Heehee, I love how I ended that chapter! It's so funny! (grins) Anyways, I want to clear a few MORE things up here! Gaara may seem OOC, but that's because he's more egotistical than cold, and it's also a HUMOR fic! This is for COMEDY, not REALITY! Second, I KNOW that Aoki seems a lot like my Pokemon role-play character, Sevila, but, as you know, I know virtually nothing on the case of Naruto (except for little tidbits from fanfics and websites), so I didn't know what to do on the base of making a fan character. So, I resorted to one I know and love and tweaked her a bit! I shall soon tweak her so much that she can get her own profile!

And third, YES, Sakura is her roommate, and YES, they know Naruto! We're getting to that and other characters eventually!

Summary: That girl suddenly popped up into his life. And she piqued his curiosity, too; she held a secret, and he wanted to find out what it was.

Sharingan High

Aoki was lucky that Gaara decided she was heavy before they entered the park, for Sakura met them as soon as they stepped inside. Sakura eyed Gaara suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowed as if trying to remember where she had seen him before, until Aoki made a 'comment' about 'foreheads' and 'staring'. That caused Sakura to get angry. And an angry Sakura wasn't a nice Sakura. She had looks that could kill, too.

Gaara had been slightly impressed by the fact that Aoki only fell down five times during the first few minutes of her training. She did seem to be 'getting the hang of it' (another blonde's quotes; he's just full of them, isn't he?), though, and she felt she had progressed as she skipped out of the park an hour later happily, ignoring the countless injuries caused by the pink-haired girl's hard blows. I mean, damn! The girl's got a punch! Unfortunately, this was where his cell rang, and he excused himself temporarily so he could scowl at the phone before picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Gaara! What's up?"

'Dammit…' "What do you want, Kankuro?"

"Geez, don't be so cold to your own flesh and blood…anyways!" Gaara winced at the volume of his brother's voice. "I've heard that you were caught hugging some chick – is that true? Where are you, anyways?"

"That's none of your –"

"Ooh, isn't that so cute?" Gaara turned to look at Aoki and Sakura smiling at a kitten in the window of a pet store.

"Was that a girl I heard? Two? Wait, are you –"

"Gotta go," he grumbled and snapped the phone shut, seeing red. He glared at the device as Aoki and Sakura walked up next to him. Aoki tilted her head curiously at him and asked, "Who was it?"

"Wrong number."

"Oh…"

It was silent for a bit longer, with Aoki staring at him nervously and Gaara staring at the kittens in the window Aoki had just been cooing over, ignoring the glares the pink-haired girl sent him. (Aoki: I DO NOT COO!) (DL: Shut up, it's a story, dumbass!) Then…

Ring, ring!

Sighing in exasperation, he opened it again and asked strained, "What do you want?"

He had to put the phone at arm's length, however, as the yelling began. "Dammit, Gaara, don't you hang up on me! Are you hanging out with a girl?!"

"I said leave me alone, Kankuro!" He snapped it shut again, his eye starting to twitch dangerously. Aoki, oblivious to his frustration, asked, "Was that your brother?"

"Yes, it –"

Ring, ri –

With murder in his eyes, Gaara snatched the phone up to his ear and yelled, "Dammit, Kankuro, I said 'leave me alone'!"

"This isn't Kankuro, baka!"

Blink. "Oh…" Blink. Blink. "Hello, Temari."

Silence…

"What did you want?"

She had obviously been waiting for that. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that you have to bring your girlfriend over to the house, because you guys aren't doing anything unless I approve –"

"I don't have a damn girlfriend!" He nearly snapped the phone in half as he flipped it closed and quickly pocketed it, his eye returning to its twitching as his thoughts took a dark and murderous turn for the worst. Images of his brother and sister's corpses made him smirk evilly, earning him a strange look from passerby and the two girls beside him. The midnight-haired one was blinking in confusion and surprise, while her friend just narrowed her eyes at him and seemed to be trying to make holes appear on his head. Too bad it wasn't working.

"What was that about?" Aoki asked, unaware of Sakura's behavior as the iridescent black hair shimmered a faint pink that came from Sakura's hair.

"…Nothing."

"Err…okay…"

Ring, ring!

Nothing…

Ring, ring!

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"But…what if it's important?"

"There's an answering machine."

Gaara's Answering Machine

Beep!

Hello, this is Gaara. I am not answering because I am ignoring you, and unless you want to wear your intestines as a necktie, I suggest you stop calling. If you really want to push your luck, leave a message. It's not like I'll call back or anything.

Beep!

(DL: And now, a time skip…FYI, the first chapter was Saturday, and last chapter was Sunday. I was just finishing Sunday off in the beginning of this chapter, so now we're going to Monday!)

Monday, 7:30 a.m.…

"Gah! I'm gonna be late!"

Gaara rolled his eyes as his brother ran throughout the house to gather all of his things. The redhead was already packed and was currently eating a bowl of hot tomato soup for breakfast. He felt like having soup, and, well, it was red. What other reason do you need?

"You know, Kankuro," Temari called from the living room, where she was almost done with the homework she hadn't finished, "if you had gotten it all ready yesterday instead of goofing off, you wouldn't have this problem."

"Shut up, Temari!" He grumbled as he tried to hop around the house while putting his shoes on at the same time. By the way he cursed and there was a loud 'thump!' Gaara guessed it didn't work. Finally, after what had to be ten minutes of cursing and running around, Kankuro burst out of the front door to the car, where Gaara and Temari were already waiting. He leapt into the car while it began to back out and barely shut the door before Temari sped off down the street. (DL: FYI, I don't know whether Kankuro or Temari is the older one, so I'll just have it as Temari! (punches triumphant fist into air proudly) GO, BIG SISTERS!)

"Soooo…" Temari began, looking in the rearview mirror to look at the two in the backseat, Kankuro on the right and Gaara on the left. "…How are you, Gaara-chan?"

He began to answer her truthfully with something along the lines (or word) of 'fine' when Kankuro snickered, "Yeah, 'Gaara-chan'! How have you been doing?"

Thump!

Gaara's eye twitched as he watched Kankuro rub his abused head, an inward satisfaction lifting his mood slightly. He hissed, "Don't even start, Kankuro."

"Talk about a 'raw nerve'…" He winced again as the redhead gave him another 'thwack!' on the same shoulder. "Oww! Alright, already! Geez…" He looked away grumbling about 'mood swings' and 'insomniacs'.

"As much as I hate to encourage Kankuro-chan," here Temari gave the middle brother a death glare, "I would like to know where you've been this weekend." When he shrugged emotionlessly, she sighed and said, "Don't let my mind go to the gutter."

"I was with a friend," he answered immediately, not wanting anything of the like to spring to anyone's mind. "I was returning her things –"

"Her? Oww!" Temari had thrown a book behind her to shut him up. She growled, "What did I say, Kankuro?" He just grumbled and shot her a dirty look that vowed 'I will get you for this'. She then politely told Gaara, "Please continue."

He nodded, glaring at Kankuro for a moment before he turned to his sister and explained further. "I had run into her –" 'Well, she into me,' "And she left a few things. Her address was in one of the books, and so I returned it to her."

"And it took you a few days?"

He shrugged. "I didn't sleep, as usual, instead taking the nighttime to travel around and sample some of the fast food restaurants' cooking as I thought about what had happened when I met her…" He trailed off, thinking about it once more.

"…And?"

"She was running from the Uchiha brothers."

"Why?"

"Would you have chased someone for dyeing their hair pink?"

"Oh – oh!" She smiled triumphantly, as if remembering something. "I think I've heard about her! Aoki, is it?"

Nod.

"She's done loads of stuff like that before! In fact," she smirked at something, "they say she's got a boatload of bad deeds trailing behind her!"

"Really?" Kankuro was suddenly interested in the conversation. "Like what?"

"For example, remember when Kakashi-sensei was all moody and brooding over something a few weeks ago?" Nods from both of them. "Well, she had stolen his 'book' and hidden it in the girls' bathroom! It took him the whole school week to find it!"

"Wow…" Kankuro sounded impressed. "That's a clever fox right there."

"And then," she continued, "she loaded the cafeteria with some mice that ran around and caused hundreds of girls to squeal and leap up onto the tables in attempts to get away!" She then frowned thoughtfully. "I think that was after some of the girls started to pick on her…"

"…Really?" He didn't like to sound interested, so he used his monotonous voice to show he didn't care what she did. "How many sins does she have to follow her to Hell?"

Temari grinned, as if she knew something about the redhead in the backseat. She looked out of the left side window, looked back at the road ahead of her, and then looked again. She slowed to a stop, blinking in surprise.

"What?" Kankuro tried to jump over Gaara to look at whatever it was, but he was shoved back roughly, and he pouted as Gaara glared at him. He asked Temari, "What is it?"

"I…" She shook her head. "I really don't know."

Gaara, now interested and not caring if he showed it, turned his head to look out. He blinked, the only sign that he was surprised as he stared at Aoki's front lawn. There, he saw Aoki hopelessly trying to drag an exploding Sakura off of a familiar blonde boy. The redhead smirked. "Let's go."

"Gaara! We can't leave Naruto to his doom!" He sighed in disappointment as Temari got out of the car, followed quickly by an eager Kankuro as Gaara reluctantly came close behind. He watched from a safe distance as the words finally came to his ears:

"…and if you even think anything like that again, I'll knock you to kingdom come!"

"I-I-I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura-chan, please let him go! You're choking him!"

"That's the point!"

Naruto started to make strange gargling noises as he clawed at Sakura's hands around his throat. Temari sighed, but watched in curiosity as Gaara walked soundlessly to the three on the lawn. He watched from the corner of his eye as Aoki noticed him, and his mouth twitched as he stopped before the three. Sakura, too busy on trying to murder Naruto, didn't acknowledge him.

"Sakura-san."

Choke.

"Pink-san."

Choke, gargle.

"Forehead."

"Hey! Don't call me forehead!" She tried to leap onto Gaara, but Aoki took the chance to wrapped her arms around her and hold her back as she hollered on the top of her lungs, screaming 'let me at 'im' and 'I'm gonna kill him' and other such nasties. Naruto lay gasping for air on the ground, but he recovered after Gaara yanked him up by his hair with a 'stupid baka'. The blonde blinked, but after realizing it was the redhead he grinned stupidly and said, "Hey, Gaara! Thanks for saving me from my death!"

"I only saved you so I could kill you myself."

Naruto didn't seem affected by that, however, and acted as if he hadn't heard it as he glanced at Sakura. Seeing she was preoccupied with trying to get free from Aoki to kill Gaara, he turned and started to tiptoe away.

"Get back here, Naruto!"

He yelped and made a break for it, but Sakura finally freed herself from Aoki's grasp and chased after him down the street, their yelling eventually fading into the distance as they got farther and farther away. Sighing heavily, Aoki wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at Gaara, smiling appreciatively. "Thank you," she told him with a nod, but he just remained silent as he stared at her. She seemed to get a bit self-conscious, for she kept messing with the hem of her shirt as she looked down at her feet. She had on a black shirt (doi!) that actually fit her and black jeans that flared out at the bottom like blooming flowers. She actually wore a red headband in her hair that pulled it back a bit, so it didn't completely flutter in front of her face as the wind blew it up, as well as sandals similar to Gaara's. She probably wore relaxing clothes on the weekends.

"Hi!" Gaara's eyes narrowed as Kankuro stepped up and held out his hand to introduce himself. "I'm Kankuro."

"Really?" She seemed to brighten at the chance to see Gaara's brother, and she gave him a handshake in return as well as a smile. She looked at Temari behind him and tilted her head, as if thinking. "And are you Temari-chan?"

"Why, yes, I am!" Temari gave her a smile and nodded, acknowledging the girl with some sort of respect and admiration shining in her eyes. She shot a quick glance at Gaara, but he did nothing as he continued to stare at Aoki, who finally met his gaze again and spoke, "And hi, Gaara-san! How are you this morning?"

Again, Gaara's mouth twitched, and he stated bluntly, "Late."

Immediately, Kankuro went onto the defense.

"It's not my fault! I had to get my stuff ready and –"

Temari interrupted, "He never said it was because of you!" Kankuro flushed in embarrassment. "Besides, that's what makes it your fault, baka!" Temari bonked him on the head, which made Aoki giggle and cover her mouth as if to hide her smile. Kankuro rubbed his head and scowled, but it softened when he looked at Aoki.

For some reason, that made Gaara angry.

"So, how did you meet my brother?"

She chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her head, as Naruto had done countless times before. 'She's been around the idiot for too long,' Gaara noted, recognizing the familiar stance she took.

"Well, let's just say I ran into him a few days ago…" She chuckled again, a bit of a blush appearing on her face as she remembered the event. Gaara smirked at the memory, which Aoki's glances caught when she (oh-so-discreetly…not!) checked to see his reaction to the question. She blushed a bit more at the embarrassing remembrance and cleared her throat as if to distract herself from her thoughts. "He came over and returned some stuff I had left on the sidewalk when I ran away embarrassed…" She sweatdropped.

"Embarrassed? Oh, the 'run into'…ah." Hankuro nodded, looking as he had figured everything out. "So, he's your friend, right?"

"Yeah!" Aoki smiled. "Anyone I know is virtually in my good graces! Unless, you know, they're mean!" She frowned momentarily, but then the smile was on her face almost as quickly as it had left. "So that means that you guys are my friends, too!"

"Really?" Temari sounded curious towards the girl's behavior. In fact, so was Gaara. 'She's always so damn happy…' He shook his head slightly as he listened to her reassure his sister. "Yeah! You and Kankuro and Gaara are now my friends! Although…" Again, there was a small frown on her face as something crossed her mind. She crossed her arms in response to the thought and considered something as the other three looked at her inquisitively.

"It'd probably be best to keep our distances at school." She nodded in firm resolution, not seeming to notice Temari and Kankuro's puzzlement. Gaara, of course, showed no emotion, and so they all listened as she shrugged and continued, "Yeah, that'd be best; wouldn't want anyone getting the wrong ideas!"

'There she is with that 'wrong ideas' bit again…' Gaara, fed up with the unknown, took a step forward and asked her directly, "What 'wrong ideas' would they get?" He noticed in his peripheral vision the shock on his siblings' faces, but he didn't care. 'I've had enough of secrets!'

"Uhh…" She seemed a bit startled as well that he had stepped forward like that, and she blushed as she looked down at her feet to avoid eye contact. He could guess what she was probably thinking of; the last two times he had been extremely close to her. Little did she know, those were his first two times of purposely getting close to one of the opposite gender. And it felt good. Of course, she didn't have to know that. It's not like he would tell her, anyways.

Gaara stared at Aoki expectantly, still getting pleasure from the way her ears reddened under his gaze. He could see her gulp, before she cleared her throat and began a bit shaky, "Well, you know, people like you guys probably wouldn't want to get involved with the kind of 'social life' of one like me…" She trailed off, looking like she'd rather not delve into the subject.

Lucky for her, Temari had seemed to take pity on her. "Aww, don't worry about it!" She smiled at Aoki and offered, "Just to show you we don't care what others say, you can come with us to school!"

Both Gaara and Kankuro's heads shot up. "What?" It was odd how alike they really sounded at that moment; both were caught unawares. Of course, surprise could do that to you.

"You heard me!" Temari gave them both warning glares, daring them to refuse her the power to allow Aoki to accompany them. Besides, she drove the car. In the end, Kankuro just shrugged like he didn't care, and Gaara just stared back at the blonde for a while until his sister looked away, and as the redhead smirked in his triumph one again of outdoing his sister all four of them got into the car. Since the front had so much crap, and they were probably late as it was so it would be pointless to try to take the time to move it, Aoki offered to sit in the back with the other two. She sat in the middle with Gaara now on her right and Kankuro on her left, acting like a barrier between the brothers that prevented them from talking to one another without leaning forward a bit. So, instead, Aoki decided to talk to either of them.

"Gaara-san? What's your favorite subject?"

His mouth twitched, but as soon as it was there it had gone as he answered, "Math."

Aoki tilted her head, the perfect image of a puppy once more. "Really? Why?"

He debated on not answering her to instead sit in silence, but the look on her face for some reason made him decide to humor her, for her sake. "It's predictable."

"Predictable?" Aoki frowned for a moment, but then it seemed she understood something for her face lit up and she said, "Oh, predictable– I get what you mean! In an equation, no matter what, there will always be an answer! I see now." She nodded as if to reassure him that she did indeed understand.

"Well, you know, History is predictable, too." Kankuro decided to join the conversation instead of being a bored bystander. "I mean, it never really changes."

"Hmm…" Aoki put a finger to her chin as if to support it as she thought about the subject. "Well, so is science, supposedly – but people think up theories and change what we believe – like Darwin!" She smiled at Kankuro happily, not seeming to feel the annoyance of the redhead behind her. "So, you see, really everything changes, in some way or another!"

Trying to earn her attention again, but not really knowing why he needed it, Gaara decided to change the subject. He said with disinterest, "What is your favorite subject?"

He noticed how Temari shifted in her seat in the front and felt her eyes on him, and he cursed himself for his curiosity and lack of caution. He needed to be careful how he worded things or how he stared blankly at someone, because it seemed his sister could tell if he was really interested in something or not.

That's what happens when you live with a guy for most of your life; you understand his inner thoughts. (Well, to an extent)

"Me?" His attention was brought back to the midnight-haired girl beside him at the sound of her surprised inquiry. When he continued to stare at her as a silent answer, she tilted her head back so that she was looking at the ceiling of the car, her face scrunched in thought. She was frowning as if finding the question hard, and she seemed to debate to herself in her mind as the car remained silent in eager expectance. She gave a small 'hmm' that showed she was thinking about the subject, and she put her hands behind her head and crossed her legs as if to get more comfortable. 'Another of the blonde's influences,' Gaara noted subconsciously. It seemed she hung out with Naruto a lot.

"Well…I guess…Language Arts."

"Why?" Kankuro immediately looked uninterested at the word 'language', let alone the class itself. "It's boring."

"Well, maybe to you!" She grinned at him and giggled a little. For some reason, it didn't sound as annoying to Gaara as the other girls' giggles. Then, the smile left her face as she turned serious, although there was still its ghost on the corners of her lips. "When I say 'Language Arts', I mean the way that people communicate to others – books, newspapers, or casual conversation." At the look of confusion on Kankuro's face, she sighed and decided to elaborate.

"You see, when we go into a war or an argument with one another, it is usually because of some lack of communication or a normal misunderstanding. Many fights between people start because they don't quite see eye-to-eye, or they misinterpret what someone says and twists it to mean something warped of the original implication." Here, her smile had completely disappeared as she appeared as 'serious as a heart attack' (dammit, how many comments does that blonde have?!?) to the other three. It was surprising to see her looking so wise and somber. "In the end, all of our battles are an accident, and the product is only unnecessary blood, and pain." She seemed to sadden at something, her eyes hardening at some thought that strayed into her mind.

Everyone was quiet for a while afterwards, the silence and tension something different than the normal quiet Gaara instilled. In fact, the redhead didn't even like it as he stared at the iridescent hair of the girl beside him. Aoki's hair now had darkened completely, almost as if it had a mind of its own and was showing how much despair and sorrow was really in her head.

As she cast a glance over at Gaara, she seemed to see something that caught her interest. After a moment of blinking, she suddenly shrieked and leaned across his lap to press her face against the window with a muffled, "Naruto-chan!"

Kankuro burst out laughing at the position the two were in as Temari scolded him for laughing. She was virtually in a wide-eyed and slack-jawed Gaara's lap and shouting something about 'foreheads' and 'animal abuse' while the redhead tried to comprehend what had just happened. Temari stopped the car again, and the two of them tumbled out after Aoki fumbled with the handle of the door yelling to get out. They ended up in a very…uncomfortable position; Gaara found himself face-to-face with Aoki, their noses touching and eyes staring into one another's with surprise. 'For some reason, I'm getting a strong sense of 'déjà vu'…' He blinked, his body still in shock as blush appeared on both of their faces. He was beginning to wonder that if she blushed enough that her face would stay red.

Gaara got off of her quickly after he noticed that Sakura had stopped trying to choke the blue-faced Naruto to instead stare at the two of them, and he held out his hand as an offer to pull Aoki up. She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head, and when she finally did take his hand he heard her mutter, "Déjà vu…"

"Indeed." He smirked when she responded in kind with a blush, and he let go of her hand as soon as she was up to turn to his brother to give him a death glare. After a few minutes of laughter, Gaara finally grew tired of waiting and kicked Kankuro's stomach as he rolled on the ground. Kankuro instantly grew quiet, and as Temari helped him up Gaara started to walk in the direction of the school. He didn't want to be super late if he could help it.

"Hey – wait!" Aoki ran up after him, and he allowed her to walk beside him as he looked at her face. It was upturned to the sun, her hair blowing back slightly in the breeze and shining with blue and red from both the reflection of his hair and the sky. She had a small on her face that was slightly lopsided into a goofy grin that seemed to rival the sun in brightness. Happiness just radiated off of her, ignoring the threatening looks of the girls that saw them as they entered the school.

Maybe she wasn't a waste of the human species…