Normal

Thought

"Speech"

Kyuubi

Warning: I don't own Naruto. Rated "M" for language and adult situations.

Chapter 54: While the Cat's Away

Naruto opened the door to his apartment. He was not in the greatest of moods. The day had been spent with Sasuke putting up banners and other various Chunin Exam flyers all over the village. Manual labor is what Tsunade-ba-chan had called it. Myra had served her week of "detention" so she wasn't required to help with the heavy lifting. Sasuke and Naruto had helped a few others make sure the grand stadium was ready for the Chunin Exams the next day.

He was tired and sore, but he wanted to actually spend time with the girl next door. Naruto hit the shower and pondered what he and Myra would be doing this evening. A sly grin crossed his face and he started to move faster in the shower.

Naruto got out of the shower. He dressed in his favorite pair of green boxers and a white t-shirt. He was in the kitchen making him self some ramen when he heard his door open.

"Naruto?" Sasuke had taken to just barging into his apartment as of late.

Naruto grumbled something about learning to lock the door. "What the hell do you want teme?"

"Where's Sakura?" Sasuke demanded rather harshly.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I've been with you all damn day Sasuke, how the hell would I know where Sakura-chan is?"

Sasuke's eye twitched. "Well she isn't at her apartment, and she wasn't at the hospital, so I thought she would be here."

"Why would she be here?" Naruto looked confused.

"Hn." Sasuke turned and looked contemplative.

"For the last time teme… NOTHING ever happened between me and Sakura. I may have wanted to happen, but she was hung up on you." Naruto grumbled and rolled his eyes. "Besides, I got Myra… So quit worrying so damn much." The blonde crossed his arms.

"Hn. I'm not worried about Sakura… It's everyone else…" Sasuke muttered and looked towards the wall between Myra's and Naruto's apartment. He walked over to it and placed a hand on the wall. "Myra isn't home. I should be able to hear her."

"So she isn't home?" Naruto looked a bit crestfallen. "What's that supposed to mean besides that she isn't home?"

"Look dobe, no Sakura, no Myra…"

There was a breeze and Gaara was standing in Naruto's bedroom. "And no Persephone."

Naruto threw up his arms. "Don't you people ever knock anymore?"

"The door was open." Gaara said flatly and pointed. It was only a moment before Gaara and Sasuke locked gazes. Naruto raised worried eyebrows; he didn't need a fight breaking out in his apartment. Gaara smirked as did Sasuke.

"Uchiha, we never did get to finish that match." Gaara grinned.

"That's because I finished it for both of you." Naruto had a foxy grin on his face. Naruto jumped back a little when both Sasuke and Gaara turned to glare at the blonde. "Hey, it's all water under the bridge. We have other things to deal with right now." Naruto tried to remind them.

Gaara blinked and sighed. "I would have to agree. We all have something in common at this moment, missing companions."

"Should we assume they are together?" Sasuke put his hand on his chin.

"Beats me." Naruto shrugged.

"I came here thinking Persephone would want to spend time with Myra, now that most of her punishment is over. Persephone had been extremely down about not having… What did she call it? A clubbing buddy." Gaara blinked.

"Clubbing buddy?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Sasuke looked confused. "What's a clubbing buddy?"

"I suspect it is a barbaric method of hunting." Gaara nodded.

"Um… Gaara… Persephone is normal… Why would she want to go hunting with clubs?" Naruto raised a curious eyebrow.

Sasuke turned to Naruto. "What do you mean by normal?"

"Persephone has no shinobi abilities. She can not mold or focus chakra in any way shape or form. Persephone does, however, posses a unique talent for reading people, but otherwise, she is, for lack of a better term, normal." Gaara explained.

Saskue shook his head. "Hn. That explains a lot about her."

"Sasuke, you're just upset that she didn't go gaga over you when you met her." Naruto teased. Gaara stifled his chuckle.

"Actually, I'm thankful." Sasuke groused.

"I know what you mean." Gaara nodded.

Naruto turned off the hot water that was now beginning to whistle. "Anyone else want some?" Naruto jumped again when the other two said "NO" rather loudly. "I was just being nice… Damn… Moody ass screw balls, barging into MY house… Worried about a bunch of girls getting together…" Naruto's thoughts trailed off as it dawned on him. "THIS could be bad."

"Hn. Now he gets it." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Took him long enough." Gaara chuckled. The all sat at the table in the center of Naruto's kitchen looking slightly perplexed. Actually, they looked pathetic. The three had matching grumpy faces and even Naruto's ramen didn't seem appetizing to him. They sat there silently thinking to themselves about how the other looked just as pathetic.

"Hey teme… Can't you do that thing that Myra does? You know… Find anyone or what ever it is?" Naruto asked.

"No… I've tried that already. I just get a really bad headache." Sasuke harrumphed.

"Has anyone tried calling them?" Gaara looked at Naruto.

Naruto smacked his forehead. "I COMPLETELY forgot about trying to call Myra." Naruto rushed to his dresser. Myra's father had given him a cell phone, but Naruto hadn't seen a real need to use it. So he had plugged it in and left it on the dresser. "Wait a second… Gaara, don't you have a phone?"

"I do not have access to one besides the one that Persephone uses. I had never seen a use for a cell phone until this evening." The Kazekage shrugged.

Naruto grabbed the orange and black cell phone from his dresser, taking it back into the kitchen. The three gathered around the small electronic device. The blonde gently opened the clam shell contraption and looked at the screen. "It says I have a message." He looked at the other two.

"Well dobe, what does the message say?"

"I don't know… The phone was just handed to me. No one gave me any training on how to use the damn thing." The blonde grumbled. It took them a few minutes of fighting and pushing several buttons to get to the text message that Myra had left for Naruto. It was simple and short. "PB, don't worry. Out w/BF & Pinky. Want to join? Ask Sandy. Dress civies/nice, bring Fucktard & Sandy."

Naruto looked up from the cell phone. "Must be some sort of coded message." Naruto passed the phone to Sasuke.

"I'm afraid to ask what "PB" stands for." Sasuke smirked.

"Pretty Boy." Gaara chuckled.

Sasuke covered his mouth to hide his laughter.

"Shut up Sandy…" Naruto groused.

"At least it isn't Fucktard." Gaara smirked. Naruto started to laugh impishly.

Sasuke stopped laughing. "Hn." He sighed. "It says to "Ask Sandy", so spill it Sandy."

"I do not have a clue." Gaara crossed his arms.

"Yes you do…" Naruto perked up. "You said that Sephie said she wanted a clubbing buddy. What if clubbing has to do with a night club?"

"You could be on to something there Naruto. There was this little spot in the civilian quarter of Konoha that Persephone and I found getting lost walking around. Persephone had mentioned to me she would have to go back when Myra awakened. She did something with her cell phone and then we continued on our walking tour." Gaara smirked.

"Do you remember where it is?" Naruto was hopeful.

"I believe so." Gaara blinked.

"Ok, that's part of the message. What about the rest?" Saskue continued to stare at the screen of the phone as if it would give him the answer.

"Well… Pinky is Sakura… And I think BF stands for Sephie." Naruto put his hand on his chin and stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth in contemplation. "So I guess that means that Myra is out with Sephie and Sakura."

"We figured that part out dobe… That was the easy part" Saskue grumbled.

"I also believe Myra is telling us to join them if we want to." Gaara nodded.

"That could be fun." The blonde smiled.

"Dress civies? What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke handed Naruto the phone.

"It means that we wear something that doesn't look like we're ninja teme. Gaara said it was in the civilian quarter of Konoha. So if we go in there looking like ninja, it could start trouble."

"I would happen to agree with Naruto." Gaara crossed his arms.

"Cool… I have to put shoes on and I'm ready." Naruto announced happily.

"She also said NICE." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"This is nice…" Naruto sulked.

"Find something else to wear." Gaara grimaced. "I need to find something as well. I say we meet in front of the Hokage compound in twenty minutes?"

Sasuke and Naruto nodded.

0 – 0 – 0

Gaara waited outside the Hokage compound. He was leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed. Temari had started to giggle madly when Gaara came out of his room wearing the black slacks, tight fitting tan shirt, and black blazer. She smiled sweetly at him. "Loose the blazer and you'll look less conspicuous." So Gaara set the blazer aside and went to await his friend… and Sasuke.

He didn't wait long for Sasuke to arrive. The Uchiha had taken a simple approach to his clothing. He wore a blue button down shirt over a black mesh t-shirt and a pair of white jeans. Sasuke had left the blue shirt unbuttoned. He walked leisurely with his hands in his pockets and not a care in the world. Sasuke walked up to Gaara, nodded and leaned against the wall to wait for Naruto.

The Kazekage and Uchiha didn't say anything to each other. There wasn't anything to say. They didn't like each other and it wasn't a secret. Gaara still felt slightly disappointed he had never gotten to have a proper rematch with Sasuke. Sasuke never got to finish the first match. But those times had passed for the both of them and Naruto had been right. The blonde had finished the fight, changed Gaara's life for the better, and taught Sasuke something he still didn't understand.

There must have been something that clicked in their heads at the same time. Gaara looked over to Sasuke and the Uchiha just smirked.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted.

"As long as we understand each other, I shall bury the hatchet so to speak." Gaara smirked.

"What ever Sandy."

"Oi! Teme! Gaara!" Naruto was waving to his two friends. He was glad to see they hadn't mangled each other before he got there. The blonde ran up to the two. He too, had taken a simple approach to his attire. Naruto wore the deep red orange silk tuxedo shirt he had worn to the reception weeks earlier and black jeans. He had left the shirt un-tucked and buttoned all the buttons, except the top few. They all exchanged smirks, grins, and nods feeling satisfied with themselves. Gaara pushed off the wall and started to lead to way to the club in the civilian's quarter.