Disclaimer: It's the same as the last chapter, and will never change, so stop asking!

Glares

Bloody: Ya know, if you keep saying things like that to people, they're never going to

read your stories.

Hichigomate: Shut up! It doesn't matter what people think!

Bloody: It does if you ever want them to read the stories.

Hichigomate: Get over it! And anyway, why are you reading this?! You should be

reading the story!

Chapter 1

5 am. It was his least favorite time of the day; he preferred 15 minutes after midnight. It was then that the world around him slept, and he could truly be at peace.

He never slept. To sleep meant horror; it meant nightmares. If he slept, he would be forced to relive every single cut, every burn inflicted on his person in the last seventeen years. And so he never slept.

There were studies that showed that never sleeping messed with your body, with your mind. It may be true for normal kids, but not for him. Not for Gaara no Shukaku. He believed that no sleep actually made him stronger. After all, he wasn't weighted down by the hopes that dreams created.

But everyone woke up at five am. The world came awake, realizing that their dreams weren't real, and they weren't happy. And Gaara laughed at them.

Withholding a sigh, Gaara turned from his open window, hearing the subtle creak of the hallway floorboards. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was Temari stopping just outside of his locked door, unlocking it.

"Hey, kid, time to wake your ass up! It's time to get ready for school!" Her harsh voice grated on his nerves, making him want to cringe.

He heard her walk away, and felt tense muscles release some. That's right; that bastard enrolled me in a public school. Hn. Maybe I should just kill myself, and leave this miserable excuse for a world. He thought, but immediately rejected that idea. He refused to allow his father to win that way.

Standing, Gaara made his way over to his raggedy bed, admiring the huge gourd that lay across it. Enclosed in the gourd was sand that he'd collected over the years and infused with his own blood. It was about ¾ full now.

Because of an extremely powerful psychic ability Gaara had been born with, one that no one else knew about, he had the ability to control the sand, to make it as strong or as weak as he wanted. He could turn it into a shield, shaping it any way possible; it was his only joy in the world.

He could even use that sand to hurt anyone he wanted. That was the reason he'd been locked in this foul-smelling room for the last twelve days. He hadn't eaten in ten of those days, not that it really mattered to him. Thankfully, though, his family provided him with a bottle of water a day. It also curbed his hunger a little bit.

It was because of that that he was 5 foot 8, average for a seventeen year old, and yet only weighed 98 pounds. His fiery red hair, slicked with grease and grime, was matted to his forehead, covering the blood red "Ai" symbol. It was gross, yes, but he was used to this too. Some might call his life hard, but to him, it was just life.

Gaara didn't bother trying to brush his knotted hair; instead, he sat beside his gourd on the bed and opened the top. Holding a small vial tied to a silver necklace, he coaxed a small amount into that teal crystal, the same color as his emotionless eyes. When the vial was nearly full, he stopped calling the sand and closed both vial and gourd before pulling the necklace over his head.

The sand vial now rested beneath his hole-filled, black, dirty shirt that was tucked out of his equally ratty jeans. He only had a pair of 2-sizes too small, chipped sandals to wear.

Standing, Gaara felt a wave of dizziness sweep through his body, and remembered the reason: he hadn't been given any water yesterday. Gaara forcefully pushed away the dizziness; he had no time for such things. After all, he had school now.

Turning, Gaara opened his door, seeing his brother Kankuro's surprised face. It quickly changed into a scowl, though.

"Hurry up; I'm expected to drive your lazy ass to school, and I'm already running late. The later you make me, the worse your punishment is going to be."

Gaara didn't say anything; he just waited for Kankuro to turn and lead him to the garage. He didn't have anything to say.

"Hey, did you see that new kid? He looks like a total homeless guy."

Naruto turned at the voice, seeing his least favorite person, Sakura Haruno, standing beside him. His beautiful sky-blue eyes narrowing, Naruto couldn't resist saying,

"I'm sorry, bitch, are you talking about yourself? Because you're about as dirty as they come."

Sakura stood there with her mouth hanging open, unable to think up a reply. When she finally turned on her heel and left in a huff, Naruto merely sent her a wave with a clawed hand.

"Nice, man."

A laughing voice came from below him, and Naruto looked down to see him good friend Kiba Inuzuka crawling out from under the table. He'd been hiding from the bitch, which was currently stalking him.

Naruto smiled, and reached down a hand to help the dog tamer up. Kiba's dog, Akamaru, was currently snuggled in the front of his jacket.

"I thought so. Well, she did have a point. Have you seen the new kid?"

Kiba shrugged, the maroon tattoos on his cheeks reflecting the light a little. "No, but I smelled him. It's pretty bad."

Kiba had an extremely unusual sense of smell; most of the time Naruto thought he was really a dog in disguise.

"How bad?" Naruto asked, thinking of the time when he'd first come to this school.

"Really bad. I smell blood, old and new, dead skin, old urine, but not his own, and saliva. There's something else, but I can't describe it. He's worse off then you were when I first met you."

Naruto winced; he hadn't thought he'd ever meet a kid who was in a worse condition than he'd been in a few years ago, when he'd still been living on the streets. It made him sad, and he only hoped he could help this new kid as Kiba and Kakashi-dad had helped him two years ago.

"What's his name?" He asked quietly, putting away his barely-touched lunch. He figured he'd need it later.

"Gaara no Shukaku." Kiba answered, nibbling a piece of chicken he was sharing with Akamaru. "He's in your last class."

Naruto nodded; he was already thinking up ways of befriending this 'Gaara.' But until then, he had class!

I know; I got bored with Iruka always being the father figure. Get over it! Writing this makes me sad; I can't wait until Naruto helps Gaara.

Ayame