This way to the stars

AN: I am very, very happy to receive such nice reviews... to all those gorgeous people- thank you! This chapter is just a fun transition to the deeper ploys of the story... I hope I can pull it off. Once again, the pairings are not yet definite. But it's definitely up to you guys who you want to see. ^_^
Anyway, that aside, I'm just basically happy that I can continue this for all of you... School's started again and lots to do.. hm... but I will try my very best not to disappoint you... all of you! On with the show...

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~~By the Way
"By the way, I love you." -amethyst


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Naruto couldn't figure out for the world if Gaara was purposely trying to annoy him, or he was really just plain dumb. For one thing, the guy was just so STILL. No human could possibly stay still for so long and be normal! At least, not in Naruto's book.

The blonde shot perhaps the millionth annoyed glare at the red head and tapped a random beat on his desktop. It was math time... his worst subject per se. Not that he had any good subjects but Math is, in Naruto's point of view, particularly vicious and utterly pointless. Who needs x' and y's anyway? He'd rather much keep his sanity than screw up his alphabets, thank you very much.

"Psst!"

Naruto opened one lazy eye and spared Kiba a glance. First day together and Naruto already felt at ease with him. It was nice.

"What?"

Kiba nudged his bushy head towards upfront, grinning his uniquely toothy grin. Naruto followed his line of vision, pinpointing a blonde girl who had her hair up in a high ponytail. Naruto distastefully noted that she sat beside Sakura, and pursed his lips, wondering what Kiba called his attention for. His blue, blue eyes narrowed in slight suspicion, as he found nothing out of the ordinary. The flippy blonde was currently engaged in a flurried whisper with Sakura, and was giggling at something the pink haired girl said.

"What??" Naruto repeated the question, still failing to see what amused the tattooed boy.

"Cant you see??" Kiba, if possible, grinned wider.

"Why don't you stop grinning and tell me?" Naruto grumbled.

"Ino's skirt caught on her seat." Kiba whispered gleefully, pointing.

Naruto looked closer, and sure enough, the edges of Ino's plaited skirt was wedged firmly between the spaces of her chair, and Naruto had no doubt what would happen if she happened to stand up abruptly. Kiba was doubled up in fits of laughter, as the same thoughts obviously occurred in his mind.

"What are we going to do?" Naruto whispered, his brow furrowing.

Kiba stopped laughing long enough to give him an incredulous look.

"What do you mean 'what are we going to do'? It's not as if we could DO anything."

Naruto frowned. "But her skirt-"

"Don't even think about it, Uzumaki." Kiba snorted. "Women here don't appreciate our help. They'd just think that you were looking up her skirt or something."

"So, what, we're just gonna shut up and watch?"

"We shut up and watch." Kiba firmly nodded.

Naruto snorted, deciding to drop it, once again back to trying not to doze off in the middle of the lecture- never mind that he didn't understand a word the teacher said. It was, after all, the first day of school, and he'd be damned if he didn't start it right. Naruto stifled another yawn and started tapping his pen on the mahogany desk. A habit. Inevitably though, his eyes kept falling back to Ino's skirt, which was still clamped down firmly between the wedges. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to act nonchalant, ignoring the small voice in his head that was now taunting him.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Naruto said absently, twirling his pen around fingers listlessly.

Kiba shrugged. "It'll rip of course. And we'll get a good laugh."

"That isn't exactly funny, is it?"

"Nah. But her face, now that would be funny." Kiba snickered.

Naruto stopped himself from rolling his eyes. But he sorta felt bad for that Ino girl already. Deciding a little friendly warning couldn't hurt anyone, Naruto ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and quickly scribbled a note in his messy script. Ignoring Kiba's raised eyebrow, Naruto took careful aim, flicked the crimped paper to the blond's direction and prayed she would receive it before the teacher caught sight of it. Now that wouldn't be good.

Ino blinked at the wadded paper for a few curious seconds before gingerly picking it up. She looked around suspiciously to see who had thrown it. Naruto firmly looked away, not really up to a staring contest. He silently urged the girl to read it so the whole ordeal would be through. Ino frowned, but opened the note to read its contents.

You know how in those movies where the girls get fitfully embarrassed, and their faces just crumple up in utter humiliation? Well, Ino's face certainly crumpled up- but Naruto found that it was one of distaste and if anything, looked utterly revolted.

"Oh ewwww!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!! What a pervert!!!!"

The whole class fell silent and turned to stare at her, and Kakashi blinked at her, closing his mouth in mid sentence.

"I'm sorry?"

Ino had the decency to blush a bit, but still maintained her indignant look. "Someone was being a pervert and staring up my skirt!!" she declared, her eyes glaring hatefully at the male population. "He threw this note at me!"

A few guys snickered, but kept silent while the girls were looking around uneasily. Kakashi, who suddenly looked amused for some reason, asked to see the note. Naruto prayed in his seat that the teacher wouldn't recognize it to be his. Not that Naruto had passed any written reports recently... but still. Ino huffed but stood to give the note- when there was a loud tearing sound that echoed through the small classroom.

Ino's eyes went impossibly large, and screamed. She jumped around, trying to cover up the large slit that had appeared and exposed her pink panties. Naruto took a second to be amused as he caught sight of a pig's face peeking out, grinning in all its porky glory. The room erupted into laughter, the boys clutching their desks in a desperate attempt to stay erect. Kakashi tried his best to calm the hysterical Ino, while painfully forcing back a grin. Hey, it WAS funny.

"All right, who wrote that note? WHO?!!" Ino yelled, her face alarmingly red.

Kakashi attempted to make her sit down. "Calm down miss-"

"You stay away!" Ino squealed, hiding her back from him. "Pervert!"

Kakashi obediently backed away, but this time allowing his grin to show through. She was stubborn- which was fine. He was having a lot of fun anyway.

"WHO DID IT? WHO WROTE THAT NOTE?!!" Ino practically spitted fire.

"As if we'd tell!" Kiba mockingly yelled, slapping his hand on his table.

"It was you disgusting boys." Ino firmly said. "I know it. 'Fess up, or I'll-"

"You'll what? Throw a pom-pom at me?" Kiba loudly said, making a face.

Some girls were now standing up and backing Ino up, yelling at the boys to stop being disgustingly immature. The boys quickly rose up to the challenge and started doing an imitation of Ino squealing and ripping her skirt.

"Oh! Oh! I ripped my skirt! Oh no! My pink porky panty!!" Kiba mocked in a high pitched squeal. "Oh no, the big bad boys did it! Someone do SOMEthing!!"

Naruto couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. Ino face was an unhealthy purplish gray and it just fuelled the fire more. Kiba could be such a pain in the ass!!

"QUIET!!"

Naruto swallowed back his laughter as did the rest of the people. Sakura who had been siding with Ino just a while back, had her hands on her hips, her green eyes surveying the now quiet class with a sly glint in her eye. She turned a sweet smile to Ino and touched her arm.

"Don't worry Ino-chan... I know what we can do about this."

Ino forgot to be angry for half a second, regarding her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Since it was those stupid boys who did this to you, they have to fix your skirt!" Sakura triumphantly grinned, pointing at an unsuspecting blonde. "Why don't you let the monster there do it? He's probably the one who threw you the note, anyway."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Kiba protested before Naruto could open his mouth, glaring at Sakura. "What has he ever done to you anyway?"

The other boys echoed their agreement.

"He's very good at it." Sakura shrugged, not really caring at the glare that was sent her way. "Which is probably the only thing he's worth ."

Naruto gritted his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to stand up and land a well-deserved punch at the pink haired girl. But he didn't dare. If ever the Haruno's found out¡¦ he shuddered. No, he didn't dare...

"All right, fine. I'll fix the damn skirt." Naruto stiffly said, doing his best to avoid Sakura's eyes so he wouldn't see her gloating triumphant eyes. "But that's just cuz I'm really nice!"

"Dream on, loser." Sakura snorted, turning her back on him. "Saa, Ino-chan... problem solved!"

Naruto sighed dejectedly and slumped back on his seat. The class was now returning to normal again, as Sakura cajoled Ino into borrowing her jacket to cover the rip. Kiba was staring at Naruto in confusion, as did the rest of the class. If he didn't know better, he'd say that Naruto was scared of the pink haired bitch! Why didn't he fight back?!

Naruto felt Kiba's searching gaze, but chose not to meet them. Tiredly combing through his messy blonde locks, he slumped lower in his seat. It will always be Sakura's pleasure to make sure he remained miserable... he was used to it. But that didn't mean he liked it. More than once, he felt himself giving in to the tremendous pressure- but he held on tight. Naruto knew that was exactly Sakura was waiting for- his complete defeat and submission. Well, he wouldn't give her that. He'd rather bite his tongue and die.

"Oi."

Naruto glanced up tiredly to meet a pair of sharp green eyes. He stiffened.

"What do you want?" Naruto snapped at the red head, immediately on guard.

Gaara regarded him silently, his face betraying nothing of what he was thinking.

"I hate morons who manipulate other people for their own pleasure..."

Naruto blinked, his mouth opening slightly. Okay, so that was unexpected. He fidgeted, not really knowing what to make of the silent boy's words. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"...But I hate those who let themselves get manipulated even more."

Naruto's mouth snapped shut. He recoiled at his words, as if he had been slapped in the face. Gaara pointedly turned away, his jaws grimly set, as if gritting his teeth. Naruto let him.

The room was humming with the scattered whispers and murmurings of the class (Kakashi had long since disappeared), and no one seemed sure anymore at what was going on. Oh well. It was almost time for lunch anyway. No one really wanted classes anymore. Naruto silently gazed out of the window, blocking out the rest of the world. Gaara's words had struck, and it struck deep.

Minutes ticked on, and no one bothered to get up to try to find Kakashi. Everything was suddenly so normal the fight not a while ago seemed non-existent. As if it never happened. It was that sudden abrupt feeling when something overwhelming had taken place that was permeating the class of 1-D. Not that it really mattered. Everyone just seemed so dazed.

Five minutes to lunch.

Of course everyone was hungry. Mindless chattering could only distract you so much after all.

It was getting increasingly boring. The guys were now talking about what kind of lunch they would like to have in just four minutes time, while the girls fussed over the latest teen magazine and exchanged gossip.

Three minutes.

Ino was now officially calm, but was yet to speak of the earlier event. No one tried to bring it up. No one dared to.

Two minutes.

Kiba had fallen silent and was in deep thought. (Something that in normal circumstances should cause alarm.) The blonde's strange behavior unsettled him, and he was confused. One minute he was insulting the most dangerous person in school (and probably all Japan *shudder*) Gaara, and then the next he shuts up in front of the pink-bitch Sakura! Kiba was never good in math, but this really didn't add up.

One minute.

There was nothing much left to say anymore really. Everyone was just waiting for the damn bell to ring. Come on, ring... ring... ring... ring... ring already... ring... ring-

"By the way, has anyone seen Uchiha??"

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AN: Review response!! ^_^ I really do enjoy doing this¡¦ Please continue to support and critique this fic. It means the world to authors when you do. Thank you!!


seph: i dont mean to torture anybody... i'll try my best to please ALL of you... ^_^
krickets: i hear you.. haha...
losthimagain: I dont break promises dear. And yes, now that you mentioned it, Itachi WILL make an appearance along with Sasuke somewhere soon...
Trekiael: I agreee with you that Gaara and Naruto are more like brothers.. but there's attraction in that as well. ^_^
Stupidity unleashed: I agree! I love these kind of AU's despite being sooooo overated...
dakara: haha... that's perfectly fine. ^_^
moon_shadow: I'll try my best dear.
Kyuubikit: Thank you! Those little quotes in the beginning actually mean a lot to me... i'm glad you like them. And i also agree with you that there are so few Neji/naru.. then again, SasuxNaru is the most loved pairing, so that can be justified.
ShiroiGardenia: oh no! Gaara isnt the bad guy here! I'm never one to make Gaara the bad guy, so you can relax.
Reyn: You can if you want to. ^_^ i dont mind really. Thank you for being such a regular reviewer!
kaka-she: you know, your name cracked me up big time.. ^_^ I'm glad you like it... this chappie is for you!