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Gaara wakes up on a couch with an ice pack on his head. He slowly gets up, trying not to move too quickly. He removes the ice pack and touches his face. He feels a tender spot on his cheek but that was about it. Last he remembered, he was shaking Sakumo's hand. Then…

Gaara curses Sakumo. He never wanted to get on his bad. He thought that there could be some good in Sakumo underneath the self-obsessed shell of his. Gaara hears footsteps and sees Sasuke and Sakura had just entered the room. He soon noticed that he was in Sasuke's living room. He looks at them.

"What happened?"

"Sakumo is what happened. The other him came out. I have to tell you something, Gaara." Said Sasuke.

"What?"

"No one had ever made Sakumo ask to stop a fight."

"He used it as a tactic to beat me."

"Yes, but the fact that you forced him to grovel so he could beat you is a great achievement."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why is it an achievement that I can beat the crap out of somebody? I don't find any joy or exhilaration from it. I despise it. I know that there is some good in Sakumo. An achievement would be to change Sakumo's ways. THAT would be an achievement greater than scaling the highest mountain or beating the toughest fighter." Everyone was moved by what Gaara had just said. Gaara suddenly heard a sob. It was coming from Sakura. Gaara gets up and hugs her, "Sakura, I KNOW that there is a part of your brother that wants friends and for you to live your own life. He is just so protective of you that he forgot what it was like to have a life of his own. He thinks that his whole purpose is to protect you." Sakura wet her eyes with her tears and cried into Gaara's shirt.

"There are times where I just want to kill him. I have found myself standing over his bed with a knife in my hand. I just didn't have the guts to do it. I would raise the knife to finish him off but I never could find a part of me that truly wanted to kill my own brother. My father on the other hand."

"What about him?"

"You saw what he did to us that day at school. He's a monster. He's brainwashed my brother into acting just like him." Gaara sits down and strokes her short pink hair, "He wasn't always bad." This caught Gaara by surprise.

"What?"

"Sakumo, he wasn't always like that. There was a time when I could be proud to call him my brother. He had many friends, good grades. He had the perfect life. Then our mom met Zabuza. He is the cruelest human being that I know. He seduced our mom into marrying him. The moment she said 'I do' is when hell began. He beat her and us as well. He would send us out of the house, forcing us to find places to sleep by ourselves. Yet, no matter what happened, she always thought that he could be a good person and she would crawl back to him, dragging us with her. Then one night, everything went wrong. Mom and Zabuza had gotten into an argument. Sakumo was asleep. I suddenly heard glass break. I quietly walked downstairs and I saw that he had hit my mother with a whiskey bottle. She screamed and ran out of the house. At that exact moment, Zabuza saw me looking in. He dealt with me in a simple way. A belt. Next thing I know, he is stomping up the stairs and looking for Sakumo. All I can hear are his screams. He was 8 at the time. Zabuza slowly pulled Sakumo into a world of violence. Sakumo changed that very night. The following morning, we were told that our mother had been hit by a car and killed on impact. Our lives only got worse." Gaara did his best to take in everything that he was hearing. He soon sees that Sasuke is no longer in the room. He pulls her close and they lay on the couch together.

"It's ok, Sakura."

"I have wanted to believe that there is still a part of my brother that still cares for others. But after seeing what he has become, I think it's nearly impossible." Gaara sighed.

"That's it. Tomorrow, I am going to go to your house and talk to Sakumo." Sakura jumps up.

"NO! If my father finds out about you, I'll be in deeper shit than ever before."

"Your father is nothing but a drunk living on his past achievements. We can choose our future. We just need to retaliate. I will do my best to change your brother.

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