Gaara sat in his office, thinking about the events that took place the previous day. Though he didn't want to admit it, he did like Nakuru. She just seemed so…so perfect. There was definitely no other way to describe her. She had a perfect personality; loyal, honest, optimistic, and a bubbly disposition that could make a stone statue smile. But she wasn't silly, or ditzy, or another dumb blond. She was intelligent, but knew when to relax and when to be serious. 'And she's not that bad looking.' Gaara mused, remembering her slim figure, heart shaped face, long sunny hair, coral lips and turquoise eyes.

His thoughts were interrupted by Kankuro barging into the room, out of breath and sweaty.

"Is it true Gaara?!?!" Kankuro exclaimed, running up to his brothers desk, staring in wide eyed disbelief into his sibling's face. Gaara blinked slowly.

"Is what true Kankuro? I don't understand." Gaara said, suspecting that his brother had caught wind of the new rumor.

"He's asking if you like Nakuru, genius." Temari said, entering into the room. She smirked as Gaara's face flushed pink. "Guess it's a yes then."

"Oh, little brother, I'm so HAPPY for you!" Kankuro cried, smothering Gaara in a big bear hug.

"Can't…breathe…let…go…" Gaara choked out, gasping for air.

"Hmm? Oh! Sorry, little brother!" Kankuro said apologetically, letting go of Gaara and sitting in a chair in front of Gaara's desk. Temari sat in a chair next to Kankuro.

"So…why don't you just tell her?" Temari asked, leaning back in her chair.

"W-what if she doesn't like me? I don't know how I would take that…" an image of him killing everyone in sight flashed through Gaara's mind. He shuddered at the thought. He wasn't as emoish as everyone thought. He just couldn't talk to anyone else besides his siblings like a normal person, due to shutting everyone out of his life since he was five. At twelve, he met Naruto, who showed him that just because some people are mean, not everyone is bad. But everyone had grown so used to the old Gaara that they barely acknowledged the new. And the apparent black rings around his eyes, which made him look, in his opinion, like a raccoon, had become permanent, even though he now had eight hours of sleep a night.

"Well, you could-" began Temari, but was cut short due to a loud explosion in the village. Gaara wasted no time in jumping out of the window and, while using his sand to make a sort of tidal wave, rode to the border of the town. Temari and Kankuro rushed to the window and watched as Gaara began to battle a blond, black robed figure riding on a bird-like creature in the distance. Yet, despite Gaara's abilities, his siblings reeled in surprise as the blond figure landed a solid blow to Gaara's face.

Kankuro could not stand idly by and watch his brother get killed. He too leaped from the windowsill and landed safely at the entrance to the village. But when he dared move forward, a great turtle-like being came into view, a white bandanna covering the lower half of its face, showing only its dull, black, piercing eyes.

"Deidara is doing his job of taking care of the jinkuri* [*jinkuri (sorry if spelled wrong) are hosts to demons such as nine tailed fox]. As for my part of this mission…" the creature extended a rather long tail, with sharp needles for spines and a triangle blade attached to its end, "I am to make sure that no one interferes. Die, vermin!" it shouted, shooting a needle that lightly scratched Kankuro's arm. Yet, even though naught but a drop of blood spilled from Kankuro's body, he felt like the moment of death was upon him, and he collapsed to the ground. The creature and the being named Deidara vanished, taking the now unconscious Gaara with them.

Temari had used her fan to float out of the window, but a gust of wind carried both to the center of the village. By the time she was at Kankuro's side, both strangers had vanished.

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Dun-dun-DUN!!! I just wanted to include an action sequence. Enjoy the rest!!!!