Soma stared at the corpses of her parents. Tears in her deep green eyes, the wind tossed her short crimson hair slightly. But not even the soothing touch of the rare wind could lift her broken spirit. "How could you?" she asked, lifting her eyes to the boy whom she had stood beside, defended even. "How could you do this to me?" she sobbed.

The boy didn't respond, his greenish-blue eyes showed no emotion, his red hair, being tossed by the wind as well. He wouldn't let it show that he was surprised by how hurt his friend looked.

"Gaara… how could you kill them?" Soma asked, her tone rising as tears streaked her face. Gaara met her gaze without trouble, not knowing what to say, he kept quiet. He didn't look the least bit troubled by what he had done.

Soma turned from him, she clutched her fist and ran. She was determined to get away from the Village Hidden in the Sand… to get away from him. Gaara seemed to find his voice as he watched her run. "SOMA! WAIT!" he called, his voice shaking. He was six years old and didn't know how to explain why he did what he did… but he had to try.

Soma stopped, turning back, she wiped a tear away. "I can't…" was all she said, just loud enough for him to hear. She turned away again and took off once more. "Soma… I'm… sorry," Gaara whispered to no one.

Soma sniffed and wiped at her tears as she ran. 'Why did he have to do it? Why him?' she asked herself. She looked briefly over her shoulder at the small village she called home, slowly getting further and further from it. 'Gaara… why?' she thought, turning her attention forward once more.

Soma, above everything, was clumsy. No matter how carefully she walked, she always, somehow, ended up face down in the dirt by tripping over something, usually her own feet. A nickname given to her by some of the villagers was Little Clumsy Soma… not much of a nickname… it was more of a title… but they called her it until either she or Gaara made them stop. Just as she was Gaara's only friend, he was hers.

By choosing to be friends with him, people avoided her and told her of bad omens by hanging around a demon child. 'Was this what they meant?' she thought. She wasn't a great fighter, she never truly enjoyed 'causing others pain, but she would when she had no other choice. 'Never again,' she swore, 'never again will I hurt someone.'

Her mind set on her oath, she no longer was paying attention to keeping herself… upright. And as usual in a manner of seconds she flipped head-over-heels. Only… this time it was different. She didn't land in the soft sand, like she normally did. This time she landed head first on a stray rock. All she felt after that was pain… and all she saw was… darkness.

Soma groaned her head pounding. She blinked, forcing her eyes open. The moon was overhead. "Where am I?" she asked herself aloud. She sat up slowly looking around, "how'd I get here… who am I?" she continued to ask herself. She looked at the distant Village Hidden in the Sand. "Maybe the villagers there know where I came from… or even who I am," she said, slowly standing up. Once she got her footing, she set out unknowingly back in the direction from whence she came.

After much stumbling and tripping she managed to enter the Village Hidden in the Sand with only some minor bruises. People stared at her, some whispering to one another. She felt uneasy and tried not to be bothered by the occasional words that she caught from these people's secrets. "I knew it would happen one day… they were asking for it… allowing their child to converse with a demon… it's all her fault…" were just some of the words… or sentences Soma caught. 'I wonder who they're talking about,' she thought as she tried to find someone who wasn't staring at her while whispering.

She walked through the Village Hidden in the Sand as if it were a dream… thinking that she might've been there before… but of course she didn't remember. She tripped twice while walking through the village, and to her surprise, no one, regardless of the fact that there were crowds of people watching her, even bothered to help her. She saw a girl with blonde hair and a boy with brown watching her more intensively than anyone else.

She had no idea where she was going, but she didn't feel comfortable asking someone who was staring at her… which was hard to find someone who wasn't. She looked up and saw this… burst of sand everywhere on a rooftop. "What the…?" she muttered, beginning to run towards it.