Because I Met You

Chapter 3: I'll Never Leave You

Someone knocks on Gaara's door. We both get up from his bed and look at each other.

"Who do you think it is?"

I ask Gaara. Gaara shrugs and goes to open the door. A very kind looking man comes in. Is that his dad? I don't think so... He looks too nice to be his dad.

"Yashamaru!"

Oh, so that's Yashamaru.

"How have you been, Gaara? And who do we have here?"

I rush to Gaara's side and hide behind him a little. What? I get a little shy around strangers who are older than me!

"This is Kiu, my friend. She's going to be staying here with us."

Gaara seems much more cheerful around that man. He does seem like a really nice guy.

"Are her parents aware of that?"

Yashamaru crouches a little to be at Gaara's and my eye-level.

"I don't think I have any."

Yashamaru looks at me with a little surprise. I try to hide even more behind Gaara.

"She doesn't have any memories from her past."

"That's unfortunate... Well, you can stay here as long as you like. I'm sure Gaara will be happy with some company."

"Thank you..."

Even if I'm shy, I don't forget to be polite. I'm excited about this. It's like an infinite sleepover! Well, until I find my own place.

"Well, I'll leave you two together then, since I have a mission I need to attend to. Gaara, why don't you show Kiu around?"

"I'll show her the roof, too! It's where we can see all of the village!"

"Perfect, have fun you two."

He then leaves us alone. The roof? That sounds like fun! I finally get out from behind Gaara and stand next to him. He looks at me.

"Why were you hiding behind me?"

"...I'm a little shy sometimes! Deal with it!"

"You don't seem shy with me."

"You're different... Anyway, you talked about showing me the roof. Do you hang out there a lot?"

"Well, I spend most of my nights up there."

"Wait, you sleep on the roof?"

"I don't sleep..."

"At all?"

"Very rarely..."

"Why? How?"

"Well, you can say that there's this monster inside of me. It keeps me from sleeping. It's because of that monster that everybody's afraid of me..."

He looks down. He clenches his fists. A monster? So that's why everyone is acting all scared around him.

"Kiu, you didn't know?"

I shake my head.

"Are you... going to be scared of me too?"

He looks at me with a sad face.

"Well I'm not running, am I? So no. I won't be scared of you. You're my friend. Now show me that roof! From now on, you won't be spending your nights there alone, because I'll be there!"

Gaara instantly smiles after hearing that. He should smile like that all the time. I'll make sure he does!

Gaara takes my hand and takes me to where the roof is. We both stand close to the edge.