I knew you would find me

***BETA'D***

AN: Hey everyone! Finally upday, yes, celebrate. (not...) lol..anywho, i'm moving all my review replies to the end of the sotry, hope nodbody minds!


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“Hokage-sama—”

“Don’t call me that,” the blonde said automatically and heard the annoyed ‘Tch’. Looking up from his food after swallowing the last of the noodles, his eyes watched a pink-haired kunoichi coming towards him, a scroll in one hand. He leaned farther back onto the tree and waited for her to speak as she stopped in front of him, a worried expression crossing her facial features.

“Naruto, what’s wrong?” Sakura asked finally, sitting down next to him. The blonde pushed his food away and stared across the training grounds. He could see Lee and Neji with their genins in the next training area over.

“I’m fine. What makes you think I’m not?” he asked quickly, glancing away from the sparring teams to the woman next to him. Sakura crossed her arms.

“You’ve only eaten one bowl of ramen and you’ve been sparring with your clones for practically the entire day.”

“The offices were stuffy, and I needed some air, what’s wrong with that?” Naruto muttered. He watched a high kick aimed at Neji’s face, but his jounin caught it quickly, twisting the genin to the ground. The byakugan user crouched to explain to the younger ninja what he did wrong. The genin didn't look to happy about the explanation.

“You have a pile of reports to go through,” she replied.

“I’ll get through them.”

“Right. The Kazekage will be here in the next few hours. Your ANBU have been escorting them since they’ve been within our borders.” Naruto looked up sharply.

“He is?” he asked very quickly, his hand going for the robe thrown hastily to the side earlier that day. Sakura smiled.

“Yeah he is. Naruto?” Sakura stared as the blonde hastily jumped up from the ground in a flurry of movement.

“I need to get those reports finished,” he said hastily, disappearing with a poof. Sakura blinked once before narrowing her eyes. She looked up into the tree.

“So, what do you think?” she finally asked out loud. Her old perverted sensei plopped down from the tree.

“Hmm,” came the answer. She looked over at the man. He had his nose in that damn book again.

“Kakashi!” she exclaimed. The grey-haired jounin looked up with surprise.

“Hm, What?”

“I asked what you thought. I mean, I haven’t seen Naruto like this before…he’s…”

“In denial,” was the short reply, “Got to go back to escorting.”

Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but the jounin was gone. She sighed, opening the scroll. Her eyes skimmed the contents. She had better make sure the Hokage met with the Kazekage like he should.

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“Don’t move! I have to get this last one pinned.”

“Sakura, I don’t have to wear my ceremonial robes to meet with the Kazekage,” Naruto said, grabbing her wrist. She swatted his hand away quickly, tying a knot, and went back to the ripped hem.

“Making good impressions help,” she replied shortly.

“I don’t need to make a good impression, least of all to Gaara of the Desert,” he hissed angrily. Sakura attacked the hem once more, ignoring him. Naruto sighed in exasperation. So the Kazekage had a missing-nin from their village—he didn’t have to come personally. Naruto wished he hadn’t at all. What happened in Suna was still too fresh; he had lost control, end of story. The Kage was showing up just to remind him of his control issues. It didn't help either that Naruto now had to force himself awake from the multitude of awkward dreams.

“There, all done. See. Wasn’t that hard, was it?” the pink-haired ninja said with a smile. The Hokage only grunted in annoyance.

“Thanks, Sakura.” he finally said.

“You’re welcome.” She waved to him, passing through the door another adviser had just opened, waiting to speak.

“The accommodations are finished, Hokage-sama. Would you like anyone to accompany you when you meet the Kazekage?” the man asked at the sliding door to his left. Naruto glanced at him and shook his head.

“I’ll go alone,” he said.

“Are you sure you don’t want—” Naruto suddenly raised his hand, a response to appease the older ninja already prepared.

“I will have a few ANBU remove the hostage and take him down to the holding cells for questioning, but other than that, I do not need company.” His robes flowed uncomfortably around him as he walked to the door. He saw the respectful bow out of the corner of his eye before the adviser retreated to do his bidding. Exhaling slowly, Naruto began undoing the robe. He hated the awful thing with a passion and knew if Tsunade was still around she would have killed him. Shucking it off over his head, he left it in a disorganized pile on the floor and adjusted his clothes underneath. On other hand, Sakura was going to kill him now if saw him. With a smile he left the Hokage offices and councilor meeting halls. Two figures landed lightly beside him just as he passed through the building doors.

“Your dog needs a bath,” Naruto said, cocking his head to the side at the ANBU who stood grinning wolfishly, and another who only tilted his head to the side in acknowledgment to the Hokage.

“Sorry, just got back from a mission. So who’s the missing-nin?”

Naruto didn’t answer Inuzuka as they moved through the town heading towards the front gates. He didn't even protest when Aburame Shino sidled to his front as they moved to the gates. Naruto knew he was sending his insects to spy.

“The Kazekage, Kankuro, and Kioko-Tai are within twenty meters of our gate,” Shino said.

“And the other missing-nin?” Naruto inquired, his eyebrows furrowed on the insect-manipulator as they walked closer to the gates.

“Karaso,” Kiba suddenly said, tapping his nose once, “Those damn puppets always smelled disgusting,” he continued. Naruto nodded and watched as both Shikamaru and Kakashi greeted the wall guards above the door. With one wave the doors began opening and the apprehension in Naruto’s stomach doubled. It twisted its way through his body so suddenly that his foot slipped back one step. He did not want to see Gaara of the Desert.

“Hokage?” Naruto heard Kiba to his left, his large dog whining next to him, obviously sensing the discomfort racing through their Hokage’s body. Shino glanced behind him.

“You seem uneasy of this encounter, Hokage-sama,” he said softly, the doors beginning to open.

“I wouldn’t call it uneasiness,” muttered a lightly landing Kakashi. Naruto glared at him, but didn’t comment on the what his old sensei said.

“Kakashi, Shikamaru, Shino, I want you three to remove the missing-nin from their custody and take him to the holding cells. Please inform Morino Ibiki,” Naruto said before the doors were fully open. In the gateway, a cross-armed and waiting Kazekage stood. He was the first thing that greeted his sight. Then there was a disgruntled looking Kankuro with Karaso, which held an unconscious missing-nin to his left while Kioko-Tai stood to his right looking resolutely through the Konoha doors.

“Welcome to Konoha, Kazekage,” Naruto said formally through his teeth. Gaara’s eyes landed on him and stayed there. Naruto looked away hastily, gazing at the Sand-nins at either side.

“Take him from Kankuro,” Naruto said and watched the pass between the puppeteer and his own ninjas. The missing-nin was bound swiftly by the Copy-cat ninja and the three disappeared.

“Kiba, please escort Kankuro and Tai to their accommodations. Find me after you have done so,” he rapidly ordered the dog-nin, and soon the area near the gates was cleared of the ninjas except the Kazekage and Hokage.

“If you would,” Naruto motioned towards the inner parts of the village and they began walking. Gaara did not wear his ceremonial robes either which was one of the first things Naruto noticed. He was very glad he chucked his once Sakura had left.

“I have to thank you,” Naruto began formally. The eyes turned toward him and he felt a sensation ripple through his system at the level gaze, “For retrieving this rogue-nin, that is,” he clarified, trying to ignore the intensity of those eyes.

“I would hope you would do the same for me,” the red-headed leader replied. Naruto passed a sidelong glance to him, his eyes widening as he saw the smallest of beetles attached to the clothing on his shoulder.

“It seems we are still being watched over rather closely,” observed the sand ninja, but it didn’t seem like he minded.

“Were you hoping for a private conversation?” Naruto asked, his question meeting with silence. He knew that if he confronted the other man now it would end up in a fight. Holding back a glare, Naruto motioned towards the training grounds.

“There’s a lake beyond these grounds,” he stated. It was one of the most private places in the city. If anyone went there, it was for training with water jutsu, but it was always quiet when he made it to the lakeshore.

“And we will find privacy there?” inquired Suna’s Kazekage.

“What is it with you wanting to hold a damn conversation with me?!” Naruto suddenly growled. A few villagers they passed eyed them curiously, and Naruto huffed, extending the length of his strides to get away from the other people of the village.

“It helps with keeping our peace treaty,” Gaara said finally, “Do they bother you much?” Naruto whirled on him.

“Yes. They bother me very much,” he hissed dangerously before turning and continuing. Even with previous visits to Suna, it seemed there were things that Gaara did that just made his blood boil. Adding ANBU to every envoy, inviting him for dinners, the barest hints of sarcasm lacing some of his responding words in old conversations and during Kage meetings. With each time they met, formally or informally, Gaara became more and more attentive to him. It irked the blonde to no end. Despite the strength of his irritation and anger, the opening of the trees to the lake was breathtaking. He kept himself in check at the sight, but Gaara had shifted his feet back a bit in surprise, the Kage’s eyes wide.

“Do you come here often?” Gaara’s quiet voice broke through Naruto’s now calm mind. It never ceased to amaze him how easily he fell into comfort here. His eyes grazed the area. A weather-worn rock jutted up to the left, right at the lake’s edge, washed in gold and reds from the sunset. When he was younger, he had climbed up it many times only to be shoved roughly by a number of his friends into the usually very cold water.

“No. I usually go to the Memorial Stones now,” he replied softly. The lake was so still, the water a perfect reflection of the sky above.

The silence stretched between them while Naruto watched Gaara walk to the lake’s edge, squatting and cupping his hands, letting them fill with the clear water. He let it drip through his fingers, lifting his head to gaze across the surface and watching the ripple effect spread across the lake, breaking, manipulating, and distorting the image of the reddened sky. It seemed like ages before the other man stood, slowly turning towards Naruto, the water behind him calm and once again the mirror of the sky.

“Why?” the red-headed ninja asked. Naruto didn’t look at him, his eyes trained on the eastern bank. The stillness unnerved him, but he replied anyway, finally raising his eyes to meet the Kage’s.

“You should know why, Gaara.”

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TBC

AN: Did I use 'kuinochi' in the right context and is it spelled right? Anyone wanna let me know but I'd like to use it more often, but I don't know if it's right! In other news this was just a bit of a filler to get to the next one, XD I didn't want it to go on forever!

Stagoya: Thank you very much, i hope you enjoy!!

Kaze: I'm glad it did! It's ok, short or long reviews doesn't matter, it's still a review!! And I love them so! ^_^;

kawaiicrimsonkitsune: Yes..lots of conflict...won't end for some time..^_^; and thanks!