Hi everyone! I've finally returned after a few weeks. I'm sorry for the wait but I've had the worst three weeks in a while so please forgive me. First my friend ran away from home because of their parents, secondly my car had its windows smashed in and stuff stolen from it, third I had to do some homework for Yr 12, fourthly a friend's 18th was going to the parlor for hair and makeup which I hate and finally I went back to school last Friday and someone set the forest around the school on fire and we were stuck in the fire building for two hours while the CFA put it out. –sigh- I'm so sorry! I TRYED TO PUT IT ON TWO DAYS AGO BUT FANFICTION'S SERVER WOULDN'T LET ME! Grr!

Anyway now that I've bitch to you all I feel much better, I'll try really hard to keep up to date from now on

Thank you my new reviewer and my old ones. I love you guys!

Disclaimer: I do own Naruto or its characters. They belong to someone far more awesome then me.

PLEASE ENJOY AND REVIEW, ideas and pairs welcome but I've decided this story will always remain NaruXGaar. Thanks Dark calamity you were totally right. :P

Chapter 5 - Feelings and Misunderstandings

The young child crumbled to the ground, curling into himself, sobbing and screaming in fits. Onlookers held there sides from laughter, watching in glee as the boy writhed in front of them.

The boy's lungs burned and he couldn't breathe properly. He coughed and brought up blood which he quickly inhaled again with wet noises.

He felt another series of kicks to his ribs and head. His body exploded in flowers of pain, blooming where ever a kick landed. He screamed as something broke in his chest, more sobbing followed as he tried to protect himself.

The small red head managed to pull in a deep breath before another kick hit him. He cried out for someone, scared, tears rolling down bruised cheeks.

"Mummy!" The boy spluttered, receiving a kick to the face in return. The victim cried out, whimpering and cowering as someone pulled him up roughly by the rags he wore.

Someone laughed as the boy received a knee to the stomach, causing the broken child to vomit blood and bile. The boy's vision spun and his father's face was hard to make out.

"YOU FUCKING BRAT!" A harsh and familiar voice yelled. "HOW DARE YOU CALL FOR HER," his words were slurred and he began shaking the body in his grip before continuing, "YOUR THE FUCK OF A MONSTER THAT KILLED HER! NOW THAT SHE'S DEAD NO ONE IN THIS WORLD WILL GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU ANYMORE! THERE'S NO ONE TO PROTECT YOU NOW!" Following that the red head was tossed to the ground and the beating continued.

After those words the physical pain meant nothing to the red head, nothing hurt more than the truth. Tears stop flowing and he vowed to never let another person into his life. He locked away his feeling and emotions, swearing to himself as his beating continued to never love again.

Gaara gasped as several beads of sweat ran down his face. He swallowed, trying to sooth his dry and aching throat. That nightmare often came, reminding him about his father and childhood. It wasn't something he'd created but instead a vivid memory that he couldn't remove.

Gaara hated to go to sleep and he was surprised he'd fallen asleep at all last night. When asleep all of the memories and emotions he locked away came flooding to the surface. No lock or cage strong enough to hold them and no hole deep or dark enough to hide them. The one thing he feared the most was the loss of control he faced when unconscious, the vulnerability and the openness.

Gaara stared up at the ceiling. He knew if he stayed lying here, so open, he might fall asleep again. He looked to his side at the boy he'd met last night.

Naruto was curled up on his side, facing Gaara. He was still asleep and snoring lightly, ignoring the silent stares from the other party.

Last night it had been too dark to make out colours but now light streamed through the roof making everything easy to see. The colour of Naruto's hair surprised Gaara, blonde, the same colour he'd been seeing lately, whether in dreams or when he woke up that colour, accompanied by blue, had been bothering Gaara.

After a few seconds of thinking Gaara decided it was too peaceful lying next to the blonde. He pushed himself to a sitting position, masking any pain he felt from the closing hole in his shoulder. The pain meant nothing compared to his urge to leave. It left him angry that the blonde made him care enough to move but he wanted to be alone. He wasn't sure what he was thinking last night but talking to this person, acknowledging this person was unacceptable. His dream reminded him and confirmed that.

Clutching his shoulder he climbed to his hands and knees. He crawled to the nearest wall, worsening the wound on his shoulder, spilling more blood down his chest onto the dirt floor. He used the unstable iron wall to crawl to the exit, starting to breathe heavily. He kneeled, hanging onto the exit, catching his breath.

"What are you doing Gaara?"

Gaara didn't need to turn around to now who was talking, who else could know his name. He didn't care what the blonde had to say; in fact he didn't care about the blonde at all.

The noise of blood hitting the floor struck Naruto causing him to gasp and climb to his feet quickly, running unsteadily across the small room to Gaara.

"Gaara! Your wound has opened up!" Naruto called out, "you've gotta stop moving!" Naruto dropped down next to the redhead, unaware that he was being ignored.

Gaara reached up and grabbed at the bandages around his shoulder. They were soaked and he felt light headed, telling him he was running out of blood fast. He jumped as an arm wrapped around his waist. He tried pulling away but as he was he wasn't strong enough. Gaara hated physical contact but more then that he hated people trying to control him.

"Come back and lay down." Naruto said, tugging lightly on the resisting body. "If you need anything I'll get it for you but you can't get up yet." The blonde was amazed at the strength Gaara still had. Naruto didn't want to but he was starting to think he'd have to drag the red-head back.

Naruto heard a small mumble but missed it the first time. "What? What did you say?" A small whisper was returned, barely audible and dripping in venom.

"Let go."

Naruto stared at red locks, shocked that his help wasn't wanted.

"Gaara… If you keep moving like this you might die." Naruto whispered while wrapping a second arm around the other.

Gaara's reply was to keep pulling on the blonde even though his sight had started to blur.

"You don't care if you die?" Naruto said sadly. "I use to feel the same way… but now I don't want that and I don't want you to die either." Naruto placed his head on Gaara back, desperate to understand the red-head. "I can't really tell you what to do, that's your choice and to force you would be selfish." Gaara kept pulling on Naruto's grip but as Naruto talked his pulls became weaker and weaker. "If your quality of life isn't worth living then you're the only one who can decide that but I want you to stay here. I know you can live a better life here. The people here will accept you and life isn't as hard as other places. Please…. I want you to stay here, even just to recover." Naruto paused and took a deep breath. "If you want I'll let you leave just look after yourself."

Gaara paused, how long had it been since he thought he could live a peaceful life? He'd given in to living however he could as long as he was alone. He didn't really care about how he survived or whether he survived at all anymore.

Gaara began pulling again which made Naruto's heart drop. Even though he was weak Gaara was still making the effort to run away from him just like a lot of people had. It hurt because they had they same kind of pasts he thought they would understand each other a little and a friendship would be possible.

Naruto released the red-head reluctantly, waiting for Gaara to run.

Gaara pulled away, swaying as his vision spun out. Naruto's words hung in his ears as colours danced in his vision. He wanted to leave but he couldn't even see the door anymore. Blood loss had caused his vision to spin and darken. His body felt so heavy and the pain in his shoulder hadn't decreased since he woke.

"Gaara?..." Naruto asked softly, reaching out but pulling back before they touched.

Gaara made to move forward on his hands and knees but his elbows gave out and he collapsed. He heard Naruto's cry out his name but his ears were full of a rushing sound that left him disorientated and nauseated. His thoughts were with him only a little longer before everything was swallowed by darkness and he was unconscious again.

Sakura whistled a happy tune as she walked down the small handcrafted hallway. Hinata had told her that Naruto had woken up yesterday so today she wanted to visit him and make sure he was okay. She'd even brought breakfast for him.

She kneeled at the entrance and slid the food in first. Then she ducked through and collected the tray the food was on, standing up and looking for Naruto.

What a surprise she saw. At first she simply stared unable to say anything but after a few more seconds of staring at an embarrassed Naruto she found the words she was looking for.

"YOU PERVERT!" Sakura cried, looking over the scene once more. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM, HE'S INJURED YOU IDIOT!" She slammed the food tray on the ground and stormed towards Naruto. How could she have felt sorry for the blonde she thought angrily.

Naruto was straddling Gaara's waist, leaning over the red-head and tying his wrists to the wall, however his efforts had stopped from Sakura's entrance.

The blonde started blushing, realizing what an awkward position this really was. At first he hadn't thought anything of it; he just wanted to make sure Gaara didn't hurt himself but now that Sakura had come and pointed it out he couldn't stop thinking about how wrong it must have looked.

"S-Sakura it's not like that!" Naruto objected, rolling off Gaara quickly.

"Uh huh?" She said, crossing her arms over her chest looking down on Naruto. "So you weren't just tying down our unconscious guest and you weren't practically lying on top of him," Sakura's voice was full of sarcasm and accusations.

Hearing this out loud made Naruto feel guilty, he'd told Gaara he could leave anytime but instead he was tying him down. He couldn't stop his cheeks and ears from burning from embarrassment even though his friend had taken the situation the wrong way.

"Sakura it isn't what you think, he kept reopening his wound and trying to move around." Naruto explained shyly, worried she'd wouldn't believe him or start screaming at him. "I had to stop him from hurting himself so I tied him up! Have a look for your self."

Sakura looked skeptical. She knew Naruto was a great liar. She stared at him, gauging his words. Naruto is generally a good person, she thought loosely.

She looked down at the red head's shoulder and gasped. Naruto was right, his bandages were soaked with blood and dried trails ran down his naked chest.

It was Sakura turn to blush as she realized how perverted she now looked. She had jumped to conclusions and blamed Naruto without asking him what he was doing. She mentally slapped herself for thinking Naruto liked guys, he'd always had a crush on her how could he like guys too, she thought laughing.

"Okay Naruto," she smiled still blushing, "I'm sorry I got the wrong idea." She finished with a few giggles, laughing at how ridiculous the idea had been.

Naruto nodded, his blush still bright and obvious. He couldn't get the idea of his early actions out of his head. Him on top of Gaara… Why did it leave him so embarrassed? If it was Sasuke it would've been funny and they were both male so it wouldn't have bothered Naruto. Gaara was male too so why was it different and why wouldn't the image of them like that go away?

"Can you check his wound?" Naruto asked, trying to distract himself.

"Sure."

The only medical they had was Tsunade but Sakura was her trusted student and assistant. She'd been training for a few years and often did the work if it wasn't an emergency. She and Tsunade made a great team. Naruto's only worry was Tsunade's temperament rubbing off onto Sakura. Since Naruto had known her she'd gotten more vicious and loud, it was definitely the fault of the old hag.

As Sakura began to unwrap the bloody bandages, Naruto, against his better judgment, continue restraining his red-headed friend.

The first few layers of bandages were covered in dry blood that flaked off as Sakura handled them. The last few were wet and left damp red markings on her hands.

Sakura 'tutted' and 'sighed' when she saw the wound. It had torn more and the clear liquid and yellow tint told her it was infected which wasn't a best thing that could happen.

"Naruto, the wounds getting infected and it's too large to leave like this; I want you to go get Tsunade while I clean it out. You can do that right?"

Naruto finished tying his last knot and nodded, he was more than willing to help.

"She's in her office?" He asked, heading for the door.

"Yeah and be careful moving around okay?" She said while pulling out a bowl to put water into.

Naruto bent down, ignoring his chest complaining. "Right," he laughed, throwing a hand up in a wave. He stood out in the hall way before quickly making his way outside towards the trap down underground.

"Sasuke, I understand you're worried about Naruto and the rest of us but we won't be kicking him out."

"But Tsunade…"

"No buts… He can stay here for as long as he wants. We won't discriminate just because he's a Jinchuuriki. We pride ourselves for being that way. Do you remember how happy Naruto was when he found out he could stay?" Tsunade said sternly. She leaned back on the dirt wall of her office. She was thoroughly frustrated with Sasuke's complaints, he'd come three times now to have the injured guest abandoned. She wasn't the type on person to kick someone when they're down especially someone who had most likely been kicked all his life.

Sasuke stomped one of his feet and pulled at his hair, "He's a danger to everyone, he's not like Naruto!"

"Yes I understand what you mean, Kakashi explained everything that happened. He's not as safe as Naruto."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU WAITING!"

Tsunade sighed, walking over to her desk to take a sip of water from a small container.

"At the very least we have to wait until he's healed, to send him out other wise would kill him."

"Who cares if he dies." Sasuke mumbled, kicking at the dirt floor.

"SASUKE I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT ABOUT ANYONE!"

Tsunade stormed forward and grabbed a hold of Sasuke's collar. She turned sharply and pulled him to her door.

Kakashi stepped to the side as the door was opened and Sasuke was thrown into the hallway where Kakashi was standing.

"I DON'T WHAT TO HEAR ABOUT THIS AGAIN, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Tsunade shouted.

Sasuke didn't answer; he simply brushed himself off and left, heading for the stairs up.

Tsunade took a few deep breathes then glared at Kakashi.

"Do you get a kick out of listen to others conversations?" She huffed; stepping back into her office and leaving the door open for Kakashi to follow.

"Only the good ones," he replied whilst grinning at Tsunade. He followed her in and closed the door.

"Hmm…" Tsunade grunted while sitting down on a wooden chair Kiba had made a while ago. "You're here to talk about the water facility, aren't you?"

Kakashi's grin faded as he leaned against a wall. He waited a few moments before confirming with a simple 'yes.'

"Well?" The older woman questioned.

"I think we have a few problems…"

"What kind," her face a neutral mask however she was apprehensive of his answer.

"It's breaking down…"

Naruto fumed. He'd just bumped into Sasuke on the way down Tsunade's stairs. He'd pushed Naruto out of the way and added some not so nice words at the end. After that he left, not even waiting for Naruto's reply. Naruto wanted to go after Sasuke, to yell at him but seeing Tsunade about Gaara was more important.

He arrived at her door and didn't bother knocking. There was no time, he told himself as he open the door boldly.

Inside Tsunade and Kakashi both froze and looked at Naruto. Naruto noted that Tsunade looked upset and Kakashi sad.

"Naruto…?" Tsunade asked and Naruto heard her voice shake a little. "You're awake? I heard from Hinata but I didn't expect you to come down here so soon."

Kakashi smiled before commenting, "He's like that, always on the move."

Tsunade nodded and stood up walking to Naruto and waiting to see what he wanted.

"Um…" Naruto began, unsteady from interrupting something he was sure was important. "It's Gaara, his wound has gotten infected and he's opened it up more by moving."

"Gaara?" The other two asked before Tsunade realized what Naruto meant.

"Ahh… Our guest has woken up and needs tending too." Tsunade commented as she patted Naruto on the head and laughing. "Well brat, you'd better take me to him then."

"Brat?" Naruto said angrily and noisily, getting ready to start yelling at Tsunade.

"What about our conversation?" Kakashi asked, masking his concern and ignoring the background sound of Naruto's yelling.

Naruto waved his arms and yelled some more but the two adults ignored him.

"We'll continue this later, when we're alone." Tsunade responded, smacking Naruto upside the head for complaining.

"Oww…"

"I'll go deal with our guest's wound then I'll come back so wait here."

Kakashi nodded and sat himself down in Tsunade chair for the wait.

"Come on brat, let's go." Tsunade said dragging him out and up whilst listening to Naruto yell and complain.

Sakura let out a sigh of relief as Tsunade and Naruto crawled in.

"Guys!" she said happily, pulling herself off the floor and making her way towards them.

"Did you clean out the wound?" Tsunade asked as soon as Sakura was at her side.

"Well… most of it…"

Naruto gulped when he saw teal eyes staring at him. So Gaara was awake and honestly, thought Naruto, he didn't look very happy.

"Gaara," he laughed, trying to ease the violent vibes he felt from the cinnamon scented teen.

"I was nearly finished when he woke up, he would let me finish after that." Complained Sakura while she avoided looking at Gaara. "He threw himself around a lot and asked for Naruto but other than that he didn't speak at all. It was really nerve wracking." The last part was whispered so only Naruto and Tsunade could hear.

Naruto's insides flipped when he heard Gaara had asked for him. He wasn't sure why but his face heated up again.

"I see." Tsunade said kneeling down next to Gaara, who hadn't stopped staring at Naruto. "Hello, my name is Tsunade. I'm the one who tended to your wounds and will be tending to them again it seems."

Naruto and Sakura sweat dropped at how professional she'd become. Where was this when she dealt with Naruto or anyone else she personally knew? Usually she yelled at them for being stupid, hugged them and then yelled some more. Naruto couldn't help but laugh especially because was Gaara ignoring her.

Naruto felt flustered from Gaara's stares. He was obviously angry or even hatful towards Naruto for going against his word to let Gaara leave. The vacant eyes focused on Naruto made him nervous.

Naruto took a deep breath and walked to Gaara's side. He kneeled down and showed Gaara an apologetic grin, through this Gaara never blinked

"Gaara… good to see you're awake so soon." Naruto said cheerfully, rubbing the back of his head. "You should really let Tsunade look at your wound. You know, so it can get better." He felt kind of stupid talking to Gaara like this. He was sure he would get no answer… and he was right.

"I have talked with some people," Tsunade started, ringing out some wet material, "you will be staying with us until you recover. After that you can do what ever you want, either stay here or leave."

Gaara eyes flicked to her before flicking to the cloth she was holding and then back to Naruto. Naruto smiled in return.

Gaara had found himself in a very disagreeable situation and he wasn't sure what he could do about it now. He was tied up and badly injured. Against his wish he would have to stay here until someone untied him. After that he'd kill Naruto for tying him up in the first place and then leave until then he would ignore them.

The red-head zoned out and ignored everyone as Tsunade dug the wet cloth into his wound. It was covered in a cleaning material made from a rare plant and would help keep the wound from becoming infected.

"This will hurt quite a bit." Tsunade said, looking for a reaction from the red-head's face to prove she was correct. Nothing came from Gaara, he simply ignored the pain, waiting to be left alone again.

"Gaara… Naruto said softly, moving closer, watching Tsunade clean the wound and Gaara blank expression. Please, he thought softly, feel something, stop pushing everything anyway Gaara. Feel anger towards me, feel love, feel pain just feel something. Don't isolate yourself anymore. I want y-

Naruto thoughts were broken when Tsunade held up a bowl

"Naruto go fill this with clean water." Tsunade commanded, never looking away from her work.

"Sakura ca-"

Naruto looked around but Sakura was gone. Hadn't she been here only seconds before he thought scratching his head.

"Naruto she left five minutes ago to help Ino check over the buildings." Tsunade answered, laughing at Naruto's forgetful nature.

"Right…" Naruto mumbled. "I'll go get your water then."

Naruto climbed to his feet, he looked back at Gaara but the red-head's eyes were closed now.

Naruto left and soon returned with Tsunade's clean water. He crouched down next to her to hand her the bowl.

"Thankyou Naruto, you may rest now. Go have a lie down." Tsunade told him after he had watched her for a few minutes more.

"Right," Naruto responded but he didn't move. He waited until Tsunade finished cleaning and wrapping Gaara's shoulder, helping when he could but mostly just watching.

"I'm done" Tsunade sighed, standing up and stretching. She stared at Gaara and Naruto for a moment each before picking up her equipment. "Are you staying here Naruto? Or are you heading back to your own room?" She looked down at Naruto, she already knew the answer.

Naruto thought for a few second before answering, "I'm going to watch Gaara, so I'll stay here."

"I thought so…" Tsunade said smiling. "Well then I'll come and check up on you two tomorrow morning, I think I've kept Kakashi waiting long enough." She placed the bowl of now-dirty water and other equipment near the door out before crawling through, leaving the two alone.

Naruto sighed, lying down. Now that Naruto had finally stopped he realized how sore and tired he was. He turned his head and noticed teal eyes staring coldly at him.

"Hi…" Naruto smiled, he wasn't really sure what to say and he was rather tired. "I heard you asked for me early. What was it you wanted?"

Gaara stared at Naruto for a few minutes and Naruto thought he wouldn't answer.

"I'm going to kill you," came the red-head's reply and Naruto stared at him, "for restricting me like this I'm going to kill you."

It seemed becoming friends with Gaara was going to be more difficult then Naruto had first thought…

Naruto was just glad Gaara didn't know the position they'd been in to tie him up. He wasn't sure if he would have taken it well…

Thankyou for reading, sorry it was a little short. Aghh I can't get rid of the song 'shut up and sleep with me' out of my head. It's driving me crazy.
See you next time, plz review if you have time.

-Falling Into Colours-