This is a oneshot about Gaara's pain before he visits Konoha. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: We all know that Naruto belongs to Misashi Kishimoto so let's not waste anymore time discussing it.


If Only...

Just one word could have changed it all...

Pain, insanity, misery pounding in my head.

Slithering threw my thoughts, a dark serpent whispering deceit and despair.

I open your mouth, longing to release a scream of terror but my voice is mute, swallowing me up in the suffocating silence.

The stench of blood surrounds me; its color fills my vision. This is what I've become.

All around, the world carry's on without noticing all I'm going through.

I struggle to keep up this façade, knowing all too well that though my physical strength surpasses all, one word is all it would take to shatter my fragile spirit.

The life is slowly draining out of me and you all watch silently from the sidelines.

The signs are all there, but you close your eyes to the battle that rages within my head. This turmoil is destroying me!

I am clinging desperately to anything that will let me continue to feel though I know inside that it is only prolonging my agony. The lies they whisper, I know they are false. But I tell myself it's true for I have nothing else. This slender thread of sanity that binds me to reality is about to snap in two.

What have you done to me? What happened to the wide eyed, innocent child I once was.

In my heart I know, that person no longer exists; he was shattered, crushed to bits by the hatred of this world.

A lonely child, unable to protect himself from that which was forced upon him, he pleaded with you to give him a chance and you destroyed him.

Left him broken on the floor, his soul shattered, never to be remade.

I long to cry, but the tears will not come. I am numb; I feel nothing at all, not pain, not fear, not joy, not rage.

My heart no longer beats. My mind, heart and soul are all frozen; they can no longer be reached.

You called me a monster, said I had no heart; well that's exactly what you've made me. It was you who smashed my hopes, who stole my dreams, who snatched away my feelings.

Now you cower before me, begging me to spare you, terrified of what I have become. Oh, foolish people, if you had paused long enough to push aside your, fear and prejudice, perhaps you might have realized, that I was only a helpless child who could not control what was done to him.

If even a single one of you had reached out to me and given me a chance,

then perhaps my heart would still beat, perhaps my mind would still feel, perhaps I would still care...


How was it? I was trying to portray how Gaara felt about life before he met Naruto. Let me know what you thought. This is only my second attempt at a oneshot so please don't be too hard on me. I'm considering writing one from Haku's point of view. Review and tell me if you think I should. :D

~MidnightAnimeAngel