It had been just under three weeks since Naruto had been severely injured while fulfilling his duty of protecting the village he loved as the Rokudaime Hokage. Having almost died, it was not surprising that he'd only been released from the hospital three days ago. And being Naruto, it was also not surprising that he refused to admit to still being in pain. Sure, he was sore, but that was good enough for him.
It was his first day back in the office and several of his advisors were crowded in, discussing things that he had been spared from by the rules Sakura had set for his recovery. Just after noon, he was speaking with Shikamaru when the doors of his office were flung open and very angry redhead, flanked by two Suna guards, stormed in.
Naruto gulped nervously as he looked into the furious face of the Kazekage.
It was an unexpected visit, to say the least. Neither Kage had to say a word to clear the room; even Shikamaru quietly bowed out as quickly as possible, mentioning that he'd cancel all of Naruto's afternoon meetings.
As soon as the doors closed, Gaara's sand moved to seal it. Naruto had never seen him this pissed off before. The smaller man was normally very intimidating, but Naruto could actually feel the emotion rolling off of him. The redhead was being very worrying and Naruto moved around his desk as Gaara stood there, eyes wide and staring straight ahead. Gaara simply did not show this much emotion. For years, any anger had expressed itself in a very cold manner and even Naruto didn't see much more than that. The aura surrounding the man now was almost suffocating, and this time, Naruto had no idea what he'd done to warrant such a reaction.
Naruto reached out to touch Gaara but was flung back and pinned to the wall with an impressive amount of sand – sand that seemed to be conscious of and careful around his still healing injuries. At least Gaara wasn't going to hurt him. Physically, anyway.
::
Gaara had begun pacing. He was well aware that he wasn't very good at expressing his emotions. He still had difficulty expressing himself to the blond man that he had become so close to and had currently pinned against a wall in his own office. As he paced, thoughts raced around his head about all of things that he wanted to say, and all of the things that he couldn't. He wanted so badly to yell at the blond, to scream at him. He wanted to shout at him that he was never allowed to scare him like that again. He wanted Naruto to know how it had felt to hear that there had been a direct attack on Konoha; how it felt - three days after the initial news - to hear that the Hokage had been critically injured and then not hear for twelve excruciating days that he had survived. He wanted Naruto to know how it felt to be ripped apart inside, not being able to leave Suna, not being able to see for himself that the idiot was alive and in the hospital.
Gaara wanted to shriek at him that he was never allowed to do something so reckless – to terrify him like that – ever again.
But he knew that he couldn't. He knew that he would have reacted the same way to a threat against his own village. To say something like that would have been the most hypocritical statement he could possibly say. And so he paced.
::
Naruto could tell that Gaara was arguing with himself about something. He could actually see the conflicting emotions on the pale face. He could see two hands, clenching and unclenching, as Gaara fought to control a swell of emotion that he most likely hadn't felt the likes of in many years. He was breathing heavily, and he was scaring Naruto.
Naruto had gotten wiser over the years, though still young, and he certainly wasn't as stupid as some people still thought. But he had no idea what had happened. He didn't even know what question to ask, or if there even was an appropriate question. So he waited. Sometimes he had to do that with Gaara – wait until the redhead felt he could speak.
::
Gaara stopped pacing and Naruto had the feeling that something within the redhead had snapped. As the smaller man turned toward the blond, he saw bright blue eyes shining with concern. He didn't bother to restrain the tears that escaped his eyes as he rushed over, pulling the blond's face down to meet his in a kiss that he hoped would explain everything.
He poured every emotion that was coursing through him into that kiss: heartache, fear, concern, relief, love.
He only broke away to release the sand as he spoke in a broken whisper:
Touch me.
::
As Naruto's arms were released, he threw them around the redhead, pulling him as close as clothing and skin would allow. He held him, any soreness flung to the back of his mind. Feeling the tears streaming down Gaara's cheeks, feeling Gaara's body shudder from barely restrained sobs, feeling Gaara's hands frantically moving over every inch of the tan body that he could reach, Naruto finally understood what Gaara had been trying to communicate.
And so Naruto kissed back with everything he had: tenderness, strength, comfort, reassurance, and love.
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this. It's of the Affirmation of Life series of one-shots.
The rest of them can be accessed on my profile. There will be various pairings, both romantic and platonic.
I hope you like reading them as much as I liked writing them. As always, feedback is always appreciated.