It was a rather warm spring day. The sun was out and shining, brightly reflecting on the small piles of snow still left from a rather long and cold winter. The remaining snow would probably melt during the afternoon, as it was already more slush than snow. Despite the sun, however, it still felt incredibly cold to certain individuals coming through the village gates. Used to the burning hot Suna sun and the scorching golden sand of the desert, Gaara and his siblings could help but feel chilly, especially seeing the snow still present in clumps across the village.

"How do they stand this weather?" Temari wondered out loud, knowing full well that the weather was worse during the winter. There was a reason Shikamaru visited her during the winter and not the other way around. She hated the cold.

She shrieked in surprise as a small but wet ball of slush splatted on the side of her head. The cold stabbed at her and water dripped down her neck, only to go soak the back of her shirt. Insulted, she stared at Kankurou, who grinned at her as though she would also find humor in his snow ball attack. "If you EVER do that again, I swear I am negotiating into you becoming a Leaf citizen." She threatened. Kankurou shrugged, knowing she would not (and could not for that matter) do such a thing. Temari threatened but never enacted those threats.

Gaara silently drew in a large breath of air, closing his eyes. He successfully ignored his siblings bickering, something that was easy to do after years of practice. Shikamaru still did not have the reflex to simply ignore. If Temari knew you were listening, she would find a way to draw you into the argument. The best strategy was to pretend to have no idea what was going on. Most of the time, she wouldn't bother explaining everything to you and would simply leave you alone.

Although he would not inform his siblings of this, Gaara was rather happy to be back in Konoha. Or at least, he thought it was happiness. It didn't feel exactly like happiness. His heart was clenched and his stomach was churning. Yet, he felt good… very good. It didn't feel like the happiness he felt when he became Kazekage, or when he saw Naruto. He felt like he was going to be sick but he was happy about it. Gaara had never been more confused about his emotions. Somehow, he thought, this is because of her. He hadn't seen her since the Chunin exams and had not given her a single thought since either. Suffice to say, he had other things on his mind. He hadn't seen her, up until his last visit to the Leaf. It was a brief encounter, but the fact that he had played it over a thousand times in his mind made it seem as though it had lasted hours.

It had been much colder then, although it was only a few weeks past, so he really could not understand why Temari was complaining. He had just been exiting a meeting with Tsunade and her council, to discuss medic exchange programs. During the harsh winter, he had sent over several medics to help the hospital deal with the various cases of hypothermia and sickness. Injured ninja were at an even higher risk of death in the winter, where being alone, injured could lead to your blood freezing and hypothermia, not to mention the various diseases which would be more than happy of your vulnerable state. Now that winter was past, a dangerous time in Suna was approaching. The hot summer was very very dry and the risk of dehydration and heat strokes was alarming. He was asking for help in return for the help he had provided. Given that it was logical course for Tsunade to comply with the request, the meeting had turned out to be very boring. He had exited relieved, simply wanting to head back home to the warmth. His pace had been quick and he was not particularly careful. As he turned a corner, he saw a dark dot and felt something warm press firmly against him. In an instant, the warmth was gone and replaced by a dull thud and small squeal. He looked down.

The figure quickly got up, clumsily so. It turned to him. Large doe eyes looked at him questioningly. They were a pearly white color, framed by dark bangs. Her cheeks were pink from embarrassment and as she looked up at him, her lips parted and she whispered "Sorry Kazekage-sama". Suddenly she bowed and held herself up again. She looked at him expectantly and suddenly, Gaara was aware of how silent he was being. He tried to say something but his throat seemed so dry, he couldn't get any words out. Finally, he gave a curt nod of the head and she avoided his gaze, turning redder. She scurried away and he was left there, confused.

He had been confused ever since. He couldn't even remember her name, but he thought about her a great deal. Was it because she was pretty? He knew plenty of what he would consider pretty girls, but didn't think about them more than necessary. Kankurou had once told him that he would one day feel lust, but he didn't believe him. He was above such a primal instinct.

He wondered what she would look like without her oversized jacket

…. Damn…

-o-

Chiasa yawned and stretched her hands above her head until she heard the satisfying pop of her joints. From the desk across from her, Maika glared at her.

"That is very bad for you", she stated for what seemed to Isae to be the hundredth time. She rolled her eyes, "I know, I know. Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical, with all your smoking?". The older woman blinked slowly, obviously too old to care, "Eh, I'm gonna be dead in a few years. What should I care?".

Maika was an older woman, probably around her 50s, according to Chiasa's estimations, although she had never risked asking her. She had greying hair which had once been a stunning purple, from the photos she had shown Chiasa. Now, it looked like a lavender color. Her skin had wrinkles spread out, especially around her eyes. Hey eyes, however, seemed unaffected by her aging and remained the beautiful gold color she had seen in the photos. Maika had been quite the beauty. She had, however, acquired the habit of putting on a lot of makeup to distract from her aging. Electric blue eyeliner lined her eyes and bright red lipstick popped on her lips. Her cheeks were so red it was like she had come in from a cold winter day. Chiasa still thought she was beautiful. Until she coughed. She coughed an old smoker's cough: it was gritted and rough, almost like she was going to stop breathing every second. Her voice vibrated to a lower key than Chiasa guessed it had in her youth and even attained gritty notes where it seemed she would lose her voice as it got drier.

They were quite the pair: one of them looked like a rainbow of colors and the other one was rather… well… blah. Brown hair and brown eyes. In a place where there was the possibility of having literally any color as your hair and eye color, Chiasa couldn't help but feel she had been cheated. She could have loved her brown hair if it had been paired with icy blue eyes, or stormy grey ones or bright purple ones. But no, she was stuck with brown eyes. They weren't very romantic either. No man would say something like "I seem our future life together reflected in your muddy brown eyes".

Shaking her head, she got back to work. Currently, she was digging through old folders, looking for certain records. The social service department was in severe need of organization and nobody really wanted to do it. Since this was a ninja town, there were so many orphan papers and adoptions papers that going through the past 30 years of it would be the equivalent of making the conscious decision to drown and die in paperwork.

"Aha!" she exclaimed, retrieving a faded yellow folder with the typed name: 'Hiru Aiato'. Opening his file, she grimaced. It was a story they were used to hearing, but that didn't make it any less sad. Aiato was born to two shinobi parents. His mother, Futuya Ai, died on a mission when he was 3. His father died of the same cause only last year. He had been immediately placed in an orphanage and put up for adoption. Although the story was sad, the good news remained. Aiato had been adopted. A couple from a village just on the outskirts of Konoha had visited the orphanage and decided to take him in. From what the couple had explained to her, they were infertile but loved children and just couldn't imagine not raising any.

Aiato was a sweet little boy. Chiasa was happy for his adoption, knowing he would adjust well. However, adoption rates were still very low and for every child that was adopted, another 5 remained in the orphanage. Not only that, but among those who were adopted, there was a chance that they would end up in an abusive household. That was where the social work department came in. Not only did they organize adoptions, but they also investigated adopting families, abusive couples, at risk families, and single parent households. That also meant interacting with a lot of shinobi and widows.

This adopting couple, however, seemed perfect. Once they heard they had gotten approved by the services, they immediately started preparing a bedroom, which they were more than happy to show Chiasa. It was a bright green color with animals painted all around. The few toys they had were put into a bright orange basket. The woman had shyly admitted "We don't really know what kind of toys he likes, so we only got him a few".

Although she was very happy with this current situation, she couldn't help but be angry with his situation. Why would a parent risk their life when they had a small child to take care of?

She pushed hose thoughts aside and handed the document to Maika, who also read it over. "Great, I thought we would never find it! It's important that these people be aware of his personal and medical history". Chiasa nodded and looked at the time. Five o'clock, which meant in no uncertain terms that it was time for them to leave. Finally.

As they walked out, Maika lit a cigarette. She drew a long breath and breathed it out, relishing the taste and smoke. "Mind picking the kid up tomorrow? Heard from Kaori-san. Apparently he isn't handling leaving too well" she said, blowing out more smoke. Chiasa sneezed. With spring coming, it meant pollen was coming too. She hated spring. "Sure" she said simply. Children rarely reacted well to adoption initially. They didn't understand how lucky they were. They only thought about the friends they were leaving behind. A fear of abandonment was common in the orphaned children of shinobi.

Everyone fears abandonment, especially children. After the people who are supposed to love you most abandon you, you begin to think it was because of you.