I am so sorry for my absence! A lot of unnecessary stuff as been going on that has been prolonging my updating. I'm trying to get my stories back on schedule.

Anyways, enjoy~!


Last time…

"PANDA-CHAN~! What are you doing here?"

"…"

"Naruto, get off of me…. Right now, or for the love of Kami I will crush your skull."

"I LOVE YOU TOO, PANDA-CHAN~!"


Now…

Naruto had Gaara trapped in a gigantic toad-hug (Naruto refused to call it a bear-hug, as she never wanted to be caught impersonating a bear when toads are her chosen animal of allegiance… Toads and foxes… but she couldn't summon foxes…). Her arms were wrapped securely around his neck and it looked as if the red-head was giving Naruto a piggy-back ride… over a giant gourd?

Dumbledore cleared his through in an attempt to remind the two that they were in the great hall, at meal time, and thus, in front of the entire school(s).

"Pardon my intrusion, but who are you?" Dumbledore asked politely as he adjusted his half-moon spectacles. Gaara opened his mouth to speak, but the blonde beat him to it.

"This is Gaara, or Panda-chan." Naruto smiled and constantly slapped Gaara's back as she introduced him. "Panda-chan is my best friend~!... BUT he has anger issues." Gaara promptly hit Naruto in the gut, sending her flying. Naruto spun in the air, and when she hit the wall with her feet, she pushed off and flipped down to the ground again. Naruto waved her fist and him. "Oi! What the hell, Gaara?!" While they might be two of the most talented and powerful ninja of their generation, if not of all time, they were completely oblivious to all of the incredulous and disbelieving stares that were being sent their way. No one ever said that the two were good at sensing the mood and refraining from speaking.

"Naruto," Gaara started in a completely monotone voice. "we've been over this before, you can't introduce me as someone with anger issues." Gaara hit her upside the head again. "to think that I, of all people, am giving you a lesson on social greetings." He muttered under his breath while shaking his head. He turned his attention back to the (unknowingly) once again stunned headmaster. "My name is Gaara, as Naruto said. I am here because I received a letter addressed to my academy about participating in a tournament. I am the strongest in the academy, and thus as a representative." The red-head's eyes lingered on the headmaster's odd choice of clothing. "Also, please disregard the rest of Naruto's introduction of me after my name." He lazily crossed his arms over his chest. Harry couldn't tell if the redhead ever blinked.

Dumbledore wanted to smack himself. Why had he sent two letters at the same time? He should have waited until Konoha replied before sending the second to Suna. He couldn't send the Suna representative away, it would bring about trouble and a bad reputation to him and to Hogwarts. The names hadn't been drawn yet, so the boy still could enter the tournament.

Sighing, Dumbledore shook his head slightly, and muttered something about a quadwizard tournament under his breath.

"Students and professors of Hogwarts and Drumstrang, this is the representative of the fourth school participating in the Triwizard tournament. There are four schools competing instead of three due to the simple reason that there was a mix up in the owlry. Sometimes even the most trusted system can get a bit mixed up. Mr. Gaara, do you have a surname?" Dumbledore asked with a small smile. Gaara hesitated for a moment, then looked at Naruto, who nodded.

"Subaku, My name is Gaara Subaku" Gaara said in his ever present monotone voice. He silently agreed with Naruto that it was better for appearances sake to have one.

"Right then, Mr. Subaku is representing the Suna Academy of Magic and Combat, sister school to the Konoha Combat and Magic Academy. Since you didn't give a formal entrance, is there anything you would like to say to introduce yourself?" Dumbledore asked. Gaara nodded and turned to face the students, Naruto still at his side.

"My name is Gaara Subaku." Gaara recited in a monotone voice, leaking some KI. Naruto rolled her eyes. "Do not ask me about my gourd. Do not touch my gourd. If you call me panda, you will die a long and painful death. If you touch me, I will kill you. If you anger me, I will kill you. If you—"

"HAHAHAHAHAH~!" Gaara was interrupted by Naruto's hysterical laughter. Naruto sung an arm around his shoulder. The students were wide eyed. He said that if you touched him, he would kill you! Was she going to die?!

"Panda-chan~!" the students were filled with even more dread. "stop trying to scare them! This is a tournament, yeah, but it's nothing like the Chunnin exams! They wouldn't last five seconds in the Chunnin exams! They're pacifists, Gaara~! PACAFISTS I TELL YOU! They couldn't kill a fly! You don't have to intimidate them! I mean, I pulled an Anko-Chuunin-exam-inro when I was introduced, and half the staff table shit their pants! Really, you can drop your past attitude, Panda-chan!" Naruto exclaimed for the whole hall to hear. Almost everyone was convinced that the two of them were insane and homicidal… and since when is being a pacifist a bad thing?

Gaara's eyes widened dramatically at this new information. He turned to Naruto, wide eyed and grabbed onto her shoulders and stared her dead in the eye. "Are you kidding me?! They're pacifists?!" He asked for reassurance. This time he was surprisingly not monotone; his voice was filled with large amounts of surprise and shock. His emotions had done a complete 180. The rest of the hall was startled too… so the previous introduction was an intimidation technique?

"Yeah, no joke, Panda-chan! Imagine what they're gonna think when they really realize that we're competing in this tournament!" At this, the two began laughing together.

"Pacifists!" Gaara wheezed while keeping a hand on Naruto's shoulder so that he wouldn't fall down.

"I know right!" Naruto exclaimed giddily. "Imagine what Tsunade-baachan is going to think when she gets my letter!" They paused for a second then collapsed in more fits of laughter.

"I have to write Temari and Kankuro! I think this will make their week! I would say month, but two weeks ago Temari got a new fan. She playing with it and wrecked one of Kankuro's puppets. He got so mad that he started foaming at the mouth! Temari couldn't stop laughing the whole day!"

"Kankuro no baka! Never get in the way of a wind user! And no shit it will! I've been dying to have a second to write Fuzzy brows about it! Knowing him, he'd find a way to get here and lecture all of them about how un-youthful they are! Then Sakura-chan would have to come here and drag him back! Kami knows how she puts up with him!"

"THAT I would love to see! You have to write Lee, okay, Naruto?"

"Hell yeah! Oh my Kami we should tell Anko-chan!"

"YES!"

It was at times like this that Professor Albus Dumbledore was grateful that he owned a pensive… Because he had to check to see if this actually happened or if he had simply been dreaming.


Since Dumbledore was only expecting one representative from Konoha and not one from Suna, there was only one living quarters available. When Dumbledore suggested that Gaara stayed with the boys from Durmstrung, Naruto just laughed in his face and told the old man that the doors at their schools were co-ed, so it wasn't a big deal that they shared.

Dumbledore had been forced to agree to the blonde's terms. He did not want to start a conflict with a foreign school over something so trivial.

Naruto led Gaara to their room. Gaara was shocked by the moving pictures, but he didn't let that emotion make it to his face.

Naruto stopped outside of the orchard man picture.

"You little shit." She said angrily. Gaara raised a nonexistent brow when the portrait grudgingly swung open. When Naruto saw his questioning look, she filled him in, "What? I started yelling at it when it asked me to set a password." Gaara nodded, that made sense. Typical Naruto.

The next obstacle the two faced was the fact that there was only one bed. Gaara, in an attempt to be polite, was all for sleeping on the couch. Naruto wouldn't hear any of it. She insisted that he stayed with her. Her argument being that they were close enough already that a few more feet wouldn't hurt.

And that's how Gaara found himself holding the girl he loved since she had saved him from himself at the Chunnin exams years ago. He stiffened when the blue eyed girl snuggled into his chest.

What he would give for the rest of his life to be like this. He didn't think he could love anyone else… or if anyone was capable of loving him other than her. She was his first and only real true friend. She was the one that understood his burden, she cared for him, worried about him, fought for and beside him, and hopefully, in time, she would come to love him like he loved her.

Sighing to himself, he realized that taking advantage of the situation wouldn't be that bad. Gaara snaked his arms around her small frame and pulled her close to him. He buried his face into her hair and slowly fell asleep.


The Kyuubi no Kitsune was a very powerful creature. That was common knowledge. The Kyuubi could create tsunamis with a swing of a tail, and level mountains with another swish. Biju's, unknown to the general masses, also had a human form. Did the rest of the world really think that they went around as gigantic animals all the time? When a biju isn't sealed, do you think that they could really parade around as hundred foot animals?

No. They take on a human form, however, if a biju wants to use more than one tail's worth of chakra, they must revert back to their original forms.

There was one thing that was even more well known than the Kyuubi's power.

And that was the Kyuubi's fury.

No one who has been the target of the Kyuubi's fury has ever lived to tell the tale. The nine tailed biju's rage isn't something that can be stopped. It's violent, chaotic, and maddening.

And right now the Kyuubi's rage was focused on one thing, and one thing only.

Gaara.

Why? For a very simple reason.

Gaara was too close to Naruto.

And Kurama, the all mighty Kyuubi, did not want anyone touching what was his. While Kurama might be a biju, this did not mean that he was incapable of feeling emotions. On the contrary, a biju's emotions are amplified. For a biju, a little bit of anger can turn into a raging inferno at the drop of a hatch.

So Kurama's small flame of friendship for the girl that was his host, which was sparked from the unlikely dawn of their partnership, soon turned into a possessive love. Kurama was not at all afraid to admit it too.

He loved Naruto. She was his just as much as he was her's… even if she didn't realize it yet.

So right now, Kurama would love nothing more than to maim and torture Gaara in every way that he knew of.

No one touched Naruto.

..but him. Yes, Kurama could touch Naruto. She was his after all.


Right now, since the pairing is undecided, I'm gonna roll with a couple one sided things for now, and as the pairings are narrowed down, Naruto will start reciprocating feelings for them. So please, cast your vote for your favorite pairing.

For all of the Fred and George fans out there, don't worry, they'll be back in the next chapter!

Current pairing poll:

NarutoxGaara- 24

NarutoxTwins- 20

NarutoxKurama- 18

NarutoxHarry- 9

NaurtoxSasuke- 5

NarutoxDraco- 3

~Slayerofthewind