Dropping Off The Jinchuuriki

"Oh yeah, well then I refuse to breath!" Naruto kicked Gaara's sand dome for good measure and then turned around and jumped into the water, diving all the way to the bottom of the middle of the pond and sitting there corss-legged. From the surface shot many bubbles but after about thirty seconds they pittered out and eventuqlly stopped. He didn't come up.

ooc: Yeah, they're both little brats. X3

He blinked, not hearing anything. He let his sand drop, looking around, not seeing Naruto anymore. "Naruto..??"

"Naruto, you fool. Refusing to breath and refusing to drown, which one sounds like a better cause.." He stopped, turning his head towards the water. So, if Naruto refused to breath, would he hold himself at the bottom of the pond so he wouldn't be able to? Probably. "Naruto!"

He stood at the edge of the pond, kneeling down and staring into the water. What the hell was he supposed to do, now? He suddenly looked worried, slowly reaching his arm into the water, then pulling it back out, he realized that the blond hadn't come back up. And he also wouldn't be able to hear Gaara from under the water, so he wouldn't start to breath again. So all of this may have been a way to get Gaara to go into the water. He frowned, not caring anymore, and took his gourd off, jumping into the pond.

He swore mentally, getting to the bottom of the pond and opening on eye, looking around. Even at how incapable he was of swimming, he somehow managed to find Naruto, not taking the time to see what the blond was doing, and grabbed him by the hair, yanking him along before he finally got back to dry land. Pulling Naruto out of the water, he gasped, choking slightly and feeling extremely heavy, not only from the water but from the mud that was covering him as well.

He poked Naruto, his hair stuck to his face, and wondered if the boy was still alive. "Naruto..?? Start b-breathing again, you f-fool..!"

((ooc: Well, that was long. Yes, they are brats, aren't they?))

Naruto exhaled and his face turned from the light purple it had becom to a more red and then a slow pink. He gasped a bit and then turned his head to Gaara with his toungue sticking out. "Haha, gotcha, didn't I? No water intake, see?" He opened his mouth wide as if there was some sign he didn't drink water in there. "I can hold my breath for pretty long, huh?" He grinned happily. "Now that you're all wet, come in with me Gar-Gar."

ooc: SUPER long, I'm glad you didn't accidently delete it all before posting... *grumble*

"You.." He glared, his eyes filling with murderous intentions, and he slowly raised one of his hands, mud dripping from it. He mumbled something, forcing his hand to go back down to the ground, his fingers curling around the dirt. "Why would.. hnn.."

((ooc: Even if I did, I had saved it before I sent it. I usually do that with really long messages.. and I need to go to the grocery store >_>))

ooc: waaaahh!! come back...

Naruto sat up and peered around Gaara. "But now you're all sloshy. You should have come in when I told you to. Then you're clothes would be fine now." He was still grinning. "I always seem to get my way with you, huh?"

((ooc: Sorry, false alarm and computer troubles))

"Don't.. talk to me.. again.." He mumbled, turning his eyes away and attempting to stand up. It didn't work, so he just crossed his arms and glared at the ground. "I'll kill you..."

Though, the whole reason why he was glaring at the ground was that he knew he wouldn't hurt Naruto on purpose, and he also felt slightly stupid.

Naruto's smile crashed and he cocked his head to the side in puzzlement. "What's wrong? You're sand isn't that bad, is it?" He didn't take Gaara's warning that seriously but didn't like how he wouldn't look right at him like he usually did when he was mad.

"..." He didn't reply, watching as water dripped from his hair, keeping his eyes on the ground. "Just don't."

Naruto crawled hastily over to his pants behind Gaara and pulled out a kunai. "You shouldn't take it so seriously," He said non-chelantly. "If I'm gonna be your friend I have to deal with all your angry outbursts and if you're gonna be my friend you have to deal with all my over-the-top shinanigins." He grinned at Gaara who couldn't see him from behind unless he turned so it was a wasted smile. "Although my over-the-top sinanigins seem to always lead to your angry outbursts, heheh." Then he crawled back to Gaara and looked over the boy's shoulder. "But putting all that aside, if you don't take your clothes off now I'll cut em up, 'kay?"

"Whatever.." He leaned his elbows on his knees, putting his face in his hands and shrugging slightly. "It doesn't matter anymore.."

"O-kay do-kay!" He cheered happily and grabbed the back of Gaara's shirt, pulling it away from the back as to not cut Gaara. He then placed the kunai at the collar and ripped all the way down to Gaara's tail bone. Crawling over to the front of Gaara he pushed the boys face out of his hands and grabbed his front collar, doing the same as his did in the back and even ripping through Gaara's wrappy cloth thingy's. Now all that was holding his clothing up was the sleeves at the shoulders. Naruto leaned back, crossing his arms, and admired his work. "Come on out, boyo. We want to see that baeutiful seme body you apparently have."

He put his face back in his hands, shrugging slightly and continued to stare at the ground. "Why don't you just finish the job.."

"Because you're not a baby and you'd have to lie down for me to pull your pants-which seem to be attached to your stupid shirt- off." He grunted, really all together not wanting to take Gaara's clothes off by hand which is what he would have to do since a kunai wouldn't work.

"Well, I'm not taking them off." He shrugged again, still staring at the ground. "You've already ripped them up, why not just rip them up more.

"Damn it!" Naruto was caught between wanting to swim with someone and not wanting to take Gaara's clothes off. Eventually, the former won and he held his kunai up, ripping down Gaara's right sleeve and then his left so his shirt fell apart like a banana peel. "Alrighty, now that the top's taken care of.." His eyes fell to Gaara's pants and he gulped. "All that's left is.. The bottom.." He pushed Gaara's head out of his hands and pushed him again so he was lying, face up, on the ground. With shakey hands he started to remove Gaara's shoes. "Any fish net I find you're taking off by yourself, ok?"

"Mmhmm." He stared at the sky, feeling as his shoe was being taken off. Suddenly, his eyes widened and he covered his mouth when he started laughing, then he sat up quickly, pulling his feet away from Naruto and glaring at him as if the boy had tried to kill him. "What are you doing?!"

Now Naruto was really confused. He gave a stare at Gaara as if he was trying to understand the innerworkings of his mind. "What am I... Doing?" As he repeated the question, a sudden annoyence crawled up him and he almost felt frustrated, an emotion he usually got around Gaara. "Well, fuckface, what do you think I'm doing? I'm having an enjoyable meal with my friend. I'm wanting him to get a little meat on his bones. I'm wondering why I always screw up, and now, look at this, he's walking away. So I'm following him. Now he's having a tempertantrum. And I gotta pound the shit outta him. I'm exhaughsted. He is too, the teme. Now I'm meeting his shit faced father and trying to help him. Now I'm sitting in a hospital bed. I'm feeling pain everywhere because I've used too much chakra. I'm regretting being such an idiot and putting my friend in such pain. I'm falling asleep beside him. I'm waking up and, scared that maybe he doesn't like me so much any more cuz I had to hit him a billion times so he'd calm down, I wanna go do something with him. I want to spend time with him. So much so that I screwed over all morals and started taking his stupid clothes off for him because he's a dumb shit who doesn't know how to himself! And now, what am I doing? I'm telling him to stop asking me to do things for him and then yelling at me cuz everything's not to his likeing! That's what I'm doing, you lying teme!!!"

His words had started out barked and eventually it sounded as though they were coated in anger and tears. Either or made them louder then he meant and he got up and started walking back into the water, mad, but not at anything in particular. Just mad. Without facing Gaara he crossed his arms and looked at the water as it rippled around him. "When we were coming here you said you would swim with me. You said so..." If it weren't for the hurt in his voice he would've sounded more like a six year old who didn't get to go to McDonald's as promised

"..." He stared at Naruto, for some reason feeling as though he took a stab to the heart. Like it was starting to rip again, after so long of ignoring it. Shame trailed through his eyes, along with a look of guilt. Pushing it away seemed to be getting all the more difficult as he tried, and he felt his throat ache for unknown reasons. He gulped it away, closing his eyes and turning his head. With slow movements, he stood, stumbling slightly, and began walking away while slouching a bit. "I.. told you.. you wouldn't.. like me.."

Naruto flung around in the water, even more upset, and charged out of it. He almost tackled Gaara and they both fell to the ground. But Naruto sat up quickly and turned Gaara around so he was lying on his back. He was over him with his hands placed by Gaara's shoulders. "No! That's not how this works!" He raised a shaky fist as if to punch Gaara, but it stayed in mid air as slow realization crept into him, showing him what he was doing. He lowered his hand and exhaled over Gaara, calming himself down. He panted for a moment and stared down at his friend, his eyebrows knotted. "That's not how it works.. That's giving up. We're best friends, if either of us have a problem we work it out here and now. We don't run away."

"I'm not running away." He glared up at Naruto, to hide everything he didn't want himself to show. "I don't need anybody to work out my problems for me. I don't need friends. I don't need reliances, trust, honesty, love. Why are you even here."

Naruto's expression turned harsh but he felt weighed down like a stone. "Obviously you do if you're always sad, and obviously you do if you try to hide it so much!" He shook his head and his brain rattled in his skull. "We're pieces to the same puzzle! I promised myself I wouldn't let you down and I never go back on my word, that's my shinobi way!"

"Just give it up.." He turned his head, avoiding eye contact with Naruto and glaring at the ground beside him. He hadn't seemed to be doing the greatest job of hiding it, but he wouldn't stop now. "I am not sad. That's pitiful."

"Then you're pitiful! Call yourself whatever you'd like but it's not gonna change what's true!" He didn't make any effort to move Gaara's head, but he wanted to.

"Maybe I am pitiful, but I'm not in any need of support." He kept glaring at the ground beside him. He glanced at Naruto briefly, then quickly raised his hands and pushed the blond off of him. "And you don't need to be on top of me."

Naruto fell back a bit then leaned forward and grabbed the front of Gaara's shirt, almost growling. "Maybe you don't but I do and as my best friend you're sticking with me even if I'm mad with you!" He really wasn't mad with Gaara in the first place, nor did he believe that Gaara didn't need support. Well, he knew that Gaara didn't need support, nobody needed support, but it sure did help.