A.N.-Hello Everyone! The second chapter is finally completed! I'm so excited to see if you guys enjoy this chapter. Gaara is introduced in this chapter so for those of you who were waiting for him, he's arrived :D Thanks so much for reading and to everyone who favorited this story or put it on alert or those kind kind souls who reviewed: THANK YOU! You guys are the greatest and the sweetest. Your reviews meant the world to me.
I hope everyone enjoys!
Fanggirlx
The next morning Naruto met Sasuke in front of the school. Strands of his damp freshly showered blonde hair clung to his face while most of it began to rise up into his unnatural but natural hairstyle as it dried in the morning air.
"How'd you sleep?" he joked as he came up to the grumpy raven haired boy.
Sasuke glared at him. "Ha, ha. Very funny. I didn't get to sleep cuz some idiot kept texting me last night."
Naruto shrugged and grinned. He knew he'd kept Sasuke company last night, since he wouldn't be sleeping while his dad was angry at him.
"You didn't have to reply, you know." Naruto shot back, sticking his tongue out.
Sasuke grabbed it and growled, "And leave you all alone? Like I would. You'd break something."
Naruto blushed and smacked Sasuke's hand away as he took a step back.
Laughing nervously he asked, "What the hell was that?"
Sasuke shrugged and walked away. Naruto watched him for a short second before sprinting after him.
"Hey wait up!" he called.
They had about twenty minutes before the bell would ring. Naruto followed Sasuke to the cafeteria and then to the long table in the far left corner where all their friends who weren't running late or on the bus hung out before classes.
Naruto spotted the familiar pink head of his other close friend.
"Sakura!" he shouted joyously as he leapt to greet her with a tackling hug. She saw him coming and screamed, green eyes wide in fear. Kiba quickly grabbed the back of her shirt and dragged her out of Naruto's reach.
"Watch out stupid, he could've squished you." Kiba scolded her teasingly. Sakura blushed at the fact that his hand still rested on the small of her back. She shook herself out of it and stepped away from his hand shooting him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Kiba."
Naruto felt otherwise. He didn't want to thank Kiba. He wanted to strangle him.
"What'da'ya mean squish! You calling me fat, dog brain!" he shouted angrily thrusting his finger out and pointing dramatically at the brunette boy.
Kiba smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "You too stupid to figure that out?"
Naruto's cheeks flushed with anger, "Why you-"
"Naruto."
He turned to the speaker, momentarily distracted. "Yes, Ino?"
"There was a seven foot tall gorilla in the commons square." she told him with an almost evil glint in her eyes.
Naruto's blue eyes doubled in size. "Whoa! Really! Yeah! I knew this day would come!"
He took off running for the commons square.
Sasuke shook his head and watched the idiot blonde run off. Sakura giggled and punched Ino's shoulder softly. "You shouldn't be so mean to him. You know he believes almost everything he hears."
Ino shrugged and batted her eyes at Kiba, "I was just protecting a fellow beautiful person."
Kiba grinned while Sakura glared at Ino and snapped, "Oh really, and yet you did nothing when Naruto was going to tackle me into the pavement?"
Ino studied her manicured nails with a bored expression, "Did you not hear me when I said fellow beautiful person?"
Sakura's eyes flamed, "Just what are you implying?"
Ino let her hand drop to her side. "I think it is clearly obvious what I am implying, you retard!"
Sakura nearly hissed with fury, "Oh yeah? Well Sasuke thinks I'm prettier, cuz he hangs out with me more! And it's obvious he has better taste than you do!"
Ino fumed, "Yeah right! He only lets you hang around cuz Naruto the idiot likes you and Sasuke is actually friends with the doofus!"
Sakura's face was at an almost atomic color of red. "Oh yeah? Let's just see what Sasuke has to say about this!"
They both turned to the place on the table where he'd been perched but the girls were shocked to see he was gone.
The girls turned to Kiba and asked, "Where did Sasuke go?"
The hoody clad boy shrugged. Sakura and Ino both took off in a random direction hoping to find the black haired boy before the other.
Kiba sighed and slumped down onto the table, "And there they go…always chasing that damn Sasuke Uchiha…"
Shino softly replied, "At least you were spoken to…I don't think they even saw I was here…"
Kiba grinned at his friend, "Sorry, man. But maybe you shouldn't stand silently in the corner if you wanna be noticed."
Shino's shoulders drooped sullenly.
Naruto strolled towards the commons square. He was no fool. He knew it was just a wild goose chase. Heh, as if there was really a huge gorilla out there. Though that would've been amazing… The only reason he was actually still headed there was that he had about fifteen minutes left before classes and being out under the bright morning sky would do his soul good. Being locked away in the sterile white walls of school did something to the inside of him.
Not paying attention to where he was going Naruto bumped into a body going the opposite way as he was. Steadying himself, Naruto looked to see who he'd assaulted; ready to apologize. Before him stood a redheaded boy with thick black rings around his aquamarine colored eyes dressed in all black and wearing a deep frown on his face, blood red locks hung in his eyes casually hiding most of his expression, giving the boy quite a sinister look.
Naruto knew him by reputation and a few conversations he and the guy had shared in classes. His name was Gaara and he had the school wide reputation for being a violent maniac. Naruto had yet to see the maniac part. He'd seen that Gaara had a temper, but he'd managed to keep the red head from killing him the few times they'd talked. Once had been in their Earth science class when they'd been project partners. Gaara and he had fought the first few days, but thanks to Naruto's patience and friendly demeanor Gaara had slowly warmed up to him… a little bit. Apart from that and the few small random conversations they'd shared since, (such as "Can I borrow a pencil?" "..nn." and "Ugh, mysterymeat what ya gonna do, am I right, am I right?" "…nn")Naruto had had little to do with Gaara. The kid liked solitude it seemed. He was almost always by himself, and rarely involved himself with anything or anyone. Well, except a fight here and there; those he involved himself in often.
Naruto grinned at Gaara. "Hey, sorry, dude. I didn't see you there. I wasn't payin' attention. My bad."
Gaara narrowed his eyes at Naruto but remained silent. Naruto felt a small fire of anger ignite within him. What was with this guy? Never even replying when spoken to? Why was it harder to get a word out of him, then it was to figure out Pythagorean's Theorem! Which was hard. Very hard. Talking to Gaara, however, was harder.
Naruto decided that with his sleep deprived self, today patience wouldn't be much of an option and that continuing this interaction would be a bad idea.
"Well, uh, anyway…sorry like I said. See you 'round." Naruto hurriedly said before dashing off.
Gaara watched Naruto run off and then turned to continue on his way.
Naruto lay stretched out on his back on one of the outside picnic tables with his hands folded beneath his head, eyes closed to the sun. A shadow cast over his face had Naruto opening his eyes to see his visitor. He grinned at Sasuke and greeted him, "Hey!"
Sasuke nodded asking with a smirk, "You know you slept through first period right?"
Naruto shot upright just barely missing hitting Sasuke's face with his own, "What! Why didn't you come get me!"
The blonde frantically jumped to his feet and started for the school when he heard the soft chuckling from behind. Narrowing his eyes in anger he turned to glare at Sasuke.
"What's so funny, Sasuke?" Naruto growled.
Sasuke shook his head, "Nothing."
Naruto charged back to Sasuke, stopping face to face with him, "Liar. What's so funny?"
Sasuke took a calm step back and held up his cell phone. Naruto looked at the screen and saw the time. His jaw dropped, while a smile slowly spread across his face.
"You ass! You're a total jackass!" Naruto laughed, holding his gut as he shook with mirth. "Why do you do these things to me? You're a sadist I swear…"
Sasuke smirked and gave a half shrug, "Yeah…you were really only asleep for no more than a minute or two…"
Naruto punched him in the shoulder and tried to stop laughing.
Sasuke started for the door, "Come on, loser, you don't want to miss first period for real."
Naruto smiled brightly and hurried after Sasuke, his sides aching from his burst of laughter. Sasuke had come to get him so that he didn't, in fact, miss any of his classes. Shaking his head with amusement at his stoic friend, Naruto followed him into the building.
The first half of the day seemed to float by in a haze. Due to not sleeping, Naruto had an even harder time focusing on what his teacher's said than he normally did. He had six periods and so far he hadn't really retained anything out of the three he'd been to. He'd already decided that he'd sneak off somewhere and find a quiet corner to nap in during lunch, which was thankfully next. He stared at the clock and counted down the minutes until he could rest. His history teacher, Mr. Momochi, was purposely dragging it out it seemed.
Naruto cursed the teacher and then time itself for crawling by. Once his anger was momentarily expelled he let his head drop to his desk in anguish. Why oh why did it just crawl like this! Someone needed to teach time how to walk, or hell run would be even better! Something out there hated him…that was it, yeah, some force in life hated him… Just as that dramatic thought had passed through his mind the bell rang and Naruto was up and out of the classroom before anybody else. As he ran he sent a text telling Sasuke what he was doing so he wouldn't wonder. Though the grumpy mannered teen may not care Naruto liked to cover his bases just in case he decided he did care.
He snuck through a clearly labeled exit that was supposedly off limits to students. It was an exit to the roof. Students used to be allowed on the rooftops, there was even an old greenhouse where the gardening club had once met. But an unfortunate and unexpected suicide brought down the hammer on roof access, now students are written up and assigned a counselor if they're caught trying to go up there. But he was never caught. The large metal door opened to a concrete staircase which led to another door identical the first. Naruto had discovered it back in his sophomore year and found it was a safe place to sneak off to considering that in the last few years no one had ever bothered him there.
Rushing up the stairs he ran through the door and almost immediately bumped into someone.
What! Someone else knew about his secret spot? Dammit, now he'd need a new hiding spot…which was a shame too cuz he loved this one…they'd shared some special times…
Naruto's eyes focused in on the person he'd hit. They were fuzzy because whoever he'd hit was like a human wall and had knocked the air out of him upon impact. The first thing he saw when he could focus was red. The person was redheaded and had now turned to face them. The second thing he noticed was also a color, black. Naruto nearly groaned when he put red and black together. In his mind it equaled Gaara. And he quickly saw that he was correct. It was indeed Gaara at his secret spot.
Naruto stared at Gaara and asked somewhat grumpily, "What are you doing up here?"
Gaara said nothing. Naruto resisted rolling his eyes, of course Gaara didn't answer him, had he really expected him to?
"The sign down there says Do Not Enter." Naruto grumbled, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder to the door.
Gaara narrowed his eyes at Naruto, as if he was trying to translate and understand what Naruto was saying.
"I know you can read. So what the hell are you doing up here?" Naruto snapped. He was tired dammit and Gaara's being here cut into his naptime!
After another moment of just staring and no talking Naruto huffed and let himself give into the urge to roll his eyes. He walked around Gaara and started off for somewhere on the roof away from this wall of silence, somewhere he could feel safe snoozing.
Gaara turned to watch Naruto stomp away. He frowned, his brow furrowed. Why could he never answer this person directly? When he stared into those striking blue eyes his throat tightened and no words would come out… why was that? He continued to ponder this thought as Naruto settled down against a wall many, many feet away.
Gaara went to his usual spot and slid down the wall, drawing his knees up and resting his arm on one knee he stared out at the sky with listless eyes. He didn't like people. Yet he could tolerate the blonde's presence. He hated being addressed so casually, yet he allowed it from this person. He despised, completely despised, talking to anyone; yet he had considered answering this person. He hadn't. His body had betrayed him and refused to let him, but the important issue here was that he had been willing… What an odd occurrence.
He cast a glance out of the corner of his eye at Naruto. What was it about this person…? He'd also tolerated him better than he normally did others back when they'd been forced together by fate, and Mr. Sarutobi. He'd spoken to him then… He truthfully hadn't given it much thought back then. It hadn't mattered; it could've been as simple as he was bored. But now it was different. Because, why was it now all of a sudden that his throat tightened as it did? It simply didn't make sense to Gaara that his body should tense and malfunction that way all because some person came near him.
Deciding that he hated not knowing, Gaara stood ready to conduct a series of tests to come to a conclusion. He approached Naruto and stood just a few feet from him.
He was asleep…
Unsure as to why, but nevertheless did, Gaara took pity on the blonde and simply walked away. His tests could wait. Returning to his spot against the far wall in the area, Gaara sat down and continued pondering the situation. Until he could get his answers, he'd most likely be unable to do much else. He hated not knowing things, particularly when it was a subject pertaining to himself. In his experience, those tended to be the most troublesome.
School's final bell rang and Naruto woke up. He glanced around and realized he had slept through the second half of school! Damn!
Leaping to his feet he took off down to the bottom floor.
Upon reaching the hallway, however, Naruto stopped and decided he'd already missed the classes. There was no point in going to them now…and school was over, so he should just go home.
With a sigh, he did just that. He left for his home.
Gaara stared at the open door Naruto had flung open in his haste to go down stairs. The red head wondered if perhaps he should've woken the slumbering boy. He had seemed peaceful though, and since Gaara rarely had a peaceful sleep he enjoyed seeing someone actually have one. Also, strangely enough, he hadn't the desire to wake him.
Dismissing those thoughts as pointless, Gaara stood to leave for his house.
As he was exiting the school building he spotted Naruto sitting on the sidewalk. He looked upset.
Gaara found himself curious as to why the blonde looked this way and so he approached him.
Naruto didn't turn to face him, it seemed he knew who it was without looking. This sent a small thrill of pleasure up Gaara's spine.
Opening his mouth to speak, Gaara was stunned to see he actually could. Apparently when not looking him in the eye, the blonde had no power over him. Good to know, very good to know…
"Why are you sitting there?" his soft deep rasp of a voice questioned Naruto. Gaara cringed at the sound of his own voice, it was…unsettling. He so rarely used it, so it sounded ugly and foreign to his ears.
Naruto huffed, "Why? Does it offend you somehow?"
Gaara shook his head despite the fact Naruto couldn't see the action.
After a silent moment Gaara answered, "No."
Naruto glanced at the red head over his right shoulder and Gaara felt the familiar hitch in his throat. His stomach did a flip. Naruto's blue eyes were always so filled with emotion. Honestly, it was something Gaara very much enjoyed; to see such emotions, to see ones that he couldn't quite express. Currently, the blonde boy was sulking, a pout very definite in his gaze.
Naruto narrowed his eyes on Gaara, "Then why are you asking?"
They stared at each other a long while. Naruto waiting for an answer, Gaara struggling to actually give one.
Finally after many minutes Naruto rolled his eyes and turned away.
The grip on Gaara's throat faded slowly and he answered, "Curious…I'm curious."
Raising an eyebrow as he turned to look at Gaara, Naruto studied the red head.
"Why…?"
Gaara shrugged, averting his eyes from Naruto's intense stare.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and stood turning fully to look at Gaara.
Gaara glanced at him and then slowly moved his eyes up to meet his, simply staring at him, face devoid of any emotion.
Naruto was beginning to put two and two together.
"You don't know why you are curious?" he asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
Gaara nodded, glaring at Naruto. Though, the blonde wondered if perhaps that was just his default expression, and not an actual action of anger or defiance…or maybe it was a perpetual act of anger and defiance…?
Naruto stood there looking at Gaara, waiting for an answer. Gaara stared at him, not giving one.
Testing his theory, Naruto turned around to stare at the street; his back to Gaara again.
Gaara let out the breath he was holding. Why this creature did this to him, he knew not. He just knew he didn't like it. Part of him wanted to stab Naruto in the eyes and gauge them out so he could never do it again. Yet…there was another part that mourned the very idea of losing those striking blue eyes to such violence.
His throat loosened and his stomach settled and after several tries he opened his mouth and replied to Naruto's back, "You looked upset."
Naruto smiled triumphantly, without turning around he replied, "Prob'ly cuz I am upset."
Gaara nodded, giving another soft scratchy answer, "I thought so."
Naruto resisted the urge to dance. Gaara wasn't the asshole he came off as after all. He was just…shy? Hm, maybe not shy… given his lack of caring on what people thought of him made that seem like the wrong word. But he did have some sort of issue with talking to people when they were looking him in the eye. And while it was hard to carry a conversation talking to the guy behind you, it wasn't impossible.
Why Naruto cared, he wasn't sure…he just knew that ever since they'd been paired together and Gaara had dropped his mask long enough to try even just a little Naruto had wanted to open the guy up more. Sadly, he had once been a lot like Gaara…and if it hadn't been for Sasuke trying so hard to be friends he would never have come out of his shell. Granted, Sasuke had only tried because they were literally the only two boys in the class, but he still had done it and helped Naruto.
"Yeah…my bike is gone." Naruto told Gaara, remembering their conversation.
After a long pause Gaara said, "How far do you live from here?"
Naruto debated his answer. This was leading to Gaara offering him a ride. He just knew it. Gaara was apparently trying to open a friendship door as well. Or…he genuinely was a good person and every person in the school was completely wrong about the very scary boy. But that didn't seem right. For some reason Gaara was just trying to be his friend. Probably because of their being paired together. Same for him.
But…offer of friendship or not…Gaara had quite the reputation…and was known widely as a fairly dangerous person…allowing him to know your address seemed like a really huge risk.
Deciding to offer a different option Naruto replied, "I wasn't actually planning to go home just yet. Kinda why I'm down about my ugly ass bike disappearing. Well, besides that it's like my only mode of transport."
He waited, testing to see how willing to hold a conversation Gaara was.
He continued to wait and Gaara stayed silent, apparently he was waiting for Naruto to finish his explanation. Ok…so…a master of words he was not. He didn't know the proper prompts to use with people to show that he was listening. He clearly just didn't have much practice. That could soon change though. Naruto would turn Gaara into his senior project, in a manner of speaking. Yes, mission accepted! When Gaara left high school, he'd be a ready and willing member of society!
"I was, uh, going to go to the mall…I wanted to buy a new movie. I wanted something cool to watch tonight. You know, just a change from the norm."
Gaara nodded, again whether the blonde saw or not he was just accustomed to using bodily replies if he ever actually replied.
Naruto shifted on his feet. He was waiting again. For an answer? Was that why he kept pausing for so long?
Experimenting, Gaara answered, "I see."
Naruto nodded, "Yeah. And now I can't cuz some asshole stole my bike. Or maybe, Kiba 'borrowed' it…either way it sucks cuz I won't have my movie night and I'll be stuck at home bored all night. I could invite someone over or go out mooching on their cars but…I wasn't really in the mood for a big group tonight. You know what I mean?"
Gaara snorted quietly, "I do."
Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, you don't seem to ever really want a big group around you…"
Gaara nodded, "That's true."
Naruto turned to look at Gaara, "I thought that was the case."
Gaara nodded, giving a half shrug as well.
Naruto walked by Gaara and towards the bike rack. "I really hope it was just Kiba being a jerk…"
Gaara came to stand closer behind him and answered, "Yeah…want a ride…?"
Naruto glanced at Gaara and turned back away to stare at the empty bike rack. "Nah that's ok…I can walk…"
Gaara nodded and turned to leave.
Naruto chuckled and turned, grabbing Gaara's shoulder.
Gaara took his hand and flipped him over and off of him in seconds flat. Naruto coughed, trying to get his breath back as he stared up from the ground. Damn, his poor back didn't deserve that…
Though he should've known there was a no touching rule…
Gaara glared down at Naruto.
Naruto grimaced at the pain as he struggled to his feet.
"I was just going to say I'm joking…of course I want a ride…but not if you're gonna beat me up, dude."
Gaara looked away, "Reflex…"
Naruto nodded, "It's cool…I'll live."
Gaara mumbled. "I will take you to the mall. And home."
Naruto grinned, "Thanks, man. I really appreciate it."
Damn, this take me to the mall thing failed. He was hoping for Gaara to take him there and leave him or just not take him anywhere. But looking back on it…that's stupid. He's getting a ride. Why be choosey?
If Gaara were really a bad person, he wouldn't have offered anything! Inwardly slapping his forehead in the universal sign of "I'm a stupidhead" Naruto happily followed Gaara towards the student parking lot.
"So what kind of car do you have?" Naruto asked excitedly. He really was curious. Sasuke had a theory that the kind of car a person chose to drive defined them in a way. Granted, he took into consideration those poor souls who didn't get a choice, not a real choice anyway. But for the most part he stood by this and enjoyed stereotyping people based on their rides.
So Naruto was intrigued to see Gaara's car.
Gaara gave Naruto a quick glance and then snorted, "Never said I had a car."
Naruto stopped a moment and stared at Gaara's back as he continued walking away. Running to catch up with the red head, Naruto stammered out, "So, uh, Gaara, why offer a ride if you don't have a way of giving one?"
Gaara raised one eyebrow and stopped in front of a big motorcycle. "I have a way."
Naruto caught a glimpse of Gaara's expression and he felt a strange feeling due to it. It wasn't butterflies…or nausea but it seemed like an unhealthy mixture of the two…
Gaara looked away and swung a leg around to straddle his motorcycle. Naruto stared at it a little longer. The gleaming black and silver was captivating. The strips of red thrown in for color was…distracting… Overall, it was an intimidating ride.
Gaara seemed to become a new person on his bike. He smirked at Naruto, his eyes filled with comfortable cockiness and his voice a bit firmer. "You getting on or what?"
Naruto stared openly at Gaara and nodded his head slowly. He climbed on and pulled on the helmet Gaara handed him. Gaara cast him a look over his shoulder.
"Hang on."
Naruto obeyed almost involuntarily as Gaara started the motorcycle and it roared to life with a sound like a crash of surrounding thunder.
His arms blindly found their way around Gaara's torso and squeezed tightly. Naruto scooted as close as possible, worrying he would lose a body part if he moved the wrong way.
Gaara glanced down at the slightly tanned hands gripping him and his smirk grew, a feeling surged hot within him, in the pit of his belly. He bit back a laugh and whooshed out of the parking lot.