A Question of Love

My first Gaara/Naruto fic. Contains spoilers for the manga, so if you haven't read part II, beware)
And now... let the show begin


Gaara cracked an eye open. A character sharpened into focus. Kokoro. Heart. The broad strokes dashed across the white parchment in the artist’s fury.

This wasn’t his room.

Nor was it the hospital. But he had been allowed to rest somewhere, wrapped chin high in cotton sheets. He struggled to search the room, but his body quickly protested. His body was still reeling from the separation and his mind struggled with the groggy aftermath of too much sleep. He sank back down into his pillow.

What happened?

A bird. The Akatsuki. A searing pain and darkness.

But then there was a light, and at the end of it was him?waiting, welcoming, greeting him with that smile that once infuriated him. And there were others; his village, holding their breath while Chiyo’s sacrifice lay at his feet. Things only got blurrier from there. Sleep was new to him and he was unaccustomed to the task of separating dreams from reality. For all he knew, this could be part of it.

A small sigh wafted up from his lips. He was disoriented and confused and felt entirely unsettled. It was quiet. Too quiet. He could handle loneliness, but he hated the silence. The fact that it was only his voice inside his head now didn’t help. Gaara closed his eyes. He reached back into his mind, grasping for something and coming up short. No trace.

Shukaku was truly gone.

Before Gaara could contemplate the implications more deeply, he sensed another charka signature nearby.

Thunk! Don don. CRASH!

"Gyaaah! Sakura is gonna kiiiill me!”

Gaara sighed again.


Naruto panicked as he tried to piece together the remaining fragments of the bowl that once held the kazekage’s meal. “So much for trying to be quiet,” he muttered, imagining the personal damage he was certain to receive later. He ducked his head into the open doorway, hoping the kage was too zonked to wake up at the clatter. He was met with Gaara’s cool regard.

“Crap. Now I’m definitely losing limbs.”

Naruto plastered a big smile on his face and tried to laugh it off. “Want some soup? Sakura made a whole batch earlier. I was bringing you some but then this huge bump in the ground swelled up out of nowhere and I sailed over it, soup in tow! I bet someone was spying and used one of those weird jutsus where…”

“Uzumaki.”

“Yes?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Oh… okay.”

Silence. Naruto shifted.

“Hrm, can I get you anything? Water? Magazine? Ero Sennin’s new book? He just finished it, though it’s kinda boring.”

Naruto piped down at the shake of Gaara’s head.

“Your sister wanted to be here, but she had to take care of Chuunin Exam business. Hehe. I bet she’s just running back to tell Shikamaru their date is cancelled. Hehehe… ha…” His laughter died at the sight of the glare Gaara directed his way.

Naruto gulped.

“But yeah, the exam is coming up and I still have to take it, which sucks… cuz of course I can kick everyone’s butt even though they’re chuunin and I’m not, but at least I can show them my cool new jutsus! I can probably kick your ass all over again! Er, after you recover of course, though I suppose, now that you’re kage, you’ll be watching the fights and not actually be in them. Which is unfortunate… Boy was I surprised to hear you were kage when I got back, but don’t be too smug cuz one of these days?SOON that is! I’ll beat Tsunade hag and becme the number one ninja in the village, and…”

“Uzumaki.”

“Hrm?”

“You’re loud.”

“Eh hehe..haaa, sorry.”

Naruto stopped for a moment. His face scrunched, his left hand gravitated towards his cheek and he scratched his whiskers as he thought.

“You think if I kick your ass in the competition they’ll let me jump to jounin status?”

Gaara raised a nonexistent brow.

“I did it once, I can do it again, right?” Naruto turned that fox like grin on him, blonde hair framing his tan face. The corners of his mouth tugged upwards in spite of himself. One day, Gaara hoped to smile like that and be able to evoke that smile in return.

Naruto seemed to be looking at him expectantly. Ah, he’s baiting me.

“You can try. I’ve gotten stronger.”

Naruto’s eyes lit up at that. “You’re not the only one! I have a jutsu that NO ninja can stand up to! My super deluxe ero no jutsu! The third hokage couldn’t even stand up to the original!”

Ero no…? “Isn’t that perverted?”

Naruto chuckled. “Of course! Ero-sennin even helped me with it personally!”

Gaara frowned. “How does it work?”

“I can’t tell you! It’s my super technique! Why?” Naruto’s grin turned mischievous. “Are you a closet pervert too?”

Gaara glared. “You aren’t?”

“Course not! After two years with ero-sennin, I’m completely immune! Unless its Sakura…” Naruto scratched his chin, “I could definitely go for Sakura.”

The pink haired girl. Gaara frowned again.

Naruto noticed the change of expression and peered carefully at him as if looking for some hidden detail. “How about you? I bet you have girls all over you now! That or you ARE a closet pervert and use that cool eyeball thing in the baths!”

“Baths?”

“Yeah! Don’t tell me you’ve never tried to spy on the girls before!”

Blink.

“Snuck peeks at adult magazines?”

Confused stare.

“Read ero-sennin’s books?”

Raised brow.

“What are you? Gay?”

Hrm, never thought about it… Gaara stopped and began to ponder this one.

“You mean you can’t tell?”

“How does one tell?”

Naruto’s mouth hit the floor. “You’ve gotta be kidding! No wait.. you don’t kid. Alright. Hold on, let me try something.”

A few quick hand moments, a definitive popping sound later and Gaara was suddenly being straddled by an overly developed young woman with Naruto’s eyes and whiskered cheeks.

“Nee, Ga-a-ra kun!” Her voiced purred. “What can I do to make you feel all better?” She winked.

Gaara gave her a once over, his face never wavering from calm, cool consideration. “You look like one of Kankuro’s pinups.”

Naruto popped back. “You’re no fun. Not even a drop of blood. So obviously sexy no jutsu doesn’t work on you, but haven’t you liked a girl before?”

“I always hated everyone before.”

“Hrmmm, true. Then who did you first like?”

Gaara pondered this for a moment. Yashamaru, Temari, Kankuro, Naruto…
“You.”

Naruto sputtered and fell off the bed. His head quickly popped back up again, eyes wide as saucers. “Wha.. what!? But I’m a boy!”

“I’m aware of that.”

“You can’t like me!”

Gaara tilted his head. A silent “why not” written clearly in his features.

“I like girls! I like Sakura! No matter WHAT they say! That first kiss was a total accident and it was ALL Sasuke-teme’s fault!”

Gaara’s eyes flew wide. Uchiha? He kissed the Uchiha? A strange feeling bubbled up in his stomach: a mixture of nervousness, hope and anger at the thought of the one who nearly caused so many deaths… Naruto’s death.

“Then kiss me.”

Not a question. An order.

“No way!”

“You kissed the Uchiha.”

“But that was an accident!”

“If you kiss me, I’ll be able to understand whether I’m, as you say, gay.”

Naruto looked absolutely horrified. “You don’t care if you’re gay?”

“Should I? Love is love. Hate is hate. Once, there was only one person who I believed loved me: a man. And then I was hated by everyone. Should I turn down love because of gender?”



Naruto slumped down onto the corner of the bed and thought. It *was* a rather convincing argument. And it’s not like he didn’t completely dislike the thought. Gaara was kinda pretty for a boy. Maybe if he squinted his eyes a bit and pretended. He *would* be helping out a friend…Wait a minute! I got it!

“Would using a bunshin be okay?”



Gaara considered this for a moment and then nodded.

“It will suffice.”

Naruto took this to mean “yes” and made the proper seals. A “poof” later and a copy of Naruto stood beside him. The real naruto took a step back, giving his copy directions. Gaara felt his heart beat quicken a little as the copy approached him, the same fox like smile gracing his features.

But the clone scrunched up his face, eyes slit into half moon slivers, while his lips puckered up like he was trying too hard to whistle. Gaara nearly chuckled in amusement. His face approached his but stopped just short of his lips as if that was as far as he too was willing to dare.

Gaara tilted his face up and closed the few centimeters separating them and just brushed his lips against the clones. He didn’t feel much and was slightly disappointed by the lack of sensation. That was it? What was the big deal?

“That’s not a kiss!” Naruto piped up from the background. “You can hardly call that a peck! You have to put your mouth all over his and make weird slopping noises!”

“Slopping noises?” Gaara furrowed his brow in consternation. Just how was he supposed to make slopping noises?

The clone presented himself once more and Gaara pressed his lips against his once more. This time he left his mouth linger, taking in the warmth of soft lips gently pressed against his. He held onto the contact for as long as he dared in front of Naruto’s eyes and pulled back. He was still uncertain of how he felt in this situation, like trying to decide if he liked a taste and not quite able to decide on the first few bites.

“No no no! You’ve got it all wrong. That’s how you kiss your grandma or someone like Tsunade-baba! You’ve got to get all mushy and stuff like in ero-sennin’s books!”

Gaara really didn’t get it.

“Show me.”

“How? I’m not gonna kiss my own clone. That’s gross!”

“Kiss me.”

Naruto gave him a blank look. “That’s why I made the clone, remember? Hold on, let me try something.”

Naruto whispered something in the clone’s ear. There were many nods of the head and affirmative grunts before Naruto pulled back with an easy grin plastering his face.

“This should do the trick.” He stepped back. “Now try again!”

This time the clone looked more eager to participate. Before Gaara could do anything, he felt warm lips shoved roughly against him. The clone delivered a series of sloppy kisses, constantly changing the angle of his head.

Gaara’s brow furrowed. Still no slopping noises.

He pushed the clone away for a moment.

“Are you sure he’s doing this right?”

Naruto harrumphed and frowned.

“You’ve never kissed anyone either, have you?”

Naruto’s eyes grew wide as he started to protest loudly.

“What do you MEAN I’ve never kissed someone?! Of COURSE I have! I’ve kissed PLENTY of people! I just don’t like to brag cuz Sakura would get mad…”

Gaara looked unconvinced. In fact, so did his clone.

“Right. The Uchiha.”

Naruto sputtered, his face turning purple while his own clone laughed. “Hey! At least I know I’m not gay! And maybe I haven’t practiced lately, but I know how to kiss!”

“Prove it.”

Naruto stopped for a moment. The faintest hint of a smirk could be traced at the corners of Gaara’s mouth.

“I guess you are all talk, Uzumaki.”

Naruto’s anger boiled.

“Maybe if I ask the Uchiha…”

Steam out the ears.

“Or asked the pink girl her opinion.”

Ego deflating.

“Fine fine FINE!”

The bunshin disappeared with a quick pop and Naruto strode angrily towards Gaara’s bed. Placing his hands solidly on either side of Gaara’s head, he squinted his eyes and placed his lips just above the kazekage’s.

Gaara’s heart sped up. He braced himself a little, expecting another barrage of half wild kisses, but was stopped short at Naruto’s pause. Was Naruto waiting for him to make the next move? He could feel Naruto’s warm breath caress his cheek, but he didn’t seem inclined to make the first contact.

Gaara felt a little uncertain of himself. Was this okay? Was Uzumaki really offering himself to him or was it just his pride? Gaara felt a twinge of guilt at baiting him, but quickly forgot as Naruto sighed a little.

“I’m not waiting all day”

His lips just brushed the surface of Gaara’s cheek.

Gaara blushed and mentally nodded to himself. Turning his head a little, he pressed his lips into the ones waiting just at the corner of his mouth.

****
So? What do you think? Any feedback would be welcome :)