Kaio: I do not own the anime, manga, nor the characters in this story except for my own. All characters are copyrighted by their respectful owners who came up with this marvelous anime/manga and characters.

Gaara: the only character owned by him is Kaio 'till this point. There will be more in later chapters though!

Kaio: Oh yes, and I realize that Temari is not completely herself in some parts of this story. but it's my fanfiction damnit . ! I have the right to dream of her like that! Ne? NE?

Gaara: ...Temari fanboy -.-;

Kaio: Would you rather me to like you then, Gaara-kuuuun? Blink

Gaara: ...nevermind oo;

Kaio: Anyway... now on to the story!

Chapter 1 - Awakening.

The desert... burning sun above your head, the scorching sand underneath your feet, the little clothes you have on clinging to your skin... Yet still striding on into the nothing-ness of the desert.

In the open plains of the desert a sole figure walked forward over the burning sand. Eventhough he had practicly no clothes on, it also seemed that he would never even need clothes. His arms and legs were covered with small parts of fur, like some sort of animal. He did wear short pants with a hole torn in the back-- to let his tail out of his pants. Other than that he had his shirt wrapped around his head and mouth to protect it from the blowing sand.

His hair and fur was clinging to his skin and sweat was running down his body as he still moved forward over the hill of the desert. His last remaining chakra was used to try and keep his body cooler wich seemed to be a useless efort seeming the amount was far too little to keep it up for long. The sun had beaten him, his final hours would be spent lying in the burning sand, his flesh eaten away by the voltures and other animals in the desert. At least, that was what he thought when his legs gave in and he rolled down a sand hill untill he ended at the bottom and everything went dark in front of his eyes.

Kaio's eyes opened to small slits, yet his vision was to blur to make out the 3 figures in front of him. He tried to speak out to them, but he couldn't even find enough strength to open his mouth. "Who is that?" a female voice rang to his ears, "How the hell should I know? What kind of moron would wear clothes that are made of animal fur in this heat?" another voice followed, this one a more hollow male voice. There was another voice, a more emotionless one, yet still, the voice of a child "...Fallen prey, a useless person.". Then, his eyes fell closed again accepting his fate; either they would leave him, assuming he was dead, or the one who was obviously the leader would not care and leave him. Either way, both ways of that were dark to him.

Kaio woke up when he heard several voices near him, yet there were too many to listen to just one of them and make out what was being said. After a while he could focus again and listened to the voices again, making out the sounds of a girl "Would it be okay? What the hell is it... he, anyway?", "Well, after a lot of talking we made out that he is human... but he has parts of wolven fur on his body, and his tail is genuine. But we still don't exactly know what he is, but we do know that he made it through a very rough time in the desert, after much research and checking on him it seemed that he spent more then a week without any food and water... He should have been dead." a more elderly man answered the girl.

His eyes once more opened up to slits, then slowly he opened them fully and spoke with a faint, soft voice "Wh-what happened? What is this place?" He was immediatly answered by the girl who stood next to him "You're in the medical room. Me and the rest of my team found you lying in the desert close to death. We all-- well, two of us carried you into the village and the medic-nin here took care of you.". As he listened to the small story he slowly was able to focus his eyesight and see who was talking to him; A rather young girl, no older than 16 or 17. She seemed to be wearing some sort of dress wich put more effort in cooling the body than the fashion. Her hair was somehow put up in 4 points on the back of her head, and of course, as most shinobi had; a fishnet shirt, around her arms, legs etc.

After The girl finished her small story, Kaio nodded softly and laid his head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling "I see... so, you saved my life, to put it bluntly... Thanks..." Kaio replied as he let his head fall to the right again, giving a soft smile toward the girl. Then just when the girl tried speaking again, the elder man stepped in between them and shined a bright flashlight in Kaio's right eye-- wich he forcefully held open with his fingers "Follow this light please." The man said as he started to move the light from left to right. "Good, your eyesight came back. How are you feeling... uhm... can you tell me your name?"

Kaio blinked several times and rubbed his eyelids when the man let go "Ah? ...Kaio... Kaio Hikawa." Kaio still talked softly, the pain in his throught. He coughed several times before he found a glass of water being pushed to his lips by the doctor wich he drank down a quick as he could. "So..." the female ninja started, "Could you... explain... why you have fur and all? I mean-- it's kinda freaky.". Kaio blinked a couple of times, then nodded softly. "This might be a bit hard to understand, and it's not the most lovely story... but, to make a long story short; my mother was raped by a wolf, and she had me. Thus the point that I'm half wolf and have fur and a tail... and of course my sense of smell and hearing capability are much better than normal people."

Both the girl and the medical-nin listened carefully to the small story he had just told them. Somewhere, they felt sorry for him and his mother, but on the other hand-- his skills seemed to be better than a normal person. Then it had hit the medical-nin and he spoke up to Kaio, "And where is your mother now?" as the medical-nin had said this, Kaio's vision was immediatly directed down toward the white sheats of the bed "She... she abandoned me because of what I am-- a freak. Eventhough I completed ninja school in my village, my graduation gift was not a headband-- it was an anbu assasination attempt. I was forced to kill them and to run away, so I ended up in the desert." His explenation seemed to be a sensitive point for him; his eyes watery from what had happened to him, "I never realized it, untill now... I was never part of the village, just merely tolerated untill I became a threat."

Kaio sighed softly, but shrugged his self-sorrow off before he directed his gaze toward the young blonde haired kunoichi again "So anyway... Thank you again for saving me uhm... I didn't get your name.". The girl smirked lightly and nodded toward Kaio lightly "It's Temari, and it wasn't a problem. So, you said you were a ninja, right?" Temari asked him after introducing herself, wich was followed by Kaio smiling and nodding toward her "Yes, though I'm not even a official Genin." he tilted his head a bit to the right, causing his long brown hair fall over his shoulder a bit, "Why'd you wanna know?" he continued soon after.

Temari shrugged a bit and answered him directly "Well-- I'm not the one that takes these decisions, but... if you'd take the exam in this village, how would you feel about becoming a Sand-nin? That is, if you can pass the exam.". Kaio smirked softly, then threw the white blanket off him and practicly leaped up out of the bed and balled his fist in front of him "Anytime, anywhere. I'd take it right now if I could!"

After he said that, Temari chuckled and shook her head a bit "You worry about recovering and drinking alot of water first. I'll go talk to the people of the council if there's something they can do." Not even waiting for a reply, Temari turned around and stepped out of the door. After Temari left Kaio sat down on the edge of the bed and looked up at the medical-nin who was still there "Is there something else I can help you with, Kaio?" The medical-nin asked him. Kaio just shook his head loosely and smiled at him "No, that's alright. Thanks for taking care of me.". The man nodded softly and picked up a thermostat and put it in Kaio's mouth "Alright, then I'll just do some routine tests and I'll leave you to rest."

About an hour had passed when the medical-nin had finished the check-ups. Then when Kaio attempted to lie down on the bed again, the door opened again and another person stepped inside. The mere sight of this person caused the medical-nin to widen his eyes and shuffle backwards and around him before he stepped out the door. The young boy who had stepped in had short scruffy red hair, a black shirt, black pants and rather large bags around his eyes. Above his left eye was a kanji wich stated 'Love'. He stepped forward toward the bed of Kaio and stopped still in front of him, looking him over from the bottom to the top. "I will speak with you now." the person stated simply.

Kaio was suprised by this sudden statement that this boy made, he looked like he was even younger than Kaio himself, maybe 12 or close to that at least. "Ah... uhm, alright. About what?" Kaio asked the boy in front of him as he stepped down from the bed. "Tell me your name." the person once ordered him in a clear voice "Kaio, Kaio Hikawa... and, you are?" Kaio answered. The only reply he recieved was a short one, wich seemed to be common with this person "Gaara.".

After telling his name, Gaara stepped forward several steps. "Temari said you wanted to become a Sand-nin. Understand this. I will not allow you to live if you betray this village or annoy me. You are nothing but a fallen prey, a useless person." Gaara stated toward Kaio, Wich caused him to growl in a more wolven way "If you always judge people by first impression, than I'd advise you to just wait and see.". Not waiting for Kaio to finish his sentince, Gaara had already turned around and stepped outside again, leaving Kaio alone in the room.

"Well, that was the second of the 3 people that I heard in the desert..." Kaio spoke softly to himself as he slid into the bed again and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

Chapter 1 - End.

Kaio: Idea's and comments about the story or pairings are always welcome!