Difficult Engagements

Chapter 21

Gaara POV

2 ½ Months Ago

The Kyuubi and I are at a third party spot for this negotiation near the edge of The Water and The Fire territories. It's an old abandoned town where no eyes will see us or know we were even here… and no ones around in case anything goes south.

He sits alone at the kitchen table of one of the decrepit buildings that threatens to collapse at any second. The wrong move from either of us and the whole place goes down. No one outside the two of us would ever know what exactly happened.

It's fitting.

"Welcome home." The melviant fox greets me.

I'm not playing his games, "I heard the news of your son's engagement."

"No, 'hello, how are you?' I'm hurt." He fakes a pain in his chest, "It seems like all the time apart hasn't taught you any manners."

"I guess not." I joined him at the table. I'm here for one reason, "Your son's engagement?"

"They are such a happy couple." he practically oozes out fake enthusiasm.

"How happy are they? To you." He knows why I'm here. I'm not playing another one of his sick games.

"To me, dear boy, whatever could you mean?"

"I'm not a kid anymore. You no longer control me." I let him know I am no longer one of his little puppets. I cut those strings a long time ago.

"Who said you were?" he acts dumb.

"You know what I'm asking."

"I don't." he wants me to ask.

Fine.

"What would it take to end the happy couple's engagement and pair him with me?"

"It's a little late for you to put an official bid in. Don't ya' think?"

"You never did an official season for him. I never had the chance." I was waiting for an official opening to put a bid in, went to all of the partes and he was nowhere to be seen. Kyuubi was hiding him.

"We both know, he was never really into foriegn powers. Rejected all of them when he was younger. Such a shame too, they all loved him. However, if I knew forigen powers like yourself were interested in him, I might have let him out for awhile." He pauses, "Either way. It's too late now. He's going to be happily married in 6 months. You really want to break that up?"

I remember Minato's letter, "Yes."

"I didn't know you were still into my son like that... I thought it was a little childhood crush. You should be over it by now?"

"I guess I'm not." I need to get Naruto away from Konoha… and Kyuubi.

"Would that explain your more recent expansions? You don't have him to calm you down any more… like he did in the desert that week."

"It could be a part of it." I shrug it off.

"If you really wanted him, you should have taken him then. Would have saved you a lot of trouble." he smirks, "but I'm sorry, dear boy, he's promised to another man. You're too late."

"You didn't announce his engagement publicly to the other Kage's. So how official could this engagement be?" He was waiting for it to be done and over with, before he announced it to everyone. You can't stop something that has already happened. If he was already marked by the other one, there's almost nothing I could do.

"Oh? I must have forgotten… but if I didn't make an official announcement, how could you have heard anything about it?"

Fuck. I'm playing his game again.

"Unofficial means. Now what would it take to make it official with me and your son?" I cut right to the point again.

"It's not that simpl-"

"Make it that simple."

"You've never been fun."

"Why start now." I need to strike fear in him. "We can do this the easy way, you tell me what you want in exchange for your son. Everyone is happy."

"What's the hard way?" He almost sounds excited at that possibility.

"The hard way, we wait a few months. I will start a war with your country. I systematically take out everything you've ever done. Piece by piece, until you have nothing left. In the end, I will still have Naruto by my side."

"Oh! Is this your official Decoration of War?" Of course he is excited about that. The fox is practically jumping out of his seat ready for another battle. He has to hold himself back, because he's not ready for it. It's the only thing that is giving me this opening.

"Depends. What does it take to get Naruto by my side?" his grin sickens me. He almost seems proud of me. He built us for war and I guess I am doing just what he wanted. I am the weapon of Sunagakure.

I don't care.

"Well… I can't just give you my son. The person he's engaged to is very important in Konoha. We don't want to make him mad." He folds his arms over the table while interlocking his fingers.

"Historically… How has making me mad worked for you?"

We could just kill him right now.

That's what you said last time. I have to make sure Naruto is safe first. I'm not ready for the backlash of Konoha, just yet either.

"Not well. Which is why I'm offering for you to fix the problem with me. I want to give you Naruto. I really do. If it stops all this trouble you're going through to get him." he's finally getting to the point.

"Go on."

"Well, there's rumors going around the mill, if this little engagement doesn't

happen, they might form a Coup that would end in a civil war… and I can't have that." Kyuubi admits they are using violence as a way to control Naruto.

Naruto has always been popular. I'm not surprised someone else is willing to go to war for his hand. At least this group will be easy to take care of. I already know some people who want them dead… and it's not just Kyuubi.

"That's it?"

"You make it sound easy."

"The Uchihas, right?"

"Yes." his smile sickens me.

"I do this for you, I get Naruto?"

"I am a man of my word, dear boy."

"No, you aren't." I lay a document in front of him, "but I am."

"You already had this prepared. I feel so honored."

"You'll see it's more than fair."

We stopped for a while for him to read up the contract I had drawn up. It holds the details of my intended engagement with Naruto, minus this little deal right here. I watch him carefully flip each page, as his red eyes dart back and forth over each line. Slight smirks can be seen over certain parts. I can practically hear his thoughts, I know how his mind works.

"Lending me your troops?" Of course Kyuubi picks that one up.

He knows I'm not doing this without any insurance, "Well, you are going to lose your entire military structure in one go. You're going to need someone to keep your country safe. I want to make sure my future mate is safe."

"I don't know if I should trust this… You were never really that good at keeping him safe." he shakes his head.

"I was good at it." I want to fucking kill Kyuubi right now.

"That's very debatable. How do you plan on taking out the Uchiha's anyways?" He wants to make sure I'm even capable of doing this.

"The same way I was going to do it if I was taking over your country."

"Not even going to tell me your plans. You're kinda a killjoy. I don't know what my son ever saw in you..."

"He liked that, I guess." I shrug it off trying not to take any of his bait.

"His current mate is a lot like you. Killjoy, too. Maybe he's got a type." He can see that it's starting to get to me, "He always needed someone to tie him down, too much of a free spirit. Always running away, never knowing where he is. He's still like that, ya' know? A runner. You sure you got what it takes to keep someone like that?"

"Yes."

"Do you even know where he is right now?"

"I'm assuming Konoha."

"He's with his current are spending some quality time together." He pauses, noticing he's not getting any reaction from me, "Fall and spring are such lovely times of the year to spend with your mate… Don't ya' think?"

At the mention of the time of year, I know exactly what he's getting at. Naruto is in heat. My whole body tenses up. I try to hide the realization on my body. I don't say a single word. I don't make a single noise. I don't allow my body to move.

"You always loved to spend this time of year with him didn't you?"

I snap, "Yes."

"Oh? Did I strike a nerve? Sorry, I didn't mean to." His grin is so wide it could cut his face in half.

"You did."

"Maybe I did… Don't worry, I helped pick out the Alpha, he will be nothing but kind and respectful to our dear Naru-chan. I just wanted to remind you what was on the line. So how do you plan on getting rid of our little problem?"

That bait is harder to ignore, "I'm thinking of using one of your old contacts. Does the name Orochimaru ring any bells?"

"You know about that?"

I tap the scar on my forehead, "Yeah, of course I do."

"Really going to make a deal with the snake? You're that desperate?"

"I'm already dealing with foxes, what's a snake in the garden?"

"A lot more than you think. Snakes are slimy and hard to kill. Wolves are prideful and first to bite. While men wait fearful and the dark stood still." I don't know if this is a warning or a history lesson. "Racoons and foxes fight on in the night."

"That's a nice bedtime rhyme."

"One of my favorites, holds a lot of good life lessons in it. You should learn one of them. What's the snake asking for anyways?"

"You know what he wants."

"You're really going to give him that?" The foxes' brows curl with disgust as he looks me over. Out of all of the horrible things I've done, this seems to be the worst in his eyes.

"No, but he doesn't need to know that."

"What happened to you being a man of your word?"

"I lied."

"You know if you do this they're gonna get that from you whether you like it or not."

"You almost sound concerned." Everything will be fine once I get Naruto away from Kyuubi. I can deal with whatever bullshit the snake and his partner wants to do after that. With Naruto by my side, we will be unstoppable.

"You should be." That was a warning.

Naruto POV

He takes me down the streets of this old town, the buildings feel so worn and faded. There's not that many people out and about. Honestly it looks almost more like a ghost town than any fun tourist destination.

I just blurt out, "I thought this place would be busier."

"Huh?"

"You said it was a tourist town… I don't know, I thought it would be buiser." I kinda gesture around to the mostly empty streets before us.

"It used to be very busy."

"What happened?"

"I'm not too sure. It wasn't like this before." so he has been here before.

"When was the last time you were here?"

"I don't know." His pauses and face scrunches up as if he's calculating the time now, "A long time ago actually. When you… never min-"

"When I what?"

"Remember when I asked you to trust me earlier."

"Yeah…. You said I had memory loss."

"Yes. I'm going to need you to trust me now. I don't know what I can tell you."

"What was I like? Before I mean." I'm kinda curious. I'm sure I was the same, but I could have been a completely different person.

"Please, don't ask me that."

"Why?"

"I've never been good at lying to you." Gaara admits.

"Why would you have to lie to me?"

"Your dad said it could be dangerous if I told you. That people tried before, and it didn't turn out well for you."

"My dad told you that?" So my dad's been lying to me about something this big all this time… maybe that's why he's so weird.

"Yeah, he said it was my fault. With that seal, I don't know any more. You never had it before. I still don't want to risk it."

"Why would it be your fault?"

"I don't know if I should tell you that."

"You definitely should." if he won't tell me, it's gotta be bad, "Why would it be your fault?"

"I couldn't control myself… the last time we saw each other."

He couldn't control himself… "What does that mean?"

"Please don't ask me that. I don't know if I should tell you."

"No, you're going to tell me what that means now." An Alpha not being able to control themselves around an Omega… usually only means one thing. I know I said I'd trust him, but I can't ignore this.

"Kyuubi was being an asshole. He hurt you, really bad. Then I couldn't control myself when I was trying to keep you safe. I hurt a lot of people." he broke down each piece of information into small bite-sized portions.

"So you went feral trying to protect me or something?" That's no nowhere near as bad as he made it sound.

"Yes, but no… but kind of."

"So, yes. You made it sound way worse than it actually was, you know? You made it sound like you hurt me or something."

"I don't think I did… I don't know, but I definitely didn't help. I just made everything worse." He's going back to being sad again. I fucking hate it.

"I am sure it wasn't as bad as you think." I changed the subject, "What can you tell me about before?"

"I don't know."

I just roll my eyes, "How long did you really know me for?"

"A little over 10 years, give or take." He seems hesitant to even tell me this.

"Did we, like, date or something?" If he let me bite him so easily… we had to date or something. There's no reason an Alpha would so willingly bare his neck to just a friend.

"Not really, but we didn't not date either." This man talks in fucking riddles.

"What the fuck does that even mean?"

"It means, I was stupid." He paused, "It means, I didn't realize you liked me back until it was too late. So yeah, we never really were together, but we weren't not together."

"I guess I get it." That made no sense. You're either with someone or you're not.

But I guess if pre-memory loss me liked this guy, he can't be that bad. And this might explain why I want to trust him. Maybe there's a part of me that still knows all of this.

He didn't really do anything bad to me the other day… I just overreacted. He only tried to kiss me and ask me why pretended not to know him. If he knew me for 10 years and we kinda dated, what ever the fuck that means, I guess I'd freak out too.

I continued, "You really cared for me didn't you?"

"Yes."

"That's why you did all of this, isn't it?"

"Look, Naruto-kun, I really don't think I should be answering any of these questions. At least not until we get that specialist." I shouldn't keep getting him frustrated like this.

"Yeah… I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I know you're just curious." He then says, "And, yeah. Everything I did, I did to get you back."

He did all of this for someone who doesn't even know who he is, "I'm sorry I'm not me."

"It's okay." with the way Gaara looks at me it's obviously not. "You're still you, by the way. You just don't know who I am."

"Well good thing we have time together, you can tell me all about you. If I'm still me, like you say, I should still like you the same way." I say with a new found confidence. For some reason I feel like knowing him was a big part of who I was. Maybe I can figure it out if I just spend more time with him.

"Yeah." he seems happy at that, "We're here by the way."

I got so lost in the conversation I forgot we were on a date.

It's one of the only buildings that seem new in this old town. Sandy beige walls climb up to a tiled red roof. A trail of cacti and other desert plants curve the land to meet a deep brown door. The attached greenhouse looks like it was built within the last year.

It's a botanical garden.

"Why here?"

"I like gardening."

Without a thought I blurted out this question, "Gardening?"

"It's relaxing," he said, leaving no room for argument. I feel like he's full of surprises. The world's next great conqueror gardens to relax.

"Yeah, I guess you're right… I do it with my dad all the time. He's way more into it than I am, though."

"Ah, Kazekage-sama!" a huge smile breaks across this man's face as he recognizes the two of us… Well Gaara.

The few people still in this town do seem to respect the Kazekage. Unlike Kyuubi, no one dares to look in my father's direction when he enters a room. Everyone here seems to see this man next to me as a respected leader. It's kinda nice to stand by someone like that for a change.

"I'm glad you and your new mate decided to stop by our humble garden." he's not lying, he seems genuinely happy we're here, "We made sure to block the whole week to make sure you two had your privacy."

"You don't have to downplay this place, it looks really nice." I feel like I just say things sometimes.

"Thank you! We've worked really hard on it for the last couple of years."

"It really shows!" I keep up these pleasantries.

"There's a map of the grounds over there, feel free to stay as late as you'd like." His smile seems to grow larger.

Closer to the building there is a bulletin board with a map of the rather large garden with different locations notated on it. On the side of the map is a bunch of filers to different community events and community needs. Out of this entire town this place seems to be the only place flourishing with life.

It smells like home here.

Which is odd, because my home smells nothing like this. Konoha is lush forest greenery overflowing with abundance of animals and life. Suna is a harsh desert climate where only those with the strongest will to live survive.

He leads me down some of the trails. Each plant seems to have a small placard in front of it with its scientific name and some fun facts about it. We stop at some occasionally and he'll tell me the medical purposes of them.

It's kinda like the reverse of last night with the stars. I just follow him listening to everything he says. I don't really know anything about these plants, but it's nice to hear about them from him. He definitely wasn't lying when he said he liked gardening.

"I have a place a lot like this, attached to our house." he says as we enter the greenhouse.

The glass walls intensity the heat here to a more regulated temperature. There are 3 rows of raised stone garden beds filled with newly budding plants from all over and hanging plants in the air above. They don't waste any space here.

"It's really nice."

Gaara doesn't forget to tell me the importance of starting off plants in greenhouses, especially in Suna. He tells me the details of just when each plant would need to be transplanted outside for 'optimal growth.' Then which ones would need to stay inside always, because they couldn't possibly survive out there. Apparently this greenhouse houses a lot of medical plants from all over, so a lot of them couldn't actually be here without it.

I feel like if it were anyone else teaching me things this would be the most boring conversation I'd ever be subjected to. I know I've zoned out more often than not when my dad was talking about it… but something about seeing passion in the redhead's eyes when he talks about his hoby makes it all worth wild.

The Kazekage goes on to tell me more of all the things he wants to do when everythings settles down more after our mating ceremony. Apparently his dad really fucked things up when he was Kazekage. Place was practically broke and had to rely on a lot of other people just to support itself. Gaara has done a lot to make this place better within the short amount of time he's been in control. He says he still has a long way to go, but I don't think he's stopped to realize just how much he's already done.

"Why does everyone talk about all the war stuff and not what you've done for The Wind?"

"The war stuff is more entertaining." He just shrugs, "I don't really mind what people on the outside say about me, my people know who I am."

"They make you sound so intimidating, 'The Next Great Conquer'" I pantomime the exuberance that everyone used when talking about him… when he's really just a big nerd who loves plants.

"I actually didn't conquer as much as people think I did…"

"Huh?"

"A lot of it's just temporary deals or mutually beneficial treaties. I barely conquered shit. It's more of a loose alliance of countries who share a common enemy."

"Who?"

He just looks at me and raises a nonexistent eyebrow.

"Oh…" Kyuubi. "Then why does everyone say you took these places over?"

"It's safer for them to say that. If we lose, which we won't, but if we do, they get the protection of saying they were forced to do it. It will just be my head on the chopping block. It was my idea… your Father hates me anyways, I'd be an easy scapegoat for them."

"You would really just sacrifice yourself like that?"

Gaara looks away from me, "If I fail at this, there's no reason to be alive."

He said he did this to get me back, but it can't be that, "Why do you do all of this?"

"I had this, friend, he was perfect. Lit up every room he walked into. Could talk to anyone about anything. Knew just enough about everything to keep even the most boring conversation going. And he was strong, too. Probably kicked my ass more times than I can count." A smile grows larger on the redheads lips with each sentence.

"He sounds great." He must be one of his alpha war buddies or some shit.

"He was, but the best part of him, it was his compassion. He could find the worst monster the world has ever seen, and show them love." Before it got too solemn, he laughed at a memory, "We were helping out this village against attack once, everything was destroyed. Everything. Dead bodies everywhere. It looked like we were going to lose. He went off on his own to find the guy responsible for it. Real piece of shit. I thought he was going to kill him."

"And I still don't know what was more impressive. Literally watching people come back from the dead, or the knowledge it only took him 20 minutes and one conversation to convince our opponent to do it." Gaara is so enraptured in his own memories before finally getting to his point, " So whenever I don't know what to do I just ask myself, 'what would he do?' and I do just that."

Any passion I saw before for the plants and his country seems dwarfed by the passion Gaara has for this friend. I know I shouldn't think like this, but I'm kinda jealous. I wish someone would talk about me like that.

"What happened to him?" I ask.

He just looks at me with those same sad teal eyes as before whispering, "A lot."

Fuck. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. Things were going so well. I should just assume his life was sad and depressing and not ask him any personal questions about the past. I just can't help but want to know everything about the Alpha in front of me. So I keep opening my mouth.

I want to take this heavy buren off his shoulders.

He's been doing so much. He has so much responsibility. I don't even know what I could do to help him. He seems to have it all under control, but at the same time, no one should be doing all of this alone.

I do the only thing I know I can do.

I put my wrist over the glands on his neck, covering the mark I made earlier, trying to make my arms a home for him to come back to. I am already surrounded by his scent to the point where I can't tell the difference between him and the greenhouse. I want him to be surrounded by my own. I want him to feel at home too. I want him to feel safe.

When he looks at me questioningly I just say, "You're sad."

"I missed this." He just chuckles to himself, while holding my arms in place. It seems to have worked.

"Kazekage-sama, I am sorry to interrupt but I have some matters I would like to talk to you about."

"Is it important?" Gaara vaguely gestures to me, as if to say 'unless someone is dying right now please don't bother me.' The man seems to notice the fresh mark on Gaara. He looks over to see if I have one too, but I'm covered up on that spot. He doesn't mention it. He understands what is going on between the two of us.

"Umm… Well, guess..." he stutters, not knowing how important it might be to the Kazekage.

"It's okay, we're not that busy, you can let us know." I speak for Gaara, to end this man's suffering.

"We're having issues with a Rouge Group of Alphas picking up some of our town's Omega's recently. It's hurting the little bit of tourism we do get…"

He's trying to make it sound more appealing to Gaara by tying this problem to money, but I can tell he's more concerned about his people. He's given up completely on this town's tourism potential. It would be too hard with its proximity to the new towns that are emerging with the new resurgence.

"But you're not focusing on tourism any more… your foucing more on the agracutlural front since the new wells were built." Fuck.

Gaara is going to be mad at me for speaking up. I am just supposed to keep my mouth shut at things like this. I look down not wanting to look at his eyes. Why can't I keep my mouth shut?

"Umm… well, that,"

It's obvious they switched things up when the old ways weren't working. I don't know why he would lie about that.

Fuck, why can't I keep my mouth shut, "You can just say you are concerned for your peoples safety. You know?"

I finally manage to take a glance at Gaara to see how much he hates me right now. He looks right into my eyes…. He doesn't hate me for this. I'm not going to get punished for speaking my mind. He looks happy that I spoke up.

"I'm sorry. I am very concerned for my people's safety. If this keeps happening no one will be safe. Our town is just on the cusp of rebuilding."He admits.

It is true. Most towns need a good balance of Alphas to Omegas. If it's not balanced, it's better for there to be more Omegas. So if this keeps continuing it could spiral out of control to more Rouge Alphas hurting more people. Potentially any of the towns around here as well.

Not even to mention the Omega's already caught by the ones already out there. Anything could be happening right now. I don't want to imagine that fate right now.

I think Gaara notices my unease, and takes over for me "We can have larger scale protection here in a matter of a few days. Keep what defence you do have monitoring the outskirts. I can leave some of my people I'm traveling with as well. They will be able to analyze the situation better and form a better plan of action than I can at this dinner table."

"th-Thank you, Kazekage-sama!" He bows very deeply, realizing he is interrupting our intimate moment together.

"Send any other concerns you may have about tourism or agriculture or whatever you need, in a message to the Capitol. I'll address them when I get there." The Kazekage pauses, "When you send it. Let my people know I need Chiyo to be ready as soon as my partner and I return."

"Yes, sorry, again, for interrupting you two." he bows apologetically again, and leaves.

"Chiyo?" I asked when the other man left.

"She's the specialist I was talking about earlier."

"Oh.. for me?"

"Of course." he smiled at me.

That smile warmed my entire being.

We made it back to the hotel without any issues. Haku is waiting for us in the lobby again, we'll probably just me. He eyes Gaara up and down, before focusing directly on the mating bite I gave earlier. He then scrutinizes me with the same gaze, only to see I'm wearing a turtleneck.

His eyes quickly meet the floor, "Naruto-sama, your new wardrobe is already in your room as requested."

He never refers to me like that… I know we're not really friends, but it still kinda hurts.

"Thanks, Haku-kun…"

I glanced over to Gaara, he doesn't seem to like my guards too much. He was very hesitant to allow me to be with them today. He seemed really freaked out when I was gone, like they kidnapped me or something.

"If you need any help with anything, do not hesitate to ask, Naruto-sama." It's weird seeing him so respectful to me.

"He won't." Gaara tries to speak for me.

"I might." I corrected him. "If I do, I'll call for you."

"Of course, Kazekage-sama." Haku says as if I'm not right here. "The report you asked for is also in your room. It's on the desk in the corner. They weren't able to get much as of now, but they got as much as they could within the time frame."

"I'm sure whatever it is, it will be helpful. Keep an ear out in case Naruto calls you tomorrow. I'm done with you tonight. You?" He focused that last question on me.

I just nod. This is awkward.

"Of course, Kazekage-sama.'' My gaud waits for us to leave before he makes his own movements.

We're alone again.

I mean we were alone before, but in this hotel room we were really alone. The air between us gets awkward again. I think we both just realized this at the same moment.

"Today was nice." I say trying to break this awkward silence built between us from expectations of sharing the same room.

"Yeah…?" he questioned as if expecting me to not like today's activities.

"Yeah, the garden was nice. It reminded me of home or whatever."

He looks at me questioningly for a second, "Oh, right, because of your dad? You know, he's the one that taught me a lot of that stuff. Well, at least got me interested in it."

"Really?" I didn't know that.

"It's the only thing he talks about besides you. It was interesting, so I listened."

Things seem to work best with me for him if I follow my instinct.

I push him onto the bed. Then capture his lips, before I trail my fingers down the expanse of his throat to the mark he bears proudly. Twirling it lightly over it to remind the other of its presence.

"So he only talks about those two subjects and you think gardening is more interesting than me?" I tease these words over his lips.

"Umm…" His face is almost as red as his hair. It's kinda cute to see this usually stoic man so flustered.

"You know… We should probably get ready for bed." I played around with him more, adding a koi smile.

"Oh, uh, yeah." he tried to compose himself… and actually started to get ready for bed. I guess he wanted to stop.

I guess I should do the same.

The clothes Haku got me are actually pretty nice. They definitely look like they would fit, I won't have to keep stealing Gaara's. He didn't get me that many, but this is only supposed to be a short trip to the capitol from here. So I guess that makes sense. I slip into a simple night shirt before getting into the bed… for sleep.

Gaara makes his way over to the desk, picking up a small file, before flipping through a few pages. His eyes dart across them quickly as if he is trying to get the gist of everything before going in and getting the details.

"What's the report on?" I ask.

"The terrorist group that killed your previous betrothed mate and his clan." he looks at it so seriously.

"Can I read it?" I hope he lets me.

He pauses for a bit longer than a standard second, "Yes, but I need to read it first. I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"But arent we going to bed now?" then I remember, "Oh right, you don't sleep, sorry."

"It's okay. I'm going to catch up on this first. Why don't you go to sleep, I'll join you in the bed later."

"Why do you want to join me in bed if you don't sleep? It's gotta be boring just laying there." I feel like my mouth only ever wants to say stupid things sometimes.

"Just because I don't sleep much doesn't mean my body doesn't need rest. Besides, I like laying next to you."

It's only been one night, but I kinda miss sharing a bed with him. I almost want to ask him to join until I fall asleep… he looks so busy and determined. I shouldn't bother him.

I fall asleep alone in the big bed.

What's up demons? It's ya' boi.

Please remember my favorite love trope is two idiots falling in love.

I'm trying to leave mystery to be solved in later chapters, but as I edit each chapter I'm like human beings would be talking right now. LIke I hate the romcom trop of "humans never talk to each other" so we have forced problems. Naruto would def be curious of what he just learned. So he would ask about it.

So I end up adding more and more content making this fic a lot longer than it originally was. The worst thing is… we're like in chapter 22 and I'm like really just starting the drama now. It's all because of that. I really do like the juxtaposition of having the current timeline for Gaara and Naruto being semi peaceful, compared to what I'm putting in their flashbacks.

I have to keep reminding myself what I have and haven't posted. Because I have 450 pages of a google doc written already and 286 posted… and I still have to write more to fill in gaps. So I'm constantly cross referencing shit. Which is why each chapter is taking a bit longer than the last.

For the next chapter, what happens when you cross an Alpha who just left a rut, and an Omega who just marked him?

Here's a hint, the next chapter is going to be hot and heavy. I feel like it's been awhile since I've had some heat in this fic. So the next chapter is like 90% smut and like 10% feels, and 100% consensual.

Enjoy, you deserve it.

TigrezzTail So… In the previous chapter, it is mentioned that there are rumors of the bite happening and we do get a little bit of insight on how Itachi feels about this. It's at the end of Chapter 19 if you want a refresher. I will elaborate more in later chapters as well… I will say, Itachi does not make rational decisions upon this discovery.

I did very intentionally make sure Naruto was wearing a turtleneck in this chapter.

I'm playing Itachi as the, "I'm a very rational person, unless it comes to this blonde fox." And Gaara as, "I'm barely hanging on by a thread, and that thread is this blonde fox, so maybe don't take him away, okay." So it will be very fun to see what they do when they finally have to confront that.