Meh, I was really tempted to just quit on this thing. Not a soul bothered to review, and the hit-count isn't exactly stellar. But I want to continue it just the same, because I'm having too much fun writing it. (and THANK YOU for the 1 person that put this story on Alert! At least I know someone liked it enough to wanna see an update, so here it is!)
Title: Not All as It Seems
Warnings: Comedy here, romance there (it's fluffy stuff, really) and who knows what else my brain will think of
Pairings: Seriously, even if you don't wanna review, drop me a wee PM and suggest/request something! Confirmed ones include Gaara/Young (I'll say it again, Young is a character from a novel I wish to have published someday) and Shikamaru/Temari
Disclaimer: I'm running outta funny ways to say that I do not own Naruto or any of its hundreds of characters. I can always dream that I do, but reality is cruel like that.
Chapter 2
Thank You for Being a Friend
[small note - I had given this chapter another name previously, but since a particular scene in this installment was greatly inspired by The Golden Girls, I thought it'd be neat to use the name of the theme song as the title; it's such a heart-warming song, I couldn't resist]
6th December, 2002 (Friday)
'Bored… Bored…!'
The same word kept running through my head, over and over, like a really bad mantra. Power or not, Gaara was back doing his homework by his candlelight, whilst Naruto and Lee were engaged in a most exciting arm-wrestling match.
Suddenly, my frustration getting the better of me, I stood up from the couch and shouted at the top of my lungs, "IEQFU!"
All three of them raised their heads, looking rather taken aback at my sudden outburst. At the same time, they looked clueless at what in the world I had just said to them.
"What the heck did you just say?" Naruto demanded, eyeing me like I was some kind of scary alien or something.
"I meant to say 'stop'… I guess I said it in Maltese without thinking…" I said with an obvious grumble in my voice.
"Neat, say something else!" the blonde grinned, clearly meaning what he'd just said.
Giving said boy a smack upside the head, Lee asked me what was wrong.
"Well, let's see… you have a guest over, and you two are arm-wrestling!" I groused, then pointed at Gaara, "and… and you're doing your homework! Surely that's not what you guys do when you have other friends over, right?"
"You are absolutely correct!" Lee stated.
"And another thing… Wait, did you say I'm right?"
Lee nodded his head, smiling gently.
"Ya know, I agree! Let's all do something really fun! Who cares that the power's out!" Naruto joined in.
That's more like it.
Before I did anything else, I opened up my arms and grabbed every single book and piece of stationery on the table, then tossed them all in the furthest room I could find, which turned out to be Naruto's bedroom.
When I came back, I have to say Gaara looked none too pleased with me, but I'm sure he'll forgive me soon enough. Besides, we'll probably have so much fun, he'll forget all about that pesky homework.
"I know, let's play 20 Questions!" I said with a beam. This was a good chance for me to get to know my new friends better, if they agreed to play, anyway.
"Pass!" Naruto said at once.
Lee seemed to be considering it. As for Gaara, he was practically ignoring me as much as was humanly possible. Jeez, what a baby!
Placing my hands on my hips, I marched right in front of him and bent my head down so that we were face to face. Normally, I would never, ever do that sort of thing as I was actually really shy with new people; but this guy was really starting to get on my last nerves.
"Are you that mad at me for stopping you with that homework of yours? Couldn't you do it later, like at your place? That, after all, wasn't the way to be spending time with your friends!"
"Nobody asked for your opinion," he said back rather coldly.
"Fine, ya big bocciagalupe! Do what you want! I'm going home!" (I guess I do watch a little too much Golden Girls)
Straightening up, I walked to the door and began to turn the knob. Before my fingers even touched the cold metal, Naruto had grabbed me from around the waist and pulled me back. Lee followed suit by moving in front of the door, not intending to move away from it unless I took back what I said.
"But I do wanna go home!" I shouted.
"In that nasty storm? Forget it!" Naruto shouted back.
"I'd more than happily walk through a hurricane if it means I can get away from HIM!"
"I tell ya what. We'll go to my room, and I'll show you my gaming collection, just like you wanted earlier," the blonde said, for once in quite a calm voice.
Slumping my shoulders, I nodded twice, then off we went.
v-v
"Wow! You have Metal Gear Solid!" I squealed, holding the box and wishing for the hundredth time that the power was back on.
Putting his candle on the messy desk nearby, he smirked at me.
"I'm going to pick up Sons of Liberty tomorrow. The demo was insane!"
"Oh boy! Can I go with you?"
"You bet!"
Feeling much better, I placed the game back where I found it, then continued to browse through his huge collection.
Just as my fingers had landed on an interesting-looking title, I heard a soft beeping sound coming from the kitchen, then next thing we knew…
"YES! AT LAST!" we shouted together, and began to dance around the room like a couple of maniacs.
The two of us carried on our whacky dance all the way to the sitting-room. Once we got there, Naruto wasted no time in slipping a game into his PSOne.
"How are you feeling?" Lee asked me.
"Tons better, thanks," I replied, unable to stop myself from playfully mussing up his hair.
"Well, I was thinking, since it is a bit late, and the storm isn't letting up, would you consider spending the night here?" he asked.
"Wow, Lee! That's really nice of you and all, but I didn't bring anything with me…"
"We'll take care of everything!" Naruto piped in, liking the idea of a sleepover.
Making sure that Gaara wasn't listening, I whispered to the two, "he's not gonna be staying too, is he?"
"Of course he is! He's our pal!" Naruto said most defensively.
Well, I couldn't argue with that logic, even if I was still seething at his rude behavior. And he'd seemed so nice before this stupid storm started…
"I'll just make a quick call to my parents, then," I told them.
Lee showed me into the kitchen. Whilst I made the call, he proceeded into making us all some nice hot chocolate.
v-v
Things must have been rather hectic at our apartment. My parents were only too happy to have me out of the way; however, they also made me promise that I must be home by noon, and that I'll start unpacking my stuff into my new room. Absolutely no excuses.
"How come you don't have a single Final Fantasy game?" I asked Naruto for at least the thousandth time.
"RPGs aren't my thing."
"Have you even played an RPG before?"
"Nope."
"Then how could you possibly know if they're not 'your thing'?"
"I just think that Final Fantasy VII is really overrated," he said in a matter-of-fact voice. Well, he said it. It took him a bit longer than I thought he would, but he indeed said it.
"Well, you could try the others. I bought IX recently, and it's brilliant," I said. (he told me earlier his PSOne was modified, so we could play all my European games on it without any region-lock problems)
Taking a look at the clock above the TV, I saw that it was already 9 o' clock.
"Say, when are we gonna have dinner? I'm starving."
"Already ahead of ya! I ordered us some Pizza Hut pizza 10 minutes ago."
Yay! Things were definitely looking up again.
v-v
After we'd eaten, I decided I really wanted to take a shower and said so.
"Alrighty! Let me get you some jammies!" Naruto said.
I followed after him, refusing to be left alone with Gaara. (Lee had retired early)
"What? I'm not wearing these!" I protested, holding the abomination of a pyjama as far away from me as was possible. It was a really bright orange with sleeves that barely made it to my wrists, and the pants' leggings only made it just above my ankles.
"Sorry, that's honestly the best I can give you. The others are too big for you, you'd look like a potato sack."
"When were you this short, anyway?"
"Oh, that's from when I was 12," he said, resting his arms behind his head.
Looking at him now, I again realized how tall Naruto was. Man, in two, three years he really shot up like a tree!
"Fine, fine, I'll wear 'em… But I won't like it!"
Realizing I was behaving a bit like a brat, I softened my voice and thanked him for being so nice to me.
v-v
Fifteen minutes later, I was washed and changed.
It was so cold, though, that my teeth were chattering by the time I got the pajamas on.
Naruto was more than eager to make me a cup of tea to warm me up, but I was too tired and cold to follow, so I sat down on the couch with my arms wrapped around me.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Gaara reach into his bag… Bah, who cares! Reaching for the remote control, I decided to flip it onto the Lifetime channel. The Golden Girls was to start in a few minutes, 2 awesome episodes! Lovely! Just as I was about to change the channels, I felt a very warm, very soft material being wrapped around my shoulders. Looking down in surprise, I saw a nice cotton blanket that felt really soft to the touch.
"You'll freeze in those," he pointed out.
"Don't think this is supposed to make me forgive you for acting so childish earlier, buster!" I said.
"That's not why I gave it to you," he muttered. Hm, he did seem pretty sorry about before. Actually considering forgiving him there and then, I was quickly interrupted when Naruto came back with the tea.
"Perfect timing," I said with a smile, as I heard the familiar, cozy theme song to my most favorite show of all time start to play.
v-v
Some hours later, we were all tucked in bed. However, I was having a most difficult time getting to sleep. The rain was still pattering loudly against the windows; thank the Lord the lightning and thunder had finally come to a stop.
Changing sides on the futon for the umpteenth time, I tried to drown out Naruto's loud snoring by shoving my head underneath the pillow and covering up my entire body. Okay, so far so good, I can't hear him that much now… I can't breathe!
Annoyed now, I tossed off the covers and threw the pillow at the blonde boy, somehow thinking that that would miraculously stop his snoring. Hey, did they just get louder?
Sighing, I figured there was no way I'd be able to sleep through this racket. Being such a light sleeper truly is a curse… Taking back the fluffy pillow, I made my way to the couch and decided to try and sleep there.
'If I ever get invited to sleep over here again, I'll make sure that I'm roomed with Lee,' I thought firmly.
Placing the pillow on the armrest, I noticed that really wonderful cotton blanket folded neatly nearby. Ah, might as well… However, as I made to (a little too eagerly) grab it, I noticed the light in the kitchen was on. Surely Lee didn't have some other extreme workout routine to do at 2 in the morning?
Deciding to go and check, I wrapped the comfortable blanket round my shivering body and made my way inside.
It wasn't Lee. And I could still hear Naruto snoring happily away like a really vibrant engine…
"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" I asked, trying to keep my tone nice and polite. Not that it was really hard, I found. I simply could not stay mad at him. I'm not sure what it is about this redheaded boy, but I knew I wanted to be friends with him no matter what.
"No," he replied, his hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee.
Hm, excellent idea…
"You know what? I think I'll join you. Unless you mind my company," I added rather hastily, unconsciously holding on tighter to the blanket.
"No, not at all." Whoa, did he just smile? A small one, but definitely a smile! He really should smile more often; his features seemed to soften greatly when he did.
"Great. Be back in a flash."
With that, I made my way to the stove and put on the kettle. Rummaging around, I found a blend of coffee I liked.
Pouring the coffee into a mug, I went back to the table but didn't sit down.
"Eh, I guess I owe ya a bit of an apology, huh?"
Gaara looked up from his coffee, actually looking surprised.
"You?"
"Yeah, I admit I have a really short fuse, and it got the best of me then. Sorry." Did I mention that I feel guilty really easily? And I sure felt guilty about my own behavior at the time.
"I should be apologizing," he mumbled.
"Ah, forget about it. That power-out made us all cranky," I joked.
"But…" he began.
Shucks, looks like I wasn't wrong about him after all. Placing my mug on the table, I walked behind him and without really thinking, I wrapped my arms around his slumped shoulders.
"I'm telling you, it's okay. It's water under the bridge now."
Hm, he's lucky, though. Usually, when someone makes me really mad, it can take days for me to cool down and forgive them. Yet, here I was, offering my own apology, telling him to forget it AND hugging him. This was totally out of character for me.
Whoops, I found me again. Shyness having kicked back in (most rudely, I may add), I let go and sat down on the other chair.
"So, how come you couldn't sleep?" I asked, taking a sip of my coffee. Wow, what a terrific blend! I'm gonna tell Mom to buy me some of this! Along with lots of Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms!
"Insomnia," said Gaara simply.
"Oh. I've never had trouble with that. Is it really bad?"
"It can be, yes."
"Bummer."
I raised an eyebrow when I heard an unexpected chuckle.
"What?"
"At times I forget you're not American, with the way you speak."
"Oh, that. People tell me that at times. Maybe I should lay off the TV a little," I said with a tiny chuckle of my own.
"How about you?" he asked.
Giving him a confused look, he asked again, wanting to know why I was awake at this hour.
"Bah, you won't believe how loud that kid can snore! I'm gonna sleep on the couch tonight."
"You'll be really cold."
"Naw, not while I have this super-comfy blanket," I said, rubbing my fingers in its soft material. I swear, it was like being wrapped up in a cloud. "Where did you buy this thing? I want one."
"I didn't," he said, his eyes seeming to light up.
"Then whoever bought it for you has great taste."
"No one bought it."
"No kiddin'? Who made this?"
In a soft voice, which I barely heard, he said, "my mother."
Ah, of course. There's something about Moms, not to mention Grandmas, being able to knit the most comfortable things known to all mankind. That explains everything.
"Aw, I wish MY mom would knit me something like this! She loathes knitting like you won't believe," I said enviously.
"Don't you know how to knit?" he asked, sounding curious.
"Me? I can't even sew on a button, let alone knit a big ole blanket…"
Deciding now was a good time to change the subject before I revealed any more of my shortcomings with knitting and all my embarrassing attempts at it, I asked, "So, got any heroes?"
"I can't tell you that," he responded in a firm voice.
"Really? Mine are Whoopi Goldberg and Beatrice Arthur," I said without hesitation. To me, they were the most amazing women that ever walked on this planet.
"Why is that?"
"I really look up to them. They're so strong and dedicated, plus, it's no secret that they're excellent when it comes to comedy," I said, trying my best not to end my sentence with a 'duh!'
Looking satisfied (I think) with my answer, he had a change of heart. "My elder brother."
"Pardon?"
"My hero is my elder brother," he repeated. "But that's between us, all right?"
"My lips are sealed," I promised, placing my left hand across my chest.
"Hey! What are you guys doing up?" suddenly came Naruto's loud voice, making me jump thirty feet in the air.
"Can't you make your presence known like a normal human being?" Gaara demanded, sounding a bit annoyed himself.
"Yeah, you prat!" I snapped, trying to calm my rapidly-beating heart.
"Hey, you're supposed to be mad at each other, not me!" he defended, propping himself up on the counter.
"Oh, that. We made up," I told him.
"So then, how come you're up so early?"
"Your snoring kept me awake the entire time," I pointed out.
Naruto actually looked abhorred with what I just said.
"I do NOT snore!"
"Yes, you do too!"
"I do not!"
Okay, even my sleep-deprived brain could see where this conversation was going: nowhere. Looking at Gaara, I gave him a look that clearly said, 'do/say something!'
"Sorry, Naruto, but you do snore."
"That's downright ridiculous!" he shouted, not even really trying to keep his voice down.
"Keep it up, and that'll be two people you've woken up," I warned.
"Whatever, I just wanted a glass of milk anyway!"
Having said that, he went to the fridge, his nose in the air.
"Don't tell me I have to apologize to him too," I muttered, rubbing my aching head.
"No. He'll have forgotten all about this by the time he properly wakes up."
That was good at least.
Minutes later, Naruto came back out looking both grumpy and goofy. All over his upper lip was a milk-moustache. Before I could let him know about it though, he'd already slammed the door to his room shut.
"Now are you absolutely positive I won't have to apologize to him?"
"I'm sure. Besides, you did nothing that would warrant an apology," he stated.
Well, if he's putting it that way I'd better stop feeling guilty pronto.
Reaching out, unable to resist the urge I had earlier when I first saw him at the school, I brushed away the flaming-red bangs from his eyes. Hey, that reminds me!
"Is that a tattoo I'm looking at?" I asked. (oh, man! His hair is so soft! Much, much softer than the blanket)
"It is," he answered, pursing his lips.
"Not that I would, but if I did get one, my parents would have killed me for doing anything of the sort."
"I was dared," he snapped.
Heh heh, I didn't realize this was a touchy subject.
"Well, now we know my man Gaara is no chicken," I said, a loud snort escaping my throat. (ouchies!)
Heaving an annoyed sigh, he smacked my hand away from his forehead.
"All right, all right, I'll stop teasing. But seriously, weren't your parents upset?"
"My father was furious, but I'm used to that." He looked so uncomfortable then, I knew talking any further about his old man was a definite no.
"Um, what about your ma?" I chanced.
"She was extremely disappointed with me."
"Ah, but you're impossible to stay mad at for long," I said, remembering how quick I was to forgive him. "Anyhow, when you stop and look at it, it's actually really nice. And I hate tattoos, so that says something."
He didn't look all that convinced.
Kicking myself for bringing up such a sore topic, I blurted, "Say, how would you like to come over to my apartment tomorrow and help me unpack my things? I'd really appreciate it."
"All right."
Jeez, if I felt bad at losing my temper earlier, now I felt like a complete cow.
"I think I'll go to bed now."
With that, I was left alone at the table, feeling like a moron.
v-v
"Claire, Claire! Wakey, wakey, eggs and bacey!"
"Wha…?" Oh dear, my back's killing me!
"How come you fell asleep at the table?"
"Let me make you some breakfast."
"Did you stay like this all night?"
Standing up and trying to rub the sleep from my eyes, I saw all three boys looking kinda worriedly at me.
"Well, I'm going to regret having done that for the rest of the day…" I mumbled, rubbing my stiff shoulders.
I slowly walked to the couch, lying flat on all three seats. With the blanket still wrapped around me, I picked up the pillow and placed it above my face to block the sunlight from hitting my face.
Before I had my eyes closed for even five seconds, said cover was quickly thrown away. In its stead was a mug of hot chocolate being held just under my nose.
"All right, already," I yawned, and accepted the warm beverage gratefully.
Sitting properly on the couch, I took a tiny sip.
"What were you thinking?"
Ah, I didn't realize it was Gaara that had given me the drink.
"The better question is, what wasn't I thinking?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, come on! You have me feeling beyond guilty here!" I said with a huff.
"You thought I was mad at you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah… no… a little bit…"
"I'm not," he assured me.
I demanded he look me in the eye and tell me that again, so he did. I felt so mega-relieved, I quickly put the pesky mug down, and gave him a huge, apologetic hug.
"Aha! I knew there was something going on with you two!"
Ugh, but Naruto had the worst timing in the history of the universe.
End Chapter 2
Another chapter I had tons of fun writing, even though it took on a mind of its own, explaining why there's more fluff than comedy this time around. Still, it gave me a warm and squishy feeling inside, and I wrote it! That's a nice feeling.
Another couple of titbits revealed - I am truly a very light sleeper and had a REALLY bad experience with a snoring roommate some years back when I had to spend 3 long days at the hospital; and I feel guilty about even the smallest of things I do, even when it's an accident.
About the hero thing, my guy hero is (as I wrote in the prologue) Uematsu-sama and always will be, whereas my women heroes are indeed Whoopi and Bea. I really need not say why Whoopi brings new meaning to the word awesome, and there are so many reasons for Bea (especially her animal-rights work). I was absolutely heartbroken when my best friend told me she'd read that Bea had passed away. To this very day, I still look up to her as the greatest woman that ever lived. May she rest in peace and God bless her.
Oh yes, at first I was going to have Gaara say that his hero was Naruto (it's most obvious in the show how much he grew to idolize and look up to Naruto) but I simply could not resist him saying that Kankurou was his hero. I just love how close they grew in the series, and the bond they have is very much unshakable and so strong. (I actually wish that I have the same relationship with my brothers that Gaara and Kankurou have, alas…)
Well, that's that for now. I really hope to get at least 1 review for this soon. I have no intention of quitting this even if the review-count stays 0 till the end, but I sure would like to get someone's opinion on this story of mine (at least I got positive feedback from my best friend, so that alone makes me quite happy).