A/N: So I read the new Naruto manga chapter a few hours ago, and I was, like, in shock. I honestly didn't think that Gaara would step in and say/do something like that! And I was so counting on Sasuke dying, too… I mean, I had a feeling that he wouldn't yet since Kishimoto-sama seems to want to keep him alive until Naruto can deal with him, but still, the man is unpredictable, so I have no idea what he's going to do next in his amazingly popular series.

I digress. Point is, I thought of a sort of fangirl's reason behind why Gaara shed a single tear over Uchiha Sasuke, someone he has fought with in the past.

Note: in Gaara's POV.

For once in my life, I feel torn.

I want nothing more than to crush the embodiment of my regrets, the very impersonation of what I could have become. I want to destroy Uchiha Sasuke and never look back on him again. He deserves to die, for all that he has done and will continue to do if he isn't stopped. He is a menace; like how I used to be, he is bent on rage and hate and craves superiority and, more so than I ever have, he craves the darkness. He should be killed right here and now.

But I cannot do it.

I cannot wipe the Uchiha off the face of the planet because, no matter how much I detest his actions and wish to spare the world the devastation he leaves in his wake, I am unable to do so because of one person.

Temari is even reminding me now, as I am attempting to offer Sasuke a chance to redeem himself and seek the light, that if he could be convinced he would have been long ago by the same person who saved me from a similar pit of hell.

I know deep down in my heart that I am not the one who should kill Sasuke. Because if I do, I will be hurting Naruto in the process.

Uzumaki Naruto, that foolish blond boy with the nine-tailed beast within him… He is the reason why Sasuke and I ended up turning into separate people, instead of two sides of the same coin. He is the reason why I am not a mirror image of the bloody horror before me; he is the reason why I cannot kill the Uchiha.

Because as much as I am itching to break his bones in my desert coffin right here in the center of the 'Kage meeting, I know that all the pain and suffering Naruto has endured because of this individual would only be made worse if he were to be killed by someone before Naruto could reach him.

So as Temari tells me not to make this personal, I nod once in understanding and let slip one tears from my emotional mask and tell her that I know. I am aware of the duty of being Kazekage; I shouldn't hesitate in killing a criminal simply because I wish to not harm someone precious to me. But how can I release my urges to murder him if, in the same token, I will be betraying my blue-eyed friend? Because like how Naruto is precious to me, Sasuke is precious to Naruto. And for this, I allow myself to cry. I pity the Uchiha in all his hunger for darkness and with his rotten, vengeful soul.

I can only hope that, if I do end up wounding Sasuke, Naruto can forgive me and see that I had no other choice.