Um. So yeah. I lied in the last chapter. Life took over.

A quick disclaimer: I haven't read Naruto in over a year, so I have no idea what's going on now. It shouldn't matter for this story, which I've already mentioned is very AU, but I feel I should mention this just in case I accidentally contradict something really basic in the canon.

Adstratum Influence: Chapter 3.

Naruto opens his eyes, and it's not exactly a welcome surprise when Gaara is the first thing in his field of vision.

"What are you doing here?" is the first thing out of his mouth. Tact, subtlety, even an instinct for danger have never been Naruto's strong points; or perhaps this very lack is indeed part of his strength.

Gaara doesn't answer.

"I can still kick your ass," Naruto says, into the silence. "I'm only still in this place cuz of Tsunade-baachan, you know."

Gaara doesn't answer, and Naruto is a little perturbed.

"What do you want? I'm not gonna fight you in a hospital but we can go outside," Naruto says, not with any conviction but to fill the heavy silence. Silence is one thing that Naruto has never gotten accustomed to, always filling any that threatened with inane chatter at top volume. It makes him feel better, somehow.

Gaara leaves.

Gaara leaves the hospital, wanting suddenly to get away from the loudmouth ninja and retreat into comfortable silence. He wanders aimlessly through the town, ignoring the stares and the whispers, before finally escaping onto a solitary rooftop to brood.

Silence has always been Gaara's refuge, where he feels most comfortable. He has grown up for the most part alone, in silence. Everyone had always been too afraid to talk to him, to scold, to yell, to reassure, to chat of nothing. The only one to ever really just talk to Gaara had been Yashamaru, and that… did not end well. Gaara does not trust talking just for the sake of talking; everyone has an ulterior motive, and to let someone in could only result in death.

Naruto, though…

Naruto is irritated; perhaps even a little angry. He wishes Gaara had stayed behind, if only so he could yell at the boy and let off some steam. Naruto is not afraid of Gaara; Naruto has beaten Gaara. Naruto firmly believes he can beat everyone in the world (except the one he needed to the most, but he won't think about that right now, there's still some hope and he will continue to cling to that hope). His thoughts are derailed as the door opens again.

"Has Gaara been in here?" asks the Sand girl brusquely. Naruto is somewhat surprised to see Shikamaru tagging along with her.

"Why is he here!" Naruto replies, which is not exactly an answer.

Temari rolls her eyes. "I take it he has been. Come on, Nara, he's not here anymore."

"Wait!" says Naruto. "Why are you guys here? Doesn't Suna need you?"

"We're here on loan. You guys are short shinobi, so we're filling in." Temari flashes a grin at Naruto. "Get used to us."

Then she turns and walks out, dragging Shikamaru along. He spares a moment to wave resignedly to Naruto before the door closes.

Temari is irritated, and slightly anxious. After talking with Shikamaru, she had suddenly remembered that Naruto is in a hospital bed and Gaara is running around alone. Despite having moments before discussed his changed nature, she is still wary, and part of her hates that she will likely never be able to trust her little brother completely. So she dragged her reluctant partner along to make sure that Gaara and Naruto were not at each other's throats, hospital and injuries be damned.

Now she is alone with her thoughts, Shikamaru having begged off to do something-or-other, and she is worrying about leaving a potentially volatile situation behind while she and Kankurou run off to Rain, and she knows she should be able to trust that Konoha is capable of defusing any situation that might arise, and (it hurts to think it but) it's not like she could really be of much help in any case.

Temari sighs, and heads for their temporary quarters.

Gaara watches her leave.

Kankurou is feeling a little bit like a fish out of water. He hasn't really forged any connections here in Konoha like his sister, and he lacks her easy confidence among strangers. He is looking forward to the mission to Rain, simply because it will put him back on familiar territory. On a mission, he doesn't have to worry about anything but whatever it takes to accomplish the objective. He is not going to worry about Gaara; Konoha can look after its own, and Gaara can look after himself. Temari will worry for both of them.

"It's kind of good to be back," says Temari, looking out the window at the trees.

Kankurou shrugs. "We'll be leaving again tomorrow."

"Yeah... it's just a routine assassination, it shouldn't take too long."

Kankurou doesn't reply.

Tsunade is taking a gamble. She is almost positive that Naruto's mitigating influence will be enough to contain and control the unpredictable force of this second boy with a monster inside.

Tsunade carefully doesn't think of her track record for gambling.

Temari and Kankurou leave at the first light of dawn. They both note subconsciously that Gaara never showed up last night.

Gaara is on the other side of town when his siblings leave. He is at the hospital again.

Naruto does not appreciate being woken at the crack of dawn, and he lets Gaara know. Loudly. Waking half the other occupants of the hospital in the process.

Gaara waits it out silently.

Finally Naruto calms down, and settles for halheartedly glaring at the stoic redhead next to him.

"Some of us do sleep, you know," he says, and smothers a yawn. "Why are you here at this hour anyway? I know why you're in Konoha, your sister was in here yesterday. Do you really have to keep coming in and staring at me though? It's kind of creepy."

Gaara doesn't know how to reply to this, so he doesn't.

"Anyway, I'll be out of here soon, maybe you could leave now but later we could spar... or something..." Naruto falters, and trails into silence.

Gaara isn't sure how to respond to the sudden change in demeanor, so he doesn't.

Sparring reminds him of Sasuke.

"Did you have a reason for being here, or are you actually going to just sit there and not even talk to me?"

"I don't know."

"Well, that's a start."

"I want to kill you."

"You can't, though. You were there when I kicked your ass, right?"

"The situation is different now."

"Well, then, do it." Naruto makes a show of settling back onto the bed, opening his hands, leaving himself vulnerable.

Gaara hesitates.

"Well?"

"Not right now."

Not while Naruto is injured, is in a hospital, is offering himself up but not really. Not now.

"You know, we could be friends if you wanted. Now that you're on our side." Naruto smiles, bright and cheerful again, secure in his own strength. "Just don't wake me at the crack of dawn again."

I'll try not to let another year go by before I post another chapter. Sorry about that.