A/N: Wanted to get this one out a tad earlier, but here we are. This chapter will serve as a catalyst into the beginning of the next major conflict (and it won't be what you think, probably).

Get ready for Dark-Place Gaara. She won't be cute this chapter

Time for Chapter 21

Enjoy!

Gaara glanced up from the floor as the faint sound of footsteps echoed through the hall beyond the bars of her cell. She was all alone at present. Naruto had been taken roughly four hours previously for medical examinations, and he had yet to return. It concerned the girl greatly, but she had also locked onto his chakra signal long ago, and had not felt it dwindle. Wherever he was, he was roughly as healthy as he had been.

'At least he gave me my tunic back before they took him.' Gaara thought to herself as the footsteps grew closer to the cell. The blonde's reaction to waking up with her shirt covering him had been quite humorous, if a tad sporadic. He had instantly flushed red and tossed the tunic back at her, seemingly flustered by the sight of Gaara in nothing but a thin tank top. At the memory, the redhead sighed.

'I'm not even sure why it made him uncomfortable. He looked more afraid of me without my tunic than he did while I was transformed. That boy is so strange sometimes…' she recalled. Her thoughts were then interrupted by a top on the metal bars of her cell. Standing on the other side of the barrier was the subject of much of Gaara's ire.

"You look quite ragged, if I may say so." Danzo greeted her rudely. The redhead gave him a half-lidded glare and kept her chin rested on her knees.

"I haven't slept in eight days. Even for me, that's extreme. You also stole away my only source of positivity." she retorted tiredly. Danzo waved a dismissive hand and pulled up a guard's stool in front of the cell to sit on.

"He'll be back within the hour. Worry not. I'm a harsh man at times, but I'm not sadistic. It's clear to me that you'd have tried something foolish by now if Naruto weren't your cellmate." he assured the girl as he made himself comfortable. Gaara straightened out one of her legs and rested one of her arms on her still-bent knee

"Why are you here? It's clear that you aren't going to treat any of my wounds." she asked suspiciously. The bandaged old man leaned forward on the cane he had been walking with and studied the girl.

"I simply have a few questions to ask you. That's all." he said calmly. Gaara rubbed her eyes and motioned for Danzo to ask his questions.

"First and foremost, I'd like to know if you were involved with the death of Hideo Miorga, whose body we found on October 17th. He was found mutilated in the janitor's closet of an apartment complex. In fact, the very same in which Naruto lives." he began. Of all the reactions he had expected to garner from his question, Gaara gave him one of the most unsettling and unexpected.

Instead of growing tense, becoming defensive, or even simply remaining silent, the Jinchuuriki lowered her head and began to laugh. It was a low, disturbing giggle. One that almost seemed to contain self-awareness. Her chuckles never grew louder than just above a whisper, but they were all too audible. After a moment or two, she calmed down, and when she did, she returned her attention to Danzo, revealing a dark smirk.

"I knew I should have chosen a better hiding place, but I still have the excuse of inexperience when it comes to cover-ups. I've never had to hide a body before." she said. The old man frowned.

"So you admit to being the culprit? Is that what I'm hearing?" he pressed. The redhead shrugged her shoulders and allowed her posture to relax slightly.

"I have no way to deny it, so yes, I am. I didn't bother learning that wretch's name before I ran him through, but I killed him all the same. He had it coming." she explained. Danzo stroked his chin quizzically at the revelation.

"Would you mind explaining exactly why you killed a man whom you had no association with? You're clearly something of a sociopath, but you don't strike me as the type to murder without reason. You had a motive, and I want to know what it was." he inquired. Gaara snorted and scratched her cheek absently.

"Isn't it obvious? He had the nerve to try and harm Naruto. He planned to cause him pain. People like him deserve a shallow grave, and I gladly dug it for him." she said bluntly. The old man nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"That leads us smoothly into my second question. Why, pray tell, are you so fixated on that boy? To my knowledge, you have no history with him before the month that led up to the final round of the Chunin Exam. What could possibly drive you to defend him so fiercely?" he asked. Gaara opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Danzo adding onto his initial question.

"Before you answer that, may I try my hand at inference?" he requested. After a moment of hesitancy, the Jinchuuriki nodded in confirmation. At this, Danzo took a deep breath.

"I'm going to make the educated guess that your childhood has been as tumultuous, if not more so, than Naruto's. Your experience with unbiased and accepting people is limited, and you have no real perception of what it means to have empathy. At least, not in a fully developed sense. You're capable of connecting to those with shared experiences, but the number of people currently living who can claim to have those experiences is exceptionally small." he began. Gaara's frown strengthened into a scowl as the old man spoke.

"And as such, you've lived most of your life in self-induced isolation. You mentioned earlier that you'd never had to hide a body before, which implies that you've killed a number of people in the past. My guess would be that you killed them in response to their attempts to hold you accountable for your anti-social behavior. At first, at least. Past the first few killings, they became acts of self defense." Danzo continued. Gaara clenched her jaw.

"Get to the point." she growled. Taking a great degree of pleasure in the young Jinchuuriki's discomfort at the subject matter, the old man suppressed a short laugh.

"Upon meeting Naruto for the first time, you were struck by how similar he was to you. Similar, yet different. Similar, yet...better. He hadn't yet been broken by the hardships of life the way you had. He was a beacon. Something to strive for. Touching, really. The mind of a child is incredibly adaptable. You were lost, so you found something to hold strong to. It was less about him than it was about your own stability." he concluded. Gaara stared at him silently, a look of thinly veiled hate on her face.

"You say all of that like you've known about my presence for quite some time." she said. Danzo nodded and leaned his cane against the wall.

"I knew what you were the moment you set foot in this Village. Even before you met Naruto. Your chakra was so noticeably different from your peers that I couldn't help but take an interest. Back on topic, though. Was any of what I said incorrect?" he asked. Gaara averted eye contact, her face twitching periodically.

"Perhaps it was about myself initially, but not anymore. I could care less what happens to me now as long as he's safe and healthy. And it's not as though it wasn't fitting for my interest in him to be born of selfishness at first. It is my namesake, after all." she said. Danzo gave a false smile.

"I suppose you're right. Expecting a girl like you to concern herself with the ethics of manipulation is a bit much. Though, murdering a man in Naruto's name certainly was a step in the right direction in a roundabout way." he said.

"What's driving you to break down and analyze my psychology this way? What's in it for you?" Gaara questioned. Danzo stood up from his chair and took hold of his cane.

"It's all food for thought. You're a fascinating case of how upbringing can affect development. You likely were just a child at one time, but life has made you a freak. It's almost sad." he said insensitively. The redhead didn't respond. Taking this as his cue to leave her, Danzo took steps to exit the hall. Before he could leave earshot, however, Gaara's voice echoed through the corridor one last time.

"When Naruto is returned to me, I'll be examining him thoroughly. If I find a single new injury, I'll kill each and every one of your adherents. Don't think this cell can contain me, Danzo." she said menacingly. A smirk spread across Danzo's face as he walked away.

'What a monstrous girl.'

The prospect of feeling relief at the sight of one's prison cell was an odd one. Preposterous, even. The site of one's detainment was not meant to bring the prisoner any sort of comfort. The opposite was intended. A prison was meant to inspire repentance in its residents by depriving them of the joys of life. Under certain circumstances, however, the simple familiarity of a single room could quell the discomfort of a prisoner.

As of the present, it was indeed one of those situations. After having been under medical scrutiny for hours on end, Naruto found himself eager to just settle down. Solitude was not an option, but Gaara had proven herself to be a manageable cellmate. She rarely spoke unless spoken to, and she kept her distance at the blonde's request. While the parameters of their living situation certainly did fit Naruto's preferences, he did find himself feeling guilty from time to time. Gaara had absolutely shattered his trust with her own hands, but she did seem to be genuinely regretful of her actions.

'Maybe...that's why I let her kiss me. As sort of a reward for being so nice about this. I still don't really trust her, though.' Naruto thought to himself as he was led along down the hall that ended with his and Gaara's shared cell. Once they reached the steel bars, the guard opened the door with a set of keys and shoved the blonde inside. The push had been forceful enough to cause him to lose his balance, and he stumbled as a result.

Before he could fall forward, he was caught by his arms and steered back upright to a stable standing position.

"Are you okay?" Gaara, who had rushed from her sitting place on the wall, asked urgently as she gripped his shoulders. Naruto nodded and looked away from her wide, concerned eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. There's no need to-" he said. Before he could finish, Gaara cut him off by yanking up on his shirt and examining his abdomen. The blonde immediately reeled backwards and pulled his shirt back down.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he asked, clearly incredibly uneasy about what had just occurred. Gaara looked at the floor and slowly walked towards him. Naruto's instinct was to back up, but opted not to do so.

"I...just want to make absolutely sure they didn't hurt you. We both know that you wouldn't tell me if they did. I'm sorry if I shocked you." she said apologetically. Naruto gave her a skeptical look as she fidgeted with her bangs as she tended to.

"I'm fine, Gaara. You don't have to worry. I'm totally alright." he assured her. The redhead quit playing with her hair and gazed up at him.

"Can I please make sure? Just...to ease my nerves. You're all I have right now, and I don't want your health to be a mystery to me." she asked meekly. Naruto's expression softened slightly.

"I'm not going to take off my shirt." he said. His fellow Jinchuuriki shook her head and pointed to the floor.

"Then don't. Just sit down please." she said. The blonde sighed and did as he was told, taking a seat on the cold stone floor at Gaara's feet. His cellmate then knelt down behind him and ran her hands over his back.

"Tell me if anything hurts. Don't hide anything." she said softly. For the first thirty seconds, no reaction came from Naruto. Once Gaara reached his ribcage, however, he visibly flinched.

"They told me three are broken. They said a cast isn't possible." he said in a pained tone as Gaara gently felt his injured midriff. After a time, the redhead spoke.

"It was from when I knocked you backwards with Great Breach, wasn't it?" she asked quietly. Naruto gave a reluctant nod. Gaara bit her lip and moved her hands forward to graze his stomach.

"I'm sorry for that." she muttered. She then ran her hands up his front until she reached his shoulders, at which point she tugged on him to turn around. Naruto slowly obliged, eventually rotating fully to face her. Once they were face to face, Gaara looked over his face and frowned. There was a cut on the bridge of his nose. One that had not been there before his departure for examination.

"So, they did hurt you…" she muttered, her eyes seeming to glaze over for a moment as her expression darkened. Sensing her spiralling emotional state, Naruto tensed.

"It was my fault. I lashed out at one of the guards, so he hit me. It was my doing." he said frantically as Gaara turned around and stood to her feet. The blonde immediately shot up and grabbed her around the waist from behind.

"Please don't. I don't want any more blood. Please, Gaara…" he begged. The redhead remained silent for several moments before sighing heavily and gently prying his hands from her. She then turned back into him and stepped forward.

"Why? Why are you so willing to forgive them? Even if you don't want blood, you wouldn't have to watch. I could make it quiet and clean. I can't stand to just let them get away with abusing you." she said in a fit of frustration as she rested her forehead on his chest and gripped his shirt with her hands. The leaf genin tried and failed to answer several times, but eventually found his voice.

"You need to learn to let things go. Especially things that don't have to do with you. I started the fight, and I paid for it. You don't need to stress yourself out over my issues." he said. Gaara clenched her jaw and snapped her head up. Their faces were now hardly an inch apart.

"Your issues are my issues now. I will not ignore your struggles. Right now, you belong to me." she hissed indignantly. Naruto backed up a step and looked away from her.

"Just...try to calm down. I don't want any bodies on my conscience. You care, I can see that now, but I can't just let you run off and kill somebody. Besides, our chances of getting out of here aren't going to get better if you get wild." he said uncomfortably. He then slumped down the wall and lowered his head as he sat.

Gaara stared down at him quietly. He was the picture of exhaustion. His shoulders were sagging, his eyes were nearly closed, and his head was craned downward. He looked utterly defeated. It wasn't difficult to discern why that was. His comrades had been maimed, he had been arrested, and he was held up in a cell with the cause of both of those things. He had nothing to be happy about beyond simply being alive.

"Naruto…" Gaara muttered aloud as she gazed at him. She had spoken quietly, but her words were detected nonetheless.

"Yeah?" the leaf genin asked, not bothering to look up from the floor. The redhead collected herself for a moment and sat down a few feet from him on the same wall.

"You deserved better." she said. Naruto raised his head up and cast her a sideways look across the cell.

"With you, or just in general?" he asked bluntly. Gaara laughed sadly and stared up at the ceiling.

"In this instance, both. As much as it angers me that you were hurt, I did nothing to ease any of your stress. Not just today, either. I practically forced myself on you yesterday, and all because I was feeling...touchy. You've gotten a tough run of things." she said. The blonde genin shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, maybe. I'm pretty much used to things sucking at this point. This is just a harder version of what I'm normally up against. I'll pull through. And don't feel guilty about yesterday. It's fine. Honestly, it wasn't that bad." he replied. Gaara smiled to herself.

"Thank you, I'm glad I didn't make you too uncomfortable. As for the rest, please believe me when I say that I want to help you. I want to help you be at peace. Any way I can." she said sincerely. The blonde rubbed his eyes and sighed.

"Can you do something for me, then?" he asked. Gaara nodded eagerly and awaited what his request may be.

"Get some sleep. I know it hurts you, but you're going to either die or lose your mind if you don't get some rest." he urged her. Much to Naruto's surprise, she nodded.

"Yes, on one condition." she said. Before the leaf genin could ask the obvious question, Gaara answered it for him by scooting closer to him and leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Let me rest on you, and I'll try. I don't think I'll get anywhere close on my own." she clarified. Ignoring his conflicted emotions and burning face, Naruto nodded and shifted to make her more comfortable against him.

"Sure. Go ahead." he said. Gaara then closed her eyes and laid her hand over his. Within moments, her breathing appeared to even. Unsure of whether or not she was truly asleep, Naruto chose to keep his final remark silent.

'You're the sweetest thing when you actually calm down, Gaara.'

A/N: I know I said she wouldn't be cute this chapter, but hey, I gave you both chapters. Don't worry, though. Stuff is about to happen. Tell me what you thought of this :)

See you next chapter! Read and Review!