The One Who Did Not Fear Him
disclamer:don't own nada...ZIP! tear falls(I want GAARA!!!), first part IS a spoiler!
Gaara stared at the children laughing and playing together from his lonely swing that creaked with rust.
"And shoot!" yelled one of the boys as he went in for a goal, but he kicked the ball so hard it went flying into the air till it came to rest atop a cliff. All the children wined and walked towards the base of the cliff. "Oh great, now what do we do?" huffed the only girl also the oldest amongst them about ten or so. They all just stared at what little part of the ball they could see, trying to figure out how to get it down. Their eyes widened in shock as the ball slowly began to float down the cliff on... sand. It came to rest in two small pale hands. The children looked to see who the hands belonged to. They all gasped when they realized who it was.
There, before them was a small boy no older than six with red hair and black rimmed his pale-green eyes. "G-Gaara" one boy choked, taking two-shaky steps back. "Gaara... of the... desert" breathed the girl, eyes locked on the small boy.
"...here" lil Gaara said quietly, stretching his arms forward. "RUN!" screamed the girl, running for her life. The other children instinctively fled too, looking back with fear in their eyes. Gaara just stared at them, running... from him, everyone did, but why? His eyes brimmed with tears, clutching the material of his shirt as oh-so familiar pain of loneliness filled his heart.
"Why... why do they fear me?" sobbed lil Gaara, falling to his knees and buried his face in his hands, crying silently. After awhile Gaara felt a presence. He peered through his tangled fingers to see a pair of little feet. Gaara slowly withdrew his face from his palms as his gaze crawled up the person's small frame, which stopped to meet the most beautiful blue-green eyes he had ever seen.
The person who stood before him was a little girl about his age, but slightly shorter. She had turquoise hair that draped over her right shoulder, the end loosely pulled together by a red silk ribbon. She looked down, tilting her head to the side with curiosity in her eyes.
The little girl knelt beside him and played with the ends of her hair. "Why are you crying?" she asked. Gaara said nothing and turned his head so she couldn't see his face. "Are you hurt?" she asked again. "Why?!" he said coldly. "Will you be okay?" she continued, ignoring his harsh tone. "I-I guess so..." lil Gaara glanced at her for a second before turning his gaze to the ground. "Why aren't you running from me?" lil Gaara asked. He could feel his tears coming back. They burned his eyes. She blinked at him in confusion,"Huh? Why would I run from you?" Lil Gaara looked at her, eyes wide with surprise "You mean y-you're not scared of me?!" "Why would I?" she said, twirling a piece of her hair.
"What Are You Doing?!" boomed an older female voice. Both Gaara and the little girl turned towards the voice's direction. The group of kids were back, but they kept there distance. "Just talking" answered the small girl, coming to a standing position. Lil Gaara came to feet shortly after, brushing off his knees. "My name is Mia Taru, what's yours?" the small girl asked sweetly. "Sarah. And I know you were just talking, but why to him?!" the older girl replied rudely, pointing a finger at Gaara. "Well, why not?" Mia asked. Why was it such a big deal? "Do you even know who he IS?!" Sarah questioned in an angry tone. "No, not really, but he seems nice." Mia replied innocently. "HE..." Sarah pointed at the red-haired boy "...is Gaara of the Desert!!" Fear and pain surged through Gaara's heart as Mia's eyes doubled in size. He was going to lose the first friend he ever made before he knew it. Mia spun around to face the red-head. "You're Gaara, thee Gaara?!" Lil Gaara just lowered his head. He closed his eyes and nodded. He waited to hear her scream in terror, but only giggles greeted his ears. "Well that's funny cause I expected the BIG, SCARY, GAARA OF THE DESERT would be... well, scary." Mia stated while making silly gestures to emphasize her point. Gaara lifted his head to see Mia giving him a warm smile. He could feel his face suddenly get hot and realized he was blushing. Mia couldn't figure out what could be so frightening about this shy boy in front of her.
She turned to face the group once again. She had a fiery look in her eye "He... he is who everyone is a scared of?! He's the monster within the Sand Village? The older children gasped as Mia took Gaara's hand in hers. Gaara flinched at the sudden warm feeling. Sand instantly wrapped around Mia's wrist out of a natural reaction which took her by surprise, but then fell to the ground. He though, was still in shock that someone was standing up for him, let alone TOUCH HIM! They all just stared at her, some had disgust in glares. The others were in complete awe. "Fine. It's your funeral..." Sarah warned and walked away. The other kids followed her back to the village, leaving Gaara and Mia both alone.
There was an awkward silence between the two of them. Mia was the first to break the silence, "So Gaara-kun, how old are you?" Mia asked, making Gaara blush again. "Uhh...six. Did you just say Gaara-kun?" lil Gaara asked embarrassed. "Oh, I'll be six next month! Do you want me to not call you –Kun anymore?" "NO...I-I mean you can if you want." Gaara said, blushing harder than before. "Oky-doky!" Mia said while giving him a big smile. (And that's how cute lil Gaara made his first friend. A happy ending for this chapter right, wrong! I'm not quite done with this chapter yet, so let's continue shall we...).
A few weeks went by, Mia and Gaara had gotten real close. They would play together from dawn to dusk or just walk around the village and talk. Okay not really from dawn to dusk, but you get my point. They played ball till Mia had to go home "Gaara-kun... it's getting late. I have to go home now." Mia breathed, trying to catch her breath from running around so much. "Alright, but we can play some more tomorrow, right?" Gaara asked. "Sure! I'll meet you here tomorrow at noon, kay." Mia chirped. He nodded and gave her a goodbye hug. "Well, see you tomorrow." He said as she waved bye to him and started walking home. 'I'm so lucky to have a friend like Mia.' Gaara thought to himself in his bedroom.
THE NEXT DAY...
Gaara arrived at the spot where he and Mia were at yesterday, but didn't see her anywhere. 'Hm, she's usually the one who's early' Gaara thought to himself. He was a little worried, but figured she was probably taking her time, so he waited. After waiting ten minutes he got really worried and started looking for her. "MIA! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Gaara shouted repeatedly as he searched the outskirts of the village, but no answer. 'Oh no, what if she's hurt!' Gaara thought. If someone did hurt her, it would only been because she hung around him. She'd never want to be around him again! He got tired of shouting, so he just listened as he continued searching. As he went farther from the village, he began to hear muffled screams and a man saying shut-up. Gaara ran closer and hid behind a rock. "I swear if you don't shut-up right now, you'll regret it!" the man shouted at the person who was tied up and had tape over their mouth. Gaara noticed that the man was an assassin by the clothes he wore, but couldn't get a good look at his hostage. The person continued to sob and make futile attempts at screaming for help. "I said SHUT UP!!" the man shouted and struck the person across the face, making them curl up in the corner and cry more. While the man was distracted, Gaara took the chance to sneak behind another rock to get a closer look at the hostage. Gaara nearly blew his cover when he saw who the hostage was. "MIA-" Gaara put both hands over his mouth and ducked behind the rock. "Whose there?!" the man shouted as he spun around. 'Oh no... he heard me!' Gaara said in his head, trembling with fear. He could hear the man coming closer. Gaara squeezed his eyes shut and prayed the man wouldn't find him.
That instant the man looked behind the rock, nothing. "Must've been my imagination," the man said to himself "now then." He returned his attention back to poor Mia. He walked over to her and ripped the tape off her mouth making her scream. "How dare you hang around that, that monster!" the man scowled, his voice booming. "You're the MONSTER!" Mia snapped. "Gaara-kun's my best frie-" the man slapped her again silencing her. He pulled out a kunai. Meanwhile, Gaara's sand had hid him before the man spotted him. The sand withdrew as Gaara peered over the rock to see the man with a kunai! 'No!' Gaara mentally screamed. "Why you little..." the man growled in a low, dark tone. He raised the kunai over his head and "NOOO!!" Gaara screamed, stretching an arm forward. The sand reacted to his distress and burst forward, wrapping and immobilizing the assassin. Gaara then thrust his arm sideways, the sand imitating the action threw the man into a nearby boulder, knocking him unconscious. "Gaara!" Mia cried, running to him and cried into his shoulder. "Mia, are you alright?!" Gaara asked worried. Mia pulled back to look him in the face. She had a bruise on her left temple and right cheek, but she still looked pretty to him. "Uh-huh," she reassured him "but I'm a little tired-" and collapsed. Gaara caught before her head hit the ground, she was beat up enough as she was. He picked her up and carried her home on his back.
