Baby Baby Baby

A/N: I hope you like it!This first chapter is a little short but there should be more soon...don't forget that reviews make me one highly motivated writer!

Also, if you're interested, the title was inspired by Cursive's song 'Opening the Hymnal' on their Happy Hollow album. Cursive rocks!


*Chapter One*


Every time Gaara visited Konoha Naruto always made sure to take him out for ice cream first and ramen second. It was more than worth postponing the bliss of Ichiraku’s Hokage Special to watch the redhead get yet another brain freeze.

“Ngh.” Gaara’s eye twitched and he palmed the socket. “Ow.”

A spike of sand shot out of the ever-present gourd and speared the half-eaten cone to the ground and Naruto almost choked on his rocky road. Gaara looked at the vanilla mess on the ground and frowned sadly.

“I tell you every time,” Naruto wiped the dribbly mess off of his chin, leaving a long brown stain on the sleeve of his robe. “Eat slower, sand freak.”

“I know.” Gaara’s pout was the most adorable thing Naruto had ever seen. He had no idea how a formerly psychopathic now fully grown Kazekage look like a small, cuddly chibi, but somehow Gaara managed. It helped enormously, he supposed, that Gaara usually got his full eight hours at night. The old bone white of his skin had warmed to a freckled cream and, gasp, without all that sand armor there were eyebrows that gave the man a whole range of expression that Naruto just loved to exploit.

“I try,” Gaara continued morosely, “but ice cream is just so…”

“Delicious?” Naruto proffered his own cone and Gaara took a long lick without the slightest bit of hesitation.

“Mmmmm.” Gaara went into some wonderful hazy place as he mouthed frozen chocolate and Naruto nearly burst from trying not to laugh. With every little slightly orgasmic sound Naruto lost just a little more composure, until Gaara was forced to take hold of his wrist to keep the ice cream still.

“Gaara,” Naruto gasped, “Gaara, slow-”

“Ngh.” Gaara grabbed his head and yet another ice cream cone was lost to the Ultimate Defense.

Naruto just laughed harder.

****

One of the perks of being the Hokage was that Naruto always had a spot reserved at Ichiraku’s and an unlimited line of credit. The old man wasn’t there as often, but Ayame knew her business, and understood that with every second Konoha’s Rokudaime Hokage sat on that little stool there would be some starry-eyed admirer who would come have a bowl just because Naruto might just show up and eat there too.

Being Hokage also meant free delivery!

After ice cream, Naruto placed an order and sent some poor ANBU go-getter to go and get while he and the Kazekage took an ambling walk through the village and up to Naruto’s favorite hiding spot.

“Don’t you think it’s a little…narcissistic to be sitting on your own, enormous head?”

“Yeah,” Naruto hopped to the nearest ledge, “That’s why I always eat on Yondaime.”

“Is there enough room for both of us?”

Naruto laughed, because it was very simply wonderful to watch the sunset with a friend while waiting for an enormous bag of Ramen.

“I’ll make room.” He gestured to Gaara and the man stepped forward to find a perch beside Naruto until they were sitting snugly together, more than clear of the edge. Naruto shot Gaara a sideways glance and was surprised to see the man looked utterly relaxed, his eyes drooping slightly as he stared out over Konohagakure. For a moment he was tinted in gold, gilded almost, reminding Naruto of some exotic creature; a predator at ease and utterly confident.

Top of the food chain, Naruto smiled to himself, and not intimidated by the fact even in the slightest. Unlike Gaara, Naruto never felt so totally at ease. He loved his village, his country, and he loved being Hokage, but somehow he always felt foreign to the environment, too different and dangerous in the midst of relative peace. For a moment he almost envied Gaara’s brief death and the freedom that came with Shukaku’s release, and then he remembered all the times he had saved his precious people with Kyuubi’s insidious chakra and embraced guilt instead.

“Are you alright?” Gaara turned his eyes on Naruto and in the sunlight they seemed to gleam an almost abnormal green, like a cat.

“I’m fine.” Naruto tossed a smile his way and was surprised when Gaara looked almost disgusted, his lip curling in distaste. Naruto was ever so familiar with that look and immediately cringed, making himself as small as possible.

“One of the few things I know about friends is that they don’t lie to each other.” Gaara whispered softly, eyes slit and looking ready to pounce. “Maybe you should rephrase that answer, Uzumaki Naruto.”

Naruto felt the smallest thrill and laughed nervously while pulling a hand through his hair.

“Sorry, Gaara, I just-” Just what? Naruto couldn’t quite put a word to this feeling, how all his emotions seemed to mingle and become such a heavy melancholy. It certainly wasn’t normal, and though Naruto tried he couldn’t quite put his finger on the source.

“I guess I’m just being moody.” Naruto sighed and took in the last of the sunset as it disappeared behind the village walls.

“Are you depressed?” Gaara’s voice was much softer, but Naruto could imagine that in the settling half-light that those eyes were still narrow, but in a lazy, indulgent way. After so many years of forced insomnia Gaara often succumbed to an early bedtime in a sudden very Shikamaru-like slump.

“No,” Naruto was quiet too, as if Gaara’s sudden softness was catching, “I just feel…heavy. Slow, not sad.”

There were times he was sad, certain dates, at the mention of certain names, but with the hustle of running a hidden village the sensation never lasted long. This ailment felt oddly permanent, as if it had been etched into his skin from the inside, invisible but indelible.

“Stagnated,” Gaara whispered. “Like you’re just waiting for the quicksand to eat you up.”

Despite being heavily disturbed (how the hell did Gaara know him so well?) Naruto laughed.

“Always sand with you,” He said, wagging his finger mockingly. “That poor sand is overworked; you should give it a rest.”

There was no upturned lip, not hint of a smile, only Gaara staring back in deadly seriousness, saying, “I plan to.”

“I’m missing something,” Naruto muttered, allowing himself to slip into Hokage mode, “Gaara, why are you here?”

“I’ve been speaking with Kankurou,” Naruto looked at Gaara and saw the Kazekage for the first time since he stepped through the village gates, “These trips to Konoha are taking are taking a toll on my duties and training. I cannot run Sunagakure from another country and our daimyo has made it clear that he finds our visits…troubling, despite their nature.”

Naruto’s heart dropped straight into his stomach and he had the sudden urge to vomit all over Yondaime’s head.

“And your conclusion?” Naruto’s voice didn’t shake, but under his wide sleeves his hands trembled.

“Communications between our villages should carry on. My highest priority is the continuing peace of the elemental countries and our alliance is key to keeping the more volatile villages in check, but as the Kazekage I cannot keep making these treks.” Gaara’s face didn’t even twitch. “I proposed an idea and Kankurou agreed.”

“And the idea?” Naruto whispered, looking down at his hands. He could understand Gaara’s dilemma entirely. The only time he left the village was to see the daimyo, and even then his absence made the council nervous. The few times he’d managed to escape to Suna had been brief and followed by a general uproar.

Naruto understood but still, all he could think was; my best friend is leaving me. Gaara was a lifeline, a small spark of sanity in a world where friends had become subordinates, subordinates who bowed and called him Hokage-sama no matter how many times he asked them not to. Gaara was formal, but they went out for ice cream, they played around like the kids they weren’t, and every once in a while Naruto got to hear his own damn name.

Just like Sasuke (and damn him for forever being a measuring stick) had once been, Naruto had accepted Gaara as an equal in every sense. The only difference was that Gaara accepted him in return and without reservation. Naruto couldn’t help but love him for that simple reflection of two halves.

And now he was leaving for good, back to his village and his duties, just as he ought to from the beginning and Naruto was left feeling selfish and very suddenly miserable.

Somehow, when Naruto hadn’t been looking, Gaara had become his best friend.

“You’re not even listening,” Gaara frowned, looking as if he wanted to throw his hands in the air. “I’ll just send you the scroll, and you can get back to me later. We have company.”

An ANBU walked out of the shadows, laden with more bowls of soup than he probably should have been forced to carry up a cliff. Oops.

“Thank you, Otter-san.” Naruto smiled as he received the bag, “Heh. I always feel like I should tip you.”

“That won’t be necessary, Hokage-sama,” The masked man bowed, “I am here to serve.”

Naruto found it consistently amusing that such polite words could sound more distinctly like ‘fuck you, asshole’ than their candy-coated intent. He wondered what Wolf would do if Naruto announced that he had lost his appetite and sighed before digging deep to pull out a pair of chopsticks and the first bowl he could find.

“Want some miso, Gaara?”

Gaara for some reason seemed to be extremely amused. Naruto wanted to slam the soup right into that little smile.

“Thank you, Hokage-sama,” Gaara snapped his chopsticks apart, “Ittadakimasu.”

The only thing that kept Naruto from taking a dive off the Fourth’s head was the massive waste of ramen and how humiliating it would be to be plucked out of the air by Gaara’s ever present sand. So instead of attempting escape Naruto dug into his bag, muttered his thanks, and started to shove noodles down his throat without tasting even a single one.

*****

“So who is it that’s coming?” Naruto didn’t bother to hide his glare under the big hat, “Temari? Kankurou? That Baki creep? Some council retard?”

The emissary from Sand was only a few miles away, but his procession of possessions and their guards were already going through Konoha’s customs department, being checked for fruits, bombs, underwear, or whatever the hell those guys liked to paw around in. The sand-nin started to look impatient at the lackadaisical treatment of Konoha’s police force, but Naruto gave a low growl and everyone calmed down pretty quickly; at attention and docilely in line.

He almost felt bad for the nin, because whoever was coming had a lot of shit stuffed in those two wagons. The inspection was going to take a while and the sun was out in its full glory.

“Do you even read what I put on your desk, or do you just doodle in the margins?” Shikamaru glared, “You’re so damn troublesome.”

“I read what’s important.” Naruto hissed back, “And I’ve got better things to do than roast in these goddamned robes so some fucking diplomat can get his jollies-”

“Oh look,” Shikamaru cut in dryly, “Here he comes.”

Despite his (unreasonable, he knew) vicious hate for whoever was taking Gaara’s place, Naruto deigned to get a glimpse of the figure walking down the road alone.

“Cocky,” Naruto grumbled, “Walking in without a guard. Like he owns the place.”

Naruto looked to the side to see Shikamaru looking at *him* with utter disbelief at whatever idiocy Naruto was unknowingly spouting.

“What?!” Naruto snapped back.

“Troublesome.” Was all Shikamaru said, pointing an accusing finger. Then he just turned on his heel and walked away. Naruto didn’t remember Shizune ever just walking away.

“Yeah, well…” Naruto tapped into his inner twelve year old, and raised a fist to Shikamaru’s back, “Fuck you!”

Shikamaru returned a decidedly unpatriotic salute in return and just kept going.

“Hmph.” Naruto crossed his arms and ignored all the horrified looks on his shinobi’s faces. The Sand nins, having some experience with not attracting undue attention from an irate leader kept their eyes on their shoes.

Naruto hid a blush under the brim of his enormous hat and took a longer look at Konohagakure’s new resident.

One thing was for sure, the man moved like he was from Sunagakure. Suna nins had a curious habit of walking in perfectly straight lines, one foot in front of the other, with their torsos slightly inclined, as if they were perpetually walking into the wind. And like most Suna Shinobi the man kept most of his face covered under the loose end of a turban, leaving only the pale peek of a jaw line. Naruto remembered how bizarre that had seemed when Baki came to the Chuunin exams, but after a few weeks in the desert Naruto knew the usefulness of keeping the sand off of the face while one traveled at high speeds on the edge of a wind storm.

The rest of the newcomer looked one hundred percent leaf nin. Somewhere along the road he’d picked up the lighter clothing of a Sato resident; open-toed ninja sandals paired with loose cotton slacks and a short sleeved shirt. He could have passed for a civilian if not for the black mesh covering his arms, or the bandages wrapped tightly around his wrists and ankles. Still, no weapons, and no obvious chakra made Naruto a little nervous. The body type didn’t fit Temari or Kankurou, he was too slim, too tall, and too graceful to be anyone Naruto had come in contact with.

Who the hell had Gaara sent into his village? Normally Naruto would be proactive and meet him, but Naruto was still miffed at Shikamaru and the whole damn scenario so he stuck to his spot and practiced his most imposing face. Being angry beat the hell out of being pathetically sad.

Naruto got so caught up in the thought of Gaara and being alone that he completely missed the new diplomat getting through the gates with a simple wave before coming to stand directly before Naruto. Only the soft clearing of a throat pulled him out of reverie.

“Welcome to Konohagakure,” Naruto murmured tiredly, deciding to give up his stupid anger, “We hope you find the village to your liking. Temporary quarters have been prepared, my assistant,” Naruto looked around and scowled when Shikamaru was still gone, “Well, someone will help you get settled and acquainted with the territory. There has been a banquet prepared to welcome you. We hope you can attend. Do you have any requests before you start unpacking?”

The figure in front of him seemed to be stuck on pause, frozen in place as Naruto went through his speech with all the passion of an academy student reciting the shinobi rules. Then a single hand came up to push the cloth away from the man’s face and Naruto’s world jolted back into high gear, confusion and excitement nearly bowling him over with amazing force.

“I wouldn’t mind some ice cream.” Gaara said, the smallest softest smile that Naruto had ever seen gracing his face. He pulled the turban off entirely to reveal a mess of red hair, “Also, I have the feeling that you should attend your paperwork on a more regular basis.”

Tears filled Naruto’s eyes faster than he knew how to stop them, and if Gaara was embarrassed to be glomped by a thirty-something nearly hysterical man, he didn’t show it, he just held on tight as Naruto pulled himself back together.

“I don’t understand,” Naruto whispered, not daring to look into Gaara’s eyes. What would he see there: pity? In the end Gaara left him without a choice, because there was no way Naruto could resist the gentle grip on his chin.

“I was grasping for something to hold on to when I became the Kazekage, and at the time I was most suited for the position,” Gaara’s voice was low and soft, “Now I have a dream of my own, and I intend to attain it.”

“But Gaara…you’re the Kazekage…I can’t even imagine-” Naruto had made the transition between astonishment and panic rather quickly. “What could possibly be more important than that?”

Gaara’s grip tightened momentarily before he smirked, looking as if he were enjoying one particularly fine inside joke. Naruto was about to scowl, but was stopped when Gaara dropped his head forward and whispered a single word to Naruto’s ear.

“Peace.”