A/n: Hee. I really like the pair of SasuNaruGaar (and all variations). Not many people think of it, but they should. Hah...anyway...yes. Enjoy. And remember, Nicochan doesn't own them, if he did though..lick lips...Muwhahahah.

Vulnerability
How could two people who were opposites be so similar to him?

It was night. Being that he didn't sleep, he could watch the other two who laid beside him.
Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke.
One light. One dark.

Naruto was optimistic, loud, dumb and he would never give up on his dream of becoming Hokage.
Sasuke was pessimistic, dark, quiet, cold, and had much hatred contained within himself. He had the ability to kill.

But they were like him. Gaara didn't tend to analyze people, but he found himself wanting to know more about the two boys he now laid with. It was interesting, he surmised, watching Sasuke's arm hold his own pale body close, and to see Naruto cling to the dark haired youth nearly desperately during sleep.

They both looked so weak, something they both hated.
Vulnerability was a weakness.
Gaara reached out a long, pale arm, and stroked the blonde's hair gently.
He pondered.
Naruto and Sasuke may be more alike than they seemed. Both had dark pasts.
One's family was murdered, and the other never had a family, and was always hated.

Gaara had gotten the best of both worlds. Hated by everyone for something he couldn't control.
He acted as if he never had family, to him, once along time ago, Temari and Kankuro were not his siblings. And the one he thought as family, Yashamaru had been killed.

Perhaps Gaara sympathized and understood Naruto more. He believed that the blonde had it worse. Sasuke's precious thing was stolen from him, and he was betrayed.
Yet, Naruto never had something precious, and he was hated for something he had no power over, and yet, he stayed strong.

Gaara himself was hated, lost his family, had been betrayed, and couldn't even sleep, but now he was content. The dark and light forces seemed to ease him and make him feel...whole.
Naruto then stirred slightly, but didn't actually wake. Gaara looked between the soft, round face of the demon boy, to the cold and pale face of the Uchiha heir.
Both looked so weak, and on the inside, vulnerable.

Something all three shared.

End-