Demons at Night
It's not his fault that he kills people. The voice tells him to, and he does it.
Life is a checkerboard, and he is one of the regular pieces. He isn't King, no matter how much he longs to be in control. Shukaku is King.
Sometimes, he believes that he can change the way things are. Sometimes he falls for illusions of someday being Kazekage, of being a good Kazekage that everyone admires and loves…but the concept of someone actually loving him seems so far away.
He can reach up to his forehead and stroke the kanji there, "Ai," Love, but it isn't the same as someone really loving him.
There is Sisterly Love, and Brotherly Love, and something that he thought was love from Yashamaru, but he has never come across the type of love only a father or a mother can give, or love that only a non-family member can give.
What is Love, anyway? Shukaku doesn't need it. Gaara doesn't need it if Shukaku doesn't provide it.
And Shukaku certainly doesn't provide it, whatever it is.
Shukaku gives out commands, (kill him, destroy her, blood blood blood) and pushes Gaara past his limits, and past boundaries that the "good" Gaara had once set.
Even if Gaara plugs his ears, he can still hear that voice, telling him to do things that he knows are wrong, things that he's done before and doesn't want to do again.
The voice is always there, and sometimes it seems there is nothing else.
He is not King. He has no people. He has no control. He has nothing.
Nothing but the voice.
Author's Notes: Two chapters in one day, and two more drabbles. Hm. I'm making some progress here.