Gaara looked at her with loving eyes and tried to speak, but then she just shoved a gift in his face, "Here." He took it tentatively and thanked her, not sure what else to say he opened it and withdrew small leather bound journal, with a gold lock. "I hope you like it. It was kind of short notice."

"I-I love it. I really do…." Temari and Kankuro stood to the back looking upon their brother and his first friend, never had they seen him so happy. He just grinned at this raven haired girl who had treated him so kindly. Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle as they stared back at him. A tear formed in the corner of his eye, he knew she would never love him.

"GAARA!! I didn't do anything to offend you did I??? Please!-she latched onto him-Please don't cry!!!"

He gasped unable to control him self, he moved his hand to her head and patted her hair,

"There, there. It's alright, you did nothing to hurt my feelings, in fact you've made me very happy. Please don't get upset on my account…If I asked you something would you at least think about it before you said no?"

"Of course, now what would you like to ask me?" Her perfect white teeth glistened as she smiled.

"Well, I was wondering if-if-if you would like to go out sometime?" He blurted it out almost shouting.

A sharp intake of breath surmounted from the gatherers. Tears burst forth from six eyes, all tears of joy. She grabbed him again, this time around his waist crying, "YES, YES!!!!!"

"Oh….Stop joking like that….you and I both know you're too beautiful to be with a monster like me." Another gasp.

"No Gaara! NO! It's not like that! I really do like you!!" It was his turn to be shocked. But instead of talking and ruining the moment he just hugged her back and hoped it would never end. "Hey, I have something I want to show you." He led her to the room he shared with Kankuro, he grabbed his bear from off the bed.

"Aw, Gaara he's adorable! What's his name??" She sounded sincerely interested.

"Well, he doesn't really have a name." He scratched the back of his head shyly. "I always just called him Teddy." His sheepish voice was no more than a whisper now. "Why don't you give him a name?"

She smiled, "Okay, how about…Kame? It sounds cool."

He smiled back. This was one of the first times he'd ever really had a reason to smile; it was harder than he thought. "Kame...I like it…but not quite as much as I like you." He looked away sheepishly as she turned to face him.

"Same here." It was her turn to shy away from his gaze. So he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her, a short sweet kiss on the lips. Her face flushed red and he laughed.

"I thought you were big and bad," he joked.

"You surprised me is all!"

"You look adorable you know." He stared at her face the color turning to an even darker red, he suppressed a laugh.

She felt the heat in her face rise again, she felt flattered. He grabbed her and held her close, absolutely enthralled at how sweet she looked. He let go, he felt uneasy. He reached into his pocket inconspicuously and pulled out two kunai. He threw them at the doorway. They were caught by an arm covered in thick leather. A red haired man stepped through the doorway.

"Hey, Gaara, long time no see. Your brother asked me to come. What's this? Is this your little girlfriend?" Distaste and anger shot through his voice like venom. He turned to her. "I thought we ran your family out of town?"

"You ran my parents and brother out, I stay by myself now." Her voice was cold and ruthless. She shot an angry glare to the man and a glance that said "help me" to Gaara. "What do you want anyway?"

"Why only to pass the time with my son."

"Your…son? Gaara, is that true?" She sounded hurt.

"Sadly, yes. It's not exactly something I'm proud of…." Gaara replied with a gleam of remorse.

"But this is the vile man who ran my family out! I can't believe you're his son! Why didn't you tell me????"

"I-I didn't know he did that."

"He's your father, how can you now know?"

"Maybe because I haven't seen him since I was four.… Trust me I didn't even know he was coming tonight, or that Kankuro invited him."

The man cut in, "Well I didn't plan on coming, until Kankuro said that I should, the only reason I did come was to see with my own eyes that the shukaku hadn't killed you."

One word escaped from Gaara's lips. "Leave." Sand began forming the shape of a dagger in his hand. In a second it was pointed at his opponent's throat. "I said, leave!"

"Alright, alright. I'm going." He turned, his cloak following like a shadow, the buckles on his black boots clinking. Within a minute he was gone. They heard sounds erupting from the kitchen, "Get out of our house!" Temari screamed.

"How dare you show your face around here! If you don't get out right now I'll use Crow!" Kankuro sounded thoroughly furious.

The door slammed, silence.

Gaara's name was called, he and Datenshi rushed from his room toward the voice. It was Temari. "Okay, now that he's gone. Would you like to open the rest of your present Gaara?" All anger had disappeared from her voice, and she seemed unusually cheerful.

"Umm, sure?"

She handed him Kankuro's gift first eager to see what it was. He tore the paper modestly and opened the small box. He took out a picture frame, it was glass with small engravings that spelled out "happy birthday". "It's for your picture…of mom." The words seemed to be caught in his throat. Tears welled up in four pairs of eyes. Datenshi's not quite as thick, but thick enough for the pain she could feel in their expressions.

Temari wiped her tears away. "Here, bro. it's for your bear."

"His name is Kame. And thank you both." He unwrapped the little gourd and looked it over carefully.

"Look, now you two match!" Datenshi squeaked gleefully.

"Yeah, I guess so." He looked thoughtful, but he rushed out of the room, grabbed Kame, and rushed back. He handed the bear and the gourd to Temari. "Since it was your gift would you like to put it on him?" A smile crossed his face from ear to ear. Kame…why did this name seem so familiar to her? But she just answered, "Sure."

She dressed Kame and handed him to Gaara. Datenshi smiled, "Now you really do look alike, I can barely tell you apart." She joked.

"Hey, Daten?"

"Yes?"

"Would you come with me? I have something else to show you, it's outside."

"Sure."

"Would you excuse us?" He asked.

"Of course, kid." Kankuro answered, "Knock her dead."

Gaara just sneered. So he grabbed Daten's hand and led her out the back door, across the sand of the field, and to a small grassy patch that was home to a wooden hut. "This is it; sorry it's not more excitng."

But she was already inside, "Aww, Gaara it's cute!"

He was glad it was dark, he was blushing again. "It's not that great, it's just where I spent most of my time as a kid….." he stopped, "But hey, enough about me, let's hear about your family." He tried to sound cheerful.

"Well, my family name is Nodunanga, mother and father left the village when I was thirteen."

"Did they take your brother?"

"Umm, no, they didn't."

"Well, where is he? He could've come tonight!"

"No, he couldn't have….he was killed the night my parents were sent into exile." Tears streaked her face, he felt bad at having brought it up.

"I'm sorry to hear that…." They sat in silence for a while, not moving scarcely breathing, and in that moment they had never felt more whole. Both had found someone who had suffered as much as they had, they were complete….

TO BE CONTINUED…..