Disclaimer: I don't own Gaara... He's too scary...

MASK.

Gaara.

I never knew why I wore the mask until I met someone else like me.

I wore the mask of the demon to hide who I am. He wore a mask to hide the demon.

I saw no point. Hiding the demon was just denying who you were.

I truly believed I was the demon.

I hid myself behind the demon. I found my purpose in bloodshed. In death.

Of everyone I know, I am the only one to have shed my mask.

I sat down and picked away at it. Bit by bit.

Made is disappear.

I forced the demon further into my mind. I have separated myself from the demon.

I no longer wear his mask to hide who I am and what I feel.

Living so long with the belief that I was a demon dulled my senses. It made me forget who I was. How to feel. The demon was my mask.

He told me he was in charge. No one cared about me. My purpose was to kill. Cause pain.

I believed him.

Then, I met someone with a mask stronger than mine. I know it's a mask, because no one who's suffered as much as me can always have a smile on his face.

He hides the demon, but he also hides himself. I decided I didn't want to wear a mask of indifference.

A mask of hate.

Death.

Pain.

Chaos.

I don't want to be this monster anymore.

I don't want to pretend to be something I'm not.

I want to change.

But I never knew how. Death, hate—the thrill of the kill. That's all I knew how to do.

I was used to people hating me. I didn't care. I thought I deserved to be hated. I was a demon, after all.

So if I wanted to change... How do I change?

"I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

That was what he said. All the time, like some broken record.

Hokage. Hokage. Hokage.

So if the person exactly like you aims so high—why not follow?

But in truth, I traded one mask for another.

I don't wear the mask of a demon anymore, but I don't show my true self, either.

I wear the mask of the Kazekage. Someone who cares about his people and his village.

That's not true.

I care, yes, but not about the entire village. Why care about people who made my life a living hell?

I've made a choice. I've decided to wear a mask that will force me to care. It gives me the image of a caring person, and this works for me.

I will protect this village.

I will fight for this village.

I will die for this village.

Because I care about some people here. And I care about the person who will die for his village.

The person who made me remove my mask cares about his village. I want to follow his example, so I will do the same.

I want the mask I wear to disappear. I want to actually care about the people I am protecting.

I want a new purpose.

I want to care.

I don't—

I don't want to be a demon anymore.