Chapter 1

"Out of my way!" a young female voice called.

Temari looked into the crowded street of the Sand Village in the direction she had heard the voice. Her accompanying brother, Kankurou, looked, as well.

"Excuse me! Please, move!" A girl with long, snow-white hair emerged from the crowd, cautiously looking over her shoulder for pursuers. She ran without looking in front of her, only behind.

Kankurou turned to face her, as did his sister, to see what the trouble was. As the girl turned to watch where she was running, she ran smack into Kankurou, feeling as if she'd just hit a brick wall as the impact caused her to fall to the ground.

"Ow…" she mumbled as she rubbed her head sorely. The girl gasped with a glance behind her, "Oh, no."

The siblings looked up to see three men, obviously from another village, emerge from the crowd. Kankurou looked down to find the girl frantically scurrying to crawl and hide behind him. Temari noticed it, too, and stepped in front, hands on her hips.

"What seems to be the problem here, boys?" She made it obvious that she wasn't about to accept any bull answers.

The men stopped in front of her and one said, "There'll be no problem as long as you hand over the girl." Another one of the men tapped on the first's shoulder and pointed in Kankurou's direction. When the first looked where the other was pointing, he muttered, "Damn, she's gone," and they were off.

Kankurou blinked, confused, and turned around to see that there was a boulder where the girl had been. Neither of them recalled hearing the familiar 'poof' noise heard in transformations or substitutions so they began to look at the large rock intently.

Temari jumped back in surprise when she saw a pair of eyes on the rock look at her and blink. Kankurou looked to see what had startled his sister and saw the eyes. They looked at him and he heard the girl's voice ask, "Are they gone?"

Kankurou raised an eyebrow; he'd never seen a jutsu like this. "Uh… Yes?" He was expecting a 'poof' for her to transform back, but there was none. The girl's bodily features quickly became more defined as she uncurled on herself and stood up. Soon, she appeared completely normal while she looked around for signs of the men.

Temari was first to speak. "What's your name? I'm Temari and this is Kankurou."

The girl blinked, almost caught off guard with the question. "Soichi. Soichi Raito of the Snow."

"The Snow? That's pretty far from here," the puppet-loving brother pointed out.

Temari disregarded it and asked, "Why were those men after you? And what was that jutsu?"

Soichi looked at the ground, taking a few locks of her hair and stroking it nervously. "Because, I… I'm…" Her eyes looked away and she fell silent. It became apparent to them that she wasn't going to answer.

Kankurou leaned over and muttered into his sister's ear, "I think we should take her to Gaara. He'll know what to do."

Temari nodded and answered quietly, "Right." Looking at the nervous girl, she smiled. "Let's go to the Kazekage. He'll be able to help you."

Soichi nodded as the two Sand siblings led her to the Kazekage's office, having her wait out in the hall with Temari while Kankurou went in to explain the situation.

"And she displayed some sort of strange transformation jutsu without any hand signs. What do you make of it?" Kankurou stood patiently in front of his brother's desk.

Gaara set aside some paperwork. "How old is the girl?"

"She appears to be no more than two years younger than you. So, approximately thirteen or fourteen years old, I'd say."

The redheaded Kazekage thought a moment before looking up at his brother. "Send her in."

Kankurou nodded and retreated to the door and stepped out, nodding to Soichi and showed her inside. However, Temari and he stayed in the hall, leaving the two in there alone.

Soichi took a few steps toward the desk and jumped back when she recognized Gaara's face. Even in the Land of Snow, she knew who he was.

Gaara merely sighed. 'Great… Another person who's afraid of me.' "You're afraid of Shukaku, too, I suppose?"

She regained her composure with a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted that way. I just didn't expect to run in to…" she began to nervously stroke her white locks again.

"Yes? Run into what?" he asked curiously.

"Run in to…" Soichi's grey, icy-blue eyes gazed up into his. "Another Jinchuuriki."

Gaara didn't quite understand. "What do you mean?"

She looked down and closed her eyes with a sigh, lifting her shirt to uncover her stomach and reveal the seal that kept the demon locked in her body. After a moment, she slowly lowered her shirt and looked to her right with downcast eyes.

It made sense to him now. Why those men were after her, the hand sign-less transformation, and even her reluctance to explain those things to Temari and Kankurou.

There was a deafening silence before Gaara managed to ask, "Care to tell me which demon it is?"

"Houkou," was her simple answer.

"So, I take it those men wanted to take you back to the Land of Snow?"

Soichi nodded, still looking away. She folded her arms, rubbing one with her hand as if she was cold. "They think I'm too dangerous… That I might hurt someone."

Gaara looked her over, taking her in with his eyes and sizing her up. She seemed uncomfortable there, nervous to be talking to someone, like she expected him to be angry. Still, she didn't strike him as dangerous. They only believed that because she was a container.

Gaara looked at her lonely figure for a moment before he called out, "Temari?"

She stumbled in, having been attempting to listen through the door. "Yes?"

He looked at Soichi again and back at Temari. "Help Soichi get a new set of clothes, clean up, and something to eat. As of now, she is my official guest here."

Soichi looked up at him in disbelief and whispered, "What?"

"You can stay here as long as you like." Gaara gave her a comforting smile as Temari escorted her out the door.

After they left, Kankurou walked in with a smirk on his face. "I saw that."

The Kazekage blinked innocently. "Saw what?"

Kankurou's smirk widened into a grin. "You like her, don't you?"

Gaara's face flushed. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

The older brother snickered. "I knew it! It's written all over your face!"

***

Temari led Soichi to a shop in the marketplace. The younger girl looked around curiously. "What are we doing here?"

"To get you some clothes, of course. Pick out anything you like," Temari smiled. The two looked at a lot of clothes, most at the sand shinobi's suggestion, until they finally decided on an outfit.

Once it was paid for, Temari escorted Soichi to a guest room and bathroom to clean up. Temari was about to leave when the snow ninja stopped her.

"Um, Temari?" She held the neatly-folded clothes awkwardly in her arms.

Temari turned in the middle of the doorway to look at her. "Yeah, what is it?"

Soichi blushed a little and looked down at the clothes. "Nothing; never mind."

The blonde shrugged. "Once you're finished, just come down the hall, if you're hungry," she said as she disappeared into the corridor.

She sighed, lifting her arms to her hair to untie the half-pony her hair was in. 'Why are they being so nice to me?' Soichi pulled out the tie and allowed the rest of her hair to fall. Her bangs touched just past her shoulders, and the rest flowed like a peaceful river to her lower back. If there was one thing she ever took pride in, it was her hair.

Soichi took off her clothes and climbed in the shower. Thinking all the while as she cleansed herself. Working up a lather of soap in her hands, she tried to reason things inside her head. 'Are they being nice just because I'm the Kazekage's guest? No… No matter what his opinion of me may be, people have their own minds.'

Rubbing the soap on her body, she thought more. 'Why is Gaara being so nice to me, anyway? Would he really do all this for me just because we're both Jinchuurikis?'

Once Soichi rinsed all the soap off, she reached for a towel and began to dry off. She just couldn't stop thinking about Gaara and how benevolent he was being to her. 'I'll just have to be careful and watch my back,' she picked up a brush and took it to her hair, 'just like I always have.'

***

After recovering from his brother's accusations, Gaara proceeded in completing paperwork that littered his desk. He scoffed to himself at the thought. 'How could Kankurou think that I would like Soichi that way?' He tried to shake the thoughts from his head while he worked.

'She doesn't seem to have even been around people that much. It was like she was scared just to be alone in a room with someone.' Of course, he couldn't blame her. Being a Jinchuuriki, she must've expected the worst. So, it didn't surprise him in the least.

Gaara scratched his head in frustration. How was he supposed to concentrate on work when he couldn't stop thinking about Soichi? 'Damn Kankurou…' He stood up with a deep breath and left the room. 'Maybe I just need a bit of a break, that's all.'

He walked around for a while until he found himself in the kitchen. The young Kazekage scanned the countertop until his eyes hit their desired target: a jar of chocolate chip cookies. Gaara began looking around for sight of his siblings; Temari had a fit whenever he had sweets, especially cookies.

When he concluded that the coast was clear, he snatched up the jar and set the lid on the countertop. "Mine!" Gaara announced to himself happily while he claimed a cookie for his own.

Soon enough, he heard someone coming down the hall to the kitchen. Mentally cursing himself, Gaara snatched one last cookie before setting down the jar.

Soichi walked in and looked around, only finding the open cookie jar on the countertop. Something seemed odd and she couldn't help but look up to find none other than the Kazekage on the ceiling with a cookie in his mouth.

She looked up at him and blinked. "Uh… Sir? What are you doing up there?"

"Nothing," came the redhead's cookie-muffled response as he came down. "I thought you might've been Kankurou or Temari." Gaara gave her a small, nervous smile, taking the cookie from his mouth. "They don't think I should be having sweets."

Soichi returned the smile. "Your secret's safe with me, Lord Kazekage." She gave a nod and turned to leave. "Sorry if I disturbed you. I can just come back later."

"No, that's all right. And you don't need to be so formal. 'Gaara' is fine." Gaara reached in the jar and held out one of the cookies to Soichi.

She came back in the kitchen with a sheepish smile as she took the treat. "Thanks."

He only shrugged as the two leaned against the countertop side-by-side as they nibbled on their cookies. "That's a nice outfit. Did Temari pick it out?"

Soichi glanced down at her new clothes. She was wearing black shorts with a red turtleneck tank top. The material was thin enough so she would still be comfortable wearing it in the desert heat. "Yeah, she did." She smiled up at him, proud of her choice of clothes.

Her silky snow-white hair was still damp from the shower so it wasn't pulled back in any way. Soichi could never do anything with her hair while it was wet except perhaps braid it so she chose just to leave it down. It flowed over her shoulders as the two stood in silence, the only sounds coming from their munching.

"Soichi?"

She raised her head to look at him.

"May I ask what brought you here to the Sand Village?" Gaara faced her as he asked, simultaneously finishing off his cookie.

Soichi was quiet for a moment, finishing her own chocolate-chipped snack, before she answered. "I didn't intend on coming here. Not at first, anyway. All I could think of is that I had to run; to get away."

She stared off into space at the floor, deep in thought as if watching something only she could see. "Those men that were after me didn't even realize I was gone until after I had left the Land of Snow."

Soichi diverted her eyes to the ceiling, still staring off into space while Gaara watched and listened carefully. "It took them a while to find me. I believe I was near the Sound Village, when they did. I just started running. It was all I could do."

Gaara waited a moment to see if she would continue before asking, "Why did you leave? What were you running from?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You know how it is. We are only to be used in times of war. In the meantime, everyone else simply treats you however they want, if they even come near you…" The last part was said in a barely audible mumble. For a moment, he even wondered if he heard it correctly.

When Soichi spoke up again, she sounded happier, more cheery. "Like I said, I had no intentions on coming here, especially not running into you." She opened her eyes and smiled at him. "But I'm glad I did."

Author's Note: This story has absolutely nothing to do with Kurisutaru: The Kind-Hearted Shinobi so people don't get confused. This is like... a fanfiction of a fanfiction, of sorts. The characters and family background are the same, but the storyline is different (such as meeting Naruto when Soichi was eleven rather than 14 in a later chapter). Please enjoy, read my other stories, and leave reviews 3 Critiqueing is very welcome!