The Return of Something

Chapter Sixteen- The Gourd

~A few weeks prior~

"Take this, Naruto." The red-head quickly muttered as he wrapped a silver cord with a small stone carved gourd laced between the strands of rope. The blonde lifted the faded golden gourd from his chest and hovered it infront of his eyes. There were markings on it and small cracks just like Gaara's own gourd, but there was something different. The Kanji. There was a kanji engraved in the small stone figure, the kanji that stood for love. The very same marking that he recognized on the raccoon's forehead. Happy and quiet tears spilled from Naruto's eyes as he laid eyes on the necklace, and turned to face Gaara. He wrapped his arms tightly around the boy,
"Thank you, Gaara-kun. I love it."
"Heh.. that was the point." He chuckled, nuzzling the blondes neck.
"Naruto! If you don't get your butt down here in the next five minutes I'm gonna drag it down here myself! Painfully!" Sakura shouted. The fox rolled his eyes as he pulled away from his lover.
"She can be so annoying.." He groaned.
"I HEARD THAT!" She bellowed.
"How the hell?!" The blonde mouthed silently to the Kazekage. He shook his head smiling,
'How did you ever like her?' Gaara thought and chuckled.
"What are you laughing about?" Naruto muttered annoyed as he shoved miscellaneous clothing items into his bag.
"Oh, nothing." The red-head smirked. The blonde pouted and stared into the sea green eyes of the Kazekage.
"You're lucky I'm crazy about you..." He sighed and beamed at the boy.
"What would you do to me if you weren't?" The raccoon tilted his head. Naruto chuckled and wrapped his arms around the teen again.
"Beat you senseless till I got an answer." He smirked, and the Kazekage gave him a challenging look.
"You really think you could?"
"Doesn't matter what I think, because I don't have to find out." The fox finished and stole a kiss before returning to his bag.
"NARUTO!" The girl called from the doorway, temple throbbing.
"What?! It's only been four minutes!" He whined, but that wasn't good enough for the pink-haired girl, for she stomped into the Kazekage's room angrily, grabbing the blonde's collar and his bag, jerking them both out of the room. Gaara closed his eyes and shook his head.
'Ah... my little fox.. what are we going to do with you... it's been six minutes..' he chuckled, and followed close behind the two leaf ninja.

~Now~

'Ugh.. those stairs really did a number on me... it's been three weeks and my shoulder is still sore.. I should get Gaara to carpet those stairs or somethin..' Naruto internally groaned, remembering bow Sakura dragged him by the feet down each and every one of the hundreds of steps in the Kazekage tower. He pleaded with the girl to let him walk down them but she only grunted angrily and insisted to continue carrying him down the stairs one by one. Luckily for him, Gaara made him a little sand cushion for his head so that he wouldn't get too hurt, but if Sakura had heard the thudding stop, she would've turned to see what the red-head was doing, and have gotten mad with him as well. The blonde sighed as he flopped down onto his dusty matress, and wrapped his fingers gently around the small gourd. He pulled it up over his face and stared at it smiling. He recalled his final moments infront of the sand village entrance.

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"Has it really been a week?" Temari tilted her head and grinned at the three Leaf ninja.
"Yeah, unfortunately." Kakashi replied.
"I'm just not lookin' forward to hearing Naruto complain all the way home on how much he misses being here." The young girl shot a glare towards the blonde, and he returned it.
"Hey! Sakura it's better than hearing you complain about how fast or slow I'm going! Or hearing you go on and on about stupid girl things, or see to randomly staring off into space fantasizing about Sasuke!" Now they both were sharing bitter looks.
"Like you're any better! You complain about guy stuff and ramen all the time! And you fantasize too! Probably about me or something, I've caught you staring at me enough times- it's kinda creepy.." she spat.
"I only stare at you because you're the loudest object within miles!" Naruto shot back, "and I don't fantasize about you!"
The sand siblings began to find this rather amusing, and Kakashi was just going to let them go at each other for a while longer, he wanted to finish his chapter in his newly bought book.
"You wanna say that again?!" Sakura's head began to swell angrily.
"We all know it's true! I'm surprised Sasuke even tolerated you for as long as he did! You hangin' on him and staring at him like 'Oh Sasuke-kun you're so hot! Love me! Date me! Want me!' how does he stand that?!" Temari quietly giggled while the two boys stared fixated at the two having it out.
"Like you have room to talk! Last time I checked you were the Hidden Leaf's Number one Knucklehead Ninja!"
"Least I didn't obsess over some guy until I got my heart ripped out when he rejected me!" Kakashi would glance up from time to time, he never heard Sakura letting Naruto speak for such a long period of time.
"Look at what you're doing with Gaara! And what do you mean?! You were just as hurt as I was when Sasuke left!"
"Since when do you care how I feel Sakura?! When did you ever stop to consider how I felt? When? Obviously not when you were knocking me around for stupid stuff, or dragging me down by the ankles on those stairs a minute ago! You don't care Sakura! Did you ever care?!" A little hurt began to seep into Naruto's tone as he said these words. The sand siblings all looked at Kakashi, who shrugged and shook his head. He was just as confused and concerned as they were, and just as curious on the outcome.
"What? Since when was this argument about you?! For heaven's sake Naruto I do care, and yeah I may be a prick from time to time but not as big of one as you!" She sounded offended.
"The hell do you mean by that? I think the only people you even really care about is Sasuke, your parents, and yourself." The blonde let his bangs fall over his eyes. Shock filled the girls eyes, replacing the anger that once was.
"Naruto, you are so far off it's unbelievable. I care about so many people, you included."
"How is it so easy not to believe a word that you're saying.." The boy muttered.
"Alright... I think thats quite enough.." Kakashi finally cut in, snapping his book shut and casting his glance over his two students. "You both shared your thoughts, now it's time for me to jump in. We all were hurt when Sasuke left, Naruto.. you were probably hurt just as equally as Sakura considering he was the only person you thought you had an almost brotherly bond with. And I'm sure Sakura does care about you.. but she's right, you do tend to complain quite a bit. Now Sakura, he's also right you complain quite a lot, especially where Naruto is concerned.. frankly he's right, it does get annoying.. but you're teenagers, that's what you do. (not a rip on teenagers, I'm one myself)  Please do try to get along from now on Now that you've had this quarrel, alright?"
"Fine..." They both muttered, and both still had the expression as if they had just eaten a lemon.
Gaara shook his head, making eye contact with the blonde, who proceeded to blush with embarrassment. He had forgotten everyone but Sakura and Kakashi were in the area. The red-head chuckled and motioned for the blonde to walk forward and he did as such. The Kazekage held out a hand and Naruto gladly took it, but was surprised when Gaara pulled him in for an embrace, proceeding to whisper in his ear.
"If you ever need me.. cut the cord the gourd is linked on with a kunai. That will cause my third eye jutsu to start up and teleport to you. I will be able to see what's the matter. There's three specific places for you to cut it though, one is the small yellow dot, thats for when you're in danger. The second one is a blue dot, cut that when you are in the worst possible state of mind and need someone desperately. Now the third.. well that's for both of us, if we just need to be together.. that's the pink dot." Naruto could feel the grin with the last explanation on the necklace.
"Thank you, Gaara." The boy muttered and nuzzled the red-heads neck.
"No problem, Naruto-kun." The two boys let go, and Naruto continued on to Temari and Kankuro, shaking their hands.

"Goodbye! Farewell! Stay safe! Hope to see you soon!" The three leaf ninja called out as the walked away. The sand ninja replied sigh such.
"And hey Gaara!" The blonde gained the Kazekage's full attention as he mouthed three short words. I love you. The raccoon smiled, and bowed his head. I love you too,  Naruto.

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The blonde smiled silently to himself, and brought the small gourd to his lips, pressing them gently to the cold stone surface. The cold remained on his lips as he set the gourd gently down on his chest. He felt like slashing the cord, but he didn't know exactly what material it was made from. The blonde figured he could just ask Gaara once he was able to talk to him, but Naruto knew he was wicked busy. Gaara barely did any work while the blonde was nearby, only when he was sleeping did Gaara sometimes get up and do some work. Though, he didn't end up doing much considering when Naruto was finally asleep, he was usually laying on top of Gaara, so he Kazekage would have to wait for Naruto to roll off of him before he could get up, and even then only twice did that happen. Usually the fox would stay cozy all curled up and wrapped around his lover, head nuzzled either in the raccoons arms or in his neck.
"He's probably got way too much work... I'll break the cord later.." the blonde paused, staring at the ceiling. "Nnnh" He groaned as he quickly reached into his bedside stand, wrapped his fingers around a Kunai, and brought it rapidly to the pink dot on the chain. In one swift motion, the cord was cut,
'Maybe... actual fine rope?' As the Kazekage had promised, his third eye jutsu had appeared infront of the blonde, staring down at him laying on his bed. He heard a small chuckle from what he thought was the eye. Naruto blinked, and all of a sudden, there was a boy in his bed. Gaara.
"Hello, Naruto." The young man chuckled.
"Holy crap it worked!" Naruto stared in awe. The man chuckled again, as he wrapped his fingers around the broken cord. After a few seconds, he pulled away, and the cord was freshly mended. "H-how didja do that?" the fox stuttered, still in awe that his lover appeared before him in his own bed. Gaara smirked,
"Mmmmmmmagic" he snickered. Naruto gave him one of those "Oh really.." looks, and rolled his eyes. The red-head ruffled the leaf ninja's hair, giggling as he reached for his own neck. There, he pulled out a small black cord just like Naruto's, except this one had both a leaf village symbol, and a bowl of Ichiraku charms. The we're both painted the faded gold color, and carved out of stone. "Which one suits you better?" He beamed at the fox. Wide eyed, Naruto reached out and poked the opposite of what Gaara assumed, the leaf. "Wise choice." He grinned again, including the necklace and taking off the bowl of ramen. Unlike the gourd, Gaara's necklaces were more 2D rather than 3D. When Naruto held his necklace, it was like he was holding an actual miniature gourd, but both of Gaara's charms were flat. The red-head set the little ramen bowl on Naruto's bedside table, winking, and leaned in for a small kiss.
"I didn't know the necklace had the power to teleport you.." The blonde muttered.
"It doesn't. I used my sand to get here Naruto." Gaara raised an eyebrow with an entertained grin.
"Oh... you smile a lot now a days, yah know?"
"Is that bad"
"No, actually it's really good." Naruto beamed, and the red-head pulled the fox onto his lap, causing the blonde to wrap his legs around his lover. They stared at each other, their eyes craving for more than what they had.
"Good." Gaara whispered seductively, lowering Naruto's head for another kiss. "You called me at a pretty lousy time you know.." he scolded teasingly.
"Oh... I'm sorry.." Now the blonde felt bad.
"Don't be, I love being near you.. it just means I'm going to have to leave instead of being able to stay... how about... I cut the cord when I have some free time.. I'll still check to see if you're free as well just so you know..." The raccoon grinned as his boyfriend complied. "Alright... now... one more kiss before I leave?" The blonde nodded vigorously, and their lips collided into a passionate kiss.
Several seconds had past before they both decided it was time to come up for more air. They gasped silently, greedily taking as much in if each other as they could.
"I'm sorry Naruto, but I'm going have to ask you to stand up..." Gaara groaned.
"Oh yeah... of course.." He sighed, and tried to stand, but was pulled back down by two strong hands on either hip.
"I didn't tell you when, did I?" The Kazekage grinned, and ran his hands up along the blondes sides.
"No.. you sure didn't.." Naruto noted that Gaara's eyes were filled with lust, but he wasn't sure what kind. He knew it wasn't blood lust.. so maybe just regular? The blonde wasn't sure, but was quickly assured of which kind, when he felt a light nipping and suckling at his neck.

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(A/N)

Ooooo a bit of a cliffer, what do you think will happen? Think I'm finally gonna write that Yaoi chapter I promised? Kinda looks that way- ;) thank you all for the tremendous amount of support you've given me on this fanfiction, and I promise I'll update as soon as I can. Spring break ended, so as of today I'm back in school (I wrote this at 12AM and just got around to posting it ;)) anyway, seriously hope you enjoy!