Walk On
By RedMirage aka Kei-Chan
Disclaimer: I own nothing! If I did, I wouldn't be here!
Pairings: Sasuke x Naruto, Neji x Naruto, Gaara x Naruto, Zabuza x Haku, Lee x Sakura...others still a secret. :P
Warnings: AU and contains yaoi. Run if you can't stand it.
Rating: PG - 13 but may rise to R later in the story...
Summary: A teahouse romance... A library romance... And a gathering of two attracted individuals under the Sakura trees at a secret location. With Naruto as the ultimate uke... Who will finally win his heart and body? Inspired by Kiss wa Ichinichi Sando Made, a yaoi manga by Nabako Kamo.
"" indicates speech
'' indicates thoughts
italics shows an emphasize on the word.
Chapter 4: Morning of Pampering and Heated Confrontations! Fangirls United!
Gaara was enjoying the peaceful morning under the shade of an old oak tree when he saw the distant figure of Naruto, who seems to be walking with a slight slump in his shoulders, approaching in his direction. He frowned a little when he was able to clearly see that Naruto had a perplexed expression on his face, which was a great difference from his normally cheerful face. 'I wonder which idiot dared to mess with Naruto. Didn't they know that he is a precious friend of mine?' Gaara wondered to himself. In a short period of time, Naruto had not only made Gaara accept him as his first real friend but Gaara had also developed a protective streak over the blonde. He could not understand why, but somehow he felt that if Naruto were to become sad or unhappy, he would also be unhappy. That would not spell well for whichever unlucky soul that had caused the unhappiness.
"Naruto!" Gaara called out when the blonde was within hearing distance.
Naruto looked around his surrounding when he heard someone called out his name and spotted Gaara sitting under the tree. His slight but muscular body was spread out lazily on the soft grass as he leaned his back against the tree. Naruto sauntered slowly to where Gaara was sitting and plopped down heavily on the grass. He stared at Gaara's unwavering face for a while before turning his head away, blushing a faint pink as he remembered about yesterday's startling revelation on his sexuality. He felt as though his mouth had been sewn up tightly, unable to even say a simple greeting to Gaara. He lowered his head, feeling even worse as he thought about his lunch date with Neji today. 'How am I going to face Neji-san when I can't even behave normally in front of Gaara right now?' he wondered miserably.
Gaara's eyes never left Naruto's bowed head as he observed the normally perky blonde's uncharacteristic silence further. He seemed to be in deep thoughts and his cheeks were slightly red. 'Is he having a fever?' Gaara wondered to himself. He crawled around to position himself in front of Naruto who was oblivious to his surrounding and suddenly leaned forward to place his cool forehead against Naruto's.
Naruto felt something nice and cool touching his forehead while his unfocused eyes were staring at a pair of familiar emerald ones. Snapping back to reality, Naruto gave a loud scream before he smacked his head hard against the bark of the oak tree, in his haste to create distance between Gaara and himself. Naruto clutched the back of his head with his hands, whimpering pathetically. He felt his eyes tear from the pain of the harsh knock. He glanced up with a glare at Gaara before yelling slightly, "What do you think you were doing back there, Gaara? You gave me such a scare!"
Gaara frowned a little at Naruto's rare show of temper and pursed his lips together as he continued to stare unflinchingly at Naruto. Naruto was staring right back at him, his face red and lips in a petulant pout. Gaara felt his lips curved into a rare lazy smile as he laughed out loud at the pathetically adorable picture that Naruto made at the moment. He leaned forward once again and pulled Naruto forward until it seemed as though he was holding the blonde against his chest. He took off Naruto's hands from his head with surprising gentleness as he replaced it with his own to rub the soft blonde head. Naruto was caught by surprise yet again with Gaara's unpredictable movements but found him unresisting towards the man's action this time round. He felt Gaara's firm hands rubbing his aching head in slow gentle circles while his nose breathe in the spicy scent that was Gaara's from the well-defined chest. It was like a double attack on his senses as he felt himself relaxed and melted under the redhead's treatment.
"Can you now tell me what is bothering you?" Gaara asked in a husky voice, his hands still rubbing Naruto's head.
Naruto felt his heart skipped a beat as he heard Gaara's question. "Hmm... nothing is bothering me," he mumbled against the redhead's chest.
Gaara persist with his question yet again. "I know something is bothering you. You have been acting unusual this morning. Or is it that you don't trust me enough to confide in me?" Gaara asked again with a little hurt crept into his voice. He was determined to know what was troubling the small blonde and used Naruto's weakness against him to make him talk.
As expected, Naruto felt himself crumble against Gaara's clever interrogation and gave a soft exasperated sigh before he removed his head from the bigger man's chest. He looked carefully into Gaara's eyes as he asked wearily, "What if I tell you I'm a bisexual and I only found out yesterday? That I sometimes found myself admiring you...in a different way?"
Gaara's expression was one of amusement as he answered, "What if I tell you that I'm a bisexual and that I found out about it a long ago. That I knew about you appreciating me in that different way you were saying. Naruto, you're smart but you can also be completely oblivious about a lot of things."
Naruto's eyes widen at Gaara's answer as he replied in a numbed little voice, "I... you're right. I always seem to be the last one finding out about such things. Wait... you're a bisexual?"
Gaara looked at Naruto with an amused smirk before snorting an "Hn" as his reply. Sometimes, it was unbelievable how clueless the blonde can be.
Naruto nodded his head a little shakily before asking again. "So... How was it like? Did you have problems with your relationships in life from it?" he asked in a hesitant little voice.
"No, I don't. Being a bisexual is just like a normal straight guy or a homosexual. The only difference is that you really don't care which sex your partner is. So, stop looking like you are facing the most horrible crisis of your life," Gaara replied flatly.
Naruto rested his head against his palms as the full meaning of Gaara's words seeped into his brain and suddenly he felt a lot calmer about everything as though a very heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He realized how jumbled up his emotions and thoughts must have been that he had failed to see the whole picture and analyze the situation correctly. Feeling immensely grateful to Gaara for helping him with his little crisis, Naruto gave a bright foxy smile at the cool guy before thanking him earnestly. He fall back against the grass, suddenly feeling tired from his restless sleep the night before. As the back of his injured head touched the grassy ground, Naruto's body immediately shot up from it as he clutched his head once again with a yelp of pain. Gaara shook his head at the blonde's foolishness before he started to pull him into a hug of sorts again and continued rubbing the small guy's head again. Naruto felt his face flushed in embarrassment and slight indignation from how Gaara was treating him like a little kid and how the redhead was being unusually nice today. "Gaara," he whined a little, "you are so unbelievably nice today."
"Hmm... I am, aren't I? Well, you earned it with how stupid yet brilliant you can be, so you better enjoy it now. Like you said, it's something unbelievable and so it may not happen a second time," Gaara said with a slight smirk.
Naruto pouted a little at Gaara's comment but choose not to reply and just enjoy the nice, rare treatment that his usually cold friend granted. He felt himself falling asleep under the wonderful firm caresses of warm soothing fingers. Gaara gazed down at the contented creature that was rapidly falling asleep and practically purring under his skilful massaging. His lips curved into a gentle smile that no one had ever seen before as he continued pampering his tired friend until it was nearly time for their German class.
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Gaara and Naruto walked slowly to their German class in companionable silence. The blonde had woken up with a better mood, feeling utterly refreshed under his friend's skillful hands and also the earnest chat, which cleared up his doubts and insecurities greatly. Now, he was feeling like his usual cheerful self instead of the sad depressed state from the morning earlier on. He had been a little embarrassed when he found his head cradled in Gaara's lap and had sheepishly apologized to his friend who had accepted with a shrug. He started humming a little tune as they neared the building. Soon after they stepped into the hallway of the lecture block, twin screams could be heard from two loud womanly voices.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
Suddenly, the bustling hallway became an uncomfortable silence. Naruto, at hearing his name being screamed, scanned his surroundings and looked between his front and back confusedly at two angry girls who had yelled his name for all to hear.
"Um... may I help you?" Naruto asked a little lamely, not knowing what to expect from this strange situation he got suddenly thrown into.
The two women promptly begin walking towards him menacingly.
"You could really help me, Uzumaki-san," said the raven-haired girl sharply.
Naruto felt himself backed away into Gaara, who was standing stoically at the side.
"If you could keep your filthy little hands off my..." both girls continued in an eerily same sharp tone.
"Sasuke-sama!" the blond girl yelled.
"Neji-sama!" the raven-haired girl shouted at the same time.
"K...Keep my hands off them?" Naruto stuttered out.
"Don't act innocent with me, Uzumaki-san. I know and have seen how you have been seducing Sasuke-sama with your adorable good looks. Sasuke-sama is not the same as you, so stop your pitiful attempts to try and bring him down to the same level as you!" the blonde further continued, her eyes flashing.
"Yes, what that blondie said. You should stop trying to bring Neji-sama down with you too! Neji-sama is the heir of the Hyuuga group and he has great responsibilities to handle. Your rendezvous with him at the library should end. I had kept quiet about it at first but now that you have successfully tricked Neji-sama to have a lunch date with you, I will not let it go! Neji-sama needs someone who can help relieve his burden and I'm the most suitable person for that. As the person who is going to marry Neji- sama, I'll not allow pests like you to try and ruin our lives." The raven- haired woman joined in with the accusations.
Naruto bit down on his soft lips as it became clear to him what this is all about. Indignation flared in his chest at those unfair accusations and the fact that the raven-haired girl had most probably eavesdropped and spied on his meetings with Neji. "And may I know who I'm speaking to?" Naruto asked in a soft angered voice.
"I am Yamanaka Ino, the president of the Uchiha Sasuke Official Fan Club," the blonde said haughtily.
"I am Tenten, the president of the Hyuuga Neji Official Fan Club. My present surname is none of your concern because if I marry Neji-sama, I will naturally take up the Hyuuga name, too," The raven-haired lady said proudly.
Naruto took a deep breath before speaking again. "Yamanaka-san, Tenten-san, I'm not going spend any time trying to convince you otherwise since both of you have stated clearly that you are the fangirls of these guys and I know that obsessed fangirls do not listen to reason. The two men you are talking about happen to be my precious friends and I will never stop my friendship with them for such silly matters. Besides, it's rude to eavesdrop on others, Tenten-san. If you really aspire to be the perfect wife for your Neji-sama, you should first start learning some basic etiquettes," he said bravely with a hint of distaste in his voice.
"You dumb blonde!" Ino growled at Naruto.
"Stop scolding yourself, Yamanaka-san," Gaara said coolly as he walked to stand beside Naruto. "And Tenten, Naruto is the heir to the Uzu Empire, which is the top company of Japan rivaled only by the Hyuuga group. You may be really intelligent but you should stop looking down on everyone, thinking they are inferior to you and Neji. Don't let me catch anyone trying to mess with Naruto too. I don't appreciate my friend getting hurt in any way," Gaara said, his voice laced with ice.
Ino's face turned red at the insult that Gaara had indirectly thrown at her. "Gaara-sempai, I hope you know what you are doing," she said icily.
"I think that is what I should be saying to you," Gaara said, his eyes narrowing.
Ino stormed off angrily, mumbling curses under her breathe. "Just you wait, Uzumaki Naruto!" She thought crossly to herself.
Tenten looked at Naruto and Gaara, a little stunned that the blonde was the heir of Uzu Empire and very angry at Naruto for his insinuation that she was not good enough for Neji, but quickly regained her composure again. "I see you also tried your moves on Gaara. Even if you are the heir of the Uzu Empire, you're still nothing but a low little slut to me. Don't think this is the end. You should watch your back carefully if you choose to continue to pester Neji-sama. Even if everyone is afraid of what you can do, I will not back down from this fight for Neji-sama's sake, Gaara-san." Tenten said with hard determination before she walked away.
Gaara looked around at the crowd with a homicidal glare and the onlookers quickly resumed what they were doing before the commotion started. He looked back at Naruto who gave him a tired smirk and they continued walking to their class.
"How in the hell did Sasuke-kun have a fan club set up for him when it was barely a week since he entered college?" Naruto asked aloud before sighing a little.
"There are all kinds of weird things happening in this world, so just treat this as one of them," the redhead said.
"Weird things huh? Gaara.... Do you by any chance also have a fan club established with a scary woman for a president? I would hate to think that someday another obsessed fangirl president is going to chase me down like what just happened," Naruto said with a grimace. It would be really tiring to have to face such confrontations again, especially when the other party is not open to reasoning.
"Don't worry. Even if I do have one, no matter how fierce that president may be, she can never win me," Gaara said with a mocking grin.
Naruto laughed at what Gaara said. "What class are you having in the afternoon?" he asked.
"Music," Gaara replied.
"I see... Hey, what happened to the music composition you were working on that day? Are you done with it?" Naruto asked again.
"I am writing the lyrics now. After some refining and polishing, it should be done. You want to hear it?" Gaara asked, turning slightly to look at Naruto.
"Of course I want to! It would be an honor to be able to listen first-hand to the music composed by the future Director of Sand Records International," the blonde said teasingly.
Gaara gave a light smack on Naruto's head causing the blonde to frown a little at the pain with a pout. "So, you know Hyuuga?" he asked casually.
"You mean Neji-san? Well, I met him at the library and got along really well with him. Why do you ask?" Naruto asked Gaara curiously.
"Nothing. I just thought it interesting. That's all," Gaara replied.
Gaara had known Hyuuga from some of his classes and both men had shown an odd acceptance towards each other, which is rather unusual since both men are famous for their cold personalities and rather anti-social ways. People would have a better time believing that these two popular men are rivals who hate each other's guts. Gaara had always thought of Neji as an intelligent and mature being and thus had a little admiration for the guy. However, he still felt a little jealous at hearing about Naruto's secret meetings with Neji that even he had no idea about. In fact, he did not think that anyone in the campus knew about it except for Tenten, the Neji- obsessed stalker. 'Well, now the whole campus will know with that noisy confrontation just now,' Gaara thought to himself. He had a gut feeling that Naruto would soon be in a lot of trouble and he was going to be dragged into it somehow.
Naruto felt a slight headache coming on. It had been an eventful morning. First, he had a little conversation with Gaara who had eased his insecurities along with some pampering from the redhead, which had placed him back to his cheerful good mood. Then, before he could start his morning class of German lesson with Kakashi-sensei, a confrontation with two angry, stalker fangirls had broke out right in the hallway. He had no doubts that, by tomorrow, rumors of Neji, Sasuke and him would be spreading like fire. He had even considered that Gaara might be dragged into this nonsense, too. Barely a week of college and he felt like there will be even more troubles for him to deal with in the future. But at least he had his lunch date with Neji-san today as a consolation.
Both Naruto and Gaara settled down at their seats as Kakashi-sensei started his lesson in his usual bored, lazy tone. It would be a long time before lunch came by and Naruto could hardly wait for it.
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TBC
Next Chapter: Lunch date with Neji! (For real this time) What will happen with Sasuke? What about a short appearance from Itachi? Keep a lookout for the next chapter to find out!
Wah...so many deadlines for me to catch up on! If I were rather late with my updates, it would be due to my school assignments and projects. Now that I've more or less settle down for the new school year, hopefully I can manage my time better. I will try to update as fast as possible seeing how much I like to receive reviews and comments on my stories. XD
Plot and character mumbles: Chapter 4 is finally up with a late update from me. Thanks to one of my beta, Iceheart, for her nag mail. It made me work faster on the story.
This chapter was actually supposed to be about Naruto's lunch date with Neji but because Naruto had just found out about his sexual orientation, it would be weird for him to act all happy and mushy around Neji during the date. It would also be also be rather painful to read if I have to write about Naruto being embarrassed or uncomfortable around Neji nearly all the time. I choose instead, to write about Naruto having some sort of a heart- to-heart chat and also some counseling with a friend. Which better friend to choose (with the exception of Haku who is miles away) than Gaara, whose status with Naruto is still currently one of a friendship? This chapter would also help the affections between the two friends to grow too. Besides, it would be unfair that all the other guys get to have more intimate moments with Naruto while Gaara ends up looking like a side dish in the end.
I had made Naruto stand up bravely to scary fan girls. I was quite happy that I wrote it that way. Tenten was quite OOC but it was needed for the plot. (She took the place of Sakura as the scary and noisy fangirl) I hope I made the right decision. It took me quite some time to come up with the idea for the Gaara-Naruto interaction so I do hope readers enjoy them.
Character Profiles
Introducing the fangirls aka stalking bitches...
Yamanaka Ino: Ino is a very intelligent young lady but blinded about everything else when it comes to her wonderful and beloved Sasuke-sama. Thus she dislikes Naruto and accuses the poor innocent guy of seducing and bringing down her Sasuke-sama to the dark side. She is the President of the Uchiha Sasuke Official Fan Club.
Tenten: This young lady is very much like Ino but the difference lies in the fact that she thought herself to be the most suitable woman for her Neji-sama and is bent on getting Neji to marry her. She tries to get rid of Naruto in every way possible but nothing work. Ten Ten has declared war on Naruto ever since she found out about Neji's attraction to him. She is the President of the Hyuuga Neji Official Fan Club. There is nothing that she does not know about Neji with her excellent spying skills.
Not too much spoilers...I hope.
Reviews:
As always, thanks to IceHeart19 and Teki Star for helping to beta!
Thanks to Kashisenshey, some random person, cookie6, demonic inc, Muchacha, Ria Sakazaki, Yasai-chan, ysth83, Lena, Kori Nibiki, Kamikakushi, Sierra- Falls, Aori Tsuki, Gi wo mite sezaru wa ya n, RuByMoOn17, Masqued, and jts for your reviews. That was some really great reviews I got from all of you!
Some random person: Glad you find the fic interesting. However, this part 'I know everything because I am H. Kaito but no one except Hinata-chan knows,' is actually Neji's thoughts. Thus unless Naruto could mind-read, he does not know that Neji is H. Kaito yet. Neji is keeping his identity as a writer a secret from everyone but Hinata. Sorry if I got you confused. Haku looks incredibly feminine so I think he could pull of the high ponytail look. I was influence by the gay samurai movie 'Gohatto'. Matsuda Ryuuhei, who plays Kano in the movie, had a high ponytail too! (But his hair was much shorter) As for the gangster part of Haku's life, it will be explain in future chapters as the plot go on. ;;
Kashisenshey: I'm honored that I manage to make you enjoy the fic.
Ysth83: I hope you like the action in this chapter. Anyway, the irony is cleared now since the secret meetings are no more a secret after this chapter, ne?
Lena: How do you like Gaara in this chapter?
IceHeart19: I hope the pacing is correct for the story. I didn't want the whole thing to move too fast but neither do I want it to drag. Thus the main purpose for this chapter. Btw, nag mails of your kind do work well on me. If you think I'm rather behind on my updates, you're welcome to nag me about it.
Kori Nibiki and Aori Tsuki: Another two votes for ShikaNaru? Maybe I'll really incorporate some hints of pairings into the fic.
Kamikakushi: As you can see, Gaara is a musician of sorts. :)
Sierra-Falls: I must continue this fic since I have to write to the end to know who ends up with Naruto too. I'm as anxious about it as everyone else. :D
Jts: Dining will occur in the next chapter but this chapter has strong hints of romantic affections somehow, don't you think so? Even though I stated Naruto as the ultimate uke, I'll never turn him into a pushover. He will be a pushover only in bed. Out of it, he could think intelligently while still being clueless about tons of stuff. XD
Please R&R!
