Lost and Found
By: Junsui Kegasu
A/N: Hey, I think I have a bit of writers' block, but I'm gonna try to start this anyways.
Disclaimer: I…don't…own it! I can wish.
Gaara was abnormally excited about going to Neji's house. So much, that Kankurou felt the very rare urge to tease his brother and eat very slowly while Gaara had wolfed through his chicken wing and a half, mashed potatoes from the box, and green beans.
"Kankurou! Why are you eating so slowly? Usually you eat faster than me!" was the whiney complaint.
Temari giggled. "My, my, aren't we anxious?"
"I know, jeez, Gaara, you'll get to see your lover!"
Gaara blushed crimson and slumped down onto the table, resting his head on his arm, poking at the other half of his chicken wing, which he was decidedly too full to finish. He was NOT pouting. Really!
"Gaara are you pouting?" Temari asked, nearly astounded. Gaara NEVER pouted. And lover? Ohhh! She understood now. She understood everything. She turned to Kankurou. "Okay, Kankurou, SERIOUSLY. You do NOT need to get EVERY singular scrap of meat off the damn chicken bone!" she said, trying to hold in giggles.
"Oh, but I do! You see, this chicken shouldn't be wasted in case the world goes on a sudden chicken shortage!"
Temari gave him a look, then contemplated something for a minute. "Hey, Gaara, I got a plan." And she leaned over and told him.
Gaara grinned, and lifted Kankurou's head from where it was, only about 3 inches over his plate. While he was still surprised from this action, Temari took his plate and dumped out the remaining food, tossed it in the sink, and wiped her hands off.
"Alright, we're ready!" she chirped.
Kankurou made a pouty face and got out of Gaara's soft grip on his head. "No fair, you two!"
"Oh, shut up and get your shoes on!"
Neji glanced around his room, proud. He had managed to make the space at least semi-presentable, and only in about ten minutes! His uncle would be pleased. Scooping up the basket that held all the dirty clothes he had picked up from where they had been scattered around his floor, he made his way to the bathroom to dump them in the dirty laundry pile.
He was walking out, empty basket in hand, when he heard the doorbell. Beaming, he set the basket down in the hallway and flew downstairs to get the door.
"Boo."
"…" Kankurou had odd ways of greeting people. "Hey there! Uh, I know you guys just ate dinner 'n all, but if you're hungry or thirsty, please don't hesitate to ask."
Gaara and Temari nodded while Kankurou beamed. Seeing the look on his face, Temari elbowed him.
"Oww!"
Neji raised an eyebrow. "…Huh? Do you want anything?"
"Well, you see, THESE TWO got impatient with me trying to eat all the chicken off the bone because someday the world might go on a chicken shortage and threw out half of my dinner!"
"You were going slow on purpose!" Temari cried in exasperation.
"Yeah!" Gaara agreed, nodding.
Kankurou crossed his eyes and pouted. "Caught."
Neji laughed and stepped back so they could enter the house. "So, do you want anything?"
Kankurou shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. I can go a lot longer without food than this." he said casually.
Neji shrugged. "Suit yourself." He led them upstairs, taking the previously abandoned basket with him. He sat the basket in a corner of his room, which was still messy, but not as embarrassingly so.
"Uhhh…I have video games." He said, casually. Kankurou looked like he was in love.
"SO YOU DO!" and he proceeded to nearly attack his Playstation 2.
Neji owned a wide variety of games. Anything from Final Fantasy to Tekken to …What WAS that? It looked like some weird game that some crack head made up.
"Hey, Neji, what's this?" Kankurou asked, picking up the case.
"Oh, Katamari Damacy? It's really neat. It's only one player, though. I think it has a two-player option, but I don't care to try it. The game is scary enough as it is. Here, I can show you guys."
He turned on the black machine and waited for the introduction screen to load. Red pandas, rainbows, billions of multi-colored mushrooms, and singing ducks filled the screen. Creepy, childish, and very much retarded music played in the background. Neji hit the 'continue game' option and started…making a star. It looked more like he was rolling a ball around and picking up random items for no reason.
It looked rather odd, but at the same time, intriguing. Gaara wanted to play it, but he was afraid to ask.
"…Dude. You just picked up a COW." Kankurou said, staring at the screen. Temari had gotten bored and flopped down on Neji's bed, not knowing it was a waterbed.
"WHOA!" She exclaimed when the waterbed juggled her weight around.
Neji giggled, knowing her mistake, never letting his eyes stray from the screen, though.
"…Dude. You just picked up a…WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST PICK UP? SCREW THE HUT THING, YOU JUST PICKED UP A HUGE-ASS OCTOPUS!"
Neji lost it. Kankurou yelling at the game was just so humorous he fell over backwards laughing. Gaara giggled shyly behind his hand, but not very loudly, as if he was afraid of getting caught.
"Alright. That is definitely enough of that." He reached to turn off the Playstation 2 when a loud crash sounded. Gaara jumped, eyes wide and darting around the room looking for a place to hide.
"…Oh, shit, I completely forgot about the Thunderstorm warning…" Neji cursed to himself. "What time is it?"
Kankurou glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. "It is 9:30."
"9:30?" Gaara exclaimed, voice shaking. "K-kankurou, what if D-dad didn't know we were out this late?"
"Yeah, Kankurou," Temari added. "Did you leave a note?"
"…" Of course Kankurou hadn't left a note. He wouldn't read it anyways. He'd be too piss-drunk. "Uh…no…I didn't. We should really get going then, Neji…"
"HOLD ON!" Neji interrupted, yelling over a longer, louder burst of thunder. "You guys are NOT walking home in this weather. End of story. I forbid it."
"But Neji…our dad doesn't know we're over here…" Gaara protested weakly. Oh, how he wished he could just stay here with Neji for all eternity… "And…ah…I still have math homework…" he added in a mumble, more to himself.
"Yeah…" Kankurou glanced out the window. It looked like it was raining baseballs, and there was probably hale somewhere in that mess, too. Trees were all over the place and he knew that walking home, or even DRIVING home probably wouldn't be a good idea. "Yeah," he repeated. "That storm looks really bad…"
"Exactly. So, you guys are spending the night!" Neji said cheerfully.
"But school!" Temari exclaimed.
"B-but Dad!" Gaara said at the same time.
"I'll call Dad right now and tell him that we really have no choice and we can go get our school stuff tomorrow morning before we walk over there." Kankurou supplied, sending a look to Gaara of reassurance.
Gaara had never spent the night at anyone else's house before. He would probably be very nervous.
"So…uh…I need a phone." Kankurou finished, grinning stupidly.
"Oh, right!" Neji exited the room for a moment, off to find the always-missing portable phone. (It's like my house! XD)
"K-kankurou…I…I don't know about this…" Gaara said quietly when he had left.
"It'll be okay. Really. Gaara, look outside, if we go out there, the sheer force of everything falling from the sky is going to rip our skin off. We really have no choice. And although Dad won't see that, I'm gonna be sure to go somewhere in case I need to cuss him out, alright? He isn't going to hit you for this, I swear." Was the reassurance. Gaara notably calmed down, forcing a small smile.
For once in all eternity, the portable phone was actually in it's cradle. This was a very new thing. Grabbing it like it would run away, he sprinted up the stairs. He heard conversation in his room, and being the nosy person he was by nature, decided to listen before alerting anyone to his presence.
"…in case I need to cuss him out, alright? He isn't going to hit you for this, I swear."
That was Kankurou's voice. He must've been talking to Gaara, because Neji noted that when he talked to Temari, his voice tended to be on the harder side, but when he talked to his younger sibling, his voice was softer, kinder. That was the voice he heard.
He knew it. He didn't want to know it, but he did. It was just so obvious sometimes. And now, his worst suspicions had been confirmed.
Gaara WAS being abused.
For some reason, this sparked more anger in him than it should have. How dare that bastard hurt someone so small…so fragile as Gaara? That was just plain unfair. Completely unfair.
Composing himself, since he decided it might not be a good idea to tell them that he knew just yet, he walked back into his bedroom, handing the phone to Kankurou and sitting next to Gaara.
"Hey, you guys aren't gonna get in trouble for this, are you?" Neji questioned.
"No. Not at all." Kankurou answered before Gaara even had a chance to flinch.
"Oh, okay."
Kankurou dialed his home phone number and waited for someone to pick up. At the first ring, he looked back at Neji. "Hey, Neji, would it be okay if I went somewhere else with this?"
Neji didn't question why; he already knew. "Sure, go ahead." He said as casually as possible. Kankurou thanked him and exited the bedroom.
"Neji…I gotta use the bathroom…uh…where is it?" Temari asked sheepishly, putting a hand behind her head.
"Oh, the bathroom is right across from my room. And if it's occupied, there's one downstairs by the kitchen, too." He supplied, almost grateful that she was leaving him and Gaara alone.
"Thank you!" She chirped, exiting the room and shutting the door behind her.
Gaara stared at his hands like they were the most interesting things on the planet.
Neji had to get this over with.
"Hey…Gaara?" The smaller boy perked up, showing Neji that he had his attention, playing a little with the edges of his sleeves.
"Is…is everything alright at home?" he asked cautiously.
Gaara's eyes widened nearly unnoticeably and he nodded furiously. "O-of course! Wh-why do you ask?"
"Just…no reason. You know, if something's going on, you can tell me, right? You don't have to hide from everyone. 'Cause not everyone's going to hurt you." He was hoping that this would get Gaara to open up and tell him, so he wouldn't have to worry about knowing, but not being told directly.
Gaara nodded again, jerkier. "I…ah…I'm fine…really…" he mumbled, hands in his lap.
Neji sighed. He'd have to do it like this. "Gaara, I heard Kankurou talk to you when I went to go get the phone."
First, Gaara looked confused. Then, his eyes widened in realization and filled with tears.
"No…y-you…y-you….i-it…I…HE DOESN'T HIT ME!" he managed finally, shaking slightly.
"Shh…Gaara…please…it's okay. If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't." Neji knew that if there had been any doubt earlier, it was gone now.
Gaara shook his head. "He'll know…N-neji, he always knows! Every time!" Tears were running freely down porcelain cheeks, and Neji wanted nothing more than to reach out and wipe them all away.
Without thinking, the older teen reached out and embraced the redhead, nearly clinging to him so he wouldn't pull away. "It's okay…he's not ever going to find out…but what he's doing to you is wrong, Gaara."
"N-no! No it's not!" Gaara managed in between sobs, his face buried in Neji's chest. "I k-killed M-mom…it-it's my f-fault! I-it's always my f-fault! I-I'm just the stupid w-wench that m-messed up the entire f-family!"
These words wrenched at Neji's heart. Of course he blamed himself. That's how it always was in these situations. He wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but he found himself pulling Gaara into a warm embrace, letting him cry into his chest and continue ranting on about the entire thing while Neji rubbed soothing circles on his back.
Somehow, everything would get better.
Alright, it wasn't in my original plan to have this end here, but you know what? It's a good ending spot XP. Don't you all just hate me? For some reason, I am UBER inspired to write at the moment, so I think next I'm going to work on the second chapter of Haunted, which shouldn't take too long because I am VERY eager to do more with that story, and get the next one out for this, and so on and so forth.
…Or, that's the PLAN. The chances of this actually happening are so slim it's funny. Chances are, I'm going to work on whatever chapter I find to be more inspiring to write. So, yeah, I got this out QUICK! LOVE ME, PEOPLE!