Disclaimer: I do not own any Naruto characters, though I wouldn't mind if I did.
Chapter 3.
Eight years later
Throughout the years, things were pretty much the same in Konoha. The people went about their business and nothing really changed for anyone. The village was more alive during the spring because of the new recruits to the Ninja Academy. Many children were entering the school now, including several of children of the clans.
But if there was one thing that had not changed, it was the treatment that Gaara had always gotten from the other villagers.
All six years of his life, or at least of what he remembered, many people always looked at him with distaste, fear or resentment. It was if they did not want him there at all. And because of their parents' disgust of the strange red haired boy, most of the children completely ignored him or bullied him. They acted as if they wanted nothing to do with him. They were told many times to never go near him or talk to him. They told the children that he was a very bad boy and they were never allowed to go near him. So they believed them.
And for six years, Gaara lived quite lonely. He wasn't really raised by anyone, seeing that for some reason everyone feared him, even though he was just a child. A few times, a nurse would check up on him because orders from the Hokage, but otherwise, he was alone. Gaara didn't understand it though. Why didn't everyone hate him? What had he done to earn their hatred? Nothing as far as he could tell. He couldn't figure out why no one liked him. Was it because he had red hair, pale skin and dark circles around his eyes? He couldn't help it the way he looked. He had been born that way, even though he didn't even know who his parents were. From what the nurses had told him, or the Hokage himself, he had been found in the forest, abandoned by his parents. No one really actually paused to let him know why no one liked him.
Except one person.
If there was only one person who seemed to understand and care about Gaara, it would have been the Toad Sage and Legendary Ninja, Jiraiya; who unfortunately was also Konoha's biggest pervert. For most of his life, the white haired Shinobi cared for him, had taught him how to walk and talk, and even told him that the reason why no one liked him was because he was unique.
"You're a special gaki, Gaara. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise." Jiraiya told him. Easier said than done though, Gaara always thought.
However, the thing was about Jiraiya, he did a lot of traveling so Gaara didn't seem him as much as he would have liked. The first four years of his life, Jiraiya had taken care of him when the nurses couldn't; or at least wouldn't. But after Gaara turned four, Jiraiya told him that he had to go through a lot of training to keep up his Shinobi skills. So for two years, Gaara only saw Jiraiya once a month. When he wasn't around, the young boy stayed at the hospital because he had no where else to go.
"Hey! Look, it's the ugly red head!"
Gaara blinked out of his thoughts and stopped swinging back and forth on the swing he was on to look at who was speaking. To his disgust, it was some of the local boys who picked on him daily. They always made fun of his red hair and the dark circles around his eyes and his very size. He was actually rather petite for his age. And the reason for the dark circles around his eyes, he didn't sleep as much as others would. He hardly slept at all, truth be told. Every time he tried, he would have terrible nightmares about a monster made out of sand or dreams of black and red monsters attacking people he didn't even know. It terrified him too much that he was so afraid to sleep. So he didn't go to bed like everyone.
"Hey, freak!" said one of the boys as the four boys as they approached him. "If I was to punch you in the eyes, how'd notice with your already black eyes?"
Gaara just eyed them dully as he began swinging back and forth again, trying his best to ignore them. He really didn't want to fight with them today. He would only get into trouble again. And he had had enough of that. But he knew that trouble would always find him anyway.
"Hey! I'm talking to you, baka!" The boy snapped as he lashed out and grabbed Gaara by the front of his shirt, yanking him off the swing. He even brandished a fist at him. Gaara met the boy's eyes with his teal colored ones, looking dryly at him. He didn't even try to pull away as the boy sneered at him. The boy's friends were trying to coax him into beating up the red haired boy, cheering him on. "If you are smart," Gaara spoke in a very low voice. "You will let go of me right now."
The boys all glared at him as if he had called them a very nasty word. "What did you say to me?! If you're smart, you'd go jump off the Hokage Mountain! No one likes having you here, ugly! You are a loser!" The boy holding him growled before threw back a fist to punch him in the face. He even started to swing but before he could, something grabbed his arm, holding it back. He jumped and looked at what it was, only to see a large hand made completely out of sand.
"I warned you." Gaara said, before he raised a hand and squeezed it into a fist.
Without warning, the sand made fist closed tightly around the boy's arm, squeezing until he cried out in pain and let Gaara go. The hand, however, did not. It just squeezed harder until there was a low snap, proving that it just broke his arm. The boy screamed in pain before he turned and started running away with his alarmed friends. "Freak!" They shouted as they went. Gaara just watched them go before he turned to go back to the swing with the sand following him and returning back into his pocket. That was another thing that not many people understood about him. When Gaara had been young, he found that he had control over sand. It was strange enough but he felt a connection with sand every time he was near it. He could do so much with sand, it was amazing.
WHAP!
Gaara yelped when the stone hit him hard in the side of the head, sending him flying forward onto the ground. He heard the boys laugh again before really taking off. Gaara laid there in the dirt, tears stinging his eyes as his head throbbed. He could already feel his blood now running through his hair as he slowly got to his knees, reaching to touch the spot where the stone had hit. He felt the warm blood on his hand, making him wince a little.
"That must have hurt. Even I felt that."
Gaara groaned when he heard it. That was another thing he hated. Ever since he was very small, smaller than he already was, he had a voice that was always with him. He even heard it in his dreams whenever he did sleep. He wasn't sure who it was, but it had always been there with him during his trials. Sometimes Gaara found it rather comforting to have someone there to talk to him when Jiraiya wasn't around.
"Maybe you should kill the bakas. You have the power to do it, you know?"
Gaara shook his head as he pushed himself to his feet, looking down at the ground. He placed his hand over the bleeding spot on his head, dabbing it lightly. He wasn't going to get an argument with the voice today. He knew that if he killed the so called bakas, something bad would happen. But he wanted to do something. "Forget it." He muttered.
"Oh please. You're going to let them get away with it again?"
The red haired eight year old just smirked coldly as he went over and sat back down on the swing, still rubbing the slightly bleeding bump. "I broke his arm. I can deal with that for now." He whispered. He heard the voice groan as if disgusted.
"You are such a weak boy, you know that!! It would be better to hear the bakamono's neck break." The voice growled.
Gaara chose to ignore the voice now, even though he knew it was going to just drone on. It did that sometimes when he tried to ignore it. But truth be told, he was very tempted to listen to the voice and break the brat's neck with his powers over sand. But then to think of seeing a very disappointed look on Jiraiya's face when he came home just to see Gaara behind bars for killing someone haunted him. He had never seen Jiraiya give him a disappointed look before but he had seen the look before.
Once not long ago when an older boy, already Shinobi, had called Gaara a bijuu. The Legendary Shinobi had yelled at the Shinobi that day, telling him that he better show the young boy some respect no matter how different or he was going to introduce him to a jutsu Gaara couldn't remember what it was. And because Jiraiya had cared for him so much, he couldn't bear to imagine seeing that look.
Later that evening, Gaara was making his way towards the hospital he pratically lived at, though he didn't really see the point of going there. He didn't sleep. He mostly stayed up all night reading the Shinobi handbook that Jiraiya had given him. He had even given him a book on hand signals and everything he needed to be a ninja. That was another one of Gaara's goals in life. He wanted to be a Shinobi, a ninja to earn respect from people, and show them that he was not some weird looking boy. And he believed that he could earn the respect he deserved by becoming a ninja.
However, as Gaara approached the hospital he lived at, he froze in the middle of a step when he saw the boy whose arm he had broken and the boy's outraged father, who was a Shinobi. The father was talking rapidly, and angrily, to the Third Hokage and the Shinobi, Iruka about how Gaara had broken his son's arm and he demanded action for it.
"The boy is a monster, Hokage-sama! My son, Mitsu could have been killed by him! The bijuu needs to be destroyed!" The man said angrily.
The Hokage and Iruka both sighed shaking their heads, none of them noticing Gaara just yet. They were too focused on the father at the moment to even notice him. "Goyasuke, Gaara is only a child. He will be punished for his actions, but you must remember, accidents happen." Iruka spoke calmly. "I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt Mitsu so badly. They could have been playing and got careless….."
"Mitsu is not allowed to play with the monster, Iruka! No child in this village would ever play with that demon carrying……" Mitsu's father roared but he immediately cut off when the Third held up a hand for silence. His eyes had finally caught sight of Gaara, watching them gravely. The elderly man knew he had heard a little of what they said because of the look on his face. And because of his eyes being elsewhere, everyone looked over to see him. "Speak of the monster." Mitsu's father growled before putting a protective hand onto his son's shoulder. He turned back to the Hokage, frowning darkly. "I demand a harsh punishment, Lord Hokage. I will not allow some bijuu hurt my child, or anyone else's for that matter."
"Goyasuke, you can't demand anything. The decision is made by the Hokage, not you." Iruka spoke up in Gaara's defense.
Goyasuke just shot the Chunin a dark look, while his eyes narrowed coldly. "Says the one man who stands up for a trouble making bijuu who had caused more trouble than that one!" He jabbed his finger towards the young red head. "Everyone knows you let that little blonde headed monster run amuck!" He growled. Iruka suddenly looked very dangerous as he glared at the man before him. That was a very sensitive situation to approach, especially for the Chunin. "Leave Naruto out of this, Goya. He has nothing to do with this." He said dryly. Goyasuke just smirked coldly before he started to open his mouth to say something else before someone cut him off.
"Goya, call this kid and the other one a monster again, I'll summon Gamabunta to eat your ass and then shit you out." Growled a very familiar voice as the owner scooped a reproachful Gaara up and planted him onto his wide shoulder. Gaara blinked in surprised before looking down at the shaggy white head of Jiraiya. He immediately felt a smile curl on his face before he noticed how serious the Legendary ninja was looking. And that didn't look very good.
"Jiraiya, you're back earlier than I thought. I didn't know you would be back until later this month." The Third Hokage aid pleasantly.
Jiraiya just shrugged as he kept Gaara balanced on his shoulder and he shook his head at the same time. "Yeah, well, I heard that a bunch of rotten little brats have been causing my boy, here, some trouble and I thought it was best to come check up on 'em. Plus I have new information." He told him.
The Third just nodded as he took everything into thought before looking at Goyasuke. "Goya, Gaara will be punished as I see fit. But I will enlighten you that when Gaara broke his arm, Mitsu had started the fight first." He gave the man a sharp look when he tried to argue. "Before you go denying it, Goya, I will have you know that someone has seen Mitsu and his friends bullying Gaara earlier. And I can guarantee you that if you look at his head right now, you will find a lump on the side where one of Mitsu's friends threw a rock at him. If you need proof, go to the ANBU officer, Wolf. I'm sure he would enlighten you what had happened because he was the one who witnessed everything. And you know that Wolf would not make it up. He's too serious to do such a thing. Even for a little one like Gaara. Now go home and get some rest." The Third told Goyasuke. Goyasuke just growled before he turned and led his son away from everyone, while shooting Gaara a very dirty look.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, grabbed Gaara around the waist and lowered him from his shoulder. He didn't look too thrilled to hear that some brat had cracked Gaara's head open with a stone. And when he found the lump and the trickle of dried blood, he growled even more angrily. "Kuso. Little brats!" He growled as he pulled off a canteen of water from his belt. "I should bend them over my knee if they keep this up! Gaara doesn't do anything to those little weaklings and they always get violent with him!"
"Jiraiya," Iruka sighed as he folded his arms. "He still did wrong. He shouldn't have gotten so violent with the other boy."
The white haired Shinobi made a face but he knew it wasn't going to do any good in arguing with the younger Shinobi. He knew he had a point, not to mention his old sensai would agree with him. "Gaara….." He sighed as he took out a cloth and poured water onto it. Then shaking his head, he began to dab Gaara's head with it.
"I'm sorry." Gaara murmured, wincing a little from the pain in the lump.
Jiraiya shook his head as he cleaned off the blood then patted him on the head, as if trying to comfort him. The Third, however, just sighed and folded his arms behind his back. "Gaara, you know you're not allowed to use your power over sand against anyone. Not until I gave you permission." He told him, seeing Gaara slowly nod. "Either way, you will have to be punished for your actions."
"Master," Jiraiya interrupted before looking up into the old man's eyes. They seemed to have a silent conversation for a moment before both smiled at one another. Then the perverted Shinobi turned back to Gaara. "Gaara, you do need a little more discipline, you know. So therefore, as your Guardian, I hereby sentence you to the Ninja Academy."
That surprised Gaara when he heard that. His eyes lit up with surprise and he looked at Jiraiya as if asking if he was kidding. But the grin on the Shinobi's face told him that it wasn't a joke. If there was one thing that Gaara wanted more than anything in the Konoha Village, besides the respect from everyone, it was to become a ninja. Either that or find out who he really was and where he came from. But so far, no one knew where he had come from. At least no one had actually told him the truth. Gaara quickly looked up at the Third to see if it was true and the old man slowly nodded.
"Yes. I think that is a good idea. Gaara could use a little more discipline. And I think," He paused to look at Iruka. "That Naruto could use a little discipline as well. So therefore, he will be accepted into the Ninja Academy. Why don't you let him know, Iruka?" He told him. Iruka just smiled and nodded. "I will do that then." He bowed to the Third before turning and walking away.
"Jiraiya." Gaara said quietly as he looked up at the big, white haired man with a look of wonder.
Jiraiya looked down at him before grinning. He knew what Gaara wanted to say. So he patted the young boy on the head. "You're welcome, kiddo." He then stood up and steered Gaara towards the hospital. "But I was telling the truth. You need to discipline yourself. With your outbursts, you can seriously hurt someone. That's why you're ready to enter the Ninja school. But you can't use your sand all the time, all right?" He told him, playfully stern. Gaara didn't smile but his eyes did. He just nodded as they entered the building and went to the room he called home. But as they arrived into the room he stayed in, Gaara became aware that his things were missing.
Even his favorite teddy bear, which he called Totoro. It was something that Jiraiya had given him when he was just only a baby.
"Totoro!" Gaara exclaimed as he began frantically looking around. "Totoro is missing!" He began running all around the room, looking through the drawers but as he searched, he saw Jiraiya smiling. "Jiraiya! It's not funny!" He muttered, clearly upset. Jiraiya just chuckled even more as he tried to wipe some tears from his eyes from laughing so hard. "I'm sorry." We should go out and look for Totoro. Maybe he went for a walk." He motioned for Gaara to follow him. Gaara just frowned but did so.
For nearly a half an hour, Gaara and Jiraiya wandered the streets of Konoha to search for "Totoro" and wasn't having much luck. Neither one spoke as they tried to find "him". As they went, Gaara caught Jiraiya snickering to himself and he couldn't help but wonder exactly what was so funny. But finally, near the Hokage Mountains, Gaara spotted the large brown teddy bear he called Totoro. It was sitting on a window sill of a small darkened apartment. Excited, Gaara raced over and snatched it right off the window sill to hug it tightly against him. "Totoro!" He said as he hugged it, then realized that there was a note pinned to its paw. "Hmm?" He hummed as he looked at it.
Welcome Home, Gaara
Confused, Gaara looked up at Jiraiya when he approached and stood next to the door. The Legendary Ninja just grinned at him before pushing the door open and motioned for him to follow. The boy just frowned but followed his hero inside. And to his surprise, all of his things were inside, with a few additional things. Like the futon sitting in the corner with fluffy blankets, a mini fridge and a bookshelf full of books and scrolls. And on a small table in the middle of the room, there was a kunai holster and a few ninja supplies.
"Well, it might be small, but it should do for you." Jiraiya said smiling as he looked around.
Gaara just looked around with awe before he turned to the Legend. He was definitely surprised by all of this. "This…..this is all for me?" He asked with surprise. Jiraiya just smiled as he turned his eyes onto the boy. He folded his arms and shifted his weight. "Yup. I figured that you were tired of living in that stuffy, old hospital. So I set you up with a small apartment. A nurse'll be coming to check on you now and then, of course.. But other wise, you're free from some of those old biddies." He said grinning. Gaara looked up at him, with a very awed look. There were almost stars in his eyes for what Jiraiya had done for him. "Thank you, Jiraiya." He said quietly before throwing his arms around the white haired Shinobi.
Jiraiya just grinned at him as he ruffled Gaara's already messy red hair. "Good. 'Cause this place, even if it is small, cost me a bundle." He then went quiet for a moment as if there was something now bothering him. "There is something I do need to talk to you about though, Gaara. Something really important." He told him. He knew for a fact that the boy was not going to like this at all. He saw Gaara frown and he shook his head at him before he could say anything. "Hold up. Just listen. It deals with that voice you keep hearing in your head……."
A few days later, Gaara was walking through the doors to the Ninja Academy, dressed in his own style of ninja clothing. There was a serious look on his face as he moved into the building, while ignoring any looks he was getting form others. He didn't care what they said or thought about him. He had a promise to fulfill.
A few nights before, Jiraiya had finally told him that there was a bijuu residing inside his body, which was why some people saw him so different. Everyone but Jiraiya, that is. He told him that it was because of the demon, Shukaku, he had control over sand. He also told him that it would be awhile when they would see each other again.
"I have an important mission I have to go on, while doing some of my research and I probably won't be back for some time." Jiraiya told him. Gaara had immediately looked down to hear that. He didn't want Jiraiya to leave. The white haired ninja just smiled and patted him on the head. "Oh, don't make that face, kid. I'll be back. I promise. It all depends on how long my mission goes. By that time, you might graduate from the Ninja Academy. When you do, I'll come home to see you. So train really hard and be the best Shinobi!" The Legend told him. Gaara just nodded and promised that he would do just that.
So that's what he promised to do. He promised that he would become the best Shinobi, just for Jiraiya. He wouldn't let anything get in his way of becoming a true Shinobi.
"Hey! It's the freak!"
Gaara paused as he was making his way into the orientation class when he heard that voice. He knew it pretty well. And when he looked at them, he saw that it was them. It was the bullies from a few days ago who had picked on him. Even Mitsu was there. His arm was wrapped up in bandages and he looked rather angry that Gaara was even there. They all were looking disgusted as if he was some kind of bug.
"What are you doing here, Black Eyes?" Mitsu growled as he went up to face Gaara with his friends.
Gaara just gave them a cool look before he turned away and looked for a seat to sit at. His dark ringed eyes took everything in as he looked. There were several other kids there for the school. Some he knew from a distance. He didn't mingle with them. No one ever mingled with Gaara. And it was now he knew why. He finally found a seat in the back, where he would be able to see everything but not get too much attention.
However, as he entered the classroom, he was unaware that the bullies were following him in.
As he started towards the aisle, to get up to the chair where he had chosen to sit, he felt the demon inside his head starting to growl a warning and had heard a few girls gasp. Frowning, he started to turn around only to see a fist flying at his head. Gaara immediately prepared for the hit as he tried to step back.
WHAP!
A water balloon full of water came flying over Gaara's head and slammed into one of Mitsu's friends' face, breaking and sending water flying all over the bully and splashing onto Gaara. And as expected, laughter broke out all around the room. But above all of the laughter, there was just one that was the most obnoxious of them all. Gaara frowned as he turned around and looked to where the laugh was coming from and his eyes fell onto a very wild and wacky looking blonde kid with six whisker like markings on his face; three on each cheek. Now, the red haired boy knew a little about this one. He had seen him several times in the village and had heard a great deal about him. In fact, sometimes he was the biggest talk of the town. For the boy was the biggest trouble maker in the entire village. He always played pranks and was always running wild everywhere. While most called him the biggest idiot in Konoha, his name was actually Naruto Uzumaki.
And like Gaara, he was an orphan. But unlike Gaara, he was overly cheerful, very loud and always being rude.
"Naruto!" The soaked boy yelled at the top of his lungs. "What was that for?! What are you doing throwing water balloons at people?!"
Naruto just grinned as he wrapped his arms around his lungs and doubled over with hard laughter. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! You are SOOOOO soaking wet!" He just laughed before straightening. "I thought you smelled like dog shit, so I thought I'd help you smell better." He then had a very mischievous look in his eye. "Of course, the only problem was, I got that water out of the toilet."
That made several eyes go open wide before they realized that the boy did smell a little. Especially the soaked boy's. His nose crinkled before his face nearly exploded to hot red. "YOU ARE SO DEAD, UZUMAKI!" He roared before rushing at the blonde. Naruto just laughed hysterically as he raced right out of the classroom, leaving a room full of stunned people, including Gaara. But if the red head didn't know any better, it would seem that Naruto had just saved him from getting punched.
Later on, class had finally started. And without Naruto. He hadn't returned to the classroom just yet as Iruka entered the room. Gaara was seated at the top row, sitting by himself in a corner. He was well away from several of the others, for they had chose to sat far away from him. A few kept giving him uneasy glances. It was really starting to make him uncomfortable but he was doing his best to ignoring them. But when Iruka started taking roll, the attention on Gaara stopped. Everyone either raised their hand or said "Here" when their names were called, even Gaara, which brought a little attention onto him again but he did his best to ignoring them. His eyes just looked straight at the Instructor. But when Iruka came to Naruto's name, there was no answer.
"Naruto?" Iruka asked with irritation as he looked around the room and his face grew very moody when he saw that the blonde was no where in the room. With an annoyed sigh, he moved on.
Suddenly, the door slammed open before Iruka could actually began the introduction to the Ninja Academy and in came the spoken person. Naruto just grinned as he rushed into the room, waving a hand. "Hey there! Sorry I'm late, Iruka-sensai! I was getting chased by some dickheads!" He said in a rather loud voice. Everyone gave him a dull look, even Iruka before he started yelling at the blonde for being late. After a long lecture, Iruka ordered Naruto to take a seat.
The first thing Naruto did was look straight at an empty spot by a pretty pink haired girl that Gaara had seen once or twice while in the village. He remembered her name was Sakura, for he had watched her a few times during his years. In a way, he kind of liked her. She always seemed a little lonely because people teased her for having a wide forehead. She hardly played with any other girls. The only problem was, Gaara felt too shy to approach her. He was afraid that Sakura would treat him the way everyone else did. But then she started hanging out with the blonde she was sitting next to now, a girl named Ino. After that, she turned into some kind of snob. Gaara still watched her now and then but never spoke to her. And they completely ignored him. It was as if he never was there.
As Naruto tried to sit next to Sakura though, the pink haired girl quickly scooted down the bench so that she sat at the end so that he couldn't. She even dragged Ino over so that he couldn't sit between them either. So moodily, the blonde found a seat in the back row, next to Gaara, who had a bench all to himself. He just plopped down right next to the red head, not even sparing him a glance as his eyes just remained on Sakura. Gaara didn't look up at him once, but stared directly at the Shinobi Instructor.
As the day went on, Iruka had explained that they would be learning everything that makes a Shinobi. He started the class by handing out Shinobi Handbooks and then started to explain the basics about Chakra, which was something that Gaara already knew about. Through the entire day, though, he noticed that Naruto wasn't even paying attention. He caught sight of the blonde doodling in his Shinobi Handbook or writing down a list of pranks that he was going to pull on people.
The only thing Gaara did was roll his eyes before going on. 'If he doesn't wish to be serious about these lessons, then he doesn't want to be a real Shinobi.' The serious red head thought to himself. Then after that, Iruka started to teach them about Taijutsu, the hand to hand combat techniques.
It was like that over the next few days. They would read the Shinobi Handbook and go over the basics before going onto Taijutsu. And every time that happened, Gaara found that Naruto was actually looking forward to the action. He would bounce up and down on the bench while actually paying attention, in some sense. It was rather odd to Gaara as he observed the blonde. The slightly older boy was always so excited about things. So the red head began to wonder if Naruto even realized that Shinobi were suppose to control their emotions and their actions. Not to mention, be quiet and not so loud like Naruto was being.
As the week progressed, Naruto didn't even seem to realize that Gaara was sitting right by him for he never looked or talked to him. Gaara preferred it that way. He just wanted to be left alone while he was doing his studies. He would always eat by himself during the lunch hour and studied alone, while the others did their own things together. He was always alone. It didn't always feel nice having to watch the other students interact with one another and not let him join in though. Some times he just watched them with dull, but lonely eyes. No one ever seemed to notice.
But eventually, someone did.
"Hi!"
Gaara blinked right out of his thoughts when someone actually started talking to him. He hadn't been expecting anyone to speak to him. He was used to people just ignoring him. But when he looked up, he found Naruto actually acknowledging him. The blonde seemed a little surprised that Gaara was even there but he was grinning at him in his own cheesy way. He didn't even seem to notice the dull look the other boy gave him for interrupting his thoughts.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!"
The red head just looked at him dully before looking away.
"What's your name?" Naruto tried again, still grinning as he tilted his head so far so that he could still see the red head's face. With annoyance, Gaara turned his eyes back onto him and gave him a dark look. He was going to try and give him his driest glare, which usually un-nerved people. But it didn't work on Naruto, yet he stopped smiling. He actually looked like something had just hit him. It occurred to the blonde that this strange boy with black ringed eyes might not even be able to talk. His eyes grew wide as he drew back. "Oh! You're dumb, right?!"
Now Gaara glared harder at him, thinking that Naruto had just insulted him. He was actually used to insults but not from someone who was stupider than him.
Naruto just slouched as if that had been a yes. He looked rather pitiful as he looked at Gaara with sympathy. "Man! That's gotta suck! You can't talk and all! How in the hell are you going to be able to do any jutsu without talking?! Is that even possible?" He asked before his eyes went wide and he jumped up waving a hand. "Hey, Iruka-sensai!"
His outburst made several heads jerk around and look up at them with surprise. Gaara was definitely surprised when he realized what Naruto actually meant but felt uncomfortable when most of the other students looked up at him. Iruka just tilted his head and turned from writing on the chalk board. "What is it, Naruto?" He asked just a little moody for the interruption.
"Hey, hey! Can anyone perform jutsu without being able to talk?!" Naruto yelled across the room, even though the room wasn't that big. Iruka was definitely surprised at the question, as was a few of the students. They actually looked rather interested about hearing that one. They wondered if it was possible. Some were surprised that Naruto actually asked a sensible question. "Uh….some can, Naruto. Most jutsu are just made up by hand signals and not all needs a voice to perform techniques." The Shinobi Instructor said before tilting his head. "Why do you ask?"
Naruto pointed at Gaara, who definitely look uneasy when more eyes went to him. "This guy can't talk! That's not fair if he can't become a Shinobi if he can't talk!" He exclaimed.
For a moment, several people looked surprised to hear that but then some rolled their eyes, for they were fully aware that Gaara could talk. Iruka was one of the surprised people but then his face softened when he saw Gaara look away with annoyance, with slightly pink tinted cheeks. He realized that he was embarrassed. He just shook his head and went back to writing on the board. Naruto sank back down in his seat a little confused at Iruka's reaction. He had been expecting the Shinobi just to look very surprised and then hurry over to try and help the strange red head beside him but he didn't. "Hey, that's not cool." He grumbled before turning to Gaara, who wouldn't meet his eyes. "Iruka-sensai usually helps people. Especially if they can't talk….."
"I can talk. I just choose not to." Gaara muttered quietly and bitterly.
Naruto looked rather surprised that he just spoke up but then grinned as he folded his arms behind his head. "Oh, good! So you can talk! I was worried! That wouldn't have been cool if you couldn't! It wouldn't have been fair to you that you couldn't become a ninja!"
Gaara just frowned as he looked around his shoulder again. He was confused of this kid's reaction. He tilted his head as he just continued to watch the grinning blonde. This kid really did not know who he was. So why not enlighten him? He was sure that once he told Naruto his name, the kid would brush him off like everyone else. "Gaara."
Naruto blinked in surprise as he looked at the red head. "Huh?"
"My name." Gaara said slowly. "My name is Gaara." He then turned away, expecting Naruto to just give him a look of disgust and stand up to go sit somewhere else. Usually the others did.
However, Naruto grinned and clapped the red head on the back, surprising him. "Nice to meet you, Gaara! That's a real cool name!" He said brightly. Gaara looked at him with great surprise. That was definitely unexpected. He didn't know what he could say about that remark. "Um……" He muttered, feeling somewhat stupid. "Thanks."
"But don't you have a last name too?" Naruto asked tilting his head, still grinning.
Gaara frowned a little more but then shook his head. "No. I'm afraid I don't have any parents. I'm completely alone." He told him. And he wasn't too surprised when Naruto's smile vanished. That was expected.
But what wasn't expected was the fact that there was a look of understanding in the blonde's eyes. He just looked away for a second before trying to smile back at Gaara. "Yeah. Me too." He told him. Gaara glanced at him, once again surprised but then his face softened and they both shut up to listen to Iruka while he taught the lesson. It was amazing that someone was a little like him, Gaara though. And for once, someone wasn't treating him bad. The blonde was actually being very friendly towards him. This brought a very faint smile to Gaara's face.
'Yeah right.' He thought. 'Like we could be friends.'
But he was wrong.
