Vindicated

Chapter 15: The Dark Place

I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! (pant pant pant) omg...it feels like I've been gone forever! (Shukaku: Dude...the computer was only broken for five days!) Five days is a lot u ass! (Shukaku: I am not an ass...I am a--) yeah yeah yeah a racoon whatever.. (Shukaku: I AM A--)

Unfortunately I don't really have anything to say to my lovely reviews today…except I love u all! Oh right, I do have a note for 2 of u though:

Ebony: Still deciding on the abuse thing. I probably wont show any more then what is in the fic cause the fic is my guideline and all that

Strawberries and napkins: dude…ur are weird……awesomely cool and random but weird…I like u….and u quoted cosmo on ur profile! Cosmo rocks! Unfortunately SNG and I are terrified of anything related to the Innocent Woodland Creatures so I no like llamas or cows…:heart:

Neji cautiously walked up to the still house. He shouldn't be there this early, he knew that, but he wanted to make sure the three siblings—Gaara­—was ok. Weekends always seemed to go rougher then the weekdays. He's called Saturday evening when he got home, but Kankurou said Gaara was sleeping and didn't know when he would wake up. Neji had gone into near freak out mode until Kankurou told him to shut up and that everything was ok. So Saturday was fine, but what about Sunday? He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to any of them on Sunday except for a few minutes in the morning with Gaara.

Flashback

"Something weird happened?" Neji asked, munching on his waffles, the phone wedged between his ear and shoulder.

"Yeah, I forgot to tell you before," Gaara said. "When dad…cut me, later when he came home, he came in when Kankurou was sleeping and looked at it."

"How so?"

"Like…he looked at it to make sure it was ok. Then he put stuff on it and wrapped it up again and left."

"…That is weird," Neji said.

"I don't…I don't understand why…"

"Me neither…maybe he was …worried he'd gone too far…"

Neji heard Gaara sigh, very upset.

"I'm sorry Gaara…"

"What for? You didn't do anything! You don't have to be sorry!"

Neji resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Gaara went on a long five minute rant about how Neji shouldn't be sorry cause he didn't do anything. He waited until Gaara was finished and repeated his first question of what he was sorry for.

"I just am, I'm sorry."

End flashback

Neji sighed and knocked on the front door as quietly—or as loudly—as he dared. He had to knock a few times before the door was opened.

"…Neji," Temari said in a surprised, half asleep voice. "What are you doing here? It's five thirty in the morning."

"Sorry," Neji apologized. "I came to see if you guys were ok. And to walk you to school."

Something passed across Temari's face, but disappeared quickly. "Kankurou and Gaara are still in bed," she said opening the door for him.

Neji followed her upstairs and made for Gaara's room.

"Oh, he's with Kankurou," Temari told him. "Gaara doesn't sleep in his room."

"Why?"

"There's no light in there," she said shortly, before opening Kankurou's door, directly across the hall from Gaara's, then she turned and walked down the hall to her room.

Neji opened the door the rest of the way and poked his head in before cautiously stepped in. The two boys were sleeping on Kankurou's bed. Neji had always thought Kankurou would be one to be sprawled over the entire bed with the covers everywhere, but the older boy was sleeping peacefully on his side with the covers pulled up to his shoulder. Gaara was sleeping next to him on his stomach with the covers also pulled high, but he looked like he was having a bad dream. His hands were clenched in tight little balled up fists and his face was scrunched in fear and slight pain.

Neji knelt on the floor next to him. Reaching out, he gently brushed Gaara's pale cheek with his fingertips. Gaara automatically flinched at the touch and made small whimpering sounds.

Neji bit his lip and looked down at him sadly. He hated when he made those noises. He tried again, to make some form of comfort, touching his shoulder.

"Gaar—"

Gaara cringed and whimpered. "No…please…no…Kankurou…"

Over Gaara, he saw Kankurou's eyes snap open in slight alarm as his younger brother called for him in his sleep.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise. Apparently, Neji wasn't who he suspected to see, though he was relieved.

"I came to see Gaara," Neji said, not taking his eyes off the shaking boy, not sure how to help him. "He's having a nightmare…"

"Wouldn't be the first," Kankurou muttered angrily. He propped himself up on his elbow then spoke again in the softest, kindest voice Neji'd ever heard and definitely didn't expect out of the gruff Kankurou. He called to Gaara telling him that it was ok, and he was right here, and nothing was wrong, and it was just a dream.

Gaara made a sleepy noise and rolled over towards Kankurou. Neji couldn't see his face, but suspected Gaara had woken up because Kankurou smiled and said good morning.

"Neji's here," Kankurou said, nodding over at him.

Neji leaned over the bed and rested his chin on Gaara's shoulder as he twisted his head to look. "Morning," Neji said, smiling.

"Hi," Gaara said quietly, still tired.

"Gaara," Temari poked her head in, hair still dripping from the shower. "It's your turn in the shower."

"Ok…"

Neji moved as Gaara got up and sleepily left the room. Neji frowned after him. He had slept in his clothes and he was wincing slightly at each step. He turned back to Kankurou in a demanding way. "Is he ok?"

Kankurou rolled over to his back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. "'Ok'?...No, he's not," Kankurou admitted. "He's exhausted mentally and physically…and he's scared. Last night didn't go so well."

"Why, what happened?"

"Dad shut him up last night." Kankurou's voice became distant and far away, like Gaara usually did when he was talking about what their father did.

"'Shut him'…?"

"Locked him in a closet to 'think about what he had done'." Kankurou scoffed.

"What'd he do?"

"Ate something between meals."

"What?" Neji stared. "How's that bad?"

Kankurou didn't say anything for a minute. "Gaara's not allowed to eat between meals," he said shortly.

"But…what if he was hungry?"

"Sucks to be him."

"Did anything else happen?" Neji asked quietly.

"Nothing bad," Kankurou said. "I mean, he didn't like beat him really bad like he usually d—…" He stopped himself and glanced sideways at Neji. The boy was trying to mask his expression. "Be careful with Gaara's back," Kankurou said quietly.

"What'd he do?" Neji demanded.

Kankurou didn't answer, but his fists were clenched angrily.

"Kankurou…I wanna know…so I can help…in what ever way I can."

"He made him lay face down on the bed then hit him with his belt…a lot…and really hard…all over his back," Kankurou said slowly, as though he was trying to contain his anger.

"Why didn't Gaara try to fight him? Like…try to get away? My god…how could he just lay there?"

"Cause dad told him to lay there," Kankurou said softly. "He told Gaara not to move or make a noise…so he didn't."

Neji swallowed funny. As much as he wanted to know, he didn't want to just as much. Horrible images of the man ordering Gaara to lay on the bed and Gaara obeying as the man beat him and hurt him flooded into his mind. Neji felt what he swallowed funny get stuck in his throat. He felt himself starting to tear up, but forced them away. Kankurou was still talking.

"When he was done, Dad locked him in the closet. Gaara's majorly claustrophobic. He hates being locked up. If he makes any noise he gets left in there longer. He can't help it though, he get so scared he looses himself and freaks out. He was pretty spooked when he got out. I didn't think he'd sleep."

"Is he ok to go to school?" Neji asked, worry clear in his voice. "He should stay home!"

"He'll go anyway; he does it all the time. He wont stay at home by himself with the possibility of Dad being here too anyway," Kankurou said, rolling onto his side away from Neji and pulling the covers over his head.

"'All the t—'… This—this has happened before? Since you came?" Neji asked, wide eyed.

"Yeah," Kankurou's voice was muffled by the covers.

"When? Why hasn't Gaara said anything?"

But Kankurou had gone back to sleep and didn't answer him. Neji stood back and stared at the floor, thoughts racing.

Gaara came back in a few minutes later and went over to Kankurou's side of the bed and poked and shoved him until his head came out. He told him the shower was free, but Kankurou didn't move.

Neji blinked and his eyes widened.

Gaara hadn't put his new shirt on yet.

Neji didn't want to stare, but he couldn't make him self look away. There were burn marks and scars from cuts all over his chest and shoulders, some bruises were still present, but most were going down.

He watched as Kankurou rolled away, grumbling, from Gaara to escape his little brother's pestering, but Gaara climbed up on the bed and started pushing him off. In doing so, he revealed his back to Neji, who felt his breakfast start to come up and instantly looked away. Dark scars, faded scars and bruises stained the small body. He could barely find an unmarred area. Burn scars weren't rare and Neji see cuts and bruises around his neck as if someone had choked him, digging their nails in his neck. When Kankurou had first told him about Gaara being abused, he had expected something, but not this. This was horrible, revolting. He could practically stand there and count each of his ribs; he hadn't realized Gaara was that thin. Too thin...too thin…

Anger boiled inside him. How could that man do that to his own son? How could he not feel any guilt? What had shy little Gaara done to deserve such horrible punishment?

Gaara finally succeeded in pushing Kankurou off the bed and bounced on top of him until he got up. Deciding he had enough Kankurou stood quickly, causing Gaara to tumble off him.

"Alright already! Geez…" he muttered and sleepily trudged out of the room to the bathroom.

Gaara got up and came around to the other side and smiled at Neji, quite happy to see him now that he was fully awake. Neji must have had a funny look on his face, because Gaara's smile slowly disappeared and he asked what was wrong.

Silently, Neji went up to him and wrapped his arms around Gaara, holding him tight, but was careful with his back. He has seen several long, fresh red marks there Neji suspected were from the happenings of last night. He felt Gaara flinch at the close, unexpected contact, but Neji didn't let him go, he couldn't.

"N—Neji? What's wrong?" Gaara questioned in a confused voice.

"I'm sorry," Neji whispered, holding him tighter, nuzzling into Gaara's neck.

Gaara glanced over at him. "Why?"

"Do…do they…hurt?" he whispered.

"'Do they'…"

Gaara gasped and pulled away, ignoring the pain in his back and grabbed his shirt, quickly pulling it on. He was blushing at his secret being revealed and backed away. Neji watched him make a large distance between them where he could feel safe.

"Gaara, it's—"

"I—I didn't want you…to see them…."

"Gaara, don't you trust me?" Neji asked, wanting to comfort him, but didn't know how.

"People don't like looking at me," Gaara said darkly, to the floor. "They don't like getting involved with people who…look like this."

Neji knew what he was trying to say. He thought Neji wouldn't want to be with him now that he saw how bad things were. "Look like that? …Gaara, I knew about them before. I've just never seen them."

"So? You saw them now!" Gaara said clenching his fists.

Neji took steps closer to him, but Gaara backed away from him. When Gaara met the wall and found he couldn't go any further, Neji approached him and hugged him again, not letting him go this time. Gaara shook and whimpered. He wanted Neji to let him go. He was scared, but Neji didn't let him go.

He sat down on the bed, drawing him down too, to sit on his lap. Gaara tensed up, fearing the nearness of his touch. But it was different then with his father, or Itachi. Neji didn't do anything other then holding him close in his arms, rocking him slowly, trying to calm him down and stop his horrible shaking. He looked down at Gaara's white knuckles and took his hands in his own, gently forcing him to spread his fingers out again and relax.

"I don't care about them," Neji whispered in his ear. "I mean, I do care, but I'm not going to judge you for it. I love you too much to do something that fucked up."

Gaara started suddenly on his lap. "W—what?"

"I don't care about them," Neji repeated.

"N—no…the other thing…"

"…..I love you too much?"

Gaara slowly stopped shaking. He sat very still, relaxed in Neji's embrace. Neji's eyes widened in sudden realization.

"No one's ever said they loved you before?" Neji asked quietly.

"Temari…and Kankurou," was the only reply.

"…No one else?"

Gaara shook his head slowly, still staring wide-eyed at nothing.

Neji held him closer, nuzzling in the boy's semi damp hair. "Well, I do too. I love you," he repeated.

Gaara laid his head against Neji, listening to his heart beat. In his mind he repeated those three words over and over. His panic and fear slowly died with each time the words ran through his mind. Neji continued to hold him and rock him as if he was a small child and he was comforting him. Neji placed his hand on top of his and let his fingers slip in between Gaara's and gave them a squeeze. Gaara smiled down at their hands and gave a small squeeze in return.

"What is he doing here?"

Neji looked up and Gaara grabbed Neji's shirt, tensing up again.

"I came by to walk them to school," Neji replied calmly.

"I recall saying, Gaara, that I didn't want him over here," his father said.

"S—sorry, I—I didn't…I—I mean, I…" Gaara mumbled, scooting off Neji's lap to sit next to him on the bed.

"Why do you keep disobeying me?" his father demanded.

"I—I—I d—didn't mean….I w—wasn't—"

"Would you stop your pathetic stammering?"

Gaara bit his lip as it began to tremble violently. He decided that not speaking was better then trying to. He didn't trust his voice, feeling it quavering without making a noise.

Seeing Gaara bite his lip to hide it's quivering, Neji frowned and stood up. "He didn't invite me over. I came myself. You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that."

Alarmed, Gaara also stood as his father grabbed the front of Neji's shirt. "Last time I check, you were the kid and I was the adult and the parent. I make the rules in this house and I expect them to be followed."

Gaara hurried over to the two. "D—Dad…p—p—please d—don't hurt—"

"I said stop your stammering!" his father shouted, smacking Gaara's chest with a loud thud and shoving him back against the bed. Though the bed was soft, the sudden impact on his back made him wince and whimper, sliding down to the floor, his arms brought up to protect his face from any more attacks.

Neji stared, horrified at seeing Gaara in pain then turned to glare at the man in front of him.

Kankurou came out of the shower, dressed and his hair still wet. He stopped at his door and frowned at the situation, but didn't say anything. Neji kept a straight face, eyes never leaving the man's. Gaara looked worried, not sure of what he should do. Kankurou looked back down the hall as Temari came up the stairs, saying breakfast was ready. The three's father gave Neji a dark look.

"Are you expecting to eat my food as well as enter my house with out my permission?" he asked, daring Neji to say yes.

"I already ate breakfast," Neji replied coolly. "Like I said, I only came to walk them to school."

"You mean 'walk Gaara to school'," their father said.

"…."

"So go then," their father let Neji go and gestured to the door. "Go walk him to school."

"He hasn't eaten yet," Neji said, not moving.

"He doesn't need breakfast, do you?" his father turned to Gaara. "You eat enough of the food in my house for your own good, don't you?"

Kankurou's frown deepened. Neji could tell that he was mentally begging Gaara to say he was hungry. Neji wished he would too, he was too skinny—unhealthily skinny—he needed to eat, but Gaara was too afraid to say anything that might make his father even angrier at him.

"No," was the quiet reply. "I'm not hungry."

"You eat to much already don't you?" his father sneered down at him.

"Y—yes…I'm sorry…"

"Sure you are. Go. Now," his father said coldly, pointing at the door.

Gaara quickly walked passed Neji and his father automatically, eyes focused on the floor. Kankurou stopped him with a hand, as he tried to leave the room. He didn't look down at his brother as he stopped, continuing to stare at the floor. Kankurou met his father's gaze evenly before speaking.

"That's not fair Dad," Kankurou said, glaring. "You can't freak someone into listening to you. He hasn't eaten since you stopped him from eating that piece of toast yesterday morning!"

Neji's eyes widened and he stared passed the man in front of him to Gaara. Toast? It had only been a piece of toast? "What the hell? That's crazy!"

"He should eat more at dinner instead of eating between meals!" the three's father glowered at his oldest son.

"You don't let him!" Kankurou shouted.

"That doesn't give him an excuse to disobey!" was shouted back.

"He was hungry dad!" Kankurou shouted. "Let him eat!"

"He just said he wasn't hungry. It came out of his own mouth," their father said. "I can't form words there."

"You can if you beat it out of them," Neji said angrily.

The shouting match was silenced and a deadly quiet followed. Neji instantly realized he said too much. Kankurou had told him not to say anything about him knowing about the abuse in their home life, especially to their father. Kankurou's expression twitched and his eyes were fixed on his father; Gaara's face was pale as a ghost. Their father slowly turned on the smaller boy. Gaara looked terrified.

"I didn't tell him!" Gaara nearly screamed in panic, backing away into the hallway.

"Oh, sure. How the fuck else could he know?" his father demanded, his voice sent chills up Neji's back.

Kankurou stepped in between his brother and possibly certain death. "How do you know he told?" Kankurou demanded. "He could've found out some other way!"

His father scoffed. "Like how? From you? I highly doubt that. You know what'll happen if you tell. Who else? It has to be him!"

He shoved Kankurou out of his way and advanced on his youngest son. He grabbed Gaara, wrenching his arm painfully.

"Don't you ever learn? You're so stupid! I don't think you had enough time in the closet last night!"

"No!" Gaara cried, fruitlessly pulling away. "I'm sorry!"

"You damn well should be!" His father dragged him down the hall to his room.

"No!" Gaara whimpered, his voicing cracking in terrified sobs. "Please…please daddy, I'm sorry! I'll be good, I promise! Don't put me in there! Please!"

At Gaara's sobbing cries, Neji finally found his own voice and forced his body to move. "No!" he cried, following Kankurou out. "He doesn't like it in there!"

"That's what makes it a good punishment," his father said, opening his door and shoving Gaara inside. He closed the door and turned to the two boys.

"Dad—"

"You," he said to Kankurou, stopping him in his tracks, "better get your sorry ass to school before I forget the deal we made. I'm sure that bastard would love to know the dark secrets of his precious big brother."

Kankurou didn't say anything. Their father turned to Neji.

"Obviously you haven't told anyone yourself, but I'm not going to take any chances. You'll be staying here until I come home tonight and figure out what to do with you."

"What?"

"Hell no," Kankurou said. "You can't hold him like a fucking hostage!"

"Do you really want to make me any angrier today, Kankurou?" his father sneered. "I suggest you leave now, or my hand might slip with your brother."

Kankurou exhaled angrily, a mental war raging in his head. If he protested it would be worse for Gaara later. But he didn't want to leave him alone in the closet for an entire day. Both choices were bad, but he turned and went into his room, coming back out with his backpack and trudged down the stairs, passing his terrified sister. He shoved his feet into his shoes and opened the door, plans of disobedience already forming.

"Temari."

Temari jumped and looked up at her father. "Yes?"

"Go to school."

She turned and ran down stairs, putting on her shoes and grabbing her backpack and followed Kankurou out the door.

After a few minutes of silence, Neji glared at the man in front of him. 'Maybe what happened with the knife was a fluke that night,' he thought thinking about Gaara and his phone call. 'He doesn't really care.'

"You're sick," he said.

"And you're a gay fag. I suppose we're even."

Gaara's father grabbed him and pulled him into the room as well. Gaara was curled up in a corner of the room and stared as his father brought Neji in. He looked startled to see Neji coming in with his father. Neji gave Gaara a small smile before he was shoved in a closet. Gaara looked so scared; it hurt Neji to see him like that.

'Don't be scared,' he told Gaara, wishing he could read his thoughts. 'I'll be fine…don't be scared. I'm right here…'

"Give me your cell phone."

Neji glared at the man and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was placed on the dresser and the door was slammed in his face, wrapping him in darkness. Neji heard the lock click.

He pressed his ear to the door and listened. He could hear Gaara whimpering and begging his father not to hurt him, sobs were broken by promises to be good, but the man didn't listen. He started yelling at Gaara, telling him how worthless and stupid he was. Neji pulled away and covered his ears from firm hard blows began, but he could still hear Gaara crying for him to stop. He screamed in his head for the man to stop hurting Gaara. He'd done nothing wrong! It wasn't his fault!

Why did he ever open his mouth? Hiashi had always said his mouth would get him in trouble, but he never expected to get Gaara in trouble.

A long five minutes later, the blows stopped and he could hear Gaara's sobbing as a door opened and closed. "Stay in there. I'll be back later," he heard the man say.

He had another closet! How uncool was that? Neji had expected them to be put in the same one. He could've comforted Gaara then. He hadn't counted on this.

Almost immediately after the other door was shut, he heard Gaara pounding on the door, wanting to be let out. Begging, voice breaking, sobbing, yet too scared to feel the pain from his movements. Neji slumped down onto the floor, his breath caught in his throat as he tried to swallow the lump growing there. How could that man do this to his own son?

Neji waited quietly and patiently for the next two hours as Gaara's father got ready for work and did stuff around the house. It was impossibly hard to sit there quietly in the dark while Gaara's voice continued from somewhere outside his vision, but he focused his mind on waiting and endured. When he heard the car pull away he began feeling around for a way out. The door opened in so the hinges were on the inside. He felt around until he found something hard and beat on the pegs upward until they came out of the hinges.

He wasn't afraid of the dark, nor being shut in a closet. On days when he didn't want to go to school, he use to lock himself in his closet so no one could find him. He forced the door open and stepped out into the room. He picked up his cell phone and looked around. There were three other doors in the room. One was shaking as the boy behind still desperately tried to get out. He went over to that one quickly and opened it.

Kneeling down, he pulled Gaara out. The smaller boy buried his face in Neji's stomach. He could barely breathe and his throat sounded raw and dry from crying and screaming in the dusty closet for the past two hours. It came out in short raspy breaths, sobs and coughs that racked his entire body.

Neji bit his lip as he practically felt Gaara's heart pounding feverishly against him. He wiped away the boy's tears from his soaked face as gently as he could. Hearing how horrible bad Gaara's breathing was made Neji take a few deep breaths himself. If he was this bad after being here for only two hours…Neji thanked god he had gotten him out. He didn't think Gaara would have lasted an entire day. He would have died from hysteria.

He held him for a long time, stroking his hair and whispering soft, kind words to him, but Gaara wouldn't calm down. Neji tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. Gaara was frozen in a state of hysteria; he couldn't hear Neji's voice and could only curl up in a tight ball as Neji held him. He wouldn't get up or move either. Neji finally lifted him up and carried him into Kankurou's room.

As soon as he was in the familiar environment, Gaara struggled, kicked and shoving, out of Neji's grasp and crawled onto Kankurou's bed, clutching the pillow and comforter tightly.

Neji stood back, startled at the sudden movement, not sure of what to do. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Kankurou's number, hoping he wouldn't get the boy in trouble. The answering machine came one and Neji waited for the beep, pacing nervously.

"Hey Kankurou, it's Neji. Look, I got him out, but I can't get him to calm down. He's really freaked out and I tried everything I could think of, but he wont calm down. Um…call I guess when you gotta chance. Bye."

Kankurou clicked a button on his phone and leaned against the bathroom wall. Ukon stood across from him looking concerned. They both skipped their fourth period classes to hang out in the bathroom.

"Is your brother alright?" he asked.

"No," Kankurou said honestly, shaking his head.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Do you have problems at home?" Ukon asked, his face set.

Kankurou stared. Did Ukon know how much he looked like Sakkon when he did that? He thought for a minute, wondering about his answer.

"Yeah I do," he said finally. "The reason I need the money that I get from selling this shit is cause when I turn eighteen I'm moving out. I'm taking Gaara and Temari with me too. I'm not leaving them behind."

"….does your dad…hit you?"

"Me? He's not stupid, I hit back. No, it's Gaara he picks on."

Ukon stared. "Little birthday boy?" he asked in a squeaky voice, holding his hand about chest high. Kankurou nodded slowly. "Oh, hell no. That's messed up!"

"No, shit," Kankurou snapped. "Quiet a minute, I'm gonna call Neji back." He scanned through his phone book and clicked on Neji's number and waited.

"Hey, Kankurou." (gotta love caller id)

"Hey Neji. I just got your message. Is he ok yet?"

"Not really," was Neji's reply. "He's still freaked out. He's curled up on your bed shaking and really scared. He wont let me touch him anymore."

"Ok," Kankurou said. "Look, lemme talked to him."

Pause. "He wont take the phone."

"Just put the phone by his ear and tell him it's me."

"Ok."

Kankurou heard Neji gently coaxing Gaara, telling him it was Kankurou.

"Gaara? It's Kankurou. Tell me what's wrong."

Kankurou waited but Gaara didn't say anything.

"Gaara, please answer me. You're ok now right? You're not in the dark place anymore. Can you hear me?"

He heard a small sniff and Gaara finally replied. "Kankurou…?"

"Yep, I'm right here," Kankurou said looking relieved. "Are you ok? Do you want me to come home?"

"Kankurou… he put N—Neji in the dark place too…"

"I know, I know. Is he ok?"

"I don't know."

"Are you ok?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want me to come home?"

"I don't know!" Gaara cried, his voice rising in desperation. "I'm sorry!"

"It's ok, it's ok," Kankurou said softly. "It's ok, you're ok ."

"He's coming back."

"What?"

"He—he said he's coming back. He's angry."

"I know he's angry. Don't worry, I wont let him hurt you. Not tonight. I wont let him!" Kankurou assured him.

"He'll hurt Neji."

"No, he will not!" Kankurou said, sternly. "I wont let him to that either. Neji will be safe. I promise ok?"

"Ok," Gaara said quietly, sniffing.

"Ok. Let me talk to Neji for a minute ok?"

Gaara nodded silently before holding the phone out for Neji and burying his face in Kankurou's pillow.

"Hello?"

"Neji, do you have practice today?"

"Uh…yeah." 'Shit I forgot…'

"Ok…uh…"

"Look, I'm not leaving him alone!" Neji insisted. "I'll take him to practice with me. Or I'll—I'll skip practice or something."

Kankurou sighed and thought for a minute. "Look, ask Gaara—"

"Gaara?"

Kankurou stopped and he and Ukon turned to the door. Haku was standing there looking curious. Kankurou looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Is Gaara ok?" Haku asked concerned. "I mean that whole thing with Itachi last week was bad and he was upset about that. Did that bastard do something else? Is Gaara ok?"

"This is different, Haku," Ukon said, even he knew when to be serious.

"Can I help?"

"I don't think so," Ukon replied, watching Kankurou.

"Kankurou? Kankurou!"

Kankurou brought the phone to his ear as Gaara called him. "I'm here. What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't want you to…to miss any school," Gaara said very slowly, to keep his voice even.

"What?" Kankurou frowned. "Gaara, I don't mind coming home for you."

"I kn—know..but…I don't wanna be a b—burden …to you," Gaara's voice broke and he seemed to be having trouble getting his words out.

"Gaara, you are not a burden," Kankurou said firmly. "I don't want to hear you say that again. Understand?"

"Sorry."

"Listen, Gaara, ok?" Kankurou said, taking a deep breath. "I want you to go with Neji—"

Gaara started protesting about not wanting to leave Kankurou's room.

"—no, no, no, listen. Go with Neji to a safe place. He'll call me and tell me where you are. Then I want you to go with Neji to his soccer practice."

"B-but…Itachi—"

"I know Itachi's there, but Haku's gonna stay with you and watch with you," Kankurou said, glancing over at the long haired boy standing with Ukon. "Ok? I'm going to come home after fifth period and come find you. Alright?"

"I don't wanna go," Gaara sobbed.

"I know you don't, but I don't want you to be home if Dad comes home early."

Gaara made a scared noise. "He's coming home?"

"If he comes home early I don't want you there. Please go with Neji, just this once ok?" Kankurou waited on baited breath.

"…ok…" finally came the reply.

"Alright. I'm gonna go now. Don't worry. You'll be safe with Neji. I'll come to see you later."

"P—promise?"

"Cross my heart."

"Ok."

"Bye."

Dude...there was only two lines in this whole chapter...weird...