* * *  * * *  * * *  * * *3b

"Aww... I'm going to die from boredom!" he heard his companion exclaimed.

The latter had spent the morning eating, then looking through a book with strange colours on it.

He himself had been watching him all this time.

He had seen him frown, then laugh after flipping some pages. After that the blond had frowned again, then smiled, spitting some words there and then. He seriously wondered what kind of book it was to make him display such emotions from one time to another. He wondered how could someone laugh over a book.

For he had never laughed.

"What?" the Leaf gennin asked suddenly.

Gaara promptly turned his gaze away, realizing he might have been staring.

"I'm going to do some exercises out there..." the sunny-haired ninja stood up.

He didn't answer. He didn't move.

For once again he would be left alone.

"Wanna join?"

He didn't know why, but he startled.

When he had excited the bathroom, the blond had been quite angry at him. Something about sand, discovery and clay he didn't understand. But now, he was offering him to be his sparring partner.

He did shiver. Not from excitement at the prospect of a fight. No.

He was simply feeling...good.

He stood up at his turn.

"Meet in the forest huh... you know..." he stuttered.

Gaara watched the other boy exited the house.

Taking his gourd, he walked out by the window and melted in the air.

Naruto slowly walked towards his training place, kicking some little stones there and then as villagers threw him suspicious glares.

He couldn't help thinking it was a bad idea to have Gaara join him. But he needed someone to train with. Not that it was exciting to fight someone he already fight once, but having someone was better than training alone. Sakura always refused to train with him. And Sasuke...well, he would never even think about asking him. Shikamaru, the only one he talked to besides his team-mates, was a lazy-ass and hated training.

Yeah, he was stuck with Gaara, in one way or another.

Passing through the shopping mall, he spotted two figures he instantly recognized.

He frowned in confusion.

He was happy to see Sakura, but he didn't like the idea of her being with Sasuke.

It didn't fit his wildest fantasies a bit.

Still, following his heart, he walked to them.

"Hi Sakura-chan..." he greeted.

"Naruto..." the girl said, then looked suspiciously around them.

He looked at her, clueless.

Sasuke didn't say a word.

"What is wrong?"

"Well...I've just met Kankuro and Temari some minutes ago."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"Ah...And?" he said, trying to sound indifferent.

"They were looking for Gaara."

"Hmm..." he made a face.

"They said that something like a week ago he left without saying anything. They think he might have come here..." She paused "Did he come to you?"

"Me? huh... no..."

"I see..."

"Why should we care anyway?"

"Baka Naruto!" she shouted, back to her usual self. "What if he attacks you?"

"Well..." he rubbed the back of his sore head "...it's not like I didn't already beat him... hehehe." he said grinning.

"The guy is dangerous..." Sakura said, shivering at the memory of what he did to her.

Naruto's goofy face fell for a serious one.

"I don't think so..." he stated.

"And how would you know?" Sasuke said, speaking for the first time.

"I just know it." Naruto spat back.

"Hmph." He left without further words.

"Pff... who the hell does he think he~~ Sakura-chan?"

The girl was already running after the other boy.

He had caught two strange cloaked figures as he flew over the roofs and passed the shopping mall located not far from the forest. He knew who the two persons were, and he knew they had spotted him as well.

Not wanting to go any further, he landed on a branch, waiting for them to catch him.

In less than a minute, they were down here, looking up at him.

"Gaara..." Temari called.

"So we guessed right hn?" Kankuro added. "What did you come here for?"

"You should have told us you were leaving!" the girl said frustrated "We've been looking for you for a whole week. I thought you tried to..."

He looked at them blankly, his mind confused meeting them would have such an effect on him.

It was true he hadn't seen them, nor talk to them for months. He had refused to be with them.

But now, he felt he didn't deserve such care and attention.

It confused him they were so nice to him.

It moved him they were protecting him.

"What are you doing up there?"

He didn't want to get down.

He feared they might be angry at him.

Angry because he had made them suffer for such a long time.

"Gaara?" Temari called again.

He shook his head, bracing his courage.

He trusted them so far, and never had they betrayed him. They weren't going to start now, weren't they?

He landed in front of them.

His face showed nothing. But his eyes showed embarrassment.

"Are you Okay?"

"Yes. I am..."

"Why did you leave?"

"I don't know."

"What did you come here for?" Kankuro repeated his question.

"Don't know..."

"You didn't come here to fight them again...did you?"

"Kankuro, stop annoying him with that!"

"Why should I?'

'We already asked the Uchiha and that girl, they say nothing happened."

"And what about the blondie punk?"

"Gaara... did you...??" 

"I felt I had to see him..." he simply answered.

This shut his brother and sister up.

Kankuro was the first to react.

"What do you mean?"

"I had to see him..."

"What... happened?" Temari was already fearing the worst.

"I'm staying with him." he stated.

Two pairs of eyes had widened in a strange mix of surprise and incomprehension.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. It's just like that..."

He lowered his head as Kankuro intently stared at him.

He would never find his words.

"Come Temari, we're leaving."

"Ah...Aa." she stuttered.

"I'm sorry..." he mumbled to them.

The two others looked at each other and nodded as an understanding.

"It's nothing." came their reply in unison.

They put their cloaks on and walked away.

Gaara watched them leave silently as something electrical seized his body.

He inhaled deeply.

"I care about you!"

Kankuro waved at him without turning back. Temari turned to face him.

"We already know that..." she nodded, before resuming her walk.

He had been watching up from tree, afraid to move and to reveal his presence.

After what Sakura told him, he had had doubts about his decision. He had suspected the Sand gennin might be planning something behind his back. He had run here to give him a piece of his furious mind, determined to throw him out of his house if he didn't confess what he truly came here for.

But after witnessing that scene with his family, after what he had said, he understood he had nothing to worry about. He understood the reason why he wouldn't be leaving.

He had acted the same when he had met Iruka-sensei. He wouldn't let go of him.

Because he was the only person he could stay and enjoy himself with.

No. Gaara couldn't be bad.

No one was bad.

Now, he regretted the cold way he had talked to him.

He realized he might have hurt him.

Just like it had hurt him when people were glaring at him.

No. He would never ever treat him like that.

Because they were the same.

Because it would feel like he was hurting himself.

"Hi you!" he said jumping from his tree.

Gaara turned to him, his face still dark.

Naruto grinned at him playfully.

"Are we starting or not?"