Sasuke had taken to spying on Chusei, trying to find the older boy's weakness. He needed to know, needed to prove to his dobe that only Uchihas were capable of looking after precious blond foxes. So far, nothing presented itself. Chusei's fuinjutsu knowledge made up for any flaws Sasuke found in the elder's ninjutsu or taijutsu. He knew the foreigner was just as hopeless with genjutsu as Naruto was, but Sasuke had the nightmares to remind him that there were seals for that too.
Which brings us to why Sasuke, rather than spending his weekend training, was hopping around through trees and bushes, watching Chusei and Naruto play childish games with Lee Konohamaru. And then watching the four of them get chased by Sakura because Naruto and Konohamaru had no brain-to-mouth filters.
When the Hokage's grandson ran into a pair of genin from Sunagakure, Sasuke started to wonder if he should become involved. Before he could act though, he caught his first glimpse of the old Uzushio clan teamwork Chusei always bragged about.
"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Lee's foot crashed into the puppet-wielder's face, forcing the Suna nin to drop Konohamaru. Instead of hitting the ground however, the honourable grandson disappeared in a puff of smoke, kawarimied with a Naruto clone. Konohamaru himself appeared safely behind the dobe. When the Suna nin began to shout a protest Chusei's fist, accompanied by a seal Sasuke hadn't seen before, met his face.
The Uzushio nin turned to the female of the Suna pair. "Cha best explain what cha're doin in our village. Now."
"We're here for the upcoming chunin exams." The girl looked at her partner, who was desperately trying to speak. No words were coming out though. "Could you please undo whatever you did to my brother? Idiot he may be, I need him for the exam."
Grumbling, Chusei removed the seal. Sasuke filed the design in his mind as 'silence: worthless against me, but will stop Naruto dead.' Then a dark presence filled the air around him. Peeking to the other side of his tree, Sasuke saw a grumpy looking boy with red hair. He marveled that he hadn't noticed the newcomer sooner; that malicious aura was far from subtle.
The redhead hopped down to the other Suna nin. "Kankuro, were you causing trouble?" His voice grated like a sandstorm. The puppet-wielder trembled.
"N-no Gaara. Just meeting people's all."
"Good." Gaara glared up at Sasuke's tree. "You should come down. I don't like spies."
Sasuke jumped down. Something about this guy's aura said it was a seriously bad idea to pis him off. He felt too dark. This Gaara was strong too; Sasuke wondered if he would be a good gauge of his strength. If he could beet Gaara, could he beat him?
"YOU SHOULDN'T THREATEN KONOHAMARU!" Lee shouted at Kankuro. "IT'S NOT YOUTHFUL TO PICK ON CHILDREN!"
That earned the puppet-wielder another glare from the redhead. Sasuke immediately began to wonder what would happen if Gaara and Chusei had a staring contest. The manifestation of malice against the king of creepy eyes; it could be interesting. Or mentally scarring.
Almost as if Sasuke's thoughts were some sort of cue, Chusei dashed forwards and grabbed the redhead. Instead of staring though, the Uzushio nin forced Gaara's shirt up and began examining a seal on his stomach, dodging darts of sand the whole time.
"Shoddy!" Chusei proclaimed moments later, releasing his captive. The Suna nin glowered stormily at him and sent out more sand darts, all of which were evaded. "Whoever as made cher seal knew crap about fuinjutsu! Honest, a two-node seal for a bijuu? Even one as weak as the Ichibi? Craptastic idea mate!"
Gaara's glare deepened. The air started feeling heavy, just like it did the night he killed them all. Sasuke forced himself to stay calm. He was only partially successful. His hands shook and he fought hard not to fall to his knees. The killing intent was choking. Oddly enough, the only person who seemed unaffected was Naruto.
"Mother informs me that you're an idiot," Gaara ground out. "Mother wishes for your blood for having touched us."
A wave of sand poured out of the gourd on the Suna nin's back, aiming at Chusei. It wrapped around a log that exploded under the crushing force. Chusei was suddenly right in Gaara's face again, painting over the seal on the redhead's belly. Fragments of muttering were audible as he worked.
"Idiots... Bijuu seals need at least four nodes... Should be a focus spiral core... Ripple plugs more effective for this than cross... An element plug? This guy have a death wish?"
By the time Gaara rerouted the sand and attacked again, Chusei was done. The Uzushio nin leapt back right before he could be crushed. "There, that'll be loads better. Cha should be able to control him now."
Wide green eyes stared at Chusei in panic. "What did you do? I can't hear Mother! Why can't I hear Mother?"
"Sorry to break it to cha sport, but the Ichibi ain't cher mum. I'm guessin she's dead. Happens alot to Jinchuuriki."
"Wait... He's... like me?" Sasuke turned to Naruto in shock as the blond asked the question. What do you mean dobe? The Uchiha couldn't imagine anyone with less in common with his sunny blond.
"Hai. Unlike chers though, his seal were crap. I've fixed it, but it'll take a lot of adjustin."
Gaara snarled and ran to attack the Konoha group. Unlike before though, his movements were sluggish. The dark aura had been muffled, the sand was slow and shaky, and the boy himself... He was stumbling as if drunk. The other Suna nin simply stared in confusion. They (and Sasuke) nearly passed out when Naruto caught one of Gaara's dazed punches and drew the redhead into a hug.
"What?" Gaara froze. Naruto, an oddly tender look on his face, began running his fingers through the taller boy's hair. Sasuke was instantly jealous.
"It's okay." Sasuke was pretty sure no one was supposed to hear what Naruto was saying, but the dobe had never quite gotten the hang of whispering, so everyone did. "You're not alone anymore, see? I've got one too. Everyone hated me for it, but I've got a family now. As long as they love me, no one else matters, 'ttebayo."
"I..." Gaara's voice was shaking. He sounded as if he were about to explode. "I don't have a family. I'm the only one who loves me; I live only for myself." Tears trickled from the green eyes. "How...? The purple one silenced Mother, except I can still feel Mother's fear. How are you scaring Mother without being a monster?"
"Maybe I'm not." Naruto was crying too, which was wrong. Sasuke couldn't stand seeing the dobe cry, wanted to destroy whatever had upset his blond. "Everyone always said I was a monster. But that doesn't mean you have to be mean to everybody 'ttebayo. You'd have a family too, if you would just let someone in. There must be someone who loves you."
Gaara shook his head. "I've done too much. Even my brother and sister know I'm a monster." He gestured weakly at the other Suna nin present. Naruto just hugged him tighter.
"Then I'll be your family. After all, brother monsters should stick together."
That was apparently too much for Chusei. The Uzushio nin wrapped his arms around both genin, squeezing tightly. "Aw, Naru-chan, neither of cha're monsters. Why don't we bring Gaa-chan with us? Show him what family's like for a while."
The three separated, earning odd and fearful looks from the Suna genin Gaara claimed were his siblings. The girl spoke.
"Wait. If Gaara's got the raccoon, which one do you have?"
Naruto grinned mischievously, a reckless smile that made Sasuke want to both punch and hug him. "The fox." Seconds later, a blue gloved hand slammed into the dobe's head.
"Naru-chan no baka! Cha ain't supposed to tell people!"
"Hehehe... Oops."
Sasuke frowned. He'd never heard of Naruto having a fox before. And why would a pet fox be secret? It would be a much better ninja animal than Kiba's dumb dog. What on earth would Naruto's fox have to do with this Gaara guy's pet raccoon anyway? And what was that seal Chusei had been playing with?
Kankuro finally found his voice. "Um, aren't we supposed to go sign into our hotel?"
"You two go ahead without me." Gaara's tone brooked no argument. His siblings looked both scared and relieved.
"What? Where are you going?"
"I'm going to try this family thing with fox-boy and the purple one. I'll see you tonight."
The other two Suna nin shrugged helplessly and left. They'd barely been gone for a few seconds when the street was filled with a yellow flash and a comic shout.
"Naruto! Lee! Chusei! You forgot your lunch!"
Kai appeared out of the light, holding three bento boxes. Sasuke felt a brief surge of jealousy. It had been years since the last time his mother had... No, it was best not to think about it. But it was hard, and unfair. Naruto didn't even know what to do with a parental figure and treated Kai the same as Iruka. Sasuke would've given anything for his mother- or even her weird clone- to be brought back to Konoha.
Gaara's reaction to Kai was worse. At least Sasuke didn't show his resentment. The redhead snarled at this new presence, throwing sand darts at Kai and lunging towards the man. A flash of light took the clone safely out of the way. Despite the attack, Kai never lost his soft, somewhat frazzled smile.
"Oh! Naruto, is this a new friend? Will he be coming for dinner?"
"I dunno yet." Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand. "It's alright Gaara, it's just Kai. He's weird, but he's like my dad or something. Closest thing I've had, 'ttebayo."
Sasuke snorted at Naruto calling anyone else weird. A twelve year old who could make hundreds of shadow clones and lived with the green spandex duo- Naruto was the definition of weird.
"Dad?" Gaara looked confused. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah. It's an affectionate word for father, 'ttebayo."
Behind Sasuke, Sakura clapped. "Oh yay Naruto, four syllables. New record." Sasuke would've told her not to be mean to his dobe, but he could detect affection under the sarcasm, so he let it be. Sakura had been getting much better that way. Still not much use in a fight though.
"What is this affection of which you speak?"
The demonstration Gaara got a moment later probably scarred him for life. Kai, eyes full of tears, passed the bentos he was carrying to Lee and launched himself at Gaara with the force of a hurricane. Strong arms clad in one of Gai-sensei's green jumpsuits wrapped around the redhead and squeezed. Kai nuzzled his face into Gaara's hair.
"You poor baby! Not knowing what affection is... Were your parents rocks?"
Wide-eyed and panicking, Gaara struggled to get free. It was of no use; as Kakashi-sensei had long since discovered, one did not simply get free of a Namikaze Kai hug. Sasuke was beginning to think there was ninjutsu involved. The blond limpet continued to rant as he snuggled.
"What's with all these neglected and abandoned children? Oh well, I know just what to do! I'll adopt him!"
"YOSH! A SPLENDID IDEA KAI-SAN!" Lee began to jump up and down with excitement. Sakura marched over and smacked the clone on the head. It wasn't enough to make him release Gaara, but she did manage to get his attention.
"Baka! You can't adopt him! He's from a different village!"
Kai pouted. "But Sakura-chan! He needs me! I bet his father never hugged him at all! And he'll have so many brothers to play with, especially once the paperwork goes through!"
Sasuke got a bad feeling about that. "Paperwork? What do you mean? Last I checked, three wasn't many."
"I asked Sandaime-sama to let me adopt a few more orphan ninjas." Kai beamed adorably. It was almost impossible to see how this man could be the clone of the famed and feared Yondaime Hokage. "I like having sons."
"Hn. Who're you trying to adopt?"
"Well, I think it was Umino Iruka, Hyuuga Neji, and Sarutobi Konohamaru... Oh! And you too Sasuke."
Sakura hit the clone again. "Baka! Iruka-sensei's an adult, and Neji and Konohamaru have clans!"
Sasuke noticed she hadn't mentioned him, so he had to add his own two cents. "Hn. As if I'd want to live with your house of weirdos. I'm fine on my own." No, he wasn't, but he wasn't about to admit it. Besides, for some reason he felt is was a bad idea to be labelled as his dobe's brother. It might prevent... something he was uncomfortable thinking about at the moment.
Kai pouted. Lee, Naruto, and Chusei immediately hugged the man and started trying to comfort him. Of course, Kai was still wrapped around Gaara, who was crushed under the weight of the combined glomp. The redhead's muffled voice came from somewhere beneath an orange jumpsuit.
"Is this the family thing of which fox-boy spoke? It's very sweaty and uncomfortable... But there's something else too. I think I like it."
A/N: Hehehe... Kai had a bit of a Batman moment. Adopt ALL the orphans! And some people who aren't orphans, but who Kai thinks need more hugs. And I'm sorry if Gaara's out of character and that offends someone. I'm just really bad at writing him, especially when trying to make him react to some very touchy-feely characters.
