I'm standing at the doorway

The doorknob's wet with dew

He looks at me with solemn eyes

And says-- 'After You'

My breath is low and shallow

My heart is shattered, pierced

A blood-red stain emerges

His eyes so dark and fierce

He stretches out a hand

And clasps it with my own

Leading me towards daylight

The seeds of love first sown

--by Sabaku no Temari

--

Breaking the Music

By FlightAngel

--

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story: so you steal, I kill

--

Neji is all dressed up and I think it's both funny and odd at the same time. Instead of the usual turtleneck and jeans, he's wearing a shoulder-hugging long-sleeve with a black tang-top underneath, showing off his neck and charm-necklace, matched up with some funky looking black pants that bellowed out at the bottom. His hair is clipped back in loops with the same white barrettes he had worn four years ago at the pep assembly in junior high, but his forehead is still covered with a thin linen cloth.

Everyone in Drama gapes.

Shikamaru whistles mockingly and Neji shoots him an offhand glare. Coolly positioning himself next to the blue-haired girl who had been staring at me all day yesterday, he flips through the script the drama teacher had handed him on his way in.

"My," I whisper lowly, "You're all dressed up today." He promptly ignores me and, instead, starts reciting his lines as the princess.

Let me back up a bit.

The teacher had posted the results of our auditioning for the play Falling, by Jenko Sani, this morning by the Drama Gates and people were still talking about it.

The play itself was a rather morose one: it was about a young woman who lived as a prostitute in a special underground city. She was raised as one and didn't know any other way to earn money besides spreading her legs for any man that came. Her boss told her constantly as she was growing up that she may never cry, no matter what happened, and that was what she did. However, one day the harem she had been staying at was burned down, killing her adoptive mother and best friend in the process.

Fleeing, she realizes the only way to escape the law is to attempt to find her way above ground. She makes friends with a young runaway boy who calls himself 'Rat' and they, eventually after a lot of short adventures where a whole lot of unimportant cast come into being, crawl through a hole up above. However, their visions of what must be paradise above are shattered when all they see are the burnt ruins of thousands of cities everywhere. A voice tells them the tale of the two cities, how finally the underground escaped the monopoly above by committing mass genocide above.

In horror, the woman knelt down on the ground and starting weeping into her hands. But as she wept, plants started sprouting from her tears and grew out of the ashes. Rat watched in wonder as a splendid forest comes up, but the woman doesn't notice. She cried and cried not only for the people, but for all the times she had told herself she couldn't cry. Rat told her to stop, but she refused and keeps sobbing. Eventually, the tears swallow her up and she herself morphs and turns into a forever weeping tree in the middle of the forest.

It turns out that the woman had actually been the princess of the royal family from the land-dwellers, and had possessed the ability to create trees. The voice that had told them the story was a being made up of all her ancestors, to plot revenge against the underground people. By creating a forest above, the trees took minerals the underground people needed and almost destroy the city below. Rat, who was in fact the prince of the underground people, sacrifices himself by kissing the frozen figure of the woman, thus, turning himself into a tree…

Yes, sad, I know. Two lovers forever holding each other for all eternity, though both too dead to realize their feelings for each other until too late.

I was playing an unimportant role as one of the people who tried to stop the princess from going above ground. Shikamaru ended up being the entity the ancestors had created; Dog-boy was their faithful sidekick dog (yes… I know…), Neji was the prostitute/princess and Lee was Rat. All in all, our roles were majorly mixed up and made my head hurt just thinking about it.

"Man," I mutter under my breath, quietly, as I examine my own lines, "I've got a page full of lines…"

"At least you have lines," Dog-boy informs me, hands clasped behind his head, "All I get to say is 'arf, arf' and 'bark, growl'." I sort-of nod towards him in sympathy, but not really. Most people get terribly offended if they score a no-line part, like being a tree, but I just found it handy. Less lines to memorize. No lines at all, if you're lucky, like Dog-boy.

"Oh, Nako!" Lee suddenly bellows, causing everyone in a thirty feet radius to jump up in shock, "Shall we PROCEED?" The drama teacher shoots him an annoyed look.

"No, no, Lee, in this part Rat is supposed to sound solemn, not heroic, ok? Now try again!"

"Yosh!" Lee shouts, enthusiastically saluting, "Aye, sir!" Neji, who had just glanced briefly upwards, rolls his eyes in exasperation and goes back to his lines. Hard to believe the two major roles—both male and female—belonged to those two.

I'm telling you, those girls were seething in anger when they found the leading female part had been given out to a guy. Well, Neji looked and acted the part well, so…

"Alright!" The teacher claps his hands, "First line rehearsal is going to be tomorrow, ok? I want everyone to grab one of those history books and look up your character!" Everyone groans, and the teacher crosses his arms. "Now!"

I reluctantly remove a book from an icy metal shelf and flip through some boring paragraphs about how back in the old day cops had the responsible to blah and blah, and more blah…

I look up and find it more amusing to watch my pale-eyed best friend interact with his ecstatic over-optimistic ex-boyfriend who has now found it a fun pastime to try and annoy the hell out of Neji.

"Nako! My love!" Lee is shouting at the top of lungs again, "I cannot live without you!" This was the scene where Rat kissed the frozen figure of Nako, and Lee is comically trying to push his lips against Neji's. Fortunately, Neji is both stronger and faster and has the other boy by the neck in a flash.

"Lee!" The Drama teacher shouts, "Don't molest Hyuuga!"

Of course he doesn't know that Lee couldn't even molest a fly even if he wanted to, as the boy was as dense as a brick and that he was the in danger because of Neji's-impending-doom. After huffily pushing the eccentric off him and fixing his hair in a handheld mirror he carried everywhere, Neji apparently 'went back to his lines'.

Note, 'apparently'. He would mutter the lines to himself, tapping his chin, then steal glances at Lee, who is now completely engrossed in stocking his eyeballs a tenth of a millimeter away from his paper. When he would look down, Lee would look up and stare at Neji for a while, appreciating the necklace and his collarbone (I'm not sure if this is possible, but Neji has a very nice collarbone), before shrugging and going back to his paper. Neji would then look up again.

Occasionally they would look at each other in the same time, and Neji would sort of jump up, startled, and look away heatedly, while Lee would just scratch his head.

It was totally, absolutely infuriating.

Neji was too serious and in self-denial to believe that he was falling in love with his ex-boyfriend all over again.

Lee was just too stupid.

Shikamaru, who was talking quietly to Kiba in their corner by the stands, exchange glances with me, look at Neji and Lee, and mouths 'shove them'.

"What?" I mouth back, and this time he adds a little motion of taking one person and shoving them into the other.

"Shove them." He repeats

. I stare at him. Touching Neji when he did not want to be touched is a guarantee to have your hand bit off. Shoving Neji when he definitely did not want to be shoved is guaranteed suicide.

But then, standing here looking at Neji and Lee check each other out when the other wasn't looking makes me want to commit suicide right now, anyways.

I sigh, put down my book, and cross the room to meet up with the other boy.

"Neji," I say, loudly, "You still need to give me the sketches for the t-shirts to give to Shika." He looks up from his paper. Glaring narrowly, he nods and sighs, then leans over to reach into his backpack.

In one swift motion I plant a foot on his back and watch him yelp as he tumbles over… into Lee's lap.

Lee stares down at the mess of chocolate-brown hair spilled all over his jeans. Neji, who was still in shock, has his cheek set on the other senior's chest and his eyes were darting in a way that I knew he was considering his options at this moment. One, kill Gaara. Two, kill Gaara. Three, kill Gaara and then murder all the witnesses.

Everyone holds their breath, waiting for what's going to happen next. Will Neji scream and run out of the room? Will Lee scream and run out of the room? Will they both scream and run out of the room? Of course, there's the chance that they might suddenly realize their love and start making out, but then that's near impossible.

Lee puts a finger under Neji's chin, tilting his face upwards, so the other boy is now looking up into his face. Standard-kissing-position?

Wait, so they were confessing their love and going to make out?

Sadly, no.

"Neji," Lee says solemnly, putting his other hand under the silky bundle that was Neji's hair, "Your hair's all messed up." He carefully brushes the strands back from Neji's face and I think everyone in the room died.

Either Lee was flirting very, very obviously or he was just being kind-in-a-naïve-way and had no clue that what he was doing might have been interpreted as a show of affection.

Neji, who obviously thought it was the latter, jerks away from Lee's grasp and huffily tries to stand up. However, the eccentric senior wasn't about to let him go that fast. "Neji!" He announces, louder, "I was the one that messed up your hair, thus I shall fix it! Yosh!" Neji visible cringes at the prospect of Lee fixing his hair.

Actually, when the two were dating, Neji had been the one to fix Lee's hair. Rumor had it Lee used to wear a shiny black bowl-cut all the time before Neji got pissed off in seventh grade and chased Lee with a pair of scissors until he agreed that he'd let his boyfriend change his hairstyle. Now, Lee wore his hair up in black spikes that were tall enough to look good but not enough to look like an overgrown porcupine.

Lee carefully pulls Neji's head towards him and amazingly he let him. Putting a hand in Neji's hair, he starts nimbly combing it with his fingers. Neji, who was just a little surprised, doesn't show any emotion. Or doesn't appear to show any motion, to everyone who didn't know him very well.

As I knew him very well, I can see that he's definitely enjoying himself.

Shikamaru glances at me and winks.

Operation Get-Lee-to-Make-a-Move—success!

--

I'm at the doorway.

"Take care of her, Nara."

Shikamaru just nods, hoisting my sister onto half his shoulder because she was too upset to stand on her own.

"She can stay there as long as she likes, but make sure she doesn't come home until she's better."

"I know."

Nodding a sharp good-bye, he turns away and walks down the stairs with my sister sniffling with pain.

Kankuro and I watch from the doorway as our one and only sister disappears with a near stranger yet familiar friend into a black car, and drives away into the darkness.

--

Though I am unhappy and stiff to go, Neji, being the boy or man he is (I don't know what to call him anymore), almost literally threw me over his shoulder and dumped me into that place whether I wanted to or not. Not wanting me to use up more of my motorcycle mileage, he was generous enough to arrive at my doorstep in his red Porsche at twelve PM sharp.

If Kankuro didn't know better and didn't fear his life, he'd probably say, 'New boyfriend, eh?' But of course, he is thankfully smart enough to keep his mouth shut and just stood there in the doorway with his arms crossed, obviously waiting for Temari to come home.

Slumping down into the passenger seat, I raise a brow at the older boy's dramatic date-like entrance. "What's with this? I usually go over to your house then you drive me…"

"Not going over to Naruto's house today," He says shortly, trying to drive and fix his hair in the rearview mirror at the same time (It's a little uncombed in the back and makes the back of his head look like a messed up maze), "He said he decided to practice at Sasuke's.

I groan in agony, running a hand through my own hair (looking at Neji messing with his hair makes me want to mess with mine, ok?), "Whaaaaat? But didn't Sasuke say he never wanted us over his house because of his insane brother?" Neji shakes his head a little, finally reaching over to grab some water to smooth down the gravity-defying hair strands.

"I don't know, but we're going to Sasuke's. He lives the farthest away from me, so it doesn't take as long if I picked you up from your doorstep. Don't you dare whine, or I'll take out my List of Things to Whack Lee With and whack you upon the head."

I wasn't thinking of whining anyways, just sighing and staring out the car window. Blurs of earth-tone hues flash across my view, accompanied by the occasional yellow or orange streak of a street cone or pedestrian crossing. Neji's silent, except for the occasional cough or clearing of the throat that grated on my nerves and kept me on edge.

He's wearing a neat, white collared button-up shirt and some slacks. Unlike me, he looks good in slacks. His hair is pulled back in that meticulous Hyuuga manner and tucked neatly behind his shoulder (except for the wild strands on the back of his head, but hey, he fixed it, alright?), and his expression is oddly soft.

We're silent all the way there. Eventually, the tall peaks of Uchiha Manor come into view, and I almost shiver with anxiety at the deep aura being emitted from the place. Walls painted a dark navy blue, almost edging onto pure black, the architect was obviously thinking dark, mysterious, and Goth-like creepy when he was designing the huge building.

Twin towers are erected from the midst of large ornate gates and archways, cold, black, and spiraling upwards into a jagged tooth-like point. In-between the two is a dark, though warm-looking building that sort of resembled the Hyuuga residence, though oppositely orientated, obviously. Neji stops the car and motions for me to get out along with him. Shouldering the large backpack I had grabbed on my way out of the flat, I am surprised that the Uchiha residence did not have humongous front gate, like Neji's house.

I am about to knock on the large ebony door when Neji stops me. "I'll do this," He says quietly, and knocks the doorknocker.

I wonder briefly why he wouldn't let me do the knocking myself. Shortly afterward, my question is answered.

"Hello? Who is it?" A singsong voice can be heard inside, the door swings open. Standing in the doorway is a youngish man about the same height as Neji, dark hair pushed back into a tight ponytail behind him and curious looking crimson eyes. When Shukaku was still here he always talked about getting crimson eyes, but I think he meant eyes drenched in blood, not red irises. "Oh, it's Neji right? And who's this?" He peers at me, and the initial cuteness wore off.

His elegant-shaped nose and curved, crimson eyes were exactly like Sasuke's, but the likeness in his face and attitude basically ended there. His mouth didn't curve in a natural smile, but the edges of his lips seemed to always be in a sort of quirky smirk, unlike Sasuke's stoic frown. Two identical lines curved downwards from the inside of his eye to a little halfway down his nose, and I couldn't really tell if they were scars or just wrinkles. I highly doubt wrinkles though. The guy looks like he's only twenty-four, twenty-six-ish. His chin was slightly rounded and jutted out a little more then Sasuke's, and the way his neck held his head up and connected it to his broad shoulders was definitely more masculine then my emo friend.

"Gaara," Neji says, flatly, "This is Sabaku no Gaara."

A smile curves on the man's face, and he gingerly grasps my hand in a strong handshake. "Ah! Gaara! Sasuke's sort of talked about you! Nice to meet you!" He's smiling, but his eyes are looking at me suspiciously. He doesn't trust me, and I don't really trust him, "I'm Itachi! Sasuke's older brother!"

"Older brother?" I say, blankly, "The one he says is insane?"

"Well," Itachi responds, dryly retrieving his hand from my grip and stuffing it into a jean pocket, "He doesn't really have any other brothers, does he? He's always saying stuff like that about me, but he's just sulking. Come on in; he and Naruto are setting up the band things in the living room."

As we walk in and turn the corner, the man just seems to vanish. I look back, and see no one there. Puzzled, I exchange glances with Neji.

"Don't worry," The Hyuuga reassures me as we enter one of the Uchiha's (many) living rooms, "He always does that."

"Ah," I respond.

Naruto's bending over, adjusting a music stand, and I can't help but take a good look at his butt. Sasuke's watching me though, and his eyes narrow in my direction as he nods at Neji and me.

"Hey," He says, crossing his arms stoically, "Has my older brother scarred you for life?"

"No," Neji chuckles and motions for me to put down my backpack, "He amazingly acted quite normal today. All he did was say 'hello' and let us in." Naruto, who has finished adjusting the music stand and has turned around to acknowledge us, puts a hand to his heart and gasps.

"Uchiha Itachi? Normal? My, he must really like you, Gaara."

I appear and feel confused. "Huh?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes and goes and drags the unpacked drum set from his corner to start assembly. "My brother is a world-class idiot slash insane maniac. He got into an argument with my parents when I was around eight, then decided to disown them and move away."

"You can disown parents?"

"Sort of… he disowns them, they disown him, same ending. Anyways, he moves away to this ok apartment and lives by himself for a freakin' month before butting back into the Uchiha business by announcing he wanted custody of me and he wanted custody of me now." I'm staring at him. This is the most Sasuke's told me of his past and I wanted to hear every word.

"Anyways, my parents weren't exactly compliant because they needed an Uchiha heir and damn them if it was going to be Itachi, and they had this huge legal battle over my custody and adoption. At first, my parents apparently 'won' and Itachi backed off for three months, and then all of sudden he launches another attack of get-a-hold-of-Sasuke! and they fight for another half a year. Finally, Itachi won the case and I moved in with him."

I am perplexed, "But you said he lived in an ok apartment. What are you doing here?"

Sasuke is quiet for a moment, and I look at his face and see his features tight with remorse, regret, and sadness. He catches me staring at him, and his expression softens. "Well, you can say my… family… got caught in an accident two years later… and they… all died."

Before I can ask what happened, he says, "There was a fire, ok? Not here, otherwise the whole place would be burned down, but at the old city hall. My entire family was there, except Itachi and me, because Itachi didn't want to have anything to do with my family, and the building just collapsed. No one knew who or what started the fire, and they dismissed it as an accident." He shakes his head, "I don't know, but afterwards Itachi and I moved back into the Uchiha Manor and Itachi took over our parents' company. Most people, hearing he's the CEO of Uchiha Industries, think he's some suave business guy that can sweet-talk anyone down."

Naruto snorts as he finishes tuning his guitar, "Itachi's sweet, I admit, but he's crazy. Do you remember that time he heard that you wished it was raining cats and dogs and he literally went out, kidnapped all the dogs and cats in the neighborhood, and threw them all off the roof?"

Sasuke sort of cracks up in this Uchiha-way (which means he sort of just smirks), "I remember. And they didn't get hurt because Itachi hadn't mowed the lawn for two months? He claimed it was because long lawns were nature's right path and that interfering with nature gave us bad luck?"

Naruto's nodding his head, and it's obvious the two were going into some major flashback mode, "Remember all those weird things he used to do? Once when we were in third grade and he dragged us to the kitchens and made us make this weird recipe that looked like poop? I ate some but he told me it wasn't for eating and made us write 'I will not lie' on all the doors?"

Sasuke groans, "Man, I can't forget that week. The whole manor smelled like cinnamon for days!" Neji looks at me and I look at him and I know that he knows we have absolutely, no idea what they are talking about.

"And—and, that time," Naruto's laughing really hard now, "He pretended to be your big sister for a month! He actually got a perm and put on lipstick a-and borrowed a dress and talked in this high falsetto and wore fake boobs!"

"My god," Sasuke moans, covering his eyes, "I think he scarred some innocent young boys all that week for life."

Naruto is still talking, "And then that month he decided he was bisexual, went on the internet, printed off some gay and straight images and taped them all over the house? There was even some porn in there!"

"He even insisted on posting some of those damn papers on my back, too," Sasuke sighs, "He said it raised awareness to gay rights and couples."

Naruto nods, "And he always sounds like he's high. He'd talk for five minutes normal, and then all of a sudden his voice would suddenly get higher and higher and squeakier and squeakier until his victim is sure he's on helium or something, and then he'd scare them half to death by letting out this animal-like roar."

"Always followed by the standard Itachi-cackle."

Naruto giggles, "And sometimes, if he's crazy enough, he'd do his little underwear dance."

Neji groans, "When I first came he did that to me…"

Sasuke and Naruto exchange looks, and, with identical evil looks, they start chanting, "Underwear! I need a spare! Because I'm not! Wearing Underwear! They're too messed up! They're turning green! How can I sleep! My little," They cough here, "Ahem! Can be seen! Sticking out! From my worn jeans!"

"Stop it!" Neji shouts, covering his ears, and they, including me, break into laughter. "That's not funny! He even took off his pants and started mimicking a penis!" Neji is the only person I know who referred to a man's thing as a penis with a straight face, "Then he disappeared and then reappeared behind me and pinched my butt. And then…"

"He stripped, right?" Naruto's laughing himself hoarse, "He took off his boxers, put them on his head, and then, with a tribal scream, he ran off down the hall?"

"No," Neji's shaking his head, "He first started screaming, took of his boxers, put them on my head and took off down the hall."

This makes everyone laugh louder. Itachi, who was probably in the kitchen, screams, "SASUKE! You're interfering with my spiritual vibe! Keep the amount of energy down to a minimum, gracias!"

"No comprehendo!" Sasuke screams back, "Yo no hablo espanol!" There are tears streaming down Naruto's face, he's laughing so hard.

Who knew life at the Uchiha's was so much like a day-time drama?

Neji, who had started laughing along with Naruto, stops and says, "Well, he's only weird sometimes. He's a pretty nice guy other times, though; like Naruto says, he's sweet." He aims a look at Sasuke, who has finished assembling the drum set, "Unlike another Uchiha I know."

Sasuke scowls, "Who, me?"

"What other Uchiha is there in the world?"

"Point taken."

This is probably the most relaxed I've felt for weeks. It's almost like before the whole Sasuke-Naruto Make-out thing, Temari's ruined marriage plans, and Neji's spastic breakdown with Lee. Things felt normal.

The phone rings.

"Sasuke!" Itachi emerges from his 'spiritual-vibe-finding', "Sakura's on the phone! And tell her not to talk too long, I've got to make plans with Kisame later, ok?"

Sasuke grins and waggles his eyebrows in a way I've never seen him do before.

"'Plans'? Aw, are you two going on another date?" Itachi, who was holding a stuffed wolf in his left hand, throws the toy at his younger brother heatedly.

"Sasuke!"

"Ok, ok, I'll stop!"

Putting a loose strand of hair behind his ear, the older Uchiha glares his little brother down. Itachi with a glare is scary. Itachi with a glare did not look like the manically insane man Naruto and Sasuke said he was. Itachi with a glare can take a knife and cut anyone in his way into a thousand different pieces. Itachi with a glare is to be avoided.

"If you try to embarrass me again in front of your little friends, I swear, I'll steal all your black clothes for a month!" Sasuke looks stunned at the aspect of no-black-clothes for a month. Itachi sort of huffs, turns heel and strides out the room, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

"Man," Naruto says, scratching his head, "He must be really low-tone today, eh" Sasuke doesn't say anything because he's talking to Sakura.

"Yes… no… no, Sakura, I mentioned it to you last time…" He sits cross-legged on the couch (like Umino-san…) and continues to chat away. Naruto pokes me and motions for the song and lyrics for the Battle of the Bands. I hand him the script and Neji hands him the lyrics, and he skims them over quickly.

As I admire the Uchiha's wondrous silk-covered couch, their beautifully woven navy-blue rug and the coffee table which Sasuke and Naruto had moved over next to the couch to make room for the drum set and microphone system, I spot Itachi leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded, staring at me. He motions for me to come over wordlessly, face devoid of any emotion and eyes glimmering coldly in the dark light.

I don't know, but after all Naruto and Sasuke had said about insane-brother-Itachi, he didn't look very insane now. I quietly slip out of Naruto's scrutinizing gaze and join the older Uchiha in the kitchen. He acknowledges me with a curt nod, as if it was no time for jokes and what he was about to tell me was very serious.

I wait for him to say something.

Cocking his head, he examines me, and then smiles, as if pleased at what he sees.

"Gaara… you've got a thing for Naruto, don't you?"

I sort of flinch in surprise. He lifts his head and looks at me with that quirky smirk on his face, as if contemplating how to phrase his next words. Eyes narrowing in both amusement and warning, he whispers, quietly so Sasuke can't hear, "Look, I'm pretty sure you know that Otouto's got something going for that little blonde, too, right?"

"What," I spit, suspiciously, "You want me to back off so your little brother-chan has a shot at molesting Naruto?"

Surprisingly, the Uchiha just laughs, not cackles, but laughs. It amazes me: from what I've seen myself of this guy, he was nothing like how the other's described him-- he's brutal, strict, sly, and had a sort of sadistic sense of humor, as if it amused him that his brother's friends thought he was a totally insane maniac. Of course, I knew better. I know what a totally insane maniac was like. I was a totally insane maniac, once.

"No, no, actually I approve of your affection for the little blonde," Itachi taps the side of his chin with his index finger, looking off into the distance as he spoke, "Actually, I'm going to say 'go for it!'. Otouto… he's just really confused right now. He's trying to figure out his… feelings… by going out with Sakura and hitting on Naruto, reason being his thought that he'll just hurt one person when he dumps them, but in the end he'll just end up hurting them both, you know?"

I nod. Itachi thinks a heck of a lot like the way I think, which was a little scary, if I thought about it.

"So the best thing to do is to either convince Sasuke to dump one of them now, dump both of them, or get someone else to date or fall in love with either Sakura or Naruto. Since even I'm not sadistic enough to try and pair someone up with Sakura, my immediate thought was to get a match with the little ball of sunshine."

I narrow my eyes and glare at the older man, "So in the end I'm just a tool to help Sasuke 'get over' his feelings?"

He shrugs, as if it didn't really matter. It probably didn't, "Hey, you can think that way, but in the end it makes sense, doesn't it? If you and Naruto hook up, then Sasuke won't end up hurting him and he might just possibly fall in love with Sakura, Lord I pray he does, you'd be happy, Naki—no, Neji, right?—would finally breath a sigh of relief, and Kisame wouldn't have to listen to Sasuke's descriptive rants about the best sex positions for both men and women." I stare at him because of the last comment, but he doesn't do anything but widen his smile, "In the end, everyone wins, you know? So give it a try. I just wanted to explain some stuff to you and let you know that I'm on your side."

I stare at him before he lightly turns me around and gives me a light push towards the living room. I see that Sasuke and Naruto have finished setting up the band things, and were arguing heatedly with one another while they were waiting for me. At first I wanted to join them, apologize for being late and get going with the songs. However, a thought had just briefly crossed my mind.

"Itachi-san," I say, formally, turning back towards him. He peers at me in a sort of half-curious manner.

"Hm?"

"The whole 'I'm Sasuke's Brother and I'm Insane!' thing… it's just an act, right?"

Itachi, who had gone back to his icy stone-set face, let the ends of his lips twitch upwards in a sort of cunning smile, "You're real smart, aren't you? I find that Sasuke's little friends find it easier to talk to me if I act insane and harmless, instead of when I act like my normal self and scare the shit out of them with my dry humor."

I am about to ask why he acted different around me when he really pushes me forward this time, locking the kitchen door and shouting, in a loud voice, "THANK YOU GAA-GAA YOU HELPED ME RESTORE MY VIBE! SASUKE! Are you done talking to Sakura? I NEED TO GO CALL KISAME NOW! Don't you DARE list all the things that perverted Kakashi has been teaching you!"

As Itachi lists off a bunch of other things he wanted Sasuke to do, I wonder how these insane bouts of shouting could possibly occur unless Itachi was already a little naturally crazy in the first place.

--

I stare at myself in the mirror for a second, give a growl of frustration and rip off the tank, throwing it behind me. Neji, who is sitting with his legs crossed on my bed, catches it effortlessly and raises an eyebrow at my behavior. I scowl at him and pick up the next victim in my wardrobe.

"Just pick something."

"None of my clothes are good enough!"

Next to Neji, where he had tossed my thrown-away tank, is a pile of black hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts, more tank-tops, lacy-things that Baki had bought me for 'formal occasions', gloves, bandanas, and, even, a thong.

"Thong?" Neji had said, when I showed him it before I put it on, "Gaara, thongs are supposed to go on your butt." I had put it on my head in a frightening resemblance to Chouji, and had immediately tossed it aside along with the rest of the things.

"Why don't you go borrow some clothes from Kankuro or Temari?"

I groan, yanking a black-jacket t-shirt mix off the hanger and roughly untangling it from its knot, "Kankuro and Temari? You've got to be kidding me." Neji just sighs, getting up from his seat on the bed.

"Would you like it if I went and asked them for you?"

"Sure, whatever. But don't bring back anything that is pink, purple, or shiny bling-bling, ok?"

Neji snorts before leaving my room, "I'm not dumb."

As I wait for him to return, I try on at least three more pairs of shirt and pants I could wear to my date. A different style black tank with black cargo pants? Out the window. Red long-sleeve with a black tee over along with some navy jeans? Trash that. A black jacket over a red tee and some black slacks? Wait, why was I wearing slacks?

I strip back down to my boxers (which were red with little trains all over them… don't ask…) and sit, frustrated, on the bed. Neji appears shortly afterward, bunches of clothes in hand, and throws them at my half-naked body.

"Left is Temari," He orders, "Right is Kankuro. You fit into your siblings' clothes?"

I shrug as I sort through the new piles, "I fit into some of Kankuro's 'skin tight' ones and Temari and I are the same size. Oh, this looks good."

After playing around with some of the stuff my siblings had to offer (Neji claims both of them were pretty excited about sharing stuff with me but I doubt it) I finally, with Neji's help, decide on my outfit for today.

Black, corseted-tank top thing (the corset is at abdomen level, not bosom… because I do not have a bosom), with a pair of fingerless gloves. Dark black-jacket that hung loosely over my arms, but short enough to reveal my tank-top and gloves. A dark pair of black pants that hung very loosely over my hips (Neji was cracking up as I wandered around the room looking for a belt because my pants were completely falling off), and a black stud in my ear.

I really looked no different from normal, except for the corset-thing and the earring, which was only to be expected. "You don't want to scare him off," Neji had said when I was wondering if I should wear something fancy or casual, "Make it look like a sort of mid-friend-love date, ok?"

After practice at the Uchiha's, I told Naruto I'd get ready and I'd let him get ready and that we'd meet each other at seven because even though the concert started at seven forty-five it was probably going to be really crowded at the convention center so it'd be best to get there early. Now it was around six-fifty and I think I was as close to a nervous wreck as I could ever get.

I tugged at my earring, "Neji, are you sure this black is black enough?"

Neji sighs, "Yes, it is black enough."

I tug at the corset-thing letting anyone who looked close enough see a bit of my stomach, "Am I fat?"

Neji crosses his eyes, "No, Gaara, you are not fat."

I even looked at my hair in the mirror, "Neji…"

Neji snaps, "You are wonderfully perfect with the perfect clothes and body and you and Naruto will definitely have a perfect night and if you don't get into the car right this minute you'll definitely be late!"

I scramble into the car not because I was scared of Neji but because the prospect of being late was all too frightening.

We drive to Neji's house, where Neji gets off, give me his car keys, and tell me if I get a scratch on his precious Porsche he will personally come over and rip my motorbike to pieces. Oh, I was stealing Neji's driver ID too, just in case the police came and realized I was a serial killer who was over-driving his mileage limit.

"Come back at at least one," Neji warns as he waves me off, "My uncle's going to be kind of pissed that my car is gone already so don't you dare make it worse."

As I drive unfamiliarly down the driveway (I've driven our family's Chevy… twice) I gulp.

Operation Date-Naruto? Undetermined.

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Author's Note: I know, I suck. I leave you all hanging for another chapter! (The date WILL happen... soon... possibly...) Everyone, kiss Itachi! He's cute, yes? I didn't feel like being all confusing and crap with the Uchiha's so I blunt out said their past because everyone else has dark pasts, we don't need another one... REVIEWERS/Glomps them/ I've opened a reviewer's shop! Just go in and grab whatever you want! The only price is a review /winkwink/ Heh. I'll update later! Ja!