A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the super late update! The good thing is that it's here, right? :P I kinda had writer's block, sooo. yeah. (and a tad bit lazy, too)

Thankies to DarkFlame Alchemist for editing this chappie! XD Thankies, cuz!

IMPORTANT NOTE: As I said in the last chapter, I will change the title of the story. And the new title will be Bane of the Eternity. I shall change it after a few days, I think. It depends on how patient I am. :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Only my OCs.

ENJOY!

Recap:

"Hmph. This place is for children…" a familiar, velvety, raspy and deep voice spoke from above, bringing me back to the present.

My head swiveled upwards and I saw my childhood best friend, who was standing on the cave like thingo, arms crossed. This is my best friend who used to be shy, timid, scared, sad, and dependent. But… when I look into his eyes right now… I don't see any of those traits. They're just simply gone. They were replaced by cold hatred, ravenous blood lust and undying revenge. Just seeing him made me wonder what happened to my best friend. Was it my fault that he ended up this way? Was this because I left him? But now, there's no turning back. My best friend's changed. If I can do something to change him, that's great. But for now, it's different. It's either I deal with it, or not at all.

Sighing, I locked my gaze into his.

"You're not the kid I used to know back then... Gaara."

CHAPTER 6

Jay 3rd POV

"You're not the kid I used to know back then... Gaara."

Jay spoke as she stared into her childhood friend's emotionless eyes.

"I changed." Gaara's reply was cold and cutting. He turned around and was about to jump off the cave-like tunnel when Jay spoke.

"Oh really?" she taunted him, feeling pissed about his attitude towards her. "It doesn't look like it."

In less than a second, sand surged up around Gaara and he blasted a series of sand streams at her, eyes glinting with barely suppressed anger. She dodged all but one, which grazed her cheek. She gasped, eyes widening, as she touched the said cheek, feeling blood beginning to drip out of the minor wound.

"G-Gaara..."

"Do you really wish to die that badly?" he all but growled at her, expressing no sympathy and sensing no surprise from the bluish, black haired girl in front of him.

Immediately after, he threw three more sand chords at her – one at her left, one at her right and one in front. Jay straightened up and jumped up at the middle chord, making the other two chords miss.

She ran across it and leapt towards the red head, but to no avail. Just when she was a few inches from him, Gaara blasted sand directly at her, throwing her body backwards and knocking the breath from her.

Jay regained balance and landed on her left knee, wincing. As she proceeded to stand up, Gaara suddenly clasped his head with both his hands while bending forward.

"Nyyygh!" He gritted his teeth.

"M...Mother...!" He rasped out and began to convulse. As if making a decision, he nodded and straightened up a bit and glared waveringly at the bluish black haired girl.

"Come. Fight me." he bore his gaze into her eyes. "Our spot."

Without giving her a second to reply, he vanished into sand and transported himself on the Kazekage tower. He needn't be worried. Something told him that Jay would come. She would.

She stared in the spot where her Gaara once stood, shaking her head sadly to herself.

"... But I don't want to fight you..."

Jay 3rd POV

Jay stood there on the playground, running her hands up and down her arms.

"G-Gaara…"

*flashback*

"Do you really have to call me 'Gaa-chan'?" Gaara blushed at his nickname by Jay.

"Of course I do, Gaa-chan!" Jay exclaimed affirmatively."I want to have my own way of calling you. 'Gaa-chan' is my very own nickname for you. It means that I truly treasure you as my best friend. Only if we change will I change it... But I do hope you won't change, Gaa-chan. I like you just the way you are."

She smiled at him warmly. "I'd like you to be my best friend forever. It would definitely hurt if I lose you, Gaa-chan."

Gaara blushed. "You're not the only one who'll get hurt if we stopped being friends, Jay-chan. I would be too... Very much..."

*end flashback*

He changed. He changed. 'Gaa-chan' and 'Gaara's' difference is astronomical… calling this Gaara 'Gaa-chan' is out of the question. He's not my 'Gaa-chan.' Not anymore…

She shook her head softly as a small draft blew by, adding to her melancholy mood.

"…what happened to our promise?"

Gaara 3rd POV

Gaara stood on the Kazekage tower, arms crossed and eyes closed, waiting for a certain bluish black haired girl to come.

As cold wind traveled by continuously, he looked down at his hands after uncrossing his arms, and clenched them tightly.

He still felt the anger bubble within him. It was becoming a lot more difficult to control it recently, especially when she's around. The fact that his control easily breaks in front of Jay makes him a lot more cautious than he already is... Tch! Why should he even care if she gets hurt? He should just finish what he started and get it over with.

Before he could think of anything else, his thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of another presence. Jay.

"So you're finally here…"

As Gaara directed his gaze at her, he was greeted by suspicion from his part since Jay didn't have a single trace of anger that she had with her just a moment ago. Her demeanor had no sense of malice. Not at all. He could see that there was something in those sterling blue orbs of hers that he couldn't decipher. She wasn't tense at all. She looked completely calm, as if she wasn't facing the most dangerous ninja in the village. Somehow, it ticked him off.

But before Gaara could say anything else, or most probably snarl at her, Jay spoke,

"I don't want to fight you, Gaara…"

Jay 1st POV

"I don't want to fight you, Gaara…" I said to him as seriously as I could.

I can't let it go on like this. I feel like if I fight him, the more I will go farther away from him, and I don't want that to happen. Our friendship is becoming farther enough as it is.

"That choice is not yours to make."

With that said, he raised both his arms and sand rose up quickly on his command, forming an enormous sand dome around us. Light filtered in the dome, which went through a hole at the top of the dome, not only letting the light in, but also cold wind as well.

I looked around, searching for an escape route. "You can't escape me." He said, and he was right. The only escape route was the opening, which was 30 feet from the ground. Deciding there really was no escape, I stared at Gaara with steady eyes.

'I guess fighting Gaara is the only way to do this.'

I assumed my defensive stance and immediately lunged towards him with my chakra infused fist. Automatically, sand came up and protected Gaara as my punch came in. I forcefully missed, my hand punching through his sand and in effect, grazing his right cheek. Gaara definitely looked shocked now. 'He underestimated me.' I thought to myself.

It was obvious nobody got past his sand yet, which means that I was the first. And oddly, I felt a sense of pride for being the first. Before I could land another punch, I felt sand wrap around my left ankle and throw me off. I balanced myself so I could land on the ground lightly. I noticed Gaara move and when I looked at him, I saw his fingers touching his cheek. It was bleeding.

"I-is this… my… b-blood?" His bloodstained hand shook as he stared at it. "I-I'm… bleeding?"

I was so stunned that I didn't see a sand chord barreling towards me in a flurry of movement. I managed to evade it in the last second due to instinct, knowing that if I hadn't, I would've been pulverized.

Unfortunately for me, that was only the beginning. Six sand chords suddenly rose up around me. Three of them attacked simultaneously and I jumped to make them collide and destroy themselves. A sand chord stormed at me while I was still in the air. I crossed my arms in front of me to protect myself as it made contact. Its force pulled me down and slammed me to the ground.

"Hmph. Weak… W-what?" Gaara's nonexistent eyebrows furrowed when "I" started crumbling into sand. 'A sand clone.'

"Don't underestimate me, Gaara." I spoke from behind him. His eyes widened, probably surprised that he didn't sense my presence. Before I could land a punch on him, his sand pushed me away from him as sand chords attacked. I avoided each one by jumping away and stood in my defensive stance as the last one barreled towards me. The sand chord turned into a copy of Gaara and I gasped, surprised. The clone knocked me down. Try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to hurt it, even if I knew it was a clone. Gaara had figured out my weakness; I couldn't hurt him. We rolled across the ground and I knew I had to do something fast. I shut my eyes and kneed the clone in the stomach and winced, feeling my knee go through as the clone reverted back to sand.

''Why won't you just listen to me?" I demanded while running towards Gaara. I wanted to make him understand that I could help him. "I'm just trying to help you!"

Gaara raised his arms up, completely ignoring my words.

"Sand Tsunami!"

Sand rose up from the ground immediately and made a mini-tsunami. I jumped up and almost fully dodged it when my feet skimming the top of the wave. I was distracted and in result didn't notice the thin sand chords shooting through the air towards me. I crossed my forearms in front of me as they cut through my arms and legs. Unfortunately, one of them cut through my left shoulder deeper than the rest, causing it to bleed. I clutched it, feeling the stinging sensation run through it as I landed on my feet.

"You're holding back." Gaara balefully growled, his expression in between sadistic excitement and struggling anger. He was clearly having trouble controlling the Shukaku. "That's just the beginning. I won't be as lenient the next time."

Actually, Gaara was kinda right. I wasn't using my full power in this fight. But I think that holding back was a bad idea. My cuts felt like needles piercing through me again and again and I had no choice but to heal the major ones. I can't afford to lose too much chakra. Apparently, Gaara was waiting for me, so when I felt better, I resumed my stance and charged at him, now prepared to reshape my chakra if necessary.

"I just want to help you, Gaara!" I kicked him; my heel breaking through the sand and clipping the side of his stomach. He got thrown away, surprised that I was able to successfully kick him hard. Fortunately for him, his fall was cushioned by his sand on the last second.

"You don't have to deal with all your problems by yourself!" Gaara got up, his sand armour cracked, some chunks falling to the ground because of the impact. "I can understa-" His sand quickly slammed me to the wall of the sand dome, knocking the breath out of me. I sat against the wall, trying to regain my breath.

"You think it's so easy?" Gaara growled, and strode threateningly towards me. I started to say something but he cut me off. "Shut up! You don't know what happened! You don't know anything! You don't understand!"

"You weren't there when father sent six assassins after me!" He thrust his palm towards me like a claw trying to reach out to something. I felt sand wrap around me as he continued. "You weren't there when I stopped believing in anyone but myself. You weren't there when I figured everything out; my father hated me, my uncle lied to me, my mother never loved me…" He pulled me with his sand towards him so I was right in front of him.

"My best friend betrayed me…" Gaara glared directly at my eyes, bare emotions exposed. All his pent up feelings, ready to be released. Pain, hurt, confusion, sadness and loneliness. Still, the most evident one was anger. With all these emotions exposed and easy to read, he looked like his younger self: the boy who was easy to read. But in a moment, that Gaara disappeared, replaced by what the villagers thought he was – a monster.

"But it's much too late…"

"Now… die!" I saw a glimpse of the maniac glint in his eyes before I shut my own, waiting for the crushing sensation of his sand coffin. 'Huh, so this is how it ends, eh? Che. I didn't even get to do anything… I am truly sorry, Gaa-chan.' I chuckled to myself sadly. 'I guess I just wanted to say your name before… you kill me…' I waited for it, but nothing came. Instead, I was dropped unceremoniously on the ground and was pushed away from Gaara by the sand that had just wanted to kill me a few moments ago.

'W-what?' I stood up and snapped my eyes open, seeing Gaara clutching his head, the sand armor cracking throughout his whole body. Bits and pieces fell off, making him look like a cracked marble statue.

'I have never seen him like this. What am I supposed to do?' Suddenly, wind screeched in the air as sand and wind billowed around Gaara. 'Something… Something's definitely not right.'

The walls of the sand dome reverted back to sand and collapsed back on the ground, spreading more sand in the air. With all the sand, I couldn't see, and what's more, I couldn't breathe properly. The torrent of sand raged everywhere. Before I could lose consciousness, the sand went over to Gaara and hovered around him. I looked worriedly at him, not knowing what to do. My heart thumped painfully in my chest.

'Maybe I should use that?'

'No!' I shook my head, my hand clenching my chest. 'I don't understand it yet… I can't…' I felt my heat thump harder. I realized that it was fear. I wasn't scared for me, I was scared for Gaara…

Sensing movement, I turned my attention to Gaara, who was standing with his right hand clutching his head, nearly covering his right eye. The way he was looking at me sent shivers running down my spine. It was filled with blood lust.

"What is in you? Why can't I-" A deafening roar erupted before Gaara could continue his sentence. It didn't come from Gaara… It came from… the Shukaku… Sand started to come after me again, but fiercer than ever. I wanted to move, but I couldn't because sand encased my feet. Right before it came in contact with me, I decided that I should fight back this time. I shaped my chakra into a sword and reared it backwards to slice it but…

"No!... Mother!"

The sand suddenly shifted backwards, going away from me. I didn't understand what was happening. The sand that covered my feet went away, and the one that was about to attack me was jerking backwards and forwards.

"Mother… no!" I turned my head towards Gaara, and because he seemed to control it a bit, he looked at me.

"Ever since… you left… My life has never been anything… but pain and suffering…" he hissed, the Shukaku probably fighting for control. "Now that you came back, it became worse! You-!"

Without a second thought, I appeared in front of Gaara and wrapped my arms around him. Oddly, the sand shield let me pass through, almost willingly. It's like the shield wanted me to hug Gaara.

At the next second, I realized what I did and became nervous, but I didn't let go. He stiffened as I hugged him. He didn't push me away, even when I thought so. And only then I noticed that the sand torrent stopped… everything froze. 'I… guess it's time… to apologize…"

"Gaara… I'm so sorry…" I whispered as I buried my head on his chest. I got a whiff of his scent and I distinguished the scent of *sand and freshly baked cookies*… cookies? I tightened my grip on the back of Gaara's shirt, "I… I didn't know all that would happen… I left to make myself stronger… I should have stayed. I left you all alone, thinking that a couple of years wouldn't hurt… but it did…"

I looked into his eyes, my sight blurring at the edges. My fatigue was finally catching up to me. "… My leaving hurt you so much… I know that now…"

"Gaara…" I noticed my voice becoming fainter as I saw my vision go blacker and blacker by the second. "Please forgive… me…"

I'm at my limit. But before I fully lost consciousness, the last thing I saw was the alarmed expression on Gaara's face as I fell from his arms as he said something.

"Jay!"

A/N: :P Sooo, how is it? Please review! Please do try to be kind in reviewing. :) XD I'll give ya cookies!

see you guys in the next chappie!

~JayTheCow~