Disclaimers: Naruto isn't mine. This is purely a fanfic using someone else's characters.

Warnings: This story includes strong language, violence, sexual assault, suicide, angst, & sexual content (yaoi)

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Chapter 31: Make Some Noise

"The past is never where you think you left it."

-Katherine Anne Porter

- - -

Sasuke's head shot up, wide onyx eyes staring in disbelief at the redhead standing at the front of the room. What the fuck is he doing here..?

He thought about the last time he saw him- the day all of those memories hit him hard, when he panicked and raced for Hokage Rock, desperate for an end. He must have been setting up his transfer. His jaw tightened. And now he goes to this school too..

Gaara met his surprised gaze and smirked. At first it seemed like he truly enjoyed the sight of him, and his obvious discomfort, but the humor didn't reach his eyes. Those hazy green orbs burned with something else entirely- rage, and a deep unsettled pain.

The other students were already used to Sasuke's cold demeanor, so Gaara's had no affect on them. In fact, it seemed to help solidify a fangirl group of his very own. Naruto, on the other hand, felt like he was sitting on pins and needles waiting to see how Sasuke would react to Gaara's sudden reappearance. The last time he showed up, Sasuke tried to jump off a cliff. What the fuck do I do if he tries to hurt himself again? The thought terrified him.

And yet, all he could do was sit there and watch as his boyfriend struggled to hide his emotions- a bystander as Sasuke's past resumed its torment.

Jiraiya sent his new pupil off to a seat in the back of the room, down the row from Sasuke and Naruto, and proceeded with the days lesson. It did little to hold his class' attention today though. The girls continued excitably whispering amongst themselves, peering back at their newfound obsession repeatedly, and several of the guys seemed to be just as intrigued by him. Naruto was too worried to hear anything Jiraiya had to say, so the lesson went right over his head as well. He didn't want to do anything to upset Sasuke, so he avoided looking over at Gaara- even though he was tempted to send a silent threat his way.

Sasuke also didn't look, but it didn't help. He could still feel the weight of Gaara's accusatory glare. And it didn't matter how much self-talk he did, how many deep breaths he took, he couldn't get the tension in his body to subside, the lump to go back down his throat. The hate and pain in Gaara's eyes.. it brought back everything for him.

Everything.

Minato's beautiful smiling face, his vibrant eyes gazing up at him.

… Those perfect blues sealed shut, his fox-like grin replaced with frozen, silenced lips.

Minato holding onto him tight, gasping for air as his innocence slipped away, as their love blossomed into something more.

Minato shoving Sasuke away, forcing back tears he refused to explain, pain he couldn't share.

Truths Sasuke should have seen before it was too late.

Minato's handwriting.. on a note filled with love and anguish and a sudden, permanent goodbye.

The raven pressed his palm to his mouth, forcing back the sick clawing up his throat. Don't think about it, he told himself. Not here. Not now.

Please, don't think about it.

He felt something drop down on his thigh and glanced down to find Naruto's hand, palm facing up, waiting for him. Part of him felt like he shouldn't, like he didn't deserve this kind of comfort. Not from him. Not from someone who looked just like-

Don't, he chided himself. You weren't going to do that anymore. You weren't going to look for Minato in Naruto.

That's not fair to him.

That's not fair to either of them.

Sasuke's hand slipped from his lips and under his desk, where he tightly grasped his blonde's, accepting the warmth and love he constantly had to remind himself that he was allowed to have.

Naruto flipped open his notebook to a random page in the middle, grabbed his pen with his free hand, and quickly scrawled something. Then, without a word, he pushed the notebook across his desk for his boyfriend to see. Sasuke gave the blonde a curious look before dropping his gaze to read what he wrote.

You can count on me, Sasuke.

He froze, letting those words slowly sink in.

Naruto is going through so much, but he still wants me to know that he has my back.

God.. I really don't deserve him…

Sasuke grabbed the pen and awkwardly maneuvered it in his left hand to write back. He slid the note over for his blonde to see and watched a small smile come to life.

Only if you count on your boyfriend first.

- - -

As soon as class was over, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and quickly pulled him out of the classroom, anxious to keep him away from his past. He managed to get him out the door and around the corner, but unfortunately Gaara had no intention of letting them slip by.

"Hey, Blondie!" he called, shoving past people barricading the hallway to catch up to the two. He knew they fucking heard him, that they just ignored him and kept going, and that pissed him off.

By the time the blonde was in reach, Gaara was livid and ready to take it out on someone. He grabbed Naruto's arm and jerked him away from Sasuke. "Hey- I'm fucking talking to you!"

The blonde flinched, huge blue eyes filling with fear, and Gaara's stomach sank. He really does look just like Minato.

And he never wanted Minato to look at him like that.

"Fuck, I'm sorry" he said quickly, wanting to explain himself, to take away that fear, "I didn't mean to-"

Sasuke ran up and shoved Gaara hard, sending him flying back, slamming into the wall.

"Nnn.." he groaned, pain shooting up his spine. His vision blurred, but he threw out a hand and managed to steady himself.

"Stay the fuck away from him!!" Sasuke shouted, pulling Naruto back behind him as he faced off against the redhead.

Gaara dragged long pale fingers through thick crimson hair, forcing it out of his face and away from the threat in his eyes, the promise behind his vicious snarl. "And why should I?" he said smoothly, purposefully antagonizing the fuming Uchiha, itching for a fight. "Does he belong to you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke stormed up to him, his charcoal eyes narrowed and burning with rage. He grabbed hold of the redhead, burying his fists in the collar of his shirt, and threw him up against the wall again. Gaara gasped as his skull smashed against rough brick, but his pain meant absolutely nothing to Sasuke.

He made that perfectly clear a long time ago.

"I'm fucking warning you, Gaara" he growled, bringing his face close. "Leave. Naruto. Alone."

Gaara really did regret scaring the blonde- the one that looked just like the person he had cared so much about; the person he had let slip between his fingers and into the destructive hands of the fucking Uchihas. He didn't want to see those eyes fill with pain. Not again. But he was too angry to let Sasuke get off that easy, too ashamed to admit his fault. So, he ignored the anxious blonde and kept his attention on the raven instead. The one he had come to despise.

The one he blamed for Minato's death.

"Go ahead, get in my face" he growled, "but did you ever protect Minato like this?"

Sasuke flinched, which only encouraged him. Gaara wanted him to hurt. He needed him to. He needed someone else to feel what he has felt for the past fucking year.

"How many times did you lash out at Itachi, Sasuke?! How many times did Minato see you fucking defend him?!"

Sasuke forced back his guilt, instead letting the rage pool in his eyes and burn in his chest. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about!" he snapped.

"I saw him, Sasuke. I saw how fucking down and lost he was, and you. You. Did. Nothing!!"

"He wouldn't fucking talk to me!"

"Because you already made your choice!" Gaara shouted in his face. "Family comes first, right?!"

"No!" Sasuke screamed, his fists twisting in Gaara's shirt as he yanked him closer. "Minato was my family, you fucking asshole! He didn't want me to know!"

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Convenient."

"It the truth" he growled.

Piercing green eyes found him once more, glaring daggers into his face. "And how would you know what he wanted. You were so fucking clueless-"

"It's in his fucking note!"

Gaara froze. "He.. he wrote a suicide note?" he breathed.

"I thought you knew everything" Sasuke mocked. He released his grip on the redhead but stayed close. He wasn't sure if this was done or not, and he wasn't about to give Gaara the opportunity to go after Naruto again if that was his intent. "Are we done here?"

He wanted the bullshit, the drama, the memories- all of it- to just stop. But he knew Gaara, and he wasn't one to let things go that easily.

Heated jade eyes shifted over to the blonde wringing his hands together just behind the Uchiha, clearly torn on whether or not he should get involved. The sight pissed him off even more. He shouldn't get involved. After what happened to Minato...

"That doesn't give you the right to do it all over again" he gratted out.

Sasuke's eyes hardened. "It's not the same. Naruto isn't-" he swallowed, "it's not the same, Gaara."

"Right" he said, unconvinced. "And yet he looks exactly like him. But I'm sure that had nothing to do with why you went for him."

"Stop."

Gaara tilted his head, a sharp grin slashed across face. "Tell me, Sasuke. Did you go after him first, or did he also just want to be your friend?"

"You don't know what you're talking about" Sasuke said weakly. His voice sounded strained, uncertain, like part of him felt like he deserved this. Though whether that was because Gaara was right, or because Sasuke felt like he should be punished, wasn't clear.

Seeing him back down did little to appease the redhead's anger, though. Gaara shoved his hands against Sasuke's chest hard, sending him reeling back. He didn't yell, didn't try to fight back, so he pushed him again, sending him stumbling back into the lockers.

"Answer me, Sasuke!!" he shrieked. "How long did it take before you tricked this one into fucking you too?!!"

A resounding smack echoed through the halls, stunning everyone into silence.

Sasuke jerked his head to the side, dark eyes wide with shock. Naruto stood next to him, his hand still lifted in the air, the back of it red from slapping Gaara across the face. The redhead also stared at him, still trying to process what happened. He looked down and saw that Naruto's hand was still on his wrist from when he had spun him around before hitting him. He stared at the bandaged wrist, then lifted his gaze to meet those infuriated blues- a look he had known from another blonde, when he had tried something very similar to try to keep Minato and Sasuke apart.

"Why.." he choked, his eyes pained, his jaw clenched, "why does he get another chance?! Why is it always him!?"

Naruto turned his face away as he forced back angry tears. "Why can't you understand.."

The redhead shoved his hand away and took a step closer. Naruto stumbled back, but Gaara's hand shot out and grabbed his arm, keeping him still. "He doesn't deserve you."

Sasuke snapped out of his daze and grabbed the Gaara's wrist, giving it a vicious squeeze. "Let go."

Despite his thinly veiled warning and Naruto's blatant fear, Gaara kept hold of the blonde. He wasn't ready to step away. Not just yet. "You're really ok with this?" he asked, his eyes locked onto Naruto's face. "Even knowing what happened to the last one?"

Sasuke's face dropped, and this time Naruto's was the one that hardened. "I am not Minato" he said clearly, his voice razor sharp. "And what happened to him is not Sasuke's fault." He glanced over at his raven, hurt to see the pain flickering in his heavy dark eyes. "Sasuke is trying to move forward" Naruto continued, forcing his mind to stay clear, his body calm despite the foreign hand still wrapped around his wrist. "And Gaara- you should do the same."

The redhead stared back at the blonde that wasn't Minato, letting his words seep inside his jaded heart. Numbed by sense and reason, his fingers fell to his sides and he just.. stood there, watching as Sasuke once again took another sweet, beautiful blonde away from him.

And then, just like before, he was alone.

Miserable, and alone.

Gaara knew Minato was gone, that bringing all of this up now didn't change anything, that it was fucking pointless, but it was just too hard to accept that it would end this way.

He couldn't do it.

Gaara had loved Minato- as a best friend for most of his life and as a quiet admirer since he was old enough to understand the difference. But Minato.. he had picked Sasuke. And Gaara had been left alone with his unrequited love and the bitter remnants of a rejection his blonde had been too nice to clearly state. Every day he wondered what kind of life Minato could have had, how long he would have lived, how much happier he could have been, if he had just loved him instead.

You took my blonde from me, he thought, glaring after the two.

Now it's my turn.

- - -

Sasuke avoided Naruto's questions for the rest of the day, but he knew that a conversation was inevitable. He couldn't escape it- not after everything Naruto had heard. And with Gaara now at their school, eager as hell to throw Sasuke under a bus, he could no longer afford to keep the truth hidden. He needed Naruto to know what really happened from him before Gaara tried to warp the facts. Because there was no doubt in his mind that the guy would be thrilled if he could come between them.

He wasn't about to give him the opportunity.

So, after skirting around the subject countless times throughout the day, Sasuke finally decided to tell him. They were both in his bedroom, lounging around as the night grew later and the house silent. Dinner had ended quite some time ago, and the day with it. The room was consumed by darkness apart from the two small lamps that sent a stream of warm yellow light across the walls, his desk, and one side of his bed. Naruto was stretched out on it, fighting the urge to sleep, while Sasuke was in his computer chair, leaning back as he eyed his tired blonde. After a while he finally found the courage and broke the silence.

"Naruto..?"

"Hmm?" Naruto responded lazily.

"Can I tell you what happened?"

Naruto sat up and stared over at the raven, his attention completely focused on him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Holding onto his newfound nerve, Sasuke replied, "I.. want to tell you about Minato."