After Hinata got fixed up and her teammates, Kiba Inuzuka, a roughish boy who wore a fur lined hooded jacket, had sharp canines, two red lines going down his cheeks and a dog named Akamaru and Shino Aburame, a mysterious, silent boy who wore dark sunglasses, kept his mouth covered by his collar, and loved bugs, visited her, she decided she'd train again.

The doctors, nurses and teammates all told her not to, save for Shino who rarely talked, but she was persistent and wanted to make herself stronger. After being publicly dismayed and beaten down by her own cousin, her family would think her even weaker. She got dressed in just a light tank top with navy capris, wound her hand and knuckles up with bandages and put on her ring after cleaning off the blood from it. As she was leaving out to the forest to train, her kunai pouch on one side and ninja stars in her pocket, she heard Kakashi-sensei in one room.

"Naruto fought pretty well today, I will say I'm impressed. Sasuke was as good as ever and Sakura you were very fierce! It makes me a proud, happy sensei!"

"Yeah, we make a great team! BELIEVE IT!"

There was a little laugh from Sakura and Kakashi but Sasuke had nothing to say, as usual.

"Yeah the competition was fierce from what I saw…except for Ino. She was too easy."

"If I remember correctly, you two were matched perfectly, neither one of you could move ahead."

"Hey Kakashi-sensei don't pick on Sakura, she did great! Ino is no match for her! Right Sasuke?"

"Hmm?"

"Ah whatever! Hey speaking of being a close match did you see Hinata and Neji? Aren't they like siblings?"

Hinata halted and squealed at her name coming out of Naruto's lips.

"Cousins to be exact."

"Oh yeah. It was neck and neck!"

"Neji really beat the crap out of Hinata…poor girl."

"OOOH I can't wait to get my hands on that guy!"

"Why? You wanna exact revenge on your girlfriend?"

Hinata blushed red. Her, Naruto's girlfriend? Could it be that he liked her all along?

"What? Cut it out Sakura I like someone else. Hinata is just a good friend."

Hinata sighed sadly. She knew it was too good to be true and she also knew who Naruto liked and she was right there in that room with her pink hair.

"Oh guys did you hear about that guy that Lee went up against? What was his name again?"

"Gaara…heard he was a tough beat and can control sand."

"Yes Sabaku no Gaara can control sand, Temari, Kankuro and he are siblings."

"I heard about them…the sand siblings. Tough gang…especially him I hear his hair was actually blond but is dyed with blood. And I hear he doesn't sleep he just sits upright…"

"That's creepy! He seems like a real monster! Did he win?"

"Yeah but from the details Rock Lee had a good advantage on him with his fast movements."

"I'm surprised Gaara was able to be hit at all with his sand barrier and that demon inside him."

"WHAT! A demon? You've got to be kidding Kakashi!"

"No, Naruto you see he has the two-tailed raccoon."

Hinata froze on the other side of the door. She should have moved for what if they saw her? Or what if they opened the door and hit her in the face? She should have moved but found she was paralyzed. They said Gaara, her best friend from long ago. It had to be that Gaara and not some other guy because they had said red hair and controls sand. The Gaara she knew had those qualities and his siblings were named Temari and Kankuro. She couldn't breathe. Her friend, Gaara…a demon? Savage and wild and bloodthirsty. She bolted out of there as fast as could be but as Team Kakashi were heading out for a snack they caught a glimpse of the signature indigo hair of Hinata.

"Hmm…was that Hinata? Wonder where she's running off to."

"She shouldn't be running anywhere after that."

"Come along guys…the Ramen shop closes down in a few hours…and we don't want to be late, right Naruto?"

"Oh hell no!" At that Naruto started bolting off in a flash of orange, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi trying to catch up.

Hinata reached the training grounds out of breath and in tears.

'Gaara-Chan…they must be lying…or exaggerating…you're not like that…'

She sighed inwardly, convinced that Naruto and the gang were only going off of rumors and legends that weren't true. Without further ado she began to use her Byakugan and gentle fist on the tree in front of her. Her knuckles began to stain the bandages red with blood. Not too far was Gaara, walking around Konoha for no reason other than to walk. He was talking to Shukaku within his head but was interrupted when Shukaku rumbled. The smell of sweat, tears, slight fear and scrumptious blood filled his airway. It was her blood, that girl. Like a siren song her many scents, her natural one, her feminine one, her Hyuga scent, her royal scent, her scared scent, her sweaty scent, her sad scent, her bloody scent and many more, beckoned him. He was walking like some hypnotized zombie toward the person hypnotizing him and her scent lead him right to the source. There she was covered in sweat, her hair matted with the stuff, breathing heavily with that divine blood on her knuckles, knees and dripping from her mouth. She started hitting a tree with every force in her body going faster and faster, never giving up.

"Pathetic."

Hinata's eyes rounded as she turned to see a man staring at her. He had spiky rose hair, black rimmed, aqua eyes, slightly sandy, warm colored skin, a red scar that read LOVE on his forehead, and a large gourd on his back. She knew just by his face it was him. He had grown. True he was short for a boy his age but he had grown into a handsome young man.

"G-G-Gaara-San?"

"Your stutter annoys me. You're the most pathetic human I've ever seen. So weak…so doe-like…so innocent…so naïve. Ever still….you will satisfy the ravenous beasts hunger."

Hinata trembled with fear. Surely this wasn't her friend talking? After so many years he comes back to…kill her? Hinata remembered talk of a demon inside him...could it be true? Was he holding sway over Gaara's mind and speech?

"You tremble like a leaf… small, useless, pitiable, frail! Your blood calls to us. But I will give you a fighting chance…it will make this more interesting…for me."

"Wh-Why d-do y-y-ou w-wa-n-nt t-t-to f-f-ight m-me?"

"Kill to be exact…tear into your body with my sand and drink your delicious blood…your blood is all we want then we will dump your useless, lifeless body into the river."

Gaara started to form his sand around his feet and use hand symbols.

"W-We are F-f-fr-riends! H-How c-can y-y-ou d-d-o this!"

Gaara laughed a sinister laugh. He rarely ever laughed or smiled but it's said when he does it sends chills up your very soul. It is like a wolf's howl before the hunt, a tiger's roar before the kill, the impending doom closing in on you as you pray that you will live, knowing you won't. Hinata shivered.

"Friends? I don't know the meaning of the word…we are nothing. You are nothing. I am nothing. Unloved…hated...despised…wretched. I am the bastard son of the fourth Kazekage. I only love myself. I am all I need."

Hinata shook her head "No". She clung onto her chest and looked into his eyes. Her pupilless eyes were also trembling inside the whites.

"W-W-Why t-then…are y-y-ou st..sti…."

"Your stuttering annoys me to no end. CEASE IT!"

His sand whipped out and formed a hand that wrapped around her neck. He lifted her up with his sand, an eerie smile of sick pleasure on his face. He started crushing her windpipe, the source of her annoying stutter.

Hinata attempted to stop him but the more she struggled the easier it was. She reached out to him, tears coming down her face. Something on her finger caught his eye. A shiny plastic ring with a metal flower on it, glinting in the sun. He dropped her to the ground violently and suddenly. He started convulsing and grabbing his head. His heart pounded and felt like an extreme case of heart burn.

"G-G-Gaara-S-s-an-Sh-shii…A-A-Are you a-a-alright?"

Hinata rubbed her windpipe and found bruises that would be unexplainable to anyone that asked and also she found deep cuts with little bits of gritty sand near and in them. It stung, it hurt, it throbbed with pain but even so with her voice sounding funny with a fractured, and thankfully unbroken, windpipe, she crawled toward the person who gave her this pain.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Gaara's scream sounded demonic and deep, trembling with fear, pain and the demon trying to lie to him but his heart telling him otherwise.

"Y-You s-still wear o-our r-r-rings…s-s-so y-y-ou…ha-haven't for-r-rgotten compl-le-le-tly."

His trembling hands released his throbbing cranium to outstretch in front of him, he realized that his skin was cracking and sand was dripping out of him like a leaking faucet. On his left ring finger was that shiny metal ring with the white swirls and blood caked in it.

"D-D-Don't y-y-ou r-r-eme-em-ber t-the s-s-pring fe-festival? Y-y-ou p-promised…"

Hinata started crying like a baby. Her tears made you instantly pity her and feel bad for her.

'Great boy, now she's off guard and weaker…kill her now!'

Something inside Gaara snapped slightly. It was the bridge that Shukaku built to hold back any memory of Hinata but now it broke and now he knew who she was…and it was painful in too many ways to name. His heart broke for the second time in his life since Yashamaru was murdered at his hands. His sand lifted her off the ground as careful as he could. Friend…the name was unfamiliar to him and strange.

"Teach me…"

Hinata trembled, making some of the sand sift to the floor. A look of excruciating pain was evident in his eyes. The Shukaku growled unhappily in his head.

'KILL HER BOY! I NEED HER BLOOD!'

Gaara immediately starting squeezing her, about to break her leg but stopped himself. He was on the edge of insanity in-between a world he thought he knew where everyone loathed him and this new world where there was one measly, little girl who might possibly have feeling for him. He felt woozy, dizzy and sick to his stomach. His head and heart were on fire and pounding.

"T-T-Teach y-ou-u?"

His fingers traced the scar on his head. The Kanji. Hinata understood.

"H-h-how to-to…I'm n-n-ot sure I-if I c-c-an."

"YOU'RE GOING TO TEACH ME! STOP BEING SO GODDAM WEAK!"

Hinata trembled again. Then she nodded. She will teach Gaara love as best as she could and how to be a good person and a good friend. What choice did she have? Besides maybe if she did he'd be normal and happy again.

"H-Hai Gaara-S-san-S-shii I will d-d-o wh-what I c-can."

"Your stutter still annoys me…Hinata…"

He dropped her violently then started walking away.

"Get up. You will walk with me."

Hinata got up but slowly for all that dropping caused bruises and gashes. Her bones felt cracked and weak.

"HURRY UP!"

Hinata got up as fast as she could and limped alongside Gaara. This was the start of Hinata trying her very best to teach and change Gaara but would it be too late to transform his tarnished mind and take over while Shukaku held the reigns or would Hinata, with her shy, gentle nature, persevere over the demon that was locked away in her corrupted friend?