Back to Hell, I Mean School
By: Shozetsku
Authoress Notes:
Raise your hand if you want to kill me? -looks at the raised hands- ... shit. Yes I left this for over a year. No I didn't abandon it. But of course I had monster writer's block. YES, I'm excruciatingly sorry. No, I don't mind if you flame me for the lateness. BUT ONLY for the lateness.
Chapter 6: Battles Won, Battles Lost
Naruto followed the main crowd and unknowingly was led to the cafeteria; just outside it Naruto spotted Kiba, kicking a soda machine with unnecessary ferocity. As Naruto got closer to the brunette his dollar was spat back out of the machine and two sodas dropped into the opening, Kiba looked up to see Naruto and handed him one after pocketing the dollar.
"Cheers!" he said happily unscrewing the lid and taking a long drink. Naruto just looked at the soda in his hand.
"Isn't that stealing?" Naruto asked, Kiba looked at him but didn't answer. Clapping a hand to his mouth he gave a muffled belch.
"Actually it is, and one day your going to get caught at it Kiba." Shino said walking up to them, Shikamaru and Chouji accompanying him.
"You keep saying that and I still haven't been caught. Really Shino, you're being so penitent." Kiba said taking another gulp of his soda.
Shikamaru rubbed his temples, "The word is petulant! And I keep telling you not to use big words before fifth period!"
Kiba rolled his eyes. "Who asked you? Just admit I'm right and you're wrong."
Shikamaru looked ready to punch Kiba's face in. But he just scoffed, "You are just so trou-ble-some. Or you could be drunk, I don't wanna check. But for sure you're troublesome."
Kiba stuck his tongue out at him, "So are you." Naruto looked at them and he laughed. All four of them looked at him.
"What's so funny?" Chouji asked between bites of food. Naruto laughed harder, "You guys are such good friends."
They all looked at him, but Naruto refused to answer their silent questions. He unscrewed the lid of his own soda and took a long drink. "Ahh!" he said with a contented sigh, "The fruits of petty larceny!" he burped loudly, and a boy with dark hair and pale skin and eyes walked past looking disgusted. "Ugh, really Naruto, I pegged you for someone with more class than that." Naruto looked at the back of the boy, who kept walking away from them. How had he known his name? Did he know him, were they in a class together?
"Whoa! You know Neji-senpai?" Kiba asked looking amazed.
"Oh yeah, Hyuuga-senpai's in my psychology class, he's usually nicer to me though." Naruto said coolly, then he blinked; he had gotten a weird feeling for a moment but it passed. He'd have to apologize later; Neji was the touchy type.
"C'mon, Math class is nowhere near here. And we'll be yelled at if we're late." Kiba said after chugging the rest of his soda. The rest of them followed his lead down the hallways, Naruto, suddenly struck with curiosity asked, "So who teaches math?"
"Anko-sensei, she's a demon." Chouji said through his chip-filled mouth. Shikamaru scoffed, "And the worst part is that Iruka-sensei is still out, so we have her again for Japanese."
Naruto's face fell as he climbed a random staircase, "That witch took my cell phone on my first day here."
"Yeah, she's evil like that. Just don't ask her any questions, she hates that. If you don't understand the math homework then you're on your own." Kiba said acidly.
"I take it you don't get math." Naruto said placidly.
"The only part of math I get is the part that pertains to money." Kiba snorted.
"Now just imagine what it's like to tutor him." Shino said sourly. Naruto laughed and clapped Shino on the back, "Man, oh man, do I ever pity you Shino." Shino seemed to bristle a little at the human contact but did not pull away.
As it turned out Naruto didn't have anything to worry about because when he had a tutor he actually had gotten very far ahead of the math class he had been put in, all he had was one or two more chapters and he would have been done with the course. Naruto spent most of the class period helping Kiba as much as he could and answering random math questions from Anko that weren't always about the chapter the class was studying at all. Apparently, Anko-sensei thought he was a chronic liar, and being proved wrong only worsened her mood and her opinion of him.
By the end of math class Naruto and Anko had reached an unspoken mutual understanding. That understanding was, "I HATE YOU!!!!!!!" this wasn't a very good thing considering that Naruto would have her for a teacher again for his Japanese class.
Naruto decided to work on his last two chapters at home to keep ahead of the regular class. He had the distinct feeling that he wasn't going to be able to learn any math from Anko.
Not soon enough for Naruto nor Kiba's liking, the bell rang, signaling the end of class. Naruto couldn't believe that he hadn't had lunch yet. Japanese class was held in a classroom that Naruto felt that he wouldn't hate. He didn't know why the room gave that impression; it just did. He found Gaara and set his books down next to him. Gaara listened as Naruto gave a low rant about Anko before class started.
"Alright listen up! Iruka is still out and I'm still subbing this class, and since he left you while you were practicing your essays we're going to continue on that track because I'm too damn lazy to try to teach you something new in a field I didn't get a teaching degree in."
There was a collective groan around the room; some people put their heads together to ask questions and talking with their neighbors.
"I'm repeating myself because we have a new student." Anko said answering their whispered questions, "You! Stand." She said pointing at him. Naruto scowled, he wasn't in the mood to deal with her at the moment, he was in a very sour mood, he was soo hungry, "My name is not You." Naruto stated flatly.
"Fine. Be a wise ass. I'll be making phone calls to Europe on your cell phone." Anko said smugly.
Naruto scowled so hard at her that even Gaara stared at him wide eyed, "The country code for France is 33 I think, so have a ball. I said my name is not You." Gaara blinked at his obnoxious audacity and immediately regretted not thinking of it first, he loved the twisted look of fury on Anko's face; but they all paid dearly for Naruto's rudeness.
"One page front and back about your transition from childhood to adulthood." Anko stated to the class, they all groaned, "Don't look at me, he's the one you should glare at." a few people turned in their chairs to glare at Naruto but they might as well not have bothered. Naruto was already digging in his bag for his binder and ripped out a sheet of paper and began to write.
Gaara leaned over his bag to pull out paper for himself, but he had a perfect view of Naruto's paper and he stopped.
His eyes darted across the paper and after reading the words there he stared at Naruto in disbelief. Naruto wasn't done though. He heard an irritated cough from the front of the class and he went back to fishing for paper.
He had just finished putting the heading on his paper when Naruto stood up. Gaara caught a glimpse of the paper in his hand. There was a paragraph, if that, with his name scrawled at the top. Naruto all but stomped to the teacher's desk and almost literally threw the paper at her before leaving the room.
"That's a referral." she said coolly, not caring whatsoever. She was more interested in what he had written. Gaara watched her dark eyes travel back and forth down the paper. He braced himself for the explosion.
He waited.
He waited.
But nothing happened.
Anko was just staring at the paper, it read:
My transition from childhood to adolescence is none of your business. I'm not joking, call speed dial number three on the cell phone you confiscated from me and ask to speak with Dr. Tsunade and ask her if my 'transition' is any of your business. She'll tell you, in less polite words, that that is highly sensitive and privileged information and that you have no right to pursue it. And in case you can't read my name at the top of this paper I'll write it again. "UZUMAKI NARUTO" In case you were ignoring me, I'll say it again. My name is not You. I thought I should tell you that I'm not feeling well. I'm going to the bathroom. As you may or may not have noticed, I have left my books in class. I am coming back. If I ever get done throwing up.
Naruto ran the sink water as he bent over the counter. His shoulders shook horribly as he fought the urge to throw up. His transition... was beyond imagination. For the most part, the physical transition happened in that psychiatric ward. But really, he had left his childhood behind when he was eight... he stopped thinking as another wave of nausea crashed over him, sending him headfirst into the sink. As luck would have it, Sasuke Uchiha had entered the bathroom, the door of the bathroom opened and Sasuke saw Naruto, sick over the sink.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, cautiously stepping towards Naruto. Naruto flinched horribly, Sasuke backed away.
"Don't -gasp- talk." Naruto managed to say between dry heaves into the sink. "You -cough, cough- you sound like -wheeze- him."
That was all that needed to be said. Sasuke shut his mouth, but he still wanted to help the boy, Naruto looked like he was having an attack of some kind. He reached out to help brace Naruto but stopped before he touched him, he looked into the mirror at the blonde's reflection. Naruto looked up into his, Sasuke's silent plea for permission was granted by a rigid nod of the blonde's head.
Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder while he used his other hand to rub small circles on Naruto's back. After a few minutes of this, Naruto seemed to calm down a bit. Naruto coughed and the taste of stomach acid crept into his mouth, he coughed into the sink and ran the water. Bringing the water to his mouth with his cupped hand, Naruto tried desperately to get the taste of rising bile out of his mouth.
Sasuke bit his lip; it was hard not to at least ask if the boy was okay. After a few moments of Sasuke just standing over Naruto, rubbing small circles on his back in a silent effort to calm him down, Naruto stood up slowly, "Ugh, and I have lunch next too." Naruto paused, "Well. At least I didn't throw up. Thanks Sasuke, you're really not so bad." Sasuke said nothing. "Man, do I hate Anko. Do you have her for a teacher?" Sasuke could tell that Naruto was trying to play off his nausea spell so that he was left with some dignity, Sasuke nodded, "After lunch." He said tentatively.
Naruto didn't seem perturbed by him speaking anymore. "She's a demon isn't she?" Naruto laughed a bit. Sasuke though, couldn't find the humor in the situation. He cleared his throat and began, very softly, "…so…" he waited for a reaction from Naruto. When he saw the blonde expecting him to say something he continued, "Are you okay now?" Naruto gave a slight nod and Sasuke asked again, "May I inquire as to what brought this," Sasuke swept a hand over to the sink, "about?"
Naruto quirked a brow at Sasuke and then replied, "It's high school. Don't you get nauseous?"
Sasuke smiled a little and agreed with the blonde. He accepted Naruto's answer, for now at least. An awkward silence fell over them, and both mutually agreed it was time to leave. "See ya around, Sasuke." Naruto exited the bathroom, What class does he even have right now? I wonder if we have any more classes together? He wondered idly.
Sasuke left without another word heading in the opposite direction of Naruto. With a shrug, Naruto meandered back to class praying he remembered the way back at all.
Anko did not even look up from her desk as he entered the class. He returned to his seat, still receiving a few glares from his fellow classmates for the unexpected assignment he had landed them all in. He plopped into his chair, exhausted, and opened his notebook. He half lay on his desk and began doodling.
Gaara, on the other hand, was trying to figure out any possible explanation for the behavior portrayed by his teacher. He considered every possibility from chemicals in the water to aliens to body snatchers even considering fairies, alternate realities, and ghosts.
Thankfully the lunch bell rang, the few students that were not finished with the assignment rushed to write a few sentences for a conclusion before they turned their essays in.
Naruto and Gaara packed their things and left the classroom together, Gaara waited for Anko to call Naruto out and keep him during lunch, to hand him a referral, to cuss him out, to do SOMETHING DAMNIT! But Anko was blatantly not looking at them as they passed.
"Where are we going to sit at lunch Gaara?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious. Gaara's jaw tightened unexpectedly, he fought to keep his voice casual, "I like the quiet so I usually eat outside, I kind of have a favorite spot, of sorts..." he trailed off. In truth he hated people and they're stares at him, so he ate in seclusion.
Gaara was no fool in regards to the rumors that flew around the school about him, he was the disowned, disgraced, and probably delinquent son of a businessman that was not known for his generosity as he was known for being fearsome, stonehearted, and merciless. Which meant that if his father was that bad then he must have done something downright horrible to get disowned. Was he a drug dealer? Did he get arrested? Did he kill someone?
The horrible part of it was the last one was true, his mother died while in labor with him. He would have died anyways if his mother hadn't made a pact with the demon that now resided within him. She had been so determined to give him a chance at life, even though she knew she would never hold him in her arms. But the light of the Sabaku household died giving him life, and in her luminous presence she left a shadow. Temari and Kankuro were barely old enough to understand but they figured out the gist of it.
Their father had all of his hopes on Kankuro to succeed him, Temari though older and arguably more brilliant would have been a better choice but their father was old fashioned. Gaara's personal opinion was their father was a jackass with a capital 'fucker'. Their father hated Gaara, he barely acknowledged him, Gaara's birthdays where bitter affairs. Most of the day spent in front of their mother's grave, surrounded by media. But every night Temari would steal Kankuro away and they would hold a small celebration of Gaara, the cakes were always store bought, the presents were small, and it was always a forlorn event as most times they never changed out of their black mourning clothes, but Gaara loved them both for it.
He ran a hand through his hair making a point to touch his 'Ai' tattoo as he remembered one of his more recent presents.
Kankuro had been grinning at him all that afternoon after they had gotten back from the graveyard. While the expression was foreign it wasn't unwelcome, and Kankuro refused to explain himself. There was the usual cake and off-key singing of 'Happy Birthday' and the presentation of Temari's present, a wolf's fang hanging on a silver chain, or at least that's what the store clerk had told her it was. Gaara had thanked her and put the necklace on at once. Kankuro raised his hands and said that his gift wasn't there, and that Gaara would have to wait for it until tomorrow. Kankuro got a much bigger allowance then his siblings and saved up his spare pocket money to take Gaara to a tattoo and piercing store. He thought that Gaara would want to get his cartilage pierced or something but Gaara decided instead on a tattoo. They would need a permission slip but Kankuro was way ahead of them, he'd been to the store before and picked up the permission form and tricked their father into signing it quickly while he was very busy.
Of all places Gaara wanted the tattoo on his face, on his forehead no less! Love, he wanted love, somehow Temari saw some deep symbolism in the act. She knew exactly why Gaara always wore long sleeves, it was a sort of open secret at home. Amazingly Gaara sat through the procedure without screaming or squirming; well, not so amazing really. Gaara was used to pain and knew that the ends justified the means.
When he got home their father was nowhere to be seen, in fact it was about five days before Gaara came face to face with his father.
To suddenly have his son appear before him with a fanged necklace, fishnet arm-sleeves, and a bright red tattoo on his forehead, of course he didn't take it well. The stress had been building between them for years; he'd never truly forgiven Gaara for the death of his wife no matter what he told the press. It was beyond the final straw, the camel's back had been broken long ago, it had just been to proud to admit it. The following fight was the worst ever, Temari stood out in the hallway crying onto Kankuro's shoulder. There had been several loud crashed as their father undoubtedly had started throwing things in his rage. Kankuro felt so guilty that his rash birthday present had caused this, and he told Gaara so as the two of them bandaged him up later. Gaara seemed not to care, he told his brother with the utmost sincerity that he didn't blame him in the slightest, that what he'd done was to lift the tension in the house that had been suffocating him. They didn't understand what he'd meant at the time, but before Shukaku had finished healing the cuts and bruises that had adorned his body he was almost done packing.
"I'm leaving." He told them, and while they dearly wanted to stop him they didn't, they knew Gaara and such words were wasted on him.
"Where will you go?" Temari asked. Gaara shrugged, "Probably to Uncle's, but I won't stay there long. I'm going to get it for this one."
"If you leave Dad's not going to willingly let you back in the house again." Kankuro said warningly, "He's not above kicking his own son out."
"I know." Gaara said calmly, "I'm mostly banking on it." Temari heaved a sigh but held out her hand and demanded, "Give me your phone." Gaara took out his cell, and after a few minutes of Temari fiddling with the buttons, she handed it back to him. "There. I've set up your speed dial. Your voicemail is number 1 and I'm number 2 and Kankuro's number 3. That way when we call or when you want to call us you just need to press and hold down one number." Gaara smiled, he'd never bothered with such things and it was good of Temari to not argue the point and still show she cared and wanted to keep in touch.
Then Gaara ran away from home, it was a rather unceremonious affair concidering the magnitude of the fight that had taken place not even an hour earlier but Gaara knew that it was past high time he left. In reaction, or rather retaliation, Kankuro was taken by his father who started him on a near insane tutoring regimen to prep him for taking over the company. Temari, left to look in between her two brothers turned to Gaara whom she felt needed her more. When Gaara finally settled down in the orphanage but several odd circumstances Temari tried to sneak Kankuro away to visit him. But their father seemed hell bent on separating the two brothers. Kankuro, forbidden to see Gaara, only obeyed their father because he wanted to be in a position of influence when Sabaku finally stepped down. That way he could bring Gaara back into the family and have the company as leverage over his father. It was only a few more years, and they could last that long. They had to.
Gaara gave his head a little shake, dragging himself out of his memories and back into the present where his trailing off like that had caused Naruto to stare at him oddly while walking backwards again.
"You know how weird that is?" he asked with childlike fascination, "To have you look right at me for five minutes when I know you aren't really looking at me?" he gave a grin that bared his fox fangs, "It was crazy weird!" he remarked jovially. He slid easily to Gaara's right side and began walking the normal way again.
"Oji-san packed us both lunches so where do we eat, I'm starving!" Naruto held up what looked to the ordinary eye like a small sports bag Naruto had slung over his shoulder. Gaara's eyes widened at the bag, "THAT'S our lunch?" he said in utter disbelief. Naruto looked puzzled and nodded, "Yeah, what else could it be?"
"Just how much of that do you assume I'm going to be eating?" Gaara asked, eyeing the bag warily. "Half." Naruto deadpanned.
"HALF?" Gaara nearly tripped on his own two feet.
"Well, Oji-san packed for two."
"Oh, since you put it THAT way it makes PERFECT sense." The sarcasm dripped from Gaara's mouth as he spoke.
Naruto grinned, "NOW do you believe that I eat like a horse? When we first met you didn't believe me." Gaara snorted rather uncharacteristically as the walked, "Any doubts that I had about your eating habits were blown away at dinner last night."
Naruto laughed, Gaara noted that it was a nice sound that he wanted to hear again. He could remember having the same feeling before too. Gaara lead them to a solitary bench under an awning that looked out onto the small patch of trees near the school. Naruto wasn't surprised that the place was peaceful and isolated, somehow Gaara struck him as that sort of person. They sat and ate, Naruto striking up a conversation and then supplying most of it himself.
The bell rang, it startled Gaara, usually he always anticipated lunch's end and was always early for his Trigonometry class; with Naruto the time seemed to disappear as he enjoyed himself in the other boy's company. "What class is next?" Naruto asked; Gaara looked at him, "Science with Kurenai-sensei."
Naruto grinned sheepishly, "And where is that?" Gaara sighed. "Let's go."
They walked up and down hallways and staircases as Naruto struggled to both keep a conversation flowing and memorize where he was going. Gaara opened the door and held it wide for Naruto who entered and looked back at Gaara. Gaara gave an awkward sort of wave saying, "See you after class Naruto." And he left.
The bottom dropped out of Naruto's world. This wasn't good, this did not compute, Gaara wasn't supposed to leave! Gaara was the only thing that kept him grounded in school with Itachi lurking around every corner. Not good, not good, not good, not good.
The Kyuubi looked at the thing that was just outside of his cage, it looked expectantly back, Well? I'm not going to help if you're going to threaten my existence again. You have to ask me to help.
You are not to make it known that you are anyone but Naruto Uzumaki. I'll help him, please cover interactions with others. The Demon asked, closing it's eyes in defeat.
The thing smiled, We need to work on your mode of speech.
Just go, before he loses consciousness and falls down in class.
Sure, sure.
Naruto ran, though he hardly knew where it was he wanted to go. He knew he wanted to see the Kyuubi again, but he didn't know where to go, he ran for what seemed like ever and wherever he ran seemed like both an empty void and an endless labyrinth. He passed a girl; or a woman, no, maybe she was a girl, and he stopped, "Who are you?"
"The furball is that way Naruto." She said and pointed into the distance; she smiled and walked down where he had run from.
"Who, who is she? What's she doing here?" he shook it off and ran in the direction she had indicated.
She smiled slightly to herself as she heard Naruto's hurried footsteps.
Time for fun. I won't let that old fleabag get in my way.
End the drama here!
Eh, not bad, and yes the thing in Naruto's head is a girl. That's part of what took so long, figuring out it's gender, if any. I WANTED to finish the school day but I wanted to post this months ago. Here's part of Gaara's story as a bit of an apology.
I suck. But please review. Your reviews kept me going. As always this fic is written for the ever beautiful and sent to me from the editing angels, Kyuu-chan. Sorry I couldn't let you beta it first; I kinda wanted it up as soon as possible.
I promise not to be so long next time!