NEW CHAPTER, AT LAST !

Longest chapter I have written to date ! The real story has officially started ! THANK YOU to all those that reviewed ( ILuvYouHaters, Atari 9, Dragonoiya, JuliaAbadeerSkellington, Slytherin's Pimp, Princess Akasha, Kunoichi of the Moonllit Night, JuMiKu, Sinables, DarkHinata91, NamikazeMia, ) Is that everyone for the last two chapters, lol. If I forgot you I apologize and THANK YOU for the inspiration.

Huge twist ahead. Tell me if was predictable or if you were surprised.

I dont own anything but the plot.


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Sasuke looked around the room briefly with his sharingan activated. He wanted to make sure that everything was put back in place and not trace of evidence was left of his investigation. He had convinced himself earlier that the best way to win Naruto was to gather intelligence. Granted he knew plenty about the dobe as a ninja and as a friend, but he wanted to know her as a woman. What did she do when she wasn't training, fighting and going on missions? What did she want in a man?

Sasuke knew from a young age he was attractive and most of girls, even now, wanted him, but the dobe and never shown any interest in him other than as a rival and Sasuke wanted to change that.

Granted there was some people in Konoha that thought that the dobe was a lesbian, claiming that the girl had been in love with Sakura since she was younger. But, Sasuke was positive that when Naruto had asked Sakura it was just as a friend and the awkward wording was due to years of isolation and social awkwardness.

Naruto was still very awkward around girls. Sasuke assumed that it was because the dobe barely had any female role models and since the rumors about her sexuality was still rampant the female population avoided doing or talking about anything "girly" with her and Naruto in turn avoided them because the dobe didn't know how to handle or confront situations like that.

She spent most of her time hanging out with the guys and training but Sasuke was positive the dobe had some girly qualities in her, especially now that he taken a stroll inside her bedroom. He was also sure that knowing what the dobe was like as a woman and what she wanted as one would be the key to winning the girl over.

Naruto's obsession with the color orange definitely affected her color scheme when it came to her decor but luckily it wasn't everywhere, most likely because the people in charge of designing the decor had enough common sense to know that blinding orange wasn't going to sell well.

Naruto's room was atypical for a shinobi, it was a lot more cluttered and personal than it should be. The walls were a cream orange and were littered with pictures of the Naruto with various different people from all walks of life, there was also a large map on one wall with various pushpins attached to it. Sasuke was a bit annoyed with how many men were in these pictures, and a little angered with how close they were to the dobe. He knew that the dobe was too oblivious to know if a man was attracted to her or not but that didn't mean that he wanted the competition to being with.

Sasuke pushed his negative emotions aside and promised himself that when the time came he would replace all of these photos with intimate ones of himself and Naruto. He moved over to the next object closest to him. A vanity.

The vanity wasn't all that big and looked unused from the faint layer of dust on it. It was clear that the dobe cleaned the thing, but it was doubtful that it was used in the way it was meant to be. On the vanity mirror, stuck to the side was a picture of Naruto in her orange jumpsuits surrounded by a group of geishas with the words "Be as beautiful as you are on the inside" written in elegant cursive. Sasuke was happy that it wasn't a group of men but he also didn't want her to be influenced by those... kind of women.

In one of drawers he found paddle brushes with golden strands of hair woven into it and a few black hair bands.

Naruto always wore her hair up in a messy bun without a stitch of makeup on. That's why when Sasuke opened up the other drawers he was surprised by their contents. Sasuke found straighteners, curlers, makeup and brushes, but they all looked as if they had been taken out of the packaging yesterday and some even had tags on it. He assumed that this setup had been gifted to the dobe by the women in the photo.

Sasuke wondered what the dobe would look like made up, he knew that she was beautiful underneath all that dirt and grime, but had never seen it for himself.

Sasuke banished the fantasies of a made up Naruto in slinky see through lingerie bending forward towards him to shyly ask him what he thought of her look and moved to explore the rest of her room.

There were several other things that Sasuke was surprised that Naruto had in her was a bookshelf that was filled with books, her closet mostly armed with shinobi gear, orange jumpsuits surprisingly sheltered some simple orange themed sundresses, skirts and tops.

But what surprised Sasuke the most was the large rectangle box that he found hidden underneath Naruto's bed ( a really stupid place to hide things but this was the dobe). The box was filled with letters, cards, and scribble drawings.

Sasuke felt his stomach drop a little. He didn't know it was from guilt or sadness. He felt guilty that he had ignore the dobe so much as a child. She had always made sure to at least wish the members of team 7 happy birthday on their special day and he had never wished her a happy birthday, he doubted that Sakura ever had and if Kakashi had then it was most likely a belated wish.

He felt sad that Naruto had felt compelled to keep and carefully store the cards; as if to remind herself that there were people in the world who are thankful that she was born.


After the documents had been looked over and signed they were returned to Shikamaru for safe keeping. Shikamaru had also volunteered to take the medicinal herbs to the specialized hospital greenhouse.

After Shikamaru had left Gaara had offered to take her out to dinner at a local ramen stand and Naruto had cheerfully agreed but now she wished that she had offered to drop off the herbs instead of Shikamaru. Anything to get away from the silence.

Naruto didn't know what to say, usually when there was an awkward silence she filled that void with mindless chatter about everything and anything but with Gaara ... it was different. Things that she didn't want out usually were the first things to spill out of her mouth and it was really hard for her to control herself emotionally.

Even though Naruto and Gaara lived in separate villages Naruto had always felt a certain kinship with the boy. When she first figured out that he was the same as her, a jinchuuriki, she felt like ground had shifted underneath her.

Even though she had the old man, Iruka-sensei, and team 7 she had never felt like anyone could really understand what she was going through, what she had gone through and then, out of nowhere, came Gaara. Someone who dealt with the same pain, the same loneliness, he knew all the things that she tried to hide. Which made it incredibly hard to bullshit him.

"So what's going on with you and Matsuri, are you dating?" Naruto asked with a grin. Happy to have found something that she could use to turn the attention away from her.

"She has volunteered herself to be my spouse." Gaara said in a flat voice while ideally shifting though his bowl of ramen while Naruto almost choked on her.

"What? You're getting married!" Naruto said wiping away the ramen broth that had dribbled onto her chin.

"The village council has declared a state of emergency. The numbers that we lost during the war was staggering. Our public works strategist has predicted that if nothing is done to supplement our numbers in about 15 years we will only be able to spare roughly 150 shinobi for missions, affecting our economy. Due to the effect in economy our numbers will further dwindle because families desire financial stability before producing offspring and in roughly 67 years we will no longer have the numbers to be called a shinobi village." Gaara lectured.

"...and you're getting married because..." Naruto asked confused.

Gaara sighed, " The council is encouraging all shinobi to start forming families. They have asked me to get married; to set an example."

"What! They can't do that to you!" Naruto said in outrage.

"They are not making me do anything, this is my decision. Mitsuri will become my wife and I will protect her and our possible offspring." Gaara said calmly.

"Wha? Are you ready for that?" Naruto had wanted to ask him why but she already knew the answer to that. Every jinchuuriki wanted someone who would love them for who they were, but at the same time, they doubted that anyone would want them and subconsciously kept all of their precious people at a distance so their heart could never be stolen away from them.

Gaara looked a little surprised at her question. Her guess was he never expected anyone to be concerned with how ready he was for marriage.

"I... I would not mind being married to Mitsuri she will be a loyal wife and a good mother." Gaara replied robotically.

"Thats cool and all but are you ready, excited to have a family? Be a father a husband?" Naruto said slowly, as if talking to a child.

"Mitsuri will be incharge of our children." Gaara said slowly, thinking his reply though.

"That doesn't mean you won't be involved. The moment you let someone into your life, your personal life things are going to change." Naruto said in resolution.

" Things will not change because I will not change." Gaara defended.

"Things will change and so will you, even if you don't want them to!" Naruto said, getting angry. She was trying to warn this idiot. Why wouldn't he listen?

"How do you know? Do you have someone?" Gaara said, a new spark entering his eye. Looking at her as if she held the answer to a question he had been asking for decades.

"Someone...?" Naruto asked confused.

"...a partner." Gaara expanding on his earlier statement.

"A boyfriend?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer to her question. A blush spread rapidly over her cheeks.

" No, no, no-no, no." she said frantically, shaking her head.

"Then?" he demanded.

"Oye, I just know it, ok?" Naruto said, " When you let someone in, let them into your life things start to change. It starts off slow. They give safety, security, ... love, but when they give they also take. The longer you're with them the more of you dissapears. You don't know that they're taking something because they replace it just as quickly, but if they're taken from you or if they leave then everything disappears. All that they've given you, all that you've given them it's just gone and you're left a whole . Deep, deep inside."

"Are you saying that I shouldn't marry her?" Gaara asked.

"No!" Naruto said. " I just wanted to give you the warning that I never got. Love hurts when it leaves, but when you have it...it's the best. Most people take it for granted until it's taken from them, they don't realize that they were living the best days of their lives until it's long behind them. I don't want you to be one of them. I know that it's going to be hard, but I think that you should give Matsuri a chance. Whatever piece of her heart she gives you, you should take and give her a piece of yours."

Naruto could feel her eyes welling up as Gaara stared at her shocked and cursed herself for being so damn emotional. Talking about all this emotional crap made her think of ero-sennin and all things she never got to say to the stupid old pervert.

Naruto daringly grabbed Gaara's hand. "You deserve love Gaara."

"As do you Uzumaki Naruto."


Shikamaru was annoyed. When he had left the kazekage's office he had planned on going to a Suna training ground to find Temari after dropping of the herbs, but the botanist had kept him at the greenhouse longer than he had been expecting due to the mass amount paperwork. By the time that he arrived at the training ground Temari had long left. Some chunni had recognized him when he had arrived and cheekily said that Temari had gone to a local karaoke bar.

They declared themselves his tour guides and had escorted him to the bar. Shikamaru couldn't see Temari in the bar and had wanted to leave instantly but the chunni had insisted that he drink with them before leaving, when else could they drink with the war hero Shikamaru?

Shikamaru made it to his fifth bottle of saké before he felt the effects of the alcohol working. He always felt a little ...stupid when he drank. He tended to be more impulsive and lively when he was buzzed and he didn't think the hangover was worth it but he needed a little liquid courage tonight. He wanted to grab a bite to eat so he didn't get too tipsy but he hated the greasy taste of bar food. Plus the bar was packed with people; women and men trying to find someone to spend more than just the night with.

Shikamaru knew that since the 4th shinobi war their numbers across the board had dropped dramatically and the pressure to settle down and have children was rising dramatically. Shikamaru's mother had already started making a list of names for her future grandchildren. It would be troublesome if Temari decided that she didn't want any but by that point he should be able to hide from his mother in Suna... at least for a little bit.

When Shikamaru's companions were drunk enough he snuck out the door and headed toward Temari's apartment. He knew where it was because... of the last time he had been there.

Temari was two years older than Shikamaru and he knew that she was feeling the pressure of being a single woman. There was subtle signs in her letters that indicated that she wanted, needed to get married.

Shikamaru started up the flight of stairs to Temari's floor, being careful not to stumble. As he neared Temari's door he could hear sounds. Moaning, groaning and the telltale sound of a headboard hitting the wall in rhythmic thuds.

But, he kept going. His stupid drunk mind kept thinking that it was someone else. It had to be someone else. Temari was alone, she had only thought about him just like he had only thought of her.

It wasn't till after he had broken in and opened Temari's door that his drunken mind had given up on it's romantic notions. His eyes connected with Temari's and that was all he needed to destroy any hopes he had for the two of them.

He turned tail and calmly walked about, ignoring Temari attempts at getting his attention. If she didn't need him, he didn't need her. Shikamaru kept walking, calmly trying to get out of there as soon as possible but he wouldn't run away. He wasn't some child.

"Shikamaru, matte! Wait!" She had caught up to him. He wasn't all the surprised she was a Jounin after all.

"You had to have known. It wouldn't have worked out Shikamaru. We live too far apart. You can be upset at me." she said a tad out of breath.

"I know." Shikamaru lied, not turning around. Not wanting to know that she looked like after being with another man. " I just thought I give you two your privacy."

" Shikamaru - " Temari started.

" I don't care Temari. Just go back to your bed." Shikamaru could hear Temari shuffle her feet. Part of him wanted her to explain herself, tell him that it was a mistake. That she only wanted him, but after awhile he heard her leave.

Shikamaru stared up at the moon. He felt cold.


Naruto was emotionally drained after her conversation with Gaara. She just wanted to get to her room for the night and go to sleep.

When she got to her door she felt someone shunshin next to her.


Shikamaru didn't know what had gotten into him. After Temari had left he had started to feel cold, like he was going to get hyperthermia and that was when he had seen her.

Naruto. Naruto was a girl. Naruto was warm. His drunken mind had decided, and before he knew it, he was next to her.

He could see every fleck of gold in her bright cornflower blue eyes and then his lips were on her's. He kissed her as if he could absorb the heat and happiness from her body into his cold empty one.


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What do you think? What do you think Sasuke is going to do? What is Naruto going to do? Did you like Naruto and Gaara's conversation? What did you think of Naruto's room was the description ok?

PS: Thank you to all of those that answered my questions on the author's note. I really appreciated the responses !

REVIEW. FAVORITE. FOLLOW.*** REVIEW. FAVORITE. FOLLOW. *** ... if you want more that is ... REVIEW. FAVORITE. FOLLOW.*** REVIEW. FAVORITE. FOLLOW. ***