The destroyed land lay barren before his unblinking eyes. The wind would blow and the dust would kick up, temporarily blocking his view of the unchanging landscape. The desert never really changed. Sure, the dunes would shift, the valleys between them would grow deeper and the peaks of sand would grow impossibly taller until they inevitably would tip over, but the sand would always shift predictably. There was no guess work in the desert. The sand would shift, the wind would blow, the sun would rise and set and nothing would ever really change. Though the sand was forever shifting and moving, it would always remain fundamentally the same. The sand was always sand, it could never become soil.

Though he had always known these fundamental truths, there was always a part of him that wanted to deny the facts and believe in the beautiful lies that were whispered in his ears by the people that had become dear to him. In a way, his own hopes and dreams were those of someone else; the dreams of one far greater than he, but he clung to them like a child to its mother. He couldn't let himself believe the truth, not any more. The truth would only serve to undermine the sanity and stability that he had gradually cultivated over the years. It had taken him so very long to fully appreciate what other people had: hopes, dreams, friendships, and even love. It would upset his fragile balance to have to let go of what he had always secretly wanted and finally had, just so that a few old men could sleep easy at night.

It wasn't the fact that the prejudice still lived after all these years that upset him, it was the fact that after all that he had done for them, for the people that lived under his protection, that they had the gall to strip him of his humanity once again. They took away his hopes, his dreams; they turned his friendships into fearful compliance, and his fragile love into an emptiness he had never known. He was hollow.

All of his feeling was stripped away and he felt as alone and hurt as he had in his childhood. His own siblings, who had stood by him faithfully through the good and the bad, were taken away. He was forced to watch as they were ousted from the village by the people desperately seeking redemption. His family had become a scapegoat for the guilt and moral depravity of his village. While he understood that they had been carefully manipulated and skillfully trapped by a revengeful council, he couldn't grasp why it always had to be him.

He had been born into this world as a demon, one who only loved himself. He had killed his own mother in the advent of his birth, and his father had been driven to insanity because of it. His own siblings had feared and hated him, and he had been betrayed by the one person who he had thought had actually cared about him in the world. His father had later told him that his uncle's death had only been a small part of the retribution that was sure to smite him for the sin of matricide. While too young to fully grasp the concept of revenge and retribution, he had known that he had deserved whatever was to come his way. All of his being was corrupted by a demon that tore at his soul and seared away his sanity. It was this demon that was the source of all his pain, of all the hate and fear cast his way, but he couldn't live without the demon within him.



It had all changed after a chance encounter with a stubborn someone all those years ago. After his fight and consequent loss in a fight, he came to realize that what he always known to be true, was in fact false. Everything that had kept him from submitting to the demon that whispered all those horribly seductive suggestions in his mind, was turned on its ear and for a second he almost thought that it was the world that had gone mad and not himself. Soon enough though, he realized the truth in the words spoken to him seemingly so long ago.

He had changed himself after that encounter. He thought he had become a better man, that he had become a better person. The people that he soon governed seemed to agree as they unerringly followed him and listened to his every word. It had seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

Then from out of the sky came the bird of fate, swooping down upon him once again and devouring him whole. Ironically, it really was a bird that was his downfall. While protecting the village that he had sworn to protect, he put his life on the line and literally died to keep the people safe. He had been literally and figuratively saved by the same person who had turned his world upside down only years prior. It seemed as if his whole village had shown up to witness his resurrection, and for a while it had almost seemed as if this time he could finally be at peace.

He was finally human. Fully, and truly human; just like he'd always wanted to be. He was just like the people he governed. And while he himself did not seem to notice or worry about his loss of stamina, or the fact that he truly was less powerful now, it seemed as if the council of elders had. Over the years they laid a plan so intricate and involved that no one had noticed it even being laid. They had slowly taken over various operations in the government, they had bought several of the leading companies, had obtained veto powers over legislation, and had even managed to make the position of Kazekage secondary to themselves. It wasn't until it was too late that he had noticed. Once he had, he had written to his friend and savior, his most trusted confidant.

Naruto,

I am writing to you now because I feel that something big is about to happen here in Sand. I trust you with everything that I am, and I hope that you will receive this scroll and not fly off the handle. I fear that the council is planning to overthrow me.

I know that this may seem like it is out of the blue, but believe me when I say that it isn't. They have been planning this for years it would seem. They have gained powers, they have wealth and sway over everything, and everyone. I fear that in alleviating me from my position that they may do something drastic that will only lead to their downfall.

I am pretty sure that they are only targeting me, but if they are going to attack my siblings I don't know if I could trust myself to not destroy them. Whatever the council is planning, I want you to know that I have always admired you and I will never forget what you have done for me… for all of us.

Gaara

The letter never left the village.



When things started to become barren, when trade became slow and when the village started to suffer financially, he knew that the time had come: the council was making their move. There was nothing that he could do as his people started to become starved and poor. He knew that the council was turning them against him, and he didn't have the power to help them.

Soon the villagers started to resent him, they said that he didn't care about them, that he was living lavishly while they had to squander in squalor. He couldn't refute their claims and he didn't have it within himself to deny their accusations. In his devotion he took upon himself all of the guilt, all of the sin, and all of the hate that was thrust in his direction.

Soon enough, as though to save them from the demon that he was once again called, the council stepped forward and offered to save them all, if the village would only sacrifice their Kazekage in turn. It was plain to him that they had agreed to the offer as the village once again began to flourish. People were wearing new clothes, were eating expensive foods, and some had even had lavish parties. The people were as nice as could be, and it was disconcerting to him to see how dishonest they were. They would smile and chat with him and carry on as if nothing had ever changed, but once he had walked away they would smear his name and say how someone would finally put him out of his misery.

Through all of this his faithful siblings stood. They believed him, they believed in him. They were his rock and his shelter. When the village rose up and forcefully removed them from his side and from the village itself, he knew the time had come. He wrote once final letter to the man that he still praised.

Naruto,

I hope that this letter actually reaches you this time. Who knows, maybe they'll let you receive it after my death.

That's right, you didn't read it wrong. The village is going to kill me. I am their sacrifice. I will be murdered so that they can alleviate their debts. They will no longer be in financial ruins, and they will no longer have to suffer under the rule of a demon.

Can you believe that they still call me that after all these years? I haven't truly been a demon in so long that it's almost laughable that they once again call me that.

I have to hand it to the council they certainly pulled the wool over all of our eyes. Beneath our very noses they were plotting and scheming and behold: it all paid off in the end. How does Lee say it? Hard work will pay off, something to that degree, right? I suppose it is true then.

I wanted to say how much I truly valued you, as a friend and confidant. You seem to be the person closest to me, even closer than my own siblings. Take care of them for me, will you? They're going to be crushed, and I hope that they can weather this just as they have weathered every other challenge that has come their way. They are strong people, but I'm not sure that they're strong enough to make it through this unscathed.



Isn't it strange how I am writing so informally now that I have no reason to be formal? Its disconcerting to me to let my hand write as these thoughts come to mind. I suppore I never really had a reason to write like this before.

I hope you will excuse my handwriting in this, our final correspondence. I'm afraid that my hand is shaking badly from a mixture of fear and sadness. If any of this is blurry its because I am crying for the first time since I was six.

I sincerely hope that you achieve all of your dreams Naruto. I know that you will be the one to finally change all of their minds.

Yours truly,

Gaara

He spent the night watching the sand as his carrier pigeon flew over the walls of the village.

That morning he went through the streets, talking to the people and making sure they were truly happy. When he was satisfied with the statis of his village he walked tall and proud to the council's meeting hall and walked through the doors.

It wasn't until three days later that the newly ordained Hokage received the letter from his dear friend. When he finally made it through the message his hands were shaking and his knees gave out from underneath him. His friends rushed to his side in a panic and they could only stare in horror as tears poured from his eyes and he fell into uncontrollable sobbing.