Chapter 20: To Be Young Again

Gaara stirred. He opened his eyes and sat up. His eyes were bigger than usual. He looked so innocent. The hypnosis must have worked.

Gaara looked right at Naruto and asked, "Who are you?"

The hypnosis definitely worked.

"I'm Naruto. I'm a friend."

"A friend?" Gaara's voice was slightly higher than usual. He was definitely more childlike. His voice and expression said it all.

He looked around the room. He pushed himself away from the table and went over to the nearest window. Naruto followed him, wondering what he was going to do. Gaara peered outside, his eyes full of wonder.

"Where is this?" he asked. "This isn't the Sand."

"This is the Leaf Village," Naruto told him. Under the hypnosis, Gaara had no idea where he was. As a child, he had never been outside of the Sand Village before. To Gaara, this was his first time seeing the Leaf Village.

"Why am I here?"

"I was hoping you wanted to play with me," Naruto told him.

Gaara looked away from the window and gave Naruto a wide-eyed expression. "You really want to play with me?" he asked in awe.

Gaara had never been asked to join anyone in a game before. Hearing someone invite him to play was astonishing. To Gaara, it was a dream come true.

"Of course I want to play with you. Come on. What do you want to do?"

Gaara was so excited. A big smile spread across his face. He didn't know what to do first. He didn't know how to play any games, but he did want to play since someone offered.

Naruto smiled, seeing Gaara so excited he was shaking. It was rather cute seeing him so happy.

"How about we play hide-and-seek?" he suggested.

"I've seen kids play that before," said Gaara. "I never joined them, but I know what it is. You hide while someone counts, right?"

"Yup. Then I get to come find you. But stay inside, ok? It's a big village and I don't want you getting lost."

"Ok! I won't leave!" Why would he want to? Someone was actually going to play with him. He didn't want to stray too far.

"Ok, I'll count to ten and come find you, ok?" Naruto covered his eyes. "One, two…"

He heard Gaara quickly run away into the next room. In this childish state, he apparently had forgotten how to be stealthy. Naruto could hear his retreating footsteps quite clearly.

"Nine… Ten! Ready or not, here I come!" Naruto went in the direction of Gaara's footsteps. Though Gaara had the mind of a child, his body remained the same. Naruto assumed it would be easy to find someone who was roughly his height, but he soon discovered that finding Gaara wasn't as easy as he thought.

It was as if he had disappeared. He checked under the bed and in piles of dirty clothes, but there was no sign of him. He was good at this. Naruto looked everywhere, but he couldn't find him.

Then he heard giggling coming from his right. Smirking, Naruto turned toward his dresser. "Oh, where could he be?" he announced slyly. The muffled giggles were back. Naruto looked behind the dressed and found Gaara crouched behind it. "Gotcha!"

Gaara gasped and burst out laughing. Naruto laughed, too. This was amusing.

"Your turn to count and I'll hide. No peeking."

"Ok!" Gaara stood up and started counting. "One… Two… Three… Four…"

Naruto took off into the next room and hid on the ceiling. Gaara would never look up here. Who knew playing such a childish game could be so fun?

"Here I come!" Gaara called and walked into the kitchen. He looked under the table and in cupboards. The smile never left his face. He was enjoying himself as much as Naruto was. Maybe even more.

As time when on, Gaara's smile was starting to fade. He couldn't find Naruto anywhere. Part of him was starting to wonder if Naruto ditched him. Then he looked up.

"Found you!" he yelled, pointing.

"Aw, you got me." Naruto jumped down.

"Using jutsu is cheating," Gaara told him. "I can't do that."

"Do what?"

"Go on the ceiling. I don't know that skill yet."

Naruto was about to tell him he could when he remembered that Gaara thought he was five years old. He had gone back in time to before he knew most of his skills. He could control sand, but ninja skills were another thing entirely.

Naruto didn't want to confuse him and contradict the command he set in place. He had to carry on as of Gaara truly were five years old, and that meant acting as if he knew Gaara couldn't use jutsu.

"Ok, sorry. I forgot."

"That's ok. It's my turn to hide again, right?"

"Yup, it is."

"Cover your eyes and no peeking," Gaara told him and took off.

They went back and forth, taking turns for who got to hide and who counted. Then Gaara was beginning to get bored. He didn't put as much effort into his hiding places anymore. Even Naruto was getting tired of this. There were only so many places he could hide in the apartment and there were only two people playing.

They called it quits and Gaara went to stare out the window again.

"I want to go outside," he said. "I've never been to a place like this before. I want to see it. Can I? Please?"

Naruto couldn't deny him. Gaara looked so innocent and curious. How could he say 'no' to that face? But he couldn't let Gaara explore on his own. Not in this state. He would have to go with him. He had to lay out some ground rules, too, so Gaara wouldn't draw attention to himself. Naruto didn't want to reverse the command just yet. Not when Gaara was finally enjoying himself. He wanted Gaara to have fun. Childhood was all about having fun. He had to let Gaara go exploring while he still thought he was a child. It just seemed right.

"Ok, we can go outside, but you have to stay with me, ok? It's a big village and there are lots of people."

"Ok!" Gaara didn't want to stray too far from Naruto anyway. He wanted to stay close to his new friend. Why in the world would he leave his side?

Naruto and Gaara put on their shoes and went outside. Gaara held Naruto's hand as they went down the stairs and onto the main street. Afraid this would call unwanted attention, Naruto told him that he didn't need to hold his hand as long as he stayed close. Gaara was reluctant to let go, but as the wonders of the village came into view, he started to forget Naruto was even there.

"We don't have trees in our village," said Gaara. "Only cacti. But I think they're pretty. I saw a cactus that had flowers on it."

"In spring, the trees bloom and are covered in flowers."

"They do?" Gaara wanted to see that. It sounded so pretty. Then Gaara noticed something nearby. "What's that?" he asked, pointing.

"That?" Naruto looked at the small shop. "You can get snacks there. Like crapes."

"What's crapes?"

"Here, I'll show you." Naruto brought Gaara over to the shop and ordered a crape. He thanked the clerk and handed it to Gaara as they left. "It's tasty," he told him.

Gaara investigated the crape, holding it in both hands. He carefully looked it over and sniffed it. Then he licked a little bit of the cream, taste-testing. The cream was good. He took a bite. His eyes lit up and he went back for a bigger bite.

"You like it?" Naruto asked.

"It's yummy!"

"Glad to hear it." Naruto led the way. "There are other places to eat, too. There's this stand that sells smoked meats if you want to try it."

"I like meat."

"Ok, let's go find it."

It took some searching, but they finally found the small stand. Business was a little slow that day so the owner was very accommodating. Naruto ordered one item but the man gave him two and only charged him for one.

"How lucky." Naruto held up what he bought so Gaara could choose what he wanted to try. "This one is beef and this one is eel."

Gaara looked at the two kabobs and asked if he could try both of them. Naruto handed him the beef one first, which he quickly polished off in a few bites. Then he took the skewered eel and took a bite. He thought they were both good, but he ate the eel on a little slower.

"At least he's eating something besides junk food." Naruto led Gaara down the street as he nibbled at the eel. "So where would you-"

"Gaara!"

Naruto flinched.

Gaara looked up, his mouth still clamped down on the eel. "It's Kankuro."

"Crap."

Kankuro came over as soon as he saw Gaara. "There you are. I was looking everywhere." He turned to Naruto. "You said only a minute!"

"He wanted to…"

"If you make him late for that meeting…"

"It's hours away!" Naruto was sick of hearing this. "I thought you were more laid-back than Temari when it came to things like this."

"I'm plenty laid-back. But if anything happens, she's going to chew me out. And these meetings are important. I have to make sure Gaara gets there and while he's away from the village, I have to make sure he's safe."

"He's fine. He can handle himself." Naruto had a feeling Kankuro was being more protective of his younger brother after the incident a few months ago with the Akatsuki. Naruto could understand that.

Kankuro looked at his watch. "We still have a few hours. Maybe I should bring him back to the place we're staying and go over things with him one last time."

"We're still hanging out. Besides, Gaara can use a break once in a while. Don't stress him out."

"He's fine. Now hand him over."

"I'm plenty responsible. I'm even treating him to some local food. See? Responsible."

"Thanks for feeding him, but I should take over from here."

Naruto didn't want to hand Gaara over just yet. He especially didn't want to hand him over in this state. "Just a little longer. We never get to hang out."

"Fine, we'll let Gaara decide." Kankuro faced his brother. "Gaara, you want to come with me and prepare for the meeting tonight or do you want to hang out with Naruto?"

Naruto prayed Kankuro wouldn't notice any changes in Gaara. If he managed to overlook the look of innocence on his face, then it all came down to how Gaara answered him. If he said anything childish, the cat was out of the bag.

Gaara weighed the two options and found one more boring than the other. He was having a lot of fun with Naruto. Why should Kankuro dictate how long he could play with a new friend?

Gaara stepped closer to Naruto. "I want to stay with Naruto," he said. "Just for a bit longer."

Naruto saw the determined look in his eyes which made Gaara look his normal age. It was really the look of a stubborn child, but Kankuro read it differently, which was lucky for them.

"Fine, fine," he sighed. "But just a bit longer. We do have things to do." Kankuro gave Naruto a warning look. "Watch him."

His tone was threatening, but Naruto knew it was just because he was being a protective older brother.

"You can count on me," Naruto told him.

Kankuro huffed and walked away.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Kankuro didn't notice anything amiss. "Thank goodness… That was a close one."

"What can we do now?" Gaara asked. He still wanted to have fun.

"Well…" There was only so much they could do with just the two of them. He wanted Gaara to experience what it was like to have someone to play with as a child. He already did that, but he wanted to do more.

What made any game more fun? More playmates.

That seemed like a good idea. Not too many, though. A crowd wasn't that much fun. A few close friends were. Maybe a couple more playmates for Gaara would be good. Now he just had to find them.

"Naruto!"

"Oof!" Someone slammed into his body and gave him a great, big hug.

"I found you! It feels like I haven't seen you in ages." Sai pressed his face against Naruto's shoulder. "I was getting worried, but what have I got to be worried about? You're amazing and incredible and so cool."

"Oh, yeah. You." Naruto almost forgot about this. Sai was still his admirer.

Actually, this might not be such a bad thing. Naruto was getting an idea.

"Sai, your timing is actually pretty great. Could you follow me for a minute?"

"Of course! I'd follow you anywhere."

"Yes, I'm sure you will…"

Naruto took Gaara by the hand and led him through the streets of the village. Sai followed not far behind. Gaara kept quiet, observing what was going on around him. He wondered what Naruto was doing and who this other person was.

Naruto stopped, finding what he was looking for. Neji was across the street with his team and they were talking. Neji was acting normal, just as he had instructed. As they walked closer, Naruto saw his chance.

"Neji, I need you for a second."

Neji heard Naruto's voice and looked up. As soon as he saw him, his eyes changed as did his expression. "I'll catch up with you guys later," he said in monotone and went with Naruto.

Naruto brought Neji over to the group and told them all to follow him. Neji did so without a word and Sai kept going on and on about how amazing Naruto was. Gaara held Naruto's hand and walked closer to him. He was more comfortable around Naruto.

He wanted to ask Naruto what was going on, but he kept quiet. He would find out soon enough.

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