A/N: Hey y'all. Here's an update. Enjoy!
Warning: OOC factor is very high.
Kurenai's Web
Gaara
Hinata loved Gaara more than anything. She loved to stroke him, feed him, and put him to bed. Every morning as soon as she got up, she warmed his milk, tied his bib on, and held the bottle for him. Every afternoon, when the school bus stopped in front of her house, she jumped out and ran straight to the kitchen to fix another bottle for him. She fed him again right after dinnertime, and again just before bedtime. Mrs. Hyuuga gave him a feeding around noontime each day, when Hinata was away in school.
Gaara loved his milk, and was never happier when Hinata was warming up a bottle for him. He would stand up and gaze at her with adoring eyes.
For the first few days of his life, Gaara was allowed to live in a box near the kitchen stove. When Mrs. Hyuuga complained, he was moved to a bigger box in the woodshed.
At two weeks of age, he was moved outdoors. It was cherry blossom time, and the days were getting warmer. Mr. Hyuuga had fenced up a section of the yard especially for Gaara under an apple tree, and gave him a large wooden box full of straw, with a doorway cut in it so he could walk in and out as he pleased.
"Won't he be cold at night?" asked Hinata.
"No," her father replied. "You watch and see what he does."
Carrying a bottle of milk, Hinata sat beneath the apple tree in the yard. Gaara ran to her and she held the bottle while he sucked. When he had finished the last drop, he grunted and walked sleepily into the box. Hinata peered through the door to see Gaara poking the straw with his snout. In a short time, he had dug a tunnel in the straw. He crawled into the tunnel and disappeared from sight, the straw concealing him.
Hinata was enchanted. It relieved her mind to know that her baby would sleep, covered up and warm.
Every morning after breakfast, Gaara walked out to the road with Hinata and wait with her until the bus arrived. She would wave goodbye at him, and watch the bus until it vanished around a turn.
While Hinata was in school, Gaara was fenced in his yard. But as soon as she got home in the afternoon, she would take him out and he would follow her around the place. If she went into the house, Gaara went too. If she went upstairs, Gaara would wait at the bottom step until she came down again. If she took her doll for a walk in the doll carriage, Gaara followed along.
Sometimes on these journeys, Gaara would get tired, and Hinata would pick him up and put him in the carriage alongside the doll. He liked this. And if he was very tired, he would close his eyes and go to sleep under the doll's blanket. He looked cute when his eyes were closed, because his lashes were so long. The doll would close her eyes too, and Hinata would wheel the carriage very slowly and smoothly so as not to wake her infants.
One warm afternoon, Hinata and Neji went down to the brook for a swim. Gaara tagged along at Hinata's heels. When she waded in the brook, Gaara waded in with her. He found the water cold- too cold for his liking. So while the children swam, played, and splashed water at each other, Gaara amused himself in the mud along the edge of the brook, where it was warm, moist, and delightfully sticky and oozy.
Every day was a happy day, and every night was peaceful.
Now Gaara was what farmers called a spring pig, which simply meant that he was born in the springtime. When he was five weeks old, Mr. Hyuuga said he was now big enough to sell, and would have to be sold. Hinata broke down and wept, but her father was firm about it. Gaara's appetite had increased. He was beginning to eat food scraps in addition to milk, and Mr. Hyuuga was no longer willing to provide for him. He had already sold Gaara's brother and sister.
"He's got to go, Hinata," he said. "You've had your fun raising a baby pig, but Gaara is not a baby any longer and he has got to be sold."
"Call up the Naras," suggested Mrs. Hyuuga. "Your Uncle Shikaku sometimes raises a pig. And if Gaara goes there to live, you can walk down the road and visit him as often as you like."
Hinata turned a teary gaze to her parents. "How much money should I ask for him?"
"Well, said her father, rubbing his chin. "He is a runt. Tell your Uncle Shikaku you've got a pig you'll sell for six hundred ryos, and see what he says."
It was soon arranged. Hinata phoned and got her Aunt Yoshino, and her Aunt Yoshino hollered for Uncle Shikaku, and Uncle Shikaku came in from the barn, grumbling about troublesome women, and talked to Hinata.
The next day, Gaara was taken from his home under the apple tree and went to live in a manure pile in the cellar of Nara's barn.
A/N: Yeah… I've twisted the character relations a bit. Here, I made Hinata somewhat related to the Nara family. I'm not sure whether it should be that her mother is related to Shikaku or Yoshino, but the main point is that they're related.
Also the world portrayed here is an AU, except that their form of currency is still the ryo.
Let me know what you think.
N & B