I Won't Fade Chapter 1: Alarm Clocks, a naruto fanfic

Kyo- So since there have been a few of CRYBABIES who wigg out on me at the end of this FICTION, I'll put it here.
THIS STORY DOES NOT HAVE A HAPPY NEJIGAARA ENDING.
You will probably end up HATING Naruto and/or Neji and/or me if your life depends on Gaara and you hate crossovers [NOT OCs].
DEAD or ALIVE people, know your video games.
I personally don't think it's a big deal since I love them all UNCONDITIONALLY but some people are so sensitive they can't handle the SHOCK at the end of this fiction because everything else they read is so completely predictable.
But whatever, I digress...

Don't mind me, I write fanfiction for myself.
If others happen to read it and like my ideas then a appreciate those individuals.
I love them with all my soul... I love them soooooo hard.

Honestly, I'm not gonna even bother with disclaimers. This is called FANFICTION for a reason. :P

Chapter I: Alarm Clocks, Screaming Monsters Calling My Name

3... 2... 1...

...NICK NICK NICK NI-NICK NICK NICK... NICKELODEON...

...NICK NICK NICK NI-NICK NICK NICK... NICKE-

A hand came crashing down one the snooze button of the vintage Nickelodeon alarm clock, disappearing immediately underneath moss green coverlets. Blissful silence once more. The snoozing outline hidden beneath the ocean of green bed sheets was allowed another nine minutes of sleep.

Until the annoying chant began once more.

...NICK NICK NICK NI-NICK Ni-

The cheerful trio of voices never got the chance to finish the final 'nick' before two - very pale and very frustrated - hands shot out from underneath the covers to search for the off button; a small lime green leaver in the front of the clock, which was promptly pulled down into 'alarm off' mode. In their haste however, the clock was also sent tumbling to the floor, the ears hidden by the coverlets heard the crash, causing a short groan from the sleeping figure before he pulled the sheets tighter over his head.

However, nine more minutes later, another form of an alarm made itself known.

"Gaara! GAARA! Get your lazy ass up!"

Said boy groaned sleepily and poked his red head out from underneath the coverlet, squinting his eyes in the light, frowning at his visitor. She glared back.

"Don't look at me like that. If you weren't up all night on that thing..." She pointed to the reasonably new laptop atop his desk. "... then you would get more than two hours of sleep. Now get up, get dressed and get your ass downstairs. You are going to school." Waving a finger around threateningly, the elder woman turned on her heel and left, leaving Gaara to blink tiredly at her disappearing figure, he sighed.

First day of school... great. But it's not just any first day, no. Usually there are people you know waiting for you when you come back, people you've seen all throughout the summer, friends you've called every single day to make sure they were going to be there the second you stepped through the doors. But that was all back in middle school, where your only worries were coloring between the lines and making sure you knew how to multiply 7x13, amongst the rudimentary talk of finger paints and cooties. This was Gaara's first day of high school.

But wait, it gets better.

This was Sabaku Gaara's first day at Konohagakure Academy; a co-ed high school, with on campus dorms and everything. I know, really fancy, right. But that wasn't the icing on the cake, no no, the best part about Konoha Academy was that, starting from today, it would be Gaara's new semi-permanent home, instead of the practical two story apartment he shared with his sister since his father's accident a little over two years ago and had been so conveniently home-schooled from until now as well. And get this, he'd refused to check into the dorms during registration, so chances are he would enter the school knowing absolutely nobody.

Yes, this was going to be exciting (enter sarcastic eye-roll here).

Gaara sighed and slid out of bed reluctantly. He would miss the way he could sleep in all day and not have to worry about a thing. Wake up around 12 or 1, stretch, shower, probably have himself a nice late breakfast of home-style Eggo's with a glass of milk. But that would be all over as soon as his belongings were moved into his new room. Sure he could still sleep in on the weekends at school... but it wouldn't be the same. He treated this house like crap, talked down about it a lot and scarcely cleaned it, but he loved this place; it was his home.

Gaara shuffled lazily to his bathroom, taking care of his daily routine. Upon entering his bedroom once more, he pulled on his new uniform, which was too colorful for his tastes; the pants were red and yellow plaid stripe and the tie a solid crimson red - not too far from his natural hair color - pulling on a mahogany coloured vest that his sister said would 'add flair to the ensemble', he looked in the mirror and sighed.

After dressing he gathered his laptop into its carrying case - he refused to leave without it. When ready, the red head gave a sombre look around the room he wouldn't see until Christmas break before closing the door and heading downstairs to where his sister impatiently waited.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked, looking him up and down and shaking her head at the sloppy mess of his hair; untidy as usual and he was in dire need of a trim, but somehow he made the look his own.

"Do I really have a choice?" he replied in a low monotone voice that was still half asleep. His sister smiled a little, sweeping some of the bangs out of his face and lifting his chin with a manicured finger.

"No, but It would be nice to see some enthusiasm."

Gaara rolled his eyes and stomped pass the blonde and headed for the car.

The drive was long, and boring. Inside of the car was even more so, Gaara never was one to strike a conversation, Temari thought bitterly. Glancing at her younger brother through the side of her eye she wondered what kind of friends he'll be able to make at the new school. They were lucky enough to receive this opportunity, their father's brother obviously had really good connections within the Japanese educational system. Thanks to him the tuition had been virtually cut in half, considering this was a high-ranking private school in one of the most predominant areas of Konoha, that meant a lot to the small, but thriving family. She just hoped he didn't let this opportunity go to waste.

When Gaara was smaller he never really tried to make friends. Whenever someone would give him the chance his temper would flare up on them. The only friends the red head managed to make and actually maintain over the years were two of the most unlikely of all and although she did sometimes question her brothers choice in friends, she was thankful that he had someone to stick by him, besides her and Kankuro.

The truth of the matter was, she was genuinely excited for him, and despite what her rather bristly nature might portray she loved Gaara and wished him the best. Even if she didn't say it that often.

Temari round her car around to the front of the boys dormitory, stopping just in front of the first building. They were tall and inviting, ivy growing all along the base. The paint was chipping in a few places, but other than a few scars, they seemed more than a little accommodating, nothing at all of what she imagined the prestigious school to embody. While letting the engine run, she turned to face her younger brother.

"Try to play nice, I don't wanna have to come back here." She gave a feigned look of worry; Gaara lifted a nonexistent brow.

"What if the other kids don't play nice?"

It could happen, but then it was better if it didn't. Reputations are everything in schools like these, or so she'd heard. And it wouldn't do well in polite society if Gaara was to have a brawl on his very first day of school.

As she explained this logic to him, Gaara's green eyes still held the faintest speck of wariness and confusion. He didn't care about reputations, she knew this. He liked - yearned - to be left to his own contentment. What person couldn't understand that? When people start delving into the privacy of others, that's when he had to draw the line, it was one of the many reasons he had no interests in celebrities, willing to air their dirty laundry whenever they see fit. It was ridiculous the lengths people would go just to be seen in the public eye.

As the red head pondered this, and many other musings that had surfaced to the front of his mind, his sister and her mindful glare forgotten, Temari sighed, reaching towards the backseat for Gaara's backpack and laptop; she shoved them into his arms. Jolted out of his sudden daze, Gaara caught them... barely.

"Just stay out of trouble." she hissed, narrowing her eyes into her 'I'm scary because I'm your older sister' look.

Gaara nodded and stumbled out of the car just as a tall lean male with medium length burnt orange hair approached the car. He looked as if he attended the high school, probably senior class, but all kids looked older than what they were nowadays so who would know... plus he lacked the schools brilliantly colored uniform. He offered a hand to Gaara.

"New kid, right? They told me to look out for one. I'm Shin Hayate, the director of the boys dorms." He smiled warmly, lifting up one side of his mouth in a crooked grin. His eyes were a soft mahogany color.

Gaara took Hayate's hand hesitantly. The older male cocked his head to the side.

"Room 613, right?" Insert Gaara's shrug here. "Right... you're late, head to the main building and find the office, I'll take care of your stuff here." He said, moving around to the trunk of Temari's car, which was recently popped open by said car owner as she watched the reasonably attractive male saunter over to the back of the vehicle.

This, Gaara saw. The disgusting way his sister was ogling the young male, that is. Oh and he didn't miss the way the other smiled and winked at his sister, or the playful way she batted her eyes. He rolled his eyes and gave a curt 'bye' before turning and heading for the main building of the school. Behind him he heard his sister laughing, it was a high, girlie laugh, meant for only one thing...

Gaara sighed.

This was going to be a long year.

The principal was a strange woman.

"I would like to welcome you to Konoha Academy. My name is Lady Tsunade, your new principal, and if you need anything, don't be too shy to approach me, alright?" her patronizing smile seemed forced and fake, it made Gaara uncomfortable. With a lack of a better reply, Gaara nodded.

"Since you chose not to attend the school's two week registration process where you were offered to pick the roommate and dormitory room of your choice, they have been selected for you. The director in your section should have a printout of all the rules that you are required to follow."

Her oddity, Gaara figured lay within the confidence she exuded, a bounding contradiction to the hazel eyes that carried drooping bags, face almost deathly pale, and her blonde stringy hair with the lopsided ponytail. She seemed antsy, like she had recently consumed an abnormally high amount of coffee that was dangerous to the human health. The principle lifted her hands as if to accept a gift, fingers twitching slightly. Her eyes were a little bloodshot around the edges.

"Are there any other questions you would like to ask?"

Was that sake he smelled? The faint odor of the alcoholic beverage lingered in the office, as if it clung to the very fabric of the upholstered seats.

"No." He was happy she didn't ask him anything about himself, but after observing her condition, he concluded she wouldn't have been sincere in asking anyway.

The principle nodded her head contently, then handed Gaara a sheet of paper: his new class schedule.

Year 2, Class 3-c: Fall Semester:

Home Room 9: Gekko H.

Algebra 2-a: Mitarashi A.

Free Period: --

English III: Harington L.

Lunch Hour: --

Physics: Hatake K.

Japanese History 2: Umino I.

Phys. ED Maito G.

His face scrunched, he hated physics. Too many limitations.

"Are there any problems?" At the shake of his head, she continued, cradling her head in her hands. "Your behavior is expected to be the best of your ability... - the best of your ability - ...and so on and so forth. Strive to be a leader...ah... yada yada... Look kid, can I be frank?"

Not knowing any better, Gaara nodded.

"Stay out of trouble and do your homework, that's all we ask here, OK? It makes my job all the easier."

She was right... There was nothing special about this place. Fancy wrapping paper, but the same ratty old gift inside. It didn't bother Gaara though, at least someone was straightforwards here. He hated liars.

"You will be escorted to your class today, just to get the feel of the place, OK?"

Nodding once more, the red head stood from his seat as Lady Tsunade dismissed him from her office. As he stepped out of the air-conditioned office space, glancing over his schedule once more, Gaara took simple notice of his escort; a female, with striking white eyes and medium length black - almost blue - hair. She wore the proper girls school uniform in the school colors, much like Gaara's; a simple white blouse, that seemed to pull snugly over her full buxom with a crimson colored tie, her pleated skirt was plaid, the main color being the deep red as well, the only difference being she also wore the light tan jacket that completed the ensemble. Her socks stopped just below her knee, leading down to white slippers, customary in formal Japanese schools. The pin on her blouse held a small swirl symbol; her name tag read Hyuuga, Hinata.

Oh, great.

Not even five minutes into the school and I meet one of them, he thought.

Them being the social eggs of society, the cream of the crop, the best of the best in the city of Konoha. He'd heard of her family before, the Hyuuga's, a close relative of the girl - probably a brother or cousin - was a genius. Neji Hyuuga held honors in each subject, excelled in everything that he even attempted to do, even got a few recognitions from men in more prominent standing in the government. Gaara couldn't remember ever seeing him before though... There wasn't much said about the girl, Hinata, however, but her relative sure was known; their whole family were over-achievers, but there was little doubt that this girl was any different.

Another family, the Uchiha, were even more prominent, but their story was a sad one to tell. In the media, they portrayed them as victims and explained how the two young brothers overcame adversities and became the top students at each of their schools, despite the gruesome murder of their family years ago. The story was posted all over the news at the time it happened, speculations were made, the murderers were never found. Justice was never served, but the siblings would survive. If he remembered correctly, the younger brother attended the private school, so it would only be a matter of time before Gaara actually got a glimpse of him.

Hinata smiled sweetly at the red head, bowing her head some, "Hello, I'm Hyuuga Hinata, pleasure to meet you."

Again a nod, not offering a name. Instead of protesting against this action the girl placed an object in Gaara's hand; the same type of pin she had, instead the one she handed over said Sabaku Gaara. He looked up at her.

"You are supposed to wear this every single day. On it is your class number and year, it helps to identify you." She smiled her meek smile before motioning for him to follow her.

Gaara trailed right beside her, taking in all of his surroundings. The hallways were bare - save fore the random sign or poster containing school-wide events, notices and deadlines. The floors were tiled and chaffed from the countless number of feet storming down the corridors every single day. It smelled stale, yet welcoming. The same way a foreign school always smelled... you get use to it. A soft, whisper of a voice led Gaara out of his trail of thought and he turn his head towards the meek girl who had spoken. When their eyes met, sea green to pale rose, she repeated herself,

"This is it." She paused to open the door then peeked quietly inside. Chatting voices quieted to a murmur once the door opened, revealing the visiting class representative. "Gekko sensei, I have your new student here."

Upon entering the room with the blue haired girl, all clatter stopped and every head turned towards the door, eying said new student, this making him slightly uncomfortable; Gaara never liked to be in the spotlight. The girl exchanged more words with the sensei, who coughed every so often. When she finished, the sensei turned his tired-looking eyes towards the red head, offering a small smile. He gestured towards himself, beckoning Gaara to enter the room, he was hesitant, all eyes were still glued to him.

He finally made it to the front of the class, the sensei coughed again before he spoke in a louder voice than one would think him capable of.

"Everyone, this is Gaara-kun. Please make him feel welcome." His shaky hand landed on Gaara's shoulder. "Gaara-kun, would you like to say anything?"

He shook his head, bringing his gaze away from the many staring eyes.

"There's no need to be shy, you sure you don't want to introduce yourself?" he asked again in a calm, slightly wheezy voice.

Gaara sighed. "Um... I'm Sabaku Gaara..." A few girlish mumbles caused him to pause, the wheezing teacher gave a disapproving look to the duo, then glanced back at the new edition to the class. Frowning more, he continued, "... I ... I'm looking forward to learning with all of you, please take care of me." A small, stiff bow completed his introduction.

"OK, good." the sensei smiled, then looked up towards the class. "Let's see... Ah, why don't we place you just behind...Uzumaki-san, Gaara-kun? Naruto introduce yourself." he commanded, before entering another coughing fit.

Gaara frowned at the name.

Naruto.

He looked like trouble.

His hair was the color of honey, tousled and messy and looked as if it hadn't been washed for weeks. His uniform was clumsily put together, white shirt unbuttoned to show the black t-shirt underneath. His features were sharp and defined, showing that even if he acted immature, his physical adolescent stage was promptly retreating. On each of his cheeks were three scratch-like marks, probably the result of haggling some poor defenseless animal; Naruto didn't seem like the gentle type. As the boy stood to his full height, which the red head guessed was all of 170 centimeters, he could easily categorize him as a trouble maker, but he would never stereotype and besides this was going by just looks alone, for all Gaara knew, Naruto could be the perfect little angel. Blue eyes and blonde hair; the genuine cherub of obedience.

"Uzumaki Naruto present and accounted for." He smiled, squinting his eyes mischievously, and mock saluted the wheezing sensei.

Then again, maybe not.

"That's nice Naruto, now button up your shirt, you know school regulations."

The blonde sighed and did as he was told, re-buttoning the buttons that had come undone. While Gaara was busy staring at the characteristically loud boy in front of him, wondering if looks certainly were deceiving or not, the teacher redirected his attention to the red head.

Looking down, he spoke softly, "You may have a seat now."

Gaara walked slowly over to his desk, still blissfully aware of the sidelong glares sent to him by the other students in the classroom, they were beginning to annoy him. Uzumaki just politely smiled, a very wide grin.

Once Gaara was properly seated, the sensei continued, explaining what time spent in his class will be like. He seemed to be rather lenient and expected very few things out of the class as a whole. His class time would typically be spent testing on general subjects that pertain to the classes that follow his. All of the midterm and final tests will be administered by Gekko sensei as well, as to not cause confusion. Gaara concluded this must be the priority of all homeroom classes. The teacher finally concluded that at the end of the day he would return to oversee class clean up.

Eventually, one by one, all the teachers came and went each hour or so, giving their own introductory speech, and short explanation of how their rules function. Free period was skipped in favor of class introductions, where Gaara was forced to identify himself again and disclose a very brief part of his history. Eventually the bell rang, signaling the lunch hour and Ms. Harrington, the English teacher, a lovely dark skinned woman with short cropped brown hair and a shirt that seemed two sizes too small, excused the class, allowing some to stay behind if they so choose.

Immediately, the blonde in front of Gaara, hopped up to join a group of other boys that called to him from outside of the classroom door, heading out and down to the cafeteria, no doubt. Gaara stayed put, unable to find social settings appealing, especially the one of a high school lunch room. Instead he ate there in the classroom, along with the few other students that decided to stay as well. As he dug into the culinary bliss that was his mayonnaise and tomato sandwich, he notice around him the children - or rather young adults, which they liked to be referred - that weren't afraid to show their open curiosity when he first walked into the classroom.

One girl sat alone, reading a heavy looking book, her head perched atop her palm, elbow resting on the desk, lunch box unopened. She wore a girls uniform, only her skirt was designed like overalls, in the back of his mind Gaara wondered what the regulations were on that. Her hair was reddish orange, tied with a golden yellow ribbon into a low braid that hung down her back and dangled off the side of the chair - the epitome of girlie cuteness, one supposed. A boy sat in the corner, his ponytail sitting high atop his head, chatting with another boy. The other boy was pudgy in a cute adolescent way that told people that he hadn't quite let go of his baby fat yet. The two seemed really close, both snacking on a bag of chips. One boy wearing thick goggle type glasses - which was weird because it was autumn and he was inside - stood at the far end of the classroom, inspecting - what looked like - a bug collection, a small colony of ants. Gaara wasn't aware they still allowed those kinds of things in school.

Just in front of the red head and to the right was another... guy? Gaara supposed the being in the seat a short way in front of him was male, seeing that he had on a boys uniform, but his hair was unusually long, dangling down his back in a loose ponytail. He was quietly snacking on a boxed lunch of assorted vegetables. Continuing his observation, chewing delightfully on his handmade lunch, Gaara took a quick glance behind him and... nearly dropped his sandwich.

What the hell?!

He turn back to his meal quickly, the salty sweet taste forgotten on his tongue, blinking his green eyes as if to wash away the images that had been burned into his retina. Whatever Gaara saw, he was certain he had never seen anyone - or anything - that like that in his entire life. Truth be told, Gaara never thought himself to be a conceited person, on the contrary, he was very humble about his appearance, he never judged that of others either. Usually he would regard people with slight indifference, but - he chanced another look, against his better judgment, of course - this boy was... - it took him a while to think of the word he once heard Temari use when referring to Deidara - this boy was... unconventional. The student stared back at him, his round eyes narrowing some, Gaara squeaked and turned, attempting to try to mind his own business, as he had been doing before.

Only the boy didn't let him... oh no.

As Gaara heard the chair behind him being pushed backwards and soft padded steps coming towards him, he cringed and waited for some type of retaliation towards the way he was acting. For all he knew, the boy could have been deranged, forced to endure humiliation after humiliation from his peers because of his appearance. Maybe Gaara struck a chord with the boy, could he be angry? Aching for blood? The footsteps stopped beside him and with a quick glance to his immediate right, Gaara noticed the... intense - this being the only way he can describe his uniqueness - ...the intense way that the boy was staring at him, all he could do was stare back.

They gazed at each other for long moments, one pair of eyes filled with eery determination, the other with slight fear. Suddenly the boy with the unique visage lifted his hand to a thumbs up pose and he flashed Gaara a set of gleaming white teeth. Green eyes went wide as he spoke with so much enthusiasm, Gaara almost ran screaming.

"WELCOME TO KONOHAGAKURE'S MOST PROMINENT HIGH SCHOOL MY YOUTHFUL COMPANION! IT IS ONLY IN THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH THAT WE ARE OFFERED WITH SUCH DAZZLING OPPORTUNITIES! THAT IS WHY I, ROCK LEE, DO INTRODUCE MYSELF TO THE NEWEST INSTALLMENT OF OUR STUDENT BODY! WELCOME, GAARA-SAN!"

Silence.

Somewhere in the room a pencil dropped.

"H-Hi...?"

The bell could not come sooner. 1. Because Gaara had completely lost his appetite and wanted to resume class... immediately. 2. He wanted to go back to sleep. And 3. He discovered that the term 'personal bubble' had not been fully explained to the young man clinging at his side.

As soon as Rock Lee introduced himself, he begun to ask questions, much to the Sabaku's dismay. He questioned Gaara about his family... about his personal life... about himself.

Gaara got touchy, maybe even a little angry. So when he suddenly blurted out, "None of your business OK, now get the hell away from me you bug-eyed freak!" he didn't mean it the cruel way it sounded. He had a short fuse, what could he say?

The few people left over in the class looked up at the outburst, watching the scene in avid curiosity. The male a couple seats in front of Gaara turned around in his chair, staring quietly at the red head in shock.

Gaara blanched, it was his temper... he could never control it. And when Lee started to cry, quiet sobs escaping his trembling lips as teardrop after teardrop escaped from his flooding eyes, Gaara couldn't help himself, tears irritated him. "What are you crying about? Have your emotional break down somewhere else and stop bothering me." He growled irately.

Temari always said his attitude was something he needed to work on if he ever wanted to make new friends. Temari says a lot of things, he realised suddenly. But he didn't care, as far as he was concerned, it didn't really matter if he made another friend or not. Two was good enough. Sure they weren't that reliable and one was reasonably more mature than the other, but they were around whenever he needed to talk. Things would be different now that he was attending this school, however. Time spent with the duo would be shorter and Gaara really did not feel like stepping out of his personal shell to appease the concerns of his elder siblings. He could be hated by everyone at this school for all he cared.

Lee sobbed horridly and soon enough a hand landed on his shoulder, a comforting voice hushing his tears. It was the pony-tailed teen in front, Gaara read the small name tag on his shirt pocket: Hyuuga Neji, he sighed.

Another one of them.

"What's the matter with you?" He was saying. "You didn't have to be so cruel... he was only trying to get to know you... learn to be polite..." Blah blah blah. He gave the crying boy a tissue out of one of his pockets; Lee took it gratefully, dabbing at his tears then blowing his nose wetly.

The pale eyed boy looked at him with fury, expectation.

For what? the red head pondered. Was he expecting an apology? Why? Gaara wasn't sorry. He never apologized either, not to Temari for that time when he broke her brand new vanity mirror. It slipped out of his hands - it wasn't his fault. Nor to Kankuro when he used all his puppet string as thread when he made himself a new, albeit crooked backpack. Even when he called his former home-school teacher a miserable old fool, he didn't feel obligated to apologize. It earned him a smack in the head by the elderly man and a scolding from his sister, but he still couldn't care less.

The Hyuuga kept staring at Gaara, however, with his judgmental eyes.

"What?" the red head growled coldly, no longer bothered by the stares.

Neji shrugged, shaking his head sadly, lifting the other to his feet. As he walked away with Lee in tow, he muttered something about 'wasteful'. Gaara scowled, then rolled his eyes.

'Let them think what they want', that was just about the only good piece of advice his uncle ever gave him. You could even say it was his motto, if it weren't so terribly cliche. But the point was he didn't care what people thought, as long as those thoughts didn't pertain to him. If everyone just understood that reasoning, then there would be no trouble.

The bell rang and the classes resumed. Gaara was still agitated, however, so his attention melted in and out of the random conversations that grew around him. On and on stretched stories of past humiliations, tales of former jobs and anecdotes of dreams that never came true. Gaara listened, but wasn't really focused; sometime, probably during the hustle when the class rushed back into the room, someone left a note on his desk. He stared at it, not sure what to make of the lone piece of paper, or what it could possibly hold inside. But judging from it's pink colour and the cute little iconic character that lay at the corner of the folded page, there couldn't be many possibilities. After what seemed like the hundredth story about a job that went bad because the boss got a little too friendly, Gaara sighed and picked up the note. Unfolding the paper, he read:

Your really cute. Do you have a girlfriend?

Check one:

yes ( ) no ( )

Sighing, he folded the paper in half and placed it as a makeshift book mark in one of the books in the small library of literature that adorned the shelf nearest to him. He looked ahead, not bothering to notice the eyes that sneaked back at him. He didn't care... there was nothing he could do about it now anyway, so he just let the person stare. He just hoped things didn't get any worse than this... first impressions were everything. He supposed this school was more subtle, but of course; it housed Konoha's finest.

He didn't know if this was a good thing or not, being from Suna, he had no way to interpret the way children in Konoha would react. After his little ordeal with Rock Lee, however he noticed more looks than before sneaking their way into his line of sight. The looks varied and on edge made the Sabaku antsy, he couldn't wait for class to be over so he could find his room.

"613," He mumbled, not knowing where to begin looking for the room that he was assigned to. The principal had given him a map of the school, which would help him locate his classroom, the cafeteria, gym and even the dorms, but Egyptian text was easier to read than the faded ink on the white sheet of paper. Glancing up at the clock, Gaara sighed again, earning the attention of the blonde in front of him.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at the red head, not paying attention to the sensei in front of the classroom anyway. "Boring, huh?"

Gaara nodded, scribbling doodles on the makeshift map.

"So, where you from?" Uzumaki questioned out of boredom.

"Suna."

Blue eyes widened some, he nodded. "That's cool, never been there though. So why did you come here?"

"Sister made me."

That earned a laugh, which unfortunately the teacher noticed. "Naruto," said the teacher sharply, the blonde turned quickly in his chair to face forward.

"Yes Iruka sensei."

His hand went to his temple, massaging it gently. "Please pay attention. I know it's hard for you, but try, try to focus." His voice was hard but endearing, like the two had been in hundreds of situations such as this before.

"Yes sir." He answered the sensei in what Iruka liked to call his fox grin. The teacher sighed, giving the teen a heated look before turning back towards the board. Naruto obeyed - for a time - but his attention quickly averted back to the boy behind him. "You wanna see something funny?" He asked over his shoulder while crumbling up a sheet of paper he'd torn out of his notebook.

Gaara said nothing, he lifted his head in time to see the paper ball hit the head of the boy that was two seats in front of Naruto and one row over. Random giggles broke out through the classroom and as Iruka sensei inquired on the cause of such a fuss, Neji Hyuuga spun around in his chair, eying the blonde intently. Uzumaki snorted, then, unable to hold it in any longer, stared chuckling, the teacher made a 'tsk' sound and shook his head.

"Naruto, take it outside please."

"Awweh." As he got up to stand outside the door, he walked passed Neji's desk. He patted the brunette on the head before escorting himself out the door, missing the Hyuuga's growl of irritation.

This is definitely going to be a long year, mused the red head as the classroom door shut behind the blonde, locking him out of yet another class lecture.

A song that appeases the plot bunnies:

Baka no Hito by Miyavi

Neji - ((nods thoughtfully)) You changed some things.

Kyo - Yus. :3

Neji - But the story in general is still the same, right?

Kyo - ... Maybe...

Neji - What does that mean?

Kyo - Keep moving forward... :)

Neji- Urgh... Next chapter includes invasion of personal space, reluctance in the sharing of personal space and Rock Lee.