Restauratore della mia anima

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“Hmm…Gaara?” Naruto murmured while glancing around, ‘I don’t see him anywhere, was it just a dream then’ he questioned himself, ‘but’ he touched his lips briefly, ‘it all seemed so real’. Sighing Naruto got out of bed and slowly walked out of his room, only to bump into something hard; stumbling slightly he looked up only to see Gaara staring at him amused.

“Gaara!” Naruto cried as he latched onto him. Shaking his head slightly, Gaara returned the embrace, before stepping back and, after hesitating slightly; he grabbed Naruto’s hand, tugging him gently to the living area.

“Hey, what happened to the mess? Did you clean it Gaara” asked Naruto. Gaara in turn just nodded his head.

“You know…you didn’t have to…but thank you” he said, a small smile gracing his lips, “let’s go get something to eat”
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“H-Hi Naruto-kun, I’m g-glad that they were a-able to find you” Hinata said

“Thanks Hinata-chan” ‘I’m glad that Hinata lost the stutter, well…for the most part anyway’ he thought while smiling.

“We were going to get something to eat, would you like to come with us?”

“N-No t-thank you, Naruto-kun, a-actually, if it’s ok…could I speak to G-Gaara-san?”

Naruto looked to Gaara, who slightly nodded and let Naruto’s hand go,

“I’ll meet you there” was all he said to Naruto, who nodded his head before turning around and leaving.

Gaara followed Hinata, who led him somewhere with a little more cover,

“Gaara-san, Naruto-kun is my best friend” she begin, no hint of stutter in her voice, “should you hurt him, I will not hesitate to claim retribution, he’s been hurt enough throughout his life, and if I can help it, I won’t let him be hurt anymore” she finished, a glare on her face.

Gaara who remained expressionless on the outside, was slightly shocked on the inside ‘this is the stuttering girl’ he thought to himself, “I would never hurt or even think about hurting him” he stated.

After a few seconds passed, she finally nodded her head, and gave a small smile, “forgive me Gaara-san, but as I said before, Naruto-kun is my best friend”

Gaara nodded, “just call me Gaara, you’ve earned it” he said as he walked away, leaving a stunned Hinata behind.
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Gaara quickly found Naruto, who was already sitting down at Ichiraku's, but he wasn’t alone, sitting with him were Sakura, Kiba and Shino.

“So Naruto…Gaara stayed the night didn’t he?” Sakura asked with a smile

“Yes…” he answered with a smile and blush on his face, “but we didn’t do anything” he quickly finished when he saw Kiba grin.

Just as Kiba was about to open his mouth, a quiet voice spoke first,

“do you trust him?”

Everyone looked to Shino, wondering why he had asked such a question

“Of course I do” Naruto was quick to answer.

“Even though he once was our enemy?”

Naruto looked to Shino trying to figure out what he was getting at,

“He’s not our enemy anymore, people make mistakes, he’s changed” Naruto said firmly.

Shino continued to stare at him, finally he gave a small smile, at least Naruto hoped it was a smile, who could tell with his jacket, he gave a nod,

“Then I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt” Shino said turning around once more to his food.

“Speaking of Gaara” Sakura started as she saw him, she gave a small, shaky smile, and a bit hesitant, she waved him over.

“Hey Gaara” of course this was from Naruto, “what did Hinata have to say?” he questioned.

“I’ll tell you later”

Naruto nodded his head and turned back to his noodles playing with them before sighing and devouring the rest.

“Hey Naruto” Sakura paused, “you told us you didn’t like ramen, and your actions just know confirms it, but yet you’re eating it” she trailed off; Naruto looked down and Gaara gave Sakura a glare that she translated as What-The-Hell-Are-You-Doing-Alive-Maggot. She paled some, “never-” she was cut off,

“It’s because their nice”

Kiba, Shino, and Sakura traded looks, but before any of them could say anything, Naruto gave them a smile,

“We’re your friends, don’t hide from us” Shino said, the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, he sighed “I should go see baa-san” he started, changing the subject, “she’s gonna kill me.”

Sakura laughed lightly as Kiba said,

“Yeah right man, you know she loves you too much.”

Naruto nodded his head, grabbing Gaara’s hand he quickly left. Sakura shook her head, “well I’m going to see Hinata”

“You and her have gotten closer, huh” Kiba stated,

“Yeah, she’s really nice” Sakura paid for her meal and Naruto’s before giving them a smile and leaving. Kiba glanced over at Shino,

“I could go for some ice cream, you?”

Shino merely shrugged, which Kiba took for a yes.
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“I want two scoops, one vanilla and the other strawberry,” Kiba told the person, “what about you Shino?”

“No thanks”

Kiba just shrugged and turned to pay, but Shino was already paying for his ice cream, “huh” was all he said, taking the ice cream from Shino.

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to eat it here, let’s go walk around, and thanks Shino” Shino nodded his head and started to walk off. “Oi! Wait for me!” yelled Kiba. Shino stopped suddenly,

“Heh, that’s more like it” Kiba said, Shino turned to look at him, when he had caught up, Kiba looked back eyebrow raised, Shino continued to stare, making Kiba fidget, he quickly looked away and towards the sky, licking his ice cream.

“You have some ice cream on the side of your mouth” Shino said suddenly, startling Kiba as he quickly turned his head back to Shino, only to discover Shino’s face close to his, blushing hotly, he averted his gaze again, licking his now dry lips, before pulling back slightly and looking back at Shino, blush still firmly in place.

“Shino…uh…w-w-I” Kiba stuttered his brain suddenly on a holiday.

Suddenly Shino moved his face and licked the ice cream, before slowly dragging his tongue across Kiba’s lips. Kiba’s eyes widened in shock while Shino smirked,

“I told you, you had ice cream there”

“Uh yeah” was the, oh so intelligent reply. ‘Was that the only reason?’ Kiba asked himself, ‘must have been’ he finished thinking, before all thoughts flew out of his head, as Shino attached his lips to Kiba’s. Without thinking, he dropped his ice cream and wrapped his arms around Shino’s neck to deepen the kiss.

“IT LOOKS LIKE THE FIRES OF YOUTH AND PASSION STRIKE AGAIN” came a sudden voice, startled Kiba quickly turned around to see Lee grinning.

“Damn it! Lee, I was busy!”

Lee’s grin only widened, and Shino merely nodded at him, one arm wrapped around Kiba’s waist,

“Is it just me or does the guy just pop out of nowhere” Kiba whispered to Shino, who looked vaguely amused. Suddenly Kiba had a thought and looked down,

“Damn it, my ice cream” he said, as he watched Akamaru licking it up.

“First Gaara and Naruto-kun express their love for each other than you and Shino! It truly is the spring time of youth!” Lee continued on.

“Come on, I’ll buy you another” Shino whispered in his ear, they both looked to Lee who was busy talking and doing his ‘nice guy pose’ they silently slipped away.
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Eyes suddenly opened showing glowing greenish-gold, pupil less eyes, a smirk found its way onto the beings face, “soon” it whispered, then the eyes closed, smirk still firmly in place.
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“-to, Naruto!” yelled Tsunade, snapping back to reality Naruto shook his head a shiver running down his spine, and not the good kind either, he looked to Tsunade who was looking at him with concern, he quickly glanced over to Gaara to see concern, though it was hidden slightly, biting his bottom lip he looked back to Tsunade, she sighed,

“What happened Naruto? You looked like you were miles away”

“I-I’m not sure, I just got this feeling all of a sudden” he whispered so low, that they almost couldn’t hear him, he looked out the window, Gaara coming behind him and wrapping his arms around him, sighing he leant back into Gaara, gaze never leaving the outside.

“You had us really worried” his gaze snapped to Tsunade as she continued, “your eyes got a glazed look” she paused and sighed,

“Distant and hazy, like no one was home, or rather someone was…but” she paused again and shook her head, “maybe your still tired” she finished lamely.

Naruto looked at her sharply for a few moments, which felt like hours to her, ‘who knew he had such a penetrating gaze’ she thought fighting back a shudder and the urge to swallow…loudly, ‘this must be the real him’ Slowly the gaze grew softer,

“Yeah” he murmured “maybe” his gaze returning to the outside, Gaara’s arms still wrapped tightly around him.
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Shikamaru yawned loudly as he continued to cloud watch, his best friend Chouji next to him, munching on his seemingly never ending bag of chips, when suddenly he shuddered, eyes sharpening, he sat up quickly glancing around,

“What is it, Shikamaru?” Chouji asked, chip still in his hand as he watched him, shaking his head, he slowly lowered himself back down,

“Nothing” he said, Chouji looked at him, before shrugging and popping the chip into his mouth,

“If you say so”

Shikamaru closed his eyes for a moment, before returning his gaze to the clouds,

“Nothing,” he murmured, “just the wind” fighting back another shudder as his mind helpfully supplied that there was no wind or even a light breeze that day.
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A/N: Thanks for the opinion Kawaiicrimsonkitsune, hope you like this chapter, and don't worry i'm going to take your suggestion about Kiba, just wait -smiles evilly-