Naruto couldn't help the sinking feeling in his gut with any remedy. He thought maybe he was hungry. So, he stopped to get some ramen. It worked for a moment, but then he had to throw up a block away from Ichiraku. Naruto considered the fact that he was just nervous about the whole day. Then, he realized he was actually rather calm and confident. It wasn't until he arrived at the training field that he truly understood what he was feeling. It was guilt at its purest.

Guilt like this would usually kill him. This time, it was strange. He walked into the forest pretending he didn't understand why he was feeling so guilty. Naruto attempted to think of something other than that festering guilt. He tried to put his mind into his task but also found himself thinking chaotically and in sentences that didn't fit together with the ones around it. He tried to focus his erratic mind onto one subject, but failed miserably.

Found the next one. Fling the kunai. I like ramen a lot. I wonder what Tenten will have to say about today's training. The clouds are nice today. Target. Kunai. Miso, Pork, or Salt, which one is better? I wish I could learn more powerful ninjutsu. Target. Kunai. I wonder what Tsunade-baachan is doing in her office right now. Dodge the flying spikes. I haven't pulled a prank recently. Target. Kunai. I didn't even see that one, how did I know it was there? That cloud looks like a butterfly. I wonder what Sakura and Sasuke are up to. Was that a bunny? Target. Kunai. I didn't see that one either, but I smelt Tenten on it… Strange. I haven't talked to Kakashi in a while, I wonder if he's still on that S-rank mission. Miso ramen is definitely the best. Two targets. Double throw. Triple trap. Dodge. Duck. Block. No, Pork is tastier. I hate paperwork, but its part of the Hokage's job. That cloud looks like the rabbit I just saw. I wonder if Sakura is going to grow her hair long again. Six targets all around, must be a dangerous trap. Throw all at once. Dodge like crazy. Blood.

Naruto gripped his arm and winced as blood trickled through his fingertips. In his other hand was a large bloody shuriken. He fell to his knees and bit his lip to keep from hollering in pain. Blood trickled from the broken bottom lip that his sharp canine had found its way into. He flung the shuriken and lodged it into a tree all while cursing the single weapon. In other words, the only part of the trap that he had failed to evade.

When Tenten had come to congratulate him on his completion of her course, he ignored her and fell against a tree. She attempted to show him his final stats which were far better than his original scores. Each one of the last set of targets was a dead ringer on accuracy. He sat there panting and trying to clear his mind of every thought. Naruto didn't know how he should respond to her. To the end of the training. To everything. Naruto had never felt more confused or guilty about anything in his entire short life. He just didn't know what he would do next.

He wanted to avoid the decision he would have to make sooner or later about…

Eventually, after Tenten bandaged his arm up without him saying a word and taking care not to make it too tight, she had just left him sitting there in his silence.

He ignored the slowly setting sun. He attempted to forget his promise with all his might. He couldn't bring himself to remove the disappointment he would see on his friend's face when Gaara found out that Naruto had let him down and acted so uncharacteristically selfishly. Naruto tried to defend that with how Gaara was acting out of character also, but it just didn't work the same. The blonde attempted to think of what Gaara actually meant to him and why it hurt so much to think that he was betraying his friend's trust. However, that only led to Naruto curling up in on himself against the tree.

At some point, he had fallen on his side and started crying. He hadn't cried in so very, very long. And certainly not over something as trivial as deciding whether or not it was best to go back home at all tonight. Naruto had begun counting grass blades to see if they were more than he could count. They reminded him of so many things. His train of thought led to blades, to swords, to cutting, to pain, to hurting, to Gaara. By the time he had reached thoughts of Gaara, he had lost count somewhere in the thousands.

It wasn't until dusk that Sasuke had found him lying there pathetically. The Uchiha lifted his blonde friend out of the fetal position and up to his feet. Sasuke lifted Naruto's chin so that their eyes met. When that occurred, Sasuke began speaking roughly.

"Everyone looking for you. Worried. Why here?"

"I'm trying to escape," Naruto whispered.

"What," Sasuke questioned, his throat still raw from recent surgery.

"My mind. My guilt. My obligation. I don't want to think about things. Yet, they're all haunting me. Maybe you can understand, maybe you can't. I'm just so confused about everything. Isn't it me who usually does things without thinking? Why can't I be that me now? Why do I have to question these things so much?"

"Gaara," a whispered question.

"Yes! Gaara! I can seal his demon. Didn't you hear? All this mess with my father being the Yondaime Hokage and our special bloodline. I have finally learned how to do it... and it could very well save his life and the lives of those around him. But I can't do it."

"Why?"

"I just can't," Naruto cried out.

"Admit," Sasuke growled. "Avoiding. You know."

"He'll leave, Sasuke. I'll fix his seal and he'll just leave. He and his brother and his sister will return to Sunagakure and I won't see him again. I made a friend in him. I can't let friends go so easily. You should know that better than anyone… Sasuke…" Naruto whimpered.

"Something more between?"

Naruto hung his head, "He says he loves me. Really loves me. And right now I'm hurting him by being so selfish. I'm not a good person am I? I purposefully came here to waste my chakra training so that I didn't have to perform the seal. I have no way to get out of it tomorrow and I'm scared to death."

"Don't want him leave? Love him?"

Naruto faltered. He was completely caught off guard. He had promised Gaara that he would think about the whole thing, but he was avoiding that also. Naruto felt like he was losing himself somewhere in a different universe. He didn't know what to do. He started panicking. Did he love Gaara? Did he like him as anything more than a friend?

Scenes passed before his eyes.

Gaara reading letters to him while he was still unable to move. He saw Gaara carefully opening the wrapping on presents and lifting them to show them to Naruto. He recalled the blood everywhere. Gaara had been so hurt, yet he still did all that for Naruto. He went through all that pain just for him.

Naruto remembered his hesitation outside of the hospital when he found out that Gaara was hospitalized after he had lost control. He remembered his entire conversation with Tsunade outside the doors. Most importantly he remembered how he had ditched Iruka-sensei and ran at his top speed to make it to the hospital. Of course, how could Naruto forget the entire conversation the two had had in Gaara's room. That had truly been the key turning point in Naruto's mind on how he felt about the sand genin.

Gaara cooking dinner for him was another precious moment. The awkwardness of coming in with Gaara at the table and cold dinner served out to them. Naruto remembered every bite he took. He slightly remembered the taste, but he mostly remembered the hurt look in Gaara's eyes when Naruto walked in the door so late. He remembered each time their eyes met from across the table and Naruto would smile around a mouth full of cold food.

Then there was washing dishes with him. Gaara had already done so much, yet he still wanted to help with things. Naruto gave him the easiest task because he knew that the redhead would push until he got his way. Gaara didn't like being told no about anything. He remembered the comfortable silence and the admissions of love.

Gaara was there when Naruto needed him most. He was there when he had found out about his father. He was there when Naruto needed comforting. He was even there in the morning like he had promised to stay by Naruto's side all night. Gaara was always there for him. He was beginning to see that he truly didn't want to lose that.

Naruto thought about hugging him to keep his sand from hurting people in that bar. In the same night, Gaara had to struggle to not let his sand protect Naruto from Jiraiya and hurt the Legendary Sannin. He knew that Gaara had tried so hard to stop himself from giving into the bloodlust.

Sleeping on the couch with him was one of the greatest parts of all. He remembered the comfort he felt went near Gaara. He recalled the serenity and peace he felt when falling asleep next to him. Naruto thought about how much more he smiled those real smiles Gaara liked whenever the redhead was around. A slow smile grew over the blonde's whiskered face.

"You do," Sasuke assured in his broken voice. "Go to him."

Naruto looked down at the ground in front of him and hesitated. He had already ruined the chances of sealing for today. However, he could at least spend the remained with Gaara because he was going to be leaving soon. He wanted to spend as much time as possible, even if it was selfish. Naruto felt a hand touch his shoulder. When he looked up, Sasuke was glaring at him and pointing in the direction of Naruto's house. Naruto nodded and was gone in a second.

He jumped from roof to roof in the darkness, even across streets to get back to his house as soon as possible. People pointed at him as he crossed their paths making snide comments about demons and evil brats, but Naruto didn't have the time to even let such things cross his mind. He ran along the sides of buildings when necessary. Anything to get him home quicker was on the top of Naruto's mind. Eventually, his home came into view and Naruto focused the chakra into his feet and sprinted and pounded the street as hard as he could.

Everything else was a blur to Naruto. He faintly recalled slamming open the door and apologizing to people who had jumped. He may or may not have taken off his shoes before entering his household. However, he distinctly remembered his eyes finding Gaara's and tackling the other boy to the floor. He also recalls pressing his lips hard to Gaara's set. There might have been a collective gasp from everyone that was in the room. Naruto did remember later every word he spoke to Gaara in between kisses.

"I'm so sorry. I used my chakra on purpose today so I didn't have to perform the seal. I'm so selfish. I just want to beat myself up. But… it was because I didn't want you to leave yet. I'm selfish and I'm so very, very sorry. I just didn't want to have to say goodbye. I love you. I love you. I love you. Iloveyou. IloveyouIloveyou."

At some point, Naruto's words had begun to run together, making it nearly impossible for Gaara to tell the difference between "I" and "you" and he somehow found that ironic and romantic. The blending of "I" and "you" became one of Gaara's favorite thoughts about himself and Naruto. It hadn't shocked Gaara so much that Naruto had tackled him. To be honest, it was very hard to shock him at all simply because he was always prepared for everything.

The poor souls witnessing Naruto on top of Gaara mumbling and crying while attempting to pour his soul out were shocked. Those people just happened to be Jiraiya, Tsunade, Kakashi and Sakura. Sasuke had made his way in a bit after the crying had started. He wasn't at all surprised, much to everyone else's astonishment.

When Gaara sat up and pulled Naruto, who was still straddling his legs, into a tight embrace, that's when everyone took it as their cue to leave. They managed to hear Gaara whispering reassuring words into Naruto's ear as they were exiting through the door.

"It's okay. Please stop crying. I don't want to see you cry, Naruto," Gaara softly said to Naruto.

Naruto hiccup and brought his head back off of Gaara's shoulder to look into the green eyes that he had somewhere down the line fell in love with. Softly, he brought his lips to Gaara's. Halfway through the kiss, he had hiccupped again and started laughing at himself. Gaara cracked a soft smile as well while petting him down the arm.

That is when Gaara noticed Naruto's wound. Immediately Gaara forced Naruto to remove his shirt so that he could get at the injury better. It had been poorly cleaned out due to lack of field supplies equipped to both Naruto and Tenten. Naruto found himself on his feet and being led to the bathroom by Gaara. There, Gaara properly cleaned the wound, extracting any dirt that had got into it and thoroughly washing the cut out. The redhead re-bandaged it and tied it off.

Neither of them could quite remember whose idea it was at first, but the both of them ended up lying cuddling in Naruto's bed. It was there that Naruto spilled the full secrets of why he went to train that morning and why he had so desperately tried not to come home. He talked about the things that his best friend (and rival) had made him realize that night in the forest. Naruto spilled out everything he could possibly imaging Gaara would care about that led him to the conclusion that he absolutely, positively, totally, completely, utterly, unconditionally, loved Gaara.

Gaara watched as Naruto fell asleep while talking. He thought about a lot of the things Naruto had said. It was true. As soon as Gaara was resealed, he and his siblings would be going home to Suna. There was nothing he could do to stop it. However, that wouldn't hinder him a bit. He would just have to write to Naruto all the time and accept any and every mission that involved Konoha, even if it was just a passing through. There would always be a way around the distance to keep their love strong. Gaara was confident in that. He smiled and thought about all the things he may one day write to Naruto as he watched the said boy sleep.

When the sun began to rise again, it found itself caught in Naruto awakened eyes and reflecting out of said pair of blue orbs and into Gaara's green set. Gaara had an awkward thought of someday being the one to wake up in Naruto's arms instead.

The morning was slow. There were showers and breakfast and the reading of the newspaper that was a few days old. No one spoke. It was a gloomy morning as it was without them reminding each other that today was the day that Naruto remade Gaara's seal into one like his own. When the pair had finished eating, Naruto made to grab the dishes and bring them to the sink. When reaching down to grab Gaara's he planted a surprise kiss onto Gaara's unsuspecting lips causing Gaara to smile more beautifully than anything Naruto had ever seen. Naruto made it a point to tell Gaara that fact.

It was slow washing the dishes. They had fallen into some sort of instinctive domestic relationship. It was crazy to think that they both had demon sleeping inside of them. In fact, at that moment they didn't want to think about demons or anything remotely related to seals and Gaara's inevitable departure. They enjoyed the peace of each other's presence and the calmness that they rarely had at any point in their lifetimes, especially as ninja. Occasionally, they would glance over at the other for no other reason than to smile and see the other one smile back.

The minutes up to the arrival of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi seemed to go by in milliseconds. They could begin to feel the dread creep up on them and their hearts begin to race. Beads of sweat began to form under Naruto's hitai-ate. Gaara had to steady his own breathing so that he wouldn't hyperventilate. Then came the knock on the door and without Naruto even opening it, in walked the three who were to supervise the sealing.

Naruto stood and gulped. He didn't dare say a single word because if he did, he wouldn't be able to go through with it. Gaara stood and removed his shirt, without anyone telling him that he needed to. Both were on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Luckily for them, the adults in the room took the situation into consideration and knew that it would be best to remain silent, which was considerably hard for Ero-sennin who was known to mumble obscene things to himself when trying to silently do his "research."

Naruto closed his eyes and began doing the hand seals that he needed to. They were long and complicated and he needed to concentrate. The first set was to put Gaara's demon into hibernation. Naruto opened his eyes after an "inu" "hebi" "nezumi" combination. With the balls of chakra he collected on his fingertips, he quickly stabbed them all around Gaara's body making sure that Shukaku was completely hit.

He slowly backed away from Gaara who had nearly fainted but remained standing out of his own free will. Naruto began making hand seals again and concentrating on the very unforgiving preciseness he had to accomplish. On more than one occasion through the 100 hand seal set, he had to calm his breathing down. He felt the chakra pulling on him with each new zodiac animal sign he made with his hands. With one final "tora," Shukaku was unsealed from inside of Gaara. Gaara screamed in pain and Naruto shut his eyes tight and tried to block the burning sensation out along with his love's pain.

Quickly, Naruto had to enact the final fuuinjutsu entrusted to him through his blood. The knowledge of it came whispering into his ears. If Naruto had known who the voice belonged to he would have know that it was the Yondaime Hokage whispering into his ears the secret hand seals of the technique. It was a long and fast task with over 100 different seals to complete, including double one-handed seals and things Naruto had never even seen before but somehow formed perfectly. With the last seal of "tori" Naruto found his hand pushing on Gaara's stomach.

The pain of the chakra concentrating in one spot was nearly unbearable. Naruto needed to concentrate on not letting any of his demonic chakra seep through of the whole thing could be ruined and it wouldn't only be the two of them dead. In fact, if anything went wrong at this point, it was very possible that both the Kyuubi and Shukaku could escape their seals and back into the world. In the back of Naruto's mind, he heard Kyuubi howling.

Perhaps that was Gaara screaming from the pain… or even Shukaku.

He felt himself falling and heard another thump before he landed, presumably Gaara falling also.

A strange thought then passed through Naruto's mind.

His father had died simply from using this same fuuinjutsu.

That's when Naruto thought it was okay to begin panicking….

Because everything suddenly went dark in his mind.