Ohhh another update. Took me awhile but hey, here's another one! So here you go. Aftermath of a wild house party!

As always feedback is loved!

Naomi groaned as consciousness returned to her. She refused to open her eyes just yet and placed a hand on her head. She could hear her sister shouting down the hall that everyone needed to get up and get cleaned up so that they could get the house clean. Much too loudly.

"What time is it?" She groaned.

"About seven thirty." Gaara responded and she cracked an eye open, noticing he was in bed beside her.

"It's way too early." She groaned, closing her eye and ready to fall back asleep.

"I feel like I've just gone to bed." She heard Ino groan from the other bed.

"To be fair, you two tapped out about 1 AM sooo…" She heard Sai reply.

Naomi sighed and slowly sat up in bed, she placed her head in both of her hands. It was hard to get the room to stop spinning and everything seemed way too loud. "I feel horrible." She muttered.

"Not surprising with how much you drank." Gaara replied.

Naomi blinked slowly, staring at her lap while she cradled her head. She tried to recall how much she drank last night. She couldn't. She couldn't really recall munch to be honest…

"How much did I drink? I can't remember shit." She asked.

Gaara stiffened beside her. His mind reeled. She didn't remember? Well, shit.

"You don't remember anything from last night?" He replied, hoping his voice sounded casual.

"Mmmm, not really. I can recall bits and pieces from early on in the party. All dark after that." She replied, shaking her head. She immediately wished she hadn't and gulped down a wave of nausea. "Why did something happen? Did I do something stupid?" She asked quickly.

"Uhhh no, no not really." Gaara replied quickly. "Right, Sai?" He added, shooting him a glance. Sai raised an eyebrow in response.

"Uh right, nothing crazy. Not like this one." He answered pointing to Ino, she frowned in confusion, trying to recall what he was talking about and then blushed scarlet.

"We made out in front of everyone! Oh god…." She whined, shielding her face with her hands.

"I do vaguely remember that actually." Naomi laughed weakly.

Sai laughed and pulled Ino's hands away from her face. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about." He reassured and placed a kiss on her forehead. Ino's blush darkened before she quickly recomposed herself and glanced around.

"Where's Billboard Brow?" She asked.

"She and Sasuke slipped upstairs sometime late last night, I'd go with his room." Gaara replied, quickly getting out of bed.

Even in her hungover state, Naomi quickly noticed Gaara's mode had gone south. "You ok, Gaara?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm just going to go clean myself up and get started on helping your sister clean. I can hear her calling again." He answered, heading for the door. He wasn't wrong, she could hear her sister shouting again. "A shower might make you feel better." He added and he was out of the room without a second glance.

Naomi blinked at the door and turned to look at the other two. "Did he seem odd to you?" Sai and Ino shrugged in response. Confused and tired Naomi slowly pulled herself out of bed and grabbed a clean set of clothes and her toiletries. "I'm going to try to grab one of the showers before anyone else can." She decided.

Once in the bathroom, she looked over herself in the mirror. She looked like shit, her make-up had smeared all over her face and her hair was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was pretty pale. She was sure there were bags under her eyes hidden beneath all the ruined make up. She glanced down at her pjs, having no memory of ever getting changed into them. Her eyes widened a bit and she grabbed her chest, her bra was still on under her shirt. She relaxed a bit. If she hadn't managed to change herself, she was pretty sure Gaara would have been the one that helped her in her drunken state. As embarrassing as that was, at least he kept her decent.

She got the shower running and stripped out of her clothes. As she stretched and lifted her hair up while scratching the back of her head, about to hop in the shower, something caught her eye. She stared at her reflection with wide eyes and this time purposely held her hair up on top of her head with one hand and touched her neck with the other. She had a hickey! Several of them in fact. Her face burned and she scrambled into the shower, hoping the cool water would cool her down.

"What the hell… What the hell… What the hell…" She groaned as she tried to rack her brain for any memory of what happened. As she stood under the water she tried to relax and think clearly, trying to recall some memories of what transpired. She closed her eyes while she washed her hair, trying to remember anything at all.

A few memories surfaced, just flashes, nothing solid, quick snippets of time. She remembered being mad at Neji, but not what for. She remembered Gaara finding her on the back patio. They talked about something. She remembered Gaara and her alone in the bedroom. She remembered him telling her that they should stop…

Naomi sunk down the shower wall until she was sitting under the water. She stared down at the drain. She had made out with Gaara! She had barely any memory of it either. Her stomach twisted in knots as she tried to process that. Why didn't he tell her about it when she asked what happened? Was he upset that she didn't remember? Did he not remember? Did he remember and just not want to? She recalled the one snippet she could, him saying they should stop… Did he regret what happened then? Is that why he didn't say anything? Maybe he was so quick to leave the room because he felt uncomfortable around her now…

Naomi sighed and blinked back a few tears. Her mind was spinning for two different reasons now and she felt gut wrenched.

"Naomi, hurry up! Other people need to shower!"

Naomi jumped up as she heard Naruto shout and bang on the door. "Just a second!" She shouted, wiping away her tears. She finished showering at lightning speed and wrapped herself in a towel. She grabbed her clothes and just ripped the door open instead of getting dressed.

"Sorry, go ahead." She smiled weakly and shifted passed him, trying to get back to her room.

"Are you ok?" He asked bewildered.

"Fine, just lost track of time sobering up in the shower." She waved and darted back into her room.

Ino and Sai jumped in surprise when she reentered. The two had been snuggling and talking quietly when she came in. "Why are you still in your towel?" Ino asked confused.

"Oh um, Naruto rushed me out of the bathroom." She shrugged and then shifted her feet. "Do you mind giving us some privacy, Sai?" She added.

"Human anatomy doesn't faze me." He shrugged but got up anyway. "See you guys downstairs." He replied and left the room.

When they were alone Naomi turned her back to Ino to get dressed. Ino looked away as well. "Are you alright? I'll give Naruto some shit for making you run around in a towel." She laughed.

"No, it's fine." She reassured, turning back around after she had put on a bra and underwear. Before she could say more, the door reopened and Hinata stepped into the room, quickly shutting the door behind her.

"Are you ok Naomi? Naruto-kun said you looked upset when you came out of the bathroom." She asked.

Naomi sighed and sat on her bed, twisting her shirt in her hands. "Not really…" She muttered and proceeded to tell them what she remembered, what little there was to remember.

"And I don't know if he's pretending that he doesn't remember, or if he doesn't remember at all himself." She finished. "Maybe he doesn't want to remember… maybe he thinks it was a mistake…" She mumbled.

Ino and Hinata glanced at each other. "Or maybe he was just upset that you didn't remember." Ino reasoned.

"You didn't remember making out with Sai and he had no problem jogging your memory and reassuring you it was ok, you're all couply now!" She retorted.

"Well I mean, we had an audience apparently so it wasn't like I wouldn't have found out." Ino replied.

"And Gaara said we should stop; I remember that one detail clearly." Naomi continued to press.

"Well, maybe he was saying that because of how drunk you were. He didn't want to take advantage of you." Hinata reasoned.

"….Maybe…. I don't know…" Naomi sighed.

"Well, you won't know, not until you talk to him about it." Ino retorted.

"I… I don't wanna bring it up. Not if he doesn't want to." Naomi shook her head.

"You really should." Hinata encouraged and Naomi just shook her head.

"Well, if you don't wanna talk about it, better cover those up." Ino stated with a shrug and pointing to the marks on Naomi's neck.

Naomi blushed and quickly covered her neck with her hands. "You're right. Shit." She grumbled.

Naomi quickly finished getting dressed and got out her make up bag. With some help from Ino she had just finished covering the last of the marks up when Sakura entered the room.

"There you three are. Most of everyone else is up and moving. Sasuke said you guys can use the shower in his bathroom if needed." She stated. She had already showered and was wearing a pair of pajamas that looked suspiciously like Sasuke's.

"I'll probably take him up on that offer." Ino stated, quickly stepping away from Naomi and going to grab her things.

"I'll use whatever bathroom is free." Hinata smiled.

"Sooo, how was your night guys?" Sakura grinned.

"I think we should ask you that, Billboard Brow." Ino smirked.

"My night was fantastic." She grinned, a slight blush raising to her cheeks.

"Oh, I bet." Ino snickered.

Naomi forced out a laugh as well and quickly packed away all of her things. "I'll see you guys downstairs. Gonna go help clean." She stated quickly. "Oh, and congrats Sakura." She winked before slipping out of the room.

Once out of the room she shook her head. She didn't want to hear Sakura and Ino gush about how happy they were to have gotten with their men. Forcing herself to regain her composure she headed downstairs to the kitchen. Although the idea of food turned her stomach, she wanted to eat something and take something for her throbbing headache.

Gaara scowled as he picked up cups and tossed them into a trash bag. He wasn't too surprised to see the house was pretty wrecked after the night of partying. It was good that there were so many people to help clean it up. He tossed another cup into the bag and sighed.

"You should just talk to her." Gaara sighed as his angel-self appeared, hovering over some garbage.

"She doesn't remember." He replied quietly, afraid someone might overhear him.

"Her memory's bound to come back." It reasoned.

"Maybe not, black out drunk, sometimes you never recall." The devil retorted.

"Well then, he still tells her anyway." The angel shrugged.

"What's the point?" Gaara muttered.

"What do you mean what's the point? You confessed your love after moments of blissful passion, you got the girl!" It encouraged and the devil snorted.

"'Blissful passion'? You mean sloppy drunk fueled make out session." It laughed.

"I haven't gotten anything. She doesn't remember I told her how… how I feel." He whispered back at the two.

"So, you tell her again." The angel pressed.

"And hope she doesn't immediately have to puke afterwards this time." The devil snickered.

"I can't… what if…. What if that only happened because she was drunk?" He hissed.

He hated that she couldn't remember what happened between them nor his confession. It twisted his stomach. He had hoped when she woke up, she might be a bit embarrassed but still say it back. Instead she had no memory. Surely if it really meant something to her, she'd remember some of it… He also hated to see Sai and Ino couple up after their recollection of what went down between them. He hated Sasuke's smug face as he passed him while they cleaned, clearly pleased with how his night transpired. Even Naruto managed to get some action on this weekend getaway. Though he didn't harbor much jealousy towards his best friend, the two had been together for quite some time already. Still, he realized that his circle of friends were rapidly paring up now and he…. He wasn't. He wasn't sure if he could muster up the courage to tell her how he felt all over again.

Gaara continued to ignore his little insanities bicker as he continued to pick up trash. As he rounded a corner, he jumped a bit in surprise, having almost bumped into Naomi. She also looked startled and he noticed she blushed then shifted her gaze to the floor. Both insanities shut up instantly to watch.

"Hey." She stated, planting a smile on her face.

Gaara took in her appearance. She had showered and cleaned up, he also noticed she was already wearing her jacket despite being indoors and he could tell there was a surprising amount of makeup on her neck compared to the rest of her face. Then it dawned on him, there was evidence. Did she know he left the marks?

"Hey." He replied, a bit awkwardly.

Naomi chewed on her lip for a moment then took a deep breath and started talking rapidly. "I remembered a little bit about stuff that happened last night. Not everything, just pieces. I remember we uh… made out a bit…" She stated quickly, blushing darker.

Gaara's eyes widen in surprise. So, she did remember something. "…Do you…do you remember what I said?" He pressed, trying to suppress any sign of hopefulness in his voice.

"….Uh yea… I do… I remember you saying we need to stop." She answered, suddenly looking sad. "I'm sorry. I probably came onto you while I was drunk off my ass. That was stupid. I shouldn't have just thrown myself at you like a crazy person." She continued, forcing a smile on her face.

Gaara just blinked at her in utter confusion. She didn't remember he told her he loved her? Just that they should stop? Why did she look so upset at the knowledge of what happened?

"I just said that we should stop because you were really drunk." Gaara answered slowly. "I didn't want to take advantage of you and do something we'd both regret in the morning." He finished and frowned in confusion as her shoulders slumped slightly. She looked almost like she was going to cry.

"Something you'd regret huh?" She mumbled and then plastered an attempt at a smile on her face. "No worries. Like you said, I was super drunk. I'm glad you stopped it then. We'll just blame the booze, ok? First time I partied that hard, so I went a little nuts. Probably would've thrown myself at anyone in that state. I'm at least glad that it was you then since you put a stop to it and took care of me. You're a great friend. So, don't feel like you need to regret anything, completely my fault. We'll just forget about it and pretend it never happened. Ok? Ok good." She rushed out and quickly spun on her heel and bolted out of the room.

"Wha- what Naomi, wait!" Gaara called after her but she was already gone.

"What the hell just happened?" He wondered out loud.

Both his angel and devil self also stared in confusion and shrugged their shoulders. "Hell, if I know." They both replied.

"I believe the term is putting your foot in your mouth." A voice stated and Gaara turned around to see Shikamaru standing in the room.

"How long have you been there?" He demanded.

"Not long, just long enough to hear your conversation." He replied with a shrug.

"Don't breathe a word to anyone." Gaara hissed, taking a step towards him.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He shrugged.

"….What did you mean anyway?" Gaara asked after a pause.

"Women are crazy. You said the wrong thing." He replied matter-of-factly.

"How so? I told her I didn't want to take advantage of her. How is that a bad thing?" He snapped. He didn't want to talk about this anymore. But, Shikamaru had heard them and maybe his genius brain could help understand what went wrong just now.

"You told her you didn't want to do something you'd both regret. She came in here to talk to you about having very little memory of what went down between you two. She wanted clarification. In her mind, you clarified it. She thinks you think your little make out session was a mistake and that you stopped it from going any further because you weren't interested." He reasoned.

"Of course, I was fucking interested!" Gaara hissed, frustrated at this turn of events. "It took everything I had to not take advantage of her throwing herself at me." He added, throwing his hands up. "I wasn't sure if she was only behaving that way because of how drunk she was. I would have regretted taking advantage of her.. And I was afraid she'd regret it. Would she rather have had me do whatever I wanted regardless of her feelings on the matter?" He finished.

"In her drunken state, probably." Shikamaru snickered and Gaara scowled at him. "Look, you did the right thing. It's just, you worded it wrong to her. She's hurt by taking what you said and twisting it to fit her insecurities."

"….I didn't want to get hurt by letting things proceed and her waking up in the morning thinking it was a mistake.." Gaara sighed. "And if she remembered what else I said last night, we wouldn't be having this miscommunication in the first place." He added irritably.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Why? What else did you say?"

"It doesn't matter." Gaara replied quickly, shaking his head.

"Well, whatever." Shikamaru shrugged, pushing himself away from the wall he was leaning against. "Point stands, she's upset because she now thinks you didn't want her. That's an easy fix, tell her how you feel. It's very obvious how she feels about you." He stated.

"….She also did say she'd probably have thrown herself at anyone…" Gaara muttered, his own insecurities building back up.

"Dude, she said that to try to 'fix' the situation. Did she throw herself at anyone other than you last night?" He sighed shaking his head.

"No.. and she was pissed that Neji made a pass at her." He reasoned, thinking about it.

"Exactly."

"She also said she wanted to forget and pretend it didn't happen." He pointed out.

"Again, telling you what she thought you wanted to hear. She ran out of here in trying not to cry man. She ain't forgetting what happened between you."

Gaara scowled at the wall. "When did you become an expert on women?" He asked, turning the topic away from himself.

"I'm not. Women are troublesome pains in the ass." He shrugged. "Even with my IQ I can't understand them most of the time. But in that case, that was easy." He added, preparing to leave the room.

"I've helped your sister with some psychology course work too. Some useful information in those textbooks."

"You do an awful lot of studying with my sister." Gaara replied, eyes narrowing.

"Among other things." He muttered quietly, unable to resist, before coughing to cover it up. "You know she's studying psychology because she wants to help your crazy ass and people like you right?" He stated quickly.

Before they could talk much further, they heard some of the others shout about what chores still needed to be finished. Quickly they got back to work cleaning. Gaara continued to think about what he had said. He had a chance to express to Naomi what he felt for her and he blew it. Now he had to figure out how to fix the mess he made.

It took several hours for everyone to get up, get themselves cleaned up, and get the house clean. However, Megumi was a tyrant and an expert at getting the hoard of hungover zombies moving and cleaning. By eleven the house was clean, anyone who came up to the house to party and crashed there had left, and they were loading up the vans to head home.

Naomi didn't talk much while she cleaned, though to be fair many of her friends didn't talk much. There was some chatter here and there but for the most part everyone worked in silence. She did, however, do her best to avoid Gaara. She avoided Ino and Hinata for that matter as well, not wanting them to ask if she talked to him or not. She knew she couldn't avoid him forever, but for now she wanted to get her emotions under control. A little voice in the back of her mind told her that she was taking what he said out of context, but all her heart wanted to hear was that he said regret and stop.

When it was time to head home, she almost asked to switch seats with someone else, worried it would be too hard to sit next to him right now. However, she didn't want to draw attention to the fact that she was purposely avoiding him now and cause questions. So, when they loaded up in the van, she crawled into the back with him but purposely put the middle seat between them. She tried her best to give him a weak smile though. She quickly pulled out her phone and headphones, putting them in and leaning her head against the glass. She would listen to music and just not talk to anyone. She did notice though that Neji was standoffish as well. He barely spoke to her and kept his distance. She had a vague memory of getting mad at him last night, but she couldn't remember why.

Thankfully with everyone so tired and or hungover the drive was quiet all around and nobody really noticed her silence or mood. Occasionally she caught Gaara watching her out of the corner of her eye. She closed her eyes and decided she would try to sleep. Maybe she'd be able to remember what other dumb things she did last night.

While she rested with her eyes closed and listened to soft music, she felt a hand touch hers. She squinted her eyes open and glanced down to see that Gaara had reached out and grabbed her hand. She stared at it and then at him. He was purposely staring out of his window and not looking at her, but she saw in his reflection that he gave a very small smile and squeezed her hand. She continued to look at him in confusion but tentatively squeezed it back before looking away from him. She wasn't sure what to make of that. As she turned to look back out her window, she caught Neji's eye. He had glanced back and saw their hand holding but didn't comment or scowl, instead he gave a weak smile and turned to look out his own window, a sad look in his eyes.

Naomi frowned in confusion at that and finished facing her window, zoning out as she stared out of it. She tried really hard to remember what happened between her and Neji. As she continued to dwell on it, slowly fragments came to. He told her he was sorry. He kissed her. She didn't kiss him back. He told her he'd stop pursing her. He left her alone outside. Gaara found her. She shook her head, fuzzy on details that came next but knowing that somehow, they ended up in the bedroom where he told her to stop.

Well that at least explained why Neji was acting weird towards her. At least she no longer had that complication to deal with. Although, if Gaara truly still wasn't interested in her, maybe she should give Neji a chance. Then again Gaara was currently holding her hand with zero explanation. Naomi sighed and tried to go to sleep. She didn't want to think about much anymore.

While Naomi slept, she had a very strange dream. In her dream she led Gaara upstairs to the bedroom at the lake house. She pulled him inside and pushed him against the door while she kissed him. He made a feeble protest about slowing down that she ignored. Then he was in charge and walked her to the bed. He pinned her to the bed and she tried to start taking his clothes off. He suggested that they should stop but didn't stop kissing her. She agreed but didn't stop kissing him. He pulled back just slightly and spoke. He told her he loved her…. And she nearly puked on him in response.

Naomi snapped her eyes open, waking up from her dream. She felt heat raise to her face. Was that just a dream? Or was that what had happened last night? She glanced over at Gaara out of the corner of her eye. He was zoning out the window. She chewed on her cheek, she wanted to ask him about it. Yet, she was afraid of bringing the topic up again. She also didn't want the others to overhear. She decided she'd talk to him about it later, when they could be alone. When she could muster up the courage. Maybe more memories would come back by then and she'd know if it was just a dream or not. Her stomach twisted in knots again.

When they finally arrived back at the Uchiha estate everyone was more than happy to unload out of the vans. Everyone quickly started saying their goodbyes to one another, eager to get home and rest. As Naomi put her and her sister's bags in their car, she saw Gaara make his way over to her. Kankuro, Chichi, and Temari were loading up their car and Megumi was saying goodbye to Itachi.

"Hey." He stated when he reached her.

"Hey." She replied and shifted her weight from one foot to the next.

"I don't want things to be weird between us." He stated. "I think there was some miscommunication this morning…." He added.

"Bro, let's go. You can be lovey dovey another day. I'm hungover and hungry!" Kankuro shouted at him.

Both Naomi and Gaara flushed a bit. "Can I call you tonight to talk about this some more?" He muttered.

"Sure." She nodded and he turned to walk away. "Hey, just uh real quick. Did I um almost puke on you last night?" She asked quickly. Gaara blinked at her in surprise.

"You did yea, shoved me away and barely made it to the bathroom." He replied. She remembered that detail…. Did she remember right before that?

"Oh. Ok." She blushed darker and wondered if that meant her dream was a real memory. "I'll talk to you tonight then. About some stuff you said… yea?" She asked cracking a small smile.

Gaara's eyes widened in surprise, hoping she meant what he thought she did. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Let's go!" Kankuro shouted again, honking the horn to the car.

Naomi shook her head and laughed, nodding for him to go ahead and go. Gaara nodded and went over, ready to strangle his brother.

Megumi came up to the car next and the two girls hopped in and headed home. "Did you have a good time?" Megumi winked as they drove.

"I did yea. I think. Don't remember a lot to be honest." Naomi replied.

"Well, no one burned the house down or broke anything expensive, so I'd say it was a successful party." Megumi grinned.

When they arrived home, they were a little surprised to see their dad's car gone but shrugged it off. Now that they were home however, Naomi felt a new twist in her stomach. Their mother planned to announce the divorce at dinner tonight… She still hadn't really processed how she felt about that.

When they got inside Naomi was nearly knocked over by her dogs. The three jumped around like complete spazzes and it was hard to get them to settle down. She laughed at their antics and forced her way passed them after giving each a scratch behind the ears and went upstairs to put her stuff down. She wanted to lay down and rest until the awkward family dinner began. She laid down for maybe thirty minutes at most then she heard Megumi calling her to come downstairs.

"What's up?" She asked as she followed the sound of her sister's voice into the kitchen.

"Your dogs made a huge mess." Megumi stated, pointing to the pantry. The dogs had gotten into it and knocked over the container that held all of their food. Kibble was all over the floor, a good amount of it eaten already.

"That's weird." Naomi muttered and sighed, she didn't wanna clean any more today. "They never get into the pantry." She continued and went to grab a broom.

"Maybe mom or dad forgot to feed them?" Megumi shrugged, grabbing a dustpan to help here with it. "Where are they anyway?" She mused.

Once the two girls had finished cleaning up the mess, they sat at the kitchen counter to relax for a moment. Megumi handed Naomi a tall glass of water. "Drink, you're gonna want to rehydrate." She chuckled and then pulled out her phone. "I've got a bunch of missed calls apparently." She frowned. "Stupid shitty signal while we were out in the mountains."

"From Haruka or dad?" Naomi asked curiously.

"No, don't recognize the number. It called a bunch though. Lemme check and see if they left a voicemail." She shrugged. As she was about to do that, they heard the doorbell ring. Naomi stood up to go get it. "No, you sit. Drink that water. I got it." She insisted.

Megumi set her phone down and got up to go answer the door. Naomi watched her leave and drank the glass like she was told. She gazed around the kitchen then glanced down at Megumi's phone when she heard it chime. It was a text from Itachi telling her to call him immediately, it was urgent. She blinked in surprise while grabbing her sister's phone so she could bring it to her.

Naomi made her way out of the kitchen and to the front door. Megumi's phone in one hand and water in the other. She slowed down her walk when she noticed Megumi was talking to two police officers at the door.

"You are Miss Megumi Yakuzawa, correct?" One of the officers asked and Megumi nodded.

"We need you to come with us. There's been an accident. We're sorry to have to tell you like this, but we need the next of kin to make a positive identification on the bodies."

Naomi never felt the glass slip from her fingers. She barely heard the shatter as her sister let out a wail and nearly collapsed to her knees. If not for one of the officers catching her in time. Naomi felt the earth slip out from under her. She realized she had fallen over but didn't feel the fall. Her hand landed on some of the broken glass from her water cup, she didn't feel it. There was a ringing in her ears, and she could barely hear her sister's sobs. She felt hot tears running down her face but didn't realize she was crying. She sat there frozen as the waves of emotions began to roll in. The second officer moved passed Megumi and approached Naomi to check on her while the first continued to let Megumi clutch onto him and sob.

AND CLIFFHANGER MUAHAHAHAHAH

I promise I'll do my best to stay on-top of updating this story with such a dramatic chapter ending lol.

Feedback is always appreciated!