Never Perfect

A/N Hey guys I'm alive. Anyway, thank you all for your reviews and I just wanted to let you know I have a speacial thank you for my Beta Telpei without whom, I would have scrapped this entire chapter. She reflamed my flagging confidences therefore I dedicate this chapter to her but also to Bri in the hopes it will make her cheer up and help her to write.


When Sasuke woke it was to the sound of a scuffle, muffled snarls, and grunts of distress.

“Gaara, calm him down would you? If I don’t get it in a vein it won’t keep him out for long at all, you know that.”

Sasuke forced his eyes open and immediately his black gaze was caught by one frantic blue eye. Naruto knelt only a few meters away, writhing in the grasp of sand, one arm exposed out of the cocoon as Temari tried to inject him with something.

“I don’t want to crush him, and if I hold him too tightly he will break something like he nearly did last time. He’s fighting too hard.”

Sasuke analysed the situation quickly. Naruto was panicking, trying to get away but yet trying to reach the Uchiha. Sakura was nowhere in sight, but then neither were Gaara’s sand forces. Naruto was worried and scared, so his mind had kicked back to relying on instinct. Sasuke had no choice but to try and calm the blond from his position on the ground. The Dobe was going to break something.

“You’re scaring him. Don’t give him the drugs.” Sasuke interjected, the sound of his voice drawing everyone’s attention to himself.

Kankuro turned and savagely booted the Uchiha in the ribs, making the black-haired man curl in on himself and gasp in pain, trying to catch his breath.

“Shut it you traitor!”

All this just set Naruto off. The sand about him strained to hold him as the Kyuubi charka flared.

“Kankuro! Do not touch the Uchiha again. I think Naruto just formed a second tail. It clearly upsets him to see the Uchiha hurt.” Gaara’s warning held a nasty hiss and Sasuke desperately tried to catch his breath. Two tails, all in an attempt to protect them. Again. He ignored the painful burn in his ribs and the answering one in his chest at the thought of having to cut them from Naruto again. Instead, he focused on trying to calm the frantic man. He struggled across the ground to get closer and caught Naruto’s gaze.

“Calm down, Dobe. I’m okay. I’m still here. Please try to calm down.”

Naruto’s panicked breathing wasn’t coming so rapidly now but he still strained against the sand to get closer. Sasuke reached out bound hands, stretching across the last bit of distance to touch Naruto’s whiskered cheek.

“See? Now come back to me. You’ll have to talk or Gaara will not release you. Come back to me, Naruto.”

The blond whimpered once but made a final surge, dragging the sand in his wake. Sasuke was as surprised as the Sand siblings around them as, quickly and desperately, Naruto’s lips sealed across his own to seek reassurance. Sasuke tilted his head, allowing Naruto’s mouth to ravage his own, trying to get closer mindlessly, before the sand inevitably snatched Naruto away. His eye was closed, his head was down, and he was breathing slowly. Finally, when that eye opened again, the mindless emotions had receded and in their place a tormented and wary expression reined.

“Gaara.”

Hesitantly the sand crept away, leaving Naruto kneeling in that dejected pose. Gaara waved his siblings away as he stood directly behind Naruto. His arms remained crossed and his gaze was assessing.

“So you can speak.”

Naruto nodded. “Yes”

Gaara’s jade gaze narrowed on the back of his bandana-covered head.

“You had better start explaining then, because I believe I need to know what is going on here. I would not trust the traitor’s version.”

Sasuke didn’t flinch when the jade gaze swung to him. He was about to speak up to spare Naruto, but the two tails lifted, fur waving back and forth in front of the Kazekage. With his left hand, Naruto snatched the bandana from his head. This let his ears stand freely in sight. His one piercing blue eye with its slitted pupil turned, letting go of the Uchiha’s eyes to meet Gaara’s over his shoulder. This hid the scarred side of his face from Gaara’s eyes but made it stand out starkly to Sasuke.

“You’d trust that even as I am, I am not Kyuubi? Even when I’m meant to be dead and the Kyuubi should be raging out of control?”

Gaara dropped his folded arms and smirked. “You’re here. I know it is you.”

His statement was simple and clear, there was no hesitation, and Naruto dropped his gaze to look back at his bound team mate.

“Let Sasuke go.”

“You may trust him, I do not. He stays as he is until you tell me what is going on. I have made sure his wounds were tended.”

Naruto growled, the two tails swaying back and forth angrily, but the Kyuubi charka stayed in check. “He knows more than I do! I’ve been in a god-forsaken hole in the ground, with no light, for months on end. He got me out. How, I don’t remember. I don’t even know what day it is. Right now I know nothing beyond this immediate area.”

Gaara sighed, but the hand he attempted to lay on Naruto’s shoulder simply made the man flinch away. Without a reaction to the rejection, Gaara directed his sand silently. It whispered over Sasuke’s bindings, and then they fell away.

“Start talking, Uchiha.”

Sasuke rubbed his sore wrists, wishing he could approach Naruto, but he knew that would not be tolerated by the Kazekage. Instead, he started to explain all that had happened to them until now. He did not like cow towing to the other man, but for now, for Naruto’s sake, he would curb his pride. He remained in his position on the ground as he spoke rapidly. Naruto didn’t shift either, except to lower his eyes to the ground as soon as Sasuke began to explain: first their battle, then Leaf’s betrayal, Naruto’s rescue and their battle with Madara. Gaara could be friend or foe here, so Sasuke spoke carefully. Gaara’s personal presence certainly bent in their favour.

When Sasuke was finally finished, Gaara chose to speak again. “Your father was the fourth? It would seem we have had more in common then we first thought, Naruto. We had received conflicting reports. At the time of your death I was delivered a personal missive from your Hokage saying he was aware of our ‘friendship’. He felt I had the right to know that the Uchiha traitor had killed you and that Leaf had managed to contain your demon. However, another missive recently arrived saying the Uchiha had attacked Leaf again and perhaps my forces might be in better condition to deal with him and the Kyuubi, which he had stolen. So tell me Namikaze, did the Uchiha steal you?”


Naruto lifted his eye, first locking on the humbled Sasuke, before he slowly climbed to his feet. His face told a story of his internal pain but his tails waved calmly behind him as he turned to meet the ex-demon container’s jade gaze. The tone in his voice held nothing but strength and certainty.

“No, Gaara. He’s trying to save me.”

Gaara’s sand rustled in its gourd before he spoke again.

“You admitted you are not fully aware of everything that is going on. How do you know his intentions are trustworthy? Both of us have been seen as nothing but weapons to other people. Perhaps this is how…”

Sasuke leapt forward, anger burning deep and Sharingan spinning ready to attack, but Naruto came between them and wrapped his arms around the Uchiha.

“Gaara, he is not using me as a weapon.”

Sasuke slowly unclenched his fists but stayed within Naruto’s gentle hold. His voice was calm too, not betraying that sudden passionate burst of righteous anger.

“If I wanted a weapon I could have pulled Kyuubi out many, many times Sabuka. It’s Naruto himself I’m after.”

The Sand nin raised a non-existent eyebrow at the bold statement but he merely stepped away to walk in the same direction his siblings had taken.

“We are going to Sand. The woman will be sent back to Leaf as a messenger that we have captured the Uchiha.”

“No!”

Naruto’s denial had Gaara turning back to face them. The blond continued speaking but he had yet to release Sasuke. If anything he was moving in closer to hold the raven more securely.

“I will not be the cause of a war between our people.”

Gaara’s deadpan expression didn’t change, but the mockery in his voice was clear.

“Who said anything about mentioning you?”

He seemed to enjoy the confusion his statement caused before choosing to go on.

“Sand and Leaf may be allies, but this Danzo character has lied and attempted to manipulate me. This will not come to war. Politically speaking, he is in a corner. If he responds by acknowledging that you are Naruto and not Kyuubi, therefore stating he was wrong to lock you up in the first place. you would have rights to lay damages at his feet. He would also be forced to admit that he lied to me and many others about the Uchiha’s actions. Alternatively, he can say he was ignorant of the whole thing and had no idea you could have been still alive, and in this case both you and the Uchiha become heroes. His last option is to try and keep maintaining that you are the Kyuubi in a henge being controlled by the Sharingan, but in this case I would ask if he has done something to keep the Uchiha from using you to attack Leaf. So, my guess is that he would rather not say anything about the matter at all. If I say I have the Uchiha, then there is nothing he can actually ask me, tell me or try to get me to do without having to take one of these roads. He will say nothing at all while privately cursing my name. This mental, political torment is very enjoyable, I have come to find.”

With this little speech done, Gaara turned and continued away from the two. Sasuke was the one to break the silence with a nasty snicker as he thought of Danzo trying to decide what to do about the Kazekage once the sand nin’s ‘message’ was delivered. Naruto finally released him but didn’t follow the red head. Instead he stayed standing, with a slight confusion still set in his expression. All the confusion seemed to be caused by Gaara’s words.

Sasuke smiled slightly before explaining, “Gaara is getting his own type of revenge, I think. Danzo told him you were dead. He didn’t think that Danzo had been the cause of that death. He can’t go to war with Leaf but I think he was hurting as much as the others; Gaara’s doing what he can to get back at Danzo, without admitting to it of course.”


Naruto’s confusion didn’t seem to lift at all but then deep concern entered his gaze.

“Everyone really thought I was dead.”

Sasuke lightly touched the side of his face, making Naruto meet his gaze. “Not anymore. I made sure the others who helped you escape would let the whole village know you are alive.”

Naruto shifted from his touch and slowly moved to follow the Kazekage’s path.

“Who else saw me like that, Sasuke?” The blond asked. Pain edged his voice and Sasuke followed behind without much thought.

“When the door opened Ino, Sai, Sakura and Kakashi were there. That’s all.”

One of Naruto’s hands came up and raked through his hair, narrowly missing his ears. “I don’t want to be like this, Sasuke.” Tails lashed from side to side, preventing the Uchiha from getting too close and making Naruto’s point as well. There wasn’t much he could say in response to the whispered half plea. “Nothing will change it. Is that the same with everything and I just never realized it? Was I really the fool I enjoyed playing so much?”

Gaara’s long suffering sigh cut over Sasuke growl of anger as the two of them joined him near a stream. Kankuro, Temari, the rest of Gaara’s ninjas and a bound Sakura were there.

“Namikaze, you changed everything. Lives, destinies. You believed you could and you had the right. You are overbearing, rude and over eager. Don’t tell me simply being tortured for months could get the self proclaimed ‘Great Uzamaki’ to fail. I thought more of you than that.”

Naruto froze and the Uchiha’s rage was changed to Gaara. Sakura and he had taken such pains to be gentle with Naruto’s reawakening emotions. Sabuka had no such hesitancy. His blunt words trampled over Naruto like his experiences in the dungeon were nothing, and insinuating that he should just get the hell over it. When Sasuke went to go for the Kazekage once more, an arm shot out in front of him, stopping his forward movement without touching him. He’d tried to pass on Naruto’s right, and as he halted he looked to Naruto’s face. His eye was no longer dull. It was blazing. Bright blue sparkled with anger, spitting fury but also alive, so alive. His jaw was set, lips pressed tight before he let out a very human snarl, one pointed canine flashing before being hidden again, his head held high.

“What the FUCK, Panda man? I have God damned neko ears on my head and tails sprouting outta my ass! But I’m still here. I’m still alive and ain’t nobody gonna tell me who I was and who I supposedly am not anymore. You wanna challenge me, Sandy pants?”

Gaara smirked. “Like you could handle it in your current ‘fragile’ state.”

Naruto’s answering snarl was beyond savage. “You just try it! I’ll show you how damn fragile I am!”

Gaara shrugged. “Well, perhaps not that fragile. But how are you supposed to fight me when you’re afraid of yourself? When you are afraid of a couple of furry tails that are yours, anyway.”

Sasuke had caught on but maybe Gaara was pushing just a little too far. Sakura was wide eyed but silenced by her gag as the other ninja just looked on.

“Afraid? Let’s see who’s going to be afraid.” Naruto sprang into motion, going straight for the Kazekage, but was met with a wall of sand.

“Nice to see you ARE still there. We’ll play another time, Namikaze. For now, perhaps we had better play nice.”

Naruto blinked then allowed himself to be pushed back before the sand withdrew. His voice was still rough with anger but the growling edge had gone. “Naruto.”

Gaara frowned slightly before replying. “Yes, that is your name. Don’t tell me you forgot that, too.”

Naruto’s jaw visibly clenched before he forced it to work. “My Name is Naruto. Not Uzamaki. Not Namikaze.”

Gaara’s nod was barely visible. “Very well….Naruto.”