Hey guys finals and the flu were trouncing me last month but finally got time to finish writing this. Once again I'm sorry for the wait as usual Read and Review.
Oh yeah almost forgot: Shout outs to my Betas: The Keeper of Worlds and otakufangirl101. You guys really help a lot.
"Thought"
"Demonic Voice"
"Bijuu thoughts"
Justu
XXXXXXX = Flashback
(A/N: Author Note)
Disclaimer: All rights reserved by the original creator this is a fan production.
XXXXXXX
Chapter 26: Dysfunctional
Naruto leaned against the railing waiting for Gaara to arrive. He had sent her a message ticked off that their get together had been interrupted, not to mention clearing the air. Honestly he didn't know how to handle Gaara, they hadn't known one another for very long and he didn't share her feelings.
"Naruto," Naruto looked over his shoulder as Gaara joined him, "I'm glad you wanted to meet."
"Couldn't exactly leave things like they were," Naruto replied cheekily, "Your brother isn't going to try and kill me again is he?"
"No I handled him," Gaara replied still annoyed with her brother, "I apologize for his behavior."
"You don't have to," Gaara's questioning gaze made him explain awkwardly. "Don't get me wrong, next time I see him I'm slugging him for putting a blade to my neck…but he was just protecting his sister, I get that."
"I don't," Gaara said a bit dejectedly, "It's very strange."
"What do you mean?"
"…For the longest time he and Temari always kept their distance, and now they both want nothing more than to mettle in my affairs. It's new," Gaara answered annoyance written on her face until it was replaced by a small smile. "But I enjoy it for some reason."
"Sounds nice…I guess?" Naruto said. "Sorry, I'm not an expert with families."
"It's fine, besides my family isn't what I wanted to talk about," Gaara turned to him, a question in her usually emotionless eyes.
"Yeah," Naruto said scratching his head. "I…I don't feel same way you do…"
"…Oh"
They stood there silently, one processing this new situation and emotions, the other desperately trying to figure out if he could do anything to make the situation better and coming up with nothing.
It hurt less than she expected, Temari's books made it seem like the worst thing in the world, but it wasn't. She could put that behind her, "Are we still friends?"
"Yeah, of course we are!" Naruto felt his whole body relax, thankful that it didn't seem to be as awkward as he imagined.
"Good," Gaara muttered. Naruto watched as she stood there uncertain and nervous, one of those rare moments when he saw the normal girl under the sand. Then, tentatively, she wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug. "I'm glad."
"Me too," Naruto said softly wrapping his own arms around her. The moment wasn't a private one and the onlooker's eyes narrowed in fury as she watched them hold one another intimately. Having seen enough she strode angrily towards the pair.
"So this is where you were Naruto," Sakura said her bad mood spilling into her voice. Taking Tsunade's words to heart she decided to look for Naruto and patch things up during her lunch break but instead she found him with her, "With your friend from Suna."
Gaara pulled away from Naruto and glared at the pink haired banshee, their little spat at the village gates still fresh in her mind, "Yes I remember you, Naruto's supposed team mate."
"Don't get involved. They're mature enough to handle this," Naruto thought to himself watching the situation unfold, and taking a healthy step away from them.
"What was that?"
"I'm sure you heard me," Gaara said monotonously. She'd always used this voice when speaking to people who weren't worth her time but recently noticed that it unnerved or annoyed most people. A little fact she received more than a small amount of joy out of as Sakura's eyes narrowed.
"I did. I just wanted to give you a chance to take it back," Sakura spat back, stepping into Gaara's personal space, "before I make you."
"Come on maturity," Naruto prayed as both kunoichi looked ready to murder one another.
"Try it."
"That's not maturity," Naruto thought taking an unhealthy step back towards them. "Come on—"
"GLADLY!" Sakura roared as she reared her fist back.
"Damn it," Naruto said finally stepping in to stop Sakura's attack, but there was one little thing that a put a wrench in his plan. Since their little tiff in the hospital, no one had bothered to tell him about her new ability to punch through solid stone. So instead of catching Sakura's fist and being the cool guy Naruto's own hand slammed into his face. He looked to Gaara then Sakura quizzically, blood dripping from his broken nose and his ears, "That's new."
THUMP!
"Naruto!" Both girls cried out rushing to his side. Sakura rolled him over using what little she learned which wasn't much and wasn't very helpful, "Damn it! We have to get him to the hospital."
"That won't be necessary." Both of them looked up to see a very disappointed and frustrated Tsunade with a squad of ANBU. "And it shouldn't be necessary for me to be here again."
"Master Tsunade I—"
"Save it," Tsunade ordered moving to check up on Naruto. She ran a diagnostic on him and patched up the life threating injuries leaving the rest to the hospital, "You're lucky Naruto's made of tougher stuff or you might have killed him. ANBU get him to the hospital. I'll deal with these two."
"Hai!" Two of the ANBU picked Naruto up and carried him to the hospital. Tsunade turned her stern stare to the two young kunoichi, Gaara met her stare steadily but Sakura bowed her head in shame.
"Follow me."
XXXXXXX
Gaara and Sakura stood in the Tsunade's office as she herself sat in her chair observing both of the young kunoichi. Gaara stood their indifferent to Tsunade's stare but Sakura fidgeted as her eyes refused to look at the Hokage. Tsunade sighed realizing that the two girls weren't the only ones at fault. She had been too lenient, a mistake that she would now correct.
"Suna ambassador Gaara this is the second time you were involved in a hostile situation with a Konoha shinobi and both times it was the same shinobi, Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara held back the annoyance that wanted to spread across her face. While the Hokage hadn't said anything directly it was clear that Tsunade didn't want Gaara and Naruto meeting anymore. "I have no choice but to forbid any further contact between you and Uzumaki Naruto. Defy me and Suna will find itself without Konoha's allegiance."
Gaara's control snapped as she took a threating step towards the Hokage, "You can't—"
SHINK! SHINK!
Sand wrapped around Gaara protecting her from the razor sharp blades of Tsunade's ANBU. Tsunade rose from her chair and confidently strode towards Gaara, the air in the room becoming thick as they faced one another. "Being a jinchuriki, a weapon for your village, I'm sure many in your village fear you but I don't, little girl. Escort the ambassador out of here, this meeting is over."
The ANBU sheathed their swords, making way as Gaara angrily marched from the room. Tsunade returned to her chair and stared at the other kunoichi in the office, "Didn't you and I have a conversation about this earlier today?"
"Master—"
"I pretty sure I did so please Sakura, explain to me what the hell you were thinking." The words caught in Sakura's throat as the edge in Tsunade's voice cut deep, "Well, I'm waiting."
As far as first days went Sakura was sure inciting an international incident wasn't a great way to start. She had acted rashly after all her talk of taking her responsibilities seriously. This had been her fault, plain and simple, and now she had to take responsibility. Squaring her shoulders, Sakura gathered her resolve to face Tsunade's wrath. "After our talk this morning I realized how foolish I was being so I went looking for Naruto to make up with him, but seeing him with Gaara, how close they were I couldn't stand the thought of Suna taking someone else from me." Tsunade gave Sakura a hard stare as she thought of what to do with her new apprentice. "The incident was my fault. I accept full responsibility and the punishment for my actions."
Tsunade sighed as she leaned back in her chair, "Normally, if anyone pulled a stunt as idiotic as yours they'd be dropped from the shinobi forces." Tsunade enjoyed the little squirm Sakura gave her, "But given the circumstances I suppose no one can blame your reaction and you didn't actually kill anyone so I'll give you one more chance. Screw up like this again and I'll personally rip that headband off you."
Sakura sighed in relief until Tsunade spoke again, "Now onto your punishment. For the next month, alongside you regular training, you'll be doing d-rank missions in the slaughterhouses. It should help you get used to the gorier parts of being a medic. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good you'll get your orders tomorrow and I'm sure you owe Naruto an apology. Dismissed!"
XXXXXXX
"Settle down Mei," Tomoko said as she and Mei walked out the doctor's office, "The nurse would have poked you less if you had not squirmed so much."
"Stupid nurse!" Mei said rubbing her arm, "Mei is a cute little girl not a porcupine!"
"Cute little girl or not you were overdue for vaccinations. Be grateful Lady Tsunade made this appointment for you," Tomoko chastised slapping Mei's hand away from the bandages on her arm, "And stop picking at them."
"But they itch," Mei whined. Slap! "Ow big sis!"
"If you responded to words instead of pain then keeping you in line wouldn't hurt so much," Tomoko said slapping the girl's hand away once more. Her teacher's hadn't been shy about giving her sharp smack on her hand or shin with their own bows when the archer's stance or aim had been off. When she'd found Mei, Tomoko had attempted to be gentler with the young girl than her clan had been with her. That plan went out the window as Mei ignored Tomoko's rules no matter what the young archer attempted so she reverted to the methods of her clan and they worked. That's not to say the young girl was frail, Mei had taken blows and hits that would have killed other children her age but only left bruises and scratches on the green-haired girl. The negative reinforcement only worked because Mei hated pain like a cat hated water, it wasn't actually harming her she just didn't like it.
"Fine," still, as she watched her adopted sister pout Tomoko realized she would probably end up buying the girl a treat like she always did. As she was about to ask Mei what she wanted the nurses wheeled a familiar blond right by her, "Master?"
"Big bro!" Mei dragged Tomoko along as she chased after the nurses.
One of the nurse stepped in their way, "Sorry no one beyond this point."
"Is he going to be alright?" Tomoko asked worried to see her master in the hospital so soon after his release.
"He'll be fine. The worst of his injuries were taken care of by Lady Tsunade. It'll take a while but he should be out of the operating theatre soon." Relieved, Tomoko and Mei took seats outside the doors and waited. A while later they were joined by a familiar pink haired girl.
"Tomoko, Mei are you both here waiting for Naruto?" Sakura asked but was sure she already knew the answer.
"Yes," Sakura looked away and Tomoko's eyes narrowed, "How did you know?"
"Uh…" Knowing the one eyed girl's obsessive attachment to Naruto, Sakura was bit nervous about giving an honest answer, "Well you see…"
"If you know anything tell me!"
Sakura sighed as she realized that not being honest and open was the cause of this whole mess, "…I'm the reason he's in there."
"You what?!" Faster than Sakura's eyes could keep up, Tomoko notched an arrow and aim it right at her head.
"I know I'm to blame for this," Sakura said calmly, "I let my anger get the better of me and it hurt someone I care for but I'm here to make up for it."
"Why should I ever let you near him again?" Tomoko spat through gritted teeth.
"You can't stop me," Sakura spat back, "besides haven't you hurt him as well?"
Tomoko's eyes screamed murder as she almost let the arrow fly, "How dare you."
"The truth stinks doesn't it?" Sakura said sympathetically, "Naruto says you're his oldest friend, that he never doubted that fact despite the distance that kept you two apart. I wasn't the only one that walked out of that hospital room because I was angry."
"You are right," Tomoko lowered her bow and turned her head away in shame. "The truth does stink, do as you wish."
XXXXXXX
Gaara cursed the Hokage under her breath as she entered the hotel room only to meet the disapproving stares of her siblings, "I'll be meditating in my room if you need me."
"No you aren't," Kankuro said as Karasu blocked her path, "We are going to talk about this."
"There's nothing to talk about," Gaara replied evenly giving her sibling the usual disinterested stare.
"The hell there isn't!" Gaara looked almost shocked by her sister's outburst. Temari had never raised her voice at Gaara once, not when they were children and certainly not when they were teamed up. "Not only did you ignore Kankuro's order you almost cost Suna an ally. You wanted to show the village and us that you're more than a monster but all you've shown me and Kankuro is that you're nothing but a child."
Gaara hadn't felt so small since her time with Yashamaru.
"You run around doing what you want without regard for the consequence and it's going to stop," Temari said fixing Gaara with an intense stare of her own, "I've given you your space and supported you decisions because I was happy to see my little sister coming back to me, but when you threaten the safety of our village, our home I will do my duty as a kunoichi of Suna. If you make another mistake like this again, I'll have you dragged back Suna, are we clear?"
"…"
"Are we clear?!"
"…Yes," Gaara stared down at the floor stewing in a combination of anger and shame. Part of her wanted lash out like she used, to show her sister who was really in charge, but another part wanted to apologize and ask for her sister's forgiveness.
"Man I haven't heard Temari talk like that since we were kids," Gaara turned to her brother who laying on the couch a small nostalgic smile on his face, "She can be pretty scary when she wants to be."
"What should I do?" Gaara asked her brother sincerely.
"Do?" Kankuro scratched his chin as he thought about it, "Well you could act like a regular little sister and go to your room and pout, which might be pretty funny actually. You could go apologize to Temari or you could do nothing." Kankuro rose off the couch and headed into the small kitchen, "I remember this one time, I must've been ten or so, I was just learning to be a puppeteer and I was messing around with puppet I had taken from storage. It was fun at first but like a dumb kid I ended up hurting myself with one of its weapons. Temari was the one who found me, she patched me up, then berated me about how stupid I was. She told dad and I wasn't allowed near another puppet for a month. I was so mad at her."
Seeing how lost Gaara looked, Kankuro remembered that the direct approach was Gaara liked things, "She didn't say all those things to make you mad or guilty, she said them because sometimes big sisters have to be big sisters. She did it because she loves you and wants to protect you, same reason she told on me."
Gaara sighed and headed to her room. She needed time to think about this.
XXXXXXX
"He's awake now you can go in but make sure he doesn't exert himself," the nurse said leaving the girls.
"You can go first," Sakura said, "I'm sure apologizing for everything I did is going to take a long time."
"Thank you. Mei wait here," Tomoko closed the door behind her as Naruto sat up surprised to see her. "Master I'm glad to see you're okay."
"I'm glad to see you at all," Naruto instantly felt bad about that remark when he saw Tomoko's sad face, "I'm sorry that was mean."
"It is alright. I did not handle things like I should have," Tomoko replied, sitting on the bed. "I just thought that once we had a home there would be no more running around the country side, no more distance keeping us apart, nothing stopping me from always being by your side."
"I'm not exactly happy with the situation either, you know that right?"
"Yes I know," Tomoko answered, "Forgiven?"
"Didn't even have to ask," Naruto replied happily, they'd been friends long enough so that was that.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Hey Mei wants to talk to big bro to!" Naruto and Tomoko sighed as the moment was ruined.
"Come on in Mei," the young girl burst into the room and leapt onto the bed, "Are you alright? What happened? How long are you going to be here?"
"Woah easy kid," seeing Mei always brought a twinkle to Naruto's eyes, she reminded him of the ball of energy he used to be. "I'll be fine it was an accident and I shouldn't be here to long alright?"
"Alright!" Sakura smiled as she listened from out in the hall way.
"Listen Mei, I was going to tell you this later but since you're here I might as well. I'm going to be going away for a long time."
"What?"
"Some bad people are after me so I have to leave the village to protect everyone."
"Can't I come?" Sakura smiled sadly wondering if she had sounded just as sad as the little girl in there.
"No, no one else can come, sorry kid."
"We're supposed to be together as a family. I don't want you to go!"
"You and me both kid." Sakura thought sadly a small part of her hoping that Naruto might just cave into the girl's demands.
"I'm sorry kid, but listen, I'm not leaving yet so we'll spend a lot time together, okay?"
"…Okay…"
"Come on Mei, Master has another visitor we'll see him later at home," Tomoko lead the sullen girl from the room. Pausing outside the doorway she turned to Sakura, "Good luck."
Sakura nodded gratefully and walked in. It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous, after all nearly giving someone brain damage after ignoring them for about a week isn't the best place to ask for forgiveness, "Hey Naruto…"
"Hey Sakura."
"…Listen I just wanted apologize you know…for cracking your skull," Sakura brushed a lock of hair behind her ear as she said the last part.
"Wow you and Tomoko," Naruto said in surprise, "My lucky day."
"I also want to say sorry for the way I acted."
"For ignoring me or lashing out angrily and punching me?"
Sakura chuckled derisively, "Both."
"Last time you were here we were fighting and now you're apologizing," Naruto sighed as looked around the hospital, "I really hope I don't have any more special moments in this place."
"Now that I think about it all my special moments recently have been in pretty messed up situations. Let's see, made out with Tayuya in a prison cell, made up with Haku after seeing her dad having sex, a heart to heart with Gaara before being viciously assaulted, and now Tomoko and Sakura in the hospital. God I can't even further my relationships normally."
"So do you forgive me?"
"Well my decision making skills might be off with the head injury and all," Naruto said pointed to the bandages on his head, "so maybe if you take me out for ramen tomorrow after the hospital clears me I could give you an answer."
"Alright ramen is the least I could do after all," Sakura answered with a nervous chuckle. "Thank you Naruto."
"I wouldn't be thanking me yet, you've seen how much ramen I eat," the two shared a laugh both pleased to have finally cleared the air.
"Okay I should let you get some sleep," Sakura said walking out the door. Naruto laid down on the bed but sat back up when Sakura walked back into the room strolled to her beside and planted a quick kiss on his cheek and left with a quicker goodbye. He stared at the door still surprised by her actions, but deciding that he was too exhausted to think about just laid back in bed and closed his eyes.
"I am never going to have a normal anything."
XXXXXXX
Alright I hope you guys enjoyed this. The last chapter is probably going to be the last one of this story, but don't worry I'm going to be writing a second book.