Chapter 27: Precious things.

Two weeks.

Two weeks had passed since Iruka lost the ability to speak, and to write it seemed. Gaara was sure Iruka was starting to come to terms with it, his demeanor and way of acting since it happen was starting to change into something somewhat normal again. The red haired boy sat in his usual spot he'd come to be alone to train from time to time, sitting in the center of the waterfall from a storm carved river less then a mile away from SDI.

His shirt and gourd were dispatched on shore and he sat with his legs cross atop a single rock extending just over the river's surface in the center of the waterfall. Surrounded by the short grasses of the fields covering the land, the green strands wavering in the increasing winds. The sky was an illuminated white, patched with thick gray clouds, glumly overcast. Rain dripped down from above in a small spray, pounding into the water with light imprints and ripples from each drop. It never seemed to stop raining, Gaara couldn't help but muse how it seemed to constant rain was somehow linked to Iruka.

Gaara's eye twitched with light annoyment, forcing his mind to focus on the music blaring in his headphones, loud enough to drown out the world and almost his thoughts with it. Maybe if he got it a little louder he wouldn't be able to think and it would solve his problem.

But still he couldn't help but think of Iruka. The man was starting to become his normal, parental self, but it was hard not to notice how depressed he was. His eyes were lighter, but he hadn't smiled, Gaara missed that smile, he couldn't help but think how much more Kakashi must have missed it. Iruka tried to do things, but he'd been restricted from missions, his usual pinpoint accuracy since he now specialized in wind and projectiles was horribly off because of the shaking. And he couldn't seem to fight anyway, when he did it was like he wasn't even trying though he was, like he lost all strength, will and experience on the subject, not to mention he couldn't do some of the more complicated hand seals he needed.

Gaara felt sorry for him, Iruka still cried every night, sometimes he couldn't even bare to stay with Kakashi, forcing the man away and going off to some secluded place to be alone. Gaara infact knew where he went, to a tree just above the waterfall, he seemed to take to that spot. Still, Iruka was doing better each day, he even started eating again.

It was hard to understand him since he couldn't talk or write, but they started to figure out what he meant, though it was like playing charades, Iruka often got frustrated with it. 'Iruka...' Gaara growled in frustration, shoving the headphones down around his neck, pushing his soaked hair away from his eyes. Every damn time! Every time he didn't get sleep for more then 2 days he started to get strange thoughts, he couldn't focus at all on his training.

He wondered how long it would take him until his thoughts started to become homicidal again...

'Damnit!' Gaara narrowed his eyes, there he went again, it was useless. So he slid the headphones back over his ears and listened to the blaring music, letting his mind wonder to it's content. As soon as he stopped trying to focus he became emersed, feeling the water streaming down his back in a heavy sheet as he listened to the heavy bass that made his ears shake, feeling the water streaming over his shoulder and sticking to his chest in a small river as the rhythmic beat played like a pulse, a life line to the song. Feeling the cold water drenching every bit of his body, indistinguishable against the rain as the poetic rhyme of lyrics blended perfectly with the other instruments at the perfect tempo in line with the beat.

He still could never understand how an assortment of sounds could be this pleasing.

! -! - !

Konohamaru tilted his head back and stared up at the sky when he felt the small drops of water start to fall from the sky. The forest became suddenly alive as the small drops of water falling from the sky started to grow in intensity, rattling the leaves as they pounded down, Suddenly Konohamaru was in the mist of a storm, though the trees provided somewhat of a cover. "It's raining?"

Konohamaru looked around at the tall trees rooted firmly in the muddy ground, acting as a sanctum for him as he trained. He let his hands, drop to his sides and his body fall out of it's fighting stance, releasing the metal Kunais and listening as they embedded themselves into the ground at his feet. He closed his eyes, letting his head fall back again as a wet breeze swept through the trees and fluttered his scarf behind him.

Damn trees! He couldn't even feel it from here!

Konohamaru crouched lightly, feeling the familiar feeling of his Chakra starting to spin skillfully in his torso, it was the one of the things he had actually mastered. Then with all the silence Itachi had taught him, Konohamaru leapt up into the air, planting his feet on the trunk of one of the tall trees and kicking off, repelling himself higher into the air as he reached the tree beside it and kicked himself even higher. He moved faster and faster, as fast as his skill would allow, moving with a ninja's stealth until he landed on a branch at lest 50 feet up. From there it was short leaps until he reached the peak of the canopy, standing with a graceful balance on the top branch where nothing was over head to obstruct him from the gray clouds of the sky.

Konohamaru smiled and opened his eyes, staring at the sky as the rain fell on his face and soaked the spiky brown hair protruding in an unruly mass from his head. The small drizzle quickly increased to a full on rain storm and drowned out any sound but the small drops ruffling the magnitude of leaves. It soaked him quickly, drenching every inch of his body, but he didn't care, he loved when it rained.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Iruka crouched lightly, bringing his body back into a fighting stance with a shiruken clinched tightly in his hand. His eyes focused on his target laying strait a head, the trunk of a large tree that looked to be several hundred years old, already littered with kunais and shirukens all over the tree, some on the ground beside it. None of which had hit the mark he set.

He ignored the rain soaking his body as he thrust the small object froward and launched it toward the tree, watching it hit a branch rather far from the trunk. Actually not even close.

What the hell!

Iruka stared down at his hands with narrowed eyes, watching the subtile trembling that threw his accuracy off by bounds. That trembling that made his hand seals practically impossible. "..." He couldn't do it, he'd been at this for an hour and he hadn't even gotten close to hitting his mark. It had finally set in, this wasn't working "..."

"Hey, Iruka-sama."

Iruka flinched when he saw Kakashi fall from the tree in front of him, landing no more then a few feet off. When he saw the clothing and heard the familiar suffix on his name he knew it was Kakashi's double, and as soon as he saw his injured body with slashes and cuts across his battle ridden body. The familiar taste of his blood came into his mouth in a vivid memory, but he ignored the longing he had for it, as he'd learned to do. "..."

"Iruka-sama." The doppelganger looked upon him lightly with that same happy expression Iruka always saw him with. The wind ruffling his soaked hair and throwing rain at him. Then that expression became questioning when he saw Iruka's face and his non-response. "Iruka...Iruka." Kakashi waved a hand in front of the man's face and forced him to look up from his hands. "Are you ok?"

Iruka just stared at him with a blank look, though a clearly saddened demeanor about him. "Something wrong?" Kakashi asked. Iruka just head his head down and looked away. "Iruka...what is it?"

"..."

Iruka wasn't speaking to him, he wasn't even looking at him, but he wasn't pushing him away and rushing him to leave. Something really must have been wrong. "Your not alright are you?" The copy glance back over his shoulder at the tree littered with projectiles, none of them striking their mark. Which was surprising since Iruka had considerable accuracy.

Come to think of it, the last time he'd seen Iruka the man had been acting strangely...

Kakashi wrapped his arm around Iruka's shoulder and gently wiped the rain from his eyes, but just as soon it was gone more replaced it. Iruka still didn't look at him, unspeaking. "Come on Iruka-sama, look at me." The taller demon reached down and slowly cuffed Iruka's chin, gently raising his face, even still Iruka's eyes shifted away, and he looked almost like a frightened child avoiding something fearful. "Iruka-sama..." Kakashi slowly leaned down and looked into the brown eyes that were forced to look back at him from the close proximity.

Kakashi stared into the eyes that became meek with questioning. 'Iruka...' He closed his eyes and slowly leaned downward, pressing his lips against Iruka's in a soft kiss. And just as soon he was roughly shoved back and a strong punch to the jaw made him stumble off balance slightly. He couldn't help but laugh when he looked at the angry glare Iruka was giving him, finally, some emotion, he was actually paying attention. Kakashi wasn't even sure Iruka had looked at him once before this. "Sorry, Sorry." He lifted his hands surrenderingly and tried his best to stop laughing. "I couldn't resist."

Iruka folded his arms and turned away, walking off angrily. "..."

Kakashi ran after him, wrapping his arm around Iruka's shoulder again. "Ok, Ok, I won't try it again, but I had to something." He said. "If that didn't get you to talk I guess nothing will." He sighed to himself, looking down at Iruka thoughtfully. What was it? What was wrong with him? Iruka just slipped away from his arm and walked past him, completely silent with downcast eyes. "Don't be like that Iruka-sama." Iruka could general take his flirtation, but usually he didn't leave, he told the copy to leave. Yet another thing off.

"..."

With out wasting a second he quickened his stride to catch up with the man. "There is something really wrong with you huh?" Kakashi slipped in front of Iruka and placed his hands on the man's shoulders, forcing him to stop. "You can't talk right? Is that apart of it?"

"..." Iruka looked up at him with the same child like eyes, but he snapped out of it quicker then before, his eyes narrowing to an angry annoyance. Iruka pressed his hands against the copy's chest and started pushing him away.

But he wouldn't let go. "Iruka-sama please, something's wrong with you, just let me help." He almost pleaded. But Iruka still pushed him, trying to pry him away while his eyes averted themselves someplace else. "Iruka-sama no, I'm not gonna let you run away like this. You have to tell me some thing...somehow." Kakashi looked down at Iruka's hands against his chest and his arms, noticing that before Iruka would have easily pushed him away, now he was somewhat weaker. And his arms shook slightly, he could feel his hands trembling against his wet shirt.

"Iruka-sama..." The double reached down and grabbed Iruka's hands, and Iruka froze, looking at him almost fearfully. Iruka didn't want him to know, he didn't want anyone to know, he'd prefer it if his friends didn't know. The man tred to pull his hands from the demon's grasp but he couldn't seem to pry them away, no matter how desperately he tried. "Your hands are shaking..."

Iruka froze again, as if one his deepest secretes had been revealed, holding his head down and his eyes away.

He noticed some other things too. "And your eyes are kinda darker now, Iruka what's wrong with you?" Kakashi asked. He softly pushed a stray strand of hair from his eyes, now wet and sagging from the rain.

"..." He looked up at him, as if he wanted to say something, but just like always the words wouldn't come.

And he saw it, when Iruka opened his mouth just a little, there they were. "Iruka-sama!" Kakashi quickly cuffed Iruka's chin and slipped his thumb between Iruka's lips, pulling his mouth open. He wasn't expecting it, and saw them again, he had to be sure. "Your teeth...they're..."

"..." Iruka quickly tried to pull away, but again Kakashi wouldn't let him. Yet he kept fighting with a renewed effort, desperately trying to get away, to getaway from everyone, to hide.

"Iruka-sama, stop, please." Kakashi reached up and ceased him by the arms, halting his resistance for the most part since he'd taken most of his leverage. Iruka shook his head frantically, still trying to escape. "Iruka-sama!" Iruka jumped at the forceful tone he'd never heard the doppelganger use, snapping his eyes on to the demon with a surprised flinch. His breathing grew heavier and his heart pounded... and all at once Iruka dropped his head and cried silent tears, his shoulders shaking with unheard sobs.

What? He was crying? What was this that had Iruka so lost, so confused, so...like this? "Oh God Iruka-sama..." Kakashi wrapped his arms around the trembling shoulders and pulled the man into a soft embrace almost instinctively. Iruka didn't fight it, he seemed morbidly out of place between what he wanted to do, what he usually would have done, and what he was now feeling the urge to do. He rarely fought any action towards him anymore, like he was too confused to. The double was somewhat thankful the man didn't fight this, he wanted more then anything to just hold him like this...

"..." Iruka didn't seem to care anymore, he clinched the wet fabric of Kakashi shirt and cried, it was never clear on what, it could have been about any number of things.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you like this."Kakashi apologized remorsefully, slipping a hand into Iruka's hair and tucking the man's head comfortably underneath his chin. "What happened to you...I guess you can't tell me that huh, well it doesn't matter, As long as your alright." The rain blew into his back with the strong winds, shielding Iruka's body from the downpour.

Iruka looked up curiously at the man, the tears washing away with the rain as his eyes grew that child like look again. His eyes drifted down from the demon's face to his shoulder where another familiar cut lay past torn fabric. It was clear what he spent his time doing, fighting demons and things of that nature, which was understandable, since he really didn't have much better to do.

Iruka's eyes fixed themselves on that spot where the odd, silver like liquid flowed, before they drifted closed and he leaned forward. Pressing his mouth against the spot and running his tongue over the bloody gash. He couldn't resist...

Kakashi didn't say anything this time, though he was more confused then he'd ever been, where had this action come from? Iruka was a trembling mess, he was somehow weaker, and now this blood thing? And he had to admit, it felt good, oddly better then he would expect this would feel.

Finally after a few moments the blood was gone, and Iruka had to resist the urge to sink his teeth into the flesh. And when he had to make a conscious decision, an effort not to bite the demon he finally realized what he was doing and flinched, pulling away with his eyes widened.

"No, no!" Kakashi firmed his grip around the man to keep him from retreating. "Not this time, your not going to run away this time. Just calm down."

Iruka held his head down again almost shamefully, staring at himself fearful awe. "..."

"Man I wish you could tell me what's going on with you..." When he was sure Iruka had calmed down he finally let go of him, loosening his grip slowly and taking a step back. Iruka didn't run away, that was a good thing, he hoped. He couldn't tell anymore, Iruka's demeanor had changed so much, something was making him confused. "I can't leave you here like this."

Again Iruka started to display some emotion besides nothingness and depression, he shook his head and lifted his hand denyingly, clearly telling him he couldn't.

"Come on, look at you, you can't be here by yourself." The copy said with clear concern in his voice. "You have a serious demon problem, what if something attacks you?" SDI clearly had a problem with Demon attacks, they happened so often.

Iruka folded his arms and shook his head firmly. "..."

"Iruka-sama."

Iruka shook his head again.

"No way, I'm not-"

Iruka glared at him, shaking his head again.

"Iruka-sama!"

Iruka didn't bother to respond, he simply walked past the copy, heading back towards the SDI building.

The demon ran a hand through the soaked white hair sagging down over his face and wiped the water from his face, a futile effort, just as soon it was soaked again with rain water. He watched Iruka's fleeting form go farther and farther down the sloping hill towards the river that made a sudden cliff like drop off to waterfall not too far beyond where Iruka was. Usually he would have let the man be, but today he couldn't the man clearly was not well, and in good conscious he couldn't leave him alone.

! - ! - !

Iruka didn't get too much farther before he heard a familiar voice seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Iruka."

Iruka flinched and quickly looked to his left, and breathing a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Kakashi. His eyes narrowed in anger, pretty sure he'd just told him he couldn't follow, until he saw the familiar black of the SDI uniform and realized it was the real Kakashi. "..."

Oh crap, this couldn't end well.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that." Kakashi smiled and rubbed the back of his head, looking over every inch of the man's form. "So, Doing any better."

Iruka shifted his eyes away towards the river flowing beside them, which everyone had learned to be a negative answer.

"Well don't worry, your already doing better." Kakashi reassured him. "Your not missing much anyway, the only missions we've had in a while are muck demons, you really don't wanna deal with that any-"

"Iruka-sama!"

Iruka flinched, he could feel his blood run cold, the thing he'd been fearing would happen though knew mostly would. He and Kakashi looked back as the Doppelganger came from someplace beyond the hill, clearly going after Iruka. "I'm sorry but I can't..." The double froze when he saw his counterpart, who did likewise. On sight a hatred started to rise within the copy, some uncontrollable force that couldn't be denied or repressed, like a force of nature that had to take it's course. "You."

Kakashi turned around fully, almost subconsciously reaching up and pushing up his forehead protector to reveal his Sharingan eye. "Why are you here?"

"Get away from Iruka-sama." The mirror growled protectively, though he wasn't sure anymore if he was really being all that protective of Iruka or just wanted the real Kakashi away from him.

"I have a better idea, why don't you leave?" Kakashi moved past Iruka, taking careful steps past the Iruka towards the demon. Iruka stood behind ideally, seemingly confused on what he should do.

The copy could no longer stand idle it seemed, with a blur of speed he disappeared, and Kakashi quickly slipped his hand behind him, drawing a Kunai and lifting it defensively. Sparks flew when it clashed with another metal blade being driven down at his face as the copy landed dangerously close to him. Kakashi thrust his foot upward in a sharp kick to the demon's stomach, making him stumble back lightly, followed by a hard punch to it's jaw, making him falter even more.

The copy was little more then a blur as he sprinted froward and attempted to tackle the man, but Kakashi was expectant and just as soon as the demon made contact his body disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the double found himself holding a rock instead, a rock with an explosive tag. '!' The copy quickly tossed the rock to his left and dived aside as the stone skimmed across the surface of the river and detonated, the burst of smoke and upturned water throwing a concealed Kakashi with a torrent of the liquid onto the opposite bank.

Kakashi barely had time to recover from the explosion, with the same skillful speed his copy was coming directly at him. Though he saw that speed differently then others, with the Sharingan eye the speed didn't appear nearly as fast as it did to others, he could track every motion. He sprang backwards a few feet when his double thrust the Kunai towards his stomach and quickly grabbed the copy by the arm, with a fluid motion he turned around so that his back was facing his opponent and pulled the copy over his shoulder by the ceased arm, slamming him to the ground and stealing the blade from his hand. "Leave Iruka alone!" Kakashi growled, thrusting the blade down at the copy's head.

The copy clasped the blade between his hands and caught it before before he was impaled then rolled out of the way. He stumbled to stand again on the slippy, rain soaked grass but still managed to regain himself before his counterpart could attack again. "You leave Iruka-sama alone!" The double reached behind him and all of a sudden a torrent of Kunais were flying at Kakashi.

'!' Kakashi quickly darted to the left, his body growing tense as he felt them slipping dangerously close by as they trailed after him. 'Lightening edge!' Turning on heal as soon as the last of the string of the blades missed their mark, Kakashi darted froward with his left hand stretched outward, he didn't lose a step on the wet ground, traveling with his normal speed. A blue energy formed in his palm, a static electricity that crackled as the drops of rain struck it. "You don't know when to quit!"

'!' The double flinched when saw the energy coming unavoidably at him, he did the only thing he could. "Mirror!" Like a streak of lighting itself, a reflective surface appeared in front of the doppelganger's outstretched arms, just as Kakashi thrust the lighting edge froward, and they inevitably collided. The real Kakashi found his eyes looking at himself being electrocuted, which was because he was being electrocuted, by his own attack no less.

'He...reflected the jutsu...' Kakashi stumbled backwards, smoldering with his jaw clinched to keep from crying out. The mirror holding the image of his tired, panting body shattered, revealing his reflection in an identical state, only with an odd side effect. The doppelganger's body was black and white, skin, clothing and all, but slowly regaining color. 'He really is a demon...' .

Before the copy Kakashi would have been freaked out by this events, but it had happened to him so many times after taking a damaging hit he'd gotten used to it "Bastard." The double wiped his eyes again, noting how the water seemed to make the attack worse. He couldn't repel it all on such short noticed, he could at lest reflect half it back.

"You realize..." Kakashi took a deep breath and stood up strait, forcing his heartbeat and breathing to stabilize. "Your just insulting yourself."

"Maybe." The copy did the same, noting Kakashi still had the Kunai tightly wrapped in his left hand. With a quick, reflective flash, the double copied Kakashi exactly, taking his pose, posture, weapon and all. "Or I could just be calling you a bastard. We're not exactly the same."

Ok, they were in a sense, but it didn't matter at the moment.

Kakashi extended the arm with the Kunai, clinching his wrist with the other, and a more powerful electricity formed in a static ball that barely held shape in his palm from his Chidori. With out a moment's hesitance he lunched the Kunai toward the copy demon, and the Chidori with it The double was ready and waiting with arms thrust outward. "Mirror." Another mirror appeared, thicker, and as if it was simple light shining into the surface the copy reflected the attack as if he'd launched it himself.

Kakashi was waiting himself, he clasped his hands together in quick hand seals and with a loud rush the water poured out from the river and began twisting around itself. Then the form burst apart, taking shape as a large dragon that whipped over Kakashi's head, diving froward directly into the reflected Chidori with mouth wide. It erupted in a large blast with no flames, throwing so much water into the air the copy and the real Kakashi nearly drowned trying to breath.

Kakashi cringed, it hadn't worked out as he thought it would. 'Damnit.' Then he'd take a more direct method, his eyes scanning the area quickly to target the demon before going after him. But he didn't get farther then a few steps before Iruka came out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around him. "Iruka!"

Both Kakashi and his double stopped, what choice did they have, Iruka was in the way."..." Iruka quickly pulled Kakashi into a strong embrace, looking at the man pleadingly.

"Iruka?" Kakashi pushed the man back slightly, "What?"

Iruka kept staring at him with silent begging, he shook his head, holding Kakashi in place. "..."

"You want us to stop..." Kakashi could plainly see Iruka didn't want it to take place, he looked up at the copy demon.

The demon continued to glare at him with hateful eyes, he couldn't describe what he felt for Kakashi, a hate that drove him to seek the man out and kill him beyond any doubt. It was unnatural, a constant reminder that he was a demon, it was apart of his nature, few things cold stop it. But as much as he hated Kakashi, for no reason, he found his feelings for Iruka were far stronger. He couldn't do this if Iruka would get hurt, so he decided to go, and even though he hated to leave the man with Kakashi, he knew he was leaving him in good, capable hands. "I hope you get better, from whatever it is Iruka-sama."

".." Iruka could only watch as the double disappeared in a streak of speed beyond the rain.

! - ! - !

"Hey, Konohamaru! What are you doing up there!"

Konohamaru flinched and nearly fell off the branch he was sitting on top of when he heard Sasuke's voice from below. 'Sasuke?' Konohamaru opened his eyes and forced himself to awaken at lest half way after easily falling asleep in the torrent of rain. "Sasuke?" Konohamaru started the familiar rotation of his Chakra as he stood up on the somewhat thin branch and leapt down from the 50 foot high tree. Which because of his state of half sleep, he'd forgotten how high up he really was. "!"

He could have sworn he was in that tree beside the SDI building, the felt just alike when he was sleeping.

Luckily, he landed right into Sasuke's arms as usual, his constant hero. Sasuke smirked in his usual, smug way as he set the soaking wet boy down. "What were you doing up there?"

"Training." He said, rubbing the back of his head with a big smile. His hair sagged down in heavy masses around his head, dripping wet and heavy with the rain. "What are you doing?"

"Just came back from a mission." Sasuke shoved his hands in to his pockets and began the trek back home, Konohamaru followed behind him loyally. Sasuke used to find it somewhat annoying, how Konohamaru acted around him, but now... He'd come to enjoy how Konohamaru idolized him, and he was more proud of him then he cared to describe.

Konohamaru nodded and continued on, walking side beside with the older boy in a peaceful silence. Drowning in the sound of the forest in the center of a rain storm, Konohamaru appreciated that sound beyond his own level of maturity and comprehension, he loved the rain like Gaara loved music. He was happy to stay in the loud silence with Sasuke. But he couldn't help grabbing Sasuke's arm and hugging it close to him.

Sasuke glanced down at Konohamaru, though he didn't say anything about it, somewhat embarrassed a small blush crept on to his face. But he didn't pull away, he allowed Konohamaru to clinch his arm affectionately.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Soaked and dripping wet, Gaara walked into the room, leaving behind a trail of water on the carpeted floor, a puddle quickly formed at his feet where he stopped. The muffled sound of music playing loudly in the headphones around his ears that seemed to be almost constant could be clearly heard.

Naruto lifted his head from where he sat on the ground with his legs cross, facing the window with his back to the door. "Gaara, your soaking wet." Naruto looked up at the window where water sheeted down from the other side, blurring the vision of the other side beyond little more then the white, overcast sky. "How'd training go?"

Gaara pushed the soaking wet headphones down from his soaked hair to his neck. "I believe you know the answer to that." He said, slipping the gourd off his back and setting it down next to the door. Then he customarily reached down and took the CD player off of his waist, removing headphones and all and tossing the item aside on the bed.

Ok, So Naruto did know the answer, simply because he knew Gaara, and had a keen understanding of his sleeping process. When Gaara didn't sleep for a while he couldn't focus, that area between the clearness of sleeping and the clearness of total deprivation of sleep. "I guess none of us have gotten much sleep lately." Naruto sat on the ground, completely bare except for a pair of black pants from his SDI uniform. His hands were clasped together in front of his torso, index finger protruding, and he clearly had been doing what Gaara was trying to do which was meditate on something.

Gaara tucked his fingers underneath the rim of the wet shirt and drew it over his head and off his body, throwing the drenched fabric aside next to his gourd. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." Naruto said, it was a partial lie, something he wasn't sure was an issue worth noting or not. But still, he couldn't help tracing over the black lines of the seal on his stomach with his eyes, noting the cracks, the tiny fractures, the broken lines in some parts of the swirl. A crack had been there ever since Konohamaru penetrated the seal with his own Chakra when they had been trying to rescue Gaara from nightmare. Now there were even more of those tiny lines over the year that had passed since then. What did that mean?

Gaara, generally good at reading Naruto since the boy wasn't very good at hiding things, picked up the unsure nature of Naruto at the moment and decided it wasn't something important. He pushed his pants down and kicked them off to the side, nearby his shirt. "..." Then he slipped out of the boxers that couldn't help but get wet themselves between the rain and the waterfall.

"So." Naruto reached over to the nightstand next to his bed and grabbed a towel sitting on top of the structure. "Pick a favorite song yet?" He asked, tossing the white fabric over his shoulder to Gaara.

Gaara caught the towel, looking down at it curiously for a moment before he started to run it over his dripping hair. "Not really."

"I never figured you to be the type who couldn't decide."Naruto smirked.

"Hn." Gaara tossed the towel onto the bed and began rummaging through the drawers until he found a dry pair of white boxers, which he slipped on promptly. Knowing he was done with any goals and affairs for the day, Gaara walked back over to the bed and picked up the CD player. Slipping the large headphones back over his ears and cradling the device protectively into his hands.

Naruto continued to stare at the rain soaked window pouring a blurry light into the dark room as he heard Gaara's approaching footsteps. He didn't look when Gaara sat down beside him and laid his head on his shoulder, the muffled sounds of music radiating from the headphones. He smiled to himself, content to leave himself like this. "Hey Gaara."

Gaara open his eyes and the green orbs drifted over to Naruto. "?"

"Happy birthday." Naruto's smile grew sheepishly wider as he laid a CD case in Gaara's hands.

Gaara lifted his head and looked down at it questioningly. "W-Wha...How did you-"

"I figured it out." Naruto turned his eyes back to the window, not losing the smile. "I didn't tell anyone, I know you don't like big parties and stuff. Well...Iruka knows but...he's not telling anyone."

"What's this?" Gaara curiously opened the case and took out the CD that resided there.

"I took all your favorite songs from all those other CDs and put them on this one." Naruto said, watching Gaara slip the new CD into the player. "I know it's not much but I didn't know what else to get you."

A smile grew on Gaara's face as he heard the opening cords of one of his most favored songs. "It's perfect. Thank you."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with light embarrassment and smiled again.

Gaara pulled the headphones off of his head and set them lightly over Naruto's ears, before closing his eyes and laying his head on Naruto's shoulder, allowing himself to drift to sleep.

With the door shut the only light came from the blurry outcast of the window, leaving Naruto and Gaara to bask in the rippled, white rays, set apart from the darkness.

! - ! - !