Summary: After three years, Naruto is finally back in Konoha…where everybody hates him. He has no choice but to continue his act where nothing matters and hope that sooner or later, they'll accept him. AU, some OOC, M/M later on

For now, this is going to be a complicated GaaraNaru and GaaraNeji. I know I said that this was going to be ItaNaru, but right now I really don't know where this story is going…

Warning: bullying, violence, yaoi in later chapters, cursing (language)

Naruto/Shikamaru/Kiba/Sasuke: 15

Gaara/Neji: 16

"blah blah" – speaking

"blah blah" – thinking

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"Cracked Mask of Innocence"

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Chapter Three: His Secret

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The trip leaving school was full of chatter between the hyperactive blonde and a brash Kiba. They laughed and romped together, talking about nonsensical things. Shikamaru and Sasuke both hung back and watched the scene ahead with slight smirks and extreme amusement. During that moment, it seemed as if nothing had happened at all, and they had never changed.

The wind was strong, ruffling their hair. It was most annoying for Naruto, whose long hair would always tangle up in even a slightly strong breeze. Thankfully he had tied it up earlier. Suddenly, the blonde felt something tugging at the leather tie that held up his hair before his hair fell completely loose, the wind whipping it back and forth. Oh hell no…

The blonde whipped around to yell at Kiba but was blinded as his hair flew into his face and eyes. He sputtered as some got into his mouth and began to stumble. His foot slipped and his eyes widened as he tumbled onto the street.

Naruto froze as he heard a screech and desperate honking, his mind going back to that day. He couldn't move; he was going to die. Maybe after all that time, after all he'd done, it was finally karma getting back at him.

He closed his eyes, willingly accepting his death; after all, there was nothing left for him to strive for. He suddenly felt strong and muscled arms scoop him up into a familiar embrace before he and the other person sailed into the air and landed heavily on what felt like the sidewalk.

A familiar scent met his nose as familiar hands began gently brushing the hair from his face. His eyes stayed wide open, waiting to see the other person. He was pulled into someone's lap, his head resting on his shoulder. It couldn't be him…

With his vision finally cleared, Naruto gasped sharply, his vision filling with tears at the sight of crimson hair and emerald eyes. He flung his arms around the older male, burying his face into the other's neck, sobbing as he finally let loose all those emotions that had piled up since two years ago, when Gaara had left.

"Gaara…" Naruto's voice was no more that a whisper, but it was full of longing, love, and suppressed pain. The blonde's breath hitched as strong arms circled around his waist, and a hand began tangling slightly in the blonde hair. Naruto could care less that he was sitting in a boy's lap in the middle of the street – he was with Gaara again for the first time in a year.

Pounding feet was dimly heard by the blonde but he merely tightened his grip not wanting to let go. He knew it was Sasu-nii, Shika-chan, and Kiba but it didn't matter right now. Nothing mattered except that he was with Gaara again.

Gaara looked up at the teens surrounding him, three unfamiliar and the other familiar and extremely pissed. He sighed as he looked down at the clinging blonde that he still held in his arms. This was about to get extremely complicated.

The three boys, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Kiba, all recognized the other two teens. Sabaku no Gaara and Hyuuga Neji were famous upperclassmen at their school. And currently, the latter teen was glaring daggers at their otouto.

"May I ask why you're clinging to my boyfriend like that?" Neji's voice was full of venom directed towards the stupid blonde boy that was clinging to his Gaara. His silver eyes met the green eyes of the other teen and Gaara shook his head at him, silently telling him not to make a scene. This only further incensed the already pissed teen.

Neji grabbed the blonde hair and pulled backwards, ignoring the pained cry from the younger teen. He was fucking jealous and his vision was tinted red.

"Let me repeat myself one more time…what the fuck do you think you're doing, clinging to my boyfriend like that?" Neji snarled, leaning in close to the blonde who had tears in his eyes.

Naruto felt like his breath had been knocked out of his chest with some sort of hammer. Gaara, the one he loved, had already forgotten about him and was going out with someone else? His eyes had widened at Neji's statement and tears were now silently sliding down his cheeks. He didn't even bother looking at Neji, who still had a firm grip in his hair.

Sapphire eyes were locked onto emerald ones, and Naruto was silently leaking tears that slowly slid down his cheeks faster and faster as he realized that it was true. That Gaara – the only one he had trusted and loved back there – had finally left him…

Neji was slowly getting more and more exasperated as he watched the blonde stare at his boyfriend and his boyfriend stared back. He pulled on the long golden hair again, reveling internally at the whimper of pain from the petite teen.

Naruto jerked his hair out of the older teen's grasp and he hurriedly wiped away his tears with the back of his uninjured hand. He had scrapes and bruises all over his body, but it would heal soon. He smiled apologetically at the fuming black haired teen.

"Ah, I'm so sorry! I was just so shocked that I almost died from that truck and he saved me so I was a bit hysterical there." Naruto babbled, smiling in a way that made Neji feel like he was in the wrong. "And he – ah, sorry, you saved my life and I still don't know your name – he looks so much like someone I know that I got confused…" Naruto trailed off as he suddenly looked confused.

"Ow…my head hurts…" The blonde frowned in confusion. "That's weird; did I hit my head or something?"

Neji cut the babbling blonde off. "So do you know my boyfriend or not? Or were you just clinging on to him because you were shocked?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Gomen, gomen, I was just really shocked. I don't…know him… at all…" At the last part, Naruto was staring into emerald eyes that had once looked at him with care. He felt tears begin dripping down his face again.

Naruto whirled around to face the other direction. "Ah…I'm really sorry…" With a few choked off words, the blonde began running off towards another part of town. His hair was still loose so it trailed behind him, whipping in the wind that had increased in strength.

It wasn't his hair that blinded his vision this time; it was the sting of tears that poured down his face as he tore away from Gaara, who had deserted him even after all those promises of being together forever. Of course, he had already broken it a year ago, when he had left, but it was this that rang of finality. It seemed like Naruto was all alone again.

Gaara stared after the blonde, pain resounding in his chest. He had only seen Naruto cry like that one other time and it hadn't been his fault that time. But now that the cause of Naruto's pain was him, he felt like tearing into something to take away the pain.

Neji was still pissed and his voice showed it as he spoke to Gaara. "Oi, Gaara, we're leaving. That blonde bitch just wasted so much time."

Gaara really couldn't help it. He saw red. No one – no one – was allowed to speak about Naruto like that. He smacked away Neji's hand and stood up. He was more petite than the Hyuuga, but much more intimidating when he felt the need for it.

"Leave me alone, Hyuuga." Gaara hissed at the black haired teen, wanting to get this over with so he could chase after Naruto.

Neji was flabbergasted. What the fuck? Had Gaara just told him to fuck off? What the hell was going on? His pale eyes glared back at the red head, silently demanding an answer.

"You have no right to talk to him or talk about him like that. We're over." Gaara didn't feel the need to mention that he had never actually loved the Hyuuga. It had all been to forget the blonde that hadn't left his mind since he had left Tokyo so many years ago.

"What the fuck, Subaku?" Neji yelled. "Who the fuck is that blonde bitch to you anyways? He's nothing but a slut!"

In an instant, Neji found himself pinned to the wall of the building next to the sidewalk. He stared into furious emerald eyes and couldn't help the shiver of fear crossing his spine.

"Don't call him that." The words were growled with the intention to maim and kill if disobeyed. Gaara released the Hyuuga, who slowly slid down the wall before landing on his two feet.

Gaara turned and was about to give chase to the blonde and explain everything but two of the three teens who had been there from the start moved forward and blocked his path.

Kiba shook his head. "We're not trying to antagonize you; we just want to know what you want with our Naruto before you go chasing after him. We already have Sasuke chasing him, so we don't really need you especially since the reason Naruto was crying was because of you."

Gaara shook his head and inwardly snarled. He didn't have time to deal with this shit. He stepped forward and moved around the two teens in his path.

"I'm not staying to answer your questions. If you really want answers that badly, then keep up." With that said, he took off.

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Sasuke was running after Naruto, who seemed to be running in no distinct direction. Even he, Uchiha Sasuke, was having trouble with keeping up to Naruto's pace, let alone catching the blonde. When had the younger boy gotten so fast?

His dark eyes were trained on the whipping blonde hair that was being tossed around by the wind as Naruto ran. The blonde darted in and out of view as he began turning corners. Suddenly the blonde turned another corner, and when Sasuke turned right after him, the dark haired boy was met with an empty street.

"Fuck," he bit out. Damn Naruto for being so fast, but where had the blonde gone? Running a hand through his hair agitatedly, Sasuke pulled out his phone and hit in a few numbers before bringing it up to his ear. Two rings sounded before the other person picked up.

"Hello?"

"It's Sasuke. I lost Naruto. He's too damn fast." Sasuke snapped into the phone, his nerves frayed as worry took over his mind.

"Got it. We'll meet up with you."

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Shikamaru hung up his phone before he stopped running and turned to Kiba. "He lost him."

Kiba cursed and punched the wall next to him as he tried to think of all the places the blonde would go to when he was upset. He looked up and saw that the Sabaku was gone.

"Shit!" he cried. "Now he's gone too!"

Shikamaru glanced in the same direction that Kiba was glaring before sighing. This was so troublesome. Where had their otouto gone?

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Naruto was running and running. Running away from the pain, away from the hurt, and away from the fear of loneliness. It hurt and he hated it. He was running up the hill, his feet slipping slightly on the rocks.

It wasn't until he realized where he was that he stopped running. He walked on top of the monument and paused a moment before stepping forward and sitting down on his father's head. He let himself fall onto his side and he lay there, curled up with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around them.

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Gaara was running desperately. He knew where the blonde would go – it was always somewhere high up with a view of the town or city beneath. There was only one place like that in Konoha and he was sprinting towards his destination.

When he had left Naruto in Tokyo a year ago, he had felt his heart splitting. The enthusiastic blonde had been the only one to ever get into his heart…not even that Hyuuga had managed to do that.

Even after a year, Gaara had still woken up with haunting dreams of golden hair, sapphire eyes, and miles of tan skin. Whispers haunted his sleeping hours and invaded his waking…whispers of his name and of love for him.

The relationship with the Hyuuga had been nothing but a last ditch attempt to forget the blonde and now it had come to fuck with him, now that the blonde he loved more than anything had been hurt by it.

He had thought that Naruto had forgotten about him, having never receiving any communication from the blonde. He had thought the other had moved on from him, when he was still stuck thinking of the blonde.

Gaara reached the top of the Hokage monument and paused slightly, leaning on his knees and panting. His eyes zeroed in on the small figure curled up on the top of the Yondaime's head and his heart broke again at how alone the petite blonde looked.

The redhead stepped forward once, twice, before he was sprinting towards the blonde. The sounds of sobs reached his ears and he desperately fell at the blonde's side, kneeling before gathering up the small, shaking frame in his arms.

Naruto froze at the arms that encircled him and he looked up at the one holding him. Seeing that it was Gaara holding him, he immediately tried to push away from the embrace, tears falling down his face even harder.

Gaara merely tightened his grip, refusing to let his Naruto go. He clutched at the blonde desperately, afraid to let the blonde go.

"L-let me go," Naruto sobbed as he finally gave up the fight, his hands reaching up to curl up in the back of Gaara's shirt. "Y-you're dating that black-haired guy, a-aren't you?"

Gaara finally pulled away and Naruto immediately took that as rejection and he began to move away. The firm grip on his upper arms didn't allow him to move away any further. Gaara shook the blonde slightly.

"Look at me, Naruto." Gaara's voice was firm and Naruto looked up shakily, sapphire meeting emerald. The blonde gasped at the pure emotion in those green eyes and tears spilled out of his own blue eyes again.

"I never stopped loving you, Naruto…I couldn't…I only dated Hyuuga because I was trying to forget you…because I thought you already moved on from m-me…" The redhead's voice broke slightly at the end and Naruto's eyes widened. D-did it mean?

"Yes, Naruto…" Gaara whispered, drawing the blonde tightly against him as he read the question in those blue, blue eyes. "I love you."

Naruto's eyes closed at the words, his tears finally stopping as two last tears trailed out from his eyes. He leaned into Gaara, his arms finally moving to grasp at the redhead almost desperately.

"W-why?" Naruto whispered. "Why did you think I moved on? You know that no one other than you and our group liked me back in Tokyo…"

Gaara closed his eyes. "You never contacted me, Naruto."

Naruto pushed backwards slightly to stare into emerald eyes. "You were the one that left me alone. I-I thought you didn't want me to contact you, so I didn't…gomen…gomene, Gaara."

Arms tightened around Naruto again as Gaara pulled the blonde back to his chest.

"I love you, Naruto…I love you so much it hurts…"

"Un, daisuki, Gaara."

Their relationship had been a secret back in Tokyo, since the people there already hated Naruto enough…but here…Gaara was damned if he would let someone steal Naruto from him…

"You're mine, Naruto…mine and no one else's…"

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A/N: Was this okay? You like? Please tell me what you think!

~yaoilovelove