Sometimes, there are stories you don’t tell others. You do not tell them these stories because you understand it can be hard for them to accept. In some cases, it is because nobody can truly understand your reasons for doing them.

I myself have these stories. Some of these tales involve my infidelity, which other parties aside from me will dare not speak. However, these stories have an impact on myself and the people it had affected. What we learn is something we bring along with ourselves as time passes, and it becomes experience.

The main story most people know about me is that I was almost a weapon. My parents died sealing Kurama inside of me. It made me one of the strongest and possibly uncontrollable powers in the village of Konoha. I was shunned, but over time, especially during times of plight such as the Fourth Shinobi War and the incident involving Pain, I have learned that what matters most is your actions.

So I became a regular human ninja. Or at least I can feel that way.

There is another one like me. He was meant to be a weapon. They sealed the one-tailed Shukaku into him. Gaara was one to understand what it means to be isolated. Everyone, including the most powerful of this world, know that super-beings exist.

Gaara and I, sealed in ourselves the power of mighty beings, understand what it means to be one of these abominations.

Unfortunately for Gaara, he never knew how to care. He only understood pain because even the people closest to him have torn his heart to pieces. Having a village council attempt several assassinations against you, including your own blood uncle, is something that can drive even me mad.

This was how I grew close to understanding Gaara for how he is. We both longed to be powerful. We both longed to become more than ourselves. But what we most longed for is acceptance and recognition. We don’t want to be feared; all we wanted was human compassion.

It is not a foreign thought to me that Gaara has since looked up to me as his role model for being a compassionate person. In fact, it has given me pleasure to think of myself as someone to be seen in such a manner.

What makes me feel better is the fact that doing so has helped him become the person he is. Gaara has become kind, concerned, and uses his powers only to help others. He has always been that kind of compassionate human. All he needed was to see someone who was just like him overcome his inner beast and be who everyone needed him to be when the moment called for it.

Before the events that led me to become romantically involved with Hinata, I had always watched him in secret. Just like a mentor who had concern over his student, I watched over him. Gaara’s positive changes improved my own understanding of myself. This meant we both supported each other’s existence in great ways.

There was one incident that anyone would’ve seen as a red flag. However, I saw it as a reflection of myself. It was a moment that confirmed partly the reason why I should care more about others than how much I currently did.

And I told myself I would have done the same thing if I stepped in his shoes during that time.

***

While preparing for the Fourth Shinobi War, Gaara had once approached me to consider thinking of my own safety because people cared about me dying. I knew he wouldn’t tell me that he cared, but I knew he did. However, I told him my reasons for fighting. I can never rest knowing I haven’t done my part in helping my village survive the ordeal.

Unfortunately, someone in secret grieved for me as I made my decision. I haven’t known it yet. However, Gaara knew who it was.

Once my preparations were complete, it was only a month until Konoha participates in the war. This meant having consistent training schedules for all ninjas about to take part. Gaara was one of them. I knew he wanted to defend me. I knew that he wanted to have my back when the storm begins.

Both of us trained hard and strong. We both showed our adequacy. As powerful ninjas sealed with super-beings capable of unspeakable power, we both knew we had to be under control when things got messy during the conflict.

We would talk to each other often in-between and after training sessions.

“You’re getting better, huh?” Gaara said.

“Likewise. We’d better survive.”

“Just like you, Naruto. Even with this level of capability, I know I still can’t defeat you.”

“Still hung up on that?”

“Not exactly.” Gaara grinned. It was weird to see him do that with his dark eyes.

The man with the tattoo of love on his forehead. I wonder if he had ever known what love is. But maybe he does, else he wouldn’t feel this way about his allies or friends.

Training days continue. Hinata, Sakura, and all the other female ninjas are doing as great as us. We would become an unstoppable force.

Hinata approached me after training once and spoke to me in her calming voice.

“How are you doing?”

“I think we’re reaching our maximum potential.” I smiled at her. “We’d be like a wall they can’t pass to get to Konoha.”

Hinata smiled.

“You’re doing great, though. Who knew we’d all be this strong now?”

Hinata blushed.

“I just don’t want anyone from this village getting hurt,” she said. “If it comes down to it, I’ll have everyone’s back.”

That’s the spirit.

“Definitely gonna have everyone’s back, too!” I said.

Hinata smiled.

“You know, Naruto” she said. “I feel that by wartime, many things left unspoken would be left as they are.”

I stared at her, a little confused.

“What unspoken things?”

“You see…” she looked away. “I…

“Nevermind. I’ll see you tomorrow then, okay?” She hurried off.

I wonder what that was about.

Gaara approached me as I stared out to a Hinata dashing to the outer rims of the training field.

“Ladies can really be confusing” I said.

Gaara stared at me. “You might mean people who find it difficult to say what they really mean.”

I told Gaara what Hinata told me.

“Well,” he said. “She is definitely having trouble saying what she does want to say.”

“That’s her, all right” I sighed. “Hey, see you tomorrow. I’m really bushed.”

Gaara nodded without saying anything. I can still feel his eyes following me upon exiting the training field.

Sure. It’s nice to have someone look up to you. But what he did was just creepy. No way he has the hots for me, right? That would be really weird.

***

During the last week of our training, I started to feel the pre-battle shivers. A war. It’s not something to take lightly. Not even if you possess the power of the nine-tails. Not even if you have a one-tail-powered ally helping you out.

I needed to talk about my shaking hands and wary thoughts with someone. I think that would be Gaara.

I bet he’s also shaking with adrenaline. I bet every ninja about to go all out is feeling this right now.

I head to his quarters quietly so as not to wake the village.

I was about to knock when I heard a muffled crying voice from his door.

It was a girl’s voice. A familiar one.

Hmm. Gaara with a woman. That’s a first. I mean, not that he doesn’t look the type.

I needed to know who it is.

From the outside, I hung myself just enough to peer into his window without being noticed.

I couldn’t believe who I saw who was with him.

***

“There there” he said. “I have been through battles and I know how it feels. And this coming war, it’s not something I take lightly, too.”

Gaara stared on the floor.

Hinata looked at him with pleading eyes. It’s the first time I saw her like this. I know Hinata does cry, but not this emotionally. Not as passionately as she is doing right now.

“I know he can control his powers. I know he’s stronger than any one of us. I know he can even save the village single-handedly. But what if he doesn’t survive this one?”

Who?

“He’s even defeated me, a man designed to be a weapon for a village that disowned me” Gaara said. There was sadness in his eyes. Then he smiled — it still looked strange to me.

“He’ll survive. I’ll make sure of it.”

“You’ll make sure of it?” Hinata said. “I am prepared to give my life up for him if it has to happen.”

I’m not that dense. I know it’s me they’re talking about.

Guys, I’m gonna be okay. I know you care. I have your backs, too.

“I have made sure of it” Gaara said. “So, don’t you worry. I think you should worry more about yourself.”

“I still need to tell him, Gaara” Hinata said. “I still need to tell him that I love him.”

Love who?

I know I said I’m not that dense, but Hinata loves who? Me?

Gaara sighed, then smiled. “Then we’ll make sure you get to tell him, okay?”

They both became quiet. This is all weird and Gaara’ smiling makes it weirder and weirder every second.

“Gaara” Hinata said softly. “Have you ever loved someone?”

“I love everyone here. I am ready to protect them with my life.”

“No” Hinata stared out the window. Could she see me?

No, she can’t. Not even Gaara.

“I meant someone you really feel attuned to.

“Someone whose every mistake and shortcoming you can forgive and speak not or lightly of each time.”

Gaara looked out the window. Both of them haven’t seen me yet.

The training’s paying off.

“Naruto?” he said.

I almost fell off the ledge.

Hinata must have had a weird expression on her face.

“I mean, is there someone you romantically love? Like someone who would care for you when something happens?”

Gaara blankly stared. “I don’t know what romance is. In textbooks I read, it is defined as necessary for procreation.”

I almost fell off the ledge once again. Gaara, the sand is getting through to your head.

I heard Hinata sigh. “It’s something that I have for Naruto, and maybe he doesn’t have for me, I have yet to know.”

Thinking back, I know I have always cared for you too, Hinata. I’m just not ready to say anything or admit it to myself fully, yet.

Romantically love, huh?

“No” Gaara said in a flat voice. “I think not. All I cared for was myself, then Naruto, the ninjas such as you, and this village.

“From the time Naruto defeated me, I have always looked up to him as my model of a person who understands my pain and knows how to deal with it.

“I have to say, he has done plenty of good in my life. I love him, but I love him as my reference point because I love myself.”

Hinata stared at him.

“But at one point” she began. “You will realize that you too, need to be cared for.”

She held his hand.

“Naruto has me, Gaara” she smiled. “I want you to find someone who truly cares for you, too.”

Gaara stared at her hand on his.

“But how do I know who that person is?” He said. “I don’t even know the feeling of romance.

“All my life, nobody cared for me. Not even my uncle. So why should anyone start caring for me now? Why would I need them?”

Hinata stared at him. From the looks of things, she was staring at him with love and concern. That’s Hinata for you.

“Because everyone deserves to be cared for especially when they see the world as an abomination.”

“I don’t deserve love, Hinata” he said. “I just need to be strong, just like Naruto.”

“Naruto is strong,” she leaned closer to him. “Because he knows how to love.”

Gaara stared, obviously a bit perplexed.

“Is there any special training for it?”

Hinata laughed and leaned back. She laughed so loud. Gaara looked awkward and frustrated.

Poor boy. My poor boy.

“Hinata, if you’re making fun of me, I know you know how life has been for me. I don’t under—“

She pounced on him like a kitten then met his lips with hers.

I almost fell off the ledge. It’s too early to feel jealousy. What I felt right now was curiosity.

Gaara’s lips were unmoving. He was staring at the ceiling. Hinata leaned back and looked at his eyes.

She was smiling a smile I have never seen before.

“This is love, Gaara” Hinata said. “This is how it feels when someone cares for you.”

“I don’t understand.”

Hinata smiled at him and placed her nose next to his.

“Just close your eyes,” she said. “Think of my lips as I meet yours. Think of why you want to protect me.”

This time Gaara wasn’t robot-like in his response. He did close his eyes. But his features softened. He truly does care.

Hinata held both his hands.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel warm,” he said.

“I want to teach you this, Gaara,” she said, caressing his face. “Not out of pity because you don’t know what it is.

“I’m doing this because I want you to know there is a special person that you will share a similar moment with if we survive.

“I’m not sure if we’re all coming back alive. But all I’m sure of is I want you to fight knowing that a love like this exists.”

Hinata. You’re a really special person. You’re truly an amazing woman.

Gaara smiled.

“A love… like this” he looked at her. “Someone I will share this with if I survive.”

Hinata leaned forward and touched Gaara’s face. Their lips met and lingered on each other longer.

As it happened, Hinata was slowly removing Gaara’s clothes. He knew by instinct to give in to what Hinata is doing.

Hinata ran her lips along his jawline. She then proceeded to his chest and back to his neck again.

Hinata held Gaara’s hands and placed both of them on her chest.

“Undress me.”

“Is it necessary?”

“Romantic love is reciprocal, Gaara” Hinata said. “Make me feel as I have made you.”

Not sure if he did it out of a command or out of reciprocation at all, Gaara removed Hinata’s clothes. Her white porcelain skin glowed in the light.

Gaara, having memorized Hinata’s movements, placed his lips on Hinata’s neck. She purred like a cat. He then proceeded to her chest, lingered on one’s tips, then the other.

Hinata’s hand grabbed Gaara’s and she placed it on her chest. She squeezed his hand tight against her form.

“Hinata, why is this necc—“

“Just be quiet, Gaara.” She said. “When you meet this special person, make her feel that you desire her. Reward her with the uncontrollable desire you have on the parts of her body she will not reveal to anyone else but you.”

It’s still too early to be jealous. I am more in awe of Hinata’s shining kindness and beauty.

Gaara’s hands fondled Hinata’s breasts. He is understanding all these by instinct, the feeling, the pleasure. The understanding of what it means to have someone to love.

Hinata removed Gaara’s underclothes. She then pushed him forward to lie down.

“Hinata, is that okay for you to—“

Hinata motioned him to be silent and smiled at him. She grabbed the length of his manhood. Gaara didn’t know how to react. However, he did let out a moan.

Hinata ran her tongue from root to tip, twirling it in circles upon reaching the tip. The feelings were truly foreign for Gaara; he couldn’t move. He didn’t know how to react. However, he gulped and looked at the ceiling, then closed his eyes.

The feeling of pleasure, indeed.

Congratulations, dear boy.

Hinata then consumed him whole. She motioned her head up and down, delivering feelings that Gaara never felt before, and never knew he would. He held Hinata’s hand as she continued what she did.

Hinata then removed her underclothing. She then sat on top of Gaara.

“Do you understand now, Gaara?”

She held his manhood and kept her hands and fingers moving.

Gaara was at a loss for words.

“I think so” he said.

“Good” Hinata smiled. “I’m glad.”

She inserted him into her womanhood. Gaara’s eyes closed. He let out a moan. Hinata purred in ecstacy as she slowly worked herself on Gaara.

Her pumping motions became faster, then slower, in the entire time they made romantic love, as Hinata put it.

HInata touched Gaara’s cheek. His eyes were closed. Hinata smiled. She probably thought of him like a lost kitten.

“Who knew you’d look really cute doing this?” Hinata said.

“You’re not just a weapon to kill, Gaara. You’re one of us. You’re human. You deserve this. All of this.”

She leaned forward, not losing her motion, and met Gaara’s lips again.

This time, he knew what to do. He wrapped his arms around her as they continued their motions of ecstatic proportions.

Gaara closed his eyes. Probably a hundred million new nerves opened up inside him. He probably felt different now about life, about this village, and maybe about Hinata.

I’m getting a bit jealous about that thought.

“Gaara. Survive. Not for me. But so you can see the rest of the world with different eyes” Hinata said.

“We both love the same man even though it is different. But Naruto is not the only person you can love. You deserve someone you can treasure, and who also treasures you.”

Hinata’s motions became faster. The purrs, moans, and erotic sounds continued to reverberate inside the room.

“H-Hinata” Gaara stammered. The feelings continued to overflow within him.

The motions stopped. Gaara was gasping loudly, his face all read. Hinata leaned on his chest. She held Gaara’s face with one hand, caressed it with her thumb.

“You deserve to be loved, Gaara. Maybe not by me because my heart belongs to someone else.” Hinata said.

“But you have a good soul. Both you and Naruto are almost cut from the same mold” she looked up at him, meeting his tired, curious, and relaxed eyes.

“Both of you are lovable, despite what you think of yourselves.”

I’m not sure how long I was on the ledge I was standing on. But the sunlight was the cue for me to leave.

I lost sleep to see two people share a tender moment.

But maybe that was necessary.

These things you told him, Hinata.

Thank you.

***

The last few hours before the first operation, Gaara approached me. He had a different vibe.

“Oy,” I said. “How did you manage to sleep?”

He smiled. This time, it wasn’t weird. It was different.

“Well, I have to sleep else if I didn’t have it, I’d die in the battlefield.”

There was a different fluctuation in his voice. Afterglow, was it?

Hinata was stretching and was still shaking from the pre-battle tensions she felt the night.

This time, I was the one to approach her.

“Hey,” I said. “You feeling okay?”

Hinata stared at me. Her sweet eyes still staring at me.

“Naruto, please come back alive for me” she said. “If you guarantee it, then I’ll feel better.”

I smiled, knowing where all this statement comes from.

I looked her in the eyes and said: “I definitely will.

“And you’d better come back alive, too.”

She looked at me, surprised. Then she smiled.

I smiled back.

Gaara looked at me. His face was blank.

Then it was his turn to smile at me. It wasn’t weird to see now, I don’t know why.

“From monsters to men, huh?” he said.

“Indeed, fellow jinchuriki” I said. “But now, we must become monsters yet again to protect the people who matter most.”

I looked at Hinata, who looked back at me, turned red, and smiled.

And then, after 30 seconds, we launched into a war that would determine the fate of our world, our village, and our future.