Notes: The dates for canon events aren't set it stone here, so don't assume they're perfectly accurate. I'm trying to stretch the story across a heavily edited version of the Naruto timeline. In other words, the big events will mostly still happen, just to Gaara instead of Naruto. But don't worry, Naruto still gets his share of the spotlight, although admittedly less in certain chapters.
Another Note: I have to apologize to my reviewers a little. In an effort to ensure that I see this story all the way to the end, I'm trying to write a few chapters ahead. In other words, when I posted the first chapter, I had just started writing the third chapter. Consequently, my mindset is generally fixed on the chapter I'm CURRENTLY writing, so I may, at times, refer to an event that you haven't seen yet. If that happens, I apologize, but with any luck, you'll see the scene I mistakenly referred to a week or so afterwards. Honestly, I don't mind telling anyone what I intend to happen at certain points in the story if you want to know. But I also respect that some people like to be surprised, and I hope this story has plenty of surprises for everyone.
The Nature of Love
A Naruto Fanfic by
Nate Grey (XMAN0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Chapter 4: Sympathy Pains
1 Year, 6 Months in Suna - MayNaruto was not having a good week.
First, Temari had been wounded on a mission. This would not have been so bad, except that she'd gotten hurt helping him with something he'd practiced over and over again, just so he would get it right. And even though Temari brushed it off as nothing, and told him it was fine, Naruto still felt guilty. She didn't heal as fast as he did, so he had to stare at the gash on what was once (in his mind, anyway) a perfectly smooth leg. Kankurou complained more than Temari did, but only because he got roped into carrying her most of the way home.
Then they had to stand before the Kazekage (which Temari obviously had trouble doing, but managed somehow), who demanded to know why any of them were hurt at all. And before Naruto could say anything, Temari claimed that she'd tripped over a tripwire (Naruto had, actually) and gotten stabbed in the leg for her clumsiness. That was not punishment enough, however, so the Kazekage gave her guard duty for a month. Normally, this wouldn't have been such a big deal: having been born in Suna, Temari was accustomed to the desert heat. She was not, however, accustomed to staying on her feet all day in the hot sun with a wounded leg.
Naruto apologized so many times that Temari finally threatened to hit him if he didn't stop. But even when she smiled and told him that she regretted nothing, the guilt did not go away. Temari had done so much for him, and all she asked was that he did as he was ordered. She had been far kinder than was required. He was sure that she hadn't been told to comfort him when he had nightmares, or to give him sweets on the date they suspected was his birthday. But that only made him feel worse, for one simple reason.
Gaara hadn't gotten any of that treatment, and he had still managed to do things right. It was the extra killing that got him sent away, not a failure to follow orders. At least, that was the picture that the confidential scrolls in the Kazekage's office painted. Gaara had been a little too good, and that had made him a threat. To him, killing an enemy and killing a fellow Sand-nin was no different, if both managed to get in his way.
Deep down, Naruto was still afraid that Gaara could return, and he'd be sent back to Konoha to face the angry mobs. Too many mistakes, and he'd end up right back where he started: begging the Sandaime Hokage to end his suffering. He couldn't go back to that. He absolutely refused to. There had to be something that could make up for this mistake, something huge, and he knew what it was.
Kyuubi.
Naruto was still very much afraid of the fox on a purely instinctive level (Kankurou suspected that was the fox's doing, but Temari maintained that it was normal behavior). But the facts were that Kyuubi had saved his life several times, and in Naruto's mind, that technically made the fox his ally, however unwilling. At least, they were both fighting to keep his body intact, so they had some common ground.
That didn't mean, however, that Naruto was looking forward to making any sort of agreement with Kyuubi. Communication between the two had always been brief and heated at best, but it was going to become necessary in the immediate future. Despite the overall environment of Suna being less dangerous to Naruto than Konoha had been, he was becoming more dependent on Kyuubi. Certainly he'd always taken advantage of the accelerated healing, but he'd still been in control then. Now, he was willingly giving Kyuubi control of his body when things got too fast-paced for him. So far, the fox had always gotten the job done and then returned control to Naruto, which probably had more to do with the seal than any generosity on Kyuubi's part.
But if Naruto was going to secure a place for himself in Suna, he had be sure that he could trust Kyuubi (up to a point, of course) to be cooperative. Not that the fox hadn't been so far, but it was never wise to assume you knew the mind of a greater demon.
That was how Naruto found himself standing waist deep in cold water, deep within the dark corridors of his mind, staring up at the caged form of the demon fox.
"What do you want, boy?" Kyuubi growled, his enormous eyes peering through the bars of his cage. "I know you didn't come here just to stare at me."
Naruto hesitated, but forced himself to remain firm. If Kyuubi could harm him from here, and take over his body for good, he would've done it a long time ago. "I want to make a deal with you, fox."
Amazingly, Kyuubi didn't laugh at him. But the smile that spread across the fox's muzzle was both amused and mocking. "You, make a deal with me? What could a little brat like you possibly give me?"
"Well, what do you want?" Naruto asked, startling them both. In truth, he couldn't imagine what a demon fox might want. Actually, he could, and that was why he had refused to give it much thought. He had enough nightmares as it was.
The truly shocking thing was that the fox didn't reply at once. Naruto had always imagined that a creature like Kyuubi kept a list of demands at the forefront of his mind, so that he was either always ready to bargain, or to take what he wanted by force.
"Power," Kyuubi replied after a long moment.
This was one answer Naruto had not been expecting.
"Power? How can you possibly want power? You're the Nine-Tailed Fox! The greatest of all demons! If you don't have enough power already, no one ever will!"
"Flattery won't get you anywhere, boy, and you misunderstand me. I want power, but I never said I wanted it for myself." Kyuubi's eyes narrowed as he stepped closer to the bars of his cage. "You are the one who will obtain the power I seek, and you will use it become worthy of being my prison. In other words, I'm going to make you strong."
That sounded a little too good to be true, and Naruto was not so gullible as to believe Kyuubi would help him for nothing. "What do you get out of it? No way you'd help me if there wasn't something in it for you."
The fox chuckled. "So you're not a complete idiot. Good. You may have noticed that most people have a way of looking through you and only seeing me. Since that's the case, we might as well give them what they expect: a demon in human form. The irony there is that if you do what I say, you won't even need my knowledge to be a serious threat most of the time. You'll have learned enough to do major damage with just my chakra alone. And speaking of my chakra, you're going to need more of it for what I have planned."
"And you're just going to give it to me," Naruto muttered doubtfully.
"Of course not. There are conditions, and if you don't come through on your end, I can always take my chakra back, let you heal up the boring human way, or worse. First, you'll have to limit some of those silly human emotions. You won't learn anything if you're always worried about things you can't control. For example, it's time you told that girl how you really feel about her. You spend far too much time worrying about how she sees you."
"Uh... what girl?" Naruto murmured, avoiding Kyuubi's gaze.
"The leggy blond one that you're always finding excuses to hug. She can't read your mind; only I can do that. Just tell her the truth or I'll eat her."
"You can't eat her. You're stuck in here."
"True. But you're not."
Naruto got a sudden image of blood dripping from his mouth as he took a bite of some meat he would rather not know the origins of.
"ALRIGHT! I'll tell her!"
"Good boy," Kyuubi chuckled, moving away from the bars. "You'll hear from me once I've prepared your first lesson... and only after you've talked to the girl."
Temari was in the midst of a very nice dream when someone began poking her ribs insistently. She grunted, smacked the offending finger lightly, and rolled over. When the poking began again, she rolled towards the disturbance, this time with battle fan in hand, intending to bring it down on the head of whoever had dared to wake her up. Kankurou would know better, and Naruto had figured out very quickly that you didn't screw with a girl's beauty sleep, or any other kind of sleep, unless you wanted your head caved in.
Surprisingly, the fan was caught, although with a strained grunt. This was unexpected enough that Temari cracked one eye open, only to find Naruto wincing as he pushed the fan aside with some difficulty.
"This better be something that can't wait," she sighed, opening her other eye as well. The expression on Naruto's face told her that this was not exactly the case, and Temari debated whether she should whack him again, or roll over and try to get back to sleep.
"Not really, but I still need to tell you right now." He clenched and unclenched his hands nervously.
"Well, spit it out so we can both go back to sleep!"
"I love you!"
Temari's eyes widened, to the point where Naruto feared they might pop out of her head. After several moments had passed in tense silence, she blinked slowly, and finally whispered, "What?"
Naruto blushed furiously. "Don't make me say it again so soon."
"No, I meant… what do you mean, exactly?"
"Oh. Um…" Naruto bit his lip, his eyes shifting to the wall. "I'd really like it if you could start thinking of me as your brother."
Temari instantly relaxed, feeling like she'd just been given a huge break. "I see. So you love Kankurou, too?" That earned her an odd look. "To the extent anyone can, I mean."
"He's okay, I guess," was all Naruto would commit to. "Anyway, that's all I wanted to say…" He started to shuffle back to his bad.
"Naruto?"
He stopped and turned back to her, unable to conceal the hope in his eyes. "Yeah?"
Temari started to speak, then stopped. It was crazy, but she couldn't say the words that had entered her mind. Even crazier was the reason: she felt like she was betraying Gaara. He'd never said the words to her, and if she'd ever said them to him, they'd both been too young to remember.
"Temari?" Naruto was staring at her a little uncertainly.
She forced a weak smile. "Um… thank you, Naruto." Somehow, she knew what his reaction would be the instant the words left her lips.
Naruto's blue eyes seemed to lose some of their brilliance. "You're welcome, Temari," he replied calmly. With that, he climbed into his bed and lay far too still.
She knew what he was thinking. Naruto thought she didn't love him because of Kyuubi, but it wasn't that at all. Temari had admitted to herself long ago that she cared for Naruto, and didn't like to see him suffer. In some ways, he was more her brother than Gaara had ever been. And she had managed to love Gaara, from a distance, through Shukaku and all, even though he had technically taken her mother from her. But he had been born her brother, and automatically won a place in her heart. Naruto was trying his best to earn a place… Gaara's place. And even if she wanted him to have it, Temari wasn't sure that she could give it to him. What if she saw Gaara again? What if Konoha somehow changed him for the better? What then?
Until she made up her mind, she would be unable to tell Naruto what he wanted so desperately to hear. But there were other ways to make him feel wanted.
Knowing she might regret it later, Temari carefully sat up, moved to the edge of her bed, and limped over to Naruto's bed, doing her best not to put pressure on her bad leg. He was still pretending to sleep, and he stiffened when Temari gently ran her fingers through his hair.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," she murmured. "I'm not used to having a little brother who says things like that to me. But I promise I'll try." Getting no response, she leaned down and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his. "You are precious to me. I'm just not usually in a very good position to show it. I hope you can forgive me for that, but that's part of being a Sand-nin, and the Kazekage's oldest child."
Naruto said nothing to this, but he made no further attempt to resist her, so Temari counted it as a small victory. And when she dropped a light kiss on his forehead, Temari could see that Naruto was not quite as upset as he had been, judging by the slight flush in his cheek. She ruffled his hair once more before returning to her own bed.
That night, however, she would dream only of Gaara, lost in a dense forest with nothing but his gourd and his demon for company.
1 Year, 7 Months in Konoha - June
Among the many activities that the Sandaime Hokage suggested to maintain inner peace, the one Gaara found easiest was sculpting. The gourd on his back provided plenty of material to work with, and it was also an excellent way to improve chakra control. For a long time, the sand had done whatever it wanted in its efforts to defend him. But as time passed, Gaara found that the sand would obey his thoughts if he made it clear that they were orders. Usually, the shorter the order, the more precisely it would be carried out: thinking "grab that" and looking at an object gave better results than "bring me that white bowl," so apparently the sand was fairly simple-minded in what it could understand.
Sculpting, however, was a little more complicated. The sand could only shape the simplest of objects on its own: a kunai, a ball, a hand. Beyond that, it fell to Gaara to shape the more detailed objects from memory and imagination. People were among the most difficult, especially the dead ones that Gaara couldn't really refresh his memory on. He was not surprised that the two that came easiest to him were his mother and uncle. They looked similar enough, especially standing side by side, and Gaara had spent a great deal of time staring at the picture Yashamaru kept of his mother. He regretted not bringing it with him, but there was a good chance the Kazekage wouldn't have allowed it.
The sand clones had training applications, but Gaara had not yet thought to use them in such a way. This was probably because some of the clones, or at least, the ones of his mother, had a way of suddenly coming to life on their own. But these occurrences did not bother Gaara; more than anything, they puzzled him. He had never gotten to see his mother when she was alive, yet he had no problem having conversations with a sand clone of her.
Anyway, they started talking to him first. Ignoring them would have been difficult.
Today, however, his mother was acting strangely. Usually, she was interested only in what Gaara was doing at the moment. But she had spent most of the morning staring out of the window with a troubled frown on her face.
"You shouldn't go outside today, Gaara," she said abruptly, never looking away from the window. "This day is evil."
"How do you know, okaa-san?" Gaara asked.
"Spirits of the newly dead are always the loudest. I can hear them quite easily." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "You're going out, aren't you, my son?"
"I must," Gaara replied simply.
"I see." Her lips curved upward slightly, inching toward a smile. "Ayame will be happy to see you."
Gaara blinked at that, but said nothing as his mother willingly collapsed into loose sand, flowing back into his gourd within seconds. A minute later, he stepped onto the deserted street and set out for Ayame's house. He was probably an odd sight: an eight year old walking the streets alone in a tattered brown cloak with a gourd strapped to his back, but he didn't run into anyone.
Fortune seemed to be on Gaara's side that day, because he reached his destination only seconds before the front door opened, revealing a startled but delighted Ayame.
"Gaara-kun! What are you doing here so early? We were just on our way to open the ramen stand!"
A minute later and he might have missed them entirely. Gaara tried not to think about that as Ayame's father appeared behind her.
"Teuchi-san," Gaara said firmly. "Can you afford to keep your stand closed for one day?"
The old man's eyebrows rose a bit at that, but he could tell that Gaara wasn't kidding. "Yeah, if I had to. Why?"
"I have reason to believe that you and Ayame would be safer at home today."
Thankfully, Teuchi didn't ask any more questions. He simply invited Gaara in and started making breakfast for the three of them.
Ayame was curious, of course, but Gaara managed to distract her by asking about the pictures hanging on the wall. He learned that Ayame's mother had died due to complications during childbirth, and though that fact didn't appear to bother Ayame too much, it made Gaara pause and wonder if they were more alike then he'd ever guessed.
Breakfast was new but comfortable; Teuchi's skill at cooking obviously went well beyond ramen. Gaara barely tasted the food as it was. His focus was on the many chakra signatures that kept rushing past the house. By the tightly wound feel of them, most were either jounin or ANBU, and all were agitated. He could have shared this information with his hosts, but he saw no reason to worry them needlessly.
About an hour later, there was a knock on the door. Gaara nodded to Ayame, who went to the door and let in a very stressed Anko. She forced a smile for the girl's sake, but when Anko placed her hand on his head, Gaara could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off of her. They shared a brief, meaningful look, and Gaara immediately distracted Ayame by making miniature sand people. Anko didn't bother with small talk. She basically told Teuchi the same thing Gaara had: stay home for the day. After promising to make sure nothing happened to the ramen stand, they were out the door.
Anko ran a hand through her hair as she glanced down at Gaara. "How well do you know Uchiha Itachi?"
"I don't," was Gaara's honest reply. Most people only knew of Itachi. There were probably only a handful that actually knew him, and they were all relatives. Gaara had encountered the Uchiha prodigy on only a few occasions, none of which lasted very long, but all of which stood out in his mind. Itachi was not a person that was easily forgotten, and Gaara was not in the habit of forgetting Konoha's elite ninja when he came across them.
"That's good, I guess," Anko muttered. "He snapped last night. Killed his whole clan before he ran off. Except for his little brother, and we're not so sure the kid came out of this completely sane."
This news did not have a great impact on Gaara. He knew that Itachi had recently become an ANBU captain, and would not have minded being placed in his squad. All this really meant to him was that there was plenty of room for advancement now. But as he considered Anko's words a second time, something else raised a flag in his mind.
"Where is Sasuke now?"
"Hospital. Itachi left him alive, but he wasn't nice about it."
Uchiha Sasuke woke up to see Hyuuga Hinata's large pale eyes peering at him. This did not surprise him, but it did make him wonder briefly how long she'd been sitting there.
"Do you want some water, Sasuke-kun?" she asked quietly.
He nodded, allowing her to bring a cup to his lips without protest. Every part of his body seemed to be exhausted, even though he'd been unconscious for a few hours at least.
"Is there anything else you want?"
Sasuke thought carefully about that. "Tell me it was all a dream, Hinata-chan. A nightmare."
"I can't do that," she replied softly, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "I wish I could, but you can't afford to have your mind be anywhere be here right now. People are already questioning your sanity. They need to see that you're still here with us."
"My clan is dead," he whispered in a hollow voice.
"The Uchiha will live so long as you and I do."
His head snapped up at her words, but there was not even a hint of doubt in her eyes as she stared at him. "Hinata-chan…"
A small smile spread across her face. "You seem so surprised, Sasuke-kun. I'm certain we've discussed this possibility before. Now it's just a little more necessary."
"Do you really mean that?" Sasuke whispered, lowering his head. "Or are you just saying it because you think I'll do something desperate otherwise?"
Hinata gently grasped his face and made him look at her. "I am your wife, Sasuke-kun. It's time we both started thinking in those terms: making decisions for our clan. To be honest, I would have married you the moment I met you, had it been up to me."
Sasuke didn't want to believe her. But he couldn't deny the pleasant shiver than ran down his spine when she talked as if they were already man and wife. It made sense to him, and he desperately needed that, now that nothing else seemed to. Hinata would never betray him. She needed him far too much. He could depend on her loyalty.
"Why didn't Itachi kill me? If he really did it to test his power... was I truly not worth killing?"
Hinata didn't answer him. The few times she had spoken to Itachi, he'd been polite but detached, in a way that led her to believe he didn't care for people in general. He had been obsessed with training and missions, rarely having time for anything or anyone between those. She could not even begin to imagine why he might have spared Sasuke alone. But that wasn't what Sasuke needed to hear at the moment.
"It's more important that you are still alive, Sasuke-kun. Why Itachi did this is unimportant; he's clearly insane. And do you really think there could ever be a reason good enough to justify his actions and make you forgive him?"
"No. But I can't just accept that he only did this to test himself. If it was only that, there were other ways!"
Hinata really had no response to that. It seemed that every week, her father had her sparring against another relative. That her father and Itachi had much the same mindset did nothing to comfort her, and she couldn't bear to tell Sasuke that.
"You can't dwell on the why of it, Sasuke-kun. It'll poison you slowly, and then it will be as if Itachi really had killed you, too. I won't lose you that way, or any other, for that matter. We must live, and live well. That will be our revenge until we can face him. You cannot allow your brother, or the memory of this day, to control your life. You cannot become what he expects. If you must become an avenger, then become one on your own terms. Do not follow the path he has laid out for you. Make your own."
"I want to kill him. I want to feel his lifeblood stain my hands. I want to watch the light leave his eyes as he dies."
Slowly, Hinata stood up and moved away from the bed. "That's Itachi talking. Do you realize what you're saying?"
Sasuke glared at her back. "He killed my clan! Our family! He has to die by my hands!"
"I never said he shouldn't," Hinata replied calmly. "But you must remember your purpose. You are going to kill Itachi so that your family can rest in peace, and so that your clan can be reborn. If you kill him just to prove you are stronger, then you are no better than he is. I could not marry someone like that, Sasuke-kun, so don't expect me to."
"Can't you understand? I'll never defeat Itachi unless I get much stronger! I couldn't even touch him!"
Hinata stared at him. "So you did try to attack him."
Sasuke blinked at her. "Why wouldn't I, after what he did?"
"That's just it. Has there ever been another time where you were able to attack your brother without fear of what would happen to you?"
"No." Sasuke had no idea where she was going with this. Attacking Itachi, even in jest, had always been considered a quick way to die. Sasuke was probably the only one that had ever gotten away with his life, or at least what was left of it.
Hinata's face seemed to light up. "Don't you see? You lost your fear when you fought to avenge your clan. You were stronger because you fought for people you cared for. Itachi has already given you the means to defeat him. But he expects hatred to be your weapon, not love. You can do anything for someone you love, Sasuke-kun. I know that now… because I love you."
Sasuke stared at Hinata as if he'd never seen her before. Could this truly be the same girl he had planned to wed out of convenience? The same one he addressed with affection, first to ease his parents' concerns, and then out of habit? "In case you forgot, I'm supposed to be the crazy one."
She smiled slightly. "Believe me, it is nothing I expected to happen, or at least not so soon. When I first heard what had happened, I couldn't breathe, Sasuke-kun. I thought I had lost you, and I should have been worried about what I'd do to save myself. But all I could think about was never being able to marry you, bear your children, and grow old with you. And when I was told that you were alive, I had to be with you. I want to be with you. Even if you never feel the same for me, I wouldn't mind. I just want you to know, so that you never wonder why I choose to stay with you."
"What do you want from me, then?" Sasuke said.
"The same things I wanted before. Although I suppose asking for a smile occasionally would be pushing it."
He frowned at her. "You'll only get hurt, Hinata-chan. I wish you hadn't told me this."
She leaned close and kissed his cheek. "That you're concerned only tells me you care, Sasuke-kun. That's enough for me."
Neither of them noticed the floating eye just outside the window, surrounded by constantly swirling sand.
Anko didn't want to say so out loud, but she thought Gaara was developing an unhealthy interest in the Uchiha Clan, now that most of them were dead. First, he had wanted to visit Sasuke in the hospital, but instead spent the whole time spying on the boy. Then he had volunteered himself to clean up the Uchiha compound. Admittedly, if there was one substance in the entire village that could absorb any and all bloodstains, it was Gaara's sand. Still, he didn't have to seem so eager about it. It wasn't as if anyone else wanted the mission, which had been bumped up to C-rank simply because there was so much blood, it was thought that most genin would be unable to stomach it.
It would have been a simple (not to mention much faster) matter for Gaara to simply spread his sand everywhere and literally sandblast the whole area at once. Instead, he was taking his time, scrubbing out each stain individually, and breaking down each piece of ruined furniture. Some areas were so bloody that it probably would've been easier to just destroy them entirely, but Gaara's chief concern was picking up all of the blood.
Though she probably could have left him alone to clean up the mess, Anko assumed that was a bad idea. If Gaara was this excited around blood when someone was watching him, she didn't even want to think about what he'd be like if left alone with it. And it was rare that anyone was too bloodthirsty for Anko's tastes.
It was nearly midnight by the time Gaara finished, and Anko was tired just from watching him all day. But Gaara seemed to have energy to spare, which was probably a side effect of all the blood. Then again, she guessed that even insomniacs needed wet dream material, and if Gaara's was blood, well, he'd made the right career choice.
They had nearly reached the apartment when Gaara asked a question.
"Does all marriage end in death?"
That was a stumper, but nearly every question was with Gaara, because if you used even one wrong word, he'd somehow turn it into a justification for killing everything in sight the next time he went out. Granted, most of the people Gaara dealt with were meant to end up dead, but it wasn't always a requirement, though you'd never know it from his body count.
"Pretty much everything ends in death eventually, Gaara," Anko replied. "It's death. It's supposed to end things. But you can end a marriage without dying as a result."
Gaara frowned. "Hinata is going to marry Sasuke. Will she die?"
"If she can put up with him, it'll probably make her strong enough to fend off anything. I don't think you need to worry about her dying any time soon."
"I'm not worried. I'm trying to understand." He was silent for a few seconds. "Would Kakashi die if you married him?"
Anko couldn't help it, she laughed. "Yeah, but he'd do that if I didn't marry him, too."
"So why don't you?"
She blinked and looked down at Gaara. He was staring straight ahead as usual, and she had to assume he was serious, since Gaara did not make jokes intentionally. "You want me to?"
"No. I'm merely asking why you don't. I want to understand the justification behind getting married, and not getting married."
"Well, in our case, it's strictly a matter of choice. I guess we COULD, but it'd probably never occur to either of us. Anyway, it's tough to be married when you're an active ninja. Either you get rusty in the field, or you get rusty at being married, neither of which is good for your health. Besides, no girl in her right mind would marry Kakashi. She'd have to take his books away, and no one's managed to do that."
Gaara didn't look convinced, and proved it with his next statement. "If he was ever going to marry anyone, it would be you. He may not have put down his books, but he hasn't tried to move out, either."
Anko hated walking and talking with Gaara at the same time, because he always said something that nearly made her trip over her own feet. And damn if he wasn't right about Kakashi. The man was late absolutely everywhere he went… but he came home every night he was in the village. Even stuck up, sensible Kurenai couldn't say that about her man (of course, she had to first admit that he actually WAS her man…), nor could most women Anko knew. Many ninja stayed unattached to make their jobs easier, but Anko couldn't imagine a woman dulling Kakashi's skills. Then again, he had to stay on his toes, living with her. No wonder he was still the best.
It gave Anko quite a bit to think about in the short walk that remained.
When they did get home, they found Kakashi spread out the couch, looking just as beaten and saggy as one of his namesakes. He waved in their general direction, but gave no sign that he was about to get up for anything.
For some reason, Anko grinned, hopped over the couch, and landed neatly in his lap.
Kakashi grunted and opened his visible eye. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it… or, if I was supposed to do it, I'll get to it later. I spent all day trying to track Itachi, and I don't care what anyone says, if he's crazy, he's crazy like a fox, because he doesn't leave any damn tracks, and why are you looking at me like that?"
"Let's get married, babe!" Anko chirped, her grin widening.
"Why, is it 'Couples Eat Free Night' at the Dango Ditch already?" he asked.
"No! I just wanna get married!"
Kakashi stared at her. "Is one of us drunk?"
Anko frowned and leaned closer, sniffing at his mask. "Don't think so."
"You don't look like you took a blow to the head… I guess you are serious."
"I'll help you out," Anko replied sweetly as a kunai slid out of her sleeve and into her hand. "Say yes or I'll stab you."
"I've been stabbed before," Kakashi felt the need to point out.
Anko arched an eyebrow. "Did you like it?"
"Not particularly."
"Well, there you go."
"So… I say no, you stab me?"
"Yeah."
"I say yes, and… we go consummate the marriage right now?" Kakashi asked hopefully.
Anko smirked at him. "Thought you were tired from tracking the weasel?"
"Well, he wasn't offering to put out."
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, Scare Bear."
"Yeah, me too." Kakashi dug into his pocket and came up with two simple, matching gold rings.
Anko's eyes widened in shock. "How long have you had those?"
"All that matters is I have them now, when I need them," he answered, slipping one ring onto her finger.
Anko was still staring in disbelief as she placed the remaining ring on him.
Kakashi's eye crinkled happily. "Now can we go have married sex? Or at least engaged sex?"
"Hell no. Bachelor party night sex!"
"Only if you wear the gag this time. People hear screams tonight, they might think Itachi came back."
Gaara was used to being overlooked, so he didn't really care when Anko and Kakashi rushed off to the latter's bedroom. He probably understood less about marriage now than he had at the start, which was always a risk when posing a question to Anko. But the idea that Kakashi and Anko had even more reason to stay together now made him feel… better, somehow.
That settled, Gaara's thoughts turned back to Hinata and Sasuke. He felt as if he should do something for them. Hinata had provided valuable advice and prevented him from making a mistake that would have endangered his eventually joining ANBU. Sasuke hadn't done anything for him directly, but the massacre had allowed Gaara to collect plenty of powerful blood, and most of the property he'd gotten it from would undoubtedly belong to Sasuke soon enough. Gaara wasn't sure what either of them might want from him, however, so he made a mental note to find out. It was the least he could do for his… friends.
End of Chapter 4.
Next Chapter: Naruto steals a summoning scroll. Gaara has an encounter of the pink-haired kind.
Endnotes:
Eh heh heh. I don't know where that last scene came from, I totally didn't plan for it.