The Outlaw

Chapter 3

"Naruto, stop picking at your food," his father ordered.

When in the world is he going to stop treating me like a child and allow me to do as I please? If I'm not in the mood to eat, so why do I have to eat?

Turning his attention away from the slice of lamb resting on his plate that he'd been poking with his fork, Naruto met his father's gaze where he sat at the head of the table. Kakashi and Gai sat on either side of him. Naruto had the dubious honor of sitting beside Gai.

"I can't seem to stop thinking about that outlaw," Naruto admitted. He felt sorry for him, standing in front of his father as he'd listed the conditions under which Gaara could stay at the ranch.

"He won't hurt you," Naruto's father assured him.

"I'm not afraid of him," he said. At least, he didn't want to be afraid of him. "I was just wondering if it was really necessary to give him so many rules to follow."

"I simply didn't want any misunderstandings to arise," he stated flatly.

Naruto didn't think there was much chance of that happening. His father was a man governed by the law, but sometimes Naruto thought he took his dedication to it to the extreme.

"Why do you think he did it?" Naruto asked. "Robbed the bank, I mean."

"A lazy man looking for easy money." Kakashi said.

"Only he wasn't a man." Naruto pointed out. "He was still a boy, a child really."

"Fourteen is old enough to be considered a man." Gai said. "We've had cowboys who weren't much older than that working for us when we've driven cattle north."

Naruto truly wasn't interested in his brothers' opinions. They didn't know any more about Gaara Sabaku than Naruto did. His father, on the other hand, had read Judge Sarutobi's account of the case.

"Papa, why do you think he did it?" Naruto repeated.

"I suspect Gai hit the nail on the head. The boy was looking for an easy way out."

"Prison doesn't seem like an easy way out to me." Naruto told him.

"He didn't plan on getting caught, Naruto." Kakashi said, as though Naruto didn't possess a lick of sense.

Sometimes his brothers were an irritating nuisance. Just because they were older didn't mean they were smarter.

Naruto moved his carrots from one side of his plate to the other. Watching Gaara get off the train, he'd felt a whole range of emotions. He's originally been frightened at the sight of the shackles, thinking he must be dangerous if he had to be restrained.

But as he'd approached him and seen the loneliness in Gaara's eyes, he'd felt a strong urge to comfort him. Until he'd given Naruto a look from the back of the wagon that had reminded him of a hungry wolf. Strangely, rather than making him wary, Gaara had only served to pique his curiosity and to confuse him.

"I thought he'd look mean," he murmured.

How did Gaara manage to look dangerous without appearing to be terrifying? Naruto always associated fear with danger. But what he felt now wasn't a scary sensation, but more of an exciting allure.

"Don't be fooled, Naruto," Kakashi said. "Judge Sarutobi didn't send him to prison without good reason."

Naruto gnawed on his lower lip. "If Papa believed that, he wouldn't have brought Gaara here." He turned to his father. "You think Judge Sarutobi was wrong, don't you?"

Naruto's father sighed. "I don't know. I don't like second-guessing another judge. Gaara was involved in an armed bank robbery during a time when crime here was escalating. A man was shot. He didn't die, but he came close. I suppose Judge Sarutobi wanted to make an example of Gaara. I don't fault him for that. I just thought the sentence seemed a bit harsh for a four-teen-year-old.