Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ I'll Fight For You ❯ Sand ( Chapter 14 )

I don't own anything but my ideas.

 

Because of a recent jerk trying to find logic of all things in this fiction story ¬ ¬ I want to remind reviewers:

Feel free to flame, please! Just don't expect me to sit and take it.

You will hear something in return, but unlike how I answer all of my other nice reviews, this reply won't be so pleasant.

 

Sand

 

Sasuke slipped his key back into his pocket and closed the door to the compound behind him, instantly going stiff. He didn't dare use his chakra to see what was going on because of the ANBU always stationed outside the house, but as he took one step into the main room, he didn't have to.

 

Something crunched under his toe, and he knelt and ran his finger across the floor, bringing it up to his eye.

 

Sand. Sasuke relaxed and rubbed his fingers together to brush the grit back onto the floor as he straightened up. He wished Gaara didn't feel the need to leave a trail of sand every where he went, it wasn't so much of a problem in the desert where sand was anything but scarce, but he couldn't say the same for his main room floor. It made sense that there was a trail leading upstairs, Naruto wasn't allowed to have visitors yet, so Gaara had to morph himself into the sand and then just drift into the house on the breeze in order to see the Dobe.

 

“Usuratonkachi?” Sasuke called as he walked into the kitchen.

 

He set the food he'd picked up on the table along with the wasabi, soy sauce and dried seaweed on the table and started up the stairs to the third floor.

 

The compound was… silent. It was like a ghost mansion. Sasuke unconsciously fisted his hand as he thought of that, but the thoughts were already growing like weeds.

 

He was jolted out of his thoughts again by the distinct crunch under his feet again as he reached the third floor and looked down to find a good layer of sand—at least a half inch thick—covering the entire third floor of the house, most of it piled in front of the door of the room Naruto used. Sasuke had wanted them in the same room like when they had been traveling together, but he could feel that Naruto needed the space, so he had given him the guest room right next to his own.

 

A Little Earlier

 

“It's starting to really show.”

 

“No shit.” Naruto pushed his shirt back down, trying to cover the now obvious bump in his stomach.

 

“So you're about three months along now.” Gaara leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. Naruto nodded, flopping back onto the bed, and then rolling over onto his stomach to hide the bump.

 

“Does anyone else know?”

 

Naruto shook his head, burying his face in the red silk on the bed sheet.

 

“I sent you back here so you could get checked up by a doctor without having to hide.” Gaara snapped, restraining himself from whacking Naruto upside the head.

 

“I knoooooooooooooow!” Naruto wailed, kicking and flailing on the bed.

 

“So they had you in jail for how long?”

 

“Just a week or two, not very long.” Naruto shrugged before smirking evilly. “Hey Gaara…”

 

Naruto's only encouragement from the redhead was a slightly raised eyebrow, and even then, the gesture took minimal effort.

 

“I forgot to ask while we were in Suna… do you have a significant other yet?” he crowed.

 

Gaara remained motionless as he spoke. “You were in Suna for a week, and you still didn't remember to ask?”

 

“Just answer the question!” Naruto stabbed his finger at Gaara, standing up in the bed.

 

“…………………No.” ;

 

“Why not?!?!”

 

“Naruto, only one person from my village is willing to be trained by me—”

 

“That was before!” Naruto flopped back down on the bed. “They were all so happy when you were fine after Akatsuki took the Shukaku.”

 

“No one will pursue me Naruto, and it is because of the Shukaku.”

 

“But you don't have the Shukaku anymore—I've seen you sleep! And who's to say that you can't go after someone?”

 

Gaara didn't even blink.

 

“Or maybe you do like someone.” Naruto's face went sadistic again.

 

“I don't even know why I'm wasting my time here with you.”

 

“Who is it?!?!?”

 

“I didn't say anything Naruto.”

 

“Come on Gaara!” Naruto whined, rolling around on the bed. “If I guess it will you tell me?”

 

Gaara stayed motionless.

 

“Is it a girl?!” Naruto all but shouted, scrutinizing Gaara's every move. It was too bad Gaara didn't flinch at anything.

 

“A guy?”

 

Naruto gasped as a single grain of sand on the bed moved. “You're gay? Nononononono, wait!” he waved his hands around like a madman. “Don't tell me, let me guess!”

 

“Hmm… does he have brown hair?” another grain of sand moved, completely unauthorized by Gaara, and Naruto yelled in triumph again. The blonde missed how ticked off Gaara looked by his sand doing things he didn't tell it to just because his body temperature jumped a few notches. Gaara might have mastered the art of being a statue, but apparently his sand was still his opening.

 

“Is he our age, or close to it?”

 

Another ripple. Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly and his muscles clenched.

 

“KIBA?!?!” No reaction. “Then Shikamaru?!”

 

“The Uchiha.”

 

“Sasuke? … You like him?!?! But wait, Sasuke has black hair—”

 

“No, the Uchiha.” Gaara cut him off, looking at the door. Not two seconds later, Sasuke pushed the door open and stepped into the room, closing it behind him. Naruto seemed moderate relieved that his best friend didn't like his lover… if that's what they even were. The physical part was obvious in their relationship, but… Naruto didn't know if Sasuke felt the same way as him on the caring part. Sasuke was always so cold when it came to emotions and it was impossible to tell.

 

Sasuke nodded at Gaara before moving to the bed with Naruto. Gaara didn't miss how he sat slightly in front of Naruto, like he was protecting him. Gaara pushed away from the wall and started towards the door.

 

“Are you leaving?” Naruto pushed himself up onto his elbows, staring after Gaara.

 

“…I have no reason to stay.” Gaara said slowly. Sasuke did not understand how Gaara's icy voice could not freak Naruto out even a little bit.

 

The sand swirled up around Gaara, and he dissolved into the cloud of sand, drifting out from under the door. Naruto stood up and ran to the door, yanking it open and watching how the sand leaked out of the house through every crack, hole, window and door in the compound.

 

 

 

The sand clouds didn't remerge until they were far enough away from the Uchiha compound to not be suspicious, settling down as a thin layer of dirt on the top of one of the Konoha buildings, drifting and sliding slowly over the roofs.

 

“Ha!” Lee yelled as he landed on the top of a house, earning a yell from the residents, but he easily ignored it and dodged another kunai from Neji.

 

“This is the day that I will finally beat you Neji! I can feel it!” He jumped over the next kick from the longhaired boy and landed a little off balance, which wouldn't have normally been a problem, except for this time there was moving sand beneath him.

 

“It is the spirit of youth—AAH!” He yelped sharply as his feet slid out beneath him and he landed harshly on his elbow, nearly sliding off the edge of the roof.

 

“Lee!” Neji landed on the roof, his hands shooting out for balance as the shifting sand beneath him knocked his balance slightly off.

 

Lee flipped himself up and landed in a crouch next to Neji so as not to slide again. “Is it Gaara?” he asked.

 

Neji looked around the roof, putting his kunai back into his waist pouch. A thin layer of sand covered the entire tiling, matching the way the roof was layered so well that it was actually a hard to notice it unless you were looking for it. Or standing on it and being moved by it.

 

“I think so.” He answered, lifting his foot a little so the sand under it could continue along with the rest of the sand. “But why is he here, I didn't here anything about him coming, and usually they announce it pretty widely.”

 

“Yes.” Lee agreed. “He seems to be traveling incognito, could he have been visiting Naruto?”

 

“It's possible.”

 

“But Naruto is not allowed any visitors. So did he sneak here without any authorization from Tsunade?”

 

“I guess—”

 

“HA!” Lee boomed. “The wonders of youth that gave him the wonderful power to not be seen! WELL DONE!”

 

“Lee, be quiet. If he's seen it might be bad for Naruto. His sentence his long enough as it is.”

 

“Oh! You are right, I am sorry!” Lee yelled in a whisper, saluting Neji. “But if someone sees the sand, could it not it be dangerous as well?”

 

Neji's brow furrowed. “And the market's fairly crowded today too…”

 

“Of course!” Lee jammed his finger into the air, and then knelt back onto the roof. “May we be your escorts Gaara?”

 

The sand was still, and then it rippled and rose up, swirling around Lee's arms and weaving into his bandages, more sand filling his leg warmers and under his hitai-ate.

 

Neji paused a moment nervously before he held his hand out as a sort of offering to the rippling sand beneath his feet. The wind wound up around his ankle, and the grains of sand in the air began to settle in his pockets and waist pouch along with his weapons. He pointedly ignored the way his body temperature rose a few degrees. He was good at keeping his face blank, but Gaara was literally pressed right up against his skin, only a thin layer of cloth separating them.

 

“YOSH!” Lee bellowed before leaping to the next roof and racing off for the Konoha forest. Neji shook his head before following.

 

Lee looked back once to make sure Neji wasn't close enough to hear him. “Gaara, it is good to see you again, did you come to visit Naruto because he is no longer in jail?”

 

“I did.” Gaara's monotone voice said from the bandages on his arms.

 

“He must have liked seeing you, Naruto is very close to you, I am glad he had you to go to when he felt that he could no longer stay here last year. It is hard to believe that I will be turning twenty and Naruto will be turning nineteen. But even though we grow older with our years, we still are filled with wonderful and lively youth!” he shouted with a grin, punching the air with his fist. “And how are your wonderfully youthful brother and sister?”

 

“As prying and annoying as they could be.”

 

“But did they not cover for you when you came here today to visit Naruto?”

 

Silence.

 

Lee smiled. “I think that your brother and sister care for you a lot more than you might understand. They seem to be very understanding of you and want to breach the gap that was created between you two during your bright childhoods. Are there any other people in your life? You are training a young girl, but is there someone that is precious to you like Sasuke is to Naruto?”

 

“Why do people keep asking me that?” Gaara groaned to himself. “Temari asked me that before I left, and then Naruto—”

 

“We are worried about you Gaara, I know for a fact that Naruto is very worried that you will be lonely all of your life because you will not pursue someone. He said that when I went to visit him in the dank cell they kept him in; it was not right to put Naruto in there, he has done nothing wrong.”

 

“Of course the idiot would care.”

 

Lee smiled again. “But is there really no one Gaara? My wonderfully beautiful and youthful Sakura is opening up to me more by the day, soon she might even be mine!”

 

“The pink haired one that abuses Naruto?”

 

“It was all play, not abuse, do not worry. You can tell me Gaara, I have no reason to tell secrets to anyone.”

 

Silence.

 

“Is it someone from this village?”

 

“You and Naruto both seem to think that I'm actually pining after someone.”

 

“Of course!” Lee gasped down at the bandages. “It is the wonders of youth that make us love! It seems that your family is growing closer to you, but what about anyone outside of your wonderful family? Like my beautiful Sakura?”

 

“……….It isn't someone that I'm about to go after, I've done enough damage to this village as it is.”

 

“So then there is a special someone in your heart. Ah, the joys of the truth! But why do you feel as though you cannot go after this special and wonderful person? Do you feel as though they will not return the feelings?”

 

“Without a doubt.”

 

“But how do you know?”

 

Nothing.

 

“Is it someone important to the village? Or high up in the social status, is that why you were worried about doing damage to the village if you decided to court them?”

 

“You talk too much.”

 

“But that is part of the wonders of youth!” Lee beamed, his teeth sparkling in the sun as he ran. “And Naruto speaks much more than I do!”

 

“I'm not convinced on that.”

 

“Could it be the youthful Hinata?”

 

“No, it isn't her.”

 

“But I cannot think of any other girls that are high up in status… unless it is a boy, like Naruto and Sasuke.”

 

“You know about them?”

 

“They try to hide it, but Naruto is terrible at keeping secrets and they are so rarely seen without each other, it is like they have a string of youth between them that cannot stretch very easily, so they do not venture far apart from each other.”

 

“Hmm… if it is a boy, and they are high in the social chain from this village…” Lee looked back to Neji, jumping from tree to tree about twenty feet behind them. Lee quickly looked back, a spark shining in his eye. “Could it possibly be the youthful Neji?”

 

Lee let out a loud whoop at the way the sand rippled uneasily beneath the bandages and Gaara cursed the sand to the bottomless pits of the seven hells.

 

“Lee, be quiet, we're in the ANBU practicing grounds, we need to stay quiet and out of their way.” Neji said, jumping forward to catch up with them.

 

“Neji, are the joys of youth not wonderful?!” Lee shouted, tears streaming down his face.

 

“Huh?” Neji blinked.

 

“Never mind.” He sighed happily, just beaming in return. Neji rolled his eyes and jumped ahead.

 

“I would go for it Gaara, it would be wonderful if you had that someone special, and Neji is not yet taken. He is kind, but he is also strong, I think that he will be very good.” Lee said once Neji was far enough in front of them.

 

“…Gaara?”

 

Silence.

 

 

 

Father up ahead, Neji looked sharply down when the sand rippled like water over his arms. It was still for another moment, and then ran over his skin like a bird with its feather-light touches, almost like fingers.

 

The grains seemed to caress him as they wove over and danced patterns on his skin underneath the cloth of his shirt and chunin jacket. Neji fought a shiver back down his spine, the fingers stroking and tracing over his skin, dragging and teasing. What the hell was Gaara doing…?

 

Neji's breath hitched at the sudden brush above his naval; the sand had snuck beneath his undershirt while he was thinking and it was distracting him with the traces to his arm. The sand worked like a hand, stroking roughly over the tender skin protecting Neji's vitals, a place that had never really been breached before, Neji was too good at protecting himself to let that happen.

 

His muscles quivered involuntarily as the sand ran over his naval again, teasing and… tickling him. It was an odd feeling, he'd never really been tickled before, his parents never played with him that way. It wasn't that he didn't like it—hell, it was kind of enjoyable, it was just… different.

 

Hinata was deathly ticklish, and Kiba often had fun with it, but Neji had honestly never even thought about himself in that way, having a childhood weakness in that way.

 

Neji's lips locked in an effort to stay absolutely silent as the sand drifted over his skin, drawing on his arms, tracing on his stomach and now teasing over his chest. The sand swirled up—just a few grains, but it was enough—out of the collar of his shirt and stroked his collarbone, running over the contours in his shoulders and getting at the places normally hidden by his clothes.

 

This time as the sand brushed over a particularly sensitive area on his skin on his rib cage—determining Lee far enough behind to not notice anything—Neji let the shiver momentarily rock his body, vibrating like an earthquake over his skin.

 

A `finger' trailed up his arm, from the inside of Neji's wrist to his shoulder, but it was enough to make him shiver again. He shook his head to keep running straight so he didn't run into a tree and forced himself to ignore the sand touches. It worked, at first, but it seemed the fingers weren't so easily discouraged or swayed.

 

The touches trickled up Neji's torso like droplets of water—just enough to tickle him again—and slipped over his shoulder, running down between his shoulder blades and wrapping like an arm around one of his hips, becoming more forceful by the second as they continued to get no response.

 

The sand gained boldness and swept up over his neck and out of his shirt to skim his cheek like butterfly kisses, leaving Neji's skin tingling wherever the sand touched it. He shivered again, goose bumps pricking over his skin and making him even more sensitive to the feather touches, like a baby bird's wings sweeping over his skin—over his arms, his chest, his abs, his shoulder blades, his back, his spine, his neck, his collarbone, and he was so caught off guard by the sudden pinch to his earlobe—like a love nip—that a rush of air that sounded a little too much like a gasp escaped his lips.

 

“Neji.”

 

His eyes snapped back open—he couldn't remember exactly when they'd closed—to find that they were at the edge of the Konoha forest.

 

The sand drifted out of his and Lee's clothes and swirled up into a small whirlwind of sand, dispersing to reveal the Kazekage, looking as though he'd just seen poverty and war (his usual expression), not like he'd just—! Neji ducked his head in an attempt to hide his enflamed cheeks.

 

Gaara nodded once too Lee before the whirlwind wove up around him, and the cloud of sand swept over the ground and off into the distance.

 

“He is always disappearing like that, if someone wants him because of who he is, they will need to chase him, because I do not think Gaara knows how.” Lee said, glancing over at Neji's dazed face at first in anticipation for his reaction, and then in confusion at how clouded over and out of focus Neji looked to the whole world.

 

Neji vaguely remembered telling Lee not to wait for him, but he wasn't even sure of that.

 

He was alone in the forest, and a hand found the side of a tree to keep him from keeling over backwards all the way off the tree branch and back down to the ground. His breathing was irregular to say the least, completely overtaking his hearing along with his heart hammering in his chest, and his skin was on fire in more ways than one, his pants were quickly becoming more strained by the second, but only one thought was in his mind:

 

Neji could not believe it, it was against so many odds, a one in 50 million chance, as unlikely as a fish flying or drowning, but it was true. He had expected to die a bachelor, but now… he wasn't so sure, because…

 

Because Gaara felt the same way about him that he did to the Kazekage.

 

Meanwhile

 

Naruto wolfed down the soy-sauce-wasabi-dried-seaweed-uncooked-rice concoction Sasuke was positive would make even a sewer rat hurl, and Sasuke pointedly looked the other direction until Naruto was done.

 

“Yum!” Naruto set his bowl down on the table with a loud clack and licked his lips.

 

“You're weird Dobe.” Sasuke said, reaching into the fridge for his own dinner.

 

“It tastes good!” Naruto defended the food, dumping his bowl loudly in the sink as he proceeded to fill it with water.

 

Sasuke nibbled on the tomato he had gotten out, leaning against the counter as he watched Naruto work. Granted, Naruto's wild movements sent a lot of water flying onto the counter around the sink, but there was something… soothing about watching Naruto.

 

“Hey Sasuke, I have to tell you something.” Naruto said suddenly, setting the clean bowl down on the counter. Ok, not too hard, just say it. “Nice day, isn't it Sasuke? By the way, the Kyuubi created me a chakra womb and you knocked me up. You want a card next father's day?” Yeah, not too hard. “I… you… we… you've got a tomato seed on your cheek.” He said quickly, pointing.

 

Sasuke easily picked up on the fact that Naruto had chickened out of telling him, but there was a tomato seed on his cheek, so he wiped it off with a fingertip and licked his finger very slowly and deliberately, teasing the seed a little bit with his tongue before taking it into his mouth and swallowing, smirking to himself when Naruto gulped at the display before whirling around.

 

“I… we… do you ever wash your dishes?!” Naruto pack pedaled again, pulling nearly all of the dishes out of the cabinet and proceeding to wash them again in the water still in the sink. His movements were much less like a spasm now, and he actually looked peaceful while doing such a simple task.

 

“Naruto.” Sasuke pressed, crossing his arms accusingly as he waited. Idiot.

 

“…I'm… we're… I have… whoa! Did you see that bird?!” he pointed dramatically out of the window, yet again weaseling out of saying whatever he wanted to say.

 

Sasuke sighed, not even bothering to wait to hear what Naruto had to say, as the Dobe would never actually get around to saying the damn thing. He shoved away from the counter he'd been leaning on and stepped silently over the floor, hoisting Naruto up and setting him on the counter before either of them could blink.

 

“Hey—”

 

Sasuke silenced Naruto with a finger to his lips, and leaned it so their foreheads were touching. “Calm down Usuratonkachi, don't hurt yourself by thinking too hard.” Naruto huffed angrily in response.

 

Sasuke pressed himself into Naruto and Naruto wrapped his legs tightly around Sasuke's waist—as much as he could before the bump in his middle got too in the way.

 

“About this…” Sasuke looked down at Naruto's bloated middle, missing how Naruto went as red as a fire hydrant for three seconds.

 

“…About that… the, uh… I'm… we're going to be…”

 

“I was thinking it was malnutrition.”

 

“What?” Naruto asked, completely caught off-guard.

 

“You said you didn't eat much in the cell, right? And when you did, the food wasn't good enough for a rat? I think it's malnutrition. You get bloated when it happens.” He explained to Naruto's perplexed expression.

 

Naruto blinked. Twice. Three times. “…Oh… oh!” his face lit up, like he was relieved or something. “Yeah, mal-whosa-whata!”

 

“Malnur—”

 

“Yeah that!” Naruto smiled widely, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's neck.

 

“So you'll just eat like crazy for the next few days, and no ramen.”

 

“WHAT?!” Naruto wailed, pulling back.

 

“That stuff is terrible for you Dobe, and you aren't allowed out of the house, and I'm the one doing the shopping.” Sasuke said triumphantly.

 

“No fair Sasuke!” Naruto yelled, shaking him roughly by his shoulders.

 

“Well suck it up Dobe, because I'm not buying any of that crap.” Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrists to steady himself and pushed forward, pining Naruto farther back into the counter. He drew his tongue along Naruto's collarbone slowly, trailing up Naruto's neck until he was close enough to press his lips over the darker tanned ones. “What are your other favorite foods?” he asked around the kiss, making sure the contacts between them never broke.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scale of 1-10 please and read at the very top for a note to reviewers!

I still love all of my kind readers and reviewers!

It's like the saying goes, “If you don't have anything nice to say, shut the fuck up.”