Sorry about the short zest last time. I wanted to torture my readers some X3. Sorry/ducks thrown items/ Almost done now!!

999blee999

When they walked outside, they were met with a strange sight indeed. It seemed that all of Konagakure was assembled outside of Naruto's apartment building.

"Wh-what's going on?" asked Naruto in disbelief at what he was seeing. Gaara hid behind him knowing what they were here for.

"We are here for Gaara!" shouted a man who was obviously the leader. As he said it, several ANBU members appeared and grabbed Gaara.

"Hey!" Gaara and Naruto shouted at the same time, Gaara tried to escape, but his captors had him held tightly. Several other ANBU's tried to detain Naruto, but Kyuubi broke through and he threw them off. The crowd backed away as Kyuubi Naruto glared at them. The ANBU guards kept a good distance from him, Gaara still stuggling to free himself. One of them wrapped an arm around his neck and began choking him. Unable to breathe, he fell still. Gaara was slowly turning red, then purple. It was clear that the Ninja wasn't going to let up. Naruto realized that he was breaking his promise to Shukaku to never let anyone harm Gaara. Naruto snapped.

"Gaara!" roared Naruto. He let loose a feral scream and launched himself at the ANBU who was doing the choking and dug his claws into the man's mask. The ninja dropped Gaara and tried to fight off the fox possessed boy. He was unsuccessful as Naruto flung him into a wall and he slumped over, unconscious. Kyuubi turned to face the others and readied himself to kill all of them

'Kyuubi? Stop.' ordered Naruto from inside his head.

'Why should I?' the demon roared. 'They made you break your promise to Shukaku. They must pay.'

'I can make them pay in guilt and self pity. I don't want them to hate me forever.'

Kyuubi growled again and submitted. As Naruto became himself again, another ANBU swept him into a wall with his arm, leaving the boy to fall to the ground. The crowd applauded the ANBU and readied to leave with Gaara. They stopped when they heard a noise behind them.

"S-stop!" snarled Naruto as he weakly stood, wincing as he did so.

The crowd turned back to look at him.

"Please." Several people gasped as Naruto pleaded with them.

"Please don't take Gaara away from me. He's all I have." Tars began streaming down his face. "This village has taken away everything from me. It took away my family, my happiness, my rights as a citizen of this village. It gave me no chance to prove who I was. You all labeled me as a danger, but I really am not! Please don't take away the last thing I have."

The villagers began to murmur amongst themselves. Naruto could hear a lot of support. The leader went ballistic.

"Are you all crazy? They're both dangerous!"

"No! The sand boy gave my daughter money for ice-cream when she dropped hers! He's no monster!"

The rest of the village agreed and began walking away. Naruto began to laugh in his happiness that the agreed. The ANBU looked at each other and nodded. They released Gaara and he ran to Naruto. Naruto didn't care what anyone would think. He didn't care and he probably never would care. He kissed Gaara right there in front of everyone in the village. Several of them, Kakashi included, made cat-calls and whistles. Naruto could feel his face getting warmer as he realized this.

Naruto pulled away and began crying harder. This time it was in happiness. Gaara was going to stay with him. And that was all he needed. Well, he still needed ramen, but that was beside the point. Gaara kissed him again and they went back upstairs to enjoy their hard won time together.

999prologue999

One year later, Naruto and Gaara were sitting under the same tree that Gaara had tormented Sasuke figures under. Naruto was leaning against the tree, with Gaara leaning on his chest. The weather was fair and the sky was blue with out a cloud in it. Naruto sighed and began stroking Gaara's silky hair. Gaara looked up at him and smiled contentedly. Naruto bent forward and kissed his forehead, right on the 'ai' tattoo. Gaara turned and kissed him fully, on the lips.

"Did I ever tell you that you taste like rain?" asked Gaara when they broke apart.

"No. I don't think so."

"You do, and I love it." Gaara wrapped an arm around him and rested his head on Naruto.

"Hey Gaara?"

"Hm?"

"Remember when I told you about my sanctuary all that time ago?"

"Yes."

"Did you ever find yours?"

Gaara thought for a moment before answering. When he did, it was with absolute certainty.

"Yes I did."

"Where is it?"

Gaara echoed Naruto's words from long ago.

"Right here with you."

999blee999

ZE END!!!!!!