A/N: Hi! My 2 cousins, my sister (CatsAreMyJoy) and I thought of this story, but I'm the one putting it into words. Well, this kind of story plot is kinda overused, but I'm doing it anyway. This is my first fanfic, so, yeah. :P

Since this is the first chapter, I shall do the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: ME NO OWN NARUTO. I only own me OCs. Naruto only belongs to Kishimoto-sensei. If I owned Naruto, Matsuri and Sari never liked Gaara and this is what should have happened:

*edited*

CHAPTER 1: He's changed...

'Sea foam eyes and reddish brown hair. I would never forget those eyes or that hair…'

I looked up right after and saw the massive sand wall that acts as a barrier for the village against anything and anyone. 'Finally, I'm here…' I stared at it longingly.

A gust of wind wafted around me as I stood, looking at the sand wall and I shivered. 'I should go inside before I get sick. Why does the desert have to be so cold in the night?' I complained to myself as I walked through the gap between the walls.

As I made my way to the village, I felt much colder since the walls blocked the moon, my source of comfort. 'I wonder if the Sand Village has changed… if it did, how much?' My train of thought was disrupted when a stray moonlight burst through and illuminating my path, showing that I just entered the village.

I stepped from the dark walls and looked at the village, reminiscing. It was bathed in the moonlight; pools of it flowing through the village like seas would do to corals. I always thought that the Sand Village looked the best in the night. The solemn appearance of it makes this place very peaceful.

'Three years… it's been too long… I'm home.'

A lone figure sat on the top of the tallest building in the village. The moonlight seemed to settle itself on him, making his skin look paler than usual. Dark rings caused by insomnia came around his sea foam eyes, eyes that looked as cold as ice. They never betrayed any emotion, resulting to the fear of the villagers. He has a reddish brown hair with bangs that perfectly framed his face and a kanji for 'ai', love, etched on his forehead above his left eye, like a scar that wouldn't ever go away. He wore a black full body suit. The shorter sleeve is like a shirt and the longer sleeve is fishnet. His pants are three fourths with bandages wrapping around from the pants to his feet. He wore ninja shoes. He wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band over the left shoulder and right side of his hips. He carried his gourd through the leather band. He also tied his forehead protector around the leather band.

Everyone feared him. Feared him for the monster that was unjustly placed in him. To them, he was a failed experiment. They never thought that he would feel hurt like normal humans do. They only thought of him as a threat. A monster. A demon. He tried to be nice to everyone, but they closed their doors on him. At that time, he thought that he was loved by his uncle, but soon found out that he wasn't. So by the pain that he felt, he shut other people out. He never let anyone near him. He killed them if they got in his way. For him, to prove that he exists, he kills. He only loves himself. He's Sabaku no Gaara.

Another sleepless night, just like any other night. Gaara knew that if he slept, the Shukaku, the monster inside of him, would take over his body and he would be no more. Tonight was one of the difficult nights when the Shukaku becomes the strongest. It was because of the full moon. The Shukaku kept on tugging at his mind, prodding it for any weak points, coaxing Gaara to kill someone, to show them, to tell them of his existence. But no matter how much the monster pleads, threatens, or coaxes, Gaara did not give. There's something about this night that kept him from unleashing the Shukaku on anyone.

From his position on the roof, he gazed at the village that had scorned him ever since his birth. Unknowingly, his eyes stared at the stars in the sky. Whenever he spent time on the roof, he never even gave the stars a second thought. It was just him and the constant tugging of the Shukaku. The last time he looked at the stars was a long time ago.

*flashback*

"Hey, Gaa-chan!" the young Gaara turned his head to the girl beside him.

"Uh… I'm sorry, what did you say again?" he smiled sheepishly. The girl to his right seemed to be at his age of 6, or maybe a year younger than him. She had bluish black hair and her eyes looked sterling blue. As blue as the sea below. Her hair was short, as it only reaches until her shoulders. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"You keep on zoning out, Gaa-chan!" her cheeks puffed in childish anger. "You're gonna miss all the beautiful sights if you keep on zoning out like that."

They were at the balcony or roof of the Kazekage building at night. It was 'their spot' and nobody else's. The light shone brightly that night and the stars were sparkling like jewels thrown up in the sky and never came back.

Gaara sent her an apologetic smile, not knowing what else to say. After a few moments of silence, the little girl spoke up.

"Gaa-chan, don't you think that the stars look pretty tonight?"

He glanced at his friend, wondering where she gets all these questions, and then turned his attention at the stars. Countless stars shone dazzlingly, filling the sky with light. Each individual star looked different. Some are big, some are small, some are bright and some are dim. Gaara then observed his friend as she admired the stars with a smile on her face.

"Yes. They are really pretty tonight." She grinned, obviously pleased with his answer, and scooted closer to Gaara, so there was no space between them.

"Nee, Gaa-chan?" he looked at her, "You know what? If there is a star like you, it would be the brightest one! Like the one over there!" and she pointed at the brightest one near the moon, though far from the other stars.

"Why is that, Jay-chan?" he looked up, puzzled why she would say it.

"Because Gaa-chan," she smiled, "like that star, you are strong, kind, and a really great friend. Like that star, even though people always stay away from you, you still shine brightly and see it through."

Gaara blushed at her compliments and smiled at his friend.

"I'm only able to make it through the day because you're here… Thank you." He looked up and said, "And if you are like a star too, you'd be the one right beside mine."

"And why is that, Gaa-chan?" she tilted her head to the right, wondering what he would say.

"It's because, when I was lonely and alone, you were the one who was always there. You became my friend, even though many people call me a monster, even though they all hate me… you made me smile when everyone made me sad. You helped me so much." they smiled at each other and they both watched the two stars as silence enveloped them.

"The stars are so far away, but so near at the same time that it makes me want to grab them." She once again broke the silence as she reached out her hand as if to grab the stars. "What do you think the stars are made of? If I could go there, I would get as many of them as I can!"

"I don't know what they're made of." Gaara shrugged. "If there was a way to go up there, Jay-chan, I'll make sure to bring you with me!"

*end flashback*

'Why… why did I remember that?' he thought to himself. He then realized that his hand reached out for the stars like the little girl did and immediately placed his hand down at his side.

Then from the corner of his eye, he noticed someone, or some girl walk through the gap of the walls of the village. She had bluish black hair and her eyes looked sterling blue. Her hair was tied in a loose braid on her left. She had bangs parting at the left which framed her face and covered most of her right eye. She wore a light blue long, body hugging dress without sleeves with the insignia of the sand village on the lower left of her dress, the dress cut from the bottom until the hips and she wore tight, dark blue shorts underneath. She had fishnet on her left arm from her fingers until her elbow, dark blue finger less gloves on both hands and fishnet from her right knee to her feet and she wore ninja shoes. She wore a smile on her face as if reminiscing about something.

Seeing her smile, memories flashed through Gaara's mind, leaving him with emotions or feelings that he didn't understand. Memories that he thought he never had. Until now.

'That girl…' he frowned, his nonexistent eyebrows furrowing. There's something about that girl that seemed to make him—or the Shukaku—on edge. The monster took advantage of Gaara's confused feelings and told him,

"There! That's our perfect target! Kill her! I want her blood soaked in our sand! By killing her, it will greatly prove your existence!" The Shukaku goaded him a lot more tonight, proving that Ichibi was definitely on edge. This time, the Shukaku was more persistent than Gaara thought.

"No!" Gaara groaned, clutching his head between his hands. "No… I… I can't!"

"Why can't you?" The Shukaku growled at him. The problem is, Gaara can't find an answer to that. He just doesn't have an answer to that. "Just release me! It's as simple to kill her as we did with the others! It's just like the ones before!"

"Why… Why do you want to kill her so badly?" Gaara growled at it, feeling tremors throughout his body as the Shukaku fought for control.

"Why don't you?" The Shukaku bit back. Once again, no answer came to him. He just knew that he shouldn't—couldn't—kill her. All the answers in his head seemed to fade away. Only the image of the night under the stars was clear in his head.

Amidst the pain, Gaara noticed that the girl sensed his presence so he immediately hid in the shadows just in time before she looked where he had been a while ago. By the time she looked away, the Shukaku stopped bombarding him with questions as to why he didn't want to kill her and receded in the back in his mind.

Gaara clenched his fists tightly. 'What's in that girl? Why don't I want to kill her?' His thoughts were cut short when he sensed another presence. He saw a sand ninja, a familiar one, come and talk to the girl. Then the girl looked back up to his spot and this time, he let her see him.

When they locked eyes, Gaara stared at her with his emotionless eyes, trying to hide his emotions, or so he thought. 'What made you so special that I didn't allow the Shukaku to kill you? What makes you different from the others?' his eyes seemed to say. The girl's eyes widened in what it seemed to be shock, pain and confusion caught in the middle and before Gaara could make sense of it all, they disappeared, though not without getting a full glimpse of her hair and her eyes. And not before a little girl's face flashed in his mind.

'Jay?'

A few minutes before…

I looked at the Sand Village, my home. Here I laughed, cried, grew up, fell, ran, walked, and met a special someone—I snapped my head up and searched the roofs of the buildings with my eyes. Then my eyes grazed over the highest building in Suna and wondered.

'I swear I felt an ominous presence nearby… was it… blood lust?' I shivered at the thought and looked away. 'You're just being paranoid.'

Suddenly, a sand ninja came and bowed respectfully. He's a tall man. He has two red markings on the right side of his face, the only visible part of his head, the rest being covered by a turban-like thing and a sheet hanging from it on his left side of his face. He wears the usual Suna ninja attrie with his forehead protector and his jacket. I was in a bit of a shock since I wasn't used to this high regard ever since I left the Sand Village.

"You are Lady Chiyo's granddaughter if I am not mistaken? We have been informed of your arrival." He inquired, still bowing. I regained my composure before I replied.

"Yes." I nodded. Well, I was technically not her blood relative, but I guess she kind of adopted me already. It's really a long story, so let's deal with that after some time. "And you are?"

"My name is Baki, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I am in-charge of escorting you to Lady Chiyo." He complied, straightening up.

"No harm done." I nodded to him and brought my eyes up to that roof and this time, I saw him. His sea foam eyes, his reddish brown hair. Everything about him looked the same, or so I thought. His eyes were different… We locked eyes and I never thought that his eyes could look so angry, so sad…so confused. So many ravaging emotions filled his eyes. My eyes widened as I figured out that most of his emotions were directed at me. At that moment, I knew my eyes betrayed my every emotion that I felt: confusion, shock…pain.

'He's changed…' This Gaara… This Gaara is different. Different from the one I used to play with. This is not the carefree and childish and shy Gaara I know. This Gaara… experienced so much when I was gone. I can see it in his eyes. His demeanor is so different now. His aura makes me involuntarily shudder.

But before I could look away, Baki transported us and we disappeared in a puff of smoke and appeared in a cave-like place with a circular pond in between two elderly people. One was a man named Ebizo. He has heavy-lidded eyes that made him look like he doesn't have eyes at all. He has long eyebrows that framed his face. He has a turban wrapped on his head and wears the Sand Village robes. The elderly woman's hair is tied with a bun and has a clothy thing on her head and also wears the Sand Village robes. Baki bowed to the three of us and disappeared.

"Grandma Chiyo…" I said softly and smiled, but I guess I didn't seem all too happy because she came forward and hugged me, something that she doesn't do too often. Then she released me from her embrace and smiled down at me.

"Welcome home, Jay."

A/N: Please tell me what you think of my story by reviewing! ^^ Ummm... please be kind in reviewing.. :"