WHILE THE EARTH SLEEPS

by kathlaida-princess

Summary: Inspired by the song "While the Earth Sleeps" by Deep Forest. Child Naruto has the most boring friends in the world, so he usually spends his time exploring all of the Leaf Village, his beautiful home, all by himself. But one day, his father, the Hokage, is invited by the Sand Village's Kazekage to spend some sort of "diplomatic vacations" there, and he brings his wife and his reluctant son with him.

Things soon change when Naruto finds the Sand Village is also interesting to explore (this is, if he can sneak past his "babysitters"), especially when he finds out the Kazekage has a son his age too, that is kept locked inside his home at all times and has mystery surrounding him, and he has to show this boy what living is before it's too late. GaaNaru Friendship/Unconditional Love. AU

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Masashi Kishimoto's characters or places.

Author's Notes: Hello dear readers! Wow, I can only say I'm very happy that you liked the idea for this story, so here is the first chapter :D First of all, I want to thank all the readers and Niam-Ytak (thank you so much! I do hope this story lives up to the promise ^^), AerieTigre (now that you mention it, it really does… Which isn't at all inappropriate ^^), MirrorWakes (don't worry, I don't abandon my fics :) I just sometimes take a while to update them… But I don't think it'll happen with this one. Thank you so much for the review!), ednama (wow, thank you! I shall give you more then :3), YamiTenshi (thanks! :D) and Red Riding Freak (OLHA AQUI EU A ESCREVER xD) for having left reviews! That is the best reward a writer can get!

The lyrics in the beginning of this chapter are from the song "While The Earth Sleeps" by Deep Forest and Peter Gabriel. Every chapter will have the lyrics of a song through Gaara's POV, since the rest of the story is through Naruto's POV.

Just so you know, this story will have fifteen chapters :D

Well, no more delays!

On with the story!

CHAPTER 1

UNKNOWLEDGE

"Dali znaesh mila majko
shto sum ne srekjna
Cel den doma sama sedam
Nadvor ne smejam."

(English translation from Macedonian)

"Do you know, mother,

How miserable I am?

All day I sit at home alone,

I am not allowed outside."

"While The Earth Sleeps" – Deep Forest and Peter Gabriel

I remember well the time right before I met you.

But that's normal, right? People always remember dates that are important to them, and since it were the events of that day that led me to you, I guess that's something pretty easy to remember.

My home was the Village Hidden in the Leaves (a silly name because if they wanted to hide it in the leaves, then why are its gates, why is everything so big?), the capital of the Fire Country, and it was a very good place for the eight-year-old me to grow up (but, once again, I have to say, a Leaf Village in a Fire Country? What are these people thinking?). Since I was very young and not a natural genius, I was still in ninja academy, and (again on the subject of people who give silly names to things) lived with both my parents, who named me Naruto after what is my favorite food (which has to be some kind of cannibalism, if you really think about it). I never had any siblings or any close family besides my parents, but that wasn't what made me feel lonely. I have always had many close friends too, but it seems that there has always been a big difference about how they and I used our time.

Anyway, on that day in particular, I remember waking up to my mother calling me (or, more exactly, yelling at me) from the kitchen downstairs. Did I dream of anything? Well, I don't really remember, but I guess dreams were never a great part of my life before I met you. Of course my mother had to yell at me once again for me to definitively and drowsily step out of my bed, yell back at her to reassure her I was really awake and then lazily get from my pajamas to my actual clothing.

"Naruto!" Strangely, now that I'm telling you this, my mother's impatient voice sounds to me much more loving than angry... "Hurry up, squirt, your father has to go to work!"

"I'm coming!" was my equally loud reply as I forced the small collar of my t-shirt down my head. One thing my father constantly pointed out (and I'm sure he wasn't very proud or happy about it) was how I seemed to inherit both my mother's vocal cords and her temper. "I'm coming!" And my bare feet began their frantic chase downstairs.

The kitchen immediately came into my view, as well as my parents, after all, still having their breakfast. In fact, my father, sensing that my mother's previous warning was somewhat directed to him too, was focused on speeding up his consumption of the toast in his plate, but that didn't prevent him from sending a greeting smile at me as I passed by. I climbed onto my seat by his side and looked down at my own plate, frowning immediately.

"Mom... why didn't I get ramen today?" I whined, poking the soft slice of bread glistening with butter.

"Naruto, you know you only get to have ramen on special occasions, it is not good for you! Now hurry up and eat your toast! And Minato," my father jumped on his seat, "give your son the proper example, will you? Finish eating at once!"

But my father had his own weapons against my mother, just sit back and watch... Swallowing whatever he still had in his mouth, he faced her, moved his lips like this, in a lopsided, impish grin that made all his teeth show and all his face light up in an almost supernatural way, inevitably hypnotizing my mother. At that point, she could no longer get mad at him, but he carried on: he said, "Calm down, Kushina... How else are we supposed to enjoy to the fullest this wonderful breakfast you've made us?" Brilliant, isn't it? My mother didn't resist that (or my father's face) and I even saw her smile just a little as she replied, "Alright, alright... But please... just eat..." And, just like that, we were off the hook. I glanced at my father and nodded approvingly at him. He merely flashed back his special smile. Yellow Flash, now that's a very well-given name!

Now, I've already said I have my mom's voice and temper. But there was so much more to her! Kushina Uzumaki (then Namikaze, when she got married) was the strongest, most determined person me and my father had met. Anything she set her mind into she could accomplish it, and people unfairly called her stubborn because of that. I know I have that trait in me too, but I'm not stubborn, am I? Am I? Well, anyway, other than that, people say our faces look a bit alike: round, pudgy, always somewhat childish. And I know my mom sounded very severe and mean sometimes, but that was very easy to melt (like you saw my father do), and now that I think about it, even on those meaner moments, all she's ever wanted was my own good, and I thank her for that. I remember very well her dark, flaming orange hair, just cascading down her back, the clear eyes that seem to be a trademark of our family, the very white skin I would curiously touch all the time to make sure it wasn't snow after all. She was beautiful. It would take me a while to witness something as beautiful. Don't go blushing on me now!

My father was a completely different story. First of all, unlike my mother (and me, as a direct consequence), he was always a very calm, laid-back, everything-is-going-to-be-alright kind of person. I never heard him yell, get angry or depressed in my life. Even when he frowned, I could look at him and see his mind gears working in search for an easy solution for whatever problem we were having. Maybe he was like that because he was so clever. Maybe he only had to think for a while to be able to see all the answers to his life, clear and simple in front of his eyes. I don't really know, but whenever I was with him, I could always feel his calm running through me and I always believed in him. If he said everything would be all right, then it was true. He would make it always, he always made it alright. I hope… I only hope I was like that when… you know…

Anyway, that was why Minato Namikaze was the perfect Hokage. The people communicated their worries to him and he would always assure they were safe, and there's no hidden catch there. I've always looked up to my father and always felt proud saying I was the Fourth Hokage's son. Not that being the Fourth Hokage's son had any special treatments: people don't seem to take you too seriously when your height can barely reach their waist, and of course that annoyed me a little. Everyone wants to be acknowledged. But being his son made me feel that my own life would have a great purpose too, I was sure of it.

But, after knowing what I got from my mother, I guess it would be interesting too to know what I got from my father. And that would be the charms and the looks (let's not dwell too much on the lack of genius and calm from the list, okay?). Yeah, I said it right, the charms, that smile he used to melt my mom. Come on, why are you looking at me like that? You, above all people, have to agree with me! Did you know that my mom and dad could not stand each other when they were younger? It was my dad's charms to change that, and I like to think the same has happened between us. See, you cannot disagree with that.

Oh, and the looks too. The rowdy blonde hair too good to abide to the laws of physics is one of my father's legacies. Others include the blue eyes and the tan skin. In fact, people say that we are so alike that it is very difficult not to see us as father and son. But such confusions could happen… I guess…

But while I'm here describing my parents and myself through them, I think it's important to mention that both me and my dad carried on with our eating, a bit faster too, because we were really getting late. And I'd never admit it to my mother, but the toasts she made us were actually quite tasty, so I was drawing pleasure from my breakfast too. When the last piece of buttered bread had slid down both our throats, we hurried to get up and out and my mother handed me my school bag, pressing a kind kiss on the top of my head.

"Now you behave today, Naruto. And do just what your Iruka-sensei asks. I'm not particular fond of the complaints I receive because of you and those other three boys…" she confessed, and I merely pouted. Well, I'll talk about those later, don't worry.

"Yeah, mom…" As if I was such a bad boy…

My dad, after putting on his long robes with the fire motif I loved so much and the headband with the symbolic leaf drawn on it (just so you know, my father even used his charms on the Village Council, convincing them to allow him to use this headband instead of that ridiculous hat), approached my mother too, but to receive a different goodbye, a soft farewell in the lips. I stuck out my tongue at disgust at it, whining, "Come on, weren't you all in a hurry?"

At that, my parents parted and we were finally ready to go, as my mother waved us one last time goodbye. Step by step, we approached both our working places. The Hokage mansion and office were a bit ahead of the ninja academy, so my father would always walk me to school. At that hour of the day, as we moved in random synchrony with everyone else and many people bowed polite greetings at their leader, the village was already bursting with life. I grinned. After school I would have a great time outside.

But before we reached school, we passed by a very dear food stand (at least to me…) and the warm, slurpy, inviting scent that came from it made all my body react. "No," was all my father said. "You heard your mother, no ramen."

And there was my personal anti-climax. A few more minutes passed by after that and my school finally came into view. But my father didn't say goodbye to me like my mother did: he merely ruffled my hair into a more cheerful mess and I giggled back.

"See ya, dad!"

"Bye, Naruto. And above all, have fun. Don't be too worried of what your mother says."

And I nodded with a smile as I watched him carry on with his own path. Now that I think about it, I guess that was the best advice he could have given me. Have fun, use every moment life grants you to bring some happiness into your day. So very few people realize this, especially when they are as young as we were.

Anyway, seeing as I was unsurprisingly late, I ran my way inside the academy and to my class, but not without my thoughts travelling back to my father. Probably this is going to sound very old (mainly because all other kids wanted it too), but my dream at the time was to become a Hokage just like him. But without the paperwork, just with the awesome fighting and with everyone looking up at you, being able to look to all of my beautiful home. I remember my dad laughing gently when I confessed him that. And he just told me that being Hokage was actually very simple, but the one task that was granted to you was quite difficult: the responsibility to make the best decisions for the lives of everyone around you. It all sounded really boring to me at the time, but it didn't make me give up on that dream. I still had time, all the time in the world.

But at that moment my time didn't seem all that much, and the look my teacher gave me while I stuttered some apologies and landed on my seat in the back of the room was a promise of future trouble. I had a knack for getting detentions from Iruka-sensei. Which doesn't surprise me much, because right after he turned his ponytailed head to the blackboard and resumed his explanation on kunai trajectories, my own head immediately turned to the three classmates around me, who were as focused on the class as I was.

Oh, my class! The greatest morons I had ever met, but still they were my morons.

There was Sasuke Uchiha, the youngest son of the Uchiha clan and the snobbiest child you could ever meet. You could never touch him nor borrow his things and you could only speak to him when he gave you permission and only if you really got lucky would he actually listen to you. He was perfectly aware that his family was one of the best recognized in the village and he used every second in his life to remind us all of that too. Crazy as it seems, this kind of behavior actually made him the most popular boy in class, especially when he was already a natural genius. The girls wouldn't leave him. But they had strong competition… The only time Sasuke would lose his composure was when his family came to pick him up at school, especially when it was his "dear big brother" Itachi. Sasuke would screech out loud and mindlessly harass any limb of Itachi he could grab hold of, scenes that were viewed by the girls as an important class to gain their love's attention and by the rest of us (the NORMAL part of us) as the most embarrassing thing in the world. But the girls really took those "classes" seriously. At the age of six, they would already paint their nails and curl their eyelashes, as a way to look a bit more like their fearsome competitor Itachi Uchiha. But Sasuke still had his friendly moments. He just had them in private, where no one could see him and spoil his reputation.

There were Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka too. All girls with very few exceptions were infatuated to Sasuke, but these two took it to a whole different level. They had both had their moments with him and they had both been rejected by him, but that didn't stop them from being rivals at heart, dangerous rivals too. I… I had a crush on Sakura at the time. She's always been very pretty, and very like my mother in personality. But she was actually very mean and nothing really happened between us.

Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga were the two shyest classmates I had. Well, Shino was more of an anti-social than properly shy, but either way I never spent much time with him. Bugs were always surrounding him, and they seemed to have some sort of weird understanding between them. As for Hinata, she too was the heiress of an important family in the Leaf Village, the Hyuugas, but she was completely different from Sasuke (even if equally strange) and one of the only girls that didn't swoon over him. She was always very nice to me, though she stuttered and fidgeted (such funny words, huh?) and blushed, signs I was only able to interpret much, much later. Yeah, I am that dense when it comes to romance, you know that…

Then there were my three buddies, who were just as moronic as the rest, but with whom I spent most of my time. There was Shikamaru Nara, who was just as smart as Sasuke but didn't let anyone see it. If he could choose, he would spend all day just lying around, preferably under the clouds, and would always advise us not to spend too much energy on unnecessary things. Life's already complicated enough without extra troubles. I am actually surprised that he wasn't sleeping on his desk that day: he had that habit. There was also Kiba Inuzuka. People said he was the closest person to me you could find in our school, at least personality-wise, but I can only disagree. I am nothing like him, he was an idiot. Really. But, unlike me, he was an idiot who had as much luck as Sasuke had with the girls, but they still ran after the Uchiha first. Kiba always carried a puppy with him, Akamaru, and got all mushy whenever they were together. It was good teasing material. Finally, there was Chouji Akimichi, a boy almost as shy as Hinata and Shikamaru's best friend. He eventually became our best friend too, and quite the nice one too, except if you ever mentioned his physical… attributes…

Anyway, the four of us had a very important subject to discuss on that day's class. As a very united quartet, we usually participated in all kinds of activities together and since we were all eight years old, hormones had already gone crazy, so we now had a competition of how many girls each one of us could kiss. Ironically, Sasuke was the undeniable winner of our competition and he wasn't even participating in it… (yes, even though he wasn't at all happy with the overflow of small women crowding him, he would often just take on their wishes and kiss them, as in a last resort to be left alone by the girls)

So, while Iruka-sensei now widened his explanations to shurikens, we promptly presented our updated reports of the week, listing our victories, our losses and our impasses. Shikamaru was the first to speak.

"Well, I did kiss that girl that was doing her diplomacy homework at the library… it was nothing special, I don't know why you go through all those troublesome things just for that… But when I kissed her, she began inventing things about relationships and stuff and then I ran away… What a drag, we are just kids… I don't have energy for a relationship…"

I chuckled. Typical Shikamaru, really, thinking like that. Then, it was Kiba's turn.

"Oh, I kissed every girl Sasuke kissed! Akamaru seems to help in these things. And one of the girls even wore a bra already!" God, it's so silly how excited we got with that information… "Ain't that awesome? She still said she liked Sasuke's kiss better, though… But it was good! What about you, Chouji?"

He started fidgeting when his name was called, a bit like Hinata. He explained his embarrassment right away, "Weeell… I kissed one girl too this week… But I bit her by accident, so it didn't go well at all… I think she hates me now…"

All of us muttered words of consolation to Chouji, but Shikamaru was the one to truly brighten him up. "Like I said, don't worry too much about it, buddy… You'll have the chance to kiss a real woman when you get older, you'll see…"

The other boy just chuckled in reply, "Thank you. But we still need to hear Naruto!"

And that's when things got complicated… Of all four, I was the only one who still hadn't kissed a girl. The whole thing seemed so messy and I had other more important things to spend my time on, you'll see… Not even Sakura made me want to kiss. I was just explaining that when Kiba interrupted me, "Oh, just forget about Sakura, will you? I spied on her on the locker room the other day and she was naked and if it weren't for the pink hair I wouldn't even know she was a girl! There are plenty other girls out there, better ones, just choose… You're the Hokage's son, that should serve some purpose…"

But I shook my head with conviction. They didn't get it, I didn't want to be around there kissing girls… "Nah, Kiba, forget it… I mean, everyone's kissing each other these days… Are you really okay knowing that you are kind of kissing guys too, through the girls? Kissing Sasuke?" I remember my body shivering at the thought alone. Strangely, there was some sort of déjà vu feeling in it, go figure… Ew.

I could see the three of them wanted to protest, but they weren't able to.

"You four on the back!" Iruka-sensei's voice startled us. "I would like to know what your conversation is about for you to be so distracted!"

I tried to remain silent, but Kiba carelessly said, "I'm sure Iruka-sensei has never kissed a girl either…" a bit too loudly, which made us laugh and our teacher yell, "That's enough! The four of you, you all get detention!"

And there we went again… Only many years later did I discover that Iruka-sensei had really never kissed a girl before, and not that many boys either… So I guess we deserved that. But while we were on detention (which didn't feel like it anymore, since we got them every single day), all of us side by side and facing the wall of an empty corridor, I was still thinking of what I was going to do after school.

Taking advantage of a moment of Iruka's distraction, I faced Kiba and asked, "Hey, wanna go to the forest today? The sun's great and I think I've found a place where that awesome bird might be!"

But, like on so many other days, he just shook his head, "Nah, can't do. I stole this awesome book from the library last day, about kissing… I know I'm a bit too young to check it out, but they won't even notice it… I'll be practicing with it this afternoon…"

Ew, again. The others were just as busy, or just as lazy. It looked like I'd have another afternoon alone…

After an hour, our detention was over. Iruka-sensei let us go, but not without lecturing us one more time (poor man, now I truly feel sorry for him, for everything we put him through…). I said goodbye to the other three and just went home. I still had to have lunch before I could go outside.

My mom also lectured me over a plate of boiled fish (still no ramen allowed), but hers was much lighter. I guess, with the experience she has with me, if I came home one day with no detention, that would be strange. My dad didn't come to lunch, but that was normal. My mother usually sent something to his office before I arrived from the academy. Excited as I was, lunch didn't take long, and soon I was ready to leave. My mom put a small snack on my backpack and kissed the top of my head again, saying, "No friends are going with you today either?"

"Nope…" I replied, discontentment surely showing in my voice. Though I loved doing what I did, I preferred if someone would come with me…

"Well, I know you'll have fun either way," my mom wisely said. "Bye, squirt."

"Bye, mom…"

And there I went…

So what was my mystery hobby, you ask? Well, it included a bit of everything, bird watching, bug hunting, charting and hiking, but most of all, it was exploring… When I was younger, I found a wonderful book on my dad's office, a book that contained everything you could find in the Leaf Village. Since I had so much free time and my dad always told me to do my best to make the most of it, I knew I wanted to find everything in that book. Now that I was walking my way outside the village's walls, I had that same book in my hands, and I was facing the picture of a gorgeous bird, all blue and fluffy, that I hoped to find that day. There was a tree just tall enough and I remembered seeing a nest there. I had my fingers crossed already.

Yes, to me, seeing all of that, living my own village, meant much more than just staying at home or kissing some random girls with very little satisfaction. I knew no one really thought like me, and I felt like maybe I was the baby there… After all, my hormones weren't still that flared up and I kept on playing the same games and exploring adventures from when I was younger… Maybe I was doing it all wrong… Maybe I should do what they did, but now as I laid on the fluffy grass outside the Leaf Village, just letting all of this beauty take me in and embrace me, that thought saddened me… I just wished I hadn't been so alone.

It turned out I did find the bird, I did see it in all its glory, moving, flying, singing. It was beautiful, its feathers just melting with the heavens above. But no one was there to see me smile, rejoice with me in that amazing discovery. Not even when I laid back on the grass and set my next goal (this rare tree, since I have a great fascination with plants) no one was there to motivate me, approve my choice…

I sighed to the big blue sky above me. I did that a lot. Why did all of my friends have to be so boring? I rummaged through my backpack and ate my snack. Then, I remembered I had another book with me that day: something I found laying about on my dad's office too. I took that book out as well and read the title on the cover. Make Out Paradise… Of course I remembered the name, Kakashi Hatake, who had been one of my father's students and still had a great friendship with our family, was always reading that book.

Well, I knew Kakashi had a personality very similar to my dad, and I held my dad in great respect, so that book ought to be good.

However, after just reading the first page, I closed it back again, making an effort to keep my snack inside my stomach. The last thing I needed was another book about kissing… and other things. Ew.

I remember making a theory about the world that day: when it gives you one good thing, it has to give you many other bad things to keep balance. So, I got to see the bird, but the rest of the day just seemed to suck the life out of me…

Finally giving into boredom, I got up and began heading home. Unfortunately, I wasn't yet prepared to find the plant, so there was nothing left there for me to do… And I remember it wasn't even sunset yet…

However, as I crossed the gigantic gates to my village, one of the guards, his name was Kotetsu, called out my name and handed me a small envelope.

"Naruto, so lucky to find you here! This has just arrived from the Sand Village, and it's a message to your father… Can you just give it to him, please? It's not that urgent, but that way I won't have to go all the way to your place and back…"

I sighed again. I had a better question, why was everyone so lazy and boring? But it would be a bit rude to deny him that favor, now would be? I took the envelope.

"It's alright, I'll take it…" was my reply.

"Oh, thank you, Naruto! See ya tomorrow, then!" he sounded too excited.

And I merely waved him goodbye and I went home, with the envelope in my hand.

Did you know that later that day, while Kotetsu was walking by the river with other paperwork in hands, he slipped and everything just fell, getting all wet and destroyed by the water?

I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't taken the envelope with me… I was so carefree and still so bored that I didn't realize how important it was at the time… It was just a note from the Sand, and not even urgent (if it got lost, I'm sure resending it wouldn't be worth it)… It's funny how things aren't always what they seem…

I went home and had the envelope in my hand. And I wasn't even thinking about it, I was just hoping that my mother could at least have some misery and make this day more exciting by allowing me to have ramen for dinner…

Who's not being open-minded now, huh?

Life has these funny things.

END OF CHAPTER

Wooo, first chapter is finished! :D

And I did have fun writing it! Hope it was to your liking! Thanks for having read it, please tell me what you think through reviewing! :D

See ya next time…

kathlaida-princess logging out…