You're beautiful

3 Pt. 1

"There that should be it." Unruly blonde hair was barely seen over the mountains and mountains of boxes. Naruto ran his hand through his blond hair with a long sigh. The weight of the past few days was hitting him in waves. He was so tired. Hinata had broken up with him, he had given a very expensive ring to a beautiful stranger and he had cleaned his apartment! The last one shocked him more than anything and that probably said a lot about his character.

"Are you sure?" The blonde looked at his normally quiet friend.

"Yeah, thanks for your help." Naruto offered a kind smile. "So what are you going to do after this?"

"I have to go back to work." The man had a raspy voice…he'll need to talk a little more to fix that. The blond knew his friend wasn't going to offer more information unless he asked and Naruto didn't want to be rude. "I have a project request."

Naruto looks startled that his friend was talking on his own. The pale eyed man always spoke very few words, but now it was like he wanted to make small talk. That was a surprise coming from his childhood friend.

"Go on." His friend looked at him with his haunting eyes and messy hair.

"One of my long time clients is requesting me to make a high quality glass sculpture." He looked down at his gloved hands. "They wanted me to make it realistic."

"Like a 3D sort of thing?" Naruto received a nod from his friend. "Wow, you're going to become famous…like your cousin, Gaara."

The said red hair looked at him through his own wild hair in a somewhat unpleased manner. The blonde forgot how the two did not like to be compared in any way, shape or form. Gaara was slightly younger than his look-a-like cousin, but they were so similar that you couldn't help but to compare then. Both like to manipulate the earth's resource (Gaara with sand and Sasori with wood and jewels); both had flaming red hair, short patients, quiet nature, and a good eye. In fact if Naruto hadn't known Gaara, he wouldn't have known about Sasori, who hand made the customized ring, which he gave to a total stranger.

"Yes, it will be a three-dimensional sculpture. They want it made from scratch." Gaara ran his hand through his thick hair making some tan grain fall onto his black clothes. "I have all my tools. I just need to know what to make."

"You don't know?" The red head was never this open about his job, it must be big.

"No…it'll come to me sooner or later." He said in a quiet voice.

Gaara's haunting ocean green eyes looked at the blond. Naruto had recently broken up with his girlfriend, but the red head didn't see any sign of the aftermath. It was strange that the blond seemed unaffected by his discontinued relationship. If the glass maker had to judge, he would say that Naruto looked almost…happy. The blond was with the light-eyed girl for a while. Gaara knew something in the equation was missing.

"You don't seem too upset." Naruto found himself startled by the insomniac worker's bland statement. The red head may be somewhat of a social awkward, but he knew the how most people should act after a major break up.

"Well you see I've met this person not long ago…"

"Hn."

"And well…" The sentence was left hanging in the air,

"Where's the ring? Are you going to take it back?" Naruto knew his friend was just curious, so it wouldn't hurt him if he told him.

"No…you see the ring is not in my possession anymore. I gave it to someone." Blue eyes avoided the sharp green ones that were across the room.

"Don't tell me, Naruto Uzumaki, felt in love with someone only a couple hours after his first major break up. It makes me wonder if you really loved the Hyuuga." Naruto knew it was bad, but hearing it from the quiet more logical voice of Gaara made the whole situation sound worse than it even was.

"Do you really have to say it like that, Gaara?"

"Yes." So bland and lifeless was his voice. Ugh!

Naruto looked around the room and got up. He still had to get the boxes out of his place. "So, how is Hinata?" It has only been a day, but he was still protective over her.

The red head looked at the blond. He never understood relationships; they just seem too confusing. "I'm not one to gossip, you know this."

Gaara saw a fox like grin on his friend's face as he turned around to face him. "And that's exactly why people tend to talk around you. Even if you don't participate, you can't help but to hear something."

The scowl on his face told Naruto that he was right, but the scowl along with the insomniac bruises around his eyes made the red head look more dangerous than when he was in the beginning of the conversation.

"She's not as upset…though I'm not sure why she would be if she was the one who ended it." Gaara's was back to being indifferent…good.

"Did you see her with someone else?" Naruto pressed picking up one of the boxes. He knew he shouldn't, but Hinata was a fragile girl and he just wanted to know if she was okay.

"She not as fragile as you think her to be." Black gloved hands followed in helping the blond. Gaara knew what Naruto was thinking. Sometimes the blonde was so predictable that it was actually amusing.

"How is that?" Naruto lift his side and proceeded to walked backwards while Gaara held his end and walked forward.

"She's with the 'mutt'" Naruto almost lost his footing hearing the words that came out the glass maker's mouth.

"That mutt! She dumped me for Kiba, that lazy dog." The college student's outburst was expected, but Gaara didn't think that the blond would actually let go of the heavy box to continue to rant about the 'poor excuse of a man'.

Gaara wasn't one to cry or complain about things, but he would be lying if he said his hand didn't hurt. The red head glass maker silently cursed under his breath and examined the damage. His hand had been caught under the box as it fell to the floor. Gaara took off the leather glove that covered his hand. It was red… his wrist and hand were red and pulsing. It was clear that his body didn't enjoy pain. The one thing that had to get hurt had to be his hand and wrist. The world was wonderful wasn't? Right where his pale skin turned red was a faint cut; it wasn't deep but it was bleeding evenly. He needed his hands for work.

Damn Naruto and his over active emotions.

"Why would she want to be with that dog?" The long drawn out whine brought Gaara back to reality. It appeared that the blonde was still talking all while the red head assessed his damage.

"Maybe, he might actually pay attention." Gaara got off the floor walking to the bathroom.

"Hey, I pay attention!" Naruto looked around for flaming red hair, but he wasn't in the room. "Gaara, where'd you go?"

"Bathroom. Where are your bandages?" The voice was slightly annoyed and the blonde detected some malice as well.

"Uh, top drawer by the medicine cabinet." Naruto said as he walked into the small room. "What happened?

As soon as the blond entered with his dumbly asked question, Gaara let out something that Naruto suspected was between a growl and roar. The red head was clearly displeased and Naruto was just making it worse.

"You. Dropped. The. Box." Every word was strained through the glass maker's teeth. His once very pale hand was just as red as his hair and there was a small stream of blood from the cut being washed away from the water he had his hand under. His white sink looked pink at the moment.

He had dropped box? Oh, he had dropped the box. Naruto inwardly cringed. Gaara did not take injure lightly. The blond remembered in sixth grade when the red head had received an accidental kick from a former classmate…all hell broke loose. The kid was taken to the hospital with bruises, cuts, and some fractured bones while Gaara had some small cuts on his upper forehead. As years went on he had it outline and filled into a tattoo of his favorite word, the kanji for love. It was a horrible fight with a weird outcome. The other boy understood the red head's social situation and apologized for the kick.

Naruto was now wondering why the red head was holding back. It was clear as his pale hands wrapped his wrist with the white bandage that he was mad.

"Sor–"

"Save your breath." Sharp jade eyes looked at the blond before he could say the word. "Just watch what you're doing next time." Gaara rinsed the red liquid out the sink before putting his leather gloves back on.

"Okay." Naruto stepped aside to let the red head pass.

"I'll be back to help you with the rest of your…" Gaara looked around. "stuff."

"Take care." Naruto was a little lost on the red head's reaction. 'Maybe the anger management is paying off,' the blond thought, but then heard his front door slam shut, 'maybe not'.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the blond's door. Gaara was never known for being forgetful and the college student was sure that he didn't leave anything, but there was a first time for everything. Naruto looked at the clock it was 8:39 and Gaara left around 8:28…hmm strange. Gaara would have notice the minute he stepped outside that something was missing, but like he said there was a first time for everything.

"Gaara, what could you possibly be missing?" The blond opened the door and received the shock of his life.

"Excuse me, sir, but I think you dropped your ring." The voice was still angelic like it was on the subway. Light jade eyes stared at his blue one.

R&R