II. Gaara

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 It was raining, hard, but that didn’t bother him. He glared heatedly at the people lying on the ground, unconscious. He grunted, before turning away. He walked towards the huddled form and knelt down next to it. He reached out, and pulled the small body into his arms. “Let’s go home. They won’t bother you anymore.” He said in a deep and low tone.

 Blue eyes looked up at teal eyes; unshed tears glazing in the blue ones. “Niisan… you didn’t have to-”

 He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care.” Then he helped the blonde up, and supported the smaller boy as they walked home in the rain.

 His name is Uzumaki Gaara. He is sixteen years old, with fiery red hair and teal green eyes, like his mother they always say. He had a distinguishable mark that everyone would recognize as him, a red tattoo of the kanji ‘Ai’ (love) on his forehead. Gaara was known to be ruthless and unemotional. He was the ‘Ice Prince’ in every school he attended that had a fiery and fearsome look. All the students would stay away from him, not wanting to mess around with him. He doesn’t like to speak to anyone, but his family. His cool and apathetic demeanor would attract the female population, with the added good looks. He was popular, and yet an outcast. He was feared, but he was well liked. He would ignore any one, and glare down anyone that would bother him. He was a fighter, and a gruesome one too, who would smile at the sight of blood.

 Gaara is also a brother. He’s the eldest among his siblings, being fifteen minutes older than his twin sister. Then there was his ‘baby brother’, whom everyone would pick on. That is why he would fight the people, beating them so that they would get it through their heads that they cannot mess with any Uzumaki.

 Though Gaara’s personality is dark and fearful, the red head wasn’t like this eight years ago. He was a happy person, who loved his family. He would argue with his twin over petty things, and tease his little brother. He was the kid that everyone wanted to play with. He loved sports, playing with his dad every Saturday in the morning. He had lots of friends back then, and would joke around. But that side of him died a long time ago, and buried forever… then everything went crumbling for him.

 There were always shipped off to different homes. From relatives to foster homes, there was never a place for him to call ‘home’. His real home was left to rot that day their parents died. The only things that would keep him sane in this crazy and messed up life were his brother and sister.

 Gaara made it his purpose to protect them from all the harshness that they had to face. He wanted to grow strong for his siblings, and fight for them too. When he fought, he feels as if he was someone else, that he wasn’t the same person. And when he fights, he makes it a habit to somehow make his opponents feel all the sufferings that he and his family been through, especially his youngest sibling. That is why the boy would get suspended or expelled and almost sent to jail for sending many badly injured people into the hospitals.

 It was the next day, and Gaara wasn’t surprised that he would be called to the principal’s office. He sat there, waiting for the old principal to call him. He ignored the hesitant stares he would receive from the faculty that were coming into the office, or the distant giggles from annoying girls.

 “Uzumaki-san, the principal would like to see you now.” The assistant called out to him.

 Gaara stood up, and headed to the door. When it opened, four injured students widened their eyes at the sight of the red head Uzumaki, and scrambled far away from him. There was a sigh. “Come in Uzumaki.” The boy nodded, and walked into the principal’s office. He sat down as the door was closed.

 “That was your fifth fight in this school this week, Uzumaki.” The old woman said. She walked to her chair, and sighed, rubbing her temples. “Uzumaki, one more, and you can get expelled from this school. Do you want that?”

 The red head shrugged. The woman sighed. “Listen… don’t you care at all that these fighting could be placed in your permanent records? Don’t you know how bad that can be for a person? I’m surprise that you haven’t ended up in jail yet for all those fights you’ve been in. Uzumaki, I care for you, and I worry for you. When will you ever stop?”

 Gaara frowned, and glared at the woman. “When they stop hurting Naruto.”

 The woman’s face held pity. “Uzumaki… I care for Naruto as well…and I’m trying really hard to protect your little brother. He’s the kindest person I know. I’m doing my best to prevent the students from harming Naruto.”

 The boy grunted. “You’re not doing a very good job in it.” The red head stood up, his arms crossed over his chest. “I’ll continue to fight back, until they stop harassing my brother.” He said. He turned around and headed to the door.

 The woman sighed. “Uzumaki, I can’t leave you unpunished. You’ll be suspended for three days, starting tomorrow.” Gaara shrugged, and went out of the principal’s office.

Lunch came by, and he made his way through the crowd. He once again ignored all the people’s stares and whispers. They were all meaningless to him, and the people irritated him more than Sakura’s motor mouth at home. “Um… Gaara-kun…”

 ‘Oh great, girls.’ The red head was stopped in the hallway by a group of girls from his grade. He doesn’t even know if he’s seen them before. There were students whispering and pointing at the girls and Gaara. He frowned, and narrowed his eyes. “Here.” A girl shoved a letter up towards him, with a little pink heart sealing it. “…P-p-please… t-take t-this l-letter… G-Gaara-kun…”

 He mentally sighed, and took it. He glared at it, and right in front of the girl’s face, he ripped it in two. He then left the pieces to fall to the ground, and walked away from the sobbing girl. ‘I have no time for anyone…’

 The red head was outside, and he walked towards a secluded place to see his siblings sitting under a tree, like always. His twin looked up at him, and smiled. “Hello there, Gaara!” The girl patted a spot next to her, and offered him the food she made and brought.

 “Sakura, Naruto.” He sat down, and took small pieces of the food he shared with his sister and brother. He leaned back on the trunk of the tree, partly listening to his siblings talk nonsense about things. He guessed he should tell them about his suspension, but he’ll wait until he got home. He didn’t want his twin sister to beat him for being careless and stupid, but then she would praise him for beating up those ‘evil guys’. Then Naruto would feel guilty, and Sakura and Gaara had to pound it into the blonde’s head that it wasn’t.

 To him, he thought this was how his life goes everyday. It was normal to him, but there were many times how he wished that things would change. He felt that his sister and brother also felt the same way.

 He wants something different to happen his life…

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 “T-That is the H-Hokage T-Tower…”

 Teal eyes looked up at the tallest structure that stood at the center of the big city. Everything around him was different. Everything around him was new. Gaara realized that this was the chance that he and his siblings were waiting for, the chance to have a new life. He has to admit that this world was much more exciting than the other one. He was willing to throw away his old life and make a new one here. ‘There was nothing for me there. I don’t need that world anymore…’ He was willing to never look back at that old life ever again.

 After parting with Naruto, he and the other three walked through the streets of Konoha. There was his twin sister, Sakura, walking beside her Shugorei, Hyuuga Hinata. The girl was odd, and terribly shy. She has short dark bluish hair, with the strangest milky white eyes that had a hint of lavender. She seemed quite the opposite of the pink haired girl, and yet they were partners. He was sure that the two would get along, and make a great pair during battles.

 He took a glance at the boy next to him. His name is Hyuuga Neji, the twin of Hinata. He is the destined partner to Gaara. At first, the red head didn’t trust this boy, but as time went by, and quite fast; Gaara didn’t mind the other boy’s presence. There was something familiar in the Hyuuga, and Gaara didn’t understand what it was that bothered him within. The older boy had long raven hair, and the same milky white eyes as his sister.

 Neji turned his eyes at his master, raising a brow. Gaara looked away, and walked a bit faster towards the tower. “Oi! Gaara! Don’t go so fast! We’re supposed to be sightseeing. This Konoha is a wonderful city, and we won’t stay here long if we’re going to that journey to find Ra-whatever it is.”

 “The sooner we get to the tower, the sooner we can meet back with Naruto.” He replied, and kept his pace, trying to ignore a certain pair of eyes on his back. ‘Glare at him, just like you always do with all the other people!’ He reprimanded himself. He glanced back at the boy close behind him, and then looked away. ‘That wasn’t a glare!’

 The two pairs of twins were able to make it inside the great Hokage Tower, walking through towards the office of where the great ruler of the city was. Gaara glanced over at the set of paintings of people on the wall, as they were getting closer to the office. “Those paintings are the faces of the past Hokages of Konoha.” Neji said. Gaara turned his head away, as if he didn’t care about them. He was trying hard to block the voice of his partner. “Currently we are on our Fifth Hokage, but her picture is not done yet, because she keeps delaying on getting her painting.”

 Sakura awed, with her partner besides her smiling. The last picture caught both the Uzumaki twins’ eyes. ‘That painting… it looks like…’

 “State your name in purpose.” The group of teens looked up to see two Soldiers standing at each side of the door.

 Neji and Hinata bowed politely to the high ranked Soldiers. “We the Hyuuga Twins of the Hyuuga Clan, Neji and Hinata. We are to meet with the Hokage to acknowledge that we have finally found our Senmin.” The two soldiers raised their brows, recognizing the two white-eyed twins. They nodded, and let them through.

 The doors opened, and the four teens went in the office, that was big and cozy. Sakura looked around in great awe, admiring the place. The Hyuuga twins didn’t seem as ecstatic as the female Uzumaki. Gaara held the same indifference he always had. Neji and Hinata bowed again. “Hokage-sama… we’re here to be acknowledge as full fledges Soldiers of Konoha.”

 The big chair behind the cheery wood desk, swiveled around, to reveal the Hokage dressed in white robes, with a big hat and a mask. Gaara furrowed his brows seeing the woman’s eyes slightly widened. “Please state your name and status.”

 “Hyuuga Neji, Shugorei.”

 “H-Hyuuga Hinata, Shu-Shugorei.”

 Sakura tilted her head. “Um… Uzumaki Sakura, Senmin?”

 Gaara closed his eyes. “Uzumaki Gaara, Senmin.”

 The woman pulled out a big book, and turned a few pages. “Oh? What is this? It says here that Uzumaki Gaara and Hyuuga Neji, also Uzumaki Sakura and Hyuuga Hinata have been Senmin-Shugorei partners for sixteen years now.”

 The four looked up at her in shock. “There must be a mistake. We’ve only met the Hyuugas just a few days ago. And did you say sixteen years? You mean we’ve been partners since we were just babies? How come I didn’t know of this?” The pink haired girl turned to her partner. “Did you know of this?”

 Hinata shook her head. “I-I’m just as sh-shocked as y-you, S-Sakura-sama.”

 Neji frowned. “I don’t believe that we were told that we were even partners before we met. All we knew that you were our partner, because we felt our bonds connect to yours.” Gaara just watched the other three talk.

 “Well, the records never lie. But I’ll be willing to acknowledge you four again. I can place you as active Soldiers of Konoha.” The Godaime said, her eyes twinkling.

 “Fine.” Gaara said.

 “Done!” The woman seemed to chirp. Then there was a puff of smoke, and a woman with a mask appeared, bowing respectfully to the leader. “Please take them to receive their ComLink Devices. They are to become full fledged Konoha Soldiers, acknowledged by the Godaime of Konoha.”

 The woman bowed again. “Hai.” She then led the four out the office. Gaara took one last look from over his shoulder as they walked out the office. He knew there was something familiar about the female Hokage. He just couldn’t put a finger how he knew her. He raised a brow to himself as he saw the woman taking off her mask, when the doors were closing. ‘Could it be…?’

 “Gaara-sama.” The red head looked up at his partner that called him. He saw Sakura and Hinata a little ahead, following the dark haired masked woman. “Is something wrong?” Neji asked. Gaara closed his eyes and walked past the older boy. ‘Remember… ignore him.’

 ‘Why?’

 Gaara opened his eyes, and turned his head towards his partner. “…You…”

 “Yes, I did hear your thoughts. I can even feel your emotions, even though you hide it pretty well. You must remember that you and I share a bond, and we are connected. These are the things that come with being a Senmin-Shugorei pair. But in time, you’ll learn how to control that direct link of our thoughts, so that we can only allow the things we want to say to each other in our minds.” Neji replied calmly, his arms crossed over his chest. He walked slightly behind his master.

 The red head Uzumaki frowned and grunted. “Let’s just go.” ‘…Great…’

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 It was nighttime, and the whole group were staying at a near by inn at the business district. Naruto was out and about with that Sasuke boy, leaving the Uzumaki twins in their room that they were sharing. Sakura came out of the bathroom, looking around. She saw her twin sitting in the bed, his back resting at the headboard, arms crossed and eyes closed. “Seems like Naru-chan isn’t here yet.” The pink haired girl giggled, and falls into her own bed. “Don’t you think Naru-chan and Sasuke-kun are cute together? I think Naru-chan likes Sasuke-kun, and vice versa.”

 All there came from her twin was a grunt. Sakura sat up, and raised a brow. “Oh? What’s this? Is Gaara-nii jealous that Naru-chan has found someone that could possibly replace you from his life?”

 Gaara scowled and glared at his sister. “No. I’m not jealous. I just don’t like that Uchiha.”

 Sakura smiled. “Aw, but you don’t really know him.”

 “I got all I need to know about him from Neji. So I made my decision that I don’t like him.” The older twin replied.

 The pink haired girl raised a brow. “Oh? Neji huh?” The red head looked at his sister. The girl grinned. “I see…” The girl fell back into the mattress. “I know it’s not my business, but I think that Gaara-nii has finally found someone. Maybe Gaara-nii has a crush on Neji-kun. I mean he is good looking, and I think he’ll understand you a lot, as you two are almost quiet the same. You two will be perfect for each other!”

 Gaara closed his eyes, not wanting to play his sister’s game. “You’re right, it’s not your business.” Wait a minute… why is it suddenly feeling warm?

 “Then I’m right, aren’t I?” The girl smirked, seeing the tiny blush that Gaara would kill anyone who saw it on him.

 The red head stood up from his bed, and walked towards the door. “I’m going to find Naruto. It’s late, and he need to get some rest before we leave on our journey.”

 “Aw! Don’t do that, Niisan. You’ll ruin Naru-chan’s first date!” But the door was slammed shut. The red head could hear the loud giggles of his sister in the room. Gaara sighed, and closed his eyes, placing a hand on his racing heart. ‘I don’t understand yet…’ He shook his head to get rid of such thoughts. ‘I can’t think about silly things. What Sakura said won’t bother me. It’s not even true. What I need to focus on is building a place in this world.’ He said to himself.

This is a new world.

This is his new life.

This is Uzumaki Gaara’s chance to finally be able to find a place in life.

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