Prologue

"Let me see the map."

"No-no! I have got it!"

"You don't even know the name of the town-"

"Of course I do! It is Ra-…something."

"Give. Me. The map."

"No! Look, there it is! Right there!"

Gaara lifted a hand to rub his forehead. He could just feel the fight coming. "You're pointing at an island off the coast of Rice Country. We need to go in the opposite direction. We're heading south."

"But I do not want to go south! I want to visit the Tea Country!"

"That's south." Gaara growled, pointing rather stiffly at the large island that was most definitely south of their current position.

"Oh…" Lee said, laughing sheepishly. "I knew that."

"Hn." Gaara shook his head. He memorized their next exist before folding up the old map and shoving it back in his bag. They had to get going. The moon was already coming out, and he didn't want Lee driving on these dirt roads at night. Hell no, not again. They've gotten lost two times already, and twice is quite enough, thank you very much. "Go see if they're done with the car."

"Yes, Gaara-kun." Lee said, smiling tiredly and scratching at the Band-Aid over his right cheek. The smell of gasoline was wading through the air and making Gaara's head swim. He watched as Lee rounded the corner of the tiny convenience store/gas station in search of the garage. The entire structure was small and desolate. Really, they were lucky this place showed up, there in the middle of nowhere. At the exact moment they needed it.

Gaara sighed. He let his back hit the wall. Green eyes drifted up. The sky was bluer than blue, a void of empty space. Not even the tiniest of clouds flitted nearby. He looked down at a stack of newspapers. 'Devastating Earthquake rips through Iwa!', 'Financial Crisis?', 'Energy Sources dwindling', etc, etc.

"They are finished, Gaara-kun! We can get going!" Lee shouted, waving wildly from around the corner. Gaara pushed off of the wall, his normal passive expression in place.

"Finally."

Lee smiled, heading back toward the car with his redheaded companion finally caught up. "Do you have everything?"

"Yes." Gaara climbed into the passenger seat, jimmying the door to click it shut. Lee, meanwhile, paid the man in the filthy jumpsuit. Gaara took his time rolling down the window. It was hot enough to cook an egg on the dashboard. Luckily, he was used to it.

"Thank you very much, sir!" Lee grinned and bowed low, ever the social enthusiast. The mechanic sniffed, and put his other hand on his hip.

"No problem, kid. Careful with this one. She's definitely getting on in years." He smacked the car's hood.

"I will." Lee nodded, patting the door fondly as he climbed in. His window was already open, and the man leaned over to look in.

"So where're two kids like you headed this fine summer?" He asked, pushing big round glasses up the bridge of his nose. His smile looked false. Gaara sneered, disgusted. He wasn't in the mood for small talk. They had to get going. And this man was giving him an eerie feeling... But that wasn't saying much. Most people did.

"We are on a road trip! We plan to go hiking in the next town before we head out for Tea Country."

"That so? I hope you enjoy it." He hit the door pane twice and stood up. Gaara leaned back in his seat, recognizing it as a send-off, but to his displeasure the man went on talking. "That is…if you get there."

"Oh, I am sure we will. We have heard that these roads can be difficult to navigate, so I will be sure to drive very carefully."

"That's not what I meant, kid." The man leaned in again, his voice dropping to a whisper. "There've been stories…"

Gaara cursed his luck. Stupid talkative man.

"Stories?" He could see interest perk in Lee's round coal eyes.

"Lee." He growled.

"I'm just saying." The guy went on. "You should be careful. It's like these roads are haunted, or something. People…carpools of them have gone missing. Just poof! Gone…"

"Really? That is very strange. Perhaps they got lost."

Gaara started massaging his temples, clenching his teeth.

"No, no, see that's the weird part." The man continued. "Usually, if people are reported missing, search teams can track them down. It's not hard to spot broken-down cars out here 'cause it's so open. But sometimes, people are just never found. Like they vanished into thin air." He nodded, as though absolutely convinced. "And every time, I remember noticing a distinct lack of coverage in the news. I think the government is keeping it from the public for some reason. I'm thinking," He leaned in closer, eyes narrowed, "it's supernatural."

"Riveting." Gaara had had enough. "It's a shame we can't stick around to hear chapter two, but we have to go. Now."

"Ah, right, right. Sorry for keeping you then. And remember what I was telling you. Practice great caution."

"Of course! Thank you again, sir! And do not worry about us. We will be fine. Goodbye!" Lee waved. The mechanic gave a lazy, one-finger salute and turned to saunter back into the garage. Lee pulled out. A cloud of dirt followed the car bumper as they sputtered away.

"Well that was interesting." Lee mumbled, smiling. Gaara hummed, comforted by the rocking motion of the wheels.

"It was ridiculous." He said, putting his feet up on the dashboard. The wind was kicking up, blowing red hair out of his eyes.

Lee didn't once turn away from the road, but Gaara could see his eyebrows draw together in thought. "What makes you so certain it was untrue?"

"Lee." Gaara clicked on the radio, sifting through the channels, "Don't believe that crap. It's all fabricated nonsense. The guy was probably bored out of his mind."

"You do not know that for sure, Gaara-kun." Lee remained firm. His lips twitched upwards and he snatched Gaara's hand from the radio knob, pressing smooth fingers to his lips. "Sometimes it is fun to think that there might be more to life than just what we see."

"Hn." Gaara watched Lee kiss his palm. "Whatever…"

They drove on. Some sort of oldies song was crackling over the radio. The silence, otherwise, stuck. Gaara breathed in deep. The air was thick with static cling, forcing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. Above them, the sky was still clear and florescent, but the horizon was quickly getting dark. It made his eyes hurt. He looked away, deciding to find something else to keep him occupied. Homework would do, no matter how uninteresting. "Where's my book?" He grumbled, checking the floor.

"It should be in my bag, in the back."

"The trunk?" Gaara raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

"No, the backseat. Why would I put it in the trunk?" Lee chuckled to himself.

"Well, it isn't on the backseat." Gaara said, getting aggravated. He bit back a bundle of nerves. "There's nothing on the backseat."

"Of course there is. I know I put it there..." Lee took his eyes off the road just long enough to take a cursory sweep of the back. Then the rest of the car. Finally, eyes wider than a pair of moons, he turned back to the front. "Uh oh."

Gaara's whole body went stiff, his fists clenched until his knuckles blanched. "'What do you mean 'uh oh'?"

"Um." Lee bit his bottom lip and stopped the car. "It must be in the trunk!" He ran out, not bothering to shut the door. Gaara dug his fingers into the material of his khaki's. He didn't have much hope. Lee slammed the trunk shut and walked back into the car as though in a daze.

"Was it there?"

"No." He breathed. "And our spare tire is missing. The suitcase as well."

"What?"

"I think…I think we may have been robbed."

"You think?" Gaara spat. "We have to go back. That's everything we own."

"O-okay!" Lee put the car in drive and made a wide u-turn, kicking a huge cloud of dirt into the air behind them.

"What the hell were you thinking? Didn't you bother to check for our things before you left?" Gaara backhanded Lee in the shoulder. Lee flinched.

"I am sorry! I did not think to! B-but," He hesitated, "you did not check either! So you cannot place all the blame on me!"

"I can and I will." Gaara snarled. They quickly returned to the fork in the road that they had left some time back.

"Which way did we come from again?"

"Left." Gaara answered.

"Are you sure?"

"Left."

Left they went. Lee was driving at a swift seventy-five miles per hour, much faster than before. Gaara's feet were no longer on the dashboard. He was staring ahead of him, waiting for the building to appear over the horizon. Surprisingly, after fifteen minutes or so, it never came.

"Are you absolutely sure we were supposed to go left?"

"Yes, it was definitely left. You know I don't forget." Gaara's voice was its regular steady and certain monotone, but he was starting to question himself, which almost never happens. Lee glanced at him from the corner of his eye, probably noticing. Sometimes Gaara hated that Lee knew him so well.

"We should have passed it by now-"

"Wait. Stop." Gaara interrupted him. Lee slowed to a halt and put the car in park.

"What is it?" Lee asked, sounding curious. Nothingness- a dirt road and a few tiny shrubs. Crickets chirped and set a lilt as darkness fell over the landscape. Gaara got out, looking around with a critical eye. Lee followed suit and circled the car to stand by his side. The stale humidity was making their hair frizz. "What?"

"Look. It was here."

"What was here? The station? There is nothing-" Lee's words trailed off. Gaara got down on one knee, brushing a thin layer of dust from a rusted metal sign. 'Gas & Garage', it read. "I-is that…?" It had aged, somehow, by years. He was sure that it was the same sign that they had seen not forty-five minutes earlier. It even had the same yellow stain in the upper right-hand corner. He turned to stare up at Lee whose mouth had fallen open.

"Something's not right…" Lee stated, rather redundantly. Gaara got back on his feet, brushing the dirt off of his pants. They stood in silence, looking out over the expanse of empty space that must have been the same place they stopped at earlier. Scattered old chunks of wood littered the ground, aged and rotting. An oilcan sat corroding on its side, half buried in dirt.

"This has to be some kind of trick." Gaara refused to believe that an entire building could vanish into thin air in just under an hour. "We must have made a mistake. We should have turned right."

"No." Lee said, slipping his hand into Gaara's and gripping it tight. "I do not think so, Gaara-kun."

Gaara squeezed back. He tried to suppress the strange, coiling feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Hn. Let's get out of here. We'll report the robbery when we get to the next town."

"Why not use your cell-" Gaara cut Lee off with a look, "-phone…Ah. It was in my bag." Lee chuckled, scratching sheepishly at the back of his neck. "Why do you not keep important things in your knapsack?"

"Because you insist on carrying everything. You treat me as if I'm a weakling." Gaara growled, jabbing Lee painfully in the side. "All you let me take was the food and the freaking map." Lee said nothing, shrugging apologetically and muttering something along the lines of 'oh, right' under his breath. "No more road trips. Never again."

"Oh, Gaara-kun, please do not say that! At least we are still together, right?"

Gaara considered that. His inner-pessimist told him to ignore it. "Hn."

"And at least we still have the car!"

"I suppose..." That's true. If they had been forced to walk down an unpaved road at night, he might've had to kill somebody.

Lee pulled the car keys from his back pocket and jostled it into the transmission. The car sputtered and huffed, but the engine didn't start. Lee tried again. It made a clunking sound, hammered the cover, and died. Gaara did not react. His face was deadpan. Lee scratched his bowl cut, getting out with a grumble to check under the hood. This was not happening.

"It is…not working." Lee pointed out the obvious. Gaara did not respond. "Um…Gaara-kun? I know this looks bad, but…it will be all right. I am sure of it!" Lee grinned, jumped around the car and opened the door to let Gaara out. "It seems that we will…have to walk for a while." His cheery tone wavered slightly.

Gaara wasn't getting out. His eyes were hard as rocks. His head moved slowly, as though possessed. "It's. Not. Working." He repeated, livid. "We have to walk."

"Erm…Yes, Gaara-kun, that appears to be the case."

Gaara climbed out of the useless metal hunk of uselessness and crossed his arms. He glowered up into Lee's worried and concerned eyes. "I refuse."

"You cannot refuse, Gaara-kun. There is no other option."

"Fate is trying to screw me over again. I refuse to give it the pleasure of know that it has won."

Lee released a heavy sigh, making a show of shrugging his shoulders. "You have snapped, I am afraid." He grinned deviously. "It looks as though I will have to carry you."

Gaara, previously in a state of complete and utter hatred, deflated just a little in what can only be described as confusion. "What?"

Lee didn't give him a chance to think about it. He lifted him, backpack and all, and cradled him to his chest like a newlywed. Gaara blinked with a sneered, and started kicking. "Put me down," He threatened. Lee only held him tighter. The material of his stupid spandex tee clung to Gaara's clothes.

"Sorry. No can do!"

"Seriously, Lee. Put. Me. Down!" Lee started walking. Gaara was flailing and kicking and trying in vain to hit whatever part of Lee he could. The man was like a rock. Oh, the demented irony. Eventually, he just gave up.

"I hate you."

"I love you." Lee bent over and kissed the redhead right smack on the lips.

"Put me down. I'll walk."

"Are you sure? I rather like carrying you like this."

"You're too hot." Gaara shifted a bit. "I feel like I'm being pressed up against a furnace."

"Well, forgive me! I cannot help the fact that I naturally run warm." Lee said defensively, placing Gaara back on his feet.

Gaara hummed, stretching his legs. "Understandably. Come on. We have a long way to go."

Lee slung his arm over Gaara's shoulder and drew him close, heat be damned. He has always been affectionate. Feeling slightly comforted from the gesture, Gaara rested his head on Lee's upper arm. He struggled not to accept the hopelessness of the situation.

"This sucks."

"Everything in life happens for a reason, Gaara-kun."

"What possible reason could there be for this?"

Lee only smiled, no doubt unable to answer. Gaara rolled his eyes and opted to distract himself with the moon. Bright, full, phlegmatic, it hung above their heads as though eternal. But something deep inside told him to watch and wait. He knew instinctively that there would be an eclipse tonight.

Creshto: This is a test. This is only a test. I'm kind of leaving this one up to you guys. Continue? Yesh? No? Question mark? Exclamation point! I can't exactly guarantee that the quality of my writing will remain static if you do ask that I continue- it tends to get worse as it progresses- but I'd do my very best, I would! :D ANYWHO…Yep, I'm done.