Gaara let out a sigh of relief as the glass doors slid shut behind him.

"Glad to be out?" Neji said with a laugh.

"I hate hospitals." Gaara said simply, then muttered softly," the food is like cardboard."

This caused Neji's smile to widen as he pushed Gaara over to the car. He stopped and picked Gaara up without much effort, sliding him onto the back seat. "They are right, you know. You do need to gain some weight."

Gaara glanced out the window as Neji loaded the chair into the car. "You try gaining weight when you're dad makes you throw up half your food."

Neji shuddered at the thought.

"Sorry." Gaara said softly, noticing Neji reaction.

Neji shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I want to know everything."

Gaara looked out the window. "It's a lot to tell."

"We have all the time in the world."

"We do, don't we?" Gaara said with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (a couple months later)

"Today after just a few hours of deliberation, the jury returned with the verdict for the Subaku case. He has been found guilty of both physical and sexual abuse on his children. He has also been convicted in assisting the murder of Marya Van because of the confession given by the driver of the car that took her life that admitted to him being hired by Mr. Subaku. The lowest sentence he may receive is 20 years, but this reporter is confident that the judge will see to it that Mr. Subaku not see the light of the free world for a long time. The conviction cam—"

"Are you happy?"

"Yes," Gaara answered, grabbing his crutches from the side of the couch, standing up slowly.

"Good," Neji replied. "Then let's get going."

Gaara followed him outside to the car before complaining. "You still haven't told me where we are going."

"Oh," Neji said in mock shock," It's a surprise."

Gaara sighed as he climbed into the car. Ever since his talk with the investigators, Temari, and Kankuro, he wasn't exactly fond of surprises.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Flashback)

They had gathered in his hospital room since, due to his extreme blood loss, Gaara was going to be forced to stay in the hospital for at least a few more days.

It had started out easy enough. Gaara recounting all the injuries given to him by his dad, including the pale scar on his forehead from Halloween and the fact that he suspected his father was involved in the death of Marya Van. It was after he finished and the investigators started asking questions that he found some unpleasant surprises.

"Why didn't you ever tell anyone? Why didn't you seek help?"

Gaara answered the questions like he had every other time he had heard them. "I did tell people. They got hurt. I did seek help, and no one believed me."

"Were you aware that your siblings had received the same treatment?"

"No, they never told me."

"Where you aware that on December 16 three years ago, your father began to sexually abuse your sister for 6 months, promising that he would not hurt you if she consented?"

Gaara sat there for a moment, eyes wide. He looked at his sister who had looked away. She looked at him for a moment and gave a small nod before turning into an embrace offered by Kankuro. "No."

All the other questions seemed to blur after that. He must have answered effectively though because around twenty minutes later, he was again along in his room with his siblings.

"I'm sorry." There were so many things he could have said, but they wouldn't have mattered.

Temari wiped away a few stray tears slowly. "Thank you. It wasn't your fault, but thank you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (End Flashback)

Gaara watched the scenery as the car drove down one of the numerous streets in town. When the car finally stopped outside a house that rivaled Neji's in size, Gaara had no idea where he was.

"Where are we?" Gaara asked cautiously as he climbed out of the car.

"You'll see," Neji said mysteriously as he walked up to the front door quickly.

He was inside the house before Gaara and when he entered, the lights were still off. "Neji…"

The lights flicked on "Surprise!"

Gaara stumbled back a few steps, surprised, which resulted in him falling over because you really can't stumble with crutches.

"Well, I think we surprised him." Naruto said confidently.

"Ya," Temari said with a laugh.

"You okay?" Neji asked, helping Gaara stand up.

Gaara nodded weakly. "What is everyone doing here?"

"We're here to celebrate your birthday stupid!" Naruto said with a huge grin.

"But my birthday's not until tomorrow."

"That's what makes it a surprise."

Gaara shook his head. It just like them… "Okay, then. What's next?"

"We play a game!"

"What game?"

"Uh…"

"I know," Temari said," truth or dare!"

"That's a girls game!"

"I don't see you coming up with anything better."

"That sounds fine Temari," Gaara said, hoping to get Naruto to shut up for a few seconds.

"Great, then let's play!"

Gaara felt like hitting himself. What had ever made him think this was a good plan. Here they were eating pizza, about to play truth or dare. They had arranged themselves in a circle. Temari was going first.

"Okay, Neji truth or dare."

"Truth."

"Hmmm, Did you ever like Tenten?"

"No. Sasuke, truth or dare."

"Dare." Sasuke answered challengingly.

"Okay…Find Sakura at school Monday and tell her you don't know what you were thinking and you want her to take you back, without mentioning that it's all a dare until the end."

"Fine." Sasuke grumbled. "Gaara, truth or dare."

"Truth," Gaara answered cautiously, expecting some revenge.

"How long id you guys actually like us?"

"Six years," Gaara mumbled out quietly.

"Hey," Neji interjected, " You only said four before."

"Didn't want to seem too pathetic," Gaara said with a laugh.

"I know what you mean," Neji replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Naruto said," glancing over at Sasuke," What are you going to do about Sakura on Monday?'

"Raise her hopes and crush her I suppose."

"It sounds horrible when you put it like that." Naruto said with a laugh, looking outside.

"Well," Sasuke said coming up besides Naruto," there's not much else to it."

"No, there really isn't, is there?"

"Never was." Sasuke said giving Naruto a hug as they watched the stars in the sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, how long were you planning this?" Gaara asked as he and Neji sat on one of the many balconies in the Uchiha Estate a few minutes before midnight.

"Oh, a couple weeks now I think. It was Naruto's idea at first."

Gaara nodded, "sounds like something Naruto would plan."

"Yeah, but we all got together to work on it. So, did you have fun?"

"Yeah," Gaara said with a sigh looking up at the stars.

"What is it?" Neji asked.

"I never thought I'd make it this far. Even when I did, I didn't think it be this…" Gaara couldn't find a work to describe it.

"Perfect." Neji said simply.

"Yeah, I think that's it." Gaara said looking over at Neji with a smile. Neji leaned in to kiss Gaara softly.

"Happy birthday."

Indeed, it was the happiest birthday Gaara had ever had.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It's hard for me to believe, but that really is the end. (An extreme, throw up because it's all so mushy kind, but it is an ending.) I find it hard to believe that I started this story a few months ago on a mere whim and a desire for experimentation. It turned into something that I couldn't put down. Some of the plot even caught me off guard. The original plan was to follow A Cinderella Story, but the plot grew into something much bigger than that.

Thank you for all the reviews. They often were what gave me the kick I needed to finish up a chapter.

Honestly, I don't know when I will write another fic with these pairings. This one was fun, and I have and idea for another based off one of my favorite books. (If you didn't know, I am a bookworm. Most books last less than five days in my hands) However, I want to finish my other stories first, but be on the lookout. I have a tendency to write whatever comes to me and with all the traveling I'm doing, the story may end up on paper very soon.