Gentle Caress

Toad Manor

She called the kids down and they came down. One after another, she gave them their remedies. They would have to take said medicine to remove the worms and parasites living inside them for at least a week. Sai was given bed rest until his ankle could support his own weight.

That night, she tucked her mudpuppies together in one of the bigger rooms. It would take a while to break their habit of sleeping together but they'll work it out. Baby steps. She left the room and went hunting for Jiraya's liquor stash. Where could that toad have hidden it? She was in desperate need of a drink. It has been so long since her last one. The moon was high in the sky when she gave up, opting instead to stand outside. It was late May so summer was just around the corner, yet the night was cool. She stepped outside and was confused to see two little bodies outside. They were sitting on the steps looking up at the night sky.

Naruto couldn't sleep that night. Which was unusual. Normally, once his head hits the pillow, he was out. But tonight was not a normal night, apparently. He sat up once he realized that sleep wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Gaara noticed the movement and waved. The blonde crawled out of the bed and over to where Gaara was playing with his bear. The redhead smiled, "can't sleep?"

"No."

"Wanna look at the stars? They look so pretty through the window."

"Sure." As quietly as they could, they stepped outside. The stars were very pretty. It reminded him of the night sky in Konoha. When he would have to hunt for his own food since people would often overcharge him for everything. He could see galaxies and nebulas, planets, and stars. No matter how many times he saw them, he could never get bored of them. "So pretty."

"I know. I asked Yashamaru if my mom was up there, and he told me that she wasn't. That my mom was always with me. That she was the one who protected me from danger. But... Now that I kinda understand what having a mom is like... I don't... think it's my mom. My mom is up there. In the stars. And that the thing inside... I don't know what it is..."

There was a moment of silence between them. Naruto let out a sigh, looking at the redhead. "I understand... how you feel."

"You do?" His sea-green eyes widened as he turned to meet Naruto's eyes. He had found it kind of weird that the blonde had not dropped the hedge, now that they were far away from anywhere they could be identified. But he didn't ask, his friend seemed more relaxed as a redhead than as a blonde.

"Yeah... I've never told anyone this before. Not even the old man... But... I think there's something inside me too. And I'm not talking about the worms kaa-chan is trying to kick out of our bodies." Gaara giggled. "It happened once. See... back ho- in Konoha, we had a festival. It was called the Kyuubi Festival, and it was held in early October. It was to celebrate the Fourth Hokage and his success against the nine-tailed fox that attacked the village. I hated it."

"Why?"

"Because the festival landed on my birthday. And I know that most kids would be so excited to have a festival on their birthday, but I didn't. To me, the festival was a time when people would come after me. They made a game out of it. Adults would join together and hunt me down. I was about five, so I don't remember it too much. My landlord had locked me out of my apartment, as I couldn't hide there. So I ran off, took a wrong turn, and ended up at a dead-end. The horde found me and started beating me. It got to the point where I stopped fighting it. They told me that I deserved it and some part of me agreed that I did. I blacked out at some point. I woke up in a sewer. Only... It wasn't a sewer. It didn't smell like one at least. I walked to the end of it and there was a giant cage there. Couldn't see what was inside but I did see these big red eyes looking back at me. I wasn't scared of them, weirdly enough. Before I could ask what or who it was, I woke up. I was being carried home by one of the Anbu. Asked if they had found me in a sewer, to which he shook his head.