Pairings: See previous chapter

Warnings: See previous chapter

Disclaimer: Again see previous chapter

(A/N Omg its like the new year and I'm just now updating what is wrong with me. I know everyone must hate me but my new year's resolution is to update and complete all my fics lol I made up a schedule and everything I might post it later but for now let's get to the fic)

Chapter 10: Separated But Not Apart

Gaara sighed inaudibly. He was the only able to hear the sound as he was sitting apart from the campsite set up by his companions. They were camped out in the middle of dark, damp, and disgusting swamp. They were there to find some shaman that no one had seen in over forty years. Sometimes Gaara wondered if the fate of the world was worth all this crap. He had to travel long, boring if not somewhat uneventful trips to find old geezers that may or may not exist.

The worst part about it was that he had to be separated from the one person he felt he truly cared about.

His new companion seemed to be fine people. Dare he think that he might actually be fond of them. But it'd be a little on the untruthful side to say that he cared for them. This thought alone brought to mind his siblings. 'I wonder how Temari's doing her wound hadn't completely healed when we set out on this journey.' In turn this feeling of slight concern brought with it the worry he felt over his love. 'Naruto…' His fist clenched hard as he felt the separation hit him hard. Unbeknownst to him was that his power was rising and an invisible breeze churned his hair as his angry grew.

He was so caught up in the feeling that he hadn't noticed when someone had snuck up on him and clasped his shoulder in their hand. He looked up immediately with his eyes wide and almost unseeing. "Gaara…are you okay?" Kazuma's voice loomed in the air. Everyone else had taken noticed but knew of Gaara's dislike of intimacy and so opted to let Kazuma try to calm the red head nerves, well either that or get killed.

"What's he think he's doing?" Shikamaru asked silently. Shikamaru sighed as he watched Kazuma try to console Gaara. He felt that Kazuma should've just left him alone. Sometimes you needed some time to yourself, and that's what Shikamaru had figured Gaara was trying to do; simply get some alone. Little did he know that, that particular theory was way off.

"Is there something you want?" Gaara asked quietly. He didn't really want to be bother but he also didn't want to be rude since he knew that Naruto wouldn't like him being rude to his lifelong friend.

"Nothing in particular, no. I just sort of thought maybe you wanted some company." Kazuma replied just as quiet. "You mind?"

"Not really, no." Gaara said looking up at the boy before he sat down next to Gaara. It was quiet each of their silent nature taking hold of the situation. Kazuma collapsed before long and he laid on his back. He stared straight up at the sky that was partially blocked out by the canopy of trees above. The many star twinkled lit up the sky just enough the give it a wondrously mysterious glow. He bet the many children would be making wishes tonight.

Kazuma exhaled before saying "You miss him huh?"

Gaara turned to the boy a little startled that he had actually spoken. They had both been so quiet that Gaara had gone off in his own thoughts and forgotten that there was someone there with him. "Who?" came his small voice but deep voice.

"Naruto of course" the tanned skinned lad replied the smallest hint of a smile causing his lips to twitch upward.

"Yes I do." was the only thing that came out of Gaara's mouth. Gaara had a few moment to wonder what the other's point was in asking such a blatantly obvious question.

"I know a way you can talk to him if you want." Kazuma stated in a hushed tone.

Again Gaara didn't speak. He was silent listening to the sounds of the swamp around them. He asked hesitantly "How would I go about doing that?"

"There's a spell I know I can teach it to you." Kazuma smiled, it was friendly and unguarded. Gaara's face was expressionless, then he replied with a simple 'okay'

"Well it's really simple. All you need is a little concentration and your reflection." Kazuma said in explanatory tone.

"I don't have a mirror or anything of that nature." Gaara reasoned softly.

"Ah…that is a problem." Kazuma went silent for a few seconds, then his face lit up as if he had just thought of something brilliant. "We'll use water!" He sat up and focused his eyes on a nearby puddle of murky water. He squinted and the water rose from the ground dancing in the air as if alive. "It's kinda dirty." he muttered and squinted once more and the dirt and muck in the water filtered out of the dancing water and fell to the ground in a small pile of grime. The water drifted over to float in front of Gaara's face. It was clear and Gaara could see his vivid reflection.

"Now, what am I supposed to do?" he questioned the boy controlling the water.

"Look into the eyes of your reflection and concentrate think hard about talking to Naruto. It may take a minute or two but I'm sure it'll work." Kazuma said to the red head. Gaara nodded.

He stared into his own pale green eyes and thought of Naruto's deep blue eyes. He concentrated his whole mind on wanting see Naruto, to talk to him, take in his scent, feel the soft skin of his body. He suddenly felt the pull of magic and power pool itself in his stomach. It whirled around violently and he thought he was going to be sick. The power flowing from his middle to his head. His eyes were no longer seeing the swamp, his reflection, or anything around him for that matter. For a moment all his saw was darkness before a light appeared on the edge of his vision. He turned to see Naruto there standing in this sea of darkness.

"Naruto…?" He asked quietly.

"Gaara?" Naruto asked in replied. "What?! How are we here?! And where the hell is here anyway?" he continued.

Gaara walked over to Naruto and shook his head. He embraced the smaller boy not caring about the details of what was happening at the moment. He felt Naruto wrap his arms around him. Naruto pressed his face into the chest of the taller boy. He could felt the muscled form tighten a little around him. His face burned with a blush as he looked up at Gaara with big blue eyes. "Gaara what's going on?" he asked silently.

"It's a spell I believe." Gaara replied quietly burying his face in Naruto's hair.

"Ah, must be Kazuma's doing. Mirror to the Soul spell that Haku taught he and Aiko." Naruto surmised.

Meanwhile

Shino remained silent as Shikamaru announced that he was off to bed. The pony-tailed crawled into his tent, leaving only Hinata and Shino together. The two were quiet and it was awkward, which was weird in itself considering that they had never had a problem communicating with each other in the past. They'd grown up together along Kiba. They had always been able to talk to each other. But now for some reason they couldn't so much utter a single word. They hadn't really talked much after the incident in the hall way. Shino had been inconspicuously avoiding Hinata. This was the reason Hinata had cheated to get on the same team as Shino. She wanted to find out what it was that she had done to upset.

She wracked her brain for things to say but couldn't think of a anything. The weight of silence was heavy. Soon it became too much for the young guardian to handle. "I'm sorry!" She cried in her soft feminine. "I'm so sorry Shino…" she said with he eyes closed. She figured even if she didn't know what she had done she should apologize for upsetting her lifelong friend.

"What exactly are you apologizing for Hina-chan?" Shino asked quietly. It had surprised him greatly when Hinata had suddenly started spewing apologies into the air. He couldn't think of anything that she would need to apologize to him about.

"I want your forgiveness for whatever I've done to make upset with me." she said head bowed and eyes still closed. "Please…forgive me. I cant stand you not talking to me." she said silent but audibly.

"Hina-chan….I wasn't….I just…" Shino fell silent as he didn't quite know how to explain why he had been avoiding her. "It's just that I cant stand to be around you" tears stung the back of her eyes he said this. "That is to say that I cant be around you without thinking about wanting to kiss you, to touch, to know that you like me as much as I like you. I could never be upset with you Hinata. I just didn't want to lose control and do something I may have regretted." Shino finished explaining as a very rare tint of pink coated itself onto his face. Hinata's eyes had shot open when he finished what he had said.

"Shino…I don't know what to say." She said. She knew somewhere in her mind that Shino had been crushing on her but decided to never confront him on it for fear that by some foul twist of fate that she was wrong and that Shino wasn't interested in her at all. Knowledge of something like that would hurt far too much.

"Say that you…want to…be with me." He said slowly. He couldnt identify the weird feelings he was experiencing at this point. On the very rare occasions that Shino talked, it was never hard for him to just say what he had to say. Some people would define him as blunt but he just didn't like to beat around the bush. But now his face was burning, his heart was pounding in his chest and it felt like that very same heart and jumped into his throat. This choked up awkward feeling, it was one he couldn't put a name on but if he had to he would say that it was, love.

"Shino, I want…I do want to be with you." Shino stood after Hinata soft reply. He walked around the fire and planted himself next to her. She stared at him and he stared back before his lips captured hers in a soft kiss.

End of Chapter

Well there you have it I know its not the best chapter I've written but I felt like we were getting a little caught up in the fantasy and forgetting about the romance. Anyway yeah I really like Shinohina moment there lol. Sorry if the update was horrible but I felt I had to do it. So I do hope you at least found it interesting next chapter will definitely be longer and up sooner than this one. Again looking for a beta but until then I'm editing this myself so I'll have to fix mistakes later. ) ja ne until next update guys.