A/N: As far as plot goes, it's a work in progress. I'm pretty much making it up as I go. When writing this chapter, I realized I've portrayed Gaara pretty ooc (out-of-character). I hope you all still enjoy and thanks so much for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! :-)

Lost & Found

Chapter #02 - Sheltered

"ehhh" Naruto moaned. He wasn't ready. He definitely wasn't ready. HIs body felt heavy and his head was throbbing with an annoying ache. He so wasn't ready to wake up. with an exaggerated sigh, Naruto dramatically turned over to lay on his other side. But instead of landing on the left side of his bed, the blonde found himself falling onto his living room's hardwood floor. "Wha' the fuck?" Naruto questioned in a tired and confused voice. It took him a few moments of looking around to realize he wasn't in his room.

"Ah, that's right..." the blonde spoke to himself. He slowly remembered the previous night. He had asked Gaara if he wanted a place to crash for the night.

(Flashback)

If he didn't know any better, Naruto would have thought he killed the guy's puppy. As soon as that question left his lips, he noticed the redhead had immediately tensed. Soon after, a succession of low and short raspy breaths could be heard coming from the shorter male. It looked like he was having some sort of panic attack. Naruto was worried Gaara was going to hyperventilate, but he didn't know what to do. The redhead stopped after a couple of minutes, slumping his shoulders down into a defeated posture. Although his expression stayed apathetic, Naruto could feel the depressed state the redhead had settled into.

Not knowing how to respond to that bizarre reaction, Naruto thought it would be best if he just ignored that it had happened. Naruto cleared his throat and went back to eating his fries. About fifteen minutes later, Gaara replied with an exhausted "...alright."

"Cool. I don't know about you, but I'm done with walking for the night. I'll get us a cab." Naruto let a genuine smile grace his lips. He had finished eating and settled on watching Gaara eat. He tried not to be obvious or creepy about it, it's just that he really enjoyed people watching. Human behavior in general was interesting to the blonde. Gaara either didn't notice or just didn't mind.

The redhead ate everything Naruto had bought for him in a hurried pace. He opened the apple slices last, and seemed confused on what the purpose of the little plastic container was for. "That's caramel dip." Naruto explained.

"..."

Naruto reached over and grabbed the little container. He pulled the top off and gave it back to Gaara. "You just scoop some up with the apples." Naruto supplemented his explanation with demonstrative hand movements. Gaara slowly did as instructed and took an experimental bite. Naruto noticed how Gaara's eyes slightly widened and a beginnings of a smile formed on his lips. The redhead seemed to really enjoy it; maybe he had a sweet tooth?

After Gaara had finished, Naruto got up and cleared the table. On his way over to the trash bin, Naruto called over to the redhead, "Let's go get that cab."

As the pair stood outside, Naruto noticed Gaara's anxiety acting up again. The redhead had some nervous tick going on with his hands and he had a sort of faraway look to his eyes. But then again, he could just be cold. The temperature had fallen even more and a light drizzle had started.

The blonde hailed a cab and let Gaara enter the backseat first. As Naruto climbed in, he told the cab driver where he wanted to go, "Toad Village please."

"That's the one on the intersection of Gamabunta and Fukasaku right?" the cab driver asked.

"That's the one." Naruto happily answered. Just about everybody knew where the Toad Village apartment complex was. Not only was the name unique, but it was established by the famous 'novelist' Jiraiya. The pervert had used it as a supplemental income source to fund his 'research' travels. He even lived in one of the apartments while he was in town. In time, Toad Village became somewhat of a local heritage site and tourist attraction. Even so, Jiraiya never raised the rent and even turned it into a gated facility so that residents could maintain their privacy. Naruto respected him for that.

The ride over to Naruto's apartment complex was a comfortable one. The taxi driver Tazuna and Naruto engaged in some small talk. Naruto liked the older man, he was blunt but an overall good guy. They talked mostly about bridge construction and the Land of Waves. Naruto appreciated how Tazuna didn't give him a hard time about Gaara, unlike that bitch manager at the burger joint. In fact, Tazuna acknowledged Gaara and included him into the conversation even though the redhead never actually spoke to him.

By the time Naruto was dropped off at Toad Village, he was in a sincerely happy mood. He even noticed that Gaara had relaxed a bit. The blonde punched in the code for the gate and headed towards his second floor apartment building. Like before, Gaara kept a five foot distance between himself and Naruto.

After unlocking his front door, Naruto walked in and turned on the light. Gaara loitered at the entryway before hesitantly stepping inside. Once he did, Naruto closed the door and flipped the lock, the sound triggering one of Gaara's anxiety attacks. Naruto felt bad and rushed a soft "sorry". He hadn't meant to scare the redhead, turning the lock was just habit.

"I'm not gonna hurt you or anything...and you can make yourself at home, or whatnot..." The blonde made sure to give the redhead his space, disappearing into the kitchen. Naruto poured himself a glass of water in a last ditch effort to avoid a hangover. He reflected back on his first encounter with Gaara - that glare he had given him. Naruto wanted to see that side of Gaara again, that confident and self-assured side.

After hearing some coughing and wheezing coming from Gaara, Naruto returned to the redhead's location. Gaara looked like he had calmed down but he also noticed how the redhead had wrapped his arms around his chest and slightly slivered.

Naruto gave the redhead a huge grin and warmly spoke, "You can take a shower if you want. It'll warm you up and I'll get you some dry clothes to wear."

Gaara looked at the blonde quizzically, head slightly tilted. Naruto continued, "I'll show you where the bathroom is," and made a waving motion for Gaara to follow him. After reaching his destination, the blonde flicked the light switch on, and stepped aside for Gaara to enter.

"Shower." The redhead softly spoke with a hint of wonder.

"uh...yeah shower..." Naruto responded. It seemed as if Gaara had a question, but Naruto couldn't figure out what it was.

"How does it work?" Gaara curiously asked.

"uhm...I guess like any other shower does...wait -" Naruto was slightly taken aback at his sudden realization, " - Gaara...have you ever had a shower?"

"No." was the redhead's simple reply.

"Oh." Naruto responded. He found himself even more interested in who Gaara was and what kind of life he has had. "Uh, I'll show you how it works." Naruto moved over to the shower stall and turned a metallic knob. "You just turn this thing here and water comes out of the showerhead. You turn this one over here to control the temperature - the closer to the red side you turn it, the hotter the water."

Gaara seemed to be intently focused on what Naruto was telling him. "I guess I'll leave you to it. But let me grab you some clean clothes really quick." With that, Naruto disappeared down the hallway. He returned with a stack of clothing in his hands and rested them on top of the bathroom counter. "Sorry if they don't fit. And you can leave your dirty ones on this counter too. If you need me, I'll be in the living room. Oh, wait. Let me show you these - this here is shampoo and this one is conditioner. You just pour some into your palm and wash your hair with it. And that over there is body wash. You can pour it onto that body puff thing and wash your body with that." Naruto made his best attempts at demonstrating his explanation with corresponding hand movements. "And you can dry off with that orange towel over there, that's the clean one."

It had been almost an hour now since Naruto had left Gaara, and the blonde was almost worried the redhead had drowned. While he'd been waiting for Gaara to finish, Naruto had thrown some pillows and blankets onto the couch, made some tea, changed into his favorite frog pajama pants, and settled on playing some video games. He paused the game when he heard the bathroom door open. "I'm in the living room!" Naruto called out.

Gaara slowly made his way over to Naruto. He wore the matching frog shirt to Naruto's pants and a pair of white baggy pajama shorts. With all that excess dirt removed, Gaara was actually quite attractive. "You enjoy your shower?" Naruto asked.

"hm" Gaara replied.

"So...never had a shower before, huh?"

"...something like it." was Gaara's only response.

Naruto noticed how Gaara looked a little nervous. Without a word, the redhead had come to stand in front of Naruto, who was currently sitting in the middle of the couch in a wide open leg posture. At first, Naruto thought Gaara wanted to sit down and was about to move over for him. Before he could, Gaara had dropped down to his knees. Naruto immediately froze, not sure what Gaara's intentions were. It wasn't until Gaara's hands reached out to grasp at his pants that Naruto realized what was going on. Startled, the blonde pulled the redhead's hands away with a rushed, "No, no, no, no" and quickly stood up. Somehow, looking down from a standing position was even worse. Gaara raised his head, slightly tilted it to the side, and gave Naruto a confused look.

"Uh, look...you don't need to do that. I, uh...could you stand up?"

Gaara did as requested and waited for Naruto to continue. However, the blonde was trying to get his words right in his head before he spoke. Gaara was starting to get anxious, "You want me to turn around?"

"Huh? Why would...oh, gods no! I don't want anything like that - no sex stuff!"

"...I do not understand. Why am I here?"

"Uh, to spend the night. But not that way, just sleep. I was going to stay on the couch so that you could have the bed." Naruto tried explaining the situation, but it didn't seem like Gaara was understanding. "Because you helped me out. I'm trying to repay you for it."

"So, I get to stay here tonight? And I don't have to...pay you for it?"

"Yeah, something like that."

It still didn't look like Gaara completely understood, but he wasn't nervous or depressed looking anymore.

"So...awkwardness aside, let me just save my game and I'll show you where you're sleeping tonight."

"Awkwardness. what is awkwardness?"

"Hm? It's uh...It's when you uh...It's awkward." Was Naruto's brilliant response. He could tell that Gaara was about to reply with a 'what is awkward?' question, so he tried to deepen his explanation. "It's like a strange feeling. Well, I guess it's more of an uncomfortable feeling, actually. And it's also kinda of an embarrassing one too"

"Hm. That is interesting. And what is 'save my game'?"

"It's uh...saving a video game."

"Video game?"

"Uh...yeah. Guess you've never seen one, have you?"

Gaara shook is head no.

"I can show you. Here, sit down." Naruto sat down and patted the cushion next to him. Gaara did as requested, pulling his knees up and hugging them with his arms. Naruto picked his controller up and un-paused his game. Naruto could hear Gaara gasp when the images on the television screen had started to move. He glanced over at the redhead and smiled at his expression - big eyed and mouth slightly open.

"You ever watch t.v.? That black box thing in front of us?"

"...no..."

"Seriously, how does that even happen. Have you been living under a rock or something?"

"No...how does one live under a rock?"

"That was just an expression. But, hey, since your liking this so much I'll play it for a little bit if you want?"

"Yes. I would like to watch more."

"And you can play too. Here," Naruto handed Gaara a PS4 controller after adding Gaara into the game. "It's called Minecraft. You just kinda run around and gather materials and build stuff. But it's a lot more fun than it sounds." The two spent the next couple of hours playing the game, with Naruto explaining game controls and how to craft objects. Naruto was surprised at how fast Gaara could pick things up. It seemed all he needed was a good explanation and he was good to go. This made Naruto wonder even more about how Gaara could be so uninformed about things.

Once Naruto decided he couldn't stay up anymore, he had saved the game and promised to let Gaara play again in the morning. With a yawn, the blonde stood up. "Come on, I'll show you where you're sleeping."

Naruto led Gaara down the hallway and into his bedroom. "There's the bed. If you need anything, I'll be out sleeping on the couch."

"T.V."

"Hmm? You want more t.v...?"

"That is t.v." Gaara said and pointed at the smaller television Naruto kept in his bedroom.

"Oh, yeah. You were just making an observation, huh?" It seems Gaara liked learning new things.

"...can you play games on this?"

"well...you could, but I don't have the game system set up over here. And we should really be getting some sleep." Naruto was getting worried for Gaara's health. In the past two hours, his coughing had increased in frequency.

Gaara fiddled with the ends of the frog shirt he was wearing and softly stated, "I can't sleep when it's silent."

Naruto had just barely heard it. So, Gaara didn't like silence? The blonde could relate to that. "Let me turn my computer on. I have the t.v. set up to mirror my laptop. I'll put on a video for you."

"Computer?"

"Yeah. I'll show it to you tomorrow. It's really difficult to explain." After turning his laptop on, Naruto opened up the youtube site. "I'm going to put on a playlist. That just means a list of videos. That way, something will be playing all night."

When the youtube playlist had started, Gaara startled. He was even more fascinated with the television than he was before. The redhead stepped up to the t.v. screen and touched it. "I don't understand."

"It's a moving picture with sound." Naruto explained. He could have watched Gaara's reaction to technology all night, but he really wanted the redhead to get some sleep.

"Moving picture? That is interesting."

"Yep. This is an ASMR video playlist. It may look weird, but the sounds are supposed to be relaxing. Let me know if you get scared, and I'll change it. I'm playing Ephemeral Rift - he's not your basic ASMRer." Naruto explained, letting out a small chuckle. "Wish Sasuke would understand that. I like to watch these videos to help me sleep or study or whatever. One time, I was on the school roof and I'd fallen asleep to the video where Paul was in his Margaret character. It was that trigger sounds test one - it was super weird and funny. But anyway, I fell asleep and Sasuke had found me and it just had to be the part where Margaret was topless and wrapped up in bubble wrap and doing this sort of creepy dance thing. Sasuke went on and on about how I have some weird bubble wrap fetish - he still thinks I have one." Naruto knew Gaara didn't understand anything he just said, which was fine with him. The blonde just liked having someone around who would listen to him.

Naruto decided to start the playlist off on one of the Candy Man videos. "Alright, you should be all set. Is there anything else you need?"

"No. I am fine. Thank you for the moving picture"

"Heh, you can call it a video. And in case you're wondering, videos you watch and video games you play."

"Hm. I think I understand. Thank you for the video."

"Alright, then. I'm gonna go lay down. Goodnight." Naruto flashed Gaara a big grin before leaving. It was pretty late - must have been around five in the morning by now. Once Naruto crawled onto the couch, he instantly fell asleep.

(End of Flashback)

Naruto stretched and walked down the hallway. He peeked into the kitchen and spotted the time on his microwave - it was only ten o'clock, no wonder why he felt as if he'd gotten hardly any sleep.

He quietly opened the door to his bedroom and peeked inside. Gaara was still fast asleep on the bed. In fact, he looked he was having the best sleep of his life. As soon as Naruto shut the door, he heard a few excessively loud knocks on his front door.

Fearing the banging would wake Gaara up, Naruto rushed to open the door. He was greeted by a very fatigued looking Sasuke and Kiba.

"Wow, you guys look like shit." Naruto stated.

"Is that how you treat the people who come to check on your well-being?" Kiba replied.

"Hm?"

"Look, we kinda feel like shit. We just left you on the street with some stranger...so, I guess we wanted to check and see if you were okay."

Naruto felt a warm feeling spreading within. He knew his friends cared for him, but it was nice to hear it out loud from time to time.

"So, what happened after we left?" Sasuke asked, pushing his way past Naruto and making himself at home on Naruto's couch.. Sometimes Naruto regretting giving them the code to the front gate.

"And why did you sleep on your couch?"

Naruto shushed Sasuke, "I'll tell you, but you guys gotta keep it down or you'll wake Gaara."

"Gaara?" Kiba questioned.

"So...you took him home." Sasuke stated.

"Well that's...weird." Kiba finished.

"I felt bad...and he looked sick." Naruto defended.

"Did you wrap him in bubble wrap?" Sasuke asked through a smirk.

"Dammit Sasuke, I've told you a million times - I don't have a bubble wrap fetish!" Naruto quickly covered his mouth with his hand as soon as he realized he'd shouted, but it was too late. He heard the bedroom door slowly open and cursed himself for his stupidity.

"Ha - and you tell us to be quiet" Kiba snickered while Naruto shot him a glare.

Gaara had slowly made his way down the hallway and into the living room. Naruto couldn't help but to think he looked absolutely adorable. The frog shirt was hanging off the redhead's right shoulder as he rubbed his eye with his left hand and held onto Naruto's plush fox in the other.

"Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Naruto explained in an embarrassed tone.

"That okay." Gaara spoke in hoarse, raw voice.

"Aw shit. You sound pretty sick. Maybe you should go lie back down?" the blonde commented.

Naruto noticed that Sasuke gave Gaara a long stare before getting off the couch. "Well, we're going to get going now. We really just wanted to see if you actually made it home or not."

"Eh...yeah..." Naruto followed Sasuke and Kiba to the door. "Well, thanks for coming by."

"We should hang out soon - preferably when my head is not in so much agony." Kiba groaned.

Naruto chuckled. "I know how you feel. We'll do something after school tomorrow."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed. He turned to leave, but paused. "Tsunade still has the free clinic, doesn't she?" As soon as he finished his sentence, Sasuke walked away. He wasn't expecting an answer and Naruto knew that.

Despite how he acted the previous night, Sasuke was actually a good guy who was capable of feeling empathy - he was just too stubborn to admit it. Truth is, Sasuke has done a lot of things that he now regrets. Seeing someone like Gaara had triggered a lot of old memories he'd rather forget. Whenever that happens, Sasuke tends to act like a complete asshole.

As for Kiba...well, sometimes Kiba was just a short-tempered, impulsive jerk at times. In fact, he'd bullied Naruto when they younger. It wasn't until about four years earlier that they'd become friends. Naruto kicked Kiba's ass in a school fight. Somehow this earned Kiba's respect or something, Naruto forgets how he explained it. But anyway, Kiba does have his upside; he is, after all, a loyal friend.

After closing the front door, Naruto headed back into the living room to check on Gaara. Naruto didn't find him there and assumed the redhead had went back to bed. Before going to the bedroom, Naruto stopped off in the kitchen and made some tea.

Hot tea in hand, Naruto quietly opened the bedroom door and looked inside. Gaara was lying on the bed reading some magazines.

Intrigued, Naruto walked into the room. "I thought you couldn't read -" he abruptly stopped his sentence as he realized what magazines the redhead was looking at. Naruto's face flushed a bright red, and for the first time in his life he was actually speechless - he should really learn to hide his porn better.