Naruto One-Shot (Yaoi)

Not a ramen date?

By happyaddict

---

The sky glowed a gentle violet with the remaining sunlight that was rapidly disappearing behind the Konoha forests. The din of shop keepers closing up can be heard and resident houses were lighting up like nocturnal animals awakening. In the midst of the approaching twilight, a bright-haired teen can be seen dragging another by the arm.

"Let's go, let's go!" shouted Naruto gleefully, his grip not loosening from the rough desert garb that Gaara was currently in.

Naruto had somehow gotten wind that Gaara and several representatives would be on an ambassadorial trip from the Sand country. He then managed to track down Gaara and corner him just as he was putting down his luggage. Naruto smiled widely and pulled Gaara out of the room before he even had the chance to say a word, much less change into some more suitable clothes for the environment.

Gaara tugged against Naruto's death grip but to no avail, "Uzumaki, where are we going?"

Naruto grinned and replied, "It'll be my treat!"

Gaara slowed down and pulled at Naruto's fingers some more, "No, you don't have to..."

"What?" Naruto stuck out his bottom lip and pouted, "It's not every day that you come to Konoha." He pulled at Gaara's arm harder, making them continue their awkward pace, "And if I don't get you to come with me now, that old lady will just keep you locked up to talk about boring political stuff the rest of the time you're here!"

The young Kazekage grimaced at the thought of long drawn and monotonous drabble about shuriken radii and kunai size regulations. Then there's the fact that HE'D have to contribute to the talks, so he has no choice but to listen to everything that's said at him.

It's kind of like school, but instead of getting participation points, his country's reputation would be based on his performance. Gaara shook his head to rid of these thoughts and decided to take any chance he can to make this trip at least SOMEWHAT pleasant.

"You do make a good point," he finally consented to Naruto's persistence, "but at least let me tell Temari or Kankuro where I-"

"Temari already saw me taking you out," Naruto cut in, "so it should be okay."

Before Gaara could say anything else, Naruto stopped in front of a shabby brick building with large front windows sporting a spastic pink neon sign that blinked an image of the Konoha leaf, and right under it was another sign that read, "Closed". He gave Gaara a wink, knocked twice, and pushed the door open.

"I thought we were going for ramen," started Gaara, noticing the red cushioned bar stools and empty tables, "and we're underag-"

"Bar's closed!" rang a voice from under the counter.

"Nabiki-neechan, it's me!" Naruto called. After some sounds of clinking glass and rustling, a brown-haired woman in her late twenties appeared, holding a cleaning rag and polishing a glass.

The woman squinted against the dim lighting and appeared to scan for someone, "Eeh? Naruto? Where's the old fart?"

"Ero-Sennin's in another town, 'investigating' something again," Naruto replied, "I'm here with a friend this time."

Nabiki switched her attention to the other member of the pair and after a few moments of unabashed staring, gave a friendly hello. Gaara bowed slightly but remained silent. The woman seemed to be the kind of person who'd look at you and can calculate just about anything about you. But regardless her measuring looks and what seemed like a rough personality, she was attractive enough to probably have a very decent number of loyal regulars. Arms crossed below her chest, she turned to Naruto chidingly.