To Share The Same Traits
Chapter One: Whatcha In For?

Summary: Naruto tries to commit suicide but ends up living. When he awakes in the hospital, the patient he shares the room with turns out to be a quiet redhead named Gaara who had 'fallen down the stairs.' When Naruto leaves the hospital, he is determined to find Gaara and become the best friend he ever had and Gaara is determined to keep the hyper blond safe and out of trouble as much as he can. NaruGaa, ItaSasu, SasDei

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Cut my life into pieces, I reach my last resort. Suffocation, no breathing. Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding. Do you even care if I die bleeding? Would it be wrong, would be right, if I took my life tonight? Chances are that I might. Mutilation out of sight, and I'm contemplating suicide.
-Papa Roach (Last Resort)

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He fell to the floor, nearly hitting his head against the bathtub on the way down. He stared at the white ceiling, at the bright lights that seemed to grow brighter ever second as everything else around him dimmed and blurred. A tear spilled from his eye and ran down his cold cheek. He thought about his life and his guardians and all the friends he could have had; all the fun and experiences that could have been his if he hadn't been born such a freak. 'Heh, friends…' He had only 3; Sasuke the pretty boy who was fucking his own brother, Neji the jerk who believes in a thing called destiny, and Shikamaru the genius who had no motivation to do anything whatsoever. Of course, though, they were always too busy with their own lives to hang out the freak of the town, leaving him alone almost all of the time. His guardians were always busy with their jobs to always be around him too. 'Heh, guess I am all alone…' He felt himself slowly fade, hearing the constant dripping of water from the sink fade to silence. He gave a small smile as he felt his body go cold and numb, taking almost all the pain away. He continued to stare at the brightening lights on the ceiling as the bathroom door was kicked down and Iruka rushed over to his side, grabbing two bath towels and wrapping one around his wrist and applying pressure to it. He threw the other one to Kakashi who did the same to his other wrist. He could see they were calling, shouting his name, but didn't hear a thing. "Naruto! Naruto, hang in there!" They seemed to be moving in slow motion as they continued to press the now blood soaked towels against Naruto's bleeding wrists. The blond could feel his blood create a tiny pool of blood around his arms, making Iruka even more concerned. 'Weird… they actually look like they care that I'm dying… Of course they do, they love me. They're the ones… who saved me. So why… am I putting them through all this pain?' It made no sense to Naruto at the moment, nor could he remember why he had chosen to slit his wrists in the first place. But before his world converted to darkness, Naruto gave one last laugh and smile, surprising his guardians. He was just glad that, hopefully, if he went to heaven, he wouldn't be have to be alone anymore.

He could feel the soft cotton blankets rub against his skin as he moved his fingers and could smell the stench of sterilization of a hospital. His wrists tingled slightly as the pain was numbed by morphine and he knew he had survived. He flicked his eyes open only to see more bright, beautiful lights. He looked towards his side and saw Iruka, Kakashi and Jiraiya standing next to him with concerned expressions. "Naruto, how you feel?" Naruto just stared for a few seconds before answering.

"Per-Pervy Sage…" His voice was cracked and hoarse.

"Hey, how ya feeling?" The blond gave a cough and went to reach for a glass of water next to his bed when Iruka grabbed it for him and held it to his lips. He took a few sips before nodding he was through and leaned back into his pillows.

"I'm fine."

"Naruto…" Kakashi, his second guardian who always kept his left side of his face covered with a mask, spoke in an almost stern voice.

"Why, Naruto?" Naruto couldn't look at Iruka when he spoke in that hurt tone.

"I… don't know why."

"Naruto, you–"

"I don't want to talk about it right now," he butted in and the three adults nodded, understanding how he felt.

"We'll be back later to check on you," Jiraiya, his third guardian who was a pervert and wrote the Make-Out Paradise series, spoke in a kind voice as he left, Kakshi following close behind.

"Yeah, ok." Iruka stood up and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Rest and take it easy. I'll try to sneak some ramen in for you later." Naruto smiled and chuckled.

"Heh, deal." After Iruka left the room, Naruto sighed and suddenly realized how tired he was. He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. An hour later he awoke to a nurse entering the room. She gave him a warm smile and he couldn't help but return one.

"How are you, do you need anything?"

"Nah, I'm good, thanks." As he said this, Naruto suddenly realized he had a bandage across his nose and wondered how the hell he got a wound there. 'I'm gonna have to ask Iruka about that…' He wouldn't have been surprised if he had been told they dropped him when moving him into an ambulance, knowing that sometimes Iruka and Jiraiya could be a little clumsy. The nurse smiled again and headed for the other patient in the room that Naruto hadn't even noticed. It was a boy around his age, 16 or so, with blood-red hair with an equally colored 'ai' kanji tattoo on his left temple that translated to the word 'love'. His pupil-less teal eyes were outlined by thick eyeliner and his skin was a soft pale. The first word that popped into Naruto's mind when he saw the boy was: 'Beautiful…' The nurse checked the usuals on the boy and by her expression, everything seemed to be fine.

"How are you feeling?" The boy didn't respond, only stared straight ahead. She turned his face gently towards her and that was when Naruto noticed the right half of the boy's face was bandaged. "Does it hurt at all?" There was still no answer and the nurse sighed. "Well I'll be back later to check on your other injuries. Until then, rest." She left the room and Naruto looked down at his bandaged wrists, feeling nothing but guilt wash over him. He just put the three people who ever cared about him through so much pain and worry. He gave a sad smile and he looked into his lap.

"Heh, I wonder if they'll ever forgive me… I guess everyone was right, I am nothing but a screwup." From the corner of his eyes, he could see the redhead turn towards him and looked up to meet his gaze. "Um… hey, what's up?" The redhead never responded, but only kept looking at Naruto. "My name's Naruto Uzamaki, what's yours?" The redhead remained silent and Naruto gave a sigh. 'I guess even he doesn't want to talk to me.'

"Gaara." The deep voice brought Naruto out of his thoughts and blinked.

"What?"

"My name is Gaara."

"Huh…" Naruto stared at the redhead as he looked away. "Kind of an odd name."

"Hn, you're one to talk, Spiral Fishcake." Naruto gave a tiny blush and tried to think of a comeback, but didn't come up with any at the moment.

"Whatever. So Gaara, I've never seen you around before. You just move to Konoha?"

"Yes. I lived in Suna."

"Suna? Wow, that's pretty far from here. I heard their sunsets are amazing though."

"They are…" There was a silence between the two and Naruto thought of what to say to keep a conversation going.

"So, uh… Whatcha in here for?" 'Stupid, stupid, stupid question, you idiot!' He mentally scolded himself.

"…I slipped down the stairs and landed on a table."

"Ouch, that must have hurt." He received no answer, but did receive a question.

"Slit wrists?"

"Y-Yeah…" Naruto looked back at them and sighed, bringing them to rest against his legs as if he were trying to hide them. "I have no idea why I even did it. I wish I didn't though, I'd take it back if I could."

"You don't seem like the type of person who would do something like that." Now that caught Naruto's attention because this kid had never met him before, how would he know what type of person he was?

"How so?"

"It's your eyes."

"W-What?" The redhead looked back over at him, his expression and voice still emotionless.

"Your eyes, they tell a lot about you. I can tell you're a naturally happy person who sometimes lets all your problems get to you. You probably had so many problems to deal with, you didn't know what to do. And somehow, suicide got into your mind." Naruto stared at the boy dumbfounded.

"W-Wow, that's almost dead on. I can't believe you can tell all that from my eyes…" The redhead just shrugged. Naruto tried looking at the other boy's eyes, but couldn't exactly read them all that well. "Hey, when we get released from here, maybe we could hang out! It'd be fun!"

"No." It was a simple answer, no reasons were followed or anything. Just, no.

"Well, why not?"

"I'm moving back to Suna after I get out of here. And unless you plan to drive three hours straight to visit, I doubt we'll be able to 'hang out'." Naruto seemed distressed by the news, but came up with another idea instead.

"Hey, I know!" Gaara looked over in curiosity when Naruto threw his fist into his hand. "We can send each other letters! That way we can at least stay in touch, right?" Naruto couldn't have looked more happier with his idea, hoping he could finally stay in touch with someone he could really talk to. Well, maybe not talk to, but at least write to. The redhead sighed inwardly, not wanting to burst the kid's bubble by replying with no and maybe causing the boy to go into another depression/suicidal mode.

"Sure," was all he said before the blond whooped with joy and excitement. Of course, that sound caught the attention of several nurses who came running in out of concern and because the blond seemed to excited, they were almost forced to give the kid a sedative which instantly made him calm down. The nurses came in concerned, but they seemed to leave with smiles after talking with the boy. 'He's a strange but happy one, that Naruto,' the redhead thought. 'It seems like he has the ability to cheer up everyone who's around him.'

"Does it hurt?" Gaara furrowed his nonexistent eyebrows.

"What?"

"Your wounds, do they hurt?"

"No."

"Oh, well, that's good. I mean, it's not good you have them, but it's good that you can't feel them."

"Hn." Naruto laid back into his bed and gave another yawn, suddenly finding himself exhausted again. But before he fell asleep, the same nurse from earlier entered the room, giving him a friendly smiled again, and walked over to Gaara. Naruto watched as she examined his bandaged face again, searching for any blood stains. When she found none, she lifted up his black shirt and Naruto was surprised to see the boy's entire chest and back bandaged tightly. Before he fell unconscious, all he could think about was Gaara and those bandages he got from falling down the stairs and landing on a table.

When Naruto finally opened his eyes, he finally felt nice and rested. He went to sit up but a hand held him down and the owner of that hand, he noticed, was his guardian Iruka. Naruto was glad to see him, but when he pulled out a to-go container of Ichiraku Ramen from his coat, Naruto was ecstatic. "You brought me Ichiraku! Aw man, thanks Iruka!"

"Hey, no problem. Glad to see you've been taking it easy since I've been gone."

"Well, I was sitting up early talking with my new friend Gaara right there…" Naruto pointed over to the bed where the redhead once was only to find it empty. "But… he was just right here when I was awake. Hey, excuse me." He called a nurse from the hallway, who was more than happy to come over to the blond. (He recognized this nurse as the lady who was gonna give him a sedative earlier.) "Sorry, I was wondering where my friend Gaara went. He was right over there a while ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but he released soon after you feel asleep." Naruto seemed a little saddened by this and the nurse suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and he asked us to give you something when his uncle came to pick him up. I'll go get it." The nurse returned within a minute and Naruto was wondering what the redhead could have possibly left him. She gave him a small bottle half full of soft normal desert sand. But, Naruto noticed, the bottom half was fine black sand, a rarity to find in deserts. "He said he could tell someone like you always wanted something like a sand collection." Naruto took the bottle and treated it with great care. It was true, he always did want something like this. He gave a smile and thanked the nurse, leaving him alone with his guardian again.

"Well this Gaara fellow sure sounds nice."

"Heh, he is…" Naruto continued to stare at the bottle for a while before setting in his his pocket and looking over at his guardian. "Er, now how about some of that ramen?" Iruka gave a chuckle and ruffled the blond's hair.

"Of course. Anything for you, Naruto."

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And that's a wrap folks! So, how did you like it? I actually got the idea when I was over at my cousin's house. They were there just playing their Super Smash Brawl and the idea just popped into my head. So, did Gaara really fall down the stairs and land on a table? Will Iruka be able to let Naruto out of his sight again? Will Naruto ever not like Ichiraku Ramen? Find out soon in To Share The Same Traits! R&R please!
(I also put this because I wanted to know your opinions on it so I could finish the next chapter! Thank you!)

The darkness I live in, the darkness I love
~roo the nobody vampire