"You want me to pose as the demons leader." Gaara finished for him, nodding. "Sunset tonight, correct?" Naruto nodded, smiling gratefully.
"Thanks- and come alone, no guards or anything, okay?" Gaara nodded again.
"Why don't you just tell him that you are the leader- that you're a demon?" Gaara asked. Naruto shook his head violently.
"I can't do that! He'd hate me for sure..." Gaara stared at him calmly.
"You have to tell him sometime." Gaara said. Naruto nodded, looking at the ground.
"I will, okay? In my own time, I swear I will." Naruto said.
Gaara glanced back in the direction of the gate.
"Yami's probably waiting for me." he muttered out loud. Naruto smiled.
"So that's her? The one you mentioned when we talked at the hospital?" Naruto said, recalling when Gaara had first revealed that he knew about Naruto's desire to have Sasuke for a mate. Gaara nodded slowly, still staring off into the distence.
"She doesn't know yet, though, does she?" Naruto asked, sounding slightly smug.
"No, she doesn't. I'll tell her when I'm ready." Gaara said. He looked back at his friend.
"Sunset, right?" Naruto nodded
"Thank you, Gaara."
Yami watched the two men talk, unable to hear anything that was said.
She was extremely curious about the man that had arrived minutes earlier, but truth be told her eyes lingered more on her partner than on the man he was speaking to.
She had harbored a secret attraction to Gaara for a while now- not since she had first seen him, but she had gotten to know him a bit better while they had been patrolling and had liked what she had heard.
To her surprise, Gaara suddenly glanced back over at her. She quickly averted her eyes and went back to watching the road and the surrounding desert for anyone approaching.
She had no clue what it was about Gaara that made him so... likeable. She had heard many women in the village say that he was kind of creepy- he never seemed to get badly hurt in any of the battles, and he rarely had a scratch on him. Some said that he was in league with the demons. Of course, she also knew that many of the village men were jealous because Gaara kept stealing their spouses attention.
Suddenly, Gaara was standing beside her again. She blinked, surprised, but quickly collected herself.
"Who was he? What did he want?" she asked. Gaara just looked at her seriously, still half-debating on whether or not to tell her more information.
"He's a friend of mine. He really needs my help with something tonight, so I have to leave a little while before our shift ends. Don't mention him or his visit to anyone, understand?" Yami nodded, frowning slightly when she realized that he had dodged the questions.
"Does your friend have a name? What does he need help with?" she asked.
"He has a name." Gaara said, using the tone he used to end an arguement. Yami knew how to take a hint and quit asking questions. When Gaara took off a half hour before sunset, she didn't say a word.
'Good luck with whatever it is, Gaara.' Yami thought. Something told her that this 'thing' Gaara's friend needed help with would be dangerous.
Once Gaara was safely out of range of either of the villages, he turned back to his demon form and ran the rest of the way to Konoha. He arrived just as the sun set, painting the landscape beautifully. There were quite a few nin waiting for him at the gates, some with weapons drawn even!
A tall man with black hair and black eyes stood at the front of the crowd, looking determined but cautious- even protective, like he was determined to protect Konoha at all costs.
Gaara nearly smirked when he saw Naruto behind the dark-haired man. Naruto was trying to act like he was just as afraid of Gaara as everyone else- and he was failing miserably. Naruto lightly smiled at Gaara, thanking him silently for coming.
"The Hokage, I presume." Gaara said, shifting his gaze to the dark-haired male. He nodded.
"General of the demon army, correct?" Sasuke said icily. Gaara almost shot a look of disbelief at Naruto. This was the man that Naruto desired? He was almost Naruto's complete opposite, going by voice and appearence alone!
"Correct. Call me Shukaku." Gaara said. "Let's get this over with." He was anxious to be back at the Sand.
Sasuke nodded.
"Your side asked for peace talks- does this mean you forfeit?" Gaara glanced carefully at Naruto, who nodded just enough so that Gaara's demon eyes could catch it.
"Yes." Gaara said. Sasuke nodded.
"Name your demands, then. What do you want out of this?" Gaara glanced at Naruto again, who looked almost panicky. Apparently, he hadn't given any thought as to what he wanted after the demon's forfeit.
"It's usually the winners who name demands. What do you want from us?" Gaara said, amused. Naruto shot him a look of relief, which he pretended to ignore.
"Stop attacking humans, first of all. Help rebuilding our cities and towns if needed. We want this war over, and we want it over today." Sasuke said. Gaara began to nod, but a faint sound caught his attention. It sounded like someone was crashing through the nearby forest...
He turned his head, hearing the sound again.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked, turning to look as well. Gaara noticed most of the humans turning- Naruto among them. When Gaara realized what was going on, as the first screams sounded, he was shocked.
'So that's why they never complained.' he thought, dazed, as the bulk of the demon army ran into the open area in front of the gates. 'They never intended to go along with it.'
"Die!"
"Death to the humans!"
"Stupid humans, invading our land!" The battle cry rose, spreading through the ranks as the demons mercilessly began their attack, slashing down at any human close by. Gaara just stared for a second, but then reacted after seeing the Hokage shoot him a betrayed look and Naruto give him a panicked one, prepared to jump in.
"What are you doing!" Gaara roared, yelling above the scared screams of the wounded nin- none were dead from the short-lived attack. Everything seemed to stop with Gaara's shout.
"Traitor! It was your plan all along, wasn't it, Shukaku? You influenced Kyuubi to make this happen! Traitor, traitor!" they shrieked, advancing on Shukaku. The humans were temporarily forgotten- many scrambled and tried to find a safe place..
"Kyuubi told you to honor the peace talks, not attack in the middle." Gaara growled, glaring at his subordinates. "Leave, now. I'll deal with you as soon as we finali-" He never got a chance to finish. A demon swiped across his face, leaving deep gashes.
"Death to the humans!" the demon yelled, quickly turning to the other demons. "Kill them all!" The demons yelled happily, springing at several groups of battle-ready nin.
The demon that had spoken turned back to Gaara.
"Where is Kyuubi? We'll take him back from your pathetic, human-loving ways!" Gaara growled and leapt, ripping out the throat of the demon. Spitting the leftover flesh out, Gaara leapt into the fray, killing his ex-subordinates.
'Damn... did some of them attack Sand!'
This thought distracted him long enough for one of his subrdinates- one with strangely green claws- to rip into his chest. Gaara roared, seeing red. Half-mad, he tore through most of the demon army before racing towards the Sand.
'Damnit Yami- please be okay.'
Naruto watched in a strange trance. He had thought...
'Well, I was wrong.' he thought coldly. He should have suspected something when they had all agreed so quickly... but he had dismissed it.
"Look out!" Naruto blinked as something heavy collided with him, knocking him down as a demon sprang at where his head would have been.
The person that had leapt in to protect him, however, wasn't so lucky. He heard the person grunt in pain as the demon struck downwards.
"You okay!" Naruto asked quickly, sitting up and laying the person down. He recognized this one as one of Sakura's friends- Shikamaru, he thought. The shadow-user nodded.
"We have to stick together- watch your back." Shikamaru warned, then ran off to assist another man who was fighting off demons to protect some of the wounded- Shino, Naruto recalled.
Naruto drew a kunai from the pouch at his leg and killed the demon that was only now coming back to attack again. Now that the shock had worn off, he was livid. How dare they..?
How dare they!
He glanced around for Sasuke, wanting to get him out of the way before the shit hit the fan. He spied him in the middle of a group of demons. Swearing, he took off. He occassionally slashed at a demon or two on his way, but he knew he had to hurry.
He was feet from the group when a demon knocked Sasuke to the ground. Naruto sprinted and tackled the demon out of the way before the demon could follow-up with decapitating Sasuke.
The demon growled at him, then prepared to spring.
"This has to stop, and it has to stop now." Naruto said, standing in front of Sasuke protectively, not caring what the Uchiha heard.
"Who are you to tell us what to do-" a demon began, but Naruto cut him off.
"You know damn well my orders were for you to obey the peace talks! When you told me to lead, you knew I didn't want to but swore that you'd follow me. Since you began this battle, my term as general isn't over, and I command you to stop." Naruto said. The demons stared in shock, realization dawning.
"Kyuubi... sama?" they said. Naruto glared at them pointedly before glancing out over the battlefield. Demons were attacking everything- some were even trying to crush the very buildings of Konoha. He had precious seconds before he had to end this so no permenant damage was done.
"Sasuke." Naruto said quietly, not looking at the dark-haired Hokage on the ground behind him. "You wanted to know who 'Naruto' was, didn't you? You asked back at the hospital..." Naruto heard rather than saw Sasuke nod.
"You're about to find out." That said, Naruto relinquished his human form for that of his demon self- Kyuubi.
Kyuubi shut his eyes tight before leaping into the fray to stop the madness of his men.
'Even if he hates me for this... even if I am never again allowed near him...'
He opened his eyes.
'I will protect him.'
Sorry sorry sorry! I tried to get this one out on time, but the beginning of the battle scene was so confusing I had to rewrite it. I'm still not happy with it, but I decided you guys have waited patiently enough... It just didn't want to be written!
If it's not clear enough, please let me know so I can do a recap at the beginning of next chapter. See you next week! Thanks for all the reviews!