Gaara lightly chuckled. He imagined the outgoing blonde was fuming at his words by now. The future Hokage was much too easy to rile up for his own good.
Pushing thoughts of the loud, flamboyant teen out of his mind, Gaara focused on the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, the redhead calmed himself down, spreading out his chakra in an effort to find Sasuke's.
To his surprise, the raven's chakra wasn't concealed at all. Frowning, the Kazekage went on alert, sharpening his senses. Even while sleeping the broody Uchiha would never let his guard down. His chakra was always concealed, no exceptions, except for maybe Naruto, but then again, Naruto always was different.
Gaara preferred to imagine that despite Sasuke's betrayal, he knew the Uchiha pretty well by now. In fact, he learned that Sasuke was quite similar to himself in many aspects, however skeptical he was of this fact at first. Therefore, the redhead concluded that there has to be something wrong for Sasuke to completely let loose like this.
As he increased the range of his chakra, he recognized another chakra signature, one that he had gotten to familiarize himself with over the past few days. Neji's chakra was spiking, a sign that his heart is beating erratically.
A sudden feeling of alarm shot through his body and Gaara quickly headed towards the direction where Neji and Sasuke were, doubling his pace when their chakra led him to the forest, the same place Naruto was first attacked.
Upon approaching the forest, Gaara had made sure to erase all signs of his chakra, compressing it to the point where even Naruto would have trouble locating him.
It was quiet. Too quiet for there to have been a recent attack. Noting that there were no signs of a struggle, Gaara's posture relaxed somewhat. Still wary of his surroundings, he quietly stepped further into the forest, searching for the two quiet teens.
After a few minutes of gently probing around, the redhead finally approached the two chakra signatures. Gaara was about to walk up to the two and demand where Sasuke had been, when a certain sight stopped him in his tracks.
The two dark haired teens were leaning against a tree, Sasuke's head gently resting on the brunette's shoulder, a gentle expression on his face. To his side was Neji Hyuuga, who didn't seem to mind the fact that Sasuke was practically laying on him. Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, he welcomed the touch, leaning into the embrace.
Neji was tenderly staring at the boy, gazing upon him adoringly. One of his arms was resting on the ground, steadying himself, while the other was gently caressing the black locks framing the Uchiha's face. The boy was so absorbed in Sasuke, mesmerized, that he didn't even notice Gaara watching from a distance.
The Hyuuga softly gripped Sasuke's chin, tilting his head up. Hesitantly, he brought his lips to the raven's, his soft hair that Gaara longed to run his fingers through gently fell to the side of his face, concealing his eyes from view.
That was ok though. Gaara wasn't sure if he wanted to see the expression Neji directed towards Sasuke anymore. So instead he waited until Neji disconnected their lips, and rested his head on Sasuke's, closing his eyes as well.
And the bystander was left with a strange feeling in his chest. A feeling that squeezed his heart, and made him feel a strange longing mixed with resentment directed at the couple. If he remembered correctly, Naruto described this feeling as jealousy.
Gaara frowned at himself. Why was he jealous? He had no reason to feel jealous. After all, he knew from the beginning that Neji was in love with the Uchiha. He knew, and yet, it still pains him to see them together. Pushing the foreign thoughts out of his mind, Gaara cleared his throat, alerting Neji to his presence.
Startled, the long haired brunette shot his head up, wrapping a protective hand around Sasuke's waist. Gaara eyed his hand, a bit peeved at the sight. But he didn't show it.
Straightening his posture, the Kazekage glared at the brunette watching him warily. "Naruto has been attacked. Sasuke was supposed to have been there. Tell him to go check on him when he wakes up. And reprimand him for fighting with him again as well." Neji opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the Kazekage had already descended into the darkness of the forest.
Glancing at the sleeping boy on his shoulder, Neji decided that he would wait until Sasuke woke up. After all, he's pretty sure it's a crime to disturb such a peaceful sight.
A couple of hours later, Sasuke lifted his lead, drowsily blinking the sleep out of his eyes. The raven let out a small yawn, lazily glancing up at Neji. They sat like that for a few seconds, just gazing at each other, when Sasuke broke the silence.
"Thank you." Neji frowned. "For what?" Sasuke shrugged, stretching his arms above his head. "You stayed with me. I haven't had a nap like that in a long time." Sasuke briskly sat up, giving the brunette a small smile.
And well, no one needs to know how the Hyuuga's heart skipped a beat, or how he had to turn away from Sasuke because he was beginning to blush. But it happened, and as Sasuke turned away from him he let out a small smile, eternally grateful for having someone who could make him feel this way.
"Ah, by the way, Uchiha." Curious, Sasuke turned his head, giving him a questioning look. "Gaara wanted you to head back to Naruto's house. Apparently, he was attacked by the Jinchuuriki Killer while you were gone. Check in on him and make sure he's ok."
As soon as he mentioned Naruto's name he saw Sasuke's eyes flash in worry. Giving Neji a grateful nod, the raven quickly headed back to his house, nearly busting down the door in an attempt to get in quicker.
Standing next to the doorway was another one of the annoying blondes he lived with. "Boruto. Where is Naruto?" Said boy scowled.
"He was attacked today. I couldn't do anything." The Uchiha nodded, "Yes I know. Where is he? Is he ok?"
Narrowing his eyes at Sasuke, Boruto crossed his arms and glared. "Where were you today? I thought you and Naruto were supposed to stick together."
The raven didn't reply, and so the younger blonde let out a breath of exasperation. "He's in the bedroom, sleeping. He's exhausted, and having no chakra to call upon isn't making it better."
Sasuke gave him a short nod, and then headed towards the direction of the ramen lover's bedroom. One hand on the doorknob, he hesitated, softly calling out to him. "Thank you for taking care of him." Boruto could barely hear the phrase, but it still brought a soft smile to his face anyways.
Quietly, Sasuke opened the door and shut it behind him. Turning his gaze, he got an eyeful of Naruto's bright green frog pajamas. Snickering, the raven made his way over to the messy bed, shaking his head at the snoring blonde.
Hesitating only for a second, the Uchiha crawled onto the bed, freezing when a slight creak came from the bedframe. Seeing Naruto let out no reaction, he relaxed, gently burrowing into the covers. He laid there for a second, just listening to his breathing.
Then slowly and carefully, he reached out a hand to the man laying next to him, brushing blond strands of hair out of his face. Smiling, he scooted himself closer to the boy, pulling Naruto into a hug. Burying his nose into Naruto's soft hair, he took a deep breath, finally allowing himself to relax.
Hello pups! Im back, and it's been a crazy week. Um, so, this chapter is kinda sad, so uh, sorry for that. Sorta. Don't worry, I promise there will be more fluff in the next chapter! And also some more angst. Sorry not sorry lol.
Anyways this story is turning out to be a lot longer than I intended it to be. I honestly only planned on writing about thirty chapters but theres no way thats happening. At this rate I doubt ill be done with the book by August. Oh well, I'm having my fun. HOPE YOU ENJOYED!