Naruto; Why's that?
LC; It takes a true genius to create works of art like these.
Naruto; and?
LC; you know what they say, there's a fine line between genius and insane.
Gaara; That would explain so much.
LC; Be quiet Ra-chan!
*Sand starts billowing out of Gaara's peanut thingy.*
*As the sand buries the authoress, she uses her incredible, I'm-invincible-so-I-can't-die, ninja art.*
LC; fear me pathetic mortals! Mwahahahaaa!
Naruto; Yep, definetly insane. She's crazier than you used to be, Gaara.
Gaara; let us be thankful she does not have any better powers than her immortality jutsu.
*Both nod heads sagely*
Chappie 1, The second time they met.
The first time, I'd been trying to destroy the Leaf village by transforming into Shukaku. She stopped me though, Naruko Uzumaki. She showed me that you could become truly strong if you fought for others, the secret to strength like her's, was love.
Now, I am travelling with Temari and Kankuro as an embassy to the Leaf village. I hope I can speak with Naruko again, to thank her for opening my eyes, and believing in me.
He closed his eyes, and he could see her again. Her beautiful golden hair fighting the Sun for radiance, held in two pig tails the flowed behind her as she moved. Her saphire eyes, brimming with hope and trust and happiness, but with a darker undertone revealing hurt, pain, loss, and loneliness.
Those whisker marks, her jinchuriki sign, as the black rings around his eyes were his. They gave her an exotic look. Over all, she was by far the most beautiful girl he'd ever met.
He could not denie it, he loved her.
All he lacked was the courage to tell her.
Back in the Leaf village!
Naru was having much the same problem as Gaara, only being who she was, she was far more naive and didn't realize she was in love.
All night and all day, she'd been thinking about him. Wondering if he was okay, if he had followed her advice, if he had made any new friends. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, it was even beginning to affect her appetite.
Now, obviously when she turned down Kakashi-sensei's offer to pay for ramen, her team panicked and carried her, protesting loudly, all the way to Tsunade's office for an emergency check-up.
"Everything seems alright, but I'm worried all the same." Tsunade told them after a brief examination. "Naru, have you felt sick, queesy? Tired, weak, maybe a bit dizzy?"
Each time Naru answered no, she felt fine, Tsunade wondered what could put the blonde girl off ramen. She practically, no strike that, she did worship it!
"Are you sure your feeling alright?" Tsunade asked again, thinking maybe Naru was keeping it a secret, not wanting to worry them.
"For the last time, I feel fine!" Naru shouted. "I'm just not hungry today!"
After finally being aloud to leave, she decided to find somewhere quiet to think for a bit. Being who she was, she obviously chose not to tell anyone, so when her team turned around and didn't see her, they panicked again.
Eventually they found her, on top of the fourth Hokage's head, fast asleep, in the middle of the day. If they were panicked before, they were almost going into cardiac arrest now.
"Dear Kami, she's dying!" Sakura proclaimed. This of course scared Naru awake, she was so startled, she accidently fell off the Hokage's head. She'd fallen asleep to close to the edge.
"AAAAAHHHH!" She screamed before managing to get a grip on the ridge of the Hokage's nose. "Don't do that!"
Kakashi and the others agreed that in Naru's state, it would be safer to have someone with her at all times. Knowing who they were dealing with, they involved the rest of the Leaf genin.
Of course, being who Naru was, all of their friends agreed to take the job on without complaint. She had touched each of their hearts and lives.
She had done something for each of them.
For Kiba, she had saved Akamaru from drowning when they were six and he'd just gotten him as a pet. Funnily enough, she'd also had to save Kiba.
For Shikamaru, she showed him her favorite places to go to unwind, helping the surprisingly stressed genius boy. For Shino, she had often helped him find new bugs, and she had never blanched when faced with one.
For Ino she helped to practice her mind transfer jutsu. For Hinata, she helped her gain self-confidence. For Lee, she believed he would be a great ninja, no matter what. For Chouji, she often treated him to barbeque or ramen and often held eating competitions with the young Akimichi. We all know what she did for Neji, she helped him get over his daddy problems.
And for Tenten, she helped create new sealing scrolls for her weapons and helped in accuracy tests.
When it came right down to it, Naru was actually pretty popular. Now, in all the time they'd been recruiting help, Naru had run off again.
She was sitting on the gates, I mean it, she was sitting on top of the gates, just gazing into the distance and kicking her feet. Suddenly, she saw the sand siblings heading to the village.
She jumped down and ran to meet them, eager to hear how they'd been doing and see Gaara.
Back with the Siblings and Gaara!
I was not expecting the focus of my thoughts to appear out of nowhere and call out my name. I guess what they say is true, speak of the devil and he'll appear before you. Or in this case, an angel.
"Gaara!" She called happily stopping just ahead of us. "How've you been doing?"
"Uh, Just fine, Naru-chan." I stammered, then realised I'd called her chan out loud.
Temari and Kankuro both turned at that too, looking like I'd sprouted Shukaku's head. "That's good to hear!" Thankfully, they both turned back to Naru, who had thrown her hands behind her head as she usually did, this caused the small orange jean jacket she was wearing to pull taut and show rather shapely breasts beginning to form.
I quickly looked up, not wanting to be caught peeping and saw she was still grinning at me happily.
"So you guys are the embassy granny Tsunade said was coming?" We nodded in confirmation, having been reminded of our mission.
"That's cool! After your meeting with all those old farts at the council, we should meet up and chat!" She continued.
Temari and Kankuro exchanged a look that made me slightly nervous.
"Gaara, you know you don't have to come." Temari said meaningfully.
"Yeah man, why don't you go on ahead with Naru-chan?" He put plently of emphasis on the chan.
I could feel a blush starting and beat it down with pure will power. "Alright." I relented.
Naru smiled again and I swear if I had looked at it directly, I would have been blinded.
"Come on Gaara!" She grabbed my hand and began pulling me through the Leaf gates. "I know this quaint little ramen shack that has the best ramen ever!"
Normally I do not like touching others when I can help it, however her hand was a very different matter. Her hand in my own felt, nice.
We stopped in front of a ramen shack that read, Ichiraku's.
"Hey Old Man!" She greeted the chef. "This is my friend Gaara!"
A waitress asked what kind of ramen we wanted and we both ordered, her a Naru special, me a regular medium bowl. The Naru special was a huge bowl filled with ramen, I was honestly amazed when she finished it without coming up for air.
"So Gaara, tell me, made any new friends yet?" She asked after we left the ramen shack. Right now we were just walking around, seeing the sights, I wasn't sure if she liked me back, so I couldn't call this a date.
"Well, not really." I admitted slowly, I'd really tried, but it didn't come as naturally to me as for her.
"No big deal, you got three anyway!" She said. "Temari, Kankuro, and me of course!"
All of sudden, the entirety of the Leaf genin appeared out of nowhere, they looked hysterical.
"NARU!" They cried.
I turned to ask why they'd been looking for her, only to see the spot she had previously occupied was empty.
For some reason, my gourd was heavier than usual, and when I turned to find out why, I saw Naru hugging onto it. She had automatically looked for cover and had decided my gourd was a good idea.
"Um, Naru?" I asked. She jumped off and apologized, then turned angrily to her comrades. "Why the Hell did you scare me like that!" She demanded.
For a moment, they looked from me to her, to me, to her, and back again. The blonde haired one stepped forward first.
"Oh, uh, sorry for interrupting your date, Naru-chan." She apologized. "We didn't know you and Gaara were dating."
That got a reaction.
"He's not my BOYFRIEND!" She protested loudly enough for the entire village to hear and me to be deaf for a minute or two.
I had the same reaction, however I did not scream it to the heavens. I merely scowled at the blonde haired girl.
"Sorry, sorry!" She cried, waving her hands in front of her dismissively. "At least now we know why you were acting so wierd." Shikamaru commented, I remembered Temari had a bit of a crush on him.
"I've been acting wierd?" She repeated. "Your the ones who jumped out screaming my name."
All of them blushed at this, I chose to remain quiet, though I was a little mad that they had shown up, I enjoyed my time with Naru.
After all of them left, she turned to me to apologize. "Sorry about that, Gaara." She said. "But I wonder what they meant that I've been acting wierd?"
She then took me to her favorite place, the head of the fourth Hokage monument.
"I like coming up here to think in private." She revealed. "It has a beautiful view of the sunset."
As she spoke, I saw what she meant.
The sunset was indeed very beautiful from here. And as the Sun's dying rays fell on and illumenated Naru, she seemed to shine.
"Yes, it is beautiful." I wasn't really looking at the sunset though. Her hair and eyes were much more beautiful to me.
I wanted to tell her now, tell her I hadn't been able to keep her out of my thoughts, wanted to tell her how beautiful I thought she was, how much I enjoyed being with her.
I wanted to, but I was afraid. What if she didn't share my feelings, could I handle that? What if I accidently drove her away?
I froze up when she leaned her head on my shoulder. "Gaara?" She asked.
"Yes?" I replied, feeling as though the Shukaku were laughing in my stomache.
"I've been thinking about you a lot lately." She admitted shyly, this was a side I had yet to see in her. "I'm glad, that we could spend some time together."
Gathering every ounce of courage in my thirteen year old body, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.
"As am I." I said slowly, searching for the right words. "I've also thought of you a lot. Naru-chan, I really enjoy our time together, I was wondering, if, we could, do it again?"
She turned to face me, not with a huge grin, but a small and happy smile. In the fading light, she looked even more beautiful.
"I'd like that, but for now, let's enjoy the sunset." She said, leaning her head back down.
I shifted enough to make her more comfortable, and we stayed that way for a long time after the Sun set.
When Naru fell asleep, I carried her home. I found the key in one of her jacket pockets and let myself in, with her in my arms.
I laid her on her bed and covered her out, but just before walking back out the door, I heard her mumble something.
"Good night, Gaara-kun." She mumbled into her pillow.
I smiled, it was small, but it was a smile. "Good night, Naru-chan."