Sup. Welcome to my humble abode known as 'Concrete Angel'. And yes, the title is depressing. No, not really. It comes from one of my favorite songs called 'Concrete Angel'. The song is about child abuse and I thought it fit this story well.

Disclaimer: I own no one, nothing. Nadda. Zip. Zilch.

Warning! This story contains Sakura bashing (not really, but she is a bully), Ino bashing (like Sakura, she's mean), etc. So if you like either of these characters, don't read this story. I don't want to get reviews saying what I bitch I am for writing them like that. Also, there will be some OOCness on both Neji and Gaara's part (and other characters, possibly). If you don't like that, don't say I didn't warn you. Leave if you dislike any of these things.

Thank you for staying, you wonderful person you! *gives you cookie*

Enjoy~

Get up, get loud, get tough...(1)

I groaned at the annoying song. Hinata must've changed it again. No, it couldn't be her...she was too nice. One of my friends (though Lord knows I have but a few) probably changed it. Shaking my head, I slapped the button on top of my phone to turn it off.

I laid there for a few moments, trying to regain the memories from previous days and also trying (and pretty much failing) to rid myself of the tiredness that was keeping my eye lids closed.

Finally, I heard Hinata yell from downstairs that our uncle, Hiashi, was getting angry at me and for me to hurry up and come downstairs before he got even angrier. I chuckled, though it wasn't be much of a laughing matter, and slowly rose out of bed.

I walked over to my bathroom and looked at myself hesitantly in the mirror.

My brown hair was in a braid, which was frizzy and messy, the opposite of how it looked before I'd done it last night. My pale eyes looked tired and worn, but I wasn't surprised, since I'd been staying up late at night for the past couple weeks.

Yawning, I exited the bathroom and closed the door. Walking over to my dresser, I selected my school uniform. Oh, the school didn't have a dress code, but my uncle did. He always made Hinata and I wear fancy clothing. A suit and slacks, in my case, and Hinata wore a skirt and blazer.

It sucked, especially when it began to get warm. In the winter time and the fall it wasn't so bad as it kept me warm. I felt sorry for Hinata, though, who had to wear stockings when it was snowing or raining as Uncle wouldn't let her wear pants.

"Neji!"

Oops, guess I'd better hurry. I briefly polished my dress shoes and straightened my hair. Though my Uncle disliked it, I loved my long hair. It reached all the way down my back. I liked wearing it in a loose ponytail sometimes, but today I settled for leaving it down completely.

I opened the door to my room and waved to my butler, Yusuke, who sent me a smile and a slight bow. I smiled back at him and continued on my way. Several of the servant girls were watching me per usual, but I didn't mind.

"Finally!" Hiashi exclaimed. "You were taking longer than usual, Neji."

"I'm sorry, Hiashi-sama." I bowed apologetically. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"And why, pray tell, did you take so long?" He didn't sound suspicious, thankfully, but I was a little wary of Hinata. She was pretty smart and could tell if I was faking my 'alibi', since she knows me so well.

"I was just staying up late, studying." I replied, inwardly pleased with my response. At least it sounded half decent.

My Uncle nodded, motioning for me to sit down. I complied and sat across from him, next to Hinata. She looked over at me and gave me one of her usual sweet and bright smiles.

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully.

I smiled back at her, "Good morning Hinata."

I never could understand why Hinata didn't have many friends, considering she was extremely caring and wonderful to be around. Perhaps she just wasn't as...how could I put this lightly...whoreish as the other girls were?

Many of them came to school with questionable clothing, tattoos, or words for some of the guys there. Hinata wanted nothing to do with it and stayed close to me whenever she could. I didn't blame her, and my friends like her, so I guess she does have friends, in a way.

She also had a crush on one of my friends; Naruto Uzumaki. He wasn't bad looking, I'll give him that. And he's a nice guy to be around, depending on who you ask. I wasn't sure if he was gay or not, though, but I was afraid to find out as Hinata's heart would be broken if she found out as well.

"Did you here we're having a new student?" asked Hinata, breaking my thoughts.

I shook my head as I swallowed a piece of toast. "No. Is it a guy, or is it a girl?"

"Guy." Hinata looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think his name is Gaara...I don't know his last name, though. I saw a picture of him thanks to Naruto-kun."

As Hinata began fantasizing about Naruto, I began to think about this 'Gaara'. Hmm, it would interesting to meet him, judging by his name. It wasn't common at all and I have to admit, it made me kind of excited.

"It's time for you two to go," A servant announced as she pointed to one of the many wall clocks.

Hinata and I nodded before standing up and pushing our chairs back into place. She grabbed an umbrella for us to share and we stepped outside into the burning sun. It wasn't raining, but Konoha (where we live) has odd weather. It'll change in a matter of moments.

As we walked down the street, I rolled my eyes with a sigh as a group of girls looked at me and giggled. I was used to the 'ogling', as my friend Ten Ten had put it, by now. I suppose I wasn't bad looking, though I don't think I deserve this much attention.

When we arrive at school, as usual, my friends are waiting for us.

There's Ten Ten; she's the only girl of the group, aside from Hinata. Naruto, who I mentioned earlier, is a spunky blonde and the object of Hinata's affection. And last but not least, Sasuke, who many would mistake for some kind of emo kid, though he just doesn't talk and coincidentally has black hair, black eyes, and pale skin.

"Hey Neji!" Naruto exclaims, running over to meet us. "Hey Hinata-chan!"

I look over at my cousin to see her turn a shade of salmon at the 'chan' suffix. I smile and look behind Naruto to see Ten Ten running towards us as well, followed by a reluctant-looking Sasuke.

"Neji!" Ten Ten shouts excitedly.

She hugs me, which makes me feel awkward, but I say nothing so I won't 'invoke her wrath'. She's one of those girls that gets pissed at you kind of easily, though I don't mind. It makes her fun to be around, sometimes, and it's gotten us out of plenty of scrapes.

"Hey." Sasuke says simply, using his usual tone of bordem.

"Have you guys seen the new guy yet?" asked Naruto curiously.

I shook my head, as did everyone else. Naruto grinned.

"I saw him just a couple minutes ago."

"What does he look like?" I inquired curiously.

The blonde gave me a grin, "Why do you wanna know?"

I rolled my eyes. "I just want to know."

Naruto muttered a skeptical 'uh huh' under his breath and sighed. "He has dark red hair, green eyes, and he wears a bunch of eyeliner."

"Do we really need to know that he wears eyeliner?" Sasuke questioned with a sigh.

The blue eyed teenager shrugged, "No, not really, but it was one of his most important features..." Naruto winked in my direction. "...and I figured Neji here needed to know what he was dealing with."

I rolled my eyes and pointed towards the school's doors. "We should probably get going."

They all nodded and followed me into the school. Thankfully, no one came up to us and asked me or Sasuke out (poor guy gets swarmed more than I do) and we were able to get to our lockers without any problems.

Well, almost.

"Well, if it isn't the little homo and his friends."

I groaned. Of all the people who had to be one of the first to spot me, it was him. If you're wanting to know who I was referring to, I'm talking about Mizuki. As Naruto would say, 'he's truly the definition of the word asshole'.

"Get lost." Ten Ten snapped coldly.

"I don't listen to bitches." Mizuki sneered in response.

"I'll SHOW YOU BITCH-!"

Thankfully, Sasuke clutched Ten Ten's wrists and held her back. God knows how much trouble she would've been in if he hadn't, though I couldn't blame her for wanting to maul Mizuki.

All of us wanted to.

"If you don't talk to bitches," Sasuke cut in, "why do you speak with Sakura?"

I refrained from letting somewhat of a smug smirk cross my face, mostly for Hinata's sake. I knew Mizuki would target her if I tried to do anything against him, so I kept my mouth shut and kept my face as blank as I could.

"I'll see you all later," Mizuki said. "I have better things to do than talk to you little shits."

Both Naruto and Sasuke had to hold Ten Ten back. Hinata looked slightly shaken and extremely upset. She was clutching her hand bag and wiping tears from her eyes. I sighed and quickly gave her a comforting hug, as did Ten Ten after she'd calmed down.

"Ignore him." Ten Ten scoffed, "He's just an idiot who thinks he's cool."

"Besides, Hinata-chan," Naruto flashed a grin. "If he ever tries to mess with you, I'll take him down."

"You and me both!" Ten Ten and I chimed at the same time, looking at each other in slight surprise before laughing.

Hinata smiled, "Thank you everyone. I appreciate that." Her soft violet eyes looked wistful. "I wish I could be as strong as you all. But I'm no help...I just cower behind everyone..."

"No, Hinata." I said firmly, giving her a smile when she looked up in surprise. "You're a big help. Without you around, who knows what havoc we might cause. You're the only thing that keeps us in check."

"Yeah!" Ten Ten agreed. She smirked. "If you weren't around I'd give that Mizuki and his little old pathetic follower one heck of a spanking!"

We all laughed again at the brown haired girl's antics, especially when she looked at us with a serious expression on her face. I wasn't surprised that she was serious. I'd only restrain myself from hurting those two because my Uncle would have a fit, and then both me and Hinata would get in trouble.

"Time for classes." Sasuke announced as the school bell rung shrilly.

We all nodded at each other and waved goodbye. Me and Sasuke were in the same class, while Naruto and Hinata shared one along with Ten Ten. It stunk that we were separated, but it wasn't surprising. This wasn't some teen movie where the best friends always get lockers next to each other and have the same classes(2).

With a final wave, I ran off to my own classes, glancing over my shoulder and smiling slightly when I saw Naruto give Hinata a slight pat on the back. I knew she liked him a lot and that it comforted her, so I was fine with it as long as he didn't try something.

"Class, we have a new student." Our teacher, Miss Tsunade, announced, gesturing towards the classroom's door. "We're going to give him a warm welcome when he walks in, alright?"

We all nodded and waited patiently for the new student to walk in. I felt my chest tingle with excitement. I had no idea why I was so interested with someone I'd never met before, but I just couldn't shake the feeling off.

"Come on in, Gaara." Tsunade said kindly, a tone of voice she rarely had unless it was towards one of her star students.

A crimson haired boy walked in, shyly looking up at the class. As Naruto had said, his bright green eyes (which reminded me of a cat's due to their sharpness) were traced with black eye liner. I was worried the bullies, -mostly Mizuki and Sakura-, were going to call him 'emo', but I quickly stopped thinking and focused on reality when he began to speak.

"Hello." He said, adding a bow to his greeting.

"Hey." The class said back unceremoniously.

"We're going to treat Gaara with respect and honor," Tsunade sent us a chilling smile. "won't we, class?"

We all nodded nervously. My eyes trailed to the back of the class and saw Mizuki smirking suggestively at me. I rolled my eyes and looked away, inwardly glaring at the thought of all the shit he planned to put Gaara through.

"Take a seat." Tsunade instructed.

I carefully looked next to me in both directions, grinning when I saw an empty seat. Naruto's doing, no doubt. He probably added another chair next to mine (he knew where I sat due to Hinata) while we'd been bickering with Mizuki. For once in my life, I felt thankful towards the blonde and made a note to thank him later.

Gaara hesitantly took a seat next to me, and I saw him staring at me slightly. It made me nervous, though I didn't know why. Maybe it was because of the piercing color of his eyes, or the blank expression on his face.

"Hi." He said simply.

I looked at him in surprise before coughing slightly and returning his greeting. "Hi." I said politely.

"Since you already know my name..." Gaara trailed off, though I understood what he was trying to say and nodded.

"Neji Hyuuga." I smiled, "Pleased to meet you."

The redhead nodded, not saying anything in response. I shrugged and decided to go with it and not say anything either. Tsunade was beginning to teach, and if someone interrupted her while she was speaking, she got extremely pissed.

"Gaara." The blonde teacher tapped the board behind her with a piece of chalk. "Write down the answer to this problem, please."

To everyone's utter shock, Gaara simply nodded and stood up. He walked over to Tsunade and waited for her to drop the piece of chalk into his hand. After she'd done so, he quickly began writing. He wrote very fast...my eyes almost couldn't keep up. When he was finished, he bowed to Tsunade and sat back down.

The woman looked astonished, "T-That's correct! Good job, Gaara!"(3)

The class clapped slightly, though it was obviously reluctant. I clapped a little louder than everyone else and sent Gaara a smile of encouragement. The redhead looked back at me with a ghost of a smile on his face before turning his attention towards our teacher once again.

"This is Gaara." I was introducing my new classmate to my other friends, who were rather eager to meet him.

"Pleased to meet you!" They all said at once, aside from Sasuke, who just gave an acknowledging nod.

"Where did you move from?" Hinata asked quietly. She looked down guiltily. "I-I mean, as long as it isn't a private matter..."

Gaara shook his head in order to vanquish Hinata's worries, "No. I moved from Egypt(4)."

"Whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, "Cool!"

"Have you seen any Egyptian statues or palaces?!" asked Ten Ten excitedly.

"Yes," Gaara seemed to smile a little. "many times."

Ten Ten muttered a 'lucky'. I smiled and shook my head. My friends seemed more interested in the new student than I did, though my heart and mind disagreed.

"What about your name?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "It means, 'I can only love myself', doesn't it?"

"Yes." Gaara shrugged, "I don't know why my parents named me that."

At the word 'parents', I noticed he flinched a little. Perhaps they'd passed away or stay away from home due to business trips, or maybe they were divorced. If any of those scenarios was the case, we would get along well. I only lived with my uncle (as did Hinata, obviously), Sasuke with his brother, Naruto with one of his teachers, and Ten Ten...

I actually didn't know who she lived with or where she lived.

"Sasuke!" A annoyingly sweet female voice called, "Sasuke!"

We all groaned and looked in the voice's direction. It was Sakura, Sasuke's number one fan girl. Of course, the raven haired teen didn't like her back. If anything he was gay. Either that, or he wasn't interested in romance.

"Get lost, Sakura!" Another voice snarled. I chuckled. It was Ino, a blonde girl with a country accent and a huge crush on Sasuke. "He doesn't want someone like you!"

"Shut up, Ino-pig!" The pink haired girl snapped. "At least I have a finer ass than you!"

All of a sudden, I felt the urge to laugh, and the urge to throw up. Hopefully I wouldn't do a 'Naruto' so to speak and do them at the same time.

"Both of you have flat asses." Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes nonchalantly.

Instead of being insulted, both girls simply settled for the fact that Sasuke spoke to them. I heard Naruto muttered something about desperate and I couldn't hold back a chuckle. The blonde had loved Sakura for a long time, and they had hooked up, but she'd cheated on him with some other guy. Poor Naruto was so upset, he didn't come to school for several days.

"Sasuke-kun!" Both Sakura and Ino said in unison. They glared at each other before turning back towards Sasuke, "Will you take me instead of her to the school dance?!"

"Nope." Sasuke responded tonelessly.

"Why do you even hang out with, with!" Ino spluttered and glared at us. "Them?!"

"Because they don't have flat asses." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

They both ran off crying hysterically. I shook my head, still laughing at Sasuke's response. Naruto was right; desperate was the accurate definition of those two. Both would try to hit on other guys (who were glad about that, considering both girls are pretty) to see if Sasuke gets jealous.

He never does.

"Anyway," Ten Ten piped up, "anyone up for some ice cream?"

We all cheered in agreement. It was extremely hot outside and we might get to know Gaara better if we sat down in a cool building and talked to him. No one wanted to talk under the hot sun, after all.

"You want to go, Gaara?" Hinata offered, sending my a smile. I rolled my eyes in disbelief. Hinata was in on it too?! It was probably Naruto's doing...

"Alright," He smiled. "it would be fun."

We all laughed when Naruto pumped a fist into the air and said something about 'match making was his day job'. Picking up our bags, we slowly began to walk away from the large school behind us and head towards the local Ice cream Parlor.

I looked behind us nonchalantly and was surprised to see Mizuki standing near by. He looked pissed instead of having an annoyed smirk on his face, and this somehow managed to get my spirits up. He sent me a beckoning look, but I ignored it and kept walking.

Maybe that wasn't such a wise choice.

Wow! This is the longest first chapter (or chapter overall) that I've ever written! I don't know if should feel proud or not... Keep in mind that future chapters will mostly be far shorter (as in, 2,000 words instead of 4,000), so don't get your hopes up.

(1) This is an actual song. It's called 'Get Up' and it's by Charly. It's a really good, motivating song and I invite you guys to listen to it.

(2) I don't watch high school movies a lot as I don't care for them, but I seriously hate this cliche. I mean, come on! Do you know what type of Spiritual Intervention would be needed for best friends to share next door lockers, and the same classes?! IN A BEHEMOTH SCHOOL?!

(3) Tsunade is so stunned, she was actually nice for a split second. Much Gaara. So smart. Wow.

(4) I couldn't just make him say he was from 'The Hidden Village Of The Sands' or whatever, so I was like, what's a really sandy place...Egypt. Or the Sahara Desert, but...

FAQ:

Neji doesn't act like he usually does. He seems...kind of nice. What's up with that?

Well, I thought Shippuden Neji was pretty nice. Now, the original Naruto's Neji was kind of an asshole, but so was Sasuke and people still love him. *huffs angrily* Anyway, how am I supposed to have an abused Gaara get along with an asshole Neji?! That ain't gonna work, sooooo... if this 'OOCness' (though I did warn you) upsets you, you're welcome to ignore my story once and for all. Don't leave a dramatic hater review, though.

Why did you make Sakura and Ino such bitches?!

I don't care for either of them, personally, but I needed someone to be the female bully and that job landed in front of Sakura (Ino as well in future chapters). But if you think they're bitchy, they acted like that in the original Naruto, so...just sayin'.

Since you seem to be implying NaruHina a lot, who is Sasuke going to shipped with?

Itachi! Naw, kiddin'. But I actually don't know. I love NaruHina (omg I love a hetero pairing what is the world coming to) and NaruSasu, so I'm gonna need the reviews to tell me which one they want more. But, I always could stick Kakashi in here, and make him a little younger...*winks*

The thing where Sasuke says Ino and Sakura have flat asses and that his (Sasuke's) friends don't have flat asses doesn't really make sense...

It's fricking Sasuke. What did you expect? "I love you but you're too stupid for me?"

Why the fuck is Mizuki in this?! WHO THE FUCK IS MIZUKI?!

Okay, you guys probably know the second question, but I'll answer it anyway. He's from the first episode of Naruto (NOT SHIPPUDEN). I'm using him because I couldn't think of anyone else. It's not like I could make Kakashi bully them! HIS NAME SOUNDS LIKE THAT CEREAL BRAND! OMG! I JUST NOTICED!

Mizuki x Sakura? Seriously?

They both have pinkish hair. What can I say? I don't ship them...I don't ship Sakura with anyone but Lee. c:

Is Hiashi gonna be a dick in later chapters?

He is going to be a dickweed, yes. But hopefully not to Hinata because she's too sweet. OR NEJI. MY BABEH SHALL NOT BE HURT *clutches him protectively*

Where is the abuse part of the story? And will Neji get abused as well?

Next chapter, in answer to the first question. As for the second, the above question already answers this for the most part...but yes. ;_; Sorry Neji, Hinata.

Well, I better shut up before I write a behemoth sized author's note. R&R, and no flames or hating, please. Believe it or not, I'm only twelve years old so my writing and grammar isn't the best.