Alrighty here is chapter 7 to Behind Blue Eyes! Yeah couldn't really think of a catchy title for this chapter. Oh well. So this chap still gots a lot of angst but there's plenty of humor in it as well! Lots of Sand Sibling love! Hope you all enjoy and I'll try to update soon!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor the songs used/referenced in this chapter. I only own my ideas and made up characters.


Gaara sighed moodily as he followed his sister around the mall. "Why am I here again?" He demanded as he reluctantly followed her into Tilly's.

"Well she needs clothes. She's been with us two days. I mean you can't exactly lend her bras and underwear and my bras would be too big. Plus I'm not too keen on sharing underwear. Just saying..." She stated as she headed to the girl's half of the store.

"Too much info Temari." Gaara grumbled. "I know why we're shopping; I meant why do I have to be here while you do it?" He demanded.

"Because this is your mess." She answered simply and continued on as he opened his mouth to retaliate. "Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to have her stay with us and like helping her but this is your problem. You told her she could stay without consulting me or Kankuro, you lied to her sister, and the three of us lied to the police acting off of your actions. She's your responsibility." She explained.

"And as my responsibility I should be home keeping an eye on her. Not stuck here while you shop." He retorted.

"Kankuro can keep an eye on her." She retorted. "Look part of your responsibility is to look normal. You can't act as if you know something. You already are a creepy shut-in in the first place but you do have to leave the house. You have to play like everything is fine. Thus you bitching about your big sis forcing you to go shopping with her. It's completely normal for the two of us!" She explained before going through the selection of jeans.

Gaara grumbled under his breath. Yeah he saw her point, he needed to act like nothing was up but he could think of tons of ways to do that without having to go shopping. His real test would come at school tomorrow. He sighed irritably as he watched his sister browse through the pants with a grin. Figures she'd enjoy shopping. Even if it was shopping for a runaway they were harboring.

"You're enjoying this too much." He stated then grumbled. "And I still don't see why I have to be here." He added stubbornly.

"Lighten up would you? Man you're such a kill joy." She laughed as she picked out a few pairs of jeans in the right size.

"And what part of this is fun exactly?"

"All of it, if you weren't such a grouch."

"What's fun about hiding a teenage girl in my bedroom?" He demanded and a grin split across her face.

"Wweelll little brother a lot of things could be fun about that, but let's not have that discussion in public. It's indecent." She laughed and he scowled realizing what she meant.

"Shut up." He hissed and she just laughed.

"Besides we set up the guestroom for her to sleep in remember? She just likes to hang out in your room with you during the day." She stated. "Though you're right, Kankuro's idea of having you break into her house and steal some of her stuff for her would have been way more fun than shopping." She laughed and wandered over to the tops.

"Oh yeah, adding that to my new list of criminal activities would have been a blast." He muttered sarcastically.

He wasn't going to go back on his promise to Naomi but he wished he had thought about all the trouble it would have caused before he agreed to let her stay. It was a major hassle and he wasn't sure what to do with her. He had no experience in this area and had no idea how to comfort her or help her out of her current mental state. He hoped if he just let her be and acted as some form of structure for her then she'd straighten herself out and decide to go home on her own. He also hoped that happened quickly.

Gaara didn't mind having her in the house; he found her presence to be rather comforting in fact. He just wasn't sure how to handle her. She was either sleeping, silent, or fuming and her moods changed rapidly. He generally opted for staying silent (seemed to be the safest) but felt like he should be trying to comfort her somehow; he just didn't know how. He did however find it odd (and slightly irritating) having her around him constantly. He was definitely not used to having someone around him 24/7 and that was taking some getting used to. He felt like he was stuck with a living shadow. A moody, depressed shadow that he had no idea what to do with. He couldn't decide which analogy he found more fitting, a depressed, moody shadow or a sad lost puppy. Either way he didn't know how to handle it.

"Earth to Gaara." Temari called pulling him out of his musing.

"What?" He demanded.

"You know her better than I do. What kind of clothes does she like to wear?" She asked; gesturing to the various tops around them.

"You expect me to pay attention to what kind of style she wears?" He retorted.

"Considering how much you stare at her yes." She retorted knowingly.

Gaara scowled and looked away, ignoring the heat rising to his face. "Whatever." He snapped.

"Hey she might be an oblivious idiot but I am not. I see you staring at her when she's not looking. Constantly." She teased. "Sometimes you stare at her with this big puppy eyes…" She started teasingly; and grinning widely.

"There are no puppy eyes." Gaara spat venomously.

"You know you can admit you like her." She responded.

"I don't."

"It's alright you know, even you can be happy." She stated softly. "But your face might crack if you smile too much so be careful." She added teasingly; unable to resist.

"Just shut up." He hissed; not dignifying her with even looking at her.

Temari laughed and turned back to the clothes she was looking at. "And sometimes you stare at her differently…" She continued and glanced to see he was reluctantly still listening to her. "Sometimes you stare at her with such an intense gaze I half expect her clothes to burst into flames." She laughed and his scowl darkened even further.

"Seriously, stop talking." He hissed in pure irritation.

"Man I love teasing you." She laughed and decided on some metal militia shirts figuring they were pretty close to her style. She also grabbed a hoody from a nearby rack.

"Sometimes I wish you were still terrified of me." Gaara grumbled as he followed her to her new destination.

"Nope. Now I have to make up for the years of sibling bonding we missed out on."

"You really don't have to." He muttered in a voice almost hinting at pleading her not to.

"So last things on the list." Temari stated as she stared at the bras and underwear. She glanced at them all and then glanced at Gaara, opening her mouth to ask for his opinion.

"She likes lace." He stated before she could even ask and turned his back on that section.

Temari blinked and grinned. "And just how do you know that?" She asked teasingly.

"Kankuro showed you what was in the dryer didn't he?" He responded as if it was obvious. "And… I've been in her room… she doesn't put her clothes away." He admitted reluctantly.

"Alright then." She grinned and looked over them all. "Soo… does that go just for bras or underwear too? How about thongs?" She teased and Gaara sent her a withering look before heading to the door.

"I'm waiting outside of the store." He snapped and stormed off away from her constant teasing.

Gaara sat down in one of the chairs near the store and sighed irritably. What was it about siblings loving to make your life hell? He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling moodily. His thoughts drifted to school. How long could he keep acting like he knew nothing? He knew Naruto and Kiba wouldn't be able to notice anything they were far too dense and so were some of the others but what if one of the smarter ones noticed? Like Shikamaru? Nothing could get passed that kid. Or worse, what if Neji noticed he knew something and interfered? He half wanted Neji to know, wanted him to know he was taking care of her and she had come to him. He entertained himself with ideas of Neji's reaction when he finally found out she had been hiding out in his bedroom the entire time. He smirked as he thought about that.

"Gaara?" A voice asked surprised and he looked to the source of it.

"What are you doing here?" He asked; surprised to find Sasuke at the mall; he detested shopping almost as much as he did.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He stated before shrugging. "Itachi made me run out to grab a few things. He's still dealing with a frantic and hysterical Megumi freaking out left and right so apparently that means he's too busy to do his own damn shopping." He grumbled and nodded to the bags he had with him.

"Temari forced me out of the house to go shopping with her." He stated and nodded to the store. "Said it would 'do me some good to get me out of the house'." He added for good measure.

"She thinks you're going to become even more of a shut-in with the whole Naomi thing?" He asked and Gaara shrugged in response. Sasuke remained silent for a moment before speaking up. "Not that I care or anything but how are you taking it?" He asked reluctant to voice his concern for his friend.

Gaara shrugged in disinterest. "Fine." He responded.

"You're a liar."

"Like you're not worried about her too?" He retorted.

"…Yeah I am…" He admitted reluctantly.

"Alright I'm done." Temari stated as she came up to the two. "Hey Sasuke." She greeted and he nodded.

"Can we leave now?" Gaara demanded bluntly.

"Fine. Kill joy." She muttered and Gaara stood up.

"See ya." He waved to Sasuke and left with his sister to head to the car. Sasuke watched them walk off curiously. 'They seemed a little strange.' He thought and then shrugged and assumed it was nothing. Gaara was probably affected more by Naomi running away then he was letting on and she was probably failing at trying to make him feel better.

The car ride back was silent and Gaara was glad Temari seemed to be bored with teasing him now. "What did Sasuke want?" She asked curiously as they drove and Gaara shrugged. "Well I think we acted pretty normal. Think he suspected anything?"

"Doubt it." He responded.

When they arrived back at the house Temari handed Gaara the stuff she bought for Naomi and headed to put her own stuff in her room. Gaara blinked at the bags before searching for Kankuro. He found him watching TV in the living room.

"Where's Naomi?"

"Up in your room I think. She's been listening to your angsty music all day." He stated.

Gaara shook his head and then headed up to his room. Sure enough he found her there. She was currently listening to his Slipknot collection while writing in a notebook Kankuro must have given her (seeing as he didn't recognize it as one of his own) and sitting on his bed. He wondered if her constantly changing moods were affected by the music she had been listening to the past couple of days. It seemed to make her feel a little better so Gaara let her have access to his music. Right now she was listening to Slipknot and looked pretty irritable while she wrote so his theory of music affecting mood seemed good so far.

"Hey." He greeted when he went over to the bed.

"Hey." She responded; glancing up from what she was working on. "I remember you saying you were having trouble coming up with new songs for your band. Here." She stated handing him the notebook with what was clearly a song she had been writing.

Gaara took the notebook from her while handing her the bag of clothes. "Temari picked them out." He stated as he gave them to her then looked over the song.

~~~Alone by Bullet for My Valentine~~~

Yeah!

No more of taking this hatred from you
You make me feel dead when I'm talking to you
You take me for granted when I'm not around
So burn all your bridges
'cause I'm not going down (down)

This time I will be heard
I'm not gonna burn
It's funny how the table, how the table turns

You fake (fake!) your damnation
You pray (pray) for salvation
'cause your heart is made of stone
You can die and rot alone

I hope you're unhappy and hurting inside
I want you to choke when you swallow your pride
Lay in your coffin and sleep with your sins
Give me the nails and I'll hammer them in

Right now

This time you won't be heard
You are gonna burn
It's funny how the table, how the table turns

You fake (fake!) your damnation
You pray (pray) for salvation
'cause your heart is made of stone
You can die and rot alone

You fake (fake) your damnation
You pray (pray) for salvation (salvation)
'cause your heart is made of stone
You can die and rot alone

Whoa oh oh oh

[x8]

This time you won't be heard
You are gonna burn
Its funny how the table, how the table turns

You fake (fake) your damnation
You pray (pray) for salvation(salvation)
Cause your heart is made of stone
You can die and rot alone

You fake (fake) your damnation
You pray (pray) for salvation (salvation)
Cause your heart is made of stone
You can die and rot alone

You can die and rot alone
Just die and rot alone

This time you won't be heard [x3]

Gaara read over the song a few times. It was actually pretty damn good. He could feel her rage pouring from it. It was definitely a song wrote from her heart. A couple lines brought questions to his mind like if she was so set on turning the tables on her "mother" why was she still running instead of being there, confronting her and telling her family what had really happened. He wanted to ask her that but decided it was best if he just stayed silent. He read over the song again and a beat began to form in his mind to go along with the lyrics.

"It's really good." He admitted when he looked away from it. He was surprised to find her staring into the bag of clothes in horror. She had already pulled out several shirts and the jeans so he assumed he knew what was causing her distraught. "What?" He asked; worried just what Temari had bought her.

Naomi looked at the bag of undergarments. Most of them she could stand, standard generic bras and underwear, some plaid, some with poke-a-dots, lace, even some satin by the looks of it, and other various designs. She could live with those, they were decent. No what had caused her embarrassment was the blood red satin and black laced bra with a matching thong glaring back at her like the evil thing it was.

"What the hell! There's a like a set of lingerie in here!" She exclaimed.

Gaara sighed and placed his face in his palm. "Temari…." He groaned in annoyance.

Naomi blushed scarlet at the lingerie set in front of her and dropped the bag to the floor in her embarrassment. To her extreme horror the monstrosities came tumbling out of the bag and into plain sight. Gaara stared down at the matching set in surprise.

"Hey it's in your favorite colors too." The mini devil stated; appearing on his shoulder and staring down at it as well.

'Not now…' He mentally groaned as his insanities made their appearance.

The devil gazed at him before smirking knowingly. "Well, I know what you're imaging right now." He chuckled before suddenly being tackled by the mini angle.

"Silence!" It shouted at him and turned to Gaara. "Erase your mind of such impure thoughts this instant!" It ordered and Gaara wondered why he had such a violent angle half of his conscious.

Naomi blushed as she noted Gaara was still staring at the undergarments and she quickly stuffed them back in the bag along with the rest of the clothes. She'd have to go thank Temari for them… for all of them but that. She glanced at Gaara and decided the subject needed changing.

"Will you use the song?" She asked.

Gaara stopped watching his insanities try to kill each other and turned to look at her. Her question processed in his brain and he nodded. "If you don't mind." He answered.

"No go ahead. I needed to vent some anger out and that was the result so figured you might like it." She stated and he nodded again.

Gaara sat down beside her and she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them while she thought about something. "Megumi keeps calling…" She stated quietly.

"You sister's worried sick about you." Gaara admitted. "Sasuke said she's hysterical." He added; remembering what he had said.

"Sasuke?"

"I bumped into him at the mall. Itachi's trying to help calm your sister down but I guess she's still frantic and gets hysterical easily." He explained.

"…She's more worried about me then my own parents…" She muttered.

"Your dad put a 2000 dollar reward out on you and has the police looking for you. I think he's worried." Gaara responded.

"But she's not. She's only concerned about not letting the truth get out about what she did." She muttered darkly.

Gaara sighed and rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Even the emo prick Sasuke is worried about you." He stated.

"I know…he's called a couple of times too… Naruto's called like 10 times the past two days… Hina calls too…" She stated; staring at the floor.

Gaara nodded, Naruto had even called him to first ask if he knew anything and then to demand to know how he was doing about it. He'd never understand why everyone seemed to think he'd be like this emotional wreck if she really was gone (and not sitting right beside him). He also wondered how he would actually feel if she was indeed gone. He couldn't really decide how it would affect him.

"…I know everyone is worried… I feel bad about it too… I just… I can't go back there…. Not yet… I'm so angry right now and torn up inside that I think… I think I might actually try to kill her if I see her right now… That scares me…" She admitted; the thought of killing someone had ran through her mind before, back when she was younger and angrier. They were just thoughts though and not something she'd actually ever do. But this, she was boiling with rage and she still remembered attacking those innocent boys just for touching her. If she couldn't control that rage she didn't even want to imagine the rage she'd go into upon seeing that woman right now. She didn't think she could control herself or stop herself from doing something rash and dangerous. All of that really frightened her.

"It'll take time to calm down." He commented knowing that soon her angry mood would turn to a depressed one.

"I think… I'm going to go lay down..." Naomi muttered and stood up to go into the guestroom and sleep; taking her bag of clothes with her.

Gaara flopped onto his back on the bed and sighed. For awhile he just stared at the ceiling but then glanced at the notebook and sat up; grabbing the pen she had been using and starting to make notes about the music that would go along with the lyrics.


When Monday rolled around Naomi was woken up by the others getting up and getting ready for the day. Gaara was getting ready to go to school and Temari and Kankuro were getting ready for their college classes. She lied in bed and stared at the wall until Temari poked her head into the room. "Hey, we're getting ready to head out. Help yourself to any food and watch TV or listen to music or something. Do whatever to keep yourself busy and umm I'll see ya when I get home from class." She stated and Naomi nodded.

"Alright." She stated and paused. "Thanks again Temari."

"No problem."

Temari left and a few minutes later she heard the front door shut. A couple of minutes later and Gaara stepped into the room. "….Do you need anything before I go?" He asked quietly; rather reluctant to show his concern.

Naomi rolled over so she was facing him. "No, I'm good." She stated and forced a smile onto her face.

"…I'll be back after band practice…" He stated awkwardly. "You can… go into my room if you want… music… books… just don't… go through my stuff." He stated.

"Alright." She agreed; she had to admit if she was in any other mood she'd probably use the chance to snoop a bit but she couldn't be bothered enough to care.

Gaara left and soon she heard the front door shut one more time. She lay in bed for a few more minutes before getting up and taking a shower. After her shower she wandered through the halls of the house. It felt odd to be all by herself in someone else's place, especially one so big. She poked her head into a few rooms and then plopped onto the couch and began watching TV in hopes of being able to pass the day without her thoughts and emotions whirling in her head constantly. It worked somewhat as she watched a Law and Order SVU marathon all day, she was able to calm her brain for awhile through all the senseless television but the shows she was watching did little to improve her mood.

Gaara sighed as he sat at the lunch table. It seemed like the first half of the day dragged on forever. Between dealing with the group and their concern and the teachers curiosity and having to act just like them he was ready to go home. He was even contemplating ditching the rest of the day and going home.

The others soon joined him at the table with their lunches and talk broke out amongst them. He silently watched them while they all talked. They carried on like things were normal but each had visible signs of worry or concern (some much smaller signs then others) regarding their missing friend. The only two he was having a real trouble gauging their reactions on the whole thing was Shino and Sai. They didn't look concerned or worried at all but then with Shino you couldn't tell anything; he was a harder person to read then himself so he guessed he might be a little concerned on the inside at the very least. Sai on the other hand was even more socially retarded then himself and he wandered if he even knew how to feel concern for another friend. He supposed he might, he was learning to become more normal and less socially challenged but he still had a ways to go on understanding emotions and feelings (even the more basic of one's).

Gaara mentally snickered at that thought, he wasn't exactly an expert on those things either and still had a lot to learn but he was nowhere near as bad as that crackpot was. He often wondered if the expression "lived under a rock" was quite literal for the boy. It would explain a few things. That thought made him pause as well and reminded him just how weird some of the people he hung out with really were (himself included of course).

"Hey Gaara are you alright?" Lee asked curiously and the others noticed as well that the silent boy seemed to be off in his own little world- and had been for quite some time.

Gaara stopped questioning the sanity of his friends (and himself) and turned to respond to his question. "Yeah… I didn't want to bother coming to school today." He answered.

"I know what you mean… She's only been here a few months but it doesn't feel right not having Naomi with us." Sakura stated.

"Do you think she's ok wherever she is?" Tenten voiced.

"I think so. She's tough I'm sure she can take care of herself." Kiba responded.

'No not really, she's a wreck. She'd be screwed if she really was on her own.' Gaara thought in response but of course stayed silent.

"Where do you think she went?" Choji spoke up.

"Her family and the police haven't spotted her yet. I think she left the city." Ino replied.

"Do you think she would go back to her old town?" Hinata asked curiously.

Gaara looked at her. Still nobody had any clue why she really ran but he knew Hinata knew her home situation better than most of the others. She probably had a better idea of what really happened then the others did.

"Megumi said her father already told the police over there to watch out for her too." Sasuke spoke up. Gaara shifted in his seat as talk continued. He put up with it all once this morning and that was hard enough. He knew Shikamaru's quizzical gaze was on him and he didn't want to slip up. He'd catch it if he did in an instant. He tried to think of a way to excuse himself from the conversation without giving anything away. Well everyone already thought he would be an emotional wreck because of this. Shouldn't be that hard to come up with something, he just needed the right moment.

"I should have stayed with her… It wasn't long after I left that she ran… if I stayed I could of stopped her…" Neji muttered; staring at his food. He hadn't shown it to the others but he was worried sick about her. He wished she would answer his texts; he must have texted her 50 times by now but still no response. He felt guilty, like it was his fault she ran.

Gaara saw his chance and took it. He ignored his little angle insanity telling him not to say what he was about to; reminding him that Neji was his friend. Instead he listened to the devil insanity. Gaara stood up as if he was pissed and glared at Neji.

"You're right. You could have stopped her. But you didn't, you didn't stay with her. She's gone and it's your fault!" He snapped at him. Everyone blinked in surprise at his outburst.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted; shocked by what he had just said.

"That was uncalled for." Tenten snapped at him; glaring as she took in Neji reaction; a combination of being pissed off and hurt.

"It's the truth. He was the last one to see her. He should have known something was up. He is the supposed genius after all. He didn't do anything. She ran and he let her." Gaara hissed at them, then left the table; heading out of the cafeteria.

"What the hell is his problem? It's not Neji's fault she ran away. He didn't make her run." Kiba stated when he was gone.

"But I could of- should of done something." Neji muttered.

Some of the others continued to talk about it, telling the uncharacteristically depressed Neji to ignore the uncharacteristically emotional and angry Gaara's outburst. Sasuke on the other hand looked on to where the red head had just disappeared, a look of mild curiosity in his eyes.

"How could you say that to him!" The mini angel shouted at Gaara now that they were alone in the hallway and heading to his next class.

"It was easy." The devil responded with a shrug.

"Neji is one of your friends! He's already feeling guilty about it and beating himself up about it. How could you say something so cruel to him when you know it's not true! She's not gone she's sitting in your house probably watching TV right now!"

"But the others can't know that. I needed an excuse to leave the conversation before somebody could suspect something." Gaara replied to it.

"There are plenty of other ways you could have done that. You could have up and left silently it would have had the same affect."

"Hey, Neji might be his friend but he's also his rival now. All's fair in love and war." The devil stated calmly. Gaara opened his mouth to make a remark about the love thing but decided not to bother arguing with the crazy two, they never listened.

"I just want to go home." He muttered; tired and slightly impatient.

It was odd, he got annoyed having Naomi around all the time like she was a living shadow but whenever he got away like yesterday at the mall or now he just wanted to be back by her side. He couldn't figure out what the deal was.

"It's simple really. Your personality of 'I'm-an-antisocial-creepy-loner-who-hates-to-be-nice-to-anyone-but-myself-and-keeps-everyone-at-arms-length' is conflicting with your new feels that are developing and you're having trouble dealing with both of them." The angel stated logically.

"What?" Gaara and the devil asked confused.

The angel shook its head. "You're not used to having someone around you all the time. It goes against your personality and you've gone your whole life never being really close to someone; keeping people at arm's length. So now that you have someone close to you you're not sure what to do about it. You get irritated because of your old self but you want to be with her because of your new self." It explained slowly to the two denser ones.

Gaara stared at the little thing while he processed what he had said. It made sense. He then paused and glared at it. "You're just trying to convince me I like her again." He snapped.

"Well that is the major issue. That's why you're getting so conflicted and confused." It stated.

"Whatever." He snapped at it and the bell rang so he headed to his class and the two poofed away with shakes of their heads. He was seriously starting to wonder if he should seek professional help for those two little delusions.

Gaara was so thankful to get to his car after band practice. Due to his comment at lunch the air was pretty tense between Neji and himself and Naruto used his brain for once and opted to remain silent. Sasuke just stayed quiet and observed. Thanks to the extreme silence they cut practice early after working on just a few songs and decided to pick it back up again tomorrow; knowing Neji and Gaara would be over it by then. Gaara also tried to decide when would be the best time to present the new song. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to go about that. Usually they worked together on the songs and on occasion come up with a few each on their own. He could easily make them think he wrote it but he didn't want to take credit for Naomi's work. He also couldn't tell them that it was she who wrote it. Maybe he could wait? He'd wait until after she went back home and then present it and give her the rightful credit for writing it. That is if she went back home relatively quickly. He'd hold on to the song for now then and play it by ear.

When Gaara finally got home he glanced around; trying to figure out where Naomi might be. Kankuro and Temari were still at class so it would just be the two of them for awhile. She wasn't in the living room but there were signs that she had been in there watching TV. He sighed and picked up the sound of music playing upstairs.

"My room it is then." He muttered as he headed upstairs.

Gaara paused outside of his door as he listened to her choice of music today. It was Three Days Grace. "Ah, angsty mood then." He mused. He opened the door and just leaned against the doorframe while he listened to her sing along to Home. She looked like she had been crying again not too long ago. When that song was over she shuffled through the songs and sung along to Bitter Taste. 'So she's angry and depressed.' Gaara mused as he waited for her to finish.

When Naomi had tired herself out of singing she sunk to the ground and leaned her back against the bed. "Does the music help?" Gaara decided to ask to let her know he was there.

Naomi jumped in surprise of him being there but nodded. "Singing along lets me get a little frustration out." She answered. He waited for her to say something more. He could tell in her eyes that she was in a talking mood so he prepared to hear her vent. "How was school?" She decided to ask and took to staring at the floor.

Gaara shrugged in response. "The others find it really strange for you not to be there and Neji feels guilty." He answered and decided not to mention what he had said to him.

"For what?"

"He thinks if he had stayed he could have kept you from running."

"That would have just made things worse…" She muttered. Gaara remained silent not sure what else to say. "I feel bad." She muttered as she pulled her legs close to chest again and hugged them to her (a habit Gaara noticed she now developed).

"How?"

She stared at the floor for awhile before answering. "I feel horrible for the trouble I'm causing… All of you guys are worried about me… Neji's feeling guilty when he has no reason to… and my sister… She's so worried about me, we had never really been all that close most our lives then in the past couple of years we get along great and I do this to her… she's frantic and it's all my fault… and my dad…." She sighed heavily and rested her head on her knees staring thoughtfully out of the window. "I wish I had never been born." She muttered. "If I hadn't none of this would have happened… All of you would be carrying on with your lives like normal and not worried over a missing friend, you wouldn't be harboring a run away, things would be peaceful here… and my family… my family never would have been torn apart, my sister would have had a normal and stable environment to grow up in, they all would have been happy, my parent's marriage would never have been destroyed… it all would have been so much better without me…" She spoke sadly.

Gaara sighed as he thought how to respond to that. The devil popped up and told him to remain silent but the angel popped up and told him she needed council and told him what he had to do to help his friend. He listened to the angel this time around. He mentally rolled his eyes at the cheesiness of what he was about to do but went up to her and knelt down in front of her.

"Your right; things would have been different. But…" He started and she turned to look at him. "If you were never born then we would never have met."

"Gay!" The devil shouted at him for the cheesy crap he just spouted.

"Silence you fool!" The angel screamed at the devil and tackled him. "Good job man! Keep going!" It encouraged.

Naomi froze at what he said and a blush made its way onto her cheeks. She smiled and turned her gaze to the ground. "No… I guess we wouldn't have…" She mused. "And that really would have been a shame..." She added; looking back up at him and smiling again. Gaara returned the smile with a tiny one of his own.

"Aww bonding moment! Bonding moment!" The angel cooed.

"Shut up you fruit loop!" The devil shouted as it struggled to get out from under the angel.

"Now kiss her!" It cheered and was smacked upside the head by the devil.

Naomi leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling for awhile lost in her own little world of thoughts. They were briefly related to what Gaara had just said and a small inner her was cheering but her thoughts quickly drifted back to her problems and the issues at hand.

"It's just…" She started and turned her gaze back to her feet. "It's hard…" She continued and Gaara nodded; not sure what else to do but not liking that the cheering up only lasted about a minute. "Lately… I don't know I just don't see the point…" She continued on and Gaara started to frown; not liking where this conversation was going. "…I feel… I feel like everyone would just be better off without me…" She muttered and Gaara's frown worsened while his eyes narrowed. "It's just all I ever do is cause problems for others. I've caused so many people problems…. I always have… No matter what I do I screw up somehow… It's like what's the point of living if all I ever do is cause people problems? I just don't see the point to keep trying if it never ends well. If I was gone everything would be better… I wouldn't cause anyone anymore problems. … Things… would be so much better for everyone if I was dead… I just want to give up…" She finished; squeezing her legs to herself tightly while her eyes watered.

Gaara's fists clenched angrily while he listened to her talk and before he even realized what he was doing he was back on his feet and had slapped her hard across the face. "Don't you dare fucken talk like that ever again!" He shouted at her.

The devil and angel both stopped in mid-wrestle on his shoulder; completely frozen and speechless in shock by what he had just done.

Naomi too sat there in complete shock. She stared at him wide eyed and completely frozen in surprise. Rage from being hit started to bubble inside her but was being subdued by her shock of being hit and also her hurt of it; not the physical stinging but the emotional hurt of him hitting her.

Before she could even start to overcome her shock Gaara gripped her arm tightly and yanked her to her feet. "Do you hear me!" He demanded shaking her slightly. "Don't you ever fucken say you want to kill yourself again!" He hissed; grip tightening. "I've been putting up with your moods for the past few days fine but I'm drawing a line at this! Do you even realize what you were saying! Killing yourself would fix nothing! Yes that woman is a backstabbing bitch but you already knew that before this happened! You knew how cruel she was, she always has been cruel to you so why are you so torn up about what she did? I too had a shitty adult in my life who betrayed me but I never thought about killing myself! You need to get over this, stop letting it affect you so much and get back at her! Take your life back not end it! Suicide is never the answer! It's the most selfish thing you could ever do. You've already said you feel bad about how concerned everyone is now because you ran away. How do you think everyone would feel if you were dead? How do you think I would feel! It wouldn't fix any problems it would make everything ten times worse. It's the coward's way out, it's weak and pathetic. You're not allowed to quit because things suddenly got hard! You're stronger then that! You'll overcome this. You can't walk out on me because you're upset. You're one of my best damn friends so you better fucken believe I'm not going to ever let you get that weak!" He shouted at her and let go of her arm; letting her drop back to the ground as she seemed to be too shocked to remember to stand.

Gaara huffed in anger, turned on his heel, stormed out of his room, and slammed the door behind him; leaving a shocked speechless Naomi on the floor. On the other side of the door Gaara stopped and stared down at his hand. What had he just done? He hit her. He actually hit her. He couldn't believe lost it and hit her in the face.

"What fuck was that!" The angel screamed at him and the devil blinked in surprise by his mouth. "How dare you hit her! How could you?" It continued as Gaara started down the hall and headed downstairs.

"I didn't mean to. I wasn't thinking. What she said just pissed me off and I reacted without thinking." He responded to it.

"You have to apologize!" It demanded.

Gaara paused for a moment then continued on downstairs. "Later." He decided.

"What? Why not now?"

"Because he wants her to think about what he said." The devil spoke up.

"What?"

"Being a nice softy like you wanted was getting us nowhere. She needed that scolding, needed to hear what he said." The devil continued.

"He's right. She needed to hear it up front like it is not be coddled. Something in her eyes says what I said got through to her. She'll think about it." Gaara stated.

"Exactly why he doesn't need to apologize." The devil stated in agreement.

"No. I will apologize. Not for yelling at her but for hitting her. She needed the scolding… not me slapping her…" He responded and stared at his hand again.

It had been awhile since he felt guilty for hurting a friend. He usually brushed it off unless he managed to do something serious and then he usually apologized (much later of course). It was odd for him to feel so guilty over a smack. Still he knew it would be better if he waited before he apologized, his words would sink in more if he waited.

Naomi remained slumped on the floor in surprise. One hand was touching her cheek where he hit her and the other she wrapped around herself. She put her hand down and pulled her knees closer to herself again while she stared at the floor. His words were repeating themselves in her head and she just stared blankly at the floor while trying to process everything.

Temari and Kankuro arrived back home from their classes and were surprised to find the house quiet. Temari followed the faint sound of the TV and found Gaara watching TV in the living room moodily. Naomi wasn't in the room however.

"Hey Gaara, where's Naomi?" She asked surprised.

Gaara shrugged before answering. "I don't know. My room maybe." He responded; not taking his eyes off the television.

"You guys have a fight or something?" Kankuro asked as he stepped into the room.

"Sort of." He replied; it wasn't so much of a fight as it was him storming out of the room after blowing up at her.

"What happened?" Temari demanded concerned about what went down.

"I hit Naomi..." He muttered reluctantly.

"What?" Kankuro asked in shock.

"You did what! Why the hell did you do that?" Temari snapped.

"She was in a depressed mood… She started talking and mentioned thinking of killing herself… That just made me blow up at her." He answered.

"So let me get this straight, she opened up to you and vented to you about how she was feeling and you hit her for it!" Temari demanded.

"She wanted to kill herself?" Kankuro asked surprised.

"She said she thought about it, thought it would make everything better. I don't know she just set me off by saying that. I reacted without thinking and I hit her before I even realized what I had done. I yelled at her after that then stormed out of the room."

They paused as they processed what he had said. "What did you yell at her about?" Kankuro decided to ask.

"That it was stupid and selfish. That she needed to get over it and face the woman. She needed to take back her life. Also that… I… wouldn't ever let her do it… reminding her how everyone would feel…. How… I would feel…" He answered though muttered most of the rest of it.

When he had shouted at Naomi he made it come across as merely concern for an important friend of his but now that he had cooled down he wondered if it was something else that set him off. Something he wasn't ready to come to terms with but knew it was there. He also pointedly ignored his "good" insanity's pride in his slow realization.

"Well… she probably needed the scolding…" Kankuro mused thoughtfully while looking his younger brother over.

"But you shouldn't have hit her." Temari scolded.

"I'm aware of that." Gaara responded.

"She really got you that riled up huh?" Kankuro asked with a slight smirk. "Even now you feel guilty for it." He added.

"What's your point?" Gaara demanded.

"Nothing, I'm just commenting on how much this girl has gotten to you." He chuckled and ruffled his little brother's hair before heading to his room to put his school stuff away.

Gaara scowled at his brother's retreating figure before turning to look at Temari who was still staring sternly at him. "What?" He demanded.

"Have you apologized for hitting her yet?" She demanded; placing her hands on her hips.

"No." He responded and directed his attention back to the TV.

"Go apologize then!" She snapped.

"Later." He replied; he was still thinking over how to apologize. Apologizing in general was not easy for him, even when he knew he had to.

"No. Now." She continued.

"I will later."

"Get off your ass and say you're sorry!"

Gaara huffed and got off the couch, he didn't want to listen to Temari bitch until he agreed. She was so damn bossy. "Fine mother." He snapped at her.

"Hey someone needs to be the responsible adult in this house. You and Kankuro wouldn't be able to manage without me." She responded; pleased she got him to do what she wanted.

Gaara sneered and headed out of the room. He knew she was right though. They never did have a proper family situation to grow up in. No parental units to control them, just servants to care for them. Temari was quick to step up and take charge over her younger siblings. It was annoying but even back when he was a festering little ball of hate and she was afraid of him she still managed to take charge in some way and took care of her baby brothers. He had to admit if it wasn't for her, Kankuro and himself would be helpless. As he thought about it she was probably the closest thing to a parent either of them had- more so then their own father, and she wasn't all that older then themselves.

Gaara sighed as he reached his bedroom door. He wondered how much of an effect his words had on her. Would they have made a difference? He hoped they did. He grumbled to himself and opened the door; stepping into his room.

He wasn't all that surprised to see that she had moved off the floor and was now curled up in a ball on his bed; staring fixedly at the opposite wall. He could tell she was awake by the way her body stiffened when the door opened.

"Hey." He finally spoke after a moment of silence.

Naomi glanced over her shoulder at him and then shifted onto her other side so she could see him. She blinked expectantly at him; waiting to see what he wanted.

"I'm sorry about before." He muttered; staring at the floor while he apologized. "I didn't mean to hit you; I reacted to your words without thinking… It happened before I even knew what I was doing. I really wish I hadn't and am sorry…" He finished; wanting to get the apology over with quickly.

Naomi stared at him for a moment before answering. "It's alright… I understand." She answered and he looked up quizzically. "If I were in your position I probably would have done the same. I… was being dumb and saying things I shouldn't have..." She stated and sat up. "You were right to have scolded me like that... I needed to hear what you said…" She continued and touched her cheek where she had been hit earlier. "I needed to feel your anger to snap myself out of my own self pity." She finished.

Gaara remained silent but moved to sit beside her. He took her hand away from her face and replaced it with his own. He frowned slightly as he brushed his thumb across the faint red mark that was left from where he hit her cheek. Quickly he realized what he was doing and removed his hand; opting to stare at the floor and fight to recover his composure. Naomi just blushed faintly but remained silent sitting beside him.

For awhile they just sat in silence and after a bit Temari brought up dinner for them and they ate that too in silence. However after dinner they talked a little until Naomi fell asleep. Gaara let her sleep in his bed instead of carrying her back into the guestroom. Part of it was because he didn't want to have to bother with the effort to do that and part of it was a selfish reason in hoping he could manage to get another good night's rest again. His plan seemed to work as he was able to fall asleep beside her and stay asleep throughout the night.

He was not expecting however to wake up the following morning to find himself clinging to her like a child clung to a teddy bear. He felt the heat rise to his face as he noticed how they were laying. She lay on her stomach; arms under her pillow and face resting to the side away from him (a small amount of drool hitting the pillow) while he himself was laying halfway beside her and halfway on her. He had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and his head and upper torso was lying on her back.

'How is it we keep cuddling in our sleep!' He thought in irritation and embarrassment before carefully trying to crawl out of bed without waking her and shutting off his alarm for school before it went off. He stood there watching her sleeping figure for a moment before covering her with the blanket properly and getting ready for school silently.


As the rest of the week trickled by Naomi began to show visible signs of improvement. She stopped either locking herself in a room or following Gaara around, she spent time watching TV or playing games with Temari and Kankuro, she ate more, she stopped sleeping so much, she even started to help around the house a bit: helping Temari with meals and cleaning the place up a bit while they were all at class. She was feeling like she managed to get a grip back on herself and was feeling a bit like her old self again. She smiled more often now. She even had an occasional thought about returning home soon (though those thoughts were quickly replaced by uncertainty). She knew she had to go home, she couldn't stay with them forever (she was also feeling a bit too cooped up; she itched to go outside and leave the house). Now it was just a matter of trying to get herself together and figuring out how to confront the situation she's been running from.

It was now Thursday evening. Gaara had gone out with some of their friends after band practice (playing his part of trying to seem normal) and she was hanging out with Temari and Kankuro. Temari was studying for an exam on the couch while she watched Naomi kick Kankuro's ass at DDR. DDR they found really cheered her up; to be able to get up and move to a fast beat and challenge herself, it put her in a good mood and they were happy to indulge. Usually Temari played her at DDR and Kankuro took over when they turned to Call of Duty but Temari really needed to study (as she couldn't bring Shikamaru over anymore to help her study) so Kankuro was taking her place.

The three of them were so into the game that they didn't really pay attention when Gaara got home and stepped into the room. Gaara watched them with a raised nonexistent eyebrow. Kankuro was failing epically but Naomi was really good. She probably could really give Naruto a run for his money (with all that energy of his he became quite good at DDR at the arcade). When they had finished their round of songs he decided to make his presence known.

"Failing at videogames again Kankuro?" He mocked as he walked over to the couch.

"Hey I can kick your ass anytime on Call of Duty!" He shouted.

"No you can't. I hold the high score not you." He retorted with a roll of his eyes.

It was then that the three actually turned to look at him and stared in surprise. "What the-" Kankuro started in shock at his little brother's face.

'Hot!' Naomi mentally squealed while blushing faintly.

"You go out with the guys and you come back with piercings?" Temari asked surprised.

The three took in the lip piercing the boy now had as well as a tongue piercing. "Naruto's idea." He stated as he sat down on the couch. "He thought it would look good with the band. He got his ears pierced, another eyebrow piercing so he has two on that side and also a tongue ring. Sasuke got snakebites and Neji wouldn't join in on the 'self mutilation'." He explained and quoted the words "self mutilation" with his fingers as well as it was the noble boy's exact words on the whole thing.

"Jeez, anybody else get anything done?" Kankuro laughed and rolling his eyes.

"Some of the girls went with us too. Ino convinced Sakura to get her bellybutton pierced and Ino got her nose pierced as well. One of those that go on the side and are a tiny jewel." He stated; tapping the side of his nose.

"Doesn't Ino already have a bellybutton ring too?" Kankuro asked thinking about it and he nodded. "You guys are a bunch of freaks with all those piercings. I don't have any." He stated.

"Heh I bet if you were all 18 you would have come back with tattoos too." Temari laughed (who just had her ears pierced once).

"Shikamaru has his ears pierced too doesn't he?" Naomi asked.

"Mhm; him, Ino, and Choji got them done together as some best friend thing when they were kids. Ha I remember buying him these really girly earrings for his birthday one year just to piss him off!" Temari laughed.

"Do you have any piercings?" Kankuro asked Naomi while laughing at the fact that so many of their friends (guy friends as well) had piercings.

"Seven in my ears." She started; pulling her hair back to show the three on one side and four in the other. "And my bellybutton." She added pulling up her shirt to show her stomach. Her bellybutton ring was of a small silver charm in the shape of a raccoon with little bright blue stones for the eyes ((ironic?)).

"I didn't know you had that." Gaara stated surprised.

"Well how often have you seen her without a shirt?" Kankuro asked laughing at the pink that rushed to Gaara's cheeks for a quick instant.

"Idiot." He snapped and as he thought about it the only times he would have really had an opportunity to notice was back when they first met and he was wrestling her for his phone or when she ran to him after running away and her shirt had soaked through. Both times he was preoccupied and never bothered to notice.

"My sister goes to college with this guy that's got all of our friends beat though." Naomi stated as she pulled her shirt back down. "Goes by the nickname of Pein, his entire face and ears are covered in piercings, even has some surface piercings on his arms and his girlfriend, Konan or something like that only has like one." She explained.

"I've seen them around campus, they're in the graduate classes but I've seen them walking around. Your sister is friends with a bunch of weirdoes." Temari laughed and Kankuro nodded.

"Well I can't exactly say my friends are sane either. You three included." Naomi laughed while pointing at the three of them.

"True." Temari and Kankuro agreed and Gaara nodded.

Shortly after that Kankuro headed to his room and Temari went to start making dinner. Naomi challenged Gaara to a DDR match; which he reluctantly agreed and he managed to do fairly well (better then Kankuro anyway). After that Gaara and Naomi played Nazi Zombies for awhile before growing bored and just watched TV. While they watched it Naomi glanced at Gaara again and fought to keep the smile from her face. She was also fighting to restrain a fangirlish squeal that wanted to spring from her at the sight of his lip and tongue piercing. She had a thing for guys (emo guys) and facial piercings and even more of a thing for singers that have facial piercings (who are also emo guys); particularly lip and tongue (especially tongue). The fact that Gaara was now a combination of all of that (and somewhat emo as well as gothic) was making her feel giddy and really hard for her to restrain a squeal and a blush.

"Is there a reason you keep staring at me?" Gaara demanded while trying to keep a smug look from his face.

Naomi blushed and looked away (well so much for restraining the blush). "S-sorry… I umm I uh just really like your new piercings is all." She stated and Gaara couldn't restrain the smirk at that.

"Why's that?" He decided to ask though he thought he had a good guess going by her behavior.

"Haha well I kinda got this thing for guys with facial piercings… and a major one for singers with tongue rings. I don't know why I just really like it. It's sexy… I can't- it's like- oh my god! It's so- gah!" She exclaimed; getting too excited over it to properly explain herself. She just blushed and let out a small squeal of approval.

"What was that supposed to be?" Gaara asked curiously but not denying the fact that he liked the effect he was having over her now.

"I believe she is trying to tell you she has a fetish for guys with facial piercings and singers with tongue rings. You fall into both those categories now my brother." Kankuro stated from behind the couch and they both jumped while Naomi blushed furiously and Gaara smirked smugly before he could stop himself. "And girls these days really like emo guys, I mean just look at Sasuke's fan club. You got that going in your favor too." He added casually and Naomi's blush darkened (if that was possible at this point).

"That's not- it's um- I just-….Shut up Kankuro!" She snapped; trying to defend herself and failing miserably. She got up and headed off to the kitchen to help Temari and get away from the two brothers (one of which was laughing his ass off and the other had grown a cocky smirk that could have rivaled Sasuke's).

"Ha see! You know its true then." Kankuro laughed when she was gone. Gaara ignored him and focused on recovering his emotionless appearance (while also ignoring an annoyingly perverted and cocky devil insanity sitting on his shoulder and carrying on just as bad as Kankuro). "She's gotten a lot better." Kankuro stated thoughtfully after coming down from his laughter.

"Yeah." Gaara agreed.

"Think she'll go home soon?" He asked curiously.

Gaara responded with a shrug.

"Have you two talked about it?"

"No."

"Will you?"

He responded with another shrug.

"If she brings it up?"

"Yes." At this point Kankuro glared at his brother in annoyance.

"Can you answer me in anything besides monosyllabic answers?"

"..."

"…"

"No." Gaara answered; trying to irritate his brother now and an inner Gaara growing a trollface (you mad bro?).

"I hate you." Kankuro muttered; shaking his head before plopping down on the couch in Naomi's no vacant seat.

Naomi entered the kitchen with a sigh; she finally managed to get her blush to go away. 'Stupid boys and stupid hormones.' She thought irritably while successfully recovering her composure. Said composure was short lived however as Temari started her round of teasing. The result of which was Naomi storming off into the guestroom in embarrassment where she stayed till dinner.

Gaara arrived to school the next day a little later than usual as Naomi had woken up with them and decided she wanted to make breakfast for them all. So he actually decided to stay and eat breakfast instead of his usual leaving without eating. When he got to the usual spot everyone was already there but Sasuke. He paused at that, Sasuke usually got there pretty early.

"Where's Sasuke?" He decided to ask as he sat on the steps beside Naruto and Hinata.

"He's sick apparently." Naruto answered with a shrug.

"He was fine yesterday." Neji commented.

"Ha maybe he's being a baby because getting those snakebites hurt. I got way more piercings then him and I'm fine!" Naruto stated proudly.

"There is a bug going around you know." Sakura snapped; concerned about her "precious" Sasuke being sick.

"Or he's being lazy and felt like ditching." Kiba suggested.

Everyone shrugged then dropped it, not really seeing the point in debating about it. It didn't matter anyway. When the bell rang for class Gaara headed to his first hour with a slight uneasy feeling. Was he really sick or feeling like ditching? The entire week he had been worried about Shikamaru noticing something but in fact Sasuke was the one that had been watching him like a hawk it seemed. Did he suspect something? If he did it still didn't really explain why he wasn't here though.


Sasuke sighed boredly and drummed his hands on his steering wheel to the beat of the song on the radio while he stared at his car's clock. He was parked at a gas station while he waited for time to slowly go by. When he saw that it was finally after eight o'clock he pulled out and headed back to his house knowing Itachi had left for class by that point. When he got back to his house he threw his bag on the floor in his room and changed out of his school uniform and into a pair of black jeans and a black My Chemical Romance t-shirt.

"And that is how you ditch school without your annoying older brother finding out." He muttered to himself knowing Itachi would have called him out on it if he had simply just pretended to be sick. After all he was apparently well enough to get metal shoved into his face yesterday.

He lay down on his bed and stared at his ceiling boredly, waiting for more time to go by. He didn't ditch because he didn't feel like going to school; he had a plan. He had noticed that Gaara was apparently hiding something as he was acting pretty off the whole week and he had a good hunch he knew exactly what (or rather who) he was hiding. He knew Gaara wouldn't own up to it if he confronted him about it so he developed his little master plan to find if he was indeed right about what he suspected. Now he just figured he'd wait until it got a little later in the morning before he set the rest of his plan in motion.

By ten o'clock he decided he waited long enough and headed out of his house. He didn't go to his car; instead he walked off the property and headed down the street on foot. The car would be too noticeable. When he reached his destination he stared at it from the shadows of a tree across the street.

Sasuke stared at the windows of Gaara's house. After a few minutes he caught movement in one of them and he inwardly smirked. The place should have been empty, unless of course Gaara was indeed doing what Sasuke suspected. He crept over into the yard and crept around the premises, looking for an entry point. Quickly he spotted one. One of the windows on the second floor had a balcony and was one of those window door things. There was a tree nearby it and he smirked.

Quietly he crept over to the tree and scaled it with ease. Once he reached a branch that was level with the second floor window he gauged the distance and leapt. He gauged it correctly and grasped onto the railing of the balcony, pulling himself up and over it silently and crept over to the glass doors. He jiggled the handles and of course they were locked. He only paused for a moment while he analyzed the doors and then smirked; pulling his library card out of his wallet and sliding it in the gap between the doors. Without great difficulty he was able to use that to unlatch the hook on the other side and the doors unlocked.

"I knew all those times of playing ninja as a kid with Itachi would come in handy one day." He muttered quietly to himself as he silently slipped into the room and shut and locked the window doors behind him.

He wasn't too surprised to find himself in Temari's room and only glanced around for a second before he crept to the door and slipped into the hall. He listened carefully for a sound and could hear noise in the kitchen down below. 'I knew it.' He thought to himself as he started for the stairs.

Naomi paused in her rummaging through the refrigerator when she thought she heard a sound come from upstairs. She looked up suspiciously but shrugged it off and turned back to the subject of food. This house did have a tendency to creak a lot; it seemed to come standard with giant houses. Big giant house equals creaks, creepy basements, and attics. Both of which she chose to steer clear of as she'd seen a few too many horror movies. She mentally laughed at herself for being so superstitious while debating on what she wanted to have as a snack.

"So do all runaways get to stay in mini manors or is it just you?" A voice stated from behind her and Naomi nearly jumped out of her skin and let out a slight shriek in surprise before whirling around to find the source of her fright (while pressing herself defensively against the refrigerator).

"Sasuke!" She exclaimed; completely surprised and shocked to find said boy leaning against the archway to the kitchen, arms crossed, and not at all looking surprised to see her here.

"Hello Naomi." He stated casually.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded in confusion while relaxing from her defensive position. "Scratch that; how did you get in here?" She decided to ask instead.

"Temari's room. I climbed the tree outside, jumped on her balcony, picked the lock on her glass doors, and slipped in." He stated with a shrug.

Naomi blinked in surprise. "You fucken ninja. You're as bad as Naruto with his breaking into my room." She stated shaking her head at her friends' abilities to sneak into someone's house. "Well if being a rock star doesn't work out, you'll make great thieves." She added jokingly before eyeing him suspiciously and he shrugged. "So why did you break in here?" She demanded now.

"I suspected Gaara was hiding something so I came to investigate. Strange to find it was you he was hiding." He answered though his tone and posture clearly said it wasn't strange and he wasn't surprised, he knew she was here.

"You broke into Gaara's house to try to find me?" She asked surprised.

"Your boyfriend isn't exactly the best actor in the world. It needed looking into." He answered with a shrug.

"He's not my boyfriend." Naomi snapped and ignored the blush that threatened to make its way onto her face.

"Whatever." He stated and rolled his eyes.

Naomi sighed and then moved to leave the kitchen. "Since I doubt I can make you leave and forget I was ever here let's go talk in the living room." She stated and he nodded, following her. "So why exactly were you trying to find me?" She decided to ask when they plopped down on the couch.

"Like I said, Gaara was acting suspicious and nobody knew where you were. I put two and two together."

"Yeah I got that. I meant why? You obviously came knowing I would be here so there had to be another reason."

"Nobody knows where you are and they're worried." He answered.

"I know…" She muttered knowing everyone was worried, she also knew he was talking about himself as well (thanks to Gaara) but she highly doubted she could get him to admit that.

"What happened to your arm?" He asked suddenly; now noticing the nasty looking, scabbed over gash that was running down the length of her arm.

"Oh I got caught on a fence when I was running." She answered and glanced down at it; it had healed enough where she didn't need to wrap it in bandages anymore. She kind of forgot about it actually, it had stopped hurting awhile ago. Though she had a feeling it was going to scar.

"Good job genius." He retorted sarcastically and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Shut up duck-butt." She responded.

"Why do you call me that?" He demanded in irritation.

"Have you not seen the back of your head? Yeah you got the emo hairstyle and it's a cool look but it also really resembles a ducks ass the way it sticks up." She explained.

"Right."

"Well it's either that or cockatoo head." She laughed and he scowled before deciding to get back on track.

"Why'd you run anyway?" He asked; he mainly came here to understand (and possibly convince her to go home).

Naomi thought for a moment then sighed and began to explain what had happened. "Now…. It's not so much of not wanting to go home as it is not knowing what to do when I get there or how to go about going home." She finished.

Sasuke remained silent while he listened to her. She's definitely been through a lot; it was understandable that she ran. At least she had enough sense to run to someone who was obviously taking care of her (surprisingly enough). "Why exactly are you hesitant in returning home?"

"It's… I just don't know how to confront her…" She began. "I've been trying to think of a good plan for going home and what to say but so far I haven't come up with anything. I don't know what she told my dad and sister about what happened so it's hard to form a plan, I don't know what to expect."

"From what I heard Megumi telling Itachi, she didn't tell them anything. She only told them that you two fought and you blew it out of proportion. I think she tried to pass it off as your grades or something."

"ppfftt as if they believed I would run away because my grades aren't acceptable to her." She muttered while rolling her eyes.

"They didn't buy it but she had to give the cops some lame story without admitting to cheating on your father." He responded.

"Heh, now dumbass cops believing that, I can understand." She replied.

"So what are you going to do about her?"

Naomi remained silent while she thought about it before leaning back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. "I don't know to be honest. All I know is that I'll get my revenge on that bitch one way or another." She answered.

"Revenge how?"

"Like I said, I don't know yet." She replied before glancing at him. "Any suggestions on the best way to get revenge?" She asked curiously.

"Besides straight up killin' a bitch?"

"Yeah, besides 'straight up killin' a bitch.' Revenge that doesn't lead me straight to jail." She laughed.

"You've asked the right person about revenge." He commented before thinking about it. "There's two ways you can go about this; the most obvious is to speak up and tell everyone exactly what happened. It will also have the most obvious results." He began and she nodded. "However you could extract your revenge in a more cunning and ultimately crueler way." He finished with a bit of a sinister smile forming on his lips.

"Go on." She encouraged eagerly; an evil grin splitting across her own face.

"I suggest you start playing mind games with her. Screw with her head; get back at her without being so upfront about it. Hit her where it hurts and manipulate her emotions until eventually she cracks under the pressure and has her own break down. It'll be long and painful for her if you do it right. So obviously more satisfying for you in the end." He explained.

"How exactly would I go about doing that?" She asked; intrigued by what he was saying.

"Whatever way you think is more cunning. You can blackmail her and manipulate her that way, you can remain completely silent and let her be driven insane by the paranoia of you eventually saying something, or you could simply be a brain ninja and plant a little bomb in the back of her mind." He answered.

"A brain ninja?" She asked confused.

"All it takes is a simple, well placed word or sentence. Something that will linger in the back of her mind constantly, it won't seem like much to her initially but sooner or later it will start to effect her, slowly torturing her from the inside and then one day it will detonate and explode, causing her to have her final break down." He explained and Naomi stared at him for a moment.

"Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a sadistically evil little fucker?" She grinned.

"Why yes they have." He responded proudly.

She smirked and laughed while shaking her head. "Well that gives me something new to think about." She mused as she thought about what he said.

"….Will you go home soon?" He decided to ask.

"I dunno…maybe?" She responded.

"Well you can't stay here forever."

"I know. I think I'll start driving them all insane soon." She agreed; knowing sooner or later they'd grow tired of their houseguest.

"And they're not the only ones who know where you are now. I can't promise I'll stay quiet forever." He responded.

"You have to! You can't say anything!" She exclaimed quickly. "No one can know I'm here. They'll get in a lot of trouble if people found out…" She added.

"Then you better reach your decision soon. I'll give you a week. After that I'm talking. Itachi can't keep your sister under control forever. Besides, that looser Naruto will probably start going crazy sooner or later too, he's talked about starting a search party for you. Plus Neji might just kill himself from his misplaced guilt and-

"Alright, alright, I get it. I know I can't keep worrying everyone and I can't run forever." She cut in.

"No you can't."

She sighed and started staring at the ceiling again. Sasuke rolled his eyes and after glancing at his watch decided it would be best to get going. School would be getting out soon and he didn't need Gaara to find him here. "Oh I just broke into your house to find the runaway you've been hiding in your closet. Don't mind me, I'll just be going now."Not an ideal conversation he wanted to have.

Sasuke got up and glanced back over at her. "I'm going to go before Gaara finds me here and decides my spine needs to be ripped out." He stated and Naomi nodded.

"I can't imagine Gaara takes well to people breaking into his house." She agreed.

"Preciously." He agreed. "Mind if I just use the front door on my way out? I don't really feel like ninja-ing my way back out of the house." He added.

"Fine, take the boring way out." She laughed and turned away from him to go back to her thinking.

"You have a week." He stated as he started to the hall.

"Right, I wouldn't want my babysitter to be worried about me for too much longer!" She called after him as she turned on the TV.

"I never said I was the one worried about you. I'm talking about the idiots who are stressing out about you!" He snapped back from within the hall.

"The 'idiots' aren't the ones who broke into someone's house just to find me!" She responded and heard him grumble and curse under his breath as he left the house. "Hehe Sasgay's easy to fuck with." She laughed as she started flipping through TV channels. "Hmm if Megumi and Itachi were ever to get married I think Sasuke and I could easily fall into the role of siblings. We already torment each other like we are." She mused and laughed slightly at the idea of it.

Once she picked a channel she liked she started watching TV while going over her situation and continued to think about what to do. Gaara was surprised to come home from school that day to find Naomi in a rather good mood and the only clue she gave him was that she was going over different ideas for revenge and trying to decide the best one. He was a little confused but shrugged it off. Temari was also surprised when she got home from class when she found a muddy foot print in her room. The result of which was Naomi convincing Kankuro that the house was haunted and watching him freak out for several hours while Temari and Gaara asked her what really happened. Naomi explained about Sasuke's ninja visit and convinced Gaara not to kick his ass for breaking into his home (as she wanted to first sell tickets and then watch).

None of them bothered to tell Kankuro the house wasn't really haunted…