Wandering

"I'm here for the upcoming Chunin selection exams.. I was merely observing the arena."

He turned his head, looking to the people who were staring. "Maybe they are somewhat disturbed by our little performance.."

Naruto squinted his eyes at the ceiling. "Chunin exams? Yeah, I'm gonna be in those too. Gonna break down every ninja in my path." He grinned back at Gaara. "Even if they do have super-powered sand on their side." He gave almost an unsatisfied look at the others in the arena and then leaned forward, doing what he thought was whispering but everyone could hear him. "Man, if all these people do all day is listen to other people's conversations, they must be pretty damn boring."

"We'll see about that." He said, it wasn't a challange, it was merely the truth. Who knew if they would even get the chance of fighting eachother?

He looked at Naruto, then back to the people who were staring at them. A few gave angry glares, walking away. "Hm.. you must shine even brighter than you do in your village if that's how they are."

He blushed a bit out of embarassment and averted his eyes. "Heheh, shine? Like a celebrity? Naw, most people stay away from me. People don't like me much, y'know?" He glanced back at Gaara and mentally kicked himself. No, of course Gaara didn't 'know' about hate, why'd he have to be so dumb as to say something like that?

"Well, I meant as in a loud dog in a large group of quiet sheep. Not only do you shine with your bright orange get up, but you must shine even more because of the fact that your villagers are incredibly boring and merely sit and listen to conversations, and yours would obviously out noise the rest." He looked back to Naruto again, his arms crossed. "Maybe they can't bear your loud attitude.. then again, I seem to be able to tolerate it. What did you do for them do dislike you..?"

He shrugged and hid his emotions with a grin. "It doesn't matter. To them, I'm more like a dinosaur standing over a bunch of mice. More like..." Weariness passed over his face for a split second. "A monster.." But he shook his head, tumbling up his shaggy hair even more. "But I already told you, I don't believe in those."

"But that doesn't mean that they don't believe in them." He said, staring at Naruto, his eyes showing no emotion in them, and his face as blank as usual.

"Yeah, I know." He looked almost sad staring at one of the far walls but then something crossed his mind and he glanced back at Gaara. "What did you mean by 'What did you do for them do dislike you'? Why stress on the 'you'? That wasn't sarcasim, was it?" Naruto was still not in tune with other people's diologue.

He continued to stare at the blond. "I merely asked what your story was. Why your village hated you as well."

"As well? Don't people like you Gaara?" He questioned and cocked his head to the side. He would be surprised if the answer was yes.

"Not at all." He shook his head. "They bring me to this world with malice and hate, and expect me not to turn out the way I did.. hm, what a bunch of imbeciles.. why do they hate you?"

He gave Gaara a brightly lit smile. "I got something inside of me no one likes. In fact," He glanced down and poked his belly. "I don't like it much either, heheh."

His eyes turned into slants, and he stared curiously at Naruto. "What do you have inside you..?"

His smile dampened and the thought of lying to Gaara crossed his mind. Would his new friend hate him if he knew? Naruto decided it didn't matter. What was one more person's hate? Although deep down he knew it would hurt to lose this person he paticularly liked. "A real monster."

He was quiet for a moment as he contemplated this new information. Suddenly, he felt a connection between him and his new.. friend. He hadn't realized it, but his expression had grown slightly softer than before. "Heh.. who would've thought I'd meet you out of everyone in this village.."

He closed his eyes, turning his head slighlty. "The only other person I know like me, huh?"

He cocked his head to the side, not fully understanding. "Like you?" He asked and then looked at Gaara's hair. Red. He thought about his own. Blonde. Their clothing looked nothing alike, they didn't act much the same. Naruto scratched his cheek and laughed nervously. "Heheh, I don't get it."

He looked back to him. "Not in appearance, nor in behaviour. We both have something alike, something nobody else has. And nobody can understand what it is like having."

"You have a monster, I have a monster." He stared at Naruto, his eyes showing no emotion. "We are both what they would call, Jinchuuriki."

He blinked and then solemnly glanced at a few of the other people around them. Was this a dream? He didn't know if he was feeling empathy, remorse, brotherly love, or hate for the people around him that were sick enough to create another miserable child. Then he stared directly into Gaara's death-filled eyes.

His own eyes.

"You know..." He leaned on his left leg and put a hand on his hip, grinning. (supermodel pose O.o) "I think we'll get along just fine, Gaara of the desert." And he stuck out a fist, assuming Gaara knew what 'props' was. "Believe it."

He stared at Naruto's propped hand, thinking it was a fighting pose. "I don't understand.. do.. friends.. in this village usually fight eachother to get along..?"

Naruto gave a cheeky grin and grabbed Gaara's arm, which was already in a fist, since this is Gaara we're talking about. "Is you're brain disabled or something?" He laughed and forcibly knocked Gaara's fist together with his own. "It's not fighting or anything, it's just a thing we're gonna do now, like a high-five, you get it?"

He stared at his hand, pulling it back slowly and uncurling his fingers, staring at the palm of his hand. He didn't really get the point of it, but that gesture was supposedly a form of cheering, or so Gaara thought. "I.. understand.."

He looked up at Naruto, balling his hand into a fist once again and putting it to his side. "What is it called..?"

"Props!" He raised his fist once again, seeing if Gaara could do it on his own this time. "Try. It'll be our thing from now on. Just the two of us, got it?"

He raised his hand and lightly tapped it to Naruto's, keeping it there as he stared. "Alright.."

"Oh yeah!" He jumped in the air, punching it once and landed with a grin. "Now we're brothers. Brothers on the run from the law." With that, he hugged the wall behind him and started slinking away. "See you around, Gaara. One of these days I'll come check out the sand village, believe it!"

He watched him with slightly wide eyes, staring, a bit confused. "Okay.. goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki.. I will make sure that you are not harrassed when you come to the village.."