Eight-year-old Sabaku no Gaara sat on a wing tied to a tree outside a big building he assumed was a Ninja Academy, his eyes closed.
He had no idea how he'd gotten where he now sat. One moment he was in the Sand, overhearing a conversation about him between his father and his siblings.
It wasn't a pretty conversation. Then the next time he opened his eyes he was in a strange place.
This village was also a Ninja Village, but no one here knew who he was, so he'd stayed.
He had wandered to the swing he now sat at, wondering what to do next.
"Who're you?" came a voice.
Gaara frowned and opened his eyes. A blonde boy around his age stood there, looking curious.
"None of your business." Came the automatic reply.
The blonde teared up for a moment, they blinked an it was gone.
"Well, whoever you are, that's my swing." The boy continued.
Gaara frowned further. "I don't care, I got here first."
The blonde boy glared this time. "Look here buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but that is my swing and you get the hell off it!" he suddenly shouted.
Gaara's raised his non-existent eyebrows. No one had ever used that tone with him before. It was unusual to Gaara.
Gaara slowly smirked dangerously. "You don't know who I am do you?" he growled.
Naruto glared back unflinchingly. "No I don't, and I don't care much anymore either." He spat.
"My name is Sabaku no Gaara, I house the demon Shukaku within me, I could kill you three times before you hit the ground, shouting at me is not he wisest thing to do." Gaara said.
Naruto blinked.
Finally, Gaara thought, he's getting scared now.
…wait, I don't want him to be afraid of me too, oh why did I say that?
But the blonde stayed where he was. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, wanna play?"
Gaara blinked in confusion.
"Play…with you?" he asked.
"Sure! I like you, let's play tag!" Naruto smiled.
Gaara felt a strange bubbling feeling in his stomach at that smile. No one had ever smiled at him before.
"O-Okay," he said.
"Great! You're it!" Naruto giggled running off.
Gaara used his sand to trip the blonde. "I win," he said.
"Hey that's not fair!" Naruto said unhappily. Gaara blinked.
"It's not?" he questioned.
"No, you can't use that weird sand jutsu to tag me, you have to tag me yourself, start again!" Naruto said.
Naruto ran off again, and this time Gaara ran after him.
Gaara followed Naruto as he ducked under tree branches and through streets, he was just about to tag him when – WHAM!
Naruto ran into someone and fell to the ground, Gaara stopping a little ways behind him warily.
The man he ran into looked down and his face crinkled in disgust.
"What're you doing here monster? Get out of here you – you freak!" he shouted.
Gaara looked from the man to the boy, and blinked slowly. Monster? Freak?
He knew what it was like to be called those words, but why was Naruto…?
"S-sorry about that I wasn't looking," Naruto stammered getting to his shaky feet.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, just get out of my sight demon!"
Gaara glared. Demon? How dare he call Naruto that!
"Hey I said I was sorry mister!" Naruto defended himself.
"Oh now you're giving me cheek huh? Why I oughta –" the man went to hit Naruto, but Gaara's sand caught his wrist.
"If you so much as touch him, I will not hesitate in killing you," Gaara threatened calmly.
Naruto's eyes widened.
"You – you're like him! A demon! Freak!" the man stammered.
The sand crept up the man's body slowly. "Call me what you will, but insult Naruto once more and I will show no mercy," Gaara said.
"No Gaara don't!" Naruto cried.
Gaara snapped out of his bloodlust and looked at Naruto. "What? Why? He hurt you," he said.
"It's okay, it's okay Gaara really, you don't have to kill him. Please don't kill him," Naruto pleaded.
After a while, Gaara's sands retreated. "Alright Naruto,"
The man, after glaring at both boys, stumbled away.
"Thanks for that Gaara, but…try not to hurt anybody okay?" Naruto said.
Gaara looked down, ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry." He said.
"Aw that's fine, no harm done after all. Come with me I'll treat you to ramen!" Naruto said tugging on Gaara's wrist.
Gaara let himself be pulled along and soon found himself standing in front of a ramen stand.
"This is Ichiraku's, the best ramen place in the whole world!" Naruto announced.
They ordered two bowls of miso ramen, and Gaara found ramen to be quite good.
"See? I told you it was the best," Naruto boasted as they walked around the village.
Gaara smiled a small smile. "It was good. Thankyou," he said.
"It's okay, I'm just happy to have someone to eat ramen with besides Iruka-sensei, that's my teacher, he's a nice guy, he'd like you," Naruto chatted.
"…I wish I had someone like that. My uncle, Yashamaru, tried to kill me last year, but he said that he loved me," Gaara said.
"Really? That's terrible!" Naruto cried.
"Yeah…you won't leave me, will you Naruto?"
"What? Of course not! We're friends, I'd never leave you alone Gaara," Naruto promised.
Suddenly five ANBU Black Ops appeared and grabbed little Naruto by the wrists.
"Hey let me go!" Naruto shouted.
"Sabaku no Gaara, you are hereby ordered by the Hokage to return to your village, if you resist, we will be forced to use drastic measures." The ANBU said.
Gaara glared. "By drastic you mean…?"
The ANBU tightened his grip on Naruto, who gave a shout of pain.
Gaara grit his teeth, without warning his sand shot out and surrounded the ANBU. "You're going to regret doing that," he snarled.
Naruto looked at Gaara. "Gaara…please do as they say," I don't want you getting hurt.
Gaara blinked as Naruto's earlier words came back to haunt him.
Try not to hurt anybody okay?Gaara controlled his sand and the ANBU holding Naruto looked at the red-haired boy.
"If I go, will you let him go?" Gaara asked.
"Indeed." The ANBU said.
Gaara took a deep breath. "Do you want me to go?" he asked Naruto.
"You have to go." Naruto said, avoiding the actual question.
That hurt. "Then I will go."
In a swirl of sand the child was gone. The ANBU let go of Naruto and left too.
"Gaara!" Naruto ran all over the village in case he was just hiding, but his friend was indeed gone.
In the end, Naruto wandered back to his swing, sitting down on it he cried at the lose of his new friend. "Gaara…I didn't want you to leave," he sobbed.
He wouldn't see Gaara again for another four years, and this time, they would be enemies.
The end.