Jinchūriki at Peace

This is a Gaara story where one girl stood up and fought against the rage directed towards the 6-year old "demon." In the past, I've written about Link and how he's became mute and how he deals with his life after given a chance at speech. But that's not what this story is. Not even remotely. I've been a Naruto fan for a while and own a lot of the franchise. (We'll get to that later) So after watching the 6th season for the 100th time over, I thought that I could make a convincing story out of a split-second decision of the past. You can R&R as much as you want but please don't hate me for what I am about to do to our precious psychopathic Gaara. (Well he was psycho BEFORE fighting Naruto!)

Disclaimer: I own many things that relate to Naruto. Some include a Leaf and Sand Village Headbands. Well actually, I traded the Leaf for the Sand in '08 but I HAD a Leaf Headband and that's what counts. I have the 1st volume of the manga and a make-shift Hinata costume I use during Halloween but by no means do I own the original concepts or artistry.

333333LONG LIVE MASASHI KISHIMOTO-SENSEI!333333

Chapter one:

In the Land of Wind stood a village. This village was hidden by the sand that surrounded it. The desert provided a natural defense against foreign invaders and the ninja whose home lay just beyond the man-made wall of stone remained ever vigilant in case of attack. Yes, Sunagakure seemed to those outside the village like one of the most guarded villages in the Five Great Nations. But to those inside, fear of death was at the forefront of every man, woman, and child's minds. Why, you may ask? What could possibly frighten a single village the size of a large city to the point of hatred? Would you believe me if I told you that a child was to blame? A mere child, 6- years-old. Well, this child was no ordinary kid to begin with. For starters, his father was Kazekage, Sunagakure's leader and head honcho. Then, of course, comes the fact that within this boy, a power unlike anything imaginable was sealed away. How is this possible, you ask? Why? Before I explain, you must understand one thing; the people of Suna are very independent and do not want to rely on other villages for support. To insure that the village would have someone whom no one would dare fight against in an assault on the village, the Kazekage had the village's top advisor infuse a sand spirit named Shukaku with in his son's body while still in the womb. As a result, the mother lost her life giving birth to this child and the village had the most powerful weapon ever thought of. The child grew up, spoiled and trained in the ways of the ninja until it became clear to all that this boy, this innocent looking child, would become too powerful to control. The fear of this child had been spreading well before this conclusion was reached. None of the children would play with him, mothers rushed their families inside at the sight of him, and even grown men begged for mercy when they bumped into him. The people learned to fear him and hate grew from that until paranoia was in full bloom. All the while, the boy could not understand why everyone would run away from him. It made no sense. He tried being nice to them but they only turned and screamed. On top of the already long developed insomnia the boy had from carrying the Shukaku for 6 years, the reactions of the people angered him and lead to many's unfortunate deaths. It seemed all hope was gone for Little Gaara; no on would talk or look at him; his own father looked at him in disgust, and nothing could heal the pain he felt in his heart. But one day on the playground changed all that.

The kids were playing a game of soccer on a brilliantly sunny day. Only a few were there; about 3 or 4 boys and couple of girls. As usual, Little Gaara was left to swing under a tree in the darkness. The laughter and squeals of happiness grew in Little Gaara's ears so he could try to feel included. With his head down and Teddy on his lap, Little Gaara made no attempt to ask the players if he could join. He'd tried it and before he could ask, everyone had run. He'd rather pretend they'd let him play then have another memory of frightened kids. Little Gaara was so busy staring at the dirt that he didn't notice one girl who wouldn't stop taking glances at him. She was a girl about Little Gaara's age with an oval face and silver hair cascading down to her waist.

"POWERSHOT!" one of the boys yelled as he kicked the ball towards the goal. The ball flew up into the air and onto the cliff next to the field. "Oops." "Now what are we going to play with?" "Can anybody use the wall-climbing justu?" As the kids stared helplessly up at the ball and complained, the girl took another glance at Little Gaara. He had his darkened eyes on the ball too. All of a sudden, everything was quiet. She looked back at the ball and found it was floating down on a cloud of sand. The ball glided away from the kids and towards Little Gaara who had left Teddy by the swing and stood nearby the group. The sand dropped back down to Earth when it hit Little Gaara's hands. "Is that…?" "It's that Gaara kid!" "He's creepy…" The kids all looked at Little Gaara with fear and were afraid to move or stay. All but the girl; she looked at him with grateful eyes and surprise. She had been told by her mother to stay away from him, that he was a monster that would kill her as soon as look at her. But she could see something different in him as he offered the ball back saying, "Here." Cries erupted from behind the girl as the kids screamed, "Run!" Little Gaara's eyes widened in surprise and hurt. "Wait!" he called, "Don't run!" He reached his hand out and a slither of sand started to move at his feet.

"Hold on." The scene froze. The girl had stopped everyone with so few words. Even Little Gaara had settled the sand around him and was staring at the girl with more surprise than before. She started towards him while the kids behind called for her to came back. "Are you nuts? You don't know what he'll do to you!" "Why are you going towards that monster?" "He'll kill you if you get too close!" Horrible things kept coming to try and convince her to run. "Oh, shut up!" She spat at them. They recoiled as if they just had been hit. She turned back to the boy in front of her. Little Gaara had lowered the ball and continued to stare at her. Her eyes held him in a trance. They were hazel but instead of brown around the irises, hers were ivory. The colors of the pupils were lavender instead of a blue or green. These strangely colored pools shone with gratitude. She reached for the ball and pulled it towards her chest. "Thank you very much for getting the ball back for us." Little Gaara just blinked as he tried to believe what was happening. Someone was actually being nice to him. One person out of the entire village looked at him with happiness. Not disgust. Not fear. Happiness! He couldn't understand why so he said softly to her, "Sure." She smiled at him, sweetly. "See, guys? He's not a mons…" she started to say to rest of the kids but when she looked, all had run away. She sighed deeply and turned back to Little Gaara but he was gone too. He had retreated back to Teddy and the swing. She followed and sat at the bottom of the tree. They just sat there in silence for a while, and then Little Gaara said softly, "Why?" The girl looked at him; he had his head down again and was gripping Teddy tightly as he nudged the dirt with his shoe. "Why were you nice to me back there? Aren't you afraid of me?" He spoke to the dirt more than her. "Well," she answered, "I see what the others do to you, how they treat you like some plague or something and I don't think it's fair." Little Gaara snuck a peek at her; she was staring out at the spot where the kids had been before running. He looked towards it, too. "I know what they say about you, to your face or not. I hear it all the time. They say the meanest things. And I know it hurts because I see how you look at them after, with anger and hate. But it's not just the kids. It's everyone in the village. Aunts and Uncles. Moms and Dads. Grandmas and Grandpas. Not one of them sees you as you really are." "But they do see me for what I truly am!" Little Gaara interrupted. He turned his eyes towards her again. "That's why they treat me like this." "No," she said firmly to him. She met his gaze and told him boldly, "They only see the Demon inside of you. Just because that thing lives in you doesn't mean it is you." Silence hovered over them again as the two tried to stare each other down. Little Gaara faltered and looked in his lap at Teddy. He shouldn't be trying to convince her that he's something worth running from. He had been alone so long that he didn't think anything would change for him. He couldn't imagine anyone caring. It hurt so much and he didn't know what to do to heal the wound in his heart. "I guess, what I'm trying to get at is that you shouldn't let others tell you who you are." She looked down at the dirt ground. "I don't blame you for not wanting to be alone anymore, by the way." Little Gaara's eyes widened and turned towards her again in amazement. How could she know how I feel? "I mean, if I were treated as badly as you are, I would feel lonely and sad and think there was no way out. I'd be living with a dark cloud over my head all the time. Honestly," she looked at him again and smiled, "I don't know how you do it."

That image stayed with Little Gaara for a lifetime; the one person who didn't treat him like a monster smiling up at him as the fading sunlight danced across her pale skin. He could feel the heat rising up to his face as he took it all in. The silent sound of shifting sand filled the air and the girl made a questioning sound as she opened her eyes. The sand infront of her was moving and building of its own accord. "Are you…?" she questioned, still transfixed on the grains. "Here…" Little Gaara said as the sand's form settled into a teddy bear. "Now, you don't have to be alone anymore either… though I don't know if you need it or not. But the way you talk, it sounds like you know what kind of hurt I feel." Little Gaara reached down with a free hand and grabbed the sand bear; it kept its shape but squished out like it was made of cotton, and held it out to her with a little smile.

"Wow, Gaara, I… I really don't know what to say," she said as she took the present. "I mean, I haven't even told you my name…"

Stupidity hit Little Gaara like a brick. "Oh, yeah…" God, I must seem like a real dummy, giving someone whose name I don't even know a present! Way to push another one away… Gloomy, Little Gaara sighed and looked back in his lap at Teddy. His hand was holding the plushy to his chest as the other held the swing's chain.

A beat or two of quiet then, "It's Anya." Little Gaara felt a little better inside as he repeated the name. "Anya." It felt good as it rolled off his tongue, like honey filled to the brim with sweetness. Suddenly, Little Gaara was forced out of the swing and on to the ground as Anya laid on top of him with Sand Teddy. A wetness slowly seeped through Little Gaara's shirt as he realized she was crying silently into his shoulder. He sat up and moved so she was sitting with bend legs to one side, leaning on him while he had his legs crossed and arms around her shaking back. Teddy lay beside them. Little Gaara would rather have human warmth and skin against him then artificial stuffing in his hand so he made no attempt to grab it. He had never had anyone this close to him before. Not his dad, he didn't have any friends, not even Yashamaru, who was the only one he felt close to, had dared to grab him like this. But, new as it was, it felt good. It felt good to have someone touch him and the pain in Little Gaara's heart eased a bit. The reason was Anya and he knew it. This girl who wept in his arms was helping heal him in a way he felt no one else could. Unlike a wound to the skin, a wound to the heart took a special kind of medicine, love. He held her tighter as she nestled her head closer to his neck, stifling a moan. He smelled of fresh earth and iron from the blood he had spilt and the sand he used but she didn't mind. She was crying for a lot of reasons. She was crying for herself. She was crying out of frustration at the village for treating Little Gaara like this. But most of all, "I'm *sob* cry… *sob* …ing mostly because *sob* you *sob* refuse to cry *sob* yourself." He had never been in this situation before but he was going to try something. "I know it seems like I know what to do," he told her. "But the truth is that, most of the time, I'm confused. I try to understand but nothing ever makes sense. Then I get sad and want to curl up and cry but I can't. When I do, people get hurt. Anger comes out. So how am I supposed to cry if the people around me get hurt? I don't want to hurt people." Anya had calmed down and now listened silently. She pulled back enough to see his face. She kept her hand on his chest and Sand Teddy on her lap in her free arm. "I especially don't want to hurt people like you." She blinked and stammered, "But… you don't even know me! You hadn't even met me until today!" "Doesn't matter," stated Little Gaara. "But…" Anya started but was cut off by Little Gaara's hand on her mouth. "You're the second person who has talked to me like I'm worth something, like I'm important. That helps me better understand the pain I feel here," he grabbed at the clothing over his heart with his free hand. "This wound hurts all the time and until today, I didn't know how to heal it. But thanks to you, I know what I need. That makes me want you to be safe." He put his hands in his lap. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears. He really liked to fall into those ivory and lavender eyes, just lose himself in them. She took his hands in her own and squeezed. "Thank you, Gaara," said Anya. Little Gaara felt the heat in his face again but didn't care. That, he figured, was part of the cure. He pulled her to him again in a hug as she threw Sand Teddy by Teddy. "No. Thank you, Anya." As they sat there on the ground in each others arms, Sand Teddy landed next to Teddy in an almost exact pose.

End Chapter

Okay so here's the first chapter, its mainly just explanations and stuff but please stick with this since I think this one is really cute! Okay, my peeps. Until the next update! 3