Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Trust and Hate ❯ Gaara ( Chapter 2 )

The child peered over at the group of children before whim, watching them play together. Shaking the crimson hair from his eyes, Gaara gulped nervously before taking a few small steps towards the group.

"Hey," he called softly, catching their attention. With a nervous smile, he cast his green eyes to the ground and continued, "Can I play too?"

Nervous glances were cast between the children before a boy stepped forward and said with a sneer, "You ask us that every day, so you should know the answer by now, monster."

Without waiting for the six-year-old to respond, the group ran off, leaving Gaara to stare the ground, an embarrassed flush coloring his cheeks.

~*~

"Yashamaru-san," Gaara called, stepping into the house and turning to face the door as he closed it. "I'm home."

The young man looked up and noticed, when Gaara turned around, the tears that the boy refused to let fall.

"Gaara?" he asked, walking up to the child and placing a hand on the top of his head, repressing feelings of revulsion. "What happened?

Feeling, what he thought was, a comforting tough, Gaara sniffled, tears finally trickling down his cheeks.

"Why does everyone hate me?" he whimpered softly.

Yashamaru smiled faintly, kneeling so that he was eye-level with the child, said, "Not everyone hates you. I'm sure there are those that care."

"L… like you?"

Yashamaru merely hugged the child, smiling even though it felt as though his flesh was crawling. It was only a moment after that when the door opened and two other children stepped inside. Kankuro blinked sleepily, yawning something that sounded like "Good evening" to Yashamaru. Temari rolled her eyes at her brother before bowing politely.

"Good evening, Yashamaru-san. Gaa-chan," said the twelve-year old.

"Good evening, Tamari, Kankuro." Yashamaru let go of Gaara and stood. "You two are late coming in - it's already past your bedtimes."

Temari nodded but Kankuro whined, saying, "But I'm ten. I don't need a bedtime. I -" His rant was cut short as Temari pulled a small fan from her pocket and lightly tapped him on the top of the head.

"Kankuro, shut-up," she said, putting the fan away and walking to her room, playfully patting Gaara on the top of the head as she passed.

"Oneesan!" Kankuro cried, running after Temari and running a hand the wrong way through Gaara's hair. "Get back here, you jerk!"

Yashamaru sighed at the rambunctious pre-teens as he began to follow them.

"Yashamaru-san?" Gaara said softly. "I'm going up to the roof."

"All right, Gaara," the man said, not pausing. "Good night."

"Good night, Yashamaru-san."

~*~

Gaara whimpered softly, drawing his knees up to his chest. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve, he continued to watch the streets of Sunagakure, unaware of the dark form approaching from behind him.

Why? The child thought with a sniffle. Why does everyone hate me? What did I do?

So caught up in his misery, he didn't hear the slow, soft footsteps behind him.

Nothing. I didn't do anything to make them hate me. They're the ones that call me "monster." They -

A hand clasped his shoulder.

With a gasp, Gaara whirled around and his eyes met Temari's emerald orbs.

"Hey, Gaa-chan," the twelve-year-old said with a soft smile.

"Tem-chan?" His eyes flicked from her to the ten-year-old beside her. Kan-kun? What are you two doing here?"

"We got worried," Temari replied. You didn't come into either of our rooms tonight."

"Oh. I'm sorry, Tem-chan. I was just… just thinking."

Kankuro smirked before leaning forward and gently wiping a stray tear from Gaara's cheek. The boy blushed and attempted to stammer an explanation as Kankuro said, "Must not be good thoughts."

Gaara fell silent, Gaara bowed his head and said sadly, "Everyone hates me."

"Not that's not true," Temari told him, crouching so that she was eye-level with him. Suddenly, she smiled and wrapped her arms about his shoulders, nuzzling her nose into his hair. "I love you, Gaa-chan."

Kankuro reached down and, good-naturedly pushing Temari's head out of the way, ran his hand the wrong way thought Gaara's hair with a smile of his own, saying, "I love you too, Gaara."

"C'mon," Temari said, standing and playfully smacking Kankuro. "Let's go inside - Kankuro and I'll stay up with you tonight."

As Gaara looked at his siblings, his eyes misted over again, overfilling and tears rolled down his cheeks again. With a choked sob, he reached up to wipe his eyes, but the tears continued to fall.

"Th-they won't… s-stop," he sobbed softly, flushing in embarrassment again.

Temari merely crooned softly, before giving him a small smile, saying, "Let's go inside, Gaa-chan."

"Yeah," Kankuro added as they walked to the door. "It's freezing out here - how can you stand it?"

~*~

Yashamaru mentally cursed when he noticed Temari and Kankuro approach Gaara. He was certain that he would have been able to take Gaara out if he were alone, but Yashamaru didn't was to risk fighting with either, let alone both, of the boy's siblings.

Stealing away into the shadows, he prepared himself to face the Kazekage's wrath when he told him that he had aborted the assassination strike.

~*~

Temari's yawn was cut off mid-way with a laugh as Kankuro playfully tackled Gaara and attacked him with tickles. Rubbing her eyes, she took a drink from her Diet Coke (she had to watch her figure after-all.) and waited for the mixture of sugar and caffeine to get to work.

True to her word, she and Kankuro had stayed up all night, drinking sodas, telling stories, watching TV and playing games. At around three, Gaara and Kankuro had started playing chess - the English equivalent of shogi. Of course, none of the siblings knew how to play and so had made up all sorts of crazy rules including that the winner had to be tickled by the looser - thus why the two boys were squealing and laughing on the floor.

Through her slightly hyper mind, something clicked in Temari's thoughts and - when Kankuro had decided to take pity on Gaara and let him go - asked her youngest sibling, "Gaa-chan? That sand of yours is supposed to protect you from all attacks, right?" The boy, still smiling and slightly flushed, nodded. "Well, then why is it letting us get close?"

Gaara paused and thought for a moment before saying, "Well, Yashamaru-san said that the sand protects me because it loves me. I guess I allows you to touch me because, well -" he turned to his siblings and smiled " - I love you both."

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Aww, kawaii. -runs out and kidnaps chibi-Gaara; cuddles him-

Kakashi: -glares at chibi-Gaara who's looking both confused and scared-

Nine: -notices this- You're jealous, aren't you?

Kakashi: No. -blush-

Angel: Aww. -sits in his lap- Me sill love you - Chibi-Gaara's just adorable! -coos over Gaara-

C-Gaara: -is now scarred for life-

Angel: -is ignoring that; gets to fic- Wow. I gots reviews! -is happy- And for all of you begging for another chapter - here you go! And also, for the pairings, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing with this, but when I do figure something out, I'll probably wind up having a poll of some kind for you - so look for that. I can't really think of anything else so… Naruto! You do the disclaimer.

Naruto: Why me?

Angel: You haven't said anything.

Naruto: Neither has Gaara.

Angel: He's adorable - so you do it.

Naruto: -grumblegrumble- Angel doesn't own Naruto and never will - thank God! -gets stuff thrown at him-

Angel: -decides to ignore Naruto now- So, Till next time!