Chapter 1 - N/A

Title Of Witchcraft, Wizardry, Dementors, and Mythical CreaturesTitle Runaway
Author Uozumi
Genre General
Rating PG
Disclaimer I do not own nor claim to own this. The characters,ect...contained within are not my property. This is an act of fandom and I donot make a profit from this endeavor. I also do not own the song containedwithin, it is property of its respective owner(s).
Summary “Naruto,” he began in a very gentle but firm voice, “you mustforget Gaara, because I doubt you will ever see him again.” A young Narutoencounters a boy who is very much like himself.
Runaway
Yashamaru was dead. The little boy kept putting onefoot in front of the other. Yashamaru told him about love, about the symbolthat was now tattooed on the small boy’s forehead, but in the end it had been alie. The little boy kept his eyes to the ground as he walked slowly, thinkingabout all of the times the sand had rescued him from himself and many would-beassassins. He kept walking and didn’t look behind him. He didn’t know where hewas going or why, but if it could get him away from the assassins, then so beit.
After days, the boy came to the opening of a large andbustling town filled with plants by a large mountain with faces on it. Thelittle boy wasn’t sure if he could get through the gates on his own, so hejumped and hid in a cart that was coming into the village carrying imports.Hidden by boxes of fresh fish, the little boy kept himself alert as they pausedby the gates.
“Good morning, Kaze-san. Fish today?” He heard whatmust be one of the guards talking to the man with the cart.
“Yes,” the man replied good-naturedly.
“Any news?” the guard continued and the boy saw ashadow looming over the mat that covered him and the boxes. The boy scrunchedup into the smallest ball he could manage as the guard lifted the cloth up abit. Holding his breath, the boy watched the sunlight coming closer to hissandal, and then it stopped and the guard put the mat back down.
“Well, I guess that you’re clear,” the guard stated. “Goodluck selling your fish, Kaze-san.”
“You’ll come by and get some won’t you, Rikou-san?”
“Of course.”
The boy felt the cart start to move again. He closedhis eyes and slowly counted to one-hundred and hoped that the cart wouldn’tstop before he reached it. It was still moving when he opened his eyes again,so the little boy waited and then got out of the cart as easily as he hadgotten onto the cart, the owner never noticing.
The little boy quickly ran from the cart and dartedinto the crowd that packed the streets of the city. He crawled under a fewvendors and soon slipped out and into a park area nearby. Tired, he sat down ona swing and looked around at his new surroundings. The swing wasn’t too faraway from a building which looked like a school. He watched the door a momentand saw a few children go in, all older than he was. He had an older sister andan older brother who both went to the ninja school where they lived. He alwayswondered if they would allow him to go when he was school aged, but maybe ifthey didn’t know who he was here, he could go to ninja school in this village.
“Who are you?”
The little boy blinked and looked over to his rightwhere another little boy about his age stood, looking at him cautiously. Theredhead stared for a moment at the blonde boy standing before him. “You don’tknow me?”
“No.”
The boy eyed the blonde a moment and then answered,“I’m Gaara. Who are you?”
“Uzumaki Naruto.” The boy cocked his head. “Don’t youhave a last name?”
Gaara ignored the question. He didn’t like his lastname. He looked at the boy then at the school, then he asked. “Do you gothere?” The younger kids started classes later in the day than the older onesat the ninja school in his village.
“No, but next year I will!” The blonde instantly brightened.“I’m going to be the Hokage, you know!” He grinned brightly so that his facewas almost like a kind version of the Cheshire cat’s.
“Oh.” Gaara looked down at his shoes.
Naruto’s grin faded at the lackluster response. Thelittle boy kicked at a stone as they fell into silence. Finally, he asked, “So,where do you live? I’ve never seen you before.”
“Far away,” Gaara replied quietly.
“How far? Like near the walls? I don’t go out theremuch.”
“No, beyond the walls.”
Naruto stared. He’d never met anyone from beyond Konohabefore. “Why are you here? Did your family come to help or sell something?”
“I came by myself.” Gaara’s voice grew smaller and hehunched over in the swing as though trying to make himself smaller too.
“So you’re alone?”
“Yeah.” Gaara drew his feet up so they dangled fartherfrom the ground. He wanted Naruto to go away, but at the same time, he didn’twant him to.
Naruto gauged the miserable expression on the boy’sface and then he grinned. One of Naruto’s best traits was that even in theworst of times; he could still put up a cheerful façade and look as thougheverything was all right. “That’s okay. I am too.”
Gaara looked over and up at Naruto then. For someoneall alone, the boy was very cheerful. Gaara was mesmerized. He watched Narutosit down in a swing next to him. Neither said the word friend, they didn’t knowif the other would accept that.
“Third, we have a problem!” A Chunin burst through theHokage’s door and set a coded message on the Third’s desk.
The old man picked up the message with his witheringfingers and glanced at the code, lips pursed. “The badger child Gaara has gonemissing.”
“They’ve put a message out to other nations that are onpeaceful terms, but they are afraid he might have gone over to the Village ofthe Mist, which is almost at war with them,” the Chunin summarized. “They’rerequesting permission to send a team of Anbu in to find and take Gaara back tothe Village of the Sand.”
The Third frowned and then nodded. “We will assembleour own band of anbu so that we can find him faster.” He took out a piece ofpaper and a pen. Scribbling a message on it, he then handed it to the Chunin.“Take this to the coders and have them send it to the Kazekage.”
“Yes, sir,” the Chunin stated and then left the room.
“This is my place. It’s small but I like it.” Narutoturned on a light of his very tiny apartment. Gaara’s green eyes scanned theroom. It was small and wooden with a futon in the corner, a smelly and smallrefrigerator near the window that looked out onto one of the alleys. Gaaraglanced out the window as Naruto opened his refrigerator, wrinkling his smallnose. “Do you like ramen?”
Gaara blinked. “Yeah.”
“Good! I know a great ramen shop down the street!”Naruto blinked when Gaara’s face fell. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t bring any money,” Gaara replied quietly. Thisboy was being really nice to him, but it seemed like Gaara couldn’t repay him.
“That’s okay. I got my allowance this morning!” Narutogrinned. He saw Gaara ready to say something and he shook his head. “You canalways pay me back later!”
The two left the apartment and walked down the street.As they walked, Gaara winced. Just like in his village, people were glaring athim as he passed. He scrunched his shoulders and tried to make himself smallerand invisible, though their eyes seemed to burn him as they walked. He glancedover at Naruto who was looking straight ahead with a goofy grin on his face. Hedidn’t seem to notice all the people watching them sourly at all.
“They’re not looking at you.”
Gaara blinked, staring at Naruto.
Naruto’s grin never faltered, though his young voicehad an edge to it. “They’re looking at me.”
“There is a team of anbu already out, but due to theseverity of this problem, all of you will be on the lookout for the boy.” TheThird took a deep breath and a Chunin behind him held up a drawing that justarrived from the Village of the Sand. “Gaara as you can see is a small child ofsix-years-old. What makes him dangerous is that he carries Shukaku within him.Not only that, but he also carries a gourd of sand which will protect him fromnearly everything.”
“So he’s like Naruto?” someone asked from in the groupassembled before the Third.
“Yes.” The Hokage nodded. “The boy is like Naruto inthe fact he carries a monster within himself.”
A silence grew around the group and then the Hokagespoke, “Alright. Now that you have seen the boy, find him and keep him busy ifyou can until the anbu can come. You must not try to fight or force Gaara intoanything; we do not know how Shukaku will react.”
The group rose and nodded before departing in variousdirections to scour Konoha for the boy of the sand.
“Here we are! Ichiraku Ramen Shop!” He looked over atGaara and the grin seemed to get wider. “Let’s go in, they’ve got the bestramen in town!”
The pair entered and the cook smiled. He was one of thefew people of the village that would smile at Naruto. “Good afternoon, Naruto,I see the Hokage gave you your allowance today.” The cook blinked and thensmiled down at Gaara. “Who are you?”
Gaara shrunk slightly behind Naruto. Only Yashamaru hadsmiled at him and Yashamaru had tried to kill him only just last night. Narutospoke up for the redhead. “This is Gaara. We want two ramen!” The cook lookedto Gaara for confirmation and the boy nodded shyly.
“Alright, two ramen coming up!” he announced and bothboys scrambled up into the stools at the bar.
As the chef prepared the ramen, Naruto looked over atGaara. “You don’t have to worry about Ichiraku, he’s an okay guy.”
Gaara gave Naruto an unsure look. People who smiledmade him uneasy now.
“This afternoon I’m going to take you to meetIruka-sensei. He’ll like you,” Naruto continued on about one of his futureteachers and one of the few villagers that would be nice to him. “He’s awesome.I want to wear his headband, but he won’t let me.”
Gaara nodded, not sure exactly what to say to that, andthen a bowl of steaming hot ramen appeared in front of him along with thesmiling chef. “Here you both are, boys.” Then he looked over at Naruto. “Let itcool first.”
Naruto stopped, his chopsticks about to hit the foodand then he withdrew them. It was well known that Naruto would instantly dig inand burn himself if no one reminded him to wait just a few minutes for theramen to cool slightly. He pouted and then slouched in his seat. Looking overat Gaara, he watched the other boy study his ramen as though debating whetherhe wanted to eat it or not. Naruto looked over at his own and then he said, “Itlooks great!” Then he dug in, making a very loud yum noise as he slurped upsome noodles. He looked over at Gaara, sauce dribbling down his chin. “Try it,Gaara.”
Gaara looked at Naruto and then at his bowl. The sandhadn’t acted up and Shukaku was silent. That must mean that the ramen would bealright. He picked up his chopsticks and put a bit in his mouth before nodding.“It’s good.”
“I told you so!” Naruto exclaimed through a mouthful oframen, the noodles still dangling half-way out of his mouth.
A nineteen-year-old Chunin paused at the corner andlooked at the swings outside of the ninja school. No one was on them, and hewas sure that Naruto would still be there. The boy, though unpredictable onoccasion, could usually be found in certain places at certain times of the day.Sighing, he started down the street towards Ichiraku Ramen Shop. It was earlyfor Naruto to be there, but if he wasn’t at the swings, the ramen shop was thenext logical place to find him.
”Iruka, I need you to find Naruto and bring him here.There is no telling what might happen if he met up with Gaara.”
Iruka neared the ramen shop as the Third’s words echoedin his ears. He was one of the few sensei that saw Naruto as a normal kid andalso one of the very, very few that actually liked the boy. Iruka had a badfeeling about this and his pace quickened. Stopping at the doorway, Irukapaused and then froze. Naruto was telling one of his off-beat jokes to a smallkid with hunched shoulders and red hair. Shaking himself mentally, Irukasummoned a shikagami to his hand. “Tell the anbu that Gaara is at theIchiraku.” Then he lifted his hand and the dove flew away and to the East.Iruka watched it a moment and then ducked into the shop. “Naruto.”
Naruto looked over his shoulder and he waved.“Iruka-sensei!”
The teenager waved back, offering a small yet goodnatured smile. “I was looking for you; I thought you would be at the swings.”
“I was,” Naruto replied and then blinked. “Oh,Iruka-sensei, this is Gaara.” He pointed at the boy beside him. “Gaara, this isIruka-sensei.”
Gaara looked over at the young man. Naruto was brimmingwith pride over him. He saw Iruka’s hesitant yet polite smile. Iruka knew whohe was, Gaara could tell. “H – Hi,” Gaara said nonetheless. He could just beparanoid. If no one else had recognized him, why would somebody recognize himnow?
“Hi,” Iruka replied in a similar voice. This boy didn’tseem all that dangerous, but there was a level of power surrounding him thatwas terrifying, especially if he looked in Gaara’s eyes. Naruto was nothinglike this due to the seal that kept his demon at bay, but Iruka noted that thisboy had no seal, or if he did, it was a very weak one.
“Naruto, when you’re done, the Third wants to see you,”Iruka informed the child. If he could keep the both of them at Ichiraku, theanbu could find Gaara easily.
“Why does he want to see me?” Naruto asked.
Gaara averted his eyes to his ramen bowl. He had a badfeeling about all of this and Shukaku had started whispering. He could onlyhear Shukaku faintly and couldn’t make out the words yet, but he tried tosuppress it. He didn’t want trouble.
Iruka paused and then he folded his arms and gaveNaruto a hard stare, his voice a bit stern. “Why do you think?”
It worked. Naruto laughed nervously. “Well, why do youthink it was me?”
Iruka responded in a rather normal fashion. It wasn’tunusual for Naruto to prank the village in some form. He just couldn’t giveaway that he didn’t know what the blonde had done yet. “Because I know you.Come on.” He gestured to the doorway. “Let’s go.”
Naruto looked over at Gaara. “I have to go. Theyfigured out it was me.” He grinned. “You can wait at my place.” Naruto reachedinto his pocket and retrieved his key, but before he could place it in Gaara’shand, a very large tanned hand grabbed his firmly.
“What are you – “ Naruto looked up into the mask of ananbu and stared. He had never seen one so close before, let alone had one touchinghim. Naruto frowned. “Hey! What was that for! What – “
“Naruto!” Iruka interjected, interrupting the flood ofindignant questions.
One of the five anbu in the room moved forward,speaking in a guised voice. “Gaara of the Sand, we would appreciate it if youcame quietly. We do not want to use force on you.” This was part of theHokage’s plan. If they did not treat Gaara in a threatening manner, they mightbe able to avoid unleashing Shukaku. They could use the fact that he was stillonly a child to their advantage, however, that didn’t mean they could be laxwhen dealing with him.
Naruto’s blue eyes looked at the crowd and a slightlyhelpless expression passed over his features before he went to stand, but theanbu had too hard a hold on his wrist for him to move.
“Let him go.”
The dangerous voice drew Iruka’s attention immediately.Gaara’s eyes were dangerous as he repeated, “Let him go.”
“Come with us and we will,” the anbu said in adisguised voice.
The air became thick and Shukaku spoke louder. Gaaratried to suppress it. He had killed Yashamaru and he would not kill Naruto,although he would not speak for the anbu. “No.”
“Then we will take Naruto away,” the anbu stated,tightening his grip on the blonde’s wrist so the boy wouldn’t speak.
Gaara glared. Shukaku was getting louder. He was tryingto block out the words, but some were slipping through. He gritted his teeth.He would not hurt Naruto, he had decided. He studied the anbu and looked atNaruto. The other boy couldn’t speak and his eyes were wide. Gaara wasn’t surewhat that meant, but Shukaku was growing dangerously loud and he was sure hewould give into the voice soon. He couldn’t give in.
“I’ll go on one condition.” Without waiting for aresponse, Gaara said, “You can’t kill me or him.”
The anbu were silent and then the anbu holding Narutoanswered, “We weren’t ordered to do either. Now, come with us, Gaara of theSand.”
Gaara slid off the stool and glanced over at Naruto ashe passed, several anbu converging on him to lead him away. After they weregone, the anbu holding Naruto’s hand let it go and then disappeared into theafternoon.
“Wha…?” Naruto gave the Third a rather blank look. Hewas sitting in the chair in front of the Hokage’s desk, his legs dangling atodd angles in his slouched posture.
The Third sighed inwardly. Long explanations were loston Naruto and this was not a subject that could easily be summed up in onesentence. He wasn’t sure if he even had the boy’s attention but since Narutowas looking at him and not away from him, the Hokage was certain that he hadsome of it. “Naruto,” he began in a very gentle but firm voice, “you mustforget Gaara, because I doubt you will ever see him again.”
Naruto instantly straightened in his seat, his eyesfixed on the Hokage. “What do you mean I won’t see him again!”
“Naruto, Gaara is a very dangerous person,” the Hokagepicked his words carefully.
“No he’s not!” Naruto stood up, shouting. “Gaara – “ Hefelt a hand come down on his shoulder and Naruto quieted at the unusualgesture.
“Third, may I have permission to – “ Iruka askedhesitantly. He didn’t want to seem out of place, but he didn’t think that thiscould end well in the direction it was going in at the moment.
The Third nodded. “Yes. Go – both of you.”
Iruka nodded. “Come on, Naruto.”
The child followed the teenager from the room. Theinstant the door closed, he grumbled, “Gaara isn’t a bad person, Iruka-sensei.”
Iruka was quiet a moment and then he spoke as theywalked out of the Hokage’s complex. “Being bad and being dangerous aren’talways the same thing.” Iruka thought about his words carefully. He wanted tosay, “Take yourself for example,” but he refrained. After a moment, he spoke,“Think of it this way. The Hokage is a very dangerous man – “
“But no one is trying to take the Hokage away!” Narutointerjected. “And what makes Gaara so dangerous anyway! He’s just a kid likeme!”
‘Exactly,’ Iruka thought as the pair entered thestreets of Konoha. Some threw glances at Naruto but weren’t phased that he waswalking with the Chunin. Iruka wasn’t allowed to tell Naruto what he was, buthe supposed that he could tell Naruto what Gaara was. As long as he didn’t tryto make an analogy towards Naruto, it shouldn’t break any rules.
“Gaara,” Iruka began slowly, “has a monster inside ofhim. He can’t control his monster and so he is very dangerous – “ Iruka held upa hand, noting Naruto was ready to interrupt him, “ – but that doesn’t meanhe’s a bad person.”
Naruto studied Iruka, then looked down at the street.“He said that he came by himself. He didn’t have any money…Did he run away?” Helooked up at Iruka.
“Yes, he ran away.”
Naruto looked back down at the street. “Iruka-sensei…?”
“Yeah?”
“If I ran away, would you come looking for me?”
A silence fell over them, only the sound of their feeton the pavement and the people around them filling the space. Finally, Irukaspoke. “Would you really do that Naruto? Because the worst thing you can everdo is run away.”
Naruto glanced over at Iruka, but the teen wasn’tlooking at him. Iruka looked very serious though and Naruto simply nodded. Hehad never thought of running away before and couldn’t imagine ever wanting to.
The End
 

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