Song of a Marionette

Written By: Yaoi no Hime

Beta'd By: Yaoi no Megami (since my beta is currently banned from her computer until further notice, please e-mail me if you'd be so wonderful as to help poor little me out)

Notes: XD Wee! I am SO back with the next installment to SoaM! Isn't this just great? I give many thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter. I'm aiming for 4000 words! Gimme a cheer! Like last time, the chapter drawing is on deviantART. Anyway, the NinPou Inc. website is going to be designed by my cool friend Kalli. I bow to her superiority.

Revision March 2005: Again, switched up a few words here and there. Cleaned up the lemon a little. Added dates, as they are important. Changed Naruto's age to 14; 13 was a typo apparently.

You'll rescue me right?

In the exact same way they never did

I'll be happy right?

When your healing powers kick in

You'll complete me right?

Then my life can finally begin

I'll be worthy right?

Only when you realize the gem I am?

Alanis Morissette

Chapter 2: Precious Illusions

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH

"You're LATE!"

Sakura and Naruto sat on the rail of their usual meeting spot at the bridge.

Sasuke was confused, something that didn't normally appear in his list of emotions. Just last night, Naruto had been sitting in the dirt crying because of his rejection and now he was back to swooning over Sakura and being irritated by their teacher. Then again…the blonde hadn't said a word at all to him that morning so he was probably still upset.

Then it dawned on the youngest Uchiha.

Maybe Naruto wasn't as joyous as he always made it seem…

"Gomen, gomen. I had to help Tsunade-sama handle some issues…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow in doubt and Sakura just brushed it off. For once, he'd found a good enough excuse.

Sasuke snorted. Maybe there was a first for everything.

As Sasuke stood, thinking to himself, Naruto couldn't help but steal a glance at him. It was clear they were both acting as if nothing had happened the previous night. He sighed. Well, he could handle that. He wasn't really looking forward to a talk with Sasuke about anything, though he doubted the Uchiha would want to talk to him anyway. Naruto shifted a little on the rail and winced; he ass was still quite sore from his and Gaara's…activities. With that in mind Naruto blushed, praying nobody saw it

Naruto sighed and stared into space, tuning out Kakashi's debriefing of their mission. Thinking back on Kakashi's excuse he wondered if those issues had anything to do with a certain Gaara of the Sand. Naruto shook his head. Perhaps he was being a bit too paranoid. Tsunade couldn't have known that Gaara was in Konoha…right? Pretending to be responding to something Kakashi had said, he frowned.

'September 26th…Uzumaki Naruto has lost his virginity…at the age of 14. Joy.'

Thinking on it, he had to admit that 14 was a pretty young age to be sexually active. 'Damn raging hormones…'

At least he didn't have to worry about getting pregnant. That particular thought lifted his spirits and smiled slightly.

"NA-RU-TO!"

The said boy nearly fell off the bridge as Sakura's loud voice snapped him out of his reverie. Naruto straightened himself and looked towards Sakura. "Ah…gomen, gomen, Sakura-chan!" He gave a nervous laugh and mentally slapped his forehead for not paying attention. 'Good going Naruto…'

Sakura huffed. "Were you even listening to a word I just said?"

Stuffing all his thoughts to the back of his mind Naruto gave another nervous laugh and shifted his eyes towards the sky. "Eh…not…really?"

The pink-haired kunoichi shook her head and sighed. "Why do I even bother…? What I SAID was we should stay together as a group for this particular mission. It'll be hard to trap the pathetic purse-snatcher on the loose if we split up since the markets are busy today"

'Loud and obnoxious…loud and obnoxious…loud and obnoxious…' Naruto repeated his personal mantra in his head as he gave Sakura his response. "Eeehhh…demo, Sakura-chan! I was hoping for just the two of us…" He sent a glare in Sasuke's direction. "Sasuke-teme would do just fine by himself. He is any other time!" He grimaced at the double-meaning present in that sentence.

"Feh…dobe, do you think I want to work with you anyway?" Sasuke returned the glare with even more malice than Naruto's own.

Naruto felt his face go red, preparing to show his 'teammate' exactly what he thought of him, but a large hand rested on his shoulder and he found himself face to face with their instructor. The look in Kakashi's single visible eye was not one to be ignored. Naruto sighed and backed off, his glare towards Sasuke not letting up for one moment. In actuality he'd planned on completely ignoring Sasuke for as a long as possible but when he though about it…it'd probably be unwise. Everyone would know for a fact that something was up with him and he didn't fancy the idea of his sex life being made public. He had enough public problems already.

Frowning Sakura stared at Naruto…or, rather yet, glowered at him. It was the same every time they met on the bridge before a mission. She'd thought that over a year of them being a team would bring them together but it only seemed to pull them further apart. She gave a smile to herself though…at least she had her Sasuke-kun to herself. 'Now if only I could get Naruto to stop bugging me all the time…'

Kakashi shook his head, thoughts somewhere along the same lines as Sakura's, and released his grip on Naruto's shoulder. Perhaps this mission would put a dent in their efforts towards teamwork. "You can start your mission now and report back here at sunset if you've caught the bandit. I have no doubts that you'll be here on time." With that, the jounin disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving no time for reactions, questions, or discussion.

Taking a look at her irritated teammates Sakura decided to be the one to initiate things. "Um…we should get going now. Where do you think we should start Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto almost rolled his eyes at Sakura's blind 'love' for their Uchiha associate. Not to mention he didn't remember there being any vote on Sasuke being the leader of the mission, as if they needed one at all, but it was always like that. He'd be the loud one doing rash things and handing out useless suggestions while Sasuke was the calm and collected one, insensitive of others' feelings and taking the lead in the majority of their missions. In the beginning it bothered him but after a few months with Team 7 he knew that, with Sakura on the team, it'd never change.

Sasuke's only answer to Sakura's query was to turn around and start walking down the path leading to the central area of the markets.

Naruto felt his eye twitch.

'Antisocial bastard.'

They passed through the central market with no problems, nor any sign of the thief they were pursuing. It was close to sunset and they were pretty much running out of time (though they couldn't comprehend why they were being timed in the first place). Feeling rather irritated with the whole situation, Naruto had long since given up on acting normal and bickering with Sasuke and Sakura. He just wasn't up to it.

Walking a little slower, Sakura observed her quiet friends and was more than puzzled. Usually they would argue at every chance they got but today…they pretty much ignored each other, walking as far apart as possible. Just what happened between the two of them that she didn't know of? She shook her head and took another look at their surroundings. There was no way they were going to find the thief by sundown.

It was apparent that Naruto shared Sakura's feelings as he threw his hands up in exasperation and stopped his slow pace. "This is impossible! As far as we know, the thief could be in Water Country by now. Sheesh…"

As much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke knew that Naruto was most likely right. After all, they'd been searching for hours to no avail and sundown would be there in another hour or so.

Naruto pouted. "Man…there goes ramen at Ichiraku tonight. Ojisan said tonight's special was going to be the best yet."

"Naruto! Don't you ever thing of anything other than food? Finding the thief is much more important at the moment!" Sakura reprimanded.

Naruto winced and chose not to answer the question. It was pretty hard not to be constantly thinking about food when you had to work so hard to feed yourself. But he supposed Sakura didn't know that, having loving parents and all. Even Sasuke wouldn't have any problems being Konoha's number one poster boy. Naruto turned away and continued silently walking on. 'She didn't have to rub it in like that…'

Sakura looked somewhat surprised when Naruto didn't say anything back, not even a whisper. 'Is it just me or is today just totally…off. No arguments were made, no fists or insults thrown, and Naruto didn't have anything to say for once. Just what is going on?'

Sasuke had pretty much the same thing going through his head, but he knew just what was wrong. For reasons only he and Naruto knew, the blonde Genin was avoiding him. Not speaking unless it was necessary and not even stealing a glance his way. Indeed things were pretty off. He knew it would change back to normal eventually anyway. Naruto couldn't just sulk forever just because someone turned him down. With a shake of his head (they all seemed to be doing that a lot lately) Sasuke stopped his direction and started back towards the bridge. "We might as well go back now. No use trying to find him when we'll barely be able to see in the dark."

"Dark…?" Looking up at the sky Naruto was surprised to see that it was indeed getting dark and sundown had been a while ago. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice time go by so quickly. All in all, he couldn't wait to get home after such a stressful day. His thoughts had circled around Gaara and Sasuke for a majority of the day and a good night's sleep sounded good to him.

"Naruto! C'mon."

He looked up at Sakura who was a good few yards ahead of him and smiled.

At least not every aspect of his life was miserable.

Naruto groaned and collapsed on his bed.

Even if they hadn't done any specific training, he was more mentally exhausted than physically. All the excessive thinking he'd done was making his head hurt more and his feet get heavier with every step. He sat up on the edge of his bed and quickly discarded his jacket and pants, deciding to take a shower when he got up in the morning. The blonde thanked the gods that Kakashi-sensei had given them the next day off even though they never found the thief.

With a hefty sigh, Naruto threw himself onto the bed and drifted to sleep.

After what seemed like minutes, but was actually a good two hours later, Naruto stirred in his sleep. He moaned and curled up, moving his hand to swat at what felt like a bug crawling over his neck. He'd always hated the little buggers that came in through the bothersome crack in his window. When he shifted some more, the touch at his neck only got more frequent and he finally attempted to sit up.

Only to find that something – or rather someone – was holding him down.

At this, Naruto's eyes snapped open in shock, staring into hungry turquoise eyes. To say that he felt relieved to see who it was currently straddling him to his bed would've been a lie, because he wasn't really, but it was better Gaara than some homicidal pervert...

…Two words that seemed to fit Gaara quite accurately.

"Gaara…back for more?" The blonde genin winced at how wanton that statement sounded. He really hadn't meant for it to sound like he actually wanted more.

Gaara could only smirk down at his 'most prized possession' as he spoke that line. It was amusing that this same person, seemingly ashamed of their 'relationship', was just writhing and screaming in pleasure just the night before. Maybe he had time to actually let it sink in just what he was doing with whom.

Ignoring any of Naruto's half-hearted protests, Gaara dipped his head down lay rough, but passionate, kisses along his collarbone. "I'm assuming you're still sore from last night?"

The said boy winced as the question only made the ache in his backside more noticeable. Sore was really an understatement…it was more like in agony. Being a virgin then handled in such a rough way could really cause harm, no matter how good it felt while they were going at it. In response to his lover's question, he gave a slight nod.

"Good."

Possessive, greedy hands trailed along his body, exploring every nook and cranny and, in what seemed like a blink of the eye whilst being under the soothing touches, Naruto was naked beneath the Sand nin. He vaguely noted his clothes tossed carelessly about the floors of his bedroom as Gaara attacked his bare flesh with the warmth of his lips. The rough, but comforting, touches had him writhing underneath his still-clothed partner. When his hands reached up, trying to get the clothes off Gaara, they were quickly knocked away and Gaara's eyes met his in silent warning.

Don't touch unless I say.

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes and his hands returned to the bedside, clutching at the sheets as Gaara's skillful tongue struck a sensitive bunch of nerves. So caught up in his bliss, he was unaware of Gaara's hand roaming until there was a sharp pain in his entrance. He hissed, being brought out of his pleasurable haze by a finger exploring his hole.

Gaara, deciding Naruto biting off his own tongue wouldn't be any good, brought their lips together in a hot frenzy. He knew it was probably still too soon for them to be going through this again, but his thoughts had been so focused on Naruto the entire day and he had a lot of sexual frustration to release. Now that he had gotten what he wanted for so long, going to Kankuro was out of the question. Even he had enough decency to not go fooling around with just anyone while he was involved with another, even if it was only for sexual reasons.

Clothes were hastily added to the ones already littered on the floor. Gaara had finally decided they were in the way. Another hiss of pain was heard above their harsh breathing as the said Sand nin added another two fingers in the tight entrance reaching for the spot he knew would soothe at least some of Naruto's pain. As he felt a shudder beneath him and a quiet moan whispering for more, he knew he'd found what he was searching for.

"Gaara…"

The sound of his name being whispered in such a manner by his Naruto was enough to make him shiver. Unable to stand it any longer, Gaara removed his fingers from the tight warmth and spit on his hand, rubbing it along his length.

Probably not enough lubrication, but he really didn't care.

Naruto stared at the length before him, dreading (and knowing he would painfully love) what was to come. Before he could think another thought, the walls of his entrance were being thoroughly stretched as Gaara eased his way in. It was quite painful, yes, but nothing compared to what he experienced the previous night as a virgin. His body tensed, trying to adjust to the feeling of his lover filling him to the hilt. The blonde cried out as the moment he relaxed Gaara's sex pulled out and pushed forward again in two painfully slow movements.

Gaara licked his lips, enjoying every moment of dominating his 'prize', and leaned forward to gently brush the sweat-matted blonde hair away from Naruto's eyes. His eyes danced dangerously as he stared into the cat-like blue eyes flecked with red. Apparently, Naruto was infused with his demon's chakra in the heat of passion…just making him all the more desirable. Gaara almost chuckled as Naruto, moaning with impatience, rocked his hips in a silent (minus his pleading whimpers) message telling him to continue. Giving in to Naruto's commands, Gaara groaned and moved his hips in tune with Naruto's own bucking and in their midst of passion and pain, Gaara leaned his head forward and whispered words in his lover's ear.

Though he was sure most of them weren't registering in Naruto's head at all.

Finally, nearing their last moment of bliss, the redhead nibbled at an earlobe and smirked. "Come for me, Naruto…" The whispered words and warm breath drove Naruto over the edge and he pulled his lover's head down for a forceful, passionate kiss as he came in as much sweet rapture as the night before.

The sound of his name being screamed out loud as Naruto's head lolled back was enough to make Gaara push once more before earning his release as well.

Naruto sighed and let his arms fall beside him as he felt the warm liquid fill him and slightly spill out as Gaara's length was removed. He had no idea how he was going to be able to train the next day, knowing well enough that he'd be even more sore then than he'd been today. He let his thoughts wander and wasn't really surprised when a sudden rush of cool air hit his skin while he lay in his, now lonely, bed. Not trusting himself to move the lower region of his body, he turned his head to the side and observed Gaara as he slowly dressed himself.

"Leaving so soon?" Naruto asked, propping his head on his hand.

Gaara paused his dressing to get a good look at his thoroughly ravaged lover. "No choice. I doubt Konoha would be very happy to see me here."

Nodding his head, Naruto wondered if that was the reason he'd left the previous night as well. Even he knew that their relationship was nothing of the romantic kind so he doubted the redhead would willingly stay behind and enjoy the afterglow. His thoughts her halted (again) as the said redhead sat on the edge of the bed and set a soft, chaste kiss upon his lips.

"Maybe I'll stay next time. I have a mission anyway so I won't be here again for a while."

With that said Gaara got off the bed and made his way out the apartment, leaving a stunned Naruto to stare after him from the bed. Sighing and shaking his head, Naruto got up to clean the mess they'd made of his bed again. His teammates had a habit of entering his apartment without asking so it would be a good idea to get rid of the 'incriminating' evidence telling of what transpired in the bed.

He grinned, tossing the sheets into the hamper and heading towards the shower.

For some reason…Gaara's last words left him in a much better mood than before.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH

Just as he'd predicted, a bucket of ice-cold water effectively woke him from whatever he'd been dreaming.

That seemed to be their most favored way of waking him.

Yet, that still didn't stop it from being any less surprising. He bolted upright out of the bed and glared down at his soaking figure. Naruto glowered up at the person who had the pleasure waking him on such a 'lovely' morning.

Sasuke.

Joy.

"The fuck was that for, bastard!" He snarled, clearly aware his insult held much more venom than it ever had before.

"NARUTO! Don't use such foul language against Sasuke-kun! It's not his fault you were late this morning!"

Naruto grimaced, not wanting to tell her that technically it was because Sasuke was the one that drove him to Gaara in the first place and Gaara was the one who'd worked him to the point of utter exhaustion. But of course he'd never say that out loud, so…

"But, Sakura-chan! This BASTARD…"

"Now, now Naruto. No need to use language like that around a lady. You know very well what happens whenever you're late for training."

Sakura and Naruto simply stared at their instructor, wondering where he came off giving such a hypocritical statement. Yet, neither decided to say anything about it since it really wouldn't make a difference anyway.

Naruto pouted, about to sit on the floor…before deciding that probably wouldn't be the best of ideas and strolled over to the bed to sit. For once in his life, he really didn't feel like training with his team. The pains in his ass would be nothing but a nuisance and make everything at least 10 times harder than usual.

"But…I don't want to train today…"

The room suddenly got uncomfortably quiet as they all stared at Naruto as if he was an alien.

Sakura's brow creased in slight worry and she frowned before moving forward to stare Naruto in the face. "Are you okay Naruto? I mean, for you to not want to train is like…odd. Has Hell finally frozen over?"

The two behind her could only nod in agreement. Naruto was always the first to actually want to train.

The blond shifted a little on the bed. He hadn't thought such a simple statement would affect them so much. It wasn't like his life revolved around training with them…right? His brow creased as well and he grinned. "I'm not really feeling well today guys. Ne, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Would it be okay if I just went back to sleep for a while? I really didn't get much comfortable sleep last night…"

Kakashi smiled and put his hands on Sakura and Sasuke's shoulders, leading them towards the door. "Sure thing. I'll send Iruka over later with something to help you out…and you might want to change out of those clothes before you get worse."

Naruto couldn't help but smile back at his instructor. "Okay…thanks Kakashi-sensei."

The jounin only nodded and led his other two students out the door, shutting it firmly behind him.

Naruto sneezed.

"Great…now I've got a cold to add to ass pains. Geez…"

End of Chapter 2: Precious Illusions

Hm…not exactly 4000 words but close enough. I'm not particularly proud of this chapter…it's actually crap to me, but I'm glad to be improving on my lemon scenes. I tried to keep it on an R rating but it's probably bordering on NC-17. Hopefully doesn't decide that it's too much for an R rating and delete this or my author's account. They seem to be doing that a lot lately to other authors. Well…see you in chapter 3! It should be out pretty soon considering I was working on both of these at the same time. Since I know what's going to happen in chapter 3, I wrote in there whenever I was inspired to do so.

Revision March 2005: Again, switched up a few words here and there. Cleaned up the lemon a little. Added dates, as they are important.