Naruto
Naruto is excited…not for Shikamaru’s match against Temari, but excited at the idea of Sasuke coming over soon (which he just knows he will).
This being stated, he cannot take his mind off it. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot think about anything else which is leading into him becoming antsy in his seat.
He doesn’t want to be antsy the entire time. He does want to have fun with his friends, but it’s getting so hard to do when all he can think about is Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…
Thanks to this problem, an idea pops up in his head, leading him to ask Lee something he hopes he will consider, “Do you want to see Gaara?”
“I can see him? I thought that wasn’t an option.”
Huh…looks Ino’s dad might’ve been onto something there if that sudden burst of life in his eyes is anything to go by, “It is! I can take you to him if you want. I mean, I did drag Shikamaru down to his fight by force and nothing happened there, so I think I can take you to see Gaara pretty easily in comparison to that.”
His fellow omega hesitates and Naruto counters, “If your parents can try to pressure you to arrange a mating with Neji, then I think it’s more than okay for you to see Gaara now before Sasuke shows up and wins in his battle against him.”
“I really don’t think it will be that easy to defeat Gaara—but…” Lee thinks it over for a quick moment and slowly nods in response when he considers the offer more, “Okay. I’ll go see him with you.”
“What are we waiting for then? C’mon, let’s go!” Naruto cheers, grabbing his fellow omega’s hand, hoping this will be good enough to finally get his mind off Sasuke.
As they are leaving, Lee wonders, “Shouldn’t we tell Ino first where we’re going?”
“Eh, don’t worry, we’ll be back before the match ends. I don’t think she’ll notice anyway, not when she’s cheering that hard for her teammate.”
“I guess you’re right on that one. She really is being super enthusiastic for Shikamaru right now; I don’t think she notices Sakura or anyone else and the way they’re all staring at her like she’s crazy.”
The boys were immediately stopped when they left the main stadium area by none other than the upbeat voice of Guy sensei greeting them, “Naruto, Lee! Why aren’t you two watching the match?”
“Um duh, because Lee wants to see Gaara.” Naruto stated as though it were simple fact…going by Lee’s blush this apparently is not the case to everyone who knows him, “I do, but it’s not what you may think, sensei! All I want to do is wish him luck on his battle against Sasuke and let him know that at least one person in the Leaf is cheering for him.”
“Okay then.” he noticed how the cheery alpha was eyeing up Lee in a bit of a curious concern he is used to seeing Iruka sensei give him whenever he suspects something is up that he’s not telling him about, “I won’t stop you, but just know you don’t need to do anything you don’t want to do. You have a choice still, and if it ever gets to be too difficult to make a choice of your own…let me know and I’ll handle it for you.”
Lee doesn’t say much, other than a small, “I will let you know when I need to, sensei. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me—you’re like the dad I never had.”
He gave a small sniffle and hugged the omega boy tightly, “Oh Lee! You’re like the son I never got to have! Don’t you ever worry about anything, I promise I will always keep you safe no matter what!”
Naruto doesn’t know why, but this felt more like a lifelong goodbye as opposed to something casual.
It didn’t sit right with him. He did nothing to rush it or make it end earlier than it should, though. They both look like they need this.
He personally hopes he never has to hug or speak to Sasuke like this. It would kill him to be without the alpha any longer than he already has.
By the time they got near to where Gaara was located, they were both speaking about their ideas of who would win between Gaara and Sasuke…that eventually became a talk about their favorite foods when Naruto’s stomach growled.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You only had ramen after you joined Guy sensei’s squad!”
Something about this felt all so many shades of wrong and made him hate Lee’s clan for keeping him away from something as delectable and life changing as ramen.
“I’m not, really! My clan always said that ramen was too fattening and would make me all bloated from the excess salt. No alpha wants someone who is fat or bloated, they’d always say, and I had to adhere to the rules until the day I joined my team.”
“Your clan is a bunch of jerks and dumbasses to make comments like that… You know what? After this, we should get some ramen together! You, Ino, Kakashi sensei, Iruka sensei, Guy sensei, Sasuke, and me—Iruka sensei knows of a really good place to go too. If you’re any bit smart you’ll agree to it. Trust me, nothing’s better in life than good ramen."
And Naruto will die with that saying because it is an invaluable piece of knowledge.
However, he can admit he didn’t expect to hear a blunt, “What’re you doing here?” out of what felt like nowhere.
They were only a few steps away from the area where those participating in the third part of the exam were located when this was said by none other than the scary alpha himself.
(At least in Naruto’s eyes he’s scary—what, with his intense stare, strong scent of blood mixed in with the lavender and the possibly powerful jutsu he has a gut feeling the alpha possesses.)
Lee smiled at the sight of the alpha, almost appearing to come to life at the sound of his voice, “Hey Gaara! I thought I’d stop on by to wish you nothing but good luck in the battle against Sasuke!”
Gaara looks at him oddly and to be fair, Naruto cannot deny he’d be doing the same if he were in his shoes, “Why would you wish me that? Shouldn’t you want someone from your own village to win?”
“I know I should, but I also know that despite what you believe about yourself, you’re really not a bad guy—”
“Stop it, I am a bad guy. I don’t get why you can’t see it that way.”
Now things are feeling tense and Naruto is wondering if he’s done something wrong by bringing Lee here, “Don’t get mad at him! I offered to bring him here to see you because I know he likes you for some reason or another. If you’re gonna be mad at someone over this, then be mad at me.”
He rolls his eyes, commenting in response to Naruto’s outburst, “I’m not mad at him or anyone. All I am confused on is why someone like him—who knows enough about me—would ever see me as anything other than a murderous monster who cares for, lives for, and loves only himself.”
Lee’s answer is spoken with a sad expression, leading the blonde omega to believe there’s something vital here he should know if he really wants to grasp what’s going on, “Because you’re not a murderous monster. You’re a person who’s made mistakes and I don’t hate you for it. I’ve made my fair share of them as well—with what you know, I’m amazed you don’t see me as being far worse than you.”
He doesn’t shy away from him, even when Naruto tries to grab his hand to hold him by his side out of this instinctual alarm bell going off in his head around the redhead alpha, calling him volatile and violent, “I know it’s a stretch, but please believe me when I say it: you are not a bad guy and I will never see you that way.”
Gaara doesn’t understand his logic. Then he supposes he never will—Lee is strange for being so unafraid of him. He has never met anyone who honestly isn’t terrified of his very presence yet the omega is very open to him in ways he didn’t have any hope of happening to him.
“Whatever.” he answers him bluntly, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get going. I know Temari’s battle won’t take too long and I would prefer to be ready for mine when it does end.”
Naruto was more than happy to leave the guy, but leave it to Lee to try to stretch this out, “Wait, Gaara—do you want to do anything after all of this? We could get dinner together or do something else if you’re not up for dinner, anything you want, really.”
“Why would you want to do anything with him?”
“Good question—why do anything with me after all of this? You realize I’ll be leaving after the exams are over and I won’t be around after they’re done, don’t you? Why would you want to waste your time on me when you have others you could spend it with?”
“Because I do like you and I want to spend some time with you before you leave if I can.” Lee’s answer is painfully honest—especially to Naruto who can practically hear the pleading in his voice—and it gives them both pause.
Then Gaara turns his back on him, letting him have a goodbye of his own given the mission he himself is on with his siblings at the moment, “I can’t do that. I’m needed home right away—enough time has been wasted as is. I can’t be here any longer.”
Naruto was about to chew him out for being a jerk when Lee replied with a small and sad smile that had him wondering just how deep in his feelings is he for Gaara, “Oh, that’s okay, I guess you couldn’t be here forever… I want you to know that I’m cheering for you to win.”
The alpha seemed to cease all movement to this, but the sand around him was starting to rustle into random tendrils at the news as Naruto let his inner outrage out, “Huh? You’re cheering for him instead of Sasuke, my stupid dumbass teme? How dare you! I thought we were friends, how could you cheer for anyone but Sasuke, my Sasuke!”
“Because I like Gaara and I want him to win a fair fight. What happened between him and I wasn’t a fair fight—I know he’s powerful and I know he can prove everyone wrong about him if he is given the chance to. I want him to win, he’s my friend too as much as you are.”
Thanks to Neji’s interference with their battle—and Naruto refuses to believe any other version of events than Neji making Lee lose to Gaara—many believe Gaara didn’t deserve his spot at the third part of the exams. As such, rumors went about that the sand nin was not as powerful as once believed and indeed, was weaker than what was let on. Many in the village believe that if he had gone up against a ‘real alpha’ instead of a ‘weak omega’ he would have lost.
Yes, Naruto’s heard the rumors.
Yes, it enrages him because not only is it insulting to Gaara, but it’s incredibly insulting to Lee and omegas everywhere who wish to be ninjas as well.
He may not know much of him, but he has reason to believe he is powerful in his own right. As for Lee’s end—the end which really pisses him off—he knows what the implications are: Lee is an omega, ergo he is weak and shouldn’t be a ninja shouldn’t in the first place because of his gender alone. He is just as powerful as any other alpha out there, he knows he is, and to have so many in the village downplay it so severely because of his gender felt deeply bigoted to himself as well being an omega ninja who made it to this point in the exams.
If he were a kid and he heard these rumors, it wouldn’t have done anything to discourage him. However, it could discourage other omegas who would be more sensitive to this because of the young alphas and betas who would insinuate they are too weak to be ninjas because of their gender because of these rumors. That alone pisses him off about the rumors.
Lee’s reasoning for wanting to Gaara win leaves him with no reason to be mad at him any longer and as such, he drops the subject entirely.
Though he notices the tendrils in the sand are moving quickly and twisting about at random, he also notices how Gaara doesn’t face Lee once, nor does he ever reply to Lee. He leaves after standing there in a moment of silence, with Lee looking pretty at peace with it.
He wonders what Gaara is thinking—why the sand was shifting and changing as rapidly as it did.
All he can do is tell Lee with a hand clasped on his shoulder, “C’mon, we should get going.”
“…Yeah, we should.” he smiles, and this time it doesn’t feel sad despite the empty look in his eyes.
After the battle is over, many are in doubt about Sasuke returning on time and as such, Naruto defends him valiantly because like hell will he allow anyone to doubt his teme!
The moment Sasuke does arrive, his eyes are bright and he’s holding back on tackling him in a tight hug, “Sasuke, I knew you’d make it!”
Sasuke looks him over, his eyes sharp, and Naruto prepares himself for a fussing…
“Of course I would.” his dark eyes take in his future mate more and he comes to a conclusion, “Seems like whoever trained you did a good job of taking care of you while I was gone. I was worried you’d be worn out, injured, or too skinny to stand. Now that I know you’re fine, I can rest easy.”
Naruto frowns with his left twitching at the news he’s hearing, “You stupid teme! You call that fussing over me! I want you to make a big deal out of me—ask me how many hours of sleep I’m getting, what my diet has been like when we were apart, and who even trained me in the first place! I cannot believe you’re being so careless about this! Don’t you care about me at all!”
“I do, but I know better than to act like my brother! I’m not going to interrogate you and treat you like you’re a little kid who can’t make a good decision to save their lives!”
“I’m not asking for that! I’m asking for some damn concern out of you, now show it to me!”
Sasuke is at his wits end with him, but he knows better than to make Naruto any angrier at him. If he does, he knows the blonde omega will do something on purpose to make him upset to get the concern he wants out of him and he knows better than to test him on it, “Alright—there is something I am wondering…who did train you?”
Naruto grins when telling him, “Pervy Sage.”
Watching the alpha’s face go from neutral to panicked in a matter of seconds had him feeling victorious in his goal to get the fussing he deserved, “You were trained by a person you call ‘Pervy Sage’?”
“Yeah.”
“…Tell me everything right now that happened when you were being trained by that monster.” Sasuke seethes, “I will kill whoever they are if they so much as dared to lay a hand on you!”
Naruto is enjoying this a bit too much and he can admit he is. He can’t enjoy it for long because Sasuke does need to start his battle with Gaara and he cannot make him delay it any longer, “The old man didn’t lay a hand on me once. He’s way too into the ladies to ever do that to me. All he did was train me while slacking off occasionally to creep on women.”
This gives Sasuke enough relief for the time being, “I’ll tell you more about it later. For now, all I want is to see you win against this guy.”
“Fine, but when I do win, you owe me that and a lot of alone time together.”
Sasuke knows this is a bit much to demand so casually but then again, he has missed Naruto severely this entire month. It took everything in him not to snap and leave Kakashi’s side to be with his omega, how he managed…well, the desire to defeat Gaara and grow strong enough to avenge his clan from Itachi’s actions were enough for motivation by a mere bit. It was hardly enough to drown out his desire to be by Naruto’s side, which is intensified now that he is by him again in person.
For now, he will do all that he can to win against Gaara. When he does, he will spend as much alone time with Naruto as possible, Iruka sensei be damned! No one is keeping his Naruto away from him for another moment!
“You’ll get it, don’t worry so much!” Naruto then hugs him and almost purrs in his ear, “Now go out and there win already for me. I’m ready for some alone time with you.”
It’s enough to leave him mildly flustered on the spot when hugging him back, “Trust me, we are getting that alone time together. I’ll win this match quick so we can get to it as soon as possible.”
Naruto beams when the hug ends and he gets ready to head back in the bleachers, “Heh, you better, teme! I’ll see you when you win!”
The moment he is in the stands, the battle can commence and Gaara’s true mission begins.