Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, it would not have taken 15 years to conclude the story. Also, this is a re-write of my old story "Devils of the Sand and Leaf"

'Thoughts'

'Konoha was always beautiful," that was the thought that ran through the mind of a young man with blazing red hair. As he walked through the night darkened streets, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was always at peace, the days are warm and inviting and the evenings are crisp and wonderful. It was so different from his homeland and while the red head cherished his home, it could not compare to the peaceful feeling Konoha gave him. The young man took his time wandering the streets and didn't seem like he was in no hurry. But then, he was here to meet someone but didn't have a specific time pegged so he would be able to enjoy himself. His sea green eyes looked all over the village, enjoying every sight before him in the quiet town.

Humming to himself, the young man was content to just walk, at least before he would have to go and meet his friend. However, he was cut from his pleasurable walk when someone bumped into him, a rather cute looking young woman close to his age. She stumbled only for a moment before steadying herself, giving him a cold look before continuing on, the red head was content to move on but then he noticed three men walking up to him and looking like they wanted to catch up to the girl, but the red haired man felt that something was wrong, like this wasn't a friendly get together. Going with a gut after a moment of hesitation, the red head turned and began following the threesome, finding that they had cornered the girl in an alleyway. He made sure to hide himself so none of them would notice him and so he could listen and observe.

Despite being trapped, the girl didn't seemed panicked, in fact her stance was completely relaxed and even bored looking. She stared down the three men for a moment and gave a small yawn, causing the men to scowl at her. "Well, what are you waiting for? You followed me around for a good while and now that you have me trapped like a rat, you're afraid to go on. Not very confident, are we? Well, I have to tell you, I don't have much money so robbing me would be pointless." she grumbled, brushing her long midnight blue hair out of her face.

"But taking you out for being a damn demon lover won't." the one who seemed to be leader growled, causing the girl to look surprised for moment and opening herself up for an attack.

The man rushed forward, pulling out a knife and being able to get a quick stab in the dark haired girl's stomach before the other two rushed to join in. Yet, the number was suddenly brought down to two as the red head went forward, grabbing one thug and pulling him close.

"Killing a girl, not a very civil thing to do. Perhaps it would be best to show you the terror of death!." he muttered, tightening his grip on the man who struggled and tried get free but soon enough he went limp and the red heap soon dropped him, walking towards the others.

The remaining two turned to see their friend crumpled in a heap, dead and looked up at the red head. At first everything was still before the red haired man spoke, his voice coming out rather soft and calm.

"So, you lot don't like demons, eh? Such a pity, most of us just want to be left alone. But to think that you would turn on your own kind, just for helping one of us? Hard to believe that you think we are the monsters." he growled as before the humans' eyes his form changed with the sound of cracking bone and bestial growling into a lean but strong looking russet and cream bipedal wolf with sharp black horns on his head. Though his form changed drastically, his eyes, those soft sea green eyes remained the same. Though now, they were narrowed dangerously as he stared the two males down, before moving to take the closest man down easily snapping his neck and tossing him aside.

"You are..." the leader rasped before narrowing his eyes and turning to the girl, taking his knife and holding it to her neck. "Damn you, got some of your demon friends to help you, huh!? Well, it's the last thing you'll ever do!" He then turned, moving the girl so she acted as a shield. The hand that was holding the knife started to quiver and his voice came out as a strangled gasp as he called out to the wolf demon. "Take one step closer, and I'll slice her throat! You...you wouldn't risk the life of your friend, would you?"

The wolf demon twitched his ears and looked somewhat bemused before baring his fangs. "Friend?" However, the girl used this lull to her advantage, biting deep into the thug's hand and getting him to drop the knife. She then quickly elbowed him and tried to run. Yet the man quickly tackled her to the ground, pinning her down and reaching for his knife. Yet before he could, a huge paw tipped with deadly claws slammed into his face, nearly taking his head off thus killing him quickly.

"Are you alright?" the wolf asked softly, reaching to help the girl up but she shook her head, brushing him off.

"Don't need...your help...just go. Before someone finds you." She managed to get to her feet but instantly stumbled and leaned heavily against the alley wall, holding her side to staunch the bleeding but the wound was too deep and her blood continued to flow.

"You're going to die if you don't let me help you. Give me your hand." the demon said, holding out his bloodied paw to which the girl accepted. Pulling her into his arms, the red/cream wolf demon didn't bother changing his form, every second counted on him getting help. As he ran, frightening the villagers that were out, the girl sagged in his arms while her eyes started to drift closed.

"You're warm...thank you for...saving me...My name is...Hinata."

The wolf looked down on Hinata as she went completely silent, though he could hear her heart still beating. "You're welcome. My name is Gaara."

A/N: Just a rewrite of my old story of the same name. I'll be deleting the old one before I post this. There were a lot of mistakes and pacing issues I saw with the original, plus I wasn't too happy with the end result once I re-read it. So I wanted to rectify all of it with this re-write and hope it comes out a better product.