Love and Pain
Chapter 6

"Tetsumari, wake up!" Granny called out as she pushed Tetsumari slightly to wake her up, "You're going to be late for academy school today!"

"Okay Granny, I'm up!" Tetsumari said tiredly.

"Get washed up and dressed, I'll get breakfast started," Granny left the room. Tetsumari lay in her bed for a couple more minutes stretching. When she was satisfied, she got off and went to wash up and change.

"Morning Granny," Tetsumari walked into the kitchen and helped Granny fix up breakfast.

"Hey dear, " she replied. They sat down to eat and talk when they finished making breakfast. Tetsumari told Granny about Gaara and what she did yesterday. Soon they were finished eating, Tetsumari gave Granny a hug and kiss on the check just right before she left for school.

"Bye Granny!" she yelled out.

"Bye!" Tetsumari ran to school because she was going to be late. She made it right on time to class. Tetsumari saw Gaara sitting at the same spot he always did in the front, she walked over to him.

"Hey Gaara," Gaara looked up from his desk surprised.

"Hi Tetsumari," he smiled.

"Can I sit here?" Tetsumari asked pointing at the seat next to him.

"Yeah, of course," everyone watched as Tetsumari took the seat next to Gaara.

"Look, it's the two monster sitting next to each other," a kid cried out to his group of friends who were now laughing hysterically.

"Knock it out!" it was Temari standing up for her younger brother and Tetsumari. The group of kids were startled and scurried to their seats quickly. Just as they did, Karuke-sensei walked in.

"Good morning class," he started out.

"Good morning sensei," everyone said back in unison. Karuke-sensei than went on with his lesson for the day. When lunch/break time finally came by, they were dismissed.

"Gaara can I see you for a minute," Karuke-sensei called for Gaara before he walked out with Tetsumari and his two older siblings.

"Oh, okay," Gaara stopped and looked at Tetsumari.

"I'll see you later Gaara," she whispered.

"Okay, bye," he said back and walked towards Karuke-sensei. Temari Kankurou, and Tetsumari all walked outside together to eat their lunch as Gaara stayed back with his sensei.

"Thanks Temari, for standing up for me and Gaara earlier," Tetsumari thanked while they were eating lunch.

"No problem," she replied, "So what's with you and Gaara now? What did you guys do last night?"

"Yeah!" Kankurou jumped in on the conversation.

"Oh it was nothing really," she blushed, "He just walked me home and that was it."

"Sure!" Temari and Kankurou teased. Tetsumari didn't want to keep things away from them, especially Temari; her best friend, but it didn't seem like they cared much about it anyways.

"Don't worry, you don't have to tell us, " Temari joked, "I see that it's personal."

"No! It's nothing personal!" Tetsumari argued back, "We just walked and talked, that's it."

When Tetsumari was done eating, she went to throw her trash away.

"Hey, I'm going to play soccer okay?" Tetsumari said.

"Alright, see you later," Temari waved at her.

"Bye," Kankurou waved too. Tetsumari left to where all the other kids were and asked if she could play with them too.

"Hah monster! Who said you could play soccer with us!" a boy yelled at her.

"Yeah you monster!" Kids began to keep saying things and making fun of her. Tetsumari tried to hold back her tears. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew by and Temari was standing next to her.

"You punks! I told you guys to knock it out already. Say sorry to her now, or else." Temari threat.

"So-sor-sorry," they all stuttered.

"Okay, now you little brats better let her play with you."

"Yes ma'm," they all said and went back to what they were doing.

"Thanks again Temari."

"No problem, now go along and play safely" she smirked and walked away. Tetsumari headed towards the kids that were now playing soccer again. They let her play because they were horrified of Temari, but that still didn't stop them from pushing her around. They also rarely gave her the ball. This one time when Tetsumari finally had the ball, a girl came over and pushed her down leaving Tetsumari with scratches all over her legs. Everyone laughed and then continue playing. Suddenly, one of the boys kicked it high up on one of the cliffs.

"Aww, how are we going to get it now?" a couple of kids whined. Just then, Tetsumari saw Gaara walking over with the ball in his hand. She knew that he must have used his sand to get the ball down for them. Tetsumari got up and went over to Gaara.
"Thanks Gaara," she smiled, Gaara did too.

"It's… Gaara of the desert!" a kid yelled.

"Run!" the girl that pushed Tetsumari earlier cried out.

"Wait!" Gaara yelled back a little hurt, "I don't want to be alone!"

Suddenly sand started going after the kids. The sand grabbed the girl that told everyone to run and a few other kids. The girl began to scream frantically as the sand pulled her in along with the others. Tetsumari's leg shook terrible, she couldn't even move. She tried to sum up all her strength and ran to Gaara yelling for him to stop.

"Stop it Gaara!" she screamed at the top of her lungs hugging him nearly crying, but as she did, Gaara's uncle, Yashamaru, came and stopped the sand from doing any further damage.

"Gaara calm down, please" he begged. Gaara looked around at the damage he did than looked at Tetsumari who just let go of him. He was so afraid that he ran away.

"Wait Gaara!" Tetsumari called after him, but it was too late, he was already gone. Tetsumari turned around to look at Yashamaru.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Oh…yeah…" she replied. Yashamaru nodded and went to help the injured kids.

Gaara didn't show up for class after break since the whole incident. Tetsumari grew worried so after school she went to look for him nearly the whole day.

Soon, Tetsumari saw Gaara walk into a building so she decided to go after him. He turned into one of the rooms down the hall as Tetsumari followed close behind quietly. She spied on him when he got inside to see what he was doing.

Tetsumari noticed he was staring at a picture of a beautiful woman and holding a kunai in his small hand.

"What's he going to do with that?" she thought curiously. Then suddenly, he was holding it up about to stab it in his hand.

"Don't do it Gaara!" she yelled from her hiding spot but it was too late. Tetsumari was expecting him to bleed when she opened her eyes, but instead she saw sand shielding his hand from the kunai.

"It's no use," he said, "The sand interferes."

"Gaara," they both turned around to see his uncle again.

"Yashamaru?" Gaara said confused. Tetsumari kept quiet as they talked.

"I'm here to be your care taker. I was ordered by the Kazekage." Yashamaru looked over at Tetsumari with a smile. She smiled back at him, but continued to stay quiet not wanting to interfere. Yashamaru talked a bit with Gaara about being his care-taker, but stopped when Gaara noticed the wounds and bandages on Yashamaru from blocking the sand earlier.

"Yashamaru, I'm sorry," Gaara said sadly looking down.

"Oh this, it's nothing," he replied.

"Do wounds hurt?" Gaara questioned.

"Well this hurts just a little, but it'll heal."

"What does pain feel like? I've never been hurt before so I was wondering how it felt." Tetsumari and Yashamaru were both shocked with his question.

Yashamaru tried to explain it to Gaara the best he could, but Gaara still seemed a bit sad. Their conversation kept going on about pain for awhile. His uncle tried to explain that people hurt or get hurt by others a lot in a life time and it was hard to hate someone when Gaara asked if he hated him. Gaara got happier after he said that.

"I think I understand what hurting is now," Gaara said.

"Really?" his uncle replied.

"Maybe I'm injured like everyone else. I always get hurt here." Gaara placed his hands over his heart. Yashamaru and Tetsumari were surprised with his answer.

"I'm not bleeding… but my chest really hurts," Gaara said squeezing where his hand was. Tetsumari stared at him and couldn't help but feel the same way. Yashamaru then explained to Gaara about the pain from inside your heart which is difficult to heal; a wound of the heart. He then explained how there's ointment to heal it and how sometimes it will never heal.

"But there's one thing that could heal the pain of the heart," Yashamaru continues.

"What is it?" Gaara asked eagerly.

"It's a complicated medicine and you can only get it from another person, like Tetsumari for example."

Gaara and Tetsumari locked eyes again then looked at Yashamaru waiting for him to tell them.

"What is it? How can I heal it?" Gaara repeated.

"The only thing that could heal a wound of the heart would be… Love," They all looked over to the picture of the women.

"Gaara," Tetsumari said, they turned to look at her," Who is she?"

"It's his mom, which is my sister," Yashamaru answered for Gaara.

"Wait, but how do I get it?" Gaara asked still wondering about what love meant.

"Gaara, you already have received it. Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important to you… it's expressed by caring and protecting that person. Just like my sister, I believed that she had always loved you and that she's the sand that protects you out of love. She isn't the only one that loves you Gaara; you're important and close to me as well."

"Me too," Tetsumari said smiling at Gaara. He grew happy and gave them both a warm smile. They talked for a bit longer until Tetsumari realized she had to go home.

"Oh no, Granny must be really worried right now. I must go home, Bye Yashamaru, bye Gaara see you tomorrow!" Tetsumari hugged Gaara and gave him a kiss on the forehead than waved goodbye to Yashamaru.

"Bye Tetsumari," they both replied. Tetsumari hurried out the door and out of the building. She sighed to herself as she slowed down.

"He's just like me…" she thought as the conversation with Yashamaru replayed in her head.