"We're sorry for the inconvenience and confusion, Hyuuga-san. The director is very sorry and wants to personally see you to apologize for scaring you if you will allow it."
Neji across from a police officer, both sitting on a pillow in the seiza position in the washitsu room. Neji may have been younger, but the officer was overly formal with him, bowing his head and addressing him very formally. If Neji had to describe the officer's behavior, the officer was treating him like the heir.
"There's no need. I understand the situation," Neji replied, politely. "Thank you for coming all the way here to explain things to me." He bowed his head.
The officer quickly bowed his head as well. "It was my pleasure."
The officer excused himself, and Neji watched him leave. He knew Gaara was the son of some politician, but he didn't think he had so much sway on the Japanese police force. The cop had come to explain the "situation" to him. If Neji had not seen that vampire in the clearing afterward and then Uchiha, he may have believed him. It had been very convincing. He was patient and answered all his questions flawlessly. It was too perfect.
Neji didn't ask too many questions, just enough to convince the officer that he had believed the lies he was being told. He didn't know how much influence Gaara had, but he also knew he couldn't avoid Gaara forever. He had to do something.
Hyuuga stood, his foot tingling from lack of blood flow. He knew he should stop skipping school as it was drawing attention to himself. He knew, but it didn't make it easy. He was still terrified. The thought of being within the same proximity of Gaara made his legs feel weak and his stomach flip. He wouldn't be able to act normally if he tried. He was still jumping at every sound, worrying that Gaara or that man would come back to kill him for knowing too much.
He exited into the hall. He was supposed to go to his room. His uncle hadn't been pleased to know he had skipped school, yet surprisingly, he said little about it. He just said if he was sick enough to skip school, then he should stay in his room to rest.
For the past couple days, he did just that. Hiding in his room, wondering what to do about Gaara while cowering from the unknown. It wasn't in his nature to sit still for so long, and he was tired of being afraid. He couldn't sleep properly, and his paranoia was getting bad. He was wondering if people in his own house were one of them.
He didn't have a destination as he wandered through the manor, but he did come across his uncle's study, hearing voices coming from inside. He was rarely in this part of the house and never in the office. Besides being banned from the room, he didn't walk by it to avoid his uncle. He only stopped because he heard his name being mentioned.
"He said he believed me and appeared calm, but I'm not sure if he was actually convinced. I believe he still may suspect the truth." It was the cop from before. The door was closed so Neji couldn't see them, but there was no mistaking the voice that followed was his uncle's.
"That is unfortunate. I'll have Sai-kun keep an eye on him. If he isn't convinced, we'll try other methods."
What were they talking about? They sounded as if they knew, but that couldn't be right, could it?
"Hyuuga-sama, talking to Hyuuga-san isn't the only reason I was came to see you. Sarutobi, Asuma's body was found in the mountains on the mainland hours ago. We think Orochimaru is involved."
"Orochimaru Yashiro," his uncle replied, sounding displeased as he said it. "He died 12 years ago."
"Yes, but with his research popping up recently, we are starting to doubt it. Tsunade-sama has been looking into as well."
"Has Kurenai-san been informed about her husband?"
"No, sir. She had gone into labor earlier today. We did not want to burden her with the news during such a delicate time."
His uncle was quiet. Neji could hear the faint clinking of the laptop keys through the paper door. "Wait a day for her to recover her strength. Kurenai-san is strong-headed. She may do something rash and harm herself after just giving birth. She's an important asset we rather not loose. If anyone can find Orochimaru, she can."
Neji listened, unsure of what to make of the conversation. Sarutobi-san was dead? His mind immediately went to Gaara, but the following conversation made no sense. Who was Orochimaru? And why would the chairwoman of a school get involved? Why did his uncle and the officer want him to believe a lie regarding Gaara. None of it was making sense.
"Neji-nii?" Hinata's soft voice, caused Neji to jerk away from the shouji door. The conversation on the other side going quiet. "What are you doing?"
Hinata was dressed in her training attire, probably coming back from her late-night training.
Neji stood with a deer in the headlights look, his mind drawing a blank on how to respond at being caught eavesdropping.
The door he was standing in front of slide open with haste, his uncle's disapproving stare looking down on him. "Did you need something, Neji?" His uncle was assessing him, trying to figure out how much he heard. Neji couldn't meet his eyes. He was normally submissive to the man, but now Neji knew his uncle was hiding something much larger than he could have guessed. How dangerous was his own uncle?
"No, Oji-sama. I was feeling better and wanted to stretch my legs," he lied.
The weight of his uncle's stare made it hard to breathe, but it was nothing compared to that monster who had humiliated him in the clearing.
"One should take care of their body as to not inconvenience others," his uncle said. "If you have time to walk, get some food from the kitchen and prepare to go to school tomorrow."
"Yes, Oji-sama."
Neji took the excuse to leave. He had a lot to think about and a lot of preparation to do for school tomorrow.
Hinata watched him go, glancing at her father who looked back at her. Her father then took a step back into his office, closing the door behind him, leaving Hinata alone in the hallway. Clutching her fists, she turned around, storming off.
The school never felt so daunting before. It was on the top of a mountain, so it wasn't easy to get help if he needed it. The school entrance and the gate were 200 meters apart, leaving anyone running away in the open, and there were lots of classrooms that were unused during parts of the day, making it easy to be caught alone if lured there. Neji didn't want to go in.
He couldn't avoid it though. With the last of the students going in, he knew the late bell would ring soon. Maybe Gaara wasn't even here today, he thought hopefully. That was always a possibility. That dream was shattered upon entering through the front doors and catching a glimpse of Gaara turning the corner with Uzumaki. "His house is huge!" Uzumaki exclaimed before going out of sight. He only saw the back of Gaara's head, but he imagined the twitch of his lips as he fought the smile on his face at Uzumaki's antics.
But Gaara was here, and it didn't appear he was looking for him right now. There was some good news after all. It would give him a chance to observe him. At least, he hoped that would turn out to be the case.
Sitting through classes had been difficult. He was jumpy, acted suspicious towards his classmates, and wasn't careful with his words, letting a few of his true thoughts slip out. More than once, people asked if he was feeling all right. He told them he was still feeling under the weather and not himself. He wasn't sure if they believed them, but they wished him to feel better soon and to not push himself too hard. He didn't think how his odd behavior would make him look, he was just happy to be left alone.
During his lessons, he kept thumbing the stake stashed away in his desk, reassuring himself it was there. He made sure to keep it deep in his desk towards the back. He was scared but he didn't want to get expelled either. The alienation from his classmates worked out in that regard. No one asked why his hand was obviously in his desk.
Class 3-E had PE during period 4. Knowing that Gaara was exempt from that class, Neji skipped his math class. His math scores were only second to Nara's in the class, so he wasn't afraid that his scores would drop missing one class, and Sai would be too busy with PE class to watch him. With a simple excuse, he left class in search for Gaara.
If anything looked suspicious. It was definitely him. He was walking slowly, ducking behind corners, and looking around them before proceeding, and dodging windows whenever he could. His antics to avoid detection looked ridiculous, like a child pretending to be a spy.
It was nearing the end of fourth period and his search didn't yield any results. Perhaps it was ridiculous what he was doing. Taking on a vampire by himself was absurd. What did he think he could do? Maybe he had misunderstood the situation.
Sitting on top the roof entrance, he sighed. What was the right thing to do? He started to drift off. He hadn't slept well the past several days. He hadn't slept well since the last time he shared a bed with Gaara really. Maybe Gaara had some sort of power to make him fall asleep. How else could he sleep so comfortably next to him all those times. Why he felt so warm and seemed vulnerable to Neji whenever Gaara pressed against him. It had to be calculated, a way to make him relax and sleep. Vampires were known for mind control, right? It could be possible.
His eyes drifted closed against his will, his exhaustion finally kicking in now that he was sitting still. He could skip next period. It should be fine. Even if Gaara showed up here, they probably wouldn't notice him above the entrance even if he looked up. The ledge would hide his body from view.
His mind was just drifting, and he was entering the first layer of sleep when the door slammed open, startling him awake.
"Wait. Hold on a minute!" a voice called out in with pain lacing his voice.
Neji rolled over, peering over the edge of the roof entrance.
Gaara had walked out, holding the transfer student Kabuto by his upper arm until he threw him forward. Kabuto ran into the roof railing. His side painfully colliding with the rail as his body continued forward with the momentum and his upper half was leaning over the railing. Kabuto grasped the railing for dear life to keep himself from falling over the rail, panic in his face when he looked down towards the ground and then back at Gaara.
"Please, stop," the student begged Gaara, cowering as he lowered himself in fear.
"Then stop lying to me," Gaara growled. "Why were you rummaging around in his things."
"I swear I don't know what you're talking about," Kabuto insisted.
Gaara apparently didn't like that answer. He lifted his foot and slammed it down. Hitting the rail and causing it to break. The student began to lose balance as he had been leaning against the rail. His arms flailed, looking for something to grab onto. Gaara assisted by grabbing his shirt, keeping Kabuto from falling, but not bringing him back onto the roof either. Kabuto's feet were barely on the edge. If Gaara let go, Kabuto would fall to his death.
Kabuto was grasping Gaara's arm for dear life, trying to pull himself to safety, but Gaara kept him where he was. "Tell me the truth, or I let go. I'm getting tired." Gaara said that, but he was easily holding the boy with one arm, not showing a single trace of exertion as he did so.
"My parents cut me off okay. This school's filled with rich kids, so I thought I'd lighten their burden a bit. Since Uzumaki's not liked, I figured no one would care if some of his stuff went missing. It wasn't personal, I swear."
Gaara held him there a bit longer, making Kabuto sweat as Gaara thought about his fate. Eventually, Gaara tossed him aside, safely onto the roof. "If I ever see your face again, I'll kill you." Gaara's tone was icy and made a shiver go up Neji's spine. Gaara's threat didn't sound like a bluff. He truly meant what he said.
Neji lowered his head to avoid being seen as Kabuto ran to the door to escape the psychotic teenager. Neji didn't dare lift his head to catch a glimpse of Gaara.
He waited and waited and waited. He didn't hear Gaara move towards the door. The only sound was the distant whistle and chatter from the PE class taking place outside. Neji kept his body absolutely still, just in case, but still there was no movement from Gaara. Thinking maybe, Gaara had left, he carefully peered over the ledge once more.
Gaara was still there, but his body was trembling. His lips were pulled back as if he was growling, but no sound left his lips. His fangs showed through clenched teeth, and his eyes were golden brown and staring into the distance. He looked like a wolf that was cornered and threatened.
"Too many humans," Gaara growled out. He forced his eyes closed, taking many shallow breaths as if afraid to breathe deeply. The hand that was clutching the part of the railing he hadn't destroyed, snapped off in his grip.
"I will feed in four days. Now behave." Gaara squeezed the broken railing in his hand until his muscles relaxed, and he dropped the piece of metal, which had his finger marks indented into it. It clanged as it hit the ground, its sound popping the built-up tension around Gaara and subsequently, Neji.
Neji ducked his head when Gaara turned his way, walking back to the entrance and back into the school. He didn't dare move until he was sure Gaara wasn't coming back. The cop was full of crap after all, and Gaara was dangerous. He had just almost watched Gaara kill another innocent man.
Carefully, he jumped off the roof and went back inside, once again checking corners to make sure he didn't run into Gaara again. Feeling safest in class, that's where he returned too.
Classes, of course, couldn't last forever. It was over before he knew it. He contemplated canceling club activities, but he couldn't think of an excuse to do it. He had responsibilities and ignoring them may draw unwanted attention.
Sai was waiting for him after class as always. Nara had been showing up less frequently these days. Given the two, he'd prefer Nara's company, but at least this way he wasn't alone, keeping in mind his uncle's words.
While cleaning up after practice was the freshmen's job, Neji volunteered to do it, knowing Sai would stay behind to help as well. Sai didn't offer to help. He just sat on the partial wall, drawing in his notebook as Neji did all the work.
If his uncle knew what Gaara was, maybe Sai knew too.
He stalled in asking, busying himself with cleaning the equipment then carefully putting them away. Sai didn't speak, while Neji worked. He didn't even glance up. Neji guessed that now that he knew Sai was hired to keep an eye on him, Sai had no intention of pretending to be his friend, not that he did much before.
Neji was putting the last target away when he stopped next to Sai, "Do you believe in the supernatural?" he asked.
Sai glanced up from his notebook the first time since joining him out on the field. Sai was trying to read him, monitoring his words carefully as he nonchalantly asked, "Like ghosts and spirits?"
"More like creatures. Demons and vampires."
Sai tapped his pencil on the paper, pretending to be in thought. "I guess they could exist. Honestly, I don't give it much thought. No point in worrying about things that obviously don't want to be found."
"I guess you're right." Neji agreed, but he didn't move. He couldn't tell if Sai was sincere or not. It was hard to tell if Sai was telling the truth. He could lie to your face and you could know it, but still feel almost convinced Sai wasn't lying. He shouldn't have asked such an unreliable person.
Neji hulled the target a couple more meters when Sai, who had gone back to drawing, added, "But if they were real, I'd probably do anything I could to get rid of them if I had the chance. After all, evil should be eradicated, right? If they aren't, people would die, so I'd do my part." Sai smiled. "But it's just hypothetical. There's no superpowers or heroes in real life, so I'd probably just run away if it came down to it."
"You're probably right." Putting the target away and locking the storage room, Neji was escorted to the car where Hinata waited. Sai left him in Hinata's care. He didn't put up a fight. Hinata kept giving him a look. Whatever she was thinking or wanting to say, he was too distracted to pay attention to it. What Sai had said was right. Vampires killed. He had seen it firsthand. They were evil. If he did nothing, more people could die.
When he was skipping school, he had researched vampires. There were many variations of them, but more often than not, the older texts said the same thing. They were evil, they had no souls, and they should be exterminated with a lethal blow to the heart. He hadn't wanted to believe it. Gaara had shown emotion. However, Gaara's emotions were controlled and rarely shown. Could it have been an act?
The longer he thought, the more he doubted himself, what he knew, and what he had seen, falling further and further until he thought he may go crazy. Why was he still protecting him? Even now?
Because he was under Gaara's control, a small voice in his head told him. It was the only explanation left. He wouldn't think those things about Gaara otherwise. He wouldn't feel so out of control. Evil had to be eradicated, else people would die. If he was in a position to do it, and somehow, he knew he was, he should.
Gaara opened his eyes, standing in front of Tsunade's office. It felt as if he had been doing that more and more often lately. He didn't have the energy to be annoyed. He was running on fumes, dizzy spells were getting harder to hide and lasting longer, and he could no longer sleep. It was getting harder and harder to keep Seth under control.
Breathing in deeply a few times, he opened the door.
He barely had time to think. When he opened the door, a tearful girl looked shocked then downright pissed, marching up to him and slapping him. Gaara didn't flinch at the hit, but his eyes moved down to look at the girl, his eyes starting to shift colors.
"Why didn't you save him," the girl spat at him angrily. "You could have done something, yet you just stood there and let him die! You monster!" Her eyes were red as if she had been crying, and when she shoved him, tears were swelling again. "It's your fault he's dead!"
"Makino-san," Tsunade spoke up from her desk. Her voice cut through the girl's yelling, instantly gaining the girl's attention. "Remember what we talked about." Tsunade's voice was full of sympathy, and it was enough to calm the girl to some degree.
The girl shot him one last dirty look as she spat out one last hurtful comment, "I hope you burn in hell." She then shoved past him and left the office, leaving Gaara to turn to Tsunade for an explanation.
"She's the daughter of the man you killed. Apparently, Hyuuga-kun wasn't the only person who saw you that night. Someone saw you near the scene of the crime at the time of death and was spreading rumors. Since the official cause of death to the public was suicide, the rumor is you saw the body and you left him there."
"She's not wrong," Gaara said, wearily taking a seat on the couch in her office. He was struggling to contain Seth again, fighting the urge to go after the girl on the assault on his person. The guilt he was feeling for the harm he caused her was acting as a sufficient restraint, so he focused on that feeling.
"Have you given more thought of going back home?" she asked.
"Is that why you called me here?" Gaara rested his head in his hands. "You could have sent a message."
"I wanted to inform you that the situation has changed a bit." She leaned back in her chair. "With Uchiha being here, obviously paying attention to Naruto which I'm sure you're aware of, and the weird rise in supernatural activity, the council is getting more aggressive in wanting to separate you and Naruto. I know you didn't mean to kill that banker, and it was out of your control, but many of the hunters do not see it that way. Even the Americans are starting to take notice. If they find out you and Uzumaki are together—"
"Are you trying to say that if I want to protect Uzumaki, I should leave?" Gaara looked down at his hands.
"Don't you think the Americans and the council are too much to take on together?"
Gaara fought the urge to grip something, settling for dinging his nails into his pant leg. "I can't leave. Not yet." He couldn't hide the waver in his voice.
Tsunade was going to add something else, but the door opened. Nara stepped inside with a stack of papers. Spotting Gaara, he asked, "Should I come back later?"
Tsunade swallowed her response, pressing her lips together with irritation. Then she smiled professionally at Nara, "No, tell me what you've learned."
Nara's eyes shifted to Gaara and back. "My father's still working on the accounts, but he did give us an update. We also received news from Iruka-sensei about his investigation on the attack on Matsuri-san."
"Start with Matsuri-san's assault." Tsunade pushed aside the stack of papers and extended her hand for the stack Nara held. Nara handed it to her, going over the details as he did so. "The scuffle was covered up for the most part, but we did find crushed foliage and small scraps of shikigami paper. From Matsuri's story, it is unlikely her attacker was human given her attack did not slow her attacker, otherwise, her attacker would have to be extremely well trained to ignore it completely. Shikigami would also explain why Gaara-san did not notice his own attacker until the last minute when the shikigami took form to attack him."
"There are very few shinobi who fall within the spiritual category. Priests and exorcists would fall more under that category." Tsunade murmured, flipping through pages of the report and scanning the contents.
"That's what I thought as well, so I checked the alibis for any onmyoji who are in our ranks. All of them had alibis. Either its someone who's not registered as one or it's an outsider."
"That sounds about right," she agreed. "What about the officer?" Nara's eyes lit up, showing his interest in the subject. "That's where things get a bit interesting. There was no officer who called in injured nor was there anyone who came in with a wound similar to what Matsuri-san described. However, there was an officer who appeared at the school asking for Uzumaki-san not even ten minutes after the attack. The officer wasn't injured at the time either. Uzumaki-san reportedly told the officer where he had been missing and his reasons, and the officer had reportedly told Uzumaki-san that he was taking over for Sarutobi-san temporarily. Now that we know of Sarutobi-san's death, I found the timing to be a bit too coincidental and went looking into him.
"When I asked for the officer assigned to Uzumaki-san's missing report case, I was told that they never sent anyone to talk to Uzumaki as they were busy with the murder case who of course turned out to be the ghoul Uzumaki-san had disabled temporarily. Finding it odd, I asked who was filling in for Sarutobi-san and if I could meet with him. No one could remember his name or what he even looked like.
"Looking further into it, all traces of the officer had been scrubbed clean and the officers were fairly content about this missing officer, seemingly thinking he was a low ranked officer transferred to the mainland. Which brings me to my father's report." Nara leaned over the desk, flipping through the documents to the correct page. "Many of the cases where we found inconsistencies or lack of security, there was always an officer present that wasn't a shinobi like us. He was never referred to by name in the documents and only referred to once, his role was never large according to the reports and easily looked over. Honestly, there were other coincidences that stood out more frequently, but there were times in the reports where a number of people who were present had one more than the people named as if that person was forgotten. Those reports with the missing, unnamed person also had police reports that were used by the shinobi yet no officer was named at who gave them the reports. We only leave the name of who gave the documents out when they are present in the room with us and named previously in the report. That would insinuate that the officer would have had to be in the room with us."
"And since when do we let non-hunters into meetings," Tsunade completed his thought as she too was catching on to what he was claiming.
"Therefore, the person we are looking for is this missing officer, and if I recall, there was an officer with us up until recently."
"Yes," Tsunade pulled her eyebrows together in thought. "And I can't remember his name or face either."
"Neither can I," Nara straightened himself. "As far as I can gather, the cases he has involved himself in are the vampire zombie cases and Uchiha's cases. I'm not sure what details are involved, but my hypothesis is he was gathering information on the former and protecting the later."
Protecting Uchiha? Gaara's lips turned down as he pulled up a memory from a week ago. A young cop, asking to forgive Uchiha.
"You think he's working with Uchiha?" Tsunade inquired.
"Not quite. As far as I can tell, the officer never made direct contact or even in the same vicinity as Uchiha, but as memory manipulation is involved, it's possible that we overlooked something."
What was that officer's name? Gaara thought hard. He wasn't good with names, but that officer had stuck out to him.
"We need a way to find him. If he can manipulate memories, then anyone who finds him may not even know it," Tsunade's voice was distant in Gaara's ears.
What was that name. The man was a manipulator. A liar… Liar… Uso… "Usokawa," Gaara mumbled softly.
Both heads snapped towards him. Even Tsunade rose partly from her chair. "What did you say?"
"Usokawa. His name was Usokawa."
Nara actually chuckled. "Lying river. He pretty much dangled the truth in front of us didn't he."
"Indeed," but she was much less amused. "It's a start. Gather the intelligence team and get started on tracking him and what he was doing while he was here. If he's wiped his presence from the island, I doubt he's still here, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Nara bowed and left to do what he was told.
Gaara stood too, planning to leave before he could be lectured more, but Tsunade threw another comment at him before he left, halting him in his steps. "I heard Naruto's living with him now."
The sentence left a heavy atmosphere that made Gaara's heart freeze. "If you're hiding what I think you're hiding, Gaara," she paused, only adding to the tension, "you staying here will only make them fear it more, and I will have no choice but to do what is best for the shinobi and the people we protect."
Gaara could barely breathe. Instead of answering, he left, almost slamming the door on the way out. She knew. How could she not. The evidence was lined up. Only an imbecile wouldn't notice. Why else would Uchiha invite Uzumaki to live with him unless he was changing into a vampire. Surely the other hunters knew about it too. If not, they soon would. What could he do to fix this?
Nothing.
There was nothing he could do. He had no power to do anything. He stumbled, forcing to grab a wall for support. He couldn't even walk without falling over anymore. He was too tired to think coherently. He was so hungry he was could barely keep his fangs in check. Seth was trying to take advantage of the situation every chance he had. And it was his fault Uzumaki was in this mess, that an innocent man had died. The prodding in the back of his head was more frequent and noticeable. Seth was knocking, insistently. It would be so easy to give in. So easy to hand over the reins to Seth and let him deal with the world's crushing weight. Or it could be Seth feeding him those feelings to hand control over to him. He had to stay strong and pull himself together. He's lasted this long, he shouldn't be so eager to give up now.
He'd stop by Uchiha's place and scout it out. Maybe he could get a feel of how secure it was and assure himself that Uzumaki was safe there. Yeah, that's what he would do. Even reaffirming himself and his choices didn't give him any extra energy. He was just above dragging his feet in the corridor, trying to find the strength to walk out of the school doors proudly. He managed to pull himself together as he walked out the front entrance, passing by Hinata who was presumably waiting for Hyuuga. Gaara had heard he had returned to school today, but he didn't have the strength or will to meet with him. After all, what if Hyuuga was still scared of him or hated him.
Normally, he'd tell himself that Hyuuga's opinion of him didn't matter. At this point, Gaara wasn't even going to lie to himself. The sanctity of his town car was just a little ways away. He could make it.
"Gaara-sensei?" Matsuri's voice called out to him. Hearing her sweet voice almost made him lose his temper. It was grating on his ears like nails on a chalkboard. He wanted to snap and lash out at her, and he turned to do just that.
Matsuri, in the middle of her approach, stopped shock and a hint of fear on her small, young face. Gaara looked away as to not let the guilt set in. "Can it wait until tomorrow?" He asked her.
He didn't see her nod, already walking faster to his car, getting in before the driver could get out and open it for him. He fought the urge to curl up in his seat and cup his head. He needed to calm himself. Find his center. Find his center. His center was off-kilter, and he could barely find balance. It was never this bad before. Why was it this bad? Movement caught his hungry gaze. Gaara's eyes zoomed in on the movement just outside, locking onto Hyuuga just exiting the school with Sai.
Biting his cheek until it bled, he forced his eyes closed, feeling a bit of him hurt when Hyuuga was no longer in his sights. "Drive," he forced out.
The car jerked into motion. Tomorrow would be better, he told himself, curling into a ball. Tomorrow would be better.
