OMG! I made a mistake in the previous chapter! I forgot to add 'Gym' to their schedules… (sweatdrops) Me sorry! Their new schedules are:

Gaara: Math, History, Science, and Gym before Lunch (D), and Orchestra, Computer Skills, and Language Arts

and Aoki: Math, History, Foreign Language, and then Gym before Lunch (D), Foreign Language (2), Science, Language Arts

And now, I have been totally consumed by this story. (laughs) Surprising, since I promised myself I wouldn't let me get sucked into it – but I'm glad I did! I've let myself go, really, just writing to be funny and still make a plot (somewhat). This is all in Gaara's view (in a weird, 3rd POV way…) and it follows him FOREVER. But, he will do MORE than just be attacked by hungry fangirls or hang out with his family (as if he does that ANYWAYS!). OH, NO! There's a LOT more to that! (smiles) I won't spoil it, though! On with the (funny) fic!

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

Tuesday, 7 a.m.

Just to be a little blitch-without-the-'l' (felt like being 'cute'; don't ask), I will tell you that Aoki did, indeed, keep that jacket. In fact, she wore it the very next day. And the next. And the next day. And…well, you get the point. She basically grew attached to the damn thing. I mean, it was as if she needed it to breathe or something! Even at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar with Naruto later Monday night, for crying out loud! She wore it when she went to bed, when she trained with Sakura…

Whoa! Can't get too ahead of myself! It's only seven on Tuesday morning, after all! Back to Gaara…

The redhead found himself, as usual, lying on his back staring at the ceiling. He was letting the previous day's events wash over his mind repeatedly so he could examine them, dissect, find out what made it tick, etc. And then, he would put it all together and look at the big picture like it was a blueprint for a skyscraper made of toothpicks. Then, he would reject all 'inferior' explanations for more 'logical' ones. In other words, he cast out stupid ideas and admitted his own thoughts and plans. 'Stupid' usually including things his sister or brother would say to him about the situation.

He could hear what his sister would say now about giving Aoki the jacket. "You're so sweet! Why aren't you ever nice to anyone else like that? Anything I missed?" And then, his brother would have his fun, too. "Ha, I knew you'd get a girlfriend one day! Just had to wait and watch! So, what've you guys been doing, huh?" Yep, that would be them. Same, air-headed, annoying brother and stubborn, annoying sister as always. 'What I wouldn't do to be alone like Aoki…'

Okay, well, she wasn't alone, since she was Sakura's roommate, but he meant that she didn't have to deal with her family. Well, that might be because she didn't seem to have any. Strange. He had forgotten to question her about her family. After all the talking and jacket and such, it must have slipped his mind. 'I'll ask her today,' he decided as he got up. He looked at the clock. Only 7:05. Time seemed to move slowly in the morning. 'Oh well,' he grunted to himself while he got out of his bed and over to the window. 'I think I'll give her an early greeting.' He wrote a short note, taped it to the windowsill, and then gradually eased the window open so he could get out.

A few minutes later, he found himself at Aoki's house, standing in the front yard. No lights were on, except in the bedroom windows on the second floor. Not questioning why he had decided to come this early, he strode silently to the side of the house until he stood beneath Aoki's window. He squinted up at the dimly lit windowpane, but he couldn't make out anyone in there. So, after fumbling with the tree until he found the button, he climbed up and into her room without saying a word.

There, he found the lamp beside her bed on as she slept, unawares of her visitor. She was curled up at the foot of her bed, her hands beneath her head like paws with books all around her on the bed. It seemed she had stayed up late last night to study for something, which turned out to be Math after he looked at the textbooks. She also had a few books written in different languages that he couldn't even begin to comprehend, and yet she was nearly finished with most of them. Her nose was breathing in the scent of something that suspiciously looked like a French romance novel, and he smirked at the picture she made as she gave a small sigh in her sleep.

He looked around the room after deciding that she would wake up on her own eventually. After all, there was school today. So, his gaze traveled across the room, darting from the television that had the cameras (still showing the hallways empty), to the poster of a black panther hanging above her bed, to the desk sitting in the corner farthest from the bed. It was probably over there because she might bump into it in her morning daze or something. Curious, he walked over to the black writing table and pulled open a drawer with the softest of squeaks. In it, there was something wrapped in a gentle violet silk, and he picked it up and uncovered it to see a small book nestled in the cloth like an egg in a nest. Fascinated, he opened the cover to stare at the pages within, and found himself…

Confused.

'What the hell does this say?' He was staring at the oddest thing in the world; it was as if whoever wrote it put random letters together and acted as if they were words. 'E lyh'd fyed du kad so ufh ruica?What does that mean?' There were numbers on the top of each page, like a planner, but the rest was incomprehensible to him. He raised an eyebrow at it, trying to find out what it could possibly be. But, no matter how smart and logical his mind was, he could not figure for the life of him what it meant. 'Damn, it's in code…' He glanced at the still sleeping Aoki on her bed and nodded slightly. 'Smart girl.' He tried a couple more times to decipher it ('Drnuf sela ehdu lyvadaney?'), but it ultimately ended up in him being frustrated and nearly breaking the book in half. Finally, he decided that he would figure it out later, and he discreetly put the book into his pants pocket, checking to make sure it didn't show, and glanced to make sure Aoki was asleep. She was. 'Talk about 'luck'…' Fed up with her confusing-ness (although it really wasn't her fault; he shouldn't have been snooping) and laziness, he strode over to the bed and gently shook her so as to not alarm her. The last thing he needed was to have her scream and wake up the entire neighborhood.

When she didn't respond, Gaara shook a bit harder. She grumbled something about pigs eating all of the brownies and rolled over on her side, her face now facing him as she inhaled the fragrance of a book he didn't even know the language of. Getting a bit more frustrated with her, he leaned down to put his mouth beside her ear and whispered, "Get up."

Still not responding, she just sighed and clung tightly onto a book in her hands; an English science-fiction novel. 'She likes the 'Mechwarrior' series?' Shaking his head slightly and giving a small grumble of irritation, he repeated a bit louder, "Get up."

This time, she groaned a bit and stretched her arms out, brushing his chest lightly as she mumbled about 'not time for it' and 'five more minutes'. His eye twitching, Gaara bent over and was going to smack her awake (DL: Heh, he's got no patience, (mumbles) like me…) when she suddenly snapped up and bumped into him. Although their heads didn't connect (which hurts a lot), she did smash her forehead into his chin, and as they both held their faces in their respective places (DL: (does happy dance) I rhymed!) their eyes scrunched shut and they hissed, "Oww!"

At the sound of each other's voices, though, they both froze and opened their eyes to stare at each other. Gaara didn't say a thing, since he found no reason (or excuse) to, so he just stared silently as she opened her mouth without saying a word. She did a fascinating impression of a fish for a while, opening and closing her mouth, before she blinked and asked quietly, "Why are you…?"

Gaara gave her a small shrug as her answer, and then she furrowed her brows together and asked him, "How'd you get here?"

"Window." He wasn't going to lie, honestly. People didn't like it when you lie; if she didn't like him, then she wouldn't tell him her secret/teach him her pranking skills. (DL: Honestly, I wouldn't, either…)

"…Oh…" She seemed to take that better than expected, until she tilted her head and gave one of her small, rare frowns. "You mean you know how…?"

Nod.

"Oh…" Again with the soft answers. If he wasn't so confused by her, he would compare her reply to his own (one-worded). Speaking of confused, he noticed that she had on his jacket. While it was a bit self-satisfying to see she had actually taken his advice, he was wondering why she wore it to bed. Did she really like it that much? He'd have to ask her some time.

Then, she got up from her bed and made her way to her closet, bringing out one of her infamous black outfits, and hopped into her bathroom with a quick 'gonna change!', leaving him alone with her stuffed cat as his only company. Said stuffed animal stared at him with the creepiest of blood-red eyes, matching Aoki's only in color, something any normal person would shiver at. Gaara, though, was used to such staring (after having a brother with a strange fascinations of puppets, you would be, too!) and he wasn't normal to begin with, so he simply pondered over the fact that she had one. Coincidently, it was black (what a freakin' surprise!) with the word 'love' written in kanji on its back. Although the kanji was purple, it still seemed a bit odd how eerily familiar it was to his own tattoo.

He gave a glare at the cat, not knowing why the toy seemed to send one back. Maybe it was just his imagination…?

Then, Aoki emerged from the bathroom, distracting him enough to look away from the doll and examine her. Yep, she still wore the jacket; she had it over a spaghetti-strap tank top and form-fitting capri pants (which were, again, black) and a pair of sandals. When she saw him staring at her, she seemed to get a little self-conscious, because she played with the edge of her (not his anymore) jacket and refused to meet his gaze. To try to divert his attention from her unease, she asked him, "Is Sakura-chan up?"

"I don't know," he had to say because she wouldn't have seen him shrug. A look of curiosity overcame her embarrassment, and she glanced over at the television, examining the cameras. Gaara looked as well, seeing Sakura standing at the stove with a spatula in her hand, and was confused when Aoki gasped in shock and fear. He looked at her with a questioning look in his eyes, but she just leapt up and ran out the door, leaving him blinking in bewilderment. He watched the cameras and followed her running form all the way to the kitchen, where she nearly tackled Sakura and snatched the spatula from her. Even if the camera didn't have a microphone, he could hear Aoki yell, "Do you want to burn the house down? Remember what happened last time?"

Sakura pouted on the video, but she decided not to argue and instead crossed her arms to show her displeasure. Aoki returned the utensil to its place in a drawer and walked back up the stairs, wiping the sweat from her brow with a relieved look on her face. She returned to her room to see a blinking Gaara, and she chuckled nervously and tried to explain. "Sakura-chan can't cook really good, so I had to stop her before I became homeless…" She scratched the back of her head timidly and glanced at the camera as an excuse to look away from his piercing gaze. Amused, he let her off easy and glanced at the clock. '7:15…Time really does go slow in the morning.'

"Gaara?"

"Hm?" Gaara's attention returned to the fidgeting girl before him.

"Would you…" She couldn't seem to find the right words. "When we get to school…could you…"

"Could I…?"

She seemed to be getting redder by the minute as she tried desperately to form words. "I need…my Math…" She groaned and held her head, as if her head was starting to hurt from all of her stuttering.

Gaara smirked and coolly replied, "You would like my help in Math because you are currently failing, am I right?" His smirk grew bigger as she snapped her head up quickly to look at him and, after a moment, nodded sheepishly. He made as if to think, frowning slightly in fake contemplation, his mouth twitching slightly at the desperate look on her face. Finally, he shrugged and said casually, "Sure."

Unexpectedly, Aoki squealed and hugged him with a big 'thank you, Gaara-chan!', surprising Gaara as her arms fit around his chest perfectly as if they were meant to be there. After a few seconds in this awkward position, she suddenly let go and looked away, blush staining her face and causing her ears to look like they were burning. She muttered shyly, "I mean, thanks…"

Gaara blinked, still shocked for a moment, before he snapped out of it and shook his head with a shaky, "No problem." For some reason, he had felt something warm when she hugged him, and it wasn't her body heat. Perplexed, he thought about it as she started to get her stuff ready. 'This girl just keeps getting more and more interesting…'

Tuesday, 10: 55 a.m. (Gym)

Gaara stepped out of the boys' locker room with a small tight-lipped frown. He didn't like 'physical education' or whatever the hell they decided to call it; they could call it 'training from hell', for all he cared. It's not that he wasn't fit, as most of the female population would object to, but he didn't deem it necessary to run around with no real purpose in mind and expect to get into a model-suited body. It took more than just laps around the football field and a few (hundred) push-ups; it was something you had to actually work at. So, in short, Gym was a complete waste of time.

He tugged irritably at the black shorts and maroon shirt they had assigned as the uniform for Gym. Many others came out with the same outfit, looking just as displeased as he did. 'Damn school colors,' he grumbled to himself as he went out to the track. In truth, it wasn't really the colors themselves that bothered him, but the shade they had chosen for the shirt looked more brown then red, and the shorts were just…well, annoying. Girls wore skirts around the same length, something that barely went past their fingertips, although a good wind would pick it up quite easily. The coaches encouraged the girls to wear shorts underneath as well.

As he got to his position, a pair of raven-heads caught his attention. He turned his head slightly to get a better view, and he inwardly scowled as he caught sight of the Uchiha brothers stretching and getting warmed up. 'I guess they finally got it all out.' Their family had ties to the school and purposely put the brothers in all of the same classes in attempts to get them to bond. And when I say 'all', I mean 'all' of their classes. Their schedules looked one and the same, even though they were in separate grades. This was their last year of torture, for Itachi graduated this year, and yet there was still tension between the two. Any efforts at a brother-to-brother relationship were shot down every time; they were just too competitive with each other.

Speaking of competition, Kankuro grinned at Gaara and gave him a thumbs-up. Gaara rolled his eyes but nodded in response. He knew what his brother meant by that. That thumbs-up meant 'I'm gonna kick your ass, but let's make it a race', and Gaara's returning nod said 'I'll humor you for now'. Funny how they were so different, and yet they could tell what the other really meant. It was their sister that was a mystery; they both agreed that they would never understand her, although for different reasons.

'It's the only thing we agree on,' Gaara determined as the coaches' yells alerted them to get ready. He got up to the starting line, giving a discreet glance around to see who else was running. It seemed the coaches had divided them first by gender, and then by their classes. Gaara and Kankuro were in Gai's class, while the Uchiha brothers were in Iruka's. As Gai's class lined up, a teenager with black hair in a bowl haircut and thick eyebrows came up with a goofy grin on his face. He looked straight at Gaara's glare unwavering, stating clearly without words that he wasn't afraid of him. Gaara's eyes narrowed. 'So, there's a third challenger.' Still confident as ever, the redhead stepped up to the line with a smooth gait, his eyes focused on the path ahead. He would give the boy something to be afraid of.

"Ready?" Gai held up an old fashioned flag with their symbol on it (a leaf with a swirl in the middle), getting ready to yell 'go' to the impatient racers. The bowl-headed boy, however, stopped him by yelling at the top of his lungs:

"I, Rock Lee of Konoha, shall beat each and every one of you fair and square in this friendly competitive race!"

Groans and grumbles ran throughout the crowd as he stepped back into line, and Iruka could be seen slapping his forehead in embarrassment. Gaara couldn't help but roll his eyes at the imbecile. 'What an idiot. He's not worth my time.' Kankuro seemed to have gotten a kick out of his little speech, however, and gave his sibling a look that said 'that speech was meant for you, Gaara'. The redhead responded in kind with a glare that said 'shut up and get ready to lose' as Gai raised his flag once more. Everyone quieted down instantly, anticipation making the air grow thick with tension.

Gaara rolled his eyes once more. 'Idiots. I should kick all of their asses for even thinking they could beat me.' He stood relaxed, but ready, and waited for the swish of the flag…

"Go!"

Everyone was off immediately, with the more athletic boys in the front. Gaara kept a good lead on everyone, although the gap was closed quickly by the Uchiha brothers and, surprising, the bowl-headed kid. He had his jaw set with determination, something that made his eyebrows furrow like two agitated caterpillars, and Gaara had to tear his eyes away from them forcefully and return his attention to the race. He didn't need to throw up when he was determined to make everyone eat his dust.

He gave a glance over to Sasuke and Itachi on his left to see that they were neck-to-neck, as usual. Sasuke was trying as hard as he could to pass his older brother, who seemed to keep at the same pace with ease and kept him from passing. While the latter seemed to be going easily, the younger one was already getting a bit exhausted after going for such a strong start. They both tore around the second corner of the track and dashed to the end, nearly passing Gaara, but the redhead used another burst of speed and kept ahead of them. He got in front of them and, when he was satisfied that they would be too occupied with each other to notice, turned his attention back to Lee. Surprisingly, he was not too far behind, only a little behind and to the right of the Uchiha brothers, and he determined that maybe the kid had a reason to be so sure of his abilities. Not one to just stop and give up, though, Gaara just smirked inwardly and sped up, thinking, 'Now I have yet another rival. At least he's too hideous to rival me in popularity.'

As he passed the first lap and got onto the second, he noticed that his brother had finally caught up. Not one for speed, Kankuro had bided his time until the second lap to really push himself, which paid off in the end as he passed several of the already tuckered out students and continued on towards Gaara. The redhead just kept running, although he was inwardly smirking. His brother was always trying to beat him.

Trying.

They finally reached the third and final lap, and it was just them five in the front; Gaara, Sasuke, Itachi, Kankuro, and Lee. The bowl-head looked determined as ever, pumping his legs as fast as he could. Gaara, however, wasn't worried, as he kept a fairly good distance ahead of him. He wouldn't lose. He couldn't lose. He never lost. He had done a draw once, but that was on an off-day. Today, he felt good. Really good. No one could beat him.

As he ran, he caught sight of a familiar midnight-head in the crowd watching them. His eyes trained on the form of Aoki grinning widely and waving at him, cheering him on. She jumped up and down to get his attention, waving little red flags she seemed to have acquired from nowhere as she yelled, "Kick their asses! Make 'em eat your dust!"

Gaara smirked and returned his attention to the race. It felt…better to have her cheering him on instead of all of those damn fangirls. Wait a moment…where were they? He nearly faltered in his step, but he quickly recovered and kept ahead of the gaining Uchiha brothers. Kankuro was lagging the farthest behind, with Lee desperately trying to pass Sasuke and Itachi. The two made a sort of wall, however, that moved side-to-side to block the bowl-head from get ahead of them. They were doing the job for him. 'Too easy, really.' He passed the finishing line, immediately hearing the crowd cheering for him and the other racers. Sasuke's fans seemed to feel bad for him and were trying to cheer him up, while Itachi's group did the same.

But Gaara's pack was bigger.

He was nearly thrown off balance when suddenly he was tackled by a midnight-haired blur. He stumbled slightly as Aoki hugged him and giggled, "Yay! And Gaara wins the Derby, earning him the gold trophy!" She smiled and laughed, while the redhead blinked in surprise as she kept her close quarters. After a moment, though, he found that there were several girls glaring at her, and she must have felt it as well for she quickly let go of him and brushed his shirt off lightly, her face tilted down so no one (except Gaara) could see her blush. He mentally rolled his eyes at her. 'And she was the one not wanting anyone to get the wrong ideas.'

However, he did quite like that hug. That feeling from before at her house when she had hugged him had returned, and he was trying to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, the coaches wouldn't let him, as they went ahead with the next race. Aoki groaned as the girls started to go up to the line. "But I don't wanna run!"

Gaara almost rolled his eyes, but instead he said, "You'll do fine; all you have to do is run."

"But…but…"

"What, are you scared you'll lose?"

"No!"

"Then go."

"But…I…"

He pushed her forward, watching as she stumbled a little before regaining her balance and glaring at him. He shrugged and said, "Your body secretly pushed you; even it wants you to run. Might as well listen to it." He smirked as she sighed and went up to the line, and he wondered if he could get her to do other things with just a push. Would she give him another hug if someone pushed her?

The race started, but as soon as everyone started moving, Aoki's clumsy feet tripped over themselves and made her fall face-first. As she lay twitching on the ground eating dirt, Gaara sweatdropped and sighed. 'Good Lord, she'd trip over a ladybug…'

What the hell did he get himself into?