Author's Note: How did a week turn into more than half a year? Well, my other story, "Identity of Love and Sand", suddenly started getting so popular that I invested all of my focus into that one. I suspect my involvement in LIFE was also a main factor—yes, I actually have one, you know.

It was thanks to the guest that reviewed on April 20 that I finally resolved to finish Chapter 3—which has been in progress since October, believe it or not. Thank you, guest! The rest of you…I suggest you follow his/her example!

Chapter 3—I Need You

"Why is it always Suna?" the man with a spiky, electric blonde mop of hair and energetic blue eyes complained, opening the letter in his hands.

Esteemed Kage:

An S-Class situation has risen in Sunagakure that requires your immediate attention. I will be hosting a Five-Kage Summit in my own village in three days' time. Please make arrangements to attend, for the presence of each one of you is of utmost importance. Escort and accommodation within the village will be arranged.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sabaku no Gaara, Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure

Twenty years ago, Naruto remembered, Konohagakure had similarly received an S-class letter from the Sand. To this day, Naruto would never forget the way his heart had plummeted like the rocks of the Akatsuki cave had when Sakura punched it open on that mission. The sight of two fiends sitting on the corpse of his friend.

"Another S-class situation? What could be so important that Gaara needs to see us again?" The Kage Summit in Konoha had only ended yesterday. Naruto chuckled. "Gaara can't miss me that much already, can he?" Naruto scratched his head, knowing the answer. Yes, Gaara certainly could. Naruto was Gaara's one true friend, and Naruto knew that Gaara probably felt the burden of their distance for every waking moment they spent apart.

For an insomniac like Gaara, that sure was a lot of waking moments.

Still, Gaara was the type of guy to rashly give in to his desire to see Naruto by demanding Five Kage Summits.

Naruto stopped chuckling and gave in to the predominant feeling slowly consuming him: worry.

It's been worse, Naruto told himself. Gaara ain't dead this time—he's the one who wrote this letter!

But Naruto looked down at the Fifth Kazekage's neat signature, and his heart sped up again with concern.

"Hey Shikamaru! Shikamaru! Shikaaaaaa…"

"Gee, I heard you the first time, Naruto…" said man yawned from a corner of the Hokage Office, stashing away some documents.

"Come over here for a sec!"

"What do you want?"

"I got a letter from Gaara…"

This seemed to catch Shikamaru's attention—Gaara was a friend to Naruto but family to Shikamaru. The Hokage's assistant turned and observed the troubled depths of normally cheerful blue eyes. The lazy man straightened and made his way over to Naruto. "What's it say?"

Naruto handed the document to Gaara's brother-in-law, watching as the Nara man's forehead crinkled as he read the paper bearing Gaara's neat handwriting. Shikamaru continued staring at the letter long after he had finished reading the simple words printed on it—simple words that could mean so much.

Without looking up, Shikamaru began slowly, "Gaara's a guy with a huge sense of responsibility. As Kazekage, he always wants to fix any problems within his village by himself. Most times, whenever there is a problem, Gaara's fixed it even before anyone's become aware of it. He does that because he doesn't want to cause harm and worry to the people he cares about, but…it really does drive Temari and Kankuro crazy sometimes. They wished he'd share, but…Gaara always wants to bear the burden by himself…"

Naruto grunted; that sounded like the Kazekage all right.

Shikamaru continued to analyze the situation. "So this—" he waved the letter around, "is really alarming. We just finished a Five Kage Summit yesterday and now Gaara wants all five Kage to congregate for another one because of an 'S-Class situation'? …Oh boy this sounds troublesome."

For once, Naruto couldn't help but agree.

Shikamaru put the letter down and closed his eyes in contemplation, dissecting the information out loud. "I s'pose there are only two things for which Gaara would want a Kage Summit at a time like this, of all times…either Sunagakure got attacked and is in such big trouble that he needs all of Five Kage to help protect it…or he wants to do something really scandalous or controversial and needs the Five Kages' approval. Since Gaara said the matter required the Kages' 'immediate attention', I would think that it's the latter, 'cuz otherwise, he'd just ask for military backup, which he didn't do. He needs to discuss something important, I guess—but what could have come up so suddenly? I doubt it's the Council pressuring him, because Gaara's real good at deflecting them…" He sure was. Naruto wished he was half as good as Gaara at dealing with his own council. "…But it's not like Gaara to ask for something scandalous and controversial anyway, so whatever it is, it must be…really, really, really bad," Shikamaru finished.

Shikamaru and Naruto looked at each other, both of them now supremely worried for the short little redhead who was the Kazekage. "Fuck," they both swore, almost at the exact time. It was almost funny.

Naruto picked the letter up from his desk again. "Discuss something, huh…? What kind of S-Class situation doesn't involve fighting?" He looked at Gaara's signature once more and remembered something. "And Shikamaru, look at this…"

Naruto flattened the paper on the table and Shikamaru leant down to observe it. The blonde Hokage pointed at Gaara's scrawled name. "Look! The loop thingy in his 'S' is too small, the letters in 'Sabaku' are all sorta running together, and the way he wrote 'Gaara' looks like his pen was shakin' or somethin'."

Shikamaru's normally bored, brown eyes widened marginally as Naruto pointed this out. To an outsider, the barely noticeable features of Gaara's signature would seem so insignificant so as to be laughed about, but Shikamaru knew his brother-in-law—if anyone was meticulous, it was Gaara. A single grain of sand out of place, the slightest wavering of his hands, could mean life or death with the Kazekage, so much so that even oblivious Naruto, of all people, noticed the apparent quivering in Gaara's signature.

Finally, Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why is it always Suna?" he echoed Naruto. "Why is it always Gaara, dammit? Some troublesome little brother he is…"

Naruto suddenly gasped and shot up from his chair. "He couldn't be sick, could he? Gaara looked really skinny and pale the last few days we saw him…" Naruto was bound to worry, considering how much he listened to Temari consternate about how Gaara never took care of his own health.

"Naruto, Gaara is always skinny and pale," Shikamaru countered. "Do you remember the first time we met him? I'd never seen a more sickly-looking kid. Who knew he'd be such a…such a…" Shikamaru struggled with his words. "…fighter?"

"Gaara's not invincible, ya know! I mean, he died once before!" The memory brought actual tears to Naruto's eyes, but he fought them back. "And I heard that after he came back from the freaking dead, he didn't even take a single day's break—and have you heard, even though he doesn't have Shukaku now he still barely sleeps—"

"Naruto, Naruto—I know that. C'mon, I'm married to the little guy's big sister, so I know, okay? And trust me, I'm worried about him too. You know he's like a little brother to me. But—do you really think Gaara, of all people, would call a Five Kage Summit because he was fucking sick?"

"…Point taken," Naruto admitted. "Of course he wouldn't, unless he was…dying or something." Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other in alarm. "Gaara couldn't be dying, Shikamaru, could he, could he?!"

"I don't know," a fraught voice replied, and Shikamaru and Naruto both whipped around to see a troubled-looking Temari standing at the doorway of the Hokage Office.

"Temari," Shikamaru acknowledged his wife, walking towards her meaningfully. For a moment, Naruto thought he was going to pull the woman into an embrace (as he himself always did when he saw his Hinata), but then remembered that the Naras were the least touchy-feely of the couples he knew. Shikamaru merely stopped when he was nose-to-nose with Temari and looked down into her intense teal eyes, sensing the disturbance within them. "What are you doing here?" he asked her softly.

"I got a letter from Gaara," Temari replied her husband.

"Are you serious? Let me see it! I got a letter from Gaara too! I'm worried!" Naruto cried.

"So I've heard—about your letter." Temari had overheard Shikamaru's and Naruto's conversation. "And I'll have you know, I don't go around showing outsiders letters from my little brother. A letter from him is very personal for me," Temari sniped, turning her nose up and giving Naruto her best arrogant look—which was very good. Despite this, she still took out a folded piece of paper from her purple shinobi vest and placed it on Naruto's desk.

Naruto's heart sped up even further, and his mouth turned dry, when he absorbed Gaara's message to his older sister, which was, indeed, much more personal.

Dear Temari—

Perhaps, the time for you to do your duty as a shinobi of Sunagakure is drawing near. As the Kazekage of the village, I need my best kunoichi.

But I also need my older sister. Please come.

Gaara

"Gaara never asks favors from me," Temari muttered before Naruto could respond. "I wish he did, I wish…but now that he finally has, I don't know—how to think…I'm so worried, Naruto…" she admitted, biting her lip.

"Why is he always so vague…?" Naruto wondered aloud. "What does mean—he needs you? Couldn't he have said what the problem was? Suna needs you…? Does he want you to go back to Sunagakure or something? What if it's…permanent?! What would you—" he looked at Shikamaru—"and Shikadai do! …And look, his handwriting is even shakier in this letter! There's…even a tiny ink splotch over there! Gaara never leaves ink splotches! He's real careful, ya know! Holy shit, things must be…really bad. Really bad…Gaara never asks for anything. Whatever he needs must be really bad. What if Gaara's in trouble? Like, big trouble? He never asks for anything—"

"Yes, we get it, Naruto," Shikamaru cut Naruto off exasperatedly.

"I'm not overreacting!" the blonde Hokage cried, even though no one had accused him of doing so. "I can't—Gaara is really is important to me, ya know…! He's the only one left who…still understands…it's my job as a comrade and…his friend to make sure…nothing-!"

"Naruto," Temari interrupted. "Gaara is really important to us too. We know. And…thank you."

Naruto got up resolutely. "Fuck three days," he announced. "We're heading to Sunagakure now!" Because of improved road technology from the recent years, the trip to Sunagakure from Konoha now only took about a day at the longest.

"Not so fast, you brat," a new voice growled.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Temari all turned to acknowledge the newcomer, and were surprised to find the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, standing there with a serious look on her face. The face she wore when she was about to undertake a serious medical operation.

"Grandma Tsunade, now's not the time!" Naruto yelped. "I'm actually very busy with busy Hokage business, ya know! And no, I don't have any extra sake, so you can turn around and go bother Kakashi-sensei instead!"

Tsunade's eye twitched violently at Naruto's rudeness. She stalked up to Naruto and glared at him, causing the blonde man to cower a bit as he remembered her scariness. "I don't want your sake, brat, you always buy the cheapest kinds and they taste the worst." Still, Naruto didn't miss Tsunade's cursory glance around the room—whether she was aware of it or not, she was subtly examining his office for a secret stash. "I'm here because I'm going with you."

Naruto looked at Tsunade blankly and dumbly. "Go with me? Where?"

Tsunade smacked her own forehead with one hand and Naruto with the other. "Sunagakure, idiot."

"You wanna go see Gaara too?" Naruto asked. "Hey, that might be a good idea! I think Gaara might be sick, Granny! You can help, right, right?"

Tsunade pointedly ignored the name Naruto had just called her. She looked at Naruto, then at Shikamaru and Temari, pointedly. "I think that might very much be the case. I got a letter from the Suna brat, as well."

Temari's eyes boggled. "He wrote a letter to you?"

Tsunade looked at the Suna kunoichi curiously. "You sound…surprised. I am a former colleague of his, after all, and one of high rank, too. What's wrong with me getting a letter from him?"

"Nothing's wrong, per say," Temari replied, "but understand, Lady Hokage, that I know my little brother and it's not a habit of his to go about collecting pen pals." Worry was evident on the edge of Temari's voice.

Tsunade's amber eyes softened. "I understand," she assured Temari.

"Let me see the damn letter!" Naruto screeched. Tsunade sighed and handed a piece of paper to Naruto, who laid it flat on his desk so that Shikamaru and Temari could see it as well.

Dear Lady Tsunade—

My shame has subdued my audacity to the point where I dare not ask of your wellness and 'how you are doing'. I wish to write of assurance, but I hate to write lies. The fact of the matter is that I am, once again, being a selfish man, for I write to you today not out of assurance but out of need.

I submit this request to you as a friend, and should you find it in yourself to help a friend in need, despite the fact that he shall be forever indebted to you in ways he cannot pay, I should like to see you in Sunagakure at earliest convenience, preferably before the next 72 hours. Selfishly, I need your power, but as a friend, I need our bonds of trust.

Sincerely,

Sabaku no Gaara

"That is…one hell of a letter, if it came from Gaara," Shikamaru said in awe after several long minutes of silence, in which everyone had stared at the letter in disbelief.

"I've learned over the years that the Kazekage can be just as stubborn as our Naruto-brat here," Tsunade said, shaking her head. "And if there's one thing he absolutely refuses to change it's blaming himself for everything. I can't even feel mad at him for asking me to go to Suna out of the blue because with the way he worded it, I'd feel bad for feeling mad!"

"That's our Gaara for you," Temari tried to say humorously, but her voice came out as a whisper.

"Dammit!" Naruto screamed. "Another damn vague letter! What the hell is up with Gaara? What's wrong with asking a favor from a friend? He says it like it's the end of the world or something! And what did he mean, Granny, that he needs your power? Does he mean your medical stuff?" Blood drained from Naruto's face and he paled. "Granny Tsunade, Gaara really is sick, isn't he? Promise you'll fix him, Granny, promise!"

"Naruto, I don't know what's wrong with the Kazekage yet. It's unlikely, but he might not even be sick at all. But—" she added sharply, seeing that Naruto was about to interrupt, "whatever it is he needs, I will try my best. Believe it or not…I also…care about the kid. Unlike someone I know, he's a good kid."

"Thank you, Granny! You're the best!" Naruto startled the former Hokage when he pulled her into a bone-crushing hug and smooched her messily on the cheek. She made a face of disgust.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go! Gaara needs us!"

Temari mustered up a smirk. "If I remember correctly, Gaara explicitly said he needed me and Lady Hokage—but he didn't say anything about needing you, did he?"

"Bullshit!" Naruto cried. "Gaara'll always need me; I'm his best friend, ya know!" He whipped out his own letter from Gaara—the one addressed to all the "esteemed Kage". "Besides, he implicitly said he needed me here, didn't he say he 'requires my immediate attention'—huh?"

Naruto suddenly stopped his little rant and squinted at the back of the letter, leaving the four of them in the room in an awkward silence.

"Naruto…?" Shikamaru ventured after a silence a little too long to be normal for the blonde Hokage. "What's up…?"

"I got a letter from Gaara too," Naruto said quietly. He slowly showed Shikamaru, Temari, and Tsunade the backside of Gaara's letter, on which was the shortest message of all of them.

"His—handwriting—" Temari choked out. It was still neat, but for Gaara's standards, the letters were jagged and frantic.

Dear Naruto—

You are my strength, my motivation, my inspiration. You are the one who saved me, so can you forgive me for my doubt? Show me the light again, Naruto, so that I can be sure I will remember what it looks like. I need my savior and my friend. But most of all, I need you, Naruto. Forgive me for needing so much more than I deserve.

They traveled with discipline and in formation: Konoha's Seventh Hokage led them at their head, and the Fifth Hokage of the same village tailed them. Shikamaru Nara and Temari travelled in between them, side by side, completing the their diamond-shaped squad.

They had travelled along the Konoha-Suna road and were now well on their way in the Wind Country. The sun hung low in the sky, a blistering inferno in the empty desert. Despite the scorching, uncomfortable weather, all four of them were using their chakra to run swiftly along their path. Given the timeline of the upcoming Kage Summit in Suna, they could afford to walk and get to their destination with plenty of time, but none of them wanted to pay the price of putting off seeing Gaara for any extra amount of time, even a few hours. Naruto leapt with particularly eager bursts of energy.

Tsunade despised the sweating and the feeling of her clothing sticking to her skin on a mucky day in the summer of humid Konoha. Nevertheless, as she travelled through the Wind Country, she found herself missing the feeling of sweat—here, in the desert, the thick, dusty, arid air seemed to envelop her entire body and gradually broil and burn every cell of her skin. The slightest bristle of the wind was a sharp whiplash of stinging scorching heat.

"Dammit," she swore, trying to remember her last visit to the Wind Country. "It's been a long time since I've been out in this godforsaken weather—and I don't regret it one bit. The Kazekage brat better have a good reason for dragging all of us out here."

Half-hearted huffs and grunts replied Tsunade's statement—but nothing more, much to her surprise. Not that she expected the lazy Shikamaru to take the effort to reply her—and Tsunade didn't actually know Temari personally enough to deem her lack of response normal or abnormal. But Naruto—

The Number One Hyperactive Ninja. Her bubbly, carefree, obnoxious Naruto, her loudmouthed, annoying Naruto—appeared to have not even heard her. He was supposed to be the one complaining about the weather, not her. But Tsunade could tell, even from her position behind Naruto, that all of his wild, unbridled passion was focused on leaping forward toward his redheaded friend in Suna, farther and farther, faster and faster. She watched his hands curl into tight fists, and Tsunade wondered whether he'd clenched his fists twenty years ago, too.

In due time, as they drew nearer and nearer to Sunagakure, the four of them started noticing changes to the landscape. The well-paved road that led to Suna was gradually disappearing into the sand—as if a ginormous amount of the brown grains had been dumped upon it, as if it were being swallowed by the desert. Although the road ran straight through the open desert, a jutsu had been placed on it to keep it clear and clean of the pesky desert sand. Only the worst of sandstorms could bury the road in sand as it now was. All four of them frowned at this, but continued travelling, assuming that whatever had happened had to do with why they were all heading to Sunagakure now, and that Gaara would be able to supply them with answers.

It was without warning that Naruto abruptly stopped, causing Shikamaru to barrel right into him and Temari to yelp as she skidded off to the side as she attempted to avoid them. The two men fell in a heap on the sand, and Tsunade, thankfully, had been far enough behind them to avoid becoming the third domino.

"Geez, Naruto, give me a warning if you're gonna just stop out of the blue," Shikamaru reprimanded, the exasperation bleeding clearly through his voice.

"Not my fault you weren't watching where you're going!" Naruto defended, quickly getting up and brushing himself off, Shikamaru doing the same at a much slower pace while grumbling.

"Why'd you stop anyway? You're the one who was so eager about getting to Gaara A.S.A.P.," Shikamaru jabbed, although he personally was equally as eager.

Tsunade wondered the same thing, and when Naruto pointed at a point in the distance, she noticed that Temari was already staring at the same direction, her brows weighed down by a heavy frown. "It's G—" she began—

"Look at that giant pyramid thingy!" Naruto interrupted. Tsunade looked and immediately recognized it—she had fought alongside the young Kazekage before, after all. "What's it doing in the middle of the desert? It looks awesome!" He made a funny face. "Hey, wouldn't it be weird if Suna put their past Kazekages in those things? Like mummified them or something—"

"Your imagination deserves a reward, Naruto," Tsunade drawled, rolling her eyes. "Don't tell me you don't recognize that." Naruto's blank look made Tsunade sigh. "That's the Kazekage's Grand Sand Mausoleum."

Realization seemed to dawn Naruto's eyes. "OHhhhhh," he said, "Gaara's jutsus always looked weird. Hey, if that's Gaara's jutsu then we need to go check it out! Maybe he's there!"

With a burst of enthusiasm, Naruto suddenly sprinted forward at full speed, leaving a dust cloud in his wake. Shikamaru, Temari, and Tsunade were left behind, bemused and annoyed. They immediately began to catch up with the energetic Hokage. Tsunade and Shikamaru both looked at Temari when she said, worriedly, "The best use for Gaara's Sand Mausoleum is to trap and seal things..." She didn't comment more, looking deep in thought.

They only caught up with the Hokage at the foot of the pyramid. Naruto was looking at it with a contemplative face, and as Temari neared, she noticed that her assumptions had been correct; about twenty sealing tags had been strategically placed all over the structure.

"Metallic sand," Shikamaru observed, slightly out of breath. True enough, the pyramid seemed to have been constructed with a mixture of normal sand and a shiny, metallic substance.

"That's Gaara's kekkai genkai, isn't it?" Tsunade inquired. She'd never witnessed the Kazekage use is sparkling metallic sand before, because he'd used only regular earth back when he was a teenager.

"Yes..." Temari confirmed. "Gaara has always been able to control sand, but he also inherited the Magnet Release from Father. That's why he can also use the metal sand...but he rarely ever does. He sticks to his normal sand unless things start getting out of hand."

"Gaara's not here," Naruto piped up, commenting for the first time. "Let's just get to Sunagakure and get some answers from him." He turned around, preparing to take off again, when a rustling sound from behind him stopped him.

Naruto faced the pyramid again and his blue eyes widened at the sight of grains of sand swirling near the tip of the triangular structure, congesting into a void of violent sand.

Several moments later, the sand cleared away abruptly, leaving not a single swirling grain in the air. Instead, something distinctly crimson stood in its place at the top of the pyramid. The figure was facing away from them.

"SABAKU NO GAARA!" Naruto screamed. He channeled chakra to his feet and ran up the side of the pyramid. He swung his fist at his friend. "THAT'S FOR MAKING US ALL WORRY, BELIEVE IT!"

Naruto's punch had only halfway completed its journey towards Gaara's face when the Kazekage's faithful absolute defense had already erected a wall of sand between the two Kage. Nevertheless, Naruto seemed to have expected it—he didn't even flinch as his bare knuckles came in contact with the rough surface of the shield, and he didn't bat an eye when he withdrew his bleeding hand. Perhaps he'd only wanted to make a point.

Naruto growled, seething, at the wall of sand separating him from Gaara. After several moments, Gaara's sand seemed to have ascertained that there was no longer any present threat, and the wall began to recede back into the Kazekage's gourd. Gaara reappeared in Naruto's vision, this time, facing him.

"You—" Naruto began, but his jaw locked and he stopped short when he took a good look at his friend. "Gaara…" he whispered.

The look in Gaara's eyes was disconcerting. Gaara's eyes had always burned so intensely—once upon a time, with the inferno of a psychopath, and later, with the fires of a strong, resolved leader. Glowed with warmth and love. But now—how dim the light in those pale green eyes were! The fire still burned, but seemed to flicker in and out of existence, and so faint was the light that Naruto could no longer tell with what Gaara's eyes were burning. Naruto wanted to bring that familiar fire back into Gaara's eyes—but Gaara seemed so distant. Gaara was right in front of him, yet seemed far away and lost. Naruto suddenly felt like he was looking down at a vulnerable child, even though he and Gaara were almost the same height, save a few inches' difference.

Gaara blinked at Naruto, an action that actually surprised the Hokage and caused him to blink in response. Naruto observed the internal battle in Gaara's eyes and noted that the man seemed to be bringing himself out of a daze and had only just noticed Naruto's presence.

"Naruto…Uzumaki," Gaara acknowledged, sounding just as distant as he looked. Gaara always greeted Naruto by both his first and last name. Naruto locked his gaze with Gaara' eyes, but felt as if the shorter man wasn't really looking at him at all.

Naruto gripped Gaara by the shoulders firmly. "Gaara, what's—"

"Naruto Uzumaki, it's been a while…" Gaara cut him off.

"Yeah, it's been—wait, what? Gaara, you—hell, we only saw each other, like, two days ago! Five Kage Summit, remember? What's with you?"

"…since they've looked at me with fear in their eyes…"

Naruto realized that Gaara was talking about something else entirely, and then he gulped upon realizing what Gaara had just said.

"I've never felt fear before…not for myself, anyway…I felt many things towards myself before—hatred, discontent…but never fear. So many people fear 'Gaara'."

"Gaara, will you get over that? It was ages ago—"

"Yes. Yes, it's been a while," Gaara repeated. "They looked at me like that twenty years ago. They looked at me like that yesterday."

"What—"

"What is time, really? A beginning and an end? Or is it a circle? Perhaps there are a rebirths along the way…for I think I finally understand…what it's like to be afraid of…me."

"What are you talking about, Gaara? No one's afraid of you—"

"I am."

"What?" Naruto gaped, truly shocked dumb for several moments. He recovered and scowled at his strange friend. "Well, you know what? I don't care! I'm not afraid of you, little guy, and if I have to beat your head out of the gutter I'll do it! Believe it!" Naruto struck the "Nice Guy" pose.

Gaara seemed to regard him coolly, and Naruto's bold thumbs-up faltered.

"You once looked at me with fear in your eyes, Naruto Uzumaki…time is a circle, and what is the time? Ah, it is…'almost'."

Before Naruto had the chance to respond, Gaara had turned away, leaving the Hokage to stare at a head of blood-red hair fluttering forlornly in the wind.

But Naruto wasn't Naruto for nothing. As they travelled the last leg of the journey to Sunagakure on Gaara's Desert Suspension, Naruto succeeded in distracting himself by talking his own ears off. He commented on how convenient Gaara's Desert Suspension was, how Gaara never had to walk anywhere because he could just float around on his sand, and how Gaara ought to be careful because if he used his Desert Suspension too much, he was bound to get lazy like his brother-in-law (Shikamaru sent Naruto a glare at this), or worse, Gaara might completely forget how to walk at all because he was always sitting around on his sand, and not walking was bound to be a disaster for a guy like Gaara who never did any physical exercise or did any taijutsu, because he was bound to get fat that way, and "seriously, Gaara, girls don't dig fat guys—"

"How about Karui?" Temari interrupted.

"—and you seriously need to get laid, my friend, it'll probably loosen you up some, believe it! Besides, I can't believe all of us are in our thirties and I still have a virgin friend—"

"Welcome to Sunagakure," Gaara cut in blandly, discouraging the notion that he'd heard even a single word of what Naruto had just said. Fortunately for the three other pairs of ears privy to the conversation, Gaara's voice was enough to break the relentless thread of the Hokage's inquiries regarding the Kazekage's sex life (though Tsunade was admittedly a teeny bit curious).

As they began their descent, Naruto looked down and saw the civilization rising out of the sand. It was always bizarre, seeing Sunagakure like this, especially when approaching it while airborne. It was different from Konoha, which was grand and awe-inspiring when viewed from any and all angles, and which was snugly seated on its throne of trees and leaves. Suna looked like the conception of an imaginative child's sandbox, ironically placed in the middle of the most unloving and unforgiving terrain on Earth, constructed of love—and buckets.

Their landed softly just outside of Sunagakure's tall outer walls, where a brown-haired kunoichi looked to be waiting to receive them. She bowed and approached them, and Naruto recognized her soon thereafter.

"Matsuri," Gaara acknowledged.

"Lord Gaara!" the kunoichi greeted in return, smiling at her beloved Kazekage, although her smile didn't seem to quite reach her eyes. "I'll alert the Council of the Hokage's arrival."

"That would be good," Gaara replied. "I'll escort the Hokage's party myself."

"All right, Lord Gaara," Matsuri nodded. "And, um…is there anything else you…need?"

"Not presently," Gaara answered, before adding, "and Matsuri…thank you."

Matsuri looked up at Gaara in mild surprise. "Lord Gaara…" She cleared her throat, then looked up at her sensei with burning eyes. "Always, Gaara-sensei. Trust me."

She nodded solemnly at the Konoha party, then was off.

"Hey, that was Matsuri!" Naruto exclaimed after a moment. "What was she doing here? Usually it's ANBU who are out here to receive us."

Gaara slowly turned to look at Naruto, and the Hokage shuddered when he saw the look in the Kazekage's eyes. They no longer swam with vulnerability—instead, they looked dead. Naruto wondered if Gaara's eyes would have looked this way if they'd been open after his abduction by the Akatsuki twenty years ago.

Gaara turned wordlessly and began walking through the narrow entrance into Sunagakure. Naruto gave up hope that Gaara was going to answer him, and, along with Shikamaru, Temari, and Tsunade followed the Kazekage into the village.

But then Gaara spoke in a frighteningly nonchalant voice. "The ANBU of Sunagakure…would much rather serve a Kazekage to whom they feel loyalty."

Naruto quickly caught up to Gaara so that they were walking side by side. "The fuck are you prattling about? Everyone in Sunagakure freaking loves you." He was ignored.

Naruto huffed and walked on ahead of Gaara—despite the weirdness going all around today, the Hokage was still rather excited to see his second favorite village in the whole world (the first being Konoha, duh). Behind their tough exteriors, Suna people had a wicked sense of humor. Crack those hard shells of theirs, and they were nuts. Naruto loved them. Besides, the amount of fanfare the Seventh Hokage received in the desert city was actually comparable to that of his own.

The narrow passageway grew brighter as they approached the other side. "Hellooooo, Sunagakure!" Naruto greeted heartily.

The wind blew, the sand tossed, and there was silence.

Naruto knew from experience that Suna people were tough nuts to crack—take the Sand Siblings, for example!—so it shocked him to see a crowd of them before him now, frozen in place and raw. The fear in their eyes completely unconcealed. Naruto had to hold back his gasp.

Growing up as a jinchuuriki meant that Naruto had been scrutinized by those fearful eyes too many times too many—but the fear of the villagers was mostly drowned by hatred, since nobody viewed Naruto as a real threat. Shouts and jeers always accompanied the stares, and each venomous utterance had been like a painful stab to Naruto's heart.

But here, nothing concealed those fearful eyes—not even hatred. Instead, it was the fear that drowned the hatred, and the villagers spoke louder with their unspoken words and silence.

Naruto suddenly realized that he preferred the hurtful shouting to this. The fear and the silence made the loneliness and isolation ten times as pronounced. And then Naruto realized that the Suna villagers' gaze was not being directed at him but rather, at someone behind him, and the Hokage felt like throwing up right then and there.

"They looked at me like that yesterday." They're looking at you like that today.

Gaara approached with his mask of calm perfectly in place. He looked no less like the Kazekage than he had for the past twenty years. He walked past a still-stunned Naruto and the crowd of villagers immediately recoiled, attempting to put as much distance between themselves and their leader as possible. Said leader did not even outwardly acknowledge their presence.

Temari, Shikamaru, and Tsunade were extremely shocked, and exchanged looks with Naruto. The latter cast another cursory glance over the frozen crowd, but none of them paid him any attention, their cautious eyes following the Kazekage like magnets. Naruto quickly caught up with the solitary redhead man and hissed into his ear, "What is going on here, Gaara? Why do they all…" fear you again? "Why are they all acting like this?"

Gaara shrugged. "They see, and then they act. That is the truth of matters."

They continued to walk through the city, and Naruto couldn't help but compare the way that their journey affected the multitudes of villagers to a wave of shock and fear. The eyes weren't even looking at him, and yet Naruto couldn't stand it. How did Gaara look so stoic in a time like this? The blonde man tugged on the redhead's red robes. "C'mon, Gaara…let's just...let's all just use the Body Flicker Technique and get to the Kazekage Compound." Naruto wasn't the type to run away—normally, by now, he would have lashed out at those treating him so unfairly. But the Suna villagers were just staring—not really doing anything—and at Gaara, not at him, not to mention that the Hokage wasn't in his own village. He didn't know what had happened, but he didn't think he could stand Gaara doing nothing under the villagers' withering gaze any longer. "We can discuss this, and fix this, okay?" the Hokage urged. "For now let's just get outta here. Please?"

Gaara answered in a clearly audible voice that caused those around him to shrink into the walls even further. "What kind of Kazekage am I if I can't even walk through the streets of my own village?"

Temari caught up with them. Her distress was painted clearly on her face—which was a tad surprising, seeing as the fierce woman always hid vulnerable emotions so well. "I—I agree with Naruto, Gaara. I understand what you mean about—I mean, this is our own village after all, but—but, please, just this time, let's get out of here quickly and talk about this, please? Now doesn't seem like a good time to—expose ourselves in public, for whatever reason I don't know—so please? For—us, Gaara?"

Gaara's pale green gaze regarded Temari blankly. He answered, "You know the way to the Kazekage Tower. You could adequately escort the Hokage and his party there ahead of time if you feel uncomfortable. I will simply have to rejoin you in a few extra minutes' time."

"No—no Gaara I meant together—" Temari tried to protest, but the Kazekage had already proceeded away.

The five of them turned the corner, muting the village in their wake, when suddenly, there was a shuffle and a whiz. Gaara didn't react when a stone suddenly came hurling out of the crowd, directly towards the Kazekage's face.

Tsunade's face contorted with complete surprise at the display of hostility; she'd heard of, but never experienced, anything quite like this before. Shikamaru's eyes widened and his fingers threaded themselves into the Rat seal in case he needed to use his shadow; Temari instinctively reached for the fan strapped to her back.

But Gaara's sand shield hadn't even the chance to react when Naruto's fist slammed into the rock, crushing it into pieces. The Hokage's face contorted with rage and he exploded.

"WHO DID THAT?" Naruto screamed accusingly. The crowd backed up even further and hushed murmurs coursed through it. "C'MON, SHOW YOUR FACE! IF YOU HAD THE GALL TO DO THAT IT SHOULDN'T BE ANY PROBLEM!" Naruto thrusted the crushed remnants of the rock to the floor. "IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT YOUR KAZEKAGE SO BADLY, COME OUT HERE AND FACE HIM LIKE A MAN!"

Naruto didn't really expect anybody to come forth, so he was in for a surprise when a young child suddenly broke himself free from the crowd. "No—Roku, come back here!" a woman, presumably his mother, pleaded, but the child ignored her, instead rushing determinedly to face, as Naruto had recommended, the Kazekage.

Gaara regarded Roku coolly; his head was still raised, so only his eyes flickered downward to watch the child. The boy trembled and fumed at the same time.

Naruto paled; children were always the worst opponents. No matter what you did—ignored them, beat them up, scolded them, killed them—you could never win.

The child then reached into his robes and pulled out—a teddy bear? Naruto, Temari, Shikamaru, and Tsunade all watched, bemused. The child growled and glared at Gaara. "I thought you were a nice Kazekage, but my mommy told me you're a horrible monster," the little boy spat venomously. "You lied to all of us! You're a liar!" Tears threatened to spill from the boy's eyes, but he blinked furiously, refusing to cry in front of the Kazekage. "I don't want your stupid presents! I don't want a gift from a monster!" the boy cried, throwing, with extra force, the teddy bear in his hands towards the ground. Naruto cringed. The teddy was too adorable to deserve that kind of treatment.

But Gaara's gourd suddenly uncorked itself and the sand quickly caught the soft toy before it could make harsh contact with the ground. The sand cradled the bear softly before delivering it into the Kazekage's hands. Gaara did not break eye contact with the boy.

Roku trembled even further at the sight of Gaara's deadly sand, and he began backing away slowly. When he had deemed his distance safe enough, he whipped around and broke off in a run. "Monster!" he yelled a final time over his shoulder.

Gaara continued staring at the spot the boy had just left. After a long pause, he said, "Very well," as if Roku were standing before him.

Naruto willed himself not to cry—he'd hardly ever seen anything so cruel. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gaara beat him to it. With chillingly expressionless eyes, the Kazekage held the bear out to Naruto. "Would you accept a gift from a monster?"

"Gimme that!" Naruto shouted, snatching the teddy from Gaara's hands. "And you are NOT a monster, Gaara—" Gaara had already turned away.

By the time their party of five reached the Kazekage Compound, Naruto was ready to throwing a million-and-one rocks at Gaara just to crack that stubborn façade. Naruto had pestered the redhead relentlessly with questions, but Gaara resisted even more relentlessly. The silence of his answers grew louder and louder each time.

"Gaaaaa. Raaaaa. For the four thousand gazillionth time—"

"These are your rooms," Gaara swiftly interrupted, gesturing to several guest rooms along the hallway. "Lady Tsunade can stay here, Naruto can stay here, and Shikamaru and Temari can stay in this one. Unless you'd rather sleep separately, of course?"

"Together is fine," Shikamaru answered briskly, feeling awkward.

"Very well," Gaara nodded. "Please make yourselves comfortable. I expect you'd like to rest after your journey here."

"GAARA!" Naruto screamed this time.

Gaara's eyes met Naruto's. "Yes?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Gaara blinked. "As Kazekage, it is my duty to make sure my foreign guests are comfortably accommodated."

"To hell with that! It's just US! And we came here to talk, Gaara! There's clearly some serious issues going on! So you're gonna talk, whether you like it or not! Now!"

It was clear that the Kazekage remained unconvinced, and that he didn't like it, because he didn't "talk, now."

Naruto made a noise of exasperation and flailed his arms. "You know what? Just forget it. If you wanna be an ungrateful bastard, then GO AHEAD. In case you've forgotten, I'M the HOKAGE, and like hell I need to be escorted to my room for bed. I'm going out!"

Tossing his robes for dramatic effect, Naruto stormed out of the hallway. He passed by Shikamaru's bedroom on the way.

"Hey, where're you going?" the lazy man asked.

"Oh, just out. To do a little recon," Naruto replied.

Temari suddenly appeared right beside her husband. Naruto's heart clenched at the sight of her worry-riddled face. "Do you need us to come with?" the kunoichi asked.

"Nah, it's all right," Naruto replied, donning a soft smile. "You guys just do whatever you want. You deserve it. But Shikamaru, if you find any free time, feel free to kick that skinny stubborn ass of your brother-in-law's for me."

Shikamaru's face colored, and all too quickly, he grabbed Temari's arm and started closing the door. "Nope, sorry, Lord Hokage. Hokage's assistants and Sand ambassadors rarely have any spare time. We'll be uh—busy."

Naruto left the Kazekage building and immediately donned a henge for disguise. He was still blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but just without Naruto Uzumaki's marked features. His cheeks were paler and unwhiskered, his hair dirtier blonde, his blue eyes dimmer, and his loud orange clothes more subdued. He didn't know Suna's customs well enough to blend in as one of their own, so the symbol on his forehead protector still held Konoha's triangle and swirl.

He wandered about the village, mingling among its people in hopes of picking up some information about their weird behavior, stopping only a couple times for ramen. However, without Gaara's presence, the Suna villagers acted very much normal—a little less outgoing and boisterous, but not too far from the usual.

Naruto was perplexed.

He was still wandering when the sun dipped beneath the horizon, and, feeling weary, decided to patron a modest looking bar. A steady hum of conversation stirred inside the dimly-lit tenement, and Naruto made his way to the counter without attracting much attention.

The bartender was a middle-aged, plain-loooking man with brown hair and brown eyes. "What can I getcha?" he asked, his accent reminding Naruto of Kankuro's.

"Just a sake. Warm, please."

"Sure."

The bartender left to go get his drink, leaving Naruto at the counter with other patrons of the bar. He listened to them talk, hoping to glean a bit of information, when—

"Hey, aren't you from Konoha?" a Suna shinobi asked, pointing at his forehead protector.

"Yeah, sure am," Naruto replied carefully.

"What're you doing in Suna?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Mission," he answered simply.

The bartender returned and set Naruto's sake down on the table. "Thanks," Naruto said, bringing the cup to his lips, stopping halfway when he realized that the bar had fallen silent. "Um…guys, I know that I'm fantastically handsome and all, but that doesn't mean you should stare like that."

The bartender's voice startled him. "Get out of here," he commanded lowly.

Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

"You shouldn't be here," the man persisted.

Naruto put his cup down loudly and stood up. "What? Are you kicking me out 'cause I'm from Konoha?"

The man actually looked surprised at the accusation. "What—oh, no. Not of the bar premises. I mean you shouldn't be in Suna."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"It's dangerous."

"He's right, you know," a fellow patron piped in from Naruto's left. He gestured for the blonde man to sit down, and cautiously, Naruto did. "I'll be packin' my bags and leavin' with m'wifey and kids by th'end o' the week."

"Where will you go?"

"Anywhere," the patron replied. "Anywhere but Suna."

"Does…this have anything to do with the Kazekage?"

Silence reigned in again for several moments. Then—"Everything always has something to do with the Kazekage." The voice sounded bitter.

"I thought Gaa—I mean, Lord Kazekage was a great guy," Naruto ventured, biting his lip. "I mean, even in Konoha he's pretty popular."

"The Kazekage—a great guy?" This time, it was a woman's voice. She chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, that's just what he wants you to think."

Naruto clenched his fists beneath the counter, willing himself to calm down. Now would be the worst of times to give himself away. "But what'd he do?"

Silence reigned for a third time that night, making Naruto impatient. The bartender was the one who finally answered. "Just get outta here as soon as ya can, kid. You're better off not knowing."

"What? But—"

The bartender shot him a look that said This Conversation Is Over, leaving Naruto slumped in defeat.

The Hokage trudged, exhausted, back to the Kazekage Compound, feeling dejected that he was nowhere closer to solving the mysterious circumstances than he had when he'd asked Gaara. "I shoulda asked Shika and Tem to come," he berated himself with a slight slur in his voice—he'd had one sake too many tonight. "They coulda figured it out." Silently, he slipped through the Kazekage Compound's winding hallways and was about turn onto the one where his room was situated, when he heard muffled voices speaking. He was going to opt to ignore them at first, but stopped when he recognized the gravelly male tenor. Quickly, he suppressed his chakra.

"…I hope I haven't disturbed you, Lady Tsunade," Gaara said.

"…Whatever." She sounded groggy.

"I've disturbed you. My apologies—I'll return at a later time—"

"No," Tsunade yawned forcefully. "I'm fine. What is it, Lord Kazekage?"

"…I asked you to come to Sunagakure for a reason, Lady Tsunade."

"Indeed you did. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"There are certain aspects…of my physical health and anatomy that I'd like you to examine."

This seemed to catch Tsunade's attention. "Lord Kazekage, we've been wondering…are you ill?"

There was a pause, and Naruto held his breath in anticipation for the answer. "I would rather hope not."

Naruto released his sigh, and Tsunade said, "After the war, I offered to do full-body examinations of all the Kage and you were the only one who adamantly said no, no, and no. Even Sakura tried to persuade you to no avail. What's changed?"

"…Circumstances," Gaara answered, in the vaguest possible way. "And my age."

"Your age—" Tsunade suddenly guffawed loudly, making Naruto jump. "Hahaha—Lord Kazekage, you couldn't possibly be—suggesting that—you're old?! You're Naruto's age! ...I certainly hope you weren't mocking me." Tsunade was sensitive about her age.

"Forgive me if it came across that way, I had no such intention," Gaara assured. "And you must understand that I am different from most humans, Lady Tsunade. When my father created me, longevity was not one of his concerns. To be honest, however, my physical health and lifespan is not my foremost concern. I have more reasons to worry about my mental capacities."

In a teasing tone, Tsunade joked, "Senility isn't that scary, trust me."

But joking with Gaara often had the effect of backfiring, especially when the man took it seriously. "Indeed, senility would be much preferred," Gaara said. "I have a history of severe mental illness, Lady Tsunade…psychosis and sociopathy."

"But you got over that a long time ago, didn't you? Why are you afraid of a relapse?"

Gaara paused. "Perhaps we should take this conversation elsewhere, Lady Tsunade, and I will be happy to fill you in. Unwelcome ears are often privy to conversations held in the hallway." Naruto gulped. Had Gaara caught him eavesdropping? He looked around for stray grains of sand, but found none—none that were visible, anyway.

"Oh! Oh, all right," Tsunade said, sounding surprised. There was the sound of shuffling and a door closing. "Let's go."

Naruto heard their footsteps and jumped—if they turned the corner, he would be discovered. Holding his breath, he waited—but fortunately, Gaara and Tsunade walked off in the opposite direction.

Naruto stood still until he couldn't hear their footsteps anymore, then quickly rushed to his own room and closed the door behind him. He released the long breath he didn't know he was holding, the blood thundering in his ears from the conversation he'd just overheard.

Naruto flopped down on the bed, and, noting the telephone on the drawer next to his bed, decided to give Hinata a quick phone call to calm his nerves. Unfortunately, his children were already in bed, and he couldn't wish them good night.

Hinata was just as perplexed as Naruto was after he explained everything to her, but her soft, soothing voice smoothed the tension in Naruto's muscles. Just before they hung up, Hinata sung him a lullaby in her sweet voice.

He closed his eyes and lay there in the bed for a long time. He shouldn't have called Hinata—the absence of her voice was now twice as painful.

He suddenly thought of Gaara. For how long had he gone to sleep on a cold bed, all alone?

Never, Naruto realized, although this was no relief. Gaara never goes to bed.

Naruto remembered the villagers' harsh treatment of his friend today, and for the first time, he cried. Naruto had no history of mental illness, but that night, he was the one plagued with insomnia.

What was going on?