A/N: Yay, I'm happy because of the reviews, even if there's only two. Anyway, I'm content.

Jenvaati: Yes, Naruto needs more Gaara! XD I wanted to use fire since it's a natural enemy to sand. But someone else took fire so, wind it is.
edit: I found out someone else used wind too! Never mind, mine will soon be better. Muahaha

RACCOON: Send me the chicken!

On with the story!

Hurting

Go ahead, ask him.

But what if it's a touchy issue to him too?

Well, we have to get this over with anyway.

Why?

Because he's already asking you to come over, baka!

Seki looked up from her feet and saw Keimyou smiling gently.

"Seki? Is anything the matter?"

Seki considered just giving the cliched 'it's nothing' reply, but her legs had made up its decision to walk over to her concerned uncle. Keimyou moved to the side of the couch as his niece hesitantly sank into the material.

"Now, what's up with that long face?"

"Uncle, I..."

"Yes?"

"I heard stuff, about Gaara-sama."

"Oh."

"You know, Temari-chan's brother."

"Yes, I know," Seki's head snapped up at this. Keimyou gave her a reassuring smile and said sadly, "He's quite infamous here, in Sunagakure," Seki lowered her eyes to her feet once more, finding interest in her fiddling toes.

"Hai, uncle. I heard." Seki answered softly as she recalled the last couple of days after her second meeting with Sabaku no Gaara...

-

"No, no, go ahead and explore the village. Sunagakure may be peaceful, but at night it's quite a festival."

"Hai. Then I'll see you tonight," Seki replied Keimyou and left him at his workplace where he sold puppets for children and dummies for both genins and chuunins that needed them for training.

Her uncle was right. As the sun slowly set behind the sand dunes, villagers came out setting up food stalls and stands that sold clothes and other necessities. She heard the buzz around her heightening while she searched her pockets for some money to buy dinner. Seki finally bought a hamburger at a nearby stall, surprised they sold fast food here. As she took a bite out of her food, Seki overheard the stall holder chatting with the one next to him.

"... Away on a mission, then we can come out here without fear."

"Fear of what?" Seki cut in, not at all bothered by the fact she had just interrupted the men's conversation. They seemed delighted themselves to have someone to talk to. The one who sold her the hamburger replied, "The demon child, of course. They say he preys on innocent people, especially girls like you. If he wasn't away, I wouldn't allow my daughter to be out here."

"Mine, either," the other stall holder added, gesturing to both their daughters, laughing and playing nearby with two, older looking versions of themselves, chatting beside them. Seki turned back to the men.

"Who is the demon child you speak of?" She asked, although a name had already formed in her clever mind...

"Sabaku no Gaara. He kills so silently and cruelly, and is not remorseful for the victims at all."

"He has a gourd full of sand which he uses to commit those murders."

"Surely he can't be that bad. Why haven't they locked him up yet, if he is so dangerous?"

"Everyone's scared to. Who knows what he would do to the people who caught him?"

"Not to mention, the Kazekage will not allow his own son to be locked up."

"Gaara's the Kazekage's son?" Seki asked, bewildered. This made everything more complicated as it is. Seki wondered why, of all people, the Kazekage's son was being shunned and hated. Shouldn't children of the Kage be favored shinobi's of their village? Seki thought quietly as the men in front of her continued discussing about their loath for the village's outcast. Temari and Kankurou are his siblings, why aren't they targeted as well? Seki heard the men mention the word 'Bakemono' and winced inwardly.

"Excuse me," Seki interrupted the men once again.

"Why is Gaara a demon child?"

The two men remained silent at this. Seki saw the adults in front of her shoot nervous glances at each other, unsure of what to reply to the teenage girl before them. The stall holder she had bought her dinner from leaned in closer, as if Gaara was standing nearby.

"He never sleeps, always waiting to find someone to satisfy the demon within him."

-

Seki now knew for sure that the dark outlines of his eyes were caused by a lack of sleep. But she wondered why, and what exactly was this demon the two stall holders had spoken off.

The next evening, there was hardly anyone there, rumors saying that the sand siblings had once again, accomplished a mission so fast and successfully that they were already back on the second night. Seki couldn't find the men, or Gaara again. Hence, the morning after, she contemplated asking her uncle about the so-called 'demon child'.

Keimyou noticed Seki's reluctance to pursue her curiosity, a first in the history of knowing this inquisitive teenager. He knew her intelligent mind was racking for ways to put her questions subtly and not seem like she was poking her nose into places she shouldn't.

Unfortunately, there was no way to change the question, considering the topic.

"Uncle, why do the villagers hate Gaara?"

Keimyou frowned, wondering if he should reveal what most of the village had not known, but merely gossiped about. That's the only truth in their gossip, in the end, Keimyou sighed inwardly and looked at the girl beside him. She was wearing a different colored top now, having found a similar kind at a clothes store yesterday. Seki turned her head to meet Keimyou's own maroon eyes. Keimyou stared down and started, "Gaara is, well, he's not normal, in other peoples' eyes."

"But he is, to you?" Seki asked, having caught on that he had not mentioned his own thoughts. Keimyou smiled at her sharpness and nodded, "Yes. He is just a normal teenager, like you Seki. But he has some, special powers, that the other villagers feel that he shouldn't have. Hence, he is hated."

"They hate him, just because of that?" Keimyou saw Seki's ruby eyes slowly growing with anger. He knew that if he continued she might not see Gaara as whom she saw him now – a lost, and lonely boy. However, Keimyou was not a biased man, and defended the villagers, even though he had half a mind not to, given their own biased actions towards their current topic.

"No, they hate him because he has used his powers to hurt, and kill others. He has taken away some of their loved ones, and are afraid of him taking more," Seki felt her anger slowly dissipated at this. She could see now, why the villagers had viewed him as a monster, yet her feelings towards Sabaku no Gaara did not waver. She understood his pain, his loneliness and the unjust. Seki had a gut feeling that Gaara had not meant for those murders to happen. No one would kill because they wanted to.

You never know, Seki. This Gaara might just like to use his sand abilities too much.

Seki winced, this time on the outside, at the words said by the voice in her head. She had come to terms with having one, deluding herself that other people had one themselves, and that she was not the only weird person she knew.

Shut up, I know he's not like that.

Ooh, you like this Gaara guy.

What? No, I don't!

Yes, you do. Look at your face, it's clearly written on your expression.

I can't see my face, you baka.

Go get a mirror then, ni no baka.

Seki shook her head, getting out of the argument with her inner self and wondered whether she was slowly losing her mind due to the heat in the Suna.

Seki realized that her uncle was sitting beside her quietly, not even noticing that she had been debating with herself for the last few minutes. She poked her uncles arm gently, about to ask him again about Gaara, when she spotted a picture on the table beside them. Reaching over, Seki grabbed the photo frame she hadn't noticed before and stared at it while Keimyou broke away from his thoughts. He saw Seki trace the features of a certain Raion member in the photo with her finger and said grimly, "This was taken before his mission."

"... Aa."

Seki felt a sense of nostalgia overwhelm her, as she continued to immerse herself with the image of her father. She imagined him to be standing right in front of her, long, dark brown hair that partially hid his bright red pupils within his almond shaped eyes. An angular face set on his broad shoulders with a tanned complexion, and muscular limbs that easily carried Seki whenever she wanted to view the surroundings through his eyes. Seki felt tears well up in her eyes and blinked them away, not wanting to let Keimyou know she was weak. Keimyou, however, knew that she had to be shaken. Her father accepted her for what she was, without question, and parting with him was probably the hardest she had to do.

"Who's the man with you and Otousan?"

Seki had started to take in the other two figures in the picture. One showed a younger Keimyou, with his then short black hair resting on his shoulders and maroon eyes full of mischief. His face was more rounded, was fairer and less muscular than his older brother. The other was a fair skinned man as well, but closely resembled a woman. He had shaggy, blond hair and gray eyes that had a sharp angle near the nose. Seki looked closer and discovered that he actually had a kind look in his eyes, care and compassion seemed to flow out of his gaze.

"This is Yashamaru," Keimyou pointed at the unidentified man, "He was our best friend."

"Was?" Seki asked softly, looking up at Keimyou. Keimyou nodded, his mouth set in a thin line.

"Yashamaru died in a mission. The same kind your father died in."

Seki suddenly felt remorse for this man she had never met with. Her father hardly made friends outside of the Raion clan. This Yashamaru must have been a good friend to Keimyou too.

"Yashamaru was Gaara's uncle, and care taker, you know," Seki whipped her head back to Keimyou, ears twitching at the sound of Gaara's name. Keimyou kept his eyes straight down at the carpet that covered his floor, but Seki could see that his eyes were glazed over, as if reminiscing a memory he had buried inside his mind long ago.

"After Yashamaru was killed, your father couldn't take it. Which explains his agreement to the mission..."

"What mission? Why does it have to do with Gaara?" Seki demanded. Her brain had not missed how Keimyou linked the two pieces of information together. Keimyou visible flinched at Seki's sudden outburst.

Chikushou, I can't let her find out.

Keimyou cleared his throat, "Erm, well, your father, he erm, ended with the same fate as Yashamaru. And since Yashamaru was his care taker after all, so..."

"Oh," Seki cut in, seemingly understanding. Keimyou restrained a sigh of relief, though he wondered what conclusion Seki had thought up with his supposed explanation. Seki asked without turning to Keimyou, "What was the nature of the assignment?" Keimyou frowned slightly, but decided that it would not do much harm if he was honest about it.

"An assassination. The person... Is still at large."

Seki's mind was reeling. She vaguely recalled her father saying that assassinations were not proper missions for a shinobi, so there had to be a reason he had accepted it. Seki stole a glance at Keimyou, having resumed his gaze at an invisible ornament on the coffee table in front of them. He didn't look like he was lying.

He still seems to be hiding something, doesn't it?

Yes, and I doubt I can get it out from him that easily.

Having decided so, Seki moved on to the next thing disturbing her. She could not believe her father could be killed that easily. Her anger was slowly rising again, but she calmed herself down before it could reach a destructive level. She felt determination replace it instead and punched her right fist in her left palm.

"Uncle!"

"Huh? Wha... Oh yes, Seki-chan?"

"I want to train tomorrow. It's Saturday, so you should be free right?"

"Uh, yes. Why the sudden..."

"My father couldn't be killed this easily by a normal shinobi. Whoever murdered him must be really strong. I'm going to train hard and avenge my father's death no matter what!" Seki stood up at the last few words and punched her fist in the air. Keimyou blinked at Seki's change of attitude. He was about to smile and encourage her when she turned and face him squarely.

"Keimyou-san, I know you are reluctant to tell me who was the person who assassinated otousan. It's alright, I will wait until I'm strong enough before asking you again. I hope you will tell me then," with those words, Seki walked back into her bedroom, which she had spray painted the walls with a complicated design of orange and red swirls. Her uncle watched her go, shaking his head and smiling in defeat at the sharp kunoichi.

You raised her well, Iwashi. She's going to make you proud.

-

A/N: Ah-ha! Bet you didn't realize Iwashi was her father! Can you guess who's Enzeru then? I'll give you a hint, it's a woman!

This is a rather slow chapter, but I had to make sure Seki found out about some things that will be important in the later parts of the chapter.
Anyway, it's 2 am now, so I hope I get reviews for this one. I still have to work tomorrow, grah.

Bakemono – monster
Ni no Baka – idiot number 2

Sayonara!