I know it's kind of odd, but I just couldn't stop.

Kyo: I don't even want a hint of what she's talking about.

Gaara: She's just being odd. She's like that.

Ed: Ein Cannon! {Blasts Ein into Kyo}

Kyo: What the...?! {Grabs chair and hurls it at Ed. Misses and hits Sumomo}

Sumomo: OW! Why you...! {Tries to tackle Kyo, misses, ends up face first in Count D's cake}

Count D: If you really wanted some that bad, you could have just asked. {Flings Sumomo at Gaara}

{Riot ensues}

Ryu: Ahh, the sound of creativity!

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the Breaking

Six Years Later

"Nii-san! Where are you?" Kisaike ran through the house, her waist-length hair floating behind her like a flame. She saw her uncle in the kitchen, preparing to make dinner. Skidding to a halt in the doorway, she waited for a moment, trying to catch her breath. Her uncle turned and stood there, looking bemused, smiling.
"Yes?"
"Have you seen Gaara-kun?"
Yashamaru nodded. "He's at the playground, Kisaike-chan." His eyes narrowed a bit and his smile faded. "Kisaike, why do you have dark circles around your eyes?"
Kisaike stopped smiling. "Nii-san doesn't sleep," she said thoughtfully. Then she brightened. "So I taught myself to stay awake with him so he won't be lonely." She gave him a quick hug. "I'm going to go find Gaara now. Arigato, oji-sama!" She turned and ran out the front door.
Yashamaru watched her worriedly. /She's becoming too much like him, and he's becoming violent without even meaning to be. His brow creased more. /I've got to stop this.
Kisaike ran through the crowded streets without difficulty. Being the twin sister of the vessel of a demon had its perks. People parted to let her pass, their eyes watching her every move. No one dared mess with her, since they all feared her brother. She cast angry eyes at the people as she passed. She could hear them whisper about Gaara. She was tired of them fearing Gaara. He was not a dangerous person! /Someday, they'll give Gaara the respect he deserves. She hoped, as she ran, that it would be soon.
Kisaike slid to a stop at the playground. It was deserted except for her twin brother sitting on the swings. He was holding a kickball, looking at it as if it held the secrets to ultimate happiness within. He didn't look up as she approached.
"Nii-san? What's wrong?"
He looked up, tears brimming in his aquamarine eyes. Her eyes, identical to his in every way, held his gaze. "I tried to help them and they all ran away. They called me a...a monster." The tears spilled over. "Kisai-chan, am I a monster?"
Kisaike quelled the rage building within her. "No, Gaara-kun, you are not a monster." She hugged him tight. "I promise." He smiled at her as she sat in the swing next to him. They swung side-by- side until the night washed over the Village of Sand.

Gaara and Kisaike walked home through the dark streets. Passing a bar, they heard a shout. They turned towards the sound, and ended up facing a very drunk, very talkative, very stupid man.
"Hey, everyone, look," he shouted towards the bar. People stuck their heads out of the doors and windows. Even the neighbors peeked out their windows in interest. "It's the demon kid and his stupid sister." He laughed, not noticing the rage building in the twins' eyes, nor the fact that he was laughing alone. Everyone else either looked at the twins in terror, or looked at the drunkard in amazement. Unconcerned, he continued his tirade. "You'd think she'd be scared, since he is a demon and all, but no. You know what I think," he slurred, leaning towards Kisaike, "I think that all she's cut out to be is someone's slut." He reached out to grab her.
Suddenly, the sand began to encase him and raise him from the ground. He froze, then began to attempt to escape, but, before he could even gasp, the sand enveloped him. Gaara, hand outstretched, closed his fist with such ferocity that his nails dug into the sand barrier on his palm. The sand squeezed, crushing the man inside. There was no scream, no crunch, just the soft swoosh of the sand. Gaara released his fist, and the man crumpled to the ground. He stood there for a moment, shocked at what he'd just done. Then, he turned and met Kisaike's eyes. For a split-second time seemed to stop. Breaking the contact, Gaara turned and ran as fast as he could, away from everyone.
"Nii-san! Gaara!" Kisaike yelled after him, but he didn't slow.
"Hey, he's dead!" One of the other men in the bar had braved out and was now kneeling over the drunkard. Kisaike decided that a hasty retreat would probably be in her best interest at that moment. As the men began to move towards her, she tore off in the direction that Gaara had gone.

Gaara sat on a rooftop, crying. Why did everyone hate him so much? He wasn't a bad person! He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the shadow behind him, or the six kunai they had thrown until the sand moved and shielded him from the attack. As he stood and turned, another six flew, but the sand was too fast. Turning fully, he used the same technique he had used on the drunkard, only this time leaving the head and neck unscathed. He wanted some answers, and crushing the assassin's skull and windpipe were not the way to get them. The person was wearing a mask and head-cover, hiding their identity from their six-year-old target.
Gaara, shaking from fear and confusion, approached the groaning attacker. He hesitated, then reached out and pulled the mask away. His eyes widened as the face of his uncle was revealed. Gaara's knees gave way, unable to hold him after this last shock. He sank down next to Yashamaru.
"Wh...why?" Gaara stuttered, confused. "Why are you trying to kill me?"
Yashamaru groaned, but managed to speak through his pain. "It was an order."
"An order? From who?" Gaara's curiosity quelled his fear. At least, until his uncle spoke two words.
"Your father."
Gaara's eyes widened. "My father? But why...?"
"Before you were born, you had a demon, Shuukaku, placed inside of you. But you haven't learned how to control it. So, the experiment was deemed a failure. He ordered me to kill you." Yashamaru coughed, then spit out blood.
Hope lit Gaara's face. "But, if you were ordered to kill me, then you didn't have a choice, right?" His eyes pleaded with his uncle.
Yashamaru shook his head slowly. "He gave me the chance to turn down the offer, but...I wanted to do it." He looked at Gaara.
Tears filled Gaara's eyes again. "But...why? You said that I was precious to you!"
"I tried making you precious to me, but...your birth took my beloved sister away from me. She never wanted to give birth to you. She was forced to. She named you Gaara, the demon who loves only himself, so that you would never truly know caring love. You were to be her curse on this village. But because of Kisaike, you do know caring love. You don't deserve that. You are a monster." He opened his vest to reveal his shirt, which was covered with explosion tags. "Please die."
Kisaike entered the roof just in time to hear Yashamaru's last words. Suddenly, the world around her exploded.

When she came to, she saw Gaara using the sand that had protected him from the explosion to tattoo the Kanji symbol ai onto the left side of his forehead.
"Gaara, what are you doing?" Kisaike asked, tears welling in her eyes.
The sand calmed almost immediately. Gaara turned, hand poised, ready to attack all that dare come after him. When he saw Kisaike, his eyes widened, then went back to glaring at her.
"You probably knew all along, didn't you? You knew our mother didn't want me, didn't love me! That our father wanted me dead! Didn't you?!"
A single tear spilled over onto Kisaike's cheek as she beheld her brother. Their clothes were identical, eyes, hair color, identical. Why was he saying these things? "Gaara-kun, don't you remember all those times when our father would delight in telling me that the only reason I lived past the day of our birth was because you wanted me to? Remember him threatening to dump me in the desert? But that I only lived until you didn't want me to anymore?" Gaara's eyes softened. "Of course I didn't know. If I had, I'd have tried to kill our father before this ever happened!" More tears fell, making paths through the dust on her cheeks.
Gaara just stood there, eyes watching the roof. He didn't make a move to comfort her. He was torn. He didn't know whether to say something, or leave. He was spared from any decision, however, as Kisaike spoke again.
"I know you probably don't believe me. And I don't blame you." She began to rise, something clutched in her left hand. With her right, she moved her hair off her neck by pulling it up into a ponytail and holding it with her hand. "But maybe this will convince you that I, at least, am still on your side." With that, she slid her left hand upward. The kunai she had grabbed, razor-sharp, glinted in the moonlight. She lowered her right hand and held it out to him, the remains of her waist-length hair clenched firmly in her fist. Gaara's mouth dropped open. A breeze kicked up, and Kisaike released her grip, sending her hair flowing on the wind's rivers over the village. She then proceeded to use a small mirror she pulled from her pocket and cut her hair to the exact length and style of her brother's.
Gaara just stood there, confused. Kisaike, while not possessed with Shuukaku, had abilities of her own, and one of those abilities was the power to manipulate sand. While nowhere near the extent of her brother's, her ability sufficed for the purpose. She used the sand, infused with the blood of her uncle, to tattoo the ai symbol onto her forehead. When he saw what she was about to do, Gaara moved to stop her, but he was too late. When the sand and wind died down, he found himself looking at his exact copy.
"Wha...what did you just do?" Gaara stuttered.
"I basically made myself into you."
"Why?" Gaara couldn't understand why his sister had just made herself into a copy of the pariah of the Village of Sand.
Kisaike sat down and looked over the village. Gaara sat down next to her. "I was so tired of hearing what people said about you. They said that I was stupid to even care for you, blood or no, twin or no. They called you a monster." Her eyes steeled. "Even our own family tried to kill you." Then, she smiled at him. "But now you won't have to go through all that alone anymore. No one will be able to tell us apart." She looked back over the town and her eyes steeled once more. "Now they'll have to go through me to get to you."
Gaara felt his eyes tear. He leaned over and hugged his sister. "I'm sorry for having said all those things. I know you'll never leave me."
She hugged him back. "Never, nii-san."
They sat, looking at the sky. Soon, two voices pierced the dark and quiet behind them. "Gaara! What happened?" The twins recognized the voice of their nine-year- old sister, Temari.
"Kisaike, is that you? Are you ok?" Their eight-year-old brother Kankurou's voice rose behind Temari.
The twins stood and turned in unison to face their siblings. They looked completely identical. Temari gasped. Kankurou's jaw dropped.
"What happened?" Temari managed to sputter.
The twins spoke in unison. They even sounded identical. "Oji tried to kill us. He was ordered to by father. We don't mean anything to him. We only mean something," they clasped hands, "to each other."
Temari and Kankurou could only stare. "I can't tell you two apart," muttered Kankurou.
"That's the point," the Gaara on the right stated. "This way..."
"People only have a 50% chance of hurting the correct one," the Gaara on the left finished.
Footsteps on the stairs behind Temari and Kankurou drew everyone's attention. When their father, the Kazekage, stepped onto the roof, the twins' eyes narrowed. Their father seemed very surprised at the sight of two Gaaras staring him down, but he stared anyway. His eyes were met by two identical sets of eyes, one set dark rimmed from insomnia out of necessity, the other set dark rimmed from insomnia out of love.

Ryu: I admit. Kinda corny ending to this chapter...but I think it works. Please reveiw!!!