Hello! I'm back with another story. Again. Because I really needed another project. (Please note all sarcasm.)

Anyway... Just wondering how this one will go over with other people. I will finish this whether it is liked or not, because I like it and it is my baby. (Also, I really want to see where these plot bunnies are going.) So, with only two more notes...

First off, Idomura name pronunciations, because this confuzzled my poor, over-worked beta: Riil (reel), Fonz (fahnz), Wyrn (weern). (She was trying to pronounce them like the words gill, phones, and worm. Understandable, but still...) Oh, and please don't get Kazuto and Kabuto mixed up. Please? There is a BIG difference between them...

Also, I own only the concept for this story's strangeness and my OCs. All characters/concepts that belong to the Naruto manga/anime are (unfortunately) not mine.

Enjoy! Feel free to leave a review, if you'd like, tell me how awful I did. (I don't care either way.)

Chapter 1
Son of Sand, Daughter of Wind

"The Gypsies! Daddy, the Idomura are here! They're here!"

The Kazekage looked down at his seven-year-old daughter and sighed. "Yes, I know," he told her. He then pulled her out from behind his robes and nodded toward the man in front of him. He was blonde, with most of his hair pulled back into a long ponytail, and his bangs framing either side of his face. His headband bore the mark of a ninja from Konohagakure, but the fabric itself...

"Why is your headband purple and yellow?" the young girl asked. The man chuckled, crouching to be at her level.

"It's the mark of an Idomura ninja, young lady," he said. "We train in many different villages, and each carry the mark of our village of origin, so we needed to have some means of identifying ourselves."

The girl blinked a few times. "Is that why the men and women on the edges of the caravan always wear something purple and yellow?" she asked. The man nodded.

"Indeed. And what is the young lady's name, if I may ask?"

The girl smiled. "I'm Temari. What's yours?"

"Kazuto," the man said before standing and turning to the Kazekage once more. "So, I can assume this is the daughter you spoke of earlier?"

The Kazekage nodded. "Yes. I've sent someone to retrieve her younger brothers. They will be here shortly," he said. "I trust that no harm will come to them within the boundaries of the caravan?"

Kazuto nodded with a smile. "Yes. We set up camp with the backside to a cliff and we've got four ninja stationed on top, in addition to our perimeter. They will be safe," he assured the man. Then another ninja walked in with two children, one of whom looked like he did not want to be there at all. Also, Kazuto wondered how much sleep the boy had gotten recently.

The Idomura ninja led the little procession out of Sunagakure, toward a set of brightly-colored tents that was visible against the bland cliff walls. Once they had passed within the obvious perimeter of the camp, the Kazekage turned to his children.

"I must speak with Kazuto regarding ninja business. The three of you are free to roam the camp so long as you stay within it. Do not let yourselves be separated," he told the children. The elder of the two boys nodded, along with the girl.

"Yes, Father," they chorused, starting to walk off when they realized their brother was still standing where they'd left him. The Kazekage looked down at the youngest, who nodded only slightly before following his siblings, still not looking happy with the arrangement.

The three siblings didn't make it far before the sound of an argument broke out up ahead, and Temari, ever curious, ran off toward it.

"I'm tired of having to babysit your sulky little butt every hour of every day!" A boy was yelling at a younger girl. The boy appeared to be Temari's age.

The black-haired girl's face couldn't be seen, between her loose, shoulder-length black hair and the way she was keeping her head bowed. The older boy's brown hair, on the other hand, was mostly held back in a high ponytail, a red streak starting from his left temple.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Temari asked. Another boy, this one a blonde a bit older than Temari and the brunette, glanced over at the trio of siblings.

"Fonz, you're attracting attention. If Riil wants to go back to the wagon, she can go back to the wagon," he said, attempting to calm the brunette. It didn't work.

"I can't believe you, Wyrn! She's done nothing but sulk, moan, and complain since mom's death! She doesn't want to be a ninja, and she won't dance or sing! So you tell me what she's going to contribute to the caravan!" 'Fonz' yelled. The elder of Temari's brothers cringed.

"Well, we've obviously interrupted something," he muttered. Temari sighed.

"Oh, come on, Kankuro. That's really not nice," she whispered back. The small redhead was peeking around Temari's skirt, much like she'd been peeking around her father's robes earlier in the day.

"'She' is standing right next to you, moron."

The blonde boy's head shot in the girl's direction. "Riil! Language!" he snapped. Her head shot up, revealing sky blue but pupil-less eyes.

"What's it matter? No one's gonna care in the end. So I'm just gonna go do what everyone wants me to do and stay away from everybody," she said, her voice dark. "I will see you at dinner."

All five children watched as she turned and walked away, tiny fists clenched, and all five saw the sand that moved out of her path. Temari and Kankuro glanced at each other, eyes wide, before looking down at their brother, who was just as shocked.

Then the blonde boy turned to them with a sigh and walked over. "I'm sorry you had to witness that," he said. "You three must be the Kazekage's kids. Dad said he'd be talking to him."

Temari blinked. "Your dad is Kazuto?" she asked. The blonde nodded.

"Yes. I'm Wyrn. This is my little brother, Fonz. And... the girl who stormed off was our sister, Riil. She's... had a rough year," he said. Fonz scoffed.

"Rough year... Right..."

That comment got him a firm elbow in the side from his older brother.

"So, what are your names?" Wyrn asked, successfully changing the subject. Temari smiled.

"I'm Temari, and these are my little brothers Kankuro and Gaara."

"Uh... Which one's the redhead?" Fonz asked. Kankuro sighed.

"That would be Gaara," he answered. Fonz chuckled nervously.

"Well, Gaara appears to have disappeared on you two."

Temari and Kankuro looked around frantically for a moment before their eyes met again, neither wanting to know just how much trouble they would be in if they didn't find the four-year-old. They turned to Wyrn, who chuckled.

"We'll help. We know the camp inside and out. We'll find him."

On the other side of camp, hidden by some dunes on one side and the cliffs on the other, Gaara finally caught up to Riil, who was making a twirling motion with her finger. In the middle of the small hollow, a tiny tornado of sand was swirling around.

"What are you?"

Riil froze, the sand of the 'tornado' flopping to the ground immediately as her eyes sought him out. Once she had found him, though, she scowled, tucking the hand she'd had extended into her arm. "Why do you care?"

Gaara walked over to her and squatted down a respectful distance to her left. "Because..." he started, hesitating to tell her. Then he reached out his hand, and sand swirled up from the ground to wrap around it and his arm. "We're the same," he said finally. Riil watched him and the sand for a few moments before frowning.

"It's not the same."

Gaara looked up at her in surprise, seeing that she had stood up, and his eyes widened, in fear now as the sand returned to the ground. "How?" he asked, desperate not to fail with her where he had failed with so many others.

Riil didn't reply, not verbally. She tilted her head to the side, and Gaara did the same, wondering what she was listening to. As it turned out, he could hear music quite easily from the hollow, and the current song seemed to be coming to an end.

Riil stepped forward to the center of the hollow, where she had been making her sand tornado earlier, and paused to listen again.

The next melody started up, and Gaara watched as the black-haired girl wasted no time jumping into a dance. Her movements seemed stiff and forced, however, unlike the fluid and enchanting dances her people were known for. But as she began to relax, slipping into the dance and becoming more graceful and less rough, the redhead started to figure out why she'd said they were different.

The hollow had not been breezy. In fact, there hadn't been much wind at all, that day. But as Riil relaxed, a small breeze started to dance around the hollow, until Riil was dancing within a sphere of wind, the wind kicking up enough sand to show Gaara exactly where it was blowing.

Except, the four-year-old boy couldn't bring himself to use the word 'blow' to describe the ball of wind. It was flowing, a never-ending but ever-changing pattern that moved left, right, up, down, and accentuated Riil's dance as if it were a part of her. Gaara was certain that she wasn't controlling it consciously, however, as some of the stray bits of wind were harsh, and one that rebounded off of a dune crashed into his back and sent the four-year-old sprawling in the sand. He sat right back up though, and decided to take a risk.

Two thin streams of sand found their way into the ball of intertwined wind, and they danced around the wind in a simpler pattern that Gaara was doing his best to match up with the base rhythm of the song. The wind faltered a moment with Riil's step as the addition of the sand distracted her and brought her back to reality for a moment, but then she continued her dance, stubbornly refusing to waver again, it seemed.

It was to the sight of Riil twirling in the climax of the song, wind and streams of sand wrapped around her while Gaara watched, that Wyrn, Temari, Fonz, and Kankuro peeked around the edge of a wagon that was sitting in such a way as to almost block off the hollow from the one angle it was accessible from.

Temari and Kankuro nearly bolted out into the hollow to grab their brother, but Wyrn held them both back.

"Watch," he whispered. Fonz's eyes widened as he looked up at his older brother, who had a sparkle in his blue eyes that the brunette hadn't seen in years.

Riil finished the dance off by taking a small leap toward Gaara and throwing her arms out and her head back. The wind dispersed behind her, kicking up some extra sand in her wake, and Gaara made the sand streams burst apart from about where her hands were. Wyrn looked at his younger brother and grinned, mischief in his eyes now, before letting go of Temari and Kankuro carefully.

"Why—mph!" Kankuro started, Fonz putting a hand over his mouth before he could start.

Riil lowered her arms and looked at Gaara, an expression of utter shock on her face. The redhead stared back at her for what seemed like ages before he ducked his head and stood, obviously intending to leave as quickly as possible.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, turning away from Riil, whose eyes widened even further, if that were possible.

"No!"

Gaara froze at the sound of footsteps behind him and turned to find that Riil was now only a couple of feet away. "No..." Riil said again, the shock fading into wonder slowly. She then reached out and pulled Gaara into a hug, finally smiling. "Thank you."

Wyrn's playful grin was now just a very happy smile, and he pulled Temari and Kankuro away, Fonz following behind after prompting from the blonde boy. Once the four of them were a distance away, and out of direct earshot, he let go of Gaara's older siblings.

"We'll just leave them alone for a while, yes?" he asked, though it was really more of an order than a suggestion. Temari's eyes widened, but it was Kankuro who spoke.

"But Gaara—"

"Riil hasn't danced, hugged anyone, smiled, or said 'thank you' in over a year," Fonz said.

Wyrn chuckled. "That your brother managed to get her to do so in less than ten minutes tells me that he's the only with a chance of finding out where the little Riil we used to know went," he added. Fonz smiled, looking at Temari.

"Gaara's special, isn't he?" he asked. The blonde bit her lip, but nodded, and Fonz grinned. "Then he'll probably need her company as much as I think she's needed his."

Kankuro walked back over toward the wagon and glanced around it to see the two four-year-olds making sand tornadoes, Riil using her wind to whip one up as she had before. He smiled and walked back to the others, chuckling all the way. He looked up at Temari, who sighed. She knew that look even before Kankuro said anything.

"We'll leave them alone for a while."