The night before her birthday party Kiku woke to the sound of screams. Her eyes flew open at the sudden noise from outside and she pushed her covers to the side, jumping out of bed and running to the bedroom window.

Looking out past the neighboring houses she saw it. In the distance was a large Tanuki, larger than the houses. It was far away from her but she could see it's head along the skyline. Kiku stood, mouth agape at the sight, trembling as she stared at it. It let out a horrible scream that caused the small girl to cry out in fear when it turned its course in the direction of her own home.

The door of her room clicked to unlock before her mother came up behind her, followed closely by Kimi. Her mother did not ask her youngest child to follow her. Instead, her mother simply grabbed Kiku's hand and pulled her from the window and out of her room.

Kiku followed her and gripped her hand tightly. She ushered her children out of the house and into the crowded streets, ignoring the fact that the three of them were all dressed for bed. Everyone else was dressed the same at this time of night, running from the creature, trying to get far away to safety.

"Mother, what is that thing?" Kiku asked. She had never seen anything like it, not even in her worst nightmares. She never thought something that horrible existed.

"That," her mother spat, "is your little friend...Gaara."

Kiku shook her head in disbelief. Gaara was small and gentle. This creature destroying the village wasn't him. She couldn't believe that even though she could tell, from the look on her face, that her mother wasn't lying.

The young girl turned to look behind her and see it again, but it was no longer there. The screams died down and everyone stopped running.

"Kazekage-sama has subdued the Shukaku! Everyone please return home! Any wounded please follow me to the medics!"

A ninja was yelling orders, anbu by the looks of his outfit. Almost exactly like the one Kiku had found in her father's closet the previous year. She watched him guiding the people away and her mother pulled her back in the direction of their home, muttering about indecency of being seen in their nightdresses, as if she had just realized it.

"I guess Kiku's birthday is cancelled, right mother?" Kimi cheerfully asked.

The girls' mother cast a small glare in her oldest's daughter's direction.

"Of course not! It will go on as planned! Too much is riding on this for us to cancel it now!"

Kimi sighed and ran ahead to their house. When they all arrived, Kiku's mother simply told her to go to bed. She did not lock her in her room but Kiku was far too tired to go anywhere else but straight under her covers.

"They called it Shukaku..." she mumbled, yawning and burying her face in the pillows. "Shukaku...not Gaara...not him...something...else..."

With that she fell asleep to a nightmare. One where this creature set off on a chase to kill her...but one where Gaara was there to protect her, just like he'd promised her months before. Kiku knew he was stronger than this creature, and the following morning she woke up unafraid.

Chapter End Notes:

Well this took place the day Gaara was betrayed by Yashamaru...which hopefully you could tell sorta O.o (part of why Kiku's mother had to cause problems beforehand, so that Gaara really thought he had no one at that point and things happened just like normal for the most part.) Ummm...the next few chapters might not be too pretty, cuz I don't want to change Gaara's personality too much after this whole incident...and there's some needed filler in a few chapters...but things will definitely get better ^^ I promise :)