Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between A Rock And A Hard Place ❯ Keeping Your Cool ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"Did I miss something here?" Kakashi asked quietly to Gai as they straggled behind Sasuke and Naruto. Upon coming back from their patrol late last night they had found the boys fast asleep and both very much a live. If that wasn't bizarre enough, they had put up their tents and sleeping bags without one rude comment to one another, or a evil glare. In fact, Naruto seemed to be in a rather perky mood, now that Kakashi thought about it.

The blond was prancing around as if he own the place, grinning his abnormally large toothy grins and yapping on and on about something or another. Kakashi hadn't been paying that close attention. And Sasuke, well he was just...listening. Though Kakashi had yet to catch Sasuke responding to one of Naruto' random statements, he did see a casual smirk or rolling of the eyes from the Uchiha that was unusually playful rather than mean and disrespectful. Sasuke had even bothered to walk somewhat along side Naruto. All in all, Kakashi could only conclude both of his students were abducted and replaced by enemy ninjas.

"You should be happy Kakashi!" Gai suggested eagerly. "A loving bond has finally been developed between the youths. It is for the better of the team!" He exclaimed, thrusting out a thumbs up to the two boys who merely ignored them.

Kakashi doubted that was the case. "Sasuke." He called out to the boy. Immediately the cobalt hair teen turned and stared at Kakashi peculiarly. His sensei hurriedly came up to him, allowing Naruto to absentmindedly ramble on as he continued to walk ahead. "I must say Uchiha, whatever magic you worked on the blond, certainly has him worked up." Kakashi said with a sly smirk. "Just make sure you down ware him out too much, otherwise he will be useless for this mission." Kakashi winked suggestively to the teen. Oh, how fun it was to watch the scrambling minds of hormonal adolescents. And Sasuke was certainly having a hard time overcoming his sudden shock and embarrassment.

"What are you talking about?!" Sasuke asked almost too flustered beyond recovery. "I didn't do anything! We only talked." Sasuke claimed insistently. He couldn't believe Kakashi would even imply such a thing. Who in their right minds would go for that hyper active ball of yellow fuzz?! Sure Naruto a lot of great qualities like his gorgeous ocean blue eyes that draw you out like a strong current, an amazingly cheerful smile that was sure to brighten anyone's day, and his bubbly personality that always managed to show through even through the worst of times-wait, what was his point again?! Sasuke quickly slapped his hands on his forehead. "What the hell was that?!" He yelled at himself, causing Kakashi to arch a brow in suspicion.

"Hey Kakashi- sensei! I think we are getting closer!" Naruto yelled out, pointing ahead. This was only able to distract Kakashi for a short while before he was back to staring at Sasuke awkwardly. The boy was till choking on some thoughts of his. Kakashi couldn't help but be curious about what Sasuke could have possibly been thinking.

"Don't be stupid dobe!" Sasuke called out, rushing past Kakashi with a slight blush. He didn't even want to think too deeply about what Kakashi was implying. He walked over to Naruto and sighed drearily at the site. The forest was just about to disappear into desert, so Sasuke knew they were only half way there. "Are you kidding Naruto, we'll be lucky if we make it there by nightfall from here?" Sasuke replied. And he knew they would probably have to sleep in earlier since it was never safe to go wandering in a desert at night.

At hearing this, Naruto quickly fell to his knees. "That's no fair! If we don't get there soon we can't help anyone!" Sasuke was urged to laugh at Naruto's stupidity, but he knew that would only cause more troubles. After what happened last night, he really couldn't bring himself to hurt Naruto like that again. Though Naruto would probably deny it all together, Sasuke still remember freshly all that happened. Truthfully, Sasuke was happy he had saw that side of Naruto. Before he had just thought Naruto was this annoying person that only felt happiness, which was frustrating if you wanted someone to relate to how you felt and he was always cheerful.

"Get up Naruto." Sasuke ordered dully. "Otherwise we are going to have to take turns carrying you along." Sasuke argued. Naruto's eyes popped out at this and he quickly rushed back up to his feet. There would be no more further humiliation he would have to take during this trip, so he planned to avoid things like that. Sasuke would definitely try to use that against his for sure. Sasuke chuckled whole heartedly as he watched the blond start to march toward the dusty horizon.

"Stop flirting Sasuke." Kakashi picked a she walked by. He got his own chance to laugh when he saw the innocent blush that overtook Sasuke's face yet again. These boys were too easily for their own good. Kakashi just couldn't wait to get back home and tell his little dolphin all about this. Hopefully he would have more to tell by the course of this trip.

"Gaara!" Temari came rushing into Gaara's office. She was still having trouble adjusting to the idea of her brother being the new Kazekage. After all he was still so young and inexperience, not to mission almost entirely uncompassionate. Surely the village of Suna did not expect to have a fair and understanding Kazekage when Gaara was picked for the job. Temari would have to argue that even Kankuro, who was nothing more than a prankster and lazy bum, was a better candidate for the position. But she had never showed her doubt to her little brother, and respected him as much as a family member should.

She found Gaara, staring off absentmindedly, watching the sand do summersaults in the wind just outside the window. She approached his desk hesitantly but finally convinced herself to report the news that was so important enough to bring her here. "Gaara, eight more people have been diagnosed with the recent virus. Three of them are some of our on shinobi." She explained. She wished this plague hadn't decided to come just when Gaara got in power. Because of this, lately the villagers have been testy and repeatedly blaming the new development on Gaara. The suspected he was purposely doing this to his people and didn't plan to help them at all.

This news seemed to bring Gaara little comfort. Until Tsunade came his people would continued to accuse him of not helping. Without another word, Gaara got out of his seat. "Hey! Where are you going Gaara?!" Temari asked worriedly as she saw he brother walking out the door. It was safer for him to remain here until the villagers had calmed down, otherwise they would attack him if he should leave this place. But Gaara didn't not heed the warning nor his sister's concern and simply let himself out of the building. If the people of Konoha will not come, then he would simply bring them here.

"We've been walking for hours!" Naruto whined. His energy spurge about three hundred miles back was finally running on low and now he was carelessly dragging his feet across the desert sand. His throat had long ago turned dry, despite how much water he chugged through it. The heat radiating from all this sand such continued to rise. But Naruto had hardly any right to complain when Sasuke was the idiot to where dark clothes that instead of repelled the sun like Naruto's orange, attached in all the heat.

Despite his sweaty and tired state, Sasuke refused to give on the appearance that he was actually frying over here. But Kakashi and Gai didn't buy it for one moment. Naruto however, had continued to continue saying that Sasuke was using some type of special jutsu so he wouldn't burn up. Sasuke only laughed at the blond for his childish theories, though it would have been a good idea to try out.

"Naruto, we aren't going to take any more breaks." Kakashi remarked in frustration. They had already taken two ten minute breaks for the blonde's sake, and Sasuke's though he never said a word. But it was just becoming a hindrance to continue this. Any more delays and their won't even be a village to protect. "If you really can't walk any further, then just let one of us carry you." Kakashi offered in absence of Sasuke's offer. Unfortunately, it did no good because Naruto declined the suggestion once again. if only Sasuke hadn't used it for teasing purposes earlier, Naruto probably would have allowed him to. "Then just keep moving." Kakashi ordered, giving the blond a light nudge from behind.

"I knew Naruto would only slow us down." Sasuke said with a knowing smirk. Just like he was hoping when he had first said it, Naruto popped up onto his feet, fist in the air and eyes ready to kill. If this was the only way to bring him to life, than so be it. Naruto was always strong willed when it came to trying to prove someone wrong. To Sasuke relief, it proved to be true once again as the jumpy blond marched ahead of him, trying to show off.

"Don't get too carried away Sasuke." Gai warned. "Youth can prove to be a vigilant opponent." The teacher replied with a proud grin as his steps remained as lively as ever. No wonder Lee was such a tight ass when it came to teaching; his sensei was unbelievably tolerant when it came to conditions like these.

The voyage from here on out was actually agreeable now that Naruto had found his inspiration or rather his opposition. But Gai and Kakashi still preferred to lag behind just in case Naruto and Sasuke should chose to start up another fight and perhaps start throwing around sand and attacks. Suddenly, Kakashi paused in his step. "Gai..." He whispered lowly. He could have sworn he felt something just then, but he was unsure if it was someone's chakra level or just some desert wildlife. His on visible eye hastily widened with realization. "Sasuke! Naruto! Run!" Kakashi yelled out to the two.

But it was too late. The two teens had turned in order to hear his direction, but almost immediately a fearsome quake sounded throughout the area. "Shit!" Sasuke hissed, jumping back quickly when he felt the ground beneath them start to rattle. Naruto however didn't seem to catch the memo quick enough before his feet slowly started to follow after the sinking sand. "Naruto get out of there!" Sasuke yelled. He hadn't the time to assist the blond in escape before he suddenly found himself ducking from an on coming kunai. He leaped back, the blade missing him by a foot and he glared angrily at its owner.

"What the hell?!" Naruto shouted, tugging up his feet only to have them sink further into the gooey sand. He looked ahead with panic in his eyes. This was not regular quick sand, it was definitely a jutsu. "Sasuke!" Naruto called out, seeing two sand ninjas approaching the teen. Why did they have to run into bandits now of all times?! Naruto grunted as he hurriedly tried to pull himself out by gripping onto the secure sand, but the sand just slipped between his fingers.

Sasuke was already pissed that Naruto had managed to get himself caught yet again. He really needed to hone his perception skills, then again this was Naruto. It wasn't wise to expect so much of him. Since Sasuke only had a little time to defeat these guys before Naruto was completely sucked into the ground, he had wasted no time in throwing his first attack. He threw a few shurikan, knowing the bandits would easily avoid all of them, and took the chance of their distraction to send out a fireball. Only one managed to slip fast the heated chakra and he charged right for Sasuke.

Gai and Kakashi were handling their own problems with the few other bandits that came along. Naturally Gai had put up a great hand to hand battle, which proved to be difficult for the sand nins to deflect. Seeing as everyone else looked like they could hold up their own, two other nins decided to go for the weak link in the chain. And a currently sinking Naruto, did easily appear to be the easiest opponent. They loomed over him, chuckling as he still tried to dig himself out, now waist deep in the sand. "I'll show you two!" Naruto growled, bring up both hands and performing a few hand signs quickly. "Shadow clone jutsu!" In an instant a dozen Naruto's popped out of thin air and quickly started to fight the ninja while the real Naruto worked on his disappearing act.

Sasuke was currently doing his best to block all the forward attacks his opponent was giving him, which was pretty hard now that his partner had didn't to fight him from behind. As if dodging two people at the same time wasn't aggravating enough, Sasuke could see Naruto still in a struggle from the corner of his eye. "Stupid dobe!" Sasuke choked under breath as he blocked another side kick with his arm. Regardless of his own situation, it looked like Naruto was going to need him to dig him out of trouble again. Sasuke quickly tore away from the two ninja and raced over toward Naruto. "Stop getting the way Naruto!" He yelled, reaching out and grabbed the blonde's hand as his chest was now shrouded by the deep sand.

He pulled hard on the teen's arm, only making Naruto complain more about how he couldn't rescue him being a little more gentle. As if that cared at the moment, because the ninja were still free to attack them at any given time. Sasuke finally managed to jerk Naruto out of the thick sand, pulling the blond hard enough that they both fell back as the bandits headed right for them. Seeing as how he wouldn't be able to get them both out of attacking range, Sasuke hastily wrapped his arms around the blond laying on his chest and rolled over onto Naruto, immediately shielding him from the on coming blades that were just thrown.

Instinctively, both Sasuke and Naruto closed their eyes. There was a silence as Sasuke was expecting a gush of pain to come to him form being attacked, yet he felt nothing more than the warm, fragile form of the boy beneath him. Sasuke's eyes fluttered open quickly at that thought. He stared down in shock, seeing Naruto's head buried deeply into his chest. He could even feel the other's short breaths pressing through the fabric of his clothing and warm his skin. Simply thinking this made Sasuke shudder with what he had hoped was disgust or at least remorse. Noting their still in tact state, Sasuke quickly turned to look behind him. Shock over took him as he was staring face to face with a large sand wall or rather doom completely around him and Naruto. But who?!

Naruto peeked open one eye, though he instantly regretted it the next second. His cheeks burned with red as he was looking intensely at Sasuke's face so close up. Despite the sudden shadow that remained over him, he could easily pinpoint every great curve of Sasuke's face. His thought bearing down on the teen, quickly caused him to recant back to his common sense. "Ah! Teme! What are you doing?! Get off me!" Naruto screamed, wiggling beneath the other teen as he tried to get himself free. He stopped his struggling the moment the sand encasing collapsed and mixed in together with the rest of the desert.

For once, Sasuke shared similar reactions; jaws low and eyes wide at the unexpected visitor or rather hero standing before them. Who would have imagined they would run into Gaara here? Well Suna was his home, so maybe it wasn't all that unimaginable. But what was Gaara doing out here in the middle of the desert?! And why the hell did he save them?! Last time Sasuke met him, the teen was a psychopathic killer who had relationship issues. Sasuke looked around him and noticed the rest of the bandits were carefully tied up with a sand formed rope, definitely Gaara's handy work.

Kakashi quickly cleared his voice to grab the boys attention. "I know you two have trouble staying focus sometimes, but I hardly think this was the time to be..." Kakashi mumbled off the last bit as his eye rolled up a bit into his head. He always knew something was suspicious about the two teens, but this was a little more than what even he was expecting.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged confused glances at the same time, only to be staring each other in the eye before both broke out yelling and pulling back from each other. "Pervert teme!" Naruto yelled, shoving Sasuke roughly off of him as he scooted back in the sand. Gaara only rose a nonexistent brow at this. Naruto quickly slipped out of his surprise so that he wouldn't confuse Gaara any further. "Hi Gaara!" He replied abnormally cheerful to see another teen his age that wasn't Sasuke during this trip. "I haven't seen you in so long!" The blond replied.

Sasuke found it annoying how easily Naruto pretended to be on good terms with this practical stranger. The blond was simply too friendly for his own good. Sasuke stood up, straightening his clothes and glaring at Gaara for a moment. "Thanks for your assistance, but I think we could have handled it ourselves." He nearly snarled back. For the first time Sasuke could ever recall, he was thwacked on the head...by Naruto!

"Don't be such a prick Sasuke!" Naruto shouted at him, glowering at Sasuke for his rudeness. Naruto quickly grabbed up his belongings that had scattered some time during the attack and walked over to Gaara. "Now that Gaara is here, we can make it to the village in no time!" This seemed to strike a little interest in Gaara, and actually encouraged him to speak.

"You are the one's Tsunade sent for help?" He asked in disbelief. He was naturally skeptical of any of Konoha's ninja, but this was not even up to par with their usually advance forces. He knew for a fact that Sasuke and Naruto were not experienced enough for an A ranked mission, even though he was previously defeated by Naruto. And the two Chounins hardly seemed like enough to take on even these Sand bandits.

"Yep!" Naruto exclaimed proudly, practically patting himself on the back. "Tsunade-san will be up here in a few days. Until then we will make sure to guard Suna!" Naruto explained. It was a sad thing to see that all this was all it took to make him so happy. In fact, Gaara found it rather annoying. He asked for assistance, not more problems. He had just came out here and spotted them in danger. Being that he didn't want anymore deaths under his belt he actually decided to step in, but he was not expecting Suna's own supposed protectors to need protection.

Gaara merely rolled his eyes and turned back toward the town. He gave no word to signal his departure, but he went ahead and started walking, expecting the group of males to follow after him. Kakashi and Gai simply shrugged their shoulders and kept close while Sasuke refused to remain even a foot behind Gaara. Naruto however, pissed Sasuke off a little because the blond was actually trying to walk beside Gaara. Figures Naruto would try to seek his protection, Sasuke thought bitterly.

"Gaara..." Naruto muttered calmly, staring at the red head as he walked beside him. "Were you actually disappointed to see us?" Naruto asked. For once in his life, Naruto wasn't completely oblivious to something and he had noted Gaara's sudden reluctance to having saved them. "We really could have handled them on our own if you hadn't shown up. But that doesn't mean we aren’t' grateful you did." Naruto explained.

The red head was surprisingly irritated by the fact Naruto was trying to talk to him. They were enemies last time they met, yet Naruto was here sounding like an actual friend, well if Gaara ever had one to compare it to. Gaara was simply not accustomed to Naruto acting as though things were normal between them, though there was certainly nothing weird going on between them. He didn't think he needed a friend or anyone's help for that matter, after all he was a child born without knowing or having love. To befriend someone as innocent and kind as Naruto would be a mockery to all the supernatural rules that governed their world.

Try as Gaara did, he could not successfully ignore every word that came out of Naruto's mouth. Though he had not given a single answer since they had started this escort, Naruto hadn't shut up about anything. Gaara was amazed that Naruto could even find this much stuff to talk about. After running out of previous missions to talk about, Naruto had went into a monologue about how he was going to come back to his town a hero. Gaara even had to admit...it was kind of cute. Not Naruto of course, just his ambitions and goals. It was cute that such a insignificant person had all these high goals they wanted to accomplish. Gaara didn't believe Naruto had all the power or cruelty to achieve them, but he certainly believe Naruto would have enough spirit to at least keep trying.

Obviously Gaara wasn't the only one not particularly happy to have Naruto ramble on about nothing. Sasuke was practically evaporating sweat as he walked. Kakashi couldn't have sworn most of the sudden heat had radiated out of Sasuke's head. Of course Sasuke wouldn't admit to be jealous or anything absolutely ridiculous like that, but he would admit to be pissed that Naruto was just a damn idiot he could befriend even killers. Sasuke knew Gaara couldn't be enjoying this, yet he acted like he was actually listening to Naruto, which only encouraged the blond more. Sasuke was only pissed because it was his duty to crush Naruto's aspirations, yet here Gaara was giving Naruto new ones, despite his unknowing.

"We're here." Gaara finally spoke as he stood before the main entrance into Suna. A feeling he could only define as slight mirth came over him when he saw Naruto's sudden bright and smiling face. He had never seen someone so happy to be here in a town located in the middle of a desert. For this fact alone, Gaara could never feel proud for being the one responsible for this place. But simply seeing the way Naruto looked at it, how happy it made him to actually be here...gave Gaara the small spark of pride he had never thought possible for this place. Could it be? He was proud of his home because...it could actually bring at least one, very strange person might he add, such happiness or excitement.

Maybe their visit wouldn't be such a bad one.

To Be Continued...

A/N: I finally brought Gaara into the mix! It's about time I say. And Sasuke is slowly starting to feel the competition forming. Anyway, I really hoped you liked this chapter and please tell me if I am managing to keep all the characters in character, especially Gaara. I think he is the hardest person to write with because he is so stoic. It would be very hard to expression or describe how such an impassive person falling in love. I will update soon, and you can bet on a little GaaraxNaru fluff in the next chapter. I love a budding love,lol( for either coupling).