*Gaara is six, Kankuro is eight. Set before Yashamaru's betrayal
Gaara sat on his bed, alone, as usual. He didn't know what to do that day. Yashamaru was very busy with something, and he just wasn't in the mood to roam the streets of Suna like he did everyday. So for that day he decided to stay inside the Kazekage's mansion. He was looking around his room, looking for something to do. The shelves were packed with stuffed toys of all sizes; they were mostly teddy bears. But he played with them during the night, since he didn't sleep. He looked around some more, and spotted the piles of boxes that kept the board games inside. Definitely not those. Who would he play with? It was only Yashamaru that played with him, and right now, he's very busy. He looked at his sand swirling on the floor just beside the bed. How could that sand entertain him? He thought and thought. Then he finally came up with an idea! He will make the best sand castle using his sand. So he got off the bed and went to the very middle of the room and started shaping the sand into a castle. Finally, after about ten minutes, he made a castle as tall as him. But he frowned, because it didn't turn out the way he wanted it to. The windows were too big, and the entrance was too small, and it was a bit lopsided. So he let the sand castle flow back to shapeless sand and began making another one.
Then he heard his door open. He expected it to be Yashamaru, because he was the only one that entered his room. He looked at his door and was surprised to see a boy with brown hair and curious black eyes, poking his head into the room. It was his brother, Kankuro. "Kankuro? What are you doing here?" Gaara asked, obviously surprised. He knew Kankuro was afraid of the monster inside of him, so what made him go to his room all of a sudden? "Well I uh, I heard this strange noise coming from your room while I was passing by. I realized it was your sand, and I just, uhm, wanted to see what was going on," Kankuro mumbled, half afraid that Gaara's sand will attack him.
"Oh."
"...So what are you doing with your sand, anyway?" Kankuro asked, still half afraid.
"I'm trying to make a sand castle."
Kankuro immediately lit up when Gaara said the words 'sand castle', all traces of fear gone. He loved making sand castles, and standing back to admire them after they were finished. It was second to puppets. "D-do you mind if I join you?" he asked his younger brother shyly. Now it was Gaara's turn to light up. He badly wanted to get to know and bond his siblings, and this was his opportunity to bond with one of them now. "O-Of course!" he replied. "Though I think you should use the sand outside, because my sand... it, uh..."
"Yeah, I know," Kankuro said casually. "Let's go."
The two ran to the playground, which was not far from the Kazekage's mansion. They went to the west side where the open space was. They decided to make the sand castle with ordinary sand first, then encase it with Gaara's special sand, because the normal sand and the special sand just won't go together when mixed for some reason. Pretty soon, they were done with bottom half of the castle. Kankuro found Gaara not so bad; in fact, he doesn't seem to be bad at all, unlike from the stories he'd heard. 'He acts the way a little brother acts. And it's kinda cute.' The two had conversation, too; Kankuro found himself telling stories about training and puppets and making jokes about Temari. Gaara found himself laughing and asking questions.
A group of kids on the opposite side of the playground caught Gaara's attention, and turned his head to look at them. They were the same kids that ran away from him yesterday. This made Gaara sad, and went back to concentrating on building the sand castle. But he kept glancing at them, and pretty soon, Kankuro noticed. "Err, Gaara, why do you keep looking at them?" He nodded to the direction of the group of kids. "Nothing," he answered quietly. Kankuro became confused at his little brother's sudden change of behavior, so he looked at the group of kids. They were staring and whispering and pointing to their direction. Immediately, Kankuro's temper flared up. It had only been a few hours that he spent with Gaara, and already his thoughts about him had changed. He was on Gaara's side now. Gaara wasn't a monster; the thing that was inside him was. That thing made people hate Gaara. That thing makes Gaara suffer. And that group of kids was just making it worse for the little insomniac. Kankuro wanted to put some sense in them, teach them a lesson...
He abruptly stood up and began walking towards them. "W-where are you going?" Gaara asked, surprised at his brother's sudden movement. "Gonna take care of some stuff," Kankuro called over his shoulder. "I'll be right back. Just stay there." He walked until he reached the group. "What're you pointing at, huh?" he demanded. One boy answered, "We were wondering... why you would hang out with a monster?" The word 'monster' made Kankuro even angrier.
"I'm his brother. And he is not a monster."
"Brother?" the others gasped. They didn't know that Gaara had a sibling. The boy that spoke up earlier smirked and said, "Heh, must be a pain being the big brother of a monster, eh? Always being followed around by the brat." The next moment, that kid was on the ground, nose bleeding. Kankuro's punch seemed to be like a reflex; he didn't remember willing his arm to do so. But still, he was sort of glad he did. Serves the punk right for bad-mouthing his little brother. "Like I said," he said through gritted teeth. "He is not a monster. The next one that calls him one is gonna end up on the ground like this punk."
"B-but how come you say he's not a m – I mean, my parents say he's dangerous," a girl spoke up, her voice fading a bit, afraid that Kankuro won't hold back on her even though she was a girl. Kankuro shifted his eyes to her. "He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, okay? It's just that there's this thing inside of him that makes him do it, though he doesn't want it to. It's the thing inside of Gaara that's a monster, not him."
"S-so there's monster inside of Gaara?"
"Yeah."
"A-and it can t-take over him at any time?"
"Yeah, but –"
"Your brother is a monster! He has one in him, so that just proves that he is!" Another boy from the group shouted. He ended up on the ground with a bleeding nose, too. "Hey!" shouted the first guy he punched. "What gives you the right to just hurt us, huh!"
"'Cause you guys just insulted my brother."
"Don't waste your time defending your monster of a brother."
Kankuro was on the verge of beating him half to death. Then he noticed that the rest of the guys started surrounding him, while the girls backed away and started running, terrified. "Heh, think you're so tough now, huh?" one guy taunted. "You're outnumbered." Kankuro just grinned, secretly creating invisible chakra strings from his fingertips and binding them with the guys that surrounded him. There were only seven guys, so he had three fingers to spare. Once he was sure he had the chakra strings connected to each, he started. He made two guys bump against each other, both falling to the ground. He sent one flying to his right. Two guys charged at him; he used his chakra strings to disrupt their foot movement, causing them to trip and fall face down. For the last two, he made on punch the other, causing him to fall on the ground. Then he just sent the last one standing flying to his left. He looked around at the injured kids. "Like I said. If any of you badmouth Gaara in my face again, I swear you guys are gonna get something worse than this."
He turned around and headed back to his little brother, who was frozen with pure shock, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. About halfway, he heard the seven guys run away. "Back little bro," he said casually, as if nothing had happened. Gaara just stared at him with utter shock. "Sorry you had to see that," Kankuro continued. "They were saying bad stuff about you, so I taught them a lesson." Gaara was even more shocked. His brother, who he barely got to see, beat up seven guys just because they badmouthed him? He had this strange feeling in him. What was it? That word Yashamaru sometimes spoke of... Love?
He got up and hugged Kankuro, tears welling up. "T-thank you, onii-san!" Kankuro was confused. Why would he react in such an emotional way over all of this? Surprised too, of course. "Uh, sure Gaara. But, what're you getting all teary-eyed for?"
"No one ever made me feel like I was cared for."
Kankuro didn't expect his brother's answer to be like that, despite knowing his brother has been isolated all his life. He patted Gaara on the back, grinning. "Heh, I'm glad I'm the first, Gaara. Now, let's get back to the sand castle, 'kay?"
So the two finished the sand castle, and they were both proud of it. It wasn't big; just the size of a doll house, but it was alright with them. Gaara covered it up with his special sand, so it wouldn't crumble. "What're we gonna do with it?" he asked his older brother. Kankuro grinned at him. "Let's bring it home."
The sand castle was displayed in Gaara's room, being carried all the way to the mansion and up one of the shelves thanks to Gaara's special sand. It really was nice to see. The two brothers stood back to admire it. "I better get going, Gaara," Kankuro told him. "I bet my caretaker's worried sick about me."
"W-will I get to spend time with you again?"
Kankuro wasn't sure of what to answer. But his little brother's face was just too innocent and too cute to be given a "No". So he said, "Of course we will. I had a great time today. Though I'm just not sure when. These are just some of the days I get to sneak out from the supervision of the adults." He rolled his eyes. "Oh," was all Gaara said, disappointed. "Don't worry. I promise we'll do something together again," Kankuro said, not wanting to upset him. Gaara smiled. "Arigato, nii-san. See you."
"See ya around."
Little did Kankuro know that it would be years before he got to bond with his little brother again.
He planned on inviting Gaara to make another sand castle with him. But the incident with Yashamaru happened, and he never dared to try to talk to him again.