!!VERY IMPORTANT!!

A/N:

This is Act II: "Surrender". It is the sequel to Act I: "A Breath in the Dark". If you have not read "A Breath in the Dark" then you will be very confused as I will reference to the prequel a lot throughout this fic; thus, I recommend that you read the prequel before starting this fic.

This story is set five years later:

Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Choji, and Ino: 21 yrs. old

Neji, Temari: 22 yrs. old

Itachi, Kankuro: 23 yrs. old

Kakashi, Iruka: 30 yrs. old

Tsunade, Jiraiya: 40 yrs. old

Currently:

Gaara is an artist that specializes in glass blowing; he also owns 10 percent of Advocate (this will be explained in this chapter). Neji is a doctor, though most of his studies were completed at home away from the classroom. Naruto is the heir to Advocate, and owns 20 percent of the agency. Sasuke is the chief chairman of the European Branch of Uchiha Enterprises located in Italy. His patron is Orochimaru. Itachi is currently the CEO of Uchiha Enterprises. Hinata is the heir of the Hyuuga Cooperation, and is currently working under her father in order to learn how to run the company. Temari owns 10 percent of Advocate, and is married to Shikamaru. Both are valuable assets to Advocate. Kankuro handles various business-related issues of Advocate, and owns 10 percent of the agency; he also has a Master's degree in Business. Tsunade is the head of Advocate. Jiraiya is a famous romance (perverted) novelist. Kakashi is a museum curator and discovered Gaara's art courtesy of Naruto, and now he is Gaara's patron. Iruka is still the principal of Konoha High. Kiba, Shino, Choji, and Ino all work in different aspects of Advocate.

Whew, that was a long note. lol ;)

Hope you enjoy reading Act II: "Surrender".

Warning: This is a maleXmale fic. It is rated M for language, adult themes, and sexual content in later chapters. This is an AU fic, and characters are mostly OOC.

Neji X Gaara

Sasuke X Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor will I in the foreseeable future.

Surrender

Who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows?
Only time...

And who can say if your love grows,
As your heart chose?
Only time...

Who can say why your heart sighs,
As your love flies?
Only time...

And who can say why your heart cries,
When your love dies?
Only time...

Who can say when the roads meet,
That love might be,
In your heart.

And who can say when the day sleeps,
If the night keeps all your heart?
Night keeps all your heart...

Who can say if your love grows,
As your heart chose?
Only time...

And who can say where the road goes,
Where the day flows?
Only time...

Who knows?
Only time...

Who knows?
Only time...

Artist: Enya "Time" from "A Day Without Rain"

Time

Five years later

It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and a blonde male walked up to a beautiful cottage tucked away in the outskirts of Konoha. The cottage was built in the 1900's and had an old flair about it that spoke of its history.

The blonde tried the door handle and sighed in frustration as he felt the door give—it was unlocked.

"How many times have I told him to lock his door," Naruto muttered to himself as he let himself in.

It was bad enough Gaara insisted on living in the middle of the woods, it was another thing altogether when he didn't even bother taking proper precautions such as locking his damn door!

Naruto took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. "Can't even return a damn phone call," he continued as he headed toward the stairs.

Naruto hated it when Gaara closed himself off from those who cared about him. The blonde was used to his friend's unexpected absences since inspiration struck whenever it did, regardless of the red-head's plans.

So, when Gaara didn't answer his calls, or the front door for that matter, Naruto figured he was busy working on another glass sculpture.

Knowing the routine, the older male decided not to bother him for a few days which was usually enough time for the red-head to wear himself out, but after a week passed by and he had yet to receive any news from the younger male, Naruto grew worried and decided to check up on him.

Once he made it upstairs, the blonde went straight to the bedroom knowing his friend was there. Not surprising, there was Gaara sprawled out in all his glory sleeping the day away.

Naruto pulled up a chair next to the bed. "He probably just finished another piece," Naruto said to himself, running a hand down his face in an effort to clear some of the fatigue away.

Since Gaara was an insomniac, he usually worked late into the night and slept a few hours in the day. The red-head's sleeping habits were nowhere near what one would call routine, but he got by. Being a self-made artist gave him the luxury to work whenever inspiration struck, and sleep the day away if he wanted too.

Naruto sighed once again, this time from exhaustion. He had been in a four hour meeting that morning and had driven straight to his friend's house afterwards. Though he was a little ticked at Gaara, he couldn't help but feel relief as he watched Gaara's chest rise and fall from his rhythmic breathing.

No one could have guessed that just two years ago, the red-head couldn't even shut his eyes without nightmares taking a hold of him. It was so bad that the shorter male had forsaken sleep altogether and instead chose to rest his body through deep meditation.

It had taken about three years of much coaxing and endless therapy sessions before Gaara was able to sleep without the nightmares of his past taking over his mind—however, the peaceful sleeper in front of him hadn't always been that way. No, Gaara had been a somewhat normal teen before he met Hyuuga Neji.

Naruto's hand clenched at the mere thought of the long-haired male. The wretch had wormed his way into his friend's life until he became Gaara's light in the darkness.

When Gaara first arrived to Konoha he had been a social dunce with an attitude to match, but as time passed he slowly began to open up to everyone, especially to Neji. He gave the Hyuuga his abused heart, and what did the bastard do with it. He shattered it like spun-glass along with Gaara's sanity.

For no reason, the Hyuuga utterly broke Gaara to the point where he lost himself to the nightmares of his past. When Gaara needed him the most, Neji turned his back on him. Knowing of Gaara's claustrophobia, having witnessed it first-hand, Neji had left the red-head locked in a metal cell, much like the one his father had often locked him in as a child.

He left Gaara to rot in that cage, and to add the icing on the cake, he broke his heart in the cruelest way imaginable telling him that he had only ever wanted him to warm his bed. HIS FUCKEN BED!

Naruto couldn't forgive him—not after witnessing Gaara's broken form struggle through years of hardship. The Hyuuga hadn't even informed anyone of Gaara's whereabouts.

If it wasn't for Haku and Zabuza, who knows how long Gaara would have been stuck in that cage. When the couple found him in an abandoned warehouse, Gaara was already past the point of no return. Haku, not knowing what to do with the unresponsive male, had rifled through his pockets until he found his phone and immediately pressed the re-dial button.

When Naruto first heard Haku's voice he was surprised seeing as he was calling from Gaara's cell, but it was nothing to the shock he felt when Haku informed him of Gaara's condition and the predicament they had found him in. The blonde had immediately asked for directions and jumped into his car, calling both Kankuro and Temari as he raced to the abandoned warehouse.

After that incident Gaara had never been the same. It took two long years before he even spoke a word to anyone. Temari and Kankuro refused to admit him into an asylum, not after everything he'd already been through. So they both read books about psychology night and day and tried to do what they could for their little brother. Lucky for them, Haku was in the field of psychology and handled Gaara's delicate case. Everyone was grateful to the young male especially since he kept no records of Gaara's condition, and thus, after the red-head recovered, all links to his break-down disappeared as Haku stopped his weekly sessions.

And now, after five years had passed since that fateful incident, Gaara was finally recovering. He slept more often, and talked in complete sentences again instead of his one word answers he used to deliver. Even his career as an artist was on the rise.

About a year ago, right about the time Gaara began to insert himself back into society, Kakashi discovered his glass sculptures courtesy of Naruto. Who would have guessed that their old art teacher was actually a museum curator?

Naruto smiled as he watched the peaceful expression on his friend's face as the other male slept. Gaara was truly a beautiful sight to behold as he lay in his bed with nothing but a pair of black silk boxers. The blonde watched as the sunlight streamed into the room caressing his lithe and well-toned body with warmth. Naruto sighed as he noticed the length of the blood-red locks. "They need a good trim," he thought. "But then again, Gaara won't bother to get his butt into the city and get a decent haircut."

Naruto smiled as he remembered the last time Gaara's hair got a little too long for comfort. Frustrated with his long locks, the shorter male had grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped off the bothersome crimson locks. Funny thing was, it hadn't turned out bad, and it actually looked good in a messy-style sort of way.

Using his left hand, Naruto reached out and swept away a lock of crimson hair so he could get a better look at Gaara's tattoo.

Love.

Naruto smiled a bitter smile as old memories resurfaced…Love…

"Love can be cruel," he thought to himself as the image of a raven-haired male flashed in his mind.

His heart skipped a beat. "But it doesn't have to be that way…"

Naruto gazed at the red-head in front of him. "His skin is as pale as Sasuke's," he noted as he gently ran his fingers down the Sabaku's face, tracing the line of his cheek with his finger. Too lost in his memories, Naruto didn't feel as the red-head stiffened underneath his touch.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Gaara murmured, confusion in his voice as he refrained himself from recoiling from the blonde's touch. Gaara knew that Naruto was a very physical person, and sometimes just needed another's warmth. He didn't want to hurt his feelings by shrinking back from the caress but he couldn't help it. Unlike Naruto, he wasn't a physical person, and hated the feeling of another's touch.

Naruto's fingers instantly halted their movement; as his eyes shot down to meet Gaara's very awake teal colored eyes as the red-head stared up at him.

"I'm sorry," Naruto immediately apologized snapping his hand away as he did so. "I must have spaced out and let my hand wander."

Gaara looked at him with a hint of disbelief in his eyes, but let the subject drop.

Now that the blonde was no longer touching him the tension that had coiled inside of him quickly subsided. He sat up and looked at his unexpected visitor in question. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Naruto instantly pounced on the change of subject and answered with a little more enthusiasm than he normally would. "Since you haven't deemed it necessary to call a friend back when he's left you about twenty messages on your phone, I came up here to make sure you're not dead!"

The blonde chuckled as Gaara rolled his eyes. "I also came to remind you that you have to attend a meeting on Friday."

Gaara groaned at the news.

"Who's going to be there?" he asked as he got up and made his way to the bathroom to grab a towel from the bathroom cabinet.

"Me, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, and Tsunade."

"Tell me again why I haven't sold my shares and left the running of the company to you and my siblings?" Gaara asked with annoyance.

Naruto smiled, and plopped himself on the unmade bed. "Because Temari would kick your ass if you even mentioned the idea of such a thing, and I would be right with her," Naruto informed him as a sheepish smile spread on his tanned face. "Come one Gaara, it can't be that bad. All you have to do is attend one meeting every three months," he told him. "Do you have any idea how many meetings I have in just one week?"

Gaara threw the towel at Naruto's face before the blonde began with his usual speech about the nightmares of meetings.

"If you don't like it, then do something else," Gaara told him as he grabbed another towel from the cupboard. "You do own a fifth of the company."

Naruto waved Gaara's words away. "Nah, I actually do enjoy meeting new people, especially when I can put smug bastards in their place," he said as his eyes crinkled with mirth. "Just today I had the pleasure of sending a dickhead back home with zilch to show for his effort. The bastard tried to pressure me into making a deal I still wasn't completely sure of so I called the entire thing off."

"I don't know how you can deal with all those people."

"Well, I like people. Besides, not everyone I meet is that bad. They're usually really nice and fun to talk to."

"Whatever. I think I'll stick to my sculptures…I'm going to take a shower now. You can entertain yourself for the mean time," Gaara told his friend as he closed the bathroom door, not bothering to lock it.

While in college, Naruto had taken an internship position with a legal/security agency that specialized in protecting both their clients and their assets. They were advocates on behalf of their clients; thus, the agency's name: Advocate

As an intern Naruto got to know a lot of the people who worked there, and when the agency ran into financial problems he was the first to volunteer his help; he would be damn if he would just stand by and watch his friends suffer.

Thus, he learned of a shady business man named Gato who was threatening to buy off Advocate Dan, the head of Advocate had no other options left to him but to accept Gato's help or face bankruptcy.

Realizing the enormity of the situation, Naruto knew he had no chance of saving Dan's agency without help, so he quickly contacted Shikamaru and asked for his help.

Shikamaru was not called a genius for nothing and after analyzing the situation, he soon figured out a way to save Dan's agency. However, his plan had a few flaws, and Gato was already making his move. With so little time left, Shikamaru did the only thing he could think of: he asked his wife for help.

Temari had been pleased that he had included her in his efforts and thus admitting that he needed her help. She was competitive by nature and quickly got to work—she would not lose.

Pretty soon, Kankuro was recruited in the project Naruto dubbed "Screw Gato Over". Since the older Sabaku male had a Master's degree in Business it was a good move on their part.

With two geniuses, one business man, and a hyperactive blonde, Dan was able to salvage his plunging agency from Gato's greedy hands. However, the only reason the group managed to succeed was due to the Sabaku family fortune.

If nothing else, Gaara's father has been a great politician. In his years in office, he had accumulated a great amount of wealth which was promptly transferred into his children's hands after his death. So, Temari had proposed to use their father's money to save the company and instantly became Dan's partner since they essential owned 30 percent of the company, each sibling receiving 10 percent ownership.

For a year things couldn't be better, Dan had gotten engaged with a medical specialist who he had known ever since high school, and his company was once again ascending in status. But tragedy soon struck: Dan got into a terrible car accident and lost his life. Even the efforts of Tsunade, his fiancé, could not save him.

Both Tsunade and Naruto had cried their hearts out at his funeral, especially when Dan's will was read, leaving a fifth (20 percent) of his company to Naruto, and everything else to his fiancé.

As time passed the wounds of the heart soon faded enough to allow Tsunade to take her place as the head of Advocate. Like Dan, she instantly fell in love with Naruto's lively attitude and having no family of her own, named the blonde her heir.

Naruto had been shocked with the news to say the least, but soon got over it and instead chose to work hard to earn the title. Tsunade couldn't have been happier with him.

"Oi, Gaara," Naruto yelled from the kitchen when he heard the shower turn off.

"What is it?" Gaara responded as he dried himself off.

"When's your next show?"

"In two weeks."

"Wow, that soon… I guess I better tell my secretary to clear my schedule. I wouldn't want to piss off my clients because I ditched them to attend a fancy art show opening… Well, I can't wait to see your sculptures. I bet they're awesome, and who knows, I might want to buy one or two for myself?" the blonde teased.

Gaara walked in the kitchen wearing only a pair of black pants he hadn't bothered to button. "Idiot, if you want one of the pieces then just tell me and I've give them to you. I don't want your money. Besides, I rather you have them than a complete stranger."

Naruto smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

RING! RING! RING!

The raven-haired male looked at his phone with irritation before he picked it up.

"Yes."

"Hello Sir. Sakon is on line one and requests to speak with you. He says it's important," his secretary informed him.

"Thank you, you can transfer him to my office."

"You're welco—" he hung up before she could finish.

The young CEO stretched his arms as he waited for the call to be put through. "He better have finished the deal already," the raven-haired male thought. "It's already taken longer than it should have."

A few moments later, the phone rang again.

"Speak."

"Well, hell of a greeting Uchiha," Sakon told him.

"I'm not in a very good mood at the moment, so tell me what's so urgent. Have you secured the deal with Advocate yet?

"That's why I'm calling. It seems like the guy didn't like being pressured and threw the entire deal down the drain. He won't budge."

Sasuke's patience snapped. "Damn it! What the hell am I paying you for if you can't do your job right," he yelled at the gray-haired male on the other line.

"If I do recall, you're the one who told me to pressure the guy. It seems Blondie isn't as stupid as I first thought."

Sasuke ran a hand down his face in frustration. "It just had to be a blonde," he thought in annoyance remembering a certain blue-eyed blonde from long ago. "Get a hold of yourself Uchiha," he thought to himself. "Why haven't you tried presenting our proposal to someone above him. What about his supervisor?"

"The only one above him is Tsunade herself, the head of the company, and it seems she trusts his judgment, so if he says no deal, then it really is no deal," Sakon explained.

Sasuke slammed his hand on the wooden oak desk. "Damn it, I need this deal," he thought to himself. "Why am I cursed with blonde idiot's who do nothing but cause me grief?"

Inside his plush office Sasuke sighed in conceit. "Fine, return home. I'll go and secure the deal myself," he told Sakon before hanging up.

"Having a bit of trouble Sasuke?" Orochimaru asked as he fully opened the door he had been standing behind.

Sasuke looked up at his unexpected arrival. "Nothing I can't handle Orochimaru," he confidently stated. He refused to let some blonde idiot stop him from accomplishing his goals, especially now that he was so close to beating Itachi.

"If you say so, I trust your judgment."

"Thank you Orochimaru."

The older male smiled. "After this deal is over, I'll have Uchiha Enterprises exactly where I want it— at the palm of my hand."

Orochimaru excused himself, now in a much better mood, and left the young Uchiha to his work. "Kabuto, its all up to you now," he thought to himself.

"I'm sick and tired of all these tests," Neji gritted out as cheerful Kabuto inserted an all too familiar needle into his flesh.

"Now Neji, you should be grateful that I've devoted all my time in search of a cure to that virus (1) that inhabits your body. You have to do your part and be patient. After all, break-through's occur at the most unlikely times," Kabuto told a frustrated Neji as he got another sample of blood from the Hyuuga.

Neji said nothing and simply waited for the medic to bandage his arm as he'd done hundreds of times before.

"Thank you for your cooperation. That's it for now. You can do whatever you wish while I examine this sample and perform some experiments," the medic dismissed him, already ignoring his presence as he placed a small amount of sample under the microscope in order to examine it more closely.

Neji slipped out of the cold chair he had been sitting on and left Kabuto to his experiments; heading to his room—his cell.

After five years, he was sick of all of it. He hated all the experiments; he hated being watched all the time, as if he could really run away. Where would he go?

He had forsaken his family long ago and had nowhere to go, besides without the medication that Kabuto supplied him with, he would die. He was all alone in this world, and the funny thing was, it was all his fault.

He laughed at the irony of it all.

He had often complained that Hiashi kept him a prisoner in the Hyuuga Mansion, but after spending five years in a virtual jail, he saw the truth too late…much too late. This was the real prison. Never allowed to leave the compound without a bodyguard, camera's everywhere, scheduled check-in's. For five years, he had lived his life behind closed doors.

He inhabited a true gilded cage, and the worst thing about it was he had voluntarily entered his cage and securely locked it, so that any thought of escape had utterly vanished from his mind's eye.

He thought of his family: Hiashi, Hinata, Hanabi, his aunt… the list went on. He often wondered how they took his abandonment. How were they? Was Hinata still the shy girl he remembered? Did Hanabi still have her sweet tooth that brought her dental bills through the roof? Did they blame him…miss him?

He had been a fool, and now he was stuck in this hell hole. Not living, merely existing from day to day. He had become but a shadow of the person he used to be. As the years dragged on, he became less and less the Neji of old. The Neji that loved to play pranks on his father, the Neji who told his tales of fantasy to his patient aunt that listened to his every word. The Neji his father loved.

How he loathed himself. If he could turn back time he would never have left his family behind—or his love.

Back in his room behind locked doors, Neji clutched his chest as he felt his heart contract from the overflowing emotion that poured through it at the mere thought of the crimson-haired male. He had abandoned the only person he had ever truly loved.

"You loved him yet you abandoned him without a second glance, is this what your so called love is worth?" he asked himself, remembering the cruel words he had told Gaara when they had last spoken.

"Gaara it's over. I no longer have any ties with you."

"I only wanted your body, nothing else."

"… I never cared about you. I only wanted you to warm my bed."

"Find someone who cares, Sabaku. I'm no longer interested in you. I never loved you."

Gaara deserved much better than him… No, he was being selfish. His motives had not been entirely pure; he could not stand it if the younger male turned away from him in disgust after he found out about his secret… or even worse, looked at him with pity or sympathy.

Besides, he knew that he could never make Gaara happy; all he would do is make him miserable in the end until Gaara hated him. He knew that; yet, it had killed him to say those words to him—all those lies.

He still remembered Gaara's broken voice as he finished their relationship. Every heart-broken word that the younger male uttered had been like a knife wound, each a stab to his heart.

"Neji… help me…"

"Why…Why? Neji why did you…you…I thought you truly cared…"

"I-I-I need you…I-I-I'm in the darkness."

"What?" the young Hyuuga whispered aloud eyes wide in realization, as he replayed his memories.

"Neji… help me…"

"Help me?" he repeated out-loud as worry took over. When he called Gaara those had been the first words he had said to him. Had he been in trouble?

"I-I-I need you…I-I-I'm in the darkness."

Neji's heart skipped a beat as he closely examined his memories for the first time in five years.

"His voice was laced with panic…he had been afraid," the white-eye male remembered for the first time. At the time he had been under too much emotional stress that he hadn't even noticed; he had been too consumed in his own problems. "No, he couldn't have been in danger…could he?"

Neji shook his head as if he could rid himself of such a ludicrous idea. "He was always with Naruto or siblings. If something happened to him, they would be right there to help him," he reasoned, yet somehow he didn't quite believe himself.

"Father, we have just received another ransom notice," Hinata said in an emotionless voice as she handed her father the letter in her hand.

While her father read the letter she never once took her eyes off of him. Every time they received the ransom notice in the mail her emotions went through hell and back. The letter always demanded the same set of conditions: a box full of pills (1) that would last a single individual a year, and enough of the antidote (2) to last the same length of time.

Every year they received the letter and for the last four years Hiashi had delivered the requested amount. However, Hinata knew that the current situation could not last forever, eventually the letter would demand more, something her father could not deliver—such as the components of the pill, or even worse, the components of the antidote. She knew her father could not carry out such a request. She was also afraid that one day the letter would arrive and her father would refuse to deliver the requested items. She knew he had every right to refuse, and the worst thing about it was she could not oppose his decision. She knew that Hiashi risked a lot every time he carried out the request. Yet, what choice did they have? If they refused to surrender the pills or the antidote, it would be the same as refusing to save Neji. She could never forgive herself if Neji died for such a reason.

Every year she went through the same torture and this year was no different as she stood in front of her father awaiting his decision.

After reading the letter Hiashi stood up and faced his daughter. "Inform the medic to prepare the necessary amount of pills and antidote," he told her.

Hearing her father's words, Hinata released the breath she hadn't even noticed she'd been holding. "Yes, father," she said as relief flooded her system.

Hiashi watched as his daughter literally ran out of his office. "Hizashi, I cannot keep doing this…," he said while looking at the picture on his desk of his brother and him. "If I can't find Neji this year, I'm afraid I will not be able to comply with the ransom demand next year," he whispered.

For a minute, Hiashi simply stood in the empty room as if waiting for his long dead brother to reply, but the silence was unbroken.

Hiashi sighed. "Neji where are you?"

1) The virus I'm referring to was first mentioned in "A Breath in the Dark": Act 1. Ch. 4: A Case of Malady. The virus…well, that particular subject is going to be revealed as the story continues. The first symptom of the virus is a curse seal that appears on a Hyuuga's forehead. The seal is a warning device that informs a Hyuuga that they need to take the antidote soon. If a Hyuuga does not take the antidote their body will slowly be overcome with torturous pain until they can't move. This painful symptoms can be slowed down by taking the pills but once it begins nothing but the antidote will be able to stop it. However, if a Hyuuga does not take the antidote their body will slowly shut down and they will eventually die a painful death.

2) The pills I'm referring to were first mentioned in "A Breath in the Dark": Act 1. Ch. 4: A Case of Malady. The pill extends the time intervals in which a Hyuuga needs to take the shot, which is referred to as the antidote. If a Hyuuga does not take their medication, then the time interval for their next shot is shortened.

3) The antidote I'm referring to was first mentioned in "A Breath in the Dark": Act 1, Ch. 10: A Breath in the Dark. The antidote is the shot that a Hyuuga must receive usually every four months—if they take the required pills, without the pills the time interval between every shot shortens considerably. The so-called antidote merely prevents an individual from dying of the virus. It is not a cure.

So there it is, Act II. This is the sequel to Act I: "A Breath in the Dark". As you probably noted, I tried to explain what happened five years ago with Neji and Gaara. As far as everyone knows, Neji harshly broke-up with Gaara and left him in that cage knowing of his claustrophobia. However, Neji never knew Gaara was in trouble. He simply broke-up with Gaara because Kabuto made him, and he also wanted Gaara to be happy with someone else because he thought he could never make Gaara happy. In this chapter he just realized that something was wrong with Gaara, but he still doesn't know exactly what.

What do you think of the first chapter? There's not much going on, but I needed to set a lot of things up. Next chapter will be more exciting. Sasuke and Naruto will meet for the first time in five years, and Neji will make a big decision. Hopefully he'll be able to execute it. Gaara… well Gaara will be a little busy with his upcoming show. Hope you'll like his sculptures.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks ;)