The Sandman
Once upon a sandstorm, Gaara of the Sand believed in the Sandman. The Sandman was the mysterious, magical man, who would bring sleep to everybody across the land. He would sprinkle sand across their eyes, and sleep would be restful and full of sweet dreams.
Gaara used to pray for his Sandman. He prayed that the Sandman would let him sleep for a long, long time, so that he would not always be up. He prayed that when he was asleep, nothing bad would happen. And he prayed that everyone else would get lots of sleep too. Because then he would be normal, wouldn't he?
But even though all the sand in the world surrounded him, the Sandman wouldn't come.
When Gaara asked Yashamaru, he said, "The Sandman knows you are strong Gaara, and you are special. He knows you don't need his sand to sleep or protect you. You have your own sand." Yashamaru smiled gently.
Kankurou scoffed, "The Sandman, heh. His sand don't work so good. It doesn't matter anyway."
Temari giggled and didn't answer him.
As the hot desert sun set day by day, Gaara believed in the Sandman less and less. His sand followed him faithfully, like puppies at his heels.
When children ran away from him in fear, Gaara wanted the Sandman to give them bad dreams and make them just like him, so that they couldn't sleep.
When he tried to apologize for hurting that one child, and was rejected, he hurt. But hurting didn't help him, so he turned it into hate and anger. Since the Sandman wouldn't listen to him, he would make his own Sandman.
As Gaara listened to Yashamaru's gasping explanation, his beliefs broke completely. Nothing ever was what he thought it was. He had to make it so that nothing would ever hurt him again, and everything to benefit himself.
Yashamaru's love was hate. So Gaara would only love himself. The Sandman's sleep was insomnia. So he would make his own sweet dreams. He would make his mark on the world, as his mother wanted. At least she seemed to care in some way of what happened to him.
Gaara still believed in the Sandman. In fact, he had his own Sandman, ready to sprinkle sand and make dreams. Gaara's Sandman gave many the final and lasting sleep of their lives, giving them his dreams of hate and horror. Just for the love for himself.
He prayed that every day would bring more sand nipping around him, like faithful hunting hounds baying at his heels.