Disclaimer: See Chaper 00.

Spoilers through Chapter 244.

Human Nature

By: TailFear

Beta: Asteroid Blues

Chapter 02: Settling In

Naruto sighed as he stood over the stove, stirring a pot of Ramen noodles. Gaara of the Desert was sitting behind him at his small table, looking warily at the cup of coffee that the blond boy had placed in front of him. Neither had spoken since their first tense exchange, instead preferring silence as Naruto started dinner for the both of them. The blond boy was twitching, constantly moving in an effort to quell the anxiety that had sprung up at the appearance of the other boy. The red-haired boy just watched him, his face a stoic mask that let nothing through.

"Uh, is pork Ramen okay?" Naruto called over his shoulder, looking at the packets of spices that had come with the Ramen noodles.

"Aa," Gaara grunted.

Naruto shrugged and added the spices, stirring them in before taking the pot off of the stove. As soon the noodles and broth had been ladled into two bowls Naruto brought them to the table, sitting across from Gaara and facing three small windows. Gaara poked his noodles with chopsticks as Naruto dug in hungrily.

"What is this?" Gaara asked, looking at the noodles in front of him.

"It's Ramen," Naruto said, frowning at Gaara, "Haven't you ever had Ramen before?"

Gaara shook his head, glaring suspiciously at the noodles in front of him. Naruto shook his head. Gaara not knowing whatRamen was. The blond was starting to see more of how deprived Gaara's childhood had been.

"Ramen is basically salty noodles and spice packets. Ichiraku makes great Ramen from scratch, but normally I just make it from the packets. It comes in different flavors such as miso, beef, pork, or shrimp," Naruto explained, watching understanding come over Gaara's face as the other boy considered the noodles again.

Naruto shrugged as he watched the other boy continued to glare and poke at his food, moving into the kitchen to place his already empty bowl in his small sink. After a long mission he was tired, and with a nod to Gaara, headed into the bedroom to go to sleep. The red-haired boy just blinked at him in reply, still playing with his Ramen.

Once in his room it was all that Naruto could do to lose his shirt and shoes before flopping face first down onto his small bed. A small sigh escaped him as the bed settled around his body, head nestled comfortably on his battered pillow. It took longer than he would have liked for his thoughts to finally settle down so that he could fall asleep. His mind kept trying to figure out the pros and cons of Gaara living with him as a permanent partner, as well as what Tsunade had to be thinking. Actually, he knew what Tsunade had been thinking, he just wasn't sure whether he was supposed to be flattered or offended.

As Naruto fell asleep Gaara finally started eating, even though his broth was nearly cold. Quickly he performed a small jutsu used to test for poisons, and found his food uncontaminated. Without noticing texture or flavor he ate his bowl of noodles, staring idly at Naruto's undecorated wall. This was most definitely not what he had been expecting. With a grimace he finished his soggy Ramen, making a mental note to either cook himself (which he wasn't really good at), or to get Naruto to cook something else (which was a challenge he didn't know about yet).

After placing his bowl in the sink he retired to his previous spot on the couch to finish reading his book. Thankfully it was written in a rather archaic text that made reading slower, and more difficult as well, enabling him to read the book for longer than he would usually take. Once on the couch he tucked his feet under himself, leaning back against the cushions and getting comfortable for the long night ahead.

-

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Gaara startled, looking around his new surroundings for whatever was making the awful beeping racket. A quick look around the room ruled out anything in it (he also noticed that the sun was just starting to peek through the various windows as well), and he got up, a frown on his face, to search for the source of the irritation.

Sand floated quietly ahead of him as he stalked through the kitchen and eating areas, and then into the bedroom. There he found a small black box with a digital face that blinked in time with the beeps. A glance towards Naruto showed that he was only starting to stir, muttering softly to himself as he rolled over in a vain attempt to muffle the noise.

Beep! Beep! Be-

Sand flowed swiftly around the offensive machine, constricting until the sounds of cracking plastic and electrical sizzling filled the small room. Naruto sighed once and rolled over, not waking up. Once he was sure that the clock wasn't going to make anymore noise he released the sand, allowing it to swirl around him as he surveyed his work. The little clock was now a ruin, a twisted husk of dented plastic and sparking innards. After looking over it once more he left to go back to his book, closing the bedroom door behind him.

-

Around noon Gaara stiffened, listening intently for the noise that had caught his attention. After a moment he heard the sound again, and instantly recognized it as the sound of the sliding glass balcony door. Ever silent he rose and crept through the apartment, releasing the chakra that held the cork on his gourd, which was leaning against the end of the couch, allowing sand to seep out and float behind him. He stopped in front of the bedroom door, pausing long enough to perform the Daisan no Me in order to spy in the room before materializing in the bedroom.

A pink-haired girl was standing over his prone (he frowned at this) partner. Her hands were on her hips as a scowl twisted her face, a look that he'd learned meant extreme agitation or anger whenever he'd seen it on Temari And after having seen what Temari did when she had a face like that, mostly to Kankuro, he decided that it was best to take care of her now, before she decided to go crazy and attack Naruto in some form of a feminine rage.

The girl let out a muffled yelp when she felt something gritty surround and squeeze her tightly. He smirked as he eyes widened at the sight of his golden-red sand trapping her in place and tightening whenever she struggled. While she tried to figure out her predicament he watched her, watching her eyes flit around with amusement.

He grinned as she looked up, blood draining from her face when her green eyes met his. She hadn't seen him there, and he knew that, he knew that she hadn't even felt him in the apartment, let alone Konoha. He grinned ferally, baring his teeth as her struggling increased.

"I remember you," he drawled, crossing his arms over his chest. Oh yes, he remembered her, remembered her well. She had stupidly been protecting the Uchiha boy, so he's squashed her up against a tree, and used her to taunt Naruto. Mentally he winced, remembering that that had been what had allowed Naruto to beat him.

"M-me too," she stuttered. He could feel the fear rolling off her in waves, even as her struggles increased.

"What's going on?"

Gaara paused, looking over at his blond partner. Naruto had sat up in bed and was blinking at the scene in front of him, a confused expression on his face. A few random particles of sand floated in front of his face, making him cross his eyes to look at them before he sighed and looked at his new partner.

"You can let her go, Gaara," Naruto said, running a hand through his scraggly mop of hair.

Gaara rolled his eyes and released his hold on the sand that covered the pink-haired girl. It swirled in a reddish-gold mass as it pooled around his feet and legs, occasionally giving off agitated swirls. Sakura shuddered as the sand peeled itself away from her, wrapping her arms around herself and glaring at the two males.

"That maniac attacked me!" Sakura shouted at Naruto, making sure to not make eye contact with the red-haired boy.

"Why?" Naruto asked, directing the question at the other two in the room. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but he didn't want it to explode.

"She broke in," Gaara said simply, shrugging his shoulders, face impassive.

"I always come in this way!" Sakura shouted, glaring at the red head after making sure that Naruto was between her and him, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn't matter with his sand.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, what did you come over for?" Naruto asked, cringing at the look that had come into Sakura's eyes.

"You idiot, you completely missed training!" the pink-haired girl snapped, placing her hands on her hips and leaning over Naruto so that she could glare at him.

"Uhh," Naruto looked around for an escape route, looking anywhere but at the girl towering over him.

"And since no one else would come and get you I was sent to get you, and I find you sleeping! Sleeping!" still towering over Naruto she glared, making the blond boy's eyes widen at the feeling of impending doom that washed over him.

"Ah! Sakura don't hit me!" Naruto yelped and rolled off the side of the bed as she raised her fist, recognizing that move from his childhood many, many times.

Gaara snorted at him, rolling his eyes when Naruto stuck his tongue out at him then yelped when he got bopped on the head and bit his tongue. The blond boy pouted and rubbed his head, scowling at his old teammate.

"Oww, Sakura, what was that for?" he whined, rubbing his head again for show.

"Because you failed to show up," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"But Sakura-chan," Naruto pouted, "It wasn't my fault."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "How was it not your fault?"

Naruto looked around the room before spotting his mangled alarm clock. He frowned, then pointed at his alarm clock. Sakura's eyes widened and they both looked at Gaara who was looking away as innocently as he could. The effect was slightly disturbing.

"It beeped," Gaara explained monotonously, meeting Naruto's eyes coldly.

The blond chuunin sighed and looked back to Sakura who was looking at Gaara as if he would attack her at any moment. With a small groan Naruto pulled himself to his feet and proceeded to straighten his bed.

"What time is it?" he asked Sakura, hands smoothing sheets and covers.

"About twelve," Sakura replied. After a moment of watching Naruto she sighed and shook her head. "I'm going to head, meet us when you're ready."

Naruto nodded and waved as she left through the balcony door, jumping onto a neighboring roof and disappearing from view. He then turned to Gaara who hadn't moved from his position near the door.

"What was that for?" he asked, pinning the other boy with a glare.

"She broke in," Gaara's stoic face shifted to a glare, sand swirling menacingly around his form.

Naruto sighed and shook his head, tossing his pillow back onto his bed before plopping down himself. Gaara just watched him, glaring as he moved to lean against the door frame.

"We need to talk about this," Naruto said, leaning to rest his arms on his knees. When Gaara just glared Naruto shook his head. "Seriously, you can't just go around smashing alarm clocks and swamping people with sand."

Gaara snarled, baring his teeth in Naruto's direction as his eyes lit up with anger. Naruto felt a wave of fear wash over him from the sheer malicious intent that radiated off of the other boy. No wonder no one had ever beaten Gaara before he had, the buy was just insane.

"Just try," Naruto pleaded. "I'll try to get people to knock instead of just coming in. Just try not to attack anyone. Believe me, assassins don't bother to come in the balcony door."

Gaara just looked at him before letting his arms drop to his side, disrupting the sand that swirled around his body. Naruto took that for an "okay" before smiling up at Gaara. The red head glaring down at him before his face settled back into its normal impassive state.

"I'm going to go clean up. If you want to come to training, you're welcome to," Naruto offered as he got up and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Gaara staring after him with a slightly perplexed look on his face.

-

Neji, Tenten, and Lee looked up as Naruto appeared. He was grinning sheepishly, scratching the back of his blond head as he joined them. Lee, with his usual exuberance, jumped forward to meet him, starting a lecture about how those in the flower of their youth shouldn't waste it by being tardy. As Naruto smiled at Lee while looking for a way to escape the green clad youth, Tenten was watching him with sympathy, and Neji was rolling his white eyes at his teammate.

Eventually Lee stopped trying to "encourage" Naruto to enjoy his youth, which happened to coincide with Sakura re-joining the training session. As soon as the black-haired boy moved away Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He genuinely liked Lee, he really did, but occasionally the other boy would catch him by surprise with one of his speeches, most likely learned from Gai, and then Naruto was stuck listening to him for about half an hour, or until Lee was distracted. As soon as Lee had moved to Sakura, Gaara appeared with a minimal swirl of sand that surprised everyone but Naruto.

Instantly everyone but Naruto and Sakura were on the alert, tense and battle ready. With a small sigh Naruto held up his hands in a placating gesture, moving to stand between the two groups before a fight could break out. The first to calm was Lee, who, after his shock, calmed down and smiled happily at the red-head who gave him a glance before nodding.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down you guys," Naruto said, eyeing Neji cautiously. The Hyuuga had slid down into a defensive position, hands out and ready to attack if needed at the same time.

"What's he doing here?" Tenten snapped, relaxing out of her ready state and standing next to Neji, her hand on her hips.

"He's here because of the treaty," Naruto explained.

Neji stood up slowly, muscles still tense, "And you're his partner?"

"Yep," Naruto said, smiling to try to break some of the tension.

"Gaara's here to stay?" Lee asked, his eyes wide with happiness. Both of his teammates rolled their eyes, knowing the third member of their team only too well.

"Then I shall train until I can beat him! I shall repay him for his help three years ago by beating him and never requiring his assistance again!" Lee declared, his thumb outstretched in his "nice guy" pose. Gaara nodded while Naruto sweatdropped and Sakura buried her face in her hands, looking anywhere but at the green clad boy standing next to her.

"So, are we ready to train, or what?" Naruto asked, still shaking his head at Lee minimally. Neji sighed and nodded, motioning to Tenten to follow him further into the practice field.

"Today we're going to work on defense," Neji explained as everyone gathered around a lone tree in the middle of the grounds. "Out of all of us Lee, myself, and now Gaara have the best defenses. Tenten and Sakura aren't bad, but Naruto's defenses are just horrible," Naruto pouted and stuck out his tongue, which was ignored by the long-haired boy. "Sakura, Tenten, and Naruto will work on personal and group defense while Lee and I, and Gaara if he chooses to join, will be working against you, and giving advice when we can."

The group nodded and quickly split into two groups. Sakura, Tenten, and Naruto huddled together, discussing how to effectively defend their position around the lone tree, as they warily eyed their opponents.

"We know that Lee and Neji are good enough to dismantle our defense, especially with the Byakugan and Lee's taijutsu. I'm not so sure about Gaara," Tenten said, absentmindedly tapping a kunai against the palm of her hand.

"I'll take care of Gaara when he comes," Naruto said, a serious expression on his normally cheerful face. "It's up to you guys to deal with Neji and Lee. I'll see what I can do about helping, but I don't know what's going to be thrown at us."

"I'll take Lee," Sakura said, a slow smile starting to stretch across her face.

With a sigh Tenten nodded, "I'll try to cover Neji."

Naruto looked at the two of them and grinned foxily, eyes glinting with mischief, "I have an idea…"

-

Neji and Lee came in first, aiming punches from opposite angles that send Sakura and Tenten scrambling to defend their positions until Naruto could work his way around, showing them with enough live metal to make them dodge. Neji and Lee darted away, almost literally disappearing they were so quick. The girls only had a few seconds to breathe before they were back, working together to try to get past their defense, only to be rebuffed by a few well placed weapons courtesy of Tenten.

Naruto and Sakura dropped back as Gaara came forward, his sand creeping ahead of him, swirling dangerously at knee level. Sakura nodded and moved to cover Tenten as Naruto stepped up, performing a few quick hand seals as he replicated himself with Kage Bunsin. Gaara raised an eyebrow in response and raised a hand, sending sand swirling up from the main mass to form a few bunshin of his own. The Narutos grinned as they charged, surging forward with a loud roar as Naruto himself used a quick genjutsu to confuse his presense.

Sakura and Tenten were moving furiously, working both to defend themselves and their tree. Neji and Lee were attacking well, dropping back and popping up again as they other retreated or attacked. With a nod to Sakura, Tenten propelled herself forward, aiming at a surprised Lee who dodged her kunai as the pink-haired girl appeared at her back.

Suddenly Sakura moved, spinning around to use a quick Kawarimi no Jutsu as Lee aimed a punch at her head. She had managed to snag Neji, switching their places just as Lee, then Tenten aimed blows at his head. Lee quickly pulled his punch, jumping into the air, getting out of Neji's attack range. With a quick smirk in Tenten's direction Neji spun, releasing chakra in his ultimate defense, the Kaiten. Tenten flew backwards and flipped, catching herself on the ground and returning to her defensive position next to Sakura. Both girls were panting, sweat starting to drip down their faces and backs.

Naruto dodged yet another tendril of sand as Gaara advanced, his bunshin systematically wiping out Naruto's own. The sand was making short work of his genjutsu, dispelling in as soon as it was in range of attacking Naruto. He found himself doing more dodging then attacking, keeping Gaara's sand from attaching onto him and squeezing. A small explosion as one of his bunshin exploded in a futile effort to chuck a kunai with an explosive tag attached gave him a moment to get away, leaving another clone where he had been to dodge Gaara's relentless attacks while hiding behind his shield of sand that Naruto had yet to breach.

He caught Sakura's eye and nodded, creating two more bunshin and using henge before propelling himself to the top of their tree just long enough to drop a smoke bomb into the fray, giving Tenten and Sakura the distraction that they needed to enact the last stage of their plan. He dodge away before the smoke cleared, creating a few more bunshin to keep Gaara occupied and his attention on the clones, not Naruto himself. The red-head was easily obliterating the clones' attacks, swamping them with sand and squeezing until they exploded, a bored expression on his face.

The clearing smoke found Tenten and Sakura standing next to their tree, identical smirks on their faces. Neji frowned, watching them carefully as Lee attacked first. There was something off about their movements that he couldn't place as the girls blocked and punched back, still grinning. He nodded to Lee and together he and the other boy circled around the females, watching them closely between attacks. With a nod to Lee they attacked, weapons drawn as the girls blinked in surprise…

Then slumped over as the weapons hit their marks, sinking deeply into skin and muscle, scraping bone. With horror Lee and Neji reeled back, eyes wide even as the girls stood back up, grinning lazily and popping their backs in a Naruto-like manner before exploding.

As Neji and Lee were thrown back from the explosion Naruto took his chance to duck under Gaara's guard before the sand came all of the way up. The other boy's dark rimmed eyes met his before sand pinned Naruto's fist inches away from the red-head's face. Naruto only had a second to brace himself before Gaara smirked and sent him flying with a wave of his hand. The blond chuunin managed to catch himself before he slammed head-first into the ground, landing on his feet and flipping backwards as a wave of sand swept under him.

Lee crouched down, eyes searching through the dust raised by the explosion for any signs of the two girls. Beside him Neji activated his Byakugan, white eyes peering confidently through the choking dust as the veins around his eyes bulged outwards. With one hand signal the long-haired boy pointed out their direction, and with another he outlined their final plan of attack. Even though the girls had used Naruto's exploding clones, they had still been using a good deal of energy during the fight, and had most likely used more getting away before they were caught.

Together the two boys blurred from sight, reappearing behind the two startled girls. Both raised their weapons, but it was useless as the boys already had kunai to their throats. Tenten and Sakura stilled, not moving until the weapons were moved. Together the four stood back to watch the ensuing fight between Gaara and Naruto.

"Ryuusa Bakuryu!" Gaara's hands flashed through the seals as Naruto jumped, expecting sand to come spiraling at him from below.

Naruto was hit head on and slammed to the ground by the wave of sand that Gaara had called forth. The four leaf-nins watched in shock as the sand settled, forming a solid plane of sand that stretched from Gaara to the edge of the training area. A slow smile spread across Lee's face as he recognized the attack, then pulled into a frown as he remembered what had happened after he'd seen that attack the last time.

"Oi, Gaara. You aren't going to use Sabaku Sousou, are you?" the taijutsu used asked, catching the attention of the sand-nin in front of them.

"No," came the short answer, "I'm not aiming to kill him."

"Well, that's good to know," Sakura muttered, keeping one eye on the sand in case it decided to attack.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto sputtered. He was covered in sand up to his waist, and was coated in it everywhere else. Gaara hadn't trapped him very far under the sand, only a couple feet or so, making it easy to escape.

"Desert Avalanche," Gaara replied simply.

Naruto glared at him for a moment before breaking into a smile. Gaara rolled his eyes and called the sand back, reforming the gourd on his back, something that no one had noticed missing. In his opinion, if the blond boy wanted to smile after an attack that was normally fatal, then he was just as insane as Gaara himself was.

"Well, training is over for now," Neji said, his eyes returning to normal as he deactivated his Byakugan.

Tenten and Sakura keeled over gratefully, plopping themselves down on the ground in order to catch their breath. Lee just grinned at them and moved to go stand next to Gaara, smiling happily at the menacing boy. Gaara regarded him with cool green eyes, but didn't do anything, just returned his gaze to where Naruto was trying to brush all of the sand off of his clothes and body.

"When was the last time you washed this stuff?" Naruto whined, bending over and doing his best to shake all of the grains out of his blond locks.

"Washed?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, as in cleaned?" Naruto asked, still bent over.

"Never," Gaara replied.

"Does it stay dirty?" Lee asked, catching onto the string of conversation as Neji, Tenten, and Sakura watched from the background.

"I can make new sand from minerals in the ground," Gaara said stoically.

"It reeks," Naruto muttered, still trying to get all of the sand off of his person with minimal amounts of success. His blue eyes looked up and locked onto dark-rimmed green filled with distrust and slight menace. "But we can wash it if you don't want to use the energy to make new sand," he offered, standing up straight and popping his back.

Lee nodded in agreement, "It would definitely take less energy, and it wouldn't smell!"

Gaara looked between the two for a moment, distrust evident in his posture. Finally he nodded, and with a swirl of sand, disappeared. Naruto and Lee looked at each other and shrugged before heading in separate ways, Lee to join his teammates and Sakura for lunch, and Naruto to go track his new partner home.

-

Naruto landed on his balcony in a crouch, checking the area for anything unusual. He could see Gaara through the glass doors, standing in the doorway to the bathroom, just staring in. The blond shook his head and opened the door, closing it behind him as Gaara's eyes flickered in his direction.

Tension filled the air between them. Once again Naruto mentally cursed at everyone who had put him in this situation as he caught the hostility and distrust in the other boy's eyes. He wasn't supposed to be baby-sitting a homicidal, possessed sand-nin, he was supposed to be working on becoming a jounin and going on real missions.

But this was how things went, and he knew that. With a mental sigh he moved across the room to stand next to the other boy, (who he noticed was taller than he was, much to his chagrin) making a move to break the tension.

"Have you ever taken a shower before?"

He almost received a withering look before the other teen stopped and thought about the question. When Gaara shook his head negatively Naruto blinked at him in surprise before shrugging.

"Alright, here's how you work the shower," Naruto stepped into the bathroom and swept the shower curtain out of the way, revealing the lone knob that controlled the temperature and pressure of the water.

Gaara nodding in understanding after a simple demonstration and Naruto left, giving the other boy some privacy in the small bathroom. He hadn't been out of the bathroom for five minutes when a yelp and the hiss of sand caught his attention. The blond boy burst into the bathroom to find Gaara glaring at the showerhead, sand swirling dangerously around himself and the offending appliance.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, quickly trying to save his bathroom from an unfortunate accident. He didn't make enough money even as a chuunin to keep replacing things if Gaara decided to keep destroying them, especially things related to his apartment's plumbing.

"It burned," Gaara replied, glaring at the water that was still dripping dismally from the showerhead.

Naruto took a look at the knob that controlled the water and sighed, figuring out the problem when he twisted the knob to the left and cold water showered down on his head. He yelped and pushed the knob in, effectively shutting the water off.

"I know what happened," he muttered, grabbing a towel from the rack. The other boy watched him impassively, ignoring the growing red mark that was spreading across one of his arms. "My landlord switched the temperature controls on the water pipes leading to my apartment again," he explained, sighing with frustration as he toweled his head off.

"Switched the temperature controls?" Gaara asked, frowning at the blond boy and the shower at the same time.

"He does this about once a month until I submit a complaint. My landlord doesn't exactly like me," Naruto shrugged at the understatement, towel now wrapped around his shoulders. "If you keep the knob towards the middle you should be fine starting from there, then turning it to the right."

Naruto looked at Gaara again, and the red color that had spread across his arms. If it were anyone else he would have offered them ice, but with Gaara he wasn't really sure what to do. The blond frowned, a question forming in his mind.

"How do you normally get clean?" Naruto asked, wincing at how the question had come out. "I mean, well, I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but-"

Naruto was cut off by Gaara's reply, "The sand takes care of it."

"So you've never bathed with water?" Naruto's eyes were wide with disbelief as he looked at the other boy.

"I was given baths when I was younger, before…" Gaara trailed off, eyes narrowing, his face closing as all emotion was wiped off as his usual mask appeared with a vengeance.

"Ah," Naruto uttered, not pressing the other boy further. He'd seen that look years before in Lee's hospital room when Gaara had been trying to finish off what he had started in the preliminaries to the third part of the chuunin exams.

"Well, you kind of need to take your clothes off," Naruto muttered, blushing and averting his eyes as Gaara looked at him suspiciously. "I don't mean it in a perverted way or anything, but you need to change clothes too."

"I only have one change," Gaara said. Naruto averted his eyes as the other boy stripped off his shirt and dropped it next to the gourd on the bathroom floor.

"One change total?" the blond asked, meeting Gaara's dark-rimmed eyes steadily.

"You aren't exactly allowed to bring anything along when being kicked out of your village," the red-head's voice was icy, an edge of rage present in his voice.

"We'll go see Tsunade after our showers," Naruto said, mentally totaling his current funds and taking away what he would need for this month's rent and electricity bill. What he came up with wasn't much, but it was enough for the moment. Being promoted to chuunin had done more than just give him harder missions, it had given him a better standard of living as well, meaning that he could save as well as spend more.

Gaara nodded and Naruto left, shutting the door behind him as he heard the shower start up. The blond boy kept to the bedroom, cleaning up some of the more random things on his floor (which had acquired a few dust bunnies that he still couldn't get rid of) and either throwing or putting them away. He didn't have to wait long for his turn, within ten minutes the red-head was out and wrapped in one of Naruto's large towels. Neither looked at each other as Gaara retrieved his change of clothes from where he had left his book and mission pack in the living room before returning to the bathroom to change.

Once Naruto was done the two left, bounding from rooftop to rooftop, across alleys, and through side paths that were one of the more unique parts of Konoha's architecture. With so many ninja a good half of the population didn't use the streets, instead they used the rooftops to navigate the village from above.

Hokage Tower was a hive of activity with ninja arriving and leaving, reporting and turning in mission reports and conducting meetings. Naruto and Gaara entered through a window on the same floor as Tsunade's office, startling a poor administrative worker into throwing their whole load into the air. Naruto helped them pick it back up, apologizing as Gaara rolled his eyes, shifting his shoulders to settle his gourd more comfortably on his back before they continued on their way.

Shizune looked up as the two boys approached her desk, smiling warmly at both, "What can I do for you guys?"

"Is Tsunade available?" Naruto asked, ignoring the pointed look that the dark-haired medical-nin gave him for the lack of an honorific.

"She should be, but you might end up waking her up," Shizune said, rolling her eyes at the grin that spread across Naruto's face, instead focusing on the silent red-head standing behind the hyper boy.

"Thanks Shizune!" Naruto grinned, sneaking over to the heavy office doors and opening them silently, peeking his head through the opening before disappearing inside. The medical-nin just shook her head as she waited, still keeping an eye on the red-haired teen who was standing in the middle of the room, looking decidedly bored. His eyes flickered to her once before moving away, giving her a glimpse of the sheer menace that the boy radiated casually.

A small commotion started inside the Hokage's office, startling the red-haird boy as he whipped around to pin his eyes on the heavy doors before calming again and resuming his perusal of the room. Shizune sighed as she heard Tsunade's voice raise as Naruto laughed, then yelped as he was whacked for his teasing. She was still amazed that the blond boy had managed to work his way as far under the older blonde's armor as he had gotten.

Naruto exited the office, rubbing his head with a huge grin stretched across his face, a small slip of paper clutched tightly in his hand. He bounced up to the other boy, waving the piece of paper in front of the red-head's face until the other teen snatched it away almost quicker than the eye could see. Shizune smirked as Naruto squawked in indignation, futilely trying to snatch the piece of paper back only to be blocked by sand.

"What is this?" Gaara asked, frowning down at the paper held in his hands.

"This is how we're getting you some clothes and basic necessities," Naruto said, smiling proudly up at the taller boy. "We just have to keep the receipts."

Gaara nodded, handing the paper back to his partner and sucking the sand back into his gourd, packing it tightly down with chakra before forming a cork out of the excess sand and placing the stopper in the gourd. With Naruto in the lead the boys left the tower, heading towards the shopping district of Konoha after Naruto waved goodbye to Shizune and hopped out the window, Gaara not far behind.

"How much do you know about shopping?" Naruto asked as they moved across the rooftops of Konoha, heading towards the village's center.

"Nothing," Gaara replied.

Naruto wasn't surprised, he wasn't really into shopping himself, but after living alone for his whole life he'd learned a few things. He'd gone shopping with Sakura once, after an hour of begging just to get her to go with him (like he'd known what he needed, she obviously had, seeing how she nagged at him for just about everything), but that was about the extent of his experience.

"Me too," Naruto said, shuddering at the idea of asking Sakura for help again. "It shouldn't be too bad if we find everything quickly, but don't really know."

Gaara watched him for a moment before nodding. Together the two boys dropped into the busy street below, blending into the crowd around them seamlessly. Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet as they moved, making as little noise as possible so that he didn't draw attention to either himself of his partner. If Gaara noticed he didn't say anything, only stuck close to Naruto as they navigated the business district until they came to the start of the clothing stores.

The first store was a bust, the two of them being sent away as soon as the owner caught sight of Naruto, shooing him away without allowing a word to come out of his mouth. The next two stores were the same with Naruto and Gaara being shown out before they even had a chance. Naruto just shook his head when Gaara growled, motioning for the red head to follow him down the street to the next store each time. Finally they came to a clothing store where the owner didn't despise Naruto, and looked around, eyeing possible clothing and basic choices.

They came away with enough clothing to last Gaara for two weeks; basics, sweatshirts for colder weather, a few pairs of shorts, a couple of tee-shirts, some netted shirts, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants. Naruto did some shopping as well, grabbing a sweatshirt, a few pairs of new pants, a pair of shorts, and a few new and cheap tee-shirts to add to his small collection of clothing with his excess money.

Once they were done the two boys headed back to Naruto's small apartment. Naruto cleaned some of the excess junk out of the bottom two drawers of his four drawer dresser for Gaara to keep his clothes. The blond blushed when his stomach growled and the red head gave him an odd look, raising a nearly invisible eyebrow into the air.

"We could go out if you'd like. I really don't have more than Ramen here," Naruto offered, looking at what was left in his wallet after shopping. He had just enough to take the two of them somewhere nice, or at least better than Ichiraku a few blocks down.

Gaara watched him closely for any sign of deception, but Naruto was sincere. Both knew that there was no trust to work off of, nothing in common except for their personal demons, and fight after the first chuunin exams. There was a tension that could only be dispelled a little at a time, over a period of time. Finally the sand-nin nodded.

"I know a good bar-be-que place," Naruto said, smiling as the tension broke between them, and bounded towards the door. Gaara shook his head and followed the excitable blond back out of his apartment and down the street. They came to a stop at a small, but nice, restaurant down a few blocks from Naruto's apartment complex on the outskirts of what led to the shopping district.

Naruto and Gaara entered together, ducking under the reed mat that covered the door to be bombarded by the smells of roasted meat and smoke. Gaara's eyes widened as he lifted his head to unconsciously sniff the air, inhaling deeply. After a short pause he caught up with his blond partner, shifting anxiously and almost invisibly to anyone not watching closely.

Naruto snagged a booth near the back, taking the seat that positioned his back towards the door, giving Gaara the full view of the room to make the other boy a little more comfortable. Gaara's eyes darted around the room, taking note of any means of escape and most of the immobile people in the room before settling his gourd beside him, the leather band that stretched across his chest lifted over his head easily with both hands.

Naruto smiled as the waitress came around, ignoring Gaara's glaring. She was one of the few people who liked him and wouldn't try anything funny with his food. The brunette grinned, plopping two menus down on the table as she walked up, genuinely happy to see the blond.

"Who's your new friend?" she asked, ruffling Naruto's hair with her free hand as the chuunin tried to half-heartedly fend her off.

"Gaara of the Desert. He's here because of the treaty and my new partner," Naruto answered, finally grabbing onto the waitress's hand to get her to stop messing with his hair. She smirked at him, but didn't try again after he let go.

"He's the one who fought Uchiha in the chuunin exams a couple of years ago, before the invasion, right?" she asked, giving Gaara a good once-over as she chatted with Naruto.

"Yeah, but he's cool," Naruto grinned up at her, smiling happily as she laughed and ruffled his hair again briefly.

"Whatever you say, kiddo, whatever you say," she grinned down as he swatted her away, pouting. "Wave me over when you and your cute friend decide what you would like to eat."

Naruto waved as she left, then picked up a menu. After a moment he looked over to the other boy, noting his almost wide-eyed look as Gaara stared after the waitress. Naruto would bet that Gaara had never been complimented in his life, let alone by a complete stranger. He smiled to himself as Gaara's face dropped into it's usual unreadable mask as Gaara picked up a menu and started to look through it. The blond would also bet that Gaara didn't eat out much, either.

Dinner was quiet as the two boys ordered and ate, the lack of conversation less of a problem than Naruto had expected. Naruto's waitress friend would come by and chat with them, each time managing to make Gaara's eyes either widen or to make him shift somewhat nervously. She never touched him, never actually stood within two feet of him. Despite her teasing Gaara was still intimidating, radiating more malice than most people could gather in a lifetime.

"Naruto."

Naruto blinked and turned in his seat. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino were headed in his direction, apparently out for dinner at Chouji's favorite restaurant as a team. Gaara also looked up, eyes narrowing at the approaching teens. The blond waved at the trio, looking back at Gaara as he sat back down.

"Do you mind if they join us?" Naruto asked. Gaara frowned, green eyes narrowing in thought before nodding. Naruto smiled and waved the team over, taking his plate and drink across the table with him as he moved to sit next to Gaara who had moved over to allow the blond room.

"What brings you here, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, sliding into the booth, followed by Ino, then Chouji. The brunette's teammates shifted nervously, looking at Shikamaru and Naruto, anywhere but at Gaara.

"I'm taking my new partner out to dinner," Naruto said, grinning as the lazy teen shook his head.

"So the rumors are true," Shikamaru muttered, leaning with one arm on the table.

"Sakura told us about training this afternoon," Ino said, flicking her blonde ponytail back over her shoulder, her brown eyes locking onto Naruto. "Good work with the Bakuretsu Kage Bunshin, by the way. Lee wouldn't stop babbling about them until Sakura shut him up."

Naruto waved the compliment off with a smile, "Nah, Gaara was better. If he'd really been trying I would have been dead meat."

Gaara's eyes flickered towards Naruto before returning to his plate. He didn't do well in crowds, and he knew that, especially when Shukaku got restless. The sand demon wasn't happy about playing along nicely when both of them wanted to rage, but Gaara held him in, clamping his will down and keeping things calm in his mind.

"So, how long is he in town?" Chouji asked, already waving the waitress over so that he could place his order.

"Chouji, I'm not paying for the meal this time," Shikamaru warned. His blond friend smiled in response and nodded, leaving Shikamaru with the feeling that he was going to end up with the bill anyway.

Naruto watched their banter with a smile that grew as Ino joined the fray, berating Chouji about the amount of food he ordered, and Shikamaru for his laziness over something that had happened earlier in the day.

"Damn, Ino, give the guy a break. Its not his fault he's so lazy," Naruto muttered, earning himself a glare from the blond.

"What? Of course its his fault!" Ino snapped, leaning forward to give Naruto a piece of her mind.

Gaara's fist hit the table, snapping all of them out of their discussion. All four of them looked at the red head in surprise. Naruto was the first to react, sliding out of the booth in order to let his partner out. Gaara's breathing was fast, coming quickly as he kept himself under control, the veins standing out on his forehead as he occasionally clenched his teeth and shut his eyes. With a quick wave of goodbye Naruto picked up the gourd, sliding it over his head after it's initial surprising weight.

They made it to Naruto's apartment without incident, avoiding anyone on the streets as night fell around them. As soon as the door shut Naruto dumped the gourd, noting how sand started to fall away at the edges as Gaara's control frayed. Deftly Naruto maneuvered Gaara onto the couch, sitting the taller boy down. Gaara didn't seem to notice, his hands clutching his head tightly as he gritted his teeth, breath coming quickly as he curled into near fatal position.

Naruto fidgeted nervously, not wanting to get too close to the other boy while he was on the verge of cracking. He couldn't remember seeing Gaara look this bad except for the time he'd started going crazy in the beginning of his fight with Sasuke after he'd killed two Sound-nin.

"Damn it," Naruto cursed, finally moving to sit next to the other boy on the couch, hands hovering over the other boy's shoulder. He didn't know what to do, truly felt helpless. It was a frustrating feeling, helplessness, and it made him want to destroy something just to let the feeling out.

The blond was lost about what to do. If it had been anyone else, well not anyone else, but anyone he was close to, he would have known what to do, whether to hug them (if it was Sakura and he didn't think that she would punch him afterwards), or to leave until they got everything under control.

Finally Gaara's breathing slowed as he got himself under control. Sweat beaded on his forehead, a few drops running down his face to drop off of his nose. The blond boy backed off, the decision made, giving the other boy some more room.

"You okay?" Naruto asked tentatively, worried.

"He's calmed for now," Gaara murmured. Naruto didn't have to ask who the "he" was. The blond nodded slowly as one green eye moved to focus on him, watching him in Gaara's unnerving way.

"Why didn't you attack me?" the question was blunt enough to cause Naruto to wince.

The blue eyed boy sighed, leaning back into the couch as he held his hands behind his head. Casually he looked over at the red head and asked, "Why would I attack you?"

"I'm the enemy, I'm dangerous," Gaara replied, turning to watch Naruto cautiously, carefully, as if the other boy would suddenly turn on him. Impulsively, instinctively he turned, looking for his sand until he spotted it by the door, looking slightly worse for wear. When he spotted it he calmed, a little bit of the tension flowing out of his shoulders.

"But you're my partner," Naruto said, looking confused, "You're like me. Why would I attack you?"

The look of surprise in Gaara's eyes made Naruto pause. It had never occurred to him to attack Gaara while he was incapacitated, but it made sense if Gaara had been the enemy. With a start Naruto realized that he had stopped thinking of Gaara as an enemy years ago, after he had beaten the lonely boy years ago in a effort to save the people important to him. He had stopped thinking of Gaara as his enemy when he found that the other boy also carried his demonic curse.

"I'm like you," Gaara murmured, closing his dark-rimmed eyes for a moment as he took this thought in. "I'm…"

"Like you," Naruto murmured with him, smiling as he did so. "Yeah, cursed forever to be alone with our demons, until we found each other."

Gaara watched the smiling blond for a moment, blinking green eyes, before shrugging and grabbing his mission pack, digging his second and last book out of it and settling down for the night. Naruto shook his head and got off of the couch, stretching as he headed to the bedroom for sleep, stopping only to make sure that Gaara would wake him up at dawn until he got a new alarm clock.

-

Gaara winced as pain shot through his head, making his temples throb. Normally he was better at keeping track of the moon's phases, but with the treaty, sealed chains, traveling, and settling in he'd lost track. It was only his third day in Konoha and the full moon had come around, catching him unprepared.

Shukaku was having a field day in his head, becoming more riotous as midnight came closer. The damn tanuki had started running around like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off as the full moon hung in the sky, giving him what promised to be the start of one of his worst headaches yet, and the stupid fur-ball knew it

The red head grit his teeth as he staggered through the dining room, one hand against the wall for balance as well as direction. Gaara nearly hit the ground when another wave of pain shot through his head so sharply it sent shivers down his spine, bowing it until his head hit his knees with a crack. It took all of his effort to manage to stand upright again, and to move forward until he hit the doorframe to the bedroom door. The door itself proved to be no problem, but afterwards without its support he found himself falling again.

The carpet under his hands felt coarse. It took him a moment to realize that he'd fallen forward, barely catching himself before his head hit the ground. He needed to leave before it got worse, before he lost control and set himself upon the first person he found.

Slowly he exhaled, concentrating on pushing Shukaku further into his mind before standing again. Sometime between him toppling over and getting back up Naruto had appeared back home from his meeting with Tsunade, a worried expression on his face.

"Gaara?"

"Go away!" Gaara grit out. He could sand swirling around his form in agitation, free of it's normal confines in gourd shape.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto moved forward, hands out in a placating gesture that would also work for defense should Gaara choose to lash out.

"Get away from me!"

Gaara's eyes were wide, bloodshot, the veins in his forehead and forearms standing out. His breath was ragged as he leaned against the wall. It hadn't been this hard to control in years, since the chuunin exams, since his defeat. His own mental conflict had made the stupid tanuki sit in the background and taunt instead of actively try to get out as he was doing now. Gaara starting to get comfortable and being accepted wasn't as amusing as a confused and angry Gaara, leaving Shukaku wanting to wreak havoc just to spite his container.

"Gaara?"

"Leave!"

Gaara's eyes spotted the open balcony door over Naruto's shoulder and bolted, only to be stopped as Naruto slammed his shoulder into the taller boy, ramming Gaara into the wall with his momentum. The red head fought back, using sand and leverage to push the smaller boy off of him, then making another dash for the open door. Once again he was slammed into the wall, this time hard enough to make the world tilt for a moment.

Naruto growled as Gaara made another dash, slamming him into the wall again, this time keeping a hold on the other boy's upper arms, pinning him. Each time Gaara tried to bolt Naruto slammed him against the wall until the other boy's struggles lessened, leaving a good sized dent in his bedroom wall.

As Naruto let go Gaara staggered forward, only for Naruto to catch him before he fell. Carefully the blond led his partner back through the apartment, settling Gaara on the couch as he sat next to him, pushing until Gaara was lying down, his head almost on Naruto's leg.

Naruto watched Gaara's breathing even out, the other boy's chest rising and falling evenly even as his face crinkled with occasional flashes of pain. Tentatively Naruto moved his hand to hover over Gaara's forehead, face focused on the other boy. If it had been anyone else…but it wasn't. It was Gaara of the Desert, one of the most feared ninja in their area. But he was also lonely. How many people had reached out to him with simple comfort? Naruto knew that answer, none.

Slowly Naruto slid his fingers into Gaara's hair. It was soft, softer than he had expected and finer than his own thick strands. Almost instinctively he ran his fingers through the red strands, occasionally brushing Gaara's skin underneath, as he would have liked to have done to him as a child. The motions calmed him, a lazy smile spreading across his face as he watched Gaara's face calm into almost a serene expression.

The red head cracked one green eye open, looking up into Naruto's concerned face, "Why?"

"I can't let you go get yourself kicked out of the village, now can I?" Naruto asked, a foxy smile on his face as Gaara blinked before his guarded expression fell back into place.

Gaara snorted, rolling to sit upwards, dislodging Naruto's fingers from his hair reluctantly. He leaned forward, elbows propped up on his knees, hands hanging limply in front of him.

"Ahou," he muttered, but Naruto just smiled.

"You're welcome."

End of Chapter 02…TBC

Ryuusa Bakuryu- Desert Avalanche.
Sabaku Sousou- Desert Graveyard.
Ahou- retard.

Thanks to rembrandt, Deora ar mo chroi, sujung, hogo-chan, Lady-Frisselle, and eyes0nme19 for their awesome review. (and Lady-F; Sasuke will appear later on)

Thanks to Asteroid Blues for being my beta! Je t'aime!