A/N: Well here's the next chapter. The usual warning. I don't own Naruto.

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Both boys pulled back in shock, whipping their hands from each other. Naruto, if he was any slower, would've fallen upon Sasuke releasing him, but caught himself. They quickly jumped apart, faces burning. Sasuke took a glance at the intruder, pissed about being interrupted and embarrassed at being caught, and glared.

"What are you doing here Neji?"* Sasuke gritted out.

Neji, a long brown haired boy with pale pupil-less eyes, raised an eyebrow. "I'd assumed I was welcome." He said.

Sasuke, getting over his anger mostly, sighed to calm himself then walked over to the older boy. "You are." He said. "But why this early?"

"Since Itachi's the head Niokoni in Konoha, aren't there rules that state that all Niokoni joining the village need approval from its leader immediately upon arrival?" Neji stated.

Sasuke nodded, agreeing. "Itachi isn't awake yet, though. Do you want some coffee while you wait?"

Neji smiled lightly. "Sure. I have to go get my partner though. He's waiting a little ways away." With that he headed out the door as Sasuke walked over to the coffee pot.

Naruto, just now getting over his shock, quickly joined him. "Who was that?" Sasuke started the coffee pot, which made a gurgling sound, and walked over to the stove followed by Naruto where the semi-warm ramen sat.

"Hyuuga Neji." He answered.

"Is he related to Hinata?" Sasuke nodded and handed him his bowl of ramen.

"Yes. He's a Niokoni as well, somewhere ranging between Itachi's level and mine, and is Hinata's cousin. He's a year older than us."

"Yes and I have recently come back after being gone for a year to find my light." Neji said, coming back into the kitchen, followed by another boy.

He had reddish-brown hair and green eyes surrounded by black, almost like eyeliner. On his forehead was the kanji for love. Unlike Neji, who was dressed in a white tee and jeans, he wore the traditional Niokoni outfit, except he replaced the sword for a giant light brown gourd.

Naruto's eyes widened and he grinned upon seeing the boy. "GAARA!" Gaara turned and his eyes widened in shock as a blur of blonde tackled him. Both Neji and Sasuke blinked in surprise when, instead of Naruto being pushed off, was hugged back lightly. A spike of jealousy ran through Sasuke.

"Gaara I can't believe it's you! I thought I'd never see you again!" Naruto was saying. Gaara's lips twitched and the two sat up as Kyuubi bounded over, purring loudly.

"Naruto." Gaara greeted.

Neji's eyebrows raised more. "Gaara? You know him?"

Gaara nodded and Naruto said, "Yeah! I used to live in Suna at one point and Gaara and I were best friends!" He climbed off and helped Gaara to his feet. "I thought I'd never see him again!"

"Interesting." Neji said, turning to Sasuke. "Is he your light?" Sasuke nodded and Kyuubi hopped onto his shoulder.

"Sasuke, Gaara is a container as well." She whispered in his ear. Sasuke blinked in shock as Naruto sat down at the table to eat his ramen. Sasuke then noticed Gaara was glancing warily at Kyuubi. Naruto seemed to have noticed as well.

"Gaara?" The brunette turned to him, but before Naruto could say anything, a sleepy looking Deidara entered the room yawning.

Deidara blinked at the four of them and mumbled, "Oh, company. Where's the coffee?"

"In the coffee pot." Neji said, pouring himself, Gaara, and Deidara a cup. Sasuke sighed and decided, with a nod from Naruto, for them to discuss this later.

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As it turned out, Itachi allowed both Neji and Gaara to live in the village, but they weren't allowed to begin their Niokoni roles until Lee came over later after school to discuss who patrolled what section of the city. (The city is split into different sectors).

Lee was overjoyed to have Neji (apparently an old friend/rival) back and Hinata smiled, happily chatting with her cousin. Lee and Sakura hugged Naruto; happy to have him back as well (Sakura punched Naruto. "Don't run off again!") Gaara also fit right into the group (if by fit in was being treated like Sasuke, which isn't bad).

Turned out that there was a match the whole school was (forced) to go to, so Naruto was more than happy to sit by Gaara, since he was the only friend in that class period at the time.

Sasuke, however, wasn't happy.

Kyuubi hopped over and past kids until she landed in Sasuke's lap, her tails waving happily. "Someone's jealous." She said as a tail wrapped around to touch the boy's temple.

'I'm not jealous.' Sasuke thought, glaring at Naruto who was having (for the most part) a one-way chat with Gaara.

"You are. You just chose a hell of a time to realize your feelings." Kyuubi yawned and grinned as the game started. "It's really quite entertaining."

'So what? I wanted to sit with Naruto. Doesn't mean I'm jealous.' Though even as he thought that, Sasuke had doubts.

"It is if you're jealous of the person sitting next to Naruto at the time." Kyuubi shot back. Before Sasuke could respond however, she added, "Looks like Naruto's gonna pop those questions." Sasuke frowned, wondering what she meant when his vision blurred. Suddenly instead of seeing the game, he vision had shifted to Gaara.

'Is Sasuke listening, Kyuu?' He heard Naruto think.

'Yeah he's here.' Sasuke heard Kyuubi think. He felt a wave of happiness with a bit of embarrassment reach him.

'Hi Sasuke!' Naruto thought to him.

'Dobe.' Sasuke greeted back. He couldn't help but feel slightly excited with what was happening. 'What did Kyuubi do?'

'I simply entered your conscious mind into Naruto's head.' Kyuubi answered.

'I asked her to because then it saves me from telling you what happens later.' Naruto thought before Sasuke could ask why.

'And so you stop feeling jealous.' Kyuubi added as Naruto bit back a laugh and Sasuke growled.

"Naruto?" Gaara questioned as Naruto suddenly became serious.

"Gaara I need to ask you something." Gaara raised a nonexistent brow and both boys glanced around, checking to see if anyone was listening. Seeing that it was clear, Naruto continued. "You can see Kyuubi, right?"

Gaara glanced over Naruto's shoulder (Sasuke no doubt thought to look at the fox) and nodded. "If you mean the fox, yes."

"She says you have a Tailed Oni as well." Naruto said in a whisper, knowing the brunette heard even over the cheers. Gaara stared into Naruto's eyes with such a piercing gaze; Sasuke felt the need to look away.

Finally Gaara said slowly, "Yes...The one-tailed beast, Shukaku."

'I guess containers attract each other.' Sasuke thought.

'What's that suppost to mean?!' Naruto thought indignantly.

'I meant that you and Gaara are already good friends, even though he doesn't seem your type.' Sasuke clarified.

'Well you don't exactly look his type either but you're his light.' Kyuubi said, no doubt enjoying this.

Sasuke ignored that. 'So Gaara's the one-tail. Never thought he'd have a Tailed Oni.'

'I agree.' Naruto said, but grinned at Gaara and said, "Cool. Well obviously you know mine."

'You never suspected Naruto to have one either.' Kyuubi said. 'But Shukaku's the weakest of us Tailed Oni. Though his damn power over sand is annoying as shit.'

"Yes." Gaara said. "Uchiha can see the fox-"

"Kyuubi." Naruto interjected.

"-Kyuubi too?" Gaara asked.

Naruto nodded. "He is my light after all." 'So Gaara controls earth then?' Naruto asked Kyuubi.

'He should. But for some strange reason Shukaku can only control sand.' Kyuubi said. 'Actually he should control fire. He screwed up the order of us.'

'That's...strange.' Sasuke thought.

Gaara gave a small grunt. "How is that working out?"

Naruto grinned. 'Bye Sasuke.' He thought.

'What! Why?' Sasuke frowned.

'Because I don't want you to eavesdrop anymore.' With that Sasuke was sent back into his body. He turned as Naruto turned to him and waved.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Sasuke murmured to the fox.

"I think you already know what he's going to say." Was all the fox said before she settled down for a nap. Sasuke silently agreed and went back to ignoring the football game.

A/N: * Ha! Who saw Neji coming?