Immediately upon arriving back at the dorm Naruto had assaulted Gaara with a barrage of questions.

"Where were you? What did you do? Did Neji try anything? Did you try anything? Was it fun?" Sasuke sighed irritably.

"Naruto shut up and let him talk." The blonde instantly stopped his rapid fire questioning and both roommates turned to face the redhead expectantly. Gaara just sat there, not knowing how to explain his amazing evening to the two people in front of him.

"Well?" Naruto prodded. "What happened?"

"He showed me around a little and then we talked."

"That's it?" Naruto looked disappointed. Sasuke rolled his eyes, turning to face Gaara.

"What did you talk about?"

"Books, music, school…it was really nice I like Neji."

"Ooooooooo Gaara and Neji sitting in a tree!" The Uzumaki started singing gleefully. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes-MMMPH!" Sasuke shoved a pillow into his boyfriend's open mouth.

"You are so annoying!" He scolded, as the blonde pulled the pillow out of his mouth and coughed, maneuvering himself to face pointedly away from Sasuke.

" So Gaara-Chan, who do you like better, Neji or Itachi?" Gaara tilted his head to the side, thinking hard. Neji was nice and certainly good looking but Itachi's raw sex appeal was tempting. And even the way he came on so strong was flattering. But the redhead wasn't sure how much he trusted him, Neji on the other hand…that was someone he could actually see himself dating. He frowned to himself.

"I don't know, I really don't know."

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Neji walked into the room he was forced to share with Itachi, head held high. The Uchiha was sprawled on his bed, reading a magazine but the second his roommate entered he set it down and sat up.

"Where the hell have you been?" Neji glanced over him idly,

"Out." The Hyuga sauntered over to his own bed, making himself comfortable before turning to examine the other man in a purposely-bored fashion. "I've come to a decision."

Itachi raised one elegant eyebrow.

"And what would that be?"

"The bets off." Neji's tone was cold and decisive but the raven-haired man simply scoffed and folded his arms.

"You can't do that."

"I can do whatever the hell I want." The Uchiha studied him icily for a moment, assessing the situation.

"If you're backing out then I want one hundred dollars." Neji rolled his eyes and took out his wallet, handing over five twenties. Money was really no object to him. Itachi counted the bills, looking satisfied. "Don't think this is going to make me leave him alone." He sneered, finally succeeding in getting a reaction from Neji.

"Just let him be! You're only interested in screwing him anyway. Everyone can see that." Itachi laughed cruelly.

"Everyone but him." The brunette's fists clenched as he found himself locked deep into an internal battle. He wanted to beat that bastard black and blue but he knew doing so would get him kicked out of camp. Thoroughly amused that his opponent was getting so riled up, Itachi continued.

"Awww what's the matter, Hyuga? You don't have to worry; once I get what I want from little Gaara I'll let you have him. Then the two of you can go and prance through flowery fields, or whatever the hell pussies like you do." That was just about all Neji could take, he lunged forward and grabbed a fistful of the other man's shirt, forcing him up to eyelevel.

"You listen and you listen good, if you lay one filthy hand on him I'll not only get you kicked out of camp, but out of the University as well." Itachi folded his arms and scrutinized Neji coolly, clearly not intimidated.

"You do not have that kind of power. And besides-" he smirked "It's not like I'm going to rape him." With that he reached out, smacking Neji's hand off of his shirt before sitting back down and resuming reading his magazine.

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The next morning the three campers were sitting outside in the hallway, waiting for their counselors to come out of their room. Sasuke was sitting against the wall with his arms around Naruto who lying between his legs, his back pressed against his chest. Gaara was standing a little off to the side, feeling awkward and out of place with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his loose black jeans. Suddenly the door to the counselor's room swung open and out walked Neji and Itachi. The elder Uchiha jabbed at Naruto's shoulder with one foot, successfully sending the boy rolling to the side and out of Sasuke's grasp.

"No PDA, boys." Sasuke glowered at him before helping his rather peeved boyfriend to his feet. After that uncomfortable moment had passed Neji led the way back down to the main room where the rest of the camp was waiting. He directed his group over to a small gray couch where there was just enough room for everyone but Itachi. Somehow Gaara didn't think that had been a coincidence. He didn't have long to dwell on it though because a large breasted blonde woman stepped up in front of the room, waving her arms for silence.

"Good morning, campers." She bellowed out across the room. "Welcome to Camp Konoha, I'm Tsunade, the camp director. I call the shots around here so if you get in trouble you'll be answering to me." She said that last part rather threateningly as she scanned the various young faces. "I will now ask all the campers to sit in a big circle on the floor." As everyone got up and found themselves a spot Naruto couldn't help but notice the confused look on Gaara's face. The blonde leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"We're going to play name games."

"Oh, God help me." Gaara groaned. He absolutely despised things like this. Once the whole camp was in proper formation Tsunade stood up and handed a ball to a pink haired girl who was wearing tight clothing and far too much make-up.

"Once you have the ball you must state your name, age, and one fun fact about yourself. When your turn is over pass the ball to someone else, be sure they're looking at you before you toss it." She nodded at the girl who grinned eagerly and faced the crowd.

"My name is Sakura, I'm fifteen years old and I've been horseback riding since I was three." Naruto once again leaned in towards Gaara's ear.

"That's not all she's been riding." He grinned knowingly, earning a stifled laugh from the redhead. Sakura handed the ball to the girl sitting next to her; she had long blonde hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"I'm Ino, I'm also fifteen and I love soccer."

"She's pretty cool, her only fault is that she's friends with Sakura." Naruto whispered again. Throughout the whole introduction the blonde kept giving his opinions on all the campers, which Gaara was actually thankful for. He learned Shikamaru was lazy, Shino was weird, Lee was crazy, Kiba was cool, and Chouji practically ate the cafeteria into debt last year. Most importantly he learned that Neji had a cousin who was his age. Her name was Hinata and she was painfully shy, Gaara had thought he was socially awkward but compared to her he could be prom king. She barely managed to stutter out the required information before gently rolling the ball to Gaara. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and turned to face the group.

"I'm Gaara, I'm fifteen and I just moved to Konoha."

"Glad to meet you, Gaara. I'm sure you'll love it here." Tsunade smiled at him before turning to address the camp. "Today you guys have a free day. Mill about, get to know each other better, play sports, basically do whatever the hell you want because tomorrow real camp starts and we're going to learn about the arts." With that, she waved a hand dispersing the campers. Sasuke leaned in and whispered something to his boyfriend that caused him to turn towards Gaara, a little guiltily.

"Umm…are you going to be okay by yourself today? Sasuke and I well, we kind of want to go somewhere together and um…you know." Gaara blushed furiously and even though he really didn't want to be left alone he gave his approval with a quick nod and dejectedly watched his friends scurry off together leaving him stranded in the midst of the bustling room.

"Hmm not very nice of my brother to abandon you like that." Gaara reeled around to face Itachi and instantly found himself blushing again, memories of last night's dinner still fresh in his mind.

"I-I guess this gives me a chance to meet the other kids." Gaara muttered anxiously, trying to back away. Itachi reached out and caught his arm, reeling him back in.

"You like to meet new people?" The Uchiha questioned, pulling him in even closer.

"Y-yeah." Gaara lied, new people terrified him he just didn't want to say that, it would sound stupid.

"Well I was planning on going out tonight and getting together with some of my buddies. Do you want to come?" Gaara felt lightheaded being this close to such an attractive man, before he had time to think about what he was saying he'd already agreed.

"Good. I'll pick you up around seven." Itachi strode off, a smug look on his face. It took Gaara a few minutes to recover from the shock of being asked to go somewhere. Then apprehension washed over his body. Why did I just agree to that? I don't want to meet his friends! What if I do something dumb? And what about what he did yesterday? He's really hot but I don't know if I can trust him. Goddamn hormones screwing with my head!

Gaara's mind was spinning with worry, but before he had a chance to completely lose himself his inner turmoil he felt someone tugging at his sleeve. He turned to the side and saw Sakura standing in front of him, hands on her hips. She was wearing jean shorts so tight and short it was a wonder she'd been able to sit down. Her shirt looked like it had been painted on and dipped so low he could see the top of her lacy black bra, which come to think of it, she probably didn't need to wear.

"Are you rooming with Sasuke?" She questioned, flipping her hair and sticking her chest out.

"Uh yeah…" He answered uncertainly. "Why?"

"Well," she huffed. "I just happen to be Sasuke-kun's girlfriend and I'd like to know where he went." Gaara's eyes widened in surprise. Girlfriend…is this chick completely out of her mind?

"He and Naruto went off together…" Her whole face twitched with annoyance.

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know." She narrowed her eyes and stomped one foot childishly. "Well if you see him tell him to come find me."

"Alright…I'll definitely do that." He watched her walk away back over towards Ino, swinging her hips exaggeratedly as she went. Gaara blinked; there certainly are some weird people in this place

"If I were you I'd wash my hands or something, I swear you can get herpes just by talking to that chick." A boy with spiky brown hair and tattoos on his face had appeared beside him. He recognized the newcomer as Kiba; the one Naruto had dubbed "cool." The redhead looked over at him timidly.

"She said she was Sasuke's girlfriend." Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Only in her dreams, everyone knows that guy's gay." Kiba grinned boldly and shifted a bit." So, do you want to hang out with me and my friends?" Taken aback by the offer all Gaara could do was nod happily. Everyone here is so much nicer then they were in Suna…

The rest of Gaara's day whizzed by in a blur of new faces and experiences. He Kiba, Shikamaru, and Lee had played a game of basketball, Chouji opting to watch on the sidelines. And even though Gaara wasn't very good Kiba always made sure he got the ball, he had ended up assisting in a bunch of shots, even making one of his own. At lunch Naruto and Sasuke were still M.I.A. so Gaara had eaten with his new friends. They'd talked and laughed and made fun of Sakura the whole meal through. After that they had all contented themselves with card games until dinner. Now, after finally locating the lovebirds Gaara was sitting back in his room, suitcase spread out in front of him, trying to select the perfect outfit.

"You really really shouldn't be doing this." Sasuke repeated, staring critically at the redhead. For the past half hour he had been quite the doom seer, saying the same things over and over. Long story short he didn't want Gaara going anywhere with his brother but Naruto wasn't going to let him lock the other boy in the room.

"Quit being such a fun-sucker, Teme." Naruto handed a long sleeved mesh shirt to Gaara. " I talked to Itachi, he agreed to have him home by ten. And you have both their cell numbers we can call and check up on them every ten minutes." Gaara glared.

"You'd better not." Sasuke shook his head from side to side, barely concealing the impending sense of disaster he was feeling.

"Just be careful."

"I will, I promise. Now then, what do you think?" Gaara spun around in a little circle. He'd put on the mesh shirt and pulled a blood red t-shirt over it, the mesh was still covering his arms and extended slightly over where the shirt ended. He was wearing dark blue jeans that went so low the top of his black boxers and the lines of his pelvis were visible. To top it all off he'd thrown on a pair of sneakers and a black ski cap, his bangs fell out from underneath contrasting startlingly against the dark fabric. A pair of large green eyes, outlined heavily in black stared out from a creamy complexion. All in all he looked like a sexy little punk rocker.

"Oh, man!" Naruto raved. "If I didn't have Sasuke I would totally nail you!" Gaara laughed, for once not blushing. Sasuke scowled.

"I think you should put on a sweater."

"Aww you're so cute, Teme. Just like a concerned mommy." Naruto wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist and kissed his neck.

"Seriously, Gaara that's like waving a piece of steak in front of a pit bull." The slender teen wasn't listening though, he was too busy checking himself out in the mirror and trying to push the butterflies away. All of a sudden his cell phone went off and he rushed to the dresser to get it.

"Hello? Oh, hi. Okay, great, yeah I'll be there in a minute. Bye." He snapped his phone shut. "

"That was Itachi, he's waiting outside. I'll see you guys later, okay?"

"Have fun, sexy."

"Be careful!"

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Yeah, I've decided to take this fic in a different direction. Originally the bet was going to be a main part of the plot but I changed my mind and decided to just cut it out…I hope this chapter came out well. I know there wasn't any Neji and for that I apologize (is ashamed) but don't worry his time will come.

I'm aiming to get ten reviews per chapter but I don't want to be one of those authors who refuse to update if they don't get enough reviews. So I'm asking you, out of the goodness of you hearts and nothing else, please tell me what you think! 3 Evie