Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

My Yakuza Baby
By : DevilnBlue
Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or make a profit from this story.
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Hello Assassin's Kiss here with a new chapter for you. I know your upset, why… because I've been gone for a lone time. You don't need to tell me. I know it and I'm sorry. But I had real life crap to deal with and the mother of all writer's block, plus I'm been Netflix-marathon-ing like a junkie. The ending was supposed to be different, but things change. It might hopefully come next chapter because this chapter ended up being longer then I had originally had planned. I don't own Naruto, hope you guys enjoy and tell me what you think of this chapter. I hope to update every three weeks, consult my profile for further details, bye, and looking forward to a review that'll make me smile. ^^
My Yakuza Baby
"Tsunade-sama… Tsunade-sama pick up the Goddamn phone; it's Shizune!"
Bells, tiny anime voices and the happy plinking of small, metal balls rattling down against the pegs, glass and metal interior of several hundred pachinko machines were almost deafening to the petite woman, who was wearing the same bob hairstyle she had had since the seventh grade.
Shizune whispered urgently into her cell phone, openly hating going through these pachinko parlors with their decade old carpeting, fake, glossy plants, flashing, bright lights and the storm-like rattling of hundreds of balls clinking together. If it was during the day she could have easily picked out the busty blonde sneaking sips of her breakfast from a whiskey flask while beating at the useless piece of machinery.
That was because most decent adults with lives worked during the day and/or tended to their housework and families; instead Tsunade-sama lounged around pachinko parlors, which thankfully meant less of a crowd for the petite woman to weed through. But since it was close to a little after 2 a.m. the pachinko parlor was stuffed with every last dredge of life without a curfew or purpose. This in turn forced her to go methodically up and down the aisles to pick out her well-endowed boss.
Shizune's voice was wasted calling out her employer's name aloud or dialing her cell phone yet again. There were already twenty text messages and counting that she had fired at her employee every ten to twenty minutes. Even the idea of getting the pachinko parlor employees to intercom for Tsunade-sama would be barely heard, especially if her buxom boss was in the zone.
It had boggled the raven's mind how many hours the blonde could mindlessly spend pulling the lever and cursing softly under her breath for her small metal balls to land in the special bucket that would guarantee her more little balls. It was a vicious cycle that knew no end. Even when her boss managed to win back all the balls/money she had lost, she didn't know when to stop gambling. So it all went back to 'the house' anyway.
Honestly, half of the time Shizune didn't even feel like bothering to hunt down her boss, except that the hospital she worked for paid her good money to be a glorified babysitter, instead of the Chief of Surgery-in-training she'd thought she would be. She didn't even have a personal life to speak of outside of taking care of her teacup pig Ton-Ton and phone calls to her family. It was because she was too busy substituting for Tsunade-sama in almost all things from answering the blonde's phone calls to attending meetings.
It became almost habitual when she told everyone else that Tsunade-sama was fine and was attempting hands off training to see if she was the right fit. It had been weeks since Tsunade-sama taught her something new and Kami only knew how long it was since she had last scrubbed in for surgery herself. Three or so times a week Shizune just barely managed to coax the blonde to sit at her desk and pretend that she was actually worth the money the hospital was paying her; when in reality the blonde idly ignored her paperwork to play online poker games and drink like a fish.
It was too much.
Shizune was stretched as thin as it was. She needed more than the weekends to keep her grounded. If she even got those days off. Overworked, underappreciated, dangling on a thin wire of possibilities and opportunities.
The only thing that kept her going; woke her up and kept her from curling up in a question mark of disparity on her bed was her stubborn tenacity that she deserved better than whatever this was. She had paid her medical dues, put in the hours, garnered the medical experience while simultaneously accruing student debt along the way because she wanted to be chosen for her merit. Not because she was related to a certain buxom blonde.
Not to say that this particularly frazzled woman couldn't be motivated to do things for family. That was why she out there on one of her precious days off. Not because of work, but because her nephew Minato had called her around midnight clearly distressed and worried about his son and mother.
"Aunt Shizune I'm sorry to call you so late in the night but do you know first-hand if my mother had picked up Naruto from the airport at 8:15 p.m. like she had promised she would the day before? Or is my son still waiting outside the airport with no one to care where he was?" Those were the first words out of his mouth as soon as she answered the phone.
It took a few aspirins and the continuous repetition of Minato's inquiry for Shizune to fully process what he was requesting. But when it sunk through her sleep fogged brain, her stomach clenched in panic. He didn't know. Of course he didn't know how much his mother couldn't function outside of Aunt Shizune's firm hand these days. It wouldn't surprise her if the work-aholic military father even knew that his mother was imploding on herself after receiving signed divorced papers two months ago.
Shizune would have gladly volunteered to pick up her grand-nephew herself, even if it was one of her precious days off. She hadn't seen Naruto in person for almost five years, since the last time she visited Jiraiya and Naruto in California. So seeing him now would have been a delightful pleasure. She would have anticipated how much he had grown now that he was in his teens and not a scrawny eleven-year-old, who enjoyed pranks a little too much. But now… now…
Minato, unfortunately, had been stuck on the American Navy Base to help host the annual war games that was being held between his American Naval officers stationed in Japan and the opposing Konoha, Japanese Naval officers. He had solely relied on the fact that no matter what shit his mother was mixed in, she'd pull it together long enough to at least pick up her only grandchild. But when he hadn't heard from his son or mother, since both calls kept going straight to voice mail, he had no other choice but to call his over-worked aunt.
Shizune vaguely remember stumbling out of her warm bed after that declaration, Snoopy Pajamas and all. She should have scolded Minato for waiting so long before calling her. But instead the kind-hearted woman soothed her frantic nephew with kind reassurances that she would find both his son and his mother. He had suffered enough.
The petite woman barely looked at herself in the mirror as she ran a brush through her bob haircut. Bare feet were shoved in some well-worn Nikes. Hands quickly snatching up a few essentials, including her cell phone. She secured her teacup pig in her arms before she was out the door, keys in hand.
She honestly feared what a sixteen-year-old could possibly do so late at night, in a somewhat unfamiliar and boisterous city. It sure as hell didn't help that he could barely read a lick of the local dialect and wouldn't have thought to exchange his U.S. dollars beforehand to barter for a ride of some sort. However, even if by some miracle he did exchange some of his money there was still an even slimmer chance the younger blonde thought to mesmerize his new address; probably relied heavily on both Jiraiya to ship his things to the right place and his other grandparent to pick him up and take him to his new home like a responsible adult would.
So here she was, her puffy coat barely covering her blue Snoopy pajama set, as she held one useless cell phone in one hand and her teacup pig, Ton-Ton in the other, close to her chest. The raven-haired assistant, because that was what she felt more and more every day, went up twenty aisles before doubling back again and closely peering at the ghostly reflections mirrored against the glass of the Pachinko machines.
One of the patrons that knew her, from prior visits like this, waved her over and offered a handful of cheerios to her greedy little piggy. She gave him a tired smile and rested her hip against the side of his machine. She made sure she was close enough so Ton-Ton could greedily munch up the treats from a leathery palm while she exchanged greetings with the old colleague.
"Lose her again, huh Shizune-chan?" His voice was so scratchy from years of heavy pipe smoking that he practically croaked, hence the patrons lovingly naming him 'Frog-sensei'.
"It's the same ole', same ole' Saurtobi-sama. I thought Sis was here because I've been everywhere else. But unless she's bound up her chest and is wearing a wig I don't see her," she sighed out. She peered half-heartedly at the teen beside them wearing a hot pink wig before rolling her eyes in distaste at the youths these days.
"If you are looking for that no good protégée of mine then I'd try all the way in the back by the flickering light and the broken pachinko machine. They got a secret room behind there where they… Well I'll leave that for you to discover. Don't want to get kicked out for helping," he murmured before chuckling half-heartedly. "Here give me Ton-Ton while you handle business, she'll be fine with me. And stop tacking -sama at the end of my name. I haven't been the chief of that hospital since I retired and Tsunade took over."
"Thanks, I'll try to remember that," Shizune murmured, wringing up a tired smile. She leaned over to kiss his wrinkled brow and gave him a one-armed hug before she handed over her precious pig and made her way to the back.
The nighttime staff and even some of the daytime staff knew the raven well enough to know that stopping her when she was trying to extract her employer from the gambling parlor was useless. She may look small and silly with her shaggy childhood bob and her Snoopy pajamas, but she knew how to strike certain parts of the body to cause paralysis or stop breathing.
Some had even been there to witness it happen and had been more than a little flabbergasted when she returned moments later with the complaining blonde in tow. She would then bow deeply from the waist, piggy usually in tow, and apologized profusely before scolding her victim for making this difficult on her as well. She would then punch or poke her victim again to unlock his muscles and bow once more in apology before leaving with a tired smile.
So when the big burly man with the scar over half of his face known simply as 'Ibiki' saw the petite woman approached him, he didn't hesitate to push the 'out of order' pachinko machine aside for her. She smiled up at him and leaned up to kiss his cheek, for being a "good boy" before she walked into the gambling den. Shizune might have even entertained the idea of slipping him her number, knowing him as a rumored warm-hearted softie, if she hadn't already known he was a former cop turned yakuza member. She had enough trouble in her life with the buxom blonde, she didn't need to borrow more. So with that in mind, she tried to quickly pick out the blonde through the dimly lit, smoke-filled room.
There were several serious gamblers playing mahjong or poker, but it was fairly easy to spot the natural blonde among the grey heads of doting yakuza members and high-paying gamblers. Apparently she had been suckered into a game of strip poker with a few old men who had hoped to ogle her in her panties and bra. But surprisingly the shirtless blonde, who was known for her month-long losing streaks, was winning, a lot. She had a pile of expensive clothes, belts, loafers, rings and watches sitting beside her. She seemed ready to win another expensive bauble when Shizune marched over go her and slapped her employer's cards face down. "She folds," she said tersely.
"We were going to win it back sweetheart. So go and wait in the corner while the grownups play," husked out a pot-marked gentleman, showing a mouth full of gold teeth.
Shizune started to crack her knuckles; her mind going through her rolodex of pressure points she would have to strike on the five doting gentlemen before they could even lay hands on her. She had a pocketful of senbon needles in her puffy coat in extreme cases of emergencies. But she tiredly hoped that things wouldn't get too hairy where she would need to reach for them.
However, before she could even open her mouth again to kindly yet firmly request Tsunade stand up and come with her, a side door burst open and two tall, disheveled young men stumbled out in fear, covering their heads.
"Temari-sama, let us explain," pleaded one of the men wearing a bandage across his nose.
"What the hell do you mean you lost my Otouto Gaara?! Is that it? Is that what you want to explain Kotetsu? How you and Izumo, who are supposed to be his personal guard, somehow lost the precious heir. An heir who is clearly sick and vulnerable to enemy attack, because I'm all ears," she hissed. Her hands quickly raining down blows from a large wooden fan before waiting for a tense few minutes for the two cowering idiots to try to rectify the situation.
"It… it wasn't our fault. We were walking with him to retrieve medicine and he sort of slipped away…" Kotetsu petered off weakly before his best friend could shush him.
"Sort of slipped away?" the female teen, asked stonily.
"Temari-sama, he requested permission to throw up in an alley and we stationed ourselves to cover the entrance when—We. Will. Find. Him. There have already been reports on the police scanner of a scuffle involving the Sound gang and someone fitting the boss's profile. He was said to be with some blonde foreigner. They can't have gotten far," Izumo spoke up quickly. Then tensed up as if prepared for another blow from the blonde teen.
When they didn't come, he looked worriedly at his friend, hesitant to lower his arms down because they were the only defense allowed against the furious woman. The idea of even trying to retaliate, lay even a single digit on the blonde spitfire, made him inwardly cringe. She wasn't just big sister to the precious Yakuza heir. She was a demon in her own right, the way she rained down blows on her opponents with her fans. These were love taps compared to the broken bones she could deliver with a simple flick of her wrist.
"What the hell are you looking at?" snarled Temari glaring at those who dared look up from the poker table. Then she turned her head to skewer her seafoam green eyes on her bootlicking subordinates. "Don't return until you find him or you both will be needing the doctor next," she hissed before slamming the door so hard, that several of the geezers flinched.
"Shizune this is bad, really bad. I can't stop winning. I went to three pachinko parlors before coming here and it was raining metal balls. I thought my luck would change if I came here among these serious gamblers, but I keep winning. The only reason I took off my top was because it was getting stuffy. Something… something bad is going to happen. I just know it." Tsunade began to babble off nervously into the wake of the silence Temari had left behind.
She obviously failed to read the tension in the room as the two men known as Kotetsu and Izumo gave them a cursory look before departing swiftly to attend to business. Shizune was already reaching for her senbon needles. The need to leave now thrummed through her veins as she prayed that the blonde foreigner that was mentioned earlier wasn't theirs.
"Did you at least remember to come to pick up your grandson before you went off on your winning streak because my grand-nephew is worried?" She bit out tersely, methodically counting out the security guards she might have to take out as well as the sketchy gentlemen at the table. She took a step back, keeping them as much in view as possible, even as she prayed her sister-in-law would take the hint and get her ass moving.
"Shit, I forgot the boy! What time is it?" She cursed, fumbling for her cell phone in her cleavage. "It's dead. No wonder," she laughed nervously, trying to stand onto wobbly feet.
"I wonder how long it was vibrating before it finally died," Shizune deadpanned. She doubted if any of the elderly gentlemen saw her chest vibrating, they probably wouldn't have mentioned it to the clearly smashed blonde. The jiggling alone would have dried up any decent souls urge to speak up. In fact, they seemed fairly disappointed when the Chief of Surgery quickly slid back on her top and reached for her rightfully won baubles.
"You men can have your clothes and wedding rings back. But I'll take the rest as donations towards the hospital's new burn unit," she said, finally managing to stand. She kissed and patted a few bald heads to ease hurt feelings and offered to give free medical advice to one or two of the players who she had realized might need her assistance in the near feature.
The buxom blonde then took one last mouthful of warm sake before she reached for Shizune's hand to steady herself. Her vision swam slightly as she fumbled to take purposeful steps in her high heeled sandals. Her attempts to reach for Shizune's cell phone was brushed off as Shizune quickly murmured that she didn't have Naruto's new cell phone number because he had received a new cell phone that would provide him coverage with these Japanese cellphone towers. (1) That Minato had forgotten to give it to her and besides him, only Tsunade would have the new number in her dead phone.
Shizune sighed in frustration, quickly sent a text to Minato to send his son's number her way so she could dial him and quickly retrieved her teacup pig. Sarutobi helped her prop Tsunade against the car until she could safely tuck Ton-Ton in the front passenger seat before giving her blonde mentor the okay to crawl into her backseat if she promised not to hurl. She gave the old man another hug, murmuring an appreciative thanks and waited until he had disappeared back inside the den of sin before looking down at her phone to see with relief Naruto's phone number flashing briefly on her screen.
"Hang in their kid."
xXx
"Hi Aunt Shizune, I meant to surprise…Oh, so you call me now Baa-chan? Isn't it kind of late to worry about me when you were supposed to pick me up over six hours ago?" grumbled Naruto, clearly hurt. He was mindlessly flipping through channels on the small colored television set in his motel room. All the while his other hand distractedly ran through the hair of his sleeping companion.
"Why… why didn't you answer your father's phone when he called you?" Tsunade slurred out, her 'you's sounding more like 'chuu's. He could almost hear his doting Aunt in the background, fretting; probably trying to guide his drunk-off-her-ass grandmother away from whatever vices she had grabbed hold of this time.
"I don't need the gambling booze queen to lecture me when you're clearly in the wrong here. I don't see why the fuck you guys want me? Like honestly you forgot about me just as quickly as you did when I was little. Nothings seriously changed to make this situation work. So why, just tell me why did you want me in the first place?" he demanded, his voice rising a little in volume to show his sheer frustration.
He had given up everything to be here. He had built a life…. A home with people who loved him and knew him for who he was and not some exotic oddity. Naruto had made his own family, had forged his own path and just because his actual biological family suddenly remembered him, didn't mean he should be the one sacrificing everything for their peace of mind. Not when the results were this.
"You know what?" he sighed out in defeat. "I don't care what excuses you make. I left my home. You get that, I left my home and everything I know to be here. If this isn't going to work out let me know now so I don't waste my time trying to fit in a place I'm clearly not wanted... I'm safe for now with my friend Gaara. I'll see you sometime tomorrow I guess… Hopefully you'll be sober enough to give a shit about your only grandchild," he said hollowly before hanging up the phone and cutting off any objections.
Immediately his phone began to ring angrily dancing on the bedside table he placed it on. He quickly powered it off and sagged back further against the headboard he had been leaning against. The conversation left such a bad taste in his mouth that he had not noticed that his roommate had stirred. That was… until he spoke up.
xXx
"I'm a friend?" Gaara's sleep thickened voice croaked the question out in surprised wonderment.
He didn't mean to say it out loud. Actually Gaara had been sorely tempted to fall back to sleep after getting over the shock of someone running their fingers through his hair.
Sure, initially he had stiffened; affronted and ready to attack the stupid American blonde for once more encroaching on his personal space while he was clearly vulnerable. But it felt so fucking good the way those blunt nails lightly scratched at the back of his nape before combing upwards through his red dyed hair, that he had already unconsciously pardoned Naruto's offense.
The yakuza heir had to even bite back a mew of pleasure more than once as those thick fingers ran in soothing circles, tenderly massaging his scalp before returning to scratch lightly at his nape again. He'd be naïve to hope his cheeks, ears and neck weren't flushed pink with more than his illness; but he didn't give a flying fuck as he felt those fingers drag him back down into reassuring sleep with each pull through his locks. He couldn't remember a time he felt so cared for and he deserved to be selfish, at least while he was so ill.
It was really only unfortunate that he heard his name 'Gaara' and the word 'friend' paired in the same sentence. He could have indulged a little longer, dreamed a little deeper, but those two words had doused him in cold reality.
Gaara realized he must still be sleeping or not fully awakened because no one had ever called him a 'friend'. Not voluntarily and definitely not without some ulterior motive. Even if the person was a stranger and didn't know his sordid past, all it took was time. He'd stupidly get his hopes up for just a brief moment and as soon as they knew who he was, what he was, ideas of friendship quickly abandoned them for self-preservation and he was left out in the cold again.
Shit, if it wasn't for the fact that he was soon going to inherit the Sand Yakuza Organization and had the same parents as his siblings, he doubted even his sister and brother would have bothered to even check to make sure he was still alive.
Sure they showed concern whenever he had taken ill like he was now and more than likely would be in a frenzy to hunt him down once they knew he slipped his guards. But he never got the impression that they saw him as their little brother. Yet, how could he blame them? After all, he did kill their parents, even if he didn't mean to.
Baki, his father's former bodyguard and his current tutor in all things Yakuza, refused to bring it up. Even when Gaara had been particularly persistent in his adolescence. The man would only scuff and say that it was his parents time to go and a little pipsqueak like him shouldn't be full of himself to think he, alone, took out his father and mother. It was mildly comforting; although it didn't stop the yakuza heir from stubbornly piercing the complete story together after a handful of years.
He had always been a quiet child that was usually overlooked because of his slight form and what his birth symbolized. Even at a young age he felt the albatross around his neck. So he made the shadows his friends, blending in and greedily taking in every bit of gossip and drunken banter between servants and yakuza members alike about his parents. There were very few otherwise willing to speak about his parents, so why not?
The way she looked, the way she had disciplined one person or another; how strongly their former yakuza boss had led them. He clung to every morsel of information like a wild, starved thing. No matter how cruelly they painted his part in the story towards the end. He kept coming back for more.
He already knew he was useless... Worthless. It didn't matter if they mumbled messily put together apologies or just shooed him away like some worrisome fly upon discovery. There words of friendship and condolences did not penetrate him. He remained tightlipped and closed off, as he quickly ran away. The shards of hatred, both theirs and his, weighed too heavy and jagged in his belly to allow such niceties to overpower them.
From what he could gleam each pregnancy that their mother Karura had had, resulted in preeclampsia even worse than the last until his father and her doctor begged Gaara's mother to terminate him upon discovery for fear she wouldn't make it this time around.
She had stubbornly refused because she had always wanted a big family with little ones running about and two children weren't enough. Karura loved children and had wanted a big family since it had only been just her and her brother Yashamaru going from foster home to foster home before she had finally fell in love and married Gaara's father.
Karura actually had been loved by all. Her nurturing nature and sisterly advice endeared her to every single Sand Organization member until they had become somewhat of a big, dysfunctional family.
No matter the shady shit they did in their daily lives to keep 'the business' running, she never judged. She cooked for them; worried about them; smacked even the scariest looking member over the head with a handy frying pan or whatever cooking instrument was on hand if they did some stupid shit that nearly got them killed.
So when she died of complications after giving birth to him, every member of the yazuka clan took it hard and seemed to mourn for months. Gaara's brother and sister lost a mother, his Uncle Yashamaru a sister, and his father Rasa took it hardest of all. It came to the point that no one was really surprised that their yakuza boss had finally given into years of depression following Karura's death and finally committed suicide, on the sixth anniversary of his wife's death.
Gaara could only vaguely remember his poorly attended sixth birthday party being interrupted by Baki announcing the Boss's passing. Upset, the volatile nine-year-old Temari had blamed the stunned six-year-old for killing their parents before their Uncle Yashamaru had slapped her across the face and forced the blonde to apologize to him. It was the last time he remembered himself crying as she stiffly stood in front of him and bit out a "I'm sorry" before she sat down and stonily looked at her melting ice cream cake. But even if Temari and Kankuro never blamed him openly since then, he wasn't blind to their hateful looks when they thought he wasn't looking. The lack of physical and emotional connection after so many years was proof enough.
So this whole 'being friends' thing was fucking huge. Well… it would be, if Gaara actually believed and cared about people anymore. Good thing he refused to be that stupidly vulnerable and naïve again. He refused to let himself fall on his face and be weak. So he made sure to build up a barrier just as fine and dense as sand against himself and the emotional crap the real world might bring.
"Oh, so you are awake." Naruto stated approvingly, unaware of the walls the redhead was trying to reinforce against the blonde's brand of charm. Without hesitation the American leaned forward until his cool forehead was pressed against Gaara's fevered one.
He smiled apologetically down at his flustered patient. His observant blue eyes taking in the flush that swept across pale cheeks and a pale nose. "I'm sorry, but I don't usually keep a thermometer with me, so this will have to do. Mama Ruth-Ann, my best friend's grandmother is better at this kind of stuff then me. But… you feel really warm," he said finally, his warm breath ghosting against the redhead's face before he finally pulled away. "Maybe you should take some of your medicine now," he said good-naturedly, crossing his arms over his chest.
The blonde didn't seem perturbed at all to be derailed from his souring thoughts of his grandmother and his home situation. He seemed more than willing to offer the sick redhead one of his sunshiny smiles even as he naturally turned his body towards him. He honestly didn't care what Gaara would say later, the redhead looked fucking adorable lying beside him with his hair all rumpled and messy; his sea-glass eyes all wide and innocent with confused suspicion and frustration. He reminded him strongly of the red pandas he used to obsess over as a kid. "You're blushing too."
"I'm not!" Gaara snapped out crabbily even as he sat up suddenly, back stiffened. He could feel himself weakening against that smile and he didn't like it at all, so he went on the attack. "Besides you still haven't answered me. Why did you call me your friend?" Gaara pressed suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. His fingers already itched to reach for his deer knife in case he didn't like the blonde's answer.
"You don't think I'd hug just any ole' body unless I thought we could be friends, did you? I'm blonde, but not easy," Naruto said, with a wink and a playful bump of his shoulder against his patient's.
"Where are we?" Gaara asked, refusing to acknowledge Naruto's statement even as his stomach clenched and tingled in nervous excitement. He tried to visualize a dense enough barrier against him and the charming idiot even as he took in the shabby yet clean walls of what obviously appeared to be a motel. A motel, whose bed he was sitting on with said charming idiot.
"Don't give me that look. It's all I could afford and I hadn't planned on taking you back to this crappy motel. But when a guy faints in another guy's arm it sounds like kind of a dick move to hide him behind the crates in the alleyway until he regains consciousness. So I brought you here, but you can leave if you like," Naruto suggested. He gestured towards the door, trying to look as nonchalant as possible although failing miserably.
"I've never had a friend before," Gaara confessed softly. Now that he was given an option to leave, he couldn't see himself wanting to part from this 'Naruto' person. He was so easy to read and charismatic that the redhead was curious if this guy really could be too good to be true.
"That can't be true? Can it?" Naruto seemed bemused by the statement. He wanted to dismiss it believing it one of those things people say modestly when they want to seem humble. But as he playfully rolled his eyes at Gaara he nearly choked on his spit. "Shit, your serious. I… sorry… I… didn't…. sorry…" he finished off lamely.
Gaara stared at him stoically, waiting until the blonde petered off and was done with making an even bigger fool of himself. It was actually slightly comforting to know that Naruto's charm could only extend so far before he tripped over himself. It made him more human… more real and attainable somehow to know he was capable of running into mistakes like everyone else.
"My siblings barely tolerate me and I thought my Uncle was my friend," he continued matter-of-factly after a little more awkward silence. "But then he tried to kill me one night because he swore my mother's ashes told him that that was the only way to restore her honor. That she craved my blood and others. We committed him before he could do more harm, but he had already killed two before coming to my bedroom clutching her urn.
"Then after I convinced my tutor to let me go to private school I couldn't find anyone to befriend me. Apparently my family's reputation proceeded me and everyone was too afraid to get to know me… Well not for the right reasons. So I just gave up," he said as if talking about some other pathetic soul and not himself.
He didn't want sympathy though. He wasn't some pathetic, sniffling thing that couldn't survive without friends. He survived this long without hugs or smiles. He'd survive long after this bumbling American idiot left him. He was sure…
"Well shit, that sucks hot monkey ass. I mean damn… your Uncle… and the siblings, who seem like assholes by the way, just saying…. But it's kind of great in a perverse way because I can be your first right? I've… I've never really been anyone's first before," he rambled off both excited and sheepish at the same time.
It was quite clear this blonde was the type who wanted to see the glass half full even when it was cracked and leaking. It also didn't help that when Naruto was this sincere and he bowed his head down while looking up just so, he looked like a kicked puppy that was still hopeful despite everything going on. Gaara wanted to smash that hopeful, optimistic face in before he got swept into that disastrous tide pool because the idiot naturally pulled that look off without trying to manipulate.
It just seemed too intimate and raw for the Subaku heir to take in all at once and so he roughly pushed the blonde away from his person. He never expected the blonde idiot would tumble off the bed like some demented tumbleweed and onto the floor. His nonexistent eyebrows flew upward, his teeth biting worriedly at his bottom lip as he cautiously took a peek over the bed.
"You don't have to give an answer right away," Naruto grumbled, pouting slightly while rubbing his sore head. It hurt like a motherfucker but he was a hardheaded son of a gun who wouldn't be deterred because he knew he might have come on a little strong. It was just Naruto had never felt this great an urge to hug someone as much as the disgruntled redhead.
Clearly this guy was touch starved and in need of a friend. 'God gave him to me,' he thought suddenly fastening onto this idea. He had a crap-tastic few days and the Lord was finally rewarding him all those hours he spent in Mama Ruth-Ann's unconditioned Baptist Church with this anti-social, downright murderous ball of love.
If Gaara wanted to push, he could fucking push right back. Someone needed to fight for him no matter if he thought he could handle it himself or not. He was a challenge and the blonde loved challenges. His blue eyes lit with determination as he extended his hand in friendship even as he continued to rub the place where his head had connected with the floor with the other hand.
'This idiot honestly doesn't know the effect he has on people. He's dangerous for a whole new reason then I thought,' grumbled Gaara warily. He cautiously took the offered hand because he had a feeling the blonde would not put it down until he grabbed it and shook. He doubted their friendship would last the night, not with his handlers looking for him, but he'd humor the blonde for now.
"You won't regret this Gaara," Naruto said excitedly, beaming.
"I'm already regretting this," Gaara deadpanned. His heart thumped quickly in his chest as he huffed and wrenched his smaller hand from Naruto's grasp when the idiot seemed determined to hold it longer than necessary. "Do you even have an off switch."
"NOPE!" Naruto said proudly with a dopey grin as he stood up from the floor and flopped across the bed. He then pumped his fists ecstatically in the air. "All will fall before the power of friendship. Muwahaha!"
Gaara snorted in amusement despite himself. His lovely pale eyes rolling at the blonde's boundless energy before lightly kicking the blonde in the side with his socked foot to get his attention. He nearly choked on his spit as those blue eyes immediately fastened on him, attention immediately given.
"Wha… What's California like?" he barely managed to choke out a little lamely. He hadn't known what to say initially but when those eyes were on him like that, he had to say something or risk blushing like a fucking school girl, which he was still doing despite him NOT wanting it to happen.
"Hell," Naruto deadpanned, saying the first word that came to his head.
"Wha?" Gaara murmured intelligently, pausing in dabbing at his dribbling nose. Damn cold.
"There's smog, earthquakes, forest fires and mudslides. I had to attend the funeral of my friend's friend because of a drive by shooting." He happily ticked of his finger one by one, a thoughtful furrow in his brow as if he was trying to scrounge up if he forgotten some other tragic flaws.
"But you say you miss it," Gaara insisted, unsure now.
"Every place has its ups and downs. It's the friends and family that surround a place that makes it a home you desire. As corny as that might seem, those people back in Cali are my precious people. I'd die for them; you know? I'm also planning to go back there when I graduate. They can't keep me here once I'm an adult," he said firmly, lips forming a thin line of determination.
"So you're going to leave me." Gaara hadn't meant to say it, especially not like that, but there it was. He knew that things wouldn't last the night. He just hated to be proven right so quickly.
"Missing me already?" Naruto seemed to brighten at that thought, despite the obvious scowl given to him. He turned on his side, hand balancing his head as he looked at the redhead thoughtfully.
"Shut your stupid face idiot or your ass is going to hit the floor again," growled out Gaara vehemently. He moved to give Naruto a vicious kick at the obvious amusement at his misery. He didn't like being vulnerable and here was this guy—this stranger who knew fucking nothing about him—prying him open, seeing his soft squishy side and he could just stab him over and over again, he hated this feeling.
"It's not going to be for a long time. Me leaving." Naruto quickly inserted even as he captured Gaara's foot before it could kick at him again. The redhead tugged, but the blonde held firm even as he let out a deep sigh. "My whole life up until now has been California. Sure there were friends I left when I first moved away from Japan, but I was six and was determined I was going to be part of the power rangers when I grew up—orange ranger by the way. The friends that I felt were the most important I skyped, but most of my roots are in Cali. They can't be easily torn, not unless there is someone here that can make me stay," he tried to explain carefully to his volatile patient.
He was hesitant to let go of the redhead's foot for fear of him kicking him in his kidneys when his guard was down. He wasn't imagining things, he was sure behind that adorably disappointed pout on the redhead's face was the knowledge to send Naruto curled up in the fetal position and begging for his life to end. It didn't mean it didn't hit Naruto hard in the feels to see this new friend so adorably attached to him; although the redhead would deny it tooth and nail. It just made him want to hug him until all the fight left the redhead and he finally gave into the blonde's sheer awesome.
"Don't give me that look. It makes me want to hug you," Naruto groaned out hotly against Gaara's clothed thigh once he wiggled closer. He tilted his head just so to look up at the redhead before sighing. "Fuck, maybe later, I'm sleepy as hell. Jet-lag is a motherfucker," he slurred out, drunk on exhaustion.
This time it was Naruto who blacked out, head in Gaara's lap. The redhead didn't know what to do. He was sorely tempted to just role the big idiot off his legs and onto the unforgiving floor. But a bigger part of him found himself winding pale fingers into those soft, sunshiny locks, as he hesitantly petted this unique, unicorn-like creature.
"You idealistic fool," he murmured fondly, the barest hint of a smile curling his pink lips.
xXx
Gaara didn't know when he had actually gone to sleep, hands buried in Naruto's hair. But when he woke up again he realized the blonde was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't have imagined such an annoyingly heroic person if he tried, but as he green eyes raked across the room there was no sign of him.
He even scrambled out of the bed, bowels frozen in trepidation as he looked into the bathroom, but no… no one. Either he imagined himself some elaborate friend or he had been abandoned, yet again to his own devices and both options were depressing as hell.
Gaara knew he shouldn't have foolishly believed that there was anything remotely redeemable in him. He was being groomed to be a yakuza boss. He didn't have time to indulge in such hopeless wish-washy matters anyway. He honestly wanted to convince himself that even as he woodenly made his way back to the bed and crawled in.
The redhead could feel the tears, hot and itchy brimming to the service. He hadn't cried in so long he wasn't going to waste them on a guy he barely known for a full twenty-four hours, if he even known him. But they came and he quickly blamed them on his cold because there was no fucking way he was this miserably weak.
His heart was protected by sand. A fine, firm wall of precious sand that let nothing in or out to harm it. He was impenetrable and some stupid blonde that stumbled into his world and shook it up, wasn't going to change that. He had to believe that. That he was alone and always will be so he needed to get used to it so he would never be disappointed. But even as swallowed the hot lump in his throat and viciously scrubbed away the annoying tears that trickled treacherously down his throat, the door open.
"Fuck!" Naruto cursed softly. He nearly dropped the ice bucket he was holding when Gaara's deer knife grazed his arm when the redhead had thrown it. "What the hell Gaara? I was getting you some ice for your icepack. You were fucking burning up. I'm honestly think this isn't just a cold and here you are playing William Tell on me? Some friend you are," Naruto grumped. The blonde walked over to the perplexed redhead, plopped the bucket onto the nightstand table and began methodically scooping some cubes into the ice pack.
"Yo… Yo… You left me. Just like everyone else. I thought… I thought…" Gaara babbled, trying to push away his guilt in hurting his newfound friend into righteous indignation for begin abandoned.
"H…Hey there. You're not going to get rid of me that easily," Naruto murmured, quickly setting the ice packet down. He quickly climbed back into bed, shoes and all before he wrapped his arms around trembling shoulders. Chapped lips clumsily laid a kiss on the top of red-dyed locks as he began to murmur more nonsense he believed would sooth the troubled teen. "Everything's going to be okay."
Gaara was determined not to cry—again. He hated Naruto for making him feel so much in such a short period of time. He did not like the fact that he felt so weak around this blonde stranger. He wanted to blame the fact that he was sick on how he was feeling, but knew that it was more than that.
"You should have left me a note," Gaara finally murmured weakly in lieu of an apology.
"I realize that now 'oh great one'. Will you forgive your lowly servant for not waking you up or writing you a note because he was afraid you'd burn right through the bedsheets if he didn't fetch you some ice?" Naruto begged sarcastically. He couldn't even stop himself from chuckling as the redhead smacked his chest for being an asshole in front of all this emotion. "Ow, you little shit, we don't need two patients."
Gaara's ears burned as he looked anywhere but at the smiling fool beside him. He was seconds away from hardening his heart once more against this blonde when Naruto nonchalantly brushed aside the fact that Gaara had attacked him or had been crying in his absence. Sure it had been a natural defense against an intruder but the fact that Naruto didn't blame him for being him…it meant something to the yakuza member.
"I'm sorry," Gaara said gruffly. He quickly picked up the ice pack and fiddled with the lid before closing it and placing it on his burning forehead. "You… that was nice of you, this." He gestured towards the icepack and even gave a careless wave to the room because Naruto had done more for him in these few hours than anyone Gaara could remember.
"Your welcome," Naruto said sincerely. Sure the blonde could tease his patient for suddenly being so meek and humble. But he had a feeling that things like apologies or thanking people for acts of kindness was rare and far in-between. So he let it go and leaned over on his side of the bed to pull out backpack and hand Gaara some medication.
"What's this?" Gaara asked, not realizing that Naruto's bag had been under the bed. It could have gone a long way to reassuring the teen that he hadn't imagined things or been abandoned.
"Medicine. I'm pretty sure it's medicine. I can speak Japanese, but damned if I can properly read it. But, don't worry, I'm not going to molest you in your sleep. See I'm outside of the covers. I'm just going to curl up around you like so to keep you warm. Help you sweat out the fever," Naruto said before slowly demonstrating. He carefully wound his arms around the stiff body then flipped on the t.v. to some random channel.
"Are you always this annoyingly heroic?" Gaara said tersely into the uncomfortable silence, sans telelvision, that wanted to smother them like a wet blanket. He eyed a few of the medication before settling on some cold/flu night time medicine and poured out the recommended dose. He hated the bittersweet medication but he hated being sick more, so down the gullet it went.
"Nope, well not unless I find someone I think is cute. No offense, but you look like one of those tiny red pandas that you see in the zoo with your pale skin, red dyed hair and the black eyeliner around your eyes. Sort of want to put panda ears and a panda tail around you and take you wherever I go, but you can ignore that. Unless… you want to wear it?" Naruto sounded a little too eager at the end for Gaara to mistake it for
"Shut up or die," the redhead growled out. He was neither fluffy nor cute, but Gaara found himself slowly unstiffening and drifting off to sleep again to the muffled sound of the blonde's heartbeat and the laughtrack of a Japanese comedy show. He had never felt this needed and secure in his life. However, little did they know, Gaara's big sister was systematically terrorizing rival Konoha gangs, demanding to know the whereabouts of her wayward brother.
xXx
"Where are you Gaara?!" Temari demanded as soon as her little brother called her 8 something in the morning. "Are you hurt? I'm sending over a car now."
"I'm with a… a friend," Gaara said hesitantly as he tested out the word. He wrinkled his naked brow as if unsure how it sounded since it was a foreign word when applied to his self. But he couldn't deny the warm feeling he got when he said it. His head had poked out of the bathroom he had sequestered himself in when placing the call using Naruto's cell phone, a small smile springing to his lips at the sprawled out body of his sleeping companion.
"What friend? I didn't know you had any friends!" Temari snapped out peevishly.
"I'm allowed friends," Gaara said sourly. Then snorted and crossed his arms, defensively over his chest as he cradled the cell phone against his cheek and shoulder. "Besides it's none of your business. He's helping me recover."
"Does he know who you are? Are you sure he's not trying to manipulate you by getting close to you?" The blonde sibling asked gently, as if just realizing the way she had asked that question earlier had truly hurt her little brother.
"He... He saved me when some of the Sounds gang tried to attack me. I… I don't know. If it wasn't for him, I might barely be able to have taken them all by myself, you know being sick and all," he mumbled, looking at his pasty self in the mirror. His skin was blotchy, his hair was a bird's nest and his nose was still cherry red. 'How the fuck does Naruto think this is cute?' he thought. He looked like death warmed over.
"Are you sure it wasn't a set up? That he's not trying to get close to you in order to assassinate you later. I'm only saying this because I want the best for our family," Temari reasoned. It was clear she wanted Gaara back under her supervision or at least under the supervision of Gaara's bodyguards.
"Yes, nee-san," Gaara said dutifully. He strolled out the room and retrieved his deer knife that was embedded in the motel's wall. Then he peered down at the drooling, gap-mouthed blonde. He wouldn't be able to climb back into the bed again even if he wanted to the way Naruto was star-fished out. If that was an assassin, then he was actually fucking Mary Poppins. But he wasn't stupid, he secreted his deer knife away because if his nee-san was right, he wanted to be prepared.
"Gaara tell me where you are? You need to come home. Either way I'm going to find you. This number is being tracked as we speak," Temari insisted.
"Of course it is, that's why I'm leaving. Bye sis," he murmured nonchalantly, knowing how much Temari hated 'sis'. He didn't need anyone telling him who he could and couldn't make friends with. He already had those doubts already, plus he wasn't ready to let go of the blonde just yet.
"Wake up sleeping beauty, we have to leave," he murmured giving the blonde's shoulder a vicious shake. He had no doubt his sister was tracking them from the phone. That's why he popped out the blonde's cell phone battery and tucked it back in the blonde's hoodie on the floor before moving to wake up the reluctant blonde.
"Five more minutes, Jiraiya you ole' bastard," Naruto murmured sleepily, rolling over to hug a pillow to his chest. It was kind of cute, drool and all.
Gaara smiled viciously, before dragging the comforter he was on, off so that the blonde fell gracelessly to the floor with a loud squawk of protest before he swore up a storm. Gaara chuckled softly, feeling slightly better already after the fever had broken. The blonde had been a big help and he deserved a reward for his kindness. So Gaara rumpled the blonde's and made his way confidently towards the door knowing the blonde would shortly follow. "Come on, I'll treat you to some McDonalds."
"Are you fucking kidding me? The way you woke me up I want IHOP or the Japanese equivalent. JIHOP? Whatever you're taking me and I'm eating everything and your ass is paying," Naruto swore as he picked himself up. Placed all his shit in his bag, making sure everything was there, put a bandage on his small knife cut from last night, then tugged on his hoodie and felt for his cell phone.
"Whatever you say friend," Gaara said, the smallest of smiles dancing across his lips. He liked saying that word 'friend'. He liked it a whole lot even if said friend made a point to throw him a dirty look for obvious mistreatment as he followed him out. Naruto was fun; Naruto was friendly; Naruto was unpredictable; and man could Gaara use a little bit of all three in his life right now.
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My Yakuza Baby	By : DevilnBlue Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 4234 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or make a profit from this story.

My Yakuza Baby