Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Ok, it might be awhile before my other fanfic gets updated (real life is such a pain in the butt some times), but here's a short drabble on your favorite little sand nin. And just so you don't get confused, in this story Gaara is five, and it's before Yashamaru betrayed him.

Gaara sat in his small, well-protected hut in the sand village. Dusk was approaching, so the winds were finally settling down and what little life existed in the dunes was coming to life. Gaara waited for his usual visitor, a small kangaroo rat, to appear, and his expression softened in delight as its mischievous face poked around the wall. Gaara held out a finger to let the rat lick it. The sand blocked the animal's way. He knew his mother was in the sand, so he shouldn't dislike it, but…but…Gaara stared out the window. Yashamaru had told him there were things he would one day understand, and his mother's sacrifice would be one of them. Gaara wasn't so sure.

Gaara understood watching. He was always watching. Watching people live, die, watching everything around him. He enjoyed watching them all.

Occasionally people watched back. Sometimes, if he pretended not to be watching, they'd look at him. They were always so nervous, the few watchers he had, and whenever they caught him watching, that's when the whispering began.

Gaara didn't understand whispering. Whispering kept people from hearing things, and since whispering constantly surrounded him, he never heard anything. Only hints of stray words ever reached his ears. Even his siblings, Temari and Kankurou whispered at times. He hated to not be able to hear them. Especially since he knew what they spoke of. It was he, and Gaara didn't understand it.

Still, he had Yashamaru. Yashamaru never whispered, he spoke. He told Gaara of many things, love, loneliness, anger, creations Gaara knew at varying levels of pain. Listening to Yashamaru, Gaara almost forgot the whisperings. Almost.

Gaara was nearly surprised as two shapes slipped by the window. Genin practicing their new camouflage jutsu he guessed. Father had hired special teachers for he and his siblings, so he'd already mastered such simple tricks. His best jutsu always lay in the heart of his village though, the sand which encompassed their lives. Kankurou specialized in a more traditional jutsu, and Temari a rather foreign one. The genin tricked themselves in existence once more. Gaara wished it was a bit lighter out so he could go a play with them. He only knew a few games, but he loved them.

Gaara understood running, and hide-and-seek. The other children often decided to play tag when Gaara came outside. They ran so fast sometimes Gaara had to use his sand to catch them! He didn't mean to hurt them, and felt guilty when he did, but how else was he supposed to play? They were all so much faster then him! If he didn't stop them from running away he'd get left behind.

After tag, hide-and-seek was the village children's favorite game. They hid well too. Gaara wasn't good at hiding. People noticed him wherever he went, and gave away his hiding spot. He didn't think hiding was fun anyway. It was scary, the thought that someone was coming to try and get him, and if they found him he would be at their mercy. His father had taught him such a thing was bad.

He found the other children with glee though, and usually won every round until their mommies and daddies came outside and shepherded their children away.

That he didn't understand.

Dusk faded into night, and the sand's wondrous view would have made a leaf ninja faint dead away. The village's lights spent away one by one until only Gaara's room was lit and the blaze of the moon washed the plain in silvery fire.

Gaara held great respect for the stars and the moon. They only showed their majesty when all were asleep, and there were none to appreciate it. He'd attempted to tell of their beauty to his father, but he'd brushed it off as a five-year old's ramblings. Gaara shivered as the chilly night air brushed against his skin. Sand pulled itself from his gourd and wrapped around him.

He wished he understood the whispering, the staring, the hiding. His eyes wandered he sky until he found a particularly bright star.

"I wish…." He shut is black-rimmed eyes, sorting through his thoughts. "I wish…" Gaara's eye's opened with a childish serenity in them. "I wish I had a companion." He stared at the star for several more seconds before being interrupted by Kankurou's entrance. He'd been off training with his recently formed genin squad.

"Hello Kankurou."

"Hello Gaara, I'm going to go wash off." The elder brother paused in the hallway and looked back at Gaara. "The genin here are all really weak. When you get old enough you're going to beat all of them."

Gaara nearly smiled and left the room feeling slightly less empty. Maybe his time would come.

Several hundred miles away a small blonde headed troublemaker sneezed. The pony-tailed chunin next to him chuckled.

"Naruto, looks like someone is talking about you." The child grinned, squinting shut his crystal blue eyes.

"I hope they're telling how great I am!" Iruka smiled and patted Naruto's head.

"I'm sure they are. I'm sure they are…"