"We're human!"

"We're dancers!"

"We're human!"

"WE'RE DANCERS!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" Sasuke yelled. This had been going on nearly a half hour. It was almost lunch time, and it seemed they would never give up.

"How can a dancer not be human?" Gaara pointed out.

"Animals dance."

"But humans are animals!"

Yes, think of humans as animals, Sasuke.

Yes, that's what I did.

Sasuke was going crazy. His two friends were fighting each other with such zeal over something trivial, and his enemy/older brother wasn't shutting up anytime soon.

Am I going crazy? Sasuke asked the two voices in his head openly. He wouldn't deny their existence for the time being.

Well, you can't blame yourself. Your whole family and clan was slaughtered before your eyes.

Good times, good times.

"Guys," Sasuke said warily, "Can we please just go for lunch? Then we can play ninja or whatever the hell you want."

"Promise?" they asked in unison.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I promise, bestest friends!" he said sarcastically. (Ha, imagine Sasuke saying that!)

So they left for lunch. Naruto vehemently hoped for Ichiraku ramen, but Sasuke was adamant. "I can't take any more of that disgusting stuff!"

All the way to the spicy food store, Naruto argued passionately for the pride of ramen.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing ninja. Sasuke reluctantly agreed to be the "rowdy Academy student" while Gaara acted as the Kazekage and Naruto bravely as Fifth Hokage.

They were having so much fun—rather, Gaara and Naruto had fun chasing Sasuke around—that they failed to realize the hours ticking by, and soon the full moon was rising above the tops of the homes of Konohagakure.

Gaara was the first to realize it, of course.

"Wah! Look at the moon!" he cried out, and they realized it had to be at least eight at night.

If mother were alive, I would have been called home already.

She didn't call you home that night, though, did she, boy?

Sasuke fought anger. He wasn't real. There were no voices within his mind.

Stop fighting the truth, Sasi. You will feel more at ease if you did.

Sasi? Oh, hell no. No pet names!

Too late, Sasi! You gonna kill Naru-Naru or Gaagi yet?

Naru-Naru I understand, but Gaagi?

"The moon is too high in the sky," Gaara whispered, shutting his eyes as if to rid him of the sight. "I have to go home!"

"Why?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"You know why! My blood…it…" Gaara shook himself. "I must go!"

"Your bastard father," Naruto muttered. "If he hadn't…" he clenched his fist.

Naruto yelped. The wound on his hand from the day before had opened, and a trail of dark red blood leaked from Naruto's wound.

"No!" Sasuke cried, and tried to hide Naruto's hand. But it was too late. Gaara cried out at the sight, clutching the sides of his head. He fell to the ground.

Sasuke could not have seen a thing more scary in his life than what followed that cry. Not even Itachi had been as scary as this. In the fading light of the sun and moonshine, Gaara began to mutate in a most frightening way. It was like Thriller except without the dancing and Michael Jackson.

If you want it to be like Thriller, I'll just go get Orochimaru, Itachi laughed, but even his voice sounded scared.

Why are you scared? Sasuke inquired. I'm the one in trouble.

Exactly! I worry about you!

Huh?

Er, I mean, if you die, I die, fool!

Naruto let out a cry of fear. Alone in the fields next to the pond and playground, the two boys stood frozen in terror as their best friend started to mutate into something obscene.

I knew he was a mutant.

Half of Gaara's face was reduced to a mushy-looking form with purple veins racing across its length. His inhuman cry rang in Sasuke and Naruto's ears as is arm morphed as well.

"We need to get outta here," Sasuke told Naruto. "We need to go, find the Hokage—or the Kazekage—"

"No," Naruto said strongly, though fearfully. "We're his friends. I'm not gonna let some ninja do all sorts of things to get him back to normal!"

"But then, what do we do?" Sasuke asked.

Another cry that made them cringe with fear. A tail was starting to form.

"We need to do something now!" Sasuke cried. "It's our only chance! But what?"

Naruto bit his lip. Yes, really, what could they do? They'd never fought nor seen a force such as this. How could they possibly counteract such a mutation?

I don't think I'm going to try to kill someone like him, Sasuke thought warily.

Sasuke, run. You don't have a chance. You'll be killed.

Do as he says! You won't survive if you stay here any longer!

Sasuke started to tremble. Fear gripped him. Come on, Naruto, do something!

Yes, Naru-Naru, save us!

Go, Nine-Tailed Fox!

What?

Nothing…

Naruto stood there, looking at the transforming Gaara. He bit his lip harder, and blood started to flow.

"Gaara, stop this," Naruto said weakly. Gaara cried out again; he hadn't heard Naruto.

"Gaara! Stop!"

The boy looked up, holding his head as tears of pain and suffering rolled down his cheeks.

"You can overcome it," Naruto pleaded. "You can! Gaara, you're strong! You can do it! We're here for you!"

"Y-yeah," Sasuke agreed, muscles tensing. "We're here for you. We'll help you."

With that, the boys approached Gaara slowly, and proceeded in hugging him harshly, a three-way hug.

Gaara started to thrash, then ceased resisting, and hung, a deadweight, in their arms. The mutated parts receded, and all that was left was a crying, shaking Gaara.

He sobbed and cried, and the three collapsed, still hugging each other.

"Just so you know," Sasuke coughed, "I'm not gay."

The three giggled weakly.

"I think you guys should know something," Naruto said.

"What?" Gaara and Sasuke asked.

"I wet myself."

The three jumped away from each other, and in the darkness, Naruto was glad no one could see his wet spot.

Gaara knelt to the ground, breathing hard. He had always believed that not a thing in the world could stop his transformation. Yet, two kids he'd met just the other day had ceased his progression into monsterhood and saved him from oblivion.

They're meager friends, Gaara thought. One's a dumb blond with no talent, the other's a self-righteous jerk that has voices in his head. They weren't much.

But Gaara was just fine with that.

-

Hah! The tenth chapter! In what, two days? I write a lot…jeez…

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Naruto and the Mystery Boy. I'm starting to think that that wasn't the best name for this story. Still, I guess I'll have to make due. I don't want to have to change it.

I wonder how many more chapters there'll be? Probably only a few, since there aren't many days left until Gaara's departure.

See ya!