Recently, readers, I've realized just how precious it is to have inside of you the passion to write. Not many people actually have a passion to write, without the intent of becoming rich and famous. It isn't easy, however, to shape such a craft. When one has an idea in mind, it seems so beautiful that one might be brought to tears, but putting that idea down in a fashion that will seem logical and logical in a striking sense is the hard part. Never have I come to such a conclusion in my life, and I intend to make this arrival to said conclusion well known through my writing. It is miserably irresponsible for a writer to curse her or his work in the face of those who read it. Because, if you think your writing is shit then why should your critics think differently? Writing is not meant to be shocking. However, in the light of some plots, purposes and subject matter; it can be...

Congratulations – Vesta Williams (R.I.P.)


At some point it becomes alarmingly evident that some things are not worth what their price tags claim.

However, when one is blind to the destination of the money, it opens up a world of curiosity whose openness goads the reluctant buyer to spend his/her hard earned money on it, only to run home and open up a box containing a monster.

The cold sniper rifle on Gaara neck felt like it was about to pierce the very flesh that separated it from the door on the other side of him. The small instrument couldn't have weighed more than 2 lb. but the fact that it signified the difference betwixt life and death, made it stronger than perceived.

The potential assailant chuckled deeply; the vibrations of the soft low laughter reverberate off of Gaara's back. His assistant began to rummage through his drawers and cabinets in search of valuables of any sort, giving Gaara some relief in such strife.

For he knew that the man's search was futile in that he had nothing tangible that could be deemed as valuable in his possession.

The red-head cringed as he felt the nose of the weapon travel down his back. When the sniper reached his ass he could feel the man draw himself nearer and could feel the stubble on his chin on the back of his right ear.

"Look around and see what he has in this shit hole", he barked to his assistant. "And hurry up"

A few drops of precipitation began to drop from the ceiling at it began to rain outside.

The burglar with the gun grabbed the 19 year old by his hair and threw him to the ground with a forceful push. Gaara screamed from the pain as the assailant kept the gun pointed in his direction. He felt nauseous every time he looked at the weapon aimed at him.

"If you try anything I'll blow your fucking head off", he said as his unzipped his pants with his free hand. Gaara backed up slowly as the man, who seemed to be 10 ft. tall walked dangerously closer and closer with the same evil smirk on his face.

"I'm going to have fun fucking you"

Those blunt words made his stomach churn violently.

Gaara's eyes began to water, partially in lieu of his utter helplessness, and his realization that death was coming his way faster than he ever imagined it would.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Gaara mustered all of the saliva in his mouth just to propel it onto the man's face.

He jerked his head back in disgust before wiping the warm excretion off of his chin and drove his fist into Gaara's nose with an annoyed and frustrated air. The red head griped shortly as the pain rushed to the center of his face and blood began to erupt.

The taller man grabbed Gaara by his now flailing legs and pulled off his shorts with a few tugs making Gaara protest loudly. He pressed his lips roughly to the younger boy and wrapped those same flailing legs around his waist, disregarding the blood dripping from his purpling nose.

The thunder resounded violently as the lighting flashed equally brightly. Gaara's mind began to race as the dripping ceiling began to fall on them. The assailant licked his finger and reached down to his entrance.

The power began to flicker on and off as the limping Canine crept into the bathroom. There was a gaping hole in between the toilet and the bath tub that was big enough for him to crawl and after he did such, he wriggled his way through the cracks and crevices of the bottom of the floor.

The power began to flicker violently and soon began to go off in brief periods of 4 and 5 seconds.

Gaara scream became strained as the larger man's grip on his neck began to tighten.

The intruder laughed maniacally at his strife. "I can tell you like being choked"

The lighting and thunder outside began to intensify, making the ceiling more aqueous and the power supply weaker. Gaara became more and more alarmed as he could feel the air stop coming through his airways.

The larger burglar rubbed Gaara's entrance with his throbbing manhood; all the red-head could feel was guilt. It amazed him greatly how even at a time like this, all he could think about was saving himself for the man whom he wished was there to rescue him.

The room went black.

In a desperate attempt to free himself from the snares of his assailant, Gaara kicked the man in his gut with every ounce of strength he owned making him grunt loudly in pain.

Outside, Fred scratched and whimpered loudly at Mrs. Patterson's door until the elderly lady opened it and looked down. Her gray eye-brows furrowed as she listened over and heard a gun shot sound off inside the unit next to her.

Her heart clenched as she closed her door and ran to the back of her apartment to the phone.

Fred stood out on the porch in the rain and sniffed at the door with a glimmer of hope in his brown eyes that his owner still lived.

Gaara began to sweat as he heard the bullet ricochet off the wall. In the nick of time he snatched his shorts off the ground and a few dimes off of the stand near the door. He struggled furiously with the door as its rustiness was increased by the rain and would not budge.

He could no longer rely on his phone that lied crushed in the corner.

The larger assailant was still recovering from the blow while his partner grabbed the gun from his hands and tried to shoot at him with the best field of vision that he could use as their only source of light was the 'L' shaped crack of light in the doorway.

"SHOOT HIM!"

In an act of panic the man with the gun shot aimlessly into the dark as Gaara still struggled to get the door open. The bullet bounced off the wall and grazed Gaara's left leg making him scream out in pain.

Gaara freed the door and fled out of the door into the pouring rain. He nearly tripped over his pet who sat waiting for him. As he heard the man coming out the door Gaara scooped up the Canine and ran clumsily down the stairs in a pair of horribly ripped shorts, torn fish net, no shoes, a ripped shirt and a wet hand full of coins.

Gaara limped frantically as he ran through the parking lot on bare feet. The man stood at the top of the stairs and shot a few rounds at him. The bullets never touched him, only hitting the gravel shooting rocks at his feet and legs.

"Stop!" His boss yelled at him through the door. "The cops are on their way now"

An orchestra of police sirens rang throughout the neighborhood.

The drug addicts picked up their supplies and ran into a nearby unit on the first floor; many of which had run-ins with the law previously.

The two men ran to the back of the complex, boarded their vehicle and sped down the other street.

A small trickle of blood ran down Gaara's leg as he ran around the corner and sought refuge betwixt the plastic walls of the phone booth. He could hardly catch his breath as he rested Fred on his hip. His hands shook uncontrollably as he fought to keep his hands still long enough to put the coins into the phone.

He put the receiver up to his wet ear and dialed the only number he'd come to memorize in his seemingly hellish life in LA. He waited impatiently as it rang, he hoped to God that the other end would be picked up by somebody, anybody.

It rang again and again and again, yet and still, no answer.

Gaara began to ball his fists in anticipation, in complete and utter frustration at his helplessness in the current situation. He never imagined in all of his most gruesome nightmares that he would be rendered defenseless and forced to rely on another person to be his savior.

It wasn't fair; he felt, that he had to suffer in the midst of such an unfavorable life that came with its own set of problems.

As the rain fell and Naruto's answering machine came on, Gaara simply put the plastic device back on its silver dented and graffiti-littered receiver. Even though he hated to admit it, he'd become more than comfortable with the idea of having someone to protect him.

He imagined that one day this entire fantasy with meeting a famous football player would present itself with at least one undeniable flaw.

It didn't make sense, however, that such a fantasy would appear so real.


A phone conversation, midnight

"Well..?"

"We couldn't go through with it tonight, someone called the cops"

"God Dammit! What the hell is it going to take to get you lazy slugs to deal with this kid?"

"Complain all you like but I'm not going to prison for what you're paying me"

"You've killed some of the most deadly human beings this world has seen and you mean to tell me you ran from the fucking LAPD?"

"My face is posted all over LA. You know good and damned well why I don't lift a finger in this fucking city!"

"I'm paying you damned good money!"

"I'm not going to jail because your son's chasing after some slut"

"Watch it!"

"Look, we'll regroup and start again another day"

"There might not be another day if he finds out we're onto him!"

"Trust me; I know what I'm doing"

"You'd better know what the fuck you're doing or you won't need any cops to land your sorry ass in prison again!"

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, I'm warning you. Do it or you'll be getting fucked in your fucking ass for the rest of your life!"

"You're overestimating your means", he said smugly. "You know that if you make that call, you'll be dead before you can hang up"

"I have the means to lock up all of you roaches!"

He laughed tauntingly. "Don't get you panties in a knot; I'll take good care of your son's little muse soon enough"

Minato grumbled something under his breath and hung up before pausing for a brief moment. His blood boiled as he sat in the leather chair in the heart of his private study. He couldn't stand his counterpart's foolish words.

He had no idea how such jokes burned like fire, burned away at his soul, his conscience, his mind.

For no reason, would he give up.


An upstairs bedroom, 1:30 am

Half of the truth holds the value of no truth at all.

Naruto rolled over in bed and wrapped his arms around the woman trapped in slumber next to him, in a pathetique attempt to find in himself such a warmth that would melt away all confusion and desire for things outside of a two-ton marriage already standing on toothpicks.

Much to his surprise, she and their son returned home at an earlier hour than what was expected. The fierce brunette claimed that her family found out that she was not mentioned in the will, opposite to what she was told before hand.

Naruto reluctantly believed her. His main source of content was borne of the fact that she was home; her being home provided an invisible shield for him to hide behind and protect himself from remembrances and recollections of past passions.

Even though he had already begun to accept the fact that he'd made a mistake, he'd also made quite a few attempts to rectify such mistakes without the option of divorce in mind.

With the deepest might he possessed in his loins, he searched for a passion for Charlotte that was strong enough to bridge the gap that stood between his love for her as a mother and his love for her as a woman.

But somehow, his attempts always ended in futility.

He couldn't fathom her luscious brown hair that gleamed in the morning light without losing his couth to a hair of a shade of red so fiery that its competition was singed away in the blink of a sea foam green eye. Large intriguing eyes fell short of sleek cat-like eyes on the battle field of his mind.

Naruto felt a pain in his core as Charlotte reached back with her hands to push his broad chest away as his highly radiating body heat began to irritate her slumbering state.

The tall man looked down at her as she scooted closer to the edge of the bed. In defeat he rolled onto his back and began to watch the stillness of the ceiling vie against the motion of the ceiling fan. He smiled as a chuckle tugged at his lips.

'I swear to God, you're chest gets so hot at night', he said laughing before turning around to face him. 'Bet you 20 bucks I could fry chicken on your chest'.

He cherished the sinful moments during the day when a moment with Charlotte sent him reeling into a memory with Gaara.

He remembered that after they wiped their eyes from the tears brought on gut wrenching laughter, Gaara put his head on Naruto's chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was what he said afterwards that proved to be first thing ever said to him that stood aside from all else.

'I don't care though', he said smiling as he traced the definition of Naruto's chest with his index finger. 'Because when I lay here, somehow I feel like nothing else even matters'.

Like the harpist strikes a chord with the finger, that simple sentence sent vibrations through the older man's soul that he still couldn't quite mute. It became clear to him that he was caught in a predicament far more serious than the issue of not being able to make love to his wife without feeling like a liar.

It made much more sense in his mind to attain the prize sitting right in front of him.

Even those around him goaded him on to such a prize. People who loved and adored him placed him on an even higher pedestal for a prize that even in the public's eye seemed to be all that he'd ever wanted in a lifetime companion.

But even such a prize was but a consolation to the grand prize so high in his mind that even the people down on Earth could not see it.

Naruto folded his arms behind his head as he took a quick glance at the door on the far end of the massive bedroom. His heart warmed at he thought of the boy sleeping peacefully in a room behind said door in a bedroom down the hall.

As his 27th birthday neared and the gap separating him from being thirty grew smaller, Jr. symbolized the difference in the sentiment of Naruto towards children as opposed to his counterparts.

He pitied, if not looked down on, men his age that fought to the death in court with a women with whom they'd slept with on a late myriad of drunkenness and horniness. Meanwhile the child rests in the middle, being used as a legal fruit juicer to squeeze as much revenue out of the father as possible.

It was a comical to watch yet detrimental to the child which was something that Naruto never wished upon any innocent being brought into the world.

He felt guilty, sometimes, for his deepest, most secret reason for risking his happiness and sanity. He secretly hated himself for compromising the fragile heart that he knew could only beat for him, in the name of such a conceited reason. But was it so conceited?

Next to him, on the night stand, lay his phone, whose ringer he forgot to turn back on when he left Gaara at his apartment earlier.


Flashback

The night air still carried the sound of a loud gunshot that rang out at about midnight just a little ways off from Gaara's apartment complex as a sleek black vehicle pulled into a old parking lot that had been dilapidated by crime and time.

Naruto looked over and watched Gaara jump a little at the sound of the firing of the rifle.

He never approved of Gaara living in such a place but had to bow to Gaara's pride and stubbornness.

"You okay?" Naruto looked over as he pulled the pedal on the steering wheel labeled "P".

Gaara massaged his forearm nervously before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine"

"No you're not"

"Really, I'm fine"

"You always rub your arm whenever you're scared"

"How did you know?"

"You've done it every time we pull up to your apartment while there's some sort of commotion going on", he said in concerned voice. "Which is pretty often around here"

"It's a shit hole, I know", he replied with a hesitance to get out of the car. "But hey, it's a roof over my head"

"Which, might I add, is full of holes"

"How do you kn-", he was interrupted by Naruto pointing up at the roof at a colony of holes scattered across the top of the weak establishment.

"Well, everybody can't afford to live in a big expensive loft like you Mr. Quarterback", Gaara snapped back. "It's the best I can do"

"That's not what I'm saying"

"Then what are you saying?"

"I'm saying, let me..."

"No"

"You didn't let me finish!"

"I know exactly what you're going to say"

"What would be so bad about letting me put you some place safer?"

"I already told you, I'm not that kind of guy"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It's bad enough that your father thinks I'm a gold-digger", he said from within. "He's just waiting for you to wave some cash in my face and watch me come running"

"I don't give a damn about what my father thinks, and neither should you!"

"Oh of course you don't care, his straight-football-star-son can do no wrong, he sees me as some leech trying to tarnish your good name or something"

"Watch it!" He looked sternly at his counterpart as Gaara folded his arms and tried to get out of the car only for Naruto to lock the door again.

"Let me out"

"No"

"Why not?"

"I'm not finished yet"

"What's there left to talk about?"

Naruto moved in closer. "Why won't you let me do this for you?"

"Why do you even want to? You just met me a few weeks ago"

Naruto chuckled deeply. "What can I say? I'm crazy about you", he said putting his arm behind Gaara's seat. "And it didn't take me a long time to realize that"

Gaara turned to him with a small smile. "Has anybody told you that you were incredibly corny?"

As Naruto laughed heartily, the laugh tugging at his pursed lips busted through.

Gaara looked over at the older man and laughed even harder. Soon there were tears in their eyes.

Naruto soon got out and opened the door for Gaara to walk him up to his unit.

Once at the door another shot was fired from a seemingly closer distance making Gaara jump violently. He wished that Naruto didn't have to see afraid like that.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back to my place?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Very much"

Gaara smiled up at him then turned around to unlock the door. Naruto grabbed him by his waist and pulled him close.

"If you need me, call me..."

A flower seemed to reach full bloom in Gaara's heart as Naruto captured his lips.


12:00 a.m., a college English auditorium

As the older professor droned on, Gaara's feet could scarcely be kept still. Luckily the bleeding stopped and it turned out only to be a small cut, as for his nose he used a remedy given to him by his mother for bruises many years ago when he would end up on the other end of a bully's fist.

He always hated sitting in English, for it was his strongest subject and few stimulation came from a class that many of the other students around him struggled miserably with on a day-to-day basis. This baffled him sometimes.

The night before, he had to come to the harsh realization that his knight in shining armor was occupied with something more important. Perhaps with his real damsel that needed him. Soon after being cursed out by the store owner, he left the booth, Fred in arms.

It was like lying down to sleep, knowing that a nightmare is waiting, as he walked back through the parking lot back to his apartment unit. Mrs. Patterson had gone back to bed by then. He went back up inside the womb of fear and discomfort, with only a half roll of duct tape to keep the door closed a few buckets under the leaking roof.

Gaara's mixed feelings for Naruto began to subterfuge as he sat in class, or so he wanted to believe. He knew that the previous night's events would be but an afterthought when he ever saw that man again, which was a question with its own amount of uncertainty.

He hated how he allowed himself to melt in Naruto's arms. As the time passed with him Gaara began to liken himself to a lump of clay. Every touch, every kiss, every thrust, every breath of warm air on his skin, every bite was engraved in him forever.

He could still feel the presence of Naruto's manhood between his walls; he tried not to give it very much thought.

That hour or two of passion in Naruto's back seat gave him hope that maybe Naruto did in actuality love him more than he did his wife. But all fantasies have one thing in common; their thin frailty is no match for the double-edged sword of reality.

His mother warned him.

Nothing could have possibly convinced him how he felt for Naruto when he announced his engagement to Charlotte only a few months ago. He wanted so badly to be happy for him, only there was something inside of him that felt otherwise.

It was something that he couldn't suppress, regardless of how hard he tried to push it down the bottom of his subconscious. Something that had began on the night that Naruto first made love to him. It was a feeling that had been confirmed when being held in his arms.

He'd felt many emotions concerning him in the months of knowing him, but through and through; that same entity reminded him constantly, if not daily that he was without a doubt in love with Naruto.

His mother's expression when she heard those words pass across her child's lips read a fear that he'd never seen from her. She was a fierce woman and feared very few things in the harsh world that they lived in, but somehow his feelings for the man frightened her beyond belief.

Gaara had spent most of his life in the company of women, young and old. However, a woman's intuition was something that he never could understand. She'd made her true feelings known about Naruto, even though he could see no trouble in the water.

Frequently throughout his childhood, whether by TV, a situation in the family or just through lament for another stranger, his mother warned him fervently about men and their wives.

It's risky business; falling in love with a married man, she would say. It's like putting your heart in line for the incinerator

Gaara was amazed at how some days he still felt naked in front of people. He wore a pair of tight form fitting jeans that hugged him from top to hem, and his usual Maude's shirt. He dreaded work after class more than nearly anything.

He dropped his pen on the floor from fumbling incessantly with it. Bending over to grab it, he could hear a few boys in the back rows whistling and whispering obscenities at him.

He only wished that his main dilemma in life was to pick out the guy with the biggest butt and the tightest clothes in order to ridicule him. These were things that he'd like to think he would trade in for being roped in a triangle with a married man.

But he knew that if he were entirely honest with himself, he'd never trade his situation in a million years. That entity inside him would never feel right if he wasn't the object of Naruto's affection, if he wasn't the driving force behind Naruto committing adultery.

It was a thought that was heavy with guilt but somehow knowing that he was wanted made the weight all the less heavy.

Still, it finally began to hit him that Naruto couldn't come to his aid whenever her cried out for him anymore. He was beginning to see with more clarity than ever, what exactly was the riskiness of falling in love with Naruto, in his married state.

Still, it was as frustrating as running on an endless road, trying to delete memories such as the ones he acquired falling asleep in his arms.

Congratulations

I though it would have been me...


About two weeks later, an extremely loud football stadium, 10:38 p.m.

It amazed Naruto how so many people could come together, regardless of race, reputation, gender, social, political, health status, and sit together in thousands of cramped, tiny and uncomfortable seats for several hours, but world peace being still out of the question.

As he looked out at the tunnel that gave only a small square glimpse of the floor of the stadium from where he stood, he let just a little bit more of the events of months passed to sink into his conscious mind, something he had bed deprived of by the speed of time.

The coach exchanged a few words with the team members before they went on the field for their game that was to indicate their participation in the next play-off game. It seemed a like a setting worth listening to but it was as if the strength of the sound of Gama-Senin's voice failed to penetrate his thoughts.

He smiled at the thought of his son bouncing uncontrollably in his seat above the game.

As much as he began to tread troubled water concerning the marriage between Charlotte and him, his fondness of the red-head had grown exponentially in the past few weeks.

His mother, father, wife along with other family members of team members, reporters, sponsors etc. were in the press box above all of the masses and he could already hear fans chanting his name from in the stands, when the LB snapped him out of his private symposium.

He listened to Gama-Senin's voice from inside to the huddled mass of players to hear him engaged in their prayer before going on the field.

An enormously loud round of whoops and hollers rang out as the players, all, hitting each other playfully piled up inside the tunnel on their way to the field. Naruto took a deep breath and joined the group deciding to come out last, a publicity strategy given to him by Sakura a long time ago.

As they entered the seemingly boundless stadium and the crowd's cheering was deafening, he looked around to see all of the fans in the stadium screaming his name. The dancers cheered as he walked through the path way of fog pistons and sparks. A few of them winked at him briefly.

He only gave a weak smile back as he entered the field.

He looked out to the crowd and could faintly see a glimpse of red in the masses. It could have been a brightly colored sweater, a scarf, body paint, or red hair; it was difficult to see without making his befuddlement known to those watching.

It amazed him how even the slightest glimpse of that color that he'd grown to be obsessed with could send his mind reeling into a world of thought, a world of touch and a world of passion, especially when the time and place were both most unconventional.

Others would be astounded as well, he imagined.

With a wife coveted by many men, a son who was the spitting image of himself, fame, an excessively privileged childhood, more money that many knew what to do with, a house as extravagant as they come and the interest of women across the country, how could he fall for such a person.

A 19 year old boy with fiery red hair, from a town that he previously knew not the existence of, going to school to be a make up artist, living in a place where rats and gunshots were the norm, and working practically naked at a pub just to make ends meet.

He would've thought to be a fool, anyone would have informed him a year earlier of the occurrence of an infatuation with such a person.

But he feared the silence more than anything. He feared the silence that this crowd's noise would be reduced to

He looked up to the press box and faintly saw his wife looking down at him as a reporter came up to him with a camera man trailing behind her. He smiled genuinely as she put the microphone up to her lips to ask him a few questions.

"Mr. Uzumaki, what's it like seeing all of the families here, you being a family man now?"

He looked out to the crowd again, seeing all of their faces, watching them cheer, wave at him, and smile down him. There was a rather large family of a husband, wife and four little boys; each one's face was painted. They all gawked down at him as if he were a god.

He could feel something inside tugging at his soul as he struggled to find the words to say.

It was a feeling of emptiness. It was as if the lie that tugged at his throat was being pulled back into him by the desperate but persevering truth that lie inside him; a confliction between two ties to two people and a heart in between not knowing who or what to give into.

"It's nothing short of amazing", he said simply with his six-figure smile that graced the side of every city bus, billboard and all forms of media circulation.

As the game began and women and men alike began hooting and hollering for their team, Charlotte sat in the seat in which Gaara sat when invited to the game with a look of anticipation on her face, lightly touched with foundation.

It was a look of insight and knowledge of the occurrence of something she knew very well was about to take place that evening. Kushina looked down from her standing position at her daughter in law with a look of not worry but keen inquisitiveness.

"Something wrong, sweetheart?" With the fervent and constant coercion from her husband and son, the older woman acquired the inner fortitude as well as resistance of her gaga reflex to show some sort of politeness to the younger woman in public settings.

Caught off guard by virtue of her unawareness that anyone was watching her, she appeared to be yanked out of a self-quandary. "Hm? Oh, no everything's fine. Thank you".

"Oh, okay", she said in tone that signified the incompletion of her questioning as he sat down close to her. "So how're things with 'you know who'?"

"Their wonderful", she smiled. "Dreamlike, I would even say"

"I'm glad", Kushina turned back to the game, being left to her intuition.


Dear Diary,

Sorry about the late entry, these last few weeks have been a little hectic to say the least.

But I guess you can say I'm not entirely upset about the recent chain of events. I guess 'puzzled' is a better word mostly because of the lack of a better one. All and all, I'm starting to think I made a mistake. And not an 'oops I walked out of the house with two left shoes' kind of mistake.

I don't know if you remember or not, but about a year or two back when I first got to LA and just started working here, I was scared shitless, I didn't know anybody and I hadn't a penny to my name.

Although much of that hasn't changed much...

Anyway, it was my first or second day on the job and Chloe came up to me one day while I was cleaning tables after closing. She tapped me on my shoulder and handed me a small white business card.

'You look a little lost', she said. 'Go to this address and you'll find out all you need to know'

I had no clue what she was talking about until I looked at the name on the card. 'The Clairvoyant Pashia: Tarot, Crystal Ball & Palm Reading'.

As soon as I saw it I crumpled it up and threw it away.

I never believed in that stuff and I didn't plan on it. Those silly old women only feed you generalities and wave their crinkly old hands over a glass globe just to con you out of $40. Who ever said there's no such thing as a con-woman.

At any rate I'm pretty sure I'd demand my money back if she'd told me any of this shit would've gone down. I'm having a little trouble believing it now. Since we last talked I single-handedly managed to disobey my heart and my better judgment in 24 hours.

So just to spare you all of the details, and because this pen is running out of ink; Naruto got on this talk show and all was well until he started getting interrogated about his love life and previous flames in his lifetime as a bachelor.

He said that Charlotte was the only one he ever 'truly' loved.

A slap in the face? I thought so too.

So I politely went over to his neighborhood, climbed the fence, sneaked past security, and smashed the windows out of his car.

Immature, you say? I disagree.

All I could see was red, and not because my hair was in my face. I was so angry, it was as if someone had reached in and set my heart on fire with a lit match. I couldn't believe he said that, and on live television, to just toss me aside like I meant nothing.

And yes, I'm very aware that he wasn't going to give up his career just for the sake of telling the truth, but at the moment, all sense, all better judgment, all morals, all thought escaped me and the next thing I knew, I was smashing away at his car in the pouring rain.

He came out and tried to stop me but by then his wife had already called the police, I could see her standing in the window far above me in one of the windows, it was as if she'd was watching animal control take a rabid dog away, I've never seen such a look of disgust.

It was like she was wiping a fly off her windshield. I only began to feel guilty when I saw the little boy crying next to her, fucked up time for me to get my head screwed back on.

It was all over the news, 'red-headed youth vandalizes Naruto Uzumaki's $200,000 car and threatens him with a sharp weapon'. People still look at me inquisitively when ever I walk in to work. This already the second time they've heard about this red-headed individual from LA.

I wish I could say what's on my mind but I remember that it's not just my ass on the line, and I hold my tongue.

In any case, he must have felt guilty, him being the only one in the country who knew why I really did what I did, and bailed me out the next day.

Somehow or another, we went from screaming at each other to fucking in the back seat in an alley. Its funny how love works, sometimes you fight, sometimes you wanna gauge each other's eyes out, but the outcome is always the same.

And then it hit me, I was never angry at him, but angry his goddamed fame!

But at the same time, I know his career was there before I even came into the picture, and who am I to make him give that up. Football is everything to him; he's been married to the game longer than I've been alive most likely.

And I know Charlotte loves him, probably more than I do. They share a child together, that's something, as much as I hate to admit, will never have with him, she was there when he was just a rookie, damn sometimes it hurts to write this shit down.

I can't help but feel like I'm back in square one again. I understand where the money fits in, the fame, the wife, the child, but where do I fit in. What about me?

I know how that sounds but...

Fuck!

Sometimes, and I'd never tell anyone this but, sometimes I wish, deep down inside, that maybe if I were a w...

Wait! I've come too far to sit here and throw a pity party for myself. So what if he's married? I know I'm standing out on a limb here but there still is the possibility that he'll leave her. It doesn't happen often but it's a definite possibility.

Oh God, I can't believe I just wrote that down. I sounded like monster, or even worse; a home wrecker. I don't know what I'm saying; I could never live with that on my conscience, knowing that I made him fight for custody in court.

He'd lose all of his endorsements, fans, sponsors, friends, teammates, money, his house, car, and his wife. And for some strange reason I feel like if keep telling myself that he'll lose all of that, then maybe it'll start to sink in, but it just won't.

Maybe I'm just blowing this whole thing out of proportion. I know it sounds a little slow but telling by the way things have been going, how do I even know if he's ever remotely considered giving all of that up just for me? I'd be surprised if the thought ever crossed his mind.

Maybe we were meant to be just friends...

Damn! Why did I have to wait until my 15 minute break to start questioning all the things he's said to me?

It just isn't fucking fair, all I did was come into work that night and that bastard just had to fucking pick the bar that I worked in. My life was just fine before he came with all of his groupie-bitches and his homophobic father.

Granted, I'd been robbed, mugged, and a crack head tried to steal my dog before I met him but at least I didn't have to worry about the paparazzi following him as he 'rushed to the rescue'. I never thought I'd say this but maybe things would've been better if I never came to this grief-ridden city.

And maybe it's only grief-ridden for me but I just...I don't know anymore. Fuck! My head hurts!

Oh shit, it's 11:15.

I won't cry anymore. I won't

Never mind, my break's over.

Gaara closed the hard cover binding of pages of lament and sorrow for the time being and wiped his eyes. He soon gathered that the layout of the new environment would indeed take some getting used to.

He scooted out of an empty booth the back of the establishment, and walked back to his locker in a fashion that would lead one to believe that a luminous black cloud followed his each and every step; a few men sitting at the bar eyed him in contempt as he passed through the double doors.

Turning the combination into the lock on the blue tin door, another employee walked up behind him.

She was a woman who looked to be about a year older and an inch taller with a hair of such a darkened brown color that it appeared to be black when she walked out of the reaching distance of a light fixture hanging from the ceiling.

"You new here?"

He turned around reluctantly not wanting anyone to see the product of the events passed dried onto his face and in some areas still wet in the crevices of his green eyes. "Yes".

"I can tell, the guys out there don't take new guys too well", she said smacking on her licorice gum. "Especially since you replaced Eddy"

"Thanks for the tip but I highly doubt that's why they don't like me", he said closing his book of private thoughts into its metal protectorate. He reached down into his pocket for his name tag and struggled to pin it back onto his tight black "Wasted Frog" t-shirt that all the employees were required to wear.

She looked down at his tight black jeans. "Well, you being a fag doesn't help much either, if that's what you mean"

He looked at her for a moment with a hint of shock at her bluntness. "Couldn't have said it better myself". I knew I should've changed before I left.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, a chord struck in her memory as she laid eyes on the back of his head and for the first time in that instance paid close attention to the color of the hair that was on it, as well as reexamining his height.

Dismissing him as just a simple look-alike, she let him walk out of the door without giving him trouble about it.

The Wasted Frog was a much older as well as much larger establishment than Maude's and catered more to the heterosexual crowd instead of the opposite and more to the male half of said crowd, something Gaara dreaded when applying for the job.

However its close proximity to his main job and the university made it a more palatable place to work.

He walked past the bar crowded with people as their voices got louder and louder as he got to the serving counter. Their eyes were all glued to the large flat screen televisions that were mantled onto several parts of the wall in the place.

Holy shit they're loud. Naruto must be flying over the goal post or something.

He grabbed a large tray of food and drinks in another hand and as he walked out to the table of people he had to keep his balance after he was startled from the crowd's reaction when Naruto scored the winning touchdown of the game.

As he placed the food down with a smile he looked up at one of the screen to see the whole team rushing out on the field with the blonde-haired man hoisted on top of the mass of celebrant team members.


An average sized V.I.P. area full of players, coaches, dancers, sponsors, endorsers and a few fans

Standing in the middle of a crowd that seemed not to have an end or any boundaries, Naruto waited for the time to pass as he became a little more relieved with each person who went to talk with another team member.

Deviating from their usual routine after a win (going out to the titty bars or the clubs) was an idea rounded out by Gama-Sennin after finding out about a recent team member who'd gotten a woman pregnant the night they won their way into the playoffs.

He knew they'd only do the same after the 'meet and greet' like occasion was over and would party until the sun graced their sensitive eyes again.

Naruto for one was nearly drowning in boredom as many women walked up to him for an autograph on her leg or breast while Charlotte was in the restroom or chatting with some of the other wives of players and other notable men at the occasion.

Through and through, his mind couldn't leave the red-headed waiter as much as he tried to think of other things. After finding such a task harder than he initially imagined, he began looking left and right to see if any one was either coming to speak with him or watching from afar.

"Looking to escape?"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his suit before he realized that his mother was standing behind him the entire time, watching him look frantically for an escape from something he'd found to be one of the many downsides of life off the field.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well it isn't at all because you're squirming like a trapped animal", she said sarcastically. "It's pretty obvious that you don't want to be here"

Naruto chuckled. "I guess you know me better than anybody in here"

"You're damn right I do", she said taking a sip of one of the two Cosmos in her hand. "And I know you well enough to know where you want to be"

He sighed. "Can we not do this here?"

"Do what?"

"Please don't play dumb, you know exactly what I mean"

"Well excuse the hell out of me for being honest", she said gulping it down. "I'm the only person in this goddamned family who still knows what that word means"

"You're drunk"

"By whose standards?"

He abruptly took the drink from her and placed it on the table next to them before pulling her by her arm out to the hallway, grabbing his bag and heading into the elevator. He was stopped short by his father who looked as if someone had set the bar on fire.

"What the hell is the problem?"

"The question is, what the hell is the problem with your face? I mean really, how do you get away with being so goddamned ugly", she said before bursting into laughter.

Minato looked grimly at his son. "Call her a cab".

He nodded softly and led her away with Charlotte looking and laughing secretively with the rest of the wives on the opposite side of the lounge. Minato looked back to the puzzled and awkward faces of those he was conversing with an apologetic smile.

"She's had a little too much to drink tonight", he said with a hint of frustration in the back of his throat; only threatening to show in his tone of voice.

As they waited in the elevator his mother, who'd removed her heels and began singing Judy Garland's show tunes, put her hand on her son's shoulder.

"You know, the way you snapped at me in there, is a pretty good indication that you haven't been getting any lately", she slurred as she struggled to keep her balance. The elevator door opened and to Naruto's delight there were no fans, who'd most likely all gone home.

"..."

"I'll bet sex you and Gaara fucked liked rabbits"

"Mom!"

"I'll be quiet"

The clock on the wall above them read 12:44 a.m.

They walked out to the street and a few fans came up to him to asked for an autograph as the both of them waited for a cab to drive by and as one came by Kushina waved at him to drive up.

He turned away from the few guys who came up to him to see his mother smiling at him hauntingly. "If you'd choose that over happiness..."

She simply said nothing more and got into the cab, giving Naruto a chance to watch them drive away before walking to the parking garage to retrieve his own vehicle.


A lonely bus stop, 1:00 a.m.

As Gaara could pictorially recall, back in Bienville, the lights of the entire town were out at about 10:30. No one was out and about with the exception of criminals and people working the graveyard shift; which did not entail very many people, considering that few establishments ran 24 hours.

Their neighborhood was settled on a slight rift in the landscape of the town and many of the people in Bienville snidely named to neighborhood 'tramp territory'.

Full of men struggling with their sexuality, unmarried mothers, former drug addicts, strippers, whores (men and women), divorcees of two and three times and any other that would be kindly led to the sinner's row on Sunday, populated the only subdivision in the town without a name.

The other subdivisions held whimsical and nature-inspired titles, Piney Shore, Meadow's Water, Sycamore Cove etc.

The tiny neighborhood of only 28 houses was constantly in limbo between various different owners and because of a new owner learning of the people living therein, he left the title to anyone else looking for a quick check before he was to leave as well.

The group of homes was never cared for enough to be given a name by its owner, whomever he might have been at the time, and after long days at work, in the extremely conservative town, amongst those who looked down upon them, the residents were too worn and ashamed to care.

Instead, its title was signified by satirical taboos, fierce melancholies assumed to be occurring there by those outside and crass nicknames exchanged over tea after church on Sunday.

As he waited at the stop for a rumbling, humid and rank vehicle to pick him up and take him home, he looked down at his phone at the time to see that it was just a little past one in the morning. He always wondered what it would feel like to work what the people in his home town used to call 'city hours'.

His hands were still pruned from cleaning the beer out of the carpet after a drunken homophobe 'accidentally' tripped him while he carried a tray of the thick lager in his hand. He was relieved, however, that he only had to work an extra job until he got himself out of the hole he got into when he left for Atlanta.

The street on which he waited for the bus was a street full of run down apartments, liquor shops and crack houses. He always resented the city transportation ordinance for putting the bus stops in the worst parts of every area of the city.

He could faintly hear two women laughing in the distance down the street in the wake of a light that shined into the pavement.

Suddenly his phone buzzed in his hands. His heart raced at the suddenness after thinking to himself for such a period of time. His heart raced even faster when looked down at the name of who was calling him at 1 in the morning.

Naruto U.

The name and the hour of day put him at a pause long enough for him to miss the sleek black vehicle that was coming down the road, despite its head lights.

"Naruto...hey"

"You sound surprised"

"You just won a playoff game; I guess I thought you'd be with-"

"My team? I think they'll manage without me", he said laughing.

"I was going to say your wife"

He scoffed with a microbial hint of humor. "She didn't look too sad to see me leave either"

"Oh", he said running as fast as he could away from the topic as possible. "So...what did you want?"

"What? I can call just to talk?"

"Sorry"

"I'm kidding", he said before pausing and honking horn and rolling down his window.

Gaara jumped out of his conversation to see a smirking QB looking at him from the inside of his car before hanging up. He laughed softly as he looked away in embarrassment. It amazed him how after knowing him for the current time parameters, Naruto could make the butterflies in his stomach fly freely.

"Need a ride?

After dropping his phone, he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. Bending over to pick it up, Naruto's grin grew wider. "Damn, all you had to say was 'yes'", he said laughing.

Gaara got back up and grabbed his bag before pulling the door handle and watching it lift up for him to get in. As they began to drive down the street, Gaara immediately noticed that their path was not headed for his dreadful apartment complex.

"I thought you were just taking me home"

"It's only midnight"

"Its 1:15 and I'm hungry for the leftover Chinese in my fridge"

"I know this pizza place on the west side"

"But you just won a game..."

"So?"

"What if somebody sees you?"

"You let me worry about that"

"I'm scared"

"O ye of little faith", he said chuckling. "Besides, you almost cost me the whole fucking game"

"Excuse me!"

"You heard me"

"What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything", he said. "It's just that...I've thinking about you from the time I got on the field up until now". They stopped at a red light that seemed to last forever as Naruto, with one hand still on the steering wheel, looked over to his passenger.

"And this isn't the first time this has happened"

The green foam at the foot of the sea amongst the rocks, the sand, the sun above the moon's tide and the creatures therein, met with the blue waters and all of good nature stood still to watch such a connection between a body of water and the product of weathering and time.

Gaara laughed nervously. "Now I feel guilty", he said, not comprehending how he should process the words just given to him. The light turned green.

"I had to see you"

"..."

"Even if just for a little while"

"But I thought you said things would be different now"

"They are", he said smirking over to him as they pulled to a stop. Gaara smiled at him as Naruto got out to open the door. He looked out to the place where which they parked to the side of. It was a very 1990s-esque shop with no one inside. It appeared as if they were about to close.

"Naruto, are you sure this place is open?" He looked up to the top of the door where a neon lit sign of red, green and white read 'Tucci's'.

The taller man looked around the block to see if any paparazzi were around before motioning with his head for Gaara to come inside.

It was a large establishment with two floors on the inside and an older woman with gray hair was sitting at the front desk filling out some papers when she looked up to see Naruto advancing towards her. Her eyes lit up as she nearly leaped from her chair to squeeze the life out of him.

"Naruto!"

"Bella!"

"Oh my goodness what a surprise! We haven't seen you in months!"

"It's only been two weeks", he said with a humorous chuckle.

Gaara clasped his hands in front of him shyly as he smiled softly at the 'reunion'. Bella looked over at the younger and shorter boy standing behind him.

"And who's your friend?" She said as Gaara waved with a simple 'hi'. She looked over at Naruto. "Well aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Gaara-Bella, Bella-Gaara", he said as they both shook hands.

"What an interesting name, Naruto's been talking about you for a while now"

"Bella"

"That was until that Charlotte girl came into the picture"

"Bella"

"Come to think of it, that fanny of yours matches the description too"

"Bella!"

"I'm 62 years old; I can say whatever I want"

Gaara laughed as a man who looked to be about the same age came through the door behind the door behind the counter. "Well, well, well, I guess the star of the night decided to pay us common-folk a visit", he said as he gave Naruto a firm handshake.

Bella went up to him and place her hands on his arm. "Frank, this is Gaara, Naruto's 'friend' he's been talking about this whole time".

"Well I'll be damned", he said making his wife laugh as much as he made Naruto blush. "So we finally get to meet the famous Gaara".

Gaara looked over to them and over nervously, not knowing what to say. He had to admit, keeping someone's identity a secret was not one of his fortes. The older man looked at him reassuringly as he went over to him.

"Don't worry about us son", Frank said putting his hand on Gaara's shoulder. "We know everything".

Gaara smiled up at him. "So exactly how much does he talk about me?" He looked over at Naruto who smirked back at him when Bella burst into laughter.

"He only says your name in every sentence. Gaara this, Gaara that", she said patting the larger man on his back. "It's simply adorable"

"Okay, you guys have anything to eat around here", he said rushing everyone off the subject of his infatuation. "I'm starving"

Frank went to the back and came out with a silently crackling pepperoni pizza and led the two upstairs to a booth that was still lit. Gaara sat down first and Frank winked over at Naruto before leaving.

"Try not to lay the charm on too thick champ", he said laughing heartily as he walked down the steps. Naruto placed his hand on his temples as Gaara laughed behind a cupped hand before taking a sip of the drink in front of him.

"They seem to know you pretty well"

"They should, I've been coming here since I was twelve"

"Twelve?"

"Twelve. I would come here after school, and when I got my first car this was the first place I drove", he said as Bella came up the stairs with a bottle of wine.

"Anyone want a drink?"

"I'll take one", Naruto grabbed a wine glass from her hand and she pored a dark red wine into the glass.

"What about you? Wine?" She motioned over to Gaara.

"Oh, no thanks, I'm underage"

"Underage! How underage are you?"

"I'm 19"

"19! What fun age that is", she said turning over to Naruto. "Why didn't you tell me he was 19?"

"I didn't think it was important"

"With a two young things like you two, I'll be the sex is just nuts!"

"Uh, Hello?" Naruto pointed to the ring on his finger.

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Naruto's wine went down the wrong pipe as Frank yelled at her from the first floor. "Bella, get back down here and leave them the hell alone!"

"I'll come back down there when I'm good and damned ready!"

"Don't make me come up there!"

"Go ahead and try it, pal!" She looked over at the two, one laughing at the display and the other with his head in his hands, and simply smiled and made her final exit. Naruto looked over at Gaara who gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry you had to see that"

"I just love them", he said taking a bite of the pizza in front of them. "I wish they had people like that where I grew up"

"Come to think of it, you don't talk about where you grew up a lot"

"There's a reason for that", he replied cynically.

"Not nice people?"

"It would be a credit to them to even suggest that they're human", he said scornfully. "They treated me and my mother like cretins that crawled from under a rock somewhere"

"..."

"When I left and came here, she moved to Atlanta and neither of us ever looked back", a hint of solemnity crept into his eyes but he quickly brushed it off. Naruto wanted badly to forget it as easily as Gaara had but here was something in him that wanted to explore deeper into the earth, beneath the toughly packed soil.

"You're dressed a little tamely for Angela's taste, aren't you?"

"I wasn't at Maude's tonight", he said not favoring the direction in which he knew the conversation was going.

"Came to watch the game?"

"I'm not really into sports bars"

"Came to see a friend?"

"I don't really have any friends", he said wishing that he would change the subject. "Except for you, that is"

"Then why were you there?" Naruto asked obliviously wondering slightly why he was displaying such evasiveness.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.

"Well, Fred had a little accident...", mid sentence, Naruto's smile began to melt into a concerned frown. "And the vet said he's going to need an operation"

"An operation? What happened?"

If I fee him just an itty bitty white lie, will he believe me? Oh, God. Those eyes, their like orbs.

"Some guys broke and in after you dropped me off", he said looking down onto his plate not wanting to look into Naruto's intense blue that he was pretty sure were about to pop pout of his blonde head.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

Gaara gave him a look reading 'because you'd go nuts kind of like you are now'. Naruto looked away for a few moments and exhaled.

"Did they hurt you?"

"No", he said with such a weakness that it was more of a question as to whether Naruto believed him rather than an answer.

"Gaara..."

"They just roughed me up a little, I swear"

"That's it. I'm moving you out of there"

"No you're not"

"Yes I am", he said looking earnestly into Gaara's eyes. "I'll never live it down if something were to happen to you"

"Naruto, I'm fine, really", he pleaded. "See?" He got up and turned 360 degrees for his concerned counterpart to see him.

Naruto chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"You are by far the most stubborn person I've ever met"

"Because, I can do it on my own", he said trying to sound as confident as he could even though he was almost positive that Fred's veterinarian operation was not going to happen anytime soon with what he was making at both places and that the burglars still haunted him even in their absence at his apartment.

"How much is the operation going to cost?"

"...$1200"

"Gaara, that's pocket change for me. You know that"

"I don't need you to help me"

"Yes you do"

"No I don't"

"I have the money; literally, I can pull out my checkbook right now and write you a check for $1200"

"I'm pretty sure you can"

"Then why won't you let me help you? At least let me pay half of the bill"

"He's my dog, therefore he's my responsibility"

"We can do this all night"

Gaara sighed. "Fine, I'll let you pay for the operation"

"Now see? Was that so hard?" He took a sip of his wine. "And I always thought I'd have to fight people off of my bank account"

"Why do you even want to do this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

"..."

"..."

He sighed smiling and got up from his seat. "Come one it's late, I better get you home".


A living room, 2:00 a.m.

The lavish mansion was predominantly dark from all of the lights being turned off except for the kitchen. From the outside of the mansion, the large window could be seen in the distance by virtue of the reflection of the moon as the woman sitting in the bay window remained invisible.

The house had been built many years ago by a French architectural company that was hired by anyone who wanted a house to be envied by all.

The man who hired the company was a young man who'd only been married to his tall wife for 4 years and both of whom previously lived in a small loft on the west side of LA. He was a young business man who'd finally gotten enough investors to get his oil company off the ground.

Soon the company grew exponentially, faster and more vastly than any of his investors fathomed and soon he was one of the wealthiest men in LA. However, his first business venture, he promised, before expansion was to build his wife a house that they could grow old in.

And for that she always loved him. She was a young girl when she met Minato, a tall man with intense blue eyes, and soon she knew that she'd be an old woman still loving him, no matter how much turmoil he harbored in his icy heart and regardless of how much she feared that such a love would outlast even their marriage.

When their son was born, Kushina was always afraid the Minato was pushing him too hard. She was deathly afraid that he would follow the route taken by his father and ignore all of the meaningful relationships that life had to offer and when he would be let loose into the world he would fall in love with the wrong person.

Her fears were alleviated when he met two youths his age; one with black hair and one a strawberry blonde. Their parents had just moved in just a few minutes away and soon they were inseparable. She and her husband could see so much potential in him.

When Naruto's football career and weekly number of sex partners began to take off, Kushina began to worry again that he'd fall in with the wrong woman, still, herself, choosing to repress the possibility of her son being bisexual, much less homosexual.

Quickly learning of Charlotte's spoiled and privileged background, she became instantly apprehensive of the brunette. In the most literal sense, she was sick over their relationship as it became more and more serious, and soon her fears were realized when Naruto caught her with two of his teammates.

However, when Gaara came into the picture, she was overtly forced to deal with her feelings about her son's sexuality. It was as if he came from nowhere, as if he was a product of some cosmic disturbance somewhere off in a beautifully unseen place in the galaxy.

She'd never seen anyone like him, hair as red as fire, a form that was seemingly unthreatening, yet evidently hiding something deep within and eyes of a seductively minty green. She had to stop herself from staring as they sat in the sky box. She felt compelled to go over and speak to him; as if to see if he weren't a façade or a mirage.

Even as she got closer and he looked up at her his eye seemed even more captivating, if not hypnotizing.

His voice was a soft and low alto but his voice added to the ambiguity of his gender and age. She could instantly see why Naruto was so smitten with him. Kushina, being one of the few people he could be open with about his sexuality, heard about him constantly.

Even though Naruto's seeing him would potentially ruin his career, she finally felt genuine peace of mind knowing that her son was with someone who didn't give a damn about his money or his name, only was just as in love with Naruto as Naruto was in love with him.

Her private thoughts were interrupted as she heard someone coming towards the bedroom door, in a conversation.

"I haven't seen him since he left the stadium", Minato said into his phone as he took off his shoes and sat down on the bed across the room from his sobering wife sitting in the window. He looked over at her immensely calm form as Charlotte spoke into his ear on the other line.

"Well, call me when he makes it home", he said before hanging up and turning on the lamp next to his side of the bed. "What the hell are you doing sitting in the dark?"

"Just thinking", she said softly, not wanting to engage in another evening's spat but somehow still knowing that such a thing was on its way. "What's going on?"

"That was Charlotte", he said freeing his neck from his tie. "She said he hasn't come home yet and none of the guys know where he's at"

She smiled out the window. An astoundingly humorous, free and comical feeling came over her, causing her to laugh a little at the thought of the distraught woman's plight. "Figures".

He turned around to her again, anger radiating off of him. "And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You know better than I do", she said satirically. "Naruto is just fine"

He clenched his fists tightly.

"Naruto didn't want to be in that room full of gold-diggers, or those over weight bald-headed sponsors and listen to his 'proud father' brag on him the whole god damned time, and neither did I, so he called me a cab and left"

"He left his wife there!"

"I mentioned gold-diggers, didn't I?"

"We're not doing this tonight, Kushina, where the fuck is he!"

"Oh don't play dumb Minato, you know where he is", she said to his reflection in the window out of which she still looked.

"You think he went to that fag's place, huh? Well he didn't, because as much as you don't want to believe it, MY SON IS NOT A FUCKING FAIRY!"

Kushina snapped her head towards him and got up from her sitting position.

"And as much as YOU don't want to believe it, your son is not at home with that sniveling whore because he doesn't love her, he loves Gaara!"

He ran a hand through his hair as he suddenly got quieter even though his words never lost sharpness. "Then why the FUCK DID HE ASK HE ASK HER TO MARRY HIM?"

"READ BETWEEN THE LINES, YOU IDIOT, they have son together, and unlike YOU, I know my son and he'd never leave her after he found that out!"

"And where the hell do you think he's going to get being a queer, huh? He'll have no career, no endorsements, no money, no LIFE! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!"

"You're forgetting one thing dear", she said sarcastically. ""HE'S MISERABLE!"

Minato could only scowl at her.

"And until you get you head out of your ass and realize that everything doesn't revolve around money, he's going to stay miserable, all to please you. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!"

"..."

"I can't sit idly while my child sacrifices his happiness over money", she said as her voice began to shake. "And I wish I could say the same about his father"

"..."

"I guess some things are just too costly to give to the people who love you", she said before storming off and grabbing a towelette to wipe the running mascara out of her eyes. Minato's anger could not be contained. It was as if the fierce ocean's tides were too much for those that chose to tread them.

He grabbed the vase next to him and slung it across the room in loud whoosh, sending it to its end in a pile of shards of glass bouncing off of the wall and landing on the floor.


A car in the parking lot of an apartment complex, 3:00 a.m.

Naruto turned off the engine and looked over at his passenger and the latter looked back at him. It was a funny thing how everyday seemed newer than the day before and each moment fresher than the last when true love presided.

"I had fun tonight"

"I would think so, you and the Tucci's laughed at me the whole time"

"We were just kidding"

"Didn't sound like it"

Gaara laughed.

"Gaara?"

"Hm?"

"Earlier when you said you didn't want me to risk my career over you, why did you look so sad?"

"Well I guess I always feel a little guilty",

"You know I was kidding about that, right?"

"I know, it's just that you've worked so hard to get where you are and I'd feel awful if you lost it all over me"

"..."

"No one's ever really cared for me that much, except for my mother", he said making them both chuckle.

"Gaara, listen to me...Are you listening?"

"Yes, I'm listening"

"All the fans, money, fame, none of that matters when I'm with you. I can exhale with you, with you I'm not a quarterback; I'm just Naruto"

Gaara smiled to himself as he could feel an orchestra of nature inside of himself playing a love song to his soul.

"If only you knew how much I think about you when you're not by my side...", he said leaning in closer. "Damn, I know I say this a lot but I'm crazy about you"

The free butterflies in Gaara's stomach sent his heart to the skies as his palms began to sweat. "Do you really mean that?"

Naruto gave his signature heart liquefying smile and put one arm behind Gaara's seat and one on his thigh. The foam at the base of the sea and the ocean itself wrapped around each other as the older man kissed the younger.

Gaara's skin seemed to melt under Naruto's touch as his mouth was invaded in the sweetest way possible. The red head ran his hand down Naruto's rock hard chest before the blonde haired man pulled him over onto his lap in the driver's seat, the perpetual kiss growing in passion with each passing moment.

Naruto let his hands roam down along Gaara's back, hips, ass, and thighs. The red head could feel something hardening beneath him as Naruto's hands on his skin through his jeans seemed to make everlasting imprints.

Gaara moaned softly when he felt the blonde haired man's hands go into the back of his pants; he gasped when the stronger of the two lifted his leg over his shoulder and pressed him firmly against the steering wheel making the horn sound off loudly.

Naruto bit into his neck making Gaara scream out in a bittersweet reaction to something that he'd fantasized about since its first occurrence.

"Wait"

"What's wrong?"

"We can't do this"

"Why the hell not?"

"Don't you have to get home?"

"It's 3 in the fucking morning, I think it's a bit late to make it home in time for supper", he said sarcastically.

"I have to get upstairs, Fred probably needs food", Gaara said apologetically placing his hands on Naruto's broad chest.

Naruto smirked. "I'll let you off this time", he said slyly making Gaara laugh before he climbed off his lap and exited the vehicle.

As he walked up and saw Naruto waiting until he made it in safely, those damned butterflies still refused to calm the fuck down.


A living room, a chair beneath a window lit only by the moon yet covered in the darkness of the house

Charlotte sat in the chair next to the large seamless glass window under the moonlight with a glass of wine in her hand.

She looked up at the clock on the wall.

3:15 a.m.

She took a sip and looked towards the foyer.

She knew where Naruto was.

She knew who he was with.

She knew from the time that the 12:00 hour struck that he was not going to be home for a while. She got up from her seat and went upstairs to her bedroom and on her way she passed the room of her sleeping child.

Charlotte chuckled at the irony of the way he looked just like Naruto when he slept.

She made it to her bedroom and went into the bathroom.

She knew that such a task was going to have to be done in time, she hated getting the law involved with doing her biddings, it was such an underhanded task, using the justice system to get whatever victory that she wished to attain.

"You won't take warning I see", she said taking out a photo of a red headed youth.

He smiled brightly and yet somehow the luminance of his smile could not overcome the darkness that gloomed over him in a form or fashion that he was not used to, or would even foresee to become reality in a life that was once simple but now made complex by the fierceness of a scorned woman.

"I can't kill you", she said with a hand on top of a case file. "That much is true"

She looked at her reflection as she took another sip of her wine. She flipped through the file with a note card clipped on top of the manila folder that read:

Case # 12545: Murder of 38 year old. Yondaime Kazekage

"But I sure as hell can make you wish you never lived"