Disclaimer: i do not own this idea, naruto, or any of the characters

also i just got a leaf village forehead protector in the mail and i'm so excited i love it.

"Gaara!"

Gaara flinched, he had gotten so caught up in the darkness, in the anger, in the pain and the bloodlust that he had forgotten to be alert. He hardly ever had to worry about watching his back because the sand was always there to protect him automatically. But this voice wasn't attacking him, even though he was currently murdering a random innocent woman who reminded him too much of his mother.

"Gaara stop it!"

He ignored the voice. It's not like they were a threat. But the voice…a woman's…it sounded concerned, but oddly the concern seemed not to be for the dying woman. No, that's ridiculous. Gaara shook his head to clear the silly thoughts. It's just wishful thinking. Some small trace of weak humanity that would be crushed along with the woman. Gaara narrowed his eyes and began to tighten his hand, and the hold the sand had around the woman.

"Oof!" Something slammed into Gaara, and in his shock he opened his palm, releasing the hold his sand had on the woman. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Why hadn't the sand stopped the girl? He had determined it to be the person who had been shouting, since thin arms were now wrapped around his torso. Because she wasn't trying to harm him. The sand stopped attacks, but not…hugs. Apparently. Gaara had never been hugged before, and this wasn't exactly right either but it was as close as he had ever gotten to an embrace from another human being. Once when he was a child he had tried to imitate a couple he had seen hugging, but when he tried the little girl struggled and Gaara had squeezed too hard, and she had died in his arms.

Gaara tried to turn and catch a glimpse of the girl embracing him, but all he saw was a wisp of long black hair.

"Please…don't do this!" The girl whispered into his ear.

Gaara shot his arm out, breaking the girl's grip on him. He turned and slammed his palm into her chest and she flew back and slammed into the side of a shop. The shop was closed and no one was around, since it was about 3am and not many were foolish enough to wander about Konoha at night. It was a relatively safe village, but with the chuunin exams in a few days and strange ninja around everyone's guard was up. Now Gaara could get a good look at the girl, a small one with a leaf village headband. She had to be the most fragile-looking ninja he had ever seen. A smile grew on his lips. She'd be fun to break in two.

The girl trembled as Gaara stepped over closer to her. She was afraid. She should be. But then the girl slowly raised a shaking arm, holding her hand out to him, as if asking him to help her up. What was she doing? She should have been shying away, cowering against the wall, desperately trying in vain to escape him and get as far away as possible. But even now as he walked closer and closer still with a terrifying expression on his face, her fear appeared to be more like concern.

"Are you afraid?" Gaara asked with his most frightening smile. If she wasn't before she would be after that. He sent some of his sand at her to slither over her body and make her shiver.

But the girl didn't falter, didn't even flinch.

"Why do you do this?" She asked, so quietly he almost couldn't hear her. But she didn't sound curious, she sounded like she already knew the answer but simply wanted to hear him say it.

"To confirm my existence. That is my purpose in life, I must kill. Even though you are weak and will not satisfy my bloodlust, I will kill you all the same for daring to meet my gaze. And then I will kill the woman you tried to rescue and I will know what it feels like to live," Gaara answered in his most menacing voice, stepping closer still. He was only a few yards away now and he could see each silky strand of hair that fell in her pale face, some of them coated in blood that was streaming from the back of her head where she had hit the wall.

"That's not living"

Gaara's eyes narrowed, "You're not going to be living in a few moments either".

The girl carried on as if he had not even spoken, "You've lived a lot. You understand more than most that life is pain. But that's not all it is. You haven't experienced life as I have and the more you kill the less of a chance you have at that life."

"You're making no sense, the ravings of a woman staring death in the face," Gaara grumbled as he came to a stop in front of her, towering threateningly above her. He hand was still outstretched to him but she was weak from being thrown into the wall, and she was struggling to hold it up.

"I- I'm not raving, and you're not death. I can s-show you how to live, I can save you. It's the truth so you're going to believe me. And you're not going to kill me."

Gaara's mind reeled. She didn't make sense. He couldn't figure out what to do, because he had never been in this situation before. She wasn't afraid. She seemed more concerned with helping him than helping herself or the unconscious woman. The girl could be faking to try and confuse him and save herself, but her face was so open and pure as if she wasn't hiding anything and he could see straight into her soul if he just looked hard enough into her eyes, her deep, intense eyes…

He jerked his head away. He couldn't look at her. She left her soul so exposed that somehow it made him feel vulnerable, like she could see through his eyes too. He couldn't look at her, couldn't let her see him. He had to leave.

So he left her sitting there in the cold dark night. He left two victims alive. But he didn't let himself think about why. And Hinata only had a moment to think before falling unconscious, her trembling arm falling into her lap and her head lolling to the side.