Gaara had moved close to the outskirts of Suna some time before to avoid his family and the residents of the village. Their attitudes toward him hadn't changed much, but as he was one of the kazekage's children, they had to accept him and didÂ-grudgingly usually. They knew better than to anger or provoke him, which meant the merchants in the market gave him the best of their wares quickly so that he would leave.
Still, he wished they woudn't treat him so. It had been his father who'd wanted Ichibi sealed inside him- he'd had no choice in the matter.
His sand molded itself into a key and fit itself within the extremely complicated lock he'd had made for his front door. Only Gaara could enter because only his sand could open the lock.
Naruto hopped out of his arms and landed lightly on his clean floor. If anything, Gaara liked to keep his home neat even though his home only contained three rooms: his bathroom, the kitchen/dining/living room they were in now was empty but for a table and a couple of chairs plus a stove and boxes of food stacked neatly along the far wall. The last room was his library/training room where he kept his scrolls and practiced his jutsu. He had no need for a bed so there was none in the final room of his home.
Gaara set Naoki down on the table in front of him, set his gourd on the floor and seated himself. Naruto hopped lightly into his lap and sat still, trying not to wriggle because it would cause discomfort to Gaara's-well, at least Naruto remembered.
"Now then, Naoki, what exactly do I need to do?" Gaara folded his hands and set them down on the wooden surface of the table.
"Naruto is under the impression that your control of sand may be put to use stilling the desert sand so he can sniff out Sasuke's scent." Naoki explained.
"I've never tried to control quite that much sand before," Gaara said, mulling the thought over. "It might be possible, if I can slowly seep it in my chakra over the next week or so. Then I might be able to halt it enough. The winds here in the land of wind can become very violent, so it's no guarantee."
Naruto's head poked up and he gave Gaara's chin a playful lick.
"Naruto wishes it could be faster, but if that's your best he says he'll take it," Naoki translated.
5 am the next day, half a mile from Suna
Naruto yawned sleepily from Gaara's shoulder. Normally he would have woken at about 8 or 9, not at this ungodly hour, especially not since hed screwed up his internal clock by sleeping most of the day yesterday.
Naoki was now on Gaara's thumb, the heavy gold band that contained his soul was too large for any of Gaara's slim fingers.
Gaara hunkered down on a large flat-topped boulder and settled down into the lotus position (1). Closing his eyes, he focused on drawing his chakra out from his center and sending it to the sand below. He had a fair amount of chakra, but compared to Naruto's, his was a candle next to Naruto's bonfire.
Nearly an hour later, he had drained his chakra and opened his eyes slowly to adjust them to the sun. He had left himself enough chakra to make it home where he could eat and replenish his chakra once again.
This process was repeated twice more before the day was through, and even Naruto, in the end, had had to supply Gaara with some of his own chakra.
It had been a promising day on the whole and Naruto slept soundly in Gaara's lap on kazekage tower that night.
5 am the next day
Naruto woke and stretched. The sky was still a chilly gray, telling him the sun hadn't risen quite yet.
He gazed at Gaara's face questioningly and Gaara smiled, knowing Naruto well enough by now to know he wanted breakfast.
This day went much the same as the first but for the fact that Gaara had to go a little further each time to cover new sand, and it went this way for the next six days after.
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(1) this is a yoga position that is often used for meditation
Man, I write really shory chapters, but for this particular story I can't seem to write longer chaps
