blak-flame - o my god! i am so sorry, i never meant to make you guys wait like three months, i had started typing it out right after the lst chapter, but then shitty things started happening, and you guys understand, right? i am so sorry! i tried making this chapter long, but i dont know...sorry again! i hope you like it!

Chapter 11: An interesting Evening

Gaara's pale hand knocked once on the door, it was five o'clock and Neji had been slightly nervous all day, not that he said anything. They stood there for a few moments, before the red-head knocked again. The door still hadn't opened when Neji asked, "Are they here?" Gaara shrugged, "They said..."

Just as he said that, the door slowly started to open, revealing a very serious Kankurou. Neji raised one eyebrow, this wasn't the Kankurou he knew, sure the face paint and signature hat was still there, but Kankurou was looking at Neji in a scrutinizing way. Neji stared back, aware that his eyes could make people uncomfortable.

After a couple minutes Gaara fidgeted with his hands and cleared his throat, he was getting uncomfortable. Kankurou turned to his younger brother, his expression immediately losing its hard touch. "Gaara, hey, little bro!" Gaara gave Kankurou a small smile back. "So, where've you guys been?"

"...It's five, you said to come for dinner..." Neji said, a little questioningly.

Kankurou gave him a look, "Yeah, but we have nothing to do...Time does not fly by when you're bored." Kankurou let them in as they walked upstairs. When they got to the kitchen, they faced a red-faced Temari and a pot on the stove. "Hey, Tem, they're finally here."

Temari looked up, running over as she squealed "Gaara!" And thus the smallest Sabaku was engulfed in an enormous hug by his only older sister. "I never get to see you anymore! It's like you're the one who went off to college."

Kankurou rolled his eyes, "Stop getting all sentimental on us, Temari."

She glared at her brother, "Well, it's true! It's not like-"

Neji coughed, "Is that pot supposed to be on fire?"

Temari whirled around, "Shit!"

Gaara turned to his pale-eyed Hyuuga, blank expression in place. "And this is my family," He stated bluntly.

Neji watched, doing his best not to laugh as Temari tried to get rid of the fire while Kankurou just rolled around laughing. Gaara just stood there, blank-faced as usual. If that had happened in his Uncle's house, they would not be laughing what-so-ever. The cook would probably be fired, but the change was nice, and he didn't live with his Uncle anymore.

Just then, the fire lept up and the cabinet above it caught fire. Kankurou immediately stopped laughing, as he started a long line of curses with Temari, who had failed in putting the fire out. Gaara calmly walked over, filled a bowl with water and proceeded to dump the water on the fire, not failing to miss Temari.

Temari, slowly turned around and glared slightly at Gaara, as Kankurou once again started laughing. Temari pasted on a fake smile, "Well, if that's how you feel, Kankurou, you can fix the cabinet."

Like before, he stopped laughing right away, "B-But, Temari! That's not fair!!" Temari gave him a 'fuck fair' look and turned around to examine her damaged food. Kankurou slowly sulked out of the room. Neji looked over at Gaara, he smiled when he saw the boy's face consumed by amusement.

Neji really didn't know what he had been worried about, after all, it was Kankurou, he wasn't good friends with him, but he knew him well enough. Honestly, he had been freaking out all day for nothing.

"Gaara! Neji!"

Neji let Gaara pass in front of him first as they left the room to go and see what Kankurou wanted. He was sitting on the floor with a deck of cards in his hand. "Up for a game of cards?"

"What game?" Gaara asked as he sat down.

Kankurou shrugged, "Hyuuga boy over there can pick."

'Hyuuga boy' ignored the name and said, "How about...Go Fish?"

Gaara laughed a little, and Kankurou raised his eyebrow, "Go Fish? ...And how old are you, exactly?"

The brunette scowled, "We were never big on card games."

"Alright, Go Fish it is, then."

As the game continued, Gaara tried to make the knot in his stomach go away, but he couldn't help its presence, being in this house made him slightly uneasy, but as the game progressed it slowly disappeared. They had played three times and Neji had lost all of the games, Kankurou had not failed to mention it either. There was a loud crash in the kitchen; Gaara looked at his brother in question, to which the elder shrugged. The red-head got up and walked into the kitchen.

Temari was picking up the pot she had dropped, muttering something about 'damn boys leaving her to do all the work'. As she got up she was startled to see her youngest brother standing in the room. "Oh, hey, Gaara."

He tilted his head to the side a little, "Do you need help?"

The blonde pig-tailed girl laughed a little, "Yeah, sure. I had to start over 'cause of the fire, so we won't eat for a little bit, I guess...umm...you can help cut some celery?" The small boy nodded and sat down at the kitchen table, slowly chopping some of the celery.

"So...how's everything?"

Gaara shrugged.

Temari nodded, glancing over at her baby brother, "...You know, we're almost ready."

Gaara's head snapped up, his black-lined eyes wide.

"BINGO!!" Kankurou shouted from the other room. The red-head had stopped chopping and both Sabaku children were looking at each other. "Kankurou, it's Go Fish, not Bingo!" Neji's smooth response could be heard from the other room.

A smile broke Gaara's face, "Soon?"

As soon as Gaara had smiled, Temari had broken out in a toothy grin of her own, "Soon, Gaara. And its for real this time, Kankurou's got a job and we've almost got enough." With that she engulfed her little brother in another hug.

Gaara carefully went back to chopping celery, "So...we're really going to get out this time...I mean, really?"

It made Temari almost sad to listen to her brother's soft voice; she could tell he was trying not to get his hopes up. "Yeah, we're really going to do it...if everything works out." The pale boy silently nodded his head a little. Ten minutes later, the rather loud Go Fish players came back into the room, Kankurou complaining loudly.

"Gaara, you got some work to do with this kid," He hit Neji's chest with his hand lightly, "all he knows is Go Fish and it gets old...fast."

Gaara smirked a little when he heard Neji grumble, "I like Go Fish."

"You may like Go Fish, but there's a whole other world out there, just filled with card games," The face-painted boy said, swiping his hand across the air, as if revealing the 'other world' (you guys kno what im talking about?).

Temari rolled her eyes, "Kankurou, you idiot."

Kankurou looked at Temari, tugging on his hat a little, he said, "Hey, when's the food ready? I'm hungry."

"It'll be ready whenever! It'd help if you helped!" Kankurou gave her a blank stare for a moment, reminding Neji a little bit of Gaara. Temari sighed, a little impatiently, "Anyways, its ready now, just take this." Temari handed Kankurou a pot, as he turned around and set it on the table, the corner of it tipped over, spilling the food everywhere, including on Gaara and Kankurou.

Both brothers looked over cautiously at Temari, who stood there fuming, "Kankurou you idiot! This dinner was a disaster!" A small snicker was heard as Temari turned on Neji, the source of the laughter, "Oh, and what!! Just cause you're a guest, I can't get angry with you-well think again!" Neji sat there, wide-eyed, as Gaara and Kankurou could do nothing but stand there and take pity on him. After all, when dealing with a very angry Temari, it was safer to let her take it out on someone else, and not get involved.

After a good fifteen minutes, Temari was done yelling at her poor victim, who went by the name of Hyuuga Neji. Gaara slowly walked over to his poor friend and silently gave him a small hug. The small boy whispered quietly, "Sorry, she gets angry."

The long haired-boy slowly looked down at Gaara "I've been scarred for life."

Temari was now cleaning up the mess made by her klutz of a brother, when Kankurou came over, "Come on Gaara, we should get changed, she's giving me a death glare."

As they walked up the stairs the small red-head inquired, "Should we leave Neji there?" Kankurou looked back and shrugged, so Gaara reran the steps he had taken and quickly grabbed Neji's arm, startling the young Hyuuga. The three boys walked into Kankurou's room, which had multiple posters on the wall and a semi-old computer. The eldest of the group quickly started digging through his drawer, looking for something that wouldn't eat Gaara alive.

He pulled out two black shirts, both having a design that neither of them paid any attention to, throwing one of the shirts to Gaara, he quickly put the shirt on.

"NEJI!!"

At the sound of Temari's voice, all boys froze, two heads slowly swiveled in the direction of the Hyuuga. "Do I have to go?" Neji almost pleaded. Kankurou solemnly said, "There's always a casualty in war, you have the opportunity to save countless other by making the sacrifice."

"Others? Meaning you!"

Kankurou sighed a little and grabbed Gaara's shoulder, "And here I though, you might want to save poor little Gaara." Neji glared at the elder for a second and then slowly walked out of the room. Kankurou beamed, "His sacrifice will not be in vain." Gaara snorted slightly, his brother had only been looking out for himself. Kankurou threw off his shirt and quickly threw on his new one.

Gaara gasped slightly, and reached over to Kankurou. He slowly lifted the shirt back up a little, revealing a dark purple bruise. Kankurou quickly pushed his shirt back down, as Gaara looked at his older brother with concern written all over his face. "K...K-Kankurou, maybe...maybe I should come...come b-back," Gaara's voice was much softer than before, his stuttering had returned.

"Don't even say that, Gaara! You can never come back; it's not safe for you! I'm bigger than you are, I can handle myself. And look at how good you're doing, the bruises are gone and you look healthy again. You're not coming back, not because of me," Kankurou stated firmly.

"B-But...Dad..."

"Gaara. This is your proof. It's not because you're worthless or a monster, that...that man is just a bastard, and we're almost out of here. Don't even think of coming back, Temari and I will barricade the doors if we have to!"

The small boy nodded slowly, unshed tears gathering in his sea-foam green eyes. It made Kankurou want to cry too, that his brother cared so much for him he was willing to put himself back into the place he was afraid of, back into the hands of a monster who wasn't afraid to do whatever he wanted to him. Kankurou sighed and ruffled Gaara's hair, "Come on, man, perk up. Neji's over and we're going to have a good time." Gaara gave a small forced smile back. Sighing Kankurou motioned for Gaara to follow him back downstairs.

When they got back down, the kitchen table was set and their was a chicken in the middle of the table. Kankurou whistled, "Wow, Tem, you bought chicken?"

The blonde shrugged, "It's special, we're all here and Neji's a guest."

Kankurou snorted, "You never care when my friends come over."

Temari glared slightly at him, "You're friends are crazy! ...and loud."

Temari and Kankurou sat down on one side of the table, while Neji and Gaara sat on the other side. Gaara was surprised at how much food there was, it was a full course. Temari started dishing food out onto each of there plates. Gaara would have been worried about the budget they were on, but he knew they had probably taken the money from their father. The red-head took a bite of the chicken; it was dry and over-cooked. He kept his mouth shut and chewed...and chewed. Suddenly, Kankurou stood up, "Temari, what'd you do to the food?!"

"What do you mean, 'What'd I do?'"

Gaara had to admit, the food was pretty bad, and looking over at Neji he felt bad. The Hyuuga had a tortured expression on his face. The brunette slowly swallowed and gently put his fork down as a yelling match erupted from Kankurou and Temari.

"God dammit Kankurou, you try making this shit! It's not easy! And all I get back is crap!"

"Exactly! That's why I don't! Nobody asked you to make it anyways!"

The fuming college student turned to Neji, "Yeah? What about you, Neji? Do you think it's that bad!?"

Neji had been taken completely off guard, "Oh...umm...it's not that bad-"

Gaara cringed a little for Neji's mistake, as he watched his sister's eyes. "Not. That. BAD?! Oh, that is it! I want to do something special for you, and this is what you say back!? Not a 'Thank you, Temari'. No! But a 'Wow, you're food sucks ass!'"

"Temari...that's not what they said..." Gaara offered up, trying to help, but knowing it would do no good.

Temari let out a frustrated groan, then plastering yet another fake smile on her face as she said, "Fine. We'll order out to eat."

Kankurou grinned wide, "Let's get pizza!"

Gaara scowled, thinking, "...What about Chinese?"

"I like Pizza," Neji added in.

Temari glared at all of them for a moment, before picking up the phone and dialing, punching the buttons a little harder than necessary. "She' been kinda uptight lately...If you haven't noticed."

Gaara smirked, "I noticed."

"Your sister's going to give herself an ulcer some day."

The red-head shrugged a little, "Well, that's Temari...sometimes."

Kankurou voice was heard from the other room, "Guys! Can you come here?" Gaara gave Neji a questioning look, the Hyuuga shrugged in return. They both walked into the other room and were faced by a very serious Kankurou and Temari. They both sat on one side of the table, facing the two younger boys. Neither of them had even noticed when Kankurou had left the kitchen. Temari motioned for the seat across from them. There was only one, the other one was next to Temari. Gaara shot Neji an apologetic look, before they both took their seats.

Temari, hands folded leaned closer to the Hyuuga who sat across from the three Sabaku children. "So...Hyuuga Neji. You're dating our little brother, Sabaku Gaara. Correct?"

Neji shifted a little, "Umm, yes?"

Kankurou eyed the boy, "Umm, yes? Or Yes? Don't bother denying it, Hyuuga; I saw the two of you practically eating each others faces at the mall. Now, is this true?"

Neji glanced over at the boy who's 'face he had been eating at the mall'. Gaara had a light blush on his face and was looking down. "...Is what true?"

Kankurou slammed his fists down on the table, "Don't play games with us! Are you or are you not dating a boy by the name of Sabaku Gaara?"

Neji blinked, "Oh, yes."

Temari took a breathe, "Is it true that you were seen kissing said boy?"

Neji cleared his throat; Gaara's face was covered in a raging blush, "Yes."

Kankurou nodded, "Good, good. So you see now, that you should make it easy on yourself. Just answer the questions."

"Now, what shampoo do you use?" Temari asked, completely serious.

Neji looked at her, he hadn't been expecting a question like that, "Uh, what?"

"You heard the lady!" Kankurou yelled loudly.

"Garnier Fructis?"

Temari nodded, jotting something down. If Neji had just been meeting the two of them he would have been very very scared, or thought them both to be very strange. But, he hadn't so he was only slightly weirded out. Kankurou cleared his throat, "And have you ever been in trouble with the law?"

"Not that I know of, no."

The boy with face paint looked at him skeptically, "And how many people have you dated before?"

The red-heads eyes went wide as he groaned out, "Kankurou! Don't ask him that!"

Temari patted her youngest brothers' hand a little, "Gaara, we're only looking out for you."

The young boy covered his face with his hands, "Temari! Kankurou!"

Kankurou scowled a little, before grumbling out a 'Fine'.

"Do you have a job?" Temari asked, ignoring Kankurou's light sulking.

"No, I don't."

Temari raised an eyebrow, "Have you ever considered one?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I wanted to get out of my Uncle's house, so I needed money, but I managed to negotiate the situation I am now in."

Kankurou leaned in a little, "And that situation would be...?"

"Hyuuga Hiashi, my Uncle, pays for all of my expenses, he comes over for a visit once a week, or I must go and visit him. In return I have to take over the business when I'm older."

"And, say if you were to not take over?"

Neji scowled a little, "He would most likely cut me off completely."

Temari frowned, "So, then wouldn't it be safer to have a job and some savings?"

"Well, I also have the inheritance from my parents, so I would be fine, but yes, I would acquire a job."

Kankurou scowled a little, "Damn rich people."

Temari shot him a look, "Okay...anyways. What are your exact feelings towards Gaara?"

Neji could feel a light blush finding its way to his face; he looked at Gaara, and then proceeded to start stuttering like an idiot. 'Alright, Neji, time to shut up.'

Gaara looked at Temari like she was crazy, if he didn't want Kankurou to ask Neji how many people he'd dated, he didn't want Temari to ask that. "Temari!!"

She looked over at him, a little bewildered, "What!?"

The small red-head looked at her like she was stupid, was she really so clueless? This was embarrassing for both of them, and she didn't seem to see anything wrong with the question. "Oh, come on, Temari. Gaara didn't want to know how many people Neji's dated, why would he want him to tell his siblings how his friggin' boyfriend feels about him?"

Temari blinked, "I don't see anything wrong with the question."

Kankurou looked at her for a second, "Next question; What kind of pizza do you like?"

"Umm...cheese?"

Kankurou snorted a little, "How boring."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Temari asked.

"Yeah? And what's his shampoo got to do with anything?"

"...He has nice hair...And it says a lot about him."

Kankurou laughed a little, "Oh yeah? Like what?"

Temari scowled, "Like...Like-"

"Exactly! It's got nothing to do with anything!" Kankurou smiled smugly.

"You didn't let me finish! Garnier, it says that he's ...nice...and kind of feminine."

Again, Kankurou snorted, "Please! You can tell by looking at the guy! I mean, just look at him!"

Neji scowled, 'And what's that supposed to mean? I happen to like my hair...It's shiny.' The feminine man in the group looked over at Gaara, who was also looking at his hair, then he nodded, as if he had heard what Neji had been thinking and was agreeing. The Hyuuga turned back to the conversation in time to hear Kankurou say, "And he's gay, for God's sake! I think it's clear he's bound to feminine!"

It was now Temari's turn to snort, "Gaara's gay too! That doesn't make him an automatic girl!"

Kankurou scowled, looking past Temari at Gaara, who looked embarrassed by the conversation. "Well...no, but it's Gaara." The doorbell rang, breaking their minor argument. Kankurou got up, "I'll get it." Temari glared at the boy as he went to get the pizza, then turned to Neji. "So, how do you do it? Your hair, I mean."

"...I wash it?"

"Well, it looks nice, Gaara I think you made a good choice."

Gaara looked at his sister questioningly, "Umm, thanks?" Kankurou walked in with two boxes of pizza and they started eating. The rest of the evening went smoothly, there was less fighting between Kankurou and Temari, only a little bickering here and there. When it was nine, Neji and Gaara left. When they were in the car, Gaara turned to Neji, "Sorry, about all the questions...they can get a little weird sometimes."

Neji chuckled slightly, driving down the dark road, "Don't worry about it, honestly, I thought they were going to be worse."

Gaara smirked a little, "Yeah, I bet that's why they were going to do it after they ate. They always get annoyed when they're hungry, that's probably why they were fighting so much."

Neji smiled, "You can tell they really care about each other." Gaara nodded silently, before noticing that this wasn't the way back to Neji's house, "Where're we going?"

Neji shrugged, "I figured we could head over to the mall, if you don't mind. I bet everyone's there, it'd be fun."

Gaara nodded, "Yeah, okay." Gaara had to admit, as embarrassing as that had been, it could have turned out a lot worse. Better yet, their father hadn't shown up, he trusted his siblings, but he couldn't stop the feeling that he was around every corner.

Suddenly, Neji's phone rang, breaking the silence that had started to creep its way into the car. Neji flipped it open, having it on speaker, "Hello?"

"Yes, is this Hyuuga Neji?"

"Kankurou, quit with the formals, what do you want?"

They could hear Kankurou huff a little before saying, "I am simply here to inform you that you passed."

Gaara scowled a little, "What'd he pass?"

Sighing Kankurou replied, "Hyuuga Neji has been approved by Sabaku Kankurou and Temari, siblings of Sabaku Gaara. We hereby aprprove of his dating our brother."

Giving his phone a weird look Neji replied, "Umm…thank you?"

"Neji and Gaara sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First came lo-"

Snorting, Neji hung up, cutting Kankurou's singing off. "I don't think I can ever stress how weird your brother is."

Gaara laughed a little, "I don't think anyone can." He smiled a little, looking over at Neji, when Temari had asked how Neji felt about him, part of him wanted to know, but not in front of his family. He looked over at his long-haired pale eyed angel, and a part of him was sad. He didn't know how much longer he was going to be here, but he also knew he would be glad to leave, he would only regret if he had to leave Neji behind.

blak-flame - ok, so i hope you liked it, i love kankurou, he's so...immature kind of...and all i could think of was Go Fish, but i like that game, so im not dissing it or anything. and i don't really know what was in the pot, but after i wrote about it, i was like, wow, this is way to formal, they'll have pizza instead! ...and i needed a way for gaara to find out about kankurou. but i hope you liked it! review please!