Authors note: Here's chappie 3. Katharine helped in this one too. Don't just thank me, IF you're gonna thank anyone that is…
This story contains YAOI!! If you don't like YAOI then don't read!!
Kk just wanted to get that outta the way.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or any of the other Naruto charries.
Chapter 3
"No, No Naruto." Gaara sighed, rubbing the side of his face tiredly. "Try again." Naruto groaned and got up off the ground, shaking out his legs.
"Gaa-Kun! You jerk! I've been doing this for hours now! Gimme a freakin' break!" Naruto whined, actually making Gaara consider it with that damned nickname of his… the order though? Hm; no.
"Again, Naruto; right after you clean up the mess." Gaara folded his arms smugly as Naruto trudged into the kitchen, fists bawled angrily while he muttered obscenities. A second later he flung a towel across the room on a puddle of spilt tea.
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" Naruto screamed, jumping across the room and stomping into the towel before he ground the cloth into the floor, soaking up the liquid quickly before he dropped to the ground and cupped his hands, concentrating as hard as he could to draw heat into his hands and boil water.
For the past several hours Naruto and Gaara had been practicing the tea ceremony in which the Kage had to boil water and without using physical touch; pour tea for all the other council members. Naruto…had boiling the water down, but as for balancing and pouring the water? He wasn't the most coordinated.
"OW-OW-OW-OW-OW!!" He screamed, flicking his hand in the air at more scalding water. By this time his hands were completely red and burnt, it was almost the same thing Gaara went through—Gaara, realizing this and remembering the sting despite his sand…sympathized and sat next to Naruto; whipping the water off of his red hands and blowing wisps of air onto the blonde's fingers. Naruto flushed instantly drawing away.
"I-I-I can do it!" he stuttered, embarrassed. Not even looking, Gaara cleaned all the ceremonial utensils and placed them into Naruto's now-clean closet. He stood and took Naruto by the wrists, tugging him to his feet before leading him into the kitchen where he put on the cold water and placed Naruto's hands underneath them.
Naruto fidgeted at the touch of Gaara's cold hands amongst the freezing water, it was amazingly uncomfortable…especially since the young ninja knew Gaara never touched anyone. Eventually the ache in Naruto's flesh faded and he drew back carefully. Gaara noticed his hesitance and backed away from him, turning completely from the obnoxious blonde.
To put an end to the awkward silence a knock came on the door. Naruto bolted for it, screaming;
"I'll get it!!"
And then slingshot-ting through the threshold he ripped open the door to reveal a restless Shikamaru and Chouji.
"'Ey Naruto…Chouji's hungry." Shikamaru stated, jerking a finger at the overweight brunette, who ran a hand through his spiked hair and squinted his eyes even further, if possible, just before his stomach rumbled loud enough to be thunder.
"Aw, c'mon Shikamaru, hurry it up! The others are wait-ing!" he groaned in seeming agony. Shikamaru rolled his onyx eyes and cocked his head backwards, looking back to the bright blue sky. It was an amazing day out; the sun shone into Shikamaru's black hair which was, as always, pulled into a high ponytail.
"Right, well, we're going to go to the mountains behind the memorial for the Hokage's and have an…ew, I don't want to say it…" He flushed and glared at the ground. Chouji scowled and looked away too, though muttering out falteringly;
"A…uh, public outing."
"A picnic?" mused the silky voice that made chills run over the flesh of every member in the room.
"Holy--! Naruto?! Gaara?! Naruto, what's Gaara doin' in your place?" Chouji accused, blindly pointing fingers on everything that moved. Naruto began stuttering as Shikamaru and Gaara stared at each other. Eventually a smile spread onto Shikamaru's face.
"Sabaku no Gaara…it's good to see you're doing well. How's life in Sunagakure? Being a Kazekage wearing down on you at all?" Shikamaru grinned. Gaara nodded back, relieved to see this particular boy. He could relate to him, quite and tired…but not weak. And unlike Sasuke, he didn't detest this boy.
"As to you Shikamaru, everything is working out as planned…nothing too troublesome, despite the fan girls. They can be irritating at times, occasionally, I worry they'll take my life rather than the enemies."
Shikamaru snorted and nodded toward Chouji and Naruto who were staring at the two of them in shock, finally stopping their bickering.
"Chouji didn't even know you were Kage but Naruto? I'm guessing he didn't know—"
"You have Fan girls?!" Naruto shouted in disbelief. Gaara shrugged and ignored him, deciding instead to embarrass him.
"So you're taking little Naru-Chan on a picnic? How…sweet. I trust you'll hold his hand so he doesn't loose himself, oh, and make sure he eats up; he is my growing baby boy after all."
"Oh, Okaasan, don't worry you can trust Nari-Chan with us." Shikamaru saluted and took Naruto's hand who was just about ready to explode from anger.
"YOU!" He began but a smell drifted into the room, Ramen…pork, by the smell, and instantly the blonde bolted outside screaming after his favorite food with Chouji following just for, well, food.
"C'mon, it'll be fun. We're gonna meet the others where we're eating but you gotta come."
"All right." Gaara agreed holding up a finger for a moment as he turned on his heel and in five strides was in Naruto's room. He reached through the drawers; fishing out a black tee shirt and jeans he slipped them on, sighing when the shirt roe a bit too high but not having the time to change he walked out and past Shikamaru coolly who raised an eyebrow but shut the door quietly and followed, anyway.
Gaara looked ahead of him to find that Chouji and Naruto were no where in sight.
'Damn it... they sure like their food… By the time they're forty they're going to be fat and bald. What am I saying? Why do I care? Chouji is all ready fat. No, but, does it matter how they look? No.' Gaara thought as he followed Shikamaru to the, gathering for food, or other-wise known as 'picnic.'
Shikamaru and Gaara jumped from tree branch to tree branch, easily catching up with Naruto. But Chouji was still nowhere in sight. Gaara guessed that Chouji out-ran the short, blond. Gaara snickered and went to jump with Naruto. Naruto pretended not to see Gaara, and that made Gaara a little mad. So he decided to tease the annoying brat.
"What happened? I thought you were with Chouji." Gaara said innocently. When no reply came from Naruto, which was surprising, Gaara continued. "I guess those short legs of yours can't take you very far…" Gaara stated holding back a cynical snicker. Naruto's head turned instantly at that comment, he glared at Gaara and looked rather irritated. Naruto was about to snap back an angry retort when…. WHACK! Naruto went head first into a tree branch because he wasn't paying attention in front of him. Naruto fell down the tree hitting branches on the way down and he kept falling until his back collided with the ground. The stout blonde let out a bunch of curses as he shut his eyes in pain. Gaara frowned and hesitated, not wanting to hurt the Ninja in the first place.
'What kind of moron would stop looking in front of him while he's walking, let alone jumping from branches…?' Shikamaru stood next to Gaara and sighed at the scene before him. Naruto was rolling on the ground holding his forehead where he hit it, and continued to curse out loud.
"How troublesome…." Shikamaru murmured under his breath.
"Don't worry about it Shikamaru. He's a big boy. He'll live. And you can go on ahead I'll take care of our little knuckle-head" Gaara said, snickering slightly. Shikamaru frowned for a moment, appraising Gaara and the slightly-too-conniving look in his eyes before rolling his eyes uncaringly and with a whoosh he jumped forward. Gaara leapt down from his spot on the branch, leaves quivering and dropping with him followed by the gentle hum of branches shaking under his weight.
The Kage landed on the ground with a thump and walked slowly to the blonde, holding his shirt down apprehensively before he bent over the riving boy and smirked.
"Aww, do you need a band-aid?" Gaara cooed in false affection. Naruto glared up at him angrily and sat up too fast, his forehead going straight on a collision course with Gaara's, who, not expecting it; fell backwards onto his back. Grunting, the red head slowly sat up only to find his forehead bleeding from the impact. He glared at Naruto who continued frowning at him, despite his own blood drizzling down his forehead.
"Stupid. It's what you deserve." He scoffed, his eyes squeezed shut tightly and his blonde hair glinting in the sunlight along with the same clothing he was wearing yesterday. Gaara frowned back at him, not caring that he was the one picking all the fights today as he stood up and turned away from Naruto. Gaara was never one for patience, not even recently when his goals changed to become loved. No, he'd always been stubborn and always would be. This was the reason The Kage leapt back into his spot previously in the tree and continued running, blood drizzling past his eyelashes and down his cheeks; blinding him occasionally. After a moment or two passed he arrived at the spot Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto and him had been discussing. It was nice enough; sort of similar to the valleys back in Sunagakure. The pit of dirt let off short dust clouds in the air, but there were water springs leaking from the mountainous edges. The sun beamed down; illuminating the entire pit while where short patches of crab grass grew daises or whatever they were…white flowers, maybe poppies, bloomed. A large white blanket was set up in the center of the valley with the most flowers blooming around it, idiotic, because of the bugs; but nice, in any case.
Surrounding
the blanket were a vast amount of things, most were food and drinks
of different supplies, some other blankets or towels, a beach ball or
two, sparklers or fireworks, baskets as well as tote bags and then
there were several people. The first two most identifiable were Ino
and Sakura, as always they were arguing. They resembled their
previous appearances easily with hardly any more curve and just a
little bit more fat and muscle. Then Chouji and Shikamaru, with their
new outfits of course, Kiba and Hinata had changed drastically. They
were settled rather close together, Kiba stood next to Akamaru;
dressed in completely black next to the large red dog. As for Hinata,
she was clothed fully and in an unrevealing way per usual. That was a
nice change from Temari, Tenten, Sakura and Ino. But her hair had
grown long and she seemed much more confident. Everyone else were
just…different, more grown, maybe even more mature.
It surprised
Gaara more than the Kage thought it would, and he thought Naruto had
changed; it was nothing compared to everyone else. With apprehension
Gaara eyed the beach ball and blankets, he figured everyone would be
out 'til dark; hence the fireworks and valley with open skies, but
beach ball? The springs weren't much for drinking none the less
swimming. His questions were answered though, when Ino and Sakura
raced each other to the far ledge of the valley and peered over;
Gaara, transforming his eye into sand and following closely, then saw
a hot spring of large size just down the cliff side.
He sighed, having nothing really for swimming; not that he would anyway but…the Kage froze suddenly. Feeling tension and hatred behind him, he turned; expecting to see a furious blonde named Naruto but instead was faced with the very person who's name had in the past two days caused his stomach to turn and his throat to clench, the want…need, to kill flowed back into his being at the onyx stare of only Uchiha Sasuke; who's hand had smugly found it's way into Naruto's, helping the boy up the Cliffside.
"I'm guessing YOU'RE the one who did this to Naruto." Sasuke hollered, pointing at the large bump on Naruto's forehead. Gaara peered at Naruto, who was rubbing his right eyes to wipe away some tears that formed at the corner of his eye. Sasuke looked at Naruto then turned his head to glower at Gaara. "And you remember that warning from the store, don't you?" Sasuke warned. Gaara looked calmly at Sasuke, but didn't bother to hide the pure hate in his eyes.
"Obviously I remember, I don't have as terrible a memory as that blonde idiot. But I didn't do ANYTHING to the dope. He did that on his own accord." Gaara affirmed.
"Lying bastard!" Sasuke yelled and went to lunge at Gaara. Gaara spread his legs in a defensive stance, letting sand circulate around his body protectively and waited for Sasuke to attack. Naruto yelled out loud and tugged on Sasuke's sleeve to hold him back. Naruto was crying slightly. By now everybody in the area, including the casual, laid-back Shikamaru looked up to see what the commotion was.
"Please don't fight! Please! No fighting!" Naruto pleaded. "Gaara's telling the truth! I wasn't paying attention and I hit the tree!" He sobbed out. Sasuke clenched his fists and forced himself not to attack the red-head that stood just a couple yards away from them. Then Sasuke turned to look at Naruto and he relaxed
"Okay… I won't… fight but I don't want you near HIM for tonight. And I still don't like the thought of you two being in the same house together." Sasuke looked at Gaara accusingly, and then he took Naruto's hand again and pulled him in the opposite direction from the kage.
Naruto looked back at Gaara as Sasuke pulled him towards the others. Gaara, staring into Naruto's liquid blue eyes, wincing slightly from the spontaneous pang of pain he felt in his heart. It was something he hadn't experienced in ages and it felt like agony. Naruto actually hesitated for a moment, on his own being in agony for the anguish on Gaara's face. But, when Sasuke turned back and gave Naruto's hand a forceful tug the blonde followed obediently.
"Whoa now Gaara! Look at you, not nearly as creepy as you used to be for sure! Much more approachable, and those eyes, AW!" The slightly more mature Ino approached Gaara with a sway of her hips. Gaara ignored her ostentatious sway and charged in the opposite direction of Naruto and Sasuke, frustrated at the couple like actions that would most likely turn into his dream any moment now.
"U-Uhm, Gaara-San p-please d-don't be mad at Naruto…" the quiet voice of Hinata broke through Gaara's penetratingly fierce thoughts. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, glancing over at her exasperatedly.
"Don't speak to me right now…" he mumbled out before walking away more quickly than before to the furthest side of the valley where he climbed over the ledge and let the sand glide him down to the water. While Gaara had told himself he wouldn't swim he ignored his previous half-promise to himself and dove into the water; fully clothed.
The murky liquid was steaming hot from the flow of volcanic rock beneath. Scorching his skin like the tea did Naruto earlier this morning Gaara brought his head only above the surface of water and gulped in air, moving his arms and legs to stay above the water.
"Gaara! What the hell are you up to, come eat!" Chouji shouted down, seemingly unafraid of the "New" Gaara.
"No! Never!" Gaara shouted out stubbornly. "If you don't give me some time to myself I'm going to kill somebody!" with that he dunked his head beneath the water only to come out to breathe. After a moment the breath was needed and he brought his head back up begrudgingly only to cringe at the irritating sound of Sakura's voice.
"Get out Gaara-San, get out! EWWWHHH Your skin is gonna get all gross and wrinkle-y!" She shrieked sticking her tongue out.
A growl escaped the back of Gaara's throat as he climbed out of the water and trudged up the hillside, finding that person he was going to kill.
