DISCLAIMER : Naruto Shippuden belongs to Masashi Kishimoto but the plot of this story belongs to me.
An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances.
The thread may stretch or tangle but it will never break.
-Chinese Proverb-
PROLOGUE
The six years old Hinata Hyuga narrowing her pearl white with tint of lavender eyes as she looked outside the carriage. They were in the middle of the desert and the bright sunlight made the little girl a bit dizzy.
"Father..w-where are we going to? It's so hot h-here.." she began to sulk, making her father slightly frowned.
"We are going to Suna for a business trip, Hinata. You need to know the world outside Konoha and learn new things. Experience is the best teacher in life although you must also understand that experience is a hard teacher. It will give the test first and the lesson afterwards." Hiashi Hyuga was a man of wisdom. He might be strict to Hinata and not pampering his one and only daughter but deep inside his heart, he only wanted the best for her.
"Hinata, learn how to socialize and behave yourself. Be a good girl so I can be proud of you. Understand?" Hinata nodding her head, her tiny hands fidgeting nervously when a man with the same age as her father came to greet them.
"This must be Hinata-chan. A very cute and beautiful daughter of my dear friend, Hiashi," the man smiled brightly to her and Hinata quickly bowed to honour him. "I guess you are one or two year younger than my son, Gaara." He sighed as he rolling his eyes, "I told him to meet you here but that kid is really difficult to handle."
Hiashi patted his shoulder and replied, "Kazekage-sama, we were also at his age once. And you know, boys will be boys." The fourth Kazekage chuckled and nodded, "You're right, my friend. Now let's go inside. You and your daughter must be tired after such a long journey."
After getting some rest, Hiashi and the fourth Kazekage went to the office to talk about their business plan while Hinata allowed to play at the mansion. She walked around the garden, admiring all the beautiful and exotic flowers that she had never seen before. Suddenly she heard lots of noises right outside the front gate and before she knew what was going on, a little boy with bright, red hair walked in. His face was furious and one of his hand gripping his Teddy bear tightly.
"You monster!"
"Look what you've done to Mamoru!"
"Gaara, you're nothing but a mean devil!"
All those yelling and also the sound of another boy crying out loud made Hinata completely perplexed. Her eyes met Gaara's eyes, his turqoise eyes were full of anger and hatred but she also noticed something else. His tears.
Gaara was a bit surprised to see a stranger at the garden of his mansion but he couldn't care less. He quickly wiped his tears and began to run, not knowing that the arm of his precious Teddy bear was falling to the ground.
Hinata picked it up and took a closer look while she began to understand what might just happened out there. Maybe Gaara-kun was angry because Mamoru broke his Teddy and he hit Mamoru for that.
Although she wasn't sure about her own theory, she walked to her room and grabbed something from her small suitcase before she began to look for Gaara. It wasn't easy to find him but finally she saw him sitting alone at the corner of the backyard, a hidden place behind the desert palm trees and bushes. The boy was still sobbing while hugging his Teddy bear.
"Ummm..G-Gaara-kun.." Hinata greeted him gently.
Gaara glared at the tiny figure who was standing in front of him. He just wanted to be alone, like he always did. Besides, he hated if anyone saw him crying, he didn't want any single soul to witness his weak moment. His pride wouldn't allow that. "What do you want?! Go away!"
Hinata flinched at Gaara's harsh words but she knew she must be strong to face him.
"I..ummm..I w-want to fix Teddy," she murmured, making the red haired boy frowned even more. Before Gaara could respond, Hinata continued, "T-Teddy is hurt.. I guess h-he have a broken arm so I..I will heal him." She showed him her travel sewing kit and the piece of Teddy's broken arm.
Gaara was speechless. Not only this bizarre girl didn't run away after his rudeness to her, she even wanted to fix his Teddy Bear. He looked at her with scrutinizing eyes. Blue or more like dark purple short hair, chubby and pink cheeks also lilac eyes with no pupil. Gaara thought this girl was completely weird but mostly because she seemed to be not afraid of him.
"Gaara-kun? Is it o-okay if I fix him?"
That stuttering made him a bit annoyed but he finally gave her a small nod after he glanced at his favorite plushie.
Hinata sat next to him and carefully began to stitch the broken part. Gaara watched her closely and growled, "Becareful with him! If you make Teddy worse, I swear I'm going to.."
"Look! It's done!" Hinata said happily as she proudly showing Teddy to him, ignoring his threat. "Teddy, h-how do you feel now? I'm feeling m-much better, nurse Hinata-chan," she played a bit with Teddy and giggled, right before the legitimate owner snatched his Teddy back.
"WHO SAID YOU CAN PLAY WITH MY TEDDY?!"
Hinata was startled and lowering her head, didn't dare to meet his glaring eyes. "Go on and run, go cry to your mother!" Gaara was taunting her coldheartedly.
"I..d-don't have mother a-anymore.." she murmured, her voice could barely heard by him but it was enough to made his evil smirk disappeared.
"M-mother went to heaven with m-my little sister. T-they are safe and h-happy there.." Hinata lifted her chin so her eyes could meet his cold ones. Gaara saw how the little girl struggled, trying hard not to let the tears falling while she was forcing herself to smile.
Swallowing an imaginary lump in his throat, Gaara realized how cruel he was to her. This girl only wanted to help him fixing Teddy but all he did was being mean to her. He looked away, focusing his eyes to the palm trees before he began to speak, "I didn't mean to.. Look, all I'm saying was.." Gaara sighed, shaking his head desperately. "Forget it. I'm a monster, a devil kid. You should stay away from me, for your own sake."
"But..I want to be y-your friend.." she bit her bottom lip as she looked at him with innocent eyes.
Gaara was taken aback. He began to think that his mind starting to play trick on him or something.
"You are wacky, you know that? Nobody want to be my friend, not even want to be near me. Everybody hates me," Gaara said bitterly.
Hinata smiled a bit, "My father taught me n-not to judge s-someone by the o-opinion of others. So..ummm..I d-don't care what other people say about you, Gaara-kun." Despite her young age, Hinata was a smart, wise and more mature than other children.
Suddenly Gaara handed her his Teddy, "You may play with him and..uh..I want to be your friend too.. Hinata-chan."
A happy smile plastered on Hinata's cute face. "T-thank you.." she carefully held Teddy and mumbled, "Hello Teddy. My n-name is Hinata Hyuga and I l-live in Konoha. Y-you are the most b-beautiful Teddy bear I've ever seen." One thing that also caught Gaara's attention was Hinata's voice. It was somehow soothing and really pleasant to hear. If only she didn't stutter, she could probably become a wonderful singer.
Suddenly Gaara stood up when an idea came across his mind. "What is your favorite animal?" Tapping her small index finger to her chin while she was thinking, Hinata finally replied, "A bunny."
He grabbed her hand and walked to the backyard's gate, didn't notice that her cheeks turned into darker shades of pink. Outside the gate, Hinata saw the endless desert, everywhere she turned to look, it was only sand.
Gaara's ability of controlling sand made him able to create a sand bunny. The Hyuga girl squealed in happiness as her lilac eyes watching both Gaara and the sand bunny with lots of admiration.
"Wow! I-it's amazing! H-how did you do that, Gaara-kun?" The boy only smirked as he shrugged. "You might like this one too," he made her a desert lily from the sand. Hinata couldn't hide how amused she was, "Gaara-kun..it's very p-pretty!"
They both were playing and laughing, enjoying their time together. It was one of the happiest moment in Gaara's lonely life. The moment he would always cherished untill the day he die. But unfortunatelly that moment couldn't last forever because the next day, Hinata and her father must return to Konoha.
Gaara's heart flinched in pain as he saw Hinata outside his mansion. He refused to meet her because he didn't want to say goodbye but Hinata was determined to see him for the very last time and without thinking any further, she ran to the backyard.
"Gaara-kun..I.."
Gaara quickly turned his body, making Hinata only able to see his back. He didn't say anything but from the way his body trembling, she knew he was crying and she tried so hard not to cry because it would only make them both more sad.
Hinata took one of the clip on her hair, it was a small, silver butterfly hairclip decorated with purple gems. She reached for his hand and gently put the hairclip in his palm.
"If y-you feel lonely or s-sad, p-please look at it a-and remember t-that you have me.." her tone was cheerful but it only made him cried harder.
"Why? Why everyone I care about always leaving me alone.." Gaara muttered with hoarse voice, thick with sadness. He finally turned his body to face her. Seeing the expression on his face and hearing those words made Hinata couldn't hold her own tears any longer.
"G-goodbye, Gaara-kun.." she looked at him once again before she turned away and ran.
From that moment, Teddy bear and Hinata's hairclip became two things that most precious to Gaara. And on his birthday, secretly he always made the same wish, each and every single year.
I wish someday I can meet Hinata Hyuga again.
I just love GaaHina 3
I dedicate this fanfic for my dearest brother. His endless support has giving me the courage to write more stories.
Please R & R ^^ Thank you for reading this fic and I'm planning to make few chapters from this story.