"Gaara-san! Gaara-san!" a soft voice called out to him.
Gaara turned away from his training to gaze at the black haired girl with cold eyes. His hands, which were raised, lowered, along with his sand which soon returned to the gourd on his back. The girl smiled and ran over to him carrying something behind her. Gaara glanced over at his siblings, Temari and Kankuro, who immediately looked away to gaze at the walls of the specially made training ground and the sky.
"Gaara-san!" The girl exclaimed again, calling his attention back to her. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. She now moved the hidden gift into full view. A small, round cactus was held up in front of Gaara's eyes. "Ganbatte!*"
The boy stared at the prickly plant for a while, then down at the girl, who continued to grin foolishly. A large arm of sand swooped down and tossed the potted cactus to the ground, causing the clay to shatter into pieces. Gaara then turned and left the training site, leaving the girl, with her arms still held out, frozen with a smile on her face.
Temari and Kankuro both let out a deep sigh as soon as their little brother was out of sight, feeling the tension loosen up. As soon as they did so, the girl let her arms down and her face relax before bending down to pick up the pot's remains.
Temari looked down at her with eyes of pity and said, "Sorry, Yoko, about Gaara..."
"No, it's fine," Yoko interrupted, her smile reappearing on her face. "I'm just glad he is alive and well."
"I swear," the blonde girl sighed, "You're the only person who is brave enough to go up to him every day."
"Well," Yoko giggled, "I don't think there is much to be afraid about him... He's only twelve years old... just like me."
"Anyways," Kankuro cut in before Temari could retort, "I heard you got accepted as a genin! Congratulations!"
"Yeah!" the black haired girl nodded and replied, "Thanks!"
She glanced up at the sky before getting up on her feet and also leaving the training area. "I have to go! Bye now!"
"Weird girl," Temari commented in a low voice so Yoko wouldn't hear her. Kankuro nodded in agreement and shrugged. The Sand siblings waved to the retreating genin before turning to follow their brother.
Back then, nobody really knew why Yoko would always bring cacti every single day to Gaara, the renown monster of the Sand. No one really knew her, either. The people of the village only thought that she was either out of her mind, or a complete dunce. Nobody knew how this one girl would change the lifestyle of Sunagakure, or the future Kazekage's heart.
Yoko continued to deliver the cactuses to the Jinchuriki and was repeatedly rejected in the process. However, she pressed on, giving a new plant to Gaara, or trying to, every day, and when the three Sand siblings departed for the Chuunin Exam in Konoha, Yoko was the only one who saw them off.
"Gaara-san!" she called out, doing the daily ritual. Yoko held out a cactus that bloomed flowers and said, "Ganbatte*!"
This time, Gaara ignored her shouts and gift, clenching his fists as he walked off towards the Hidden Leaf village.
"Don't worry, mother..." he muttered to himself, "I won't give you blood as foul as hers..."
Gaara slowly opened his eyes, staring at the white ceilings of the Konoha Hospital while the rest of his body laid still. He wasn't asleep. No, he couldn't sleep. He slowly turned his head to his right to see the shadow of a boy lying down on the bed next to him. Even though a curtain separated Gaara from the neighboring patient, he could tell that it was Naruto from the dramatic movements and noises he made in his sleep. Gaara sighed and raised his left hand, which was bandaged, and held it out in front of him. He clenched it into a fist and opened it up again, remembering every single detail of his fight with Naruto. Who knew someone like that would be strong enough to beat me... he thought.
"Ah, Sakura-chan~ Stop it~" Naruto moaned as he twisted around in his sleep. Gaara turned over to the curtain again. "Ha! I'm better than that jerk Sasuke, aren't I? Ne, Sakura-chan..."
Sakura must be that pink haired girl... the one I trapped earlier... and Sasuke Uchiha... Gaara turned away again. I wonder... even though I did all that, I wonder if I can change...
He let his hand drop only to feel prickly spikes stabbing the back of his hand. Alarmed, he swung his arm away, close to his chest, and turned to stare at whatever his hand landed on with wide eyes. It was a potted cactus with... a sleeping girl right next to it. Gaara tried to shuffle out of his bed as quickly as he could, but every inch of his body cried out in pain with every move. When did she get here? Why didn't I notice it before? That cactus woman...no, girl...
Yoko shifted in her position, her head resting on the mattress, and blinked open her eyes. She pushed herself up with her arms and drowsily looked up at Gaara with clouded eyes. She squinted at him before scrunching up her face and rubbed her eyes before blinking them open again, now in full size.
"Gaara-san!" She greeted.
"Why... you...?" Gaara stammered.
"I brought you another cactus!" Yoko exclaimed. She smiled and her hand instinctively grasped the clay pot and held it up to Gaara. She blinked rapidly at the cactus she was holding and squinted at it, scrunching up her face again. "That's weird..." she muttered, "There wasn't a dent in it when I bought it..."
Gaara just stared at her with blank eyes, thinking, Is she an idiot or just clumsy?
"Anyways, I heard from Temari-san and Kankuro-san that you worked hard in the chunin exam!" Yoko continued on, placing the plant on the bedside table. Gaara didn't make any motion of response, so she continued. "I'm glad that my charms worked!"
"Your... charms...?"
"Yeah! Hey, did you know that cactuses mean 'endurance' in plant language?" Yoko chirped on. She took Gaara's silence as a no and continued on. "Well, they do! And I started to get cactuses for you Gaara-san! Oh, yeah!"
Her mouth formed a long "o" as she balled her hands in to fists and raised them up in a punching motion. "Ganbatte, Gaara-san!"
He just stared at her, not saying a single word, letting her slowly become embarrassed of herself. Yoko slowly let her arms down, her face flushed a bright red, then turned around and dashed out the door. She skidded to a stop and quickly returned to the room to poke her head in and said "I hope you get better, Gaara-san!" before disappearing once more.
Gaara slid himself back underneath the hospital bed sheets and let out another sigh. He looked over at the now weirdly shaped cactus on the table next to him and reached out for it when somebody entered the room.
"Yo, Gaara, I just saw Yoko running out of the hospital before coming here-" Kankuro stepped inside to see a great flourish of movement and a white sheet being blown up in the air before gently gliding down on top of his brother. He blinked rapidly, a bit surprised by what he just saw. The small cactus rocked back and forth in its place before tipping over to one side.
"Uh..." Kankuro started to say something when Gaara turned his head to glare at him coldly. That immediately shut him up. The older brother laughed nervously before walking over to the bed and picking up the potted plant. He rolled it around a bit in his hands, careful not to touch the spikes, before setting it upright on the table. "I guess you're practically all better now," he commented.
Gaara nodded and replied in a solemn voice, "I think I'll be ready to go back to Sunagakure soon."
Kankuro nodded back, his face slowly becoming red from the bottom up. Gaara looked up at him strangely, not really getting it. The puppeteer's cheeks inflated a few seconds later and he turned away, his entire body shaking. Soon, laughter exploded out of him, filling up the entire room and making Naruto pull the pillows over his ears. However, he was still asleep. Kankuro let out soft giggles as he wiped the tears from his eyes, not being able to stop. He doubled over, using the wall to support himself, and continued to laugh while Gaara just stared at Kankuro with narrowed eyes.
"What... is it?" he asked quietly.
"Ah, sorry, Gaara," Kankuro gasped and finally straightened up. He let out a soft sigh and said, "That girl is just too much. Her face was hilarious. She just bolted out of the Konoha hospital with her cheeks all red. She looked as if she was running away from something, and after she took all that time to get here from Sunagakure and wait for you to wake up... I swear, that girl has way too much energy... What did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Gaara muttered and turned away from his brother. She came from Sunagakure... and just waited for me the whole time? The entire room grew quiet once more and Kankuro coughed weakly, feeling the tension grow on him.
"Erm, well, anyways, I'm glad that you're alright now, Gaara," he said before leaving.
As soon as the door slid shut, Gaara turned around again, back to the cactus on the bedside table. He gazed at it with eyes full of curiosity. A cactus means endurance... huh... He reached out for it again before pulling back, remembering the prickly stabs from before, and turned away from it.
I'm into Naruto again! _ _" 3
Please review and tell me what you think! 8D
Thank you so much for reading this chapter! X3
*Ganbatte~ means "Do your best" in japanese :)