Eheheheh...long time no see, huh? I am SO SORRY it took me SO LONG to get this chapter out! But this last month has been really shitty for me! This month my internet has been really finicky, and it has either been really slow or just hasn't been working at all! I am also so very sorry for how shitty this chapter is! But I am going on a couple weeks vacation either tomorrow or the next day and I have no clue when I am getting back from it and I didn't want to leave you guys without a chapter for that long SO I write this. I know it isn't very good, and I'm pretty sure I made many mistakes, but when I get back I am going to completely edit and re-vamp this chapter. I am so sorry you guys, but right now I don't have any energy to do any of my usual stuff that I do here so for any disclaimers, warnings, or anything please just look back onto previous chapters. I hope that people are still reading this story. Again, for like the fourth time I am deeply sorry and I hope that you will all forgive me.
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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The sound of a clock seemed to continue on and on in the silent classroom. Kurenai Yuuhi's grade 10 Social Studies class sat on the edge of their seats, waiting for the bell that would announce lunch to ring. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Just when it seemed as though the bell would never ring, it did.
BRING BRING!
The entire classroom was deserted in mere seconds, the teenagers either running off to their locker or to the cafeteria. Gaara and Kiba shot worried looks at each other as they left the room; Naruto wasn't at school today. Now, if this was any other person this wouldn't seem odd, and Naruto did say that he was sick. But there was only one problem with this; Naruto never got sick. Ever. In fact in the two years in which Gaara had known Naruto he had only seen him sick once and even then that was food poisoning.
But Gaara and Kiba merely put it off as Naruto just being Naruto and continued on to the cafeteria. When the duo reached the cafeteria they bought their food and made their way through the crowd and to Neji's table where Hinata was waving them over.
"H-hello you guys. How are y-you today?" Hinata asked with a gentle smile as her two newest friends sat down on either side of her, but then frowned as she noticed Naruto wasn't with them. "Where is Naruto-kun?" She asked as she craned her neck, seeing if Naruto was still in the line.
Kiba and Gaara shared a look before answering her. "He's not here today." Gaara answered before taking a bite out of his cookie he bought.
"Why, is he sick?" Hinata asked as she started to unwrap her sandwich that her mother had made for her.
Gaara swallowed the bit of cookie he had in his mouth before answering. "We don't know." Gaara answered truthfully. Just as he was about to ask where the rest of the group was, seeing as it was just him Kiba and Hinata at the table, his phone vibrated in his pocket alerting him of a text. Looking at who it was from he immediately flipped it open and read it.
Hey guys. Sorry I'm not at school, but can you come to my house after school? I have something I need to tell you guys...
Was what the message read. Gaara and Kiba looked up from their phones momentarily to give each other worried looks before they looked back down at their phones to text their replies. After giving their replies they tucked their phones back into their pockets and looked up only to discover the rest of their group sitting at the table, all except for one person that is...
Gaara looked around the table for his boyfriend when a voice was heard next to him. "Looking for me?" Neji breathed into his 'boyfriends' ear. Gaara squeaked and jumped slightly, causing giggles and chuckles to sound out around him. Gaara flushed bright red and looked down at the table, his red hair covering his face. A chair being placed beside Gaara caused him to slightly look over to see Neji pulling a chair up beside him. Gaara simply looked away. He was pouting but if you asked him he would have denied it. "Aw, did I embarrass my poor little Tanu-chan?" Neji asked Gaara, teasingly.
"Shut up." Gaara said, still turned sideways in his chair, with his hands crossed over his chest, bottom lip sticking out. Oh yes, he was seriously pouting.
Hinata blushed at how cute Gaara looked right then. If she could she would have jumped right on Gaara and squeezed him as tightly as she could. And she almost did, but then she remembered where she was.
Neji simply smirked as he put his index finger under Gaara's chin and turning his pouty face towards him. "No need to be mean Tanu-chan." Neji said before leaning in and taking Gaara's lips in a chaste kiss. When Neji pulled away Gaara was as red as ever.
"N-Neji!" Gaara said, hitting his boyfriend lightly on his upper arm. "Not in public." Gaara said, biting his bottom lip in embarrassment. Everyone at the table slightly leaned forward to see what Neji would say. Even Sasuke was slightly interested in what his best friend was going to say.
Neji's smirk simply grew. "Oh, would you rather we do this sort of stuff privately Gaara?" Neji asked slyly, moving his chair closer to Gaara's. Gaara's blush got even worse at what Neji was implying. Gaara made the mistake of looking up at the people sitting around him. He noticed that the majority of the people sitting around him were trying very hard to stop from laughing. Gaara was mortified. He hated being laughed at. He absolutely hated it. It reminded him to much of his old town, his old school. His old school... Gaara stood up immediately, his chair scooting back with the speed he stood up with.
"I...I have to go." Was all Gaara said before he hurriedly left the cafeteria. Everyone stared after him confused. All except for Kiba. Kiba merely looked after his best friend sadly, understanding why he left. Just as Kiba was about to stand up Neji beat him to it. Had he gone too far? Of course he had, and he realized that. Before anyone could question what he was doing he had left up off of his chair and left the cafeteria, following the way Gaara had gone.
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"Gaara!" Neji called out as he walked away from the cafeteria. He was outside now and getting closer and closer to the cluster of trees he asked Gaara out under. And then he saw it, a splash of bright red amongst the green trees. Gaara. "Gaara, I know you're in here." Neji said as he moved some of the branches out of his face when he entered the semi-enclosure. Gaara's head snapped up when he heard Neji walk up to him. When Neji reached Gaara he bent down so that they were looking into each others eyes. Sea green locked onto white. Then Gaara pounced. He launched himself onto Neji, clinging himself onto the front of his shirt. All the while yelling out apologies.
"I'm sorry Neji! I'm so sorry!" Gaara desperately yelled out. Neji was confused. Neji lifted his head which was previously on top of Gaara's to stare down at his red-headed 'boyfriend'.
"What do you have to be sorry for Gaara? I should be the one apologizing to you. I shouldn't have said those things." Neji said as Gaara lifted his head up to look into the milky eyes of his boyfriend. Gaara looked like he was about to protest but Neji put up a hand to silence him. "And don't even try to say it was your fault. It was mine; I should have stopped." Gaara still looked hesitant and like he wanted to protest but the look Neji gave him silenced any thoughts he had. "Hey Gaara?" Neji asked after a minute of sitting on the ground.
"Hmm?" Gaara responded, staring up at the sky and just looking at the clouds drift by.
"Can you get off of me?" Neji asked, pointedly looking down at Gaara who was sitting on his lap. Gaara looked confused for a second before he realized he was still sitting on top of his boyfriend. Gaara jumped up as though he had been burned and immediately started blushing.
"O-oh. Sorry N-Neji." Gaara stuttered out, cursing himself mentally at how stupid he must have sounded.
Neji smiled gently at Gaara. "It's fine Tanu-chan." Neji said before he leaned down and captured Gaara lips in a kiss. The kiss quickly turned heated as Neji wrapped his arms around Gaara's waist and Gaara wrapped his arms around Neji's neck, pulling him down slightly so he could get better access to his boyfriends mouth. Neji licked the seam of Gaara's lips, asking for entrance which was immediately granted. Neji and Gaara's tongues hesitantly went out to meet each other, and when they did it sent shock waves down the couples spines. Finally the need to breath came too great and they were forced to pull away, a single string of saliva connecting them, but breaking when Neji spoke. "Hey Gaara, do you maybe want to come over to my house after school?" Neji asked.
Gaara looked like he was about to agree but then he remembered the text that Naruto sent him. "I-I wish I could but I-I can't. Naruto wants me to go over to his house today. He wants to tell me and Kiba s-something." Gaara said, looking down. Neji simply tilted his head back up and leaned down to give Gaara a chaste kiss on his lips.
"That's fine Gaara. Don't always expect people to be mad at you." Neji said, smiling gently at his 'boyfriend'. Gaara smiled up at his boyfriend. He was about to say something when the bell rang, effectively cutting him off. Gaara sighed. He had to go back to his boring Social Studies class. It's that he Kurenai was a bad teacher or anything, it was quite the opposite really, it's just that Social Studies was boring. "Well, let's go to class Gaara." Neji said as he pulled away from his 'boyfriend', just to hold his hand instead.
"Yeah..." Was all Gaara said as he and Neji made their way indoors for the last 2 hours of their day.
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Gaara sluggishly made his way out of his last class of the day: Gym with Gai-sensei. This was also the class he was the worst in. He. Hated. Gym. Gaara hated the whole concept of Gym really. Especially when the teacher was Maito Gai. The man was like a machine! One second for warm-ups you were doing push-ups, the next you were sprinting. And now that it was springtime Gai was shouting about the 'springtime of youth' or something. Gaara couldn't really remember right now, his brain was like mush and his bones were like jello. If he never had to Gym again it would be too soon. But sadly the next day he had double Gym. Which meant a fit run. Yay. Fit runs were basically Hell in running form. Gaara didn't even want to think about that right now. So he didn't. He simply leaned against the wall, completely tired and just waiting until his boyfriend got changed and left the boys locker room. After what seemed like hours, but was really only about 3 minutes Neji was finally changed and ready to go.
"Hey Gaara, you ready to go?" Neji asked as he walked up to his 'boyfriend'.
As soon as Neji reached Gaara the red-headed boy slumped into his boyfriends arms, too tired to stand any longer. Neji laughed at Gaara.
"I'll take that as a yes?" Neji said, still chuckling. Gaara answered Neji with a glare, though the glare lost any harshness as Gaara was too tired to even make an effort. Gaara, remembering they were still in the Gym, started to pull Neji away, only to stop remembering that he and Kiba should be on their way to Naruto's house by now. Gaara quickly turned around, wide-eyed, and looked at Neji.
Neji was just about to ask what was wrong but Gaara beat him to it. "I completely forgot that today me and Kiba are supposed to go to Naruto's!" Gaara rushed out in a panic. Before Neji could reply Gaara leaned up, gave him a chaste kiss on his lips, then ran out of the gym, throwing a half-assed wave at Neji before he flew out the doors and into the deserted hallway to meet up with Kiba
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Gaara ran through the deserted hallways of the school, flying by lockers and classrooms, and shooting past any remaining students. Once Gaara got to Kiba's locker he leaned up against it to try and catch his breath. Once he caught his breath he straightened up and looked at Kiba, not missing the glare Kiba shot at him, though it was more playful than anything, if the amusement in his black orbs was anything to go by. "What took you so long Gaara?" Kiba asked as he stood up straight from the slouched position he was in against the lockers. Kiba took in the tousled look of Gaara's hair and the flush on his face that hadn't gone away from gym class and his eyes widened before a sly grin plastered on his face. "You and Neji weren't getting freaky under the bleachers, were you Panda-chan?" Once Gaara registered what Kiba had said his face had gone redder then it had in his life and started sputtering.
"W-wha-? Uh...we...NO!" Once Gaara got the ability to speak back he yelled at Kiba. "We were NOT getting 'freaky' under the bleachers Kiba!" Gaara said, his face still redder than a tomato. "What would make you think that?" Gaara asked, still in shock his friend would ask that, even if he were joking. Kiba merely laughed in response to Gaara. And this wasn't just simple laughing, oh no, this was full on clutching of the stomach hysterical laughter that rang out through the empty school. Or what they thought was an empty school until a teacher poked his head out of his classroom and shushed Kiba. After Kiba's laughing fit died down until he was only chuckling every now and then him and Gaara packed up and left the school. Once outside the duo spotted Kiba's car in the student parking lot and made their way to it.
Once in the car Kiba started laughing again, only stopping to put his key in the ignition. Gaara's face turned red again. "We were not Kiba!" Gaara screeched in order to get his friend to stop laughing, which in turn only made him start laughing even more. "We weren't!" Gaara screeched again, though it proved useless as Kiba merely turned around, made sure there were no cars behind him, and pulled out of the student parking lot, driving down the road in the direction of Naruto's house.
"Sure you weren't Gaara." Kiba said chuckling, but it abruptly stopped when Gaara hit him upside the head. That would teach Kiba to mess with Gaara...for now.
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After about 5 minutes of driving the duo arrived at Naruto's apartment complex. Kiba parked his car on the side of the road and then he and Gaara made their way out of the car and up to Naruto's room. Once they reached room 129 they knocked on the door. After hearing a scratchy voice call out 'come int' Kiba and Gaara shared a sad and confused glance before Kiba pushed the door open. The site they saw was not pretty. Now normally Naruto's apartment was not very clean, but today it was especially messy. Empty ramen cups littered the floor, pillows were thrown around and even some broken glass littered made residence on the floor of Naruto's living room. And then there was Naruto. The normally cheery blond was sitting on his couch, staring at the blank television screen with no emotion but pure anguish on his face. Kiba and Gaara shared a glance before they rushed to Naruto, quickly taking their shoes off and throwing them behind them. Gaara reached Naruto first.
"Oh my gosh Naruto!" Gaara breathed out as he crushed Naruto in a hug. "What happened to you?" Gaara asked as he let go of the blond boy, only to be pulled forward into a heart-shattering embrace. Just as Gaara was about to say something a warm tear hit his shoulder. Gaara's eyes widened, he had never seen Naruto cry. In the two years that Gaara had known Naruto he had never, never, seen him this sad, this...broken. Gaara pulled back a bit only to find Kiba staring at their blond friend in shock. Gaara shot him a confused look in shock before Kiba took a seat beside Gaara on the couch Naruto and Gaara were sitting on.
Kiba gently reached over Gaara and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto's head snapped up at the hand that was on his shoulder, but relaxed when he saw it was only Kiba. Naruto took a few breaths before to calm himself down. Once Naruto deemed himself stable enough he let go of Gaara and leaned back into the couch, Kiba's hand still on his shoulder. The apartment was silent aside from the occasional hiccup from Naruto. Then Naruto spoke.
"I-I'm sure you're both w-wondering why I r-ran out yesterday, a-aren't you?" Naruto asked as he looked down at his hands that were placed in his lap. Kiba and Gaara shared a look before they looked back at Naruto.
"But you said that you were sick..." Gaara trailed off.
Naruto looked up and gave a sad smile to his two best friends. "W-well, not really..." Naruto trailed off sadly, looking down at his lap again. Confused looks made themselves present on Gaara and Kiba's faces at this.
"W-what, but you said you were sick." Gaara said, tilting his head to the side in confusion.
"Yeah," Kiba said, removing his hand from Naruto's shoulder. "You said you were sick. But why would you say that if you weren't?" Kiba asked his friend.
Naruto looked over to his two best friends, a sad smile still present on his face. "W-well, you know how I kind of, sort of, ran out of the cafeteria like my life depended on it?" Naruto said.
Gaara and Kiba nodded, still very much confused at the whole situation.
"And you know how Sasuke followed after me?" Naruto said.
Gaara and Kiba nodded again.
"Well, it all started like this..."
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AH! I am so so SO sorry for this! I know that this chapter is very bad and the ending isn't that great but I just really couldn't focus AT ALL while writing this! AGH! Well I don't have anything to say here other than goodbye and that I hope people are still reading this. When I come back this chapter is going to be completely re-vamped and re-done so it actually makes sense and doesn't suck. Gomenasai! Bye bye and I will hopefully see you all soon!