A/N: I would say I'm sorry for taking so long for this update, but-- NO! I'm still mad at this chapter for being such a bitch. I won't apologize. (sticks tongue out at Word document)
However, I managed to save it by changing just about EVERYTHING in editing. Which is part of why it took so long. Though I hated it before, I'd have to say I'm rather pleased with how this one cleaned up.
Amusingly, I got a surprisingly high percentage of people cheering for Kakashi-death. That isn't to say that I didn't get my fair share of threats.
Thank you, all you (dirty!!) people out there for your faithful reviewership! I'm using (K) subliminal (I) messaging (L) to turn you (L) all (S) into (P)sycho-cann(I)bal-serial killers. ...(DERS)
Behind the Sun
Chapter 7: Cooked Liver
"Sorry, Gaara-chan, it took a while to find your shirt 'cuz it was under— whoa!"
Gaara glanced over his shoulder. Himself deceptively clean, the redhead stood in the middle of a bloody mess of battered flesh and crushed bones. He snatched the proffered cloth from Naruto's limp hands.
As predicted, his chakra coils were already protesting their usage. Gaara hoped they didn't shut down completely at some inopportune moment.
"Eh heh heh..." the blonde scratched behind his ear as he admired the near-artistic splatter of crimson entrails on the surrounding walls. He was so going to get evicted for this. "I was wondering why Kyuubi was going crazy all of a sudden. Are you sure it's a good idea to... ?"
"They were ANBU." Gaara clarified as he straightened his shirt and started tucking it into the waistband of his pants. "It seems we've attracted suspicion."
"But, Gaara, did you have to kill everyone? You just got us into even more trouble, now."
"The evidence against us was too great." Besides, Gaara had to vent his frustrations on something, didn't he?
Naruto gaped at him for a minute as he digested the implications of their situation. "Then... what now?"
The Kazekage glanced at the boy over his shoulder as he started on his way down the hall, stepping over the maze of disembodied limbs. "We leave Konoha."
"Hokage-sama!"
Tsunade sprang awake as the frantic chuunin burst into her office.
"We have an emergency!"
The busty blonde yawned and blinked slowly. "What is it?"
"We've lost contact with ANBU squad eleven!"
She blinked again. "What?"
The chuunin hopped from foot to foot in frustration. "The teams we sent with Hatake to bring in Uzumaki and Kazekage-sama!"
Suddenly, she was very much awake. "WHAT? What happened?"
"We aren't sure yet! The ANBU aren't responding and some scouts reported two figures leaving the scene who fit the description of—"
"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Send out an alert!"
"Hai! Hokage-sama!"
"Hey, Gaara..."
They made a sharp turn into another back alley, their feet pattering silently on the cobblestones.
"What?"
Naruto paused for a minute to consider whether he actually wanted to hear the answer. "Where'd Kakashi go?"
"He left."
Naruto didn't believe him.
"Shit!" Naruto nearly ran the redhead right over; he stopped so suddenly.
"They're closing the gates."
Naruto looked up, and hissed when he saw this was true. "So? We can go over the wall."
"No," Gaara growled. "If they're closing the gates, that means the city has been put on high alert. Everyone will be looking out for us now."
Naruto failed to see the significance of this. A wall couldn't look out for anyone, and it was no problem to scale one.
"If everyone has their eyes open, it will be much more difficult to sneak out. Even if we do get over the wall, we'll be spotted and pursued."
"Yeah, but we could shake 'em. Or kill 'em."
Gaara shook his head. He decided not to mention his current chakra situation; that would only make Naruto even more adamant about getting out of Konoha as quickly as possible. Damn blonde thought he could do everything. "If we run, we'll tire or be caught with so many pursuers that know the surrounding country better than us. If we fight, reinforcements will be nearly infinite as long as we're this close to Konoha."
Naruto growled. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
"I suggest we find a place to hide."
Naruto didn't like that.
"You know this place better than I do." Gaara tried to goad him into action.
Naruto growled at him, his eyes incarnadined. "There's no way I'm hiding from those bastards anymore. Not in my own home."
Before Gaara could determine whether Naruto was speaking from memories of years' past, he was leaping to the side, instinctually avoiding the kunai that assailed the spot on which they had previously stood.
"You there! Halt!"
Naruto rumbled lowly and crouched low, his claws extending.
Gaara marveled at how quickly and easily the change had come over him.
The two gate guards dropped down into the alleyway. "You are two wanted shinobi! You're under arrest!"
They were only chuunin.
Shukaku was more than willing to bring up the sand to block Gaara from the thick splattering of shredded flesh that ensued, though the veins of energy in his body ached. At least one of them was happy with today's turnout, Gaara mused, as he sensed the bijuu's mental delight as the sand devoured the fresh kills.
Naruto was pouting, obscenely, with an only half-sane glint in his eye. "That was so boring."
Gaara winced as he picked up on the signature of the incoming shinobi in their immediate vicinity.
"I think I heard something over here!"
Naruto perked up, and licked his lips in anticipation.
Today, Gaara knew, was going to be another one of those days. Not to mention the end to that Suna-Konoha peace agreement he had worked on for an unnumbered many months.
Gaara followed close behind as Naruto bounded off into the shadows, indulging his red-chakra-ed self in a Machiavellian cackle.
"Hokage-sama!"
Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples as another frantic chuunin ran into her office.
"What's happened now?" she growled irritably.
She had always found the silent and robotic ANBU to be rather dull characters. However, there was something to be said about being eerily efficient. At least if one didn't have a face, one tended not to shout their superior's ears off in times of crisis.
"It's the Kyuubi and the Ichibi!"
This the Hokage had known for the last hour. And it seemed that every chuunin under her command felt the need to tell her this every five minutes.
"And?" she raised an eyebrow. If he said, "That's all," she would not be responsible for any property or persons that would be damaged consequentially. She had enough to worry about as it is.
But she was disappointed.
"And the D district appears to be on fire! Sir!"
"WHAT?" That was a civilian residential district.
"Has it been evacuated? How far has the fire spread?"
"Only partially, Hokage-sama," the chuunin twitched under her red-hot glare. "There's been quite a lot of confusion since the demons entered the area, so we are as of yet unsure whether—"
Tsunade's palm sounded an ominous boom as it slapped the desk. It was echoed distantly from across the city where, if she were to look out the window, the rooftops were illuminated by the red-orange glow of a demonic blaze. "Are there still civilians in there or not?"
The chuunin gulped. "Ah, at least four hundred. Maybe more."
A shard of ice dropped into Tsunade's stomach.
She had already lost contact with two more ANBU squads and several of the various chuunin and jounin who had been stationed in that area, and she feared the worst. Naruto was obviously much more powerful than he used to be, whether that was Kyuubi's power or not was left to be decided. Plus, Gaara wasn't exactly an easy target either. Taking out the two of them would take a lot of man power, as did managing the full-scale evacuation of the city. She couldn't spare any more men.
Tsunade sank into her chair. She felt sick that she had to choose between civilian lives and a boy she loved dearly who could very well be out of his mind. This was why she knew she would never make a proper Hokage. "Send out the word that squads thirteen and fourteen are to be redirected to the D district to evacuate any more civilians. Ignore the fire for now. Focus all efforts on capturing Gaara and Naruto. Alive, mind you."
"Hai! Hokage-sama!" The chuunin disappeared with a poof and a larger figure instantly poofed into existence where the previous ninja had recently stood.
"Where have YOU been?" Tsunade yelled.
The jounin rolled one shoulder nonchalantly, his natural slouch giving implying an air of detachedness. "Permission to take chuunins Haruno, Nara, Rock Lee, and Umino Iruka into sector D to pursue the Jinchuuriki."
Tsunade frowned, and wondered if she should risk it. "Umino is guiding the evacuation procedures in C district."
"I'm sure he can be spared."
The Hokage's frown deepened. "And Rock Lee is already in the field pursuing Gaara and Naruto with his team."
An eye crinkled. "Then that should be fine."
Tsunade scowled and thought on it for a moment. "Very well," she said at last. "Bring them all back alive."
The jounin disappeared with a mock-chivalric tilt of his head.
Tsunade prayed silently that her order could be and would be followed to a T.
Blood dripped from him like rainwater after a shower. His clothes were now more red than orange. His face looked like he had gotten too close to Pollock as he was painting with crimson.
And all through this his grinning mouth gleamed with the feral glare of predator's teeth.
There was a bit of flesh stuck between a canine and an incisor.
And Gaara had the gruesome urge to lick him. Until he was clean.
The strange thing was he wasn't sure whether that was Shukaku's idea or his own, though the bijuu wasn't exactly against it either way. Gaara wasn't sure whether the urge itself or the fact that he couldn't discern its origin perturbed him more.
Naruto's lips left his cheek sticky and probably smudged with red as he smacked a wet and noisy kiss there. "Gaara-chyan," he purred. "Are you hungry?" he held up the purple-brown lump of the liver he had cut from one of the bodies he had left strewn across the street.
Gaara's stomach upset uncomfortably just looking at it.
"Cook it first." he dared to command.
"You got it!" and the boy scampered off, leaving the organ in the dust at the redhead's feet.
Normally, Gaara would not have risked the backlash of even the smallest denial of the Kyuubi. However, even though his eyes glowed red, Naruto appeared to be in control of his personality. So for once, Gaara sensed no threat to himself around the boy bubbling with Kyuubi's malicious power.
However, that wasn't to say Naruto had complete control over his actions. Gaara grimaced as he stepped over the still form of a child, beloved doll still in hand.
The blast of heat that struck his face as Gaara turned the corner signaled the execution of Naruto's favorite fire jutsu. An old tenement building blazed to the roar and crackle of aged wood aflame.
The screams of what sounded like several families' worth of people hiding in the basement flared up and gradually fizzled out as the building burned above temperatures compatible with human life.
"Charbroiled!" Naruto giggled as he appeared before the redhead with a steaming lump turned black-brown by the heat.
Gaara winced. He hadn't exactly meant for Naruto to burn a house down just for a bit of hot organ. It wasn't even well-done.
The tenement's neighbor caught fire as the old building collapsed.
He took the liver, silently commanding the sand to insulate his hand from the meat's extreme heat. "Thank you, Naruto."
The boy beamed back, despite the red-stained fangs which threatened to turn his expression into a snarl.
He really was just trying to be nice.
Gaara sighed softly. "Naruto..." He felt a sudden surge of... depression. Well, that wasn't exactly new for him, but this was a despair he hadn't felt for at least more than a year now.
Looking up, Gaara saw that Naruto was rapt, watching with bright eyes that reminded him of the glassy gleam of an animal's gaze.
He suddenly feared for his future. For Naruto's future. For their future.
He dropped the liver. It left a smear of a dark oily liquid on his palm that was soon devoured by the sand.
He pressed his face into his lover's chest and fisted his fingers in the tough material of his orange jacket. He felt the need to feel him, to have the physical proof that Naruto was there right in front of him. That he still loved him.
Gaara wasn't sure what he would do if he got pushed away, or, worse, he got no reaction at all. It would not be pretty, of that he was sure.
He wondered how much longer he could bear not having the Naruto he once knew. If this trend continued, Gaara feared that Naruto would drag him down into the psychedelic abyss of insanity with him. The pain in his heart from his absence of mind was in a way just as bad as the loneliness he had known years before.
Gaara pushed deeper into the blonde's breast as he felt those arms encircle him. No matter how bloodstained they were he would always welcome Naruto into his embrace. "I miss you," he wanted to say, but the words wouldn't leave his mouth. Besides, in his current state Naruto would likely miscomprehend. He probably didn't even realize he wasn't in full control, Gaara thought morbidly.
Naruto held him tighter, stroking his hair and rubbing his back. Perhaps he sensed Gaara's need after all.
Gaara was reminded, suddenly, morosely, of happier times.
Naruto's Shukaku imitations, that would send the demon into a fit of undignified rage in his head, while Gaara would be laughing. It was the tanuki's fault for imparting such salacious information such as his penchant for karaoke to his host. Unfortunately, that had resulted in Shukaku's retribution, which consisted of singing his favorite nonsense songs off key in the loudest voice he could manage in Gaara's head.
He blushed at the memory of Naruto in the sweltering Suna summer, chuckling lecherously as he paraded around the redhead's quarters in only his boxers. Or even the nude. Despite the blonde's complaints of the heat, Gaara still believed that he did it just to fluster him.
Naruto always used to steal a bite of his ice cream when he thought Gaara wasn't looking. Even though he knew Gaara was letting him anyway, he probably enjoyed playing sneaky.
Their first kiss, awkward, but earnest... well, to be truthful he had gotten a little violent at the time. Their first time...
Gaara had to close his eyes against the emotional onslaught. He had to force himself to depart from memory lane. For that way only sorrow and regret waited to greet him.
The worst part was that Naruto was so close, yet just beyond his reach. There was nothing worse than losing something so precious so slowly. For you were inevitably dragged with the fallen, to a place of no following. In the end, you were left with a painful reminder of your loss, of what once was. But the hope would never leave you— that maybe, just maybe, if you loved a little more, it'd all come back to you— but in the end that hope tore you apart.
Gaara was sure that such a loss would break him more completely than Yashamaru's or anyone's betrayal ever could. It was not anyone's fault that he was forced through these ordeals. Fate had screwed him from the beginning.
He felt a hand caress his cheek, and he leaned into the feeling. It was a little sticky, perhaps, but it was a loving gesture all the same.
At first, Naruto seemed not to respond, and a sliver of ice shot into Gaara's gut. But then Naruto's grip on his waist tightened and Gaara felt the pressure returned. And with it a sort of reassuring warmth— no matter how false it might have been— flooded Gaara's body.
Part of Gaara wanted to deepen the kiss, to grind hard against him to ignite his passion. He wanted to lift a leg to wrap around his hip, as he knew Naruto would react with a pleasurable aggression to that. However, another part of Gaara feared that in the process he would lose whatever small fraction of Naruto he currently possessed.
Gaara contented himself with the joining of soft, chaste lips, and tried his best to ignore the taste of blood and gore that made it past his closed mouth and on to his tongue.
A/N: I'd just like to say, that Gaara seems like an exceedingly formal person. So yes, he tucks in his shirts.
You know I had to rewrite that kiss scene more times than the rape scene from chapter four? So you BETTER like it!