Thank you for reading. I've been really busy and not had as much time to write as I would like but things should be calming down now. I might even pick up some of my other stories that I've neglected. Still boyxboy Gaara uke Naruto seme. Slow build, blood, gore, violence, adult themes and character death in future chapters. Please R&R.

Chapter 4. Is it real?

Sakura and Naruto were greeted by a chorus of "There here" and "Yay they made it." Naruto found a large smile pulling at his lips. Striding confidently up to the three tables that had been pulled together to seat their large group he smiled at his friends.

"Hey guys, it's been a while." The blond laughed as a shaggy brown haired boy jumped up and wrapped his arms around him in a half hug.

"You made it. I thought for sure you were going to skip out on us again."

"Sorry Kiba things have been a little rough at home lately."

Kiba and several of the others watching the exchange nodded their understanding.

"Where is prince Uchiha tonight? To important to come and drink with the commoners?" Kiba snarky asked.

Naruto chuckled and scratched at the back of his head. "Actually we split up...again."

The table went deadly quiet no one knowing quite what to say. Suddenly Naruto didn't feel as confident as he did earlier. A pale boy at the other end of the table leant forward.

"Why do you even bother getting back together in the first place?"

Naruto glared at Sai. They were friends now but that wasn't always the case and even now it was a rocky friendship at best. Sasuke had cheated on Naruto with Sai...kind of. The truth of the matter was Naruto had finished with the raven at the time, but they had only been finished for six hours. Sasuke had left the apartment in a strop after their fight while Naruto packed his things preparing to move out. The Uchiha ended up at a little run down bar where he met Sai serving behind the bar. After chatting for a while Sasuke had invited Sai back for a drink not expecting Naruto to change his mind and come home. All hell broke loose when Naruto found the two raven's in his bed. Sasuke had sworn he thought they were over and that he and Sai had only made out a little. Sai hadn't seemed the least bit bothered by the experience at all and had just stood up calmly collected his things and left the two males to sort it out between them.

Sai looked around at the people giving him sour looks. "I'm only stating that their relationship is volatile at best, wouldn't it be healthier for both of them to just stop getting back together."

Naruto chuckled. "So you can have another go at him?"

Sai frowned at the blond as he seated himself across the table. "That wasn't what I meant. I thought we were over that misunderstanding?"

Naruto laughed again. "Misunderstanding? You tried to bed my boyfriend."

"You weren't even together at the time. And we only made out." Sai grumbled.

A pretty woman with pale skin and long dark hair held her hands up at the two men. "J-just stop y-you two. It was a long t-time ago now." She stuttered quietly.

"Yeah drop it and let's get pissed." Kiba cheered from Naruto's side.

The blond and the raven stared at each other for a moment before Naruto grinned. He wasn't angry at Sai anymore, never really was if he was being honest. Naruto could never hold a grudge no matter what the person in question had done to him. And really Sai hadn't done anything wrong had he? He just met a handsome stranger at a bar, went home with him and then some hysterical blond burst into the bedroom claiming that he was the handsome stranger's boyfriend.

Sai shook his head and turned to talk to Ino not understanding Naruto's mood swings.

It took a couple of minutes to get everyone settled with a drink in front of them. Everyone was laughing and joking when Naruto felt a weight on his finger. Glancing down at the twisted metal the blond was reminded of what he had wanted to ask Hinata. Slipping out of his seat he moved to the chair Lee had just got up from.

"Hey Hinata."

The dark haired girl with eyes such a pale blue they looked almost white smiled up at him.

"Hey Naruto, are you okay?" She gave him a small smile.

The blond knew she was asking about him and Sasuke. He waved her off it was much easier to keep going if he kept the raven out of his thoughts as much as he could.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll be fine we always are." The blonde's chest tightened at the words he knew they were a lie but he pulled the ring off his finger and placed it on the table between them. "What do you think?"

Hinata delicately picked the ring up and held to the light as she studied it with her pale eyes. Everything Hinata did was delicate, the way she spoke, the way she moved. Naruto had never heard her raise her voice once in the years he had known her, but she was fericly protective and loyal to her friends and that was the one thing Naruto looked for in his friends. Everyone in their little group (yes even Sai) had proven themselves one way or another and the blond was determined to keep them all together.

"It's beautiful. Do you know if the stones are real?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shook his head and gave her a cheeky smile that had her blushing a brilliant shade of red. "I was hoping you might be able to tell me."

A blush settled over her cheeks. "It's not really my area of expertise...but I could try."

Naruto nodded as he watched her twist the ring again. "The markings on the inside of the ring are defiantly hieroglyphs. But this doesn't look like the type of jewellery the ancient Egyptians made. It's probably just a replica. You see ancient Egyptians didn't make a lot of rings and they very rarely used silver. They wouldn't have been able to make something so small and intricate and if they did it would have been for royalty. I could do a quick test to see if it's silver, but it's not 100%."

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Yeah please. I mean I was fairly sure it wasn't ya know a historical piece, but it would be nice if it was worth something."

Hinata gave him a small smile before looking back at the ring. Naruto quickly stood and jogged over to the bar when he got there a tall man with gravity deifying grey hair walked up to him Naruto's smile stretched so wide he thought his face might split in two.

The older male smiled at the blond. Even with the mask that covered the bottom half of his face and a bandana that covered is right eye the blond knew he was smiling.

"Well, well look what the cat dragged in." He said in a lazy voice as he leant against the bar.

"Hey Kakashi long time no see."

The grey haired man gave a little nod. "I was starting to think you didn't like my little place anymore."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Nah. Nothing like that. Work and home life, can I get one of my usual?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he pulled a brown tinted bottle from the fridge and placed it on the counter top. "Because I like you I won't charge you."

"Really?" The blond screeched.

Kakashi laughed as he turned to serve another customer. "Yeah sure, call it an incentive to come by more often."

Naruto shook his head but laughed along with the other man giving him a wave before heading back to the table. Sakura was talking to Lee Naruto noted with a smile. Settling back in his chair Naruto's azure eyes watched a frown appear on Hinata's face.

"Something wrong?"

"I've seen these markings before. There slightly different but I think this ring maybe part of a set.""

"Huh?" Naruto waited as Hinata bit her lip in thought.

"Do you remember Dr Orochimaru?" Hinata asked.

The scowl on Naruto's face clearly said he did. The blond had only met the man once and didn't really want to meet him again. Naruto and Sasuke had attended a ball at the museum and the slimy man had taken an interest in Sasuke that had pissed Naruto off to no end. Even if the raven had insisted that he was just being friendly. Yeah Naruto knew that kind of friendly it had resulted in a rather spectacular argument in the middle of the room and they were both asked to leave. Sasuke hadn't spoken to Naruto for three days claiming he'd never been so embarrassed in his life.

"Naruto he has a ring similar to this one. It's made of gold and has a large diamond in the middle surrounded by rubies. It's not as detailed as this one but the inscription in Egyptian is nearly the same as this one."

Naruto perked up. "Really? So what does it mean?"

"I-its hard to read it's all faded but I think it says "This cage holds the living sand." There's a little more after it but I can't read it."

The blond was lost in thought. What was that supposed to mean? He was brought out of his daydream when Hinata started rubbing vigorously at one of the black/green stones. The dark haired girl rubbed and rubbed at it. Others of their group were now watching her; she looked as if she were trying to rub the colour from the stone.

"Hinata what are you doing?" Sakura asked from further down the table where she sat next to Lee.

"J-just trying something." She answered without ceasing in her motion.

A few looks were shared around the table but everyone remained quiet. Just as suddenly as she'd started the action she stopped then brought the gem to her nose and sniffed it. A few people giggled.

"Hinata are you okay?" Neji asked his cousin clearly concerned now she was sniffing a ring.

The dark hair girl straightened up with a smile. "Amber."

"Amber?" Neji repeated clearly as lost as everyone else.

The girl nodded. "Yes if you rub real amber until it gets hot then smell it, it smells like pine. Here." She said as she held the ring to Naruto.

The blond took the ring and sniffed the stone in question. "It does smell like pine." His face broke into a huge smile. "Wow, that's so cool I didn't know that,"

"Name something you do know." Kiba barked and the table broke out into a fit of laughter that only got worse when Naruto shouted an indigent.

"Hey."

It took a couple of minutes for everyone to settle down and then Lee, Tenten and Sai were nominated to fetch drinks. Just as Naruto predicted every time Naruto offered money he was shot down with an "I'll get this one." Which he really didn't mind.

Hinata looked back at Naruto shyly. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more but if you want I could arrange for you to meet with Dr Orochimaru and he might be able tell you more."

The blond really didn't like the idea of going anywhere near the man, but the urge to know more about the ring was overwhelming. "Please Hinata, if it's not too much trouble."

Naruto slipped the ring back on his finger and the night continued on. Naruto laughed and joked with the others only occasionally having to fight back that empty feeling that kept rising in his chest or the slight squeezing sensation on his little finger. Kiba and Naruto started a game of dares that only he, Kiba and Lee actually played while the others laughed at their stupidity. At some point Kakashi joined the group and the blond found himself pleasantly surprised that every time he finished a drink another one appeared in front of him.

It was well after 1am when they were all finally kicked out of The Copy Cat bar and sent home. Naruto swayed slightly as he sang his left arm wrapped around Sakura's shoulders as she giggled and rolled her eyes. The streets were quiet and at some point between entering the bar and leaving it had rained. The blond jumped in a few puddles along the way laughing when Sakura squeaked and tried to punch him.

"How do you feel now?" The pink haired woman asked.

The question took a while to register in his foggy mind. Naruto was far from drunk but he was extremely tipsy. "It's fine if I don't think about it. When I do I feel empty ya know? Everything reminds me of the bastard, but at the same time there are not that many good memories. Did we really fight that much?"

Sakura kept walking at a slow pace there was a good chance Naruto might not like the answer she was going to give him but she had always told him the truth. "It wasn't a night out without you two fighting over something. The fact that I've got half your wardrobe at mine should be an answer as well."

The blond ducked his head down and nodded sadly. It was true that a lot of the things Naruto owned stayed at Sakura's because it was easier then taking them back and forth.

"Damn. We really are no good together are we?" the realisation was like cold water being dumped on his head.

"I wouldn't say that. You look good together and when you're not fighting you have a great time together." The pink haired woman smiled sadly trying to reassure her friend. "The last relationship I was in we fought all the time too. Maybe some couples are just like that."

Naruto idly fiddled with the ring on his finger it felt heavier somehow. Naruto smiled a toothy grin. "I'm starving have you got ramen?"

Sakura smile despite herself. "No I haven't." The blond slumped. "But I have got the ingredients to make a simple ramen dish."

The blond laughed. "I'm drunk you think it's a good idea to let me cook?"

"I'll cook you help."

"Deal." The blond agreed with a salute.

PAGE BREAK...

The broth was cooking nicely and Sakura was working on the noodles while Naruto attempted to cut up some vegetables. The fresh air hadn't helped clear his head if anything he felt more towards merry then tipsy now and it was making his job hazardous.

"Sakura." The blond man whined like a child. "I can't do this I've nearly cut my finger off twice."

The woman growled. "Fine I'll do it just keep out off my way."

Naruto pouted and chucked the knife he was using in the bowl full of soapy water that sat in the sink along with a couple of other utensils he saw laying on the worktop.

"So what do you want me to do?" The blond asked with a sheepish smile.

"Just get out of my kitchen...where's my spoon gone? It was right here?" Sakura grated out pointing to a spot on the side.

Naruto's sheepish smile got wider. "I put it in the sink." At the glare Sakura sent him he added. "I'll get it I thought you were finished with it."

The blond stuck his tongue out at the pink haired woman when she turned back to what she had been doing and with a tired sigh Naruto pulled his sleeve up and plunged his hand into the warm soapy water and felt around the bottom of the bowl.

"Shit" The blond yelped as he wrenched his hand back.

Sakura rushed to his side."What? What happened?"

Naruto looked down at his hand. "I grabbed that bastard knife by the blade."

"You idiot." Sakura shrieked as she took Naruto's bleeding hand into her own and pressed a cloth to his middle and ring fingers.

"I didn't do it on purpose." The blond defended.

"You don't put knifes into the water. You leave them on the side until you wash them so that things like this don't happen." She scolded.

"I know that now."

Sakura pulled the cloth away and examined the blonde's hand, Blood was running freely from the cut, trailing down his tan fingers then running along the edge of his palm.

"I'm getting blood all over my ring." The blond pouted.

"It'll wash off; I'll get the first aid box. It's not deep you'll be fine." Sakura said as she strode to the door of the kitchen to retrieve the first aid kit from the bathroom.

Naruto groaned as he turned on the tap and washed the blood off his hand. A light breeze flowed through the room sending a shiver down the blonde's back.

"This is the worst week of my life I swear." He complained to himself.

"Naruto I've got..." Sakura's sentence cut off with a gasp and the sound of a box dropping to the floor.

Naruto spun around startled by Sakura's reaction but stopped dead when he found himself staring down into a pair of unblinking pale turquoise eyes.