Protect Me (Gaara fanfic)

They said I never had a chance. They said I would die.

"The wounds are too great-"

"She's lost so much blood-"

"The baby'll never make it-"

Even before I was born, I could hear them. The doubts. I would die before I had a chance to live.

"Please, there has to be something-"

"I don't care what it is-"

"Save my baby-"

I knew what was going on long before I should've. I knew my mother and father. I knew my aunt and uncle were evil, and their children were just as bad.

I knew all this before I was born, and it caused all my troubles.

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

I lived in a small cottage in a little village in the mountains. That place was hell for me. The village and cottage were alright, but when you factored in that I lived with my aunt and uncle, then it became hell. See, my parents had been seriously wounded in a house raid. My dad was a highly skilled ninja, so they got him first, and then they went after my mom, who was pregnant with me. They both died in the hospital, and I was given to my aunt, who acted like she was happy I was alive. Yeah, acted. They wanted me dead so their family could get the birthright from my grandmother. However, they haven't managed to kill me yet.

I was seven when I ran away. Thanks to my small job, secret of course, I'd saved up enough money to hopefully get me far away from my abusive aunt and uncle. Maybe it'd get me all the way to my grandparents. On a night of a new moon, exactly two weeks after my birthday, I ran. My "family" was in a drunken stupor and never noticed, and the rest of the village was asleep. After I was out of the village, I followed the road that led down the mountain. I wanted to see trees and grass; not rocks.

By the time the sky started to lighten, I had made it to the base of the mountain. My only problem was that I was met with sand, not soil. I started to panic; I didn't know that one of the roads lead to a sea of sand. I looked around, but I either had to go into the sand, or go back up the mountain, which I would not do. I took a cautious step off the road and was surprised when my foot sank a little, but I started trudging through like I did in the snow.

'Keep going,' I thought to myself. 'This is better than being near any of those people.' I didn't care if I died, I just wanted to be away from them. After I got my "sand legs," I was able to move fast, and after some time, even run. However, this was before the sun came up. After that, I was limited to a slow trudge.

I had no idea where I was going, but something inside me was directing me as I stumbled around. At some time, probably around midday, I collapsed in the sand. I struggled to grab the water I had been saving, and ultimately I failed. I lied there, under the sun, baking. After a while I started laughing.

"I'm dying," I laughed. "I'm dying, but I did something. I finally got away."

"Got away from what?" I slowly lifted my head and saw a boy, no older than I, with blood red hair. I tried to push myself up to stand, but I was very unsteady. The boy caught my arm.

"Who are you?" I asked quietly, hoping he wouldn't hurt me.

"My name is Gaara. Who are you?" I stared at him in shock. I didn't know my name. If I even had one, my "family" never used it. I didn't want him to know that, though, so I decided to test his name.

"G-Gaara?" I slightly stuttered. I don't know why but his name filled me with a strange emotion. I think it was happiness.

"Oh," he said suddenly, "you're afraid of me too, aren't you?" I just looked at him confused. His expression quickly morphed into anger. "ANSWER ME!" I could feel his hurt, and it brought tears to my eyes as I shook my head. He looked shocked, and then suspicious. "Then why are you crying?" With the little strength I had left, I hugged him. He stiffened.

"Because you're in so much pain," I whispered as I felt sand work its way under the bandages that covered my body under my clothing. The still open wounds started to sting and I tried not to let him see my pain. I didn't know him and he didn't know me, so I didn't want him so see how weak I was.

"Who-Who are you?" he whispered back as he slowly relaxed and hugged me back. The pain was too great. I was fading fast.

"I... am..." I felt myself faint and slump in his arms. I hoped I was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The first sign that I wasn't dead was the yelling of a familiar voice. I could hear him running on the sand easily; could hear him breathing heavily; could hear other people shouting. I couldn't hear what they were saying, which was strange, but maybe I was closer to death than I thought, which meant I wouldn't be able to see anything.

'Hang on, girl. I'll save you. I swear,' Gaara's voice flitted through my mind. That startled my half-dead self. I'd never been able to hear thoughts before.

'Gaara,' I thought, not sure if he heard it. 'Gaara, it's ok if I die. I just don't want to die with those people.' I guess he heard me, because I heard him take a sharp breath.

'I'm taking you to my village's hospital. Please hang on.'

'Why are you so attached to me?' Even my thought voice sounded tired. I was fading again.

'Because you were the first person to care about me, even though you didn't know me.'

'Do you care about me?' I never got his answer, because I felt the pain right then. I felt myself clench my fists and bury my face in Gaara's back. Around me, voices were shouting, but they were blurred. I opened my eyes, and the glare of sunlight blinded me. I felt blood running down my skin and I started crying. I was crying because even though I was away from those people, they were still making me suffer.

"Gaara, stop crying. We'll take care of her." My eyes snapped open to a white hospital room. Apparently I had passed out at some point. I turned my head towards the door and saw Gaara standing there, blocked by doctors, I guess.

"Don't... go..." They all looked at me and I reached out to him. "Please... don't... go..." Gaara pushed pass the doctors and ran to me. He grabbed my hand and knelt next to the bed.

It all happened in slow motion.

The doctors ran over to me, and one whispered something to Gaara. He nodded and stepped away, but he still held my hand. The doctors lifted my shirt to expose my stomach. I heard all three gasp and Gaara squeezed my hand a little.

"What's her name?" one asked.

"I don't know. She fainted before I found out," Gaara said in a small voice. The doctor muttered something and then they set to healing me. It took longer than they thought, I saw it on their faces, because they kept finding more wounds. At some point, they'd asked Gaara to leave, and pulled a curtain to block any view of me. After they were done, they wrapped me in new bandages and gave me new clothes.

"Just lie down for a while. I'll be back with Gaara in a little bit," the younger one said. I nodded and closed my eyes, happy to be pain free. I had no idea where I was, but I didn't care. I was free.

Or so I thought.