A/N: Sorry for the long break! I think I wrote a little more than usual so enjoy! Oh, and THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! My hopes of this story succeeding becomes higher each time! ;3

Chapter 6: Misinterpretation

In love? Neji ignored his cousin's question and ran out of his house, talking a walk to calm his mind. Hinata silently watched her cousin walk out, a little worried about that reaction. "He probably likes that upperclassman Temari." She giggled.

Sasuke opened the door to his apartment, noticing an envelope on his coffee table with his name on it. He tossed his bag to the sofa and sat down, ripping the opening of the envelope. Inside were a bundle of bills and a little note.

"For this month's rent." Sasuke read out loud. Right away, he knew who had sent the money. Sasuke threw the envelope on the floor, letting the bills fly all over the living room.

"Damn Itachi… why bother coming home…you weren't even there for mom and dad's funeral!" He shouted.

The bills finally landed on the floor and Sasuke glared at the envelope. He didn't want to think about his idiot brother anymore. He stormed out of the apartment, hoping a walk would clear his mind.

Neji swung on a swing set, wondering about his conversation with Hinata. If he were in love with Sasuke, wouldn't that make him a homosexual?

He had read about them in school briefly but never knew what it would be like. There were many girls in his life he could have fallen in love with, but when they confess or ask him out, he never took any interest.

Neji didn't find any males attractive either, was it just Sasuke? Neji thought about this long and hard when suddenly, someone walked in front of him. "I didn't expect to bump into you here."

Taken by surprise, Neji jolted when he looked up to see Sasuke. "Yo."

"WHOA!" Neji shouted, falling backwards. Sasuke shut his eyes when Neji hit the ground hard.

Sasuke began to chuckle, giving Neji a hand. Neji sat up and blushed embarrassingly, rubbing his head.

"Shut up, don't scare me like that." Neji growled, grabbing Sasuke's hand. "It wasn't my intention." Sasuke laughed.

Neji noticed a change in Sasuke's aura. It seemed as if he were hiding behind his smile. Neji sat back down on his swing. "What's wrong, you don't look well. Is your ankle still in pain?" Neji asked.

Sasuke stared at this teen. Normally whenever Sasuke hides his anger, no one would really sense it, but Neji noticed right away. Was it his insane skill of perceiving lies?

"It's nothing, I feel fine! You're the one acting weird." Sasuke grinned. Neji lowered his eyelids, making a scary glare. "You know that won't work on me." He said. Sasuke stopped his fake smiles, pulling a blank expression instead. He gave up and sat down next to Neji on the swings.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Neji said after noticing Sasuke's silence. Neji hurt himself a little when he said that, but he didn't want to be too nosy.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'll tell you, you'll probably find out soon anyway." Sasuke said, surprising Neji a little. Sasuke never spoke of his life to anyone before, and he never wanted to. However, when it came to Neji, Sasuke felt like he could tell him everything.

"I had a happy family before my brother ran from home. Itachi was the ideal man, son, and brother. One day, he suddenly ran off with a woman from college and went far away. My parents didn't mind his eloping with that woman but they wanted to see him. They boarded an airplane two years ago. That plane exploded due to some internal gas leakage that no one noticed."

Neji listened closely to Sasuke's story, nodding his head with every point made. Sasuke's face grew grimmer and grimmer while telling the story of his brother.

"So basically, your brother was a typical kind brother, but he turned out to be a jack-ass who betrays his family to run off with women?" Neji summarized. Sasuke nodded.

"The day of our parents' funeral, he didn't even show up! When I finally see him, he is with another woman and tells me he won't be coming home anymore. That bastard didn't even know my parents died in that airplane just to see him!" Sasuke yelled, punching a nearby pole.

Neji looked to the sky, a little doubtful of Itachi's actions. Was he really a perverted jerk, or was there some truth to this story? Neji didn't tell Sasuke this, fearing it would anger him more.

"I hate him and I don't want to be babied by him anymore, that's why I have to finish high school and show him I am the better man!" Sasuke growled.

Neji put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Calm yourself, or your hate for him will cloud your visions."

Sasuke lifted his eyebrow to the metaphor, but in a way, understood what Neji was saying and nodded his head, calming down a little.

"So after you saw the envelope, you came out for a walk to clear your mind?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, I like taking walks; it helps clean out the bad thoughts… What about you? You still haven't told me why you're here." Sasuke said, remembering his original question.

Neji looked away when Sasuke asked this question. Neji couldn't say he fell in love with Sasuke… "Er…I also wanted to take a walk. It calms me." He said, not completely lying.

Sasuke nodded and used his legs to push from the ground, swinging lightly. "You know, I feel better when I told you about this. Normally, the teachers are a pain in the ass when they ask me about my brother."

Neji smiled a little. "Sometimes, it's better to tell than bottling up your feelings." He said, feeling a bit hypocritical.

Sasuke felt a little jumpy from the smile Neji gave him and stood up. "You should go home, it's getting late." He said, looking the opposite direction to hide his reddened face.

"You're right. Take care of that ankle. I'll see you later." Neji said and walked out of the park.

Sasuke stood in front of the swings, holding one hand over his mouth. "Damn it…When did I become a homo?"

The next morning, Neji walked from the teacher's office back to his classroom. It was near the end of the week and he had to hand in the form for the school festival activities.

"Good morning Neji!" Tenten said, startling Neji by popping out of her classroom. Neji dropped his papers and took a small sigh.

"Good morning. How are you so energetic?" He asked, picking up the papers. Tenten didn't answer. She stood there grinning and humming. "W-What is it?" Neji asked.

"I know who you like!" Tenten sung while whispering. Neji's heart couldn't beat any harder and his stomach burning hotter when he heard this. Did she find out he fell for Sasuke? If so, how did she?

Neji stuttered, unable to find the right words to say, then turned red and silent. "Your cousin told me last night! Here, I got these tickets from my co-workers in the butcher shop! I gave one to Temari already so you two have fun in the amusement park on Saturday!" Tenten said and ran off.

…What? Neji thought, standing there in a daze. The bell rang and Neji had no time to retort that it wasn't Temari he liked. He stuffed the ticket in his pocket and ran to class, gritting his teeth in anger.

He did not see Sasuke in class today, and sadly, it was to his relief. During lunch, Neji couldn't find Tenten anywhere. He heard whispers throughout the halls.

"Did you hear Neji and Temari are going out? Isn't that a rumor? Temari showed me her ticket! It's true!" He heard.

The bell rang once more and he had skipped lunch looking for the two. He nearly gave up when it was towards the end of school. Neji was on cleaning duty and walked out of the school to toss the trash away. He turned a corner and saw Temari and Tenten talking together.

"YOU TWO!" He shouted, running furiously towards them. "Neji!" Tenten said. Temari smirked and put her arms around him. "Hands off me. Tenten there was some sort of mistake." He said to Tenten. "Mistake?" Tenten asked, confused. "I told you Tenten, the one Neji likes isn't me." Temari said, still having her arms around Neji's neck. "Eh? It's not Temari? Then who…"

Neji pulled Temari's arms off him. "That's none of your business. Take this back. I can't go." Neji said, giving Tenten the ticket back.

"Oh, Neji. You're a silly child." Temari said. Neji glared at her, making her fall for him more. "Tenten went through a lot to get these tickets for us. It's rude to give it back. Besides, we don't have to go as a couple. Who decided we needed to be dating to hang out? We can go as friends." Temari said, grinning.

Neji continued to glare. There was an ulterior motive Temari had and Neji knew it. However, Temari did prove a point. If it was rude, Neji did not want to disrespect Tenten nor her co-workers.

"Fine, I'll go with you. But find some way to stop the rumors, I find it annoying when people believe the two of us are dating." Neji said and stormed off.

Temari smirked again and turned to Tenten. "Thanks, you really helped me out, I really like him after all." She told her. "I wouldn't have known if it weren't for Hinata. You should thank her!" Tenten said, not realizing Temari was already rejected by Neji.

Temari smiled at the clueless child and left to head into the building. She opened her cellphone and hid her voice. "Kankuro, keep spreading those rumors, we need all the support we can." Temari whispered to the phone.

"What are you doing?" Someone said behind her back. Temari quickly closed her phone and turned around.

"Garra! I'm just talking to my friends, what are you doing here?" Temari nervously said. Garra glared suspiciously at her and ignored her question, leaving the school. Temari sighed in relief.

Sasuke stayed at home this day, not wanting to painfully walk back and forth with an injured ankle. He flopped on his sofa for a nap a little bored being alone. He began to remember his peaceful past, where his parents were still alive and his brother would play with him whenever he was bored. The thought of his brother angered him, giving him negative thoughts and memories. Just as his neutral expression turned angry, his doorbell rang, startling him. He limped over to the door and opened it, finding Neji holding out a bag with some paper inside.

Sasuke was a little surprised. "I have my reasons for not coming to school." He said nervously. "I know; these are just notes on what you have missed. It's not going to be fair if we competed on an exam again." Neji explained bluntly.

Sasuke chuckled. "That's true. Thanks, do you want to come in?" He asked. Neji shook his head. "Sorry, I have to go home now. Thank you."

Neji bowed and walked away. Sasuke wondered why Neji was acting a little strange but shook it off. Within the bag of notes, Sasuke found some oranges and a couple of store-bought Onigiri. He had forgotten to eat lunch too, Neji had really good timing.

Feeling bad for not going to school, Sasuke decided he would go to school the next morning. It was the last day of the week and it was time for the decision of the class activity for the school festival anyway. Sasuke walked slowly to school, not feeling too much pain. The girls flocked all over him right when he approached 10 feet from the school gates.

Annoying… Sasuke thought when the girls asked if he was alright and if there was anything they could do to help him. Just when Sasuke walked in to the gates, the girls backed off for some reason.

He looked up to see Garra standing in the middle of the school entrance ground, checking to see if there were any misbehaving students. The girls quietly passed Garra without saying another word. He overheard the girls say 'Garra would beat you up if you disobey him' and snickered.

Their eyes met and they glared at one another for a couple of seconds. Garra broke the glare and continued to look around. Sasuke shrugged and continued to go into the school.

"Did you hear? Neji and Temari are going on a date tomorrow!" Sasuke heard Kiba say to Naruto. "I thought Neji wasn't interested, didn't he reject a whole bunch of girls before?" Naruto asked. "I guess not Temari; I think someone said he liked her for a long time already!" Kiba said.

Sasuke felt his chest grow tight. He walked over to Kiba and grabbed his collar. "Who told you that?" He threatened.

Kiba waved his hands and shook his head. "It's just a rumor! Why are you so angry?!" He asked. Sasuke calmed down a bit and remembered where he was. "Just ask Neji you idiot!" Naruto said.

Sasuke remembered that he and Neji were in the same class and stormed to the classroom, opening the door. "Sasuke! Good morning!" Ino and Sakura said at the same breath.

"Where is our class rep? I need to ask him something about the festival." Sasuke lied. "I think he went to the student council…" Sakura replied. "Thanks." He said and ran off.

"Hear that Ino you pig! Sasuke thanked me!" Sakura bragged. "So what?! He thanked me for those coupons!" Ino shot back. The two girls argued as Naruto and Kiba came into the classroom to watch the cat fight.

Sasuke rudely opened the door to the student council where he saw Neji and Temari discussing something alone. Neji was a bit surprised to see Sasuke, Temari on the other hand, glared at the pretty boy.

"This is a room only student councils are allowed to enter! Leave!" Temari shouted. The people walking in the halls quickly passed by after hearing Temari's strict voice, but she didn't scare Sasuke.

He ignored her remark and grabbed Neji's wrist. "Hey! Get back here!" Temari shouted. "S-sorry, I'll be right back!" Neji said to Temari, unsure of what's happening.

Sasuke brought Neji to the roof where no one was around. "What's going on? Why are we up here?" Neji asked, a little angry that Sasuke interrupted his conversation.

"Are you going out with Temari on Saturday?" Sasuke asked.

"What?"

Sasuke turned around and glared harshly at Neji.

"Are you going out with Temari on Saturday?!"

Neji bit his lip in fear, but seeing how it wouldn't really affect Sasuke in any way, he honestly replied.

"I…am…"

A/N: Phew! Not sure if you noticed, but I put some lines in here that symbolizes Sasuke's blindness. ;D I'm not sure what is going on in the real story now but I think I remember he was going blind too right? Correct me if I am wrong "