She don't own Naruto…or China (if she did though, she'd have freed Tibet.)


Gaara picked up Temari's cell phone as it rang with the rock version of Swan Lake. "Hello, Temari's cell phone, her brother speaking."

"Gaara?" It was Neji's voice. "Where are you guys?"

"We're somewhere in the middle of South Dakota. What's wrong?" he asked. Neji's usually clear, emotionless voice was thick and wavering. His breathing was erratic and came in short puffs. "Hyuuga? Where are you?"

"I'm," Neji choked, "in Rapid City. Are you guys coming through here?" Gaara blanched.

"Hyuuga, how the hell did you get in Rapid City? Calm down, tell me what's going on, and stop panicking." Gaara shut his eyes lightly, evening his voice out. 'I don't want to scare him, it sounds like he's freaking out enough.' "Tell me what happened Neji." He heard Neji swallow on the other line.

"I don't think I'll be able to handle telling you over the phone," he whispered. "Are you guys coming through here?"

"If you need us to, we will," Gaara answered simply. "Where are you, exactly?"

"I'm in front of…I have no idea. Neptune St. or Dr. I think. How close are you guys?"

"Close. Can you hold out a half hour?" Gaara asked. Neji muttered a reply in the affirmative. "Good. I'll see you then." He heard Neji hang up before turning off the cell phone himself. Naruto looked up from his spot on the floor.

"Was that Neji?" he asked cautiously. Gaara nodded and pushed a little more on the gas.

"He sounded like he was in trouble," he breathed. "So we're going to Rapid City." There was no argument. Naruto crawled into the front seat to sit next to Gaara. He put a hand in front of the air conditioner before running it through his fingers. Gaara found it infinitely distracting.

"What kind of trouble?" the blond boy asked. Gaara shook his head.

"I'm not sure…he sounded bad though." Gaara consulted the map and, after checking the exit number, switched onto a new highway. "I told him I'd find him." Gaara turned his intense eyes on the road. Naruto blinked.

"You said you'd drive to find him? What about making good time? Won't you be really late to the hotel? You really hate driving in the dark," Naruto reminded. Gaara shook his head.

"The world doesn't revolve around me," he nearly snapped back. "You didn't hear him. He sounded like he was going to keel over and die any second." Gaara fixed his eyes on the road. He maneuvered the car across the lanes and onto another exit. The red-head had his foot flat against the floor, accelerator or no accelerator, it was flat.

Gaara managed to find Neptune Dr. without much difficulty. He pulled up on it, and scanned across the street for Neji, his eyes flicking over all the different places said boy could be. He finally spotted him, crouched on the cement, face below the nose hidden. Gaara recognized him by his eyes, which were a bright, milky white.

Gaara handed the van off to Naruto, who drove it around in circles. Gaara leapt out of it and sprinted over to where Neji lay, curled up in a ball. "Hyuuga," the red-headed boy whispered, kneeling beside the teenager and shaking his shoulder. Neji winced. "Hyuuga, what happened?" Gaara's eyes scrutinized the other boy fiercely. "We're here, right?" Neji nodded and stood up shakily.

"I know this must be inconvenient for you--"

"The world doesn't revolve around me," Gaara interrupted. "You will have to jump in, so be ready to run." Gaara stared at Murphy, and when it approached, he and Shikamaru helped Neji jump in. The white-eyed boy collapsed in a heap on the floor of the van, moaning in pain.

"Thanks," he muttered under his breath. Gaara shut the sliding door of Murphy and stared at the boy who lay sprawled in front of him.

"What happened Hyuuga?" he pressed. Neji looked up miserably.

"I ran away," he breathed.

"How did you manage to get to South Dakota?" Shikamaru wondered. Neji swallowed thickly.

"I took the money I had earned this summer and bought a ticket. I knew you guys would be coming through. I heard you talking about your schedule." He curled up and shook. Gaara knelt beside him and tucked a strand of dark hair behind the teenager's ear.

"Neji, why would you do that?" he cooed gently. No one knew Gaara was even capable of cooing, in any way, shape, or form. "Neji, tell us what happened, so we can understand." He sat back on his feet and waited.

"My uncle kicked me out," Neji breathed. "He kicked me out because he found out I was dating someone. Hinata told him. It wasn't her fault, but still…" Neji sat up, propping himself up against the back of the driver's seat. They swerved dangerously, and Shikamaru decided it was time to take over driving.

"Who were you dating?" Temari asked curiously. Neji cringed.

"It doesn't matter what his name was," Neji murmured. Kiba's eyes narrowed.

"His?" he asked. Neji nodded softly. Kiba's eyes narrowed even further. "Your uncle kicked you out because you were dating a guy?" Another nod. Kiba's eyes went to slits. "That's disgusting. Kicking you out, I mean. I'm going to kill him." Neji looked up.

"I doubt you could," he said bitterly.

"So you got kicked out, and then what?" Shikamaru pressed, trying to find out the rest of the story. 'I just need to know what happened,' he thought. 'We all know Hiashi Hyuuga is a disgusting, controlling, horrible man.'

"After his latest attempt to destroy my mind, he kicked me out, I bought a plane ticket, found a not-too busy street in a town I was sure you guys would stop in, and called Gaara." Gaara stopped his sizzling anger when he heard his name.

"How long were you there?" Gaara asked cautiously. Neji shrugged.

"Four hours." He straightened his back and dusted out his long hair. "I'm fine. I'll sleep now."

"Wait…are you sure you're okay? Are you hurt at all?" Gaara asked. Neji nodded.

"Fine." He leaned against the back of the seat, shaking gently with each bump Murphy went over. He shut his milky white eyes lightly and evened his breathing. "Thank you." Within minutes, he was snoozing peacefully.

Temari groaned. "We're out of alcohol," she said angrily and yet sleepily, which was a quite a comical tone. "Wait…any left in the trunk Shika-Shika?"

"No, Temari, you drank all of it yesterday. Gaara probably won't stop again, considering he's already had to stop once today, and you're going to shoot your liver. His not stopping is beneficial to everyone involved," Shika-Shika replied drolly from the front seat. "You can either sleep, or I can attempt to teach you Go." Shikamaru gave Temari a pointed look.

"Night Shika," she muttered. Shikamaru briefly wondered if there was a reason everyone seemed to be falling asleep. He didn't get to wonder very long, as Gaara demanded the wheel back. 'I guess some things never change,' he thought with an unenthusiastic laugh as he found himself shoved over a seat as the red-head took over the driving.

Uchiha Sasuke dangled his feet in the water, shivering in the cold draft that wafted off the swimming pool. He was keeping an eye on Naruto, who kept dipping below the surface of the chlorinated water. Normally It would have been Gaara's job to make sure the bouncy boy didn't drown, but he was up in the room, trying to console a traumatized Neji. Next the duty would have been Temari or Shikamaru's job, but both of them were lazily tanning in the dying afternoon light. Kiba was sitting in the Jacuzzi nearby, appearing to be napping.

So it was Sasuke's job.

It wasn't even like he could have done much if Naruto was drowning, except maybe wake up Shikamaru. Sasuke couldn't swim. He had never learned, seeing as his parents had really only paid attention to him when Itachi had reminded them, and Itachi only reminded them up until the time Sasuke was four. After that, he was on his own. Orochimaru didn't bother teaching him to swim. Sasuke, in his eyes, was only good for one purpose and one purpose only.

"Sasuke," Naruto whined as he swam up to Sasuke and rested his chin on the dry boy's knee. "You should swim. It's fun." His hair tickled Sasuke's stomach through his loose shirt and Sasuke resisted the urge to shiver at the contact.

"I don't swim," he said impassively. Naruto pouted, resting both elbows on Sasuke's knees.

"Please? It'll be fun." Naruto wrapped a soaking arms around Sasuke's dry shirt.

"I don't swim," Sasuke repeated. This time, it was a little quieter. Naruto wrinkled his nose and eyed Sasuke carefully.

"You mean you don't swim or you can't swim?" the blond boy asked. Sasuke looked down at the water, avoiding the gaze of his friend.

"I can't swim," he muttered under his breath. Naruto raised a single eyebrow and moved a little to his right to catch the dark-eyed boy's gaze. Sasuke avoided the prying eyes that stared up and him in shame. "I never had a chance to learn. What's to you?"

"I can show you!" Naruto cried. "Come on! It's not all that hard." Naruto pushed back off the wall Sasuke sat on and flipped backwards through the water. Sasuke shivered as a couple of drops of water landed on his face. He slid his shirt off and tossed it at their pile of clothing. It hit Temari in the face. She sat up and glared before leaning back to go back to tanning, or sleeping as the case may be.

Sasuke circled to the shallow end of the blue pool and slid feet first into the water right next to the white stucco steps. It wasn't too cold, but he felt slightly self-conscious as his feet scrambled for the bottom. When his feet finally connected with the snowy plaster, he instantly found himself breathing easier.

"Ooh, you're in!" Naruto exclaimed. He paddled over to Sasuke and treaded water in front of him. "Can you tread water at all?" he asked. Sasuke bent his knees off the bottom of the pool and mimicked Naruto's motions. He sank. When he surfaced, standing on the bottom, he shook his head wildly.

"Not at all," he choked through the water, seeing as the water came up to his bottom lip, even when he stood on tiptoe. Naruto bit his lip and leaned against the wall, considering Sasuke. Sasuke could feel his stares and shrunk back ever so slightly. "I felt stupid."

"That's okay," Naruto assured his friend. "You have to learn how to swim. You can't just suddenly learn how to tread water, just like…" he trailed off, wrinkling his nose in thought. Sasuke smirked.

"Just like you can't magically lean to eat nine bowls of ramen in a sitting, right?" he said with a light laugh. Naruto chewed it over before nodding.

"Exactly," he said. "Alright, push off that wall with your feet and see how far you can go. You don't even have to move your arms, just push off with your legs." Sasuke wrinkled his brow in confusion as he eyed the wall.

"I know I can't get across the pool in one kick," Sasuke pointed out. Naruto beamed.

"I'll catch you when you get to the middle. How's that? Just tell me when you start to sink." He shut his eyes and turned his head, still grinning adorably. Sasuke gulped before a smile ghosted over his pale lips.

"Whatever." Sasuke kicked against the wall sloppily. He got maybe seven feet before he started to sink miserably into the water. He took a breath, which was met with a gulp of chlorinated water. 'Shit!' the dark-haired boy thought. He didn't, however, sink entirely to the bottom.

"I told you to tell me when you started to sink," Naruto chided lightly as he hoisted Sasuke back to the surface. "Here, why not just try floating on your back?" Sasuke shrugged, turning onto his back and shutting his eyes. He felt Naruto's fingers touch his back lightly and sink down a couple of inches, hovering just near taut skin.

"I don't want to sink," Sasuke hissed, glancing apprehensively at Naruto through half closed lids. Naruto shook his head.

"You won't," the blond boy said. Sasuke relaxed slightly and floated, the dying afternoon sun casting shadows over his bare chest. He felt Naruto's fingers slip out from underneath his back. "See? Told you that you wouldn't sink."

"Yeah…" Sasuke muttered. His eyes clicked open and he scrambled to hold onto Naruto. Naruto's lips stretched into a wide smile and he took hold of Sasuke's waist and they glided back to the shallow end.

"If you can float, you just need to learn how to move, and then you can swim," Naruto explained wisely. "Float again," he ordered Sasuke. Sasuke shrugged and flipped onto his back. His chest was cold in the evening wind, the large amount of water not doing much to help this fact.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Alright, kick your legs back and forth, but keep floating. Try flipping onto your stomach, if you can float on your stomach," Naruto instructed. "Alright, now kick your legs back and forth, and move your arms like this." Naruto demonstrated. Sasuke mimicked the blond boy's motions carefully. He slipped below the vivid blue water a couple of times, but Naruto pushed him up gently by the stomach so he could gasp for air again.

"Is this okay?" Sasuke asked offhandedly. He managed to swim in a quick circle. Naruto nodded.

"Now try and swim across the pool." The pool wasn't very big, maybe four meters by five meters. Sasuke drew his lips into a firm line. He didn't like the idea of drowning, not in the least. His brother had drowned his best friend, right before he killed their parents, and made it look like suicide. Water scared Sasuke. "I'll be next to you, you know. I won't let you drown."

Sasuke nodded. "Alright," he said hoarsely. He pushed off the back wall and glided through the water. He managed to splash his way across the pool, but his trek wasn't at all graceful. Naruto did, as promised, stay beside him, despite the amount of water Sasuke was sure he kicked in the other boy's face.

"You did really well," Naruto assured his friend. He led the boy back to the steps, one arm snaked around his waist. Sasuke shivered at his friend's touch. He nearly had a seizure from the sudden intimate contact when Naruto pivoted to his right and their bare chests had brushed against each other. Naruto started up the steps, dropping his hold on Sasuke, and Sasuke suddenly missed the feeling of the other boy's arm around him.

And then it hit him. It hit him like a sack of bricks that had been tossed out of a truck going sixty. It hit him square in the face, and you know what? It really hurt. Or if it didn't hurt, it was at the very least surprising. Even though he had seen it coming for a while, it was still a little startling when he finally realized it.

He liked Naruto.


Read and review Lovlies! I meant to update last night, but silly FF refused to let me upload, so I went to sleep. So...2 chapters today! One now, and one at eleven PST (which is always when I update...)

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