Dream
By Landlady of the Universe
Summary: Gaara doesn't sleep, but he still wants to dream…
Genre: Musing
Spoilers: Up through Chunnin Exam
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
A/N: Sort of a Gaara b-day fic. I'm not usually one to do these, but I just read the Gaara flashback in volume 15 and watched episode 66-67 and this popped into my head for some reason.
Everybody knows to stay away from the strange redheaded kid. They call him a monster and a freak when he isn't around to hear. They say he doesn't sleep. Not everyone believes that, but everyone knows that he runs around in the dead of night, and he'll kill anyone he runs across.
He wonders what sleep is like. Sometimes, he likes to watch people sleeping, memorizing every small shift in expression, and peeling back their eyelid to watch the iris dart around frantically as they dream.
Occasionally, he hears people talk about their dreams. It seems to him like such an odd experience. Pointless, but deep down he knows that he wishes that he could dream too, just once.
In a lifetime of sleeplessness, he has never experienced dreaming.
Maybe that's why he's so insane.
Once, he heard about a different kind of dream. A strange blonde kid shouted to the world about a dream that he wanted to make true. Somehow, he didn't think the blonde kid was referring to anything he saw in his sleep.
He doesn't dream like that either. But he sort of wants too. He has a purpose, a mission, but no dream.
Maybe someday he'll find one.
He hasn't been successful so far.
In the sand village, everybody knows to stay away from that strange redheaded kid. They call him Gaara. The demon who loves only himself. They say he doesn't sleep.
But he still wants to dream.