Learning To Love
Chapter Four: Hang Out

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People hang out because not only does it give them something to do, but it also gives them a chance to get to know the real you.
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Gaara's POV

Why couldn't this kid understand that I didn't want him hanging around? I did tell I don't need friends, so why the hell is he still heading my way? I sighed a quick sigh as I set my tablet to the side of me as I look up at the blond who's currently standing right in front of me. "What do you want?" I noticed he still has a grin on his face. It bothers me that he hardly ever never grins. It's almost sickening.

"I just wanted to check up on ya, you didn't do your pushups after all."

"It's the cramps I get in my wrist when I draw. They can last for up to an hour and a half sometimes."

"Oh, alright." He takes his small blue backpack off his back and opens it, searching it for something I guess he wanted to give me. He puts on weird faces as his hand continues to travel through the bag, almost making me want to chuckle. Finally, he pulls out a small orange bottle from his bag; a look of relief came over him. He tosses me the bottle and I catch it with ease with my left hand, careful not to move my other wrist around to much. I look at the small bottle he gave me.

"Pain killers?" I asked, slightly surprised, as I look up at him. For once, he nodded seriously.

"Yeah, for your wrist. I know it's not cramps like you keep saying it is. It's fractured, isn't it." My eyes widen for a second before returning to normal. How the hell did this kid know my wrist was fractured? "I broke my leg not too long ago and had a cast put on it. They way you were flinching from the pain, I knew it couldn't just be normal cramps. It had to be something fractured or broken cause I flinched like that when I tried to stand on my broken leg."

"How observant." I ponder whether or not I should keep the pain killers. If my father was to find them, it'd be another good beating for me. I throw the bottle in my pocket for now. "Thank you, Naruto." And once again, his grin came back.

"No problem. Hey, is that Sasuke?" He looked at my tablet that I forgot to close. How stupid of me. He grabs it before I have a chance to protest, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he laughs. "Nice picture of Sasuke! I see you also noticed he has hair that belongs to a chickens butt! But wow, that's nice detail you added, even for a chibi picture." He looked down at me. "You gonna paint this too? If you do, you gotta show me it!" I'm surprised once again. I thought the kid would get mad for me drawing a picture of his friend being eaten by chickens.

"You're not mad I drew that?" He shook his head.

"No way! I mean, it's kinda scary you drew this, but it's hilarious at the same time." Then, to my horror, he flips through the tablet. I can't see his face, for the tablet is blocking my view, but I know he must have a disturbed look. After all, I don't exactly draw little bunnies hopping through fields of daisies. "You draw extremely well." Damn, this blond keeps surprising me more and more. He continues to flip through the tablet before he stops to look at a certain picture. He looks at it carefully, a long silence falling between us. I stand up to take the tablet from him, but he backs away. He looks at the picture then to me, then back at the picture.

"Give me my tablet back." I ask sort of demandingly. I really don't like when people go through my things without permission, but I don't feel all to angry at the blond; which is slightly strange. I hold my hand out. "The tablet, Naruto."

"Is this a drawing of yourself when you were smaller? And who's that next to you?" He asked. Shit, he's looking at that picture. I snatch the tablet away quickly, slightly angry with myself for not taking my tablet back earlier. I pick up my other things before facing the blond once again. "I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have looked through that without your permission. Well, it's a shame you're busy for the next three months. I would have asked if you wanted to hang out at the park tomorrow or something."

"Actually... I wouldn't mind hanging out with you tomorrow." The boy smiled brightly.

"Really? Awesome! We could walk there from school tomorrow. What time do you have to be home?"

"Before five-thirty." He nodded and waved goodbye as he headed towards the cafeteria.

"Alright, see ya tomorrow!" I can't help but stand there and think 'what the hell did I just agree too...'

Naruto's POV

I smile an accomplished smile. Why shouldn't I? I mean, I just made friends with Gaara Sabaku! Well, not exactly friends since he says he doesn't need any. But we're something, right? I can't help but feel as if he's forcing himself to hang with me, probably to pay me back for giving him the pain killers. Why didn't the boy go get a cast or something for his wrist? A fractured wrist is not something you just brush off easily, it needs medical care to heal properly. Maybe he just didn't have enough money for a cast? How did he hurt his wrist like that in the first place anyway? I have a lot of question for Gaara tomorrow, hopefully he'll answer some. Like that picture he drew in his tablet.

It was of a young boy (probably himself) with a sad look on his face as he clutched his chest where his heart is. Next to him was a tall man with shoulder-length hair who also had a sad look on. It wasn't completely finished, for there were other little sketches next to the two people. I wonder what the full picture will look like.

"-uto! Naruto! You there?" I snapped out of my thoughts and saw Kiba, Sasuke and Neji standing in front of me. I looked around and saw that I was already at the cafeteria. "Naruto, you alright? We were looking for ya for past ten minutes. You're never late for lunch."

"Ah, sorry. I had to stop by one of my classes really fast." My stomach growled and I nearly ran into the building to get my food, my friends right behind me. As we wait in line, I think of the picture Gaara drew of Sasuke. I can't help but turn towards Sasuke, imagining him being attacked by chickens. He stares right back.

"What?" I laugh, confusing him even more. His eye twitched with arritation. "Dobe..." Yes, Gaara may draw disturbing pictures, but he also had quite humorous ones, too.

POV

Naruto walked down the halls of school, waving goodbye to his friends as he entered his period nine class. Agriculture. He didn't really mind that class, he actually loved watering and planting trees. It's just that they didn't plant anything. All they did was shovel compost for almost an hour. To put it plainly, it was like the teacher was making the students do his dirty work.

Naruto entered the classroom and sighed as he placed his blue bag on the table, taking out his tablet and pencil to write down the stuff on written on the whiteboard. Yamato walked into the room, setting down todays schedule on his small, cramped desk. "Alright class, today we'll be planting some plants in the garden. Can I have a volunteer to help me carry the three small trees?" Naruto raised his hand immediately. "Okay Naruto, could you carry two trees up after you're done writing?"

"Sure Yamato-sensei." Naruto scrawled down what was written on the board before shutting his tablet and sat waiting for the other students to finish. After they all finished, and Yamato explained what was on he board, they finally headed up to the garden; both plants safely planted in Naruto's arms. He walked through the unchained gate and into the garden, passing all the working students. He spotted Yamato at the bottom of the small dirt hill waving for him to come. Naruto slowly made his way to said person, careful to not drop the two fragile plants. "Is this where we'll be planting them?"

"Yep, just make sure each plant is planted at least five feet away from each other. Otherwise if they're to close now, they'll clash into each other as they grow and fight for sunlight." Naruto gave a nod before taking the shovel from his teacher's hand. He dug said item into the damp earth, uprooting weeds in the process. No matter what, he was gonna make sure those plants were planted with special care and love! For Naruto always has, and will be, an earth-loving boy.

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Gaara walked to his next class as the bell rang, dodging the students easily. He had his favorite class next with his least favorite teacher: Art and Deidara. Gaara loved to draw, it was one of the many things that could calm him down and allow him to pass the time somewhat quickly. It also allows to convert his thoughts into pictures, images.

Gaara could never bothered with teachers, he would mostly ignore them and they did the same to him. But then there was Deidara. A loud, slightly self-centered, artist who has a problem with Gaara's art. Most of the school teachers had a problem with his art, but he could handle that. Just that Deidara... it seemed like he almost wanted Gaara gone, dead. And that just didn't sit right with Gaara, oh no. He entered the room and instantly felt the eyes of his rival fall on him. He kindly sent the blond teacher a glare.

"Welcome back to class Gaara, un." The redhead ignored the teacher's sarcastic greeting as he sat down in the back of the class. A piece of Deidara's artwork hung on the wall. His work was odd, and barely creative to Gaara. The man mostly sculpted than paint, and the sculptures mostly consisted of bird-like animals. The class filled up as the bell rang. "Well class, today we're gonna draw the thing that bothers you the most, un. So get out your canvas's and get started." Oh, Gaara knew just what he was gonna draw. It was blond and he hated it. He took out a paintbrush and paint after he set up his canvas and dipped the brush in the yellow. Oh yes, his teacher was gonna love his.

The class was a few minutes from ending and Gaara was waiting for his painting to dry. Deidara stood behind Gaara and observed the painting, a nerve ticking slightly. "Nice painting, Gaara." The redhead could tell the last word was filled with detest, causing him to almost grin. Instead, he let out a 'hn' before putting away his paint. The blond he didn't like. That's right, it was Deidara that he painted. (Ha! You thought it was Naruto, didn't you?) Both the student and teacher took a whole minute just glaring at each other, wishing the other was dead. For Gaara always has, and will be, a death-loving boy.

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Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, an accomplished grin on his face. He looked over the three newly planted trees in the ground, each planted perfectly five feet away from each other. Score 1 for Naruto, baby! He put the shovel away as he reached the top of the hill, meeting Yamato. "I planted them just as you asked, sensei!"

"Great, thanks Naruto." The two were the last to leave the garden as they headed back down towards the class before the bell rang. Naruto grabbed his small blue bag and gave his sensei a quick wave goodbye as he headed out of the class. He noticed Gaara walk off campus and (he guessed) towards home. He ran up to the redhead, a grin on his face.

"Hey Gaara! Heading home already?" He got a nod as a response. "So how was 9th period?" Gaara gave a shrug. "You should really talk more."

"Hn."

"So, about tomorrow, we could meet at the park after school. It'll be a little busy there since it's right after school, but not too busy. So how's your wrist right now?"

"It's fine."

"I hope the pills help you. Don't forget to take them when your wrist is in pain, alright? You're really quiet. By the way, how did you fracture your wrist?"

"I live here, so I must go. Thanks for the pills." Gaara said as he walked toward his front door. Naruto gave a wave goodbye.

"Wow, we live only a house away! See ya tomorrow!" Naruto walked down the street and to his own house. (It was Gaara's house, an empty house, then Naruto's incase you were wondering.) The redhead sighed and opened the front door, flicking on the switch to the kitchen. He didn't see his father's car in the driveway, so he knew he was safe... for now. He walked upstairs to his room and threw his bag on his bed, reaching to take out his drawing tablet when he suddenly heard a car pull up. He heard the front door open and slam shut. He walked to the stairs and looked down, his father standing at the bottom, a scowl on his face.

"Get down here..." Gaara reluctantly started walking down the stairs...

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Okay, so far the OC has Strawberry Blond hair. Her eyes are either green, brown, or greyish-blue. So vote on eyes, body and name! :D
And thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews! ^^