Naruto was almost offended, "Attention it'll bring me?"

"Yes. I don't know if you're aware of this, but we already had to squash a few exposes in Sunagakure about our close relationship." Gaara informed.

"You're not serious."

"I am."

"Why would people write about that?" Naruto laughed.

"I'm the Kazekage, my personal life apparently is entertainment to them."

"That's so stupid… but, like, do you care about it?"

"I don't mind it… but with the Akatsuki getting more adventurous with their plans. I dont think it's safe for you if people know there's someone you care about like that."

"They already know I care about you…" Naruto thought for a second, "Actually, now that I think about it, the ones who know are probably dead."

"Dead?"

Naruto blushed, "Probably dead. I said probably."

"What happened?" They haven't had a chance to talk about his death before. He knew it was a sore subject for both of them for obvious reasons.

"I got mad… They just threw your body on the ground like you were nobody. You're not nobody. You're Gaara. You're my," Naruto didn't know the word for it, they didn't say a word for it, "Friend!"

Gaara wrapped Naruto up in his arms, "It's okay. I'm okay. I'm okay."

"No you don't get it." He struggled to get out of the embrace.

"Then tell me," Gaara refused to let him go.

"You didn't see how they treated you. You were on the ground, they sat on your body. Like, you were an object or something." Emotions ran through his voice.

Gaara didn't really mind how he was treated after death. He never put much thought to it before. As a shinobi, he assumed his body would be lost to a battlefield one day. Now after seeing Naruto like this, he thought he should consider a different option. "Hm."

Naruto eventually accepted Gaara, "They talked about you like-hic-you weren't Gaara. Like you weren't-hic-my-hic-

Naruto never finished that sentence. Sobs overtook his voice. Wet tears filled the shoulder of day-old clothes. Gaara already planned on changing when he got back to the hotel, but now he definitely had to.

When his voice came back it was still shattered with sobs, "I felt like I lost-hic-you. I did-hic-I did lose you. If it weren't for granny-hic-

Again the words fell apart.

Naruto had cried for him before. When he first heard Gaara's story. His heart wept for an enemy he hardly knew. That moved Gaara enough to change the course of his entire life.

This time, the blonde's tears did more to him. It pulled his heart strings, plucking a song of devotion. He never wanted to see Naruto cry like this again. Gaara vowed to make sure Naruto would always have him in his life. He promised that before, but this was different.

Before he was being selfish. Gaara wouldn't leave Naruto life, because he didn't want to lose the blonde. Now-

-hic-I don't-hic-I don't know what I'd-hic-do without you." Naruto finished his thought.

Gaara said, "you don't have to worry about that."

He rubbed Naruto's back, trying to bring him back to the real world. Remove him from the memory of one of the worst days of his life. Naruto nuzzled into him closer. The hyperventilation turned to deep breaths. He could feel the other was alive and with him.

"I know…" Naruto said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I don't know… getting upset."

"It's okay." Gaara died, "I'm okay now. And it's because of you."

"I should have gotten there sooner."

"You didn't know… no one knew."

"I could have-

"You saved me." That was the end of that.

"Yeah." Naruto kissed him.

They got ready together. After such a rude awakening, they still had their own schedule of events to get to. Gaara still had to get the teams ready for the Chunin Exam. Naruto still needed to get to his training.

"Before you go, let me get that situated for you." He pointed to the patch on Naruto's neck.

"Fine."

Gaara peeled off the scent patch that doubled as a bandaid, which ripped a deep whine from Naruto, "that hurts."

The scent stung Gaara's nose. It reeked of both distressed omega and possessive alpha. Rot and despair amped up his adrenaline to ten. Gaara was ready to fight.

"Just let me take care of it, okay?"

It looked better than last night, but still nowhere near what a healthy bond mark should look like. Black puss oozed from some of the bite as if it were still an open sore. Gaara gently dabbed it away, before putting ointment on it.

"That better?" Gaara asked.

"A little…" Naruto reached to touch it, but-

Gaara stopped him, "I have to put the gauze on now."

"Right."

So he did. Gaara placed the gaze on top, quickly sealing it in a scent patch. Before he knew what he was doing, he rubbed his own scent gland on top of it as a pseudo claim. If Naruto noticed, he didn't mention it.

"Thanks…" Naruto mumbled out.

"Any time."

Even though Naruto got to the training grounds half an hour past their original scheduled time, Kakashi-sensei would still be an additional ten minutes late. Leaving him alone with Yamato-sensei. The same teacher that saw him naked with an extremely important political figure this morning.

They sat in silence for a while, before Yamato-sensei asked, "So the Kazekage?"

"It's his first time visiting for the Chunin Exam… isn't that exciting?" Naruto attempted to dodge the question.

"Very exciting…" Yamato-sensei thought for a second, "How long have you two been friends?"

It's probably best not to say, since after he destroyed the village, "Well, we got close when I was training with the Pervy Sage."

"It looks like you got very close with the way he-

Naruto interrupted that line of thought with, "You're late!"

"I got here on time and no one was around. So I went off for a while." Kakashi-sensei shrugged.

Yamato-sensei and Naruto looked at each other, then back at the silver-haired teacher, then back at each other. There was no way to tell if that was the truth or a lie. Did Naruto miss out on the one time that Kakashi-sensei was on time?

"Now that we're all here, I can finally explain the change in chakra nature." Kakashi-sensei started.

"Yes, sir!"

"Fundamentally there are only five different types of chakra natures." Kakashi-sensei held out his hand with all five fingers up.

"Only five?"

"Fire, Wind, Water, Lighting, and Earth. These are the foundation for all ninjutsu." Kakashi-sensei explained, "Wind nature leads to wind style jutsu, and lighting nature to lighting style jutsu. For example the Chidori is a type of lighting style jutsu."

"So, Sasuke must possess both fire and lighting then?"

Kakashi-sensei's lips pierced to a line, "Yes. We have some idea what yours might be, but it's best to double check. So we're going to test it out."

He held out five sheets of paper. Explaining how each one would do a different thing depending on what nature he had. Lighting would wrinkle the paper. Wind would tear it. FIre would burn it. Water would soak it. Earth would make it crumble. They're made from a unique species of tree that absorbs and grows from chakra, which allows them to do these special tasks.

"Allright." Naruto focused his chakra through the paper causing it to split in half.

Wind.

Kakashi-sensei nodded, "Well then, let's get started."

"Like I thought, your chakra nature is wind." Yamato-sensei said.

"Wind?" Naruto wondered if Gaara's would also be wind, even though earth would make more sense. Maybe he can do both like Sasuke with fire and lighting. He might not even know this himself.

"It's a chakra nature that's unrivaled in battle power. Able to cut through anything in its path."

"I knew I was unstoppable!" Naruto shouted in excitement.

"Woah, you literally just learned this."

"Yeah," Yamato-sensei backed him up, "you still need to train in this style."

"Okay… so what do I have to do?"

"Split this leaf." Kakashi-sensei held up a simple green leaf.

...

"What?"

"You're going to hold the leaf between your palms, just using your chakra to tear it completely in two."

"Easy!"

It was not easy.

Even after hours of work, he was only able to get the leaf to split a little bit. It's just a silly leaf. It shouldn't take all this chakra to split one(hundred) silly leaves.

"Kakashi-sensei, is there anyone else in Konoha that has a Wind Nature?" Naruto asked.

"You want to ask them for tips?"

"Duh." there had to be an easier way to do this.

"There's one in particular, but he's probably playing shogi right now."

Instead of running into Asuma-sensei with Shikamaru, he found Temari with him. They had gotten close over his visits too. Just not as close as Naruto and Gaara. Actually with the way their body language reads, probably a lot closer than them.

Shikamaru was lazily playing shogi with her. Each move was drawn out, as if he's intentionally prolonging their time together. He takes an extra second to think before moving any piece.

"Hi!" Naruto interrupted.

\"Hey, Naruto, I heard my brother didn't return to the hotel last night… Do you know anything about that?" Temari asked, ignoring the game in front of her.

"Well - uh - I," something clicked in Naruto's mind, "Wait, you heard? So, you weren't there either… Where were you last night?"

"I went to bed early last night. You know, long travels and all." a light blush dusted her cheeks.

Naruto looked over at Shikamaru, "Yeah, long travels…Anyway! Do you know where Asuma-sensei is? I gotta ask him an important question. It's about chakra natures."

"You're doing change in chakra nature drills?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yep!"

"You can't do them if you aren't sharp. Ya' sure you're up to that?" His comment made Temari giggle.

"That's why I need to ask your teacher for tips about Wind Nature." Naruto said annoyed.

Temari perked up, "Wind? You know I am a wind user too, right?"

"Really?! So, you can help?"

"What do I get out of it?"

… "What do you want?"

"I want you to promise me you wont hurt my brother." her voice held something terrifying.

Naruto laughed to cut the tension, "I don't plan on it."

"I'm serious, Naruto. He's gotten better, but he's still the same kid he used to be. You can't play around with his emotions."

"I won't." Naruto knew how precious Gaara really was.

Temari looked over to her own secret Konoha-nin boyfriend and said, "this will only take a minute."

"I think you're overestimating your student." Shikamaru said.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"You don't think I'm a good teacher?" She asked.

"I retract my previous statement."

She went on to teach him everything she knows about wind nature chakra. It was a lot. And while technically it did take longer than a minute, it was still under five. She was a really good teacher.

"Thanks for all the help!"

Poof.

The memories of her lesson arrived into the proper students mind. Wind was a powerful ally on the battlefield. It didn't take long for Naruto to finally be able to slice through the leaf.

Naruto came home after the end of his training. It was something he dreaded all day, returning to a messy apartment. Except, he forgot Gaara helped him clean last night. In all that excitement of this morning, and all the rigorous training it must have slipped his mind. He could still do a little more himself, but it was no longer overwhelming.

Gaara was nice like that.

Naruto couldn't imagine Sasuke even attempting to help him clean. He'd probably just look at the mess and call him an idiot for not having better habits. At most maybe taking out the trash. Even that seemed like it would be beneath the Uchiha Prodigy.

For the first time in a long time Naruto wanted to build a nest. He didn't have that much in the way of materials for one, so he'd have to make do. A few pillows surround the edges to create walls. The two blankets he owns did their best to drape in between to feel more structurally safe.

All in all, it was a really sad nest. Maybe this was the real reason he didn't make them that often. If anyone were to see it, they would just think it's a messy bed.

Peaking out of the corner of his bed was a bit of white fabric. It was one of Gaara's many scarves. It must have slipped under there sometime last night, or even when they were rushed out of there in the morning. It wouldn't hurt to add it in.

It's really long.

For some reason the way Gaara usually drapes it over his body, it didn't look like it would be this long. Before adding it in, Naruto tried to replicate Suna fashion, to no success. No amount of folds would adhere it to his own body. He had no idea how Gaara could make this a wearable piece of clothing. Maybe he'd ask one day.

With more grace than his attempt to wear it, he placed it into his nest. Right under the windowsill, in the shadows of the decaying plants of the past. Naruto hoped to dream under the stars tonight.

Naruto glanced around his apartment, he could probably finish the task of cleaning today. So he did. There wasn't much left besides a few countertops, a few high shelves, and laundry. It was easier today.

Now was the daunting task of dinner. He should still have some microwavable ramen. Pull the tab. Take the packet out. Fill the cup with water to the line. Cook for three minutes. Put the packet back in. Ikadamatsu.

Sasuke would lecture him about how this wasn't a meal. The only nutritional value in it was salt. It's the real reason he's rotting from the inside out. It wasn't healthy. It wasn't good. Naruto wasn't good.

Gaara wouldn't say anything. Not while he was eating it at least. But he would offer to take him out to eat for the next meal. Probably something Naruto's never tried before… but it would still be good. At least most of the time.

Naruto hated comparing them.

He shouldn't compare the two. They were very different people.

Gaara was thoughtful.

Sasuke only thought of himself. He was so selfish. It was all about Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. How he had to strengthen his bond with Naruto, but didn't want one in return. How he had to run away with Orochimaru and leave his mate behind. How he had to chase his dreams of killing his brother.

Gaara used to be selfish. He wanted to hurt everyone because of his own pain… but Gaara changed.

Sasuke could totally change, too. If he wanted to. He just needed the right opportunity to do so. That's it. It's not that he doesn't want to be a better person. It can't be that.

There had been a battle waging between them in the back of his head ever since he got closer to the Suna-nin. If it were a few years ago, he never would have believed he'd be in this position. Naruto was convinced Sasuke had to be his soul mate. It's the only thing that made sense to him.

Fuck Gaara for confusing him.

Now Naruto's not too convinced how much of his love for Sasuke was genuine or just the mark that was forced on him. He knew it can do things to a person's brain. Sakura made sure of it with all her lectures on it. Blah blah blah, the mark was designed to keep an omega bound to their alpha, and vice versa. If, and only if, an alpha's marked, would they also be bound.

Things were so much simpler before.

Gaara wanted them to acknowledge what they do together. Not hide it behind closed doors and late night visits. The deniability of never giving it a title. Just lips so preoccupied that there would never be a loose tongue spouting the truth.

Naruto loved Gaara.

Probably more than he loved Sasuke.

Gaara obviously loved Naruto more than Sasuke ever did. Naruto doesn't know if he's ever felt love like this before. Gaara seems to actually consider Naruto as a part of his life. Someone that needs to be checked-in with for important situations. A fixture of his life that needed to be taken care of.

There he goes, comparing the two again.

-A Conversation with the Nine Tails-

"Why did you mark me?" Naruto asked.

"You're such a child, Naruto." Sasuke explained, "I don't care what happens to me… or you… or the rest of the world. So long as I get my revenge, nothing else matters."

Pain boiled up in his stomach.

Sasuke commanded, "Stop him."

Why are you hesitating...

Show him our power.

Naruto stood still in front of the red gates of the Kyuubi. The fox promised him more power again. Naruto's taken it in times of grief to get out of situations that would have killed him or those he loved. For some reason, he couldn't take it now.

Who do you want me to kill?

His omega had no choice but to submit to the whims of his alpha, "Don't ever come out again!"

What are you so afraid of?

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted, "I'm not afraid. I don't need anything from you."

I can free you from him, you know? All you have to do is release the seal. My power becomes yours… and you will be free.

"Get lost." The command was still in his mind as he reached his hand out.

Another hand joined, Sasuke.

Who do you think you are?

"What are you doing here?"

"I can see it now… This is the source of your strength. I never imagined you had such a thing inside of you." Sasuke judged.

It may be my undoing…

Let me tell you one thing.

Don't kill Naruto… you'll regret it.