A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first fanfic, so please be gentle. This is a Gaara/OC story, but I promise it won't be the typical 'Gaara's lost, childhood friend who he attacked in a rage comes back as an assistant to the Kazekage and rescues/is rescued by Gaara' story. At least I hope it won't be.

Please note that I am sticking with the traditional Japanese way of introducing names, so the last name will be before the first name. For example, John Smith becomes Smith John. I'll also be using some common Japanese terms, and of course some Naruto terms in Japanese. You can find the meanings in an author's note at the bottom.

Enjoy!

Prologue:

"Sugoi! Fuuka-chan, your eye is so cool!"

"The design is pretty,"

"No, it's cool!"

"It looks like a doujutsu,"

"What does it do?"

"Sugoi! Fuuka-chan is so cool!"

"I thought there were only two,"

"No, my daddy said there were three doujutsu,"

Two brown eyes blinked, one which was interesting, and smiled at the fellow children crowding around. Tatsumaki Fuuka, the center of all the attention, basked in the praise and proudly answered, "No, it doesn't do any special jutsu like that. It's a genetic mutation that makes my eye look special."

Fuuka, of course, had no idea what a genetic mutation actually was. Neither did the other children. Both pretended that they did.

More excited chatter sounded around the six-year-old, boosting Fuuka's ego even further. At another sugoi, she smugly added, "It's very rare, only happens in my family, and even then only my great-aunt has ever had it. Besides me, of course."

In a matter of minutes, Fuuka had quickly become the leader of the group, picking the games and bending the rules to her whim. Together, the children raced down the streets of Sunagakure for hours, with many a giggle and sugoi! When time came for goodbyes and farewells, Fuuka had quite a bit of trouble struggling away from the 'sugoi kid', as she liked to call him, who had latched on to her as if she were his lifeline.

Humming a tune her mother would sing for her, with gritty sand in her shoes and flyaway hair, Fuuka walked towards home. Her parents had wanted her home early that day to pack. Mr. Tatsumaki, being an aspiring businessman, decided to leave Suna and become a travelling merchant. This was an exciting prospect for Fuuka, indeed. She would get to travel, explore new places, visit the other hidden villages! With a happy skip in her step, Fuuka rounded the corner and ran smack into another child.

Or she thought she did, because when she opened her eyes all she saw was a wall of sand. "Huh," she said to herself as she patted the strange wall, "Interesting."

Fuuka gazed intently at the wall of sand, before smartly knocking on it, and the sand instantly crumbled away. Heh, that'll show you, you stupid wall. Nobody messes with the amazing Tatsumaki Fuuka, she thought to herself, as if she actually did destroy the wall herself.

Dusting off the sand that had settled in her hair, she looked up to see the kid she thought she bumped into. At that moment, when their eyes locked, Fuuka's breath was taken away, as was the other child's.

The kid gazed at her in amazement, in awe. He was usually quiet and reserved, and his outspokenness in that moment proved his astonishment, "Different.. You look different, like me."

Fuuka was gaping as well, unable to speak. This…

"Your eyes are brown, but the right one has a green design, like a strand twisting and curling around your pupil,"

This boy…

"It's strange, but it goes nicely with your blonde hair, it looks like gold,"

This boy is…

"It's… you're very pretty," he declared shyly, a light blush tinting his cheeks.

… incredibly ugly!

Silence ruled the nearly empty street as Fuuka attempted to collect herself. Her mouth was open in a horrified gape as her eyes roved over the boy. Ghastly white skin screamed of sickness, and his eye bags were so pronounced and dark, it made her wince. She felt sick just looking at him. And that hair! She had no right to argue what with her eye, but that red hair was simply strange and out of place. A hideous red colour at that. His only redeeming quality was his sea green eyes, but even those could not help the rest of him.

"Would you like to play…" he trailed off, noticing that her amazement wasn't quite the same as his own.

"Absolutely not!" she screamed when she finally found her voice.

The boy's face darkened with sadness, hurt, and resignation. "I see," he said in a voice that shouted loneliness, and whispered acceptance. As if he faced rejection every day.

"I would never, and I mean never, play with a boy as ugly as you!" Fuuka spat, before running towards home, leaving the shocked and lonely boy alone in the sandy street.

A/N: Thank you for reading! So, what did you think? Tell me by reviewing, I welcome constructive criticism.

I also apologize to any Gaara fangirls who were insulted by Fuuka's description of him.

Sugoi: cool. Pretty much means, "Wow, that's great!"

Doujutsu: Eye Techniques, like the sharingan or the byakugan.