Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hot Sand ❯ Misunderstandings ( Chapter 19 )

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Hot Sand

by thatreevesgirl/Lemon Drops (yes, I'm both)

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Chapter 19: Misunderstandings

 

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Sand flew up and out of the gorge beside Kankuro and Kakashi. Both men eyed each other warily, praying it wasn't the reaction they'd both been fearing. Kankuro prepared himself for a battle with his brother, lacing his puppets with chakra strings, and Kakashi drew out several kunai, wasting no time raising the forehead protector from his sharingan eye. Neither man put words to their worst fears, because if Naruto was dead, then Sasuke was dead. Not only that, but Sakura, as talented of a ninja as she was, would most likely not survive the aftermath of Gaara's destruction. Kankuro promised himself if this was the case he would avenge her, killing his crazy younger brother before he could do any more damage.

 

Waves of sand began flying from the crack in the earth below, hissing and whipping about it a great flurry, but as quickly as it had started the sand stopped and an eerie calm settled into the air.

 

“What was that?” Kakashi asked, hoping Kankuro knew what his brother was thinking.

 

Kankuro didn't let loose the strings of Karasu and Kuroari, he even prepared himself to summon more puppets if needed. “I'm not sure, but that little sandstorm couldn't have been a good sign.”

 

“I agree,” whispered a worried Kakashi.

 

Watching intently and preparing for whatever was to come, the two men anxiously waited for any sign of the other ninja returning, comforted when a cloud of sand floated into view. The only thing which dampened Kakashi and Kankuro's relief were the waves of angry chakra which seemed to be rolling off Gaara. Something had definitely occurred in the chasm.

 

“Someone needs to take Sasuke,” Sakura yelled up at the other two men when they were in range to hear her. “He's been injured badly, and I can't help both him and Naruto. The rest of us have to get Naruto back carefully, the poison cannot spread anymore or he'll die.”

 

You mean die again? Gaara hissed in his own mind, dumping the three other ninja on solid ground and then walking away.

 

“Where in the hell are you going?” Kankuro shouted at his brother. “We need your help to get Naruto back!”

 

“I don't have the chakra left…and…”

 

The words stopped and Kankuro watched as Gaara folded his arms and continued to walk in the opposite direction of the village. He moved to stop his brother, but Sakura waved him down, shaking her head furiously. Kankuro didn't know what happened down there, but it had obviously taken a large toll on his brother's sanity.

 

Kakashi scooped up Sasuke's broken body, “I'll take him back and then return to help you two. Do you think he could handle a transportation jutsu?”

 

Sakura nodded, Sasuke could, but Naruto couldn't. The sickeningly wet sounds which were coming from the Hokage worried her greatly. Doing an examination with her chakra, Sakura could see the massive internal damage the poison had wreaked on Naruto's body, injuring several of his vital organs and attacking his chakra.

 

“You don't have Sanshouo with you, do you?” Sakura asked Kankuro helplessly. The puppet she'd been referring to was Kankuro's salamander puppet, and would work well for transporting Naruto through the rough terrain.

 

“No, but I will,” Kankuro replied with a devious grin, before biting his thumb and slamming it into the ground, adding a flurry of hand seals. A large summoning box appeared and Sanshouo crawled out, much to Sakura's relief.

 

“Help me move Naruto,” Sakura pleaded, and then added for good measure, “Carefully.”

 

Kankuro nodded. The puppet-nin, as well as his two puppets, maneuvered the Hokage's body into Sanshouo, quickly closing the salamander puppet's storage area before helping Sakura crawl onto its back with Kankuro. “We should hurry, right?”

 

“As fast as you can make your puppets go,” Sakura cried, gripping Kankuro tightly as Sanshouo started to move.

 

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One hour, then two, the time trickled by into three hours and finally four. Kakashi sat at Sasuke's bedside, waiting for the shinobi to wake up. A Rock medic, who had been present for the chunin exams, skillfully patched him up, but the Uchiha was still unconscious. Kakashi knew Sasuke needed rest to recover, and the sleep was partially induced by the influx of healing chakra forced into the young ninja's system, but the copy-nin still couldn't help but worry. Kakashi's concern focused on Sasuke and Naruto, his students, his friends…one of them his lover.

 

The medic who had taken care of Sasuke asked about the odd wounds on the Uchiha's back. Kakashi grimaced at that question and shrugged it away, though secretly knew exactly what the idiotic ass had tried. Sasuke had reactivated the dormant curse seal from Orochimaru, but now the seal was gone, completely used up. Kakashi was sure the only way his two students had survived the fall was thanks to the seal given by that disgusting snake, long since perished. In all his life, Kakashi never thought he would be grateful to such a revolting human being as Orochimaru, but he was. It was the curse seal's final activation which saved Sasuke, and hopefully Naruto.

 

Naruto was still in surgery with Sakura. Rumors were being whispered around the small, rural hospital that the Hokage wouldn't last the night. This was troubling. The death of a Hokage such as Naruto (from only a small band of rogue ninja no less) would be a blow to Leaf and all of the countries which Naruto were trying to unite in some hopeful democracy. That hope of Naruto's might be the reason he lay dying in some hospital, the best med-nin in all the great ninja nations unable to save him.

 

Kankuro walked into Sasuke's room and interrupted Kakashi's thoughts. “How is he doing?” Kankuro asked quietly.

 

“They tell me he'll be fine. Have you heard anything about Naruto?”

 

Kankuro was quiet, too quiet. The silence spoke more than words ever could. Kakashi sighed, “Is he alive?”

 

“Barely. Sakura isn't sure he'll actually make it. She did everything she could, but it probably won't be enough,” Kankuro answered, straining to get the words out.

 

Kakashi fought back the feeling of hopelessness which was plaguing him, “Does Gaara know? Is Gaara back?”

 

“No, we can't find him. When he's ready to return, he will”

 

“And if Naruto dies during that time?”

 

Kankuro scoffed, “Well I guess that is his own stupid fault. I'm his brother, not his keeper. Take care of Sasuke, Sakura tells me most of the damage was from Gaara, so…I'm sorry.”

 

Kakashi sighed, wanting to scream at the puppet-nin, but it wasn't Kankuro who was to blame. “I don't need your apology, Kankuro, you weren't the one who did this.”

 

“I know, it's just…I don't know if Gaara will ever apologize, so someone has to.”

 

Kakashi's chest hurt, feeling tightly constrained by the puppet-nin's words. “Maybe you should leave,” Kakashi uttered under his breath, and watched as Kankuro didn't argue, only complied with the desperate request from the copy-nin.

 

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Gaara, seated on a slate of sand, watched as the sun rose above the hilltops, peeking carefully over the horizon before blessing the world with another day of light. Why was it when the world received such a gift, the only thing he was given was darkness? Gaara's life had gone from a place of serene contentment to a remembered fate of horrid solitude all in one night. Naruto had betrayed him.

 

I know the exact moment I fell in love with you.

 

When had Gaara fallen in love with Naruto? He wasn't really sure, but it had been somewhere around the time Naruto started telling the Suna leader he was loved. Gaara hadn't ever been loved in that way before; love between friends and family, but never true love. Naruto told him he was precious, and Gaara realized, slowly, that Naruto was the same to him.

 

Know that no matter what happens in the future, I will always be there for you and will always love you with every atom of my being. There is nothing which could ever compare to what we have, don't forget that.

 

Had those words been a mere falsity? Did Naruto lie when he wrote those things to Gaara? The letter was still in Gaara's vest pocket, so he pulled it out and examined it again. Part of him wanted to rip it into tiny shreds, so all traces of this false love could die along with his feelings for the Hokage, but Gaara couldn't. How could these things Naruto told him be untrue? There had to be more…but still…he had kissed someone else, given his final request to Sasuke.

 

Gaara wasn't completely naive. Naruto had told him about being in love with Sasuke, but never receiving anything from him in return. Naruto had explained the pain of knowing since he was a genin that he was in love with someone who would never return his feelings. Gaara couldn't see someone being so heartless as to deny a dying man's request, not even someone as selfish and annoying as that Uchiha brat. Sasuke had given something to Naruto which Gaara's lover had always wanted…to be loved by Sasuke. It made Naruto and Gaara's relationship look like a sham, and it felt even more like one to Gaara.

 

“I loved you,” Gaara whispered to no one in particular, seeing as the only things around him were rocks, snow, and the occasional forest creature. A cold wind whipped around Gaara's head, howling and sending chills down the Suna leader's skin. This was real. The pain and grief were actually happening, it wasn't a dream or some hallucination, no…this was Gaara's life. Gaara loved Naruto, he would never stop, but Naruto…who did he love?

 

Did it matter?

 

Would Gaara's feelings honestly change for Naruto if his lover chose someone else? Gaara would mad…furious, but would it stop him from loving Naruto? No…it wouldn't. Gaara wasn't sure he'd ever forgive Naruto for the betrayal, but he wanted to let Naruto know he was still loved, despite stupid indiscretions on the Hokage's part. Gaara stood and began racing toward the village.

 

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The memories of a day back in Suna replayed over and over again. The smell of burnt eggs, the warm Suna sun, Kankuro complaining about Sakura for the umpteenth time, everything felt so real…

 

“Is this where you want to be?” a strikingly cool voice asked from behind Naruto.

 

“Sasuke?” Naruto asked. “What are you doing here?”

 

Sasuke was giving off his normal icy aura. The one which said he was untouchable, out of everyone's reach, completely and utterly unobtainable. “Dobe, you just don't get it, do you?”

 

Naruto had to admit he certainly didn't understand what was going on. Sasuke never came with him to Suna, and today was already too eerily familiar for Sasuke to fit in. “Teme, what in the hell?”

 

“Do you love him? Do you love him more than you loved me?”

 

Suddenly the reality seemed to crumble, and Naruto was left alone with the ghost of his past, a man who had pushed him away.

 

“You wanted to kiss Gaara goodbye, you thought I was Gaara. I understood that. You understood that…but you realized…you did, at the last moment.”

 

“You care to explain what the hell you mean by that, you stupid bastard? I'm not getting this at all,” Naruto complained, reaching for his friend, but Sasuke dissipated before he could get there.

 

“Sasuke, this is a bit freaky, so if you could cut out the sharingan crap, I'd really appreciate it.”

 

It wasn't just Sasuke who disappeared, it was everything. Naruto was alone in a very dark, cold place, like he waiting. What the Hokage was supposed to be waiting for was unknown, but that was the feeling Naruto received.

 

What…happened…I don't understand…

 

He was slipping, like the time in that gorge…the chasm…with Sasuke. A moment where Naruto was sure he had died. If he was dead, then where was he now?

 

Warm arms enveloped Naruto, holding him tight. They were comforting, letting Naruto know he was loved.

 

I have things to do…

 

The darkness started to evaporate, surprising because nothingness wasn't supposed to disappear. By definition that is what nothingness is, a deep, dark nonentity, never filled with anything, but as it dripped away there was something.

 

Please…I'm really not ready.

 

The arms kept holding him, clutching as though they too weren't ready to release Naruto.

 

Gaara…I have to tell Gaara…

 

***

 

“Gaara…I ha…tell…” the broken words stunned Sakura as she sat next to Naruto's bedside. She had been sure Naruto wouldn't survive this, but he was fighting and now he was speaking. Sakura was positive it had something to do with who was with the Hokage. Gaara, a man undeniably broken, was sitting beside his fiancé, clutching him carefully as though his very life depended on it.

 

***

 

Tugging and pulling, Naruto could feel parts of himself start to drip away along with the dark void. Soon there would be nothing left except the warmth of a strange light. Even the arms which held him felt weaker.

 

The demon Naruto housed inside of himself appeared suddenly in front of him, “Kit, you better fight harder, I can't get you out of this one.”

 

“Kyuubi, what the hell is happening to me?” Naruto screamed into the light, at the demon who was disappearing just like he was.

 

“Fight! Fight for them, fight for me, and everything you believe in, no matter how stupid and naive I think your beliefs are.”

 

“I'm…dying…aren't I?”

 

“Yes, unless you fight.”

 

How does one battle death when it so clearly wants to take you? How does one remain attached to a life which has already discarded them? Naruto didn't know, but then again he rarely knew how to fight a battle before he actually tried. Here he felt it was probably mind over matter…more will and less strength.

 

Naruto gripped the only thing which seemed to keep him grounded in the world of the living, the arms which were wrapped around him.

 

“I'm not ready,” he told whatever it was which surrounded him completely. “I have things to do. I have people to help and someone I love. I can't go, please, I can't.”

 

Deafening silence, and then…

 

The sudden rush of Kyuubi reentering Naruto was painful, and there was the crushing feeling, the horrific searing throbs as his body was pulled down and away from the dream he had been trapped in…but the arms never disappeared. Those arms held Naruto and pulled him back into the world he so desperately wasn't ready to leave. It was those arms which saved him.

 

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END OF CHAPTER

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End of Chapter A/N's: Okay, so my stupid outline be damned. This story all of a sudden had a life of its own and just went. I couldn't stop it, and it's a bit cheesy, but oh well. Therefore, this will be a lot shorter. I'm going to stop predicting how long my stories are going to be, because I don't know. I never know. Growl and a half.