So, spurred on by my immense happiness brought about by the insane amount of reviews I recieved for chapter 5, I decided to get up off my lazy ass and fix chapter 6. I'm so happy and I want to thank everyone who reviewed so much!!! I got twelve reviews on one chapter!!! I'm not used to getting more than two or three...

Well, this chapter is dedicated to my buddy Sara, known on as Fullmetal Llama. She was my "agent" while I checked my e-mail and answered reviews today in Chinese class (we had free time!), fielding such questions from my classmates as "What's fanfiction?", "You like Naruto?", and of course "What are you doing?" Thank you muchly!!! And of course for telling random people on numerous occasions "No, she is NOT emo."

So after all that, on with the chapter!

No, wait, I lied. Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Naruto today either... Maybe tomorrow. (I love Blurry eyes by L'arcenciel!!!)

Piano

Cold. That was the one word on Gaara's mind. It was so cold here! Why did they call it the fire country if it was so icy cold? In the Wind country where he came from, they had no winters such as these. And the worst part was Neji telling him that it was only going to get colder. November, he had said, wasn't nearly as bad as it was going to get. There wasn't even snow yet.

Gaara was horrified by the idea of snow at this point. He had seen it on TV and thought that it looked beautiful, something he definitely wanted to see for himself, but when his roommate told him that the temperature had to drop to at least freezing, he had stopped being so eager. The simple jacket Neji had lent him wasn't helping much to keep the cold from seeping through and chilling him down to his bones, but the other boy barely seemed to notice. He walked along briskly, hair trailing behind him blown around by the cold gusts of winter wind.

Neji was leading him to some store somewhere. He hoped they had heating wherever they were going. He looked down at his pale hands, frozen and pink from cold. His face was almost numb, and they walked in silence, Gaara figured, because both were much too cold to get out any words. At least, he was. The quiet was a bit disconcerting, but at the same time it was comforting. Every once in a while, Gaara would risk a glance to the left of him, looking at Neji's profile. A sharp nose and high cheekbones, long dark lashes and full, pink lips, a defined chin, he was truly beautiful. His girlfriend was a very lucky person.

Gaara was still convinced that someone like Neji had to have a girl.

They stopped walking in front of one of the many stores. Neji, with his good manners, held the door open for the shorter boy who walked eagerly into the warmth. He looked around him and saw black. A lot of black. It was the kind of store that Gaara would shop in. How did Neji know? He turned to look at said boy, but saw no one there. He looked around, and saw that Neji was already over by a rack of tight black jeans. Gaara sighed softly, feeling a bit alone, but looked around anyway. Seeing a promising jacket, he decided to go investigate.

It was a black hoodie, with an outline sketch of a broken heart on the front in red, with a single drop of blood that very much resembled a tear falling from it. Gaara flipped through hangers on the metal rack looking for a size XS. There was only one left, but a slender hand grabbed it just before he did. Gaara looked up, already preparing a death glare for whatever poor, unfortunate soul dared grab the article of clothing before him.

"Cute." It was Neji. He mumbled something else that Gaara didn't quite catch before handing the sweater to him. Gaara took it from him, still a bit stunned. If he was correct, Neji had mumbled something along the lines of 'like you'. He shook it off. Of course Neji hadn't said that. Why would he? He couldn't think that Gaara was cute. He must just be hearing things he decided sullenly. That was the only rational explanation.

But there was a nagging voice in the back of his head telling him that nothing in love was rational. He quickly silenced it. That voice never brought him anything but trouble.

They spent another half hour in the store, Gaara looking at various items of clothing, Neji making an occasional one word comment in between shopping for himself. Otherwise, it was a horridly silent affair.

The redhead marveled at shirts and pants before moving on to admire the imaginative earrings and accessories the store held. It was a fairly large place. The walls were painted dark blue with posters of various bands on them, and a few windows framing the snowy wonderland that lay just outside.

The pair shopped a while longer, and Gaara found a pair of black skinny jeans that he liked as well as a tight bright red sweater and a black T-shirt that said 'Gotta love emo boys' on it in red lettering.

When they left, their spoils included the first sweater that Gaara had looked at as well as the pants, sweater and shirt. Neji had a similar pair of straight black jeans, a red tank top and a black fishnet long sleeved shirt. They had gotten some nice accessories too. Gaara got a pair of silver skull and crossbones stud earrings and a matching studded bracelet and collar, and Neji had bought some of those thin black rubber bracelets and another bracelet made of five chains attached to each other as well as a small silver cross pendant on a brown leather cord.

Intrigued by the sudden change in clothing style, Neji had explained to him that it was his outfit for the concert the next night.

Gaara had been surprised to say the very least. He hadn't thought Neji the type to wear such... for lack of a better word, revealing… clothing, but was sure that he would look wonderful in anything he wore.

And so began the long, grueling walk back "home". Biting wind whipped around them, numbing any and all exposed skin. And to top it all off, it began to snow.

Two blocks away from the entrance to the school's extensive campus, fluffy white flakes began raining down from the cloudy grey sky. The fell and landed softly on everything. Neji just pulled his hood on and began walking faster, but Gaara stopped and stared at his hand in wonder.

In his icy cold palm rested a tiny feather of snow, tens of tiny flakes frozen together in a miniature snowball. And then another, and another, and another. He could only gaze incredulously at the tiny miracles coming down from the Heavens, because that was what he believed them to be. He had never seen real snow before.

Neji stopped when he didn't hear the rhythmic sound of another pair of footsteps following his. He gripped his hood tight against the strong winds and turned around. Gaara stood on the sidewalk, melting snow making his red hair glisten delightfully, staring in a daze at his palm. In it, snow was gathering in a small mound. It was like… like he had never seen snow before.

'But what if he hasn't?' To Neji, someone who had been born and raised in this part of the Fire country, the idea seemed preposterous, impossible. But if he remembered correctly – and he always did – Gaara was from the desert in the Wind country. It doesn't snow in the desert. He retraced his steps so he was standing behind the shorter boy, watching over his shoulder as more and more white flakes fell atop one another.

"You like the snow?" He whispered softly just above Gaara's left ear, hair tickling his jawbone as he spoke. The redhead jumped a bit and turned to face his roommate, eyes wide. Neji laughed a bit. Not something he did often, but the look on Gaara's face was just priceless. He looked scared, shocked and amazed all at the same time. If that was even possible. Put all those emotions on a face as perfect as his, add to it the thin sheen water from melted flakes of snow, and you end up with a scene worth drooling over. If you were Hyuuga Neji that is. But of course, being Neji, that was something he would never do. He maintained his composure in all situations, no matter what. Even if it was insanely difficult not to hug the boy then and there.

"Is it your first time? Seeing the snow I mean." The question hardly registered in Gaara's mind. He was able to nod slightly, but his brain was focused on other things. Like how Neji was standing so close to him, a crown of silvery crystals adorning his hooded head.

"Come on, I'll show you something." Neji grabbed Gaara's hand and walked off briskly, dragging the smaller boy along behind him. Despite the freezing cold, Gaara felt a rush of heat to his face as he lost the battle against the blush spreading across his already pink cheeks. Neji was holding his hand.

Wee!!! Well, that was fun, a teeny tiny bit of NejiGaara in that one, but it gets better next chapter! Still just shonen-ai though. I don't think I'm ready for a full-out yaoi smut, and neither are Gaara and Neji...

Please review, you know how much I love those!!! And they'll all be answered in a PM. Like I've said before, I love shameless praise, questions, comments, suggestions, and if you hate it, flame to your heart's content. I just want to know people's honest opinions.

MyMidnightLove