Sorry for the delay! Finals.

I'll try to be more consistent. Remember to comment so I can get better.

A Wayward Ninja

Chapter 3:

Blood in the Sand

Naruto sighed as he trudged through the sand. The wind carried sediments along its gales, not only buffeting the blond but tracking the powder in places he did not appreciate. Every other second, he was forced to scratch at his eyes, or hair, or pants, to relieve the ever present appearance of the stuff, and before long he was forced to just abandon the pretense altogether. That, coupled with the fact that the sun was completely overbearing, made for a disastrous trip through the desert.

"This is stupid," Naruto groaned. His hair was matted to his head with sweat, making for an overall uncomfortable experience. Added to the fact that he had to wear stupid, baggy clothes didn't help with things. Naruto wanted nothing more than to shed himself of his travel cloak and put on his old jumpsuit, but even he had to admit that that would be a horrible idea. The climate was already near lethal when he was wearing the most optimal clothing for it.

Just because he understood the situation, however, didn't mean that he liked it. When a couple more minutes passed with no response from his travel mates, Naruto simply sighed again, this time deeper. That finally garnered a reaction, and Sasuke slugged him in the shoulder.

"Be quiet, idiot! We know that you're tired, we're all tired! We know that you're hot, we're all hot! We know that you're bored, we're all bored! So please, stop wasting your breath with all your stupid complaining! You're only making things hotter!"

Naruto, not one to back down from his raven-haired brother, reared up in response. He cocked back a fist as he approached the Uchiha, who didn't back down either. "Hey! There's no way that talking is enough to make this place any hotter!"

Sasuke sneered. "I dunno, you talk enough to make a good case for it."

And just like that it was on. The two boys charged at one another, fists raised and ready to brawl. They made it one step, only one, before practiced hands descended on them. Their wrists were caught in vice-like grips, then shoved downwards. The two boys tripped forward, smacked their foreheads into each other, then recoiled.

"Hey, Neji! What gives?" Naruto whined. Across from him Sasuke was quiet, but his glare spoke volumes. Daggers shot from his eyes as he stared down the Hyuuga.

For his part, Neji didn't seem to affected. The nine-year-old's eyes were lidded as he looked down on his younger counterparts. "Wasting all of your energy on squabbling not only bothers others, but makes you thirsty faster. The extra water you drink means that there is less for the others. We only have so much of it for our journey to the Sand Village."

Both boys grunted, but averted their eyes nonetheless. Around them the other people, mostly Hyuuga, smirked as they watched the boys get scolded by yet another boy.

Neji grunted. "Honestly, it's like you two are children."

Here Naruto bristled again. His attitude returned with a vengeance as he rounded on his friend.

"Hey! For the record, we are children!" He then folded his arms, his lip pouting out. "Geez, you used to be so much fun…"

Neji sputtered. His head whipped towards the blond. "Just because I'm acting proper doesn't mean I'm any less fun! I'm just actually mature. Unlike some people."

This time Sasuke joined the fray. He was loathe to ever be on the blond idiot's side in just about anything, but Neji was still a sore subject for him.

No, he wasn't still jealous that Neji was a better combatant than he was. Promise.

"Mature? Is that another word for lame? Because that's what you are."

Neji's Byakugan activated. The two boys were so used to the indication of the boy's ire that they didn't even register it.

"I am just as fun as I used to be."

Naruto mimed Neji, making a scrunched-up face as he did so. "I Am JuSt As FuN aS I usEd To Be. That's you."

Neji scowled at him but tried not to rise to the bait. He closed his eyes, counted to three, and took deep breaths. When he finally opened his eyes he had calmed…

… only to see Sasuke's fingers in front of his eyes.

"Gah!" Neji screamed before collapsing on the ground. He clutched at his eyes as he fumbled around, tracking sand into his clothing. In the background Hinata laughed at her mother's side while her father stared, jaw set.

"Proper shinobi should conduct themselves as such," he said, only for a white clothed arm to drape itself around his neck.

"And you should lighten up," Hizashi quipped. "They're still children yet, and there is no one out here to chastise them."

Hiashi pursed his lips. He looked towards the children, only to see Naruto and Sasuke share a rare moment of camaraderie as they bumped fists. Neji was still rolling on the ground, and Hinata was laughing softly. He watched the scene a moment more, before sighing.

"Very well," he said. "But it is your job, dear brother, to reign them in when we reach the Sand Village."

Hizashi laughed. "Why, of course, brother! How hard could it be?"

XxX

As it turns out, it was very hard.

"Get back here!" Hizashi screamed. Neji had finally grown sick of the boys' pestering and was aggressively chasing them. Gentle Fist taps flew wildly as the enraged Hyuuga boy chased his onyx haired "friend" through the streets of the Hidden Sand. Civilians and passerby, not used to such commotion, simply glared at the children as they were shoved to the side. Hizashi sighed. "If you would, could you at least not encourage them, Lady Hinata?"

Hinata gasped. She used her hands to cover her mouth, but her mirth was still clearly visible in her eyes. The giggles escaping didn't help either. Dejected, the man looked to his brother, only to get a rare wry smile back.

"They're just being kids, brother." Hiashi said. You couldn't remove the smugness from his voice with a knife. "It couldn't possibly be hard. Go reign them in. It'll be easy."

A look of dread overcame Hizashi's face at the suddenly insurmountable task he was presented. He turned, slowly, only to hear the sound of something crashing. Sasuke and Neji were beelining down the main road with nothing but chaos in their wake, and Naruto…

Naruto was nowhere to be found.

And that was the horrifying part.

XxX

Naruto sucked his teeth. He walked down a side alley of the stupid village he was in with nothing more than a bad mood in his heart. When the Hyuuga told him that they were going on a "super important mission" outside the village, he thought that they were going to be fighting bandits. Or saving princesses. Or taking down evil warlords. He thought that something interesting was going to happen.

Instead he was shoved into the world's longest walk with the stuffy Hyuuga bodyguards doing all the work. They didn't see any warlords, or pretty princesses, and they barely even saw a bandit. The one that they DID see was a single, wobbly stick of a man. His footwork was shabby and his bones were visible. The knife he held looked wicked, but mostly because of the rust. He took one look at the procession, shook his head, and turned around.

Honestly, he made the smart move, but not one that Naruto enjoyed. With a kick at the sand that lined the road he walked, the boy scoffed as he made his way through the village.

"Stupid Hyuuga and their stupid mandatory pilgrimages…" he grumbled. "Just cause I prefer to sleep over there doesn't mean that you have to drag me everywhere."

Never mind that they asked his permission before taking him along, Naruto was just upset that everything was so boring. Because it was a diplomatic mission, he wasn't allowed to play with Hinata. With Neji recently being all stuffy and boring, and Sasuke being an ass, there was no one left for him to play with. She may have been pushy, but at least she was fun.

What Naruto wouldn't give for someone fun right now.

Really, anything would do.

But, sadly, nothing was forthcoming. Naruto felt like screaming. He trudged down the alley a bit more before exiting into a clearing. The buildings had fallen away to reveal a wide-open area filled with jungle gyms and slides. One or two swings lined the area, but for the most part the entire area was just one big sandbox with no vegetation.

Naruto shrugged and made his way over to it anyway. There was nothing better to do.

Upon reaching the playground Naruto looked for some games to play in. There were a trio of boys playing some kind of tag around a mass of monkey bars, and some other kids going up and down a slide. Some younger children were playing on the swings, but there was still one open, while some more kids were going around a Merry-Go-Round.

Overall the day seemed pretty fun. All of the children were a bit younger than him, some a little bit older, but that didn't mean he couldn't play. Without a second thought he ran up to a bunch of children playing with a tan ball. He waved, introduced himself, and asked to play.

"Sure," a boy a little taller than him said. "We needed one more person, anyway."

And then began a curious game where Naruto and one other boy had to carry the ball from one side of the playground to the other without getting it stolen. It took him a few minutes to get the rules down, of which not every one was explained to him until it became relevant, but eventually he understood the game. Once that was done, the boy's limited ninja training became a serious boon.

"Hey, not fair!" one boy cried. He was on the opposite team and tried to swipe the ball from Naruto's hands. Naruto stopped short, pivoted on his heel, and juked around the boy with almost no effort. "You can't use ninja stuff!"

Naruto chuckled. "That wasn't in the rules."

"It is now! That's not fair!"

"You're just mad because you're losing."

"Am not!"

"Enough," the slightly taller boy said. "If it bothers you so much, he can be on your team. Will that make things better?"

And thus the teams switched after every game. Naruto's team still won more often than not, but the games were still fun either way. Naruto was having so much fun that he completely forgot that he was supposed to be elsewhere.

Or at least he did until the game suddenly stopped. All of the other kids on the playground stopped, their eyes wide and mouths open as they looked towards something. Naruto turned as well, only to see a red-haired boy standing over at the playground's entrance. He clutched a teddy bear in his arms as he stared onto the playground. His lip quivered as he stood there, and if Naruto looked hard enough he could see the glistening in the boy's eyes.

Naruto, ever the softie, wasted no time in going over to see what was wrong. Before he made it even two steps, however, he was stopped. The taller kid grasped his shoulder and held him there.

"No, Naruto," was all that he said. Naruto's brow furrowed, but he didn't break away. He followed their stare and stared at the young boy too, and after a while he began to feel uncomfortable. None of them were doing anything, just staring like a Nara deer caught in a floodlight.

Eventually it was too much for the boy too. The child toddled over, all the while clutching his teddy bear like it was his last connection to Earth. The bear was almost half his height, so even Naruto had to gasp at how cute the whole thing was. He reached about halfway towards them and stopped before their ball, which had been kicked away during the latest session. He doubled over, picked it up, and with the most hopeful eyes that Naruto had ever seen he held it out towards them.

"Here," he said. Just a simple, small word said with a stutter. The voice was high pitched, but still scratchy, as if the boy had said it with a throat lined with sand. No one, not even Naruto, moved to take the ball from him, however. He stood there a few seconds more with all of their eyes trained on him before he finally moved.

That was a mistake.

The boy didn't even make it three steps before the ball was struck from his outstretched hand. The boy recoiled, but he didn't move otherwise. Eventually another clump of sand, this time slightly bigger than the one that hit the ball, smacked the boy on the side of the face.

Naruto turned, eyes wide, as he looked towards the direction the sand flew from. Standing with an extended arm was one of the boys he was playing with. A vile sneer ran across his face.

"We don't want you here, demon," the boy said. "Didn't we tell you to stay away?"

Another clump of dirt hit the boy, this time beaning him on the forehead. It shifted his scarlet hair to reveal the word "Love" printed there. The boy winced, and his eyes shut as he weathered the attack.

"Why do you keep coming back, freak?" another boy spat. His words weren't even particularly venomous. Just self-assured and impetuous. He walked up to the redhead and came a head taller than the boy. Then, with no ceremony, he pushed the boy to the ground. "Get out of here, loser."

The redhead sniffled. His eyes blurred a bit as tears started to flow freely, and he backed away, his teddy bear in tow. He then scrambled to his feet and scurried away, not looking behind himself once.

Naruto watched as he went, eyes hard. The taller boy finally let go of his shoulder and turned back to his friends.

"Good riddance," the boy said. He hadn't looked as disgusted as his younger friends, but the revulsion was there. Naruto stared the boy down a second more before turning back to where the redhead was. The boy was far gone, with only an empty road left behind, the trail swirling with sand.

"Are you coming?"

Naruto didn't respond. His eyes were glued to where the boy was. After a few more seconds he finally nodded, before turning back to the boys. They had already restarted their game.

"Yeah," Naruto said.

XxX

He ran, no real destination in mind and no real reason. Sure, he was upset. Those boys back there were always so mean to him. They bullied him and never let him play. He didn't want anything from them and was always really, really nice.

But they still didn't like him. And it was all because of some silly mistake.

A year or so ago, when he was just seven years old, he tried to play with them. His father had finally let him out of the house and he was excited. He ran everywhere he could in the village. He visited every shop and marveled at every building.

Then he came across the playground, and he loved it. The slides were amazing, the merry-go-round was amazing. The Jungle Gym was amazing.

But more than all of that, the children were amazing. Up until then he was stuck with grown ups who didn't really care about him. His father treated him coldly and his siblings never talked to him. For him, life was a lonely existence. So to meet a bunch of children who were not only his age, but willing to play with him? Oh yes, the playground was a wonderful, cherished place.

It didn't take long for him to meet some friends. Children were surprisingly open when it came to making friends. A conversation that lasted no longer than a minute included Gaara in everything they did, and soon they were enjoying the park to its fullest. A couple of minutes of play soon became the whole afternoon, and soon the other children were on their way home.

The redheaded boy simply scooped up his teddy and made his way back home. It was the biggest building in the village, so this wasn't hard. He returned to hard stares and worried glances from his family, and suddenly the boy didn't want to be here anymore. He couldn't wait for the next day, when he could retreat out into the playground. He shoveled down his food and tucked himself into bed as fast as he could.

When the sun finally rose the next morning, he was out of bed and already on his way.

He reached the park before everyone else and had to play a bit on his own. He molded the sand with his hands and played with his favorite teddy for hours, but to the boy the whole situation was just fine. He wasn't home, and his father wasn't glaring at him, and his siblings weren't avoiding him.

This place, even with just him, was perfectly fine.

Before he knew it, the first of his new friends had wandered into the playground. The boy waved frantically, and soon he was engaged in the most epic sand-castle building match he had ever been in. Other kids were soon drawn in by the noise they were making, and the boy was once more surrounded by people and laughter. The day was, once again, perfect, and nothing could ever bring the boy down from the high he was on.

Then the children got bored, as they were wont to do, and the game shifted.

They boy remembered that shift very, very well.

Suddenly it was time to play tag. The rules were simple: a person was chosen to be "It," and whoever was It would have to tag someone else, thereby making them It. The game would continue with the role of "It" being passed around until sundown. Whoever was still it when that happened would lose, while everyone else would win. A boy was arbitrarily chosen, and the game was in full swing. For a while it was fun, just watching everyone running and laughing and enjoying themselves. The person who was "It" shifted from boy to boy to girl and back again, and eventually the person who was chosen set their eyes on him.

So caught up in the game was he that the boy didn't even think. He ran, laughing all the while, while the boy who was "It" chased him. They ran around the playground, smiles on their faces and light in their eyes. Just when it seemed like it was finally time for the redhead to be tagged, the other boy tripped. He still reached out and tagged the redhead, but it was with far more force than was necessary.

The redhead winced as voices flooded his head. Mad cackling boomed around his skull, echoing off the walls of his mind and rattling his psyche. The redhead fell to the ground, clutching at his crown. He tried to restrain it, he did, but the screams bled from his mouth like water from a faucet. His voice rose with the intensity, and soon he could feel naught but pain as his voice went sore.

And still, the voices would not stop.

"Kill them."

"End them."

"They dared to harm you!"

They prattled and screamed and begged and demanded he take action. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to hurt these new friends of his. He grasped at his head, fingernails bearing into skin as he attempted to claw at his own mind. He broke skin, and blood leaked from his forehead as he trembled. Eventually the pain overcame the agony from within, and the voices finally calmed down once more.

Teal eyes opened slowly, and the boy took in the world. At first everything was blurry, what with the mixture of tears and blood clouding his vision, but eventually he had managed to take in the faces of his friends.

They were not pretty.

Gone were the dimpled smiles and twinkling eyes. No one laughed, no one played. They all stood there, shocked equally into silence as they stared at the boy bleeding from self-inflicted wounds and agonizing wails. They were no longer his happy friends who he could play with.

They were his siblings, who would avoid him at breakfast.

The boy didn't want that. He tried to make amends. He tried to plead his innocence. "Wait," he said. "This isn't me. This isn't normal." But they didn't listen. They just stood there, staring in muted horror. Seeing that words were getting nowhere, he got to his feet. He made his way over to the closest person, a girl with auburn hair, and reached out to her. He wanted to show her that he was human. He wanted to show her that he was okay.

He didn't make it three steps before the girl realized what was going on. She screamed, and the loud noise prompted everyone to action. The girl fled as soon as she could, and sure enough other kids joined in. One kid, however, threw the first clumped ball of sand he could find. It made it within three feet of the boy before a shield of sand blocked it.

"F-freak," the boy yelled, before running away as fast as he could.

And the boy, once again alone, just stood there. Tears flowing freely down his face.

He had finally made some friends, and they already hated him.

Since then he had tried his hardest to apologize. He had come bearing gifts. He had come bearing tears. He had even, after weeks of trying, managed to stop his automatic shield for a few seconds.

And it all meant nothing.

Once more Gaara was lonely.

XxX

The sun had already set by the time that the boys had finished playing. The kid with the ball had to leave first, so the game shifted to hide and go seek, and from there it naturally turned into tag. One-by-one, however, everyone had to leave, and before he knew it Naruto was the last one on the playground. He sat on top of the jungle gym, legs dangling beneath him as he stared at the sky.

The Hidden Sand Village was both similar and different than the Hidden Leaf. The streets were filled with people and thoroughfare, just like home, but where the Hidden Village had balmy afternoons full of lounging elders, the Hidden Sand had sweltering heat and rushing people shrouded in light clothing. Everyone here was economic and would get everything done in a rush so as to get out of the heat.

In the Hidden Leaf you could afford a friendly conversation and a calm attitude. In the Hidden Sand, doing such a thing would make you sweaty really quickly, which would force you to drink water to make it up. Naruto quickly learned how expensive water was. Therefore, talking and being sociable in the open was just not feasible. What Naruto thought was a nasty culture was simply people being smart.

He could respect that, even if he couldn't ignore their nasty glares at him for asking for directions. Outsiders were apparently ostracized.

And speaking of, he just couldn't get his mind off of today. The kids, who were so nice to an outsider like him, were so rude to that boy from their village. Or, at least Naruto thought that the boy was from the village. He certainly looked the part, what with his clothing.

Naruto shrugged. He decided that he wouldn't let it get him down. He cast himself backwards, draping across multiple bars, while he looked up at the night sky. Another difference between the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Leaf was that the night times were different. The Hidden Leaf was a fairly industrial city with a lot of resources. Electricity ran through the city reliably, so lights ran constantly, even at night. In the Hidden Sand electricity was a luxury, and at night the city basically shut off.

Naruto had never seen a night sky full of stars. He was used to a couple of them being out, but to see the sky peppered with them was amazing. Even now, an entire hour after they came out, Naruto still marveled at the limitless number of them in the sky. He stared up, trying to make pictures in the endless expanse, when thoughts of the red-haired boy came back. He darted up, growled, and tried to push the boy from his head. But he couldn't. For some reason the boy kept nagging at him.

Why were they so mean to him?

Urgh.

With a grunt, the blond leapt from the jungle gym. He landed in a crouch, and made his way in the general direction of where he saw the boy wander off to.

He couldn't have gotten too far. The Hidden Sand was big, but it wasn't that big. He might never find the boy, but he wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't at least try.

It wasn't like he had anywhere else to be.

XxX

A whole battalion of Hyuuga were tearing through the Hidden Sand Village, Byakugan active, as they searched for Naruto. Still, somehow, with eyes that could see through walls, they could not find the boy.

"How the hell can none of us find him?" Hizashi snarled. Beside him Sasuke walked along at an easy pace.

"He's a devious, clever bastard," the eight-year-old sighed. "If he doesn't want to be found, no one is going to find him."

Neji and Hinata, who were following along behind Hiashi, who was following behind Hizashi, all nodded.

"Shouldn't be too hard, right Hizashi?" the Hyuuga Patriarch asked.

Hizashi bit back the curse rumbling in his throat.