When Our Tails Are Tied

Is This A Dream?

Heavy sobs filled the ice cold air, the pitiful sound harshly slicing through the darkness.

"I...I hate you..."

The death of the shinobi went unheard...until he went up in a powerful explosion of fire. Illuminating the once dark street, the fire consumed the man, leaving no trace that he had even been there.

The chakra induced fire went out, and the smoke and dust cleared away only to reveal a large dome of sand.

A loud wail pierced the night once more, and the dome abruptly shattered, streams of sand and bits of glass flying everywhere. The sand quickly circled itself back in, some lifting off the ground into a halo of spikes.

In the midst of all the sand was a child. He was crying, and rubbing his streaming eyes with his fists. Blood red hair flopped into his darkly circled eyes, which he cracked open to reveal to be a watery teal color.

Gaara's sobs gave way to sleepy hiccups, although he had not calmed down not one bit.

The man who had raised him, the man he looked up to more than he did his own father... He said he hated him...

"...I..I thought I could learn to love you...I was WRONG."

Gaara thought he was a good boy. He did everything that anyone asked of him, even though most people were mean to him. His father approved of him, at least Gaara thought he did...

"You shouldn't....be allowed to live...the only person you could ever love is yourself...you're a MONSTER..."

Tears came forth in Gaara's eyes once more. He wasn't a monster, was he? That's just one of the mean names grown ups and bullies call him....right?

"I was actually a bit....relieved when the Kazekage gave me this mission...to kill the demon..."

Well he had to be a monster then, if Father had sent someone to kill him... And his guardian did say that monsters only loved themselves...Gaara couldn't think of anyone else alive that he loved.

The sneaky tendrils of sleep curled around Gaara, pulling him into unconsciousness. Gaara can hear the exited screeching of insanity clawing inside his head, willing him to make an opening. To go to sleep...

The last thought that went through Gaara's mind was, So that's it then....I'm a monster... I have to love myself, and only myself...I am a monster.

The poor child's eyes finally slid closed as his sand circled back to him increasing him into another airtight sphere.

For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the soft sound of the sand moving. Then an impossibly loud laugh boomed through the night, followed by an exhilarated, "FINALLY! HAHA, I'D FORGOTTEN HOW IT FELT TO BE FREE AGAIN!"

Those words were immediately followed by a deafening screech, and then silence.

Some excess sand trickled from the child's dome, before the entire thing crumbled away, revealing the boy's small shivering body. He was still crying, though he seems to be sleeping.

"Hey!"

Gaara's eyes shot open. There was light...wasn't it nighttime a second ago? Gaara sat up, sand rolling off of his clothes. He saw a fire... And those tall things around it, were those trees? Gaara didn't have any trees where he came from...

"Hey! Boy!"

Gaara's eyes widened. Was someone talking to him? No one ever speaks to him...directly, at least.