Haunted

By: Junsui Kegasu

A/N: I need to redeem myself.

Disclaimer: Don' own it…nope.

The city was a dizzying blur of white and gray, twirling, seeming to mock all its passersby.

Gaara didn't care. He kept running, bare feet numb against the frozen cement beneath him. He had lost all the feeling in his body ages ago (was it ages? It seemed like it…) but he kept running.

He needed to go home.

Neji would be so mad at him…he needed to go home and apologize. Maybe if he apologized enough, Neji would love him again. He'd hold him close and whisper sweet nothings, telling him of their future.

This optimism kept Gaara's feet pounding into the cold cement. He thought he must've cut his feet somewhere, but he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel anything. He just needed to get to Neji.

Building after building passed in a blur. He didn't know how he was going where he was, but he knew he had to keep going. If he stopped, it would all be ruined. If he stopped, he wouldn't be able to start up again.

Blindly, Gaara's throbbing feet took him to the front of a large building. The apartment. Overjoyed, he pelted inside, passing the startled looking receptionist and bounded up the stairs, flight after flight.

'If I take the elevator…I'll have to stop…If I stop…I won't be able to keep going…'

Finally, Gaara made it to Neji's floor, sprinting down the hall and pounding on the door. He wasnowforced to stop. His run across the city was catching up to him and the silver numbers on the door were beginning to blur and swirl.

Just when he thought he'd pass out, the oak door opened, revealing Neji's aggravated looking face changing to one mixed with surprise and fury.

"What the fuck? Get in here! What the hell are you wearing?" he interrogated, shoving Gaara to a couch.

The redhead shook his head, unable to answer for the time being, at least not until he could regain his breath. After a few minutes of panting, he raised his head, meeting Neji's questioning glare.

"I…I'm…sorry…" he gasped out, feeling all his strength leave him instantly. He couldn't tell Neji any more right now. He couldn't ask him why he had gone through the trouble of annihilating Kankurou's apartment.

He couldn't do anything. He blacked out.

Kankurou was never one who liked to take big breaks in things, work being one of those things. He was greeted with a chorus of "Hey, Kankurou!" and "Welcome back!" throughout the building, which he could only answer with a smile as he made his way to the cash register to relieve whoever was there of duties.

Oh, great. It was that kid; Inuzuka Kiba. The younger man scared Kankurou. He kept giving him strange looks, staring at him on lunch break.

"Uh, hey, you can go home now," he told the brunette casually, his hands in his pockets. Brown eyes perked up, surprised at seeing him there.

"Hey! I've been worried about you man," he told him, moving so Kankurou could take his place.

"A-ah…it's nothing…Ibiki just thought I needed some time off, is all…"

"Lucky. If I asked for a block of off days, Ibiki would probably boot me out the door. I need to have money to take care of my dogs…kinda lonely, though," he said sadly, as if Kankurou was supposed to do anything about it.

"Ah…well…sometimes I have reasons…" he mumbled, not wanting to bring up Gaara to Kiba.

"Understandable. Ah, shit, I gotta get to school…I'm later than usual. Kurenai-sensei likes me, but not that much. See you around."

Kankurou blinked at where the younger man had been a moment before. Why had he told him all that? He sounded like he was expecting Kankurou to care. Well, not to be mean or anything…but Kankurou had enough to care about without adding Kiba into the mix.

The boy scared him.

It took him a while for his reflexes to get back to normal speed, taking longer and fumbling with the buttons than he should've. He had to ask several people what several of the products were priced; earning him some scowls from the customers and mutters about 'amateurs'.

Finally, though, after enduring four hours of a slight sense of embarrassment constantly, noon came, which was his lunch hour. He had already made up his mind to go home, maybe stopping to get something along the way, maybe not, but what he really wanted to do was check up on Gaara. The younger man always had a sense of insecurity in being at someone's house without that person (or anyone, for that matter) there with him.

Getting into his car, Kankurou drove back to the apartment, so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even say 'hi' to Ino, who was busy painting her nails a shocking shade of purple anyways.

He took the elevator, feeling too lazy to walk up seven flights of stairs, and took a second to get oriented again. Elevators always had the strange effect on him that he was being squished down into the floor, or that he was being pushed through a rubber tube too thin for him to fit, but whatever was pushing him down kept insisting.

After he collected himself, Kankurou calmly walked up to his door, taking out his keys and unlocking the door. The door could be opened from the inside whether the outside was locked or not, so Gaara could've answered the door if he'd would've knocked, but Kankurou didn't feel like making the boy answer a door he could just as easily open himself.

Gaara, however, wasn't in the living room. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, the apartment was empty. Frowning, Kankurou checked the bedroom, hoping to find the panda-eyed redhead napping and bit his lip when he saw that the bed was neatly made, as it had been when he left that morning.

The bathroom door was ajar, and no Gaara was inside. That left the kitchen. He headed down the hallway, hoping to see a shock of red against the monotonous white that was his kitchen's theme, but his heart sank when there was no Gaara in sight.

There was, however, a piece of paper on the table, barely distinguishable from the white around it except for the pen-black scrawl Kankurou recognized as Gaara's penmanship.

As he read it, his heart sank further. Gaara had left…left to go back to Neji. He felt a little betrayed and rather lonely without the boy, and at the same time, kind of worried. Neji would be mad that Gaara had left…especially to be with him. There was no doubt the pale-eyed man was beginning to suspect things…he had always suspected, actually, but this time, his suspicions were somewhat correct.

Biting his lip, and not feeling very hungry at all, Kankurou decided not to stay at the apartment, but to go back to work. Maybe, just maybe, Ibiki would let him work on his lunch break.

Neji had just been surfing the Internet (again), hoping someone worth talking to would come online to talk to via AOL Instant Messenger. However, he was disappointed, and bored quickly, after running through the sites he visited so often.

Finally, a friend of his from high school, Rock Lee signed on and Neji chatted with him for a while. However, just as the conversation was becoming rapid (A/N: You know the kind – where you have to type REAL quick to get your two-cents in…) a knock sounded at his door. It was frantic and so, with a growl of annoyance, Neji put up an away message, trudging over to the door.

When he answered it, he expected something stupid, anything. He hadn't, however, expected what he got. Standing at the door, looking near ready to collapse was Gaara.

Gaara; The same Gaara who went off to Kankurou every time he got hurt.

"What the fuck? Get in here! What the hell are you wearing?" he shouted before he could stop himself, pulling the small redhead inside and shoving him into a couch. The third question had been the only one he meant to ask, since the boy was wearing short sleeves and no shoes on his feet. Tch. Idiot. Well, Neji wasn't taking him to the hospital when he got sick.

Gaara, however, refused to answer him.

'They did something, then,' he concluded, taking Gaara's silence as an answer. He stood waiting, however, for a verbal response, which after several moments, Gaara gave.

"I…I'm…sorry…" And then the redhead blacked out.

Neji rolled his eyes. His 'boyfriend' was so weak sometimes. Sighing deeply, he threw the lightweight boy over his shoulder and carried him off to the bedroom. 'He might as well sleep somewhere comfortable if I want him to stay.'

Mumbling again in frustration, Neji returned to the computer, about to tell Lee he was back. To his severe disappointment, Lee had already signed off, telling Neji something about meeting his girlfriend.

Bored again, Neji signed off and out of boredom, went to check up on Gaara. If the redhead got sick, he'd have Hell to pay from Kankurou. Damn meddling fuck-toy stealer…he'd get rid of him eventually. Gaara had been his first. His fuck-toy. Not Kankurou's.

He was pleased to see that the redhead hadn't yet developed a fever, at least not one hot enough for Neji to sense with his hand. He didn't feel like digging out a thermometer for something like Gaara – if he was good in bed tonight, then that was all that Neji cared about.

This done, and Neji bored again, he decided to watch television but found that nothing worth his attention was on yet. Tch. It was all Gaara's fault.

Everything was his fault. He was a good object to put blame on. The best part was that he believed it. Neji told him he was fat; he stopped eating. Well, maybe that wasn't such a good thing, he did need Gaara to be somewhat healthy or Kankurou would freak out on him.

Tch. Kankurou was so annoying.

Kankurou was extremely bored without Gaara there. He wouldn't admit it, but he really missed the redhead. Watching television had never seen so lonely. Ever since he had carried Gaara to safety (as he liked to put it) they hadn't really had a day where they hadn't done some exploring, mostly kissing, and a few touches where Kankurou became very educated.

He was about to go down memory lane to just the day before, when he had learned many sweet spots on the teen's body when his last thoughts replayed in his head.

He had carried Gaara to safety. Gaara hadn't been wearing a jacket or shoes! He had walked back to Neji's barefoot and jacketless! Today had been very snowy; they had managed to stock up on at least three or four inches of precipitation.

He hoped dearly that Gaara wasn't sick…it'd be partially his fault if he were. Why did the boy have to be so fragile? Kankurou didn't know. He wished he did, very often actually, so maybe, just maybe he could cure him from it.

Yeah, that would be nice. Gaara didn't deserve to get as sick as he did so often. He could only wait and see, though, since if the boy had walked home in pajamas, then he probably was sick.

He had said that he would be coming over tomorrow…part of Kankurou couldn't wait. The other half of him, however, the one with reasoning, was worried that Gaara, even if he was running a high fever and ready to throw up would still make the journey. On foot.

Neji wouldn't dare give him a ride. No, of course he wouldn't, he'd be at work. It was the only way the two of them could see each other was like this. It saddened Kankurou, he wanted a more open relationship with the redhead, but that would have to be put off until Gaara found a way to break the news to Neji.

'Or to you,' a voice in his head protested. 'He could end up dumping you, you know.'

Kankurou scowled at his own thoughts and their mistrust of Gaara, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. Neji had come first…so would Gaara choose Neji over him?

'Is his judgment really that bad?' Kankurou's mind asked himself before he could stop it. He did, a little guiltily; secretly agree with it, though. Neji hit him for crying out loud! Why would he want to go back to him?

'Because he loves him,' his smart-ass mind supplied.

Still. Neji obviously didn't love him back. Did that make a difference to Gaara? He loved him! He'd take care of him! It was all just a matter of who Gaara loved more…

Damn. Now he was putting the redhead on the spot without him knowing it.

Gaara felt his eyes slide open and at first wondered where he was. This wasn't Kankurou's bed. No, Kankurou's bed was a lot…stiffer from not being used.

Wait, if he wasn't with Kankurou, where was he?

It took Gaara a minute of thought, but he finally managed to have everything come back to him - feeling uncomfortable in Kankurou's house without the brunette, running back to Neji's in pajamas, and the fact that his feet stung like nothing else.

Groggily, he sat up, noticing that his throat felt very dry and he wasn't breathing very well through his nose. It was stuffed, and badly at that. Trying to ignore it, and the pain in his muscles from his cross-city run, Gaara pushed away the blanket, gingerly bringing one knee to his chest to closely inspect his left foot.

There was nothing on the top, but Gaara knew that already. He maneuvered himself so he was staring at the bottom, sleepy, jade orbs widening. The bottom of his foot was cut up everywhere, not bleeding, at least not anymore, but scabbed and very tender. A couple of the cuts looked to be infected.

Biting his lip, but then remembering that he couldn't breathe through his nose and releasing it for oxygen, Gaara let his left leg slide back down, his foot hiding under the snuggly warmth of the blanket at the foot of the bed. (Or, rather, where his feet ended, since he was too small to reach the foot of the bed) He pulled up his right leg, knowing he'd see the same thing, but trying to will him self into thinking it was only one foot.

As he had known, though, this foot was also cut up, as badly as his left. He needed to bandage them; otherwise walking might reopen some of the more tender and inflamed looking ones.

Swiveling around so his feet were hanging off the edge of the bed (but not quite touching the floor) he lifted himself to his full height, getting a view of the clock. His eyes widened at the time; was it that late already? He had gotten back to Neji's house at maybe nine in the morning yesterday, and it was already one in the afternoon of the next day!

How had he managed to sleep that long? He never managed that unless he was…oh, no…not now! He couldn't be sick! Moaning in exasperation, Gaara limped his way into the bathroom, standing on his toes (which hurt, surprisingly enough, more than it would've had he just kept his weight on his entire foot, though there were no cuts on his toes) to reach into the medicine cabinet and pull out a bottle of eyeliner, bandages, and the thermometer.

Double tasking, he shoved the temperature-detecting instrument under his tongue and set to clumsily bandaging his feet. Gaara never bandaged himself, always claiming to be fine, but four days with Kankurou had given him the older man's common sense and he wrapped them tightly, testing his weight and smiling softly when it didn't hurt as much.

It did, however, feel kind of weird that his foot wasn't widening as he stepped down. Would his feet get narrower walking like this? That was the last thing he needed, his feet being small and narrow, hardly able to fit into any of the men's shoes and some of the women's. Still, he pushed these random thoughts down and uncapped his eyeliner, painting on dark circles with the skill of years' usage. (A/N: It didn't take me years! (Been wearing eyeliner daily for…like…not even a month and has it somewhat mastered)) His last coat must've come off when he was sleeping; Kankurou bought the cheap stuff.

Gaara popped the thermometer from his mouth, holding it up to the light to get an accurate reading. He frowned when he saw he was running a fever of 99.8 degrees, but it wasn't that bad and he had had worse, so he let it go, throwing the instrument back into the medicine cabinet with a shrug and a sneeze.

He hobbled back into the bedroom (It was weird walking when his foot wasn't allowed to expand to it's full width) and dug through his dresser, finally finding a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt. With a shudder and a reminder that he didn't really have a jacket that was good for this weather, Gaara dug deeper and unearthed a black hoodie with a random insignia on it; he didn't really care what it was.

After dressing and going back to the bathroom to try to make his hair lie flat (and failing) and brushing his teeth, Gaara went into the kitchen to scribble a note to Neji that he was going 'out', surprised to find one already there in a one-subject notebook they never used.

'Don't you dare be dragging your fat ass to Kankurou's again. I will know.'

Gaara swallowed hard. His mind was fighting itself, now. He had promised Kankurou he'd go and visit him, but Neji had just demanded him not to. He wasn't sure who to listen to.

Wait, wasn't it…he checked the microwave again…1:30 in the afternoon now? Kankurou would be off his lunch break…the only way he'd be able to see him would be to go to the café. Would that be okay? Gaara didn't know, so he excavated their phone-book, hardly touched, but they still bought them anyways, and looked in the 'M's.

After finding 'Maoshimao Café' and dialing the number, Gaara waited.

"Hullo, Maoshimao Café…" said a voice, as if he really didn't want to be there.

"Uhb…hi…is Kah-kurou there?" he winced at the obvious note of a cold in his voice.

"…Speaking," the voice said, as if he was used to getting called by people for personal reasons.

"Uhb…Hi!" Gaara said, trying to mask his cold-accent.

"…Gaara?" came the voice on the other line, which sounded distinctly more like Kankurou now. "Are you okay? You sound kind of…nasally."

"Uhb, I'b okay, actually. Look, I'b sorry that I didn't cobe to visit you od your lunch break…I slept late…" he said sheepishly, as if ashamed with himself for sleeping that late.

Was he? He wasn't sure.

"Oh, it's fine, really. Hey, are you okay? You were real stupid for walking home like that without a jacket or shoes!" Kankurou said sounding worried.

"Oh, it's dothing, really. I'b okay." Gaara decided to leave out the fact that his feet were littered in little cuts that made it hurt to walk without a heavy layer of bandages.

"…Are you sure? You sound sick…" Kankurou informed him, his tone not changing.

"It's prolly just a cold. I'b okay," Gaara tried insisting. "Look…uhb…I wadded to doe if I could cobe over add like…you doe, visit," he said. "But I wasn't sure if I could do that sidce your working add all…"

"No, no, it's okay. We're not getting much business, I could probably get you something and have you sit at a table," Kankurou told him. "It'd definitely brighten up my day – it's been so boring! The café never gets deserted like this, Ibiki's flippin' out." The older man sounded much more cheerful, now.

"Oh, but Kah-kurou!" Gaara exclaimed. "I cad't just…booch off you like that!"

"Gaara, it's nothing. Really. Plus, I doubt you've eaten since…whenever you went to sleep, I won't push you for it, so I'm sure you need to eat something. You're probably hungry," Kankurou said, stating the truth.

"…All right…also…I dod't think I cad visit your house for a bit…Deji kida forbade it…" he trailed off, sounding sad.

Gaara could practically see Kankurou's scowl. "Fuck Neji. You'll see who you want. He needs to get over this jealousy complex. Do you want me to come pick you up? Ibiki would probably not care, and I can only guess it's a pretty far walk, it'd be far for me to walk," he told him.

"Oh, doe! Doe, doe, I'b okay to walk. It's on this side of towd adyways," Gaara lied. It would be a good half hour walk to get there, but he couldn't burden Kankurou like that. It'd be cruel.

"…All right….I guess that'd make sense, since we're on opposite sides of town…I can't believe you actually walk all that way…" he trailed off. Gaara could hear the scraping noise of the mouth-piece of the phone against his cheek when he shook his head.

"It's dothing, really. I'll be right over, okay?"

"All right. See you soon, then. Bundle up, too, it's the coldest day in winter we've had yet!"

Click.

Great. Did he have another hoodie? He didn't think so.

WAH! I can't believe I managed to pump this out…I'm not feeling as disgusted with myself for writing…so that's good. Good, good, I'm getting over this.

Ahh…and now to what everyone really wants – LaF. I can't see why, just as a warning, this next chapter is gonna be even sadder than the last.

Oh, oh, and also! I just realized I kinda stole the cold-accent from Ebony-chan in Carousel! ..Ack...sorry, Ebony...forgive me? And if it's too hard to understand Gaara, just tell me and I'll go back and fix it.