Lost and Found

By: Junsui Kegasu

A/N: Argh. FF.N is being a jerk and won't let me upload the 14th chapter, so instead I have started the 15th!

Disclaimer: If you don't know by now, you're stupid.

Kroger was a large grocery store that was known to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The only thing is, it wasn't too close to where the Sabaku family lived. Therefore, it was quite a long walk to get there, and by that time, Gaara was out of breath.

"Is it really worth this much for food?" Kankurou asked, frowning.

"I suppose it IS a bit extreme. Who has the money?" Temari answered. She would seriously kill something if the money was nowhere to be found.

Kankurou dug around in his pockets. "I got 20 bucks. That should be enough for a decent sized meal."

Gaara nodded, and they walked to the entrance of the blue building. Because it was now just past midnight, the store was almost completely devoid of customers. It gave the normally bustling building a very eerie look to it, but the three starving siblings weren't fazed in any way. They decided to go to a café part of the store, where they knew they'd get a decent meal. They had decided actual grocery shopping could wait for a while.

"Mm…they have coffee, Gaara!" Kankurou exclaimed, quietly. He drank coffee to ease his skyrocketing nerves while Gaara drank it to sometime make it through the day with the demon within him. Temari found it rather repulsive, but she didn't have too many sleep or nerve problems, being one to put all that aside for the sake of her two younger siblings.

They looked at all the food choices. Large cakes, muffins, cookies, it was beautiful.

'If this was an anime…' Kankurou thought dreamily. 'Our stomachs would be very audible.'

Suddenly, a loud grumble ripped through the air around the three siblings. Blushing crimson, Gaara looked away. Kankurou blinked, praised his intuition, and then turned to the person at the stand, who was giving them an odd look.

"Uh…sorry about that, sir…"

It had taken approximately five minutes to order their food and get it, and now Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara were wandering around the empty building. It was mildly terrifying how vacant it was. Their footsteps echoed against the cold tile.

For some reason, no matter what time of the year it was, grocery stores were air-conditioned. (I THINK that's true…I can't remember. Let's just say it is to preserve freshness.) As they wandered around, Temari and Kankurou were okay with the temperature, but Gaara, much smaller and with a lot less body fat (Not to say Temari and Kankurou are fat!) was shaking like a leaf, even when he pulled Kankurou's old jacket around him.

It was Temari who noticed first. "Gaara? Are you okay?" she asked, concern lacing her voice.

Gaara's conscious started up again. Or the demon. He figured that they were the same thing, nowadays.

She's worried about you. Who needs to be worried about a whelp like you? Remember…you killed your mother.

Gaara clenched his eyes shut, stopping completely. His head was beginning to ache.

Kankurou turned to face him. "Gaara…?" he tried not to let the worry show. He knew Gaara hated that. "Gaara? Can you hear me?"

He could. He could hear them. But the voice was louder, consuming him. Letting out a whimper, his shaking increased slightly, and he let a half-eaten donut fall to the cold floor.

Concerned, Temari reached out to place a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. He instinctively flinched away from her, clutching his head.

Kankurou walked up to them both, his mouth set in a grim line. "Gaara…" he said, softly. His voice betrayed the mask he wore. "Gaara, c'mere, I'll give you a piggy back, okay? Old time's sake?" he tried not to make it sound like he wasn't too concerned, and breathed a sigh of relief when Gaara nodded slightly.

He had to bend over rather far so the foot-shorter boy could hop onto his back. Hooking his hand beneath Gaara's knees, he almost dropped him when he could feel individual bones beneath his fingertips. Shuddering slightly, he stood up straight, and attracting stares from workers in the store, stalked back outside with Temari trailing behind.

The next morning, Kankurou woke up and had to wonder what day of the week it was. He always kept losing track, not really paying attention in school, and not really needing to pay attention at home.

"It's…Thursday." Temari said, after a moment of thought herself. "Wait…Thursday! That means yesterday was Wednesday! I completely forgot about pep club!" She cried.

"No, that's not the only thing. Dad was HOME yesterday! He shouldn't have been! None of that should've happened!" Kankurou proclaimed. Although he had only managed three hours of sleep after their midnight journey, he was now completely awake.

Temari bit her lip. "I don't get it…why? It doesn't make sense…" she placed her head in her hands. "Why can't he be predictable? Why? Why us? Why Gaara? Why everything!" she sobbed.

Kankurou fidgeted nervously, unsure how to react. He wanted to comfort her…but he didn't want to be emotional. Being emotional would just cause more pain.

"Temari…" he ventured. "Temari…I…" he didn't know what to say.

Just then, Gaara came down the stairs. He hadn't slept last night, if Kankurou recalled correctly, but had rather huddled in a ball in his room as soon as Kankurou let him down from his back. Temari pulled a toaster strudel from the toaster and gave it to him.

"Not hungry…" Gaara rubbed his eyes. His voice was smaller than usual, and he was exhausted. The demon had continued to plague him throughout the night, and while this excuse was half true, he had been thoroughly convinced that he was unworthy of Temari's kindness.

"Gaara, please eat something." Temari said, firmly. "Even if you're not hungry…food gives you energy and I hate to sound like a nagger, but you can't afford to skip meals." She forced a smile, hoping it would lighten the mood.

Gaara didn't return the smile, but did begin to nibble on one corner of his breakfast. This seemed to please Temari enough and she went back to bustling around the kitchen.

Hm, she reminds me of your mother. Will you end up killing her too?

Gaara paused in his eating, eyes widening.

'SHUT UP! I…I won't listen to you anymore!' he cried at the demon, mental voice wavering. All he got in return was some laughing.

He now felt like he was going to throw up if he ate, so he set the toaster strudel back onto the plate and slouched in his chair. Kankurou noticed the drop in mood and scooted his chair a little closer to where Gaara sat.

"You know, you should eat a little bit more." He said, looking at him.

"I feel like I'm gon- like I'm not hungry." Gaara was about to tell him he felt the urge to barf, but decided against it, in case Kankurou would worry. Kankurou gave him a look, but didn't push the situation any further.

When he finished and Temari finished cleaning the kitchen, they all grabbed shoes, jackets, and book bags and headed out the door. Kankurou took the chance to check over Gaara to see if anything suspicious was showing.

There was a large bruise at the back of his head, he knew, but you couldn't really see it since his hair covered it. There were a couple bruises on his face, one on his temple and one under his eye, but with any luck, no one would ask. There were probably a lot more under his shirt and pants, but no one would see those and he wasn't limping…. too badly.

He sighed. No one would notice, probably. Maybe Neji, but…he'd find some excuse if Neji asked. He always did.

Have you ever heard that how you wake up will reflect your mood for the day? Well, you probably haven't. I made that up. Anyways. The first thing Neji said that morning upon waking up and looking at his alarm clock was "Oh Shit.".

His alarm clock read 7:05 and school started at 7:45. Which meant he had to get out of the house. FAST. Jumping out of bed (quite literally), he tripped over some sheets that had scattered around his bed. When he walked over to his dresser to grab some clothing, not only did he keep losing his balance but he also found that he kept opening the wrong drawers and losing track of what he was doing. Frustrated, his stood in the dark for a moment, regaining control, then sifted through piles of clothing and found something to wear.

He emerged from the bathroom 20 minutes later unshowered, but suitable for school. Skipping breakfast, he grabbed his wallet and left without even saying good-bye.

At the school-grounds, he bumped into quite a few people. This normally didn't faze him, but he had been having a bad day so far, and he blew up at quite a few. Spotting Gaara and his siblings (he could usually pick out that blood-red hair in any crowd) he made his way over, careful to compose himself. Gaara seemed like the skittish one to be afraid if he were to be moody.

"Hi, Neji." Kankurou greeted. Neji noticed that his smile looked strained and bags under his eyes signified little or no sleep.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, slightly concerned by the usually nonchalant boy's appearance.

Kankurou's mask cracked for a second, showing some surprise, but he quickly put up another smile, shaking his head. "Nah, I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well last night." He said, hoping to convince the younger boy.

Neji wasn't thoroughly convinced, but he wasn't especially concerned or suspicious until he saw Gaara's face.

"Hey there! Whoa…what happened?" he asked before he could catch himself.

Normally, someone would either tell them with a hint of humiliation, humor, annoyance, or SOMETHING to their voice, or shrug it off. Gaara did neither. The boy jumped, his eyes widening in alarm, stammering for an excuse.

"I-I u-uh…I…r-ran into a w-wall!" he said, as if trying to convince this to himself more than Neji.

Neji frowned. This brought back painful memories. Very painful memories. He really wanted to know what was going on here. While normally he would've stayed patient about the entire thing, his mood of the day intervened.

"Bullshit. You're stuttering. Please, Gaara, tell me what happened." He asked, a hint of annoyance evident.

"N-n-n-nothing!" the younger boy managed, ducking behind Kankurou.

Kankurou scowled at the raven-haired teen. "He's fine, really." He said. Neji saw through that, too. "Leave him alone." Kankurou added with a growl.

Neji frowned. "Something's up, and I wanna know what." He said shortly. He could see Gaara trembling behind Kankurou's broader features, which hid him almost completely.

"NOTHING'S WRONG! I'M ABSOLUTELY FINE!" Gaara shouted, his voice cracking. Pulling himself away from Kankurou, the redhead ran in the opposite direction. Neji could see a slight limp in his step when he ran, bursting through crowds towards the building.

Kankurou turned to him, shocked at Gaara's outburst. "What the fuck? I SAID to leave him alone! It's none of your business!" With those words, Kankurou stormed off after Gaara.

Neji sighed. He thought he had a pretty good idea of what was going on now. Turning, he noticed that some heads had turned to stare at him, Gaara, or Kankurou and cursed himself before walking in the direction of the picnic table.

Temari decided that she wasn't really scoping out that boy from before. Really, she wasn't. She was just walking aimlessly by the trees, looking down. When she saw the boy lying against the tree, she skipped over, plastering a smile onto her face.

"Hi there!" she said.

"Nn…go AWAY, Ino…" Shikamaru said through a yawn, swatting air away.

Temari frowned. "Hey. Who's Ino?"

The black haired boy opened his eyes, frowning at the bright sunlight. "Huh? Oh. Not you. What do you want?"

Scowling, the blonde kicked him gently in the side. "You're a really rude boy. I just came to say 'hi'!" And with that, she walked away.

In the few minutes before class, Neji decided that instead of talk to his friends or doodle, he would think today. His friends, knowing he needed space when he got like this and ignored them, backed off, leaving the raven-haired teen to his thoughts.

'Why did I yell at him like that…? I think I really scared him…I hope I didn't scare him…It's just…I remember my own parents. Before…before Mom died and left me…with him.' he shook his head, trying to banish the thoughts. 'It's over. It's all in the past, and he can't hit me anymore. So…why do I see myself reflected in him…?'

He tried to shake off his poetic mood, but he soon gave up, knowing that it came with the bad day he had been having since waking up. He could only hope it wouldn't plague him throughout the day.

Gaara had felt bad at lashing out at Neji. Really, the older boy just wanted to help…But, at the same time, he couldn't help but wonder why Neji wanted to know so much. He had an unnerving feeling that the older boy was getting rather close to figuring everything out.

And if he figured it out…he didn't even want to think about what his father would do to him if Neji figured it out. Figured out just what happened at home. Death was almost certain. So…did that mean he couldn't be friends with Neji? Were they ever friends in the first place? He really didn't know.

He felt a presence near him, and glanced up to meet the eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. He chose not to say anything to the popular boy, and instead looked back down, ignoring him completely.

Apparently, the taller boy didn't like that. "Hey." He said, but it sounded more like a growl.

Slowly, Gaara turned his gaze away from the numerous markings on the desk and back up at Sasuke. He still didn't say anything, but blinked to acknowledge him.

"Y'know…you do a lot of hiding." Sasuke said simply.

Gaara blinked, then put up a look of confusion. He decided that if he talked, he might stutter, and stuttering always alerted people to when he lied.

"And not a lot of explaining." The raven-haired teen continued, getting closer.

"Well…I'm really not hi-hiding anything…" Gaara said slowly. He knew if Kankurou had been there, he would've praised him for the lack of stutter in his voice.

"Pfft. Really? Then explain why you won't answer anyone's questions."

"B-because…it's none of their business."

"Hiding." Sasuke sneered.

"N-no…" Gaara tried to protest, but it was true that he was hiding.

"Yeah, you're hiding, and you've taken my place as the enigmatic bastard of the place. I don't like that."

Gaara stared at him. Was he really that shallow? "Mou…I'm sorry if I am…I don't try to…" he mumbled quietly. He didn't realize it, but now because Sasuke was over there, all heads were turned in his direction.

A silence washed over them, and then the class giggled. Gaara blinked and turned towards them, then back at Sasuke in confusion. To his amazement, the taller boy looked like he was going to bust out laughing any moment.

"…Oro?"

As soon as the question left his mouth, the class, including Sasuke roared with laughter. Gaara flushed almost as deep as his hair and sank as low into the seat as he could.

Sasuke playfully punched him in the shoulder, and didn't even notice the redhead flinch, wince, and grasp the injured spot. "We're just joking! Jeez, you take everything so seriously!"

Maybe that was true. But he had every right and reason to. Humor hadn't really been incorporated into his life, and he didn't find Sasuke's little joke very funny at all. He kept slouched in his seat for the rest of the class, not saying another word.

Gaara, Gym
Gaara decided he officially hated gym. In the locker room, none other than Uzumaki Naruto had decided to burst in on him changing, which involved him seeing multiple bruises, and the shorts showed off his very much mutilated looking leg.

"Holy crap, Gaara! Do you like…get into fights?" the blonde asked. He had been persisting since he had seen the still yellowish bruise on his stomach, and Gaara was nearly fed up with ignoring him.

"I'm…fine…y-yeah…it was a fight." He said slowly, taking extra care not to stutter.

It was then that Genma came up to him. "Hey there Gaara!" he greeted. "Oh, my! What happened to your leg?" he asked, alarmed.

"I-it's nothing. I…uh…I…"

"He got into a fight." Naruto supplied for him.

Genma gave the redhead a suspicious look, but didn't push it. "Do you wanna sit out? Because…that really looks bad. I think we should have the nurse take a look, okay?"

Gaara paled some. Nurses were bad. "Uh…I think I'll be alright. It's just…really bruised."

"It's just really black and blue and horribly swollen! Can't you see the difference between them in size? Your left shin is almost twice the size as your right!"

Gaara knew the gym teacher was exaggerating. Looking down, he saw how swollen it was, but he didn't think it was that bad. "I'll be okay…really." He tried to sound reassuring, but as he tried to walk away, the limp caught Genma's attention.

"No…I want you to see the nurse. Naruto, care to accompany him?"

Before Gaara could protest, someone scooped him up. Unlike with Neji, Gaara freaked out, trying to twist his way out of the offender's arms.

"Dude, relax!" Naruto's voice came. Gaara looked up into the face of the blonde.

"Please, Gaara. I really don't want you walking on it until the nurse checks it out." Genma said soothingly. He remembered somewhere in Gaara's file stated that he was acutely claustrophobic, mildly sociophobic, mildly haphephobic, and mildly ophthalmophobic. (Hee…I'll explain those terms now. Claustrophobic – being afraid of confined spaces, Sociophibic – being afraid of society or people in general, Haphephobic – being afraid of being touched, Ophthalmophobic – fear of being stared at)

Gaara sighed, then calmed down some, swinging his right leg a little. Pleased, Naruto carried him out of the gym to the nurse's office.

Kankurou loved the hallways best when they were empty. No one was yelling or screaming, and especially when the teacher trusted him enough to not give him a hall pass, he felt like he was intruding, breaking the rules.

He loved that feeling. Because he knew he was getting away with it.

He had just been on his way to the bathroom when an odd sight crossed his retinas. In the distance, way down the hallway by the entrance to the gymnasium, some blonde was carrying a redhead.

Wait. Double take. Redhead?

Gaara!

Jogging ahead, he saw that Gaara did NOT look in the slightest way comfortable.

"Gaara? Are you alright?"

It appeared that Gaara had just noticed him by the way he snapped and turned his gaze to the brunette. "Oh, Kankurou, please make him lemme go!" was the frantic cry. Gaara was really squirming from the blonde's grasp, and it looked like he was freaking out. Probably his haphephobia.

"Ne, ne! Gaara-kun, Genma-sensei doesn't want you walking!"

"Then I'd rather have Nii-chan carry me!"

This brought Kankurou to complete alert. Gaara only used the term 'Nii-chan' when he was extremely freaked out. "Yeah, I'll take him. Where's he going and why?"

The blonde looked pouty and handed over the lightweight redhead, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Genma-sensei wanted him to go to the nurse because of his leg."

Kankurou took a glance at Gaara's shin. He hadn't been able to see it before, and now that he could, he was concerned. "Holy shit…yeah, I'm taking you to the nurse. You, kid, whoever you are, get back to class, NOW."

Perhaps it was the growl in Kankurou's voice, or the towering sense of authority, even though he wasn't that much taller than the blonde, who he now recognized as that blonde sunspot from the first day. Either way, the boy slouched away, muttering about telling Genma-sensei. Kankurou snorted. He didn't care about that.

"Oh, thank you! I was so scared…I didn't want him to touch me in the first place and he picked me up, and before, he saw my bruises in the locker room and and and…" Kankurou shushed him. He learned in health that asthma attacks could be triggered by extreme panic, and Gaara didn't have an inhaler of his own yet. Temari's was at home.

Continuing the trek down to the nurse's office, Kankurou couldn't help but notice how thin his little brother's legs really were. It was during these observations that he made a startling conclusion.

"Holy shit…Gaara, I think my wrist is bigger than your ankle!" to be sure, he took one arm out from uselessly supporting Gaara's back; one arm could hold him easily. Sure enough, his wrist, which he never considered to be fat or anything was larger than the tiny redhead's thin, bony ankle.

Gaara flushed, embarrassed, and tried to move his ankle away from view. This only succeeded in bumping his injured shin, making him hiss in pain.

"Shit! Sorry!" Kankurou paused in his walking to reposition the boy into a more comfortable position, and then continued off without any random interruptions.

"More gym accidents?" the nurse looked very bored to be where she was.

"Uhh…yeah." Kankurou said. To say anything else might be semi-dangerous. "He hit his shin…very hard."

"No, really?"

Kankurou decided he did NOT like this nurse. "Anyways. Could you please check it out?" he said as politely as possible, setting Gaara down on the chair.

"Hm. You're SURE this was from class? When was this class?" the nurse asked, as if not believing their story.

"It's still going on." Kankurou answered, slightly alarmed that she didn't believe him.

"Well, it looks far too…dark to have been just recently. It wouldn't have colored this badly yet. Ah, but alas, we have a tiny little thing here. Perhaps it is possible, I don't know!"

'But aren't you a nurse?' Kankurou and Gaara through at the same time.

"Anyways, it doesn't look like it's broken or anything, but I'll give you an icepack. I advise to sit out of gym until it doesn't hurt to walk. It DOES hurt to walk, right? Would you stand up and take a few steps?"

Gaara blinked. She had said all that rather quickly. Standing up, he took a couple wobbly steps, trying to hide his limp.

"Sit out until the limp goes away." The nurse said, bored. "You should get back to class now, okay?"

Kankurou scooped Gaara back into his arms and walked out. As soon as they were gone, he unhooked one arm from Gaara's knees to give the nurse the finger. Some nurse SHE was.

During his last class, Neji decided that he'd try to make it up to Gaara. How, he wasn't sure, but he'd do it. It would probably involve an apology. He could do that.

Being one to always plan ahead, Neji decided to write out what he'd say. He had nothing on the piece of lined paper before him and still couldn't think of anything.

'Oh well…I mean…maybe it'll just come to me when I talk to him!'

He didn't have any time to think further as the bell rang. Scooping up his stuff, he hurried to the door and to his locker, hoping to catch Gaara at his to talk to him without interference from any siblings.

Pausing at his locker to grab his possessions, he walked over to Gaara's locker. Currently, the redhead was waiting for two bulkier students to move so he could get to his, but it didn't look like they'd be moving anytime soon. He didn't appear to notice him at all, engrossed in staring at his feet. Following his gaze, Neji couldn't help but note just how tiny he was, including his feet, which looked to be no larger than a size three in men's. (For those of you that don't know, that is REALLY small…I think. I used to wear boy's shoes, and I fit into about a 5, 5.5. In women's I'm a 7.)

"G-gaara?" he managed to stammer quietly, never feeling more nervous in his life.

'But…why? Why do I get like this around him? Why does this…pathetic looking boy remind me so much of the past? Could I be…in love?'

Slowly, the redhead turned, a look of confusion making his features light up in an absolutely adorable way.

"H-huh? Oh! N-neji! Listen…I'm…I'm really sorry 'bout before…I shouldn't have yelled…" the redhead said softly, as if he was used to apologizing, and it not being accepted.

"Why are YOU apologizing? I should be the one saying that! I had no right to butt into your business, and maybe one day I'll tell you why I can't help but do so, but for now…I'm sorry." Neji had to stop himself from saying too much. After all these years, he was still afraid.

"Please…please don't apologize. I should've just sucked it up like everything else." Gaara mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to his feet.

Before Neji could stop himself, he wrapped his arms around the smaller, pathetic looking frame. "Sh…stop blaming yourself. It's not your fault."

Gaara jerked away, not so much afraid as he was shocked. Staring at him with fearful eyes, the redhead ran off, probably to go find his siblings.

Neji sighed. He was such a hypocrite sometimes.

WH00T! FINALLY FINISHED! Ack! Please don't kill me! I know I was bad! I went on vacation for five days, and that's why this is so late. I'm sorry…but I made it long! n.n;;; Twelve whole pages. Anywhoo, reviews!

Severed Glass – I'm sorry for causing you such pain! Don't worry, though, you were not the only one! I really tortured the reviewers this time. Ah, but do not worry. Usually, updates don't take me this long. I'm a terrible person too. Gaara in pain appeases me and it shouldn't. T.T I'm such a sadist…

narroch06 – Yeah…mental warfare would not be fun…he's too traumatized. Aww…you live in Cincinnati! That's so far away from lonely lil ole Toledo! Oh well. I'm glad to have found another Ohioan! I loved doing the little psychological bit, it was rather fun.

TheFutureFreaksMeOut – I wubb the brotherly love. It's the bestest EVER. Gaara sleeping in Kanky's arms IS cute…I didn't think about that at the time O.o.

Ebony-chan – Schoolwork should go burn. I've never seen Signs. I actually do want to…

RP: You'll be scared shitless.

I know. n.n GASP! I SHOULD DO A NEJIGAAKANKY TRIANGLE! Seriously! Omigosh, that sounds so cool! Well, maybe in the next story. Kanky isn't any more than a brother in this. I liked the cycle continuing scene. It gave hints to the kazekage's past. And there WILL be stuff on that later. Lucky green socks…? That sounds cool. I SOMETIMES sleep with my socks on. I don't know why. Shortness is fun…n.n

littleanikaze – Hugs be to Gaara! Wh00t!

Kanky-chan – Oh shush up. YOU are the reason this one is so late, y'know. Don't try to hide it!

RP: No, it's because YOU procrastinated!

OH, SHUT UP! I should've made them go to Happy Rose…or Yoko's! You don't remember? The place with the ice cream area and the candy store and the bakery where we scared people….that's what I'm talking 'bout.

Dragon Man 180 – I haven't been suspended either. I wouldn't really like to try it. I just know that they do NOT give out make-up work, usually. Eh…heh…my town DOES have a 7/11…they do…

RP: She's just too inadequate to remember where the hell it is.

SHUT UP! I know where Kroger is, and that's all I need to know!

RP: Actually, you don't know where Kroger is.

….Shut up! Naruto-chan would if he had a demon. Which he doesn't.

Hurricane-rider – I hate chapters with no plot progression…they bug me. But it gave me time to hint stuff 'bout kaze-bastard's past. I feel like making him pitiful. I LOVE controlling fate! "I think our step sisters are in a gang" thing:does NOT remember ever hearing about that: It's never happened to me. Yet.