A/N: Ahhhh took so long to update sorry guys. I am still trying to figure out how to ration my time with these two fics. This one is taking a back seat more than I would like unfortunately.

Chapter 6

Gaara Point of View:

Aside from the main story and casual references of Konoha's history I found another shocking revelation in this 'anime'. The language that Harper called 'Japanese' was what we used as ANBU code. As such I was able to watch without reading the flicker of words on the bottom of the screen. The story was generally about Naruto, as the title would suggest, but it was more than a little fascinating in any case. It felt like a betrayal of trust to watch about the intimate happenings of my friend's life though so I began to skip around.

Kankuro told me which episodes held the Chuunin exams from so long ago and to be honest that intrigued me more than some battle over a bridge. I tried not to think too much on what I was like back then. Nothing could change the past no matter how desperately someone wanted to and so dwelling on it only granted sorrow, but a part of me was a bit of a masochist because I wanted to see how people saw me. I wanted to relive the terror in their eyes to remind me that this was how I was.

After a few episodes though, the accumulated sleepless nights that spanned weeks now caught up to me and for once I could almost bless Shukaku for making things so simple. I only had to be in the same room after all. With that in mind I folded my arms into a pillow and fell asleep at Harper's desk.

The rest was refreshing despite the uncomfortable position I slept in but as I woke up I felt a rather undignified sound leave my mouth. On the screen was a hand drawn picture of me with a sleeping kimono opened at the chest. I was half propped on a bed. But the true shock was the words printed cleanly on the bottom of the picture; white against a plain black background. Gaara-sama: a name you want to scream all night long.

Before I could truly process this, the picture changed and I was looking at another drawn picture of one of the men who killed me in unusual clothes. For some reason the sight of the blonde made my heart hurt. I knew he was dead so it wasn't any type of fear; instead it was like when the children from my younger years would spurn me. Yashamaru called it a wound of the heart all those years ago.

The picture changed again and I was there again back to back with Naruto.

It was a strange collection of images. Looking out the window behind me I gauged that it was close to the time I usually 'woke up' so I quietly left Harper's room and slipped into mine. Why was I sneaking around?

Harper Point of View:

It was much later in the day than usual when I woke which was odd for me to think. I would guess it was around six in the morning; this room didn't have a clock but the sun looked to have been up for an hour now. Back home I would sleep well into the afternoon. Something was changing in me. And it wasn't something as shallow as waking up early in the morning or losing weight though such things were occurring as well.

All my life I was a shifting personality. Sometimes I was cheeky, sometimes I was polite, no matter who it was I always had a different way of acting around one person compared to another. I couldn't focus on just being me because the person I was seemed mentally ill to others. I always gauged my actions based on how others would react. Even among the cherished friends I left behind I felt untrue to myself. I think they knew though.

Today was supposed to be a good day though. I stopped caring about looking like a citizen of Suna an easy week after arriving and started modifying the clothes provided to me in small ways until, with the amount of weight I lost almost constantly, Temari managed to acquire materials to make clothing. Now, I had no idea how to sew a whole new garment so I told myself that I would apply this new scan thing I could do to learning how to. I was sure I would activate it today. But first, running.

I ran around the village twice before heading to the training grounds to practice the katas I now just seemed to know. I wanted to see if my body could actually do them or if I just knew the form and had to force myself through the paces. With training ground one open I went into the stance Gaara sank into for the first step of the academy basics and moved through the set easily. Everything was clockwork. It was as if I had experienced those several months I saw and learned from the mistakes therein. As if on auto pilot I went into the more difficult style I saw myself doing in that scan. These movements were not as well memorized and I stumbled a few times as I went through the katas by route.

It was a very insightful exercise though, and I was relieved. There was so much I needed to learn and not enough time to learn it. If I could cheat like this I would. Now I just needed to activate it willingly. That I would do by learning sewing. Nice, safe, simple sewing.

So I went back to the Kazekage Tower and tried it.

And tried.

And tried.

Nothing was working.

So I tried more.

And more.

Lunch came and went and I still sat the floor of the living room of the Kazekage's living quarters with a sewing needle, thread and fabric sitting in front of me uselessly. I had some music, rap this time, playing from the pig shaped iPod dock next to me to try to cut down on my frustration when I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

"What exactly are you doing?" Gaara sounded hesitant around me today and I could only assume that the screen saver did in fact turn on at some point.

"Trying to blossom." I told him petulantly which caused him to sigh softly.

"Did it ever occur to you to try to sew and see if that helps?" He walked around me and my pile of fabric and tools to squat down and look at me levelly. "And what exactly went through your mind when I was going through the katas?"

I felt my eyes go wide. It was so simple. I was an idiot. Gaara had been going through the katas before I started going ahead. I picked up the needle and threaded it with relative ease. It was poised over the fabric and I thought on what would happen next. I remembered that when Gaara was teaching me I was more interested in trying to figure out where the movements were going than what was actually going on.

Again my senses were cut off and all I could see was dozens upon dozens of futures spanning further and further. This time as each future cut to an end with me holding up the garment I had planned everything fizzled out naturally and I came back into my own.

Gaara was still there gazing at me thoughtfully. "Is it possible for you to close your eyes when you do that?" The question confused me but before I could inquire as to why that would be necessary Gaara told me. "Your eyes start glowing orange. It is unwise to show such obvious signs of a jutsu if it can be avoided. I don't know that this has any combat application but if you can practice it and cut down the time it might be applicable as a technique to copy jutsu. If an opponent knows that is what you are doing it might lead to a weakness in the jutsu. You don't seem capable of action while it is happening."

While everything he said was logical and important, my mind was stuck on: "Orange? My eyes glow orange? That is so bad ass!" But as I realized the rest of his words I cleared my throat and, ignoring my ridiculous joy at having glowing orange eyes, I said instead, "Ah, yes, that would be hazardous though, wouldn't it."

Gaara stood up and made ready to leave the room when I jumped to my feet and swirled to face him. "Thank you so much for your…" but before I could complete the sentence the use of chakra for the scan caught up to me and I fell forward. Gaara reached to steady me but a wall of sand blocked him easily.

The sand slowly retreated back into the gourd it came from until only a small patch remained in between our hands. "Gaara, what exactly…should I not…" His sand only did things like that to protect him. Was I dangerous to Gaara?

He seemed to guess the questions I didn't finish accurately as he gave a sigh so quiet that I thought maybe he was just breathing slowly. "That is a general occurrence in times where we may accidently touch. I am looking into it but as things stand right now I do not know why the sand that protects me views you as a threat. I don't know if you should be here or not but I am looking into it." Gaara gave me an amused look that I thought I misinterpreted for a second before lowering his hand and allowing the last patch of sand to snake away. "You're rather bold though, Harper."

The look of confusion wasn't enough to keep him engaged in conversation so I asked, "What do you mean, Gaara?"

"That right there. There was a picture on your computer that clearly said Gaara-sama." Well shit. "I had assumed you didn't understand the proper address at first but you knew along, didn't you?"

This was a question I really did have to answer…respectfully. "I did, Gaara-sama." I felt my head bow automatically but a small line of sand touched my chin, tilting it back up.

"It's usually difficult to get people to accept me as anything but the Kazekage as I have filled this role for a very long time. So, while it is not gaining you much favor with other villagers, I suppose now that you are in the habit of calling me by my name I should allow it if only in reward for your boldness. I find that making friends is as important as having nakama, don't you?"

"So it is okay to call you Gaara still?" It was better to be safe than sorry.

"If you want. Gaara-kun would be fine if you wanted to fit in more, though I think somehow that might get you killed by certain exasperating women." As I broke out in a fit of laughter his eyes widened and his forehead wrinkled like he was raising his non-existent eyebrows. "What?"

I managed to wave my hands in a vague attempt to tell him not to worry but he just continued to gaze at me expectantly. "Some people…" wheeze "Back there…" deep breath. "Used to call you…" fit of giggles. "Gaa-chan." One look at the clearly unimpressed expression on his face had me falling to my knees, unable to hold myself upright.

I looked up in time to see Gaara frown before he intoned, clearly and unmistakably, "That is not permitted." And as I broke down in giggles again he walked away shaking his head.

Several minutes passed before Kankuro came wandering in for a snack of some sort and I was still in a giggling heap on the floor.

"What the hell happened to you?" He asked as I twitched.

My head popped up and I managed to spit out "Ask your brother." Before collapsing again. At this point I have no idea why it was funny but I really needed a laugh.

I didn't exercise any more that day and instead made several outfits before modifying clothes I already had to fit my style more. At dinner Gaara was still frowning and I was trying my best not to laugh at him again but I figured one tease would be fine.

"So what exactly was so funny earlier?" Kankuro asked as we sat down for some beef tongue, which I thought at first was going to be the grossest thing ever but if you ignored what it was it wasn't so bad.

"Nothing important." I told him with a serious mien. Gaara was next to me at the head of the table and it almost seemed that he was relieved. He was not used to being teased at all was he? "Hmmm, can you pass the salt…Gaa-chan?" Gaara's eyes grew wide in shock as Temari gaped openly at the nickname. Kankuro just looked very confused.

"Oi, little brother, why can't we call you that?" Kankuro asked with a surly tone and I lost it again.

Temari on the other hand started to laugh loudly, slapping her hand on the table for emphasis. "That's fucking great!" She chortled. "Where did you come up with that? I thought you didn't know anything about honorifics."

I managed to control my laughs for long enough to say, "He has a lot of fangirls back home who call him that. Guess he's just too cute." And I was giggling again.

"You hear that, Gaara, you have girls in different dimensions who love you!" Temari guffawed.

"It's worse cause to them he isn't even real. Aw man you should read some of the fanfics."

"Fanfic?" Gaara asked, opening a whole new can of worms.

"Yeah but to be honest I would rather read GaaraXNaruto over any other pairing. I have seen some disturbing ones with you and Hinata or Sakura or even Ino. The yaoi isn't so bad though."

"Pairings?" Kankuro asked dumbly.

"Yaoi?" Gaara questioned.

"Pairings; like who you date or sleep with or whatever. And yes, yaoi…guy on guy pairings. You know, homosexual stuff." I explained it casually but the effect was profound.

"There is writing that puts Gaara in relationships with those Konoha kunoichi?" Temari demanded, but Gaara's reaction was ten times better.

He dropped the chopsticks in his hand and stared at me with wide eyes. "Me and Naruto? What in the? How in the? How would we…?"

"Your innocence and lack of creativity is kind of cute, Gaa-chan." For once he let the nickname slide so I decided now was not the time for Yaoi 101 with the Kazekage. "I'll tell you when you are older."

"But a man and a man? That's not even physically possible there isn't a place to…" Kankuro was thinking way to hard or not enough.

"There is always a place." I told him solemnly and left it at that. Remarkably Temari was the one to figure it out. She looked at her baby brother and then burst out in more laughter.

"That would be interesting." She said with a chuckle "But I don't think that Konoha or Suna would allow such a thing."

"Did Naruto become the Hokage then?" I didn't know what happened at the end of the war but I had my fair guess.

"Naruto made Hokage." Gaara said, thankful for the subject change. "There are new Raikage and Tsuchikage as well but I get yelled at for talking politics and work at the dinner table."

I just grinned at that and before I knew it dinner was done with and I was washing dishes like any other member of a family would be corralled into doing. The sand siblings were off doing their own separate things and Gaara was back in his office when a small trail of sand floated up and caught my attention.

'Don't call me Gaa-chan!' The words floated in front of me for a moment before dissolving and rushing back to the Kazekage office. He really is cute sometimes.

Gaara Point of View:

I found myself unable to get much work done that day. Taking that break with Harper at lunch only served to remind me of that picture from this morning and her fit of laughter at that Kami-forsaken nickname kept cropping up in my mind.

Dinner only made things worse. First because that name was brought up in front of Kankuro and Temari and getting them to keep quiet on it was going to prove difficult. It had been too long since I was able to scare them into doing anything and it occurred to me that this was not something being diplomatic would stop. And then there was the thought that there were people in the Spirit Away Dimension that seemed to…what was the word, pair? Yes pair me and various kunoichi and shinobi in intimate relationships. I spent more time than was probably healthy trying to figure out how two men copulate with each other. As I saw it, there was no benefit as men could not get pregnant.

Getting distracted so much delayed all the work I had and I ended up finishing the last bit of paperwork well into the night. Walking through the halls to the living quarters I tried to think of an excuse to get into Harper's room again tonight. I wasn't really tired but she so far proved to be an interesting person to talk to.

Before I could knock on the door I heard a lilting 'come on in' and following those instructions I managed to hold a conversation for much longer than my Council seemed to think me mentally capable of. I didn't mind Harper; even though she was a source of distraction and put weird concepts into my head and I was so glad she hadn't gone back home when she had the chance.