Me: A new A/N. Hmmmm. What to write, what to write…

Gaara: Disclaimer: She doesn't own Naruto. Warning: Author is crazy. (turns toward Psychopaths) There. I've done my part. I'm outta here.

Me: Fine, go! Leave me all alone to fend for myself in this cruel, cruel jungle. By myself!

Gaara: Sure. Bye.

Me: (sigh) Anyways, thanks sooo much to my reviewers! You all gave me such inspiration!

My wonderful, beautiful reviewers: Sabaku no Kurai, Pink-xXx-Kiss, shadow'ofthe'night, Cheekyamericangrl21113, kiba's kunoichi, Mystic-Neko85, The Silver Wolf, narutoXsasukelover, UchihaUzumaki baby, shay072002, mistress0of0sin, HuMaN-EaTiNg-PaNdA -HEP-, SanctuaryBackwards, and Ro-Ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Onwards!


"Stop!" Naruto cried as the looming figures approached him. He trembled like a leaf, eyes darting, trying to find a gap between the two larger boys. He needed to escape.

An insane smile crept over Kiba's face. He cracked his knuckles one by one as he stared down at his former friend. Shika's-no Shikamaru's- eyes were narrowed dangerously as both his and Kiba's shadows enveloped the small, cowering teen.

"P-please stop." Naruto's eyes widened. Neither of his attackers listened and both took a step forward. Naruto pushed himself back against the concrete wall behind him, as if it would provide him the safety he desperately wanted.

It didn't.

Kiba drew back a fist and punched him straight in the face.

Naruto cried out before the sobs he had been trying to hold back shook his body. His vision blurred between the pain and the tears but he blinked them back to focus. He needed to stay conscious. He needed to protect himself. Sasuke wasn't here to save him this time.

Tanned arms sprang to shield a bruised face in hopes that they would provide some shelter against the attacks. Naruto yelled again as they did no good.

Shikamaru was taking his turns at him; kicking and punching like Naruto had never thought the lazy ass capable of doing. Kiba pushed the other aside and aimed another punch at the blond boy's face. Naruto shut his eyes tight and prepared himself for the pain.

But the pain never came.

Naruto heard a lowered voice saying words he could quite make out followed by the squeak of multiple tennis shoes on pavement. He still did not open his eyes. Maybe they were still there.

"It's ok, kid. You can relax now. They're gone." Naruto slowly opened his eyes to blink up at the person leaning over him. Even as the small boy took in the older one's dark hair, pale eyes, and gentle smile he was still confused as to whom the identity of his savior was. It took a few more seconds to realize the he did, in fact, know this person but when he did he screwed his eyes shut once more.

"Don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me." He whispered in a frightened voice that he was desperately trying to control. Naruto did like the way his voice sounded right now. He felt so weak and powerless but he didn't want anyone else to know. He guessed it was a little too late for that now, though. Naruto had always prided himself for being strong but he had had no idea that his old friends were that insanely strong and so was taken by surprise at the fact that he couldn't even fight back. Naruto probably could have taken on one of them but definitely not both at the same time. And he knew he couldn't take Neji. Suddenly a hand was placed on the blonde's shoulder, interrupting his thoughts. Soon another hand followed the first but was placed under Naruto's chin, forcing it up.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Naruto opened his eyes again slowly and was surprised to see Neji kneeling down beside him, still with one hand cupping his face and the other on his shoulder. The soft smile was also still there making Neji look very different than Naruto was used to. Neji always looked so…cold when he was at school.

"B-but weren't you one of Sasuke's friend's? Aren't you mad?"

Neji shook his head. "No. Just a little…shocked. I was more mad about the fact that Sasuke didn't tell me than anything. Don't worry about it." Naruto relaxed and even smiled just a bit.

"Now, come on. You look awful." Neji withdrew his hands from Naruto before standing and offering one to him. Naruto took it gratefully and used it as leverage to stand. He hissed at the pain this caused him. Neji noticed this and eased the boy back down again.

"Do you want me to bring you to my house? It's right near here. We can get you cleaned up." Neji looked as worried as Naruto had ever seen him. That wasn't really saying much, though, considering how stoic he and his friend, Shino, always were.

"It's ok. My house is right down that way. Besides, Iruka won't be home yet and Kakashi still has work to do at the school so my house is empty. I can bandage myself up and Iruka hopefully won't even notice." He swiped his nose and grimaced at the bit of blood that the motion had left on his fingers. "Just let me rest here for a bit." Neji nodded and sat down next to the blond.

"So how'd you end up walking past this alley anyway?" Naruto asked after a bit of comfortable silence.

"Hinata is doing this new thing where she wants to walk to and from school everyday, you know, for the environment, so she got me in the habit of doing it too. She drove home with Ten-ten today, though. Her house is all the way up by Sasuke's."

Naruto nodded his head and stared foreword at the concrete wall across from him. He and Neji lapsed into another bout of silence until Naruto felt well enough to stand. Neji helped him in the direction of his home by supporting his weight; Naruto had one arm draped around Neji's shoulders and Neji had a pale arm wrapped around the other boy's waist.

The two walked in silence until they reached the bond's home. Lucky for them Shikamaru and Kiba had only caught the speed demon about a block away from his destination so his house wasn't far.

Once Naruto was safely in the doorway of his home he lifted his arm from Neji's shoulders and thanked him for helping. Neji nodded in return and began to leave but Naruto called him back,

"Neji," Naruto leaned against the door to take some of his weight off his still-unsteady feet. "Umm…are you planning on becoming friends with Sasuke again?"

Neji looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. "I think Shino and I are going to apologize tomorrow morning. Why?"

"Well, um, would it be possible for you to, uh, not tell him about this?" Naruto looked nervous. In truth he was afraid of what would happen to Shikamaru and Kiba if his boyfriend found out. Naruto may not have been friends with them anymore but he didn't want them hurt. Come to think of it, Gaara wouldn't be too pleased either. Telling him might be worse then telling even Sasuke.

He voiced all these opinions to Neji and was relieved when the pale eyed boy nodded again.

"Thanks."

"No prob. See you at school." Neji turned again, leaving Naruto to find his way into the house and then his bedroom by himself.


"Oi Naruto! Sasuke's on the phone!" Iruka held a hand over the receiver as he shouted for his adopted son. As Naruto came dashing down the stairs Iruka didn't comment on a bandage that was covering part of the boy's face or the many little band-aids covering what he could see of his arms. Iruka didn't find it unusual in the least; his son had never been a graceful one.

Naruto took the cordless phone from Iruka's hands and bounced up the stairs after muttering a brief "thanks" to him.

Iruka sighed when he heard the door to Naruto's room shut and promptly plopped down on the old living room couch. Kakashi would be over soon for dinner and he really didn't feel like making anything. Maybe he would just order some take out…

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­


"I can't come tonight. I've barely started my homework."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow's good."

"I'm sorry that I had to delay the ramen date but something came up with Itachi and Shisui…"

"No big, as long as I get my ramen. But you do know what this means, right?"

"What?"

"You owe me interest. I'm thinkin all you can eat."

"Great. Should I be worried about my wallet?"

"You're pretty rich, right teme?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at…?"

"In that case you'll be just fine."

"Naruto what do you mea-"

"Oh, Kakashi's here! Got to go set the table. Adios Sasuke!"

"Naruto!"


­"Ni-san, ni-san!"

Neji cracked open a pale eye and unfolded his legs from his meditative position. "What is it Hanabi-sama?"

"How do I look?"

"Very…nice, Ni-chan." Neji rolled his eyes as his twelve year old cousin pranced around the Hyuuga household in a overlarge leather jacket and a pair of torn up jeans banging her head to imaginary music. As of currently, he was question her sanity.

"You don't think it's a little bland? Be scrutinus, really. I have to look perfect for this date."

Neji quirked a perfect eyebrow at the younger Hyuuga. "Date? What date?"

Hanabi didn't stop her strange dance for even a second. "The date Kevin's picking me up for tonight. We're going to a Panic! At the Disco concert. Booya baby!"

"A concert, hmm. And I trust Hiashi-sama already knows about this, correct?"

"Eh?" Hanabi's dance faltered. "Oh, right. I kind of forgot about that part."

Neji rubbed his temples with a sigh. "Even putting that aside it's already seven. What time were you planning on coming back?"

Hanabi shrugged sheepishly. "Kev said it would probably go till eleven but still, all my homework's done and everythi-."

Neji wasn't done. "And since when does your father even allow you to date, period? You're twelve for pity's sake!"

"Yeah and you're old and girlfriend-less. Maybe if you spent a little less time on "school work" and more time on going to rockin' concerts like this you wouldn't be in fore-mentioned condition."

Ding-dong

"Coming!" Hanabi skipped over to the door while Neji sighed for the second time. He jumped down from his perch on the granite island separating the expansive kitchen from the even larger living room and followed his cousin to the door. Hanabi admitted a dirty-blond haired boy into the house with a flirty grin.

"Nice outfit, babe." The twelve-year-old Kevin said with a wink. Hanabi giggled and blushed at the comment. Neji cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the cute little "couple".

"You must be Kevin." Neji gave the boy a polite smile that clashed with the glare he was shooting with his eyes. He extended a pale hand. "I'm…happy to meet you. I'm Neji, Hanabi's cousin."

Kevin was clearly unnerved by the dark waves the male Hyuuga was emitting but still took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you."

"It's a shame that my uncle couldn't meet you tonight, I'm sure he would love to have a nice talk with you. Unfortunately he's out right now."

Kevin nodded nervously. Neji's demeanor was a little threatening. Actually, death was practically tangible in the air. Neji could be a little over protective when it came to his two younger cousins.

"Yeah, that's a shame."

"Just one question for you, Kevin."

"W-what is it?"

"Who's driving you to this thing?"

"My mom…?"

"Thank you, that's all I need." Neji brushed past the two kids and stepped out the door to have a nice little chat with Mrs. Kevin.


As Naruto rushed into the cafeteria he was surprised to see his table almost filled with people. Not only were Sasuke and Gaara sitting there now but Neji, Shino, Haku, Hinata, Lee, Choji, Sai, and Ten-ten were there as well. Naruto grinned as a space between his boyfriend and closest friend was cleared for him to sit on. As he slipped into the bench was instantly pulled into the conversation his friends were having.

"N-naruto-kun, you'll never guess what Neji did to my little ni-chan last night." Hinata giggled. Since grade school she had become much bolder and hardly ever stuttered though she had been quite shy around Naruto before his little "announcement".

"Do I want to know?" All but the most stoic of Naruto's old-yet-new friends chuckled at his response. Naruto glanced over at Neji who was sitting between Sasuke and Shino to the left of him. He was staring indignantly at his food looking very uncomfortable at being to center of attention.

Hinata blushed lightly and smiled. "It's n-nothing like that. It's just funny."

"K…what happened?"

"Well, I was staying over at T-ten-ten's place yesterday and at about seven-thirty-ish at night I got a call from Hanabi saying that Neji had ruined her night because he scared away her date and c-cursed at his mom. Apparently I missed our perfect little Neji acting up for once. I so would have l-loved to see it." Hinata giggled again while Neji hid a blush behind his dark hair. The table burst out laughing again, half at the story and half from Neji's humility. Naruto glanced at Gaara out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to find the red-head smirking in Neji's direction.

"Someone's a little possessive. Can't even let your cousin date, can you, Neji?" Gaara's smirk widened as the whole table stopped laughing and slowly turned to face him.

"G-gaara…d-did you just t-talk?" Hinata said, shock worsening her stutter.

"I do do that occasionally, yes." Gaara said sarcastically.

"Yeah, but, only to me." Naruto stared at his best friend. "What did you do with my Gaara?! Give him back!" Naruto grabbed the red-head's shoulders and shook him, hoping that he would admit defeat and hand over the real Gaara.

"Seriously, Naruto. Get your hands off of me or die."

"It is you, Gaara!" Naruto went to hug his friend but stopped mid-action at the heat of his glare.

"I said. Do. Not. Touch."

"A-alrig-I mean, y-yes sir!" Naruto promptly got up from his set and sat between Shino and Sasuke, using his boyfriend as a shield from Gaara's death rays. The whole table laughed at his actions. Gaara wasn't done with Neji yet, though.

"So Hyuuga, you gonna answer me or not?" Gaara crossed his arms at the paled eyed teen.

"Not worth my breath…considering you shield your older siblings. At least Hanabi's twelve. Temari's what, sixteen maybe?"

Gaara glared but gave up on the other teen as the table was laughing at him at this point. He turned back to Naruto just as Neji turned back to his lunch.

"So Shino, when are you going to show me that bug collection of yours?"

"…"

"He's…s-saying…that he'll show you the bugs as soon as you show him this supposed boyfriend guy. Z-zabuza was it?"

"Wow, Hinata. How do you get that out of one glare with sun glasses?"

"It's a gift. Well, a gift developed through practice. Y-you would learn too if you were friends with this lump since grade two."

Neji blinked up from his food and craned his neck so that he could see Gaara around his friends only to find that the red-head was looking at him again. Neji smirked at the slightly younger teen in his Hyuuga "I'm-so-hot" way and thought that maybe, just maybe, he could detect a blush on Gaara's face before he turned again towards Naruto.

Neji smirked once more…though to himself this time. The Hyuuga had decidedly taken a liking to making the red-head uncomfortable. Not a liking to the boy himself though…nooo. That was against his way. He just liked seeing the younger boy squirm. And blush. He definitely liked that blush.


Me- Author here…apologizing for the very lame ending…and hoping that you aren't too mad at her.

Gaara-Lame.

Me-Lame. By the way…I'm hoping that next chapter can be completely dedicated to Sasuke and Naruto's date and NejiGaa. .

Until next time!