A/N: Kamidana-small, at home Shinto shrine. I know that Gaara didn't kill Yashamaru, but you know how rumors get spread... Thanks to leafninja dot com for their outstanding biography pages! I'm very proud of this little story, I hope yal enjoy it too.
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone/thing in this story. But I do mention one name that was of my own invention.
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Most times when she caught a glimpe of the Kazekage, her stomach would clench and her breathing would quicken. She would drop her eyes and hope he didn't notice her, such was her overwhelming sense of shame for her childhood behavior.
Rationally, Kashike knew she shouldn't beat herself up too much. The entire village had feared him back then. Her parents had told her stories of the demon inside of him, they'd made her promise to stay away from him. That night, before it had even registered in her mind why he was there, she'd slammed the door in his face and called him monster. To be caught in the sand like that, after everything she'd been told...she really thought she was going to die. She wondered how far it would have gone if his uncle hadn't shown up when he did.
But as she stood with her back to the door, her heart hammering in her chest, she realized what he'd said.
"I'm sorry about before, it hurt right? Here, this is medicine. Use it if you want..."
Her eyes widened. She opened the door, he was gone, but the bag he'd tried to give her was still sitting on the doorstep. Her injuries were minor, and she didn't need the medicine, but she took it into her room and sat down on her bed.
What kind of monster apologized and gave someone medicine? She opened the bag and found a small package wrapped in twine. She turned it over in her hands and sniffed it. It smelled like the ointment her mother had used on her cuts. She put it on a shelf in her closet. She never mentioned it to anyone.
The next day she heard that he had killed his uncle and carved the word "love" into his own forehead.
o-o-o
As the years passed, Gaara seemed to really become the monster everyone feared he would be. It was at that point in time when Kashike thought about throwing the package away. As she held it in her hands, she remembered the little boy she'd called "monster"without any concern for how he felt. She placed it back on the shelf.
When the call came for war against Konohagakure, Kashike lost her brother, Seiji, in the failed invasion. Then the body of the Kazekage was found, and the truth came out. Suna had been the plaything of Orochimaru all that time. She wished that Gaara really was a monster that Sunagakure could unleash against Otogakure, but by that time he'd started to change.
The day he stood on the palace balcony and vowed to protect the village, she'd wept. He was no longer the monster that everyone had said. She saw the smiles on the faces of his brother and sister, the smiles on the faces of her own parents. Everyone in the crowd was cheering for him, and most everyone in the crowd had called him "monster" at some point. Kashike smiled up at him and cheered with the rest.
When word came that he had been kidnapped she went to her Kamidana and asked her ancestors for his safe return.
She was among the shinobi gathered around her Kazekage as he was brought back to life. She saw the look of shock on his face as he stared around at all of them cheering and weeping for him. She smiled as the fangirls rushed him, only to be stopped by Temari-san, and then joined in the grieving for Elder Chiyo.
When she returned to Sunagakure she went straight to her Kamidana and thanked her ancestor's for her Kazekage's life.
The day after Elder Chiyo's funeral, Kashike found herself at the front doors of the palace clutching the small grubby package to her chest. She knocked timidly, and when the guard opened the door, she froze. It wasn't a guard, it was his brother. She held the package out to the Puppet-Nin.
"Kankuro-san, I-I-I've brought medicine for the Kazekage."
"Medicine are?" Kankuro smirked, "Domo arigatou, what is your name so I can tell him who it's from?"
Kashike shook her head.
"My name doesn't matter. I'm a shinobi of Sunagakure, and I'm rejoicing that the Kazekage is back with us."
She turned and walked away quickly down the steps, disappearing into the crowded village streets.
Kankuro watched her leave and then turned the package over in his hands. Small, brown, and tied with some very old twine.
"Medicine?"
He took it up to his brother's office to add to the large pile of gifts from fangirls.
o-o-o
Gaara looked up as Kankuro walked in balancing the small package on one finger.
"Nani?" The Kazekage indicated the package.
"Another gift for you from a fangirl." He tossed the package onto a small mountain of shimmering, brightly wrapped boxes of all shapes and sizes before plopping down in a chair. His face wore a curious expression. "This one was different though. She didn't ask to give it to you herself and she wasn't squealing. She wouldn't even give me her name, just said it was medicine."
"Medicine?"
"Hai."
"Kankuro, can you bring me that package?"
The older boy shrugged, walked over and scooped the little package off of the pile. He set it down in front of the Kazekage who had cleared space on his desk.
Gaara grabbed a small knife and cut through the aincent twine. He carefully unwrapped the paper and when he saw the contents, sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin.
"Sugoi," Kankuro broke the silence. "It really is medicine."
"Hai, Yashamaru gave it to me for a little girl I hurt a lifetime ago."
Kankuro looked from the jar of ointment to his younger brother.
"Yashamaru? You gave this medicine to her when Yashamaru was still alive? Sou na! You mean to tell me that she kept it all this time? What's she giving it to you now for?"
Gaara smiled.
"She's apologizing. She knows I was hurt and she's trying to make it okay." He looked up at Kankuro whose mouth was hanging slightly open. "She's not a fangirl, she's genuine."
He carefully refolded the paper around the little jar, knotted the twine where he'd cut it, and placed it on one of the shelves in his office.
After all the excitement died down he would have to find out where she lived now and thank her.
o-o-oOWARIo-o-o