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Ch. 13 Chibi Attraction
Uchiha Sasuke stared at the door, a frown on his face. He had checked every room in the manor, except this one. He had even searched Itachi's room. He still felt as though he owed Naruto, and was trying to find an item his father had once told him about. It had been a gift from his mother to his father, and had been what they called their "special charm" as they had wed soon after. Perhaps it would work if he gave it to Naruto, and told him to give it to the Kazekage. Gaara would never accept anything from Sasuke, but Naruto would. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found. Which was why he was here. Standing at the door of the one room in his house he was forbidden from entering.
His father's study.
He had been told, as a boy, that the Uchiha males could only enter the family study once they were wed, as it held all of the family history, and traditions and rules they would need to know as a parent. Sasuke had obeyed this strict order, even after the massacre, simply because it was his way of honoring his parent's wishes. But now, he had to go into that room, if he wanted to help Naruto. The urge was strong just to find some other way, but he had faith in his parents. He knew his father must have left his most precious possession in this room.
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke opened the door and entered, taking in the shelves of scrolls, and of one still resting on the desk, a dry ink block nearby. Curious to see if it was a jutsu or a letter or a journal of sorts, the brunette went against his better judgement and opened the scroll, eyes eagerly scanning the writing, only to have his blood turn to ice in his veins.
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Naruto groaned in relief, scrubbing vigorously at his hair to make sure all of the dirt and sweat was out. Gaara had decided to cook his own dinner while Naruto bathed, once he learned the blonde had very little experience in actual cooking. So, in an effort to prevent an undistinguishable burnt mass, the kitsune had 'kindly' allowed Gaara to use his kitchen before rushing off to clean up.
Breathing in deeply, though, a new smell seemed to catch his nose. It smelled like his shampoo, but also not like his shampoo. It just smelled really familiar.. With a shrug, he merely passed it off as having accidentally grabbed his friend's shampoo instead, and rinsed out his hair.
As soon as he was done bathing, the blonde brushed his teeth and combed his hair before dressing in his pajamas and bounding out of the room and into the other room, where the red-head was eating his dinner calmly. Plopping next to his crush, the fox-boy began talking excitedly about what they'd do the next day after Gaara's meeting. This evening had been spent sparring, and Naruto had been forced to use Kyuubi's chakra again just to get past Gaara's sand clone. He wasn't the leader of a village for nothing, apparently.
Slowly, he became aware of his friend's silence, and glanced at him, as he had been actually looking at Gaara's gourd. He didn't get to see it up close by itself, often, and had been curious for a while now. Blue eyes met turquoise, and Naruto blinked. Gaara was just... staring... at him. Not moving, just staring. Well, that and taking these nice, deep breaths.
"You okay, Panda-man?" Naruto moved closer and pressed his palm against his friend's tattoed forehead. He was in for a surprise when his friend actually blushed. That made a total of two times, now! It was just too weird! "What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" It wasn't really a scary look, just... a predatory one. Like an animal watching its prey. Complete and total focus of every move made...
"I need to go bathe now, Naruto." With that, the red-head stood and walked stiffly to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him while the other stared in confusion. Did he do something wrong? Worried, he silently picked up the dishes that had been used, and scrubbed them clean before drying them off and putting them away. Since he lived by himself, he only had a few dishes, and had to clean them after every meal. If he even used them, that is.
Inside the bathroom, Gaara's hands were covering his nose, hoping no blood could be seen by his friend. He didn't want to reveal his love for Naruto in case the boy harbored no feelings other than friendship towards him. And for some reason, when Naruto had entered the room, Gaara's poor mind had begun to fill with scenes he'd rather not have while sitting right there in front of the star of his imaginings. What if Naruto thought he was a pervert and began avoiding him? He had been fine, barely, until Naruto had moved closer and actually felt his forehead. Then the blood had all surged to one part of the sand shinobi's body, and while it was undoubtedly an important part of his body, 'cool' and 'logical' didn't describe it. Immediately, the young man hurried to strip and pour cold water over himself, before his mind wandered back again, and he wound up passed out from blood loss on Naruto's bathroom floor. That's all he needed, for the object of his affections to see him like that.
Naruto, still unsure as to what he had done wrong, finished cleaning up from dinner and plopped down next to the bathroom door, waiting for Gaara to come out. In his mind, he was going over everything he had done since they had returned from sparring. Gaara had seemed fine after that, and even when Naruto explained he couldn't cook. He had stated he didn't mind, and Naruto had run off to bathe.. Then he had returned and begun talking, as usual, before poking at his friend's gourd, then he noticed the other man's reaction. Maybe it was the gourd? It was supposed to be made out of sand, right? And Gaara could feel what the sand felt, right? Then maybe the poking had been uncomfortable or annoying?
Deciding that must have been it, the blonde switched to the infamous kowtow position, kneeling before the door, his palms flat on the ground, and bowed over until his forehead was touching the floor. As soon as that door was opened, Gaara would know just how sorry Naruto was for offending him. The kitsune cared too much about his friend to let something as simple as his pride stop him. He wasn't about to lose Gaara, no way in hell.
And as soon as said Kazekage saw the person who had been haunting his mind for the past ten minutes bowing to him outside of the bathroom door, he was tempted to shut it again and lock it. For Naruto's own safety. Instead, he called upon every thread of dignity he possessed and somehow managed to look directly down into a pair of watery blue eyes.
"What are you doing?" The other teen sniffled.
"Apologizing. I dunno what I did wrong, maybe it was cuz I was messing with your gourd, I was just curious, though! I didn't mean to upset you, and I'm so sorry!" The blonde's head touched the floor, and Gaara's eye twitched, very slightly.
"You did nothing to upset me. I think the fish might have been off, since I wasn't feeling good. And I didn't wish to make you sick, too." A bright, delighted smile was sent up to him.
"You were just sick? You're not annoyed with me?" The red-head sighed and shook his head, using his sand to lift his friend off of the floor.
"I'm not annoyed, not stop sitting like that, or else -" He had tried to deposit Naruto on his feet, only to watch as said feet gave out, and the young leaf ninja was back on the floor.
"Ooh.. my legs fell asleep!" Gaara merely smiled slightly and watched the elder of the two began cursing and shaking his legs, hoping to get feeling back in them. After a few minutes, he simply lifted the other and carried him to the futon, setting him down before sitting on the bed. He had been trying to think of something to distract him from the problem at hand, and had remembered an occurance from earlier.
"Naruto. The Hokage said she will send someone else to wake us tomorrow, to avoid another problem with Ebisu." Blue eyes blinked up at him.
"Ebisu? Oh! You mean this morning? Don't worry about it. Me and him have been at each other's throats for a few weeks now. See, he hated me before I was a genin, and then, for some weird reason, he ended up actually wanting to help train me during the Chuunin exams. We were getting along okay for a while, we didn't try to kill each other or anything, then I accidentally called him a pervert in public. He's a closet pervert, see. He could stand up to Sexy no Jutsu, but not my Harem no Jutsu!" A non-existant brow raised slightly, and Naruto gave his friend a demonstration. Personally, the Kazekage thought it would have been more effective if it had been a bunch of male Narutos clinging to him...
"So he was not happy with you announcing it to the town?" The fox container shrugged.
"Guess not. He yelled at me, saying things like 'shut up, you damn fox!' And so I got mad, and he got mad, and we've been at each other's throats since. He'll be over it soon, though." A loud yawn interrupted him, and he stretched like a cat.. well, a fox, really, before plopping his favorite sleeping cap on his head. "We'd better get to sleep. Knowing my luck, that old hag's gonna send Sasuke-teme to wake me up, and no way in hell am I letting him ruin my day!"
Gaara slipped under the blankets, the strong scent of Naruto permeating his mind, and he registered something unusual...
'Naruto smells different now than he did when he last slept in this bed...'
And suddenly all the blood was sent rushing down again.
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Outside, a certain shinobi smirked. Seems he had done well. It was only a matter of time, now. Gaara might have an iron will, but even iron bends at a high enough temperature. Watching the Sand shinobi from his perch in the tree, he allowed himself to recall just how Naruto had saved him in the first place...
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I'm leaving it there! I plan on updating soon, don't worry! Also, I had someone say "Why do you keep calling Sasuke a brunette?" So, I looked it up in the dictionary.And yup, a person with brown or black hair is classified as a brunette. Sasuke's hair is black. He is a brunette. Also, I've got a LiveJournal now.. who knew?