Disclaimer: Not mine.
If: Ahhh... getting back to my roots and writing a GaaNaru. So nice. This is the fic that Alcorion asked for for being lucky reviewer 111 for A Day in the Life. This is currently unfinished and a chapter-y thing, so it'll be going for a bit.
Gaara had finally decided. Naruto's nearly impossible mission of "bring Sasuke back" had somehow been completed, and neither of them was dead. It was a miracle. And so Gaara had decided. Gaara had decided that now he would lay his claim to Naruto. There was no longer anything standing in his way. Naruto didn't have a one track mind on Sasuke, who Gaara would like to note was a self-centered, ungrateful prick, anymore. That meant that all Naruto would be focused on would be becoming Hokage, and that certainly didn't take too much brain work… Gaara would have to amend that sentence. It wouldn't take much brain work for anyone who wasn't Naruto. But the current Hokage was pretty much pushing the blonde in the right direction and had already pretty much decided that Naruto would be the next Hokage, if he didn't die first, Gaara noted sardonically.
And so, since the blonde wouldn't be pre-occupied with bringing back one black haired prick, Gaara would finally make his move. That's right. The big bad Kazekage had a huge, near obsession, crush on Konoha's number one loud mouth ninja: Naruto Uzumaki. Gaara twitched at first, when he had realized he had a romantic inclination towards Naruto. He had twitched, and then he had gone out in the middle of the desert and just went nuts creating a sandstorm (this was way back when Naruto had gone off for three years and Gaara had just become Kazekage). For some reason, though it annoyed him to no end, he also knew that something like this would happen. Naruto was his savior after all… and the fact that he had been saved by such a blundering idiot (which is what he had been way back when, when they were twelve) just made him twitchy. But Gaara was over that now, he had accepted that he idolized and practically worshiped that blonde idiot.
Then that idiot had saved him again. As if it wasn't bad enough that he had saved him once already… He had gone so far as to bring Gaara back from the dead, with the help of Chiyo-sama. He gave up part of his own life, just so Gaara could live. If Gaara hadn't worshiped the ground he had walked on before, he most certainly did now. Gaara owed the Uzumaki a lifetime and more.
And so, it was with the greatest reluctance that Gaara came to realize that all he could ever hope to give Naruto in return was himself. Gaara soon came to realize, over the year after Naruto had return victoriously with a beaten Sasuke, that there were many other people vying for Naruto's love and affection, and if he were to acquire it he would have to move fast.
The first and foremost obstacle in his way was Sasuke. Even though Naruto himself staunchly denied having feelings of that nature towards Sasuke, Gaara and Naruto had been corresponding via messenger bird over the past year, Gaara knew that the blonde wouldn't have chased after that cold-hearted bastard just because Sakura had told him too. No… there was more there that Naruto wasn't admitting too.
Which brought Gaara to obstacle number two, nearly as dangerous as obstacle one: Sakura. Naruto was, obviously, always proclaiming his "love" for the pink haired kunoichi, and Gaara knew that she was starting to think that she might return those feelings. It would be problematic if she acted on those "feelings."
The third obstacle was none other than Hyuuga Neji. While Neji wasn't as much of a threat as Sasuke and Sakura, he was still a rather large road block. Gaara would have to be careful around him… it was best not to piss off the Hyuuga prodigy.
But Gaara had a plan. That's right… a plan.
First, Gaara was going to take care of Sakura. Gaara had arranged for Lee, who was ironically a good friend now, to always be around to deflect Sakura away from his Naruto. He had also gotten in contact with Lee's teammate Tenten, and she had agreed to keep Neji out of his way. The only person that Gaara couldn't seem to get out of the way was the Uchiha prick. But Gaara thought that maybe if he said "Uchiha" loud enough in the streets of Konoha that the fan girls would come running, so he wasn't too worried.
With his plan already underway, Gaara had started his trek to Konoha three days ago. This was the trip to Konoha that would change everything.