AHAHA! My first Naruto and Gaara fic (Yet... I also write Gaara x Lee fics? What on the earths is wrong with me!? XD) anyways this idea has been flying around in my head for awhile and I thought to myself "Ya know what? 'My Hero The Delinquent' isn't going anywhere... I continue it eventually. I have a whole summer to do that and stuff so yeah - I shall write this fic!"
And I did XD
So I hope you all enjoy it, this is the longest chapter I have ever written...
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Chapter 1
"Gaara Watch out!"
The red head quickly spun around and successfully dodged the werewolf, who had very nearly sliced the boy in half. Gaara swiftly pulled his gun out and aimed to shoot directly into the beast's heart.
Only one problem...
'Click'
...no bullets.
"Can't think of a better time to run out." Gaara bitterly mumbled as he ducked from yet another swipe of the hairy claw.
"Gaara, catch!"
Gaara only momentarily turned his head towards the blonde haired boy, whom was currently dealing with another werewolf using a silver spiked staff as a weapon, a packet of silver bullets were caught in the outstretched pale hand.
Grunting thanks the boy ducked yet again, rolling away whilst sliding in three bullets.
'One should do the trick.'
Gaara promptly stood up, aiming the gun at the broad furry back - pulling the trigger to allow the bullet to pierce the monster's heart.
"About time ya finished."
As the now dead being fell to the ground face-fist, green eyes glanced over to the panting golden haired boy. His name was Naruto, black lines on each cheek scarred into the tanned skin. The shorter boy was standing over the corpse of the werewolf, covered from head to toe in blood. Blue-sky eyes frowned at the red head, whom was hardly covered in dirt or blood.
"How the hell do you manage to keep so clean?"
"Just better at my job than you are." The voice was barely above a mutter, but Naruto was able to hear it. Gaara took a few steps closer towards the now pouting messy blond.
"... we better go back to base to clean you up..."
Gaara leaned in towards Naruto's now blushing ear, whispering ever so softly.
"I wouldn't want you to get an infection..."
Naruto shivered from the tone of the red head's voice.
"Why Gaara. If I didn't know better, I would say you were trying to seduce me."
Gaara just stretched his mouth into a small smirk.
"Maybe I am..."
--
Back at head quarters, the hunters residence hidden amongst the other urban buildings in the area so that their safe haven would not be intruded by unwanted guests...
In this present day most people living in the city of Konoha are living their regular everyday-normal lives, oblivious to the dangerous creatures that lurk in the night and occasionally appear in the light of day. Commissioned by the government, an agency was set-up to protect the citizens of Konoha from such evils as well as to rid of all beings who are a threat to humanity. These people, the hunters, are mostly human who have either been intensely trained by the military from a young age or come from a family bloodline - whom were destined from birth to take part in this fight... however, there are those who are an exception to these rules...
"Come on Gaara, I'm hungry!"
"No."
"Look, all ya gotta do is walk in. Order about...uh... ten cartons of Ramen to go. Wait ten or fifteen minutes and voila-"
"We are going to clean you up and that's final."
"It's only a little bit of blood..."
"I'm not taking any chances."
After their mission was completed, they had called in the clean-up crew to deal with the remains of their fight and left before anyone could interrogate them. One thing that this pair had in common - they both loathed paper work.
However, after 5 minutes of leaving the 'crime scene' the blond had declared his hunger to the red head and was over joyed to see a ramen restaurant nearby. But since he was being denied his favorite meal, Naruto did the mature thing - and sulked.
"Naruto." Gaara's warning tone signaled the end of the conversation 'if you know what's good for you.' Naruto sighed in defeat, running his fingers through his hair.
"Fine. But can we go to your place instead? It's a hell lot nearer than HQ. I could use your shower and cook you a free meal."
Naruto batted his eyelashes at Gaara, who gave out a dark chuckle.
"Ok." was the simple response as they continued to walk towards an old apartment building.
Gaara himself was surprised how close the pair had grown over the past two years.
When he had first arrived to the agency, he was cold, bitter and withdrawn. He grew up in isolation thanks to his father and his experiments - which had eventually lead to a demon being placed within his body.
'Shukaku...' the name passed through his mind. Shukaku was the persona of the demon Gaara embodied, of who had lead the boy into the realms of madness that he had thought he would never escape. Fortunately for him his older siblings grew the courage to attempt helping to save their brother from himself. The first few tries had been severely disastrous, almost leading to the death of his older brother Kankuro. Yet after years of persistence and determination to help their brother as best as they could, trust was gained as they set their brother free from their father's grasp.
From what his sister Temari told him, Gaara discovered that his father was experimenting ways on making their family bloodline stronger - Gaara being one of his test subjects.
Gaara no longer felt anything towards his father, let alone anger, since he had felt it would all be a waste of emotions and energy to do so. Instead he had concentrated on controlling the wild demon within him. In time, Gaara was able to control his demon and became one of the strongest hunters in his family line.
Even though Gaara trusted his brother and sister, he was not entirely open to them - usually keeping his thoughts to himself and fought the monsters in their hometown without their help. There was still a part of himself that still held a grudge towards the only living members of his family. It was unreasonable and unexplainable to Gaara, but it was still their... at least, it was up until the point he had met Naruto.
"Hey, what you waiting for? Get out of daydream land and open the freakin door!"
Gaara snapped out of his thoughts and realized they were standing in front of his apartment door.
'I must be feeling really exhausted for not noticing...'
He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, allowing the suddenly energetic boy to rush past him.
"Dibs on the bathroom!" a sudden faint sound of the door shutting inside the apartment was heard before Gaara could close the door. He couldn't help but notice the blond had forgotten to take off his shoes at the door.
Gaara shrugged his coat off and slipped out of his shoes, walking towards the kitchen so he could wash his hands and face at the sink.
Returning to his thoughts, Gaara could remember the day he first met Naruto. He and his siblings were forced from their homelands, being blamed for the troubles that Gaara had caused when he lost control from time to time - as well as for all the sightings of vampires and demons of the night being risen. Although originally it was only Gaara who was to be exiled, Temari and Kankuro stood by his side all through out the trials and sentences. They had arrived at Konoha soon after their sentence had been announced, when a letter arrived to invite them to work at the hunters agency.
Gaara intended to work alone, but had discovered that their main rule was everyone had to be assigned to a partner. Thus how he had met Naruto Uzumaki.
He could remember clearly the dark expression on the tanned boy's face. Gaara had later heard that Naruto had recently lost a partner who was, by the look on the blonds face, a very dear friend to the boy.
Neither of them wanted to work with each other, both insisting to their boss Tsunade that they could both work alone without the other's help. Gaara could remember how red the blond's face had turned when he had said "I don't need a burden to get in my way," to which Naruto responded with a loud rant declaring that he did not need a 'stoned-faced-guy with as much emotion as a lima bean.' The two were silenced by the roar of their boss, who had finally lost her patience and told them that if they couldn't work together then they could both get the hell out of her building and find a new job. Gaara was tempted to kill the woman right there and then, but decided against it... his just didn't want to waste his time with pointless fighting after arriving to this new town.
Reluctantly they obeyed and worked alongside each other. The first few missions were messy and full of mistakes, since they were both 'competing' against each other. Gaara had remembered the shame he had felt after each mission for reacting so childishly towards his partner. But their relationship began to change when Gaara had saved the blond from a summoned dragon's attack, costing Gaara two diagonal claw-marked scars on his back. Naruto had yelled at Gaara in the infirmary for being stupid and for protecting the boy from harm. After his rant, Naruto burst into tears at Gaara's bed side, murmuring something about not wanting to lose another partner.
Gaara healed fast and was ready to work the following day, but things were awkward between the two. It was as if... something had between them changed. Naruto began talking to him about anything and everything. Gaara was amused by his actions at the time, attempting to look bored by the blonds conversations when secretly he had began to crave the sound and tone of Naruto's voice. They only spoke to each other at work and kept to themselves on their days off.
When Gaara had almost lost control of his demon after dealing with a telepath, the distance between them became smaller when he discovered that he was not the only one with a demon.
Naruto said it's name was Kyuubi. He had told Gaara that Kyuubi had been there for as long as Naruto could remember. The red head was silently relieved to know that the boy was not experimented on as a child by any scientists, but instead was taken in by Iruka - the blond's adoptive father.
'It didn't stop the name calling though' Naruto had said with a sad smile. Children at the orphanage and at school had called him a monster, because of the scars on his face and because his eyes could changes from sky blue to blood red - making some of the children feel scared and reacted with bullying, as if to gain power over the small blond haired boy.
After Naruto told Gaara that part of his past, they became closer and felt that they could understand each other better. Gaara eventually opened up more and more to Naruto. They spent more time together inside and outside of work. As time went by, Gaara realized that he had made his first friend. When the red head told Naruto this, the blue eyed boy gave Gaara a warm smile that had made the pale skinned boy's heart skip a beat.
'But... what I feel now... is it considered normal?'
The bond between Gaara and Naruto have grown so strong over the past few months, it had lead the green eyed boy to wonder if such feelings could grow into something more. It certainly didn't help when Naruto had started to flirt with him, almost causing himself to become flustered by suggestive words. Almost. Thankfully Gaara had complete control over his facial features and responded in a calm manner. But it didn't stop the heart from beating so loudly within his chest.
Gaara dried his hands on the kitchen towel and went to sit down on his coach. The red head relaxed as he leant back and closed his eyes, falling into a light sleep. His mind wandered to thoughts of his favorite blond haired boy.
'My favorite?... I wonder why I think such strange thoughts about him? ...Naruto...'
He was shortly awoken when Gaara felt two cold water drops land on his face. Eyes fluttered open to see a damp haired Naruto standing over him. And Gaara did not fail to notice that all the blue eyed boy had to cover himself with was a white towel wrapped around his waist.
'Jackpot!' The voice of Jiraiya echoed in the back of Gaara's mind.
"Hey, why are you sleeping on the couch?"
"I was just resting."
"Well if you keep lying around like that, in such a vulnerable position, something just might happen... Gaara"
Naruto whispered the red head's name as his face leaned in, the warm breath caressing Gaara's face - their eyes locked and staring into each other's soul. An urge grew inside Gaara to kiss the temptation hovering above him. A pale hand reached to stroke the tanned face, fingers tracing over the scarred lines, which were soon covered by Naruto's warm hand.
The touch felt so heavenly.
"Naruto..."
"Hey, Gaara..."
"Yes?"
"What would you do if I told you that... I really like you?"
Gaara paused. Could it be what Gaara hoped it to be?
"Depends..."
"Depends?"
"How much do you like me?"
"How about..." Naruto positioned himself so he would be sitting on Gaara's lap, eyes not once breaking contact.
"...a lot?"
Gaara felt a rush of electrical excitement spark up within himself, questioning himself whether all this was all a bad joke or just a wonderful dream. Feeling the weight that rested on his lap move slightly and their nose touching, Gaara concluded that this was indeed real, wrapping his arms around the toned waist.
"Then, I would have to say... I really like you too."
With those last words ghosted on Naruto's lips, Gaara dived into the sweet kiss. It had begun innocently, with eyes closed as the sensation ran throughout the pair - feeling at last the acceptance of each other's emotions.
Naruto knew that if Gaara wanted to reject such emotion's, then all he would have to do was say no and walk away. Gaara knew that although the blond had been known to be a self-proclaimed prankster, he knew Naruto would not go as far as to mess with his emotions for the sake of amusement.
Finally the pair pulled apart, eyes opened and their foreheads touching. It felt so wonderful and comforting, for once Gaara felt at ease... yet, there was a question that nagged at the back of his mind.
"Naruto..."
Naruto placed his own arms around Gaara's neck, his thumb lightly brushing the back of the pale neck.
"Yeah?"
"Can... can friendship grow into something more?"
Naruto smiled, replying in a motherly voice that made Gaara want to hold the boy's body closer to his own.
"Yes. As long as it's something that we both want then I don't think that there will be a problem..."
There was a moment of comfortable silence which was interrupted by Gaara's deep voice.
"I want to be with you."
"I think I want the same thing."
Just as they were about to go in for another kiss the phone ranged loudly, making Naruto jump and very nearly fell onto the floor almost taking Gaara with him.
"Jeez! What a mood killer!"
"We should answer it."
"Nah it's probably nothing." Naruto gave out his signature grin the stoic faced boy.
"Besides, the answering machine can take it... so you and I can get busy!"
Naruto wriggled his eye brows in a comical suggestive manner whilst Gaara just sat there and stared.
"Amazing. You are such a child."
"What! What makes me a child huh?"
Gaara smirked at the now half pouting - half angry boy, who was now trying to send out a glare.
"I KNOW YOU TWO ARE THERE!"
Gaara was certain that he would have laughed aloud when Naruto jumped up in fear of the booming voice emitting from the answering machine, instead he chose to settle for a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Aw crap..."
"YOU PICK UP THE PHONE THIS INSTANT OR SO HELP ME I'LL-"
Not wanting to listen to listen to an hours worth of their boss ranting, Gaara picked up the phone smoothly and answered calmly. After a moments pause Gaara handed the phone over to Naruto.
"It's Tsunade. She wants to talk to you."
Naruto rolled his eyes as he took the phone from Gaara.
"No shit Sherlock, I would have never guessed from that demonic screeching..."
Naruto's voice instantly changed to a perky and cheerful tone.
"Heeey, Tsunade! How's it going..."
The blond winces from the loud response of their angry boss.
"Yeah well they were attacking us... okay I guess we did knock over an innocent lamp post... or two... or five... yeah, I guess you could count the burned down Church- but notice how no people were harmed during the mission! -OW! No need to yell you old bag..."
Naruto held the phone at arms length, the voice becoming louder and more annoyed.
"Just get your ass back down here! I have another assignment for you two."
The caller hung up and Naruto returned the phone back to it's place.
"Sheesh, that's the thanks we get for saving the world - more work!"
Naruto slouched, looking depressed as Gaara stepped closer towards the blond.
"I haven't even had my daily Ramen."
Gaara didn't say anything in response to Naruto's comment. His hand reached up for the tanned face, his thumb stroking the skin as bright blue eyes stared into pale green eyes.
"If you get changed quickly," The red head's words were whispered, making Naruto shudder involuntary with excitement "I'll treat you to Ramen on our way to Tsunade's office."
Naruto smiled and gave Gaara a light kiss.
"I'll be ready in two minutes."
When the blue eyed boy left the room, Gaara couldn't help but smile to himself as he felt the warmth spreading outwards inside his chest.