The Raccoon and the Fox
He was in the kitchen.
He could feel his own excitement; legs swaying in the seat as he waited, the sweet aroma blessing his senses.
A man, no, his uncle was behind the stove, flipping the pan. At Gaara's prompting, he turned over his shoulder, throwing him a kind smile.
He could feel the affection he felt for this man.
He was important to him. Someone he could confide in when he was hurt. Someone who would always be there for him. Someone he could trust.
Or so he thought.
As the images slowly started to go into static, Gaara became aware of his dream state.
He wondered why he was thinking about the man in such a way now? With the anniversary of that day coming near, why was his mind wandering to the days where he was yet to be betrayed by everything he ever believed in.
Though he was already aware of the dream, he let himself linger there a bit longer.
Were there signs before, which he missed, he wondered. Did his then young and naïve mind fail to notice the true nature behind those smiles? Perhaps they always held something sinister behind them and he just was too young and trusting to see it.
He tried to reimagine the same scene of them by the table; Yashamaru cutting a piece of cake with a knife – perhaps it was then? Maybe the slight hesitation in passing him down the plate meant his sudden desire to plunge the knife into something much sturdier, something that could actually bleed.
His mind then wandered to the time when his uncle blocked his path from punching the kid that insulted him for not having a mother. He was then ashamed of his impulses and took comfort in his uncle's understanding but perhaps that wasn't the man's intention at all. After all, even then, he was protecting the other kids from him.
As he slowly let himself regain consciousness, his eyes blinked open to the darkened room.
The clock on the table told him it was barely eleven in the evening. As his eyes lingered around the device, they spotted a white sheet of paper. He wasn't waiting for this part the most. He wished there was a way for him to ignore the existence of his father forever – the same as he did it to his own son.
Back then, his young mind couldn't understand the reason for his father's hostility towards him, but as he turned older he came to know that things were a lot simpler than he thought – his father hated the fact that he was born into this world, thereby rejecting his whole existence.
Sighing, he brought one hand against his forehead, willing himself to gather enough strength in himself to go to his father's room and back.
It was quarter to eleven when his feet finally brought him outside the wooden doors of his father's room. He could hear coughing coming from the direction of his siblings' rooms but paid it no mind. He was on a mission. His palms felt sweaty and he had to brush them onto his sleeping pants several times as he tried to unclog his throat. He would just go in and out. Simple as that. As he rushed in to grab onto the door handle, his sweaty fingers slipped, the handle bouncing loudly in the hallway, the only other sound outside of his brother's coughing. He cursed, and knowing there was no way to pretend he wasn't there anymore, knocked softly before pushing inside.
"Father..?"
He was met with silence and darkness. A quick scan towards the bed only proved his theory right. His father was gone.
His fingers held tightly onto the white sheet of paper as he contemplated what he should do next. Calling Father wasn't an option. Nor was asking for his siblings' help.
Another coughing fit, followed by footsteps alongside the floor told him his brother would be unlikely to leave home tomorrow, alongside Temari, his caregiver.
Irritation prickled him from inside. He should be immune to this by now. Who cared if his brother had three nannies? What did it matter that Gaara didn't have even a single mother, or father for that matter.
Back inside his room, Gaara opened the drawer closest to the desk and took out the red woven silk charm he kept as the only momento from his dead mother. He had it as long as he could remember. His uncle gave it to him once, telling him of a story how his mother held him as the baby and this very charm, wishing for health and protection for him.
He believed it then. He lived for those stories. Until one day everything got twisted in such nasty ways that nothing ever seemed truthful anymore.
Even this charm. He had no proof it had ever had anything to do with his mother.
He flopped on the bed, the charm idly hanging from his fingers as he watched the moon shining through his window.
Nobody gave him answers. Not his uncle. Not his father. Not his siblings. And not even the moon.
Everything was just lies.
He zoned out. For what seemed just a moment, but the next time he opened his eyes, two shining predatory yellow eyes were staring at him. He didn't fear the animal. If anything, he welcomed the challenge. But the animal, as he soon realized, was not a fighter. It was a thief.
With fingers clutching thin air, Gaara bolted upwards in his bed, checking his hand for the charm only to come up empty. He darted towards the window where the racoon was last seen and could faintly see it stopping short, a distance away, the same yellow eyes staring at him.
Gritting his teeth, he almost leapt through the window, meaning to chase after the animal. As his hands balanced on the sill, he looked down and his brain came back to work at him being at an upper floor. He pulled back, only to overbalance and trip on his own feet, going down hard on his butt.
He sat on the floor for a few moments, just breathing in.
He could hear the silence of the dead of the night. It wasn't the sound of the night owl, nor the ticking of the clock. In the absolute darkness of the night, the loudest creature was Gaara himself. His breathing, his tiny movements, the loudest being his own very thoughts, screaming at him to move, to start running as something precious was taken from him.
But he didn't move.
He didn't move after ten breaths, nor after thirty, not even after he lost count.
Did he even want to go chasing? Was it worth it? Did any of it have any meaning at all?
As he kept sitting on the floor, he could feel the timing of catching up with the thief animal passing him by. He was losing time. While sitting, contemplating his decision, a decision was being made for him.
Perhaps he was ready to let go of the charm. That had to be it. Otherwise he wouldn't be feeling so passive over its loss. What significance did it even hold? Tales of deceitful past? He didn't honestly still hope for there to have been some truth in there, did he? Certainly not from that man.
He hated that the only link to his past, to his mother, was the very man that took everything from him. Family. Affection. Love… No. Perhaps that wasn't his fault. After all, Gaara was the one unlovable. Something deep in his core was not compatible with the feeling of love that humans shared with each other. His father, his sister, his brother…they all didn't seem to have a problem with showing affection. Only him…
Yes…the reason he was unlovable must be because he was born as Gaara.
He must have dozed off because the next moment he woke up the clock was already showing past six. He kept doing that. Sleeping in weird positions. If his butt was hurting badly before he could be sure it got worse from the night he spent on it.
With a bit of an effort of steadying himself against the walls he somehow managed to stand up. Bypassing his daily routine, Gaara decided he would give it one last chance. He needed that damn signature.
He burst inside his older brother's room. The boy jumped in his sleep, but otherwise didn't wake. It took Gaara physically shaking Kankurou for him to finally open his eyes, only then to bang his head onto the wall from the sheer sight of seeing his younger brother inside his room, on his bed, staring at him. "G-Gaara…? What…?"
Dark ringed eyes narrowed as he took in the slight tremors that overtook the boy's frame. "Stop shivering. I'm not attacking you." The frozen look on his brother didn't seem like he was convinced. Dismissing it, Gaara continued, "Where is father?"
"Eh? He went on a business trip."
"When will he be back?"
"Um, I don't know, maybe next week?"
That was not good, not good at all. He didn't have a week. His teachers at the latest tomorrow would be demanding for their paper back. And if not, a call would be made. He could not let that happen.
Gaara stalked out of the room just as aggressively as he went in, slamming the doors shut in his wake.
He decided pretending to be dead was his only valuable option. So the next time when his sister knocked on his door, he just buried his face under the covers and stayed there until it was way past the time to leave for a school day.
In the end he had to send his Father the papers from school through email. It was not ideal but there was still hope of Father not caring what the content he was signing for was. His Father didn't disappoint.
That was how the rest of his suspension went by, with Gaara successfully avoiding humanity for the length of it.
Until today. When school restarted.
When he finally came down for breakfast there was only Kankurou there.
They both ate in uncomfortable silence but Gaara was fine with not addressing it. It was Kankurou who disturbed their silent agreement of no communication by asking Gaara if he would be coming to the cemetery next weekend. Gaara curtly replied that he wouldn't be.
"Why?"
Gaara didn't feel like answering stupid questions so he didn't. Kankurou couldn't be that oblivious.
"Hey, do you even think about that day?" Kankurou asked, taking away hope for a minimally painless breakfast time.
"What?"
"Because I still have nightmares about it," Kankurou spat out, then his eyes got lost in the memory. "The look on your face…the way your face was just covered in his blood. I…haven't been so scared in my life. And to this day, every time I see you start a fight I have to wonder if it'll end just like that time."
Gaara regarded him coolly. "What do you want to say?"
"…I was scared of you. Still am. Our family has become like this and yet…how can you act like nothing happened!?" his brother yelled out, his whole body visibly shaking from the sheer emotion he was experiencing.
Though intimidated, Kankurou held their eye contact, stubborn in his demand to make him feel better about his own experience.
Selfishness. Ignorance. Indifference.
If there had to be words to describe his family, it would probably be those. When being confronted violently like this, Gaara only had two responses: either physical retribution or dead silence. More times than not he would just shut down, feeling nothing but apathy to the situation unfolding before him, like it was happening outside of his own perceived world.
Humans were inherently selfish creatures. Be it yelling or crying they demanded to be taken care of, to be healed for the hurt the other person had caused. He knew Gaara triggered his brother for refusing to give him the closure he wanted for his healing. While he easily got it from his father and sister, Gaara alone remained the thorn still stuck in Kankurou's mind.
Perhaps it was pettiness in him but Gaara didn't want to give him an easy way out. Seeing Kankurou struggle from his nightmares reminded Gaara that at least a part of him wasn't healed, similarly to Gaara. That Gaara wasn't completely alone in staying broken.
The link they shared, as much as vicious it was, was the only thing that linked them together as family. If they couldn't heal together the least they could do was stay broken together.
Silently gathering his cutlery, Gaara stood up and left Kankurou alone in the kitchen without giving him a response.
Because of a tense morning, Gaara made extra precautions to avoid any and all interactions while at school. It wasn't until evening when he found the living room occupied with both Temari and Shikamaru that he started to feel the ever present sense of crowd. It was putting him on edge.
Before he could retreat to the safety of his room though, the dark haired punk stopped Gaara in his tracks wanting to talk about Naruto of all things.
"Look, I told him I wouldn't get involved, but Naruto is my friend," he began with a frustrated sigh. "And though he can be a pain in the ass, that guy is pure," after saying that, Shikamaru turned his eyes onto the redhead, his eyes growing serious. "I don't know why he's so interested in you, and frankly, I don't wanna know, but if it comes down to it and you hurt him, know that there will be people coming after you."
Bonds. Naruto seemed to be at the centre of it. Always having people around that seemed to have no qualms about interfering with other people's business.
"Uzumaki Naruto is not my responsibility," Gaara said. "He decided to follow me around on his own. If he gets hurt, it won't be my problem."
"You serious?"
"As you're his friend, you should tell him to stay away from me," Gaara offered.
Yes, that would work. If Naruto's friend advised him to stay away from Gaara perhaps he would finally listen.
As if hearing his silent plea, Shikamaru's frustrated expression morphed into an arrogant smirk. "What to do? I don't really feel like doing that for you. If it bothers you why don't you tell him yourself."
Jerk. Naruto and his friends were all the same. Gaara glared at him.
"Sucks, right? To have a one-way conversation."
As if on cue, Temari emerged from the kitchen. Carrying a couple of glasses she quickly accessed the situation, already making a decision to leave with Shikamaru but Gaara didn't let her have it. "Don't bother. I'm leaving."
Once the tension left the room, Temari turned to Shikamaru with the glasses.
"Oi, are you serious? It's still daytime," Shikamaru complained, yet reluctantly took the offered glass from Temari who went for the alcohol cabinet.
"Huh? Are you chickening out?" She threw over her shoulder. "You can leave if it's too much for you but don't bother calling me tomorrow."
A heavy sigh escaped the raven. "This is such a pain…"
Head buried in the cabinet, Temari called out, "What did you say?"
"I said I'm coming," Shikamaru said and went to help Temari out.
On a Tuesday morning his situation was no better than the previous day. Having spent most of the night by his desk, writing about ways to bring about Naruto's demise versus ways to apologize to him, he went to sleep at the early hours of dawn. He felt like shit. Not like it was anything new, but on the days like this, the sounds pierced through his skull that much sharper. Especially a certain blond's voice, who had decided that spending the breaks with him had become their thing.
Gaara made a mistake by staring at Naruto's freshly bruised face one second too long and it was all it took for the blonde to launch into a heroic tale of him stumbling upon an injured fox a few weeks ago. Gaara didn't ask. He wasn't interested. But he still had to listen to the whole tale about how Naruto took care of the fox and how now they were sort of friends. Except the fox still scratched him and the food he tried to feed to the fox was never eaten, so their tentative relationship was pretty one-sided.
Out of better things to do, Gaara kept doing random assignments in order to pretend to not be seeing the blonde who had casually situated himself half-laying down on his desk, with forearms working like a pillow for his head.
"Hey, Gaara, let's go have lunch together," he asked suddenly.
"I'm not interested," Gaara answered absentmindedly while writing down in his notebook.
"But I'm hungry."
"Not interested."
"How about at least a snack from the vending machine?"
Stilling the movement of his hand, the redhead felt compelled to peek a glance at the persisting blonde. After his run-in with his latest fur friend Naruto looked even more unkempt than usual, with vertical scratch lines covering his seemingly permanently rosy cheeks and holes peeking out of his ever present orange jumpsuit. Gaara had to wonder how the blonde was even allowed inside the premises.
Not that it was any of his business.
Realizing passive-aggressive dismissal wouldn't work on the blonde, Gaara sighed and straightened up to face him head-on.
"Do you require a baby-sitter?"
Gaara watched in mild fascination how the question threw him for a loop: round azure blue eyes widening then quickly narrowing into an indignant frown followed by a pout on the chapped lips.
"Wha- No! I just want to go with you."
"Why?" the redhead challenged.
"Why, you ask…" the blonde trailed off, eyes darting away as if in guilt. "B-because that's what friends do, obviously. Eat lunch together, have fun and all that. Yeah." He nodded with poorly masked false conviction.
Not feeling like bothering with a reply, Gaara reached for his rolled away pen by the blonde's folded arms only to watch Naruto swiftly straighten up while pulling his arms out of reach as if the touch burned him.
Gaara narrowed his eyes at him. He could feel irritation spiking.
What was his deal even? For a guy claiming to wish for friendship he acted way too skittish, jumping at the weirdest of times.
"If you're bored, find another victim," he bit out with more bitterness than he intended. "I'm not interested."
"No. It has to be you."
He had to be up to something.
It was weird. Sudden and unnatural. Naruto's unusually persistent interest in Gaara had to be part of a bigger scheme. Otherwise why would Naruto even want to be involved with someone like Gaara? Didn't he know the whispers about him? Wasn't that why he was jumpy half of the time around him, because he felt wary of the redhead?
Yet bare moments later he could feel Naruto's eyes on him, staring at him anew with eyes as determined as ever.
Naruto was an enigma. Pushing one moment, propelling backwards another. Gaara couldn't understand him.
"Even if you keep staring at me, my interest in you won't grow," the redhead said, getting back to the assignments. He wanted to quickly finish so he could leave and hide somewhere where the blonde wouldn't be able to reach him.
A teasing chuckle escaped the blonde.
"I don't know, seems to be working so far."
"What?"
"See, you keep talking to me," Naruto said and then his whole face brightened up into a wide all-teeth smile.
Gaara scoffed.
He felt like a fool for falling into the minx's trap. He kept being pulled in. Time and time again he kept repeating the same mistake.
Why hadn't he gotten rid of him yet?
His thoughts were interrupted by a tentative voice. "Hey, why're you so against this?"
Involuntary flashes of awkward breakfast tables, hushing voices and wide trembling eyes invaded his mind. He narrowed his eyes.
"Because human relationships are worthless. The only one who can truly understand you is yourself. If you don't have expectations, you don't have to get hurt. Living for yourself is enough."
"That's too lonely," Naruto commented with something akin to sympathy in his eyes. "Sharing your joys; like what you had for lunch or how many pranks you succeeded in trapping Kakashi in… they are a lot more fun with friends by your side."
Having heard enough, Gaara put the pencil down on the table, hard. "It's fake."
"What?"
"The friendship you're so callously offering is fake."
"...What do you mean?" the blonde asked cautiously.
"What do you even know about me?" the redhead asked then leaning on his elbows held their eye contact as a lazy unpleasant smirk appeared on his face. "You must have heard the rumours. Monster. Psycho. Unhinged. Let me make something clear: they're not just baseless rumours. I've broken more bones than I could count, made people scream and bleed. You say you want to be my friend? What're going to do with me, bury bodies?"
The shiver that went past the blond was strangely less satisfying than he had anticipated. That was what he wanted, wasn't it? To make the blonde back off before he could infect Gaara with delusions of friendship. That was not a bond someone like him could ever hope to form or maintain. He only knew how to hurt others, swiftly, before they learned how to hurt him.
Naruto was no different. Perhaps he was the worst kind yet. Naive and irresponsible. Every time Gaara spoke to him, he felt an unbearable irritation.
"It's so easy for you, huh?" Gaara continued on.
"Huh?"
"You're obnoxiously loud, your academic scores are below poor, you have no sense of shame or boundaries and frankly there's not a single thing about you that doesn't piss me off. You say you want to be my friend? There's nothing linking us. We're beyond incompatible so what do you want from me here exactly?"
"Must I "want" something," the blond spoke through gritted teeth while mimicking air quotes. "for you to be my friend? What if…" He bit his trembling lip, before tentatively continuing, "What if I just like spending time with you?"
The blond spoke the last part in despair as if it pained him to have his sincerity doubted.
Gaara didn't believe him. He was lying. He didn't really mean it. He was just saying it to make Gaara let his guard down.
And even if by some chance it was true that in this moment Naruto did indeed mean it, how long would it even last? Until the next time Gaara let the monster loose on another poor misunderstood soul who provoked him for fun?
No. There was no evidence that Naruto could handle it without completely rejecting everything that he was. As such, this friendship he was offering was useless and held no benefit of even being considered.
The sudden dark feeling stirring in the pit of his stomach remained unidentified.
"You're weak," Gaara eventually said, startling the silently brooding blond. It unnerved him how wide those azure blues had goten at his remark. "You don't have what it takes to accept all that is me and call me your friend. So stop bothering me already, before you seriously get hurt."
Just like he wished, Gaara didn't see Naruto outside of the classroom until Friday. As soon as their eyes would meet, the azure blues would widen and skirt away. Just like he wished nobody spoke to him during breaks, invited for lunch or to "spend time" together.
Yes, just like Gaara wished, he was left alone.
Unfortunately irritation didn't leave him.
He was on the way home when he felt a presence trailing behind him. It only took him a moment to recognise the familiar brooding aura. Naruto kept his distance but didn't attempt to hide his glaringly obvious stalking. Gaara could practically hear him thinking, as if asking the redhead's back to pay attention to him.
Gaara wasn't going to give in. Not this time.
As he hurried his steps through a forest path, it was then when his attention got caught by a sudden movement in the lower part of a tree. Bright yellow eyes stared at him in a mock reminder of his failure to protect what was his.
He stopped abruptly in his path and after making a spontaneous decision, adjusted his school bag and sprinted after the racoon.
"Oy, Gaara! Where are you going?!"
He left the shouts of an indignant blonde behind his back as he jumped over the loose tree roots and manoeuvred around the branches following the swishing tail deeper into the forest.
It was stupid. Irrational. The chances of his chasing bearing any results were close to none but sudden desire to be the predator in the eyes of the thief animal overtook him and he made chase.
He was met with a stalemate when the racoon climbed up the tree, leaving Gaara to glare at it from below. A few moments later an extra couple of steps stopped alongside him.
"Uff, you don't look it but you sure can run, huh?" the blonde spoke in wonder, before adding, "Why're we chasing that ugly thing anyway?"
"We are not chasing anything. It's my business so leave it at that."
"Oh, come on. It must be important if you sprinted after it as soon as you spotted it. Honestly I've never tried catching something as ugly, but after my recent success with my fox friend I'm certain I can be of help." Naruto smiled bright while holding thumbs up.
Gaara eyed the bruised blond in clear judgement. It was glaringly obvious that the amount of scratches and bruises covering the blonde's face and arms increased significantly in the past days. Still, it was none of Gaara's business. He didn't ask.
"Oy, I know you're judging me in your mind."
"Good that you're aware."
The blonde sputtered as if not expecting Gaara to be so blunt with him.
In the end Gaara allowed Naruto to stay. He tried to make him leave but it ended as efficiently as the previous hundreds of times. Naruto pushed, Gaara pushed back, Naruto persisted, Gaara sighed in defeat.
Something was wrong with Gaara recently. He was beginning to exhaust his intimidation techniques. It didn't help that his irritation didn't cease whether the blonde was nearby or far away.
"It stole something from me," Gaara begrudgingly admitted.
He had a tiny false hope that the blonde would leave it at that but then was proven otherwise when Naruto made it his mission to help Gaara put a trap for the raccoon.
Honestly it was a pain. The more enthusiastic the blonde got, the more Gaara's interest in putting effort in the deemed-to-fail mission waned.
Naruto's bright enthusiasm had the power to infect people with it. Even Gaara, for a moment had a ridiculous thought that perhaps Naruto knew what he was doing and he somehow still had the chance to retrieve what was lost.
Those thoughts quickly left his mind when he was forced to sit in the bushes for two hours straight while Naruto kept hold of the rope connecting to the trap.
When he felt yet another fly sting him he had to rethink what he was even doing there.
He was done. He was going home. Before he could express his decision though, he was rudely elbowed in the side. He glared at the blonde who didn't seem to be paying him any attention. Instead, he pointed towards the hollow tree they last had seen racoon hide in and saw its head peeking out. Cautiously the animal sniffed around and soon enough caught wind of the various treats Naruto left behind.
It barely took a bite when a lid of make-shift trap closed down on the animal and Naruto exclaimed in delight, turning around to high five the redhead only to be welcomed with air.
As soon as the animal was trapped Gaara dashed for the hollow, turning on his phone's flashlight to check the thief's treasure box. There were a lot of things: bracelets, rings, a couple of keys but nothing resembling a charm.
He shouldn't be disappointed. He knew it would be a long shot.
"Eh, this guy sure went around pickpocketing the folk. What a nasty guy." Naruto pulled a face before addressing Gaara. "So, did you find what you lost?"
"...no, it's not there."
"Ehh, but it must be, look at all this stuff here. You sure it's not one of these rings or I don't know…hey, is that a pack of cheetos?"
Gaara didn't think he could still be left disappointed but he was. It was all because he let himself be led into one of Naruto's schemes.
They didn't fit together. The world for him didn't work in the bright and naive ways Naruto seemed hell bent on following.
His world was dull and lacking hope.
Since it was going to continue to be like that he needed to finally put an end to the nuisance that attached himself to Gaara. "Didn't I tell you not to speak to me again?" he asked, throwing him a dark look.
Wide azure eyes blinked at him in surprise, appearing as if he had honestly forgotten their previous confrontation.
"Does it matter now? We've more important things to do right now. Come on, we can keep looking till it's still bright out," he said with a casual smile and put his fingers around Gaara's wrist to drag the redhead alongside him.
Gaara shook the hand off.
"Forget it. It doesn't matter. It was just a stupid charm anyway."
"Eh, are you sure? It was important, wasn't it?"
After a pause Gaara muttered softly, "...no. It's a memento of a false hope."
Before he could leave, Naruto's clear voice reached his back. "What if I can accept it?"
Gaara turned over his shoulder. "What?"
The blonde was looking down at his soiled shoes, fists clenched tight. "I'm not saying I know what you've been through but my life…", he began softly, then a self-deciprating smile appeared on his face. "Let's say it wasn't without its own bloody story so I'm not afraid of that. And while you were right about me being loud, academically stupid and being way too pushy sometimes…" he trailed off, took a breath in and finally lifted his to connect with Gaara's. "I just hope to become someone you can count on. That someday I'd be able to help you."
Something stirred inside Gaara. Looking at the clear azure blues staring at him with a clear look of determination made him catch his breath. It was happening again. Something was stirring inside him. The more he got himself involved with Naruto the heavier his heart felt. It stung. His supposedly long-since dead heart pained him. He thought he no longer held any hopes or desires for this world yet a painful hope for a chance of being accepted kept resurfacing.
Naruto kept inserting himself in Gaara's life so he was starting to have a wrong idea.
It was not sincere. That was not how his world worked. He was just going to be disappointed again. He had to keep reminding himself of that as his hand came up to clutch the fabric over his heart.
After a breath, he let his hand fall away.
"What a stupid thought."
Gaara quickly left before the flash of hurt appearing on the blonde's face could affect him further.
The weekend came and went. His father came back from the business trip but Gaara could hardly tell the difference since they never spoke. On Sunday evening Gaara was mentally preparing for Monday to come, hiding inside the safety of the darkness in his room when suddenly there was a knock on his door. "Gaara, you have…ugh, someone's at the door for you. Come down."
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. Gaara didn't have… guests coming for him. Ever. He waited for a moment in the silence, half-expecting it to be his siblings' new technique of getting him out of his room before a harsher pair of knocks echoed against his room's doors. "Gaara, don't keep your guest waiting, come on."
Cautiously slipping away from his bundle of blankets, Gaara approached his doors and turned the handle. Peering outside he found nobody waiting for him so deemed it safe to approach the situation at his own time.
Without having much expectations of anything Gaara opened his house's front doors only to be met with a pair of bright azure blue eyes. There in even more scrapes and bruises on his porch stood Naruto, a proud grin on his face.
Before Gaara could ask, Naruto extended his hand and let a silver chain dangle between his fingers. Despite the dimly lit porch, the rich colours of red and silver shone brightly giving no mistake of the familiarity of the charm.
Gaara lunged for it without thought, then absentmindedly asked Naruto where he found it.
Naruto chuckled before starting his tale. "It's actually a funny story because some bird had it in its nest and so I decided to climb it to get it. But then things got a bit more complicated when the mother bird noticed me. And let me tell you: those mother birds should not be messed with! I still got a bruise for where it pecked me for almost touching the young birds. Which I didn't! But there was no reasoning with the mother bird. So unfortunately my superior tree-climbing skills had failed me and I sort of nearly fell out of a tree. But then, as I was laying there on the ground I got a glimpse of the fox, watching me and now I'm positive that we have come to a mutual understanding."
Naruto was grinning brightly, proud and confident like the whole ordeal was nothing sort of a heroic adventure.
Gaara didn't know what to say, instead he found himself asking in a muted voice, "Why would you do that for me?"
Wasn't Gaara treating him horribly? Did Naruto manage to forget, again, how many times he got rejected by the redhead? He did nothing to warrant such extra effort from the blonde. Clutching the charm tightly in his palm, Gaara felt the uncomfortable feeling in his chest returning. Though this time it was accompanied by something else. Something that made the redhead be unable to look the blonde in the eyes out of shame.
Naruto didn't let him dwell into his self-pity for long. Boring clear eyes at the redhead, Naruto faced Gaara head-on, exclaiming like it was the most obvious thing, "Huh? I told you, didn't I? I want to be your friend."
Gaara felt a sharp stab of something akin to longing settle deep inside his heart and cast his eyes down, unable to hold back a sudden onslaught of overwhelming emotions.
Naruto made it happen. Something Gaara struggled to do his whole life, Naruto seemingly managed in a span of weeks. While at times annoying, he inserted himself in Gaara's life in a way where he was still listening to what Gaara was saying, or better yet what he wasn't saying. And he gave Gaara a win. Hope. Hope that there was still a way to win against his life's rules.
And perhaps a win against loneliness itself…
Looking down, Gaara focused on the view ahead, only his eyes to widen at a deep wound on Naruto's leg. Noticing Gaara's distress, Naruto seemed to finally be aware of his own predicament, grabbing onto his leg with both hands. "Ah! That's from when that stupid fox bit me."
Feeling a bit queasy, Gaara asked. "Bit you?"
"It's fine it's fine," the blond said casually, waving his hand in dismissal and straightened up. "I'll just ask Tsunade-baachan to give me a shot. But man it stiiiings."
His smile never wavered. Even though he was clearly in pain, his pride for his accomplishment was no less sincere. Shikamaru's words suddenly came to Gaara's mind.
Though he can be a pain in the ass, that guy is pure.
Gaara felt like he could understand the sentiment.
He softly said, "That's enough. You don't have to do any more."
"Huh? Did I offend you again? I'm sorry if I did, I will do better so just-"
"That's not it!" Gaara interrupted him with a bit more force than intended. Feeling his cheeks burning at the intense stare of the blonde, he continued in a softer voice. "You didn't do anything wrong. And you don't owe me anything. You can just be as you are."
"Huh. I don't really understand, sorry."
"What I'm saying is…I'll be… your friend," Gaara finished in almost a whisper.
The change in the blonde's face was gradual. Starting from mild confusion to slow comprehension, his eyes widened together with the lips forming a choked out oh.
"No way! Really? For real? Seriously? Yatta!" the blonde exclaimed while fist bumping in the air and twirling around like he had won a lottery.
Gaara observed him silently, desperately squishing a tiny part of him that gave him ridiculous ideas of joining Naruto in the victory dance.
He had some self-restraint. Some.
Then Naruto abruptly turned around and extended his hand, grinning. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. From now on, let's be friends, Gaara."
With eyes sparkling in the evening's light, Naruto looked brighter than the stars in the sky. It was scary. Naruto's brightness was intimidating. But like a moth to a flame, Gaara felt himself gravitating towards it.
Gaara extended his own hand, and smiled softly at their joined hands, completely missing the pink shading on Naruto's cheeks as he watched the redhead.