If: Welcome to the beginning of the end! Only a theoretical 2 chapters left! Party! I told you people I'd finish this eventually. Anywho, thanks to all the people sticking with this little story. This chapter might be a bit short, but it has everything I wanted to put in it in it, and I like the ending, so... yeah.
Warnings: VIOLENCE! Blood, gore
Review replies: Shinimegami7- Yes, they did. The consumation of their relationship and all that jazz. It will be hard for Gaara to quit, you're right. Just because HE wants to quit, doesn't mean the world will let him. Thank you for the review!
Paris was beautiful. No matter the season, the capital of romance was a sight to behold. The trees were starting to change colors, the people were walking around in pairs and chatting lightly, and the Eiffel tower stood at the center of it all. It was the place of lovers, and Naruto and Gaara were no exceptions. After the near disastrous encounter in India, the two had gotten even closer than either thought possible. They had even tied the knot several days ago. Naruto was no officially part of Gaara's family, though he didn't like the fact that Kankuro called him his 'sister in-law.' Everything was going swimmingly. There were no more problems, no Sasuke, and even the Sandman had started to fade away. Naruto loved it, but Gaara just knew that things were too perfect. Sooner or later something would happen and ruin everything, he just knew it.
Gaara had already resigned himself to his fate. He knew he couldn't tell Naruto about being the Sandman, but he so desperately wanted to. Unfortunately he just couldn't go to jail, even if the blond would stay by his side. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, so he kept his silence and it was slowly eating away at him. The only way that Naruto would find out would be if Sasuke showed up and opened his big fat mouth.
Unfortunately, it just so happened that fate had one last trick up her sleeve for the newly wed lovers. In a funny way life is a circle and everything comes around at least twice. And so it happened that one fine day when Gaara awoke in the morning his lover was not beside him. Stretching his arms above his head and arching his back, the red head tried to get the various kinks out of his system. As he sat up and opened the curtains to their luscious suite windows he admired the day. It was only nine in the morning, but it was already shaping up to be a beautiful day in Paris.
Figuring that Naruto had gone down to the quaint little shop down the street for breakfast, Gaara made his way towards the bathroom to shower. He warmed up the water to his preferred temperature and climbed into the four jets, glass enclosed shower. Spending as much time as he wanted on soaping up and rinsing himself down, Gaara got out a leisurely half an hour later. He grabbed a white fluffy towel and toweled himself off before wrapping the towel around his waist. As he walked out of the bathroom he noticed something off about the hotel room. Walking to the door Gaara saw that it was shut, but something kept him from thinking that the room was still empty.
"Naruto?" the red head asked tentatively. Looking around something caught Gaara's eye on the floor: blood. "Naruto?"
Cautiously Gaara followed the trail of specks and dots of blood into the bedroom. As his eyes followed the trail of blood his eyes came to rest on the bed. Lying there, covered in blood and soaking the formerly pristinely white sheets was the one person Gaara had hoped to never see again.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Gaara asked tersely. Black eyes looked up from the bed impassively at him.
"Could you at least help me stop the bleeding before you ask me all these questions?" Sasuke asked weakly. Gaara frowned but walked to the phone.
"Yes, this is room 213, could you send up a first aid kit and some extra towels? … Thank you," Gaara spoke calmly. After hanging up the phone, Gaara wandered over to his wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. Pulling on his boxers and pants, Gaara paused when he heard a knock on his door. Moving through the bedroom and to the door, Gaara opened the door and welcomed in the maid. After taking the towels and first aid kit and thanking the maid with a tip, Gaara made his way back into the bedroom and focused his attention on the now sitting Uchiha.
Sasuke was slowly trying to pry his shirt up over his head, but it was matted to his skin thanks to the blood soaking it. Gaara sighed and helped the Uchiha pry the shirt up over his head. Sasuke sucked in a pained breath as Gaara poked the wound on his shoulder. Sighing, Gaara grabbed one of the extra towels and went to the bathroom and soaked it in water. Walking back into the bedroom Gaara watched as Sasuke poked at his shoulder. Gaara pushed his hand away and started to wipe and dab at the blood covered shoulder. After cleaning the wound and stopping the bleeding, Gaara pulled out the first aid kit.
"How do you get yourself into these messes anyway?" Gaara murmured to the Uchiha as he carefully put a cotton pad on the wound and winding gauze around the wounded shoulder.
"I guess I just have a knack for getting into trouble," Sasuke replied cheekily. Gaara rolled his eyes and tapped the bandage so it wouldn't come off or unravel.
"Get up and help me change these bloody sheets," Gaara commanded, pulling the Uchiha up off the bed. Together they pulled the bloodstained sheets off the bed and put them in the bathtub. Gaara poured soap onto the sheets, adding some bleach that he always carried with him just in case he had to go on a 'job.' As the tub filled with hot water Gaara wandered out of the bathroom to find Sasuke sitting on the loveseat and looking out the window pensively. After going back into the bathroom to turn off the tap, Gaara moved so that he was sitting on the floor in front of Sasuke.
"First off, how did you find me? I thought I told you to leave me alone or I'd tell Naruto about you," Gaara said. Sasuke looked at him briefly before turning to look back out of the window.
"You're not hard to find Gaara. The Sandman is hard to find, but Sabakuno Gaara is easy to find," Sasuke said disinterestedly. "Besides, telling Naruto about all of this could work in my favor and not yours."
Gaara bit his lip. "I don't think so Sasuke."
"I do, it's not much of a threat to tell Naruto. If anything was going to come from it he would only find out that we were involved and what do you think he'd do then?" Sasuke asked mockingly.
"Actually, he'd probably kill you. See, after that incident a month ago, Naruto came to India and we talked, he's under the impression that you raped me," Gaara said. Sasuke's head snapped over to Gaara, his eyes glaring.
"You manipulated the events leading up to us having sex," Sasuke spat out. Gaara just looked at the Uchiha.
"I didn't manipulate anything, I just tactfully left out some incriminating details," Gaara replied nonchalantly. Sasuke sneered at the red head.
"Well the truth will come out sooner or later," Sasuke spat at Gaara. Gaara just lifted an eyebrow.
"I don't think so Sasuke. You won't be around to tell him, and I obviously won't be telling him about my dirty little secret," Gaara replied.
"And what makes you think I won't be around?" Sasuke sneered.
"That hit on your head for one," Gaara replied snappishly.
"And how do you think I got this gaping wound, huh?" Sasuke snapped.
"Well if you weren't such an obvious bastard, tracking me down and all that, you wouldn't be in this situation, now would you?" Gaara practically growled.
"I can't help that I'm in love with you!" Sasuke yelled.
Silence fell between the two occupants of the room. Gaara just stared at Sasuke as the raven haired Uchiha looked out of the window, a pretty blush adorning his cheeks.
"Hey Gaara! I brought… breakfast…" Naruto trailed off from his position inside the doorway. He stepped forward and the door slammed shut behind him. Gaara looked desperately between his husband and his ex. Sasuke, meanwhile was staring at Naruto, his mouth hanging slightly open.
"Sasuke…" Naruto spoke, the bags in his arms falling to the floor. He slowly made his way from the door towards the loveseat, his hand reaching out towards the Uchiha. Gaara just sat and watched as the two old friends finally met after many years of separation.
"Hey Naruto…" Sasuke said, breaking the spell that had settled over the room's occupants. Naruto finally closed the gap between them and slapped Sasuke across the face.
"You bastard!" Naruto shouted, surprising the other two boys. Sasuke only blinked as Naruto pulled him off the loveseat and reached behind himself to pull out a handy pair of handcuffs. Gaara blushed as he watched his husband cuff Sasuke.
"Naruto… that might be a bad idea," Gaara tried to interject as Naruto started reading off Sasuke's rights.
A loud crash from the door startled all three boys. Sasuke's eyes went wide, Gaara frowned at the door and Naruto went back to reading Sasuke's rights. Gaara moved to the door and peeped out the peephole. The red head promptly cursed.
"Naruto!" Gaara shouted. The blond and the Uchiha looked over to the angry Sabakuno.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"Get into the bedroom and lock the door," Gaara demanded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his spare handcuff key. Naruto had backed away from Sasuke and could only watch as his husband un-cuffed the felon.
"What are you doing Gaara?" Naruto asked, perturbed by his husband's actions. Gaara ignored the blond and glared at the Uchiha.
"Were you followed?" Gaara asked the Uchiha angrily. Sasuke shook his head emphatically.
"I swear to god I made sure that they didn't follow me," Sasuke answered quickly. Gaara frowned and there was another bang outside the door.
"Then they must have figured that you'd head here. God you're predictable," Gaara sneered, clearly frustrated by the situation that was quickly getting out of hand.
"Gaara!" Naruto shouted, trying to get his husbands attention. He was worried about what was going on, and he knew that his husband hadn't told him everything. Gaara looked piteously at his blond love.
"Please Naruto, just get into the bedroom, lock the door, and hide yourself," Gaara said pleadingly. Naruto looked at his husband as if seeing him for the first time and he was instantly sad, this wasn't the man he married.
"Alright…" Naruto replied and left the room, locking the door behind him. Gaara turned to the Uchiha.
"You're more trouble than your worth, I swear to god," Gaara grumbled as he walked over to one of the three coffee tables in the room and opened the drawer. Pulling out his handgun, Gaara pocketed an extra clip of bullets before loading and cocking his gun.
"What are we going to do?" Sasuke asked cautiously.
"You are going to be bait," Gaara said. "Sit on the couch. I guess I have no choice but to help you, though I'd rather just let them kill you for all the trouble you're causing me."
"Gee thanks, now I know you truly care," Sasuke said sarcastically, but did as he was told. Gaara twitched, but ignored the Uchiha's reply for the most part.
"I'll stake out the room from the bathroom. I'd suggest ducking for cover when the shit hits the fan," Gaara told Sasuke.
The door burst open.
The assassins entered the room quickly and efficiently. They were some of the best in covert operations, but it seemed as if they were too desperate to eliminate their target to care about discretion at this point. With guns raised they made their way over to the Uchiha, who sat dead still on the loveseat. A shot rang out and one of the six men that had entered the room fell to the ground as the bullet pierced his neck. As his body twitched and gurgled in the throws of death, the other members of the team scattered quickly.
Sasuke jumped up quickly and hid behind the loveseat as another shot rang out, piercing the back of the loveseat and sending up a spray of cotton and splinters. Sasuke cursed colorfully from behind the loveseat. One of the squad had ducked behind the couch perpendicular to the loveseat and was slowly turning so that he could get a good shot at the Uchiha. Another shot rang out through the air and the man behind the couch cursed as the bullet exploded through his leg and blood sprayed over the cream carpeting and couch. A man who had stationed himself by the door ducked out into the hallway to make sure the shooter wasn't there. Signaling to the rest of the group that there was no one there, the leader of the group, positioned on one side of the door to the bathroom nodded to the man on the other side of the door. Simultaneously both men pointed their guns into the bathroom and let off several rounds.
The last man checked the door to the bedroom and found it locked. He signaled to the man by the door and soon they were both inspecting the door. The man behind the couch had applied some pressure to his wound and had torn pieces from his pants to wrap tightly around his damaged leg. Gritting his teeth he looked around the edge of the couch to find the Uchiha anxiously watching what was happening in the bathroom. Aiming his gun, the man fired a single round at the raven haired man behind the loveseat.
Silence filled the hotel suite which was broken when the two men at the bedroom door broke into the room. One of the men at the bathroom ducked into the room and the man behind the couch dragged himself behind the loveseat.
"Shit!" the man now behind the loveseat shouted. The men standing guard at the bathroom and bedroom turned to see what was happening. Three shots rang in the air; two from the loveseat and one from the bathroom. The man at the bathroom signaled to the man at the bedroom door to check out what was going on behind the loveseat. The second he turned back towards the bathroom a gun was pointed at his face, right between the eyes. Cold green eyes stared at him unblinking before the trigger was pulled.
Striding out of the bathroom Gaara glanced at the man in front of the loveseat. The man pulled his trigger as Gaara dropped to the floor. The man who had ventured into the bedroom came running out. Aiming at the man's ankle, Gaara fired another shot. Screaming as he fell, the man coming from the bedroom collapsed to the floor. The ground beside Gaara's face exploded in a magnificent splash of splinters and the red head rolled towards the wall and held a hand up to his face to protect the eyes.
"You son of a bitch!" the man in front of the loveseat shouted at Gaara before a bullet burst forth from his face, blood and bone splattering about as his body fell to its knees and collapse onto the floor, face-down. Walking dispassionately over to the crying man in pain before the bedroom door, Gaara pointed the barrel of his gun at the man's face.
"Why?" was the single word that escaped the man's lips before his skull exploded. Wiping at the blood covering his face and hands, Gaara looked up only to see the horrified face of his newly-wed husband.
"Naruto…"