AN: Okay, so I know I haven't been active... at all... in forever. I highly doubt anyone remembers me anymore, but you people could surprise me. Anyways, I've cleaned out my stories. I will not be finishing them as they are stories I wrote when I was much much younger. I do not have them on this computer, they were mostly written two or three computers ago. So nobody ask for them, they are gone forever. With this story, I will promise to TRY to finish. I have issues with finishing things. I drive my mother crazy at dinner. I've enlisted people to help me keep on it, mostly by inserting them into my story. They have an interest and I'm reminded that I have to work on it. Everyone wins! Moving along with this little note. I will try to have a new chapter every Thursday, goals help me keep at things. If I don't upload a chapter on Thursday you have my permission to spam me until I upload. Of course, if there was to be a good reason for me being late. Example, this summer I'm going in for another huge surgery. I will inform you. Okay, rant finished, enjoy.

P.S- Any complaints about this over-used "O.C with Gaara!" and I shall maim you with a spork! You have been warned .

Episode One- The Dwindling Boy

The sky was near crystal clear. To an uninterested eye it might appear to be one simple color. However, if one looked closely you could see it was actually a swirl of every blue imaginable. A few low dark clouds rolled through the sky on the lazy wind, offering no promise of rain as they were too far off. No relief came to this desert city. The only thing that broke the blue of the sky was a hawk. It was large; its copper feathers glittered in the blazing sun. Piercing golden eyes searched the desert for any sign of game to hunt, for a thrill as much as survival. But in the heat of the day nothing was out, not even in the city, only a lonely mob of red hair offered any hope. The hawk swooped in for a closer look, but as it neared the mass of hair, a small boy appeared rather than an animal that could make up its dinner. Almost dejectedly the hawks rose up in the air again, and flew out, past the city were the red-haired boy sat.

The hawk did not go unobserved. The small, young boy watched the copper hawk with piercing, sad, teal eyes. He was snuggled tightly into a small nook that sheltered him from the radiating sun that beat down on the rest of the city.

The boy was small and sad looking. From the look of him it was easy to tell that he was one of the wallflowers. A neglected boy, not used to attention, he had the look of someone who was someone who watched instead of played with others.

Across the street from the boy was a big school building that had the look of a fortress more than anything. It was surrounded by thick iron walls, bleak and uninteresting, but a large feature noticed in the city, a "protected" school, for the rich kids and upper class students. The boy watched only half-interested as the newly let out students played in the "lawn". The lawn was more of a paved courtyard, since grass was not easily found in Suna.

His attention was drawn to one girl who kept sulkily to herself, drawing in a dirt patch with a sharp stick. She was the smallest one, and very different. Her eyes were a strange shade of purple. For a fancy rich girl her build was more muscular then the other dainty girls. The way she kept to herself and how the others went out of their way to stay out of her way showed that she was hardly welcome.

Her clothing was different from the others, a rather girly white kimono with a red obi, coming down into a red matching skirt. She wore socks and the heeled sandals. The difference was that her clothing was of poorer quality, and her clothing was dirtier. It was obvious that she was the only tomboy of the females. While most of the girls had accessories, all this girl had was a hair piece that had two pearls, on either side of her head that clasp her blonde hair back behind her ears and had a few ribbons connecting them. Two bits of her hair escaped her strange hair piece and hanged in front of her face and her bangs that were also too long, they almost covered her eyes, and the largest lock fell in a pointy manner on her nose. She looked almost sloppy compared to the other girls.

A girl followed by two rather dopy looking boys approached, and the observing boy stiffened. From the girl's dress it was easy to see that this girl was the richest, and ergo the leader.

Words were exchanged; she had dropped her stick the moment they had approached. The popular girl's face was turning red fast, but the other girl held her cool surprisingly well.

"You don't belong here Hakari-baka!" the girl hissed, her words drifting on the wind to the observing child.

More words that did not reach him were exchanged, and things were getting heated. The girl, Hakari, was finally beginning to show signs of anger. He moved closer, enchanted by Hakari, and oddly wanting to see what would happen next.

"Leave!" yelled the girl, giving Hakari a shove. Hakari was pushed back, but only one foot moved back, as if she was stepping back.

Harare's face went dark, anger growing, "Do that again…"

The girl, not wanting to be the coward, did shove her again, only this time Hakari didn't move. Instead Hakari grasped the girl's hands and twirled into the girl, so Hakari was standing just in front of the girl, her back to her, and the girl's arm over her shoulder. In a simple fluid movement the girl was flipped over her shoulder.

One of the boys made the mistake of trying to smash his hand over her head. Hakari's plum colored eyes caught it, quickly she blocked by making an X-shape with her hands. His fist was caught between her hands. She twisted one of her hands and caught hold of his wrist and in a split second she had the boy in an arm lock, his arm tightly held to his back. Hakari brought one foot up and kicked him to the ground, releasing his arm. The last boy blindly charged her; Hakari stepped out of his way at the last second and tripped him daintily. He crashed into his friend on the ground.

The boy, who had moved to a point he was at the iron gates, and had unknowingly been squeezing the rods of the iron gate, stared with worry and then amazement. The rich girl knew how to fight! But unbeknownst to Hakari, the mean girl was getting up. She grabbed the stick that Hakari had dropped and charged her. Hakari, turning around too late, braced for impact.

The boy growled and snapped his hand out, sand rose from the cracks in the stone pavement and wrapped around the rich girl's feet and hands, keeping her from moving. Quickly the small boy slipped in between the spaced iron rods and entered the place. As he moved closer his sand further entrapped the girl, who was screaming and struggling. The boys stopped and watched in fear, not daring to move or draw attention.

Though everyone in the court-yard, teachers included, watched though no one raised a finger to save the girl or to stop him, whispers flew throughout the court-yard of what would happen next.

A voice in his head edged him on. This girl deserved to be hurt; she was going to club this girl, Hakari, with a stick, maybe just because she was different. This girl did not deserve his pity or his kindness, she was a cruel spoiled thing who could and would only get worse.

As the voice continued to speak to him, the sand tightened around the girl. Who was screaming and crying now, delectable blood ran through his sand, exciting him in a way he had not yet felt.

"Let her go," one timid voice said.

Shocked he turned his head to the source. It was the pretty girl, Hakari. She stood at his side now, one gentle soft hand on his arm, "She's not worth it," she whispered in a way that no one would hear her except him.

No one had ever willingly touched him before. Never before had someone spoke to him so gently, save his uncle... Stunned he released the girl, and was surprised that the voice- maybe equally as stunned- had shut up.

"There," Hakari said, smiling. "Feel better?"

He nodded, even though he did not feel better, just stunned. Hakari took his hand in hers and quickly yet gently pulled him out of the way as the school nurse ran to the injured girl.

"I'm Hakari," she said, as she led him away, "What's your name?"

"Gaara." he answered timidly.

Hakari smiled brightly at him, "That's a cute name," she responded.

Gaara blushed and stared at her. He had never been around anyone, besides his uncle, who wanted to be around him, or who smiled at him the way she did.

"Wanna go to the park?" Hakari asked, out of no-where, breaking his thoughts.

Gaara nodded, and they walked on. They spent the rest of the day at the park. Hakari chattered about nothing and Gaara was more than content to listen to her. To him it was like looking through a magic glass into another world. Hakari told him stories about magical places outside the city walls and Gaara created sand flowers for her which gave her great delight. As the sun began to set Hakari went home, making him swear to met her there the next day. Gaara agreed solemnly and went to his home as well.

Gaara arrived promptly at the playground the next day, and waited for Hakari to appear. A few minutes had passed and Gaara feared that she had been convinced by someone to not come back. Fear and sadness crowded his heart until he spotted a flash of red rushing towards him.

There she came trotting down the path from her school as fast as her little feet could carry her without tripping over her sandals or the hem of her skirt, panting she stopped in front of Gaara, who had been sitting on a swing, waiting.

"Sorry," she choked out between gasps for air, "I had detention- for the fight."

Gaara frowned and noticed that she was covered in a layer of white chalk, probably from cleaning erasers, "Sorry-" he started feeling responsible for getting her into trouble.

"Oh don't worry," Hakari responded, nonchalantly, cutting him off. "I just snuck out the window the moment my teacher's back was turned!" she giggled and Gaara laughed quietly as well, not quite understanding what was so funny, and worrying if she should get in trouble later.

Hakari plopped herself onto the swing next to Gaara and started to lazily swing. She was a picture of childhood, unconcerned about the troubles of life or about what would come tomorrow.

"The sky's so pretty," Hakari remarked leaning her head back as she swung. Gaara watched her, his teal eyes on her purple ones that seemed so content.

He looked up at the sky as well. It was beautiful. The sun was setting and the sky swirled with different tints of pink, yellow, orange, and red. A few shades of blue swirled around and stars had just begun to shine through the haze of the sky.

"The swing is my favorite ride," Hakari said suddenly as she swung back and forth, "It feels like you're flying… like you could just touch the stars," she smiled wistfully, "I could go where I wanted, see what I wanted, and do what I want. Just fly and fly…"

Gaara smiled at her, taking pleasure in her pleasure. Hakari raised her head back up and looked at him, "You seem like a watcher to me," she stated reaching over and poking him. She giggled and he watched her face as is changed from wistful to happy, then to a contemplating expression which did not fit her child face.

Gaara stared at her, confused on what exactly a watcher was. He waited for Hakari to explain herself, which he knew she would.

"You seem happy just to watch people, but I think there's something else inside you, a different person, and a leader. You just have that way. I bet you're great at Simon Says!" Hakari giggled at her joke and swung higher in the air.

Gaara watched her, the gears in his head turning behind his jade eyes as he watched her carefully. To him, he thought she was just speaking babble. But, he was content to stay like this with her. No talking, unless she wanted to, just swinging and laughing. It was nice to feel loved.

"Hey, Gaara," came her sweet voice as she slowed, until she matched his swinging speed.

"Yes?" he answered, confused by her sudden change of emotion. She seemed almost serious now. Her purple eyes were on some kids who had come to the park to play, but had left the moment they saw Gaara.

"Why are they avoiding us?"

Gaara frowned, "They aren't avoiding you, just me," he said quietly diverting his eyes to the ground.

It was Hakari's turn to frown as she jumped off the swing. Her small body flew through the air, before landing nimbly on the ground. In a flash she stood in front of him, stopping his swing by grabbing onto the cords with her iron grasp. Her face was stern, like hard granite and her eyes were like purple diamonds peering into his soul.

"We're friends Gaara-kun," she stated, "If they're avoiding you, they're avoiding me too!"

Gaara nodded, not understanding her logic but feeling it would be useless to argue with her.

Hakari's look softened, "Why don't they like you?" she asked.

"Because they think I'm a monster," Gaara informed her sulkily. He was unable to lie to her, but he feared that if he told her the truth she would stop being his friend.

"You're no monster," Hakari stated haughtily standing up straight. Gaara looked at her, even with him sitting and her standing they were eye to eye.

"They're the monsters for being so mean to you!" she remarked, a fire in her amethyst eyes, "And I don't care if they never speak to me again! Because they aren't worthy of us!"

Gaara stared at her, and she at him for a few moments. When she realized her words were nonsense to Gaara she attempted to explain.

"Listen, Gaara," she said softly, her facial expression changing to a mothering look that Gaara had never had seen directed at him. "People are like…" she searched her mind for a good allusion, her face lighting up when she did, "Like the chalk boards we have at our school!" she explained.

Gaara's perplexed look only became more obvious. Hakari scratched her head and continued, "Well when you buy a chalkboard its clear right?"

Gaara nodded, "Well," she went on; "When humans are born that's how they are. They don't have any marks on them. Chalkboards are different sizes and shapes. Some kids have those cool new whiteboards. You can write on them with different colors, red's my favorite. Anyways, some chalkboards have chips in them, or have some sort of man-u-fac-tur-ing," she pronounced that word awkwardly, sounding it out, "problems, but you can still write of them," she babbled on.

Realizing that she had yet to come to a point she flustered on, "My point is, people aren't born with marks on them. They make their own marks, and that's what defines them as a person. The choices they make. Unlike chalkboards, there are some mistakes that can never be erased, or not fully. All of your choices and decisions define who you are. Not if you're a little chipped," she added playfully socking Gaara in the arm lightly; no sand came up to shield him even though it stung a bit.

"So don't let them define you, Gaara-kun. They can't draw on your "chalkboard" only you can," she smiled charmingly at Gaara, and eventually went home, letting Gaara stew there a little longer on her words. Gaara had never seen his beautiful but flaky friend so wise and solemn before.

A few weeks passed and they always met at that playground after school. No crisis arose, Hakari was never late by too long. Gaara always feared something horrible would happen because she was friends with him, and, one day she was very late.

He watched her walk over, her head down. He was surprised that instead of her uniform she was wearing a light pink jumper with a sleeveless white hooded jacket over it. Her hair was actually curly rather to how straight it normally was, and excluding two locks of hair, her hair was secured with blue ribbons. Dejectedly she sat down at her usual spot.

Gaara stared at her a while before asking what was wrong, "Oh it's terrible!" she exclaimed hardly waiting for him to finish asking his question before she jumped into her tale, "They kicked me out of the school!"

At least that explained why she wasn't in her usual dress, though Gaara was still unsure why she was upset. The children of that school were not very nice to her, though maybe her parents were displeased with her.

Hakari was quiet after that. Gaara tried to supply the conversation but seemed at a loss of what to say. Unlike Hakari, Gaara had problems keeping up a one-sided conversation.

Awkwardly, he tried to console her in the best way he knew: practical advice. "You could join the ninja academy with me," he put in, smiling as reassuringly as he could, though it came out as an awkward smile, rather than a reassuring one.

Hakari jumped from her seat, "Oh thank you Gaara!" she said as she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight, not even noticing the awkwardness of the smile. Gaara stiffened, wondering why his sand was unable to keep this girl off him, "That is a wonderful idea! I'll go ask now!" Retracting her arms from his neck she planted kiss on his cheek before dashing off.

Gaara touched the place where she kissed him, shocked. His jade eyes followed her fleeting form until she disappeared into the dusk.