Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or Gaara sadly. Does Gaara have a girlfriend in the anime or manga? No, sadly, although it might have helped.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. They help me make my work better. Thank you Sasukeluver4ever17 and Sabaku no Ko-chan for the reviews and thank you to anyone who read and favorited chapter one. And thanks to my friend Luna, for helping me edit this. Love ya Luna!

Gaara got up the next morning, letting Sen stay where she'd fallen asleep the night before. He went to the bathroom and ran a hand through his hair tiredly. Was he really enough for her? He went downstairs only to see that neither his brother nor his sister was awake yet. He had a lot of papers on his desk, he just knew it. He went back to his room and grabbed a few papers before leaving for his office.

Sen got up a few hours later, smelling breakfast. "What the-" she said, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Her hand fell where she was positive Gaara had been when she'd fallen asleep the night before. Had she made him mad? No, he would have said something; probably kage work. She came downstairs only to find Takamaru sitting on a chair in the kitchen. "What's he here for?" she asked Temari who was setting the food on the table.

"Oh, hey Sen, Gaara's at his office and Takamaru is here because Kankurou decided to have manners for once in his life and sent him to your father to tell him that you were here and a condensed version of what happened last night. I haven't read his response," Temari said, looking up at her.

Sen frowned. The message probably wasn't from her father anyway; her mother had probably responded and was probably ordering her to come home. She openend the letter and had to bite her lip to keep in her furious scream. Instead she contented herself with a promise to kill Kankurou later and stormed back up to Gaara's room.

Temari sighed. She wrote something on the back of the note quickly and said, "Take this to the Mizukage, alright Takamaru?"

Takamaru blinked and took off through the open window.

Sen left a note for Gaara, along with her most precious possesion, on his desk and left.

Hours later, when Gaara came home, he trudged in expecting Sen to come bouncing up to him questioning him about his day only to be met with a quiet living room with Temari and Kankurou staring at him. He sighed and went up to his room. He found her note and picked it up, reading it.

Dear Gaara-kun,

I apologize. Kankurou actually decided to find his manners and sent Takamaru to my father last night. Unfortunately, my mother got to him first. I'll try to be back soon. Stay safe.

Forever yours,

Sen

Gaara sighed. Typical. Then he noticed what had fallen off the note. Sen's necklace. The one with an owl charm on it. She never took that off. Owls were almost as special to her as he was. Gaara remembered when he first asked her about it.

"Oh this?" Sen giggled as she showed him her necklace.

"Yeah, that," he'd said. "Why do you wear it?"

"Because, I have a contract with owls. I can summon them. For most of my life, they were my closest friends. This necklace is very important to me."

"It's beautiful," he'd whispered into her ear. "Almost as beautiful as you."

"Yeah, I never take it off," Sen said. "But the only thing that means more to me than the owls is you Gaara-kun."

She would have never left it, but...maybe she'd left it so he wouldn't feel so alone without her by his side. He walked over and sat down on his bed, fingering the charm on the necklace. What if he wasn't good enough for her? The only ones that knew about their relationship were his siblings, Sen's family, the Raikage and Mizuki. They were from two different villages. That didn't bother Temari. Sometimes she'd ask for a pass to Konoha just for the hell of it so she could see Shikamaru. But that was different, wasn't it? He was the Kazekage and Sen was in line to be the next Mizukage, or at least that was what her mother wanted. Ugh! This was so damn confusing. Was this love?

Now you see why I told you all those years ago not to care for anyone? Shukakau growled almost sympathetically. All it brings is pain and confusion.

Shut up! Gaara snapped back. I don't need your idea of anything right now.

Shukaku grumbled angrily but backed off.

Gaara rubbed his aching skull. What if he's right though? Wait a minute, what the hell am I doing? Ugh, what if this is all just a dream? A dream that someone very twisted shoved into my head? I could ask Temari. No, wait, she'd lie to make me happy. Kankurou wouldn't. Ugh, but do I really want to deal with his perverted nature? The lesser of two evils... He chuckled aloud as he remembered that. Sen had told him that one time when she was deciding whether to go home right after the kage meeting where she'd been allowed to visit him, or if she was willing to risk a lecture for staying later.

He'd walked up to Sen, noticing that she was moving her hands in a see-saw motion with her eyes closed.

"What the hell are you doing?" he chuckled softly.

"Huh? Oh! I'm trying to figure the lesser of two evils," Sen said as she opened her eyes to smile at him.

He raised one brow in confusion.

"I'm trying to see if it's worth it to leave now and not get a lecture, but to not see you, or to stay and be with you but get a lecture," she explained gently.

"Why though? Wouldn't it be easier to go and not get a lecture?" he'd asked.

"Well, yeah," Sen said. "But sometimes, it's worth more for the harsher outcome, if it solidifies your beliefs."

He hadn't understood what she'd meant then, but maybe, somehow, it applied to now. He got up and dropped her necklace into his pocket and walked downstairs. When he looked in the living room and the kitchen, Kankurou's usual places, he realised his older brother wasn't there and probably in his room. Gaara walked down the hall and knocked on Kankurou's bedroom door.

"Yeah, come in," Kankurou replied distractedly.

Gaara pushed the door open and stood there, suddenly unsure of why he was there.

Kankurou turned to look at his little brother standing in his doorway. That look on his face, he thought. It's not Gaara's normal look. I wonder what's going on? "What's up?" he said as he picked Karasu, who he'd been working on when Gaara had knocked, off of his lap and set it on a table nearby before pushing the table back against the wall. "Gaara? Is there something you wanted? Come sit down," he said as he got up to start putting the tools away.

Gaara stayed where he was and said, "Kankurou, I-"

"What is it Gaara?" Kankurou said, turning to look at his brother curiously.

Let me finish dammit, Gaara thought. Aloud, he said, "Kankurou, what if this is all just a dream?"

Ah, so that's what it was, Kankurou thought. "Well, you should ask Temari if this is going to be a question about love. God knows, she knows love if anyone does."

Gaara glared at him and a scowl started to form on his face. "That's not what I meant..."

Kankurou gulped and said, "Well, what do you think it is Gaara?"

"I don't really know..." And I don't. If I did, I wouldn't be asking this bastard if it was. I don't know whether all this time with Sen has been a dream or not. I don't know if my wanting her is simply Shukaku's bloodlust, or if I truly love her. I don't know any of this. I just-I don't know anymore!

Kankurou smirked. "You mean you don't know what you and your girlfriend have been up to for the past four months? That you don't know even know why you're in here?"

Gaara's fist came flying into Kankurou's face at a speed that, had it been aimed at Gaara, the sand probably couldn't have stopped.

Kankurou slammed into the wall and slid down, clutching his nose as blood spurted everywhere. "What the hell was that for?"

Gaara glared at him, when he realized his own hand was stinging. Lifting it to his face, he noticed that his knuckles had split open from the blow.

Temari came running in. "What's going on?" she cried.

"He fucking hit me!" Kankurou cried, pointing at Gaara.

"Well what did you say to him?"

"I said 'You don't even know why you're here?' and he just slugged me!"

Temari rolled her eyes but before she could say a word, Gaara shoved past her and stormed downstairs and out of the house into the cool desert night.

Why does he always have to be a bastard about everything? Why can't he learn when to shut that damn mouth of his? Why, why, why?

Well you did ask him a question...

Shut the hell up! I never asked for your help. Why can't everyone just leave me the fuck alone?

Fine. Why don't you figure out what it's like to be truly alone...

Suddenly, there was dead silence, around him and in his head. Alone... He looked up at the sky. Maybe all this really is is voices in my head and I'm really in a straight jacket somewhere, blathering about the voices.

Second chapter, what do you guys think? I have the next one, but I didn't get that many reviews for my first chapter. If I can get five for this one, I'll put chapter three up. I need to know what you guys think, cause I read every review. Thanks!