Sly Fox

Chapter Three: A Hunger for Answers

He simpered as Gaara's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

Naruto brushed back the red hair and allowed the now half-conscious body to lean into his.

Glancing at the semi-unconscious person in front of him, he inwardly smiled at the familiar face and caressed it lightly with his hand. He hadn't seen him in a while now. It was pure coincidence that he had seen him again. Usually, he'd find a those ones and follow them, see their life, go through their connections, find out who would be affected if they just disappeared from the world, that sort of thing, but no one needed to know how surprised he was when he saw that familiar head of red spikes. The delight that coursed through his veins gave him the energy to venture forward to see if it was actually him, the one who he had been hearing about.

"Now Gaara," Naruto breathed into his ear. "You're going to tell me about yourself."

Gaara moaned and mumbled something unintelligible. Naruto frowned. Usually, they would have started vomiting up their life stories by now, so why was this redhead any different? His eyebrows rose when Gaara began to shudder and his fists clenched and unclenched in a spastic matter. This was when he mentally slapped himself. Of course… how could he have forgotten that Gaara…?

Naruto swore under his breath, but relaxed and reached into his pocket to pull out the bottle. Squinting at the tiny print, he swore again when he saw how much was left. He didn't remember putting that much in… Oh well. It was only a minor annoyance.

The blonde re-pocketed the bottle and watched as Gaara's mouth twitched into a frown.

"I didn't mean to do it…"

Naruto blinked. The words were barely uttered, but he had heard them. He tilted his head as he sorted through his memories; what had he done… was it…?

Gaara shuddered and he began shaking. "No, please… I didn't… don't…please, I don't want to go there… I-" His soft mumbling was cut off with an almost content sigh and his shaking faded into unnatural stillness.

The blonde frowned. It wasn't enough. He needed more. But what Gaara had said managed to piece some of the shreds of information he had.

"Gaara…" he whispered into the redhead's ear. More.

It was almost unexpected when Gaara answered with a slight whine in his voice. "…What, Kankuro…?"

'Kankuro…?' Naruto recognized the name. Kankuro was Gaara's… brother. Yes, his brother. Older brother to be precise. How odd… The blonde contemplated on searching the apartment for any information on the brother in question, but unfortunately, the effects were taking a bit longer than planned. He didn't feel like leaving the redhead mumbling away valuable information while he went on a 'scavenger hunt'. Besides, on quick observation of the apartment while he was in the 'kitchen', allowed him enough knowledge to know that Gaara did not keep anything that looked as if he had any friends, acquaintances, not even a life. This vexed the blonde very much, but it was best for him to wait until the redhead woke up. Instead, Naruto brushed the red mop of hair off his forehead and traced the tattoo there. "What happened?"

Gaara shook his head. Odd. Usually they always answered, always submitted themselves to him. Naruto leaned down and checked his eyes; they were half-lidded now, and it appeared that it was not quite working. Gaara was supposed to be susceptible to the questions. Perhaps it was because of all those things…

Naruto lifted Gaara's chin up so their eyes were somewhat locked. Although Gaara was in a half-drugged state, he was still able to 'function', if one was to put it as such. "Tell me, Gaara. I would like very much to know."

The redhead flinched and squirmed. "Please…" He tried to pull away, but Naruto was pleased when he was too weak to do so. The drug was working now. "It hurts…"

The blonde realised his hand had latched itself around Gaara's thin wrist, and let it go. He frowned. He wasn't supposed to feel pain under its effects, and when had Gaara been so skinny? True, he was always a bit underfed, but still… "Tell me or it will hurt more."

"…I'm sorry…" Gaara muttered. Beneath the darkened, heavy lids, his eyes darted around, as if searching for an answer. Naruto was slightly annoyed that the red-haired man was being so unreasonable. It worked so well on all those others; oh how they spilled out their stories as if they were being disemboweled- a bit messy, but it was fast and it satisfied him. Very much.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Why are you sorry, Gaara?"

The redhead's face scrunched up in what appeared to be pain, his hand slowly reaching up to touch his own cheek. "That… hurt, Temari… I keep telling you… why… why won't you listen…?" Gaara's breathing sped up and he looked as if he was on the verge of tears as his hands moved to clench the bottom of his shirt. "Wh-why… why did you have to lie?"

Naruto watched in interest. It was as if Gaara was talking with someone. Temari? Or Kankuro? He remembered seeing Temari once, Gaara's older sister. The three siblings barely shared any resemblance, but if one looked close enough, they would notice that Temari and Gaara's eyes were near identical and Kankuro and Temari had the same 'closed off' expression. Some would argue that Kankuro looked like an older version of Gaara, just with a different hair colour and eyes, but Naruto knew that the only resemblance between the two brothers was their surname. The blonde also had a hunch that it was something about this semi-concious Sabuku that had caused the whole story to spread around high school like wild fire.

"Did you hear?"

Naruto looks up from his books in interest as the teme smirks and crosses his arms. "What is it now?"

Teme leans closer, as do all their friends. "You know that Sabuku kid? The one with red hair?"

"Ohhh him?" Teme's cousin asks, eyes wide. Then, her eyes narrow and she pokes teme's arm. "Not this again! It's just a rumor-" Her eyes narrow further. "Right?"

A familiar face breaks through the mini-crowd, modeling clay in hand. "Oh God, he's already told this to us at least five times!"

Naruto laughs. "Oh, go on. I haven't heard this sick, fucked up rumor yet."

They all laugh. Then teme shushes them and speaks in a low, mystifying voice. "That guy apparently got sent to some top-notch security asylum at six, and just got out this year."

The blonde's face shifts to a steady blank. But inside, his mind is whirring with the new information. He shoots a glance at the familiar face and it is returned with a cocked eyebrow. "Is he mentally unstable or something?"

Teme shakes his dark-head somewhat jealously. "No, he's actually a genius. He's only thirteen, and he's already in the grade below us." His eyes light up as he keeps speaking, the rest of their friends holding their breath as they eagerly wait for more of the scandalous rumor. "He went into the asylum coz' he murdered someone… well that's what Itachi said… anyway, Itachi said the guy murdered that person when he was six."

Everyone's reactions are different. Some swearing, some eyes widen, some gasping, but Naruto's and the familiar boy's are identical: blank as a clean slate. The lazy boy decides to speak up now. "That means us guys were around nine, and the girls were…"

"Seven or eight." One of the girls finish, a slight sense of wonder crossing over all of their pretty faces.

"He's younger than all of us, he's smart, and he's killed someone…" Teme's cousin whistles. "Dang…"

Naruto decides to speak up now. "Who started the rumor?"

Teme shrugs. "Dunno. Itachi heard it from someone who said they heard it when they went to the Staff Room and heard some of the teachers discussing it."

"This person could have heard wrong, you know." The lazy boy mutters, resting his head on the desk while moodily flicking his pencil across the table and back. "For all they know, they could be talking about a totally different person."

Teme shakes his head, a triumphant smirk on his face. "Nope, they said his name and apparently it's on his medical records as well. And I know that they're telling the truth because I've seen them myself."

"You got into his medical records?" Teme's cousin asks incredulously. "Look's like we have a stalker here."

Teme scoffs. "I am not a stalker! I just happened to see them." He flips his hair in a way that makes the girls sigh and roll their eyes. "Whatever. If you still think I'm a stalker, then let me tell you something:" He gave his classic smirk, grabs a pencil and throws it over his shoulder. "I have now thrown my 'stalker' life away."

The blonde girl cocks a neatly plucked eyebrow. "Your stalker life is a pencil? Isn't that sort of lame?"

"You tell him." Teme's cousin giggles. She turns to the others and whispers conspicuously. "He's a stalker. Only stalkers throw pencils over their shoulders like that."

Everyone laughs as the bell rings, signaling the end of class. They all pack their books and dwell on the new rumor.

The teacher ushers them out quickly, a look of hunger painted obviously across his face. Naruto and teme give each other a nod before walking out of the classroom. Little does teme know that this rumor has piqued his interest. Was Sabuku really sent to an asylum for murdering someone at the age of six? Maybe… maybe not.

Naruto smirked, books tucked neatly under his arm. He picked up the unceremoniously discarded pencil from the floor.

Perhaps now it was his turn to take up the role of the stalker.

"Temari…" Gaara's voice brought Uzumaki back to reality. "You have to listen…I…he…he made me do it…I didn't want to…"

So the rumor wasn't a rumor after all. The redhead lying on his lap had actually killed someone. Now it was to find who it was. It would be a good piece of information to hold onto for the future. "I'm disappointed, Gaara." Naruto sighed nonchalantly, lifting his hand to sweep back some stray strands of blonde hair. "Aren't you sick and tired of the lies?"

When the redhead refused to answer, Naruto sighed again and mentally calculated how long it had been before he had spiked the tea. And taking account of what Gaara used to do in the past, the person lying in his lap would regain conscious in about a few minutes. Naruto had yet to hear everything. But he was used to disappointments, though, so this wasn't too big a setback to his objective.

It was a shame really, how they'd all fallen apart since 'that' happened, but it was inevitable. They were all just too ignorant to see it; denying all knowledge of ever noticing him creep away; trying their best not to shake some sense into him as he slowly withdrew from the world. He knew for a fact that Teme himself had tried to use his wealth as a way to help- which was strange, considering Teme was a bit of a Scrooge when it came to his wealth-, but even then, he rejected it all.

But when he wasn't moody and withdrawn, he was… different. Naruto and the others had always thought that it was his involvement that allowed them to stay together even after university. After he had had his hand in what had happened that day after school, Naruto had never felt more grateful, but now the feelings were fading. Had they talked after it? A few words, nothing too big. The blonde remembered the next day, how his group had been wary and confused, as he had introduced them to him. But after a few days, they opened up and he had too…and no one spoke of the rumor again. Maybe it was because they couldn't bear to hurt him after they had realised how fragile he was. And strangely enough, or not strangely enough, 'that' group finally left them alone; often shooting glances and glares after them as they walked past each other down the hallways, yet they made no effort to change after what had happened. Naruto smirked at the memory: it had been fun, listening to their secrets, that weren't really secrets to begin with.

Naruto now scoffed; correction, it hadn't been fun. So boring, nothing interesting. They were pathetic, not even worth his time. In his rage, his hand found soft flesh and squeezed it. Only when Gaara began to make a choking noise did the blonde realize what he was crushing. "Ah… sorry there, Gaara." He breathed into his ear, letting go of the redhead's neck. Naruto caressed the now slightly bruised skin and blew some strands of blonde hair from his eyes. How many had he killed by choking them in the end? Hmm. Only two. Out of what? He counted the victims on his fingers, one… two… three… four…five…six…seven…

Eight?

The blonde shook his head. He couldn't remember, their faces were blurred as he searched through his memories; the only thing he could remember about them were their soft murmuring and the sound of their sobs as the inevitable came to them. He mentally laughed when he saw how hopefully they had lit up, when he had put his cleaver away and acted as if the thought of killing them had suddenly became abolished. But it was when he could finally lay the cool blade against their skin, was he truly in pure bliss. Because they knew what was going to happen, but they had forgotten that he was the one from that time, instead, reckoning him to a nice, normal person.

Naruto dipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew the cheap, disposable, prepaid phone- one that couldn't be tracked- he had acquired, just to 'blend' with the rest of them. Sighing, he pressed a button and took note of the time. Almost lunch.

Becoming conscious of this thought, the blonde's stomach growled and it was then when he realised how long it had been since he'd eaten. With no money, he basically could not afford to simply go and eat; he needed to 'leech' off someone. At times like this, he cursed how hard it was to stay hidden from the nosy police until his objectives were complete. If only they'd give up, or maybe he could just kill them, but when he had found the identities of the ones working on his case, he begrudgingly backed away and let them work. He knew that they wouldn't turn him in yet, knowing them, they'd slap him across the face for what he had done. He smirked at the time Teme's dear cousin had slapped him when she caught him cheating off her test.

And so, to put it in short words, Naruto was hungry. For two things to be exact: One, to get all the information he could out of Gaara before he woke up, and two, to get food to eat, because he knew he couldn't live on car mints for too long.

The problem was, Naruto no longer knew what to ask the redhead. Even after his extensive searching for more information, he could find absolutely nothing. It was if someone had gone to great lengths to erase the existence of the redhead. Naruto had an idea who it could be, but it was probably not wise to lash out just now, when it was not confirmed yet.

Why did things have to be so complicated?

Naruto sighed and lightly nudged Gaara with his hand. "Hey, Gaara?" It should be wearing off about now.

The redhead creaked an eye half-open and gave a soft glare. "Sasori, I'm an insomniac, and I'd really appreciate it that when I'm finally sleeping that you don't wake me up?"

Naruto chuckled. "But of course." He watched in amusement as Gaara processed the voice and realised that the velvet voice beared no similarities to his cousin's light tone. The blonde looked down and gave a wink, which caused the redhead to stare in shock before tumbling off his lap in fear. Naruto leaned down and brushed aside some strands of hair from Gaara's eyes, before cupping his cheek. "Would you prefer that I don't wake you up next time?"

Gaara's eyes seemed to glare back as Naruto smiled, and shook his head in an attempt to dislodge his hand. He withdrew, noting how uncomfortable the redhead must have been feeling, considering he had the coffee table jabbing into his back, with his legs scrunched up against his chest like that. He almost looked like he used to back then, when he was still the 'asylum-escapee'. Naruto remembered how those resentful eyes followed the movements of the classmates as they left for the next class, always accompanied by friends. It wasn't his fault really; they later found that he was an approachable person who just gave off bad first impressions.

Gaara was now ignoring him. It was quite obvious, and very cute at the same time. But at the same time, Naruto did not like being ignored. He loved being the centre of attention, but it couldn't be helped. Oh well. Still, Naruto enjoyed how close he could get to them, before they realised it. The police were all over his case, even the media couldn't get enough of him, and he loved that. He could say he lived off the media interviews with the families of the ones he had gone after. The grief of those they had lost was… like a drug. Naruto had to admit it was an amazing feeling watching the sobbing parents and siblings as their beloved one happened to be sitting right next to him, or in some cases, already dead, but still- an amazing feeling.

Sometimes when he walked around the city -pretending to be like the rest of the scared lambs- he would often hear snatches of conversations, and all were about him. It seemed his name was taboo, but that didn't stop the people from talking about him. Naruto even recalled joining in on one of the gossip sessions with a couple of people waiting for a bus. They didn't even look twice at him though; obviously the absence of the scars on his face and given them a sort of illusion that the stranger that was talking with them was not Naruto Uzumaki at all, just a blonde guy that happened to be waiting for a bus.

Naruto pulled away from Gaara and threw his head back as his stomach growled. "I'm famished." He looked down at Gaara who had managed to inch his way around the coffee table to the other side. As if a mere coffee table could stop him. "Aren't you?"

"…A little." Gaara admitted quietly from behind the table.

The blonde sniffed, pushing himself off the couch and stretching. "Shall we order something to eat?" He already knew the answer to this question, but it was better if he had someone to confirm it.

Naruto watched the redhead sigh. "I don't know any numbers, besides, I don't even have a phone here."

"Is that so?" He walked around the coffee table and watched in amusement as he withdrew his cleaver to pick the dirt from under his fingernails. Gaara's eyes followed the blade as they slid under his nails. Naruto was suppressing his urge to take a swipe at the redhead and splash some lovely colour into the bland apartment, but that would be incredibly rude, after all, he was a guest, and guests were not supposed to do that. Instead he opted to 'accidentally' drop the blade and observed how Gaara quickly tried to move away to avoid the blade. It landed where his foot would have been, if he hadn't decided to move it.

The poor redhead was what Naruto would call a shock victim, who had just narrowly escaped a foot decapitation. He crawled away from Naruto, never taking his eyes off his blue ones, panting too hard to get up. The redhead looked as if he was ready to knock him down and run away, but he was obviously too out of breath to do so.

Naruto chuckled. "There are some people in the world that say they like the thrill of the chase," He stood on Gaara's ankle and pinned it there. Leaning down, his grinned as Gaara's eyes widened. "And I'm one of them."

The blonde watched as Gaara's resistance began to crack under his gaze. But it was extremely impressive that the redhead had managed to hold out for this long; the others had probably started screaming as soon as they came out of their daze. "Unfortunately," Naruto continued, as naturally as continuing a normal conversation. "I'm not in the mood for a chase, in fact, I'd much rather go eat." He drew closer and smirked when he heard the sharp intake of breath from the redhead.

"But I promise I'll play with you later."

The assurance didn't seem very assuring for Gaara. In fact, he looked horrified, which confused Naruto very much. Wasn't everything all 'fun and games' now? Naruto became more confused, but quickly brushed it aside, after all, when he made a promise, he always carried it through to the end. The blonde wondered what type of game the redhead would like to play. But now, he wanted to eat. He got off Gaara's ankle and gripped his arm, pulling him up into a standing position.

"I haven't had breakfast, and neither have you, so shall we?" Naruto had already moved to the door and extended his hand to Gaara, who was already backing away from him. The blonde blew out some air. "Come now, Gaara. I said we'd play games later."

The pale redhead shot him a dubious glare from across the room. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Naruto felt his grin widen. So he wanted a fight? 'Very well, Gaara.' Naruto thought as he made his way silently to Gaara, who was frozen by the sight of the blonde's disturbing smile. When Naruto was standing right in front of him, he kneeled down slightly to match the shorter man's height and gave him a light peck on the nose. "But I'm sooo hungry, Gaara." Naruto inwardly chuckled at how wide his eyes had become. "Whatever shall I eat?"

Gaara did not reply, instead opting to back himself into the wall. He looked absolutely terrified; his whole body was shaking and his stubborn demeanour was slowly disintegrating as Naruto leaned in and nibbled lightly on his ear lobe. The blonde decided to tease him a bit more by running his tongue down his neck, stopping just before it touched the collar of the shirt.

"Won't you tell me, Gaara?" Naruto asked sadly, placing both of his hands on the wall, trapping the redhead. His face may have looked despondent, but his bright eyes said otherwise. "Won't you offer something for me to eat?"

"D-don't kill me…"

The blonde sighed and pushed away, turning his back to the trembling person. "You know very well I can't eat that." His tone suggested slight disgust, but his words were amused and light.

Gaara tried again. The blonde hoped that this time it would be something actually edible, not another plea. He'd grown tired of them a long time ago. "Uh…there's a c-coffee shop…"

Naruto turned around so suddenly; it caused Gaara to fling himself back against the wall and slowly slide down it. The killer looked down and watched in amusement. "A brilliant suggestion." He held out a hand. "Shall we?"

He could already see the gears turning in the pale man's head; he would have no option but to accept outstretched hand, after all, it was polite to take it, and from what Naruto knew, Gaara was always the one to remember his manners. Bless him, he even said 'please' and 'thank you' and 'excuse me' and all that polite garbage to random strangers that certainly did not deserve it. Sure, Naruto's own manners were pretty good, be he could still learn. He glanced down at the redhead. His hand was starting to get tired, so he shot him a look that clearly read: 'I'd take the hand if I were you'.

And he was right; Gaara hesitantly took the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. Naruto guided the pale man out the door and down the hallway, which was a bit unnecessary, because he lived here and all, but it seemed that Gaara needed all the help he could get just to stay upright on both feet. The poor man looked as if he was going to have a mental breakdown. "You're going to have to lead the way." Naruto whispered into Gaara's ear, and was answered with a badly disguised curse word. The blonde made it his point to give a loud 'tut tut' upon hearing the obscenity, and smirked when the redhead flinched but kept walking.

Naruto wondered why Gaara was so scared. It wasn't like he had pulled a knife on him, tore open his head and poked around at the contents.

Oh wait.

Naruto laughed out loud and followed Gaara down the stairs, who had turned around at the burst of amusement.

Naruto caught his gaze and chuckled. "Nothing you should worry about, Gaara." 'Yet'. He gave the redhead a playful wink, before descending into the oblivious community once more.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS.

Sorry folks. Don't read past this chapter, because it won't make any sense. Anyways, how'd you like that? Naruto's POV and everything. I had to keep everything shady and implied, because YOU don't know what's going on but HE does. So you just have to piece it together yourself. Sorry about that.

As you can see, Naruto is a bit loopy and stuff here. But he's supposed to be. So no arguing.

Anyways, if you didn't notice, I put up a new humor fic to counter this dark and depressing one, just in case any one feels like bursting into tears. (Not that you would).

Make sure to PM me your comments!

DON'T READ ANY MORE OF THIS NOW UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.