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The boy with the ponytail sighed blissfully, sat on the grass.
He was all alone. Everything desert around him.
But he could hear the rustling of the leaves lending its voice to the wind. Birds were chirping too.
How peaceful.
"How could you stay like that a whole day?"
"Please...leave..." he groaned.
"You skipped class again..."
"And so did you."
"I didn't. I didn't wake up in time..."
"Of course. You NEVER wake up in time..."
"You can talk. Lazy-ass..." he sat down.
The birds' chirping had muffled.
"Do you think Hokage-sama can see us now?"
"How would I know?"
"I was just asking..."
"...well..."
"Hum?"
"You know what they say..."
"Huh?"
"...Kind people go up there and become angels watching over us and stuff..."
"Ah..." he bit his lower lip.
"...but I'm sure Hokage-sama is busy watching over us there."
A yellow leaf languidly fluttered in the air before settling in bright blond hair.
"Know what Shikamaru?"
"Hn??"
"It's nice to talk with you..."
"Hm."
"...I always thought you had no brain but... seems that you do."
"Naruto?"
"Hm?"
"Go away."
Another day flying away. That was what he thought while watching the bloody sunset.
He snickered at himself and increased his pace.
Iruka-sensei will kill him. For a three days he hadn't attend any classes. He was always bored at school anyway, that was no great loss. Besides, he was certain no one had noticed he was missing. Sakura would certainly be fighting with Ino over Sasuke. ChĂ´ji would be eating, Kiba playing with Akamaru while Hinata would be blushing madly. Shino would just be himself.
He smiled half-heartedly and pushed his house's door open.
His senses instantly got alarmed. At the first step he heard something crunch on the floor. He frowned a little.
What was with all that~~~??!!
A shadow appeared few meters in front of him.
He quickly enlightened the place.
Surprise slowly crept over his face, followed by incomprehension.
"You...What do you want?"
The person in front of him seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if pondering what to answer.
"I don't know..."
"What do you mean you don't know?! You're in my house here!" he said, his hands starting to shake.
Despite his bravado he couldn't hide it.
"Don't worry. I won't harm you..."
"Yeah of course. After what you did to me last time you think I~~~"
"I said I'm not here to hurt you..." the figure took a step forward.
"Stay away from me!!" he yelled unconsciously.
His nails had already grown longer.
Gaara's face darkened deeply.
Naruto was expecting him to get furious and choke him with the sand. But instead, it retreated back to its owner. Before the boy disappeared, he saw that look on his face.
He shivered.
He hadn't been asking that much. Or so he thought.
Maybe that was too much for the Leaf gennin.
Maybe he had been asking too much.
He jumped from one tree to another, careful to hide himself.
If he were to be seen he'd be immediately sent back to the Sand Village.
That he didn't want.
Still, what was he expecting here? Why had he came here for?
It would have been ridiculous to tell the blond ninja he had came to see him.
Utterly ridiculous. Had he said that, the guy would have laughed at him.
But he had scared him.
It pained him. He felt somehow betrayed.
No...that wasn't right.
He had scared him because the Leaf ninja had memories about him.
Silly. Did he even had the right to face him after what he did?
He couldn't help it.
He needed to see him.
There was no way he could calm himself. There was no way he could calm his heart.
It was painfully throbbing in his throat. His mind was a mess.
How come trouble was always following his back?
What was the Sand gennin doing in his house?
Why did he react in a so un-ninja-like way?
What was he supposed to do now that the guy had fled away?
Should he warn Iruka-sensei? or Kakashi-sensei? Alert the village maybe?
Night was coming. The weather was cooling out.
He shook his head, thinking it wasn't his business at all.
But then, he remembered the look.
He knew that look.
It was the look of a blind searching his way despite the darkness.
It was the look of a lonely one.
It was the look he used to see on his own face.
He closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.
The old man better be watching him.
"Okay. Now where is he gone?"
He silently flipped past several places where he could possibly had hidden.
He even thought of paying Sasuke a visit, just to know if he had seen the Sand gennin around.
But he quickly shooed the idea away.
Tired of finding no better solution than looking around every secret places he knew, he wished he had Shikamaru's racing mind.
"Naruto?"
He jumped up, surprised his thoughts were interrupted.
"Aaah...Ino..."
"Yeah. That's me. Have you seen Sakura around?"
"Umm... no...no."
"I bet she is late. We were supposed to meet here..."
"Aa..."
"But, what are you doing here?"
"Uh...Just felt like eating some ramen..."
"Hmph. I knew you were dumb but, Ramen shop is this way..."
"Huh?"
"You know... that way is the forest..."
"Ah... hahaha! Of course I wouldn't forget!" he smiled goofily.
"Yeah..." she walked off without saying goodbye.
Naruto stuck his tongue at her back.
He waited until she was out of his view, then headed for the forest.
It was all dead. No sound, no noise. All dark.
It was gloomy. He wanted to retreat.
Turning around, he felt a trail of sand caress his cheek. He stopped.
He wanted to use the Kage Bunshin Jutsu, but he knew Gaara wouldn't fall for that.
He slowly raised his head up, looking at a particular tree.
"Stop watching from up there, you're no God." he said.
A figure fell from the tree, landing on its feet.
"How did you..."
"I know about that habit of yours. Hanging on branches by the feet as if you were a bat."
Naruto clenched his fists in anticipation.
The other boy only gathered the sand in his bottle before closing it.
"What did you come for?"
"Hey! I'm not the one coming from another village. YOU answer that question!"
Naruto pouted, a little lost in the situation.
Gaara wouldn't answer.
"I'm not keeping you at my place." he said on the defensive.
Gaara said nothing.
"I can't believe it...can't believe my luck..." he muttered as he closed the door.
"Sakura would kill me if she knew..."
He looked at the other gennin standing in the middle of the room.
Nothing betrayed his rigid features. No evil intention, no good one either.
He felt insecure.
How could he have brought him back in his house? It was crazy.
He breathed slowly, trying to calm himself.
"Okay. I don't know what you want, I don't want to know. I don't care if it has anything to do with Sasuke either, that's his problem. But..." his eyes met Gaara's "...If you ever try anything bad on me, I'll beat you into a pulp."
Gaara simply turned his head away.
"Okay... Now go find some spot to sleep. The sofa, the floor or the ceiling, whatever you like..."
Naruto quickly disappeared in another room.
He closed his eyes as something like satisfaction filled his throat.
As stupid as it might seem, he sort of felt at home. The kind of place he would wish to live in.
It was tiny, but it felt incredibly warm.
Maybe because he was invited. The leaf gennin had invited him in his place.
For the first time, since a long time, someone he didn't really know had bothered him.
But it was because he had had no choice, wasn't it?
No. The blond ninja was simply someone special.
He had saw it that time when they had fought.
He had managed to drag him away from the rage boiling within him.
He had set him free him from the monster in him.
Still, he couldn't explain what made him different from Temari and Kankuro.
He opened his eyes and entered another small room.
He opened his bottle and the sand flew out.
He watched it enclosing him like a cocoon and closed his eyes.
He didn't know why, but he soon found himself choking, as if the sand was trying to fill his lungs.
He pounded on the sand shell several time before it finally cracked open.
Inhaling deeply, he commanded them back in the bottle and securely closed it.
He looked around and found the sofa the gennin had mentioned.
He found it comfortable.
Naruto was already changing himself in his pajamas.
He still couldn't understand what had gotten him.
Here, in this house where he was used to live alone, he had allowed a stranger.
Worst, a potential killer. A guy who tried to kill him once.
Maybe Ino wasn't so wrong when she told him he was "dumb".
That was a crazy decision.
He hoped he wouldn't regret it.
He hoped that look on Gaara's face hadn't been a fake one.
Sighing with exhaustion, he quietly to sank under the blankets.
That was when he heard a violent coughing outside.
He shrugged. But still decided to go check.
Gaara was asleep on the sofa.
People always says everyone wear angel's features when sleeping.
He Naruto didn't know if that was true. But for Gaara, it was absolutely impossible to see.
His porcelain like face hid anything.
Yawning, the blond gennin went back to his room.
