Chapter 3 Nightly Thoughts
"Gaara...?" muttered Naruto sleepily. They had been talking all night and had finally fallen asleep.
"Mmmph..." mutter Gaara.
"Are you cold?"
"...No...Why do you ask?" yawned Gaara.
"I could hear you shaking," said Naruto, concerned.
Gaara yawned again. "Don't worry about it." He turned over and curled back up on the couch.
"Okay..." Naruto shifted on the chair and looked out the window. It was a beautiful night outside. The stars where out and the sky was clear. Naruto's window faced out away from the city, towords the forest beyond. The forest was pitch-black. It made for great star-gazing. The view was better with a moon, but the view inside the apartment was better that any the stars could offer.
Gaara lay as still as possible. He hadn't realized he was shaking. He new Naruto was still awake. He fought the urge to turn around and watch him. He didn't want to scare his closest friend. He heard Naruto sigh, and he wanted more than anything to ask what was wrong. Ever since he had stumbled upon the Scroll of Sealling his father had used on him, his life had changed drastically. The second stage seal he had found had reinforced the original seal that kept the badger demon inside of him. Now he was able to sleep, which helped to controll the part of his mind that had been unbalanced by the all the years of insomnia. Also freed from the demon's insasiable need to kill, he was able to live a much more peacefull life. Now he was able to form friendships with people, and his relationship with his siblings was amazing. He had also been able to admit that he felt a connection with the only other person on the planet that could unnderstand what he had gone though. He didn't entirely understand the feelling he had for him, but he did know that he liked them.
'I wonder is he's asleep yet,' thought Naruto as he watched Gaara. It still amazed him how much his friend had changed since the new seal was aplied. 'I never thought i'd see the day when Gaara would sleep so peacfully.' He thought back to right after the Akatsuki attack, after they had brought Gaara home. He was unconscious, but he was anything but peaceful. He thrashed in pain and fear of his inner demon. He fought for controll, afriad that if he wavered he might do somethings horrible. If not for Konkurou finding the scroll of seal in Gaara's room, and Jiaryia appling the the new seal, he might have lost Gaara forever. He wasn't sure how he'd would have delt with losing Gaara. He never left his bedside over the week it took him to wake up. He didn't leave once untill they released him for the hospital. Even then Kakashi had to drag him home. Naruto couldn't explain why he wanted to protect Gaara so much, but it was one of the strongest urges he'd ever felt. Sighing softly, he settled more comfortably into his chair and fell asleep.