Here's the next chapter. Not much to say. Again I don't own Naruto.

kawaii kitsune-kun – Lol, you're really REALLY going to hate Gaara now. Gaara loves to get in the way of things, and he does it well. Last chapter I had planned to be a pure SasuNeji, but those plans were obviously foiled again. Gaara has his own plans as you shall see…

Chapter 18: Betrayal

The rain was coming down in buckets. The wind whipped up a few times and tried to blow the umbrella away, but Neji kept a firm grip on it. After all, it was Sasuke's, and he didn't want to loose it. A part of him wished that he had stayed at Sasuke's, but he knew he would not have be able the nin's rude and intolerant attitude for much longer.

"We're not far," Neji heard the redhead say encouragingly from his other side. The brunette was surprised he could hear the nin over the wind, since Gaara always spoke softly.

A few minutes later, Neji and Gaara arrived at the home. The sand-nin was much worse off than Neji, since he had refused to get under the umbrella. He excused himself to go dry off, and got a towel for Neji. Neji only suffered a slight dampness in his clothes and refused a change when Gaara offered. He felt he had borrowed enough for one night.

Neji looked curiously around Gaara's place. It was nice and clean, but carried that uneasy feeling of a house not truly lived in. Neji sat on the couch and smiled when Gaara returned.

"Weren't you staying with two other people who came on the exchange?" he asked, remembering the other boy and girl in his class.

The redhead nodded. "My brother and sister. They went elsewhere after the party. May I get you anything?"

Neji shook his head. "No thank you, I'm fine."

Gaara walked over and sat beside Neji. He was back in just his ordinary black clothes, but without the sash, and he still did not have the gourd strapped to his back. Neji noticed it leaning against a corner not too far away.

"I'm sorry for Sasuke's behaviour tonight," Neji found himself saying.

"Why are you apologizing for someone else? He acted as he did and that is his own fault." Always short and to the point—that was Gaara.

Neji leaned back against the couch. "Well, thank you anyway for coming to look for me, and then allowing me over."

Gaara smirked and looked at Neji. The look sent shivers up Neji's spine. "It was my pleasure."

Suddenly Neji was very uneasy, and he had no reason to be. He contemplated making an excuse to go to the bathroom, but knew that Gaara would see through the false request. He was surprised when the sand-nin continued to talk, without prompting.

"I was a little disappointed when you disappeared at the party. Did you dislike being my date?"

Neji blinked, caught off guard. "I-I was your date? Well, no, but I didn't even know you were asking me to the party."

"What did you think I was doing?"

"I don't know," Neji admitted truthfully, "but I was afraid to ask."

The redhead regarded him. "Why?"

Neji shrugged. "I've misread you so many times before, I really didn't feel like making an ass of myself again."

"And when did you misread me?"

The brunette's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he debated whether to mention the hill incident or not. If Gaara didn't know, then it saved him a whole lot of embarrassment. Unfortunately, the sand-nin saw Neji fidget nervously and sat patiently waiting for an answer. Neji struggled to find words. "When we were on the hill…the one day we went to see the village from up there, I asked you if you were going to kiss me."

"Yes?" Gaara was not making it easy for Neji to slip past this.

Neji shut his eyes so he couldn't see Gaara's face, and he felt his cheeks get redder and redder as he spoke. Why was he even saying anything? "Well, you had leaned in suddenly and I had thought you were going to kiss me. So I prepared myself and made myself look like an idiot sitting there and waiting for a kiss that never came."

Gaara shrugged. "I was curious to see what you would do."

"What?" Neji raised an eyebrow.

"I was interested in whether you would commence a kiss or not, so I waited, and when it was clear you weren't starting anything, I moved away."

"So you were trying to kiss me!"

The redhead simply shrugged.

Neji was slightly angered by Gaara's casual assessment of what had happened. "I made myself look like an idiot because I thought you were going to kiss me. I wasn't going to move in and make it even more mortifying if you weren't interested. If you wanted to kiss me, you should've just done it! Do you know how stupid I felt sitting there?"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

Why did Gaara always do this to him? He had a knack for completely throwing Neji off track with his sudden bluntness. The brunette wasn't sure what to say, and just stammered for a bit before falling silent.

"Well?" The redhead folded his arms and leaned back against the armrest, waiting patiently for Neji's answer.

The nin didn't know what to think. Did he want to kiss Gaara? Was Gaara just doing it to humor him or was there something else that was there? And what about Sasuke? When did his life become so confusing? It used to be that not so many questions plagued him all at once.

Neji looked up at the boy next to him. Gaara's hair was still damp and the dark red spikes lay slick across his forehead, drawing Neji's attention to the tattoo above the nin's brow. "What does it mean, that marking?"

"Love."

"I see." Neji cleared his throat in the uncomfortable silence. Still, Gaara sat and waited for an answer. The brunette regarded him. Gaara was quite attractive, if not slightly exotic. Neji had never seen anyone that looked like the nin did. Gaara had that lithe yet hazardous sort of appearance, like a viper that could strike at any given moment. Neji was drawn to those emerald eyes; he wanted to be able to see into their depths, right into the highly protected and unknown interior. He wanted to get to know Gaara. Neji was tired of being stuck outside with no way to penetrate past the redhead's stoic mask.

Decided, Neji nodded. "Yes…I would."

Gaara didn't respond and simply leaned forward, cupping Neji's chin and drawing the brunette to him. The sand-nin's kiss was powerful, completely contrasting his more feeble outer appearance. Neji felt like he was being suffocated, like warm flamers were consuming him in a wave of heat from the fiery lips of his stoic friend. It felt so good that Neji completely abandoned any thoughts of escape. No one had ever kissed him like that before. Everything about Gaara was so strange and enticing. Neji found himself being the one to cling to the front of the boy's shirt as the nin completely took him over.

Everything was happening so quickly and unexpectedly. It was as if a complete change had come over the sand-nin. Neji wasn't sure if he was seeing the Gaara from behind the mask, but it certainly was another side of the boy. Neji really liked how this side made him feel. He moaned as he felt Gaara's fingers run over the sensitive flesh on his back as they wandered under his shirt. Gaara finally broke the kiss, only to nip at the skin on Neji's neck. Neji let out a moan as the redhead tugged at his earlobe. It was so sudden but the brunette didn't want it to stop.

He didn't have time to think, it hardly felt like he had time to breathe, as Gaara claimed his lips again and again, pressing Neji against the cushions of the couch. All Neji could manage to do was to let out panting gasps and moans, while pulling the redhead closer on top of him and surrendering to the assault of kisses. He had completely forgotten everything that had happened, he hardly remembered where he was and even who he was. All Neji knew is that the moment those hot lips left his skin, he wanted to feel their burning touch again.

Neji opened his pale eyes and looked at Gaara when the nin pulled away. The redhead's eyes were a brilliant green, as if a spark had ignited a fire within the boy and caused his eyes to sparkle with an inner light. Despite the warmth of the sand-nin's skin, his cheeks were still pale and almost devoid of colour. The boy's chest rose and fell as he panted, tangling his fingers into Neji's hair. Neji found himself breathing heavily too, as if he had just come back from a long run. He wasn't expecting all this, but he wasn't going to complain. Neji felt himself moving up to meet the redhead halfway as the boy leaned down to kiss him again.

Over and over Neji felt himself falling deeper into the depths of Gaara. He was the only person that existed at the moment, and nothing else in the world mattered. He spent little time wondering just how he had gotten so wrapped up so quickly. It was almost as if there was some strange alluring charisma in the boy that beckoned Neji to come closer, to fall deeper. And Neji did not resist.

Neji lost track of time. Somewhere along the way they had lost their shirts and Neji hardly cared where they had been thrown. All he could think of was the inexplicable feeling of skin against skin. Gaara ran his tongue from Neji's collarbone and down to his navel, lapping at it and making the brunette's skin involuntarily shiver. Neji buried his fingers in Gaara's damp hair and drew the boy's head back to his, leaning in for another kiss. Neji just managed to see through half-lidded eyes as Gaara grinned sadistically before bringing his mouth down on Neji's lips. The brunette stiffened as he felt something prick his side and pulled away to see a syringe in Gaara's hand sticking into his lower back.

"G-Gaara? What's going on?" Neji suddenly found it hard to speak and his words slurred together as the world spun and his vision blurred. He abruptly felt himself becoming incredibly sleepy, and his head lolled back onto the pillow under him.

The last thing he saw was Gaara's piercing emerald eyes and the white of the nin's unnerving grin.

And just to clear things up, no Gaara is not some supernatural being or vampire or anything like that. He's just very very good at what he does.