The buzz of the saw whirred by his ear and Sasuke flinched involuntarily as the doctor came closer. His cast began to vibrate as the saw cut into the material.

Finally, after so long, Sasukes cast was coming off and he wasn't sure he'd ever felt more relieved than the moment his skin made contact with the air and the cast was completely gone.

The doctor checked his arm over and deeming him healthy, gave him instructions on caring for it and to return if any pain returned, then sent Sasuke on his way. As Sasuke left the building, he hurried home to find his chakra weights, nearly falling into a run.

He washed his arm and noted the extra paleness of it in comparison to the rest of his body which had remained pale during his stay in Suna, despite the intense sun. Then he grabbed the cloth weights he'd kept tucked away and slid it on.

The material was rough and loose, but he tightened the straps on the brown cloth and it stopped sliding. He put a hand on one of the weights on the opposite arm and focused on pushing his chakra to his fingers. It was difficult, more so than he'd thought it'd be. In class they were just barely talking about how to do this, but he'd assumed it was simple.

Sasuke grunted in frustration and sat down to focus.


Gaara moved away from the tree he'd perched near for the past forty minutes. The Kazekage hadn't shown up today, though Gaara suspected he shouldn't have expected it considering the man had shown up yesterday and as long as this charade had been going the man had yet to appear twice in a row. Gaara wasn't even sure why he showed up, beyond the Kazekages threat of course. They weren't doing anything he couldn't see the academy teaching him, even if the academy seemed reluctant to actually direct him to do anything.

As Gaara entered the mansion, he ignored his brother sleeping on the couch and headed to the kitchen to grab something to eat. After realizing nothing was currently made and there were no leftovers he slammed the fridge frustrated and headed back outside.

Gaara walked along the alleyways quietly enjoying the peace. As it was a weekend day, the kids were out of class, but they were usually easy enough to avoid. He made his way passed a restaurant knowing he had no money to spend but enjoying the smells anyway. His stomach grumbled and he left.

Walking after a while he heard footsteps getting closer to him. Worry about having abandoned the Kazekages lesson early ran through his mind momentarily until he realized it was only Sasuke.

"What?" Gaara asked narrowing his eyes in suspicion. It was odd enough Sasuke bothered with him in class, Gaara could see no reason for them to talk outside of school.

Sasuke lifted an annoying eyebrow and rolled his eyes continuing to walk, his hands in his pockets and his posture clearly at ease. Gaara noted the lack of a cast on Sasukes arm.

"I'm going to the library. I can't help you showed up uninvited." Sasuke said dismissively.

Gaara glared before continuing to walk as well. "Fine."

"Where do you think you're going?" Sasuke asked.

"..." Gaara didn't answer and Sasuke scoffed before dropping it.

They came across a building seeming to be Sasukes destination as he entered without a word. Gaara followed, taking in the scent of musty old books and dust.

Sasuke made a beeline to the back of the building, not stopping to look at anything, before halting in front of a large shelf packed with scrolls and books on ninja arts hidden by a light genjitsu that Gaara easily dispelled.

Gaara frowned. "What do you need from here?"

Sasuke ignored him, looking for something among the wreckage of paper and Gaara growled in annoyance, his sand stirring unconsciously. Tired of being ignored after a while, Gaara began looking through titles himself.

Nothing in particular caught his eye until he found himself reaching for a little red book. Just as he was pulling it from the shelf a voice called out.

"You!" An older man walked up pointing a finger at him. "I don't recognize you! Name, species, and reason for being here?"

Gaara stared. And stared. Then stared some more before blinking.

"He's with me." Sasuke muttered from behind a book.

The man stared at Gaara a little longer before turning to Sasuke.

"Ah! Sasuke the human! Good to see you once again! Anything in particular you're after or are you and your unnamed friend just browsing?"

Gaara watched the man quietly as Sasuke looked up glaring annoyedly. The man didn't waver sifting through the scrolls as if looking for something for them.

With a sigh Sasuke finally spoke up, "Do you have anything on chakra control for chakra weights?"

The man searched a moment then pulled out a book. "Here you are! Should have what you're looking for! Also, here's a book on how to transmute elemental properties for cooking purposes and another on the life of those bettered by the study of reptilian astrology! Very interesting things here," The man continued to rant as Gaara watched and Sasuke looked through the first book the man handed him ignoring everything else.

"Thank you." Sasuke muttered as he turned to leave. The man didn't seem to notice and Gaara followed after Sasuke.

"What's that for?" Gaara asked Sasuke pointing at the book.

"Reading." Sasuke responded nonchalantly.

"Obviously." Gaara spit out, rolling his eyes.

"I can't get these to work." Sasuke pulled off a cloth and tossed it to Gaara. Upon inspection Gaara noticed a seal on it.

"What is it?"

"A chakra weight. I told you, that guy gave them to me. I can't get chakra into the seal though so they're useless." Sasuke said scanning the book for anything that referenced chakra weights or point precision control.

Gaara felt the fabric then touched the seal. He felt the flow of energy they taught them about in class and focused it into his fingers, pushing it into the seal.

All at once Gaara could no longer hold the fabric and felt himself falling.

Stunned he tried to get up, but felt the fabric holding his arm down. Sasuke, realizing Gaara was no longer with him and had fallen, was looking over at him with traces of annoyance and amusement.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked closing his book.

Pulling on his arm angrily while his sand skittered about unsure of how to respond, Gaara glared at Sasuke.

"This stupid thing won't let me go!" Gaara responded a quiet anger bleeding through.

Sasuke stared at him trying to decide whether or not Gaara was lying.

"How did you do that?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know. Just get it off." Gaara continued pulling. Sasuke grabbed the fabric and tried to move it, but even together it wouldn't budge.

"Should I get help?" Sasuke asked after almost an hour. So far, few people had passed and those who did hurried by, none stopping to give any attention.

Gaara scoffed and pulled again. "Doubt it."

Sasuke blew air out and sat down. As Gaara and him sat there, Gaara stuck and Sasuke wanting his weight back, the air began to chill as the sun dipped in the sky.

A feeling of worry crept into Gaara's mind. What if they couldn't remove this thing? What if someone saw it as a way to kill him? Gaara looked over at a bored Sasuke wondering if somehow, he'd planned all of this. Sasuke looked back at the fabric and glared.

"Guess that means I'm getting help." Sasuke stood up. "Who should I get?"

Gaara stopped his tugging for a moment, "I don't care."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm not the one who was stupid enough to get stuck under the chakra weight. Why don't you try helping, hn?"

"You're the one who gave me the stupid thing!" Gaara responded furiously, his sand rippling across the ground.

Sasuke sidestepped the sand disturbance with a glare. "Oh what? More sand? You gonna sand your way out?"

Gaara began feeling anger boil inside him as he became more frustrated being held down. "Maybe I will."

He directed his sand to the offending object and blasted it while unintentionally covering Sasuke with sand who sputtered indignantly. As the dust settled they both turned to look at the results.

"It's still there..." Sasuke said disbelievingly. Gaara groaned and put his head on the ground and Sasuke shook the sand from his hair.

"Yo pipsqueak!" A voice shouted out. Sasuke groaned this time then looked at Gaara and the fabric then turned to the voice.

"Chun-san." Sasuke responded to the kunoichi that approached them holding some meat skewered on a stick.

"What are you guys up to?" She asked munching on her treat.

"We..." Sasuke looked at Gaara, "Could use some help." Sasuke eventually pushed out.

"Why? What's up?" Chun looked at Gaara.

Gaara moved to show her the fabric trapping him to the ground. A heartbeat of silence then Chun burst out laughing.

"We asked for help." Sasuke said after a minute. Chun caught her breath.

"Oh my goodness, you two! Ah-ha!" She finally calmed. "Please tell me you haven't been sitting here long."

"Nearly two hours." Gaara responded irritated.

After another bout of laughter and the increased irritation and killing intent from both children, Chun wiped her tears and stooped down to touch the seal. She pressed something and pushed chakra in releasing the pent-up chakra Gaara had locked away by accident.

All at once the weight was gone and Gaara could move his arm away from the ground again.

"Jeez you should know how to use it before you start trying to wear this crap." Chun said inspecting the fabric.

Sasuke grabbed it back from her and put it away.

"We were trying to figure it out." Sasuke said defensively.

"Alright, alright. Guess you have to start somewhere." She held up her hands as a gesture of goodwill. "How 'bout we get some dinner, it's late."

She watched them glaring at her and she felt a sweat drop. "My treat, promise."

The two glanced at each other, agreeing reluctantly to her proposal. They trekked along behind her as she talked about her recent missions and her journey last week involving a mission to deliver mail to a nearby village which turned into a manhunt for a bandit who thought she was carrying a top-secret letter, which turned into a bust as she ran into a huge bandit group, which in turn was in fact another viliage's top-secret spy networking headquarters, but in the end, everything was resolved and she was able to deliver the top-secret message.

Both ninja in training looked to each other agreeing silently that her rambling was only just barely worth the meal as they sat down at their seats and waited for the food.


After dinner Chun paid for the meal and waved good-bye crying as she returned her much lighter wallet to her pocket. Gaara waved back hesitantly and Sasuke gave a quick nod as they walked away.

"Who was she?" Gaara asked after walking some time.

"Hn? Chun-san?" Sasuke responded. After a nod from Gaara, Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No one really. Sort of the ninja who checks in on me I guess."

"Like a guardian?" Gaara asked confused.

"No. Like a ninja who checks in on me. Just to make sure I'm not dead." Sasuke bit back hotly, kicking a stone down the street. Gaara nodded, not really understanding the difference, but realizing there seemed to be one Sasuke cared about.

Silence overtook the atmosphere once more, but Gaara was beginning to see it as a common companion in his life and felt no need to disturb it. It was Sasuke who finally filled the air with noise.

"So, what are you getting for Ryo and Kiato?"

"What?" Gaara asked confused.

"The idiots who invited us to their birthday."

"Oh." Gaara thought a moment. "Nothing. They said not to bring anything right?"

Sasuke snorted. "You really don't know anything do you?"

At Gaaras glare Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Everyone says that, but you still have to bring something."

"What? Why?" Gaara was perplexed.

"I don't know. It's just some stupid rule. Something about being polite, I think."

"Well...what are you getting?" Gaara asked, partially hoping to gain insight on gift ideas.

"I haven't looked for anything yet. Maybe some scrolls on kata or a shuriken set. Those are expensive though." Sasuke frowned. "Need to get myself a set soon."

Gaara nodded showing his companion they had his attention, but not knowing what to say. He may have lost his Uncle, but Gaara had plenty of access to anything he needed. All he needed to do was tell the store owner his name and they billed his guardian, handy if not somewhat annoying knowing it was one more thing the Kazekage could use to control him.

The two parted ways as Sasuke turned to his apartment and Gaara headed towards his mansion.


It was hot outside, not that growing up in it hadn't conditioned her to the life, but it was still hot and, in her mind, she would recognize and complain as much as she wanted.

Temari glared at a silly pedestrian stupid enough to wave at her and moved to the tents propped up at the sides of the street where the market took place.

She had planned to head for the practice grounds, but Kankuro was down there somewhere and she couldn't go home because it was their fathers day off and no way in hell would she be caught dead in that place when she knew all he wanted to do with his time was sleep until his duties as Kazekage called him back into the prison he called an office.

She sighed, weaving her way through the crowd with the skill only a ninja could possess, she passed multiple tents drawing crowds and headed for where the people seemed less interested.

Poking around, she found a tent to duck into and began looking at the wares. Some interesting trinkets. A neat scroll. As she was reading something she noticed a ponytail of sharp black hair she could've recognized anywhere.

"Sasoo!" She yelled out, causing the head of the seven-year-old to swivel towards her.

"Excuse me?" He asked haughtily.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you here." At his confused expression she continued. "It's me. Temari. Girl you met at the Bossy guys tent. We go to the academy together. Anything ringing a bell here Sasoo?"

"My name's Sasuke." Sasuke said.

Temari laughed. "Oh, sorry. Knew it was something like that. Anyway, what are you up to huh?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued looking through the wares. Just as Temari figured he wasn't going to respond he said, "Looking for a gift."

"Oh? Who for?" Temari wondered aloud. Considering Sasuke was a new civilian recruit she assumed he was an orphan like the others, even if she'd thought he had some ninja like behavior when they first met. Had she been wrong to assume so?

"Some idiots I know are having a birthday party and invited me." Sasuke stated.

"So, like, friends then?" Temari asked amused.

"Not really." Sasuke said wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Then why waste the money?" Temari questioned.

"I can't go without a suitable gift." Sasuke said giving her a quick look like she was insane or stupid. Maybe both.

Temari scoffed. "Why not?"

"It's rude."

Temari shrugged. "Why go then?"

"They invited me."

"Okay. You could have just said no right?" Temari didn't understand this kid.

Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You can't. That's also rude."

"Jeez. Who taught you that?" Temari asked thinking said person should also instilled the ability to say 'no thanks' politely too.

Sasuke didn't respond to that, Temari didn't expect an answer.

"Well, in that case." Temari began to pull Sasuke out of the tent, "You aren't going to find a proper gift here."

"Hey!" Sasuke yelped as she ignored his protests and dragged him throughout town.

By the end of the day Temari had towed Sasuke into every tent and silly trinket shop on that side of town and even some across town. As the sun began to drift into the edges of the horizon, they finally had the gifts neatly wrapped and set inside a bag Sasuke held.

Temari and him were sitting on a bench eating popsicles while Temari talked about a book she was reading and Sasuke pretended to ignore her while he ate.

"Well, it's been fun Sasoo." Temari began.

"Sasuke." He corrected for the umpteenth time, more for keeping the pattern of correcting her rather than actually daring to hope she'd get it right next time.

"Yeah, yeah. That. I've got to get going. Want me to drop you off at home?"

"No." Sasuke continued finishing off his popsicle.

"You sure?" Temari looked worried. "It's getting dark. Might be robbers or whatever."

"My place is nearby. I'm fine." Sasuke assured her.

Temari gave him one last look, searching for deceit. Not finding it, she sighed and began walking.

"Well, alright then. See you later Sasoo!"

"Sasuke!"

Temari cackled and turned the corner leaving Sasuke behind fuming as he grabbed his things, heading

for home.


Gaara pushed his door open quietly. He listened for any noise as he crept out towards the front door holding his breath. A snore had him jumping in the air as he turned in fright, his sand whirling out in front of himself.

Kankuro lay on the living room couch, fast asleep with a book on his chest, seeming to have been there since last night.

Gaara let out a desperate sigh of relief and quickly left the building. The Kazekage had been home the day before, it having been the mans day off and Gaara had been terrified of leaving his room. Preferring to stay locked up and out of sight, eating the few snacks he'd stored in his room, rather than walk passed to leave the house or grab a meal.

Gaara assumed the Kazekage would have been back to work by morning, but hadn't wanted to take the chance and instead left early to head for school, hoping if he was home he'd be asleep.

As it was now too early to actually go to school, he wandered about the streets wondering what to occupy his time with.

He remembered Sasuke asking about his gifts for the party and figured his time may as well be spent locating something suitable, though he doubted he really knew what to get.

Going from closed shop to the next, Gaara finally came across an opened general store. The lights hummed as Gaara stepped in the place and looked around. The man at the register snored unaware of his new costumer and Gaara took his time poking around.

The shelves were full of random things and Gaara bypassed the fridges figuring anything from there would go bad.

After a while of wandering around the small shop, Gaara sighed. Aluminum foil was probably not a good gift, right?

He put the box of shiny wrap away and moved across the store taking note of the rising sun. School would be starting soon, but knowing the party was tomorrow, Gaara had to find anything.

He finally grabbed something he hoped was okay and stuffed it in his backpack as he ran to school, ignoring the people just waking up and heading out for the day.


The school day was uneventful as it passed by swiftly. Sasuke managed to stay behind accidentally as he took his time packing his bags, knowing he had nowhere to be. Gaara left in hurry muttering something about wrapping something and Sasuke let him go without a comment.

"Yes Sasuke? Can I help you?" Sasuke nearly jumped out of his skin as he looked at the teacher who was packing her own bag as she made her way to the door. At first Sasuke went to shake his head, then he remembered the trouble he was having with his chakra weights and nodded.

Putting his things away and walking to the front of the room he asked, "I was wondering how you use chakra for outside use...things."

"What do you mean?" The teacher closed her bag, giving Sasuke her undivided attention.

"For small things, like not jutsu. How do we use our chakra for stuff?" Sasuke wasn't sure how to word what he needed.

"Hm." The teacher paused looking thoughtful, before seeming to come to a decision.

"So, you want to explore chakra manipulation?" She asked opening a drawer. "Here," she handed him a book. "This will get you started and," she wrote down an address on a piece of paper. "Unfortunately, you're asking some rather advanced questions. Especially as a recently converted civilian. So, here is the work place of a friend of mine. She works with the school sometimes helping students with extracurricular activities, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind assisting you with catch up and helping with your questions."

The teacher wrote a quick letter and pulled out a document. "Just have your guardian sign this. Take this," she handed the document to him, "signed and filled out. And this," she handed him the letter, "is my letter of recommendation asking her to take you in. Keep it safe and be sure to hand it in with the consent form."

Sasuke accepted the papers somewhat befuddled, having expected a quick response, not papers and a book.

"Anything else?" The teacher headed for the door.

"Uh..."

"Good. I'll see you in class next week. Have a good weekend Sasuke!" The teacher left and Sasuke finally managed to pull his brain back together. He put his things away and headed home, all the way wondering who he was supposed to have sign his consent form.


Today was the day. Kiato was so excited, not that he'd let Ryo know that, because that wouldn't be cool, but today was here all the same.

They had invited Saburo over for the celebration, considering it had been nearly a month since they'd seen him upon leaving the orphanage. Not that Kiato had missed him or anything. That'd be ridiculous.

Kiato pulled the blankets off Ryo, earning himself a grumpy kick to the leg for his trouble.

"Hey wake up!" Kiato yelled. With no response Kiato walked out of the room. Momentarily.

"Man, this is a big glass of water! Hope I don't spill it on some poor sleeping person who's too lazy," Kiato didn't finish as Ryo jumped out of bed.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Ryo yelled. Kiato held his chest laughing.

"Ah! You're too easy!" Kiato showed his empty hands and Ryo glared. "Hey! Wait! It was just a joke!"

A murderous Ryo ran after Kiato who fled the building with his life intact.

When Kiato was decently certain Ryo had calmed some, he headed back in and grabbed a bowl of breakfast.

"So," Kiato munched between talking, "when's Suburo getting in?"

"Not sure. I told him, like, two, but he might come sooner or later he said because Hana-san is still in a wheelchair and needs help around the place." Ryo responded.

"Oh." Kiato pushed around his food. "Oh well. You think Ponytail's showing up?"

"Who?" Ryo looked confused. "You mean Sasuke?"

Kiato rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Who else?"

"I don't know. Yama? She wears a ponytail too." Ryo pointed out.

Kiato refused to admit Ryo was right and instead ignored him. "Well?"

"Well, maybe." Ryo put up the dishes. "He said he would. With Gaara, right?"

KIato shivered. "Yeah. That freak."

"What?" Ryo looked over.

"Nothing. So, want to go to the park or something?"

Ryo looked worried.

"No one is coming over for a while. We'll be back before anyone gets here." Kiato reasoned. "And this place is so boring. And small. Come on!"

Ryo stared at him then nodded reluctantly and they got dressed heading out.


Gaara left his house. He wasn't entirely sure why he kept coming back, but he guessed it was simply because it was a place to be. Even for a moment.

As he wandered with his gifts in tow, he realized he was kind of depending on running into Sasuke because he had no idea where he was going.

The sun rose in the sky and the land began to heat up. Gaara found himself in a park and he strolled around not in any hurry to rush nowhere.

After a bit he heard kids coming. Before he could make a strategic exit, Gaara realized it was the birthday party kids he was looking for. Stunned by his chance of dumb luck he didn't say anything until one of them turned to him.

"Hey!" One of them was calling him and his stomach twisted uncomfortably, but he ignored it in favor of giving a strained sort of smile and a half-hearted wave.

"Where's Sasuke?" The brown haired one was talking to him. The white haired one was just glaring at him like usual, though he glared at everything so Gaara wasn't sure if maybe that was just the kids face stuck in that expression.

"Um..." Gaara took a second remembering the question he'd been asked, "not sure."

"Oh. What in there?" Brown haired kid pointed at the bag Gaara held the gifts in.

"Presents."

"Nice! Thanks! Why don't we go to the party and put them away?" Brown haired kid asked excited, not really seeming to need an answer. White haired kid just scoffed and lead the way.

On the way, Gaara felt more and more uncomfortable. He hadn't realized how much Sasuke made the air seem less tense, even as brown-haired kid chatted away and white-haired kid ignored him.

As they reached a building at the end of a street the kids he was following turned, entering through the doors into a cool room. At a desk a lady sat ignoring them as they made their way up the stairs.

At the end of a hallway Gaara spotted Sasuke, to his immense relief.

"Where have you guys been?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"Huh?" Brown-haired kid suddenly noticed Sasuke. "Hey! You made it!"

White-haired kid scoffed again and unlocked the door.

Gaara followed them in after Sasuke and set his bag on the counter besides Sasukes wrapped gifts.

As brown-haired kid chatted on about the room and the ninja who showed it to them, Sasuke turned to Gaara and discreetly whispered.

"How'd you end up with them?"

Gaara shrugged.

"Hn." Sasuke looked at him disbelievingly. "I looked for you at the schoolgrounds and the streets, but I don't know where you hang out, so I figured I'd drop off my gifts and go look for you."

Gaara felt touched for a second before glaring at Sasuke suspiciously.

"Why do you want to know where I hang out?" Gaara asked lowly.

Sasuke gave him one of his increasingly common 'are you stupid' looks that Gaara was beginning to hate. "I don't."

Then Sasuke turned back to the brown-haired kid and ignored Gaara leaving him feeling even more confused than ever.


Saburo ran as fast as he could. The sand sliding beneath his feet as he hurried across hoping to make it to his destination in time. As he finally made it to a tall building housing apartment complexes, he slowed to catch his breath and held his bag close. Entering the reception room, he smiled at the unobservant receptionist and headed up.

He searched for the door he knew would lead to what he was after, but having not been there yet was making him somewhat confused. Finally he found it though, and as he knocked he heard laughing and a shuffle behind the door before Ryo's face popped out as he answered the door.

"Saburo-san!" Ryo reached out and dragged him in with a grin. As Saburo took in his surroundings, he was disheartened to see such small living quarters for his young orphans, but he plastered a smile and noted the kid who had left along with Kiato and Ryo, with another red-haired kid Saburo didn't quite recognize.

"Hey, Ryo! Great to see you too! And Kiato of course!" He turned to ruffle Kiatos hair as he ducked away hiding a grin.

"Hey! Welcome to our home!" Ryo began as Saburo internally winced, "Sasuke's here too!" That was the kids name, Saburo remembered. "With our new friend Gaara!"

Saburo wondered why that name sounded so familiar. Had the kid been an orphan? He wasn't sure. Maybe it was just a name he'd heard.

They sat down at the small table, Sasuke and Gaara standing together on one side and Kiato on the other as Saburo and Ryo sat at the two available chairs.

"I brought you guys a cake!" Saburo smiled as he pulled it out and put two candles on top, lighting them.

Once Kiato and Ryo had blown them out and everyone was eating Saburo took some time to study the kids. Ryo looked like he was doing well. Happy as always, but Saburo worried. It always seemed to him it was the happy ones in the ninja life that fell first. Too trusting. He should know, his brother had joined, as a happy kid. Would've been a happy man had he stuck to the family business instead of taking up the sword to fall at another's blade, but Saburo refused to think any further on the subject while he sat with orphans eating cake on the day they celebrate that he found them.

He looked at Kiato. A wild card to him, but he figured he was the more capable of the two when it came to the life they'd been thrown into. He knew Kiato would be fine. Saburo smiled and finished his cake.

"Alright! Gift time!" Kiato threw his plate into the sink. Ryo put his in the fridge and Sasuke and Gaara set their plates in the sink.

Saburo handed them their gifts.

Ryo opened his, an art book and pencils. "Thank you!" Ryo bowed his head and smiled.

Kiato opened his to find an action figure Saburo knew Kiato admired. "Awesome!" Kiato grinned.

Then they moved on to Sasukes gifts. "Neat!" Ryo held out a shuriken cleaning set and Kiato held a pouch for holding weapons Saburo guessed. Saburo didn't comment on the practical gifts, but it irked him how easily that kid seemed to fall into the ninja way of life.

The red-haired kid held out a bag.

Ryo grabbed it and unwrapped his gift. "Wow...ramen! That's...yummy!" Ryo smiled unsure.

The red-haired kid nodded as his face began to color. Saburo almost felt bad, he imagined this kid probably grew up surrounded by emotionally stunted ninja. At least he was trying though.

"Dried fruit?" Kiato made a face. "Really?" Saburo winced for the poor kid.

"It stores well." Was the only response Gaara gave. Saburo looked at Sasuke who looked equal parts amused, annoyed, and sympathetic. An odd mix for a kid Saburo mused.

"Well it's disgusting." Kiato said dropping the gift.

"What has gotten into you?" Saburo asked a flare of anger at Kiato's strange behavior.

"Me?! You guys are the one hanging out with that monster!" Kiato burst out.

"Monster? What are you.." Saburo was interrupted by Sasuke.

"Gaara is not a monster."

"Oh yeah? He was the one who destroyed the village! He tore down the orphanage and forced everyone into this stupid ninja training!"

"Gaara didn't force..."

And suddenly the focus of their topic was up and storming out the door, sand trailing after him and Saburo had a dreadful and sick feeling sink into his stomach as the realization hit him.

The container of Shukaku had just been eating cake with them.

"Why did you say those things?!" Ryo stood up and yelled.

"It's true!" Kiato yelled as Sasuke dashed out the door after Gaara.

"Enough!" Saburo yelled angrily. "I don't care what you think about him! You stay away from him you understand?!"

Kiato jumped and Ryo stared shocked at Saburo's tone.

"But..." Ryo started shakily.

"I said enough!" Saburo stared at them both. Once he was content that they both understood, he nodded and left. He spoke with receptionist and made plans to speak with whomever possible to get that monster away from his kids.


"Wait! Gaara!" Sasuke ran after him. "Gaara! Wait!"

Sasuke finally caught up, but Gaara continued as fast as he could walk. Running only made people come after him thinking he was being suspicious. He couldn't stop Sasuke from catching up completely though, nor could he make him leave him alone so he could deal with the rising dread he felt as the creature tried to communicate with him.

He was terrified he'd attack Sasuke again though. He needed to get away. He needed to clear his head. He couldn't think straight.

Just as he left the inner part of town and made it to a secluded hide out he tended to head towards when he was upset, he turned to yell at Sasuke but found Sasuke wasn't there like he'd thought.

He stared confused right before a kunia came close to his face, stopping only due to his quick sand reaction. The instant betrayal he felt at Sasukes attack almost downed him right then, until he saw his attacker, a tall masked man, and suddenly he'd never been more relieved to find his father had sent assassins to slit his throat again.

The man clicked his tongue, setting into motion a twirl of events resulting in a blast of flames from underground as a hidden ninja released a set of seals from her perch out of harm's way.

The woman clicked her own tongue and a third attacker doused him with water and froze the attack confusing Gaara. He slipped as he tried to step away, but his sand kept him from falling, though less came to his aid than he expected and he soon realized why. The sand around him was being frozen. He wasn't capable of pulling it towards him from further away yet.

Gaara felt the first tendrils of fear grip him and he began fighting for real now.

Every time he sent sand out the man darted away and the woman blasted fire making his sand automatically return to protect him. Once he pulled it back, the man came forward and distracted his sand while the ice maker froze the sand in the air and on the ground near him.

Already a blade had slipped close to his sand covered skin, although Gaara wasn't sure if they knew his skin was hidden in a shell. He wasn't going to take chances if they did, not that it looked like he had any choice.

Gaara was breathing heavily, the only condolence he could think of, was at least Sasuke wasn't a part of it, at least he didn't think so. He wondered what it'd be like to die, to feel pain before eternal blackness. Would he suffer?

Gaara choked back any tears, refusing to die while crying like a child, feeling the last of his sand raise to defend him.

Suddenly a ball of fire hit the man as he darted forward.

"Hey!" The man yelled in pain and the woman shot up revealing her location.

"Leave him alone!" Gaara was too shocked. He couldn't move, just staring at Sasukes back. He could hardly breath. Was he breathing?

The man stood up. "Who's this?" He asked. "The target was supposed to be alone!" He growled. When no one answered the man glared coldly. "Never mind then. An unfortunate casualty." And with that he ran forward to attack Sasuke and all at once it sparked Gaara into moving, taking the teams distraction to move away from the ice and gathering sand once more.

He threw a wave of sand at the man, knocking him away from Sasuke and the woman blasted another seal at his feet. From this angle, and having seen her earlier, Gaara was in the perfect spot to catch her unawares. As the ice from the third attacker appear, Gaara ignored it, letting his sand take care of his body while he focused on the sand sneaking up the woman's calf.

She shrieked in terror as the horror of what was happening hit her, but the damage was done. Clasping his fingers, the blood spurt from her legs and she screamed as her body drained of its necessary body fluids.

The man behind him, Gaara recognized as the ice maker gagged in horror and turned to retreat, but the level of volatile malevolence that poured through Gaara was inescapable. Within seconds the man was under a wave of sand and his screams were choked by the crushing sand as the red soaked sediment tore through his flesh, leaving a soup of human for the ground to soak in.

Gaara turned back to Sasuke and saw to his surprise a blood drenched friend falling to the ground.

A strangled yell stuck in his throat as he looked at the man responsible. The man looked at him, a deranged growl bubbling passed the blood pouring from his mouth as he lunged at Gaara. The sand shot up and annihilated the man before he ever took a step.

Gaara ran to Sasuke's side. He was glad to not see any awful pouring of blood from wounds, but he still grabbed Sasuke who was looking down, his face hidden in the shadows as he shivered uncontrollably.

"Sasuke?" Gaara was panicking. Right now was an okay time to panic right? Seemed proper anyway. Even if he had trouble with what was proper.

"Sasuke?!" Gaara was shaking him. Or maybe Sasuke was shaking so hard it felt like Gaara was doing it? Gaara couldn't be sure.

"Sasuke look at me!" Gaara's sand flew about looking for a way to help as Gaara felt tears running down his face. Or was is blood?

"Please! Please, just...just look up! Sasuke!" Slowly Sasuke's face rose a bit and Gaara held his breath.

"Gaara?" Sasuke seemed dazed, then he looked at him and Gaara froze. "What's wrong?" Sasuke asked worried.

"Your eyes are bleeding!" Gaara yelled not understanding. Sasuke was staring right at him, but his eyes were a deep red, a black spot swimming in each of them.

Sasuke raised a hand to his face and then stared at it mesmerized. "World looks kind of funny..."

Gaara wasn't sure what to do with that, but it did mean Sasuke could see right? Even if it was...funny?

Then Sasuke fell over. Gaara was lost, but he figured the best idea was to get as far away from the failed assassination spot as soon as possible, so he and his sand picked Sasuke up and ran back to the one place Gaara couldn't imagine the Kazekage allowing assassins to enter. His home.


If anyone happens to be a returning reader, I strongly advise rereading. Beyond the fact that I haven't updated in...well, awhile, I've made some minor editing changes. Mostly in the fight scene between Gaara and Sasuke, but in other places as well. Hopefully I was able to destroy some of the OOC that seemed to grow like some sort of crazy virus or cancer in my story and fix it to be a more reasonable, "I just had my life turned upside-down but I'm still me" sort of OOC. Maybe not. IDK. As long as you guys like it, feel free to read it. :)

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