Blood Red Memories

Gaara made his way briskly down the street, ointment in hand. He was glad he had found a way to apologize and possibly repair some of the damage he had done. The moon was already up, shining brightly over the desert plains. This was still a bit earlier than his usual roaming hours, still just a few too many people in the streets. It was ok though, Gaara was on a mission, not even noticing them.

When he finally reached the doorstep, he paused for a moment to catch his breath, then knocked gently on the door. After a few moments, it opened just a crack. The girl he had attacked earlier--and probably done the most damage to--peered out at him in surprise. Gaara didn’t know her name. Just that she was probably about Reina’s age, maybe even one of her classmates. For a moment he was distracted, lost in thought, when she snapped, bringing him back.

“What do you want?” she said with a biting tone, still opening the door no further. He could see some bruises and bandages, even through the slight opening.

“I’m so sorry about earlier,” he began with uncertainty. “It must’ve hurt. Please, use this ointment. I’m sorry.” He said, gazing dolefully at the ground, unable to meet her angry gaze.

“Go away you monster,” she said as she slammed the door in his face. Gaara stood in shock, uncertain what to do. He dropped the ointment and ran from the porch, eyes stinging with tears. This wasn’t what he expected. Gaara said sorry and even brought ointment for the wounds. Shouldn’t that have made her feel better? She was still so angry and hateful towards him, even called him a monster. Gaara thought he was making progress after he befriended Reina, but things had only gone downhill from there. He was hated even more; children were emboldened by seeing them together, by the accident earlier that day. They’d taunt him more openly now, with a greater, burning hatred.

He reached the middle of town and had slowed down a while ago. Now he just mournfully roamed the streets, not paying attention to where he was going. He didn’t care, and didn’t feel like going home to tell Yashamaru about his failure. A man stumbled out in front of Gaara, jostling him slightly.

“Hey, watch it, you little brat!” he slurred, waving around an open bottle. After a moment, his hazed eyes widened with realization, and he backed away in fear. “It’s you..” Gaara stared at the man, feeling the fear and hatred radiating from that cold look, the one he saw every day for his whole life. And something about that look caused something inside him to break, feeling that pain in his chest welling up, washing over his whole body, making his throat tight. Gaara shut his eyes, trying to shut out that look, but he just saw it repeated thousands of times. The man screamed as a bottle shattered, sand hissing and whirling around the street.

He ran away once more, hearing shouts of alarm and calls for a doctor from behind him. When Gaara finally reached home, utterly defeated, resigning himself to the admission to Yashamaru that he had failed, instead he was greeted by that cold, hateful gaze he saw so infrequently. Leaning outside on the porch was his father, out of his formal kazekage attire, looking very much the older, angrier Kankuro. Glaring wordlessly until he finally retreated, Gaara was dismissed from the house to continue wandering alone on the streets.

“Happy birthday, Reina-chan!” Kaiyo said, kissing the small girl tenderly on the cheek. She managed a small embarrassed smile in thanks when presented with a small homemade chocolate cake, six candles lit on top. “Now make a wish and blow them out!” She did as instructed, which resulted in the hollow sound of Kaiyo’s cheerful claps in the otherwise empty house. Hiram was supposed to have returned from a mission, but he did also give her a gift on his last visit. It was always hard to tell when he would be back, so they continued the party without him.

From there, they ate the cake in silence, Reina appreciatively munching away, smiling shyly every so often at Kaiyo. “We’ll save the rest for your uncle, ok?” she said as they were finishing cleaning the dishes in the sink.

With the party completed, Reina yawned and stretched, a sign she was off to prepare for bed. Kaiyo wished her a happy birthday once more when she tucked her in that night. But for Reina, the party wasn’t over just yet. She waited patiently for almost an hour before slipping silently out of bed and sliding on sandals. Reina made a wish that she would grant for herself, and grabbing a folded up paper from under the bed, she snuck her way out the window once more.

It had been so long since Reina had seen her friend. For a while, Hiram had even stayed in town, walking her to and from school, ensuring there were no run-ins with the boy. When she was allowed to walk alone again, Reina had finally spotted Gaara again, but was unable to acknowledge him, cautious of her uncle’s watchful eyes. Now he was gone on a mission for certain, and she needn’t worry about his close monitoring from another country.

She wandered down the cool street, searching out for Gaara, and even went by his house, turning her head up to look for light from his window or any sign he was in. Reina wouldn’t knock though, after the fiasco of her last visit. The adults knew she wasn’t allowed there and it would only get them both in trouble. So she continued on down the street, occasionally circling back to the house to see if Gaara had come back yet.

After long enough, Reina’s feet were tired, and she gave up searching, sitting down on a bench with a sigh. She reveled in the cool sandy breeze chilling a light layer of sweat on her skin, causing goose bumps to rise up on her exposed arms. In a slight break in the wind, she suddenly heard a distant voice.

“Reina! Reina where are you? Reina!” It was Kaiyo. She’d been discovered! Without a thought to the direction, she began running away down the nearest abandoned side-street. It wasn’t that she wanted to worry Kaiyo, she just wanted to deliver something to Gaara first. Reina had even intended it to be a short trip and go straight back home. Ducking in the shadows, she heard the woman go past her hidden alley, still calling out for her.

Reina continued waiting for it to grow distant again. Once more, during a break in the wind, she heard her name being called. This time though, it sent her heart pounding.

“Reina?” he asked in a low voice. “What are you doing out here?” Excitedly, she ran out of the shadows to her best friend, hugging him around the stomach with a smile. After a moment, she pulled away and looked up at Gaara, grinning. Slowly it fell away as she noticed his gleaming tear-streaked face.

“I’m ok,” Gaara said finally, looking away to wipe his face. “It’s nothing, really.” She still looked concerned. “It’s fine now.” He began walking, glancing over his shoulder to see if she would follow. Reina did, eliciting a weak smile from the red-haired boy. Gently, she tugged the edge of his shirt, offering him the folded up paper.

Slowly, carefully, he unfolded it. Inside was a smudged drawing, labeled in a shaky green crayon: Gaara Udon Reina, his spiky hair with a bright red crayon, both holding one hand of the bear, smiles on all. Gaara folded it up once more, tucking it gently inside his shirt pocket, fully smiling again. “Thank you, Reina. I wish we had gotten to draw together.” She nodded in sympathetic agreement, then continued walking.

“I thought you didn’t want to be my friend anymore,” Gaara finally said after a while. Quickly Reina shook her head no. That wasn’t the case. “Well, I’m glad.” Suddenly he was feeling much better, in spite of the terrible day it had been so far. They continued walking in happy silence, heading back towards Reina’s house.

However, the silence was shattered suddenly by the terrified, hysterical screams of Kaiyo. “Reina quick, come here! He’s dangerous! Get away!” she cried desperately, running to pull Reina away. “Don’t you understand, he killed an innocent man tonight after attacking children! Run, Reina! Please!”

Reina was suddenly very upset and confused, beginning to cry herself, pulling as hard as she could away from Kaiyo, shaking her head, even clawing at her hands. She didn’t want to leave, why couldn’t anyone understand there was nothing wrong with Gaara?

Gaara himself began to cry as well, apologizing over and over. “I’m sorry, it was an accident, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, honest. I don’t want to be bad. I want to be good and not hurt anyone. I’m sorry!” He just continued to get more upset, watching Reina being dragged away, kicking and fighting all she could, reaching back for him, crying. “Please, please just let her go,” he cried, collapsed on the street, reaching out for her as his vision blurred from the flood of tears. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Suddenly Kaiyo was screaming even louder, screeching like she was on fire. “NO, NO, LET HER GO! Help! Please! Someone help us!” Gaara looked on in absolute terror, seeing tendrils of sand wrapping their way onto Reina’s wrists, pulling her back. Kaiyo had let go of her arm, but was still pulling her by her waist, ripping at the sand snaking its way up her arms.

“No, no, I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!” Gaara began to scream too, but as he got frightened, the sand only wrapped tighter around Reina’s arms, causing her to cry out in pain. The more he panicked, the more the sand bit into her skin, drawing blood as it hissed angrily. All the blood was soaking into the sand, turning it a dark brown-red as it undulated.

“Let me go, Kaiyo!” Reina screamed with a high, cracking voice. Kaiyo was so surprised she did as she was asked.

Then she regained her composure. “Reina, you aren’t making any sense, don’t you see he’s hurting you?” She continued pulling and tearing at the sand which had for a moment stopped climbing the small girl’s arms.

“No, Kaiyo, stop,” Reina said firmly, in a hoarse, quiet voice, pulling herself away with a look of cold determination. Slowly, biting her lip against the pain, she moved towards Gaara, who still sat before her, crying silently, eyes widened.

“Reina, I’m sorry,” he began. Before he could say more, she interrupted.

“It’s ok,” she said calmly, soothingly. “I know you didn’t mean it. I’m ok, see?” She smiled weakly as the sand began falling away. For a moment neither of them moved; the boy had stopped crying and merely stared in disbelief.
“I’m going to go home with Kaiyo now. I forgive you, ok? Bye, Gaara-kun.” With that she walked back, placing her bloodied hand in Kaiyo’s to lead the woman home. She was so completely in shock she hadn’t spoken a word. Gaara stood alone in the street, unsure how to proceed himself.