Gaara didn't make many facial expressions, he knew this, but he thought about rolling his eyes nonetheless as Temari scolded him the next morning. He had stayed out all night in the pouring rain, figuring that it didn't matter as he never really got wet with his sand armor. He was always cold when he was away from the desert anyway. But none of this mattered to Temari, when at 8 AM, she opened the front door of the house they were renting, and saw her little brother in wet clothes, looking smaller than ever.
She rushed him inside, stripped him and dressed him in dry clothes, all the while alternating between worrying and scolding.
"Gaara, what were you thinking! You'll catch your death of… well," and she finally stopped talking, not sure what else to say, as the idea of Gaara dying from a cold was ludicrous.
Gaara merely stood there patiently, now dressed in a dry white shirt, pants and sandals.
She fluttered away from him, obviously feeling that there were things that she should be doing as a big sister, and not sure what to do.
"Well, come have some breakfast then," she ordered, walking towards the kitchen.
"I'm not hungry," he said, and walked into the living room, sitting on a couch and staring through the window.
She sighed. As much as she'd love to be able to boss him around, she still didn't know what to do with her little brother, even if she wasn't as scared of him as she used to be.
Temari walked into the living room and set a cup of orange juice in front of him on the table. "Just in case," she said gently, then sat down.
He raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem upset. Not that he ever did.
"Why are we here again," Gaara asked, suddenly, surprising Temari.
"Well," she started, knowing that they had been over this, and that so far no explanations had seemed to appease him. "We didn't have anything to do at home, with things still being touchy, and you weren't getting along with people, and you kept asking questions about how to be human."
"And I couldn't learn there because…" he said, looking at her with annoyance.
"Because everyone is still mad at you, and no one is willing to treat you like a human. You know this," she retorted, also annoyed that he kept making her repeat herself.
"Why do you do this?" she asked, glaring at him. "You know that things weren't going well at home, you know that I don't like it much here either, but I'd rather be with the people who despise us for a reason, like being involved in their hokage dying, than with people who have hated you your entire life, just because of who you are."
He sat there, in silence, and Temari almost gasped.
He looked almost… forlorn. She thought about walking over and hugging him, but, well, it was Gaara, and frankly she still wasn't that comfortable with him herself.
"Is there anything I can do, Gaara?" she persisted, wishing that she could make everything better.
He shook his head, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees, continuing to look pensively out the window. Gaara could do more with facial gestures than anyone else she knew, and he didn't even have eyebrows.
Temari sighed again and said, "You know I'm here."
He nodded and she left him alone, going out to explore the town and try to talk to people. Maybe she would find people willing to give Gaara a chance. She wasn't sure what else to do… or where her other stupid brother was.
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Noon rolled around, with Gaara sitting on the couch, absently looking out the window, when he suddenly felt his sand attack, causing his eyes to widen for a moment.
Whump… thud
This time he rolled his eyes, as he walked around the couch to pick Naruto off the ground. "I don't understand you," he said to the grumpy Naruto.
"Stupid sand," Naruto said, rubbing his head and glaring at Gaara's outstretched hand.
"Why do you insist on forgetting about my sand guard?" Gaara asked, pulling him off the ground.
"I don't forget," Naruto insisted, as they walked out the door, "I just like surprising people, and that can't work all the time."
Gaara stared at him, "Yes, it can."
"Whatever," said Naruto, spirits obviously picking up as they reached a ramen stand.
Gaara followed Naruto in, sitting next to him as he ordered two bowls of ramen, handing one off to Gaara.
Gaara just stared at the food as Naruto quickly polished off his bowl and ordered another.
"Eat!" said Naruto, continuing to gorge himself, and Gaara, surprising himself, began to eat the food from the bowl. He wasn't a big fan of it, but he didn't like food in general, so it wasn't bad, he supposed.
Gaara finished his bowl, then turned to see Naruto smiling happily in front of 8 empty bowls.
"I think I'm good for now," he said, sighing, dropping some money on the table. "Come on."
Gaara followed him and they walked through the town, Naruto chattering on about random happenings. Gaara tuned him out, automatically walking behind him, then almost ran into him as Naruto stopped short. He looked to see what had stopped Naruto, and saw Sakura and Sasuke had walked up to him.
"Hey, Naruto," said Sasuke, smiling. The raven-haired boy was grinning in an obnoxious sort of way, at least in Gaara's opinion, and was possessively holding Sakura's hand. She was blushing, eyes down on the ground, which seemed strange to Gaara, but what did he know about how girls acted. His sister didn't act like that, and he didn't remember the annoying pink-haired girl acting like that, but maybe girls did that when they dated someone.
"What are you wearing?" Naruto exploded, ignoring Sasuke, and gesturing at an oversized shirt that Sakura was wearing.
Sasuke smirked, "She grabbed it from my place last night," he said, and laughed as Naruto spun around and stormed away. Gaara watched them, and noticed that while Sasuke looked happy at upsetting Naruto, Sakura finally looked up and watched him walk away sadly. Since she didn't move or say anything, Gaara figured it didn't much matter.
"What are you hanging around Naruto for anyway," Sasuke scoffed, turning to Gaara.
Gaara didn't say anything, just stood there, which seemed to make Sasuke angry.
"Whatever," he said, walking away with Sakura.
Gaara really didn't understand people, and he continued wondering if this was really the place Temari should have picked, as he decided to continue walking through the town. Maybe he'd find someone a little more sane.
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Okay, so it's boring, but I'll figure out a way to get it GaaNaru eventually. For what it's worth, it's going to be GaaNaru, SasuSaku and possible SasuGaa or SasuNaru… I dunno. I just have to get it moving somehow… For what it's worth, I'm starting another fic tonight that's going to be really weird... with tons of sex scenes and whatnot. I hope it's not too weird for people, it's going to be based on my favorite fairy tale. I'm planning on doing this at the same time. Hopefully they'll both be rather long. I tend to be long-winded, I suppose.
