When Naruto opened his eyes, the clock read 19:00. He yawned and sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. After a minute or two, the blonde went to the bathroom where he took a quick shower, changing back into his sweatpants and bright shirt then brushed his teeth and headed out the room.
The first thing that he noticed was the redhead, the blonde's face softening at the sight in front of him. Gaara was sitting next to a small raven, their back to him but they seemed to be in deep conversation...well the raven seemed to be in deep conversation. Familiar dark eyes behind red glasses suddenly stared at him, eyes widening in shock before the young girl grinned and got up. She politely excused herself and ran toward the blonde, small arms wrapping around Naruto's waist.
"Naruto-san! You are awake." She brightly said "I was talking to Gaara-san about the history of sand sculptures, did you know that the first recorded sand sculpture was formed in 1897? For proper sculpting you need to use a special sand that has a mixture of clay and grains so that it can last longer."
Naruto glanced at Gaara who had a small, gentle smile on his face, the blonde grinning. "I didn't know that, did you read it in a book or did Gaara-kun teach you?" He asked, bending down to kiss the top of her head.
"I knew about the first sculpture but I hadn't been so sure about the clay part in sand. Gaara-san knows a lot about sand! He also knows a lot about medicine like mama." Sarada said excitedly, her cheeks turning red once she realized that she was showing excitement. The raven quickly pulled away and cleared her throat "Mama left some food ready, would you like to eat some? Gaara-san and I thought it would be rude if we ate without you." She added more calmly.
"Thank you for waiting, I've been dreaming about Sakura-chan's food! Mmm...fried rice with scrambled eggs...and tomatoes." Naruto could even smell the herbs that Sakura used to cook. Back in the academy his sensitive nose had made him quite famous, rivaling that of the Inuzuka clan.
"Eugh...tomatoes." Sarada wrinkled her nose, going toward the kitchen but stopped in a small altar next to the kitchen, she opened up the two wooden door, there was a picture of Sasuke who was smirking, next to him was Sakura grinning and holding on to one side of his arm with Naruto on the opposite side grinning, an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. The three of them appeared to be in their late teens, that had been one of the last pictures they had taken together. Sarada bowed politely and smiled warmly at the picture "Hello papa...I am going to eat with Naruto-san and Gaara-san now. Please watch over mama while she works tonight...have sweet dreams." She fixed her glasses, heading to the kitchen.
Naruto stared at the picture of the three of them, for a moment a wave of guilt hitting him all over. It was his fault that Sasuke wasn't here right now, doing homework with Sarada...teaching her how to ride a bike or how to fight. He felt a cool, smaller hand holding his much bigger one, bringing him out of his guilty thoughts. The blonde turned to look at the smaller male, feeling a warmth spread throughout his body, his arms wrapping around Gaara's waist and his nose pressing against the pale neck "Thank you for being here, Gaara-kun." He murmured before pulling away and smiling brightly, going toward Sarada.
"How is your martial art class going? Your papa used to be the best student in the academy when it came to martial arts."The blonde said, moving to look at the fridge then took out the gallon of milk and poured himself a glass.
"Lee-sensei came today, he was teaching us a special move...but only his son Metal was able to do it. I was going to head out to the training ground with my friends...but you will only be here for a little while, won't you Naruto-san?" Dark eyes stared at Naruto before glancing at Gaara's, cheeks turning even redder "Are you two really like Mama and Papa...your relationship? Mama said that Gaara-san makes you really happy like Papa used to make her feel...and that maybe you two will have a family of your own. I think that would be nice...I am a big girl now, you don't have to worry about me anymore, Naruto-san...I just want you to be happy."
Naruto felt his whole face turn bright red, suddenly coughing as he started to choke on his saliva, it didn't help when he heard the familiar snort "I...errmm...well...even if Gaara-kun and I were to have a family of our own...in the distant future, like a very far away distant future...you would still be an important part of my family.
We will still have our winter and summer vacations together. Nothing will change between you and me, remember that Sarada-chan...nothing will ever change the bond that ties us...one stronger than blood." The blonde moved closer to the raven and crouched, letting his index and middle finger gently tap her forehead like Sasuke used to do to him. "I promised your papa that I would watch over you in his place...and do you remember what I said about my promises?"
"...You never go back on your words, that is your detective way. You never back down and you never go back on your words...you never leave behind someone in your team that is the way you live your life." Sarada replied softly, feeling her eyes water but she didn't want to look like a child, not in front of her role model and his special person. "Ah, f-f-food is ready!" She was quick to turn and open the microwave, moving to grab the hot plate only to get burned, the plate falling "Ow!"
Naruto was quick to check her hand with a worried look on his face, Gaara moving closer "It's just a small burn, it will be gone in a minute or two. We should still put it under cool water." The blonde said, leading her toward the tab and picking her up then turned on the cool water and put her hand under it so that it would cool down.
"S-S-Sorry." She murmured, feeling embarrassed.
"We are just glad you are okay." Naruto brightly said, turning to look at the redhead "Right, Gaara-kun?" He warmly asked.
The redhead nodded, glancing at her hand "No matter what happens between Naruto-kun and I...things will never change between you two. I promise." Gaara softly said, hesitating before awkwardly patting her head.
Sarada stared at both of them before laughing and crying at the same time. She felt relieved knowing that Naruto-san would always be Naruto-san and that he found someone so nice to be with him "Thank you very much."
After that they ate, the raven practiced some martial arts with the blonde while Gaara quietly watched. It was just a few punches and kicks, nothing too complicated. Naruto moved to take Sarada to bed once she had showered and changed into her PJs.
"Tell me that story again Naruto-san...about your first mission together!" She begged.
"Well...old man third had kept giving us stinky missions about catching cats and chasing after dogs till I said 'No more! We are grown up and deserve grown up missions!' mind you...we were only slightly older than you..but anyways, I went off about how mature we were and how we should have a mission that reflects that, so the old geezer decided to give us a guard duty one, we were going to the island of mist!
What we didn't know at that time was that this was a mission much more dangerous than simply guarding. We were almost ambushed and in that moment I completely froze, maaaan I was so lame! You're papa pushed me out of the way and saved me, then he beat up the bad guys!" Naruto dramatically said, smiling when he saw that she was already sleeping. He gently removed her glasses and kissed the top of her head, before moving to get up.
The blonde noticed his partner by the door, listening quietly. He got out as quietly as possible, turning off the light and leaving on only the lamp then let out a soft sigh.
"You are really good with children, Naruto-kun." The redhead said, heading toward the couch.
"I should be saying that to you, Sarada-chan usually doesn't warm up to people so quickly yet she seems to have taken a great liking to you." Naruto replied with a chuckle, moving to sit next to the redhead and curl up against him "Thank you for earlier."
"...There is nothing to thank me for." The redhead murmured, the scent of citrus and ramen hitting his nose once more.
"Mmm...I completely froze up when I saw the picture of Sasuke earlier. I was thinking about how he should have been the one helping her with her homework...and listening to stories about her day." Naruto gently said, nuzzling the pale neck "I know I should stop thinking so much about it...that I am just being annoying...but I can't help wondering how things would have turned out if the accident hadn't occurred."
"You cannot change the past, Naruto-kun...all you can do is choose your next steps in order to create your future." Gaara told him, letting his pale fingers run through the blonde locks.
Naruto was quiet for a moment as he thought over those words "...I'd like it if my future includes you in it." He finally replied "Seeing you with Sarada-chan made me think of us...with our own family one day...maybe. I thought about how nice it would be if we adopted a lot of children. Waking up by your side every morning and hearing the children running around and laughing. I thought of Sasuke and Sakura coming over with Sarada and all of us being one big, happy family." Naruto was embarrassed by his own words, he glanced up, staring at the jaded eyes and found himself blushing brightly.
"I do not think I would be a good parent." Gaara softly said, thinking about his childhood...about all of the things he's done and what Naruto would do if he ever found out. 'Oh, he'll run as far away as he can from you and never look back...he'll leave you if he finds out about all the blood on his precious' Gaara hand' A familiar sinister voice taunted.
"I know you'll be great! Just look at how Sarada-chan acted." The blonde brightly said, moving to press their lips against each other, his fingers wrapping around the crimson locks.
The redhead kissed back softly, savoring the taste of his partner. When he felt their kiss heating up he pulled away, cheeks bright red "Sarada-chan does not act like a child." Was his defense.
Naruto chuckled, unable to disagree "That's because she has Uchiha and Haruno blood, they are both really mature." Naruto replied, very tempted to go for another kiss but decided not to push his luck. Sakura's teasing about getting laid came to his mind. He was perfectly happy taking things slowly, it's not like he had a lot of experience in that department. He imagined soft, pale skin with crimson locks and those intense jaded eyes looking at him. It did not take long for his mind to go down the rabbit hole of things they could do together.
"...Naruto-kun?" The familiar deep voice snapped the blonde out of his thoughts.
"I am not a pervert, I swear!" He was quick to say, staring at Gaara with wide eyes.
A snort escaped the redhead's lips, giving Naruto one of those gentle looks "I did not say you were." The redhead responded, staring at the cerulean eyes.
"Errmm...well...good." A nervous chuckle left the blonde's lips. A warm smile formed on his face, cupping the redhead's cheeks "Tell me again...how did I get lucky enough to be with someone as amazing as you?"
Gaara felt the familiar warmth spread throughout his body. He remained quiet, feeling warm lips against his own. He kissed back, wondering if this was how it felt like to have an important person in his life, it was a similar yet different feeling from when he was with his uncle. Naruto made him feel good in a different kind of way.
Naruto deepened their kiss, feeling the soft locks wrapped around his fingers, a small, pleased sound escaping his lips before feeling Gaara pull away. The blonde pouted, wishing that the kiss could have lasted a bit longer. He's never been so glad to hear Sakura's ringtone -Candy, Candy, Candy, Cutie, Cutie my Candy love!- "Ah, I should get that, it's Sakura-chan." He said, quickly getting up and leaving the redhead on the couch. Naruto kept reminding himself that they were taking things slowly, wasn't that what he had asked for? Still, he wished that they could take the next step.
"Hiya Saku-chan!" He happily greeted, leaving the door to their bedroom open.
"Hey Naru-kun...how are things in the house? Did Sarada take a bath and go to sleep?" She asked worriedly.
"Yup and yup! We practiced martial arts for a bit then she got ready for bed. We also had your delicious food, thank you for cooking!" He brightly replied.
"Thanks again for taking care of her for me...oh before I forget, I've left some condoms on the side you like to sleep in...unless you aren't the top?" Sakura teased and giggled.
Naruto felt his cheeks turn bright red, remembering the kiss that the two of them had shared and how Gaara had pulled away "I-I-I-I told you already...we haven't...we won't...you know. " This was so embarrassing!
"Huh...how come? Does he have some problem functioning in that area...or is it you that can't function? I know you went through a period where yo-"Sakura was stopped by the blonde.
"Sttooopp...please! It's not like that...I mean...I dunno...just...could we drop it?" Naruto didn't want to let his mind wander down the different reasons why Gaara might not be interested.
"Tsunade-sensei brought me some sakura wines...why don't you have a glass with him and warm each other up?" Sakura teased and giggled.
"...Just drop it, alright?" Naruto groaned out "...Besides, you know how I get when I am drunk...I am never getting drunk in front of him again."
"Well...I could take Sarada out tomorrow night for a bit and you two could...ya know...might do you some good." The pinkette half-joked and half propositioned seriously "I mean, how long has it been since you've gotten laid? I think it's been like a decade or something!"
"Sakura, just drop the damn subject already!" Naruto snapped, surprised at his outburst, eyes widening "I-I-I-I am sorry Sakura-chan...I didn't mean to snap..I just...I…"
"...It's umm...it's alright, I shouldn't have pushed...sorry. I need to go, work calls." With that the pinkette hung up.
The blonde covered his face, feeling guilty all over again. He had just snapped at his best friend, perhaps Sakura was right in that he needed to talk to someone. He let out a shaky breath before pushing his feelings down and standing up, a bright smile on his face.
"That's right...keep smiling for everyone, keep acting like their perfect little golden boy...if you show them the monster that you really are, they will all leave, kiddo." The familiar voice of his inner demon sneered at him.
A.N:/ Sakura's ringtone is CANDY CANDY by Kyrary Pamyu Pamyu.