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Sand in the Leaves	By : ahmenet Category: Naruto > General Views: 1273 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money from this fanfiction.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Thanks for pointing out the slip in
my disclaimer. I knew I'd forgotten something.

It had been
raining for four days. Four days! And he'd trained for three of
those four days. Three days of sliding in mud, swimming in puddles
and generally getting dirt in every crease and crevice he had. Even
his teeth had been muddy when he'd been carried off the field
yesterday. Today, however he was indoors, staring out of the tiny
apartment window with his leg wrapped and propped on a pillow.
They'd let him leave the hospital since it was only a sprain and
Sakura had healed the worst of the injury, but it was decided he
should rest up today. Since the rain showed no signs of stopping, he
didn't argue.

“Who'd have
thought mud would be harder to fight in than sand.” He mumbled
to himself then turned away from the dreary day and lay back to stare
at the bare ceiling.

The apartment was
small, which suited him fine. He'd lived in places smaller and much
less civilized than this most of his childhood. The walls were a
simple white. In the corner a small refrigerator and counter, and a
table and chair in the center of the room. Four plates, cups and
place settings had been in the cabinets when he'd arrived. It had
all been prepared for him before hand. Not only that, but the room
felt warm and comforting despite its bare appearance. Almost lived
in. Compared with the Kazekages apartments, this place seemed
humble, but he'd never cared for that kind of opulence. No, this
place was exactly what he needed. Now if only he could have all
those other things he needed as well.

“Kankuro...”

A knock on the
door pulled him from his thoughts. He frowned, not expecting
visitors and not having paid very close attention to the walkway
outside. He looked through the window and found Gai standing in the
door. The green suited man looked in his direction and gave him a
dazzling thumbs up before opening the door and striding inside.

“I see
you're feeling better, Gaara. This is good. We missed you're
exuberant performance in training today. Neji just didn't seem
into his work.” Gai explained everything to him with a smile
and a watchful eye.

“I'll just
bet he wasn't.” Gaaras snide comment wasn't lost on Gai and he
walked over to the corner to take the tea pot and fill it at the
sink.

“Let's have
some tea and a talk. I know you've been on edge the past few days.
Maybe you just need a good verbal punching bag.”

The pot steamed on
the pilot lit and Gai dragged in the single chair to the bedside and
put his elbows on his knees.

“So you came
here for therapy? You might want to ask for hazard pay.”
Gaaras nose tingled and he rubbed it.

“I wouldn't
call it therapy.” Gai turned the chair around and straddled
the back. “Think of it as male bonding.”

Gaara slowly
turned his head toward the older shinobi and eyed him warily. “Male
Bonding?”

“Yah! Just
a little friendly conversation over tea.” Gais grin was
blinding.

Gaara sighed. No
matter how long it had been since Shukaku had been removed he still
wasn't used to this kind of affection. Temari was the only person he
ever really allowed to hold him. Both she and Kankuro were the only
ones to sit and talk with him just for the conversation. He wasn't
sure he'd ever get used to that level of intimacy with strangers.
Even if they were allies; he'd never really considered any of them
friends.

“Gaara?”

He looked up and
realized Gai had been talking to him for at least a minute. He
sighed again and shook his head.

“I didn't
hear a word you just said.” He admitted then gave a weary
smile.

“Well, why
don't you talk and I'll listen? You seem to have a lot one your
mind.”

The pot whistled
and Gai stood to turn off the burner. Gaara watched him pull two
cups from the cabinet along with the tea. He moved efficiently
around the small area and the red head frowned as he realized the man
knew exactly where everything was down to the tea scoop.

“You
certainly know your way around this place.” He watched as Gais
hand stilled for a moment with the Fukusa over the pot lid. Then he
returned to pouring water in the cups.

“All of
these places are built the same and many shinobi find themselves
starting out here or somewhere similar.”

Gaara nodded
though he didn't believe him and looked back out at the rain soaked
streets.

“I don't
mind the cold. The desert is cold at night. But I take issue with
being soaked to the bone and wrinkled as a prune.”

Gai chucked and
Gaara heard the tea scoop tap on the side of the cup. It tapped
again as he fell silent, waiting for Gais reply.

“Trees can't
grow without a little rain.” Was his only reply.

Gaara snorted.
“No wonder the trees are so damn big here.” His nose
tingled again and this time he sneezed. A moment later a cup was
pushed under his nose.

“You'll
catch cold sitting by widows without cover.” A blanket dropped
over his shoulders and he frowned as he stared into the cup of tea,
only just realizing he was shivering.

Sipping the tea he
fell into silence again. The rain poured down over the roof and fell
in streams from the railing less than three feet away.

“Every
morning I would walk to the highest point of the tower and stand on
the balcony to watch the sun rise. It's windy and cold and your
cheeks burn with it but the moment the sun peeks over the horizon
everything seems to glow and the cold just blows away on the wind.
For just a few minutes the world is on fire.”

He looked down at
his wrapped ankle and pulled the blanket more securely around his
shoulders.

“Out of all
the things I've lost, the thought that I may never see the world that
way again leaves me hollow.”

Out of the corner
of his eye he saw Gai nod but otherwise the man made no comment.
They sat for a while longer in companionable silence. Only Gaaras
occasional sneeze intruding. Gai served them another round of tea
and pulled out one of the dishes he'd been finding on his doorstep
every night for the past two weeks. Gai waited until he'd at least
eaten half the serving before taking the plate and cleaning up.
Again, moving around as if he'd been doing it for years. And before
he realized it the rain had subsided and the day was nearly gone.

Gai lifted his
travel cloak from the door hook where he'd left it. “Try and
get some rest. A medic will be by in the morning to check your
ankle.”

Gaara spoke as he
opened the door and cool air rushed into the room. “I look
forward to resuming our training.”

Gai gave him a
thumbs up and a ship guiding smile. “The widows Watari and
Uboshita are your neighbors on each side.” He pointed
indicating which was which. “If you need anything they would
be more than happy to assist.”

With that he
stepped out and pulled the door closed. Gaara didn't watch him go.
Instead he stared at the small table in the center of the room and
was again struck by the idea that this wasn't the first time Gai had
been in this particular apartment. Deciding to give in to curiosity
tomorrow and ask the neighbors about it he pulled the blankets up
around himself and lay back on the bed. Maybe he was just exhausted
enough not to dream.

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

“Damn, it's
too late.” Shikamaru tossed money on the counter and stood,
pulling his cloak over his shoulders. The rain had stopped but it
was still cold out.

“Too late
for what?” Choji asked as he stuffed the last bit of meat from
his Hot Pot into his mouth before standing to don his own cloak.

“I was
planning to stop by and see Gaara today. Ino said he was sent home
with a sprain yesterday. Poor guy can't train worth a damn in the
rain it seems.”

“He'll get
used to it.” Choji slid open the door and stepped out into the
chilled air.

“I suppose
but still...” Shikamaru slid the door closed and pulled on his
gloves. “I can't imagine what he's feeling right now.”

They stepped into
the road and bypassed puddles heading toward the residential areas.
Choji pulled a bag of shrimp chips from his coat.

“Then don't
try.” The rotund shinobi spoke a few moments later.

Shikamaru sighed.
“It's not that simple. Temari...”

“Is gone.
You can't bring her back. No one comes back no matter how much you
might want it. Feeling sorry for him won't make it better.”

They continued
down the road as the late crowd began to thin and lights came on in
small comfortable houses along the road.

“But it's
not really him you're feeling sorry for so I guess that wasn't fair.”
Choji continued to walk until Shikamaru pulled him to a stop.

They looked at one
another for a long moment before the shadow-nin hung his head and
chuckled mirthlessly.

“I haven't
been this angry or felt this helpless since Asuma died.”

Choji lay a hand
on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

“We took
care of that problem. We'll take care of this one.”

Shikamaru shook
his head. “It's not our problem to take care of.”

“Sure it
is.” Choji smiled then turned toward his home leaving
Shikamaru to catch up. He called over his shoulder when the man
didn't follow. “That's what friends do.”

Shikamaru shook
his head. “I don't think Gaara has friends.”

“He
does now!” Choji yelled back then disappeared around the
corner.

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0

“Daddy?”

Sasuke looked up
from the pages on his desk to find Naruto standing in the doorway to
his office.

“You should
be in bed.” Sasuke lifted the boy as he walked over and sat
him in his lap.

“You
aren't in bed.” The boy pouted then shuffled a few papers on
the desk.

Sasuke smiled and
pushed the papers back to their original position before turning his
son to face him.

“I'm
not a growing boy.”

Bright green eyes
narrowed on him as he fought to hide his smile behind a stern
fatherly expression. Four years and two sons later and he still
wasn't used to it. He simply wanted to let the boy sit up with him
and destroy his office.

“I'll tell
you what...” The blond perked up a little but still looked
wary. “If you go to bed now, I'll come tell you a story that
only you get to hear.”

The boys smile
turned mischievous. “You won't tell Hiro?”

Sasuke shook his
head a smile playing at his lips.

“You won't
tell Tadao?”

He shook his head
again then grunted as his son made a leaping slam into him by way of
a hug, jumped to the floor using his nether regions as a spring, then
bounded out the door screaming at the top of his lungs, “I get
a story and you don't!!”

The resounding
chorus of, “BUT DAAAAAD!!”, could be heard from farther
down the hall.

Once Sasuke
regained his air and the ability to walk he placed his brush in the
water jar and placed the stack of papers in the top drawer of his
desk. He lifted his eyes to the picture sitting only inches from his
hand. Brushing the dust he pulled it from the draw and placed it on
the desk top directly in front of him.

“Seven
years. And I wasted so much of it.”

His fingers
touched each face of team seven as
he scrolled through the years he'd spent with them, both before and
after his years of wandering. So many memories. So many stories.

“DADDY!!!”
A shrill voice screamed from down the hall.

With a nod and a
smile and picked up the picture and turned out the light. “Coming
Naruto!”

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0
- 3
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- 5
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Sand in the Leaves