Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But if you happen to see Gaara on Ebay… Give me a call.

"Hmm." Came the voice of Gaara's mysterious would- be assassin. That's when Sachi knew. This man had the same feelings and the same voice and the same pain that HE had had. Could it be…?

"Yashamaru?" Sachi's voice came out tense and almost scared sounding. "What are you doing?" Sachi heard a gasp from behind. She quickly turned to look and saw Gaara look down.

"Why…?" Came Gaara's muffled voice. Sachi glared at Yashamaru, expecting the worst. But, what had changed? Gaara had never been rude or impolite or violent with Yashamaru- he had trusted him! And Sachi had begun to as well. Even so, now was not the time to be analyzing the situation, it was the time to be participating in it. It was time for Sachi to put her Gekitsuugan to work- something she had never done before in a real fight.

And the three kunai whizzing at her told her it was time. She quickly knocked the kunai out of the air using her own confused emotions as a shield. Then, She ran as fast as a six year old could, and took a little of her own pain- shock, brokenness, anger at herself- and hurled it at Yashamaru. Now, it wasn't as if this wasn't enough pain- Sachi had lots of it. But, Sachi didn't have a lot of experience in actual combat, and was still a little shaken.

The burst of pain went directly toward Yashamaru and clung on like a leech, sinking into his body. This always, always, always, burned. And whatever emotion you put into someone, the emotions that might block it get sent out. For example, right now Sachi could see the majority of Yashamaru's confidence, happiness, and pride slowly rise off of him and fade away. But, Yashamaru wouldn't give up. Sachi would take away his confidence, but not his determination.

Sachi tried to do that move her brother did, where he'd be sitting one place at one time and, if he ran as fast as possible, he'd up one place a second later- and all Sachi ever saw was a blur. She ran as hard and fast as her body would let her- but it wasn't enough. She was just looking like an idiot and letting down her defense. Suddenly, Gaara stood up. A new look was in his eyes- murderous.

"No," He spoke quietly "NO." his voice got a bit louder "You can't be Yashamaru…" And he raised his hand up, causing Yashamaru to be lifted up in sand.

"Gaara, Wait…!" Sachi cried, and ran over desperately to Gaara, grabbing his other hand and squeezing it gently. "It its Yashamaru," she spoke, in a calm voice "Believe me…"

But something else had already taken over Gaara. This wasn't Gaara, Sachi thought, this was a monster. How could she get Gaara back? But it was too late. Gaara squeezed the hand in the air closed, causing Yashamaru's blood to be splattered everywhere. That was when Gaara gained control again.

"No…" came his soothing voice, but in a tragic, heartbroken way. "Yashamaru?" And then he saw the bandages on the would-be assassin's arms- the same Yashamaru had. Tears streaked down his face. "Yashamaru, why?" Sachi wished she could know too. She used her still-activated Gekitsuugan to pull the some of the sadness and anger and confusion out of Gaara. His body seemed to cling to it, but it came out after a bit. Only a small amount came out, but Sachi could tell it had relieved him a bit. But then Yashamaru decided to ruin it all.

"I hated you." He said, his voice slightly hoarse, but loud enough for Sachi to hear "You took the life of my sister, and for that I hated you. I tried to love you like my sister did, but the truth is, I couldn't. I can't love you, and neither can anyone else. No one has every loved you."

"That's not true." Came a small voice from behind Gaara. Sachi had nowhere to put Gaara's pain- except herself. So she now understood his pain. The way he was sure that he had just destroyed his chances at a normal life, the way he was sure Sachi would hate him now- like all the others. And that wasn't even half of it. "He's my best friend, and will always be." Gaara looked at her, his eyes glistening with tears. He didn't have to say anything. The look he gave her clearly said: Do you really mean it? Sachi nodded.

Yashamaru looked from Sachi to Gaara.

"Love only yourself, fight only for yourself." – Yashamaru's last sentiment before he closed his eyes and breathed one last time.

Sachi looked at Gaara. Gaara had tears streaming down his face. He just kept trying to hide the pain inside, and one day, he would explode-Sachi knew this from personal experience. Sachi ran over to Gaara and hugged him. She sat there and hugged and hugged and hugged. But little did Gaara know, Sachi still had her Kekkei Genkai activated, and she was sucking the pain out of him with every second. Eventually, she could see a huge ball develop in her hands. She shot it at a nearby flower basket, and watched all the flowers wilt away.

Gaara was now in a sort of numb, scared state. Sachi picked him up and groaned a bit under the pressure. Gaara wasn't overweight, but a six year old carrying a six year old was no easy task. Sachi and Gaara were probably around the same weight, except Sachi was a bit thinner, perhaps. But, she had practiced lifting heavy things and running and jumping all those days before she came to Suna. It was actually odd how Gaara seemed to become lighter and lighter as Sachi walked with him more.

Sachi looked at Gaara, and realized he was just staring into space, like a vacant statue. His face was as blank as the little sketchpad her mother had given her in vain hopes Sachi would stop writing on the walls. It never did work. He should have become heavier, but the going was getting mush, much easier. She still saw that pain radiateing off of him, wondering if he new that bottling pain inside led you too explode any given time. Sachi almost smiled as she remembered what she had done to cope with everything.

It had been a bright late August afternoon, and Sachi was outside playing in the back yard. Well, playing was what she liked to call it- her brother called it physical torture. It wasn't actually torture, of course- it was training. Well, if you called punching a wood stake twice your height and maybe 3 times your weight over 100 times training. It was excruciating- and it left her knuckles bloody and red. Her mother, of course, never found out, thanks to her secretiveness, but her brother almost told a few times. Sachi had easily been able to hide the scars on her knuckles by wearing a pair of lavender gloves that went a bit past her knuckles. Purple was her lucky, favorite color, and lavender was the closest she could get to purple. Her brother had only seen her "play" outside once, when he came home early for ninja school and their mother was in the shower, and didn't know it was a habit. She was only an innocent five year old, but she had a lot of anger.

She had anger at the people who glared at her and sometimes spit at her when she was on the streets. She had anger at the people that beat up her brother and called him names, because he was different. But most of all, she had anger at herself for not being good enough, which most six year olds never even thought about.

Sachi chuckled to herself. He had never been like most six year olds, she thought, looking at Gaara, she had always been different.

All right then. Fanfiction being quite- hard to work with, so as a treat, I'm putting up two chapter (This is the second) as soon as it begins working again. Maybe even a third. Ooh, I bet you can't wait.