"The Courting of Uzumaki Naruto"
by The Carpet Shampoo
Disclaimer: Sigh…If only…
Author's Commentary: Its very very, late, yes I know. I've been so busy! I'll try and get in another update or two this weekend.
I'm sorry. I'm aware the last chapter was a little bit on the boring side. I'll try and make it more interesting this time around. And one of my favorite authors, purrfectly976 reviewed this fic. Special, huh? ^^ You should go read her fic if you haven't. After you read and review mine of course. ^^
Chapter 6:
Gaara was looking at flowers. He wasn't the type who'd normally pick out flowers, but through his knowledge of romance, limited it may be, he knew flowers were romantic.
He looked around the flower store again. Every corner was bursting with bright color, reds, yellows, and oranges yelled out from everywhere and every direction. Flowers were even hanging over his head, for some reason he couldn't quite explain. And the smell…Gaara couldn't even begin to describe that smell that seemed to emanate from all around him.
"Can I help you?" Gaara turned and saw a scowling blond girl standing in front of him. She had a few stargazer lilies gripped tightly in one hand and she appeared to be placing them inside a bucket of some sort. Gaara watched for a moment, trying to figure out what was so interesting about putting the flowers in a bucket, but saw nothing about it.
"Hello? Earth to Gaara, do you need something?" He looked at her, trying to figure out who on Earth this girl was and why she knew his name. Her vibrant blue eyes narrowed as she waved her hand in front of his face.
Ino. The name came to him rather suddenly as he remembered seeing her at Naruto's.
I should kill her… Gaara thought to himself. He reached over and took one of the lilies out of her hand.
"I need some of these." He said, pointing at the flowers.
"You need some of these lilies? Or just flowers in general?" Ino asked, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Flowers for Naruto." Gaara said calmly. He plucked on of the pink and white petals off the lily he was holding and popped it in his mouth. Ino looked quite openly disgusted for a moment, then turned away to begin looking at the flowers.
I wonder if I could stab her with these flowers…Seems like a good way for her to die. Perhaps suffocation would be good as well…
"I've got just the flowers for you. Naruto would love them! Wait here!" Ino ran off to the back, walking out the back of the shop to the garden. She reached up and with two slender fingers, pinched her nose together and walked over to the compost heap. She looked around quickly and spotted a pile of dead roses lying there. She quickly grabbed them with her free hands and ran inside to wear Gaara was still standing.
Ino felt sick to her stomach when she noticed that Gaara was no longer holding the flower he took from her.
"Here." She thrust the bouquet of dead roses in his hand, "Take these."
Gaara studied the dead roses for a moment. He didn't know much about flowers, but he thought these ones were pretty good. They weren't as annoyingly bright as the others, and they didn't give off a bad scent.
"I'll take them…" Gaara handed Ino a little bit of money, which she proceeded to pocket, and then walked out the store calmly, carrying his bouquet with him. Ino watched him leave and grinned. "HAH! Ino: one, Gaara: zero!"
Inner Ino shook her head, "That wasn't very nice you know…you should have sold him pretty flowers…"
Ino shook her head. Stupid Inner Ino, always trying to bring down her fun in life…
Naruto was nervous.
He wasn't sure when or where, Gaara decided he loved Naruto, but in his mind it involved Gaara waking up one morning and deciding that instead of trying to kill Naruto, he would marry him instead.
Naruto fidgeted slightly, and looked up at the clock. Why did time always have to pass so darn slowly whenever Naruto needed it to go fast? He leaned back against his light wooden table and glanced down at the letter lying half under an old pork ramen cup. He had yet to read the latest letter from his secret admirer and had planned on throwing it away, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to do so.
He sighed and glanced up at the clock again, his fingers carefully stroking the edge of the letter subconsciously. Finally Naruto turned around, glared at the letter and ripped it open.
My dear Naruto,
It seems like so long since I last saw you, though I know it hasn't been long at all. Today I woke up and the sun was shining bright in my eyes, something that usually annoys me in the morning, but when I saw the bright blue skies shining behind it, I was reminded of you, and strangely, comforted by the thought.
Do you believe in destiny Naruto? I never really believed in that, never really wanted to believe that there was some force other than me guiding me throughout life. Then I met you. And for the first time, I encountered something I couldn't explain, and that was the love I felt for you Naruto. It was so strange, so unlike anything I'd ever felt before, and I felt it must be fate, guiding me, leading me straight in your arms. Or so I wish. If fate be true, let it guide me now. I wish upon every star that falls, thinking it would make my wish come true, because it has that beautiful sparkle you do.
-Your secret admirer
Naruto blushed severely, the red starting at his ears and slowly spreading across his face as his eyes scanned the letter. He walked over to a draw and pulled out a pen and a small scrap of paper.
Dear Secret Admirer,
I don't believe in fate, or destiny. So I don't think it will lead you to my arms any time soon. And all the falling stars in the world will not grant your wishes to be with me, unless you chose to come to me and reveal yourself. There's something about your letters I like. Destiny will not lead you to me, but you yourself can.
-Your secretly admired
Naruto stuffed the letter he wrote back in the same envelope that his secret admirer had sent the letter in, and walked outside to place it back in the same spot he had found the letter.
He had barely put the letter in place when he saw Gaara approaching from a distance, his vibrant hair sticking out oddly in the crowd. Naruto ran towards him, not wanting Gaara to find the letter.
Naruto blinked in surprise as Gaara handed him the bouquet of dead roses. He reached out and took the roses, more as instinct then anything else.
"Um…they're very nice…?" Naruto said, sniffing them slightly. They smelled like they came from a compost heap or something. Gaara nodded; he already knew they were nice flowers.
Gaara had thought that he and Naruto should go to the beach. After all, the beach, with all that lovely sand for miles and miles was Gaara's favorite place to be, so why shouldn't Naruto enjoy it as well?
When they arrived at the beach, Gaara instructed Naruto to sit down in the sand and watch for a moment. Naruto watched patiently as Gaara took a step away and turned towards the sand. Suddenly, all the sand came up in front of Naruto and formed in a detailed replica of the bouquet Gaara had given Naruto…only a lot bigger this time. The sand reformed itself, turning into replicas of Naruto and Gaara. Naruto blinked for a moment and scowled at the replica of himself. Gaara made the sand Naruto stick his tongue out at the real Naruto, and then take the hand of sand Gaara.
Naruto quickly turned to Gaara, his face red.
"This isn't going to get pornographic, is it?" Gaara opened his mouth like he was about to respond, but then quickly turned, as if something else had caught his attention. The sand quickly shot off in the direction where Gaara had been looking and then came back, this time shaped like a rope, and dragging Kakashi, Iruka and Gai with it.
Iruka blushed and looked embarrassed, Kakashi winked at Naruto, and Gai attempted to pose within the sand. The sand proceeded to drop the three of them on the ground. Kakashi spun mid air and landed gracefully on his feet, Gai landed on his hands, then flipped over, and Iruka crashed down helplessly, landing square on his butt. After all, he's not a jounin like the other two.
"You were watching us." Gaara said to the three older ninjas. Iruka blushed and looked up at Kakashi for help.
"Yeah, we were. Now, is the sand show going to get pornographic or not? I want to watch." Kakashi winked at Gaara, though you can't really tell when he has one eye covered. Iruka stood up and smacked Kakashi on the arm.
"Ahem! Perhaps I can explain…" Gai straightened up and looked over at Gaara, who was looking quite bored. "We are the judges of this contest, and we have to be watching to know who is the most romantic. If we don't see the dates, how will we ever know?"
Gaara appeared to be thinking this over for a moment, but decided that made sense.
"Very well then. I suppose that makes sense." The three ninjas nodded and disappeared in a poof of smoke, returning to their hiding spots. Iruka jogged after, him still being a chuunin and all.
Gaara grinned as he changed the shape of the shape once again. "And this is what all my opponents for you look like…if they had their heads severed off that is…" Gaara grinned amused and Naruto laughed.
"That's so cool! Hey let me guess who's who…" Naruto ran up and began carefully inspecting the sand sculptures.
"This one's in a chuunin vest, so it must be Shikamaru…and that one there is Sakura. That one there with the puppy must be Kiba. But Akamaru still has his head…"
"Of course," Gaara replied, staring at Naruto like he was crazy, "What kind of sick person do you think I am…?" Naruto chose not to answer and continued to look at the sand sculptures.
"But where's Sasuke?" he wondered out loud.
"Sasuke…?" Gaara looked over at him, his head tilted slightly to the left, "Sasuke's not in the competition."
That's right…Sasuke's not competing for me. So why did my mind suddenly think of him? Must be because of the mission tomorrow. Sheesh, what was Kakashi thinking signing me up for a mission? With Sasuke the big-shot chuunin no less. I wonder who else is being called away for this mission.
"Naruto." Gaara's voice jolted him from his thoughts and he jerked back to reality. "The time I have today is all used up." Gaara smiled, his strange little smile and took Naruto's hand between his own, clasping it tightly before drawing the hand up to his lips and planting a kiss.
"Good-bye fair Naruto, I won't be far…" And with that, Gaara was gone.
When Naruto returned home, he found the note gone, but no reply.
Life is complicated sometimes…This is so weird.
Author's Commentary: Way. Too. Long. Lol. I've already begun secret planning for my next Naruto fic, "Grave of Roses", which looks like its going to be a lot darker than "The Courting of Uzumaki Naruto". Kinda sad. I usually write happy stuff. But since I'm bored and its late, here's a little sneak preview of "Grave of Roses". Told in Sasuke's point of view here.
The first thing I remember about Uzumaki Naruto, is that he was always alone.
"Come on guys, let's play 'ninja'!" The blond girl bounced on her toes slightly, her wide blue eyes staring at the group as her ponytail swung slightly behind her. This was Ino, the self-proclaimed leader of the group.
"Why bother? We're going to be ninjas anyway, why play ninja? Besides, all that running around is tiresome…" The black haired boy leaned over backwards, stretching and cracking his back, while a big yawn split down his face.
"Aw, man, you're no fun Shikamaru…" Ino whined as she kicked the dirt below her tiny feet, sending up tiny clouds of dust.
Naruto was off by himself, the other kids had long told him to get lost, and he had, yelling that he didn't want to play with 'the stupid kids playing their stupid games.' He smirked as his clumsy fingers tied together the last of the water balloons. Water droplets clung to his skinny arms, and despite the fact he'd rolled them up, the sleeves of his orange jacket had managed to get wet. But it would all be worth it soon…
Naruto laughed manically as the first water balloon exploded in front of Ino, soaking her and Sakura both. The next few balloons landed right on mark too.
"I'm telling on you Naruto!" Ino shrieked back shrilly, her little girl voice high pitched.
"Telling who?" He taunted back, "My mommy?" He stuck out his tongue at the other kids, and flipped them off, much to the shock of the girls, then ran off, heaving one last balloon over his shoulders as he did so…
I never got involved with Naruto then, I barely knew he existed. I had only witnessed the moment as I had been training near by. I have never been a child; I have always been and will always be an ageless avenger, lost to the sea of time. All my encounters with Naruto have been accidental, and it makes me wonder if some strange force has tried to keep up apart all these years. But if it has, then why does he always return, no matter what I do?
Author's Commentary: This is just a rough draft for the fic, it'll get fixed up quite a bit before I release. As for a plot summery of the fic? Well…that's a secret. ^^ Sorry about the late chapter, I'll try harder next time.