Disclaimer: Still nada on the Naruto owning. But one day, I will have the power.

A/N: Yuki comes in this chapter. Everyone make my orichar feel welcome, 'kay:D Foreshadowing to past dark events, comedy, gayness, and songs from RENT abound. So…would you light my candle?

Chapter Three: Sing Your Soul Out!! A Person's Smile is Only Skin Deep?

Recap:

"No, I don't mind delivering them for you," said Gaara in his quiet voice. "But I don't see how it would require the whole period…"

"You'll find out when you get to the Chorus room," said Iruka with an amused glint in his eye. He handed Gaara an enormous stack of papers and sent him out with a cheery wave. "Say hello to Naruto for me!!"

Gaara almost killed himself again. Back to the blonde, back to his own personal hell on earth. Oh joy and fucking rapture. Setting down the stack of papers on the floor, he glanced at the map. Chorus was…on this floor. However, it was clear on the other side of the school. Whoopee.

Gaara picked up the papers and made his way to the room, occasionally stopping to set down the stack of paper and check the map. He made it and carefully turned the doorknob, focusing on not dropping the huge stack of paper.

A teacher with curly black hair and bright red lipstick was dividing students into groups. She immediately noticed the redhead come into her classroom and strode over to him.

"Ah ha! So you're the new student, Gaara? Well, welcome to Konoha High. I am the Chorus teacher, Ms. Kurenai Yuhi. And who are these from?"

"Mr. Umino," said Gaara quietly. Kurenai sighed and took the stack, staggering a bit from the weight. She set them down in her office and pulled up a chair, plunking it in front of Gaara.

"Well, sit down, sit down!! I'm sure that Iruka warned you about this beforehand," said Kurenai. If Gaara had eyebrows, he would have raised one right now. "I just love showing off my students!! You'll stay right here and listen to their wonderful voices," she commanded, skipping off and barking out orders to the class. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Naruto waving at him like a maniac. Of course he ignored the blonde boy and chose instead to stare at a very interesting speck of dust on the wall.

Kurenai began calling out names, none of which Gaara paid much attention to. He simply sat there and stared at the wall (and any speck of dust on said wall) as the voices washed over him. There was a truly horrible rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", several average performances, and one acceptable "Seasons of Love". However, there was nothing else that stood out. And then…

I'll always remember

It was late afternoon

It lasted forever…

And ended too soon.

Gaara whipped his head around and spotted a girl with long red-orange hair. Damn, she sounded good. Way better than anyone else he'd heard so far.

You were all by yourself

Staring up at a dark gray sky

I was…changed

In places no one could find

All your feelings so deep inside

It was then that I realized

That forever was in your eyes…

The moment I saw you cry.

There was raucous applause and a loud shout. "Go, Yuki!! You're the best!!"
The girl, who was obviously Yuki, turned her head and smiled at the blonde who'd made the comment. Naruto, of course. Gaara turned his attention back to the wall, shutting out everyone else. Back to the mediocre singers, he thought…

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies…

Gaara turned towards the person singing. Holy shit. This guy was good too…and then he saw who "this guy" actually was.

When everything feels like the movies

Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am.

Gaara blinked. Naruto…

He never would have guessed that such a beautiful voice could come out of that loud, obnoxious, utterly naïve and innocent boy. What a shock to poor Gaara's system.

There was more loud applause and Yuki returned the favor by shouting "Woot, Naruto!! You're the man!!" Naruto grinned at Yuki and the two linked arms, still standing in the front of the room. Kurenai took a seat among her students and the two faced the class. The air was tense, as if waiting for something. And then Naruto started:

What'd you forget?

Yuki grinned and she followed up with:

Got a light?

Naruto: I know you, you're…you're shivering.

Yuki: It's nothing, they turned off my heat.

And I'm just a little weak on my feet.

Would you light my candle?

What are you staring at?

Back and forth they went, singing and dancing slightly. Gaara recognized the song as "Light My Candle" from the musical-turned-movie RENT, which Kankuro and Temari had forced him to watch over and over again. Needless to say, he found himself enjoying this version a lot more. The class was enraptured too, and every now and again there was a chuckle at the lyrics and a cheer when an extremely hard note was hit. It was obvious that they had done something like this before.

Yuki: They say that I have the best ass below 14th Street

Is it true?

Naruto: What?

Yuki: You're staring again.

Naruto: Oh no…I-I mean you do have a nice…I-I mean

You look familiar!

Yuki: Like your dead girlfriend?

Naruto: Only when you smile, but I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else!

Yuki: Do you go to the Catscratch Club? That's where I work, I dance.

Naruto: Yes! They used to tie you up!

Yuki: It's a living.

Naruto: I didn't recognize you without the handcuffs!

There were shouts of laughter at the last few lines and Gaara almost growled with impatience. Couldn't they shut up so that he could listen to them sing?!

With a couple of minutes to the bell, the duo finished up:

Naruto: Cold hands…

Yuki: Yours too. Big…like my father's.

You wanna dance?

Naruto: With you?

Yuki: No. With my father.

Naruto: I'm Roger.
Yuki: They call me…they call me…Mimi.

Applause, applause. Wild shouts and cheers. Gaara found himself joining in. Quietly, but joining in nonetheless. Naruto spotted him and exchanged a few words with Yuki. She nodded and the two went over to the redhead boy.

Oh. Shit. Don't come near me.

"Hey, Gaara!! Did you like our performance??" Naruto laughed. "Yuki and I did a duet in freshman year too. It seemed popular, so we decided to do it again."

"You're Gaara, huh? It's great to meet you," said Yuki, smiling. "Do you sing?"

Gaara shook his head no. Yuki laughed. "Guess you don't talk either. That's all right, I'm used to it."

"Oh right, you're still dating Itachi, aren't you? Almost two years now, right?"

"Yep. You broke up with Sasuke over the summer though, didn't you? I remember the ice cream and the sucky movies you made me watch with you…"

"Yeah…hey!! Finding Nemo is not a sucky movie!! It was heartwarming and funny! Especially with the seagulls!!! Mine!!" Yuki burst out laughing; he'd done such a good impression. Gaara, again, raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Well, you're still best friends, so it's all good. Hey, why don't you and Gaara date? You two would be good for each other!" Gaara sent her a death glare and Naruto blushed and stuttered a bit. The bell rang at that moment and Yuki glided away, leaving Naruto and Gaara in an awkward situation.

"Uhm…shall we go to fourth period, then?" said Naruto shyly. Gaara didn't say anything, but he walked out the door with Naruto in close pursuit. He was stopped momentarily by Yuki as she handed him his backpack and smacked him lightly on the head.

"Don't be blinded by love now!" she chirruped as she sauntered off to her next class. Naruto chuckled as he caught up to Gaara. "Yuki's really funny, isn't she?" he laughed. "It makes it hard to believe that she was an uber outcast at our middle school."

Gaara almost did a double take. There were a lot of un-Gaara-like things that he'd almost been doing lately. In the back of his mind he silently cursed high school.

"Yuki…used to be an outcast?"

"Uh-huh. Me and her both, until around the middle of our last year. It got really bad sometimes, like this one time when…" Naruto trailed off suddenly, apparently not wanting to relive whatever it was that happened. He laughed nervously. "Eh heh heh…well, at any rate, we got out of it OK. And now we've got a shitload of friends, so everything's OK. Plus we've got you now and…" Gaara tuned him out.

Fourth period passed in a haze of blondeness and Gaara spacing out repeatedly. Fifth period was relatively peaceful compared to all the other classes, since the blonde was nowhere in sight.

Unfortunately for Gaara, it was over much too soon and lunch came. To his utmost surprise (NOT) Naruto was waiting for him outside his classroom and grinning from ear to ear.

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A/N: Whew! Chapter Three over and done with. Next is lunch!! And we all know that the important stuff happens at lunch. Sorry if Gaara is kind of OOC, but I'm sure that if he bothered to talk, he would be a very sarcastic kind of person. :D

Did you all like Yuki and Naruto's rendition of "Light My Candle"? I wanted to put something utterly crackful in here, and I happened to be listening to RENT songs while typing. So here's their love child, lmfao.

Next up: Lunchroom Chaos! Teacher-Student Relations and A Meeting of Peers