The Biggest Con of his Life

Gaara closed the file in front of him. He had gone through his client list for the past half hour. In it he kept various details on the women he had met through the hostclub. So far it looked like he'd have to call Matsuri sometime. He stared out of the window musing when all of a sudden Kankuro burst through the door.

"Dude! Did you know Neji kept a diary?" he said with a goofy smile.

"No," Gaara replied, "but it seems to be good."

"You damn right!" his brother blurted at him and hastily gestured him to come, "take a look at this!" he grinned. With his brows slightly arched Gaara got up from his chair and followed his brother wordlessly, wondering what was so thrilling. Maybe Neji wrote emo poems to his brother's hillarity. When he entered the livingroom one of the boxes was opened. It was filled with notebooks, bound and paperback. There must be more than a hundred of them. Most of them were of similar brands, only varrying in color. By the looks of it they had been used often. Some frayed at the corners or with fading color.

"These are all diaries!" Kankuro marveled. "So far it seems he hasn't missed a day of his life writing in one of them. Isn't this funny? Whoever thought that behind his tough demeanor would hide such a softy."
He squatted down and went through the box.
"A picture," he said. "BWAAAH! Is that his mom? Her hair is as red as dads." He tossed the photo into Gaara's hands. He briefly looked at it and picked one of the diaries up. The labels in front indicated what year it had been used and which months it covered. Typically Neji, he had always been meticulously organized. From the fact he only wore dry-cleaned clothes, to the triangles folded in his toilet paper, his daily training routines every morning… and evidently also his diaries. Gaara opened the notebook at a random page.
"23 september – 2009: instead of working out on my own, I met with Lee for a jog. I thought I was devoted to training, but he holds all the records. What a beast! Even after running 10 kilometers without pause he still insisted on doing 150 push-ups before allowing himself a friggin' coffee. It was quite embarrassing. Why, you might ask diary? He was doing them next to our table in the café. Dripping with sweat. On a recently mopped tile-floor. Next to the entrance to the ladies room. Someone thought he was trying to peep under the door. The guy doesn't even understand what he's doing wrong. Note to myself: next time drinks at home with Lee."

"Seems ordinary," Gaara shrugged.

"Ordinary!? You must've opened at a bad page. Did you ever wonder why he kept silent about his family?"

"Not really… I figured it was private," Gaara replied placing the notebook on the coffee table. He didn't like it if people put their nose into his business and neither did he enjoy snooping in those of others. His eyes involuntarily drifted to the stone urn which seemed to have found its new place at the top of their bookshelf, right next to the succulents the siblings kept, the only plants along with cactuses which didn't wither within their household. Even if Neji passed away, it still felt he was invading his personal space.

"Gaara! Neji was the son of a multimillionaire!" Kankuro called out, "he has two sisters, one just one year younger than you. But it gets juicier. His mom left his dad for his uncle. That Bold and the Beautiful crap that Temari watches is nothing compared to his life."

With his curiosity somewhat renewed Gaara took one of the older journals and plopped down on the couch.
"It's been seven years since I've last seen Hinata and Hanabi. I recently wrote a letter to them in secret. If mother would find out, I'd be toast. I just can't forget them. Especially Hinata. I still have memories we used to play hide and seek in the orchard. We planted a peach-tree together and hand plucked them in summer. We played with the toy soldiers dad got me on the porch. She was shy and gentle, always trying to please others. Especially father, who criticized her submissive character. He misunderstood if you ask me. I now regret taking the music box which I had given Hinata for her sixth birthday. I suppose when I was eight I just wanted a memento and took it without thinking. I wonder when I'll see them again…"

Gaara's eyes fell on a music box crafted out of walnut wood and encrusted with silver, jade and pearly shell. As he opened it a ballerina popped out twirling around, dancing to Debussy's Clair de Lune in front of a background of a hand painted lake-scene at night. He put it away after inspecting it.

"There's a bunch of picture books and video-recordings too," Kankuro continued while he rummaged through the boxes. Gaara's eye landed on a cell-phone which lay on the top of the second box. He flipped the screen open and turned the device on. Luckily besides the factory pin-code there wasn't any security on it. After a few seconds messages started to pop in.

'Voicemail? I'll listen to it in case it's someone who doesn't know about Neji's death yet…' Gaara thought and called the voicemail service. He put the speaker on and the two brother's stared at the phone as the message played.

"Hello, this is Shino Aburame calling. It has taken me some time to track you, but according to my information this is the number of Neji Hyuuga. This message is intended for him. I would like to invite you to return to the Hyuuga estate. Why? Unfortunately I have to inform you both Hiashi Hyuuga and Hanabi Hyuuga have deceased on Friday January 7th due to a terrible accident. My sincerest condolences. You and your sister Hinata are both entitled to mister Hyuuga's heritage. I'm hoping you will contact me as soon as you receive this message."

They looked at each other as the message came to an end with a beep.

"W-wait…," Kankuro stammered, "that poor Neji was entitled to a heritage? Damn… It sucks it had to end this way. His family isn't luckiest. So this means his sister Hinata is alone? And we have to drive his urn there… Fuck!"

Gaara blinked his eyes a few times. Yes, it was quite a weird coincidence that all three of the Hyuuga's died within three months of each other. How did Neji end up in a small apartment trying to start a life as a host if his family was loaded? Why was he separated from his siblings? They didn't always get along in the past, but Gaara didn't know where he'd be without his brother and sister. From the tone of his journal page Neji seemed to care a great deal about them as well. He averted his gaze back to the boxes. There was only one way to find out: going through them.

Thus Kankuro and Gaara spent their day reading through his journals and watching the photo's. The video's seemed to have been recorded by his mother, since her voice spoke to them as the images of Neji, Hinata and a small Hanabi moved around. Swinging in the backyard, receiving barbequed sausage on an expensive looking porcelain plate, his stoic father teaching Neji to swing a golf club in front of the fireplace where a huge Swiss cuckoo-clock stated the time.

Gaara opened his laptop and checked Forbes' list of the 400 most wealthiest citizens of the five great nations. After he typed the Hyuuga name in the search bar he got a match to his surprise.

'The 156th richest with an estimated value of 285 million, earned through Hyuuga Corp. and affiliates, largest power company in Konoha and world pioneer in sustainable energy solutions… And all this now belongs to Hinata Hyuuga who's in search of her brother…'

"Hey guys! I brought home pizza's and wine!" Temari hollered down the hall. Within a few seconds the door to the livingroom swung open and a bright-smiled Temari walked in.

"Geez guys, are you cavemen? Sitting in the dark with a bloody mess all around you. Put on a light at least," she complained and flipped the switch on as she walked off to their kitchen. Hours had passed and the brothers hardly took notice of the fading light as they were watching the video's.

"We'll clean this up," Gaara said and started repacking the notebooks.

"Oi Temari!" Kankuro called out, "how'd it go?"

"I rocked!" she coed and flashed them a big smile, "I had the judges wrapped around my finger. We won the case!"

"Didn't expect any less from my sister," Kankuro winked.

"Oh please, almighty Sabaku no Kankuro," Temari retorted grinning. "Why don't you guys get seated while the pizza's hot."

They got up and helped Temari set the table.

"But sis, you shoulda asked Gaara to cook if it's a special occasion," Kankuro remarked as he picked a slice of quatro stagione pizza, cheese dripping from the sides. Despite their truest efforts, the youngest of the Sand Siblings was still the best at cooking. He didn't want to brag about it, but Gaara could cook a mean steak with a mushroom sauce that tasted like heaven.

"I didn't want to bother you guys. Besides, these are pizza's from Wario's, the best in town," she replied. "So what are you guys going to do tomorrow?"

"Ahh…" Kankuro sighed, his eyes drifting to the stone urn.

"We'll return Neji's ashes to his family," Gaara said calmly. Temari nodded empathically.
The family of three continued eating and drinking wine. It was only until Kankuro and Temari wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders to slur enka-rap songs when Gaara decided to call it a night. He could hardly think of anything more obnoxious than Killah Bee's rap sung by two drunks. He could hear them continuing at it from his bedroom until well past midnight. They even put the stereo on. In the end he had to sleep with earplugs.

The next morning he and a groggy Kankuro packed Neji's urn in a box and drove off in Scorpion. They were dressed formally in suits to express the gravity of the situation. The Hyuuga's mansion was somewhere in the country, south of Konohagakure.

"Man, it's so quaint here," Kankuro groaned with a yawn from behind the steerwheel, "it must be nice to live closer to the sea."

They drove through grasslands hidden in between the forested mountains, with long-haired brown cows grazing lazily in the misty vale where a river coiled through the landscape like a blue satin ribbon. Gaara was deep in thought, hardly paying attention to the beauty of their surroundings. Would he…? Could he do it…? It was the easiest solution to his problems after all.

According to the map they had to take a turn left. With an eyebrow arched Kankuro saw the signpost at the T-junction indicated it was a dead-end. They passed through a forest and suddenly a black gate adorned with a pattern of golden-leafed vines emerged in front of them. Behind the gate they could make out a large house, about a mile removed from the gate.

"What a castle," Kankuro gasped. Gaara opened the door and stepped outside. They walked towards the intercom on the right side of the gate, Kankuro with a look of wonder plastered on his face while Gaara showed little, if he was impressed at all. He straightened the creases in his jacket.

"No goofing off now, okay," he told Kankuro as he pressed the button on the intercom.

"Dude, I know how to behave according to the situation," Kankuro huffed, "don't worry."

"Okay, than from now on no more 'dude', 'Gaara' or 'Kankuro', you are Mr. Sabaku."

"Right," Kankuro nodded.

The intercom cracked as it was turned on from the other side and a voice sounded from the speaker.

"H-hello? This is Irune, the Hyuuga household caretaker, whom am I speaking to?"

"This is Neji Hyuuga, I've come home," Gaara said as he stared at the house. Kankuro watched him in disbelief, his mouth ajar.

"Ah, master Hyuuga?" the woman stuttered, "please come in." The intercom made another cracky noise and the line was broken. They walked back to the car and the gate slowly opened. All the while Kankuro couldn't keep his eyes off Gaara.

"Dude…" he muttered as he got back into the driver's seat.

"No, it's Mr. Hyuuga from now on. And you are my secretary Mr. Sabaku," Gaara replied.

"I know you told me you have a huge debt with the Uchiha, but I can't believe we're doing this," Kankuro continued. He drove the car down the drive towards the mansion slowly.

"It's 285 million dollar, Kankuro," Gaara explained in his usual monotone.

"Can you pull it off?"

"Ofcourse I can, I must," Gaara replied looking Kankuro in the eye, "or the Uchiha will be out for revenge."

Kankuro nodded understandingly, "at least your hair color is a bit like the mom, because your own pictures as a kid look in nothing like Hinata's."

In the distance two figures stepped out of the house to meet them. Gaara frowned slightly. How was he going to convince Hinata that he was Neji? Well, he lied before and got away with it. He had made his decision.

He was about to pull the biggest con of his life.

A/N: hello my lovely readers! You all made my day reviewing and deciding to follow the story, thanks so much! :)