My first Naruto fan fiction on Gaara.
I was watching the anime, episode 6-7 and after Deidara captured Gaara, there was a 2 second scene where a little boy looked worried about Gaara's demise. For some reason, it stuck and this story about Gaara and the children of Sunagakure came about.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

In a rocky valley fifteen minutes away from Sunagakure, Gaara flicked in and out among the rough stone pillars of his chosen training ground. He executed jutsu after jutsu, sand clones, shields, bullets, shurikens, sand body-flickering techniques, trying to see what his limit was without Shukaku inside him. He still retained the easy control over his sand, which was a great relief, but without the Shukaku's enormous store of chakra inside of him, he tired more easily, and would last maybe only half an hour in an extended fight.

This wouldn't do, he thought to himself. He needed to increase his chakra levels to continue being able to protect Sunagakure and Naruto from the Akatsuki. At the moment, though he hated to admit it, he needed a break. He collapsed on the sandy floor in the shade of the valley walls in exhaustion, sweating in the heat, trying to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, knowing that his sand would protect him from any unwanted intruders.

"Gaara-sama! Would you like a towel?" A childish voice piped out above him.

Gaara's green eyes snapped opened in surprise. Kneeling over him was a young boy of about ten years old, beaming at him with smiling dark eyes and sandy hair, dressed in the manner of his village, proffering a towel to him.

Gaara sat up, wondering why his sand had not served to warn him of this unexpected intrusion. He had gotten so used to his sand having a mind of its own and acting to situations almost before he thought, he had never considered that it might all be Shukaku's doing. Had his sand lost its consciousness, now that Shukaku was gone?

The boy was still there though, and growing more nervous with each second of Gaara's silent regard. They stared at each other, until Gaara broke the silence.

"What are you doing here?" Gaara winced as his voice came out unintentionally stern after the strain of exertion and not having spoken to anyone the whole day.

The boy's eyes widened in panic at the tone before bowing his head and holding the towel before him in both hands as though in supplication as he babbled, "I'm so sorry to interrupt your training, Kazekage-sama! I saw you heading out of the village for training this morning and I wanted to thank you for working so hard for the village so I snuck out during break time in school and as I thought, you're still here and I thought you… might like a towel…" he finished a bit lamely.

Gaara continued looking at the boy, and considered for the first time in his life, a towel's likeability. His silent musings were broken by the equally silent movement of his sand lifting the towel out of the boy's hands and dropping it into his own.

Huh. So his sand was still active after all. And what was he supposed to do with the towel? Was it for him to use? He slowly brought the towel up to his forehead, dabbing almost shyly at his perspiration. "Thank you," he mumbled, almost belatedly.

The boy smiled widely in his relief. "That's no problem, Kazekage-sama! You've put in so much to protect the village and my family, it's the least that I can do for you! Here," and he reached into his back pouch, "this is for you too, to keep your spirits up!"

Gaara automatically accepted the small package thrust at him this time, opening it to reveal a moisture-beaded container containing tea … and a paper wrapped stick of dangos. When had he last eaten dangos?

The boy again misinterpreted his Kage's silent consideration of the unexpected treat as something direr. "I'm sorry, Kazekage-sama! But that… was all I could afford…" he finished meekly.

"No… it's alright," Gaara said softly. He picked up the stick and bit off the sweet dough dumpling on top, chewed thoroughly and swallowed.

"It's delicious."

The boy grinned almost as brightly as Naruto. "Glad you enjoyed it, Gaara-sama!" he looked back in the direction of the village and continued, "Now I've got to get back to the Academy before class starts or I'll really be in trouble! I'm going to have to work as hard as Gaara-sama so that I can protect both the village and you! Ganbatte yo!"

"Wait," Gaara's soft voice stopped the boy. "What's your name?"

The boy seemed so embarrassingly pleased that Gaara had wanted to know his name that Gaara was bemused.

"My name is Shinji, Gaara-sama."

"What, you want to visit the Academy?" Kankurou asked in surprise. This was the first time Gaara had asked to go somewhere in the village for a long time, preferring to stay out of sight and work and live, hermit-like, in the Kazekage's Tower.

"Is it not a good idea?" Gaara did not fidget, ever, but his eyes dropped slightly as though already accepting the negative.

"No, it's alright. You're free later anyway and there's no reason not to go see what the young ones in the village are up to." Kankurou hastily replied. This was practically the first time his little brother had stepped out into the village since he became Kage, and he definitely wasn't going to stop him.

Dressed in his Kage robes and hat of office, Gaara walked silently behind Kankurou throughout the visit in the Academy, leaving his brother to deal with the conversations with the anxious teachers and headmaster in the school as they fell over themselves trying to showcase their achievements to the Kazekage. Gaara stared wistfully at the shaded playground with its wooden fort, its swings, slides and monkey gym and at the children playing their various games during their break. School did not hold any memories for Gaara, as he had never attended, being taught privately instead by his father and selected ANBU tutors. He remembered, however, how the children in his age group had treated him, running away when he tried to join their play, until, he simply stopped trying.

His attention was caught by a vaguely familiar scene; a group of children had punted a ball they were playing with too high, and it was now stuck on a ledge between the second and third floor classrooms.

The children's' disappointed faces turned to surprise as they saw the out-of-reach ball suddenly float down on a cushion of sand and they all turned as one to see the ball make its way into their Kazekage's hand.

And the children's explosive reactions were the complete opposite from what Gaara had expected.

"It's Gaara-sama!"
"Kazekage-sama is here!"
"What? Where? I want to see him!"

Kankurou had seen Gaara face down surprise attacks from ANBU assassins and other murderous nin with nary a qualm, but the look on Gaara's face at the sudden stampede of all the little people in the playground towards him could only be described as ...panic.

"Thank you for all your hard work Kazekage-sama!"
"We're so glad you're alright!"
"Thank you for protecting the village!"
"My father says you are the best Kazekage-sama ever!"
"I want to be just like you one day, Gaara-sama!"

Gaara stared down at the children's faces, embarrassed stiff, his normally pale face pink as he experienced being the centre of attention of a crowd of energetic, admiring children for the first time in his life. Kankurou felt something pricking his eyes (not tears because shinobi don't cry, dammit) as he watched his stoic, frozen sibling receive the outpouring of affirmation that he had worked so hard to achieve but had not dared hope for.

"Gaara-sama, you're here!" Shinji's voice broke through the crowd. Gaara looked up to see the sandy-haired boy fight his way before him with that same eager, friendly smile on his face as yesterday, and when he finally arrived in front of Gaara, he blurted a question that Gaara had never heard addressed to him before.

"Would you like to play with us?"

The rest of the children cheered. And began to argue loudly over who would have the privilege of having Gaara on their side. That had never happened before either. It was a day of firsts, it seemed.

One of the teachers made a strangled noise at the daring question and resulting chaos and would have moved to shoo the children away and say that of course, THE Kazekage-sama would NOT have time to play with such ill-mannered children but Kankurou moved to stop him, waiting to see what his sibling would do.

And so Gaara found himself ensconced at the top of the wooden fort while the children fought desperate battles to defend their 'Kage or to win him over to their side. And though many children fell down into the dirt, their injuries and scratches were less serious than expected because for some reason the sandy ground had become a lot more cushioning than usual.

All too soon, the break was over. The children were made to bid the Kazekage farewell, and they did so reluctantly.

"Thank you for visiting us, Kazekage-sama!"
"We really enjoyed playing with you!"
"Please come visit us again, Gaara-sama!"
"You will visit us again, won't you?"

Gaara walked away from the Academy, with the children's cries of "Come back soon! See you again! Take care!" ringing in his ears. He was dusty and somewhat tired from the play (who knew play could be tiring?), but deep inside, his heart felt lighter.

Kankurou sat in his dimly lit room sorting through the pile of drawings, letters and sweets that had suddenly arrived in the Kazekage Tower from the Academy that night, against the decidedly small possibility that the gifts held any threat to the Kazekage. A soft knock sounded on the door.

"Enter."

He looked up to see Gaara, dressed simply, all in black, enter the room. He made room for Gaara on the sofa and his brother slumped bonelessly in the vacated space, venting a soft sigh.

"So, how did you find today?" Kankurou asked, even as he considered with amusement, an enthusiastically crayoned picture of what he supposed could be a giant, flaming Gaara standing tall over Sunagakure and placed it on to the "No threat" pile.

Gaara stared at the ceiling as he considered the question. "Tiring. Thrilling. I didn't know the children felt that way about me. That I had succeeded in making that connection, that bond with them, and I didn't even know."

"It's not just them. The people love you," Kankurou said simply.

"Mmmm," Gaara hummed softly.

They sat together in silence for a while.

"Kankurou?"

"Hmmm?"

"Would Mother have loved me, as I am now?"

Kankurou smiled and put his hand on Gaara's shoulder, a rare contact between brothers as their eyes met.

"Yes," he said, with all of his belief in his voice. "How could she not?"

Gaara closed his eyes, comforted, and leaned gently into his brother's touch.

"Thank you."

Hope you enjoyed it. ^_^