My document loader has not been allowing me to upload anything for 6 days. Otherwise, this would have been out a week ago. and ooooooohh! I think I'm going to have a boyfriend by next week! Sweet!

Chapter 8 is OUT! Finally done. I've been extremely unmotivated lately. Oh yeah, I'm ptretty sure I told someone I was going to make this an entirely Kankuro point of view chapter. Well, that didn't happen. Sorry. But theres alot of Kankuro in this. Kind of. Meh. You'll find out.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto. It is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. I own Leroj, though. Mine, all mine...Thx Please review!

If Ever A Day of Torment

Kankuro POV

Shit, Kankuro moaned to himself. There really wasn't any helping him now. He had a date, set in stone for tomorrow. Not happening! Not happening! NOT HAPPENING! Happening. Definitely happening.

Kankuro glared at Leroj as he pushed him aside to make room for himself at the lunch table beside Stephanie.

Gaara hated his new biology class. The teacher was a stubborn, cantankerous, debauched man who deserved to be shoved into a very small closet and tortured with phonics. Being the last and therefore longest class of the day, Gaara was not happy to be stuck with Orochimaru for the last class of every day for the rest of the school year. Pilfering small bits of knowledge from the man was about all Gaara could do, though. He had a feeling there would be serious consequences if he made any open rebellion towards the pale-skinned man. Therefore, Gaara only sent the man a tight-lipped glare as he stalked out of the room.

His anger lasted half of the walk to his locker before the half empty and seemingly endless hallways lulled him into a calmer state of mind. Counting up scores, Gaara came to the conclusion that it was Gaara 1- New School 0.

Sighing, the redhead dialled his combination and pulled the latch. Nothing happened. Pale green eyes narrowed in annoyance and Gaara's lips thinned. One more try. Slowly, to make sure he had it right, Gaara dialled the numbers again and pulled the latch. The redhead's brow lowered and eyes became slits surrounded by black.

WHAM! WHAM!

Reaching up again, Gaara pulled the latch. Growing angrier, his fist pulled back again to land the locker another blow when it was caught in a tight grip. Gaara's slitted glare turned to the side. Standing there, with an amused expression on his pale face as he held Gaara's straining arm in check, was Hyugga Neji.

"That really isn't the way to deal with Konoha lockers," Neji informed him sternly. "Hitting them only seems to give them a mind all their own. Here. Use this." The Hyuuga released Gaara's arm and reached into a pocket. He pulled something small and black out in the palm of his hand and slapped it on the front of the problematic locker right under the latch. Grabbing the magnet firmly, he slid it up. The latch clicked and the door came open.

"That," Neji intoned grvely. "Is how you open a locker."

Gaara stared at the magnet for a moment before looking at Neji again. The taller boy had the callousness to smirk at his blank stare. Pale green eyes began to narrow once more. A slender black eyebrow rose and the smirk turned into an openly appraising stare. They held their silence for several long moments before Gaara leaned back on his heels and turned to put his books in his locker. He had not lost, however, for the Hyuuga had broken gaze at the exact same moment.

"You're an interesting person, Gaara." Neji commented conversationally. "You do realize that kids even in seventh period are still getting high off your artwork? Tsunade-sama made all the art classes go to the cafeteria today because of it."

"Hn."

"You really don't talk much, do you? Well, I respect that. Mata ashita, Gaara." With that, the Hyuuga turned swiftly on his heel and he strode away, deep into the mess of hallways that made up Konoha High.

Sighing again, Gaara grabbed his book bag and walked out the double-wide doors at the end of the hall and out into the open air. He spotted Kankuro's hearse and made a beeline for it, ignoring the few by standing gawkers. Five minutes later……

"Did you make any friends? Are there any cute boys here?," Temari was literally bouncing in her seat as she drove. "Well? Huh, huh?" Gaara turned his face in the direction of his sister and stared at her, unblinking. Temari bounced around a few more times before grimacing and dropping it.

"Okay then. How about…"

"No."

"…Going out for dinner after we pick Kanky up?" Temari continued, knowing Gaara would say no before he even heard what she said.

"Pizza."

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Kankuro banged his fists on the game table, refusing to believe he had lost another game. "Game over my ASS! Gaara! Give me one of your tokens!" Kankuro stretched his hand out towards the redhead.

After about thirty seconds, he looked behind him and noticed Gaara staring at his palm. Looking down, Kankuro waggled his grubby fingers and wiped them on his jeans. Holding out his palm again, he gave a crooked grin as Gaara deposited one gleaming token in it.

"Thanks lil' bro. I'll get you one of those little rubber fishies or something once I get some tickets." Dutifully turning back to the game, Kankuro left Gaara wondering what exactly he would do with a little rubber goldfish. Finally, he decided it'd look cool safety pinned to his backpack, and wandered back to their table. There was one slice of pizza left, and if he had his way, it was going to join the other three in his stomach.

"…" Gaara stared at the small purple fish in his hand. He blinked as a blue and an orange one were added to either side of it.

"Three fish. I get the yoyo." Kankuro finished his statement with a twist of his wrist and let his yoyo drop a few inches before pulling it back up.

"And what do I get?" Temari demanded, coming up behind Kankuro. Both brothers stared at her for several moments before Gaara held up the orange fish and poked it at her. Temari held out a finger and poked the fish in its buggy eye, and the fish 'swam' over and settled itself on her shoulder.

"Alright. A fish. Now get in the hearse so we can go home. I have an exam Monday." Temari and her fish walked towards the doors and Gaara followed, a fish cupped gently in each palm.

The black hearse glided down main street Konoha, headed away from the Chuck E. Cheese's. Three Sabaku's sat comfortably, listening to Pink Floyd as the second eldest drove towards Suna. Suddenly, a shape jumped into the road fifty feet in front of them. Tapping the breaks, the hearse slowed to a stop, barely nudging the person standing in front of it.

"Sweet! A ride! Ukon! Ukooooooooooooooooooon!" The strange teen jumped up and down in front of the hearse as Temari, Gaara and Kankuro stared dumbly at it. Another, taller teen walked from the side of the road and soundly popped the other over the head with a fist. Then, he turned walked over and tapped on the driver's side window.

As the window slowly rolled down to reveal a grumpy looking Kankuro, Ukon pushed his identical twin back from looking over his shoulder.

"Uh, can you give me and this idiot a ride?"

Kankuro stared at the hitch hiker's freakishly colored hair and blinked.

"A ride?" He glanced back at Temari, who shrugged and put her fishy back on her shoulder. "Sure."

"Sweet! Ukon! I get to sit by the little guy that's asleep in back!"

"No. You don't." Ukon remarked as he opened the side door and slid in next to Gaara.

"Ukooooooooon!" The younger twin pouted, climbing in next to his brother.

"Sakon. Behave." Ukon leaned over his pouting twin and pulled the hearse door shut. "Uh….What's your names?" He asked Kankuro absently.

"Kankuro." Kankuro pointed to himself. "Temari. Gaara." With each name, the Sabaku pointed to the person in question. "You?" His finger pointed at the lavender haired twins.

"I'm Ukon. This dumbass is Sakon. Twins, if it wasn't obvious." He paused thoughtfully. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be heading towards Suna, would you? We live somewhere between here and there." Ukon pushed Sakon's head into the window and held it there until his brother stopped pulling the threads out of his jacket.

"Yeah."

"Ukoooooooooooooooon! Ukon! Give it to me!" Sakon whined plaintively, reaching for his brother's Rubik's cube. Sakon had been trying to get the Rubik's cube for almost five minutes now.

Finally, the hearse rolled to a stop in front of a small ramshackle house about halfway to Suna.

"Shut up, Sakon. Look, take it, We're home." He turned to Kankuro and shook his hand. "Thanks for the ride, man. Sorry if Sakon annoyed you. I really appreciate this. Pay you back, some day." With that, he climbed out and shut the door of the hearse. As it pulled out of the driveway, Kankuro saw the older teen dragging the waving younger into the house.

Slowly, Gaara opened his eyes and sighed.

"Okay." Gaara sat on the couch and pulled his book bag up onto his lap. Temari nodded. Neither she nor Kankuro were going to be home tomorrow. Temari was going to go in for an evening tutorial class at the college, and Kankuro was going to a concert with some girl. Otherwise, Gaara was on his own tomorrow evening.

"I'm making you something to eat. I'll just put it in the fridge and you can put it in the microwave when you're hungry. Got it?" Temari was leaning up against the wall, watching her younger brother contemplate how to put his purple and blue fishies on his book bag.

"Hn." A safety pin made its way through the belly of the purple fish and Gaara pinned it next to his mushroom patch. The blue fish was stabbed and he stuck it down towards the bottom.

"Alright. Goodnight Gaara." Temari walked over and kissed his cheek, making him lean away and grimace. She chuckled and went to her room.

Bringing his hand up, the redhead swiped at his cheek with it and stood. Kankuro was already in bed, and all the lights were already out except the one in the living room. Dropping his bag in the corner by the TV, Gaara flicked off the light switch and went into the bathroom. He didn't bother turning on the light as he dropped his clothes in the hamper. He grabbed a damp rag and washed away his eyeliner. Naked, he walked down the hallway and into his room. The comb on his dresser made sure his hair wouldn't get to unruly overnight, and a pair of dark green silk pajama bottoms made him ready for bed.

Climbing under the covers, Gaara thought about how quiet Shukaku had been, and wondered how long the silence would last. His last thought was centered on what he was going to do the next evening.

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