All I Ever Wanted Was Love
True Love Is A Fairy Tale
Part 1
The brown-haired kunoichi landed softly on a tree branch. They weren't too far away from the area where they had been fighting because they had only been traveling for a few minutes. Gently, she laid Gaara next to her- carefully examining him as she did.
Signs were beginning to show as the tanuki bound within Gaara slowly began to take over its medium's body. The girl raised her hand to a horizontal scar that ran across her right cheek. Her swirling brown eyes became unfocused from the boy's face as she remembered a distant memory. She absent-mindedly stroked the scar as the signs of possession of a demon in Gaara became more and more apparent. Sand that had appeared out of nowhere was now swarming around Gaara and beginning to cover his body.
Suddenly, she shook her head, coming out of her thoughts and focusing her mind back on Gaara who was looking more and more like the demon that was inside of him by the second. Shifting around in her kneeling-position, she laid the boy's head in her lap and bent over him. The young girl placed a hand on his cheek, but instead of the smooth skin, sand shifted under her fingers. Kisa slightly frowned as she noticed that Gaara's face was turning into the same shade as the sand around him. Her eyes traveled across his face. It was the same as she remembered… except for the fact that the rings around his eyes had become darker and a kanji on his forehead above his left eye.
"Ai…" Kisa read as her eyes narrowed. This hadn't been there before.
'Love? Why 'love'?' she thought as she traced over the kanji with her finger.
'This is strange… Usually when he's unconscious and I'm this close to him, his symptoms would stop and he'd just end up sleeping peacefully… but…' Kisa felt her body flinch as black eyes with golden pupils shot open.
"You!" the demon shrieked as the livid eyes glared murderously at the girl that loomed above him. "You're the one that kept me locked up back then!"
Kisa looked at the demon lying in her lap with a small amount of fear. This was the first time in many years since she had seen those eyes.
A clawed arm shot out at the girl's throat as she closed her eyes and sighed. She knew the demon's weakness- a physical act of affection- but she had hoped it wouldn't have come down to that. She leaned down and planted a kiss on the tanuki's forehead.
The demon's golden eyes were wide with shock and his arm in midair as the sand dissipated, leaving behind a peacefully sleeping boy in her lap. A small smile came onto her face as she watched him sleep.
Gently moving away strands of stray hair from his face, she leaned down again and placed another kiss on his forehead.
"Why?" Gaara asked the darkness that surrounded him.
"Why did I dream of when I first met her? It's been so long…" the darkness responded in silence.
"Why after all this time…?" Still, the darkness gave its muted answer.
Once again, he felt the cringing in his heart, tearing away at his very own soul.
'Maybe I was just dreaming that she came,' he thought, trying to erase the pain.
'It must have been a dream… just like now…' Gaara realized with panic, 'Is Shukaku out then?'
'I have to wake up!' He looked frantically around in the darkness, as if there would be some sort of way out. However, there was none.
A sandstorm blew itself around him, taking his mind to the desert where he was born.
"KISA!" a young man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the small girl, pushing her behind him. "Get away from her, you monster!"
Gaara watched the man with large eyes.
'Why…?' Gaara looked down at the ground where Kisa had dropped his teddy bear when the man pushed her behind him.
'Why does everyone call me a monster?' His eyes turned fierce with hate towards the dark brown, almost black-haired man who was protecting the girl behind him.
"WHY?" Gaara screamed at him as the sand around the young man came up around him, confining him to a sand-like cocoon.
"Nii-san!" Kisa looked helplessly at the sand cocoon that began levitating. Tears began forming in her eyes as she ran towards the red-haired boy and grabbed onto his arm.
"Gaara! Don't hurt my brother… please…" she pleaded with the boy as he was beginning to close his outstretched palm.
Gaara stopped his actions as his eyes turned towards the girl holding onto his arm with tears in her eyes. Her brother's scream filled the air and brought back the boy's attention to what he had trapped in the sand. The sand lost its shape, releasing the young man as he fell down to the earth. Gaara began backing away with disbelieving eyes. Kisa watched the boy as he distanced himself from her, then turned and ran, disappearing into sand that was billowing across the desert.
"Sa-chan…" the girl turned back to the young man on the ground and ran to him, embracing him about his neck.
"Kyo-nii-san," she scooted back to get a better look at her elder brother. "Daijoobu?"
A look of pain became more obvious as he tried to stand. "No, I think my leg is broken."
Kisa looked at his left leg with concern as to see that a bit of blood was soaking his pant leg.
"Sa-chan?" her swirling brown eyes traveled back up to her brother's face where he was forcing himself to smile despite the pain.
"Mmh," She answered with a nod. She clasped her small hands together as she closed her eyes and focused on imagining crutches with her mind.
Her hands began glowing blue as chakara began flowing out, taking shape of two crutches. Kyo watched his little sister as she worked, smiling ever so slightly at her abilities. As soon as the crutches were complete, the little girl opened her eyes and smiled as cheerfully as ever. She went over to pick up the crutches that still glowed light blue and brought them over to her brother.
"Here you go, Kyo-nii-san," her face wore the same big smile. Kyo smiled back, lifting himself up off the ground and began adjusting the crutches under his arms.
"Perfect size, Kisa," he commented after taking a few steps forward with the help of the crutches.
"Come on," he said to the girl that lingered a bit behind him. "A sandstorm is about to come. We better get moving and get home as fast as we can."
"Mmhmm," Kisa nodded, picking up the fallen teddy bear off the ground, and started after her brother.
Her eyes stayed focus on the ground for while as they walked, until Kyo took notice of her lack of enthusiasm.
"Sa-chan? What is it?" his voice held concern as he took note to ask about the bear sometime.
Her pretty brown eyes looked up to eyes that matched her own, minus the swirl.
"You didn't have to protect me like that. You know I can take care of myself."
"I know."
"Then why did you?"
"Because I don't like him."
"But I do. He's trying to protect something… by hiding who he really is…" She looked at the teddy bear in her hands. "Just like me."
The brother looked down at the small girl walking next to him with sad eyes.
'If only you knew the truth…'
Gaara stood on the side of the road and watched the siblings as they walked past him. He remembered this encounter with them and what he had done after- wandering aimlessly around the village for a while before heading back home. He felt the urge to follow Kisa and her brother so he could continue to listen to their conversation. However, just as he took a step, strong gusts, carrying the sand he hated, surrounded him. The siblings' backs disappeared as the sand continued to blow about. Soon, the sand itself dissipated and left Gaara alone in the darkness again.
'Kisa… Kyo…' Gaara repeated their names in his head. 'I almost completely forgot about them.'
He cast his eyes down as he remembered how he had attacked Kisa's brother without really meaning to. But how could he have almost forgotten about them? They had influenced him so much in his life. Just as his uncle did. Yashamaru.
He looked up to see Yashamaru standing before him in his apron. His uncle smiled, but it wasn't directed towards him. Gaara turned around to see the younger version of himself slip through the backdoor. Suddenly, the world around him burst into full color.
"Gaara-sama," Yashamaru spoke, smiling at the small child as he sullenly walked into the house. "Welcome back."
The small boy looked sadly up at the uncle and tried to smile, but couldn't.
"Gaara-sama, what is it?" the young man asked with concern.
"There's a girl… today, at the playground… she was really nice. But…" Gaara looked away as a questioning look came over Yashamaru's face. Children his age wouldn't have already started liking the opposite gender, would they? Gaara's eyes were filled with pain.
"Her brother won't let her be… my… my…" the little boy didn't know how to say the word he so longed to called another child. "…friend."
Yashamaru was slightly shocked, though his face held no signs of it. By the look on the boy's face, it seemed as if they discussed it anymore, he might start to cry, so he decided against prying into the full story. He could only guess what had happened that afternoon.
"Don't worry about it," the sandy-haired man said with a small smile adorning his face. He turned back around to continue making dinner, ending their conversation. Footsteps resounded in the quiet kitchen as the red-haired boy walked to the door connecting the kitchen to the living room. The door opened and closed and Yashamaru turned around to make sure that the boy had gone into the other room, finding much to his content that he had. He let out a sigh as he set down the spatula in his right hand and walked over to a cabinet. He opened it and reached in to grab a bag of medicines which he, himself, used, since Gaara could never be hurt. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the living room where he found Gaara sitting on a seat, staring at the picture of his deceased sister. He wanted to give a sigh of relief, but he knew better than making too much noise when Gaara sat so quietly like that. Yashamaru set the bag down on small stand next to the door and headed back into the kitchen to finish cooking.
Usually when Gaara came home mentioning someone, anyone, it meant either they were severely injured or dead. He knew that Gaara felt terrible about hurting or killing people like that, since he lost his temper easily and always did things he regretted. Especially this time- the pain looked worse than ever before. Yashamaru sighed. He felt pity for the girl that Gaara mention, hoping that her brother was still alive… or even if she was still alive as well.
End Part 1
Part 2
Gaara gulped as he stood before the looming door. He knew he could do it. He already came so far after receiving strange looks from all the people in the street. All he has to do was knock. The thing he feared was on the other side of the door though. But he knew that he had to do it. Cautiously, he lifted his hand to knock. Taking a deep breath, he lift his knuckles to tap the wood.
He heard muffled voices from inside the house. Then…
"Yes?" a male voice came from the other side of the door as it began to open. "How may I help…"
Brown eyes met aquamarine ones. And blinked.
"…you…"
Gaara slightly shrunk under the gaze of the young man as he gave a stern look him.
He gulped again and held out the small bag. Kyo gave him a blank look.
"This is medicine," Gaara explained quickly, as to not wanting to be misunderstood. "It's for your… wounds…"
The expression on the young man's face was unreadable.
"Uhm…" Gaara tried to keep up a conversation as he averted his eyes.
"I don't need them."
Gaara looked up at Kyo with shock.
"Bu…"
"I said I. Don't. Need. Them." Kyo repeated with a slight growl in his voice and slammed the door close.
Gaara found himself staring at the wood of the door again. He didn't know what happened. Why was everyone like that towards him? Why?
Tears started forming in his eyes, but he blinked them away. There was no need to cry over this, after all, he had been shunned many times before.
Why was this any different?
He dropped the bag then turned and started walking back home with his head hung down.
Inside the small house, Kisa stood leaning against the wall next to the front door.
"...Nii-san…," she began as her brother walked away from the door.
"Do what you want…" he spoke steadily without turning back around.
The small girl gave a slight nod and slipped out the door.
Silently shutting the door behind her, Kisa picked up the bag of medicine that Gaara had dropped at their doorway. She looked to up see that Gaara was already halfway across the street.
Taking a step forward, she called out his name.
"Gaara!"
Still wallowing in self-pity, Gaara was shocked to hear his name, but at the same time, all the anger within him began to well up. He stood rigid as he tried to contain his anger and frustrations.
"Gaara?"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" the boy screamed controlling the sand to attack the voice that called out to him.
After a few moments of silence, Gaara slowly turned his head to see what became of the voice and gasped. There, on the porch where he had just stood a few moments ago, the little girl known as Kisa stood transfixed as a small pool of bright red blood began to stream down her right cheek. Her eyes fell slightly as her hand went up to the horizontal line on her face and was stained by the blood.
Gaara held his breath as she blinked several times at the sight of blood on her fingertips.
"Oh."
"K-Kisa!" Gaara stuttered, "Kisa? Daijoobu-ka?"
"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry! I didn't know… I thought- …" he continued as he took a few steps towards her.
"I-I… I… I…" he slowly trailed off as he realized that she had not spoken nor had she moved except to blink.
"…Kisa?" Gaara asked hesitantly.
Her eyes suddenly perked up as her swirls of brown regained their sparkle of life.
"Oh. It's okay. I'm alright, Gaara," she spoke happily (almost too happily, Gaara thought) as she wiped away some of the blood on her face.
Her left arm raised up showing the small demon child a brown cloth bag.
"See? I can use the medicine you brought us now."
It was his turn to be speechless.
"Oh."
Gaara nervously looked around him. They were sitting on the ledge of the roof of the building that held as the Kazekage's office. He had stood in front of the building many times looking up, amazed by its great size, but he had never been on the roof of the giant ball looking down. He visibly gulped.
"Ne? You don't like my secret place?" a small girl next to him asked.
Gaara looked uneasily at her.
"Iie. It's just… it's… kinda…" he took at peek at the ground far below him, "High."
Kisa giggled at this remark.
"Gomen ne? I really like this place. I used to come here all the time when I was kept h-," she stopped herself and Gaara looked at her puzzled.
"You were kept here?" Gaara questioned her, as she turned red.
"No, no, no, no, no! I mean… uhhh…" she looked around panicking, "I mean… just forget it. Just forget what I said."
The red-headed boy looked at her with some amount of concern, but decided not to push it. He was already lucky enough to be sitting here next to someone he could call 'friend'.
Kisa turned a bit so that she was facing Gaara, and began digging through the bag of medicine. Gaara eyed her out of the corner of his eye, somewhat curious to see how someone treated a wound. Then, remembering that it was he who gave her the cut, he cast his eyes down.
"Gomen."
"Huh?" Kisa looked up from her task, confused.
"I-I… y-your face…" Gaara stuttered. Kisa, however, just gave him a warm smile as her went back to applying the medicine over the wound.
"I said its okay… Gaara-kun."
Gaara's eyes shot wide. No one had ever used his name in such an endearing way.
"Wh-What did you say?" he asked in disbelief.
"Nani?" Kisa looked a bit confused as she began putting the bandages on, "I can't call you 'Gaara-kun'? How about Gaara-chan? It seems to suit you better."
"No, it's not that," Gaara said slowly, trying to believe that someone was actually being this nice to him.
"Then what is it, Gaara-chan?"
"It's… it's just that that's the first time anyone has ever called me that."
"Oh," she blinked several times as she put the medicine back in the bag, "How about 'Gaa-chan'?"
Gaara calmed down a bit as he looked away.
"I guess its okay."
After several moments of silence, Gaara turned to look at the girl. She had turned her back to the edge of the building so she could stare at the moon.
"Ah… Kisa?" Gaara started.
"Call me Sa-chan. Yeah?"
"Oh. Um... Sa…chan," Gaara said, testing out the sound of her name, "Isn't your brother going to get worried about you being out here so late?"
Kisa tore her gaze from the moon to look at her companion.
"Nope," she answered simply. Gaara looked a bit shocked at her instant reply.
"How come?"
"He knows that I can take care of myself," she said as if she had answered that question a million times before, "Shouldn't your parents be worried about you, Sabaku no Gaara-san?"
Gaara slightly froze, then cast his gaze to the far away ground.
"My… mother. She died when I was born… And my father… he's the Kazekage. He doesn't have time to be worried about me."
"Y-Your father. He's the Kazekage?" Kisa asked.
"Yeah. He's the Kazekage." He noticed that she visibly stiffened at the word 'Kazekage'.
"Then… who takes care of you?"
"Yashamaru," Gaara answered a bit more cheerfully, "He's my uncle."
"Oh…"
"But that's not why they aren't worried," his features were overcome by sorrow, "You already saw what I can do."
Kisa studied him. He seemed normal enough… what could he possibly do to frighten people so much?
"You control sand, right?"
Gaara nodded sadly. Kisa watched him for a moment… she didn't like seeing him sad or hurt. There had to be something that she could do…
"Ne, Gaa-chan?" Kisa asked, getting his attention, "Let's meet at here tomorrow night, okay?"
"Ah…" Gaara looked a bit surprised, but of course he would do anything to keep her as his friend, "Alright, Ki-"
Kisa shook her head as she waved a finger.
"Ah… Sa-chan."
Kisa smiled happily as she nodded.
"Goodnight then."
"… Goodnight."
End Part 2
Part 3
"Ohayo, Gaa-chan!"
Gaara turned his head to see his best friend coming along the pathway to where he sat on the swings.
"Oh. Ohayo, Sa-chan."
"Ne, ne, Gaa-chan," she said as she approached the swing set, "Guess what!"
The boy smiled. He despised guessing games; however, Kisa was hopelessly cute whenever they played it. And to such cuteness, Gaara fell weak.
"Nani?" he asked, waiting for her to pout and tell him that he had to guess or else it wasn't a guessing game.
"Iie! You have to guess, Gaa-chan!" she exclaimed, pouting, "You have to guess or else it isn't a guessing game!"
Gaara smiled pleasantly. Now he would guess three times before she got too excited to wait and tell him some outrageously funny story that happened, usually between her and her brother.
"Did you find a pet?"
"Iie!"
One down. Two more to go.
"Did Kyo-san burn something again?"
"Iie!"
Two down. One more to go.
"Did…" Gaara looked around for some idea, "…the fat lady get stuck in the doorway again?"
"Iie!" Kisa said laughing.
Gaara relaxed in the seat of the swing as Kisa sat down next to him. He was done with his part of the game so he listened to the tale she had to tell today, laughing at what happened.
'It's hard to believe that we can laugh together like this… after almost a year.'
"Ne, Gaa-chan," Kisa said as her laughter died down, "What's on your mind?"
He looked at her, still smiling.
"I was just thinking about how it's almost been a year since we met already."
Kisa blinked for a moment.
"REALLY?" she thought aloud as she counted on her fingers, "Wow! You're right! Tomorrow will be one year…"
She paused.
"We should do something tomorrow!"
Gaara looked clueless.
"Eh?"
Suddenly a strong gust blew itself through the playground located in the gorge between two high rocky walls, picking up sand as it went along. The two children instinctively ran to each other, as the boy put up a sand barrier around them, shielding them from the flying sand. After a moment or so, the wind began to die down. As the sand began to dissipate, Gaara let down the barrier.
"Yuck."
Gaara turned his head to look at Kisa. She stood looking down as her brown tresses, as she began to pick at it, trying to untangle it.
Gaara tried to muffle his laugh; unfortunately, his efforts were to no avail. Kisa glared at him.
"It's bad enough that my hair gets covered with sand, but it's a real bother when its all tangled," she complained and winced as she pulled out a knot.
The little boy watch with mild interest as his friend's features recoiled at the pain, for he did not know the feeling. Feeling a wave of sorrow wash over him, he turned away because he didn't want her to see the look on his face. However, she did.
"Gaa-chan."
Gaara looked down.
She was going to ask about Shukaku- but he didn't want to talk to her about Shukaku right then- he didn't want to talk about Shukaku ever. Something about the tone in her voice made him feel sick to his core when she tried to implore on the subject of the demon inside him. Yes, Kisa had met that horribly insane demon within him before.
If there was something that she hated, it was sandstorms. Gaara never knew why- she never wanted to talk about it- but he had found her in her room one night during a sandstorm, scared to death and shivering underneath her bedcovers. Kyo was out working late that night and Kisa pleaded with Gaara not to leave her there all alone. They ended up sitting together on Kisa's bed, with the little girl clinging frightfully onto the little boy's arm, waiting hours for the storm to pass. Soon enough, Kisa drifted off into a peaceful sleep, gently leaning on Gaara's shoulder. Gaara fought hard to stay awake (he didn't want Kisa to see what lay inside him)- however, with the muffled roar of billowing of sand outside, the steady breathing of Kisa next to him, the consistent beating of her heart, and the warmth of her arms limply wrapped about his right arm- Gaara was soon lulled into a deep sleep.
When Kyo came home that night (a few hours later), he found the two children sleeping soundly next to each other. Smiling softly, he let them be as he went on to do his own business. Kisa woke up in the midst of his rummaging and left Gaara in her room to go greet her brother. Little did she know what she would come back to.
Gaara, who was still sleeping, had lost his ability to keep Shukaku in check when he fell asleep, and began to transform in the absence of his friend. Hearing an evil squeal of delight, Kisa and Kyo hurried back into Kisa's room to find a demon in Gaara's place. When the brother realized what must have happened (unlike Kisa, he knew the truth about Gaara), Shukaku lashed out at him, fearing that he might have to be locked up for however long before his medium fell asleep again. Kisa, being naive and uninformed, jumped in front of her lame brother, fending off the attack with two blue short swords that had appeared out of nowhere. The little girl faced the demon, demanding to know what happened to Gaara, while looming demon just shrieked with an evil laugh.
It then dawned upon the fact that this demon was what lay inside of her best friend, which is why she had never heard of him speak of sleeping. Kisa stared long and hard at the demon, as if she were trying to see if it was actually her friend. Her blue weapons disappeared as she began to walk towards the demonic creature. Shukaku, unsure of what to do with the little girl who took small steps towards him, began to strike at her with sand attacks of needles and blades. None of the attacks hit her, but none of them had missed either. With the simple movement of her hands to her wrists, she began to glow the same blue as her weapons. The demon raccoon's attacks were rendered useless against the advancing girl. Suddenly, the girl launched out her attack when she was in range. She threw her arms about the solidifying sand that encompassed the body of her best friend and began to cry, wetting the sand that she held on. Just as the demon was about to pry her off of himself (how dare a mere human girl touch him?), he felt a strange sensation of feeling like nothing. A second later, the two occupants of the house found themselves sprawled in Kisa's room with an innocent figure of Gaara lying asleep in Kisa's arms as Kisa still hugged him tight, crying.
"Ne, Gaa-chan."
Her voice brought him out of his reminiscing.
"Do you want to come back to my house with me?" she forced a smile for him, "I need to go wash my hair."
Gaara smiled back and nodded with a small amount of understanding. After all, he could never really understand why Kisa kept her hair so long in a place that was windy and hot.
"I'm home!" Kisa called out as they entered her house.
"Oh?" Kyo looked up from his comfortable spot on the couch (with boxes of cereal lying about), "You two are already back?"
The two kids nodded.
"Welcome home."
"Hai," and the two children turned to go up the small spiraling staircase to Kisa's room… but not before Kyo blinked several times and actually looked at his little sister, or rather, his little sister's hair.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Kisa and Gaara turned to look at Kyo, wondering what was so hilarious.
"Nani?" Kisa asked, slightly annoyed.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Y…You…HAHAHAHA! Your- HAHHAHAHA! Ha.. HAHAHA…HAIR!"
At this, Kisa narrowed her eyes at her brother, glaring a rain of swords at him.
It didn't stop his mirth.
"Ugh…" Kisa threw her hand up in defeat as she turned and stomped up the stairs. Gaara, who had been trying hard not to laugh at the sight of Kisa's hair either, began to follow his best friend up the stairs when Kyo called him.
"Oy, Gaara," Kyo called out, wiping away the tears that had formed from laughing so hard.
'It was a good laugh though,' Kyo thought as Gaara turned to look at him, 'And it's thanks to him, too. Kisa and I haven't been able to laugh like this… since then…'
"Why don't we leave Kisa to her own beautifying, ne?" Kyo asked as Gaara looked at him a bit confused.
Kisa? Beautifying? It didn't match up.
"Huh?"
"Come down here," Kyo invited, patting the open spot on the couch, "I don't want you two to begin plotting against me either."
Gaara laughed at this and descended from the stairs to go to Kyo.
"So!" Kyo said, sitting up a bit more and grabbing the nearest cereal box, "Tell me. Tomorrow is going to be one year since we met you, right?"
Gaara smiled really big.
"Mhmm!"
"Ne," Kyo leaned in closer, "What are you getting for Kisa?"
Gaara looked confused.
"Huh?"
Gaara stood before Kisa's door with his head bowed. He knew that he could do this- having met Kisa and Kyo gave him the strength to do so. He also knew something else…
He loved her.
It must be true- how love didn't have anything to do with age.
He had known that he loved her for a while now, but how could he have known that it was love? How could a boy who never had anyone love him, feel love for another person?
Never.
However, he understood this feeling now. He knew what it was.
And he wasn't going to give it up.
Looking up, Gaara knocked on her room door.
"Gaara?" Kisa opened the door, "Come on in."
Kisa sat down on her bed with a towel wrapped about her head and patted the spot next to her. Gaara silently obeyed, sitting down. His eyes nervously traveled about her room, though he had already been in her room many times before.
Next to her bed was her dresser and mirror. She had all sorts of cute little trinkets lined up on the dresser that even Gaara found amusing. On the side of the room across from her bed, was her room door. Above her bed was a shelf that held her most precious belongings- a necklace (a simple gold chain that held a sapphire orb as a pendant), two chakram (each held a bar in the middle), and another thing that caught Gaara's eye… his teddy bear.
He smiled.
"Ne," Gaara said to the girl who was drying her hair next to him, "Isn't that mine?"
"Huh?" Kisa looked to where Gaara's finger pointed, "Oh! Yeah. Do you want it back?"
"Nah," he answered, shaking his head, "You can keep it. To remember me by, okay?"
Kisa nodded happily, "Friends forever, right?"
"Yeah," Gaara agreed, smiling, "Friends forever!"
'Alright… its time.'
His hands went to his waistband, pulling a piece of dark red cloth out of the folds. Kisa looked at it questioningly.
"What's that?"
"It-Its… f-for… for-" Gaara stammered while madly blushing.
'I can do this!' his mind protested against his mouth.
"ITFORYOURMOUTH!" Gaara squeezed his eyes tightly shut as he held the red cloth out to his best friend.
Kisa blinked.
"Eh?" Kisa raised an eyebrow, "For my mouth?"
Gaara's already red face flushed into a bright neon pink, "Ah…"
Kisa smiled gently and leaned over to place a kiss on his cheek. Then she took the cloth out of his hand.
"Thank you!"
Gaara sat there, still over-blushing.
"Ah… I meant to say that it's for your hair," Gaara looked down, twiddling his thumbs nervously as his friend tried tying it about her mouth.
"Oh!" Kisa laughed, pulling the piece of cloth off her face, "Why didn't you say so? You're acting so silly!"
Downstairs, Kyo was still reading his book when a knock was heard on the door.
'Who could it be,' Kyo wondered.
'Could it be Kimishu?' Kyo wondered dreamy-eyed. Kimishu was one person that Kyo would never shut up about to Kisa and Gaara. He just HAD to mention her at least 124 times a day. It was really a wonder why he never just went up to her to profess his love.
However, instead of being greeted by a desert beauty, two dark faces loomed in the doorway.
Kyo narrowed his eyes.
"What is it this time?" he spoke quietly, "She's home right now, with the Kazekage's son. You better make this fast."
The two cloaked figures smirked as Kyo stepped out of their quiet home.
A few moments later, Kisa stood in front of Gaara with the dark red cloth tied to the end of her slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length hair.
"How does it look?" Kisa asked, twirling around.
"I-Its looks good," Gaara stammered again- his face was still slightly red, "Does it help?"
Kisa bounced about her room a bit before answering, "Yeah."
"Oy!" Kyo called out as he stuck his head in the room.
The two kids looked up at the dark brown haired man.
"I have to go out for a bit," Kyo explained, "A bit of grocery shopping."
Kisa and Gaara just stared at him.
"What?" Kyo looked at them, "Don't give me those looks- I'm not going to go find Kimishu!"
The two just rolled their eyes as Kyo sighed.
"Though it would be lovely to see her right no-"
"JUST LEAVE ALREADY!" Kisa and Gaara shouted at him.
"Hai!" he called out as his head disappeared.
Kisa walked over to her bed and collapsed on it, with Gaara still sitting there.
"He really needs to get a girlfriend," she commented as her best friend silently nodded his head in agreement.
Outside Kisa's room, a dark faced Kyo stood with his head bowed.
'Gomen ne, Kisa,' he lifted up sad eyes to look at the door, 'Please forgive me for lying to you.'
With that, he turned to leave.
Late that night, Kyo silently slipped through the front door. He walked into the living room, where he found his little sister fast asleep on the couch with blankets wrapped about her. (And cereal boxes littering the surrounding area.)
"Kisa," Kyo quietly called.
His little sister's eyes fluttered open to the voice of her brother.
"Kyo-nii-san?"
"Where's Gaara?"
Kisa sat up.
"He went home a couple of hours ago," she replied looking over at the clock. Then remembering their parting conversation, she smiled, "We're meeting tomorrow at the swings again. We're going to go visit every place we've gone to before the past year!"
Kyo forced a smile for her. The reason for his coming back so late was that he had been out with Kimishu- as Kisa had already figured. But he had been with her, only to request for her aid. He was happy that Kisa had been able to spend time with Gaara while he was gone.
He put his crutch on the ground as he slowly squatted so he was at Kisa's sitting height.
"Kisa…" Kyo began slowly and carefully, "I… I have something to tell you."
Gaara was greeted in the morning with the sound of birds chirping inside of his house. Being part of the Kazekage's family, they had been able to afford several luxuries.
He sat up. Though he had not been sleeping- of course he couldn't- he had been exhausted and was resting his eyes. The sun in the circular window shone onto his face. He stretched then stood up.
Then he remembered. Today. It was today! Today would mark the beginning of the second year that he had a friend.
Gaara grew excited- he couldn't wait.
He hurried out of his room to the kitchen where Yashamaru was already preparing breakfast.
"Gaara-sama!" Yashamaru looked slightly surprised, "You seem very energetic today!"
"Mhmm!" Gaara answered nodding with his mouth full of food. He swallowed.
"Today is the day that I met Kisa-chan and Kyo-san!"
Yashamaru hid his true emotions and smiled at the boy.
"Really? What are you going to do today then?"
Gaara held up his hand to count off the numerous activities that they had planned last night to do today.
"We're going to meet at the swing set, then we're going to go visit all the places that we've been to the past year, then we might go have a pinic!"
Inside, Yashamaru wanted to glare at the child. How on earth could this child enjoy the life he had while he had stolen the life of his beloved sister? Yashamaru had never actually met this Kisa-chan or Kyo-san. From what he heard, it seemed as if the two were responsible for everything.
But then, Yashamaru inwardly grinned, he knew something that Gaara didn't know.
"I'm off!" Gaara called out as he ran out the door.
Yashamaru looked up from his cooking.
And smiled.
Gaara hurried along the path towards the swings.
Though he knew that Kisa would probably be late again, he knew he wouldn't be able to sit still at home.
Kankuro snored. Loudly. Not only that, Kankuro always slept in.
Gaara visibly winced as he walked along.
Temari would probably be off in her own little world again. She did seem to care about him somewhat, but it was in a very off-handedly manner.
He rounded the corner to the swings. As he came near, he saw something in the seat of the swing. The swing itself swung slowly back and forth in the morning breeze.
Gaara approached the swings.
On the seat was his teddy bear.
On the teddy bear was Kisa's necklace.
On the necklace, next to the pendant, there was a note.
Gomen.
Gaara stared incredulously at the bear he held in his hands.
He pulled the note off the necklace that was hanging about his teddy bear's neck.
His hands were shaking as he unfolded the note.
Gaara,
A lot of stuff happened after you left last night. I can't tell you what… they might come after you, too. There was a reason why they let us become friends. Now I know why. We had to leave. I'm really sorry, Gaara. We'll miss you a lot. Sayonara. I love you. – Kisa
He couldn't believe it. He dropped the note on the ground as he backed away from it.
She was joking.
It was a prank.
Gaara couldn't think straight.
He turned around and ran for Kisa's house.
The little boy found the door locked, but when he used sand to carry him up to Kisa's window he found her room empty of all her belongings.
He didn't want to believe it.
Gaara landed softly on the ground as he began to pound on the door.
"Kisa!"
"Kyo-san!"
'They HAVE to be home…'
He continued to pound on the door.
Breezes blew by, covering part of the teddy bear on the ground with sand.
Soon, a tired, confused, and anguished boy collapsed on the ground in front of the house he knew was empty.
'It's only a joke,' he told himself over and over.
Lying crumpled up on the ground, Gaara began to let out the tears he had held in.
Minutes passed, as the little boy cried himself to sleep.
He welcomed the darkness that consumed his consciousness… unleashing the demon within.