It was times like these, where he catches his older siblings cowering as if they are kids with their hands in the cookie jar- or rather, a hand holding his best friend from her jacket collar and another aiming to punch said friend- that he wonders if he's really the youngest of the family. Glaring vehemently at his idiot of a brother, and sneaking a glance at Hinata, he, yet again, forces himself to resist the urge to kill him. Sure, Kankuro isn't that bad of a guy all the time, but his cocky attitude is obnoxious and his actions border on the verge of insanity. But this one right here- well, it just takes the cake.

Gaara takes in Hinata's appearance, noting that nothing has changed save for her baggy attire. He is more used to the lightly colored kimonos she wore in their times together, but no longer is she a small child, too weak to defend herself. Well, she still retains the innocence of a child (of which he envies for his was destroyed long ago), but she is a kunoichi now, a ninja trained to kill. But within her eyes, he sees the compassion and kindness that's painfully familiar to him. What he wouldn't give to see those eyes, with such warmth, directed at him.

And they are, accompanied with shock and happiness, the latter he is not familiar with. Shock he knows- he sees it in the gazes of his victims, screaming at the Death incarnate, just as his sand devours them. Is she that happy to see him, the monster of Suna, who has killed thousands with the sand on his back? As he gazes into those depths of warm lavender, he can vividly imagine their times together, and hear Hinata's voice drowned in childish glee call out to him, using that stupid nickname (not that he would ever tell her- it would have broken her little heart).

"Panda-kun!"

'So she does remember me,' He feels an emotion blooming inside his chest, all warm and tingly, and he wonders if this is what happiness feels like. As he ponders about it, he understands how absolutely preposterious for demons such as him to feel so at ease, so what is it? Shukaku laughs heartily at his container.

Child, what an idiot you are! Happiness? Such a useless thing does not exist for us demons! There is only hunger for the blood to splatter on our skin! For the carcasses of those who wronged us! For the screams of the helpless victims!

Gaara swats away the demon's insults (ignoring the conflict within the center of his chest and the painful clenching) and focuses on his quivering siblings, Kankuro's more visible amongst the two. Pathetic. "Losing yourself in a fight? How pathetic... why do you think we came to Konoha?" All three catch on the double meaning of his words. By now, everyone, except for the raven haired boy perched on the nearby branch and Hinata, are shaking like leaves in the autumn wind. 'How appropriate.' he thought wryly. Kankuro's grip slackens enough for Hinata to step out and gain her footing, and he weakly raises both hands in defense.

"L-Listen Gaara, they started it and-" He never got to finish.

"Shut up, I'll kill you." he sneered. He tried his hardest to ignore the pang he felt as Hinata shivered, and he knows it wasn't from the cold. Timidly, her eyes reaches his, and she flinches, as if he slapped her, which is slightly insulting since he'll never lay a hand on her. Her eyes travel to Kankuro, who looks as if he's going to soil his jumpsuit. Kankuro stuttered out an apology as well as Temari, both clinging to their lives. He teleported himself between Kankuro and Hinata, noticing the growing concern the latter's eyes. Before he is overcome with this mysterious emotion and the tugging at his heart (or where his heart should be), he turns to leave, Kankuro and Temari following him. "Let's go."

"Hey, wait!" He knew that the feminine voice didn't belong to Hinata, for she would never do such a thing as shout out commands. He turns to see another girl there, with odd pink hair and in a red (red, of all colors!) dress of sorts. He sees the fear within her green eyes as she continues, "Judging from your hitai-ate, you guys are ninja of Sunagakure. You may be allies of Konohagakure, but it is forbidden for shinobi to enter each others village without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go..."

"A-Ano," Ah, now there it is- the soft voice that he knows so well. "Sakura-chan, I-I believe they are here f-for the C-Chunin Exams. I-Is that r-right?" She looks at the three of them, not daring to say their names in front of these strangers. Her eyes brighten the slightest bit when they land on him, and the tingly feeling returns.


Sasuke unnoticeably jumps down from his perch, observing the short red-head in front of him suspiciously. He's quite skilled to be able to sneak up on all of them- that level of skill is comparable to his own sensei's. Speaking of suspicion...

He glances at the Hyuuga in front of him, whose stance screams "I'm socially awkward, don't come near me!" She is hardly the same girl who confronted make-up boy- Kankuro, he remembers- and punched him in the gut. Never in his life did he hear Hinata speak without at least one stutter per sentence, let alone threaten an intimidating boy (his teammate sure made him not-so-intimidating) that easily towers over her. For sure, the Hyuuga is an interesting one.

The blonde one- the girl, not the dobe- is explaining the Chunin Exams to Naruto, who still looks as clueless as ever. He looks at the Suna nin and notices his stare, but it isn't directed at him. He follows the direction and, surprisingly, it lands on Hinata, who is staring back at him with a questionable emotion swirling in her eyes. Come to think of it, he didn't see her cower like the rest of them, besides himself of course, when the boy threatened Kankuro. He also noticied the familiarity in her eyes when she looks at the three of them, as if they are long-lost friends or some nonsense like that. That girl- Hinata, he thinks- is too timid to befriend anyone, let alone Gaara.

But then, how else are they connected? It is something worth thinking about.

"Hey, Konohamaru! Think I can enter this Chunin Exam thing?"

"Hey, listen to the answer of your question, baka!"

Sasuke made himself known as he stepped forward into Gaara's view. Sakura and, surprisingly, the little girl with them swooned as they finally noticed him, and he heard the scarf-clad boy berate Naruto for being so uncool. Well, at least someone agrees with him, even if it some kid. Unlike her fellow Konoha females, Hinata sighs, more defeated than dreamily. He decides to ignore the blow to his ego. "Hey, you. What's your name?"

The girl from Suna turns to him and blushes. Damn, he can't avoid fangirls even from another village. "Huh? You mean me?" He heard another sigh of defeat from Hinata, as if losing all hope in the female race. He can somewhat agree with her, although she is a prime example of the small percentage (very, very small percentage) of the exception.

Sasuke bluntly corrects her, "No, you with the gourd." The girl deflates. Said gourd-wearer turns around to face him, his expression devoid of any emotion.

"Sabaku no Gaara." Filing that into memory, he heard him continue. "I'm also interested in you, your name?" Sasuke smirks.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Not one to be outdone by his teammate, Naruto tries to get Gaara's attention. "Hey, I bet you're dying to know my name!" He grinned, already imagining Gaara going down on his knees, proclaiming praise and "I'm not worthy"s. He got the opposite.

"Hn, I could care less." His smile falters. "Let's go."

The Sand trio left.


Another rewrite! I swear, I have no idea what went on in my head thinking that the original was that good. Hopefully, this is better. I probably will be creating a rewrite for chapter 3 some time soon, so look forward to that!

Trying to get out of writer's block,

- Failure-chan