-A few days later-

Naruto sat on a bench overlooking the apartment, staring up with faint curiosity at the workmen fixing the window.

"Mind if I sit?"

Naruto looked down to the person standing in front of him, his eyes widening in shock slightly before he smiled softly. "I don't know, have you actually been discharged from the hospital this time?"

Gaara sat down next to him with a soft 'hmph'. "Of course, I have."

"To be honest, I don't trust you after last time." Naruto punched him in the arm. He'd woken up in the night to find Gaara standing over him, having come through the broken window to make sure he was OK. "I told Kakashi not to tell you what had happened until I was there as well." He tutted.

"Yeah, well I kept pestering him to tell me why I had an armed guard watching me." Gaara rubbed his arm. "He caved after I asked him whether he was worried I'd change again."

"Ouch, emotional blackmail." Naruto grinned, using Kakashi's own words, before giving Gaara a hug. "I missed you, you know."

"Ow, I may be out of hospital but I'm not completely better." Gaara tried not to wince and grabbed Naruto's hands as he tried to pull away. "Doesn't mean I don't want it." He smirked slightly as Naruto tightened his grip.

Naruto sighed as he rested his head on Gaara's shoulder. "What happens now, Gaara?"

"Like what?"

"He said he'd come back at some point." Naruto frowned, staying in position even though Gaara tried to shift around.

"Your father?" Gaara felt Naruto nod into his shoulder, already knowing what had happened when Naruto next came to the hospital to see him after the incident. "Don't worry about it."

"Huh?"

"If he comes, he comes. If he doesn't, he doesn't. Don't worry about it; just do what you always do." Gaara shrugged, looking into the distance as he felt Naruto pull away.

"So just be me?" Naruto smiled as Gaara nodded before following his gaze. "So is this finally the end of it all?"

"Not really." Gaara glanced at Naruto before turning around again. "I think it's more like a new beginning. We can do what we want now; live our lives just like everyone else."

"'just like everyone else' I like that, it's got a good ring to it." Naruto smirked as he leaned back on the bench. "So we get to be normal right?"

"Well, I wouldn't call you two norma- ow, what'd you do that for?"

Naruto looked up as their classmates stopped in front of them, Kiba rubbing his head where Sakura had whacked it.

"What he meant to say was that, you're unique and that's not a bad thing." Sakura glared at him.

"What? That's what I meant." Kiba grumbled, still rubbing his head.

"So, are you two coming or what, we've been waiting for ages." Sasuke slipped his hands into his pockets as he watched the pair of them.

Naruto turned to Gaara confused, who was smirking slightly.

"I thought we could have some fun once I got discharged, but I wanted it to be a surprise." Gaara looked away slightly sheepish.

Naruto grinned as it sunk in and he stood up. "Let's go then."

"Yeah, come on, all this waiting is troublesome." Shikamaru walked off without them, the others following suit, leaving Naruto and Gaara trailing behind.

"Your father was wrong, I think, about you needing him one day." Gaara walking in step with Naruto as he said it quietly, not even caring if Naruto responded.

"Yeah, I think you're right. He was wrong about some other things too. Like that our friends would desert us once they knew what we were."

Gaara smiled. "Yeah, he'd be shocked at how understanding our friends seem to be." They'd decided all the secrecy had to be done away with, they couldn't change who they were so their friends might as well get used to the real them. They just hadn't expected the transition to go as smoothly as it did.

"But it wouldn't have mattered even if they hadn't taken it that well. I still would never need him."

Gaara frowned at the determination in Naruto's voice. "Why's that?" He frowned as Naruto grabbed his hand and pulled him in tightly before whispering in his ear.

"That's why." Naruto grinned before rushing forward to join the others.

Gaara blinked for a second before his smile grew at Naruto's words and he walked forward quickly to join the group himself, slipping his hand in Naruto's to show that he understood Naruto completely. His thoughts replayed the words over and over, even though he knew he should probably be paying attention to whatever Kiba was shouting or whatever the conversation the rest of the group were having as they ignored Kiba's rants at least but he knew they'd be used to his silence by now and he was more than happy to ignore them in favour of ingraining that one sentence into his mind.

"Because I'll never let go of this hand."

A/N: The end~ I hope the ending was OK ^.^ and I hope you had fun reading the whole story, even if it took me forever to actually finish . But hey, we're here now :3 Thank you for reading~