A/N: So I'll just say right now that I've been listening to Paramore a lot lately and therefore am literally bringing them into the story; mainly Hayley Williams. It's a thing. Kinda where the OC comes from too. I'll explain more as the story goes on.

It had only been a couple weeks since the young Jinchuriki had become Kazekage. So naturally, there were skeptics. Not everyone had seen his journey and transformation since his childhood and early teen days. Anti-Kazekage groups had formed. But for the most part, people just had questions. One person in particular had decided to approach Gaara one afternoon for a brief "interview."

"So this Naruto Uzumaki you speak of… he was the one who triggered the change in you?"

"Indeed. He was the one who showed me that even a monster such as myself can be accepted by others and can assist and protect them. He taught me… or rather, reminded me, that love and selflessness truly do exist."

"And one of the leading causes for your dark state of mind in the past was the fact that you didn't have any friends as a child?"

"Well… that's not entirely true."

Gaara paused for a moment, turning his chair to gaze out the window.

"There was one… I did have one friend, but only for a couple of weeks. It's a bit of a story…"

"I'm all ears."

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The small redhead was walking around the village, head hanging low and eyes welling up. He had just had a door slammed in his face by a kid he just tried to apologize to and brought medicine for.

Why am I such a freak? Why is it just me? What am I good for...?

He sat on the roof of his house for hours, staring at the night sky. He did this often, as he didn't sleep. He wasn't allowed to. But he never felt tired, so it didn't bother him much.

Late into the night, almost morning at that point, he decided to wander around some more. It was always very quiet while the village was asleep, and he was used to it. However, as he got closer to the edge of town, he started to hear faint music.

Gaara followed the sound and found a young woman sitting on a bench, quietly playing guitar and singing. Quite an unusual sight for the Hidden Sand. But the music was pretty. She had bright red hair and had a soothing voice, resulting in him staying and listening from a distance.

"Would someone care to classify

Our broken hearts and twisted minds

So I can find someone to rely on

And run

To them, to them

Full speed ahead

Oh, you are not useless

We are just

Misguided ghosts

Traveling endlessly…"

Gaara had never seen this woman before, and he hadn't really heard a whole lot of music in his life. But he was intrigued. Somehow he felt like her words were touching his soul; speaking to him personally.

She finished playing the song, and happened to look up and catch sight of the timid child. He clutched his teddy bear and started sweating a little.

"Hey, are you okay over there?" she called out, packing up her guitar and slowly approaching him.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I um… I liked your song…"

The woman smiled, kneeling down to his level. "Thanks a bunch. I like to come out at sunrise and practice. It's really peaceful out here. I didn't think anyone else was up yet."

She gave a concerned look at the child, who seemed to be too nervous to make direct eye contact.

"So, what are you doing out so early?"

"This is what I always do..."

"Where are your parents?"

"Father and Yashamaru are probably still working. I'm sorry... I'm really not supposed to talk to anyone..."

The red-headed musician started to feel some pain in her heart as she really took note of the sadness in his eyes. It was very similar - almost identical - to a certain someone near and dear to her, when they had first met.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Gaara."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Gaara. I'm Hayley."

She held out a hand to him. He stared at it for a moment in surprise and slight confusion, before placing his tiny hand in hers.

"Are you doing anything today?"

"No, not really…"

"You know, my band and I are gonna be here in town for a couple weeks, until our bus gets fixed. We're visiting from America but we broke down and we're way too far from the closest airport. My little sister's here with us and she's about your age. Maybe you could come meet her? It would be really cool if she had a friend to hang out with while she's stuck here with us."

Gaara's eyes lit up. His whole face did, really.

"F-friend? Really?"

"Yeah! Come on, you can come with me to our hotel, as long as your folks don't mind. It looks like the sun's starting to come up, so people should be waking up soon."

A big smile appeared on his face as he followed.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

She turned her head and raised an eyebrow. "Why shouldn't I be? You seem like a nice kid."

"Because I'm… a monster…"

"A monster…?" she simply smiled at him. "You look like a regular kid to me."

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The village was beginning to wake up when the two reached the hotel. They were stopped on the way in by a young man sitting on the front porch.

"Up and at it so early again? This is so unlike you, Hayley."

"Well, what can I say? I don't like missing out on the sunrises here. They're different from back home."

"Or maybe you're still jet lagged."

"Also possible. What are you doing up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep. Who's the kid?"

Hayley turned to Gaara, who was once again tightly squeezing his teddy bear.

"This is Gaara. I wanted to introduce him to Harley so she would have company while we're figuring our lives out."

She knelt down to Gaara's level again. "This is Ryan. He's a good friend of ours and came along on the tour with us. He seems grumpy at first, but trust me, he's a real softie."

"You should really learn to whisper," Ryan huffed.

"Good tip, you should teach," she teased. "But anyways, let's go inside, shall we?"

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Hayley quietly stepped into the room, surprised to find her sister already awake and ready for the day.

"Hey, kiddo. Seems like you've still got jet lag too, huh?"

"I actually slept really well! Just woke up really early."

The young girl knelt down to tie her shoes. "So how much longer are we stuck here?"

"Unfortunately it'll probably be a couple weeks. It's gonna take a while before the crew can get out here to work on the bus. But it doesn't have to be all bad. I met a kid your age who wants to meet you. You wanted to make friends here, right?"

"Really? O-okay, sure, that sounds fine. But… you know you don't have to go out and recruit friends for me, right?"

Hayley let out a quiet laugh. "All right, kiddo. Come on, he's out in the hall waiting."

The two exited the room and met Gaara outside the door.

"This is Gaara," she told her sister, nudging her over to him.

"Hi! I'm Harley," she said, extending a hand out to him. He wasn't so hesitant to shake this time.

"It's nice to meet you," he said nervously, though not as bad as before. "I like your necklace..."

He really didn't know what to say. He never had this kind of opportunity before.

"Hey Gaara, if you don't mind, maybe you could show her around the village?" Hayley said. "We just got here and so we don't really know our way around yet. But don't go too far, okay?"

"Okay! Come on!"

A burst of excited energy ran through the young boy as he took Harley's hand and ran out of the building. Somehow she felt excited too. Though she hated admitting it, at that point in life she also struggled to make friends. Her background before being taken in by Hayley didn't exactly make it easy for her.

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All of the band members were out in the tour bus that afternoon, working on music and trying to figure out how to best spend their time while they were stranded in that desert. None of them were particularly fond of deserts, especially after shooting a certain music video and getting caught in a sandstorm a few years prior.

Ryan came in to interrupt.

"Hayley, can you come outside for a minute? I really need to talk to you."

"Uh… yeah, sure."

The two exited the bus and leaned against the side of it. Ryan seemed to be deeply troubled by something.

"So, you remember my Uncle Pat, right?" he began.

"Yeah, of course. What about him?"

"Well, apparently the Kazekage knows him. They sort of became buds a long time ago when he visited this village. Of course, I had no idea until the Kazekage, Rasa, approached me this morning, somehow knew who I was, and informed me of this. And that's when we got to talking…"

"...Talking about what?"

"Apparently that kid Gaara is his son. And the thing I really needed to tell you is that… he's a Jinchuriki."

She tilted her head slightly in confusion. "A Jinchuriki? What's that?"

"I learned about them when I studied Japanese history. In short, there are nine beings called tailed beasts here in Japan, and each of them is sealed away in a human, in order to prevent them from wreaking havoc. It's not like possession or anything, as the humans are still in control of themselves, but they gain crazy amounts of power. Like shinobi on steroids. You… know what shinobi are, right?"

"Yeah, I do. I saw some of them in action the last time we came to Japan, and after that... not too many things have shocked me or weirded me out. But wait, I still don't see the problem with Gaara. It sounds like being a Jinchuriki or whatever doesn't change a person besides making them more powerful, right?"

"Well, not exactly. It's a really complicated thing to explain, but according to Rasa, Gaara is a dangerous one. He doesn't know how to completely control his power."

Is that why he seemed so lonely and sad? And why he called himself a monster? Does this entire village ostracize him?

"Well… he's a little kid. How much can they really expect from someone that young? And he didn't seem dangerous at all to me. You've always said I'm a good judge of character, right?"

"He didn't seem dangerous to me either, but I'm worried about Harley. I know she's very smart and mature for her age and can be trusted to handle herself, but... at the very least we should keep an eye on them to make sure nothing happens. That was a huge concern Rasa had."

"Okay. I told them to stay close to the hotel so they can't be far."

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"Whoa! That's so cool!"

Harley was in awe of the sand sculptures Gaara had made. She was aware that the shinobi in Japan had special powers, but didn't realize they could be so… artistic.

"What about… a guitar? Like the one my sister was playing? Can you make that?"

In a matter of seconds, Gaara's sand shifted into a perfect guitar sculpture. He was quite enjoying entertaining her.

"This is so much fun! You're a really cool friend to have!"

A small blush spread across his face. "Friend?"

"Totally! I bet you could use your sand to help people in all kinds of cool ways too!"

"Help people…? Really? How?"

"Well-"

"Hey, you two!" Hayley called out as she and Ryan approached them. "Having fun?"

"Yeah!" Harley replied. "Look at these sand sculptures Gaara made!"

Her eyes widened at the sight of them. "You made these?"

"And it only took seconds!" Harley said.

"Way cool, kid. Hey, I hate to break up the party, but is it okay if I steal Harley away for just a minute?"

Gaara nodded.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Ryan and I need to tell you something…"

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The two girls entered their hotel room with Gaara, who was very confused as to what was going on or what they needed to talk to him about.

They sat down and invited him to do they same, both smiling warmly at him. That was a new thing for him. It was comforting.

"Gaara…" Hayley began. "We know about Shukaku. We know everything."

His eyes widened as he let out a gasp.

"And we want you to know that it's okay."

"I...I…"

Harley leaned forward to chime in. "Really, it's okay! We still like you, and I still want to be your friend. I had fun with you and I trust you, and I don't want to stop being friends just because other people say I should. I know you'd never try to hurt me."

"R-really? You're not going to run away?" His eyes started to water as he questioned whether or not this was really happening.

The two girls moved over to his side and hugged him. This caught him off guard. He had never been… hugged before. It felt so warm. So safe. What is this?

"The two of us and the band are planning to hang out here and play games tonight. Wanna join us?" Hayley asked.

His face was glowing as he looked up and let out a big "yeah!"

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A week passed. Gaara was already having a bad day, having been treated exceptionally badly by his peers after trying to approach them with a sliver of newfound confidence, only to be clobbered. Harley was apparently tied up that day and couldn't play with him, as much as she wanted to.

That was the night when Yashamaru attempted to assassinate him and dropped the huge bomb on his heart.

"I always hated you…"

"You were never loved… never…"

He began his meltdown, etching the tattoo into his forehead and almost ready to lose control, when a small blonde girl, who had witnessed the whole ordeal from a hiding place, ran up to him as fast as she could and brought him into a tight hug, ignoring the vicious streams of sand.

"H-Harley…"

"It's not true. What he said, about you never being loved, it's not true. You ARE loved, by me, and my sister. I'm so sorry that he…"

She was starting to sob with him. This managed to calm him down and prevent Shukaku from breaking loose, as he squeezed his friend in his arms and practically bawled.

However…

A certain person behind the third eye that was watching everything was not so pleased. For his true plan was not to test Gaara's self-control, but to bring out his full power to see just how great of a weapon he could be.

A/N: Plz don't hate me for altering Gaara's backstory a little. He's a precious cinnamon roll and I wanted him to at least have a short amount of time to be happy as a kid, without changing who he was or the direction his life went.

(Song referenced was "Misguided Ghosts")