Fate Of the Wolf Goddess (Naruto Fanfic x ATLA aspects)

Gaara POV

She's alive.

That's all I could think of when I first saw her.

Yashamaru told me he killed her. That he snapped her neck to put her out of her misery. When I saw the little wolf pup with those same eyes, I knew immediately:

He lied.

I told Temari and Konkuro about her, but they didn't believe me back then. They thought I made her up, since most people and animals steered clear of me.

But not her.

Not the wolf pup I played with.

We played together for hours that day.

From late into the night, until way past dawn. We made sandcastles, drew pictures, played hide-and-seek, and fetch.

She was my first friend.

Yashamaru once told me that if I could befriend a wild beast such as her, a wild wolf pup, then making a human friend would be an easy feat.

And I believed him.

After he walked away with her that day to send her home, everything went bad.

Yashamaru tried to kill me, just like all the others.

Yashamaru said mother didn't love me, nor did he.

Said no one could possibly love a monster like me.

He even said that he put the wolf pup out of her misery; snapped her neck and threw her into a nearby sandstorm. He told me that she was a monster too, and that having one less in the world made it better. That he did her a favor; she'd live a horrible life like me if he didn't.

Then he tried to kill me.

And just like all the rest, he. . .

. . .failed.

That's when I learned to love myself and only myself.

That way, the wound in my heart couldn't be hurt any further.

The wound made by having no one; no friend, no one who loved or cared for me.

Imagine my surprise when I found her alive and well with the Uchiha boy, no less.

His eyes were like mine, which didn't bother me. I wanted to fight him.

What bothered me was the wild wolf pup joined at his hip. I was so sure she was being treated badly by him. That somehow, she had escaped Yashamaru only to be captured by Sasuke Uchiha. That a boy like him, with eyes like those, full of loneliness and hatred, couldn't possibly care about the little pup.

Then came time for our attack on the Leaf.

I came face to face with the truth.

With Naruto Uzumaki.

It's because of him that I realized I was blind.

Despite of my treatment of them, Konkuro and Temari have always been by my side. I've always had people who cared for me. Who loved me. They risked their lives to get me to safety during the attack.

Love comes in many forms; I was so busy looking for one kind, I didn't notice the others.

Friendship is also another kind of love, and I had refused it for so long because of my failed attempt to make any after that day. . .