I Only Have Eyes for You

Bonus Chapter: The Five Stages

Note: For you all to enjoy. Here's what happened when Gaara receives an unexpected but completely welcomed visitor.

And again, thank you for reading and best wishes to you all.

Denial

When Gaara walked into his office that morning, he expected a slow, normal morning. The stack of papers he was avoiding yesterday was still sitting there where he left them, and phone messages had increased from five to twelve.

Gaara, wearing his white and blue robes, sat in his tall desk chair, reading over requests. What the… wasn't this the third notice about a hole on the east wall? He thought he signed off for this already?

Suddenly, the door burst open. Gaara looked up to see a familiar face, hand gripping the door knob. "Gaara!" his new guest exclaimed.

There were scurrying footsteps through the hall and a young woman emerged. "I'm sorry, Kazekage-sama," the cute new kunioichi apologized (wait, did he just think that?). "Uzumaki-san just ran in!"

"It's alright," Gaara answered. "You can return to your post." He watched as she bowed and left them alone.

"Gaara…" Naruto groaned, falling to his hands and knees. He was hacking and coughing right there, all over his linoleum. Gaara stood from his seat and poured a cup of water from the pitcher on his desk. He walked over to Naruto, crouched down, placed the glass near his right hand and returned to his seat.

Naruto grabbed the glass and downed it in one breath. "Thanks, man. Oh crap, I did a stupid thing, you won't believe it!"

Gaara picked up his pen and returned to his papers.

"I fought with Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "And I don't mean the kind of fighting like 'Seriously, Sakura-chan, I didn't touch your butt!' but really fought! I kicked her out of my apartment! Oh, this can't be happening, this can't be happening…" Naruto cradled his head in his hands.

Honestly, what the heck was he talking about?

"This is a really bad dream," Naruto jumped towards the Kazekage. "This is a nasty dream!"

Without looking up from his desk, a hand of sand took the pitcher by the handle and held it out to the Kyuubi man.

"Thanks again," Naruto held out the glass and let the sand hand pour him a full glass of water.

Anger

Gaara was used to being followed. As Kazekage, he usually had people scurrying around him, asking him for approval of some things, maybe a few guards following him around.

A babbling, enraged, blond man at ten in the morning was not something he was used to.

"I mean, I thought I was inconsiderate!" he burst, throwing his fist into the office couch. "But her! She was blaming me for the kiss! Seriously, who does she think she is?!"

A knock came to the door. "Come in," Gaara called. The same cute kunoichi from yesterday came in and dropped off a scroll to his desk. She smiled and bowed to him; Gaara noticed how she had streaks of brown, red and gold in her hair.

"A girl just can't prance in, shaking her goods, offering ramen and put all the blame on me for the make-out session!" Naruto paused. "By the way, making out with Sakura-chan: totally worth it! I thought miso ramen tasted good but she tasted hot."

The kunoichi shot a bewildered look to Naruto.

"What?!" he barked.

Streaked-haired kunoichi said nothing and left without a word, much to Gaara's own surprised dismay.

"Anyway," Naruto turned back to Gaara, "I'm doing this stuff, holding back and it's blowing up in my face! You know this is all Sasuke's fault, causing me to frickin' feel guilty and making this stupid riff. If only we didn't have a draw and I kicked his ass that time!" Naruto paused and added. "I went easy on him, you know?"

Gaara glanced up at him.

"I did!"

Gaara's vision turned back to his work.

Bargaining

Gaara usually ate his lunch in peace. Every now and then he was accompanied by his brother Kankuro, when said older brother wasn't busy working or chasing tail.

Gaara personally thought Kankuro would have more luck with females if he didn't wear so much face paint.

Today, however, was one of the days when his sibling wasn't around and it was just his guest sitting beside him on his office couch.

And Gaara never noticed this before but Naruto was a loud chewer. Or at least, he breathes a lot when he eats.

The blond sighed. "Is there any way to make this go away?"

Gaara looked up from his obento just as Naruto growled and screamed, pounding his fists on the couch cushions.

"I said a lot of screwed up things to her," Naruto grabbed Gaara by the shoulder, making him turn to him. "You think if I apologize, it'll fix things?"

Just then, that streaked-hair kuniochi approached them and placed two cups of hot tea in front of them. "I thought you might like some tea, Kazekage-sama. Uzumaki-san." She placed a cup in front of Gaara first, and then tilted her head up to smile.

"Thank you," Gaara said, noticing how her indigo eyes had specks of purple and amber in them.

She was about to leave before Naruto called her. "Hey, wait a minute," he looked straight to her. "You're a girl! How long would it take until a girl cools off after an argument?"

"Uh, it depends how intense the argument was," she answered and then stepped out of the office.

"I'm a dead man," Naruto grimaced. "It's only been a few days and I miss her," he huffed, using his chopsticks to fiddle with his food. "I would do anything to talk to her…"

Gaara reached for his own face and found a grain of rice on his cheek. He held it in his palm and a stream of sand flicked it off.

Depression

Today was the quietest day since Naruto had walked in a few days ago.

Probably because today was different compared to the others. Naruto wasn't talking too much for one thing. Instead, he was a ball on the floor at the side of Gaara's desk, in fetal position. There were occasional groans coming from the floor but nothing Gaara was too concerned with.

Gaara heard the door open and saw his sister walk in. "Gaara," Temari asked, "did you-," she paused to see Naruto muttering to himself on the floor. "Uh… Naruto?" she tilted her head down to him. "What are you doing?"

"Sakura-chan…" the blond whined quietly.

"Okay…" Temari turned back to her younger brother. "Anyway, Gaara, are you not attending your morning meetings?"

"Ah," Gaara affirmed. He momentarily glanced at Naruto, then back to Temari before turning back to his paperwork.

Gaara was counting on her mysterious woman's intuition to understand precisely why he wouldn't be present to the usual Friday meetings with the councilmembers. Lo and behold, Temari's eyes brightened, acknowledging his reason, and then her face softened to a quick smile.

Gaara coughed.

Just then, cute kuniochi jogged into the room, her breath slightly heavy from her task. "Kazekage-sama, I spoke with Baki-san, just like you requested. He agreed to attend the meetings."

"Thank you," Gaara said to her, noting the apples of her cheeks were colored pink.

She smiled at him once more before leaving through the office door.

"Temari," Gaara made sure the kunoichi was out of earshot, "that new young lady. Who is she?" he asked, eyes still to the door.

"Fuuka," she answered and then paused for a moment, noting precisely where he was looking. "Why?"

"No reason," Gaara said with a deadpan tone and face.

Inside, he was committing it to memory and cheering that he finally knew.

"Sakura-chaaaaaaan…"

Gaara glanced to the floor before looking back to his duties.

Acceptance

Gaara was pretty sure that being a friend meant being honest, so he decided it was time to be the greatest friend Naruto ever had.

"You're an idiot."

Naruto looked at Gaara from the office couch. "Huh?"

"Sasuke shouldn't be your focus. It should be you and Sakura." And for a moment, Gaara was proud of himself for listening and enduring these past four days. "She's confused and you're not making your intentions clear. What those intentions are exactly, I don't know. That depends on your own morality."

Naruto did seem to be thinking about it, the way his lips were pursed and his eyes darting from right to left. "But I don't know what those are. Intentions, I mean," he elaborated.

"What do you wish in concerns with Sakura?"

"I want Sakura-chan to be happy. She's been wanting him for so long."

"And in concerns with Sasuke?"

"Well, I made a promise to step back. And, well, he's never asked me for anything before." Naruto turned to Gaara and there was silence for a moment. They exchanged looks. It suddenly hit Naruto like a bolt of light. "Guess there's nothing to grieve over, is there?"

Gaara sat silently.

"Sasuke's like a brother and I love Sakura-chan to pieces," Naruto admitted. "I just gotta stop being a wuss and do what I gotta do. Even if it means leaving her…" A sad smile crossed Naruto's face, finally realizing what had to be done. "I'm gonna pack, Gaara. I'll come back here before I leave."

Just as Naruto stepped out, cute streaked-hair kunoichi walked in, placing a few sheets of paper on his desk. "Here is Baki-san's reports, Kazekage-sama."

She bowed her head and was ready to leave just as Naruto's words passed through Gaara's mind. Stop being a wuss… do what I gotta do… "Excuse me."

She froze and turned on her heels to face him. "Yes?"

"Fuuka, right?"

"Yes, Kazekage-sama?"

He wasn't sure if this was the way to go about it. First time for everything… Gaara looked at her and asked, "Do you like yakitori?"

And she nodded with a smile as her response.