Disclaimer
Hn. If I owned Naruto, Kenoyo would be introduced as Gaara's girlfriend...

Chapter Six: Trust

Kenoyo allowed the hours to pass by as she laid down on her bed. Temari was the only one who popped in her room and she claimed that her trip to the general store made her feel exhausted. But by supper time, she was starving and was getting bored to death.

The only thing that was keeping her from moving was fear. Pure, tainted fear. She didn't want to approach Gaara, she didn't even want to see him. The villagers had made their point, he was horrible. She had thought about the conversation all day, and Azumi's words kept playing over and over in her mind.

"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, and the sand came crushing on me…"

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Kenoyo got up. Driven by hunger, she left the room and started to walk towards the kitchen. She could hear Kankuro and Temari from there, so Gaara couldn't do anything to her while they were in the same room as she…

-- Gaara's P.O.V--

'I can't stand this anymore. She's driving me crazy. When she's not in my vision… I can't stand it!' Gaara thought to himself, sitting alone in his bedroom. He heard from Temari that her shopping day had exhausted her, so he posted himself in his room that was in diagonal of hers. He would be able to hear when she'd leave her room. He had planned it all in his mind. It was obvious that she liked him, even if he was a monster.

'Does she like me or am I making the worst mistake of my life by allowing myself to trust someone again? I had vowed, when my uncle died, to never trust another human being as long as I lived. But I trust her. She wouldn't hurt me like they all did. Kenoyo's stronger than that'.

He then heard her footsteps slowly go down the hall. His heart started to race, something that happened only few times in his life. But over a girl? Never. He took a deep breath, calming himself down, and then called out her name.

--Kenoyo's P.O.V--

"Kenoyo?"

She froze, her head started to spin lightly as he called her. She didn't answer, though her legs refused to keep on moving. "Come here. I have to talk to you," he called softly from the inside of his bedroom.

"Then one day, he asked me to meet him alone, so I went."

She felt her body begin to shake with fear, but she licked her dry lips and pushed the door open, stepping in until she was in the middle of the room. She felt his presence in the darkening chamber but didn't say a word. The frightened girl figured that he was standing about six feet behind her when she heard the door closing. Her body was rigid and she couldn't move as she heard his heavy breathing in the silence of the room.

Finally, she forced herself to speak and said, "Yes?" She was surprised at how normal her voice sounded and she probably looked alright because Gaara walked around her and turned, looking right in her eyes.

Kenoyo took a step backwards, struggling between mixed emotions. Part of her wanted to relax and listen to what he had to say, yet the more dominant part of her shouted that she should run, that he was dangerous. Her hands started to tremble, and she quickly put them behind her back, lowering her eyes. She couldn't look at him directly because she knew that she'd break and run away.

Gaara sighed, the words not coming to him. He had spent the whole day coming up with the perfect speech, and now that he had the opportunity to say it… he couldn't. He noticed that her eyes were closed now and he took in a deep breath before gently slipping his hand on the side of her neck, letting his fingers slide through her hair. "You're so beautiful, Kenoyo," he whispered as an introduction to what he had to tell her.

" He used to run his hands through my hair and whisper how I was beautiful…"

Something in the girl snapped as she whirled around and made a wild dash for the door, but Gaara grabbed her wrist to stop her. Frantically, she tried to pull it out of his iron grasp yet found out that he was holding on too tightly for her. Tears of fear slid down her face and a long scream left her throat as he wouldn't let her go. She heard footsteps running towards the room and felt relief flooding through her trembling body, but her blood froze again soon after. Sand rushed to the door, making a wall in front of it so no one could enter nor exit the room.

Once the sand stopped moving, Kenoyo felt Gaara let go of her wrist and she flung herself at the wall of sand, hitting it with her fists as Temari shouted from the other side. The captive girl's mind was whirring and she could hear Gaara's siblings begging him not to kill her. She fell to her knees, her shaking legs not being able to support her weight and started to crawl away from the sand ninja like if she could somehow escape.

She went as far as the corner of the room, then huddled in it and raised her terror-filled eyes at Gaara. The boy was staring at her, now an emotionless expression on his face. 'Well if he's going to kill me, I might as well let him have it,' she thought, resolving herself to her fate before shouting, "I know what you did to Azumi, Gaara! I know you did exactly to her what you're doing to me! You cruel, heartless freak! No wonder no one in this village wants to see you! I don't know how I ever cared for you, how I ever let myself be in the same house as you! I hate you, Sabaku no Gaara! I hate you, you monster!"

Gaara felt her words shatter his heart one by one, his expression never changing from the emotionless mask he wore all the time. But when she called him a monster, he flinched and turned his back to her, closing his eyes in pain.

Then he sighed and said bitterly, "I should kill you for saying these things to me, Kenoyo. But I won't. I couldn't kill the only person that I thought I could trust. Because I thought that I could trust you, I thought that I had finally found someone who wouldn't let rumors taint the trust they have in me. Thank you, Kenoyo, thank you for showing me that trust leads to nothing!"

The sand fell from the door and slipped back into his gourd, his silence telling her to get out now. Her body, though, was petrified and tears started to slide down her face as she realized the mistake she had just committed. They had lied to her. The teenagers had lied to her and made her lose everything she had accomplished these last two days with the cold sand ninja.

"Gaara…" she choked out, slowly standing up on shaky legs. "I-I'm sorry! I really am, I didn't mean what I just said. I'm so sorry! Forgive me, Gaara, I'm so sorry!" she begged helplessly, tears slipping down her face with regret. She felt a heavy weight pushing her heart, crushing it and making it difficult for her to breathe.

He snickered slightly, then snapped, "Do I have to make you leave the room or will you do it yourself?"

Kenoyo ducked her head and slipped out of the room, walking in front of Temari. She didn't say a word to her as she stepped in her own bedroom and shut the door behind her, then slid down against it and buried her face in her knees. "Gaara," she whispered to herself longingly, then shook her head and crawled in her bed before crying herself to sleep.

A/N: I am obviously not having a good day. Since when do I write angst-filled chapters like that? Oh well. I promise, dear readers, that the next chapter will be extremely fluffy to make up for the lack of fluff in this one. Review!

Take care