I've had a few stories I've been wanting to put up for a while now and I've decided on this one. Why? I dunno. So you're all welcome to criticize if you feel the need.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the characters of Naruto (wish i did though). They are not my property, unless of course it is a plushie, but i'm still convincing my 'rents to get me some of them.

Anyway, enjoy the story and let me know if you liked it..

Gaara of the Desert

'It's easier to travel when you're not being blinded by a bright light.' I thought as I stopped jumping through trees to shield my eyes from the light. The light cleared and I took a few seconds to look around; I saw a girl steadying herself, she didn't look like any of the girls around here. I jumped down and watched as she drew herself into a defensive position; so, she knew how to fight?

"Who are you?" She asked me.

I didn't answer, I was busy taking in what she looked like; she had long, black-red hair and silver eyes, she was wearing a black jacket with silver zippers up and down all over it and a pair of black jeans with chains hanging from them and black combat boots.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

"I don't have to answer to you." I said coldly.

"Alright then, could you tell me where I'm at?" Asked the girl as she looked towards me, but not directly at me; had she not known where I'd been standing to begin with?

"You're near my home, I'm wondering why." I replied icily.

"I'm wondering that myself." She said and appeared to go off into thought; that wasn't smart as she didn't know where she was or who I was. I looked at her, she wasn't anything special and she was distracted, it was too tempting, I wanted blood. I looked at her a second more and struck at her with my sand- by now I hope you know who I am- and watched her face become that of shock. She raised her arms and countered with an attack of her own using sand as well. "What the bloody hell are you playing at?"

"I'm not the one who went unfocused." I said emotionlessly. "I want to know who you are and why you can do that with the sand."

"What do you mean, can't you do the same thing. You only attacked me with sand. If you want to know who I am, you'll have to tell me who you are." She said looking in my direction, but once again not directly at me.

"You're very annoying."

"And you sound like a jerk."

"What do you mean I sound like?"

"Exactly what I said."
"Can't you see me?"

"No, I'm blind. I thought you figured that out."

"I'm not that close to tell."

"Now will you tell me who you are? I don't like being oblivious to everything."

"I'm Gaara. Who are you?"

"I'm named Anastasia, but I prefer to be called Anya."

I don't know what provoked me to do what I did next, but- "You'll be coming with me."- I surprised myself, though I think that I was intrigued with her because she was able to manipulate the sand as I was.

"What? Why?" She asked. She kind of panicked, I wonder why.

"Because you'll be vulnerable otherwise."

"I don't want to be a burden to you."

"It doesn't matter, you're coming with me."

"You're not going to attack me again will you?"

"I can't make any promises."

She sighed almost inaudibly as her shoulders sagged with some relaxation and she looked almost directly at me as she inclined her head and murmured, "Lead the way."

"You won't get lost?" I was surprised to she that she seemed to show me respect even though she knew not who I was because she wasn't from around here.

"I can follow the sound of your footsteps, or the vibrations in the ground as you walk." She said as she straightened up.

"Try to keep up then."

"I will."

I shook my head slightly, wondering why in seven hells had I decided to bring her with me, but it may prove to be interesting. It took about 45 minutes to reach Suna and everyone seemed to pause as they saw me, the Kazekage walking into the village with a girl behind him; one glare from me caused them to go back to their business. We walked to the house and we ran into my sister, Temari.

"Gaara? Who's this?" She asked as she looked at Anya. For some reason I felt a little protective, I don't know why though and it bothered me.

"She appeared in the forest at the edge of the desert." I replied icily, causing Temari to unconsciously step back.

"Alright Gaara, but I don't think that it is very wise to bring her home."

"I'll deal with the problems when the time comes."

"Of course." With that she walked away.

"Um, Gaara-sama? Where will I be staying, I really don't want to cause an uproar or be a burden." Asked Anya timidly from beside me.

"You'll be staying in my room. You'll sleep in my bed, I don't use it anyway."

"Oh, okay, if that's what you want."

Why was she acting so timid, before she was confident and ready to attack, but now she was different. Why?

"Why do you act different from before?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were confident before and now you're shy and seemingly afraid."

"Don't let my demeanor fool you, Gaara-sama. I'm quite the deceiver."

"Are you now?"

"I don't like people to think of me as someone who will bite their head off at the slightest notion that I don't like them. Don't you?"

"Quite the opposite."

"I see. You've never had an optimistic look on life have you?"

"No."

"I didn't think so."

"Come, it's late. You can sleep when we get to my room."

"Of course."

Nothing else was said as we walked to the house that I lived in with my siblings, I ignored the looks I was getting on the way from people who couldn't quite understand why a girl would follow the monster of the village willingly.

"You're not highly thought of here, are you?" She asked quietly from behind me. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, I'm just asking because I can feel the intensity around you."

"I'm a monster." I said shortly.
"Surely that's a false accusation."

"Hn."

She didn't say anything, so I figure that she got the hint that I didn't want to talk. She didn't say anything when we reached the house, not until we came to the stairs.

"Stairs? I don't like stairs."

"Too bad."

"Aren't you just a big bundle of joy?"

Sarcasm, she'll have to be careful, not very many people survive after being sarcastic towards me. I watched her as she nearly tripped over the steps.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare, or are you going to help?"

I didn't give her an answer, I just came up behind her and gathered her up into my arms and continued the rest of the way up the stairs.

"I don't mean to be such a burden." She said as I set her down, letting her stand on her own. "I wasn't always blind."

"Hn."

"I was attacked about two years ago and the people who took me did something to me that caused me to go blind. I think it was all of their experimentation." She said as she followed me into my room.

My room is painted black and red with sand on the floor, and it consists of a bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, and a door leading to my own bathroom. I've never really used the bed, I don't really need it, I don't sleep because of what is sealed within me.

"Sand," Anya giggled behind me. "It's such a beautiful thing, isn't it? I love the sand, it's soft, but rough all at once."

She was definitely a different kind of girl; she wasn't like most of the feminine population. I felt the gourd on my back vibrate with the movement of the sand inside. I didn't know what was happening until she was standing right behind me with one of her hands on the gourd. She was calming the sand from a big tornado of movement to a soft wave of movement.

"You should get some sleep." I said shortly.

"Where's the bed?"

"About ten paces to your right."

I watched her as she carefully walked to the bed and pulled off her jacket to reveal pale skin and a black top that fit against her skin. I looked at her arms, they were scarred from something, what that something is or was must have had something to do with the people who took her. Why do I care? I don't care about anyone but myself, I shouldn't care about her. Then again, maybe she could understand what I feel.

"Good Night, Gaara-sama." She said quietly as she climbed into my bed and rolled onto her side, facing towards the window.

I watched her for a while as she fell asleep, I watched her breathing, and I heard her heartbeat in the silence of the night. I vaguely heard the demon, Shukaku, talking to me, but I didn't care, I never did, it made no difference to me. Eventually, I went to the roof like I did every night as I waited for the sun to rise, signifying a new day of mindless things.

I watched as the sun rose over the horizon, thinking about the girl that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Normally, when someone suddenly appears out of nowhere they are there to attack you, but this girl seemed not to understand what was going on, it confused me, and I don't like things that confuse me, they irritate me. As I sat here thinking, I remembered that Naruto and some other Konoha ninja were coming. Naruto has finally reached his dream, he became Hokage, only because that woman didn't really like it all that much, plus, she drank too much anyway. Not a very good role model. I, myself, became the Kazekage after the Chunnin exams because of the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. I got stuck with being Kazekage because my brother is too lazy and I don't think that the village wants a woman running it. Though, as I sat here, I heard the girl wake up in my room below just as my brother Kankuro walked into my room. Anya jumped and attacked my brother, pinning him to the wall across the hall with the sand that she had control of. I find that somewhat amusing. I climbed back through my window and looked between Kankuro and Anya.

"Put my brother down." I said emotionlessly.

"He's you're brother?" She asked as she called back the sand she'd taken control of.

"Yes."

"How do you get him to talk? Temari and I can barely get him to say more than one syllable words." Kankuro said from the hallway, prepared for another attack just incase she decided to attack him again.

"I don't know." Was the reply she gave him as she got out of my bed and stretched.

"Who are you?" He asked. It angered me that he asked, it wasn't the question, it was the look on his face and the sound in his voice that pissed me off.

"I really don't think that that is any of your business." She replied icily as she pulled her jacket back on.

So she didn't take well to him either, she could prove to be rather interesting.

"Did you need something Kankuro?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I was wondering what you were going to do today."
"That's it? Wow, you're annoying." Anya muttered.

"What I'm doing today is none of your concern Kankuro. You can leave now." I said icily causing him to cringe before walking away.

I watched as Anya maneuvered her way towards me. When she stood directly in front of me, she seemed to look at me as though she was studying me, but seeing as she was blind, that wasn't possible. She slowly brought her hand up, wondering what she was doing I grabbed her wrist, stopping it from ascending any further.

"Sorry." She muttered softly. "I touch things to get a sense of what they look like."

Curious as to what she would do, I let go of her wrist and watched as it slowly came up to my face. She brushed her fingers across my skin; her touch was feather soft, barely there as her hand danced up over my cheek to my nose, then over my eyes to my forehead. It seemed as though she felt the small indentation from the tattoo that I have on my forehead.

"What does it say?" She asked curiously.

"It says…love." I said softly.

"You have soft hair." She muttered as she ran her fingers through my red hair. "What color is it?"

"Red."

"I like that color. It makes me think of blood."

"Hn."

"I like the color black too. It seems to me that it resembles the darkness that I'm shrouded in."

"I thought that you were an optimist."

"I've got my positive and negative views on things. Having gone blind is not a positive thing"

"I can only assume so."

"Trust me; I liked it better when I could see. I hate it now that I'm blind, people always look down on me, trying to baby me because I can't do everything that I used to."

"Hn."

"Anyway, enough about me. What do you do all day long?"

"I'm the Kazekage, the leader of Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand. I have to look after the well-being of the village and the villagers."

"Even if they still hate you?"

"Hn."

"Sorry i didn't mean to insult you."

"Hn. Today I'm meeting with Naruto, the Hokage of Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"So where does that leave me. I mean, I could always torment your brother, but that would get boring after a while."

I like this girl, she's different. Wait, did i just admit to liking someone other than myself? I thought to myself before answering her. "You'll be accompanying me. I think that Naruto will like you."

"Alright."