Yumi was sitting in a chair in front of a large wooden desk. Tsunade was sitting on the other side of the desk, looking over Yumi's records one last time. The curly brown-haired female waited patiently, listening to the ticking of the clock that hung on the wall and doing her best to ignore the frequent banging noises that came from outside the office. Her green eyes wandered around the room, taking in the different details. She was amazed at how many books and scattered pieces of paper there were. Most of the books were in large stacks throughout the room. Yumi's apartment was cluttered with different things, but not to the point that Tsunade's office was.

"So, are you still interested in helping us out?" Tsunade asked, setting the female's resume down on the desk. "This would be the first time that we hire a psychologist to look after any specific patient. Most of our staff deal with trying to find medicines that would help the patient."

"I am interested, but I would like to know more about the patient you want me to work with." Tsunade nodded, picking up a manila folder and opening it.

"I can't go into detail unless you accept the case, but I can tell you the general information."

"I guess that's better than nothing," Yumi sighed.

"The patient's name is Gaara. He is twelve years old and has been with us for a little over two years now. We haven't really made any progress with him. I really hate seeing a kid his age in here. If there's a way to get him out of here, he deserves that chance. The psychiatrists have given up on him, since there isn't any specific medicine to give him. He refuses to take the medicine we do give him, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway." Yumi looked down at the ground with sad eyes as memories ran through her head. "So what do you say? Will you give it a shot?"

"There may be nothing I can do," she said softly. "I'm more like a counselor than anything."

"That may be exactly what he needs though. We haven't really tried that yet, or at least not very well."

Yumi thought for a moment before nodding. "I guess it's worth a try."

"I really appreciate it. There is one thing I need to tell you about though." She looked at the older woman with quizzical eyes. "You will hear a bunch of rumors about Gaara, especially from the nurses. Please, don't believe any of them right away. I will tell you right now, it is true that one of Gaara's nurses was found dead and that three of them vanished. I won't deny that. There is no proof, however, that Gaara was behind any of it." The brown-haired female sighed, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"May I please see his file?" Tsunade handed her the manila folder. She opened it and quickly skimmed it over, shocked by what she read.

XxoooxX

Name: Gaara Sabaku

Admission Date: January 19, 2006

Reason(s) for Admission: Murder of two siblings

Notes:

Before admission, Gaara was receiving counseling in order to help him deal with some of his emotional instability. The patient was found on the crime scene with the murder weapon in hand. He had both his brother's and his sister's blood on him. He showed no emotion and was silent for several days.

During admission, Gaara seemed quiet and reserved. He didn't want to talk to anyone and refused to take any medication. He was allowed to move about on the third floor, which was where his room was, during certain times of the day with the other patients. An incident occurred where one of the other patients had cut himself. Upon seeing the blood, Gaara showed a complete change in personality. The ten-year-old became extremely violent and tried to strangle the patient and lashed out at anyone who tried to even come near him.

Gaara has been moved into tighter security and has lost most of his roaming privileges. He has also been labeled as being extremely unstable around blood.

XxoooxX

Yumi closed the folder and sighed.

"Is this all you have?" she asked. Tsunade nodded.

"It's all that I'm allowed to give you anyway," she told her. "I understand that you don't have a medical background, but that doesn't concern me right now. I will personally let you know when Gaara needs to be taking any medication. You are in charge of Gaara, starting today. There are still some nurses who take care of him, or at least try to. If they don't listen to your orders, let me know and I'll take care of it." Yumi smiled and nodded.

"I would like to meet with him now." Tsunade stood up and motioned for her to follow.

Yumi tagged along behind the blonde haired woman down several white hallways. They walked up a set of stairs and then down another hallway. Tsunade was just about to open up one of the doors when a nurse burst out with a bunch of pills flying through the air behind her. The door closed and the two women stared in shock at the terrified nurse.

"What happened?!" Tsunade asked.

"I was trying to get Gaara-san to take his medicine," she answered, still sounding a bit spooked. "He grabbed the dixie cup from me and threw the pills at me."

"What does Gaara need medicine for?" Yumi asked, slightly confused.

"They're just vitamins," the nurse sighed. "The other patients take them too. He's not the only one." The brown-haired girl nodded.

"Well," Tsunade began, "He's all yours." The blonde turned her attention to the nurse. "This is Dr. Yumi Morita. She is in charge of Gaara, so anything she says goes. Let the other nurses know as well." The nurse nodded and scurried away, Tsunade slowly following.

Yumi stared at the door and gulped. This was the first time that she had to deal with someone from a "psycho ward". She honestly had no idea what to expect. From what she just witnessed, she was a little nervous. Who wouldn't be?

Taking in a deep breath, she reached for the handle and slowly turned it. She entered the dimly lit room, shutting the door behind her. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a young boy within the corner of the room. He had messy blood-red hair, pale skin, sea-green eyes, and black circles surrounding the eyes as well. On his forehead was a tattoo of the kanji sign that meant love.

The boy slowly met her gaze, sending chills down her spine. He hugged his knees to his chest, not taking his hate-filled eyes off of her. She knew that she wasn't welcomed there. This wasn't the first time this had happened. She had worked a few cases, but there was one case in particular that stood out in her mind.

Lost in her thoughts, she quietly chuckled to herself. The red-haired boy squeezed his legs even tighter, thinking that she was laughing at him. Remembering where she was at, Yumi noticed the increase in tension between the boy and her.

"Who are you?" he asked softly. His voice had a naturally light tone to it and was slightly muffled because he had his face buried in his knees.

"I'm Yumi Morita," she answered softly. "Who are you?" The boy narrowed his eyes.

"You know my name," he said bitterly. Yumi sighed and took a seat against the wall by the door.

"It's Gaara Sabaku, right?" The red-haired boy nodded slightly, still not taking his eyes off the stranger.

"I already told that other nurse that I wasn't taking any pills."

"Why wouldn't you take them Gaara?"

"I'm not sick," he muttered, finally breaking eye contact with her. He closed his eyes and buried his face deeper into his legs.

"Alright, I'm not going to make you take them if you don't think you need to." Gaara looked up at her with questioning eyes. No one just let him be, at least none of the other nurses did.

"What are you?" he asked, a dab of curiosity mixed in with his voice.

"I'm your case worker," she answered. "It's kind of like a counselor, but a bit different."

"So how long is it going to take you to quit?" Yumi could feel a pain in her chest. She had heard that same question before. It didn't faze her then, so why did it hurt now?

Yumi inhaled deeply and slowly released it. "I'm not going to quit," she told him flatly. Gaara narrowed his eyes at her again.

"Yes you will. Everyone has quit on me, counselors and psychiatrists. By the end of the week, they all said that there was nothing they could do and then they left. You'll do the same. You're no different than the rest of them." Yumi softened her eyes.

"Why does he remind me of Touma?" she wondered to herself. "He's so different, yet he's so similar it's unreal."

"How do you know? We just met, so how can you tell that I'm the same as everyone else?"

"I just can."

"Then what do I have to do to prove to you that I'm not like the others? What can I do to earn your trust Gaara?" He closed his sea-green eyes, immersing himself in thought.

"Nothing," he whispered a few moments later. Yumi felt slightly saddened.

"Alright Gaara," she sighed, getting to her feet. "I'll let you be in peace now." She slowly exited the room and walked down the hall, dragging her feet beneath her the entire way.

The red-head stayed sitting in the corner of his room, clutching onto his brown cotton pants and digging his fingernails into the fabric.

"I drove another one away," he whimpered to himself, burying his face as deep as he could. "Why do I have to keep driving them away?"

So, is it still worth continuing? Let me know what you think! I'll post chapter two next Wednesday, but if I get enough reviews I might post it on Sunday. So if you want it up sooner and if you like it, please let me know! I really want to know what you all think.

PLEASE REVIEW! IT WOULD MAKE ME SO HAPPY!