I don’t own Naruto.

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It was almost one in the morning. No light shined in as there was no window in the bedroom. It had never really occurred to Gaara that there was no bedroom except at that moment. He let out a sigh, glancing down at the bed. Laying next to him, only a couple inches away, was Neji. He was sound asleep. His chest was rising very slowly, with the even breaths that only someone asleep could have. His long hair was tied back in a braid to keep from getting horribly knotted and was gracefully laying on the pillows next to Neji.

I really don’t want to wake him. . .

Gaara reached over and very gently stroked Neji’s hair. It was soft and slightly cold to the touch. He let out a sigh, gazing down at his sleeping lover. Neji didn’t stir at all. He used to in the very beginning of his relationship. There had been times when he would wake up and grab Gaara’s hand, demanding to know why he was touching him. But he’d grown used to the redhead’s touches during the middle of the night.

He never gets to sleep through the night. It would be cruel to wake him up.

Gaara traced his fingers down Neji’s face and to his neck. He felt his neck move as he breathed. Then he ran his fingers down to his collar bone. His fingertips danced on the bone for a second. It made him want to kiss his soft, pale skin. But he resisted the urge because he knew it would wake him and moved on. He felt his chest rising and falling in that smooth, slow rhythm. Gaara moved, slightly pressing his hand against Neji’s chest to feel his heart beat. The pumping made him smile and his cheeks grow red, just slightly.

I can’t wake him up.

Neji stirred a little as his lover ran his fingers down his body. Since Neji wasn’t sleeping under the covers, Gaara didn’t feel guilty about tracing his fingers over his stomach and sides. He felt that smooth, soft skin as he tapped his fingers on Neji’s flat stomach. His stomach was still firm even though he hadn’t gone on a mission for the longest time.

Actually, Neji hadn’t been on a mission since Gaara reached eight months a month ago. He had told Lee to tell Gai that he wasn’t leaving Gaara. He was too big and too far along to be left alone in the care of Temari and Shikamaru or Naruto and Sasuke. He wanted to be there to make sure nothing happened, since it was a well known fact that Neji didn't trust any of the others if something did happen. And after Neji’s last display of anger about being separated from Gaara, Gai had simply agreed. No questions asked.

Gaara gave a sweet smile, glancing away from his sleeping lover to look at his own stomach. Since he was at the end of his eighth month, he had certainly gotten a whole lot bigger. He had the traditional big and round stomach that had stretched all of his clothing until Neji had noticed and bought him an entire new wardrobe. Right now his black shirt was stretched tight over his round belly, but on purpose. Gaara rather liked to show off how big he was. He liked everyone knowing he was carrying Neji’s baby.

He’ll get mad if I don’t wake him up.

What Gaara was fretting wasn’t really anything serious at all. He was simply craving something weird like usual. He knew he could struggle to get up and would probably be successful. And he knew that he would be able to get the ramen with ice cream that he wanted and not wake Neji up. But Neji had told him he wanted to be informed whenever Gaara just any sort of craving or had any sort of pain. He was determined to take care of Gaara’s every need.

And he’d been pretty damn good about letting him know. Gaara had told him every single time up until that moment. Because for the past three nights in a row, Gaara had been struck with a desire to have something strange to eat. And he’d woken Neji up to tell him. And Neji had gone and fixed it for him, staying up with him until he finished in case he decided he wanted more.

Gaara was starting to get worried. He himself didn’t need sleep. In fact, he couldn’t sleep. But Neji wasn’t like that. He needed his sleep and he needed to sleep through the entire night. He wouldn’t be able to function well if Gaara kept waking him up three or four times in a night.

I don’t want him to get mad. . . but. . . I don’t want to wake him.

There was a chance that Neji would be woken up when Gaara was struggling to move enough to get off the bed. That had been the whole point of situating Gaara near the middle of the bed nearly every night. Neji didn’t want Gaara to be able to just climb out of the bed. He wanted to take care of him.

Gaara sighed heavily, looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t going to win this. And he wasn’t even fighting with Neji. It was just a simple fact that Neji was probably going to end up being woken up one way or the other. He might as well avoid a fight.

“Neji, sweetie,” Gaara whispered out, reaching over and gently giving Neji’s shoulder a light shake. Neji stirred, letting out a little animalistic sound. He reached out at nothing in particular.

“Wha’. . .” he mumbled out, his voice heavy and thick with sleep. He moved again, only this time he opened those pale lilac eyes. He searched around, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. “What is it, Gaara?”

Well. . .at least he’s not mad. . .

“I have another craving,” he answered, feeling his face flush a little. He didn’t like being waited on like this, but Neji was just insistent on it. He glanced at his lover, watching as he pushed himself into a sitting position. “For ramen and ice cream.”

Neji nodded absentmindedly. He rubbed his eyes and yawned a little bit. He ran a hand through his hair until it reached the braid. Gaara chewed on his lower lip to keep from telling him that he would just get it himself. He wanted to tell Neji to just go back to sleep, but he knew it wouldn’t work.

Neji’s so stubborn. . .

“What kind of ice cream?” he muttered out, moving around on the bed. He stumbled quite ungracefully to his feet. He stretched, causing Gaara to blush something fierce. He shrugged, but wasn’t sure Neji could see him. He rested a hand on his large stomach.

“Um. . .Any would be fine. . . .Thank you. . . .” Gaara replied in a sweet voice. Neji looked over at him, giving him a very sweet smile. He loved that sweet, innocent voice where Gaara was trying so hard not to be a problem.

“Coming right up, sweetheart,” Neji cooed out, making his way over to the other side of the bed, which was much closer to where Gaara was sitting. He leaned over and rested his lips gently against Gaara’s. For a brief second, they pushed their lips against each other’s. Then Neji pulled away and patted Gaara’s round belly. “Be right back.”

“Bye. . .”

God, Gaara sure is cute. I think the pregnancy has made him even cuter.

Neji smiled a rather wide smile that was so unlike him that Gaara gave him a look. But it went unnoticed as Neji headed out of the room. He used the byakagun to see where he was going because the last thing he needed was to trip over something and get seriously hurt. Then he walked into the kitchen and flicked on the light.

“Fuck. . .” he moaned out, covering his eyes as the light momentarily blinded him. He relaxed the byakagun and closed his eyes for a second. Then he opened them and waited until they adjusted to the light.

Well, I’m never doing that again. . . .

Neji swore at the lights while he got the ramen and started to cook it. He was dead tired and didn’t really want to be standing here, wearing absolutely nothing but his boxers, cooking food he wouldn’t eat if his life depended on it. But the joy he got from seeing Gaara’s face light up was enough to keep him from bitching Gaara and the unborn baby out.

He poured the ramen in a bowl and scooped a couple generous scoops of vanilla ice cream into it. Instantly, the ice cream started to get soft and melt. He mixed it up with the chopsticks, giving the nasty looking mixture a look.

I’ll never know how he can eat this shit.

Gaara’s face lit up when Neji strolled back into the bedroom with the bowl of ramen and ice cream. He cheered innocently, which only made Neji that much gladder that he’d decided to wait on his lover like this.

“Enjoy, my sweet,” he sang out, handing the steaming bowl to Gaara. The redhead thanked him several times, kissing his cheek rather sweetly, before he started to eat the mixture.

Neji kissed his cheek as he climbed into the bed. He leaned against the headboard next to Gaara and rested one hand on his large belly. The motion brought color up to Gaara’s cheeks, although not nearly as much as it used to. Gaara slurped up some the ramen before looking over at his lover.

“We have a busy day tomorrow. You should try to get some sleep,” he told him, nodding his head in a ‘knowing’ way. Neji gave him a look, raising his slender eyebrows up high. But the redhead just shook his head. “Please, Neji?”

Neji sighed heavily this time. He wanted to protest. Actually, he opened his mouth to protest when Gaara gave him a narrowed eyed look. He had known Gaara long enough to know that he wasn’t going to win if he was given that look. It was one of those final type looks.

“Fine. But if you have any more cravings, you’re to wake me up,” he sighed out, glaring at Gaara just a little bit so he knew he was serious. Gaara frowned a little, but knew it wouldn’t work. Neji had made up his mind and that was that.

Always so stubborn.

“Okay.”

With that said, Neji tenderly kissed Gaara on the cheek because there was no way he was kissing him on the lips while he ate that nasty mixture, and settled down to get some sleep before the next day.

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Sorry it took so long to post.

There you go. The start to what will most likely be one of my favorite stories in this genre. . . ..

And sorry if there are mistakes. It's one in the morning. .. I can only proofread so well. . .