Aw man, this was a hard on to write. I kept feeling the enitre time like i was making Gaara to ooc. Let me know what you guys think!

BTW: this is my longest chapter yet and i am super proud of myself!

Anywho enjoy the awesome that is Gaara and my humble character Isakso-chan who is desperately trying to win is affections just like we all wish we could.

Chapter Six

Gaara had spent the better part of the night on the roof of his house. He was thinking about the girl. Isakso. Why was it so hard to act normal? To not attack everyone in sight and make everyone hate him? Of course he had created his reputation by killing everyone who irritated him. It was a hard habit to break. He still felt like killing at the slightest provocation. He still didn't trust anybody but his siblings even if they didn't trust him yet.

Isakso was a civilian, and all civilians of Suna were afraid of him. Even though she had said that she wasn't afraid, smiled at him, and thanked him, he didn't believe her. He knew that people could lie, and wear false smiles. Yashamaru was a prime example of that. Due to that rationalization, built up years of hatred, resentment, and rejection, Gaara had assumed she was trying to kill him. And why wouldn't she? He was a monster in everyone else's eyes.

Time passed unnoticed and when the sun finally rose it came as a surprise. Gaara had spent so long without sleep that he hardly noticed the passage of night time hours anymore. Once in awhile he became envious of normal people. A few hours after sunrise one of those normal people, Temari, came to find him on the roof.

"I thought I would find you up here." She stated, walking over to stand beside him. They gazed out over the village in companionable silence for awhile.

Gaara took the time to appreciate that he was even able to have something like this. Only two and a half weeks ago and Temari would have been to scared of him to even stay around longer than necessary. It felt good to have a different kind of bond with his siblings now. It was tentative at best, they still flinched slightly. Still watched their words when they thought he would lash out in anger. But it was a start to having a normal relationship. He almost understood the want for companionship. It was simply easier with his sibling because they had always been around.

Temari finally broke the silence, "You should go talk to her ya know." She wasn't entirely sure how Gaara would react to her words but she said them anyways. The atmosphere around the boy was calm enough.

"Hn," of course he knew who she was talking about. "She thinks I'm a monster."

"Well yeah. You did kind of attack her." Gaara sent his sister a small glare for her lack of tact. She smirked back at him. For all her previous fear she was joking with the young jinchuriki. Taunting him in a sisterly fashion.

Gaara once again questioned why he just didn't go back to threatening them.

Temari looked at her youngest brother from the corner of her eye. In the end he would do whatever he wanted. It just so happened that he wanted to be accepted by the village and it's people.

"Well do whatever you want, I gotta mission." Temari reached out as if to ruffle his hair, something she hadn't done since he was really little, but stopped herself. Not quite warm and cuddly yet, she reminded herself.

As she made her way out of her house she smirked to herself. She did have a mission but that wasn't for about an hour. She had plans before she took off.

Isakso had been late to work. Surprisingly her boss was gracious about it. It must have been the fact that she had never been late before. And the redness around her eyes that clearly indicated crying. She felt like such a cry baby. And the only times she seemed to cry were around and about Gaara. She hadn't even cried as much after the attack, simply smiling acting like nothing was wrong, almost as if she couldn't cry about it. After crying on and off for a few hours Isakso had fallen asleep. She had slept a whole eleven hours, how she had managed that she would never know. She had also, to her dismay, forgot to set an alarm clock, resulting in her tardiness.

Iskaos was currently serving customers, smiling away and hoping no one would notice or comment on her sluggishness today. A few of her regulars had already given her concerned glances. As she was making her rounds, refilling water Iskaso spotted a familiar head of blond hair spiked into four ponytails. The owner of this head of hair was looking at her expectantly.

"Temari-san, what can i get for you?" Isakso asked cordially. She sincerely hoped that the older girl wasn't here to talk about yesterday.

"Just some tea. I'm not actually hear to eat though." Temari replied, flushing Isakso's hope down the drain.

"Of course. I'll be right back."

As soon as Isakso steeped some tea for Temari she told her boss that she was going on a ten minute break. The older girl was clearly hear to talk, and she had a feeling she would want to sit down for it. Placing the tea and two delicate cups on a platter Isakso was reminded of the scene in the Subaku kitchen. She glared down at the tea for a moment, as if blaming it for her predicament, before putting on her trademark smile and making her way to where Temari was waiting patiently.

"Thanks." Temari said brusquely, pouring two cups. They sipped the hot liquid in companionable silence for awhile before Temari broached the subject, "So about yesterday..."

"No!" Iskaos stated rather, loudly shocking Temari. She blushed at her tone. "No, I mean...it's ok. It was my fault I should have known better."

"Your fault?" Temari prompted.

"I should have known Gaara-sama wouldn't want the tea. I mean,, what was i thinking just showing up at your door and expecting him to just accept random presents? Of course he thought was trying to poison him! I mean you guys are shinobi, it practically comes with the job description!" Isakso cut off her little rant panting slightly.

The fan wielder considered the girl for a moment before asking, "So wait, your upset because you think he's mad at you? Not because he almost attacked you?"

"Yes! Well no. I mean it was pretty terrifying when his sand came flying at me. I've heard all the stories. But...I don't know, he saved me the other day, and he didn't really hurt me." Isakso's peeked up from her cup at Temari. Great, now she was going to think that she was some crazy lunatic.

"He would have."

"What?" Isakso wasn't sure she had heard right since the words were spoken too softly.

"If you had met Gaara like three weeks ago he would have killed you. No doubt. Just a bloody smear in the sand." Teamri stated this matter of factly. "You said you heard the stories. But...he's different these days."

"I know. He doesn't look as angry anymore." When she was a child Isakso would of course run away from Gaara along with the other children. She would also look back over her shoulder and see his downcast expression. Over the years she had observed from afar that his downcast expression had turned angry and resentful. The short while she had observed him in the hospital she had noticed that he looked sad. He also looked very thoughtful. It was a definite change.

Isakso almost opened her mouth to ask why the sudden change had occurred. Temari would definitely know what had happened since they were not only siblings, but team members as well. But then she thought better of it, mortified. Gaara didn't even want to see her, let alone have her stick her nose in his personal business.

"I know" Isakso said again, forcing a convincing smile. "But I'm sure it's none of my business."

Temari looked at the girl across from her smiling like a fool. She wondered if Isakso really knew how dangerous Gaara was, or at least used to be. Well, either way, she was here to convince her that he wasn't as dangerous as he made himself seem the other day. As crazy as that notion was.

Temari was about to speak when, "Isakso-san! Break times over!" interrupted a smallish man with graying hair who apparently was Isakso's boss.

"Ok!" Isakso trilled back, "I'm sorry Temari-san i have to get back to work. Maybe we can talk another time?" despite the subject Isakso had enjoyed talking to the experienced ninja. She didn't have very many friends. Actually now that she thought about it she didn't have any friends at all.

"Sure." Temari stood to leave. "I just really wanted to say, give him another chance. Sayonara!" Then she left before Isakso had a chance to ask what she had meant.

Isakso stood and pondered on Temari's statement for a moment. Apparently a moment too long because her boss once again called out to her to gear her ass in gear.

Two days later found Isakso in pretty much the same spot. Getting berated by her irate boss, Tama-san, while working to the bone to afford her higher rent. It was still worth it in her mind. She didn't even mind her bosses constant nagging, he was always like that. But she knew that no matter how irritated with her he got that he wouldn't never in a million years fire her. The regular customers frequenting the shop loved Isakso and would most likely boycott if she left. Not only that, but Isakso also seemed to be the only person in all of Suna who could stand to work at the shop for more than a month without quitting. It was something about her boss's abrasive personality and her easily forgiving and positive personality that made it work.

Personally, Isakso thought the old man liked her more than he let on. He was teaching her how to run the kitchen. Normally she was just a waitress and only served food but earlier that day Tama had announced that she was going to learn how to work in the kitchen as well. Isakso had smiled at the opportunity, it meant more hours, which meant more money for rent and other commodities. Unknown to her however was the Tama did like the girl, and had even heard about what had happened. His gruff sympathy only extend as far as giving her more work which he knew she needed.

She was in the kitchen today and was mixing the batter for a batch of dango while waiting for some one she had already made to finish browning. It was her first batch by herself and she didn't know how it would turn out. The fact that she kept thinking about a certain redhead didn't help matters. How could she cook when she could bareley focus? She sighed and glazed the now finished dango that only looked semi-appetizing. She sighed, Isakso was so focused on Gaara that when she heard his voice floating in from the front of the store she brushed it off, assuming it was her imagination.

Until she was interrupted that was, "Isakso-san," came a gruff voice from directly behind her. She snapped out of her thoughts with a little shreik and spun to face Tama. If he had been the type of man he would have laughed quite loudly at her antics. "Someone here to see ya."

The bowl was lifted from her hands and Isakso was practically shoved from the kitchen. The old man probably just didn't want Isakso burning any more food, she thought to herself. Her eyes slowly swept the perimeter of the room while wondering who could possibly come by to see her. She didn't have any friends or family so it had to be either Temari or some village official coming ask more annoyingly intrusive questions about the incident.

Her eyes eventually stopped on startling red hair that rested atop the head of no other than Gaara. Isakso felt her limbs start to shake out of pure embarrassment. It was an unexpected feeling that was almost overwhelming. Why would Gaara come to her work? Did he suddenly develop a desire for dango and tea? No, that couldn't be it, she had never seen him in the shop before and Tama said that he was her to see her specifically. What on earth could he want?

Seeing that Gaara had spotted her as well Isakso forcefully stopped her nervous limbs from shaking, planted her normal smile on her face and walked to greet the intimidating young man.

Gaara had spent the better part of two days in indecision. It was a rare feeling for the youngest of the sand siblings. Usually his mind was pretty set, it usually involved killing, something had never been indecisive about until the chunnin exams. Since then had had decided that killing was no longer the only way to validate his existence and become strong. Even though that was a hard decision it hadn't involved any second guessing. He had decided that forming bonds was the first step, his siblings for starters. But that was proving difficult. They still flinched involuntarily when they thought he was going to lose his temper. Which he honestly still felt like doing at times.

No, Gaara's indecision had nothing to do with his predicament over his insane urge to maim and kill. The feeling actually revolved around an insignificant civilian girl who happened to catch the backlash of his rage. Gaara had never felt an the kind of emotion that had swelled in his chest when looking down at the terrified girl apologizing to him on his kitchen floor. He hadn't known what to do. No one had ever sincerely apologized to him before. The only apologies he received were the pre-death snivilings.

He only knew that he had made a mistake and that this girl who had been so kind and accepting would now hate and mistrust him.

According to Kunkuro that feeling was guilt.

He thought back to the awkward conversation he had had with his brother.

"Can i come in?" Kunkuro jerked nervously and spun towards the voice.

It was Gaara, standing in the threshold of his room. Gaara looked around. He had never been in his siblings rooms. His father had seperated Temari and Kunkuro from Gaara during much of their childhood and after Yashamaru's death, when Gaara had been moved to the main house, he had lived in a different part of the house. Kunkuro's room was cleaner than Gaara had imagined.

"G-Gaara! Um...S-sure." Kunkruo stuttered obviously not wanting Gaara anywhere near his room. As Gaara crossed the threshold he noticed Kunkuro indiscreetly tense as if to flee.

Maybe he shouldn't ask his brother for assistance. It was almost painful to see his brother so scared of him. It made him want to lash out like he had done in the past, to make Kunkuro hurt as well. But he wouldn't do that anymore, he wanted to be trusted by his siblings. And he had a matter that Kunkuro could possibly shed some light on, seeing as he had more experience interacting with other people. For the first times in his life Gaara was going to ask his brother for advice.

Gaara came to a stop in the middle of the room, taking a moment to observe his surroundings. Kunkuro stood by the door, unsure of how to act.

"The girl who was here the other day..." he began in his raspy voice, he then stopped unsure about how to finish his statement.

"Yeah, the one you kinda...attacked?" Kunkuro ventured, feeling a bit braver seeing as his brother wasn't exuding any of the normal signs of hostility.

That was, until Gaara turned to glare at him a bit, "Yes. Since then I have had this... feeling. And i don't know what it is."

"Um...guilt?" Kunkuro was starting to get a little freaked out. Unlike Temari, Kunkuro didn't totally believe in Gaara's new change of attitude. It was just too out there. For 16 years the kid had been a psychotic killer and now he wanted to be all warm and fuzzy? It as just too weird to believe.

"Guilt?" Gaara repeated as if rolling the word around in his mouth. He knew what the word meant but to apply that kind of emotion to himself was entirely new, a foreign concept.

"Yeah man, it means you feel bad for attacking the chick." Kunkuro's voice clearly indicated that he thought it was just as puzzling as Gaara.

"What do i do about it?" Gaara asked a little frustrated.

Kunkuro noticed the shift in mood and backed away a step before answering, "Most people would apologize."

"Hn" Gaara considered the answer, Temari had said that he should go talk to the girl.

Gaara turned a left the room without a word and barely caught Kunkuro's audible sigh of relief.

Now Gaara's problem was about how to get rid of this feeling. He had apologized before before he even knew he was feeling guilty but now that he was aware it didn't seem like enough. His thoughts had briefly turned to simply killing her and being done with all the trouble but that would have been a waste of all his efforts thus far.

After a two whole days of deliberation, Gaara managed to track the girl down to where she worked. It was a modest dango and tea shop. Gaara had never eaten dango or visited a shop, he always received glares from villager and a few time when he was younger, had even been chased out. No one would do that nowadays seeing as he would just have killed them mercilessly. It didn't come as a surprise that as soon as he entered the shop many of the customers fled, giving Gaara a wide berth as well as a few heated looks. Gaara carefully kept his face impassive but it saddened him to see the behavior.

The only person to openly acknowledge him was a man of small stature with gray hair.

"Can i help you." The mans tone was gruff and down to business. If he had any fear of the teen he hid it well.

"Isakso" Was all Gaara said in reply. The man gave him an odd look before scurrying to the back to presumably fetch the girl. Gaara felt a pang of anxiety in his stomach, sure she would run away at the sight of him. They always ran, even when he gave them no reason.

There was a shift of the screen that separated the kitchen and then there she was, gazing around the room until her eyes landed on him. Her eye widened exponentially and her limbs visibly started to shake. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. The girl was clearly terrified of him and would no doubt run off or tell him he was a monster and that she wanted him to leave her alone.

Instead she took a deep breath, stopped her limbs from shaking and plastered on a big smile. Even though he wasn't an expert on any facial expressions other than emotionless, Gaara could tell that her smile was too forced. Before he could think about it any more she had already walked over.

"Gaara-sama." she bowed low at the waist.

"Don't do that." Isakso paused mid-bow at his unexpected words. "there is no need."

"Ok!" she chirped, a bit confused. "Did you need something?" She thought back to what Temari had said about giving him another chance. It still didn't make sense but it looked like Gaara was going to give her another chance.

"The other day..." the teen began. Isakso was tempted to burst out into apologies but managed to hold herself back. " ...was a" he paused again looking for the right word, "misunderstanding."

Isakso blinked, taken aback. Had he come to apologize? "So, your not mad at me?"

Gaara narrowed his eyes in confusion "No"

"Oh! good, I was so worried!" Isakso smiled for real, elated that Gaara wasn't mad at her. It was a relief and instantly lightened her mood. "I am very sorry as well. I should have realized that you would be suspicious of a random gift. i mean you are a shinobi."

That wasn't the only reason he was suspicious of random gifts. Over the years the kazekage had tried many different methods of killing his youngest son. Poison had been one them. But he didn't mention to this girl beaming at him like had had just made her day. It was new. Usually he ruined peoples days with his very presence.

Now that the apologies had been said there came a period of awkward silence that included Gaara staring a hole into the wall and Isakso fidgeting like crazy.

"Would you like some dango?" She question finally.

The question caught the sand user off guard and he responded with "hn."

Taking that as a yeas Isakso quickly said, "Ok! i'll be right back. Have a seat."

Watching Iskaso bounce back to the kitchen Gaara uncomfortably took a seat on one of the polished wooden tables. Isakso returned quickly with a small plate of dango. Gaara eyed it with evident mistrust for a moment. He had never really eaten sweets.

Isakso misunderstood his look, "Oh it's not poisoned i promise" she said with a small laugh. "It was my first batch by myself though, so i don't know how good the will taste."

With that she took a stick and popped one into her mouth to prove it wasn't posioned. She chewed it thoughtfully for a moment before declaring it good.

"Not too shaby for my first attempt." Gaara noticed her looking over at him expectantly.

Gingerly he took a bite out of the treat. It was surprisingly good. He nodded his approval to his companion at the table.

Isakso grinned, "Well since i am apparently such a great cook, you can come by anytime and be my guinea pig."

Gaara only gave her a blank faced stare, clearly not as amused as she was. She smiled back, making up for his lack of facial movement.

I just wanted to let you all know that i have absolutely no idea ho dango is made. Saw something about how they made it in a manga once but that was a lond time ago. If any of you know the proper way, let me know and ill fix it.

Reviews make me happy. Seriously. DO IT!