Disclaimer: I do not own anything, only my imagination.

Gaara panted hard, his eyes shut tight as his trembling hand made its way under his trousers to take hold of the painful arousal underneath, his dry mouth letting out a hiss at the contact of his cold hand against his heated flesh.

He bit his lower lip hard. Gods, he still had the taste of Neji in his mouth and it didn't help one bit in this kind of predicament.

He knew it was wrong, to be thinking of another man while getting rid of his 'problem'; he knew that he should be thinking of a woman's breasts and pretty face, but he was thinking instead of Neji's well toned chest and rear, besides, Neji could make one gorgeous girl if you only pictured him in those long and ridiculously constricting attires women liked to wear those days. It felt wrong and dirty, but at the same time pleasurable and he couldn't help but moan Neji's name under his breath while he touched himself.

He should be mortified and disgusted with himself. It wasn't right and it would never be, whatever he was feeling should be evaded for the rest of eternity (or at least for the rest of his life). But then, why the hell did it felt so damn good?!

Morals, pride and better judgment go to hell.

The strokes became more and more desperate as release became imminent; his mind now hazy and an incoherent mess of muddled thoughts thrown together, the majority being fantasies involving one black haired and white eyed Hyuuga, His rosy and luscious lips on him, kissing every inch of his body, pleasuring him whilst wearing that arrogant smirk in his face.

His breath became ragged and erratic and his imagination grew to be more vivid and wild; his eyes remained tightly shut and his mouth slightly parted in a silent scream. He started to pump himself faster and harder until his breath hitched, his eyes shot open and his back arched; the pleasure was too powerful, too intense, almost to the point of unbearable and all he could see was white dots as a sticky substance erupted from his manhood without delay, his tense muscles slacked down as the heated wave of pleasure hit him full force, and he let out the breath he had been holding unconsciously when the pleasure disappeared. Pulling away his hand from his now limp member and cleaning himself as well as he could, the redhead stood up and walked his way towards ´home´, still in a daze from his previous activity.

Neji was never the type of lad who got impressed easily; he was never one to be left speechless. He prided in the fact that he was always collected, coolheaded and had a way with words, But now, as he gazed at his own rather disheveled appearance, abused red lips and widened eyes in the full mirror in his room, he couldn't even bring himself into thinking about what had happened just a few minutes ago. What would he do now? Try to talk to the redhead or just simply avoid him? He had pondered again and again about it, but he couldn't bring himself to a conclusion. He knew it was just a matter of days until his uncle closed the deal with those spiteful Normans and they'll take away that…obnoxious redhead. He bit his lower lip mercilessly, thinking very hard about the last bit of information provided to him not too long ago by a very anxious and exited uncle. It seemed as if it was yesterday that the other teen had arrived (more of invaded) his dwelling and befriended both his cousins in a blink of an eye. That so proclaimed cruel assassin hadn't shown even a speck of violence in the course of the weeks, he had been nice and calm all along and he even laughed at Hanabi's stupid jokes…he was just…he wasn't acting like the bloodlust beast everyone feared.

He guessed that maybe he, just like everybody else had been misinformed, that the oblivious redhead was just another pawn the king used for his advantage due to his masterful skills with the sword…But what about his lost family, the one that had been cruelly assassinated by the redhead then? Gaara couldn't be as innocent as he portrayed himself to be…maybe it all was a pretending, maybe he was just trying to befriend them and then he would kill them all. Neji sighed and closed his eyes, trying to ease some of the tension he had been growing in his back. His muscles ached, and there was a small discomfort in his own persona; he felt tainted, filthy, for he could still feel the warrior's ghostly lips ravishing his own, his persistent tongue making its way into his mouth boldly, he could still feel his hands around his neck, where they had left bruising marks, and his scent lingered in Neji's neck and shoulders, wafting tauntingly to his nose, provoking him, whispering in small cruel voices what a whore he was, that letting the man touch him in such an immoral way could not be accepted or by any means permitted. Neji shook away all the thoughts, for they were evidently throwing him on edge. So many emotions in his mind were overwhelming to the point of not be able to discern what he felt anymore, and gods how he hated it, it was slowly but surely driving him insane.

Splashing some water into his heated face, he tried to compose himself before leaving his bedroom. It was way too hot and tiny to be in there; he needed space to think, to breath...As he stormed outside, ignoring successfully both his confused cousins, he came face to face with the last human being he wanted to confront, the one that had awakened so many emotions within him in such a short amount of time and always managed to make him drop both his unfeeling mask and his composure so easily.

Those haunting turquoise eyes widened with bewilderment before they searched franticly for an exit, anything that could provide him a loophole from what was sure to be a rather awkward encounter, and alas, there was none. He was doomed.

The redhead cleared his suddenly dry throat and combed an annoying crimson strand out of his eyes, looking anywhere but the other male in front.

Hinata noticed the sudden tension between both with perked curiosity; sure there had always been a strain between the two, but it had never been this strong. She pretended to be sewing an old coat from her father while she threw sneaky glances at them with her pale eyes, trying to decipher what was wrong between the two, if she hadn't known better, she would have believed the scene unraveling before her eyes was one of disagreeing lovers. She frowned, trying to discern what was going on, but failing miserably. Gaara straightened his posture almost immediately, still refusing to stare at the other, too ashamed of his impulsive actions in the forest to even look at the brunette in the face. Neji frowned and arched a delicate dark eyebrow at him.

"Neji" The redhead saluted, bowing his head at him.

The Hyuuga merely threw his head to the side and stepped outside the cabin. The redhead sighed as soon as the door was shut behind him and let his rigid shoulders to slouch. Hinata didn't know what to make out of the scene displayed before her just seconds before, but she still pretended to be sewing now a pair of overstretched socks. The redhead merely threw her a glance of recognition before locking himself up in his bedroom for the rest of the day, and hopefully, the rest of his life.

Gaara decided it was time to get out from his hiding place, his actions seemed to be too absurd and it was starting to annoy him. He wanted to confront Neji, and by that he meant to do it right away. But then again, he didn't know what to say to the other male, he just couldn't plant himself in front of him, demand attention from the "oblivious" brunette and say "hey I'm sorry if I tried to rape you, I didn't wanted it to be that way" he sighed while rubbing his tired eyes, he didn't know how to confront him and he was sure that Neji didn't know how to either because both of them had deviously avoided the other.

His stomach decided to grumble for the tenth time that morning. He rolled his eyes and stood up. He needed to eat; he had starved himself for two days consecutive and he couldn't stand his demanding stomach anymore, so pride, be gone.

Taking a shaky breath, the redhead darted outside, only to face a surprised Hinata, who greeted him with her gentlest smile, welcoming him to sit with her.

"...And I thought you were going to die of starvation, I think I'm quite pleased to know that you aren't dead"

The redhead smiled, sitting besides the small woman.

"Here, have some bread and oatmeal."

Gaara thanked her and tried to eat as properly and as quickly as he could and not disturb her, he didn't wanted to see Neji...He wasn't ready to confront him.

As if reading his mind, the young woman said, "Don't worry, my cousin left to do some errands, he won't come back until late" The redhead almost choked on the oatmeal, blushing tremendously. His actions were observed by the girl with mild curiosity.

"Pray tell, what happened between you two?"

The warrior shook his head and drank water greedily, trying to gain some time for him to elaborate a story. He disliked lying, and even more to Hinata, she had been nothing but nice to him…but he couldn't tell her the truth, the last thing he wanted was a fainted Hinata lying on the floor. "Well…we kind of…disagreed in a matter…and I guess it went awkward for both of –"

the girl frowned, her pretty eyes glistening with the morning light like a pair of diamonds before interrupting him.

"you're lying" she said with disbelief.

Gaara sighed and looked away, attempting to hide his shame. The girl continued talking, not noticing his clear discomfort on the subject.

"I knew that my cousin is quite a disagreeable man, but I didn't know he would be uncivil to you-" It was now time for the redhead to shook his head, sending crimson locks over his face.

"No…he wasn't uncivil to me…in fact, I was the one uncivil…I just don't know how to apologize to him" he trailed off, fixing his gaze on the rough wooden surface of the table.

The young woman let out an audible "oh", fixing her own eyes to the suddenly interesting patterns in the surface of the table.

"Can I get informed?" the boy snapped his gaze forward, completely at loss of what to say now. He couldn't lie, not anymore.

"I can tell you the truth, but I'm afraid of your reaction" he said truthfully and the dark haired girl looked directly into his eyes to prove her point.

"I promise I won't tell".

Suddenly feeling his throat dry, the redhead drank some mead before popping the news to her.

"I was disrespectful to your cousin" he stated finally, now fixing his gaze on the wall behind the puzzled girl, who was trying to understand his statement.

"Did you…by any chance hit him?" she asked dreadfully and the redhead shook his head negative, the blush staining his cheeks darkening considerably. The girl frowned, if he didn't hit her cousin, then what could he have done to disrespect him? Coming finally to a very disturbing realization, her eyes widened dramatically, while a blush of her own made its presence known.

"You didn't…-" "Yes" he responded strongly, now looking away from her, too ashamed to see her straight into her eyes, which seemed to be way too painfully alike Neji's, with the only exceptions that Neji's eyes were lighter and sharper.

She stuttered, her eyes widening even more because of his response. She resembled a fish out of water, her mouth wide open trying to articulate a sound, a sound that refused to go out of her mouth. The redhead finally dared to look at her with disturbed eyes. He was scared, ashamed and nervous, she could tell right away.

"I'm scared of this…you don't understand how I'm feeling now. I have no idea of my identity, I don't want to be a burden to your family, I want to help but I can't…I can't remember anything and its frustrating!" She released a long sigh, rubbing her temples; she didn't know what to do say or do anymore. She surely felt sympathy for the redhead, but he had left her speechless and confused beyond comprehension…if she decided to help him she knew that her family would accuse her of treason and they would disinherit her and send her away, and she couldn't afford to leave her sister with them.

"Look, I'm going to tell you the truth, and by doing so I'm probably would be better off dead for my family, but I can't stand lying to you anymore. It's killing me" the male snapped open his eyes wide for the second time, but now it was with surprise.

"The truth?!...what do you mean?" his eyes widened like saucers as the weight of realization hit him hard.

"You know something about me?!" he cried, grabbing her by her collar rudely, a glint of insanity in his insomnia circled eyes.

"You know something about me!" The girl winced, fear evident in her eyes. The redhead immediately let go of her apron, apologizing for his action. "I deserve it" she whispered, leaning back in her chair.

"Look, we need to discuss this somewhere more private" she said, darting her eyes to the door. The redhead frowned, but nodded nonetheless. The girl leaned towards him, "Listen to me carefully. I'll see you by the entrance of the woods at dusk, make sure nobody sees you leave" she whispered and as soon as she ended the sentence she stood up and walked away silently, leaving a very puzzled redhead behind to ponder on her words.

Neji wiped some sweat out of his forehead, his eyes watching carefully at the old woman lying down on the table, a worried looking husband by her side, gripping her hand in reassurance.

"Is she alright?" he asked hopeful, Neji unbound his hair and redid the braid again, only this time into a high ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. The stubborn old lady frowned at both of them before replying indignantly,"I said I was fine, you useless men!"

Neji opted to just roll his eyes and continue his inspection of the angry slashes on her age marked skin. "Just keep holding her hands, we don't want her to hurt herself even more" he said to the man as he removed the quite wide shards of glass off her leg with utmost care, so she wouldn't suffer much.

"I'm fine!" she cried, trying to get away from her husband's grip. Neji ignored her and threw the bloodied pieces into a tray and faced the elderly couple. "What happened?" the old man stared at his wife with a desperate and angry glare, as if reprehending her for her cantankerous behavior before replying. "She was holding a vase while climbing down the stairs and then…she misplaced her footing and fell…" Neji nodded and say no more before he traced her injured leg with his fingers with his eyes closed, searching for a broken bone. He wouldn't be surprised if he found one. Falling at the age of the woman can be very dangerous, it could even kill her. When he found nothing wrong besides the wounds, he smiled at them. "You are very lucky" he said to the woman, offering her a small smile. She opted to just glare at him with her eyes. Neji applied an ointment on her wounds and when he finished he asked the spirited woman if she didn't hurt anywhere else. With a rotund no for an answer, the old woman sprang to a sitting position and shooed their hands away from her. She certainly hated to be lying down on some table in front of two men…how unlady-like of her!

"She shall be alright if you do as I tell you..." Neji said before turning around, searching for something in the old cupboard across the room. He took out one tiny crystal bottle filled with a green powder. Pulling it in front of the man's eyes, he said in a slow and clear voice

"You will mix this in whatever herbal tea you wish, you will make sure she drinks it and then…-" he took out another bottle, this one filled with a green ointment. "–you will apply this ointment on her wounds, just like I did right now. The injury will heal in no time, I promise. She just needs to rest for a while, make sure she doesn't do any strenuous activities, and by that I mean house chores…even walking can injure her further".

Nodding carefully, the man took the offered medicines. The woman defiantly stood up and pointed at the young man accusingly. "What's that you want my husband to mix with my tea? I will not be surprised if you both try to poison me so you could get rid of me!" she cried like a lunatic.

Neji sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the building headache this woman was causing him before replying. "The powder your husband will mix into your tea are crushed Burdock roots, which will be the one in charge to strengthen your immune system, while the ointment contains both Aloe Vera and Burdock roots. The Aloe Vera will heal your wounds and the burdock roots acts as a disinfectant and anti-inflammatory." Neji finished with his cold, yet kind voice.

The woman nodded, pleased by his ever polite responses before smiling a toothless smile at him. "You're quite the gentleman, I am sure you have lots of lasses hanging from your arms" Neji smiled politely and gave the herbal medicines to the concerned husband that as soon as he had tucked the medicine into his bag grabbed his wife's hands tightly, assuring her that he was there. "We don't have much with us-" the man said, sadness clearly evident in his partially blind eyes. Neji decided to interrupt, he knew where the man was heading and he didn't want to hear it. "Don't worry about it, just go home" Neji waved his hand in a casual manner while putting away the tray. The man smiled as wide as the muscles in his cheeks would let him and shook the younger male's hand fervently with his free hand. "Thank you" the old man said before they walked outside with careful steps.

The brunette smiled softly. If there was something he liked was to help people. "You need to stop being so soft and give medicine freely, Hyuga" a dark haired male said, his obsidian eyes fixed on the almost empty cupboard. "If my father gets informed about this…benevolent behavior of yours he would likely throw you out of here"

the addressed teen turned around to face the other with his infamous glare, a fine dark eyebrow raised. "Are you threatening me, Uchiha?" he asked with an eerily calm voice. The dark haired boy smirked, leaning back on the wall, unfazed by the dark glare thrown at him.

"Why, Hyuuga, I'm quite shocked. What makes you believe I am threatening you?" he sneered. "Because you can, and you're actually threatening me." Those cold obsidian eyes glistened with mirth.

"Don't worry…your secret its safe with me…you only need to find a way to explain your lack of money and medicine to my father" Neji smirked, his eyebrow still arched as he remembered something that would surely make the other shut up. "Oh don't you worry about that…your secret is safe as well… I swear I won't tell much to your brother and father about your ah, interesting relationship with that Uzumaki kid"

The smirk fell off almost immediately from the other's face to be replace by a deep scowl. He had clearly hit a nerve. "Don't you dare, Hyuga" he growled, glaring at him with such intensity that might as well make his head fall off. Neji smirked, liking how things had turned to his advantage. "It's pretty simple, really…-" the brunette closed the cupboard and opened the door, ready to leave as quickly as he could when he finished talking, for he knew that the boy had quite a temper and the least thing he wanted was a fight.

"-you don't tell a word and I won't" then he turned around and closed the door silently behind him, leaving a very infuriated Sasuke behind who almost immediately started to vent his frustration by banging his fist on the poor wall.

Gaara didn't know what to make out of Hinata's sudden mysterious behavior, but he was relieved and excited at the same time, he was finally going to know his name, and hopefully, his whole identity would be revealed. His eyes were fixed on the glaring sun that was now perishing in the horizon, giving away its last breath of sunshine before being swallowed by the earth.

there was actually something going on, if it didn't Hinata wouldn't be so secretive…it seemed as if the whole family knew who he was but didn't want to inform him. Whatever it was, he needed to be careful.

He opened the rusty window from his bedroom as quickly as he could and narrowed his eyes in the dark, making sure there wasn't anyone outside before he stumbled outside ungracefully, hitting and bruising his hand in the process. The excited redhead cursed under his breath and scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction to the forest as swiftly and as quietly as he could, unaware of the pair of lucid grey eyes fixed on his retreating back.

When he met the young woman the first thing he noticed was that she was fidgety and nervous, throwing glances every three seconds to the shadows surrounding her, when she finally noticed him she dragged him more into the darkness, making almost impossible for him to read her expression.

"Look, I'll make this quick for both of us. Listen well; I'm helping you only if you promise me that you won't harm my father or cousin…" the puzzled redhead agreed fervently, squinting in the dark copiously. "Your name is Gaara, you're a warrior in favor of the king of Ulster and you crawled all the way to our house bleeding and with horrible injuries…you were then treated by my cousin and when my father laid his eyes on you he kind of remembered you and he quickly informed the enemies about you in hopes that they would reward him with money…"

she stopped her frantic assault of information to breath, watching carefully the redhead for any reaction, but she couldn't see much due to the darkness so she opted to continue. "You need to run, you need to flee before they…Oh!" just when she was about to finish, a very infuriated looking Hiashi appeared from the darkness and slapped his daughter across her face and the power of the strike forced her to fall to the dirt. "You, insolent child!" he spat before kicking her huddled form in the ribs; the poor girl yelped in pain and confusion, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Neji! Immobilize the filth" Hiashi commanded, and another ghost-like person emerged from the shadows, younger and slightly smaller than the other man, his cold eyes fixed on the redhead, who appeared to be having some sort of a seizure at the moment. The redhead's eyes were opened wide but they looked vacant, his hands were clutching his head and pulling crimson hair in desperation and pain as he kneeled on the ground, panting and yelling in hollow agony. Neji licked his patched lips as he approached the other male with cautious steps, trying hard to be unnoticed by the other male, and just when he was about to knock him out cold with a simple blow on the back of his neck, the redhead twisted his head up and stared at him with a chilling pair of aquamarine orbs, which looked frighteningly foreign as he coldly surveyed his approaching hand. In a blink of an eye, a large malicious grin spread on his face, making him look as if he was possessed. "Oh, I wouldn't recommend that, Neji" he sneered before grabbing the hand and twisting it, making a sickening snapping sound. Neji's eyes widened immensely in utmost pain and tears invaded his eyes. He didn't yelled in pain, no; he wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction, so he bit his lower lip hard, not caring at all when the coppery taste of his own blood made its presence known in his mouth.

The redhead frowned by the lack of response from the other boy. He was sure he had broken his wrist, so why hadn't he cried out? He stared at the other rebellious eyes and laughed hollowly. "Cry Neji, I want you to cry for me" with another sickening twist of his own wrist another snap was heard and Neji shut tightly his eyes, biting even harder on his bleeding lip.

Hinata had stood up and was now yelling him to stop, begging him to be merciful as Hiashi just stood rooted to the floor with a shocked expression in his face, totally unresponsive to his surroundings. The redhead's fierce eyes glowered at her with an undecipherable expression on his face, as if fighting with himself before he sighed audibly, an evident frown on his face.

"I wouldn't normally oblige to anything but I guess I need to thank you, don't I?" Gaara released the brunette and turned his back to him in a clear attempt to leave, but he didn't expect the other male to launch at him with injured hand and all.

With a loud curse, blood and a growl Gaara fell face first into the dirty earth below, motionless while Neji stepped out of the darkness to be bathed with the silvery light of moonlight that gave him the ethereal glow of a ghost.

With a left hand twisted in an odd angle and hanging limply by his side and a bloodied rock clutched by the other, Neji glowered at the heap of shocking red hair and tangled limbs as Hiashi woke up from his trance and yanked his daughter from the ground.

"Is he alive?" the older man asked, uncertain.

"He's unconscious, but we need to treat the wound before he loses too much blood." He replied while observing the angry injury on Gaara's head, his unruly red hair matted to his skull with fresh blood.

Hiashi nodded "you take care of the filth and make sure he's well restrained. He will leave tomorrow by midnight". After he spoke his statement he tugged at his daughter by her arm and dragged her unwilling form back to the house.

Neji was left alone with the unconscious redhead; and as he stood rooted to the ground and stared at the unmoving warrior he hesitated for the first time in his life. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the clenching feeling in his gut and lifted the redhead and threw him over his shoulders. Neji frowned as he made his way home. The redhead was incredibly light to be warrior.

AU: ok..I know Hinata IS out of character, but I need her to be strong for the sake of the story. Also, you may be wandering why is Gaara being so nice. Well, he's like that because he lost all his memories that were the key to all his hatred and cruelty; so what is left of Gaara is his true vulnerable self.

that's all.

i wouldn't mind if you review and tell me what you think about the story :)