Chapter 11: The Fear part 1

"When is Sasuke's team supposed to get back?" Naruto asked, sitting casually on the lobby sofa next to Gaara who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, he hadn't said anything in the last few hours, but that wasn't completely unusual.

"Worried?" Iruka didn't look up when he spoke, he was too busy looking over papers since nearly every form or piece of paper work came through him for overview. And he got the final decision on most things, but that didn't mean much most of the time since if some one wanted to do something bad enough they usually did it. Iruka just had to make sure everything in general was in order, which was becoming increasingly harder with the recent events.

"Not really, I just want to know what it was." Naruto said with a shrug.

"Well, they came back about 10 minutes ago."

"What! How did I miss them, I was sitting right here." Naruto was obviously surprised they'd managed to get past him. "I" Naruto stopped talking, looking slowly up towards Gaara. He knew something was different the moment it started, Gaara's eyes were slowly closeting, his body was becoming looser...and then he just fell, landing on the sofa next to Naruto, completely asleep.

Iruka looked up in surprise, "What happened!"

"That's starting to happen a lot now, he just falls asleep at the weirdest times..." Naruto stood up over Gaara's sleeping form.

"Wow, that kid just can't seem to get it right."

Naruto jumped when he heard Kakashi's voice, he quickly turned around to find the man standing there, reading his book with the same bored expression on his face. "Damnit, don't do that!" Naruto yelled, pointing an angry finger at him "You scared the hell out of me!"

"First he can't sleep at all, now he's just falling asleep uncontrollably...Doesn't he have an in-between." Kakashi's bored voice carried a serous tone this time, he was visibly concerned about it.

"Yeah..." Naruto nodded. "Something's wrong...I gotta find out what it is." He sighed softly as he stared down at Gaara with a concentration now, he was going to figure this out, he had too. All he could think about is how this might not just be a Gaara thing, it was possible that this wasn't a problem since Gaara...was Gaara after all and he'd stop doing this eventually. But he knew it wasn't likely, being asleep was about halfway to being dead...

! - ! - !

"Ow! Ow!" Kiba yelled, sitting in a chair wearing only his boxers, squirming as Neji cleaned his wounds, particularly the one on his shoulder. His arms were already sterilized and bandaged, and the large claw marks across his chest also, he also had bandages around his head and under his chin, and around his neck. An IV with blood sat next to him, he'd lost a lot of it during the fight, the fact is that he shouldn't have been sitting, he should have been laying.

"Stop moving." Neji said, picking up a towel off of the table in the very back of the library where his study resided. He was right next to his bed, and if Kiba wasn't so stubborn then that's where he would have been in. "You'll just make it worse."

"I'd like to see you sit still, and what hell are you pouring on me, acid?" Kiba groaned, this time he grabbed on to the bottom of the chair and held himself down. Neji was sitting on his lap, facing Kiba, while he worked, and it also helped keep him moving around and jumping out of his seat.

"Peroxide, Chakra and Alcohol." Neji told him, setting the bottle down and reaching for the roll of bandages while he wiped off more blood before applying them. "See...It didn't take that long."

"Speak for yourself." Kiba grunted, letting out a breath he'd been holding in during the whole process. "So are you sure nothing's going to happen to me? It got bitten and scratched, the thing even licked me, that has to count for something."

"If anything happens it's probably just the Placebo effect because you keep worrying about it."

"I love it when you say words I can't understand."

Neji gave him a chastising look, "If it make's you feel better then I'll check around and make sure. Ok?"

Kiba nodded "Yeah, that works."

Naruto's voice rang out from the door outside of his room, "Hey Neji!" With in a few seconds he emerging from the library, and immediately gave the two a once over look since Neji was still sitting on Kiba's lap...and Kiba was practically wearing nothing. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Yes." Kiba nodded.

Neji shook his head pulled himself off of Kiba "No."

"Aww, Why not?"

"Not until you heal." Neji said, despite of Kiba's opposition he slid one arm under his legs, the other around his back and scoped him up. Laying Kiba carefully into his bed and pulling the covers over him. "Get some rest, your condition should stabilize soon enough."

Kiba just gave a shrug, "Oww..." Each movement he made seemed to disturbed an injured part of his body, it made him think twice about moving. "Ok."

Neji led Naruto out of his room and back in to the library, closing the door softly, then leaning against it and folding his arms. "So what do you want?"

"It's Gaara." He said, "I think something's really wrong with him."

"Like what?" Neji asked.

Naruto sighed when he was forced to think of it. "Well...at first he said he was having dreams where he accidentally killed me...then ones when he intently killed me, at first I thought it was nothing because it was Gaara. But then he started trying to kill me while he was asleep and he can't control himself...It's not strange that he's trying to kill me...well it is but it's strange how he always finds me."

"Always finds you?"

Naruto nodded "I hid one time just to see what would happen and he still found me, and you can tell he's really asleep because every time he get's injured going after a demon he snores a little."

"..."

"And on top of that he just falls asleep in the middle of the day. One minute he's fine, but the next minute he's just out with out a warning."

Neji lifted his hand to his chin as he usually did when he thought, he wasn't sure what to make of this. "When he falls asleep, how long dose he usually stay unconscious?"

"Sometimes it's a few minutes, at the most 15."

"Hmm...Maybe it's Shukaku controlling him." Neji said.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe...but he told me their was another demon inside of him, I don't think it's Shukaku..."

"Are you sure, Shukaku is said to eat away at his host when they are sleeping, and it's said that they have nightmares."

"Then he would have been having Nightmares before. It's only been happening for like 7 weeks."

Neji knew he wouldn't be able to figure this out just yet, he'd have to go look around for it. "I'll research it and see what I can come up with. I'm sure I can find something on Shukaku, but just incase all try to find some other things that may be the cause."

"I'll help you."

Neji looked over Naruto for a moment, he seemed completely serious. "Naruto? You want to help?"

"Yeah, just tell me where to start."

"...Well, this could be an infection of some sort, start at the 4th row."

! - ! - !

"What are you guys doing here?" Konohamaru asked happily, looking up at Itachi and Kisame. The three of them were in Konohamaru's room in the basement, the only place he knew no one would interrupt them. Sasuke wouldn't, he was soundly asleep upstairs.

Kisame looked around curiously, studying each fire and the Konoha forehead protector that lay under it, Especially the large one at the back of the room near Konohamaru's bed. "We had some...business to take care of at headquarters, mostly clean up and details." He said. "I heard about S.D I, never thought you'd be apart of it."

"It's D.S.I." Konohamaru said, "Or did everyone change it didn't tell me..."

"It's a mistake that everyone's going to making, syndication errors." Itachi told him, apparently their name had been lost in transcription. "Look's like you've made a name for yourself, I'm assuming that your really working for Konoha."

"Nope." Konohamaru shook his head "They told us no, but we did it any way only we couldn't let people know where we were from." hence the missing forehead protectors, and how far away their location was from the village. "But that's where all of the money is going."

"Well, you guys got away with it." Kisame shrugged, "So what the hell happened back there?"

Konohamaru sighed and looked around as if this room was new to him..."It happened just like I told you guys...the same kinda creepy stuff's been happening around here." There was obvious uneasiness in his voice when he spoke about it, Itachi and Kisame could pick it up easily.

"Whatever it was, it defiantly did a number on your Chakra. I wouldn't worry about it, probably just a regular demon, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Konohamaru was silent, he wanted to believe what Kisame was saying, but he'd seen things happen. This was not in his head. "Nah...Hey Boss, Can you train me?"

"Huh? I don't know kid, we gotta go."

"Come on, please!" Konohamaru pleaded "I need it, I haven't really gotten any good training since you guys left. Please!"

Kisame groaned in annoyment, lifting his hand to his forehead. "That's really annoying." Kisame glanced over in Itachi's direction, he was looking at him with that same passive look he always had, but Kisame knew from that look that he was really was really asking what he was going to do. And by that he meant he knew what Kisame was going to going. "Aww shut up." he snorted at Itachi, getting a smirk in response.

! - ! - !

Sasuke lay completely motionless on his bed, starring up at the ceiling with the most blank expression he'd ever held in his life. One arm lay over his forehead, just above his eyes, while the other was still beside him. 'That power...I couldn't handle it...' Sasuke thought to himself, lifting his hand that was laying beside him over in front of his eyes.

He thought back to the field, how he feet immense outward pressure that made his body feel as if it was about to burst. And how through that pain he tried to perform a fire jutsu only he failed completely on account of the pain. More specifically he remember what happened next, he saw it clearly...even more clearly because of his Sharingan. When that outward pressure started he realized that his Sharingan immediately activated on it's own, it was like seen a road map of the very networks of Chakra that created a Jutsu.

And that's what told him how to perform the technique...he'd copied it for the most part. Since he needed much more training and experience in his Sharingan he couldn't copy it completely, he could only see how it worked. And lucky for him he remembered it, and the most distinct thing he realized was how much Chakra was put into every ember of that flame. It was quite a substantial amount he still wasn't sure how he'd achieved or if he ever would again.

But he could follow the road map he'd been given, copy it, and hope to use it again with training. And most of all, he had to give a name to the new Jutsu that had just been created...He felt like naming it after Konohamaru, 'Hn...'

"Konohamaru...maybe"

! - ! - !

Kisame looked around his new surroundings, he was at the valley of a river right under a water fall that extended upwards about 50 feet. The banks were surrounded with green grass and the few living trees that remained in this area after the storm. Flat rocks protruded from the waters just under the falling water, stable enough to hold their weight.

Itachi watched casually from the branch of a nearby tree, his black and red cloak laying against the tree trunk along with the sheathed sword that he usually wore hidden under it.

Konohamaru stood opposite Kisame just in front of the loudly rushing waters, "Alright kid, your best weapon is your Chakra. If your going demon hunting then you don't want to try and fight it physically unless you know you can hold your own, which most of the time won't happen." He watched Konohamaru nod before he continued, adjusting the collar of his red cloud designed cloak. "Well, you know how to trigger it, and you know how to use it to increase your strength"

"No I don't."

"What the hell are you talking about, I seen you do it plenty of times. You used it against Itachi."

"I never knew how I did it..." Konohamaru looked down at the ground as he said it, it'd just happened, he wasn't sure how. It seemed that every time he was truly desperate his chakra started build his strength, he wasn't ever really clear how it happened, he didn't usually have time to think about it.

"Alright, you remember the balancing trick I taught you right?" Kisame asked.

Konohamaru nodded, his face straining slightly from the memories he usually had to bring up to trigger the unleashing of his Chakra. He could never get used to that feeling, one minute it was nothing, then the next he felt the quick rush from his head and then the energy. The next part was easy for him, all he had to do was push all of it to one side of his body and then release it gradually. It started to spin on it's own then, and it kept the rotation.

"Now spin it faster."

"Huh?"

"Just do it."

Konohamaru wasn't too good at spinning at high speeds but he knew how to do it. It was simple concentration now, he just had to keep pushing the Chakra from one side to another in a controlled manner. Releasing the energy from his left leg, then his right, then his left arm, then his right. But there was a problem with this way, the more Chakra he added in this manner the more uneven and out of control the spin became. It started to flow out of his body, spinning around him in a yellow whirlpool, Kisame could then see just how uneven the spin was.

After a few seconds it started to hurt, it was tearing up his insides.

Kisame sighed as he walked over to him, kneeling down on the flat stones and pressed one hand against the boy's back while pressing the other to his stomach. From the outside he began to stir the chakra, making it spin more visibly even. The pain subsided because of it.

"How did you do that?" Konohamaru asked.

"I just stirred your Chakra by pushing mine in at center of the spin. And before I teach you anything else, you need to learn how to do it, before you kill yourself." Kisame said, standing up and returning to his former position.

Konohamaru rubbed the back of his head with a little embarrassment. "How do I do that?"

"There are two ways, and you need concentration for both of them." Kisame glanced up at Itachi, "And we all know how much of that you have...Hey Itachi!"

! - ! - !

Somehow Kisame had talked Itachi into helping out, he wasn't much up to it being as tired as he was from his recon mission to Akatsuki headquarters . But he decided to go ahead it anyway. "The key to stirring Chakra." He said "Is control, you need to be able to be able utilize every release point in your body." Itachi stood directly in the center of the waterfall so that the water was running over both of them. This was chosen more for concentration purposes. "There are a few you need to know specifically."

"So your going to tell me em'?"

"I'm going to show you." Itachi knelt down, placing his arms on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. Konohamaru let out a yelp of surprise when he saw Itachi's eyes turn red felt the Sharingan taking effect, but a woozy and disorientated feeling came over him before he could say anything. It faded just as fast, and he didn't seem to feel any different, so he didn't think too much of it.

"What was that?" Konohamaru asked, his eyes falling half-lidded and his voice becoming relaxed and dazed. He didn't think anything of it when Itachi turned him around so that he was facing the river.

"Nothing important, just concentrate on the places I touch, alright?"

"Uh-huh."

He felt one of Itachi's fingers rest on his shoulder, Konohamaru tuned out everything else and concentrated on that one spot. An image came before his eyes, an effect of the Sharingan, it was a white line with a round hole, so small that it seemed minuscule. "This is one... do you see it."

"Yes."

That was just a test. "Now when you feel my hand, focus your Chakra on that one point as best as you can." Itachi knew it wasn't easy to focus Chakra precise enough for it to be the size of of one opening, especially for someone Konohamaru's age. Which is why he showed him the images so that he could see how much he putout and adjust it. "Ready?"

Konohamaru nodded, waiting patiently for Itachi to start. He felt a finger press right below his nipple on his left abdomen, it was firm enough to be felt through his shirt but soft enough to feel as if he was barely being touched. He pushed his Chakra upward in small amounts, but he still put out to much so he dulled the output, that was the only way he was able to get close to the accuracy Itachi instructed. The other boy evened it out for Konohamaru though, pushing down all unwanted energy until there was one single point. "Good." Itachi's voice was present his mind, from the Sharingan.

Konohamaru felt the finger trailing down a strategic line, his touch was so soft...that it actually felt good, better then good...Itachi stopped just below his heart, Once again his voice appeared in the boy's mind. "Here."

Konohamaru complied, pushing out an even, small amount. It was hard to emit a smaller quantity then it was a large, which was probably why this was being done. "Good."

Konohamaru closed his eyes and let out a deep breath when he felt Itachi's finger move over, he was going slowly, keeping the same feather soft touches as before. Water from the falls he stood under rolled over his shoulder and down his torso, mixing the almost massaging flow with the sensation of the very tip of Itachi's finger running over him. He had to fight the urge to moan, how could a simple movement that was so bare that it was hardly even there feel so good?

"Here." Itachi applied a small pressure to the center of the boy's chest to bring him back into focus. Konohamaru nodded and pushed his Chakra outward, it was getting harder and harder to keep enough will power to release small amounts, especially when Itachi was touching him like this. He was so much like Sasuke, even giving off the same feeling Sasuke did when he used the Sharingan on him only more intense. "Good."

Itachi leaned forward slightly, close enough for Konohamaru to feel his breath along the back of his neck. His fingers moved downward for what seemed like an eternity until it reached the top of his stomach, "Here." his words were softer now, yet still holding a strict and instructive tone to it. Konohamaru followed directions, clinching his stomach as he fought to keep down the vast majority of his Chakra that rose up until the smallest amount possible for him came forth. "Good."

Konohamaru was panting now, partly from the strain of restricting Chakra but mostly from Itachi. He was sure that the other didn't mean to cause this reaction, or he knew it was happening but didn't care, but it just felt too good. He felt Itachi's finger trail across his skin, upward again until it stopped just under Konohamaru's right nipple. Another soft point of pressure was applied, Konohamaru hadn't even noticed him say anything this time, He wasn't exactly paying attention. Silently he started pushing out Chakra, he had to stop himself and start over he'd forgotten that he was suppose to be using small amounts. "Good."

Even his voice was starting to make Konohamaru hot, the warm breath became rhythmic, a pattern he expected and anticipated, Even the cold water running over him couldn't cool him down. It was just too much... "I-Itac"

"Control." Itachi whispered, moving downward across his stomach with that same soft touch. Konohamaru's quickly rising chest didn't interfere at all, the touch seemed to move with the rising and falling motion, no matter how quickly it couldn't throw him off. Finally his finger stopped at the boy's navel, pressing down softly to bring Konohamaru back in to focus. Konohamaru expelled his Chakra from his body, though Itachi had to force back more of it then before. "Good."

"I-Itachi..." Konohamaru moaned, letting his head fall back on to Itachi's soaked chest. He could only stay still and pant helplessly as Itachi moved lower and lower along his skin.

"Control." Itachi said it physically this time, his deep voice made Konohamaru shudder. His finger slipped past the navel, he could feel Konohamaru tense more and more with each inch, He could also see that he had an obvious erection. Anticipation built as Itachi slipped past the waist band of his pants and pressed down.

Konohamaru drew backwards into Itachi's hold, his panting increased 10 fold as he forced himself to expel the Chakra. He felt as if he wanted to explode, so it was hardest to control himself this time, but he managed to do so with much restraint. Konohamaru was left completely out of breath now, and leaning against Itachi for support, he wanted him to go lower, he'd never wanted few things more then he wanted that right now...

"Keep practicing those points, it will keep your chakra in balance when your spinning it. You'll be able to move it at higher speeds safely."

Konohamaru opened one eye and looked up at Itachi, he nearly fell when the older boy pulled back unexpectedly and walked away. 'Itachi...'

"Damn kid, your so hormonal."

Konohamaru turned around to see a smirking Kisame standing there with his arms folded, looking down on him curiously.

"No I'm not."

"Oh yeah, I suppose this is nothing then." Kisame said, giving Konohamaru a small poke well below his stomach.

Konohamaru flinched, he'd forgotten about...his little problem, if that was at all possible. He blushed madly and turned away quickly, he found himself wanting to run away for the moment and would have did so if Kisame wasn't stepping on his scarf. "Calm down kid, I saw you dreaming about your little boyfriend once for God's sake, I've seen it all before."

Konohamaru could only blush harder and try his best to think thoughts that didn't get his blood pumping and his body heat rising. 'Water, water, tree, Itachi...!' Wrong choice. 'Grass, grass, waterfall, tree, Kisame...? Huh? Why dose thinking about that make it worse...Ow man!' Konohamaru shook his head fervently and fought to get away harder.

"Alright, if you quit acting so embarrassed, I'll teach you one last thing before I go. Really stop, it's annoying."

"Huh? What?" Konohamaru stopped trying to escape and looked back.

"More of a tip really, your going to have to practice it on your own." Kisame said. "If you release your Chakra at the right time when your about to attack someone, you cause internal damage. But you have to release it very carefully, only places like your knuckles and the soles of your feet. Just think of what Itachi taught you, and keep practicing that before you kill your self."

"Can you teach me something else the next time I see you?"

"Yeah sure whatever." Kisame shrugged, he deny that it felt good to have someone look up to him. He couldn't tell Konohamaru no if he tried.

Kisame jumped on to shore and gathered his sword at the base of the tree Itachi was sitting under. That's when Konohamaru remembered something, and he ran over to them before they left.

"Hey, can I have your forehead protectors."

Kisame and Itachi looked at each other, and then down at the him. "Why?" Kisame asked.

"I really need it, please..." Konohamaru said in the most pleading face he could manage. "Please."

"Damn that's annoying." Kisame snorted, placing the large broad sword on to his back.

"Come on boss, it's important." Konohamaru said it this time in all seriousness as he looked down at the ground, He didn't want to tell them why it was so important to him, he felt to embarrassed to go into detail.

"Why would you want these?"

"It's really... important to me, it's just something I have to do..."

Itachi and Kisame gave each other another look, they were having a conversation no one but them could understand. After years of being partners they could read each other, and Kisame could read Itachi especially well. He had to when being with someone that quite.

Kisame reached behind him and untied the Mist forehead protector with a slash across the insignia. Silently he handed it to Konohamaru, watching the boy's face light up immediately after words. Itachi did the same, not bothering to untie it he just pulled it off of his head and gave it to the boy.

Konohamaru smiled as he looked down at them. "Thanks!"

"Whatever, just don't make a big deal out of it." Kisame snorted, he had to resist the urge to smile after seeing how happy it made him. "Later Kid."

With a blur of black and red they disappeared at a speed Konohamaru couldn't keep up with if he tried.

"Bye Itachi, See ya Boss."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Gaara groaned slightly as he came back to conciseness, he was never able to get use to the feeling of waking up, it was so foreign to him. But it was much better then where he'd just been, these nightmares were enough to even scare him, to make him cry out for escape. He opened his eyes and found he was looking up at the lobby ceiling, still where he was before he'd fallen asleep.

"Finally up huh?"

Gaara sat up, looking over at Naruto who was sitting there, his arms folded and his eyes down toward the ground. He looked blank, emotionless, the same face he'd put on many times in his life when something was bothering him, he never liked to show it when something was really troubling him. "How long was I asleep."

"2 hours."

"Hn..." Gaara closed his eyes and folded his arms also, he looked just as he always did, calm and relaxed. But he was worried... "...It's getting longer each time."

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "What did you see?"

"A nightmare."

There was a small silence between them, the only time Naruto was that quiet and looked that way at the same time was when something had happened that he didn't want to talk about. Gaara knew what it was with out asking.

"It happened again didn't it."

"..."

Gaara looked towards Naruto again, now that he was paying closer attention he could see a rip in the right sleeve of his jacket and some blood that lay under it. More rips in his clothing were hidden beneath the orange fabric, Gaara could see that much from how it was situated as if to hide something. "I can't keep doing this." Gaara sighed, his usual monotone hadn't been heard this time, he was actually showing some emotion in his voice.

"Gaara, it's not your fault."

"Don't patronize me! This wouldn't be happening if I was here." He scowled, walking away.

Naruto quickly got up, standing in his path with out stretched arms. "No, stop walking away from me!"

Gaara kept going, intending to walk past him. "I'm not doing this because I want too."

Naruto steeped over into his path once again, "I know that! So why are you going if you don't want too!"

Gaara brushed past him, pushing his arm out of the way. "I'm not going to stay here if I can't control myself, I'm not going to just stay and hurt you Naruto!"

Naruto took a quick step backwards and in to his way again, his head downcast just enough to keep his eyes shrouded in shadow. "You say you don't want to hurt me? That's exactly what you'll be doing if you leave!"

"No... I wont stay here and let myself keep doing this!" Gaara shouted. "This is what has to be done."

"No it's not! Why are you giving up so easy!" Naruto asked desperately, his lifted arms shaking as tears formed in his eyes, "Why are you just running away!"

"I'm not running!"

"That's exactly what your doing!"

A force came between the two, pulling them apart. Sasuke move in to the gap he'd created, keeping the two separated. Neither of which realized how close they'd gotten.

Naruto took a deep breath and sighed. "You can't go, if you do your going to keep falling asleep. And it's going to get longer and longer until you don't wake up at all. Do you really want to be trapped in a nightmare?"

"It doesn't matter what happens to me, all I know is that if I stay around you I can't stop myself from trying to kill you... until it finally happens." Gaara seemed to have calmed down too, his voice was normal again but his voice held obvious fear. "Which one do you think is worse?"

There was another silence between them, both Gaara and Naruto just looked at each other with out words. There was a determination in Naruto's eyes, one that came with complete dedication and resolve, Gaara never forgot that look, or when he first saw it during their fight... He could only turn and walk away, he didn't want to leave...but he wasn't going to let this happen anymore...

"I'm not giving up on you Gaara."

Gaara stopped, but he didn't look back, he just walked out of the lobby and into the hallway, followed by a loud and sudden pounding sound. It was him punching through wall.

"Trouble in paradise." Sasuke said, finally letting go of the other boy.

"Shut up jerk." Naruto said, his voice was so quite that Sasuke barely heard it.

Naruto was always loud, especially when talking to Sasuke, and that's why it made him worry. "You two make enough noise to wake the dead."

Naruto turned away and looked toward the ground, he hadn't meant for anyone else to hear that, he was embarrassed that of all people Sasuke had. "..."

"If you really want to save Gaara..." Sasuke stared as he walked towards the hallway and back to his room "Do it now, he's not going to stick around much longer."

"I know...but I have no idea how, I don't even know why it's happening."

"Just keep searching, I've never known you to give up so easily."

"..."

"If he dose leave..." Sasuke said "You'll never see him again."

"Yeah... I know." Naruto watched him leave... he was right, that was all Naruto could think of. With that thought he deiced to headed back to the Library, he'd search every corner of the world for an answer if he had too.