Guys guys! I FINALLY UPDATED AFTER LIKE SIX MONTHS.

I'm so sorry for making you wait... ;_;

To my old readers, I won't blame you if you've lost interest in this...

To any new readers, long spaces between each update is to be expected...

((I typed this on my iPad. Expect grammar and spelling mistakes.))

Enjoy and please leave a comment!

Sly Fox

Chapter Four: A Gift for you

Now when he thought about it, Gaara had been scared of stupid stuff in the past; losing his wallet, his keys, his phone, etc., but now, he truly knew how it felt to be afraid.

'Fuck, my life.' Gaara mentally swore. He wished that someone would see that the blonde man next to him wasn't who everyone thought he was, that it was Uzumaki, the murderer, the serial killer, and the monster that was picking people off one at a time. He was pretty sure that he was next to die, but at the same time, he felt uneasy that he was still alive.

"Is that it?" Uzumaki asked lightly, gesturing to the busy coffee shop across the road.

Gaara swallowed and glanced at where he was pointing and nodded before turning away and trying his best to catch the eye of someone that could help. Oddly enough, everyone was either ignoring him or too busy to notice, as if being with the blonde had turned him invisible. But Gaara originally never stood out much, and when he did, it was for all the wrong reasons.

"Hey…" the blonde breathed into his ear. "Look at me."

Gaara inhaled sharply before slowly raising his eyes to meet with Uzumaki's. They were bluer then he originally thought; an endless blue ocean that seemed to wash over him and his troubles. The redhead kept the gaze before the walking sign flashed green and he crossed the road with Uzumaki, eyes anywhere but near the murderer.

Truth be told, he wanted to run. He could have too; all the people around them rushing to get to work would provide an excellent cover as the distance between him and Uzumaki increased. Gaara doubted that Uzumaki would chase after him, because that would alert the public, and he was pretty sure that the blonde wanted to stay as hidden as possible. But Gaara was curious; Uzumaki had all that time to kill him, and yet, he was still alive. When he had woken up and saw him, there was something wrong. He didn't remember falling asleep, especially in the presence of a fricking serial killer in his apartment. In short, Gaara knew there was something not quite right about his current situation; firstly, there was a huge gap in his memory, and secondly, he was still alive. Not that he wanted to be dead or anything.

"How quaint." The blonde man mused as they walked into the coffee shop. It was alive with noisy chatter from people in booths and in the line waiting for their coffee. "What would you like?"

'I'd like to leave, thank you very much.' Gaara swallowed. "…Chai Latte…"

"Hm," Uzumaki commented, looking at the massive black board menu above the coffee bar. "I'll take a plain espresso and a chai latte please. No cream for either of them." He told the barista, who nodded and accepted the money.

"Give us five minutes." The pony-tailed barista said, handing the blonde the change.

Gaara gave up trying to catch the eye of someone who could help as they went to stand at the side. Here, he felt rather relaxed, inhaling the dark aroma of freshly ground coffee beans. The redhead quickly glanced at Uzumaki, noting that the murderer seemed almost normal, the way he was just there. And not with the scary grin he had back in the apartment.

"They're very bitter, isn't it? Espressos?" Gaara asked suddenly.

Uzumaki smiled. "Just how I like it."

Gaara thought about it. He supposed that the blonde didn't like sweet things that much.

"Plain espresso, chai latte, no cream." A voice called out from over the chatter.

Uzumaki raised his head and moved through the crowd to get their order. Gaara watched as Uzumaki said a few words to the pony-tailed barista and handed him something… a pen, maybe?

When Uzumaki came back, he handed Gaara his latte before taking a big mouthful of the bitter coffee.

"How's your chai latte?"

"…nice…" Gaara blinked and awkwardly took another sip. "How's…your expresso…?"

Uzumaki smiled. "Bitter."

He looked at the pencil the blonde man had handed to him. Etched into the wood was his name, with straight precise lines; Shikamaru Nara.

Shikamaru looked out of the window from behind the barista counter. It was about ten thirty nighttime; practically no one was coming in now.

"Alright, you guys can go home." Shikamaru said to his employees. "Your stuff's in your lockers." With that, he took off his apron and vaulted over the counter. He handed the keys to Sai. "Lock up for me?"

Sai offered a smile over his small pink book but refused to move from his position against the counter.

Shikamaru sighed, dangling the keys in front of his face. "Just lock up please."

The dark-haired man yawned, marking the page before closing his book. "I'm just going to stay a while longer, I mean, isn't that what you called me over for?"

"Yeah, but he hasn't come back, so you can lock up." Shikamaru said as nicely as possible.

"Why don't you lock up if you've got time to badger me?"

"Because you wanted to stay here a while longer, and when I lock up, I mean to turn off all the lights, and I'm sure even you can't read in the dark." Shikamaru stated, slightly irritated.

Sai nodded and tucked his book into his coat pocket. "Fair enough." He took the keys and slipped them into his other pocket. "Want me to come back tomorrow?"

The pony-tailed man shrugged. "If it's not too much for you."

"I'm not called to the station that often." Sai said. "Just make me one of those nice mochas the next time I come around and I'll sit in that booth by the door and read my porno while watching for a certain blonde serial killer."

Shikamaru sighed gratefully. "Thanks, Sai."

Sai grunted before pushing off the counter and falling into the booth by the door, book already open and keys dangling lazily off his finger. The other man rolled his eyes before walking to the back of the shop and instead of going up the stairs to his living space, opened the dull green door beside it, which he had fondly named his 'escape hatch', back when he'd just gotten the coffee shop.

The door led to what some people would call a 'mini backyard'. It was barely four meters squared, so it was pretty small. A garage sat at the back, but Shikamaru used as a storage shed to hold all the coffee beans that wouldn't fit so that him and his fellow baristas would have some legroom when they went on breaks.

A wooden fence that was beginning to rot enclosed the yard. Shikamaru wrinkled his nose as the lamp cast its light on the garishly painted fence and pushed one of the boards on the left side to open up to Ino's backyard. A light shone from the little slide of glass on her back door. 'Good, Ino's still here.' The man quickly ducked back into his own yard and this time, pushed a loose board on the right of his fence and saw Choji with a big rubbish bag.

"Hey Shika!" Choji called good-naturally, dumping the bag on the ground and stretching. "Just dealing with the stuff the people can't finish. What a waste of my marvelous all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet!"

"That's nice, Cho." Shikamaru muttered, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him into his own yard.

"What's the matter? You seem nervous." Choji noted, looking worried for his friend.

"Wait here. Don't move." The pony-tailed man ducked under the raised board and into Ino's back yard. He rapped on the back door and waited patiently for the woman to come out, but nothing happened. It was odd; the lights were on. "Ino?! You there?" He called as loudly as he dared to. There was no response. Shikamaru looked up and saw the window on the second floor was open; curtains shifting with the slight breeze. The lights were on on the second floor as well; Ino surely had to be here, she never really left the flower shop unless to go over to Choji's to get some free food.

Choji poked his head through the fence. "You looking for Ino?"

"Yeah, she doesn't seem to be here, troublesome woman." Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head. "You know where she is?"

"I saw her this morning, isn't she upstairs?"

"I knocked on the door and I've shouted her name. She usually responds straight away to stuff like this." Shikamaru replied, remembering the antics of his promiscuous friend.

Choji shrugged. "Is she in the shower?"

"The drains are dry."

Choji frowned. "Did you say something to her that got her pissed?"

Shikamaru scowled. "I don't think so." He sighed and returned to his own yard. He really needed to speak with Ino and Choji at the same time. Where could the woman be? 'It's scary enough that Naruto came by this morning.' Shikamaru's eyes widened. 'Shit, Naruto…and Ino's not responding…' "Shit!" the man suddenly cursed and pulled Choji back with him into the coffee shop. He scanned the booths and was so relieved to find Sai still sitting there, reading his book and dangling the keys from his slender fingers.

Sai looked up curiously. "I thought you were going to sle-"

Shikamaru shook his head and sighed. "Sai, I need you to break down Ino's door."

The pale man blinked. "What for?" he blinked again when he saw the look on the pony-tailed man's face. "Are you okay?"

Choji nodded, rubbing his arm where Shikamaru had gripped it. "Yeah, Shika, I've never seen you more scared…"

Shikamaru shook is head again, this time frantically and grabbed Sai and Choji's arm and pushed them out his back door and eventually into Ino's yard. He jabbed at the lock on the door. "Sai, this is urgent. I'm not kidding."

The pale man sighed and bent down to examine the lock. He extracted too pins from his pocket and got to picking the lock. It seemed like forever until they heard the lock click hollowly. "There, now will you-"

He was interrupted yet again as Shikamaru pushed the two into the flower shop, almost making them trip up the stairs. "Ino?!" He shouted, running to the front. He swept his eyes over the dark room and turned back to the stairs when he found nothing. "Up!" He hissed to Sai and Choji and shoved at them to hurry up.

"Shika, calm down! What's up?" Ino replied, coming out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. She had headphones around her neck and was about to knock whoever was coming up her stairs with the pink hairdryer she was threateningly wielding. "Hey Cho! That steak was delicious!"

Choji grinned. "Told you so."

Ino giggled then saw Sai and smiled. "Sai! What are you doing here?"

Sai raised his eyebrows suggestively. "What do you think, Miss Ino?"

Ino giggled and slapped the pale man. "Shut up, you tease."

Shikamaru could not comprehend how normal everything was playing out. He was sure… but he suddenly remembered the reason he wanted to talk with Ino. He didn't really need Sai here, but if Sai was going to be any help, then he might as well stay. "Ah… Ino, I need to talk with you." He gestured to Choji and Sai. "I only needed Choji, but because you're already here, you might as well stay, Sai."

"Hm." Said responded, sitting on Ino's bed and opening his book.

Ino raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru. "Must have been urgent if you broke down my door."

"It's not broken, Sai just picked the lock, anyway, look at this." Shikamaru replied, exasperated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pencil. He hadn't shown anyone yet, not even Sai.

"It's a pencil." Choji said in disbelief. "One of those old-school ones we used to use. What about it?"

The pony-tailed man handed it to the brunette and pointed at it. "Look carefully."

Ino leant in to have a look and gasped dramatically. "Oh my GOSH, it's got your name written on it!" She didn't look impressed. "Shikamaru, I was ready to beat your head off with my expensive hair dryer for this?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "The point is, don't you recognize it? Come on, Ino, you've got to remember."

The blonde woman raised an eyebrow and took the pencil between her manicured fingers. "Hmm, it does seem familiar…"

The pony-tailed man groaned, took a cigarette out and lit it. "This is so troublesome." He mumbled, taking the stick to his mouth.

Choji coughed as the smoke burned through the air. "Ack! Shikamaru!"

"I didn't know you smoked." Ino stated.

"I only smoke when I need you guys to tell me that you remember this pencil." He accented his point by taking it back from Ino and waving it in front of their faces.

"I remember it."

"Huh?" Shikamaru turned around to the source of the voice.

Sai closed this book with a sigh. "Can I see it for a second?" He nodded when Shikamaru handed it to him. "See that?" He pointed the indents near the top of the pencil.

"Wait…" Choji mumbled, blinking. "Are those… teeth marks?"

Shikamaru turned to the pale man. "You chewed my pencils?"

"I marked which one I was using at the time. You're the only one who has all of the pencils and in perfect condition too. It still amazes me to this day." Sai said.

Shikamaru wasn't even surprised. "It makes sense, I guess." He muttered. "I never used the pencils. But that's not the point." He gave the pencil to Choji. "You know why this pencil's so important?"

"Come to think of it, I think I saw…him… pick it up after… was it Sasuke…yeah Sasuke, threw it…" Choji said uncertainly.

Ino bit her lip. "I haven't seen that Uchiha since we all graduated." She inspected her nails before taking the pencil. "So if Choji's right, and he really did give it to you, I guess he's sending a message?"

Shikamaru nodded. "I'm pretty sure he is. And guess who else I saw today."

"Who?"

Shikamaru motioned the three of them to come closer before whispering the name. In an instant, Ino's hand went to her mouth, Choji gasped and Sai blinked.

Ino recovered quickly. "W-what? I thought he'd left the city after all that…"

"He's lives close by." Sai mentioned. "What? My job is tailing people."

"But Gaara never was close to anyone! And we all know for sure that the last person he'd want to be with would be…" Choji said, seeming convinced with what he had said.

Shikamaru sighed and went to sit on the edge of Ino's bed. "Why is this all happening now? Why not back when we were all cops?" He fell back and glared at the ceiling before closing his eyes. "Do we say anything?"

Sai opened his book and began reading again. "Do you want them to kill him?"

The pony-tailed man scowled. "They wouldn't do that… probably lock him up for life in solitary confinement."

"But we know Naruto…" Choji whispered suddenly, taking out a bag of chips from his pocket and frantically opening it. Once he had had a handful of chips, he continued. "He hates being alone, and we're his friends…right?" the big brunette looked at them desperately.

Ino went to sit on her bed and began playing with Shikamaru's hair. "To be honest, I don't even know is we are still his friends, I mean come on! We haven't done anything for him, we pretend not to know him, we're horrible!"

"That may be," Sai suddenly said, turning the page. "But we're all he's got at the time being. And ever since Hyuuga-san in charge of the case, as long as we run it by him, we should be able to do anything."

"Great." Shikamaru mumbled. "Anyone want to tell that tight-ass Hyuuga what happened today?" He felt so tired; Naruto and Gaara had suddenly appeared; those two were practically ghosts, no one had seen them, or heard from them for ages, and why would they show themselves now? Knowing Naruto, he probably had some sort of motive. "You guys, once we tell the Hyuuga, we'll be involved. We won't be able to back out without a fight. So now's the time to decide if you're in or not."

Choji swallowed a mouthful of chips before speaking. "We've ignored them for over three years, what if they don't recognize us? I mean Naruto obviously knows you Shika, but Gaara…"

"Is the one we need to help." Ino finished. "He was always the 'baby' of the group…"

Sai chuckled humorlessly. "I'm sure he would love you calling him a baby."

"What?" Ino retorted defensively. "I treated him like my own little brother, and you guys did too!"

The four of them grew silent; Ino's words, for once, were serious. When Gaara had gone, they had all felt they were the ones to blame for not watching him carefully enough. It was their fault, and they knew it, but nothing had changed over the years. They were all still too chicken to do something about it.

Choji munched another chip, obviously desperate to break the silence. "So who are we taking this to?"

"If you're all gonna take responsibility, I'd say Hyuuga." Shikamaru muttered. "But I don't want to be involved with such a troublesome guy..."

Sai suddenly sat up, his book laying askew, revealing its dirty contents. "There's someone I can talk to who can get you an appointment with Hyuuga-san."

"What about this person?"

The pale man smirked and closed his book quickly before any of them could read what was inside. "I'm sure she can persuade Hyuuga-san to not include you in the case."

Ino rolled her eyes. "You're such a dirty man." She examined her fingernails before blowing her long fringe away from her face, only for it to fall back to obscure half her face. "If that's the only thing Sai can suggest and Shikamaru can't think of anything else, we might as well join the case."

Choji narrowed his eyes at the lack of mention of his name. "Maybe we can just do tailing. Besides, who says the Neji Hyuuga is gonna let us on the case?"

The pony-tailed man nodded. "True. Okay, we call Neji first thing in the morning." He got up and motioned for Sai and Choji to follow him. He had glanced at Ino's hot-pink alarm clock and noted that it was way past his bedtime. "Okay, see you tomorrow, Ino."

His blonde childhood friend smiled tiredly and waved as they descended her stairs. "Yeah, bye."

As soon as the three males left Ino's apartment, Choji slipped under the fences to his yard. He waved Sai and Shikamaru goodbye before disappearing into his BBQ House.

Shikamaru turned to Sai. "I guess you can stay army place for the night."

Sai ai gave his usual smile before opening the door and going upstairs of the coffee shop. Shikamaru closed the door behind him and sighed. 'What a day...'

"You've only got one bed up here Shikamaru-san!" Sai called from upstairs.

The pony-tailed man let out a sigh. "How troublesome..."

Ending the chapter here. I'm so sorry agin for taking like half a year to update. I'm at a writer's block, but don't worry, the show will go on!

Comments are great motivational boosters... _

Hope to see you guys later!