It was a ful week before I saw Gaara for the first time. It was during lunch hour. I was sitting with my new friends in our usual spot when I saw him sitting under a tree across the yard. Alone. I sat watching him, expecting friends to go sit with him but when the bell went for class, still no one had come. This went on for a couple of days, him sitting alone, me watching, expecting people to go sit with him. But no one ever came. Eventually I asked Shikamaru.
"That's Gaara, he's the principals son. No one sits with him cause apparently he's cursed. His mum died giving birth to him so now everyone says that. It's bullshit if you ask me but hey that's the way it is. He's got an older brother and sister too and they dont get treated the way he does.I feel sorry for him. I cant imagine living your whole life being told you were cursed."
I could. Maybe thats why I felt so strongly that I should go speak to him. Everyone deserves a friend after all.
He spotted me as I was walking over to him. But he didnt look welcoming. He glared at me. My guess was he wasnt used to people coming near him with good intentions. That was fine. I would make him used to it. I was getting more and more determined to befriend this boy.
"Hi! Im Naruto. Im new here." Without waiting for an invitation I plopped down on the ground beside him. He didnt say anything. Just stared at me. "Your Gaara right? Bit shy hey? Thats alright, you dont need to talk. Sasuke, my brother, always tells me I talk too much anyway so I can talk enough for both of us." For the rest of the lunch hour I sat with Gaara talking about any nonsense that popped into my head. He didnt say a word but that wouldnt stop me.
Day after day the same thing happened. Sasuke and my friends couldnt understand why I was so determined to get him to talk. They thought I was wasting my time. I wasnt giving up though.
Then one day when I was right in the middle of rambling on about Kiba's dog Akamaru, Gaara looked up and looked straight into my eyes. "You wont give up will you?" He said this without any expression or emotion in his voice. "Nope. I wont. You will be my friend. Just wait and see." The bell went just then so I smiled and stood to go to class. "See ya tomorrow Gaara."
Things changed after that. Slowly but surely Gaara started to come alive before my eyes. At first it was barely anything. He would look at me when I spoke instead of staring into space. Then he would make slight noises in response to something I said. Just a quiet "mmhmm" but I wasnt going to take it for granted. It was a slow process. Weeks passed before I got him to speak again. But when he did it was like my own private little victory. He didnt say anything profound or meaningful. I actually didnt think that day was going to be any different from the rest but then right before I went to walk back to class I heard a very quiet, mumbled: "See you tomorrow Naruto."
At that moment I felt more determined than ever. I had already come so far. I wasnt going back now.