A/N: Alright everyone! The time has come sadly to inform you all that I will not be continuing G.A.A.R.A.
I've always considered myself more of an artist than a writer. I am currently working on my own comic and it's been so long since I've last updated this fic that I don't really remember what I've written, some of it I remember wanting to rewrite because I didn't like how it turned out or wanted to improve it, and I honestly feel that I don't have a firm grasp on the character's personalities or psyches anymore. And seeing as how LONG this fic was and I still had 6 chapters left to write… I can't do it any form of justice, but for closure I decided I would post what I had written for this next chapter and then the basic plot points for the rest of the story so you can imagine how it would have ended.
So sorry to keep you in the dark on it, I was kinda holding onto the hope that maybe someday I'd return to it, but I'm being realistic here now.
Thank you ALL for your support and critiques! It was good fun while it lasted and I really appreciated all your comments + faves. Made me feel really special
If you decide to read the little bit of fic and plot points, I hope you enjoy where I was going to bring the story.
Take care everyone!
000
It was a while before either of them moved, choosing to sit in the silence that was no longer the uncomfortable environment that it was earlier that day.
The soothing and relaxing feeling that the two shared when with one another, was once again present.
Everything just felt right.
Just right.
Despite the current darkness of the sky, the night was still young. The fake fire lights waned from the heavens only to return at another festive season. The low murmur of the crowd, now settled from the finale of their day, echoed through the valley of individually unique rooftops that is Konoha.
Blue eyes continued to stare at the sky, trapped in a haze of euphoria caused by the entrancing display. The slight smoke cleared from the clear night, the stars coming back into focus in the surrounding area.
Naruto blinked once. Then twice.
It was here that he felt his heart beat again, his body pulsing with chakra and his stomach churning with food. It always amazed him how fireworks could pull him from all realities like that. It was like nothing in the world existed except for himself and those beautiful lights and that joyously fleeting sound.
But now he was aware again that he was not alone with these lights since they were already gone and he was accompanied by another individual whose attention was over-apparently on himself.
Naruto turned his head to see Gaara staring at him again, wondering what was going through those green orbs.
He had given Gaara three weeks to try and steal his heart in some way. They would be three long weeks.
He felt his eyes narrow a bit and he leaned his face closer, locking eyes with the sea foam one's of his "boyfriends'." A slight tug at his lips gave him the appearance of someone scrutinizing a crime scene.
If he would be spending three long, agonizing weeks with his painfully quiet friend, he was going to have to study up on his Eyerish, a rare language he discovered Gaara was fluent in. He had to learn to read those eyes better...
Gaara had neither enjoyed the fireworks, nor disliked them. It caused him to wonder if perhaps Naruto had not given him such an ultimatum would he have had more of an opinion on the miniature explosions.
Instead he was subject to flitting between thoughts of how Konoha's fireworks display, full of unabashed festiveness, was vastly different than those of Suna's more formal presentation and the agonizing three weeks he would be spending with Naruto.
His fragile, still developing, still explorative mind could only take so much time with the blonde as it was. This thought crossed his mind as said blonde drew his face closer to Gaara's in what Gaara assumed was a challenge of some sort, but he was not sure if it was directed at Gaara or Naruto himself.
He was torn now. On one hand, he was light. Slightly jittery as he could feel the tips of his fingers twitch faintly in some sort of anticipation. He was excited. He could feel it without a doubt.
He knew what excitement felt like from his darker times of not too long ago. But this was different somehow... He didn't have that feeling like he was about to hyperventilate. No, not that kind of excitement... He was...
Happy?
He supposed that was it... he was just really happy. The thought caused him to sink into himself slightly. He wanted to smile, he really did. It just didn't happen. He wasn't that happy yet.
On the other hand he felt a headache starting to form on the furthest corners of his brain. How on earth was he supposed to get Naruto to love him in return?
He had somehow earned his friendship, that he was certain of. But love?
He had spent so long... So many heart clawing years to gain love... Any form of love. A love that he found he could only give to himself, he had once told the small child he protected within himself that still desperately clung to the notion that there had to be someone else out there for him. Someone that would care about his existence in a positive light.
And then he got one. Albeit Naruto would not have been his first choice in friend had he been given the chance to pick from a line of people, however he was not going to be choosy. He had grasped at whatever he was allowed. And he even came to love it, somehow.
And he supposed he was on the road to gaining two more. His siblings came to mind.
... But after twelve years?
... He fought the urge to bite his lip, resulting in a slight brow furrow.
... How was he to make Naruto love him in three weeks? He didn't even fully understand the feelings himself. He just knew he loved Naruto.
He loved him. That was why he would endure this awful psyche torture and try.
He would try harder than he had ever tried to do anything in his life. Try harder than when he tried to hold onto any last string of fiber that would keep him sane after Yashamaru's betrayal. Harder than when he tried to prove his own existence against Naruto.
His eyelids squinted slightly as he sifted through his thoughts, coming to a temporary conclusion. It was something he had been working on as of recent, to try and control his bursts of rage and confusion. They, as he supposed were correct, were not seen as approachable features of his. If he wanted to become somebody that was loved by others, somebody that was recognized as a human, somebody like the Kazekage... it was something that needed to be changed.
Thus leading him down the road of attempting to sort through his thoughts rationally, as calmly as he could. Taking a single feeling and breaking it down and coming to "temporary conclusions" was the method he was currently seeking refuge in.
Naruto frowned. He thought he had seen a brief flicker of happiness and he could only narcissistically, though truthfully, assume it was directed towards himself. Then there was the hardened look of resolve that crossed the red head's features that threw him off. Where had that come from?
"Gah! Whatever!" frustrated at his broken "Eyerish" skills, Naruto animatedly threw his hands into the air and resituated them behind his back, leaning on them, an upturn of the lips still planted on his face.
Gone was the simple silence where neither of them felt the need to talk.
Gaara's mouth tightened in the corner and his hairless brows creased slightly at Naruto's reaction. He had no idea what caused it, but Naruto did not seem particularly at ease. Before he could dwell on the outburst Naruto turned to him and smiled weakly.
"How'd you like the fireworks?"
Gaara answered true to the one thing that he did know the answer to. A slight shrug of the shoulders and Naruto sighed.
Yes. Three long three weeks.
He had his doubts that Gaara could pull this off. He told himself he had to stay open minded, he was after all the one that put the Suna Genin up to the test.
He stood up with a small grunt and brushed off his yukata roughly, adjusting the collar slightly. He had left it open wide enough so that a large expanse of his chest could be seen with the intention of impressing Sakura, but now it was slipping a little too much, threatening to slip lower than his seal.
Gaara watched Naruto stand, pat himself off, and extend a rough and calloused hand towards him.
Gaara stared at the hand for a second before hesitantly slipping his fingers into the grasp that hoisted him harshly and suddenly to his feet. It was not very graceful, but to his defense he had not expected his boyfriend to pull him up quite so suddenly.
As a ninja however, he managed to recover the slight stumble by merely putting a foot out to stop himself from any embarrassing motions.
He didn't even have time to shoot Naruto a small glare as the blonde's bright orange back was already retreating back down to the dirt streets of Konoha.
"Come on, we should get going!"
Gaara followed behind Naruto to the bottom of the house where the blonde was waiting for him, staring at the retreating crowd. People walked into houses, some carrying children, others carrying their drunken partners, some carrying each other.
Naruto let out a bittersweet smile.
How many festivals had he attended and watched the same? Always wishing that someone would be beside him like that one day?
Finally he did. He had lots of people that would retreat with him that night. The soft touch of feet touching the ground behind him reminded him that he would even have someone to walk home with tonight too.
He was suddenly really happy to have Gaara there with him and he caught the other off guard by turning around and flashing him a radiant smile that was returned with a blank stare, but he didn't care now.
It was another thing that Gaara envied about Naruto, how his demeanor could fluctuate from one emotion to the next and for the blonde to still be stable.
"Let's go home," he didn't need to say it. It just felt good to say it to someone else. It made him giddy inside, though he wasn't about to go explain himself to Gaara. Instead he began walking slowly in the direction of home, changing his pace every so often so that he was beside Gaara, not in front of him as the other ninja had a tendency to subconsciously follow and not walk next to.
"NARUTO!" that voice. Naruto felt the goose bumps rise up on his neck and he prayed silently that there was some other Naruto that the owner of the voice would be yelling at. His name wasn't that unique, right?
His ninja skills seemed to fail him as Sakura ran up behind him and gave him a good pound to the head, causing him to fall down, her eyes full of rage.
Gaara merely stepped to the side, gracefully moving out of the pathway of the raging kunoichi watching the scene unfold and letting the brief curiosity of what the blonde could have done to deserve such a reaction from his teammate float through his ever thought filled head.
It was the second time in one night he had witnessed such an act of uncalled for violence from Naruto's teammate. Though Naruto's demeanor seemed to waiver in these times he did note that never once did the blonde look truly upset by the actions, nor did he look particularly surprised as if this were a daily interaction between the two...
Sakura picked Naruto back up to his knees, their faces close enough that Naruto could feel her sweet warm breath on his face. Even though in his dreams he might have imagined to be so close to his childhood love, in these circumstances it is not what he would have wished for.
"Where were you?! You said you would watch the fireworks with us!" She wasn't actually as angry at Naruto as her words, tone, and actions insinuated. While Naruto was off having what she assumed was a "romantic night under the sky" with Gaara, her own situation bared its ugly face to her and put her in a relatively bitter mood.
Seeing Naruto and remembering his promise to meet together for the fireworks and his failure to fulfill that promise was just adding fuel to the fire.
Ino noted the blank stare on Gaara's face at his boyfriend being attacked both physically and verbally. She wasn't sure what his stance on the assault was, but he was definitely interested in it as that is where his gaze was aimed.
Every time she saw Gaara her mind couldn't help, but wander to the fact that Naruto and Gaara were together. As an item. She was inadvertently seeing pictures in her mind of them holding hands and on a more shocking level, kissing.
She had been trying to block these images from her mind since the discovery. It wasn't that it disturbed her more as it was she didn't understand it. Especially Naruto. He was always head over heels for Sakura and to suddenly see him with someone else, let alone a guy...
She supposed she was happy for them.
It was just shocking.
She put on a mild smile and moved up to the silent red head, shaking the images from her mind, willing to fill him in on Naruto's current dilemma.
"Don't worry, Billboard-brow here is just upset, because everyone was walking around as a couple and she was feeling jealous," she informed him. She added while waving her hand a bit to show her nonchalance to the abuse occurring in the street, "Besides, Naruto's pretty resilient to this kind of treatment." She added a bit and stuck out her tongue in a cute yet snarky manner.
Gaara originally wasn't sure as to who this girl whose name still escapes him was referring to as "Billboard-brow." He assumed she was talking about the pink haired Genin in their presence. He let his eyes shift slightly to her brow-line and now took notice of the wide expanse of skin that was her forehead and could kind of see how the cruel nickname came about.
"What did you say? Eh, Ino-pig?" Sakura's anger suddenly redirected at her long haired blonde friend.
Gaara also took note that being referred to as a "pig" also seemed to be just as cruel a name. He thought these two were friends...
He frowned a bit as he concluded his assumption must have been wrong or there was some sort of terrible mix of loves and hatreds mixed into bonds that he has not yet been exposed to. It would take years of experience to help him understand this sort of thing if that were the case.
"Hey Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice brought Gaara back from his thoughts. The kunoichi's face lost all anger at the mention of her name in such a voice, the aggression of the moment forgotten.
"Are you going to visit Sasuke tonight?" Naruto's face had a twinge of pain on it that did not go unnoticed in the slightest by his red headed companion. Gaara wanted to question the fleeting emotion, but kept his mouth shut, joining the female blonde in their presence who also seemed to become a bystander in the conversation meant for the two teammates. Said blonde had a furrow in her brow and a worried look on her face that seemed to clue in that she had some idea of what they were talking about, leaving Gaara completely out of the loop.
Sakura nodded with a straight face. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and put on a smile that wasn't as bright in comparison to his other ones.
"Good. I meant to stop by so he wouldn't be alone tonight, but..." Naruto trailed off and his gaze wandered to Gaara. Sakura followed the pitiful look watching his boyfriend blink back at him as their eyes caught.
Sakura looked back and forth between the two furiously as she watched the tension between the two grow in their unspoken conversation which reminded her precisely of the fact that she was romantically alone tonight (the reason of which she was previously angry).
She grabbed Naruto by the yukata collar and thrust him towards Gaara, the orange clad ninja caught off guard stumbled forward towards his boyfriend. A length of sand appeared seemingly out of nowhere and caught the boy before he could do anything such as topple the red head over.
"Get a room you two and do whatever love birds do!" Sakura clapped her hands together as if dusting them off and turned on her heel to leave. Naruto flushed immediately at the comment bestowed upon their ears and he turned around to argue with the pinkette only to be faced with a smile that was absolutely beautiful with what he was sure of was an underlying sense of dangerous.
The hint she was giving him was clear as day to him and he remembered that she was not privy to the knowledge that he was not breaking it off with Gaara like she was insisting he do before the Suna ninja's heart was broken. He had gone a different route. He would have to tell her about it later...
Ino frowned at her friends' back and started after her.
"Really?" She turned around about midway between her best friend and the couple to give a quick wave. "It was good seeing you again Gaara-kun. Good luck, Naruto!" A final wink and she was gone, her voice becoming raspy as she yelled catching up with Sakura. Small words about how Sakura was not going to go see Sasuke without her could be heard as the jinchuuriki pair watched their retreating backs.
Naruto could only sigh, still flustered by Sakura's comment and was only thankful that the population of Konoha's streets was far less congested as it was earlier. He turned an apologetic look to Gaara in case his companion had felt any form of embarrassment by the sudden interaction.
He was unfortunately met by a stare of confusion and somehow he felt that he should dread this one in particular as Gaara seemed to fumble for the words to convey his question.
"What exactly do... 'love birds' do?"
Naruto was sure he died internally and he took off running to his apartment, ruffling his hair at the unfortunate circumstances that he be blessed with such a naiive partner. A slight wail trailed his quickly retreating body.
Gaara did not think much of the fact that Naruto ran away from him and caught up to the blonde who seemed a little more back into sorts as he climbed the steps to his humble apartment.
(A/N: That is as far as I had written up to for this chapter. The rest is just broken down bits of plot elements for the rest of the story so that you know what was going to happen. Some more detailed than the others.)
They get back and Naruto, exhausted, heads to bed and tells Gaara to just make himself at home, to not touch his alarm clock, and to be mostly quiet though Gaara typically is. He wanted to tell him to not stare at him during his sleep either, but he felt awkward phrasing and asking that.
And so Gaara stares at him all night, thinking and what not, and Naruto feels like he's gained a stalker more than a boyfriend.
Meanwhile Gaara decides he's going to have to work hard to gain Naruto's love. He knows very well where he stands in their relationship. It's really obvious to him how Naruto feels about him. He's overwhelmed by all that's happened since he came to Konoha that first night. He was not intending to go this far with Naruto. He just wanted to understand. He wanted an explanation. But in return he got a friend. And then he got acquaintances. And then he got a boyfriend. He got a goal in life. He had purpose once more. One that seemed to leave his mind a little more clear he had to admit. He hadn't expected things to go this far nor to turn in this direction. Everything just got so carried away so fast. He hasn't regretted any of it so far and so he decided he won't regret anything that happens in the future either whether it be good or bad, because frankly he has never felt more happy. Even if bad things happen, he will not regret the good things. He'll just cherish them, because he lives more than just for himself now. But he still has to work hard though, because he does want Naruto's love. He knows that. He's always wanted love. He feels so strongly towards Naruto. But he wants the blonde to feel as strong as he does too. Selfishness has not left him he knows. He is changing for the better though. He can feel it when he thinks. He's still confused. He still doesn't understand. But his thoughts aren't rampant. He's not drowning. He can face them. He can face this challenge. And so he begins to think of what he can do to make Naruto feel him.
In Naruto's last minutes of sleep he thinks. Naruto is worried of what might come from this. Could he continue a relationship like this? He is a man. Gaara lives in Suna, he lives in Konoha. Could he ever become Hokage like this? Could he keep a commitment if something were to happen between the two of them. What happened if he couldn't?
111
He wakes up and Gaara has breakfast for him. Not ramen, much to his disappointment. Gaara says he went out early and bought things for him to eat while he's there because he is not eating ramen. He mentions that they have strange food in Konoha and Naruto asks Gaara what kind of things they have in Suna and he mentions gizzard and Naruto pales a bit. Naruto eats it, it's surprisingly really good. He's reminded that Gaara knows how to cook, which is very useful. But he complains about not having ramen and Gaara frowns at him. Gaara thinks about how it's not nice to complain about food considering it was sometimes scarce in the deserts of Suna where he lived, much like how they treasured water.
Yet, he still likes this part of Naruto, selfish and longwinded and somehow still selfless and surprising.
Naruto explains that he has to go practice and meet up with Sakura and Kakashi to train and then go see Sasuke in the hospital. Gaara didn't realize Uchiha was in the hospital, but doesn't question it. The look on Naruto's face suggested that it wasn't any of his business and so it remains as that.
Naruto gets dressed in the open and Gaara just watches. Naruto feels a bit unnerved by the eyes. He knows Gaara hasn't been exactly privy to touch either, but that didn't mean that the red head didn't want to check him out. He wasn't sure how felt about that. It was kind of nice to know that he may have a body that was attractive to someone, but not entirely so when it was another man. Gaaah it was too early in the morning for such thoughts. Right now he needed to go do other important things to keep his mind off of stuff.
112
Gaara understands the need to meet his important people and team. He's not sure what to do with himself while he's in Konoha without Naruto though. He decides to take a walk through the streets. Though he did have the Suna logo on his protector, he was not stared at with the same eyes as he was in Suna. He just got strange looks and shrugs. No one knew him there really and so he enjoyed this bit of peace for the time being. He would never move to Konoha though. It had Naruto and this lack of fear towards him, but... Suna was his home, no matter how many bad things happened there. If he moved away it would be admitting that he lost to them, that he was a failure and a monster, he would be running away and they would always think that way of him. And it bothered him. It really bothered him. He wanted to forgive his people as well though they might not believe his intentions, he had to prove to them that they were wrong and that he ultimately forgives them with his life as their kazekage. And as Kazekage, he might be able to see Naruto more freely because he would be the Hokage.
Kazekage to Hokage. Hokage to Naruto. It was a vicious cycle in his head. It's a majority of what he thinks about. Right now being so new to this lifestyle it's all he CAN think about.
He starts to think about what he could do to try and make Naruto fall in love with him. He had come up with nothing last night. Nothing at all. He felt like he needed to observe some couples to do some research. (It was so close to Gaara becoming a perv, can't you tell?)
He doesn't have the time to further that thought thankfully because Shikamaru shows up. He greets him and asks what's up. Gaara gives him a funny look before shrugging and saying hello. He still can't remember Shika's name but he finds it interesting how he is actually greeted here and is beginning to remember faces. He was not at that point however to know that Chouji was always with Shika though so he never questions why they aren't together. Shikamaru already knows Gaara is in town to see Naruto, but doesn't see Naruto with him. Gaara says he went to see Sasuke in the hospital. Shika sheds a sliver of light on the situation for him. It's then that Shika catches him off guard and asks him if he knows how to play shougi.
113
He had nothing better to do he supposed and this Shika person was not too difficult to interact with he supposed. He starts trying to define his relationship with Shika in his head. It's nothing as strong as he feels for Naruto. In fact, he almost nothings' Shika, but he doesn't dislike him either. He's easy to communicate with and he is intuitive to know when Gaara doesn't want to be talked to or what topics to not touch. He even has invited him to do something friendly, which he appreciates greatly. Though he supposed his time trying to get Naruto to fall in love with him was being eaten up a bit.
Shika asks how Temari is doing. Gaara wonders why. He said because he feels like she would be a scary protective older sibling and wondering where he brother was. Gaara sends a small glare for calling his sister scary. He's not sure why, but that comment irked him some. Maybe because he was warming up to his siblings some. He was also intrigued by the comment though. Never had he though his siblings were considered scary to anyone, possibly because his death aura was toning out any of their personalities until recently for anyone to decide.
They start playing. The game is relatively challenging. They are both smart people, though he was sure Shika was smarter. He can tell from the battle with Temari.
Shika strikes his thinking pose and Gaara asks what he is doing as he had seen it before in battle. He said he was thinking, that it helps him think more and plan. He remembers this position and how he beat Temari using it. Planning... He decides to try this to help plan his next move with Naruto.
He strikes the pose and Shika cracks an eye open to look at Gaara and is amazed at how humble he had to have become to take advice from someone of his status.
Gaara uses this to plot his next Naruto move. He thinks about many things to try and do. Starting with what Temari told him. He had tried flowers. That seemed to work okay... Holding hands she had said. He tried to think about holding hands with Naruto... He had refused it the other day... Maybe if he was feeling okay today he would try that. That didn't seem too bad. The thought sent a little jolt of lightning through his body though and he got a sort of grimace on his face that he was sure his opponent saw. It was too strong to cover up... What else had she mentioned. Food. He had cooked him food this morning. He had eaten it, but he didn't seem to really appreciate it. He had really wanted that ramen. Maybe a present. People liked getting presents he supposed. He was spoiled as a child with presents so they didn't really seem to have a lot of meaning to them. Probably also because there WAS no meaning behind receiving them if only to keep him calm they hoped. Kiss? There was no way he could initiate such an action. He feels his skin temperature rise and if it were not for the cool sand he would probably be overwhelmed. This was getting him nowhere. Just... flustered.
After a few minutes more Gaara opens his eyes and pronounces that "I win." He knows he hasn't, but he has things to do now. He gets up and leaves. Shika is like ... no he hasn't. But Gaara is already gone and he deems it too troublesome to argue with him or chase him down to finish so he settles for playing himself. He thinks that Gaara himself is a troublesome character and that they should play shougi more often together, he was actually a pretty decent opponent. If he didn't leave at the end of the match again anyways...
114
Naruto comes back after a long day of training and screwing around with his team members. He reflects how intense he and Sasuke had become. Everything today had been a challenge with each other. Eating, fighting, even who got where faster. It was irritating. He was used to being competitive with him, but today was a little overboard. He couldn't help but feel that somehow Sasuke was desperate.
He comes back and Gaara isn't there. He's a little surprised, because he's not sure what he would be doing without Naruto. He settles in and notices there's a cold bowl of ramen waiting for him and he heats it back up and goes to go eat it. He starts to think about what Gaara is going to do now that he has the ultimatum from Naruto. Naruto wonders what Gaara is doing by feeding him as this is the second meal he's prepared today for him and briefly wonders if he's performing weird spells on them to make Naruto fall in love with him (he says this aloud to himself to break the stillness and silence of his empty apartment) until suddenly Gaara is in the window and Naruto freaks out.
He makes a quick rule that Gaara has to use the door. No windows… Gaara's a bit confused by this, but adheres to the wishes of the owner of the apartment.
The two sit in silence, one eating, the other sitting next to him. This is the kind of silence that Naruto likes. It's not awkward (despite the creepy entrance a few seconds ago), but comfortable. It's the kind of silence he can think about being with Gaara, where they can just feel each other without words or sound or sight and it's comforting.
Gaara breaks the silence however, trying to be slightly conversational and asks Naruto how his day was. Naruto is surprised by this gesture but smiles at him, proud of how far Gaara has been coming with his newly changed attitude. All romance aside, Gaara has improved greatly from when they first met.
He announces every single detail of his day, the good and the bad. Then Naruto feels kind of bad for ditching him and apologizes. Gaara is a little confused at first as to why Naruto should be apologizing. He tries to work it out in his head as to why. He won't keep asking why anymore. He needed to start doing these things for himself. Naruto takes his silence as in he's kind of pissed, but he looks at his eyes and they tell him different, that he's confused. His body language is awful he decides.
When Gaara finally does speak, after he figures out what Naruto might be apologizing for, he tells him that Gaara isn't a commitment and ninja duties are more important. Naruto takes this into consideration and thinks about how a normal girl would behave, demanding Naruto's attention from his ninja duties and his Hokage goal (though he never intentionally would let that happen, somewhere he knows that's how it would probably go down at this stage in the game.)
Gaara is here supporting him and he wonders why. Gaara tells him that Naruto said he would be Hokage and that Gaara would be Kazekage and they could be friends forever. He wants Naruto to become Hokage more than anything. The "and because I have strong intense feelings for you" is also implied, but not mentioned. Naruto knows this already. Naruto smiles. It seemed more logical to date someone like Gaara he supposed.
115
A few days pass and nothing out of the ordinary really happens. Gaara has been positively stumped as to what to do for Naruto to make him fall for him. It was kind of frustrating and he was trying not to take it out on the blonde.
They've been just reflecting on one another, which has also become kind of tiresome for Naruto. The strain of trying to figure out this whole thing and see where his emotions persuade him was trying on him, while he attempted his advances on Sakura, though toned down a bit because he was in a relationship after all and the guilt would be eating at him even more, and while he was trying to deal with Sasuke who has been very different as of late.
Naruto has no energy for Gaara in the morning. He needs to go to practice. Gaara can see the tiredness in Naruto's eyes and lets him go. He feels something akin to worry for the blonde so he decides to follow him, just in the shadows. He knew Naruto needed his space and he would give it to him, but he would also make sure that nothing was going to happen to him either, because that seemed painful to him as well.
116
Gaara is observing from the sidelines. He watches the individuals of the team. He's impressed by Sasuke's power and technique. Sakura seemed useless by herself. She seemed nice enough to him, but her skills as a ninja were below average. Naruto's... He felt he couldn't watch him without cringing. He was almost ashamed that this same thing beat him in battle. He was over confident, flashy, and just plain odd. He wasn't sure how this team functioned efficiently, but he supposed with Naruto there... They just had to believe that things could work.
He starts to think about he, Temari, and Kankuro do similar things as well. Though mostly it was unfair as his sand barrier had a definite advantage over them. He thinks of how they are doing at the moment and closes his eyes. He should probably send them a letter to let them know what's going on, if not for Suna's elders who are probably questioning his frequent visits to Konoha as well.
Then Kakashi appears in front of him and asks what's up. They stop practicing when they notice Gaara talking with Kakashi. Gaara doesn't really respond with anything other than a glance at Naruto. Kakashi is a little suspicious of Gaara until this gesture. He looks over Gaara once more and notices the lack of killing intent in him and he feels much more calm. Kakashi asks him if he wants to join them and Gaara looks at the team and then Naruto. Naruto is smiling. He looks back at Kakashi and nods.
Sasuke smirks and says it would be nice to have a rematch from their last fight. Gaara joins in with the spar. Sasuke went all out and seemed to be a bit frustrated when he wasn't able to land a hit on Gaara using just normal ninjutsu and taijutsu though he was sending the sand spiraling everywhere. Naruto also was unable to land a hit on Gaara this time around. This makes Gaara realize how much of Naruto's strength came from his love for his friends that fight. Because right now he did not have to fight for them. This was just training. Sakura attempted some knives at him and he tried to be a little gentler with the sand and her as he could tell she couldn't take it and that the attacking movements of it were unnerving to her. She notices this and get frustrated towards the end and realizes she needs to get stronger. Stronger to protect her friends like they protected her against Gaara. She had guts... but that was it. Finally Naruto manages to land a punch on Gaara who was lost in thought. Sasuke is pissed by this and recognizes that Naruto is better than him if only by a punch. He starts to gather a Chidori in a hand and Kakashi yells at him to stop, which he does not and Gaara manages to dodge it. Kakashi is clearly upset by this, but doesn't show it much other than a small glare and a reminder that he shouldn't be using that in sparing sessions. This is interrupted by Naruto yelling at Gaara.
Gaara is very confused as to what he is being yelled at for. Naruto is upset because he's fought Gaara before and he knows that he can attack harder than what he did and that he knows Gaara could have blocked that punch. He wants Gaara to fight him with all he's got... without turning into something creepy. He's his friend, but he's also a ninja he reminds him. Gaara takes this to heart and commends that Naruto is indeed an interesting ninja worthy of his all and should separate personal and professional things and apologizes and says he'll do better next time.
Kakashi at the end of the practice takes Sasuke back to the hospital to rest because he doesn't think Sasuke is fully recovered yet. This pisses Sasuke off to no end. He tells Sasuke that an injured ninja is as good as a dead ninja knowing what Sasuke's train of thought is. Sasuke reluctantly settles for this for the time being.
117
Naruto and Gaara are walking back to Naruto's apartments. He asks Gaara what followed him for. He had originally found it stalkerish, wondering if Gaara had followed him every day and only today he had been noticed by Kakashi.
Gaara says he was worried and Naruto is confused. He explains to Naruto it's because he's looked tired and he was worried that Naruto might have a wound of the heart. Naruto is very confused by the wound of the heart statement and Gaara seems frustrated by this and tells him that it's when it hurts in his chest. Naruto has to cover his face and grimaces because ... that naive statement... it was so cute. Wound of the heart.
Gaara then asks if Naruto had one. Naruto smiles and says Gaara's gotten more perceptive and Gaara takes the compliment well. He says he's been really tired lately because of how Sasuke was being a bigger bastard than usual and he was trying to figure things out with Gaara. It's been difficult on him mentally.
Gaara feels a bit of guilt being thrown into the cause of this tiredness, and decides he would try doing what Temari told him to. He took Naruto's hand in his own and held it. Naruto takes a minute to realize what he's doing and he pulls away freaking out and Gaara looks confused. Naruto asks what he's doing while looking around. Gaara explains that Temari told him that couples hold hands to tell them "everything's okay." Naruto is then kind of touched in an odd sort of way that Gaara was attempting comfort.
He tries to explain to him the taboo of homosexuality and PDA and secretly devises a plan to assassinate Temari for putting these ideas in Gaara's uncharacteristically unique naive mind. Gaara seems to get the idea after it's been explained though. So no comfort in the presence of others between them. He understands, but at the same time he's a little irritated for the taboo of it. Is what he's doing wrong? Love can't be wrong, right? It feels too good to be wrong...
They arrive at Naruto's apartment. As he fumbles with his keys he tells Gaara "thank you", drawing Gaara from this spiral of thoughts. Gaara asks why. They enter. He says Gaara's a good listener and he thanks him for doing so. Gaara turns his head to the side and Naruto becomes confused and realized that Gaara is blushing and he points it out and starts to laugh until Gaara growls at him. He's not sure how Naruto can tell since his sand armor was still up from their training practice, but apparently it was just written all over his face.
Naruto tells Gaara he feels a bit awkward because he really still only feels Gaara as a friend. Gaara tells him to give it time, he will capture Naruto's heart. He has to.
Naruto is slightly unnerved by this, but it makes him realize that Gaara might actually be serious about this. This whole time he has really been playing with the idea that Gaara didn't know what he was talking about because it made him feel better about the situation. But really, he needed to confront it now. The time is silent and Naruto is nervous and then suddenly Gaara says it.
"I love you."
Naruto is shocked that Gaara actually managed to say it and they look at each other. He wonders how he can just spout something so... embarassing. The tension in the room just grows.
Gaara wants to try. He really wants to attempt this kind of physical contact... Could he? Would Naruto let him?
This is when he catches Naruto off guard. Gaara turns to him fully and Naruto notices the determination in his eyes and Gaara reaches out for a second, stopping in uncertainty and brings a hand up to Naruto's shoulder. When Naruto doesn't flinch Gaara brings up his other hand as if he were going to pull the boy closer to him in a hug and Naruto closes his eyes fully expecting him to. But no impact ever comes and he opens his eyes and Gaara drops his arms to his sides and he takes a step back frowning. Naruto questions him and Gaara is like "… not my style."
Naruto all but dies there. He is shocked for a moment before he starts laughing hysterically and Gaara doesn't think it's that funny but he manages to give a small smirk. Naruto retreats to bed and Gaara sits up on the roof and debates his dilemma.
000
Next: Disguise
CHAPTER 12: DISGUISE
About a week has passed. Gaara assesses his status with Naruto and finds it still not up to par with love. So he decides he needs to spend more time with Naruto to persuade him. He tries to think of what he has to offer to the blonde besides support and friendship. He wasn't sure how suitable of a lover he could be and starts to put himself down and as he does this, Shukaku's voice, which he hasn't heard in a while, starts to surface and he fights him off, clearing his mind and ignoring him, showing dominance. He was quite surprised and proud of himself for staving off the blood fiend.
He wonders what he should do about Naruto. He was so shy, that many of the things that he thought of doing involved physical contact of some sort which he wasn't sure he was ready to do. It was hard enough trying to hold Naruto's hand last time and then the blonde had only freaked out about it.
So Gaara gives up for the moment, he had all night to devise such a plan and decides he should write to Temari and Kankurou so the two weren't freaking out when he didn't return within a few days. He goes off to the market area to get some stationary, not wanted to borrow Naruto's without any permission.
On his way, he finds a romance novel… the Icha Icha Paradise romance novel. He sees Kakashi reading the book and giggling to himself as he walked through the streets. Gaara looks at the book warily and Kakashi looks up to see Gaara and says hello. Gaara looks back at the book and asks what he's reading. Kakashi doesn't really want to tell Gaara that it's basically a porn novel and explains to him it's one of the best romance stories ever written. Gaara looks at the book again and Kakashi watches him intently, seeing if Gaara was taking the lie.
Gaara takes it and Kakashi says he needs to go meet his students and Gaara frowns and wonders if Naruto knows that his teacher spends most of his time reading books and walking slowly to the training grounds. It was definitely an hour past the time Naruto left. Gaara picks up the Icha Icha Paradise book on his way back to Naruto's. He decides it's porn when he reads it, though it gives him an idea on how to get Naruto alone for a bit.
Next morning at breakfast, Gaara asks Naruto on a date. Gaara somehow persuades Naruto who is so pent up and freaking out about the idea of going on a date in public. Naruto finally agrees and later after he comes back from his training, Gaara is in a different set of clothes, wearing a pair of loose black slacks, his ninja sandals, and an oversized brown shirt he borrowed from Naruto's closet.
Naruto asks why the sudden change of clothes and Gaara said he read that on a date, one was supposed to dress up and look nice, so he attempted to change clothes and borrowed Naruto's. Naruto decides it's probably a good thing so people will be less likely to recognize them, so Naruto changes into something a little less noticeable, his ninja shoes, a pair of blue shorts and a black shirt that he had from when he was little.
As they step out of his place he distinctly puts on a hat and a set of goofy glasses and mustache. Gaara asks what he's doing and Naruto says he's dressing up and Gaara tells him he looks ridiculous.
Everybody he could possibly run into, he runs into on their way to the movie theatre. He runs away from them all.
They finally get into the movies and Naruto calms down, feeling as though no one will find them there since movie tickets were expensive. They sat all the way in the back. Gaara looks at Naruto and tells him the glasses and mustache makes him much more obvious and Naruto is shocked that Gaara knew why he was wearing them. He takes them off and sighs and apologizes.
Gaara shakes his head and says to just enjoy himself. Naruto smiles softly at Gaara and they watch the movie.
Naruto is so exhausted he feels the need to lean on Gaara's shoulder, but he doesn't and stiffens, wondering why he felt that and then wonders if perhaps maybe he's starting to become attracted to Gaara. He feels a bit of defensiveness rise up in him towards this, but then calms down and tells himself it's okay and nobody's going to kill him or yell at him for being attracted slightly to Gaara. Gaara's fairly androgynous he tries to tell himself, but looking at him he realizes Gaara is all entirely male. He sighs and tries to calm down.
Gaara meanwhile, hopes that spending time with him like this would be okay and then notices the sudden change in Naruto's attitude, being all stiff-like and he decides to offer Naruto a hand of comfort if you will and places his own on top of Naruto's, looking forward. Naruto immediately calms down and looks over at Gaara who's watching the screen still, but then slowly looks over after Naruto's eyes were on him for a while. "I thought you'd feel better." He admits and Naruto wonders how it is that he hasn't fallen for Gaara yet. The guy was incredibly nice and supportive to him. He wonders why God hadn't made the red head a girl, it would have been so much easier on him… then he wonders if Gaara had been a girl, would he feel this way? So jumpily yet so at ease? How would it be different if Gaara was a girl?
The movie ends and they stand, Naruto tries to compliment the movie though he really had his mind elsewhere and Gaara claims it was boring. Naruto laughs and says good, he was hoping that he wasn't the only one. He was trying to give a bit of sympathy points, but Gaara was ruthless with his judgment. Gaara claims he's only being honest.
They're walking in the street now. Naruto feels so much more relaxed being with Gaara like this, much lighter than before. Then suddenly Tenten and Lee show up. Lee calls "hi" to them and they take off, Gaara confused as to why they are running away at first, but following Naruto anyways. Tenten gets pissed they ignrored Lee and she chases the two through the streets, throwing kunai at them trying to pin them against the walls and stuff and Lee thinks it's a youthful game of tag much to Tentens' dismay. They run into Kiba who gets trampled on by Naruto and Kiba and Akamaru follow in pursuit. Everybody is joining in the chase, Ino gets pissed that they knocked over her flowers in the front, Neiji gets snagged up by Lee much to his irritation, Iruka tries to stop them and Gaara gets an idea to lose them and floats them up with his sand into the sky, way up so their sent trail disappears and no one can see them.
They're up high and Naruto marvels and then laughs at everything that had just happened. He briefly says out loud to himself that the last time he was up so high was with Gaara as well, was during their battle. Naruto goes to look at Gaara and freezes, caught in a trance of some sort and he could see Gaara was fighting it. It was the song of desire. But Gaara gives in and goes to kiss Naruto and the two of them end up with bloody noses and Naruto hears Gaara swear as he tries to stop it bleeding and Naruto lays out on the sand and laughs. Gaara says "I'm glad you think this is funny" He's blushing because the first time he tries to kiss someone he botches it completely. Gaara flies them back to Naruto's and they clean themselves up.
CHAPTER 13: SASUKE
Naruto is much more cheerful the next morning, going to train and then visit Sasuke in the hospital again. Sasuke declares his fight and the fight ensues with the two and is intervened by Kakashi. He goes home and tells Gaara about his predicament and Gaara shares his views on it to get Naruto at ease to fall asleep.
Gaara leaves before Naruto early in the morning when he realizes that there is no ramen for Naruto's breakfast and goes to get some. Shika comes and gets Naruto for the Sasuke retrieval mission and Naruto is shocked and immediately decides to come with and grabs his things quickly, looking for Gaara and thinking of what's going to happen. He doesn't want to ditch Gaara without a word, but he really doesn't have a choice at the moment and instead scribbles a note and leaves it on his bed for the red head in case he didn't get to see him before he left. He's conflicted, but Sasuke is a priority at the moment and he follows Shika. Naruto leaves the gates of Konoha promising Sakura.
Gaara after a leisurely walk finds Naruto not back at his place. He waits for a while and decides to check up at the training grounds for the blonde. Not there, and he's not at the hospital and neither was Sasuke. Walking back to Naruto's apartment he finds Izumo and Kotetsu waiting for him and he knows it has to do with Naruto.
He is given a mission from Suna which enlisted the help of himself and his siblings to aid in bringing back Sasuke. He waits for his siblings to arrive in Konoha for further instructions. They're pleased to see Gaara and then they head out. They send Gaara off farther to see if he could aid his friend, but Gaara comes across Lee first and decides Lee needed his help and that Naruto's fight was his alone.
Gaara wins and he and Lee head back to Konoha meeting Temari, Kankurou, Shikamaru, and Kiba back in Konoha at the hospital where Neiji and Chouji were in critical conditions. Temari decides to stay with Shikamaru for a bit. Kankurou and Gaara go talk while they waited for Naruto to come back. Naruto comes back and everyone goes to see him, he's passed out.
CHAPTER 14: IMPOSSIBILITY
When he wakes up Jiraiya says to go on the three year training with him and Naruto agrees and as he's packing up he apologizes to Gaara mentally for not being able to stay the three weeks. He really didn't feel that much different towards the red head… Just wrong place and wrong time… But he was definitely sure that with the proper given time he could fall for the red head.
Gaara goes to see his siblings off at Konoha, Gaara asks if Naruto is still in the hospital and Shikamaru said that he left that morning with Jiraiya for three years of training. Gaara decides to follow his siblings back to Suna in that case, reflecting on Naruto and his relationship. Gaara knows that he failed in making Naruto fall in love with him, but it didn't matter because he still loved Naruto, no matter what. It's great to be loved, but eventually everyone must die and are taken from them. But Gaara knows he can't back down from his love for Naruto. It's impossible now. So he will wait for Naruto's return and he will be great enough for the friend of the Hokage as Suna's leader, Kazekage.
END
G.A.A.R.A : Two-Shot Sequel
CHAPTER 1: SHIPPUDEN
Naruto comes back from his training and when he sees Temari he automatically asks about Gaara and starts thinking of what his life was like and that he should really pay him a visit considering he left without saying anything. Then he gets the mission to save Gaara from Akatsuki and the whole Gaara retrieval arc happens.
We cut to Gaara's inner mind. Even after all of his hard work, he believes Suna still does not approve of him and he is worried that he had failed them, that he had failed Naruto hence his reversion into his child years. He sees Naruto in his dreams and he finds it sort of funny that even after all these years without a word he still thinks and dreams of Naruto.
The last thing Gaara expected to see when he woke up was Naruto. He was shocked to say the least since he hadn't seen the blonde in forever. When he comes back he meets up with Gaara, they have both matured and spend a bit of time to see how much. Gaara has changed a lot, including his aura. They talk about their goals and former life with each other. How Gaara achieved everything he wanted and he tells Naruto he can surpass him.
Then the subject of their relationship comes up and Gaara says he's a little pissed that Naruto didn't tell him and Naruto understands, but Gaara says he's willing to pick up where they left off and Naruto thinks about it. Naruto is now older and more mature so he makes a decision and tells Gaara that whatever he may have begun to feel for Gaara was lost with his ambition to save Sasuke. Gaara is also more mature and in control of his emotions now and accepts Naruto's decision. Naruto feels guilty and Gaara seems to realize this and tells him not to worry about it.
Naruto leaves Suna, but just before he leaves Gaara tells him that he is still waiting for Naruto. Naruto is confused because he thought that he got through to Gaara that the relationship he wanted would never happen. Gaara notices this and clarifies that Naruto had once said to become Kazekage so when he becomes Hokage they could be friends forever. Naruto blushes at this since his mind was in the gutter and Gaara gives him the barest of smiles and Naruto smiles softly at this, seeing Gaara semi-smile.
CHAPTER 2: SUNAARASHI
It is years and years later. Gaara is nearly 40 and is working on some documents in Suna. Naruto who is now the Hokage drops by and Gaara is more than pleased to welcome him to Suna. Gaara has never stopped loving Naruto, but Suna has taken precedence in his life so he has not pursued Naruto, especially since Sakura and Naruto had been married.
Unfortunately Sakura passed away some years ago, she had contracted a disease that she didn't tell anyone about until its final stages. She had been treating herself until she could no longer. She died regretting that she could never be as useful as she wanted to be, but she died letting Naruto know that she loved him.
Gaara had not attended her funeral as he had important business to attend to, but he had sent Naruto his condolences and sent Temari and Kankurou in his place with flowers to put on Sakura's grave for him as they owed her quite a bit over the years. It was when Naruto and Sakura were getting married that Gaara decided to stop being hopeful that Naruto may one day come to him and accept his feelings.
He knows Naruto loves him as a friend. He knows that. But he also knows that Naruto will never have the chance to love him that way with Sasuke and Sakura around. Sasuke was gone and Sakura was left. He attended their wedding and gave Naruto his sincerest congratulations that day, because he had matured and felt something let go. He loved Naruto and always would, but the two of them together were not to be and so he would love Naruto from afar and wish nothing but his happiness, which is why he was able to do so on his wedding day.
After Sakura died, Gaara had squashed any feelings that he and Naruto may be able to deepen their bond as he knew the blonde would be heartbroken, not ready for that kind of love for a long time and decided he was content with their relationship as current.
After becoming Hokage, Naruto wrote Gaara often. Some letters were formal and business like, attributing to his maturation and admonition for his village. Some letters were stupid and silly like the Naruto that Gaara always knew. They brought amusement to his life and originally Gaara had just messaged back curt messages as was his speech, but as the messages increased, he found himself writing casual letters to the blonde himself and even initiating on some occasions.
Naruto would also make it his duty to try and visit Suna as often as possible, though that was saying something as the life of a Kage was very busy, leaving a shadow clone behind as a substitute. His clone was usually discovered by a jounin (Shikamaru) who could care less as long as nothing happened to him while he was gone. Sometimes there would be a panic as the clone would pop and everyone would realize and another clone would jump in having been the back up. Gaara was amused at the lengths his friend would go to see him. He on occasion would rendezvous halfway with Naruto if possible. It was easier for the Hokage to come visit him than him to visit the Hokage. It brought back familiar feelings of how Naruto always gave to Gaara but the red head could never return or come close to returning.
Gaara expressed this at one of their get togethers' and Naruto brought up that Gaara loves him. Gaara is amazed that the blonde remembers such a thing and Naruto asks if that's still true and Gaara, embarrassed, ensures him that his feelings have never wavered if only intensified. Naruto says then that's all he needs in return from Gaara. Gaara doesn't see how his unrequited love can really match up to all that Naruto has done for him. Naruto says that the kind of love Gaara has for him is something that he can never hope to match. He appreciates it and is flattered by it and it makes him happy that the Kazekage would think so highly of him.
Then Naruto got married.
Naruto kept up his visits after Sakura's death. At one point Gaara had a serious discussion with Naruto and his visits when they first started to occur. He was afraid that the strong alliance with Suna and Konoha because of their friendship would start to cause tension in other countries as they would be a huge force to be reckoned with. So Naruto agreed and set out to make strong alliances with all countries resulting in him being a beacon for the allied nations as he was apt to always be.
So when Naruto shows up it doesn't surprise Gaara too much. He was due for a visit sooner or later. He has changed over the years. His hair was slightly longer, his bangs covering more of his scar and the overall length of his hair has become more shoulder length. His eyes retained their dark circles, but he could start to see lines of age around them. They were surprising, but he still looked fairly young he was sure for his age. He still hadn't grown leaving him a few inches shorter than Naruto. It was also more apparent when he smiled. It was no longer a slight turn of the lips, but also nothing as close to bright as Naruto's. Naruto's wild hair was quite a bit longer, also shoulder length, very much like the fourth Hokage, but like his master Jiryaiya he had it pulled back into an unruly pony tail. His age definition was a bit greater than Gaara's. He had lines starting to form around his eyes from his big smile and his skin was a bit tougher from the sun and his age, and he never looked so masculine, the boyish look far gone from his body.
Naruto makes himself comfortable while Gaara finishes his tasks at hand. The two head to where Gaara had first taken Naruto in Suna, the wall border and they watched yet another Suna sunset together. Naruto still the talker and joker did most of the conversation while Gaara listened occasionally offering advice or his two cents. It was always comfortable. Always had been. This is when Naruto catches Gaara off guard and asks him again if Gaara still loves him.
Gaara had never stopped loving him, but he explains that he gave up chasing Naruto's love a long time ago when he realized it was not his to receive. But the love from Naruto's friendship was more than enough to keep him going and he appreciated it. He thanks Naruto from the bottom of his heart.
Naruto is calm about this, thinking, eyes half lidded. He then explains that he never forgot. Gaara was confused. Naruto says that he never forgot that Gaara loved him, he never forgot his feelings, never forgot that he had tried so hard to get him to return them. Gaara is embarassed and reminds Naruto he was only an emotionally confused child then. He was being silly.
Naruto doesn't think so. The conversation is starting to bring Gaara's emotions and love for Naruto to the surface. It wasn't that he had been suppressing them, but he had a priority and Suna was at the top, but now that he had nothing to do at the current moment and Naruto was digging, the ferocity of his feelings was boiling up and he asks Naruto to change the conversation. He was fine admitting his feelings to Naruto now a days, but he was not fine with Naruto picking at them, making him relive the fact that Naruto would never love him that way as he has made it clear through the years. He had come to terms with it, he didn't need to have it rubbed in his face.
Naruto refuses to change the topic which irks Gaara. Before Gaara can protest though Naruto says that he thinks he might be ready to try again. Gaara is confused. Naruto explains he might be ready to try and love Gaara again. Gaara laughs and Naruto is shocked. It's the first time he's heard him laugh.
Gaara in between fits of laughter explains to himself that after all these years, after Naruto rejected him, saved him, saved the world in the great ninja war, after their friends have settled or moved on, years after all this he is finally ready to try. Naruto feels a bit guilty to be asking such a thing now. He had always been curious how it would turn out with Gaara. When he was young, he was not mentally prepared for a relationship with a man. And then Sasuke left and he was all he had room in his mind for at the time. There was no room for love to blossom or a relationship to be worked on.
After the ninja war he finally had Sakura who he had always loved and he believed that was it. When Sakura left, all he had was his friends and Konoha. After getting over Sakura's death he thought about moving on and finding companionship again, but with whom? Then he remembered Gaara and his love and how they had tried. Now that he was mentally older and prepared, matured, he felt like he could really make this work and be happy and finally give Gaara what he had wanted their entire friendship if he still wanted to.
Gaara thought to himself after he calmed down. He felt as though he should be bitter, angry and maybe a previous Gaara might have been, but right now... he just felt happy and he smiled truly at Naruto, a beautiful smile that Naruto had never seen on Gaara. He said he would be happy to.
More daring than his childish self Gaara simply placed his hand on top of Naruto's and noted that long ago Naruto would have pulled away, but this Naruto did not. Instead he looked at the hand a bit, studying how it laid upon his own before experimentally squeezing it.
It didn't bite. Though his heart was racing, his face and actions were calm, he smiled at the hands and gave Gaara's another good squeeze. It felt right. He felt like they could be together. He thinks he hears something behind him and turns around and sees Sasuke and Sakura standing there watching him with smiles. He blinks and they're gone. It must have been his imagination, but he suddenly feels like crying, not from sadness, but from relief that a chapter of his life is over and a new one can start. With no guilt. He doesn't shed any tears though his breath makes a hitch, but it's quickly dispelled as he receives a quick squeeze from Gaara and he looks at the hands and then at Gaara who is looking at the final rays of light and he turns to watch them as well.
A/N: P.S. I didn't proof read any of this before posting it, so hopefully it makes sense. Hope you enjoyed the story with your imaginations and thanks again for reading! :)