Naruto One-Shot (Yaoi)

Counting Sheep

By CeNedraRiva

Konoha was quiet after midnight. Gaara found it relaxing, but the peacefulness also set his teeth on edge. While the usual riot of noise and colour of city nightlife was irritating, it helped drown out Shukaku's whispers, and during full moons, Gaara would take any advantage he could to keep the demon sealed.

Tonight, that meant practicing fine chakra control, using his sand to create sculptures of plants and flowers. The repetition and attention to detail gave him something to focus on past all of Shukaku's bloodthirsty nonsense.

Two days ago, Gaara had been defeated in combat for the first time, fought to a standstill by the kyuubi jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. It had been an enlightening experience, and left Gaara pensive, wondering if he too could gain his own precious people as Naruto had. The way Temari and Kankuro had come to his aid, Gaara suspected he might have a chance. But it was hard to think when you were physically exhausted and mentally fighting off the possession attempts of a powerful demon.

Hopefully, they would be leaving Konoha soon. Once they made it to the Wind Country, Gaara could run off into the desert to sleep and let Shukaku run wild a little, but Fire Country was far too full of trees and people. There would be damages to pay, lives lost, and Suna was already in a difficult position regarding their alliance with Konoha. Not to mention, it struck Gaara as impolite to transform into a tailed beast and destroy the village of the people who changed your entire worldview for the better.

Also.

Gaara really, really didn't want to lose control.

It had been years since he had wanted to block out Shukaku quite so desperately. Strange how quickly his distaste for violence had returned. He'd hated it as a small child to the point of nausea, yet undoubtedly had been the cause of most of the violence he'd witnessed since. The blood, the screams, it had almost felt fake. An unreal, pretend world, where the only proof of existence was blood and the crooning of Shukaku in his ear.

It had all been real, though. And Gaara had done terrible things.

Shukaku's jeering laughter echoed across his thoughts. Gaara took a deep breath, releasing it slowly, and ignored the tanuki demon. Overthinking rarely did anything good; it was a weakness Shukaku liked to exploit.

Frowning, Gaara rubbed at his aching shoulder. Another weakness Shukaku was trying to exploit. The pain was more uncomfortable than he had expected, even mostly healed, and while it did make staying awake easier, it also distracted from his focus.

Sand. Sand was safe.

Gaara drew the grains up into mini whirlwinds, watching the hypnotic swirling. He was still in control.

Getting the fine details right in his sand sculptures was difficult. Sand didn't lend itself well to forming delicate organic shapes like petals, and the flowers themselves were often very complex anyway. His first attempts, years ago now, had been awful. But he was getting better at it now, and with a small push of chakra, he could even illusion the texture of the sand so that the plants looked real.

His latest attempt was a flower called a chrysanthemum, one he had never seen before arriving in Konoha. It had a large, round head made of many curled petals that all had to be arranged exactly so, and Gaara had yet to make one he thought looked perfect. This one was close, though.

A noise drew his attention. The door to the rooftop opening, footsteps walking out across the rooftop. They came into view a moment later, just as Gaara was able to pick up on their chakra signature.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Shukaku snarled, outraged at seeing the one that had defeated him and demanding revenge, then whining like a petulant child when Gaara didn't move to attack. Gaara decided to stare at Naruto a little longer, just to annoy the demon.