A/N: Here's the new chapter. That's all I'm saying. Read and Review.

Chapter 14: Confusion & Acceptance

She walked right by him…again. Not even a nod in greeting or recognition that he was there. It was like he was invisible and didn't exist. He felt so confused. So confused as to why she was doing this…again. Once again he found himself racking his brain for any clue to what caused her to go back to this blatant ignoring of his existence when just the night before she followed him around, hugged him like a tease, sat on his lap out of habit, and…smiled at him in that way he lo-liked best. Once again he found no answer as he watched her walk away…and once again he went out to see to his nightly business alone.

Gaara found it hard to focus the past few weeks because of this. He just didn't understand what was going on. Ever since that day she fell asleep on his lap Zukiyo had been torturing him with her indecision on whether or not she wanted to be near him. That night she ignored him, refused to speak to him, walked away from him whenever he came in the room, and tried her hardest to look past him. That went on for multiple nights. Days and nights of an aching confusion as to why Zu left…even if she was still right there she was gone in a way. Gone from him and it left him trying to figure out what it was that made him feel like this.

The horrible part of it, in his mind at least, was that every time he felt close to an answer there she was again. There she was by his side with that smile, those eyes, and that look he couldn't quite place…and he forgot to wonder what it was that made him miss her so much when she was gone. Why did he need to wonder that when she was right there sitting on his lap and talking to him like she had missed him just as much as he had missed her? Still the next night would come and she'd be gone again. That's what made this past month torture. The roller coaster of highs to lows, here to gone, and missing her so much to…something he couldn't name when she was with him. He had no idea what it was, but he liked it.

Things seemed less miserable and not as dull when she was around. Zukiyo was…she…she brightened things. There was something about this gypsy of a woman that when she walked into a room it lit up and even outside…when she was with him things seemed brighter. It was like every night had a full moon in the sky brightening the dark, miserable, and cold world he'd grown so used to. She was a warmth filled little ball of brightness that he just couldn't get out of his head.

It was maddening that this woman was the last thing on his mind before he fell asleep and was the first thing he woke up thinking about as he wondered which version of Zu he would get that night. The one that ignored him and seemed ten degrees colder and dimmer or the one that was bright, warm, and seemed to want to be near him more than anything?

Going about his business Gaara just couldn't understand any of this. He wanted to understand why Zu was doing this. He knew very damn well it wasn't for her amusement. That much he knew because he could see that in her eyes the few times he managed to make eye contact. There was a change in them when Zukiyo was trying to ignore him. Her eyes were…darker, harder, colder, and hurt. So why? Why was she doing this? Why was she hurting herself doing this? Why did it hurt her at all? Why did he care so much about the answer?

That question plagued the jade eyed vampire's mind just as much as why she was doing this. Why did he care so much about it? Why did it bother him? Why did he miss her so fucking much when she was gone? Gaara wasn't completely ignorant of the answer, though: He cared for her. To some extent he knew that he cared for her more than he cared for most others. Still when he thought about and admitted this it brought him back to the first question of why she was doing this and to another question: How much did he care? Then to two other questions: He cared for her, but this was different somehow than how he cared for others…so…what is this and why is he feeling it? Last of all was the same question that played thorough out his head every time he began wondering about all of this: Did she feel all of this too?

Why was this so hard? She just didn't understand. She knew she had to do this.

Still as Zukiyo slid down against the door to her room until she was sitting on the floor with her back against it she felt herself craving him. She did. She craved his presence, his scent, his voice, his touch, and that look his eyes that reminded her so much of herself at times…confused, reaching, pleading, trying so hard to understand why and what all of this was.

"Zu, you have to stay away…you know you do. You can't trust him. You don't trust him. You don't trust him. You can't trust him so…so don't even…try to." She told herself, saying it out loud hoping that hearing it would make it truer and easier to accomplish, it didn't though and she sighed, "It's a risk…trusting Gaara...you know this, Zu. So why do you want to so badly?"

She had to think about this. This was the question that plagued her mind so much this past month: Why? Why did she want to trust him? Why did she keep doing this to herself…and to him? Why did she care about how this affected him? It scared her…not because she couldn't find the answer but because of the answer she did find.

"No…no, no, no, no, no. You do not." She told herself as she got up and went over to her couch and laid down on it running her hands through her hair as she thought, "Yes you do. You feel it, Zu. You feel it every time you go back, every time his arms wrap around you, every time he says your name, every time he looks at you with those eyes…you feel it."

She felt trapped in this cycle of denial and acceptance of what she felt. Trapped and caged. The gypsy got up from the couch and went out onto her balcony desperately needing fresh air. Breathing in the cool and crisp night air Zukiyo let her mind clear. Still, thoughts of him invaded her mind again.

"Give in already, Zu. You know you want to. Give in. Go to him, tell him, and tell him the truth. Gaara isn't…him. Gaara is a completely different person and you know that." She fought with herself, "Think about it. You tried to stay away. You tried to stop yourself from falling and you couldn't. You keep going back to him. Why? Because you-"

"No…I'm…I am not ready to give in and admit that yet." Zu said out loud, "Great now I'm talking to myself like a lunatic. Still…who else can I talk about this to? Everyone in this house seems to either want me to do it or don't want me to. There is no one to talk this out with but myself. I need to stop saying this out loud…"

Zukiyo sat down on the stone tiles of her balcony and leaned against the railing as she retreated into her own thoughts. She sat and thought about what the purpose of this was. This process of staying away from the red headed male she had grown so close to.

She originally did this as a way to keep herself safe…but safe from what? Having her heart broken again? Not that she was admitting anything of that nature but what was the point of guarding herself against that? All she was doing was shutting herself off and pushing him away. In retrospect that was the last thing she wanted. Looking deep into herself, the exiled princess searched for answers, and found them.

"Well, Gaara, some news has made its way to me." Kankuro stated as he sat down at the table in the kitchen.

Gaara looked at his older brother, silently waiting for him to go on as he sat down. The red head had returned from his night's business only a few minutes earlier. It was early for him to return but it was too dangerous for him to stay out any longer with his mind as distracted as it was.

"We're going to have a new elder in the city. One is moving into the old Vincinetti Estate. More and more of our kind are moving here out of nothing but a desire to get as far away from the Kamitsuyo Clan's headquarters. I have news from there as well. Our…'queen' has enacted another insane law…"

"What is it this time?" Gaara found himself asking, he almost dreaded the answer.

The current queen Yukiko was slowly bringing the immortal races to the brink of ruin. Their government was starting to crumble and fail. Small inner clan civil wars were breaking out all over the world, territorial disputes were becoming an increasingly larger problem, death tolls were mounting as more and more hunter groups appeared and were allowed to go about their ways, slavery was reported to be on the rise for the first time in millennia, and so much more that it made even Gaara cringe and worry about what the future would hold.

"I'm not exactly sure…but…it caused the werewolves to completely deny the Kamitsuyo clan's right to rule the immortal government and break away from it as well. Rumor is that the demonic nobility will soon do the same. The world is slowly coming just as unraveled as the queen's mind." Kankuro stated and ran his hand through his hair, "Then...there's what the… king is doing."

"Hm?" Gaara asked as something about the trepidation in Kankuro's voice made the red head worry a bit.

"He's sanctioned various groups of hunters to…hunt down clan fugitives." Kankuro stated and looked his brother in the eyes, "One in particular."

"I see." Was his brother's only verbal reply.

Kankuro watched his brother mask a slight worry that Kankuro noticed anyway. This was hard for the elder brother to do. He knew why Zukiyo was being hunted down like this, she was the princess, but he couldn't tell Gaara that. He didn't like keeping his little brother in the dark like this but it wasn't Kankuro's secret to tell. Zu had to tell him herself or…or Gaara would never forgive her for lying to him when he cared for her like Kankuro knew he did.

He knew Gaara cared for her. Everyone in their household knew it and could see it. The red head treated her differently from others. Not because Gaara sensed that Zu had a title but because he cared for her. He let the exiled princess get away with so much, was more of a gentleman to her than others, and with her showed them all that he could be gentle, understanding, and could find peace. Kankuro saw it, Temari saw it, Naruto did, Hinata did, and even Neji could see it even while he did not wish to. Gaara felt something for this woman that he had never felt for anyone else. Everyone could see it and Kankuro supposed that's why it bothered him so much that Gaara himself seemed to try so hard to keep hiding it and denying it to himself.

"Gaara…" he started, tired of watching his brother skirt around this, "Gaara I know you care about her to some extent."

"And? She's chosen to ignore I exist. What am I supposed to do?" his little brother stated and went and poured himself a glass of blood, he was obviously irritated…although Kankuro was still pleasantly surprised Gaara didn't outright deny it or growl threateningly at him.

"She doesn't ignore you all the time." Kankuro stated, having a good idea of why Zu was doing this…he just couldn't tell Gaara that.

"No…but she goes right back to ignoring me after what? A few hours?" Gaara snapped back and Kankuro saw something else that both made him hope and made him feel for his little brother: Gaara was hurt and confused.

It wasn't often that Kankuro saw those two things in his brother…when he saw any emotion at all other than anger and discontent. His little brother was struggling with these emotions and what he felt for Zukiyo. That meant he realized he felt something for her but at the same time it was causing him a certain amount of pain. It hurt Gaara that Zukiyo was ignoring him and seemingly trying to push him away.

"Do you have any idea why? You two were fine last month." Kankuro asked while thinking: "This would be so much easier if I could tell him she was a princes without him losing his temper about it…no…it still has to come from her. She has to tell him not me…but I want to so bad."

"Not a clue." Gaara stated and drank from his glass as Naruto walked in looking slightly irritated as he went straight to where he kept the ramen.

"The queen is a fucking idiot." Naruto stated as he started the process of making ramen, his ultimate comfort food, with his eyes a furious red orange color, "I just got off the phone with Kiba. His mother is pissed, even over the phone that lady is scary, and he isn't too happy either but he's still actually being responsible and trying to stop his mother from outright declaring war on the entire vampiric race."

"Damn…" Gaara stated and drank more from his glass…the world really was falling apart.

"Damn doesn't come close." Naruto said as he waited for his ramen to get done, "Doesn't she realize what she's doing? I don't understand your fricken hierarchy but even I understand that if the immortal government fails war will break out between people fighting over what power is left…and that war will inevitably draw in the humans. The entire world will go to hell because of Ms. Crazier-Than-the-Mad-Hatter-at-Tea-Time!"

"Naruto…I seriously don't think she realizes what she's doing." Kankuro stated, "If what we hear is right…she is way past the point of even caring about it. As for the king…he's not really that much better from what little I hear about him."

The Kyuubi only nodded. His mind ran with a number of things. A few of them revolved around why wasn't his ramen done yet, another few around Hinata, and another few around the fact that Zukiyo was the heir to the immortal throne and that it seemed so many believed she'd be a better ruler than her sister…

"If only Zu had been born first…Zukiyo-hime I mean. Yukiko's younger twin sister." Kiba had stated to Naruto earlier prompting The Kyuubi to ask if the werewolf knew Zu, "You could say that. Pretty, tasty, feisty little thing…but…well there isn't a way to describe her really. I haven't seen her in years. I mean, we had some fun back in the day…then again how can you not have fun with me? Still that was before a certain asshole did what he did…and if I ever see him I swear I'll bite his fucking ass off for what he did. Anyway, she's my friend. Even my mom respects her and thinks the same…that she'd be a better ruler than her sister not the other stuff. Zu would never have pushed through this new fucking law. No one knows where she is though…I can only hope she's still alive…she is our last hope."

It bothered Naruto to hear his friend sound so serious about things, it just wasn't like Kiba, and it almost killed him to keep his mouth shut instead of telling the werewolf that Zu was right there with Naruto. However, The Kyuubi knew his task was to keep this exiled princess safe and alive. To do that he had to keep her a secret, though, and yet he knew that he couldn't keep her a secret for much longer. Naruto only hoped that she decided to tell Gaara before he found out some other way.

Gaara walked past the doors to Zu's rooms, pausing only slightly before continuing to his own. So much going on in the world yet he still couldn't get this gypsy out of his head. Sitting down in the chair of his sitting room he tried his best to just get her out of his mind and picked up the book he had been reading, hoping that it would at least distract him from thoughts of her for a short while. However, as he watched Zu enter through the open door, he knew no book would ever be enough.

"Hello." Zu heard him state in greeting and heard the irritation in his voice.

"Gaara…" she started as she approached him and sat herself down in his lap as always, unable to stop herself from doing this, and watched him look at her as he set down his book, "Gaara…I…"

His eyes were just distracting as he quietly looked at her. They maintained that indifferent and uncaring look on the outside but as always Zukiyo could see past that, and past that indifference she saw confusion and an almost broken kind of hurt. Her fingers ran through his hair as she looked into his eyes sadly. She couldn't do this anymore…staying away was too painful for the both of them and he meant too much to her for her to want to cause him pain.

"I've hurt and upset you…" she stated almost ashamedly and hugged him, "I am so sorry."

"You are today," he stated quietly, refusing to hug back or accept this apology, "but what about tomorrow? You'll go back to avoiding me."

"No." she stated shaking her head and hugged him tighter, "Never again. I promise."

"Why did you start this in the first place?" he asked, needing to know, and she looked at him, "Why?"

"I…I don't really have many close friends. I have trust issues. I…never meant to upset you with them…I just couldn't help it." Zu stated to him, unable to bring herself to come out and tell him the complete reason why…still this was a start.

Gaara nodded, accepting and understanding that answer, even though he sensed there was more to it, but was distracted from that as he felt Zu cuddle into him. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had missed this kind of contact. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer ever so slightly, relaxing a bit as he saw her smile a bit at him before she spoke.

"What have you been up to lately? Anything interesting?" she asked, a bright and inquisitive look in her eyes and on her face that Gaara knew well and just now realized he had missed.

"Nothing really. Reading." He answered and watched the look in her eye switch to one which he knew meant she was going to tease him.

"Too busy missing me to do anything else?" she asked teasingly and Gaara looked at her flatly, he wasn't going to admit to that, partially because he wasn't going to out of principle and partially because he knew that for some reason she smiled at these answers more than others.

Zu smiled at him sweetly and in a way that let him know she was only teasing him. This was the reaction he wanted. He had missed her smiles. Next, however, he rolled his eyes at her, just to see how she would respond.

"Alright, I'll stop and behave," She stated and kissed his cheek in a teasing yet affectionate manner before cuddling into him more.

The red head relaxed almost immediately, feeling content and happy with her here in his arms as they talked about what they had both been doing while apart from each other.

"The usual," Gaara stated and Zukiyo nodded knowing what that meant and he looked at her as he pulled her ever so slightly closer still as she lay her head down on his shoulder, "I'm not a bed, princess."

"You're still comfy." He heard her murmur and he nodded knowing all too well that she hadn't been getting much sleep these past few weeks and he found himself asking a question he desired to know the answer to for some time.

"Why do you wake up screaming in the middle of every day?" He asked and she heard an almost worried undertone to his voice that caused her to pick her head up and look at him for a moment in slight shock, "Why?"

"Nightmare. A different version of the same one every night for the past 33 years…I don't sleep much because of it." The exiled princess revealed and watched the red head nod before she lay her head back down on his shoulder, "So, I'm sorry if I fall asleep while-"

"It's alright." Gaara stated cutting her off and once again, barely noticeable to even him, pulled her closer, "Get some sleep if you need it."

This shocked her. It wasn't really like him to do anything of this sort. Still she couldn't say she didn't like it. In fact she found that she loved it. Zukiyo smiled softly as she relaxed against this red headed male who she knew was violent, cruel, and just as blood thirsty as she was. She knew this as she'd witnessed it multiple times. Yet as she felt her eyes start to close as sleep took over her she had one last thought.

"I know what he is with his enemies and the world…but he's capable of kindness, gentleness, and caring with me. He's never hurt me, never betrayed me in the slightest, and he's never lied to me. He's not…he's not Max."

A/N: There you go, I've been holed up in my room finishing this up for you guys for awhile now...and I know, yes...I know...who is Max? Well you'll find out when I feel like telling you...which should probably be next chapter. Anyway leave me some feedback, I gotta go out to the outside world where the sun is bright and blinding.