Loneliness…

That was all Gaara had ever known in his life. All the kids in the village hated him and called him a monster. Even his uncle betrayed him when he had the chance. After that he didn't trust anyone. Nor did he believe in love. The concept now was so foreign he completely ignored it. Love at first sight? Only in fairy tales… or so he thought, until today.

Gaara was walking down the streets of Suna. Completely ignoring the glares of adults and children alike. He was heading to the playground. He always sat there on the same swing & hugged his teddy bear tight. He had grown quite attached to his teddy bear since it never complained about his demon or being with him. Unfortunately for Gaara though there had recently been some boys that wanted to prove how tough they were. So they constantly attacked him and made a mockery of him. He hadn't seen them in a few days since the last time he had hurt one of the boys badly. So he hoped they were going to leave him alone for good. Unfortunately that wasn't the case because as soon as he got to the playground he spotted the group of boys that had been tormenting him.

The leader of the boys had short dark teal hair and slightly lighter teal eyes. Those eyes that held no sympathy for the child he and his friends were hurting. The rest of the group just looked like imitations of their leader.

He tried to leave quickly, but the older boys caught up to him and wrenched his teddy bear away from him, and grabbed him by the arms.

"No!" Gaara screamed. His sand was attacking the boys, but they wouldn't let go.

"Aw! Hello to you too!" The leader said "I bet you missed us so much while we tended to Ralf's wounds that you gave him!" As he said this he started ripping the bear's seams.

"No!! Get off him!! Stop!!" Gaara screamed. Increasing his attacks and starting to cry.

"Never…" The leader said and dropped the bear into the sand.

The leader came up and punched Gaara in the gut.

The sand pushed the leader back and was able to take the other boys off-guard and push them away too.

Suddenly the leader turned around and gasped. "Guys! We're leaving! Now!!" He yelled and ran. Standing a little behind where the leader had been standing was a little girl. About the same age as Gaara.

She had long black hair and deep crystal blue eyes. She was wearing the normal Suna attire, but anyone could tell she wasn't from Suna.

"What the…?" The other kids yelled running after their leader.

Gaara looked at the boys as they ran away. He was in complete shock. These boys that had tormented him for so long had just… run away after seeing this girl? He looked at her again to see if anything was wrong with her. He didn't see anything wrong with her, except pure innocent beauty. His stomach suddenly felt all funny. It was as if millions of little butterflies were flying around in his stomach.

The girl walked over to his teddy bear and picked it up. She brushed the sand and dirt off it and noticed the tears. "I believe this is yours" She said walking over to him "and if you want I can fix those tears on it" She smiled the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and the butterflies fluttered around his stomach excitedly.

The girl walked over to him and said "Here. Let's sit on these swings while I stitch it up". She grabbed his hand and led him over to the swings.

He sat in his normal swing while she sat in the one next to him.

"You're lucky. My mom just finished teaching me how to stitch, and told me how I may need to know one day. Guess it really does come in handy!" She said after awhile.

Gaara had just sat there in complete awe of her. He was engrossed in every move she made. He hadn't even realized that she had finished stitching her bear until she giggled at his expression. He realized that he had been staring and quickly looked away blushing.

"You know…" She said looking up at the sky and then back down at Gaara "You're pretty cute"

Gaara blushed even more when she said that.

"So… what's your name?" The girl asked.

"Gaara…" He answered. He realized then that he didn't even know her name, or why she was here.

"Um… so what's your name?" He asked rather shyly.

"Oh! I'm sorry! My name is Drakel" She answered.

"So what are you doing in Suna?" He asked.

"Oh! My parents are here to vist some friends" She said smiling.

"So will you be staying here long?" Gaara asked hopefully.

Drakel looked down sadly "Actually today's my last day here".

Gaara's heart sank as he heard this news.

Drakel could see that the news she had told him proved to be very saddening, and she didn't want to see Gaara sad. "But…. I promise to beg my parents to come back here very soon!" She said hopefully.

Gaara looked at her with renewed hope in his eyes. "Promise?" he asked desperately.

"Promise" Drakel said smiling. She looked back up at the sky and said "It's getting late, and I've got to go before they start to worry about me".

"Don't forget me" Gaara said as she got off the swing.

Drakel stepped over to Gaara and kissed him on the forehead. "Never" She said and ran off.

Gaara didn't even try to hide his blush and he watched Drakel, who he had just met that day, walk off into the beautiful Suna sunset. It was then that he recognized this feeling in his stomach, and that he understood the butterflies in his stomach. It was Love.