Konoha High was a large building. Several confusing hallways, rooms that the staff had even forgotten, and overall packed with people. Navigating the halls was hard, and annoying. If you weren't well known, you had to scoot through the crowds with honed agility. If you were well known...well, the crowd parted for you.

Uzumaki Naruto was well known for several reasons. His parentage, his godfather, his happy azure eyes that could turn ice cold.

Those ice cold eyes were in play at the present, making the crowd part even faster due to the icy aura he let off. Uzumaki Naruto was pissed, and there could only be one culprit.

"Sasuke-teme!!"

"Hn, dobe." The Uchiha muttered, leaning against his locker with a smirk as Naruto stormed towards him. Naruto opened his mouth to yell at the bastard about his annoying charm that somehow affected the ladies and the fact that he had let it capture another  girl who had once been interested in the blond.

That was, until he caught a flash of red.

Naruto's head snapped toward the right, noticing a stoic redhead walking with the crowd in his direction. Instantly Naruto let a grin come to his fox-like features. He hadn't seen Gaara since three weeks prior, on that night after his encounter with the Sound Five.

"Gaara." Naruto muttered as the redhead passed by, his teal gaze unfocused and bored.

Gaara's head snapped up at the sound of his name, and at the boy who had spoke. Despite three weeks passing - one of which was spent in school - since he had seen the blond, he still remembered his voice. Annoyingly, the blond had came to his thoughts more times than once. And now here he was, smirking down at the shorter boy.

“Naruto.”

Gaara stepped out of the crowd, stopping at his side as he faced a black-haired boy who was leaning against the lockers. The boys almost black eyes were staring at Gaara in confusion, and mild interest. It was hard to tell though, mostly because only his eyes expressed this emotion while the rest of his face stayed expressionless.

“You know, I gave you my phone number specifically so you can call me.” Naruto pointed out, making Gaara stare at him in a bored manner. Yes, Gaara knew what exchanging phone numbers meant, but he had spent most of his free time simply staring at his phone instead and debating. All, didn’t friends spend time together when they weren’t required? Gaara wasn’t Naruto’s friend...was he?

Sasuke watched the two, his eyes narrowing slightly. Who is he? And why did Naruto give him his number when it took two years for me to get it?

“I thought about it.”

“And yet you never called.” Naruto pouted, making Gaara struggle not to roll his eyes.

“Correct.”

“Dammit, you’re worse than Sasuke-teme. Oh, this is him, by the way.” Naruto idly motioned to the black-haired boy who was glaring at the blond. Sense when is anyone worse than me?

“Right.” Despite the flat voice, Naruto could just hear the mocking undertone. Naruto grumbled under his breath before remembering why he was in this hall anyway.

“Hey, Gaara?” Naruto questioned, waiting for the redhead to look up at him. “You don’t have a subconscious charm that attracts females to you, right?”

“My appearance scares them away.” Gaara noted blandly, his fingers twitching for a cigarette. Naruto glanced over him before his eyes focused on Gaara’s face again. Gaara was wearing black jeans, a black long sleeve shirt, red and black DCs, and a wallet chain hung on his right side. His hair was still in the messy disarray similar to their last meeting, the red kanji standing out starkly against Gaara’s pale skin, right along with the bags under the boy’s eyes.

“Yeah, I guess I can see why. You look like a panda though. Or maybe a raccoon?”

“…”

Gaara stared at his companion, his entire mind blank before he scowled, raising up a fist with the intent to decimate the blond. Naruto yelped, hurriedly grabbing his fist before it could go too far.

“Sorry, sorry. No need to get violent!”

“Do you always compare people to animals, dobe?” Sasuke questioned, his eyes still analyzing the interaction between the two. He didn’t like Naruto holding Gaara’s hand, even if that hand was closed into a fist aiming for the blond’s gut.

“Not my fault you’re a fucking cockatoo.”

Gaara snorted, breaking away from Naruto’s grasp and reaching for his pocket where his cigarettes lay. He managed to stop himself with a twitch, his teal eyes narrowed in annoyance. Naruto observed this, smirking all the while.

“Can’t get one of your cancer sticks?”

“Shut up. I’m going to be late.” Gaara muttered, disappearing back into the crowd much to Naruto’s amusement. Turning back to his other friend, Naruto couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at Sasuke’s expression. Several emotions was flashing through his eyes, and the Uchiha had a fiercer scowl than normal.

“What’s up?”

“Who was he?”

“Gaara.”

“Gaara…?”

Naruto tilted his head, narrowing his eyes in thought. Now this is interesting. Why’s the bastard interested? Might as well play it safe, ‘ttebayo.

“I don’t remember. Why?”

“I don’t like him.”

Naruto snorted, shaking his head. “You don’t like anyone.”

Sasuke’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance before shoving the blond out of his way, intent on getting to his class before the late bell rung. Naruto snickered, walking to the end of the hall and greeting his teacher happily.

____

Naruto let out a yawn, walking into the last class of the day. Marine Science would be completing his eleventh grade science requirement, meaning he would finish his required three science credits at the end of the year.

The blond was fully expecting more people to either be gone or to appear. The first week was chaotic with people switching their schedules around. It wouldn’t stop the frenzy for about a month, so he had just learned to deal with it.

When the sixteen year old took his seat in the back of the classroom, Naruto couldn’t help but keep his eyes on the door and hope for one of his friends to come in. He had a few classes with them, but it was still nice to have on in every period.

What his eyes registered, however, was surprising and satisfying. A shock of red hair and Naruto was already turning his eyes to the left side of the boy’s forehead, noting the blood red kanji for love.

Well this class just became my favorite. Naruto thought, grinning internally as Gaara’s teal eyes rested on the blond as he took stock of the room. Gaara let out a small sigh before walking over to Naruto and sitting at the desk to the blond’s right.

“Get a schedule change then?” Naruto asked in amusement, leaning his crossed arms on the desk and letting his chin rest on them. Gaara glanced over at the lean boy before pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket and dropping it on Naruto’s desk.

“I got it last period.”

“Ooh, a complete sentence. I feel special.” Naruto teased, opening up the paper and skimming over the list. Unfortunately, this would be his only class with the redhead. Though, they had lunch together at least.

Wonder where he sits? Not in the cafeteria. Naruto wondered in amusement before handing it back.

“Careful about Anko-sensei. The class is easy, but she’s kind of insane, dattebayo.”

“I heard that!” A busty brown-eyed woman called from the front of the room, unwrapping a lollipop as she rested her feet on top of her desk, her back leaning against her desk chair.

“Good! Crazy snake lady…” Naruto mumbled the last part under his breath and Gaara could only watch in faint amusement. That was, until he noticed that there were several tanks along the classroom’s counters that each actually had a snake within them.

Not that Gaara was scared of snakes. He just wasn’t fond of the fact that their venom could easily kill him – depending on the species.

“So, Gaara, you actually gonna text me now?” Naruto questioned idly, relaxing back into his chair.

“Hn.”

“Oh no, not the grunt thing! I thought you’d be immune to the bastard language!”

Gaara watched in confusion as Naruto thumped his head against his desk, a nonexistent eyebrow raising in confusion. One eye that had been scrunched closed opened, noticing the look the redhead was shooting him.

Raising his head, Naruto grinned sheepishly. “Sasuke-teme speaks the grunt language fluently.”

Gaara instantly frowned, remembering the black-haired boy and the unnerving gaze he had had locked on him. He had been searching for something…and whatever he found, he didn’t like. It made Gaara wary, though he was confused as to why. He could most likely win any fight against the other boy, despite the few inches the Uchiha had on him.

“You speak of him a lot.”

“He’s my rival!”

Gaara glanced over him thoughtfully. Rivals...or does the Uchiha want something more? Jealousy could easily explain his look from earlier…

“Are you gay?” Gaara watched Naruto’s eyes widen drastically, a blush rising up to his cheeks as he turned to the redhead in shock. Gaara analyzed the look, not even feeling embarrassed by the question. He wanted to know, so he asked. Besides, he can always blame the Uchiha.

“W-what?! No! Why would you think that?” Gaara tilted his head slightly, an amused light appearing in his eyes.

“Uchiha.”

“...you think Sasuke’s gay?” Naruto questioned with a grin.

“He’s far too pretty to be straight.” Gaara reasoned, getting a snort and a nod in response.

“Fair enough.”

Both boys put the conversation behind themselves, turning to the front of the room as the late bell rung and Anko began to lecture.

____

Gaara frowned at his phone, staring at the blank text message as it mocked him.  It was Friday night, the same day he had been switched into Anko’s sixth period that the blond attended. As the class moved along, the two would make idle chatter, usually filled with Naruto asking questions and Gaara answering with single words or clipped sentences.

Gaara had finally gotten the blond to be silent, though. He just had to promise to text him later that day. Why, Gaara would never know. The blond seemed to have a fascination with him of some sort. He’d have to dig for more information about Naruto’s personality when Monday came about.

Letting out a deep sigh, Gaara allowed his thumbs to type a single ‘hey’ before pressing send. Naruto might not respond anyhow, seeing as it was close to three in the morning. Gaara hadn’t been lying when he said he had insomnia.

The instant reply made it obvious that Naruto hadn’t lied about sleeping in the afternoon either. The conversation proceeded normally, or normally for Naruto. For Gaara, it was an experience. He’d never actually texted - or talked - to anyone other than his siblings for longer than a few sentences.

He found it enlightening, and annoying. They had shifted to playing 20 Questions after all, meaning any question could be asked and they would have to answer truthfully.

It started off normally. What’s your favorite color? Red. When’s your birthday? October tenth. Is that your real hair color? Yes, want me to prove it?

Gaara snickered quietly as Naruto gave a flustered reply before thinking of his next question. What do you do in your free time? I don’t know, sleep, wander around town. You have any friends back home? No. Where’d you get those scars on your cheeks? …long story. What’s with the tattoo on your forehead? Long story as well.

Gaara relaxed back into his overly expensive, yet comfortable, bed. Looks like we both have stories we’re not comfortable reiterating, he thought.

Pulling the Android up to his face as it vibrated, Gaara looked over the question with a blank expression. Why’d you really think Sasuke is gay?

Gaara smirked in amusement. It seems he hadn’t been able to hide the rest of his sentence, even if he had thought it. Typing out a reply, Gaara let the phone drop onto his stomach and placed his hands behind his head. He should be tired, but unfortunately he wasn’t.

A vibrate later, Gaara was close to giving an actual laugh that wasn’t a snicker.

What do you mean you think he likes me?!