Speed

Neji had always found complications of dating.

Just the word of "dating" spelled out many flaws or soon to be messes that were of no worth to clean up. Maybe that's why he was single, sitting at table in a restaurant with an old friend, picking at his food with his fork as his violet eyes watched the thin lengths of his spaghetti swirl together as the girl before him gave him some good old friendly advice. Which of course was putting it the nice way, to the Hyuuga; it was a mocking trial of his love life. The man instantly dropped his fork as his eyes lifted to glare at the brunette.

"Speed dating?" He questioned harshly, surely such desperation wouldn't be taken seriously. The man was single and alone, not desperate and eager for a hook up with a stranger. Tenten nodded as she happily munched at her salad, one leg of her's crossed over the other as her brown eyes lit up to her old crush. Of course, what better way to build up a relationship? Hello, I'm Neji Hyuuga; I like deep poetry and snuggling when watching a sunset, care to date?

"Yes Neji, you got to get a girl somehow and fast or people might think you're gay." Tenten hushed in a soft voice as if people could hear, her eyes shifting from side to side to seek an intruder listening in. A eye of the man twitched as his frown held his lips. "I am gay, Tenten." The female paused in her feasting of the salad, her lips pouted out as her eyes stared to her friend.

"Is that why you turned me down on my eighteenth birthday?" The Hyuuga groaned as he sunk into his chair, lifting a hand to touch his forehead.

"Let's not discuss this, please Tenten?" The real matter at hand was that even thought speed dating seemed completely stupid to even dare try, maybe it was worth the risk.

"Alright." Neji spoke through a mumbled, sighing as he pushed his half empty plate of spaghetti away from himself, finding his stomach to be quite full of twisting emotions. "I'll try speed dating."

"Good, your first date will be in five minutes." Tenten said with a devilish grin and pushed back in her chair to stand herself up.

The innocent violet eyes blinked and then hardened.

"Tenten-" He began in a low tone and the girl sheepishly smiled, dropping her napkin upon the table's surface.

"Oh and you can cover the bill, right Neji? I'll meet you outside then, thanks, you're the best!" The words came out quicker then movement of the chinese girl and once again, the man was alone and utterly annoyed and he hadn't even started speed dating yet. Once the bill of the dinner was paid, Tenten had taken Neji by the arm as she dragged him to a small location, what seemed to be a little high class tea shop. Some last resort it turned out to be. On the inside, it wasn't much; if you count not much being candlelight everywhere, red silk curtains and table tops and carpet with royal gold and blue walls. Taking in the designer's touch, Neji was pushed by gentle arms.

Finding himself in a chair at one of the red silk tables, candlelight at the center with rose petals scattered, Neji blinked as his company was empty with nobody seated in the chair across from him. Instantly a bell rang, one of those tiny annoying bells that could be heard as a hand bell. The room shifted and Neji gripped the sides of his chair as he waited for his first date. A blond man sat before him, a goofy grin upon his features as blue eyes electrocuted his features, a ripped up band t-shirt clinging to his figure as whiskers scratched his face. With an annoyed sigh, Neji relaxed.

"Hey there stranger." The voice came from the blond's lips, the man hanging his arms over the back of his chair as he leaned back.

"Sasuke broke up with you again, eh Naruto?"

Neji assumed in a dull tone, raising an eyebrow as the look of unamusement took on his mature features. "You got a boyfriend, baby?" Neji tensed at that, his eye twitching, he gave a slowly warning to his friend.

"Naruto..." The blond only smirked and leaned forward, a blond like fringe falling over his right eye.

"What do you do for a living?" The Hyuuga debated on smacking sense back into his friend if the blond had any to begin with.

"Dammit Naruto, you know what do I." The stupid little bell rang again and Neji thanked Kami that it was over, his blond friend retreating from the chair as he moved closer to the Hyuuga and kissed at his cheek before moving on. With a sigh, Neji watched as a blonde girl sat in the chair next; it made him a bit nervous. A purple cell phone was held in her hand as she seemed to be texting.

Better fix things while he was ahead.

"Um, Excuse me." The blonde paid no attention at first but when Neji cleared his throat, those baby blues looked to him with a glare.

"Yeah?" She asked in an annoyed tone, such rudeness that made Neji happy he was gay.

"Sorry but I'm not exactly into-" A hand was held up to pause him in his words.

"Yeah that's nice, I'm just here to get back at my ex-boyfriend and you're not exactly my type so let's just let these five minutes pass, okay?" Well that certainly went well. The small bell rang after some time and the violet eyes fell from the wallthey stared at, not even receiving a wave at the blonde ponytail girl walked away, phone still in hand. Yeah, great idea Tenten, I'm having a fucking blast, Neji thought bitterly and thought to give up; moving in his chair to stand and leave.

"Don't I deserve a chance?" A slightly raspy voice called to his back and the Hyuuga turned finding yet another to be in the chair.

With a sigh of regret, the man nodded with a faint smile.

"Sure, I suppose." After all, what was another five minutes? It was going to be a long lonely night anyway. The man was a redhead, dirt coating his shagged red hair and clothes that consist of a brown trench coat although Neji wasn't sure if the color was natural or not, black fingerless gloves and green torn scarf around his neck. A white button up and black slacks complete the look as for thick black outlines of the green eyes of the man, dirt smudged at his cheeks as his eyes were bloodshot and skin held the look of dirty broken porcelain. An odor came from the man, the smell of cigarettes and bitter wine. With grimy fingers, the redhead picked up one of the table's rose petals and rubbed it between two fingers.

"Gaara." The man gruffed, his aquamarine eyes watching at the petal squirmed and shrunk between his fingers. Neji watched in silence but instantly snapped.

"Neji, I'm Neji." He replied with small hesitation and grew silent once more.

"What do you do, Neji?" The rough voice made Neji cringe a bit, his violet eyes low as he picked at his brain.

"I'm a writer, I write about war and peace, pain and loneliness." Curiously, the man wanted to ask Gaara the same thing as with such an appearance, what work could be done?

"What about love?" The long haired hand tilted his head and felt his heart thud heavily as the green eyes turned to him.

"Do you write about love?"

Neji bowed his head.

"No, not very often I do." After all, love is just a figment; you have to believe in it to become real. He was a writer of reality, not of fairy tales.

"Uh, So what do you do for a living?" Neji asked and the redhead chuckled and flicking the crumpled rose petal to the air, smirking as an eyebrow rose.

"Do you really want to know?" On second thought, maybe another question would work. "I can show you if you like." The writer shook his head.

"That's quite alright." Yet Gaara bared his arm upon the table, pulling back his long brown sleeve to show red markings and purple lining that trailed beyond the sleeve.

"It's not my favorite but you want to know what I do for a living?" The man was simply mad. The redhead pulled out something from his pocket and sprinkled it upon the table, white powder.

"Speed."

Well, the first date with a drug addict was quite different for a date yet Neji didn't feel afraid.

"Why?" He asked, eying the powder cautiously, watching as the man bowed his head and sniffed the white away, looking up with pulsing bloodshot eyes.

"When you got nothing to live for, you find other ways to hold a thrill in life, this is one of mine." Neji felt frozen as he watched the man get up and tuck his hands into his coat pockets, giving one last look before he vanished, a second later the bell had rung. Having no idea what came over him, Neji followed.

"So you also get your kicks off of speed dating too? Is that it?"

The man froze, chuckling as he refused to turn about.

"It's all in good fun, isn't it? I hope to get addicted to something that'll make me feel good, just like the drugs yet I haven't found it, after all you seem too uptight for a relationship." That's not true at all, not in the least. "I'm not going to rely on material things to make me feel a thrill, I didn't choose to be alone." Neji shouted at Gaara, taking a thunderous step forward on the pavement, the outside's breeze chilling his body through his suit.

"Neither did I yet I chose didn't I?" Still chose to make a mistake that led to loneliness.

"Ya know, my mother always told me I'd fall in love with a beautiful girl and have kids and a job and die old and happy." Gaara sighed as he turned to face Neji, still at quite a distance from him; he kept his hands in his pockets as the edges of his trench coat blew in the breeze.

Bits of the red hair ruffling as the addict smirked.

"Yet I'm broke and homeless, no kids to speak of or a pretty wife and I'm staring at a hopeless romantic writer that can't help but follow me and expect something more than a five minute pity date." Neji stood there, stunned in place he watched the addict with soft eyes.

"I do want more." He muttered, his heart aching as he stepped forward.

"I want what you have; I want a thrill for living, something to live for." The words pleaded and clicks of footsteps clattered as Neji moved to Gaara, standing before him.

"Sorry but I don't share my drugs." Gaara smirked and tilted his head, what a smartass.

"I didn't mean the drugs." Neji shook his head, not knowing what he was getting into, the writer kissed the redhead, tasting the bitter flavor. Instantly, Neji was pulled roughly against the addict, the kiss becoming rougher between the two. The hands of the Hyuuga rushed to run through the locks of red as hands held his hips. He certainly felt it. The speed of his heart racing, speed of the lust rising in his body and speed the kiss was moving at. It kept going and going, running like a train going off a track. The speed of moans hitting another, speed of the moving hands and the thrill. The speed of the thrill it all held, it felt everlasting. This was addiction; this was the break of his loneliness.

Speed never felt so good.

A/N:This is dedicated to Arashi, otherwise known on here by Kabuto-pants. ^-^ She wanted a GaaNeji since I promised to write a fic for her for being so amazing and we talked about speed dating and this came about, I just threw in twists of it. I hope it was alright, I tried hard to work with the crack pair and make something of the two. Such interesting chemistry though. Well alright, now to work on the rest of my checklist. I'm on fire with all this writing, haha.