Sand and Puppets

It was another sandy day in Suna and many people were staying indoors because of it. While sandstorms were common in Suna were no less dangerous for most people to be in. But if anyone were to look outside and squint they would be able to make out the form of a child walking through the storm with little care of where he or she was going.

Gaara walked alone through the sandstorm that was passing through Suna. This was one of the few times he could escape both the fearful and hated looks the village directed at him. He partly understood that they feared and hated him thanks to his status as a Jinchuuriki but he had never understood why. His mood continued to worsen as he thought about everything and the sand showed it blew harder around him but never harmed him as it went by.

"Hay what are you doing out here?!" Gaara jumped at the sudden voice looking around for who was talking when he saw a boy around his age and red hair like his moving toward him with one arm over his face to help keep the sand out of his eyes. As the boy drew closer Gaara made out a large (relative to a child.) thing on his back covered in bandages masking its general shape.

"Come on we need to get out of this storm my homes not far from here." The boy said as he grabbed Gaara and started to pull him further up the road. Gaara caught completely by surprise both by the fact someone was trying to help him and why the sand didn't move to stop the boy from grabbing him. Finding themselves near a descent sized house the boy opened the door and pulled him in and closed the door behind him and sighed.

Turning to face his unexpected host Gaara got a better look at the boy who had grabbed him. The boy was slightly shorter than him but his hair was slightly longer, eyes as black as coal but with a certain brightness he didn't recognize. All in all the stranger looked a lot friendlier than the rest of the village.

"Sorry for dragging you here but you shouldn't be out in a storm like that your likely to get hurt." The boy said rubbing the back of his head as he looked at Gaara wondering if the boy was mute.

"It's no trouble but you didn't need to." Gaara blinked in surprise when the boy started smiling at him. No one ever smiled at him other than Yashamaru and he didn't know what to do.

"O by the way my name is Akasuna no Roko and you are?" Gaara was surprised again, everyone knew him in the village so he was surprised when Roko said he didn't know him.

"Sabaku no Gaara." Roko smile grew at the name and he extended his hand out toward him. It took Gaara a moment to recognize the action as he had seen many people do it but no one would ever offer to shake his hand. Eyes leaving the hand to meet Roko's face he saw the smile shrink slightly as he waited for him to shake his hand.

"I haven't caused offence or something have I?" Gaara quickly shook his head and reaching out took the offered hand and received the first hand shake in his life. He felt a small smile creeping up on his face and Roko's smile returned to its original size.

"Well Gaara care to take a tour of my house I've never had anyone over before so forgive me if I do something wrong." Roko had a embarrassed look on his face as he said that and rubbing the back of his head again.

"Ok and don't worry this is the first someone has invited me to visit another person's house before." Roko's smile turned into a small frown before shrugging his shoulders and his smile returning as he showed Gaara around. It wasn't anything special like his house but it did have a few things he found odd like a workshop and a room neither knew what it was used for but other than that it was a nice place and the two boys soon settled in the living room as they waited for the sandstorm to settle.

"Cool so your dad is the leader of the village you must be able to get whatever you want." Gaara's smile turned into a frown and Roko quickly apologized for making his sad but Gaara simply waved it away knowing Roko didn't know much about his family.

"It's ok but the only person I really get along with is my uncle Yashamaru." Gaara started telling him about his uncle and soon both boys were smiling again as they talked about other things when the storm finally settled down.

"Well looks like it's safe to go out again and I bet your uncle is worried about you Gaara." Gaara looked outside and saw that the moon was out and nodded in agreement with Roko but felt slightly put out he had to leave.

"Your right maybe we can do this again sometime?" Gaara asked hoping that Roko would agree. He never had what his uncle would call a friend before but maybe Roko would be willing to be his friend.

Smiling widely Roko said, "Sure this was fun how about tomorrow?" Gaara smiled and nodded in agreement before heading home thinking about his possibly new friend.