Hello everyone! I'm so excited please bear with me... heh... Anyway here it is! The parallel story to Results of a shitty day! Which means, you can read it on its own I think, since all will be explained here too.

There are a few important things we need to go through before you start reading this (awesome) story. First of all, the main pairing is ItachixGaara, but for a big part of the story, that's mainly friendship based. There are reasons. Well. There is also NarutoxSasuke, but since Results of a shitty day focuses on their relationship it'll be in the sidelines here. Oh, and ItaGaa is not because of the pairing but because of things that happened in Results that forced me into re-thinking a lot of things and also write this story!

Secondly, there is both yaoi and hetero and who knows there might be shoujo-ai as well. If you hate het pairings more than anything regardless of plot importance, then I'm sorry you might not enjoy a few of these chapters. No het sex scenes though, I'm not so much into that.

Thirdly, the main part of this story is PLOT. Which means yes, romance is an important part of the plot but that's not the main objective here. For those who have read Results (will anyone dare to try it without reading Results first? I hope so) then you can think of it as this story will give you the missing pieces from there. And there are many, many of those. (Bad joke with the title I'm sorry as always)

This will be a long story. Very long. Yay. Which means slow progress and character development because I like those things. I'll try to write as often as I can but Uni is stealing a lot of time, not to mention I supposedly have a life as well. A lot of scenes in here will be in the past, not in flashback format but as a parallell to the main storyline. The amount varies from chapter to chapter. Therefore, pay attention to the years written! (Also, Results of a shitty day would have started in October 2012, but you'll get those dates later as well).

I don't want to explain too much and make this AN unnecessarily long, so just believe that everything is written for a reason (I'm doing some major plot preparation for this one) and if you have any questions feel free to ask them in a review or PM and I'll answer you:) Oh, and no characters are OC's unless I go out of my way to say so.

Disclaimer: Nope I don't own Naruto's glorious ass.

Warnings: This is labeled crime, in which is included some maybe graphic scenes. Depends on your view of graphic. Anyway, expect this story to contain painful things as well as nice ones. What is NOT included is heavy angst, self-harm, main character death, rape. This is an adult story. I have no illusions that younger people won't read this (that would be half my fan-base) so don't come complaining to me if you think something hurts your kokoro (I know it hurts mine). I am sorry though. This isn't like the usual things I write.

Approved of by my lovely girlfriend adgxvnetu before publishing;)

Alright let's do this!

Missing pieces

Chapter one: I know it started here

xxx

-January 3rd 1992-

"Hey Gaara! Are you gonna come play with us today?"

He glanced at the smaller girl excitedly skipping along next to him, trying to keep up with his fast pace.

"Leave me alone" he muttered in a toneless voice, wondering why she insisted on asking him to join in.

He knew there weren't any others that wanted him there. Starting a higher grade last semester he'd had to change schools, and in the beginning a few girls that didn't know him had giggled and tried to talk with him, but soon lost interest when he ignored them. It's not that he didn't want friends, it just wasn't possible.

And so, he shook his head as a final answer, pushed his hands deeper down the pockets of his too thin winter coat and hurried on. Every time he left home he liked to think he was going somewhere, when in reality he usually just took the same walk around the neighborhood lake. Shoulders tense against the cold he tried to ignore how his ears burned as he made his way along the icy walkway next to it, the wind chilly this morning and the slope up towards the car road not hindering it in the least. Not many others were out, just a few grown-ups walking their dogs.

He tried to think of nothing, feel nothing, avoiding eye contact whenever he passed someone. Not that many seemed interested in a twelve-year-old kid like him. He balled his hands into fists, glaring at the ground. It would be nice if he wouldn't have to walk alone all the time. With a sigh he kicked at the ground, a frozen piece of snow sliding over frozen ground, getting caught on the pebbles strewn out and coming to a stop earlier than he liked. He wished he could kick everything far, far away.

Barely a few seconds after that, right after he'd thought of the calm morning with resentment, a loud crash was heard. Metal against metal, and Gaara would never forget that sound of it buckling under its own weight. His head snapped up just in time to catch the sleek silver car tumbling over the safety railing, flying as if weightless through the air, silence prickling in his ears despite the sounds of engines still coming from up the road.

He clenched his eyes shut, hands pressed over his ears but not in time to miss the sight as it landed on its left side, the crash it made softened by deep snow, the shattering of tinted glass. On autopilot he'd curled into a ball, as if scared the car would hit him seeing how close he was. Even with his ears covered he could hear when silence and stillness turned into gasps and scared shouts and confusion, and just as he was about to squint through his lashes, the unmistakable wail of a baby rang through the air.

Raising his head his eyes opened wide, and for the rest of his life he'd wish he hadn't looked. The car had come to a stop in the small ditch between the walkway and the slope, somewhere along the way it had turned to lie upside down and when the few people already there parted to the sides, he saw them.

The left side of the car was halfway smashed inwards; it must have landed on one of the rocks protruding out of the hillside. From his bent position he could see straight into the front seats, to the right was squeezed between metal and seatbelt what looked to be a man, streaks of blood running down his forehead and continuing into his blond hair.

Gaara wanted to puke.

His brain wouldn't let him though, and his eyes slowly moved to the middle, where arms and long red hair lay tangled in a mess he quickly darted away from, and to the left was where the wails came from, all he could see were tiny legs kicking back and forth.

A sense of relief washed over him at once, and he stared, stared hard, as people tried in vain to open the door, giving up and trying to get the baby out through the window instead. He hadn't noticed there were tears streaming down his face until a hand landed on his shoulder, and an elderly woman gave him a sad smile.

"Sweetie, I think it's better if you went home. Children shouldn't see things like this."

He sniveled, dried his nose on his sleeve and the tears as well when he felt his cheeks freeze in the wind. Nodding he left, glancing back at the wreckage once. Then he turned and ran, ran as fast as he could, slipping several times but not caring, his chest a deep black hole and when he couldn't run anymore, couldn't breathe, he stopped and clung gasping to a streetlight. The baby… Oh god the baby! It was all alone now, no mother, no father, no one to hold it and love it. All alone just like Gaara…

Clenching his mouth shut until his jaw hurt he forced himself to stop crying, fingers stiff and cold as they rubbed his cheeks. Hiccupping despite his efforts he tried to talk some sense into himself, like he always did when his emotions took control of him. He wasn't completely alone. His dad was still alive, though it was questionable how much good that did for anyone. His sister was still living with them, even after threatening to leave so many times, just like his brother had already done. He wasn't alone. He just had to be good and stay with them.

Unable to stop another sob shaking his chest he felt the pain of a hundred secret wishes running through him. He slid down to his knees, not noticing how cold the snow was and how hard the ground underneath felt. He wanted to leave. He wanted his sister to leave and take him with her, but he knew it wouldn't happen. He was just a burden. Just a painful reminder that their mother was gone, wasn't coming back.

He didn't know how he made it home, only knew he was cold and hungry and miserable. Except apparently it wasn't home anymore, judging by the social worker standing with a serious face behind his crying sister.

"I'm so sorry Gaara, I just can't live like this anymore."

That day, Gaara's life wasn't the only that changed forever.

-June 18th 2012-

"Hey, Gaara! Are you gonna eat with us today or what?"

Frowning, Gaara answered without looking away from his computer screen.

"Mind your own business Yurika, I'm working."

"Yeah, and with what exactly? There aren't any big cases lately, plus you'll starve to death the way you're living right now. I haven't seen you eat in a week!"

Sighing Gaara leaned back in his office chair, giving up on getting rid of her without a decent answer.

"I'm taking the time to work on that case."

She opened her mouth to retort, but then she sighed as well and gave him a pitying look he could have done without.

"I know it's hard for you, but-"

"No" he interrupted her tonelessly, "You don't know at all."

She let out a frustrated noise and walked around his desk. He didn't bother hiding what was on the screen, he knew what she'd say already.

"Uchiha Corporation? Really? You know that's a dead end."

"Says who?"

"Gaara, take a break! You can't save the world on your own, and you need to eat. Everyone is worried about you. I mean, what's going to happen if our boss dies from malnutrition? It would bring shame on us all."

"I already have a lunch date, I'm afraid" he answered, giving her an obviously fake smile, seeing as he rarely ever smiled for real. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to eat."

Turning off his computer he stood up to get ready, ignoring her worried looks. He'd been getting plenty of those the past five years.

"He wouldn't want you to hurt yourself like this" she said, quietly, but the words rang loud in Gaara's ears as he froze.

"It's not like that" he mumbled, defensive now. "Worry about yourself instead, isn't it about time you got yourself a boyfriend?"

"I could say the same about you!" she squeaked back indignantly, but he waved her off as he exited his office, tightening his tie as he nodded at his subordinates, giving a half-asleep Konohamaru a slap over the back of his head as he passed.

"I'm sorry boss!" the younger man shouted after him, and he shook his head slowly to himself.

What he'd done to earn their respect was easy to say, but this never-ending worry and meddling in his private life? He could absolutely do without it.

As he drove out of the parking garage he listened with half a mind to the noise from the police radio, his thoughts drifting to the matter at hand. Oh, he knew the Uchiha lead was a dead end. The question was, why? Why was it such an obvious dead end, like a cliff rising straight up into the air? Twenty years was enough time to get rid of all evidence, and he bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance at a red light. His mentor hadn't thought it was a pointless lead, and now he was dead and Gaara had spent the past five years fruitlessly searching for clues. Baki's death had been described as unfortunate, and their superiors had decided to stop all investigations regarding the Akatsuki case and leave it up to the international police.

Needless to say, Gaara hadn't been satisfied with that. Doing everything alone in his spare time though, it had been slow going, but he finally felt like he had a grip on the case and knew where to go from now. Akatsuki may be a large organization now, but everyone starts somewhere, and Gaara was certain it all started here.

Therefore, first stop: Uchiha Itachi.

xxx

When Gaara was finally allowed onto Itachi's floor he felt ready to shove his badge up the nostrils of the next person telling him to wait. He felt like the respect for the law was just dwindling day by day, and he thanked (and cursed) his lucky star that he was official and important enough to usually get away with some bullying if it hurried up the process of getting him where he wanted. A secretary with a face so calm it looked etched in stone slowly guided him towards the door to the head of Uchiha Corporation's office, and he braced himself as it was opened and the secretary exchanged a few words with the older Uchiha brother.

Gaara wondered what it must be like to be in charge of a company of this magnitude at the mere age of 30, not that Gaara was much older or having any less responsibility. The difference was, he supposed, that he'd earned his position while Itachi's father had simply died and forced the position onto his son. That was about as much as Gaara had been able to find out about Itachi from his research on the family, that and the fact that the man inside the office was supposedly a genius academic.

"He'll see you now" the secretary said, and Gaara entered without an answer.

Once he'd crossed the threshold he sized the other man up, a calm handsome face observing him with deep dark eyes, long equally dark hair slung in a ponytail over a shoulder, a designer cut suit hugging the tall figure snugly as he stood up to greet Gaara. An elegant eyebrow raised, and Gaara knew what kind of impression he must be giving. Bright red hair, fringe barely covering the kanji for love tattooed in brighter red ink thanks to an accident at the hairdresser's, coupled with the don't-fuck-with-me aura Konohamaru had so nicely told him was able to scare the bravest man into cooperation.

Not to mention he was sure his shirt was wrinkly in at least ten places, and had he been more observant of the fact that Itachi was gorgeous as hell he might have done something about it before coming here.

What a shame the Uchiha was already married.

Snatching up his badge from his pocket in a well-practiced move he handed it over for inspection before they shook hands.

"If you don't mind, I have a few things I'd like to talk to you about. We could do it over lunch, if you'd prefer that."

Itachi gave him a calculating look, still standing up behind his desk.

"Perhaps lunch would be better, I'll have my secretary call and make a reservation immediately."

Gaara hardly believed his ears. No objections? He tried to tell his heart to stop beating so hard, he was a professional damn it! But the thought that Itachi might have expected him, did he know something or was he just careful because he didn't know what the police wanted with him?

Well, not that Gaara was technically the police; working at the special division right under the government as he was. If only everyone could be as efficient as Itachi when he dealt with them, but he'd learnt over and over again that people were often more concerned with not angering their superiors than aiding the police.

"All set up" Itachi said, bringing him out of his musings. "Are we taking my car or yours, Mr. Sabaku?"

"Mine, if you don't mind. It's not official so don't worry about that. Also, please call me Gaara, because I'm going to call you Itachi."

If Itachi wanted to protest Gaara didn't notice, he wasn't there on official business and so he wouldn't bother with pleasantries. Instead he just led the way back down to his car, Itachi frowning at having to walk through the lobby in plain sight, but again Gaara ignored him.

"Where to?" Gaara asked once they'd settled into his car.

"The Purple Garden" was the short answer, and Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Good choice" he commented as he started driving, glancing quickly at the other man before concentrating on the road.

"I'll just assume you know where it is, then. So, what have I done to deserve the attention of the," he paused briefly, "'National special forces of crime investigation'?"

Gaara made a grimace.

"Such a flashy name, isn't it. Well, I have to admit they don't want anything with you, I'm here unofficially."

"So is it that they don't want anything, or they can't admit they want something?"

Gaara sent an answering quirk of lips in the direction of Itachi's confident smirk. He was starting to like this guy.

"If it was the latter you shouldn't be so amused about it. It means I'm investigating something in my spare time and it may or may not involve you somehow."

Itachi's smirk instantly fell.

"I see" he mused, leaning his elbow against the car door. "And this 'something', just what exactly is it?"

"I'd rather not talk in the car" Gaara answered, distracted at the end by a voice coming from the radio.

"So-"

"Hush" Gaara interrupted with, raising a hand momentarily to silence Itachi as if the hushing wasn't enough. "That's right next to us, isn't it?" he added a few moments later, nodding towards the radio, eyes narrowing in contemplation.

"You're going to go start chasing after some criminals?" Itachi asked, incredulously and with a slight tone of horror at the end.

Gaara smirked at him, before grabbing a siren from between the seats, turning it on and opening the window to place it on the roof of the car.

"Hold on to something" he advised, as the window closed again to muffle the sound of the siren, and then swerved to the side to smoothly run past a few cars in front of them before making a sharp turn to the left crossing a red light.

Picking up a small speaker device he reported into it, a concentrated frown on his face as he just managed to avoid hitting a few pedestrians. After a few seconds of silence, an upset female voice sounded through the radio.

"Gaara is that you?! I swear to god if you butt into my business again I'll have you reported! What do you think you're doing!"

"Calm down Yugito, I'm just helping. If you did your job properly I wouldn't need to 'butt into your business'."

A string of curses was heard, causing Gaara to sigh quietly.

"I'm two streets away now shut up and let me drive."

To his side, Itachi looked ready to call a mental hospital.

"Don't worry Itachi, she loves it when I help out. We're old friends."

The Uchiha didn't look convinced, but Gaara didn't have time to worry about it right now. He'd just caught sight of what had to be the getaway car they were looking for. Maneuvering his own car through the now more crowded streets he cursed out loud. He hated this kind of thing, too many innocent people ran the risk of getting hurt. Turning into a side street he sped up, hoping he could get ahead of the other car. It was just a problem that he wasn't alone in the car, and it would probably be a bad idea to get the other man hurt. He sort of needed him on his good side.

"We're level with them now."

Gaara almost made a startled noise at the words coming from Itachi, but nodded and sped up as much as he dared. It wasn't nearly as fast as on TV, sadly.

"Two streets up there's a dead end, I was thinking I could force them in there" he answered, unsure of why he shared his plan but thinking it didn't hurt.

Slowing in to round a corner he went back to the previous street, lucky enough to have come out on top, and with a moment of fear that the other car would run straight into them he breathed out as they swerved into the side street to avoid him.

"Got them" he gritted out through clenched teeth and drove after the other car into the small street lined with parked cars on both sides.

The other car had stopped at the dead end, metal bars cutting off the street from the next one, and apparently they abandoned their attempts to turn around when they noticed the siren following them. Instead two men jumped out just as Gaara screeched to a stop a few meters away, flinging the door open and yelling at them to stop or get shot.

His answer were a few bullets to the front window, and with a curse he ducked behind the door and gave Itachi a sour look.

"Of course they had to have guns" he muttered, leaning inside again to grab the speaker, ignoring Itachi's pale face staring at the impact of the bullets on the bullet-proof window.

"They're heading on foot along Oak street, with guns. You better call for some heavier back-up, Yugito."

"I thought you were the heavier back-up!"

"I didn't bring my gun" Gaara muttered, angry with himself.

"Come again?"

"I said I didn't bring my gun! I'm out for lunch!"

There was silence for a few seconds, and Gaara was glad he didn't have to listen to her cursing him out.

"Hey, you should be happy I stopped them from running over some poor old lady at least. Do you want me to check the car?"

"Just stay where you are, I'll be there in a sec. The helicopter has spotted them so don't bite your nails off over it."

With a sigh Gaara sank down into his seat, tossing the speaker away.

"Sorry about that" he offered, a little peeved about the fact that now he had to fix his car, and get yelled at by so many people his head was already hurting.

"You know," Itachi started, unclenching his fingers from the side of the car, "I was thinking that today was rather boring, but I'm not sure getting shot at is what I was aiming for."

Gaara chuckled tiredly, rubbing the side of his face.

"The one day I bring a passenger and no gun. I don't think I want to know what you think of me right now."

"Hmm, well, if you kidnapped me to take me on a date, I'd have to admit I'm a little bit impressed. You look like a gangster though, driving like that."

Gaara tried really hard not to let his cheeks heat up. How long had it been since he blushed anyway?

"Oh god" he groaned. "If only criminals weren't so bad at aiming." Surprisingly, Itachi actually laughed at that, and Gaara felt his shoulders lose some tension. "But I have a good reason to call you out like this, I swear. Well, minus the car chase."

"Alright, I'll believe you for now."

Gaara nodded, more relieved than he should be, brushing his fingers nervously through his fringe as they waited for Yugito to show up. He tried to ignore the looks from the few people passing by, thankful for the tinted windows. He felt like lately, his life had been one big mess and he wasn't sure why that was. If anything, his life nowadays was a lot better than when he was younger.

"I can't believe the fucking nerve you've got!" a tall woman with blond hair tied into a long braid growled as she flung the door open.

"Hello to you too, Yugito" he sighed, eyes closing for a moment.

"Eh? What's this, you've got a passenger?" She peeked into the car, eyes widening as she saw Itachi. "I don't know what you said to make him agree on a date with you, but maybe doing this kind of thing is the reason you're still painfully single."

"Oh get lost" he snapped, turning the key to start the engine. "If all you're going to do is yell at me I think I'll just leave now. There's the car, have fun."

"If you break his heart I will kill you~" she managed to sing at Itachi before Gaara slammed the door shut, cursing as he realized getting out of there was going to be difficult.

"Well, she seemed nice" Itachi commented as they were finally back on the road, an amused smile playing over his lips.

Gaara sent him a look but didn't comment, too busy trying to drive the car with a cracked-up windshield blocking his view. He'd turned off the radio to avoid any additional tempting car chases, and the sound of the AC buzzing grated on his nerves. The unexpected action earlier had managed to distract him from the task at hand, but now it was all creeping back to him, a different kind of tension tagging along with it. Itachi felt like a deal-breaker. It was do or die now, not literally perhaps but if this didn't lead him anywhere, he would have to go home and re-evaluate his life, and that wasn't something he looked forward to.

"We're here" he sighed, finally, as he pulled the car into the parking lot behind the restaurant. They were lucky to find a spot during the lunch rush.

Just as he stretched out to open the door Itachi's hand landed on his arm, and he turned to give him a questioning look. The other man seemed ready to say something, but then changed his mind and shook his head. Slowly, Gaara let out the breath he'd held, and got out of the car. He tried to look nonchalant as people stared worriedly at the bullet marks, hoping he wouldn't get in trouble with the Uchiha for the unwanted attention.

"Well, this is one way to make an impression" Itachi noted, in an attempt at breaking the seriousness of the situation.

Gaara shrugged, unable to relax at the moment. Too soon they'd been shown inside, getting a table on the second floor. The Purple Garden was known for its private, quiet atmosphere, the kind of place you take business associates or dates. He wondered which category people thought they fell under, wishing either of them were true.

"So" Itachi started, after they'd placed their orders, hands clasped in front of him. "Tell me about this case you're investigating in your spare time. Must be nice, having a job you enjoy so much it's become a hobby."

"Cut back on the small talk Itachi, I'm not one of your business partners. I'm not expecting either of us to enjoy this conversation."

Itachi's eyes immediately hardened, his posture subtly turning defensive.

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

"I just want to be clear that I'm not doing this for fun." He paused, weighing the options in his mind before continuing. "Going straight to the point, five years ago my colleague was killed during a certain investigation. One of his leads was connected to Uchiha Corporation."

Itachi's face remained passive, the perfect poker face. Not perfect enough, though, not for someone trained as Gaara was. He noticed the small twitch of recognition in the dark eyes. He didn't bother getting excited though, Baki had contacted Itachi's father at the time, and if he had any sort of interest in his company Itachi was bound to know about it.

"This case, it's not just your run-of-the-mill bad guys versus cops kind of thing. It lies with the international police now, which is why I'm not really supposed to look into it."

"Let me guess, revenge for your colleague?"

Gaara blew a little air out of his nose, in what could be amusement.

"Please, if that was the only reason I'd have given up a long time ago. Try again."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, carefully studying his face, eventually coming to a conclusion.

"It bothers you so much you can't sleep at night, and you know the truth is bad, but you also know you can't live without knowing."

It was now Gaara's turn to raise an eyebrow at the quiet, deep voice telling the answer so surely, as if Itachi suffered from the exact same thing. For a few seconds they stared into each other's eyes, and Gaara couldn't shake off the feeling that there was much, much more to Uchiha Itachi than could be seen.

"Yes" he said. "And now, you might wonder why I haven't contacted you until now. Well, the thing is, it's such an obvious dead end. I don't know if this has anything to do with your father at all, but if it does, he's pretty damn good at getting rid of the evidence."

"My father was good at many things" Itachi mused, leaning a little forward, hands clasping more tightly, "And lying was definitely one of them."

By now, Gaara almost felt sick with anticipation. Could this be it? Could he actually, for once, get somewhere with this? He licked his dry lips, leaning his forearms on the expensive-looking dark blue table cloth.

Of course, before either could continue, the waiter returned with their drinks. Glaring at him Gaara accepted his drink, much too aware of Itachi's gaze never moving from his face.

"Gaara."

His eyes snapped back to the other man at the sound of his name, and he squeezed the glass in his hand, feeling more nervous than he had for a very long time. Feeling more at all, he corrected himself.

"I don't know if I can help you, but if I do, it's on one condition."

Gaara nodded, swallowing with some difficulty.

"No matter what happens, you will leave my brother out of this."

Silence stretched out between them for a while, neither moving. It was a very unfair bargain, Gaara thought. He had no idea whether Itachi was saying this merely to hide things from his brother, or if his brother was actually involved and he wanted to let him go free of charge.

"I'll leave him out, to the best of my ability" Gaara answered, wondering if Itachi would accept the careful phrasing.

He felt those sharp eyes bore into him, calculating, and suddenly it wasn't hard at all to believe those statements about Itachi being highly intelligent.

"It'll do, I guess." Itachi leaned back, taking a sip of his water. "He knows nothing, and will continue knowing nothing."

Gaara nodded again, relaxing a little. He just had to be careful not to relax too much in Itachi's presence.

"Then let's get started."

So! I'm super excited to know what you think! Somehow I like Itachi's and Gaara's interaction more and more every time I write something with them. Oh, and Gaara might be a little ooc, but well, there's a reason for that too. Uuh I feel like there's a bunch of stuff I've forgotten but oh well, I'll just cross my fingers and hope you enjoyed it! Let's prepare for an emotional ride together~