Hey guys! :)

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! Good news though X3 I'm now on SUMMER BREAK! So updates will be happening A LOT more frequently now! :D

Also, the first chapter of An Assassin's Lust has been posted! So if you're a SasuNaru fan please go read it~

Anyways! Hereeeee we go!

Gaara kept his facial expression stoic and composed as he left his Art class. While his face remained unreadable, anxiety tossed and turned inside his stomach with every step he took. He usually looked forward to lunch because he would get to spend a bit of time with Naruto and the others. Now, though, he had to each lunch with Neji Hyuga; something he wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. To be honest, he was even a bit nervous. He usually had one of his friends around to back him up in case he needed it but now he would be left alone with the white eyed bastard.

"Gaara!"

The sand demon nearly jumped as a loud voice brought him out of his thoughts. Looking to the side he found Naruto staring at him with frown.

"What?" Gaara asked with an invisible eyebrow raised, as if he didn't know what was troubling the blonde.

"Don't you 'what' me!" Naruto yelled while grabbing the redhead's shoulders, successfully halting his steps. "What were you thinking, agreeing to eat lunch with Neji?! You don't trust him and neither do I! Seriously, what-"

Gaara placed a firm hand over him mouth and stated simply, "I'm getting an art studio, that's all that matters."

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he pushed the sand demon's hand away gently. "No it isn't! Gaara, what if he tries something? I won't be there to help!"

A small huff escaped Gaara's lips as he crossed his arms. "I don't need help."

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "You can take care of yourself and all that. It doesn't keep me from worrying! Where are you even going?"

Naruto followed Gaara as he continued his journey down the hallway.

"...Gichi," When he received a raised eyebrow, he decided to elaborate. "Neji's a high-class asshole. I figure going to a low-class cafe will make him squirm a bit."

A brilliant grin broke out over Naruto's face. "You little snake. It's scary how you think of these things."

Gaara hummed in amusement and pushed through the building's doors. His amusement vanished, however, when he spotted Neji talking to Sasuke across the schoolyard. A hand was placed on his shoulder and he looked up at Naruto's worried face.

"I still don't feel comfortable with you going alone."

Gaara gave the blonde a reassuring look before turning his head and whistling sharply. "I won't be alone."

Ryo shot across the schoolyard and was soon resting in Gaara's messy red locks. Naruto laughed and crossed his arms, his body relaxing just a little.

"Alright, I feel a bit better now. Just be sure to text or call me if something goes wrong, ok?" Naruto gave him pleading look that no person with a soul could resist.

Gaara nodded and began heading towards his pale eyed enemy, Naruto watching him the whole way. Neji stopped talking when he noticed the redhead's approach and grinned widely. Sasuke quietly said something to the sorcery demon before walking off.

"Gaara," Neji greeted politely. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming. Ah, and I see you've decided to bring Ryo with you."

Gaara crossed his arms and grunted in response, seeing no reason to actually talk to the other demon. Ryo, on the the other hand, squeaked happily as his tail began to sway back and forth. Neji, not seeming bothered by the lack of response, chuckled softly and began walking towards the parking lot, motioning for the redhead to follow him.

"So, where would you like to go, Gaara? I know of a few nice-"

"Gichi Cafe." Gaara muttered, feeling triumphant when the sorcery demon gave him an irritated look for the interruption.

"Gichi Cafe?" Neji raised a mocking eyebrow, successfully wiping away Gaara's feeling of victory. "You mean that little shack a few blocks from here?"

A small growl escaped the sand demons lips, obviously offended at having his only eating place being called a 'shack'.

Gaara glared at him fiercely, his voice completely serious. "You told me to pick the place, so I did. If you have a problem with it then I'll leave." He turned around just to prove his point and nearly jumped when Neji's hand shot out to grip his arm.

"I never said it was a problem," the sorcery demon stated calmly. "It's just a...different choice than what I'm used to."

Gaara turned back around and met the other demon's gaze challengingly. "Your choice being extravagant and expensive."

Neji's lips curled into a small smile as his eyes remained trained on Gaara's. "I suppose you could say that."

A strange silence invaded the air when neither of them spoke again. It wasn't really uncomfortable, but it wasn't comfortable either. As the silence stretched on, both demons staring at each other, Gaara glanced down at Neji's hand that was still lightly gripping his arm. Realizing that he had yet to let go, Neji cleared his throat and released his grip.

"Well, let's get going shall we?" The sorcery demon smiled as he walked over to a sleek black Camaro, walking over to the passenger's side to open the door.

Gaara raised an invisible eyebrow but said nothing as he walked over and got inside the car. A few seconds later and Neji was seated behind the driver's wheel.

"I'm surprised you drive." Gaara muttered as he put his seatbelt on.

Neji shot him a curious look as he started up the car. "How so?"

Gaara crossed his arms and sunk down in his seat just a little, trying to get more comfortable in the unfamiliar car. "You're rich."

"Are you implying that rich people can't drive?" The sorcery demon asked, the side of his mouth pulling up in a half-smile.

Gaara had to force himself not to snort at the joke. If he had to find one good thing about the bastard, it would have to be his sense of humor. "No," he muttered as if he wasn't amused. "I just figured you had a chauffeur or something that took you wherever you wanted."

Neji chuckled and glanced at the redhead, obviously not buying his passive attitude. "Oh, I do. I decided to get a drivers license because sometimes I just need to get away from everything."

"What do you mean?" Gaara sent him a curious look, slightly put off by the sorcery demon's choice of words.

A thoughtful hum passed Neji's lips as he contemplated on what to say next. "What I mean is that being rich isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Obviously, you think I'm a rich asshole who craves nothing but attention," Gaara opened his mouth to retort but Neji didn't give him a chance. "When in reality, it can be extremely overwhelming."

The sand demon frowned at him, not happy with Neji's sudden cryptic speaking. "And what do you mean by that?"

Neji chuckled and glanced at the redhead. Returning his gaze to the road, he purred, "You might find out if you spend more time with me."

At the suggestive tone in the sorcery demon's voice, Gaara felt heat creep up his spine and rest in his cheeks. "Just keep driving." He hissed, turning his head to keep the other demon from seeing his reddened face.

Neji didn't say another word as he continued driving, but the grin on his face spoke volumes.

~~~CRIMSON SANDS~~~

"Will you sit down already?" Shikamaru asked exasperated. "You're making me tired just by looking at you."

Naruto groaned loudly but stopped his pacing that had been going on for the past five minutes. Him and the gang, minus Gaara, were sitting in their usual spot on the beach while worrying about their redheaded friend.

Plopping down on the sand with a huff, Naruto ran a hand through his blonde spikes and said, "Sorry but I can't help it! I just know that jerk is going to try and do something to Gaara!"

"Like pay for his food?" Choji joked, munching on a bag of chips.

Naruto glared at him and puffed his cheeks out childishly. "Quit joking around, Choji! This might be those jerks trying to get back at us for the cupcake thing!"

"Then why didn't Sasuke and Shino try anything with us?" Kiba asked with frown, stroking Akamaru's head affectionately. "If they were going to get revenge then wouldn't they work together? Maybe Neji's honestly interested in a relationship with Gaara?"

At this, everyone with the exception of Shikamaru gave him an odd look. Could someone as rich and narcissistic as Neji have feelings for someone as vicious and quiet as Gaara?

"No way!" Naruto yelled, crossing his arms. "Neji's intentions can't be good! He's been nothing but mean to Gaara from day one and all he does is provoke him!"

Shikamaru sighed and rolled over onto his stomach to glare lazily at the loud blonde. "Says the person who has years of pent up sexual frustration with Uchiha and deals with it through fighting with him."

Naruto's eyes widened slowly as his face turned an impressive shade of red at the shadow demon's comment. What the hell was with that!? His mouth opened and closed dumbly a few times before he finally managed to get a sentence out.

"My fights with the teme have nothing to do with sexual frustration!" He hissed, face never losing it's rosy hue.

"Mhm," Shikamaru rested his head on his arms, obviously not convinced. "Try telling that to Uchiha's dick."

"Shikamaru!" Naruto hissed, covering his ears. "Who's side are you on?!"

Muttering something about 'troublesome blondes', the shadow demon rolled over to presumably take a nap. Naruto continued to glare at his back before Kiba caught his attention.

"He has a point." The hell hound muttered.

Naruto slowly turned his head towards the dog lover, his expression dark. "Not you too."

Kiba shrugged and grinned widely at his blonde friend. "Oh come on. If anything, you're at least physically attracted to Sasuke. You were practically drooling the last time you saw him with his shirt off-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto hissed, burying his face in his hands. His friends were not teasing him about being attracted to the teme. And he was not thinking about said teme without a shirt on.

Not. At. All.

~~~CRIMSON SANDS~~~

Gaara held in a sadistic grin as he and Neji walked through the doors of Gichi. The unsure look on the sorcery demon's face was enough to bring joy to his cruel side. Coming here was definitely a good choice.

Without a word to the other demon, Gaara walked up to the counter. He was pleased to find a different cashier than the grumpy boy that was there the first time he came to Gichi.

"Hi, what can I get you?" The cashier, a young elf boy, asked with a smile.

Not bothering to look at the menu overhead, Gaara muttered, "A small water and...one piece of strawberry mousse cake." He honestly didn't even want to eat, but he knew that Neji would notice if he bought nothing.

The cashier went to the kitchen to retrieve his food before coming back to ring him up. Gaara picked up his small tray and went to one of the two-seater tables near the back, knowing the bastard would follow him in a few minutes. As he sat down, Gaara silently thanked the gods that there was hardly any customers today. The last thing he needed was for a bunch of people to see him with the white-eyed jerk. On the bright side, Neji was being surprisingly...tolerable today.

Gaara was brought out of his musing by another tray being set down and Neji sliding into the seat in front of him. On the sorcery demon's tray was a small cup of some sort of tea and a good sized bowl of garden salad. The redhead scowled at the bowl, unsure of how anyone could eat so much. Gaara raised his drink to his lips before taking a small sip, almost wincing when the cool liquid harshly dropped into his empty stomach.

"Is that all you're eating, Gaara?" Neji asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

Not giving anything away on his face, Gaara calmly replied, "I had a big breakfast." If he had been talking to one of his siblings, they would have picked up on the lie immediately. Gaara never ate 'big'.

Neji nodded in reply, seemingly satisfied with his answer despite the disbelieving look in his eyes. As the sorcery demon began eating, Gaara cut off a small piece of his cake that didn't have any chocolate on it. Immediately, Ryo jumped down from his dormant position on the sand demon's head and happily began to nibble on the dessert. As they continued to eat, 'they' being Neji and Ryo, silence once again decided to take up position in the air. This time, though, it was most certainly uncomfortable.

As Gaara continued to take small sips of his water, ignoring the pain that it caused in his stomach, he cast short glances towards his eating companion. What game was the Hyuga trying to play? So far, he had done nothing to really get under the redhead's skin like he usually did. There hadn't even been a perverted remark of any kind. This brought Gaara to a very important question.

What the hell is this bastard up to?

"Is something wrong, Gaara?" Neji purred, propping his elbow up on the table and resting his head in his hand.

Gaara quickly snapped out of his daze, realizing with dread that sometime during glancing at the sorcery demon, he'd ended up stopping in a full out stare. Instead of glaring, like he knew the bastard wanted him to, Gaara kept his expression blank as he lifted his glass of water to his lips.

"If we're talking about you, then yes. But I don't think there's enough time in the day to list everything that's wrong with you." His expression remained stoic, giving away nothing.

Neji's lips slowly morphed into smirk as he leaned forward slightly, his voice taking on a dangerous tone. "Well then, maybe you can fix me, hm?"

Narcissistic bastard. The words were out before Gaara could stop them.

"Maybe I can."

Both demons went deathly silent, surprised pearl orbs clashing with confused teal. Slowly, the surprise in Neji's eyes was replaced with a smouldering emotion that Gaara couldn't quite identify.

And quite frankly, he didn't want to.

"Why Gaara," the sorcery demon purred, lacing his hands together under his chin. "Could it be that you're flirting with me?" The delight in his voice could hardly be dismissed.

Oh hell no. Gaara was not going let Neji take control of this conversation by turning him into a flustered idiot. This time he was going to fight back a little.

With a glare, Gaara crossed his arms and muttered in his usual monotone, "And if I was?"

Gaara swore that Neji's gaze went up in temperature, and he couldn't deny the burst of heat the shot down his spine at the look he received. Neji slowly lowered his arms, folding them on the table so could lean forward just a bit more.

"You shouldn't tempt me, Gaara," Neji purred quietly, causing another rush of heat to make it's way down the redhead's spine. "Remember that I'll be the one driving you back to school, and it wouldn't take much for my car to 'break down'."

Shit. Maybe fighting back wasn't the best of ideas. Deciding that the gig was up, Gaara set his signature glare into place.

"I swear I can feel my IQ dropping whenever you open your mouth."

Neji chuckled, smirk still set firmly in place. "That's not very nice, Gaara. I'm sure you know that I'm very intelligent."

Narrowing his eyes in irritation, Gaara hissed, "I've yet to see any actual proof of that."

"I managed to get you to come on a date with me, didn't I?"

Shit, he was right. To get Gaara Sabaku to go on a date with someone, they had to be smart. When Gaara didn't reply, the sorcery demon grinned triumphantly. Ignoring the bastard's grin, Gaara picked up a small piece of cake with his fork and shoved it into his mouth. He regretted it as soon as the cake slid down his throat and landed painfully in his stomach. It felt like someone had punched him straight through the stomach, and Gaara had to force himself from hunching over in pain.

Noticing the uncomfortable grimace on Gaara's face, Neji frowned and reached forward to touch the redhead's shoulder. "Gaara, are you alright?"

Startled by the gentleness of the sorcery demon's voice, Gaara jerked his shoulder back and hissed, "I'm fine."

Neji studied him closely before slowly sitting back, silently returning to his salad. Silence once again enveloped them as Gaara pushed more of his cake towards Ryo and Neji continued to eat. It was a while before Neji decided it was safe to talk to the sand demon without fear of getting his vital regions torn off.

"May I ask you a question, Gaara?"

Gaara slowly lifted his eyes from Ryo and settled them on the sorcery demon. "Go ahead. Even if I said no, I'm sure you'd ask anyways."

The sides of Neji's mouth twitched up in amusement. "You're right, I would have."

Teal eyes glared at him in irritation. "Just ask your question."

"Why will you not let me court you?"

Gaara fell silent at this question, it successfully taking him by surprise. He tossed the sorcery demon's question around in his head for a moment before he felt that he was ready to speak.

"You are a jerk to me and my friends. You're arrogance pisses me off. I'll admit that your physical appearance is attractive but your personality pisses me off enough to override that fact."

Neji hummed and laced his fingers together before resting his chin on them. "All right, I can see how you'd think all that about me, but now I want to ask you another question," the sorcery demon's pearly eyes turned intensely serious as he studied Gaara. "Why do you think I want to court you?"

Gaara frowned as he absorbed the other's question. Ever since Neji announced his intentions of courting the redhead, Gaara hadn't bothered to consider the actual reason behind it. Neji obviously wasn't after power or money, since he already had that, and he certainly didn't want to court him because of his looks. That didn't leave much.

"You're doing it to mess with me." Gaara muttered, glaring at the other demon challengingly.

Now, it was Neji's turn to glare. "To mess with you? Gaara, do you honestly think that I would be willing to go through a process that would lead to me spending the rest of my life with you, just to mess with you?"

Neji's words hit Gaara like a sack of bricks, and he found himself unable to speak. In a normal situation he would dismiss the sorcery demon's words as lies, but the truth in Neji's voice rang sharply in his ears. The bastard actually wanted to court him. Wanted to actually be with him and care for him.

And now Gaara felt extremely uncomfortable. And when did the table get so small? Their chairs suddenly seemed much closer together. And-

"Get your foot off my leg." Gaara hissed.

Neji chuckled in amusement and slowly lowered the tip of his foot back to the floor. "I'm sorry, Gaara, but you seemed to be lost in thought. I figured that I would bring you back down to earth."

"Shut up," Gaara muttered, glaring at the other demon. "Give me five good reasons why I should even consider letting you court me."

A playful gleam shone in the Neji's eye as he grinned at the smaller demon. "Alright then. Number one; I'm a mental challenge for you. You may deny it, but I know you enjoy our word play, Gaara."

Neji tilted his head to the side and Gaara watched as long, silky strands of brown hair fell over the sorcery demon's shoulder.

"Number two," Gaara turned his eyes back to Neji's face, taking note of his smug expression. "You find me to be attractive, even if it's mostly physical attraction," Neji glanced down at his empty bowl and Gaara's empty plate before standing up. "Shall we head back to the car?"

"What about the other three reasons?" Gaara asked as he slowly rose from his seat, gently placing Ryo on his head.

Neji stood up and waited for Gaara to start heading towards the door before following. "Reason three; despite what you may think, we are very compatible. I find it easy to see what irritates you and what pleases you," Neji strode forward and pushed open the store's door for the redhead, earning a glare in return. "Number four; once we are mated, I can easily provide for all of our needs. If you want to work, I understand, but all I'm saying is that you wouldn't have to work."

As they walked outside and to Neji's car, Gaara placed his hand on the door hand and yanked, grunting in irritation once he realized it was locked. As he continued to tug lightly at the handle, Ryo squeaked and hopped onto the top of the car, his tail swaying back and forth happily. The redhead froze when a hand reached around him and placed itself on top of his, followed by the obvious sound of the car being unlocked. Gaara slowly began to turn around and nearly jumped when he found that Neji's face was right next to his.

"Number five," Neji purred lowly in his ear, sending small bolts of electricity shooting down his spine. "At the end of the courting process, I can assure you that I will not disappoint."

Gaara's face slowly turned a light shade of red and he growled in irritation. Before he could let out a slew of insults, Neji lunged forward and caught the redhead's lips with his own. Startled, Gaara whirled around, forgetting that Neji's left hand was still firmly wrapped around his, and successfully wrapped the sorcery demon's arm around him, trapping him.

Seeing his chance, Neji slipped his hand from Gaara's and wrapped it tightly around the redhead's thin waist before backing him into the car. Gaara growled against the taller demon's lips and pushed at his chest, trying to get him to back off. He let out a surprised yelp when Neji nipped at his bottom lip, giving the sorcery demon access to his mouth. A shudder passed through Gaara's body as Neji's slipped his tongue into his mouth, followed by a now familiar mint flavor. Gaara made a small sound of protest and tried to turn his head to side, only to have a warm hand place itself on the back of his neck that prevented him from doing so. Neji tilted his head to the side for better access and slowly ran his tongue along the roof of Gaara's mouth, pleased when the redhead tensed and let out shaky breath. As Neji continued to tease and massage the sand demon's mouth, he slowly began to stroke the nape of Gaara's neck in hopes to calm him down a bit. The reaction he got was not expected.

Is he...purring? Neji thought incredulously.

Sure enough, there was a small, rhythmic rumble coming from Gaara's throat as the sorcery demon continued to stroke the back of his head. Neji chuckled in pleased amusement, noticing how the redhead's body was slowly relaxing. The small red tint on the sand demon's cheeks was surely a good sign as well.

Gaara snapped to attention and Neji tensed as a sharp ringing suddenly ripped through the air. With a growl, Neji pulled back and slowly reached into the redhead's pocket, pulling out his bothersome phone.

He flipped it open and turned around before hissing irritably into the speaker, "What?"

"What the hell? Neji?!"

"Yes, that is who you're speaking to. What do you want, Uzumaki? I was a little busy." The sorcery demon sighed impatiently, not at all pleased with finally having Gaara start to comply with his advanced and then be interrupted.

"Where the hell is Gaara?! Let me talk to him!" The blonde demanded.

"He's busy."

"Don't-"

Neji snapped the phone shut and froze when he heard a car door slam shut. Turning back around, he cursed silently at seeing Gaara sitting in the passenger seat of his car with Ryo on his lap, a rather pissed expression on his pale face. Well, shit. At least the freaking raccoon looked happy.

Silently, Neji walked around the car and got into the driver's seat. He held out the redhead's phone and quickly had it snatched away. Realizing that now probably wouldn't be the best time to start a conversation, Neji started up the car and pulled out of Gichi's parking lot without another word.

~~~CRIMSON SANDS~~~

The black Camaro pulled smoothly into the school parking lot and Neji hesitated before deciding to finally speak to Gaara.

"Thank you for coming out with me, Gaara," Neji said, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I...hope you enjoyed it. I'll have the contract for the storage house wrote up and brought to you tomorrow."

"...Okay," Gaara muttered, unbuckling his seat belt before climbing out of the car. He put Ryo back on his head and paused when he went to shut the car door, his pissed expression still plastered on his face. "...Thank you for the lunch. It was...alright. But it won't happen again." The redhead quickly slammed the door before making way for the beach where his friend would surely be waiting for him.

Neji watched him walk away in shock. In a way, had Gaara just been nice to him? Or was it polite anger? The sorcery demon hummed and leaned back in his seat.

Either way, Neji thought in amusement. He did thank me. It's not much, but it's certainly a start.

End of Chapter 14!

OH MY GOD I'VE LEFT YOU GUYS WAITING FOR SO LONG *sobs*

DOES THIS RARE, LONG ASS CHAPTER MAKE UP FOR IT? PLEASE SAY YES!

Seriously, sorry for taking so long ^^;

PLEASE REVIEW! :3