Replay

(thoughts)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A train zoomed across the countryside, passing trees and fields and rivers, pulling only three cars behind it.

In the last one there was just two people, sitting near the back, on benches opposite of each other.

A pair of bright blue eyes were staring intently at the redhead, who had a cigarette in the corner of his mouth and was scribbling something in his black notebook.

When a ray of sunlight dared to shine to his eyes, the redhead swiftly pulled the curtains to his side of the window, never taking his green eyes off the book or halting his right hand.

The blond with the blue eyes suddenly clapped his hands together, grinning widely, making his eyes light up. ”I got one!”

Gaara nodded, still concentrated on his drawing, dropping his pen to the pencilcase on the bench next to him and picking up a pencil instead. ”Is it black?”

Naruto shook his head enthusiasticly, pouncing a little on his seat. ”You're never gonna get this one!”

”Is it white?”

The blond scruntched up his nose, a calculative look on his face. ”Well, I suppose so... White-ish.”

Gaara squinted his eyes for awhile, seemingly deep in thought, before sighing and turning the page. ”Is it alive?”

Naruto snorted. ”Yeah, you could say that.”

The redhead looked up, rolling his eyes. ”It's me, isn't it.”

The blond gasped, glaring at his friend. ”YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!”

Gaara shrugged, getting back to his notebook and turning over all the pages so he could mark another line on the inside of the back cover. ”And that's yet another five.”

”Fine!” The blond huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting.

The redhead put the book down and stretched his back before gazing at the other boy, waiting for him to be ready.

”Okay.” The blond pulled his legs under him, getting to stand on the bench.

”Gaara's awesome, Gaara's great!
Who ever tries, they can't relate!
The pure genius of Gaara can't be bought,
as he's had it since his birth!”

Gaara tsk'ed, shaking his head from side to side. ”The last one didn't rhyme, do another one.”

Naruto growled, scratching his head for a minute or so. ”Well, how about this?”

”Naruto doesn't completely suck,
probably just ran out of luck!
As a rooster, he'd go cluck,
with his girly image and large butt,
he'd more likely be a duck,
and get stuck,
with his large butt.”

Gaara chuckled, taking a long drag from his cig. ”That wasn't about me, but I'll accept it anyway.”

Naruto bowed, jumping down to the floor and sitting back to the bench. ”After sixteen of those you'd be out of material too.”

Gaara nodded, pulling his other foot on the bench and resting his hand on his knee, exhaling slowly.

The blond quieted down, letting his friend have his moment of peace, waiting for him to break the silence.

And after fifteen minutes, he did. ”What did the man sound like?”

Naruto shrugged. ”Normal, I guess. At least I didn't get any bad vibes and he sounded genuinely concerned about our well-being.”

Gaara cracked the window open a little and threw his cigarette butt outside. ”But you have condoms, right?”

The blond nodded, turning his head to stare out of the window. ”This one might actually wear one if I ask him to.”

Gaara clenched his jaw, a vivid memory of his friend's screams of agony and pleasure floating through his mind, but he said nothing. It was something they had talked about hundreds of times, and it was useless bringing it up anymore.

Life just wasn't fair, so why intentionally make it harder by questioning things that were bound to happen, whether you wanted them to or not.

”Or maybe,” The blond continued, ”just maybe this time will be different. Maybe we'll actually be happy.”

The redhead snorted, staring out of the window too. ”Right, like all the times before.”

Naruto sighed, biting his lip, trying to think about something else than their last six foster fathers.

Gaara felt his heart tug when the blond started singing.

He was running away from reality, again.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The brunet growled, picking up a pillow from the chair next to him and throwing it at the boy lounging on the sofa. ”Get up, we need to practice!”

Shikamaru grunted when the pillow his him, grabbing it and launching it at the general direction of their vocalist, without opening his eyes once.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side, letting the fluffy object fly right where his head had just been, and continued scribbling down lyrics.

Kiba stood still for a moment, watching his bandmates with a pained expression. ”Guys, please. Let's do something!”

There was a 'hn' from the raven and a sigh from the lazy brunet on the couch. ”Too troublesome.”

Kiba was just about to verbalize his exact thoughts about his friends when the door burst open and in skipped their pink haired, self-appointed manager.

”Hello everyone!”

There was a collective murmur of ”Hi Sakura-chan.”

Sakura let out an exaggerated sigh, walking over to the couch, getting behind it and unceremoniously dumping the brunet on it to the cold, hard floor. ”Oi! I was resting-”

”Bass, now.”

Shikamaru swallowed at the dangerous tone of voice, laborously standing up and stalking to his instrument.

Sakura glanced at Kiba, who was already sitting behind his drum set, enthusiasticly waiting for the other two to get ready.

”Sa-su-ke-kuuuun!”

A visible shiver ran through the pale boy, making him slowly raise his head, blinking at the girl standing in front of him, hands on her hips, a cheery smile on her face. ”Sing a bit for me, ne?”

The raven blinked again, his eyes travelling to their drummer and then to Shikamaru and finally back to Sakura.

”Hn.”

Sakura's smile grew a little wider as she suppressed the surge of rage. ”Sasuke-kun, up. NOW.” She snapped her fingers, content with herself when Sasuke shot up.

”Good boy, now go sing.”

The corner of Sasuke's eye twitched as he carefully walked around the girl, not once breaking the eye contact. (Don't show your fear, it just exites them...)

Sakura rolled her eyes as the raven started backing away, towards the microphone, eyeing her suspiciously.

”Don't be such a baby.”

When the Uchiha had reached his position, Sakura smiled and turned, walking to the door and waving her hand to them. ”Practice, I'll know if you start slacking off.”

When the door closed, Shikamaru sighed. ”Too damn troublesome.”

Sasuke nodded, picking up the stack of notes on the floor and rummaging through them. ”Tell me about it.”

”Well, it's all your fault.”

Sasuke turned his head, arching an eyebrow at the Nara.

Shikamaru snorted, elaborating. ”If you hadn't dated her, she would've never become our manager.”

The raven hn'ed, straightening back up when he found the one he was looking for. ”I had no choice, so just deal with it.”

Kiba fidgeted on his seat, tapping his feet absently on the floor. ”Come on guys, let's go!”

Both his friends turned to look at him with tired expressions.

”Yeah yeah, I know I know, 'take your medication'.”

Shikamaru exhaled, exchanging looks with Sasuke, who just shrugged, motioning for Kiba to start the count.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Iruka was pacing on the platform, checking his notes for the eleventh time that day, making sure it was the right time and right place.

He let out the breath he was holding when the train came into view, but then his relief was replaced by anxiety, as he started going through the descriptions Naruto had given him, repeating them over and over in his head.

(Blond hair, blue eyes, red hair, green eyes. Blond hair, blue eyes, red hair, green eyes. Blond, blue, red, green.)

The brunet's worries about not recognizing them was wiped out when only two people got of the train.

He hesitated before walking closer to the boys, couching to clear his throat.

”Excuse me, are you Gaara-kun and Naruto-kun?”

The blond spun around, giving him a bright grin. ”You're Iruka-sensei, right?”

Iruka blinked, opening and closing his mouth, surprised at the warm greeting.

Gaara mentally sighed, another helpless idiot to live with. (Faaaantastic.)

”Ah, yes, I am.” Iruka straightened his posture, offering a hand to the blond. ”Umino Iruka, nice to meet you.” Realizing the formality, he quickly added. ”You can call me Iruka!”

Naruto chuckled, taking a hold of the hand and shaking it. ”Uzumaki Naruto! Call me Naruto!”

Iruka returned the contageous smile, turning to the red headed boy. ”I'm Iruka, nice to meet you.”

Gaara reluctantly shook the offered hand. ”Gaara.”

The brunet raised his eyebrow. ”Just Gaara?”

The boy nodded, throwing his bag back over his shoulder.

Naruto followed his example, then turning to his new father. ”So, want to show us the way or will we guess?”

Iruka chuckled, turning and motioning for the boys to follow him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sasuke closed the door behind him, taking off his shoes and carrying them to the nearby closet. ”I'm home.”

No one answered, but he was used to it. His parents worked most of the time, both managing their own companies, and after his big brother left, the little time they used to spend home was now spent doing something else, leaving Sasuke alone.

Not that he really minded the peace and quiet, as the other option was constant shouting and screaming and possible crashing of irreplaceable family heirlooms.

He walked over to the door leading to his room, fishing out the keys from his back pocket and opening the two locks.

(The door is also soundproof, if you were wondering. And I'm not paranoid.)

After closing and locking the door, Sasuke threw his backbag to the bed and started taking off his school uniform, pulling the cover off his piano on the way to the closet.

With a change of clothes, the raven turned his stereo on and went to the bathroom, planning to take a shower and then get some work done with the lyrics he wrote today.

When the water drops started falling on his head, Sasuke leaned his forehead to the wall, permitting himself the few minutes of sorrow, the spray of water hiding his shaking form.

He was lonely, but the only place he admitted it to himself was the shower stall, where no one else could see or hear him.

Finished with the shower, Sasuke shut off the music and sat down in front of the piano, laying out his notes and taking a deep breath, letting his fingers dance on the keys.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Naruto skipped into the room, staring in awe at the space, which to him was a lot more than he was used to.

”Oh, oh, Gaara! Bunk beds!”

The grumpy redhead dragged his feet through the doorway. ”Yay. I call top.” He threw the bag to the top bed and made his way to the window, taking out his smokes.

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest in mock anger. ”You always wanna be on top!”

Gaara rolled his eyes, fighting with the window that refused to open, an unlit cigarette in his mouth, speaking around it. ”That's because you like to bottom.”

The blond giggled, prancing his way to the closet, gasping when he opened it. ”Wee! I found a new hiding place!” He turned to his friend, clapping his hands enthusiasticly together like an over-exited five-year-old. ”Gaara Gaara Gaara, let's play hide and seek!”

Gaara huffed, giving up with the window and putting the smoke back to the carton. ”You never grow up, do you.”

Naruto shook his head, closing the doors and shuffling his feet over to the window. ”No, if I can help it.”

They both snapped their heads to the doorway as Iruka peeked in and coughed to get their attention. ”Hope you don't mind the bunk beds, but I only have one spare room so you have to share-”

”It's okay!” Naruto interrupted, grinning. ”We don't mind sharing, and it's a lot bigger than we're used to!” To emphasize his point, the blond twirled around with his arms wide.

Gaara sighed, dodging one tan arm as it passed him. ”It's fine.”

Iruka nodded, standing up straight and scratching the side of his jaw. ”I bet you're hungry. How does ramen sound?”

The blond gasped, eyes growing larger and shining brightly. ”Ramen?”

Iruka arched his eyebrow. ”If you don't like it, we can always-”

”NO!” Naruto waved his arms in the air. ”RAMEN IS FINE! WE'LL EAT RAMEN!”

Gaara rolled his eyes again as his friend sprinted out of the room, leaving him and Iruka alone.

The boy noticed the confused expression his legal guardian was wearing. ”He likes ramen.” He said, trying to explain the weird behavior.

Iruka blinked, slowly nodding. ”Never would've guessed.”

Gaara looked after the brunet, chuckling. (Sarcasm. I'm starting to like him.)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: This is a short-ish chapter cos it's kinda an introduction of sorts, but you can expect longer chapters later on. Review if you feel like it, you'll get an answer in the next chapter with 100% certainty. Thanks for reading!