A demons kiss is an angels touch

Author notes: It's going into OOC (out of character) territory now. This chapter was attempted humour. I think it sucks and is rather corny, gomen!


Kiba caught Naruto off guard yet again, pinning him to the ground like he had numerous times already that morning. The blonde boy sighed in frustration as Kiba loosened his hold, stood up and held out his hand to help Naruto up. Perhaps prompted by Naruto's reaction, they agreed to finish up training early; it was quite obvious that Naruto was not focused enough to get anything further out of it. Konoha’s usually "most energetic ninja" had muttered an apology and promised to be at the top of his game next time.

Finally free of his obligations for the day Naruto had bolted, running all the way to the hospital. His mind had been wandering, thoughts of Gaara plaguing him all morning, and Naruto was relieved that he could finally go and check in on him. The previous day had finished with the blonde boy staying long after visiting hours had ended; it wasn't until a nurse came to shoo him away for the tenth time that he managed to make himself leave. He found it hard to sleep when he got home, his mind replaying the events of the afternoon over and over. He couldn't help hoping that Gaara was alright, despite no reason to think otherwise. He hadn't known that it would make the morning's training session difficult too.

He had arrived at Gaara’s hospital room to find him being examined by Tsunade. Her patient had a ventilator mask on, eyes closed, and he was taking deep breaths as the busty blonde woman listened carefully to his breathing through a stethoscope. Naruto wondered if Gaara was closing his eyes to avoid staring at the large breasts that were looming so close to his face, and had to swallow a chuckle.

Naruto looked warily around for Sakura, remembering the scolding he’d gotten the previous day for being too loud. He entered the room quietly but stood fidgeting beside the bed, waiting for the Tsunade to finish the examination.

“I heard about how you helped our patient yesterday,” said Tsunade without looking up. “Well done, kiddo.”

Naruto beamed, soaking up the compliment. It wasn't often that Tsunade praised him, and he suddenly felt very proud. He secretly craved this sort of positive attention, but hadn’t expected it from simply helping someone who was ill; he had done it without thinking.

“Maybe you want to be a med-nin like Sakura?” joked Tsunade with a laugh.

Naruto knew it was a joke but shuddered a the thought of how harsh a teacher she would be. Having the Hokage use her super strength to pound into him daily was a scary thought. “Ah, I think I’ll be fine with Ero-Sennin,” he said awkwardly, accompanying his decine with a similarly-awkward laugh.

Gaara opened his eyes upon hearing the familiar voice. He acknowledged Naruto’s presence with a gentle smile, but kept concentrating on taking deep breaths. Naruto smiled back; seeing Gaara smile that way was something rare, and that warmed his heart.

Gaara's pyjama shirt was unbuttoned, and Naruto's eyes couldn't help wandering towards an unsual-looking scar on his shoulder. He hadn't noticed it the night before, but it was now strikingly obvious against Gaara's otherwise-perfect skin. "Chidori..." Naruto murmured quietly, and the redhead twitched a little. His head jerked towards Naruto, who pulled up his shirt to reveal the same strange scar on his chest. “I’ve got one too,” Naruto assured him before smiling in that way he did when he was masking his sadness. The scar was a constant reminder of how his best friend had betrayed him, but Naruto saw how the scar could be a way to find more ways to connect with Gaara. That seemed worth the pain of any unpleasant memory. The boy with the kyuubi sealed inside him felt an uncontrollable urge to reach out to the other jinchuuriki; to make Gaara feel like he wasn't alone anymore.

“You boys got off easy; that jutsu could kill just about anyone else,” Tsunade said solemnly. “On the holder a bijuu, those scars will probably fade a lot faster too.” Tsunade turned off the ventilator machine and took the face mask off of Gaara, who buttoned up his shirt quickly. Naruto blinked and realised that he'd been leering, and made himself look up at the ceiling. Running his fingers through his hair, he hoped sincerly that no one had noticed. “Gaara, you will probably recover from this illness in half the time it would normally take.” Tsunade spoke absently as she wrote down notes on the medical chart. Jinchuuriki really were fascinating when it came to healing ability, she thought to herself.

“That’s great!” said Naruto excitedly.

“That doesn’t mean I’m letting him out of bed just yet,” came a stern tone, before any ideas could be hatched in Naruto’s mind. “Naruto, why don’t you make yourself useful and get our guest some lunch.”

The blonde boy's stomach growled at the mention of food, and he rubbed it with a grin. “Guess I need some food too!”

Tsunade eventually left and Naruto quizzed Gaara on what sorts of food he liked; he had shrugged apathetically about everything. It had led to the blonde boy expressing his love for ramen, wondering why Gaara was so uninterested in anything. After a second he decided that it was because he'd never been to Konoha's best ramen store. “When you’re allowed out, I’ll definitely take you to Icharaku ramen!” he had promised suddenly, holding out his hand to shake on it. When Gaara didn't react, Naruto reached out further to pick up the redhead's still arm, almost forcing him into an exuberant shake. “I won’t take no for an answer!” he declared, accompanying it with his trademark cheeky grin. “You can’t go home without trying the best food ever!” Gaara was a little stunned by the sudden insistent invitation; it was strange to be wanted for anything other than killing the enemies of Suna. The redhead's grip tightened to return the shake genuinely.

“Uzumaki Naruto, you’re different from everyone else.” Gaara’s voice was still a little husky, but noticeably better. Naruto looked a little perplexed until Gaara took another breath to add: “I wish I could be as kind as you.”

The blonde smiled gently. “I wish I had met you sooner,” he admitted, before realising that he was still gripping Gaara’s hand tightly. Blushing a little, he put down Gaara’s arm and tapped the bed. “I’ll go to the cafeteria and bring back some food,” he babbled, and then scurried off.

There was a warm, almost buzzing sensation in Gaara’s hand where Naruto had held it, and Gaara stared at it for a few moments after the blonde boy had left. He then picked up the orange covered book and started reading while waiting for Naruto to return.

When Naruto did return, he nearly dropped the tray; the cups of tea rattled, protesting the abrubt movement. Naruto re-balanced the cluttering tray and set it down on the bedside table, exhaling a small sigh of relief before standing up again.

“You’re reading THAT book!"

Gaara looked up to give him a 'so what?' kind of stare.

"Of all the books in the world, why that one!?”

"I think Kankuro has this one at home; I can read the rest if I don't finish it here," was the excuse.

"But... but... that's a grown-up's book!" Naruto was as exuberant as ever, his arms flailing around in his typical over-excited fashion.

"I'm hardly a child; I grew up a long time ago," scowled Gaara. He didn't really understand how explicit the later content of the book was. Gaara was also trying to avoid explaining the real reason why he was curious about the Icha Icha Paradise book.

"Oh, so you grew into a pervert?" Naruto smirked and crossed his arms.

Gaara finally gave in, confessing why he chose that book over the others in the box. "You said your sensei wrote it, so I thought there might be something about you in here". He stared down at the book in his lap; although he had spoken calmly, anxiety was slowly creeping over him. The idea seemed innocent in his head, but spoken out loud Gaara realised it wasn't helping him defend himself against the accusation of being a pervert.

Naruto became more flustered, going bright red with embarrassment. Did Gaara know about him using his orioke no jutsu to convince Jiraiya to train him? What if something about him DID end up in those pervy books? He was so busy stressing that he didn’t notice that Gaara's cheeks were slowly changing to a light shade of pink.

Silence fell between then as they tried not to look at each other, each trying to hide their embarrassment. The awkward moment was broken by one of the staff from the cafeteria, arriving with the food Naruto had just ordered. The boys couldn't help looking like they’d just been caught doing something they shouldn’t; the lady caught the guilty looks on their faces, smiled and left the food trolly, chuckling on her way out.

"Soo... hungry?" said the blonde awkwardly, scratching his cheek.