Control

Dancing Shadows

You swirled your chopsticks around the bowl of ramen before you, watching as the rich broth curled around the noodles. You were at Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto for dinner but you weren't hungry. Your mind couldn't stop replaying Gaara's words as you absently played with your food.

"Why did you have to be here...why did you have to pretend..."

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"Then why didn't you say anything...you just left."

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"You must think I am a monster..."

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"A demon?"

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Gaara's words made your heart hurt. It reminded you of the first time you met Gaara as a child. You remembered Gaara saying how everyone thought he was a monster. It always made you sad that he thought so lowly of himself... and now you had also hurt Gaara and you hated it. It was never your intention to do so but it still happened. You knew you couldn't change the past but you could change the present and you were determined to mend things with him...but you also knew that Gaara had changed a lot since you were children. Something happened with Yashamaru after you had left and you had a feeling it wasn't good...You wish you kne-

"(YN)?"

You blinked at the sound of your name, turning to the source to see Naruto looking at you. His head was tilted to the side and his sky-blue eyes innocently stared back at you.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yea, I'm okay...Sorry, I was just lost in thought." You admitted with a sheepish grin as you turned your attention to the bowl of ramen in front of you. You silently stared down at your bowl before looking over at Naruto again.

"Y-you know Gaara right?"

Seeming confused, Naruto gave you a funny look as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Of course I do! That guy tried to kill Bushy Brows twice! Once during the preliminaries and then at the hospital!"

"At the hospital?" You murmured, thinking back to earlier that day when you stumbled upon Gaara trying to hurt Rock Lee. You didn't realize that it wasn't the first time Gaara went after Rock Lee in the hospital.

"When did that happen?"

"It happened yesterday. Shikamaru stopped by while I was at the hospital and we found Gaara in Bushy Brow's room. Gaara looked crazy, he was talking about how he has a sand demon inside of him...he said his uncle tried to kill him too! And that his purpose is killing..." Naruto momentarily paled before perking back up with a determined grin.

"He said he would kill me but don't worry (YN). I won't let that happen. I'll kick his ass! Believe it!" Naruto shouted causing Teuchi to give him a look as he busied himself with making another bowl of ramen for Naruto.

Smiling sheepishly, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe sorry."

Smiling at Naruto's antics you turned back to your bowl of ramen and pulled down your mask to eat as you thought over Naruto's words. Yashamaru tried to kill Gaara? That doesn't sound right...Yashamaru seemed so caring...but people aren't always as they seem. You grimaced as an image of your father popped up in your head. Shaking away the image, you focused on the prickling sensation spreading across your neck and back. That usually only happened when somebody was watching you so you lifted your head and looked around only to find it was Naruto.