Disclaimer - I did not create Naruto in any way (though I wish I did). I doubt that the author of Naruto would have time to write fanfiction about his own characters.

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- Love Me Deadly -

Chapter 1 - When time matters

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Nov 16 - 3:47 A.M.

Sasuke would never have dreamt that this would happen. This was clearly not how he had expect the mission would go. Here he was, hanging in the air, just a few yards away from an easy death sentence. He was hanging onto Neiji's feet for dear life, while Gaara was clutching onto his. What was Neiji holding onto, you ask? He was holding onto a newly sprouted tree that was growing out of the side of the earthy cliff. They could all hear the loud cracking of the icy waves below. The waves slapped against the jagged rocks that sprouted from the ocean here and there and they could have easily pierced a human body if one were to fall into the icy clutches of the sea.

Sasuke closed his eyes, he had never felt so humiliated before. In almost every mission they had gone on, they had been able to accomplish it with little or no trouble. This mission had proved to be the most difficult one they had faced. Deidara was a very strong opponent. He should be coming any moment, ready to kill them all. Sasuke opened his eyes and turned his head to look out at the cloudy sky. The sun hadn't even come out yet and it wasn't going to come out until three more hours. He really couldn't see anything, there was no light to show them anything. The only things he could hear was death pounding in his ears.

If only Gaara would let go, then Neiji could have easily pulled the both of them onto the safety of the land, but that would have been too selfish of Sasuke to think that way. He sighed, wishing that he could be anywhere else than here, even going on a date with any of the bothersome girls who had taken a liking to following him around. Anything would be better than dangling from a tree, feeling like you had already died and went on to Hell.

Sasuke , no matter how selfish he was, wasn't stupid. He knew what Gaara was doing; he was trying to hold onto the last precious seconds of his life. But if Gaara didn't let go, all three of them would die for sure.

Sasuke didn't want to die. He had made it his mission for life that he wasn't going to die until he had killed his brother, Itachi. Gaara knew this, Neiji knew this, in fact, almost everyone who knew Sasuke well enough knew this. Gaara was not cold-hearted, though Sasuke was, and knew how important taking avenge on his brother meant to him, Gaara was a good-hearted person and wouldn't let Sasuke die without accomplishing his goal, especially since he knew how much it meant to him. Spending four years as partners had taught him many things – good things, bad things, but mostly things that he hadn't wanted to know.

All three of them held onto each other tighter, in Neiji's case, he tightened his grip on the tree, as they heard a whirring of noise grow louder and louder. Diedera had finally arrived and was coming to kill them in his helicopter. This was it. All three of them were going to die.

Neiji could easily have kicked Sasuke off and swung himself onto safety, but imagine going back to Kakashi-sensei and reporting that he was the only one who had managed to survive. He would have to bear the guilt of having killed two of his partners.

Sasuke could have easily kicked Gaara off, but he would have to carry the guilt of having killed off one his partners and soon people would call him the man-who-was-heartless, which he wasn't of course. If he didn't have a heart, he would have died a long time ago.

Gaara on the other hand, couldn't have kicked anyone off, seeing as he was the one who was in the most danger, but as the whirring of the helicopter grew closer, he knew who would be the one to die.

"Neiji," Gaara whispered, just loud enough to be heard by Neiji over the thundering waves. Neiji turned his head, so that he could hear better without losing his grip on the tree. Whatever Gaara was saying, it had to be important. Gaara knew that every word could cost him something – including his life. "Neiji," Gaara's throat tightened and as he spoke, his voice grew weaker and weaker, "Tell him… Tell Naruto I'm sorry." His grip loosened just as a gunshot rang out, and in that moment that Gaara had let go, Neiji was able to fling both him and Sasuke onto the safety of the cliff. And the moment that they could have been watching Gaara's body be crushed by the jagged rocks and buried by the erratic waves, they had ran for it, trying to save the lives that Gaara had sacrificed for.

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Nov 16 - 9:27 A.M.

Naruto flew down the stairs as he tried to make it to work on time. It wouldn't be the first time he was late, but he couldn't bear to see Sakura stare at him like he was the saddest creature alive. He wasn't and was going to do everything he could to prove it. No one, not even Sakura was going to pity him today. He looked at the calendar for a few seconds to see what goal he had made for today and noted a purple scribble - "1 year anniversary – Goal for the day: Get a new boyfriend"

He stared at it for a while, remembering that terrible day when Gaara had told him that they weren't meant for each other. Naruto hadn't spoken for days and although he didn't tell anyone (because he wasn't talking), he had cried himself to sleep for quite a few days. And then, to top it off, Gaara had announced that he had made a new girlfriend just days after they had broken up. Everyone was convinced that Gaara had been cheating on Naruto, but Naruto wouldn't believe it. Neiji had been sympathetic to him at first, and had comforted him for the first few days. And whenever Keiko, Gaara's girlfriend, had walked by, tossing her gorgeous green hair and giving Naruto a "I win, you lose, sucka" look, Neiji had tried to calm him down. Then he, so brilliant as always, had recommended him to show Gaara and Keiko that he could get over people, too.

"Come on, Naruto, it can't be that hard. If Gaara broke up with you, it means that you too really weren't made for each other. If you guys were made for each other, he wouldn't have broken up with you. It's as simple as that," Neiji had concluded.

"But what if I don't want to get over him?" Naruto had wailed.

"Get a new life," Neiji had suggested, "Get a new boyfriend, get a new job. Get a makeover."

Naruto had thought about this and decided to follow Neiji's advice. He didn't, however, get a new life, or a new job, or a makeover. He had liked his life, job, and looks before Gaara had entered his life and he certainly wasn't going to change it now. Gaara had just made everything better.

Get a new boyfriend, Naruto had thought. If that's what it'll take to make me become myself again, I'll do it.

Naruto have given it a try and failed, tried some more, and failed some more. It happened so many times, it wasn't even funny. It turned out that there weren't as many bi people out there as Naruto would have liked, and people were often grossed out by Naruto because of the accident that happened to him when he was just a baby. And then, to top it all off, Gaara proposed to Keiko only eight months after they had started dating. It was then, Naruto finally believed that Gaara had cheated on him.

Because of this sudden surprise, Naruto had promised himself that he would meet the perfect man for him on exactly November the 16th, a year after Gaara had dumped him. Naruto's eyes teared up as he remembered the fun times he and Gaara had shared and bowed his head down softly, slowing down for the first time that day. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to regain himself before stepping out of the door and closed the it behind him. Click. Naruto slapped his forehead; he had locked himself out again. What a way to start the day. He grabbed his bike and jumped on and started pedaling like a mad scientist as he zoomed across the street.

He tried not to think of Gaara, but whenever he tried to think of something else (like the human-eating squirrels that had been terrorizing Japan these days), Gaara would pop up into his head again and again and again. Naruto closed his eyes (a very dangerous thing to do when riding a bicycle, so don't try this at home) and tried very hard not to cry. Then, out of almost nowhere (remember, Naruto's eyes were still closed) something very loud screeched besides him and the next thing Naruto knew, he was flying in the air.

Oh my god! I can fly! Look at me everyone! I wish Gaara could see me, boy, would he ever regret dumping me… Wait, I'm flying?

Naruto skidded across the black pavement and didn't even bothering to try and slow himself down.

He sat up, groaned, and finally opened his eyes to see what he thought was (and what most of the world though) the hottest guy that ever lived. He had black hair that stuck up on the back of his head in a nice way, and Naruto could make out his muscles under his tight navy blue shirt. This was the guy that he was destined to be with. Naruto couldn't help stare at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

The man's mouth opened as if to say something, but closed it again. Then he finally spoke, "Wha-," but Naruto gasped loudly.

He's perfect. He's better looking than Gaara, has a nicer build than Gaara, and he has a nicer voice than Gaara. He's mine! Naruto thought before finally swooning…. Actually, fainting.

He awoke to the dim light of the hospital under the careful watch of Neiji, one of the better friends that he had. Neiji and Naruto hadn't always been friends. They had only become friends after Naruto had beaten him in a fight. Before that, Neiji had always thought himself higher them him. It was a good memory and it cracked a small smile onto Naruto's face.

"Thank god you're alive. If you had died, that would have made two…." Neiji sighed as if remembering some obligation. "Nevermind about that. Anyway, a spot opened up in the Trio and I asked Kakashi-senseii if you could become part of it. You sure can't take the job if you're dead," Neiji smiled. He stretched his arms and yawned, "We had to get up real early this morning, I didn't get any sleep."

Naruto sat up in delight, he had always wanted to be part of the San Shuusennin, the team of agents was famous world-wide and were considered to be some of Japan's hottest, sexiest, and most dangerous men around.

"Really? Did he really say I could join? Does this mean that one of the shuusennin doesn't want the job anymore?" His mind lingered to the only agent he had never met before, the once he had convinced himself to be the hottest, sexiest, and dangerous of the three, seeing as Naruto (no offense to Neiji) didn't think of Neiji as appealing as other people and that Gaara really wasn't very popular with the crowd. And according to Neiji, girls flocked Mr. Mysterious (that's what Naruto decided to call him) and stalked him, and did whatever girls do to try and capture a young man's attention.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei said that you could join, given that you were strong enough. You are strong enough, right?" Neiji joked.

"Well, who am I replacing?" Naruto asked eagerly, or maybe not-so-eagerly. He wasn't sure if it would be fun to work with his ex-boyfriend, but then again, he might be able to prove to Gaara that he was better than Keiko.

Neiji didn't say anything for a moment and looked solemnly at the wall behind Naruto, "You know, I really don't want to be the one telling you this, but seeing as I'm the only one who knows you out of the three … of us, (there used to be four). " He lowered his voice, "Gaara died earlier today."

"That's impossible!" Naruto screeched. "It's only 10 o'clock!"

"He died before the sun was even up," Neiji broke off, looking even more somber, if possible. "He told me to tell you that he was sorry."

Naruto didn't say anything for a moment. Inside, he was screaming and kicking the floor, doing everything a 7 year-old might do when deprived of his mother, but he knew what was done was done.

"Naruto, he knew what the risks were when he took the job. We all did." Neiji stopped speaking for a while and looked at his hands, and the two of them sat in awkward silence, both not know what to say. What was he supposed to say? Instead of the anger he felt when he thought of Gaara, guilt and sorrow appeared instead.

"Did you stop the people who killed Gaara?"

"No, our target escaped," replied Neiji, in a helicopter. Neiji closed his eyes, he wanted to forget everything that happened. He hadn't excepted, he never would have imagined that any of the Trio would have died… Never... They were supposed to be invincible.

"Then I'll do it. I'll join. I want to kill that man. People like that deserve to be killed," Naruto replied, hotly.

"Great, now we'll have two murderous men on our team."

"Mr. Mysterious?"

Neiji laughed, "Yeah."

"Who does he want to kill?"

"Oh, just someone. He's a member of the Akatsuki like Deidara."

"Deidara?"

"That's the guy who killed Gaara."

"Oh, okay. So when am I gonna meet my new partner?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Right away. Apparently he's the guy who you drove your bicycle into," Neiji rolled his eyes, "He's right. It's dangerous to ride a bicycle with your eyes closed."

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