I don't understand why we have to do this, but...I don't own Naruto...or Gaara unfortunately. Summary of chapter, let's see...um, there's a character called Yao Ju, and she meets Gaara...that's it in this one. It takes place when Gaara is six, before Yashamaru's betrayal. The ~sSs~ mark where flashbacks begin and end.

Ju's POV

I have no bloodline limit, nor have I the power of a Jinchuuriki. I am unsure what I am, or who. All I know is that I am different. It is unknown to anyone but me what is wrong, and it is unknown to anyone at all the solution. My only thoughts are that I cannot stay here. Not where I live hidden in darkness, always waiting only for a mission. I am no longer a slave to Toshihiro.

My name is Ju. I come from the small village of Mirigakure. It has always been over shadowed by Konoha. As far as I know, my mother died in birth, leaving me to my ruthless father, Yoshihisa. I walked among the soft dunes of the desert, remembering the terrible act I committed only two short days ago. I remember every murder I ever committed, and this memory would be stronger than any other.

~sSs~

I looked up at the nonexistent stars, as I thought about what I had heard this day. I was soon to be sent on another mission. Toshihiro-sama wanted me to practice my skills on a thief of some kind. More times than not, these petty criminals glorified their power. They thought often times that our village was underestimating them, for sending a small girl after them. It was they who underestimated me.

Tearing my eyes from the free stars and looking front of me, I saw the slightest of movements. There was a man, lurking in the shadows. He was getting closer…A silver kunai flashed past, inches from my right eye, but his mistake was not only in missing me, but in giving away his exact location. In a flash, I was gone, from his sight that is. No ninja, especially from my little village would defeat me. They are too weak.

I watched him keenly, as he searched frantically for my finding place. What an amateur he turned out to be. He clearly didn't understand who I was. No one ever did until they were on the brink of death.

"Show yourself," I whispered in his ear, after jumping from the tree above him. "Those were the words you were going to say, were they not?" He spun in hopes of grabbing me, holding me down with sheer brute strength. Expecting this, I leapt away, quicker than humanly possible…and thrust a kunai straight into his back. I wasn't sure if it was deep enough to pierce the heart, but it was close enough. He would die soon. It might take ten minutes, or two. With two minutes in mind, I wrenched it out in an unclean manner. When I did so, blood, his blood, was splattered in all directions.

~sSs~

As I shuffled along, following the ripples of the desert sand, I thought of something. It was hard for me to believe, but I know he said this before he died. "Go back Suna...where you belong…thorn." I did not know why, but I thought I ought to go. It made little sense to me why I should be born in Suna and raised in Miri, but it happens. I wondered if it was worth it, going to Suna.

~sSs~

"Quite a quick young lady, aren't you?" the man teased without a hint of humor. There was an obvious struggle in speaking. Dashing in front of him, I could see only his eyes, as the rest was covered in a black mask. "If you're so quick, why not hurry it up on leaving my village? It was so nice and peaceful before you came and brainwashed my lord. Now all he care's about is conquering the world."

"This is not my fault or his." He cackled a terrible sound. And I recognized it. "You…" I realized who the man was, and didn't want to believe it was true. He has hated me for three years. That is half of my life. He could not be thinking to kill me now, not after all that time.

~sSs~

The walls surrounding Suna grew closer. I went through all I knew of the village and its people in my mind. I wondered how badly I would stick out in my black apparel. When I reached the walls, I walked around until I found, shall we say, an opening without guards. I stepped lightly through tunnel I had found, cool from being shaded from the desert sun. The entry I went into was next to the park. I saw kids playing kickball there, just like the children in Miri. Then, I saw the kid on the swing, alone, like me, and I wondered if he knew why he was left alone. I didn't, because I was never told…or rather I was not told why I must live that way. Standing close the side of the fissure I was in, I was just out of sight of the children playing ball, but not of the red-haired boy. When he looked up, I knew he had seen me come in. However, when he looked up, I also saw the death of that man.

~sSs~

"You finally realize who I am. Who else within your own village would have a grudge against you? You aren't spoken to, or mentioned. You hardly exist here to anyone, except me." I didn't understand what I did to hurt him. He was quite fond of me until…he went to Suna. That was it. That is what caused his hatred to stir, but why?

"I know what you are, and when I went to Suna, they told me everything." Who was this, they, he spoke of? "You shouldn't be alive, thorn."

"Thorn?" Though I was called many names, I was never called thorn.

"You always wanted answers. If you want to answer the questions, which I know are going through your head, leave and go search elsewhere," he whispered now. What was said was barely audible, but I heard and stepped back. I don't belong in the place that caused my closest person to hate and despise me.

~sSs~

His hair reminded me of the blood that was splattered across the man's face. His teal eyes looked like the younger, softer version of the cold, lifeless eyes that glared at me past death. The black around the teal spheres were only too similar to the black mask Yoshihisa wore on his last day.

I watched as the kids play, waiting for a good moment to appear. Light clouds of sand were kicked up on every pass of the faded ball.

xXx*xXx

After a few minutes, the ball was kicked out of bounds. It soared high in an arch, and landed directly in the red-haired boys arms. It was lucky he was watching, because it would have otherwise hit him in the face.

A few moments of silence passed, before he stood and offer the ball back. "Here," he said, but the other kids were unwilling to listen. I heard the common stutters and stammers that followed people running in fear. Among the many screams and faltering voices, I heard that this boy was Gaara of the Sand. He was much less threatening than I imagined. I thought he might at least look less sad and depressed, one of those people that could silence you with a glare.

When all of the children had left, I felt it was safe to come out of the tunnel. I walked slowly to him, because I was not about to frighten him. I gradually made my way to the small swing set.

"Gaara-san...My name is Yao Ju." He did not respond right away. Eventually, he looked up from the swing he was sitting on, still clutching the teddy bear in his arms.

"Why are you here?" I was unsure if he sounded like he wanted me to go, or he was trying to sound like that, while wanting me to stay.

I responded, "I need to understand something, and I think only you and those closest to the Kazekage know." A slight breeze passed between us, and small streams of sand were pushed in spirals on the ground.

"What is it?" I knew he would ask me that. However, I was prepared to tell him the truth, though I doubted he would know for sure.

"When I was younger, my father went on a mission to Suna. He said it was to do with Shukaku and its host. When he came back, he became cold towards me. I want to know how Suna made my father despise me. You may not know, because you would've been two or three at the time. But I need to know...and I intend to find out."

"What was his name, your father?"

"Yao Yoshihisa."

"Oh…I'm sorry, but I don't know that name. Toshihiro was the last person I remember from Miri," Gaara-san said. I forced myself not to look surprised. Toshihiro? Here? I tried to think, but my thoughts of trying to understand what he would be doing here were interrupted by a shout.

"Stop! Stop, get away! He's only acting this way to keep you there, then he'll catch you off guard and – "

"Silence yourself. Do you really think he attacks as often as you claim, or perhaps for the reasons you believe? It is wrong to make such assumptions as those." The others had already left. This child was the only one left. Perhaps he saw me come out of the crevice, and stopped to see who I was. That must be it.

"If you can stand there and not be killed, then you must be as much of a monster as him." Once he had said that, he ran quicker than I thought possible for his shortness. When I turned back to face Gaara, he was silent.

"Why did you stand up for me? Don't you know what I am, what I do? I attack people. I make them hurt. I'm…a monster." At that point, he looked down again, squishing the bear in his arms.

"You are not."

"You don't know me. You just came here today. How would you know anything about me? I know it's true what they say, and I can't change it." His gaze still lingered on the sandy ground.

"Are you certain? There is nothing you can do about it? I think you have more control than you care to admit. Why do the children run? Answer that." Gaara stood up, though he seemed not much taller than when he was on the swing. He looked me in the eye and glared, as if to say he did not have to answer that. The swing chains clinks as he got off.

"They run because I am the Sand's Ultimate Weapon, even if I don't want to be. Everybody fears and hates me for it. They don't accept me even when I try to be nice. You think that, too, don't you?" he asked.

"If I hated you, would I have traveled here from Miri to talk to you? If I feared you, do you not think I would have left with the others, after hearing what they said? I promise, Gaara-san, I will never run like them. I know that I am different. I think you understand that by now."

"How are you different? What makes you different?" he demanded, though his voice was far from demanding.

"The same thing as you, power. As I remember it, you said that you were the Sand's Ultimate Weapon. I never had a title like that, but in Miri and other small villages, the ones that went unnoticed, I was known as Toshihiro the Sage's personal assassin. He is still in Miri, probably writing another scroll to send to me. It will say who I need to kill for him next. I always followed orders from him. Let me ask you this. Does the Kazekage make you kill strangers?" For that, he had no answer.

"You said you wanted to know why Suna made your father, Yoshihisa, hate you. Why not ask him yourself?"

"Because he's dead. His last words to me before passing were 'go back to Suna where you belong.' He was right about me belonging here..." I had no true need to tell Gaara-san that I was the reason he died.

"How is that?"

I looked into Gaara-san's pale teal eyes, and said, "I met you. You're the equal of my father. Your eyes are the same color. Your hair is the same style. You speak the same way he used to have conversations like this with me. It is as if you have the kinder side of him in you, the side my father lost. You're…him."

Yep...that's the first chapter.