A/N: Yes, for a seven-year-old Rika's very mature and has a bit of a mouth on her... I'm sorry if my writing isn't all that good, and I'll try and put up new chapters soon!!!!

~Done in Rika's P.O.V.~

Her fingers danced in tune with the melody she played on the piano. "Mama," asked her as I rested my head on her lap. She stopped playing and smiled over at me. The sunlight that beamed into our music room made her light brown hair and pale skin shine. She reminded me of an angel.

"Yes love, what is it," she questioned with a loving smile. I looked away from her and at the keys.

"Mama, can you teach me how to play?" I tilted my head to the side so I could look up into her purple eyes. Her smile grew as she nodded. "Really?!" She nodded again, this time with a small giggle, and helped me onto the pianist bench so I could sit next to her.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a while, I felt the presence of someone else. My fingers stopped trailing after my mothers and I turned around on the bench to see who was in the music room with us.

"Onii-chan" I cried. My big brother, Mitsuru, stood in the doorway.

"Hey Ri," he smiled. As he walked towards us the morning sun embraced him too, making his long black hair shine a dark blue.

"Mitsu," my mother's soft angelic voice rang out, "aren't you supposed to be on your way to class?" His hazel eyes sparkled underneath his bangs.

"Yeah, but mom, I was hoping that Ri could walk me to the grounds." Mother looked at me and I gave her a big smile.

"Oh mama, can I please," I begged. Before she could answer, a sudden shock was sent down my spine, making my whole body shudder from the negative energy. My head snapped towards the doorway, only to find my father towering behind my brother in the shadows. His bangs covered his eyes and he had his head tilted down. Mitsuru's relaxed smile was now an uneasy frown. Mother gently wrapped her arms around me, hugged me close to her and whispered in my ear,

"Go with your brother Rika." I nodded and hugged her back. Once she let go of me I hopped off the bench. As soon as my bare feet hit the soft white carpet, I knew something was wrong. I paused for just a moment to take in the new feeling the music room now held. It was normally a happy and relaxed place. If it were a color, it would be white. However, now that father was here, the room felt black; full of negative emotions. .....I didn't like it. Father never used to bring such a dark aura into the house.

"C'mon Ri," Mitsuru said in an unsteady voice. I nodded and ran over to him. I tried to look up at fathers face as I passed, but when I did, I saw that his coal-colored eyes were full of an emotion I had never seen before. I quickly gripped my brother's hand and looked down at the carpet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Onii-chan," I asked. We had been walking for a while in silence, and I felt the need to make conversation. He didn't bother to look over at me to answer, but he did let out a quiet 'huh' in response. "Why is it that mama never sings anymore?" There was a slight hesitation in his next step. When I didn't get an immediate response I started to wonder if I had said something wrong.

"It's because father's....." his voice trailed off. I looked up at him with curious eyes hoping he would finish, but he didn't. He was hiding something from me, and I could tell he wasn't going to give his secret up easily.

"Rika," he said and stopped walking. I stopped too and turned to face him. "How old are you?"

"Don't you know?" He was starting to worry me...

"Just answer," he said with a glare.

"Seven," I sighed. He crouched down so he was eye level to me.

"Then worry about seven-year-old stuff, 'kay?" I nodded, and he smiled. "Good girl!" He placed his hand on my head and messed up my hair.

"Hey!!" My hands raced up to fend his away. He quickly let go of my head and my hands replaced his; trying to shield my hair in case of another attack.

"Now," he stood up and looked in the direction of the school, "I'm gonna' go. I'll be home later, 'kay?" I glared at him and didn't say anything. He turned to look at me then smirked. "Take your time getting back home..." his smirk faded and he turned his head away from me again. "No need to rush." I was about to ask him what he meant but he started to walk away from me and towards the school.

I stood there for a moment or two trying to guess what he was hiding, while trying to fix my hair. When I couldn't think of anything I started to walk around the school grounds. Out of boredom, I began to sing quietly to myself and wandered over towards what looked like a kick-ball field.

"Get away from us" Someone yelled. My attention was quickly drawn to a group of kids that looked around Mitsuru's age. They were standing about a yard or two away from some ginger kid that was probably my age. Curiosity taking over me, I walked over towards them to see what was going on.

"Go away you monster," a girl with long brown hair screamed. Rage suddenly began to build up inside of me. Why would anyone be so mean to a cute little ginger kid?! He looked harmless! In fact, he looked like he was about to cry!! I would not stand for this.

"Hey" I yelled. Everyone's heads snapped in my direction. "What did he ever do to you?!" A black haired boy took a step towards me and glared down at me.

"Do you have any idea who he is," he growled. I didn't let his little show intimidate me.

"Do you have any idea how rude you're being? Did your parents ever teach you right from wrong? Last time I checked bullying was greatly frowned upon," I shot back at him (good thing Mitsuru and I always got into fights; otherwise I wouldn't have any snappy comebacks). No way was I going to stand for this, ever. The redhead gave me a confused look; it was like he didn't understand what was going on... The black-haired jerk on the other hand gave me a cold glare.

"You're not from around here, are you?!" I shook my head and said,

"No, I moved here from Konaha about a month or two ago."

"Tsk, figures," The girl with brown hair mumbled and took a step closer to me. She pointed to the ginger kid and growled, "He's a monster. He'll kill you the first chance he gets!"

"What is your name," the boy asked me, totally ignoring the girl. I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Rika Tetnomi." The other boys grew a little tense and the girls started to act odd (it looked like they were swooning, but I couldn't be sure).

"T-Tetnomi?!" Why was everyone acting so strange?

"Yeah," I growled. I knew I had to sound tough or else they'd try and hurt me... Onii-chan said that in times like this all I had to do was mention Tetnomi and act 'big', otherwise, I would be beaten up.

"Mitsuru-kun... are you his little sister," the brown-haired girl asked me. The look in her eyes had changed completely. Just a few seconds ago she looked like she was about to chop my head off or something like that. Now, her eyes held compassion and kindness. I nodded and took this moment to catch a glimpse of the redhead. He was shaking a little bit – probably because he was still getting death glares of doom from random kids – and I noticed that he was holding a teddy bear in his arms.

"You're related to that hot-shot Mitsuru," a blue-haired boy yelled. I wasn't sure if that was a supposed to be a question or a statement. When I turned to face him, I caught a glimpse of something shiny in his left hand.

"Dude, he'll kill you if you mess with his little sis," another kid said to him and placed his hand on the blue-haired-jerk. He shrugged the kid away and glared daggers at me.

"Let's see how much of a hot-shot he is when his sister is no longer alive" he cried and flicked his wrist just right so that the shiny thing (just my luck, it was a kunai knife) shot out straight at my heart. I slammed my eyes shut and threw my hands up to try and block it, even though I knew that wouldn't do a thing to help me.

When a few seconds passed and I didn't feel any pain, I allowed myself to take a peek; what I saw shocked me. There was a thick wall of sand that stood between me and the group of kids that blocked the kunai. A few minutes of dead silence passed and I tried to figure out where this wall had come from.

"R-run," someone screamed, and they all took off. I, on the other hand, stood there frozen with shock. The sand began to slowly crumble and the wall fell down, leaving the kunai and that redhead, before me.

"T-thank you," the boy whispered, and tilted his head down so I couldn't see his eyes. I slowly lowered my arms and turned my head so I could look at him.

"W-wha...," I started to say but quickly stopped. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out then tried again. "So, you're the one who... saved me?" My voice was a little uneasy and I was scared that he might thing that I was going to go off on him like the other kids did. For some odd reason I didn't feel scared at all. In fact, I felt completely safe. He held onto his bear even tighter and gave me a single nod as his answer. I smiled at him and took a step or two towards him. "What's your name?" He lifted his head up and had that shocked look in his eyes.

"You're not... going to run away from me?" I took another step closer to him.

"Why would I run away?" He looked over at the kunai that laid in the mass of sand. I let out a quiet sigh.

"I've seen worse." Why didn't this feel strange to me? He looked back at me and didn't say anything. "You didn't answer me though..." my smile faded and I clasped my hands behind my back."What's your name?"

"G-Gaara." I smiled again and giggled a little.

"That's a pretty name! Mine's Rika!"

"Yeah, I know. Your brother is Mitsuru... My brother and sister talk about him a lot." My eyes lit up and my smile grew even bigger. I was making progress. Maybe I could make him my friend.

"Really?! You have siblings too?"

"Yeah," he winced.

"That's so cool! I've always wanted a sister!!" He looked back at the ground and squeezed his bear.

"But... they don't like me that much... no one does." I felt obligated to make him feel better. After all, nobody should ever have to feel alone.

"Well," I started and walked over to him so that I was only a few inches away, "I don't see why not." His eyes widened and a slight blush crossed his cheeks. I smiled and giggled again. "I think you're cute!" He looked up at me and smiled. Yes!! Now all I have to do is continue to make him feel happy!

"Thanks." I brushed a lock of my short blood-reddish-brown hair behind my ears. I really hope I can make him my friend; I didn't have any here in Suna. ...That reminded me,

"By the way, why where all those kids scared of you?" His smile faded and he looked back at the ground again. "Uh!! N-no! I-I-I didn't mean to- - I-I'm sorry I...ugh!!" I clutched my hands close to my heart, closed my eyes and tilted my head down too. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt his feelings. A few seconds of awkward silence passed and I began to feel like a horrible person for asking such a personal question.

"It's okay," I heard him say with a slight giggle in his voice. I opened my eyes and looked up into his. The aqua color shined in the sun and I saw the bags that hung under his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping very well... "It's because I- -" He cut himself off last minute and blushed a little again.

"It's okay!" I smiled at him, trying to make him feel more comfortable around me. "Whatever it is I promise I won't end up like the others." He winced again. Stupid curiosity of mine, I should just drop the subject.

"I-I-I have this..... Thing..... inside of me....." He clutched his bear and closed his eyes. Thing? What did he mean by 'thing'? "I-I can't sleep... the sand... I can't get hurt... I-I killed my mom..... when I was born.....I-I-I didn't mean to though....." He looked like he was about to cry. Dang it! How could I let myself ask such a thing to someone I hardly knew?! My mind began to spin and I swear I could feel his sadness start to seep into me. Hesitantly, I gently wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin on his shoulder.

"It's okay," I whispered in his ear. I could tell that he didn't know what to do, and to be honest I wasn't really thinking about my actions. The only thing that my mind was thinking was 'we have to fix this. We made him feel bad'. At first, we just stood there, not saying anything. Then, he slowly moved his arms (being careful to still hang on to his bear) and hugged me back; burying his face into my shoulder. "Please Gaara, don't cry." I whispered again, and held him tighter; I could tell that he really needed a hug.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Really?! Your dad is the Kazekage?!" Gaara smiled and nodded. We ended up walking over to the swing-set and started talking to each other about random stuff. I was happy to just sit here with him. I haven't been able to make any friends yet and I was glad that I could make him happy. I thought that he needed it... being sad and alone all the time can't be good.

"Yeah, and he said that in a few years I can start at the ninja school with my brother and sister!" Gaara's eyes had really lightened up scene we started talking.

"My brother said that- -" I quickly stopped myself and let out a small gasp. Mama wanted me to help her clean the house today!!!

"What is it, Rika," Gaara asked, sounding a little worried.

"I-It's just that, I promised my mama that I'd help her around the house today, and it's getting pretty late." I smiled at him and jumped off the swing I was sitting on. I didn't want to leave him, but I knew that I had to. "I'm really sorry Gaara, but I gotta' go!" I waved to him and was about to start running when some sand wrapped around my right ankle.

"W-wait!!" He cried. His voice felt like a dagger to my heart. I knew he didn't have any friends, and I felt guilty for having to leave him alone again.

"It's okay," I said and turned my head back to look at him. "I'll be back tomorrow, promise!!" I smiled at him, giving him the peace sign, and he gave me a small nod. "I'm sorry that I can't stay any longer." He smiled and the sand let go of me. I waved again and took off running as fast as I could; hoping that father wasn't upset with me... I hated it when he got angry.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was crouched down just a few yards away from home - trying to catch my breath - when all of the sudden I got a feeling of dread in my chest that was so strong, it made it hard to breath. I quickly surveyed the property my fathers' clan owned. All the lights were off and I couldn't hear anyone talking; not even mama playing on the piano. The setting sun made everything look creepy, which didn't help my growing fear. I took a few more deep breaths before dashing towards the door and cracking it open a little to poke my head inside.

"Mama," I called out, hoping that someone would answer me. My voice echoed throughout my home and I waited a second or two before I quietly walked in, not bothering to take my shoes off. The first place I went was the music room mama and I had been in earlier. As soon as I was there, my eyes were drawn to a lump in the middle of the floor. I tried to make it out, but the trees that hid the dissipating sun's light made everything seem dark and colorless.

Without really thinking, I walked over to the lump, only to realize that it was my mother lying on her tummy. Fear began to overwhelm me, but I quickly pushed it aside and sat down next to her.

"Mama," I cooed to her. When she didn't respond, I rolled her over and looked into her face, only to find her eyelids still closed. She's just sleeping… she'll wake up soon, I told myself as I lay my head down on her stomach - trying to ignore the warm liquid I could feel seeping out from her chest and side.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rika..." Someone called out. It sounded like Mitsuru, but... wasn't he at school? My eyes fluttered open and I looked around me. It was fairly dark out and some stray beams of moonlight shown into the music room, making everything have an eerie glow to it. "Come on Rika..... We have to go....." It was Mitsuru. I lifted my head and rubbed away something that seemed to have dried onto my cheek. When I did, everything came rushing back to me. I looked up at my big brother and almost started crying.

"Some kids tried to hurt me." He looked at me with an odd expression. It was not the same look father had earlier this morning, but it looked just as strange to me. He slowly lifted his hand up towards my face and rubbed my cheek with his sleeve, not saying a word to me. Even though it was dark, I could see the red tint my cheek left behind on his white shirt. It was then that it hit me. Her tummy didn't move up and down as I was laying on her, her body had no warmth to it, the liquid that was seeping from her… was blood, and Mitsuru looked -and sounded- like he was trying not to cry. I lowered my head and tried not to burst into tears. "Mama's not sleeping..... is she?" My voice was so frail and broken that it did not even sound like I had said anything at all… His silence was all I needed as an answer. I looked back at my mother's life-less body and gently stroked her face. Who would do something like this to her? She had such a good heart.

"Rika..." Mitsuru whispered. "We can't stay here, we have to go."

"B-but... mama..." We couldn't just leave her here. Why did he want to leave?

"I know. But we can't stay here."

"Why?!" I could feel my tears coming down my face. "She's our mother!! We have to find father and- -"

"Father's dead too," Mitsuru cut me off, raising his voice to match mine. I just looked at him. Father was gone too. But... why?! Who would do this to them? To us?! I started heaving and my tears no longer stayed inside of me. Why would anyone take them away from us?

"Father..." he stopped in mid sentence again. I held my breath and looked him in the eyes, only to see that same expression he had before. He lowered his head and started shaking. "I-I saw him... before he died...he's..." I whipped away my tears but they quickly came right back. "He killed her..... And himself." For a few short second I swear my heart stopped. I didn't know how to react to this. My body got cold and all my muscles grew tense. It felt as though chains were pulling at my heart and I forgot how to breathe.

"Wh..... what? Are you..... Are you sure?" My voice was so quiet I could hardly hear myself. Mitsuru looked up at me and I could see his eyes beginning to tear up. Mitsuru never cried, not even when he broke his arm in training. Seeing him like this made me realize that he was feeling the same as me… if not worse. My maturity took over and my body became numb.

"We'll be okay," I told the both of us as I gently clingged onto my brother.