Friends and Further
by thatreevesgirl/Lemon Drops
Drabble 1: Today Sucks

Author's Note: Gaara and Naruto are probably 19 or 20 in this, good friends, and I have Sasuke back with the group too (I'm on a non-hating Sasuke-kick this week XD)

"Oi, Gaara, you know how some days just suck?" Naruto chimed in, right before he took a bite of an interesting looking fruit he had found on the Kazekage's lunch tray. The meal had sat untouched on the Suna leader's desk from the moment Gaara's assistant had brought it in. Naruto figured at this point, nearly thirty minutes later, it was fair game.

"Some days just…suck?" Gaara asked, looking up from one of his scrolls. Usually whenever Gaara wasn't sure what Naruto meant, he just echoed his friend, giving Naruto the permission to explain or rant, or whatever other reason Naruto had for bringing something up. Sometimes Gaara mused at how utterly odd Naruto was, and the way he spoke, it was crass at best.

"Today sucks," Naruto answered as he accidentally sent a little bit of fruit spittle hurtling at an important scroll which outlined a diplomatic treaty. As the wetted chunk of fruit made a spot on a rather important line detailing the arrangements, Gaara grumbled and shooed Naruto away from the desk. "If you are going to eat my meal, eat it over there," he told his friend forcefully, pointing at a chair several meters from his workspace. It would be much more difficult for Naruto to ruin things from that spot, so that gave the young leader a bit more relief.

"Why does today suck?" Gaara asked, but wasn't really listening too intently, his mind was preoccupied with his duties as Kazekage, and as Naruto started going on and on about his latest problems in life (the blond man seemed to be plagued by a plethora of them). Gaara tuned him out and the words sounded more like the incessant hum of a fly buzzing about his head. Unfortunately for Gaara, Naruto didn't like being ignored.

"And now you aren't listening to me, great, this day just gets worse and worse. I come all the way to Suna, have a horrible day, and my best friend just sits there and reads stupid, boring scrolls instead of having fun with me…" Naruto went on for a good five minutes about that before he was reprimanded by one of those stupid, boring scrolls thwacking him right between the eyes.

"Ne, Gaara? Was that really necessary?" he whined and pouted, making Gaara want to thwack him again, but instead he stood and went over to Naruto, hovering over him and glaring menacingly, hoping Naruto would get the point. Gaara had work to do, Naruto was being annoying, Gaara wasn't going to get finished with said work unless Naruto was quiet and…

Gaara's scowl dissipated as he watched Naruto bury his head in his hands and sniffed slightly, obviously trying to hide the tears which had crept into the corners of his eyes. "Gaara I really had a sucky day, would it kill you to actually listen? No one else understands…"

Gaara dropped to his knees so that his eyes were on the same level as Naruto's normally vibrant blue eyes, the ones which were usually filled with so much life, but today were cloudy and wet. Very wet as fat tears started haphazardly falling and skimming down Naruto's cheeks, the leaf shinobi trying to brush them away and hide them from the Kazekage. Finally Gaara found the words to ask Naruto what was wrong, something which was rather difficult, because when he saw his friend's tears it made his heart hurt too. "What happened today?"

"I took an ANBU mission this morning, it was easy enough…" Naruto paused, gulped, then continued, "But it was an assassination mission. We had to take out three rouge-nin. Sasuke-teme took out two of them, Sakura was supposed to get the third…"

Gaara knew where this was going. Even though Naruto was probably the most powerful ninja in Konoha, he was forbidden from killing, even on ANBU missions, unless there were absolutely no other options. Naruto must have killed, must have taken life. All of Naruto's teachers, mentors, and even the Hokage herself knew what that did to Naruto, how it incited the Kyuubi inside of his friend, because it was the same way Shukaku used to act and affect Gaara.

"She didn't get the third, did she?" Gaara asked quietly, laying his hand on Naruto's knee. The blond man shook his head vigorously, tangling his fingers in his hair and trembling hard. "Is the Kyuubi affecting you?"

"Fuck, Gaara, he won't shut up! That's why I came to see you…I needed…I needed someone…"

"Who understands?"

Naruto looked up, his eyes stricken with pain, his face contorted into something which spoke of just how much the demon-fox was hurting him. The Kazekage wished more than anything that he could remove that pain, because he didn't want the evil to take away or change the wonderful person Naruto was. His friend was the one who always had hope, dreamed bigger dreams than Gaara could even imagine, Naruto was the one who was a beacon of light for so many people trapped inside darkness. Gaara didn't want Naruto to be trapped there too.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen," Gaara murmured as his arms slowly, and rather awkwardly, wrapped around Naruto, pulling him into a hug. Naruto sobbed a bit more, laying his head on Gaara's shoulder as the Suna leader tugged him out of the chair and embraced him. Gaara just held on to his friend tighter, trying desperately to replenish that hope and give fire to the light so it wouldn't fade away or flicker into a hopeless nothingness.

Gaara didn't have words or inspirational speeches like Naruto had given him, and Gaara wanted to offer more, he would give Naruto anything he needed to feel better, to silence the evil within him. "What can I do to make this better?" Gaara asked quietly, still holding the upset man.

Naruto was silent for a few seconds, other than the soft sniffling or a quick intake of air which seemed to be hard for the blond to breathe, but then answered, "This is enough, Gaara. Today doesn't seem to suck quite as much anymore."

"I'm glad to hear that," Gaara whispered, and hugged Naruto tighter.

A/N's: There won't be a concrete plot in this set of drabbles, but it will follow a timeline and just detail a few events on how Naruto and Gaara become more than friends. I wanted to do a set of stories which I didn't have to create an elaborate plot, but where I could still detail the emotions and important moments between them.