Zero Hour!

(A:N) I’m Totally dedicating this chapter to one of my frequent reviewers! You know who you are! Thank you from the bottom of my Gaara heart! On with the Goodness!

Disclaimer: I don’t know why I bother….but I don’t own these guys…or gals.
Warning: Emotional stress-which is like depression-ahead. I also make up words like crazy but sentence structure will help you understand. Example: Barning each other’s brains out=fucking each other’s brains out. Get it? Got it! GOOD! More Neji POV more Gaara POV ahead.


Chapter IV

"Gaara!"

Little bits of glass prickled the school hallway. Students were once again rushing around causing havoc for other people, making it hard to maneuvering through the place without bumping into walls, lockers, or other people. Springs hit the floor followed by little screws and a piece of clear sticky paper about the size of small fingernail.

"Dammit." Cursing and kicking the locker below his, Gaara picked up the small bits to his now broken watch. ‘Figures. Whatever I get from Temari falls apart.’ He huffed and threw the broken contraption into his locker. He pulled a couple books out and threw them into his backpack. He was not having a good Wednesday. It started out just like that day before, but at least Tuesday was the first day back, which meant he only had three more days until he could relax on the computer all weekend. Wait! Shikamaru and Ino’s party was this weekend.

Gaara mentally cursed the boy. He hated the relationship the bastard shared with his older sister. The two had disappeared off to college somewhere on the other side of town and now Gaara hardly saw her. He was only going to the stupid party to see her. He could have cared less about the lazy bastard and the bimbo blond throwing the gig.

"What do you want?" Gaara growled at the pink haired girl as she ran up to him nearly out of breath from the other side of the campus. She shook a piece of paper in his face while panting.

-You are unlucky, a pity.-

Gaara looked back at her after he'd read those five short words. He glared at her as if she wrote it and she immediately started waving her hands in front of her face in defense.

"It was hanging out of your locker earlier so i snagged it and went to find you. Then this started popping up on everyone's cell phone." Sakura opened her phone and flipped through the picture mail. She handed the device over to Gaara and he braved to look down as the picture came into focus. He blinked and stared harder. Two seconds later-as if on cue-his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Sakura looked at him as he pulled the phone out and flipped it open then closed. He wasn't going to look at the disgusting picture.

"Who sent this to you?" He questioned. Anger so thick in his voice it startled her and she took a step back. He glared at the students around him and for the first time he saw just about everyone who owned a cell phone looking through them. His phone vibrated again to remind him he had something waiting in his inbox.

"You won't find out. It's from a computer file. It can't be traced." She paused and pulled something from her back pocket. "I didn't want to show you these but, here. They was folded up inside the note." She gulped and handed over the 'other' pieces of something that was meant to hurt him. Two Polaroids were given to him. Gaara stared hard at these. His eyes prayed to focus and unfocus as if he was losing consciousness.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Gaara paused momentarily at the murmurs and whispers in the hall. Everyone had gotten very quiet as if some unknown force was suffocating them all. Gaara pocketed the two trinkets and stared behind Sakura to watch why everyone had stopped talking so suddenly. Gaara ducked his head inside his locker and listened to the sounds of the other students as they talked about the boy coming down the hall, heading right for Gaara.

“Did you hear about them?”

“Yeah it’s all over school.”

“Someone said the were full on making out in the mall yesterday.”

“I knew it was going to happened.”

“They’re so cute together.”

“He deserved better than that psycho redhead.”

“I wonder if Gaara knows yet.”

Oh he knew alright. Gaara kept his head hidden inside his locker as if he didn’t hear any of the talking going on. When he thought it was safe he looked down the hall to see Haku and Itachi walking passed him. Haku looked flushed and was smiling bigger than Gaara knew him to. He damned the brunette to hell and slammed his locker closed as the halls started buzzing again.

"Gaara! Wait!" Sakura called. He carried his backpack in his clenched fist, having forgotten to put it on as he took the opposite way to class. He rounded the corner and disappeared down the other hall that would curve him around and bring him to class just about the time Haku got there. He wasn’t looking for any interaction but if he ‘accidentally’ ran into the boy then he might as well say something or hit him. He didn’t care which, as long as he did something besides let the femi get away with even touching ‘his’ Neji.

-----

Neji slumped over in his chair. He’d barely gotten any sleep the night before after that damn dream. Now here he was, in the place he was supposed to own, running away from crowds that dared to pin him to walls and ask questions. People wanted to know about Haku and they wanted to know about Gaara and they wanted to know how he’d let a junior strike him out. Deciding he was tired of all the extra attention, Neji ducked out in his first period class and waited with his head buried in his arms on the desk.

He wasn‘t depressed. He was a senior this year. He had a new boyfriend, a top spot as star of the baseball team, and colleges were scouting him left and right. So what did he have to be depressed about? Even if he knew what it was he probably wouldn’t admit it to anyone. He wasn’t one to whine about his problems like a certain other person.

“Nice strike out Hyuuga.”

Neji didn’t lift his head nor did he acknowledge the voice. That was all he needed to piss himself off. He wasn’t depressed, let him tell you. He was tired. He only had a headache because of all the talking going around about him. It hadn’t been any different than the year before when the rumors of an affair turned to dance with him.

“I hear you’re bonein’ the femi.” The boy, whoever he was, sat down on front of Neji’s and turned his chair around so he was facing the brunette. Neji pretended he was there while he figured out a way to get rid of his headache without having to go home for the day. Not that he could, he had a session at 3 which meant he would need to stay at school and then leave and go straight downtown to where the courts were located on Main.

‘Just disappear.’ Neji told himself as he felt the boy in front of him lean closer. This was time for Neji to raise his head and see yellow eyes and dangerous make-up that almost made the boy look like he dressed in drag everyday. Nope, that couldn’t have been the case though. In front of Neji sat the school’s ASB president. He thought he literally owned the school. And as far as everyone thought, he did.

“The need to be jealous is overrated, Orochimaru.” Neji wasn’t sure if he was glaring or straining to see. “I’m sure Itachi misses you.” He said sarcastically. “I mean, after all he was your one and only.” Neji said, in a particular girlish voice, then proceeded to chuckle when he saw the reaction he got from the other boy.

“Watch it Hyuuga.” Orochimaru didn’t say it in a tone that said he was going to bash Neji’s already throbbing head into the table. He just politely told him so that Neji stopped and looked at him firmly.

“What do you want?” Neji growled. They weren’t exactly friends, anymore. “You only come around this calm when you want something. So…spill it.” He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He already had a pretty good idea why the boy was there. He was greedy and got his way with everything. He’d lost something, so he wanted it back.

“You know what I want.” Orochimaru purred. He licked his lips with his vicious tongue and leaned down. He matched Neji’s stare and braved a smirk across his face. He wasn’t going to beg.

“No.” Was Neji’s simple answer. Why the hell would he need to help out someone who wasn’t helping him? He didn’t even like the guy, putting up with him was only a temporary thing while he dated his friend. Now that it was over he could go on hating the bastard.

“I knew you would be hesitant.” Orochimaru grinned. “So, I’ve developed a wager among sorts.” Now he had Neji’s attention. The brunette moved froward in his chair so he could listen closer. What of Orochimaru’s life was he willing to wager just to get Itachi back? Neji wondered and marveled at the possibilities.

----

“Sasuke!” Naruto ran into his second period class like a hurricane. He slid to a stop in front of his friend’s desk and slammed his cell phone down so hard it should have broke. Thank god for Sprint insurance. (Yes I have sprint *sad face*) Sasuke looked at up at Naruto, as did the rest of the students. Naruto was ten minutes late and everyone had already started working on a History reading assignment.

“Mr. Uzumaki! Outside in the hall right now!” The teacher yelled. Students all over the room were giggling and talking by now. Naruto paid no attention to them or the teacher as he flipped his cell open and scrolled to the first text message he’d gotten. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto threw the phone at him.

“Read it! Then get to the office! I’ll meet you there!” Naruto zipped out the class just as the teacher was approaching them. Sasuke looked at the phone and read the message carefully. Then read it again just to make sure he’d seen the right words.

-I think he broke my nose- :Gaara

-WUT?! WHO?! U WERE FIGHTING? R U OK?????- :Naruto

- More like got beat up. The femi. I know that damn Uchiha got a couple hits in too. R u ‘n 1st? The security is outside the nurse’s office, they won’t let me out- :Gaara

-DAMMIT! I’m nowhere near you! I’m comin’ 4rm east! Find Sasuke! I’m on my way!- :Naruto

-You find him, I’m being escorted to the PR. They think I started it- :Gaara

Sasuke looked up at his teacher the man had heard everything Naruto told him. There was no way he was going to get out of class now.

-----

Gaara was currently seated inside the office’s waiting room. Also present in the room was a the security guard who had stopped the fight, Zaku (not Haku) and Chouji who was blaming Gaara, Haku who was complaining of mental abuse, Itachi who got dragged in because he had been causing the most trouble, and a janitor who was scrubbing the words ‘Fucking Prick’ off the office door.

Gaara was ignoring the pain in his nose as he looked over at Haku. The boy was crying to Shizune about how he was going to need therapy after this. Sighing Gaara laid his head on the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling. He was going to have to find a way out of this, otherwise he could lose his new job and end up with a Saturday school. He couldn’t afford that because he needed to see Temari this weekend.

“Gaara.”

The boy looked at Tsunade as she came out of her office and stood in the door. She made a signal to indicate for him to follow her.

“You’re first. Come on let’s go.” She turned around and walked back inside the room. Gaara looked at all the people in the room and then got up to follow her. He glared at Haku as he walked by, plotting the boy’s death to himself. Walking in the office room Tsunade shut the door behind Gaara and then proceeded to sit behind her desk and Gaara sat in front of her.

Tsunade tapped her pen on the desk as she stared at him. “You seem to be popular for causing confrontation.” She stared firmly at him. “I thought we were done with seeing you in here.” She was referring to the times when Gaara had repeatedly been sent in there his freshman year. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.” She looked at the little drops of blood on his shirt from where his nose had been injured.

“…” He wasn’t ignoring her but he really didn’t feel like talking. What could he say anyway? They were already blaming him for something he obviously didn’t do, again.

“Don’t act like you can’t talk now. How am I going resolve this and punish everyone accordingly if I don’t hear the story?” She paused. “Did you start this?” She was going to get right to the point.

“…”

((FlashBack))

Gaara walked the rest of the way to class fuming. People were staring him down and pointing fingers. He could hear their annoying voices but he acknowledged none of them. They were just bystanders and he had a grudge with someone a lot more important than they could have ever been on the school’s social ladder.

Coming up on his class he saw that he had planned correctly. His timing couldn’t have been any better because here came those sticky bastards of ‘Dark Trio.’ He noticed that Itachi was looking awfully sour and Haku was looking a bit more annoyed than he had about 5 minutes prior.

Reaching for the closed classroom door, Itachi and Haku stopped him from going into the room. The older Uchiha stood in front of the door and gave Gaara a little push back.

“Haven’t you ever heard of ladies first?” Itachi moved and pushed the door open so Haku could enter ahead of him. Haku didn’t even seem to care about the sexiest comment.

Okay, so that was two shots against Gaara by Haku. He maybe could let the boy get away with stealing something that was his-even though he planned on getting that something back-but hell is he was going to let Haku walk all over him in the process.

"You look upset Gaara. Is it because of that horrible picture going around on everyone’s phone?" Haku stood behind Itachi smiling. Was he trying to start something again? Gaara let him slide at the mall but he wasn’t going to let this one just creep by-or was he?

"..." Gaara didn't want to say anything even though it was quite clear he was mad. He didn’t know if Haku had sent the pictures to everyone but he guessed so. He knew that they were just trying to piss him off.

"What’s matter Gaara?" Said Itachi. Then cracked a vicious smile and winked at the boy.

"..." Gaara was trying to stay calm- ‘Did he just…’-it wasn't working. The more that Haku and Itachi talked, the more pissed he got. He balled his fists and they started to shake with anger.

" You should just forget about Neji. He doesn't even love you anymore. He’ll love me more then he ever loved you.”

Okay, that was about it for Gaara. His entire body was rattling with hate. How dare that little prissy son of a gun dare say that Neji loved him more?! He didn’t even know Neji like Gaara did! No one did! Neji was his! HE! WAS! HIS!

"Just shut up!" Gaara yelled. Everyone around was in awe. Was that really Gaara? No one had ever heard him be so loud. Nor had they even heard him all that often.

"Oh now you have something to say." Itachi laughed as he said this and took a step forward, leaning over Gaara who was a few inches shorter than he was. Gaara knew they were trying to get him to fight. He didn't want to lose his new job so he started to walk around them near the door until he felt a kick in his back.

"Where are you going Gaara?" Itachi punched Gaara in his shoulder. Haku just stood there and laughed. Gaara didn’t know why Itachi was the one dorking him now. Not that Itachi had ever liked him though. This was going to make it hard on Gaara’s current living situation, since he was still staying with Sasuke and the other Uchiha.

Now Gaara was pissed-or should I say more pissed. He was getting tired of being hit for nothing. He held his fist and tried-he swears he tried-not to hit the pretty boy back.

"Come on Gaara, fight back already." Itachi went to hit Gaara again but Gaara stopped him.

"Don't you dare touch me, Uchiha." Gaara snarled at him and started to walk away again. He really didn’t have the time for this. Nor did he feel like fighting. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he couldn’t win against Itachi.

Haku grabbed Gaara and slammed him against the wall next to the classroom. “Maybe if a crack that pretty face of yours, Neji won’t have to be interested.” All the while he smiled his innocent smile, holding Gaara by the neck.

“What’s the matter Haku? Afraid he might come crawling back to me after he’s had enough of you.” Gaara faked a laugh as best he could but it didn’t last long. The other boy abruptly greeted him with a knee to the stomach. Gaara lurched forward and clutched his stomach. Now Gaara was infuriated, he couldn't help it. He would have to just get in trouble. He was not going to let HAKU punk him around.

Gaara raised his head up innocently and looked at Haku with the best pair of sad eyes he could conjure up. Haku grinned, thinking he’d won, but Gaara had other plans. He kicked Haku in the stomach and sent he boy staggering backwards. Then he quickly left the wall and let his fist meet Haku’s face. The femi flew back into a group of spectators. The redhead went after him but was stopped by Itachi grabbing his arms and holding them behind his back.

"Think you’re going to get away with that?" Itachi whispered in Gaara’s ear as he brought the redhead back so Gaara’s back was against his chest. He held Gaara in place as Haku started walking up to him.

"Why did you hit me Gaara? I never did anything to you." Haku said sarcastically. “I only got what should have been mine to begin with. Neji never wanted you, he told me that every…night…we…fucked.” He punched Gaara in the face, not once but twice. The second punch hit Gaara in the nose. Itachi let go of Gaara and he fell to the floor holding his nasal passage. Then Itachi started kicking Gaara while he was on the ground. Haku was cheering Itachi on until they heard the guard coming. The two were about to make a run for it but it was entirely too late.

Gaara struggled to get up off the floor as the other students started making their way to class.

“Alright, who started this?” The security guard asked. Just Gaara’s luck, the man hadn’t even seen what happened. He was sure to get blamed for this one. Gaara decided he was in too much shock from the blow to get up so he crossed his legs and slid up against the wall behind him.

“Well you see Genma sir. Itachi and I were walking to class minding our own business when the accursed redhead right there rammed me into a wall for no good reason.” Haku pointed the bruise growing on his abdomen and then motioned for Genma to look at his reddened nose.

Genma looked down at Gaara who was at the moment trying to stop the bleeding from his nose. “Gaara-“ Genma knew him too well by now. “-is that what happened?” The man questioned, trying to clear this up without having to involve Tsunade. Gaara didn’t answer. He had his wrist against his nose, letting the blood stain his sleeve.

“Get to the nurse, and I mean that.” Genma jerked his head down the hall. Hesitating for a second…Gaara got up and started walking, dragging his backpack across the floor. Not noticing that he’d dropped the Polaroids on the floor behind him.

((End Flashback))

“That’s what happened?” Tsunade asked, as she jotted things down in a sort of record book. Gaara knew it was probably his personally file. It was much thicker than the other folders on Tsunade’s desk. He nodded at her a few moments later.

“Is that the truth? Gaara?”

He looked away for a second. “Why would I lie? I have nothing to gain from this.” He thought about the picture he’d seen and how he’d seen Haku all over Neji the day before. He really didn’t have anything to lose since everything was already gone. He could lie and get out of all this but he knew Haku’s story was going to be nothing close to the truth so if he even wanted a way of getting out of this then he was going to have to make sure Tsunade knew every little detail.

“What exactly started the fight Gaara?” She leaned back and opened her desk drawer. He didn’t answer her. He couldn’t admit that he’d like it escalate by letting Haku badger him. True, it wasn’t his fault but he could have gone the other way. He looked at the floor, sniffling to make sure he could breathe again.

“Does it have anything to do with these?”

Gaara looked up so fast that his head was spinning. He saw the two pictures in Tsunade’s hand. He quickly began searching his pockets. When had he dropped them? Dammit, she knew too much. He hadn’t wanted anyone to see those pictures!

“Listen to me Gaara-“

She was rudely interrupted when the door flew open and Naruto jumped in the room. “WHATEVER IT IS GAARA DIDN’T DO IT!!!!” He was breathing hard and sweating all over the place. He was holding the doorknob and the doorframe, leaning inside the room staring at Tsunade. Gaara would have raised an eyebrow if he had one.

“Naruto! Out in the waiting room now! This is between Mr. Sabaku and I.” Tsunade pointed and Naruto quickly dipped out of the room. Gaara shook his head and noted the light headache developing.

“Gaara, please go wait in the hall. I need to hear Haku’s side of the story. Could you send him in when you leave?”

‘No.’ Gaara got up and exited the room in no kind of a hurry. Then he remembered something. ‘…why me?’ He went back in the office and the woman stared at him. She cleared her throat.

“Have something to add?” She asked, capping her pen. Gaara walked closer to the desk and pulled the pictures closer to him. They had been just lying on the desk. She caught his hand and pulled them back.

“I need these back?” He stared at the pictures. She looked at him then back at her desk. Gaara seemed to be shaking as he stared down at the frozen memory of someone else’s camera. Now that he thought about Haku couldn’t have-

“You and the Hyuuga need to solve this immediately.” She lifted her hand and Gaara swiped the pictures up quickly. He already knew that, and he knew exactly how he was going to make sure that all of this ended. Whether Haku’s head be chopped off or he ‘accidentally‘ end up missing. Gaara left the office and strolled right by Haku, not saying a word.

“Ah! Gaara! What happened in there?!” Naruto followed him out. Talking louder than he had to since Gaara was only two feet away from him. The two of them trailed the halls and Gaara didn’t say a word until they were in the safety of the boy’s bathroom.

“Did you get the picture too?” Gaara asked Naruto as he hopped on the sink and crossed his arms. Naruto looked around whistling.

“What picture? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He decided now was as good a time as any to take a leak. Gaara rolled his eyes and turned around to look in the mirror. His face had traces of blood and a bruise was attempting to come into sight on his left cheek. He rubbed his face distantly and got off the sink. He turned on the faucet and threw some water on his face.

“You look beat up.”

Both boys turned around as Sasuke walked in. Now there was a party in the boy’s bathroom! Naruto, who was still relieving himself froze and shifted his body in another direction, nearly missing the urinal.

“You can’t just bust in here like that Sasuke! Gees you nearly scared the crap out of me!” Naruto began zipping his pants.

“So.” Sasuke was right behind him in a flash, whispering in his ear.

“Ouch!” Yep, his zipper caught skin. Naruto shook and zipped his zipper back down to see if he was permanently injured. Sasuke laughed and walked over to the sink. He leaned against the counter and put his hands in his pockets. Naruto was next to him the next second, furiously washing his hands.

“You saw them too?” Gaara questioned. He was just letting the water drip off of his face. He didn’t care where it was landing at the moment. Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow and one of his hands shifted in his pocket.

“He means the pictures of Haku and Neji making out at the mall.” The blond said loudly. Gaara turned hateful eyes towards Naruto and so did Sasuke, after promptly smacking him in the back of the head.

“I knew that.” Sasuke pulled out his phone. “Who ever sent it-“ He turned back to Gaara. “-wanted to make sure you got it. I have 14 inboxes of the damn thing. Every time I deleted one I just got another, so I finally stopped erasing them but they kept on coming. I finally turned my phone off right before first period.” Sasuke handed Naruto his phone back.

“Have you seen Sakura today?” Gaara asked, leaning against the wall. He was staring at he ceiling trying to figure out who could have possibly done this. Haku didn’t do it, he was in the picture and it was fairly far away. Which meant Neji couldn’t have done it and Itachi was seen in the picture as well, looking glum.

“No.” Sasuke hissed. “Why would even bother looking for her?” Sasuke seemed to be releasing a good deal of venom towards the girl.
Gaara turned only his eyes to Sasuke. He could see Naruto doing some little disco dance number in the corner of the mirror as he mysteriously pulled out a big ass jar of hair gel and was running it thorough his hair.

“She found these in my locker before I got here.” Gaara fumbled in his pocket and pulled out what he was looking for. He handed them over to Sasuke. Naruto leaned over and looked while he was washing his hands again. Sasuke stared at the first picture, and then the second. His eyes were a bit too wide for Naruto’s comfort.

“What in the hell?! Who would take these?! They’re nothing like the camera phone pics!!!!!!” Naruto snatched them from Sasuke and threw them on the ground, choosing to jump up and down on them in a fit manor. Sasuke pushed him and he sat on the floor scratching his head.

“Don’t be so rational, Naruto.” He picked up the two items and dusted them off. “Why are you carrying these around like they’re nothing?” He didn’t look at the pictures anymore as he handed them back to Gaara. The redhead couldn’t answer that so he remained silent but someone was after him.

-----

It is totally safe to say that lunch took forever to come. Neji poured into the cafeteria with a drowsy look on his face. As usual, the people in the room stopped talking and watched him walk all the way over to his table and sit down. He wasn’t greeted by a happy Haku like he usually was. This made him look and then do a double take at the boy.

“What the hell happened to you?” Neji asked, staring at Haku’s poor injured nose. Haku, who was wearing a turtleneck today, to hide all the little love bites so he pulled the neckline up over his nose. He looked down and nudged Itachi who was looking passed Neji, chewing on something that was probably from yesterday’s lunch menu.

“We had a run in with the ex right before first period. Shit, we’ve been in the office all morning. I missed all four of my classes and that damn redhead got away with it.” Itachi barked as he stuffed another teriyaki strip in his mouth and chewed it viciously.

“Got away…with what?” Half of Neji’s attention was on Itachi and half and the other half sporking open his stubborn carton of milk. Itachi finished chewing and looked passed Neji again. Neji turned around and then looked back at the boy.

‘What’s he staring at?’ The Hyuuga thought as he succeeded in his deed and made a sour face before he started drinking the white calcium.

“He punched out poor Haku.” Itachi felt Haku put his arm around him and pretend to cry, hoping he would get some sympathy from Neji.

“You probably did something to piss him off.” Neji shrugged and swallowed his milk. Haku sat up and pulled the collar on his shirt down. He glared at Neji and slammed his fists on the table.

“Are you saying this is my fault?!” He asked, seemly annoying at the comment. Neji blinked at him and waited before he talked, noticing Itachi was once again staring behind him. He wanted to turn around but he knew nothing was there.

“Gaara doesn’t go around picking fights. My best guess is that you provoked him and he gave you what you had coming.” He shrugged again. “Despite everything going around school about us, you don’t need to rub it in his face…since that’s what I’m assuming you did.”

Haku opened his mouth to protest when he and Neji both were startled by…a sigh? Haku looked over at Itachi and stared dumbfounded. Neji’s reaction wasn’t too far from the same expression Haku had. Itachi turned his eyes elsewhere as he pushed down a really (and I mean really) small blush. Now Neji had to know what he was looking at. He turned around to see a tall dark haired, yellow eyed, gorgeous Mr. ASB walk in through the back door. Neji raised an eyebrow when he turned back around.

“Having withdrawals?” Haku giggled when he saw the scene as well. The elder Uchiha flicked Haku’s ear and pushed him away as the boy leaned closer. Neji shook his head as the two started to push each other back and forth.

Neji turned his head and looked towards the table where Gaara had been the day before. He wasn’t there this time. Neji searched the cafeteria, nobody. He even listened for Naruto’s big mouth, nothing.

‘Maybe he got fed up and went home.’ Neji thought, and then heard Haku and Itachi do a double gasp. Neji looked at them, Haku was currently in Itachi’s headlock but they pointed to the door. As if in a scary movie in black and white and in slow motion, Neji turned around just in time to see the nasty snake of a boy kissing the cheek of one redhead.

Should we talk about the rage first or the anger that was dripping from Neji’s body? Sure he wasn’t pissed that Gaara was being kissed. They weren’t together anymore. Gaara could kiss whom ever he wanted. He was just pissed that it happened to be one of the people he hated most in school. He held back a growl for Haku and Itachi’s sake. They didn’t need to see how upset he actually was. He looked at Itachi. The boy was clearly stuck between extremely confused and murderer mode.

‘What the hell is Gaara thinking?’

-----

Gaara spotted Neji, Haku and Itachi all gawking at him as he took his seat at his table. He stared at Neji the hardest but there was nothing he could do about his anger, and hurt. He turned his eyes to the blue table, and bench that he was now sitting down on.

“Let go of me Naruto.” Sasuke growled as he walked over to the table with the blond attracted to his leg.

“Please Sasuke come on! It won’t hurt you just to talk to her.” Naruto whined so loud that of course everyone was watching but they weren’t paying too much attention since they were still looking at the ’Dark Trio’

“I have no reason to talk to Sakura.” Sasuke sat down and kicked Naruto off of him. “If you want to go out with her, ask her yourself.” He turned around and noticed the somewhat happy look on Gaara’s face. Before he could ask why-

“Oh come on, give me a break. You already know she still has a thing for you. If you tell her to go out with me she’ll flip and say yes because you asked her to do it.” Naruto was standing now, looking more at the line for food than at Sasuke.

“Aren’t ex girlfriends of your friends off limits, Naruto?” Sasuke asked. The blond huffed and sat down on the bench with a thud. He folded up his arms and began to pout, muttering things to himself.

“You guys went out ages ago.” He whispered. Sasuke shook his head and turned his focus back to Gaara. He was now sloppily writing something in a notebook. Sasuke ignored the paper.

“We asked around. Nobody has seen the photos yet. Apparently whoever took them only wanted you to see them.” Sasuke moved closer to him as if he was trying to hide his already quieted voice. “He has seen them?” He looked towards Neji. The boy didn’t seem to be paying their table any more attention than he had the day before. Gaara shook his head.

“He would have said something be now.” He continued to scribble on the paper without looking up. Sasuke looked at the paper.

“I’m going to get lunch, like normal people.” Naruto walked off, a smiled gracing him again.

Sasuke just stared at the paper as Gaara’s breathing became heavy and he started to draw thick dark circles on the page over and over and over. Sasuke started to say something, or maybe he thought he had something to say but nothing left his mouth as he tried to make out the words under all the darkness.

“What are you planning?” Sasuke asked, leaning closer. He was sure he saw the words –Pay Back- etched somewhere in there. Gaara’s breaths were still heavy and the white parts of his eyes were slowly growing almost red, as if he was straining not to blink. His teeth were barred and he was almost growled. Sasuke thought the boy would crack his teeth if he clenched any harder.

“I’m going…to get back at him.”

Sasuke wasn’t sure if he was talking about Neji or Haku but he had a really good guess.

-----

“Gaara-kun!”

“Not today Lee.” Gaara growled but Lee couldn’t take a hint. He followed Gaara up the stairs in their art class and sat next to him.

Neji of course was already in class by the time Gaara entered. The boy simply closed his eyes and waited until Gaara passed to open them again. He was really in no mood to even look at the boy. How dare he let Orochimaru just carelessly kiss him like that? Was Gaara crazy? Didn’t he know what Itachi and Neji wanted to do to him?

“I might know how is sending those horrible pictures around.” Lee whispered. Bingo! He had Gaara’s attention. Lee smiled but tried to make it seem like he was sad.

“What’d you say?” Gaara asked again. He was making sure he heard the loud mouth correctly. Sasuke looked over as well, hearing something about a picture.

“I am not one to gossip but desperate SpringTime Youth calls for desperate SpringTime measures!” Lee showed a river of tears. “ I was heart broken when I saw the horrible picture and I only thought about the safety of your Youthful heart. I was-“

“Out with it.” Gaara growled. He didn’t have time to listen to Lee confess some drowned out love speech.

“Osu! Well I heard from the sophomore Lady Hinata, who heard from Kiba the junior, who heard from the freshman Konohamaru, who heard from Hinabi the freshman who of course lives with Neji, that Zabuza and Kisame ran into Neji at the mall yesterday.

“Are you sure you don’t gossip often?” Sasuke sat back in his chair.

“What does that have to do with the picture mail? Zabuza’s not stupid and that would have been a waste of his time.” Gaara said, in the jock's defense. “He has no grudge against me anyway.”

“What makes you think whoever took the pictures was after you?” Lee countered in no one’s defense

What? That raised a good question. The picture mail shot could have very well been against Haku or Neji, who a lot of people despised. Although, that still left the Polaroid business. Someone was trying to upset Gaara, and they had succeeded.

“Why do you know so much?” Gaara asked. Lee just laughed and put his hand behind his head. He blushed and tried to look away but Gaara kept on staring.

“Oh I just hear a lot of things while people ignore me.” Lee answered. “However, I do believe that someone is after Neji’s reputation. Of course it is all around school that he is not doing too well this year already. He looks horrible, not ‘Dark Trio’ material. He is losing his game and he is probably losing his mind.”

Lee had a point. Gaara looked at Neji who was slumped over in his seat. Neji was a stickler about posture and here he was slouching like he didn’t care that his back like a bit uncomfortable.

“Remember-“ Lee started waving his hands around in circles as if to create a dream sequence for Gaara. “-you did not hear it from me.

-----

After class Gaara waited for Neji. He wanted to see if the boy would talk to him at all. Knowing Lee would be around peeping, he begged the boy to run off to the office and tell them he would be a couple minutes late. Lee obliged.

“Neji.”

The Hyuuga stopped mid stride as one of his feet hit the floor outside the door and the other still in the class. He hadn’t expected anyone to be there, let alone Gaara.

“Can you be helped?” He asked in a very condescending tone. Gaara knew he’d seen the whole Orochimaru ordeal so he ignored Neji’s upset manner and proceeded to ask the Hyuuga a question.

“The pictures, they aren’t meant for me are they?” He blinked as Neji turned around to look at him. In his eyes, something close to hate or annoyance.

“Look, if this is about Haku-“ Neji noticed the bruise on Gaara’s face. “-hitting you then I had nothing to do with it. I’m not his keeper, he does what he pleases. I also don’t believe the pictures were for only you, however, whoever took them doesn’t seem to care about either of us. They’re making me a player, you a victim and Haku a whore-among sorts.” He started walking away but Gaara grabbed his arm. Wrong move.

“Have they not taught you personally space in you mental facility? Let me go, or I’ll give you worse than a bloody nose.”

Gaara quickly let go of his arm and Neji suppressed a scowl. Gaara was a little ticked at that. All he wanted to do was ask a few questions and he’d gotten his head bitten off. He didn’t like this side of Neji that had seemed to show up the majority of the time during their last few months as a couple.

“We’re over, that’s understood but you can’t treat me like shit for the rest of my life.” He only said it because he believed it. If Neji really didn’t want him back then fine, but he wasn’t going to just walk around with the boy hating him.

“Why can’t I?” Neji looked him up and down, then disappeared inside the crowd of students as they pushed towards their classes. He left Gaara speechless, but he’d fix Neji…he would fix him.

-----

“Cigarette?” Asked a white haired man that sat in a chair with a clipboard. He was wearing a back and gray an argyle sweater and his slacks turned into high-waters when he sat down. His glasses were too small for his face and he had a weird mole right next to his nose to give him some character.

“You ask me that every time I come in here, and every time I say, ‘No, I don’t smoke.’ Is there ever going to be a session where you don’t ask me that?” Neji laid on the couch in Jiraiya’s office and got comfortable. He had gotten use to laying down after about the fourth visit.

“You seem a little irritated today? Is everything okay at home?” Jiraiya didn’t look at Neji as he wrote things on his chart. Neji was used to this by now and even though he hated answering the redundant questions, he knew they were so horribly on the way to his recovery.

“They are the same.” He said. “Hinata has been more kind about my privacy. Hinabi doesn’t bug me so much and uncle is down my back about senior year. I expected that.” Hiashi found time to bother Neji about school and spending time with the family as much as he could.

“How is school going so far?”

Thus started the one-line questioning period that Jiraiya would use to annoy Neji further. As if he didn’t have enough questioning at school already, now he had to come here for some more.

“The same.” He said. “The same students, same teachers, same drama.” He left out his current problems. He didn’t feel much like talking about the night he had with Haku and all the terrible picture mail that was going around school. He’d ignored it the best he could all day and now he just needed some rest.

“Any students worth mentioning?”

Neji raised his eyebrow. It was as if the man was just really trying to pry it out of him. Neji knew which one student the man was referring to be he’d rather not get into that either so he found someone else to talk about.

“Haku.” He Said. “He and I decided yesterday that we would start dating.” Neji sighed, “It’s been in the works for a long time, I just never paid any other attention to him besides friendship. He is however, a great lover.” Neji lingered on that for a minute. He heard Jiraiya writing down things as fast as he was talking. “Itachi.” He said. “He’s the same. Always the same. Has been since I met him. He never changes. Only surprises me with his continuos need to act like he’s not hurting. He is my best friend, and he still won’t tell me everything.”

“Does that bother you?”

Neji pondered on that for a second. “I suppose so.” He frowned, having never really thought about any of that. “It does.” He said. “We talk about everything else, but always steer clear of how he feels or what’s bothering him. Not that we talk about those things. It’s either some video game, some team, or some fucker he’d wanna beat with my baseball bat. It would be nice to know why he’s so closed up though.”

There it goes. Neji always seemed to talk more and more as the sessions got longer. At first his answers had been simple ‘Yes’ and ‘No’s’. Now they had grown to almost complaining responses. Was he really that messed up that he needed to vent once a week to stay calm?

“Have you ever question Itachi about this?”

Neji laughed a bit. “Itachi doesn’t talk about things he doesn’t want to hear other people conversing about. He would probably ignore me and walk away. He’s been that since grade school. Only when we started hanging out with Haku did he become more open, but still it wasn’t much.”

From what Neji could gather, Itachi had been that way every since his parents had passed away. Neji couldn’t blame him. Here was Itachi, 13 years old with a six-year-old brother to protect. He locked himself away so that he could be brave for Sasuke.

“How is Haku doing?”

Talk about drastic subject change. “The same.” He said. “A little more clingy than anything. I don’t seem to mind when we’re alone but otherwise I don’t like him holding on so tight. It almost makes me nauseous.”

“Have you ever questioned Haku about why he’s so ‘clingy’, as you say?”

“No.” He said. “Why don’t we bring him in and you can ask him yourself.” Neji snapped.

“Are you experiencing some discomfort today Neji?”

Sadly, this is all apart of Jiraiya’s process to calm Neji down. The brunette often got very frustrated during the questioning period. Jiraiya himself couldn’t figure out if it was because of the type of questions he asked of if Neji just got upset with how he wanted to answer, but didn’t.

Neji knew better though, so he tried to calm himself. The last two times he’d gotten fresh with Jiraiya, the man had made him take a daily, two week anger management course with adults who were having the same problems. Neji hated that place, hell if he was going back a third time.

“I’m just a little uncomfortable. I’m also tired and this headache has been eating at me since my fifth period art class when a certain-“ He stopped but he knew he was too late. Now the doctor was going to pry some more.

“A certain who Neji?”

Dammit! There was that prying again. Neji really didn’t want to answer but if he didn’t then the question would get worse and Jiraiya would scoot his chair up so Neji could hear him louder.

“Just some kid in my class. No one special.” Neji shifted on the couch and raised his knees. Letting them sway back and forth as he watched the clock tick away. Great, he’d been in there a whole ten minutes. How was he going to last another 50 minutes?

“Would this person happen to be Gaara?”

“Aren’t we doctor psychic today? “ Neji sighed, there was that snap again. Like something would explode in his brain every time the redhead’s name was mentioned. Jiraiya cleared his throat.

“I had one of those dreams again last night.” He sighed heavily. “This one was more in depth than the rest. Gaara got up. Gaara literally got up and talked to me. Asked me if I ever wondered about his pain. I didn’t bother with an answer. Of course something weird happened-even more weird then him inhumanly bleeding all over the place. My heart disappeared from my chest and ended up in his hand. To make a long story short, my heart dissolved and he offered me his. I said no of course, told him I never wanted his heart again. He ignored me, kissed me, gave me his heart and vanished.” Neji felt his chest. “I know what you’re going to say and no I don’t know what it means. Nor have I spent my day thinking about it. I don’t care. And don’t you tell me my subconscious is telling me that I still love him because you’re just a fucked up psych and if I don’t know what the hell my subconscious wants then you sure as hell don’t know.”

Neji took a few deeps breaths trying to calm himself. His face was growing red with anger and his fists were shaking. Here comes the portion of the session where Neji can’t control himself. Jiraiya sat quietly for awhile and let Neji gather himself.

“I don’t love Gaara.” Neji finally said. He sat up and took a deep breath then turned to face Jiraiya. He sat like that with his arms folded as the man ignored him for awhile longer and obviously underlined something three times on his page.

“You’ve convinced me of a lot of things during our sessions Neji.” The older man began. “We’ve talked about your family, and how you seemingly despise them. Though it’s clear that you love them. We’ve talked about your friends, who you complain about, but are thankful for. And mostly importantly we’ve talked about why you’re even here in the first place…Gaara.” Jiraiya turned the clipboard toward him and handed it over.

“Do you see the flow chart there?” He pointed and Neji looked at all the lines and different colors. “Over the passed three months you’re progress has gotten better. When you first got here, it was Gaara did this to me, Gaara said this, and Gaara did that. Gaara…all the time. This month you haven’t even mentioned his name, instead referring to him as ‘he’ and making little side comments about how you wish he really had died.” Jiraiya left the clipboard in Neji’s hands and then sat back in his chair.

“Why are you telling me this?” Neji looked up from the chart and crossed his legs on the couch. Jiraiya pushed his glasses up on his face.

“You haven’t mentioned Gaara’s name in my presence in the last two months, yet just a minute ago you said it three times. If you say you’re not in love with him then that’s fine. I’m not going to change your mind because like you said I don’t know what your subconscious wants. You’re not in love with him Neji, that’s okay but I’m not the one that needs convincing of that. Am I?”

Neji could feel his world spinning out of control. His mind was playing tricks on him. He knew he didn’t love Gaara anymore. He told himself that over and over, it was jarred in his mind. And-

‘Is that what he means? I’ve been so busy trying to convince myself that I don’t love him when it’s obvious that I do? And do I? Do I still love…Gaara?’

-----

Gaara moved around in the dark of Sasuke’s room. He found the bed that Sasuke was sleeping on and put a hand on the blanket. He was trying to stable himself as he walked around in pure darkness. Only the computer screen on light was flickering fuzz. Gaara stumbled but crawled onto the bed lightly.

Sasuke’s sleeping body didn’t move, he just stirred and rolled over on his back. Gaara crawled closer and hovered over him. His eyes were wide as hell so he could see what he was doing. He was breathing hard as his hands planted the spots next to Sasuke head. The bed sunk down and he straddled the boy.

“Sasuke…” He whispered. No answer. “Sasuke…” He whispered again. The boy wasn’t responding. Gaara smiled in the dark, eyes as big as headlights. He leaned down and got close. He rubbed Sasuke’s forehead with his and nuzzled the boy’s cheek. The brunette wiggled under him, still sleeping softly. Gaara slid his lips across Sasuke chin and smelled the boy’s neck. He smelled like soft traces of tag bath gel. (YES TAG...NOT AXE)

He moved his hand up to finger though Sasuke’s hair. He took a deep breath and inhaled the raven mess, then moved his fingers down Sasuke’s chest and leaned closer. His lips hovered over Sasuke’s, as they were slightly open for him to breathe though.

“Wake up Sasuke.” Gaara whispered, then let his lips touch Sasuke with a bit of force. Black eyes met green ones and Sasuke found his friend still locked onto his lips. He moved but Gaara held him down, pressing the lips closer. Sasuke squirmed until Gaara moaned and that was when he settled. He never closed his eyes but he kissed Gaara back, for a brief second, until the redhead pulled away.

Sasuke sat up and finally pushed Gaara back, wiping his mouth off with the covers. “Do you want me to tell you how gross that was?” Sasuke spit on the floor a couple times. Leaning over he switched on a little table light. “What the hell was that?” Sasuke whispered, hoping not to wake his brother.

“I need your help.” Gaara’s shadow was casted on the wall and Sasuke stared at how demonic the boy in front of him looked.

“So you start a make-out session on my face while I’m sleep!” He was probably overreacting but his best friend did just plant one on him in the clear blue.

“I want you to be my boyfriend.” Gaara said simply, sitting cross-legged on the bed. His eyes had calmed down and he looked a little saner (that’s a real word) now that he wasn’t hovering over the other.

“What?! No! What the hell is wrong with you? How am I helping you by being your boyfriend?” Sasuke paused at that. “I’m not gay Gaara.”

“You seemed to enjoy the kiss enough.” Gaara said quickly and blinked. Sasuke growled. He was caught dead in a trap. Deciding to settle down Sasuke went back to his previous question.

“How is that supposed to help you? I don’t see the point of it all.” He waited for an answer. Gaara sat there for a long time, not saying anything.

“I want pay back.” Gaara said. “You’ll pretend to be my boyfriend so I can achieve such.” He smiled an evil and crafty smile. Sasuke looked around as if to see if Gaara was talking to someone other than him.

“If we’re pretending then what was the kiss for? That was uncalled for. You could have just woken me up and asked.” He folded his arms and pouted at having been taken by surprise. It made him feel weak.

“If you want things in life you take them, not ask.” He smirked. “At least now you know what it will be like when we have to do it in public.”

“PUBLIC!” Sasuke covered his mouth. “Can’t we pretend without the lips?” He stopped. “Wait just a second. If I pretend to date you then everyone will think I’m gay too.” This game was already beginning to upset him.

“Had I the option to pick someone better then I would have but this makes more since. Think about it. We’re two guys who are best friends and we live together. No matter how straight you ‘think’ you are, that screams gay all over.”

Sasuke fell back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. This was going to blow up in his face, he just know it. No good ever came from two people pretending to have a relationship. Gaara was underestimating Neji’s brains. He knew Gaara didn’t like Sasuke like that. He would find out and the two boys would be the laughing stock of the school. Sasuke sighed.

“You know, Naruto is going to flip.”

-----

(End Chapter) Cliffie?? UGH!!!! This took so long for me to write. I’m sorry, don’t chew my head off. I had writer’s block again and it’s no excuse but the singer of my favorite band is in the hospital dead sick and I’m depressed about that. I’ve got chapter five already in the works. I love your courteous reviews people. Tell me what you think KK^^

You find out what’s on the Photos next chapter!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Roku!

-One more thing-
AH! I know people hate that they have to keep checking this page for updates since there are no alerts on AFF. So...i have devised a plan. I will personally E-mail people the day of or before i post if that's what you would like. ^_^ Go ahead and leave your e-mail to me in a review and that should help you not have to keep checking if i've made any updates....if you don't wanna feel so fly free with your e-mail address, then mine is Amarukoira@yahoo.com. E-mail me and i'll e-mail you back...kk^^

-Nik