Hola, amigos.
Last time I uploaded a chapter, a couple of readers PM'd me that they got no notification of an update. I've heard this site occasionally suffers from issues with story/update alerts, which again would explain the unusually low stats the previous chapter got. And here I thought ya'll just died. In case anyone notices a similar problem with this one, let me know or notify the site's support yourselves.
Without further ado, have a chapter, loves.
It is cold again. That Naruto had expected. The darkness, too. But the silence he hadn't. The fire isn't present either. There is no sound, no screams. No pain. Only him. It confuses him, perhaps even scares. He shivers.
The figure is nowhere to be seen. Not that the darkness would've allowed such in the first place. But he cannot feel it either. It is not there. Nothing is. He exists in a void, floats inside the physical impossibility of nothingness. He feels uneasy, yet comfortable. He is awake, yet asleep. He feels, but forgets it in the blink of an eye. He is everything and he is nothing.
Only then does he realize his eyes are closed. He frowns. How could he not have noticed he isn't even trying to see?
Naruto opens his eyes. Nothing changes. He still cannot see. And he realizes, open eyes cannot always see. He is blind, like most of the world. His healthy eyes are blind to the lies. The thought awakens his curiosity.
Is that where he is? Floating in a sea of lies and deceit?
It no longer is cold. And the space around him, it no longer is as empty. He moves his hand slowly, carefully. He is surrounded by water. Warm and soft, like the water of a womb. He wonders where it came from. And then he wonders if he perhaps only was blind to it as well, and it never appeared. If it always just was. His train of thought feels slow and clumsy. He feels high. There suddenly is so much he knows, but cannot say why. It is strange.
For reasons he cannot name, he knows there is a surface above him. He also knows he should swim to reach it. But he doesn't want to. He feels too comfortable to abandon the safety of whatever sinful it is he is cradled by. A low hum has begun to circle him. A low-frequency tremble, like one the pressure of deep waters create. It makes him sleepy. He wants to close his eyes again, he wants to fall asleep. He knows he shouldn't, but the desire is strong.
His eyes fall shut again. His head nods off, his arms spread to his sides, gently supported by the weightless water. And then, he starts to sink. Slowly, as if cautiously pulled by someone from below. It doesn't alarm him, he feels safe. The safeness probably should feel alarming. Nothing ever feels that safe. Such comfort never fails to be too good to be true.
A hand grabs his wrist. Only then does he realize how far down he has been dragged by something that he cannot see nor feel. And he notices how cold it is down there. How not at all comfortable and safe it is where he was headed. The hold around his wrist tightens. And before he knows it, he has reached the surface. He has been pulled out of the delusive water.
He coughs up water. It tastes bad. Vile, disgusting. Rotten. It tastes like everything he'd been blind to beneath the surface. And he wants it out of him.
He turns to look at the water. As he does, he begins to feel nauseous. The bad taste of it, the sinful feel of it…he finds a reason for it all. He sees dead bodies, everywhere. For as far as the eye can see, the surface of the water has turned into a raft of corpses. And as he watches, he knows that all these bodies are there because of him. He doesn't know how, he cannot tell why, but he knows. He knows they are dead because of him, he knows he swam in a sea of murder. It makes him sick. He wants to vomit. Yet he never does.
A hand lands on his cheek. It makes him flinch. As he flinches, he forgets the water. The hand feels familiar. He recognizes it, the touch of it. As always, around him is dark and cold, and he cannot see. But it is not because he is blind. It's because he doesn't have to see to know it is there. The figure, it is there. With him, touching him. It doesn't mind the water he coughs up, nor the stale tasting blood that begins to mix into it. It wants him to get rid of it. Once he does, it seems pleased. It smiles. Naruto doesn't see, but he knows.
That is when the darkness shifts. Unexpectedly, a faint shimmer of light starts to grow somewhere in the distance. He can tell, for a dark outline of the figure begins to form, illuminated by the light. Faint, yet just clear enough to be seen with the naked eye. The figure, it still has no face. But it has arms, one of which reaches out and points a finger towards the light. Naruto frowns, but turns to look.
The light. It is fire.
Something is ablaze. Something other than the house he is used to seeing. This is not a house, it is nothing inanimate. It is another figure. As obscure and faceless as the other, but not the same. No, definitely not. Naruto can't say why he knows, he simply does.
The burning one, it does not move. Only stands still, maybe facing him, maybe not. Flames lick its dark body, dances on pitch black skin. And there is something about it that makes him feel uneasy, sick even. Something that makes him want to face the other way and return to the safe water. He cannot tell what, and wonders, why does it feel so wrong to watch?
He never learns why. He never asks why. He fights the need to turn away, tries not to miss the warm water. And though he suffers, he suffers calmly, for he is not alone.
It came as a shock, how quickly seven days could go by. Like dry sand falling from between bony fingers, time had vanished, no matter how hard Naruto had tried to slow it down. He hated it. The day of the funeral, it came too fast. He wasn't ready yet. But then again, he never would be.
The dull, flat ceiling stared back as blankly as he watched it. The room was dark and quiet, as it were too early in the morning for the rising sun to force its way through the curtains. He'd been awake for a while already, but hadn't bothered getting up. Partly because he didn't want to face the day still ahead, partly because he knew he was home alone. He had no desire to roam rooms uncomfortably large all alone in the morning of a day as miserable as this. He rather waited. Waited for Gaara to come home.
It'd been a strange week. Not necessarily bad, but not a particularly good one either. For obvious reasons, days hadn't gone by exactly cheerful. Yet all things considered, it could've been worse.
Naruto hadn't touched any type of intoxicants in seven days. For several reasons. The hangover a week and a half's worth of consecutive drinking had caused certainly was one of them. Without such self-harm, many things had changed. Time had moved faster, unnecessarily so, yet still somehow felt heavier than before. He'd been able to sleep, but not peacefully. The dreams, they were back. Slightly different, somehow even more abstract, yet still definitely the same. He'd been unable to decode their meaning, but was fairly certain they reflected much of what his subconscious was going through. All in all, sobriety had come with its ups and downs, though for the most part he was happy with his abstinence.
He liked to think he'd made progress otherwise as well. Though he still hadn't answered calls, still hadn't left the house, at least he'd no longer spent as much time locked inside the bedroom. He'd forced himself out of bed every morning, even if the most he could do was go downstairs, have a cup of coffee and then retreat back under covers. He'd even sent a short text to Sai last night. And while he otherwise hadn't been very talkative, he no longer put as much effort into avoiding Gaara. When he did, it wasn't personal. It was just...grief.
A handful of times he'd willingly sought for the redhead's company. For comfort, consolation, solace in general. He hadn't been denied it, but it was clear to both of them that it wasn't quite what it could've been. The resentment between them, that no longer existed. But a certain kind of discomfort still was present. And it was difficult to overcome. Gaara would hold him, if he asked him to. Naruto would spend time with him, if the man suggested it. Yet it all felt forced and awkward. As if an invisible force stood between them, separating them. They hadn't discussed anything of importance, hadn't even mentioned the fight they'd had. To put it simply, a mountain of unvoiced issues stood in between them and neither one had made a single move to bring it down.
As much Naruto hated it, he could no longer remember the last time he'd kissed him. It bothered him, yet he'd done nothing about it. Neither had Gaara. And he couldn't help but wonder if it was the beginning of an end, or just understandable. Not knowing made him uneasy.
Naruto let his eyes fall shut. He'd kept them open for too long, the sudden coverage causing them to sting. But not water. The blue eyes opened anew.
He hadn't cried. Not since the night he'd most definitely wept himself to the verge of dehydration. And that was okay. He wouldn't have been surprised if he'd ran out of tears to shed anyway. Even if he hadn't, he knew Sasuke wouldn't have wanted him to cry his eyes out all day and night. He'd always been a man of reason and dignity. Mourning his death any other way but accordingly would've felt wrong.
It was no later than six in the morning. The funeral wouldn't start before two in the afternoon. Though time so far had seemed to fly by far faster than necessary, Naruto could already tell that the hours in between would move painfully slow. Unfortunately, he lacked the means to distract himself from the dreadful wait. Gaara wasn't home yet. He'd lately spent the wee hours of mornings outside, mostly just walking around aimlessly. At the gym, if the weather was bad. And it had been, for the most part. Naruto could tell by the man's unusually shaky hands and stiff posture alone, he'd spent countless repetitive hours abusing either people, or a punching bag. Perhaps naively, he'd decided to believe it was the latter.
Naruto didn't blame him for avoiding the house at night. While he'd been able to get some sleep, Gaara had spent that time even more restless than usual. And it absolutely was beginning to take a toll on the man. No matter how little sleep he might've required, he still required it. The fact that Naruto had caught him involuntarily nodding off whenever he sat down indicated he hadn't had enough of it. In case that wasn't indication enough, he was quite positive he'd once witnessed him sleep eyes wide open. Creepy, strange, and definitely not normal. But not much there was he could've done about it.
A mildly frustrated sigh left the blonde's lips. He was growing tired of staring at the ceiling all alone. A part of him wanted to get up, maybe take a shower. Do remotely normal things. But another part of him was strongly against all things normal. It felt too early for normal. Also, the idea of doing anything at all by himself seemed overwhelming in the worst of ways. Had he had the choice, he would've gladly avoided living altogether for a while and slipped into a coma for a few months. Unfortunately, it seemed such bliss wasn't an option. With that out of the question, not many others he was left with.
It took him a few more minutes of silent bemoaning and an eventual groan of discomfort, but eventually he forced himself to roll towards the edge of the bed. Swinging his feet to the floor, he paused for a short while to sit still and sigh. How he ever managed to get moderately dressed, drag his ass downstairs and load the coffee machine, he truly could not say. Regardless of the miracle behind it, he did all that, and might've then used his success as an excuse to postpone the shower. With all the painfully long hours still ahead, it wasn't as if he was in any hurry.
The silence, it began to bother him in a matter of minutes. Apart from the sound of coffee dripping and a clock ticking away on the wall, it was perfectly quiet. And he hated it. He always had. The times he'd been forced to live alone had always been the worst of times. Sounds of life and other people, those he'd always enjoyed. Though he had to admit, the older he got, the less he preferred big crowds anymore. Which also was something he dreaded about today. He had no idea who would be attending the funeral. Having left Itachi in charge of invitations, he could only hope it wouldn't be an extravagant event. Not only would he himself have hated it, but Sasuke was certain to come haunting were his funeral to turn into a circus.
Naruto found himself pausing. Then frowning, then smirking crookedly.
It was the first time he'd allowed himself to think in such a humorous undertone about his friend's funeral, and death in general. Astonishingly, he didn't feel like punishing himself for it. Maybe he truly had come to accept the tragedy. Though not sure how that made him feel, he supposed it was a good sign. He didn't know. Couldn't quite remember. It'd been a long while since someone close to him had passed away. Which was preferable, of course.
The coffee seemed to be taking forever. Either that, or time truly had slowed down just to make the day as miserable as possible for Naruto. Quickly growing bored of stupidly watching the black liquid brew, he decided to find himself a pack of cigarettes instead. Realizing that he hadn't smoked in several days, he wondered where he might've left them. Not too inclined to search the entire house, he reckoned he'd find some in the pocket of his jacket. Thus he made his way into the hallway, searched the pockets and found what he'd been looking for. As well as something he hadn't been looking for.
In the same pocket as the crumpled cardboard pack of cancer lay, he came across a plastic bag. The one Itachi had offered, he'd accepted and then forgotten all about. Partly deliberately, partly not.
Frowning, Naruto grabbed the plastic bag as well and made his way back to the kitchen. Stopping at the same spot he'd just left, he first treated himself with the cigarette he'd craved for, and only then turned to study the small bag of items he'd so far decided not to go through. Only for a second did he dread the idea of touching something that could be considered as a part of Sasuke's inheritance, before forcing the shudders away and taking a better look at it.
The plastic was clear, thus see-through. It wasn't much larger than the palm of his hand, so not much was inside it either. Just a lighter, a few keys, a ring, and what'd been left of Sasuke's driver's license. Looking at them, Naruto wanted to either cry or throw up. Potentially both. The license had partially melted. The metallic items all had traces of char on them. And it made him feel nauseous. Everything about it only reminded him why he'd avoided going through Sasuke's belongings in general. In hindsight, starting with those that were literally smudged with his remains might not have been the best of ideas.
It would've been easy to not follow through with what he'd started. But as much as he wished that denial was the answer to every problem, he knew it was time to grow a pair and face the facts. Taking a deep breath, Naruto worked up his courage and carefully opened the seal on the bag. He then gently took out one item at a time, stopping to watch each and every one with care. Not because he really wanted to. But because he needed to.
The mostly destroyed driver's license looked like it wasn't even worth saving. Yet he would, anyway. The keys he wanted to keep as well. Though two of them were made to open the lock on his front door, he would never use them again. They'd been Sasuke's. They'd only ever be his. The lighter he might've used, had it functioned anymore. He didn't have to even try lighting it to know it was unusable. It had been for years by then. Sasuke had received it as a gift a long while back, if he remembered correctly, but wasn't sure from whom. And though it'd malfunctioned at some point, the man had refused to let it go. It was the one, extremely rare instance of sentiment Naruto could remember Sasuke ever expressing.
Fond memories. One of those he'd definitely always remember of him.
The ring was the last item left. Naruto wasn't sure he'd seen it before. Mildly curious, he took it out, gently held it between his fingers and took a proper look at it. For a while, he was certain he'd never seen it before. But as he then went to brush away some of the dirt and char still left on the inside rim, he reconsidered. Underneath the black dust, there was a carving in the once shiny silver. A very short, simple one.
'S'
Nothing more, nothing less. And that was when Naruto remembered that he, too, had a similar one. One he'd received at the end of high school. A class ring. Not common practice, but something their air head teacher had been keen on making happen. While he and Sasuke hadn't graduated at the same time, they had gone to the same school. It could be that he'd been forced to accept one as well. But why on earth the man had actually kept it, Naruto couldn't understand. He hadn't seen his in well over ten years. Then again, he hadn't been as interested in school as Sasuke. He'd lacked not only the patience, but the brains as well. And though he'd made up for some of it, he obviously still didn't possess the dedication that his friend had.
A weak sigh left the blonde's parted lips. Overcome by a sudden wave of bittersweet memories, he carefully placed the items back into the plastic bag. Gently he pressed the seal shut again, paused, and then pushed the bag further away. And though he didn't really want to, he stayed to watch it. Quiet and motionless, as if idling. The silence was quick to begin weighing him down once again. The low hiss of the coffee machine, the clock ticking on the wall. They did very little to disturb the otherwise oppressive silence. The heaviness, it was a difficult one to shake off.
The sudden sound of his phone ringing caused Naruto to jump in surprise. Whether it was the relief of hearing the heavy silence break, or simply a matter of habit, he reached for the device without really intending to. Glancing at the caller ID, the blonde frowned. It'd been weeks since he'd accepted a single call. And in all honestly, didn't feel like accepting one now. But realizing that it'd be a challenge to avoid it forever, he silenced the voice telling him to ignore the call and slightly hesitantly picked up. The words left his throat dry and reluctant.
"Hey, Shika."
He was barely granted the chance to finish his greeting, before the other end of the line already scolded him for a number of things.
"What the hell, blondie? I've been callin' you for days. Why the hell aren't you at work? Also, you owe me 12 000 yen, douche. You never called."
Somewhat overwhelmed, all Naruto could offer in return was silence. He considered answering all of the man's questions with specific answers one at a time, but in the end, realized that the answer to all of them was the same. Swallowing down a knot of instant anxiety, he forced the words out. Words he realized he hadn't uttered out to anyone yet.
"Sasuke died."
The fast paced steps that'd echoed from the other end of the line came to an abrupt halt. An eerie quiet fell, and continued for the while it took for Shikamaru to find his voice anew. The shock and guilt, it was tangible.
"I am so sorry, Naruto."
The words flowed out more as a gasp than anything else. Sympathetic and shocked, undoubtedly sincere. But though appreciative of the condolences, Naruto had nothing to say in return. Thus he fell silent. Being the smart man that he was, Shikamaru was quick to fill the uncomfortable pause.
"What happened?" he asked, audibly cautious.
Naruto took his time to answer. He felt strangely detached from the subject, yet still found himself choking on the words he eventually forced out.
"Car crash", he told, voice monotone and empty. He must've sounded as detached as he felt.
Another pause followed. Even without knowing for sure, Naruto could tell that Shikamaru felt uncomfortable in the most respectful of ways. At a loss of words, if in the mood for idioms. It was understandable. It wasn't every day news as unexpected and tragic took place.
"I...I don't know what to say", the other man admitted. "How are you doing?"
Though compelled to roll his eyes, Naruto didn't blame his friend for the generic question. He'd been prepared for it.
"Not good", he told honestly. "But a little better every day, I guess."
"That's...that's good", Shikamaru supposed. "Uh, when's the funeral?"
Naruto almost felt bad for how carefully the other one tiptoed through the conversation. If only not to make it any more uncomfortable for either one, he did his best to remain unfazed by it.
"Today."
Shikamaru said nothing comprehensible in return, only cleared his throat in a nervous manner. As if he were afraid he'd say the wrong thing. Nobody could've blamed him for it, but Naruto did find it a tad bit condescending. As if he was a child, unable to hold himself together. Sighing, he decided to point the issue out.
"I can hear you literally hold your breath, dude. Stop it", he grunted, though not rudely.
"Yeah, I just...fucking hell. I feel like shit now", the other man mumbled regretfully.
The foul words, they almost made Naruto smile. Having grown up to be a firm believer in political correctness, very rarely did Shikamaru resort to bad manners. To hear him use such language was a testimony of sincere shame, and certainly worthy of a little reassurance.
"It's okay. You didn't know", the blonde kindly reminded.
All the man did was sigh. And then fell silent, for the while he gathered the courage needed to make demands in his position.
"I wanna see you. Just...to make sure you're even half as okay as you make it seem", he finally said.
Naruto stifled a sigh of the tired kind. Not because he didn't want to see his friend. But because he didn't really want to see anyone in general. As much as he hoped he could've spent the rest of his life only withstanding his own company, it was a wish too unrealistic to waste time trying to achieve.
"Yeah, okay", he succumbed. "But not today. Cause...well, the funeral."
Shikamaru was quick to agree. "Of course. How about tomorrow? I could drop by after work."
Naruto nodded. "Sure. Tomorrow's good."
No, it wasn't. But neither would any other day be. Probably for the rest of his life.
"Great. I'll see you then", the other one promised. "You need me to bring you anything?"
A short, few seconds long pause followed. One that Naruto spent stifling his inappropriately dark humor urging him to ask for an executioner. He managed not to. Besides, he already shared the house with a man akin to one.
"Nah. I'm good. See you tomorrow", he said instead, skipping the politically incorrect jokes.
"Alright", his friend complied. "Stay strong, blondie."
"I will. Bye."
The call ended. Left to listen to the sad little beep at the end of it, Naruto sighed. He put the phone away, scowled, and listened to the surrounding silence yet again. It might've been an inevitable aftermath of the call, perhaps just general misery, but he quickly became aware of just how alone he was. More so than before. As a desperate attempt to distract himself from it, Naruto glanced at the coffee he'd planned on having. A plan was all it ever became. In a matter of seconds the quiet grew unbearable, the stillness overpowering, and the loneliness a destructive power. It became clear to him, his tolerance of withstanding solitary sadness had reached its limit. He had to get out. He had to find Gaara.
Abandoning the perfectly good coffee, he rushed to put on shoes and a jacket, before opening the door to the outside world. Only for a brief moment did he hesitate to step out. But the instant he was greeted by the rising sun and a surprisingly warm breeze, a sense of relief washed over him. The fresh air traveled to his lungs much easier than the stuffy kind inside. The sky he hadn't seen in a week was slowly growing cloudy, but even that didn't bother him. A sliver of clear sky still remained in the horizon, allowing the waking rays of sunlight to stretch towards him. That was fine. That was enough.
The walk towards downtown felt more refreshing than he'd expected. Though the morning rush hour was nearing, he didn't mind the people and traffic. Not as much as he'd thought he would. There were other things he rather focused on. The sounds of birds singing, the smell of upcoming spring. The dogs on their morning walks. Watching them, Naruto was reminded of how he actually missed his own, but at the same time was grateful that Kiba had agreed to take care of it for a while longer, no questions asked.
After about thirty minutes, give or take, Naruto had made it downtown. Only two blocks away from where he supposed he'd likeliest find the redhead, he picked up his pace as the sky now covered by a sheet of clouds began sprinkling down drops of water. Though not icy, the rain still turned the air colder. Fortunately for him, at the exact instant the sprinkling turned into vertical downpour, he reached the building he'd aimed for. Allowing the entrance's large glass doors to automatically slide open, he scowled at how long it'd been since he'd last visited the place. Though perhaps understandable, he'd definitely slacked off when it came to dragging himself to the gym. The look on the receptionist's face only proved that to be true.
"Look at that", the familiar man behind the counter hollered. "Haven't seen you in a while."
Naruto mustered an awkward grin and made his way over.
"Yeah", he muttered, clearing his throat. "Been busy."
The man flashed a smile in return. A kind and genuine one. He was a nice guy. Had worked there for as long as Naruto could remember. For the eight or so years he'd gone there, not once had he seen the man look anything but absolutely overjoyed about his job. It was an enviable trait, for someone to enjoy their profession so wholeheartedly.
"I feared you'd gotten fat by now. But still looking good, it seems", the man assured with a wide grin on his face, holding a up a thumb.
Naruto couldn't help but chuckle. A nice guy, indeed. It only made sense that he went by a name suitable for him. Gai, he was called. Funny looking man, really. Black bowl cut, brows bushy enough to be mistaken for a pair of fat caterpillars. Yet in an enviably spectacular shape otherwise. Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if the man slept in a handstand.
"Hn, thanks", the blonde said, before frowning. "Actually, there's someone I'm lookin' for. You seen a guy with red hair?"
The other man frowned as well, seemingly thoughtful. He looked unsure, causing Naruto to sigh. Not for the lack of response, but for the description he'd have to give of Gaara that was the least bit accurate.
"Tall, doesn't smile, looks like he kicks puppies for fun."
Naruto could almost see the light bulb turn on above the older man's head. A sound of recognition slipped the grinning lips.
"Ah, yes. I remember him", he told excitedly. "Very dedicated. Has been here all night."
That didn't really surprise the blonde. Not as much as something else did.
"Have you been here all night?" he asked, too curious not to. The man chuckled and shook his head.
"Well, of course. How else could I combine leg day with cardio?"
Naruto could only smile awkwardly. He didn't dare point out that it wasn't necessary to dedicate twenty-four hours to a single workout. It was likely that even those bushy brows possessed more muscle power than the average human, so perhaps it was best not to even attempt an argument.
"Right. Of course", the blonde mumbled instead. "So, where is he?"
"In the cage."
The blonde paused to stare at the other man in silence. The cage. The fighting cage?
"Alone?" he finally asked, deeply confused. Gai laughed.
"Oh no, no. He's challenged every man who's walked in."
Naruto blinked, slowly. He opened his mouth, only to stay silent for another few seconds. A short while of fear went by as he wondered how many had left straight to the hospital. Finally he chuckled nervously.
"Excuse me."
Leaving the cheerful man behind, the blonde left the counter and made his way down the hallway and towards the room dedicated to punching both people and inanimate objects. Upon reaching the doorway, he was quick to find the redhead exactly where promised. Inside the smaller scale fighting cage, accompanied by a stranger the size of a bulldozer. Naruto's first reaction was horror, though he wasn't sure for which one. But it was quickly replaced by mild confusion and curiosity. Intrigued enough, he went to lean against the door frame and stayed to simply watch.
The stranger was a man of unusual build. As tall as Gaara and wide as a barn door. Definitely much bigger and heavier than the redhead. But despite the size and strength the man must've possessed, he seemed somewhat clumsy and slow. Even though Gaara was strong and moderately brawny, he wasn't like this hormone infused bull attempting to land a hit on him. He was much faster and more coordinated, leaving him with the option to easily dodge the fists thrown at him. And that was what he did. By the looks of it, he had for a while already. The big guy looked tired and out of breath. Naruto could already tell that by the time Gaara grew tired of him, a single strategically executed hit would be enough to take him down.
It wasn't the most fascinating fight the blonde had ever seen, and thus grew bored of it fairly quickly. But there were other things he found worthy of his attention. The redhead's shirtless appearance certainly was one of them. Quite openly staring, Naruto wondered if he'd just forgotten what a trigger of sexual frustration that man was, or if he through some miracle could've still improved in past few weeks. He might've, if this was where he'd spent his time. Either way, the blonde was pleased to know he owned the exclusive rights to all of it. Even if he hadn't taken advantage of it in a wastefully long while.
Exactly like Naruto predicted, Gaara was fairly quick to grow bored of the clumsy giant. A bit sooner than expected, really. But that might've had something to do with the fistful of anabolic steroids unexpectedly making contact with his face. It did result in a bloody nose and visible annoyance. Obviously displeased that he hadn't been able to dodge it, the redhead finally stopped only blocking the other's hits and instead sent back each and every one that followed. Forty seconds later, the wall-sized stranger took a hit he hadn't been prepared for, lost his balance, and crashed to the floor. Game over.
The redhead stayed to glare down at the man, while letting his heavy breath even out. Distantly aware of the blood running down his face, he used the back of his hand to wipe some of it off, then stopped to stare at the mess with a scowl on his face. Only by chance did he glance in the direction of the door, finally noticing the blonde leaning against the frame, watching him with a curious gaze. Whether it was planned or not, a very brief smile of surprise visited on the pale man's bloody face. Naruto returned it with an equally as brief crooked smirk. Without even glancing at the guy still on the floor, Gaara exited the metal cage and made his way over to the blonde.
"What you doin' here?" he asked, stopping to stand a small distance away.
"Lookin' for you", Naruto admitted. The redhead frowned, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Why?" he asked, mostly just curious. The other one shrugged.
"Why not?"
Gaara said nothing return, but instead only stared silently. The look on his face was slightly odd. As if surprised, yet somehow disbelieving. And after a while, Naruto could no longer not question it.
"What?" he asked, wondering if there was something wrong with his face.
The redhead flinched, looking like he hadn't quite been listening. He then slowly shook his head, still staring.
"Nothin'. Just...", he began, but trailed off to briefly hesitate. "You're lookin' me in the eyes. You haven't done that in weeks."
It was Naruto's turn to flinch. Whether it was because of how strangely weak the other's voice was, or that he hadn't even realized he'd avoided eye contact for that long, he wasn't sure. Neither did he quite know what to say in return. Only one thing came to mind.
"I...I'm sorry."
Before he could even finish, the redhead shook his head vigorously. He took a step closer, reached an arm out, but caught himself before he could touch the other one. Naruto found himself questioning it, but didn't get the chance to point out the oddity of it.
"No, don't be, I just-" Gaara hastily began, only to hesitate again. "I just miss you."
The blonde's lips fell apart. Out of surprise, mostly. But out of uncertainty as well. He didn't know what to say. Not least because of how rare it was to hear this man utter such a sincere confession. Yet what puzzled him the most, was how cautiously the redhead seemed to behave. He'd made a move to touch Naruto, but cowered away after all. And it could be that the blonde was simply imagining things, but wanted to test it anyway, never mind the unfairness of it. Thus he took a small, but sudden step closer. And as if burned by hellfire, Gaara took an instinctive step back. It was then Naruto let himself look openly bemused, perhaps even a little offended.
"Touch me."
The demand left his lips before he even realized it. And it left perhaps just a tad harsher than was necessary. But as he saw how uncomfortable it made the redhead, he didn't regret in the least. Shifting awkwardly, Gaara mumbled out an excuse why not to do as told.
"You don't want me to touch you", he grunted. "I'm sweatin' like a whore in church."
Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous excuse. But then scowled again. He couldn't understand why the man was so reluctant to come near. He'd held him before, when asked. And though things undeniably had been awkward between them, was it really that bad?
"Don't fuck with me", the blonde grunted. "Why won't you touch me?"
The redhead grew even more uncomfortable. Avoiding eye contact and nervously running his fingers through red hair, he mumbled a barely coherent reply.
"I...I'm afraid I'll hurt you."
At first, Naruto looked deeply confused. But a tired sigh of realization was quick to follow.
"Fuck's sake. Is this 'bout the fight we had?" he groaned, mildly frustrated. Unappreciative of the jaded attitude, Gaara shot him a glare.
"How the hell am I supposed to trust myself?" he asked. "I almost fuckin' murdered you."
"Hn. Don't flatter yourself", the blonde grunted, remaining unimpressed. "I slashed your pretty face open. We're even."
The paler one briefly brushed his fingers against the cut still visible on his cheek. It'd healed for the most part, but would undoubtedly leave a faint scar. He didn't say anything in return, but judging by the grim look on his face, felt no less guilty. Naruto realized that he had only two ways of handling the situation. Either they could argue about it till the end of time, or they could deal with it the only way they knew how to solve problems. Taking into count how immensely tired he was of the tension between them, the latter option quickly became the only option.
Naruto never said anything. Instead he confused the redhead by starting to take off his jacket and shirt, all the while staring at the man with a clear challenge reflected in his eyes. Once stripped of excess clothing, he wandered further away to find himself a roll of hand wrap, before starting to bind his knuckles with it. Gaara watched him from a distance, but said nothing. Naruto ignored him for the time being. Only after he'd successfully bound his hands, pulled on a pair of grappling gloves and stepped inside the cage, did he finally turn to meet the gaze directed at him. Leaning against the metal fence, he beckoned the other one over. Though obviously reluctant, Gaara eventually did as told, even if he did stop at the entrance. Pleased enough, Naruto nodded. The instructions fell from his smirking lips crystal clear.
"Get in the cage, love."
Gaara remained still and silent. He briefly glanced in the general direction, but was quick to lower his gaze to the floor and shake his head in disagreement. Naruto didn't let that sway the smirk on his face.
"Either you get in, or I kick your ass outside it", he stated firmly. "Your call."
"Your arm's still shit, ain't it?" the redhead reminded.
An amused snort and obnoxious gaze was what he received in return.
"I don't need two."
Just as he'd predicted, his bold claim was one Gaara couldn't ignore, no matter how hard he might've tried. Naruto could visibly see the man's eyes light up with what he could only call enthusiasm. It'd been a while since he'd last seen it. The annoyingly over-confident claim would most likely have been enough to convince him, but the poorly stifled snort of a third wheel assured it. Instantly irritated, Gaara turned to glare at the hormone monster that'd dragged his beaten ass to a bench. Despite the murdering glare directed his way, the man refused to look less amused. As someone who didn't handle mockery very well, Gaara was exceptionally quick to face the blonde anew, step into the cage and slam the chain-link door loudly shut. His self-assured steps made their way towards the other one. Naruto met him half-way, in the center of the cage. Silent staring ensued, accompanied by over-confident attitudes on both sides.
"You get off on havin' your face smashed to shit?" the redhead sneered. Naruto chuckled.
"No. But I know you do", he scoffed in return. The other's smirk grew more crooked.
"I guess I ain't gettin' off today then, am I."
The blonde narrowed his eyes, grinned wider and brought his face as close to the other's as humanly possible without touching.
"Trust me. I will pound you into oblivion."
Gaara matched the other's obnoxious look and hummed tauntingly.
"Hm, funny", he commented. "Cause I'm planning to bang the fuckin' life out of ya."
It wouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with them, how quickly their taunting grew an undertone of innuendos. Seeing an opportunity for a challenge within a challenge, the blonde tilted his head slightly to the side and decided to share that thought.
"Winner pitches?"
The redhead's smile grew to be an unhealthily motivated kind.
"Loser catches."
Partly as a sign of an agreement happening, partly to have an equal point of start, they pressed the knuckles of their right fists against the other's. Judging by the stupid grins on their faces, it was safe to say that neither one possessed a healthy sense of fun. There was no point in stating rules. First one on the floor would be fucked in every sense of the word. There were worse outcomes to losing a fight than that.
If only to assure the element of boredom excluded, no count to three took place. It all boiled down to who was the first to draw their fist back and bring it the fastest forward again. Amazingly enough, there barely was any difference between their reaction time, but the difference in number of usable arms remained. For that reason alone, Naruto quickly found his fist stopped by the redhead's left hand, while the right fist was still free to aim for his face. Since the blonde wasn't an utter idiot, he'd seen it coming. Perhaps even counted on it, as he was able to dodge it with a simple head tilt.
Mildly surprised by the swift move, Gaara didn't foresee the following. Not only did the blonde put at risk the last of his wounded arm's functionality by tightly locking it around the other's head, but used it to force him still, before proceeding to knee the living fuck out of his stomach. Three consecutive times. As much as Gaara hated to admit it hurt, he might as well have been hit with a baseball bat of solid titanium. Fortunately, three strikes was all he got before the blonde loosened his death grip. Unfortunately, it was followed by an impressive right hook to the jaw and an efficient kick square in the chest. Whether he liked it or not, the force sent the redhead several steps back and left him nothing short of dumbfounded.
For a few seconds, he paused. Stopped and stared, not really even minding the pounding ache in his face. For a guy who'd spent the majority of three weeks in bed, the blonde possessed incredible stamina. Not only was he impressed by it, but in fact overjoyed. Whatever fear he'd had of hurting Naruto flew out the window faster than a virgin finished. The surprise on his face faded, leaving a blank canvas for a twisted grin to spread itself on.
Naruto could tell just by looking at it, the fist now coming at him wasn't going to hold back. More than pleased, he didn't even try to dodge it. He took it like a man, endured the pain and made the best of it. Though fairly certain it cost him a cracked tooth, it was his best chance to catch the other's arm by the wrist. The only way he'd ever get close enough to take the redhead down, was by forcing him still. Managing a hold around the man's wrist, he was quick to twist the arm into an awkward enough angle for it to be a challenge to break free from. The brief pain of that distracted Gaara from being able to kick away the leg trying to sway his balance.
It might've been a little premature of Naruto to think he'd succeed in getting the redhead down that easily. But though that he could admit, nobody could've blamed him for not foreseeing exactly why it was such a premature assumption. Even though Gaara had one of his arms forced uncomfortably behind his back, the other one was still very much free to move. As Naruto stood partly in front of the other one, mostly to the right, he hadn't even imagined the man would attempt using the left hand. But as the redhead suddenly lowered himself a head shorter and wrapped the free arm around him, he was reminded of just how ridiculously strong the man was.
The floor suddenly no longer was a thing that existed. And only when it was too late for him to do anything about it, Naruto realized that Gaara had literally hauled him off the ground. Somewhere between yelping in surprise, and understanding that he would get thrown over the other's shoulder, he finally remembered why close combating this man was rarely a good idea. He'd witnessed Gaara throw grown men around like dollar store frisbees. Of course it was a terrible idea. And all he could do there in midair was hope he wasn't too old for this shit.
Maybe it was pure luck. Maybe his guardian angel was jerking off to this in the corner. Whatever the reason, through some miracle he landed on his feet and even narrowly avoided face-planting into the chain-link wall. Somehow, he had performed a perfect flip, despite being about as flexible as a table leg. For a second or two, he stood perfectly still, arms spread to the sides and a dumb look on his face. He then glanced over his shoulder to meet a look even dumber on the redhead's face. Silent yet mutual wonderment of how the hell he'd pulled that off ensued. It lasted the few seconds it took for Gaara to step out of his usual comfort zone and actually voice his admiration.
"I would literally carry your child if I could."
Turning around, the blonde snorted.
"Good thing you can't. We'd fuck it up bad."
Barely having finished his sentence, Naruto already charged at the other man anew. Prepared for it, Gaara had his fist ready to greet him. But as it turned out, both of them were several steps ahead of the present. After all the times they'd fought, they'd learned to read and predict the likeliest solutions the other one would settle on. Thus it wasn't difficult for the blonde to dodge the incoming hit, just like it wasn't difficult for Gaara to make up for missing with a kick at Naruto's weak side. The question of who'd thought further steps ahead was quickly answered. The blonde was able to avoid the kick by stepping to the right. Again, the redhead was left surprised enough for Naruto to make it past the man and behind him. Even more so, when he felt the weight of a grown man unexpectedly climb him like a ladder and stay tightly twisted around his upper body.
Gaara rushed to shake the surprise off. Realizing what would follow, he hurriedly pressed his chin as tightly against his chest as he could. Only barely could he stop the blonde from wrapping an arm around his throat. But though he initially avoided the choke hold, it didn't mean Naruto wouldn't try again. And in a matter of seconds, he'd managed to force the other's head to the side just enough to fit his forearm underneath. That was the moment Gaara realized he was terribly close to losing.
Aware that it wouldn't take long for the lack of air to make it impossible to stand, let alone carry the weight of someone else, he was in a rush to come up with a way to throw the clingy thing off his back. The question of how became a big one. And after a few seconds of doing his best to detach the limbs around him, only to fail at it, not many options remained. Thus he went with the best one. Mustering all the strength and willpower he had, he backed into the wall behind them. Despite the loud metallic rattle and what couldn't have been anything but the blonde's head smashing against the chain-link fence, the tight hold around him remained the same. He must admit, Naruto wasn't one to give up easily. But neither was he.
For another three times, he forced the both of them against the wall as hard as he could. And a split second before the fourth, Naruto finally let go. Back and head slammed to shit, he had no other choice but to admit defeat. A pained groan escaping his lips, he jumped off the other one. But the instant his feet hit the ground again, Gaara kicked him mid-turn. Feeling his body hit the wall for the fourth time, and seeing that the redhead was merciless enough to already follow the kick with a punch, he knew it was no use even trying to dodge. Instead, he pressed his body tightly against the wall and shut his eyes in preparation for further pain.
The redhead's tightly clenched fist did make impact. But not with the blonde's face. Hearing the sound and feeling the vibrations of something colliding with the chain-link wall yet again, Naruto opened his eyes. He came to find that the hit had intentionally missed him by mere inches. That explained the lack of pain, which he could not complain about. But he had to wonder, why had Gaara missed on purpose?
Naruto turned his gaze away from the fist still pressed against the wall, and instead turned to look at the redhead. He was close, seemed calm. Unnecessarily so. Didn't do much, just stared. So Naruto stared back. Finally, the redhead broke the silence.
"Sorry I almost killed you."
The blonde's gaze softened. He was distantly aware of how deranged his conception of normality had become, but it was perhaps the sweetest thing Gaara had ever said to him. It was only considerate to return the gesture.
"Sorry I almost slit you throat."
Just like that, everything was okay again. Well, for the while it took for Naruto to flash a twisted grin, take advantage of the redhead's distracted state of mind, and bring the fight to an abrupt end. It could've been deemed unfair, the violent smashing of his forehead against the other's face. But really, Gaara had only himself to blame. Feeling his nose begin to bleed like an open faucet for the second time that day, the surprise sent him stumbling back a couple of steps. Creating that little distance between them was exactly what the blonde had hoped for. The two second window he had before the redhead would pull his act together, he made the best of. Arm bending back for full force, he kicked himself away from the wall and brought the arm forward with all he got. The palm of his hand landed hard against the other's chest, just below the neck. And with force like that, he took them both down in the blink of an eye.
Gaara could've assured to any doubter, it wasn't the most pleasant of sensations to crash against the floor back and head first. But even worse than that was to simultaneously have half the weight of a grown man land on top of him. All air exited his lungs in a strangled gasp, eyes closing to suppress the pain of several different things. Not only had he obviously lost, but upon opening his eyes again, was forced to meet the unnecessarily pleased grin on the blonde's face, barely two inches away from his own. Not surprisingly, Naruto wasn't the least bit shy to rejoice his victory in the most annoying manner imaginable.
"Loser."
Too short on oxygen to speak, Gaara could only give a dirty glare in return. The blonde hardly was bothered by it. One hand still pinning the redhead to the floor and the rest of him hovering above the man, he let his grin turn into a crooked smirk.
"Bend over, bitch. I told you I wouldn't need tw-"
Naruto found himself abruptly silenced. Whatever nonsense still might've followed was devoured by lips he'd almost forgotten the feel of. And whether it was because of the two and a half weeks since he'd last tasted them, or the three since he'd made it any further than that, it certainly shut him up. Had he been self-aware enough to care, he might've felt embarrassed by how quickly he felt himself melt from the inside out. About as quickly as his lower self was to realize its potential involvement, no matter how determinedly he tried to stop that from happening. After three weeks of living like an abstinent monk, he probably could've gotten off at the mere idea of the nails digging into his sides. Which again made him realize, Gaara seemed suspiciously okay with having lost. It didn't take a genius to figure out why that was. But the reason definitely called for a timeout.
"You fucker", the blonde grunted and broke away. "You wanted to lose."
Gaara smirked. "Me? I would never."
Naruto barely even bothered to roll his eyes. It was the most unconvincing tone of voice he'd ever heard anyone use.
"Yeah, you did. It's that time of the month again", he sighed and rolled over to the floor.
The redhead turned to his side and rested his head against the palm of his hand. The annoying smirk on his face remained the same.
"What time?" he asked, supposedly innocent. Which fit him and his bloody face just as poorly as one could've imagined.
Naruto scoffed. "The time you turn into a submissive whore. I fuckin' swear, I am not blood chokin' you for kicks the same day I'm burying my best friend."
Gaara tilted his head curiously. "Did I ask you to?"
"Not yet", the blonde huffed.
The other one chuckled, got on his knees and moved to hover over the blonde. While Naruto watched him with suspicious eyes, he returned the look with an amused one.
"Whatever. I'm goin' home now", he informed. "I need a shower."
With that, he got up and turned to walk away. Naruto was left to frown, somewhat puzzled for a while. Eventually he pulled himself up to sit, glanced over his shoulder at the other's turned back and raised a brow.
"Is that an invitation?"
The redhead didn't bother looking back. "It's an order."
Naruto was exceptionally quick to get up. "Yes, sir."
They both exited the room, leaving behind silence and an audience they'd mostly forgotten about. The stranger, still seated on the bench in the furthest corner of the room, stared at the now empty fighting cage with his mouth hanging open. It wouldn't have been bold to claim that he hadn't expected the fight to end in a case of face sucking. Regardless of whether that alone was the cause of his shock, or if it'd perhaps dawned on him that shit like this could actually be considered foreplay by people allowed to walk around freely, he remained stunned silent for a long time after.
A few hours later, Gaara sat by the kitchen's island counter. Alone and hesitant. Alone, because Naruto was still in the shower. Hesitant, because the blonde's phone sat there right beside him, barely a foot away. For the past ten minutes or so, he'd tried not to acknowledge its existence, yet repeatedly found himself glancing in its general direction. The coffee he'd been drinking had gone cold in the while he'd wasted pondering whether or not to reach out and grab it. The day's paper he'd supposedly been eyeing he no longer even pretended to have any interest in.
The whole thing was ridiculous, really. And after another three minutes of nervously tapping his fingers against the counter, he made the firm decision to get rid of the distracting element altogether. He grabbed the phone, got on his feet, walked across the room and laid the phone on the dining table instead. Content enough, he made his way back to the counter to reclaim his previous seat. Determined to forget about the phone, he reached for the paper again and unfolded it to continue reading. For roughly thirty seconds he convinced himself that he understood every word he read. Another thirty he was certain that at least half of it made sense. And somewhere between that moment, and being forced to admit he might as well have been reading the damn thing upside down, it became clear just what a pathetic attempt of distraction it'd been in the first place.
He got up and dashed back to the phone embarrassingly fast. Quickly confirming that Naruto wasn't in his range of vision, Gaara grabbed the device and attempted to unlock it. Thanks to the seven years he'd spent in prison, he wasn't exactly accustomed to fancy smart phones, but even a technological moron like him could tell it was password protected. Staring at the numbers on the screen, he frowned. From the top of his mind, he went through the likeliest combinations Naruto would've used. He tried the date of the blonde's birthday, but found it declined. He gave a shot at the two most generic combination used by complete idiots and almost sighed in relief upon having them rejected as well. After a few failed tries, he began to feel annoyed and frustrated. And as one more attempt flashed rejection in return, he came to find that he was only one try away from being robbed of any more attempts for fifteen minutes to come.
The redhead scowled. He flipped the phone around in his hand a couple of times, tilted his head curiously. It was fairly new, couldn't have been more than a couple of months old. It was fair to assume that the password might've been updated along with the phone. Following that thought, a look of realization visited his otherwise annoyed features. Though slightly hesitant, he lit the screen up once more. And with slow and unsure taps, inserted a five figure code. With only one try left, it might've been somewhat of an egoistic move to use his own name as the last shot, yet he did anyway. Prepared to sigh in frustration, he pressed 'ok'.
With a soft click, the phone became unlocked. And Gaara couldn't help but grin like an idiot. Partly for having unlocked it, but mostly for now knowing what a disgustingly cute piece of shit Naruto actually was. He felt obnoxiously pleased with himself for a short while, before remembering what he'd violated the blonde's privacy for in the first place. Feeling less than comfortable stealing something he actually could've just asked for, the redhead clicked his way into the contacts and scrolled down the long list, hoping he'd find a number very specific. Having felt skeptic of finding it, he was surprised when coming across the name. Pleased enough, he hurried to grab the closest pen and then scribbled the number down on the corner of the newspaper he'd supposedly been reading. Double checking the number he'd written down, he then placed the phone back where and how he'd found it, before seating himself down again. Going back to waiting for the blonde to return, he continued drinking the lukewarm coffee and carried on pretending interest in the day's insight into current tax policies. Why he bothered, was anybody's guess. He hadn't paid taxes in years.
Naruto stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at the reflection with weary malaise. Had he been asked to condense the sight into just one word, he would've gone with 'disappointing'. He looked tired and unhappy. In fact more so than he felt. His usually tan skin fell miserably short of being even close to a healthy color anymore, mostly due to weeks' worth of seclusion from sunlight. The front of his hair, still damp from the shower, was but an overgrown disaster hiding most of his face. And the face itself was something he rather wouldn't have even commented on. Not only did it make him look internally sick, but the faint marks still visible from the fights he'd deliberately put himself into only enforced this silent implication of general carelessness. Even the slight bruising caused by the crash remained visible on the side of his head and across his chest. All in all, he regretted ever having stopped to look in the mirror.
The clock was nearing noon. He had exactly an hour to get ready, before he'd have to leave the house. Usually an hour would've been more than enough. But on that day, he wasn't all that sure. Not only would he have to come up with unimaginably creative solutions to fix the disaster staring back at him, but the very real chance of him still reaching a mental breakdown in the process would be inconveniently time consuming. Not that simply staring at himself virtually actionless was a much better usage of terribly limited time.
The longer he stared, the stronger he felt the overpowering urge to repeatedly smash his head against the mirror. Only barely did he avoid acting out such self-destructive desires.
Sighing for perhaps the millionth time that day, he forced himself away from the mirror and up the stairs to the bedroom. His movements and overall existence being as slow and unmotivated as they were, it took him fifteen long minutes to find a suit decent enough for a funeral. And another fifteen to stop utterly hating the way it felt on him. Forty-five minutes in, and only ten minutes before the exact moment he'd have to be out the door, Naruto finally decided he looked as moderately human as he ever would again. Dressed in attire he'd forgotten the absolute discomfort of, the overgrown disaster he somehow dared to call his hair slicked back neatly enough, he took another look at himself in the mirror. Against all odds, the reflection looked only half-bad anymore. Hadn't he known better, he wouldn't have been able to tell how horribly he'd treated himself for the past few weeks. That was an accomplishment it itself, he supposed.
Uncomfortably aware of time running out, Naruto begrudgingly dragged himself downstairs and towards the kitchen. His assumption of finding the redhead there proved to be justified. Appearing in the doorway, he stopped to lean against the frame with his hands down his pockets, and settled on watching the other man in silence. There he sat by the island counter, scowling at the day's paper and drinking from a cup of coffee that looked disgustingly cold even from a distance. It took the man a good ten seconds to even realize he was being stared at, and another three to meet the watchful gaze. As he finally did, it became clear he hadn't expected to see what stood in front of him.
Roughly half a sip of admittedly stale coffee he'd just managed to trap inside his mouth exited from between lips he hadn't intended to part. Yet there he was, face leaking coffee and brain noticing that only when most of it'd already traveled down his jaw. Finally realizing how big of a moron he looked like, Gaara swallowed the coffee he'd managed to keep in, wiped his face dry of the coffee he hadn't, while already rushing to his feet. Why he stood up, he wasn't really sure. But if nothing else, it made the blonde laugh.
"I ain't a fuckin' lady. Sit down", Naruto chuckled.
Gaara said nothing, only stared. Also, didn't sit down. Perhaps he was acting ridiculous, perhaps not, but one thing was as certain as hell was hot. He definitely, absolutely, without a doubt was the luckiest man alive. Feeling just dumb enough to forget how to speak, he didn't say anything at all. Instead he made his way over, ignored whatever it was the blonde intended to say, and silenced him with a tangible form of appreciation. Which Naruto didn't exactly mind, but found worthy of another chuckle.
"Hn. Guess I don't look fuckin' terrible, then", he said, once granted the chance. The other one watched him with a look that declared his guess an understatement.
"You look...fuckin' flawless."
Naruto snorted dismissively.
"Man, you gotta raise your standards", he huffed. Gaara narrowed his eyes in disagreement.
"They're already unreasonable", he assured, then smirked. "But so are you."
The blonde couldn't help but feel amused and shake his head somewhat disbelievingly.
"Exactly who's taught you to say shit like that?" he questioned, though humorously. "Makes me wonder what you were doin' those six months. Or who."
The redhead rolled his eyes. "Missing you and doin' my right hand. Need to know more?"
He really didn't. For that alone was enough to make the blonde pause and stare at the other man in slight surprise. Gaara questioned it, but only silently. Eventually, Naruto did speak.
"Really?" he asked. "You waited for me all that time?"
The other one frowned and shrugged.
"Yeah", he told, following it with a curious look. "And you didn't?"
The blonde nodded, a small smirk on his lips. "Hn. I did."
Gaara seemed pleased enough. At least so the gentle bite on his neck indicated.
"Awesome", the paler one mumbled. "I could do you right about now."
"You already did. Twice", Naruto reminded, subtly glancing at the time. "Besides, I need to get goin'."
The redhead grunted in a disappointed manner, but followed it with a hesitant frown. He voiced his thoughts shortly.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" he asked. The blonde sighed and shook his head.
"I'm sure", he assured. "I need to do this on my own."
Gaara's gaze narrowed discreetly, but he voiced no arguments. They'd gone through this once already. Naruto informing that he wanted to attend the funeral alone, Gaara declaring it a bad idea, followed by fifteen minutes of useless bickering, only for it to end in the blonde getting what he wanted as per usual. It was no use repeating such an ordeal, thus the redhead let it be. He couldn't say he particularly wanted to go along, as he wasn't a fan of funerals in the first place. He'd always found them more or less pretentious. But he did worry about Naruto and how he'd get through it all alone. As much as he would've wanted to trust the man's mental health enough not to worry, it was easier said than done. But then again, though he might've not trusted the blonde's unstable mind, he did still respect it.
"Okay", he finally complied.
In return, Naruto mustered a weak smile. But it only visited his lips briefly, before leaving again. It was easy for Gaara to detect the gradually growing distress taking over the blonde's features. In the little less than a year he'd known Naruto, he'd learned how to handle the man at his weakest.
"You can do it", he guaranteed. "And when you come back, you can scream and cry and throw things at me all you want."
"You're deranged", the blonde laughed with a weary, dry chuckle. "I've treated you like shit for weeks. And still all you want is to take on my misery."
The redhead tilted his head to the side, looking unusually serious. "I ain't here just for the good, y'know. I'm here for the bad as well. For all of you."
Naruto shut his eyes and defied the urge to melt from the inside out. He could've sworn, had this man not been a blood lusting contract killer, global wars would have been fought over him.
"Oh, screw you", the blonde groaned. "Screw your perfect face, and perfect smile, and perfect fuckin' everything."
Gaara smirked, but said nothing. And Naruto found even that infuriatingly appropriate.
"How are you not constantly followed by an army of women?" he mumbled in an annoyed manner.
The redhead shrugged. "Cause I look like I eat small children. Alive."
Naruto could hardly argue. "Hn. That you do."
A short moment of silence went by. That brief time the blonde spent thinking back at the past few hours, and everything they'd consisted of. He hadn't realized it so far, but the time he'd feared would go by slowly and utterly miserable, had actually flown by much faster and easier than expected. Though he felt guilty for having felt peaks of joy on a day as tragic, he knew it'd been for the best. And hadn't it been for Gaara, he would've let the misery slowly rot him away for yet another day.
"Thanks. For today", Naruto suddenly said. "I needed it."
The redhead smirked crookedly, but with a kind undertone.
"I know."
Naruto returned the smirk with a brief smile, before both of them let a more serious look take over. Time was up. The blonde would have to leave and face the saddest day of his life so far. Gaara would have to stay behind and only hope the other one would make through it all alone. After a fleeting moment of silence, and an exchange of stiff nods, Naruto finally made his way to the door, and stepped out into the pouring rain. The redhead stayed to watch the door close after him. With a soft click and no glance back, he was gone.
Gaara exhaled tiredly. Only for a moment did he pause to stare at the closed door, before shaking off the intangible heaviness on his shoulders. After all, there was something he needed to get done. Whether he liked it or not. And he didn't. He really didn't.
Making his way to the counter he'd spent most of the day seated by, he grabbed the newspaper left to lie on it. His gaze caught the number he'd scribbled on the lower right corner. A reluctant frown settled upon his features. He really didn't want to call it. But also knew that nobody else would've been appropriate for the occasion. Thus he sucked it up, grabbed the phone Naruto had left behind to avoid distractions, and dialed the number written on the paper. For the four rings it took for the other end to pick up, Gaara began regretting the whole thing. And right before the fifth, when he was about to hang up after all, an answer unfortunately enough brought that plan crashing down.
"Yo, brother-in-law. What's up, pretty boy?"
Gaara shut his eyes and fought not to brutally claw them out. How he'd ever thought this was a good idea, he no longer remembered.
"Don't make me listen to this bullshit, fuckface."
A short pause happened on the other end, indicating a somewhat slow thought process. Not that it was surprising, coming from Kankuro.
"Oh. It's you", the older man eventually grunted, as if disappointed. "Where's the cute one? Cause you ain't cute at all."
Ignoring the annoying remark, Gaara scowled. "Blondie's at a funeral. His friend died."
Another short pause followed, this time ending quicker and on a more serious note.
"Shit, man. Those always hit hard", Kankuro sympathized. "He okay?"
Gaara rolled his eyes. "The fuck do you think?"
"Hn. Forgot you are literally never pleasant", the other one mumbled. "The hell do you want?"
Now this was the part the redhead had loathed the most in advance. He wasn't entirely sure exactly how and when he'd sunken low enough to willingly call his asshat brother for help, and could force himself to do so only by silently reminding himself that fundamentally speaking it was necessary. For half a second, he held his breath. The other half he used to shove the word out as quickly as humanly possible.
"Advice."
A third pause in the time-span of five minutes happened. And ended in the most annoying, most infuriating and definitely the most shiteating laughter the human history had ever heard. Gaara instantly felt his body twitch with murderous intent and he thoroughly hated that there was nothing he could do to make the man shut up. But even more he hated that had they been face to face, Kankuro would never have dared to act like the dick he was. After ten seconds of this terrible noise continuing, Gaara's tolerance of unnecessary bullshit reached its limit.
"Literally nothin' is stopping me from buying a flight there just so I can rip off your limbs one at a time, before I set your ugly face on fire, cunt."
His less than subtle implication did its job to a certain extent. The other man stifled his howling laughter, even if a few snorts still escaped here and there.
"Sorry, bro", Kankuro chuckled. "Just...just let me have this one."
Had Gaara known how to feel pity, he certainly would have felt sorry for this simple creature's cheap joys.
"Whatever", the redhead grunted. "You gonna help me or what?"
He could clearly hear the annoying grin plastered across the other's face, but supposed it was no use pointing it out. After a while of silent grinning, Kankuro finally spoke in a tone just a tad too pleased.
"Sure, baby brother. What's up?"
Boring. So utterly, miserably and painfully boring. That was the only way Sai could describe the work day so far. Given the day of the week, it wasn't unusual for business to happen at a slower rate. But after an astounding four customers, out of which only three actually purchased anything and one appeared only to sleep partly on the counter, it wasn't just slow anymore. It was comatose. And thus, absolute hell for him.
It wasn't before the clock struck two in the afternoon, when the door opened for the fifth time that day. Pathetically excited, Sai straightened his hunched over posture and turned to greet the potential customer. That excitement continued for about two seconds. The instant he saw who'd waltzed in, his face fell into the deepest of scowls and posture slumped back to its previous state. But despite Sai's sour face, the visitor didn't look an ounce less cheerful. Which just made it that much worse.
"Ugh, the hell are you doin' here again?" Sai groaned tiredly at the one taking a seat across the counter.
"Came to see you", was the joyous reply. Thoroughly annoyed by the deliberately chosen tone of voice, Sai narrowed his gaze suspiciously.
"Fuck off, Haku. I'm not in the mood", he declared. It merely encouraged the younger one to smile even wider.
"You're always in the mood", he argued.
Sai said nothing in return, only glared. After a while of that, Haku finally sighed in a defeated manner.
"Fine. I'll buy something", he promised. "Happy?"
The other one cracked a sly smirk. "It's a start."
Not bothering to ask for an order, Sai went on to pour the drink Haku most often was seen with. And he'd been seen there quite a bit lately.
At first, Sai would've rather licked the inside of a toilet bowl than watched that face on regular basis. But as it'd gradually become clear that there was no getting rid of him, he'd learned to just live with it. Not that he still understood why the man so persistently appeared there. He always came alone, never seemed to know anyone else but Sai. And despite how badly he'd treated the boy for the first week or so, he still visited nearly every day. It was as if nothing could chase him away. After coming to terms with that fact, Sai had found it surprisingly easy to withstand Haku's company. At times, he'd come close to finding it enjoyable. Well, that was the most he could admit to.
"Here", Sai stated, as he placed a glass of colorful contents in front of the younger one.
A happy smile on his face, Haku tossed the bartender a payment for the service, and went to take the first sip. But before he made it that far, a frown appeared on his petite features. He stopped to glare at the glass clearly unhappy about something or other. It took Sai roughly two seconds to catch on and roll his eyes at the other's pouting face. Lazily he reached out to grab a straw, stuck it into the glass, and watched the other's eyes light up as usual.
"Suck, bitch, suck", Sai mumbled, and went to tiredly lean his elbows against the counter.
Haku swallowed a mouthful, before smirking crookedly. "Better than you could ever imagine."
Sai said nothing, only narrowed his eyes at the boy's teasing smile. It wasn't anything new, to hear him say such questionable things. In the past few weeks, he'd been introduced to a shockingly dirty vocabulary, apparently usually hidden beneath all that innocence. The first few instances had left even a man like him nearly choking on thin air upon hearing the foulness that pretty little mouth could come up with. But he'd gotten used to it fairly quickly. Yet even then, he still couldn't figure out what it meant, if anything at all. And that annoyed him more than anything else. Once again defeated in the search for a clue of its meaning, Sai simply huffed and turned his gaze the other way.
"You dirty little thing", he grunted.
"Hn. Says you", Haku muttered in his defense, taking yet another sip. Sai turned to face him anew, his trademark smirk finally appearing.
"Damn right. You'll never beat me in my own game, twinkie."
"Wouldn't dream of it", Haku chuckled in return.
Comfortable silence fell, as it now habitually did. Haku spent the time happily sipping his drink, and Sai created his own fun by flipping through his phone. While searching for messages to delete, mostly sent by one night stands he had no intention of ever seeing again, he came across one he felt was worth sharing. One he'd received that very morning.
"Cutie texted me this morning", he told, suddenly sounding somewhat gloomy. Haku took notice of that.
"Oh. How's things over there?" he asked cautiously. Sai glanced at him askance, visibly dejected.
"It's bad news", he sighed. "His friend died."
Haku's face fell with shock, hands moving to cover his gasping mouth.
"Sasuke?" he asked, sincerely upset. "That's horrible. He must be devastated."
"Must be", Sai agreed. "He told me not to call, so I didn't."
Haku frowned, somewhat worried. "I hope he's okay. You sure you shouldn't try calling?"
"No", Sai admitted. "But I ain't gonna disrespect his wish. Besides, he's got the crazy one, don't he?"
"I guess", the other one muttered quietly, definitely not convinced.
Another moment of silence followed. Not exactly comfortable that time around. As the quiet continued, Sai watched the younger's face slowly turn thoughtful. Not about to interrupt whatever it was he pondered about with such intensity, he simply waited patiently. Eventually Haku lifted his downcast gaze up again and glanced at Sai with a mildly curious look.
"He told not to call", the younger one spoke with an undertone of anarchy. "But he never said we couldn't drop by, did he?"
Sai raised a brow, partly out of curiosity, partly condemnation. Yet he couldn't help but find some strange truth in the other's logic. Still, the idea had its down-sides.
"Trapped in a car with you for hours?" he huffed. "I'd rather fuck a woman."
Haku made a face. "Oh, c'mon. We could take the train?"
"Ha, I'd rather fuck a dog."
"Plane?"
"I'd have to fuck a lot of things to afford that."
"Don't you do that already?"
Sai shot a sharp glare at the other one, only to be further disrespected with a poorly stifled snort. But upon realizing that he was merely making the matter worse, Haku dropped the grin and whined desperately instead.
"Please?" he begged. "I'll pay for your ticket."
Sai paused, giving the man a weird look. "Exactly how the hell much do prostitutes make?"
"That don't make shit", Haku assured. "But breaking into houses does."
The older one frowned, then sighed. He'd nearly forgotten about it, the job they did. But once reminded of it, he could recall Naruto paying Haku quite a generous amount in return of his unique skills. Sai did wonder just why the boy wanted to use his money on something as unnecessary as a plane ticket for him, but since granted this rare opportunity, he found no real reason to decline. Cracking a smirk, he caved in.
"Hn. Fine", he agreed. "But only cause I miss cutie. And cause you're payin'."
Haku barely listened till the end, too busy releasing an excited squeal. Admittedly, Sai found the other's childlike joy somewhat adorable. Even if the boy was swift to ruin it.
"This is awesome", Haku declared. "Now all you gotta do is sleep with me."
Sai's face had perhaps never been as quick to drain of all existing color.
"What?!"
"Just kidding. I have standards."
All you lovemuffins, I have a weird, but sincere question.
How are you?
