"Oh my God."
Neji stood, rooted to the spot. All he could do was stare down at the small figure curled up below him. It's a young boy, small, with red hair and bright green eyes. He is completely naked, and Neji could see bruises and love marks scattered on his thin frame. The blood appeared to be seeping out from under him. The boy was gazing up at him with raw terror and confusion in his eyes. He looked so scared, so defenseless. Neji wanted to say something, anything, but his thoughts were whirling around in his mind uncontrollably. As the seconds ticked by Neji's tongue finally became unstuck from the roof of his mouth.
"Where are your clothes?"
The second the words left his mouth Neji wanted to punch himself in the face.
'What a stupid STUPID question! It was glaringly obvious what had happened here! How could I be so rude?!'
The boy opened and closed his mouth like a fish, unable to speak as his face tinted pink.
'Dammit, Neji you're smarter than this. Take better care of him!'
The older male promptly removed his coat and flung it over the redhead, dropping down to eye level. The boy grabbed at it, quickly covering himself in order to protect what little bit was left of his modesty.
"I'm going to take you back to my camp ground, don't worry everything will be fine."
Gaara's POVI stare dumbfounded up at the stranger
Thank god, he's not Itachi. But who is he? He's very tall, with long brown hair and eyes such a pale shade of blue they're almost white.He's talking now,
"Where are your clothes?"
Oh, god I want to crawl under a rock and die. How am I supposed to answer that question? I can feel my face turning red, before I can think of an answer the man is kneeling down, draping his coat over me. It's a very soft material, and it's already warm from being wrapped around him. I snuggle into it grateful that I'm no longer naked.
"I'm going to take you back to my camp ground, don't worry everything will be fine."
Wait, what? He's taking me somewhere? I don't know if I can trust this guy yet! What if he's helping out the Uchiha's? What if he wants to hurt me too? Acting on instinct I start inching backwards, my eyes darting all over for an escape route. He notices and gazes down at me with concern.
"I promise I won't hurt you, but you have to come with me."
Before I know what's happening he's slipped one arm around my shoulders and the other in the crook of my knees, lifting me up honeymoon style.
"Just relax, you'll be safe and warm soon."
At this point I'm pretty much powerless in his arms. I'm too tired to escape, and where would I run to anyway? I really don't have any other choice but to trust him as he starts walking off in some random direction. My whole body jumps when he steps on a twig and it snaps loudly.
"You have to be quiet!"
I whisper harshly.
He looks at me with a raised eyebrow and begins to hike more carefully. I let my head flop back over his arm and stare up at the top of the trees, allowing my mind to run over the events of last night again and again, trying to register exactly what had happened. Then realization dawned, clear and cruel.
'…I was raped…Holy shit Iwas RAPED!'
It's not like I'm not used to gay guys being all weird around me. There seems to be something about me that screams " I'm a cute little uke come hit on me." But I never thought something like this could happen to me…I thought I was smarter then that. I'm so pathetic and dumb! How could I have blindly walked into Sasuke's trap like that? What insane drugged up part of my mind told me it was okay to trust him?! Why didn't I just turn tail and run when I got a look at that creepy Itachi bastard? There are so many questions and I can't answer any of them.
Oh, fuck I'm crying again.
Neji's POV'Why do I have to be quiet? Are we in some sort of danger? What have I gotten myself into?'
I frown as I glance down at the boy in my arms. He's crying now, eyes wide open, the morning sunlight making the green sparkle and stand out even more. I feel my heart clench up with anger and sadness.
'What kind of sick monster could hurt him like this?'
---
Sasuke let out one final grunt as he heaved the sleeping Itachi into the passenger seat. What a blessing it was to have sibling who's a heavy sleeper.
'Man, he is going to be so pissed when he wakes up.'
Sasuke cackled evilly to himself.
'That'll teach him to make fun of me. It was pretty easy to tell how much he was looking forward to nailing Gaara; this is definitely the perfect revenge.'
Sasuke had been pretty damn proud of himself; Gaara was the first person he had ever brought to The Shack. Normally Itachi did all the selecting and kidnapping.
'I thought I'd done a pretty good job, and then stupid Itachi had to go and ruin it'.
He scowled.
'Oh, well it'll be worth it when he wakes up and I see the look on his face.'
With that, Sasuke put the key in the ignition and drove off.
---
"Alright, we're here."
Neji gently shook Gaara, snapping him out of his trance-like state.
Gaara brought his head up and scanned the campground warily. There was a large olive green tent with a cooler set beside it, and a fireplace with a dead log lying in front. No whips, chains, or mattresses in sight. He let out a sigh of relief. Neji walked over to the tent and skillfully unzipped it without dropping Gaara.
He lowered the redhead gently onto his sleeping bag. The bleeding had stopped so there was no fear of ruining it. Unfortunately, his coat was long past the point of no return. Gaara blushed as he become aware of the wrecked coat.
"Sorry."
He said, averting his eyes and chewing on his lower lip. Neji smiled at him tenderly. He slid his backpack off and took out his medical supplies.
"I'm going to have to ask you to lie on your stomach. I won't do anything I promise, I just need to see how bad you've been injured."
Gaara hesitated; staring hard at the other man, searching for anything that resembled the look the Uchiha brothers had given him earlier. He looked sincere.
Nervously, Gaara rolled onto his stomach, fists clenching at his sides. He could sense Neji coming closer to him, could feel his hands tugging the coat off of his body. His whole body trembled.
"Open your legs just a little bit wider, please."
Neji felt absolutely horrible asking the kid do something like that after what he had just been through. He found himself wincing as the boy did as he was told, revealing his wound. Ouch. Neji grabbed a rag and dumped the water in his canteen all over it.
"I'm cleaning you off now."
He reassured while wiping away the dried blood. The next thing he did was pull a small tube from his medical bag and squeezed some of its contents onto his finger.
"This is a disinfectant, it may sting a little."
Gaara braced himself as Neji dabbed around the area.
"Alright, that's all I can do there. Now lets check out those bruises shall we?"
He sat Gaara up and rotated him so they were facing one another. He scanned over the marks on his arms briefly.
"I think I have a little something to make these feel better."
He once again reached into his bag, pulled out another tube, and began dabbing some sweet smelling ointment onto the marks. Lastly, he cupped Gaara's chin in his hand, turning his face side to side while he examined the huge bruise on his face. His brow furrowed.
"The stuff I put on your arms is too strong to put on your face as well. I can make you an ice-pack if you'd like."
Gaara paused for a moment then slowly shook his head up and down. Neji smiled.
"I'll give you some clean clothes first."
He turned towards an overflowing suitcase in the corner of the tent and began to search through it. Several minutes later he turned back, a navy blue sweatshirt and matching sweatpants in hand.
"I don't know how well these will fit you but it's better then nothing."
Gaara snatched the clothes out of his hands and fervently began to dress himself.
"I'll be right back with the ice-pack."
Neji called over his shoulder while exiting the tent.
---
Sasuke heard a low groan come from next to him. Itachi was waking up.
'Now would be a good time to pull over, I suppose.'
---
Gaara sat in front of the crackling fire, ice pack firmly pressed against his bruise while he watched Neji preparing soup.
"You're going to love this,"
The Hyuga beamed at him over his shoulder,
"It's my specialty."
In the short time they had spent together Neji had gotten Gaara to state his name and age, nothing else. He tried once to ask him what happened but the redhead simply shook his head "no" and averted his eyes to the ground. Neji had taken the hint.
'I'll never tell anyone what happened.'
Gaara had thought determinedly.
'If I never tell anyone they'll have no reason to hurt me
Neji POVHe refuses to talk to me about what happened and I'm letting it rest for now, but this absolutely isn't over. Someone hurt him, someone hurt him in a horrible way and they need to be punished. I'll be sure that they get everything that's coming to them.
"Neji?"
A small voice pipes up from behind me snapping me out of my vicious thoughts.
"What is it, Gaara?"
"When can I go home?"
I frown slightly at his question.
"I was planning to stay out here for another six days, my driver will be coming then."
"Is there any way it can be sooner?"
"No, I'm sorry, cell phones don't work out here so I didn't even bring one, and we're at least thirty miles from the nearest town. Is there someone at home who's going to be worried about you?"
"Probably not. I live with my older brother and sister and their used to me taking off during the weekend. I usually go and stay at my friend Haku's apartment. I didn't even tell them I was going out so they'll probably just assume I'm there."
"Oh."
Is all I can say.
'A young boy should be watched after more carefully than that.'
Gaara sighs softly.
"Hey, don't be sad, we'll just have to make this experience as fun as possible. By the end of this week we'll be great friends, I'm sure."
I give him my most convincing smile ever; normally reserved for the business parties I'm forced to attend. .
He musters a sad little smile before turning to look intently into the flames.Such a sad look doesn't belong on such a pretty face. Now I have two missions for the week:
'Sabaku no Gaara, by the end of this week I will find out what happened to you and I will make you smile for real.'
---
"…What the hell? Sasuke why are we in the car?"
Itachi sat up, suddenly wide-awake. He spun around and looked into the empty backseat with a look of complete shock painted over his handsome features. He turned back to his little brother slowly and deliberately.
"He had better be in the trunk."
"He's not."
A deathly silence filled the car as a grinning Sasuke watched a variety of emotions flicker across his brother's face, finally settling on an expression of murderous calm.
"Then where is he, Sasuke?"
"In the woods."
"Turn the car around."
"I can't, we only have enough gas left to get us home."
Itachi looked troubled for a moment.
"What if he rats us out?"
"Yeah, like he's going to make it out of those woods alive."
Sasuke snorted. Itachi's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I never got my turn."
"I know."
"How long do you think I have before he dies?"
" Four days, tops."
"Then you know that this isn't over, right?"
Sasuke glanced over at his brother, noting the all too familiar sadistic look .
"Yeah, I know."
---
DUNDUNDUN
Okay, so this chappy was a little short, but certain things have to be sacrificed in order to update quickly and end all of these on cliffhangers. (Insert evil grin here)
All these reviews are incredibly appreciated keep up the good work, people you're really fueling my desire to write!
3 Evie