Next chapter is here ^.^ So enjoy and review.

Chapter Five

Nervously Gaara waited in his office, Naruto seated in one of the chairs opposite the desk. A polite knock sounded on the wooden doors.

"Come in." Gaara said no indication of his nervousness showing.

The doors opened and in walked Azami and Kohana with Grey and Kuro following them. Naruto turned to look at them as they walked in and the reactions were instantaneous.

Kohana flinched away with Kuro giving an avian hiss at Naruto and spreading his arms in front of Kohana. Grey instantly gave a low growl and stepped in front of Azami, one arm held out protectively in front of her.

Azami, however, grabbed Grey's arm and pushed past to step in front of a bemused and surprised Naruto. Grey's hand shot out to grab her shoulder, a low whimper sounding in his throat.

"Grey, it's alright." Azami said softly detaching his hand from her shoulder. She turned to study Naruto grabbing his chin and tilting his head back and forth, just looking. Naruto just stared back at her, surprised enough to let her keep her hold on his chin.

"Grey?" Azami asked quietly.

Grey took a deep breath, blowing it out gustily in an expression of annoyance and anger.

"Pain, anger, bitterness and envy." He took a step so that he was standing next to Azami and glared at Naruto, "He knows Kuro and I are here. He is jealous."

Gaara could only stare at the scene unfolding in surprise. This was the last thing he had ever expected to happen. But what surprised him the most was the last comment. However it was Naruto who beat him to the question.

"Kyuubi is jealous?" Naruto's voice was surprised, disbelief echoing throughout every word.

Azami dropped her hand from his chin, a look of pain and sadness crossing her face. Kohana pushed past Kuro to stand next to the desk, Kuro instantly stepped to her side. She was shocked; this boy had the Kyuubi within him?! She gripped at the desk, this was madness! How could any human survive Kyuubi within their body? Within their soul?!

Azami reached up her hands to grasp either side of Naruto's face, a look of pity now etched into her features.

"Boy, what's your name?" she asked sadly.

"Naruto." he replied quietly, thoroughly unnerved by this strange woman he had only just met. Within his mind he could feel Kyuubi churning furiously.

"How long have you had this demon within you?"

"All... all my life." He muttered.

Azami turned to Grey, "How?" was all she asked.

Grey gave a sigh and looked away, "Kyuubi is incomplete."

Azami let her hands fall away from Naruto's face and sat down in the other seat next to him. Her bright spring green eyes suddenly looking ageless and tired. She looked back at Naruto.

"Grey, we need to tag him." she said.

"Certainly." Grey reached out a hand towards Naruto.

Gaara half rose in his chair, but Naruto jumped to his feet and skittered out of range of Grey his own hand going to his weapons pouch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean by 'tag'." he said, his voice almost a growl.

Azami held up a placating hand and spoke quickly, "It's alright, it won't hurt, nor affect you in any way. You won't even know it's there."

"Then why?"

"It's just so that I can keep track of you. One day you are going to die-" a low growl sounded from Naruto "-and Kyuubi will be released. The tag will let me know when that will happen so that I can be there to help contain Kyuubi."

Naruto's hand dropped from the weapons pouch, "You can keep Kyuubi away from other people?" he asked.

"Yes."

Silence stretched between them for a few moments before his shoulders slumped slightly and he gave a nod. Gaara relaxed back into his chair.

It happened so quickly. Grey stepped forward again and Naruto suddenly dropped to his knees, his hands clenching at his head as red chakra poured from his body rapidly. Gaara blinked as he was suddenly engulfed in a sphere of blue-black and silver chakra. And even though the chakra was swirling around him, he found he could still see clearly through it to scene unfolding before. Around Azami was a sphere of silver chakra and around Kohana was a sphere of blue-black chakra. Grey was blazing with silver chakra, one hand around Naruto's throat keeping him pinned to the ground, without choking him, and his other hand against his forehead. Kuro was blazing with the blue-black chakra and was keeping the rest of Naruto pinned, mostly preventing the red chakra from flailing around.

Grey spoke his voice rough and filled with a growl, "Just because I'm in human form, don't mistake me for being weak fox!"

The red eyes glared out from Naruto's face and gave a growl. Grey just glared right back at him the hand on the forehead now drawing symbols in the glowing silver chakra that Gaara didn't recognise.

"Go back, fox." he warned.

Slowly, the red chakra started to retreat. But it was too slow. One of the chakra tails escaped Kuro's grasp to fling around straight at Azami. With a bright sizzle of light it was stopped by the silver sphere of chakra that surrounded her. Azami hadn't even flinched. The silver chakra around Grey shifted to take the form of a wolf, and when Grey moved his head the chakra head moved as well to quickly grasp the errant red tail. With a savage twist the red chakra tail was torn away, dissolving, followed by a savage feral scream from Naruto. But the red chakra continued to dissolve and fade back into his body.

The eyes were the last to change, fading from the red to the bright summer-sky blue. Those eyes blinked a few times in confusion.

"What happened?" Naruto mumbled, his voice a little hoarse.

The two demons relaxed then, their chakra seeping back within themselves. The shield surrounding Gaara trickled away and disappeared. It was then that Gaara realised that he was shaking. He shoved his hands between his legs to hide the shaking until he could gather himself together. Naruto had told him about this, but this was the first time he had ever seen the Kyuubi assert itself over his friends' body and if what Naruto had told him was accurate then this wasn't even the worst that it could get. He took a deep, even breath to help steady himself as Azami helped Naruto back into his chair. To the other side of his desk a pale faced Kohana was being held up by Kuro who was actually shaking as bad as Gaara was. This surprised the Kazekage, somehow he didn't see the crow demon as someone who was easily intimidated. Only Azami and Grey seemed unshaken.

"Has this happened before?" Azami asked Naruto a little too sharply.

Numbly Naruto nodded. Azami just drew in a deep breath and released it in a silent sigh.

"You are sorely unfortunate, boy, and truly, I feel for you. However," she turned to Gaara, "I came here originally to get answers to questions."

Gaara inclined his head, "Then ask." he said, thanking the heavens that his voice didn't sound as shaken up as he felt.

"You have obviously had the demon removed from you. How on earth did you survive? Every removal process I have heard about has been fatal to the human host."

Gaara opened his mouth to reply...

"He didn't." The mumbled words came from Naruto, "When the Akatsuki took Shukaku out he died. But old lady Chiyo bought him back to life." Naruto was slumped low in the chair, his eyelids half closed.

Azami's attention was focused on him, keen interest lighting up her eyes, "How?"

"She gave him her life." The interest faded from Azami's eye to be replaced by shock and a hint of sadness. Naruto continued. "She didn't have enough chakra, she had been fighting them. So I gave some of mine."

Gaara drew in a sharp breath, that was something he hadn't known. He knew that Chiyo had given her life for his but he had no idea that Naruto had also given something of himself as well. He had never told him.

Azami slumped back in her chair, disappointed. She had hoped, so badly, that this might have been a way to remove the demon soul without harming the vessel. She spared a glance to her students, this was the first time they had dealt with a Jinchuriki. She gave a small smile, they had dealt with it well and she was proud to call them her students. With the smile fading she stood up.

"Thank you that was all I needed to know."

Naruto struggled a bit to sit up properly in the chair, "I'm sorry for what happened. Thank you."

Azami patted his cheek with a ghost of a smile, "Don't fret boy, it wasn't your fault." With that she walked out, Grey following close on her heels. Gaara stood up and walked around his desk to help Naruto to his feet.

"You need some rest. I'll take you back to my place." Gaara said as he took most of Naruto's weight.

"I can help, if you want?"

Gaara looked over at Kuro giving him a long measured look. Kuro was tense, there was so much more to the question then what the words alone meant. After what seemed an eternity Gaara nodded and Kuro relaxed.

"Your help would be appreciated." Gaara said, "That is of course if Kohana doesn't need your support."

Something flashed in Kohana's eyes and some colour came back to her pale face as her spine went stiff.

"I'm fine. I can walk by myself." she said tartly.

A smile ghosted over Kuro's face as he gave her a rib crushing hug and a kiss on the forehead.

"I know you can." he said, "It was Gaara who said that you couldn't."

With a splutter and a wriggle she escaped his grasp and pushed him towards Naruto before shooting Gaara a look and storming out of the room. Kuro walked over the other side of Naruto and grinned.

"It's fun to tease her, she gets so cute when she is mad. It's like a tiny kitten hissing and spitting."

A low chuckle was heard from Naruto as Gaara ducked his head giving a grin of his own.

***

Once Naruto had been put into the spare bed comfortably Gaara walked back out into the lounge room where Kuro and Kohana sat. Kohana sat on one side of the couch with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. Her eyes were blank as she stared off into space. Kuro sat at her side, his eyes following Gaara's movements as he walked in a settled into the armchair.

The silence seemed to stretch into eternity. Nervously Kohana pulled the tie off the end of her plait and started to unravel her hair. As the blue-black waves spilled over her hands Gaara was filled with the almost overwhelming longing to run his hands through those tresses, just to see if they felt as silky and smooth as they looked. Instead he just rested his hands on the arms of his chair. Finally it was Kuro who broke the silence.

"I'm going to go back to the inn." he said standing up. Kohana gave a start and began unfolding her legs to follow but he pushed her gently back down, "You stay here for a bit, make sure Naruto is okay. I'll let Sensei know."

She blinked a few times, "Yeah, ok."

With a lopsided grin he walked out. After he left the silence descended upon them again. Kohana just fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. She was now alone with Gaara and feeling extremely nervous. Her aborted attempt to talk to him yesterday had left her twisting her insides as she wondered what exactly she would say to him when she saw him again. She glanced over at him from beneath her lashes to find that he was looking at her with a strange look on his face. Her heart pounded harder at the intensity of that gaze. Abruptly she stood up.

"I'm just gonna check on Naruto..." she mumbled before fleeing the room.

Once she reached the spare room where Naruto was resting Kohana took a deep breath to steady herself and slow down her erratic heartbeat. She felt like an idiot, she had the perfect chance to talk to him and she had run away. Slumping against the wall she slid down to the ground pushing the heels of her palms into her forehead. She wanted to regain that easy friendship that she had before, she liked spending time with him. But she wasn't sure how she was going to do that. The sound of the bed moving sent Kohana scrambling back to her feet. She had forgotten that Naruto was in here, and now he was awake and looking at her. She walked over to the bed and rested a hand on his forehead before resting her fingers lightly on his wrist to check his pulse.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She said.

Naruto sat up, "It's alright, I wasn't really sleeping. I've got a bit of a headache." he said rubbing the side of his head.

"I can go back to the inn and get something for you if you'd like? I'm sure Sensei's got something."

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, it's all good, it's not that bad." he looked at her, "your Kohana right?"

She nodded. Naruto smiled.

"Gaara told me all about you."

A light blush rose in Kohana's cheeks, "He... he did?" she asked.

A smile spread slowly over his face, "Yep. When I got here yesterday he told me everything that had happened."

"Oh." her shoulders slumped.

"He misses your company."

Kohana just looked at him with surprise. Naruto continued.

"Gaara is one of my closest friends, but sometimes he is a little clueless about his own feelings." a red colour started to slowly rise in Kohana's cheeks at his words. Naruto just gave a wicked grin full of mirth and teasing. "Why don't you just go talk to him. It doesn't have to be anything in particular. You don't even have to talk, there are other ways to... talk."

Kohana just made a choking spluttering sound as her face turned an even brighter shade of red. Naruto just sat there with a bright cheery grin on his face and waved a hand at her.

"Go on now, I need my rest and your preventing it." he heard a few more spluttering sounds as he lay back down and turned away from her. After a moment he heard the door close as she left.

Kohana stepped away from the closed door and pressed her hands against her cheeks feeling the heat that suffused her face. What was it with people wanting to tease her today? She hated being teased.

"Kohana?"

Kohana's head shot up at the sound of Gaara's voice. He stopped just in front of her and looked at the closed doorway.

"Is he alright?"

Her hands fell to her sides as the colour faded.

"He'll be fine."

Gaara shifted a bit in the silence that followed. Finally he took a deep breath.

"I, uh, wanted to apologise. For how I... I acted a couple of days ago..." he trailed off. He felt nervous and tense as he looked at Kohana. The strange expression that she had on her face wasn't helping him calm down. Suddenly she threw her arms around him, making his eyes widen in surprise as she squeezed the breath out of him with her hug.

"You don't have to apologise." she said, her voice muffled by his shirt as her face was buried in his chest. "I'm the one who should apologise, I was the one who told Sensei about you and that makes it my fault she came here. If I hadn't told her then you wouldn't have found out about Kuro and Grey and you wouldn't have gotten upset and... and I don't like you being upset. You don't deserve it..." she trailed off when she realised that she was now just rambling.

Surprised, Gaara just looked down at the top of her head. Slowly, gingerly, he raised the lower half of his arms to gently return the hug, a small smile creeping over his lips.

Kohana released her grip, suddenly shy, and stepped back tucking her hands behind her back, a pink tinge colouring her cheeks.

"Sorry." she muttered.

Gaara just smiled, "Let's go sit back in the lounge room so we don't disturb Naruto."

Kohana just nodded agreement and followed Gaara as he made his way back to the lounge room. Once they were seated Gaara rubbed the back of his neck.

"I was wondering..." he started to say but trailed off. Kohana looked at him expectantly waiting for him to continue. He cleared his throat and started again, "You said Kuro was your partner, what did you mean by that exactly?"

Kohana leaned forward and propped her chin in her hands, "Just that, he is my partner." Gaara just looked confused. She scratched the side of her face lightly, "Hmmm, I've never had to explain this to anybody before, it's just something everyone knows about back home." she leaned back in the couch and chewed her thumbnail, her forehead furrowed in thought as she tried to think of the best way to explain it.

"Hmmm, well back home the demons that roam around are a little more prolific and more accommodating. I think it started long ago when people from up here in the north immigrated to the south, taking with them their knowledge of chakra manipulation with them. Either way they met with the demons and found out they were quite willing to make room on their lands for humans. So the humans settled in whilst the demons watched. In their lesser forms the demons used to wonder around the human villages, helping out, making friends, or even learning some things from us." Kohana grinned, "But the best thing they did was teach our medics better healing techniques, the demons thought this was an honourable pursuit to follow. In return our warriors showed the demons how to better focus their chakra to get better fighting techniques."

All Gaara could do was listen, fascinated, as she kept talking. He kept silent so that he didn't disrupt her train of thought. She continued.

"Of course not all of the demons were happy with the humans on their lands and would attack the villages. Our warriors and other demons managed to fend them off well enough. But one day there was a massive attack on the capital and many people and demons died. The medics and the few demons that knew healing techniques tried to help all of them, but too many of the injured died due to the medics running out of chakra and not enough of the demon healers." She shook her head, "It was so long ago though. No one remembers who the first one was to partner with a demon, but we do know was that the battle was how it all started."

She paused, lost in her history lesson.

"Why?" Gaara asked after a few moments.

Kohana jerked out of her musings, "Oh, well, many reasons actually. It gives the demon the capacity to change to human shape and the human gets a larger chakra reserve and a longer lifespan among other things."

"Can anyone do it?"

She shook her head, "No, only medics can partner with the demons to become healers."

"How is it done?" Gaara was beyond fascinated now, he had never heard of anything like this before. The closest he had ever heard of was the Jinchuriki's. He suppressed a shudder at the thought.

"Well it's... it's... " Kohana waved her hands as she tried to find the right words, "It's like the two souls are 'bonded'. We become intertwined with each other but at the same time retain independence. It's hard to describe."

Gaara just stared at her, his mouth hanging open slightly. Kohana just looked amused at his expression and gave a wry smile.

"Anyways, there is at least one healer in every village and about ten at any one time in the capital. Healers are usually chosen from the medics that come to the capital to train but sometimes they will be chosen from a village directly if talent is shown." she shifted in her seat, "My father took me to the capital when I was ten so that I could see the hospital and the medics and healers that worked there. I wanted to be a medic ever since I could remember. That's when I met Sensei and Grey, she took one look at me and took my father aside to talk to him. When they came back to me they asked me if I wanted to be a healer." She smiled warmly at the memory, "I was so excited." She looked over at Gaara, "You have to understand that since healers live a really long time, new healers are rarely chosen. So for me this was beyond my wildest dreams."

"Is that when you met Kuro?"

"No," she said with a slight shake of her head, causing her hair to ripple, "I didn't meet him until about three years later. During that time I was studying the basics of being a healer as well as my normal education. I didn't have a lot of time to wonder who or what my demon partner would be like."

Gaara settled himself deeper into the armchair, "So how did you meet him?"

"Well, whenever a new healer trainee is declared then the word goes out to all the demons interested that a position is available. The trainee's chakra system is then activated and then the demons travel to meet the trainee."

"Activated?" Gaara interrupted with a confused look.

"Um, well, its sort 'lit up'. It's something that the healers do to the trainees' chakra so that the compatibility of it can be properly matched with the demon. Clashing chakra systems don't function as smoothly as ones that match."

"Oh." was all Gaara could say.

"Anyways, I was thirteen when Kuro finally flew into the capital." She gave a giggle, "He was so flustered and so afraid that I might have already been taken, it was funny. He had heard about me when I had first arrived and he was forbidden by his mother to come to the capital because he wasn't old enough yet." she clamped her hand over her mouth as she giggled harder, "So for three years he had to wait. Jet told me that he drove his entire flock crazy. But the funniest part was that he was chastised by Sensei for making a racket when he arrived. Can you imagine it? Here is Kuro at his natural size, which is big enough for me to ride on, getting told off by Sensei."

The image of a giant oversized crow hanging his head in shame whilst being told off by Azami popped into Gaara's head. Yes he could quite easily imagine it, and the imagery of it made him smile. A comfortable silence fell upon them then.

"I still find it a little hard to believe that it is possible to live so well along side demons." Gaara said after a while.

She cocked her head, "Not really."

"But you grew up with Kuro and I... I grew up with Shukaku."

A sad look crossed her face for a moment. "So how did you meet Naruto? He obviously isn't from Suna."

"No, he isn't. I met him in his home village of Konoha. Funnily enough we were attacking his village."

Kohana's eyebrows shot up, "Oh?"

"I was younger then, and not very... social. We were ordered to attack during the chunin exams. So we did. I ended up fighting against Naruto." he shuddered at the memory of that fight and the wild, crazy bloodlust of Shukaku. "I let the demon take control to wreak havoc." there was a slight gasp from Kohana, " But Naruto stopped the demon. At the end of the battle when we were both exhausted, severely injured and all but passed out, he kept going. He couldn't stand, couldn't even get his arms to pull him along so you want to know what he did?"

Kohana nodded furiously.

"He used his chin to drag himself over to me." Gaara closed his eyes as he remembered, "I asked him what he was doing and he told me that as long as he could move then he would fight to defend his village and everyone in it. I was deeply shocked to say the least, but that day changed my entire life." He opened his eyes again and looked over at Kohana, "It was because of him that I found a way to forgive humanity."

"He must be very precious to you then?" Kohana asked softly.

Gaara nodded, "Yes, he is."