Away from all that angst and back to Neji's P.O.V.

kawaii kitsune-kun – Lol, you're a fickle one, aren't you? Again we'll have to see what happens. As Naruto said, he wasn't going to give up. I'm glad my chapters appeared within a couple hours after I had sent them. The single one I sent yesterday took ALL DAY just to post, which annoyed me to no end.

Chapter 13: Confusion

Neji shut his eyes, basking in the sunlight that lay like a warm blanket over his whole body. His hair splayed out under his head, mingling with the fresh shoots of grass. Could there really be a more perfect day? He turned his head and opened his eyes, smiling at the quiet boy sitting next to him. A ladybug crawled lazily across the gourd strapped to his back. Gaara was watching the village spread out below him from their vantage point on the hill. Neji rolled onto his stomach and took in the view as well.

"Are you glad you came here?" he asked, curious to know if the sand-nin missed home.

Gaara nodded slightly but said nothing.

Neji sighed. Gaara was so distant, yet at the same time Neji could feel his presence always near him. He thought Sasuke could be quiet and mysterious before he met the strange redhead.

"What was it like? Your village?" Neji questioned, hoping to spark a little more conversation. He really wanted to know Gaara better, if only the boy would let him.

"A lot less grass," the nin answered simply. Always short and to the point. Neji gave up trying to strike up more talk. He knew personally that he didn't like to be pestered.

The grass blades tickled his arms and Neji shifted them, nearly loosing balance and rolling down the hill. Gaara caught him by the back of his shirt to prevent such a situation, and held on until Neji had gotten his balance again. The Hyuuga's cheeks were stained pink and he mumbled a thank you. That would've been embarrassing, rolling down the grassy hill right to the base of the village. It was a long way up, and though he doubted he would get physically injured, he was sure his pride would need a trip to the hospital afterwards.

The silence carried on, broken only by the chirping of birds in the trees overhead. Neji once again shifted his position, now sitting up beside Gaara and leaning his back against the tree trunk. He marveled at how well the sand-nin could sit still for so long. Neji himself found himself changing his position every five minutes or so. They had been up on the hill for over an hour, and Gaara didn't move once. It certainly didn't look comfortable sitting slouched over like that with a heavy gourd always bearing him down. Neji had considered asking why he carried it around, but figured it would be rude.

Neji let the silence drag on for another ten minutes until he couldn't stand it anymore. "So what do you want to do after this?"

Gaara simply shrugged, still watching the village.

The brunette was a fool to think breaking the quiet was going to be easy. "Well, we could always go down to the lake again, but I'd really wish you'd join me in the water. If you can't swim, I can teach you. I promise I wont tell anyone."

Gaara turned his emerald eyes onto Neji for the first time in nearly an hour. "What makes you think I can't swim?"

Neji shrugged. "Well, I only figured that was the case since you never wanted to go in, and I've never seen that gourd leave your back. It must be near impossible to swim with that thing on." It was only after the words had come out that Neji realized how stupid his blabbering sounded.

Gaara's expression didn't changed—then again, when did it ever?—and he tilted his head to the side. "I just dislike water."

"Okay," Neji said, not wanting to press farther. He had been friends with Gaara for over two weeks now, and still he found himself at a dead-end when it came to communicating with the nin.

Gaara kept his head tilted to the side, and shocked Neji by actually saying something without prompting. "What is troubling you?"

The pale-eyed Hyuuga blinked. He looked down and played with the grass at his feet to avoid the redhead's penetrating stare. "It just feels weird sometimes being with you. Like you're not really here. I mean, I don't know much about you and I want to—" Neji looked up and found Gaara's face suddenly very close to his own.

'He's going to kiss me!' he thought in panic, totally thrown off guard. Something in his head was not computing. How does one go from talking about disliking water to kissing someone? In many ways, Neji was not adverse to the idea of feeling the sand-nin's lips on his own. He fluttered his eyes closed and waited for redhead to close the gap and make the moment complete.

Neji sat there for a few seconds with his eyes shut before he registered that nothing was happening. Wondering just what the redhead was waiting for, he cracked open one eye to find Gaara watching the village again. Instantly, the Hyuuga snapped his eyes open, straightened up (he had been leaning forward), and brushed off his shirt to distract himself from what he had been doing. Just how long was he sitting there with his eyes shut, puckering his lips like a lovesick schoolgirl? Neji was embarrassed and disgusted with himself. The one time he tried to read Gaara and he apparently read wrong. He had hoped the sand-nin hadn't notice the idiot Neji had made of himself.

"Were you going to kiss me?" Fuck, where did that come from! Neji mentally kicked himself and braced himself for Gaara's laugh. Then again, Gaara did not laugh.

Instead his eyes turned to Neji once more. "What do you think?"

"Well, I don't know, that's why I asked?" Neji found himself retorting.

Gaara just smirked and shut his eyes.

"Well were you?" Neji asked anxiously. His fingers dug into the grass and soil in nervousness. He had to know.

"You're too pretty for me."

Neji was bowled over. He quickly got to his feet, his fists clutched to his side. "What is that supposed to mean!" His offense radar was blaring and the defenses to his ego hadn't fully come up yet.

Gaara said nothing more and watched the scenery below.

Neji sat huffily. Gaara was confusing and insulting (yet not). Of course Neji prided himself on his looks, but the way Gaara had said it made him feel weak and girly. Why couldn't he word it differently? Pretty? Neji cringed. No more words were exchanged between the two until Neji finally stood up and announced he was going to head back home. Gaara offered to accompany him, an offer that Neji turned down. He was still a little hurt by the comment, but didn't want to show it.

Neji stomped down the path, leaving the sand-nin on the hill. His cheeks still were red from remembering what had happened. Was he really so desperate? It wasn't often Hyuuga Neji threw caution to the winds, and now he remembered why. He was thankful for once that Gaara was not the talkative type. To think what would happen if word got around that Neji was completely giving himself away to someone who didn't return such feelings. Argh, he was so stupid!

Neji kicked a rock in anger. It went sailing off into the bushes.

"Ow!"

The brunette paused. Bushes normally did not give cries of pain. "Who's there?" he called out, suddenly paranoid. Did they see what he had done? Were they going to tell everyone and lower the Hyuuga reputation to that of a skank?

Spiky blonde hair made itself visible in the mass of green as Naruto, sporting a bruise on his cheek, walked out looking angry. "What the hell do you think you're doing, chucking rocks Hyuuga?"

Neji blinked in surprise then narrowed them suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto cursed and rubbed his sore cheek. "Taking a walk, what does it look like?"

"You're not on the path," Neji noted.

"I never take the paths," Naruto remarked. "It keeps the mockery from others to a minimum." The fox-child seemed to be in an especially foul mood today, and the rock didn't seem to make it any better. "Next time, watch where you're aiming."

"I'm sorry," Neji apologized. Naruto was too far down the hill to have seen what happened with Gaara at the top, which put the brunette's mind at ease.

Naruto snorted and started to walk back into the bushes.

"Enjoy your walk," Neji called out after him.

The blonde just turned and shot Neji a hateful look. Neji blinked, confused. What was his problem? Neji had apologized, and the bruise wasn't that bad. He was about to ask the nin himself what was wrong, but Naruto had already disappeared into the forest. Resolving that he would ask him about it later, Neji continued on the path that led into the village.

I'm posting as many chapters as I can today, because I'll be stuck with work come Monday for the rest of the week. The frequency of chapters will probably go down during then, and hopefully increase when the weekend comes again. I'm really screwed when it comes to my piano lessons…I'm writing this instead of practicing. ;