A Tale of Three Best Friends

"Hey Gaara?" Naruto was lying on the couch in Gaara's apartment, skimming through the songs on his iPod. "What was Temari saying earlier? You know, about Akatsuki and Suna."

Gaara was sitting cross-legged on the floor, hunched over his laptop, while Sasuke was sitting on the desk, reading. Both paused to look at the blond.

"It's a long story."

Naruto shrugged. "We aren't exactly busy. Tell me."

Gaara scrutinized Naruto, who felt as if he was being searched inside and out. "You really want to know, Naruto?" The blond nodded eagerly. "I don't need the whole school to know what I tell you though."

"What if only half the school knows, then?" Naruto asked cheekily. Gaara glared, making Naruto become serious. "I don't do that, Gaara. You know that," he said sincerely.

Gaara nodded and turned to Sasuke. "I don't know how much you know, but you might as well know the whole story. Just...if you tell anyone...keep in mind that you won't be saying another word to anyone. Comprehendḗ?"

Sasuke barely shrugged in acknowledgement, returning to his book. Naruto turned his iPod off, leaving his headphones on his ears, and propped his chin on his hand, looking expectantly at Gaara.

"Well, first, how much do you know about me?"

"Apart from the obvious, like your name and stuff like that?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, dobe," Gaara replied, as if talking to a very small and slow child.

Naruto blinked. "Wait, you don't call me that."

"I'm beginning to see why Sasuke calls you that, though." At Naruto's confused look, the redhead continued, speaking slowly. "Yes, apart from my name and obvious things like that."

Naruto thought. "Not much, except you had something to do with Akatsuki and you almost died, and that's why you left Suna. Your tattoo means love," he added after a moment.

"Huh. I guess I should start at the beginning, then." Gaara typed something into his laptop, and then closed it; he brought it into his room and returned quickly to the living room.

"Well, to start, I guess you should know that, right before I was born, my father, who was then leader of Suna, sealed the One-tailed raccoon dog demon, Shukaku, into my, killing my mother."

"So you're a jinchuuriki too, then," Naruto said thoughtfully. "Kyuubi did say there was something about you, but I woulda thought that he'd tell me that you're the One-tail's jinchuuriki."

"I'm not, not anymore, but just listen. For most of my childhood, well you know the deal; everyone hates you." Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, except something was wrong with how Shukaku was sealed inside me, so that he came out whenever I was sleeping, which didn't make people like me more. Then, when I was eleven, my uncle, the only person I thought cared about me, tried to kill me. He said that my father had ordered him to. I killed him." Gaara's voice was flat, emotionless. "That's when I gave myself this." He pushed away a few stray pieces of hair to the side, pointing to the kanji tattooed on his forehead.

"Love," Sasuke said quietly.

"Yes. A demon who loved only himself." Gaara closed his eyes briefly before continuing. "My father had sealed Shukaku inside me so that I would be a weapon for him. It's ironic really." He laughed bitterly. "I was a weapon, but only for myself. My uncle was only the first person I killed, but nowhere near the last. When my father realized that I wasn't dead, he and the Council exiled me."

"The Council?" Naruto asked.

"Suna's Council of Elders. They help make decisions. Konoha has one too," Sasuke explained.

Gaara continued, "About a year before I came to Konoha, I heard that Akatsuki was hunting jinchuuriki for their demons, though I had stayed away from them anyway because of the incident with the Nine-tails' jinchuuriki before you."

"Akatsuki? Aren't they some kind of gang?" Naruto asked. "What do they have to do with Kyuubi and his last jinchuuriki? And why were they looking for jinchuuriki, anyway?"

"They're a bunch of really powerful criminals, who, from what I've heard, are trying to take over most of the world, and I think they are using the demons as some sort of weapon. About Kyuubi," Gaara frowned, "all I know is that Akatsuki took Kyuubi out of his jinchuuriki, but Konoha's Yellow Flash managed to seal him into you when you were a baby. Kyuubi'd probably know more, but I don't think that it's a good idea to try to talk to him. Maybe someone else here knows more about what happened than I do. Now do you want to hear the rest of my story or not?"

When Naruto had nodded his affirmation, Gaara continued. "Don't interrupt me. So, even though I had tried to stay away from Akatsuki, they still found me, around six or seven months before I came here. They brought me somewhere – I don't know where – and took Shukaku out of me, which nearly killed me. I was dumped somewhere in Wind Country, near Suna. I probably would be dead right now if Kankuro hadn't found me and gotten this healer, Chiyo, to heal me." he paused, then as if he had just thought of it, said, "Incidentally, Chiyo was the same woman who sealed Shukaku in me."

"Chiyo sealed the demon in you?" Naruto asked, confused. "I thought you said your dad did."

"No, he just gave the order. He didn't do it himself," Gaara said disgustedly. "Sooo, after I was more or less alive, Temari suggested that it was probably a good idea for me to go somewhere that me and my dastardly deeds weren't widely known, which is how I ended up here. She rented this apartment out for me."

"So the story that you transferred from Suna High because of some kind of trouble with the police is a lie, then?" Naruto asked.

"You're not as blond as you look, then." Naruto glared, which Gaara ignored. "Yeah, it's a lie. Every school in Fire Country was lining up to take in the One-tail's jinchuuriki that murdered people for years until a bunch of power-hungry criminals took the demon out of me and almost killed me."

"Sorry, come again?" Naruto said innocently.

Gaara glared. "I'm not repeating myself. You know perfectly well what I said."

Naruto shrugged. "What'd your sister come here to tell you? I only heard that Suna let you come back. I didn't hear anything after you and Temari sent me out."

"They think that I'm safe since I got Shukaku removed, but there's probably more to it than that. I mean if it was just about Shukaku, they could've let me back two years ago. I think they're getting worried about Akatsuki, and they think I can help them," Gaara said blandly.

"Can you?"

"Yes, but the kind of help they want I'm not willing to give."

"What kinda help do they want?"

"What do you think? Same as my father wanted, probably."

"Why? You don't even have Shukaku anymore, don't they know that? Maybe they want something different."

Gaara shrugged. "I can fight without him. There are some...things left over from him in me. And as for them wanting something different...well, let's just say that that's not very likely. Now do you want to hear what Temari said or not?" Naruto nodded. "Then shut up and stop interrupting. What she didn't want to say in front of you two was that my father's body was found two kilometres outside Suna. He had gone missing about six months after Akatsuki took Shukaku, but the Council covered it up."

"Wasn't that like two years ago?" Naruto asked. "Didn't anyone notice he was gone?"

Gaara glared. "Didn't I tell you to stop interrupting me?" Naruto nodded. "So shut up. They think he had been working for Akatsuki, as a puppet of sorts, and they're probably gonna ask me a lot of questions about what I think Akatsuki was doing with him. Apparently now that they almost killed me, I'm some kind of expert on all things Akatsuki-related," he said sarcastically. "Now that's my story, happy now? Good."

"What'd Kankuro come for? Did he say anything?"

"No, he just came to piss me off, and because Temari made him."

Satisfied, Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Hey, teme, you gonna tell me what you told Gaara earlier?"

"I didn't tell him anything, dobe," Sasuke said, not sparing a glance at the blond.

"So what didn't you want Gaara to tell me, then? Or should I ask him?" he turned to see that the redhead had disappeared, so called to the whole apartment, "Hey Gaara, what didn't teme want you to tell me?"

"That he's gay and wants to get in your pants," Gaara called back. "Now leave me alone."

"Aw, c'mon, tell me. Pleeease," Naruto whined. "Hey teme, what's wrong?" Sasuke was looking distinctly pissed off for a guy that never showed any emotion. "Are you gay?"

Sasuke sent Naruto a searching look, and had only just opened his mouth to say something when the blond yelled, "Awkward moment!"

"Dobe. Don't do that."

"Do what? This?" Naruto leaned towards Sasuke, who looked back warily, and yelled, "Awkward moment!" again in the raven's ear.

Sasuke glared at the jinchuuriki and left.