askerian | Teamwork 3 - chapter 10

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Teamwork 3 - chapter 10 - scene 2

I've decided it goes between Naruto And Kid He Munched On and Baby Bulge OMG.

So many many many thanks to

book_people for the help. T^T ♥

"Hm."

Naruto had expected a lot of things when he went to see Gaara that morning. That Gaara's guards wouldn't let him in, or make him wait -- but they had immediately waved him through on sight. That Gaara would greet him with a 'nice to see you' smile (not very likely), or with a 'why are you here' frown (much more likely), or that total absence of expression that even Sasuke didn't match (yeah, betting on that one.)

"Uh, Gaara? You're a bit close."

Gaara released his chin and leaned back, so that they weren't nose to nose anymore. Naruto gave a brief, nervous laugh, but his smile fell almost immediately. He couldn't even pretend Gaara had been looking at anything but his pupils.

"Definitive, then?"

Naruto shrugged, like he didn't care. "Looks like. Listen, I wanted to..."

He'd wanted lots of things, some of them excuses and some not, but Gaara had thrown him off his stride and now he wasn't sure where to start. He stood there in Gaara's office, trying to sort it out.

"You seem to feel better. I'm glad."

"Ah -- yeah. Me too. I mean -- I'm not glad I'm feeling better -- wait, I am glad, but I meant, I'm glad you are. Uh. Are you?" Naruto frowned, suddenly suspicious.

Gaara blinked, and then gave him a faint smile. "It was mostly chakra drain. I'm fine."

"You sure? No..." He fell silent, not sure that asking about nightmares would be polite. Actually it might get pretty damn rude. Even though he... "Consequences?"

"We just doubled my usual security detail. Naruto?"

"Uh. Yes?"

"Did you want something?"

Naruto harrumphed and crossed his arms defensively. "What, I can't drop by because we're buddies and I was--" okay, no, worried was a bit embarrassing, even if it was true-- "er, wondering how you were doing?"

Gaara crossed his arms in turn and leaned back against his desk, and kept staring wordlessly at him.

He was pretty good at it, Naruto had to admit.

He sighed and sat beside Gaara on the edge of his desk. That placed his butt in much-too-close proximity to a crap-ton of top-secret documents, but Gaara didn't say anything about it, or even frown a bit.

"They're going to come back," Naruto said quietly. "Aren't they?"

Gaara nodded slowly, eyes weirdly subdued. "Not here, we don't think. There's a small risk at the tournament. A slightly bigger one on the way back. After that..." He shook his head, straightened up slightly, looked at Naruto straight-on. "You were mostly a target of opportunity. The risk isn't as high for you."

"You think that's reassuring?" Naruto retorted by reflex, and swallowed bile at the thought that it was. Not for himself but -- Sakura-chan, Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei. They'd be in the blast radius too. "I'm not gonna be happier if it lands on you!"

Gaara blinked, and gave him a small, slow-blooming smile. Naruto reddened and looked away, grumbling under his breath.

"... Do you know any of the others?" he asked, voice quiet. "Did you ever meet...?"

Gaara shook his head no. "Not in person, no. I have files, reports."

"Can I," Naruto started to say, and thought it was probably a little treasonous, but Gaara was the freaking Kazekage, so whatever, "Can I see them?"

Gaara was frowning again. He didn't ask why Naruto would want to, though. He probably got it. That need to know, hey, you're like me. They were such a small group, those who could say that.

Hey, you got hunted down and killed because you were like me.

"I haven't had news for a while," Gaara warned as he pushed off his desk and went to a file cabinet behind it. "Most of the survivors are in hiding."

Survivors, meaning there were dead ones. Naruto flinched, though he'd expected as much.

"The ones who died first," he asked. "Please."

Gaara stared at him for a second, likely measuring how serious he was about it, and opened a folder. "Yagura and the Three-Tails. His death unbalanced the Daimyo and the Village Hidden in the Mist both, which is the reason they asked to join in on our alliance and we are having the Chuunin Exam here today." A second folder. "Han, Five-Tails; Roushi, Four-Tails, both from Rock Village."

Yagura looked like a sickly pretty-boy, thin like a stick and sad-eyed. Han only showed his eyes, the rest of him armored all over. Roushi was an old man; Naruto had never really imagined himself getting that old. Roushi wasn't going to get any older, now.

"The ones we aren't sure about are the Six and Seven tails. They didn't belong to any village and no one really knows if they were found. No pictures."

So for all they knew, they were dead as well -- or no, no, they must have been used to living without a village (how lonely that must have been) and they were both just fine.

"And both from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, Yugito Nii and Killerbee, Two-Tails and Eight-Tails respectively." Gaara's voice gentled imperceptibly. "Who are officially in hiding. Killerbee is the little brother of the Raikage, and he and Yugito grew up as comrades, so the Raikage takes their protection very seriously."

Naruto blinked, a bit fast. "... That's -- that's good. Must have been nice. I mean, to grow up there." Family that cared. And someone like him. Must have been nice. Almost normal.

He wouldn't have had Konoha or his team if he'd been born elsewhere, though, so hey, it balanced out.

"And then there's me, who cannot hide and who is easily found, and you."

"I don't want to!" Naruto protested at Gaara's expectant look.

"And the Hokage knows that, but some people still think she should make you."

Naruto growled. "Well, I'm glad she knows better."

"Does she? There are rumors that she refused to act on the intel because it came from her old teammate."

Naruto gave him a baffled look, a little insulted on the old hag's behalf. "Uh, what?"

"Orochimaru," Gaara explained patiently. "My analysts believe he knew where to find us all. He must have had a failsafe set up, that sent warnings out to the Jinchuuriki in case he was killed, and was using it as insurance to dissuade the Akatsuki from doing just that. But apparently they killed him anyway, and here we are." He tilted his head. "Do you think she would have ignored a warning from him?"

"I don't think she'd have trusted him to say the sky was blue," Naruto replied slowly, mind reeling just a bit. It almost sounded like the old snake bastard had done a good deed. Hah. Very much accidentally, there. What the hell. "But -- she'd have checked anyway. In case it was true. Because it was about me, and the village."

"Hm."

Gaara stepped around the desk, leaned against the desk in his previous spot next to Naruto. Neither one said a thing for a minute. Naruto was thinking about the other Jinchuuriki.

He wanted to go and save them, but he was too weak for that. It wouldn't have stopped him from trying before. It hurt, that it was stopping him now. But he was too weak to protect his teammates. He'd be nothing but a burden, and then in quick order someone in need of rescue as well.

"I hate that," he whispered. Gaara inclined his head toward him a little. "Being too weak to stop them. To save--"

"Mmh." Another pause. "I don't suppose it would help to tell you that you can't take responsibility for the world."

"It's not the world!" Naruto protested. "It's -- but it doesn't matter anyway because I can't because I suck." He kicked at the floor, frustrated.

Gaara fixed him with an unimpressed stare. "So fix it."

"I'm trying!" Naruto retorted with a frustrated whine. "Kakashi-sensei won't let us train more than a couple hours a day!"

"So make those hours more efficient." He stared at Naruto, eyes narrowing. "You haven't been working on your demon chakra Rasengan."

Naruto gaped at him. "How do you know that? Are you -- are you spying on me?"

"Of course," Gaara said, and frowned disapprovingly. Naruto spluttered. "Enough to know you haven't touched your demon chakra once since the attack."

With a single push Naruto was off the desk and pacing across the office, furious all over again. "Are you kidding me? Are you -- I'm never using that -- I don't want to! Didn't your spies tell you what he did?!"

He wished he could say he was never using Kyuubi's chakra ever again, but he knew that wasn't possible, that he would have to. But it made him feel dirty.

"I just saw the hospital reports. What did he do?"

The laugh that came out of Naruto's throat didn't sound like his own, sounded angry and a little deranged. Like Kyuubi's laughter mixed with his own. "Oh, nothing -- beat up and tried to rape Sakura-chan, broke her arm with his -- my -- fucking teeth, savaged a couple guys, stabbed a -- a kid, he wasn't a threat, Kyuubi fucking knew he wasn't a threat and he still went and --"

Coming to a stop in the middle of the room, he fell silent, took in a shuddering breath, and another. Gaara watched expressionless from the desk, absently arranging a pile of papers that Naruto's abrupt departure from his seat had shaken loose.

"So basically he acted like a demon beast."

Naruto flinched, stared.

"And you were surprised." Gaara's voice was so dispassionate by then that Naruto could barely believe it came from a living being.

"I thought we were starting to get along! We had compromises -- we talked sometimes -- but he, he would rather take advantage of it and go ravaging the countryside the second my back is turned--"

"You trusted him, and now you feel betrayed."

"... Yeah, that was kinda stupid, okay, I know." Naruto turned away, arms crossed tight across his belly. It really was. He knew what Kyuubi was, he'd always known. He'd just... what, forgotten? Started thinking he was like, like Sasuke, that his 'I want to eat this person's face!' was just special Kyuubi-talk that you could translate into civilized speech, because he didn't really mean it? "Anyway he won't make a fool of me twice. I don't need to talk to him to take his chakra, so I hope he has fun alone in his cage because he's never coming out or seeing me ever again."

Behind him, Gaara sighed. "Voice of experience... That never works." He sounded a little sad; Naruto turned around, his anger forgotten.

"Uh, Gaara? Are you--"

"Granted, my seal and yours are vastly different."

Yeah, Naruto's was better, if by better it meant Kyuubi wasn't leaking in all over the place and making him psychotic.

He just leaked in in more subtle ways, ways that Naruto didn't always catch. Like the growling and the dreams and how he liked red meat more and more these days. Like the sense of smell. Or his eyes, who were hardly subtle at all anymore.

"... How did you, with Shuukaku... I mean, back when we first met, he was kinda..."

"Not looking for a compromise?" Gaara shrugged it off. "We've come to an agreement. He doesn't desire to be yanked out and harvested by Akatsuki any more than I do. It's not a peace treaty so much as an armed truce."

Naruto growled under his breath, and then stopped himself; it made a strangled, weird little noise. He never used to growl, damn it. "Yeah, well, Kyuubi's an arrogant bastard. He'd be all 'what do I care, let them yank me out so I can eat them. Bwahaha'."

"I seem to remember," Gaara mused, the bastard, "someone who once told me that he would never give up, it was his ninja way. "

It wasn't really a slap in the face, more like one of Sakura's slaps to the back of his head, Naruto you idiot. "... Argh! You -- No fair quoting me at me!" Aw hell, and now he was whining. He was totally whining. Argh, and another argh! "He's been evil for centuries! I've been alive for eighteen years!"

"So, you think you can't break him of it."

Naruto sputtered. "Well, you don't think you can break Shuukaku of it either!"

"No, I don't," Gaara replied, patient, almost gentle, "but I'm not you."

Naruto's cheeks started heating up. "...Oh."

"Am I wrong?"

Still flustered, Naruto was saved from having to answer by a knock on the door. "Kazekage-sama?" someone called. Gaara's brow furrowed.

"I have to take care of this," he said. Naruto realized that he'd no doubt asked not to be disturbed while Naruto was there unless it was necessary, and felt even more embarrassed. Touched, too, and glad, and like he was being a bit childish. Gaara had gotten so mature, and half the time Naruto himself felt like he was still a teenager, not really an adult yet.

"Alright, I'll go. See you later." With his hand on the door handle he turned and gave Gaara a slightly rueful grin. "I'll try," he promised, and then he walked out of the room.

Behind him he could hear Gaara make a "Hm" -- acknowledgement, amusement or both -- and greet his visitor, the words muffled by the closing door. Alright, time to go back to the hotel.

--

He gave it a try later that night, staring at the ceiling as Sasuke and Sakura slept beside him. He timed himself on their breath, an anchor to meditate by.

The rush of burning hate that greeted him would have singed his eyebrows if it had been anywhere but outside his head. Even by Kyuubi standards it was violent, swallowed everything else. The only meaning he could get apart from that sheer, torturing need to destroy him down to the marrow of his bones was 'out, out, out'.

"... Okay, whatever," Naruto muttered, "fuck you right back." He turned onto his side and cuddled up to Sasuke, who muttered in his sleep and pushed a pointy elbow in Naruto's stomach.

He wasn't giving up. He'd try another day. A day when he started to forget how much he hated the fox right back.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh nice! And thank you for this! I love Gaara and Naruto and this is just my own little special piece of heaven. :-P

Thank you ^__^

Awwwww, sweet little cuddling ending made me all warm inside :3

Pfff. XD

Chapter's not done! There shall be more cuddling. Maybe even making out! *gasp*

*faints*
I love all those little moments between them. In you universe they're trying to be strong manly men so all those little exceptions are billions times more worthy!

I really loved the conversation about the other jinkuuriki between Gaara and Naruto, Asuka, and Gaara being the mature voice of reason as far as one's demon is concerned was both extremely ironic and completely in character. ^^ I liked the juxtaposition between Gaara and Naruto, too: the jinkuuriki who is already a kage and the one who is definitely not ready yet. More than that, though, I loved the exchange where Naruto went "you're spying on me?" and Gaara responded "Of course." XDDD Really, Naruto, how did you not just assume that everyone in existence is spying on you?

The last scene was hopeful and melancholy and adorable, except for this one part: "...and tucked an elbow in his stomach." I don't really know what you meant here. Did you mean that he folded his arm and tucked it against his body, or that he elbowed Naruto in the stomach? I'm assuming that you did not meant that Sasuke punched a hole in someone's torso in order to actually put his elbow inside his stomach... >.>;;

Well, we are talking about Sasuke here... ;)

...He would do that his his sleep, wouldn't he? XDDDDD

♥

Gaara is all grown up and wise and stuff, and it was all thanks to Believing in Naruto! Naruto oughta believe in Himself as well. u.u *looks pious*

fixed! Thank you, hon. ♥

*snickers* In the end, the manga "Naruto" is really one long tale of a prophet and his disciples. u.u (XDDD)

Edited because I cannot spell today. ;_;

Edited 2011-03-30 22:13 (UTC)

I love Gaara and Naruto interactions so much. I absolutely adore how close he got just to see what damage was done; doing his own little diagnosis. I love that he basically headslapped some sense into Naruto in a way that Sakura would never even think about and Sasuke probably wouldn't try, even though he could.

And and Naruto. Trying. He needs to get his motto tattooed on his arm or something. And that bit with Orochimaru? AWESOME. Mentions of Killerbee and Yugito who got like five minute screen time ;_; She needed more. *sniffle*

You're so creative and I LOVE IT ALL. ♥♥♥

Gaara was all like "why would i have personal space when talking with naruto? He got his face closer to mine this one time" and I was all "yeah when he HEADBUTTED YOU" and then he was all "why would i have personal space when talking with naruto?" and so I caved. Gaaramuse is dangerous. D: Also totally hitting on Naruto. Man.

♥ ♥ ♥

Gaaramuse is awesome and totally hawt for Naruto, which is completely fine with me 8Db ~~See what he thinks of the whole OTV thing, I'm curious~~ I would.. I would like to see Gaara do that around Naruto's teammates. Just to see their reactions. (I'm a little evil today, it looks like)

sfakfjsl *squishes you* ♥

:DDDDD Gaara sure took his time but it was well worth the wait. I like Gaara preaching Naruto's gospel right back at him. It's adorable and squeeful.

Couple of things I picked up on -
> Roushi was an old man; Naruto had never really imagined himself getting that old. He wasn't going to get any older, now.
- Is this refering to Naruto getting older or Roushi. I figured you meant Roushi but it could be misinterpreted?

> "~break him of it."
- Not sure if it's me whose not familiar with the turn of phrase or if it's slightly wonky? I would say "break him out of it" instead?

Totally wasn't expecting Teamwork when I logged in tonight. Bweee!~

Gaara sure did. Last time I write his ass. (oh no wait there's the suna interlude. aaaaargh.)

Thank you for the help! *runs to the edit button*

I asked two my friends and they both told me "Break him of it is for habits. Break him out of it is for jails." I have no clue either way, so I'll research and edit later if needed. *easily confuzzled*

I concur with the "break him out of it." We're talking about breaking Kyuubi's habit of being evil right?

Might be regional, because the merriam-webster dictionary says you can use "break (him) of (something)" for a habit. Break him out of it sounds more like breaking him out of Naruto-prison instead. if it's a big problem for people I'll rewrite the sentence to avoid the issue entirely, I don't want to get a dozen messages about it. *ponders* (i mean, here on lj it's fine because yay grammar discussion. XD i'd mostly be editing for ffnet readers.)

Yeah, I get it. It's understandable as it is, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. :)

You freakin' NAIL Gaara muse. *reads again*

Gaara really wouldn't have the usual boundaries like everyone else, he'd either be SIX FOOT STICK or face grabbing. And as he showed at the Kage summit, DOES NOT MIND SMACKING REALITY BACK INTO PEOPLE. Which makes me all kinds of happy. And he did that here. Which makes me all kinds of pleased.

Love that he's all "no I'm sorry, you should know how this Jinchuuriki stick works by now, well if not, here's the reminder..." hrrrn. -rolls with joy-

;__; yay thank you! *relieved* i'm glad you think it works for Gaara, and i'm doubly glad you enjoyed it! Yay and unicorns.

(also your icon is adorable.)

Very much, you went for subtle, which is better then what most writers do when it comes to Gaara, both part-1 and part-2. Normally its like either psychotic over the top evil, or I don't even know sometimes, a-typical anti-social? And erg, no, just no. It's probably just me, but I always found him someone that whilst showing high functioning psychopathic behavior, not slick like say... Hannibal Lector, but a really cold, rational, highly perceptive, foreign (to most. Naruto gets most of t, the bits born of loneliness, which is the cause of most of it) logic, that could do terrible things and still make sense of it, worse now that he does have *good* emotional bonds to people. Both because of and in spite of Shukaku, who he has to control and use (which is why I seriously love that you have him have a armed treaty with it, no peace to be found). But still able to function, if only on the very edges of society... like most leaders are anyway.

WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS, YOU DID GOOD WITH THIS and tis a pity your muse for him is a finicky thing, 'cause... MOAR, GIVE ME MOAR (http://www.myfacewhen.com/98/)

(hehe I know, its my standard happy face icon now, cause its just pure joy. X3)

Good stuff. Gaara is always awesome, and Naruto's starting to turn back around from doom n' gloom territory. Which I'm glad for. It needed to be written, but I'm more a fan of the good times.

-- Guile

Yeah, hrrngh emo naruto. XD;;; i didn't think it would take me A YEAR to write, too. It feels like forever.

Yeah, totally hitting on him. XD *squiiishes this piece* I adore Gaara-Naruto talking. Every single time you write them. You're a genious. Hadn't even thought about Gaara's relation with his demon since he became kazekage.

"He turned onto his side and cuddled up to Sasuke, who muttered in his sleep and pushed a pointy elbow in Naruto's stomach." <--I always wished I could write a phrase like this one day. XD Or at least read it somewhere. And you included it. PRICELESS~~*-*

Gaara is shameless! Flirting so much. D:

*lovesquishes* More narusasu goodness to follow! :3 ... well, when i've written it. XD;

I'm not sure how to respond to this in comments other than to say it made me smile.

Smiles are good things ! Many yays ensued. u.u

Yay! Mini vacation present!

Pff. XD Happy vacation, hon!

I always love visiting your journal and finding more Teamwork mainfic!

I really like how you write Gaara and Naruto's interactions, and Gaara's voice in particular. Naruto being so vulnerable and Gaara being so matter of fact yet helpful was quite fun to read.

♥ ♥ I love visiting my journal while I have some teamwork to post! great coincidence. XDDDD *lovesquishes you*

Hehe :) *lovesquishes back*

Oh, and after reading this section? I went back and reread Chapter Six onward, because I had forgotten some stuff. Omigod. So much Teamwork. In the middle of the night. Yum. <3

Oh man. XD;; from chapter six? that's a nice little marathon session. *petpets* I hope you get enough sleep. XDDD;;;

Haha, yep. Glad I did because it turns out I had forgotten some pretty important stuff! Plus it's always fun to reread. And I did get enough sleep. Unlike in undergrad, my grad school schedule allows me to get more than enough sleep. The tradeoff is that I have to read hundreds of pages of academic papers every week ^_^

Yay!! Gaara and Naruto interaction makes me so happy! Both were really well-written (imho) and I didn't see them as OOC at all. I'm glad to see they both started talking to you again! ^_^

sigh, that was a great fix to my obsession with your fics

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Teamwork 3 - chapter 10 - scene 2

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