You were the one behind the mask

Author's Note:

1. This is a Yaoi stori, if you don't like don't flame me and simply don't read it.

2.The pairing is Gaara and Naruto, and the story line is ...is in high school, I mean I'm not following the cannon in the ninja world.

3. Ok, I want to thank SneakyFox,mistress0fyaoi,drmsr,xXKitsuneXx, ednama, Canadian Ginger and Madamdragon : Thank you for your reviews I am really happy you have liked the story so far. . I really appreciate it. I also want to thank to my beta InosBane

for making of this is story something easy to read. Thanks!!

4. Read and do not forget to Review!! And enjoy!!

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The day had started out sunny and warm, but by ten o' clock, clouds started gathering. When Gaara, Shikamaru, and Gaara's sister, Temari had been in the mall about two hours, it started to rain. Temari had joined the boys in their quest to find Gaara a costume, explaining that without a female's input, Gaara could end up looking like one of The Village People. Thus far, the only one who'd even pretended to consider a pair of buttless chaps was Temari, and that was only because of the overly flirtatious salesman.

"Hmmm..." she'd smirked touching her finger to her chin, "I don't know. Let's ask my little brother and his friend." Turning she called brightly, "hey Gaara, Shikamaru, what do you guys think?"

At the mention of the word "brother", the salesman paled and followed Temari's gaze. Shikamaru had to turn away to hide his blush while Gaara, who was slouching in a nearby chair frowned.

"Yeah," she agreed, "that's what I thought too."

“What was I thinking?" The salesman hurried to put the costume back on the rack. "That look is totally wrong for you. Perhaps this one?”

He pulled out an Elizabethan costume, and truth be told, the light blue dress would have looked beautiful on Temari. Shikamaru, whose face had returned to normal, eyed the dress with a great deal of interest. Even Gaara nodded slightly while Temari smiled, pleased with the choice.

“Yes, rather than the dress making you look good," the salesman smiled as his eyes roamed her figure approvingly. "You, with your coloring would make this dress look gorgeous," he ended with an obvious wink.

An uncharacteristically girly giggle issued from Temari, causing Gaara's eyes to widen in horror and Shikamaru to tense up.

"I think it's a bit too froo-froo for her,” Shikamaru commented.

The glare that Temari sent his way was so scary that even the salesman took a step back. Gaara sat up straight trying to decide whether or not he should intervene, it wasn’t everyday he got to see Shikamaru acting jealous and stupid. He watched as the dark haired boy hesitated, unsure whether or not he should say anything more. Temari waited a few minutes before she turned, and with a large fake smile placed a hand on the salesman’s arm and began talking in a flirty voice.

“So," she cooed at the salesman as Shikamaru frowned. "You really think this would look good on me?”

Gaara'd had enough. He stood up and left the awkward trio to look around the shop for something that would suit him. He was a little annoyed that his friend and sister were too busy playing stupid games to help him. How hard could finding a decent costume be? After twenty minutes of walking around he realized just how difficult it was. There were literally hundreds of costumes to look through. He'd sorted through rack after rack of baby costumes, clown costumes, sexy costumes, and some costumes that were just too creepy to give a second thought. He'd paused in his search to admire a black cape when someone bumped into him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” Gaara turned and found himself face to face with pink hair and a pair of green eyes. The girl gave him a nervous smile, "oh, hi Gaara.”

Gaara looked at her for a moment, he knew he'd seen her face before.

The girl saw the uncertainty in his eyes, "I'm Sakura, from school.”

“Oh, that's right. Hi.” Gaara replied. An uncomfortable silence followed.

“So," Sakura shifted her feet nervously before asking, "what are you doing here?" Gaara opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted.

“Maybe he's looking for a costume for Naruto-kun’s party,” Sai offered with his characteristic smile. He held up a cheerleader costume, “you think this would look good on me?”

Gaara looked at the boy in disbelief. Was he seriously considering a girl's cheerleader costume? Sakura sighed, exasperated with Sai's cluelessness. It was apparent to Gaara that he'd done this a few times already.

“Sai, if you want me to have anything to do with you for the rest of the year you need to find something else. Something for a boy," she said. Sai briefly looked disappointed, before nodding and wandering off to find something "for a boy".

When she saw the expression on Gaara's face, Sakura giggled.

“He was…well, he doesn't get out all that much." She shrugged, "there's a lot of things he needs to learn." She smiled fondly, watching as the black head bobbed up and down through the racks. "So, you’re looking for something for Naruto’s party too?”

Gaara nodded, noticing the mischievious look on the girl's face.

“What's that you've found?”

“Nothing,” Gaara answered more aggressively than he'd meant to. He saw the green eyes widen at his tone. "Sorry," he sighed. "Shikamaru was supposed to help me find something, but..." he gestured towards where his friend and sister were standing.

Sakura turned to see what Gaara was pointing at. Shikamaru was with a blond girl she didn't recognize. They appeared to be carrying on a conversation with their shoes. If the identical blushes meant anything, they seemed to be embarassed.

“I didn’t know Shikamaru had a girlfriend," Sakura stated frowning a little.

“He doesn’t,“ Gaara snorted. When Sakura looked at him curiously, Gaara explained. "She's my sister and, well…it's a bit complicated.”

Sakura regarded the pair once more before turning back to Gaara whose face was an expressionless mask. She smiled a little, understanding why Naruto was always watching the redhead. Gaara really was quite handsome. His face appeared serene while his eyes spoke volumes. At that moment, they were expressing how helpless he felt at not being able to find a costume for Naruto’s party. She turned her attention to the cape Gaara was looking at a few minutes before.

“What about this?” She asked fingering the satiny material.

“What about it?” Gaara asked confused.

“Well, it's a costume.”

“It's a cape.”

“Yeah, but did you see what's under the cape? Look,” she said pulling the costume off the rack.

Gaara could see that inside the cape was what looked like a tuxedo and a half face mask. When he read the tag, it said "Deluxe Phantom of the Opera". He remembered how Temari had dragged him and Kankuro to see the play a few years back. Kankuro had fallen asleep, but Gaara had been mesmerized by the music. As he wondered if he'd indeed finally found his costume, he missed the amused look that crossed Sakura’s face.

“So, what do you think? Maybe you should try it on, the changing rooms are right over there,” she pointed to the end of the aisle.

Gaara lifted his eyes and looked at her suspiciously, “why are you helping me?”

Sakura thought over the question for a moment, she saw the distrust in Gaara’s eyes, and then shrugged smiling softly.

“You looked really helpless in here. Go on, take it to the changing room and try it on. I'm pretty sure it would look good on you.” She handed Gaara the costume, and with one last questioning glance he walked off towards the changing rooms.

“So, why'd you really help him?” Sai's sudden reappearance caused Sakura to jump.

“Because I wanna win the bet," her innocent expression faltered when she grabbed his hand and winked. "Anyway, you've seen the way Naruto looks at him.”

Sai thought about what she'd said and nodded.

“True, but Sasuke-kun is not going to be happy. I've noticed the way he looks at Naruto-kun. Why don’t you help Sasuke instead of Gaara?”

Sakura's mouth dropped open in surprise. It never ceased to amaze her how Sai noticed so much more than he let on.

“Well," she said recovering herself, "I've known Sasuke for years, I even had a crush on him when I was younger. There's no question that he loves Naruto, but it's a selfish love. He's a spoiled brat," Sai noticed how Sakura's expression grew hard as her voice lowered to a hiss. "And I'm sick of watching him take whatever he wants with no regard for anyone else or their feelings." The girl paused, and a slight smile played about her mouth. "But this Gaara, I don't know, even if I don't really know him, I get the feeling that what he feels for Naruto isn't just a selfish crush. He's not trying to win a pissing contest, or stake a claim, he seems genuine."

Sai nodded his head in agreement, he had noticed the same things.

oooooooo

After some awkward conversation about frumpy costumes and pushy salespeople, Shikamaru and Temari started looking for Gaara. They couldn't believe that they'd forgotten all about helping him find a costume, and now he was nowhere to be seen. Turning a corner, Shikamaru noticed Sakura and Sai standing together talking. Immediately his shoulders tensed, if they were here then it probably wasn't a good idea for Gaara to be wandering around alone. There was no telling what might happen if he saw them. He started to go down the next aisle when one of the changing room doors opened and Temari gasped in surprise. For his part, all Shikamaru could do was gape at the person standing in the doorway while Sai and Sakura grinned appreciatively.

There stood Gaara in a red tuxedo shirt, with black pants, vest, and cape. He was holding a white mask in his hand and appeared a little nervous as he shifted from one foot to the other. When he heard his sister's gasp, he raised his pale green eyes hoping her reaction would give him an idea as to whether or not the costume was right for him.

“Gaara," she whispered running over to him and hugging him tightly, "you look incredible!"

Struggling to breathe, Gaara noted the shock on Shikamaru's face as well as the identical grins worn by Sakura and Sai. Maybe this was the right costume afterall.

“I'm pretty sure that when Naruto-kun sees you in that costume he'll jump your bones the first chance he gets," Sai smiled proudly before getting smacked in the back of the head by Sakura. Gaara growled in embarrassment as a bright red blush spread across his cheeks.

"Sai, you shouldn’t say such things, remember the discussion we had about your foot-in-mouth disease?"

“But, it's obvious that Gaara-kun likes Nar...” Sakura put a hand over Sai’s mouth before he could finish.

“Just, shut up,” she mumbled. The black haired boy nodded when he saw the maniacal gleam in the girl's eyes.

Gaara blinked several times, and took a deep shuddering breath. He'd always been so good at hiding his feelings, and here was this weird guy saying that it was obvious he liked Naruto! When did he become so transparent?

Seeing his friend's distress, Shikamaru broke the silence. "This really is an awesome costume, much better than the baby clown Temari made you try on earlier. How'd you find it anyway?"

“I helped him," Sakura chimed in.

“Really? Why?”

“Because she saw that he needed help and you were too busy with your girlfriend,” said Sai.

“She is not my girlfriend!”

“He is not my boyfriend!

The pair's response was so sudden and so loud that every eye in the store was suddenly upon them. Red faced, Shikamaru suggested that Gaara pay for the costume and they go have lunch. Temari silently nodded. Sai stared at the two in confusion while Sakura bit her lip. Gaara just rolled his eyes and went back into the dressing room to change.

As he was about to leave the store with his costume in a large bag, Gaara paused to say thank you to Sakura.

“No problem," she smiled. "And…well, if you don’t mind me saying so, I think Sai is right. Naruto is going to jump you as soon as he sees you in that outfit.”

As flustered as her words made him feel, Gaara couldn’t help but smile at the thought of having Naruto fall for the outfit, fall for him. Sakura winked and giggled while Sai waved.

"You know baby brother, I haven't seen you smile like that in...oh, forever." Temari commented as the trio made their way to the food court. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Gaara smiled again, "it's just a really nice day, don't you think?"

Shikamaru smirked, "yeah? Tell that to the hurricane outside. Ouch! Troublesome woman, what'd you hit me for?"

The black haired boy rubbed his arm as the blonde girl laughed.

oooooooo

Naruto and Sasuke were sitting at one of the few tables available in the food court, talking about nonsense. It had been a good day so far and Sasuke was loving every minute of it. Currently, Naruto was going on and on about Jiraiya and his new book. How his research was going and about all the women that had probably slapped him in the process.

Sasuke nodded occasionally, even smiling once or twice, but he knew Naruto didn't even notice. Yawning, he stretched out a hand to take one of the blonde's french fries that sat untouched on his plate. His eyes widened in shock when he felt a stinging slap.

“Hey, teme! Those are mine, you have your own food.” Naruto's eyes were narrowed as he circled his food protectively with his left arm. Sasuke smirked before once again reaching for a fry and receiving yet another slap.

“Ow, Naruto! I just want one fry. Can't you give me just one?”

Naruto hesitated for a moment before giving in.

The back haired boy smiled, “have you decided what movie we're going to see?”

“I don’t know, I can't decide between Resident Evil or Diary of the Dead. You choose.”

Sasuke leaned on his chair legs and thought. He liked those kinds of movies, he especially liked seeing those kinds of movies with Naruto. The blonde dobe would jump every now and then, grabbing Sasuke's hand. Who knows, maybe if it was scary enough Naruto would hug him and then…
Yeah, a scary movie would fit right into what he'd been trying to do all afternoon. Everything was going just as he'd planned. He opened his mouth to speak when he noticed that Naruto was staring at a point just over his shoulder. The blonde smiled that special smile and began waving. Annoyed, Sasuke turned to see what had caught Naruto's attention. Damnit! There was that Gaara with Shikamaru and some blonde girl he'd never seen before.

"What are you doing?” He hissed at Naruto who ignored him and continued to wave.

“Oi! Shikamaru, Gaara, hi!”

Smirking, Shikamaru grabbed the redhead by the arm and steered him over to the table where Naruto sat waving, and the Uchiha slouched, obviously sulking.

“Hi guys, what are you doing here?” Naruto asked grinning.

Sasuke was shooting daggers at Gaara whose own eyes had turned frosty.

“Yeah, what the hell are you doing here?” Sasuke asked.

Temari was taken aback by the rudeness of the question, and opened her mouth to reply when Gaara cut her off.

“We were shopping, Naruto. How about you?” Gaara smiled at the blonde, ignoring the seething Sasuke who had clenched his fists under the table.

“Humph, none of your business. Now why don't you just go.”

“Why you little...” Temari started, but this time it was Naruto who replied.

“What is it with you? Instead of acting like a jerk, you should be apologizing," he reminded Sasuke.

“Apologizing? Are you out of your frigging mind? Why in the hell should I apologize?” Sasuke asked incredulously.

“How about because of what you did yesterday.” Naruto replied quietly.

Temari took in the red faced Sasuke, then turned her gaze onto Gaara and Shikamaru.

“What happened yesterday,” she asked coldly. Shikamaru's attention was suddenly drawn to a menu board.

“It was nothing, a stupid thing, not even worth remembering." Gaara sighed, giving Naruto a small smile. ” It was good to see you, goodbye now. “

The threesome turned to leave when Naruto suddenly blurted out, “Would you like to go to the movies?”

Everyone stopped. Sasuke's eyes opened wide in shock, Shikamaru grinned, and Temari regarded her brother's expressionless face.

Gaara turned around and found himself trapped in those blue orbs that were looking at him with a mix of embarrassment and apprehension.

“No, I'm sorry," he shrugged, "but we have to go." Temari opened her mouth but closed it again after receiving Gaara’s death glare.

Shikamaru turned holding up a hand, “Can you excuse us for a second?”

He took Gaara by the arm and the two walked until they were out of earshot.

“What the hell?" Gaara jerked his arm out of his friend's grasp. "Didn't you hear me? We have to go.”

“Because we have so many other things to do? Come on, he just invited you to the movies.”

“Only because he still feels sorry for what happened. This is crazy, I already told him to forget about it. Besides, he's with Uchiha.” Gaara's voice had softened to a whisper as he finished his statement.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, “look," he said, and there was something unfamiliar in his expression. "I know the situation seems hopeless, but think of it as a chance for both of us to get what we want."

Gaara lifted a non-existent eyebrow, “What are you up to Shikamaru?”

A blush worked it's way across Shikamaru's face as he stared at his shoes.

“Look, I...I haven’t exactly asked your sister to the party yet." Brown eyes met green, "I just thought, you know, if we saw a movie...I could do it then, and you could take your chance with Naruto.”

“So basically," Gaara sighed. "You're too chicken to look my sister in the eyes when you ask her out, you need a dark, crowded room?"

Shikamaru grimaced, "I prefer to think of it as mysterious and romantic..."

"Either way," the redhead shook his head, "we're doing this for you, not me."

Shikamaru nodded, "you're a good friend Gaara.” He smiled before walking back to Naruto's table. "So," he yawned, scratching the back of his head. "What're we seeing?"

“You coming too?” Naruto smiled mischeviously at Temari and nodded towards Shikamaru. "You two on a date?"

“No!" Came the vehement reply from both. Naruto grinned while Gaara and Sasuke were engaged in a silent staring contest. Finally, Sasuke stood up and put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder.

“Well, then let’s get moving, we don’t want to miss the movie. Right?”

Naruto stood up enthusiastically and dragged the redhead towards the theater, leaving Sasuke to stare after them.

“Wow, bad luck kid," Temari smirked, as Sasuke let out a whispered curse before following the pair.

While waiting in the lobby for Temari and Naruto to buy snacks, Sasuke took the opportunity to pull Gaara away towards a water fountain. Gaara slapped away Sasuke’s hand and glared at him coldly.

“Touch me again and your face will be even worse than it is now,” he growled.

“You think I'm scared of your stupid threats?” Uchiha asked, “let me tell you something, you'd better back off. Don’t you dare to mess up things with Naruto or...you'll find out what an Uchiha it is really capable of.” Sasuke’s voice, although low, trembled with fury.

Most people cowered when face to face with and enraged Uchiha. The fact that Gaara was matching his glare, even smirking, brought out a bit of unwanted admiration in Sasuke.

“Feeling threatened Uchiha? Why could that be?” Gaara whispered.

Before Sasuke could say anything else, Naruto and the others appeared. Sasuke shot one last glare at Gaara before following Naruto inside the darkened theater.

“You okay?" Temari asked, sounding more than a little concerned. "That Sasuke guy looks like trouble.”

Gaara shrugged but made no reply as he followed the others in. Once inside, he found himself sitting on Naruto’s right side. Sasuke was to the blonde's left, and Temari and Shikamaru were sitting next to each other behind the three boys.

Whenever he went to the movies, Naruto would enjoy putting his arms on each side of the armrest. This was normal behavior for him, and Sasuke, having known the boy forever, was prepared for it. He also knew that since he'd become aware of his feelings, he'd started placing a hand over Naruto's. Today would be no exception, especially with that redheaded freak on the other side.

As soon as the movie started, Sasuke put his arm over Naruto’s and began tracing small circles on top of his friend's hand. After a few seconds Naruto noticed, he frowned, wondering what his friend was up to. When he turned his head, he saw that Sasuke was paying full attention to the movie and so he assumed that this must be an absent minded thing. Turning to the other side, Naruto regarded Gaara's face. It was so different from Sasuke’s. Sasuke always wore a serious expression that many found irresistible, but Gaara seemed to have an expressionless face. It was as if his face didn't know how to show emotion, as if that was a job better suited for his eyes. That's where Gaara's emotions were, hiding in those incredible green eyes. Naruto could see that right at that moment Gaara was feeling about the same as he did in Art or Physics class. He remembered all the times he would look over at Gaara from across the room, and that look of concentration he'd have before a beautiful smile would work it's way across his face. His eyes would gleam, and then roll when Shikamaru leaned over and whispered something. Whether it was happiness or not, Naruto wasn’t sure, but it was always there, everytime he looked Gaara’s way. Naruto stopped and mentally shook himself. This couldn't be happening, that feeling he got when he was thinking about Gaara just then...no. No, no, no! He couldn’t think about that, he liked Sakura, and well…Gaara wasn't Sakura. It wasn’t possible, and...

Just then, Gaara turned and their eyes locked for the briefest moment. Green ones with blue, Naruto smiled nervously and without noticing, he lifted his left hand and scratched his head, embarrassed. Then, just as fast, he turned around and tried to concentrate on the movie. "I'm in serious trouble," he thought, completely ignoring the reproachful look coming from Sasuke.

Gaara looked from Naruto, trying to appear interested in the film, to Sasuke who was once again glaring at him. A small smirk appeared on the dark haired boy's face as he touched Naruto's arm. The blonde turned to Sasuke and, with a strange smile on his lips, laid his hand on the armrest. The Uchiha lowered his eyes and placed his own hand under Naruto’s intwining their fingers. Naruto, whose attention was now focused on the movie, remained blissfully unaware of the staring contest going on between Sasuke and Gaara. When the redhead saw Sasuke’s and Naruto’s hands, he couldn’t help but feel a familiar pain in his chest. Closing his eyes briefly, he ignored the ache and put his left hand on the now free armrest.

Behind them, Shikamaru and Temari were doing their best to watch the movie, but every few minutes Shikamaru would look Temari’s way, just to turn around before she noticed. He missed the fact that she was doing the exact same thing until, while reaching for popcorn they happened to lock eyes.

Smiling nervously, Shikamaru whispered, "you know this costume party next week? It's troublesome, but I promised Gaara I would go with him. It'll probably be really boring, but I was wondering if maybe you might want to come too?”

He tried to act casual by yawning widely. When he closed his eyes he missed Temari's smile.

“But I thought you were going with Gaara,” she teased.

Shikamaru wasn't sure if she was kidding or not.

"We're just friends, I'm going with him for moral support," he replied slightly panicked. "To be honest, I'd really like to go to this thing with you."

Thankful for the darkness that hid his blush, Shikamaru exhaled a breath he didn't realize he was holding, and waited for Temari to answer. She took her sweet time, and Shikamaru started to wish he hadn't even bothered. Maybe he'd misread her, maybe what he thought was flirting was just her personality. Maybe she already had a boyfriend, maybe she...

“I would love to go to the party," she smiled widely. "Not necessarily with you, but how lame would it look if I showed up as my brother's date?"

With that, the pair returned their attention to the movie, a hint of a smile on each face.

oooooooo

With one final blood curdling scream, the movie ended and the small group joined the mob of other teenagers milling about in the theater's lobby, not quite ready to face the downpour outside. Naruto, Gaara and Sasuke were quiet while Temari and Shikamaru discussed the ending of the movie. As Shikamaru recounted the killer's final scene, Naruto turned to Gaara and shrugged.

“I guess I'll see you Monday,” he smiled. Gaara nodded and a dark look crossed Sasuke's face. "I, uh…it was a good movie, huh?" The blonde scratched the back of his head, "listen, I'm sorry about the hand grabbing and the hug…that was a really scary part!”

Gaara saw the look of alarm on Naruto's face.

"Don’t worry about it," he soothed. "I didn't have the slightest problem with it,” he said with a shy smile. Naruto laugh nervously before Sasuke cut in.

“Naruto," he said quietly, eyes boring a hole in Gaara's chest. "We have to go, my mom's waiting,” the dark haired boy pointed out the door at a dark blue sedan.

“Oh...yeah, right," Naruto nodded. "I'm glad you guys came with us to the movies,” he took a step towards a wide eyed Gaara who responded by taking a step back. “Yeah, I'll see you Monday Gaara. Bye, Temari-chan, Shikamaru.”

Gaara watched as his crush hurried to catch up with the brooding Uchiha. Behind him, Temari and Shikamaru were smirking.

“Awww, that's so cute! My little brother is growing up,” Temari teased.

“It fills me with pride to see how far you've come with him Gaara, hand holding already!” Shikamaru nodded.

With a small blush on his cheeks, Gaara turned and eyed his tormentors.

“I take it, by the way you two are standing together, that Shikamaru finally grew the cojones to ask you out, right Temari?" The smiles melted off their faces as Gaara continued, "and judging from your blush, I'd say that you agreed to a date, yes?"

The pair nodded silently. Gaara hoisted the bag containing his costume off of the floor and made his way to the door.

"About damn time," he muttered pushing open the door and feeling the first drops of rain on his face.


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Here it is another chap. Hope you have enjoy it.

Please do not forget to review and tell me what you think of it.