A/N: Phew! AT LAST! The final (and longest) part of this fanfic. I hope you people enjoy this one, 'cause it's by far my favorite. XD
The small group arrived in Sunagakure with numerous injuries and a black body bag in tow.
Many of the villagers of Suna watched in shock and awe, realizing that this wasn't the first time such a parade came storming through. They parted like the Red Sea and allowed for the group to come up to the doors of the Kazekage mansion. The procession was taken to the hospital while the body bag was taken inside the mansion.
When the news first came to him, Gaara stood violently in panic. "Who is in the body bag?" he demanded in a harsh tone, his eyes shining with something akin to worry.
"Um, they didn't say…" Kankurou murmured.
Angry with the lack of information, Gaara stormed down stairs into the chamber below the building where war prisoners and other things are held in secret. He found the bag there, but there wasn't a dead person inside; there was a sealed one. A body bound by invisible threads to make it unable to attack.
"Uchiha," Gaara spat, his tone menacingly low. "I have to say, I'm disappointed to see you alive."
Sasuke scowled, but part of the seal made so he couldn't speak. Even words could be dangerous, it seemed.
Satisfied that the body in the black bag had not been Naruto's lifeless corpse, the redhead turned on his heel and left the room, leaving the Uchiha to the guards. He had no wounds, Gaara noticed; had he been so skilled as to not gain any? Unless, perhaps, Haruno had healed him out of pity and for the sake of her previous relationship with the raven-haired bastard, which was far more likely. No one was such a perfect ninja that they never earned a single wound. Even Gaara got hurt, despite the phenomenal defenses from the time when Shukaku had been a part of him.
When Gaara returned to the topside, he sought out Naruto at the hospital. He knew with Sakura's astonishing power to heal people from near-death to better than ever, paired with Kyuubi's vast amount of chakra, Naruto should have any wounds he had gotten in battle healed by now. Clearly no wounds he received were enough to kill him, which in itself put Gaara at ease.
He found the blonde outside of Sakura's ward. "She overdid it," he told Gaara gloomily as he approached. He didn't need to even look at the redhead to know who he was. "But she saved our lives."
"Follow me," Gaara muttered. His heart pounded in his chest as he said the words.
Naruto nodded as he reluctantly tore his cerulean orbs from the window leading into the room where one of his best friends resided.
Gaara took Naruto up to the roof of the hospital where the breeze was heavier and the air was drier. The rustling of grains of sand met Naruto's ears. "So, what are we up here for?"
"I want you to relay to me what happened," Gaara replied. He wasn't going to write a report or anything formal; on the contrary, he was curious. Especially since Naruto and the gang seemed to have succeeded in bringing Sasuke home as a prisoner.
"Oh," Naruto breathed out. He was comforted by the fact that Gaara didn't drag him up here to talk about what happened a few weeks ago when he was in this village preceding this time. He chuckled nervously. "It's not pretty, and I'm so shaken up from it that even I don't remember half the details."
"Tell me nonetheless," Gaara said curtly.
Naruto smiled in a painful way like he had some times before, perhaps around the moment of Gaara's return from death. Only when the redhead looked back on it, that certain smile held the aura of holding back happy tears. This new smile held the aura of holding back angry (or possibly regretful?) tears.
"Well, in the beginning, it took a while to locate his scent. Kakashi-sensei used his dog pals to sniff Sasuke-teme out. When one of them caught a whiff, we pursued, and in no time we came across him. He trapped him and pinned him, and rattled off a bunch of small attack, but they weren't enough. He temporarily got away. When he did, he conjured up this huge genjutsu, and it nearly got us. I thought for sure that we'd fall victim to it, Sakura-can and I. But then Kakashi-sensei stepped in and told us what to do. 'We have to fight it,' he said. And suddenly, I don't know, this huge wave washed over me, Gaara. It was insane. I knew it was that damn furball's cloak, but I felt totally in control. It was like one of those first times that I used it with actual control; and against Sasuke, no less. But that was years ago, so I honestly didn't think I'd reach that same level of control again, 'ttebayo. But I did, and I'm not ashamed to say that I went psycho on his ass – in a good way."
Gaara nodded his head faintly. Already a picture was forming in his mind.
"I leapt at him. Somehow I knew right where he was – some kind of internal instinct, I guess – and I started attacking him with everything I had. I couldn't see him, but I could feel my fists and feet connecting with a warm body, so I knew I was hitting him. The genjutsu wavered a bit, and then strengthened as I lost him. It didn't last long. Sakura-chan starting making a choking noise, along with Kakashi-sensei. I turned around and saw them being strangled by something, and I think I went a little deeper into that demon-fox state, because the next thing I knew, I was flying across the imagined world and tearing the fake stranglers from my comrades."
Gaara watched as Naruto began to pace and didn't stop. His eyes followed Naruto's frame, which was stripped of some of it's clothes due to heat and most likely post-battle blood and slashes. He was dressed solely in his pants and sandals, with nothing adorning his upper body save for a blue crystal necklace. Gaara forced himself to redraw his eyes back to Naruto's face, but it was difficult. Shouldn't someone have given him new clothes? Gaara wondered. Without meaning to, his eyes dipped back down while Naruto spoke and noted the seal showing on the other boy's abs. It looked… strange. Intricate, as it very well should be, but strange. Was it missing pieces? Maybe, with all of the demon fox fueled attacks, Naruto was slowly wearing down his own seal, the same shield that's saving him from being fully taken over by the beast inside of him.
That idea made Gaara inwardly cringe with fear. Not for himself, nor for any of the villagers, but for Naruto. More specifically, Naruto's life.
The blonde continued, "I don't know how long I fought with unreal enemies. At one point, I locked on Sasuke's whereabouts and I went after him, leaving Sakura-chan to fend for herself while Kakashi-sensei attempted to counteract Sasuke's Sharingan trick with his own.
"When I got to Sasuke again, he decided to show himself to me. He had made fun of me before he pulled that dumb Sharingan trick, but he didn't bother this time. He sounded furious with me, dattebayo. Heh, I guess it's because I was actually on par with him. Anyway, he showed himself and scowled at me. 'How come you keep finding me?' he asked. I told him it was because I have a demon on my side. He rolled his eyes. 'Ah yes, the wretched nine tails. Because of that monster, you have unlimited power.' He launched himself at me, but in my state I was too fast. I scratched him with my bare hands, making four deep gashes on his leg. He didn't do more than grunt. 'You know, I always thought of that as cheating. We can't all be Jinchuuriki, you know.' He was mocking me, I know it. And it pissed me off. So I told him that we can't all be assholes, either, yet we still manage. He laughed, but he wasn't a nice laugh. It was like he was playing with me. It pissed me off even more, so I jumped at him. We tumbled for a bit, and the genjutsu wavered again. I could see it shifting in my peripheral vision. What sucked was that I was suddenly fighting a tree. Stupid Sasuke used an old substitution jutsu on me when I let my guard down for a second. I grew even madder… and that's when I started to lose control."
Gaara swallowed. He could picture it, but barely. It was hard to see Naruto as some mindless beast. It was hard to see him as a creature as bloodthirsty as Gaara's younger self had been. He shuddered minutely, so minutely that Naruto didn't notice. He cautiously watched Naruto's face, which filled with a few different expressions at once; proud triumph, self disgust, and unconditional fear. Gaara knew all of those emotions all too well.
Naruto cleared his throat. "I don't really know what happened next, just that it felt like it wasn't ever going to end. My mind went blank except for the sole purpose of defeating Sasuke and protecting my comrades. The next thing I know, it was minutes or hours later, and I was exhausted beyond belief, and Sakura-chan was above me with her hands on my chest. 'You can finish healing on your own, now that you're awake.' I asked her what had happened. She made a face at me, and it wasn't a good sign. Then, she told me, 'Well… um… you kinda went haywire. I think if you hadn't stopped yourself, Sasuke-kun would be dead.'"
Gaara wished he had died. He clenched his fists to suppress any expression that might leak onto his face.
"She left and went back to healing Sasuke the rest of the way. Kakashi-sensei came over to check on me and informed me of how we were going to bring Sasuke back: he was going to use a seal on Sasuke that he learned from Ero-Sannin and then stuff Sasuke in a body bag so that no one suspects anything. When we go back to Konoha, we'll present him as dead and secretly hold him captive for a while in Tsunade-baachan's war prisoner chambers, like the ones you have here. 'Our ANBU will watch over him from there on out,' Kakashi-sensei said. 'And once Sasuke-kun is proclaimed safe, we'll tell the public what really happened and let him roam Konoha freely again. If he gets to that point, that is.' But I think he will, don't you?"
The Kazekage actually hoped he didn't get to that point, but he nodded his head nonetheless. It would comfort Naruto, he knew, and that was all he needed to know in order to respond. He cared about Naruto so much he was willing to lie about his actual sentiments towards the Uchiha. Amazing, ne?
Naruto yawned. "Man, I'm so tired. Hey, Gaara, do you mind if I leave? I want to rest a couple hours before dinner. I'll see you later," he said casually. He hadn't forgotten what Gaara's feelings for him were, but for now Naruto wanted to prolong that devastating conversational topic for as long as possible.
The redhead nodded and watched Naruto leave. Then, after one last look at the horizon, Gaara reentered the hospital and clamored down it's stairs to the front doors. He was silently looking forward to tonight, because he felt that he was going to get the answer he was left without during the last time Naruto had visited.
xXxXx
Sasuke was uncooperative with everyone, even the people who were more or less gentle to him, like Sakura. He seemed to be a hopeless case. Still after a healing session in the hospital, Sakura had gone down in the middle of dinner hour to talk to the stubborn teenager. She even brought him food, like she had done many times in the past.
"Humph," the raven-haired boy grunted as soon as she entered.
They had Sasuke unbound from the seal. He was still bound by handcuffs bolted into the wall (the chains were strong enough to probably even hold Naruto, which is saying something). The guards opened his cell and allowed the pinkette inside. She exhaled and took a step inside. She held up the meal she had brought. "Hello, Sasuke-kun. Hungry?" she asked.
"Humph," he repeated, indifferent as ever.
She pulled a face but soon smothered it again. She came closer, cautiously, as if she feared he would jump up and snap at her like a rabid dog.
"For cripes sake," Sasuke muttered lowly as he rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to do anything. Just get over here and feed me. I am hungry, thanks."
At least he sounded like the cranky Sasuke she remembered. Sort of.
Sakura came to Sasuke's side and handed him the tray. The guard had locked her in the cell with him, and even gave her keys to his handcuffs. If he were to try and pull a hostage situation, the guards knew, it wouldn't be a problem so long as the cell was locked. Sakura could beat him into a pulp if she had to, so it wasn't an issue.
Carefully, Sakura unlocked Sasuke's shackles and handed him a pair of chopsticks. She cocked her head at him warily, as if debating on whether or not he would be able to be trusted again in the future.
"What?' Sasuke snapped at her after he ate a couple bites. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
She scooted away a few inches. She looked down at the flooring, which was a dismal grey like all of the other dungeons out there (which was essentially the place they were in: a dungeon). "Nothing, Sasuke-kun," she murmured under her breath.
"Hn," Sasuke hummed, "I bet not. It's always 'nothing' with you. Before, it was because you were shy like all stupid girls are when they have a crush. Now you're simply scared shitless of me."
Sakura's seaglass-green eyes flashed for a moment. "I am not afraid of you," she retorted, emphasizing the word 'not'. "And for your information, I don't have to be here. I only am because I thought that if you had a friend with you, you might be more willing to cooperate with us."
Sasuke didn't say anything at first, merely ate more of his food on the dinner tray, chewing slowly.
Sakura flushed with frustration. With a bite to her soft lower lip, she adverted her eyes. She couldn't stand the remaining Uchiha now. Her breast ached as if her heart was being squeezed, but it wasn't because she loved him any longer. To an extent, he would always be her first love, but he no longer held that special place in her. A better man deserved that place; a man that would treat her right and would never betray or abandon her. Someone like Naruto, but on a different scale since he was like the friend she needed to lean on.
Finally, after a swallow, Sasuke spoke. "I will cooperate if you let me walk with you in through the gates."
Sakura snorted. "Nice try, Sasuke-kun, but you know we can't do that. You're a traitor in everyone's eyes, despite the complicated facts we were told about your clan. Truth is, no one wants to trust you any longer. We have to bring you in tied up and leave you that way for a while. It's for everyone's own good."
Sasuke frowned. "What's the point, anyway? Why bother to bring me back? It's clear that I don't want to be apart of Konoha any longer, so why reach for a goal that is pointless? I could always leave again."
"Yes…" she admitted distantly, her throat closing and aching as if she were about to cry, "You're right; you could always leave again." His words cut her deeply. Not solely because he was being cold and cruel; no, it went further than that. Inside, she knew this was true. She knew that this mission was basically a lost cause. But… "We have to keep reaching for you despite that, however." She cleared her throat to make her voice sound more like her own. "You were someone we grew up with, befriended, laughed with, fought with, and stuck by. We know who you were, and what you were like. And we miss that part of you. We want things to be like how they were – not completely, since nothing ever can be – but close enough to the point where we can live peacefully. Plus," she added a bit dryly, "Naruto made a promise to me that he'd bring you back. And you know how Naruto is about promises."
He did know. In a way, it infuriated him, and in another it made him respect the blonde dobe.
"Honestly, Sasuke-kun, I just wanted to see you again. When we first saw you a while back… well, that had been enough for me. It made me decide some things inside myself, so it was enough. Yet, at the same time, it wasn't. Not for Naruto, anyhow. He wanted more; he wanted to have you back for my sake, but also for his. He wanted his brother back. You do know that he thinks of you that way, don't you? He loves you. In a weird way, he truly loves you."
Sasuke didn't want to hear any of this. Somewhere in the depths of his heart, it hurt to hear those words. It was like a guilt trip she was trying to set upon his shoulders, and he wasn't about to take it. "Oh yeah? He loves me?" he replied with mock skepticism. He harrumphed again. "Well, I don't care about him. I never have. I told him before: I severed my bonds with him long ago."
"Really?" Sakura tested. There was a certain spark in her eye. "Because I think you didn't."
With that, she picked up Sasuke's empty tray and left him in his cell to ponder their conversation, unchained and motionless with guards at the ready nearby.
xXxXx
The kitsune was in a pickle. It was a very serious pickle, and as funny as that sounded, it was true. The whole mess with Gaara he knew needed to be concluded in some way, but he didn't know how to go about it! Round and round in circles his thoughts went, mostly in a basic-fact-with-thoughts-behind-it pattern like this:
He liked Gaara (as a friend… he thought so, anyway). He cared about Gaara (but how much, exactly?). He didn't want to hurt Gaara (especially not emotionally, since the redhead has suffered too much of that kind of pain already). He knew that a romantic relationship could ruin a friendship (unless he was to stay with Gaara forever).
Problem is, he didn't know some of the vital answers, like: how much he cared about Gaara, and if he was willing to stay with the redhead for the rest of his life. Because, realistically, unless Gaara's feelings faded (which Naruto was sure they wouldn't, seeing as how the redhead was the kind of person that made up his mind and stuck with it unless a head butt was called for), Gaara wouldn't leave Naruto, and if Naruto were to leave him, it would probably end with a devastated Gaara who could do unthinkable things.
Naruto shuddered. He didn't want that to happen. If it did, his world would be flipped upside-down, and not in a pleasant way.
With his fingernails being cut into nubs by his teeth, Naruto paced the floor of his hotel room. He started saying 'dattebayo' nearly every sentence because of his nervousness. "What should I do, 'ttebayo? I really don't want to hurt him in the future or later tonight, so I have to be honest with him and hope that he takes it well, dattebayo. I mean, if I think about it, it wouldn't be all that bad; I don't know why, but being with Gaara sounds kind of…" he drifted off, shocked at his own words.
How could this be? He was never interested in boys – and thought he never would be! – and yet he was interested in his red-haired friend. Why was that? How did it get to this state? Did it have something to do with the strange soulful bond he felt with the young Kazekage? Did it have to do with the teeny fact that, weird combination of features aside, Naruto found Gaara attractive? This last fact was a small, buried one he kept from himself up until now. When t he thought first arose, Naruto thought of it as one of those things people do when comparing other people of the same gender. Girls do it all time; they glance at other girls' facial features in comparison to their own, or at other girl's breast sizes. Guys do the same thing, with the exception of the breast comparison thing. (They obviously compared something much farther south.)
But, perhaps… perhaps there was more to it. Perhaps Gaara meant something else to Naruto, and the attraction in turn meant something else. Wait, attraction? There's a difference between finding someone attractive and feeling attraction to that person. Which did Naruto mean, then? He was beginning to confuse himself.
"Ai~ya!" Naruto groaned in frustration as he collapsed facedown onto the hotel bed. Muffled by the sheets, he lamented to himself, "This is harder than I thought."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Naruto lifted his head in one swift, dizzying movement. What if it was Gaara? He panicked, his heart racing in his chest. Cautiously, he got up from the bed and forced a shaky smile to his lips. He opened the door.
Sakura greeted him with an odd expression on her face. "Hullo, Naruto." Her tone matched her face.
But Naruto took no note of this. His heart immediately ceased it's rapid beating and his smile softened into a genuine one. "Phew! I thought you were Gaara. I nearly had a heart attack, 'ttebayo!"
"Sorry to disappoint you," she said in that same odd voice. She stepped inside as the blonde closed the door behind her. She shut her eyes and sighed. "But I'm not Gaara-sama, and I have something else entirely to talk to you about."
He was about to remark how he wasn't disappointed but actually relieved when he recognized her tone. Finally, Naruto noticed the look on her face and knew what it meant. "This is about Sasuke-teme, isn't it?"
She nodded solemnly.
Naruto's face fell to a grim, serious expression to match hers. He sat down on the bed and patted the space beside him. "Tell me everything, Sakura-chan. I'm here for you."
It was times like this that Sakura remembered why she loved Naruto. Not romantically, of 'course, but in that friendly manner that people feel when they meet and spend time with someone for so long that they almost feel related to that person, only not quite. It was such a big comfort to her to have that sort of relationship with the demon container before her.
She came to sit beside the blonde, her body coming down so hard on the mattress it squeaked beneath her. Sakura bit her lip to stop it from quivering. "He's… so different, Naruto. And yet he's the same. I don't know how to explain it. Just now, I came back from his holding cell. I had delivered his dinner to him, and we talked a little. It hurt me so bad to be there, knowing that we – well, mostly you – beat him and were taking him by force to carry out a mission that is pretty much pointless."
Naruto, for once, didn't have anything to say. He merely put his arm around her and cradled her to his chest. If the times had been different – say, if this had happened a few months ago, maybe as much as a year – he would have loved holding her this way, because it was the kind of closeness one craves from one's crush. But he didn't feel that way about her any longer. He acted like it sometimes, but he realized now that it was more out of habit. Naruto began to stroke her cherry blossom pink hair, which felt silky between his Rasengan-calloused fingers.
She choked on a sob. She didn't want to cry over Sasuke. She has done it for so long that she was tired of it. He didn't deserve her tears, she told herself. Over and over she told herself that she wasn't in love with him any longer, that he was a jerk that was a complete waste of her time. Yet… "While walking back to my hotel room, I realized that I still love him, Naruto. It's foolish, I know, but for some reason I can't let him go. There's this tiny part inside me that has hope. It hopes that one day – I don't care how far away – he'll act like how he used to, and maybe return my feelings." She allowed a few tears to escape, and used Naruto's t-shirt (it was a fresh one he got on after unpacking a change of clothes) as a hankie to wipe them. "Am I only setting myself up for heartbreak?"
For a second, Naruto didn't know how to respond. He thought the question could be rhetorical. But when Sakura lifted her watery eyes to meet his, he realized she wanted a real answer. He hesitated. "I don't want to get you angry, but I think you might be. Sasuke is… difficult," he supplied, but it wasn't the right word. He didn't know what the correct word was to describe how Sasuke acted, but 'difficult' was close enough.
Sakura didn't get mad. She nodded. "That's what I thought."
Naruto pulled her closer to him again, shifting so that she was at a more comfortable angle. "It'll be alright, Sakura-chan. We'll be able to handle Sasuke. We just need time. I think he'll come around eventually, don't you?"
She smiled weakly and nodded into his chest as she brought her arms around his waist. "Yeah, I like to hope so. After all, no one changes for the worst completely, right? They always hold a bit of goodness in them somewhere. It just takes some coaxing to get it out."
"Or some knocking," Naruto grinned, thinking of Gaara. The redhead was a gentle child, Naruto assumed, only he lost his way. So, later on, it took a little force to knock sense back into him to make him gentle once more.
There his thoughts go again, returning to his second major hurdle to jump in his life. He already jumped the 'bring back Sasuke' hurdle, which had been in his path for a long while. Now that it was crossed, he was left to deal with the other people in his life. Other people who, by the by, started to fall in love with him without him realizing it.
Naruto sighed at these thoughts, and Sakura noticed. She pulled away form his embrace and sat up. As she wiped her face clean of tears and dabbed her puffy eyes, she ventured, "You're thinking of him, aren't you?"
"Who, Sasuke?"
"No. Gaara-sama." Sakura clarified.
The blonde adverted his richly blue eyes. He scanned the room as if it were much more interesting than the topic at hand.
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. Her own thoughts were on the boy she liked, and she bet Naruto's were the same. "You are thinking of him, or else you wouldn't get all quiet like that. What's on your mind?"
"It doesn't matter, Sakura-chan. Honest. Let's worry about Sasu–"
"No," Sakura said sternly. "We have plenty of time to talk about him; he'll be in Konoha probably for the rest of his life, if he doesn't escape and run off again. But we're only going to be in Sunagakure for a few more days, so we need to settle this issue now."
Naruto fumbled with his hands and felt a small wave of heat rise to his cheeks. He sighed. "Yeah, you're absolutely right. B-but I don't know how to settle it, dattebayo!"
"It's easy," Sakura assured him, "All you have to do if tell him how you feel. He'll understand."
"But I don't know how I feel!" he burst out. He got to his feet and began to gesture wildly, all the while not looking at Sakura's tear-stained face. "You at least know that your feelings for Sasuke haven't changed, but I'm not sure if my feelings are changing for Gaara for if they were always like this! – Er, well, not necessarily always, since I was scared of him when I first met him, but…" He lost his steam. He didn't know where to go. "I feel so weird, so unlike myself. It's confusing."
Sakura smiled out of the blue. She stood and stifled a laugh. "You sound exactly like how he did."
"Like how who did?" the blonde asked dumbly.
"Like how Gaara-sama did, silly. He was confused for the same reason. He doesn't feel like himself around you, either, and he got confused. I doubt he even knows when it started. So if you feel the same, then that means…" she prompted. She waited for him to finish her sentence.
With an epiphany-like facial expression, Naruto blinked and sputtered softly, "Then that means that I'm in love with him?!"
Sakura nodded her head, her smile growing. "Funny how things work out, huh?"
Naruto blinked, his head turning downward. He stared at the floor as his hands fell to his sides. "Yeah… funny…"
In love? With Gaara? But why? Sure, he was charming in a mysterious way, and he was handsome, and brave and understood Naruto's pain, but are those really reasons to love someone? Gaara also listened to Naruto's ramblings, so matter how stupid, and always seemed engrossed in the lengthy stories, but was that a reason to love someone? He enjoyed Gaara's company, and felt protective of him, but are those reasons to love?
Naruto's head swam. It was as if everything was falling into place as he started accepting his pink-haired friend's words.
"I have to tell him," he whispered, his eyes still locked on nothing. He was in a daze.
Sakura patted him on the shoulder. "That would be best."
"Tonight?"
"As soon as possible, yes."
He agreed. It seemed logical enough. He looked at Sakura, his eyes focused and his hazy mind cleared. He smiled lopsidedly. "I'm in for a rough night, aren't I?"
She chuckled. "I would think so. Things could get messy."
Naruto looked at her quizzically. "You're not thinking…?"
Her face looked stricken. "Heavens, no! Jeez, Naruto, pull your mind out of the gutter! I just meant your emotions!"
Naruto released a breathy laugh that signified he was both embarrassed and apologetic. "I was just kidding." He exhaled loudly. "Well, I better get this over with before I lose my confidence."
"See you later. Tell me how it goes."
"Trust me, you'll be the first person to know," Naruto said with a thumbs up. Outwardly, he looked so self-assured and ready. But inwardly, he was quaking clear down to his toes and his stomach was rolling in his abdomen like a trapeze artist. The combination of Sakura's emotional distress mixed with his own doubts was enough to make him want to hurl.
It's a good thing he hadn't eaten dinner yet.
xXxXx
The young Kazekage felt him drawing near before he saw him. Normally Naruto masks his presence like all great shinobi do, but this time around he didn't bother, and distantly Gaara wondered why. However, he didn't linger on the teeny aspect of this; because once he saw Naruto's facial expression, he didn't care about anything else. And that in itself was a rare thing to occur.
"Naruto," Gaara mused aloud, "Something's wrong." It wasn't a question. He knew that something was off-kilter with his friend, and he didn't like it.
"Gaara…" Naruto said breathlessly. He had run the entire way here, although he wasn't about to admit it to the redhead. "There's something… I need to tell you…" he panted.
Gaara shook his head and gestured to the chair in his office. They were small movements that read, 'Not yet. Catch your breath first, and then tell me what it is you wish to say.'
The blonde nodded and came over to the chair in front of Gaara's desk. He sat down and put a hand to his chest to calm his racing heart and lungs. Although, once his lungs were regulated, his heart appeared to like beating slightly faster in Gaara's company.
Due to the sudden rush of blood to his cheeks and drumming heart, Naruto knew that Sakura had been correct. Why else would he be feeling this way? Sure, he was nervous, but that seemed to prove the point all the more. Boy, what he wouldn't give to have control over himself. It was strange finding out that he was in love with Gaara; it was like finding out that a candy he used to not like very much became something he got addicted to and couldn't let go of, especially now that he knew he liked it.
Maybe candy was a bad analogy. Ramen sounded better. He used to think ramen was nothing but noodles in broth, but once he tried it, well… everyone knew how that story ended.
Whatever the analogy, Naruto felt himself in that situation: the second that things fell into place, he didn't want to change it.
Gaara leant against his desk patiently as Naruto thought all of this over and caught his breath. The redhead didn't show how eager he was to hear what Naruto had to say. Without having to be told or hinted to, he could tell that the 'news' Naruto wanted to share had to do with the recent mishap between them.
Finally, Naruto gathered up his courage and told Gaara what he had to say as he stared directly into his aquamarine eyes. "I think I've been in love with you for a while now without realizing it."
The words had tumbled messily out of his mouth, and Naruto had to stop himself from blurting 'dattebayo' at the end as was his nature to do so when speaking quickly. But he knew his words made sense and was the truth; after all, if it hadn't been love, then what else propelled him to act the way he did when Gaara was kidnapped and killed?
Steadily, the words began to seep in. Gaara's eyes grew wide in the same shocked manner they had when he returned from death. His grip on the desk wavered as he slid off of the wooden surface. "Love…?" he whispered. He was confused, overjoyed, and wanting to scream in glee and cry all at once. But his brain didn't know which of these to follow, so Gaara merely fell silent and soft-faced, as if he were in a dreamy haze.
"So…" Naruto murmured as he pointed his fingers together very Hinata-like, "You accept my feelings, right? Since you… you know… already said that you feel the same?"
Gaara's eyes glanced in Naruto's direction and locked there, held in place merely by Naruto's craving for reassurance. He has never done anything like this before – let alone to another boy – so it was awkward for him. He needed to know that things were going to be okay between him and the post-Jinchuuriki. His heart pounded harder in his chest with the anxiety of not knowing the answer to his previous question.
A rare event occurred then: Gaara smiled. It was a much bigger smile than the slight, hardly noticeable one he had given Naruto when they first shook hands goodbye. It was a warm, welcome smile, and somewhat misplaced on the Kazekage's face. "Yes, Naruto," he said calmly, "I accept your feelings."
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as his heart regulated. He offered a smile of his own, which he shared opening. "Man, and here I thought you could've changed your mind and I was going to be let down."
"I would never let you down," Gaara told him. It's a phrase normally Naruto would use, but Gaara knew in his heart that he was capable of keeping that promise. He'd already taken on the role of Kazekage to prove to Naruto that he'd changed; what more could he do than promise he'd be there for Naruto? He had such a great debt to the blonde, so he figured it was a start.
"I'm glad," Naruto replied as he stood and stepped closer, "Because I didn't want to let you down, either. That's why I took so long deciding what to do about this… about us," he confessed. He took one of Gaara's hands in his; Naruto vaguely noted that Gaara didn't flinch at his touch like he would at anyone else's. "And once I spoke to Sakura-chan, she made me see the same thing she made you see: that I cared about you a lot more than I originally thought." He laughed weakly. "I wonder if we can make it work, 'ttebayo? You get awfully busy, and I live kind of far away…"
Gaara reached a hand up gingerly, experimentally. He brushed the bangs from Naruto's eyes. "I believe we can," he said seriously.
Gaara's fingers were cool on Naruto's skin, and were so light that he almost didn't notice them. Between them, in their intertwined hands, he felt Gaara shaking. He wanted to remove the redhead's discomfort and had an itch to do so by giving him a kiss.
"If you think we can, then here's the first test: don't move," he said lowly, his voice soft. Now, Naruto wasn't an expert on kissing; he's never really had much of a chance, and when he had, it wasn't right. It was either an accident or unwanted or both. So, carefully, he lifted Gaara's chin as the redhead went rigid-still and leaned in. He saw Gaara's eyelids involuntarily close before he shut his own and timidly touched his lips.
The redhead stifled the nagging urge to distance himself from the kitsune. This close of contact was basically forbidden; Gaara never indulged in much of any human contact, let alone something as intimate as an embrace or a kiss. In fact, he had never kissed anyone before, and to his memory, no one had ever kissed him. And yet Naruto was in this very instant.
On the opposing side, Naruto stifled the urge to sigh pleasantly. Gaara's lips were delicate and thin, but the perfect shape to his own plumper lips. And Gaara's body was warm in Naruto's arms, and his thinly robed chest was within centimeters from his own. Oh, how he wanted to close that distance. It was abnormal for him to feel this way for his friend, but Naruto wasn't caring at the moment. It felt as though this was how it should be. Was that what made two people soul mates? When things just click between them? Naruto didn't know. But he was wiling to find out.
Carefully, so that he didn't startle the other boy, Naruto started moving his lips. He slid them over Gaara's and tried to bend his lips to his will so that they moved in synchronicity with his own. It took a few seconds, but Gaara was a fast learner. He mimicked and adapted the blonde's movements.
To them, it felt bizarre and blissful, not to mention addicting. Naturally, it wasn't enough. Naruto added his tongue into the movements, and following a bit of initial surprise, Gaara joined in. He didn't understand it in the least, but it felt nice to be treated in this dizzyingly romantic manner, so Gaara hardly minded. He let Naruto do as he willed, and didn't make a single fuss about it.
"Gaara," Naruto breathed as he broke for air. He had been tempted to keep taking those short breaths between movements and tiny inhales and exhales through his nostrils, but it wasn't working very well. He was new at this, and so far he didn't know how to kiss and still be able to breathe without making his lungs scream for oxygen.
"Hn?" the redhead hummed as he, too, breathed heavily. He wasn't as out of breath as Naruto, having had practice most of his life with holding his breath when air supply ran short in his little sand bubble of 'absolute defense'.
Naruto's blue eyes were clouded with raging hormones. He felt high from Gaara's scent and warmth. "I don't know when to stop," he admitted bluntly.
The redhead flushed as he understood Naruto's meaning. Naruto didn't know when to stop making a move. He clearly wanted more than this; he was needy for contact, and everyone knew the unbreakable-bond-forming, skin-to-skin contact was the best kind there was.
"It's fine," Gaara murmured, "If you go too far, I'll stop you myself."
Naruto smiled, which was his was of saying, 'okay' and 'thank you'. Not wanting to rush it, the blonde tugged the redhead over to the loveseat (what an appropriate name for a two-seater couch!) in the corner of his office. He locked the door so they wouldn't get caught (no one liked to be caught; it was much too embarrassing). Then, once he returned to his newfound love, Naruto didn't hesitate to reconnect their lips.
These tender kisses, Gaara found, were becoming a necessity. They've only just begun, and already he was growing used to it and craved more. So the redhead allowed Naruto to carry the experience further as the other boy's nimble fingers caressed his body through his Kazekage robes. The touch, even through clothing, lit burning trails all over him. He shivered delightfully as goosebumps arose. Why did this feel so good? Gaara wondered to himself. He has never felt something any where near this sort of tingling pleasure. Who knew such oddities existed? (In retrospect, the answer was obvious: lovers knew such oddities were around.)
"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Naruto mused aloud partially to himself and partially to Gaara. He kissed at the hollow of the redhead's throat, making the other gasp. His heart was still banging around in his chest, and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears, but the nervousness had vanished. He felt as though he belonged here, half-lying on Gaara, showering him with touches and love that he'd been deprived of his entire life. Touches and love that both of them have been deprived of all their lives.
Here, in this teeny space, Naruto knew he could protect Gaara. Because even now he got nightmares on occasion, nightmares that relived those horrifying moments when he feared Gaara was dead and found out that he was dead. Gaara, his most precious person, gone forever? The mere thought made Naruto want to cry. And when he awoke from those nightmares, all he could do was sob into his pillow until sleep came again. Losing the people he loved was not an option. That's why he had to get Sasuke back. And why he had to help Chiyo-baasama bring Gaara back.
That's why…
"Mmn."
Naruto's thoughts were cut off by a tiny noise, something low and drowsy and content. He knew it had not come from his own vocal cords; it came from the person directly below him.
Sensing the pair of eyes on him, Gaara opened his own eyes and blinked. He realized, after a short moment, why Naruto had paused. "Did… did I just do that?"
Naruto wanted to crack a smile, even chuckle. To save Gaara the embarrassment of being laughed at, he bit is lip. "Yeah," he managed to say.
The confusion passed as Gaara seemed to shrug it off and drag Naruto back down. Their lips met, said a greeting, and then departed again as Gaara leaned up to lay a peck on the side of Naruto's neck. A jolt of excitement ran through Naruto's system. The hairs on his neck rose as the spot where Gaara kissed practically prickled.
"Do that again," the blonde dared in a husky whisper.
"If you insist."
Gaara maneuvered around the blonde so that Naruto lay on his back on the couch instead. Hovering above the kitsune, Gaara grew less confident of himself. He wasn't sure where to attack. So he went with the first place he touched, being Naruto's neck. It was an odd sensation, this craving that was beginning to gather and fill the redhead's insides; it was unlike anything else, although it made him think a little bit of when Shukaku's power would fill him. Only this was different, and much more enjoyable.
As Gaara's pale lips connected with Naruto's tan skin, vulnerable and warm, the redhead felt Naruto's hands fly into his hair. There was a small tug at his scalp, but otherwise it was fine. So Gaara kept going, all the while feeling Naruto's fingers tread through his crimson locks.
When he reached the top of Naruto's shirt, Gaara tensed. The fabric felt rough compared to Naruto's collar bone. And it smelled of fabric softener instead of the savory scents emitting from his skin. The redhead frowned and, without asking, started yanking off the blonde's shirt.
Naruto didn't mind. In fact, he helped the young Kazekage take off the annoying layer of clothing because it felt too good for it to stop. Tossed to the floor, forgotten, the shirt became a piece of history. Now there was a whole new expanse of skin to explore, and unable to control himself, Gaara bent to his hormones' will and started to feel his way around. He wanted to memorize Naruto's body, not caring how long it took.
At first, he was careful, as if the slightest wrong touch would cause Naruto to bleed. It was a very different style than the crush-and-kill methods of his youth. But when it came to loving someone in this manner, Gaara was a newbie, so he wanted to go slowly to both savor and experiment.
Gaara slid his hands, no more than three fingers from each hand, along Naruto's muscular torso. He was firm but not overly built, probably thanks to all the ramen he ate to balance out his hardcore training. He felt hotter than he should under Gaara's fingers, and silently the redhead pondered the possibility of Kyuubi's fire element making Naruto warmer, or if it was just the sheer touch of his own fingers that triggered the extra heat. Either way, it was intriguing.
Continuing across, Gaara smothered Naruto's nipples and quivering, seal-marked belly with his palms. Naruto tilted his head back and leaned into Gaara's touches, as if each innocent one meant more to him than being sprawled comfortably on the barely-wide-enough sofa.
In his mind, Naruto couldn't form a coherent thought in the front of his mind, let alone care if his head was perched a bit oddly over the arm of the couch. All he could think of was how wonderful it felt to have someone caress him this delicately, and the heat that sprouted from it. But, above all, he thought in the back of his mind of how he couldn't picture doing this with anyone else, and that he was a fool for not letting this happen earlier.
Gaara got bored of touching with his hands. He leaned down and started to kiss the line between Naruto's pectorals, which lead him to the dip at the end of the blonde's sternum. Shyly, he flicked out his tongue and tasted Naruto's tender skin there, and found that it was a winning spot.
Naruto moaned lowly in response. His grip in Gaara's hair tightened temporarily, and suddenly he was launched into a state of mind where everything was made of fuzzy blackness, heat, and Gaara-Gaara- "Gaara..."
The named teen brought his head up to look at the kitsune. He heard a very unfamiliar tone added to his name just now, and it made a rolling lurch in his gut.
Out of the blue, something dawned on the young Kazekage: if this continued, they would take things too far in the heat of the moment and would regret it later. Well, maybe not entirely regret it, but they would regret not waiting for that sacred thing. And here was Gaara's first clue: there was something growing stiffer under the fabric of Naruto's pants, and under his own robes things weren't much better.
"Naruto," he said, trying to snap the blonde out of it.
"Nnh, don't stop…" the blonde complained. He missed the feel of Gaara's slick tongue on his chest, and Gaara's cool fingers along the burning skin of his ribs. His heart ached slightly, as if it, too, missed the thumping of it's partnering heart beating a breath away from it.
"Naruto," Gaara tried again, his tone sterner as he removed Naruto's hands from his hair and straightened into kneeling position, "I told you I'd stop us if it got too far."
"B-but," the other sighed, "It's not too far yet… just a little bit more…" His hands searched the air blindly for Gaara's body.
Gaara hated cutting Naruto off like this, but the hint of lust in his eyes and voice told Gaara that it was the right thing to do. "Come on, Naruto, let's find your shirt and get it back on you."
Naruto groaned in protest but sat up as Gaara searched the floor for the missing piece of clothing. He found it in a pile under the sofa. He tossed it to Naruto, whom caught it full in the face.
"Humph. Thanks," Naruto said curtly. He was disappointed that their make-out session had abruptly stopped in the middle of a good part. Still, it would be worse; they could be walked in on and had to stop that way.
Reading the kitsune's tell-tale face, Gaara told him, "Don't worry, you'll get a chance again. We have years."
"It doesn't feel like it," Naruto sniffed. He felt like crying again. "It feels like every time I turn around, another person I care about is gone or taken from me. And it feels like I, too, am about to crash and burn. Sometimes I wonder how it is I stay alive, considering all the danger I put myself in constantly."
Gaara bit the inside of his lip. He didn't want to admit how true this was; Hell, he had thought Naruto was dead and in the body bag that came back! "But you have to remember, Naruto," Gaara stated slowly, "That everything happens for a reason. And that some people come back, and some will never be taken."
Naruto's eyes pooled with tears. Half of the reason for this was the topic he accidentally brought up, and the other reason was because of the sea of hormones that washed over him and hadn't left. "But… you were taken… and you almost didn't come back…"
The redhead sat beside Naruto on the couch and watched him slip his shirt back on as an excuse not to look over. Gaara sighed. "I almost didn't, true, but I still did in the end. I'm with you now, am I not? So stop crying," he added gently, "And learn to have some faith. Patience, too. I'm not going anywhere, so you can always visit me."
Gaara sure was speaking a ton, the kitsune noticed. He'll have to remember this moment; it's a rare thing, Gaara verbally comforting someone. He was lucky that it's him that got to be comforted in a rare moment like this.
Naruto smiled a bit. He wrapped his arm around Gaara's shoulder. "You're absolutely right. I needed to hear that." He nuzzled his nose into the crook of Gaara's neck, and like the goosebumps on the pale flesh that rose from his touch. "Thanks." Then, as an afterthought, he added: "I love you. Really, I do."
"I trust you," Gaara whispered in reply. It was his way of saying, 'I believe that it's the truth. I entrust myself to you. I love you, too.'
He also believed Naruto for one major reason: during his turn, he realized that he was the probably – no, definitely – the only person who has ever touched Naruto in that way, and gave him that sort of pleasure. It was an empowering thought, and it filled Gaara with an unexplainably heightening feeling.
When Naruto released him, Gaara cast his eyes to the clock on his desk. It was getting late; it was nearly eight o'clock. "You should return to your hotel room, Naruto."
"Aw, can't I sleep with you~?" Naruto requested playfully as he batted his eyelashes.
Gaara twitched. He disliked that sort of playfulness; it was dripping with innuendo. "No. You know you can't," he told the kitsune with a tight voice.
Naruto pretended to look wounded. "And here I thought I could, 'ttebayo. Damn."
The redhead almost smiled. Almost. "Goodnight, Naruto."
Naruto placed one last kiss on the center of Gaara's forehead, right next to his scar. "Goodnight."
Then he left, even though every last nerve of his body was begging that he stay and hold onto Gaara a while longer.
xXxXx
Half a week passed, but then it was time to move out. Kakashi's team was well enough to travel once more, and Sasuke was getting restless. "Let's get this over with," he had told them the night before their departure. So they had agreed it was time to leave Suna.
Over the handful of days they had left, Naruto and Gaara arranged small, secret times when they could be together. They held an 'infatuated new couple' aura about them, always eager to physically join. Even Gaara, whom Naruto expected would be all that affectionate, actually started half of their secret times. It dawned on Naruto that perhaps this was Gaara's subconscious way of regaining the years of isolation and filling them with everything Naruto could give him. Honestly, Naruto had a similar desire, so it didn't bother him any.
Sakura caught on to their little meetings quickly, and teased Naruto on their way back as both a means of distraction from the larger problem at hand (Sasuke) and because she was genuinely curious.
Before they left, though, Naruto had hugged Gaara tightly and longingly to say farewell without the heart-wrenching words that went with it. Unfortunately, Gaara's siblings had been there to witness this, along with Naruto's teammates. The hug that was obviously too passionate to be friendly stirred some questions from everyone who wasn't already in the loop (like Sakura). The questioning caused both boys to blush, but they admitted what happened. For Gaara's reputation sake, his siblings promised not to leak the information that he was, technically, homosexual. Not that it mattered to him; he only loved Naruto, and not any other man. So, really, he was Narutosexual, but no one of his village would think of it that way.
"We'll keep the secret, too, Naruto," Kakashi promised. He seemed to be smiling, although it was hard to tell with the mask and single eye. But in that single grey eye, Naruto could see a twinkle in it that just had to be a smile.
"Oi, Sakura-chan, why is Kakashi-sensei smiling?"
She giggled. "I think it's because he's happy for you. He's glad that, in your case, a romance between you and your male friend is actually possible."
Naruto nodded. "I guess that makes sense."
Finally, they left the desert, and arrived home after three days. Naruto was happy to be home, yet he missed Gaara terribly. Across the lands, kilometers away, Naruto knew Gaara was missing him.
Now, as for Sasuke, he was taken into custody and kept under a watchful eye. Tsunade decided to announce his return to the village a day after he had come back just so they were aware of both the danger and benefit of having the Uchiha within the gates. Everyone understood, luckily.
"Sometimes, Uzumaki, when you are a leader, you have to make guesses about what the people can and can't handle as far as information goes."
"Why are you telling me this, Tsunade-baachan?"
"Well, I did say you could be Hokage one day, didn't I?"
Naruto merely smiled.
Yes, he'll be Hokage, and Gaara will be Kazekage, and they could arrange meetings between their villages as often as they wanted to since, hey, they are allies, aren't they?