* * * * * * * * * * * *2
A strident sound made the boy jump up.
He looked around, angry his sleep had been interrupted.
The alarm clock was shouting at him. He quickly shut its mouth.
Yawning and shuffling along, he walked towards the door, .
The house was quiet as always, but he could feel a presence.
Ah. He had almost forgotten him.
As he entered the other room, he saw Gaara already awake, sat in a corner.
His eyes were shut. Naruto guessed he might be meditating.
He passed near the Sand gennin pretending not to have seen him.
It wasn't because he had slept in his house that they had become friends. No way they would.
He had tried to kill him in the past after all.
Shrugging, Naruto went to the table, then started to make some breakfast.
The bowl, the spoon, the milk, the sugar, the corn flakes... everything was there.
He was about starting to eat, but something made him look in the corner.
His eyes met Gaara's.
It was scary.
But he couldn't help pitying the guy.
He sighed heavily.
*
"You want some?" he heard the blond ask.
Something jolted in his body. Something strangely pleasant.
He nodded as an answer.
He heard the sand madly scrape inside the gourd as he stood up.
"No...Stay where you are." Naruto hastily said. "I'll bring it to you..."
Gaara paused.
The blond was still dreading him.
But he wouldn't do him any harm. He would never hurt him.
He resumed his walking.
The other ninja gasped.
"Stay where you are!!!" Naruto warned.
Gaara looked at him as he clenched his fists.
He took another step forward.
He felt the very negative aura invade the room.
He shivered as he felt the danger coming.
He ignored it and leaned towards the table, facing the other ninja.
He expected the gennin to strike. Nothing came.
He expected himself to hurt. Instead, he felt an odd wave rise in him.
He knew the blond wouldn't harm him. And he didn't.
He caught the bowl on the table and retreated to his secluded corner.
*
The fire in him had suddenly settled down, leaving confusion in his mind.
He couldn't believe what had happened.
Gaara had come to him with his guard completely down.
Any Ninja would know never to let his guard down.
But despite the Kyuubi's evil chakra, he had approached him without any protection.
It was disturbing.
Naruto knew the guy wasn't weak to that point. In fact, he had thought, since the beginning, that Gaara was full of evil intentions. He was mistrusting him.
"That was a stupid move..." he stated.
Gaara barely reacted to the words.
Naruto turned back to the table.
"Hey! That was MY breakfast!!"
*
He lazily walked in the corridor leading to the classroom.
He had left the Sand ninja in his house some minutes ago.
He still had no idea what he was going to do about him. There was no way he would tell anyone. He didn't want to be involved with him either. But he couldn't kick him out just like that.
Naruto felt suddenly very tired.
For the time being, he'd just let him be, until he decides to go back to his village.
He pushed his classroom's door open.
People turned to look at him, then frowned.
He only grinned at them.
"Baka!!!" Sakura shouted knocking him on the head.
"That hurts..." he complained.
"Idiot! skipping classes... you think you're too smart or something?"
She looked furious.
He swallowed hardly.
Surprisingly, Sakura didn't hit him like she would have done.
Ino had appeared, both girls were now glaring at each other.
Naruto silently walked away. He blindly chose a seat and sat down.
Looking up on his right, he spotted Kiba smiling happily at Akamaru. Shino right beside him looked frozen. Sakura and Ino had stopped fighting and settled down next to each other. They were intently staring at the person in front of them with dreamy eyes.
Naruto released an exasperated sigh and turn to his left.
Hinata was staring at him. Blushing like always.
He hadn't noticed he had taken a seat next to her.
"I...I'm glad...you're back...Naruto-kun..." she stuttered before turning away.
The blue eyes widened slightly in surprise.
These days were quite full of surprises...
*
The day he had left the Sand village, he had thought about nothing but reach the blond gennin's house.
Now that he was here, what was he going to do?
Something told him that, since the beginning, it had been a very stupid idea.
But there had been a something else, much strong, that had dragged him to this place.
It was inside him, yet it was something he couldn't put a finger on.
Now he was alone in the blond's house.
He had gone to school. And he was left here.
Why was he feeling abandoned?
Why was he feeling out of the boy's world?
That was crazy. The Leaf gennin could barely stand him.
Yet he had invited him to his home, without asking for anything in return.
He breathed sharply.
He knew what he had to do. And the simple idea of it was making him tremble with both apprehension and excitement.
*
It was lunchtime.
The ninjas had gathered in several groups, each of them distributed among the numerous spots of the playground.
Naruto watched as his classmates started to eat.
He swallowed as they did.
He had forgotten to make his lunch this morning. And he had forgotten to bring the few money in his froggy bank to buy some. In fact, he had forgotten everything.
His stomach groaned.
He felt like going to ask Iruka-sensei some food, but vigorously shrugged the idea off.
He'd just have to bear the hunger all the day.
"Naruto..."
He turned to face the girl who was also his team mate.
"Sakura... huh?"
He looked dumbfounded at the bento she was handing him. Then looked at the girl herself: she was awkwardly smiling at him.
His heart instantly melt: the girl he likes smiling a him bringing him food just when he taught he'd die from hunger. Was she a mind-reader?
"Thank you very much Sakura-chan!" he beamed at her, taking the bento from her hands.
"Aa." she nodded.
"You want some?"
She seemed to pause for a second, staring blankly at him, then shook her pretty head.
"See you..." she turned off and quickly walked away.
Naruto saw her reach the other end of the terrace, just as Sasuke was coming into view.
The boy saw them freeze, look at each other intently until Sakura resumed her walk.
Naruto unconsciously frowned at the girl's behaviour.
"What's wrong with Sakura today?" he asked his teammate as he passed by him. "First she brings me this, then she smiles at me, and finally she completely ignores you..." he turned to Sasuke, a noodle escaping from his mouth. "Is she sick or anything?"
"Whatever..." Sasuke shrugged, walking away.
"Pff... Damn you Uchiha!" he spat, then returned to his meal.
*
As soon as he was certain there was no one around he changed back to himself.
Deep bloody hair, emotionless face, black outfit matching his eyes.
Yes. He was out of the girl body.
He jumped up in a tree.
Just as he expected, the blond ninja had worn a delighted face when he saw the food.
He had been lucky there were some money lying in the Leaf gennin's room.
He hated using the copy no Jutsu. Usually.
But it didn't matter. He had to bring him the food. It was his very own way to thank the blond-haired ninja.
No, it really didn't matter, Because he had been rewarded with a smile. That smile.
But he also knew the guy would never smile at him like that.
He knew the smile hadn't been for him, but for that girl...
Then, why was he hoping so much from someone he barely knew, and who barely knew him?
It was disturbing.
He used to stand for himself only.
Why starting to bother the others now? Especially that blond stranger?
He had no answer to these questions.
He only knew he felt warm in his presence.
He would do anything to stay by him.
Gaara's eyes narrowed.
He had seen that glare the Uchiha had given him.
It hadn't been for the girl, but for him.
It seemed to him that the Uchiha had felt his presence behind the copy no Jutsu.
Or maybe that was just an impression...
*
"Ah, what a school day!" the boy exclaimed as he entered his house. "Know what happened?"
He expected no answer, but still continued.
"Sakura-chan brought me bento!!" he said removing his orange jacket.
"It was amazing. She even walked past that stupid Sasuke without gaping at him. Terrible!" he entered the living room. "When I thanked her again later during the Jutsu class she told me she didn't do anything. But I guess she was shy to say it in front of everyone. Hehehe..." he sat down in the sofa.
"Still, I'm now sure she likes me... That Sasuke can go brush himself!" then he laughed, proud of himself.
Looking around, he saw Gaara in a corner. His eyes were closed.
Had he spent the whole day sat over there?
"Hey..." he called.
Scary eyes opening answered him.
Naruto moved a little to the other end of the sofa.
"Are you planning on staying here forever? I mean, this is my house. You have yours too...shouldn't you go back to your village? Your brothers must be waiting for you..."
"I don't think so..."
Naruto frowned.
"How would you know? As far as I remember, they took care of you... that day..."
"And you...who took care of you?" came the sudden question.
"Huh?"
"You told me you were living protecting people. But...is there anyone to protect you?"
He was dumbfounded.
Gaara was talking too much.
Even better, he was talking to him...nicely.
"...There is Iruka-sensei...and..." he frowned "...As much as I hate to admit it, there is also Sasuke..."
He made a face and smiled.
"...And I'm sure your brothers do care about you. No matter what you think, there will always be people caring about you."
Gaara had turned his head away.
"But the most important is to have people you care about enough to feel the need to protect them..." his blue eyes softened "...Do you have anyone you wish to protect?"
*
He did blink.
He felt something move deep in him.
It was more than a shock.
He felt his mind was totally messed up.
...did he have anyone he wishes to protect?
He couldn't answer that. He had never thought about it.
He had been betrayed so many times, he had never thought people were worth his protection.
People he knew and trusted had betrayed him.
People he didn't even know hated him.
That was why he had hated them all.
He lowered his head at the painful memories.
Those were memories he wanted to forget.
Because...because there had been very few people that hadn't betrayed him.
Kankuro...Temari...
Even when he rejected them they were still willing to help him.
They always did care about him. But he didn't care about them.
How selfish of him...
Selfish... living only for himself...How wrong he was...
But someone had shown him how bad he had turned at that time.
It was the reason why that someone too was important to him.
He barely knew that someone. But that someone took care of him.
Yes... For a long time he had been selfish...
...It was time for this to change.
