No, no, no, no, no. Why was this happening to him?

Neji locked himself inside Gaara's bathroom. Internally, he was freaking out.

When he had awoken that morning, he realized he was a bit uncomfortable. His shorts were wet and sticky. It took him too long to realize why that was. He had thought he was fortunate enough to never have such an embarrassing thing happen to him before. It wasn't that he wasn't into sex. He had masturbated before, but he was often too busy to think about a relationship or even consider it. Because of that, he thought it was natural he never had a wet dream before. He was exhausted by the time he went to bed every night.

So why did he have to have one now of all times? He couldn't even remember what he had dreamed about, but he had definitely ejaculated. What was worse was after that realization, he noticed Gaara pressed extremely close to his side, face nuzzled against his shoulder, dead asleep. Neji's face turned a bright red that reached his ears as the embarrassment mixed with thoughts of Gaara being cute entered his mind again. What was wrong with him?

Flustered, he took off his shorts to clean them, scrubbing them furiously in the sink. It wasn't his fault, he told himself. Of course, someone pressing against him like that in his sleep would make him have one of those dreams. It had nothing to do with Gaara. It was just bad timing.

Telling himself that wasn't helping. If anything, it increased his anxiety because he didn't quite believe it himself. He didn't know what to think and having yet something else out of his control was fraying his nerves.

So before Gaara could wake, he quietly borrowed a pair of shorts from Gaara, seeing odd, thick black clothes in his search, put them on, and was out of the apartment without a word or glance back.

He headed back to the Hyuuga estate, getting into a cab down the block to avoid suspicion. He wasn't naïve enough that he didn't believe his uncle or underling would question the cabbie as to where he was.

After school yesterday, he had received a message from his uncle to return home immediately. Feeling rebellious, he sent a message back that he would come back in the morning. It was the first time he didn't just jump at his uncle's beck and call. He wasn't filled with exhilaration or other extreme emotions when he defied him. He was just looking forward to the workout more, and he was willing to upset his uncle to do it. The freedom to train as he pleased and do something he was obsessed with as much and as long as he wanted. For once in his life, he felt the shackles holding him down removed. Gaara had given him that. His uncle had not.

Today there was something odd about the estate in that it was busy. At 5 am, normally people would either be training or running errands for his uncle. Instead, there were quite a few people stationed at the entrance. He saw one of them pull out a walkie talkie, telling his uncle he had arrived.

Neji pushed it all out of his mind. If it was something important, his uncle would have sent someone for him or have called him instead of messaging him. He got out of the cab, dropped his stuff off in his room, and went to a quiet portion of the estate behind the storage shed to practice what he had learned rather than go search for his uncle to see what he had wanted.

It was a poor decision on his part. His uncle had never cared to seek him out before. They just bump into each other at the estate, and he would receive his lecture then. His uncle never came to the storage shed as there was no reason for him to. So, Neji changed into his gi and went over what he had learned with Gaara.

He learned which combos were more successful, how they could be countered, what flowed more naturally in combat, and so much more. Lately, whenever he executed a series of attacks successfully, not only were they much stronger, but his body would tingle and his hands would feel hot in flashes, like energy was leaving his hand. It reminded him of the anime he watched as a child. Where someone strong would punch the air and a shockwave would come from the hero's fist, hitting his opponent. The idea of that type of strength always appealed to him, and recently, he had been envisioning it more and more.

The more and more he practiced, the more the feeling reoccurred, becoming stronger. It felt right, like it was the natural progression of the technique, and he focused on regaining that feeling for every punch or palm strike he could.

And he succeeded. At the end of a hard combination he had finally mastered, the last strike he felt something. Like a shockwave leaving his hand, making it feel numb and burn at the same time. The rest of his body felt exhausted as if he had exerted all his energy in that one strike. He naturally wanted to drop his stance or slouch, and it was a struggle to keep his posture and the solid form without weakening even the slightest bit.

What had he just done?

He didn't even have a moment to dwell on the thought.

"What did you just do?" His uncle's cold sharp voice startled Neji. He immediately dropped his stance, snapping his arms to his side and bowing his head. "Answer," he demanded.

Neji didn't answer. He didn't know how to answer when he didn't understand it himself.

"Have you been practicing outside the dojo?" his uncle asked.

Neji had never heard his uncle so angry. He had always been cold and emotionally distant. He didn't know how to respond. Shrinking back from his uncle's anger, all he could do was nod.

"Have you been training with someone?"

Again, all Neji could do was nod.

He knew the strike was coming before it even landed. He accepted the hit to his cheek because he had known he had broken the rules.

"You disrespected the clan and me. Using your marital arts outside the dojo, studying under a master aside from your own, do you not have a resemblance of pride or do you live to embarrass your clan?"

How could he explain himself? That he felt that he was ready for the next level but was impatient to wait for someone to let him advance? That he knew he was breaking the rules placed on all Hyuuga clan members and yet his love for the martial art made him break it? Could he help that he was obsessed with it, that every day it was all he could think about? That it was a part of him that no matter how much he tried to deny it would demand attention and wanted to be nurtured no matter the cost?

Nothing he said could excuse what he had done.

"From here on out, you are forbidden from practicing martial arts."

Neji's head shot up in panic. No. His uncle couldn't do that to him.

"You are to participate in your activities at school and come home directly after. I've canceled your cram school lessons and have hired a private tutor if you choose to use her, but you will not leave this compound after 7 pm."

He wanted to protest, but years of being submissive to his uncle kicked in, unable to say what was on his mind, and he struggled to fight past it. The moment he managed to scrape enough courage to say something his uncle crushed it.

"If I find you practicing martial arts again, you will no longer be allowed in this house. You will be expelled from the clan."

He knew his uncle took the clan's martial arts seriously, but to go as far as to expel him?

"You will be taking the town car to school from now on. You will be leaving in 30 minutes."

Neji couldn't even process his uncle leaving. His mind was just revolving under the concept of being unable to practice martial arts anymore. Why? Why had he been so careless? Of course, anyone who saw him practicing now would be able to tell he was practicing with someone and that it wasn't from the clan. He knew that, but he just assumed his uncle would never come by just because he hadn't seen it before. Especially when he knew his uncle had called for him.

Unable to practice martial arts anymore. He wanted to punch something, but he didn't trust himself enough not to take a stance to do it, making it "martial arts", and with that realization, all the energy in his legs left him, and he fell to the ground, letting out a long frustrated yell, tears falling from his eyes. He banged his fist onto the ground over and over again.

When he finally moved, he felt empty. The last thing that he loved had been stripped away from him. What was there to live for now?

He eventually went to do what he was told, missing his uncle who had been standing on the other side of the shed, watching it all.


Gaara was in a good mood when he woke up. The past four nights, he had slept nearly the entire night. Today, he hadn't even stirred when Hyuuga got out of the bed. That was a first. There was a strange smell lingering in the room, but he dismissed it as the sheets needing to be changed since it had been a while.

He went about his morning routine, humming an old tune he recalled from his childhood and was for once looking forward to his day. He shouldn't be this happy. He had missed his scheduled feeding because of Uchiha's arrival, and it was pushed back until tomorrow evening. He was even thinking of skipping today with Uzumaki for once. This was one of the very few schools that still had Saturday classes, even if it was a half-day. What was wrong with skipping one day?

Perhaps he should be worried that he was in such a good mood that he was thinking of slacking off. The mood was new to him. To not be tired or hungry was not a state he was familiar with, and it may have started to go to his head.

It wasn't all fun and games. He had bided his time and today he was finally going to put his plan into motion. Speaking of which, Uzumaki came running towards him waving a letter in his hand.

"Gaara! Gaara! You will never believe what I got in my shoe locker today."

Whatever Uzumaki was excited about couldn't be good, Gaara decided, seeing how lit up Uzumaki's face was. He was only that happy when he was about to get himself in trouble.

When Gaara didn't answer immediately, Uzumaki continued. "A love letter. From Sakura-chan. Can you believe it?"

No, he couldn't. He almost showed his displeasure on his face. "Congratulations," was all he said.

"Jealous?" Uzumaki teased. He was exuding happiness. Not because he liked the girl, no. It was because no girl had ever confessed to him before. There was just one problem with it, being Haruno, Sakura.

"I find girls irritating and dating pointless," he said, walking with Uzumaki into the school. "What are you going to say?"

"I don't know. I was thinking of saying yes, I mean, there's those rumors going around about her, you know. And I haven't done it yet…" Uzumaki wouldn't look him in the eye. He knew very well how wrong his reasoning was. Gaara let him get away with it though. There was no chance, Haruno would sleep with Uzumaki, so there was no reason to worry about it.

"If you think that's for the best," Gaara replied, slipping on his indoor shoes. "Go 'ahead. I have to see Tsunade-sensei."

"Alright. Oi, Kiba!" Easily distracted, Uzumaki went to tell Inuzuka the good news.

Whether it would stay good news was debatable. He saw Haruno coming in and while Uzumaki was distracted at the end of the hall, he intercepted her, dragging her by the arm into a corner of the school courtyard where it was hard to see them behind the bushes and trees.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" she demanded, yanking her arm from him.

"Why did you give him that letter?" Gaara cut straight to the point.

She huffed, crossing her arms defensively. "If you have to know, it was Tsunade-sensei's orders. She was worried since he was skipping so much and getting into trouble more recently. She thought maybe he could use some confidence while having someone keep an eye on him."

More like spy on him since he wouldn't tell the woman anything. He knew Tsunade's heart was in the right place, but this was not the way to go about it. "Did you break up with Sai?"

"Sai-kun knows about the orders. We're not going to break up just because I'm on a mission."

Gaara slammed his hand near her head, causing her to jump. "He is not a mission. He is a person," he growled. "If this little stunt of yours hurts him, I will take it out on you personally."

"It's my orders," she said again though she did show slightest hints of weakness now. "If you have a problem with it, take it up with Tsunade-sama, but I don't intend to disobey her, and the last time I checked, you don't tend to either."

Gaara's eyes flashed a dark, golden-brown before returning to their usual color. He had to control his anger. He couldn't unleash it on her. "You have your warning."

He left before he lost control. His previous good mood was now a mere shadow of its former brilliance. He had wanted it to last at least a bit longer.

The urge to skip class was growing, and he weighed the pros and cons of doing so. As he walked to the classroom, students getting out of his way as he passed, he overheard a conversation near the class A classroom.

"Do you think Hyuuga-kun's alright? He's not smiling at all today."

"I heard he told off the archery team manager for slacking this morning. She was near tears."

"She does slack a lot though…"

"Yeah, he's always been kind when doing things like that though. I wonder if he's okay."

Hyuuga was in a bad mood? Strange, Hyuuga had gone to bed in a great mood last night. What had happened to change that?

Gaara attended class still thinking about what could have happened, ignoring Uzumaki's constant giddiness. Even though class let out at noon, Gaara still left after an hour of lecture. Uzumaki gave him a questioning gaze, silently asking if he should follow, but Gaara waved him down. Uzumaki's happiness at being asked out by Haruno was grating on him. Especially since he knew the truth. If he was to keep his temper concerning her, it was best if he kept his distance.

Gaara went to the roof. It was nice and isolated, and he wouldn't have to listen to Tsunade's lecture about setting an example to the underclassman. It was the only logical place to skip class at.

As far as he knew, Hyuuga didn't skip class. He as a model student other than antagonizing Uzumaki. So he was surprised when he saw Hyuuga on the roof overlooking the grounds. The girls' gossip from earlier returned to the forefront of his thoughts. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. What could he say?

He didn't need to. Hyuuga turned towards him, showing surprise at first before his face morphed into a dark look shot at him. "What do you want?"

While Gaara was used to that look from other people, he had never seen it from Hyuuga. "I needed a break," Gaara said. "Apparently, you did too."

"Leave me alone," he replied gruffly, looking away from Gaara. When Gaara didn't leave, he bitterly snapped, "Why are you still here?"

"What happened?" The sincerity of Gaara's question threw Hyuuga off and he looked lost until rage swelled up on Hyuuga's face then replaced with cold calculating eyes as he responded remarkably casual.

"Why would anything have to happen for me not to want to be around you?" He tried to give a cruel smirk. "What? You think because we trained together that makes us friends? Who would want to be friends with you? I use you to get better at something, and you act all sentimental about it. It's pathetic."

Gaara didn't know how to process the sudden verbal attack. He was kind of acting the same way he treated Uzumaki.

"And don't even get me started on the way you hang all over Uzumaki and follow him like some puppy. It's disgusting. Are you two fags or something? You were definitely calling out his name enough in your sleep." Hyuuga chuckled. "You two deserve each other. Licking each other wounds and other things no doubt. No wonder you contemplate killing yourself."

Something was definitely wrong with Hyuuga, but the last things Nijjima said pissed Gaara off. Using Gaara's vulnerability against him, sullying his feelings toward Uzumaki. It was something he wasn't going to put up with.

"And despite us being "disgusting" as you put it, at least we have friends. Where are yours?" Gaara attacked back. It hit directly where he wanted it to. Hurt flashed in Hyuuga's eyes, but Gaara kept going. "Who was the one who snuck into this "fag's" bed? Who was the one who didn't even have a place to go at night?" Gaara shot back in his quiet voice. He could feel the lord's power fueling his anger, his eyes starting to slowly change color. He needed to calm his anger before it became out of hand. Being egged on by Shukaku never ended well for Gaara or the person on the receiving end.

But it was a slippery slope for him, once he started it was hard to stop. "So, who really is the desperate one?"

"Says the guy too afraid to answer his own phone. Are your handlers ready to put you and Uzumaki down?"

It was the last straw. His chakra leaked out from his dangerously, sharpening itself as it prepared to attack. That sentence Hyuuga had said was too close to comfort. He knew it was just a coincidence and Hyuuga knew nothing, but yes, he was afraid that his father, Tsunade, and the other hunters would one day grow tired of him and Uzumaki and would no longer protect them, but kill them. Though his mind knew the statement for what it was, his instincts took it as a threat towards Uzumaki, like Hyuuga knew something that he did not. The sand in the bottle around his neck reacted with his rapidly growing, out of control emotions until the bottle broke.

The sound brought Gaara quickly back to reality. Halting his mounting hostility when he realized how dangerously close he had been to attack Hyuuga with his chakra. He also knew that it would not go unnoticed. Someone would be there soon to check out exactly what he was doing. He had to leave.

Gaara didn't retort. He just left. Not even Hyuuga felt he had to add parting words, letting him and going back to his moping on the roof. No matter what Hyuuga's reason for verbally attacking him was, he wasn't going to dismiss it so easily this time. He had let Hyuuga into his life, even if it was something as small as letting him into his home, and Hyuuga had tried to use the information he had gained against him. It was best to cut all ties from him from now on.

Gaara didn't go back to class. Riled, up he left the school before he could be questioned. The hunters were already on edge. Half his class probably stood up reactively once they had felt him unleash it. It was stupid to let his emotions run out of control like that, especially when he was training Matsuri to keep hers contained. As expected, his phone rang the moment he was off school ground from Tsunade.

He gave her the briefest explanation as to what happened, that he had attempted to calm his anger by releasing his chakra. Nothing else. He didn't mention Hyuuga or what he had said to anger him. He didn't want anyone to know about their connection, especially when he was cutting it off with him from this point on.

The anger still boiled underneath the surface though. It wasn't like those types of emotions go away so easily. He wandered into town, searching for his prey. It was earlier than he had expected. He was going to wait until tonight to enact his plan but now was as good as time as any. He had bided his time long enough, and he needed someone to suffer.

He spotted them, the two boys that had caused Uzumaki's recent misery. He had managed to figure out their schedule, slowly but surely with a little help. At this time of day, they were often seen shopping in downtown. It was perfect.

He found them quickly, his little spy seen in an ally. It's white fur bright enough to see anywhere. Gaara would feed him something good the next time he went hunting. It was the least he could do when the Akita pointed him in the right direction.

Gaara stalked his prey from a distance, watching them. Their stupid smiles, their obnoxious laughter, even after watching them for two hours, he felt nothing about what he was going to do. As they entered into the book store, he followed, and when they were distracted by the porn magazines, he slipped a letter into their bag.

It didn't take them long to find it. Gaara had watched them long enough to know which pocked they kept their wallet in. The letter fell out when the tallest one pulled out his wallet to pay for the books he had collected.

Confusion flitted across his face as he searched around him, but eventually, he read it with his friend.

"This can't be real right?" one said.

"I don't know. It looks real, but treasure?" the other said with much less certainty.

"It's possible though. I mean no one's been there forever and everyone stays clear of it. If the guy who lived there was rich, but everyone was too afraid to raid the place after it was abandoned, it could be possible."

"I think you've watched too many movies, but it couldn't hurt to check it out beforehand. Just to be safe."

As Gaara listened nearby, hidden in another row of books, he smirked, his eyes flashing golden-brow again. He kept his promise. He didn't lay a single hand on them.


Neji stayed long after school had let out. It's not like he had anywhere to go. Due to the announcement the school chairman gave, all afterschool activities and events were canceled for the next week. Sai and Nara had tried to stay at his side since school let out, but he ditched them, hiding in one of the bathrooms and locking the door. Most of the students had gone home already. Only he remained, having no one to call friend to lean on.

He stared into the mirror, a pair of scissors clutched in his hand.

He took a deep breath, gathering his hair in one hand and holding the scissors in the other. Just do it, he told himself. But the longer he hesitated, the more the scissors shook as they hovered over his hair.

"Dammit!" He shouted, throwing the scissors into the sink. Why couldn't he just do it? If he could just sever his ties with the clan, he wouldn't have to be living like this. All he had to do was cut it all off. It should be simple.

And yet, he could not do it.

Neji hated his hair. Hated how long it was. Hated how much it made him look like his uncle. If he could just bring himself to cut it….

What the hell was he doing? He pushed Gaara out of his life, removing the temptation. He couldn't bring himself to cut his hair. Did he plan to just go with everything his uncle said after all?

Well, it wasn't like there was anywhere he could go. He didn't save up enough to leave yet. Maybe if he had the courage to just leave, he could have asked Gaara if he could move in with him. Instead, he pushed away the only person who bothered to care about him.

Why had he done that, he thought with regret. Gaara had done so much for him, but at the time, when Gaara appeared before him, he couldn't help but redirect his anger to Gaara and place the blame on him. If Gaara never offered to help him, then he'd still be practicing martial arts. If he never wanted to be friends with him, it wouldn't hurt so much he couldn't see him. It was Gaara's fault he was miserable. It was that line of thinking that made him say those things. He wanted to anger and hurt Gaara because he was. And he regretted it immediately.

When Gaara shot back at him, he knew he had lost Gaara's trust, that Gaara would never invite him over. Would never help him again. He had gotten what he had wanted.

Hyuuga considered trying again with the scissors. Sighing, he put the scissors in his bag, knowing he didn't have the courage to do it. Maybe next time.

When he exited, he didn't see Nara or Sai around. He wondered if they grew tired of waiting. He didn't have the energy to wonder long. He wasn't ready to return home yet, so he wandered the empty halls of the school. There was a stray student here and there, but almost everyone had gone home.

He wandered into the junior high sector of the school. Things seemed much simpler back then. He remembered which classroom he had spent his afternoons in, and where he often stood, talking to his classmates. He had been hopeful that things would get better even as his uncle grew more distant, but that was six years ago. He no longer held onto that childish hope.

As he traversed the hallways, soft crying from one of the classrooms drifted into the hall through a cracked-open door as he passed it.

He caught only a glimpse of the girl crying in the corner of his eye. He recognized her immediately. His elderly brother instincts kicked in and pulled open the door, taking a step in. "Tough day?" he asked.

Matsuri jumped to her feet, wiping the tears from her eyes and forcing a gigantic smile on her face. It was very convincing. "Hyuuga-senpai. I didn't see you there," she said in a chipper tone. "What brings you to the junior high section?"

"Why were you crying?" he asked in a gentle big brother type voice. "Are you having a hard time?"

Her expressions changed on a dime, guilt claiming her features. "I'm fine," she said, much more subdued.

"If you were fine, you wouldn't be crying. Maybe I can help."

Matsuri shuffled from foot to foot. Her shoulders sagged, and she sat down heavily in her chair. "I caused an accident and hurt someone yesterday. I didn't mean to, it was an accident, but I thought it was okay. They knew I was a bit different, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. Everyone makes mistakes after all." She smiled weakly at him. "But when I came today, they started treating me differently. They were cold. Wouldn't even talk to me. Not even the people I thought were my friends."

A few tears fell and she wiped them away with her sleeve. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I worked so hard to get them to like me. I feel like all of it was for nothing now. I feel like I let Gaara-sensei down."

What was this problem that she mentioned? It made Hyuuga curious. However, it wasn't the time to ask about it, so he set it aside. "Sometimes, things don't go quite as we plan," he said replied. "But things aren't usually as bad as they feel."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you're not completely friendless. I'm here, aren't I?" he asked with a small smile as her face lit up with realization.

"You'll be my friend?"

"Call me whenever you need me."

The way she perked up as she pulled out her cell phone to exchange email addresses with him and online tag names made him smile. Matsuri was the prime example as to why he loved children. Their problems were a little less complicated, they were blunt and more honest with their feelings, and bringing a smile on their face always brightened up his day.

He stayed with her and talked to her, watching her smile and laughter grow more genuine. Seeing that, it eased some of the guilt and misery he was feeling, even if it was temporary. Perhaps he could stop by the classroom a couple of times, help her make some friends her own age. His popularity and him coming to visit her would surely peak some of the students' interest in getting to know her.

There was a knock on the door. Nara stood with his eternally bored expression, waiting for him.

"Sorry, Matsuri-chan, but it looks like I have to go," Neji stood.

"Already?" she asked disappointed.

"Don't make that face. I'll come see you on Monday."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The answer pacified her, and she let him go. Seeing and returning to Nara, reality set in for him once again on how limited his life had become. At least it was Nara. He wasn't sure if he could tolerate Sai talking right now. Nara walked quietly beside him, seeing him to the town car that was there to take him home.

As he slipped into the back seat, his hand on the door handle to close it, Neji asked, "Do you like working for my uncle that much?"

He had never confronted either Sai or Nara since discovering their ties to his uncle.

He expected surprise, maybe even a smooth dodge around the question or outright refusal. Nara defied his expectations, replying with a simple, "He pays well."

Neji couldn't be angry with that answer. At least it was the truth. It was more than he could ask from a lot of people. He closed the door, and the car pulled out, the school shrinking further and further away.