Disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness that is Naruto (insert witty comment here).
This is shonen-ai. Don't like, don't read, it's as simple as that. Flames will be used to further my love of shonen-ai!
So...yeah. Don't ask me where this idea came from because I don't know myself! XD My first attempt at an AU (Alternative Universe) fic. I felt like writing something to do with Gaara and Neji and this popped into my head. Unfortunately, it popped into my head at 10pm and wouldn't leave me alone so I had to stay up until 2am writing it or else I would have gotten no sleep whatsoever. So enjoy! ^.^ Probably a little OOC...
Ages: Around 16-17 years old.
Hyuuga Neji had always believed in fate. It had controlled his miserable existence ever since he was born, and would continue to control it until he died. His father had attempted to defy fate, and it led him to die in the place of his twin. Everything was predestined, and now Neji had to face the consequences of his ill-advised choices. As he looked through the bars of his tiny, cold, cramped cage, the Hyuuga branch member wondered what had possessed him to allow him to listen to the nonsensical ramblings of one Uzumaki Naruto.
Flashback:
The Hyuuga branch member sat on the rooftop of the Hyuuga household next to his best friend, Naruto. Naruto was a servant to Hinata-sama, who was Neji's cousin, and also the heir to the Byakugan kekkei genkai and the whole Hyuuga household. She was far too gentle and kind to command Naruto to do anything so he was free to do pretty much whatever he pleased. In most ways, he was much less a servant than Neji was, as the dark-haired Hyuuga was bound to protect the head family forever under the threat of death. Neji was unable to even contradict the head family as his Caged Bird mark would come into effect and cause him unendurable agony, with the very real possibility of killing him. Neji frowned at the sky as a sparrow flitted carelessly across it and whispered, "Naruto-kun... I don't think this is such a great idea..."
"It's BRILLIANT!" The Kyuubi vessel insisted, grinning as his nine tails swished around him. "It's gotta be; it's one of my ideas after all!"
Neji rolled his lavender eyes at the blond's enthusiasm.
"So modest..." A voice whispered from behind them. A dark aura permeated the air as an adolescent with hair the colour of a raven's feathers sat down next to the blond kitsune, wrapping his arms around him. The smaller boy leaned into the embrace and sighed contentedly.
"Teme! Thanks for coming..."
"Dobe..." The Uchiha smirked in way of a greeting. Neji sighed and looked at the stretch of blue above him again. He really didn't understand how those two were soulmates. They were absolute opposites in almost every aspect. The single common bond that they shared was that they were both orphans. Well...Neji thought wryly, I guess opposites do attract...
Pulling his knees up to his chest, the pale-eyed teenager watched the room across from where he was seated, seeing through the solid wall with his Byakugan. Inside, his uncle and cousin trained relentlessly. He could see the extreme fatigue on Hanabi-sama's pale face.
Abruptly, Hanabi bowed to her father and exited the room. It was time. Time for Hyuuga Neji, a branch family member, to ask for the impossible. To ask to be released from the Hyuuga curse.
Legs shaking slightly, the adolecent leapt down from the low rooftop, landing with a muted thudon the grass. Naruto and Sasuke shadowed him, Naruto whispering confidence in his ear.
All too soon, Neji arrived outside Hiashi-sama's door. He rapped his knuckles smartly against it and waited, adopting an impassive expression on his face.
"Enter," his uncle's voice commanded. Neji took a deep, steadying breath and opened the door.
"Neji-san?" The head of the clan murmured, looking surprised. Or, at least, as surprised as a Hyuuga ever looked. "What do you want?"
Neji's hand nervously brushed over the mark on his forehead unconsciously, and he bowed respectfully. He decided to be direct. "I want out."
Hiashi's eyebrows rose. "...Out?"
"Hai, out. Out of the Hyuuga family, the Hyuuga compound, the Hyuuga lifestyle. I do not wish to be a Hyuuga any longer..."
The man before him snorted, "no-one leaves this clan... I will not allow it!"
Neji sighed and looked his uncle in the eye. "I amleaving," he snarled, trying to keep the uncertainty and fear out of his voice. Slowly, he raised his palm in front of him, keeping the other level with his hip in the normal Hyuuga fighting stance. Neji closed his eyes and summoned all the strength of his will to leave. "ByakugAHHH!"
Suddenly, a blinding, sickening pain crippled his mind. He collapsed to the floor, clutching his forehead as it threatened to split apart. Agonised, half-formed yells issued from the Byakugan genius's lips as every cell in his mind revolted against one another, shredding his psyche apart. His mouth moved without his consent, speaking instinctively to try and save his life. He was disgusted by how pathetically weak he sounded.
"Please... Pl-please s-stop... Please..."
After an agonising eternity, the pain began to recede slightly, and Neji chanced a look through his burning eyelids. His uncle was glaring at him, dissapointment evident in his eyes. The man spoke deliberately, with forced calm. "I cannot kill you, it would offend my twin brother's memory..." Hiashi paused, and looked his nephew straight in the eye. "So instead, I'll sell you off as a slave... I have the perfect candidate already..."
Neji blinked wearily at his uncle, before his strength failed him, and the young Hyuuga succumbed to the darkness...
End Flashback.
The perfect candidate...Neji shuddered. Those three words sounded so ominous, they worried the Hyuuga genius. Who did his uncle have in mind? Neji glanced to his left, at a cage slightly bigger than his own. Naruto and Sasuke sat inside it, the former resting on the latter's chest, fast asleep. Thick tear-tracks coated the blond's tanned face, and his chest rose and fell unevenly in his sleep. Holding his mate close, the Sharingan heir glared at Neji. It was an apology and an accusation in one. Neji nodded wearily and leaned against the bars of his cage, closing his lavender-coloured eyes. He winced at every bump and crevice in the dirt road.
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When Neji opened his eyes, his friends had gone. Neji couldn't believe it! He had only meant to rest his eyes for a second... He didn't mean to sleep. Surely he didn't sleep! The bars of his cage were far too uncomfortable to warrant that.
He gripped his shoulder in pain as he attempted to sit up. Sleeping in the unforgiving steel cage had definitely been a bad idea. Every muscle ached like he had been beaten viciously. He blinked and forced himself to sit up properly with his left hand.
He knew it was useless; he couldn't sense his friends chakras anywhere. And Naruto's was pretty distinctive, considering he was the living container for the Kyuubi. But he had to try.
"Byakugan!"
The adolescent's eerie white eyes glared through every surface around himself, searching for any sign of the familiar chakras. There was none.
Neji's Byakugan flickered and died. He no longer felt connected to his old world. His family. His life. He felt like an empty shell, hollow and cold. For the first time since his father had sacrificed himself, Neji cried.
He sobbed quietly for a long time. When his tears finally ceased, the dark-haired boy realised that he had no idea where he was. None of the landscape seemed familiar to the Hyuuga. He felt mounting despair clutch at his chest. Slowly, the wagon came to a standstill. Neji looked around in interest - the town seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps a little dismal with nobody on the streets and sand-dunes clustered everywhere in irregular heaps, but nothing to panic about. So why couldn't he steady his racing heartbeat?
A slamming noise erupted from the front of the wagon. Neji could hear the person's footsteps, even as they were muted by the sand. Neji activated the Byakugan and waited for his captor to appear. A thick-set man walked in front of the Hyuuga and sneered menacingly. "I'll gouge out your eyes if you keep that up! You don't scare me!" He boomed.
Neji smirked. He'd faced more fearsome opponents training at home. Neji turned into a blur as he launched himself forwards, forcing his arm inbetween the bars and hitting his opponent directly in the heart. Coughing up blood repeatedly, the 'tough' man collapsed.
A pretty girl wearing a Chinese shirt with her hair tied up in two buns walked up to Neji, stopping just out of range of his juuken attacks. There was already an apology in her eyes. "I'm sorry..." She whispered sullenly, " But you can't know the way..."
She withdrew a thick needle from the pouch on her hip and coated it in some strange purple liquid. Neji watched her warily. "My apologies," she murmured, and launched the peculiar senbon at him. Neji feinted to one side and hissed as the senbon embedded itself deeply into his thigh. He was numbly amazed; this girl could strike with perfect accuracy. Impossible... Accuracy...
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"Gaara," Kankurou smirked from the doorway at his younger brother.
"Hai?" The Shukaku vessel hissed, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He did not like to be disturbed ever. By anybody.
His sibling took a wise step backwards, smiling nervously and scratching the back of his head with his hand. "We have a surprise for you. We think you'll like it."
Gaara stretched lightly on his bed - why did he have one? - and stood up. "Fine." He said curtly, following his brother down the ornate staircase and into the equally ornate hallway. He saw his sister, Temari, his... Father, the Kazekage, and finally... him.
The boy was layed out on the floor in front of him. His skin was a creamy alabaster; pale but not sickly-looking. His hair was dark, and pulled into a curious ponytail, the band wrapped wrapped near the bottom of the boy's hair instead of near his skull, as was the norm. He was clothed in a plain navy t-shirt, loose-fitting black trousers, and had a magnificently-carved gold bracelet linked around his left wrist. The kanji symbols on it read 'Neji'. He had a plain black bandanna wrapped around his forehead and was barefoot.
Gaara's lips twitched upwards an infinitesimal amount as he gathered up the unconscious bundle into his arms. He nodded in thanks in his family's general direction and his siblings beamed in relief. The redhead spun on his heel and ascended the staircase once more.
Gaara sat on the bed he did not need and quietly rocked the adolescent in his arms, smiling faintly. He stroked the boy's cheek with his free hand and brushed his finger against his lips. He glanced at the dark-haired angel's forehead and frowned, wondering why the boy found it necessary to hide his forehead with a bandanna. Still stroking his face, the redhead adjusted his grip on the teenager until he could untie the bandanna. The black fabric slipped down his face and landed on the floor. The Shukaku vessel's eyes widened at the acid-green symbol on the other's forehead; a symbol similar to a swastika, but with a sweeping piece either side of it. A Caged Bird symbol. Gaara gently pushed back one of the Caged Bird's eyelids. Almost colourless eyes with a faint tinge of lilac stared, unseeing, at the redhead. Gaara allowed the eyelid to droop, and smirked. Leaning down, he whispered words into the other's ear.
"Got your wings clipped, ne?" The jinchuuriki breathed, smirking. "Hyuuga..."
First chapter done! ^.^ Reviews would be nice... please? -pouts adorably and holds out the collecting tin-
Ja ne! xox