This wasn't going as expected, but that was okay, because now it all made sense. He just hadn't recognised Gaara. He wasn't there to kill him, he was just offering to play with some normal child he'd run into.

Or he was a good actor, like Yashamaru had been.

"Why won't you leave?" With his nose scrunched in confusion, Gaara dropped the ball to the sand coiled at his feet. The stuff promptly, almost eagerly, sent it onwards, shooting towards the adult's head. Willing him to drop the act, he folded his arms under his scarf. "Do you want to die?"