HOME | DD

Description
You were walking around the village for no particular reason.

"Hey! (y/n)!" A voice called out.

You turned around to see that it was Hiroya that called you and he was running towards you.

"Hey, Hiroya. What's up?"

"We're having another match later this evening. Are you coming?"

"Of course!"

"All right! See you later!" He said as he ran off back in the direction from where he came from.

You stared at him as he ran. You were astonished. Hiroya never asked you to play. It was always one of your friends. You weren't close with him at all, and even heard about the rumor that he hated you.

You continued walking, until you saw a certain redhead that came running towards you. "(y/n)!"

"Gaara!" You called back and waved at him.

"Oh, here. I forgot about this." He handed you the ball that both of you played with on the first day you met.

"Oh, right! Thanks! I can return it to Hiroya later. Speaking of which..." You paused and gulped.

"...I'm going to play with my friends in the park later."

"Oh, okay. Have fun."

"What?" That was weird. Normally, he would be upset when you couldn't hang out with him; much less that he couldn't hang out with you and your friends. "A-Are you okay with that?"

Gaara nodded "Sure. Don't worry about me. You have other friends to play with other than me. I understand."

You threw an arm around him and gave him a small hug "Thank you, Gaara! And... I'm sorry."

"Don't be, really."

"Well, I'll get going now. See you!" You said, walking away towards the park.

"Bye!" Gaara said as he watched you walked further away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once you reached the park, you were surprised to find it empty. No one was there; though you swore Hiroya said there was going to be a match today.

You walked around and looked about for anyone. Still, no one. Now you're confused. You heard footsteps behind you, and turned.

"Hiroya? Where's everyone else?" After a moment, you remembered, "Oh! Here's your ball. So, where is everybody?"

"They're not here... And they won't be."

After saying that, he threw shuriken at you.

"Wha-?" Despite the sudden attack, you managed to dodge the attack.

"Hiroya, what are you doing?!" You took out a kunai which you hid under your shirt.

"What do you think? I'm going to kill you!" He shouted and threw more shuriken towards you.

You blocked the shuriken with your kunai.

"Yeah, i figured that out. I want to know why!"

Hiroya, relaxing from his stance, "I hate you just so much. I can't stand you!" He shouted and charged at you with shuriken in his hands, ready to be thrown.

You got ready to anticipate his attack, "Why? What have I done to you to make you hate me?!" You were heart-broken and confused.

"Do you really not know? About our clans rivalry! About... my mother!"

Hiroya's clan and yours do have a history of rivalry and fighting. As for the incident of Hiroya's mother, your uncle was given a mission to assasinate her, but failed, only succeeding in putting her in a coma during an intense battle. Hiroya has held a strong grudge against your clan as a result; including you. You, however, do not know about the incident.

"Hiroya, I know of our clans' rivalry; but I have no grudge against you, so please..."

"Shut up! Your whole clan is at fault! That includes you!"

Your battle continued. Hiroya continuously throwing shuriken at you and you blocking them with your kunai as well as dodging them. You wanted to put an end to this fight. You tried to run away towards the village.

"Oh no, you don't!" Hiroya threw his last two shurikens at you.

"Ahh!" You shouted and fell. One of the shurikens hit you in the ankle.

'Darn...' you thought.

Hiroya was closing in on you, and all you could do was crawl towards the village, but to no avail. Hiroya stood over you and stepped on your injury.

"Ahhh!"

He pressed his foot down harder on the injury, earning more screams of pain from you.

"How does it feel? Painful, right? That's how my clan and I feel..." He said it with a cold tone.

You continued screaming in pain. Hiroya then picked your kunai up. He bent down and held it at your neck.

"Now..."

He swing his arm upwards and quickly brought it down, with the intention of stabbing you.

"Die!"

You closed your eyes, expecting the pain and death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You slowly opened your eyes when the kunai you expected didn't stab you.

"Wha-What?!" Hiroya exclaimed.

A barrier made out of sand had intercepted Hiroya's attack. "Get away from her."

You raised your head, to find Gaara standing there with his arm extended, as if he made the barrier to shield you.

"Ah, the monster... What do you care? Get out of the way and let me kill her."

"I'll deal with you instead! Get away!" Gaara shouted as he launched sand attacks to Hiroya. Hiroya managed to dodge most of them; before being hit by one attack, followed by more consecutive attacks.

Hiroya was on the ground, barely able to move an inch. Gaara walked towards Hiroya, sand surrounding him. He was about to finish him off; he was about to kill him.

"Gaara! Don't!"

Gaara didn't listen and sand continued to surround Hiroya. What's worse is that he raised his arm, ready to use his attack.

"GAARA! PLEASE STOP!"

Widening his eyes and lowering his hand, the sand surrounding Hiroya had dispersed. You had snapped him out of his anger. He turned around, with a look of horror, realising what he could've almost done.

"__-______.... He tried to kill you... I just..."

"Gaara... Just help me, please? It really hurts..." You said, crying and wincing at the pain at your ankle.

"A-Alright..." He bent down to your level on the ground and put your arm over his shoulders; carrying you to Yashamaru's place, with the sand aiding in carrying you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you go. You're fine now. You have to rest for that wound to heal. So i suggest not going to the park anymore."

"Thank you very much, sir." You said while drinking a glass of water that Yashamaru handed to you.

He took a seat beside the bed, "So, you must be (y/n)?"

"Y-Yes, I am. How did you-"

Yashamaru smiled. "Gaara-sama told me about you. You're his friend, and for that, I'd like to express my gratitude."

"Is it because of the... demon?"

"Yes... No one would give him a chance, they would run away at the sight of him. Not you however... You did, for some reason..."

You noticed the tone in his voice. It was clear that he wanted to know why you befriended Gaara. You turned to him and smiled lightly.

"I never knew he had a demon inside of him. I never knew of his abilities... So, it didn't matter that time..."

"What about now? You've seen what he could do."

You paused, looking into your glass of water. You've seen what he is capable of; No, not even a fraction of that. You only seen a small amount, yet you were afraid. Now, you're thinking to yourself: 'What do I think of him? I've seen the demon in him... Now what?'

Yashamaru, seeing you now have doubts, left the room to let you think. He can only hope that nothing will change for you and Gaara.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaara had snuck into the room you were in. The room was dim, with only the moonlight to illuminate it. He walked over to the bed, to find you sleeping peacefully. Well, that's what Gaara thought until you snored, which made him chuckle.

He stared at your face, covered in your (h/l) (h/c) hair. He brushed them to the side to get a clearer image of your face. He never noticed how beautiful you looked before; your soft cheekbones, your fine features on your fresh face. It made him forget of the events of today, even his whole life for a moment. He felt joy, and peacefulness; until you shot your eyes open.

"Gaara?"

"Uhh... H-Hi (y/n)... I'm sorry i woke you up..."

"No... It's fine, I wasn't really sleeping anyways...", you said, sitting up.

It was quiet between you two; unlike previous silences, this was awkward, considering the event that took place earlier.

"(y/n), I-"

"Wait. I'd like to speak first."

"O-Okay..." Gaara was nervous, gripping the bedsheets tighter; afraid of what you might say about him.

You noticed this and put your hand on the same tightened hand, "Relax, Gaara. It's nothing bad. I'd just like to thank you for saving my life."

"Oh, y-yeah. No problem..." Gaara looked down onto the hand you placed upon his, which still gripped the bedsheets but has loosened slightly.

"So... are we... still friends?" He asked, looking up into your eyes.

You looked back into his eyes. It hurt you to look at them, for some reason. His eyes was filled with... you don't even know. You could see sadness and fear in them, but perhaps even hope? Hope that your friendship has not changed; yet fear of it being gone forever.

It was only a brief moment when both of you looked into each others eyes, but it felt like a lifetime for both you and Gaara.

"If... If we're not... then... I... I understand-" Gaara said as he looked away from your eyes.

"Yes... We're still friends."

Gaara quickly turned his gaze back to you, eyes wide open in shock "We... We are?"

You smiled, "Yes, what makes you think otherwise?"

"It's just- Earlier today... I..."

You held a finger to his lips, stopping his sentence, "Gaara, remember what I told you? I'll always be your friend, no matter what. This is no different."

You stopped and put down your finger, "You... may have been... a little scary, i admit... But, you saved my life. You were there when I was about to die, which was scarier... If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I'm happy for that."

You continued, "So, stop looking so sad! We're still friends."

Gaara looked up at you; you're smiling at him. That smile... His chest started to have that weird feeling again. He recalled his conversation with his uncle,

"Love? So... (y/n)... loves me?"

"Yes, i believe so. If she didn't, she wouldn't be your friend, would she? I know, she was there for you when you had no one, when everyone detest you; When everyone thought you were a monster, she sees you as the human that you are, not the demon inside of you."

Your words then echoed in his mind: "It was my decision to be friends with you, and that was probably one of the best things that happened to me. I'll always be your friend, no matter what."

When you looked at Gaara again, you saw his fear had faded away, replaced with happiness as he smiled at you. You had to smile back, it would be a crime not to.

"Thanks (y/n), thanks so much... I'm really happy that you're my friend, and I'll always be your friend too" Gaara said as he continued smiling at you, as his eyes teared up that went unnoticed by you.

"Hehe." You chuckled, and you wished that you could talk with him the whole night, but fatigue took over and it was plastered all over your face that you were sleepy.

Gaara had noticed that you were trying to keep your eyes open as they close, "(y/n), you should go to sleep. You need your rest." Gaara said as stood up and pulled the blanket over you as you laid down on the bed.

"Sorry Gaara..." you said as you let out a yawn.

Shaking his head, "Don't be. Have a good night, (y/n)"

"Good... night..." you said, before finally falling asleep.

After having tucked you in, Gaara sat in a chair and found himself yawning. 'Must have caught it from (y/n) earlier...' he thought as he smiled at the thought. He then continued his routine; drawing and playing with his toys silently in the room, as he couldn't sleep. Once in a while, he would glance at you and every time he did, he felt a form of relief.

As Gaara continued drawing throughout the night, Yashamaru had been peering in through the small slit of the door. He smiled, before walking away, reassured that Gaara's relationship with you never changed and never will. 'I can finally sleep in peace... Those two will be okay.' he thought to himself as he smiled.

Description
You were walking around the village for no particular reason.

"Hey! (y/n)!" A voice called out.

You turned around to see that it was Hiroya that called you and he was running towards you.

"Hey, Hiroya. What's up?"

"We're having another match later this evening. Are you coming?"

"Of course!"

"All right! See you later!" He said as he ran off back in the direction from where he came from.

You stared at him as he ran. You were astonished. Hiroya never asked you to play. It was always one of your friends. You weren't close with him at all, and even heard about the rumor that he hated you.

You continued walking, until you saw a certain redhead that came running towards you. "(y/n)!"

"Gaara!" You called back and waved at him.

"Oh, here. I forgot about this." He handed you the ball that both of you played with on the first day you met.

"Oh, right! Thanks! I can return it to Hiroya later. Speaking of which..." You paused and gulped.

"...I'm going to play with my friends in the park later."

"Oh, okay. Have fun."

"What?" That was weird. Normally, he would be upset when you couldn't hang out with him; much less that he couldn't hang out with you and your friends. "A-Are you okay with that?"

Gaara nodded "Sure. Don't worry about me. You have other friends to play with other than me. I understand."

You threw an arm around him and gave him a small hug "Thank you, Gaara! And... I'm sorry."

"Don't be, really."

"Well, I'll get going now. See you!" You said, walking away towards the park.

"Bye!" Gaara said as he watched you walked further away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once you reached the park, you were surprised to find it empty. No one was there; though you swore Hiroya said there was going to be a match today.

You walked around and looked about for anyone. Still, no one. Now you're confused. You heard footsteps behind you, and turned.

"Hiroya? Where's everyone else?" After a moment, you remembered, "Oh! Here's your ball. So, where is everybody?"

"They're not here... And they won't be."

After saying that, he threw shuriken at you.

"Wha-?" Despite the sudden attack, you managed to dodge the attack.

"Hiroya, what are you doing?!" You took out a kunai which you hid under your shirt.

"What do you think? I'm going to kill you!" He shouted and threw more shuriken towards you.

You blocked the shuriken with your kunai.

"Yeah, i figured that out. I want to know why!"

Hiroya, relaxing from his stance, "I hate you just so much. I can't stand you!" He shouted and charged at you with shuriken in his hands, ready to be thrown.

You got ready to anticipate his attack, "Why? What have I done to you to make you hate me?!" You were heart-broken and confused.

"Do you really not know? About our clans rivalry! About... my mother!"

Hiroya's clan and yours do have a history of rivalry and fighting. As for the incident of Hiroya's mother, your uncle was given a mission to assasinate her, but failed, only succeeding in putting her in a coma during an intense battle. Hiroya has held a strong grudge against your clan as a result; including you. You, however, do not know about the incident.

"Hiroya, I know of our clans' rivalry; but I have no grudge against you, so please..."

"Shut up! Your whole clan is at fault! That includes you!"

Your battle continued. Hiroya continuously throwing shuriken at you and you blocking them with your kunai as well as dodging them. You wanted to put an end to this fight. You tried to run away towards the village.

"Oh no, you don't!" Hiroya threw his last two shurikens at you.

"Ahh!" You shouted and fell. One of the shurikens hit you in the ankle.

'Darn...' you thought.

Hiroya was closing in on you, and all you could do was crawl towards the village, but to no avail. Hiroya stood over you and stepped on your injury.

"Ahhh!"

He pressed his foot down harder on the injury, earning more screams of pain from you.

"How does it feel? Painful, right? That's how my clan and I feel..." He said it with a cold tone.

You continued screaming in pain. Hiroya then picked your kunai up. He bent down and held it at your neck.

"Now..."

He swing his arm upwards and quickly brought it down, with the intention of stabbing you.

"Die!"

You closed your eyes, expecting the pain and death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You slowly opened your eyes when the kunai you expected didn't stab you.

"Wha-What?!" Hiroya exclaimed.

A barrier made out of sand had intercepted Hiroya's attack. "Get away from her."

You raised your head, to find Gaara standing there with his arm extended, as if he made the barrier to shield you.

"Ah, the monster... What do you care? Get out of the way and let me kill her."

"I'll deal with you instead! Get away!" Gaara shouted as he launched sand attacks to Hiroya. Hiroya managed to dodge most of them; before being hit by one attack, followed by more consecutive attacks.

Hiroya was on the ground, barely able to move an inch. Gaara walked towards Hiroya, sand surrounding him. He was about to finish him off; he was about to kill him.

"Gaara! Don't!"

Gaara didn't listen and sand continued to surround Hiroya. What's worse is that he raised his arm, ready to use his attack.

"GAARA! PLEASE STOP!"

Widening his eyes and lowering his hand, the sand surrounding Hiroya had dispersed. You had snapped him out of his anger. He turned around, with a look of horror, realising what he could've almost done.

"__-______.... He tried to kill you... I just..."

"Gaara... Just help me, please? It really hurts..." You said, crying and wincing at the pain at your ankle.

"A-Alright..." He bent down to your level on the ground and put your arm over his shoulders; carrying you to Yashamaru's place, with the sand aiding in carrying you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There you go. You're fine now. You have to rest for that wound to heal. So i suggest not going to the park anymore."

"Thank you very much, sir." You said while drinking a glass of water that Yashamaru handed to you.

He took a seat beside the bed, "So, you must be (y/n)?"

"Y-Yes, I am. How did you-"

Yashamaru smiled. "Gaara-sama told me about you. You're his friend, and for that, I'd like to express my gratitude."

"Is it because of the... demon?"

"Yes... No one would give him a chance, they would run away at the sight of him. Not you however... You did, for some reason..."

You noticed the tone in his voice. It was clear that he wanted to know why you befriended Gaara. You turned to him and smiled lightly.

"I never knew he had a demon inside of him. I never knew of his abilities... So, it didn't matter that time..."

"What about now? You've seen what he could do."

You paused, looking into your glass of water. You've seen what he is capable of; No, not even a fraction of that. You only seen a small amount, yet you were afraid. Now, you're thinking to yourself: 'What do I think of him? I've seen the demon in him... Now what?'

Yashamaru, seeing you now have doubts, left the room to let you think. He can only hope that nothing will change for you and Gaara.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gaara had snuck into the room you were in. The room was dim, with only the moonlight to illuminate it. He walked over to the bed, to find you sleeping peacefully. Well, that's what Gaara thought until you snored, which made him chuckle.

He stared at your face, covered in your (h/l) (h/c) hair. He brushed them to the side to get a clearer image of your face. He never noticed how beautiful you looked before; your soft cheekbones, your fine features on your fresh face. It made him forget of the events of today, even his whole life for a moment. He felt joy, and peacefulness; until you shot your eyes open.

"Gaara?"

"Uhh... H-Hi (y/n)... I'm sorry i woke you up..."

"No... It's fine, I wasn't really sleeping anyways...", you said, sitting up.

It was quiet between you two; unlike previous silences, this was awkward, considering the event that took place earlier.

"(y/n), I-"

"Wait. I'd like to speak first."

"O-Okay..." Gaara was nervous, gripping the bedsheets tighter; afraid of what you might say about him.

You noticed this and put your hand on the same tightened hand, "Relax, Gaara. It's nothing bad. I'd just like to thank you for saving my life."

"Oh, y-yeah. No problem..." Gaara looked down onto the hand you placed upon his, which still gripped the bedsheets but has loosened slightly.

"So... are we... still friends?" He asked, looking up into your eyes.

You looked back into his eyes. It hurt you to look at them, for some reason. His eyes was filled with... you don't even know. You could see sadness and fear in them, but perhaps even hope? Hope that your friendship has not changed; yet fear of it being gone forever.

It was only a brief moment when both of you looked into each others eyes, but it felt like a lifetime for both you and Gaara.

"If... If we're not... then... I... I understand-" Gaara said as he looked away from your eyes.

"Yes... We're still friends."

Gaara quickly turned his gaze back to you, eyes wide open in shock "We... We are?"

You smiled, "Yes, what makes you think otherwise?"

"It's just- Earlier today... I..."

You held a finger to his lips, stopping his sentence, "Gaara, remember what I told you? I'll always be your friend, no matter what. This is no different."

You stopped and put down your finger, "You... may have been... a little scary, i admit... But, you saved my life. You were there when I was about to die, which was scarier... If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. I'm happy for that."

You continued, "So, stop looking so sad! We're still friends."

Gaara looked up at you; you're smiling at him. That smile... His chest started to have that weird feeling again. He recalled his conversation with his uncle,

"Love? So... (y/n)... loves me?"

"Yes, i believe so. If she didn't, she wouldn't be your friend, would she? I know, she was there for you when you had no one, when everyone detest you; When everyone thought you were a monster, she sees you as the human that you are, not the demon inside of you."

Your words then echoed in his mind: "It was my decision to be friends with you, and that was probably one of the best things that happened to me. I'll always be your friend, no matter what."

When you looked at Gaara again, you saw his fear had faded away, replaced with happiness as he smiled at you. You had to smile back, it would be a crime not to.

"Thanks (y/n), thanks so much... I'm really happy that you're my friend, and I'll always be your friend too" Gaara said as he continued smiling at you, as his eyes teared up that went unnoticed by you.

"Hehe." You chuckled, and you wished that you could talk with him the whole night, but fatigue took over and it was plastered all over your face that you were sleepy.

Gaara had noticed that you were trying to keep your eyes open as they close, "(y/n), you should go to sleep. You need your rest." Gaara said as stood up and pulled the blanket over you as you laid down on the bed.

"Sorry Gaara..." you said as you let out a yawn.

Shaking his head, "Don't be. Have a good night, (y/n)"

"Good... night..." you said, before finally falling asleep.

After having tucked you in, Gaara sat in a chair and found himself yawning. 'Must have caught it from (y/n) earlier...' he thought as he smiled at the thought. He then continued his routine; drawing and playing with his toys silently in the room, as he couldn't sleep. Once in a while, he would glance at you and every time he did, he felt a form of relief.

As Gaara continued drawing throughout the night, Yashamaru had been peering in through the small slit of the door. He smiled, before walking away, reassured that Gaara's relationship with you never changed and never will. 'I can finally sleep in peace... Those two will be okay.' he thought to himself as he smiled.