Save Me And Change Me

Author's Note: Thank you plenty for the reviews! Not the amount I was going for, but I was surprised nonetheless. Gaara's a complicated character. In this chapter he may seem different then he was in the last chapter, but you'll get it soon. In short: He's moody.

(cuddles Gaara)

Gaara: (sniffs) This was a long one. And there wasn't enough action. Too many flashbacks.

Chapter Two: Tempt Me, I Dare You

"Have a good night's sleep, Gaara?" Kankuro asked the redhead nastily. There was anger in his eyes. Gaara looked up at him silently. Indifferent.

He doesn't mean it. He never does. Yet..

His older brother's expression changed. Softened. He was no longer mad about last night. He'd never been mad in the first place. He'd been hurt. But not mad.

"We got a call from your Sensei today. Said you were acting up during Fitness and Survival."

Gaara, twelve years old, but more mature then could ever be expected, let his eyes narrow as he looked at his older brother.

"Kankuro, leave it." Temari muttered, stirring the pot in the kitchen, and shooting a warning look over her shoulder at Kankuro, who sat across Gaara in the living room.

Kankuro pretended not to hear her.

"Listen, lately you haven't been so horrible, but this new blonde that seems to be walking with you home and to school; I think he's a bad influence. I don't like him. Haven't you heard what they say?"

Temari want to slap her forehead. Or better, Kankuro's. How hypocritical of him, when his brother was…their brother was…

Temari gritted her teeth. The only reason Gaara was so 'normal', at least not so murderous as before, was because of the blonde named Naruto.

"What is it? To you?" Gaara sounded as he were attempting to surpress anger. That was the blonde's doing as well. Getting her younger brother to control his emotions...The blonde sure was something. Temari felt herslef smile slightly.

"I'm your brother, Gaara. I don't want you-"

Kankuro stopped talking abruptly. Temari froze. What was Gaara doing? Would she have to go out there?

"You are only my brother in the very vague sense of the word." A pause. Temari winced. Kankuro may act tough, but those words must've stung. "Other then living in the same territory, we have no business with each other." Ouch. Was that it? No; she heard Gaara sniff. "And do not talk about the blonde that way."

Temari didn't have to go outside of the kitchen to know that Gaara was on his feet now.

"Gaara, I didn't-listen, I don't have to hear-"

"No." Temari closed her eyes. Gaara's voice cut through the thick silence. "You listen to me. If you have a problem with the way I act when I act, and if you have a problem with others like me, then I will not hesitate to kill you."

Gaara hadn't meant it. But He did.

"Gaara?" Kankuro's voice was tentative now. The redhead sensed a weak attempt at the anger that had been there just seconds before.

Temari walked into the kitchen, and a quick glance from the second eldest brother to the youngest one told her what she needed to know.

"So, what's for breakfast?" She asked cheerily, plastering a smile onto her face. Kankuro mumbled something and slammed the refrigerator door that he been holding open. He looked at the redhead, who now focused his attention on the window, and then to his elder sister. He left, brushing past Gaara who stood in the doorway.

Temari turned her eyes to the redhead.

"Do you want me to make you anything?"

No.

Temari watched as her brother didn't bother to respond, but just continue his blank stare out the window. He looked as if he was thinking hard. That wasn't good. It never was.

She's staring. She's concerned, the redhead thought. But for herself. Always. Like all of them.

Gaara clenched his hands. Don't know why you bother.

Turning, he shifted the large gourd on his back and started to leave but stopped when he heard his sister murmur,

"Gaara, please."

The redhead frowned. Why was she pleading? Why did she sound so desperate?

Probably sensing his attention, Temari managed to repeat his name, louder. "Gaara."

What?

Gaara grunted, to show he was listening. Temari got so emotional, so easily. Well towards him, she did. But in battles…

"I…" She stopped. She was changing her track of thought. Why? What did she want to say so badly before? He heard her sigh."…Kankuro and I won't be home when you return from school today. Kankuro has something to deal with after school, and so do I."

The redhead didn't say anything.

How is this relevant to me?

Temari let a breath of air she'd been holding out.

"Maybe you should bring a friend home with you. I don't want-I mean I know you really like that blonde-" Temari cut herself off as she felt as the air surrounding her and her brother thicken slightly.

"I will do as I please." The first words to come from his throat in over the hours of half a day. Slightly hoarse.

Silence. She was staring at the back of his head. Intensely. He started to walk when Temari stopped him again.

"Gaara, its not you I'm not trying to control. You know.." She let the words die on her tongue as felt something unreadable radaiting off her brother.

What do I know so well? That I can't handle Him? Well I know that. Mother..

Temari cleared her throat.

"Gaara, you know why I don't like you being anywhere alone. I know you can take care of yourself but-"

But I can't take care of Him? Is that it? Was he shaking? No, that couldn't be.

"But his men are still out there. If they're faster.."

Oh. She meant someone else. Another Him.

"They won't be. I'm going to be late for school." Is there anything else?

"We care about you. Don't think I don't know what you…Gaara, we are still family." What? What do you know?

There was a sting of pain that shot through the redhead's mind as he heard the word 'family' play itself over and over in his mind. Mom. The redhead's icy eyes grew somewhat dangerously.

You don't. Care.

He felt his body go rigid. He saw bits of sand, ashes not ashes but ashes, the blood I smell the blood, in the air before him. Control. You must. A sharp intake of breath behind him told Gaara that Temari sensed the anger flowing through his veins. Through the sand. He realized he had a clump of his hair gripped between his fingers and let go, his hand falling to his side.

"G-G-"

"Temari, Gaara's going to be-what's going on?"

STOP.

Gaara opened his mouth and inhaled. The eyes he didn't know he'd shut opened and he saw Kankuro, in front of him, looking above him, eyes wide. Surprised. What had he been doing? There was a slow exhale from Gaara's lips. Kankuro looked at Gaara for a moment, shocked, incredulous. The sand was coming back to Gaara, spiraling around him slowly. He'd never hurt Temari. Unless needed.

Kankuro's eyes. Fury. Sudden fury. Burning. Staring at him. Piercing.

Then Temari was coughing behind them. She was struggling to say something.

Gaara let himself relax, calling the sand to-

"Unh."

Back slammed against the wall and Kankuro's hand pressed against his neck. Gaara could almost feel it through the armour. Put more pressure, the sadistic thought flew through his mind, almost as an order to his older brother.

"What the hell were you doing?!" Kankuro demanded, his grip on the younger one's sand covered neck tightening. The sand never came up to block him immediately for family members anymore. Mom. Her doing. However, if Kankuro decided to go on like this…

Behind his older brother grew a wave, a wall of the light brown Gaara had grown to hate.

"K-Kankuro! Stop it! Drop him! Or he'll-" Temari was gasping uselessly.

'Or he'll' what? Will I kill you?

As if shocked, Kankuro let go, and stepped back, the fury blending in with fear in his eyes. Why? The redhead found his answer a second later.

His older brother's hands came to his throat. He tried to pull away the hand the sand had made, which was now doing the same movement Kankuro had been doing to Gaara. He was choking. And then coughing. He fell to his knees, coughing and coughing and-

On the floor. Blood. Mixed with grains of sand. When had it gotten in his lungs? The sand continued to strangle his brother.

It wasn't the first time. When will he learn? The redhead felt himself scowl. More importantly, when will It stop protecting himself? Mom..

"What-what are you doing,Gaa-make it let go!" Six year old Kankuro panicked as sand that came from the air surrounding his little brother shaped into a hand and grabbed onto the small body. Seven year old Temari watched in awe as Kankuro frantically tried to rip away from the prevailing sand.

Five year old Gaara cowered against the wall, body wracked with sobs from fear of being hit by his older brother. "I'm sorry Kannie, I promise I won't take your toys again!" His eyes squeezed shut to not have to see his respected brother hit him; Gaara was blind to what was occuring.

"Uncle Yashamaru!!" Temari was crying out, not really frightened, but not excited either.

This was when five year old Gaara decided to open his eyes.

Kankuro continued to cough, more blood mixed with a surprising amount of sand trickling from his mouth onto the tiled floor. Temari groaned. More exasperated then anything.

Before another word could be said, Gaara found himself leaving the room the sand quick to follow him. His brother was still choking on sand on the floor, and his sister was at the other end of the kitchen, exhausted and frustrated and breathing some sand. Two feet from the door, Gaara raised his hand and the door opened as the sand became his hand and turned the doorknob..

And how he hated it.

"Wha-what-"

"Gaara, stop it!" Gaara flinched as the uncle that had never yelled at him before did exactly that. Frightened, Gaara looked back at his brother, who was now completely surrounded by sand.

Kill him. He tried to hurt you. "NO!" The five year old shouted out, tearfully. He blinked and tried to bring every happy moment to the front of his mind, every moment he'd had with his brother. But he couldn't. And then-

It was over. Gasping, the little redhead staggered back only to feel his back slam into a wall. He watched as the sand dispersed from Kankuro's body and came to swirl around him. It would disappear soon. It's only visible when it's being used and the few moments afterwards.

But…

That hadn't happened before. Not to a close family member.

Gaara looked up at his guardian only to see a flash of anger in the respected adult's eyes. But then it was gone, and Gaara wondered if it had ever been there in the first place.

He looked down and saw Ai. He quickly picked it up and squeezed it against his chest, trying to get rid of the headache.

The bear eased nothing.

Review? (pouts and goes into corner)

Gaara: (looks over at sulking figure and sighs, rolling eyes) Angel sulking is one thing I don't want to have to deal with. Leave your reviews. An update will be written once there are 5. If more, then you'll expect the update sooner. If not, she will take her precious time.

(smiles)

Gaara: The sadistic bitch. She learns it from me.

Any ideas on a pairing you have in mind? Boy/boy is one I have in mind right now. But it's your opinion. By the way, the rating will increase as this goes on. Not so much for smut, at least not yet, but more for the angstyness.