Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, never have, (probably) never will.
Note: These are just some one-shots and drabbles that weren't fit to be real chapters in the big story, so they'll go here.
Human Nature: Side Stories
By: TailFear
Uzumaki Naruto mumbled in his sleep and rolled over, again. It was as if the blond chuunin couldn't stay still even in his sleep, not that he could stay still during the day either. Still was barely in Naruto's vocabulary, and it only applied to hiding or dangerous missions, and even then he practically vibrated with bottled energy as if his muscles were determined to jump out of his skin.
Naruto muttered something else in his sleep, most likely something about his beloved Ramen, judging by the way he was drooling and gnawing on his poor, lumpy pillow. He really looked like an idiot when he did that. No wonder no one had tried to assassinate him when he didn't look like a threat, let alone more than brain-dead.
Yet this was the boy who was hated by the village, or at least most of it. He was feared by adults because of the demon sealed inside, and hated by children who only understood from their parents that Naruto wasn't to be liked or trusted. It didn't help that he had no parents and had whisker-like markings on his face. He had been shunned from day on, without even knowing what he had done to cause this hate, this fear that was continually, always directed at him.
Gaara watched Naruto sleep, never really able to do so himself. There were times, yes, times when the other boy would watch over him as the sands started to gather slowly, increasing minute by minute until Naruto felt that the volume of sand was too great and would wake him, causing the red-gold grains to collapse into a pile on the carpeted bedroom floor.
After the first few weeks Naruto had stopped trying to get the dusty sand out of his carpet with a vacuum (something that Gaara was always rescuing his sands from anyway), and had struck an agreement with his formidable partner that said Gaara would get the grains up himself, and Naruto would stop vacuuming. Despite this even Gaara couldn't get all of them off of the floor when they decided to move on their own, causing the eventual defeat of both boys as they gave up.
The same could be said for the color of the sand. During the first week Naruto had conned Gaara into washing his sand, something that the red head was extremely skeptical about (actually he was skeptical about water in general, especially if he was supposed to get near it). No matter how many times the sand was washed and dried the only thing that changed was the sand's smell. After the fourth such attempt Naruto gave up, leaving Gaara and his red-gold sand in peace.
Gaara snorted as Naruto let out a particularly effeminate giggle in his sleep and left the bedroom. The taller teen took up his customary spot in the living room amidst a quickly growing pile of books that the blond had yet to complain about that were being piled around Iruka's old couch. They still needed to fix the broken windows before it got cold. Their quick fix of cardboard and tape wasn't going to help much in the winter, and the only thing it really did was attract dirt on the window itself and on the floor inside as well. The red head would tell his partner when he woke him up a few hours later, it wasn't his problem, especially since he was above such demeaning labor as cleaning (that one time with the couch didn't count, he'd been even more out of his mind than usual...).
It had been a shock to realize that he was in a place where people didn't automatically quake in fear. Sure, they looked away and tried not to recognize his presence, but they didn't show the same fear that most of the people back in the Sand had on a daily basis. If anything they tolerated him, or at least the people he had the most contact with did, even if it was only during training time, he had the feeling that without such supervision a few of them would have gone running the other direction (meaning the girls, Sakura still hadn't gotten used to having him around, but she was getting better).
After a while Gaara quietly exited the small apartment and hopped onto the roof, spending the last few moments of the morning watching the sun rise. This was one of the few things that he had been able to keep doing since his arrival in Konoha, especially since they didn't really take to him policing their nighttime politics (they did that well enough on their own and didn't need his help anyway, even if he did have ulterior motives). So he kept in the neighborhood of Naruto's apartment, sometimes buying books, sometimes watching the blond sleep, and sometimes just sitting on the roof and watching the sun slowly eat away at the night until it was time for him to go inside and wake his partner.
This had turned into his life. But he didn't feel bad exactly, didn't feel restless or angry, just felt comfortable in a place where he was accepted for who he was (even if he was called a lunatic on a daily basis), and not just feared for what he carried. It was different, this acceptance, and it was growing on him, but he wasn't about to just go jumping into the proverbial arms of trust and friendship. No, it may have been getting better, but Gaara still believed that he was the only one who could look after himself, and nothing short of monumental was going to change that.
TBC...
Well, this was going to be Chapter 05...but as you can see it isn't (and it is shortened and condensed and probably better than it would have been anyway). The real Chapter 05 is started and on its way, so just hang on, it should be out by the end of Feb. (its going to be long...reeeaaalll long.) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed on HN Chap. 4 and the one shots! You all are awesome!