2nd chapter: Why Gaara has no eyebrows

Gaara used to have eyebrows--big, fuzzy, red eyebrows, much fuzzier than Rock Lee's.

When he was born, his father, the Kazekage, almost fainted with shock. The Sand had been experimenting on creating the perfect weapon and all they got was this? This baby who wouldn't scare anybody because he had clown-like eyebrows?

Yashamaru almost laughed out loud. "Good one, sister," he thought evilly. "You didn't die in vain." But to his brother-in-law, he said, "It's too early to judge if the boy was a failure. Maybe those eyebrows will manifest special properties when he grows up."

The Kazekage gnashed his molars. "We must pluck out those eyebrows! Yashamaru, give me some duct tape."

Though he had laughed to himself a while ago, Yashamaru, was still devastated over his sister's death at the sand of the infant. He handed the duct tape to the Kazekage. Oh, how he wished the baby would hurt as much as he was hurting now.

The Kazekage reached out to stick the duct tape over Gaara's eyebrows but sand blocked him.

"What the…?"

"The sand," Chiyo, the village elder who put the Shukaku into Gaara, said. "The sand will protect him from those who wish to harm him."

"So you mean to say, we can't pluck out those horrid eyebrows?"

Chiyo shook her head.

"Damn," the Kazekage swore. "Yashamaru! I command you to take care of Gaara. Don't ever let bring him outside. The people must be made to believe we have succeeded in creating the perfect weapon. You must not allow Gaara to see himself in the mirror. He must not see those horrid eyebrows of his! Maybe if he didn't know about them, he could still be trained to terrorize others."

"Yes, Kazekage-sama."

So for three years, Gaara never left the confines of his room. Temari and Kankurou never saw their brother until a lucky set of circumstances brought them all together.

Five-year old Temari was curious to see her youngest brother. Why did Uncle Yashamaru hide him from them? One night, when Yashamaru was down with the flu, Temari sneaked into Gaara's room to take a peek at him.

Green eyes greeted her when she entered the room. "Why is Gaara still awake?" she thought. "Yikes! Those eyes are scary."

"Gaara," she called. Gaara walked towards her, clutching his teddy bear. Temari blinked. Gaara was not as scary as their father made her believe. He looked cute, especially with those large fuzzy eyebrows of his and his pudgy cheeks.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Temari, your sister."

"Sister?"

"Yes. You also have a brother, Kankurou. He's asleep right now."

"Asleep?"

"Yes, It's eleven o' clock already. Why aren't you asleep?"

Gaara looked at this blonde girl curiously. He felt at ease with her.

"You want to meet Kankurou?" she asked Gaara.

Gaara merely nodded. He clutched Temari's right hand.

"Ok, his room's this way." The two children made their way to Kankurou's room.

"Hey, Kankurou, wake up!" Temari shook her younger brother awake.

"Temari! Why did you wake me up?" four-year old Kankurou complained. He rubbed his eyes. "What the?" he thought as his eyes fell on Gaara.

"Who's that?" he asked Temari.

"He's our brother, Gaara."

"Really? Now I know why they hid him from us. Look at his eyebrows!"

Gaara looked at Kankurou. This was his elder brother? He didn't seem very nice but he felt at ease with him, too.

"And look at those eyes! They're creepy!" Kankurou continued. "Hey, do you ever sleep? You have dark circles around your eyes.

"I can't sleep," Gaara said.

"You have sleeping problems?" Temari looked at her youngest brother with concern.

"Yes," Gaara said.

Kankurou reached out to touch Gaara's eyebrows. Surprisingly, sand didn't block his hand.

"Your eyebrows are very fuzzy," he commented.

"Eyebrows?" Gaara was puzzled.

"Yup, eyebrows. Look, I have them, too." Kankurou pointed to his own eyebrows. Gaara looked at them curiously.

Temari suddenly had an idea. "Kankurou! He's three years old so maybe he doesn't know about body parts yet. Let's teach him!"

Kankurou yawned. "I'm sleepy. You teach him." And Kankurou went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Temari ran to her room to fetch a hand mirror. She went back to Kankurou's room to give the mirror to Gaara. "Here Gaara. You can look at this to see your face!" Gaara took the mirror. He held it before him. His eyes widened with shock. He dropped the mirror. Luckily, Temari caught it.

"Don't be scared. That was just you."

Gaara's eyes were still opened wide with shock. Temari thought that made him look creepier.

"Me?" Gaara trembled.

"Yes. You saw yourself in the mirror."

Gaara looked at himself in the mirror once more. He was no longer shocked to see another person staring back at him. He stuck out his tongue. The person inside the glass stuck out his tongue, too. Gaara made all sort of silly expressions. His reflection mimicked them. Gaara thought that the mirror was a fun plaything. He wondered why his Uncle Yashamaru had never given him one before. Gaara decided to hide it inside his cabinet.

Temari was happy to see that Gaara was having fun with her mirror. She decided to give it to him.

The next night, Yashamaru was still down with the flu. Since no one else had the guts to take care of Gaara, the young boy was able to sneak into Kankurou's room again. He woke his brother up.

Kankurou was freaked out to see his brother at the middle of the night. "Don't you ever sleep?" Kankurou asked.

"No." Gaara answered.

"What do you want?" Kankurou was wondering what his brother was doing in his room.

"My eyebrows, why are they like this?" Gaara rubbed his fuzzy eyebrows.

"I don't know."

"Why are yours like that?"

"They're just like that." Kankurou scratched his head. He suddenly thought of something. "You want your eyebrows to look like mine and Temari's?"

Gaara nodded. Even though he was only three years old, he knew that his eyebrows were not normal. He had seen that his Uncle Yashamaru, Kankurou and Temari had thin eyebrows.

Kankurou got out the shave and lotion he had nicked from his father. He faced Gaara. "Ok," he said. "I'll fix your eyebrows."

Kankurou rubbed the lotion on Gaara's eyebrows. He asked Gaara to lie down. "This will be quick," Kankurou assured him.

Kankurou shaved Gaara's eyebrows. Gaara liked the tickling sensation. "Uh-oh." Kankurou whispered. He had shaved off Gaara's whole left eyebrow!

"Is it over?" Gaara asked.

"Not yet." Kankurou took a deep breath and shaved off Gaara's right eyebrow. "Hair grows," Kankurou thought.

"Ok." Kankurou said aloud. "I'll just, uh, wipe off the lotion." He then rummaged around his cabinet for his Kabuki paint and a brush. He went back to where Gaara was lying and painted thin lines over his brother's eyes.

"There!" Kankurou announced. "Now, you have eyebrows like mine and Temari's!"

"May I see them?" Gaara asked excitedly.

"I don't have a mirror," Kankurou lied. "Go back to your room, someone might see you in here."

Gaara went back to his room and took out Temari's mirror from his cabinet. His eyebrows were thin already but why were they violet? "Maybe they'll become red in the morning," he thought. Gaara whiled away his time by making silly faces in front of the mirror.

Yashamaru was healed of the flu the following day. He went into Gaara's room and found the young boy holding something pink, plastic and circular…

"Gaara!" Yashamaru yelled. Gaara jumped up in shock. The mirror fell to the floor and broke.

Yashamaru's yell was so loud that the Kazekage, Temari and Kankurou rushed into the Gaara's room.

The Kazekage saw the broken pieces of the mirror. "What the hell!" he shouted.

"Gaara? Your eyebrows…" Temari pointed at Gaara's face.

"I am so dead," Kankurou thought.

The Kazekage looked at Gaara. "Violet paint," he said softly. "Kankurou!"

Kankurou gulped.

"My son! I'm so proud of you!" And with that, the Kazekage did something very un-Kazekage-ish. He hugged Kankurou.

"What in the name of Shuhaku is happening here?" Chiyo's voice called out. "Your screams were heard all over the household." The old woman walked into the room.

"Chiyo-sama! Look! Gaara no longer has any eyebrows! See how frightening he is! We already have the ultimate weapon!" the Kazekage announced excitedly.

"Yes, yes, but do you have to lose your dignity over something like that?" Chiyo scoffed. The Kazekage immediately resumed his usual cold and formal disposition. He bowed to Chiyo, then turned to Yashamaru. "Yashamaru, get that ridiculous paint off Gaara." He faced Temari and Kankurou. "You, two, go back to your rooms." The Kazekage walked out of the room.

"So early in the morning…" grumbled Chiyo. She went back to her room to meditate once again.

Temari and Kankurou left after Chiyo exited.

When everyone had left, Yashamaru went to the bathroom to get a face towel and wipe the violet pain off Gaara's face. "As if your eyebrows won't grow back," he mumbled. "The perfect weapon indeed! My sister didn't die in vain."

Contrary to Yashamaru's expectation, Gaara's eyebrows didn't grow back. In fact, Gaara grew scarier everyday because his lack of sleep caused the circles around his eyes to become darker. But now we all know why he doesn't have eyebrows. Kankurou shaved them off.

And by the way, do you also want to know why Kankurou wears face paint most of the time? Gaara shaves off his brother's eyebrows every now and then in retaliation for what Kankurou did to him. Yup, every now and then—you see, unlike Gaara, Kankurou's eyebrows grow back.