[:] It hurts... [:] ~A Gaara Love Story~ [:] Deep inside.. [:] ||Chapter eight||[:]

I finally met him, Gaara.
I waited for this day since a very long time ago.
And it finally arrived!
[Gaara!]
I grinned, running at him.
I was about to hug him when his sand rejected me.
"G-Gaara?" I asked him with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" He asked me with this cold and emotionless voice.
"B-But Gaara! Don't you remember me? Me! It's ME Gaara!" I asked, pleading.
"I never saw you before. Get out of my sight."
I felt so distant. It was as though nothing mattered anymore. But, something woke me from this nightmare.
"Kilaru?" Naruto asked, even more confused than I was.
"You're Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Sand), right?" I asked the redhead with distant eyes.
"Hai." He answered.
"No, you're wrong. The Gaara I KNEW wouldn't have said this, wouldn't have felt this, and SURELY would have remembered me!" I felt that, like as a normal human, I should have cried, but I just couldn't, as usual.
I walked away before anyone could tell me anything else.
As I made my path to go somewhere else, I declared, loud and clear:
"But it's okay. I don't hate you. It's just normal that people wouldn't remember me after such a long time. After all, it is I, the only nameless person the most unheard of in the whole universe. So I don't blame you. I blame it on me, for being Me."
And when I had finished, I couldn't see them anymore.
I then began to run the fastest I could, to the only place where I felt like nothing could reach me.
[Why? I have no heart, so why? Why does it bother me so much that he doesn't know who I am? Isn't it normal? It's been 6 years since I last saw him. It's only natural.]
I clutched my chest.
[So then, why does it hurt so much?]
I close my eyes.
'What are you waiting for, dear? Why don't you just C-R-Y?'
[... Why? You're asking me "why" ?? It's because I have no heart. I can't cry. It's impossible for me to cry, and you know it.]
Yume stayed silent.
I finally arrived at my happy place. There was a river, surrounded by rocks, and strangely, at this place, there were no trees. But, not too far from me, the forest surrounded this place.
So, basically, I was in some kind of clearing.
I kneeled next to the river, its sound appeasing me.
I took some water in my hands and shot it in my face.
The last time I did this, Zabuza came out of nowhere and attacked me. But now, gladly, he was dead.
I did this repetitively and decided that I should take a bath. So I walked on the river, where it passed through the trees, and thus being hidden, I took my clothes off.
I began washing, and this had relaxed me quite a bit.
Five minutes later, I left the water and put my clothes on.
I followed the river and it brought me to the ocean.
Oh this was beautiful.
And the sun was about to set, too.
[WHAAT!? THE SUNSET?]
I ran back home at full speed.
[Maaan! Kakashi had something to tell us tomorrow, and as normally, it's early in the morning!]
I went to bed and tried to sleep.
I had a nightmare. One of the worst I had in several years.

≈≈ Dream≈≈
"Hi! My name's Kilaru! What's yours?" Asked the little girl.
"My name?" He asked. "My name's Gaara." He answered.
"Cool!! Let's become friends from now on, Gaara!"
"Okay!" Gaara smiled.

"We have to go, Kilaru. We have to go back to our village." Her father said.
"B-but...!" The girl looked desperate. [Gaara-kun..!]

"Gaara, I have to leave. But I'll see you sometime soon, okay?"
"H-hai... See you soon then!"

"What... They want to what? It's okay, Teddy, we'll be just fine, right?"
"Kilaru, what are you doing?" A man asked.
He just came out of the door that she was listening to.
"Oh, nothing, otousa. I'm going to sleep. Oyasumi!"

"Teddy..! We've made it! We've made it!" The girl grinned with wide amazement.
But, somehow, her grin seemed different, even more, unusual.
And she walked away from the things that let her down.
"Now it's just you and me, Teddy. We can only count on each other."
≈≈ END of Dream≈≈

I woke up in a sweat.
"W-what was this about? Why? Why this? Why now?" I sighed. [Gaara...] I close my eyes.
I reopened them in a flash and looked at the clock.
What? I had slept for only an hour?
I sighed even more deeply.
"There's no way I'll be able to sleep now..."
I woke up, put on some new clean ninja clothes and was about to go downstairs.
I stopped my track in front of a bedroom door. [That door...]
I opened it.
"So, onii-chan. How are you doing today?" I asked. "Just fine? Well that's great. And... what about him? And her?"
I looked at the picture again.
"They are doing okay, you say? Well that's... cool, I guess. Well, I'll be leaving now, onii-chan. Ja ne~!"
I walked out of the room.
[Wow... To start talking to a picture, I must really be losing it.]
I hurried downstairs and went into the kitchen.
"Well, since I have nothing better to do, I'll do myself a bento! Oh, and one for Naruto-kun too!"
I smiled to myself.
[I bet he'd like a home-made bento!]
I started preparing a bento for both Naruto and me.
I finished the meals and packed them nicely. Mine was purple with some white twirls on it, and Naruto's was orange with a white Konoha symbol on it.
I still had an hour or two before the time, so I went off into the forest and trained.
I kicked some tree trunks while mumbling to myself.
"Mustn't lose, mustn't hurt, mustn't fail, mustn't cry, mustn't die, but mustn't kill. I must be stronger, I shall not fall."
An hour passed by and I went to the rendezvous.
Sasuke arrived half an hour after.
I was already on a high tree with my drawing spree. Everything I saw, I drew. I saw Sasuke, and without knowing it, I drew him.
A strong rush of wind made all my papers fall down.
"Ah! My drawings!" I screamed and let myself fall.
While going down, I caught all of them. Almost. One was missing and still falling down.
And, how unlucky I am, guess which one it was.
Sasuke caught it, of course.
I sweat dropped.
He looked at it.
[Kuso! What was on that drawing anyways?]
By the look Sasuke had, I could almost guess.
I fell on my feet and grabbed the paper from his grasp.
I looked at it.
Yes, I was right.
[So, without knowing, I drew Sasuke...]
Sasuke looked at me with a 'wtf' face.
I forced a laugh.
"Oh! So I drew you without even noticing? Wow... I really WAS in my drawing spree! So that's why you made that face."
Finally, Naruto and Sakura cut in.
"Kilaru!" Naruto shouted.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled at the same time.
Sasuke looked at my hands. He noticed I had an extra bento.
"Eum... That is..?" He asked and pointed the orange bento, then Naruto with a questioning expression.
"Oh! That! Riiiiight!" I waved at Naruto. He finally reached us. "Naruto! Here's a bento I made for you this morning! Would you... like to have it?" I asked, grinning.
He looked at me with gleaming eyes.
"I-I can...? Really...?"
I nodded and handed it to him. He thanked me.
Kakashi appeared out of nowhere.
"Hello, you guys." He greeted.
He started telling us about the Chuunin Exam.
We all nodded.

---::A few days later::---
I was with Naruto and Konohamaru's squad.
I heard some noise in the bushes.
I waited a moment and guessed that Naruto didn't hear it.
"I have to go, Naruto-kun. I'll see you later. Have fun!" I smiled and walked away.
[Go on, you can attack now. Wasn't this what you waited for?]
Finally, I heard Konohamaru's girl friend scream.
I smirked.
[Naruto, I'll leave this to you. Let's go, now.]

Later, while I was in the forest practising, I sensed someone's presence.
I acted as though I didn't know it.
It took some time, but I was beginning to get bored.
"Are you going to come out of your hide-out or not? It's been 10 minutes already." I said out loud.
"Oh? So you knew I was there all along? Pretty good." The man spoke.
"Well thank you, sensei!" I happily thanked. "Now, do what you came here for, just like what you did to Naruto. Am I right?"
"Well done. Yes, you're right."
And so, we began to fight each other.
Our kunais clenched together, never doing more or less.
"Do not mess with me! I will become chuunin! And it's not because you believe we are not ready that you have to break our dream! Everyone's goal! Am I correct, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka flinched. I took that chance to hit him in the stomach.
"Are you sure that only you weren't ready for this? You even did an illusion since the time I trained, and right now I'm fighting a fake you. How is that even being prepared?"
I shot the kunai in the fake Iruka's heart and it disappeared.
"You are ready, Kilaru Lumazaru." He said.
"Yeah, like I didn't know that. Remember this: The only one who can know if oneself is ready is that very own person. Teach this to your students, next time."
{Impressive, I must say. That girl's got not only talent and power, but it's as though logic itself was in her.}
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei!" I grinned and ran out of the forest.

---::At the beginning of the Chuunin Exam::---
I met Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke and we were ready to go inside.
"Yeah!" Naruto and I cheered in unison. "Chuunin Exam, here we come~!"