Chapter 14: My Parents

When I got home that evening, I walked into the living room and decided just to get it over with. I dropped my bag on the floor and looked at my parents, who were watching something on TV.

"Mom? Dad?" I said, loud enough to be heard over the television.

"Yeah?" My dad looked over at me, my mom only glanced.

I fought the blush that I could feel rising in my neck, "My boyfriend wants to meet you guys and come to church tomorrow." I said in a quick rush.

My dad just stared at me, mouth open a little. My mom turned off the television and said, "When did you get a boyfriend, Kagami?"

I looked down at the ground, not wanting to see their reactions anymore. My mom looked worried, "Just a few days ago."

"How long have you known the kid?" My dad asked once he recovered from staring at me.

My eyes darted up to his, he didn't seem angry, "Uh, when school started."

"Honey," my mom said quietly, sitting up more, instead of leaning against my dad, her grey eyes serious, "I've told you before, don't feel like you have to have a boyfriend to fit in, okay?"

"I really like him, mom." I said quietly, not elaborating. It was already barely the truth. I liked some things about Gaara, but not many. He mostly just interested me….and played hell with my hormones. "His name is Gaara." I added.

My mom glanced at my left hand, "Is he the one who gave you that ring?"

Heat rose in my cheeks, "Yes. It's a promise ring."

"If you're sure about this sweetie, we'll meet him tomorrow. Is he coming here?" My mom looked softer instead of serious. Whew, she believed me. I did not want to have to explain anything. At all.

"He's coming over in the morning. I figured you guys could meet him before church and he could hang around here a bit afterwards." I shrugged a little and picked up my bag, feeling that the conversation was pretty much over. I had no doubt that once I left the room my parents would whisper about it to each other.

My dad managed a small curve of his lips, his green eyes not quite smiling along, "Okay."

The next morning, I answered the door when there was a knock. My mom smiled at me as I got up from the living room and I caught Karin's thinly veiled glare.

"Hey Gaara." I said when I opened the door, forcing a bright smile onto my face.

When he saw me, the red head smiled seductively, then stepped in the door and pulled me into his arms, "Kagami." My name was barely a breath on his lips. It nearly made me shudder in his arms. Only the fact that my parents could see the doorway from the living room kept me from melting against him completely.

I pulled back and was glad when he didn't hold on or try to kiss me in front of my family. He reached back and pulled the door closed. Gaara grabbed my hand and led me to the living room. I was a little behind, this was happening too fast. Gaara was going to meet my parents! My parents were going to meet Gaara!

"Uh, mom, dad, this is Gaara." I managed a tight, nervous smile as they caught sight of him fully.

I could see the way my dad's eyes narrowed when he looked at Gaara's face, that he wasn't happy. Jeez, this was not going to be fun.

Gaara took his hand from mine and extended it to my father, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Yamaguchi."

My dad took his hand almost tentatively, eyeing the smile on Gaara's face. I was watching the red head just as closely. I didn't blame my dad. Fortunately, there was nothing devious in his smile whatsoever. It was the most honest expression I had ever seen on the red head's face.

"Nice to meet you too, Gaara." My dad barely managed to say it without his teeth clenching around the words.

My mom rose from where she was sitting across the room, "Hi Gaara, I'm Kagami's mother." Her smile was bright; I couldn't see anything judgmental in her gaze.

My dad let go of Gaara's hand and the red head took my mom's in his, his smile brightened, "Hello Mrs. Yamaguchi, I see where Kagami gets her lovely eyes now."

I nearly choked. He sounded so sincere, and as cheesy as the compliment was, it didn't sound cheesy coming from the red head's mouth. It sounded like the most normal thing in the world to say.

My mom nearly blushed, "Thank you Gaara."

He turned to my dad and smiled apologetically, "I am sorry for asking your daughter out without your permission, Mr. Yamaguchi." Gaara took my hand in his and glanced at me for a moment, something strangely possessive, but not inappropriate in his gaze. He spoke again when he looked at my dad, "I would have asked first, but was afraid someone else would steal her away."

I heard Karin's sharp intake of breath at Gaara's words, and watched my dad's eyes flicker over the red head's face, "It's not like you are marrying her or anything. Not that formal." He grumbled, barely audible.

Gaara smiled and tightened his hand around mine, "Thank you for allowing me to date Kagami."

I could barely keep my own expression still as I listened to Gaara charm my parents. I had thought the best I could hope for was for him not to ravage me in front of them. He was being….perfect. None of it seemed overboard coming from him either. He pulled off the perfect boyfriend without looking like an ass. It was not something I ever imagined Gaara being able to do. Damn boy with his perfect fakeness.

"It's about time to leave. Are you taking your car Gaara?" My mom asked, making my dad look away from the red head's face.

Gaara grinned at me, "Yes. I will drive Kagami to church. I'm sure she can direct me there."

I really hoped that neither my mom or dad, especially my dad, caught the twinkle in Gaara's eyes as he looked at me. He was probably planning on attacking me in the car or something. I fought not to roll my eyes at my own thoughts.

"What happened to your neck, Gaara?" Karin asked, her voice ringing out across the living room.

I looked sharply at the band aid on his throat and struggled to keep the blush down. It was where I had given him a hickey the other night. I didn't meet my sister's eyes, knowing she would be able to read my expression too easily.

Gaara managed an embarrassed chuckle, "I was clumsy with the razor this morning."

"Okay." I said, pulling him towards the door, "Let's go."

I ignored Karin's gaze on me as I nearly dragged Gaara out the front door, barely stopping to grab my purse on the way out.

The red head grinned at me as I closed the door behind us, "Your sister has it out for me, doesn't she?"

"She knows that you aren't as nice as you are trying to convince my parents you are." I told him. My eyes went to his car and I froze in my tracks, staring at the sleek black thing with tinted windows. The first time I had been in that car, my entire world had changed. It had only been two weeks ago that I thought Gaara was going to have his way with me in the back seat of his car, and in a way, he had. What the hell was I doing? Bringing Gaara to meet my parents? Letting him pretend to be my sweet, nice boyfriend? There was nothing sweet and nice about Gaara, the first time he had kissed me proved that beyond a doubt; the way he had blackmailed me into being with him not even a week after we had met. I had vowed that day that Gaara made me go over to his house for the first time that I would never tell him where I lived, and here he was, at my house, about to drive me to church. What the hell was wrong with me?

"Kagami."

I turned to see the smile in Gaara's words reflected on his face. That smug smile that fit him so well, and only proved more how not nice he was.

"We aren't going to be in the backseat this time." He was nearly grinning at me.

I ripped my hand out of his with a scowl and trudged the rest of the way over to his car. I refused to meet his eyes over the roof as he unlocked the doors. Those laughing, mocking eyes that knew exactly that I had been thinking the instant I saw his damned car. Without looking into the backseat, I got into the passenger seat and buckled myself in.

In one graceful, quick movement, Gaara slid into the driver's seat and unbuckled my seatbelt, pulling me halfway across the middle console.

"Gaara!" I managed to choke out before his mouth closed over mine and cut off my ability to speak, or do anything but feel his hands on my waist and his lips on mine.

He drew back with a self satisfied smile, "Good morning."

I glared at him, then stared for a moment. His usually dark makeup seemed a little lighter today, and not like eyeliner at all. It almost looked faded, like a…"Is your makeup a tattoo?" I asked loudly, not believing I hadn't noticed it before. No wonder I hadn't seen him without makeup, ever.

"Yes. I usually darken it with makeup, but decided it best not to today." Gaara shrugged.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I put myself back in my seat and he started the car, "Because a tattoo is so much more subtle than makeup." I commented sarcastically.

The red head glanced over at me before driving away from the curb, "Give me directions before I take us someplace other than your church service."

Suppressing a glare, I pointed him in the right direction and flipped through the iPod tucked into a space below the in dash stereo it was connected to and settled on some music. There was so much heavy metal on the damn device that I had a hard time finding something I could stand to listen to without my ears wincing.

We met up with my parents and Karin once we got to the church my family had been attending since we moved, having chosen it mostly because it was close to where we lived. The service wasn't completely boring and the music was good, so we stayed. It had always been a family consensus where we went to church and we usually all agreed on a place.

During the service, I was uncomfortable, which is not normal for me during church service. I love singing and having a peaceful time, church was a pause in a world so full of noise and busyness. Today I could feel Gaara's eyes on me and my dad's eyes on the red head.

"I love hearing you sing." Gaara leaned over and whispered in my ear partway through the service. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the thinly veiled glare my dad was sending my boyfriend. I stiffened at my inner use of that word. Boyfriend. I had never had a boyfriend before and had certainly never imagined my first relationship to end up like this. Whatever this was, exactly. I was still trying to figure it out.

After a tense lunch at home where my mother tried to include Gaara in the conversation and my dad tried his best to pretend he was okay with the boy sitting next to me at the table, the red head went home and I sat down with my parents.

"What the hell dad?"

He frowned at me, green eyes angry, "Don't talk to me like that, Kagami."

I crossed my arms over at my chest, noticing my mother watching us, "I bring my first boyfriend over for the first time and you treat him like he's the fricken plague." I didn't care how Gaara had gotten to me, my dad didn't know anything about it and he had no right to treat another person the way he had treated Gaara without knowing anything about him.

"I'm your father, I'm supposed to be judgmental when it comes to boys you bring home." He said gruffly, finally looking a little embarrassed about his actions.

"You did treat him a little harshly, dear." My mother said quietly.

"If you think you need to scare him, it's not going to work." I muttered, wondering what could possibly scare the red head. So far it didn't seem like anything scared him, except whatever was causing him to get up and punch his knuckles raw.

My father looked at me, frowning harder, "I'm sorry Kagami, but I'm not going to be easy on any boy that wants to date you. There are standards to be met and this Gaara kid makes me uneasy. Karin mentioned his reputation as a delinquent at school. I don't approve of you associating with someone who does not follow rules well."

I nearly rolled my eyes; of course my dad would interrogate Karin about Gaara. It seemed she hadn't told him just how bad Gaara was, if my dad knew the red head beat on other kids regularly, he'd pull me out of school and refuse to let me see Gaara. My reaction to that thought shocked me, I was uneasy that I felt torn about potentially never seeing the red head again. I didn't like that feeling.

Looking at my dad, I sighed, "I'm not going to stop seeing him, so you might as well stop focusing on rumors and actually get to know him."

"There are going to be rules about you going out with him." My dad said sternly.

I got up, "Oh sure." I acknowledged him as I left the room, knowing that Gaara would be breaking those rules as quickly as dad made them, wondering how long it would be before I was told I wasn't allowed to see the red head again. I was giving it a week.

Author's Note: It's been a while. I apologize, I've been trying to put my writing talents to other uses (particularly school and the novels I am working on) but Gaara and Kagami started to bother me again. So here is the latest chapter (that for the most part has been sitting gathering dust in my folders, waiting for me to finish it) of Breaking Points. Enjoy.