Disclaimer: I do not own or am in any way related to Naruto. I am simply a fangirl trying to make her way in the world while at the same time dealing with the stories that the Naruto characters play out in my head. I am making no profit from this, unless you count readers and reviewing love.

Summary: Five years ago Naruto brought Sasuke back but received only anger in return, and so he left. Now it is Kitsune, strong and deadly, who returns to his old village. When war erupts with Konoha at its heart, what will he choose to do?

Warnings: More character introspection than plot. Not much action either. Lots and lots of spoilers, mainly about the Akatsuki and Naruto's parentage.

Chapter Five

Shades of Pain


Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.

-- from The Wizard of Oz

The second exam had left him with a sour taste in his mouth and an increasing incredulity at himself. What on earth had possessed him to say what he'd said? To make the choice that he had made? His reasons had all seemed valid when he'd said them out loud – but now, away from the immediacy and heat of the moment, they didn't seem all that convincing as they bounced around in his mind.

But he couldn't take it back. Now that he had said it, in front of witnesses, no less, his pride wouldn't let him retract his words. He was stuck with his decision, for better or for worse.

To say the least, the day after the second exam had ended found Sasuke in a very bad mood.

He stalked down the streets of Konoha, hands shoved in pockets, with his trademark scowl on his face. People got out of his way without being prompted; in recent years they had become all too used to the Uchiha's temper. The official story was that Sasuke had been kidnapped by Orochimaru, so the village still treasured the one they saw as the last surviving member of one of their proudest bloodlines, but their adoration of him had been worn down by his constant black moods.

As Sasuke drew near training ground seven, he heard the sounds of another shinobi practicing, and his dark mood darkened even further. He didn't know why he had chosen the training grounds where he, Sakura and Naruto had first fought against Kakashi, and he didn't care to think about it. He just went there, and by now the other Konoha nin knew well enough to use other grounds.

The final straw to Sasuke's mood was when he saw who, exactly, was practicing on his grounds.

The Kazekage's skin was as pale as ever, but it wasn't the sickly pallor from years ago, rather a healthy, almost glowing fairness. His days of relying only on his sand were gone – his taijutsu was lightning fast and practically flawless, hardly any wasted movements. And his stamina looked improved, too; his clothes, already fitting, were stuck to his body with sweat, and his bare skin glistened with it, but he didn't look tired at all. Not that there was much bare skin – he wore loose pants and a tank top – but it was more than he normally revealed.

Sasuke didn't recognize the golden-eyed man that Gaara was fighting with, but he could sense the deadly killing intent. Whoever he was, his aura was choked with blood and death.

He watched them spar, his grudging admiration of their movements warring with his dislike of the Kazekage. Gaara was one of the things Sasuke didn't like to think much about, but when he did, he could easily list down the reasons why he hated the redheaded man so much.

Gaara had easy access to immense power, something that Sasuke was insanely jealous of. Gaara had almost destroyed Konoha, but it had been shrugged off so easily by everyone – whereas Sasuke's almost-betrayal left him mistrusted by those in the know, even until now, even though his so-called friends tried their hardest to pretend it never happened. Gaara was unstable, and had slaughtered so many, so often, and yet he had been made Kazekage – while Sasuke's one time of weakness had made him outcast.

And Gaara reminded him of Naruto.

He forced his thoughts off that beaten track.

It came to Sasuke then that the sounds of fighting had stopped. He looked up. The gold-eyed man was nowhere to be found, and the Kazekage was right before him, staring at him, green eyes unreadable. "Uchiha," he said, sounding perfectly composed and not in the least out of breath. "You are up early."

"So are you." Sasuke winced internally at how childish that retort had sounded, and scrambled for a better reply – and after Shikamaru had pulled him aside and warned him to have a care of Gaara's position, however much he disliked the other man, Sasuke figured that his reply now had better be diplomatic, if not friendly. "You've been here long?"

"Only since dawn, an hour ago." Gaara's voice was as neutral as his.

"Your friend seems to have disappeared."

"Yes. He… does not like strangers." There was a hint of an ironic smile in Gaara's eyes that Sasuke didn't quite understand. "You are here to practice as well?"

"Yeah, I am." He shrugged, letting some of his annoyance creep into his voice as he said, "I usually have this place to myself. No one else comes here."

"I see." Try as Sasuke might, he could hear absolutely no inflection to that voice. "Do you wish to practice alone, then, or do you want a sparring partner?"

That made him stare. "You're offering to practice with me?"

"Until my own sparring partner comes, yes." Gaara seemed to notice the question that was on the tip of Sasuke's tongue, and added, "My… friend, just now, was merely passing by and I asked him to spar for a while with me, until my actual partner comes."

"That would be Kitsune, right?"

"Yes." Gaara looked at him coolly. "A purely taijutsu spar. Your answer?"

Sasuke hesitated, and then smiled humourlessly. What the hell, why not? "Fine."

Gaara nodded, and turned. Sasuke shrugged off his outer clothing, leaving only his own black tank top and shorts, and then followed him to the centre of the field. They settled into battle stances, sizing each other up.

"Ready?" Gaara said.

"Yeah." Sasuke felt himself smirk. "I'm not going to go easy on you, Kazekage or not."

Gaara's gaze sharpened. "We'll see," he said.

The implied dismissal in those two words made Sasuke's anger spike. Without another word, he flash-stepped to where the Kazekage was, bringing his hand down on his neck –

Or where his neck used to be. Gaara had dropped to a crouch, one leg sweeping out to hit the back of Sasuke's knees –

Only Sasuke wasn't there anymore, either. He'd leapt into the air, twisting his body in a whirlwind motion, aiming for Gaara's head –

Which was now a fair distance away, safely out of range. Sasuke landed. Gaara straightened. They stared at each other.

And then they both blurred, as they resumed their attacks.

The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in the early morning air, but other than the occasional grunt that signified a blow well-aimed knocking the breath out of someone, their battle was eerily silent. There were no taunts, no curses – just a single-minded focus on defeating each other. Five minutes passed – then ten. Twenty. As the hour slipped past, neither party showed signs of giving in.

And the more they fought, the more angry Sasuke found himself becoming. Normally, a taijutsu workout or spar would be cathartic, leaving his mind pleasantly blank, almost like a form of moving meditation. But this time, he found the tension building up, becoming ugly. His blows grew harder, and harder, until they were more vicious than any practice match warranted.

Soon, he saw Gaara's eyes tighten every time he landed a blow. The perverse pleasure from the sight made Sasuke aim for more tender places – the Kazekage's torso. He began aiming all his blows around that area, repeatedly, so that each successive blow would hurt more.

Gaara was more delicate in build, and so he was faster – but Sasuke was stronger, physically more powerful, and Gaara's speed wasn't enough. Furthermore, he had only begun working on taijutsu in the past few years, whereas Sasuke had the advantage of having taijutsu forms drilled into him from childhood.

It meant that Gaara was slowly but surely losing. Sasuke couldn't land blows on him often, but it was often enough. The Kazekage's flinching became more obvious, but he silently continued fighting, his face expressionless.

And suddenly Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. When Gaara blocked a roundhouse kick, he saw his chance. Twisting his torso, he flipped so that the momentum of his first kick put an enormous force into his second, spinning kick, coming in from under Gaara's guard and landing solidly.

There was the crack of a broken rib. Gaara flew back a few paces, and landed on his back.

That muted gasp of pain was immensely satisfying.

Sasuke landed lightly on his feet, and stared at that still figure, far enough that he couldn't see his face. They stood there in a silent tableau for a long moment. Still Gaara did not move.

Sasuke pushed back the tiny stab of self-hatred at how vindictive he'd become. Instead, he began walking over to Gaara. "Are you getting up anytime soon? Don't think we're done yet. A shinobi has to fight through the pain –"

His breath was knocked out of him as a tidal wave of sand swept him up in the air, tightening around him, trapping him. Gaara sat up, holding his ribs, and his green eyes were shadowed. For the first time since they started, Sasuke felt a tiny spike of fear – he knew this move.

He knew what move came after it.

"Gaara!"

Then Kitsune was there, running towards them, stopping in between. He took in the situation at a glance, and then turned to the redhead on the ground. "Gaara," he said, and there was anger in his voice. "I don't know what happened, but just because he landed a hit on you during a friendly spar isn't any reason to kill him. I thought your control's better than that."

Gaara's gaze switched to Kitsune. Sasuke had thought his expression blank before, but it was nothing compared to the utter emptiness in his face now. Then he slowly got up, and even though it must have hurt like hell, with his broken rib and what Sasuke knew was an unbelievably bruised torso, still nothing showed on his face, in his eyes. Even his movements looked natural, as if he was unhurt.

He made a small movement with his hand. The sand dissolved, and Sasuke just barely managed to catch himself as he dropped, avoiding an ungraceful fall onto his butt. Gaara regarded both he and Kitsune for another heartbeat, silently.

Then he was gone in a swirl of sand.

Kitsune started, like he wanted to go after the other man, but then he stopped. With a heavy sigh he turned that blank white mask to Sasuke, who glared back. He hated Kitsune on principle, because he was always together with Gaara, but there was also something about his very presence that rubbed Sasuke the wrong way.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Sasuke could tell that Kitsune was trying very hard to sound neutral. He shrugged. "Not that it's any of your business, but no."

"What did you do?"

At that, Sasuke felt his lips drawing back in a sneer. "We were just sparring," he said. "Can I help it if he's a sore loser?"

He could feel Kitsune's anger rising to match his own. "Gaara isn't so easily riled. He's been perfecting his control over his power and his anger over the years. You must have done something to provoke him so much that he reacted like that!"

"What, giving him a few bruises? Excuse me for actually giving my best in a fight! If he wanted to remain unhurt, then he shouldn't be a shinobi!"

"He's a better shinobi than you'll ever be!"

That hit closer to home than Sasuke was comfortable with. It made him lash out. "He's a murderous psychopath! If he can't even control his temper in a practice spar, I pity the villagers who have to suffer him as their leader!"

Kitsune snarled. "My god, you're the most –" He cut himself off mid-sentence with an impressive force of will. "You know what? Forget it. You're not worth my time."

Sasuke sneered again. "And you're not worth mine. The great assassin Kitsune, not even a jounin? What a joke. When you're done stealing the place of others who really need the jounin rank, don't show your face in Konoha again."

He could sense the killing intent radiating off Kitsune, and a part of him ached for it, wanted the fight that would surely ensue – but Kitsune took a step back. Then another. Then, with an angry, wordless snarl, he turned and vanished into the distance, leaping across the rooftops of Konoha in a blink.

Sasuke stood there, trembling with the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

It had been a long time since he'd felt so alive.

And then he realized what he'd just done, and the self-loathing came crashing back.

On hindsight, Naruto really should have gone for a couple of runs – or a hundred – to cool down before returning to the suite of rooms that he shared with Gaara. But he had been angry, and frustrated, and full of conflicting feelings about Sasuke, and the whole mix meant that he wasn't thinking straight.

So when Naruto stormed into the suite, slamming the door behind him, and barged into Gaara's room, he wasn't in the best frames of mind. Gaara was lying still on the bed, ignoring Naruto, and that only made him angrier.

"Look," he snapped at the silent figure. "You don't like Sasuke, he doesn't like you, fair enough. So that's all the more reason you should have stayed away from him, not entered into a sparring match! That's just asking for trouble! And since even I can see that, it's got to be pretty damn obvious!"

There was no reply, no movement.

Naruto wasn't deterred. "And Sasuke's no match for you. No matter what he did, you should never have used Sabaku Kyuu, are you insane? You lost control, fine, but even then you shouldn't have used a move that practically begs you to complete it with complete annihilation of your opponent! You could have just swatted him away with sand or something!"

Still nothing.

"Are you even listening?"

"Go away, Naruto." Gaara's voice was tired.

Naruto felt worry at that trace of weariness – if it showed in Gaara's voice, then he was either making a conscious effort, or it was so overwhelming that he couldn't help it. This was probably a case of the latter, but this time, Naruto felt justified in pushing his worry away. He was angry, damn it, and he had a right to be angry.

"I'm not done. Look, Gaara, Sasuke's a bastard. But no matter how much I don't like him, I'm not about to kill him! He's on his second chance and he's doing pretty damn well. He rejected Orochimaru, remember? And if he's not being all friendly with the others, Sakura and all, he's not actively pushing them away. He's trying in that weird way of his, and I kind of get that, and it can't be easy for him either. You should know how it feels, to struggle like that. So just leave him alone from now on, and stop provoking him, so we can all get some peace!"

"Alright."

"And even if he – uh." Naruto blinked. "What?"

"I said, alright. I will avoid the Uchiha from now on." The weariness was gone; now Gaara's voice was just empty. "Is that enough for you, Uzumaki? Are you done?"

That stung. Naruto opened his mouth to snap back, and then closed it again, lost for words. "Uh… yeah." He paused. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine." Those three words were clipped. "I wish to rest. Leave."

Some of the lingering anger flared up again at that curt dismissal. "Fine," Naruto snapped. "Some of us have got things to do and lives to lead." He spun on his heel and marched out the room, slamming the door behind him again. It was sadly unsatisfying.

Some ramen would be good, Naruto decided. There were no food stands in Suna – too much sand flying around – so the only ramen he could get there was in restaurants, and those weren't good enough to be worth their price. Ichiraku was still the best, in all the places Naruto had travelled. He would get some ramen to cool himself off.

And then, maybe, he could do something about the guilt that refused to leave him be.

The blinds were drawn tight, and only the faintest line of sunlight illuminated a strip of the wooden floor. The room was dark, quiet, and cool. Naruto's voice, and footsteps, had long faded away.

Naruto…

Just thinking that name cause Gaara's heart to ache, all over again.

It was a feeling that he was fast becoming used to.

The ache was different from anything he had felt before. It wasn't sharp, like the pain of his broken rib, mending second by second with the regenerative power that all Jinchuuriki had. It wasn't dull and throbbing, like the huge bruise that his entire torso had become – he could feel the extent of the tender flesh, and no area from above his hips to somewhere in the middle of his ribs was spared. No, this ache was like a void, sucking at his emotions and his breath.

It was the ache of loss, and it grew stronger each time Gaara felt it.

Naruto was slipping away from him, slowly but surely. Ever since they had come to Konoha, Gaara had seen it. As Kitsune, Naruto could be the consummate actor, fooling the world, but suddenly his old friends were discovering his identity left and right – it could only be Naruto's unconscious desire to have them close again asserting itself. Then there was that incident with his former teammates, in the Forest, where he had been beside himself with worry for the girl that he said he could not stand, where he had been full of joy for the boy that he said he hated.

Then there was the very exam itself – why else would Naruto want to become a jounin, when he was already Kitsune? Oh, he'd told Gaara what he and the Hokage had talked about, true enough… but Gaara knew what that light in his eyes signified, whenever he talked about his home village.

And then there was this morning. Naruto had taken one look and assumed that Gaara had lost control, that Uchiha was innocent of any blame. Gaara would be the first to admit that yes, he had lost control a little because Shukaku had been screaming for blood in his head… but he had not used his sand until then. He had stuck with purely taijutsu moves, even as he was losing. Towards the end, there had been the madness of bloodlust in Uchiha's eyes – a look that Gaara recognized all too well – but he had bore the pain mutely, and honoured the rules of their match. Pain was not a valid reason to call off a match, after all.

And he would not have used the Sabaku Sousou. He would not have crushed Uchiha. He'd only wanted to immobilize the other man, while he recovered, because he was afraid that the Uchiha would not stop.

Before this morning, Gaara would have said, if asked, that Naruto would understand. That Naruto believed in his reformation, in his hard-won control. That Naruto had faith in him. Before this morning, Gaara had harboured hope that Naruto felt for him with the same depth of feeling that he felt for Naruto. He had harboured hope that they would return to Suna together. Naruto had come to call Suna home, after all, had assured him that he felt more comfortable in Suna than in Konoha.

But everything was changing. Everything had changed.

And Gaara knew better than to hope.

Because hope blinded you until you were forced to see the truth, and that moment was more painful than any wound in the world. Hope made you a fool. He had been that fool, before – once, with Yashamaru, once more with Naruto, and betrayal had come in the form of a failed assassination attempt, and words that cut deep. He would not be so foolish again as to trust, and to hope.

You should know how it feels, to struggle like that.

He knew. He knew exactly how it felt.

And that was why he knew that it was better to come to terms with the loss, bit by bit, than to have it hit you full in the face.

If he could only have Naruto as a friend, then so be it.

Alone in his bed, Gaara closed his eyes, shutting out the shadows on the ceiling. There was the sharp pain of his ribs, and the dull pain of his torso, but overwhelming either one of them was the empty ache in his chest, growing, growing. He drew in a shuddering breath.

He did not cry, but only because he did not think he would be able to stop.

Sasuke found the door easily; he was surprised that there were no guards. But then, Gaara hadn't come in his official capacity. Even so, he was still the Kazekage… but that wasn't his problem. He should be thankful that there were no guards.

What would he say to them? I'm just dropping by to check on your Kage who I just beat up mercilessly, so can you let me pass? Thanks.

Yeah, right.

He scowled at the wooden door. The innkeeper had hesitated at giving him the room number of the Kazekage and Kitsune, but Sasuke had played the Uchiha card, and the innkeeper figured no one was insane enough to try to do anything to the Kazekage and Kitsune, anyway.

If only he'd known.

Sasuke sighed to himself. He was stalling. God, he was pathetic.

He raised his hand to knock on the door, but was surprised when it gave easily as his knuckles brushed it. Huh. He looked down at the lock – it was busted, like someone had slammed it with such force that it had ruptured. Damn, not good.

Cautiously he pushed the door open. No Kitsune, no Gaara. He stepped in, and looked around – everything seemed fine, nothing broken or turned into sand or anything. Okay, this was slightly more promising.

There was one open doorway that led to a mini kitchen, and two doorframes with doors. One was open, showing a messy and empty room; the other was closed. That was probably Gaara's room, then.

Sasuke took a deep breath, and then stalked over to the door. He hated doing this, hated the blow to his pride, but – not doing it would be wrong, and that was a blow to his pride, too. He was damned if he did it and damned if he didn't, so he had chosen the path that seemed more… right. He smiled bitterly; Sakura would be proud. Kakashi would be proud. He… that idiot… would be proud.

He knocked.

There was no answer. He frowned.

"Gaara-san?"

Nothing.

Sasuke's scowl deepened. What the hell? He reached out for the knob and turned it, and pushed the door open – or tried to. There was something solid blocking the door from moving. He looked down, and saw sand. Okay… so clearly Gaara didn't want to be disturbed.

But he was already here, and he was going to do this whether Gaara wanted to or not, damn it!

Glaring at the door, he reinforced his shoulder with chakra, and then bodily slammed the door. It gave a little more – enough for what he wanted to do.

Sasuke dug in his pocket for the medicinal balm he'd bought, and shoved it through the crack between the door and doorframe. "Gaara-san…" It sounded weird as hell when he said it, but he didn't know how else to call the Kazekage, and he was not on pain of death going to honour him by using 'Kazekage', or worse, 'Kazekage-sama'.

"Gaara-san. I'm only going to say this once. I lost control of myself, earlier, and I'm… I apologize." There, he'd said it. "I went too far for a mere sparring match. Anyway, I know that you must be in a hell lot of pain right now from the bruising and the rib. There's a balm on the floor, it's a pain reliever. You should get the rib checked, in any case, but they won't be able to heal it or the bruises completely in such a short time. Hence the medicine."

Silence.

"I'll be going now."

He had already turned, and taken a step forward, when a quiet voice said, "Thank you." It was so soft that he wasn't sure if he really heard it, but Sasuke felt less ridiculous anyway. At least he hadn't been talking to an empty room.

As he left the inn, Sasuke decided that his rash decision had been a good one. He felt less like a loser, for one thing. And it hadn't been as demeaning as he'd thought it would be, to admit that he had been wrong. In fact, being able to make some sort of amends felt pretty damn good.

It made Sasuke think. The right path, huh… just now, in that inn, he'd felt something like what he'd felt back in the Forest, when he'd made his decision. A feeling like he was doing the right thing, even if it cost him what he'd always thought was important – power, his pride as an Uchiha.

The same feeling when he'd first protected Naruto, all those long years ago, when they had been fighting Haku in his cage of mirrors.

Ah, hell.

Sasuke decided to go back to the training grounds and work himself into oblivion. Perhaps then, these stupid thoughts would stop running through his head.

"He must have sent this immediately after the second part of the exam."

"That means he thinks the threat is very serious."

"And very urgent." Temari frowned. "I'm inclined to agree."

Kankurou nodded. "I'm not as good at the political stuff as you are, but even I know that four Kages – five, if you count Gaara – in one place is just asking for trouble."

"There have been inter-village Kage conferences before," Temari said absently, "but I know what you mean."

"In the exams, there's nothing that can be considered real security." Kankurou made a face. "Ensuring that Suna's well-guarded is already damn hard, I'm up to my eyeballs dealing with problems as head of our forces, so I know that there's no way Konoha's going to be able to come up with any near adequate security arrangements when foreign shinobi start pouring in."

"Plus, four Kages," Temari said with a wince.

"Five," Kankurou reminded her gloomily. "And the Great Five at that. Akatsuki's going to have a field day."

"Plus, Orochimaru. He's going to be pissed that Gaara squashed his three spies."

They both sighed.

"Okay, how much of our forces can be spared?" Temari said briskly.

"Maybe a fifth. Another fifth on standby at the most. Konoha may be our ally, but Suna's safety is still our priority, and I don't want any surprise attacks here."

"A fifth should be enough. That's about… what, ten jounins?"

"Eight. I'm going to leave the ANBU out of this. Eight jounins, and about thirty chuunins."

"Alright. We'll have to choose the teams that will go, and notify those on standby."

"If we have to deploy the standby teams, it'll mean that Konoha's falling." Kankurou looked grim. "I don't want to sacrifice our shinobi, so I propose that we make the standby team's priority to aid where you can, but mostly retrieve."

Temari sighed again, and rubbed her face with a tired hand. "Let our allies fall or sacrifice our people. Damn it. How does Gaara do this? I can't wait for him to get back and take over again."

Kankurou grinned. "Well, for one, he's a guy. We guys are more cold-hearted and logical."

"Excuse me?" Temari glared at him. "Did you just accuse me of being some soft-hearted girl?"

"You are a girl."

"Who's the one Gaara chose to handle all the real work, I'd like to know?"

"Hey! My work's real, okay?"

"But mostly brainless." Temari stabbed at the papers in front of her. "This is the work that needs a clear, logical mind and ruthless decision-making."

Kankurou snorted. "Yeah, wrapping pretty words in diplomatic talk that essentially means nothing."

They glared at each other. And then they cracked up laughing.

It was a while before they sobered again, and when they did, Kankurou stood. "I'll leave you to write to Konoha, then. I'm off to see who we're going to send."

"Kankurou." Temari's quiet voice stopped him as he reached out for the doorknob. He looked back to his sister to see her torn expression. "If anything happens, I don't feel good leaving Gaara there to fight with only eight of our jounins and some chuunins at his back. Should one of us…"

"Gaara would kill us. He'd say that we have a duty first and foremost to Suna." Kankurou gave her a tired smile. "Remember how he was when he forbid us to accompany him to the exams? I'm not going to argue against that. Besides… he has that idiot Naruto with him. And Naruto's worth a good number of jounins."

"I know that. But it's also Naruto that I'm worried about." Temari lowered her eyes to the table, staring unseeingly at the wood. "He still loves Konoha. I'm afraid he'll do all sorts of reckless things, because it's Konoha in trouble… and Gaara will have to be the one to cover him. Gaara will do anything for Naruto, you know that. And if Naruto is going to sacrifice himself for Konoha…"

Then Gaara will sacrifice himself for Naruto.

The silence stretched.

"It won't come to that," Kankurou said at last. He dredged up a reassuring smile. "They're both amazing fighters. And if worst comes to worst, the other Kages will fight, too, and any one of them is powerful as hell. Five Kages, and Kitsune, and lots of jounins, and certainly a number of ANBU level Kage bodyguards – the fight might not be easy, but it damn well won't be a disaster."

Temari sighed. "I know all that. I just worry, that's all."

"You think I don't? But we have our own jobs to do. Suna needs us here, in Gaara's absence. Gaara needs us here, so he won't have to worry about Suna, and can concentrate on fighting." Kankurou's smile this time was more firm. "For Gaara, Temari. For Suna. We just have to do what we can from here."

She nodded. "You're right." Then she gave him a weaker version of her old smirk, but still her old smirk nevertheless. "You have a brain in there somewhere, brother mine. How odd."

"Oh, shut up." Grinning to himself at his sister's laughter, he left her office.

But once out of Temari's sight, Kankurou felt his smile fade. Because he shared Temari's worries, but he also knew the truth of his own words. He knew that he and Temari had to stay in Suna – but it rankled. He wanted nothing more than to run off to Konoha, so that if anything happened, he could knock his stupid little brother out and drag him back to Suna. Maybe even that idiot Naruto, too.

After years of having no conscience at all, trust Gaara to develop one of the strongest senses of honour and loyalty that Kankurou had ever seen.

Gaara… you'd better not be an idiot and do something self-sacrificing, Kankurou thought. Suna's well on its way to accepting you as their Kazekage, and your people are even starting to love you. Don't do anything stupid for a village that's not your own, however selfish this may sound.

And don't do anything stupid for a man who might never be able to hold you, and only you, in his heart – the way he's already in yours.


End Chapter Five.

There are many shades and shapes of pain, and poor Gaara's suffering from quite a few But Sasuke's suffering, too, only you can't tell so easily. But he is – he's suffering from a combination of pride and guilt and he doesn't know what to do. Don't hate him! He's slowly learning!

Eh, I did say that the romance picks up around the middle, right? So here we are, in the middle. Only this is kind of... not romance. There isn't actually going to be any real pairing stuff, just lots of angst, but nothing concrete happening. I'm trying to keep it down.

More actual plot stuff happening soon. But... not that much, really. Did you read the warning up there? It appeared a couple of chapters ago. If you haven't, READ THE WARNING. Prepare yourselves.

Ashen Skies
"He… that idiot… would be proud."