Gaara strided over to Shikamaru's house, pausing for a moment before the small home in front of him. The red head breathed in deeply taking in the fresh scent of the home. He remembered that smell, it had been on Neji the first time he had met the boy. It was ever so faint on his love's skin. The kind of smell that blended in with another's because the two had been together so much. He knew both of them had been together, and not long before Gaara had entered their school either. It would take many washes before the remains of the Nara boy's smell would completely fade off Neji. However, Gaara was patient, he could wait until his love would choose him, but he could not wait around with the other boy in the class. Feelings could emerge. No, he would not risk it not when he was so close. Gaara paced up to the door, slowly changing into sand and slipping through the keyhole.

Neji awoke with a start the next day, sweat poured down his forehead and dampened his sheets. He couldn't even remember what he had been dreaming, but he knew it bothered him deeply. The white eyed boy wiped his face with his forearm and focused on his hands trembling before him. 'It was a bad dream.' He tried to comfort himself secretly knowing it was some type of horrific nightmare. Maybe fate was trying to tell him something? No, he would have remembered it then, he would not forget something fate implied so easily. He stood up, then immediately fell to his knees. His stomach swirled inside him, urging him strongly that maybe moving too fast would result in a newly stained floor. The dark haired boy waited for a few moments, when the nausea sub-sided he finally stood up and stumbled towards the bathroom.

After his daily routine of showering and dressing, he picked up his book bag. He did not feel like food, his stomach still felt sick, so he left for school early and informing Hinata he would not be at breakfast. However she insisted he eat something, so he grabbed an apple on the way out. His cousin hadn't even finished stuttering out her sentence by the time he had left with the fruit. The timid girl sighed and sat next to her father at the table, who was occupied reading the paper. He peered over the top of the pages, no one could never really tell if a hyuuga was reading or not because of those eyes.

"What's the matter Hinata?" he questioned out of concern.

She continued to stare at the door her cousin had left so abruptly from. "N-nothing father…just a little c-concerned about N-neji. He seems distracted lately."

Hinata purposely left out saying anything about the marks she had seen on his neck, that would only raise more concern and she knew Neji preferred his privacy. She decided she would wait if his behavior gave her more reason to worry, then perhaps she would say something to Hiashi.

Neji sauntered to school, he was in no rush to face Sasuke today. The Hyuuga finished his apple and tossed away the stem, his mind completely lost in thought. How ackward was it going to be sitting next to the boy he so falsely accused of deceiving him. Yat he found himself quickening his pace, hoping to spot his friend, at least he hoped he'd still be his friend. Then he saw it, the black hair, the spikey back, the loosely falling bangs and those beautiful eyes. He wasn't looking in this direction, maybe Neji could sneak up and try to talk to him, maybe he could still fix this. The leaf nin paused to examine Sasuke for a moment longer. His eyes were different, they seemed empty and lost…and a little red. Did the hyuuga really do that to his friend? Did he actually hurt him that badly? The taller boy looked away, he could look at eyes so devoid of life that he had caused. Instead Neji kept his gaze on the floor and made his way to Sasuke, only to be stopped by his teammate.

"HI NEGI!" Lee shouted from across the hall, stopping the hyuuga dead in his tracks.

Well, if Sasuke was around he definitely wasn't anymore, not with Neji's location suddenly broadcasted to the whole environment. Neji's eye's scanned all over the hallway, with no Uchiha in sight.

The taller boy slowly turned and waited for Lee to catch up to him. His friend obviously had something urgent to tell him. Neji prayed it just wasn't another quote from their sensei.

"Neji!" Lee panted and caught his breath. "I've found another person I've deemed worthy of my love!" Lee's eyes appeared as if they were on fire, showing the great determination the boy had to make this person his.

"Oh? Who?" Neji tried to appear interested but kept breaking eye contact to search for Sasuke.

His smaller friend smiled broadly and pointed to a student down the hall, Neji looked to keep up the façade that he was actually listening. His eyes fixed themselves on bright emeralds staring back, and Neji paled. It was Gaara and as swiftly as he thought the boy's name he approached them. His friend giggled and swooned.

"Neeeeji! He's coming oveeeer heeeere." He whispered frantically and flailed his arms.

Neji felt his stomach resuming how it felt earlier that morning. Why Gaara, why did it have to be him? His Gaara he thought possessively all of a sudden not knowing why, pushing the overprotective thought out of his head, he smiled as Gaara arrived. The red head stared at the Hyuuga, an actual nice smile embracing his features, causing Neji to blush and brush a few strands of his dark hair behind his ear sheepishly. Lee however moved in front of Neji and introduced himself, holding his hand out and saying something about youth and love. The sand nin stared at Lee's hand but then caught the pleading look in Neji's eyes. He knew that look, it meant to be nice to his friend, and he would listen. Gaara accepted Lee's hand and introduced himself as well only to find the boy dressed in green to say he already knew a little about him and how he'd hope to know more. Gaara nodded but his eyes remained on the other leaf nin, the one who had his hand on his cheek and was trying to shyly hide the pink in his face.

"Lee." The red head stated simply, breaking eye contact with Neji to look down at the all too obedient boy listening before him. "Could you excuse me and Neji for a moment?"

Lee looked surprised at the fact Gaara knew Neji before nodding. "Of course, I will leave you two be, see you in class."

Lee smiled and walked away, feeling a little disappointed at the short amount of time he had with the red-head.

"Neji." Gaara continued as Neji looked at him with a bashful smile. "How have you've been today, you look a little pale."

The hyuuga shook his head "I'm fine, just a little sick at the beginning of the day." He replied as he couldn't stop staring down at the boy in front of him.

There seemed something different about Gaara today, he looked livelier. He normally looked how he did now at night, but now his skin seemed healthier and his eyes just glowed earning from Neji a deeper shade of red to show on his cheeks. Gaara gazed down at the Hyuuga's stomach and placed a hand over it, it began to feel…better. Neji looked around him to make sure nobody saw, no one seemed to be paying attention and Neji let Gaara's hand slide underneath his shirt. The sand nin moved closer to his objective and rested his head against the other's neck. Gaara purred at the softness of the hyuuga's skin and traced his fingers along the hyuuga's belly. The red-head would have leaned up to kiss his crush right then and there but before he could move both heard the bell ring.

They broke apart and headed for class, as soon as Gaara's hand left his stomach it tensed up again it was obvious that Neji was not looking forward to this class. He walked in alongside Gaara and sat in his regular seat, once again he noticed that Shikamaru wasn't in class and his gut clenched in a painful way making him cough a little.

The red head watched Neji as he coughed, worry began to rise up inside him a bit.

'He better not die. If he does I'll be so pissed!' came the irritated voice of Shukaku.

Gaara's hand covered the tattoo on his head and narrowed his eyes at the voice.

'Shut up Shukaku, don't even say shit like that! You just want his blood, you don't love him like I do.' The shorter boy hissed at the creature inside him.

How dare he act such a way towards Neji, Gaara's inward outburst silenced the voice and he removed his hand from his forehead victoriously. He continued to stare at the hyuuga, who had no idea how many battles Gaara had been fighting for him.

Neji didn't notice that Gaara's attention had been focused on him, he had been staring at the door, waiting for Sasuke to arrive. The dark eyed boy entered class with his usual stream of fangirls following him, however they seemed to keep a distance. As if they could sense Sasuke's anger and didn't want to approach him while he was upset, Neji didn't blame them, anyone who did would probably get told off right then and there. That would significantly decrease they're chances of getting a date with the Uchiha, not that they ever even had a chance.

The boy took his seat, not even sparing Neji a glance. Naruto seemed to pick up his comrades mood and walked over to the hyuuga. The blonde leaned over and whispered

"What's wrong with him?" he questioned, hoping Neji had some information he was willing to share.

Neji fidgeted and played with his pencil before whispering back. "I'm a jerk."

The blonde stared at Neji, what kind of answer was that? "What?"

The taller boy sighed, he didn't want to continue speaking but did. "We got into an argument. Okay?"

Naruto got the picture, he knew by the tone of that 'okay' it meant to back off. The blonde nodded and returned to his seat, a little concerned for both his friends. The teacher entered the room before the second bell ended and made some comment about how nice it was to have Neji join his class on time. The hyuuga groaned at the attention directed at him, and his stomach ached. Fortunately the teacher resumed teaching and Neji no longer felt any stares on him. He slowly tilted his head in Sasuke's direction, the Uchiha appeared to be glaring at the board in front of him. Neji didn't know what to do, he wanted to walk over and embrace his friend and apologize until he was forgiven. He wanted Sasuke to smile at him again, play the word game and look at him with eyes that weren't utterly crushed. He wanted his friend to tell him he didn't make a big mess of things, to hold him and tell him everything was alright, pet his hair and lean in close. He wanted to feel the Uchiha's lips against his, and maybe his neck and chest…as well as a few other places. Neji's eyes widened when he realized what he was thinking, where did these new emotions for his friend suddenly spring from?

He turned and stared at Gaara for a moment, the red head was taking notes down. His eyes scanned other the boy, he also had strong feelings for the sand nin but when it came down to it, he didn't know who he wanted. Just thinking about it made his stomach groan, it was acting up a lot recently he must have a bit of the flu.

The bell shook Neji from his daydream, it wasn't time to go home, that bell meant it was time for gym. Today's sport was soccer and Neji would own the field. There was not a creature alive that could best him in soccer, at least none that had shown up yet. Although the Uchiha was a great player, he never bested him. Neji stood up, and watched as Sasuke left the instant the bell rang, sighing he turned to Gaara who stared at him blankly and mumbled something.

Neji tilted his head closer because he couldn't hear. "What?"

"I said, I don't like gym."

Neji smiled, how could anyone not like gym? It was so easy. The hyuuga took Gaara's hand and guided him to the gym, explaining a few things about the game they were going to play.

When Neji entered the boy's locker room, Sasuke was tying his shoe rapidly, he was already changed into the gym uniform. Plain white shirt and red shorts were the issued uniform and Neji handed a pair to Gaara who grudgingly accepted them. He reassured the red head that it wouldn't be so bad but only received a grunt in response, which he thought was incredibly cute. They both changed and walked out, Gaara had to remove his gourd but the sand continued to swirl around him, refusing to let Gaara play alone. A few kids stared but dismissed it thinking it was his special jitsu, and began playing. Since there were so many students, the class was spilt into two groups, which would them be divided again to have two different games playing. Neji breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sasuke assigned to the other team, he wouldn't have to worry about him at all during gym. He didn't want to risk a bad confrontation here since it wasn't really a good place to talk. Gaara was on his team, talk about lucky, now he could show the sand nin a few tricks to keep up. The game carried on as it usually did, Neji showing up the rival team and his own all while showing Gaara a few things so the red head wouldn't feel out of place. It worked too because Gaara seemed to actually be enjoying himself. Neji even passed the ball over to him a few times and watched him try to kick it in. he didn't score a goal, but he got closer and better with each shot which made the taller boy swell with a bit of pride.

It didn't happen until the last few minutes of the game, Neji was completely focused on Gaara getting ready to take a shot. The other team that had been playing on the farther end of the field had kicked their ball into the other teams. The rogue ball flew threw the air at a speed only NASA could record, no one had time to even yell a warning.

It connected with the hyuuga's gut causing the boy to fall to his knees in agonizing pain. He didn't cry out but clenched his eyes shut and a wave of dizziness hit him almost as hard as the ball had. He glared up at the person stupid enough to kick a ball that damn hard, it was no surprise when he saw Uchiha Sasuke staring back.

Sasuke kept a calm cold expression on his face, but inside his heart was beating like a drum. He didn't mean too, he was just planning on passing the ball to another teammate but then he saw the hyuuga staring at that Gaara kid and he became furious. He couldn't stop thinking that he chose the sand nin over what he hoped was his best friend. He kicked it too hard and ended up hitting the object of both his affection and anger, and now all he could do was stare at the pain on Neji's face. He wanted to run over and comfort him, carry him to a bed and get him out of that shirt. He wanted to run his hands over were the ball had impacted and kiss every part of him better. Sasuke shook the thoughts out of his head and looked away with a hard glare. He wouldn't forgive the hyuuga, not that easily after such an accusation.

Neji watched Sasuke turn away from him, guilt mixed into the pain and caused him to go into a deadly coughing fit. He felt two hands help him to his feet and heard Gaara ask if he was alright, he nodded back still coughing and said everything was fine, forcing a smile onto his face. His teammates were relieved that their number one player was okay and yelled at the other team to keep their ball on their own damn side. Most of their shouts were directed at Sasuke, he seemed to ignore what they were saying. Gaara picked up the soccer ball and glared at the Uchiha for daring to touch his fragile Neji. He launched the ball back at Sasuke, who turned just in the nick of time to catch it, the force making him stumble back a little. Sasuke sent the other a menacing glare and Gaara matched it before turning back to the game.

The Uchiha did not like that sand nin, there was something about him, something wrong and Sasuke could sense it. It drove him mad knowing Neji picked him, what was that stupid little brunette thinking? Sasuke shook his head, it wasn't his problem anymore, he didn't need people. Especially someone he couldn't trust. He went back to his game, ignoring the worry rising inside him.

When school was over, Neji emerged from the doors holding his belly. The ball had really hit him hard and every time he took a step he thought he would vomit. The feeling quickly left as soon as he felt a hand on his stomach and a concerned voice

"Are you alright, Neji?" Gaara stared up at the taller boy. "Would you like me to walk you home?"

The hyuuga smiled "I'm fine, just sore. But I wouldn't mind your company."

The sand nin removed his hand and the nausea came rushing back, Neji was able to hide the pain and carry on a conversation as Gaara lead him home. They walked quietly for a while until the shorted boy broke the silence.

"I don't like the way Sasuke looks at you."

It was a statement and nothing more but Neji couldn't help but question him, he wanted to talk about the Uchiha if he couldn't talk to him.

"Why not?" he questioned back.

The red head shrugged "He doesn't like me, it is only rational I dislike him back."

"Oh. He's really not a bad guy, it just takes him a while to trust people. But when he does he'll really-"

Neji paused and became lost in thought until he heard Gaara speak.

"He'll really what?"

Neji stared at his feet as he walked "He'll really care."

He finished and arrived at his door. The hyuuga smiled to himself thinking about all the times Sasuke had hung out with him and kept him company. He snapped out of his thought and looked down at the boy in front of him.

"Want to come in?" Gaara grinned and nodded, as if he would say no?

Neji threw his back pack on the floor and ran his fingers through his hair as he sat on the bed. Gaara removed his gourd, by observing the others movements it was obvious the hyuuga was stressed. Neji pulled out his low ponytail and sat on the edge of his bed, and felt two hands tangle into his hair. Words could not express how much Neji loved someone playing with his hair. The taller boy leaned back into the other boy's hands and purred against his chest. Gaara pondered about coming clean about himself again, but he didn't want to give away too much yet at the same time hold the boy close and confess. After a few moments of playing with the raven hair he was the first to speak

"Your neck is healing nicely. I'm glad I didn't hurt you."

The hyuuga blushed and buried his face into the sand nin's neck. "No, it was nice. I liked it." His cheeks almost matched Gaara's hair but the shorter boy couldn't see it anyway.

"Could I do it again?"

More silence.

The sand nin was about to retract his statement when he felt Neji move away. The hyuuga sat up on the bed and moved some strands of hair off his neck, arching his head back to rest against the red head's shoulder.

"That'd be nice." He whispered into Gaara's ear softly.

The sand nin felt his heart skip a beat and the familiar voice inside began to speak.

'Now?' it sounded exhausted. 'That other boy's blood wasn't enough, I'm so hungry.'

Not yet, but soon. I'll take a little taste now.'

The monster inside purred at the response and recoiled deeper within the boy.

Gaara kissed down the leaf nins neck and pressed his teeth against his throat, not biting just yet. Neji reached a hand up into the fiery locks and pulled the other nin against his lips harshly. Gaara's eyes widened in surprise, he wasn't expecting the boy in front of him to be so aggressive, not that he was complaining. He suddenly felt two hands grip onto his shoulders and push him down against the bed, his head colliding with the pillow in a whirlwind of bliss as he felt a tongue caress his bottom lip. He had no idea what was bringing on this sudden outburst of passion but the sand nin wasn't about to argue against it. He brought his hands up and massaged the taller boy's hips in an attempt to bring them onto his own while granting Neji's tongue entrance. The hyuuga over top Gaara moaned as soon as he was given further access into the other's mouth and took the opportunity to explore every area within it he could find.

Neji promptly lost most of the anxiety he had previously been feeling when Gaara's firm hands found their way onto his sides, making his body arch and press against the others in hopes for harvesting more attention. Attention which the sand nin underneath him enthusiastically supplied, stroking all of Neji's abdominal muscles as his hands traveled upward underneath the boy's shirt. Eventually pulling it over the hyuuga's head and tossing it aside, resulting in the taller nin's hair to splay down his back in an erotic fashion. He had no interest in the article of clothing, rather what was underneath it. The feeling was mutual as Gaara noticed Neji's hands running alongside his hips and underneath his black shirt. The touch of skin against skin combined with the rubbing of his silk shirt against his chest sent another wave of pleasure into the boy and Gaara let out a moan equal to Neji's. The leaf nin's fingers curled around the other's sash and gave it a rough tug, jerking the shorter boy to sit up, as Neji straddled his sides and began undoing the sash forcefully which Gaara couldn't help but notice it only add to the other boy's flare. Neji tossed the sash aside and pushed the other boy back down to the pillows beneath him, he had better access to the straps left on the shirt this way. The hyuuga also made short work of them, after that was out of the way he impatiently removed what was left on the boy's upper body and claimed the freshly exposed skin with his lips.

Each boy eagerly submitted to the others desires, exploring as much of the other's body that was allowed. Gaara quickly found his limit when he reached to undo the button on the front of the other nins boxers only to have his hand pushed away. The hyuuga mumbled something about that being too far and immediately resumed their prior activities. Both nins eventually found themselves embracing the other in several deep passionate kisses until they both broke away to catch their breath. When this was done, Neji began to fix his hair, smoothing it out and pulling it away from his shoulders and chest. Gaara wasn't sure why he was doing this until he realized the dark haired nin was clearing it away from his neck. Then the taller boy gazed up with half lidded white eyes, awarding the sand nin with a lust-filled invitation that was enough to make his erection grow a few extra inches. Gaara yanked the other boy close, he knew what to do. His canines grew and found their way to the old mark he left a few days ago. Sinking in and savoring the taste that quickly filled his mouth. Neji's eyes grew large at the sudden mixture of pain and pleasure that sent a shiver down his spine. His nails found their way to his partners back and began to rake down them repeatedly, gradually slowing their pace as Gaara finished and lapped at the new wound. The shorter boy purred as his partner lightly trailer his fingertips down the area his nails had feasted upon mere seconds ago and leaned in to kiss his neck. Gaara grinned and licked his lips, satisfied that Shukaku was now sated for a while and soon hoped the boy who had his lips on his throat will be filled with as much hunger for his blood as he has for the dark haired nin. Neji felt two gentile arms wrap around his waist and pull him down onto the bed, both nins were exhausted from their actions and settled in for a long nap together.

The peacefulness didn't last long, Neji awoke to the sound of knocking. At first he thought it was Hinata or his Uncle but then noticed that the sound was coming from the outside door and not the one connected to the rest of the house. Neji groaned and reluctantly detached himself from his sleeping beauty beside him. He didn't even bother to throw on shorts, whoever it was at the door was not going to be staying long enough to notice. The knocking grew louder and more urgent causing the hyuuga to worry as he stood up from his bed and approached the door.

'Who would want to talk to me so badly?' his mind drifted and eventually came to one conclusion. 'Sasuke.'

He immediately thought with panic, suddenly feeling sick as he looked back to Gaara sleeping in his bed. This would not look good for him if he wanted to talk things over with his friend and actually have him listen to a word he was saying. No after this the leaf nin would be lucky if Sasuke ever talked to him again. Neji shook his head and took a deep breath, placing his hand on the knob and turning. He'd simply tell him he couldn't talk now, that was it, and if by any chance fate would be so kind as to make it anyone but Sasuke then he'd take back all the mean things he ever said about it. Anyone else, he inwardly prayed as he opened the door, he could just send them away, hell he wouldn't even have to give them a reason he could just slam the door in there face. He could get away with it, he was Hyuuga Neji after all. The nin opened his white eyes to greet the person in front of him, fate had finally answered his prays and still gave him hell.

"HI NEJI!" came an all too enthusiastic voice.

Kowaikage- Hello folks, this chapter is a little longer then the others, I was gonna cut it two pages earlier but I got lazy and figured no one would care either way so you get a little extra. Yay! Also, I couldn't think of a decent chapter name…oh well. Since I can't think of anything else to type I'll just go onto the reviews.

Thanks to the reviewers:

Fay- Yep, my chapters tend to be a bit sad. Actually if you think this is sad read on…it gets angsty. And yep, Gaara is a vampire.

Burning tree- Thanks for the review! I'm so happy you like it so far, I hope you like were the story goes.

HikAri Aki- Yay! People like the story! Thanks for the review

assassin- Thanks for the review and if you notice any other errors I made feel free to mention them. Constructive criticism I'm good with.

Shukaka-chan-Thanks for the review, I hope you like the next chapters as well. Eeee I'm having so much fun with this fic.

BlacKat- I'm happy you like it and I'll keep trying to update as fast as I can.

Rebel-blah-blah-blah- thank you so much for the review.