laughed happily, some of the boy's high fiving. "Alright, alright you lot. Kiba, I expect you to help Naruto and Gaara settle in, OK?"

Kiba nodded slightly to Iruka and slung his bag over his shoulder. He walked over to the two boys, a smile plastered to his face. "Hey, so you two have the same timetable as me, right? You want me to show you around?"

Naruto grinned and nodded. "Yeah, please."

Gaara just grabbed his stuff and followed Naruto as they walked out of the classroom. He glared slightly at Kiba's back as he and Naruto started talking as they walked. They entered a classroom down the corridor and sat down in the back row.

The room started to fill up, the students sitting wherever they wanted as if they didn't care what the teacher thought. When the room was full the teacher stood up from his desk and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Good morning class. I see we have some new students in the class. It's Gaara and Naruto right?" When he received a nod he continued. "I'm Ebisu, your maths teacher. Today you may get left behind" He sounded patronising as he spoke. "Though then again, not many of you will get the answer until I explain it because we're going to do some much harder questions today." He pushed his glasses up again, looking smug. "I designed these questions to trip you up." He looked around for a reaction that never came, obviously the class was used to the way he acted and chose to ignore him now. He started to write up the first question on the board.

Gaara watched him write, calculating the answer as he went along, out of the corner he could see Naruto doing the same.

Ebisu turned back to class as he finished. "Who wants to have a go at the answer, then?" When he received no answer, he looked to the back of the class. "How about one of you two? Would you like to have a go?"

Kiba growled slightly. "Come on sir, that's harsh! You just said they probably won't be able to do it!"

Ebisu looked at him. "I'm just giving them a chance, Inuzuka." He turned his gaze over the two boys. "How about you, Naruto?"

Gaara made the last calculation in his head and opened his mouth to say he'd do it but Naruto cut him off. "Yeah, I'll do it." Gaara looked at Naruto worried, knowing that Naruto always failed on all the intelligence tests they took.

"The answer's 5.65." Naruto sat back in his chair grinning widely. He saw the incredulous look on Ebisu's face and misinterpreted, the smile falling. "Did I get it wrong?"

Ebisu stuttered, unable to believe he had said the correct answer. "N-n-no, that is correct." He turned back to the board rubbing the question out rather more forcibly than needed.

Gaara turned to look at Naruto disbelievingly; Naruto caught him out of the corner of his eye and grinned. "What? You think I failed those tests before because I was thick? No, it was just more pranks." Gaara was about to reply when he realised Kiba was trying to subtly listen in and stopped himself. He frowned, wondering why Naruto got so bored in the laboratory. He hadn't seen it as boring or horrible, more just a way of life. It made him worry slightly and remember what the pupils had said earlier about death. Was he really that different in his way of thinking than everyone else? Even different from Naruto, it now seemed. He shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts and turned his attention back to the class.

"Right then, try this one." Ebisu turned back to the class, a new question on the board. He this time asked Gaara, who also got it right first time. This continued for another 20 minutes with the class ogling at how fast the two were answering. Ebisu sat there stunned. "That's all the work I had planned for this lesson. I didn't even think we'd get through the first five." He looked at the clock. "Fine, you can go early just this once, as all the work is done." He sniffed and started to pack his stuff up.

The class brightened and most stuffed everything in their bags and left as fast as they could. Kiba started to laugh. "I'm glad I've got you two in my maths class now! It was a pain before." He gave Naruto a playful slap on the back, Gaara glared at him.

As they were about to walk out of the door, Ebisu passed and looked at them, frowning. "If you don't mind, next time how about letting others in the class have a go." He stormed off before they could answer.

Gaara looked slightly perplexed at Ebisu's retreating back. "Didn't he ask us to answer?" He looked over at Naruto who was starting to panic that he'd done something wrong on his first day here.

Kiba grinned at them and gave Gaara, this time, a light slap, receiving a glare for touching him and quickly removed his hand. "Don't worry; he's just annoyed that you beat him. He hates to lose, the stuck up prick. He thinks he's perfect." He grinned at his watch. "And thanks to you guys, we now have half an hour longer than we should have for break, so how about I show you around some more?"

Naruto relaxed at Kiba's words and nodded, while Gaara just stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. They started to tour around the school, Kiba pointing various things out as they went that he found interesting and skipping anything he found boring. He led them down a corridor without talking about anything in it, but Gaara paused outside a set of double doors. "What's in here, then?"

Kiba turned and made a face when he saw what Gaara was looking at. "Oh, that's just the library. Nothing special." He was about to carry on when he saw Gaara open the doors and walk in. "Oh, come on! It's boring in there." He whined, as Naruto followed Gaara in. Kiba sighed and walked forward dragging his feet. He saw that Gaara and Naruto were just standing in the entrance, looking. "OK, we've seen it. Now can we go?"

Naruto looked over at Kiba, shocked. "They make you read all these books?" They had been made to read some in the laboratory, cover to cover, memorised. It had been a hard task and most of them had at least got it wrong at some point. To see all these books was a complete worry to the two boys.

Kiba frowned, confused. "Make us? Not really...sometimes they'll say it's a good idea to but none of us really listen." He pointed back outside. "Can we go now? I don't like it in here, it's too quiet." He looked over at the desk, worried he was going to get told off just for talking normally.

They snuck back out quietly and continued their search of the school, getting to know the layout quickly. They passed room after room until Kiba stopped outside another large pair of double doors. "And this is the best place in the school! The cafeteria! This is where we all hang out at lunchtimes." He frowned. "Actually, I haven't introduced you to everyone else in the gang...I'll have to do that at lunch." He looked at his watch. "We don't have long left before the start of the next class." He frowned. "Have I shown you everything of importance...?" It clicked suddenly in his head what he had forgotten. "Oh yeah, I forgot the toilets." He pointed to doors either side of the cafeteria's entrance. "Those are the boys and girls loos. There are some more at the other side of the school but I'll show you them when we're near them next."

"Oh, I'm gonna go before class starts then." Naruto grinned as he walked towards one of the sets of doors. But was stopped as Kiba grabbed him, a perplexed look on his face. Naruto frowned. "What?"

Gaara glared at Kiba's hand as if he could burn it. Seeing that Naruto was uncomfortable, he flicked Kiba's hand off of him.

Kiba stared from one of them to the other. "Sorry, but you were about to walk into the girls toilets." He pointed at the sign above the door.

Gaara frowned. "You have different toilets?" As there had been only nine children at any one time at the laboratory, there had only been one toilet installed for all of them.

Kiba pulled a disgusted face. "Where you came from, they didn't? That's just wrong!" He shivered and grabbed hold of Naruto's arm, dragging him over to the other door. "This ones the one you go in otherwise you might get hit by any girls that are in their toilets."

After Naruto was done, the bell once again went making the three of them rush off to their next lesson.

Kiba flicked through his timetable, having a bad memory. "OK, now we have...science. Oh, it's the lab lesson!" He grinned. Naruto stood still, frozen, his face draining of colour. Gaara grabbed his shoulder in a reassuring way and was about to say that it couldn't be anything like what they'd been in before, when Kiba carried on talking. "That means it's the practical lesson, where we get to make things...or break things, for me normally, anyway." Gaara felt Naruto relax under his hand and smiled softly at the action. He shook his head slightly, wondering how Naruto had that effect on him.

They got to the classroom and copying Kiba, put on a lab coat and special glasses. They went inside and sat down. Tsunade walked in carrying a lot of paperwork. She looked around the class and saw the two boys looking at her strangely. "What? You didn't think I stayed in that stuffy office all day did you? The paperwork in there is too boring." She threw the papers on the desk and grabbed a board pen, scribbling a load of instructions on the board.

Kiba grinned. "So you already met the head then? She's cool, she may seem a bit bossy at first but she used to be in charge of a hospital so she had to be able to order people around because lives were at risk." He frowned. "I don't know what happened, but she just suddenly quit. She had the qualifications to be a teacher so she came here and then progressed through until she became the head." He shrugged. "Or that's what I heard from a friend who left a few years ago."

"Alright you brats, settle down!" Tsunade looked up from her desk, where she'd sat down after finishing the instructions. "You know what to do, so get on with it. Gaara, Naruto, will you come here? I want to know how far you are in your science studies."

Naruto and Gaara walked to the desk and sat down in front of it. Tsunade proceeded to question them about what they had learned and quickly found out their strengths and weaknesses. She discovered that for Biology they knew a lot about the human body, mostly how easily it is to kill someone, a point which she ignored, but also that they knew almost nothing about plant life, other than poisonous plants, which she again chose to ignore. She found they had a good understanding of Chemistry but were easily confused by Physics, reminding her of the photocopier incident because of this she realised how much of a struggle this was going to be for the two boys.

The two boys left the class with a stack of papers she'd had printed off and the textbook for the year, asking them to have a look through when they could and to pay close attention to the Physics parts as they would help them understand other things outside the classroom as well.

Kiba winced in sympathy as they all slipped out of the coats and glasses. "Ouch, that's a lot of work."

Naruto smiled up at him. "Yeah, but she said look at it when we had chance, not we had to do it straight away. I like her, she's nice." He wondered if it was fine to make friends out of grown-ups as well. His smile grew wider as he realised if he could that meant Kakashi, Iruka and Tsunade were already on his list.

Gaara and Naruto headed out of changing rooms, having been given spare clothing for their next lesson. Kiba pulled them both out into the playground of the school. "Come on, you guys!" He grinned and dragged them along until they reached a group of boys standing around the basketball courts.

Gaara pulled his arm away when he had a chance, glaring at Kiba for touching him. Naruto grinned at the class around him, recognising a few faces from his other classes.

Kiba waved at a few of the boys, who walked over to them. One walked up to them and then flopped on the ground beside them. "P.E's troublesome...why do we have to do it again?"

Kiba grinned at him. "Because your too lazy and wouldn't do any physical activities if they didn't make you." He looked over at Naruto and Gaara. "Oh, yeah I haven't introduced you guys..." He looked back at the group that had assembled and pointed them out one by one. "The lazy one's Shikamaru, but we just called him Shika...that's Chouji, eating as always. How come you're never caught?" He shook his head and continued. "And this is Shino." He pointed at a boy with sunglasses and coat on over the top of the P.E uniform. "Yeah, he doesn't talk much but he's fun to be around."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "Kiba you have told them about this class right? You're not going to just send them in without warning are you?" He watched Kiba pale as he realised he'd forgotten. Shino sighed. "Idiot."

Gaara crossed his arms glaring at Kiba, while Naruto just looked at him worriedly. "What does he mean Ki-" He stopped unable to continue as someone picked him up from behind.

"Wow! I got told I had new students in my class! But look at you! You already have so many friends! I'm proud of you!!!" A large man dressed completely in green had Naruto in a hug tight enough to suffocate him. "I know! Let's all run laps in celebration of our new students." The other pupils looked at him as if he was stupid, except one in the back, who jumped up. "Yes Gai! Sir!!!" Another boy with long hair, that was sat next to him sighed and grabbed him pulling him back down. "Shut up Lee, you're annoying everyone."

Gaara realising Naruto's imminent danger of being suffocated grabbed hold of the teachers arms and pulled them open, eyes widening slightly as he found it difficult. Naruto fell to the ground coughing, Kiba and Shikamaru grabbing hold of his arms, pulled him out of harm's way. Gaara stood firm in front of the teacher to make sure it didn't happen again.

The teacher looked at him confused, before giving a brilliant, if not creepy grin. "Ahh, you are the other new student! Come here!" He opened his arms wide and took a step towards Gaara.

"Touch me and I'll break you." A glare from Gaara confirmed that he wasn't joking. The class went silent, unable to see his face, some started to giggle at a threat which to them seemed unrealistic.

The teacher kept smiling, unperturbed by the glare. "OK, I see. You are not the kind to like contact." He laughed loudly. "I'm Gai Maito, your P.E teacher. You can call me Gai." He winked at them, hand raised with thumb up. "How about we get on with the lesson then?" He grabbed a bag of balls which had been lying against the wire fence that surrounded the court and a box of coloured vests that had been next to it. "You know the drill. Two teams, then choose your colour, first to 10 wins." The students scrambled forward, some grabbing the same colour for their friends.

Kiba came back towards Gaara and Naruto who had stood back nonplussed as the students had dived forwards. Kiba grinned and threw a red vest to each of them. "Here, you'll need one of these. It's basketball time!" He threw one arm up in the air in happiness while Shikamaru groaned beside him, already sporting a red vest.

Naruto tilted his head to one side. "Basketball?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah, you know throwing a ball into one of those hoops? We're aiming for the blue one by the way." He pointed at the hoops at either end of the court and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "This takes up way to much energy." He moaned.

"Alright everyone let's get on with it!!!" Gai grinned manically and took his place in the middle of the court with the basketball in hand. The students fell into their places, Kiba pulling Gaara and Naruto to make sure they stayed on the right side of the court before taking his place in the centre. Naruto noticed the guy opposite him was the black haired boy from their first class that had glared at him. Gai raised the ball above his head. "Alright, 3...2...1!" He threw the ball into the air, Kiba and the other boy jumped after it.

Kiba barely caught the ball before him. Wanting to make sure his new friends had a part in the game he spun to see them. "Naruto, heads up!" He made a quick pass to him.

Naruto jumped, snatching the ball out of the air. He stared at the blue hoop at the other end of the court and remembered what Shikamaru said. He quickly gauged the distance and threw the ball from where he was standing.

Kiba watched dismayed. "Naruto, you'll never make a shot from th-" He stopped as he watched the ball fly cleanly into the hoop. "Holy shit Naruto! I never thought you'd be able to do that!"

Naruto turned to Gaara worried. "Should I have done that?" He whispered.

Gaara shrugged at him as Kiba bounded over, grabbing Naruto round the neck. "You should have told us you were this good at playing basketball!"

Naruto laughed nervously. "I didn't know I was." He pulled himself out of Kiba's grasp. "Shouldn't we still be playing?"

Kiba pulled himself away, pouting slightly. "Fine, but maybe next time you should get closer to the hoop. It won't show how much we suck as much then." He laughed and clapped Naruto on the back.

Naruto shook him off laughing and watched him walk away. As he watched, his eyes strayed back over to the dark haired guy and found he was once again being glared at. He growled slightly, the guy starting to annoy him.

"Sir, can we get on with the game now?" The long-haired boy who was also on the other team, was trying to get the teachers attention away from the conversation he was having with the hyperactive Lee, who seemed ecstatic at how good the game was already. Gai finally realised and started laughing again. "Get back on the court Lee, you're sides losing at the moment." Lee gasped, dashing back to his place on the court. "OK, blue team starts now. Get going." The game resumed.

Naruto and Gaara watched for a second from their positions. Naruto turned to Gaara. "Your turn now?" He got a swift nod in return and a slight smile. It seemed Gaara was actually getting into the game.

Gaara slid into a slight stance. He looked at Kiba amidst the fray, grabbing his attention, to show that if Kiba got hold of the ball he was ready to go.

Kiba grinned, happy to see Gaara taking an active part in the game. He turned back to the fray and saw Shikamaru with the ball. "Oi, Shika! Over here!" Shikamaru passed the ball quickly. Kiba turned passing the ball to Gaara as he went. Kiba watched Gaara run forward to catch the ball. He blinked, and heard a cheer from his team, the ball thudding down to the concrete through the blue hoop. "What the-?" He growled, pretending to be annoyed and shouted. "Oi! I thought I told you guys not to throw from so far back..." He pausing, seeing Naruto but not Gaara. "Huh? Where is he?"

"I didn't throw from so far back." Gaara called to Kiba from the blue end of the court, the ball nestled in his arms. He walked over to the centre, where Kiba was and flicked the ball up in the air for him to catch. "Did I do something wrong?"

Kiba shook his head, stunned.

Gaara frowned at him and stuffing his hands into his pockets carried on walking until he got to Naruto. "I think we're doing something wrong here." He got a nod in reply as Naruto watched the other students staring and muttering.

"Maybe we should watch them play for a bit."

The boys flopped against the fencing after the match, thoroughly puffed out except for Naruto and Gaara.

"5 minute break and then let's have another match!!!" Gai grinned at them before going off to talk to some other students.

Shikamaru groaned. "Can't we stop now? We actually won a match for once. That's a miracle for us."

Kiba hit him round the head. "No it's not! We're just as good as them." He pouted slightly before grinning again. "But I will say it is due to our new guys here." He gave Naruto a tap on the shoulder. "You guys are so good at basketball! Were you in the team at your school last time?"

Naruto looked at Gaara, laughing nervously. "Yeah, something like that." He was saved from more questioning as they heard a teacher in another court shouting.

"Come on, girls! It's not that hard." A female teacher with long dark hair was trying to get a class of girls to play netball but the girls were having none of it.

A familiar pink and blonde duo groaned and then started to argue, running over each others words so it was hard to distinguish who was actually talking.

"But miss, the boys are having a break. Can't we just-"

"How is it right that they get a break and we don't?"

The teacher held a hand up, sighing. "Alright, you can have 5 minutes. But you had all better start playing properly when we start again." The girls cheered and started to chat amongst themselves.

Kiba waved at some of the girls trying to get their attention and call them over but all he got was weird looks and a couple of girls whispering to each other and laughing. He growled, frustrated. "Damn! Why don't girls like me?" He pouted, crossing his arms. A shadow crossed over him making him look up.

"It's not just you." The boy with long hair was standing in front of him, looking over at the girls. "You know there's only one guy in this class with a girlfriend and that's..." He looked over his shoulder exasperated at the teacher and his student clone. "Him." He shivered as Lee saw him looking and waved excitedly, trying to call him over, which he ignored. He laughed quietly as Kiba started moaning about the fairness of it all. He slid down the fencing beside the group and turned to Naruto and Gaara. "Hey, I'm Neji by the way. I didn't hear your names earlier."

Naruto grinned. "I'm Naruto and this is Gaara." Gaara nodded in response. Naruto looked over at the hyper student as he ran over.

"Ahh, Neji! I see you are making new friends!" The boy seemed to have as much strange energy as the teacher did. "That was an excellent match by the way, you two are very skilled!!!"

The boys were introduced again, Gaara getting sick of people asking his name. When Lee had finally stopped babbling, Naruto turned to Gaara. "What's a girlfriend?" To which he received a shrug. So instead he turned to Lee and asked him. "Lee, you have a girlfriend?"

Neji groaned as Lee's energy level seemed to rise further. Lee grabbed hold of Naruto and pulled him up. He pointed over at the girls. "Yes! My girlfriend is Sakura." He then started to go on about how beautiful and charming she was and didn't even notice Naruto sit back down and edge away from him. Neji laughed, watching the events unfold but couldn't help but think that Naruto looked a bit more confused than he should.

Kiba noticed Neji's look and poked him in the shoulder to get his attention. He pulled him in close and whispered in his ear. "I should have said before. Iruka brought them into our tutor class, he wouldn't tell us what but apparently they've had a rough time until now. So don't mind it if they act a bit strange." Kiba kept wondering about all the things that had happened over the day but chose not to ask them in case it was painful for them to talk about.

Neji laughed. "Strange? You forget I have to put up with him every day." He nodded towards Lee, not seeing how anyone could be stranger.

"What's a girlfriend?" Everyone went silent and turned to Naruto, looking at him completely baffled.

Kiba looked over at Neji with an I-told-you-so look, which Neji ignored. He looked over at Gaara who was pretending to be uninterested but he could see he was listening intently. He elbowed Lee as he started to talk, making sure that he didn't confuse them further. "It's a girl who you're going out with." When Naruto still looked confused he added. "Someone you love."

"Love?" Gaara turned to Neji, finding it hard to stay out of the conversation. He was sure he'd heard the word before, but couldn't remember where he'd heard it.

Neji sat back against the fence. How did you describe love? It was so normal for everyone to know what it means that when you try and describe it. He stared into the distance for a second before replying. "It's a feeling of...affection, I guess. Uhh..." He looked over at the other boys for help, who complied.

Lee shot his hand in the air. "It's the feeling that you have to protect them no matter what." He smiled and turned back to the girls, waving at Sakura, who smiled back and gave him a small wave.

Shikamaru sighed. "This is troublesome; who knew it could be so hard to explain..." He gave up at that point, flopping back with his hands behind his head.

"Hmm..." Kiba frowned, thinking hard. "I guess you'll know when you feel it. It's like your heart beats faster..." He blushed realising what he'd just said. He shook his head. "What the hell are we doing? We don't talk about things like this, that's for girls to do." He looked over at Naruto and Gaara, hoping they were done with their questions.

Naruto looked contemplative. "A feeling of attraction...?" He muttered to himself before turning to Gaara. His face fell as he saw the old look of complete indifference on his face. "Gaara...?"

Gaara didn't seem to hear him. "A feeling." He sighed to himself, knowing from just that, that it no longer applied to him. He frowned slightly, looking out into the distance. Where had he heard the word before then? He cast his mind back trying to remember. A face appeared in his mind's eye, familiar yet unrecognisable at the same time, it smiled at him, whispering. "I love you, Gaara." A feeling ran through him, like arms being wrapped around him. A sharp pain shot through his head, making him gasp and curl up slightly.

The other boys looked at him alarmed. Naruto grabbed his hand, worry etched on his face. "Gaara? You OK?" He squeezed his hand in comfort.

Gaara shook his head, the image already fading from his mind and the headache along with it. "Sorry, I'm fine." He stood up, letting go of Naruto's hand just as Gai came over to them, looking his usual happy self.

"Breaks over!!! Let's play again!" Gai grinned pulling Gaara towards him, being the closest person.

Gaara shook him off "Whatever." He didn't notice the worried look still on Naruto's face as they started to play again.

"Lunchtime!" A happy Kiba danced through the doors of the cafeteria. He grabbed a tray and ordered, positively bouncing around.

Shikamaru sighed, looking at Kiba disbelievingly. "How can you have so much energy after PE?" The group went to sit down, Naruto and Gaara followed, having grabbed the same as them.

"It's not hard!" Kiba laughed. "Maybe you should take part more, then you might not find it so tiring when you're made to work properly."

Sitting down in one of the seats, Naruto turned round, scrutinising the room. It reminded him of a room in the laboratory but bigger. He smiled as he looked around the tables at the students. The difference between the two being the amount of noise and chatter emanating from the occupants of the room. Naruto looked back down at the food in front of him giving it a slight prod, he turned to Gaara to ask what he thought but the question died in his throat as he watched Gaara start eating without hesitation. Naruto looked disbelievingly at Gaara until he looked up.

"What? It's good." Gaara licked his lips, giving Naruto a shock, and then carried on eating.

Naruto shook his head and tucked in. He grinned as he realised Gaara was telling the truth.

"Hey you guys! How's your first day going?" Sakura and Ino stood behind them, their trays put on the table next to theirs where Neji, Lee and another girl were sitting.

Naruto grinned up at them. "It's great!" He grabbed another mouthful of food, getting a bit around his mouth instead of in it. Gaara just nodded in agreement.

Ino laughed. "You're hopeless!" She grabbed a napkin and wiped the side of Naruto's face. Gaara looked sideways at this before continuing to eat, trying to ignore the way his hand shook to grab Ino's hand and push her away from Naruto. He stopped shaking as Ino and Sakura went back to sitting on their table.

While this was going on Kiba and Shikamaru had continued play fighting, but it was obvious that Shikamaru didn't have much of an argument or couldn't be bothered to think of one but Kiba was intent on keeping on pestering until Shikamaru actually admitted defeat, which wouldn't take long according to Kiba's widening grin.

Two seconds later Shikamaru threw down his fork, exasperated. "Alright, Kiba! Will you be quiet?" He growled, muttering slightly under his breath. "Bastard."

Kiba gave a mock offended look. "Bastard? Me? How could you say that?" He pouted.

"Bastard?" Naruto asked, head tilted slightly. Everything was so confusing to him today.

Kiba sighed, putting down the forkful he'd been about to eat. "You know, swear words? When you're really annoyed or angry you swear. 'fuck', 'shit' that kind of thing." He saw Naruto looking even more confused and look between Shikamaru and him. Kiba waved his hands back and forth in front of Naruto. "No it doesn't mean that Shika is annoyed with me, it's more meant in a jokey way because we're friends. You get me?"

Naruto nodded, understanding a little. He grabbed hold of his empty tray and pushed his chair out slightly. "What should I do with this?"

Kiba sighed relieved that Naruto understood and pointed over to a bin and table in the corner. "Just put it on there, mate."

Naruto took Gaara's tray as well as he finished and walked over, putting the trays down on top of the others already there. He walked back to the table, dodging through the people. As he got back to the table something knocked him from behind, making him stumble. Turning his head he saw the familiar black haired boy walk past him.

The boy smirked, looking Naruto in the eye, showing contempt. "Whoops, sorry." The voice dripped with sarcasm. "But it's your own fault for standing in the middle of the room, idiot." He turned his back on him and carried on walking.

Gaara stood up, anger flashing in his eyes but Naruto grabbed his shoulder pushing him back down. Naruto shook slightly, the only comment having really registered being 'idiot'. "Don't call me an idiot, bastard!" He shouted out at the boy angry.

The boy stopped and spun back round. "What did you just call me?" He took a step towards Naruto.

Gaara stood up again and stood in front of Naruto, this time not being stopped. He spread one arm forward, shielding Naruto from the other boy and gave the best glare he could.

Kiba stood up as well, laughing to try and dissipate the atmosphere but failed. He walked over to the boy before he could take another step, and pushed him back slightly. "Come on Sasuke, leave him alone on his first day." The boy tutted and walked away again. Kiba spun annoyed. "Naruto! Don't make enemies on your first day!"

Naruto sat back down pouting and crossing his arms. "You said to use those words if I was angry. He made me angry." Gaara sat next to him, still keeping an eye on Sasuke.

"Don't be mean to him, Kiba." Sakura cut in before Kiba could reply. "You know that Sasuke did that on purpose, the jerk."

Kiba sat back down. "Alright, I'm sorry." He laughed at Sakura. "And anyway, it's ironic you calling him a jerk, when you used to fancy him!"

A clatter of cutlery from Sakura's table made them all look over. Lee was tearfully staring at Sakura. "You used to fancy him?"

Sakura tutted and grabbed his hands, smiling softly. "That was ages ago honey, I'm going out with you, aren't I?" She knew the right words to calm down her over-excitable boyfriend and turned back to Kiba, still holding Lee's hand. "And anyway that was before he turned into a jerk."

A bell ringing stopped Kiba from replying. He grabbed hold of Shikamaru's wrist, getting a noise of protest, to look at his watch. "Shit! That's the time already?!?" He swallowed the last mouthful of food and rushed over to the bin, dropping the tray off. The rest of the group started to get up and get ready, groaning about how short lunch seemed. Kiba pulled Gaara and Naruto up. "Come on you two! It's time for the next class."

Kiba dragged the two boys into a room full of computers and led them over to a corner sitting them down.

Naruto looked at the computer interestedly and started to tap at the keyboard, while Gaara just stared at the screen, wondering what 'login' meant.

Kiba grabbed Naruto's hands and held down the delete button, deleting the jumble of numbers and letters Naruto had filled the username and password sections with. "Don't mess around with it, these computers are old and temperamental as it is. You'll get a username and password soon enough, then you can tap away as much as you want."

The teacher came in, clicking down a file on his desk and sitting down in a big swivel chair, logging himself on to the computer at the front. He grabbed a pen from the desk and started to chew the end as he waited for the computer to load. When it did, he grabbed a remote, clicking so that what was on his screen came up on the board behind him for the class to see. He took the pen out of his mouth. "Alright guys, you know what you're doing. Last lesson you were adding to those websites you were making. Don't..." He tapped the screen behind him before continuing. "...forget the rules about taking pictures from other websites." He got nods of understanding from everyone except the two in the back. Raising a hand, he motioned them over as the class started to get to work.

The boys walked over, between the other pupils already starting to log on to the school system. Naruto stopped to stare over a girls shoulder, fascinated before Gaara grabbed him and kept him walking forward.

"Alright, you two, I'm Genma Shiranui." The pen back in his mouth, the teacher's voice was muffled. "Just call me sir if it's easier but I'm used to these guys calling me by my first name. Little disrespectable things." The class laughed and Genma shock his head at them and signalled them to get back to work before turning back to the two of them. "So, where did you two get to in your IT studies before here?" When he got blank stares from the two of them he sighed. Taking the pen out of his mouth he asked a different question instead. "OK...How about this, have you two got any questions about any of this?" He nodded at Naruto as he raised his hand slightly.

Naruto pointed at the teacher's computer. "What is that?"

Gaara and Naruto walked towards Iruka's classroom. It had been a week since they had entered the school and they were settling in better than any of the adults who knew about them had hoped. Throughout the week the two of them had undergone proper tests to find out their levels of understanding in the different subjects and by using this, Tsunade had come with a timetable that suited them, making sure to keep them the same when she sure how much they stayed together. Both of them were allowed to stop going to Maths lessons as they took tests meant for much older students and still passed with flying colours and instead spent the time studying for the other classes that they didn't understand, which for the moment was IT.

Since the second day of their schooling, Iruka had given both of them a notebook and set them the task of writing down anything that confused them outside of lessons and then to come to him and ask him what they were, having noticed the looks some of the class kept giving them when they asked random questions. So far, this had helped a lot as they tried to understand the new setting they had found themselves in. He also got Kakashi to give them each a phone when he found out they only had one between them, on the grounds of them ever being split up and needing to contact both of them. A notion Naruto laughed at but Gaara was secretly relieved at the thought of being able to get hold of Naruto even if they were separated.

The two boys had also been moved into more permanent residence, having settled in so well at the school and as there was no knowing how long it would be for the police to find out information about them. They had been moved into a small flat which was already littered with clothes (old cast offs from Iruka and Kakashi) and bits of paper. Not really knowing what else to do with their time they had so far spent most of their evenings looking over the work the teachers had given them, learning and catching up with the rest of the pupils as fast as they could. The other nights they had been called out by Kiba and his friends, mostly aimed at Naruto as he seemed to be able to make friends wherever he went but they didn't mind Gaara tagging along. Gaara was slowly getting jealous of the people getting closer to Naruto, slowly taking his attention away from him. But he was mostly jealous of someone that he still didn't know whether Naruto even liked or not. Sasuke. Whenever he came near Naruto would get competitive and they would have petty arguments for no reason. He annoyed Gaara so much though because whenever he was there Naruto forgot everything else, making Gaara realise that Naruto really wanted this guy as a friend no matter what it took, just because he seemed to like amassing friends.

Gaara shook his head, dissipating the looming thoughts, he went to open on the door, but stopped as he heard voices in the room, his hand still on the door handle.

"Iruka." A familiar voice whined from inside, making Naruto and Gaara roll their eyes at each other. "Why are you being so mean?"

A sigh was heard. "I'm not being mean, you sitting on my desk is just highly inconvenient. Now move." A shuffling was heard as Kakashi dropped from the desk, sulking. "Now, what did you want, Kakashi?"

There was a creak as Kakashi sat on one of the student's desks. "Just wanted to see how the two were doing, that's all. And see you of cours-" His phone ringing stopped him, making him growl. He grabbed the phone from his pocket, checking who was ringing him. "Sorry, two seconds." He flicked the phone open and put it to his ear. "Jiraiya? What is it?" He listened for a minute. "Really? OK, I get it, great news." He clicked the phone down and sat in silence for a second.

"Well?" Iruka was slightly impatient. "You said 'great news', what happened?"

Kakashi smiled slightly, looking up at him. "We've found Gaara's family."