Ch. 14

Naruto woke up lazily on the roof when he heard some discussion near the house. He looked down to see some of the anbu talking to Inoichi. "Hey what's up?" Naruto called making Sakura stir beside him.

"Inoichi needs to see Kushina." Cat said. Canary was no where in sight.

"What for?" He asked drowsily scratching his head.

"That is confidential." Inoichi said looking at Naruto seeing no pain or anger from what happened yesterday.

"What's going on?" Sakura rubbed her eyes as she asked.

"Nothing big I'll be back." Naruto said kissing the top of her head.

Sakura stretched and giggled, "Well I won't be here I'm going to my bed."

Naruto stood up and offered his assistance to Sakura and she gladly took his hand. "I'll go grab her." Naruto said as he jumped down. He ran into the house to the living room where Minato and Kushina were. They were both sleeping on a couch. He walked over to the one his mom was on and began to gently shake her. "Mom wake up... mom..." he began to shake her more vigorously and actually used her name. "Kushina." After about a minute she finally jumped awake literally smacking her head into Naruto's. They both let out a shout of pain. Naruto dropping to the ground holding his head. And Kushina with her knees to her chest holding hers.

At this point Minato jumped awake. Standing above the two kunai ready. He looked down at the two confused. "What's going on?" He asked. As a response the two started laughing still holding their head.

"Did you see how he jumped up like someone was attacking!" Naruto cackled making Minato blush.

"Well at least we know we're safe!" Kushina said poking fun as well.

"Alright, alright. What happened?" Minato asked not very amused.

"I was trying to wake her up..." Naruto began.

"And I jumped awake and headbutted him." Kushina finished with a laugh. "Why were you waking me up anyway?" She asked draping her arms down her legs.

"Oh, Inoichi's outside says he needs you for something." Naruto said sitting up crossed legged.

She tilted her head, "What for?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know he said it was confidential."

"Did he need me to come too?" Minato asked.

Naruto shook his head, "He just said, Mom." Kushina still found it very odd, a good odd, to be called mom.

Minato sat back down contemplating what they needed her for. Kushina stretched and got up. "Well I guess I shouldn't keep them waiting." She said grabbing her stuff and walking out the door.

Naruto got up to and started walking towards the hallway. "Where are you going?" Minato asked curiously.

Naruto turned, "Back to bed or actually to the bathroom then to bed. It's still early and I don't have much to do today." He said with a smile. Then he turned back around heading down the hallway.

-/-

Kushina walked out the door to see cat and Inoichi waiting in the yard. "Hey, Inoichi I heard you needed me." She called to the men, they both turned at her voice.

"Yeah, I'll explain on the way." Inoichi told her.

"And I'll be keeping an eye on things here." Cat joked.

Kushina laughed, "Good, you can keep all these kids in check!" Inoichi looked over at her and then to the mansion. 'How many kids are in here?' He thought. He had only seen Naruto and Sakura who he knew from the boy's mind. "Come on, Inoichi." She said with a flip of her ponytail walking towards the forest path. With one last look at the house he turned and caught up with her. Once they were in the forest she turned to him curiously, "So... what are we doing?"

"Well it seems there is a problem with our new prisoners, they've put some kind of seal on their minds. It's like they knew we would go through their minds." Inoichi said frustratedly.

"They probably did. They didn't want any information leaked if they were captured. And you probably want me to see if I can break the seal. I can take a crack at it, but I can't make any promises."

"Well you are correct on that one... there's one other thing though..." Inoichi started slowly.

Kushina rolled her eyes, "What is it Inoichi?"

"One of the prisoner has said they would talk... to one person," he sighed. "You."

She became still for a second. "Which one is it?"

"The male, Hisao Uzumaki." Inoichi told her.

She nodded her head, "What do you want me to ask?"

He scratched his head. "Just try and have a conversation with him and try to lead him into the direction of the one who's still missing and where she could be. And also what she could be planning next."

She looked at him baffled, "And how do I just casually lead the conversation there!"

He huffed. "Just get him talking. We'll be on the other side listening."

"Ok... I'll do my best." Kushina replied wringing her hands nervously. She had no clue what she was going to say to him.

-/-

Temari groggily trudged through the halls. She left the comfort of her boyfriend's arms to check on her brother. Yes, she had left Matsuri to take care of him last night, but she still wanted to make sure he was okay and not laying with his head in the toilet. She made it to his door and quietly slipped in. She noticed glass on the floor and threw up a questioning eyebrow but continued on. Temari suddenly froze seeing Gaara cuddling Matsuri. She began to silently step backwards only for her foot to crush a piece of glass. She glared down at the annoyingly loud shard until her gaze was jerked up by sand wrapping around her wrist. Her eyes met her brother's and he almost silently said "Get out." She nodded her head turned and quickly left.

Gaara looked down at Matsuri in his arms with no clue how she got there. He carefully slipped her out of his arms and scooted to the edge of the bed. He rubbed his forehead, 1. For the throbbing headache he had and 2. To try and bring back his memories of last night. He remembered drinking the punch... a lot of the punch. He had a blurry image of Matsuri walking him down the hallway, while he rambled on about something. This was extremely irritating to him, he obviously knew more happened but his mind was blank. He looked over at the glass on the floor and he remembered bumping into the table. He remembered Matsuri helping him to the bed. Gaara's eyes widened in shock and his fingers unconsciously went to his lips finally remembering that he had kissed her. He hazily remembered him trailing kisses up her stomach and then her telling him to stop. But then it was blank. And if she told him to stop why was she in bed with him. 'What had he done?' He thought utterly disgusted with himself. They were both clothed but that didn't mean he hadn't pushed some boundary. He had no memory of what happened after she said no, but it didn't look good considering she was still there. He sat there his hands clenching the blankets and his back to the girl he secretly loved.

Matsuri had woken up when Gaara had moved her. She had watched his silent contemplation not daring to move an inch. His shoulder were stiff and hunched which usually happened when he was concentrating really hard. When he looked at the broken glass on the floor she realized he was trying to remember last night. She gained hope seeing him touch his lips, which were immediately crushed when he gripped the blankets angrily. Matsuri thought he was angry about what had happened between them, not at the possibility of hurting her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and bit her lip sitting up. Gaara was so lost in thought he didn't even notice. "Gaara..." she said softly.

His shoulders straightened but he did not turn to her, "I'm sorry. I did not mean for this to happen. If you wish to leave my services as my assistant you can do anything you'd like instead. I will give you a glowing recommendation for whatever you want to do. And after that you don't ever have to talk to me again if you don't want to. I wouldn't judge you for doing so... It'll be like I don't even exist." Matsuri felt as if her heart had just shattered. Did the thought of kissing her really haunt him that much. Gaara's voice slightly quivered as he said, "I'm truly sorry, Matsuri. I never meant to take advantage of you."

Matsuri's heart stopped what did he mean take advantage, he moved to get up and she lunged across the bed grabbing hold of his wrist. Finally he looked at her she was flat on her stomach laying across the bed. "What do you remember from last night?" She asked but not letting go of his wrist.

He looked away, but she could still see half of his face. He sighed closing his eyes, "The last thing I remember is you telling me to stop. And then you were still here, I don't know what I did but you deserve so much better than this." Gaara replied trying to pull away again.

Matsuri's grip on his wrist tightened as she sat up refusing to let him leave. "You stopped Gaara."

"But-" he started but was interrupted.

"You asked me if I would stay here for the night just sleeping not doing anything. And the only reason I made you stop is you were really really drunk and I didn't know if you were doing all of it just because you were drunk. You didn't take advantage of me in any sort of way, I promise you." Matsuri told him in a rush.

Gaara sat there processing the information. "So you made me stop because you didn't want to take advantage of me?" She slightly nodded her head her cheeks pink. "So you didn't dislike what I did?" He asked.

Now her cheeks turned red and she looked down at the bed. "No... I didn't dislike what happened..."

His fingers gently grazed her cheek and she looked up at him, "So you would not mind if it were to happen again?"

Matsuri's heart was pounding as she softly said. "No, I definitely would not mind..."

His hand gently cupped her cheek leading her face towards his. His lips gently slid across hers before placing a tentative kiss. He was gentle and slightly unsure. It was very different from last night, but it was so much better. She pressed her body against him and he gained more confidence. He wrapped an arm around her waist pressing his lips against hers a little harder. When they finally broke for air his eyes refused to leave hers. His fingers following her cheekbone down her jaw, "I've wanted to do- for so long I've- I mean I-"

Matsuri silenced him with a quick kiss, "Me too." She said softly which only made him kiss her again. Gaara didn't want to stop or let her go. He had loved her for so long, but never believed she would ever care for him too. Hell, he never believed anyone would care for him in that way. When they finally broke apart for air he pressed his forehead against hers. His thumb making lazy circles on her skin, his eyes closed. Matsuri watched him through half lidded eyes. She never believed that this would actually ever happen. So many girls had tried to gain his attention, but he never seemed to notice them. But here he was kissing a plain girl like her. Her hand reached up running through his hair, touching him to solidify this was real. His eyes opened then and scanned her face. She wasn't sure if he was trying to memorize it or read it.

Her thumb grazed the mark that said 'love' on his forehead. She bit her lip nervously. "What is it Matsuri?" Gaara asked knowing something was on her mind.

She sighed, "It's nothing really... I've just always wondered how you got this mark. From far away it looks like a tattoo, but up close it looks more like a scar." Her fingers trailing the lines.

His hand reached up and grabbed hers. He slightly moved back from her. "It... does not matter now."

Matsuri, seeing how he slightly withdrew from her, immediately dropped the subject. "You're right it's whatever... I should be getting ready for the day." She said standing up and stretching. She started to walk to the door and stopped by the broken glass. "We really need to clean this up." She said looking over her shoulder and continuing to the door. Just as she began to open it a bunch of sand slammed it. Another rush of sand wrapped around her waist drawing her back to Gaara. As soon as she reached him he wrapped his arms around her bringing her in for another kiss.

After their lips broke apart he still held her close. Gaara whispered in her ear. "Sorry I just wanted one last kiss before you go." He gave her one last quick kiss, and before she knew it the sand was gently placing her on the ground by the door. She threw a smile at him over her shoulder then exited the room. As soon as she left Gaara threw himself down on the bed arms spread wide, trying to process that this was all real and no dream.

-/-

Kushina stood outside of an interrogation room. She took a deep breath dashing any of her nervousness away before opening the door. She heard some shuffling of chains as he looked up at her. She strolled into the room walking over to the chair across from him and sat down. "So, they said you said you would talk to me." She said as she picked up a piece of fluff off her jacket. "So what the hell were you thinking?" She asked glaring at him.

"You know what I was thinking. I was thinking I would get revenge on Konoha for letting my family, my people, my land fall into ruin and despair. I wanted revenge for all the deaths I watched that damn night!" He said aggressively.

"By causing more death of innocent people, you know those people out there had nothing to do with it. This is my home, Hisao. There are good people here. Innocent children and women here."

"There were innocent people in Uzushiogakure too! You know what's it's like to watch your friend beg for help as he burns alive!"

"You don't think I felt the loss of my homeland! Hell, my mom and dad just completely checked out after."

"At least you had your parents." Hisao spat out.

Kushina ground her teeth. "No, I really didn't. And again your solution is to use some summoning scroll to bring the jinchuriki here and use him? Well, your plan failed. You failed. Three of you were captured in one night by one drunk chakra exhausted teenager. Do you really think Asami stands a chance?"

Hisao began to laugh. "Well that's the last one of us you want still out there! She will succeed and that boy will die along with Konoha."

She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt yanking him up as far as she could. "If you threaten him again I swear to god they will have to take you to the hospital before they throw you back in whatever hole they dragged you out of!"

Despite the pain in his wrists from the cuffs he smiled. "You've already created an attachment to him. Is it because he reminds you of yourself."

"Tch... are you stupid!" She said throwing him back in the chair. "You know who he is to me!" He looked confused and then she realized Naruto knocked him out before the revelation of her being his mom. "That's right Naruto knocked you out before the truth was revealed. Oh, Naruto is the boy's name and he's half uzumaki. Didn't you need a non uzumaki to be able to break the seal."

He looked at her wide eyed, "That doesn't mean his blood is strong enough to-"

"His blood is my blood!" She yelled and Hisao sat stone still. "The boy you brought here is my future son. The boy you tried to use and murder is my son." Kushina hissed out.

Hisao looked up and for the first time there was a little bit of guilt in his eye. "Who is the father then?"

She slowly sat back down seeing as the situation seemed to be settling down, "He was one of the ones you captured."

He furrowed his brows, "the skinny blonde guy?"

"Hey! That 'skinny blonde guy' is my fiancé and the legendary yellow flash." Kushina said defending Minato.

"That guy is? Hmm, I thought he'd look more... impressive. Besides I thought you always used to swear to only marry an uzumaki."

Kushina snorted and laughed, "Well that was a very long time ago."

He gave a slight smile. "A lifetime ago really."

They both sat silently for a moment, "Neh, do you remember the swimming hole we used to always go to? We spent half of our summer's there."

He smiled again at her. "And we had that rope that we'd swing into the water with." He chuckled. "I still remember the time you slipped off early and hit that rock. For a second I would've sworn you were dead!"

Kushina laughed "I'm way too stubborn to be taken down by a rock."

"I guess that's true. I was terrified to spar against you. You never held back on me! I felt like I was getting my ass kicked every single time." Hisao joked falling into their old friendship.

"Well you definitely took me by surprise the other day..." Kushina said rolling her eyes.

"Well I'm able to conceal my chakra now completely. Basically even the most skilled uzumaki can't sense me..." he looked down at his cuffed hands. "You know I never expected you to be there..."

"Well I'm a Konoha shinobi a good one at that." Kushina said tapping her fingers.

"I never wanted to hurt you, Kushina." Hisao said looking up at her. Everything in his eyes told Kushina it was the truth.

"And believe me I never wanted to fight you. If I would've had the slightest hint that you guys were alive, you wouldn't of been able to keep me from finding you..." she said softly. "You know if you cooperate and help they might go easier on you..."

He scowled, "And turn my back on Asami and the others. I would never betray them."

"Asami already betrayed you! She was going to let you die. You all ended up imprisoned because she led you off on this stupid revenge scheme. Killing more innocent people will not bring back the ones who are already dead!" She said slamming her fist on the table.

"I won't betray the others." He said clenching his teeth.

"You, me, Emi, Asami. We were all best friends once, I'm begging you drop your stubbornness and please help me out here. As a friend." Kushina pleaded with him.

He sighed looking torn for a second and then he looked at the floor. "I can't Kushina. I'm sorry."

She let out a sad sigh, "If you won't talk by choice. And they can't read your minds. Then they will abstract the information through... other means..." her eyes looked sympathetic.

"What do you mean other means?" Hisao asked.

"You know what I mean." Not being able to bring her self to say it.

"They'll torture me." He seemed to steel himself already. "I can take it."

"Yeah, but can Hana?" She asked and he seemed impassive. Actually the girl had always creeped him out. They had only taken her in a few years ago. "What about Emi?" Now he seemed affected.

"Why does she have to be brought into this?" He asked annoyed.

"You guys are the ones who brought her into this. You did criminal things and she helped. You let her be apart of this. Now because of it she will pay the price, believe me this is not what I want for any of you. But you have to give us something." He stayed silent looking at the ground again. "Hisao..." he ignored her. "Hisao." She repeated more firmly, but he continued to ignore her. Finally, Kushina slammed her hand flat against the table, "Hisao! Look at me!" He jumped but refused to look at her. She sat there silent for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I'm really trying here ya know! I really want to help you, but you won't let me!" She stood up leaning across the table. "And it really sucks, ya know, cause I know deep down somewhere in there is my friend." She then turned around and walked out the door.

She slammed the door shaking her head angrily. "Kushina." She jumped and screamed at the sudden voice. She turned to see Inoichi standing in a shaded corner of the hallway.

"What the hell, Inoichi! You look like some villain in a movie!" Kushina berated him.

"No one told me how well you knew them before the mission." Inoichi said.

"Well of course I knew them I am an Uzumaki and I did move to Konoha if you remember." She said sarcastically. She looked back at the room. "We were friends when I was 8, believe me a lot of things change in that amount of time."

He shrugged his shoulders and slightly nodded his head. "Good tactic telling him about the torture and using his friends against him. Unfortunately he was too stubborn to talk. I think we might have a chance with the girl Emi. But not with the other one she honestly creeps me out a little. Like I think she might enjoy being tortured."

Kushina began to cackle, "So what about this seal you want me to look at?"

He nodded his head down the hallway. "This way." He said before walking off down the hallway.

-/-

Gaara felt as if he was slinking around the hallways. Not that he was up to anything bad, he was just trying to avoid Matsuri. Well, avoid was the wrong word. He just wanted to talk to Naruto before he talked to Matsuri again. He finally reached Naruto's door and began to knock and call his name softly. After a minute of this he became frustrated, he felt too exposed. 'God damnit why am I treating this like a mission?' He thought to himself, he began to send sand underneath the door and up in the air over towards Naruto. When he felt he had collected enough he let it drop. He heard Naruto sputter through the door, "What? What the hell!? Is this sand!?" He heard footsteps stomp over and the door finally opened. "Gaara! Is this some kind of-" Gaara covered his mouth and pushed him in the room closing the door sushing him.

Naruto stepped back looking around him as if he was ready to fight, "What is it? What's going on?"

"It's nothing that serious." Gaara said.

"Apparently it was serious enough to wake me up by dumping a bunch of sand on me. So what's up?" Naruto asked as he sat on the now clean bed which Gaara had been cleaning up since he entered the room.

"Something happened last night." He said vaguely.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "Come on now, Gaara. It's just me here you can tell me what's up."

Gaara sighed and sat down next to his friend. Though they had become very close and talked about many things over the years; Gaara never talked about girls. Naruto actually once asked if he was gay because of it. "It's about Matsuri." Gaara said.

"Ooh is this about how you're completely in love with her?" Naruto asked with a cocky grin.

"What!? How did you know?"Gaara asked shocked and slightly embarrassed.

Naruto leaned in his face very serious, "Well, I didn't tell anyone else this but one of the powers I got during the war was to read people's minds." He whispered.

Gaara looked at him shocked for a few seconds before he turned skeptical. "Come on, Naruto."

Naruto began to laugh hysterically. "Hey! I had you there for a little bit!" He said then continued laughing.

Gaara rolled his eyes, "How did you really know?"

"You told me idiot!"

"I think I would remember-" Gaara started.

"It was during my housewarming party." Naruto interrupted.

"...Oh."

"You came to me asking for help on how to deal with being in love with someone who doesn't love you back. Funnily enough me and Sakura got together that night. But anyways you tell me all about you and Matsuri. And I give this long, deep, and personal speech trying to help you. And I look over and you passed out! So for wasting my time I decided to-"

This time Gaara interrupted, "Decided to draw a dick on my forehead."

"Exactly." He said with a sly grin. "Just punishment for the crime."

"Why didn't you tell me you knew before?" Gaara asked.

"Well you never brought it up before when you were sober. And you were really really drunk that night. Plus you've always been extremely private about girls and stuff... so I figured I'd just wait till you brought it up again. You know when you wanted to talk about it."

"Thanks." He said. Naruto really was a great friend.

"Yeah you know I may draw a dick on your forehead, but I'm at least gonna keep your secret." Naruto joked. And Gaara gave one of his rare laughs. "But you know we're getting a little off track here. What happened last night? I heard you were pretty drunk. Sorry, man I should of warned you what all was in that punch."

"Yeah I can thank my pounding headache and blurred memory to your punch." Naruto chuckled but motioned for him to continue. "Well, she helped me get to bed and we um sorta made out a little. And a little this morning..." Gaara said awakwardy.

Naruto's grin split from ear to ear, "He'll yeah man! And here I thought something bad happened." He said smacking him on the back excitedly.

"Well you see something else happened while we were- or should I say in between when we were..kissing.."

"Oh my god Gaara spit it out! Enough of these wells and you sees!"

Gaara sighed his hand reaching up to touch the word written on his forehead. "She asked me how I got this."

"Oh..." Naruto and him had talked about that and a lot of other things in their pasts.

"I didn't know what to tell her. I mean we talk all the time but never about my darker past. I never wanted her to see that part of me." Gaara said.

"Well, you know she lived in Suna during those darker times. Hell, there are probably 10x scarier rumors going on about back then than the actual truth. But despite all that she still likes you. Now all you can do is tell her the truth. And hope she continues to accept you, and if she doesn't then fuck her." He said throwing both middle fingers up.

Gaara chuckled, "That's another thing what exactly are we now?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "You mean... you and me?"

"What? No, I mean me and Matsuri."

"Ooooh!... well how the hell should I know? That's between you two." Naruto said shrugging.

"Well we didn't really talk about anything. We just kinda..." Gaara started but felt embarrassed saying made out.

"Went at it like wild animals?" He said cackling.

Gaara's cheeks turned slightly red and he became flustered. "It's wasn't like that!"

Naruto just kept laughing and pointed at him. "You're face!" He said enjoying his friend's embarrassment.

"Uh, why am I friends with you?" He said falling back on the bed rubbing his hands over his face.

Naruto shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know I figured you would of killed me in annoyance years ago!", the smile on his face showed he didn't mean it. "You know I can only help a little bit here. You and Matsuri have to figure out your relationship for yourselves. And I mean hell I'm still half figuring shit out myself." He said with a laugh rubbing the back of his head.

"You're right. Thank you." Gaara said sitting back up.

"Hey, anytime. What are friends for, right?" Naruto replied. They continued talking for a while sometime's about other things, but most of the time looping back to Matsuri and him.

-/-

Matsuri was in the kitchen making toast and eggs. She was putting oil in the pan and then went to grab the eggs. She started to grab two and stopped. 'Should she make Gaara breakfast too?' She thought with a blush before shaking her head no. She didn't want to seem to forward she had already kind of messed up by asking about the love symbol on his forehead. She grabbed the two she needed and closed everything up. As soon as she turned she yelped, sending the eggs flying through the air. They splattered next to her as she tried to calm her pounding heart. Temari had been there watching her. She was wearing one of Shikamaru's shirts which came down to about mid thigh and a pair of oversized socks. She seemed to have no shame and parading around in her boyfriends shirt and nothing else.

Temari crossed her arms over her chest, "So I went to go check up on Gaara this morning."

"Th-this morning? When this morning?" Matsuri asked a pink hue already forming on her cheeks.

"Early enough to see you and my little brother in bed together." She said almost accusingly.

Her face now turned bright red. "Nothing happened!"

"Well obviously something happened."

"Well I mean nothing- nothing like that happened we just sort of-" Matsuri started.

"Look I don't want to know all the details. All I know is Gaara doesn't open himself up very often to people and he sure as hell doesn't open up to them romantically. But I do know he really really likes you. So know this if you hurt him, I promise you it will be the last thing you ever do." Temari threatened her. Which was very effective. She was wide eyed and trembling a bit. "Do you understand?" She barked out. Matsuri just nodded her head. Temari turned and left the kitchen. Matsuri looked at the eggs on the ground wondering what the hell just happened.