Rating: T, Gore, slight language

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to its respective owners.

Reform

He walked silently down the white marble hallway, briefly skimming through the mission reports in his hand and simultaneously listening to the messenger to his side. The recent sandstorm had caused quite some damage to the desert village. Reports were coming in constantly, but this latest one- the one that he was reading now- was of the utmost urgency. It seemed as though several of the canals had been buried and Suna could only survive for so long without water. Gaara took another quick look at the stats.

"Very well, I shall review the matter and speak to the council about this. You may leave."

"Y-yes Kazekage-sama!"

He entered his office, ordering his secretary to set up a meeting with the council. She nodded her head, leaving soon after. For a moment, Gaara continued to read further onto the examination of the canals making special notes here and there until the door barged opened without so much as a knock. "Oops, didn't know ya were busy, little brother."

"No, it's alright," he said putting the thick report aside. "I've already seen through most of it." His jade eyes looked up at the forward appearance of his older brother. Kankurou stood there, face free of paint, covered slightly in sawdust and oil stains.

"Before you say anything I'm not asking for an extension," Kankurou said knowingly. "I was just asking if you'd seen Temari. She freakin'!"

"She's in the border doing an assessment on the damage."

"Damn," Kankurou muttered under his breath. "Figures she has to be gone when I need her!"

"I thought you were mad at her?" Last night Kankurou and Temari had broken into another fight over no reason- yet again- and both had marched into their respective rooms, slamming the door loudly and yelling they were never going to talk to each other again.

"I am! I mean she starts bitching at me for ever single thing. I mean is it my freakin' fault her stupid plants died?" He went off into another tirade on how he was definitely going to leave the house this time. Gaara ignored him, all too familiar with his older siblings' behavior, but then he noticed a white rag tied hastily over Kankurou's left forearm slightly colored. "Kankurou what is that?"

He stopped for a moment, following Gaara's jade eyes and quickly hid his arm behind his back. "Nothing," he replied innocently.

"Then why are you hiding it?" He rose from his chair just as Kankurou was backing away. "Don't worry 'bout it."

"Let me see."

"Don't worry 'bout it, little brother. It's just a scratch."

"Kankurou let me see," Gaara spoke and this time his voice was one of authoritarian. The older boy shoved his hand away. "Kankurou I order you to let me see your left arm."

"What the hell?" His face twisted into repulsion. "That's an abuse of power! You've been hanging around Temari too long!"

Gaara pulled the rag off, slightly stricken to seeing the blotches of blood gathered across his smooth skin. A deep slash ran from his elbow, crossing awkwardly into his forearm until it stopped in the middle of his wrist. It was a rather grave injury as he could begin to see the pink underneath.

"Look," Kankurou said seriously. "I wasn't paying attention to the electric saw and I almost cut my arm off, like I said before it ain't a big deal."

"This is a lot of blood," he responded still holding onto his wrist. The blood continued to trickle down the wound, touching Gaara's pale fingers.

In a time not too long ago the sight of blood seeped him with excitement. He would laugh hysterically, trashing and mutilating a human body until it was beyond recognizable. Gaara would know which artery burst when he applied the right amount of pressure, he would by able to recognize each bone cracking, and knew exactly where each organ in the human body was located. Gaara remembered how the sand would ravenous rib apart skin from flesh and continue digging and digging into the tissue until it reached bone. He recounted how the eyes would burst with liquid and how the sand would crawl into the cranium scoping out a large piece of the pink brain through the nostrils.

And he remembers- as he continues holding Kankurou's arm- exactly how the human heart feels between his fingers.

It had not been too long.

"Does it hurt?"

"Yeah."

Gaara paused from his thoughts. "Don't tell me you've been searching for Temari with an injury like this?"

"So what?" he defended. "I ain't going to a damn doctor!"

Among the thousands of things Kankurou hated- kids, spinach, birds, writing mission reports, nagging, clowns and the list goes on and on- he especially hated doctors. "There's just something creepy about them," he would answer before Temari would hit him in the head and say that he was creepy sleeping with all those puppets in his room. What's more Kankurou was a shinobi and he sort of needed to see a doctor all the time. Of course Kankurou would still stand his ground and Temari wouldn't miss the opportunity of teasing him about the 'scary doctors' before he burst out in anger and the entire house would be in a state of chaos on who could yell the loudest and throw the most things.

But perhaps it was a good thing Kankurou hated doctors since he took good care of himself and whenever he did get injured from working on Karasu he would run to Temari and she would mend his broken arm and call him stupid.

Gaara approached his desk pulling out a first aid kit and taking out a disinfected. Kankurou took a seat and before long he watched as Gaara carefully stitched the wound. "Kankurou you cut the median nerve. If this cut any further, you would have damaged the anterior interosseous artery."

Kankurou blinked. "Yeah… my bad little brother."

When he was done, Kankurou looked at his bandaged arm. "I didn't know you could do these things."

Gaara wiped his hands before sitting behind his desk. "It's a disgrace to throw away knowledge."

It was not too long ago when he enjoyed torturing his victims, but now he was different. The bloodlust had died, the voices had stopped whispering and the sand obeyed only him. He had reformed, making peace with the chaotic state of his mind and finally understood his true purpose in this world.

"Kazekage-sama, the meeting is about to begin."

"I'm on my way."

He looked once more at Kankurou. "I'm still waiting for that report, Kankurou."

"C'mon little brother, I can't even hold a brush with this wound."

"I thought you started it?"

Kankurou winced at having been caught.

"Alright," Gaara said smiling slightly at him. "You have until Thursday; otherwise you're spending three weeks on duty at the Academy."

"Why is it that I'm always being bossed around? Fine," he groaned. Kankurou waved good bye just as Gaara closed the door.

When he entered the conference room, everyone rose from their chair bowing their heads slightly.

"Good evening Kazekage-sama."

Gaara was different now. He emerged from his insanity, battled the demons within him, and completely changed his life around. He was not a tool anymore. He earned the respect of his village, he rediscovered his family, and he found a new purpose in life.

"You may sit," said the Kazekage.