Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
"Talking"- Normal speaking
"Demon/Summon" talking
Thinking (Normal)/ Thinking (Demon/Summon)
Mindscape talking and emphasis on a certain word
Chapter 11
3rd Person POV
Everybody that was left behind was flabbergasted, including team 7. However, a few seconds after Naruto had vanished, Sasuke regained his position and jumped off the tree branch and in front of Gaara. "Who are you guys?" asked Sasuke.
Gaara turned to look at Sasuke and then back at his siblings. "Those two are my siblings, Temari and Kankuro." said Gaara as he pointed at them as he introduced them. Sasuke looked at Gaara and raised his eyebrow. "What is your name?" he asked. "Gaara of the Sand." replied Gaara.
"I see. I'm Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha and this is my teammate Sakura Haruno." said Sasuke as he pointed at Sakura who was sending Konohamaru's team away and still stood guard with a kunai on hand.
"I'm sorry for the commotion caused by my siblings." replied Gaara, to which his siblings reacted by flinching and lowering their head in shame as they stood up. "Are you guys here for the exam?" asked Sakura as she slowly lowered her kunai.
"Yes, we are. We were on our way to the inn after we checked in at the gates." replied Temari. "I see... even so, may I do a quick check to verify that you guys are who you say you are?" asked Sakura. Temari was about to tell her no but Gaara looked back at her and she changed her mind. She showed them their papers and once Sakura checked them fully for any genjutsu, she returned them.
"They're real... thank you. And welcome to Konoha." Said Sakura. Sasuke looked at Sakura and nodded. They both thought of the same thing. 'We need to get Kakashi' and left. The Suna trio stood there for a few seconds until Temari cleared her throat.
"That... that was Naruto… right?" She asked as she looked at Gaara. "Obviously. Who can forget that blonde hair of his along with his whisker marks." Said Kankuro. "Should we... greet him on our own time?" Asked Temari. "We can... But shouldn't. He's gonna hate us." Said Kankuro as he started walking.
Temari looked at the floor guiltily. "That's true... we'll see you at the inn Gaara." Said Temari as she started to walk towards the inn with Kankuro.
Gaara had been listening somewhat to his siblings. They're still a bit afraid of him and he doesn't blame them. He has killed in cold blood in front of them even if it didn't require it.
He sighed as he started walking around the village. "Aren't you gonna chase for your mate?" Asked the voice in his head. 'Shut up Shukaku' thought Gaara as he grabbed his head slightly.
Every time the beast spoke, a big headache came up. Gaara continued his walk but he still felt cautious as some people from Konoha looked at him with doubt or a bit of fear. Suna wasn't too fond of foreigners either so he understood that somewhat, because he doubted that they knew about him hosting Shukaku.
He was half concentrated on his walk but also half spaced out until he came up to this ramen stand. "Ichiraku?" He asked himself. He cautiously went inside the little ramen stand.
"Welcome!" Said an adult dressed as the chef. Gaara bowed slightly as he took a seat. "What would you like?" Asked the elder man. Gaara stayed quiet but looked up at the man. "What would... you recommend?" He asked. He wasn't a people's person and his social skills completely lacked.
"Well... our most frequent customers usually order a huge bowl of Miso Chashu Pork ramen. Though, he hasn't been coming in as often as he has his own duties as a ninja." Said the man with a fond smile.
A female voice suddenly spoke up from the back room. "Dad! I know you are fond of him but do you always have to bring up Naruto-kun to the new customers?" she yelled. Gaara immediately looked up and saw a woman probably in her early twenties in an apron also.
"Um... you guys know Naruto?" asked Gaara. Both, the father and daughter looked at each other confused before smiling. "Yes! He is a customer that comes here often when he can. He has been our customer for 7 years or so." explained the man.
"Are you guys friends?" asked the daughter. Gaara looked down and nodded, his heart had a bit of butterfly feeling when someone mentioned him and Naruto being friends. "You guys could be more but nooooo, you are just stubborn and don't want to fight that fox in order to claim him as your mate." said Shukaku with a whiny bitch voice.
"Oh! And how rude of us! My name is Ayame, and this is my dad. He owns this stand!" said Ayame. "Nice to meet you." said Gaara. Ayame smiled and helped prepare his bowl. "You know, since you are a friend of Naruto's, the first bowl is on the house!" said Ichiraku. Gaara was just dumbfounded but nodded to their kindness either ways.
Meanwhile, at the run-down apartment... Naruto finally woke up and saw Kurama sitting in a lotus position, on the floor with his arms crossed. Naruto held his head as it ached and glared at Kurama. "Why did you do that?" grumbled Naruto.
"Why else?" replied Kurama. "I couldn't even greet them properly. What the hell is your problem!?" yelled Naruto, his head felt like it was split open and he was just mad at Kurama as it already was.
"Don't you dare snap at me! I could feel the raccoons intention and took over to protect you, you dipshit!" yelled Kurama right back at Naruto. They both glared at each other until Naruto sighed. "Is there no way for you guys to reach a compromise? I really don't want you guys to fight." Said Naruto.
Kurama looked down and then looked away. 'There is... but I don't want to share you with someone else...' thought Kurama. "No. I don't know of a way to compromise. Because we can make a deal, the raccoon, his Jinchuuriki and I but there's no guarantee that he won't betray me. We're demons. We can deceive when we feel like it, and we can break our promises just like anyone else." Explained Kurama.
"Is there a way for... um... ya know... err..." mumbled Naruto. "What are you saying? Spit it out." Said Kurama. "I don't know! I was thinking if there's a... way... to mate with both?" Said Naruto, his face was red as a tomato and you could see steam coming from his ears as he looked down.
"I mean... you're both very dear and precious to me... I hate to see you guys fight..." Explained Naruto as his thumbs fumbled around with his intertwined hands. Kurama was taken aback, his eyes were wide and he immediately blushed. He covered his face as he looked away.
"I don't know... anyway, shouldn't you go find your perverted sensei?" Asked Kurama. Naruto looked at Kurama and sighed. "This is not sudden Kurama. I've been thinking of it for a while, I was going to ask you about this before I met with Itachi at the wave mission." Said Naruto which made Kurama look at him and glare.
"I know. I can hear your thoughts kit. But even if there was a way to mate with more than one, a lot of us are more of the one mate per pair. We don't want to share our mate. It's the same for the raccoon boy, but the one that will mark you is Shukaku, so you end up with his container. That is why I don't want you marked by him. He's also one of those single pair type of person." Explained Kurama.
Naruto sighed. "I see... can you really not find a way?" Asked Naruto. "No. And stop asking kit." Replied Kurama. 'I'm sorry for lying.' He thought. "Fine! I'm gonna go meet Kakashi for a bit. I left Sakura hanging thanks to someone." Said Naruto as he went out again, closing the door behind him and not noticing the guilty face Kurama had shown.
A Few Minutes Later
Naruto was almost sprinting down the streets, avoiding the glares as he looked down and ran towards Kakashi's apartment. However, when he was a few houses down he noticed that Kakashi's chakra signature was not at home.
"Just fucking great. Could my day be worse... now I gotta look for him." Mumbled Naruto to himself. He started walking around the village and was going to head towards the memorial stone as that's where Kakashi usually was. On the way there, he stumbled upon Ichiraku's... he was going to walk by but his stomach grumbled.
'I need a stress reliever. Ramen it is' he thought as he grinned and pushed up one of the flaps of Ichiraku. "Old man! 4 bowls of Miso Chansu Pork ramen please!" Said Naruto as he sat down on one of the stools, not noticing that a few seats down sat Gaara.
Naruto grabbed a pair of chopsticks while he waited until he noticed Ayame and old man Ichiraku staring at him. "What?" He asked. They both pointed a few seats down, so Naruto turned to look and almost laughed.
Gaara was looking at him with a shocked expression... but he had a mouthful of ramen and therefore had chipmunk cheeks. Naruto smiled as he finally laughed. "Gaara! I was not expecting you here!" He said as he stood up and sat next to Gaara.
Gaara coughed and finished gulping down his noodles. "It's nice seeing you once again my friend." Replied Gaara, a bit too formally which made Naruto frown slightly. "I told you no formalities with me. What's wrong?" He asked as he tilted his head to see Gaara but Gaara turned away. Naruto was oblivious to how Gaara's ears were turning red.
"What are you doing here?" Asked Gaara as he tried to eat and not be conscious of Naruto staring at him eating. "I was looking for my sensei and decided to stop by." Said Naruto, and just as he said that 2 bowls of ramen were placed in front of him.
"Thank you for the meal!" He said before separating the chopsticks and started to eat fast. Gaara watched him from the corner of his eyes and couldn't help but slightly smirk. "Do you want me to help you search for your sensei Naruto?" Asked Gaara.
Naruto turned with a full mouth of ramen but smiled as he nodded. Gaara nodded back and both stood up. Naruto drank the ramen broth, took out some money and paid. Gaara noticed that Naruto was about to pay for him so he spoke up. "I already paid for my meal Naruto." He said.
"Oh... I see. Well then. Let's go." Said Naruto as he started pulling Gaara. Gaara pulled his gourd of sand from beside the stool and bowed slightly to the Ichiraku family who just waved with a smile. They both left the ramen stand and Naruto got into a thinking pose.
"Naruto?" Asked Gaara. Naruto was still thinking. Gaara sighed as he closed his eyes, put on hand over his left eye and did one hand signs. Small grains of sand started rising and started to form an eyeball that was hovering in the air. "Naruto!" Said Gaara as Naruto snapped back to reality. "Eh? What? Oh my gosh what the hell Gaara!? We have to take you to the hospital!" Yelled Naruto frantically as he saw the eyeball hovering over Gaara's hand.
"Calm down. What's your sensei's appearance like?" Asked Gaara as he sent the eye to float in the air. "Eh? Um... gravity-defying silver hair. Wears a face mask and has the headband slanted on his left eye." Replied Naruto. The eye looked around and saw Naruto's teammates in the distance. The pink hair was hard to miss. Next to the girl was the boy Gaara met, named Sasuke. And in front of them stood said Jounin that Naruto had described.
"I found him. He's with your teammates." said Gaara. Naruto was completely amazed and looked at Gaara. "Where are they?" He asked. "Over there in that direction. They're at this certain bridge...?" Said Gaara since he didn't know why Konoha had bridges in between the town.
Gaara pulled back the third eye, dissipating it into sand grains and then took his hand away from his eyes. He opened his eyes and saw Naruto's eyes had worry in them. He rubbed it a few times and winced slightly. 'This never stops being uncomfortable at times.' He thought.
"Oh! I know which one you're referring to. Thank you, Gaara!" Said Naruto as he hugged Gaara. Gaara tensed but immediately relaxed and hugged back. "Naruto...?" He asked. Naruto broke off the hug with a smile. "Yes?" He asked with an oblivious look.
"Are you seriously gonna tell him? I thought it's a mission and you're a shinobi from a different village. You're gonna mess the plan. You're going to mess everything they set up." Reprimanded Shukaku but at the same time, he had a happy mirth in his voice as he said it. 'Of course, I'm gonna tell him... but not now. So shut up.' Thought Gaara as he sighed outwardly. "Are you participating in the Chūnin exams?" Asked Gaara.
'Please tell me you aren't... please Naruto.' Thought Gaara worried, even though outside, his face was not showing it. "That's what I was going to ask my sensei. My team is ready, but we don't know if he's letting us participate. That's why! Thank you for finding him. I'm gonna go ask him about this! Hopefully, we see each other at the exams Gaara!" Said Naruto as he shunshined towards the bridge.
"If his team got strong enough then there's no way you will avoid him. Imagine oh poor you. He considers you a friend yet when you release me and allow me to cause a rampage in his native village, he will hate you. He will betray you and he will leave you. Buuuut... if he was your mate, even if he wanted to leave he wouldn't be able to due to the mark. So why don't you do that if you don't want to hurt him? Or make him leave you?" Asked Shukaku. His glee barely even concealed as he spoke.
'Stop... stop... STOP! I wouldn't be able to stand it! If he's my mate and I betray him, the seal won't make his feeling of betrayal and anger go away. I can't live with that!' Yelled Gaara to Shukaku. Not noticing how tight he had grabbed his hair and dropped to his knees. He was panting, struggling to breathe as he tried to push Shukaku back into his mindscape.
"Why are you going against ME!? I helped you before HE came along! I made you strong and I also helped you prove your existence! I'm what makes you feel alive! I'm the cause that you are not weak and that you aren't dead as of yet! It's THANKS to ME, you insolent fool!" Yelled Shukaku, giving Gaara a head-splitting pain.
Gaara grunted in pain, he wanted to cry, but he couldn't and wouldn't no matter what. Crying is a sign of weakness. He just wanted to sleep and get rid of the headache. But he couldn't even do that since he had to keep Shukaku at bay. Naruto had helped him but the seal that helped him sleep peacefully was now useless and it was back to square one with his insomnia.
However, Gaara was feeling weak and his body trembled. He coughed as he tried to stand. But he started falling but someone caught him. His eyelids felt heavy, but he managed to look up. Bright sun-kissed blonde hair and those familiar azure blue eyes. "N-Naruto..." He mumbled before passing out.
