Author Note: I'm really hating the internet. It died... again. But, aside from that, I was one of many winners in the world-wide novel writing contest, whooo! It was fun to be under the pressure to dish out over 50,000 words in thirty days. Now, for some not so very good news. Sadly, this story is nearing the end, there's about three chapters left and some sneaky little evil twists here and there. However, why not just sit back and read what's new? Enjoy!

Thanks to the reviewers from the last chapter as well!

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Darkside

Kidnapped

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His hunger was finally put to rest. It was not hunger for blood, violence, or even wealth. It was his hunger for ramen. And, after several bowls of the delectable food, Naruto then decided that he could spare some time resting. After all, there was nothing better to sooth a bloated stomach than just sitting back and relaxing.

Gaara, who had made the mistake of only buying one bowl of ramen from Ichiraku, now sat in disbelief at how much food Naruto could scoff down and the rather large hole in his pocket. He was officially broke.

Naruto lay back down in his hospital bed, ramen bowls stacked evenly on each side, causing the blond to feel like he was living in a toy castle of some sort. His stomach no longer growled as it had been doing previously, something Naruto was thankful for. He hoped his wallet carried enough money to eventually pay Gaara back.

"Hee, hee. Sorry about that!" He lightly patted his stomach and winced as red hot pain bolted all throughout his body. Normally, his wounds healed quickly but this time nothing seemed to happen. Nothing at all.

Naruto rolled onto his side, ramen bowls facing him, and unintentionally grabbed his stomach as it once again delivered pain. Before, he felt Kyuubi's power surging through him like a river of fire, but now it seemed distant– so far away that he couldn't tell if it even existed anymore.

Gaara moved his fingers as sand danced around them and sent a small wave of the soft minerals toward the empty ramen bowls, moving each stack carefully into the same corner Gaara's chair had been placed in earlier. Naruto didn't even move, the burning sensation was too overwhelming, almost crippling.

"Hey... Gaara?"

It was silent, short seconds felt as if they took forever to pass. Naruto felt certain that Gaara wouldn't answer, or perhaps he left in search of something better to do. Quiet footsteps reached Naruto's ears, headed in his direction, nearly undetectable.

Gaara was perfectly skilled at moving around quietly, defending himself, killing others; however, he was not skilled at dealing with other people. A 'silent observer', not a trained psychologist– Gaara felt rather unprofessional at this, having been so used to ignoring such problems. But, there was a time and a place to try something new, it would just have to happen here.

Naruto tilted his head upwards, crystal blue eyes targeting the wall behind the hospital bed that grew oh so uncomfortable and, seemingly out of nowhere, Gaara appeared. The blond blinked once, or so he took into account, half surprised that the young Kazekage hadn't left completely.

A connection they shared, though neither knew of it before, was that of unimaginable suffering and rejection. Not a very swell connection, but they both endured the impossible, similar feelings, situations, and both harboured similar power that others shunned. But now there was something Naruto could not relate to, something that thinned out their connection.

"What is it like to have no monster inside of you?" The question slipped off his tongue unintentionally, but it had to be asked sooner or later.

The question struck Gaara, rendering him wordless. What did it really feel like anyway? A small amount of respect, less cold and disrespectful glares, more recognition, but did it really matter? Gaara's mind usually circulated around the good of Sunagakure, not his own personal feelings. He didn't have time for such things, but Naruto was different in that aspect.

"It is... a change," he said, then added: "But not much of one..."

Naruto smiled slightly, his first genuine smile in what seemed like forever. Gaara was rather confused. Why would he be so happy? The young Kazekage stood alone even more now, shouldn't he be upset? Angry at him?

"That sounds nice..." Naruto sat back up, scrunching his face in pain as the muscles in his back stretched just a little too much. "I think I'm better now."

Gaara was baffled. "You're hardly fit for moving around."

Naruto liked to prove himself right– it was a trait that he held since childhood. Giving up seemed impossible, no matter what the situation, and he wasn't backing down, the pain couldn't stop him. Gaara personally witnessed Naruto's determination several times so, as the blond struggled to get out of bed, he wasn't very surprised.

"You are going to fall..."

And Naruto did just that, landing on his feet only to gain half the balance he needed to remain upward, then fell face first into a bed of soft sand. His teeth felt extremely gritty after, but he went uninjured, only spurting up small amounts of sand.

"Heh, I guess you were right."

Sand began to swirl around Naruto's arms, hissing almost soothingly to his sore ears. It heaved him up effortlessly, dancing in mid air and receded back to Gaara once the blond's feet were planted steadily on the cold floor. Immediately, Naruto made another daring escape and once more he was stopped.

"Come on Gaara! I'm going to leave sooner or later, so why not let me go now?"

Naruto was the most persistent person in the entire universe, Gaara discovered then, and he constantly strived to push himself down the path of life. As the blond began to plead, inching closer to the door, Gaara thought of everything that could possibly happen while Naruto was on the loose. There weren't many positive things floating through his mind.

"...No."

Glaring blue eyes shot daggers toward him. Gaara knew plans of escape were circulating through Naruto's thought pool, perhaps another fake death or two. Like the blond, he held his ground, refusing to be beaten back and both ninja soon found themselves wrapped up in a glaring contest to the death.

Things like this were quite simple for Gaara and Naruto. Their battle was evenly matched until sand began to dance against Naruto's skin, making it harder for him to concentrate properly. The blond bit his lip, his eyes dying to move yet they were frozen still and he silently hoped they stayed like that.

Naruto was sure he had won the evenly matched fight. He felt like laughing but when he actually did– not from his victory, but because Gaara's sand was tickling him– he knew then that everything was over. Gaara had won. He cheated!

"Just this once! I promise I'll be right back!" Naruto pleaded, trying to mask his unserious expression, but failed.

"Fine..."

Naruto smiled and went for the door, not a single grain of sand held him back. "This will be our little secret, alright?" He opened the door and fell down when he came face to face with three unfamiliar ninja. "Who are you guys?"

No introductions were made. Each ninja passed by Naruto, not even sparing him a glance, and stood before Gaara, bowing down respectfully. They whispered (purposely) so that their words were incoherent to Naruto. The blond, now curious as to what was happening, noticed Gaara's expression harden and his eyes flash with anger.

Something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked wearily, standing back up (with the help of Gaara's sand), afraid of what the answer may be. "What's going on?"

Gaara walked up to Naruto, the three ninja positioned behind him, and said in a low voice: "Sunagakure is being attacked." Naruto's eyes widened and he was about to leave to gather some supplies when Gaara grabbed his arm. "Stay here."

The door shut moments after, closing Naruto off from his freedom as he stared blankly at the interior of his room. Hurried footsteps echoed down the hallways and once they faded completely, Naruto went to his window, lazily looking down upon Konohagakure.

Only a few minutes passed, Naruto figured, before sharp knocking on his door snapped him out of his vacant stupor. He opened it, expecting Gaara or maybe Tsunade to be there, but all he saw were two tall figures before everything went as black as the night.

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Deidara laughed as howling wind whirled all around him. He managed to make one more homing missel out of finely constructed clay, sending it into Sunagakure's strong sand and mud walls. So far, nobody had been eliminated –as planned– and from what he could see while floating on his crafted bird, Gaara was on his way.

Perfect.

Thick plumes of dust polluted the air as Deidara blasted another hole through Suna's thick walls, damaging them tremendously. He was enjoying himself beyond imagination, watching as people ran about like the little ants he saw them as. When he was finished, this place would be a perfect picture of destruction.

A piece of art.

"Another explosion here, a hole there, then it'll be exactly how I want it! How wonderful!"

Hissing– the sound that reminded Deidara of the loss he endured involving his arm (the other had been injured by the idiots from Konohagakure), slowly surrounded him and as soon as he flinched, a wave of sand shot outwards. He reeled back, barely able to dodge the attack and laughed coldly as Gaara stared murderously up at him.

"Looks like we meet again," Deidara cooed, flipping his bangs out of his face. "But this time, you're in the wrong place, I'm afraid." The hardened expression on Gaara's face was clearly visible and made the Akatsuki member laugh more. "Oh, you don't know about it, yeah."

Gaara unwrapped his crossed arms and prepared for another fight with the artist of Akatsuki, standing up straight on his platform of floating sand. He knew not of what Deidara was talking about, but something was terribly amiss.

"What are you babbling about?"

Deidara laughed again as more sand shot his way. "Poor, childish Kazekage is too late, for his little friend that is!"

All confusion dropped like a boulder into a deep lake as Gaara pieced everything together. Anger gripped him and the sand acted out, surround Deidara. Sunagakure wasn't the target this time, it had been used merely as a distraction. His sand aimed to kill, but Deidara left and all explosions ceased.

Gaara clenched his fists and immediately returned to a panicking Sunagakure, shouting out orders, and gathering likely leaders to monitor the village, and set back off to Konoha.

Naruto was in danger.

Continued in chapter 17!