Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me, just this fic. It is enough.
Naruto/Sasuke okay, okay, and if you must know.Gaara too! I have decided
that I like the bastard just too damn much.
Yaoi
Rated: R
By: Sunstrike
Chapter Nine Absorbing The Demon
"Will you tell me about Sasuke-kun?"
The sounds of people making their way home after work filtered in from the street in front on the alley, sometimes getting louder as the door opened and a customer entered.
Gaara wasn't interested in that, because it had nothing to do with him and his kind. That was the ordinary, the sane, something that he had long ago abandoned to those 'normal' people who lived out their everyday lives in a peaceful grey blur. These people would be stunned at the kind of thoughts, not to mentions the situations, that Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, and the rest had to go through on a daily basis. The sheer colour alone would drive them mad.
Some tried to contain those thoughts and situations within their own minds, others, such as Gaara, preferred to find an outlet for it, whether it be death or simple mischief, it was all the same really. What made mind games so much more amusing, though, was the fact that it didn't take a whole lot of brain power to kill someone, it didn't satisfy for a long time afterwards; unless of course the opponent was particularly skilled or was killed in an exceptionally interesting manner.
Ah, but the art of manipulating, of painting others thoughts to the bright mad colours that you wanted them to be, that and only that satisfied the hunger for bloodlust within him; his siblings had already yelled him at for his test run on them. He had known at the beginning that it wouldn't really work well on them, they knew him too well; besides, sex didn't even come near the equation when dealing with them.
Naruto, however, was the unexpected bonus to what was already beginning to be an exciting time for the red haired boy. Not only was there the potential to battle it out with an enormous foe, there was also the possibility to mess with someone who was known to react differently to what was expected, and who didn't know him well enough to be able to counter attack.
Open, innocent, honest, and above all easily victimized, Naruto blinked and Gaara could see a somewhat hurt expression cross the boy's face before going back to its usual cheerfulness. The blond let out a laugh that was, to his benefit, only a little strained. He had also managed to somehow evade Gaara's hand. Which was a shame, he had been really amused at the horrified lust that had blossomed for a brief second within those blue eyes.
"Oh well, I can't tell you anything you probably don't already know about him. Quiet, deadly, head of 'I have the biggest ego in the world, look at me even though I'm pretending I hate it' anonymous. Nothings really changed there."
Naruto looked slightly wilted at the last point. Gaara smiled in a slightly sympathetic way towards his friend, who perked up and began to rattle on about nothing in particular.
So the boy across from him still craved after the attention that was given to his partner as well as wanting what everyone else seemed to, that pale sexy body in his bed. The problem was that Naruto was unsure and insecure about sexual advances, giving and taking them of course, and wouldn't know how to go about getting close to someone as cold and withdrawn as Sasuke.
As it was, Naruto only had a warm glow that made him desirable to others, but only as a plaything. If left to himself, Gaara knew that a stronger person, who wouldn't care a damn thing about Naruto's feelings, would easily overrun the blond boy, destroying everything. That was a good way to create a monster, and Gaara was an expert in that respect, although he never could have been what you would call innocent. Sometimes, though, he wished he could have been given the chance to be.
The red head narrowed his eyes and leaned back against the comfortable seat in a self-satisfied way, he nearly could have purred at the almost hungry glance he caught through the screen of his eyelashes. Innocence had to be the most desirable thing on this planet; it seemed almost a shame to want to erase it within such loveable people like Sasuke and Naruto.
He could see how a person such as Sasuke, who handled his innocence differently, (oh and Gaara had no illusions about that boy being innocent) wouldn't be able to handle it within someone like Naruto. If Sasu-kun had known how, little Naruto wouldn't be sitting here blushing over a slight petting. But eventually, with enough of the right, handling, who knew? Naruto may have the ability to make Sasuke blush. Inwardly, Gaara chuckled. He'd pay good money for the day he could see that show.
Suddenly he caught something out of the corner of his eye that made him sit bolt upright. He looked across at bright amused eyes that winked as soon as they met his and shifted to, what had been until a few seconds ago, an empty space in a dark corner. It, of course, still looked as it did before, but it was now undoubtedly full of nothing as opposed to just being empty. Whoever was there was pretty good, even Gaara had to admit, although it was amateurish in design because excitement seemed to radiate from it.
Gently squeezing out of the narrow booth, Naruto stretched and grinned at Gaara, softly putting a finger to his lips to keep the red headed boy from making any unnecessary noise, which was pointless, but an automatic sign from a prankster who was about to get one up on somebody.
"Well, Gaara, I guess that's the end of our little chat for today!"
Naruto spoke a little above normal volume, which was the only clue that he knew something was up. Any experienced person would have recognized this and left hurriedly knowing that they had been caught. The presence still remained though and Gaara grinned.
"Yes, I can see that the day wanes and I really need to get some rest."
Another clue that an experienced spy would have picked up on. Gaara didn't sleep. Again there was nothing but excitement radiating from the corner and the red headed boy thought he saw something like cloth ripple.
He joined Naruto in standing up. Then, both seemed to reach a mutual agreement and launched themselves at the corner, which yelled and struggled in a mass of grey fabric. Jiai launched himself from the stool in which he had been perched watching the show and attacked the legs and moving bits from the cloth.
Finally when the mass had been aptly tickled and bit into submission Naruto was able to see a sprout of brown hair above an almost ridiculous looking cap. Big brown eyes stared into Naruto's own blue ones and the older boy sighed.
"I have come to expect such greatness from one who would some day rise to become my greatest riva-"
"I should have known it was you, Konohamaru. I'm just surprised and a little upset that you didn't try as soon as I returned back from vacation." The young boy actually looked a little abashed and Gaara chuckled.
"I apologise for this slight, Naruto nii-san. It's just that Iruka- sensei said that you needed rest after your accide-"
Naruto quickly clamped his hand over the young boy's mouth, but not before Gaara got the gist. He raised an eyebrow but turned away when Naruto looked up to see if he had heard. Accident huh. Wonder what that was all about. Considering Naruto's emotions at the moment, and his fear of talking about Sasuke, made the red head think very unpleasant thoughts indeed. He'd hate to think that Sasuke had done anything seriously harmful to Naruto, because then he would have to kill that beautiful piece of art, and he really didn't want to do anything like that.
"Why are you here now?" His musings left him as he was brought back by Naruto's voice. Konohamaru was grinning from ear to ear.
"I heard from one of the others that you were seen going off with the demon boy,"
He glared at a surprised Gaara, who actually tried to look a bit innocent. Truly a lost cause as the boy's eyes narrowed even more before turning back to Naruto.
"And I thought you were on a break! So-"
"You wanted to spy on me!"
Naruto flicked the kids ear and the younger one bounced up and down yelling that it wasn't true and rubbing his ear at the same time.
"Honest nii-san, we want you to come play in the leaves with us! The leaves! ITAI!!!"
Naruto had resorted to grabbing the kid by the ear and dragging him out of the shop.
"See you later Gaara! Maybe we'll get together over the weekend and continue our talk, if your still going to be here that is?"
Gaara nodded and watched in bemusement as the two walked loudly outside and off to wherever some poor souls day work was being demolished.
It was obvious to him that if he was going to do anything about their current situation he was going to have to get Naruto out of this town. That wasn't going to be easy, and, he chuckled, he may have to resort to force. He paused that thought though.
He needed more information about what was making Naruto so weary. He could see it affecting every single movement in the boy since they first met at the hokage's building. It was also bothering him that Naruto was apparently having "accidents." Which would mean a definite end to any game he was preparing.
He decided to investigate this matter further, hunting down Sasuke and making him tell Gaara what was going on. Which would be fun, or at least, interesting.
He bowed to the matron who was laughing about the young people who had come to visit and opened the door for Jiai who pranced out with his tail in the air. As the boy followed the cat into the growing dusk he thought about the foundations that he had laid and wondered if it would really grow into the situation he really wanted.
That was the downside to mind games; you had to be patient, endlessly so, in order to win. But Gaara had tamed single grains of sand to obey his every command.
He could wait.
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Sasuke was pissed off. No, that was too small for the sheer amount of blind rage he felt. He had no idea that Naruto would be in so much trouble, and that something so large would be making a direct b-line for him and this village. Not only that, he hadn't known that Gaara would try to hunt that idiot down just as soon as his business with the hokage was finished. If Sasuke had known that he wouldn't have let so much of a red hair leave the compound without his knowledge.
He wasn't blind. He could see how much Gaara had grown over the years, how he seemed to have an aura of sexuality barely contained, he couldn't say that he hadn't been affected by it himself. But that was different. He knew how to handle it, but Naruto, innocent that he was, would be washed out to sea in it. Sasuke was not going to put up with that.
What seriously rankled, though, was that he cared so much. He cared about what that green-eyed bastard was filling Naruto's, in his opinion, fairly empty head with. He cared whether or not Naruto would still look at him the same way, whether Naruto was his or not. Oh yes, Naruto was going to be his, not some evil sand demon jerks, deciding to crawl into his territory. Sasuke had spent too much damn time thinking about that blond boy, too much of his valuable precious time in obsessing over every little detail, to give it up just like that. Just as soon as he figured out how, Naruto was definitely going to be his, something.
Sasuke truthfully hadn't really figured out what Naruto was actually going to be to him, but damned if he was going to let Gaara take that away, whatever it was.
Imagine his surprise to see the object of his fury coming straight towards him with a slight grin on his face. And alone. The sigh that the taller boy released was almost audible. Maybe today was his lucky day after all. He was thinking this right up until the point that Gaara was face to face with him. There was something indescribable within the sand nin's face as he gazed slightly up into hard black eyes.
"Naruto said some very interesting things about you, Sasuke-kun."
A growl of pure rage found its way up from Sasuke's stomach as he, without thinking, lunged for the boy. Gaara, who wasn't seeing red in his eyes, neatly dodged the lunge and grinned at the rage filled boy from an up high vantage point. Sasuke punched the wall leaving a bloody dent as his skin broke, and then stared coldly up at Gaara.
"If you've done anything to him you sonova-"
Now it was the red heads turn to look surprised. He carefully jumped down and looked Sasuke eye to eye.
"Why would I do anything to Naruto-kun? He's my friend."
There was a slight emphasis on friend that didn't really appeal to Sasuke whatsoever. He really wanted to thrash this person in front of him into a bloody pulp, which meant he wasn't thinking again. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes to meet Gaara's. And then suddenly took a step back, and another as the red headed boy advanced on him. It wasn't fear his mind supplied hurriedly, for his ego's sake, but surprise that drove him against a cold wall.
"And what have you been to him lately, Sasuke?"
Sasuke could tell that his answer would be really important right now. Maybe it was the strong emotion in the others eyes or the sting of wet blood against his fingers. Or maybe it was the fact that a large accumulation of sand had started to cover his wrists and feet that could have clued him in. Not particularly subtle of Gaara, but effective enough to make Sasuke's mind work again.
Why had the boy asked him that? Had Naruto told him about their fights? He winced. That was probably the case, and if so he didn't really blame Gaara for being pissed off. He looked away and then gasped when he felt his head wrenched back by a hand. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as once again a green pair bore into his. There was no excuse for this though.
"Well Sasuke? Times ticking and you still haven't answered my question."
Sasuke shook his head sharply to dislodge the hand; Gaara didn't back off at this however. If anything he got closer. The bound boy could feel the heat of his breath burning against his neck as he stared down. He knew Gaara wouldn't understand how much it hurt to tell him the truth, but to avoid being maimed Sasuke thought it wise to just answer as best he could. He also told Gaara because with the other boy so close he was finding it harder and harder to think. He laughed to himself sarcastically, what had that been about being able to handle the sexuality while Naruto could not?
"I haven't been anything to that blond idiot. He's been avoiding all of us lately."
This seemed to surprise Gaara more then expected.
"Everyone?"
Sasuke blinked, as the restraints were suddenly gone although he still could barely breathe. This was because Gaara had both arms against the wall and was leaning with his head down without moving an inch out of Sasuke's personal space. All at once the young man pushed himself away and grinned at Sasuke.
"Who is Naruto's ward Sasuke? Who would know him best?"
"Iruka."
Sasuke said without thinking. Then he cursed himself as Gaara laughed and disappeared, leaving him stranded in the middle of a dark street with nothing but a slight prayer that Iruka-sensei would be ok.
Chapter Nine Absorbing The Demon
"Will you tell me about Sasuke-kun?"
The sounds of people making their way home after work filtered in from the street in front on the alley, sometimes getting louder as the door opened and a customer entered.
Gaara wasn't interested in that, because it had nothing to do with him and his kind. That was the ordinary, the sane, something that he had long ago abandoned to those 'normal' people who lived out their everyday lives in a peaceful grey blur. These people would be stunned at the kind of thoughts, not to mentions the situations, that Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, and the rest had to go through on a daily basis. The sheer colour alone would drive them mad.
Some tried to contain those thoughts and situations within their own minds, others, such as Gaara, preferred to find an outlet for it, whether it be death or simple mischief, it was all the same really. What made mind games so much more amusing, though, was the fact that it didn't take a whole lot of brain power to kill someone, it didn't satisfy for a long time afterwards; unless of course the opponent was particularly skilled or was killed in an exceptionally interesting manner.
Ah, but the art of manipulating, of painting others thoughts to the bright mad colours that you wanted them to be, that and only that satisfied the hunger for bloodlust within him; his siblings had already yelled him at for his test run on them. He had known at the beginning that it wouldn't really work well on them, they knew him too well; besides, sex didn't even come near the equation when dealing with them.
Naruto, however, was the unexpected bonus to what was already beginning to be an exciting time for the red haired boy. Not only was there the potential to battle it out with an enormous foe, there was also the possibility to mess with someone who was known to react differently to what was expected, and who didn't know him well enough to be able to counter attack.
Open, innocent, honest, and above all easily victimized, Naruto blinked and Gaara could see a somewhat hurt expression cross the boy's face before going back to its usual cheerfulness. The blond let out a laugh that was, to his benefit, only a little strained. He had also managed to somehow evade Gaara's hand. Which was a shame, he had been really amused at the horrified lust that had blossomed for a brief second within those blue eyes.
"Oh well, I can't tell you anything you probably don't already know about him. Quiet, deadly, head of 'I have the biggest ego in the world, look at me even though I'm pretending I hate it' anonymous. Nothings really changed there."
Naruto looked slightly wilted at the last point. Gaara smiled in a slightly sympathetic way towards his friend, who perked up and began to rattle on about nothing in particular.
So the boy across from him still craved after the attention that was given to his partner as well as wanting what everyone else seemed to, that pale sexy body in his bed. The problem was that Naruto was unsure and insecure about sexual advances, giving and taking them of course, and wouldn't know how to go about getting close to someone as cold and withdrawn as Sasuke.
As it was, Naruto only had a warm glow that made him desirable to others, but only as a plaything. If left to himself, Gaara knew that a stronger person, who wouldn't care a damn thing about Naruto's feelings, would easily overrun the blond boy, destroying everything. That was a good way to create a monster, and Gaara was an expert in that respect, although he never could have been what you would call innocent. Sometimes, though, he wished he could have been given the chance to be.
The red head narrowed his eyes and leaned back against the comfortable seat in a self-satisfied way, he nearly could have purred at the almost hungry glance he caught through the screen of his eyelashes. Innocence had to be the most desirable thing on this planet; it seemed almost a shame to want to erase it within such loveable people like Sasuke and Naruto.
He could see how a person such as Sasuke, who handled his innocence differently, (oh and Gaara had no illusions about that boy being innocent) wouldn't be able to handle it within someone like Naruto. If Sasu-kun had known how, little Naruto wouldn't be sitting here blushing over a slight petting. But eventually, with enough of the right, handling, who knew? Naruto may have the ability to make Sasuke blush. Inwardly, Gaara chuckled. He'd pay good money for the day he could see that show.
Suddenly he caught something out of the corner of his eye that made him sit bolt upright. He looked across at bright amused eyes that winked as soon as they met his and shifted to, what had been until a few seconds ago, an empty space in a dark corner. It, of course, still looked as it did before, but it was now undoubtedly full of nothing as opposed to just being empty. Whoever was there was pretty good, even Gaara had to admit, although it was amateurish in design because excitement seemed to radiate from it.
Gently squeezing out of the narrow booth, Naruto stretched and grinned at Gaara, softly putting a finger to his lips to keep the red headed boy from making any unnecessary noise, which was pointless, but an automatic sign from a prankster who was about to get one up on somebody.
"Well, Gaara, I guess that's the end of our little chat for today!"
Naruto spoke a little above normal volume, which was the only clue that he knew something was up. Any experienced person would have recognized this and left hurriedly knowing that they had been caught. The presence still remained though and Gaara grinned.
"Yes, I can see that the day wanes and I really need to get some rest."
Another clue that an experienced spy would have picked up on. Gaara didn't sleep. Again there was nothing but excitement radiating from the corner and the red headed boy thought he saw something like cloth ripple.
He joined Naruto in standing up. Then, both seemed to reach a mutual agreement and launched themselves at the corner, which yelled and struggled in a mass of grey fabric. Jiai launched himself from the stool in which he had been perched watching the show and attacked the legs and moving bits from the cloth.
Finally when the mass had been aptly tickled and bit into submission Naruto was able to see a sprout of brown hair above an almost ridiculous looking cap. Big brown eyes stared into Naruto's own blue ones and the older boy sighed.
"I have come to expect such greatness from one who would some day rise to become my greatest riva-"
"I should have known it was you, Konohamaru. I'm just surprised and a little upset that you didn't try as soon as I returned back from vacation." The young boy actually looked a little abashed and Gaara chuckled.
"I apologise for this slight, Naruto nii-san. It's just that Iruka- sensei said that you needed rest after your accide-"
Naruto quickly clamped his hand over the young boy's mouth, but not before Gaara got the gist. He raised an eyebrow but turned away when Naruto looked up to see if he had heard. Accident huh. Wonder what that was all about. Considering Naruto's emotions at the moment, and his fear of talking about Sasuke, made the red head think very unpleasant thoughts indeed. He'd hate to think that Sasuke had done anything seriously harmful to Naruto, because then he would have to kill that beautiful piece of art, and he really didn't want to do anything like that.
"Why are you here now?" His musings left him as he was brought back by Naruto's voice. Konohamaru was grinning from ear to ear.
"I heard from one of the others that you were seen going off with the demon boy,"
He glared at a surprised Gaara, who actually tried to look a bit innocent. Truly a lost cause as the boy's eyes narrowed even more before turning back to Naruto.
"And I thought you were on a break! So-"
"You wanted to spy on me!"
Naruto flicked the kids ear and the younger one bounced up and down yelling that it wasn't true and rubbing his ear at the same time.
"Honest nii-san, we want you to come play in the leaves with us! The leaves! ITAI!!!"
Naruto had resorted to grabbing the kid by the ear and dragging him out of the shop.
"See you later Gaara! Maybe we'll get together over the weekend and continue our talk, if your still going to be here that is?"
Gaara nodded and watched in bemusement as the two walked loudly outside and off to wherever some poor souls day work was being demolished.
It was obvious to him that if he was going to do anything about their current situation he was going to have to get Naruto out of this town. That wasn't going to be easy, and, he chuckled, he may have to resort to force. He paused that thought though.
He needed more information about what was making Naruto so weary. He could see it affecting every single movement in the boy since they first met at the hokage's building. It was also bothering him that Naruto was apparently having "accidents." Which would mean a definite end to any game he was preparing.
He decided to investigate this matter further, hunting down Sasuke and making him tell Gaara what was going on. Which would be fun, or at least, interesting.
He bowed to the matron who was laughing about the young people who had come to visit and opened the door for Jiai who pranced out with his tail in the air. As the boy followed the cat into the growing dusk he thought about the foundations that he had laid and wondered if it would really grow into the situation he really wanted.
That was the downside to mind games; you had to be patient, endlessly so, in order to win. But Gaara had tamed single grains of sand to obey his every command.
He could wait.
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Sasuke was pissed off. No, that was too small for the sheer amount of blind rage he felt. He had no idea that Naruto would be in so much trouble, and that something so large would be making a direct b-line for him and this village. Not only that, he hadn't known that Gaara would try to hunt that idiot down just as soon as his business with the hokage was finished. If Sasuke had known that he wouldn't have let so much of a red hair leave the compound without his knowledge.
He wasn't blind. He could see how much Gaara had grown over the years, how he seemed to have an aura of sexuality barely contained, he couldn't say that he hadn't been affected by it himself. But that was different. He knew how to handle it, but Naruto, innocent that he was, would be washed out to sea in it. Sasuke was not going to put up with that.
What seriously rankled, though, was that he cared so much. He cared about what that green-eyed bastard was filling Naruto's, in his opinion, fairly empty head with. He cared whether or not Naruto would still look at him the same way, whether Naruto was his or not. Oh yes, Naruto was going to be his, not some evil sand demon jerks, deciding to crawl into his territory. Sasuke had spent too much damn time thinking about that blond boy, too much of his valuable precious time in obsessing over every little detail, to give it up just like that. Just as soon as he figured out how, Naruto was definitely going to be his, something.
Sasuke truthfully hadn't really figured out what Naruto was actually going to be to him, but damned if he was going to let Gaara take that away, whatever it was.
Imagine his surprise to see the object of his fury coming straight towards him with a slight grin on his face. And alone. The sigh that the taller boy released was almost audible. Maybe today was his lucky day after all. He was thinking this right up until the point that Gaara was face to face with him. There was something indescribable within the sand nin's face as he gazed slightly up into hard black eyes.
"Naruto said some very interesting things about you, Sasuke-kun."
A growl of pure rage found its way up from Sasuke's stomach as he, without thinking, lunged for the boy. Gaara, who wasn't seeing red in his eyes, neatly dodged the lunge and grinned at the rage filled boy from an up high vantage point. Sasuke punched the wall leaving a bloody dent as his skin broke, and then stared coldly up at Gaara.
"If you've done anything to him you sonova-"
Now it was the red heads turn to look surprised. He carefully jumped down and looked Sasuke eye to eye.
"Why would I do anything to Naruto-kun? He's my friend."
There was a slight emphasis on friend that didn't really appeal to Sasuke whatsoever. He really wanted to thrash this person in front of him into a bloody pulp, which meant he wasn't thinking again. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes to meet Gaara's. And then suddenly took a step back, and another as the red headed boy advanced on him. It wasn't fear his mind supplied hurriedly, for his ego's sake, but surprise that drove him against a cold wall.
"And what have you been to him lately, Sasuke?"
Sasuke could tell that his answer would be really important right now. Maybe it was the strong emotion in the others eyes or the sting of wet blood against his fingers. Or maybe it was the fact that a large accumulation of sand had started to cover his wrists and feet that could have clued him in. Not particularly subtle of Gaara, but effective enough to make Sasuke's mind work again.
Why had the boy asked him that? Had Naruto told him about their fights? He winced. That was probably the case, and if so he didn't really blame Gaara for being pissed off. He looked away and then gasped when he felt his head wrenched back by a hand. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as once again a green pair bore into his. There was no excuse for this though.
"Well Sasuke? Times ticking and you still haven't answered my question."
Sasuke shook his head sharply to dislodge the hand; Gaara didn't back off at this however. If anything he got closer. The bound boy could feel the heat of his breath burning against his neck as he stared down. He knew Gaara wouldn't understand how much it hurt to tell him the truth, but to avoid being maimed Sasuke thought it wise to just answer as best he could. He also told Gaara because with the other boy so close he was finding it harder and harder to think. He laughed to himself sarcastically, what had that been about being able to handle the sexuality while Naruto could not?
"I haven't been anything to that blond idiot. He's been avoiding all of us lately."
This seemed to surprise Gaara more then expected.
"Everyone?"
Sasuke blinked, as the restraints were suddenly gone although he still could barely breathe. This was because Gaara had both arms against the wall and was leaning with his head down without moving an inch out of Sasuke's personal space. All at once the young man pushed himself away and grinned at Sasuke.
"Who is Naruto's ward Sasuke? Who would know him best?"
"Iruka."
Sasuke said without thinking. Then he cursed himself as Gaara laughed and disappeared, leaving him stranded in the middle of a dark street with nothing but a slight prayer that Iruka-sensei would be ok.
