The Problem with Words.
Characters/Pairings:
Gaara, Sai.
Rating: General
Warnings: that its Unbeta'd and maybe a hint of Gaara/Naruto, but its barely there.
Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me.

A/N: that scene of Sai in the library made me laugh so hard, then I thought to myself, how funny would it be if Gaara is with him trying to figure that stuff out too. Lol, but Gaara isn't that bad, I know. The difference between them I think is that Gaara was filled with so much hate that led him to kill carelessly, whereas Sai just didn't feel anything at all. this was supposed to be a comedy but it turned out like this. Oh well, I'm happy with it.

Enjoy!


She bowed her head in deep respect upon greeting him and went back to doing her own work, smiling to herself. For others, it is as a somewhat unnatural occurrence to have the Kazekage grace his people with services just like any other person in town, but for someone who was always frequented by him, she is only more than happy to be of assistance to their beloved young leader.

On his slow days where work is at minimum and is something he could just throw at his siblings to do, Gaara often visits the village's library for some research. While some may believe that it could be top secret research that he is conducting or perhaps some new development for their village; thankfully, only the librarian knows what he really comes to her for.

The poor soul, he really is trying…

So she points him to the right direction, and at times, even assists him in finding the correct books that he may benefit from. But this time, he is only there to return what he had already finished reading and perhaps find a few more books that he can finger through.

One thing he liked about the library was how quiet it could be, a place he could retreat to escape from it all and really think, especially in this section and aisle of books where he was usually alone. But this time, he stopped short in his tracks, blinking to himself.

Looks like he wouldn't be alone today.

A soft, velvety voice, murmuring through the books on the other side of the shelf caught his attention. His green eyes peered through the books, looking for the source and to his surprise found the symbol of his prized allies, glinting back at him.

"A Leaf-nin…?"

Gaara peeked over the next aisle curiously to find another boy, maybe around his age he guessed, with his nose buried into a book he recognized he read before. Mannerisms in Today's Society…

The Leaf-nin with the jet-black hair and eyes held his gaze for a long time before the surprised face looked up from his book, and offered the Kazekage what appeared to be a warm smile.

"Oh…" thought Gaara, almost bitterly. "It's not Him…"

"Ah, Kazekage-sama…" said the other boy, a little startled by why the Kazekage of all people would be here in this library. But he supposed that this was the Sand Village after all.

Gaara made his full appearance by approaching the other boy. "Are you by any chance with the other ANBU that were sent here?" he said, and the other jumped a little, his fingers flying to the band on his forehead. But he smiled nevertheless.

"My, how careless of me!"

Gaara shook his head. "Don't worry about it, your secret is safe with me." he said then leaned in closer to ask the ANBU. "Naruto-kun… couldn't come with you?"

The other boy was surprised again, more so because the Kazekage himself addressed Naruto as 'kun.' He had to think about that for a moment…

"No, he had another mission. But from what I heard he put up quite a fight with the Hokage-sama to take this mission, now I know why." He said, and Gaara actually turned a little red in the face. He couldn't believe it, was he the intimidating Kazekage he heard so much about?

But he supposed, if even the Kazekage was well acquainted with Naruto, then understands fully where this attitude might have come from.

"Have you known Naruto for a long time?" asked the ANBU, and Gaara only blinked several times before replying rather bashfully.

"No, but it feels like I have." And then he actually smiled upon saying "he's the reason I can feel so…alive, that I can feel at all."

And his words struck something deep within the ANBU's own heart. It was the same with him! And he smiled back genuinely rather than farce, and just realized just how fortunate he was to be a part of a team with someone like the blonde riot that was Naruto.

Perhaps even without realizing it, the blonde has touched so many lives, including his.

"Ah…I know the feeling." said the ANBU and Gaara noticed the book in his hand just as it almost fell quiet between them.

"That's a good book, but this one's even better." He said, handing the other a book he was returning. "Here, you can read it."

"Kazekage-sama….thank you."

"No… you can call me Gaara, that's my real name."

The ANBU blinked back at him confused, thinking, how can he disrespect someone as high as the Kazekage by just calling him by his name?

"A-and that's alright with you?"

"Of course," said Gaara, "any friend of Naruto is a friend of mine as well."

The other boy seemed really lost by now. Gaara didn't know this guy's history at all, but it seems as though he found someone that was even worse than he ever was when it came to relaying feelings and emotions towards others.

And it was as if Gaara understood, and laughed again. "Looks like you and I are on the same boat, here…read this book too. It should help." He said as he trailed his finger along the row of books and weeded one out to give to the other.

The other boy flipped through the book with a sort of excited expression on his pale face. Gaara smiled to himself, knowing that he did something good and it felt wonderful. "What is your name?"

Sai looked up from the book that felt like a precious item in his hands and gave Gaara another warm smile.

"You can call me Sai."