Disclaimer
... My friend bought me a Sasuke keychain. Isn't it nice of him? That's pretty much all I own of Naruto...

A/N: As if I wrote two chapters in one day! I'm on a roll! ... But I did spend my entire day on this, you guys better enjoy it!

I'm calling it a day, even if I have a great idea for the 6th chapter. Maybe I'll break my resolve and start it tonight! We'll see...

Chapter five: A Tainted Reputation

The three siblings and Kenoyo ate breakfast rather quickly. Temari and Kankuro were arguing over the taste of the food, with Temari clearly intimidating her younger brother with her glares, while Kenoyo was throwing glances at a quiet Gaara. He hadn't said a word, but that was to be expected. He, for some reason, refused to talk openly in front of his siblings.

Once the plates were cleared, Temari slid a small pouch of gold coins towards Kenoyo and said, "You definitely need clothes while you'll be around here, so go into the general store and go buy yourself a few pieces. How are you feeling this morning?"

She smiled at the older girl's kindness and took the pouch, slipping it into her pocket. "Thanks for the money. I don't feel so bad, the heaviness is gone and I'm not as thirsty as I was yesterday," she said with a second bright smile, though her attention was mostly on Gaara.

After receiving instructions from Kankuro concerning the location of the general store, she stood up and bid them all goodbye. When she walked past Gaara, she gave him a friendly squeeze on the shoulder, letting her hand slip from his shirt as she walked by. Temari and Kankuro both looked at each other in surprise that Gaara had just allowed this girl to touch him. If anyone else would've done something the sort, he or she would be dead by now.

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A few minutes later, she stepped into the general store, peeking around herself at both the people walking around and the merchandise. She spent a half hour picking out clothing that would fit her, then stepped in line to pay for her items. Looking out of the bay window at the front of the store, she noticed a few teenagers staring inside at her, but she turned her head and looked straight ahead. It must've been because of the Leaf Village headband that sported her neck.

When she finally reached the counter, the clerk looked at her curiously. "Who are you? I've never seen you around here before!" he asked her with a friendly smile as he rang up her items.

Once he was done, she produced the money and he took it while she answered, "You haven't seen me around because I don't live here. I had a little incident in the desert and I'm taking a few days off here. I'm crashing over at a villager's house." She winced, realizing that she had come here to deliver a letter from her Sensei. The letter had been, along with her water and her pack, forgotten beside the rock.

The clerk was handing her some change, but froze when she finished talking. "So you're that girl everyone's talking about! You live at the old Kazekage's house!" he said, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I guess so," she said, glaring slightly at the man. She saw him swallowing hard before he practically tossed her the bags with her purchases. He looked so terrorized that it was almost as if she was going to kill him.

Sighing, Kenoyo stepped out of the store, wondering why Gaara was so hated. He wasn't that mean...

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the pack of teenagers that were eyeing her earlier. A sudden idea of taking a detour to avoid them entered her mind, but she pushed it away with a snicker. She was a kunoichi, for goodness' sake! They wouldn't impress her.

Suddenly, three people in her age group approached her, leaving their other friends behind. The two girls and the boy smiled as they stopped, all saying hi pretty much at the same time. Kenoyo eyed them warily, but answered them anyways out of courtesy, "Hi. Can I help you guys?"

One of the girls stepped forward with a big smile and said, "Welcome to the Sand Village! We heard that you were here for a while and we thought you'd like to meet some people your age! Want to come for a drink with us, there's a little place close to here where they sell some pretty good stuff!"

Kenoyo felt like answering that Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were all around her age, but the girl's invitation was tempting. She did want to get to know some other people, so she agreed.

The trio led her through the streets to finally end up at a house that looked just like the others, but they went inside anyways. Strangely, what looked like a house was obviously a well-known restaurant around the village. After sliding in a booth, everyone introduced themselves.

The first girl, blonde and tall with black eyes, was called Natsumi. The other girl was the exact opposite of her friend, with light brown eyes and dark colored hair. She was named Azumi. Kenshin, her boyfriend, was a handsomely tanned boy with dark hair and eyes.

She bonded with the three instantly, laughing as they said jokes and just talked about stuff, sometimes slightly gossiping about others. Kenoyo started to relax around their friendly attitude, but the light subjects didn't last long. After a while, Kenshin leaned over and looked at her seriously. "We heard that you're living with Sabaku no Gaara. Aren't you scared of him?" he asked her quite seriously.

The two girls with him lost their smiles and looked at her expectantly. Suddenly very uncomfortable, Kenoyo shrugged and shook her head. "He's alright. He never tried anything," she said weakly, twisting her hands in her lap.

Natsumi winced and said, "Apparently he murdered his dad! His very own father, the Kazekage of our village! He murdered him! How in the world could he do something so terrible!?"

Kenoyo glared slightly at her, but couldn't say anything back. Gaara himself had admitted that killing people made him feel alive and that there was nothing else for him to live for. Plus the smile that had slipped in his face when Kankuro had said their father was dead…

"You should see the way he treats Temari and Kankuro!" Kenshin continued, looking at her. "I guess he's been quiet since you're around but usually he threatens them all the time! One time I saw him literally tell Temari to shut up or he'd snap her neck! Just like that, as if it was the most normal thing in the world!"

"But it's not as bad as what he did to Azumi…" Natsumi murmured, looking at her friend sorrowfully.

Kenoyo looked up at the dark-haired girl who clung to her boyfriend's hand fiercely. He smiled down at her and she took a shaky breath and looked up at Kenoyo. "I used to think it was sad to see him alone all the time, so I went to see him. I thought he was kinda cute, so I naturally started to flirt. And to my surprise, Gaara of the Desert actually flirted back with me. He used to run his hands through my hair and whisper how I was beautiful…

Then one day, he asked me to meet him alone, so I went. The second I was there, he opened his gourd and some sand came out and started to twirl around me. He said I was a nuisance and that I should die. The the sand came crushing on me…" Azumi stopped and started to bawl.

Kenoyo had had enough. She stood up and left without a word, not wanting to hear the rest of the story. But Azumi's voice rang through her mind. Was it true? And if it was, was Gaara doing the exact same thing that he had done to that poor girl... to her? Her tears seemed real enough, so could the account of what she had said be true also?

Once she was finally out of sight of the restaurant, the three teenagers burst into laugher at how gullible she was. "She is a great girl, though. Naïve, but she seemed cool enough," Natsumi said, shaking her head. "That monster doesn't deserve a friend like her! She needed to be told of what he's capable of!"

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A few minutes later, Kenoyo was back to 'her' place. She noticed, through the kitchen window, Gaara sitting alone in a withering tree, staring in the distance. But at the moment, her confusion was too great and she tiptoed towards the kitchen, but stopped when she heard Temari and Kankuro say her name.

Leaning in towards the sitting room, she pressed her ear against the closed door to listen.

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"Will you stop making illusions to yourself, Temari! You know as well as I do that Gaara cannot love, nor feel any positive emotions unless he's murdering someone that's completely innocent! He has no feeling for Kenoyo and I don't know why the hell she isn't dead right now! She stares at him all the time, her feelings are obvious! Admit it, there's no chance for those two! Come on!" Kankuro's angry voice lifted through the door.

"No, you come on Kankuro! Our brother might have a demon inside of him, but he is, first of all, human! He does have feelings like everyone else! You'd probably be just like him if Father would've tried to kill you all the time! So what if he's different, he's still our brother and I refuse that you talk about him that way!" Temari shouted back.

"Answer my question! Is there hope for Kenoyo and Gaara? There's none, and you know it!" he hissed.

There was a small pause, then she answered him more softly, "Okay I'll give you that. It does worry me when they spend time together. He's never been this friendly with anyone before!"

There was a ruffle in the room, as if Kankuro had jumped to his feet. "See! What if it's the new thing now! Be friendly with the victim, catch her unprepared, then…" he stopped, letting his silence say the end of his sentence.

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Kenoyo felt tears slipping down her face, and she pulled away from the door and walked to her room, then fell on the bed and started to cry as she rolled in a tight ball. Doubt filtered through her mind, killing all the happiness she had felt earlier this morning. She didn't want to see Gaara anymore, her heart was filled with fear about that… She winced; the only name coming to her mind was 'monster'. A small part of her told her to ignore everyone else and to focus on the sand ninja, but how could six people, and probably more, be wrong?

A/N : Done chapter five.

More than 400 views, but 9 reviews. o.O Someone do the math… I'd say some people aren't reviewing... Please, just jot me a quick note. Even if it's just a word, it'll take ten seconds of your time! And for those who do, thank you all a lot!

Chapter 6 is going to be pretty eventful, I'll give you that! So the faster you review, the faster I write!

Take care!