Back again! Wow! Over a month between updates! I'm slacking off! I'm sorry! Got distracted with the holidays, the sims, etc etc...

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Ch. 9 Chibi Fun

Iruka unlocked the door to Naruto's apartment with his spare key, one hand holding onto a bag of groceries for his former pupil. Gaara had created a sand clone to carry his bag of groceries, and now he was busy looking around silently, taking in his surroundings with older eyes. The door knob had once looked eye-level to him, and he hadn't even been able to peek through the windows. But now he could see perfectly well through the glass panes, and was wondering why there was no movement inside.

As the door swung open, the brunette had to stop himself from calling for Naruto as they both saw him, slumped on the ground, with a couple of his shadow clones, backs pressed together. Confused, Iruka turned to the Kazekage.

"How can he keep up a jutsu in his sleep?" The sand-nin simply shrugged, then blinked and turned his head with Iruka as another Naruto came out of his bathroom, a towel wrapped around his shoulders.

"Sleep?" The blonde asked, looking confused, then turned his eyes to the lump of Narutos on the floor. Sighing and shaking his head, Naruto released the jutsu. "They must've been tired. But we got everything cleaned! I was just getting ready to go get food..." He blushed a little and looked at Gaara sheepishly. "I kinda forgot to check before I left, so all of my food was bad..." His face lit up in a grin and he hugged his teacher. "But I should've known Iruka-sensei could never let me starve!"

With a sigh, Iruka placed the bags on Naruto's table, the clone doing the same before dissolving again and flowing back into the gourd resting on Gaara's back. Naruto immediately began putting things away, obviously delighted at the amount of Ramen Iruka had decided to buy. Unfortunately for him, the second bag was not full of Ramen as well, and instead contained things that Gaara had picked out to eat. Iruka had insisted, of course, since he feared the poor Kazekage being suffered to eat Ramen constantly. And honestly, he remembered how Naruto would come to him and rant about how upset he was Gaara didn't remember him, etc., and knew his favorite student had a crush on the red-head. Better not to disgust him with the insanely large amounts of Ramen consumed on a regular basis.

Naruto held up some of the vegetables from the second bag and stared in shock, then turned to his teacher with a smile.

"Ah! Iruka-sensei, you must've needed groceries, too! I'll go out later and get some more-"

"No." Gaara said quietly. "Those are my groceries." He looked at the food laid out on the table, rice, milk, tea leaves, some vegetables, and a fish. "Iruka-sensei thought I might not want so much Ramen and offered to buy my groceries as well." Iruka grinned.

"Well, I have missed out on many of your birthdays, so it's the least I could do." Reaching out, the young chuunin ruffled the red hair in a fatherly fashion, before repeating the action to Naruto. "I have to go now, I've got papers to grade. You two try to behave, okay? I don't want to hear about how you talked Gaara into playing some prank."

Naruto nodded quickly and they said goodbye to his teacher, leaving the two teenagers alone. Naruto hurriedly put away Gaara's groceries, then turned to ask him what he wanted to do, only to find Gaara looking around his apartment, arms crossed in his usual manner. The young man was currently focusing on one of the only pictures Naruto had in his apartment, moving closer to get a better look at it.

"You have changed," Gaara said quietly, turning to look at Naruto. "You were a child the last time when I first met you, and you were still a child at the exams. A developing child, but a child nonetheless." Naruto grinned and crossed his arms behind his head.

"Yeah, but I'm the fastest learner! I'm not a child anymore!" He continued to grin as his friend continued to watch him intensely.

"No... You're not."

---

Outside the window, a young woman was delivering a play-by-play of the event to two of her friends.

"Ooh!" Sakura smiled happily. "That's the perfect line right before you kiss someone!" Inner Sakura was yelling out cries of "Go Gaara! Kiss him!"

Ino sighed and rolled her eyes, wondering how she had been talked into being an accomplice. Maybe because she knew where Hinata was?

A blush covered the third girl's face as her pure-white eyes focused on the couple inside the house. This was one time when she was a little grateful for Byakugan. Since she cared so much for Naruto, she was glad for this chance to help make him happy.

The other two girls began to plot, everything from having flowers sent to the boys with the other's name on it, to getting them coupons for free Ramen so Naruto would ask Gaara to dinner, to trying to come up with ways to use Hinata's ability to plan one of those "accidentally bumps into one of the two and knocks him into the other, hopefully causing an accidental kiss" types of situations. After all, that was how Sasuke and Naruto first kissed. Sure, they didn't get together, but it was obvious that if Gaara and Naruto kissed, they'd probably end up making out.

They could hope.

Right?

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An hour later, after the sun had already set,a laughing blonde told the story about how he first used the Sexy no Jutsu against Iruka (including a demonstration, which oddly caused not even a slight difference in Gaara's face), while his friend listened on in silence, eating his dinner calmly. Every few sentences of Naruto's story was broken with the sound of slurping noodles.

Finally, Naruto drank down the broth before cleaning the table off, making sure not to knock over the gourd that Gaara had propped up against the wall, as he told Gaara he could go ahead and bathe. The young Kage seemed to be uncomfortable with it, but nodded and made his way to the bathroom, bag in hand.

As soon as the dishes were washed, Naruto hurriedly got out the futon, unsure of where to put it. Usually, Iruka was the one who used it, if anyone, and even then, it was pretty rare. He simply left it rolled up and propped against another wall, not wanting to take the chance of it falling down and damaging the gourd of sand. The blonde shinobi then changed into his own pajamas, pulling his sleeping cap out of his bag and plopping it on his head. After all, he had already bathed. He just needed to brush his teeth after Gaara was done.

Naruto spent his time waiting making sure all of his weapons were sharp and clean, and checking to make sure he had clothes for the next day. When he heard the bathroom door open, he rushed out, only to stop and blink at the image before him.

Gaara was not used to wearing pajamas. He still hadn't become used to the idea of sleeping, nor was he comfortable with it. All those years spent in fear of releasing Shukaku had created a habit that was nearly impossible to break. With a frown, he glared at himself in the mirror before walking out of the room. He still didn't like water much. He was used to being surrounded by sand, and water made his sand all but useless. It turned to mud, and was heavier, and less versatile. He felt weak when wet. Reaching up, he rubbed vigorously at his hair before pulling the towel off to look at the blonde walking up to him. Then he noticed the young man's clenched jaw and twitching lips, and the way the boy was looking at him.

"What?" Naruto burst out in laughter as soon as the word escaped the Kazekage's lips. He couldn't help it! When the young man had removed the towel from his hair, the red spikes had fluffed out, giving him the look of a fluffy kitten or something equally cute. Matched with his stoic features, it looked as though he had a creature resting on his head, rather than it being his real hair.

Naruto held up a hand before going into the bathroom and coming back with a comb, which he used to begin trying to tame the fluffy mass. After a while, the spikes were better tamed and looked more normal, though the sand-nin himself seemed a bit in shock. He continued to stand there, even as Naruto bounced into the bathroom and began brushing his teeth.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, the young man walked into the room where he was to sleep, looking at the rolled-up futon and the low bed nearby. He glared at the futon for putting him in his newest predicament. Of course, he was expected to sleep while staying with Naruto, and of course, the young man had already told Gaara that the futon was for Naruto, since "as Kazekage, you get the privilege of using my bed!" But now, he had to wonder... Where would the futon go? How close it was situated to the bed would designate how comfortable the blonde felt in his presence, and he found himself hoping that the futon would be closer to the bed.

A soft and nervous laugh was heard behind him, and he turned to look at his friend.

"Um... Where do you think I should set up the futon? I don't know how much room you'd like to have... I mean, you're not used to sleeping, I know, and I don't want you to feel threatened..." He looked anywhere but at the red-head, a faint blush on his face. Gaara looked at the bed before sitting on it, arms crossed as he turned his intent look on his friend.

"Place it wherever you want. I know you won't hurt me." How Gaara could say something like that without blushing, Naruto had no idea. With a nod, he carried the futon to a place close enough to the bed that he could reach out and poke Gaara, but far enough that there would be no worry of being stepped on in the morning. He was lucky his bed was pretty low to the ground already. This placement earned a nod of approval from the Kage, who watched as his friend made up the futon and climbed in, looking up at him.

"So do you wanna tell stories or something before going to sleep?"

Gaara's mind raced, trying to think of one to tell, but finally gave up. "You do it. I can't tell stories."

With a nod, the blonde launched into yet another one of his famous tales.

---

Outside of the apartment, black clothes helping him to hide in the shadows, a young Uchiha focused red eyes on the scene through the window. He owed Naruto his life, no matter how much he didn't like it, he always honored his debts. So he had sent the Kazekage's guards off to search the perimeter, with the strictest instructions that, if he sees any of them near the blonde's apartment, he'll kill them. He had already decided to kill anyone who tried to harm the young shinobi.

Cursing himself and his honor, the Uchiha went back to the task of watching the two friends, again thankful the girls had left over half an hour ago. He didn't feel like dealing with females right now. He was too busy trying to protect a blonde idiot and his red-headed crush.

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Well! Another scene with my favorite character! Sure, he doesn't get to talk much, but he should be showing up more often! I hope! And I do hope to update soon!