Gaara didn't know how long he stood there, back up against the school building, staring out across the sports field. He knew the others would be waiting for him, in the greenhouse. Neji would be waiting for him. Gaara wondered if he should tell Neji about what he'd seen and heard in the locker rooms. The mere thought of Tashimura-sensei touching Neji almost made Gaara physically ill. If the teacher ever did decide to act on his perversions, Neji ought to have some warning.

"And you think he'll believe you?" Shukaku asked.

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Let me put it this way," the demon said. "If you were him, would you believe you?"

"He knows I wouldn't lie to him," Gaara said.

"Does he?" said Shukaku. "He only barely believes you about the past life thing, and that only because you gave him evidence he couldn't ignore. With this, he'll really question your reasons for telling him. Might think you have some kind of ulterior motive. Especially if he finds out about those condoms you bought last night."

"I bought those because you made me!" said Gaara.

"Go ahead and tell yourself that if it makes you feel like less of a pervert. I hardly had to press you at all into buying them," Shukaku said. "You want Neji just as much as that sicko teacher does, even if you're not fully aware of it. And you two probably aren't the only ones. Warning Neji about everyone that wants his hot body would probably take all day."

"If it were up to you, I'd just 'kill' all his potential stalkers," Gaara grumbled at the demon.

"See, now you're talking sense," agreed Shukaku. "Glad to see you're finally seeing the wisdom in my suggestions. Some problems can really only be solved with a healthy dose of genocide."

"…I'm going to ignore you now."

Gaara pushed away from the wall, finally making his way along the perimeter of the school building. The dirty little greenhouse finally came into view, the layer of brown dust that covered its windows effectively hiding its occupants. The door was very slightly open though, and Gaara could hear murmuring from within, punctuated with Naruto's irrepressible enthused shouts. Gaara pulled the door open and stepped inside the dirt-colored dimness.

The three occupants all looked up when Gaara entered. Sasuke was sitting in the back, arms folded and looking impatient. Neji seemed at least pleased to see Gaara, offering him a genuine smile. Naruto grinned from where he sat, rocking on the overturned bucket he was using as a seat.

"About time you got here!" Naruto said. "What kept you?"

Gaara just gave the bucket Naruto sat on a swift kick, toppling the blonde from his seat and sending up puffs of dust from where he toppled on the floor.

"Heyyy!" Naruto whined, as Gaara calmly took a seat on the bucket Naruto had just forcibly vacated. Gaara didn't even glance at him, making Naruto pout. "Could have just said if you wanted a seat; you didn't have to kick me!"

"Quit whining, loser," Sasuke said. "You sound like an idiot."

"You're just taking his side because he has that book and you want it," Naruto accused Sasuke.

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Sasuke said. "I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't dragged me into this stupid kid's game of yours."

"Excuse me, you're the one that wanted us all to meet here today!" Naruto said, the volume of his voice increasing on every word.

"Wrong; I wanted to meet Gaara here today, and only long enough to get what I came for," Sasuke corrected, voice even. "This club of yours is a waste of my time. I'm no closer to getting my answers than I was when I started."

"That's a great way to talk to people who are only trying to help you!" Naruto shouted.

"So far, you seem more concerned in helping yourself," Sasuke retorted.

"If you two keep that up, someone is going to notice we're here," Neji cut in before Naruto could shout his reply. "I trust you both are aware of what will happen if we're discovered?"

Naruto and Sasuke both got looks of intense unease, no doubt remembering being chased by the mob of screeching girls the day before. It shut the both of them up quite effectively.

"If you don't want us here, Sasuke, we can leave," Neji added.

Sasuke made a grumpy noncommittal noise, looking away. "Do what you want."

"Glad to hear it," Neji said. "Now, I don't know what kind of answers you're looking for, it seems we have a common goal of trying to learn as much as we can about whatever past lives we may have had. If those lives really are as interconnected as I'm thinking they were, it stands to reason that whatever we discover about our pasts may also pertain to what happened in yours. Don't you think, Sasuke?"

Sasuke leveled a cold glare at Neji. "That sounds like a roundabout way of saying I don't get to leave yet."

Neji smiled in a polite, meaningless way, inclining his head slightly in agreement. "You can take it to mean whatever you like."

Sasuke didn't look like he cared much for that answer, but finally gave in. "Fine, whatever. But after this, I'm not giving out any more free trips down memory lane, got it?"

"Alright!" Naruto cheered. "My turn, my turn!"

"And while they're occupied with that," Neji said to Gaara, "we can try out one of your tricks." He pulled out the little book Gaara had given him that morning.

"I've been reading through it," Neji continued. "The first recommended hypnosis technique sounds simple enough. It didn't mention how long it lasts, though."

"The last time I tried it, I slept through the night," Gaara admitted. "Once you're into it, I wouldn't know how to turn it off."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said. "Sasuke and I can wake you up before lunch is over. Go ahead and try it." Naruto caught Sasuke looking with interest at the little book in Neji's hands. "And you'll just have to try it later, Sasuke. You owe me a memory trip."

"That's what narcotics are for," Sasuke muttered, but obligingly turned away from Neji and Gaara. "Alright, Naruto. This is the only one you're getting. Don't whine to me if you don't like it."

So eager to try it, Naruto could barely sit still on the slightly dusty ground. Sasuke finally had to growl at him to quit fidgeting and not blink before he let his eyes shift, black melting to the purest crimson. Gaara could tell the moment Naruto was caught by that mesmerizing stare, when the blonde went completely still and slack-jawed.

Satisfied that the other two were occupied in their own project, Neji and Gaara made themselves as comfortable as they could in the cramped and dirty surroundings. The sand seeped itself out of Gaara's backpack, swirling briefly around the two, sweeping away the cobwebs and dust to allow them a much cleaner setting to relax in. They closed their eyes, letting their muscles loosen, their breathing even out, their heartbeats slow. Gaara could feel it this time, the meditative trance slipping over him, the present life slipping away to make room for the past yet to come.

Somewhere on the edges of this consciousness, Gaara could hear Neji's breathing, almost in time with his own. "Please," was Gaara's last thought before he was completely entranced, "let this one be a nice memory, at least."

.x.x.x.

The dream, or memory, slowly drew itself out of the darkness and into Gaara's awareness. He felt his old life wrap around him, his old self superimposed upon him. While part of him, his current self, was seeing all of this for the first time, part of his mind offered up a host of memory and context, so that the role he played was comfortably familiar.

The air was faintly chill, though the touch of the sun on the skin was warm. The wind tasted of a little of salt and damp. The sun was shining through the gauziest layer of clouds, which changed the sky into a soft wash of pale blue. The long stretch of beach had sand of the lightest gray, colored darker in the places where the ocean waves lapped complacently at the shore. Four beach towels were laid out on the sand, in the shadows of a pair of large umbrellas. Four boys dressed for swimming were the only occupants on the beach.

Naruto crouched on the beach, wearing a pair of bright orange swim trunks decorated with yellow fish designs, using his hands as shovels to scoop the pale sands into enormous mounds. The sand castle he was building bore only a vague resemblance to true architecture; there was a large central sand pile, with several smaller spillover piles surrounding it on all sides. When he was satisfied, he stuck a leaf into the top of the central mound like a flag, and stood back to admire his work.

"There!" he announced with a great deal of pride. "That's the best sand castle ever!" He looked away from his castle, to see what his friend was building.

Gaara's sand castle boasted delicately wrought turrets and parapets, and came complete with a working drawbridge, and a host of tiny sand soldiers valiantly attempting to fight off a flying sand dragon, which spit sand flames at its enemies.

Naruto glared at the redhead. "You cheated."

"I didn't cheat," Gaara said. "You're just using inferior sand."

As that apparently was not a satisfactory enough answer, Naruto turned to a dark haired boy stretched out on one of the beach towels, arms folded under his head as he admired the drifting of clouds across the sky. "Shikamaru!" Naruto said, "Gaara cheated!"

"What exactly were you expecting when you suggested making sand castles?" the boy named Shikamaru said placidly, not even looking away from his cloud-gazing.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" Naruto informed Shikamaru with a touch of exasperation.

"All I'm supposed to be doing is relaxing," Shikamaru said. "Vacations like this are few and far between, and I intend to enjoy every minute. So why don't you take some clones and go bury yourself in the sand or something?"

Shikamaru of all people ought to know better than to say things that would rile Naruto up, Gaara reflected, at least if he was hoping for peace and quiet. But their little marital discordances weren't really his problem. As Naruto launched into his rant at Shikamaru on exactly what he thought of that idea, Gaara's attention drifted to the fourth member of their little group.

Neji was stretched out on his own beach towel next to Gaara. His long hair had been braided, and despite exposure to the sun, his skin bore no tan. It was amazing how little Neji's complexion had been affected, in spite of the years living in the desert village. Like the rest of them, Neji was wearing only a pair of swim trunks, and Gaara let his gaze wander over what skin was left bare. He had an urge to smooth his hands down Neji's bare back, tracing the column of his spine, but he resolutely pushed the inclination away. Some part of him knew if he were to start touching Neji, he wouldn't be able to stop.

Neji was holding an opened book, but his attention had strayed from the text, gaze instead focused on Gaara's sand castle. It seemed the sand dragon had at this point won the battle, and was carrying off what appeared to be the castle's tiny sand prince, while the sand soldiers chased it armed with tiny sand weaponry. When Neji noticed Gaara watching him, he set the book aside and smiled at him. It was a warm, affectionate smile, and Gaara found himself smiling back.

"So what do you think of the beach?" Neji asked.

"Seems impractical," Gaara said. "So much water in one place, and all of it undrinkable."

Neji laughed. "I suppose living in a desert, that would be the first thing you concerned yourself with…"

"Hey Gaara!" Naruto's voice broke into their conversation. "Make your sand quit it!"

Neji and Gaara looked over, to where Gaara's sand dragon had decided Naruto's sand castle really made a much better mountain. The dragon had perched itself on the top, blowing its sand flames at the sandy soldiers that had followed it, and were now laying siege with sand catapults. Naruto's sand castle-mountain was crumbling under the attacks.

"Seems the sand decided to have some fun on this vacation, too," Neji mused.

Gaara snapped his fingers. The little sand soldiers reluctantly withdrew to their castle. The dragon curled up smugly on top of its conquered mountain, until it noticed Gaara glaring at it. The sand dragon grumpily slunk off to find itself a new mountain.

Above them, the sky darkened slightly, as gray clouds chased away the wispy white ones. Though the sun still shone through in streaks of light to highlight favored spots of sand and sea, rain began to fall.

"Aw man!" Naruto whined, as he and Shikamaru took refuge under one of the beach umbrellas, while Gaara and Neji retreated under the other. Gaara's sand castle and all its occupants swept itself back into the gourd to keep dry, while Naruto's castle did nothing more than sit and melt slowly in the rain.

Despite the minor unfortunate turn in the weather, Neji seemed unperturbed. He reached a hand out from under the umbrella, letting the plump raindrops splatter on his skin. "You know, there are legends that say when it's sunny and raining at the same time, somewhere close by a fox spirit is having a wedding."

Gaara looked over to where Naruto and Shikamaru were sitting together, in a close companionable way that testified to how comfortable the two were with each other. "Think we ought to tell Naruto that?"

"I think Kyuubi would mention it if he wanted Naruto to know," Neji murmured off-handedly. His fingertips traced an idle pattern up Gaara's bare leg. The little shivers that barely-there touch sent through Gaara had nothing to do with being ticklish. After spending most of his life without any form of physical contact with other people, Gaara now found himself addicted to Neji's touches. Happily addicted.

There wasn't even a thought to resistance when Neji drew Gaara into his embrace. Gaara couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else. And when Neji kissed him, everything in Gaara's world was absolutely perfect.

.x.x.x.

"Hey. Hey. Wake up already!"

Perfection ended all too soon, as Naruto's insistent voice broke through the trance and drew Gaara back to the present. It took him a moment to reorient on reality, the dusty sunlit windows of the greenhouse coming in to focus to replace the chill dapple of the ocean rain. The memory he'd just been immersed in clung to him like cobwebs, and he was reluctant to brush it aside. Beside him, Neji similarly seemed slow to wake from his own dream-memory.

Naruto didn't wait for the dream haze to fade completely before he was pressing questions on them. "So what'd you see? Was it cool? Was I there?"

"You were," Gaara said slowly, trying to discreetly stretch muscles that had stiffened up while he'd been entranced. "It wasn't much of a memory, really. My sand castle beat up your sand castle. What'd you see from Sasuke's eyes?"

"Nothing!" Naruto said, clearly irritated. "All that time staring, and all I got was watery eyes. I didn't get a single flashback. You two both got memories, and I get squat. What a gyp."

Gaara rubbed a stiff muscle in the back of his neck. "Sasuke's eyes show bad memories and regrets from your past life, right? Maybe you just don't have any."

"Maybe he just ran out of batteries," Naruto grumbled. The irritation left as quickly as it had come, though, and Naruto's bright smile was back in place. "So tell me about yours! What was I like? Was I cool?"

"You were loud," Gaara said.

"Oh, come on, give me something more than that! That's all Kyuubi ever says about me, too," said Naruto. He turned to Neji, who was still a little bleary-eyed from being forcibly woken to reality. "What about you, what was your memory like?"

Neji blinked at him, as though only just now noticing Naruto was there, much less speaking to him. Neji didn't answer Naruto, though, his gaze drifting away to focus on Gaara, staring. Gaara had no hope of puzzling out the enigma in that stare. Seconds passed, and Neji seemed to snap out of it, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"I need to see your book for a moment, please," Neji said.

Gaara turned to his backpack to get it, but the sand had already crawled out, carrying the volume to Neji. Neji took it from the sand, giving the granular mass a little pat as though it was a puppy that had just fetched the mail. The sand hummed happily in response. Neji opened the book to the back, flipping through the index.

"What are you looking for?" Sasuke asked, moving over from where he sat to join their conversation. It figured he would be interested when the book was brought out.

Neji didn't answer, but apparently wasn't finding whatever he was looking for in the index. He began paging through various chapters, specifically the ones on Suna and Konoha, scanning the text, but the answers he was searching for apparently weren't there either. Finally he seemed to admit defeat, closing the book and allowing the sand to take it from him.

"There was something I saw in my memory," Neji finally explained to his waiting audience. "Something I could do; a sort of technique. I need to find out more about it. It doesn't seem to be mentioned in your book, however."

"There are more books," Gaara said. "Orochimaru-sensei has a collection of them. You could ask him about whatever you saw; he said he was kind of an expert on the subject."

"We still have a little time before lunch is over," Naruto said. "We could go ask him now."

"No way," Sasuke said, scowling. "I'm not going back in that school. Especially not to talk to him."

"You can just stay here then," Naruto said easily. "The three of us will go."

Gaara studied the odd expression on Neji's face. Neji wouldn't meet his gaze. "If you want to," he added softly.

"Yes," Neji said quietly.

The three of them gathered up their things to go, while Sasuke sat where he was, glaring at the lot of them. When they were almost out the door, Naruto paused and looked back at Sasuke.

"Should we meet here on our lunch period tomorrow?" he asked.

"Tomorrow's Saturday," Sasuke reminded him flatly.

"Oh, right." Naruto frowned. "We could meet here anyway. There'll just be fewer of your fan-girls to dodge."

"Can't," Gaara said. When the other three looked at him for explanations, he looked away and muttered, "I see my psychiatrist on Saturdays."

There was an awkward pause at the reminder that outside this little group, Gaara was still considered to be crazy. Not only crazy, but a possible danger to others.

"Well that's okay," Naruto finally said with a bright grin, dissipating the tension. "We'll just meet here on Monday then. We should get going now, if we want to talk to Orochimaru-sensei before fourth period starts. Bye Sasuke!" He all but pushed the other two out of the dusty greenhouse and back out into the sunshine.

The three of them were quiet as they made their way into the school and through the hallways, walking at a fairly fast clip. Even Naruto seemed not to have much to say.

Orochimaru-sensei was writing out the lesson plan and assigned reading for his next class period on the front board when the three of them walked into his classroom. "Ah, Gaara," the teacher greeted his student. "And you brought friends."

"Sensei, I need to ask you a question. Gaara said you might know," Neji said. When Orochimaru-sensei just nodded, Neji took a breath and asked, "Do you know anything about something called byakugan?"

And expression of surprised amusement passed over Orochimaru-sensei's face. "Where did you hear about something like that? In my whole collection, there are only a few books that even mention the byakugan."

"You know of it, then," Neji said, seeming to relax a small degree.

"I know as much about it as anyone could, I suppose," Orochimaru-sensei said. "As far as history is concerned, the byakugan is a forgotten technique. The clan that possessed it long ago kept it a closely guarded secret, and most knowledge of its abilities died out when they did." He paused, then added, "Though perhaps it is not as forgotten as I'd thought, if you've learned of it."

"Only what it was called," Neji admitted. "I know very little about what it actually did. That's what I hoped you could tell me."

"Well let me think…" Orochimaru-sensei said. "The byakugan was an ability that affected the eyes, and it was exclusive to a particular clan in the village of Konoha. It is said that wielders of this ability were capable of seeing long distances, seeing in all directions at one time, seeing through objects, and even seeing flows of chakra in people and things, and in seeing them, being able to affect them in small ways. There are actually quite a few rather impressive powers attributed to the byakugan, though how much of it is mere embellishment to the legend, I couldn't tell you. I've read theories suggesting that another eye-based technique known as sharingan descended from the byakugan, or that the two share the same origins."

"I haven't heard about that one," Neji said. "What does the sharingan do?"

"For someone who knows an obscure technique like the byakugan, I'm surprised you haven't heard of the sharingan. It's mentioned far more frequently in the texts I've read," Orochimaru-sensei said with amusement. "It too was a prized technique, belonging to a particular Konoha clan. When in use, the sharingan turned the wielder's eyes red, and with this sight the wielder was capable of memorizing and copying the techniques of others. Also, certain heightened forms were capable of inducing several varying forms of hypnosis upon those that looked directly into the sharingan."

"That sounds just like Sasuke's eye trick," Naruto said. When the other three just looked at him, Naruto's eyes widened, as he just realized what he'd said out loud. He looked a t little sheepish. "Oops. I maybe shouldn't have said that."

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Orochimaru-sensei asked. He looked interested, but not particularly surprised. "Itachi's younger brother? You say he's got an 'eye trick' similar to the sharingan?"

"Do you believe these techniques really existed?" Neji asked, instead of answering Orochimaru-sensei's question. "Abilities like this sound like they belong more to myth than real history."

"They do sound more like something you would find in a comic book, don't they?" Orochimaru-sensei mused. "But I personally think these techniques were real, and that these gifted individuals in a distant past were capable of tapping into abilities that people of this day and age would dismiss as legend. I think that there is a power within people, the fuel for these superhuman skills, but people have forgotten how to access it. With proper training, humanity could learn to tap those powers again." He smiled and shrugged gracefully. "Or, so I like to believe."

Naruto, Neji and Gaara all looked at one another, as if locked in silent debate. "I vote we tell him," Naruto finally said. "He is the expert on this stuff." Gaara nodded slowly, looking to Neji to see what he thought of the matter.

The vote was apparently unanimous, as Neji turned to Orochimaru-sensei again. "We have proof that those techniques, that the history we read in the book you gave Gaara, isn't merely legend. Sasuke does have an ability with a startling resemblance to what you described as sharingan. Looking into his eyes brings out what we can only assume are… memories. They're visions, of a different place and time. Events in these visions seem to coincide with the history in the book."

"It's like we were there," Naruto said. "We were those people. Those stories are our stories."

"Reincarnation. A fanciful concept, but an appealing one. And a fitting one, I think. I had always wondered," Orochimaru-sensei said. "Sasuke's older brother Itachi used to come by my classroom with increasing frequently for the few months before he chose to end his life. He too was quite curious as to the history chronicled in my book collection. The sharingan and its abilities particularly interested him. He never said so directly, but there were hints his brother was somehow involved in his obsession. The poor boys. But for all Itachi's obsession, I never would have guessed that the sharingan still existed."

"It's not just the sharingan," Gaara said quietly. He opened his backpack. The sand seemed reluctant, but with a little coaxing from Gaara, a few tendrils drifted up to twine about in the air. "I don't really understand why, but the sand just recently started moving all on its own." Gaara considered telling Orochimaru-sensei about Shukaku as well, but the demon gave a low, warning growl, and Gaara decided to omit that particular detail, just for now.

"So it is true," Orochimaru-sensei said, eyes wide with fascination. He reached out to the twisting coil of sand, but it retreated, dipping and swaying away from his grasp, hiding itself away again in Gaara's backpack. Orochimaru-sensei lowered his hand, but his smile never wavered. "In all my years of study, I never expected to see such things for myself. The myth revealed to be true, at last. And embodied in a few students at the very school I teach at, no less."

"We're all just trying to understand it," Neji said. "The one book we have is not enough. Perhaps even several would not be enough. We need to know everything."

"For those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. I wonder, what it is you boys were returned to this world for, after so long? Surely not just to revive the forgotten techniques of the past. Is there some hidden hand of fate that guides you all now, something left undone in your past that needs correcting? Or is it all mere coincidence that brings you together now?" Orochimaru-sensei mused. He smiled, shaking his head. "I suppose we won't know until we get started. After what you've told me, what you've shown me, I will of course help as much as I am able. And who knows; perhaps you will be able to fill in some of the blanks for me, as well. It could be mutually beneficial to us all."

The first bell rang, ending lunch. In five minutes, fourth period would start.

"I think our school's lunch period will prove too short for our needs," Orochimaru-sensei said. "We ought to consider meeting after school to discuss this further."

"I can't," Naruto said, with genuine regret in his voice. "I have to be back at the House as soon as school's over, unless I'm in an actual after school sport or club or something."

"If that's all that's necessary, that can be easily taken care of," Orochimaru-sensei said. "All a school club needs to become official is a teacher advisor to endorse and oversee it. And as I am not currently overseeing any club…"

"You'd be advisor for the Ninja Club?" Naruto laughed. "Oh man, Sasuke's gonna flip out…"

"It will be up to you to convince him to come, of course," Orochimaru-sensei said. "I think perhaps he needs my help most of all."

.x.x.x.

They'd left Orochimaru-sensei's classroom, as they did have their own classes to attend. Naruto waved a hurried farewell to his friends before running for the staircase, running up the stairs two at a time. Gaara was reluctant to leave Neji to attend his own class. There'd been something a little off about Neji ever since he'd woken from his dream-vision. Neji seemed to be avoiding looking at him. Perhaps whatever he'd seen had not been so pleasant after all.

Gaara heard the sand shifting about in his backpack, softly rustling amid papers and books. A tiny whirl of sand drifted out, a small, slender tendril. Gaara didn't remember leaving his backpack unzipped, but he wouldn't be surprised to find that the sand had chewed a little hole in the nylon of the pack for easy escape. He'd have to see about getting it some other container. No one in the crowded hallway seemed to notice the little wisp of sand, but Gaara would soon have to find another method of containing it or risk it being discovered.

The little sand vine reached out to wrap itself around Neji's wrist, giving a soft, inquisitive little hum. Neji looked down at it for a moment but did not shake it off. He seemed to come to some sort of decision.

"Can you hold off on going to fourth period for a few minutes?" Neji asked Gaara. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

Missing fourth period was starting to be a bad habit of Gaara's, and he knew Temari and Kankuro wouldn't be happy about it if they found out. He found, though, that he didn't particularly care. "It's okay if I'm a little late," Gaara said. "Won't you get in trouble though?"

Neji shrugged it off. "Tashimura-sensei is lenient on that sort of thing."

Gaara frowned at the mention of the teacher. He wondered if Tashimura-sensei really was that relaxed on the subject of tardiness to his class, or if he simply made exceptions for his favorite student. It wasn't something he was going to mention to Neji, though.

The second bell rang, and the hallways were soon emptied of last minute stragglers, as they ran toward their respective classrooms to hopefully miss being marked tardy. Gaara and Neji abruptly had the hallway all to themselves. They walked a ways further, Neji looking preoccupied with his thoughts. They ended up sitting on the top step of the staircase, looking down to the empty floor below.

"The memory I saw today," Neji began slowly. "There was more to it than just what I said. There was a training ground in Konoha, a piece of dense forested area, surrounded by a high fence. They called it the Forest of Death, because so few of those that went in, ever came back again. It was full of strange, mutated creatures, insects and lizards and the like, all with an appetite for human flesh, when they could catch it. Not that either of us ever had need to worry about them. The fence was more to keep the forest in, than to keep anyone out. And… in the memory I saw, it was where we would sneak in, you and I, when we were visiting Konoha and wanted… to be alone."

Gaara just looked at him, not grasping what it was Neji was saying right at first. Neji wasn't saying any more, and he wouldn't look at Gaara, his eyes staring fixedly on the stairs.

"He means you two went out and hid in the forest when you wanted to have sex," Shukaku filled it in for him. "You know, sex? The horizontal tango? The monster mash? The twist and shout? The-"

"I get it already!" Gaara snapped at the demon, before Shukaku could supply any more euphemisms for the act.

Gaara was finally beginning to understand why Neji had been uncomfortable about the memory he'd had, and why he'd refrained from mentioning it in front of Naruto and Sasuke. Of course Neji must have known what their life before must have been like. They had been married, in that time before. But knowing that and seeing it were two very different things, Gaara supposed. And Gaara knew Neji didn't want him to expect more now than what they had. That must be why he was telling him this now.

"It's alright, Neji," Gaara said quietly. "I remember what you said, so you don't have to worry. Whatever things were like between us in our past life, I don't expect things to be like that now. In this life, we can just be friends."

But Neji was shaking his head, finally turning his gaze to him. "That's just it, Gaara," he said. "I don't know that I can be 'just friends' with you. Not when I have dreams that I'm in love with you. And I've already waited for so many lifetimes for you… Maybe the way things were, is just how they're supposed to be."

Neji kissed Gaara then, softly, slowly, giving Gaara ample opportunity to run away, should that be his desire. But leaving was the last thing Gaara wanted to do now. He drew closer to Neji, fitting into his embrace as though that was where he'd always been meant to be. At long last, everything in Gaara's world was finally perfect.

And even should this joy be fleeting, for now, it was enough.