I have no excuse for lateness simply because I don't have one and I simply can't be bothered to make one up. I updated when I can. Nya!
Enjoy!
THE CHILD IN ME 8
Naruto took the boiling kettle and poured water in to two instant ramen cups. Gaara was sitting on the kitchen stool, watching Naruto make breakfast. For as long as Gaara lived temporarily in Konoha, he had developed a love and fondness for ramen, courtesy of Naruto. Though Naruto preferred miso flavor with barbequed pork, Gaara preferred miso and chili. Naruto chided him for being plain and a commoner who liked spicy ramen – even though not many associated miso with chili – because Naruto himself was not a big fan of chili. Gaara, being a bit level headed, merely ignored the blond and continued to eat his chili-flavored miso ramen. In fact, Gaara put chili in everything he ate. On one occasion, when Iruka made steak and potatoes for dinner last week, Gaara had chucked nearly half a bottle of tobacco sauce on his steak, making Iruka cringe and warn him that it would be too spicy to eat and that if he wanted a new plate. Gaara merely thanked Iruka quietly, blushed a bit then dug in to his plate as if the amount of chili sauce on his food weren't even present. Of course, when Naruto stole a piece of the sliced steak on Gaara's plate, the boy all but drowned himself in a bottle of water after that single morsel of spicy steak.
"Na, Gaara. Did Iruka-sensei come by last night?" Naruto asked, stifling a yawn with the back of his hand as he set the kettle down, covering the lids of the Styrofoam ramen cup and heading for the sink.
"No." Gaara answered, looking at the ramen cups and waiting for it rather impatiently – which didn't really show on the stoic boy's face but the kicking legs under the table was an indication – to finish 'cooking' in hot water so he can eat.
"I see." Naruto took out glasses and pulled the fridge door open. "Damn. I'm outta' milk. Want juice? I got apple flavor."
"Okay." Gaara shrugged.
Naruto proceeded to pour the juice in to two glasses. "Can you check the mail?"
Gaara blinked but stood up to do as he was told. "Okay."
Gaara wanted to remind Naruto that mails never came to his apartment, but decided not to. He pushed the mail box open outside the main door in the hallway to peer in. There was one crème colored envelope. Gaara could only stare in silence as he took the envelope out and read the addressee's name. It made him stare at the envelope even more when he realized that it was his own name written in neat prints. He stared at it some more, until Naruto's voice vibrated from the kitchen.
"Oi, Gaara! Did you die or something? Come on! Ramen is ready!"
Gaara stared in to the confines of Naruto's small apartment from the main door then back at the letter. "Coming." He replied to the blonde's shouts as he tucked the letter in to his pocket just before he closed the door and made his way to the small kitchen. Naruto was already sitting on his chair and mixing his ramen.
"Mail?"
Gaara picked up his glass of juice, staring at the colored-clear liquid. "No." He then took a sip. "No mail."
Naruto pouted before shrugging and tucking in to his food energetically.
XXX
By late afternoon, Naruto was dragging his feet out of the training field, Gaara behind him. The other new graduates were going about their own ways, too tired to even pay attention to the sand-nin amongst them.
"They want us to be in teams again!" Naruto complained. "That's genin stuff! We can't be doing genin stuff again! I must complain to baa-san. Let's go, Gaara!"
Gaara looked up to find Naruto burst with the renewed energy and run towards the administration building. As usual, he followed Naruto, keeping close so as not to raise any trouble or suspicion. Gaara kept his gaze in front of him on the floor, his ninja senses on to just avoid bumping in to a person. He never did open that letter addressed to him. He knew it was from Temari because of the handwriting.
"Why can't we see her? I demand to see Hokage-ba-ba!" Naruto said, stomping his feet.
Raidou, who was on guard duty, shook his head. "Naruto, she is pretty busy right now."
"So what?" Naruto screeched, waving his fist. "Tell her the future Hokage is –"
"What's this – oh? Naruto?" Genma said approaching from one of corridors. "Gaara?"
Gaara, upon hearing his name and sensing that familiar presence looked up and stared right at Genma. He then remembered the letter and dropped his gaze to the ground, a sad look gracing his face.
"Ah! Examiner! He won't let me in!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Raidou who scowled.
Genma and Raidou exchanged looks. "Let him in. Just him." Genma said, pointing at Naruto.
"Gaara too!" Naruto insisted.
"No, just you for now." Genma said while Raidou pulled the door open and ushered Naruto inside. Gaara stepped back and waited for Naruto to come out, not surprised that he was forbidden to enter. For the first time since he came, Gaara actually didn't take notice of Genma's presence and remained staring at the floor. It was only when Genma reached out for something is pocket and crouch in front of him so that he was staring up did Gaara really did take notice. "Here." Gaara turned his attention to the object in the Jounin's palm. It was a toffee wrapped in a bright yellow wrapper with white stripes. Gaara directed a questioning look at the Jounin. "You look upset." Gaara blushed and took the toffee and continued to stare at it in his own palm. Genma then reached out slowly and ruffled the thatch of red hair. "I'm your friend. If anything bothers you, you can tell me. And Iruka too, hmm?
"Okay." Gaara said, nodding as Genma stood up and looked down at the boy. Gaara in turn tilted his head up to look at the Jounin. The man was very nice. Maybe he could give him another flower like before. Or maybe he can give him toffees. Gaara wondered what was the difference between giving flowers and giving toffees meant. But on the long run, he was glad he had a friend, even if that friend was taller and was a Jounin. He loved his friend.
From within the office, Tsunade and Naruto were having a shouting match. Genma shook his head and grinned down at Gaara. "That's going to take some time. That's why I didn't let you in. I'm going to grab something to drink from the lounge. Why don't you come along? I think I saw a box of dangos."
Gaara blushed a bit more then nodded, tucking the toffee in his pocket and following Genma while Naruto and Tsunade in the office apparently commenced to throwing things at each other.
XXX
Gaara remained sitting in the chair by the window, the setting sun warming his back while he stared at the dango stick in his hand. Genma had gone half an hour ago when Raidou called for help from the hallway. Naruto and Tsunade – due to their fond relationship with each other – have moved on to using the Hokage's office as a battle arena.
Gaara inhaled deeply and fished for the letter in one of his pockets with his vacant hand. He tore the corner open and took out the folded paper, flipped it open with a flick of his wrist and the read the letter. Green eyes moved in sync with the letters on the paper, absorbing the words – the order. A tug became present in Gaara's chest as he clearly did not want to obey the order written on the paper. Although it sounded like a request, Gaara knew that Temari was just being nice and considerate to her 'little brother'.
The door burst open and Raidou stomped in, rubbing his shoulder blade. The scarred man gave Gaara a wave with two fingers as he peered in to the dango box on the table – the one where Gaara got his from – and took the last stick. Gaara tucked the letter away in his pocket and resumed to staring at his dango stick, feeling very down from the contents of his letter. It was selfish to assume that he could stay in Konoha for he knew that sooner or later he was going to have to leave soon.
Just when he was finding friends and understanding a bit about love.
"You took the last stick!" Genma said accusingly at Raidou, who was sitting on one of the leather chairs and chewing. Raidou merely shrugged and stuffed the last dango ball in to his mouth while his fingers twirled the stick. Gaara lifted his gaze to stare at the two Jounins.
While watching them, Gaara wondered. He heard about these two from Naruto and how strong they are. He also heard from the blonde that they were very close friends. Gaara knew for a fact that ninjas put their lives on the line every time they leave the village for a mission. Staring at the two Jounins, Gaara felt admiration build up due to the idea that the two Jounins lived up to their current age. Raidou was a nice guy who had the decency to actually acknowledge his presence. Gaara decided that he loved Raidou too.
As Gaara continued to scrutinize the two elders in the room with him, he began to wonder if he'll ever have someone as close as Genma had Raidou and vice versa. Gaara's non-existent brows drew together, his gaze dropping from the two Jounins to the dango stick that he now held with two hands. From afar, he looked like a lost child, sad and wondering where else to go. Gaara was getting lost in his thoughts again when Naruto appeared by the doorway.
"Oi! Gaara! Let's go home! Iruka-sensei is going to make us dinner! Last one to the door clears the table! Hurry up!" Naruto was waving a hand that held his forehead protector while the other hand rubbed his red forehead. To Naruto, anything simple was a game of fun. Naturally, Naruto didn't wait for Gaara but made a wild dash for the street towards his apartment.
Raidou shook his head. "They nearly took the wall this time. Hokage-sama and Naruto." Genma replied with a nod.
Gaara, seeing Naruto run out of the gates from the window, hopped down from his chair and walked towards the door, pausing yet again to look at the dango stick in his hand. Something Naruto said popped in to his mind while he stared at the three colored sugar coated sweet balls.
"Here." Naruto pushed his own bowl of ramen to Gaara since the other boy had none while he waited under the roof of the Ichiraku stand for his two elder siblings to appear.
Gaara stared at the bowl. It was half eaten with a few pieces of barbequed pork on the side. "Why?" Gaara knew of Naruto's love for ramen.
Naruto shrugged. "You must be hungry. You don't look like you have any cash on you at the moment. Your big sister probably handles it eh?" Gaara nodded. "Anyway, Iruka-sensei said I should share."
"Share?" Gaara blinked.
"You know, giving half of something to someone you care about? Love? Friend? Admire?"
"Oh." Gaara stared at the bowl.
"I know how it feels to not have anyone share with you." Naruto threw his arms behind his head and grinned. "That's why I try my best to share! Sharing is important!"
The memory made Gaara pick one of the dango balls off the stick and toss it in to his mouth. He then broke the stick in two so that the remaining dango balls were on a stick of its own. Gaara took quiet steps towards Raidou and Genma, both Jounins looking at him after Naruto's announcement. Green eyes stared at both Jounins before Gaara held his hand out to the two elders.
"Gaara." Genma mumbled, eyeing the offered dango piece. Raidou was equally stunned, not sure if he should take it or what to do for that matter. One side of Gaara's cheeks was puffed out due to the dango ball that he had yet to chew and swallow. Gaara took a step closer, holding the two dango balls closer to the Jounins.
"Ah! Thank you!" Raidou smiled a bit, taking one of the offered dangos and chucking it in to his mouth. "That's nice of you Gaara."
"Yeah." Genma nodded and bent so that he was within Gaara's eyelevel. "Really nice of you." Genma tapped Gaara's cheek and smiled.
Gaara dipped his head low, a slight curl of his lips appearing as he walked away from the Jounins, closing the door quietly behind him. He knew he'd end up doing the dishes anyway, but all the same, so as not to disappoint Naruto for not taking his game seriously, Gaara hurried across Konoha towards the apartment that he would soon be leaving.
XXX
Iruka headed back for his classroom after bumping in to Naruto in the hallway. Naruto was tossed out of the Hokage's room, with the busty woman pointing and lecturing Naruto about impudence before she caught sight of Iruka staring at her with wide eyes. After that, she warned Naruto that 'she would have his neck' if he dared cause any more trouble. The door was slammed and Naruto was left rubbing his sore and red forehead from Tsunade's infamous finger-flick, forehead protector in his hand. Iruka knew that Tsunade wasn't serious about her threats for she was affectionate of Naruto. Instead, he smiled, told Naruto that he'd prepare dinner and not to cause anymore trouble.
Iruka placed his box of chalk and board duster inside the drawer of his desk before clearing up unwanted papers. Things he didn't want were tossed to the bin in the corner of the room, not one going out of course. Papers that he needed were sorted in order and placed in a neat stack. Making sure that everything was in order, Iruka toed his last drawer open to place the papers in it, a dried red rose catching his eye. Iruka gazed upon the dried flower intently, pile of papers in his hands.
Iruka wondered about Kakashi's reason for giving him that flower. The man, much to his surprise, avoided bumping in to Gaara and Naruto when the duo were together. The Jounin also stopped – and this surprised Iruka the most – making lewd comments about how he was just making sure of Iruka's safety because he did not trust Gaara. A few days have passed since Kakashi gave him the rose that now sat in his bottom drawer, dried but still whole. Just remembering it was enough to make Iruka's face burn scarlet.
"Silly." Iruka mumbled and toed the drawer further open to place the papers in its deeper thresholds. He bent down next to the drawer to make sure none of the papers were crumpled while he set them inside until he heard the door slide open and close. Iruka glanced up to find Kakashi standing there, hands in his pockets.
"Yo!" Kakashi said, seemingly smiling under the mask.
Iruka, much to his chagrin, felt his face warm up and his ears burn at the mere presence of the Jounin. Iruka quickly dropped his gaze to the drawer and the papers he was fixing to hide the blush. "Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka wondered why the Jounin came.
"You busy, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked, still smiling.
"Just preparing to leave." Iruka said, pushing the drawer shut.
"Any plans?" Kakashi asked, shoulders slouched a bit further than normal, a sign that he was over worked from missions.
"I promised to make dinner for the boys." Iruka fixed his chair under the table and checked that he had his personal belongings in his pockets.
"Ah." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "I was going to ask you if you would join me for dinner tonight."
Iruka paused in mid-pat for his pant pocket and just stared at Kakashi. Iruka raised an eyebrow at Kakashi slowly, his cheeks coloring a bit more. "That's very nice of you, Kakashi-sensei."
"I'll just take a rain check then." Kakashi shrugged.
Iruka brought an arm to wrap around his waist, still looking at Kakashi standing but a few feet away. "You're welcome to join us for dinner."
"And eat Iruka-sensei's cooking?" Kakashi asked, voice teasing.
"Or you can just go home and rest, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka said, face a nice shade of red. "You look exhausted."
"The complicated life of a ninja." Kakashi shrugged, and shoved his hands deeper in his pant pockets. "Don't mind if I do."
"No." Iruka smiled at Kakashi. "I don't mind at all."
They both left the Academy building. Kakashi followed Iruka to the market to buy some supplies for dinner and helped the Chuunin carry the heavy bags back to Naruto's apartment.
XXX
Naruto was sitting on the couch, staring blankly at a rerun of one of the drama-soap episodes he watched in his free time. Gaara was sitting beside him, staring at the evening skies outside.
"Naruto?"
"Yeah?" Naruto tore his gaze off the television to look at Gaara.
"They treated you badly, didn't they?" Gaara asked, still staring outside the window.
Whatever hint of happiness that was on Naruto's face a few seconds ago was quickly wiped out as memories from his younger years surfaced. "That was a long time ago."
"Did you think of leaving?" Gaara turned his gaze from the skies to the mountains with the Hokage's faces.
"Yeah. A few times." Naruto sank deeper in to his chair. "But then I thought, what the heck? If these people won't acknowledge me, then I'll make them. Back then, I didn't know about Kyuubi. But when I finally did, I already had Iruka-sensei. Later on I had Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and Sasuke. There were also the others from our graduated genin batch. Somehow, they understood me and my feelings."
Gaara's eyes filled with sadness. What was it like to have friends at that age? To play with and not betray you? Was it nice? Was it warm? "I see."
"But even with them at my side, there's still the whole village that sees me as a monster. And I don't really have a real family. So I made a promise to myself." Naruto said, the last sentence laced with vigor and great determination. Gaara turned to look in to burning blue eyes; the grin on Naruto's face could have illuminated any sad person's feelings. "I'm going to do my best and work really hard so that I can be respected by everyone in the village! My path has always been a very sad one. But I'm going to do my best to change that because I know I can! I'll have everyone in the village acknowledge me and I'll protect everyone with all my strength so that they won't see me as Kyuubi but as a great ninja." Naruto balled his fist, smile growing bigger. "That's why my dream is to be the greatest Hokage!" Gaara stared at Naruto who then laughed as he rubbed the back of his head. Gaara felt warmth somehow creep up inside him, awakening a few things that he thought never existed. Naruto's smile softened. "You can change your path too if you work really hard."
Gaara stared some more, lips slowly curling up to a smile. "Yes." He agreed. Naruto was special in a way that he can make anyone believe the most difficult things were actually easy to achieve. Gaara decided that he will heed Temari's words in her letter and leave. Yet a sadness settled in his heart so great as he came to that firm decision. He opened his mouth to tell Naruto about the letter but a knock came from the door. "I'll get it." Gaara said, the smile vanishing as if it weren't even there in the first place.
Gaara pulled the door open and looked up to stare at Iruka's smiling face, who was carrying a paper bag in his arms. "Gaara! How are you?"
Gaara nodded in reply and pulled the door open wider for Iruka to step in. He caught sight of Kakashi carrying two bags in his arms following the Chuunin. Almost immediately, Gaara looked away. He decided not to give Kakashi room to make comments about his presence or make him feel unwanted. Kakashi gave Gaara one look then proceeded to step in to the house, guard up.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto bounded from the living room towards the doorway and threw Iruka a hug around the waist. Iruka managed to maintain his balance and still keep a firm hold of the paper bag in his arms.
"Ah! Naruto!" Iruka smiled.
"Eh? Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto turned to look at the Jounin. "What are you doing with Iruka-sensei?"
"Hello to you to Naruto." Kakashi mumbled in a bored fashion.
"He's going to have dinner with us." Iruka said, and caught the unsure gaze Naruto was throwing Kakashi and Gaara. "Everything should be fine." Iruka assured Naruto. "Okay, you three go sit in the living room while I get dinner ready. Behave." Iruka turned to give Kakashi a threatening and dark look, to which Kakashi merely blinked and chuckled sheepishly.
Naruto took the bags from Kakashi and followed Iruka to the kitchen. Kakashi turned to look at Gaara, who merely walked away towards the living room. Gaara could hear Naruto sing out 'Iruka-sensei is making curry!' in the kitchen while Iruka tried to shoo him out. Gaara suddenly did not want to leave Konoha after all. Sure, there were people who were still a bit off towards him – one of them who was now sitting beside him on the couch – but at least, in Konoha, he had people he can love, people who were nice like Naruto, Iruka, Genma and now Raidou. Back in the Sand village, he didn't really have anyone he can just sit with and not have the second party shiver in fear from his mere presence or emit intents of killing and hatred. Gaara balled his fists on his knees, staring at the floor, non-existent brows drawing close.
Naruto dropped on the couch in between Gaara and Kakashi, Iruka successfully managing to shoo him out. "Iruka-sensei is making curry!" Gaara found himself nodding in response to the blonde's cheerfulness.
Sure enough, roughly an hour later, Iruka asked both boys to set the table for dinner. Gaara did as he was told, placing four bowls on each side of Naruto's dining table while Naruto fixed the plates and chopsticks. Kakashi remained lazy and read his book while Naruto whined at the Jounin's behavior. It was only when Iruka emerged from the kitchen with a serving dish of curry in his hands did Kakashi move from his reading position to join the three at the table, book tucked away.
"Let's eat!" Naruto said happily and grabbed his chopsticks, tucking in to his bowl of rice and curry. "Iruka-sensei makes the best curry!"
Kakashi stared at the warm and inviting food and he too began to eat. It surprised the Jounin that none of the three even bothered to try to steal a glance of his face because Iruka was busy laughing at Naruto's tales of their Chuunin field practice earlier while Gaara poured tobacco sauce on his rice. Kakashi ate his food, reached out for seconds then proceeded to just sit on his chair, eyes on Gaara. The red head didn't look like he was listening to Naruto but lost in his own thoughts as he cleared his bowl of rice clean. Gaara was getting more depressed by the second as he reminded himself of his decision to go back.
It was only when sand snaked out of the extra room in Naruto's apartment and gathered around the little table did Kakashi put himself on full alert. Naruto abruptly stopped speaking to glance under his feet then look at Gaara, Iruka doing the same.
"What's going on?" Naruto mumbled looking at the floor again then back at Gaara, who was gripping his chopsticks hard enough to snap it to two halves. Kakashi was on his feet, hand ready to grab the kunai from the holster around his thigh. "Oi Gaara!"
"Don't drop your guard." Kakashi warned.
Iruka immediately whipped his head to glare at the Jounin. "Kakashi!" He scolded, clearly unimpressed by the Jounin's words. Iruka's gaze basically said I'll-deal-with-you-later before turning worried brown eyes at the red head who clearly seemed unaware of the sand's gathering. "Gaara?" Iruka asked softly.
Gaara blinked from his thoughts and looked up. Then he noticed the sand and how everyone was already done eating. His own plate was empty too. "Yes, Iruka-sensei?" The sand retreated back to the gourd in the room Naruto let him use.
"Are you okay?" Iruka asked, a look of concern and genuine fondness in the Chuunin's expression.
Something inside Gaara just snapped and a dam was broken as he realized that if he left, he will never get an honest look like that again. Gaara nodded, pushing his chair back and gathering his plates. "Yes, Iruka-sensei." Gaara could see his hands tremble as he began to pile the plates on top of the other quickly. "I'll clear up."
"Gaara you don't really have to. We'll all clear up." Iruka said, glaring at Kakashi, a look that meant that yes, even Jounins are expected to help.
"No." Gaara shook his head, keeping his eyes on the table and plates.
"Gaara – " Iruka tried to reason.
"I'll clear up." Gaara insisted and quickly carried the piled plates to the kitchen. He felt his arms tremble from an intense emotion bubbling up inside him. He set the plates in the sink, nearly dropping them due to his unsteady grip.
"I'll do the dishes." Naruto said, appearing beside him. "You don't look too good. Go sit down." Gaara shook his head. "Go." Naruto pressed, concern in the blonde's voice. "You can go to your room if you want."
Gaara nodded quietly and washed his hands that were shaking more visibly. He dried them with the kitchen towel and made his way outside the kitchen. He mumbled a quiet thank you to Iruka before heading directly for his temporary room. Gaara closed the door and sat in the corner beside his gourd and traveling bag he came to Konoha with. He pulled out the toffee from his pocket that Genma gave him earlier and placed it in front of him. He then opened his bag and took out his belongings, arranging them properly. It was the last two things that made him hesitate in closing the bag, rendering it ready for traveling. Gaara stared at the small finger puppet Naruto gave him along with the toffee Genma gave earlier. The finger puppet was given to him when Naruto got two for free at some restaurant during a time when Naruto bought some snacks after Chuunin training. Staring at both toffee and the raccoon finger puppet, Gaara felt the dam break away some more, his insides constricting. A hand came to rest upon the area of his heart that was beating too fast. The sand in his gourd shifted then remained still.
A knock startled Gaara from his thoughts. "Gaara? Can I come in?" Iruka's voice sounded.
"Yes." Gaara replied as the door opened and light flooded the room from the small hallway outside.
"Can I switch on the lights?" Iruka asked, holding something behind him. Gaara nodded in reply. Iruka smiled as he flicked light switch on, closing the door behind him. Gaara turned to look at Iruka, the toffee and finger puppet held tightly in his palm. Iruka knelt a few feet away from Gaara. "I bought something for you." Gaara blinked, tilting his head to one side in question. "Here." Iruka thrust a book of folk legends towards Gaara. "I figured you might like it. It's got folk tales from all the countries. Also, it's not boring to read over and over again. Good for nights when you can't sleep." Gaara stared at the book then back up at Iruka. "I saw it in the store and I thought about you."
Gaara reached out and took the book with his trembling hand. Because of his shaking fingers, the grip on the book wasn't very good and it felt on the floor face open, some of the pages folding and crumpling. "Sorry. I messed up." Gaara mumbled, quickly reaching for book to smooth the pages. Whatever that was left of Gaara's inner control broke free as he continued to smooth the crumpled pages of the book. His brows knitted together while his lips trembled. His cheeks tainted a dark red as green eyes started to shine like clean glass.
Iruka was confused and started to worry at the boy's reaction. "You okay?"
"I'm fine." Gaara said a bit too forcefully as he brought an arm up to wipe at his eyes with his sleeves before continuing to smooth the pages. "I'm fine. I'll fix the pages. I'll make it smooth again!" He said, voice a bit too frantic and shaky.
Iruka stiffened, voice rising in alarm. "Gaara, it's okay. Don't worry. The pages didn't tear."
"I'll fix it!" Gaara said, wiping at his eyes again as large drops of tears gathered and trickled down his flushed cheeks. "I'll fix it! I'll fix it so I can read it!"
"Gaara, are you okay? What's wrong?" Iruka said, moving closer.
Gaara gripped the finger puppet, toffee and book tighter, his shoulders now shaking. "I'm fine. I'm fine." He said, not able to breathe properly because of his constricted throat. "I'm fine!" Gaara's fingers turned lax around the grip on the objects he held, causing them to fall on the smooth wooden floors. Pale shaking hands came up to his face, a loud agonized cry escaping past his throat as he bowed forward. Tears fell down faster as Gaara cried as hard as he can.
TBC
I know where this is going, so nya! Patience. I know what I'm doing. I feel bad making Gaara like that. But yes.
More KakaIru action next chapter. I've focused on Gaara here. I'm trying to tug this story to the canon-story though this is still AU. But well …
Review? Me a review-gluttonous person. Feed me! (sheepish laugh) No really, tell me what you think.
Pardon mistakes. I may have dodged a few.