Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its original characters, locations, or plot lines. I do, however, own my own original characters and most of what goes on in this particular fan fiction, mostly because it is set around eight years into the future of the original series (and by that, I mean when everyone was, like, twelve.)

Author's Note: Italic things are either flashbacks, something in the past, or thoughts. Basically, this entire chapter is a flashback my OC that serves as a sort of prologue; it takes place when Gaara is seven or six, before his uncle's little assassination mission. I figured that it could happen before then.

The sun beat down on the village of Suna. People were haggling in the bustling out door marketplace. Children played in the street while their parents bought, sold, and traded with each other for different things.

A small girl with dirty, coffee-colored braids ran through a busy street, as fast as her legs could carry her. A large man that chased her lost her trail when the girl abruptly ducked into an alleyway. He continued to run on as the girl hid in the space between the large garbage can and the wall, breathing heavily and crouching low to the ground. When she was certain that he was gone, she giggled nervously and took a small item out of her pocket. It was a shiny red apple.

She rubbed the apple against the fabric of her faded shirt and took an oversized bite. She devoured the apple that way, one ravenous bite after another. When it was gone, she tossed the core into the trash and took a step into the open part of the alley.

"Did you steal that apple?" a voice said. The girl jumped, and then looked around her anxiously.

"W-who said that?" she demanded in a loud but quivering voice. "Show yourself!" She looked around frantically, searching for the source of the voice.

"I said it." The voice seemed to be coming from above the girl. She looked up, and standing on the flat roof of a nearby building was a redheaded boy near her own age. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara."

"Oh. Hi there." The girl gave a relieved laugh. "I didn't see you." She looked at him, and the things she noticed the most where his eyes. They were heavily rimmed with black, as if the boy had never slept, and cat shaped. The most shocking thing about his eyes was their aquamarine color. He wore a cream-colored shirt of some kind that the girl had never seen before.

"You didn't answer my question." He told her. He didn't say it bossily, or like he was angry, but the girl flinched anyway. "Did you steal that apple from that man?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it stealing, per se." She looked at him innocently, her caramel eyes widening and her dark lashes batting. "The man was ripping people off. The apples weren't worth nearly as much as he was selling them for. I handed him as much as they were worth, and he handed me the fruit before he even counted the money. It was almost like we bargained and he accepted my price. But after I had left the stand, he noticed the amount he had been give and came after me."

"Aha!" A man's voice yelled and the large man from the fruit stand jumped out and grabbed the little girl by the wrist. He yanked her up, and she cried out in pain. "A confession!" He drew out a sword and brought it close to her hand. It touched her, and once again she cried as the cold blade sunk into flesh, a thin wave of red trickling down her arm. Her eyes became impossible wide; then they scrunched together.

Suddenly, there was a clang of metal as the blade hit the ground. The girl opened her eyes again, and she felt herself also being dropped by the man. She grasped at her wrist and stared up. The boy named Gaara had extended his hand, and the man was being constricted by millions, if not billions, of grains of sand in the shape of a fist. They raised him into the air slowly, until he was level with the rooftop.

"Why did you do that?" Gaara demanded. The girl was shocked at how different his voice sounded. It had gone from soft to rough and dry in an instant. The man looked above him in fright.

"G-Gaara-sama!" He stuttered.

"That doesn't answer my question!" Gaara thundered. He didn't notice the way that the girl shuddered. "Why did you try to hurt her?"

"She is a thief, Gaara-sama! She must pay the price of her thievery!" He shook. "The price is the hand she used to steal the apple, her left hand!"

"If you want some money," the boy spat, thrusting his hand into a concealed pocket and taking out several bills, "Take this!" He threw the money to the ground and dropped the man. "But don't hurt her! That's just wrong! Do you understand me?"

"Y-yes, Gaara-sama!" The man spluttered.

Gaara growled. "Then get out of my sight." The man backed into the small crowd now growing in the street and ran, without even taking the money or his blade. To the girl, Gaara said, "Are you alright?" His voice was soft again, she noted, and genially concerned.

She nodded. "How did you do that, Gaara-sama? The sand thing, I mean." She stared in wonder at the boy on the rooftop.

"I have a demon sealed inside of me- the demon of the sand, Shukaku. It gives me the ability to control sand." Gaara's voice was even softer, as if he was ashamed of this fact. "Is your hand okay?"

"It'll be okay." She assured him. She tore a little off of the bottom of the oversized shirt and wrapped it around her wrist. Luckily, the man had cut on the side without the vain.

His next question was not of concern, but of interest. "Do you live here?"

She shook her head. "No; I don't really live anywhere, actually. I was on my way out of here when I saw the apples, and I couldn't resist." She blushed. "I just had to have one."

"Oh." He looked at her, and for an instant, she saw loneliness in his eyes. "I suppose that you're leaving, then?"

"Yeah, I am." It was all she could think to say, but it was more than enough. For an instant, she wished her answer might've been no. "I might come back someday, though. It's nicer here than some of the other places I've been lately."

"You must not have been many places lately." Gaara muttered. The dark-haired girl laughed. He brightened a bit at the sound. "Well, if you're leaving, you should take that money." He nodded towards the bills lying motionless on the ground by her feet.

She started to collect it, but then she paused. "Won't you need it, Gaara-sama? This is an awful lot of money."

"Take it. I can get all that I need from my father."

"Alright, then." The girl took the money and placed it in her pocket. "Thank you for saving me, Gaara-sama, and for the money. I'll never forget this. Ever." She stood up and started to walk away.

When she was almost out of sight, he said, "Wait." She looked back at him without a word, and he asked, "What's your name?"

She beamed at him. "Tenshi." Then, she was gone.