Shadow Lover

Part 5

Kiba sauntered forward, a wide smile on his face betraying no strain as he dragged a teary-eyed and struggling Naruto. The blonde's struggles against the iron grip of his friend had gained him nothing further than growing muscle pain. Unwilling to lose the battle, he had startled to sprinkle name calling and rude exclamations in between bursts of push, pulling, and prying at fingers that appeared fused to his person.

"You beast! Let me go!" Naruto screamed at his now former friend, who only responded with a chuckle and a little tup "You...you pervert!"

The accusation made a few people turn to look at the pair, blonde weepy-eyed and still struggling against the brunette, zipper riding down on his orange sweatshirt and black sweatpants riding low on his hips. A small child moved forward as if to speak up before a small tug from his mother forced him to move along, a thought that was shared by everyone else on the pathway towards the fair, as if the fair fueled their paranoia and wish to stay away from trouble.

Naruto too wished he could walk away from this trouble and save himself from the supernatural festival. He knew in the very depths of his heart that if he allowed himself to be taken there, he would surely end up cursed. It was the reason why Naruto had tried so hard to miss the blessed event and even tried to hide out at his friend Haku's house as a security measure against Kiba's persistence in making sure Naruto joined them in the ominous fair. Naruto could safely guess the reason to be the same as his obsession with trying to get Naruto to watch horror movies with him, offering the comfort of his arms while teasing and laughing at his scared friend. What he had not counted on was his friend (ex-friend now!) Haki betraying him for a laugh and embarrassing photos of Naruto from this night. The idiot!

They must have both planned it out to get me when I came out of the shower too! Naruto thought while fighting against his captor, The bastards!

Of course I could do nothing to fight as they blinded me with a flash, trapped me in a blackout blanket, and carried me out of his apartment without a stitch to my name. Worse still is that Kiba had childproofed the backdoors to his car, something Naruto immediately found out about as his efforts to try to open the door or roll down the windows failed to activate the mechanisms that would have allowed for his escape. To add insult to injury, Kiba had commandeered his clothes until such a time as Naruto agreed to come to the occult fair with him, even threatening to take away the blanket, the only means of clothing he had, and leaving him alone in the car like some kind of pervert, not to mention his money and phone had been left at Haku's place. Naruto had managed to get dressed, fully expecting to go back on his promise (If Kiba could be so underhanded, then so could he!), but he had not accounted for Kiba's iron grip.

"You stupid baka! Let me go!" Naruto repeated for the tenth time, "I don't want to go in there! It is freaking scary! I will get cursed! Cursed! Stop it you baka!"

"Don't be such a coward. You'll be fine," Kiba said to the blonde, without even a glance back, "And if you're not, I will be there to protect you."

The fact that the last was said in a flirtatious tone only served to further infuriate the blonde. "You are going to get me cursed just so you can have a feel!" Naruto screamed at the brunette with no regard as to whom heard, "Dude, stop with the sexual harrassment and get a boyfriend already! A friend can only take so much!"

Kiba only laughed as another boy came to join them as they reached the entrance to the fair.

"You guys are being too loud." stoic-looking Shikamaru said as he approached the pair. "Kiba, let go of Naruto. And Naruto, grow a pair. The whole thing is a cash grab. A hoax. No need to get your panties in a twist."

At first startled, Naruto then felt somewhat relieved at his friend's words, leading to tears streaming down his face from pure relief, "But it is so scary!"

"What a pain," Shikamaru said, chopping the duo apart and taking Naruto by the shoulder to join the rest of the group. "Come with me, crybaby. And keep up Kiba."

Kiba huffed in exasperation of having Naruto stolen so easily but diligently walked behind them as they joined the rest of the group.

"You're finally here!" said a spunky blonde girl dressed in a floral dress and a purple leather jacket, "We've been waiting ages for you guys."

"Sorry guys. Naruto just had a little trouble getting out of shower," Kiba told the group, taking the initiative to push Shikamaru away from Naruto. "Thankfully I was there to help."

"You're incorrigible," Shikamaru said as Choji grunted in agreement in between mouthfuls of chips.

"What a creep," spoke a familiar voice from behind the group, which parted to reveal the newcomer who had spoken.

Naruto was shocked to see the fiery Gaara join their party. Wearing a wine red bomber jacket and black skintight pants adorned with the same chains and charms from their first encounter, Gaara certainly matched the atmosphere of the place.

Gaara's eyes came to focus on Naruto, looking him up and down as if his eyes could lick him with his stare, before addressing the subject of his stare, "Hey."

"Um, hey," responded Naruto, almost by instinct.

"And why are you here?!" Kiba shouted, immediately guarding Naruto behind him. "Who invited this bastard?!"

Ino whacked Kiba on the head and angrily retorted, "I did! Be nice, you beast!"

Then turning to the rest of the group, she gestured to Gaara and briefly introduced him, "This is Gaara. We are in the same Science and History class. He is 2 years younger than us, but is a positive genius!"

"Hi," Shikamaru said to Gaara with a brief wave, a sentiment echoed by Choji who was on his way to finishing his second bag of chips.

"Hey," Gaara simply answered, his eyes never leaving the blonde who had managed to forget his grievances and pushed his rash friend aside to rejoin the group.

"Okay, enough of this awkwardness!" Ino said, quickly distributing the wristbands before taking Naruto's hand in one hand and Gaara on her other to direct them towards the entrance, "Let's go guys!"

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Sorry guys. Had to break this one up. It was getting way too long!