I know I said I sucked at this, but there were a few things I wanted to say, so though I suck at replying to reviewers, here are a couple – sorry I'm not doing all of you, even though I love you from the bottom of my heart for reviewing! Cookies for every reviewer! hands out Gaara shaped cookies

Ebony: Yeah, originally I was going to have them in college, but then I realized, after researching split personality, it'd be inaccurate cause I have no idea what college is really like . . . but sophomore year – I've done that. And I understand that they can't be living in an apartment by themselves because they are 15-16, but I have a reason for that, which will come up in later chapters. As for a previous question about weither or not I draw, I do a little, I fiddle with it more than anything. If you want to see some of it it's up at (no www.) chibi-okami. Deviantart .com (sorry, had to put the spaces there so FF doesn't freak out on me). Oh, and I'm going to do some more with Tayuya – don't worry :D

Burning Tree: it's "Dissociative Identity Disorder" apparently "Multiple Personality Disorder" was inaccurate and they just recently changed the name . . . sadly enough, yeah, I looked it all up cause I thought it sounded cool – which gave me the idea for this story.

Bah, now on with the story!

-s-p-l-i-t-

Chapter Four

Wind whipped through Gaara's red locks as he exited the depths of a dreamless sleep. He heard voices, but the water still covered his ears and the sensation of being in someone else's body filled him. He stared at his storm eyed anchor through fog filled eyes.

"Gaara?" The voice was muffled and the blur of black and white mouth the word again, "Gaara?"

The fog dissipated, revealing the world around him, the wind through his hair, the small area below his feet and the world three stories down. With this realization, his knees shook and he couldn't hold himself up straight. Feeling his stomach lurch, he covered his mouth and didn't know that a small liquid orb trailed its way down his cheek. A whimper escaped his throat as he tried to curl into himself without crumbling onto the small support below him.

"Gaara, what are you doing?" Neji's voice was urgent, but his feet were frozen in place.

Pleading eyes looked up to Neji as a shiver was sent up the redhead's spine. "I-I d-don't k-know. O-oh god. O-h g-god. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I-I'm g-going t-to f-fall. I-I'm g-going to fall. I-I'm going to fall. I'm going to fall!" The shivering boy's voice escalated to measures he didn't know possible.

Without thinking, Neji reached out his hand to the redhead and inched his way closer. "You're not going to fall. It's okay, come down."

"D-don't come over here! Y-you'll fall! W-we'll b-both f-fall." The tears were streaming down his cheeks and he couldn't stop them. Sniffing his nose, he felt the sobs rattle his body.

"Gaara, I won't fall. You won't fall. Give me you're hand." Neji kept his voice smooth, not letting it crack and show his false assurance. He stepped forward once more, but was stopped by the scream that escaped the boy.

"NO! Stay away!" Gaara's hands left his stomach and mouth to reach his head and pull at his hair. "I-I d-don't want you to fall! I DON'T WANT YOU TO FALL!"

"I won't fall, Gaara." Neji regained his composure and came a step closer, close enough to touch the quivering redhead, but instead, continued to hold his hand out. "Come down. You won't fall, I won't fall."

"YES YOU WILL! M-mom f-fell! S-she f-fell! Y-You'll f-fall, too! I-I won't let you fall! STAY AWAY!" Gaara's hands flew from the top of his head outward towards Neji, shoving him back with enough force to send the boy's braced figure back a few steps, and himself off balance.

The seconds passed in a blur, he felt his stomach leap as he tumbled backwards, arms flailing for something to solid to hold onto, but finding nothing. He heard his name being called out and something warm embracing him, but it wasn't until he sat on the cold cement with the railing to his back did he realize what had happened.

"Gaara, are you alright? Gaara?" He heard Neji's voice call him, but he couldn't stop shaking or the sobs from flowing long enough to answer. Instead he clung to his source of comfort and sobbed into his shirt.

Neji rocked him back and forth, running his fingers through the redhead's hair and rubbing circles in his back in an effort to sooth him. Picking up the boy and taking him further from the rail, he frowned at how easy it was. The kid needed to eat, he could almost feel every rib. Taking him through the small crowd of silent onlookers, he set the sobbing boy down next to the door. Neji waved the others to leave, and three of the four inched their way out the door, sending worried looks to the redhead. Neji continued to comfort him before asking the girl what happened.

"Fuck, I don't know!" Tayuya snapped. "We asked him to come up to lunch with us, he said he was scared of heights and I dragged him anyways. Once we got up here, he just became a fucking 'nother person! Went over to that rail and was talking about what sounded suicidal and shit, then you came and he just crumbled."

Neji shot a confused look to the crying boy who was starting to calm down, "Well, I don't know what to do now."

"Oh, so you can get a fucking suicidal kid off the railing, but you don't know what the hell to do with him afterwards?" Tayaya spat, and Neji shot her a fierce glare.

"No, I don't know what to do with him, but we can't leave him alone, and I can't skip class." Neji noticed how Gaara had stopped crying but shaking still racked his body. "Lunch will be over soon."

"Three minutes to the bell." Tayuya glanced at her watch through the numerous bracelets on her hand. "Should we take him to the councilor?"

"N-no!" Gaara had finally found his voice. "D-don't t-tell them! T-they'll send m-me back!"

"Back where?" Tayuya raised an eyebrow.

"T-to the h-home. I-I don't w-want to go b-back. P-please d-don't tell anyone!" Gaara's eyes were wide and he teeth started chattering along with his stutter.

Neji ran a hand through his hair and sighed looking down into the green orbs, "We'll see. I can't promise anything right now. Do you think you can make it to your next class?"

"I-I think so." With his response, the bell rang.

"Damn." Neji cursed his luck and helped the redhead to his feet. Letting him stand on his own, he witnessed the boy shake under his own weight. Taking a step, the boy faltered and Neji grabbed his arm, "You're not going to make it to your next class. You need to go to the nurse."

"N-no! I-I'm fine, r-really, I am!" He waved his arms in an attempt to show he was okay, but his wild eyes betrayed him.

It was at that moment the bell decided to ring.

"Goddamn it." Neji sighed and once again ran his fingers through his hair. "If you aren't going to make it to your next class and you're not going to go to the nurse, you're only option is to skip – on the first day of school."

Gaara hung his head, "I'm sorry. I-I'll g-go to my n-next c-class."

"We won't have you fucking passing out in the middle of it." Tayuya spat and turned to Neji, "You can't stay with him?"

"No, they'll kick me off the team – I have to go now." His twitching fingers were itching to reach for the door.

"Well, then, fucking go already!"

"But Gaara-" He never got to finish the sentence.

"I'll fuckingwatch Gaara! Just fucking go already!" She made a hand motion towards the door when he paused. With the little push, he turned and stepped towards the door, muttering a thanks.

With Neji gone, Tayuya sighed and dropped to the ground beside Gaara who stared through the cement. Seeing his forlorn look, she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and had the urge to pull back when she felt him flinch, but held her ground and pulled him into her. "You'll be okay, kid. You'll be fucking okay."

He bent forward so that she couldn't see his face and she felt the need to rub circles in his back, surprised at how he was thin enough she could draw a complete outline of his spine. They sat in silence for a few seconds before she felt him quiver and heard a sniff escape him.

"Hey, hey, now. It'll be okay. It'll be okay." She tried to soothe the distraught teen, but unable to keep from thinking about what could have made him this way.

"N-no, I-it's n-not. I-I'm making y-you skip class. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." His voice started as a whisper and died into silence.

"Hey, now, don't worry about it. Hell, it's my fault for bringing you up here. I shouldn't have. I'm the one who's sorry." She felt her voice soften and fall into a low soothing tone.

Gaara jerked up from his crumbled position to look her in the eyes, shock lining all of his features. "N-no! I-it's not your fault a-at all! I-I c-couldn't control her . . ." The boy sank back, his cheeks rubbing his knees.

Tayuya raised an eyebrow, "Control her?"

"P-promise n-not to tell a-anyone?" Gaara bit his lip, feeling she had the right to know, but unsure about his actions.

"Yeah, kid, I promise." She felt Gaara relax.

"S-she w-who came out . . ." The boy paused and Tayuya felt this could take a while, she knew she had the time, but wondered about the patience. "T-temari . . . s-she t-takes o-over . . . t-the o-others do, t-too . . . I-I d-don't know w-what happens . . . I-I j-just w-wake up and . . . d-don't know what's g-going on . . ."

Tayuya waited for more, but when he didn't continue after a few agonizing minutes, she decided that it was her turn for a question, "Shouldn't you see a shrink for that?"

Gaara tightened the ball he created of himself, "I-I d-did. T-they thought I w-was b-better."

"Well, fucking obviously not."

"N-no. I-I feel her p-pull on m-me now. I-I don't k-know h-how long I-I can hold her b-back." When Tayuya raised an eyebrow, he continued. "S-she r-really likes h-heights."

The girl looked around – they were still on the roof with the towering buildings surrounding them. Without even looking around, the sir in her air told her they were up high. Her eyes found their way back to Gaara, who never looked from the pavement.

"Well, that being the case, we'd better get you off the fucking roof. I don't think I could put up with this "Temari" character again. Scared the shit outta me the first time." She stood up and held her hand down to Gaara to help him up. He looked at the appendage through his raised arms to protect his head for a minute before his eyes lit up, realizing what it was for. His shaking hand met with hers and she pulled him up to his feet.

"T-thanks."

"Well, where to?" She asked, brushing her pants off.

"W-we c-could go t-to my apartment. I-it's not f-far." He wrapped his arms around his middle, unsure of himself and feeling very insecure.

"Cool." Tayuya pulled the door open for Gaara to head toward the stairs and she could see him breathe a sigh of relief. "And on the way, we'll work on that stutter of yours."

:o:

GAH! I'm SORRY! It's short and late! I'm so horrible! But I have an excuse – the hard drive at work crashed and I've been putting in overtime, I'm sorry! Blame the professional computer programmers, not me! They broke it! I'm just kicking around the after effects.

So I'm really sorry about this being late, but I'm going outta town for a week and will have plenty of time to write, so I promise a good, long chapter by the end of next week. Sorry this one was rushed, but I wanted to send you something before I left.

Don't be afraid to review!

So Until Next Time . . .