Gaara's P.O.V.

What's with that boy...
Not once, but twice has he left himself completely defenceless before me.

How easy it would have been to suffocate him with my sand as he lay snoring softly on the rooftop.

But... For some reason I stayed and just... Watched him sleep...

I just sat there and listened to the way he would slowly breathe in air through his small nose then let it out with a single puff from his plump lips.

I could have left at any point, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

There wasn't anything else for me to do anyway...

He was so... Strange.

Of all the people I'd met, he's the first who would laugh and smile so easily around me.

And not the forced smiles I see on my 'comrades', but a genuine beam, as if he enjoyed my company.

When he said 'thank you' that first time... It shocked me.
I'd never really heard anyone thanking me, it made me feel strange and confused.

I felt totally out of my element. It was incredibly rare that I didn't think beyond killing a person, but since I didn't get that same urge from my beast to kill him, I had room in my mind for other thoughts to enter my head...

I found myself worrying that I shouldn't leave him alone on a random rooftop.
Caring that my callous teammate said something that would offend him.
Feeling an emotion that seemed to match the description of gratification when he stayed and talked to me for most of the night.

It was an entirely new sensation of emotions that I never really had chance to experience...
And I can't decide... Whether I loathe it... Or love it...

I stood rigidly and tried to shut out the loud voices of the dozens of rowdy ninja loitering around the classroom.

We'd arrived at the meeting place for the beginning of the chûnin exams a while back and I couldn't help but wish we'd come later so I wouldn't have to endure this tedious farce longer than I had to.

My own teammates were thankfully waiting in silence as I kept my arms folded and eyes closed.

I know that I exert an intimidating and dangerous aura but I couldn't care less, in fact it means less people try to bother me.

"Hey Gaa-kun!"

Well, in theory. But he's a special case.
And sometimes I think he's a head-case ...

A peculiar yet refreshingly interesting head-case.

But who am I to say that, I'm the biggest head-case of all.

My teammates were shocked in silence, probably expecting me to be my usual cold self and threaten to kill him.

They were even more shocked as I responded with a nod and a single name.
"Furasshu."

It was a simple action but nonetheless it was an acknowledgement of the nickname, which sent my 'comrades' into disarray and confusion.
But they were scared enough of me to wisely remain silent.

I hadn't even opened my eyes, attuned to his voice after listening to it for hours and hanging off every word.

The sounds of a scuffle had me slowly opening my eyes to see Aki being dragged off with a hand covering his mouth by the tall boy from the other day.

My already present urge to kill the boy intensified and I couldn't fathom why.

Aki had mentioned him: 'Byakko' the black fox summoning and servant to the Furasshu clan.

I remained motionless and almost raised an eyebrow as I watched Aki pitifully struggle against him but fail miserably.

I looked away before something as atrocious as a frown could worm its way onto my famously expressionless face.

I tried to analyse this feeling of wanting him to stay but ended up stumped.
I didn't know what it was Aki was making me feel.

There were so many different sensations within my brain caused by him that I didn't even bother to try and identify them.

After he'd been dragged back to his team, I could hear him scolding his summoning which, for some reason, made me want to smirk in a sense of victory.

Listening to the obnoxious antics of the Konoha genin wasn't at the top of my list of things I particularly wanted to do.
But they were so loud I couldn't help it, plus somewhere in that mess of sounds... Was Aki's voice...

It wasn't long before their loud talking attracted the vultures.
And by 'vulture' I mean the man with silver hair and round glasses that was gazing at Aki with a strange curiosity.

For some reason it seemed as if he had everyone mapped out and everything neatly planned.
But the way he looked at Aki suggested that he was an unexpected element in the equation.
In fact, he looked confused as to just what he was.

Once I heard my name my interest piqued.
'Kabuto' seemed to have information cards on a large amount of people.
His information on me was limited as suspected, but as soon as the Uchiha asked about Aki, Kabuto frowned but produced a card.

I listened extra carefully...

"Aki Furasshu... You know what missions he's done so I won't say that, and you know his mentor.
From what I could gather on his test results, his nin and gen jutsu skills are exemplary and his tai jutsu is lacking.
As for bloodline trait..."
He frowned again, frustrated.
"That area was suspiciously hard to gather Intel on, I'm not even sure if he has one... And I've never heard of the Furasshu clan..."

He continued to grumble under his breath incoherently, obviously angry that he couldn't uncover every piece of information he could.

Nothing interesting transpired after that, apart for when Kabuto was attacked by the sound ninja.

Even though completing this test would be child's-play to me, I couldn't concentrate, at least not at first.

Once I understood the basic principle of this exam stage, I didn't really pay full attention to Ibiki.

I was more focused on the small amount of warmth I could feel radiating from beside me.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, taking in his snow-white hair and pale red eyes.
I realised that if I looked hard enough, I could see remnants of blue that had been long swallowed by the encroaching red.

His eyes were scanning the paper but the way his cheeks were tinted red under my gaze told me he was aware of my stare.

I'd learned that whenever I looked at Aki for extended periods of time, his cheeks would flush.
I never understood why.

He tapped his pencil on the desk and fidgeted the longer I stared.

When he realised that I wouldn't stop anytime soon he sighed, closing his eyes.

His eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

'What is he doing?'

I almost gasped when his eyes snapped open, glowing red before fading to their natural colour.

He quickly picked up his pencil and began to write every answer without even reading the questions.

'I wonder how he managed to cheat... All he did was close his eyes...'

I decided that it was time for me to complete this test, I'd been watching him for too long...

So I gathered sand in my palm and closed one of my eyes, creating an eye made of sand.

I could feel Aki watching and inwardly smirked, hoping he'd be impressed.

'Wait... 'Hoping he'd be impressed'...? What's wrong with me...'

I easily found the planted chûnin and copied the answers.

After that I still had some time so I... You know... Watched Aki again...

'Maybe this insomnia is finally messing with my head...'