Naruto blinked his eyes open. It was that disgusting white again. Wasn't this where everything had started? Wasn't this where Gaara saved his life? Was this the hospital? Or was this Heaven? Naruto blinked a few more times. His initial suspicions were confirmed. What seemed to be the entire staff of nurses at the hospital was standing over him monitoring every single twitch of his finger. And then… all at once… they squeal and squeaked and called for Tsunade-sama because the patient was awake.

Naruto sat up as soon as the nurses began piling out of the room and the Hokage walked in. He rubbed the back of his head and smiled at her stupidly. She just put a hand on her hip and a hand to her lips to hide her smile.

"I take it that everything worked all right," Naruto asked.

In her best stern tone that still couldn't hide her laughter, she responded, "Gaara is in the next room over. He says Shukaku is fine and he is fine and there is no need for concern. It seems all he wants to do is get out of that bed and come see you. I suppose now that you're up, I'll let him get out of his bed, too."

She turned around and started walking out the door. Naruto stopped her with another question.

"How long have I been out?"

"It's only been a few hours, surprisingly. With how much chakra you used up on the last fuuinjutsu alone, any normal person would be dead." She casually left out mentioning Naruto's father and continued out the door to fetch Gaara.

Naruto sat in his bed testing out how sore his limbs were. He noticed that his right arm was much stiffer than his left arm, which could be chalked up to his focusing the seal into that hand. He stretched out his legs and was happy to see that they were acting okay. Naruto rotated his shoulders to find that they were also okay. His right hand was wrapped in a bandage. Naruto wouldn't have been surprised to learn that he had chakra burns all over. He was happy it was only his hand.

With a burst of wind, the white linen was across the room and Naruto was standing on his bed doing jumping jacks to get rid of his restlessness. He absolutely detested hospitals. The doctors and nurses always thought he needed to be kept much longer than reasonable for him. Couldn't they see from his past medical records how fast he healed?

Soon, Naruto was down on the floor doing sit-ups. He had to keep moving or else the white would overcome him.

His door burst open and he had barely a second to move before he heard Gaara calling out his name. He watched as Gaara ran to the open window thinking that Naruto had already escaped the hospital. He called Naruto's name out the window. Naruto began laughing hysterically.

"Idiot! I wouldn't leave if I knew you were going to be here any second."

Naruto paused and stared at Gaara, who was walking his way. Naruto lay on the floor with the world famous (and patented) huge stupid grin plastered across his face. Gaara's lips turned slightly upward as he stared down at the blonde boy. Naruto sat up and continued to stare at the sand genin in deep thought. He squinted his eyes and put a hand on his chin and rested his elbow on his knee.

"What's wrong," Gaara asked.

"Nothing. I was just thinking that every hospital room should come equipped with a Kage Bunshin of you because you really brighten up this place. But maybe… I just want to keep you to myself instead. No one else gets your pretty face in their room. That's my ruling!"

Gaara stared at the rambling boy dumbfounded. Naruto had just gone from admitting he had feelings for him to calling him pretty and saying these sweet things about him. He even claimed him as his own? Gaara felt Shukaku stir in his stomach.

"You're letting the Kyuubi host claim you? I suppose it could be worse," the Tanuki demon chuckled.

Gaara didn't quite understand the implications of demons and claiming, but he didn't really care at that moment.

The redhead dropped to his knees on the floor in front of Naruto. He leaned over the sitting boy and braced himself on Naruto's bent knees. Gaara stared intently at Naruto trying to figure out if he was allowed to do what he wanted to. Naruto blinked at him a few times and Gaara took that as an invitation. He fell forward even more and found his lips planted on his love's soft pink set. Naruto squeaked but quickly calmed down into the kiss.

Gaara pulled back but left his forehead resting on Naruto's. He stared into the cerulean pools and saw himself there. Gaara let himself smile again. He was panting to catch his breath for he had yet to learn the secret ninja technique of breathing through one's nose while making out.

Deep and huskily, a voice that could only belong to one who was of the sand, Gaara whispered, "You're mine. Don't ever forget that. And I promise I'll always belong to you."

Naruto quickly put his legs flat and leaned forward to hug Gaara tightly with a yell of childish glee. He hadn't quite figured out that Gaara's entire weight was resting on those legs he had up. Before either of them knew it, Gaara was lying on top of Naruto on the cold tile floor of the hospital. Both boys were rather shocked by the circumstance but neither made the effort to actually move.

When Gaara started to push himself up on his arms, Naruto's arms pulled his back down promptly.

Gaara whispered in Naruto's ear, because that was the only place he could at the moment, "I was just going to move us to the bed."

"Actually," Naruto responded, "This is comfier than those awful beds. But… I don't want to be here any more. I doubt they're going to release us now… and as soon as you are released from here… you have to… right?"

"Yeah, I'll be leaving," Gaara said solemnly.

"Then let's go. Let's spend the last few moment we have making the perfect memories so we can go back to them whenever we miss each other… I may start living in the past," Naruto laughed.

Gaara stood up, and quietly told Naruto, "I'd rather you'd live with me. But… let's make the most of what we have and work around the things we can't change."

Gaara pulled Naruto up by the hand. Naruto quickly changed back into his normal orange jacket and pants that were waiting for him in the wardrobe. Taking Naruto's hand in his own, Gaara pointed with his other towards his room window so that he could get his things. Quietly, they walked along the wall and Gaara jumped through the window to grab his shoes and clothes.

They quickly made their way down to the street and finally let out the giggles that they had been holding in.

Gaara decided to let Naruto lead the way, considering he knew Konoha so much better than he did. Not surprisingly, they ended up at Ichiraku.

"You don't have anything nearly as good as this stuff in Suna, I'm sure of it," Naruto explained.

"You're probably right, but I don't get out of the house enough to know," Gaara said sheepishly.

Ayame greeted them and told them to sit down and get out of the street. She asked what they would like for their early dinner. Gaara sat clueless and silent and looked to Naruto for help. It wasn't as though he knew anything more about ramen than broth and noodles. Teuchi started inquiring who Naruto's friend was. Naruto slapped Gaara on the back and said something that immediately snapped Gaara out of his befuddlement.

"This guy right here is one of the greatest people you'll ever meet. Remember his face because one day, he'll be Kazekage. Just like I'll be Hokage, ne? Ne?"

Naruto sat laughing and smiling. The waitress whispered something to the cook that sounded like something along the lines of never seeing Naruto so happy around anyone before. Gaara's lips turned upwards.

"Okay, Future Kazekage-sama, what can I get you tonight," the older man asked with a chuckle.

"I don't know."

"Then I'll get you our best," he said jollily. "And, for the next Kazekage, it's on the house so long as you promise to do your best to not let our future Hokage annoy you into war with Konoha. Deal?"

Gaara nodded and smiled at the blonde next to him.

Naruto began rambling off what kind of ramen he wanted, but Gaara could swear that he listed off 20 different kinds. Soon, he realized just how fast Naruto could polish off a bowl. He must have set some kind of record because by the time Gaara was done with one bowl, Naruto had shoveled in 10 whole bowls.

Ayame whispered to Gaara, "Naruto-kun is our best paying customer. Can you tell why? We ever give him free meal coupons because he comes here so often."

Gaara chuckled and slurped some homemade noodles out of the fresh and hot bowl that was set in front of him. Yes, this would be his first great memory. Eating ramen with Naruto was going to be etched in his mind until the day his body returned to the sands. When he finished his second bowl, Naruto finally said that he was full. The blonde left some money on the table, somehow knowing exactly how much he had to pay for what he ate.

The owners of Ichiraku watched as Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand and began walking off towards the edge of town.

Naruto turned and shushed Gaara, "We're really not supposed to leave Konoha, but I want to take you to this really great place just outside of here. It's a small resort town not even a few minutes walk."

Gaara nodded and gripped Naruto's hand tighter. He didn't want to be caught sneaking out of the hospital, much less sneaking out of Konoha. But, as long as he was enjoying his last few hours with Naruto, he would do anything. Once they made it past the line of sight of the guards, Naruto pulled on Gaara's hand and started running. Just as Naruto said, within minutes they had found their way to a small town with hotels and hot springs lined up down every street. Naruto walked into what he claimed to be his favorite one.

Naruto pulled money out of Gama-chan, his frog change purse, and gave it to the old woman who seemed to recognize him at the front desk. She led the two boys to the men's side of the facility and directed them where to store their belongings and where the towels and soap was located.

Naruto immediately began stripping off his clothes and the bandages on his hand. Gaara couldn't take his eyes off of him. Naruto laughed at him and asked if he was going to bathe with his clothes still on. Gaara spun around and also began taking off his clothing. Soon, they were sitting on their stools with soft scrub brushes and soap and cleaning themselves off. Gaara was the first one done. He quickly rinsed off and wrapped a towel around his waist and tied it. Naruto did the same shortly afterwards. Together, they made their way outside and climbed into the deserted hot spring together.

"Isn't this great," Naruto asked.

Gaara made a noise of agreement and looked up at the sky from his seat. He noticed it was slowly getting darker. The first stars were beginning to show against the darkening sky. Gaara found himself wondering if his brother and sister were frantically looking for him. And then, he told himself that he didn't care because he was going home with them. Who knew when the next time he'd get to see Naruto would be…

"Looks like we missed watching the sun set together," Naruto whispered, resting his head on Gaara's shoulder.

"We'll catch it sooner or later. After all, we'll be together for a long time, right?"

Naruto looked up without moving his head and just smiled at Gaara. Gaara smiled back and placed a small kiss on Naruto's forehead. Gaara wrapped an arm around Naruto waist and pulled him closer so there was barely any of that soothing warm water between them. Naruto snuggled up closer and buried his face in Gaara's neck. He quickly put a peck on the soft, pale skin that he found there.

They didn't keep track of exactly how long they were sitting there, but Naruto broke the extremely long, yet comfortable, silence by raising his hand up out of the water and scrunching his face at it.

"I'm all wrinkled. Should we get out?"

Gaara nodded, "Let's make memories somewhere else."

It wasn't long before they found themselves running from the cold night back inside to dry off and get dressed. As soon as they were dry and had their clothes on, Gaara pointed out that Naruto's hair was still dripping. He put a dry towel on the soaked blonde mop and started rubbing furiously. Naruto very nearly fell to the floor laughing. Gaara bit his lip in determination and brought Naruto closer to him and caught him with one arm. The other arm continued to dry off his hair.

Naruto leaned his back against Gaara's chest and melted into the embrace. Naruto couldn't remember ever being held by such warm and loving arms like this. He sighed deeply and Gaara dropped the towel on the ground. He other arm came around Naruto's chest and he rested his forehead against Naruto's shoulder. He squeezed tightly, not wanting to ever let go of this moment. However, Naruto nearly ruined the serenity by spinning around and throwing his arms up over Gaara's shoulders and kissing him square on the lips. Gaara smiled into the kiss and returned the embrace.

Gaara looked Naruto in the eyes and said lowly, "I love you, with everything I am. I love you."

Naruto smiled and laughed, "I love you, too. C'mon we have so much more that we can do. I have the greatest idea, too."

Gaara nodded and let himself be dragged around yet again by the energetic blonde. They found themselves attempting to sneak back into Konohagakure. From what Gaara could tell Naruto was leading them directly to the monument. If the millions of stairs that they were climbing was any clue, Gaara guessed that the Hokage Monument was indeed their final destination. Gaara smirked when he found out he was right.

Naruto let go of his hand and ran up the last few steps and hopped his way to the edge of the cliff. He spread his arms out and took a deep breath.

"This is my village," Naruto declared. "And as the future Hokage, I welcome you to it. I hope you have enjoyed your stay here, future Kazekage-sama. I hope our relations will always be good between our villages."

"If I'm to be the Kazekage, and you're to be the Hokage," Gaara laughed. "I see no reason why the relations wouldn't be good."

"Very true, Kazekage-sama," Naruto spoke, imitating the laughing voice of a high-ranking old man.

Gaara sat down on the ground, "You really think I should be Kazekage?"

"Of course," Naruto yelled. "You'll be the best one to date!"

"It wouldn't be hard to top my father," Gaara muttered.

Naruto narrowed his eyes to slits and crossed his arms over his chest. He began walking down the side of the monument. Gaara walked over to the edge to look down at Naruto. He found the blonde crouching in an animalistic position on the nose of the Yondaime Hokage. The Fourth's smiling face looked on towards Konoha. Naruto looked up at Gaara and frowned.

"It'll be extra hard to top my father," he called to Gaara.

"I have faith in you, Naruto," the redhead called back.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Then, after that flash of emotion Naruto was up by Gaara's side smiling and hugging him tightly. Gaara let a small smile cross his face for the nth time that night. In truth the number was uncountable being around Naruto.

Gaara and Naruto found themselves sitting up all night on top of that monument telling small details about their past, their hopes for the future, and just discussing every last thing that they could think of so that they wouldn't fall asleep and could spend every last second with each other. They didn't want to waste a single moment. However, they knew sleep was inevitable. Their words were becoming further and further apart. Their responses were slower to come. They had begun yawning after nearly every sentence or even in the middle of words.

Slowly, they had been snuggling closer. The pair had started with holding hands and lying on their backs staring up at the stars. Their currently position was Gaara on his back with his arm around Naruto's waist. Naruto had curled up like a kitten against Gaara and was half-way on top of him with his unruly blonde hair tickling Gaara's chin. It wasn't until Naruto started snoring that Gaara closed his eyes along with him.

Gaara dreamt about flying and soaring through the sky with wings on his back, holding Naruto's hand. He had visions of tumbling through fields with Naruto, laughing and smiling all the way. Naruto dreamt of eating ramen with Gaara and snuggling up while playing video games. He saw the two of them playing hide and seek in the forests surrounding Konoha. He saw them coloring in a book together and enjoying a childhood neither of the boys ever got.

But soon, their dreams came to an end and both woke up to someone standing about them coughing. When they opened their eyes and looked up, they found an entire gathering of people standing in a circle around them. Temari, Kankuro, Kakashi, Iruka, Sasuke, Sakura, and even Tsunade were hovering over the two boys. All of them wore very stern faces. It was Temari who spoke first.

"We've been worried sick trying to find the both of you," she growled.

"We were up all night looking," Sakura added.

"I'm disappointed in you, Naruto. You should know better," Iruka sighed.

"At least they aren't dead," Kakashi added.

Sasuke grunted in reply to his sensei. Kankuro just shook his head. But what scared Naruto was that the Godaime Hokage wasn't saying anything at all. She just stood there with her hands on her hips contemplating how she should begin yelling at the two. Suddenly her face lightened up and she smiled at them. Naruto became noticeably worried at that.

"I suppose we shouldn't be too hard on the lovebirds. They just wanted their time together. No harm came of it. That group hasn't even been reported in the area for some time now," Tsunade stated, smiling down at them. "Plus, I'm sure they're so worn out now… but Gaara won't mind the three day trip home or the hearty amount of missions Naruto will be assigned."

The two stood up and nodded.

"I slept," Gaara said while brushing off his clothes. He looked up to his brother and sister, "It was really nice to sleep."

The two smiled at him and each put a hand on one of his shoulders.

"All right everyone, its time for our guests to leave," Tsunade shouted. "You're all dismissed."

Within a second, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Iruka were at their houses for some well-deserved rest after being up all night looking for the missing pair of genin. Tsunade sighed and looked at Naruto and then to Gaara.

"I wish there was something I could do," she started. "But, there really isn't. Right now, Suna needs you three back because of the state your village is in. You still don't have a Kazekage and I'm sure they'd like the whole village there to decide."

Naruto flung himself at Gaara's back. He buried his face in the redhead's clothing to hide his tears. However, Gaara could still feel the wetness spreading across his back and everyone could see his body racked with sobs. Naruto still didn't want to admit that Gaara was really leaving. He kept hoping that something else would come up. He really didn't want Gaara to leave, especially after everything that had happened last night.

Gaara pulled Naruto's hands from his stomach and turned around to face Naruto. He rested his head on the blonde's orange shoulder and pushed Naruto's head onto his own. They stay that way together for a while, never wanting to let go. Eventually, they did separate but held on to each other's hands.

"I'll write. Very often. It'll be like you're here experiencing it with me. They'll be really long and detailed letters. And I'll have to get Iruka-sensei to help me spell some things, I'm sure, but I'll do it."

Gaara smiled, "And I'll write back all the time."

"I'll pressure Tsunade-baachan to give me missions that could take me to or through Suna just so I can see you as often as possible. I'll be extremely annoying so she'll just have to kick me out and give me a mission like I want. She can't ignore my request. I won't let her ignore it," sobbed Naruto.

"I'll try to come here, too, if the new Kazekage allows."

"We'll see each other again as soon as possible. I'm sure of it," Naruto yelled through his tears.

"I believe you, Naruto," Gaara smiled. "I won't say goodbye, because I'll see you soon."

Naruto nodded and kissed him.

They let go of each other's hands and Gaara began slowly backing away. Soon, the three sand siblings were out of Tsunade and Naruto's sights. The female Hokage put an arm around Naruto's shoulders to try and calm him down. It didn't help much, but soon he was only hiccupping instead of dramatically sobbing.

"I'll do everything I can for you, Naruto," Tsunade whispered to her favorite genin.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I'll be right back. There is one last thing I need to say."

Naruto then began running down the faces of the past Hokage's and down to the streets. He ran as hard and fast as his legs would allow just to make it to the gates of Konoha before it was too late. When Naruto arrived, the large wooden gates were still open so it couldn't have been too long since they had left. Naruto barely saw a flash of Gaara adjusting his gourd and disappearing into the trees. Naruto took the opportunity to shout what he wanted to say in hopes of Gaara still being near enough to hear.

"GAARA! I LOVE YOU!"

Naruto waited… and received no response. He was about to give up hope when suddenly something plopped down in front of him scaring his pants off.

"I love you, too, Naruto," Gaara said while caressing Naruto's whiskered cheek.

Naruto smiled and Gaara smiled back. Temari and Kankuro appeared at the forest edge, Temari with her hands on her hips.

"I have to go. I'll see you soon," Gaara whispered.

"Yeah," Naruto replied.

And in an instant, the three were again gone from his sight. Naruto slowly turned around and trudged back into the village. The gates shut behind him with a large wooden thud. He began instinctively walking to the Hokage's office to see if he couldn't get a mission right away to go to Suna.

Someone else obstructed his path before he got there. A large tall man with clanking geta and long white hair appeared before him laughing.

"Naruto, Naruto! Have I got a deal for you! I want you to come with me to do research and guess what you get in return! Not only will I train you more, but I promise that at least once during our journey we will stop in Sunagakure! How does that sound to you? I've already got that old hag's permission, too."

"Stop in Suna? I'm in… When do we leave?"

"As soon as your ready, brat. Get your stuff and we can go right now."

Naruto nodded with excitement. He ran back to his house and started throwing everything he needed into his backpack. He pulled out his safe and stuffed Gama-chan full to the seams. He then ran back out to meet Ero-sennin. He would be going to Suna at least once, he had said. Naruto ran smiling to Jiraiya and the gates opened for them to leave. Together, they walked out of Konoha. Naruto didn't take the time to stop and look things over or say goodbye to anyone because he didn't know that it wouldn't be until nearly 3 years later that he would actually return to his birthplace.