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“I’ve been looking all over for you!” Naruto exclaims.
Gaara looks up at the tree, and blinks. “Why are you upside down?” he asks.
Naruto is currently—for reasons Gaara is yet to fathom—hanging upside down off a tree branch, anchored by his knees.
“I was getting a fresh perspective,” Naruto says loftily. “Pervy Sage says it can be important to approach things from a new direction when you’re stuck.”
Gaara blinks again. “I see.”
He does not see.
“So I figured, I’d already looked everywhere, and couldn’t find you, so maybe I had to take Pervy Sage’s advice!” Naruto continues. “And see! It worked!”
Far be it from Gaara’s place to question the wisdom of one of the legendary Sannin, but he somehow doubts Naruto’s orientation within the world contributed muchly to his success. Then again, he also somewhat doubts this is what Jiraiya meant, so perhaps no offence would be taken.
“I see,” Gaara says again. Naruto is grinning at him, that infectious way that makes even Gaara’s lips curl up at the corners. “Well. You have found me.”
“I’m the best,” Naruto says, preening.
Gaara does not disagree.
“Are you… planning to stay there?” he asks eventually, when Naruto shows no sign of moving.
“Well,” Naruto begins, squirming a little uncomfortably. “I might. Possibly. Have stuck myself here too. Just to make sure I didn’t fall off while I looked super hard for you! But I found you quicker than I thought I would…”
He looks so dejected that Gaara swallows his laugh. “I see,” he says, then looks thoughtfully up at Naruto’s position. “Hm.”
He summons his sand, then uses it to float up to where Naruto is.
“You’re so cool, Gaara,” Naruto says, bright and enthused all at once, and it makes Gaara’s cheeks pink.
“Thank you,” Gaara says neatly. “Perhaps I can unlatch you from the tree?” he muses, examining Naruto’s position.
“Wait wait wait,” Naruto says, all in a rush, like the words are tripping their way out of his mouth. Gaara waits. “First. Uh. This was like a quest, right?”
It was not.
“In what way?” Gaara asks, brow furrowed.
“Like,” Naruto says, sounding lost, then rallies. “Like I wanted to find you, then I did! Like a mission! Or a quest!”
“Okay,” Gaara says. “Sure.”
“Then… a quest should have a reward,” Naruto says bravely.
Gaara considers this. “Your logic holds,” he agrees. “What sort of reward does this quest merit?”
Naruto looks shy for a moment. It’s a foreign sight. Then, boldly, he says, “A kiss.”
Gaara blinks. “A… a kiss?”
“Yes,” Naruto says, watching him carefully. “If—” He suddenly puts his hands on his cheeks and yells wordlessly. Gaara is used to this sort of thing, and does not fall from his sands. Once Naruto recovers, he says, “If you’d… um…”
Oh.
There’s something happening to Gaara’s face. He realises, suddenly, that it’s a smile.
He tugs Naruto’s hands away from his face, and looks at him squarely, nodding resolutely.
“As Kazekage, I deem this acceptable,” he says, trying to hide his smile. Then he leans in and softly presses his lips to Naruto’s.
It’s strange. Gaara has no kissing experience, but he suspects usually you would both be upright, not one of you floating and the other hanging from a tree. But – it’s nice. Warm, soft.
And then suddenly Naruto surges forward, grinning against Gaara’s mouth, and pushes himself so far into the kiss that he unlatches from the tree. It’s only Gaara’s intrinsic sand control that has him catching them both, Naruto basically pinning him to the sand cloud before Gaara releases it in surprise. They tumble to the ground, Naruto catching them both in a roll, until they end up with Gaara flat on his back on the forest floor.
“That’s a way better kiss than any of Pervy Sage’s stupid books,” Naruto says, beaming, then looks down at Gaara’s lips again.
Gaara, a little out of breath, can’t help but look at Naruto’s lips too.
Taking it as the permission it is, Naruto leans down again. They’re on solid ground again, but it feels just as weightless as the first.