Chapter: ...13: Two weeks

Kankurou sighed and rubbed his arms; Gaara had been missing for almost two weeks now. Two long agonizing weeks. He quickly pulled his hat over his face and tugged hard; rolling on his bed and groaning. Guilt had been slowly eating away at him over the last weeks. He should have been taking better care of the little redhead, instead of off making friends and leaving everything to Neji. The brunette got up and went to see Temari, not bothering to knock on his way in.

The blonde girl was laying on her bed, music softly playing. As soon as Kankurou walked in Temari wiped at her face, trying to wipe away the tears. "Hey Kankurou, what's up?" The college student greeted her younger brother, plastering a smile on her face; while trying to discreetly cover up the notebeek placed in front of her.

"I, uh, I'm gonna go out for a while. Dunno when I'll be back."

"Oh," Her smile faltered a little, "Yeah, sure. Okay."

The boy nodded and closed the door on his way out; trying to ignore the muffled sobs that were coming from the other side of the door. Not bothering to grab a jacket, he walked outside into the frigid air, his sweatshirt only warming him a little. He sighed and went on his way down the street, not really knowing or caring where he ended up. He pulled a cigarette out of the pack and swiftly lit up, he'd been trying not smoke to much, but it helped him relax; what with everything that had been going on with Gaara.

Everything had been falling apart even more than before Gaara went to live with Neji. Temari would go out at night and not come back for hours; out looking for their little brother. All she did was cry anymore, Kankurou wasn't even sure if she had hung out with any of her friends. Every time he went out, he couldn't stop himself from scanning the streets for the missing Sabaku. Kankurou took a long drag on his cigarette; his father, it seemed, was the most annoying part of the situation. He almost seemed happier now that Gaara was missing. Kankurou'd beat him up, if the older an wasn't so damn strong. Hell, if he wasn't so strong, none of them would be here any more.

Yep, life was sucking for the two Sabaku children lately.

"Oi! Kankurou!"

"What is it, Tom?" Kankurou asked his friend, who jogged to catch up with him.

Tom shrugged, "Eh, nuthin'. What's up?"

Kankurou gave his friend a long, hard look, "You don't wanna know that shit."

"Yeah, I figured. Look," The boy looked around , hands shoved deep into his pockets. He looked back at Kankurou, long black hair hanging in his face, lip ring shining slightly, "We're all gonna hang out at my place later tonight."

"Yeah, so?" Kankurou replied, removing his cigarette from his mouth and holding it in his hand.

"'Yeah, so' nothing. It's been a while, is all. All I'm saying is consider it. I gotta go."

"Yeah...maybe."

Tom sighed, running a hand through his long hair, "Alright, fine. See you at school...I bet he wouldn't like you smoking that cancer stick."

Kankurou snorted, and inhaled his 'cancer stick' deeply, "Yeah, well, he's not here, is he?"

Tom frowned slightly, "He'll come back."

Kankurou bit his lip, he knew it was true, even if they got him back as nothing more than a body; but he could never put that sentence into words. Instead he nodded, "You didn't even know him..." Tom scowled at his friend. Kankurou rolled his eyes, so much could change in just two weeks.

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Neji glanced down at his cell, the shrill ringing interupting his sleep; of which he had been doing more of lately, "What do you want, Sasuke?"

"Hello to you too."

Sighing Neji started over, "Hello Uchiha Sasuke. How, may I ask, are you on this fine day?"

"I'm in the parking lot; you're coming over. Don't say no, because I didn't waste gas with it being so expensive," You could hear the smirk in Sasuke's voice.

"...Fine." Neji snapped his phone shut, quickly grabbed his keys to his new apartment and walked out of the building, to Sasuke's car.

Sasuke pulled out of the parking lot, "Damn, Neji. Naruto's apartment is bigger than yours. You can afford to splurge."

The brunette glanced at the building, after standing up to his Uncle, not only coming out about his sexuality, but also defending his current love iterest; his Uncle had promptly disowned him. "I'm not going to waste it on an apartment. I'm saving it."

The driver snorted, "For what? That dumb-ass uncle of yours; not like Hinata can run his stupid business."

Neji rolled his eyes, "Do you see me complaining?"

"...Well, considering your saintly new opinion on the matter of money, get a job."

They pulled up to Sasuke's considerably-sized house, "Maybe...probably."

Sasuke nodded and turned the engine off, "I'll help."

The long haired boy lifted a single delicate eyebrow, "What is it you want? Why are you so helpful, Uchiha?"

"I can't just be concerned for a friend, Hyuuga?" After a moment of silence, Sasuke chuckled, "Naruto worries about everyone and everything. Gonna give himself a fuckin' ulcer."

Neji scowled, as they headed to Sasuke's room, "You swear to much."

Sasuke smirked, "Fuck."

Three hours later, they were back in the car, music blasting, leaving the Taco Bell parking lot. Neji closed his eyes, and just listened to the music. For as much as Sasuke pretended to be a cold uncaring bastard, he really wasn't, but if anybody ever tried to tell him that Sasuke would be sure to prove them wrong. He smirked slightly as he heard Sasuke singing softly to the lyrics. They stopped at a red light, and the brunette felt his breathe hitch whe he looked out the window.

He quickly unbuckled and bolted out the door, ignoring the cursing Sasuke. There, sitting on the sidewalk--but no, it couldn't be. It started raining slightly, when he finally got to the sitting form on the sidewalk, he found he couldn't make another move. He stood there, panting; hardly able to breathe. He heard Sasuke come up behind him, "Neji, what the fuck were you thinking?! You don't just jump out of a car like that! I mean; shit!"

Neji blinked, not quite listening to the Uchiha's words. He stared at the person sitting on the sidewalk, who hadn't even turned to look up. After a while, he slowly breathed, "Gaara?" The person slowly turned their head and looked up at the two boys standing above him. His knees were drawn up against his body, his jeans were dirty and ripped. He was wearing a black sweatshirt with red clouds on it; it was only zipped up halfway and he wasn't wearing a shirt underneath. But sure enough, it was Gaara. Underneath the hood was his flaming red hair, only slightly covering the kanji tattoo on his forehead. He even still had some of the eyeliner around his eyes.

Neji couldn't help but stare, out of all the ways to find him, this isn't what he expected. He quickly bent down and hugged the small boy, tears threatening to spill over. He felt Gaara tense under his touch and slowly pulled away. "Gaara, it's me. What's wrong? Where were you? What happened? Are you alright?" He was met only with Gaara's blank expression.

Sasuke touched his friends shoulder, "Neji, while you two may not mind the rain, I do; get him the car."

Neji nodded slightly, "Come on, Gaara. I got a new place while you were gone," He told him about his Uncle and how worried they had been; while he helped Gaara up and got him in the car. "Sasuke, go to my place."

Saske scowled in the mirror, "Neji; Kankurou and Temari are his family, he should go there. He should go home. They're gonna want to see him. Don't give me that look, you know it as good as I do."

Neji ignored his friend, and went back to talking to Gaara. He ignored the seemingly casual glances that Sasuke kept giving them, he ignored the undertone of concern. He also pretended not realize that Gaara didn't say a thing and was just sitting there.

When they finally got to the Sabaku household, Neji helped Gaara to the door; Sasuke didn't get out. The Uchiha rang the doorbell and the blonde Temari came to the door, looking disshevelled. "Neji, wha--" She stopped abruptly when she saw Gaara. "What..." Tears started flowing down her face, as Kankurou came out of nowhere and stood there looking shocked. Suddenly, Temari grabbed her youngest brother and huggd him like she didn't want to let go.

Kankurou blinked a few times, "Temari...take him inside." The girl blinked a few times, then nodded mutely. Kankurou turned to Neji, an uncontrollable grin on his face, "Neji--you--you...You probably want to come in...but--he's our brother. I'll call you, then you can come over." Kankurou started closing the door, gave Neji an apolegetic look, "He's our brother...Thanks."

Neji stood there, door closed in his face and after a couple of minutes, he went back to the car. He should have been able to spend time with him, he found him after all. But Gaara was safe and that was all that mattered. That was all that was important.

-sigh- im not even gonna try to explain myself for going missing so often anymore. but i do feelbad. ok, but yeahso review pwease! ...or not, ya know, whatever floats your boat. tell me if it sucks or not!