1Disclaimer - Don't own Naruto, but if I did I'd molest Gaara. Twitch. Faint.
Monster Within, Monster Without
It hadn't taken him very long to formulate his theories on the character of human nature. Indeed, he'd been almost ridiculously young at his first, bitter-sweet tasting of their cruelty. Bitter, you see, because he knew with certain conviction that he'd lost something vital, a piece to his being, on that sun-scorched afternoon...and Sweet, because he simply could not bring himself to miss it.
"What must be done is for the Village, Gaara..." (1)
Strong fingers tightened on the leather of his Gourd strap. Animals, he mused, protected their young with more emotional attachment than his own father - a human - had felt it prudent to display.
"Shukaku... You have polluted my son!" (2)
Of course, that had been an utter lie, but such petty barbs no longer affected Gaara of the Sand. He'd long since abandoned thought with his heart, when it came to the man who had donated his genetic material.
...Hell, Gaara was pretty sure he hadn't even had a heart to begin with.
"I kill you only out of love." (1)
Love, ha. That was the truth, the secret to knowing one had a feeling heart! The notion, the word, all left a sour acid taste in his mouth. Along with absolutely no understanding of it, he had, over the years, acquired a burning hate for it's seductive illusion. A hate that bubbled more intensely than his desert home of Suna.
He didn't want love. He didn't need love. He didn't want to know what every book said he was missing. He didn't need to know what men and women smiled about, what that look of longing in their eyes meant.
He wanted to kill, and maim, and brutalize.
And maybe, one day, he wouldn't see the image of a smiling woman peer from the depths of some dingy mirror.
Maybe, one day, he could look into his own eyes and not balk at the sight.
Yes, maybe, one day, he could be the monster within as much as the monster without.
Note - Ne, sad isn't it? This will become a Neji/Gaara centered drabbles thing, but I like giving the idea where they're coming from. Review, please! Oh, and tell me if I spelled "Suna" right
1. Gaara's Uncle
2. Gaara's Father