Thank you for the lovely support :) I am glad I'm back into this and I hope all of you are too.

Enjoy!

It was a regular day in Sunagakure, a gentle breeze blew every now and then, slightly cooling off the people from the hot sun and gently moving the shifty sand. The children from school were out and playing keep-away outside with a green rubber ball. On the other side of the playground was were I was at as a child during most of my time when school was let out. I hated being alone… but I sort of liked watching the other kids playing; it helped me learn of their games and how to play when I finally ask them if I could play one day.

After a moment of silence, the rubber ball rolled towards me and stopped at my feet. I looked up at the children and saw their horror filled faces as they saw where the ball had landed. I heard them talking amongst themselves, wondering what to do about this, whether they should run or ask for the ball back. Instead, I made the first move by getting off of my swing and picked up the ball and took a few steps toward them.

I stretched my arms out with the ball in my hands, "Here, you want this, right?" I asked with a small smile.

"Get away!" One of the children shouted, and with that, they shrieked and ran away from me.

I dropped the ball and clenched my teddy bear as my face saddened. "What did I do?" I asked myself. Then the ball bounced off my leg and rolled away from me, then it bounced off my leg again. I looked up to see a girl, possibly around my age, her big brown eyes looked into my narrow ones, oddly enough, just her stare made a spark of happiness in me.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I wanna play with you." She smiled at me and bounced the ball toward me once more.

I caught the ball and looked at her curiously. "Who are you?" I asked as I bounced the ball back toward her.

"Its impolite to ask before giving." She giggled then bounced it back to me.

"I'm Gaara." I held the ball for a moment.

"I'm Asuka." She walked up to me and extended a hand to me. "It's nice to meet you."

I stared at her hand and cocked my head to the side. "What are you doing?"

"Shaking you hand dummy." She giggled again and took the ball out of my hands then set it down and extended her hand to me again. "Your suppose to take it."

"Oh…" I hesitantly held her hand. "Now what?"

"It's what the name implies," She shook her hand with mine up and down, "you shake hands."

"What's the point of this?" I asked curiously.

"It's to introduce ourselves to one another." She kept her smile and locked her eyes with mine. "We're in the same class, we just never met till now."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

She nodded, "Yah, why did those kids run away from you?"

I looked at the ground and lightly kicked the ball. "They think I'm a monster…"

She cocked her head to the side and held my hand in front of her face. "You don't have claws, and your skin doesn't have scales." She let go of my hand and leaned her face in to mine, being only an inch or two away. "Your eyes aren't evil looking…" She then made me open my mouth and examined it for a moment before letting me close my mouth again. "You don't have sharp teeth either. You don't look like a monster to me." She smiled and reassured me by patting my shoulder.

"It's because…" I kicked the sand, not wanting to tell her about my dark secret.

"Don't worry! You don't have to tell me." She held my shoulders and lightly shook me. "Secrets are yours to keep, not to share whenever asked. So don't worry!" She gave me a big smile, and then held me in her arms around my neck. This was something I wasn't used to.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed.

"Hugging you, don't you like hugs?" She asked me quizzically.

"I uh… what's a hug?" I asked embarrassingly.

"This is a hug silly." She gently squeezed me. "Your suppose to hug back."

I hesitated, but did as she said and wrapped my arms around her mid back. "Like this…?" I asked nervously.

She nodded, "Yup! Perfect." She held me a little tighter as the breeze blew her dark purple, shoulder length hair in my face. That was the softest hair I have ever felt. The little hairs tickled my nose and nearly made me sneeze. She then held me at arms reach, "Now we're friends."

My eyes shot wide and I gripped my teddy bear, only thinking this is a dream. "F… Friend?" She nodded happily. I nearly cried that day… It happened so fast, I could hardly believe it.

"Come on," She held my hand in hers, "Let's go get some ice cream." We walked down the street together, and ever since then, I was truly happy.

I started understanding feelings more because of her. I loved happiness, she brought it to me every day. I remember that we spent everyday together, and as much as possible. I remember whenever we'd get ice cream, she would accidentally get ice cream on her nose. Whenever she did that, she'd always try licking it off, so determined to lick it off. But I would lick my thumb and wipe the ice cream off her nose and eat it. She'd laugh and lick my nose in return. She, was the highlight of my life, she even proved her loyalty to me one day…

"Gaara! A little higher! I'm going to jump!" She told me as I continued pushing her on the swing set.

I nodded and happily did as she said, pushing her as hard as I could. She jumped with the swing reached its peak, she was flailing her arms and laughing with joy, until…

"Agh!" She landed wrong and her knee, I think she cracked her knee cap too.

I ran over to her and inspected her knee, it was bleeding horribly and I got it on my hands. "Asuka! Are you ok?" I asked her frantically.

She shook her head and held her knee while crying. "It hurts!" she shrieked.

"Come on, let's get you back to my place, my uncle can help you!" I put one of her arms around me and carried most of her weight to my home. And sure enough, my uncle did take care of her wound, but what happened next was burned into my mind. Making me believe at the time that there were people out there who are will to be by my side no matter how hard it got.

We left my house and went back to the playground because Asuka insisted that we did something, no matter her injury, she still wanted to play with me.

"Hey! You're the one we're looking for!

I turned around to see three children who looked a little older then Asuka and I, it seemed that they were talking to Asuka.

"Get away from that monster!"

"He's going to hurt you!"

Asuka looked at them quizzically, "What do you mean?"

"Look at your knee! He did that to you!" One of them pointed at her injured knee.

"I did this to myself." She stated.

"What?"

"I know Gaara would never hurt me, he's no monster, and he's my best friend." She held my hand and gently squeezed it.

"We saw him push you on the swing set and you fell off!"

"No, I didn't fall, I jumped, and I told him to push me." She told them with a stern tone.

"Whatever, we're doing this for your own good." One of them took her hand and tried pulling her away from me.

"No! Gaara is my best friend! He would never hurt me and I know it! Now let go!" She bit his hand and made him release her.

"Gah!" The boy took his hand away and rubbed it. "He's the most useless person to the sand village and we know it! When you turn up dead because of him, I'll laugh at your grave!"

Asuka narrowed her eyes at them and had the angriest face I never thought I would see on her, "Your just big bullies who cant face facts! Gaara will be a great help to the sand one day by being the Kazekage!"

My eyes shot wide at her remark, Kazekage? I thought, I would never have thought at the time that I could be that much help to the sand; but she believed in me, that's all I needed to believe I could be Kazekage one day during that time.

After a few months past, possibly one of the worst memories of my life happened… I still tried forgetting it… but that memory alone kept my other memories of her alive. I hated admitting it, but it was true.

All I remember of that day… was her crying, and trying to get away from that man that took her away…

I was just walking home one night, after walking Asuka home, I think… Then I heard the most gut wrenching sound I could ever possibly fear of thinking about.

"GAARA!" Her, screaming my name while she was full of tears…

I turned around to see her being carried off while she was over the man's shoulder. I quickly ran after her. "ASUKA!" I screamed back, trying my hardest to keep up but couldn't.

The man was much quicker than I and started to run along the roof tops with ease. While I, tripped over my own feet and face planted the ground. I tried getting up, but I sprained my ankle and couldn't go far after that. I started to hate myself after that day. I hated that I fell. I hated that I wasn't fast enough. I gave it my all. But even then… it wasn't enough. I promised myself after that day, if I were to ever find her again, I would protect her with my life. So then I could fulfill my gratitude to her for being so kind to me when everyone avoided and hated me.

Unfortunately though… after a year past is when I first killed and learned to only love myself… and only myself… no one else was important to me. Not even my own brother or sister. I could care less if they died… That's when I forgot about my promise to Asuka. That's when… I lost who I was.

ooOoO0OoOoo

Gaara sighed and held his face in his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. Asuka looked at him with a mix of sorrow and disbelief.

"Gaara… is this all true?" She asked him.

He nodded and looked back up at her. "Asuka, I am truly sorry that I tried killing you. Please forgive me." He got down on his knees and held my hand as he lowered his head.

"Gaara…" She held his chin and lifted him back up. "I forgive you."

He smiled and wiped away his forming tears. "Th-thank you… Asuka." He hovered over her and held her in his arms, giving her a hug. "Asuka, I promise that I will give my life for you, all I want from you, is to be happy, nothing less." He released her and put his gourd back on. "I'd hate to do this, but… I really must go. I have business to take care of."

She nodded in understanding and smiled. "Gaara, before you go." He turned around and looked at her. "Thank you, for helping me with my memory."

He smiled and waved her off, "I only wish I remember more." With that, he left, silently closing the door behind him.

She sighed and placed a hand over her stomach, remembering what all Gaara said about how they met, how they grew close, how she left… It was all too good to be true…

Is it true? She wondered, and as soon as she started thinking of this, someone knocked on her door. "Come in." she answered.

Lee walked in and closed the door, then sat at the chair next to her bed. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better than I was." She answered him.

"Good…" He averted his eyes to the floor for a moment then looked back up at her. "I saw that sand nin walk out of here, did he hurt you?"

She shook her head, "No, and his name is Gaara. He actually helped me with my memory."

Lee brightened up and smiled. "Really? What did he tell you?"

"I originated in the sand village in the land of wind, he was my first friend, and apparently I was taken away from there…" Her face saddened for a moment, then brightened when she saw that Lee was still happy.

"I'm happy for you Asuka! Who would have known you were from the sand? This is great!" He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Is there anything else?"

She shook her head, "Sadly no…"

"Oh…" He scratched the back of his head. "Well, at least you learned this much." He gave her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back, "Yah."

"I'll have to go Asuka, maybe we can talk later?" Lee got up and headed for the door. "I have to train for the Chūnin exams, I have to be ready for my opponent." He gave her a thumbs up and left.

Asuka smiled and took in her surroundings to find a single white violet in a vase on her bedside table. She took the flower and sniffed it, loving it's scent. I wonder who gave me this? She put the flower back in it's vase and started up at the ceiling then drifted off to sleep.

Awww how adorable, she found an old friend. I'm happy that we got this far, it's just that... oh never mind, I'll let you guys see it through.

Review please and thank you.

9/16/13
*Familiar Friends*