Title: Shades
Pairing: Gaa/Neji … and Naru/Sasu (if you squint very and I mean VERY hard.)
Genre: Angst/Romance.
Fair warning, I'm going way off tangent this time, whole different field. I'm shamelessly ripping off 'Shades Of Grey' the title, the actions, some of the plot, and all of the freaking hotness.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or "Shades Of Grey". The honours go to Masashi Kishimoto and E.L. James respectively.
Warning: BDSM, sadism, drugs, alcohol, snark, kink and sex and lots of it. I will not be responsible if little kids get corrupted, just sayin'.
Summary: "I always wonder why some of Kohona's elite like you turn up on this particular side of the tracks…" a dark smoky voice materialized out of the gloom, "but then again you wouldn't believe how much of your kind ends up down here." Those were the first word Neji Hyuuga heard while squinting in the thick darkness. Pity he didn't know those words would change his life.
Song:
Chapter Eight:Confessions pt. 2 (Honesty, STILL the best policy)
Song: "Bad Blood." By Taylor Swift & Kendrick Lamar
'Cause, baby, now we got bad blood
You know it used to be mad love
So take a look what you've done
'Cause, baby, now we got bad blood
Hey
Now we got problems
And I don't think we can solve them
You made a really deep cut
And, baby, now we got bad blood
6:13 pm Saturday. The Hyuuga compound.
He was cold.
Ice cold.
His head felt like it was infinitely encased in a bone marrow freezing icebox.
He was literally walking around with his head firmly on another planet. A one that assuredly made his normal astute concentration, awareness and attention completely shot.
Thank god he hadn't had any training sessions with his uncle because if he did he would have royally fucked it up.
He knew that Sasuke, based on his incessant increasing and lengthy texts was just itching to dig into him about what had happened the night before, but that was one conversation he surely dreaded going into.
Even now, the repercussions of the conversation he'd had with the redhead, a full eighteen hours after, still made his mind spin in concentric circles.
Gaara had admitted to something he thought couldn't exist outside of Hollywood.
But in reality, with all his considerable intelligence, he really should have at least suspected something.
All the times when the redhead had said "he knew people," how he had gained a bachelor's degree at such a young age, even how he said that Sarutobi 'was an old friend' should have sparked at least some kind of curiosity.
But no. He had been so fearfully enraptured with the man he didn't even want to question anything.
And now he was surely regretting it.
Head buried in the downy comfort of his pillow, (that curiously felt like it was suffocating him) his eyes tightly closed, allowing his mind to incessantly replay the last conversation he had with the man that, truth to be brutally told, he was definitely, (he swallowed hard) , falling in love with.
Back flash...
"Neji, what I'm about to tell you..."
Something tightened in the young Hyuuga's chest. The mixed look he was receiving from Gaara just made his apprehension worse.
"Gaara, what is it?" Neji pressed, adrenaline rushing through his veins and making his hypertension skyrocket. "What's going on? Who's she?"
At the tone of his hesitant question the emerald eyed man seemed to deflate. Stepping up to the Hyuuga he reached out, grasped Neji's arms and looked him squarely in the eyes.
"Neji, it's...complicated... "
How many times had he heard that before? The sable haired teen pushed back, "Then un- complicate it for me. Who is she? "
Lips thinned. "Her name is Tayuya Sound. She is an underc-"
BANG! BANG BANGBANGBANG!
The front door was under assault. Gaara swiftly pushed Neji behind him and stalked inside, pausing just to reach behind the entrainment center to emerge with a black gun.
Neji froze in mid-step.
Gaara reached the window beside the door and looked out, weapon raised. A moment later he sighed and shoved the gun in his waist.
Opening the door, the guy Neji had seen at the tournament, Juugo, rushed in, eyes frantic.
"Where's she?"
"On th-" Gaara didn't have to say another word. Juugo spotted the woman and with three large steps immediately dropped down beside the half-awake woman. "Tayuya, you okay?"
She reached a hand to caress Juugo's face, "Yeah baby, I'm okay." she smiled slightly. "Big bad wolf sent little red to save me."
"Damn right." Juugo growled, looking up to deliver a light glare to the Sabaku. "He'd better or I'd have his ass."
Neji leaned on the closest wall, trying his hardest to process what was emerging before his eyes. It felt like he was trapped in some kind of a defective fairy tale; one where the knight-in-shining-armor suddenly morphs into something else.
What the hell had he got himself into?
Hugging himself he shrank into the background. Head spinning he tried to reason all of it out but after a couple minutes he realized that he was going absolutely nowhere.
Tried as he might to focus on the situation before him, his mind was rebelliously going over the pleasurable hours before and how, within just a few minutes, it all got shot to hell.
He silently watched as the two other people in the room quietly talked to each other, only glancing up when he sensed Gaara shift.
The indecipherable look on the pale faced man made Neji feel cold just as he watched Gaara went into the kitchen partition and re-emerged with a pair of shot glasses.
"I owe you an explanation." Gaara confessed, talking to him over his shoulder while liberating a bottle of scotch from a cupboard and pouring himself a shot.
Neji just stared from his spot on the wall.
Running a hand over his face Gaara gestured to the seat before him, "This is going to take a while. You'd get tired standing there; please humor me, sit. "
Neji crossed over to him, sat and softly said, "I'm listening."
Green eyes lowered slightly while slim fingers traced the rim of the glass, "Do you want the short version or the long one?"
The level of anxiety Neji was feeling wasn't ready for a lengthy discussion. He wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with.
"Short." he replied.
Gaara nodded, took a sip of the alcohol and started, "By now you probably know a little about what happened when I was young. My father was the vice president of Sunagakure and a major business man, he completely controlled the construction industry of the country. Needless to say we, all three of us, were disgustingly comfortable. And then it went to hell. My father was found guilty of corporate fraud, industrial embezzling and was sentenced to life in prison."
"The state then stepped in and when I was six I got separated from my siblings. I went through a spate of adopted homes. Needless to say the next eleven years of my life were hell, I've banished it all to the darkest parts of my mind... until I got to seventeen and that was when I met someone and my life changed."
Neji just kept silent.
Fingers twirled the glass of amber liquid. "Her name is Anko, Anko Mitarashi. She was one of the officers for the local police department who arrested me after I had beat up some guy. After processing she kept in touch with me. One day while talking to me she discovered my ability and the mile long host of problems I had. She was the only one to offer me...help."
A corner of Gaara's mouth quirked with the memory, "She introduced me to an...alternative lifestyle and after that arranged for me to undergo some...intensive tests...and a series of procedures that made me develop a...specific skill set... all of which made me to be what I am now."
Neji knew he was going to regret this but he asked anyway, "And that is?"
Pale lips quirked depreciatingly, "I'm a SRO, a special response officer for the IIF."
One question answered but he was still confused, "And that means?"
Gaara reached out to grasp Neji's clammy hand, "It means they call me when they don't have any other options to deal with specialty cases."
It dawned. Slowly but it surely did. Neji pulled his hand back and whispered, "You're an assassin."
"No." was the blunt reply, "I don't have an official title but what I do is essential to the safety of many."
Then Neji remembered the news story the days before, the curious static on his cell phone and the troubled tone Gaara had when he talked to him about 'dealing with something' and that alone just made his mind shiver.
"It was you, wasn't it, that operation...where that terrorist guy, Kabuto was..." he trailed off, something vile rising up his stomach."You killed him, didn't you?" He finished in a whisper.
He was met with steady green eyes, "Yes."
Neji pushed away from the table and rushed outside to the sea side. He was dizzy. Dimly he heard Gaara behind him.
Spinning around he backed away just as the older man reached for him.
"Neji I -"
"Don't, " he whispered," Just please, don't."
Silence.
"I can't believe... This is not happe- I can't deal with this..." Neji stuttered, running a hand through his hair he turned away from the Sabaku and made his way to the door and inside the house. "I need to leave."
Gaara stepped in his way, "Neji, believe me, I really didn't want you to know this way. I just wanted -"
"But I know now." Neji replied blandly. "I need to go home."
"I'll drive you." Gaara offered.
"No," Neji refuted stiffly." I can't think with you there. I'll find some way, maybe call a ca-"
"Hell no. "Gaara snarled but relented when Neji flinched." I'll get Juugo to drive you to your car. I swear Neji, this wasn't my intention."
A wry smile, "Mine neither."
He turned but was stalled by a soft hand, "Neji..."
The Hyuuga turned away allowing his hair to fall across his face shadowing it. "No Gaara. Just no."
The crushed look that crossed the redhead's face made Neji revamp, and while softly removing the hand from his arm he murmured, "Time Gaara, just give me time...please."
A glimmer of hope lightened the verdant eyes before him. "That I can do."
Turning to the orange haired man he asked, "Juugo, could you please drive Neji back to the Ibis hotel. We'll talk when you come back."
The large man took a second to look at Neji then nodded silently. "Sure."
...
Hyuuga compound.
Neji knew that his absence from the usual clan's weekend activities must have elicited some suspicion, but claiming an upset stomach he had escaped the intensive inquiry he knew was to come.
Right now the only thing he wanted was to pretend that everything in the last nineteen hours hadn't happened.
Staring blankly at his room's ceiling he knew for a fact that he wasn't going to sleep at all tonight.
Cradling his head on his arms he closed his exhausted eyes and tried to rest.
...
Monday, Kohonagakure Academy.
Monday at the academy was hell on Neji's frayed nerves. He was still completely out of it. He bumped into people, he couldn't hear or register a damn thing in any of his classes, he knocked over a vial of acid in chemistry, almost certainly failed a pop quiz in sociology and to put the icing on the cake, had yogurt for lunch and he despised dairy milk.
Neji knew that Sasuke was on the edge of bursting with catastrophic anxiety. The temperamental Uchiha had immediately sensed that something had exploded between the two and he was anxious to get it out of the Hyuuga by any means possible.
Sasuke had been trying to corner the Hyuuga, but for all the detriments around him, and maybe a stroke of absurd good luck, Neji had successfully avoided his cousin.
Until now.
"Hyuuga-san?"
Sasuke elbowed him. Neji snapped out of his reverie and squinted at the board.
The mathematical equation was simple, something he should know but for the life of him, he couldn't come up with an answer.
"I'm sorry sensei, I don't know." he admitted.
Silence.
It seemed like armageddon had just exploded in everybody's face; Hyuuga Neji without an answer.
Sasuke gaped.
Neji raised a hand to massage his forehead, "My apologies sensei, I have a migraine."
The confused look on the teacher's face then disappeared.
"Oh, would you like to see the nurse?"
"Yes please."
Getting up to collect the slip he left the class still in a daze.
...
General infirmary. Lunch time.
"Okay" Sasuke snarled, black hair glinting ominously under the sick bay's harsh light. "What the hell is up with you?"
Neji glanced up, "What are you talking about?"
"Don't fuck with me Neji." Sasuke snarled," What did that bastard do to you? "
"Nothing." Neji answered quietly.
A pale fist met the desk between them. "Bullshit." Sasuke snarled, "What is it and do I have to send Kisame after him?"
"No." Neji whispered, thinking that Sasuke would have been deeply disturbed to even suggest sending the head of the Uchiha security division (aka the torture specialist) after Gaara. "No you don't."
Sasuke's ire calmed down a smidgen, "Then what? Because the moment you had peach yogurt for lunch I knew something happened. What is it? "
Neji went silent.
"Motherfuck, "Sasuke snarled grabbing the Hyuuga by his shoulders and pierced his grey eyes with his black ones, "did he-"
"No." Neji whispered intrinsically knowing what Sasuke was implying and calmly loosened his cousin's hands from his lapels. "No, he didn't."
Sasuke took a deep breath to squash the homicidal urges that were swimming before his eyes. "Then what happened?"
Slender fingers rose to massage throbbing temples, "I can't tell you." he murmured.
Obsidian eyebrows furrowed, "Why?"
Neji paused. Maybe there was a roundabout way to clue Sasuke on without divulging everything.
How to though? Swiftly reviewing the quirks, interests and the amount of twisted mental games the Uchiha delighted in he could try one option, it was a stretch though.
"Sasuke, do you remember when we were fourteen and the only things we watched were Criminal Minds, Law and Order, Prison Break and almost every James Bond movie in existence... "
Eyebrow tightened even more," Yes, why? "
"It's something like that." he supplied and patiently waited. If there was one thing about Sasuke it was that the Uchiha's thought processes were...unconventional at best. Right now he was depending on Sasuke's twisted mind to be as despicable as it normally was.
Sasuke's head tilted to the left, eyes narrowed. Neji watched as the black orbs shifted minutely with accordance to Sasuke's thoughts.
He started to count the seconds; one...five...eight...twelve...sevent-
Black eyes flew open. "He's a evil genius?"
Seriously? What the hell? Neji shook his head in disbelief. "Yes, complete with a secret lair in the center of the earth and a death ray." he said sarcastically. "Try again."
"He's a spy?" Sasuke proposed.
Neji just stared.
"He's a sleeper agent." The raven guessed again.
This time Neji slightly inclined his head. That was close enough. One more tidbit could push the Uchiha to the conclusion. "Have you heard the news lately?"
One beat... Two..
"Fucking hell." Sasuke swore, "He's a-."
Neji nodded, head meeting the cradle of his arms. "And I don't know what to do."
Silence. The Hyuuga prince looked up to see Sasuke's vaguely impressed visage.
"Okay what?" He snapped.
Sasuke smirked. "It figures, only you would end up with the bad boy boytoy."
Grey eyes narrowed. "You think this is funny, don't you?"
"No." Sasuke said plainly, picking a piece of lint off his arm, "I think it's cute."
"Cute." Neji deadpanned. "You think me being involved with a..." he paused, "..is cute."
"Yes. " Sasuke replied frankly."It is. Have you ever considered why no girl in the senior class has ever approached you for a date? "
Come to think of it, he hadn't." No, why? "
Sasuke's eyes danced with malicious glee," Ask your cousin."
Now he was confused, "Hinata, how would she know?"
Sasuke's grin was superior while getting up to leave. "Trust me... just ask her."
...
At home the Hyuuga compound. 3:46 pm.
"Hinata-itoko," Neji asked carefully, "can I ask you a weird question?"
His cousin's eyes widened, "Sure Neji, what is it?"
The rare times Neji had allowed himself to enter her room he always stood at the door. This time though he allowed himself to sit down on the edge of her bed and faced her.
If this didn't work he was going to die of mortification, "Sasuke mentioned that you probably know why no girl has asked me out. Is it true?"
Hinata's eyes went fully open this time, then she smiled, "Actually.. I do."
He didn't have to say another word before she started to speak. "Neji, remember last year at the spring festival when we had to dress up as historical figures..."
He nodded. Her fingers twitched, "Well, when you dressed as a ronin samurai in the flowing yukata and your hair in the high ponytail...well..." she trailed off.
Smiling tenderly to his bashful cousin he pressed, "What is it?"
Her eyes closed, "When the girls saw you... they, I mean... we... all the girls came together and made a pact..."
"Of what?" He asked.
"To never ask you out." she blurted hands firmly slapped over her face. After a minute she calmed down, "They said that they realized that you…you were too...beautiful and if any of them were to be paired with you, you'd outshine them."
Neji blinked. Twice. What...the... freakin'... hell.
Hinata peeked out behind her fingers, "A...are you mad?"
After a moment Neji answered, "No, but something tells me that there is more than that. Isn't there?"
Hinata shifted, red creeping up her face. Neji softly took her trembling hand and whispered, "Just tell me, I promise, I'll keep your secret."
She breathed, eyes closed she stammered, "T..t..they also said that only a..a..b.. boy could possibly match you."
Wow.
She blinked her eyes open, "A..are you mad now?"
Neji snapped back and faced his cousin and smiled, "No nee-chan, I'm not."
She release a tense breath. "Okay. I'm glad."
Neji stood up, "If you'll excuse me I have some homework to do. I'll see you at supper."
She smiled and nodded. Walking to his room Neji still couldn't believe it. There was a conspiracy about him that the majority of the school knew and the worst part was that, his best friend, the Uchiha knew about it and didn't have even the decency the let him know.
But then again, this was Sasuke he was talking about. Sadistic Sasuke.
Reaching his room he flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "Too beautiful." he murmured to himself.
He stalled until he literally shook himself and got up. He really did have homework to do.
Booting up the laptop he reread the topic of the assignment and with a quick double check he started to work while a part of his mind was considering what was he going to do with Gaara?
It wasn't like he had an in house advisor to ask for help or some guidan-
He stopped typing. He was wrong.
There was someone who he knew could help. He just feverishly hoped she was available. Glancing at the clock he gave himself forty more minutes to get the majority of the assignment done. After that he was going to find the person.
Decision made he focused on the task before him and settled down to work.
Forty minutes later..
Saving the half completed document he put the device to sleep. Getting up he left the room and he made his way to the kitchen to seek the one person who probably had the answer he needed.
Granny Chiyo.
Granny Chiyo was one of the oldest staff personnel in the Hyuuga compound. She was there even before Neji had been born and probably before even his uncle also.
Pushing the doors to the kitchen he remembered the seldom times when his five year old self would sneak down to the kitchen to indulge in the leftover cakes and candies the staff collected after some function the clan had.
Entering the sterile room the smell of a medley of aromatic herbs assaulted his senses. He breathed in the warm comforting scent.
The kitchen was deserted. Damn. Walking to the small store room he glanced in and sighed, that was empty also. Turning around he was about to leave when;
"Neji-kun?"
He smiled to himself in relief just as he turned around to face the old, silver haired woman. Chiyo's soft eyes had an inquisitive look in them."Are you alright, Neji-kun?"
He stepped toward her said, "No Baa- chan..." he hesitated, "I need some advice and you were the only one I could think of to help me."
Her gaze softened to one of sympathy. Wiping her hands on her apron she whispered, "Come with me."
She led the slim youth through a short corridor and down another hallway to arrive at a door which she promptly opened. Inside was a small table, a stove, a pantry, a refrigerator, cupboards, a microwave and a couple padded chairs.
Neji guessed it was the staffs break room and that she'd had just probably left it because an old fashioned kettle was on the stove steaming.
"Sit." She ordered while bustling around the room, opening cupboard doors and liberating some saucers, two teacups and after opening the fridge, took out a hefty three quarters of a black forest cake which was deftly sliced into.
Settling herself before him with the treats and two cups of tea she carefully asked, "What's troubling you child?"
Neji paused, internally debating about how much to divulge to the woman. Wrapping his hands around his cup of acai tea he started to speak; "I have a...friend, he recently met someone and they started a relationship... "
Here he paused to take a sip of the hot brew to calm his nerves but it also instantly warmed and settled his stomach.
"...but lately he found that the person he was...involved with had some major secrets..that the person associates with a specific set of people and odds are that, by their actions, he could be in serious danger."
Eyelids lowered over somber eyes, "... but the fact is that.. he's...in love with the person and he doesn't know what to do."
He shifted, "He came to me asking what he should do. I didn't have an answer. What should I tell him?"
Chiyo smiled thinking to herself that even if the boy before her tried his very best to not show what was really going on, she could still clearly see right through him and know that he wasn't talking about anybody else. But, wisely, she played along.
"It's not Sasuke-kun, is it?"
Neji shook his head." No, it's somebody else in my class."
"Well," she murmured, "true love is not something to lightly give up on. If this person really loves the other and has some measure of faith to know that his heart will not be crushed then I'd say tell him to keep trying."
Neji looked her straight in the eyes to see nothing but firm commitment to what she was saying.
"I'm not saying that there won't be bumps along the road, he might get hurt, there might be heartbreak, but if the conviction is true, then I don't see why he should leave."
Neji blew on the surface of the tea, allowing the steam to rise, "And what if he decides it's just too much for him?"
She smiled, "If that's the case and he thinks it's more prudent to walk away for his own safety and peace of mind, that's fully understandable... but then the odds are that he might just lose his one chance of true happiness."
Something in Neji's gut shriveled. "And you're sure?"
"Yes child." She replied smiling, "now eat your cake, I remember how you get when you're blood sugar plummets. Are there any other dilemmas troubling you? "
Neji smiled picking up the fork and digging into the slice of cake. Changing the subject he started to tell her about some of his university plans, while another tier of his mind was figuring out how to deal with Gaara.
Dining Room Hyuuga Compund 7: 27 pm.
His appetite had completely disappeared. Picking at the unappetizing shepherd's pie before him, he gave up and laid the fork down.
Looking up to the other members around the table he faced his uncle and clearly asked, "Oji-san, may I be excused. I'm just not hungry and I have some homework to be done."
Hiashi's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure son?"
"Yes sir." he replied truthfully, "It's an argumentative due in tomorrow and I need to finish it."
A small smile, "Well go ahead Neji. It's not wise to waste time. You are excused."
Standing up he bowed slightly and left the dining room. Entering his his room he did pick up the books and turned on his laptop but then turned to his cell.
This was the part that he had been dreading the whole evening.
Biting the inside of his cheek for a moment he dialed Gaara's number and after the first ring, panicked and aborted the call.
Stomach roiling he breathed hard to settle his nerves and then redialed. Subconsciously he had made his decision just after taking with Chiyo. It was the hardest thing he had ever done but he knew he was making the right choice.
Even though it killed him.
Gaara answer on the fourth ring. "Neji."
The Hyuuga mind spun. The tone of voice that Gaara breathed his name in, a tone of relief, made his previously concrete decision rock to its core, but after a second he steeled himself. "... Gaara, it was nice knowing you, but with what you told me... I just can't .."
"Ne-"
"Don't. Please, just don't. Let me finish..." every word felt like it was ripping something in his chest to shreds. Something was stinging fiercely behind his eyes and he felt nauseous. "... It's too much...way too much for me ... goodbye Gaara."
And hung up.
The sinking, sick feeling in his gut just got worse. He felt like he was going to vomit up everything in him, even to the point of regurgitating blood.
The dichotomy was raging. His logical mind was relieved; rationalizing the fact that any involvement with anything that could paint the clan in an unfavorable light was just not acceptable. The fact was that he needed his family's support on every and anything and to abscond the only thing he could rely on was stupidity of the highest order.
Even though his emotions were devastated, his mind was numb and his heart felt like it had been run over by a ten ton truck.
It was just one more sacrifice that had to be made.
'It's better this way.' he tried to convince himself.
Breathing hard he looked at the half finished document on his laptop, glanced again at the topic in his assignment, robotically spun the pages of the book to re-read the information he needed.
Breathing slowly he started to type.
Kohona Academy .
School was over and Neji silently got up and just as quietly handed in his completed assignment. He turned away and met Sasuke probing gaze.
Slowly shaking his head he silently declared he still wasn't ready to talk. About anything.
Leaving the room he walked, head slightly down, visage pensive, eyes blankly shifting between his feet and the bare walls around him when he heard a commotion.
Glancing around he wondered what the hell was going on until he saw Sakura and Ino Yamanaka rushing out of the schools front door babbling. Just by honed reflexes he flattened himself against the row of lockers as a literal horde of girls, junior and seniors rushed out the building.
"What the h-" He started to say when a girl, Guren, or something turned to him and giggled "There's this hot college student in the parking lot, we want to see who he's here for."
Exasperated Neji sniffed. Trust hormonal teenage girls to just go insane over one college student.
"I wonder who it is." he heard behind him. He turned to see a pensive Sasuke.
"Couldn't care less." Neji answered honestly while walking out of the building. "Sasuke, I know that you w-"
"Holy. Fucking. Shit. " The raven swore in an awed whisper. Neji looked up and froze completely.
Leaning on a hood of a streamlined forest green hybrid Range Rover, was Gaara. Corded arms crossed over his deep maroon oxford shirt, blue-black jeans on his svelte lower half and his riotous red head bowed to his chest while sporting a pair of rimless crystal glasses, Gaara looked like the hottest renegade nerd on the entire planet.
Neji was incoherent. He was aware that his mouth was slightly open and his heartbeat had kicked into triple time.
What on earth was Gaara doing here? At. His. School.
By all accounts and expectations Gaara should have given up on him, delegating their relationship to a passing fancy. But no, the redhead was here, calmly waiting, seemingly not bothered by the veritable mob of people who were gawking at him.
In that moment the Sabaku looked up and the hypnotic green eyes behind the crystal lenses made Neji's breath completely evaporate.
It was only when Sasuke elbowed him he snapped back to reality.
"It's him," Sasuke inferred. "Isn't it."
"Yes. " Neji answered fearfully. "But what is he doing here?"
A shrug, "Maybe to whisk you off into the sunset." Sasuke teased.
Neji shot him a heated glare which, naturally, Sasuke just shrugged off. "Gotta say cousin, he's smoking hot. You could have done worse."
Neji slowly took one step towards the Sabaku then stopped. It was only after Sasuke shoved him in the back he continued moving aware that the Uchiha was right behind him.
He was insanely aware that every eye in the parking lot was trained on the both of them. Absurdly he had never been more thankful for Sasuke's presence. He stopped about two or three feet away from the older man and said disbelieving, "You're here."
Gaara, ignoring the statement, looked up to peer behind the sable haired teen to meet Sasuke's eyes.
"Uchiha Sasuke." he murmured, "You look exactly like your cousin Shisui."
Sasuke reeled back in complete shock. "What the fuck?"
A smirk, "And you have the same curious choice of words too."
Sasuke snorted while hiking his knapsack more over his shoulder. "How the hell do you know Shisui?"
"We graduated from the same school." Gaara said simply.
Black eyebrows rose skeptically, "You're insane. Shisui dropped out of college."
A smirk. "Then the question that you have to ask yourself is, what do you really know about your cousin?"
Neji turned to look at Sasuke and saw the Uchiha with an unusual thoughtful look on his face. Neji instantly realized that the moment Sasuke got home he was going to go on a bloodied manhunt for the truth about his 'drug addicted' relative.
Turning to the Hyuuga Sasuke said, "Don't freak out. I'll cover for you and your..." he paused, "...tutor."
Reaching into his knapsack Sasuke pulled out a random textbook and handed it to the Hyuuga and projected his voice. "Make sure that I get those notes on proposition fifty-two, cause I swear if I fail that exam one more time Itachi is going to kill me."
Neji marveled at Sasuke's altruistic actions, accepting the book silently and nodded in agreement. Reaching into his satchel he handed over the keys to his car and warned, "If I see even a scratch on my car, don't worry about Itachi, I'll kill you myself."
Sasuke grinned grasping the keys. "Sure, I'll try to not wreck it...too much."
Neji snorted and turned to the quiet Sabaku, who after a moment faced the nervous teen and asked huskily, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah Hyuuga, are you?" Sasuke taunted snidely.
"Play in traffic Uchiha, blindfolded." was the parting repartee as Neji slipped into the car.
The car took off smoothly and took the route towards the mountain range. Neji's hands, folded on his lap, were spasmodically clenching in tandem with his erratic heartbeat.
The silence in the car was getting to him, grating on his frazzled nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
"Where are we going?" He softly asked.
His answer was just Gaara reaching over to grasp his right hand and held it. Somehow the heat from the other man's hand drove some measure of assurance into Neji. He relaxed, slightly as Gaara securely drove them one handed.
Turning to watch the passing calm scenery his nervous anxiety fluctuated. One minute extremely apprehensive, the other passively calm. They had passed through the forestry line and before him was the rising mountain range, the ragged peaks of the ancient hills disappearing in the misty, ethereal clouds.
He watched as the vehicle climbed the summit of a steep hill, went through a small underpass of beautiful cut red-pink shale stones, to stop at a lookout point.
It was one that Neji had heard of, called 'Lovers Leap'. A popular place for couples. Legend had it that two lovers, banned from seeing each other by their conflicting families ran away together and decided that dying together was better than to be living separated.
Neji fervently hoped this wasn't some kind of a ominous sign for his life. He was then shocked to hear Gaara slid his seat all the way back reached over to the Hyuuga and unlocked his seatbelt.
"What ar-"
With one move Gaara grasped Neji by the waist, lifted and settled him, straddled, on his lap.
"Ga-" He was cut off by the urgent press of the redhead's lips against his. Gaara seemed to be pouring every emotion he had into the embrace.
Unconsciously, Neji's hands rose to lock around the other's neck as he leaned into the kiss, pushing his own turbulent emotions into it as well.
After a long while Gaara pulled back, hand at the base of Neji's head and whispered against trembling lips, "Don't ever say goodbye to me again."
Neji's eyes closed as he slumped against the other, head buried into Gaara's clavicle.
"I was just scared." he admitted softly against soft skin. "I don't know what is going to happen to you, if you..." he swallowed hard, the words he wanted to let out seemed to be permanently stuck in his trachea.
"If I die." Gaara supplied for him softly.
"Yes." Neji answered, eyes clenched.
A soft touch on his cheek made Neji open his eyes just as soft aquamarine eyes held his, "I'm not going to lie to you baby, it's a gamble. The things I do...the tasks I'm entrusted with are dangerous but I do them because I want people like you safe... protected." Here Gaara brushed back a tendril of brown hair behind a shapely ear. "I'm going to ask you one thing though... with everything going on, whatever may happen ...will you trust me?"
"With what?" Neji asked quietly.
Calloused fingers buried themselves into silky smooth hair, while two pairs of eyes stared at each other, "To not let you break."
The steady look in the eyes of the man before him made a violent mix of emotions to run rampart through Neji's entire being. The words Chiyo had said about losing his one chance at true happiness resounded in his mind like a banging gong.
He knew that he wasn't the kind of person to take risks, all his life he'd played it by the books, safe, secure, smart. Ensuring that he made the most sensible decisions always, no matter what glinted greener on the other side.
And that needed to change, right now.
He couldn't be this timid wallflower all his life. It was time to sink or swim and Neji had no intention of drowning.
Placing his forehead on the other's he whispered, "Yes, I will."
...
TBC.
AND REVIEW DAMNIT!