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LESSON 3

A Friendship by Chance

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On the bright side, Gaara did get his sleep. He woke up just in time for lunch as always. The bustle about the room indicated that at least half of his classmates were gone, and this was his cue to get up and have his sandwich on the roof. He always ate up there alone, viewing the city from the rooftop and watching the cars crawl off wherever like rats. He felt somewhat disassociated with the world down below, as though he were the dead amongst the living. Temari would tell him that it was the insomnia talking, and he would tell her to quit her preaching. People who nagged him, especially his sister, were the very worst kinds of people.

Gaara leaned back and cracked his back, yawning inaudibly and rubbing his arms. He was no stranger to the cold, and could feel goose bumps crawling up his arms. Cold was the first thing he felt when he woke up, and the second was irritation. He didn't quite feel like getting up, flowing through groups of people that looked at him as though he were prepared to kill their first borns, and climbing up all those stairs to get to the roof, but it was the only place in the school where he could hide from eyes. After all, where he went people did not follow, and where he stayed was where people left. He was a pure creature of isolation, and that suited him just fine.

"Hey, Gaara! Gaara!" said someone from behind him. He had almost forgotten that he was now literally surrounded by idiots. Well, maybe Lee and Sakura weren't so bad, at least compared to Naruto. That kid was always on him like flies on a turd compared to others (outside of his family, at least.) Apparently he too was an orphan, mooching off his roommate… Uchiha something-or-other. Gaara wasn't one for bonding over sob stories, so he told himself. He wouldn't admit it in over a million years, but he did sort of appreciate Naruto being around.

Just not today, right after he had woken up.

"What do you want, Uzumaki?" said Gaara, trying to will away the fuzzy feeling in his head and the dryness in his mouth. It would take a glass of water to do that, but again Gaara didn't feel like getting up and walking out. He didn't want to face the reproving glances toward him at the moment, especially since they were bound to be more intense than normal. After all, minor as it was, he had had another incident in class. That brought his existence to the attention of others all the time. Upon his arrival he was bound to be bombarded with gossipy whispers of "It's that kid that such-and-such" and little bit of "They say he's possessed by a demon" in regard to his antisocial behavior. Gaara normally didn't care, he really didn't. Today, though, was not one of those days. He couldn't be held accountable for his actions if he had the misfortune of hearing his name trashed further. Those little gossip mongers did have it coming.

"Lee's gone to photocopy his notes for you," said Naruto, and his face scrunched into a tight, albeit wide frown. Not that Gaara was looking at him or anything, but he had heard enough of Naruto's complaints to know that frown always went with them. "This lecture was really hard to follow, man. I felt like sleeping, too."

"Maybe you should have," said Gaara, refusing to turn around and actually look at the Uzumaki kid. After all, that would imply that Gaara was interested in the small talk that Naruto was trying to initiate, which truly he wasn't. "It's not like you're capable of retaining any information."

His stomach was growling and he was only in the mood for his sandwich. Too bad he wasn't willing to endure a few seconds of gossip so he could eat in his favorite spot—ALONE—which was what made it a favorite of his. People were nothing but hunks of fleshy wasted space to him.

"That's cold, Gaara. You sound just like that Sasuke-bastard!" said Naruto. It seems Gaara pressed a sore spot, and if he pressed even more he could probably shut Naruto out of his life for good. It didn't sound like such a bad idea actually. The thing was that Gaara didn't generally go looking for trouble. Trouble had the natural tendency of finding him and screwing with his life in ways he didn't want it screwed with. Until Naruto became more than a gnat buzzing in his ear, Gaara wouldn't resort to any extremes. After all, Naruto had been living with his "bastard" roommate for how long? It would obviously take a lot to shake Naruto.

"You must enjoy being in the company of bastards," said Gaara, already having said too much. He was now carrying on a conversation with someone who wasn't related to him, and it was stupid. Never had he felt inclined to goad Naruto on, or respond to more than a couple of his excessive complaints and boasts. Then again, he rarely interacted with Naruto. It was going to become exceedingly harder to avoid with him sitting right behind him.

Why couldn't he just talk with Sakura? Oh, right, apparently she hated Naruto's guts and escaped as fast as she could to meet her friends at lunch. That would explain a few things. If only that Hinata girl would get up the guts to walk over and speak with Naruto. Gaara noticed for several minutes how she'd occasionally sweep her eyes over toward their side of the room, and her cheeks glowed. If Gaara were one to play Cupid, he'd shoo Naruto over to Hinata's side of the room; however, that just didn't fit. Gaara the insomniac, the violent freak, the demon possessed kid, the… matchmaker? If Gaara laughed he would find that kind of funny, but Gaara didn't laugh. He didn't even smile.

What's more he didn't like where this was going, a conversation with Naruto. It was only the first day and the guy was already trying to weasel his way into unwelcome territory. It'd just be his funeral, then. Those who got involved with Sabaku Gaara were bound to have miserable lives.

"What can I say? Bastards take a natural affinity toward me."

If Gaara had to guess, he'd say that Naruto couldn't spell the word "affinity", let alone define it. It must have been a Sasuke word, or something. Gaara had vague glimpses at the guy Naruto lived with, and he found him interesting. He had the same eyes as Gaara, suggesting his life was nothing short of a pile of shit. That'll turn a guy into a bastard, if nothing else. Of course Gaara didn't feel anymore inclined to exchange sob stories with Sasuke anymore than he did Naruto. The only thing that made Sasuke more interesting was that his life, his identity, was shrouded in mystery. He assumed Sasuke also went to this school, but Gaara never saw him. A dropout, maybe?

Curious as Gaara almost was, he wasn't going to bring Sasuke up. In fact, he was going to end this conversation now so to shut his growling stomach up. Gaara pulled his sandwich out of his pack, and just as he was about to unwrap the plastic from it Lee came barreling into the room as though he were being chased by bulls. If that little shock caused Gaara to bite down on his tongue then there would be hell to pay, but luckily it missed. Rock Lee had made him bleed one too many times in this lifetime.

"Gaara-kun, I tried so hard to wake you up, I really did. Kakashi-sensei went through so much, and there is going to be a test, I did not want you to be unprepared so I took lots of notes and made copies for you. I hope you will find these helpful, but my handwriting may be sloppy," said Lee, and it amazed Gaara that he could get all that out in just two breaths. There were no less than eleven pages of notes that Gaara skimmed through for courtesy sakes. He really didn't need them, having gone through and read excerpts from Temari's old text books on boring nights where he couldn't find anything on TV. Most of what Lee wrote was entirely superfluous, as though he had copied every little detail Kakashi went over word-for-word. Though they didn't do him much good, he stuffed the notes away in his pack with a grunt, which is the closest to a "thank you" anyone has ever received from him in a great while.

"Also, I was not sure if you had any food or not, so I bought you a rice ball!" Lee slid the treat into Gaara's hand, much to his surprise. It was strange, receiving kind gestures from one he had acknowledged only yesterday. What's worse was that Gaara had only planned ways of making Lee's life a living hell for what he had done. "I want to apologize for hurting you yesterday. I do not know my own strength sometimes, but surely you know that it was not my intention to harm you in any way. I have nothing against you personally."

"Ah," said Gaara, and he took a small bite of the rice ball. It was as sticky and unappealing as he knew it was going to be, but all the same Lee was trying to make up for his mistake, which was very much his fault. It was his fault for coming after him, his fault for not listening to him, and very much his fault that Temari had cornered him that way she had. Now, it was Gaara's choice, to endure Lee's presence outside of the school environment for just a little while, or move back in with Uncle Baki. Not that Baki himself was the cause of Gaara's distaste for living at his old home, but there were ghosts at the old house that Gaara refused to revisit. He would much rather die.

"C'mon, Bushy-brow. You're stealing my thunder," said Naruto, grabbing Gaara into a headlock, but was elbowed away before his hair could be ruffled, or anything of the sort. Kankurou got away with that once, once, and he never did it again. Gaara was about as affectionate as a forest fire, and twice as likely to burn you if you got too close. Kankurou had the scar to prove it.

Obviously Gaara couldn't propose his request to Lee with Naruto in the vicinity, or else he would insist on coming, too. Temari had met Naruto already, and made it very clear that if he and Sasuke got into another loud fist-fight outside of their apartment door on mid-term week she would kill them with her bare hands. In short, she hated Naruto's guts. Kankurou also didn't like having the words "dick cheese" and "fuck face" written in sharpie on every pair of underwear he owned. Apparently he and Naruto met, got off on the wrong foot, and that prompted mischievous blond to pull a mean prank on his laundry. This was also why Gaara and Naruto were not allowed to be friends. Temari and Kankurou would forbid it, not that Gaara cared or anything.

After his rice ball Gaara found that he was no longer interested in eating his sandwich, so he offered it to Lee. He obviously meant it as an "I'm just going to throw it away otherwise, so you might as well" which Lee took as a "He's being nice! He really is human, despite what the rest of the student body says." Well, no, Lee didn't say that exactly, but it was implied. Lee ate the sandwich in four loud bites, and commented on how good it was each time. It was only turkey and lettuce, but to Lee it was like an orgasm in his mouth. Even Naruto was speechless, and people were staring. Well, for future references Gaara knew never to offer Lee any food. He was generally immune to embarrassment, silly emotion that it was. There was nothing mistakable about the pink twinge of heat Gaara felt across his nose. Maybe Lee was even more immune to embarrassment, so Gaara felt an ounce of it for him.

"Gaara, what the hell's in that sandwich and where can I get some!" said Naruto, clearly impressed with Lee's happy little display. If Gaara were a joker he would tell him it was the meat of the kittens sacrificed to the raccoon god; however, Gaara was not a joker. He was just one of those drifting nobodies who wished everyone would leave him the hell alone.

"Mmm, thank you so much, Gaara-kun. You don't mind if I call you that do you?" asked Lee, as if Gaara were so easy to win over. Naruto leaned in, just to hear a witty bit of rejection. It wasn't that he had anything against the over-browed dork, but Gaara couldn't be bothered with affectionate nicknames that implied friendship. It was just absurd, and Naruto wouldn't have believed Gaara's response if he hadn't heard it with his own two ears.

"Do what you want," said Gaara, resting his face in his arms again. Normally after lunch Gaara zoned out, not quite falling asleep, but letting the rest of the day waste away in a blur. When the next set of lectures was a go he would retain random tidbits of information, while letting his mind wander to other places. He contemplated Lee and the way he was going to get the boy to agree to follow him home today so to satiate Temari's need to see Gaara interacting with humans that weren't, well, her and Kankurou. His original plan was catch Lee at the beginning of lunch period, but he slept too long and thus missed that opportunity. In two more classes the dismissal bell would ring, and he'd have to speak to Lee before they left school grounds.

First thing's first, Naruto couldn't know. Gaara would have to find a way to get him occupied. Was there a way to do that through the people sitting near him? Pissing off Sakura and finding a way to blame it on Naruto was probably his best bet, but how to go about doing that, he wondered.

Delinquent behavior Naruto was famous for was spit balls, paper balls, stink bombs, and graffiti. Now, Gaara himself wasn't so much a delinquent as he was one to just do whatever the fuck it was he felt like. Sleep during class when he'd tired? You beat your ass he will! Beat up a kid whose been asking for it? On multiple occasions his violence had nearly gotten him expelled, but he knew Temari wouldn't tolerate that, so aside from Dosu it's been many years since Gaara laid a finger on anyone, even if they were asking for it. That must have accounted for all the scars and bruises Naruto didn't have especially.

Whatever, Sakura would definitely pick up the slack if she was going to be back there with Naruto the whole year, and she'd get away with it, too. She was well on her way to becoming Sarutobi High's second coming of Sabaku Temari, so nothing she did would dampen her reputation. Brains bought power if you were anyone but Gaara. Somehow sleeping was now a crime that trumped his grades.

He had to focus. Given the strange nature of this day that was easier said than done. Pulling a childish prank on Sakura when he sat right in front of her made no sense. Whatever he did, he had to be discreet.

That was easier said than done. Two periods came and went, and he inconveniently dozed off halfway through the first one. It was a rough day, but he supposed he'd get Temari off his back if he told her Lee was now sitting beside him in class and buying snacks for him. He never lied to her before, though if there were anytime she was inclined to believe he would it would be now. Having physical proof of something that resembled friendship would be the best way to satisfy her, but the possibility of that was growing dim. He'd either have to swallow his pride and endure having Naruto around as well, or he'd have to believe that Temari would take his word for it. Both options were as appealing as road kill, but he had to try.

When the dismissal bell rang Lee gathered all of his notes together and shoved them into his bag. He was a bit flushed, as though he had just run a mile or two. Gaara didn't want to grace the amount of trees Lee killed with the copious amount of note taking with a thought. All he wanted was to get home, but first he had a decision to make: fight, or flight.

Oh, who was he kidding? Was he Sabaku Gaara or was he Sabaku Gaara, the fiercest guy around? There should have been nothing hard about this. He was making out to be much more than it was, once again caught in the unfamiliar hold of embarrassment. There was nothing embarrassing about this, and yet his vocal chords were on lockdown. It wasn't right.

Then as though he had read his mind, Lee smiled right down at him and asked, "Would you like to walk home together?"

"No" was the knee-jerk answer that very nearly revived his vocal chords, keyword being nearly. Gaara managed to catch himself through a halfway gaping mouth, which he pressed shut the moment Naruto snorted. Well, what was once temporarily a moment of relief all but died right there, and if Naruto managed to ruin this completely he'd be the next to go.

"Nice try, Bushy-brows, but Gaara does everything alone," said Naruto, as though he knew everything there was to know about his sleep-deprived neighbor. Lee's sunny disposition didn't waver in the slightest with that, obviously leaving the final answer up to Gaara. Before he could so much as grunt, Naruto continued, "I've offered him shotgun in that bastard Sasuke's convertible and he even refused that. I mean what the hell?"

"Sasuke?" said Sakura, for once not using a vile tone of voice toward Naruto. It was all Naruto could do not to stumble and fall over his chair, and even Lee took some interest in this conversation now. "You don't mean… you couldn't. Not Uchiha Sasuke, the one that works at the video store?"

"Huh? Yeah, that bastard works at Fun Flix-wait," said Naruto, his face draining into a sickly pail of blue all of a sudden. "You don't know him, do you?"

"Know him?" said Sakura with a smile. "I not only know him, I love him!"

Now it was Lee's turn to sink into blue. Well, Naruto just made Gaara's walk home a miserable one. Lee's excessive cheerfulness was one thing Gaara had contemplated getting used to, but a depressed Lee? The two didn't seem to belong in the same sentence together. It made Gaara growl under his breath just the slightest bit. Naruto was on ice so thin now it may as well have been air, let alone water than water. Any conversation that included Uchiha Sasuke was a bad one.

"But how do you know him?" demanded Sakura. Naruto went from being depressed to being scared for his life in the span of two seconds, which was too slow considering that Sakura wasn't the only one plotting his demise.

"He's, err, my roommate. Probably waiting in his car to pick me up right now," said Naruto, perhaps against his better judgment. Normally a girl like Sakura would take this as a blatant lie from a guy who just wanted to corner her. The sad thing was that this wasn't a lie. Sasuke's car was out there every day. If she didn't make a point to ignore Naruto like the plague she would have noticed sooner. Still, this was a golden opportunity to get Naruto off his back, and Gaara found his voice just before Sakura could end this conversation by smashing Naruto's face into his desk.

"He's telling the truth," said Gaara, stopping all of their breaths short momentarily. Naruto must have been the most shocked, clearly trying to ascertain whether Gaara was trying to help him, or ruin him. Neither. The outcome of Naruto's day meant nothing to Gaara. He was merely trying to help himself.

"R-really?" said Sakura, her expression lighting up like fireworks. For a genius Sakura sure was stupid sometimes. Gaara didn't know what it was about Uchiha Sasuke, but that kid was trouble. He was a train wreck confined behind a stoic scowl, not unlike Gaara. One look at him was all it took for Gaara to know that he was not to be tangoed with. The company Naruto drew to himself was sometimes very questionable.

Gaara's plan worked better than he'd hoped. After his intervention all doubt on Sakura's part was cleared, and she dragged Naruto out of the class eager to meet her dark prince. Gaara wasn't so sure he'd done the right thing, encouraging an innocent girl to tread waters she clearly wasn't prepared for, but it didn't matter. How she chose to ruin her life was none of his concern. His only concern was three feet away from him and sulking, which meant only one thing.

"No, Sakura-san," said Lee, his lip trembling. Gaara thought he ought to say something, but thought better of it. What was there to say? Gaara was about as full of romantic advice as he was respect for the public educational system, but still. The dampened mood also dampened his chances with bringing Lee home to meet Temari. What if he wasn't in the mood now?

After a few moments of brooding, Lee shot his palm down on the desk and exclaimed, "No, I won't give up!" The remaining stragglers in the class just kind of stared for a moment; at least until Gaara's harsh eyes cut their scrutiny short. He and Lee were soon the only ones remaining, which was just fine with Gaara. The less people to plow through the better.

"She doesn't stand a chance," said Gaara out of nowhere. Lee's hopeful gaze met his for a fraction of a moment. Something unfamiliar stirred in the pit of Gaara's stomach, something different that he didn't quite know what to name. Whatever that something was, though, it was gone as soon as it arrived, much to Gaara's relief. He enjoyed having complete control of his life down to his every passing thought. Anything but total dominance was unacceptable. He almost denied Lee's offer to walk home with him on a whim again, but decided against it the moment his lips parted.

"Does this Sasuke-kun have a girlfriend already?" said Lee, sounding unsure as to whether or not he should be so relieved, which in turn confused Gaara. Naruto would probably be over the moon if Sakura didn't stand a chance, but he was too stupid to see that.

"How should I know?" said Gaara, his voice dismissive. They had mulled enough over this particular drama more than enough. "Anyway." He crooked his head toward the clock. The bell rang almost ten minutes ago. "We should get out of here."

"You mean you'd like to walk home together?" said Lee, the subject of Sakura seeming to vanish into thin air. Good. Well, good. There were better things to be concerned about.

"Isn't that what I just said?" said Gaara, sliding his feather-light book bag on. Why he still bothered to wear it to school was a mystery to him, too. It wasn't like he ever brought his text books with him. He had an impossible time breaking old habits, except for today. He'd allow this one little inconsistency this one time for his own sake. "Move it, or I'm leaving without you."

"OK!"

to be continued…

A/N: I am soooooo sorry, everyone. :( Over a year is a very late update, but it is an update. I did not abandon my fan fics. I hope you will forgive me, if anyone still wants to read this fan fic. Getting back into the grove might be kind of challenging, but if you all are still there let me know and I will try my very best. Please review! Thank you.