Psychology

by Yo How's it Going

One bad day can cause a title wave of psychological breaks and discoveries.

1. Help

Yo, how's it going. So a little more than a couple of things before we start.

1) This story has some heavy hits on depression, thoughts of suicide and quite a bit of foul language. If you have any problems with this at all I would find something else to read.

2) I'm not the best writer in the world. I make mistakes...lots of them. Feel free to let me know of any of these mistakes by whichever means you like and I will try to fix them along with the next update.

3) I don't own Naruto blah blah blah

4) Enjoy your flight :)

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Neji woke up from his office chair with the smell of wet paint filling his lungs. The smell made him smile a bit as he sat up, stretching his arms and back while looking around his room. Several paintings, paper and canvas alike, hung from the walls and laid propped up on random pieces of furniture. It filled his bland off-white walls with different colors and places that he could only dream of going. He strained his eyes as bright morning light poured into his room from the balcony. The natural light was great for painting, not so much for early school mornings. He blinked a few times, his eyes settling on the easel in front of him. A half-finished painting of a cloudy twilight sky set in the snowy mountains by a river sat there, calling him. It was one of the most difficult, beautiful paintings Neji had ever tried to paint, but it had to be done. He wiped some sleep from his eyes then looked down at his hands. They were colored with dried paint in different shades of reds oranges and yellows. Despite his colored hands, Neji wasn't a messy painter, in fact far from it. It's just that sometimes his fingers provided a better stroke and texture then his brushes could. He cursed under his breath. The color on his hands didn't bother him, but the consequences that came with them did. He stood and stretched again, his back and shoulders popping loudly. Sleeping in his chair was never ideal and happened way too often. He sauntered over to his bathroom to attempt to wash the different colors from his hands but his phone vibrated before he could make it. Grabbing his phone off the easel, he tapped the touch screen showing a message from Sasuke.

'Going to be late for class. Distract teach?' Neji chuffed at the message and quickly sent back a 'you wish' before getting up to get ready for school. Even a shower and an extra hand washing didn't get rid of the strange color on his hands.

A puff of air passed through his lips "Going to get yelled at about this now," he grumbled to himself.

He dressed in an off-white collared shirt and some khaki slacks, a basic rendition of his school's uniform. After getting dressed, brushing out his long brown hair and tying a white bandanna across his forehead, with a yawn, he walked out of his room and down the stairs to the kitchen. The house he lived in was large, some might even call it luxurious, but to Neji it was lifeless. Nothing but brown and white on top of more brown and white with random statues and store-bought paintings desperately trying to pour life into it. It didn't work. The colors of the house where plain, the statues were old and dusty and the paintings that did hang on the walls lacked the bright saturated colors that the real world provided. The excess space didn't help either making the place always seem empty. Neji hated it here. The kitchen was no exception to this lifeless, colorless, empty feeling. Just replace the paintings and statues with random kitchen appliances that are never used. He quietly strode to the fridge, grabbed a small yogurt and walked over to the dining room. The dining room was rather vast as well with a table that could probably fit an army of people. His younger cousin and uncle were already at the table on opposite sides both eating lightly toasted bread, though his uncle was reading the news on a tablet while doing so. Hinata was quietly reading a book wearing a collared shirt in a similar color to Neji's and a navy-blue skirt. Neji walked over to Hinata's side of the table and gave her a light one-armed hug before sitting next to her and starting on his yogurt.

Hinata gave a warm smile "Good morning Neji, how are you this morning?"

Neji's answer was delayed due to a mouth full of yogurt, but he gave her a small nod with a small smirk.

"Good morning Hinata and I'm fine, thank you."

Hinata looked at Neji's hands slightly amused by the weird colors. "You forgot to wash your hands after painting last night again didn't you."

Neji let out a mixture of a groan and sigh "I couldn't get the sky right last night."

Hinata giggled "And what was wrong with it this time?"

"That's the problem! I don't know. For some reason, it just... lacks...something."

Neji seemed to get lost in thought after saying that. Hinata stared at him for a second slightly amused by his artist block. This wasn't the first time he's done this. For years now, he would ask her about random color palettes and where certain landmarks should go in different paintings. Hinata wasn't the artsy type, and she sometimes didn't understand what he was talking about, but she was always happy to help him. She lightly tapped him on the shoulder breaking him out of his train of thought.

"How long did you stay up?"

"About three am" he grumbled out hoping that a certain uncle wouldn't hear him.

"You shouldn't be staying up so late Neji, a good night's sleep leads to a healthy mind." his uncle said not looking up from the tablet.

'Ugh damn it' Neji thought as he rolled his eyes but responded respectfully "Yes sir."

"Also, now that summer is over, I expect you will be paying more attention to your diploma and working on a degree in psychology rather than this hobby of yours."

Neji's grip on his yogurt container increased until it was crushed in his hand "Of course sir." he said bitterly.

Jolting up from his chair he strode over to the trash can a bit more angrily then earlier and threw the rest of his yogurt out. He grabbed a few paper towels to wipe his hand off and turned to Hinata "You ready to go?" She jumped slightly before responding "Uh, yeah let me just grab my bag."

Neji was quiet most of the drive to school, his knuckles white from his tight grip on the wheel. As they drove, they passed by a massive skyscraper with the letters Hyuga Psychiatric at the top. Neji glared at the building as they passed by, that building was the bane of his existence. After about five minutes Hinata spoke up.

"You know you could just tell him that you don't want to join the company."

"And last time I did that, I was apparently going through hormone changes and just needed to 'let it pass' until I grew older." he snapped back.

"Then how about you just not join the company," she implied.

"And be disowned and kicked out of the house, don't think so. I'd like to have somewhere to live through my final year of high school."

"He wouldn't do that."

"Did it to my father, why would he not do it to me."

"Neji..."

He didn't acknowledge her for a second before letting out a frustrated sigh "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's okay, I understand why you feel that way."

The car went silent again they both looked in opposite directions from each other. "D-do you want to get some coffee, we left a little early," he suggested.

"No, that's okay."

The disappointment in her voice made his heart hurt "C'mon, I'll pay for it, largest size you can think of."

He turned to Hinata and gave a small sympathetic grin. She looked back at him with a serious face for a minute but couldn't help but smile back.

"Fine, but I'm paying for my own."

"I said I'm paying for it so I'm paying for it."

"Neji..."

"Hinata..."

They both stared at each other Neji looking back and forth between her and the road. "Fine," she sighed. Neji could do nothing but grin at his victory as he drove in the direction of the coffee shop.

The Hyuga duo pulled into the Konaha Private Academy parking lot about twenty minutes before classes started. The school grounds were massive taking up about seventy-five acres, and that didn't include the monstrous gated off woods in the back of the school. Hundreds of students all shuffling in from all directions, all wearing collared shirts of different colors and slacks, though some girls were wearing skirts. They both got out of the car, bags, and coffee in hand.

"I'll see you at the end of the day," Hinata said quietly beginning to walk away.

"Hey."

She stopped and looked up to him "I'm sorry, about...you know." he sighed.

Hinata gave a small smile then nodded "It's okay, really, and thank you for the coffee."

Neji smiled back and watched her disappear into the mass of students. He absolutely hated making her upset but he also absolutely hated her father, which made things difficult. He would be a lot happier if Hiashi wasn't so insistent on joining the stupid company. Neji didn't want to become a psychologist. He liked painting and drawing, not talking to people and solving their problems. He wasn't much of a social butterfly or very trusting for that matter. He had a tiny group of friends that he would only give half answers, lies, or just the cold shoulder to when that asked too much. In fact, Hinata was the only one that Neji would fully disclose what he was feeling also. To him, she was like a sister, and he trusted her wholeheartedly which is why things were difficult. She loved her father and Neji complaining to her about him always made her upset. Maybe he should stop talking to her about it.

Neji pushed his way through the mob of students inside the building just to get back outside to the picnic area. The outdoor eating area, right outside the cafeteria, was gigantic with picnic tables scattered throughout the yard with large trees covering them with cool shade. As soon as he made it to the picnic area, he found one of his friends almost instantly. Rock Lee was the only student to wear a green collared shirt, green slacks and sport a bowl cut without a shred of self-doubt. As soon as Neji tapped his friend on the shoulder, he shot up from his seat and wrapped his arms around the young man. Though this greeting was not one that Neji particularly cared for he knew it was inevitable. He had known Lee for years, and this was just the way he was, there was no changing it.

"Neji! How are you my friend, how was the latter half of your summer."

"It was fine. Just did some painting." He held up one of his hands to show off his new skin tone.

"How about your trip to Suna?"

"It was very enlightening. Their form of martial arts is very different from ours due to the terrain. They have to..."

Neji started to tune him out which was nothing new. Lee tended to get a little overzealous about topics he didn't really care about. Thanks to his uncle he was very good at pretending to listen. His thoughts slowly started to drift to his painting. What the hell was it missing?

"Hey...Hey Neji."

Neji snapped out of his thoughts, "Yes, what is it."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your first class today?"

"Huh? Oh, it's uh college-level psychology." The word psychology just left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Oh, that's good. We have the same class. Your uncle will be proud when you pass with flying colors." Lee smiled patting his back.

Neji gave a small short smirk. Most of his friends knew that he didn't want to join the Hyuga Psychiatric Company, but Lee was not one of them. Neji found it would be more of a pain to tell him and deal with him constantly saying what a missed opportunity it would be if he didn't, or he should follow his youthful heart, whatever the hell that meant. Either way, it would be a pain.

"Speaking of which we should get going don't want to be late," he spoke up before Lee could start talking again.

"Of course!"

Both of them started on to their class Lee still talking about his trip the entire time. They made to the classroom right as the bell rang to begin classes. It was a dull classroom with white walls, brown desks and the occasional inspirational poster with a kitten on it. The two of them sat across from each other around the middle of the room. Neji observed who all entered the room along with them. Most of the students he knew for years prior but a few were new.

"I wonder where the teacher is," Lee said looking around the class.

Neji just shrugged and began to dig in his bag for a sketchbook and some pencils. Hopefully, if he could draw out the painting he was currently working on he would figure out what was missing from it. He was in his own world for about ten minutes until he felt a hard pat on his shoulder causing him to draw a hard-straight line across the paper. Whipping his head over his shoulder to see Sasuke taking the seat on the other side of him.

Neji started to erase the line across the page "You're an asshole, you know that."

"Takes one to know one."

Neji stopped erasing and looked at him with a flat expression "Really, we're going back to kindergarten today."

"We're already in a room full of kindergartners, so why not."

Neji rolled his eyes at this very typical answer. Sasuke and Neji had been friends for the past two years. They would always take jabs at each other which confused most people when it came to their friendship. But what people didn't realize is that had a lot in common and were able to vent to each other whenever needed. Both belonged to rich families, both hated the rich family they belonged to, and both had other passions that their rich families didn't want them involved in. Neji mostly liked him because he didn't ask too many questions nor did he care to. Though being friends with him did have its faults. Sasuke was the token 'bad boy' of the school which attracted both teachers and girls, which was exactly what Neji didn't want. It didn't help that Neji wasn't exactly hard to look at either. It took him a long time to build up a cold enough reputation so girls would stop asking him out.

"So, you here for the easy A too."

Neji huffed at his question "I wish. Though I don't need the class, my uncle demanded I take it to prepare to join the company."

"Least you got a job straight out the gate not straight to college for a business degree."

"Just replace business with psychology and your dead on the money."

"You sound sooo exhilarated about that."

"Completely..."

They went quiet for a few minutes until Sasuke groaned. "Where the hell is the teacher, it's been like ten minutes, and I was late?"

"This is quite strange, maybe they're sick," Neji said back not looking up from his drawing.

"We can leave after fifteen minutes, right?" Sasuke suggested.

"We must stay in the classroom the duration of the class."

"Ah, shut the fuck up Lee."

"That is not a very nice thing to say," Lee argued.

"I can show how nice I can really be later."

"I will not..."

"Would you two stop...please?" Neji shouted looking back and forth between the both of them. He couldn't focus with the both of them bickering across him. Before either of them could respond the door to the classroom busted open and a white-haired man with an eye patch walked up to the whiteboard. He didn't say a word as he grabbed a marker and wrote his name on the whiteboard. He turned to the class and introduced himself.

"My name is Kakashi, no Mr. or sensei needed at the beginning or end, and this is college level psychology. Any questions?"

No one decided to speak up or rather were a bit to shocked to do so.

"Good, then we can get on with the assignment."

He walked up in front of the desk and sat on it. "For those of you thinking that you're going to be getting an easy A out of this class, your right. In fact, for the entire year, you will only have one assignment which only involves writing one essay due at the end of the year."

Most of the students smiled at this with a few mumbles here and them. Sasuke nudged Neji in the arm "Told you, easy A."

Neji didn't respond.

"So, no beating around the bush, all you have to do is form a full psychological evaluation on one of your classmates. Now I know what you're thinking, psych evaluations don't take an entire year to make, but you are a team of one whereas normally you would have a team of many. I'm not asking you to tell me how this person feels for an entire year."

He hopped off the desk and walked toward the whiteboard again. Marker in hand and began to write what he was saying "I want a clinical assessment, a mental status examination, a physical examination and I hope writing all this down because I'm not going to keep it up here forever."

The sound of students shuffling through bags filled the room followed by the scratching of pencils and pens. Neji just moved to a blank page in his sketchbook.

"I'll let you decide what type of tests you want to run to get these results. If you have any questions about certain tests, you can ask Google or me both of us know. Before I take any questions, there are going to be some rules with this assignment that I want to tell you. Any violation of these will result in an immediate failing grade."

He turned toward the board again and started writing again. "I know for a fact everyone in this room has heard of patient confidentiality." he began writing the last two words on the board.

"During the next year, you are going to be this person's best friend whether you like it or not. That being said, you might hear of some personal details that your partner may not want everybody in this school to know about."

Kakashi leaned up against the desk his voice darkened slightly. "If I hear any word that you have given away information about your partner that he or she would not approve of, you both will fail."

Sasuke spoke up then "Wait, that's stupid, why would both of us fail?"

"Because some morons think it's funny to try and fail their partner by lying about them giving out information. So, to avoid this, you both will fail. Any questions about that."

Everyone stayed eerily quiet.

"Right then, rule number two, don't lie." he wrote down the last two words again then turned around.

"If your partner happens to be a very loud, boisterous, and all around happy person around everybody and you write that they are quiet, withdrawn, and sad around other people because you didn't want to be around your partner, you fail for obvious reasons. Any questions about that? No? All right, well, I'm sure you guys are really excited to pick out your friends and acquaintances for this project to make it as easy as possible."

Most of the students looked around at each other mostly at the ones they would want to be partners with. Neji, in particular, was hoping of either Lee or Sasuke, mostly Sasuke. Lee would be easier to handle as far as getting answers for questions, but Neji didn't want him knowing anything more than he needed to. Sasuke would be perfect because he didn't care about Neji all that much so anything he told him wouldn't stick.

"Well too bad, I've already picked your partners."

'Shit' Neji thought in his head. If he didn't want Lee knowing too much, he really didn't want some random person knowing.

"I'll call you up two at a time so you can meet up with your partner face to face. Once you meet your partner your free to do whatever you want, whether it's work on this assignment or not. You could leave for all I care."

Kakashi started to call out names in pairs, Neji turned toward Sasuke who looked rather annoyed.

"Seems like a weird thing to do," he whispered over to Sasuke.

"Yeah, he's pretty much asking us to invade someone's privacy for a whole year," he grumbled back.

"I mean, I can't imagine it being that hard."

"Well, all I know is, after I get whoever my partner is I'm out of here. You in?"

"Just for this class, I'm not skipping the rest of them."

"C'mon, live a little man. It's not like anything interesting happens on the first day anyway."

"Sasuke Uchiha and Choji Akimichi" Kakashi called out.

Sasuke sat there for a minute, jaw slacked slightly. Neji started to chuckle, "Nothing interesting happens on the first day huh?"

"Fuck you, man," Sasuke growled walking up to the front.

Neji watched his friend sulk up to the front for a moment then turned to Lee. "Have you already been called yet?"

"Yes! I was partnered with Shikamaru Nara."

Great, the straight-A student that barely puts any effort into anything gets the easiest student to do this assignment on, seems fitting. "Neji Hyuga and Gaara Sabaku"

Neji cocked his head to the side slightly and looked around the room for who that was. He stood slowly looking around for who that could be as he walked up to the front desk. A flash of red seemed to filter its way through the students and up to the front desk with him. Neji had never seen this student before at least he didn't think he had. He defiantly would have remembered the bright red hair not to mention the dark circles around the sea green eyes.

"Neji meet Gaara, Gaara meet Neji."

The redhead was slightly shorter than him but not by much wearing a dark red collared shirt and black pants. His face held no emotion as Neji did a small head bow "Nice to meet you." Gaara only nodded in response.

"Here is a small packet with some start-up questions to help you out and my contact information just in case you have any questions. I would suggest the first thing you do is get contact info from each other. Now, off you go"

They both nodded and walked away from the desk. Neji followed Gaara to his desk where he pulled out a small notebook and wrote down his phone number and email. Ripping the paper out of his notebook, he handed it to him.

"I have to be somewhere. Just text me or email me when you want to meet up okay."

Gaara took the piece of paper from his hand and smirked. "Yeah, thanks."

Neji was slightly taken aback by his voice. It was deep and gravelly with an accent that wasn't natural to this region. Despite this, Neji only nodded at him then walked back over to his seat where Sasuke was already packing up his notebook.

"This is bullshit," Sasuke complained.

Neji also began to pack up his stuff. "Save the complaints until we get out of here. Lee, you coming."

"Hmm, I want to talk with my partner about our plan to..."

"Lee your partner is asleep."

Lee looked over to where Shikamaru was sitting, and he was, in fact, snoring at his desk.

"Talk to him later, I don't think you will get much out of him right now." Lee seemed to contemplate his options for a minute before standing up to gather his things as well. "I will go with you."

"C'mon slowpokes don't have all day," Sasuke shouted, already out the door.

Sasuke led the two of them through the school and outside toward the back where the track field resided. Students were always allowed outside as long as they had permission and remained on campus. The school felt it was important for them to get outside and get some fresh air every once and a while. To make sure nothing crazy happens you'd often see teachers walking around to keep an eye on things. As soon as they made it outside, they found a nearby tree and settled down under its shade. Sasuke dug in his bag and grabbed a small rolled joint, lit it and took a hit of it. After a few hits, he offered it to his companions.

Neji waved it away, "I'd like to keep my chances of getting lung cancer to a minimum, thanks."

"Neji is right, smoking is not healthy, and if a teacher finds you, you could be suspended."

"It doesn't give you lung cancer, idiots. And there are no teachers out here this early. They're too busy dealing with first-day bullshit"

Neji stayed quiet. There was no reason to argue with him, Lee on the other hand, "I am sure there are some studies that show that this can affect your lungs."

"Then show me."

Lee remained quiet.

"That's what I thought."

Neji started to pull out his sketchbook and draw the environment around him; it would make a good painting although maybe a bit boring. All three of them sat there quietly until Lee spoke up again.

"So Neji, who did you get as your partner."

Neji stopped sketching for a second to think "Ah Gaara Sabaku, I think. He had very vibrant red hair and a weird voice."

"That name sounds very familiar." Lee said quietly and started thinking to himself

"Ha, you got that freaky looking guy."

"Do you know who said 'freaky looking guy' is?"

"Not a chance, just know he came in late as I did."

"Ah! I know who that is" Lee suddenly spoke up.

Both Neji and Sasuke looked over to him. "He's from Suna, I believe he is the youngest son of the former mayor."

"Former," Neji questioned?

"Yes, the major of Suna just recently passed away," Lee informed.

"Why the hell is the kid all the way over here when his dad just died?" Sasuke spoke before Neji could ask the same question.

"From what I understand he's here on a foreign exchange program."

"That seems like that would be canceled with a tragedy like that happening," Neji stated. At this Lee just shrugged.

"Well, at least you have some talking points with your partner. What the hell am I going to talk about with mine, fucking chips."

Neji couldn't help but chuckle as he began to sketch on his sketchbook again. "He does eat a lot of chips." he agreed through his chuckles.

"I'm sure there are other qualities to Choji than that," Lee suggested.

"Oh yeah Lee, like what? Name one thing, one single thing, about Choji that doesn't involve eating something."

Lee thought for a minute "He likes butterflies."

Sasuke stared at him for a minute before finishing off the joint he had and tossing it aside. "Well, that's just fan-fucking-tastic Lee. Guess we'll just sit around eating chips and watching butterflies all year." He grabbed his bag and began to walk away from the two of them. Neji watched him leave.

"Where are you off to," he asked.

"I told you already I'm ditching today, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Neither of the two said bye as he left. As soon as he was out of sight, Lee spoke up "There is one more thing I didn't mention about Gaara Sabaku that I think you should know about."

Lee's voice changed from energetic for more low and serious. This alerted Neji to stop drawing and truly pay attention to what he was saying. "While I was in Suna some rumors were going around that Gaara had something to do with his father's death."

"So, they think the Mayor was murdered?"

"I don't know. No details were released about his death, but a lot of the citizens suspect Gaara had a hand in it. It also could be why he was sent here in the first place, to keep him safe."

"Hmm, why didn't you say this before when Sasuke was here?"

"I do not mean to be rude, but I do not know Sasuke that well, and rumors are just that. I would rather them not spread."

"Yeah, I understand. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome," Lee smiled.

Before Lee could say anything else the bell rang signaling the end of classes. They both began to gather their things and walk back into the school building.

"What class do you have next?"

"Literature."

"Well my friend, this is where we part ways then. I will see you later."

Neji only nodded to him as he disappeared in the crowd. The next half of his classes went by quickly until lunch hit. As he made his way out of his fourth class, he hoped that he could go outside and draw peacefully. Once he made it to the outside picnic area, he saw Hinata sitting by herself at one of the tables. He wasn't shocked; juniors and seniors had intermingled lunches. Almost instinctually he walked over to her and sat down, startling her a little bit.

He chuckled, "So, how has your day been?"

Hinata played with her fingers nervously looking down at her lap "U-um it's been fine. I was just um." she looked around nervously.

This was odd. Hinata tended to be nervous around a lot of people but never him. Did he startle her that bad? He was just about to ask when a voice so grating to his ears sounded off that it almost made them bleed. Turning slowly, he saw what he'd hoped he would never see this entire school year, Naruto. The bright yellow sunbeam was making his way over to their table with two trays of cafeteria food balanced in each hand. This is why Hinata was acting so nervous. It was a well-known fact that Hinata and Naruto had a thing for each other, though they weren't officially dating each other yet. Neji simply didn't like him because he was trying to date, what he considered to be, his sister. He ignored the other undesirable traits; being loud and annoying could be ignored, with focus. Naruto sat next to Hinata placing one of the trays in front of her as he sat.

"Here ya go. Hey, Neji what's up!" he practically yelled.

Neji put on a glare that could kill a charging bull. "Nothing much."

Hinata sat there uncomfortably. She knew Neji had a particular disdain for Naruto and things were always extremely awkward for her when they were together. It didn't help that Naruto was completely oblivious to Neji's hate.

"I didn't know you were coming to Neji, I would have grabbed you something. Want me to go back?"

Neji looked down at what Naruto had brought. Two packages of steaming ramen, a cinnamon roll for Hinata and a large cookie for him.

"No thank you," he said turning away for the two of them.

Normally he would want to leave, but he was way too stubborn to leave his little cousin with this...this creature of yellow light.

"N-Neij you should really eat something," she said offering him her cinnamon roll.

Now that he thought about it. he was hungry, but he couldn't take that from her, it was her favorite. That cookie on the other hand. In one quick but smooth motion, he reached and grabbed the cookie off of Naruto's tray, taking a bite out of it.

"Hey! That's mine!"

Despite the bite already taken out of it Naruto tried to grab it back. Neji kept it just out of reach as took another bite. "Aw c'mon, that's not fair give it back!"

He reached again almost knocking over his and Hinata's lunch. Hinata pushed Naruto back down "Naruto calm down, I'll get you another one okay."

Naruto slumped down in his seat before getting up. "It's fine, I'll get another one."

Once he was out of sight, Hinata gave Neji a small glare. He gave back an apologetic look. What he did was childish, and he knew it, but he couldn't help it. If Naruto were going to date his cousin eventually he would have to get used to things like this. Hinata knew that Neji's teasing and insults were just a way of him showing some sort of affection, but it was still mean.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to be nicer." It was almost robotic passing through his smirking lips.

She sighed, she knew there was no sincerity behind that. Naruto came back with a cookie shoved half in his mouth sitting next to Hinata again. Neji decide to pull out his sketchbook, he had every intention of drawing during lunch. This was a mistake. As soon as he made a mark, Naruto was by his side in a heartbeat.

"You draw! That's so cool. What are you drawing? No, no, no let me guess. Uhhh, fashion! You look like you draw fashion models."

Neji didn't answer giving him a sneering look. In what way did he look like he drew fashion models?

"Okay, not fashion models but their clothing, like a fashion designer."

He didn't answer again, he would not humor him with his idiotic guesses.

"So, are you any good, or are you just practicing? Have you met Sai? He's really good at painting, the best I've ever seen!"

Neji's hand started to shake gripping his pencil tighter and tighter. He was very good at suppressing his anger verbally, but things in his hands tended to broken or crushed in the process. Hinata noticed this and placed a hand on Neji's slightly calming him down.

"Naruto, your noodles will get cold."

"Oh yeah!"

He hopped over from Neji's side to Hinata's sitting down again and began eating without a second thought. Neji stared at him with disgust. What on earth did his little cousin see in him? He was about to ask when he saw a flash of red again through the corner of his eye. Turning he saw Gaara passing by him and over to Naruto's side. The yellow light stopped eating instantly to greet him

"Hey, Gaara, what's up. How's your first day going?"

Gaara gave him a small smirk that went away as quickly as it came. "It's fine. Do you have those jars I gave you?"

"Oh yeah."

Neji watched the exchange with interest as Naruto shuffled to pull two large mason jars out of his bag. Gaara took them wordlessly and put them in his own bag.

"Thanks," he said walking off without looking back.

"See ya later." Naruto waved before returning to his food.

Neji almost, almost wanted to ask how he knew him but didn't. He probably couldn't survive another onslaught of questions from Naruto. Questions did run through his mind though. Why did he need jars? A collector may be, but of what? Hopefully nothing gruesome. Neji was lost in thought for a while until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked over to Hinata "Hey the bell rang, lunch is over." He didn't even realize. Packing his bag, he said bye to Hinata and went on to his next class.

The rest of the day was completely normal for a first day back at school. A bunch of introductions between teachers and students and overly easy assignments passed around from class to class. By the end of the day, Neji was leaned up against his car waiting for his little cousin as waves of students passed him by. While waiting, hell, even throughout most of the school day, Neji only had two thoughts in his head. How to fix that painting and if his psychology partner was a potential murderer, the latter passing through his head more and more. Did he really kill his father? How could someone kill their father? Is he really that dangerous? He kind of looks that dangerous. What did he need those jars for? Body parts maybe? The questions kept popping up one after another until he finally rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Gah, I wish Lee didn't tell me that." He sighed to himself.

"Tell you what?" Neji jumped slightly and turned to see his other friend Ten Ten standing there with a smile.

Ten Ten was probably Neji's most trusted friend though that didn't mean much to him. She was the same age as him with brown hair tied into two buns and wore a white collared shirt with maroon slacks. He had known her since middle school and could tell her almost anything. He defiantly was nowhere near as cold to her as he would be with others, but he would still withhold information.

"Nothing. Hey, weren't we supposed to have a class together this year?" Neji breathed still slightly startled.

"We were buuut I had to change it. There's a new metal work class that came up at the same time, and you know why I had to take that."

Ten Ten wanted to be a blacksmith who designed weapons. Neji always thought it was a bit weird, but it was what she liked to do. At least she got a choice in her future.

"So, you abandon me for some weapons."

"Well, you could be in a class with me if you didn't take psychology."

"You know why I had to take that class."

"Yeah yeah, your future and all that jazz but this is our last year of high school. We should be hanging out with each other at all times. We could never see each other again after this year."

"I feel like that's a bit dramatic," Neji chuckled at her exuberance.

"Or not dramatic enough. Listen, it's not too late for you to drop the class and you're going to be in college for psychology for the next eight years whether you like it or not.

Neji almost threw up in his mouth when the word eight passed through her lips and looked quite visibly sick. He stopped listening to Ten Ten and thought about what she said. Eight whole years of studying something that he wanted nothing to do with; eight whole years of absolute torture.

"Hey, Neji you okay?"

"Huh, yeah, what was that?"

"I was just saying that you should live a little and go to a party with me."

"No," he responded with a flat tone.

"C'mon, why not?"

"The same reason why I couldn't, not take psychology. My uncle would kill me. Plus, I don't drink."

"Not if he didn't know you went and I swear to you if I mixed it, you'd love it."

Neji let out a heavy sigh rolling his eyes"You know that won't work something will happen and he'll find out and then hell I'd probably be home schooled for the rest of the school year."

"Don't be so pessimistic, you're going to have to live your life sometime you know, be a teenager for once."

"My life has already been decided for me Ten, I'm just doing the motions."

Ten Ten just stared at her friend "Neji that is the saddest thing I have ever heard and I kinda what to hug you."

"Please don't, I got enough of that from Lee today."

"I can imagine. Speaking of our green friend, where is he?"

She looked around to see if he was coming. He usually joined them after school was let out. Neji hoped that he didn't, but that reminded him of something. "Speaking of Lee, didn't you go with him to that Suna trip?"

"Oh yeah, though I was there more for their metalworking than the martial arts."

"Do you know anything about the major's youngest son? His name is Gaara."

"Hmm, from what I heard he's bad news. Apparently, he was pretty violent as a kid, like he used to attack people. A lot of people are scared of him over there. They would always whisper when they talked about him like he could be standing right behind them."

Neji's face went pale, his eyes wider than normal. Only one thought to cross his mind. His psychology partner was a murderer. Ten Ten waved a hand in front of Neji's face.

"Hello, earth to Neji. This is like the second time you've spaced out, and it's weird. Also, your cousin is here."

Neji snapped out of it and looked over to the passenger side of his car where Hinata stood and waved with a smile.

"Hey, why'd you ask about him anyway?"

"Um, I'll text you later. We have to head home. I'll see you later okay."

"Yeah yeah, I want to see you at that party, I'll text you the details." Ten Ten waved and walked away.

Both Neji and Hinata hopped in the car. "So, how was your first day back?" Hinata chirped.

"Well fine other than, your crazy boyfriend and I think my partner in psychology could be a potential murderer?" Hinata didn't respond but only stared at him with a slightly shocked expression.

"H-he's not my..."

"I know, I know. Won't mention it again." Neji started to pull out of the parking lot when Hinata spoke up again.

"So your classmate is a murderer," she said slowly?

Almost as if Neji was waiting for her to say that he spoke up "So we have this crazy project in psychology where we have to do a full psychological profile on one of our classmates, and I got this guy named Gaara Sabaku. He was the red-haired guy that Naruto handed the jars to."

"Yeah, I remember seeing him though today was the first time."

"Well, it turns out that he's from Suna and he's only over here because people think that he killed his father which Ten Ten just said that he has a violent past which could mean that he very well might have killed his father."

Neji looked over at Hinata whose face was half shocked half confused "So…um…have you tried talking to him."

"Well, no…kind of. I said like one sentence to him, and he said two words back."

"Did he sound violent?"

"No. He had an accent though so it was hard to tell."

"Neji you realize these are just rumors right."

"I know I know and I told Lee I wouldn't tell anyone but when it's all you think about all day your mind tends to wander, and you're the only one that I would trust to tell, so."

"How about you talk to him, I mean you're going to have to anyway. He's probably not as bad as you think he is."

"I will tomorrow, or maybe sooner than that, I gave him my email and number."

"Oh well, you can't be that concerned then right."

"That was before I knew he could be a deadly killing machine."

"I'm sure he's not a..."

"I know he's not a crazy killing machine but this shit been bottled up in my head all day and it's all just coming out at once."

Hinata couldn't help but laugh at his frantic behavior "It's okay Neji. If it helps I can ask Naruto about him for you. They seem to know each other."

Neji growled. He didn't want that, but it was tempting "I'll think about it."

Hinata hummed in response until speaking again "How about you finish that painting when we get home. It will take your mind off of things."

"Oh god, don't get me started on that painting."

Hinata laughed again as they pulled into the garage at the side of the house. She loved the fact that she saw what he was really like, but it wasn't healthy for him to bottle things up like this. To her, he was always that kind brother like figure in her life that would tell her anything and everything, but it was a different story with others. They saw him as a cold, serious, short answered young man that would rather brush you off than talk to you. The number of times she would hear girls that liked him be discouraged by others because they say he's cold and heartless made her so sad. She really wished that would change one day. Have people see him for who he really is. Maybe if he found a girlfriend?

"Well since Hiashi isn't here I'm going up to paint before he comes up and complains."

The both of them made their way out of the garage and into the house "You're not going to work out first?"

"No, I'll wait until he gets home. Try to avoid him as much as possible." Neji turned to head upstairs when Hinata spoke up again.

"Um, hey Neji?"

"Hm?"

Hinata paused for a minute, "Um n-never mind I'll ask later"

"Are you sure, I'm all ears."

"No, it's okay. I'll ask later, really. Don't trouble yourself."

"Okay?"

She decided now was not a good time to ask about him getting a girlfriend. He didn't have much time to himself before her father got home. They both made their way to their respected rooms, Hinata's was downstairs while Neji was upstairs. As soon as he got to his room he changed into just sweatpants. Normally, he would go down to the basement where the workout room was and workout for a few hours then go up to his room and paint, but Hiashi wasn't home yet. This changed his routine to paint while you can then go work out when he gets home to avoid him even more. Neji wasn't much one for working out, in fact, he hated it, but it was the one thing Hiashi didn't bother him with. 'A healthy body leads to a healthy mind' his uncle would preach all the time. The thought crossed his mind to become a fat, lazy slob just to spite his uncle but he'd probably get criticized more. Neji sat down at his office chair in front of the easel and stared at the painting in front of him. At first, he thought about how on earth he was going to finish this thing but then his thoughts wandered to his psychology partner again. There was no way that this guy could have killed someone. Even if he had, wouldn't he be going to regular school with everyone else? Wouldn't he be in high-security school with, guards or something? Guess there was no real proof that he killed his father or else he wouldn't be millions of miles away from home. Neji checked his phone to see if he received any messages from the red-headed mystery man. The only message was from Ten Ten, probably about this party she wanted him to go to. Rubbing his face, Neji let out a frustrated sigh. There was too much on his mind right now to paint anything.

"Maybe I should just take a nap," he whispered to himself getting up from his chair and flopping on his bed. Next thing he knew he was jolted awake by a loud banging at his door. He yawned and checked the time. Was he really sleep for five and a half hours? He slowly got up and slumped to the door and opened it, only to find his least favorite person.

"Neji Hyuga! It is well past dinner. What have you been doing up here?"

Neji was too tired to respond quickly "I was um..."

"You weren't up here working on that incessant hobby of yours, were you?"

"No, I was just..."

"Listen Neji. I know you kids need some kind of hobby to help with the stresses of life, but you cannot let a hobby become an obsession. You'll be eighteen soon, you need to focus on your schooling."

Neji just stared at him. Somehow, even though he just woke up, he was already tired again.

"Hinata was kind enough to prepare a dinner plate for you. Be sure you eat it."

"Right."

Hiashi walked away from his doorway and Neji just quietly shut his door back. He didn't know how to feel at the moment, there were too many emotions and feelings running through his brain. Rage because he saw his uncle? Confusion because he got lectured for doing the one thing he wasn't doing? Tired because he just woke up and his uncle made him even more tired? Maybe he felt sick. Sick because he was tired of being scolded all the time. Sick because he was tired of being told not to do what he loved. Sick because he was just tired in general. He had been dealing with this since his father died and it was only getting worse. Ten years of being stuck in a hole that he couldn't get himself out of were wearing on his mind. Sometimes he wished it would all just end. He slowly walked over to his bed and laid back down looking out to his balcony. Maybe he should just end it. It would be better than living a life that he wanted nothing to do with. Then maybe he could be reincarnated as someone else luckier that wasn't tied up and bound to their future. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. The first image that popped into his head was Hinata's. She would be destroyed if he did something so rash not to mention, blame herself. Then his friends would be upset, probably confused because he never let them know there was a problem. And his damn uncle would probably boast to his colleagues that he could have 'fixed' him if he just talked to him. Neji decided against the idea almost as soon as it came up. Maybe he could get a part-time job, save some money then move out after high school. He could find an art college to go to and be up to his eyeballs in debt, but at least he'd be happy. His brain once again became overwhelmed with too many thoughts and emotions, so he curled under his quilt and fell back to sleep.

Neji woke from his bed with less of a paint smell filtering through his lungs. The sunlight that usually poured into his room was covered by dark rolling clouds. His began to pound as soon as he sat up from his bed. Today is going to be awful he could already tell. Neji went through his usual morning routine, showering, getting dressed, brushing his hair and heading downstairs. This time not only was his uncle and younger cousin downstairs but his baby cousin as well. Hanabi was still in middle school which meant that she didn't have school until hours after Neji and Hinata, so he didn't always see her in the mornings. As much as Neji loved Hanabi, she drove his nerves up a wall and back down into a pit of lava. He knew it wasn't necessarily her fault, she was going through a tough time in her life with hormones and all. Neji went to the fridge to grab his standard cup of yogurt when he noticed the dinner plate still sitting on the shelf.

"Fuck..." He sighed under his breath before grabbing the yogurt and walking over to Hinata's side of the table and sat down.

Hinata didn't even get a chance to say hello before his uncle spoke up. "Neji I noticed you didn't eat your dinner from last night. Any reason why?"

"I was just tired and wasn't..."

"You've never shown extra fatigue after school before?"

"It was just a long day and I..."

"Is this due to your painting all night again."

"No, I wasn't even..."

"You really should stop painting anyway, you're not that good." Hanabi decided to chime in.

"Hanabi! That is a terrible thing to say. Neji's paintings are wonderful." Hinata said back to her in a stern voice.

"Just because you want to be on everyone's good side doesn't mean that I want to be. I tell the truth."

Neji took notice that it was Hinata to correct her behavior, not his uncle. Did he not like the paintings either? Neji had never asked before or instead, never bothered to. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise him if his uncle didn't like them. His color pallet was rather dull and neutral.

Neji rubbed his temples with his fingers. These thoughts were only worsening the headache. He didn't hear what Hinata said after Hanabi's retort nor what his uncle said to stop the argument. His head felt like someone had driven a metal steak straight through the back of his head and out of his eye. He had half a mind to go back to his room and go back to sleep. Looking down at his yogurt, the thought of taking one bite made him sick. At some point, he stood up with his bag and started to head for his car not hearing anything that anybody was saying as he walked on. As soon as he reached his car, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He stopped and slowly turned around.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hinata's voice made his shoulders relaxed a bit.

"Yeah, can we just go?" His voice was low and soft like he had lost a war.

Hinata decided to wait until they were in the car to ask again, but Neji was silent throughout the entire car ride. This did nothing but scare her. Neji always talked to her about everything, but this time nothing would come out. Did her father finally break him? Would she wake up one day and Neji would be gone from her life? She could not let that happen. When they finally reached the school, Neji just skulked off without saying a word to her. At this point, a bullet wound to the brain would feel better than his head right now. He went straight to class not bothering to find Lee. He sat down at his seat to find Lee already there.

"Neji, how are you this morning?" He contemplated answering, would it be better or worse if he didn't.

"I'm fine." His voice was low and dark, it made Lee a little uncomfortable.

"Are you okay? You seem a little down today."

"I said I'm fine Lee," he said back with a slight growl.

Lee was taken aback slightly but decided it might be best to give his friend some space. "O-ok, let me know if you need anything."

Neji didn't look or respond to him. He had a few moments of silence until there was a tap on his shoulder "Hey what crawled up your ass and died." Sasuke said sitting next Neji.

He must have heard everything. "Nothing," he responded shortly. Sasuke stared at him for a second before shrugging "Whatever, not like I really give a shit."

Thankfully, Lee before he ran off to his partner before he could fall asleep and Sasuke ignored him until Kakashi walked in. Once class was well under way, Neji looked around for the redhead, but he was nowhere to be seen and honestly he was okay with that today. He laid his head on the cold desk, simmering down the heat coming from his head. In no time at all, he fell asleep. He had a beautiful dream. He dreamed the painting he was working on was finished and hung beautifully on the wall of his room. He dreamed of being a painter for the rest of his life. He dreamed of traveling around to all the beautiful places he painted to see them with his own eyes. It was a dream he never wanted to end, but unfortunately, all things came to an end.

"Neji? Neji? Hey, the class is over."

Groaning, Neji slowly sat up from his desk, Lee looking down at him with concern.

"Hey, you okay? You slept all through class."

Neji rubbed his temples, the headache was still there and going strong. He stood from his desk and grabbed his bag. "I'm fine," he said shortly as he walked away from Lee.

He was slightly annoyed that he woke him up. "Okay, would you like me to walk you to class?"

Neji kept on walking not bothering to turn around "I'd rather you didn't." he said coldly disappeared into the sea of students leaving Lee alone in the classroom.

The rest of the day passed by similarly. Classes would go on and he would either fall asleep or keep his head down. Thankfully no teacher got too angry about it, a few threatening to call his uncle. At lunch, he made his way outside and saw Hinata and Naruto already sitting at the same table. This time he had no intention of interrupting them. He walked by the table hoping they wouldn't see him, but that was wishful thinking.

"Neji?" He heard Hinata's voice call out.

It hurt to ignore her, but he didn't feel like talking, so he kept walking. This was another mistake. Naruto had taken it upon himself to catch up to Neji stopping him by grabbing his shoulder. Neji immediately shrugged off his hand turned and glared at the yellow light.

"Hey, Hinata was calling you."

"I'm aware."

Even Naruto, for a split second, seemed taken aback by the amount of ice that surrounded that answer. "Then why don't you go see her, she seemed a bit worried."

"No."

Neji started to walk away again, and Naruto tried grabbing him again. This time Neji caught his wrist.

"H-hey? I'm just trying to tell you that your cousin would like to talk to you. No need to be a jerk about it."

Neji grip tightened to the point where arm shake.

"Ow, ow, ow, hey let go!" Naruto tried to pry his wrist away, but Neji's grip was absolute. As soon as Hinata saw Neji grab Naruto's wrist, she jumped out of her seat and ran over to them. Through Naruto's struggles, she got in between them and tried to pry Neji's hand off.

"Neji! Neji, let go of him please."

It took a couple more pleas before Hinata's words reached his ears and he let go still glaring at Naruto. Naruto hissed in pain as soon as he was released his wrist turning a beet red very quickly.

"What the hell's your problem man!?" Neji didn't answer only turned and walked away. Hinata wanted to go after him, but Naruto's wrist needs some ice, or else it might swell. She decided to help Naruto first then confront Neji on the car ride back. Neji continued on with his even colder and silent attitude for the rest of the day. Also going as far as to walk out of one of his classes because the teacher wouldn't leave him alone.

By the end of the day, he sat in his car and waited for Hinata to come by so he could finally go home. When there was a knock on the window, he thought it might be her, but instead, Ten Ten stood there waving. Neji reluctantly rolled down the window.

"Hey, you didn't respond to my texts last night, not that it matters. I'm dragging you to this party whether you like it or not."

When Neji didn't respond, his voice went from happy to concerned. "Hey, you okay? Normally, I'd get a smart remark from that."

"I'm fine. Can you go, I'm not in the mood," he said quietly.

Ten Ten looked at him for a second. Something was wrong very wrong, but she only sighed. Sometimes Neji did need space, and he didn't look like he was in the mood for teasing.

"Well, I'll leave you alone then. I want you feeling better by tomorrow okay." She said, softly as she walked away from the car. He thought he could relax after that, but then he heard a softer knock on the other window. Unlocking the car Hinata quietly sat down in the passenger seat. Neji started the car without saying a word. Hinata went back and forth in her mind on whether to ask Neji how he was doing. The entire incident with Naruto was completely out of character for him. She had never seen him hurt anybody before, even when he was angry. She waited until the school was out of sight to speak up.

"Neji are you..."

"Please don't ask if I'm okay," he said back quietly. He had heard that question many times to count. Hinata fidgeted in her seat. Somehow it seemed colder in the car.

"Um, Naruto's wrist is okay. It's a bit bruised, but he'll be fine. He told the nurse you two were playing a stupid game so you shouldn't get in trouble."

Neji didn't respond to this. He didn't care whether Naruto's wrist was bruised or broken. Hinata fidgeted again trying to think of something to say. Now it felt even colder than before. She continued to fidget around making the leather seat under her squeak and whine. Neji took note of every movement that she made, every squeak, every whine. It was setting his teeth on edge. After another minute he couldn't take it anymore.

"Could you stop doing that please," he snapped a bit colder than what he wanted.

Hinata jumped slightly but made it her focus to stop moving, but she wasn't going to give up.

"Neji, I-I know you're having a bad day today, but I want you to know that I'm here to help if you need it."

Help. Was that what he needed? What could she help him with? Telling her father to fuck off and leave him alone maybe? She would never do that. No, this was something that he would deal with on his own. He didn't need nor want help.

"I'm okay Hinata, I don't need any help."

He defiantly was not okay, but she decided against giving a reply. Maybe he just needed some space. It was only one bad day after all; hopefully, he'll be back to normal in the morning. Neji was perfectly fine with her staying quiet the whole ride. He wanted to talk to her but was it fair to complain to her about her own father. Making her upset was something he hated and putting his problems on her wouldn't help her at all. Keeping it all to himself was best for this situation. When they got home, they got out of the car in silence. Hinata planned on saying something, anything but by the time they made it into the living room her father was sitting on the chair waiting for them.

"Hinata, I would like to talk to your cousin for a minute please."

She stood there for a second and looked up at her cousin with concern. He looked so much more tired then just yesterday. "Um, father N-Neji was going to help me with some homework. Do you think..."

"He can help you afterward."

Hinata still didn't move, whatever he was going to talk about wasn't going to be good. She was about to protest again until Neji tapped her with his elbow. They looked at each other for a second until Neji nodded his head for her to go. She let out a slightly frustrated sigh and made her way out of the room. She took it upon herself to hide in the nearest hallway so she could hear what was going on. Neji walked over to his uncle and sat on the couch next to the chair. He didn't bother saying anything; he knew his uncle would start.

"So, I received a call from one of your teachers today. Apparently, you fell asleep in your class. In fact, when she talked to your other teachers, they said you did the same thing in other classes as well."

Neji didn't bother responding. What was the point?

"To add on to it, you walked out of one of your classes and sent a boy to the nurses' office."

Damn Naruto for not keeping his mouth shut. Game or not any student sent to the nurse's office because of another gets an instant phone call to a parent or guardian. Neji assumed this is also how he found out about him sleeping and leaving classes. Knowing Hiashi, he probably insisted on talking to his other teachers.

"Listen, I know you think that I'm harsh on you, but I'm only looking out for your best interest."

This statement confused Neji. Since when did he know what was in his 'best interest?'

"You have got to focus on your school work, and that's why..." he paused for a moment but spoke again "That is why I've removed all of your painting supplies from your room."

"You what?!" Neji almost shouted, his voice even cracking just a bit. Hinata even gasped at this. Without his painting, her cousin would be broken.

"I do not want you painting if it is going to affect your school work."

"It's the second day of school uncle, it's not affecting anything."

"This has been a long time coming Neji, and I have been very patient with you."

"I was just tired today a-and I had a-a headache, and it wasn't..." He was panicking, he couldn't think straight. His head was pounding, his eyes were on fire, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

Hiashi stood from his chair and sighed at his broken nephew "I will give them back when you can prove that you are capable of doing both."

Hiashi began to walk away from Neji "Please." Neji's voice was shaking and low. His uncle stopped for a second "Please don't do this."

"I'm sorry Neji, you have left me no choice. I'm only trying to help."

With that Hiashi left the living room while Neji stood there unable to move. Help? Help!? Why were people trying to help him now? He didn't need help, he needed to be left alone. Now because of this so-called help, his entire world was shattering. He didn't know how long he stood there motionless; seconds, maybe minutes. After a while, he started off to his room not even noticing Hinata standing nearby. She tried to say something to him but he didn't hear her, he just walked right by. Little did he know the sheer damage that Hiashi had caused. Not only did he take his art supplies for painting, but he also removed almost all of the pictures out of his room as well. The only ones that remained where a few that hung on the walls. Neji felt cold like his soul was just ripped from his body. His room was now colorless, lifeless, and soulless. The same white and brown that the rest of the house was. He slumped over to his bed and practically fell on it. At this point, all the anger, frustration, and hate all came out in one single form; tears. Neji silently cried into his quilt not bothering to move. He stayed this way until he fell asleep.

It was raining the next morning, the loud boom of thunder waking him up. The familiar smell of paint was devoid from the room. Neji groaned as he opened his eyes. 'Was it a dream?' He thought as his eyes adjusted to their environment. Lifting just his head, he looked around his room. Soulless. The once colorful walls now mocked him with dull brown and white. Neji whined burying his head into his bed. His dreams called to him again as his lids started to close again. He would have fallen back to sleep if he didn't hear a soft knock at the door.

There was no telling how long it took him to get up from his bed, but he eventually did, going to the door. Hinata was about to knock again when the door slowly opened. She didn't know what to say when she saw him. His usually straight perfect hair was a mess, his pale skin seemed even paler and his eyes. She had never seen his eyes so lifeless.

"H-hey it's almost time to leave for school."

Neji only nodded and shut the door back getting into the normal routine of getting dressed for school. Hinata waited outside the door trying to think of what she was going to say to him. Should she apologize for her father being so rash? He probably wouldn't accept that from her. Should she offer some help again? His voice from yesterday rang in her head 'I don't need any help' He most certainly needed help but how could she do it. Neji's door opened again, and he walked past her without a word, his keys were the only noise coming from him. She followed him close behind until they got to the kitchen where she trotted in front of him grabbing his hand to pick up his pace. Her father and little sister were still in the kitchen, and the last thing he needed was them berating him again. She heard her father call them, but she ignored him. What her father didn't realize was that Hinata was furious with him. How could he do this to Neji, who was now just an empty shell of himself? As soon as they got to the garage, Neji began to move on his own again unlocking the car and sitting down. It was all so robotic. The car pulled out of the house without a word. Hinata thought and thought and thought.

What could she do? What could she say? Instead of talking, she came up with a plan. Maybe if she could find someone that he trusts enough to talk to he'll get better. She hoped that if she found a friend or girlfriend, he could let out all this anger that he was keeping bottled up. It was a long shot though. Neji didn't make new friends often, and it had been years since he had dated anyone. This was going to be difficult. As they pulled up to the school students began to quickly run inside from the sudden rain that was beginning to pour from the sky. Hinata quickly got out of the car, Neji didn't. She waited for him to step completely out of the car before saying goodbye and running inside. He slowly walked inside not caring about getting wet. His head was like a heart monitor hooked up to a patient in cardiac arrest. No thoughts ran through his head at the time. He was soaked by the time he made it to class, but he didn't care. Lee and Sasuke were already sitting at their respected seats with one left in the middle for him. The thought of them even speaking to him made him almost nauseous, so he sauntered over to the back of the classroom, sat and slept. This time, instead of Lee waking him up, it was Kakashi to tap him on the shoulder.

"Though I did say you can do whatever you like, I'm sure you have better things to do than sleep."

Neji sat his head up slowly his eye adjusting to the bright light of the classroom. He looked up further to find his teacher leaned up against the desk next to him with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"I'm sorry Mr…"

"Ah Ah, No Mr. or sensei please."

Neji blinked "Okay" He started to get up and grab his bag to leave when Kakashi spoke again.

"You don't seem like the type to sleep through classes. Your dad sure made you out to be a model student if I recall his frantic phone call."

"He's not my father."

There was a brief pause "Hm, sorry didn't mean insult you."

Insult? Was he insulted? He had every right to be, having that bastard compared to his father was inexcusable, but there was no way Kakashi would have known that. "I'm not insulted, he's just…not my father." The white-haired male pushed off the desk as Neji started to walk away again.

"Maybe you should do what he says."

"What?" Neji stopped walking and looked at his teacher who was walking toward him.

"Do what he says and see how it goes. Maybe things will go back to normal." Kakashi then walked out of the room without another word to him. Do what he says? What his uncle wanted him to do was something he wanted nothing to do with, but maybe there was some truth in Kakashi's words. As far as his art went as long as he paid attention in class and got good grades he could potentially get back everything he lost. It was worth a shot at least.

The next month passed like a blur. During that time Neji was like a different person. Doing exactly what his uncle wanted, he focused just on school and nothing else. He didn't talk to anyone other than a few words to Hinata when needed. His friends were ignored, his art put aside. He was everything his uncle wanted him to be, and nothing he wanted to be. Neji was the farthest thing from happy, and it took everything he had not to go launching himself off his balcony every night. The thought of going to sleep sounded sweeter and sweeter every time he dreamed. In fact, the only time he felt happy was when he was sleep, in his dreams. In his dreams, he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and didn't have to worry about what people expected him to do. He could paint the sky then fly through it. He could paint the mountains and climb them. He could paint rolling fields, thick forests, vast oceans and no one could tell him to stop. Unfortunately, this had an effect on his sleeping and eating patterns. Because he only felt happy while sleeping, he slept a lot. The more he slept, the less he ate, or worked out or did anything for that matter.

Though Hinata was already concerned, when she started to notice him visibly lose weight she became scared. Neji has never ever been this bad before. Throughout the years of her father frustrating him, he would always talk it out but this time. He was holding everything in, and he could explode if this doesn't get resolved. What made it worse is that her father was taking no notice to Neji's sudden plummet into darkness. Did he even matter to him? It had taken her longer than she thought to gather enough information to find him, someone. At first, she tried asking different friends of hers if they wanted to talk to him, but his reputation hung over him like a shadow. Many of her friends she spoke to didn't want to deal with the blizzard that came along with him. Even some of the more desperate ones didn't want to deal with him. So she devised another plan. If she could find a person that was already used to his cold demeanor than maybe they can get through to him. There was only one girl she knew about that could do that and she was determined to get her on board.

During Neji's miserable month he noticed one thing. His psychology partner was nowhere be to be found. Now he wasn't necessarily complaining that the kid hadn't shown up for class; he would rather not bother. On the other hand, if Neji failed psychology, he might as well jump off a bridge now because his uncle would kill him. He noticed last week that the redhead would show up for roll but then quickly leave straight after. The Monday of the sixth week of school Neji decided that he would follow him. At the very least, if he was a murderer, he might grant Neji the sweet release of death. That day, Neji sat in the back of the class, his now regular seat, where he could see his target. Sure enough, as soon as the roll was called the redhead got up and left and Neji followed quickly behind.

"Hey," Neji breathed out.

His voice was quieter than he wanted; not talking had really affected his voice. He decided just to tap him on the shoulder if he could; this guy was fast. After about a minute of practically chasing the redhead, they both ended up outside and heading in the direction of the woods that were behind the school. The woods at the back of the school were forbidden to all students. It had an eight-foot chain link fence to keep students and wildlife from getting in or out. Any student caught even trying to get into the forest immediately would get suspended or expelled depending on the circumstances. At this point, Neji broke into a run to catch up with him; he could not get suspended because of this. As soon as he was in arms reach he grabbed his shoulder. Gaara stopped without turning around. Neji didn't think about what to say when he caught up to him.

"Um, we need to talk," he said slightly out of breath. He almost cringed at his own cliché line. They both stood there in silence for a minute making the air around them severely more awkward than it needed to be.

"In the woods," Gaara said roughly.

"What?"

"We'll talk in the woods. Don't want to get caught."

Gaara began to walk toward the woods again. Neji stood there for a second before silently following behind him. Was he really about to follow this guy into the woods? How on earth would they get in? When they got to the gate surrounding the woods, Gaara went to a specific part of the fence that was secured with zip ties. Gaara dug in his bag and pulled out some scissors and cut the bindings until the fence was open. He crawled through the hole then turned and held it open for his pursuer to crawl through. Neji hesitated at first but then crawled through the gate along with him. He'd already gone this far, why not? They walked through the woods silently, the only sounds being that came with the forest. Trees rustling, birds chirping, and random movements of animals fleeing due to their presence.

Neji took it all in slowly as they walked. He almost forgot he was following Gaara into a forbidden forest. His jaw almost dropped when they reached a small clearing in the myriad of trees. The sun shone perfectly through the tree branches creating the perfect balance between light and shadow. The blowing grass was tall and bright green contrasting the dark brown patches of dirt spotted randomly on the ground. Perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing was the rotten wooden bench that rested to the left of the clearing. It gave the message that this place had been untouched for years and it was better for it. Neji was in awe over the entire scene; it would make a beautiful painting. Too bad that would never happen. Unbeknownst to him, Gaara had walked over to the rotting bench and lightly set his bag down. He opened it and pulled out several small glass jars, placing them on the bench one by one. The little clicking sound of the glass snapped Neji out of his daze.

At first, his mind went a little wild thinking that they might be for body parts, but instead of overthinking it he just asked. "What are those for?"

Gaara waited until all twenty- four little jars out of his bag before he answered. "Dirt, leaves, sticks, some sand if I'm lucky."

Neji almost wanted to ask why but he was too relieved that they weren't for his fingers and eyeballs. The boys both went silent Neji just standing there while Gaara looked around at his environment.

"So, you come here every morning" Gaara only nodded. So this guy almost gets himself suspended every morning for some dirt and sticks. Gaara began to wander around picking up random bits of twigs and dirt and putting them in the jars. Neji just stood there awkwardly for a moment watching him.

What was he doing here? Was there any real point to all this? "Why did you follow me out here?" Gaara's question made Neji jump slightly; he wasn't expecting that.

"We're partners in class, and you never sent an email or text. You would disappear every morning in class so I decided to follow you so we could get this assessment done."

Gaara stopped for a second then resumed what he was doing again. "You assumed that I had a computer or a phone to send you these things."

"I didn't know you didn't have a phone and the library is always open so..."

"I do have a phone."

"Then why did you not..."

"To be completely honest I lost your paper the same day while I was looking for a hole in the fence."

"Okay?" Neji slowly said a bit awkwardly. What should he say next? Should he ask about his dead father or his violent past? Maybe he should ask why he's here and not back home. All these questions seemed a bit too personal.

"So...we're supposed to... you know, analyze each other."

Gaara stopped and turned to look at Neji. They locked eyes for what seemed like forever until Neji felt too uncomfortable to look anymore. "You seem...broken."

Neji was slightly taken aback by this statement. He didn't know how to feel or react. Anger confused maybe he should agree; he wasn't too far off. "The fuck does that mean?" Neji decided to go with anger, Gaara didn't know him and vice visa.

Gaara seemed to think about his words more carefully this time. "I don't mean to insult you; it's just..." He stopped to think again. "You look like you've lost something." Gaara resumed putting random stuff in jars while Neji stood there confused. "I've lost things before too."

Neji was too shocked he couldn't even speak. Out of everyone teachers and friends alike, no one was able to guess what happened to Neji well except for Hinata, but that didn't count in his mind. Everyone would just ask 'Are you okay' and 'I hope you feel better ' until the question got old and they all just left him alone. Teachers didn't care because he was acing all of his classes without any trouble. Neji really couldn't figure out during that time if that were a good thing or a bad thing. Did they care too much or not enough? He knew he didn't feel good about it but now some random person without asking any questions just knew.

"H-how, how did you."

"Your eyes are sad, well sadder than when I saw them the first time."

"Wha..."

"And your posture is slouched...a lot"

Neji hadn't even paid attention to his posture, but he was right. He was very much slouched over, has he been like that for the past couple weeks. Neji straightened himself up and thought for a moment. What could he possibly do in this situation? His mind was racing going immediately into defense mode. His answer to the first question already confirmed that Gaara was right and his continued silence and the awestruck look wasn't helping. Neji took a deep breath he had to stay calm.

"So what, I've lost things. So has everybody else in the world. I'm no different. I'll deal with it as everybody else does."

"I've been broken before. Someone helped me..."

"I don't need any help."

"I never said that you did."

The both of them stared at each other. Neji was more flustered and angry than normal while Gaara remained the opposite. The wind blew between them before they started talking again.

"Listen I just want to get this project done, that's it."

"And I thought that's what we were doing."

Gaara resumed doing what he was doing which was currently scrapping some bark off of a tree. Neji had to gather his thoughts again. The redhead in front of him kept catching him off guard, and it was tough to get back on his feet. Once again he was right. This was what this project was all about. Gaara merely guested what he was feeling based on his body language and look, and the way he responded confirmed what Gaara guessed. Then when Neji got offended by his guess, Gaara tried to move the conversation to himself, but he only got angrier. In conclusion, he was being an asshole. Neji sighed, he needed to relax. There was no need in making an enemy out of someone he was going to have to talk to.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I've had a bit of a rough week…month actually, and I just...I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's alright. There's no way I could have known that you were having a bad day." T

hey stood in silence again "How did you guess the whole 'lost something' thing?"

Gaara just shrugged "Lucky guess."

Neji stared at him with a blank look "So all that shit about my posture and my eyes were?"

"Bullshit, at least the posture part was. Your eyes do actually look sad like you have lost something."

Neji couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. It was the first time he laughed in a month. He didn't know if he laughed because of what Gaara said or the fact that he was mentally exhausted.

"So, um you said you lost something too?"

"Yes, some important some not, all of them hurt."

Neji slowly sat down on a patch to green grass. "And you were able to get them back?"

The redhead stopped putting some moss in a jar and looked at Neji who was picking random blades of grass. He picked up one of his empty jars and walked toward Neji who was looking down at the grass.

"No, not necessarily."

"Then how do you..." Neji looked up to find Gaara squatted down a few feet away from his face. Shocked he stopped talking and just stared. Gaara put the empty jar in front of him and glanced down at the severed blades of grass in his hand. Understanding the notion, Neji sprinkled the blades of grass into the small bottle.

"Somethings were impossible to get back." Gaara stood and walked back to his bag Somethings were easy. Somethings I got help."

Neji snorted at his answer "That was more bullshit wasn't it?"

This time it was Gaara's turn to snort out a laugh. "It was bullshit with a bit of truth sprinkled on top."

Neji smiled at this. He didn't know if it was the beautiful environment or Gaara weird manner of speech. Maybe it was because he subconsciously was sick of being alone, but for the first time in a month, he was somewhat comfortable. Sure he still had his issues with trust and was only giving Gaara the most minimal information he could, but he could see them becoming friends with time. He was very weird, and his manner of speech was kind of broken or maybe just short. The only problem arose that he could back Neji into a corner within seconds without even thinking about it. If he didn't play his cards right, this Gaara could get him to say whatever he wanted through clever wording.

Gaara started to put all the jars back in his bag and slipped it over his shoulders. "We should probably head back to the school before classes let out."

Neji stood up stretching out his back. "Yeah, good idea." They both walked back in silence through the way they came, but this time it was different. The air around them was neutral, no longer awkward or tense. During the walk back Neji thought about one thing and one thing only. The one thing he had denied himself for so long.

Just before they made it into the school, Neji stopped Gaara from walking in. "Hey, that help that you got. Did it really work?"

Gaara paused for a moment "I have some good days and bad days, but yeah it defiantly helped."

Neji thought about his words carefully, he didn't want to sound too desperate "Do you think you could...I mean I don't know who...well"

"Do you have a sheet of paper," Gaara interrupted?

"Uh yeah." Neji dug in his bag to pull out his sketchbook and a pencil. Gaara took the book and began to write something down.

"Meet me here next Monday, after school. I can introduce you."

Neji only glanced at the words before putting his book back in his bag. "Thanks."

Gaara once again nodded and opened the doors to the school. Classes hadn't been let out yet, so the halls were pretty empty. Gaara walked off to the left only giving a small wave as a goodbye. Neji waved his hand in response even though redhead couldn't see him and made his way to the library to sit until classes changed. Digging through his bag again he pulled out his book and looked at the writing just added. Nothing but an address was written down with surprisingly elegant handwriting. Neji had come to the conclusion that Gaara was a mystery that would take time to solve but the one thing he did figure out burned through his mind over and over again. The one thing that gave him the courage to trust a complete stranger just a little bit. Help. He needed help. It was the one thing that Gaara made him realize in the woods, and if he didn't get it soon, there was no telling where he would end up.

---

So a few more things k

1) Just because two people are paired in this project does not mean they will end up together. I feel like that needs to be said.

2) I gave Gaara an accent but didn't really write it in as an accent. I find reading accents to be a bit difficult not to mention writing one. This might be a lazy cop-out but feel free to insert any accent you like. Just know that people from different villages/cities will not speak in the same dialect as one another.

And that's it, first chapter. Please let me know what you think by review or PM, whichever suits you best. There are probably a TON of mistakes, feel free to let me know about them. Thank you so so much for reading.