Sumara

It had always been a problem since the day no one was there. I just never really wanted to face it. That loneliness. There was just something so consuming about actually accepting something like that. So I ignored all of the people who tried to pity me, say they are sorry for my loss, because I knew they only had to do that because it was polite. I knew that they did not really mean it.

As I stood there, holding a sobbing Gaara in my arms, I kept my mind completely away from his. I did not want to go there, and I did not need to. Here he was, the Kazekage, completely and utterly open. All the walls are down. There are no blinders. I wonder if he was wondering how I knew his pain. But that did not matter. All that mattered at that one moment is that I felt the need to be there for someone. And the fact that this someone was Gaara, one of the hardest, coldest, people I've ever known, was incredible.

I rubbed my fingers in his soft hair, trying to be soothing. I wanted his pain to end, completely. But no, I SO did not have feelings for him. I just couldn't. As he said before, I don't know him. But there was that deep longing inside me that I knew he was a part of. But I had to remember this, Gaara was pretty unstable and his life had just turned around. I mean, come on, he died! What was I supposed to say? "Yeah, I totally understand what it's like to be dead and all that." NO! Gaara's arms were around my waist and I had to ignore that fact. Just focus on your breathing and making sure he is okay, I calmly instructed myself.

Suddenly, it was very quiet, and I could tell Gaara was done crying. I had never really ever seen a guy cry, except for that time with my dad but I did not want to go there. I turned my head slightly. His chin met my forehead in a very soft thud. I could feel the moisture from his tears that had traveled down to his chin on my forehead. I let out a small grin.

I began to pull away, thinking he was all better and I could be on my merry way to kill a monster. But his arms tightened around my waist. He sighed. I looked up at him now that I was a little bit farther away than before. His cheeks glistened in the morning sun from the tracks of his tears. Then he whispered two words that, all my life, had never been uttered to me.

"Thank you." That made it perfect.

I had to ask. "For what?"

Gaara sighed again. Excess air much? But I just looked at him, waiting for a response. "For being here, for me. Thank you for staying. I, um, never mind." He released me and I stepped away. "You should probably get to where the others are." His eyes were glued to the floor.

"Right," I nodded, taking my cue to leave. I took the five steps to the door, held the cold doorknob for three seconds, opened it, and was gone, not even bothering to close it.

Gaara

What the hell had that been? Gaara asked himself. What had he done? He just had not wanted Sumara to die, he did not want anymore people to die. He was the Kazekage, each death was put on his shoulders. Her death would be a weight he could not bear. But crying?

"Really, Gaara, what were you thinking?" he muttered to himself. But he knew what he had been thinking. All that was in his mind was pain and regret. He just did not want a repeat of everything. Then he had started crying, crying! God, he was one indifferent guy. Next, I'm going to be talking about how the butterflies are so beautiful especially when they land on flowers, Gaara thought, extremely frustrated. He clapped his hands together and took deep breaths. Just be calm, be calm.

He turned to see that Sumara had left the door open on her way out. Had Gaara freaked her out by crying? She said that she understood, and now the question popped in his head. How did she understand? There was a lot about this girl that Gaara did not know. In a weird and new way, he wanted to know. What was Sumara doing to this poor cynic?

Naruto

Naruto had managed to get everyone to the restaurant. Sakura had gone along with it easily of course, because she wanted to help Gaara, and was hungry of course. Shikamaru complained that it was such a drag but went anyways, Temari coming along with him. Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji were already there. They told Naruto that Kakashi sensei and Guy would not be back for awhile. They were still out on their scouting mission.

Naruto sat down to a bowl of ramen which was in no way better than Ichiraku's ramen, but it would have to do. He sat there and devoured his ramen with a grin on his face. Everyone around him were eating as well, so there was no need for conversation.

Until they heard the screaming.

Naruto immediately bolted out of his seat, ramen noodles still hanging from his mouth. As everyone else gathered around him, he was able to slurp up those noodles, slapping himself in the nose in the process. The thing that caused everyone to scream was a horrible monster. Naruto knew what it was. It was the beast.

"There is no way to beat this thing," he growled to his comrades.

Sakura glared at him. "What are you talking about? You're usually all, 'I'll beat this thing with my hands tied behind my back!'"

"Yeah, well that's when I know I can," he said smugly. "But this thing only has one or two ways to kill it, and it does not involve physical violence." No matter how much he wanted to punch.

"How do you know?" Rock Lee asked.

"Gaara showed me a scroll with some info on this thing. This beast is the creature that has been taking all those people. There is only one known way to us how to kill. We need to at least get the people away from it."

"Of course," Lee agreed.

"Beyakugan!" Neji whispered. He saw straight through the beast and that it was trying to grab one specific girl. "There, let's go!" And they began running.

Shikamaru got the beast in his Shadow Possession Jutsu for long enough to get the girl away. Lee, Neji and Tenten kept the beast at bay while Sakura and Naruto got the girl inside her house. "Stay here," Sakura told her.

Then Gaara came out of no where. "Get out of my village!" he yelled, slamming a sand wall into it. It squealed just like a pig and vanished.

"Whoa that was awesome!" Naruto ran up to him for a high-five.

Gaara would not move. He was totally stiff as the sand gradually moved back into his gourd.

Naruto's hand fell slowly to his side as he stared at Gaara's profile.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

Gaara finally turned his head. "Did you see that girl's face?"

"Uh, yeah, she looked kind of like that Sumara girl."

Gaara's eyes tensed. "I don't think the monster was after that girl."

At that moment, Sumara walked up to them with a why is everyone standing in the middle of the street like total creepers? look.

Sumara

When I found all the Leaf shinobi, they were all standing in the middle of the street.

"Um, what's going on?" I tried to put my best confused face on.

I couldn't bring myself to look at Gaara. So I looked into his mind. No, he wasn't having that. He had all his thoughts totally focused on the present, even his subconscious thoughts. He did not want me in his head. I decided to look at Naruto instead, he seemed to have that open-book face that everyone always loved to read. But right now, the book was in a totally different language.

I took a step forward. My whole body was tensed. This was the quiet before the storm. I grabbed Gaara's arm, and I looked at everyone's minds for their reactions. Naruto just did not understand. Temari was totally shocked I would touch Gaara at all, he was someone that did not do the whole closeness thing. Everyone else was confused like Naruto.

"Sumara, the beast, it's after you," Gaara whispered.

"Why?!"

"You're precious to someone here," Naruto said, stating like if he could figure it out, everyone could.

Then he turned to the group. "The beast only goes after people who are precious, loved ones mainly." Then he turned back to me. "So, Sumara, got a secret lover you haven't told us about?"

I immediately let go of Gaara's arm. His cheeks had turned a soft pink. My face felt like I had been stuck in a furnace. I saw him shake his head several times. I looked in his mind, it seemed like the right thing to do. Stop thinking that! he yelled at himself, then glared at me. Get out of my head, my head is not a place you should be. I took that as a kind way of saying, "GET THE HELL OUT!" and decided to quit poking around in his head.

"Um, so you going to answer the question?" Naruto asked. He was totally clueless, and I was beginning to find that this was the way he usually was.

"No, I don't have any relatives or friends or anyone I would think cared about me." I did not let myself look at Gaara.

"No family?" Tenten asked.

I shuffled from one foot to the other. "I don't really want to talk about it." I look up and Gaara gave me a look as in, look in my head! So I did. He had one thing plastered across that a billboard. You are going to tell me whether you like it or not. Oh, and you cannot tell anyone about what happened earlier. And stop staring, Temari is going to annoy me for the rest of the day! I quickly looked away.

Fine, Gaara, I'll tell you. But you'll wish I hadn't