…Have you ever wondered what would happen if Yashamaru didn't die? What if Yashamaru truly loved Gaara? What if his uncle and his siblings only loved Gaara and it stayed that way? What if Gaara's whole life was like that? Accepted only by his uncle…would that make his life a little a happier? I say things would have went like this…
Gaara at the age six…"Although it doesn't bleed…this part hurts so much." Young Gaara said putting his hand on his heart. Yashamaru waited a while. He leaned down and took the knife out of Gaara's hand and cut the tip of his own finger. Gaara's eyes widened in shock, Yashamaru smiled and said, "Bodies bleed upon physical injuries. BUT they can heal faster with medical aids." Yashamaru was silent for a moment and frowned. "Emotional scars are different, they are the hardest to heal and may never go away." Gaara frowned and looked down at his feet.
Yashamaru was silent for a little longer. "But…there is one cure! Even though as inconvenient as it may seem...the cure can only be given by people other than yourself… It's love!" Gaara looked up at his uncle. "Love…?" Gaara blinked in confusion. Yashamaru sighed, "Love is care and devotion you have for the precious ones around you." Gaara smiled. "You love me right Yashamaru?" Yashamaru nodded. "Of course." Gaara face brightened and was filled with happiness as if feeling all emotional scars go away. "I love you too, Yashamaru!" Yashamaru was a bit surprised. He smiled and lightly nodded.
"Yashamaru?" "Yes?" "I want some ointments!"
Young Gaara ran off carrying a jar of ointments. "Hee hee." He giggled as he ran to the young lads house of which he had hurt earlier. He knocked on the door. "Um excuse me! I have these ointments for your scars!" The boy opened the door and said, "Go away you monster." In the coldest voice, Gaara stood there ointment in hand, silent. "I just wanted to…help." The door slammed in his face. The jar crashed to the ground, the ointment spread across the floor. He started his way home.
"Yashamaru…I want him DEAD." Said the Kazekage. Yashamaru sat there silently and then took a sip of his tea. "Hm." He said after setting his cup down. The Kazekage growled and pounded his fist down on the table. "Did you hear me?" Yashamaru slightly nodded. "I did. I just don't understand why you're telling me this." Yashamaru had his nose in the air as if saying 'I disapprove of what you are trying to say'. The Kazekage huffed and pounded his fist again making the tea jump for a second. "Are you going to kill him?" Yashamaru smiled gently. "I think it's time for you to leave." What he meant was HELL NO.
Kazekage left as Gaara walked in feeling the bad vibe between him and his father. "!" Gaara twitched for a moment. He stood in the doorway for a while then walked fully in. "Yashamaru…" Gaara said frowning. Yashamaru looked at him. Gaara sniffled, "Yashamaru…I did something…bad…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Yashamaru ran to Gaara and hugged him. "It's okay. Tell me what you did." "I killed someone. Do you hate me now?" Yashamaru rubbed Gaara's head. "It's okay, it's okay. I'll just have to keep an eye on you a bit more." "But you're crying." It was true, Yashamaru was crying, tears ran down his face as he patted Gaara's head. He was smiling at the same time though. And his tears were far from tears of joy. They were tears of worry.
The next day Yashamaru took Gaara to a secret meadow right after buying some fruit, where trees boarded the wide field and flowers dance in the wind. There, Gaara ran around, sniffed flowers, and played with bugs. After what seemed around a half hour of thinking about fruit Gaara ran over to Yashamaru, crying. "I don't know what happened but I turned around and Yashako was dead." Gaara held out his hands. A bird lied in Gaara's hands with its eyes closed. Yashamaru blinked He named a bird after me…huh…He thought. "Look over there." He pointed into the bushes. There stood a fox eyes peeking out occasionally glancing at the nest on a branch close to the ground. "!" Gaara handed Yashako to his uncle and ran to the branch. "No! Don't touch them!" Three babies birds cried out to their dead mother.
Gaara growled as sand began wrapping around the fox. The fox whimpered as it hovered in the air. Sand tightening on its body. "Yipe! Yipe!" It hollered as the sand squeezed onto its body. "Lord Gaara stop!" Yashamaru yelled and all the sand fell off the fox to the ground. The fox hurriedly ran off to go find prey elsewhere. "Yashamaru…" Gaara said looking at his uncle who stood in front of him holding onto the dead bird known as Yashako. "He killed her! He killed her Yashamaru! She had babies and she was my friend! And that fox killed her!" Yashamaru shook his head. "That doesn't give you the right to kill the fox Lord Gaara. It's nature. Yashako probably ate a worm every morning, would that give the worm's friend a right to kill Yashako? -Not that it could-" Gaara looked down at his feet then glanced at the three babies peeping trying to communicate with that that was dead. "I'm sorry Yashamaru."
It was around the afternoon when Yashamaru and Gaara buried Yashako and put flowers on top of her grave. Gaara sniffled and wiped the tears escaping his eyes. "Yashako…your babies…why did you leave them! Now what will they do! They'll be all alone! And they don't have anyone to care for them! You shouldn't have died! It just causes pain to your children and your friends!" Gaara cried and cried he couldn't help it. Gaara may have sounded like he was talking of the bird but really in some secret language he was talking about his own mother and Yashamaru must be able to understand the secret language because in a response he hugged Gaara and said, "She didn't want to leave this world Lord Gaara she wanted to be here with you. Your mother cared for you Lord Gaara, she truly did."
The next day Gaara sat down at the table coloring. "Whatcha drawin'?" Yashamaru asked. Gaara smiled and held up the picture in Yashamaru's face. "You, me, and Yashako! We're all playing together!" Yashamaru smiled. "Gaara I'm going to be gone awhile to get some fruit, 'kay? Keep up the good work." Gaara nodded and continued drawing.
END OF CHAPTER 1