Arashi: There will be some "Domestic Violence" in here, very mild though. I thought I should give heads up on the warning. Disclaimer…still don't have Naruto at all
Gaara was beginning to feel bad. Ever since Naruto had offered his had of friendship to the resident freak show, he had been harassed. Not as bad as 'the freak' himself, but still, Naruto had once been popular—one of the cool people, the person you try to be like… and Gaara had taken that away. He tried to console himself with the fact that it was Naruto's choice to hang around Gaara, but it wasn't enough to ease the guilt. He knew it was slightly ridiculous to feel guilty about having a friend, but still… he was guilty. He knew he needed a friend, but that doesn't technically mean he deserved a friend. He wondered whether Naruto was just too nice to say 'I don't want to do this anymore', or if he genuinely was going to be Gaara's friend. It made Gaara nervous.
In addition to worrying about the fragility of his and Naruto's friendship, Gaara was constantly fighting. And we aren't talking about the: '"How could you!?" "I hate you!" "You aren't my best friend anymore!"' fighting. He got into the fights that it was difficult to walk away from on your two feet. He was fighting the kind that required him to lie on the ground bleeding for a few moments before he could crawl out of the open to recover even more. This had started about a week after he had started attending school again. The students had figured out if he was separated from his sand, he was powerless to do anything against their advances. Running wasn't a choice, there was always way too many of them.
It wasn't the pain he resented, it was the reason he was going through the pain he resented. It's not like the sand was hurting anyone. Gaara only controlled the sand just to feel alive; to make it seem like he could affect the world; to make it seem like he had a part somewhere in time. Maybe it wasn't an important role, maybe it was the equivalent of being the tree in a kindergarten play, but it was something. Gaara didn't mind. But… he wanted to know why being able to control sand was bad.
And in addition to these two equally distressing topics, Sasori and Deidara were fighting. It hadn't escalated to actual fist fighting, but they were very harsh on the matter. Gaara doubted they even remembered what they had been fighting about in the first place. However they were both very stubborn and not willing to yield to the other. This made things horrible at home. Gaara had no place to go. If he was at school he would get beaten, if he was at home he would always be put on the spot by Deidara or Sasori. St first he tried to slow his walks between school and home, but he was mistaken for a whore multiple times, and that just pissed Gaara off. Did he really look like some wonton slut that you could just pick up off the street?
"Dinner!" A familiar voice called up from the kitchen, startling him out of his pensive thoughts. It was Temari. Gaara briefly wondered if he should just not go down, but nixed the idea at the thought of an insulted Temari. Loping down the stairs he started to feel the tense air. Sasori and Deidara were sitting opposite each other, glaring at the table. Ah. So that's where it was coming from. Gaara wondered what chair he should sit at so he wouldn't set off an argument (next to Sasori or next to Deidara?). However, his savior of a sister placed down a bright red plate that Gaara had since he could remember down next to Deidara. Gaara took that as a hint and sat down next to a tense blonde.
Halfway through the meal Gaara started to feel even more uncomfortable. Usually the Sabaku kitchen table dining experience was filled with loud yells, insults, and smacking sounds; however, tonight there was an almost eerie silence.
Deidara suddenly slammed his hands down on the table, standing up, and yelled at Sasori to "Stop it!". When Sasori inquired on what he was doing, Deidara just got angrier.
"You know what your fucking doing!" at this Sasori lost his temper and slammed his hands down on the table and began to yell at Deidara. Soon it was an all out screaming match, that Gaara had no idea what it was about. Gaara started to cover his ears at their noisey fight and only stopped when he had heard a definite 'crack' and a dead silence.
Gaara looked up to see a very shocked, very hurt Deidara lightly touching a bright red handprint on his cheek. He looked over to see Sasori's expression. Sasori looked like he was going to be ill and was staring at his hand to Deidara's face.
"I… I… I don't know… I…" Sasori started to stumble out in an uneasy manner, looking greener by the second. Deidara just began to shake his head back and forth, trying to take a step away from the table, but only succeeded in tripping over his chair behind him and landing on the floor.
"Deidara! I'm… I'm sorry… I don't know… I…" Sasori attempted to run over to the fallen Deidara, but Kankuro stopped him. Temari glared at Sasori heavily and began to clear the table, sensing dinner was over.
"I'm going to bed." Deidara said monotonously from the floor, rising up almost robotically and walking from the room. Gaara sighed and followed his cousin's boyfriend. Deidara was a drama queen, so he might need some guidance on this one. Gaara softly knocked on the door to Deidara's and Sasori's room. At Deidara's soft "come in", Gaara did so and shut the door behind him. Deidara was sitting on the bed, crying.
"Hi." Gaara started awkwardly.
"Hey."
A long pause.
"You know he loves you right?" Gaara said softly.
"I… I know…" Deidara replied, curling his arms around his knees on his… no… their bed.
"But that doesn't make it right." Gaara continued, sitting next to Deidara, tucking his legs underneath him. Deidara shifted. Gaara sighed. Deidara shifted again.
"It… it was my fault anyway… I started it."
"No!" Gaara yelled, causing Deidara to jump. "You didn't do anything wrong! Sasori is the one at fault here! Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control…" Deidara was silent. Gaara sighed for what seemed the twentieth time this evening.
"If you plan on forgiving him, at least make him deserve you forgiveness." Were Gaara's parting words. As Gaara closed the door behind him, he spotted Sasori walking down the hall.
"Hey. Fuckhead." Gaara started, stomping over to his ill looking cousin. Slamming the redhead into the wall, Gaara continued, "If you ever make Dei-dei cry again I will .Fuck. You. Up. I don't care if you're my fucking cousin. I will hurt you. No go fucking beg for forgiveness." Gaara spat with a final shove into the wall.
Gaara then continued his walk to his room as if nothing had happened, dreading the morning to come; because when morning comes, school follows.
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Arashi: Please read and review