Chapter 23: Dancing Fool

Naruto helped Gaara back to his apartment. He was so sluggish Naruto had to help him up the stairs. He told Sai and Neji to do their normal thing until he called, wanting to change Gaara back to his normal self before the meeting. It would be easier to do it with them not around since they all had the same trigger. After seeing how slow Gaara was, Naruto was starting to think he should have asked for their help.

After he got Gaara inside, Naruto told him to sit down on the couch. Gaara dropped onto the cushions and sat there looking exhausted.

Once Naruto put him back into a trance, the plan was to fully snap him out of it. This way, Gaara would be completely back to normal and the trigger would no longer have any effect so no one could use it on him again.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Sleep."

Gaara closed his eyes.

"When you wake up from your trance, you will no longer be hypnotized. This is the last time the two triggers I gave you will have any effect. You will go back to living normally from now on." He snapped his fingers. "Awake."

Gaara didn't move.

He snapped his fingers again. "Awake."

Gaara did nothing but snore.

Naruto went over to the couch and gave Gaara a shake. "Gaara? Wake up." He snapped his fingers again. "Awake. Gaara, awake!"

Something was wrong. Gaara should have woken up by now.

Naruto shook him again but he just slumped to the side.

"Gaara? Gaara!"

"Huh?" Gaara opened his eyes lazily. "What?"

"Wake up, Gaara. Come on, get up."

Gaara started to close his eyes again. "I'm too tired."

Something must have gone wrong with the command. When he told Gaara that the triggers would no longer have any effect, did that mean, to his mind, that the trigger to wake him up would also no longer work? Meaning that he was stuck in a trance?

No, Gaara was talking to him. He wasn't in a trance anymore. He was just sleepy.

What should he do? Let him sleep it off?

Naruto decided to give Gaara a few minutes to recover and then try waking him up.

While he let Gaara rest, he went around the apartment, picking up their drawings from before and tossing them in a pile by the garbage can. He tidied up a little bit before going back over to the couch and trying again.

"Gaara?" He gave him a little shake. "Gaara, wake up."

Gaara kept his eyes shut.

"Gaara?"

He frowned and buried his face in one of the pillows.

"Gaara, you have to get up. Come on, please?"

Gaara shoved him away.

Naruto knew something had to be done. He pulled Gaara into a sitting position and said, "Kankuro is wondering where you are. Your meeting will start soon."

"Meeting?" he mumbled sleepily.

"That's right. Your meeting, remember? Kankuro's looking everywhere for you. He must be worried."

That got Gaara to open his eyes and sit up under his own power. "Right. I have to get to the meeting. Thanks for reminding me."

"No problem."

Gaara stretched and started to stand up. He looked around for his gourd and started to walk over to it. He tried to lift it onto his shoulder, but he lost his grip and watched it hit the ground by his feet.

"Sorry," he said.

"Not a big deal. The gourd ok?"

"I think so." Gaara bent down to check. He stayed squatting for several seconds, looking at his gourd. Then he collapsed on top of it and stayed there.

"Are you ok, Gaara?"

Gaara gave him a tired look. "I feel really tired."

Naruto was more than concerned. He was worried. Something must have gone wrong.

"Let me help you."

He helped Gaara to his feet but when he tried picking up the gourd, Gaara told him to leave it there and he would come back for it later. He didn't need it at the meeting and he found it to be too heavy for him to carry at the moment.

Worried, Naruto walked Gaara to the door and helped him down the stairs. Gaara insisted he could shake off this feeling and would be fine.

But the more he walked, the more it became obvious that this was something he could not shake off. He kept dragging his feet and bumped into several buildings. Naruto tried to help guide him but it wasn't enough. Gaara wasn't becoming more alert as he moved, he was getting more tired.

"Maybe sugar will help give you some energy." Naruto got a soda from a vending machine and gave it to Gaara. "Drink this. It might perk you up."

Gaara drank the soda and handed the can back to Naruto.

"Well?"

Gaara belched and cover his mouth. "Sorry."

"How do you feel?"

"The bubbles tickle my nose."

"Other than that. How do you feel?"

Gaara thought about it. "I suppose I'm a bit more alert. The carbonation kind of gave me a jolt."

"That's good."

"It was pretty sweet, though."

"Sugar can give you energy."

"I don't really care for sweet things, though."

Now that he said that, Naruto was convinced that Gaara was no longer hypnotized. Otherwise, he would have liked sweet things, like before. This must have been an effect from the hypnosis. Gaara must have still been working it out of his system.

"Naruto! Gaara!"

Gaara flinched as something green landed in front of him.

He wasn't normally startled, but he normally wasn't out of it, either.

"What a surprise to see you here!" Lee said loudly. "Are you visiting? Well, of course, you are. What a silly question. But what are you doing now?"

"Trying to wake up," Gaara said honestly. "I went to the hot springs with Naruto and since then I've been feeling a little tired."

"I know just the thing!" Lee struck a pose. "A good friendly spar will do the trick! Nothing like a good battle among friends to get the blood pumping and energy soaring!"

Gaara gave Lee a look. "Is this your way of asking for a rematch from a couple of years ago?"

"I had not thought of that. But if you insist on a rematch, I would be more than happy to take you up on that offer. Just tell me where and when. Oh! Unless this is your way of asking me to take you on now! What a splendid idea! You must be eager. Well, I must warn you that I have gotten a lot stronger since then! It would only be fair to warn you of such a thing, lest you be taken by surprise by the spring time of you-"

"Lee, not now," Naruto interrupted.

"Aw, why not? Have I done something?"

"No. We're just a bit busy right now. Gaara has a meeting to get to, so there's no time for a match."

"Then you need an escort!" Lee walked beside Gaara. "I will be more than happy to-"

"We're good, Lee," Naruto said from Gaara's other side.

"Are you certain?"

"Very certain."

"If you are pressed on time, I can get you there quickly."

"We're good, Lee."

Stuck in the middle of the two of them, Gaara had no choice but to let them yell in his ears as they walked. On the plus side, it did help him stay awake.

"Lee, could you please let us do our thing?" Naruto asked him. He had no time for Lee's enthusiasm and he was still concerned about Gaara's condition. Now wasn't the time.

"I can let the Hokage know that you've arrived," Lee offered. "I will go and inform her right now."

Naruto left Gaara's side to chase Lee down and grab him. "No, Lee! You don't have to."

"It is no trouble."

"Everything's taken care of. Thanks, Lee, but we're good."

Lee looked disappointed. "Are you sure? I have no much energy and no one is interested in doing anything with me. I have already finished my training ahead of schedule. I suppose I could reward myself with an additional thirty laps, but I would much rather do it with people. Having friends with you makes it more fun."

Naruto had to get Lee out of his hair but he didn't want to be rude to him, knowing Lee just wanted to hang out with friends. If only there was a way to keep him entertained and out of his hair at the same time without hurting his feelings.

Then Naruto remembered there was.

"Lee, sleep," Naruto said, snapping his fingers.

Lee closed his eyes and stayed on his feet.

"Lee, when you wake up, you will dance," Naruto told him. "You want to dance." He snapped his fingers. "Awake."

Lee opened his eyes and sprang away from Naruto. He immediately started dancing as if hearing upbeat music. Naruto stared at him, a little impressed. Lee had some moves.

"Looks like you're busy. I'll do my own thing, ok, Lee?" Naruto didn't wait for his answer. He quickly went back to Gaara and led him down the street by his hand.

Gaara seemed more alert, but Naruto could tell he wasn't one hundred percent. He had to make sure he was in good condition before returning him to Kankuro.

"Did you want any more soda?"

Gaara shook his head. "No thanks."

"Still doing ok, Gaara?"

"I think I'm alright. Just a little foggy."

He needed to make sure Gaara was fully awake before leaving him with Kankuro. Walking seemed to be helping him a little bit. Naruto actually wasn't sure what he was doing. He had no plan. He just wanted to keep Gaara active so he wouldn't fall asleep before the meeting.

Gaara suddenly stopped, causing Naruto to get jerked backwards. Naruto turned around to see what happened. Gaara was still on his feet, but he was looking elsewhere.

"What is that about?" he asked with a weird look on his face.

Naruto followed his gaze and found himself with a similar expression.

Kiba was digging through trashcans and chewing on whatever he found inside.

"Oh, yeah. That." Kiba must have heard a bell which was why he was acting like this.

There was no time to reverse it now. Naruto would have to come back to fix the problem later.

"Never mind him, Gaara. Let's keep moving."

He heard Gaara grunt. Then he said, "Uh, Naruto?"

"Yeah?" Naruto turned around.

"Why is he doing this?"

Gaara was gesturing with his eyes to Shino who had thrown himself around Gaara in a big hug.

While it was nice to be hugged, Gaara was pretty uncomfortable having a boy hug him out of nowhere like this.

"Shino…"

"This is torture," Shino said through his teeth. "Do you know how many times I've been slapped today? But I can't stop. I've tried but I can't."

Shino was speaking to Gaara since he still couldn't question Naruto, which, to his mind, now included asking Naruto rhetorical questions.

Hugs could be therapeutic, but to Shino it was agony. It no longer felt comforting to squeeze another human being. It was awful.

He couldn't relax, getting up and throwing himself at anyone nearby for some unknown reason. His mind still hadn't linked the sound of clanging to the hugging response. Normally he would have figured it out by now, but under the hypnosis, he couldn't draw that kind of conclusion. All he knew was that he was hugging people and didn't know why. He just couldn't help it.

He gave up catching bugs in the middle of a chase to hug people. He couldn't sit on a bench without getting up and going after someone close by. He forwent meals, abandoning his food the instant he heard a clang to hug someone. His body was out of control. It was as if his body had been magnetized, drawn to other people against his will.

"None of this is by choice," he told Gaara. "My body just moves. It's maddening. I don't even know what's causing it. I haven't a clue. I'm sorry."

Naruto thought it would be funny to give him this command. He thought it would be harmless. He didn't realize it would be torture for poor Shino. Now that Shino explained how this experience was for him, Naruto felt bad for putting him through this. It was never meant to be torture.

Shino took his arms off Gaara and stepped backwards. Before he could vanish into the woods, Naruto grabbed him.

"Shino, come with me for a second. I want to help you."

Shino followed Naruto without question. Once they were off the street, Naruto snapped his fingers.

"Sleep."

Shino's head tilted forward and his arms fell at his sides.

"Shino, you will no longer hug people when you hear a clang."

He could have stopped there. He probably should have, but Naruto didn't want to let Shino off that easy.

"When you wake up, you will be afraid of bugs." Naruto snapped his fingers. "Awake."

Shino lifted his head.

"There you go," Naruto told him with a smile. "Some calm deep breaths to calm you down, right, Shino? Now go about your business and don't worry about a thing."

Shino didn't have any questions for Naruto, so he just left.

Naruto's sigh of relief quickly turned into a gasp when he heard someone behind him.

"Naruto?"

"Eep!" He spun around. "Sh- Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru looked from Naruto to the path Shino had taken and back to Naruto. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, raising his brow.

"That depends," Naruto told him. "Wh- what does it look like to you?"

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Naruto. "Well… it sort of looks like you just hypnotized Shino."

Busted.

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