There was only a few days left before they needed to go back home. Sakura had managed to get almost everyone back together for dinner.
Ino had greeted Naruto with a tight hug and kiss on the cheek, Sai had insulted him as always which was as close as anyone could get to a compliment coming from the albino. Choji had admitted that he came only for the food, his daughter ChoCho staring up at the blonde "Wow..you are really handsome." She had said before being pulled away by Sarada.
Naruto introduced Gaara as his precious person, feeling his cheeks reddening. Sarada and ChoCho had disappeared into the raven's room to watch some TV drama that they were apparently really into, which left the adults free to talk.
"I am glad you finally found someone, Naru-kun!" Ino brightly said, clapping her hands together "And he's so handsome...have we met before, you seem really familiar for some reason."
The redhead shook his head, he couldn't remember ever meeting her.
She squinted and kept staring at him but the topic was soon changed as Sakura came with the food and everyone started eating.
Gaara was asked multiple questions ranging from "Why the heck did you choose such an idiot?" Which had come from Sai, all the way to "How did you two meet?!" Which came from Ino and "...So what do you do for a living?" Coming from Karui who was Choji's wife.
As always, Gaara seemed to avoid the question about what he did for a living. Naruto gave a very short answer as to how they met "At a cafe and the rest is history!" Which wasn't a full lie, they had met for the first time at a cafe.
"Oh hey...did you hear the news?" Ino asked excitedly, going full blown gossip mode.
"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head, moving to help Sakura set the dishes on the dishwasher and clean up.
"Sooo...it turns out my boy Shika is going to be a father soon!" She said as if it was a big, great secret which it was.
"Wait...what?!" Naruto asked in shock, glancing at Gaara who didn't seem surprised.
"Yeah, so get this! He's been dating this girl from the nearby island, the sandy one...what was it called again, Sai?" She turned to look at her husband.
"...Sunagakure.." Sai replied, already having heard the story.
"Right, Suna! She comes from royalty or something. Really beautiful, I can't believe she's dating a bum like Shika but oh well." Ino shook her head, not seeming to realize the surprised look Naruto was given her. "Anyways, she's like some royalty from Suna, her father was the Kazekage. From what I've gathered they met a few years back, when we were all still teens, remember that time when the islands nearby had the exam from all the different detective academies? So like they ended up getting paired up during one of the exams. Ugh, I still remember the horror, there was this weird kid that kept killing his opponent, he was from Sunagakure as well...anyways, I was minding my own business when I heard a conversation between the two of them! His girlfriend...I think her name was Tenari? Temaru?"
"...Temari…" Naruto supplied softly.
"Yeah, that's the name! Temari was talking about how they would paint the nursery and about how her brothers had accepted...wait how do you know her name?" Ino asked with a confused look on her face.
There seems to be a very awkward silence. Sakura was looking at Naruto and Gaara worriedly.
"Did I say something wrong?" Ino asked with a frown, looking between them.
"It's getting pretty late and we have to wake up really early tomorrow, mind if we all catch up another time?" Sakura asked, already moving to kick everyone out.
"What? But the party's just getting good and Naru-kun hasn't answered my question." Ino said, trying to understand what was going on.
"Can't you read the situation, you stupid Ino-pig! You just had to open your big mouth." Sakura quietly snapped, the two glaring at each other for a moment.
"Well clearly not, Big-Forehead! What the heck is going on?" She replied just as quietly. Naruto was still quiet and looked surprisingly calm about something "Oh shit...I just remembered who that sand guy was that went around killing everyone during the exam." Ino stared at Gaara in shock, turning pale but was kicked out of Sakura's flat.
Sarada came out with ChoCho, she had a backpack ready "I'll be back tomorrow, Mama. Have a good night...goodnight Naruto-san, Gaara-san." She politely said, before going toward the altar they had for Sasuke, bidding him goodnight and leaving.
"...I am going to leave you two alone so that you can patch this up...if you need me, you know my number." Sakura calmly said, trying not to show how worried she was "...Naruto...do I need to get Shikamaru?"
The blonde shook his head and smiled at her "It's fine, Sakura-chan...I am fine. You don't need to leave." He replied.
"I do...you two need to talk about whatever this is. I'll be back in a few hours." With that she left as well.
"...I can explain, Naruto-kun." Gaara softly said, wondering if he was about to lose the blonde.
"You don't need to if you don't want to." Naruto replied, going back to cleaning. "Ah, so you are going to be an uncle, congratulations!" Naruto forced himself to sound cheerful.
The redhead was royalty? Naruto would be the first one to admit about not knowing his history and geography, he had been a terrible student when it came to the academic stuff. Suna...that was why Gaara's surname had sounded so familiar.
"I didn't want you to look at me differently if you found out who I really was." The redhead softly said.
"Is that who you really think I am?" Naruto asked with a frown "Do you think my feelings for you are so weak that I would judge you due to your lineage?"
Gaara stayed quiet, looking down at the floor, unable to answer that.
The blonde turned to look at his partner, a frown on his face "Say something, don't just stay quiet!"
Gaara was unsure how to explain himself, he's never been good at forming words.
"...I meant it when I said that I didn't care about your past. I don't care if you really were a killer when you were younger, there must have been a reason for it, right?" Naruto gave Gaara a desperate look. "Say something, Gaara! Don't just shut down on me!" The blonde moved closer to his lover, wrapping his arms around the smaller shoulders, a desperate look on his face.
"...There is nothing to be said." Gaara calmly replied, refusing to look at his partner.
Naruto bit the inside of his cheek, staring at the redhead, searching for something. "Nothing to be said? You are fucking royalty and you have nothing to say to that? Or the fact that you killed people?" Naruto asked "There must have been a reason, right? You are a kind person...you wouldn't just keep this all from me if there wasn't a reason, right?" Naruto begged for an answer.
"You don't know me, Naruto-kun." Gaara calmly said "You keep saying that I am not a monster but I am, so stop trying to put your ideals on me."
The blonde recoiled as if he's been hit, staring in shock at the redhead, his eyes watering "...Fuck you, Gaara…" He quietly said "You are such an asshole...you...I can't believe you." His hands turned into fist "Why do you have so much self-loathing...and why are you trying to push me away? I thought we were getting closer...that I was gaining your trust if only a little bit." Naruto could feel his cheeks growing wet, he wiped away the tears angrily, looking at his lover. "You won't give me an explanation?"
"...No…" Gaara calmly replied, trying to ignore the guilt that he was feeling. Naruto would hate him if he found out the full truth, maybe it was best to end things right now "I think it would be wise for us to end our connection right here."
Naruto felt his eyes widened, wondering if he heard it wrong "...What?! Say that again you bastard...I dare you to say that again!" He wrapped his fingers around the front of Gaara's shirt and lifted him up.
"We are not a good match...tonight just proved it."Gaara calmly said, refusing to look at Naruto.
The blonde punched the redhead, eyes darkening "At least look at me! How dare you say we aren't a good match? Then what did all this time together mean to you? Was it really nothing?!"
Gaara stayed quiet, moving to touch his lips and stare at his blood. His eyes became slightly unstable. He walked past the blonde and to their room, grabbing his things.
"Gaara? What are you doing?" The blonde asked, following him "I am sorry I punched you...I won't ask about anything so don't go...please?"
The redhead felt an ache in his heart as he grabbed his passport and some of his clothes then moved to walk past the blonde.
Naruto grabbed the smaller shoulder, pulling him back and hugging his lover "Please Gaara...don't leave me." The tanned male begged.
The paler male pulled away "Don't touch me." He coldly said, reminding himself that this was for Naruto. Things would end sooner or later, someone like him didn't deserve to be loved, the few months that he got needed to be enough for him.
"Gaara please...I am sorry...I won't ask, alright? We can forget the whole night...so please don't leave me...don't go!" Naruto begged, moving again to try and stop the redhead but the pale male slapped the tanned hand away and looked at Naruto.
"Just forget we ever met." Was all the redhead said before leaving.
Naruto chased after him, tears streaming down his cheeks"...Gaara…" The scene changed all of a sudden, he could hear loud honking sounds and see dark eyes staring at him. There was screaming, he could feel himself getting pushed as Sasuke tried to save him. There was also a coldness spreading through his body, the scene changed to one of Sasuke's back to him "You wouldn't understand dobe...just forget we ever met." Sasuke's voice was cold as he uttered the words.
Next to Sasuke, the blonde saw familiar red hair "...Gaara?" He asked softly "What are you doing next to Sasuke-kun?"
"...Just forget we ever met, Naruto." The familiar deep voice coldly said.
No matter how much Naruto ran, he couldn't catch up to them, all he could see was their retreating back.
The blonde let out a small yawn, rubbing his eyes sleepily. His head hurt and he felt confused, what happened? When Naruto tried to remember, he felt a sharp pain, the last thing that he could remember was talking to Sakura about inviting their friends to dinner. Had he fallen asleep on Gaara again?
He tried to stay awake but found himself dozing off again, the next time that he woke up the blonde felt a familiar cool body, nuzzling a pale neck fondly. "Did I fall asleep on you again, Gaara-kun?" He sleepily slurred.
When he didn't get a response, he opened his eyes again and looked at the redhead "Is something wrong?" He softly asked.
"Are you feeling better?" The redhead softly asked, moving to cup the blonde's cheek.
Naruto felt confused, why was Gaara looking at him with such sad and worried eyes? "...Better?"
"You fell asleep." The redhead simply stated.
Naruto gave a sheepish grin then stopped and squinted "What happened to your mouth? You have a bruise!"
"I was slightly careless earlier." It really seemed like the blonde didn't remember anything.
After their fight, Gaara had been ready to leave and cut all ties with Naruto. He heard a screaming sound coming from the tanned male, then a thudding sound followed by the tanned body convulsing. The pale male had run to the blonde's side, unsure of what to do. He had called Sakura who had explained what to do and had checked the blonde once she rushed home.
"Naruto gets non-epileptic seizures due to heightened emotions such as stress. He used to get them sometimes when he was younger but it started getting worse after the accident and other events in his life. We thought that it was finally under control, normally they are not this severe...what happened between you two?" The pinkette looked at the redhead, a frown on her face.
"I told him it would be best if we ended our relationship." Gaara replied, unable to look at her.
Sakura's eyes widened, she almost punched him but stopped herself when she saw the bruise on his lips, it seems Naruto beat her to it. "How can you do something so stupid, Cha! Do you know how important this relationship is for Naruto?" She snapped at him "...After so many years Naruto finally started smiling and laughing again...he seems genuinely happy with you."
"...If Naruto-kun stays by my side he will only get hurt. Tonight just proved that." Gaara responded, looking at the closed bedroom door where Naruto was sleeping.
"If you leave Naruto it will be much worse...I don't think he'll be able to handle such a shock, the fact that he had such a severe episode proves it. He probably won't remember anything that happened tonight. Personally, after what you did tonight I would have happily kicked you out and told you to not bother getting close to Naru...but he needs you, he really cares about you." Sakura ran a hand through her hair "I lost Sasuke...I can't lose Naruto as well. If he dies because of you, I don't care how many people you've killed and how tough you think you are...I'll take great pleasure in slowly torturing you and making you suffer with all of my medical knowledge, Cha!"
Had he really taken the wrong course of action by trying to distance himself from the blonde? Gaara had thought that he was helping the blonde by leaving but instead it led to him hurting his partner "I understand."
"If he doesn't remember what happened...don't remind him, right now our main priority is stabilizing him and getting Shikamaru to check him. He'll be feeling confused and exhausted, knowing Naruto it won't take him too long to realize that he's had an episode just tell him it was exhaustion. Once Shikamaru has a look at him we can decide what to do next." Sakura had thought that she had been doing a good job of managing his condition and keeping an eye on Naruto...she shouldn't have left them alone and told them to talk it out.
"I don't care if you really are the son of the Kazekage, you could be the freaking king of the world and I wouldn't care. I won't ask you about your past and why you killed people nor if you are still killing people, to me all that matters is keeping Naruto stable and happy, he's already suffered far too much." She knew that she hadn't been helpful in the past, Sakura was the first one to admit that she was weak unlike Sasuke and Naruto who could face danger without being phased by it.
"You want me to lie to Naruto-kun?" Gaara asked, the image of Naruto screaming and convulsing edge in his mind.
"It's not like you weren't lying to him before. Honestly, I feel like it would be better for you to tell him about who you really are and give him some sort of explanation. Naruto isn't someone who would judge others based on their past. Luckily he was here this time and I wasn't too far...but what if he had been home alone? What if you hadn't acted quickly? Naruto could have gotten seriously injured or even died and that death would have been on your shoulders."With that Sakura had gone to her room to talk to Shikamaru about what happened.
Naruto kept looking at the bruise with a worried look "Does it hurt too much? Maybe you should have Sakura take a look at it."
"I am okay." Gaara reassured, wrapping his arms around the tanned shoulder and hugging Naruto. He had really thought that he would lose the blonde for a moment.
The blonde was surprised when he was suddenly hugged by the redhead, he knew perfectly well that Gaara hated these types of physical closeness...was he in that much pain?! The blonde hugged back, rubbing the smaller back gently "Did you manage to get some rest? I hope I wasn't too burdensome."
"I am okay, you aren't burdensome at all." The redhead kept hugging the blonde for a few more seconds than moved to pull away but was pulled closer.
"You smell nice...like the ocean." The blonde sleepily said "Mind if we stay like this for just one more minute?"
"...Okay…" Gaara took in the familiar citrusy scent, he shifted slightly, trying to get in a more comfortable position.
Naruto moved his head, curling up next to the redhead's chest to listen to his heartbeat. He was still feeling exhausted, the feeling was quite familiar. His mouth tasted like copper and the inside of his cheeks were rather sore. He shifted, letting their legs wrap around each other, eyes closing.
"...Naruto-kun?" The hoarse voice gently asked.
"Mmmhm?" The blonde let out a sleepy respond, practically tasting his dream.
"Get some rest." They could talk later, right now it looked like the blonde needed the rest.
It seems that no matter what he did, he would be at risk of losing Naruto...perhaps opening up to the blonde about his life was the only choice he had after all.