Storybook Romance
By: Chibi
You hold the answers deep within your own mind.
Consciously, you've forgotten it.
That's the way the human mind works.
Whenever something is too unpleasant, too shameful for us to entertain, we reject it.
We erase it from our memories.
But the answer is always there.
-Opening to Wash it all Away by Evanescence
Chapter Three
Naruto wasn't surprised when he didn't see Sasuke waiting for him after school was over. The boy had every right to be mad at him after what happened. He foolishly tried looking for his boyfriend but he was nowhere in sight, most likely having gone back to his own house as soon as the last bell rang. He was angry, and he had every right to be angry.
Didn't he?
"Just call him when you get home." Shikamaru said as him and Naruto walked home together. After searching the school for about fifteen minutes Shikamaru had finally convinced Naruto to give up, go home, and call his boyfriend to try and straighten things out. "He needs some time to himself I bet. That's all."
"Yeah." Still, if there was anything Naruto hated it was to hurt Sasuke. And he just knew that's what he did today. And running away like he did couldn't have helped matters at all. He didn't even try to explain what was going on, didn't even try to give some lame excuse of oh, it was nothing really, didn't even try to comfort his boyfriend in any way. At the same time... what was he supposed to do? He hated to lie to Sasuke, and telling him something like it was nothing would be a lie. Telling him that he didn't mean for it to happen... that was only partly the truth. He didn't mean to hurt Sasuke, yes that was true, but... there was something that wanted that moment between him and Gaara to happen so badly!
"Naruto?"
"Hm?" Naruto looked up at Shikamaru and shook his head a bit, smiling. "Sorry, I was just thinking that's all."
"Listen... I wouldn't worry about this whole thing too much. I mean, you know Sasuke loves you. He's not going to leave you."
Naruto thought about that for a moment. "But... if you saw the person you love kiss someone else..."
"I would never see something like that." Naruto gave Shikamaru a questioning look. "Because relationships are too troublesome to begin with."
Naruto blinked, then blinked again, then had to hold onto his sides from laughing so hard. Shikamaru just stared at his friend, wondering exactly why he was suddenly rolling over in laughter.
"N-nothing... really... it... it's just..." Naruto exploded into another fit of laughter and Shikamaru just shook his head, a tiny smile on his face that Naruto couldn't see since he was laughing so much.
Shikamaru would never change. At least during this entire mess he was going through something would stay the same.
Naruto did the customary best friend thing and invited Shikamaru inside. It was the time of day when Iruka would be fixing dinner since he was the type to come straight home after the school day was over. However, when the two boys walked into the house and to the kitchen for snacks they did not expect to see Iruka cooking while Kakashi sat at the table. Kakashi sitting at the table was a normal sight since the man practically lived there. At the same time it wasn't normal. When Kakashi did go home with Iruka right after school, instead of being kept after by Gai-sensei and his random challenges, Iruka sure as hell wasn't cooking.
But that wasn't the particular odd thing they saw.
What was odd was seeing Iruka at the stove cooking, Kakashi sitting at the table...
... and Gaara sitting across from him, the two of them talking in hushed tones as if they weren't supposed to be heard.
Now Naruto was the type to expect to walk into anything. Several times he had walked inside and heard his guardian and Kakashi-sensei going at it like the bold roommate you had that could sleep with his partner under the covers while you tried to study. Other times he walked inside to a deceivingly empty house because Sasuke would be upstairs lying in his bed with the most predatory look on his face.
But walking into his house to see the boy he had been trying to avoid while at the same time trying to make out with in front of his boyfriend... that was a bit too much to take.
"Um... what's going on?" Naruto managed to get the sentence out but the shocked look still wouldn't leave his face. The conversation Kakashi and Gaara were having stopped and they both turned to look at Naruto. Shikamaru frowned a bit from where he stood. He had noticed that a split second before they turned to look at Naruto they both had looks along the lines of being caught in the act, and Gaara had actually given Kakashi a... knowing look? Something like he was bound to find out while Kakashi responded with a look that said not yet, wait for a little longer.
What in the world was going on? Who was this kid?
Gaara turned his attention over to Shikamaru, simply watching him. For a moment Shikamaru felt something inside of him say run, run away from this boy, but instead he just continued to stand next to Naruto. There was something about this Gaara kid, something strange and something that felt extremely dangerous. Ever since the incident in the lunchroom when he shoved that boy into the table Shikamaru had this feeling that Gaara wasn't exactly the type of person you hung around, because the moment you pissed him off it would all be over for you.
Not to mention what happened after that.
There had been lots of commotion in the hallway a few minutes after that, and when everyone in the lunchroom managed to get out they had all seen rivers of sand leaking out of one of the bathrooms. Maybe no one else saw it, maybe it was because Shikamaru was short and had enough intelligence to duck down to look under the taller people's legs, but what his eyes saw that sand do was something that sand just shouldn't be able to do! He had seen the sand wrap, actually wrap around a piece of glass and break it apart. The sand moved, moved all by itself, and squeezed so hard that the glass broke! Shikamaru had seen Sasuke right by the sand standing with Kakashi who had warned him to stay away from it just before the sand killed that piece of glass.
It was as if that sand had been alive.
"He wanted to visit you, Naruto." Iruka said from the stove. Shikamaru looked up at the man and frowned a bit more. Something wasn't right. From the times Shikamaru came over with Naruto after school he knew that Iruka usually greeted the boy with a smile or something. The man hadn't even turned around, kept his back turned to them as if he didn't want to look at them for some reason.
Why?
Did it have something to do with what Kakashi and Gaara were talking about before? And what were they talking about? Maybe it was that weird event with the sand in school, because that happened when Gaara left the lunchroom. Shikamaru wasn't one to assume things, especially since what he was thinking made no sense at all.
Thinking that Gaara... caused the sand to erupt in the bathroom. And for some strange reason Kakashi, maybe even Iruka too... knew that.
That would explain Kakashi getting Sasuke away from the sand. That would explain how Gaara found out where Naruto lived, because they had just met today so how else could he know? That would explain Kakashi and Gaara talking just now, because what else would they have to talk about? So Gaara caused the sand? That was ridiculous, impossible, made no kind of sense whatsoever...
... then again, sand coming out of a bathroom and destroying everything in its path made no sense either.
"Um… but… I should do homework or…"
"… just for a few minutes, Naruto." Shikamaru looked over at Kakashi in a bit of surprise. For a second, it sounded like the man was pushing for these two to talk. Kind of like a king presenting a possible suitor whom he really, really liked onto his sweet little princess.
"I… guess…" Naruto looked over at Shikamaru. "You don't mind the extra visitor, do you?" Before Shikamaru could respond Gaara looked up at him. Looked up at him and just… looked. Shikamaru felt something inside of him freeze-up, a drop of fear sliding down the back of his neck. From the look Gaara was giving him he knew that it didn't matter if he minded his presence or not. It didn't matter, Gaara's eyes said, because soon you will suddenly have something come up and have to run home. Gaara's eyes told Shikamaru a message he heard loud and clear.
Leave. Us. Alone.
"You two can talk. I should go."
"What? But…" Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, a bored look crossing his face.
"I'll come by later. It doesn't matter."
"Oi! I swear, you always act like nothing matters!" Naruto yelled to his friend. Shikamaru simply turned and headed to the door, hands shoved into his pockets. How wrong Naruto had it this time. Something mattered this time, definitely mattered, mattered to the point of Shikamaru having to leave before he got in Gaara's way.
And something told him to never, ever get in Gaara's way.
The safe place to have a conversation with someone you really didn't want to face was the living room. The living room was open. The living room had space. The living room was connected to the kitchen where Kakashi and Iruka were so they could come in if Naruto felt the need to scream for back up.
So of course, with this being the difficult situation it was, and with Naruto having the curse of
bad luck that he did, the conversation took place in his bedroom. He tried to prevent it but Gaara had walked up the stairs before Naruto even had a chance to speak. Naruto sighed and cursed Lady Luck or whomever the hell it was who made people lucky and stepped into the room with Gaara.
"So… um… you wanted to talk to me?" Maybe he could play dumb and try to pretend that he had no idea what Gaara wanted to talk about. For a moment he had thought it worked, because Gaara just sat down on the bed, not saying anything and simply looking around the room. After a moment the silence became too much to take. "Look, about today..."
"So you do have it." Gaara murmured softly before he leaned down and picked up a book off of the floor. Not just a book, but the book. The book Naruto loved more than anything, the one he kept remembering for some strange reason every time he was near Gaara. For some reason when Gaara picked up the book Naruto's heart started racing, as if Gaara had discovered the secret of all secrets. "You read it everyday, don't you? Even if you've read it several times already."
"Um..." How in the world could he possibly know that! "... do you... read it too?" Gaara looked up at Naruto and just... smiled. Gaara smiled at him. Damnit, and Naruto's heart began speeding up in its race. Naruto might've just met him today but he knew that Gaara was definitely not the type to just smile like that unless if the occasion really called for it.
"I know the story." Not I read the story but I know the story.
"So... you must like reading-"
"I said that I know the story, Naruto." It was just one word, really. Instead of saying read he said know, but for some reason that one change in vocabulary meant everything. "Do you want to know how I know the story?"
"N-no..." He didn't want to know, really he didn't. It would just make things more confusing than they already were. He really didn't want to know how Gaara knew the story, well, to be more specific... he already knew how Gaara knew the story. But he really, really didn't want to say what he was thinking. No matter how ridiculous of an idea it sounded like...
"Yes you do." Gaara stood up and Naruto took a step back. At some point his heart decided to start speeding up even more and Naruto suddenly found it hard to breathe. "You want to know, you've always wanted to know."
"What?"
"Why do you like the story so much?" Gaara stepped towards Naruto. "What makes you read it over and over again?"
"I... I just like it..." Naruto moved away from Gaara. Something told him that staying close to the boy would be bad.
It might lead to them kis-
"And why do you always think of the story when you're around me?" Naruto's eyes widened. He didn't even notice that his back was now up against the wall. Why... why did he think of the story when him and Gaara were close? "Unless if you... have an idea already..."
"I..."
"... come on, Naruto." Gaara's voice dropped into a whisper. "Say it."
"I..." He didn't want to. He didn't want to but Gaara was so close, so close to him. It was making him dizzy, it was making his bedroom swirl around and mix together in a blend of colors. Colors that suddenly... "Wh-what's going... on..."
"Shh." Naruto's first instinct was to panic but he never got the chance. Soon he found himself in Gaara's arms, holding onto him as the colors begin to explode around them, explode and form into different shapes of various sizes. Shapes and sizes that weren't the normal objects of his bedroom. These objects belonged in a room that was much, much older. A room before the days of computers, of television, of radios, of telephones. A room decorated in plants instead of wallpaper, lit up with candles instead of lamps, made up of walls of stone instead of brick.
"Gaa... ra..." But when Naruto looked at Gaara the boy's eyes were closed and... there was a symbol... had Naruto not noticed it before? Had Gaara's hair been covering it? Maybe... it hadn't been there before? A symbol that was glowing, the color of blood, painfully etched into the boy's forehead.
Love.
Naruto tried to open his mouth to call Gaara again. "Shukaku?" But a different name came out. A different name wrapped around in a different voice, a female voice.
Naruto shoved Gaara away harshly and just like that they were both back in his bedroom. Gaara's eyes snapped open in a bit of surprise and he watched Naruto stare back at him with wide eyes, his body trembling from... whatever it was he just saw. Gaara wiped the surprise away and stepped towards Naruto again.
"Don't. Stay away from me." Naruto whispered, shaking his head. There was no way... there was no way any of this was true. It was a story, a book he read, that was all! Stories... stories like that weren't real!
"Why?" Gaara moved closer anyway. "Why do you want me to stay away?"
"None of it is true!"
"How can you say that after what you just saw, after what I just showed you!" Gaara grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him close, not willing to let the struggling blond go. "You know it's true, Naruto!"
"It's not! It's just a story!"
"Kyubi!" Naruto's eyes widened at the sound of that name, shown in a recognition he was really trying hard not to acknowledge. "Don't you remember?" Gaara almost looked desperate now. "I've been looking for you, Kyubi."
"That's not my name..." But Naruto's voice was choked full of lies. "That's not..."
"Say it. Say the other name you know. Say my name."
"No..."
"Say it, damnit!" Gaara gripped onto Naruto's arms tightly, shaking him just enough to show Naruto just how much he needed him to remember. It was hurting. Gods his head was hurting, pounding, didn't Naruto know how much he needed this! Sixteen years... "You know it's true, you know it! The marks you have, the book, everything. You know. Just say it!" The marks... those marks no one could explain. They all blamed it on the fire, that unexplainable fire, and left it at that. That unexplainable fire... Kyubi was a fire creature in the story, wasn't she?
Naruto closed his eyes and whispered, whispered so softly that it couldn't be heard. Gaara watched his lips move, watched and tried to read what he was saying but the headache was taking over with a type of pain that echoed around him and punched him in his gut. He had to stop it, had to stop the pain before his entire face crumbled apart into grains of sand that would liter the ground. It was obvious that Naruto didn't want to think about all of this, swallowed a healthy dose of denial, but... but... Gaara's head... his heart... it was all too much.
It was all too much!
Before Naruto had a chance to try and make any type of protest Gaara was kissing him, a desperate type of kiss that was as hard as it was fast, pleading with you to just kiss back, kiss back damnit, and not pull away. Please?
Naruto stood there with wide eyes, stood there in shock because no part of him was telling him to stop this kiss because for a moment he could feel all of that pain Gaara felt, he could feel it grab onto him in a death grip and scream at him. Just remember... at least... for a little while?
So, Naruto did.
Within a few seconds Naruto had managed to get Gaara to slow the kiss down. A few more seconds had that ear-splitting headache under control, under so much control that it was almost nonexistent. The headaches would never go away, Gaara knew that. They were headaches full of voices from the past, voices from what Naruto called a storybook, voices that would never shut up no matter how much he begged them to. But, but at least he could turn down the volume, turn it down enough to be able to hear Naruto moaning into the kiss and enough to hear both of their hearts beating.
Tap.
Naruto wrapped his arms around Gaara's shoulders, pulling him closer as the kiss became a bit deeper, coming dangerously close to becoming one of those kisses lovers shared.
Tap. Tap Tap Tap.
Naruto tried to open his eyes. That noise... he recognized that noise. But Gaara wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and held him. Close. Protectively. Safely.
Lovingly.
Love...
TAP! TAP TAP TAP!
Sasuke. Sasuke was... outside his window. Sasuke...
"Don't." Gaara held Naruto closer and shook his head. Not now. Not now when his headache had finally calmed down. Not now when he was so close.
"I-I'm sorry..." What was he sorry for? Didn't he not want to remember these things, not want to believe these things? Why was he apologizing? "But... Sasuke..."
"Uchiha..." Gaara's voice changed. Transformed into the voice of a deadly creature, dare say a... monster. He wasn't talking, he was growling. And his eyes had narrowed into a look of absolute hatred and death. Naruto's eyes suddenly widened in realization. Of course, if all of this was true Gaara would despise that name.
"He... he just has the name, it's a coincidence..." Gods, Naruto thought, who the hell was he fooling? But gods he prayed that maybe, just maybe, he was right and it was a coincidence.
But that would require learning more about all of this...
TAP! "I... I have to talk to him. Please... please..." Please what? Please understand? Gaara would never understand. Please let me talk to him? Let him? Since when did he need permission?
TAP! It took a lot to do it but he did it. Gaara let Naruto go. He wasn't exactly sure why he let Naruto go when that was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Ultimately, the cure for those damn eternal headaches had finally presented itself and here he was, letting it go. It had to be the look in Naruto's eyes, that pleading look, that desperate look, just let me go, please? Or maybe it was the way Naruto's voice shook as he spoke, full on conflicting emotions that left him feeling confused, unsure. It had to be hard, Gaara thought to himself, to get all of this information about your life when you had been living it in a completely different way for the past sixteen years.
So it would take time, unfortunately, to finally make Naruto understand. Time always took forever in the important matters, but Gaara had already been waiting forever so adding more time to that was perfectly fine if it was what he had to do to get what he wanted, no, what he needed.
Both of them watched each other, not really knowing what to say. What was suppose to be said? Hadn't enough already been said? So Gaara walked past Naruto to head to the door and leave.
"Wait." Gaara stopped and turned to look back at Naruto who was watching him, looking uncertain for a moment before he gave the smallest of smiles, one barely noticeable unless if you were really looking for it. "I'll... see you later." It sounded so dumb in Naruto's head. See you later? Gaara had just shown him, just shared something very serious and powerful with him and he responded with see you later?
"Yeah. Tomorrow at school?" Gaara asked. Well, see you later must have had the desired effect if Gaara just responded to it.
"Yeah." Naruto's smile grew a bit more, not as hard to detect anymore. "Bye bye." And Naruto watched Gaara leave his room, closing the door behind him.
TAP! TAP! "All right, I'm coming!" It was surprising how they could drop back into old habits. Naruto threw the window open, frowning down at Sasuke who was tossing a couple of rocks up and down in the air, catching them. "Do you always have to throw those damn rocks!"
"Then you should answer faster." Sasuke smirked as he began climbing up the tree. Naruto couldn't help but smile as he watched Sasuke make his way up to him. Very surprising indeed. Despite the earlier events of the day here Sasuke was, climbing the tree as he always did, visiting Naruto as he always did. For a moment Naruto was actually able to forget everything involving storybooks.
"I shouldn't answer at all." Naruto crossed his arms at his chest as he watched Sasuke slip inside of his window. "That way, you can actually use a door."
"Doors are overrated, the window takes me right into your room." Damnit. Naruto broke into another smile. Wasn't it today when Sasuke saw him almost kissing another guy? Yet here he was making him smile instead of yelling like he thought his boyfriend would do. Sasuke never really hid the fact that he was a possessive bastard when it came to Naruto, so... why wasn't he blowing up?
Not that Naruto minded, Sasuke could stay just as calm as he wanted.
Still... Naruto did feel the need to... "I'm sorry."
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry... for today. With Gaara..."
"Oh." Sasuke chuckled a bit. "Must've forgot about it."
"What!" Who was this boy standing in front of him? It certainly wasn't the Uchiha Sasuke he knew. "I almost kissed another guy!"
"I'd like to think that he almost kissed you." Sasuke smirked. "That way, I can be pissed off at him and make out with you like I always do. Seems like a good plan to me."
Naruto sweatdropped. There was the Sasuke he knew.
Author's Comments: Whoo hoo! Another chapter over and done! Yes, I ended it right there. Why? Because the next chapter is a special chapter for my little Sasuke and Naruto, yes, a special chapter indeed. O.K. So I'm planning a lemon, there you got me. Of course we know it won't be on and blah blah blah we know this drill with my fics already.
Fair warning for the next chapter, it's not just a lemon for these two. I'm not going to spoil anything, but my muses have been calling it the "mindfuck" chapter, let's see how well I do. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this part (even if it came super duper late, sorry!) yes, things are getting interesting as the story is revealed to Naruto more and more. And Shikamaru, what a good boy you are trying to figure out what's going on. You'll get it eventually, hang in there!
And Sasuke... you're way more understanding than I thought... what are you planning, Uchiha?
That's all for now, until next time!