Disclaimer: This is the most tedious part of anything... if Naruto was mine I wouldn't be doing one of these...

If: Welcome one and all to the 20th chapter! The big 2-0! This is a wonderfully rewarding SasuGaa chapter. Woo! A break from ANGST!... I like angst... meh, no worries, it'll be back next chapter... MWA HA HA HA... I mean, I'm not evil in any way shape or form.

And though y'all with signed in reviews have no doubt noticed, I replied to them just before I put this sucker up. So thanks to all my beautiful (b/c you're all as gorgeous as the most perfect rose) reviewers!

Warning: SasuGaa! What does that mean in layman's terms? Two horny guys... together. :D


RabidFangirlMoo : He he he... poor Sasu... sure. I'll say that I enjoyed torturing him for the simple fact that I read chapter 307 and got really mad at the heartless jerk... but anyway. Yeah, currently Sasu is the reigning emo champ, but we'll see if Gaara doesn't pass him up. :) I'm liking the emo scale... emo...

YINGYANGBLOSSOMS : Mou, thanks.I love detail. :) Detail makes the fictional world so much clearer and emmersive. Love it. And you'll just have to see what happens, eh:D I have this sneaking feeling that you're going to love this chapter.


Gaara's arms had moved of their own accord, really. In fact, they were still moving of their own accord, hugging the raven haired teen closer. Gaara found himself plastered to Sasuke, as if holding on for dear life… which he wasn't. Gaara was just… aw hell, even he couldn't deny that he was clinging onto the other boy as if he were the only life raft in sight after being afloat in the middle of the ocean without a raft. On top of it all was the feeling of guilt that was starting to bubble up from the back of his mind. Hadn't Sasuke just said something about six months of straight torture?

Gaara pulled away so quickly Sasuke barely even registered that the warmth that had been on his chest was now gone. Sasuke could swear he still felt Gaara in his arms, but the red head was now a good five feet away and still backing up.

"Gaara?" he asked timidly, worried about the red head that only flinched and started to scoot away faster. "What's the matter?"

Gaara only shook his head and held up his hands as if to shield himself from the other boy who was quickly crawling over to him. Gaara bumped into the far wall, trapped now between two walls and a confused Uchiha.

"Gaara?" Sasuke asked again reaching out for the other boy. Gaara shied away and crossed his arms in front of himself to shield himself from the oncoming hands. Sasuke's brow furrowed. It seemed as if he was missing something.

"How can you even look at me?" Gaara asked. Sasuke's brow creased more. "Didn't I just torture you?"

Sasuke sighed and hung his head, flinching behind the curtain of his hair. He looked up and reached for Gaara again, who only shied away. The Uchiha pulled the other boy into a loose embrace.

"Yes you did," Sasuke said. Gaara tried to get away and Sasuke tightened his hold. "But… it was different from what that… creep did. For one, you didn't include any snakes… and for two, I know that it wasn't you."

Gaara looked up at Sasuke with wide eyes. If Sasuke had been anyone else he would have said "Awww…" but this was Sasuke, so he settled for a perverted grin and running his hands over a now frowning and squirming Gaara.

"That was such a… delicious look you just had on your face," he purred into Gaara's ear, nipping at it. Gaara shuddered and tried pushing the Uchiha away. Sasuke just licked Gaara's ear before nipping at his neck.

Gaara finally managed to break away and press his back against a wall but not before Sasuke had left a mark on his neck. "How can you just start to molest me after all that!"

Sasuke shrugged. "It's all in the past after all."

"That creep could come looking for you!" Gaara exclaimed, almost forgetting it was now the middle of the night and that he didn't want to wake up his father. Sasuke paused for a moment and his face became serious.

"Its true, Orochimaru could come after me… but Itachi is working on getting my custody back, I'm almost 18 and free of both of them, and I would rather like to just pretend it all didn't happen and start over… with you," Sasuke said, adding the 'with you' in a quiet voice, but not quiet enough for Gaara not to hear. The red head blushed brightly, and turned his face away from the Uchiha. Sasuke looked at Gaara for a moment before reaching out and gently brushing his fingertips to Gaara's left cheek, encouraging him to look at him again. Gaara looked at him with shining eyes.

"You barely know me," Gaara whispered. "How could you want to try and start all over again with someone you barely know? Why would you want to try and do that with a monster like me?"

Sasuke flinched at the word monster. "One: you're not a monster. You are … amazing, to be frank. I can't describe you, that's how wonderful you seem to me. And two: that's what we're doing right now isn't it? Getting to know each other?"

Gaara seemed to think it over for a moment. Sasuke took the opportunity and moved to sit next to Gaara, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. It took Gaara a while, but eventually he nodded.

"See? I want to get to know you. I want to know everything there is to know about you," Sasuke said, leaning over to kiss Gaara's cheek. "How could anyone not want to know everything about you?"

And with that Sasuke kissed Gaara. Gaara didn't fight it, his mind was rushing everywhere at once and there were too many things that he was trying to comprehend to fight the lips gently placed to his. This kiss was unlike the kisses they had half-hazardously shared before. The time where a half Shukaku half Gaara had locked lips with Sasuke to lap at his blood was nearly forgotten. The kiss in the shower was fundamentally different from this kiss. Though that kiss had started soft and turned heated, this was just a press of lips so gentle it was barely detectable. There was no urgency, there was not fire-y passion, this was just soft and all encompassing. This kiss made Gaara feel loved.

It was Sasuke who pulled away, looking at Gaara through half lidded eyes. Gaara grabbed the collar of the raven haired boy's shirt and pulled him back, once again locking lips.

Gaara tried to replicate the kiss he had just received, but found that his lips were moving on their own, much like how his arms had moved without him only moments before. His lips were gently sliding along Sasuke's trying to coax him into joining, which didn't take long at all. Lips moved against one another, but the kiss still remained blissfully sweet and innocent. But when Gaara's tongue snuck out of his mouth to gently caress Sasuke's lips, the kiss changed personality. Sasuke's arms wrapped themselves around Gaara's neck and Gaara's wound around Sasuke's waist, abandoning the collar of his shirt. Sasuke's mouth opened and Gaara's tongue dipped into that deliciously warm cavern.

Running his tongue along every reachable crevice of Sasuke's mouth, Gaara finally dipped his tongue down to caress Sasuke's own tongue. The muscle instantly responded to the gentle caress and soon they were both fighting for dominance over one another in Sasuke's mouth.

Both boys pulled away to catch their breath before mouths crashed back against one another, teeth cracking. Lips smacked, tongues fought and Gaara soon found himself straddling Sasuke's waist while pinning the other boy against the wall. In his clouded mind Gaara barely registered that one of them was moaning. Or maybe it was both of them who were moaning. Gaara's hands were traveling the front of the Uchiha and Sasuke's were now tightly gripping Gaara's slim hips. At a tug from Sasuke, Gaara found himself gasping and tilting his head back in pleasure as their hips finally met. Sasuke growled and leaned forward to attack Gaara's neck with his mouth.

Gaara was swimming in sensation, but one thought made its way through his hazy mind: it was too soon. If he didn't stop this now, he wouldn't be able to stop it, even though he really didn't want to stop it. Gaara knew that if they did this now they would regret it. Or maybe it would just be Gaara doing the regretting, Sasuke definitely wanted him from the first second he laid eyes on Gaara and wouldn't regret having him in the least. A sharp pain raced through Gaara's chest. What if this was all Sasuke wanted? What if he was just using the 'I want to know you' card just to get into his pants?

Gaara pressed the heel of his hands against Sasuke's shoulders and pushed him back. The raven haired boy kept his talented mouth on Gaara's throat for as long as he could, his hands trying to pull that sweet ambrosia known as Gaara back to him. His lust clouded eyes looked up at the red head and he tried his best to sober up from his lust-y state. There was darkness, hollowness to Gaara's eyes that shouldn't be there, not now, not while they were…

"Gaara?" he managed to choke out, voice hoarse with lust still. Gaara shook his head, the hollow darkness disappeared from his eyes, but Sasuke had a feeling that it was hovering just below the surface.

Gaara tried one of Naruto's infamous innocent looks, it apparently failed miserably. He sighed and hung his head.

"Don't think I don't want… it's just that… well…" Gaara stuttered out. Sasuke nodded his head in understanding.

"It's too soon, right?" he asked. Gaara quirked a half smile and nodded. Sasuke smiled gently. "I understand its ok."

Gaara looked relieved. His face soon turned to embarrassed and uncomfortable. Sasuke cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he asked. Gaara fidgeted.

"Um… do need to… go to the bathroom or something?" Gaara managed to stutter out. Sasuke blinked in confusion before he noticed that he was indeed uncomfortable. His pants were definitely a bit tight. Blushing as dark as Gaara's hair he nodded wordlessly. Gaara carefully lifted himself from Sasuke's lap and sat on the ground.

"You remember where it is?" he asked as Sasuke stood gingerly.

"Yeah…" Sasuke said, moving stiffly to the door.

Gaara just looked at the ceiling as the other boy made his way out of the room. Sighing, Gaara decided that maybe he had a bit of a problem as well. Twitching, Gaara made his way over to his closet. He threw open the door, rummaged through a large white box on the floor and finally found what he was looking for.

"There's no way I'm…" Gaara trailed off, embarrassed even though there was no one in the room. He cracked the cold compress he had picked up from a baseball team he had been on once, waited for the pack to become cold before making his way back to where they had been making out. Deciding it probably was a bad idea to sit back down over there, Gaara crawled onto his bed, gingerly placing the compress down his pants and instantly shivering. Hopefully that problem would be solved quickly. Closing his eyes, Gaara waited for Sasuke to return.


Sasuke cursed in his mind as he made his way back to Gaara's room. How embarrassing was this situation? Seriously, he had decided to take it slow and then he just explodes in a flare of hormones the second the guy he's practically in love with shoves his tongue in his mouth. Granted, any self respecting guy would do the same thing… but Sasuke had always been proud of his control over his emotions, thanks to a lifetime of practicing first with the Uchiha family and then with Orochimaru. But no, the time it really matters it just all flies out the window. Stupid male hormones.

Sasuke opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. Gaara was laying on the bed, stretched out comfortably, his chest bare for some unknown reason, and his eyes closed. Sasuke could feel himself stop breathing. That red haired boy… there was no way he wasn't an angel. There was just no way. He was too beautiful, to perfect in Sasuke's eyes, and too wonderful to be any sort of monster. Gaara was a fallen, tattered and torn angel sent from the heavens above just for him, Naruto be damned.

Sasuke quietly shut the door and silently moved to Gaara's bed. Crawling onto the mattress next to his red haired angel, Sasuke wrapped an arm around his waist and Gaara's eyes snapped open. The spell was broken.

"So… you're next Gaara," Sasuke said. "Why don't you start with Shukaku and your uncle Yashamaru?"