Hakuo: AAAAAAHHHHH -squish- there's another one!!
Ruby: what are you- OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!
Hakuo: it's a virus -stomp- on my computer -squish-
Ruby: well? Aren't you going to apologize to those readers who you left for a good two months?
Hakuo: GOMEN -slip, splat "Ewwww"- NASAI, readers-san, kun, chan and sama. It's all (pointlessly) explained in the footnote at the end…
Ruby: baka…. Gaara (and some fan girls) said something along the lines
of another lemon. Any chance?
Hakuo: hmmm…I want to get the plot started and moving maybe in two, four chapters?
Ruby: loser
Hakuo: there's nothing wrong with being a loser, unless you're really good at it
Ruby: ….
Disclaimer: no, if you didn't get it in the first six chapters than you need serious help…dude.
Help to Cope ch. 7
"okay, we finally got clean ."
"mn…"
"Oh yeah! Today we--" Naruto stopped staring at the wall. Gaara came up behind him and nipped his shoulder.
"you will come back" the sand-nin said. Naruto shook his head vigorously, enjoying the shiver that went up his spine at the closeness of the ninja, his spirits high once more. "nu-uh! we'll come back together right?"
Gaara's eyes widened, and he smiled softly, turning the blond around to face him. He nodded and Naruto beamed. Jumping on the sand nin to prove that they would go and come back together.
The red head groaned into a tan chest. "you need to reserve your stamina, and we have to get ready to leave…" he reasoned, more to himself than the other.
Naruto grinned sheepishly and blushed as the memories came back.
After last nights 'fun' they had kept on going until 5 am, slept for an hour (Naruto, Gaara meditated) and then taken multiple showers. Multiple because half way through each one, their lusts returned. Oh well, shit happened.
"c'mon!" Naruto said jumping off, "We have to get ready or Itachi will come looking for us…" he trailed off as he looked about his new room, (still at Arashi's place) for his pack.
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
They were getting ready to leave Konoha by afternoon. "Urgghhh…." Naruto huffed as he shut the heavy wooden doors, "Okay!" he said as he dusted his hands. Gaara shifted the pack on his shoulders and followed the blond to the west gate of Konoha.
When they got there all of the rookie nine and team Gai were waiting for them in a row.
They all came up to him and hugged him, shook his hand warmly or shook his shoulders and yelled about youth.
But the ones Naruto saw that stood out were at the end. "Good luck brat." Tsunade said, crushing him to her ample bosom (can't…breath….baachan!!) Jiraiya was next and told him that he was going to go ahead to the next town as a head start.
"you just want to go to spy on the women you hentai!" Naruto said laughing. The pervert grinned and went closer to him and whispered "or I could stake out at your house for the night..."
Blushing and stuttering he pushed past the cackling insane old man he considered an uncle figure 'Uncle my ass, the hentai'! the blond thought, face heating up as he himself remembered last night. It was a good thing Kyuubi had fast healing powers, or he would be limping right about now.
And so, with Gaara by his side Naruto came to the last person he wished to see. (besides Sakura)
Sasuke.
He was bandaged and in his usual clothes. Naruto felt himself grow cold again and seriousness came in. The Uchiha looked at his seriously and then said in front of everyone, "I'm sorry about missing your party, Uzumaki-san."
Everyone did a double take and stared. Had Sasuke, THE Uchiha Sasuke just apologized?! Had the world gone mad!!!
Naruto sighed at the last name refrence, and said, "Sasuke, I cannot answer your question."
The Uchiha looked pained for a moment but then cleared his throat to make sure his voice didn't crack,
"Why?"
Naruto looked around and decided to humor him,
"Too many people here."
Many fell in the dissapointment of lost gossip as Naruto dragged a stunned Sasuke to a nearby clearing outside the gates. Turning around he stopped a following Gaara. "Don't worry, I won't be long"
The red head growled.
He did not like this. At ALL. Although he would've rather the Uchiha die by being crushed into sand and then burned into oblivion, never to be seen again….
'I need to start to trust in Naruto…' he breathed deeply and headed back to the group.
'but that damn Uchiha better keep his hands off him..'
-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
The bird twittered, adding to the beautiful landscape.
Wide trees shielded them from view, and the lush green grass bent slightly under their weight. Endless blue watched its mirror above their heads, the sky a parody of Naruto's own eyes.
Finally, the tense air was too much to Sasuke and he broke the silence. "have you decided on your
answer?"
"what kind of feelings do you have for me?"
Sasuke twitched, he had wished Naruto didn't remember that, "It was true, I guess I didn't word it right though.." I was also getting desperate to get you to take me with you "you might be my very first friend.." he sighed.
Naruto looked sideways at him and smiled softly,
"yeah…" they continued to look up at the sky that seemed to never end.
Unlike their time.
"Naruto, let me be a part of your dream."
"Make the best ramen ever known to mankind?" the blonde replied smartly. Sasuke flicked his forehead gently. "the other one."
Naruto laughed silently and then smiled. "I can't let you in Sasuke."
He panicked inwardly, " Why not?!"
Naruto started to head in the direction in which they came, "How can I let someone in, when they were already there inside?" he replied cryptically.
Sasuke caught up to him and squinted over the small turf of grass they had come through. They were all there questioning the Hokage on Naruto and Gaara's mission.
On an impulse, Naruto hugged Sasuke with one hand.
"Thanks Nii-san, I know you will always be my fall back."
Sasuke, embarrassed, coughed and whispered to him :
"if Gaara doesn't beat me to it…" or kill me..
Naruto laughed. A clear, crystal sound that rang through everything. Gaara looked over in their direction, and stiffened.
His Naruto -his dammit!- was holding onto the Uchiha.
Gaara saw red.
Naruto saw red, but in a different way. He started to wave to Gaara as they approached the gate once more. Gaara strode purposefully over to the two as Naruto let go.
Oblivious of the raging storm that was Gaara, Naruto looked at his newfound 'nii-san'. sticking out his hand, Naruto declared, just as Gaara stopped right behind him.
"Brothers?"
Sasuke didn't even consider, grasping the blonde's arm in a man's handshake (you know, with the hands just before the wrist on the arm itself)
"if you say so Otouto"
As Gaara took Naruto's other hand, his envy quenched, but still unable to guarantee the Uchiha's safety when near him, Naruto whispered one last choice bit of advice.
"Y'know Neji and you would get along just fine… similarities with family problems and such…" he whispered, while winking.
Lightly tinged pink, Sasuke headed back to the others to wave Naruto and Gaara goodbye.
And Neji couldn't help but notice that the Uchiha had "coincidentally" locked gazes with him the moment
he was back.
As the group consisting of Itachi, Kisame , Gaara and Naruto (Jiraiya had gone ahead) was lost in the lush greenery Tsunade wiped a stray tear away.
The position of Hokage still stands kid, I'll hold out until you come home, little brother….
Hakuo: I did it! End of the first Arc! The next on will be a timeskip some three maybe two years later.
Ruby: took you fricking long enough, WTF happened?!
Hakuo: okay, get this 1) school (need I say more?)
2) this damn virus!!!
3) I was sick for a good two weeks, unable to only get my ass to school and back to go to sleep
4) a tiny little mental breakdown on my part because of all the stress (which consisted of writing lots of angst poetry, drawing in solid black ink, and a sudden obsession to draw a particularly bloody scene on my own manga (original) (Hey my editor was going to kill me if I didn't meet the deadline) and barely eating, talking or sleeping (I looked like Gaara for a good week or two) ) and finally
5) after getting back on my feet I had the damn case of writers block (not to mention that goddamn virus that kept shutting down my computer!!)
Ruby: 0.0! Woah, I'm so glad I'm fictional….and can burn up everything that pisses me off….
Hakuo: I'm going to bed…. Please review, if ANY of you people are reading this…
Ruby: probably not, but hey! Don't you ( the readers) like to prove authors wrong?
JAA!!
