//Gives The Deviant a Naruto Plush for being correct.//

Itachi's blood red eyes settled on the figure that slowly crept towards him. Cocking his head to the side, he allowed a small smirk to grace his lips. "If it isn't Kazekage Gaara?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed as the assassin stated the obvious. Only two months ago, his father had been killed by a poison that the sand village had never encountered before; one that he was sure came from the Akatsuki clan. Gaara would never forget that night when his father actually told him that he loved him; that he was proud that his son could break through the madness inside of him and announced him as the new Kage. Gaara, for the first time in many years, had sat up that night crying. It was only when Kiba arrived, did the red head allow anyone to enter his room after two days of locking himself in. After a bit of comfort and coaxing, the mutt had somehow tricked Gaara into this, what he now considered, hellish job. However, it had it's pay offs. He was able to go and now collect his dear kidnapped friend from the leaf without the need of asking permission. Itachi sighed, getting tired of the distractions. "You and what army is going to do this? Surely you don't think you're going to do this alone?" He hissed without hiding the irritation in his voice.

"Him and meh! That's what, you red-eyed freak!" Another male voice rang out and Itachi swayed to the left to dodge getting plowed over by a twister of air.

Kiba's fanged grin was an eye sore to the older Uchiha as he and the red-head stood side by side now. "Always making a noisy entrance." Gaara replied to the Inuzuka's side glance at him.

"Aww shut up. At least I don't look like something off of Mortal Kombat." Kiba growled before launching himself at their enemy.

"I don't have time to play with you right now." Itachi growled as he dodged another twister and smiled, "Is that the limit to your so called power?"

His words were literally pushed back in his mouth as the bone crushing bite came down on his shoulder.

Ah yes, how could he have forgotten the mutt's lap dog? Akamaru was almost as big as a horse at this point and his teeth sharper then Kisames or maybe close to them. Gaara had taken this opportunity to pick Naruto up gently after prying Itachi's finger's away with inhuman strength. The blonde rested on a sand cloud that easily brought the boy to it's master. Gaara smiled as he allowed him to rest on a soft patch of grass. "Now pull out!" He ordered as Akamaru quickly released his grip and jumped over the wounded Uchiha. Kiba scooted up his blonde friend and jumped on his huge partner's back with blinding speed, as to not give Itachi a chance to strike. When they had gotten out of sight, the loud wolf boy yelled out a cry of joy. "Yahooo! Tha'd boy Akamaru! Away we go!"

Itachi glanced at his bleeding shoulder, his teeth gritted and the look of pure anger on his face. He had been very careless to allow himself to take the pitiful Uzumaki and then try to run on, now that he thought about it. A good few times, he could have moved out of the way of that puny dogs attacks and countered or even sense that damn creature creeping up. He could have used his genjutsu to shatter both of their petty minds. Lack of strength was his only excuse. It was all the same however, because it wouldn't be long before they'd have to go after Gaara as well. The sand village had always been a threat to them, so why not extinguish it now? Deciding it was best to get to the hide out and recover, Itachi made his way through the haunting darkness of the night that reflected his nature. "Don't worry Naruto. Your kataho(1) will be back for you soon."

Naruto opened his eyes slowly as he felt a sudden comfort. He was warm and by the sound of crackling, there was a fire going near by. Had Itachi camped out for the night or maybe he was in the man's lair already? He didn't want to know truly and forced himself to roll over to his side and snuggle against the pillow. He had been taken once again without his consent and he could still feel the wave of pain from being sore. "You're getting lazy Naruto! Not to mention wimpy!"

"Be quiet, because you'd have been caught too if it weren't for Akamaru."

Naruto could have cried out of joy when he heard those voices. Not even feeling the pain of his lower half, the blonde shot up and straight into the arms of the red-head who had been kneeling beside him. "Kiba! Gaara!" He shrieked, nuzzling his forehead into Gaara's shoulder.

Kiba busted out laughing as the red-head gave a very cute and baffled look. Being so close to anyone besides Kiba had never been really a good situation with him. "Ohhhh! Shit the bed (2), dude! I need a fuckin' camera!"

"No, you need a muzzle." Gaara stated plainly as Naruto finally crawled out of his arms with a confused look on his face.
Now it was Gaara's turn to chuckle as Naruto shrugged, turned, and glomped Kiba whom scream in protest and shock. "Dude, dude! Off! No, no! I'm taken damn it, taken!"

Gaara sat back, amused as Naruto and Kiba began to argue and play wrestle around the room. They were in the Sand village already and Gaara had allowed Kiba to stay with him in his room. In the middle of the living room, their current position, was a fire place with couches and love-seats positioned around it. Except for the walls, the room was particularly bare; giving the two plenty of room to scuffle.

After a half an hour of arguing who was the weakest, followed by a series of arm wrestling matches, thumb wars, and bloody knuckles; the two rough housing boy's had settled down. "Well, who won?" Gaara spoke up, only to provoke the two of them.

"Well, it was me of course!" the two rang out in harmony, which made them fall back onto the couch with a fit of giggles. "You two are like children and I don't feel like baby sitting." Gaara sighed as he watched the flames.

"You baby-sit me all the time so, one more couldn't hurt." Kiba retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"Put that back in your mouth."

"Or what?"

Gaara leaned over and smirked, French-kissing the boy for a moment. "That's what." He replied, sitting back in his seat.

"I think I'll keep it out here then." Kiba said raising a brow as Gaara's smile widened a bit.

Naruto's eyes might have well just popped out of his head as he watched Kiba place himself beside the red-head and nuzzle his neck. "Yeah, nice party guys but I'm going to bed!" Naruto said, hurrying out of the room as Kiba called after him.

"You might not be able to sleep! He's a screamer!"

"EWWWW! Gross Kiba! To much information!!!!" Naruto screamed as he ran out of the room and into the guest room.

Gaara and his mate watched as the blonde rushed from the room before they both sighed in unison. "Well, did you contact Kakashi yet?" Gaara asked as the brunette began to nuzzle his chest. Kiba felt the stress being relieved as Gaara began to massage his head. "Yeah, he'll be by to pick up the blonde in the morning….though I doubt he's gonna find him awake. You know he won't sleep well tonight?" Kiba said as the young man pulled his being away from Gaara and rested his arms on his knees.

"Something the matter?"

"I mean, it's just…fuck dude! Why did it have to be Naruto? I mean, he has the purest heart that anyone could ever find, yet he has to suffer so bad just because of something inside him? I would have given up on life by now!" Kiba growled, biting the side of his lip to keep him some-what calm.

Gaara's eyes twitched as the smell of the crimson liquid entered his nostrils. He could barely sit still for a moment. Naruto wasn't the only one who had problems but at the moment they were much worse then his own. "People….fear what they don't understand Kiba. The Akatuski clan understand this, and plan to use it against people. Naruto's just unfortunate enough to be a part of that scam."

Naruto could hear the two ninja talking outside the door. He could hear their conversation about Itachi and about himself. He felt somewhat better, knowing that his friends would always be there for them however, Gaara spoke the truth. If he was going to keep living, he was going to have to toughen up quite a bit. 'I'm not going to waste my life just sitting here and doing nothing.' His mind growled to himself before standing up and heading for the window to look out at the star lit sky above him. 'Sasuke….did you feel this confused and lost before you left us, all those years ago?' He wondered before turning and plopping down on the bed. His mind instantly flashed to see Sasuke standing in the corner again, his arm's crossed as he glared at Naruto. The fox-boy shook his head but he couldn't clear the haunting words that the raven had spoken that night. 'You told me I was your best friend…so why….why?!?'

The grief he was currently feeling had begun to swell into something different. Anger, rage, and possibly hate. "WHY?!?"

A moment later, Gaara and Kiba rushed in the room having heard the disparate cry. Both of the teen boy's rushed to either side and held down a transforming Naruto by the arms. His crimson eyes darted from one side to the other as he watched them struggle against his fox chakra. What was this feeling? This feeling of being able to over-power an enemy to where they whimpered in pain as Kiba was now so doing.
"Naruto what the hell is wrong with you?" The dog replied as he practically threw his whole body on top of his own.

Wrong move. The position all to well reminded him of Itachi. Kiba found himself sprawled on the ground after being knocked into the wall. "What the FUCK!?!"

Gaara could take it no more. Allowing a large layer of sand to come from the gourd that was still on his back, he coated Naruto in it. Naruto thrashed against such means of restriction but with little rest and blind furry, he couldn't budge the sand. After a while, he stopped and snarled at Gaara whom sat in the chair a few feet away. Kiba had left the room, going to the hospital to check out a broken arm. "You can growl all you want. Until you settle down, I'm not removing my grip on you."

Gaara ended up staying up the rest of the night.

//Kataho- means 'mate'

The 'shit the bed' comment is actually something my mother came up with…XD It's kind of like 'Oh My God' without having you use God's name.//