All I Ever Wanted Was Love
And I Need For You to Know
Gaara quickly fumbled off Kisa, who slowly sat up, just as surprised as the boy next to her in the grassy field.
Their faces were still red, their breathing was still heavy, and they were both very much annoyed at whoever had just shown up- both were just as ready as the other to massacre whoever had intruded…
Except them.
"…"
"…"
The two intruders were both just as speechless as the other.
They had been traveling for days… both as ready as the other to just give up and go home. They both had been ready to be confined in a sand coffin and be crushed to death. They had been ready to be ambushed by missing nins. They both had been ready for just about anything… Except this.
"…Oh Kami-sama…"
"…What the hell…" (AN: Please excuse my horrid and vulgar language!)
They watched appalled and stunned as the red-haired figure stood up as the girl next to him rose slowly.
Almost instantaneously, Gaara's usual foul mood overtook him again, as he temporarily forgot about the past few weeks he had spent here in bliss with Kisa. He glared angrily at the two figures that stood at the edge of the grassy field, ready to confine them in sand coffins and spray the green field with red blood.
Kisa silently stood next to Gaara; she felt the murderous glares he gave to the two figures standing about 30 years away. She knew they were just as shocked as she and Gaara were. Her brown eyes traveled over the figures.
One of them she didn't recognize… but one of them she did… or at least she recognized her hair. She had always had her hair tied up like that…
She spoke at the same time as Gaara… she words escaping as a disbelieving statement while his was a murderous breath.
"Temari…?"
"Kankuro…"
Baki jumped down from the last few trees of the forest and landed on the edge of a grassy field. Temari and Kankuro were standing before him, unmoving.
"Temari? Kankuro?" He walked up to join them, confused by their still behavior.
'Weren't they just fighting a moment ago?'
He lifted his eyes to see what they were staring at.
'Oh…'
"…Gaara…"
But who was that girl next to him?
Baki examined her closely…
'That scar…'
He would have recognized that scar anywhere… all thanks to Gaara.
'It couldn't be…'
"Kisa?"
Kisa gasped.
'No…'
She backed up a step.
'It couldn't be…'
Her already quickened heartbeat began to beat faster.
She had to escape…
Baki's eyes narrowed as he watched the girl's actions when she recognized him.
'She's going to try to run away…'
He got ready for the chase.
Gaara glared angrily at his brother and sister and their team leader.
'What the hell are they doing here now?'
He noticed Kisa's gasp.
His attention was diverted as he turned to look at her.
Terror was visibly seen in her face.
'What's going on?'
He took a step towards her, calling her name.
"…Kisa?"
It all happened within an instant.
Kisa suddenly took off, in the other direction.
Gaara stood, stunned. He was now looking at the empty spot where Kisa had been standing less than a second before.
Baki went after the fleeing girl.
Temari and Kankuro were left gaping after their sensei who had suddenly taken off.
Kisa was fast- she had to get back to the cabin… her only haven.
But Baki was faster- he had already caught up to her, knocking her out.
They had reached the forest's edge.
Baki picked up Kisa's unconscious body and slung her over his shoulder.
"Temari! Kankuro!" he called back to the siblings, "Gaara… you come too."
Gaara was more or less shocked.
Everything had happened so fast.
What was going on?
His feet moved automatically towards where Baki stood with Kisa slung over his shoulder. He heard Temari and Kankuro come up behind him, falling into step with him.
Gaara had mostly recovered from his shock when he reached his sensei, but now his seething replaced the confusion.
"Put her down," he commanded. Baki narrowed his eyes at Gaara.
"Gaara-"
"I said… Put her down."
Baki, not wanting to get on the bad side of Gaara, slowly let the girl down. Even a jounin like himself would have some difficulty with Gaara at this point.
As Kisa's unconscious body touched the ground, a bed of sand formed under her, lifting her up as it began to levitate.
Temari and Kankuro were still speechless as they stood by their sensei, still clueless as to what was going on. They had only come with orders to retrieve Gaara- they had said nothing about some girl…
'A slutty girl at that…' Kankuro eyed Kisa's unconscious form.
Gaara made a motion for them to follow him as he stepped into the forest.
Temari silently watched her youngest brother walking in the front of their awkward procession.
What had he been doing with a girl like that before they had come?
'And just who is that girl?' Temari asked herself, very much annoyed, 'How did she know my name?'
Temari was absolutely sure she had never met any girl like her before…
'However…' the dirty blonde-haired girl contemplated as she walked along, watching Gaara's back.
'Gaara seems quite taken with her… the way he's treating her…'
Suddenly, Gaara disappeared into nowhere- with the girl, no less.
Baki stopped, motioning the two behind them to stop as well.
The three stared blankly at the place Gaara had disappeared.
"G-Gaara?" Temari called out hesitantly.
Gaara turned his head enough to see that his group was standing just out of the genjutsu's range.
"There is a cabin here…" he spoke quietly.
A strange sensation hit the three ninjas as tears began to fall from their eyes.
They rubbed their eyes, trying to wipe away the sudden tears that had sprung forth. Before them now, stood a homely cabin with steam rising its left side.
"…Holy-" Temari said under her breath.
"Shit…" Kankuro absent-mindedly murmured. (AN: gahh! My language is so bad:X )
Gaara stood impatiently before the clearly tired and drained figures of his team as they slumped onto chairs and cushions on the ground.
"What are you doing here?" he questioned them.
Kankuro looked nervously at his elder sister.
Temari, in turn, looked towards her sensei. He had been the one who had sent them out, after all.
"We came to retrieve you, Gaara," Baki simply answered him.
Gaara held back the urge to glare at him. After all this time… they still treated him like an object. But wasn't that what he had always been to them? The Sand's trump card? Gaara knew he was nothing more to them than the Sand's creation of a perfect weapon.
"I didn't need you to come back for me."
Baki shifted nervously.
"It was… necessary…"
The red-haired boy walked over to the wall next to the bed where Kisa laid unconscious and leaned against it.
"Moreover… this has been a very advantageous gain for the Sand," Baki continued when he was sure Gaara wasn't going to say anything, "It seems as if you've found your childhood friend again."
Gaara's glare came forth- Gaara already knew he was not going to like whatever Baki was about to say…
'Childhood friend?'
Temari and Kankuro had realization dawn upon them- well, Temari at the least.
Kankuro looked over at Gaara.
'He had a childhood friend?'
Something was definitely not right.
Through what little interaction he actually had with his younger brother, he clearly remembered Gaara never having anyone that he actually called 'friend'.
'Unless…'
There had been that time, Kankuro reminisced, when Gaara began staying outdoors more and more. Yes, Kankuro remembered that time. He had actually been able to relax at the place he called home. Without Gaara at home, he didn't have to worry about losing his life… nor did he be disgusted by the little creep who had killed his mother when he was born.
'But I'm over that bitterness now… aren't I?'
The face-painting shinobi looked towards the figure on the bed.
'The only resentment I still hold against having Gaara as my younger sibling is just that I never had a lot of friends either… My reputation had always been bad- simply because I was related to the Sand's horrifying monster.'
However, if that girl could stand being around Gaara for weeks upon weeks… Then maybe- just maybe…
His eyes ran over the girl's body.
'She's actually pretty…' he felt himself getting absorbed by the scantily-dressed figure, 'and just my type of girl…'
Just as his eyes began to send naughty mental pictures to his brain, Kankuro noticed Gaara giving him the death glare.
Kankuro looked away immediately, fearing to lose his life, or even worse, his balls. (AN: I'm so dirrrty :X)
Temari kept quiet. She had figured it best to do so by now.
'So… that's who she is…' Temari looked from Gaara to the girl, 'her name is… Kisa?'
For a moment, Temari realized that she actually had met the girl before.
'No...' the giant fan-using kunoichi, 'I only ever saw her once… but when?'
Her light brown eyes traveled over to her other brother. She lifted a brow; Kankuro was obviously checking the unconscious girl out. She looked over to Gaara to see if he had noticed.
Of course he had, Gaara was glaring a million years of pain onto Kankuro… 'If only Kankuro would notice before he gets himself hurt.'
However, something else was bothering her.
'How is Gaara being so…' Temari couldn't find the right words to describe him, '…nice?'
There are hundreds of words that perfectly describe Gaara, and 'nice' was not one of them.
Not only that, Gaara was being protective of the girl.
'How ironic…' the sister mused to herself, 'that the girl Gaara ends up liking is skimpier than me?'
"Do you know who she is, Gaara?" Baki questioned the glaring boy leaning against the wall.
Gaara looked over at the jounin, slightly annoyed and slightly confused, but more annoyed than confused.
"What would you know about her?" he shot back at the man.
Baki smiled a little as he rose from his seat.
"You would shiver with fear if you knew everything that I did about her," he stated, walking over to a dresser.
Gaara stood straight.
"…What are you doing?"
Baki ignored the boy's question as he examined the numerous trinkets sitting atop the dresser. Finally, as if he had found what he was searching for, he picked up little clear blue glass ball. Gaara instantly recognized it- Kisa had had that same trinket when she was still living in the Hidden Sand.
Then, Baki did something that Gaara had never seen. Holding the ball within the palm of his right hand, he brought his hands together to form the seal of the ram. A flash of light erupted from the ball as the Sand siblings had to shield their eyes.
When the light had faded, Baki stood before them holding a pair of…
'Long gloves?' Kankuro stared at Baki, extremely confused.
Temari stood up.
"Baki!" she held out a hand, motioning for him to stop. But Baki was already heading towards Kisa.
Gaara stood between Kisa and his team leader.
"What…" he spoke in a dangerous tone, "are you going to do?"
Baki simply looked at him.
"If you don't want her to get hurt, I suggest that you move."
Gaara hesitated, and then moved out of the way.
'Hadn't she said something about gloves before…?'
It was all too late. Baki had already pulled the gloves on Kisa's hands and arms and was currently sealing them in place.
"Well," the man spoke more confidently, "Now that that's done-"
Gaara was pissed and very bewildered by how everything was happening all too fast for him.
"Why are you after Kisa? What has she ever done to you?"
"Do you really want to know?"
Gaara lowered his eyes to the ground.
"She's… she's important to me… and I care about her, the way does for me."
Kankuro dropped his jaw.
'No.. way…'
Temari stood aghast as she slowly dropped herself back into her seat.
Baki smirked.
"Very well…"
seven years ago
A little girl with bright green eyes sat huddled in the corner of her well-furnished room- a lavished room at that.
Her unkept brown hair was cascaded over her shoulders.
Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks and landed on the silk blankets of her exceptionally large bed.
A ruffled-looking teddy bear sat by her side- her most trusted friend.
"Yoshiko-dono…"
A quiet, weak, yet strong voice of an elderly man flowed from outside of her oak doors with its ebony handles.
The little girl glared at the door with hate.
A small click came from the door as it creaked slightly open.
Another voice came from the other side of the door- a boy's voice.
"Reiko-jii-san, has Yoshiko-chan come out yet?"
The old man's voice was muffled.
She hated this.
A quiet padding of feet came from the doorway.
She looked up to see her best friend standing at the doorway.
It didn't make a difference that he was several years older- they were the only children in the whole estate.
"Yoroi-nii-san…"
Kyo wandered the streets aimlessly.
It was a wonder how he was still on his feet after hours of walking about in the desert's midday sun.
But…
He had to.
He had to do it… for her.
"Please hold on, Kisa…" he pleaded into the hot summer's air.
He stumbled a few steps forward.
"K-Kyo-san?"
Kyo turned his eyes towards a figure in a doorway. He squinted his eyes that were exhausted of tears.
"Kimishu-chan?"
"Kyo-san!" a figure of a pretty, young woman came running out from the doorway's shadows, "Wh-What's wrong?"
Her bright blue eyes scanned the young man that had collapsed into her arms.
"She… my sister… Kisa…" Kyo brought his hands to cover his face, "She's sick. The doctors… they can't… she's…"
A dry, choking sob came from the young man as Kimishu could only hold onto him.
"She's… dying…"