Sealed
IV

Author: Ms. Trick

Note: Reviews make my life. No seriously.

Chapter 4

Several days later, the sky was a pale and creamy blue, the sun was bright, and Sasuke could not understand why he couldn't stop thinking about the Kyuubi. He stared into space thoughtfully.

The large fox had appeared in his dreams, grinning at him and wrestling with snakes alternately. He had sat in bed for ten minutes after he had woken up and eventually chocked it up to his memory of Naruto battling Gaara. Naruto had henge-d himself and Gamabunta into a gargantuan facsimile of the Kyuubi. Sasuke still didn't know why his team mate had chosen that form, of all animals to come to mind. It seemed far too simple to chock it up to mere impulse.

He was frustrated that he couldn't figure this out and frustrated that he didn't know why he couldn't stop thinking about it. Not to mention the incessant sound of hammers in the background wasn't helping.

He saw Temari and Sakura approaching the bridge from the left and caught a flash of orange out of the corner of his right eye.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out heartily. "Did Tsunade-sama tell you who you were going to--"

"Morning Sakura-chan!" Naruto hollered as he drew near the centre of the little bridge, where Sasuke was leaning against the railing with a bored expression on his face.

Usually, Sasuke would wince at the sudden noise but he was relieved to have avoided Sakura's question again. She had pestered him daily about who his bride was to be but Sasuke wasn't about to admit out loud who his fiancé was until absolutely necessary.

Naruto didn't seem terribly keen on letting Sakura know about the engagement either for some reason. To Naruto, it would make the fact that he'd lost Sakura for good too real. And it was easier to just ignore it and hope it all went away.

At Naruto's entrance, in lieu of Sasuke, an irritated look flourished onto Temari's face instead.

"Are you always this loud in the mornings?" She asked, hardly believing this was the same boy that had beaten her brother in a fair fight.

"Hey, how's Gaara?" He said in lieu of a response, grin growing on his face.

"Don't be cheeky," she snapped, though a smile was lightly gracing her lips as she thought of how different Gaara was now, how much more...whole.

She resolved to someday thank this boy for restoring her brother back to the compassionate human that had nearly been destroyed all those years ago. Someday...she'd do it someday. Right now, he didn't need the ego boost, Temari thought, folding her arms.

"Oh!" Sakura said, smacking her forehead. "I have a gift for you, Temari."

The pink-haired girl slung off her backpack to rifle through it and Temari nodded.

"I have yours too."

"Your what?" Naruto asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Ah, here," Sakura said, pulled out a simple but elegant, long, black lacquered box. The Sand kunoichi reached into her kunai pouch and drew out a rather lumpy looking package tied with some string.

The girls traded items with polite gestures, though both fully expected to hate their gifts. Temari opened hers first, lifting the lid off the box. She frowned in surprise when she realised her little fiancée had gotten her something not only rather nice, but something very, well...her.

She took out the handheld fan and opened it with a flick of her wrist that was not unlike the harsh way she opened her weapon in a fight. A smile broke out on her face when she saw its simple design. It was a miniature version of the heavy battle fan strapped to her back.

"Thank you," she said, a little surprised at how much she meant it.

Sakura smiled and gave up on trying to untie the multitude of string that bound her gift. She pulled out a kunai and neatly sliced through the packaging, blinking when she saw what lay inside the slipshod wrap job. She breathed out in admiration as she held the necklace up.

It consisted of intricately crafted strings of small red, pink, white, and black glass beads that came together in a complex crisscross pattern. Sakura recalled hearing that glasswork was one of Sand's main exports; she hadn't considered that that meant jewellery too.

Temari observed the obvious delight in Sakura's eyes, which were a clear indication that the gift was appreciated. Then again, girls weren't too hard to shop for, Temari thought. Every girl liked pretty things after all.

"How did you guys buy presents for each other so quickly?!" Naruto asked/yelled, utterly befuddled. "You learned you'd be marrying each other like four days ago!"

"Expedited shipping from Sand," Temari said smugly, as Sakura tucked both their gifts into her backpack for safekeeping.

Before Sakura could lecture Naruto on the value of reacting to any and all situations promptly and efficiently, Naruto forgot not only his question but the fact that he had decided to ignore his fiancé. He turned to Sasuke with a look of realisation on his face and his mind on gifts.

"Hey, did you get me anything?"

Sasuke snorted. "No."

He crossed his arms and Sakura frowned, confused.

"Well, if you're going to be an Uzumaki, you should probably get on that," he said assertively.

Amused, Temari watched as Sasuke's bored look evaporated finally to be replaced by annoyance. She didn't notice the slowly dawning horror on her future wife's face.

"What? You're going to be an Uchiha, dumbass," Sasuke snapped, too annoyed at the concept of having the idiot's last name to be surprised at the broken cold shoulder.

Before Naruto could retort, Sakura exploded.

"Wait! What? WHAT?!"

It was then Naruto remembered that he and Sasuke had silently agreed to ignore their impending marriage; as such, no one had been told about their wedding yet.

"Oops," Naruto muttered and then braced himself.

"NARUTO?! You...YOU are marrying SASUKE!?!"

Guilt weedled its way into Naruto's brain, which was currently in cower mode. Even Sasuke looked a little nervous.

"How!? What?! WHY?!?"

"Oh, shut up!" Temari said with bite, earning Sasuke's respect with three words.

Sakura, her anger suddenly cut short, soon felt her eyes filling up with tears. She turned away, trying to hold them in. Damn it! She was not a little girl anymore! She was a ninja! Ninjas did not dissolve into tears...even when their dreams got shattered beyond repair. Still the tears fell. She took deep breaths to try and hide any potentially embarrassing noises.

She gave a start at the feel of an arm around her shoulders. She looked up, half-hoping it would be Sasuke. Instead, it was Temari, who then led her away from the two boys and off the bridge. Sakura wiped at the tears, feeling her cheeks burn. Like Temari didn't think she was weak enough as it was, she thought humiliated.

"Breathe," Temari said, her arm still holding the smaller girl's shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting manner.

"Sorry," Sakura said, taking a few more deep breaths and swiping at a few more errant tears.

"S'okay," Temari said with something resembling sensitivity. "I can kinda relate."

At any other time, Sakura would have pondered this thoroughly and tried to sort out who Temari had wanted to be paired with. But right now, all she could think of was her memory of Sasuke's little speech from right before the start of the third section of the Chuunin exam. He had basically told her not to get in his way and then told Naruto that he wanted to fight him too. Which for them, Sakura thought with a tiny wry laugh, was the equivalent of her getting snubbed.

Temari squeezed her fiancée's shoulders as she appeared to calm down a little.

"This is why it sucks being analytical," Sakura said quietly, rubbing at her eyes and nose a little more.

"Huh?" Temari asked, her arm retreating a little awkwardly so she could stand facing the younger girl.

"Cause I can tell they're good together," Sakura continued, with a snuffle.

"That does suck."

Sakura gave a teary laugh. "It really does."

"You ready to go back?"

Sakura sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Yeah...I have to sometime, right?"

Temari offered her a lopsided smile. "Yeah."

The two boys were quietly talking/bantering when the two girls returned. They broke off into a tense pause as they caught sight of Sakura. Naruto looked guilty. Sasuke looked something close to indifferent but he subtly avoided meeting Sakura's red-rimmed eyes.

It was Sakura who bravely, if a little shakily, spoke first. "So, did you, um, pick a last name?"

She had promised herself she would mend the cracks in their team. She wasn't about to disappoint herself now. She could tend to the indescribably painful ache in her chest later, when she was alone. She took another deep breath.

Naruto shook his head. "The bastard'll come around eventually though," he said, shy grin returning to his face. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Wait," Naruto said suddenly, scrutinizing the two girls. "How does the last name work for you?"

"You don't know?" Temari asked.

Naruto shook his head.

Temari sighed. "Didn't you notice that your Hokage doesn't use a last name?"

"Uhh..."

"Okay, Hokages and Kazekages and so on leave off the last name--"

"Well," Sakura interjected, leaping at the chance to impart some information (it would take her mind off the fact that her teammates were...engaged to each other). "Sometimes the first name is left off instead. Sandaime only used his last name."

"Right," Temari conceded. "They just take their village as their name to demonstrate their positions. Their lines usually continue that too."

Naruto looked like he was watching a tennis match as Sakura then picked up the thread again.

"Like the Godaime's full title is Konoha no Tsunade," she said, gaining more vitality the more she talked. "And then if Tsunade happened to marry, she'd take the name of her spouse but then her children and grandchildren would usually take no last name. Y'know, like Konoha no Konohamaru."

"So I'm going to become Haruno Temari and Sabaku no Gaara'll be Rock Gaara," Temari continued.

While she and Sakura persisted in their tag team explanation, something small clicked in Sasuke's head: Naruto wasn't necessarily stupid, he just didn't know a lot. He hadn't had teachers that cared quite as much whether he was paying attention or understood the material. He hadn't had parents to supply him with the general knowledge that other kids knew and took for granted.

Sasuke briefly wondered why his team mate hadn't been adopted. All ninja villages had a solid system of orphanages and adoptions--they had to. The nine-tailed fox ran across his thoughts again and he frowned, realising he was missing something very obvious but he wasn't sure what it was...why was Naruto so shunned?

Sasuke wasn't called a genius for nothing. He was almost completely sure the answer to that question was the key to why thoughts about the Kyuubi were bugging him. He already had a vague theory floating around his head. But he didn't have enough information to get his conclusion.

Sasuke tilted his head back and eyed the sky...god, he hated hammers.

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?" Temari asked irritably.

"It's only been half an hour," Naruto said thoughtfully. "His record is five hours and forty five minutes, I think, right?"

Sasuke nodded and then a sudden cloud of thick smoke appeared next to him and spat out their sensei.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto roared, fingers pointed accusingly at the masked jounin.

"My-uh, stairs caught fire..."

"Liar!" They yelled.

"You have a one-floor apartment," Sasuke said resentfully.

Temari sighed, suddenly missing her brothers.

Although it had been the only thing the entire village had been talking about for the last two weeks, Kakashi appeared utterly uninterested in gossiping about his students' new status of 'betrothed'.

Appeared being the key word there.

His mask hid a smile he couldn't keep off his face. After all, he had a front-row seat to watch how the biggest couple in town played out.

"This marriage thing and the addition of another member to the team will not be permitted to tamper with team dynamics and efficiency, got it?" He said, his voice steady and reflecting none of his giddiness.

He went on to inform his team that they could have tomorrow afternoon off for the Hyuuga wedding if they'd like while his mind perversely imagined how much more interesting life would get once Naruto and Sasuke's hormones kicked in.

The next day was just as blue-skied and warm. The Hyuuga clan could not have asked for a more beautiful spring day, Lee thought as he absently gazed out the hospital room's window. It was going to be a hot afternoon.

The Godaime ran her hands slowly over his bare back, checking his recovery as he sat on one of the examining tables. She sighed.

"Lee, why are you so tense? Relax."

"Right. Sorry, Hokage-sama," Lee consciously loosened the muscles in his back.

There were a few more moments of silence as Tsunade continued the check up. Lee sat, seemingly lost in thought and slowly tensing as the minutes went by.

"What's bothering you?" She said as her hands dropped and she came around to face him.

"I'm not questioning your supreme authority or equally supreme womanly intuition but are you sure it's a good idea that I marry Gaara?"

"Yes," she said, sounding oddly adamant.

"Ah. I see," he said dejectedly.

His gaze sank to the floor as Tsunade made some notes on a clipboard lying on the nearby counter. She glanced over at him and seeing his obvious distress, sighed again and put down her pen.

"Lee," she said, coming to stand in front of him again.

He looked up at her.

"Trust me. Give Gaara a chance. He's changed since you fought him," she said gently.

Lee's spirit appeared somewhat rekindled. He offered her a small but honest smile and nodded his head in a way that implied determination.

She laughed a little at his energy. "On the bright side, your recovery is going beautifully. You'll be just fine for your team mate's wedding this afternoon. Just don't push yourself too hard."

Gaara eyed himself in the bathroom's small mirror and lazily decided that he looked fine the way he was. He glanced at the time on his way out of the hotel room, slung the straps of his gourd over his shoulders, and made his way outside.

He found Lee sheepishly kicking around a couple of stones on the street. Despite the ubiquitous orange leg warmers, in his dark green and white yukata, he didn't look quite as ridiculous as he usually did in his spandex. He noticed Gaara immediately.

"Good afternoon!" Was called out cheerfully.

Gaara nodded and fell into step as Lee began walking down the street.

"I was wondering how much longer you would be after your well-endowed sister came out," Lee said after a slight pause.

"She said she was meeting with Sakura-san beforehand," Gaara supplied, opting to ignore the 'well-endowed'. There was again a lull in the conversation before Gaara said, "You seem to be lacking some of the spirit you had before, when we fought."

Lee looked over, surprised. Gaara didn't meet his gaze and instead stared straight ahead.

"What ever you say..." Lee acquiesced, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"Is it because you have to marry me?" Gaara asked as though the word 'tact' didn't even have the honour of existing.

Lee absorbed this as he eyed Gaara and he was suddenly struck by the height difference. He remembered that Gaara was a year younger than him and nearly laughed at how irrelevant that information was when it came to battle statistics.

Lee was thinking long enough for Gaara to finally glance over at him as they were walking.

"I don't have a grudge against you or anything. But...because of you...I went through some tough times," the older boy admitted slowly. He was watching the Hyuuga complex as it came into view around the corner.

Gaara stopped walking for a minute, forcing Lee to halt at his side.

"Is that right?" He said quietly, eyes first on the ground and then on the bustling crowd moving towards the wedding lying inside the Hyuuga's open gates.

There was another awkward pause and Lee wondered morbidly if their entire marriage was going to be like this.

"Let's go watch your team mate get married," the redhead said eventually.

A full smile blossomed onto Lee's face as a silent understanding settled itself calmly in between the two boys. There would be no apologies for what had happened before...but there wouldn't be any hard feelings either.

Author's Note:

GAH. So so sorry for the long waiting period. Finals were like a punch in the face. But now I've got 5 weeks worth of time to kill so I'll get plenty writing done ;)

Mucho mucho mucho thanks to NaRuKo77, Midnight Shining Star, Alley-Oop, RavenMistress, MangaMonger31261, wingsonfire, tenshi ai123, lynex7, and

Jess Anime.

Laie Himura de Fanel – You're kind of absolutely terrific. Thought you should know.

Hikari M666 – Well, 'plausible' was my goal so it's awesome to hear you say that.

Stalker-san and Social disorder – Don't worry; hopefully your questions will be answered in the next few chapters. ;)

FlamencoPenguin – Thank you so much for your awesome review! It was so encouraging, I honestly went and started this chapter right away.

Peter Kim – Keep reading, keep reading. ;) You'll see. But no, there won't be mpreg...mpreg kinda freaks me out and makes me laugh incredulously at the same time.

Kyme – Oodles of thanks! It was because of your review that Iruka got a bigger role in the next chapter. :) Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to fit in Orochimaru/Tsunade in this story, but I hope you'll keep reading:P