Freezing

“You let him get away! You let him leave!! How the fuck could you do that??” The shark-faced man was not happy with the youngest Uchiha at the moment.

When the Uchiha had said he would deal with him they all knew what he meant. And he was right. It would be better than mentally torturing for a year to do that. But he should have followed him to make sure he didn’t go back to the Leaf village or the Sand village. He should have made sure he stayed out in the forest or went to a new village. Torture that would last for years. That’s what it was supposed be like.

But no. The raven had walked off instead. Leaving him to go back to Leaf. Even that would have been satisfying. He seemed scarred enough by what Sasuke had done. Until he moved to Sand. The next time Sasuke – in disguise at the Jounin exams - had seen Naruto he was stronger, faster and, whilst still upset about the past, he had moved onto the point where he could be around his old friends again...for a bit and as long as certain topics were avoided. But that wasn’t the point. He was healing! That wasn’t supposed to happen!

Sasuke had not dirtied himself with the blonde dobe just so he could go and forget it. In truth, Sasuke had slightly regretted what he had done. For the whole year. His team and the Akatsuki had realized this so they had not said anything about it. Instead they had trusted he knew what he was doing. But he hadn’t. And now the fucking little bastard had almost forgotten it.

But there was another way to make sure he never ‘recovered’. And he told Kisame so.

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“Simple...the dobe can’t handle genjutsu. Never has been able to. And I already know what to show him. Heh. It’ll actually be quite funny I reckon”

Two weeks later Naruto and the three Sand siblings were heading back to Wind country, Naruto a new Jounin and Sand village ninja. Traveling through the forest they were attacked. By a group of very, very stupid bandits.

It turned out the bandits weren’t as stupid as they thought. They successfully separated the group and it may Sasuke laugh to watch Naruto so nervous as he tried to find his way back to his group. Now it was time to start.

Karin transformed into Naruto and quickly made her way to Gaara.

“Naruto. Good, you’re here. Have you seen Temari and Kankuro?”

“No, I haven’t. But they’ll be alright.”

His nonchalance made Gaara look at him sharply. Normally he would be even more worried then Gaara himself. When Naruto launched himself at the redhead, Gaara froze. What had gotten into him? He found out when Naruto pressed his lips to his.

“What are you doing?”

“Kissing you,” was replied with a silly smile, “c’mon Gaa. Temari and Kankuro will be fine. They’re strong. I know you want to, I’ve seen you looking.”

That was true, but he didn’t think Naruto had seen. Was there something wrong with Naruto? He was acting a little strangely. But when he leaned in for another kiss, Gaara found himself eagerly responding. That was when Sasuke allowed the real Naruto to stumble into the clearing. But Sasuke had already cast the genjutsu. Naruto didn’t see himself with Gaara. No. He saw Gaara with Sasuke. And Temari and Kankuro off to the side. He saw Temari and Kankuro spot him, point him out and laugh.

He saw Sasuke turn around and smirk.

“Loser, what do you want?”

Naruto fell to his knees. He felt worse then the last time he’d seen Sasuke. Gaara and his siblings were the ones who had saved him. Were they really conspiring with Sasuke? Had he fallen into a trap? He had to tell Tsunade. But he wouldn’t be allowed back in Leaf without a passport and now he couldn’t get one. But he couldn’t believe it. He just couldn’t.

Behind him in the trees, Sasuke was stifling a snigger. This was working better than he had imagined. Naruto was falling straight into it. When Gaara turned around, finally realizing he wasn’t with the real Naruto, he ran to his blonde’s side. But he wasn’t very good with genjutsu either. Probably a Jinchuuriki thing.

However he did know the best way to end genjutsu if you couldn’t raise it normally. And that was to kill the caster. He killed Karin without a second thought, thinking it must have been the fake Naruto. It didn’t work. Oh well, the wench deserved it for deceiving him anyway. Now he was beginning to slip back into his old homicidal tendencies. He was pissed.

Then Gaara noticed the tiny sliver of chakra in the trees behind Naruto. He knocked the trees with his sand, at the same time sending a small shower of shuriken and kunai. His mood worsened when he saw the Uchiha jump out and land confidently in front of him, just Naruto between them.

“Now, how did I know that a Naruto launching himself at you would keep you distracted? It really was too easy, fag.”

Gaara’s eyes narrowed. How dare the fucking Uchiha! He would kill him. And he would do it in the most painful way he could imagine.

Gaara had learned a new trick also, very similar to Naruto’s earth tornado (the one that came out of the ground). Instead, the ground under Sasuke erupted into a mini sandstorm threw him back at a tree, catching him before he could actually grab anything. He couldn’t allow the Uchiha time to respond or he knew he would be killed.

He surrounded Sasuke, similar to his sand coffin, but instead each grain started spinning on its own. No longer part of a whole, now a huge group of lots of singulars. Each grain started closing in on Sasuke, still being held, and ground into one of the pores in his skin. Every pore on his body was being assaulted. Even the almighty Uchiha couldn’t hold back a scream as his control on the genjutsu dropped.

That was when Temari and Kankuro made their way back to the clearing. Gaara gestured to Naruto and they rushed over, easily taking off the genjutsu. Naruto’s eyes widened when he heard Sasuke’s scream and he spun to face him. Gaara looked insanely mad. He cocked his head.

“So, it wasn’t real? Gaara doesn’t really love Sasuke and you don’t really hate me?”

Temari’s eyes widened when she realized what he’d seen. That fucking Uchiha had tried to break him by making him think he was alone. Heh. That would only work if he actually had been.

“No Naru, it wasn’t real. We’re here for you…and Gaara’s about to kill the Uchiha.”

Kankuro slung an arm around the younger blonde and grinned to him.

“Looks painful don’t it?” He laughed. Naruto smirked.

He stood up. “Gaara stop!”

The redhead did, startled. “You can’t actually believe that stuff from before? He deserves this and more!”

“That’s true but I don’t want you to have to do it. There are still bandits around let them kill him,” Naruto looked to Sasuke. “You’re not worth us, especially me, dirtying our hands over. Failure. You were supposed to torture me, break me, make me kill myself, but you failed. You said at our Chunnin exams you would beat Gaara and now you’re losing. Loser. And you’ve teamed up with the same group the brother you so longed to kill was once with, you’re becoming him. Pathetic. But you’re worse then him. He didn’t let you kill him did he? He used a technique that killed him, that’s practically suicide. Pathetic. Loser. Failure. You’re not worth or time.”

He was tempted to spit on him, but instead he just turned away and walked proudly back to Temari and Kankuro. Gaara smirked proudly at him.

“He’s right. You’re not worth our time. But I can’t ignore what you did to him, the fact that you tried. So I’ll just make it quick.”

Sasuke looked down. The dobe’s words had hit him hard. He had failed. Now he knew why Naruto also worked so hard. He wanted to show him he wasn’t a failure, but he had turned his back on him. He didn’t hear what Gaara said to him. So he panicked when he saw the sand rising around him again. He saw Gaara glaring at him.

“Please! No! Don’t! Don’t! I don’t want to die! Please!”

But the sand enclosed him. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t talk. He couldn’t think. The sand moved in lightning fast. He felt himself being crushed. He couldn’t breathe. He was scared. He screamed his fear. Then nothing.

Naruto’s eyes widened when he saw Sasuke’s blood streaming out of the sand coffin. He couldn’t speak he was so shocked. Temari was winging that she wanted a go at him to. Kankuro was patting Gaara on the back. He was dead. The one constant nag in his life. The one constant drive. The reason he strove to be better. Was dead. And he felt…

Relieved.

Not sad. Not angry at Gaara. Not even begrudging the redhead the kill. Relieved. That he no longer had that constant nag that it was his fault. That voice saying he was a ‘dobe’ or a ‘loser’ or a ‘whore’. It was gone, like breathing your first breath of fresh air after being inside all day. He felt free.

That night the Sand sibs were forced to stay in the forest. They didn’t really like that, they weren’t really used to spending nights in forests. Gaara and Naruto would take first watch, when there was more risk because Naruto did know forests, and Temari and Kankuro would take second.

Gaara was glad. He needed to talk to the blonde man. Even if he wasn’t really looking forward to it. He waited until he was certain his siblings were asleep.

“Are you angry?”

The blonde looked up. “Angry why? Because of Sasuke?”

“Not quite, I know you wouldn’t have done it. Because I shouldn’t have let you fall under that genjutsu. I should have noticed the transformation jutsu and found him before he cast it.”

Naruto came over and put his arm around Gaara. “No way. They had it planned so you couldn’t help me. And I certainly won’t begrudge any man time with a pretty lady.”

Gaara looked up sharply. He hadn’t seen…at all?

“Pretty lady? No…I…wasn’t with a…‘pretty lady’. I was with…never mind. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t angry.”

Naruto cocked his head. So who was he with then?

“Never. You know, in that genjutsu, I saw you and him kissing. And Temari and Kankuro were laughing at me because it was like a joke. I…I actually believed it. I was seriously considering how to get back to Konoha to tell Tsunade about it. But I couldn’t. I was seriously so stupid. But when I woke up and I saw you killing him, I realized what had happened…I felt like apologizing to you and the others. Because I had doubted you. I really am an idiot.”

“Not an idiot, like me you fall into genjutsus easily. And he had made it so detailed you weren’t supposed to be able to tell the difference between reality and the genjutsu, he was a talented caster I’ll give him that. Temari and Kankuro…they think of you as another little brother. They would never betray you like that. And I…I would rather kiss my father’s corpse then kiss the Uchiha.”

Naruto laughed. “Yeah, I guess Tema-chan and Kuro have become like a big brother and sister over the past year. Silly of me really to doubt them. And you…I don’t know. But I do know you would never have even liked him and certainly not enough to kiss him!”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?”

“Well, the way you said you weren’t with a ‘pretty lady’ before…Gaara…do you by any chance like guys?”

Gaara looked down. “Depends. What’ll you do if I say yes?”

“What do you mean? I never grew up with anyone telling me homosexuality was wrong so I’ve always been fine with it. If you like guys, then you go for it.”

“What if it is only one, specific male I like?”

“Like who? Bushy Brows?”

Gaara looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “No. No. Not Rock Lee…it’s…uh…well. Naruto, you are the one I like. I know that because of the Uchiha you may be uncomfortable with that but that is how I am. I’m not going to act on it, I will wait. Or, if you never wish for anything, I shall forget it. But this is now how I am.”

Naruto was surprised, to say the least. Gaara liked him. Did that mean…he wasn’t dirty from Sasuke? He felt so happy he wanted too cry. Instead he leaned over to Gaara and pressed his lips to Gaara’s.

His surprise grew when he was pushed off. Gaara’s eyes had narrowed.

“KAI!”

Not even a flicker. Usually Gaara could make it so it would at least flicker so he knew it was a genjutsu. No flicker meant…no genjutsu. Oops.

He held a hand out to Naruto, who understood what had happened the second he had called ‘kai’. Naruto took the hand and was brought up to Gaara. This time Gaara was the one to bring his lips to Naruto’s. This time it was not a jutsu, nor did Gaara think it was. This time it was real. And they both felt it. They heat flowed through them, like molten lava. Hot enough to melt the ice caps.

Naruto knew he would never freeze again in this sort of heat.