Disclaimer: Naruto, and its cast, does not belong to me. The story on the other hand, does. Should you chose to take it and claim it as your own work, I will find you and tickle you to death.

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

Give me just one reason. Just one to hold onto.

A reason to fight, a reason to live and a reason to love.

In the darkness that surrounds me and my heart, I need one.

I need something to hold on to, something to give me hope.

More then anything, I wish it would all end.

The war had destroyed the land. Ripped it apart and torn into so many pieces that one was no longer sure of how the land look. The older generation, if they lived, said that the land was once green and flourished. But now it was dead and stained with blood.

Trees had been cut down to provide supplies for the war effort, to make more weapons, walls, dams and some cut down for simple fire wood. Crops where also gone, with the ably bodies, including the woman, pulled away from their home to fight. Some children were even taken for work as well, sent down small tunnels to dig or to die.

Worse thing of all is that no one could remember why the war started. Some believed it started as a dispute between two nobles and only blew up from there. Poets like to say that the war was started over love and would go on until the woman picked the man she wished for. A rare few thought the was for the simple fact that people wanted to fight and they were bring in what was needed to keep the fight going. But no one really knew. Not even those fighting loyalty on each side. Only rumors and simple speculation.

But that did not stop him. It never did. Only his missions mattered right now. He would go on every day as he always did. As he was trained to do. Gaara of the Sand was a trained killer. The best known to anyone in the war. It was well known by anyone that if you saw Gaara of the Sand, if you were not already dead, then kill yourself right then and there because there would be no escape. There was never any escape. The only ones to live to spread the tail of his vast cruelty and wickedness where the ones assigned to clean up the mess he left when his work was done.

This time would not be any different. Gaara new that as he silently made his way down the street, his feet as silent on the stone road like cat's paws. No one paid him any mind as he passed by a few people on the night time road and none would. Not with his attire, dressed to the T in urchin cloths: dirty with holes in it. An old shirt with a hood on it concealed his face from those he passed, the new moon making it even harder for anyone to see his features. Not his idea, but his leaders.. he had to play the role to get in and then he could have fun...

Then he could have blood.

His feet brought him to a large building that was panted white. Gaara already knew that if he looked at the building in the day light that it would have the symbol a snake above the door; the country's sign for medicine. From the windows he could see the hint of candle light and knew his target was inside. Quietly he went to the door and knocked on it. Several moments went by before the door cracked open and a man peered out at him. Gaara held up his empty hand at him.

"Please... medicine..."

"We're not open at night..."

"You will be for me." Gaara said simply. The man only had a moment to look startled before the sand that had been around Gaara's feet shoot up and covered the man's face and nose. Gaara pushed his way past him and into the hallway as the other crawled at his face in a desperate attempt to breath. Gaara moved down the hall, unconcerned by the dying man's last efforts at life. Around his feet, sand scattered spread around him by some unseen force. A hand full of sand zipped away from Gaara and into one room, out and into another. Standing motionless in the hallway, it wasn't until there was a loud smashing sound from one of the rooms that he finally turned his head.

A tall and busty blond with her hair in two pigtails was moving quickly away from the room and swatting at the sand around her ankle.

"Tsunade-sama. The army does not like your resistance. Please die." He pushed his hood away from his face to let Tsunade see him with her wide eyes. She snarled at him and charged... or tried too. The sand around her ankle pulled in a reverse direction and she fell face first in front of Gaara. Onto the sand that had gathered there to soften her fall. He watched as she tried to push herself up to her feet, but his sand was much faster then she could ever be. It only toon a blink of an eye to wrap around her and encase her entire body.

Holding his hand out, Gaara closed his fist and the sand twisted and turned in on itself, crushing the woman in it to death within. Blood was the only thing to ooze out from the sand. Red and warm, he could feel it through the sand. His sand. His only companion in all this.

"Noooo!" A female voice screamed. Started, Gaara jerked his head to the side in time to get a punch to the side of his face. The blow sent him flying back and smashed into the door, shattering it into pieces. He thudded on the cold stone outside in the cool night air. Groaning, Garras sat up and felt the part of the face that had been his, chunks of his sand armor falling off. He looked back at the door with narrowed eyes. Being caught off guard was bad. Getting his was worse.

Just as he was getting back to his feet, a figure darted out the door, a fist drawn back to strike again. This time he was ready though. Sand wrapped around his attackers feet like tentacles, causing them to trip and fall just like his last victim. More sand, some stained in blood, slithered out the door and over the person in just a few short breaths until they were encase just like Tsunade, only leaving the head uncovered. This time he would watch the expression of the soon the diseased. He wanted to look at them as they died and he would be the last thing he saw. The Sand lifts and hovered the attacker before him... and he blinked at what was there.

He was use to fear. He was use to begging. He was use to anger. He was use to many things. She, for he could see it was a female face, was angry like many others. But her eyes were green. Green like his. The color standing out so sharply against her pink hair and pale skin. And in her anger, she was crying.

Gaara tilted his head to the side as she studied her. So angry and sad at the time... her tears made her eyes shine out in the darkness around him like a lantern.

He lifted his hand, palm open like had done countless times before giving his targets their crushing death. Her eyes widened, but quickly narrowed. Sucking a breath in through her nose, she spat on him, the mixture of spit and snot landing on his cheek. Blinking, he did not move to wipe it away, but instead rubbed his thumb over her cheek, picking up the tears sliding her smooth skin. His words following the action making her stare at him wide eyed.

"Beautiful..."

AN: I'm back.