The hug had been nice while it lasted but as soon as the two had pulled apart Gaara began staring at his feet self-consciously.
'What was that? I don't let people hug me! '
Neji, on the other hand, was looking rather pleased with what he considered to be progress. The Hyuga prided himself on his ability to make anyone and everyone open up to him. He chalked it up to his non-threatening good looks.
"So Gaara-kun, what card game do you want to play?"
Gaara simply stared at the Hyuga, jaw slack with shock.
'Did he just call me KUN?!'
Unnerved by the lack of response Neji tried again.
"How about Go-fish?" Gaara nodded numbly.
'This guy must be on something.'
Neji handed half the deck to Gaara to shuffle, and then he recombined the two decks, shuffled more and dealt out the necessary cards.
Fifteen-minutes later Gaara found himself engaged in the most enthralling game of Go-Fish ever recorded in human history. He had five cards, Neji had four and there was one card left face down in the "pond." Everything rested on his next move, tension was high and the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Taking a deep breath Gaara decided to just go for it.
"Got any…two's?"
"Nope."
"Dammit!"
He flung his cards at Neji who was grinning ear to ear.
"I guess I win then."
Neji looked smug and started collecting the scattered cards while Gaara folded his arms and pouted.
"Shut up."
"Well aren't we a sore loser."
"Well aren't we a sore loser."
Gaara imitated in a high-pitched cartoonish voice. Neji smiled at Gaara, eyes full of mischief. In one swift movement he had tackled the boy onto his back and began mercilessly tickling him.
"AAH! What are you doing? Get off me! GET OFF!"
Gaara began kicking and squirming, laughing his head off the whole time.
"I'll stop when you admit I'm the world go-fish champion and will be until the end of time."
"N-never."
Gaara managed to stutter out between giggles. Neji continued his ruthless assault on the boy's ribs and stomach.
"Say it!"
" Y-you're the w-world champion of go-fish…"
"And?"
"And you w-will be for all time! Y-you bastard!"
Neji finally stopped and sat up, beaming triumphantly down at Gaara who was still trying to halt his laughter. His pale complexion was tinted with pink and his mouth was hanging slightly open as he took in gulps of air desperately. He looked so frail and pretty, so sweet and innocent. Neji continued to gaze at him, mesmerized by the delicate beauty. Before he knew what he was doing he was leaning in towards those soft, parted lips. Closer…closer…
"You wanna get your fat butt off of me now?"
Gaara's playful voice pierced through his daze, immediately snapping him back into himself. Neji felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice on him and instantaneously rolled off of him and scrambled backwards, cheeks burning with shame.
'Oh my God. What the hell was that? Was I really about to kiss him? '
Gaara propped himself up, oblivious to both Neji's come on and the disgrace he was now experiencing. In the midst of his internal panic the Hyuga managed to feel the tiniest bit of relief.
'Thank God he's not observant.'
---
Sasuke was sitting at his brother's desk, watching him pacing about the room and stroking his chin contemplatively.
'He looks just like one of those movie villains right now. '
Itachi suddenly halted in his movements.
"Okay here's what's going to happen. Tomorrow we're getting up bright and early, getting our asses in the car, and driving back up to the damn woods to find Gaara. Then I'll get my turn, we'll drive him to a hotel and I'll teach you how to make a victim stay quite."
Sasuke gulped.
"How long will that take?"
"Two days if we're lucky, three if it's difficult to find him."
"What about school?"
"Fuck school."
Sasuke sighed.
"Alright…sounds like a plan."
" Good, now starting making food."
" What! Why me?"
The elder Uchiha turned and shot Sasuke a meaningful look.
"… Point taken."
Itachi smirked.
'So far, so good.'
----
Gaara was looking at Neji with an odd expression on his face.
" Are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'm fine. I'm just going to um, go to the bathroom. Be right back."
He stood up and scurried off into one of the wooded areas, leaving a mystified Gaara behind. The second he was out of sight Neji collapsed onto a fallen tree, resting his face in his hands and trying his best to deal with his sudden realization.
'I have a crush on Gaara. Holy shit…what's wrong with me? I've known him for one day, he's underage, and he just got RAPED! '
The Hyuga stared at his feet in disbelief. He wasn't sure exactly how long he sat there for, mind whirling and heart pounding before he straightened himself out and took a deep breath, attempting to settle his raging emotions.
'Ok, Neji, here's what you're going to do: You'll take care of him, you'll accomplish those two missions, and you will NEVER let him know that you feel that way about him.'
The brunette frowned sadly to himself, unable to stop his mind from wandering longingly.
'If only we'd met under different circumstances...'
He shook his head rapidly from side to side, clearing up all those wishful thoughts.
'This isn't about what I want…it's about what Gaara needs
---
A grumbling Sasuke stood in front of the kitchen counter, violently slathering a piece of bread with spicy brown mustard. On the outside Sasuke appeared the epitome of anger but in reality his insides were churning with worry. Ever since he was very little Sasuke had looked up to his older brother. He'd followed him around everywhere, imitated him, and always tried to get in good with his friends. At first this behavior annoyed Itachi but over time he'd come to love having a mini me and had taken Sasuke under his wing, molding him into the perfect clone and changing him irreversibly for the worst.
Their crimes had started small, the two were quite the bullies at their old school, stealing lunch money and breaking toys. As the brothers got older however, they were introduced to far more sinister forms of entertainment. Itachi often took the lead in concocting their plots and if it hadn't been for him it is likely that Sasuke would never have known that he was capable of such evils.
Still, by no stretch of the imagination could Sasuke be considered a victim, or a good person for that matter. He enjoyed rape, the sensation of power it gave him, the way his victim's would beg, it was all so thrilling. But he had his limits. He had never killed anyone and never intended to. In his mind rape was perfectly okay, he practically considered it his right, but murder, that was a whole other story. His opinion was that to take another person's life from them was to carry out the ultimate injustice.
He had always assumed Itachi felt the same way, but now he wasn't so sure. Sasuke was well aware that he had dug the two of them into a deep hole by selecting a victim that knew him and went to his school. And as hard as he tried he could not think of any other way Itachi would solve their problem other then to shut Gaara up once and for all. To kill was to commit the greatest sin…but the alternative, getting caught and thrown in jail, almost seemed worse.
Sasuke put the food back on the counter and sank to the floor, mind racked with guilt and indecision. He had never considered murder an option until now.
---
Gaara folded his arms impatiently and stared at the spot in the trees he had last seen Neji disappear into. He was still afraid that Itachi would come lunging out from behind a random bush and drag him back to that horrible shack. He shuddered at the thought and hugged himself tighter.
'Neji, please hurry.
As if on cue the angelic beauty came bursting out from between the trees, smiling uncertainly at Gaara.
" Sorry that took so long."
"It's fine."
Gaara didn't care about that anymore, he was just glad that he was safe again. Neji walked over and sat down next to Gaara, a few inches further away then what the redhead was used to. Gaara twiddled his fingers.
"So now what?"
Neji glanced down at his watch. It was noontime.
"How about some lunch?"
The remainder of the afternoon passed fairly uneventfully. The two worked together to grill some fish for lunch and most of the meal had passed in silence. At some point Neji had handed his companion a notepad and a pencil and Gaara had contented himself with doodling while Neji stared off into space. The Hyuga had wanted to read but was afraid to bring a book out in front of Gaara.
The hours passed by uneventfully, every now and then the green-eyed boy had glanced over at Neji, picking up on some uneasy vibes. He wondered if he had done something wrong, or if Neji knew something that he wasn't telling him, those thoughts caused him to revert back to the state of anxiety he'd been in when he first came to the campground. It wasn't until later that night, around seven o'clock after a quick meal of leftovers that Gaara finally worked up the nerve to ask Neji what was on his mind.
"Are you alright?"
Neji started at the sudden interruption.
"Yeah…I'm fine."
"You've been acting really weird. Did I do something wrong?"
Gaara stared at him fretfully, afraid of what the answer may be. The second he saw the fearful look Neji felt a wave of guilt rush over him.
"You didn't do anything. I had something else on my mind but I feel better now."
He moved forward until he was sitting cross-legged in front of the boy.
Gaara POVHe says he's feeling better but I'm not sure if I believe him. Examining his face this close up I can still see traces of unhappiness in his eyes…his pretty blue eyes. I feel the heat rushing to my face the second I think that. But really, who could blame me? I'm just a silly schoolboy with a bad habit of crushing on older guys. I always was the one who would take a train into the city during the weekend. I couldn't even count the times Haku and I would go to clubs, we'd dance and drink and flirt…
A sudden sadness overwhelms me. I can't imagine myself doing those things now. Itachi and Sasuke took that from me. They made me realize that you can never tell who's trustworthy. Who's dependable and who's trying to trick you into giving them a cheap fuck. I thought I could tell the difference…but I was so wrong.
End POVNeji watched Gaara's face contort in misery. He still believed it was his own fault for being so distant all afternoon.
' I'm lower then pond scum. '
He thought contemptuously.
"Really, I'm fine now."
He reached out and stroked the side of Gaara's face with the back of his hand. The redhead reached out unexpectedly and placed his hand in Neji's, guiding it down to rest on his collarbone as he stared searchingly into Neji's crystalline eyes. The older man could feel his heart skip a beat and his breath caught in his throat. Gaara dropped his hand and stood up.
"I want to go to bed now."
He was staring at the ground mournfully, looking like something had been stolen from him. Neji swallowed hard, desperately wishing he had a time machine so he could go back and re-do this afternoon.
"Okay. I'm going to stay up a little call me if you need anything."
Gaara offered up a weak smile before heading into the tent and crawling into his makeshift bed.
---
Beep Beep Beep BeepItachi reached out lazily and shut off his alarm clock, sitting up and stretching pleasantly. He looked out the window, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. A grin spread across his face.
"Today is the big day."
---
I'm having really mixed feelings about this chapter. I was trying to build up the relationship between Neji and Gaara while showing Sasuke's transition. You know, to build suspense and what not. I'm not sure how well that came out though…please review-Evie