Kyuu found Gaara and the others near the front door. Temari and Kankuro were chatting idly and Gaara was leaning against the wall near it waiting for her. Upon seeing her he stared for a brief minute. He hadn't been paying attention when Temari handed her some clothes so he was surprised to see her changed into his sister's clothes. His eyes traveled over her once before he stopped and headed out of the door. This signaled the others to follow him and they rushed after him. Kyuu quickly caught up to Gaara's side and began to walk beside him. Temari and Kankuro took the lead as Temari knew where they were all going. Kyuu noticed they walked several paces in front of Gaara and herself; they were keeping their distance from their own brother. She frowned a bit, but recalled Gaara saying they were his "so-called family" so there must be some form of home issues. Kyuu looked at Gaara while they walked; she really wished she knew why people- even his own family, avoided him like the plague.

"What?" Gaara demanded after stealing a glance at her and finding her staring at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Nothing, just thinking about something." Kyuu answered quickly; a little embarrassed she got caught staring.

Gaara didn't respond and they both kept following the other two. Temari and Kankuro talked with Kyuu a bit while they walked and Kyuu only paid them half of her attention, the rest was still on Gaara. As she walked she noticed Gaara glance at her out of the corner of his eye several times.

Kyuu fiddled with her skirt a bit and wondered how she looked to him. Did he like her appearance? She had to admit she looked much better now that she had cleaned up vs. when they were traveling on their mission, but did he like it? She mentally frowned; why was she getting so flustered and concerned over her appearance? Generally she never really cared how she looked; she didn't spend a lot of time obsessing over her looks like Sakura or Ino did, she'd just make herself presentable once in the morning and that was it. She didn't bother keeping track of how she looked for the rest of the day, making sure her hair or (by the off chance she wore it) make-up stayed perfect, it never mattered to her. She was a ninja after all, looks aren't top priority. Yet now, now she wanted to look good and was hoping this boy thought she looked pretty. Odd…

"So, where're we going to eat?" Kyuu asked; hoping to steer her thoughts to something else.

"There's this great steakhouse not too far away. Figured we'd go there." Temari answered.

"YUS STEAK!" Kyuu cheered excitedly and the three stared at her like she was an idiot before Temari and Kankuro shook their heads and continued on; chuckling (Gaara just went back to ignoring everyone).

Gaara walked to the restaurant at a bored pace with Kyuu following right beside him. He found himself involuntarily sneaking another glance at her. He frowned as he caught himself doing that again. Why the hell were his eyes repeatedly being drawn to her? He mentally scowled at this strange… attraction. No. He refused to call it that. He didn't know what was going on, but he refused to acknowledge whatever it was that was going on. These strange….feelings? Whatever they were, he would just ignore them and they would go away.

As the four walked they noticed a group of teenage boys turn down onto the street they were walking on. They were talking loudly and being stupid as they walked by. Temari and Kankuro rolled their eyes and shook their heads; apparently the loud idiots were common. Kyuu was going to ignore them as well and started to until they spotted them. Their loud behavior silenced at the sight of Gaara and they retreated several steps back. Kyuu raised an eyebrow at their skittish behavior, the way they stumbled over themselves showed they weren't just afraid, but intoxicated as well by the looks of it. Kyuu also shook her head like Kankuro and Temari did and the four began to continue on with no interest in the group on the other side of the street until the idiots noticed the unfamiliar face among the sand siblings.

The boys looked on at the unknown girl standing next to Gaara and blinked several times. A few grew grins and began to call out to her; wolf whistling and cat calling to her, somehow feeling braver being on the other side of the street.

Kyuu glared at them slightly and moved closer to Gaara subconsciously. Her arm twitched; signaling she wanted to grab onto his arm but she restrained herself. Gaara did a mental double take at the anger that suddenly bubbled up inside him. He frowned in thought at this sudden wave of anger and desire to rip the boys to shreds. It wasn't his usual bloodlust, it was different. It felt almost like territorial anger. He confused himself at that, why should he be feeling territorial?

"Ignore them Kyuu. They're just a bunch of idiotic pigs." Temari spoke; looking back at Kyuu with a grin before glaring at the boys and flipping them the birdie.

The boys sneered at Temari and turned their attention back to Kyuu and Gaara. "How the hell did that freak manage to get a hot girl?" One of the guys asked his friend loudly; deliberately letting the others hear in retaliation to Temari's "manners".

Temari and Kankuro blinked for a moment before shaking their heads at the boys. They took a few steps back and waited; expecting Gaara to respond to their insult in a fatal way.

Kyuu glared at the boys as the word freak reached her ears. Gaara also glared and the sand in his gourd began to stir. The idiots should know better than to insult him when he was right there.

"What did you call him?" Kyuu snapped at the boys before Gaara could begin the killing. Gaara stopped summoning his sand as he watched Kyuu; curious about her sudden anger.

"We called him a freak. That's what he is. Why don't you ditch him and come with us?" One replied.

"Yeah, come on, we're way more fun than that monster." The first agreed.

Temari and Kankuro closed their eyes with a sigh; the idiots just sealed their fate with that. Gaara shot them a cold death glare and the cork on his gourd popped off. Now his bloodlust and temper weren't just territorial, now he was pissed. They dared to call him those things right in front of him? They needed to learn their place. He would make them pay dearly for their mistake. Sand began to crawl across the ground towards the laughing boys but stopped with Kyuu's next response.

"Shut your mouths!" She shouted at them and clenching her fists in anger; taking a step towards them threateningly and they stopped laughing in surprise.

"Look, she's defending him." One in the back taunted. "Word of advice girl, get the hell away from the demon. He'll end up killing you." He added.

"Seriously, that freak's not worth your time. Unless you have a death wish that is."

Kyuu's fists clenched even tighter to the point of her nails digging into her skin and causing her palms to bleed. Freak, monster, demon… She hated those words.

"You're the ones with a death wish!" She shouted at them and stormed over to them.

"Uhh should we stop her?" Kankuro asked Temari and she shrugged in response; both were shocked by Kyuu's sudden anger.

Gaara was even more shocked and he watched on as Kyuu defended him and got more and more angry. She marched right over to the apparent leader of the group and the one who first called Gaara a freak. She glared darkly at him.

"You want to start something?" He demanded as she got into his face.

"No, you started this. I'm going to finish it." She hissed at him.

One of the boys opened his mouth to mock her but before he could she punched the proclaimed leader of the group square in the face and he flew back into the wall behind them.

"Shit!" They exclaimed in surprise at her strength.

Kyuu rounded on another one and kneed him in the balls hard. She grabbed the first guy by his shirt and glared at him. "Never insult someone like that in front of me." She snarled at him.

As she scowled down at him a fist came at her and collided with her jaw. Kyuu blinked slowly after the impact and turned to stare at the boy who hit her; completely unaffected by the punch and oblivious to the slight bleeding of the lip that it caused. She punched the one she was holding in the face again without looking at him; never taking her eyes off of the boy who hit her. She dropped the one she was holding before turning to stand in front of the one who hit her. Never once saying a word or showing any signs of pain.

"The fuck!? She's not even affected by that!" One of them shouted; backing away from her.

Kyuu smirked lightly at them and grabbed the one who hit her; yanking him closer to her. "Scared?" She taunted before kneeing him hard in the gut and hitting him twice as hard in the jaw.

Kyuu whipped around to the other boys as she let go of that one and before she could continue her assault she felt something grainy rub against her wrist. She stopped and looked down to see a ring of sand twisting around her wrist. It started to move and took her wrist with it, tugging on her. Kyuu blinked in surprise and allowed the sand to tug her away from the group of boys by her wrist. When she stepped away from them and had her back to them she heard the sound of sand rushing forward, screams, and a sickening crushing sound after that; followed by silence.

Kyuu stared at Gaara as his sand led her back to him and once she was in front of him the sand released her. It returned to his gourd and was followed by the rest of the sand. She smiled at Gaara and turned to the other two.

"Well shall we go?" She asked as if nothing had happened.

"Uhh… yeah." Temari and Kankuro responded and they began walking again.

Gaara continued to watch Kyuu. No one had ever stuck up for him before. It was strange. She didn't need to; she shouldn't even have wanted to in the first place, but she defended him. She started to beat a couple of boys up for calling him names? She knew next to nothing about him and yet she was kind and defending him. He paused at that, if she knew the truth would that change how she acted around him? She wasn't an idiot, she had to know he wasn't a good guy; anyone could figure it out by now that he was bad news. Yet it didn't seem to affect her, if she knew the reason though? Knew what he really was, would that affect her?

"They hurt you." He stated; now noticing the small amount of blood on her chin from her lip but not really all that concerned. It was mostly an attempt to get his mind off of everything.

"Huh? What? Oh its nothing." She replied casually and wiped the blood away; it was already healing.

"Does it hurt?" Gaara responded.

"Not really; haven't you ever been hurt before?" She answered in confusion. For normal people it would have hurt so it seemed like an odd question for him to ask

"No." Gaara responded simply and that surprised her. He's never been injured?

"The sand protects you huh?" She asked thoughtfully and he nodded. She glanced at his eyes for a minute before speaking again. "It can't protect you from all wounds." She stated.

"What do you mean?" Gaara demanded with a glance and both Temari and Kankuro had slowed down to listen; curious about their conversation.

"It can keep you from getting hurt physically. It can't protect you mentally or emotionally." She elaborated and knew he knew exactly what she was talking about.

Gaara held her gaze for a moment before turning away. "You're in pain." He stated matter-of-factly. He knew what she was talking about but he wasn't going to open up to anything so he flipped the direction of the conversation back to her. Her eyes showed some of the same things he had in his eyes.

"Yeah I am." She answered with a slight nod.

"Why?" Temari asked curiously and Gaara took the chance to leave the conversation.

"Because of my past. It wasn't very great... and those guys, what they called Gaara, the words set me off." She answered. If it was just her and Gaara she probably would have gone into better detail but she didn't want to explain who she was to his siblings; they seemed pretty judgmental considering how they acted towards their own brother.

"I don't understand." Kankuro responded in confusion.

"You don't have to." She told him with a shrug but glanced at Gaara; hoping for some trace of understanding.

Gaara returned the glance but didn't say anything. So, she too was used to being called a freak and a monster. She was probably shunned a great deal most of her life being what she is. Perhaps that was why she was so quick to defend him; it had more to do with her than him. What he couldn't get was why she tried to be so happy all the time. That didn't make sense.

Temari lead the way into a large restaurant and Kyuu looked around at its theme and decorations before noticing everyone had stopped eating and talking once they had all stepped inside. All eyes were fixed on Gaara. Staring at Gaara in fear and she also noted she was getting stared at quite a bit as well, but it wasn't the same fear, it was more apprehensive; like they weren't sure what to make of her. Ignoring them Kyuu noticed a sign which stated "seat yourself" and Temari lead the way to the far back of the restaurant; away from people. She was used to this kind of behavior; on the rare occasions Gaara did go with them to eat it was always like this.

They only had to wait a short time before the waitress came to their table. When she first approached she greeted Temari and Kankuro, stared at Gaara in terror, and looked at Kyuu like she had sprouted two more heads for sitting right beside Gaara.

"I love people's manners here." Kyuu drawled sarcastically to Gaara; giving her a hint.

"W-what can I get y-you to drin-nk?" She squeaked; stopping her staring the best she could by directing her attention to Temari and Kankuro.

"Lemon Tea." Temari answered before browsing the menu.

"Doctor Pepper." Kankuro answered.

"Pepsi." Kyuu answered.

"Mountain Dew." Gaara stated and she quickly nodded and hurried off.

Sighing Kyuu looked from Temari and Kankuro then to Gaara and then turned and looked around everyone else who were staring at them and whispering to each other.

"I take it people don't see you out with others much?" Kyuu asked and Gaara remained silent; which caused her to roll her eyes.

"We don't go out together much." Temari answered for him.

"And Gaara certainly doesn't take a girl with him." Kankuro laughed a bit.

Kyuu glanced at Gaara and then looked around the restaurant again; most of the whispering was directed to her. Great she was already getting some type of reputation in this village. She wondered what they all were thinking about her, but she did have a guess.

Kyuu glanced at Gaara casually before speaking. "So I take it you've never had a girlfriend?" She asked; beginning to suspect what everyone was probably thinking.

Gaara didn't dignify her with a response and Temari and Kankuro chuckled quietly. Kyuu sighed and stretched tiredly before starting up a conversation with Temari as Gaara wasn't going to talk.

The waitress came back a short while later with their drinks and took their orders. Temari ordered some form of pasta, Kankuro a burger, and both Kyuu and Gaara ordered steak.

As they waited Kyuu talked to Temari and Kankuro. She tried to get Gaara to talk as well but he kept ignoring everyone and everything around him. Temari and Kankuro also made no effort to talk to him either she noted. There was such a divide between the two of them and Gaara. It pained her a bit; no one deserved to be this isolated. She knew how much he must be suffering from personal experience.

"Gaara why are people so afraid of you?" Kyuu decided to ask; not being able to quell her curiosity. Gaara remained silent and she huffed in irritation. "Still not going to answer?" She demanded and could tell Kankuro or Temari weren't going to speak up either.

"Hn" Was Gaara's only response.

"I love how talkative you are." Kyuu stated sarcastically with a sigh and Gaara looked at her blankly. "Have I ever told you all your facial expressions look the same? Curiosity, bored, annoyed, whatever you look either emotionless or pissed off all the time." She added while he stared at her. Gaara quickly went back to ignoring her.

Kyuu sighed boredly and twirled her straw. She struck up a conversation with Kankuro to kill some time and paused when they heard the restaurant door open. Temari glanced at it and grinned. She flagged someone down and Kyuu glanced to see who it was. It was two people around Temari's age by the looks of it and they came over to talk to her and Kankuro. They talked for a few minutes before glancing at Kyuu sitting next to Gaara

"Oh my God, Gaara's with a girl! Are they on a date?" The girl exclaimed in surprise and turned to Temari for answers.

"Holy shit! He's dating someone!" The guy agreed in shock.

Gaara choked on his soda when he heard that. He sprayed most of it out (on Kankuro) in shock, but still managed to choke and cough.

"Gaara! Are you ok!?" Kyuu cried worried; moving closer to him and began to pat his back the best she could with his gourd on. He tried to calm down and breathe again and once he was fine they both sent death glares at the two.

"We're not on a date." Kyuu hissed through gritted teeth while sitting back down.

"Haha no need to be shy." The girl laughed though extremely concerned about Kyuu's sanity; she must be insane to be close to Gaara.

"Man, you at least got a nice eye Gaara. She's a cutie." The guy also laughed but deeply concerned as well. Since when did Gaara take an interest in someone? He had a bad feeling that this girl was going to end up dead when he was done with her.

"We're not on a date." Gaara insisted. He was looking extremely pissed now and Kyuu couldn't blame him she was getting pissed off too. It was frustrating to have everybody thinking she was with him, insane to do so, and likely to end up dead. Not the exact reputation she wanted to have built for her.

"Kyuu came here on a mission from Konoha; she's staying with us for the night." Temari explained to her friends.

"Oh." They responded in understanding.

They talked to Temari and Kankuro for a few more minutes before deciding to sit down at the table next to them and continue to carry on.

When the food came Gaara wolfed down his steak like there was no tomorrow and once he was finished got up and left the restaurant without a word. Kyuu blinked in surprise and wolfed down the rest of her steak as well before getting up.

"Oi Gaara, wait up!" She called after him and followed him out; wondering what was wrong.

"Does she have a death wish?" The girl asked Temari when they were gone.

"Well he hasn't killed her so far." Temari laughed. "He's tolerating her for some reason." She added thoughtfully.

"I'd assume it's because of the legal matters involved, but I wouldn't think Gaara would care too much about them." Kankuro added.

"Strange." The boy commented.

When Kyuu left the restaurant Gaara wasn't in sight. She hadn't taken that long to finish eating; he should have still been close by. "Where'd he go?" Kyuu muttered thoughtfully and a little hesitant to walk off to find him; she didn't want to get lost again. As she pondered she picked up his scent and smiled. He hadn't left after all.

Kyuu turned around and gazed up at the restaurant roof. There he was; sitting up there and glaring down at her. "So, you going to come down or should I go up there?" Kyuu asked.

Gaara glared at her but engulfed himself in sand and suddenly he was gone. He reappeared right beside her and Kyuu jumped slightly from surprise. "Down it is than, I guess." She muttered as she got over her surprise.

"You're annoying." He muttered before walking off.

"Like I haven't heard that one before." Kyuu laughed with a shrug before following him.

They walked for awhile and soon Kyuu noticed that he wasn't heading back towards his house. She was curious as to where he was going but he made no attempt to tell her not to follow him so she continued to do so.

"So where exactly are we going?" Kyuu asked curiously after a long while of walking around in silence.

"I am just walking around." He retorted shortly.

"Well, if you don't want me with you, you just have to say so. I just don't know how to get back to your house." She responded.

Gaara didn't respond and Kyuu just sighed, but continued to follow him. Soon she started to realize that he was taking her back to the house and he led her inside. Temari and Kankuro were still gone at the restaurant by the looks of it so Kyuu turned to look at Gaara.

"So where exactly am I going to sleep?" She asked curiously.

Gaara stared at her for a moment before answering. "You can sleep in my room." He answered after a moment's hesitation.

"What about you?" She asked confused.

"I don't sleep." Was all he said before sand wrapped around him again and he was gone.

Kyuu blinked in confusion but shrugged it off and left a note on the coffee table for Temari; asking her to wake her up around seven so she could get an early start back home. Then she headed back upstairs to Gaara's room. She wasn't surprised to see he wasn't in there and expected him to probably have left the house. She felt a bit odd to be the only one in there. She lied down on his bed and got comfortable while trying to fall sleep. This was definitely strange. She had spent the night over at Naruto's before so she had slept in a guy's bed before, but this was different. She didn't really even know him- or Temari and Kankuro for that matter, so it felt strange to sleep in his bed and be alone in their house. The fact that he apparently didn't sleep either was also pretty strange to her.

Kyuu managed to snooze for what felt like an hour or so, but was woken up by Temari and Kankuro coming home and Temari cautiously poking her head in to Gaara's room to see if she was still alive. She waved to her and told her she'd get her up in the morning before disappearing out of the room.

Kyuu tried to fall back asleep but had a lot of trouble. After what felt like hours she finally gave up and sat up on Gaara's bed. She stared at his wall blankly while thinking. She thought about Naruto and Gaara; she sensed a strange connection to them. Somehow even though their personalities were so utterly different she felt like they were the same from some unknown reason. She knew about Naruto; knew what was inside him. After he had found out the truth himself he felt he needed to let her know in return for her sharing her secrets with him. She wondered if there was something like that going on with Gaara. It would explain why everyone in the village feared him. Then again, his apparent love for killing would be enough to cause that fear. What would cause that love for killing though? Something had to have happened to him to make him so cold. Just like with Naruto she felt a connection to him as well. It was odd to feel a connection for someone she barely knew but she felt it. She could tell he was lost in the darkness; just like she used to be…

Kyuu closed her eyes as she became lost in thought. She used to be so dark just like him. When she first came to the leaf village she came because she had nowhere else to go and she vaguely remembered her father once mentioning that was where they were originally from. She was cold and harsh when she arrived. She had no will to live and just dwelled in solitude. That was before she met Naruto; when she met him in the academy he worked hard to try to become her friend. With some effort he managed to work his way into her heart. He helped her gain a will to live and helped her change how she lived her life. She developed a kinder and gentler side to her personality and tried to act nicer to people. Four years of working hard to be a good person and spending most of her time with Naruto turned her into the goof she is today and she generally stayed a goof unless she needed to be serious or during a battle. When it came to fighting or killing she quickly reverted back to her old self and her vampire self- old habits die hard.

Generally people still hated her in the village, but she accepted that and only paid attention to the ones she cared for; ignoring the rest of the villagers. She understood their fear and hate for herself and Naruto. She just wanted to understand Gaara's village's fear. She wanted to know why it seemed he was so similar to them. She sighed heavily and began to sing; something she did a lot when she was in certain moods.

Gaara sat on the roof to his house lost in thought. He was pondering why he hadn't felt the compulsion to kill that annoying Konoha girl yet. He had come close to it on several occasions but it wasn't an instant want to kill like everyone else. In fact not wanting to kill her frustrated him so much that he had to go out and actually kill some people to release his frustration. She made him feel strange; she annoyed the crap out of him, but he wasn't so full of rage when she was being near him and acting kindly to him. That confused him the most; why was she so insistent on being kind? His thoughts were abruptly broken when he heard singing. He was directly above his open window so he paused and stood up. Gaara crept to the edge and then swung down over the ledge so he was hanging upside down in front of his window. Kyuu was sitting on his bed and singing. Gaara found himself tilting his head to the side a bit while listening to her sing.

~~Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (You Resemble Me) By See-Saw/Chiaki Ishikawa (I think it's a Gundam Seed ending? o.o) English Translation~~

Your appearance resembles mine,
As your silent cries echo within your heart.
They say ignorance is bliss,
But I don't think I'll be content with it.
Even on those nights stretched out across emptiness,
I only want to live in the present chosen by me, that's all.
Your speed resembles mine.
In the skies where brakes no longer work,
Will I really be alright as long as I persist?
The two of us can end this if we try
I'll stick to the difficult path no matter what,
Without even brushing my shoes covered with sand.
I can't live in any other ways.
You would probably agree with a smile
I will make a promise to you.
When you turn your sights and fly towards me someday,
I won't escape from your vision.
I'll definitely receive you better than anyone else
Your appearance resembles mine.
Knowing that you are there and looking at the same world as me,
I am able to not lose heart even till the end,
And know that I don't have to hate myself.
You gave me the will to live again.

Gaara stared; her voice had a strange effect on him. He found himself calming as he listened to her and that disturbed him. When she finished singing Gaara figured he should probably make his presence known. "You have a nice voice." he muttered quietly; not sure what to say.

Kyuu whipped her head up and around to the window upon hearing his voice. She instantly blushed when she saw him looking in through the window at her. Gaara just blinked slowly and jumped inside the room. He set his gourd down against the wall and sat down on the floor across from the bed; leaning against the wall. Kyuu stared at him for a few minutes before she slowly got up and came over to him.

She sat down beside him before speaking. "How long have you been watching me from your window?" She decided to ask.

"Just when you started singing." He answered shortly.

"Ah. Yeah, I just kind of felt like singing." She muttered; a little embarrassed.

"...could you sing again?" Gaara whispered; the words came out before he could even stop himself.

"Why?" Kyuu asked; confused by his odd request. So far all he's wanted her to do was to shut up.

Gaara glanced at her but didn't say anything. He didn't even mean to blurt that out in the first place so he wasn't sure how to explain himself.

Kyuu grew a tiny smile and nodded to him. She took a deep breath before she began to sing. When she was done with the song she smiled at him. "Happy?" She asked before yawning. Her eyes started closing and she leaned against him tiredly; resting her head on his shoulder sleepily.

Gaara stiffened up and froze at first but slowly relaxed. After awhile he glanced over at her and stared at her face for a few moments. He sighed heavily and ran his hand through his hair in slight irritation before he carefully moved her into his lap and used his sand to bring a blanket over to them so he could cover the both of them. He wrapped the blanket around them and wrapped his arms around her to hold it. She remained sleeping peacefully against his chest and he couldn't figure out what the hell was the matter with him. Trying to figure out what the deal was with all these strange impulses was driving him insane. He should just kill her and be done with it, but he didn't…