Lost and Found

By: Junsui Kegasu

A/N:yawn: Hi! Whoo! Beginning the long trek of updating! Actually, I think it might even be slower this time, because, as I type this, I'm downloading AMV's to put on a disc for my brother. Yeah. It takes a semi-long time to download, so I'm typing this out in between. Or, starting to anyways.. n.n;;;; Neji's in this one! Rejoice! I realize that time-wise, this is going uber slooooooooooow…So I'm gonna try to speed things up a little bit.

Disclaimer:does a mini dance: I does not own it:falls over:

Chapter Five
Walking on crutches wasn't as bad as Gaara had first expected. Sure, it was slightly awkward, but it was probably better than walking on his ankle. They were almost to the school building, but it was a slower pace than usual. Oh well. It's not like Iruka-sensei would care if he was late upon seeing his ankle. Probably.

When they got to the grounds, people were still there, so he guessed the bell hadn't rang. Glancing around for the boy that offered him to sit at lunch, he found him sitting at a picnic table in solitude. Part of him wanted to go join him, but most of him would rather be in solitude also.

Wait, why would he want to sit by anyone? He never had before. Scowling at his out of character thoughts, he switched his balance on the crutches.

Temari noticed he was having a hard time with the awkward crutches. "Gaara? Why don't you go sit at that picnic table? You'll feel better sitting than standing." She said, giving him an encouraging smile. "Isn't that the boy you talked to yesterday morning? You'll be fine." She assured him.

He blinked. Well, now he had to sit there. Great. Limping over, he plopped down on the bench rather ungracefully. He winced and began mumbling something incoherent under his breath.

Neji looked up when he heard a soft thump from the other side of the table. He blinked at the redheaded form next to him. Something was different. If yesterday he was bruised, today he was black and blue. Yesterday, he would have jokingly (not that he would admit that he made a joke) said that it was from being so rude that a girl slapped him, but what was all this? Neji was quite curious, but he wasn't going to pry into the boy.

"…Hi." Neji didn't know, he just wanted to make a friend, he guessed. The best way to start was with a greeting.

"…Hi…" was the quiet response, followed by a cough.

They sat in silence for a while. Then "So…what lunch table do you sit at…?"

Neji blinked. He hadn't expected the boy to take up his offer yesterday. "The fifth row. Right next to the wall."

He nodded, committing this to memory. They sat in silence until the bell rang, signifying that it was now time to enter the building.

Grimacing, Gaara grabbed his crutches and stood rather slowly. At this rate, he was seriously going to be late. Iruka-sensei might not brush it off as well as he had originally thought. Worried, he tried to hurry, but only succeeded in almost tripping himself.

Neji watched him, debating whether or not to help. After fighting back his mental ego demon, he bent down and adjusted the crutches so the small boy in front of him wouldn't fall. "I know this sounds weird, and trust me, it is for me, but do you think you're gonna be okay on these, or should I carry you?"

Flustered, the redhead said nothing. He knew that he wasn't going to be okay on the crutches; he had hardly had time to become used to them.

Apparently, Neji realized this too. Gritting his teeth against the ego demon again, he scooped the lightweight child up and held the crutches at his side with one arm. Noting that he was surprisingly light, he began walking towards the building. "Where's your locker?"

"7-739." He stuttered, completely embarrassed.

"Hn? Mine's right by that. 742, actually. So that works out fine."

Gaara blinked. In the beginning, this guy struck him as a person of solitude. Not one who carried handicapped freshmen to their lockers and most likely to his first hour class. He settled for just sitting – in this boys arms – in silence. When they reached the locker, Neji bent down so he could do his combination. He must have been pretty athletic, because he had excellent balance.

Grabbing his stuff (a binder, science, math, and world studies book), he closed it up, and Neji walked to his locker a little further down.

Temari happened to glance to her right, and almost chocked on nothing. Her brother (Her BABY brother) was being CARRIED by a COMPLETE STRANGER at said stranger's locker. Yeah, she was freaking out. Grabbing her stuff, she marched right over to the black haired boy.

"Excuse me, but WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER!" she screeched.

Neji jumped. He hadn't expected this. "Umm…he was having trouble. So I helped him. Is that a problem?" he glared at her. She glared back.

"Oh, just slightly considering you're a COMPLETE STRANGER!"

"A-anou…T-temari…it's okay…really…" Gaara hated yelling and screaming. He put up with so much of it at home, it was no wonder. He didn't like hearing Temari raise her voice.

Temari blinked, her anger forgotten at the small look of fear that had passed through her brother's eyes. "O-oh…Okay…I'll see you after school then. Bye…" Great. Now she felt horrible! As the eldest in this situation, it was her job to make him feel better, not scare him! Oh well, she'd have to apologize later…

Neji stopped in front of the doorway of 108. "It's in there? Through here?"

The boy in his arms nodded.

"Alright." He walked in, setting him on the floor right in front of the doorway so that he was leaning on him before quickly giving him a crutch to sustain balance, then another. "Okay, I guess…I'll see you at…lunch?" he asked, half embarrassed.

"Sure…"

"Okay."

Kankurou continued to give the boy the evil eye even as he walked out of the classroom. Gaara wasn't usually one for a lot of physical contact. As a matter of fact, unless it was him or Temari, he'd usually freak out. He didn't seem to with this boy, but that didn't mean Kankurou wasn't suspicious.

Gaara hobbled into the room, late, and sat down. Unlike yesterday, this time Iruka noticed, since he had managed to quiet the class.

Iruka was about to give the boy a mark for being late, but he noticed the crutch and bruises and decided to question him about them instead. "Gaara? Would you please come here?"

Gaara stiffened. Was he going to get in trouble? If they called home he was dead…and this time, he was pretty sure his father would kill him. After last night's episode, just from walking home, he had no idea what he would do next.

"Gaara, just an innocent inquiry, but how on earth did you get so beat up in less than 24 hours?"

Gaara stiffened. He should have expected this. "A-ah…I fell down the stairs at home."

Iruka looked at him quizzically. Something told him that wasn't half of it, but he wasn't going to pry just yet. The boy needed his personal space.

"All right…We have an option for those in crutches to leave class five minutes earlier. Is that okay?"

Gaara nodded. Five minutes would be fine, if he could manage to maneuver himself better than earlier.

"Okay, please go sit down. I'm not going to mark you late because it's obviously the crutches that retained you."

Great. Now he was on the 'worry for' list of Umino Iruka, who was, dangerously enough, his counselor. Gaara was always afraid of counselors for their lack of confidentiality, and he was just as afraid of Iruka, even with his kindness.

Gaara – Physical Education (This one feels like skipping a lot)
Gaara hobbled into the gymnasium. He didn't bother telling Genma that he obviously couldn't play; he just sat down on the bleachers and waited for him to come over.

Just because he couldn't use his leg didn't mean his arms were very strong, either. They were bruised and it hurt to propel himself with them as he was doing.

"Gaara? How'd you beat yourself up like that?" Genma asked, half jokingly.

Gaara, however, freaked out and used his excuse. "I fell down the stairs yesterday, that's all." He sighed. He knew it wasn't very convincing, but he hadn't thought up an excuse like he usually did.

"How long do you think you're going to be out for?"

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know. My brother says maybe 'till Monday…"

"Hn. So it's not that bad a break, or it's just a pretty bad sprain."

He nodded again.

"Alright. We're still just doing basketball, so you can observe, and I'll give you a paper to take notes with. We require that if a student is going to be sitting out from an injury that they take notes and hand them in as the daily participation grade."

"That's fine." At least it gave him something to do. He didn't feel like being alone with his thoughts for 40 minutes. Knowing the demon, he probably wouldn't be alone, but he didn't feel like talking to that thing.

He looked up at the teacher, who was explaining the different lines and what they were used for. It looked confusing. He never had liked sports. It's not that he didn't have the physique to be athletically involved, he obviously wasn't fat, and he had been told he was quite quick on his feet, but because of some of the bruises, it often hurt to run, or even jog.

He sighed and continued his note taking. Great. Now he looked forward to this class even less than usual.

Health – Kankurou
"There are different ways to determine if it is a break or fracture, or if it's a sprain-"

Kankurou chose to stop listening there. Weren't they just talking about insomnia yesterday! What'd he miss! AND WHY DID EVERYTHING SHE TAUGHT APPLY TO HOMELIFE! (A/N: Magical author powers, Kanky n.n)

He sighed, bored. He knew how to determine if it was sprained or broken, hell, he had just done so this morning.

That only meant one thing.

Nap time.

"Kankurou! Pay attention!"

…Damn.

Lunch – Gaara
Gaara glanced around the crowded cafeteria. He wasn't going to like this much. All the noise and the people; it scared him.

He counted off rows until he got to the fifth, then looked to see Neji there alone.

He blinked. Completely alone in a crowded area like this? Oh well, it's not like he minded, especially if he was going to sit there also.

Limping his way over, he scowled at the small seats. (The tables are those BIIIG long brown ones with the little colorful seats that like…NO ONE fits on unless they're severely underweight :coughgaaracough:) This was going to be difficult…

Neji would have laughed if it was in his character. Gaara seemed to be having trouble.

"Need help?"

The boy's head snapped up. "Uh…I….don't…I guess…" he flushed.

Neji smiled and quickly scooped him up in the same position he was in that morning and set him gently on the seat next to his own. He frowned seeing how well he fit on the seat. That wasn't healthy.

"So, do you have a lunch on you?"

"…" He forgot to go to his locker. "It's in my locker…"

"Alright then." He didn't know why, but he liked carrying the thin boy. It was an odd feeling, but he didn't really seem to mind, so he guessed it was okay.

Some kids stared as they passed by the other rows to get out of the cafeteria. Neji rewarded them with a glare that could freeze hell over. They immediately stopped.

Kankurou looked up as he heard voices coming down the hall. He had needed to go to his locker to grab a book, and while he was at it, get his lunch. Turning, he saw Gaara. Being carried. Again. By the same person.

He felt his instincts acting up. He wanted to go beat the shit out of the boy for touching his brother.

"Oy. You. What're you doing?"

Neji looked up from where he was crouched over to let Gaara undo his lock. "Helping. Dear gods, are you another sibling? I already had one yell at me this morning. It's obvious he hasn't had time to adjust to these, and an environment such as this school isn't the best place to do so."

Kankurou glared at the boy. Eyeing how he held the redhead, a memory suddenly made itself to the front of his mind.

FLASHBACK

Kankurou made his way up the path to their sandy home back in Sunanogakure. Apparently, Gaara was having a friend over. That probably meant their father would leave him alone, lest his secret be discovered.

Turning the key, he frowned when his sharp hearing picked up sounds that didn't sound like his brother was having a good time with his friend.

"S-stop! Wh-what're y-you d-doing?"

The crease in his brow deepened. That did NOT sound good. He quickly turned the corner and froze at the sight in front of him.

"WH-WHAT'RE YO-YOU DOING? L-LET ME G-GO!" was the frightened cry that came from his brother. The boy was pinned against the wall with his hands held over his head. The taller, obviously stronger boy had him pinned both there and at the hips, where he was grinding his own. His head was buried in the 12 year old's neck, and it was obviously scaring the shit out of Gaara.

Rage pierced through his body, and before he knew it, he was across the room, wrenching the brunette away from his brother and slamming him on the ground. He heard a satisfying crack where his arm had broke.

"Get the fuck out of here. I never want to see your ass anywhere NEAR my brother again. Get the fuck out." Kankurou said dangerously, bearing a resemblance to (although neither he nor Gaara would ever admit it) his father.

The boy, clutching his arm, immediately fled. That was probably good; Kankurou thought that he would've killed him had he stayed or attempted to fight back.

Gaara stayed in the corner, curled into a small ball, with his shoulders shaking as if he was sobbing. He was a little skittish after that, even around his siblings. There was a large red mark on his neck for a week. That was the last time he ever had 'friends' over.

END FLASHBACK

Remembering just how afraid Gaara had been back then, a look of rage flashed over Kankurou'sface and before he knew it, he had tackled the black haired boy to the ground.

Neji had managed to set Gaara so that he'd roll away from this as the two older boys fought. Tears threatened to fall. No. He wouldn't let them. But, it was just that…Neji was a friend, he shouldn't be beat up. But Kankurou was his brother. He didn't know who was right, so his chose for silence, managing to pull himself in a half sitting position. He never realized how much he used his left foot.

He looked up when he heard a semi-deep voice. "Oy! You kids! What're you doing?"

A dean. That wasn't good. This one was tall (most his teachers were, compared to him) and had dark brown hair, with a burn-scar on his left cheek. The man reached over, and quicker than Gaara could see, had managed to pull the too feuding students apart.

"You're all coming with me. You two for fighting, him for watching and therefore instigating." (UGH. YES, WE HAVE RULES ABOUT THAT IN MY SCHOOL. Not that I watch fights, but I can't TELL you how many innocent people have been suspended because they couldn't get through the halls because of a fight!)

Gaara's mouth went dry. He knew exactly what was going to happen. Phone call home.

Phone call home.

He wasn't going to make it.

That man would surely kill him AND Kankurou this time. He began to shake. Kankurou placed a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't feel it. He was going to die.

That man was going to kill him.

Fweh. My pretty chappeh is OUT:does dance: Sooo…Yeeeaahhh. We're going outta town for Spring Break this evening, so you won't be seeing another chappie from me in a while. So, that's the reason for THAT delay. After this, I'll do that confrontment at home, and then we're going to skip like…a week.

REVIEWS: THEY'RE GOOD FOR DA SOUL!

Dragon Man 180 – Yes, Shukaku likes ranting. He probably would've been able to protect chibi Gaara from the oncoming car, but his mother freaked out anyways. Instinct I guess. See, there are a lot of things that Shukaku could protect Gaara from that he doesn't in this story. Even though he said he'd try in all his power. Like in this flashback.

DreamAnimeKitten – Oops, Sorry DAK's Inner-Sadist! WAIT! DON'T GO INTO THAT CORNER, IT'S KAKASHI'S! (Loooong story…loooong inside joke about Kakashi and a corner…)

KageNoKatana – Yay! I'm glad you liked it enough to glomp Shuuki-chan! And here's the pretty update. …But there won't be one for a while.

spork ai - …D00d, we should totally stab him to death with a spork! THAT'D BE FUN! I'm glad you liked my flashback! This one probably wasn't as good. See, they weren't even in the original plan. It's just like 'Okay, this has gotta be here to effect this…I'LL MAKE UP A FLASHBACK!'.

Hurricane-rider – You gotted your Neji…Yeah, the grammar stuff was because I didn't get a chance to really proofread it because (as you know) we were at Sam's, and I began freaking out because his dad was beginning to suspect that it may not be 'school work' so I had to hurry. I didn't want him reading that chapter.

Chronic-fever – OO And I thought I was perverted! BUT IT'S GOOD TO KNOW ANOTHER PERVERT AT HEART! Neji shall mole- take care of him! nn

V-chan2k6 – I know he does…IT MAKES ME SO SAD TO WRITE THIS!

RP: Then WHY ARE YOU!

BECAUSE THE PLOT BUNNY BIT ME!

RP: You mean H-R.

…Yes.

:cough: Yeeeeaaahhh…but, I figured that's how the school would be, since it's like mine, and mine's like…ghetto. O.o Here ish thy next chapter.

BE AMUSED BY THIS FOR A FEW WEEKS, BUT LEAVE A REVIEW FIRST!