Author's Comments: --.--'' thank you Goth Child for telling me that… and yay! 7 reviews! XD and you guys LIKE IT! -explodes with joy-
Anyways, on with the chapter
Come on, Strip!
Naruto blinked at Gaara, and then again, and then a third time. 'Gaara doesn't even want to kill me?' he wondered to himself. Gaara thought the same thing to himself.
'What… ? I'm not going to? What the hell did I just say?' but he didn't change his mind, nor did he say anything more for the rest of the day. He sat quietly by the trunk of a tree, staring at the clouds until he was suddenly staring at the stars instead. The blonde just wandered around the area all day, trying to ignore Gaara's creepy silence.
Finally, as the moon rose higher in the sky and crickets chirped into the night, Naruto came back to where the redhead sat. "Um, I guess we shouldn't try to go back…" Naruto thought out loud, "hmmm… me and you are so alike," he added, now directing his words towards Gaara, "and our friends… kinda ditched us…" the orange-clad boy looked at the ground shamefully with the thought. Gaara still sat there.
"…" was his reply, though he was thinking in his head rather loudly, 'Go on… what's he getting at?'.
"Well, maybe we could just stay here." Naruto then glanced awkwardly at Gaara and quickly to the sky, "We could be friends, I bet." he half-whispered, as though he wasn't sure about the idea, and stole another look at the redhead. Gaara looked back.
"Ok" the words inched from Gaara's mouth before he had much time to think about it, but that's how his reply stayed. He didn't say much else, and continued to gaze up at the sky until morning. Naruto had long fallen asleep, after smiling at the other boy's short answer, and feeling content with himself so far.
When Naruto woke, he sat up and realized he had slept in the dirt all night, and was covered in it. He stood and glanced at Gaara, who had his arms crossed, and his back propped up against a tree. His eyes were half-closed, and he was obviously not very well-rested. The blonde shook some of the dirt from his clothes and walked quietly over to Gaara, but not so that the redhead could see him. He looked at him for a moment, and then decided it was best to leave him be. The day before, Naruto had found a good swimming hole just a short walk away. Now, he headed back towards it with simple goals: to be refreshed, and to wash off some grossness from the previous days.
Naruto reached the hole, and crouched close to the ground next to the water's edge. He then dipped his hands in it, and scooped some up. Looking at his reflection for a moment, he made a face, then drank. It was clean, clear water. They were lucky to have this place nearby. The blonde straightened up, and proceeded to strip off everything he had on, including his jacket, shirt, weapon pouch, pants, shoes, and boxers. He smiled and dove without hesitating into the waters and swam about playfully. He cleaned off his face, and scrubbed through his thick blonde spikey hair. Kicking his feat, he splashed and tried to catch fast fish under the surface.
'Waking' wasn't really the word for it, but Gaara sort of 'woke' and looked about him, noticing that a certain orange loudmouth wasn't within his range of vision. He stood, looking around himself some more, and then heard splashing, and short spurts of laughter not far away. The redhead followed the sounds and came across Naruto's play. He caught sight of the dirty, but still bright orange clothing that was draped over a tree branch, then looked down at his clothes and noticed he was pretty dirty as well. But he didn't start stripping, oh no. Darn, you wanted him to, didn't ya? Anyways, he just sort of stood there, waiting for the blonde to notice him. It didn't take long before Naruto spotted Gaara.
"Hey! Gaara!" he called, waving at the teal-eyed boy causally, "I was so dirty! I had to take a dip! Aren't you thirsty, too?" Gaara thought for a moment, and noticed the other boy was right. He nodded at Naruto silently and bent down to the water's edge and took a sip in the same fashion that Naruto had earlier. "Want to swim, too?" Naruto asked, "it's nice! I could swim all day!" the blonde leaned back onto the water and floated lazily on the surface. His whole body shone against the sun brightly, and Gaara couldn't help but to take a look, I mean, why not? But only for a moment. His dark-lined eyes slid from the blonde's face, down to his shoulders, and rested on his torso for a moment before sliding down a bit further, a pause, then down his legs. Gaara shook his head, realizing he had been staring a bit. But Naruto hadn't even noticed, he was much too busy enjoying the water. The redhead took a seat beside the swimming hole's edge and watched birds fly by overhead.
The sun beat down on him and his dark clothes, and Gaara became uncomfortable. 'Oh… whatever' he thought to himself uncharacteristically and started to unbuckle the gourd from his shoulder. After getting that off, he slipped off everything else down to his boxers and stood, his face flushing a bit.
Naruto noticed the activity on land and waved a hand at Gaara again, "Hey! Are you gonna come swim, then?" he smiled, and Gaara's face got slightly pinker as the redhead slid into the water carefully. He submerged his entire body up to his eyes, and traveled ever so slowly towards Naruto. The blonde smiled again and flicked a small bit of water at his new-found 'friend', and for the first time without death occurring afterwards, Naruto saw Gaara smile.
Author's Comments:oo like? I hope so….x3 review!
