Shortly afterwards, Gaara sat with Naruto as he ate the modest lunch he had made for the both of them, knowing that Gaara's stomach might not be able to hold anything bigger in portions. But the food was shockingly well done for someone as hung up on ramen as Naruto was.

And the simple seafood, pasta and soup dishes were quickly becoming some of Gaara's new favorites.

Sitting across from the older man, Naruto worked on forcing himself to chew and swallow what he had in his mouth but was finding it more than a bit difficult due to the fact that his focus was across the village. With Yuki. Who strangely had begun to surface from her drugged sleep- again- an was bombarding his mind with snippets and impressions of information so quickly that it was almost terrifying.

Everything was moving so fast in his head that it was beginning to blur together like some psychedelic kaleidoscope that a kid would win at a carnival.

And then suddenly, just as he thought his skull was going to explode- it all stopped rather abruptly and Naruto felt his consciousness fade just a tad. No more than when he decided to try meditating. And he found himself in an entirely different place.

Expecting at first for Kurama to appear, Naruo was more than a little stunned when he saw Yuki appear out of some swirling mist that had been winding it's way around his legs like writhing vines. Or snakes. He wasn't sure which they gave him the stronger impression of. But it was damned creepy.

Yet the mist didn't seem to bother Yuki at all as she stood several feet from him, her expression wary as she softly asked, "Who are you?"

Figuring that seeing another person in one's head was trippy enough for her, he decided to see how things played out before their little visit ended.

"I'm Naruto."

She frowned a little bit before saying, "You're the one who visits me."

He smiled at the fact that she had somehow miraculously managed to match his face to his name. "Yes. I am."

"Thanks. I-I always feel a bit better when you're around." Yuki said with a hesitant, albeit awkward little smile that had Naruto's heart doing this weird little jump in his chest that had his mouth going dry and his palms suddenly beginning to sweat.

"Happy to help." Naruto said with a smile. His azure eyes sparkling with some unnamed or rather- unnoticed emotion as his smile fades some and he asked, "Did you need something Yuki?"

Her smile faded a little bit too, and fuck, but he hated seeing it go. She looked so beautiful when she smiled. Like some part of her was still untouched by the horrors that she had experienced. "I tried to reach you before because..."

"Because?"

"I think I could feel something wrong. And you were upset."

"So you wanted to check on me."

"I-I guess." Yuki said, her soft ivory skin taking on a light rose pink hue that was wonderfully fetching on her. Lips twitching in silent amusement, Naruto couldn't help but think how adorable she looked when she was being all shy and embarrassed.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's normal to worry about others." He assured her as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Did you need anything else?" He asked after a moment or so. Yuki was quiet for a moment or so before asking in a small, almost child like tone of voice.

"Will you visit me again today?"

Naruto smiled again and felt his heart do that same weird little jump from before. "Yeah. I'll visit you again today..."

"Okay!" Yuki said almost excitedly before turning as if to leave, causing Naruto to reach out instinctively and grasp her slender shoulder's in his large hands. Stopping her cold in her tracks while he himself froze up and for a moment wasn't sure how to react to having his hands touching her.

He usually only gave the minimum amount of physical contact. Nothing more than the barest of touches or brushes from his fingertips because he worried so much that he may be somehow causing her harm.

And now- well, he had reacted before he could actually think of anything else to make her stop, so he worried about what the impact of their physical contact just now may have done to her. However before he could move to retract his hands and release her, he felt the slight contact of her smaller body leaning back into him just a tad.

Not much, but he wasn't so blind that he didn't know what such an action meant.

She was drawing strength and comfort from him. He could feel it in the calm and steady breaths she took, in the way her body went from tense to relaxed in the blink of an eye. He felt the whirlwind of her emotions brushing at his mind like butterfly wings before fluttering into nothingness as he muttered,

"Ah, sorry. I-I just wanted to let you know that when I come to see you today, I'll be bringing a friend with me. He's very nice, and you don't need to be scared of him. He's curious because I've been talking about you with him. And he wanted to meet you."

Yuki listened quietly for him to stop rambling before nodding her head in understanding and then vanished from the mind scape.

Freeing Naruto of her grasp long enough to realize that something was wrong. His hand hurt.

Looking down at said appendage, he scowled when he saw that there was a fork stuck in him and growled menacingly as his eyes shot a death glare at the overly innocent looking red head across from him.

"Gaara. Why do I have a fork stuck in my hand?"

"You checked out and for a second I thought you just weren't paying attention to me when I started talking to you so I stabbed you with the fork. But I think I miscalculated how deep it went." Gaara said with a slight huff as he glared at the offending piece of silver.

Naruto made another growling sound and muttered something about bleeding on the table and then got up and left the room, yanking the fork out of his hand as he went.