Naruto
The first thing Naruto did when arriving at the area where Sasuke and Gaara were located was to glance at Sasuke and drop everything he was about to say to the volatile alpha, “Ah! Sasuke, what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine, Naruto. It’s no big deal—”
“Yes it is! You’re hurt and I wasn’t here to stop it from happening!”
His Uchiha wanted to rip his hair out the moment this was said. He couldn’t believe he had to tell him what was pretty damn obvious, “Naruto, stay out of it! I don’t want you to get hurt by this guy!”
The blonde omega wasn’t budging on this, “Oh hell no, teme, you don’t get to talk to me like that, not when you look like you’re about to pass out at any moment!”
“You don’t understand—he’s not like any other person we’ve ever faced before! I could hardly hold my own against him, and I don’t want you by any alpha who can attack his own sister at the very mention of Lee’s name!”
Sasuke hadn’t managed to much of a hit on Gaara—in fact, despite his attempt to defeat him, he had used up too much chakra on using Chidori one too many times and as such, was left in a state where he couldn’t hold off Gaara much longer.
The very fact he snapped and more of the sand from the gourd on his back came around him to form a new nightmarish body at the mention of the omega in their village had him fearing for Naruto’s life the moment he arrived. He’s terrified of the prospect of Gaara getting close to Naruto and hurting him because he’s an omega.
(Sure, Naruto may try to say otherwise, but if he could hide working with that bastard Orochimaru all of this time—then what else could he be hiding? For all they know, he could be worse than Neji was to Lee.)
He kicks himself for not knowing Naruto better, because true to form, his omega—whose stubborn nature he usually loves, but wishes he would do away with in this moment—frowns and snarls at him, “How dare you tell me to leave—I’m not leaving, not now, not when that bastard hurt you!”
“Naruto—”
“Don’t ‘Naruto’ me, not when you look like that!” he is pissed and Sasuke feels so stupid for ever saying anything to try to get him to run, “I am not leaving you behind, I refuse to! Even then, how dare you assume this is only about you?”
He is curious as to who else it could be about, wondering if there is another alpha or beta Naruto could be fighting for, feeling a momentary jealous that fades the second he says, “That bastard not only hurt you…he also hurt Lee with all of this. Lee is going through some stuff with his family right now and I can’t help but to think Gaara is just as responsible as Neji for it. If he thinks he can pull this crap on our home, our families, our friends, and Lee, then he has another thing coming to him.”
Sasuke is left to feel stupid while Sakura is left to wonder what all was going on she wasn’t told about by Ino over this last month. She wonders if she has done enough to earn her trust back or not if she didn’t tell her about whatever it is that has been bothering her fellow omega friend. It’s something she stores in the back of her mind to later ask her when this is all over and their lives have a semblancy of the old normalcy they used to possess.
Naruto heads over to Sasuke’s side, kisses him on the cheek, and gives him a confident, “Don’t worry, I’ll beat this guy for you and for Lee.”
Sasuke doesn’t know if he can trust him to win against such a monstrous alpha, but when he sees Naruto looking at him in the way he does whenever he has one too many thoughts running through his mind, making him start to lose focus from anxiety, he knows what to say in order to help his future mate out, “You better, Naruto. You’re going to be the next Hokage—this alpha should be nothing for you.”
Naruto loses whatever tension was within himself when he hears this, leaving him to face Gaara head on properly, “You’re going to regret hurting my teme, jerk!”
Gaara didn’t so much as budge, though to Naruto he appeared to be…rather demonic looking—it reminded him of the nine tailed fox within himself, but if it were to take over him physically.
Wait—is Gaara like him?
He doesn’t know or really care. What matters is settling this now so he can take Sasuke to somewhere safe and save his home along with everyone he cares about back there.
(Iruka sensei, may you be safe—may we have not lost anything, he chants in his mind.)
“Hurting your teme? Is that how you talk to someone you hold dearly enough to protect?”
Naruto is taken aback by this for a simple reason, “Excuse me, who are you to talk! Sasuke is going to be my mate someday and he knows teme is my nickname for him! Besides, you have no room to speak…I believe Sasuke when he says you attacked your sister—”
“I don’t care for her so don’t use her if you want to be smart about it.” Gaara then goes on to say in a voice that is slowly becoming distorted, “I have no reason to love anyone else—I love only myself and will defend only myself. Unlike you, I am not weakened by loving or caring about anyone else outside of myself.”
“Oh yeah right, like you’re one to talk!” Naruto isn’t taking this lying down for good reason, “I saw the way you and Lee spoke to each other before the match you had with Sasuke. It’s obvious he likes you and cares a lot about you—Ino thinks he has a crush on you even. For you to go and do something so horrible like this, when he’s already going through a tough time, knowing it will hurt him… You’re a real piece of work, you know that? How can you be so selfish to hurt him like this?”
He narrowly dodges an attack from Gaara, the sand spike grazing his cheek while the alpha glowers, “Don’t bring him up…he has nothing to do with this…don’t involve him in this.”
In response, Naruto huffs, pointing at him accusatorily, “Ha! You do care about Lee! If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be acting so crazy like you are now! So stop that talk about loving only yourself when it’s obvious you are just like me, with someone you want to mate someday too!”
“I am not—”
“You are too, quit lying about it! Look, me speaking about Lee is enough to make you actually do something impressive in a fight. If that isn’t making you stronger, then what is?”
Gaara seethes, his next move one that none of them saw coming, “You actually are naïve enough to believe I was weak enough to need such an upgrade to my power?”
“To be fair…I didn’t really see much of your skill in any battle so…you can’t blame me for thinking it.”
“I’m powerful...powerful enough to know I don’t need any mention or thought of him to be stronger than I am now. Thinking of him, speaking of him…it won’t help anything. All I need is to do what I normally do when I want to feel alive: kill.”
Before Naruto knew it, Sasuke was being pinned to the tree by a large splatter of Gaara’s sand, the alpha’s body now half monster and half human, his eyes changing when speaking to Naruto, “Let me guess…you believe fighting for him will give you strength to defeat me? You’re painfully naïve, but I guess you can’t help it—naivete seems to be trait of you Konoha omegas.”
The tail made of sand swishes ominously behind him, his eyes narrowing, his voice sounding less and less human the longer he spoke, with the blood in his scent overpowering the lavender present, “If you cannot defeat me in time, the sand will crush your alpha to death and you will lose your mate along with your own life when I inevitably win.”
Naruto seethed because there is something that is bothering him, “You’re really going to act like you did nothing wrong to Lee, huh? Well, okay—if I am going to lose my life and Sasuke if I do lose, then if you lose, you have to go back to the village and apologize to Lee for all that you’ve done to hurt him.”
All he got in response was a scream—no, more like a pained cry as Gaara clutched at his forehead over the mark on his forehead, Naruto feeling smothered by the scent of blood and starting to believe he may be a bit over his head in choosing to fight this alpha.
The entire fight, Gaara was stuck in his thoughts.
Thoughts of his memories, thoughts of his life…thoughts of Lee…Lee…the omega making his way into his mind like a snake slithering in a bird’s nest yet he’s not certain if thoughts of the omega are unwanted or not.
He’s throwing all that he has at the blonde omega from Konoha, having told him the same basic story of his life he told Lee, yet being met with nothing more than an angered opponent more determined than ever to defeat him.
It shocks him to know this omega can summon a giant toad to use in battle. It shocks him to know this omega can hold his own against him whereas Naruto appears more shocked that Gaara himself is actually strong.
(He’s actually more upset at Neji than anything for making him look so weak to the other Genins in the village—thanks to his using that damn mark to make Lee lose at their match, Gaara didn’t get the chance he got to have a proper battle where he could showcase his skills. Now he has people thinking he’s weak when he’s anything but…damn that alpha for this! When he’s done with Naruto and Sasuke, he should go back to take on that smug Hyuuga for what he’s done!)
We should go back to kill the Hyuuga for trying to take our mate from us.
Stupid, stupid Shukaku! Like Gaara has any need for a mate, let alone one like Lee who most likely is going to be mated to Neji anyway when he leaves!
Can you imagine that guy being mated to our omega? How disgusting! He better not lay a hand on him or else I’ll rip his throat out myself!
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
Gaara is focused on this battle—well, he’s trying to remain focused. It’s hard when Shukaku is so damn loud and he’s bringing up Lee over and over again, triggering something he’s never felt before or been able to identify ever since meeting the omega.
Is this some sort of instinctual reaction being flared by Shukaku?
Is this a type of early puberty being caused by the spirit’s open desire to mate Lee?
He doesn’t have the time or energy to care. All he has time and energy to care about are two simple things: winning in this battle and completing his mission.
Though he didn’t expect Naruto to actually put up as good of a fight as he has so far. In light of these recent successes the omega has made in battle against him, Gaara is left to do the one thing he doesn’t want to do yet is left with no other option at this moment in the battle: play possum.
He doesn’t want to sleep—no matter how much he could use it—because he knows when he does, Shukaku will flood his mind with thoughts of Lee (or so he tells himself). At this moment, he has no other choice but to tolerate whatever images of Lee Shukaku will put in his head…
All he sees are images of Lee smiling at him, holding out his hand, “Gaara, I’m glad you’re alright. Do you want to go to somewhere we can be alone for a while? I’d like to have at least one moment alone with you before you go.”
It’s nice because it’s just so…Lee.
To accept him no matter what he’s done and forgive no matter what’s gone on.
He doesn’t mind playing possum if it means he’s not stuck with his awful childhood memories or whatever else it is Shukaku can throw at him. At least with this, he can feel a semblance of safety, allowing himself to follow Lee and forget this is all a dream and he’s in a serious battle somewhere out there.
At the end of the battle, they are both on the ground, both of them worn out and breathing heavily.
Sasuke’s life has been saved and Sakura—who had been smart enough to keep her mouth shut and lie low the entire time this battle went on—went over to Sasuke’s side. The young alpha was passed out from the weight of the sand choking him until his eyes closed and his breathing slowed. However, now that the sand is gone from him, he’s breathing normally, his chest rising up and down in a manner a healthy person’s would.
She doesn’t hesitate to take him to Naruto. She truly didn’t believe he would win, but he did. He won and defeated someone as powerful as Gaara all on his own.
It makes her want to strive to be that strong so when they do face Deidara and Itachi someday, Sakura will be able to be as strong as Ino as Naruto was for Sasuke in this instance.
Meanwhile, with Gaara and Naruto, the alpha is annoyed with himself as he realizes he had thought of Lee the entire time he was asleep. He actually thought of him in a fond manner, finding him to be a soothing balm to his constant hot rage and agonizing misery that came with his memories, his very reason for existence in his eyes.
In all of his humiliation, Gaara cannot find it in himself to fight any longer. All of his chakra spent, all he wants is to go home and recover, to forget any of this ever happened and that Lee ever existed so it won’t be so—
“You’re still moving? How?”
Naruto is dragging himself by his chin, his stubbornness driving him when explaining his side of the story, “I was…just like you. I had no parents, everyone in the village hated me for the nine tailed fox inside me…and I was angry at them for the longest time. Then I got people in my life who cared about me…who gave me a home, who gave me a family, and friendship and a whole life I’d never thought I’d have. You can go ahead and think I’m weak for having people who I care about, but…they made me strong. They made me who I am today and who I will be when I become hokage.”
He is seething when getting closer to Gaara, who is immobilized by not only the loss of his chakra, but the fiery determined glare of the omega approaching him, “You talk all big and tough…you act like you love no one but yourself, but in my eyes, you like Lee. You fought harder and transformed faster because I kept bringing him up. The thought of him drove you to be stronger than you are usually and if that isn’t proof that you’re all talk, then what else is?”
He won’t acknowledge that. He can’t, he won’t—he doesn’t like that omega, he doesn’t want to mate that omega, he’s—
“Which is why…I am going to do whatever it takes to drag you back to the stadium where he is laying there unconscious because of you and make you apologize to him for all the trouble you caused him!” he is getting angrier the longer he speaks, leaving Gaara to wish his body would move already, “He was the only one who cheered for you in that stand because he likes you—not because of some bet, but because he likes you as a person for some reason or another, without caring if anyone would try to hurt him for it. Now when this is all over, he’s going to be left with people hating him for it and his family probably treating him like garbage for it.”
Why is his family being brought up? Is there something going on? Is Lee in danger of winding up like the cousin he mentioned to him?
No, he doesn’t care. He is an omega from a village he will never see or speak to again—
“I think you’re worse than Neji because at least Neji could apologize to Lee for all that he had done to him right to face like any decent person would. You may think you’re blameless in what happened to Lee, but you aren’t! His family…they probably wouldn’t have ever gotten involved and tried to get him to mate Neji if you hadn’t ever reacted the way you did at your first match with him. Now you have the nerve to pull this and try to leave without ever considering what he’s feeling after all you did to the one person who was ever nice to you? Yeah, you’re definitely worse than Neji and I won’t let you off the hook that easy!”
Before he could reach that bastard who ruined Lee’s life, Temari and Kankuro appear out of the woods to get Gaara. Temari is about to argue in Gaara’s defense, her green eyes full of rage at the ballsy omega to say what he did to her brother, “You don’t know anything about that situation. How dare you act as though Gaara was ever a problem when it was all—”
“…Temari, stop.”
To her brother’s command, she stops her speech and instead listens when he says, “Temari, Kankuro…I’m sorry. Let’s go home.”
The moment they are gone, Naruto growls and yells, “Cowardly jerk! How dare you leave Lee behind like this! After everything he did to support you no matter what…screw you! I hope he ends up with Shikamaru or Neji or—or anyone better than you!”
He was about to push himself further when Sakura’s voice cut him out of his thoughts, “Naruto, stop. It’s over, he’s gone; you’ve done all that you can to win and you’ve won. We need to get you and Sasuke back to the village to heal, okay?”
He glares at the sky, not okay with them leaving like that—with Gaara leaving so easily, running away from his responsibilities while Lee is left to deal with the brunt end of the aftermath of this invasion.