~Normal POV~

Azami ran through the unfamiliar sandy desert quickly. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps from the exertion of running for a long period of time. She glanced behind her, almost stumbling on a rock. She couldn't even find the strength to get up anymore. But she had to keep going. They were coming for her. And if they were to find her, they would immediately kill her without any hesitation.

She shakily got up and continued running, when she stumbled upon a village. From the looks of it she'd been running towards the Hidden Sand Village without realizing it. She almost sobbed with relief when, suddenly a Kunai knife hit her from behind. Luckily, it missed her back completely and hit her side, meaning they weren't trying to kill her yet. They just wanted to make a point that there were going to kill her. She looked down and almost fainted from the effort. Lodged in her side, narrowly missing a vital organ, was the Kunai knife. She wrenched it out and shrieked loudly. This is it. She thought. I'm going to die. And I was so close…

She collapsed on the sandy ground, her breathing slowing.

No. She thought. I will not go out like this. Thats when she heard yells and weakly turned her head. Several Sand ninjas were engaged in a deadly, bloody battle with her killers. It's no use. She slowly smiled the blood pooling out around her. Suddenly arms lifted her up and dashed with such agility, weaving through people, towards the village. What-? She looked up at her savior and got one glimpse of him, he seemed to be wearing almost face paint over his face. Or was it paint…? Almost a deep purple color-maybe black... and he had brown hair and dark eyes. He seemed to be carrying something on his back and straining with the effort of carrying her. That's when everything went black and she fell unconscious. That was also the time when the dream came. It was always the same. It was of that night.

She was breathless as she sprinted through the woods. The tears streamed down her face as she choked on her sobs. Her legs were hurting from the exertion of running. Her foot hit a root and she tripped slamming into the ground. She cried out as she waited for death. She heard twigs snapping as her pursuer caught up.

"M-mommy! D-daddy! Help me!" She whimpered as someone leaned over her.

"Now all that's left is to kill you then I will have killed off the entire clan!" Azami sobbed and tried to run but the man grabbed her. "You're mine now, girl!" He yelled pulling out a Kunai knife. That's when it happened. She had always been gifted. Maybe more than she should have. A sudden light enveloped her reaching out towards the man. He screamed clutching his chest.

"What are you-? M-monster!" He screeched stumbling backwards then turning around around to run. But the light illuminating from her body reached out and grabbed the man. The light staring taking on the form of a demon. The man's eyes widen at the sight of it. Azami's frail, small body trembled with fear. The demon had come out only one other time. Only when her life is completely endangered is when it comes out. She wanted to crawl away but her body disobeyed her. She was so paralyzed with fear that she was unable to move.

Three days later~

~Gaara's POV~

Gaara was going through a few papers, organizing his desk, when suddenly Kankuro burst in the room breathing heavily.

"Gaara…" He said breathlessly.

"That girl is awake. They sent me to come get you, to talk to her. She's not speaking to anyone else. I managed to coax a few words out of her." Gaara nodded and walked around to Kankuro.

"Take me to her. Now." Kankuro nodded and opened the door. They walked down a few hallways and turned right then walked to a door at the end of the hall. A few medic ninjas rushed out but stopped short at the sight of Gaara. They bowed their heads and said,

"Lord Kazekage." Gaara nodded and waved his hand, dismissing them. Kankuro and Gaara walked in the room. There was a girl sitting up in bed staring blankly at the wall opposite from her. When they walked in causing her head to jerk towards them. Her shoulder was wrapped in bandages as was her arm. There was padding on her back, probably from an injury she received. Her eyes widened in fear for a split second before she realized it was just Kankuro and Gaara. She seemed to nod at Kankuro but stared at Gaara. He stared back with an expressionless face then turned to Kankuro.

"What is the girl's name?" He asked.

The girl looked up and said, "I'm right here you know. And my name is Azami. I'm from the Rain Village." She quickly looked down.

Kankuro spoke, trying to break the tension, "Well, she talks." He turned towards the door but before he got there he turned and said, "I'll just leave you two alone. Hopefully you can get some words out of Azami, Gaara." He shrugged.

"She's pretty hectic at times." That's when he walked out the door. Gaara watched him go then turn towards the girl and watched her. She seemed to be watching Kankuro leave. Hmm...He thought. Who is this girl?

He continued to stare at the girl even though she noticed and was staring back. She certainly was different from most girls he knew.

For one thing was her eyes. There a deep electric blue that seemed to just draw him in as it was a portal to another dimension. He found it very soothing to him and he quite liked it.

Another detail was her hair. It was two different colors. The bangs were a darker blonde than even Temari's color of hair. And the rest was such a rich, dark black that seemed like the color of never ending abyss.

~Normal POV~

Azami watched Kankuro leave then slowly turned her gaze over to the new guy. He had deep red hair almost a bloody color. He had dark black rimmed eyes either it was eyeliner or a symptom from lack of sleep, she didn't know. He had real light almost sea-foam-sea-green eyes that were intriguing towards her. He seemed to have no expression whatsoever on his face. He stared at her as if analyzing something. He noticed her staring and gazed at her. She felt her face suddenly alter to scarlet. She could never deal with handling boys. She puffed her cheeks then looked at him again.

"Um...w-who are you again?" She asked stuttering on her words. Those sea-foam eyes were once again on her. His expression never changed. That's when she noticed a symbol on his forehead, 愛, meaning love. It looked branded on his forehead. He suddenly spoke, his voice startling her.

"My name is Gaara, that is all you need to know. Now how did you find The Hidden Sand Village and just what are you running from? I see from the looks of you that you were being chased. Now, please explain everything to me," She gulped and stared at Gaara. His voice was deep, almost like a bass guitar, but gentle. She quickly recovered and took a deep breath then spoke.

"Like I said, My name is Azami and I'm originally from the Rain Village. As for who is chasing me", She looked down in shame, "I can't say. Nobody really knows who they are. When people are talking about them all they say is they. I-I was running away b-because I betrayed my village. When something like that happens, to-the elders send them to assassinate that person," By then there were tears streaming down her face. Gaara stared at her listening. She reached up to wipe away the tears, ashamed that she cried in front of Gaara, when she heard the door open.

"Already making her cry, I see, Gaara. Be a little nicer," A girl's voice suddenly said startled Azami. She looked up to see a girl who had her arms crossed and a smirk on her face as she stared at Gaara. She had medium dark blonde hair that she had up in four different spots and almost that same sea-green-turquoise eyes as Gaara. He narrowed his eyes a little.

"I am being nice, Temari," Gaara answered coldly. If anything the girl, Temari, smirked even more. Then she turned to Azami.

"By the way. Go find Kankuro. You should thank him. He was the one that informed Lord Gaara about you and saved you three days ago," She then turned towards Gaara. She wasn't smirking anymore.

"I need to talk to Gaara alone," She added darkly.

"Oh. And I'm Temari by the way. I'm Gaara's sister. Kankuro is his brother," She then shrugged. "Though we had different mothers we both have-" She took a breath and sighed. "-had the same dad." Azami looked taken back. She nodded and said, "Alright. Uh… I-I guess I'll be on my way. I'll go thank Kankuro now." She shakily got up and stumbled out. She heard Temari hiss something at Gaara and slam the door. Little did she know that this only the beginning of love. She sighed and went in search of Kakuro. Oh where could that puppet master have gone now? She thought and looked down the corridor. She caught a glimpse of a boy at the end. There he is. She took a deep breath,''Kankuro!" She screamed and rushed towards him. He turned around at the sudden mention of his name. He grinned when he realized who it was.

"What, got bored of the Kazekage and decided come to me?" He slung an arm over her shoulders which caused her to blush.

"Um n-no Temari sent me to come thank you for saving me," Her face darkened. "She wanted to talk to Gaara alone." She glanced nervously behind her. Oh. She thought. I wonder what's going on... She bit her lip and Stared down. Kankuro sighed and stopped in front of her.

''Just out of curiosity, who are you really?" His gaze seemed to penetrate her. "What I mean is, I don't want my heroic act to be in vain. I know i could sense something different about you. There is a change in your Chakra."

~Gaara's POV~

He watched Azami leave then turned towards Temari.

"What is wrong?" He asked darkly.

"Who is she? How did you find her?" She asked him. Gaara looked at Temari then spoke. His voice dull.

"She was half dead by the time Kankuro found her. He said there was something special about her. There was Rain Ninja after her. She told me that she had betrayed her village so the Elders there sent them to kill her," He finished. Temari looked horrified. Then she scowled and narrowed her eyes.

"Did she say which part of The Rain Village she was from. There are two parts of that village. One ruled by 'Pein'." She stared at Gaara waiting for him to answer. He seemed to be lost in thought.

"She didn't say." He finally said. Temari nodded her head then sighed.

"Let's go find Azami then. Maybe she'll tell us." Gaara nodded and made his way to the door. But before they could get there the door blew open. Temari instinctively put herself between the door and Gaara but he waved her off with a gesture that said, 'I can take care of myself.' She nodded and stepped back but stayed tense in case something happened.

A form staggered away from the dust. As he came clear they realized who it was.

"Uzumaki Naruto!'' A female voice yelled from the other side as a girl came into view. There stood Naruto coughing up dust as Sakura stomped towards him and hit him upside the head.

"Why'd you bust the door? Baka!" Naruto crumpled to the floor clutching his head in agony.

''Oi, calm down woman! I said I was sorry,'' Naruto sputtered then noticed Gaara and Temari. Temari stood there dumbfounded staring at the scene laying out before her eyes. Gaara had the ghost of a smile on his face. Naruto jumped straight up and grinned, already forgetting his painful head.

"Oi, Gaara, sorry to bust the door down. Wasn't my intention," Haruno Sakura stood there shaking her fist at Naruto and steaming mad.

"Baka!" She screamed.

"Sakura! I said I was sorry!" Naruto whined. Sakura shook her head and turned towards Gaara and bowed.

"Sorry to bother you Lord Kazekage but we've bent sent here on a mission."

Just then Kakashi-sensei, Sai, and Yamato-sama walked through the rumble of the busted door. Yamato shook his head at Naruto. "Naruto," Kakashi said slowly. "Did you have to break the door?" Naruto opened his mouth to start saying sorry but stopped from a wave of the hand from Gaara cutting him off.

"I can tell there's a lot to be said now, so let us go to my office to talk.'' They all nodded and followed Gaara out of the destoryed room.

Temari chuckled and shook her head at the rubble. "You guys are sooo cleaning this mess up when were done." She laughed when she heard the sound of Naruto getting punched by Sakura.

Suddenly Kankuro and Azami appeared, apparantly breathless form running, she took this as the perfect opportunity to tease Kankuro and this new girl. "Already taking advantage of her? You work fast eh Kankuro?" She kneeled over laughing at both of their expressions.

"Temari!" Kankuro shouted. "N-nothing happened! I swear!" He started blushing madly.

Gaara shook his head. "Can you too bibbling idiots continue this discussion later?' He said impatiently. He heard muffled 'Okay's' from the both of them. He scoffed and continued walking towards his office. Once they made it there he took a seat and looked at Naruto.

Naruto gulped and spoke. "Granny Tsunade sent us here to collect a chick named Azami. Supposedly she ended up here."