Alright, so here's the second chapter. I'm pretty sure it kinda sucks, but it's better than nothing. There's even a...um, what's below a lime? An orange I guess. Either way, there's some kissing/grinding going on. Not much though, don't get your hopes up. That's coming though, I just have to do more 'research.' The things I do for my legions of fans. -snorts-

Anyway, there's more angst-y drama crap going on in this chapter, cause they're all emotional retards. And I need to find a way to give Neji more lines. So here it is, and I'm pretty sure I'm half-way done with this - only two more chapters, tops. Tell me what you think, or if you see anything that needs fixing.

Disclaimer: Are the boys screwing each other senseless on every availeable surface? Is Sakura on fire? No? Then I don't own it. Damn.

xxx

Making the rounds was even less fun than I'd anticipated. The fan-girls were, of course, deliriously happy at the Uchiha's return - at least judging by all the attempted rapes - and the rest of them seemed reasonably pleased that he'd return outside of a body bag.

But there were a few...note-able exceptions. First was Lee. Most disturbingly, he chose the 'overjoyed fangirl' route and wrapped the startled man in a bone-crushing hug almost as soon as the door was open. You'd think he'd have toned down his reaction, given that he'd already seen the Uchiha. Maybe he was going crazy.

There was also the horrifying visit to Kakashi and Iruka-sensei's apartment. Apparently, Kakashi wasn't in the habit of wearing clothing. Don't get me wrong, he's an attractive man, but I never needed to see that much of him. Thankfully, Uchiha had been so stunned by the...nakedness that he didn't really comment on their relationship and we could leave quickly with minimal trauma. Thank God for small favors.

With everyone else out of the way, there was no more putting off the inevitable. As we got closer to our final destination, I could feel the Uchiha tense up at my side. I ignored this and looked up at Neji, who met my gaze. Without saying anything, it appeared that he agreed with my prediction: this was not going to end well. The closer we got to Naruto's apartment, the slower the Uchiha walked. Dumb bastard. He wasn't getting out of this.

Sighing, I reached my hand out and laced by fingers with Neji's. He looked down at me, pale eyes ever-so-slightly wider than they usually were. After all, I wasn't usually demonstrative. But I was stressed beyond reason - I was still very bad with most prolonged human interaction - and I needed this small bit of comfort. Wordlessly, Neji squeezed my fingers, and I returned the gesture.

After what seemed to be an agonizing eternity - for all of us I'm sure - we finally wound up at Naruto's door. As I reached out to knock, I noticed that the Uchiha looked unnaturally pale. Oh, this was going to be a fucking mess.

The door opened, and I had the momentary impression of bright blue eyes and vibrant yellow hair before I was shoved uncerimoniously to the side.

xxx

The instant Naruto saw the Uchiha standing on his doorstep, he'd practically fallen over himself in an effort to get closer to him. He'd immediately wrapped the other boy in a tight hug, and had buried his face in the jet black hair. It would have been funny if I couldn't predict how this would end.

For an instant, just one fleeting second, the Uchiha looked...peaceful; happy even. And then it all went to hell. His face darkened, and he shoved Naruto off him viciously.

"What the fuck are you doing, Dobe?" The Uchiha was scowling down at the blond in front of him, who was still too over-joyed to care. Without another word, he seized the Uchiha's hand and dragged him inside. Neji and I barely made it through before the door slammed.

Inside, Naruto was talking a mile a minute, alternately asking questions, ordering the other boy around or adding snippets of what he himself had been doing in the Uchiha's absense. In other words, making a complete fool of himself.

Surprisingly, the Uchiha seemed to be tolerating it well. At least, Naruto was still alive. After nearly a half hour of non-stop chatter, Naruto finally calmed down enough for somebody else to speak themselves. Of course, it was Uchiha, so maybe that wasn't a good thing...

"My God Dobe, haven't you grown up at all? It's been nearly four years and you're still acting like a hyper-active kid." At the cold tone in the Uchiha's face, Naruto's smile shrank a few molars, though he still managed to beam as brightly as before.

"Naw, I'm not usually like this. I'm just excited you're back, is all. I- we all really missed you, you know Teme?" When the black-haired asshole only replied with his signature 'hn', however, Naruto's good mood vanished.

"What the fuck, bastard? You run away for three years without hardly saying goodbye to anyone and then act all pissed off when people are happy to see you. What did you expect? We're all happy to see you again - we missed you..." Once again, the Uchiha's voice was cold and indifferent to this display of emotion.

"You think I care? I didnt ask them to miss me. I never did anything to make them think I cared about any of them. Or you for that matter."

Naruto's eyes widen, and filled with a deeply hurt look as his fists clenched at his sides. I nudged Neji with my elbow, and he began to surreptitiously move behind Naruto in a position to grab the blond idiot if this degenerated into a fist-fight.

"How can you act like that? We were worried about you, we didn't even know exactly where you were, and then you come back here and get mad when people assume you cared!"

"Hn. Like I said, that's not my problem. And what have I ever done that would make you think that I cared?" Naruto looked at him helplessly, and from my position behind the Uchiha, I silently begged him not to say it. Didn't he know how it would end if he fell in love with someone like Sasuke?

"I just said- You came back. And I missed you and I care about you and I thought you- I just- Look bastard, I love you alright? If you're such a genius shouldn't you have figured it out by now?" Oh God. I braced myself for the reaction that I was sure would be akin to an atomic bomb. Even from my place behind him, I could imagine the other boy's sneer.

"You love me, Dobe? Is that it? God, that's the most fucking pathetic thing I've ever heard. And what, Naruto, did you expect me to return that ridiculous sentiment? You actually thought I'd love someone like you? You're pathetic and weak."

For an instant, anger and hatred flashed in Naruto's eyes and he lunged forward, prompting Neji to grab him around the middle and me to hold the Uchiha's arms to prevent him from retaliating. Then, as quickly as it had come, then anger and fight left him and he slumped forward in Neji's grip. And even after all that, I still wasn't prepared for Naruto's reaction.

"Sasuke, please..." My body froze, but my eyes flew up to meet Neji's, and they reflected my horror. Naruto was crying. Shit, this wasn't supposed to happen. It shouldn't have been this difficult. I did understand the Uchiha's...Sasuke's reluctance, his fear of this - we had the same fear of intimacy after all - but he was supposed to be smart. He should have been able to work this out. He should have known the words. But I guess he was more fucked up than we realized.

At the sound of Naruto's broken voice, he'd tensed and relaxed beneath my hands, muscles straining forward towards the blonde and then going limp again. My mind was racing, trying to figure out how to fix this before either of them made it worse for themselves. Who knew they were both so bad with words?

Naruto looked up, ignoring the fact that there was anyone else in the room besides Sasuke, and locked eyes with him. His massive blue eyes were full of tears, and one had escaped, making it's solitary path down his cheek. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sasuke watch the tear; following it's course down the blonde's face as it came to rest at the corner of his mouth.

All I could think to do was to leave them alone. Maybe if it was just Naruto, Sasuke would be able to say what he needed to. Or at least articulate the general idea. I saw a part of myself in the black-haired boy - he had the same hang ups I did, concering feelings and other people. That still didn't change the fact that I hated him, of course. But, if he was as like me as I thought, there was only going to be one person he'd be able to really open up to, and, if history was any indication, that person was going to be Naruto.

I signaled to Neji with a small jerk of my head, and he released Naruto's waist and backed away. Without his support, Naruto sank slowly to the ground, as though he was falling through mollasses. I let go of Sasuke's arm myself and took a step back. He didn't make any movement, either towards or away from the boy on the floor. The only indication he gave that he knew what was happening, was a glance down at him. It was slow and mostly analytical, but given the circumstances and the people involved I guess it was progress.

I moved slowly towards the door, glancing back at Neji and slowly left the apartment.

xxx

A few moments later, he joined me in leaning against the wall in the alley behind the building. With a sigh, he raked a hand through his hair, dislodging the loose ponytail and setting the long strands free. He looked down at me and raised an eyebrow.

"That could have gone better." I fought back the urge to snort. I do not snort. Turning him slightly with my hands, I considered what he'd said.

"It could have gone a hellof a lot better. But considering who they are, it could have also been much worse." I raked my hands through Neji's hair, slowly massaging his scalp and tying it up once again. Neji hummed quietly, whether in response to my words or my actions, I wasn't sure.

"You're right, I suppose. Still, at this rate, they're never going to figure anything out." It was my turn to hum. "Actually, they're going to have to."

Neji turned slightly and craned his head over his shoulder to look down at me. "What did you do, Gaara?" I smirked up at him.

"Nothing really. Just locked the door from the outside. They're not getting out until whoever has the key opens the door." I waved said object in front of lavender eyes and watched the smirk - I taught him that - spread across his lips.

"This could actually be a very good idea. But it will still take them a while. And we can't leave them completely alone..." He focused those eyes on me, and I could see something sparking in them. "What should we do to pass the time?"

At this, I couldn't restrain my grin. "Hm, I can think of one or two things..." Instead of elaborating, I wound my arms around his waist and pressed my face into the back of his neck, inhaling his distinctive scent.

Neji turned in my arms, wrapping his own around me as well, and pressed his forehead to mine. He looked at me - studied me - and then pressed his lips gently to mine.

As always, my heart started to race and my breath caught in my throat. I had actually planned on listening at the door to make sure that those two didn't kill each other, but I wasn't about to complain about this alternative.

xxx

In a smooth motion, he had turned us around, backing me towards the building wall and simultaneously slipped his tongue between my lips, pressing me insistently against the wall as we reached it.

God, this was fantastic. The day had been so incredibly stressful for both of us - neither of us are very good with emotion - and we would take anything we could get. So what if it would wind up being against the dingy wall? We'd done it in far stranger places.

As Neji's tongue delved deeper into my mouth, he pressed me even harder into the wall while curling his hands around my hips and lifting me up. Instinctively, I wrapped my legs around his own hips, and used them to pull him even closer.

One of my hands was scrabbling down the front of his shirt, searching for the hem, while the other fisted in his long hair and tugged fiercely in exactly the way I knew he loved.

He groaned against my lips and sank his teeth into my lower lip in retaliation. My hips bucked against his involuntarily, making us both moan, and I repeated the action instantly, grinding down harder this time.

I had just managed to get his shirt open and my fingertips on his bare skin - his words from the first time we'd had sex ringing in my ears as they always did now, Skin gets in the way - when a loud crash sounded from above our heads. Dammit.

xxx

Disentangling myself from Neji and rearranging his shirt in the same move, I made a break for the stairs with Neji following closely behind. As we reached the door at the top of the stairs, I fumbled the key from my pocket and shoved it in the lock.

The door slammed open and we both rushed in. As we rounded the corner leading from the kitchen to the living room, I heard something that didn't sound exactly like fighting.

Fully rounding the corner and stopping in the doorway, I was confronted with the sight of two shirtless, sweaty boys and an overturned chair. Oh. Well, that would explain the crashing. It was nice to see that they'd finally gotten their act together - faster than I'd guessed even - but I could've done without hearing Naruto make that particular noise.

They were both spread out on the beat up couch, Sasuke covering most a Naruto's body with his, though one of Naruto's legs made a reappearance draped across the Uchiha's back. I had no doubt as to what they were doing - I'd been in that position more times than I could count. I grabbed Neji's hand once again, and was trying to back out as quietly as possible when the damn Uchiha noticed us. Shit. Shitshitfuckshit.

His eyes fixed on us and widened comically. Below him, Naruto hadn't noticed anything - go figure - and was still arching, trying to get the Uchiha to continue his work on his neck.

The Uchiha - Sasuke- seemed frozen for an instant, as he tried to decide what to do. As always, he chose the wrong thing. With a grunt, he sat up and shoved Naruto off the couch to the floor. Naruto looked up at him in hurt amazement, until he followed the dark gaze to us.

He immediately turned an interesting shade of red, and his hand flew up to palm the back of his neck in that unique way of his. His mouth opened to start framing all manner of excuses, before Sasuke reached out and backhanded him.

"Shut up dobe. You'll only make this worse." His voice was as cold as it ever was, but this time it was laced with something else as well. Terror?

"This was nothing. It was a mistake. Coming back was a mistake. I will be gone in the morning." He got up stiffly and shoved past us to the door. Before he could get very far though, Naruto was up off the ground, grabbing Sasuke's forearm and slamming him into the wall next to the door.

I raised a thin eyebrow at Neji. The fuck was going on here?He shrugged his shoulders and cautiously moved closer to the two men, trying to get into a better position to grab one, if things got worse. I followed his lead from the other side.

I quickly replayed those few sentences back in my head. He said he'd be gone in the morning, made a point of it, even. Possibly he wanted somebody - Naruto - to stop him? I knew he cared deeply for the blond idiot, that was obvious even to a child. So why was he running? He had everything he should want. God this was going to be difficult. I turned my attention back to the 'little' scene in front of us and hoped against hope it would somehow work itself out.

Naruto was making a complete fool of himself, babbling nonsense and pleas into the Uchiha's neck, and I could only catch fragments. It was enough, though.

"Sasuke. Sasuke. Can't go. Won't let you. Missed you so much. Love you. Need to stay here. Me. Hurt when you left. Cried. Teme. Stay here. With me. Please Sasuke. I love you. Please."

God it was pathetic to watch. The blond idiot had wrapped himself around the dark haired boy and was crying silently into his neck. Oh God, Naruto was a wreck. This was exactly what I was afraid of happening. He wasn't strong enough to deal with this. Anything else, yes, but this was going to destroy him. I looked desperately at Neji and was met with my own shocked gaze. Shit.

And then, completely, suddenly, the Uchiha - Sasuke - relaxed. He tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes with a pained expression. Slowly - very, very slowly - he raised his arms and wrapped them around Naruto's waste, effectively pulling the smaller boy closer.

Naruto's sobs increased in volume as he tightened his arms around the Uchiha. In return, Sasuke tilted his head forward again, until his face was buried in the sunshine hair.

I nodded once to myself and made quickly for the door, knowing Neji would follow me. Once outside, I heaved a sigh, and allowed myself to lean into the strong figure standing next to me. Neji wrapped an arm around me, while the other ran through my hair. I was completely drained from this, and hated myself for it.

The arm shifted and wrapped around me waist. With a tug, he got me moving again; down the stairs and back through the streets to our own apartment.

xxx

Once back in the sanctuary of our own home, I sighed and ran a hand viciously through my already disheveled hair. Neji still didn't release his hold on my waist, and gently guided me to the bedroom.

I still had enough energy to pull me shirt off and collapse on the bed, but after that I lost all will to move.

The days events had worn down my defenses, and somehow opened me up to memories of my past. I could avoid thinking of them, remembering anything, when I wasn't tired and run down. But now, I was simply too tired to prevent them, and the washed over me, bringing the old feelings of hopelessness and depression back with them. I hated myself for letting this happen again.

Neji crawled into bed beside me, and pulled me over to lay almost on top of him.

"Gaara, don't do this to yourself. You're just tired, you don't need to be depressed. I'm here and it all worked out, you know that."

As he spoke, he was also running his fingers through my hair and down over my back, attempting to push the memories away. I think I loved him the most for doing that. I wished I didn't have to be like this ever, didn't have to remember. But somehow, Neji understood and didn't look down on me as being weak for it.

I was already calming down, pushing the memories back into that corner of my mind where they usually stayed as his arm slid down to drape possessively around my hips. Neji pulled me closer and wrapped his other arm around my shoulders, and in return, I nuzzeled my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling the scent of his hair.

As I was drifting away to whatever kind of sleep awaited me tonight, I heard him whisper into my hair.

"I love you, Gaara." I was too worn out to give my voice any strength, but I framed my response against his neck. 'Neji. Love you too.'

So there it is. I realize they were probably very OOC, Gaara especially, but I couldn't really help it. I'm operating under the assumption that his father was an abusive bastard and that would leave him with some very unpleasant memories he can't always repress. I kinda hate how fluffy it is at the end, but it wouldn't let me do anything with it.

And hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner. I have more of an idea of what I'd like to do with this one. Thanks to anyone who reviewed. You're more than welcome to do it again. -winkwink nudgenudge-

Ja ne