Everything was closing in around me. People dropping off; bursting into crimson blood flowers with a single man's twist of long pale pianist fingers. He was killing them with graceful almost magical sand. It was beautiful, so beautiful I couldn't look away. While life was stopping around me, there he stood calmly staring back with sea foam green eyes. Raw power could be felt in the air I breathed in and I smiled. I let my fingers intertwine with my gold locks as I smiled at him. He was doing this show for me right? They were trying to hurt me. They were cruel people. They deserved death.

Suddenly it all stopped. My amethyst eyes widened as the sand slowly started to resemble a hand craddling my cheek. I let out a sound close to a purr and nestled my head into it. It reminded me of my father of the kindess that he showed toward me. The man came closer with his hand still controlling the magical sand. His dark burgandy red hair reminded me of the blood that was spilt like paint around me. Dark black coal make up seemed to outline his pretty eyes. I knew it wasn't make up because men don't wear make up. Then again men also aren't pretty.

He was though this man. I opened my eyes and stared at the man. Pushing off from the ground with my small pale limbs, my legs almost buckled from lack of use. Movement was awkward for me. My body seemed foreign but i could feel the bright orange sundress i had on cut short a few inches above my knees. The man was taller than me, my nose only reaching the middle of his broad chest. I smiled up at him again before hugging him gently.

The powerful man was shocked at what the girl was doing. Her long gold hair was tickling his skin and her gentle hands blended on top of his pale ebony skin. He did nothing to stop her. She could only have been two years younger than him, making her sixteen. He noticed that she was short which was saying something since the Kazekage wasn't that tall to begin with. The girl's breathe hit his shirt making him look down. They must have been a funny sight. His hair red. Her basically being all gold. They must have looked like a flame. Flames were pretty; wild too. He knew that he was wild, atleast a thing deep down in his body was. Was she to wild?

"Thank you." She wasn't afraid. Her father and mother died because of those people. The villagers said that her garden, her flowers, would kill them all so her parents had to die for protecting such a beast. Ironically enough the villagers died in the form of bloody roses. Beautiful bloody roses.

"Do you have any family to stay with?" The Kazekage asked ignoring what the hugging girl said. He was starting to get awkward standing in a room where the occupants were 20 but only 2 were alive. He couldn't understand why the girl was happy when he just mercilessly killed the many waterfall shinobi around them laying helter skelter across the floor.

"No... do you want to be my new papa?" By now the girl had grown serious, all the child like mirth leaving her eyes. The man pushed her away breaking the embrace. This girl couldn't possibly be serious. Why would she?

"What's your name?" The girl's throat ached. Why wouldn't he answer any of her questions? She gave him a pained smile.

"Lei. What's yours Papa?" Lei looked at the Kazekage with an awaiting stare. The Kazekage just nodded and turned to walk out of the room. Carelessy he lifted a hand beckoning her to follow. She looked like she had sturdy hands. Maybe Kankuro could use her somehow.

They slowly walked next to each other into the twilight, two very strange people. Lei looked at her feet while walking finding the crunching of autumn leaves quite interesting. The colors were perfect to her. They all matched each other somehow, by some greater being that knew contemplating people would just have to agree that they paired well with each other. Red. Yellow. Brown. Orange. She looked at the leaves before picking up a large brown leaf about the size of her palm. Lei closed her hand squeezing the leaf before staring up at the sky. There wasn't a moon out that night just thousands of stars. Did they see what happened tonight? Everything was quiet besides the almost silent whirl of sand that seemed to be confined in a large gorge on the Kazekage's back.

"Gaara. My name is Gaara." The girl smiled at her surrogate father before moving closer to the man. She smiled to herself as if knowing a secret that no one else did and happy that it was her own. Lei grabbed his hand into her small one. Gaara felt something in the palm of his hand when she held his and opened it. Inside there was a golden daisy. He looked around and couldn't find a patch of daisies anywhere nor could he recall Lei leaving the trail to go get one. Maybe she had it with her all along. Ignoring the flower and her hand, he began walking alone again. Lei didn't mind. She knew that he loved her. She was just glad she had a father again. Quickly she stumbled faster to catch up with the man letting her shinobi sandles make a scuffing noise.

I looked at Gaara as we started to venture into a desert climate. Could everyone control magical sand like he could? My mind couldn't think and hold its own monologue any more as the heat started getting to my head. I had long since pinned the gold tresses up carelessly in an intricate design to hold its long length. I thought i looked pretty but I didn't ask Papa. He didn't look like a man of many words. I could tell though they he knew many words, just didn't employ them in meaningless conversations. My cheeks were most likely a ruddy red color and contrasted greatly with my skin. Gaara didn't have to tell me this is where he lived I could just tell.

"Are we there yet?" Ah, yes this torturous game that every child loved to play to get a funny rise out of an greater authoritative figure. I could see the slight twitch in his emotionless facial expression.

"Really? Lei are you reall-"

"Yes. Are we there yet?"

"You're are sixteen years old, don't you thin-"

"Nope. Are we there yet?"

"You were silent the whole time why no-"

"Boredom, papa, boredom. Are we there yet?"

"Shut. the. hell. up."

"What?"

"You heard me. Shut the hell up."

The duo hadn't realized that they had gotten to the gates of Suna yet and that the two chunnin watching the gate where forced to listen to their conversation. They had never heard their Kazekage speak to anyone like that, not even the loud mouth shinobi from Konoha when he was especially obnoxious. Gaara realized the tension in the guards faces and raised a non existent eyebrow. They just nervously chuckled and scratched the back of their heads bashfully before bowing to him. Lei raised an eyebrow of her own. What exactly was her papa?

"Did you have a good mission Kazekage-sama?" the braver of the guards asked. He had long shaggy blonde hair and electric green eyes, rather smaller than a usual shinobi but he had great speed to make up for his lack of build. The other guard was slightly older in years and had a war worn face. Black hair and dark brown eyes made him look like a great dane.

"It was completed but I ended up wth a daughter somehow. She's kind of bothersome," Gaara said pointing to Lei as she was staring at all the tall grand sand buildings. The blonde looked shocked. Was the Kazekage making a joke? He never joked.

"Umm... congradulations?" Rarely did Gaara ever smile but he did a small one. He was somehow proud to have a daughter now, it made the kanji symbol on his forehead feel less heavy.

"Yes, thank you Ryo." After that the Kazekage nudged the gold girl before trudging back towards the mansion. Even though he will never admit it, Gaara missed Temari's horrible cooking and he missed Kankuro's moronic antics. Kyo just stood shocked and amazed that the Kazekage actually knew his name. Maybe Naruto did change him that one year of his first Chunnin exam.

Not to come off as rude he bellowed at their retreating figures, "Welcome home Kazekage-sama! Welcome home hime-chan!"

Lei smiled and threw her head back into the rays of the sun unceremoniously.

Yes, welcome home it was.