Dedicated to taixonay and 3DPixeldust for both sending this and other words in, hope ya'll enjoy. :D

Inner Universe

(I is for…)

Idiosyncrasy

Konohagakure had different customs from Suna, and different people. It was one of the many reasons Gaara had left Sunagakure and came here, where he stayed and basked in the unique quality of Konoha. Tsunade had easily allowed him within the breach of Konoha's walls and told him that he should stay with a friend until he was more used to Konoha.

She wasn't home yet.

Approximately seven years before, once upon a not so long time ago, there had been a boy with a hate for everyone around him because it was all he'd ever known. In a land not so far away from this boy, there was a girl struggling to keep up with expectations. Not long from then they met and said boy nearly killed said girl. Said girl defied natural order by surviving in the Chuunin exams and getting up, falling, getting up again and fighting for all she was worth.

A year from that, he had helped to rescue her comrades from the Sound shinobi. A week after that she had presented him with a bow and a basket of food that she tested before his eyes.

Six months from that her team had been sent to drop off an important note from Tsunade. During their four day stay, the boy sat with her through the night when she'd accidently climbed to his roof to watch the moon. He'd let her stay.

At sixteen, he'd presented with an opportunity – become part of the shinobi exchange that Sunagakure and Konohagakure were going to start soon. He did, and by hap the first person her came across was a girl who defied the natural order of things, and by coincidence she was living alone in an apartment. By Tsunade's inquiry and plea, the girl had allowed him to stay with her until he could get on his own feet in this new place.

He was on his feet and could get around on his own, but he never left.

Gaara looked across the room to his gourd where he heard an almost silent mumble, I swear Gaara that woman doesn't know how to tell time.

'That woman' being Hyuuga Hinata – he wasn't really quite sure what people could label them as; friends, lovers, roommates…. When he'd asked Hinata she had only stared at him with a small gaze and said, "Does it really matter?"

She'd gotten rid of her stutter for the most part, but her voice was still so soft. She's late.

Gaara closed his eyes, 'I know.'

There was click at the door and it swung open slowly, creaking with each inch it opened. Drip…drip…drip…

Gaara's nose was already flared and he heard the ever present voice purr, I spy with my little eye a little splotch of red

Hinata entered with her head down and swaggering from side to side with each dead step she took. Her shoulder length hair hung down in matted tangles, arms spotted with blood drippings and her fingers were caked in the substance. She leaned against a wall and slid down – red smears following her while she drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Her shoulders bounced and he heard a noise escape from her throat only once, and parted from the coppery metallic scent, there was a touch of despair and salt water. A thin tendril of sand shut the still partially open door quietly.

The redhead stood and approached her, towering over her and casting a shadow over her trembling form in the dim light. His fingertips touched her shoulder before her crouched down in front of her to listen to her psychobabble.

"He…he…he…was a little…I had to…but…I didn't want to…" she kept hiccupping and covered her face with hands. Gaara kept silent, not going to tell her that this was life of a shinobi – he'd had assassins from his father after him. A wet hand touched his cheek and fingers cupped behind his ear. "He…he…" she couldn't breathe properly, "He called me his b-big sister," she hiccupped again.

Gaara didn't say anything that would comfort her because it would've been cruel to tell her the truth and a lie to say otherwise. He was silent and didn't say anything when her slimy hair was in his face and red covered hands were on his clothes. There's a natural order to everything, my dear, he heard Shukaku hiss sarcastically.

Gaara let her cry on him and saw the sand that accumulated beneath her, rising to scrub the blood from her. You, out of all things and everyone else, just happen to be an exception. The sand ran fingers through her hair and if she cared, Hinata didn't let it show. How you'd survive without leeching is beyond me, he grumbled but the sand scoured her hair dryly.

She clung to him, but the redhead said nothing and only stayed beside her closely. He let her cling to him and listened to her cry for people she didn't really know. It was all the same; if there had to be people like him, there had to be people like her.

It was only the natural order of things.

-

O.O That was pointless as all hell. I didn't like it personally, a three out of ten maybe, but that's pushing it. Anyway, tell me if you liked it, what you liked or didn't like about it, kay?

Thank you to Flyingphilosopher, TSOH, Wolfgirl21, Didi74 and AlexiaWinters for sending in your words. :D

Send in your words for 'J is for…' and I'll see ya'll next time…figuratively…