Chapter 10: Bloods thicker than wine

Naruto's POV

I enter the café with a thoughtful look on my face. I'm still trying to get some clue as to what's eating at Gaara. I guess his job is just becoming to stressful. That's probably all, no big deal. I nod my head to reassure myself.

"Naruto!" Sakura runs up to me in a panic. "Oh I'm so sorry, I can't believe Sai would just—Ahh!"

I stare at the pink haired girl blankly, as she fists her hair. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? I though Sai showed Gaara the magazine," She mutters out. "I'm really sorry I guess Sai didn't see any harm in answering some questions…but…" Sakura doesn't finish her sentence and I'm really starting to get pissed.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Luckily there aren't any customers in yet.

Sakura lets out a sigh and ask me to come sit down. I look around to see if Ino's here yet. She's not, which is good cause she'd probably only bitch at use to get to work. I take a seat and look into Sakura's bright green eyes, expecting an explanation, and quick!

"Well while you were gone, some people from this art magazine came to talk to us. They had some questions. I wasn't about to answer them, but Sai was happy to," Sakura says plainly, as if this would clear everything up.

"So, what does this mean?" Sakura reaches into her oversized purse and pulls out a magazine. She flips it open to a very large article, the page is red. She scoots it over for me so I can read it.

His muse Reveled!

Ever since the young artist know as Gaara Sabaku as come on the scene we've always wonder what's made him tick. He's a very private man completely committed and focus on his art. Some questions are always ignored or answered vaguely by the very talented young man. Giving him a mysterious sex appeal. However, Sabaku is only human, and every human has inspiration, and of course relationships.

After talking to some of his fellow classmates we found out very little about him. So we looked for a new source; his family. Not much, until now, was know about his family. It seems they are very distant, and his father refused to talk to us, along with his sister. However, we where lucky enough to speak with his older brother, who gave us some insight into the workings of Gaara's mind.

"He was always creepy and fascinated with weird things. He turned everything gruesome into art, it was rather disturbing," Kankuro (Mr. Sabaku's brother) tells us. "We went to the same high school, my father though it would have a good influence on him. He continued drawing, and was praised for it. I don't' know much about art, but I guess he has talent. I remember there was this one blonde kid that always stuck around. I found out later that the little blonde kid was his boyfriend!"

It's not surprising to think that a blonde had so much influence on the young artist. After all it's blatantly clear he fancies them. However we are surprised to find out that his taste for horror and blondes runs deeper. When we returned to the Sabaku home, we were finally able to convince Gaara's father to give us a few words.

"My son is disturbed. I tried my best, but he has an obsessive personality. There were plenty of times I questions my sons paintings…." The artist's father hesitated. " He's seen some tragic things when he was younger. He developed a strange obsession with blood. Some of the paintings that scared me the most were painted in his own blood."

A surprising statement. Though we haven't seen any of these allege paintings; it's not too hard to believe. We do not know much about this tragic event, senior Sabaku will not speak of it. However we found out about the unfortunate death of Gaara's uncle, who also had blonde hair. Sandy dirty blonde, but blonde none the less. Was this a trigger?

The more we searched for Sabaku's inspiration, the more complex he became. However a fellow artist, shed some light upon his relationship with a mysterious blonde boy. The artist requested we do not state his name.

"I've seen him with his boyfriend. The kids really cute actually." We ask the artist if he knew the name. Seeing as Kankuro was unable to recall it. "Yeah hard to forget. His names Naruto."

So could this boy be the muse that Gaara spoke of finding? It's entirely possibly, seeing as they were separated in high school. With this new insight on the artist life, you can ponder about his state of mind. If the blood paintings are real or not, his uncle's death is, and that could have started Sabaku's theme. Or possibly it is this boy named Naruto that is the sole reason for his art. After all our sources say that this Naruto was painted in many of Sabaku's paintings.

We can say in all certainty the muse that Mr. Sabaku spoke of is, Naruto Uzimaki. The angelic blonde featured in many of Gaara's gruesome pictures.

"Why…why would they go so out of their way just to dig up dirt on Gaara?" I sigh out hopelessly.

"I'm sorry Naruto." Sakura reaches out her hand for me. "You know how the media is, once you make a lot of money they want to make you look bad. I mean look at poor Brittany Spears."

"But…this is different! It's not like he's a movie star! It's not like he was at some wild party and got drunk and drove home and got arrested! He's just doing his job and wants to live in peace, and now these people are putting their noses where it doesn't belong!" I can't help but be passionate about this. Mainly because I want my anger to block out any thoughts of my mother. I don't want to compare the two situations right now. I don't' want to think that this article that has printed my name, has damaged Gaara's reputation in any way.

"I'm sure it'll blow over. I mean that whole thing about the blood is just crazy. Is obvious his old man doesn't like him," Sakura points out. I don't say anything, just hand the magazine back to her.

"I'm taking a sick day," I say and take off my apron.

"Gaara open up," I knock on the door again, and Gaara opens up in an instant. I stand in front of him with my hands on my hips.

"Something wrong?" There's a glitter of worry shining in his eyes, but the rest of him is blank.

"Why didn't you tell me? You know this affects me too, they printed my fucking name!"

Gaara doesn't even pretend to be confused, instead steps aside to let me into his apartment. "Let's talk about this inside," he explains in a monotone voice.

I let myself drop down on the couch, and look at Gaara expectantly. He shuts off the TV, which was running, and sits next to me.

"I was going to tell you."

"When!?" I snap. I'm not really this angry with Gaara; I'm more disappointed. But, the article is what's got my blood boiling. The fact that they wanted to find some sort of dirt, and that Gaara's dad just blurted out whatever the hell he felt like saying! It's not fair that I'm letting my anger out on Gaara, so I try to calm myself.

Gaara on the other hand doesn't need to calm himself, since he's keeping his cool. "Tomorrow or the day after next," he explains. "I knew you'd overreact, because of the stress you've been holding in from the trip to your town."

"Overreact?" I say feeling a little insulted.

"I just didn't think it was necessary to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because you would only start thinking about you mother," Gaara says in a monotone voice. I become silent, but try to block out any comparisons.

"So what are you going to do?"

"My manger's set up an interview with a rival magazine," my red head says softly.

"And what are you going to say?"

"The truth," he says simply.

"Are you sure? I mean journalists will nag you, and who knows what'll happen. You know how crazy people are."

"If you're not comfortable with it, I'll deny your name."

I look Gaara straight in the eye, and feel a little guilty. I'm scared, and worried. "What about your reputation?"

"If anything will taint that, then it's my blood paintings. After all it's sort of expected for artist to be homosexual," Gaara reassures me. I look at my hands, and rub them together.

"I wish you would have told me. Didn't you trust me?" I change the subject slightly.

"I told you, I didn't want you to overreact," Gaara sighs out. I get up of the couch. Gaara's eyes follow me but he doesn't speak. I need some time to be alone.

"Naruto?" I linger, waiting for Gaara to speak. "I wanted to ask you to come to the interview with me. But I can always deny your name."

I rub my arm. It's not that I'm ashamed of my sexuality, and I'm certainly not ashamed of Gaara. I'm just ashamed of myself. I really do have low self-esteem, even if I try to hide it with a smile. Even if I want to believe in myself, and tell myself that I'm worthy of Gaara, to go public…to have world judge me. I don't know if I can do that.

"I…I don't' know…I need some time to think," I turn around and give Gaara a smile. I hope he understand, it's not him, it's me.

Gaara's POV

I should have told him, but I didn't, and I can't change that. He knows now, and he seems pretty upset. I knew he would react like this, but I'm not going to force him to stay here. I value the time I have alone, and he needs his own time now. I will also not make him come with me to my scheduled interview. However, I've told him I'm not going to lie. I may censor his name but I will not deny my sexuality. It's hardly anything to be ashamed of.

I sit on my couch again and turn on the TV. I wonder how this will affect our relationship. Or how it will affect my life as a whole. I doubt I'll be dealing with photographers as much as a movie star has to. However anything can get out of hand, if people want it to. No, I don't' believe my life will change that much. I will just do my interview and set things straight. I'm not going to lie my way out of a situation. Let society judge me, I never cared about their opinion.

I open my door and am happy to see Naruto. I'm getting ready for my interview. My nymph hadn't shown up yesterday, and though it worried me I didn't seek him out.

"Gaara do you still have that interview?" he questions in a low voice. I nod. "Well…if you're sure, then..I'll go with you."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to."

Naruto walks past me and sits down, I sit down next to him. "I'm not really sure what I want to do." He pauses, and I wait for him to continue. "I want to support you, but I'm afraid by doing that I would be ruining you at the same time."

"You think to deeply into these things," I mumble out.

Naruto's azure eyes look at me, and a droopy smile hangs on his lips. He's covering up his discomfort and insecurity. "Maybe, but what will people sa—"

"Why do you hang on so tightly to people's opinion?" Naruto looks at his hands.

"I don't' know, I just do. I don't want to be bothered by them, I don't want to have to listen to their constant put-downs. I've had enough of that."

"Then I'll tell them the name they printed was false."

"No!" Naruto is torn. "No, I can't just… It wouldn't be fair to you if I just hide away."

"It doesn't matter," I say. However the words came out somewhat wrong, I can see by the annoyed expression on Naruto's face.

"So you don't care if I'm hiding? It would be like I'm ashamed of you, and you don't care?"

"It's not that," I try to explain. "It's your opinion that matters. I can deal with peoples stupidity," I have thicker skin then Naruto does. Words and people do not mater to me. However Naruto sucks them up like a sponge. "Remember we talked about this before. About people recognizing you from my paintings. I told you then I could care less what people thought."

Naruto's smile becomes the familiar and beautiful smile I am use to seeing. "I guess you were right, I overreacted, because of the time we spent in my old town," he admits. "I'm still a little scared though. I mean this is really happening, we're not just talking about it. I might..we might get a lot of attention because of this."

"I know, that's why I asked you if you want me to say the name was a mistake."

"No…I think I'm gonna have to suck it up, and just come with you to that interview." I nod, and look at the watch I just put on before Naruto arrived. My manager should be coming here any minute. He insisted that we should drive in the same vehicle to the interview. I had no objections, it sounded reasonable. However the information I will reveal in the interview might not sit well with my manger. That doesn't matter though, I make my own decision, I'm not his puppet. Naruto leans on my shoulder.

"The interview is going to be in half a hour," I tell him.

"Great…I look like shit.." He mutters out, and lifts his head from my shoulder. He gets up and looks himself over. Faded jeans that have a tear in them near his knee. Orange sneakers, and an orange Reese's Pieces shirt, with a black jacket over it. The black jacket as a large orange swirl on the back, and on the breast.

"You look fine," I say plainly. It's not important to look outstanding. I much rather see Naruto in this, then a suit, or collar shirt.

Naruto's eyebrow lifts and his eyes study me. "Compared to you I don't." He says. I have on a black collar shirt with a white outline of an hourglass and swirls on it. Also a red tie, and red pants, which are somewhat tight on me. I have three belts hanging from my hip, and a chain going from my front pocket to may back.

"You look fine," I repeat, and Naruto flops on the couch with a sigh.

"Every bodies going to think I'm a slob. Are they going to take picture? Oh my god I hope not," Naruto begins to rant, and starts to worry himself.

"You're doing it again," I point out.

"Well one of us has to care about our public appearance," Naruto defenses.

"You look great," I say updating the last word in hopes that it will have a better affect on him.

"You really think so?" Naruto question, and rest his head on my shoulder again. I nod my head. Finally Naruto seems satisfied. "Aren't you just a little bit afraid of telling everybody the truth?"

"I try not to make a big deal out of it," I mutter out.

Naruto nods, "I guess it'll be fine." It's relaxing to have Naruto so close, and I am grateful that he's coming to the interview with me. I didn't want to hide him away.

Naruto's' POV

I'm very nervous about this, but I want to support Gaara. I'm not going to think about my parents or anything, this is different. I guess it didn't' help to hear these kind of news just after coming back form thanksgiving. That town always changes me for a moment, makes me insecure, before I can get my mask up again and start fighting against the negative thoughts. But it'll be fine. I reach for Gaara's hand. As long as we don't leave each other to face this alone, it'll be fine.

Wanting to gain even more reassurance I come in close to kiss Gaara. Maybe to steal some of his strength, and confidence. He doesn't protest and lets our lips touch. His hand comes up to hold my face, I know he understand why I need this right now. I wrap my arms around his waist, and our kiss becomes deeper. We pull each other in, our tongues speak for use, and they say 'not again.' I know what those two words mean, and I do not want to be separated form Gaara again. We can't let a little trouble rip us apart, that's not what a relationship is about. You stand by each other through the good and the bad. You complete each other, you can't hope to accomplish something very important with only half of yourself.

The doorbell rings, and Gaara pulls away slowly. My eyes flutter open partially, already I miss his lips. But, I know that I can recapture them anytime; after we're done taking care of business. Gaara kisses the edge of my mouth softly, one last reassuring gesture. He then gets up to answer the door.

I can hear voices, mumbling about something. I get up, but then decided against going to see what's happening.. Then he calls for me. "Naruto."

I walk towards the front door, and see a man in a business suit. "This is my manger," Gaara introduces him. I reach out my hand to greet him, but the man seems dumbfounded.

"This has got to be a joke, right? So you're telling me that article was true?"

I let my hand drop, and glare at the man a little. What an ass! Then he attempts to put a smile on his face, and reaches out for my hand, and shakes it. "Well it's not all bad, if you inspire Gaara, then I should thank you. You're boyfriend's my best worker."

"Thanks…" I guess. I feel a little awkward around this guy, but I only have to put up with him for today.

"Well lets get going then." He announces.

A/N: I wanted to save the interview for next chapter.