Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Way We Change ❯ The Beginning of Things ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven

Temari would have been giddy if that were the kind of person she was. Instead, she just had the most devilishly pleased smirk you could imagine plastered all over her face. But at least she had a good reason: Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura were sitting at her kitchen table and her youngest brother was due back home any minute now. She had planned it perfectly so that they would arrive in Suna exactly on the nineteenth between the time that Gaara left the house, and the time he came back. It had been extremely difficult to get them into Suna without him knowing.

Temari had decided years ago that she would no longer visit her mother's grave on the actual day of her death. Neither did Kankuro. But for some reason, last year Gaara had visited his mother's grave for the first time on that very day. Temari had walked with him on the way there, but didn't enter the grave yard. She had watched from the gate, in the dead of night, as Gaara simply stood in front of his mother's headstone for half an hour, not moving, not making a sound. Then for some reason, he sat down on the ground, much like a lost child, for another half hour. Then they had walked home together in silence.

That had been the first and last time that Gaara would ever visit that grave.

Temari was determined to make this birthday better. Her little brother had never even had a birthday party before, and few people outside the family even knew when his birthday was. She supposed Gaara preferred it that way. This time though, she had made dinner and a cake with Sakura's help. (A lemon cake, since Gaara didn't really like sweets.) Naruto had told her that people sometimes had streamers and confetti and stuff at birthday parties, but the image of Gaara and multi-colored streamers in the same room made her laugh fit to burst.

"Temari, I think he's coming..." Kankuro suddenly said as he peeked out of the window above the kitchen sink. The house that the siblings shared was a small two story building tucked away in one of the quieter parts of the city. It had four small bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, and a kitchen and living room on the first. Like all buildings in Suna, it was round and sand colored on the outside.

"Hey, hey. Aren't we gonna jump out and say surprise?" Naruto asked. "Shouldn't we hide or something?"

"Nah," Kankuro said. "He'll be able to sense us anyway. Plus, if we turn off the lights and jump out at him screaming he might dump a pile of sand on us."

"Can we at least still say surprise?"

"Sure, why not," Kankuro said, shrugging, and turned back to the door. "Here he comes..."

The door unlatched from the outside and swung open.

"SURPRISE!!"

Gaara looked at the source of the voice like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming bus. "...Naruto? Sakura?"

"Happy birthday, Gaara," Sakura said with a smile on her face. Gaara turned to look at his sister.

"Temari, what's going on?" he asked sternly, hefting his gourd off his back and setting it on the floor. Kankuro slung an arm over his brother's shoulder.

"Isn't it obvious? They came all the way from Konoha to celebrate your birthday with you. You do remember that today is your birthday right?" Kankuro asked jokingly.

"Ne, Gaara, we came to make sure your birthday was happy for a change," Naruto grinned at him. Gaara just stood there, unmoving.

"Why should I celebrate my birthday?"

It was an honest, severe question. Naruto crossed his arms resolutely and stood in front of Gaara with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Well why should I celebrate mine? Huh? It's the anniversary of the day the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, but I still celebrate it anyway. So stop being so depressing all the time and just shut up and enjoy yourself for once."

Gaara blinked incredulously at him for a moment or two before his face softened again.

"Come on Gaara..." Sakura said. He sighed a pinched the bridge of his nose, then moved away from Kankuro to sit in one of the kitchen chairs.

"All right then," he relented.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered.

"So how do you celebrate your birthday Naruto?" Gaara asked, humoring his energetic blonde friend with a tiny smile at the corners of his mouth.

"With cake and presents!" he shouted, waving his fist in the air.

"First we should have an actual dinner," Sakura said, getting up from her chair.

"That's right," Temari grinned. "We made dinner."

"We?" Kankuro asked skeptically.

"Yup. Sakura-chan helped," Temari beamed.

Kankuro sighed in relief. Temari's cooking was not the best in the world. He and Gaara usually just made due with it, and occasionally cooked for themselves, but maybe Sakura's influence would spare them this time.

The food did turn out better than normal, and throughout the whole dinner Naruto and Kankuro traded random stories. Naruto recalled various incidents with his perverted sennin teacher and Kankuro actually had the gall to tell one or two embarrassing stories about Gaara when he had been about four. Gaara glared and retaliated by telling them about the time Kankuro had fallen asleep on the floor of his room holding Karasu to his chest like a teddy bear, which Temari had taken a picture of. Said picture was produced from somewhere in the house and Naruto laughed himself silly.

"Hey! I was seven!" Kankuro shouted indignantly. "How would you remember that anyway Gaara? You were only five!"

"I don't remember. I just saw the picture," he returned.

Naruto just laughed harder while pointing a finger at the mortified puppeteer. Then Kankuro turned to Sakura, hoping to get Naruto to focus on someone else. "Hey, I've been wanting to ask you..."

"Hm?"

"Is that... really your hair's natural color?" he asked with a quizzical face. She blinked and her face turned red. Inner Sakura screeched, And what the hell is wrong with having pink hair!? Naruto burst into fresh peels of laughter. Kankuro turned to him.

"You're one to laugh Naruto. Are those tattoos on your face, or did you loose a fight with a cat?"

"Yeah!? And that stupid face paint makes you look like a clown!" Naruto shouted. "And you!" he shouted, pointing dramatically at Gaara. "What about you Raccoon Boy? Are those marks around your eyes really from insomnia, or do you just apply tons of eyeliner when no one's looking? Seriously, your whole family is weird!"

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura cried, hitting him over the head.

By now Kankuro was practically dying from laughing so hard. Temari couldn't hold in her giggles anymore as she looked between her glaring brother and Naruto, with that huge lump on his head. Sakura remained angry for about two seconds before she cracked up and Naruto's glaring face soon broke and he started laughing too, while Gaara just looked at the rest of them like he either thought they were all mildly amusing, or just loony.

They continued eating cake, and Temari noted that Gaara's eyes flickered to the side every once in a while.

Is he looking at... Sakura? Temari smiled to herself.
"Hey Kankuro, let's go get them now," Naruto said, quickly swallowing the cake in his mouth. Kankuro nodded an the two boys got up and went into the living room.

"Get what?" Gaara asked. Sakura smiled devilishly.

"You'll see."

Kankuro and Naruto came back with four boxes and set them on the table. One was rather long, another was about the size of a book, the third was small and square and wrapped in outlandish orange paper (guess who that was from) and the fourth wasn't a box at all, but a rather lumpy package wrapped in reddish paper.

"What is all this?"

"Duh," Kankuro interjected. "They're your birthday gifts from us."

Temari pulled the first two boxes toward him.

"These are from me and Kankuro."

Temari's gift was a set of ninja-to: short, straight-bladed ninja swords. They could be functional, but she figured they would be ceremonial instead, since Gaara used his sand. Kankuro's present was a video game for some strange reason. His only explanation was that he had to start teaching Gaara the ways of normal teenage boys, shinobi or not. Gaara glared angrily.

"Open mine next!" Naruto shouted, pushing the box forward. Gaara eyed it skeptically, then carefully pulled off the orange paper and stared at the box for a few seconds.

"Naruto..."

"Yeah?"

"What is it?" Gaara asked, inwardly bewildered.

"It's a Chia Pet," he said happily.

"I can read Naruto. But what is it?"

"It's a... thing... pet. And you grow it."

"...It's a terra cotta head. Terra cotta doesn't grow."

"No, you put the seeds on it and grow the grass like hair. Then you can give it a mohawk or something."

"A mohawk..."

"Yeah," Naruto said with a cheesy smile. There was a long pause while Gaara stared at it.

"Thank you Naruto... I think I'll put it on my desk."

"Yeah. At first I thought about getting you a puppy. But then I thought... what if it didn't like you? Or it tried to bite or something, and the sand squished it? I'd never forgive myself."

Kankuro burst into hysterical laughter again, banging his fist on the table.

"What!?" Naruto cried, as if his fear of Gaara killing an innocent puppy was perfectly valid. Maybe it was. Sakura sighed, shaking her head.

Her present was last. She shyly handed the lumpy package to him. She looked on nervously as he carefully stripped off the reddish paper. It had taken quite a lot of nerve to finally decide on the gift, and she desperately hoped she hadn't gone too far. Please... Please don't be mad...

The first thing that fell out of the paper was the the one thing that the practical part of her mind had demanded she include. It was a special medicinal ointment for sore muscles that she had developed herself. After all, even if he didn't get hurt, he still trained a lot and was bound to get sore and stiff just like any other ninja. But that was not the part of the gift that was making her nervous.

Gaara slowly took the rest of the paper off and pulled out a large black T-shirt and held it up in front of his face. The others couldn't see what was on the front. Gaara's brow furrowed and he frowned a bit. Temari finally got up from her chair to look over his shoulder. Her mouth dropped open a little.

Crap, he's gonna kill me for this. "Uh, Gaara..." Sakura began, "I... uh... I'm sorry if-" Sakura cut off when she heard him make a sound. It was low, soft, and came from somewhere in his throat. They all stared a bit when they realized what it was. He was laughing. Or rather, chuckling darkly. It would have been somewhat disturbing to anyone who didn't know him. Gaara held the bridge of his nose with one hand as the dark laughter continued.

"Well?? What does it say?" Naruto asked impatiently. Temari took the shirt from her brother and turned it around for Naruto to read. There, in plain white letters, it read The voices in my head think you have problems. It was one of those T-shirts that civilians in Konoha wore all the time. Naruto had even seen this particular one once before. That didn't keep him from immediately breaking into more raucous laughter. Temari and Kankuro looked between their brother and Naruto and they too started laughing, half relieved and half exasperated. Sakura smiled sheepishly when Gaara slowly stopped laughing and looked at her.

"Heh," she said nervously, "I saw it in a shop and..."

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"Hey guys," Naruto croaked, still shaking with laughter, "let's go play that video game."

The only game consul in the house belonged to Kankuro, and miraculously still worked regardless of how old it was, and was attached to the only television set in the house (also fairly old) which was in the living room. Gaara wasn't particularly thrilled about learning how to play video games, but for his brothers sake, and for the sake of some much needed normalcy, he relented. So for the next two hours Temari and Sakura watched from the couch in amusement as the boys sat on the floor and tried to teach Gaara how to play. He was a fast learner, but still considered the idea of killing virtual zombies a bit ridiculous.

By the time they had cleared the second level it was getting late and the girls were both yawning. Even Kankuro looked sleepy.

"Come on guys," Temari yawned, "let's go to sleep. I'm tired."

"Aww, but we only just got past level two," Naruto whined.

"That's enough for tonight Naruto," Gaara said as he turned off the game. "We can play some more tomorrow." Gaara didn't really want to play more tomorrow, so he just hoped that Naruto would forget. Naruto sighed and stretched his arms behind his head.

"Eh, I guess you're right. It is kinda late."

The second floor of the Sand Sibling's house was taken up by four small bedrooms and one large bathroom. Each of the siblings had their own room. The fourth was mostly empty as it was sometimes used for storage. Temari turned it into a make-shift guest room for Sakura by rolling out a comfortable futon. Naruto would sleep in Kankuro's room.

Sakura took a shower and put her backpack on the floor by the futon while drying her hair with a towel and then slipped on her pajamas. Geez it's late. I'm so tired, she thought to herself as she looked at her little digital clock, ready to go to sleep soon. But I've gotta get something to drink first... She walked out into the hall just as Temari came out of the bathroom with a towel over her wet hair.

"Hey Sakura-chan, aren't you gonna go to sleep?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, but I was just going to get some water to drink if that's ok."

"Sure, no problem. I think Kankuro and Naruto-kun are already asleep. Heh. I bet he snores just like Kankuro," she chuckled quietly to herself. "And Gaara's probably in his room meditating."

"Ah. Good night then," Sakura smiled.

"Good night," Temari yawned, disappearing into her room.

Sakura tip-toed down the stairs towards the kitchen. The house was so quite. The living room light was turned off but a faint glow came from the open door frame that led to the kitchen. Someone had turned the dimmer switch of the kitchen light very low.

"What are you still doing up, Sakura?" a low, quiet voice asked when she walked in.

"Gaara?" she whispered. "I didn't realize you were here. I was just going to get something to drink."

Gaara nodded in the semi-darkness. He was sitting at the kitchen table, leaning over an old fashioned earthenware cup.

"There's more tea if you want it," he said quietly. She got herself another cup and filled it with green tea from a pot on the stove and sat across from him at the table.

She squinted, her eyes finally adjusting to the dim light, and saw that he was actually wearing the shirt she gave him.

"You like the shirt?"

"Yes. I... no one's ever actually..." He paused for a while, taking in a deep breath and looking at her seriously. "I do sometimes hear voices in my head you know, Sakura. His voice. I even used to think I heard my mother's voice. But... I don't anymore."

"Yeah, um... I was afraid that it may have been going too far. I thought you might not like it."

He shook his head a bit. "No. It... makes me feel normal. Thank you for coming."

She smiled at him slightly as she drank more tea. "It was important. Naruto thought so too."

"But aren't you two supposed to be looking for the Uchiha?"

Her brow furrowed and she frowned into her teacup. "There's nothing was can do until we have more information. There's no way to know where to look," she said solemnly. She sighed and tilted her head back to look at the ceiling.

"Still, you didn't have to be here. Thank you."

"You're welcome," she breathed, eyelids drooping a little, face slack. It really was late. She stood up and put the empty cup in the sink and Gaara did the same. When she turned to walk out of the kitchen he suddenly caught her wrist in a gentle but firm grip.

"Sakura, wait."

Startled, she turned to him with wide eyes. She'd never actually actually seen him touch someone else voluntarily. His fingers felt hot against her slim wrist. He wasn't looking her in the eye and there was something in his voice she had never heard before. Sakura looked at him curiously, only a little nervous.

Gaara let his grip on her wrist slacken a bit and took a step closer to her, looking her in the eyes briefly before shifting his gaze. What... what is he doing? There was no way to mistake what he was doing when he leaned in, tilting his head to the side a bit. Sakura gulped hard. She could have backed away, could have easily pulled her wrist out of his hand, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with a reason to do so. So when he pressed his lips to hers, eyes still slightly open, she didn't flinch, didn't turn away. Instead she closed her eyes, and after a moment or two, pressed back. He kissed her a little harder. The fingers of his free hand flexed, but stayed at his side.

She felt something warm and wet touch her lips. His tongue. Her brain felt hazy and it barely registered when she opened her mouth as well. He tasted like green tea. It wasn't unpleasant.

Just as her foggy brain was contemplating putting a hand on his shoulder or in his blood red hair, a faint sneezing sound came from the stairs around the corner and by the time Temari walked into the kitchen Gaara had backed up several steps and Sakura was left breathing just a little deeper than before. Temari said something about getting something to drink, but Sakura barely paid attention and bid the two of them a hasty good night before quickly retreating up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door behind her.

Her mind ran in circles as she curled up in her futon, pulling the cover around herself like a protective cocoon.

What was that!? She thought desperately. Why did he do that? Why did I do that?

She touched her lips hesitantly, and suddenly her mind thought back on all the times she had fantasized about Sasuke as a child. She had always imagined her first kiss being with him, as being soft and sweet and romantic.

This...

Romantic?

Not really. It had been in the middle of Gaara's kitchen after all, rather than her favored childhood fantasy of a grove of Cherry Blossom trees.

Soft? Sweet?

No.

Heated. Hazy. In fact her body still felt warm and her brain was still fuzzy around the edges.

Sakura was suddenly utterly exhausted and as he eyes drifted shut the last thing she thought of in her semi-consciousness was red hair and a pair of dark-rimmed icy green eyes.

--

Sunrise was still almost two hours away when a persistent knocking came from the front door. Gaara had been brooding on the couch for the past several hours, thinking about how Sakura would probably never trust him again. She'd practically bolted after the kiss had ended.

Who the hell is it at this hour!? He thought angrily. He flung open the door, but immediately regained his composure when he saw that it was one of the rookie chuunin that worked at the Kazekage's tower. The poor chuunin, who was probably only two years younger than Gaara himself, was practically shaking. Only part of it was due to the fact that he was standing in front of the Kazekage's actual home, and that the door had nearly flown open, even if he hadn't quite believed them when they had said the Kazekage would be awake at this hour. He was so intent upon his mission that, in the darkness, he didn't even notice the strange slogan on Gaara's shirt. If he had he probably would have fainted.

"Kazekage-sama," he gasped in slight surprise.

"What is it?"

"Th-the sannin Jiraiya-sama has just arrived from Konoha. He says it's urgent. He says there are two Leaf-nin here that he has to speak to."

"I'll be there immediately. Return to the tower," he commanded. Gaara did not wait to see that the order was carried out before briskly turning back into the house, shutting the door behind him with a snap. In a second he was up the stairs, knocking on Temari's door.

"Temari," he called urgently. "Temari, wake up." A second later she opened the door, bleary eyed and groggy.

"Gaara? What's wrong?"

"Get dressed. Wake Sakura and tell her to do the same and to get ready to leave. Jiraiya is here and it's Konoha business." She blinked a few times and then disappeared back into her room. Gaara knocked on Kankuro's door next. When nothing happened he opened the door himself. Kankuro was sprawled on his bed, drooling slightly. Naruto was in a similar position on the floor among the tousled cover of a futon.

"Naruto, Kankuro, wake up," he commanded. Naruto blinked and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Eh? Gaara? What's going on?"

"Your teacher is here."

"Huh? Kakashi-sensei?"

"No. Your other teacher. The sannin."

"Eh? Ero-sennin's here?" he asked, his brain still sleepy. Kankuro yawned and sat up in his bed.

"Huh? What're you two doing?"

"The sannin Jiraiya is here. Naruto, pack your things. This is Konoha business and he probably wants you to leave."

Naruto's face turned serious and he immediately started to pull on his pants.

Five minutes later, and now no longer in their pajamas, all five shinobi hopped over the rooftops from the house to the central tower. When they got there, Jiraiya was already deep in conversation with four of the counsil members plus two guards. Naruto strode up to Jiraiya and impatiently tugged on his sleeve, face devoid of all his usual foolishness.

"What's goin' on old man?" he asked seriously. Jiraiya turned to him, taking in a big lung full of air before speaking.

"I've come across some information... and I believe I may have pinpointed the location of the Sound base."

Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened. "That means..." Naruto began. Jiraiya nodded.

"We may have found Uchiha Sasuke. I came here to get you two... and for another reason." He turned to address Gaara. "Kazekage-sama, our Hokage has humbly asked for some assistance in this mission. Most of our higher ranked ninja are currently on other assignments but this operation needs to be carried out as quickly as possible. She would only ask for one or two teams that you could spare."

Gaara glanced at Naruto and they held each other's gaze for a moment or two.

"Jiraiya-sama, you informed me of Orochimaru's plans for the Uchiha. Orochimaru is as much our enemy as he is yours, therefore it is also in my village's interest to make sure his plans do not succeed. So I will send ninja to assist you."

"Thank you," said Jiraiya with a slight bow. "It is much appreciated."

"This is, I assume, a retrieval mission and not a direct attack on Orochimaru. Correct?" Jiraiya nodded. "Very well. I will send an ANBU squad... and I will go as well."

"But Kazekage-sama!" one of the council members began to protest, but Gaara silenced him with a glare.

"My team was on the original mission to recover Uchiha Sasuke. I will be on this one as well." Naruto grinned at him. It was a silent thank you. Gaara turned to his siblings. "Temari, you are the diplomatic envoy to Konoha, so you will come with me. Kankuro, you know the drill. You're in charge while we're gone."

"Right."

"Jiraiya-sama, how soon does the Hokage need us?"

"As soon as you can manage it."

"I can gather the ANBU in an hour." Gaara glanced out a darkened window. "We will still have to move through the desert during the hottest part of the day..."

"That's ok. We can handle it," Naruto said with a determined grin. Gaara smirked slightly in return.

"Fine then. Naruto, Sakura, we leave in one hour."

Sakura was silently impressed. He really was suited for his job. But he didn't really meet her eyes when he addressed the two of them. And she wasn't quite sure she could meet his eyes either. She still hadn't sorted out her thoughts about the previous night.

He'd kissed her.

She'd let him.

She couldn't be mad. It was a pretty good kiss too. But why had he done it? And why had she let him? She couldn't figure it out.

He was probably just horny, she thought, half angry, half disappointed. Damn him. Stupid teenage boy.

But as Gaara left to gather the ANBU, he shot her a strange, almost guilty look over his shoulder, and somehow Sakura wasn't as convinced anymore.

The truth was that Gaara himself didn't really know why he had done it. He had simply wanted to.

Now Gaara may not have had the best social skills in the world, but he was by no means ignorant. He had spent his whole life watching and observing people (and hating them for a good six years of it, but that was beside the point) and when your day is about eight hours longer than the average person's you have to find something to occupy your time, and reading had always been one of Gaara's favorite ways of doing just that. The library was like a huge chunk of knowledge that Gaara had slowly been consuming for years. Medical texts and scrolls were particularly interesting. So he knew what the human body was capable of, and he had seen hormones make people do stupid things (his brother was a prime example). But was this really an explanation? In any case, he would have to figure it out later. There were more pressing matters at hand.

The council members departed along with the guards and Temari soon left to gather the supplies that she and her brother would need, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone with the sannin. Jiraiya watched her go with a serious face.

"Naruto..."

"Yeah?"

"That Temari..." he said ominously.

"Yeah? What about her?"

Jiraiya suddenly broke into a wide, perverted grin. "Do you know if she's eighteen yet?"

"Ah! You stupid pervert!" he shouted angrily. Neither Naruto or Sakura were going to tell him that Temari was in fact almost nineteen.

For an hour Sakura and Naruto lay on two benches in the tower, drifting in and out of sleep, waiting for Gaara to return. When he did he was flanked by his sister and a four man squad of Suna ANBU, all prepared to move out.

--

Gaara had been right about the oppressive heat of midday in the desert, and they would have to endure it for another hour before they reached the edge of the grasslands and sparse forest that marked the beginning of River Country. But Naruto and Sakura paid little attention to the heat. An urgency of mind and body pressed down on them like a lead weight.

This was their chance. They'd finally found Sasuke and they were going to bring him back no matter what. They had to.

They just had to.

--------

Phew, there it is. I'm sorry if some of the stuff in the birthday part was stupid. If so, don't worry. Like I said, this chapter will probably have the most humor of all the chapters and the story's gonna get more serious from here on out.

I have a gift! It's my very own fanart! Gaara and Sakura of course. But be WARNED. I marked it as "Mature Content" because it's very suggestive. You cant actually see anything important and they're not actually doing anything, but they are mostly naked. (At least Sakura has some underwear on.)

So, if you mature readers out there would like to see it, you can find it on http : // w w w deviantart (dot) com / view / 26682297 (best viewed zoomed out)

The next chapter's gonna be a whopper. Major shit's gonna hit the fan.













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