Lost and Found
By: Junsui Kegasu
A/N: You know how much I love you guys? I love you guys so much that I'm up at 11:33 PM writing this by flashlight in our van. I CAN'T SLEEP, GODDAMMIT! I'm exhausted, but I cannot for the life of me sleep more than fifteen minutes on cartrips. Power to the Pepsi that's keeping me sane. xx I wonder how long this chappie'll turn out to be. My handwriting is uber tiny, who KNOWS how long it'll turn out when I type it. Lucky you guys.
Disclaimer: Dude, if I owned Naruto, do you really think I'd be writing this in such an inconvenient time and inconvenient place in a futile attempt to keep reviewers at bay? Lemme answer that for ya : NO.
Random Note: Disturbed really keeps you awake when you have them on full blast.
Chapter Six
Gaara had turned to stone as the three boys sat in the office, waiting for the man (who's name he and Kankurou had learned to be Raidou) to come back and decide their fates.
(Random A/N:clings to RP: DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS SCARES ME THIS LATE! Especially when you're writing a story dealing heavily with severe child abuse! ...Shit. My family can hear it. :pretends there was no segment of a boy screaming at his mother: BACK TO THE STORY!)
He hoped they weren't suspended. God, he hoped he wasn't suspended. The last thing he needed was to have no escape from home. Even if Kankurou was there too...
His throat went dry. Kankurou would probably get beaten too. He never wanted any of his siblings to go through that.
Kankurou turned to the small boy next to him. He looked like he was awaiting his death sentence. Right now, he hoped with his entire being that for once, their father would leave his youngest alone. Hell, Kankurou wouldn't mind if it was him being slammed around the house this time. It was his fault, after all. He had freaked out about the long haired boy carrying his brother so casually.
He wondered if Gaara was mad at him for acting without thinking of the consequences. Ah well; he'd get his punishment as he walked through the door.
A sadistic smile spread across his painted face. It was weird and masochistic sounding, but he almost WANTED to be beaten. It was better than watching Gaara get flung around all the time. He was always singled out; that wasn't fair to him.
He snorted. Their father didn't know what 'fair' was anymore. He was always drunk. Hell, Kankurou couldn't even consider him a father. He was like a stranger in their house that all three sincerely wished would just leave.
He knew how to make him. They all did. All through elementary and junior high school, there had been programs that went over what to do if you were being beaten.
But they always left out the threats. Multiple times as young children had he and Temari been cornered by the man, being told that if they told a soul about the happenings of home, he'd rape them all.
They both knew something like that would kill Gaara and surely break them, so they never dared.
(Random A/N: You know what? I need sleep. I ran outta Pepsi. Yes, I am TELLING you when I take breaks from writing...Even though no one probably cares. T.T)
(HOLY FIZZLE I SLEPT A LOT! I CAN SEE WITHOUT THE FLASHLIGHT NOW! AND I HAVE A CARAMEL FRAPPUCINO! Life is good!)
He sighed. An optimist would tell him not to worry, but it was hard to stay hopeful knowing your hopes would be crashed. This was all his fault for overreacting.
"Anou...Sibling?"
Kankurou blinked. He didn't even know the boys name! Well, granted, he didn't know Kankurou's, but STILL! Now he felt bad. Coming back to reality, he managed to find his voice.
"Yeah?" he said, sounding more drained than he had intended.
"I'm sorry. I had no business touching your brother; it obviously offended you. By the way, my name's Hyuuga Neji."
Kankurou stared in shock. This boy was apologizing, and being friendly about it after Kankurou had basically mugged him!
"Uh...i-it's fine, really. I just overreacted is all. My name's Sabaku Kankurou."
Neji smiled. "Knowing this facility, we're probably suspended.-" Kankurou almost fell over. HOW COULD HE SAY THAT WITH A SMILE! "As long as I explain this to my uncle, I probably won't get in trouble at home. What about you guys?"
...That's how.
Kankurou glanced over at Gaara, who had gone rigid at Neji's prediction. "I don't know. This sort of thing hasn't ever happened before." It was true; none of them dared to get in trouble at school.
"Oh...well, perhaps we can get together."
"Maybe."
Before the conversation could continue any further, Raidou (the dean) stepped into the room.
"Okay, you three. The principal, Tsunade-sensei, wishes to speak to you all. Before that, though, I am entitled to inform you that all three of you, starting tomorrow, are on a four day suspension."
Gaara felt the world go out beneath his feet. Today was Tuesday. That meant that they had...Until next Tuesday before they could be let out of the house. (If that's confusing, it'd work that they'd have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday suspended. Weekends don't count, but suspensions are carried over them like they're nothing.)
He was gonna die...
Isn't that what his father had said?
'One more 'stake an' I'll kill ya! I'll kill ya good!'
He gulped, feeling the cold sweat trailing down his back.
"Gaara?"
His eyes snapped to the owner of the voice: his brother.
"We're going to go talk to the principal, come on." he offered a hand to pull him out of his seat.
Gaara didn't think he could manage to get up on his own; his knees felt like liquid, so he accepted the hand.
The principal's office was actually quite plain, and what drew their attention was the lady in the large swivel chair before them.
Gaara and Kankurou: ...Whoa...
The lady before them had one, well, quite distinguishable feature.
CHEST.
"Hello students-" CHEST "It has been called to my-" CHEST!
:cough: Okay, they're quite done with that now...
"It has been called to my attention that you two..." she gestured to Neji and Kankurou have gotten into a fight and you..." she nodded at Gaara "watched, and therefore instigated said fight. Now, there is one thing I wish to make very clear : I HATE OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM AND THEIR RULES. So, the punishment that you have received is a lot harsher than what I feel is necessary. I wish they could've made an exception, at least for the 'instigator' over here because he really couldn't get up and walk away, but unfortunately, this has not happened. Any questions?"
Gaara and Kankurou stared while Neji shook his head politely. No lecture? No yelling? No NOTHING? Whoa...This school was AWESOME!
Neji gave a small smile. "Thank you, Tsunade-sensei. If I'm not mistaken, the bell signifying the end of the day shall ring in just a moment, may we go get our stuff?"
Tsunade glanced at the clock on her wall. "HOLY SHI- Crap! You're right, it is almost time to go! I hadn't realized! Go right ahead."
All three walked out feeling slightly victorious; the principal obviously didn't care that they had gotten into a fight, and they weren't worrying about home just yet.
"So, where do you guys live? Are you walking?"
"We live just a few blocks away, so the walk isn't too long. How about you?"
"It's not too long for me either. What street?"
"Buraudouei"
"Oh! Whoa! I'm right on Yaerii road, which is right off of Buraudouei."
"Oh. Okay. We just have to find my sister...we lost her today..."
Neji grimaced. He had met her...
"Kankurou! Gaara! Word has it that you guys got into a fight, and the principal didn't care! Ha! As if! You two wouldn't fight another student, like, ever!"
"Uh...Temari?"
She continued rambling on about how the rumor was probably fake without listening for a good five minutes.
"TEMARI!"
"WHAT!"
Kankurou sighed, letting out a mushroom-cloud thingie. "The rumor IS true...And this is the boy I fought with, Hyuuga Neji."
Temari stared. Blinking, she regained control of her sentences and pointed accusingly at Neji. "HEY! You're that boy that was carting my brother around like he was your SEX PUPPET!"
Gaara's face flushed the shade of his hair.
But if Gaara's face was red, Neji's was purple.
"Temari...we worked this out with him already...he just felt concerned because it was obvious that Gaara hadn't the time to get used to them...It's okay."
She huffed, still glaring at the long-haired 'sex offender'. "Fine. Whatever. Let's go."
"Neji's coming with us."
Temari - :Anger mark:
"...Fine..."
Gaara blinked. His siblings really scared him sometimes.
As Yaerii road branched right off of the end of Buraudouei, where the three siblings lived, Neji went with them there first before choosing to just go around the corner and walk into his house.
Upon getting to said siblings house, there was a black car pulled into the driveway. For some reason, this appeared to have negative affect on his three comrades.
Temari paled, and her eyes looked slightly watery, and her hands were shaking almost unnoticeably.
Kankurou's normal scowl expression deepened into one of disgust as he glared at the car.
Gaara looked scared shitless. The cold sweat was obvious on his brow and his shaking was a lot more visible than his sister's.
Neji shrugged it off. Perhaps Temari knew her brother's were getting in trouble and sympathized with them, and the other two also knew that they were getting in trouble. It was possible. He didn't want to pry.
He turned to them, noting that all three immediately put up (or tried to) a facade to hide their displeasures.
"Well, I suppose...Well, no it's a definite. I know I'm not getting in trouble; I'll stop by tomorrow, okay? Good-bye. It was nice meeting you, Temari-san." he bowed politely, and then left.
Gaara let out a shaky breath. "W-we...we d-don't have a choice...but to go in there...d-do we...?"
"Unfortunately, no, otherwise you for a definite wouldn't be living here." Kankurou muttered darkly before marching up to the door and opening it like everything was normal.
Normal...what was that? Was he trying to pretend that their broken family wasn't so obviously dysfunctional? Is this...is this how life would be if he hadn't killed their mother?
Gaara shook these thoughts. He didn't need them right now; he'd dwell later. Right now, he needed to focus on not being beaten to death.
As horrible as it sounded, he was lucky that it hadn't been him opening that door.
As soon as Kankurou did, the man who had been waiting behind it immediately lashed out at him, grabbing the front of his shirt and forcefully throwing him at a nearby wall.
The crash shook the house. The other two, who were terrified to move, could only stare on in shock.
Surprisingly, it was Gaara who moved first.
'I'm not...I'm not letting him get hurt too...No...he never did anything...I killed Mom...'
He didn't notice the tears streaking down his pale face and dripping off his chin at all as he stood in the doorway, watching his brother go through what he did...
He had to do something.
With this sudden burst of courage he currently sported, he dropped the crutches, took a running start and pounced on his father's back, knocking him off his brother, but not off balance. He only realized much later that he had done this on his bad ankle, which he guessed, due to the demon, was okay to do that on for a short period of time.
He kicked and clawed at what he could, going blindly in his rage.
Finally, the man managed to yank the redhead off of him and send him into the ground as well.
He was screaming now, but none of the two really noticed.
When he was done screaming (which could have been, in a normal family, a lecture about why fighting in school was bad) he yanked Gaara up by the hair and shoved him up the stairs into his room, where he could 'deal' with him privately, without his other son pouncing on him.
Kankurou had managed to pull himself up so that he was standing, but could still only watch as the man dragged the petite boy up the stairs, screaming the entire way.
He winced. His back was definitely bruised beyond belief and face was going to look horrible tomorrow.
Was this how Gaara lived all the time?
Now that he had gotten a small taste of it, he yearned evermore to just tell the police...but the threats...
He clutched his brown, spiky head in his hands. Why did the threats retain them so...? Why?
Why everything?
Temari must have come over with bandages and things, but he didn't notice her, or acknowledge her in his thought-fest.
Hours later, Gaara was tossed back down the stairs like a lifeless doll, with the command to 'get out of his face'.
By this point, Kankurou had gone out of his thinking mood and had been sitting in silence with Temari, waiting for this.
He gently padded over and lifted the unconscious boy into his arms, laying him out on the couch in fear of going back upstairs.
Thankfully, nothing had broken this time. At least, physically.
Both knew their brother would never be okay emotionally.
And as much as it pained them, all they could do was just make him as comfortable as possible. Because some scars never fade.
A/N: ACK! I got morbid with this! I WAS going to have the next day with Neji in it, but I decided to just end it there, because it was a good ending place.
SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG! I was on break, and I was working on it yesterday and today, but it's hard to write right now because my dad wants to read this, and I refuse to let him because
A) He'll immediately think I've based the Kaze-bastards character off of him.
B) It's rated R and I'm hardly 13.
C) I get self-conscious when they read ANY of my works, this being no exception...
So, yeah...updates may be slower than they already are, but right now, I am striving to catch up to Vindicated, who's at CHAPTER 10! YAARGH!
RESPONSE CORNER! HOLY CRAP I GOT A LOT OF REVIEWS!
Fantastical Queen Ebony Black - Yay! I'm glad I made you laugh, even if that wasn't the intention. Some of it was, so if you laughed, I'll assume that's where o.o Carousel isn't going near as slow as this. Six chapters and they just ended their second day in school...
Jun - Ah, well, it's supposed to be sad, so I'm glad you think it's great also. It makes me feel accomplished.
yaoi-luven-freak - ...Yeah, I already responded to some of your reviews, but for this...um...o.o I doesn't like physical contact; if you poke me I die and then the story dies, and you wouldn't do that to the reviewers...would you?
TheFutureFreaksMeOut - :sparkle eyes: Yes, Gaara living at Neji's would be very romantic...probably...way too much so...Um...yeah...I'd have to boost the rating thing to 'AO' (Is that how they're doing the ratings now? It's horribly confuzzling...) I will kill the kaze-bastard, and all the reviewers will help me. Just watch, it'll be a bonus chapter! (RP: STOP SPOILING PEOPLE!)
DownRight-evil - I'm glad you got that into the story n.n;;; The kaze-bastard will die, don't worry, don't worry...Wow! I made you cry! I'M SORRY! That wasn't my intention, but if you felt it that much, I must be doing something right! Naruto is obnoxious in general. You love me? O.o I luff j00 too. Only the kaze-bastard has no heart and cannot fall for Gaara's absolute kawaii-ness and beat him! YAARGH!
DreamAnimeKitten - Oh good, I wouldn't want to make her mad n.n;;; I thought the Neji thing was kawaii too. It must have been very amusing.
Chronic-fever - LMAO! Your reviews make me laugh so hard. Neji shall continue to molest our little Gaara, DO NOT WORRY! BWAHAHA! Kanky is very overprotective, you're right. Maybe he DOES just want a piece for himself...Hmm...I like KankyGaa! o.o;;;
Jen-beyblade- fan - Thanks. I'm glad you think it's awesome n.n
V-chan2k6 - Yeah! Go Neji! Wow. I'm glad you think I'm not rushing; apparently I have a problem with that. Yes, yes, that's how I was... 'Good Neji for mole- holding Gaara...bad Neji for doing it in front of the siblings...' 'Good Kanky for caring...Stupid Kanky for forgetting to think...' And then I remember that I made them do that and it's like 'Who's the stupid one now?' :cough: Sorry. I guess you're gonna hafta sick your Über Mafioso-Ninjas on him...
Hurricane-rider - I know, I know. I'm so evil to you. O.o Well, you gotted stuffs before they did, so maybe not. YAARGH! VINDICATED GOT SO AHEAD! CURSE YOU FOR HAVING NO LIFE!
spork-ai - I liked the Neji carrying thing too. It was quite amusing. Well, the good news is, Gaara isn't dead. The bad news is, his beating was severe (RP: YOU SPOILED HER.) Oops... Yes shonen-ai ish very luffly. It rocks socks.
Dragon Man 180 - Iruka has Naruto on his 'attempting not to murder every day' list. He's got Sasuke on his 'silent, but good student' list (THAT'S MY LIST!). Yes, Iruka organizes these things. Kanky ish a good bwuvva, but he does need get a brain. :nodnod:
AnimeGirl189 (WHO DID NOT REVIEW, BUT INSTEAD PROCEEDED TO SEND 14 DIFFERENT E-MAILS POINTING OUT 14 DIFFERENT THINGS. Bastard...) - ...For one, you're a jerk. I WANNA SEE THE PRETTY PICTURES! Um...I only remember a little of what you commented on...lesse...
1) SHUT UP. IT IS FACE STUFF. It can be 'Kabuki ceremonial paint' in YOUR story! (WHICH YOU DON'T HAVE! HA HA HA!) But, come on now, what teenager in their right mind would call it that! Duh! Sorry Kanky, you're just...not that smart.
2) Temari's cooking isn't really a proven fact...just a very widespread theory. Which H-R and I changed in this. Whoo.
3) Neji managed the crutches because he's just magical like that. Of course, you know that now, SINCE THAT WAS ONE OF THE PICS YOU DREW!
Extra note - Before I get flamed for being 'mean to a reviewer' the world should know that not only is she not a reviewer, but she's my cousin and I get to be mean to her because I has magical authoress powers and she has magical artist powers, so it all works out.
Random note - Isn't it ironic how in our RP little thing, Neji is such a bad person and we already changed it to KankyGaa? O.o;;;
REVIEW PEEZ! IT BOOSTS CONFIDENCE!