Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Year of Change ❯ Chapter 2, Part 1 ( Chapter 6 )

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the coolness that goes with it. I just write fanfiction for it in hopes that it can live up to the awesomeness of the actual thing. That being said, everything else is mine. I am not making any money from this nor am I trying to rip anyone off. Tis for pure enjoyment only.

 

Chapter 2, Part 1: Exploring

 

The summer was officially over when the leaves turned from their deep green color to the fall firework colors of yellow and red. Leaves fell like snow on the ground and cars, giving the whole world a brighter look. Gaara, who had never seen a turn of the season before, was fascinated with it. Although he was still in his heavy jacket, scarf and wool hat. It seemed that if it was not 85 degrees outside, he thought it was freezing. It was something amusing to both Sakura and Naruto.

 

"It's not that cold you know..." Sakura said as they walked to the bus stop one morning. This morning was different then the last two weeks as he had reached out to hold her hand this time. He seemed hesitant to make any kind of physical contact. She decided that the Home Coming night must have been a big effort to him... and she didn't mind this slow pace. Most of the time she had been the one to reach out, take his hand and hold it.

 

"At the end of the school year, I'll take you to where I use to live and see how you like the change of weather." He muttered into the scarf.

 

"I don't think I would do well in the sun." She was enjoying the warmth that his hand was giving hers. He pulled both of their hand into one of his jacket pockets. "What was it like there?"

 

He thought for a minute, and she could see his eyes change a little bit. He looked a little sad. "It was very nice. You can see the starts much better at night... mostly because we don't have all of this." He waves his hand at the lamp post and buildings.

 

"You miss it?"

 

"I miss the heat." He retorted and buried his face deeper into his scarf.

 

Sakura chuckled. She looked at what bit of his face she could see. He pale. Very pale for someone who came from the desert. The memory of when the Sabaku's moved in popped into her head. His sister was slightly tanned and from what she had seen on his brother, he had the darkest skin of all.

 

'So Gaara stayed inside, his sister went out now and then and his brother went out the most?' She hadn't seen his family since the one day they had moved in. All the mornings that she had walked to the bus stop, she had never seen their car either. 'I suppose that is a question for another time.'

 

When they turned to corner and walked over to Naruto, they did their morning routine. Sakura and Nartuo would talk, and Gaara would pull a book out of bag and read it. Naruto seemed to have taken the fact that Sakura and Gaara were together rather well, although he never said anything about it. He would grin at them every morning and start some kind of conversation. This morning he seemed to be in a happier mood then normal, if it was possible.

 

"I think I am taken with her." He said to Sakura.

 

"You mean Hinata?"

 

The two of them seemed to have bloomed since the night of the dance. Hinata stilled blushed and played with her fingers when talking to Naruto, but they had taken more to hand holding in the halls and Naruto had started to eat with her a few times during lunch. Something that Sakura and Gaara had not done yet.

 

In fact… Gaara had taken to having his lunch on the roof again. Not only that, but he didn't really treat her any different then before when they were at school. Sakura wasn't sure if she should be bothered by it or not. She wanted to ask him about it, but another part didn't; knowing that he had some kind of reason for it.

 

"Yeah. She's a sweet girl.” Naruto said. “I am thinking of taking her out this weekend. Do you guys want to tag along? Make it a double date?"

 

"It depends. What are you guys doing?"

 

"I was thinking of doing something fun like mini golf. 18 holes and afterwards we'll go to a fast food place or something."

 

"I'll go." Gaara said, looking up from his book.

 

"Awesome! Let me give you the address." Naruto pulled out a bit of scrap notebook paper and started to write on it. "Or do you guys want a ride with us there?"

 

"No!" Both of them said quickly.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0

 

Sakura lay back on her bed a few days later reading the package of paper again. She had read it so many times that the pages were starting to wear out on the edges. The results on his testing were all at 100%, impressive, but it was the comments on the bottom that kept drawing her attention.

 

BEHAVIORAL OBSERAVATION

 

Gaara came to the testing willingly and performed to the best of his ability. He stayed on task and did all necessary actions. Gaara's behaviors revealed him to be withdrawn and would only say one or two words when spoken too, unless it was a test question requiring a longer answer. Despite all previous reports indicating he had difficulty with math and English four years ago, he was able to complete both test quickly and flawlessly. Recommend retesting to make sure he has a full grasp on the fundamentals.

 

`I bet he didn't like that.' Sakura thought. The rest of the report was fairly cut and dry, but she could see in it what would make Gaara Sasuke's next target. His placement test were all at 100%... more so, she also knew that Gaara was doing well in his classes as well. He was getting the highest scores on all his test and homework assignments. If Gaara had taken up a sport, and been good at it… Sasuke would already be doing something.

 

Or was he doing something now?

 

Sakura sighed. There had been a time when she had been part of the group of girls that worshipped Sasuke. She had done everything to try and get her attention, which had been her downfall in the end. She studied hard in school and joined the karate club, hoping that if they had something in common that they might be closer together.

 

“Don't fool yourself into thinking I like you. You're ugly and annoying.”

 

She set the papers down next to her and looked up at the ceiling. Gaara was moving around his room again. Pacing it sounded like. Her eyes were following the sounds of the creaking wood as he walked from one end of the room to the other. She got up and tucked the paper into one of the draws of her desk before reaching into the closet for her jacket. Sakura talked to her parents for a few moments before stepping outside and walking up the stairs. She knocked on the door and waited as she heard footsteps approached the door. When he opened, she smiled at Gaara.

 

"Having trouble sleeping?"

 

"No, I was just putting some of my books away."

 

"Need some help?"

 

"Sure."

 

He opened the door wider for her and she walked inside. She let out a 'Whew' as the heat from inside the apartment hit her. She fanned herself with one hand. "I'm surprised the landlord hasn't gotten on you for the heating bill."

 

"He did at first, but we are always able to pay it, so he left us alone."

 

She looked around the apartment and noticed a huge difference from her's. There were still a few boxes tucked away in corners, but that was not what the caught her attention.

 

The walls were painted. Not a solid color, but a whole landscape. Each wall had a different scene on it. They were all breath taking, one was the view of a large mountain with a misty look, giving the whole thing a magical look. The walls in the kitchen had been painted over to give it an old country house look, complete with a pretend window with a view of a cow field. The wall behind her had a desert view, with the sun setting on the horizon. All the different sceans were blended together. The only wall that didn't have a landscape look on it was the wall with the window that faced the apartment parking lot. Instead there were pictures painted there, although Sakura was too far away to make out what they were.

 

"Wow..."She said while still looking around. “You guys did this?"

 

Gaara nodded. Sakura turned to look back at him and noticed that he was smiling. Not with his whole face, but with his eyes. "You like it?"

 

"It's beautiful." She said looked at the walls again. She walked over to the wall with the little pictures and took a closer look at them. It took her a moment to releazie what she was looking at, but they were picture replicates. One was of a toddler Gaara sitting in his sister's lap while laughing and reaching up for a small puppet that his brother was entertaining him with. Another one was all three of them sleeping together with the blankets wrapped around them like it was a nest. Then there was a picture of a later time frame. Gaara was older, almost thirteen, sitting with his brother and sister on a checkered blanket. All the pictures were either of him when he was a toddler or where/after he was thirteen.

 

"Family pictures?"

 

He nodded. She looked at them again. Just the siblings. No mother or father pictures. There was nothing in the report about his mother…

 

"So... where are those books at?"

 

He turned to walk down the hallway, which was painted to look like it was a forest path, and went into the room that would have been her bedroom if she was downstairs. It was arranged a little different. He had moved his bed against the shorter wall, to give him more wall space for his bookshelves. `Some books' ended up being about five midumsized boxes worth in the middle of the room, with three boxes folded up in one corner. Besides the boxes that littered the area, his room was well kept. He didn't have a desk in his room, but under the window was a hope chest with a lock on it. On top of the lip as carving of a cute raccoon with the words “Gaara's Box of Tricks” carved in a calligraphy style.

 

“What's with the raccoon?” she asked, pointing to the chest. Gaara pointed to his eyes. Sakura blinked at him for a few moments, not understanding at first. “Oh,” She raid. “It's because of your eye makeup?”

 

Gaara grimaced a bit. “It's not make-up, I was born like this.”

 

The pictures that she had seen on the one wall popped into her head. In all of them, Gaara did have the same kind of eyes. “So… it's a birthmark?”

 

“Yes.” He reached over to open of the open boxes, pulled out a handful and started to place them on the shelves. Sakura took it as a hint saying that he didn't want to talk about it. She imagined that he had been teased about it when he was younger.

 

"Any order to the books?"

 

"No, I just want them out of the boxes right now." He picked up a few books and started to put them on the self. Sakura took off her jacket, laid it on the bed and helped him put the stack the books."

 

"You have so many..." She said while looking at the spine of the ones she was currently holding. One was about physics, another one was a history book... and oddly enough, the third was the Grim's Fairy tale book.

 

"I went though a book phase... I read every book I could get my hands on. I am still in that phase I think."

 

She smiled, liking that they had this in common. "I'm a book worm as well. I read a little bit of everything." She paused as she looked at the cover of one book. "You like this one?" She held up the book.

 

He looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes flicked over the book. "It's not my favorite, but I did enjoy reading it."

 

"It's... it's my favorite.” She looked back down at the book. “The spine on the one I have is all worn out. I had to duck tape it so it wouldn't fall apart."

 

Gaara turned back to finish stacking the books he held in his hands. He fingers ran across the rows of book and then pulled one out. Walking over to her, he handed the book to her. "Try this one. It's one of the author's early books, but under a different name."

 

"I didn't know that he wrote under a pin name."

 

"I think he does it so he can write a different theme of book without getting criticized for it. He has a few more current books out under that name, but this is her better one."

 

"How do you know that he wrote it?"

 

"There's a passage he wrote in this one," he tapped the book he was holding, "that gave him away. That and in the back, where he lives and his birthday are the same."

 

She looked up at him, "You notice things like that?"

 

"I try to. Sometimes it's the small details that matter." He was still holding the book out to her, waiting for her to take it. She reached up and took it, looking at the cover. "If you like his other book, then you'll like this one." He said.

 

"Thank you." Sakura said softly. She placed the book on top of her jacket. "I'm not much help right now, am I? I keep getting distracted."

 

"You're keeping me company." Gaara picked up another stack of books and started to place them on the shelf.

 

"Where are you're brother and sister at?" She stepped up next to him and starting putting her own stack of books away.

 

"Working. My brother doesn't come home till ten and my sister around four A.M.."

 

"What do they do?"

 

"My brother works over at the hospital and my sister is teaching a night class."

 

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "What is it that they do?"

 

Gaara picked up another stack of books before responding. "My brother is a puppeteer. He works over at a Day Care Center, but at night he goes over to the hospital with a few others to entertain the cancer ward... or where ever they are sent there. My sister teaches Astronomy, hence why she works at night."

 

"So... you're home alone most of the time?" Sakura turned to look at him.

 

"Yes, but I see them in the morning and on weekends. We try to do things together on Saturday and Sunday." He finished putting away what books he had and went to pick up another stack. Sakura did the same.

 

'No wonder it is so quiet at night... there is practically no one here. I wonder if that is why he is so quiet.'

 

By the time they had finished putting away all the books, it was already half pass nine. Sakura and Gaara were sitting in the living room and unpacking the boxes there. Those where boxes full of nick knacks; what looked like souvenirs, a few picture frames and some pretty things that Sakura was sure belonged to Gaara's sister. Sakura felt a little more useful helping him put those away since she had a better eye for arrangement then Gaara did.

 

When they were done, the boxes in the living room and his room were empty and collapsed in one corner of the living room. Sakura plopped down on the sofa while Gaara went into the kitchen and pulled out a cooking pan and rummaged in the fridge. She watched his back as he turned on the stove and started to cook some hamburger. Gaara had pulled down a box of something when the front door opened.

 

"Honey, I'm home." Kankuro said as he walked inside. He stopped as soon as he spotted Sakura. "Who are you?"

 

"She's... my girlfriend." Gaara said over the sizzle of meat.

 

"Oh, you have a girlfriend now?" Kankuro said as he dropped a large back on the ground by the door. He walked over to his little brother and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "You're going up so fast. First getting all dressed up and now you have a girl. Now all we need to do is get you a job." Sakura couldn't see the look that Gaara gave Kankuro, but the brown haired man laughed and walked over to take a seat next to Sakura.

 

"I'm Kankuro, by the way." He said to her, but didn't offer his hand. It wasn't a rude juester, but something more relaxed.

 

"Sakura."

 

"You live near here?"

 

"I actually live in the apartment under you guys."

 

"Oh really?" He lifted his eyebrows and glanced over at Gaara before looking back at her. "Are you sticking around for dinner?"

 

"Um, no." Sakura looked at her watch. "It's late and I need to get ready for school tomorrow." She stood up and stretched before walking down to Gaara's room to fetch her jacket and book. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Thanks again for the book."

 

Gaara turned to wave at her and watched her till she closed the door behind her. He saw the look that his brother was giving him and frowned. "What?"

 

"She's cute."

 

"I noticed." He turned back to tend to the food. He drained the meat and then added the seasoning from the box before put it back on the stove.

 

"So... what were you two up to?"

 

"She was helping me unpack the remaining boxes."

 

"That's it?"

 

Gaara glared at his brother. "Yes, that's it."

 

Kankuro grinned at him. "Lord knows that if I was lone with a pretty girl like her I would be doing more packing then unpacking." To his satisfaction, he saw his Gaara's ears turn red. Gaara finished making the hamburger helper and placed it on the table for his brother to eat and went back to his room, closing the door behind him. Kankuro chuckled and went to go and eat his dinner.

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

They had gotten better.

 

It was something that even Gaara couldn't deny. Although he and Hinata were still the only ones in the `club', their practices were much better then before. Once Hinata was used to the idea, and use to them, she was able to sing more fluently. He had proven more difficult due to his lack of… well… singing experience. He understood music and what went with it, but actually singing was hard for him.

 

“You need to put more feeling into it.” Had become Mrs. Yuhi's motto to him, which was an even more complex idea for his mind to wrap around.

 

He wasn't sure why he was still going. Every time he walked through the door, he was determined that it would be his last visit, only to come back the next day. He couldn't understand it really. One part of him said that he did it because if he left, Mrs. Yuhi would only chase him and pester him till he came back.

 

“Alright… we are going to try something new today.” She handed them a new booklet. Looking at it, the title was `At the Beginning.' “I want you two the sing the solo parts. Gaara, you take the lyrics on the bottom and Hinata, you have the top.”

 

“There are some parts in here that require an actual chorus…” Gaara said while he sight read the music sheet.

 

“You let me worry about that. Now from the top…”

 

`She's up to something.' Gaara thought as he went back to the first page. He shared a glance with Hinata and knew that she was thinking the same thing. She shrugged at him, `What can you do?'

 

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

 

"Victory!!" Naruto yelled as his golf ball went into the hole.

 

"That's just the first hole." Sakura said, placing a hand on her face in embarrassment. Hinata only giggled, thinking it was cute. Gaara was watching with curiosity next to Sakura.

 

They had opted to come out for a late afternoon game so they sun wouldn't be in their eyes, but they wouldn't freeze at the same time. The place had quite a few people there, mostly families and a few groups of friends.

 

"But it's a good start! Losers have to buy dinner." He sounded cocky.

 

"I hope you're ready to fork out that money…" Sakura said as she placed her golf ball on the tee. She looked at the ball, the hole and the obstacles in front of it before hitting the ball. Everyone watched as it bounced from one corner, rolled up and down a hill and went inside the hole. She flicked her hair in a mocking way. "…because I am the mini golf queen."

 

The overall game went well. Sakura did the best. Gaara did fairly well, not as well as Sakura, although it took him a few tries at first, his game improved the longer the game went on. Hinata always hit the ball too softly and ended up taking the most turns. While Naruto's first ball was a success, he ended up losing most his golf balls because he kept hitting them too hard. They would fly into water pools, fake waterfalls or somewhere else that he ended up having to climb over something to get it back. The staff were very irritated with him by the time they were done.

 

"Well... that was fun." Hinata said while they were eating. Naruto was hanging his head in defeat. She smiled at him and intertwined her arm with his. This brightened him up a little.

 

"Don't be so gloomy. It's you're fault that you lost anyway." Sakura said. "You're too impatient. You need to think things through more."

 

“You're so mean.” He said while giving her an accusing look. Naruto turned to look at Gaara. “Is she like this with you?”

 

“No.”

 

 

 

NA

I said I was going to take a break… but this is what happened. I was playing Shadowrun last night (not the computer game), and it was one of those games were it took forever for people to figure something out. I ended up getting my lap top out and typed the first three pages of this while I was playing. Then when I got up this morning, I put it on a stick drive and kept adding/editing it… so I figured I would post this.

 

I don't think I will be able to update again so quickly tomorrow, but at the rate I am going… who knows. I am having fun with this though.