After waking up, Gaara staggered out of bed and lazed his way downstairs, where Kankuro and Temari were eating breakfast. He took a seat at the table and put the minimum amount of food on his plate that he felt was necessary to sustain himself.

"Little brother, you usually take more food than that," said Temari.

Gaara glared at Temari. "So?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to show my concern!"

"Why don't you take your concern and shove it up your pretty little ass?"

"Go ahead, keep talking to me like that! See how much further you get in life!"

"Hmph." Gaara nibbled away at his breakfast.

Having reluctantly freshened up for work, Gaara drove down there and ended up putting in the bare minimum that was considered acceptable to get through the day. He tried to keep his head up as much as he could, but considering Matsuri's keen intuition, putting on such a front proved to be no use.

"Gaara, you don't seem to be yourself today," said Matsuri. "What's wrong?"

Gaara sighed. "As long as I can trust you, I'll tell you."

"OK."

"Matsuri…I blew it."

"Blew what?"

"I was on my way to Naruka's place yesterday after work, and I saw her kiss a guy that she claimed was a friend. I got so angry at her that I slapped her, we got into a fight and she broke up with me."

Matsuri dropped her jaw. "Gaara, you didn't!"

"Didn't what?"

"Come on! I understand you're not happy with her, but you don't hit a woman for that!"

"Look, I'm sad enough that we broke up, and being reminded of how horrible a person I am is not helping at all. All I want to do is make things right somehow."

"Then why don't you meet with her again and apologize to her?"

"I would, but she specifically told me not to come back again."

"Well, you never know. Even if she is still hurting from the fight, she might have cooled down just enough that maybe she'll listen to you."

Gaara gave Matsuri a blank stare. "Maybe you're right. I don't want to disrespect Naruka's wishes, but I really want to get her back. She means a lot to me."

"I know you really love her, but I've been through my fair share of breakups, and there have been a couple of guys I really wish I still could have been with. As it is, I just hope you're prepared to move on from her if you can't get back together."

"Matsuri, you don't understand. I had to fight tooth and nail until I got someone like her, and now I may never have anybody like that ever again."

"I know it hurts. Just remember, I'm always here for you, and I'll do what I can to help out. You're my friend, after all."

Gaara tried to keep himself together, but he found himself moved by Matsuri's words so much that he felt the need to cry. He walked over to her and buried his face in her shoulder as he hugged her. She was only too happy to return the gesture.

"It's OK, Gaara. There's nothing wrong with crying. Just let it out."

Gaara obeyed Matsuri and let out as much of his sadness as he possibly could. Even though the future wasn't set, he was feeling much better about it, and particularly about his ability to win Naruka back. By the time they let go of each other, Gaara's smile had returned.

"Matsuri…"

"Yes?"

"You're beautiful."

Matsuri smiled. "Awww…thanks!"

The rest of the workday was uneventful for Gaara, but he had to do his best to prevent himself from crying. Mainly, he did this by trying to concentrate on what he was going to say to Naruka, which gave him pretty bad anxiety, but he figured as long as he put on that cool, strong front he'd put on for so many years, he'd be fine. Once he got out and headed out on the road, he put on one of his favorite Metallica tapes to keep cool. By the time the tape was on "Fade to Black", he had made it to Naruka's house. As he proceeded to her front door, he kept replaying the scenario in his mind, hoping that things would play out in his favor. With heaviness in his heart, he rang the doorbell and nervously waited for Naruka to come to the door. Soon enough, she did, and unfortunately for Gaara, the moment she made eye contact with him, she didn't say a word as she attempted to close the door.

"Naruka, WAIT!"

Gaara tried to force the door open, and Naruka tried to push him back.

"What the fuck do you want, Gaara?"

"Look, I'm really sorry about yesterday," said Gaara, "and I feel bad about what I did to you!"

Naruka stopped trying to force the door shut. "Oh YEAH!? You know, if you really felt bad, you wouldn't have smacked me in the first place!"

Gaara clasped his hands together. "I know hitting you was wrong, but please, give me a second chance!"

Naruka crossed her arms. "And why should I give an asshole like YOU a second chance?"

"Because you still mean the world to me and because I fear I may never find anybody who can compare to you ever again!"

"Is that so? I'm sure there are PLENTY of fish in the sea who would make just as good a catch as me!"

"No, you don't understand! I…"

"Oh, I understand, all right! I understand that you're the kind of person who can't be handled at his worst, and because of that, you don't deserve me at my best!"

Gaara could feel the sadness welling up within him, but held himself together. "Please, listen to me! It's OK if you're still mad at me, but I hope you and I can come to some sort of understanding!"

"Rot in Hell, Gaara!"

Finally, Gaara felt as though he was out of options. He didn't want to resort to this, but it was either this or lose Naruka forever. Thus, he let the tears flow.

"You wouldn't let a nice young man like me rot in Hell, would you?"

Naruka looked into Gaara's teary, pupil-less eyes. She still didn't want much to do with him, but she could sense that he was sincere about wanting her back and atoning for his mistake. Seeing him do this caused her to raise her eyebrows.

"Gaara…do I really mean that much to you?"

"Yes…"

Finally, Naruka gave a weak smile. "Well, if it means your happiness, I guess I'll give you a second chance."

"Oh, THANK YOU!"

Gaara stopped crying and attempted to hug Naruka, but she stretched her hand out and stopped him.

"Not so fast, loverboy!"

"Huh?" Gaara lowered his arms.

"There is one condition…"

"Name it."

"You have to fight me."

Gaara's eyes widened. "Wha…?"

"You heard me: if you fight me and win, we'll get back together."

"I heard you, but don't you understand the inherent irony in fighting to make up for hitting you?"

Naruka lost her smile and crossed her arms again. "Do you want me back or not?"

Gaara sighed. "I accept. Just let me get my gym clothes from my car, OK?"

Naruka loosened her stance and smiled. "OK!"

Gaara and Naruka changed into their gym clothes. For Gaara, this meant his shorts minus a shirt, and for Naruka, this meant a sports bra and shorts in addition to tying her hair into a ponytail. Naruka led Gaara down to her basement, which was quite clean and well-furnished for such a place. There was a space with a gym mat on it, and they both removed their shoes and socks before stepping on the mat. They walked to the center of the mat.

"OK, there's only two rules," said Naruka, "but pay attention anyways: 1. No hitting below the belt, and 2. If you go limp, tap out or get pinned for three seconds, you lose. Other than that, it's fair game! Oh, and I should also like to mention one other thing…"

"Yes?" said Gaara.

"If you lose, I get to do whatever I want with you. Fair enough?"

Gaara smiled. "You're on!"

"Grand!"

Gaara and Naruka shook hands before bowing to each other. Then, they got into fighting stances, and it was on. Having hit Naruka once before, Gaara was nervous about hitting her again, even if it was for sport, and it showed as Naruka sent a couple of jabs his way with her left fist. He did his best to block her, but then she sent a right hook his way and connected with the side of his head.

"OW!" exclaimed Gaara.

"What's a matter?" Naruka smiled. "Are you some kind of wuss or what?"

"'Wuss'? I'll give you 'wuss'!"

Somewhat enraged, Gaara sent a few jabs at Naruka before attempting to get in a good, solid punch of his own. Unfortunately, she managed to dodge it. He took aim again, only for her to dodge that one as well. He sent a flurry of punches her way, but no matter how hard he tried, she always dodged them.

"DAMN IT!" exclaimed Gaara. "Stop dodging!"

"Uh uh uh!" said Naruka. "Everything else is fair game, remember?"

Gaara gritted his teeth and kept sending punches her way. He received a rather hard kick from Naruka to his belly, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. Rather, he let his rage build and sent punch after punch her way, hoping that at least one wouldn't be blocked or dodged.

"For Christ's sake!" exclaimed Gaara. "I said stop DODGING!"

Finally, after being consumed with so much rage, Gaara let a mighty right hook fly and managed to connect with Naruka's jaw. The blow sent her reeling a little and stunned her for a bit, but she remained on her feet. Much to Gaara's surprise, she began crying.

"W-why would you even hit a WOMAN!?" said Naruka. "You're a HORRIBLE person!"

Gaara relaxed his stance and put his palms outwards. "N-Naruka, I-I'm sorry! I thought we were…"

"PSYCH!"

Naruka stopped crying and got her smile back as she punched Gaara square in the face. At this point, Gaara had to try to not be surprised at how hard she could hit. Granted, it took him a couple of seconds to recover from the blow, but he did it, and he managed to block another few punches that Naruka had lined up for him. However, this meant that he left himself wide open for a roundhouse kick that she had lined up as well. This nearly knocked the wind out of Gaara, but he recovered from it swiftly enough and prepared to send another few blows Naruka's way. However, she closed in on him and let loose with her own flurry of punches. He did his best to block them all, but wasn't always successful. He tried to end it by kneeing her in the belly, which worked decently enough, but he got stuck in the same rut of having to contend with her dodging his punches.

One roundhouse kick later, and Naruka took the advantage and sent a vicious uppercut to Gaara, stunning him just long enough for her to put him in a headlock and beat his head in. By now, Gaara could feel his strength beginning to ebb, but he used what he could and flipped Naruka down onto the mat. He closed in and attempted to pin her, but she got up too quickly for that. Instead, she charged at him and clotheslined him, knocking him to the ground. Though his strength was still fading, Gaara retained enough of it to get up and just barely avoid being pinned. He tried to punch Naruka again, but she grabbed him and kept kneeing him in the belly before throwing him down on the ground.

"C-come on…" said Gaara. "G-get up…"

Gaara tried to use whatever strength he could to clamber back to his feet. However, Naruka ended up pinning him.

"One…two…THREE!" Naruka held her fist up in triumph. "YAY! I WIN!" Then, she got an evil smirk on her face. "And now to claim my prize!"

"Naruka…OH NO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA TICKLES!"

"Yes, that's right! I get to TICKLE you!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! WHY!?"

"Because it's fun, silly!"

"MAYBE FOR YOU! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Don't deny it! You want to be tickled, don't you?"

"NO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Look at how red your face is! You must really want some more!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHP!"

"No no no! I'm only getting started!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ALL RIGHT, I ADMIT DEFEAT!"

"Wait…did you say 'defeat'? Oh, that reminds me…"

"Uh oh…"

Keeping Gaara pinned, Naruka turned around.

"Naruka, I didn't mean…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Oh, but I think you DID want me to tickle your feet!"

"NO NO NO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Your mouth keeps saying 'no', but the fact that you're laughing tells me 'yes'!"

"PLEASE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Since you're being so polite, I'm going to tickle those cute little toes of yours!"

"OH MY! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Hold on, I gotta find your ticklish spot!"

"Oh my god!" Gaara gulped and braced for it.

"Hmmm…this looks like a sweet spot!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHP STAHP STAHP!"

Gaara tried to wriggle free of Naruka's grasp. However, the fact that he was being tickled, not to mention that it was being done to him by a hot girl in a sports bra proved overwhelming for him.

"You know, you can stop this any time you want!" said Naruka.

"NO MORE!" cried Gaara. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Uh uh uh! It's not THAT simple, babe!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA! STAHP! I CAN'T TAKE IT!"

"Tell you what: if you just give up and admit that I'm better than you, then I'll stop!"

"NEVER! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Come on, it's just four simple words!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Just say it: 'you're better than me'!"

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now if you'll excuse me, I just gotta have a little more fun…"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Finally, after what seemed like ages to Gaara, Naruka stopped tickling him. At this point, Gaara was huffing and puffing, trying so desperately to catch his breath. When he managed to catch his breath, he had to ask one simple question:

"Naruka…are we…together again?"

Naruka smiled. "Well, since you're so good at being tickled, I guess I'll give you a second chance anyways!"

Gaara smiled. "Oh, THANK YOU!"

"You're welcome!"

Both parties stood up.

"I know I said 'stahp' a bunch of times," said Gaara, "but really, I enjoy being tickled!"

"Really?" said Naruka. "In that case, we should try that more often!"

"Er…OK." Gaara put a smile on. "Just don't tell anyone else, got it?"

Naruka gave a thumbs up. "You got it!"

"Naruka, I hope we never get into any more fights. I mean…not like the one we just had."

"Gaara, every relationship's bound to have fights at some time or another! The important thing is that both of us are able to talk about our feelings and resolve our problems without resorting to violence! Believe it!"

Gaara stared at Naruka.

"Well…excluding the one we just had, of course!" said Naruka. "But that's different!"

"OK." Gaara smiled. "By the way…"

"Yes?"

"Has anyone told you that you look really sexy in a sports bra and shorts?"

Naruka giggled. "Come here, you!"

Though a little apprehensive about being tickled, Gaara nevertheless accepted Naruka's hug and kiss. While they had yet to attain "happily ever after", they figured that this was a good start.

And there you have it: after several weeks of me screwing around with other projects, the ballad of Gaara and Naruka has finally come to an end. Please review the story if you'd like to let me know how I did, and stay tuned for my other projects!

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.