Title: Iris

Author: LadySable (LJ)/StoryBard(here)

Pairings: GaaNaruGaa

Rating: T

WARNING: This story has heterosexuality and homosexuality. If either offend you, this is not the story for you.

Disclaimer: Characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto. I don't own a Mustang, and I don't think I can even create a Mustang as I can barely fix my car when it breaks down, so, no, it's not mine.

Summary: AU/AR Gaara adopts a pet unlike any other.

Chapter 17: The Cast is Off

The rustling of turning pages was the only sound in the waiting room. Gaara looked at each page of the magazine with disinterest, waiting for Naruto. It had been more than an hour.

His ears twitched as he heard the blond's laughter and his happy chattering behind the door. He looked up as the door opened, and Naruto smiled at him.

"Look, Gaara," Naruto said, pointing at his cast free right arm. "It's so pale! It's like it's dead." Naruto stared at the pale skin, flapping his arm around. "Gross, like dead skin, zombie skin!" Naruto grinned at him.

"Because pale skin automatically means you're a zombie," Gaara said, his voice dead.

"If you were a zombie, I'd let you eat my brain, no charge," Naruto said, smiling at him.

"Naruto," the doctor said, his head poking out from behind the door. "I know you said that you have a practice spar on Saturday, but, please, remember that your arm has just healed. Don't exert it too much. I'd prefer it if you dropped out, but I know you're determined to go." He sighed, "I don't want to see you for a year, now, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Naruto said, grimacing. "C'mon, let's go Gaara. I have to start practicing!"

Gaara,

Good morning! I'm in Konoha, sorry I couldn't wake you. Here's a good morning kiss. ^_^

I have to warm up for the practice spar tonight, and Tsunade wants to check up on my arm, make sure it'll be fine and all. Besides, I want to show you my badass skills, so you'll have to forgive me. I'm kicking Sasuke's ass tonight, so cheer for me!

This is the third post-it note, so I'll see you later,

Naruto

"He could have called me, instead of wasting post-it notes," Gaara mumbled around the toothbrush, taking down the post-it notes, and putting them in his work pants. He finished getting ready, and headed into work early.

When he got to his office, he took the post-it notes out, and slid them into the manga in his desk. Then he got to work. He worked as fast as he could, trying to finish his work early.

He was eating lunch with Mei, when she said, "Gaara, in four weeks, I'm going back home."

Gaara looked up at her, and asked, "Why are you leaving now?"

Mei tapped her nail on the desk, "Well, no one has stood up to me since that incident with the one man-"

"That's because you poured hot coffee on him for calling you-" Gaara paused, and then stopped when she glared at him.

"As I was saying, no one's stood up to me, so I've officially declared victory over this newspaper, and my city newspaper is missing my personal touch," she smiled. "I miss being home, too."

Then she turned serious, "I'm telling the supervisor to promote you. You may not realize it, but you're a leader under that cold exterior." She smiled, then said, "Don't think this means you're getting out of anything. As a matter of fact, the next four weeks will be the worst in your entire life, so get enough rest, and don't let Honey Boy keep you up all night."

Gaara frowned, "Naruto goes to bed earlier than I do."

"And you don't wake him up?" Mei tutted, "Shame on you. You have a perfectly fit man in bed, just waiting for you to ravish him, and you just let him sleep."

The red head glowered at her, "Is that what people would normally do to their housemate? Ravish them?"

Mei smirked, "Yes, sometimes, if they're intimate. What would you do if Naruto, say, hugged you?"

He blinked, and said, "But he's already done that."

"When?"

"About two weeks ago, he hugged me for the first time," Gaara paused, and looked up at the ceiling. "Ever since then, he's hugged me at least once a day."

"Do you hate it?"

Gaara was silent for a moment, then murmured, "No, it's nice. I enjoy it. Most people don't touch me, and I wouldn't want just anyone touching me, but Naruto is okay."

"MmmHmm, and what if he tried to do something more?"

"More? Why would he want to do more?"

"I wonder," Mei said, pretending to ponder the subject. "Maybe because he likes you, and wants to show it physically?"

"Physically?" Gaara echoed, then he glared at the floor.

Mei smiled, and said, "Yes, like a couple does, you know kissing, and the like."

"Naruto would do that to me...because he likes me more than a friend?"

"Yes, does that bother you?"

He was silent, then, with a hushed voice, said, "I don't think so. It's just strange to think that anyone would want to do that sort of thing to me, and for it to be Naruto...I don't think it would be so bad."

"Good!" Mei said, smiling. "Maybe you should show him that you wouldn't mind."

"I-I wouldn-um, I have work," Gaara fumbled, as he stood up, picking up his wrappers. "That needs to be worked on."

Mei grabbed his wrist, and he looked at her, "You know, if Naruto wins that practice spar, instead of congratulating him, I have something that only you can do that would make the blond happier than a trophy."

"It's just a practice spar, there's no trophy."

"So? You can still give him a prize."

"Like what?" Gaara asked, trying to yank his wrist out of Mei's grasp.

"Here's what you can do..." she said, a smug smile on her face.

Gaara was sitting on the hard bench, glowering down at the mats for the spar. The crowd around him cheered as a fifteen year old girl beat up a seventeen year old boy. He wouldn't have come this early if he'd known that he'd have to watch all the kids and beginners fight before the main event with the black belts that Naruto was a part of.

They were finally to the brown belts, and Gaara could feel a headache forming. Who knew martial arts was such a big thing in Konoha? Even the mayor was attending, although, from what he'd gathered, the mayor was Tsunade's instructor from when she was younger.

It didn't help his head that his brother would tug on his shirt every five minutes to recap all the horrible things Karin was saying about him. Then he would tell him in great detail about all of her bad attributes, loud enough that the people across the building could hear him, and would look over in puzzlement.

He could feel Kankuro tugging on his shirt, and he turned and glared at him. "What?" he seethed.

Kankuro frowned, and said, "I just wanted to tell you that Naruto was up to fight."

Gaara looked down, and saw that his brother was right. The crowd hushed, and he could feel the animosity from it. He frowned.

"Kankuro," he whispered. "Why is the crowd so antagonistic towards Naruto? You would think after so long of not doing anything gang-like that they would ease up on him."

"You haven't heard?" Kankuro muttered back, keeping an eye on the magenta haired woman talking to Sakura. "There was an attack today in Konoha. It's not so much their dislike for him, but rather what he represents that's got them hostile."

"Why didn't I hear about this?"

"The reporter who investigated it was told to keep his mouth shut, but he's a good friend of mine, so he told me about it. It helps that he owes me money, too," Kankuro grinned. Then said, "Now, shush, or you'll miss Naruto's match."

Gaara glowered at the brunette, then turned his attention to the mats on the ground.

Naruto was hopping back and forth, looking through the crowd anxiously, then he smiled when he saw Gaara. He waved up at him, and then turned towards his opponent.

The blond was wearing pads to protect himself, but it didn't slow down his fluid motion on the mats. His opponent was someone who had just received a black belt, judging from the lack of tape marks on their belt, and by the three white tape marks on Naruto's belt.

Naruto didn't even break a sweat in knocking his opponent down.

He helped his opponent up, and smiled at them. His opponent said something, and they began to laugh, before Tsunade shooed them off the mats.

"Are you enjoying the matches?" Sai asked him during Naruto's second match.

He kept his eyes on the blond, and said, "Yes, it's really interesting." That was an understatement. He'd seen Naruto's fluid movements when he'd worn the stiletto heals, but this was something different. He was so in tune with his body, that it didn't even seem like he was fighting. It was more like he was dancing, but with a partner he wanted to knock down.

"Naruto doesn't have very many techniques, but what he does know, he knows well, and uses them to the best of their abilities in the matches." Sai smiled, "He's a good fighter. I bet it means he's really good in bed."

Gaara glared at him, "Why do you keep asking if we're sleeping together?"

"Well, I've seen him in your bed every morning when I was watching you. You're together in bed so much, is it any wonder how we can't not think about it?"

"You wouldn't have even known about that if you weren't watching us," Gaara trailed off.

Sai laughed, "You two just gravitate towards each other, and it's fun watching you guys blush, or, at least, watching Naruto blush."

Gaara glowered at the dark haired man, and then turned his attention to the mats. He gave the dark haired man a dark look when he realized that he'd missed Naruto, but the dark haired man was talking to a person on the other side of him. He turned, and watched Sasuke's match against Neji.

He was mesmerized by the fight as Neji was able to block every one of Sasuke's attacks, when he heard Naruto's name coming from his right. He turned, and looked in that direction, puzzled when he saw Sai talking to an older man with bandages wrapped around him.

Gaara wondered if he'd been in some sort of accident, but decided it was none of his business, and turned to watch Sasuke get through Neji's defense, when he heard the man ask, "How's the watch on the Child of the Gangs going, Sai?"

The red head turned, eyes narrowing. There was an undertone in the man's voice that he wasn't liking. Something between hatred, and lust, or a mixture of both.

"It's going well, sir," Sai said, giving the man his old blank smile. "There was that scrabble, of course, but they retreated before we could capture them."

"You can do better than that, Sai," the man said, frowning. "I didn't put Uzumaki out as a bait for someone else to get the glory."

A cold fury rushed through Gaara. He didn't know when he stood up, or when he'd started towards the man, but suddenly Sai was there, pushing the red head away from the older man.

"Gaara, Gaara!" Sai said into his ear. "Stop. You can't do anything to him. He's the head of the police in Konoha, Danzou."

The red head stopped moving forward, but he glowered at the old man in front of him.

"Naruto's not bait," Gaara hissed.

"Of course he's not. That's what I meant when I said my boss didn't understand what was going on, and how it could affect Naruto. That's why you can't go to jail for hitting a police officer. You have to be there, to be out here to help him when he needs it."

Gaara took a breath, and then turned to sit back down, ignoring the people staring at him.

Kankuro leaned into him, and asked, "What's got you mad?"

The red head hissed, "That old man over there is responsible for the attacks on Naruto."

"What?" Kankuro yelled, and stood up.

Gaara grabbed his shirt sleeve, and glowered up at Kankuro, "If I'm not allowed to hit him, you aren't either. When I get a chance, I might leave you something to punch, though."

"You better," Kankuro grumbled, sitting back down, glaring at Danzou.

Danzou stood, a smirk on his face, "Sai, I'm taking my leave, now. I expect better from you next time."

"Yes, sir."

The red head glowered as he watched Danzou leave.

"Gaara, you might want to take a look down at the mats," Sai said. "This is the last match of the night, and if Naruto wins, and you didn't see it, he'll be upset."

The red head looked down, and saw Naruto looking up at him, worry evident on his face. Gaara forced himself to calm down, blanking his face, and gave Naruto a nod. The blond smiled, before turning to his opponent.

Sai leaned in and said, "This is going to be a fun fight. We have Naruto, who doesn't have very many techniques, but knows how to use them to the fullness of their ability. Then we have Sasuke, who has many techniques, but doesn't know how to use them to the best of their abilities. Want to bet for who will win?"

Gaara frowned at the dark haired man, "Do you know something I don't?"

"Nope," Sai said, smiling.

"I don't bet, that's Tsunade's speciality," the red head said, and turned and watched Sasuke and Naruto bow to each other. The energy coming from their bodies was contagious, and the people in the building shifted to see better, trying to expel the pumping energy swelling throughout the building, although most of them had watched at least twenty or more other matches.

Naruto was grinning over at Sasuke, and Gaara could see that he was enjoying the attention and the excitement going through the crowd. Then they began.

"The first couple of punches and kicks are just practice," Sai said, giving a running commentary. "They're letting their opponent hit them, so that they can figure out how much the other has changed in the last couple of months, and to see how serious the other is."

Gaara nodded, sea-foam eyes watching the two fighters; Naruto's grin was slipping away as he started getting serious, and Sasuke was calm, as if nothing could ruffle him.

Then Sasuke started doing moves that Gaara had never seen before, not in the last twenty or so matches, and at a speed that was so fast, the red head had a hard time seeing him hit the blond.

Naruto, though, was calm. He watched Sasuke like a scientist observing his specimen. He dodged some of Sasuke's hits, but others that he should have been able to dodge landed. One blow hit the blond hard, causing him to fly back on his back, but he rolled backwards before Sasuke could pin him to the ground.

The blond punched Sasuke in the gut, and then landed a kick on his ribs. The dark haired man winced, but ignored the pain, landing a punch on Naruto's face.

The ref was going to call the spare off when Naruto spat out blood, but Tsunade waved him off, then gestured for the medics to wait on the sides.

Naruto glowered at Sasuke, and tried to land a punch, but Sasuke had moved, dodging the blow, and elbowed the blond in the gut. Naruto fell to his knees and hands.

"Had enough, idiot?"

Naruto flipped backwards, kicking Sasuke in the stomach.

Sasuke was on the defense, and, from the expression on his face, Gaara could see he wasn't happy about it.

The blond got in a few good kicks, and then tried for a punch, but Sasuke caught it, and dragged Naruto in, kneeing him in the stomach.

Naruto gasped, and then grinned. He swept Sasuke's feet out from under him, returning the knee to the stomach, and then pinned the dark haired man down. Sasuke tried to flip Naruto off of him, but the blond managed to keep his position.

The blond grinned, and then head butted the dark haired man, ending the fight, as they both blacked out.

Tsunade laughed, unconcerned about the two men, and waved the medics forward.

Kankuro grinned at Gaara, and said, "The blond's going to be so sore tomorrow. Too bad you can't stay home and take care of him, huh?"

Gaara glared at the brunette, and smacked him on the back of the head, before stepping around him, to get to Naruto.

Sasuke was the first to gain consciousness, and he scowled when Tsunade called the fight a draw. She lifted a hand, and placed it on the man's shoulders, and said, "You still have a lot to learn, but when you're healed, I can get you started on a technique that only your brother knew."

Sasuke glowered at her, and said, "I'm not some child to be pacified by new tricks."

"No, you're not, but you're still not adult enough to know when to give up on something that's destroying your life. I don't expect you to be happy, but revenge will just eat you raw, and still want more. I don't want you to go after your brother, but if that's the only thing that you plan to do, the least I can do is help you protect yourself."

"Granny?" Naruto mumbled. "Who won? Did I finally defeat that bastard?"

Tsunade punched him in the head, "What kind of language is that?"

"Ow! Granny, I was just knocked unconscious, do you want me to lose more brain cells?" Naruto complained, looking up at her.

Sasuke glared at the blond, before heading towards the light blue haired man waiting near the door.

"No, brat, you didn't win, but good job."

Naruto grinned at her.

"'Good job'?" Gaara asked, confused.

Tsunade nodded, "See, if Naruto had lost, Sasuke would run off to find someone else to help him be even more powerful because he defeated the only person who was forcing him to improve. Yet, if Naruto won, he'd still have run off because he wasn't getting strong enough. A tie is a good thing."

Naruto pouted, "I was trying to keep that a secret, Granny. I didn't think you'd figure my plan out."

"You're clever, but not so clever that I can't figure out how your mind works, brat."

"What are you going to do when the tournament comes around?" Gaara asked.

Naruto shrugged, "I dunno, I'll figure it out when I get there."

"All right, Naruto, you need to go home, and get to sleep," Tsunade said, adding the last bandaged to his cheek. "You're going to be sore tomorrow, and make sure not to do too much. Take care of your right arm, you really should have waited until it was better before fighting. Don't try to lift anything with that hand for at least tomorrow, then you can get back to getting it to full strength."

"I know, Granny," Naruto muttered, wincing as he held onto his right arm.

She frowned in concern, "Did you hurt it in the match?"

"No, it's fine," he said, grinning. "It's just going to be a little sore from blocking some of Sasuke's moves."

Tsunade frowned, but said, "Well, then, off you two go."

Naruto nodded, and stood up. "Wait for me, okay? I have to go and get this stuff off," he said, gesturing to the padding.

Gaara nodded, and the blond ran off to the back of the dojo. When he came out, he was carrying a small duffel bag. The red head took it from the blond, even though Naruto protested.

The red head sent the blond a cool glance, and said, "You just fought against four different people. You're sore. The least I could do is carry this one little thing."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it, and followed the red head out to his car.

Gaara put Naruto's bag into his trunk, and then walked around to stand next to the blond, who was looking up at the night sky.

"I don't know what I'm going to do at the tournament, I really don't. I don't think Sasuke will allow another tie," Naruto mumbled to him.

Gaara bit his lip, and turned Naruto towards him. Then he leaned over to kiss Naruto's bandaged cheek.

"Wha-?" Naruto asked, and then his face turned a bright red.

"I-I kissed it better," Gaara mumbled, looking down.

The blond stared at him, and then said, "Could you kiss something else better?"

Gaara looked up, and saw Naruto pointing to his now bleeding lip.

The red head stared at the blond's lips for a second, and stuttered, "I-It only works once a d-day."

"Oh, too bad," Naruto said. Gaara watched his dejected face, and then saw a glint in Naruto's eyes, and took a step back too late.

Naruto's lips were smashed against his, freezing the red head for a moment. It wasn't a good kiss, by any standard, and Gaara had none. Yet, there was an insistence to Naruto's lips, that made Gaara smile. Naruto sighed, his lips pressing a soft smile on Gaara's. Naruto relaxed against him, letting his lips soften, before moving away.

"Um," Naruto said, leaning away from Gaara, but leaving his arms wrapped around the red head. "Ah, I-you're a good kisser," he mumbled.

Gaara raised a brow, and said, "You're a terrible kisser. You could have at least wiped the blood off your mouth before kissing me," Gaara said, his nose wrinkling in distaste as he brushed the blood off of his lips.

"Hey! Do you know how long I've been thinking about this?" Naruto demanded.

"No, how long?"

"Ever since you told me that people cared about you," he said, disgruntled. "You looked so surprised and awed; how could someone not fall in love with you?"

Gaara stared at him, "You've been thinking about this for that long, and you didn't make a move before now?"

Naruto frowned, "Did you want me to make a move?"

"N-No...I don't know, maybe," Gaara muttered, looking away. "It just surprised me that you could wait for so long."

The blond grinned, "At first, I was too scared to, and, really, I was only around because you allowed me. If I did something you didn't like, you could, and did, kick me out."

"Now?"

"Now," Naruto smiled. "Now I just want to show you how I feel because I want you, and I want you to know I want you."

"I see," Gaara paused. "Let's get going. I think a crowd is forming."

"Hm? Ah, Granny," Naruto moaned, he flipped her off, and hopped into the car.

Gaara looked at him through the window for a moment, before heading around to his side.

When Naruto buckled himself in, he asked, "I get a second try at kissing you, right?"

"We'll see," the red head said, giving Naruto a sidelong glance as the blond started to list off reasons why he deserved a second chance.

It was after the twentieth reason that Naruto stopped rambling off reasons for why he deserved a second chance.

Gaara drove past the city limit sign for Konoha, glanced over at Naruto, and said, "I take it that you weren't angry when Kankuro said that we should move into your mansion, and raise a bunch of orphans, right?"

The only sound the red head could hear was the air conditioning.

"Naruto?"

There was a moment of silence, and then he heard a small snore from Naruto's side of the car.

Gaara looked over, and then turned back to the road, a quiet smile on his face.

Gaara was gathering his things together from work Sunday evening, when a slip of paper fell out of his pile to float to the floor. He frowned at it, and bent down to pick it up, flipping it over to read what it said.

Friday, 7 p.m.

The old ketchup factory.

BCG is acquiring new members.

Sai

A/N:

(Gaara takes the duffel bag from Naruto) Gaara used Logic on Naruto! It was super effective!

I finally got the kiss written! Yay! Seriously, I was having trouble figuring out how to get these two to hug, much less kiss, not because I couldn't imagine them doing it, but I'm writing from Gaara's point of view, and he has trouble thinking about someone doing that sort of thing towards himself. Thank you, Naruto and Mei for helping me out! Oh, and hey! You didn't get your good morning kiss, but you got a good night kiss, huh, Naruto?

Now I want to write a story about a zombie!Gaara. I think it would be a lot of fun...but until Iris is done, that's not going to happen. (Anybody know a story with a zombie!Gaara?)

Oh, and P.P.S. um, I have a tumblr and I've been writing some small drabbles and putting them on there, and you can request a drabble, too, and it doesn't have to be Naruto, either. I have a list of books/mangas/movies/etc. that I'll write about. Please feel free to visit it. I have the link on my profile (along with a bunch of other GaaNaru things that are awesome).

B/N:

Oh, god, it's almost over *tears* and there's nothing we can do about it. *sob sob*

But, at least it's an amazing story and there's always I'm With You which is also AMAZING! So, go check that one out if you haven't already!

Ah…zombies….I like Zombies….someone should write a gift fic for StoryBard because she is so talented and totally deserves it!