Hello! It's been awhile. I felt I needed to add more about Gaara because he will be in later chapters. Please review :)

CHAPTER 11

Gaara stood in front of the tall building. He looked up almost falling backwards. This building was way too tall. He took a deep breath and grabbed a hold of the silver door handle and pulled. When he stepped inside he was hit with a burst of warm air. He was amazed. The floor was polished marble with several matching support pillars. The waiting area was to his right. Everyone moved around and seemed to have a purpose. He felt out of place, not only by the way he acted but he wasn't nicely dressed. He shrugged the feeling off.

"Can I help you Sir?" a sweet voice asked. He looked to his left to see the secretary. She was pretty. He suddenly felt nervous. He stepped over to the desk.

"Um…is Naruto Uzumaki in?" she began to click around on her computer.

"I'm afraid he's out today?" she gave him an apologetic look.

"Are you sure, do you know where he is?" Gaara questioned. Naruto hadn't been answering his calls.

"Yes I'm sure, and I can't give you that kind of information." She eyed the security guard at the door.

"Can I speak with Tsunade?" he was getting annoyed.

"May I have your full name?"

"Gaara Sabaku."

"Okay. I'll contact her for you. Please wait over there." she pointed behind him with her pen. He wanted to roll his eyes. He nodded and made his way over to the waiting area. He sat on the leather couch. It made a groaning sound remaining him that it used to be part of a cow. He glanced down at the magazines on the class coffee table. Where was Naruto? He'd never forget about what Naruto had done for him.


Gaara pulled a small baggy from his pocket. "It's 20 take it or leave it."

The two guys in front of him eyed the bag in Gaara's hand.

"Here." one of the men gave him a twenty. The exchange had been made.

"Stop and put your hands up!"

"Don't move!" another voice chimed in.

Gaara looked at the two in front of him. One had a pair of cuffs. He was set up. How could he be so dumb? He didn't resist. This was just his luck. A blonde officer cuffed him and walked him out of the alleyway. The officer let him lean on the side of the car. The other officers talked amongst themselves. The blonde officer looked annoyed as he watched the other officers. He turned his attention back to Gaara.

"What's your name kid?"

"Gaara." he said quietly.

"Well Gaara how old are you and what's going on here?"

"I'm 18, and what do you mean what's going on?" Gaara looked up at the officer with confusion. Wasn't it clear what was going on here?

"Why are you selling?"

"I need money."

"Don't we all. Do you have a job?"

"This is my job."

"This isn't a job Gaara. You feed addictions."

"I get money from it, I live off that money, it's a job."

"I'm Naruto," the officer changed the direction of the conversation, "now Gaara we're taking you down to the station. You've been read your rights by officer Hiro."

"Okay..." Gaara trailed off.


The second encounter was when Naruto really turned his life around. Gaara had gotten himself into selling heavier drugs. He had made a mistake, one that ever dealer was aware of. Don't use what you sell. Some dealers make that deadly mistake and he did. He didn't care. He had nothing. Something had to fill that void.

He was stumbling about on the sidewalk. He felt horrible. He was supposed to feel good. He glared at anyone who passed him by. These dumb people living their dumb happy lives. He felt like he was going to puke. He was sweating everywhere. Suddenly his legs have out. He fell onto the side walk face first. He lay there looking across the street. He didn't have the strength to push himself up. Was this it? He felt like this was all it was. A face came into view as he was rolled over.

"Gaara can you hear me?" the familiar voice caught Gaara's attention.

"Mm?" was all he could get out.

"You started using?" Naruto looked down at Gaara with concern, "call an ambulance, possible overdose." Naruto told one of his fellow officers. "You'll be okay." He smiled down at Gaara.


Naruto came to visit Gaara in the hospital.

"Glad to see you're okay." Naruto sat in the chair next to the bed.

"Yeah." Gaara avoided eye contact.

"So you'll be spending some time in jail...why did you start using?" Naruto had his elbows on his knees and hands clasped together.

"I haven't been happy lately...nothing seems right."

"Using it to fill that need?" The blonde had a sad expression on his face. Gaara nodded. "There are better solutions Gaara. You don't need to sell drugs and you don't need to use." Naruto paused then started again, "getting a job and going to a support group is a start. It's hard but if you're willing to work for it, it will get better."

Gaara smiled. Everything Naruto said was a cliché, but it sounded right. Gaara was so desperate for money and selling was easy, and the drugs accessible. After a while everything started to crumble. He had little to no one buying from him. He'd been jumped a few times. It started to weigh on him and that's when he started using. At first it was great but then it went downhill. It became his addiction.

"Okay. I want to get better. I don't want to sell or use anymore." Gaara looked at Naruto. The blonde smiled warmly at him.

"I'll keep tabs on you. Don't let me down. Call me if you need anything." Naruto stood up and left his card on the side table.

"Thansk." Gaara whispered.

"See ya!" Naruto waved and left.

After a few months Gaara had released himself from rehab. He had a small apartment with a roommate Naruto had found for him. This particular day was hard for him. One of his previous customers had begged him for drugs. The man had clung to him like a baby. He yelled at Gaara and cursed at him. It made Gaara feel awful. He'd been that way before. He dialed Naruto's number.

"Hello, Uzumaki here!" A cheery voice greeted Gaara.

"Hello." Gaara said softly.

"Hey Gaara, how are ya?"

"Good...I ran into one of my former customers today."

"How'd that go?"

"He told me I betrayed him and swore at me..."

"Are you okay?"

"It just feels weird to know that I was like that. I felt happy but sad at the same time if that makes sense."

"It does. You're happy that you're clean, but you feel bad for him because he doesn't want help. The only reason you were able to quit was because you wanted to. It takes dedication Gaara and you stuck it out because you knew that it wasn't what you wanted to do with your life."

"You helped me a lot." Gaara smiled.

"I helped a little all you needed was a push in the right direction."

"Thank you Naruto."

"...yeah," Naruto paused, "if you can't find a job give me a call. I might have something for you."

"Okay..."

"Call me as a last resort."

"Yeah okay, bye."

"Bye Gaara."

"Tsunade will see you now." the secretary stood beside the couch. Gaara got up the couch groaned again. The woman led the way. Her heels clicked on the marble floor as she led him to the eleveator. They stood awkwardly in the elevator. The music didn't help the situation either. Gaara shifted from one foot no another. When they made it to their floor the doors opened. A tall blonde woman was standing with her arms crossed.

"Gaara?" the woman asked. Gaara stepped out of the elevator. "I'm Tsunade." She smiled at him. He'd never seen her in person. Naruto had said many things about her, including her large breasts. He refused to look at them, he was here on business.

"Hello." Gaara greeted her. She motioned for him to follow her. She sat him down in her office and closed the door. She took her seat behind the desk.

"Something I can help you with?"

"Well…I haven't heard from Naruto in a while. He told me to contact you if he went missing."

"He's not missing." she smiled at him.

"Is he okay?"

"He's perfectly fine," she paused, "do you need a job?"

"Yeah…" he hated to admit it, but he was desperate.

"Can I ask you a few questions first?" she opened a folder and pulled out a photo. "Do you know who this is?" she placed the photo in front of him.

"She's a weapons dealer right?" Gaara looked up at Tsunade.

"You sure know a lot Gaara. I've pulled your records." She raised her eyebrows in suspicion.

"What?"

"You must know people I mean you're an ex-addict. Why would you know about a weapons dealer?"

"Well…" Gaara began to feel nervous. Was this an interrogation? "What's going on?"

"If you know something about this weapons dealer we need to know." she began to sound desperate.

"Are you trying to catch her?"

"Yes."

"I don't have anything useful. All I know is that she has ties with Akatsuki."

Tsunade sighed. He definitely knows something, but how was she going to get him to spit it out? "Are you sure you don't know anything else. This is important."

"I'm sorry." Gaara shook his head. He knew he would eventually come across some information. Naruto would be the first to hear it though.

"I'll contact you with a job." she gave him a small smile. He got up and the secretary met him at the elevator. "Jiraiya." she called.

"Hm?" he popped his head in the doorway.

"Get someone to follow Gaara."

"Okay." he nodded and left just as quickly as he appeared. She smirked, she could use Gaara.

I have deleted chapter 12. Right after I had posted chapter 12 something didn't feel right. It didn't add anything to the story at all. It was a bad move on my part. It's hard to explain. I jumped the gun when I got a few comments supporting a sasunaru theme. I'm not going to put any sasunaru in this story. In the end I made a mistake so I'm rewriting chapter 12 and trying to figure out where I want this story to go. I want readers to enjoy this story.