The Definition of Piety

Oh My God! I have Fanart! It is so beautiful, I love it so much and I did not know how to thank Tofupimp since I didn't know her/his email, so this is the way I thought of. You totally freaking rock and you are way more talented at drawing then I could ever hope to be. I worship you, and don't know how to thank you enough! I am very motivated now, so I will have a new chapter up either Sunday or Monday, and it will be nice and long, so thank you to all who did not bitch about the length of this chapter too much. Anyways, here is the beautiful, wonderful art.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/tofu-pimp/sasunarufic.jpg

*sniffles* You kick so much ass in my book.

caidanu is also making me fanart that I am sure will be gorgeous! so thank you to her as well. I love you guys oh so much!

A/N: Alright, I know that it's been awhile and the chapter is disgustingly short, but the holidays were rough so I ask you to forgive me this time alright? However I feel now I can get back into the swing of and start producing quicker and longer chapters...plus, it's Gaara/Neji time and I know your excited. Thank you to all my wonderful reviews, I will be thanking you all individually in the next chapter.

Fire Conversations

He woke sometime in the night, the cool air brushing over his skin and making him nuzzle further into the warm skin that surrounded him. His eyes cracked open reluctantly as he felt the blonde in his arms shiver slightly. Feeling that he better do something about it before the idiot froze to death, as gently as possible he untangled himself from the other boy, trying not to wake him. As he moved to sit up, he cringed at the sticky feeling of his skin, promising to himself that as soon as morning came around he was going drag himself and his dobe into the lake to wash up.

Speaking of his dobe… he turned his eyes to gaze fully at the beauty that was still laying on the ground, eyes closed in a deep slumber. He drank in the sight of the blonde’s naked body and felt a blush rise on his cheeks, which was followed by him promptly scolding himself. After all they had done, he still had any modesty left in himself to blush?

And they had done a lot…a whole hell of a lot. His tongue peeked out to lick at his lips, which had become dry at the memory of the thrusting in and out of that tight body. Naruto had given everything to him, and in turn he had given just as much, and he knew that he probably should be panicking right now, but there was not enough fight and stubbornness left in him to care. There was no taking it back, and in all honesty, he really didn’t want to anyways.

Naruto shivered once more beside him, “Sasuke” passing sweetly from his lips as he mumbled in his sleep. Sasuke was pulled from his thoughts as he heard his name come from those pretty lips and he let a rare smile grace his features as he turned his attention back to the task at hand. After all, sleeping naked on the forest floor was not the best idea.

He noticed Naruto’s orange jacket laying discarded nearby and he reached to retrieve it, cringing at the color as he moved to place it over both his and Naruto’s body, letting his mind stubbornly look over the fact that he placed it over Naruto’s more. Once both of them were slightly covered he pulled the shinobi to him once more, burying his nose into the pile of blonde hair that he loved so much.

“Dobe…” He mumbled sleepily, as Naruto snored softly against the skin of his neck and he could have sworn that he heard a responded “Teme” as Naruto snuggled up even further into his arms. It was so sickeningly sweet that he could have scowled, and he swore that he would do so…in the morning…if he remembered.

The last thought that he had before falling asleep once more was, Dear God, I hope those two nosy bastards didn’t watch.
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They sat silently by the fire as they had been prone to doing these past couple of days. It wasn’t necessarily an awkward silence as both set of eyes focused on the crackling of the flames, but more one of uneasy understanding.

They were grateful for having each other’s company because it meant not being alone, but still, they were both fully aware of what was currently occurring and neither were that keen on speaking about it. So they sat in a not-so-awkward-yet-somehow-still-uncomfortable silence…yeah, that was good way of describing it.

“So, should we go looking for them…they’ve been gone for quite awhile.” Neji said quietly, being the first to break the silence, as he often did when it came to him and the Kazekage.

“What, and disturb them while they’re fucking?” Gaara deadpanned, turning to face the long haired boy and waiting patiently for the reaction that the comment was sure to get.

Neji blinked for a few seconds, before turning a deep shade of red and sputtering incoherently for another few passing seconds. Gaara watched the display in mild amusement, having a feeling that this was not a side of the other shinobi that people got to see often. In fact, he wondered briefly if he was the only one who could pull this type of reaction from the Hyuuga. He smirked inwardly, the thought was strangely pleasing.

Neji recovered quickly from his embarrassment, setting a daring glare towards the Kazekage. Of course he had known that Naruto and the Prick were probably screwing like rabbits by now, but for god’s sake, did Gaara have to be so blunt about everything? Something told Neji that yes, yes he did, and that he really shouldn’t be surprised by the Kazekage’s forwardness by this point.

“I was only worried because they’ve been gone so long, but thank you, Gaara, for putting my mind at ease.” Neji grumbled sarcastically, eyes narrowing as he saw Gaara look on him with that familiar amusement in his eyes.

“Or is it perhaps that you wanted to have a look? I knew that you liked to watch, Neji, but I had no idea that you were this much of a hentai.” Gaara shot back smoothly.

Alright he was just asking for it now.

What an asshole.

“Dammit Gaara.” Neji began angrily but stopped when he felt a cold hand atop his own. He looked down at the new presence to find that it did indeed belong to the boy sitting beside him and he squeezed it in a familiar gesture that he was somehow used to by now, his anger fading away quickly. Neither of them talked about the fact that they found it so easy to hold hands with one another, or that it was a strange occurrence in the first place. Neither was used to any type of physical contact that wasn’t meant to be damaging, and both knew that it felt good so they did it without so much as a thought to its meaning. It was comforting, everything else didn’t have to make sense next to that. “You’re still a bastard…” Neji mumbled half-heartedly.

“Always.” Gaara agreed and Neji felt himself smiling, something that came easily when around the unnerving Kazekage.

“Does it bother you?” Neji asked, knowing that he didn’t have to further explain to Gaara that he was talking about what Naruto and Sasuke were most likely doing at this very moment.

“Of course it does.” Gaara answered truthfully without the slightest hesitation. “Despite popular belief I am human, and a part of me wonders what it would feel like to break the Uchiha’s neck.” Neji watched as a sadistic gleam flashed in Gaara’s teal eyes and Neji had to hold back his own delightful image of dismembering the Uchiha as Gaara continued on. “But we knew what we were getting into when we started this, and if Naruto’s happy then I’m…” Gaara trailed off there.

“Satisfied enough to pretend to be happy…or in your case, non-homicidal?” Neji threw out, only half joking.

“I guess that’s an appropriate way of putting it. How do you feel, Neji?”

“The same…only with slight variations in what I want to do to that smug idiot.” Neji told him, allowing a smirk to show on his face.

“Sounds interesting…perhaps we should discuss methods sometime.” Gaara suggested, and Neji could not even begin to tell if he was joking or not.

“That’s slightly morbid, Gaara” Neji stated, his face just as blank as Gaara’s own.

“It makes me feel better.”

And Neji couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s nice.” Gaara said, still looking at him.

“What is?” Neji questioned, knowing that they sure as hell weren’t talking about Naruto and Sasuke having sex anymore.

“Your laugh.” Gaara concluded as nonchalant as ever.

“Oh.” Neji felt his cheeks reddening and cursed silently at himself, trying to hide his embarrassment from the very observant Kage. “Are you tired, Gaara?” Neji asked, ready to take the heat off of himself. At that question Gaara just gave him a pointed look. “Oh, right…would you like to go to bed anyways?” He asked, feeling his own eyelids droop slightly. Gaara only nodded as he stood up and headed towards the tent, leaving Neji to follow behind him.

Neji settled onto his previously laid out bedroll and rolled over onto his side as he felt Gaara do the same. It was only when he felt surprisingly gentle hands wrap around his middle did he give a startled yelp that he would deny vehemently later on.

“Gaara?” He questioned hesitantly and he shivered slightly as he felt Gaara’s warm breath dance along the back of his neck.

“I…just wanted to know what it would feel like.” Came Gaara’s low voice against his ears, as smooth an calm as ever, and then, “It hurts.” Perhaps it was the slight quiver in the other boy’s voice or the fact that there was more emotion in those two words then Neji had ever heard coming from the red headed boy, but Neji felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, one that he had not felt in a long time, and as he blinked what he deduced to be tears away, refusing to cry because he was a fucking grown man, he pressed back against those arms around him, lacing his fingers once more with Gaara’s and closed his eyes against reality.

“I know.”