DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto nor do I own The Summit

A/N: I actually meant to have this up earlier, but I couldn't find the time. I live in GA, so winter punched us unexpectedly. My pipes froze and then burst and my house flooded. I had a breakdown and I cried.

Therefore, this will be a short chapter, sorry guys, at least it's something.

Onwards.

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Chapter 11

And Thus We Begin

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I hear a voice say "Don't be so blind"
it's telling me all these things
that you would probably hide
am I your one and only desire
am I the reason you breathe
or am I the reason you cry

Always – Saliva

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For Sasuke, it was like time had stopped. He could only stand there, stupefied and dumbstruck, as Naruto was caught in another man's embrace. The moments between the changing of the street light, when the buses sped by and obscured his view, seemed like an eternity to Sasuke. He didn't know what had just occurred, everything had happened too fast for him to understand. All he knew was that Naruto had been by his side one minute, and then next, he was throwing himself into another man's arms. It kept replaying in his head for the short minutes where we had no choice but to stay on the other side of the street.

This was it; he could feel it – the beginning of the end.

He barely managed to snap out of his daze when he felt people bumping into his side, in a hurry to cross the street, now that the light had changed. Sasuke clenched his jaw and strode over to Naruto but not before schooling his features into those of indifference.

It wouldn't do well to show the twinge of pain he was feeling.

He silently observed the red haired man and already knew that it was the same man that he had seen at the abandoned building just a few days ago. He wanted to pull Naruto out of his arms, snap at him, and tell him to back off. He wanted to tell him to go away and never come back, to tell him that Naruto was his and he was not going to lose him, not to anybody and especially not to him, not when he was so close.

But Sasuke did nothing and instead, stopped within a few inches of them.

Both of them, Naruto and the mysterious "Gaara", were completely oblivious to anybody else. Naruto was clenching tightly onto Gaara, head buried into his chest, his back rising along with his hitching sobs. Gaara had his arms wrapped tightly around Naruto and he was softly whispering into Naruto's ear.

It was intimate. Too intimate for him to wrap his head around at the moment.

Sasuke scowled with obvious irritation at the open display of affections of both parties, his hands clenched by his side.

"Well, isn't this a touching scene," Sasuke smirked and folded his arms across his chest.

Naruto jumped, startled, and the redhead looked up and regarded him with a cool gaze.

Although Sasuke loathed to admit, the redhead ("Gaara", his mind suggested snappily) was attractive enough. He wasn't one for appreciating a guy's aesthetic appearance (until Naruto came along of course), but this was a man that caught one's attention. It wasn't as soft or intrigued as Naruto but it felt forceful and sharp, cold.

"I don't know who you are and I really don't give a fuck either way," Sasuke growled," but let go of him now," he reached out and with a quick hand, pulled Naruto away.

He'd be damned if he let this ridiculous display go on any further, not while he was around to put an end to it.

The redhead's green eyes regarded him and Sasuke's skin prickled, the hair on his neck standing. This wasn't an ordinary man, his eyes felt like they were stripping him down and dissecting his intestines and ripping into him. He was dangerous and all he wanted to do was to get Naruto away from him, lock him away until this was just a fading memory.

Sasuke held tight onto Naruto, arms wrapping around his shoulders and hands steadying the still crying blond.

"He's with me now, so just go back to wherever the fuck you were going," he glared.

He felt a weak push on his chest and he looked down in surprise as Naruto pulled away from him, face blotchy from the tears. His hands were held out in front of himself protectively and his eyes were still scrunched up as he sniffled.

"Let…go…" Naruto said with a sob and turned back quickly to the damned redhead.

Sasuke ignored the pain in his chest as Naruto turned away from him. If he hadn't been watching, he wouldn't have seen how Gaara's cold gaze had softened as he looked down at Naruto, hands rubbing his back soothingly.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek.

Fuck.

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Naruto wished that he could stop himself from crying, because he had no doubt that he looked ridiculous, but he really couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. The tears kept on coming, hot and wet against his face, and he couldn't keep the sounds from coming out of his mouth. Pathetic and whiny sobs were all he could handle, and he was surprised that Gaara hadn't simply ran away from how utterly ridiculous he was being.

"Don't cry…Naruto, everybody is watching," Gaara held on to him on the wooden bench, hands resting gently on his face, as he continuously kept wiping the tears away.

"I'm sorry, I've been so worried. I tried looking for you everywhere and I couldn't find you," Gaara murmured into his ear, holding Naruto against him.

If Naruto could stop crying, he would've laughed. Here was Gaara, trying to comfort him and all Naruto could do was blubber on uselessly. There was a part of him that still couldn't believe what was going on. Gaara was right in from of him, there was no doubt about that, but Naruto felt like it was just one of his dreams. He couldn't have imagined this happening, no matter how much he had wanted it.

He had missed Gaara incredibly. He had been such an integral part of Naruto's life, that when Gaara was gone, Naruto had felt lost. He had wandered endlessly, it had seemed, broken. Gaara had been the one stability in his life, the strong force that nobody could knock down, the strength that held Naruto up.

He had been family.

"Gaara…" Naruto sniffled," Kyuubi is …" he hiccupped and bit down on his lip to stop the fresh sob that wanted to free itself from his throat.

Gaara looked at him with his kind eyes," I know. I'm late, I apologize. I should've been there for you and I left you all alone. I'm sorry."

Naruto just pressed his face against Gaara's shoulder in response.

"I'll never make you go through that again," Gaara smiled softly down at him.

Why are you apologizing?

I made you lose everything; I'm the one that gave you scars that will never be erased.

"But…you…don't hate me?" he hated how small and weak he sounded, but he couldn't help but feel that the answer could very well make or break him. Gaara had every reason to hate him, had it been Naruto, there wouldn't have been a different choice.

"Naruto," Gaara lifted his head up to look at him directly," I could never hate you. None of this is any of your fault, I've never once blamed you for anything, don't ever think that I do."

Naruto felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He hadn't realized how much of a weight it had been, how much he had been carrying for years now. He knew that he would still blame himself, perhaps as much as before regardless, but he hadn't realized how much of a difference hearing Gaara's words would make. For Gaara to tell Naruto that he hadn't spent all these years hating Naruto, it was such a huge relief. He had spent all his life ruining his relationship with everybody; to know that he hadn't ruined this was the best feeling.

His sobs died out and his cheeks felt sticky from the tear tracks. His breath still hitched and he tried to control himself.

He felt Gaara shift and then he was pulling away. Naruto looked up in confusion, sensing the tension that was now apparent in Gaara. He stood up and patted his pocket and pulled out a small phone.

"Naruto, I have somewhere I need to be," Gaara held out the phone to him and Naruto took it," No one knows this number but me."

Naruto wanted to protest, he hadn't had even close to the enough amount of time with Gaara. But he also knew that he couldn't hold Gaara back, it was never something that he could do.

Gaara always knew better.

Naruto nodded and held the phone close to him as he stood up.

"Is he someone you can trust," Gaara gestured towards Sasuke, who was leaning against a street post and looking out into the crowd.

Honestly, Naruto had almost forgotten about Sasuke. He could vaguely remember an argument but everything else had been taken up by Gaara. He really hadn't meant to forget about him and he now felt guilty.

"Yeah…he's a good guy."

More than good, actually. But there was no time to explain, not now.

Naruto could see that Gaara didn't really believe him, but he just nodded.

"I'll come pick you up soon."

Naruto eyes widened at the implication but was quickly distracted by Sasuke's presence. It looked like his patience had all but evaporated and he was scowling darkly at Gaara.

He could already feel that this was going to be a problem and Naruto wasn't at all in a hurry to explain. Not that he ever was.

Gaara ignored the obvious glare that Sasuke was throwing at him and handed Naruto off gently to the other man.

"I'm entrusting him to you. He never stops crying once he gets started," Gaara looked at Naruto with fond eyes and Naruto blushed.

"Gaar-"

He felt rough hands pull him back towards a hard chest. He smelt Sasuke's familiar aftershave and his familiar arms wrapped themselves around his waist.

Naruto could feel the tension crackling in the air. Naruto knew Gaara well enough to know that it was dangerous to provoke Gaara. He will have to make sure that Sasuke knew that as well or else things could get really messy, really quickly.

He looked at Gaara and knew that he wanted to say something but was holding himself back. Green eyes looked at him for confirmation and Naruto nodded. Gaara's eyes searched him for a few more seconds before he turned away and walked away.

Naruto resisted the strong urge to pull him back, to tell him to never leave, to never let him out of his sight again.

No, Gaara wouldn't forget about him. Naruto was sure of that now.

He had to be.

He could only watch Gaara walk away, his figure becoming smaller and smaller in the distance. He could only stand there, feeling lost, with Sasuke's arms wrapped tightly around him and he could only trust that he would see Gaara once again.

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Gaara walked into the luxurious living room, feeling out of place in his ratty jeans and simple black shirt. He felt warm all over, he hadn't been this warm in years.

Naruto, Naruto, Naruto

He schooled his features into indifference once again as he came upon the form on the couch. A man was sitting back on a leather couch, dressed in his signature designer suit. His legs were crossed and in his hands laid a newspaper. He could see the story that had caught the man's attention and he mentally sighed.

"You're late, I expected you earlier," the man casually flipped a page without looking up at him," I told you to not go around first without reporting to me."

Gaara clenched his jaw," I didn't think that it was necessary when it concerns personal matters."

There was nothing that could make Gaara talk about Naruto, not to this man.

The man paused in his reading and folded up the newspaper neatly. He looked up at him, his long hair falling neatly around his shoulders, pale eyes cutting into him sharply.

He chuckled darkly and stood up, tall and proud. Gaara stepped back instinctively.

"I suggest that you don't speak to me that way, especially if you do not want to go back to jail."

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(psssst, let me know if there are any mistakes)