*Disclaimer: I own only my own twisted imagination and use it to play with the toys Naruto has developed. If they were mine and I was making money from this stuff the world would be doomed!*

Chapter one –Curiosity

It was hot, too hot to say the least and Naruto was quite sure that he was getting sunburn on his sunburn. Next to him Lee was marching like a trooper with his backpack weighing even more than the one Naruto had packed, soaked in sweat turning his jumpsuit a darker shade of green. How the bowl cut wonder wasn't wilting like he was beyond him.

"Come on Naruto-kun we are not far now!" he said increasing his pace, forcing a groan from Naruto who dragged his feet into a faster pace too match. He couldn't wait to get to Suna. As soon as he was there he was going to have a shower and collapse onto to nearest bed and sleep until it cooled down enough to go outside.

Seeing the walls of the village rising up before them made Naruto smile a little, he enjoyed going to see Gaara and annoy Kankuro, even if that meant avoiding the wrath of Temari every now and then when he let slip a comment that Gaara didn't understand.

He almost laughed out loud when he remembered the time that he had been talking about when he and Sasuke had been forced to kiss in the classroom when some idiot had knocked them into each other. Gaara had been completely perplexed with the idea of what a kiss was meant to accomplish and immediately asked Temari, who at this point chose to enter the room, if she had ever kissed another person and what the point of it was.

The smile quickly fled his face when he remembered that Sasuke was not only gone but never coming home. He missed his first boyfriend, even if their hands had spent more times round the others neck than entwined in the gentle holding of hands.

While he was thinking back over old times, so long ago, he almost ran into the back of Lee. It seemed they had reached the walls of the village. Digging in his pocket he pulled out his I.D. and waited while the guards checked them over for all the normal things. Handing over all the weapons they had on them they were shown into the village by a young man who took them straight to the building in which they would be staying.

The room they were shown was basic, two single beds, two desks, two chairs and one bathroom. They thanked the young man and threw their packs onto the nearest bed to them shortly followed by the two ninja landing heavily on them breathing hard and basking in the relative cool of the indoor space.

"I need a shower…"Naruto moaned from his side of the room.

"Me too, I know this is supposed to be skin tight but this is just ridiculous." Lee pulled the wet Lycra away from his body with a quiet "ugh" of disgust.

"I'm going in first." Naruto sat up and headed for the bathroom. He turned to see Lee following him and was about to tell him to wait his turn when he remembered. This was the desert, if he wanted a shower and Lee wanted a shower they would have to do it at same time, that way they didn't waste so much water. With a sigh both of them entered the bathroom and closed the door.

~X~

Two hours later Lee and Naruto now clean and smelling like daisies where stood awkwardly outside the home of the Kazekage gifts in their hands. They waited patiently for someone to answer the door and let them in and few knocks later revealed Kankuro grinning at them and dragging them inside.

The building had been decorated with garish "Happy Birthdays" including balloons and banners, flags hung from the rafters and over the backs of chairs. Gaara was sitting at the table with a balloon tied around his chair with the words "Birthday Boy" hand written in what appeared to be glitter. He looked far from happy about it all but mostly because he didn't really understand what a birthday party was or why he was having one.

Lee and Naruto walked to the table and sat down with huge smiles and both handed his their gifts at the same time. Gaara simply looked at the packages and then back at the other boys in confusion. Kankuro was on hand to clear up the mess.

"They are gifts, Gaara. You're supposed to open them."

Gaara had until tonight, never had a birthday party. Temari had discovered this only a few days before when she looked in her diary and saw the note 'Gaara birthday', it had struck her that she had never really given him a present, or a cake…or anything…

To compensate for this she had decided to throw a last minute party from her brother. Rushing around driving herself mad and trying to work out what was missing. Not happy with just risking her own mental health she told Kankuro to sort out some guests and to that end invite them to the party.

Kankuro being a little lazy tried to think of people Gaara might actually like or people who liked Gaara. The only names that really fit the bill on both counts where Lee and Naruto. Lee was incapable of hating anyone not directly involved in anything against him or his village and Gaara thought he was a good fighter and respected him. Naruto was a lot like Gaara and Gaara a lot like Naruto and Kankuro suspected that Naruto being at a party for Gaara would please his little brother.

They were the only people invited. When Temari had started yelling at him for being a "lazy good for nothing pain in the ass" because he had only invited two people, he pointed out that a large crowd of people descending on Gaara with confusing statements and loud voices might not be the best of idea's. Gaara may be more in control than ever before but Kankuro for one was not in the mood for pushing his luck. It was his first party and it was probably better to start small and work their way up from there.

Taking the first of the packages, a parcel wrapped in green paper, Gaara ripped it open gently to uncover a simple chain with the kanji for love dangling from it made from gold. Gaara held it up in front of his face the kanji glinting in the light from the lamp in the corner. Temari was watching him leaning against the door frame to the kitchen with a small smile on her face.

"Gaara, you're meant to say thank you." She prompted in a gentle voice

"Thank you." Came the monotonic replay his eyes still fixed on the spinning metal.

"You are most welcome my friend." Lee struck his nice guy pose with started much eye rolling from everyone but Gaara and Lee himself.

"Come on, open mine now." Naruto said putting it down on the polished wood and sliding it towards the Kazekage.

Gaara reached down and picked up the thicker squishier package wrapped in orange paper with cartoon toads hopping all over it. Gaara pulled off the paper and a plushi fell out of the thin paper landing on the table. It appeared to be a nine tailed fox, it was doubtful that the real thing was this cute and cuddly, Naruto could attest to that but he had had it made because it seemed appropriate.

"Thank you." Again the response was emotionless but the body language was filled with confusion, the red haired head tilted to the left appraising the toy. Naruto felt compelled to explain and babbled on about how it was so that Gaara had something to remember him by while they were apart.

The rest of the party was spent in quiet conversation and the meal passed with much complementing of the chef, who it turned out was Temari herself. Gaara was comfortable through the entire night and they were even treated to a rare smile even though it didn't last overly long. The two leaf ninja left after a few hours feeling good about themselves for helping make Gaara's first birthday a success.

"How long did Grandma Tsunade say we have to stay here?" Naruto asked as they flopped onto their beds looking at the ceiling.

"Three weeks." Lee said feeling around for the zip on his jacket. "She said that if we didn't take the whole time to relax and get to know Gaara better and further relations between our two great villages she would personally rip us new ones."

"Yep that sounds about right." Naruto started to undress, "I can't believe I'm being forced to take a holiday."

"Me either…" Lee grinned "It's not like you do any work as it is." A pillow smacked him square in the face and soon they were laughing as they joked and messed around like normal boys their age not having to worry about Ninja training.

As the two oblivious boys where wrestling in their room, outside the window An eye watched them closely.