Mira sat on the top step of the staircase as her mother told her to. She was curious what it was she was meant to do, it felt like when mother would tell her to stand in the corner, like a punishment. The only confusion in Mira's mind was why, seeing as she hadn't done a thing to be punished for. She was six years old and constantly locked up in the house. She had no friends to create schemes with, and no reason to be a bother. Just thinking in her own head satisfied her. This was rather unusual as she was only six but she seemed to have been born with a good head on her shoulders, something Mira's mother had long ago noticed and decided to play on. At exactly three minutes after four in the evening she found out why she was to stay on the steps for five hours. A tall man she did not know stood in the doorway as her mother greeted him with a broad smile. Her mother sent a glare her way as she sat on the steps.
"Don't be rude Mira. Come and greet Baki-Sensei." Her mother told her with a fake smile plastered on her face. She obeyed her mother's order quickly and walked quickly but calmly down the steps bowing before the mysterious gentleman. Baki-Sensei had a bit of cloth covering half of his face and the sand villages symbol on his forehead protector. She wondered what this new person would lead to. Else she didn't understand why she should meet him at all. Baki-sensei gave her a once over with dark calculated eyes as though assessing what this little girl could do. He smiled a small thin smile before greeting her.
"Hello Mira."
"Good evening Baki-Sensei."
"Mira, I have a very interesting question I should like to ask you." She looked at him with an immense amount of curiosity. "Mira, how would you like to train to become a ninja, an elite ninja?" She gave him a skeptical look for a moment before letting her adventurous side out. She nodded enthusiastically. But why was he asking her. She wasn't a particularly important person. Being only six though, details hardly mattered in such a situation.
"Good. You can start your schooling to become a ninja next week then. Finally meet some of the kids around here." After that Baki-Sensei spoke to her mother for a bit, and then he left. It was quick and she was unsure of it all but still excited. Later she would find out her mother and Baki-sensei were old friends so she had asked him to invite her since she responded best to options rather than simply being told what to do. She would later also come to see that was all her mother would ever try to learn about her.
That night her father came home drunk, again. She wandered upstairs to avoid the cold and vile man she called father. When she was sleeping she felt herself being shaken awake though. Groggily the six year old stared up at the intruder only to see her father standing there, she had never liked to see such crazed eyes and sadly she was well aware what came next. It was both story time and the saddest thing Mira would remember for a long time.
"Mira, it is story time. Sit up sweetie."
"Yes, father." She sat up as straight as her tired body would allow.
"Once the council created a monster, they put it in a young child who would seek vengeance of this monster within. The boy they put the beast in comes out at night and at daytime to seek out those who had done wrong. When he found them he killed them, sealing this in a coffin of sand. This is why you must be a good little girl, or else he will come. Do you understand?" She nodded and stared into the mirror hanging on the wall across the room. She tried to remember her passive expression. She watched her emotionless face. Her father stood up from the bed and brought a small dagger out of his pocket.
"Now Mira, remember you must be a good girl and follow the rules. What are the rules my dear?"
"Silence. Submission. And secrecy." Her father smiled and then proceeded to beat her black and blue as he did whenever he was drunk. He had beat her mom before her, her mom knowingly let her daughter be in pain though, for this Mira hated her. For the tears she would cry over her when she hugged her and rocked her to sleep she loved her for. Until they stopped, until she simply never came and Mira would be alone after it all, Mira watched the tears burn her eyes and spill over as he father used the small knife to cut something into her arm. It read the word Monster. A personal reminder maybe, She didn't care she was too busy trying her hardest not to scream by hardening her entire body in place. Afterwards he used his belt and fist to beat her until her body sagged. After that he left. For the first time in a while she cried. Angered by it all she used her will power to tell her feet to walk to the window. She then abused her aching body further by climbing down the tree that's branch was hanging by her window. She slid to the base of the tree and breathed in and out heavily. Standing up after a good many minutes of labored breathing she walked out of her front yard and moved about the entirely silent city. It was nearly one in the morning now, and the entire city was asleep. Or so she thought. She was quiet as she walked down a long street. She looked up at the night sky to watch the stars twinkle when she saw someone seated on their roof. A little boy with red hair sat there sadly. Her unyielding curiosity got the best of her and soon she was making the climb up to the boy. She was pretty noisy though, the boy looked over the edge in confusion. She looked up at him and gave a bashful laugh at her noisiness. The boys eyes grew wide taking in her bruising skin and her still bleeding arm. Suddenly sand floated beneath the girl then helped her up to the top. She was dumbfounded and simply stared at the sand. When it seated her on the roof in front of the boy she smiled.
"Heeeeh? Did you do that?" She questioned. He nodded a little nervously. She grinned. "Thanks, I wasn't going to make it up without help. I like your sand." The boy was staring at her completely lost, Mira couldn't help but notice the sweetest innocence in his eyes. She took in his features. He was small like her, with red spiky hair and sea foam green eyes. At the same time he was taking her in. She looked bruised and bloody which was really scary in a way, but she also had very pretty green eyes and the loveliest silver hair, it was long enough to sit in pool on the roof top. She was small seemed very smile, at least she was grinning right now. He wasn't sure what to do since he'd never met someone his age who hadn't run the other direction upon sight.
"I'm Mira. What's your name?"
"Gaara!" He said quickly, a little too quickly. He immediately wanted to take it back. Was she going to flee he wondered, but Mira simply grinned and made herself more comfortable. Yes she had heard the stories of a child with a demon but no one had ever told her his name. Blissfully ignorant she settled in to make her first friend.
"Hi, Garra." She said jokingly saying his name super-fast as he had done. He turned a deep red.
"Wh-what's wrong with you're a-arm?" he questioned, sort of. She glanced down and frowned.
"I live with a bad man." She said "I'm not supposed to talk about it." remembering the word secrecy.
"Y-you can tell me. I won't tell anyone." She looked at him for a second. Maybe you didn't have secrets with friends. Maybe she could tell Gaara her dirty little secret.
"My dad. He's a bad man, sometimes. He tells me a story every once in a while about a monster who comes and kills bad kids. Then he beats me. I wonder if the monster boy would kill him for being bad. He's scary. I hate my dad." It just poured out when she started. Gaara was horrified for two reasons. One, his friend was beaten by her father, two, her father told her he himself would kill her if she didn't obey him. "Gaara? Can we be friends?" She asked quietly. She needed a friend. Desperately. Gaara stared for a second before giving her an elated smile and nodding. She grinned. They talked the whole night away neither one willing to part from their first friend. Gaara and Mira made plans to see each other the next night, and so they did. They met every night that week and had a great time, sometimes they even went around and played games.
The next week both Mira and Gaara attended school together excitedly learning new things. The first day of classes they sat together and talked. They ate lunch together and had a great time. Mira was too consumed in her little bubble of joy to notice the way the other kids avoided being anywhere near them, well Gaara mostly. Gaara was starting to wonder what she would do when she found out; he was determined not to let her.
Surprisingly two whole months passed without her ever catching onto what the village thought of Gaara. Gaara still wasn't letting his guard down though. He was so far beyond terrified he couldn't explain it, he was positive she would leave him alone like everyone else. She would scream with disgust and flee. She was the closest friend he had. He couldn't imagine losing her. She was a best friend and a mother to him, she was always watching out for him, making sure he was well fed and the like.
Mira on the other hand was keeping a secret from Gaara. She knew. She was quite aware of his being monster from the stories. The strange part was she couldn't bring herself to care. He was the only person to treat her well. He meant everything to her. She knew he didn't choose to have a demon in him. The people who told her the story always mentioned as a miniscule detail that it had been forced into him when he was a baby. Somehow that didn't make him sound like a monster; to her it made them the monsters. She was scared he would push her away if he found out she knew. That he would decide to leave her before she could leave him. She couldn't deal with that, she needed him. Then the fateful day came about.
A group of kids from their class were playing a game with a ball a few feet away from them. The two were swinging and making plans for Gaara's upcoming birthday when they heard the stressed voices of the kids distracting them from their conversation. Looking over they saw them sadly looking up at their ball which had somehow ended up on top of the rocks many feet above them. Gaara trying to be helpful jumped off the wing, his sand floating the ball back down and into his hands. Mira followed him and smiled, Gaara must have been the kindest child she knew, the people who called him a monster must've been mental. Shyly he held out the ball with a quick and scared "here". The kids shook and backed away.
"It's Gaara."
"Gaara of the dessert!"
"MONSTER" they all took off running until Mira started screaming at them.
"HOW DARE YOU! HE WAS JUST BEING NICE YOU JERKS. AND DON'T CALL HIM A MONSTER, HE'S THE NICEST PERSON I KNOW!" She grabbed Gaara's hand and pulled a stunned Gaara away from the scene. The two were totally unaware, his sand still moved on its own grabbing the children's ankle's as they ran away. Hearing the screams they turned back around confused.
"Gaara-sama please calm down." Yashimaru suddenly pleaded as he stood in front of one of the kids. Gaara was too stunned to say anything. Mira frowned. It definitely hadn't been Gaara; he was too confused to have done a thing, maybe the sand worked on its own. Mira turned back to Gaara who had controlled the sand by now and held out her hand. He stared at it.
"I don't think they'll listen even if you explain it." She told him with a sad smile. No one had ever understood him so well. He stared at the hand offered and slowly put his hand in hers. Then they were off. Mira wasn't going to let them judge him, not when she was there and not when she knew how much it would hurt him.
