Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto and all its characters belongs to Kishimoto Masashi

Chapter 1

A light breeze ran through the village hidden in the sand, ruffling the red hair of a little seven-year-old boy. He sat on a swing by himself watching as the other children played with a ball laughing and having fun. The little boy sighed to himself, he yearned to play with the other kids but they all run away from him calling him a monster, a demon. He was shunned not only by the children but the whole village.

The boy looked up as the ball rolled by next to him. Standing up he picked up the ball and hesitantly held out the ball towards the children wishing he could play with them.

The other kids froze, glanced at each other and wondered how to get their ball back without having to get near the monster, when suddenly one kid shouted, "Hey, give us our ball back you demon! Stay away from us! Go away! No one wants to play with a monster!" followed with a chorus of "Yeah!" of agreement from the other children.

Their insults and unwillingness to play with him struck his heart to the core. They were never going to change, no one was. They all hated him for some reason. Why do they hate me? What did I do? He thought miserably; it nearly brought him tears. Impatiently, the kids ignored the pain and loneliness in his teal eyes, and started to pick up rocks and started hurl them at the little boy.

The redheaded boy looked up in fear, not at the thought of getting hurt, but at their inevitable reaction when they'd witness what was about to happen.

"Wait! Don't!" he shouted and tried to avoid the incoming projectiles but there was too many to dodge them all. Automatically and out of his control, sand rushed around him blocking every single rock the kids had thrown. They stood rooted in place in shock and terror.

"You really are a monster! Run!" the same kid as before screamed and ran away with the others, their game forgotten.

The boy slouched and sat on the sandy ground in misery and tried to contain his tears. He clutched the ball to himself as if it could relieve him of his pain and suffering. He watched as they all ran and disappeared…all but one.

A young girl hesitated. She wasn't sure what to do, to run and listen to what the others had said or play with the boy. He had seemed nice enough; she had seemed him a couple times and just thought he was lonely. Despite his non-threatening demeanor, the sand that swirled around him protectively, responding to his fear was very unsettling to her. She was shaken at what she had just seen and her body urged her to run.

The red headed boy gazed at the girl. The young girl, who seemed a year younger than the others, looked probably around six years old. She had short brown hair to her shoulders and brown eyes, which were looking at him with a look of indecision. He looked at her with a hopeful look in his eyes. Maybe she would play with him, even if no one else would.

Hesitantly she asked, "What's your name? I'm Matsuri."

Nervously he answered, "My name is Gaara. Do you want to play with me?" He asked towards the ground. He kept his gaze on the ball in his lap and waited for her to reject his offer. His sand disappeared and Matsuri relaxed and nodded her head nervously.

Just as Gaara began to hope he might actually have a friend, a civilian woman strolled by and saw Matsuri talking to Gaara and rushed to her and pulled her a couple yards further away yelling, "Stay away from her you demon!" Matsuri was shocked at hearing the woman's words. She never officially met him before and never saw the treatment he received from the villagers until today.

The woman turned to Matsuri and held her by the shoulders. "Run home now child! Avoid him at all costs! You hear me? Never talk to this demon ever again you got that! Now run!" The woman all but shrieked.

Matsuri, frightened, did as she was told and ran, as did the civilian woman as well. She looked back at Gaara sitting back on the swing all alone again as she rounded the corner and continued home, guilt consuming her conscience.

Gaara sat back on his swing and picked up his brown teddy bear he brought with him earlier and hugged himself tighter and finally let the tears pour.

Gaara trudged slowly down the road, still upset from the incident in the morning. News spread quickly around the village like wild fire and reached the ears of the Yondaime Kazekage.

Flashback

The Kazekage summoned Gaara and coldly scolded him for scaring the villagers, as if he had purposely tried to frighten them. Gaara remained silent knowing there was nothing he could say to make things any better.

"You got that? I don't want to have to repeat this conversation again, understood?" the Kazekage stated.

Gaara bowed and said, "Understood Father."

"Good, dismissed" he said waving him away and continued his paperwork, frowning at the document in front of him.

End of Flashback

It was pretty dark out, nearly midnight. He jumped up onto a roof and watched the stars and moon, wishing he had a better life. Nights like these all he wanted was to curl up in a ball and cry. No one loves me. Nobody wants to be my friend or play with me. I wish I had a mother, a father that cared about me, a brother and sister who aren't afraid of me. Uncle Yashamaru is nice enough but he's always so distant lately. Nobody cares about me. And most of all

I wish I could dream. If I could dream then I could pretend I had friends, and a family that loves me.

Deep in thought Gaara didn't notice the shinobi that snuck up on him and threw a kunai at his head. Gaara's sand shot up quickly and deflected the kunai. The ninja cursed and tried again throwing a volley of shuriken at Gaara which again was intercepted by his sand. Gaara sighed and thought, Not again.

By the time Gaara was five, the council had ordered Gaara to be trained and wanted him to be Suna's ultimate weapon. Gaara was a tool that would make the village even more powerful in strength and in political influence. Too young to really understand what that would mean he tried to do what he was asked of.

Over one year of crammed studying, Gaara was as knowledgeable as a newly graduated genin of Suna. When Gaara turned six, he was assigned personal jonin instructors to train him and mold him into their perfect weapon. In time the council soon realized that Gaara was not in complete control of the power he held inside of him. His automatic sand was proof of that; the sand protected him without even having to think about it. If he couldn't control its power, than he was a threat to the village.

Since that realization, the Kazekage hired ninja to try to kill Gaara. Dozens tried and nothing worked. Sneaking up on him didn't work because of his automatic sand would deflect any attack. Each assassination attempt ended the same as well; each hired ninja ultimately ended up dead. This attempt wouldn't be any different.

As he sat up Gaara made a decision. The village wants me dead. My own father wants me dead. No one will miss me. I might as well disappear. Sand shot out on its own accord and much too swiftly for the ninja to counterattack with a ninjutsu and it covered him completely in sand. The ninja was encased in sand that put so much pressure on his body that the ninja didn't register the pain before there was a rain of blood. Gaara's sand shielded him from the falling blood and he stared as the blood started to pool in the gutter of the building. More bloodshed because of me. He lamented.

Am I really a monster? I've killed so many ninja. But they were trying to kill me! I-I had to protect myself. No, I'm not really a demon right? But everyone treats me like I am. Gaara continued with his internal struggle lost himself in his own world. As a result he failed to notice a figure slowly approaching him.

"Hello Gaara." The stranger said.

Gaara quickly snapped out of his stupor and turned around in surprise. He was usually alone at this time of night, save for the occasional assassination attempt. He looked up to see his uncle Yashamaru. He was dressed in his jounin outfit. Black shinobi pants; black long sleeve shirt, black shinobi sandals and a brown jounin vest with his headband engraved with Suna's s elbem, tied to his upper left arm. Yashamaru walked up to Gaara and crouched down and looked at him face to face.

"What are you doing?" Gaara asked. He could feel the tension in the atmosphere. It was suffocating and he struggled to focus.

"I'm on a mission." He stated. His face was blank and void of any emotion.

"Then what are you doing here?" He felt- no almost knew, that something was about to happen and it wasn't good. His teal eyes surveyed his surroundings, looking for a possible escape route.

Yashamaru stood up, turned around and looked at the now full moon and stars, and discretely pulled out a special tag given to him for this moment. Unbeknownst to him, Gaara made a sand clone and performed a kawarimi no jutsu with it and hid in the shadows. Yashamaru did not react in any way. Any skilled shinobi would have noticed the obvious spike of chakra. Either Yashamaru wasn't as skilled as his rank portrayed or Yashamaru decided to ignore it.

Gaara watched in shock and disbelief at what he was seeing from his hiding spot. Yashamaru was preparing some kind of special tag. Gaara never got far into his training to learn about any sort of tags, but he recognized some of the kanji on the seal and knew that whatever it did would probably try to mess up his chakra...or explode.

His sand had the capability to deflect and kind of offensive attack. If they took away his chakra then even his sand would slow down enough for one to land a blow, and if precise could be fatal. He had noticed this during his training and Gaara was starting to fear for the worst.

Yashamaru turned back around keeping the tag behind him and crouched down in front of the clone. "Well my mission is…" Gaara almost forgot the question he had asked earlier. "Well my mission… is to kill you."

Gaara suspected it but now that he confirmed it he felt betrayed, hurt, and scared. Gaara knew if he wasn't assassinated and the ninja reported to the Kazekage that he failed his mission, than the council would have them killed for not completing the mission.

In a flash, Yashamaru slammed the tag on clone's forehead. The clone stumbled and fell on its back. The jutsu held and the clone looked kind of sick, like it was barely able to sustain itself.

"W-What did you do to me?" The clone managed out.

"I placed a special tag to slowly drain your chakra, thus effectively slowing down your automatic sand and allowing me the ability to complete my mission." He said as he pulled out a kunai.

Gaara felt a small sense of relief knowing his plan worked but it wasn't the time to relax. Gaara's sand shot up on its own and quickly enveloped the ninja. Yashamaru was quickly covered in sand up to his neck, rendering him immobile. Slowly Gaara walked from his hiding place and walked up to his uncle. There was a horrible stabbing pain in his heart that wouldn't go away.

"Why?" Gaara murmured.

"I was given a mission by the Kazekage." He responded.

"I thought that you cared for me." Gaara started to breathe more heavily as the adrenaline passed and the severity of what was happening was indeed reality and was crashing down on him.

"I thought I did but there was always that resentment I felt towards you. You killed my sister. I'll never see her again. I was there when she gave birth to you and she said that you looked so weak, so small for even a baby. That demon inside you killed her! You're nothing but a monster!" He declared.

His words cut deep into his heart. I was right no one loves me. My own mother didn't love me and I killed her. My father hates me. Everyone hates me! Gaara thought frantically.

The sand that he didn't realize was swirling around him due to his tension, swirled faster and engraved the kanji for love on his left temple. Gaara screamed out in pain and fell to his knees, at the same time the sand around Yashamaru covered the rest of him and imploded and again there was a shower of blood.

Blood stained his clothes, and trailed down his face and hands as he stared at them. I'm always in pain in this village. I don't think I can even call it home. I-I'll run away. Yes! Then I'll be free of all their hate. Gaara thought hysterically.

It was too much for him to handle, today had been such an emotional roller coaster and that it would be impossible to keep a level head. He jumped to the other building intending to pack some necessities before leaving Suna. He ducked to the side of a building, hidden in the shadows when he felt a presence and looked back to see what looked to be a chunin shinobi heading towards his sand clone that Gaara had forgotten about.

In an odd burst of ingenuity, he knew that they would go after him if he left, not that they cared about him, but the council would worry that other villages might use Gaara as a weapon, just like they had originally intended. It didn't matter if the power couldn't be controlled if it destroyed an enemy village. He would have to be dead to be free from this village.

The shinobi threw a kunai the at the clone's neck. The clone fell on its back as the kunai embedded itself in the throat. Since it was just a clone with a chakra draining tag on its forehead, it would not last long. Since it was made from sand, it could take more blunt force than a normal clone. The clone focused its remaining chakra to not dissipate and laid there frozen, playing the part that he was killed. The chunin walked up to the clone and noticed the blood on its clothes. The shinobi did not know the blood was Yashamaru's and he assumed it was Gaara's own blood.

"I did it! I killed the demon! I'm going to be a hero, a legend; I'll be famous. I'll be paid so well for this! I can't believe the brat was able to kill so many other ninja. The Kazekage must have picked some lousy ninja to kill it. Can't say that in front of him or I'll be next to see kami." The ninja rambled on and on.

Gaara peered over to his clone and noticed the kunai wasn't embedded as deep as he'd thought, maybe an inch or two. Suddenly, the jutsu dispelled, leaving a large pile of sand. Gaara tensed. Now how was he supposed to be dead if there was no body? The chunin turned his gaze to the clone and noticed the pile of sand after he finished his ranting.

"Hmm, must be some kind of demon thing. I saw him die so him turning into a pile of sand isn't too much of a surprise I suppose. It was demon made from sand. I need to report to Kazekage-sama to tell him the great news!" he reasoned and ran to the kage tower.

Gaara let go of the breathe he didn't realize he was holding and waited a couple of minutes till the shinobi was out of sight. He shook his head in disbelief. What kind of ninja is he? Any other ninja would have been suspicious. Maybe he was promoted out of pity… he thought. He shook his head again and took off on the roof tops with a determined expression on his small face. This village will never see this demon ever again. He thought and disappeared into the shadows.

On the way home he thought he was okay but he was shaking terribly. Silent tears were streaking down his face as he tried holding back his sobs. He was in a state of shock and he guessed it would go away if he got some rest but that wasn't possible for him. For as long as he could remember he was not allowed to sleep by order of the council and the Kazekage or else he would bring destruction to the village.

Gaara landed in front of the gates to his home and stealthily snuck in to his room. He took out a traveler's bag and stuffed it with some clothes and some other personal things with his brown teddy bear. He tip toed out to the hallway and listened if his siblings had woken up; he heard nothing so far so he continued on to the kitchen.

He took some cereal bars and other dry foods form the cupboards and added them to his pack as well. He wasn't even sure what he was doing exactly. It was like an out of body experience. He was just watching himself pack in a detached sort of way, his movements robotic.

Gaara was about to head out when the kitchen light turned on and he froze. He turned on his heel and saw Temari, his older sister. She was in her plain white pajama top and bottom, blonde hair cascading down to her shoulders instead of her usual four pigtails and her battle fan ready in her hands.

She blinked a couple of times, her eyes trying to adjust to the harsh light. She had heard someone in the kitchen and came to see what was going on. She figured someone might be breaking into their home. It was a ridiculous thought; someone trying to steal from the Kazekage? Nonetheless she wasn't taking any chances. Besides, some people don't have any good analytical skills. Temari had thought as she raced down the hall with her fan.

Her eyes adjusted and was shocked to see her baby brother in the state that he was in. His clothes were soaked in blood, teal eyes brimming with tears, a kanji of love on his forehead that she has never seen before and a large traveler's bag full with what she presumed were food and clothes. If he was doing what she thought he was doing than there was probably a good amount of money in there as well.

Despite her analysis of the situation, what worried her most were his eyes, she had always known he was in pain and lonely but she never saw him look this bad. He looked like he was in so much agony that she almost ran to hug him but she knew in his state that he would think she was attacking and his sand would protect him.

"What are you doing Gaara? Are you okay?" she whispered as she lowered her fan.

"H-He's dead. I k-killed him. I'm not staying. I'm not staying!" He confessed. His breathing was labored and couldn't contain his emotions. He was having a mental breakdown.

"I don't understand w-who did you kill? What do you mean you're not staying?" she managed out. She set her fan against the wall and slowly stepped closer to Gaara.

"Y-Yashamaru, I-I killed him. He was hired by Father to k-kill me. He said he n-never cared for me. He said m-my own m-mother never loved me either. He said I-I'm a demon that killed h-his sister." He sobbed. "No one cares about me."

Temari blinked in shock. Their own uncle had tried to kill her baby brother? Suddenly guilt consumed her conscious. She realized how a horrible sister she'd been, ignoring him and continued training herself and didn't realize he went through so much pain each day, even more so today. She vowed to herself that she would make it up to him. What kind of father did they have tried to kill his son and ordering his brother in law as well? She promised she would protect her mother's youngest son.

"Listen Gaara, you are not a demon!" She crossed the remaining distance between them, knelt and held him by the shoulders. "I-I do care for you. You're my little brother. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you like I should have been. Do you mean you're leaving the village?" She questioned trying to look him in the eyes, though he kept looking the other way. She wasn't sure if it even got through to him. She worried about the psychological trauma he surely must be experiencing.

Gaara was only half listening. He looked back to her and simply nodded. "A c-chunin came and he was convinced he k-killed me and went to report to Father. E-Everyone will think I'm dead and I-I'm leaving t-tonight, to g-go far away as I can."

Temari listened closely and she didn't how Gaara pulled off fooling a chunin unless he was incompetent. It pained her to know her brother was leaving the village. Despite her pain, it made sense, he was treated horribly here and already had a twisted childhood. If he left he might have a better life. She decided to go along with his plan but she worried for his safety and realized that was a stupid thing to worry about. His automatic sand protected him whenever he's in danger. Nevertheless couldn't ignore the stress it caused her at the thought of him being in any possible danger, no matter how unlikely.

"Gaara, I won't tell anyone that you're alive okay? But as soon as I become chunin, I'll find a way to find you. I'll look for you and I'll leave Suna somehow but as soon as I can I'll be there for you okay? I promise, no swear that you won't be alone for too long. Okay? I-I love you Gaara okay, please be safe!" she pleaded. She wasn't sure he was even registering what she was saying but he nodded and left through the front door. She watched from the kitchen window as he jumped on the rooftops and disappeared from her line of sight.

She sighed heavily and slumped into a chair, leaning her head against her folded arms on the kitchen table. Please be safe Gaara. I swore I'd find you some day and be with you as soon as I can. I won't let you down anymore Gaara, I swear. She thought to herself and hardened her resolve to keep him safe. I wonder how Kankuro will take it she wondered.

She stood up, turned off the lights and took her battle fan in hand and trudged down the hall towards her room and paused as she heard loud snoring coming from her brother's room. She sighed again to herself. "Damn kid could probably have slept through the third shinobi war." She muttered to herself and entered her own room to get some well-deserved sleep.

In a daze Gaara hurriedly jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He didn't know where he'd go but all he cared about at the moment was to get as far away from the village that left him with so many awful memories. Nearing one of the gates he paused wondering, How am I supposed to get by the guards?

He waited trying to think of some kind of plan when another jonin showed up and addressed the guards with a huge smile on his face. "The monster is finally dead! It was killed just a couple of hours ago. Come! The Kazekage has summoned all jonin and chunin to debrief us in detail."

"Hai!" they both said and jumped off following the jonin to the tower.

"I guess my luck is holding out." Gaara murmured and dashed through the gate to the open desert night. He sighed not sure which direction to take. He chose heading towards the west and started his trek through the desert not realizing that his life was drastically changing for the better.

AN: This is my very first fanfiction every. If you could take the time to review I would really appreciate it.

Until next time,

Ja ne