"Monster"
by the Carpet Shampoo
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…but if I was a ninja, I could steal Naruto…hm…
Author's Commentary: Wow. This is kinda just a weird little idea I had, but people actually liked it. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I didn't realize their were so many Gaara/Naruto fans out there. Personally, I like Shikamaru/Naruto and Sasuke/Naruto, but when I was writing my other fic, The Courting of Uzumaki Naruto, I wrote a part with Gaara and Naruto as the couple, and I felt I had to do something more serious with those two (the other one's kind of a goofy fic if you haven't read). Anyway. I'm rambling here. To the person who asked, your name slips my mind, no I don't know of any other good Naruto x Gaara fics. Does anyone? And to the person who said they'd post the link to this story on Gaara x Naruto sites…*blink* they have Gaara x Naruto sites? I never see them…If you do, could you try and send me a link or something of where? I don't mind you putting up links or anything, I just want to know.
Chapter 1: And so I Return to Where I first began…
"Come on Shikamaru, you're the only one that can help me pass my chuunin exam…"
"Naruto…Its too troublesome…Ask Iruka, he's a chuunin. Or Kakashi, he aced his chuunin exams years ago. Or Sasuke. Or Gai. Or anyone who's a chuunin or a jounin. Except me. I'm sure they'd all be happy to give you some advice on passing your chuunin exam."
"They're all busy. You're the only lazy bum who never does anything." Naruto gave his friend a lazy kick in the side. Shikamaru looked up at his friend from his resting spot on the ground, his expression clearly annoyed, but he didn't say anything.
"I'll play Go with you…" Naruto bribed.
"You don't know how."
"I'll play chess with you…"
"You don't know how to do that either."
"You could teach me!"
"Too troublesome…"
Naruto sighed and sat down next to Shikamaru, poking his lazy friend sharply, but not enough to actually hurt him.
"Shi-ka-ma-ru…" Naruto whined, dragging out each syllable of the boys name, "Man, tying your own shoes is too troublesome for you…"
"My shoes don't have ties."
"My point exactly! Now, help me train for my chuunin exams!"
"…No."
'Aw, fine, be that way…lazy bum…" Naruto stood up, and sticking his tongue out at Shikamaru, shuffled off, sulking the whole way.
Man…hard to believe a kid like that is already 16…So immature…so troublesome…Shikamaru thought to himself before stretching out and going back to staring mindlessly at the clouds.
Naruto sulked all the way into the woods, his current favorite training spot. There was a small clearing in the woods, one that was small enough that most of the area was still mildly shaded by the trees, but big enough for Naruto to train in nevertheless. Boring as it was, since Shikamaru had chose not to come along, Naruto made a clone of himself, and began sparring against it.
"How boring…" Naruto grumbled, and then swung a wild hit at his clone, "I already know all my own moves!" He griped as the clone vanished under his fist. Naruto practiced a few jutsus, just to see if they worked, but he could never tell if he was manipulating his chakra right or not. He needed Kakashi or another upper level ninja around to do that for him.
"This totally and completely sucks!" Naruto flopped down on the ground, moping by himself.
"What sucks?"
Naruto leapt up, his well-trained shinobi instincts kicking in as he landed in a defensive position, a steel kunai ready in his hands. Naruto had begun his career as a ninja, as one of the weaker, if not the weakest passing genin. But now, he had reached a point where very few of his fellow comrades could sneak up on him. Naruto assumed it had been Sasuke sneaking up on him like that, his number one rival had a way of doing just that.
The last person he had expected to see was Gaara of the Sand, standing before him with a seemingly confused expression etched into his features.
"Gaara…?" Naruto's jaw dropped slightly. He hadn't seen the sand ninja since…
"You must understand Naruto, no one will ever understand me but you. And so, no one will ever understand you, except for me."
Naruto felt his ears turn hot as he knew a blush was spreading across his face in remembrance of what happened between him and Gaara those years ago. Why had Gaara so suddenly shown up again? Naruto looked up at the other ninja, he'd gotten taller while Naruto had remained relatively short. He'd allowed his red hair to grow out slightly, it now fell down by his strange darkened eyes, and seemed to spike out in a random messy order. Those odd, dark-lined pale blue eyes seemed softer; not nearly as harsh or cynical as they had been when Naruto had last seen Gaara.
"Hello again, Naruto…"
"…And so, no one will ever understand you, except for me."
*~*~*~*~*
"Stupid conscience…when did I get you anyway?" Shikamaru grumbled, sitting up at last. Maybe it was just with Naruto…Shikamaru had often wondered and analyzed if his own behavior around the blond haired boy qualified as something that was more than friendship. As of now, his results were inconclusive and too troublesome to study further.
Something about the look on Naruto's face as the boy sulked away had triggered something deep within the lazy ninja, and even as he lay back down, he found he could not lose his head in the clouds as he usually did. He kept thinking about Naruto, and how Naruto had offered all this stuff, just to be able to train with Shikamaru.
"Aw, damn! I should of said yes to him…" Shikamaru struggled to his feet and rubbed one of his eyes sleepily. He was really not in the mood to train, but he supposed the least he could do was give Naruto some pointers on strategy. How much effort would that be, really?
Shikamaru knew his friend Naruto was a hell of a fighter. But that was it. Chuunins, Shikamaru learned, were supposed to be able to be leaders. They needed to learn to plan and strategize.
"Which is probably the only reason someone like me became one anyway…"
Naruto might never lose a battle of hand-to-hand combat in his life. Since the days of the two boys sleeping together in Iruka's class, Shikamaru had watched as Naruto's strength grew by leaps and bounds, quickly catching up to Uchiha Sasuke in terms of fighting ability. But if Naruto were ever to be locked in a battle of wits, he would be out faster than he could say 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu'.
And as his friend, didn't Shikamaru have the obligation to help him out?
"Stupid, stupid conscience…" Shikamaru muttered, trudging off in the direction he had seen Naruto go.
*~*~*~*~*
"Strange, isn't it Naruto? Perhaps you don't remember, but this is the very spot we met last time, isn't it?" Naruto nodded dumbly, for some reason his voice felt all choked up and he couldn't seem to remember how to talk.
Gaara walked around Naruto in a circle, walking around him like a vulture that was eyeing its latest prey. Naruto stood still, trying to focus on using his senses to follow Gaara's movements rather than his eyes. Gaara was even harder to trace then Sasuke, a fact Naruto soon realized as he felt the other boy's arms slink around his waist from behind.
Naruto looked down at the pale arms that had encircled him and said nothing. He felt oddly unafraid; perhaps because he'd beaten Gaara in the past; or perhaps because he knew that Gaara wouldn't hurt him.
Naruto noticed something then, that he had never noticed before. Gaara had the most intoxicating scent he had ever smelled before on another person. Naruto had always had a bit of a sensitive nose, so the way people smelled was pretty obvious to him. Sasuke had a scent that was similar the breathing in the winter air for the first time, Sakura smelled like sweet flowers, but also citrusy, a scent that was both sweet and sour, just like her. But Gaara – Gaara smelled like an Arabian desert; like exotic spices of the east, the kind Naruto had never smelled before. It was the kind of smell that brought back memories of stories Naruto hadn't heard since he was a child, stories about carpets that could fly, and small purple men who lived in bottles that could grant any wish you could dream up.
*~*~*~*
"I should not be seeing this, I should not be seeing this…" Shikamaru ducked down in the bushes, his face uncharacteristically red. Naruto…and Gaara!? Gaara of the Desert, who wasn't even allowed in their village was right here, carrying on a love affair with Naruto? His Naruto? Shikamaru shook his head. Not his Naruto. Naruto his friend…Yes, that was right, Naruto his friend.
I finally stop being lazy and attempt to do stuff and this is what I see? Someone hates me…Shikamaru looked back at the two, Gaara was still holding Naruto close. See, now, this is why I don't ever do stuff. This is all much too troublesome. I don't want to deal with this…Not at all.
Suddenly, Gaara released Naruto, pushing the blond away seemingly lightly, but still hard enough for Naruto to stumble. He looked straight over at where Shikamaru thought he was well hid.
"We're being watched." Gaara strolled over to where Shikamaru was, slowly, as if to torture the poor chuunin in hiding. Shikamaru shook his head and jumped up. He wasn't about to be dragged out of the bushes like some lost puppy.
"Shikamaru…" Naruto looked over at his friend blankly, "Its not…well…um…Gaara…." Naruto bit his tongue and stopped talking. It seemed that his words were still not working properly.
Shikamaru shook his head and turned away. "Don't worry…" he mumbled, "I ain't gonna tell anyone, but Naruto, you can do better than him…" Shikamaru spat the last word, as if even referring to Gaara was a terrible curse word.
"Like who? You?" Gaara's voice was low and drugged with a mocking tone, "Could you ever understand him the way I do? His pain, his loneliness'? You probably never even knew he was unhappy…"
"I'm not discussing this," Shikamaru said. "I'm leaving." And with that, Shikamaru was gone, heading back towards the village with all the speed he had, leaving Naruto and Gaara behind.
Gaara turned back to Naruto and saw the confused, almost frightened look on his face.
"Now…where were we…?" the redheaded ninja mused to himself, before leaning into Naruto and capturing his lips in a gentle, but commanding kiss.
"…no one will ever understand you, except for me."
Author's Commentary: Ok, here's the real plot getting started. It always seemed to me that Shikamaru had just a littlest bit of unrequited love going on for Naruto. I mean, Shikamaru did show up when Naruto was in the hospital. With a gift for him too! Sure Shikamaru said the gift had been for Chouji…But think of this. Look it how smart Shikamaru is. If he knew Chouji had been hospitalized for eating too much, wouldn't he also realize that a gift of food would be a bad gift for Chouji at the time? But still! He brought one! And gave it to Naruto. Hm…sounds like someone has a crush, eh Shikamaru? Anyway, that's just my reasoning for the Shika x Naruto action here. Don't worry, I'm still going to make it Gaara x Naruto in the end.