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Gonna Be Mine!

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Four

Stranded with Gaara...poor Sasuke! Our little uke is seemingly going to be lost to the clutches of perverted darkness! But is this Gaara insane, or just messing with everyone -else's- heads? Hmm...a strange little mystery, indeed. But for now, best leave it at that and return to uke-chan, who, for once in his life, is wishing that his fangirls weren't too distracted to come and rescue him. (as he ignored the nagging in the back of his head that that Uzumaki guy would probably intervene, himself, and that would be even better than the fangirls...)

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"S-someone should...go save Sasuke-kun," Sakura whispered to Ino after they'd finished bickering. The two girls were sitting calmly--or rather, shaking in their boots as calmly as possible--and nervously watching after Gaara and their Sasuke-kun. The bubble-gum haired girl was seated on the edge of her chair to the far left, as if she were huddling towards Ino for safety; Ino appeared to be contemplating whether or not she should grab the nearest text book and chuck it at Gaara's head.

Nodding and gulping loudly in response, Ino said, "You're right, for once, forehead. But...that's Gaara. You remember what happened when that one girl--oh, what was her name, black hair, blue eyes...Yumi, was it?--bumped into him in the halls? That night, screams were heard coming from her bedroom, but when her parents opened the door, the only signs that she'd been there were the horrible blood stains...and she's never been seen since."

...Silence followed.

Sakura furrowed a brow and stared at her 'rival' with an expression that was clearly meant to question the other's intellect. "...Ino, we just saw Yumi, like, ten minutes ago in Calculus. You were ranting to her about how your mom wants you to work in your family's flower shop."

"...Shut up."

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Sasuke trembled with fear, a violent shiver wracked his body as he tried to keep a straight face. Deciding it was time to once again attempt voicing his opinion, he cursed his luck when his voice broke immediately into something even less hostile than Hinata's stuttering, "Listen, I get it, you have issues, and apparently have something against me, but I think it would be best for the both of us if you just backed off..."

Gaara cocked a brow--which was actually just bare skin since he, well, didn't have eyebrows... "We assure you, Sasuke, -I- have nothing against you. Her, on the other hand..." He smirked and narrowed his aqua eyes that eerily seemed a few shades darker, his face seeming to grow with each passing second--oh, wait, Uchiha, he's just getting closer, not bigger.

"Sasuke-chaaaaaan!!!"

BAM!!!

A blur of yellow and glowing blue eyes flashed before Sasuke and tackled Gaara right off his chair, sending the all but the Uchiha crashing to the floor with the chair's metal legs scraping noisily against the tiles. Sasuke himself restrained himself from screeching and flying out of the room, instead settling for nearly falling out of his own chair while skiddishly trying to make it to the other side of the room.

"You bastard," Naruto snarled, finding himself straddling Gaara, holding the redhead up by his black uniform tie. Cobalt eyes slinked into dark slits, teeth gritted, a low protective growl forming low in his chest--the picture of true horror. For Gaara, at least. "What the hell were you trying to do to my Sasuke-chan, huh?!"

Gaara, never one to lose his "hehe I'm crazy, fear me" attitude, smirked up at the clearly pissed off boy, his breath fanning over the other's face as he spoke, "Maa, Sasuke, your stalker friend is jealous...perhaps you should elaborate our current...relationship...for him? Ne?"

"AAAARGH!"

"Sasuke-kun!!!"

"We love yooouuuu!"

"Are you injured? I know first aid!"

"Sasuke-samaaaaaa!!"

"...Sa...Sasuke...?" Naruto's tough guy act fell immediately when he looked over to find Sasuke on the floor, being mauled by his fangirls. They had made a full circle around him, so only his duck butt hairdo showed; Ino and Sakura, who should've been over near "Sasuke-kun", were nowhere to be seen.

"Narutoooo..."

...Scratch that.

The blond gulped and released his grip on Gaara's tie (Gaara then fell back and smashed into the floor; "owww mommy, my head hurts..." he would later be taken to the nurse when his siblings found him), then jumped up from his kneeling position and laughed nervously, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to -see- the punches flying at him. "Ehe...h-hey, Sakura-chan, Ino! Uhh, what's up?" 'Oh crud, they're gonna kill me! What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna--'

His trail of thoughts came to a complete halt when he finally cracked open an eye, to find the two girls clasping their hands together over their hearts, expressions torn between annoyance and gratitude.

Naruto stared for what felt like an eternity, and off handedly scratched the back of his head, an adorable blank look forming on his tan face. "Err...?"

Finally, Sakura was the first to speak: "Naruto," Her voice was much lighter compared to when she usually spoke to him; not quite as high-pitched as her signature "Sasuke-kun!" squeal, but just...a normal, soft voice. "Thank you. For saving Sasuke-kun when we couldn't. That Gaara...he's...well..."

"He's damn scary!!!" Ino came in, punching Naruto on the shoulder (he wasn't sure what he was supposed to take that as). She appeared forlorn, but grinned just the same.

Sakura rolled her eyes, her hands coming to rest on her hips haughtily. "True enough. As much as I hate to admit it, Sasuke-kun might as well have been a goner if you hadn't come along. ...Speaking of which, why are you here in the first place?" Uh-oh. Pre-friendly nature to pre-pissy nature. Sometimes you just couldn't win.

"Aah, well," Naruto said, looking to the floor in a brief instant, and bending down to grab a paper he'd dropped during his mid-mauling fest. He smiled briefly. "Iruka-sensei asked me to send some papers down to Ibiki-sensei, and, well...here I am."

Exchanging glances, the girls nodded at him, sniffed (Naruto never understood why they did that before going into their bitchy modes), and waltzed by him and towards Sasuke, who was still busy demanding for the girls cuddling him to let go.

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Kiba raised an eyebrow and reached for his fork. "Dude...you don't just walk out after saving the princess, you...kiss or some corny shit, right? Did he even notice you?"

Sighing, Naruto shrugged his shoulders and twirled his spaghetti around on his plastic lunch tray. "I don't know, man., but it was ridiculous! Gaara was freakin' molesting the poor guy, right there in the middle of class."

"How intolerable," Neji smirked smugly and leaned against his fist propped up on the lunchroom table. "Clearly he should've waited till study, when handjobs under desks and make-out sessions are allowed at the back of the room."

"Neji!!!" Naruto sputtered angrily, going red.

Shikamaru yawned and raised his head from the table, evident bags under his eyes--for a guy that was always sleeping, he definitely looked tired as hell. "You're too damn troublesome, Naruto...just go talk to him...brag about saving him or whatever it is that you do to poorly attract men and chase away women."

Kiba's shoulders shook with laughter--not at Shikamaru's choice of words, so much as Naruto's face burning to a fashion that could only be compared to Hinata's blushing style.

"NOT helping, dammit!"

"Troublesome...annoying...fine," Shikamaru sighed, "I've got an idea for you to put to use, idiot."

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"Uchiha-kun," Iruka said lightly, tapping Sasuke's shoulder. The raven was at his locker, neatly placing his books in his backpack in preparations to go home. Iruka himself glanced around almost nervously as he heard a familiar voice approaching.

Sasuke turned his head for a brief moment before returning to his locker. "Yes, sensei?"

Clearing his throat and shuffling some papers together in his hands ('is it just me, or is Iruka always holding a stack of papers? geeze', Sasuke noted), Iruka mumbled, "Uzumaki-kun requested that I deliver this...uhm...note to you."

'Note? What the hell?' The Uchiha glanced up at Iruka, notcing well how the man was still looking around nervously, his left hand twitching as if he was fighting off the urge to bite his fingernails. Sasuke quickly snatched the folded piece of paper from his teacher's hands and wheeled around on his heels to once again face his locker.

"Iruka-senseeeei!" ('the hell? is that Kakashi again?.!')

"Noooo!!!"

THWACK!!!

...'So that's what the stack of papers is for.'

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Once he boarded his bus, Sasuke shrugged his bag off his shoulder and tossed it into the nearest seat, then fell gracefully next to it with his legs crossed formally. He fingered the note in his pants pocket, wondering if he should open it. 'I probably don't even want to know what it is...' But something in the back of his emo mind urged him to read it, the very small two percent of his romantic personality wondering if it was a love letter of some kind. (snort 'as if that dead last could ever write anything romantic, anyway').

"Might as well see what it is..." He murmured to himself, slipping the note out of his pocket and unfolding it more eagerly than he should've.

In messy scrawl, letters jumbled in and out of the spaces between the paper's lines, read:

'Deer Sasuke-chan

I no you probublee want to thank me for saving ur sorry ass but dont worry about it.

Just give me a kiss the next time u c me! Hehehehehehehehe.

Ill protect you hunny-buns. Thats what nites in shiny sparkly armor do: save there hot chicks!

Uzumaki Naruto

P.S.

If I ever c Gaara nere u again Im kicking his ass all the way back to Suna!!!!!!!'

Despite the incredibly horrendous handwriting, grammar, and spelling, Sasuke felt his heart flutter in his chest, a steady blush rising to his cheeks. He slapped a hand to his forehead and hunched up his shoulders, a strained frown crossing his features. 'Damn it, Uzumaki...what the hell are you doing to me?'

Just outside Sasuke's window, Naruto stood in the midst of a sea of students swarming to their buses with crossed his arms, smirking at Shikamaru, who nodded in return.

'Just you wait, Uchiha Sasuke...I swear, by the end of this school year, you're gonna be mine!'

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TBC...

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