Title: Love will conquer pain

Author: Coriander

Rating: PG-13

AN: Here's the new chapter. Hope you guys like it!

Sasuke kept stealing glances at Naruto. Had anyone noticed it, they would have been surprise, but in fact, it wasn't an unusual thing. Sasuke was always watching Naruto.

At first, he'd watched him because he had been curious as to why everyone seemed to hate him so much. After all, people didn't hate children for no reason. For the most part, Naruto was a quiet child, always seemed to be looking for someone to take care of him, but no one ever did. He's seen him fall and scrap his knee, cry, and still everyone just ignored him, or worst, sneered at him. Sasuke had stayed away like everyone else, but still wondered. Then one day, Naruto changed. He no longer cried or stayed quiet.

He became loud and annoying, played tricks on people and didn't apologize for it. Sasuke didn't understand it, for he was still very young, but he decided that maybe the adult had foreseen that Naruto would become a trouble maker, and put it out of his mind. He stopped paying attention for a while, except for when Naruto was being annoying, and then just sneered and called him names, before going back to ignoring him again.

And then the time came when they were put into groups together. At first he was greatly annoyed. He felt that being put in a group with the biggest loser in ninja history could do nothing but hinder his training and potentially put his life in danger. But then Naruto begun showing a side of him that Sasuke would have never expected. Naruto was loyal to a fault, and would do anything to protect
those in need.

So Sasuke began watching him again. He'd always thought that Naruto was an idiot, and in a way he was. Naruto was not very smart when it came to book learning. But that wasn't necessarily his fault. After all, his professors never put much of an effort in teaching him anything. Now that he thought about it, he was surprise that Naruto made it as far as he did, considering how little guidance he received as a child. Sasuke thought back to when Naruto was a child and realized something. Naruto's change of behavior had been his way of attracting some kind of attention from others. He couldn't get their attention and recognition with his tears and his outreached hand, so he would get it by being annoying. It may be negative attention, but he wasn't going to be picky.

From then on, Sasuke became obsessed with getting to know the real Naruto. For whatever reason, he couldn't bring himself to just befriend the boy and just ask him about it. Part of him knew that Naruto was starving for affection and would accept friendship wherever he could get it, but something was holding him back. So he relied on his ninja's skills and Naruto's obliviousness to spy on him. After quite a few years, he could tell the difference between true happiness and the fake cheer that Naruto was so fond of. The true happiness was very rare in Naruto and only occurred when someone was unexpectedly nice to him (which wasn't very often) and when he achieved something that he was really proud of. When he passed his genin exams, and when he'd master his trademark jutsu where the happiest he's ever seen him.

In his spying sessions he's found out a lot. Such as, Naruto wasn't half as energetic when he was alone. He's seen him struggle to keep the tears at bay, and scold himself when he failed. He also found out about the kyuubi. Naruto talked to it a lot. He wasn't sure but he thought that the kyuubi and Naruto actually communicated in his head. And from Naruto's side of the conversations, their relationship has gone from tolerance to friendship over the years.
Sasuke realized that the Kyuubi was responsible for Naruto's ostracized state, but couldn't understand it. Shouldn't the people of the village be nice to Naruto? Thank him for keeping the Kyuubi away, and keep Naruto happy so that he continues to do so? Sasuke wasn't sure that he would still be fighting so hard to keep this village safe if he had been put through all of this. This went to further in
proving the fact that Naruto was a better man than most. He would make a great hokage if the village ever gave him a chance.

During the past year or so, Sasuke noticed an interesting development. Ever since Gaara moved in with Naruto, he seemed to be more, content. Calmer somehow. Sasuke hadn't been sure that putting Gaara and Naruto together would be such a good either, but it seemed as though the Hokage knew what she was doing after all. It was as though Naruto no longer felt the need to fight for everyone else's acknowledgment. Gaara accepted him for who he was, and that's all that mattered. He was actually happy for once, not just faking cheer. And although he was still pretty oblivious, Sasuke could no longer spy on him as much as he used to, because he and Gaara were attached at the hip, and Gaara was not the least bit oblivious.

He couldn't understand it. He had admitted to himself long ago that Naruto was pretty much his best friend, and thought that he would be happy when Naruto finally found what he was looking for, and became truly happy. He hadn't expected it to come in this particular form, but it didn't explain the tightness he felt around his heart whenever he saw him and Gaara together. Gaara seemed to really dislike him for some reason though. Whenever he was caught staring at Naruto, Gaara would glare at him, and pull Naruto closer to him. Naruto didn't know this, but there seemed to be some kind of cold war between Gaara and Sasuke. Well to be fair, he was aware of it, but he thought it was just general dislike, and nothing more.

Right now, they were picking the herbs close to each other, and Naruto would still kisses from him whenever he thought no one was looking. Gaara knew perfectly well that Sasuke was watching them, but he let it happen. At one point Gaara caught his eye, and threw him a smug look, before deepening the light kiss Naruto had just been giving him. When he finally let him go, Naruto was
panting and looked a bit dazed, with a goofy grin on his face. Naruto said something, and Gaara blushed. He looked at Sasuke again to see if he'd seen him blushing, blushed harder and turned away frowning. Naruto was laughing and gave him a quick hug before going back to picking herbs. The whole thing would have been terribly cute to anyone else but Sasuke.

Sasuke kept telling himself that he was happy for Naruto, but he couldn't stop himself from glaring at Gaara, and couldn't explain why he felt like crying over a lost.

AN: Sorry about the delay, but I kept having to rewrite this chapter. I'm not sure I love it, it's more descriptive than anything, but I think it was necessary. I hope everyone is enjoying the story, and I'll try to update faster next time. I love reviews, so please do so? thankies! Ja.