Deep breaths.

In.

Out.

In.

They're trying to kill us!

Out.

They're going to hurt us! We need to hurt them first!

In.

Out.

Mother's anger churned beneath his skin, and Gaara clenched his teeth so hard they hurt. No! He couldn't lose control. Not here, not now. Not yet.

Cool chakra seeped into his edges of his awareness. Worry, fear, and anger whirled around his mental periphery.

Tch. That little chit. What does she think she's doing? Oh, she's mad at me? Interesting. Mother's voice crooned. Gaara, if you don't hurry, your new friend is gonna die.

What?

Gaara opened his eyes, but saw nothing. His sand had encased him in a protective dome. He could hear muffled voices from outside, one of them clearly the Leaf kunoichi with the gentle chakra. She was...weird. She was very short, like him, and reserved, only speaking when spoken to and then in a quiet voice which barely grated his nerves. She had surprised both him and mother by reaching out with her chakra, the soothing sensation of running water dulling the edge of their anger. Well, Gaara's anger. Mother didn't like her very much, but so long as she didn't push—and she never did—she was content to ignore the polite invasion. Gaara had done the same, at first, but had quickly become curious. Why was she doing this? Was she doing it to the others? Was she really that sad, or was that just how other people's chakra felt compared to his? Would she stop if he tried it?

The answer was no, she wouldn't, though he had only just tried reciprocating when they were attacked.

With a shaking hand, he willed the sand to part. Light trickled into the dome, and slowly the kunoichi's narrow back came into view. She was standing between him and another person, hands raised up defensively.

"—even think about hurting him." Her voice was clear and firm, with a weight to it he hadn't heard before.

Her opponent scoffed, and Gaara's blood boiled as he recognized the voice. "Stay down, brat," the Sand Anbu said. "That monster needs to be taken out."

Had his father sent forces after him? Were the Chunin Exams just a ruse meant to lower his guard?

"The only monster I see is the grown man attacking a pair of children."

Gaara watched as she widened her stance, the light of the sun glinting off of something in her hands—weapons, most likely. He couldn't see her face, but her words alone were probably enough to twist the Anbu's expression like that.

"Shut it, leaf scum! You don't know what you're talking about!" He pulled a kunai from his hip pouch, twirling it with a menacing chuckle. "I gave you a chance to run, kid, so don't blame me for this."

He's going to kill her. Kill him first! We need his blood!

Gaara clutched at his head, struggling to keep his eyes on the conflict in front of him. The kunoichi held her ground until the last possible moment, twirling out from under the larger man's speedy charge. She hooked a foot around his ankle as she went, disrupting his balance and sending him falling.

Right into Gaara's sand.

The man's eyes widened comically as the golden dome swarmed around him, encasing him within itself.

Crush him! He tried to hurt us! Make him bleed!

"Gaara-kun, wait!"

Small hands and gentle chakra took hold of him and he looked down into imploring black eyes. He hadn't noticed before, but now that she was close he could see faded freckles and a beauty mark under her left eye. Her brows were scrunched in what he might have called fear if her chakra wasn't laced with concern.

"Why?" It was all he could get out without growling in her face.

"Listen," she commanded gently. "Do you hear that?"

He listened. Heard nothing. Said so.

"Exactly! Where's everybody else? Why aren't they here, helping us? It doesn't make any sense." She leveled a glare on their attacker. "We need his information."

Oho, what will the little leafling do, hmm? Will she make him bleed?

She removed her hands from Gaara's arm, and for the first time he realized she had gotten past his defenses. True, there was a greater threat, but his sand wasn't normally so discriminating.

She placed her hand flat against the ground and a puff of smoke filled the air around her. When it cleared, several dogs dressed in ninja paraphernalia sat at attention.

"Sano, Tetsu" she said sternly to a Collie with a Konoha headband and bandages wrapped around its legs and a Shar Pei in a vest. "I need you to find our friends. Do not engage in combat, report back to me once your targets have been located."

"Yes, princess!" They leapt up into the trees without a sound.

"Momiji," the fancy little Papillon looked up at her summoner with what might have been determination. "I need you to go to Konoha, again. Let them know what's happened. If they send back up, go with them."

"Right away, princess!" The dog poofed from existence.

The kunoichi heaved a great sigh before turning back to Gaara, a smile in her eyes and relief in her chakra. "That should cover most of our bases. Now," she turned a stern eye on their captive. "To deal with this one."

I hope she hurts him, makes him bleed.

She stepped up to their attacker, not at all perturbed by the sand swirling around her. "Gaara-kun," she called over her shoulder. "I don't suppose you can get his mouth open? I want to be sure he doesn't have a suicide pill on him."

Ooh! What do you know? The brat has a brain.

Without prompting, the sand holding the man in the air began to converge around his face, slipping underneath the cloth mask. He gagged on sand, struggling feebly against its grasp. The sand retreated, bringing with it a small white sphere which it deposited into the surprised kunoichi's hands.

"Oh! Thank you." She pulled a small cloth bag from her hip pouch and placed the pill inside, drawing it closed with a flourish. "Now, then, shinobi-san, I don't think I need to tell you just how foolish all this is, right?"

She placed a hand on her chest and Gaara's eyes widened involuntarily as the black shirt beneath her haori began to glow. Then, to his horror and mother's amusement, she pushed her hand into her chest, her arm disappearing up to her elbow. The anbu made a strangled noise, eyes fixed on the unnatural sight.

Oh, my. I didn't think there were any of that kind left. How interesting!

Gaara watched as she pulled out a leather roll, the glow fading slowly until her shirt was black once more. She kneeled in the grass, unrolling what looked like an artist's kit, with brushes and inkstones tucked neatly into pockets.

"Gaara-kun," she said softly, looking over her shoulder with kind eyes. "Before I start anything, what do you want to do with him? You were his target, after all. "

Kill him. Make him bleed.

He agreed wholeheartedly, his rage bubbling to the surface again. Anyone who tried to hurt him died immediately, no questions asked. She was right, though. There was information to be gained here, the vital kind if the pervasive silence of the forest around them was any indication.

"What are you going to do?"

She cocked her head at him, looking for all the world like one of her dogs. "Hm? Oh, I plan on using some seals on him. Just to make him cooperate."

There are bloodier ways of doing that.

"You don't need seals for that."

She sighed. "I know what you're implying, Gaara-kun, but...please, try to understand, violence and killing are against my religion."

Boo! Boring. What kind of religion makes such awful demands of its followers?

"What is your religion?"

She looked up at him. "Hm, oh, it's called ninshu."

Mother was silent.

"It's an old religion," she continued as she began grinding ink, her movements slow and methodical. "One which focuses on empathy and peaceful resolution of conflict. It goes hand in hand with my nindo, so it was a simple addition to my life. There isn't a lot out there about it though, so I've been mostly doing my own thing."

She laid out a paper tag, small stones holding it in place on the grass as she began to draw the seals. He watched, transfixed, as the seal took shape. Thin, crisp lines began to fill the white paper, taking shapes he couldn't recognize.

"What will that do?"

Her hands were steady as she answered. "This one will compel him to tell the truth, and I'll make another one that will make him answer questions. Together, they'll force him to give us honest information."

"Why do we need it? We could just kill him."

She nodded with a hum and he could feel the rebuke in her chakra before she voiced it. "Yes, we could, but that doesn't mean we should. Actions have consequences, Gaara-kun. I know it may be hard to believe, but even men who attack children unprovoked can have people who love them, who'll miss them when they're gone. Just because he's mean to us, doesn't mean he isn't good to other people. They may not know what kind of person he really is, and even if they do they'll still grieve. He hurt us, but it wasn't permanent. Death is."

Mother was unusually quiet, but Gaara still scoffed.

"That's ridiculous. He knew what he was risking when he attacked me."

"Hm, maybe. That doesn't mean you have to stoop to his level." She picked up her finished seals, blowing on them lightly. "He may be willing to end a life to fulfil his own agenda, but that doesn't mean I have to be. Here, bare some of his skin, will you?"

His sand moved to comply, exposing the man's torso. She placed the seal tags on him with a satisfying whap, the paper sticking of its own accord.

"There, that should do it. Do you want to ask the first question? He's from your village, after all."

Gaara looked at her sharply. "How did you know that?"

She shrugged, running nimble fingers through her curls and sending a few leaves and twigs to the forest floor. "He stands like Temari, so I figured he was probably trained similarly." She scrunched her nose. "And he smells like sand."

Despite himself, Gaara laughed.