Chapter 5: Closure

The clean white interior that was supposed to be pleasing to the eye were clawing into the conscience of the young red-headed boy. The friendly nurses, the busy doctors, and the sight of recovering patients getting better or getting worse all forced a wave of guilt into Gaara. He fidgeted constantly, running his hands through his unwashed hair, looking about with anxiety filled eyes. He sighed, looking slightly to the left to a closed door for resting patients. It was a temporary room with many beds for the injured to stay, meaning that it was not a serious wound. But nonetheless, the commotion and everything that led up to where he was at and the consequences of it all overwhelmed the boy. There was one main factor that he could not get out of his mind: 'What's Naruto going to think of me now?'

As he replayed the events in his mind again, Naruto stepped out of the room, and glanced towards Gaara. It was a look filled with mixed emotions, and it was impossible to pick out exactly what his expression was. Anger, contempt, sadness – a tinge of everything mixed together, fostering a new feeling of uneasiness in Gaara. He looked back with curious eyes as to what Naruto was thinking. Gaara opened his mouth to ask how the situation was, but Naruto turned away to a voice from inside the room. He turned around after a pause, and went back inside. The defeated Gaara collapsed back down to the side bench in the hallway, unable to come up with a solution to this newly created barrier.

His eyes found its way to the door again. He looked at it pleadingly, mentally asking it to spit Naruto out again back to him, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Gaara got up and approached the door apprehensively, questioning his every step. He didn't know how Naruto would react to his presence. A hospital trip due partly to his own recklessness was not going to win Naruto over. Forgetting all the bad scenarios he thought up in the short walk across, he opened the door. In the back corner by the window, Kiba was sitting upwards with his legs hanging off the edge of the bed. His pants were rolled up just past his ankles. The white bandage could be seen clearly from Gaara's distance at the door.

At first they did not notice him, as the room was used by two other patients, they didn't take much notice of someone entering. Gaara walked up to them and Naruto seemed to be at a loss of words.

"I," Gaara paused and looked towards Kiba, "thought I need to say sorry to what I did. It's really unfortunate what happened."

"I can't say that I can forgive you so easily," Kiba replied, looking away.

Gaara got a better look at the bandaged foot. It didn't look too serious, although blood was still soaking a bit of the bandage where the wound was. Gaara was slightly surprised at his response, although he kept it to himself. He thought about how Kiba had confessed his love to him, and how it was his fault that Gaara reacted that way, and not forgiving him wouldn't work too well to win someone over. Although Gaara knew he was responsible for the hospital visit, he wasn't expecting such a harsh response to his apology. But he didn't care. He looked at Naruto, hoping for a forgiving smile, a hug to tell him everything is okay, or just softer expression. But, it never came.

"Gaara, I think it's best if you go home for now." Naruto said, a distaste obvious in his voice.

The words caught the red hair off guard. A numbing chill wringed his body of any hope or happiness.

"Wh…why?" Gaara asked tentatively confused at the situation. "I didn't mean to hurt him, and I apologized for the accident."

"Sorry Gaara, this isn't the best time for this. Can you just leave for now?" Naruto stated firmly and looked almost pleadingly towards him.

Defeated, and at a loss of words, Gaara turned away, dragging himself lifelessly out of the hospital. Everything was so confusing. He couldn't understand why Naruto was reacting that way. Finding it impossible to answer the plethora of questions that dominated his mind, he started running in a quick sprint, away from the hospital, away from his troubles, back to his own world. 'I don't need this pain. Why doesn't anything work out for me?'

He slammed his door shut beside him, only to see the very place where everything started. He could still feel the weight of the other boy pushing against him over by the wall. He remembered the feeling of trying to struggle free, of not being able to do anything. He remembered the cold, icy touch of the knife handle and how he grasped it for a just a second. There was also the intent – the deep inhumane intent of hurting Kiba. 'How dare me barge in here and force himself on me,' Gaara had thought. But it was just the thought and he knew he couldn't act upon it.

Gaara released the blade once he realized how far his mind had gone. Kiba was still close to him. Their lips had moved apart, and they could hear each other breathing heavily.

"I want you," Kiba had said, before he reached his hands to unbutton Gaara's pants, unzipping it in a swift motion. Surprised, Gaara pulled his hands inwards to stop the boy, forgetting where his hands were. The knife on the counter was knocked off and within seconds there was a cry of pain from Kiba. Cleanly, gravity sent the sharp end straight through his foot where it plunged through the wooden flooring. Blood oozed from the wound, soaking the white sock as well as creating a visible puddle underneath.

"God damn it," Gaara had spurted out, reaching for paper towels he began to pressure the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "You need to get to a hospital."

And so, the call was made. Although in afterthought, an ambulance may have been too much, but Gaara still remembered the amount of blood that was lost and he also didn't have a faster way of transportation. As he recalled the events, he sighed in disbelief at how incapable he was in handling the situation appropriately.

"Whatever," he said to himself, forcing himself to forget the entire incident. He trudged upstairs and crawled into his bed, although, it was another three hours more of thinking before his body finally gave in and allowed him to escape away from reality into a dreamless sleep.

Gaara stirred in his bed as dawn peaked in. He had slept the entire evening and throughout the night. His stomach growled as he turned to look at the time, surprised at the length of his rest. Grudgingly, he forced himself to sit up, yawning while he rubbed his eyes open. The sun was already blindingly bright at dawn, enough to cause Gaara to have to squint at the window. "Stupid Naruto, why do you have to make me feel miserable in this nice weather."

Gaara's morning coffee did little to wake him up. He remained in a trance evoked from thoughts of Naruto, repeating mostly of his thoughts from the previous day. It was an endless exercise in his mind – an inescapable additive to his waking life. He was staring at his half drank coffee cup, which was lukewarm by now, when his repetitive thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.

Curious to see who the unexpected visitor was, he opened a small crack and peered outside. Temari stood outside impatiently, looking all sisterly at Gaara. She looked at him, as if expecting him to say something, but he just turned around and went back inside.

"Well hello to you too," Temari remarked at his attitude. "So I just met Naruto outside the house just now-"

"Naruto? What? Where? Why?" Gaara looked up, eyes widened. His heart was beating faster in his chest and emotions rushed through him. He made an effort to walk past his sister to see for himself but she stopped him before he took a step.

"I was kidding." She said with a slight understanding smile.

"What?" Gaara glared at her with an anger building in his eyes. "Don't play around with me."

"Now I know for sure," she said, unfazed by his threat. Gaara remained stiff, looking at her. She sighed, and answered the confused boy. "I saw you following that boy out of the restaurant." Gaara's eyebrows creased stressfully as she continued. "I also did meet Naruto later that evening. I was coming up to your house late at night, to find out exactly why you left us when we dropped everything to spend the day together with you. There's really only one path to your house, and that Naruto kid was obviously coming from your house. And the thing I noticed immediately was that he was wearing the very jacket that I found in your room the morning I came over. All it took was to connect the dots and well, it's pretty self-explanatory."

Gaara remained silent, looking into his sister's eyes before letting out a deep sigh. "Yes. I've been confused myself but I have to admit, I...I love Naruto. It's a feeling that I've never felt before. Pain and happiness – they're so intertwined in love it's hard to distinguish sometimes." Gaara turned a slight pink as he confessed his love to another boy to Temari.

"Well, you're just restating what I already figured out. The important part is, why do you look so depressed? Usually you have no emotion but, now it's just sadness that I see."

"I'm not so sure myself," Gaara responded. He explained the perplexed situation and let the question of why an accident has turned Naruto to feel negatively towards Gaara become evident by itself.'

"So, you accidentally hurt someone and he had to go to a hospital and you didn't call me at all? More importantly, that pervert tried to molest you in some fit of angry love rage and you didn't say anything at all until now?" Temari crossed her arm and looked away, fuming. She took deep breaths to try to contain her growing anger while processing the situation. "Let's go."

"Where?" Gaara looked up at her, wondering where she could possibly mean.

"To explain things clearly! How can I just do nothing and hope that everything will work out. Where do you think he is right now?" Temari didn't wait for a reply. She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him outside. "Lead me there."

Gaara made little effort in resisting, as he wanted to demand answers as well. At the same time, he felt uneasy. He didn't know what to expect and he wasn't ready for terrible news. When they were far enough from his house, Temari let go and allowed him to walk on his own.

"I really don't know where he lives though or where he is," Gaara said disappointingly.

Temari had calmed down by now. She sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. Gaara, for once, stopped and admired the noise of children running around, of people doing their market shopping, of birds soaring above them in the beautiful blue sky. For a minute he forgot his problems, and looked at his world around him.

"Why would anyone want ramen in this hot weather?" Temari remarked idly as she noticed the relatively busy ramen shop. Gaara's minute from reality was broken by her comment and he looked up to see the very store he had eaten in with Naruto.

He got up and headed over there, Temari's eyes following him curiously. "Hey, Naruto's friend! Couldn't stay away from my delicious ramen?" The shopkeeper exclaimed as he approached.

"You remember me?" Gaara asked, surprised.

"Naruto's my biggest customer, so naturally I would remember you."

"Ah," Gaara paused momentarily, "you wouldn't happen to know where Naruto is would you?"

"Naruto? Why don't you call him yourself? Anyways, he was with that boy Kiba here not too long ago. They said something about going over to his house."

"To Kiba's house?"

"That's what I heard. Want some hot steaming noodles?"

Gaara forced a small smile before declining. He thanked the man and walked back sullenly to his sister.

"What could they be doing at his house?" Gaara exclaimed, running his hands through his hair.

"Probably nothing," Temari comforted him, "didn't you say that he tried to, well, molest you? Why would he do anything with Naruto."

"Revenge? To take Naruto from me? I don't know!"

"I know you're in pain, but it's actually nice to see you show some emotion," Temari smirked, receiving a glare from Gaara.

"Thanks, you're so much help."

"Let's go pay them a visit, and settle your uneasiness."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. Do you know where he lives anyways?"

Temari reached into her pocket and brought out a white, thin cell phone. Moments later, after waiting for the other line to ring, a man's voice spoke back to her. "Hi, Shikamaru? Do you have Kiba's address?" There was a pause before she continued. "No, I don't have personal business there. It has more to do with my brother." Moments later, she hung up and noticed Gaara staring at her, his eyebrows raised.

"Now's not the time to worry about my love life. Anyways, he said that he was a classmate of Kiba's and well, if Kiba lives in the same place, then the address he gave me should be where he lives. Let's go!"

Hesitantly, Garaa followed the eager Temari. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the possible bad news that may come, but he still wanted to clear things up with Naruto.

The house was old and neglected. The paint job looked like it had been scratched away, the shingles were falling apart, and the door looked like it wasn't supported enough at the hinges. The grass was overgrown and it looked rather menacing.

"Looks like animals tore this place up over the years or something," Temari commented as they walked to the door.

The door was unlocked and was slightly open, a small gap opening to the inside allowed them to peer in as they pushed it open. Immediately they heard a dog barking as if they were intruding with a malicious intention. A boy walked out of the room to the left to see who had opened the door. He had an ice pack pressed against his right cheek and his lips were cut and bleeding.

"Kiba?" Temari asked, not expecting an answer. "You wouldn't happen to know where Naruto is would you?"

"Of course you're looking for Naruto," he said, his focus more on Gaara than the girl in front of him. "I don't know; he's not here."

"Who did that to you?" Gaara asked. Kiba already had an injured leg, and now it seemed like someone had injured him even more.

"Close the door behind you as you leave."

Although they had not run into the person they were looking for, Gaara walked out of the house cheerfully. He had a small smirk on his face. 'Naruto isn't alone with Kiba,' Gaara kept thinking to himself, his smile getting larger.

"Oh, you're such a hopeless romantic," Temari remarked when she saw Gaara's expression. "Where should we look now?"

"I think I know where he is," Gaara said, "so I guess I'll get going now."

"Wait," Temari called after him but he had already sprinted away. "What a hopeless brother I have."

Gaara's heart was pounding. He wasn't sure he was right but he was hoping that his assumption was correct for once. He felt like he was solving a detective novel and finally came to the ending. He made it home in a matter of minutes, his muscles burning as they screamed for more energy. His breathing was rapid causing him to gasp for breath to exhale the large amount of carbon dioxide that was building up. But he was still smiling to himself. After a short break, he ran past the building to the open field that he had shared with Naruto and amongst the vast landscape of uneven green, there was an orange shape near the stream of water.

"I'm guessing that you don't actually hate me do you?" Gaara said, his breathing still calming down, as he sat down beside the other boy. Naruto looked up in surprise. Their eyes met for a short period before unexpectedly Naruto lurched forward, locking lips with the red head. Naruto's body was on top of Gaara's, his left leg was in between the other boy's legs. Naruto's left hand found Gaara's and they interlocked fingers. His other hand was gently caressing the boy's face. For the first time, their tongues met and their senses tingled; they fondled each other, playing like children wrestling. Their lips were almost inseparable, besides the moments where they parted to gasp for air. It was like a dream to Gaara. The taste of Naruto was finally his, and he could tell he was addicted already.

They both smiled as they felt their pants tightened at their crotch, both rubbing against each other behind the barrier of fabric. Naruto bit Gaara's lips playfully, as he reached for his zipper and unzipped his jacket. He pulled it off and kissed the boy on the lips tauntingly before pulling his t-shirt over his head slowly, exposing his well toned body. Gaara instinctively ran his hands over Naruto's chest, feeling the smooth skin and firm muscles that lay beneath. He followed, taking off his own shirt. The cold grass tickled his back beneath him while Naruto's warm chest came into contact with his own as their lips satisfied the insatiable new craving of each other.

More dauntingly, Naruto playfully licked Gaara's bottom lip, moving down to his neck. A small kiss as he made his way lower. His hands running over bare skin, until his tongue found the sensitive nipple area. He tickled it with the tip of his tongue before running it around, following the round shape. He carefully bit the hardened tip, smiling as Gaara squirmed a bit. The cool feeling of Naruto's saliva on Gaara's chest made him tingle with excitement. Taking the initiative, Gaara moved his hands over to Naruto's waist and unbuttoned his pants. He could see the boxers that lay underneath, which looked tight with the bulge clearly showing. He pulled the pants down, and Naruto squirmed out of them. Gaara's heart was pounding as he ran his fingers over the bulge, feeling the stiffness of the entire shaft. He stroked it over the fabric making Naruto smile even brighter while he continued to play with his tongue.

Naruto proceeded to unbutton Gaara's pants, and pull it off swiftly. He smirked and stuck his hand inside Gaara's underwear, feeling the warm, stiff bulge. Naruto teased Gaara and played around with the head of his penis with a thumb, rubbing the tip and making Gaara squirm. He promptly pulled off his own underwear, along with Gaara's next, and moved back up to kiss Gaara. Fully unclothed, the boys felt each other skin to skin. As their hard members rubbed against each other, their lips and tongues continued to touch and play.

Naruto's hands soon playfully moved to their crotch, helping to rub their shafts together more forcefully. He soon took Gaara's in his hands, and began to stroke it. Gaara began to moan as a slight pink appeared in his cheeks. Naruto caressed Gaara's penis, stroking it gently before he moved down and licked the tip. His tongue moved around the head and then he began to lick the entire shaft like an ice cream cone. Gaara moaned even louder. Naruto was satisfied at Gaara's screams of pleasure, and as if rewarding him, he took the entire thing in his mouth. His tongue moved around as he pushed the entire shaft inside before releasing it. He continued to suck the stiff object until he could taste the sweetness of Gaara's precum. Naruto smiled sexily, and continued to take it in to taste the new flavor. His hands caressed Gaara's upper legs, before moving swiftly to the testicles where he fondled them as his mouth was busy tasting the boy. He began to move his mouth up and down faster, making Gaara moan even louder. Gaara squirmed as he reached his peak. He warned Naruto but the boy didn't care, and continued to engulf the penis until he could taste the entire sweet, yet salty taste of Gaara's white, creamy ejaculation. It shot right into his mouth and he swallowed it entirely. His tongue moved about trying to scrap up the last amounts and to get everything. He licked the tip continuing to give Gaara pleasure while tasting the last amounts of his fluid. Naruto moaned with pleasure as if he was enjoying a delicious meal.

Naruto, still stiff, climbed back up until he was almost sitting on Gaara's chest. His erected penis pointed at an angle towards Gaara. The long, slightly slender shaft was tempting and taunted Gaara to open his mouth and allow Naruto to move it inside. Naruto moaned loudly as Gaara returned the favor. His tongue felt a new sensation as Naruto shifted to his knees over Gaara and moved his hips forward and backward. He ran his tongue apprehensively over the ridge of the head as Naruto slowly thrusted his hips forward. As Naruto moved outwards, Gaara let his tongue slide across to the tip of his penis, playing with the opening. The boys grinned sheepishly at each other.

Naruto trailed his fingers behind him, down Gaara's chest and moving smoothly over his scrotum which caused Gaara to squirm sensitively. His fingers rested lightly on the muscular opening of the other boy's bottom, pressing gently for entry.

"Relax," he said to the red-head. He gave his partner a smile and pushed delicately, feeling the moist, softness inside. As he felt the opening stretch a bit, Naruto inserted another finger in, thrusting it in coordinately with his body.

"I want you … I want you inside me," Gaara managed to let escape with Naruto's hard member inside his mouth.

The other boy pulled out and jumped back, positioning himself behind Gaara as he lay there, stomach up, his cock already starting to become stiff again. He closed his eyes, waiting for a sensation much more intense than two fingers fill up inside him. Surprisingly however, he felt a wet movement touch his anus. He opened his eyes to find Naruto's face pressed up against his hole.

"What! No, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry," Naruto said, resuming licking the tense muscles. Gaara evidently succumbed to the pleasure of Naruto's sudden anilingus. Gaara pulled himself upwards, shifting his weight onto his left hand, while running his other hand through the boy's hair. Naruto stroked Gaara's cock as he was working his tongue, making Gaara more impatient to be penetrated.

"Fuck me already," Gaara said, pushing Naruto's head up under the chin.

Naruto shifted upwards, grinning at the boy's impatience. He obeyed, positioned his erect, wet hard on and pushed against entry way. In the beginning it gave resistance but Gaara settled back down and relaxed, allowing the Naruto to enter him. At first there was a hint of pain as the object entered inside him, stretching it against his body's will. But he wanted it, and he forced himself to relax as Naruto adjusted himself more properly. Then the blond began to move in and out, slowly at first, enough to get Gaara accustomed to the movement, but speeding up as they found their proper momentum. The feeling was different from what he had felt, from the feeling of fingers. It felt odd but at the same time it felt pleasureful. Naruto pushed all the way in, his cock feeling the warm moistness, enveloping his member and body into extreme pleasure. The boys moaned in broken unison, while Naruto rocked his body harder.

"Fuck, I'm going to come already," Naruto gasped. He pulled out as Gaara began stroking his own cock. They came messily onto Gaara's stomach, gasping and smiling as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Wow," Gaara said, registering what had just happened.

"Yeah, wow," Naruto replied. He grinned, "Let's clean up," he said playfully, dragging the other boy by the hand into the stream of water where they washed up, naked, happy, and in love.

"What happened earlier anyways?" Gaara asked Naruto as he nestled into the other boy's neck. He heard the soft beating of Naruto's heart, his chest rising slowly with every breath.

"What do you mean?" Naruto pulled the blanket to cover more of Gaara. He resumed patting the boy's head, feeling the softness of his red hair.

"After the hospital, I went to find you. You went home with Kiba."

"Oh. I was still his friend, I didn't know what was even going on. A part of me, a large part, just wanted to jump out and run away with you there, but Kiba was still my friend. I couldn't leave him when he was in the hospital."

"But you punched him in the face later? You couldn't talk with me then because he was injured but you injured him again after?"

Naruto looked at Gaara, astonished. "How did you even know about that? That, uh," he stuttered. "Whatever! That was after the fact." Naruto paused before continuing, "he told me the truth afterwards, about coming on to you. I got so angry I couldn't control myself."

"Sounds like you."

"What?!"

Gaara smiled and kissed him.

A/N: And that's that. Thanks for reading, even if this last chapter took almost four years; it would have been earlier if I hadn't accidentally deleted the first version of the chapter way before. That's all in the past though! I'm happy with how things went for the most part.