First of all, I want to thank my awesome beta reader Raiyane! It wouldn't have been as awesome without you!

I don't own Naruto! If I did I wouldn't be waiting at my computer every Wednesday for a new chapter! Now please, enjoy!

Gaara looked up at the sky, thinking, on his walk home. His eyes were filled with sadness, as they often were, when not shot with anger.

"Why?" He would say to himself. He would ask himself over and over, why everyone hated him so much, why everyone looked at him like that, why everyone said he was a monster.

However, on this particular walk home, something very unusual happened to him. As he was walking a figure appeared at the other side of the road. It was a little girl, about his age. He stopped and waited for her to run away. He decided that he would let her, but she didn't. Maybe she hasn't noticed me yet? Gaara thought, or maybe- Suddenly the girl stopped and looked at him for the first time. Her eyes immediately filled with fear. Those eyes... Always those eyes... Gaara thought. He was getting mad. He wanted her to run away quickly, or he might just attack her.

The girl's eyes changed from a look of fear to one of confusion. She took a step closer to him. This shocked him immensely. Why hasn't she run, like everybody else? The girl continued to walk toward him until she was only a few feet away.

At first Gaara was shocked, then he became angry, but soon that passed and eventually he wore a look of confusion to match the girl's. Even with the different emotions crossing his face, beneath it all was loneliness.

The girl saw this, saw that as much as he tried to hide it, this boy, deep down, was lonely. Not only lonely, there is... Something. She didn't know exactly what it was, but it was bad, and it scared her. She pushed that out of her mind and pondered what to say to him. The boy everyone told her to stay away from; who only needed a friend. The little boy who was sad and alone and confused. She asked him the only thing she could think of saying. "Are- are you okay?"

Gaara wasn't sure whether to be mad or happy. He just stood there, staring with his big blue-green panda eyes.

"Because," the girl continued, "You look so sad."

He knew he should say something back, should do something... but nobody had ever done anything like this before. He opened his mouth to say... anything, but he was stopped short when another person appeared on the street.

It was an older woman this time. She took one look at Gaara and immediately pulled the girl away by her wrist, placing the girl behind her. The girl's mother, possibly. She was looking down at him with the hatred and fear that everyone looked at him with.

Gaara wasn't looking the older woman but instead was looking at the girl behind the older woman with curiosity.

The woman slowly backed away, pulling the girl behind her.

Gaara took one last look at her then turned and began to walk away. He had barely taken a few steps, and was clearly still in earshot when the woman turned to face her daughter.

"I told you to stay away from that boy." She scolded. "Promise me you will stay away from that monster."

Gaara stopped in his tracks. Monster... Monster... Monster... the word echoed in his head. He spun around, anger clear in his eyes. He slowly clenched his hand at his side, and the surrounding sand began to shift at their feet.

The girl sensed something- the Something- in Gaara grow, filling him with rage. She knew she had to do something, so she called out to him to stop.

Nobody moved for a long moment.

Then Gaara made eye contact with the girl, and as she looked into his eyes, her own eyes void of fear; she could see the anger fade from his expression, his face returning to the look of overwhelming sadness.

As Gaara took a deep breath and his body relaxed, he slowly unclenched his hands, slowly turned around, and slowly walked away.

Thank you, if you read this, as it is my first (real) story and I would love to see how you think I did. I have many more fanfictons saved in Google drive, just waiting for you to read. I really hope you guys enjoyed. My next one will be even better! I promise!

(go ahead and give me constructive criticism, I don't care. The only thing I wouldn't like is if somebody were to say they don't like by story and not explain why)

Happy Reading!