"W-Why? I thought…"
"I tried to love you… Because you are my sisters son… But because of you, she is dead… I hate you for that…" A man lay on the pavement of the roof, staring up at the young boy with no emotion. Sand lay limp all around him as he watch the little boy stare at him in disbelief, tears shedding uncontrollably.
"B-But–"
"Don't you see? You're a monster. Your own mother combined her chakra with your sand so that you may never be harmed. So that you can watch yourself become the monster that you are. Gaara of The Sand… Demon of The Sand"
The boy clutches his shirt above his heart, pain seeping through his body, even though he knew he was not wounded.
"You're the boy everyone avoids… You don't seem so bad to me." A little girl's voice rang through the boy's head.
"Really…?" The boy heard himself asking.
"Yeah! You seem like a normal kid, like me!" The girl's voice rang happily.
'Like her? Normal?' The boy thought in wonder.
"You will never be loved, Gaara."
"You're the best friend ever Gaara." The girl says simply."I am?""Yeah, I can always count on you to have my back."
"You can only love yourself. That is how you survive. It is your only purpose in life. You can't ever love anyone else."
"Let's make a promise, Gaara."
"What kind of promise?"
"Let's promise to always be friends forever. Until death do us part" the girl giggles before holding a pinky up.
Gaara stares at the pinky, his eyes began to water in happiness. He latches his pinky on to hers with a smile.
"I promise."
"N-No…" The boy clutches his head at the memories. "You're lying… She… She promised–"
"Promises can be broken Gaara. She doesn't love you. She fears you. She acted like that so you wouldn't kill her."
Gaara looked at his uncle, searching for any sign of doubt in the man's eyes. Hoping that what he was saying was a lie.
But it was void of any emotion.
Before he had a chance to register what was happening, the man ripped open his vest to reveal paper bombs covering his chest.
"Goodbye, Gaara" the man said. Gaara stared in fear as he saw his uncle explode. He thought that he saw a glimpse of sadness in the man's eyes before his sand blocked his view.
The boy sat there, staring at the wall of sand, hoping that behind it would be another man, and that he was hallucinating. But he knew better than to think that.
The man that he looked up to... The man that cared for him… Called him a monster.
He was never loved.
The sand wall disappears, and he saw barely anything that remains of his uncle.
"You can only love yourself. That is your only purpose in life."
The boy let out a scream in agony and pain. A deep monstrous laughter erupted from within him. Sand swirled and lashed all around the boy as it carves through his forehead.
"I'm glad we're friends."
Blood dripped down from the boy's forehead. A scar that spells love, now permanently embedded on his head. There to remind him what he can never have.
"I'm glad we're friends to."
"Haha hahahahaaa! Let me out! Yes!" A voice within him screamed for joy, laughing at the boy's pain.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The boy screamed out as his body starts to grow. The white of his eyes turn black while the seafoam green of his pupil glows yellow.
"WWWWEEEEEE! KILL! KILL THEM ALL! DRAIN THEIR BLOOD, DRIP BY DRIP! HAHAHAHA!"
The boy fell unconscious. The last image in his mind was a little girl who always smiled at him, dying by his hands.
(Six Years Later)
Four shinobi appear at the gates of the village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure. A man in brown and gray shinobi clothing with a Sunagakure headband, stood by the entrance receiving permission to enter.
The oldest of three teens behind him was a girl with dirty blond hair pulled into four spiky pigtails, wearing purple kunoichi clothing, with a large fan strapped to her back. The second oldest, her brother, donned a black jumpsuit with a black hat with pointy ears on it. He had purple face paint designed on his face and a wrapped up, life size puppet strapped to his back.
The youngest of the siblings stood in the back with his arms crossed, face devoid of any emotion. His red hair sat unruly atop his head, seafoam green eyes staring blankly at his surroundings. He wears black pants and shirt with a white sash crossing his chest. On his back was a giant gourd holding sand. The most intriguing thing about him was the bright red scar on his forehead, that spelled out love.
"Welcome to Konoha. Here are your passports. Good luck." A man that was stationed at he village gates said to them with a smile. The man of the group takes their passports and hands them to the three teenagers.
"I'm going to book us hotel rooms for our stay. You guys can walk around if you want, I'll find you to tell you where we'll be staying at." The man said.
"Alright, Baki-sensei." The middle child said, beginning to walk away.
"I'll make sure Kankuro doesn't get into any trouble." The girl says to her sensei.
"Thank you, Temari." The man says before disappearing. The blonde turns to her youngest brother hesitantly.
"G-Gaara, would you be joining us?" She asked in a quiet, trembling, voice.
Her youngest brother glared at her before walking away from her.
When he left, the blonde let out the breathe she was holding. She sighed with relief that her brother left her alone, and decided to find her other brother.
Somewhere inside the village, a little girl saw the three sand shinobi enter, and a warm smile came across her face.
"Looks like we have guests today." She says to herself, before skipping to the playground to play.
(Gaara)
The fourteen year old boy wandered through the village aimlessly. He noticed how different this village is from his own. Everyone here are filled with laughter, smiles littered across the faces of many. There is so much color here, a very strong difference than the sand colored buildings back at his home. There's trees everywhere, he noticed. So much green. Most importantly, it was humid here, not dry like the desert.
He hated it.
Little pitter patters of shoes hitting the ground caught his attention when he hears it coming towards him.
"Excuse me, sir?" A soft voice said from beside him. He glanced down to see a little girl, wearing a yellow shirt with a blue skirt. She was barefooted, for reasons he didn't know, and her hair was dark brown that stopped at her shoulders. He looked into her brown eyes for a moment before looking forward again.
The little girl ran ahead and stopped in front of him. He growled at her, sending an icy glare down at her. The girl only smile in response and held out a white daisy towards him. He gave it a blank look before looking at the girl again.
"I saw you and your team enter the village, earlier. My older brother once taught me that a good host greets their guest." She explained.
He stared at her for a moment. The thing he noticed was her eyes. They have a certain sparkle in them that reminds him of someone else. There's warmth in it, innocence.
Without thinking, his hand slowly lifts up towards the flower. He watches as his own hand wraps around the green stem and taking the gift. He once again stared at the flower that is now in his hand.
If possible, the girl smiled more. She bowed to him before lifting her head up and spoke. "Welcome to Konoha. I hope to see you again mister!" She waved happily before skipping off in another direction. The redhead stood there, staring in the direction the girl left.
After a while, he started walking again. He doesn't know why he didn't just throw it away. Instead, he tucked the flower in his shirt and he stalked off to find his older siblings.
(After preliminaries)
Gaara sat on top of the roof, thinking about the exams. The Uchiha was powerful and so was the ugly boy with the bowl cut. Their blood is indeed worthy for mother. He cross his arms across his chest and looked down below. For some reason, a flower in the ground caught his attention. It was the same flower the little girl had given to him a week ago. He stared at it, remembering chocolate brown eyes.
"Gaara? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" a little girl asked.
Gaara began mumbling to himself, his head faced down."
I can't understand, Gaara. Please speak up. Tell me what's wrong."
Gaara lifts his head up. The girl gasp at the boys bloody forehead and the crazed look in his eyes. She felt something churn in her stomach and she knew that this wasn't the Gaara she knows. The boy grins maniacally at her expression.
"G-Gaara?"
"You fear me…" the soft voice she had known was now raspy. "I can only love myself. Everything must die. Nobody will love me except me."
"Wh-What? Gaara, no! Don't say that! That's not true, you're my friend!" she cried out.
"I must only love myself. I must kill to be alive. That is my purpose in living."
"Gaara please! This isn't the Gaara I know! Bring him back!"
"He's dead." The little boy whispered. Sand swirled angrily around him.
"I must feed your blood to my mother" he said with a crazy, feral grin plastered on his face. The sand shot forward towards the little girl, her chocolate brown eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. The little boy smiled widely at the sounds of her screams, his sand absorbing the blood from her.
"I must kill to be alive. I love only myself. Nobody else will."
Gaara was brought out of his thoughts by a sound ninja approaching him, demanding a fight. Gaara just sat there, watching as his sand crush the body till it popped. Not caring in the slightest at the shower of blood that rained onto the roof.
"I must kill. I must feel truly alive." Gaara whispered to himself, still staring at the flower. His sand shot towards it, and shredded it to pieces.
(Gaara and Naruto's fight)
Gaara stood unconscious, letting the demon within him to take control. He could hear the loud, maniac laughter coming from the One Tails. The laughter was evil, it belongs to a monster. But then the laughter started to fade into a different kind. It was soft. It was familiar.
Gaara spots a young boy with red hair in the darkness. He seems to be hiding behind a trash can. The little boy giggles into his hand trying to remain quite.
"Found you!" A little girl shouted, jumping up, startling the boy. The boy ran away laughing as the girl chased after him.
"I'm gonna catch you Gaara!"
"Hehehe, no you won't!" The boy said, grinning widely at the girl. He ran to a pole and wrapped his arms around it.
"See? I told you, you couldn't catch me. I made it to base, so I win." The boy laughed as the girl pouted.
"Oh look, it's the demons friend." Some stranger whispered. The little boy's smile fell instantly.
"I heard he possessed her. Poor girl."
"Let's go. I don't want to be anywhere near those monsters.
"The boy looked at the girl with guilt in his eyes when he saw the down cast look she had.
"Those people don't know what they're talking about." She muttered darkly. "You're not a monster or a demon, Gaara. Don't listen to them. They're wrong about you, I've seen the truth for myself." She said looking in his eyes with utmost sincerity. The little boy looks at her in shock.
"Why do you play with me, when you know you will be hated?" The boy asked.
She looked into his eyes, and smiled warmly. "Because you promised me to be my friend until death do us part. I can't allow you to forget about it, now can I?"
Tears welled up in the boy's eyes and the girl pulled him in for a bear hug. "I'm your best friend Gaara. Don't ever think otherwise, okay?"
The boy clung to the girl tightly, as if she will disappear forever once he let go. He nods into her shoulder, and sniffs, "Okay, Tanaki."
The image disappeared, leaving Gaara surrounded with darkness again. He thought over and over about the memory.
'Tanaki…' Gaara thought. He had long forgotten that name the moment he killed her. He looked down, to see his hands. Blood covered them, but they weren't his. The screams of the girl he killed when he was eight echoed through the darkness.
Her blood tainted his hands.
He wipes his hands on his shirt, suddenly feeling dirty. But the blood did not go away. He wiped and wiped but it didn't come off, no matter what. He started to hyperventilate.
"Why? Why won't it come off?" He was panicking, desperate to rid the blood on his hands.
The little boys laughter echoed through the darkness again. It had no malice or evil seeping through it. But the sound made him scared. He clutches his head and shook furiously.
"No… No!" He crouched into a fetal position, suddenly feeling small and vulnerable when the soft laughter grew louder and louder.
"Stop it! Shut up!"
He shook his head and nearly rips his hair out in fear. He hates this sound. He didn't want to hear it.
No matter how much he pleaded and demanded the sound to stop, it wouldn't. The laughter grew louder and louder, to the point that he couldn't even hear himself think.
'Laughter that belongs to a monster'
He put his hands on his ears to drown the sounds out, sobbing into the ground below him.
"Please…" He begged.
"What's wrong Gaara?" A soft voice asked in concern.
"The laughter won't stop. I can't get clean." He said not looking at the person, still sobbing into the ground.
He hears the person shift and crouch beside him. A small tiny hand was placed on his back, rubbing circles soothingly.
"Please don't cry, Gaara. Let me help you." His sobs died down until he was crying silently. He felt hands on either side of his face, lifting it up to face the person.
Brown eyes stare into his wide seafoam green ones.
He stared in shock. "T-Tanaki…" He says, tears still leaking from his eyes.
She smiled warmly at him, before grabbing a hold of his bloody hands. She rubs his hands, cleaning the blood off of them. Her blood.
The laughter died down, and he is staring at his hands. They were smaller now, as if he was a little kid again.
"Why…?" He asked, not really sure what he was asking. Why was she being kind to him? He killed her. He broke his promise. Why had she cleansed him of her blood?
"It's okay Gaara. I have forgiven you." She says as if reading his mind. He looks up into her brown eyes once more, disbelieving.
"How? How can you forgive a monster like me? You should be angry with me! You should hate and fear me!"
She smile sadly at him. "Because I love you Gaara."
His eyes widen in shock. "Wh-what?"
"You are my most precious person, Gaara. You're my best friend."
"I'm a monster."
She shook her head. "No. You are Gaara. That is all you are. Just because you host a demon inside you, doesn't make you become it. You are your own person, and nobody can say otherwise."
"But I've done so many things…"
"People make mistakes. It's a part of being human." She said pulling him it a hug. He sat there motionless, before slowly wrapping his arms around her. It's been so long since he's had a hug. So long since he's had comfort.
So long since he's felt safe.
"I know you'll become a great person, Gaara."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm your best friend. I know you better than anyone."
Gaara woke up and found himself falling to the ground, his head pounding in pain. He fell flat on his back as he starts to remember where he was.
He was in Konoha. The invasion started and he started to lose control of the One Tails. He fell asleep, which means the demon took control and was released. Gaara hears grunting and he turns wide eyes towards a blond boy with whiskers.
Naruto Uzumaki. How did he do it? How can he still fight? Why does he still fight? His arms and legs are rendered useless, and yet he uses his chin to crawl towards me. Why does he still fight?
"I know how you feel…" The blonde says, tears welling up in his deep blue eyes. From where Gaara lay, he could see all the pain in those eyes. The same pain that he had had all these years.
"I'm just like you, you know. Everyone ignores you and run away… The fear and hatred in their eyes when they push you away… I know, because I went through the same thing you did all my life… I had no one to care for me, until now." He said, still crawling with his chin.
"Wh-Who are they to you?" Gaara ask the blonde.
"They're my friends!" He says immediately. "They're the ones who were there for me. They made my life easier to live. They're my precious people and I'll always protect them, no matter what!"
'You're my most precious person, Gaara.'
"I think... I understand now…" He says quietly, but the blonde heard and looked up at him.
"Gaara!" Gaara's sister appeared along with his brother. They both look down with worried eyes and helped Gaara up to his feet, slinging his arms on their shoulders.
"Naruto!" The Uchiha dropped down from a tree and stood protectively in front of the blond. Temari pulled out a kunai.
"Don't come near us… Please." She said in a stern voice, turning into a desperate plea. "We don't want to fight anymore. We were just following orders. Please let us go." She pleaded to the boy, wrapping her arms around Gaara protectively. He never knew how Temari felt about him, other than that she fears him, because he never cared to be around his siblings before. But now, hearing her desperate pleas, and his siblings arms holding him, he felt hope that maybe he could change and that they could forgive him and become a family.
"It's okay Sasuke. They're done." Naruto said to the Uchiha. The raven haired boy sighed and dropped his stance, going to pick Naruto up off the floor.
"I'm turning a blind eye just this once." He said.
"Thank you! We'll be sure to make it up to you." Temari said. Temari and Kankuro lift their youngest brother up and start jumping through the trees, dragging him along towards the Sand village.
After a while, Gaara spoke to them in a soft, tired voice. "Temari, Kankuro… I'm sorry."
The oldest siblings looked at each other in shock. "S-Sure Gaara." Kankuro said.
"It's alright, Gaara. Let's get you home." His older sister says softly.
(Sand Village)
Gaara stood inside an abandoned house. It was smaller than what he remembered. He looks to the spot that it happened in, flashbacks going through his head.
He sits down on his knees and stares at the spot. "I'm sorry…" He says after a while of silence. "I've decided to change my ways. I want to become the person both you and Naruto said I could be. I'm going to earn the trust of this village and become its Kazekage, so that I can protect it from harm." He sat there in silence again. "... I hope that these people would forgive me for my sins. I'll make it up to them." With that, he lifts himself off of the floor and walks out of the house.
In the spot he just left, lay a daisy.
