Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter one: Changed?

It is the night; the full moon lighting the sky of shadows as much as it can along with its star children. The time of night when sleep falls upon most Humans. But there is this one. You see, this one cannot fall upon slumber, he is not allowed to. For if he had done so, the demonic being inside him awakens. It is a demon of his village, the Hidden Village of Sand. The demon contained in this one is the reason why he is alone, why he suffers, why he is unfamiliar with the feeling of love. Because of this demon he holds inside his body, the village hated him, feared him, and avoided him. So all this one does during the night is stare at the white, shadowed wall with his dark circled eyes, wondering what love is, and why the symbol 'love' is on his forehead. This one gave up on trying to find friends or family. He was truly alone, so he shows no emotion to anyone. He accepted the sand that which protected him from any harm.

This one is called, Gaara of the Sand

In another village called Konoha, also known as Hidden Village of Leaf, there is another whom is not under deep slumber as the rest of the village is, all in a dream world of non-existence. You see, this one trains during the night, under the full white moon above him. Although, this one is not forced to stay awaken. He chooses to stay awake. Why you may ask? His reason to force himself is so he may be noticed by the villagers and embraced with happiness. For the villagers hated him; they ignored him; they shared no love for him. What reason did they have to hate him for? He did nothing to them. Yes, that statement is true. They only saw this one as a monster, because he too held a demon with in. The demon was known as the Nine Tails. A terrible demon of Konoha that terrorized the village before this one was even born. Then, the fourth Hokage of the village used a forbidden technique to seal the demon in a child. This one was the child. So all the villagers only saw the demon and not the boy who was burdened by this. He did not know the true feeling of love. But he fights to find the answer to his questions.

This one is called, Uzumaki Naruto.

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It is another morning, Naruto awakens from his oh so very short moment of sleep. He remembers that he promised himself he was going to train until he became a Hokage. But, in this morning he finally decided to quit that idea because he would die of over training Himself. Slowly, He sits up from the bed he laid in. Then, a sigh comes out his mouth.

It's going to be another waste of a day in my life. Woo. He thinks.

He gets out of bed and starts to get ready for the day. Filling the teapot with what water he had and letting it boil as he got dressed, he notices something was different. His clothing were tight and they didn't fit him well as well as they did before. He was confused and shocked as he tugged on the articles of clothing on his body to fit. Giving up he walks towards the mirror in his room to see.

Oh... My... God...

Naruto sets his eyes on a stranger in the mirror before him. He sees a teenage boy with his color hair only that the hair was much longer. The pants he wore were so tight for the stranger that the pants were practically made to fit him like a second layer of skin. He did not put his shirt on, and the image in the mirror wasn't wearing one either. The strange teen had a fit and perfect body with no scars. Naruto did not understand who it was until he laid his eyes upon the stomach. The seal. It was right there on the image stomach. He realizes that the image was not some other boy but himself.

When did this happen? I was training for only a year and this happens? How can this be? I'm only fift-. He remembers what day it was. It was the day of his birth, the day he curses because that was the day when he became a container for a demon fox.

He hears a whistle. Turning his head, he sees the cause of the sound. He takes the skin hugging pants off and walks to the stove to turn it off, takes the teapot off and puts it on the only table in the room. Then he searches through his unorganized closet for the pants he had never worn because they were too big for him before. Once he finds them he stands up and looks at them. The pants were a darkish, green color and looked kind of cool on him. He slips them on and sees that they fit, although they were quite baggy, he finds a belt to hold them to his waist. He has no choice but to wear them because he could wear nothing else.

Deciding to find a shirt later, he goes to the only chair and table in the whole room and sits. He grabs an instant ramen bowl and opens it, then pours the steaming, hot water in it and waits.

My birth should have never even existed. He stares at the ramen bowl as it cooks with his intense eyes. Because I was born, they chose this body of mine to be a prison for the demon. But why did it have to be me? A boy who has no mother, no father, or any siblings was probably the most reasonable choice I guess. No one would care if I were to get hurt, or get sick, or even die. Heh...yeah, they made the perfect choice.

He opens the lid "Itagekimasu" he says with a voice he doesn't recognize...Is that my voice? He tries to ignore his new appearance and starts eating the ramen.

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Gaara, still sitting and staring at the wall, blinks and starts rise from his place on the floor.

I've been in this room for three months trying to figure out what love is and why I don't understand it, and all I got from this was an empty stomach and a lot of techniques practiced on flies and mice. I got nothing out of this so there is no point in doing anymore of this non-sense.

He walks out of the room he was given since the day he was born. The small whole in the roof poured the beam of light he was waiting for. He goes to the kitchen and gets an apple to fill a very small portion of his empty stomach.

"Ga-Gaara-Sama... You've come out." A very frightened ninja appears and spoke in a shaky voice as he stops abruptedly. "Did you find what you needed?"

"No." Gaara responds in his voice of no emotion. He continues walking down the hall until he reaches outside.

People have been getting much more frightened of me as I become older. I am taller and stronger then I was when I went to the Chunnin exams. They fear me, I hate it. I wanted them to all disappear, until that one day. The day I met... Uzumaki Naruto. And I thought Uchiha Susuke was like me. Uzumaki is the same as I. He holds a demon of his own inside him, like I, and he was alone, like I. But then he told me that he found friends, he was accepted. How did he leave the sea of pain we were both in, how?

Gaara looks around at the half barren village. Since it was still early morning, not many people were out yet. So he decides to take a walk. It is a little chilly, but the sun, rising slowly, gave little warmth from its golden rays, shining over the horizon. He walks to the valley where children usually were during the evening and night.

Seeing that no one was around, Gaara looks for the ball he hid in a large barrel before he started the useless meditation/confinement in his room. He takes out the ball and drops it on the ground and lets it settle as he closes the top of the barrel. As he made sure no other person was watching him, he sees a small rat watch him. A small rat... At least he isn't a person.

Now that he was sure no one was looking; he starts maneuvering the ball with his foot to go right in front of him. Children like to play with this ball by kicking it around to each other or towards the valley wall so it may return to their way. Passing it back and forth. They find it amusing?

He starts to kick the ball in short distance with little enthusiasm. Moving it this way and that way. But with each kick, he found it amusing how he was in control of the ball. Which direction, how far, to dribble it; he discovered how it was fun to play with it. And then he realizes, he was smiling and giving small giggles.

He stops automatically. Standing very still, he felt shocked. His hand went up to his lips to feel the place where he had smiled. "I...I...smiled...I smiled..." As the words past his lips into the air, he feels a tears swell and fall down his cheek.