I knew you would find me

OK..this one is now fixed, hehe. I'm going to get this done faster. I promise!! So Enjoy all!!

AN: upload fast don't I? Erm...questions, comments, idea's...or just plain critique is welcome!! Let me know how I'm doing, I have no idea other wise XD

I hope you enjoy!


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Naruto leaned against the wall nearest to the door of the Kage tower. Wearing more civilian clothing he let a low sigh escape his lips wondering why Gaara would choose now as a time to talk to him. They hadn’t been very civil with each other for the past few meetings because of a argument about the borderlines. He viewed the Suna villagers going about their business, how everything seemed so at peace while everything else felt so turmoiled.

“Naruto.” The blond jerked his head up at the sound of his name. He didn’t even feel the other approaching. Had he let his mind wonder that much? In front of him Gaara stood patiently waiting to be acknowledged. Similarily garbed the Kazekage stood without his gourd and inclined his head in a silent greeting. Naruto nodded and slowly followed the other shinobi. Gaara was an enigma to Naruto. What he did sometimes never made any sense. They had talked in the past and they had talked several times during the time Naruto had been in Suna, most of it being about their villages and rogue shinobi’s. However this felt different. It didn’t seem as if they would be talking about rogue ninja’s, treatise, borderlines or their villages. In fact it didn’t seem as if they were going to talk at all.

After a few minutes of the silence, Naruto couldn’t handle it any more;

“Alright Gaara, where are we going?” The red-headed leader didn’t pause but his head turned towards him,

“Away from the village,” was the short reply. It didn’t quite unnerve him that he would be outside the village walls alone with a powerful Kage, but it unnerved him because Naruto knew this was going to be another personal conversation. He couldn’t handle a personal conversation right now, especially with his dreams of late getting worse and worse. He didn’t want to talk about it, but the other Kage was….persistent. Sighing inwardly, Naruto took in their surroundings as they walked. Wind whipped the sand dunes assailed them from all sides as they quietly slipped out of the village. They were questioned by no one. He was quite glad that he wasn’t wearing his ceremonial robes. Trucking through sand was horrible, and it got into places he hadn’t even known existed. For about an hour they walked while Naruto mulled over his thoughts. He looked up and was just about to demand once more that Gaara tell him where they were going, but a hand was at his elbow and propelled him to keep moving, Gaara’s eyes flashing to his telling him to keep his silence. Then he saw it—over the last dune. It was a small oasis, a lake of water with a few tall palm-like trees, in the middle of nowhere. Miles beyond the oasis sparse trees could be seen signifying the farthest reaches of the land.

“This is the border line to the south,” the Kazekage said without turning to him. Naruto stared at him.

“You dragged me out here to tell me that?!” he asked, outraged. Slowly, the other turned, his eyes landing on the blond.

“Of course not.” His flat voice and strong gaze caused Naruto squirm and look away.

“Then why did you bring me here?” he asked finally, his voice softer.

“For you to enjoy it. We don’t receive much water, but I know your people thrive on it—the rain, the rivers, and the lakes. I’m sure it would bring a nice reprieve to the hot sun we receive in Suna.” Gaara’s voice drifted over his ears as he stared at the pool of water. They had walked closer, and Naruto realized it was much deeper than he had previously thought. He stared at the pool of water before jerking his gaze up to Gaara’s

“I can’t. If this is the line of the border, then we have to get those maps redrawn...”

“You’re advisers have already done that,” Gaara spoke calmly.

“What?!” Naruto asked enraged, he hadn’t been told about the maps being changed, and the fact that his advisors had undermined him made him look like a fool.

“Does nobody have respect for me at all?! Why wasn’t I told about this?!” he nearly snarled. Gaara’s gaze didn’t falter, but seemed to deepen in intensity.

“Once you stopped respecting yourself, why should your people respect you?”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Hokage-sama!” Sakura yelled out to him as he slowly moved through the village. Gaara’s words had unsettled him. Respect. How did he stop respecting himself?

“Sakura, I told you not to call me that,” he grumbled, shaking the sand from his old hakama. The pink-haired ninja only bowed.

“Sorry Naruto, you’ve been missing for a fair amount of the morning. None of the other jounins knew where you went, and even Shikamaru was getting worried!” Naruto let a small smile grace his lips. Shikamaru never got worried—he was too lazy, even as a jounin.

“I was informed that the maps had already been redrawn. Why wasn’t I told before?” Naruto asked, opening the door to his Kage suite. He noticed the silence from Sakura and turned with an angry frown.

“Naruto…the advisers just thought it was best…You seemed rather adamant of where the border lines were even if you were…well…incorrect,” she said. Naruto stared at her. He had been incorrect, Gaara had shown him that much. Should he let it go? They hadn’t quite been disobeying direct orders…but they hadn’t been told to redraw the border lines either.

“Sakura, can you please bring my advisers?” He asked in a calm voice.

She nodded while hiding a smile, knowing that the wrath of Naruto was just about to fall on the heads of the stupid men he called advisers. The three men came in rather swiftly, one holding a rolled up parchment. They all looked scared.

“Whose idea was it to place the border lines without telling me first?” he asked. It was hard not to smile at their frightened faces as one pushed another forward.

“M-mine, Hokage-s-sama…” he stuttered, bowing and cringing. The blond pulled the map from his grasp in a flourish, settling it on the floor and kneeling next to it, his finger following the dotted line, he recognized the terrain from what Gaara had shown him and nodded curtly.

“Good. But next time you will be dismissed of your position if you make another decision without first consulting me.” He glanced up to see nodding heads and relief. He looked back down at the map before rolling it up and passing it to the others, indicating their dismissal from the room. They left rather quickly, and Sakura was standing in the door way looking at him oddly.

“What’s changed?” she asked. Naruto stared at her crossing his arms,

“What? Can’t the Hokage give out a few orders?” Sakura stayed silent, and the blond gave an annoyed sigh as he stood and headed for the kitchen. After Sasuke’s death, they had become closer. Then again, he had never thought about the death of his comrade so much since he had actually performed the deed.

“Well, where did you go then?” piped up the pink-haired ninja suddenly.

“Sandman wanted a few words,” he replied with a shrug looking over at her.

“And he actually spoke?” Sakura asked in surprise. It was not a hidden fact that Gaara rarely spoke to anyone outside of the meetings.

“Yeah, imagine that. How much time do I have until the next meeting?” He moved through the small kitchen wondering if he had any food to eat.

“Half an hour.”

“What?! You know it takes me forever to put those damn robes on!!” Naruto yelled, scrambling around the counter and running to his bedroom.

“I took the liberty to set them out, so it shouldn’t take you so long now,” Sakura called over to him. The blond saw them lying on his bed and sighed with a smile.

“Thanks, Sakura. Next lunch is on me.” He replied back starting to tug off his clothes.

“No Ramen!” Shouted the other women and Naruto grinned with a shake of his head.

He stripped away the rest of his sand-filled clothes, tossing them to the side, and began to mull even more over Gaara’s words. He didn’t even hear Sakura come to the door, watching to make sure he put the robes on correctly. Nudeness didn’t phase the medical-nin.

“I do respect myself! And what would you know of it anyway?” he asked the redhead as they stood at the waters edge, Naruto could see there reflections in it and he glared at himself.

“Against the other Kage’s during our peacekeeping meetings is the only time you live up to your title,” was the unhurried reply.

“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Naruto asked whirling on his friend, now livid. Gaara inclined his head the anger un-phasing him,

“It means, Naruto-sama, that you have forgotten what your shinobi way is,” Said Gaara not raising his voice to the other.

“I…I have not…” Naruto tried but the truth in the gaze and voice caused him to look away, Gaara stepped closer,

“Four of your elite have become rogues within the past three years. Or have you not noticed?” He said watching the other Kage closely. Naruto could only stare at him in shock at the knowledge.

“F-four?” he asked in a barely-heard whisper. How could he let four slip from his ranks? It was so…degrading!

“Yes. Four. Being a Kage, you watch and protect your village. And you have failed them.” Gaara’s voice had not risen, but it felt as if it had and Naruto internally winced. He was slipping.

“Naruto?” The blond jumped slightly before looking up to see the pink hair Kunoichi staring at him a concerned look on her face.

“Oh...hey. Sakura, give me a hand here—I can never get this tied right.” Her hands were quick when it came to tying the rope on his robes.

“Send Neji and Shikamaru to me after the meeting. I have a message that needs to be delivered to Konoha.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You are just now aware of your Missing-nin?” the leader from the Land of Water asked incredulously, his eyes focused on the Hokage.

“It does not matter if he is aware of it now, or if he had been before. We still have a problem with these Rogue-nins. Then again, you have two on the run as it is,” a calm voice drawled out—the Raikage from Cloud. Internally, Naruto sighed grateful that Mizukage only grumbled in reply.

“How do you propose to deal with the problem, Hokage?” Gaara’s low voice brought most of the attention back up to the blonde headed leader.

Naruto fought back the glare he wanted to throw at the Sand-nin. Gaara had been watching him closely throughout the meeting and it unnerved him at the best. Naruto swung his gaze to meet his finally.

“I have some ideas, Kazekage,” he snapped back his eyes sparking in anger. Naruto ignored the mumbled sounds of surprise from the other, much older men. None of them would have lashed out to another Kage with such disrespect. Then again, out of the all the Kages, they were both the youngest in comparison. He glared at Gaara before hearing a cough at his shoulder, then turned away rather huffily, missing the slightest of smirks passing over the Sand-nin’s face.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TBC

OK, Thanks for those who reviewed Much smiles ^_^;