I appologize for the long wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't kill me! -cowers- I haven't had any muse or ideas at all, and this chapter is really short. I doubt that it's very good, and I'm horribly aware that I've managed to stretch two days of weekend for ten chapters... Once again, please don't hurt me! But from now on, chapters will cover more. One chapter should be an entire day, if it's an important day, 2 chapters...

Having done the math of that in my head... That makes this at least a 42 or 3 chapter fic... Probably more. Hope people don't give up on me before then! But if they do, whatever. I'm writing this for my own amusement. That doesn't mean that I don't love all your reviews though! They make me feel oh-so-special!

Disclaimer(which I've forgotten for the past few chapters...): No own!

Piano

Gaara woke up at three thirty in the morning. He was used to being quiet and sneaking around without waking people up, so he tiptoed over to his backpack, got his CD player and a CD of random mix music in different languages, and his book. He had already finished it, but he hadn't had time to go to a bookstore so he was reading it again. Dracula was one of his favorites anyway.

He settled down on the bed, sitting cross-legged with the CD player beside him. French music began blaring through the headphones, and he turned down the volume just in case Neji was a light sleeper. He had yet a lot to learn about the other boy.

When the music came on, it took him a moment to recognize the song.

This was a song that described his life.

The redhead smiled. He wanted to sing along, but he knew that he shouldn't. It would probably wake his roommate, and he wasn't a very good singer anyway. For some reason, he just couldn't manage to stay in key when he sang.

This song seemed to say something about his life. It was about the cruelty of society and how people can judge others in an instant, but they hate to be judged themselves. It also told about how the singer hated himself for not being able to confess to the one he loved.

There had been a time when Gaara had been suicidal. It had been around the time of early last year, at his first private boarding school. He hadn't had a single friend, he was bullied constantly, and even his teachers didn't like him. He got in on a piano scholarship, but they hardly ever allowed him to play. His roommate acted like he wasn't there when they were alone, but during the day he was one of the redhead's worst tormentors.

He had changed since then. He used to be a cutter, as people called it, but he had really just done it for the sight of his own blood. Unlike his current roommate, he loved the sight of fresh blood, especially his own. There were still faded marks crisscrossing all over his wrists and arms, and he usually wore fishnet sleeves or wristbands to cover them up in the summer. But they were hardly visible anymore.

He had stopped over the summer. His brother had seen one of the particularly deep gashes and forced him into seeing a psychiatrist. He was convinced that it had something to do with seeing his uncle slit his wrists at a young age. Eventually, the two struck a deal. If Gaara stopped cutting, then he wouldn't have to talk to the psychiatrist anymore.

He hadn't thought that hurting himself would make his problems go away, or that it would make anyone pity him, because that was foolish, wishful thinking. He hadn't thought that it would help him feel more human or prove his existence either. He knew that he was alive, otherwise the taunting and other things that were done to him wouldn't bother him at all. But they did. That was why he had begun hurting himself in the first place. It was his choice, and that was what mattered. It was something he could choose to do, and it didn't affect other people, so no one could tell him to stop.

It couldn't bother anyone, because no one cared about him in the first place. If he disappeared, he was convinced that no one would care any further than 'looks like now we'll have to find another punching bag'.

But that was all something of the past. He didn't cut himself anymore. It was useless even to try, because his brother would stop him. No matter where he was, whenever he took up a knife again, his brother's concerned face would flash through his mind and he would put the knife back down.

He checked the clock on the nightstand by his roommate's bed. Three forty. Two hours until Neji woke up. Maybe he would go out for a jog. The redhead slipped out from under the covers and made his way over to the window.

He quickly dismissed the idea of going outside when he saw the snow blanketing the ground. And to top it all off, there was more of it than there had been yesterday. It must have snowed overnight or something.

So he was back to square one again, what could he do to occupy himself for two more hours? Gaara yawned. He couldn't think of anything to do for the next two hours, and it was frustrating.

He paused his train of thought and back up a few steps. He had yawned. How long had it last been since he was tired during the day? Gaara couldn't even remember the last time that he had yawned.

An idea came to him then. Maybe if he… slept until Neji's alarm went off? He decided that the plan was unrealistic and doomed to fail, but that it was worth a shot anyway. He had slept more since he got here than normal, that was true, but going back to sleep after waking up was just beyond any level of miracle that Gaara could think of at the moment. He hadn't taken a nap since he was… well, never that he could think of.

Crawling back into the bed and quietly pulling the sheets up to his chin, the redhead closed his eyes, trying to think about what he could to occupy himself until Neji's alarm went off when this plan failed.

Gaara shot up as a shrill beeping sound pierced the calm air. He looked quickly left, then right. He saw his roommate sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes sleepily with one hand while pressing the snooze button on the alarm with the other.

Had he really fallen asleep for two more hours?

"mphm… Good morning… Sabaku-san…" Neji said groggily, with a tired yawn in the middle. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh… yeah." Gaara was couldn't think of anything else to say. He flipped the sheets off his body and shivered in the cold air as he walked over to his dresser and pulled out his nicely altered school uniform.

"Erm… Do you mind?" He asked, motioning towards the bathroom door. The brunette shook his head.

"Of course not, Sabaku-san. By all means, feel free to use the bathroom." Gaara nodded meekly, still a bit set off by that oddly annoying formal speech. He hoped that he would get used to it soon.

Stepping into the bathroom, Gaara turned on the hot water in the shower and proceeded to strip off his pajamas. When he saw steam forming behind the glass, he slid open the door and stepped in, letting the hot water drops slide down his lithe frame. He stood under the water with his eyes closed, enjoying the relaxing feel for a moment, before grabbing a bottle of shampoo off the white plastic floor.

It was in the corner, and next to it were very carefully placed bottles, belonging to his roommate. He took a moment to study them. Some expensive looking coconut scented shampoo, and a matching bottle of conditioner next to it, and next to that some sort of liquid body soap. Suddenly, his bottle of cheap drugstore shampoo and soap bar felt somewhat pathetic.

He quickly brushed off the feeling and squirted a generous amount of the liquid into his palm, and massaged it through his short, fiery hair. Of course Neji would need better hair products than him he thought to himself. His hair was longer and nicer than Gaara's could ever hope to be.

He finished his quick shower and turned off the water, opening the door quickly to step out. He shivered again as the cold air nipped at his exposed flesh before he began toweling himself dry. Hastily, he changed into his uniform and bundled up his pajamas beneath his arm before stepping out.

"All yours." Neji looked up from the notebook he had been writing in. He could have sworn that he saw the tiniest hint of a smile grace the Hyuuga's features.

"Your eyes." She said simply. What about his eyes? Gaara wondered.

Shit.

"If you don't mind Sabaku-san, you look quite nice without your eyeliner."

Shit.

"Maybe you would consider not wearing it today?"

Shit. He never let anyone see him without his eyeliner! Except Temari and Kankuro, and even his brother hadn't seen him without it since he started in fourth grade. Temari had, but only because she helped him with it for the first year or so.

Gaara grunted angrily, and stormed over to his bag to pull out his kohl. He shut his eyes and traced the heavy makeup on, not even needing a mirror anymore. he heard Neji chuckle softly.

"Incredible. Who would have thought that Sabaku-san's hidden talent would be the application of eyeliner?"

"Kohl." Gaara said on reflex. His brother had used to tease him about wearing something as girly as eyeliner, and every time he had insisted that it wasn't eyeliner, it was kohl. There wasn't really much of a difference, except maybe that kohl was darker and heavier. And technically, both were used primarily by women, but Kankuro didn't know that. He only knew that his sister wore eyeliner, ad his brother wore kohl.

Neji chuckled again.

"I apologize Sabaku-san. Kohl then. Who would have thought that your hidden talent would the application of kohl?" He emphasized the words. Who would have thought that the guy had a sense of humor? And trust it to be now of all times for him to show it.

Without another word, Neji went off into the bathroom to spend God knows how long doing God knows what to his hair.

Half an hour later, Neji emerged from the bathroom, and the two left the room at eight o'clock sharp to get breakfast before homeroom at eight fifty-five. Their backpacks were slung over their shoulders and loaded with books. For Neji, it was just another day at school, but for Gaara, it was a monumental first day at a private school, with a friend.

He only hoped that nothing would go wrong.

Ah yes, Gaara is such a pessimisst.

I just wanted to add one thing. If you left a review and I didn't answer it, I'm really sorry! I hope you can forgive me! My e-mail system decided to die on me, and didn't send me any mail from the ff net system... So I checked them the manual way through the Stats page at the login, but I think I may haae misssed a couple, or even answered some twice. I'm sorry!!!

Well, please leave a review, I love them all! But what I mostly apreciate is suggestions, or if you have any, ideas work too! Thanks so much for taking the time to read the chapters and these insanely long AN's...