A/N: Sorry it took so long to update, it just took a long time for me to find time to type this up. I'm so busy! Ach, anyways...

To Spirit Chu: Ach! Plot hole. XD Yeah, I probably should have mentioned... well, Gaara knows what Naruto smells like, and he's been in the vicinity of his apartment before, plus he's got a really strong sense of smell. Yeah... sorry about that.

By the way, to those who have been asking whether certain characters will be dying, etc. (I love Iruka and Kakashi, too!), I'm not writing this just to kill all the characters I hate. I don't particularly like Sasuke. But am I going to kill him and then have Naruto and Gaara feast on his corrupted emo little heart? No, that would never fit in the plot line. Plus it wouldn't be as fun as simply scratching his eyes out and letting him live the rest of his sharingan-less life like that, heh.

... But I digress. What I'm saying is that everyone that dies (at least among the important people) will die for some sort of significant reason. So, yeah... whatever. I hate author's notes. Just read.

Behind the Sun

Chapter 3: Bacon

Gaara had never been inside Naruto's apartment. He had sat on the roof, and even on the balcony before, but he had always declined any invitation to enter the blonde's home.

So, when he unlocked the door with the key he had taken from Naruto's belongings, the only real expectation he had was that he was about to enter into a place owned and cared for by Uzumaki Naruto.

But Gaara was surprised and somewhat disappointed at what he actually found. He had expected a mess, and there was a mess. Discarded ramen cups littered the floor, the kitchen surfaces, and a corner in the bedroom. A disorderly pile of ninja scrolls sat on the floor in the living room. The laundry was piled high in both the bathroom and the bedroom. Dirty dishes overflowed the kitchen sink.

But beyond the litter the counters were spotless. No cooking grime stuck to the stove. The wooden living room floor was smooth and polished beneath his bare feet. The bathroom smelled like lemons. There was a healthy little leafy plant on the window sill above Naruto's unmade bed.

But the most striking and disappointing part of it all was that it seemed so empty. Of course, no one had lived there for two years, as the light sheen of dust over everything testified. But wandering the apartment now, flicking on all the lights, Gaara felt a distinct impression of loneliness settle over him.

It was odd, since to Gaara Naruto seemed to be the least lonely person on earth. He knew everybody, he talked to everybody, he smiled at everybody, even strangers. But inside his quiet little apartment, Gaara couldn't help but feel a disconnection from the world outside. He had never considered himself a connected person, but inside Naruto's apartment Gaara felt like he was exploring the two-hundred-year-old ruins of a forgotten landscape rather than the home of the world's loudest ninja.

There was very little furniture. A TV and DVD player sat on the floor in the living room. A short little coffee table held a remote and a few magazines. A large square pillow sat beside it. There was no bookcase to hold the scrolls in the corner. A refrigerator, a table, and a chair, and that was all that furnished the kitchen. And in the bedroom was a messy bed and a dresser with two picture frames on top whose images were obscured by the thick dust. A poster above the bed bore the symbol of Konoha, as if to remind the occupant that was where they were. Other than that the walls were blank white plaster everywhere— a calendar in the kitchen, an obscure pattern of blue lines and circles on the wallpaper in the bathroom. Some part of Gaara had expected the place to be entirely orange.

But by his third round of the small, lonely apartment Gaara discovered another thing that was slightly off. Naruto wasn't there.

Glancing out of the window, he started to worry. It was dark now, which meant Naruto had been out on his own for nearly an hour. Usually that was okay, but they weren't in Suna anymore with its unfamiliar faces and places. They were in Konoha, where Naruto was likely to recognize something.

But before Gaara could even put his sandals back on, Naruto was there. He smelled the acrid scent that suddenly permeated the air before he felt the crackle of unsteady chakra on his senses.

Gaara turned around slowly. He knew that scent; he knew it too well.

Naruto sat in the middle of the floor, apologizing to him with crystal blue eyes. "Naruto was bad." Red liquid dripped from a reddened spike of hair as he spoke. "Naruto is sorry."

Gaara nodded and stepped across the room to swipe a sandy palm over a whiskered cheek to absorb the blood there.

"But Naruto didn't eat." The blonde shook his head back and forth to accentuate this point, splattering Gaara's face with crimson droplets that the sand armor absorbed in the next moment.

Gaara understood what Naruto was saying. "Who did you kill?" It was a rather pointless question. Naruto rarely remembered much of what he had done after one of his episodes.

Naruto bit his lip, tasting the blood there, and shook his head.

Gaara sighed softly. "Did anyone see?"

The blonde hesitated before shaking his head again.

Nodding, Gaara pulled them both to their feet. "Come now, let's get you cleaned up." A trail of sand followed them to the bathroom, picking up any blood left behind.

The next morning was bright and sunny, flooding Naruto's upper floor apartment with warmth. Gaara had spent a wary night of anticipating an ANBU attack incase Naruto had been tracked. That meant Naruto's once harmless little apartment was now full of hidden explosive notes, trip wires, and spring-loaded projectiles.

But the ANBU never came.

So, Gaara dusted to pass the time. For someone who spent most of his time with his entire body caked with dirt, Gaara really hated dirty things.

And this was just what Sabaku no Gaara was doing when a knock interrupted his silence.

It was no secret that Gaara was a cynical person, and the first thought that came into his head was a snide comment on the Konoha ANBU's incompetence for taking so long. But when Gaara could sense no other entities within the vicinity of the apartment complex other than the lone being at the front door, his suspicions only grew.

Gaara was met with the sight of a pair of brown grocery bags on legs when he cautiously cracked the door open.

"Naruto?" the grocery bags turned to the side to reveal a brown-haired Konoha nin with a scar across his nose. "Oh! Ah... I heard Naruto was back." The man blushed lightly. Then he squinted at the half of Gaara's face the door allowed him to see. The red ai tattoo caught his eye. "Aren't you... Kazekage-sama?"

Gaara opened the door wider, so he could give the man his full glare. "Who are you and what is your business here?" he commanded.

The scarred man hesitated. "I... I'm Umino Iruka. I've been taking care of Naruto's plants and things while he's been gone." He paused again, shifting the bags in his arms. "Pardon, Kazekage-sama, but is Naruto home? I heard he came back and I brought him some groceries, and well..."

Gaara raised a hairless eyebrow. It took a ninja to tell the difference, but it did give his glare a slightly more crazed look.

Iruka fumbled. "I... may I see him?"

"Senseeeeei!" Gaara turned just in time to dodge the bundle of blonde energy that suddenly barreled past him and into the burdened ninja at the door. Said ninja and burdens were all over the floor in a second.

Gaara stepped aside to avoid a head of lettuce that was homing in on his toes and looked on as Naruto nuzzled his teacher, who was currently sprawled on the floor with the afore mentioned blonde depressing his ribcage.

"N-naruto!" Iruka laughed. "How do you always manage to surprise me like that?"

Naruto grinned and chuckled deep in his throat.

Iruka pushed himself up with his arms, letting the boy tumble into his lap. "How have you been, huh? I haven't heard from you in so long!" He grinned as his student purred when he ruffled his hair. "Did you learn lots of stuff? You've gotten stronger, huh?"

"Yeah! Naruto knows how to sit and stay!"

Iruka blinked.

Gaara winced.

The Umino's expression turned chagrinned. "Figures that it took two years of training with one of the sannin to teach you that."

"Naruto can 'come,' too!"

Iruka's eyebrows jumped. "Can you fetch?"

That gave Naruto pause. "Nooo..." he turned around. "Gaara! How does Naruto 'fetch?'"

Iruka jerked slightly as he looked up; he had forgotten that the redhead was standing there.

Gaara grimaced. While the concept had been rather amusing to his brother, Gaara hated treating Naruto like a dog. "Doesn't matter."

The blonde pouted.

Iruka was frowning, glancing between the two of them. "Naruto... I heard you weren't feeling well...?"

Naruto gave him a blank look. "Nooo... Naruto is good!" exclaimed he.

Gaara sighed softly. Normally he'd rather just shut the door in the man's face and get back to his dusting, but if Naruto remembered him without prompting, then that made this stranger a promising individual. "He's had a head injury." Gaara offered.

Umino's eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

"So far, you're the first person he's fully recognized without prompting."

Iruka looked down at the boy in his lap. He studied the blue eyes that smiled back at him; they seemed as bright as ever. He smiled and ruffled the boy's hair again, noticing how Naruto closed his eyes and leaned into his touch. He was still as responsive to physical contact as Iruka remembered, albeit the boy was more open about it. "Did you miss me, Naruto?" He couldn't think of much else to say. He worried how extensive the brain damage was, and how permanent.

Naruto pursed his lips in thought. "Naruto thinks so."

Iruka refused to let his smile falter.

"Naruto doesn't know much." The boy apologized sadly.

Iruka turned on his grin full force and scratched vigorously behind the boy's ears, which he had recently discovered the other enjoyed immensely. "I missed you, too, Naruto!"

"Ah ahh... nyah..." purred Naruto.

"Mah... am I late?" drawled a new voice.

Iruka's head snapped back at an unfortunate-looking angle to blush at the newcomer. "K-kakashi!"

Gaara renewed his glare for him.

The silver-haired jounin waved at them all. "Hullo, I take it Jiraiya isn't around?"

"We are unaware of his whereabouts." Gaara didn't skip a beat.

Kakashi nodded, pursing his lips under his mask. He looked down at the blonde who was squinting at him curiously. "Hey, Naruto, wassup?" He swatted a hand through the air in a poor imitation of a friendly wave.

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Scarecrow-man smells like sex.

Iruka spluttered and burned red and had Kakashi not been wearing a mask the group would have seen a very undignified expression on his face for one such as the aloof jounin.

Gaara sniffed the air discreetly. The boy's nose flew sharp and true.

The expression on Kakashi's face quickly turned into a lecherous grin. Not that anyone could see it except by examining the concealing folds of his mask and the mischievous glint in his eye. So what if he was too lazy to get a clean change of clothes in the morning? At least he was rewarded with that adorable blush. "So, how would you happen to know what sex smells like, Naruto?"

"'Cuz Naruto's smelled it before!" The boy's crazy grin didn't falter, even though Gaara knew he could feel the murderous intent he was pouring into the back of his thick blonde head.

Iruka turned from embarrassed to downright appalled. "What?! What has that pervert been teaching you?"

Naruto frowned and jerked a thumb over his shoulder questioningly. "Gaara?"

Kakashi giggled perversely, and Iruka reprimanded him with a glare. "No, I— nevermind."

"Naruto's hungry!" he suddenly exclaimed.

Iruka and Kakashi stared at him as the boy clambered off the chuunin's lap to hug Gaara's legs.

"Naruto would like breakfast now!" and after a thought, "please!"

Gaara had been wondering when Naruto's stomach would catch up with him. He was usually ravenous right after waking up. "First, you have to help get all the groceries into the kitchen." It was easy to manipulate him as long as food was on the line.

"Alright!" Naruto obediently jumped to snatch up as many of the scattered groceries as he could. "Naruto wants bacon! And eggs! And apple juice!" he started listing as he carried his armload past Gaara and into the apartment.

Iruka chuckled as he stood up, brushing himself off. "He certainly hasn't lost any of his energy."

"Frankly," Kakashi scratched his messy head. "I can't tell the difference between the normal Naruto and this brain-damaged Naruto other than the whole third person thing."

Iruka pierced him with an irked glance.

"Try asking him if he remembers your name." Gaara commented. He turned and walked away towards the kitchen where Naruto could be heard crashing around as he fumbled for a place to set down his load. He left the door open, leaving the invitation open for interpretation. He wasn't one for company, but anything that Naruto remembered tended to be a good thing.

A moment later, Iruka and Kakashi joined them in the kitchen, each with the remainder of the groceries in their arms.

"Does Sensei and Scarecrow-man want breakfast, too? Will Gaara make a BIG pancake breakfast?"

"I think we'll stick with the bacon and eggs idea." Gaara had already pulled the necessary ingredients from what Iruka had brought.

The chuunin teacher was frowning as he started pattering around Naruto's small kitchen, putting things away in the proper cabinets; he often helped Naruto with such things when he used to bring the boy's weekly groceries years ago. Otherwise, Iruka had feared that he would attempt to sustain himself on nothing but ramen.

"Naruto," he spun around suddenly. "What's my name?" he pointed at his own face.

The boy hesitated; he was perched like a cat on the only chair in the room. "Sensei...?"

Iruka's face faltered. "His name?" he pointed at Kakashi, who was currently inspecting the disappointingly empty fridge.

Naruto shrugged.

Gaara sighed softly as he started the burner.

Kakashi looked up and closed the fridge. "What's this? I don't even get a sensei?"

Naruto attempted to process what it was that they wanted from him. "Scarecrow-man." said he, seemingly think this was a satisfying answer.

Iruka clenched his jaw. "Iruka," he slowly pronounced, pointing to himself, then Kakashi, "Kakashi."

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto repeated. "Kaka-kashi."

"Ka-ka-shi," Iruka tried again. "Kakashi-sensei."

"Kaka-kashi," Naruto grinned.

The jounin suspected that the boy was doing it on purpose.

Iruka mad a despairing sound. "He... does he..." he turned to Gaara, "remember anything? How did this happen?"

"He hit his head."

Iruka stuttered. "But... but how? What happened?"

The bacon hissed as Gaara applied them to the pan. "No idea."

"What? But... but!" the chuunin flapped his hands helplessly. "How could... where's Jiraiya?"

Kakashi raised an unseen eyebrow when Gaara only shrugged. "Where did you find him, then?"

"Naruto's hun-greee!"

"In the desert, he was walking in circles." Gaara carefully flipped an egg.

"No sign of Jiraiya, huh?" Kakashi pressed.

Gaara glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "He wasn't around."

Kakashi nodded, rubbing his masked chin melodramatically. "Hmm... I see."

"But... but..." Iruka made an effort to stop his stuttering by biting his lip. "He..."

"How long do you think until he returns to his ninja duties?" Kakashi asked cheerfully as if Naruto was ailing from only a common cold.

Iruka choked on a sob as Gaara shrugged. "How... how..." he hiccupped and pressed his palm to his eyes. "Naruto doesn't deserve this... he... he..." Kakashi patted the man's shaking shoulders. "Why does everything bad happen to him?" the chuunin wailed.

Naruto squirmed from his perch on the kitchen chair. "Why does Sensei cry? Was Naruto bad?"

"No," Gaara snapped as he dropped a plate of eggs in front of him with a clatter and turned back to the stove to tend to the bacon.

Iruka sniffed. "I'm sorry, Naruto... I should have been there..."

Naruto stared at him from over his plate and chewed in bemusement. "Sensei wasn't bad. Sensei doesn't need to say, 'sorry.' Bacon!"

Gaara had barely put the fried pork on his plate before it was viciously attacked and consequently disappeared.

Iruka tried to smile through teary eyes. "I'm sorry," he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffed. "I don't usually get this emotional."

"Eh? Well, I wouldn't say that, Iruka. It was only last night that you were— ka!" Kakashi was silenced with a sudden and enraged jab at his throat. He sidestepped it easily but he wisely kept his mouth shut after that.

Iruka took a deep breath.

Gaara silently delivered another strip of bacon that was speedily and noisily devoured.

The chuunin admitted a chagrinned smile as Naruto dived back into the last remains of his eggs face-first. "Naruto! Didn't I teach you anything? Use a fork!"

The boy turned his face to him, his cheeks full and egg dribbling down his chin. His expression scrunched into one of defiance, "No!"

Iruka was not one for insolence. "What? What did you say? You will use a fork, whether you like it or not!"

"Naruto will not!"

"You will! In fact, here! Use this!"

Naruto shied away from the utensil that had been retrieved from his own silverware drawer and was now being waved in his face. "No! Naruto won't!"

"Take it! Naruto! Hey, come back here!"

"Nooo!"

Kakashi scratched his head. "Mah... he may not remember much but he's still pretty much the same in principle."

"He never liked forks?" The pan sizzled anew as Gaara flipped over another strip of bacon and deposited a sufficiently fried piece on the plate designated for cooling.

Kakashi chuckled quietly. "No necessarily... What I meant was that he's just a resilient as ever when it comes to something he doesn't want to do."

A crash resounded from the living room, and Naruto's laughter accompanied Iruka's yell. "Narutoooo!"

Comparatively, the kitchen was silent for a moment besides the sizzling of frying meat.

"So..." Kakashi felt strangely out of place. He wondered if it was the pink cooking apron adorning the Kazekage that was throwing him off. Or maybe it was just Naruto's house. He had never felt quite right in the place. "You got here yesterday, huh?"

"Evening." Gaara set aside another piece of bacon.

The jounin nodded. "Yeah... it's strange..." he trailed off.

The redhead didn't rise to the bait.

"Y'know, yesterday... there was an animal attack. Right in the middle of the village."

Gaara was very good at hiding things. Keeping his jolt of anxiety to himself was easy.

"I thought it was strange... the nins who inspected the scene said it looked like a bear did it. Kazekage-sama, do you know how a bear could get into a hidden village of shinobi without raising suspicions? I figured you might give me an idea."

The grease hissed as Gaara added more meat to the pan. "It's your village."

Kakashi nodded. "I see. Thank you, anyway, Kazekage-sama."