Slight spoilers ahead, up to the chuunin exams. Afterwards, totally not in the series. A-hoy for the teeny, tiny lime.

Enjoy.

Trip Trap

There was something odd about the whole thing, Genma decided.

A boy hailed as a 'child prodigy' didn't just do that so easily. That action was more in tune with the clumsy ninja, that Uzumaki kid. But no.

It had been Uchiha Sasuke.

Incredibly enough. And it had happened at the worst possible time: right during his fight with Gaara of the Desert. The entire crowd present for the chuunin exam was watching breathlessly, wondering who would best who.

His fellow chuunin hopefuls, and all those who had lost one month ago in the preliminaries, were shocked as well. His sensei, Kakashi, had raised an eyebrow; not in surprise, like everyone else, but more in skepticism. How had that happened, so easily? He suspected there were darker things at work, and had worried for a moment that it was the result of the mark from Orochimaru acting up.

Luckily his pride kicked in to remind him that he personally had sealed it, so there was no way it would be active. So what was it then? What was this great cosmic force that had caused Sasuke to...well, trip?

At the exact moment when Gaara was using the very same jutsu that had his siblings, Temari and Kankurou worrying about the consequences of; at the exact same moment when Naruto had been about to leap into the arena to stop the match, and Shikamaru was busy trying to hold him back.

Sasuke had gone running up to the sphere of sand, which was forming around Gaara. It was clear to all that he planned on dragging the redhead from the sand, or at the very least, somehow stop it from forming fully. He was mere inches from the closing circle when the impossible happened.

He tripped.

And flew forwards.

And he shot through the closing entrance of Gaara's sand, and it sealed up behind him, much more quickly than it had been closing moments ago.

The arena was silent, at first. Then Naruto burst out laughing, unbelieving that the great Uchiha Sasuke had been so absent-minded and un-coordinated as to trip, and trap himself in his enemy's jutsu. The whole stadium could hear his amused shouts of 'did you see that?' and 'I can even run without falling! Ha!'

Nobody else laughed with him, though Temari and Kankurou were smirking, knowing that if one was unlucky enough to get trapped inside with Gaara, they would not be making a grand exit anytime soon. Sasuke was as good as dead.

At which point the smirks fell from their faces as they remembered their carefully detailed plan, and chanced a look up at the 'Kazekage', who was glaring down at the arena floor, clearly annoyed. Enraged. It made Temari remotely thankful she was not the Hokage.

Naruto soon shut up, and silently watched the great sand sphere which sat in the middle of the arena. He saw the proctor watching from the side, taking unsure steps towards it then stopping. The crowd began to murmur questions, wondering what was happening inside, what Sasuke and Gaara were doing, how they would fight...how Sasuke would survive.

"I doubt your friend will make it out of this alive, Naruto," Shikamaru informed him from where he stood behind him, resting after his efforts to keep Naruto from leaping into the arena.

Naruto whirled on him with a glare. "What makes you say that, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru shrugged, scratching a speck of dirt from his left forearm. 'Think about it. The odds. Sasuke's trapped inside a large sphere of sand, with that insane guy from Sand. Clearly Gaara has the advantage. He's going to crush Sasuke in there, and the only way we'll know about it is when the blood seeps out."

"He won't...that won't happen!" Naruto turned back to the battle that he couldn't see. "Sasuke won't let that happen. He may not be able to run without tripping...but, that only happened once!"

"Oh, come on Naruto," Shikamaru muttered, shaking his head. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten about hat we saw before this match started. That guy is a psychotic killing machine. He doesn't stand a chance if Gaara means to kill him, which we know he does."

Naruto gripped the railing in front of him, gritting his teeth. Dammit, Sasuke. You can kick this guy's ass. You have to...if you ever want to take me on.

------

It was hot and dark, and more than once Sasuke found himself blinking falling particles of sand out of his eyes. It was a bit larger on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside. Gaara stood across from him, eyes glittering coldly in the dimness.

Sasuke took his momentary lack of movement to catch his breath. He and Gaara watched each other silently. Seconds ticked by. Sasuke smirked as Gaara began to move towards him, almsost directly in front of him immediately.

A blast of hot breath, and Gaara was pressing his mouth to the side of Sasuke's neck, tongue making its' way up to his jaw then finding his mouth. Sasuke was pushed against the wall of sand, Gaara fully leaning on him, pressing their hips together.

Sasuke groaned as Gaara leaned to nip at his neck. "Gods, I missed this..."

Gaara ran his hands over Sasuke's arms, and pulled back when he met with the bandages on his elbows. "Those are new."

"Yeah, Kakashi taught me something very useful I could use to kill you," Sasuke answered, glancing down at his left arm with a smirk.

"Hm. Well, do enlighten me." Gaara was silenced by Sasuke pushing up against him, until they hit the opposite side of the sand sphere. Again they kissed, Sasuke taking control as he kept Gaara's hands at his side to prevent him from fighting.

"That was the longest month I have ever experienced."

"Hm. Don't over-dramatize; I visited you, at least."

"Stupid Kakashi wouldn't take the hint and go away."

"Next time I kill him."

"There won't be a next time." Sasuke punctuated this with a forceful kiss, pushing his tongue into Gaara's mouth where it was met willingly. His hands trailed down to the waist of Gaara's pants, and when he felt the red head's breath hitch he grinned and stilled.

"You really want me to do this here? Remember where we are; a stadium full of people, all watching, but not seeing. And this jutsu could fail at any moment if your concentration slips." Sasuke turned his head to attack Gaara's neck, speaking against it. "Important people, Gaara; the feudal lords, heads of state, the Hokage, and the Kazekage."

Gaara glared at Sasuke and shook his head. "I don't care." Sasuke's hand dipped below his waistline. He held back a gasp and added, "It's not the Kazekage anyway. It's Orochimaru."

Sasuke stilled once again. He leaned his head back and stared Gaara in the eyes. "Orochimaru?...He's impersonating the Kazekage?"

Gaara nodded once but said nothing. To his surprise Sasuke leaned forward again, and his hand continued down.

"I don't really give a fuck at the moment," he mumbled against Gaara's neck. He ran one hand around the back of Gaara's neck, the other lightly grasping his very obvious arousal and beginning to stroke it slowly.

"Think about it, Gaara," Sasuke said as he worked. "Your own brother and sister are out there. You think they know what you're doing in here? That they know you're getting a hand job by your self-proclaimed rival?"

"They don't know..."Gaara breathed in shakily before continuing. "They're too dense to know." Sasuke's hand began to move faster. "Fuck, take your time much?"

"Hush, Gaara. You know, it's said that patience is a virtue. Then again, you don't seem like a 'virtuous' kind of guy to me." Sasuke slipped his free hand up Gaara's shirt, massaging the muscular abdomen he met. "Mm, you're awfully tense. I wonder why..."

Gaara growled and leaned forward, capturing Sasuke's lips in a kiss, partly out of need, and the need to shut him up. He felt the impatience among other things, rise up in him as Sasuke deliberately slowed his hand again. He tilted his head to the right, and bit Sasuke's cheek hard enough to break the skin. He licked the drops of blood hungrily.

"What the hell–"

"Alibi," Gaara answered, and that was all Sasuke needed to know.

Gaara bit his own lip as he felt his orgasm come to him on the rush of wings, and he dimly felt Sasuke's mouth on his own, to swallow any noises he barely realized he was making.

He slowly came back to himself, in time to see and feel Sasuke cleaning him up with one of the bandages he had wrapped around his arm. He licked his lips, and shivered at what they had just done. It had been...fun, and oddly arousing to do it in this sphere of sand, blocked from the sight and sound of the thousands of people he knew were watching but couldn't see.

"You were wrong," he told Sasuke quietly, who threw the bandage on the ground. He looked up questioningly, and Gaara continued.

'I am a virtuous person, contrary to your beliefs."

Sasuke smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Are you now?"

Gaara nodded once. "Indeed. I intend on returning the favour this evening at a more leisurely rate."

Sasuke grinned. 'I'll hold you to that, Gaara. Now, I suppose we must leave your humble abode, hm?"

"Realistically."

"Naturally."

Gaara brought his hands together, then stopped himself as he watched Sasuke draw a kunai. He made several short cuts along his arms before dropping the kunai to the ground alongside his discarded bandage.

"Allow me to do the honours," Sasuke said, motioning for Gaara to stop in his hand seals that would release the sand barrier. He gripped his left arm with his right. "As I've said, Kakashi taught me something new, and I don't believe it would be fair to him if I did not show my appreciation."

Gaara thought a moment, then nodded. "Manners. You've been brought up well."

Sasuke declined comment, instead focussing on his left hand, which began to glow a bright blue, and the sound of hundreds of shrieking birds filled the air. Gaara slowly began to release the sand around them, loosening up the bonds and allowing it to start falling apart.

At the last moment, with sand starting to fall on him, Sasuke looked to Gaara and smirked again.

"Best battle ever."

Chidori screamed to life, and it blasted through the loose sand. A shower of it blast through the air, and Sasuke and Gaara were met with fresh air and the shocked and gleeful cries of the crowd.

Gaara felt Sasuke come at him, and he knew what to do. Sasuke's fist collided lightly with his face, and Gaara threw himself back, kicking Sasuke in the chest in the process.

High up in the stadium, Naruto, and just about every other spectator, watched in awe as the sand sphere suddenly exploded, and the two boys inside burst apart from each other. The sound of bird cries slowly died, along with the bright blue light that blinded all who looked too closely at it.

"He won! Did he win?" Naruto couldn't help feeling the wave of relief that he was met with when he saw Sasuke being thrown through the air, only to land and stand up. He saw Gaara in a similar situation, and just as soon as he had stood, he dropped to his knees. A glance to the right showed him Sasuke was also kneeling.

The proctor moved forward then, raising his hands as both Sasuke and Gaara struggled to stand. "I am officially declaring this match a tie; both contestants fought honourably but are clearly too spent to fight anymore." He eyed Gaara and Sasuke, surprised by their lack of injuries, but merely muttered, "Nice work, boys,", before clearing out of there to make way for the medics.

Naruto took the time tp jump from the wall where Shikamaru had given up trying to restrain him, and ran to Sasuke who was currently in the middle of a staring contest with Gaara.

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto skidded to a halt, spraying dirt on Sasuke's legs. "You know, that was actually a pretty awesome fight. Though we only saw, like, five minutes of it. Everyone said you would die in that weird ball of sand –well, actually only Shikamaru said it, but I know everyone else thought it – and your blood would stain the ground. Creepy, huh?"

No answer. Naruto glared between Gaara and Sasuke. He was being ignored, which was not something he enjoyed. He stepped in front of Sasuke and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Yo! Sasuke! I'm thinking about praising you here! Rare opportunity for you!" Naruto grinned as Sasuke slowly looked from Gaara to him. Noticing the odd cut on his left cheek, Naruto tilted his head and asked, "How'd you get that?"

By this point in time, Kakashi had made his way over to the boys after speaking with Genma, and he just had to contribute.

"Yes, Sasuke, how did that come about? It almost looks like..." Kakashi leaned down and peered with his right eye at the mark, which widened slightly. "Looks like bite marks?"

Naruto's mouth fell open in a big O, and he stepped back from Sasuke. "Bite marks? As in he bit you? He bit you?! Oh my...what the hell...that's so weird!"

Naruto spun and went stomping toward Gaara who stood silent and still. Kakashi glanced back down at Sasuke.

'Weird indeed..."he mused thoughtfully. Sasuke looked at him with a raised brow. Kakashi grinned at him and tapped the side of his nose, then strolled over to where Naruto was yelling in Gaara's face about the very real threat of rabies. Kakashi tugged on the back of Naruto's collar, pulling him with him even as he continued to yell.

They both stopped, however, when Gaara spoke up.

"The virtuous shinobi repays his debt by the moon's full light at the point of no return," he said, eyes trained on Sasuke. Abruptly he turned and stalked off, heading towards the upper-level stairs.

"Yeah, walk away! Failure!" Naruto broke free of Kakashi and skipped over to Sasuke. "Pfft, what a loser, eh Sasuke? He loses so he speaks all cryptic talk, like that's gonna save his lost honour. Ha!"

"Now Naruto; a fool should never shame a con artist, for in the end, his true reward shall be reaped." Kakashi's statement was met with a derisive snort by Sasuke, and a glazed look, courtesy of Naruto.

"Agh! You're doing it too, sensei! Can you all just say what you mean to say for one bloody minute?" Naruto glared at Kakashi, who simply shrugged and turned away for the second time.

"Not all of us have the preferred knowledge, Naruto," he called over his shoulder as he followed Gaara.

Naruto shook his head and sighed loudly, looking to Sasuke. "Did you even understand any of that?" At Sasuke's blank look he grinned broadly. "Me neither. You know what would clear this up? A trip to Ichiraku's! Did you just say you're buying? Oh, I couldn't possibly...not take you up on that offer! Ha!"

Amazed by his own ingenious, Naruto went running off before Sasuke could answer. He was left standing in the middle of the arena with Genma, who waved him away.

"We'll call you back tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest, once they've" here he jerked his head toward the crowd of nobles "reviewed the fights. Nice job, Uchiha," he added as an afterthought, then he too, was gone.

'The virtuous shinobi repays his debt by the moon's full light at the point of no return', Sasuke ran over Gaara's message. He knew who the 'virtuous shinobi' was, and he now knew when he would meet Gaara, but the bit about the 'point of no return' could only mean the location. Which was...

Where they'd first met.

Sasuke remembered back to the day he'd first seen Gaara, after he'd appeared on the underside of a branch on the tree where Sasuke had been sitting. Gaara had referred to it as their 'point of no return', saying that once they had met, that was it. There would be no going back for either of them. They were both fine with that.

Sasuke finally left the arena, a small smirk playing around the corners of his mouth.

I've got a date with guy who bites at midnight on a tree. What luck.

Sasuke predicted he would have fun tonight. Too wrapped up in his own thoughts, he failed to take notice of the red-faced Hyuuga Hinata, or her cousin Neji, sitting up in the stands.

Indeed they had seen too much.

------

About nothing. Made me like writing it, though. And look for the smut-ified version of this, under the same name, on AFF dot net, in the near future.