A/N: This is insane, starting so many new fics now. –sigh- But I'm running with my inspiration. Whatever. I'll write whatever I can write.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own a sketch of Neji and Gaara together drawn by ProdigyBombay. I bow down to her greatness.

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Façade – Chapter One

Gaara looked out of his bedroom window just as Temari came back from her date with Shikamaru, and he watched detachedly as the Nara walked his sister up to the front door and kissed her goodnight. Temari looked very happy, Gaara noticed. She must've had a nice date.

After Shikamaru drove off, Temari banged through the front door and up towards her room. Gaara stopped looking out the window, turning back to his English paper, but half-listened as Temari called one of her numerous friends and described her date in detail.

The conversation went something like this.

"Hey Tenten?" Pause. "Yeah, just got back." Pause. "Uh-huh, but you won't believe what we did!" Pause. "No, nothing as boring as that! Shika may be lazy, but he isn't nerdy. I mean, come on!" Pause. "Ok, stop guessing and let me tell you! Ok, so Shika picked me up in his car, looking hot as hell." Pause. "Hah! Of course Shika's better-looking than Neji! The Hyuuga's just a stuffed-shirt! And he isn't your boyfriend yet. You haven't gotten him yet, for god's sake!"

Gaara frowned at the mention of Neji Hyuuga, a junior in Temari and Gaara's high school. Did Tenten like him too? He listened with a bit more attention as Temari continued her phone conversation.

"Girl, stop spazzing about your crush and listen to what I'm saying ok? Let me tell you about my date! Ok, so Shika picked me up in his car, and we drove for like an hour and a half or something, out into the country and whatever. And he was driving directly into a rainstorm, and I was like, 'Why are you driving into the rain?', but then he was like, 'You'll see' in like this really sexy voice, right?" Pause. "No, he did not rape me, you little pervert. As if I would let him!" Pause. "Erm, whatever. Do all your kinky shit with Neji, alright? I'm totally fine with Shika the way he is. Anyways, we like parked on a side road beside this field of like, rye or something, and he turned off the ignition, and for like one second I though he was going to rape me, right? 'Cause he was like telling me to get in the backseat, but then I saw there was a blanket in there, and snacks, and I saw the movie player installed in the car, right?"

Gaara was starting to get a headache from Temari's voice, but listened on.

"Yes, we sat in the car. Yes, we watched my favorite movies of all time, Kill Bill 1 and 2." Pause. "You just figured out I'm violent? Geez you're slow. And no, I don't know how the heck he knew what my favorite movies were. Lucky guess? Whatever. It was just so romantic, right? With the rain coming down, making shadows on the two of us cuddled together between the blankets. We stayed there until the movies ended, right? And then he drove us back, and he walked me up to my door, and we kissed goodnight, and I swear tonight's been one of the best nights in my life, seriously! Shika's a goddamn genius."

Yes he was, Gaara agreed. It was hard to make Temari so happy.

"Oh, you gotta go?" Pause. "Well then, g'luck on your paper. Yeah, I know Roger's a bitch, I had her in your grade. Bye."

Gaara heard his sister hang up the phone, and debated what he should do. Finishing his English paper was probably the responsible thing to do (he was in Tenten's grade and was in Mrs. Roger's English class too), but he wanted to talk to his sister…about Tenten. And Neji. And…yeah.

Gaara chose to talk to his sister. After saving his paper, he stood up and made his way to his sister's room, right next door (the walls weren't that thin that Temari's voice would travel through rooms).

Gaara opened his sister's bedroom door a creak, softly whispering, "Temari?"

She had been turning on her own computer (most likely to chat online with more of her friends), and now she turned toward him, a smile on her face. "Yes Gaara?"

"Um…I heard you talking with Tenten. About your date."

Gaara watched as his sister blushed.

"Erm, ok. So…you heard all that about…Shika…"

Gaara nodded. "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about. Though…I mean, I'm happy you had a nice date. It's just…"

Temari chuckled nervously. "So, little bro, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Um…Tenten."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "Tenten? Don't tell me you like her."

"Ahh…no. I'm…gay."

Now Temari's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Did you just figure that out?"

"Sorta. I…um, have a crush."

"Lemme guess, if it has something to do with Tenten, it's Neji Hyuuga you're crushing on, isn't it?"

"…Yes." Gaara hadn't really confessed his crush to anyone else, and now he felt his cheeks heating up out of embarrassment. He hated having pale skin in times like these.

"Oh my god, little bro, you're blushing! You really do like Neji Hyuuga, don't you?"

Gaara nodded. "I was wondering…does Tenten have a crush on Neji too?"

"Well, it's more like an obsession, but yeah, sure."

"Oh…so I should give up?" Gaara looked down at his hands, dejected.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Well, because if I have any competition, then I won't…um…he won't pay attention to me."

"You don't know that." Temari said. "Don't be so pessimistic. And have you met Tenten? No offense towards her, but she's sorta…plain. Nothing like you could be if you tried."

"Um…" Gaara really didn't know what to say. "So…"

"So you shouldn't give up because of Tenten! Of course, you do have his whole fanclub to contend with…" Temari frowned in thought. "Hasn't it grown ever since Sasuke transferred to Sound?"

"Yeah, it has…" Gaara was dejected again. "And lots of the girls are really beautiful…"

"But you have to agree that he hasn't looked at any of them. Maybe he's gay." Temari paused. "In fact, what with his hair and all…he probably is gay."

"I like his hair!" Gaara protested.

"So do I. But you have to agree it's incredibly girly. He probably has to use tons of conditioner to get it that nice-looking…"

"Conditioner?" Gaara was clueless about things like this.

"Uh…hair product. Don't worry about. So…how are you going to get his attention? And come into the room. You've been standing in my doorway for so long."

Gaara nodded and came in, closing the door and sitting on Temari's bed (which was…very lilac). "I don't know how I'm going to get his attention. I haven't thought too much about it, 'cause I always thought it was…futile…"

Temari swiveled in her swivel chair and gave Gaara a bright smile. "Well then, you better start thinking about it now. I am going to help you get Neji Hyuuga, no matter what it takes."

"…What?"

Just then, Kankurou burst into the room, only in a pair of boxers.

"God, Kankurou! Knock before you do that, why don't you!" Temari shouted.

"Then why don't you two stop talking so loud and let me get to sleep! Seriously! We've got school tomorrow, and it's ELEVEN!!" Kankurou glared at his two siblings out of sleepy eyes. "And we've got thin walls in this place, ok? I can't believe Dad hasn't been woken up yet!"

Temari sighed. "Kankurou, you do realize you're the loudest one here, right? And Gaara and I were having sibling time."

"Well, I'm your sibling too." Kankurou sat down beside Gaara on the bed, then randomly grabbed his little brother and started giving him a noogie. "How are you, little bro?"

"Stop that…" Gaara said tonelessly, not attempting to get out of Kankurou's headlock.

Temari crossed her arms. "Really, Kankurou, stop that."

Kankurou rolled his eyes, but released Gaara. "You two are so boring, you know? Really. Anyways, what were you two talking about?"

"Gaara's gay." Temari announced, and Kankurou managed to choke on air.

"Really?!"

Temari looked toward Gaara.

"…Yeah." Gaara managed to avoid both his sibling's gazes by staring determinedly at Temari's wall (which was also…lilac, though mostly covered by posters of bands).

Kankurou frowned. "What's so wrong about breasts and, uh..." Kankurou saw Temari's glare and revised his sentence. "Uh, what's so wrong about the finer parts of a woman?"

"Nothing…" Gaara said softly, wanting to disappear into the floor. At least his father hadn't found out yet… "I just…"

Kankurou grinned. "Clearly, you just prefer guys."

"Yes. And one guy in particular." Temari cooed.

"Oh really? And who is this particular guy?"

"Neji Hyuuga." Temari answered.

Kankurou blinked, then matched a face to the name. "Oh, the sophomore with the girly hair?"

Gaara sighed, shrinking into himself. "Yes."

"Hey, what are you so sad about, little bro? I for one think you've got great taste in guys, not that, uh, I'm one to judge."

There was an awkward pause, with Temari giving Kankurou a strange look and Gaara still staring determinedly at the wall. There was a bug crawling up Temari's Miyavi poster…

"Ok, moving on." Temari announced. "Before we were interrupted so rudely," Pointed look at Kankurou. "we were discussing how Gaara was going to get Neji Hyuuga."

"That's easy." Kankurou scoffed. "Just go up to him and kiss him. With tongue."

"Oh my god, Kankurou, how many times have we discussed this? That does NOT work!! We've lost count of how many times girls have SLAPPED you for that!!"

"Actually, I believe the last one was number twenty-nine."

Temari gave Kankurou another pointed look. "Dumbass. That just proves my point. Anyways, I think our lickle-ickle Gaara-kun would be way too shy to go and do something like that." And the blush that adorned Gaara's cheeks at that point was just too cute, in Temari's opinion. "Therefore, we need to figure out something that works for Gaara."

"Hmm, how 'bout he dress up as a girl?"

Gaara's blush darkened silently.

"No, Kankurou! That's just gross!" Temari protested. "Seriously, how can you think about our little bro dressing up as a girl? Although…" She appeared to think about this deeply. "I suppose that could work…it'd be cute, I suppose."

"No." Gaara said softly. "I don't want to dress up as a girl."

"Well, there goes that idea." Temari said. "No more ideas from you, Kankurou. You're just perverted."

Kankurou gave an ominous chuckle. "Only as perverted as you are violent, Temari."

Gaara snorted softly, still raptly examining the wall, and his two siblings looked at him. "What?" He asked innocently, noticing their stares. "I'm just agreeing with you."

Kankurou fell back on Temari's bed, laughing as he did. "So you were, Gaara, so you were." Then Kankurou saw the clock hanging on Temari's wall, and cursed. "Dammit, it's almost eleven-thirty! And tomorrow we have school!" He sighed heavily. "I hate not getting enough sleep on Sunday night."

"Then go to bed." Gaara said. "I'm going to. And I shouldn't have told you all this anyways…"

"Don't say that, Gaara." Temari entreated. "And we're not making light of your first crush. It's just our way of discussing it."

"He probably isn't even gay." Gaara mumbled. "And if I go after him I'll probably just humiliate myself."

"Pft, with that hair? No way." Kankurou put in. "But now I'm going to bed, 'cause I have three tests tomorrow, and I refuse to fail those. In fact, Dad'll kill me if I fail those tests." He yawned, stretching while still on Temari's bed. "Anyways, goodnight all. See you two tomorrow morning, and we better not be late to school because of you two not being able to wake up, understood?" He sprang up, stretching again, then trooped out of Temari's room with a final wave.

When the door closed behind Kankurou, Temari looked at Gaara. "Don't give up on Neji Hyuuga, Gaara. Really. If you don't want our help then we won't force it upon you, but you really should form a relationship with someone outside our family."

"I have Naruto." Gaara mumbled, looking down at his hands. He bit his fingernails too much, and they were worn and uneven.

"Naruto moved." Temari said gently. "And ever since then, you've been depressed. And don't you dare deny it, Gaara. Both Kankurou and I have seen it. We were never that close, we know, Gaara. But you are our little bro, and we don't like seeing you sad."

Gaara scooted to the edge of Temari's bed, swinging his legs like a little kid. "You two never cared before."

Temari was silent. "I'm sorry we didn't know how to approach you." She said softly. "You were just…very silent. And both Kankurou and I are very loud people. We just…"

"Yeah." They weren't looking at each other, but they both understood. "I'm going back to my room." Gaara said after a moment, and walked out. That had been…an interesting talk.

"See you tomorrow, Gaara." Temari called after him.

"Yeah." Gaara replied, and went back to his room. He sat down at his computer, finished his English paper while listening to his sister getting ready for bed next door, and then sat at his computer listlessly, not knowing what to do. He wouldn't be able to get to sleep tonight, he knew. The harbinger of insomnia for him felt something like a low continuing buzz in his mind, and that buzz was definitely there now.

Maybe it was because he was just thinking too much about Neji. The Hyuuga was…beautiful, in Gaara's point of view. And not just physically beautiful, although Gaara did appreciate that since he was a painter. But Neji was also beautiful inside, although not many people saw that. But Gaara did, because nobody noticed him, so he saw things that he probably wasn't meant to have seen, like the small moments when Neji smiled at his cousin, Hinata, even though it was rumored that he hated her. Those were the moments he seemed the most beautiful to Gaara.

And Gaara thought about painting Neji like that – yes! He could do that for the winter art show that was coming up in school! And he'd be able to get to know Neji a little more, maybe do as Temari said and form a relationship? At the very least form a new friendship, Gaara hoped. And it shouldn't be too hard. Before Sasuke and Naruto had both moved, Neji had been Sasuke's best friend, Sasuke had been Naruto's rival, and Gaara had been Naruto's best friend, so he and Neji had known each other, if indirectly.

…Yeah. Maybe it'd all work out.

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A/N: The inspiration for this came from one little comic that gave me the idea for Temari's date (seriously, that would be SOOO romantic), and the rest of the chapter sprung from there. Was the conversation between the Sabaku sibs all-right? I've been trying to capture an accurate reflection of their relationships with each other. Hopefully I did that. Oh, and I might change the title of the story…