Disclaimer: I still have no ownership of the anime or manga Naruto. I wrote this listening to Ocean Avenue and Breathing by YellowCard, along with Counting Crow's Accidentally In Love. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and/or added this story to alerts/favorites. I would love to thank you personally but I am currently Beta Reading and writing two stories. Also, Algebra homework does not finish its self and teachers are demanding. So… Enjoy the chapter.

Trying to clear my mind, I searched for an orange juice bottle. Triumphant in my findings, I grinned. When I looked at the table all the events of last night began tumbling back into my mind.

I remembered telling Akio that I still remembered his embarrassing night in November a few years back, repeatedly mumbling jerks to the boys, and drinking coffee. The part that stuck out most in my mind was after my brother fell asleep, when Gaara and I were together.

Remembering the night before cleared my head a bit. Gaara and I had sat on my futon, making fun of my brother's snores and Kane's truly odd sleeping position. (He had taken my caterpillar and cuddled up with it on the futon in the living room.) I sat back against the blue velvet-like material with a smile. My hand flitted swiftly about my face, knowing it was hot but not feeling like turning on the fan near my T.V. "Gaara," I whined, "will you please turn on my fan?" He did, not saying anything much. I rested my hand on Gaara's with a small smile to thank him. A yawn did not escape me, for I wasn't tired. Instead, I laughed. That earned me an odd look.

"Why are you laughing?" asked my silent boy. His confused face peered at me.

"I don't know."

Gaara gave me his dry/what-the-hell look that I knew so well from countless times of seeing it from the red head. Even though his face was denying it, his eyes were happy. I had finally made his swoon-worthy eyes smile if not his face.

I smiled brighter and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Hand me that remote over there please, Gaara-kun."

He did, and I hit the play button. The sweet sounds of a guitar flowed by a fiddle filled my ears. YellowCard's Breathing swam out from my speakers with a thumping beat. "This is a great song, ya know." He didn't comment back, only listened carefully. I did the same, always wondering how they worked a fiddle into a rock band. However they did it, I prayed it wouldn't change; if it did, then it just wouldn't be YellowCard anymore.

The song ended and a couple songs by Cute Is What We Aim For followed.

"I just love YellowCard." My voice was full of admiration for the band.

Gaara nodded with a very thoughtful expression.

"Do you care if I stretch out a bit?" He shook his head, so I turned and lay my head on his thigh, my feet dangling off the bed, smiling up at him.

I received only an amused look. Yes, amused, not slightly-amused. I grinned wider and reached my hand up, placing it on his shoulder and pulling him towards me. Once he was close enough I ran my fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes again and leaned into my hand. I almost giggled as he reminded me of Bast and Ami, who chose to sleep on Kane's left arm that night. The bright grin still played on my lips as I ran my fingers through his soft hair and sighed happily. Another feral sound was heard from deep in his throat. It made my heart leap and I pulled the boy a little closer. I could feel his breath on my cheek, Gaara's eyes closed so that perfect little half-moons rested upon his own. Instead of my heart leaping at his closeness, it decided to just get stuck in my throat so I could scarcely breathe. My fingers moved through the red mass easily and twined throughout it softly. With a near-silent sigh, my silent boy leaned against my hand again opened his eyes. They widened a little, not knowing before hand how close our faces were to each other. The urge to press my lips to his almost burned me up but I managed a little grin instead of pouncing on the red-head.

My breathing became slightly faster as I looked into his lovely eyes. My body burned with the immensely strong urge to pull him closer and do exactly what my brother would never approve of. I didn't, of course. Instead, I pulled my blanket over my shoulders and lay there, my eyes open still as Gaara turned off the light. As Cute Is What We Aim For faded out, Maroon 5's She Will Be Loved graced my ears.

Beauty queen of only eighteen

She had some troubles with herself
He was always there to help her
She always belonged to someone else
I drove for miles and miles
And wound up at your door
I've had you so many times but somehow
I want more
I don't mind spending every day
Out on your corner in the pourin' rain…

The song played on and I closed my eyes, listening to the song play softly. My head still lay on Gaara's thigh as I listened.

"This is a great song."

I could practically see him nodding, not saying a word as he listened.

That's when I fell asleep, only to wake up four hours later at eight. I mentally shook myself and grabbed a chocolate chocolate chip muffin. Sitting next to Gaara, I glanced over at him. He greeted me with a nod and I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Where did you get a cupcake?"

"Kane," he replied simply.

"I should've known; that boy and his sweet tooth…"

Kane entered the room just as I said this. "Sqeet toth?" Kane said through his own bite of icing and baked goodness.

I ignored the urge to giggle at his near-slurred speech. "Yeah, your sweet-tooth Kane."

"It's rude to talk about people behind their backs, Aya," he teased.

"It's rude to talk with your mouth full."

"Touché."

I smirked and finished my chocolate delight. After downing the orange juice as well I dismissed myself to go get dressed.

My fan rotated with a light buzzing, the only noise. I frowned a bit and shut the door, pushing play on the stereo again. Resisting the urge to just lay in bed and let my mind wonder, I walked to the cot my brother lay on. "Akiiiiio," I whined, kicking his arm. He mumbled but didn't move, deepening my frown. "Get up."

"Mmmm… No." He tossed the blanket over his head.

"I have to get dressed." My voice was demanding, with an innocent tone my brother would see through immediately. Nevertheless, if it worked…

Akio left without another word, dragging the blanket with him. Ha. I won.

Rummaging through my incredibly unorganized dresser, I pulled out a white Green Day tee with a gun producing a red rose. Continuing on my hunt, I found a pair of blue and gray panda bear socks with stars, and a pair of ripped and washed out blue jeans. To finish my clothing choices, I placed a plain black fedora decorated with several Gir pins. I grinned after tilting my fedora to the left a little. Aha, that was perfect.

With a happy grin, I exited my room and walked towards the guys in the living room. Of course, they were all silent and watching T.V. I rolled my eyes and sat down at my lap top.

Sadly, I didn't even get to log onto my computer before someone knocked at the door. I sighed and stood up, walking to the door slowly. A smiling Temari and still black-eyed Kankuro waited patiently outside the door. I blinked once, then twice, and let them in without saying anything. The siblings – apart from Gaara – did not come to my house too often.

"You look pretty dressed up," Temari complimented.

"And here I am, poor me with no where to go." I fake-pouted and sighed, glancing at the boys in the living room. "I'm surrounded by idiots that want nothing more than to lie around all day."

"I want nothing more than to sleep in, but Temari insisted you needed company. Although I'm not sure why, you have a full house." Kankuro continued to grumble, but too low for us to hear. I rolled my eyes, knowing he was just bored because Mori was not here to occupy his interests. Still sulking, he grabbed a Mountain Dew from my fridge and sat down in the living room with the other guys. What a typical man…

"So what's poppin'?" I asked, leaning against my kitchen counter and yawning.

"Not much. We're just bored and wondering where our little brother ran off to again. He really likes staying here, huh?"

I grinned a lop-sided grin at the blonde badass. "I'm pretty sure. He is even friends with Kane now. My brother likes him, but doesn't trust him." I winked for emphasis. Temari giggled loudly, covering her mouth quickly. "No worries, Temari. The boys are too busy with television to notice much of anything." Kane, however, proved me wrong. That was unusual…

"I notice things," he said, walking up behind me and eyeing Temari with a glint behind those glasses. He was such an utter dork.

However, the blonde just rolled her eyes. It seems she didn't think of giving him the time of day, yet. Kane's eyebrows went up in response, and he smirked. Oh geez. I needed a vacation…

Kane continued his attempts to flirt and I stepped outside. It was not a bright day, just sort of muted sunshine everywhere. I breathed deep, loving the refreshing scent of clear, winter air. A dog barked randomly from somewhere and I leaned against the house. My yard was somewhat dead, as were the neighbors'. They didn't come out much, except for grocery shopping. Most of the people around me were older, or very recluse. I didn't see them much, and didn't complain. The giant, brick building I lived in was upper-middle-class, with its paved walks and birdbaths in every yard. Thankfully, there was not a ton of stairs, just a bunch of one-story apartments put together on a piece of land. I did like living here. Sometimes, though, I got a bit bored or lonely. I smiled to myself at the thought of Akio and Kane staying with me for a while. The company would be so welcomed. Usually I only had the rare times Gaara stayed the whole night with me. Crinkling my nose, I thought of my new hate of sleeping alone. Due to my silent boy, I had developed another sleeping issue. Now I couldn't sleep at all without someone near me. Ugh. It was very horrible. Well… I didn't mind those nights he stayed, just those when he did not…

The door, about a foot away from me, opened and closed near silently. It was, of course, my silent boy. I smile at the red head. He didn't smile, but he nodded in greeting. There wasn't a trace of anger, angst, or pain on his face now. It made my smile a bit bigger.

"We had a wild night didn't we Gaara?" I grinned wider, placing my hands behind my head and looking lazy and content. "It was pretty weird to see you eating chocolate. You hate sweets."

"How did you know that?" The boy looked taken aback, but I tsked at him. As if he didn't already know, I watched him a lot.

"I watch you, my interesting friend. You stray away from sweets just as I do any kind of seafood. Hell, you wouldn't even eat my Hello Dollies, which are damn good, thank you very much."

"That sounds sort of stalker-ish… I could call you a borderline stalker. And one with culinary skills at that."

I laughed a wide and happy sound. "You should really crack a joke more often, silent boy. It suits your new, not-as-depressing aura and the friendly side you have." He turned away from me. "Ah-ah Gaara. I know you have a good heart in you. If not, I could never do this." With a sly grin, I stepped closer and placed my arms around his neck, hugging the boy close to me.

He tensed for a moment, but eased up soon enough. The red head slowly and timidly put his arms around my middle. My head rested on his shoulder, his chin atop it. "See, Gaara-kun? You're a great person…" My voice broke on the last syllable, not able to keep myself all happy-go-lucky.

"Aya?" he asked quietly. I could feel his unsure words hanging in the air. They awaited my reply slowly.

"Yeah, Gaara?"

"Are you…okay?" His voice was smaller than before, meant for only my ears. Although, it wasn't exactly as if anyone else was around to hear it.

A couple of tears threatened to leave my storm grey eyes, but I fought with rapid blinks. "I'm fine." It didn't seem as though I was… For some reason, I was afraid to let go of the red head I embraced, never wanting to let go of him. I felt that if I let him go he would never come back to me… Maybe I was just crazed.

Finally, I broke the hold I had on him, stepping back with another grin. As if on queue, everyone walked outside. I blinked but greeted them nonetheless. An idea sprang out of my mind and I gasped. Everyone turned to me with wonder.

"Let's go to the mall!"

Temari squealed a yes.

"No," Kankuro said with a glare.

"No," Akio agreed.

"No," Gaara mumbled.

"Yeah!" Kane said happily.

We all turned to Kane now. "What? I like to go places."

"We win!" I giggled.

"What? You do not!" Kankuro argued.

"Yes we do. I count as two votes because it's my house."

"You're a cheater."

"And you have a black eye."

"Shut the hell up."

"Do you want a matching one?"

"You could never hit me."

Kane and my brother were inching away from my growing anger, while Gaara had fully stepped back. Temari looked on nervously from the doorway. "Why is that? Because I'm a younger girl?"

"No, it's because you're a pansy!"

"Oh, really? I'm a pansy. I don't believe that lie."

"Well it's true."

I thought about kicking him where the muted sun doesn't shine for a brief moment.. I kicked him hard in the shin instead, deciding Mori would be upset for damaging her boyfriend any further. He yelped and held his knee. I stuck my tongue out at the boy just as my phone rang. Gir's Doom Song blared loudly. That earned me a lot of weird looks. "What? Gir is awesome."

"You're a geek." Akio rolled his eyes.

"Gir is love. Get over it, need-a-date."

"Oh, yeah. I need a date."

"Finally you admit it," I teased.

My older brother just glared at me for a minute. "I'm not the one that's never kissed anyone."

Everyone else stopped what they were doing. All eyes were on me.

"You've never been kissed?" Temari exclaimed.

"I'm not talking about this!" I fumed and shot my brother an evil glare. "Kio-sama, Kane is going to find out about a very embarrassing night after this." His face paled visibly. I smiled again.

Karma's a bitch. He would soon learn what I had.

Thank you to all who reviewed! You all pwn greatly. Sorry the chapter took so you enjoy it anyways, and keep reading! Ya know cuz the story totally makes you laugh. Whether or not it's good, it's funny. :D So love it. Because Gaara is in it. Ooooh.