Phantom

AN: Gah I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! My compie crashed and then my muse for Fragile hitched a ride for Memphis!

Or was it Vegas… I'm never sure with her. O.o

And then I got kidnapped by a bunch of slash fan girls, and have been writing a bit for them. (actually, that's a lot of good fun, but as it includes shameless self-insertion, I'm not posting it on )

Anyhoo, whilst I send out the bounty hunters to get my muse back so I can finish Fragile, here's a lil something to keep you Neji/Gaara fans satiated.

As always Naruto and it's characters do not belong to me. And the song is written by Paul Williams and is from the movie Phantom of the Paradise.

Chapter One

To work it out, I let them in

All the good guys and the bad guys that I've been,

All the devils that disturbed me, and the angels that defeated them somehow

Come together in me now.

He opened teal eyes to stare at the stars above him. How long had he been out here? Days? Weeks? Months? He couldn't remember. It seemed that he was always part of this desert, the grains of sand certainly answered to his call as easily as breathing.

Sitting up, he tried to concentrate on what it was he was doing out here, all alone with no civilization for miles around.

The war… he focused on that thought, But it's over.

Not entirely, that pesky little voice spoke up, the one that reminded him always of who he used to be, They gave you up after they won remember? The Daimyo didn't like the alliances that you made, your attempt at so called peace. He sold you out.

As always, he ignored the voice, standing up and looking towards the horizon as he felt something disturb the desert.

Solders or ninja? He took a step and suddenly he was in the sands, reappearing near the place where he felt the movement, a small round house that was near one of the few watering wells in the desert.

Three men in black outfits and turbans, and despite the Suna headbands he did not recognize one of them, holding up a small girl as a forth dragged a woman out of her home, "Time to pay the tribute."

"I sent the fleece," she cried, "I have no money!"

"We don't protect for trade goods," one of the men laughed and he brought a knife to the girl's throat.

And that was the last move any of the four assailants made before the wind picked up and suddenly they were buried beneath the dunes.

Gaara walked across the sands, and helped the child up, leading her quietly to her mother.

"Th…thank you," the woman breathed.

But she and the child were alone. The former Kazekage had already vanished.

"That's the fourth report of this type this week," Temari said as she went through the scrolls, "He's out there… somewhere, but damnit, he never stays long enough for us to pinpoint where."

Across from her Neji sat with his hands folded as the gennin who brought her the latest report of the Phantom's sighting, someone that both were increasingly becoming certain that was Gaara, left the tent.

It was bad enough that the Fourth Ninja War ended with Naruto's and Sasuke's death… even worse was when the Daimyo of the different nations refused to go along with the new found peace, instead opting to make themselves richer by continuing the war.

The biggest blow came when Suna and Konoha… and Neji suspected some of the other hidden villages… had a complete change of government, else they face losing the Daimyo's protection.

Gaara was the first to be outed. He had placed the hat on the desk, looked at the council with cold teal eyes…

And disappeared into grains of sand that drifted away with the wind.

"He's still protecting who he can," Lee spoke up as he looked through the scrolls, "That's good news."

"It would be even better if we knew where he was though," Neji said quietly, "He could help us."

He, Lee, and Tenten were here because of what had happened in Konoha… and that betrayal hurt a good deal more than the Hyuuga would admit.

"What do you mean?" he snapped, "We're just supposed to let their sacrifices be for nothing?"

Too many people had died in this last war. Neji wasn't sure if Lee would ever be able to recover from Gai's sacrifice… and then Naruto…

There was only one member left on Team Seven now. And she wasn't leaving the confines of her house... if she was still alive in there at all.

"I lost people as well!" Hinata retorted, "I was left as the Head, and I have made this decision. I don't expect you to understand."

She almost said it, and he narrowed his eyes, "No I couldn't understand could I? A lowly branch member has no right telling the head of the main house anything… not even when she votes against the very thing that the one she claims to have loved all these years died for."

"I voted that way to save this clan!" she said, "They would have destroyed us if I didn't."

He turned from her then, "Perhaps it is for the best that the clan be destroyed." with that he jumped away, not once looking back.

"Neji?" Temari asked, bringing his thoughts back to the present, "Did you hear what I said?"

He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I was…" he chewed his lip unsure as to how to continue.

"We've been reflecting on our pasts a lot lately haven't we," she mused, "I was thinking that maybe we could send you, Tenten, and Lee as a forward team to where he was last sighted. Maybe you guys can find him."

"That's an excellent idea!" Lee said happily.

Neji slowly nodded, "It'll be difficult if he doesn't want to be found, but…" he slowly smiled, "I don't see any harm that it could bring. And perhaps he has an idea of how the enemy patterns are moving."

He stood up, "We'll leave immediately."

"Good," Temari smiled, albeit sadly, with Gaara's disappearance and Kankuro's death in the war, very few things made her happy these days.

Neji figured it was one of the things that made her such a good leader for the rag-tag group of nin that had banded together, not liking what had happened to their homes after the war.

I wonder if there's more… there were rumors that she was involved with Shikamaru… he shook his head at the thought. Shikamaru was one of the few that stayed in Konoha, stating that it was a bad idea to start a new war that they had no hope of winning.

But then, why would he leave… he was the new Hokage, even if he was nothing more than a figure-head, a puppet of the new council.

The world is certainly cracked now isn't it, Neji sighed, "Come on Lee, we better go grab Tenten from the armory."

He was dreaming again, this time not of Shukaku or those memories, but of the war… the lives lost…

Too many…

Opening his eyes, he stared up at the stars again, "What did they die for?" he quietly asked.

There was no answer from the wind or the sand… but then, there wasn't an answer to that question at all. The deaths of his brother, of his friends, of their teachers… they were meaningless.

Not a single thing that they had fought for came to pass. The world wasn't any better. There was no peace…

If anything the world now seemed worse, he mused as he thought about the men that were about to rape and kill the little girl and her mother. That wasn't the first time he had stopped that sort of thing from happening since he came here.

Another disturbance in the sand, and he narrowed his eyes, Who would be traveling this deep into the desert?

He stood and stepped into the wind.

"We should stop and make camp!" Tenten yelled over the harsh winds, "We're pretty far in, and we don't know much about traveling in the desert!"

Neji shielded his eyes from the flying grains of sand, the byakuguan glowing, "There's an oasis ahead," he shouted back, "We should head there."

Lee seemed to be the only one undisturbed by the sudden storm, "This is almost like old times isn't it?" he called, "Remember our first mission?"

Neji had a wry smile on his face as he heard the words, "You're not challenging me every second, Lee. And Tenten's not going on and on about female rights."

She giggled at that, "And you're not telling us how pathetic and weak we all are, Neji. Other than that, yeah, it is almost like that first mission."

The winds died down a small bit, and the other two saw the small oasis the Hyuuga was speaking of, "We'll make camp and start again when the sun sets," Neji said, "I should have listened a bit better to Temari's warnings of desert travel."

"It's good to know you're still as arrogant as ever," Tenten said crossing her arms and Lee nodded, "I would worry some if you didn't act like you knew everything."

He smirked, "Lee, you took down what she was saying…" he stopped and whipped his head around.

"Neji?" Lee asked with wide eyes.

"Gone… but he was here," the Hyuuga whispered, then sighed, "Let's make camp. I just realized that this mission is going to be more difficult than we thought."

"How so?" Tenten asked.

"We're trying to find a desert creature… that doesn't want to be found… in his natural element," Neji's eyes scanned the surrounding area, "We're going to have to get him to come to us."

As soon as Neji's head moved indicating that he had seen with the byakugaun, Gaara stepped back, letting the sand carry him away.

I'm not ready… why are they here?

He leaned against a rock as he sat down, What is it that they want? Are things as bad in Konoha as they were in Suna? Should I go back?

He shook his head, he had promised himself that he would stay here, far away from the world that no longer wanted him, that had betrayed them all.

"Are they here for the same reason?" he whispered.