Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. Longer than the last. I hope you like it.

Chapter 2: New Jersey? Wal-Mart?

Where the hell was New Jersey? He'd never even heard of let alone knew where that was. His mind was racing with a billion things as she looked at him as if he was insane. He couldn't help but think of how he would find what he needed to get back home if he had no idea where the hell he was and what chaos was being caused by this and a whole mess of other things. It all stopped when he noticed the shift in her eyes. They went from thinking he was crazy to slight worry.

"You're not from around here are you?" she asked and he shook his head as he spoke.

"No. I'm from a village called Sunagakure." He stated and she raised an eyebrow at him making him think, "Maybe she knows how to get back…"

"Never heard of it. How did you get here?" she asked and he looked at her as he stood in front of her and realized that he was taller than her which only caused him to wonder about why he cared enough to notice that.

"A friend decided to play a trick on me and he sent me here with a reverse summoning scroll that was supposed to send me on vacation." He stated flatly and she laughed briefly, her eyes shining with amusement.

"He sent you to the middle of a forest in fall to someplace you've never heard of…wow. What are you on a vacation from that he would do that?"

"Being the Kazekage of the village." He stated and looked around at the surrounding area while wondering why he found talking to her so easy.

"What's that?" she asked and he could tell she really meant it, she had no idea what that meant.

"I'm the ruler of the village." He answered and felt the breeze brush past him chilling him a bit and she noticed it.

"Um…I'm Mika, Mika Manixpy by the way." She stated and held out a hand smiling and he slightly smiled back at her, deciding that it was best to be on friendly terms with this woman, as he grasped her hand and found she had quite a firm grip.

"Gaara. Sabaku no Gaara." He said and she smiled more and nodded as their hands separated and she ran a hand through her hair.

"I don't usually say this to guys I just meet randomly but you seem very lost and out of place here, and I doubt you have any money, so…do you need a place to stay 'til you find a way back to your home?" she asked and he stared at her, confused and rather shocked at her generosity, before nodding his head slowly, "Ok then Mr. Sabaku I would suggest we get moving. It's a bit of a walk out of this section of the trails. I hope you have some good walking shoes. I am not carrying you."

He smirked and chuckled at that. This Mika was rather amusing.

"I'm quite capable of walking the whole way, Mika-san." He stated and she looked at him.

"Mika. No Japanese honorifics if you please, Gaara." She said kindly and he nodded smiling slightly; he could happily go without being called Gaara-sama constantly.

That and he was finding himself at ease around this woman. He wasn't sure why but her presence soothed him. Maybe because he was in a strange place and it was comforting to find someone willing to help him but he couldn't deny that she had a very soothing presence. He felt the goose bumps rise on his skin as the breeze wrapped around him and saw Mika look at him with a bit of concern until she began digging though her bag. She pulled out what looked like a black hooded sweater and handed it too him.

"This should be better than that…I'm going to call it a robe." She said and he nodded pulling the robe off and handing it to her to tuck into her bag.

Once he had pulled on the black sweater he instantly felt much better and sighed at the sudden comforting warmth.

"I guess you're just lucky I bought that sweatshirt a few sizes too big." She said and laughed a little before starting to walk and he followed.

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Mika wasn't sure of where this man came from but she could tell that he was telling her the honest truth. She felt comfortable around him but she still surprised herself when she asked if he needed a place to stay. Under any normal circumstances she never would have asked such a thing.

Mika wasn't very trusting of strangers out of habit but she found that she trusted this man named Gaara. He kind of felt like an old friend she hadn't seen in a while.

As she walked beside him she could sense that he was strong and powerful but that he felt a little awkward. It faded as time went on and Mika realized he just needed some time to adjust to his new surroundings. Considering that he came from someplace she had never even heard of she guessed that there must be a lot of differences between New Jersey and…Sunagakure.

Something caught her attention off in the forest and she stopped walking which made him stop as well. He looked at her until he noticed something moving off in the woods and he looked at it. Mika pulled off her bag and held it out to him to hold and he took it and watched her walk towards a tree after slinging her camera around her shoulder.

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Gaara watched with a mild fascination as the young woman caught a branch and pulled herself up the tree branch by branch. He continued to watch as the wolf eyed woman walked along a thick bough until she was directly over her quarry: a small group of deer that included a heavily antlered male. It fascinated him at how slowly she moved as to not scare them as she took a few pictures before climbing back down to the last branch.

"I always hated getting down from the last branch. Here hold my camera." She stated and handed the camera down to him and motioned for him to move and she hopped down and landed very gracefully.

They continued walking after that and soon Gaara felt his stomach begin telling him to eat. Mika was either hungry too or sensed this since she led him off the path a bit to a big rock to sit down. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a couple sandwiches.

"I hope you like turkey. Here." She said and handed him a sandwich and a bottle of water.

"Thank you." He said as he accepted the food gratefully and ate.

After a few minutes of silent eating she spoke.

"So, Gaara, tell me more about yourself and this place you come from. What's it like?" she asked and he considered his answer carefully.

"I'm a shinobi, a ninja," he stated and paused for a reaction only to see the dark haired young woman believed him which encouraged him to try to explain what his village was and what his world was like, "That's as much as I can tell you."

"Why? Afraid I'll run and tell someone about it?" she asked as a joke and he shrugged.

"You can never be too careful." He said and drank some water as he looked at her and Mika smirked at him before chuckling a little.

"I suppose that means I should just leave you stranded out in the middle of the woods instead of letting you into my house." She said and Gaara flattened his stare at her.

"I'm not sure I understand." He said and she shrugged.

"You can never be too careful. How do I know you're not some psycho killer that's gonna murder me in my sleep?" she asked gesturing towards him with her water bottle and he took another sip of water before speaking.

"If I was going to kill you I would have done it by now." The red haired shinobi said and she shook her head, "You don't believe me?"

"It's not that I don't believe you it's that I know you're not that stupid. Without me you'd be stuck in this forest. I know the way out. You don't." She stated and the Kazekage had to give her that one.

"True, but I'm not going to kill you unless you give me a good reason to, Mika." He stated seriously and she nodded slowly as she chewed her food, "I've killed people, lots and lots of people, but as long as you don't give me a reason, you won't be one of them."

"Well that's good to know." Mika stated, not in the least intimidated or scared of him this lead him to question her sanity until she spoke, "I'm not afraid of you because my gut, my instincts, tell me that you are an honest, at times even blunt, good man that won't kill me. From what little, yes little I did catch all that vagueness in your description of your world, well from what you told me it's fairly clear that your way of life requires you to do that. You do what you have to in order to survive. I understand that and live by that. Now, if you're done and want to get out of here before nightfall I'd suggest we get moving."

Gaara nodded, both to acknowledge he was done as well as accept what she said as true, and they got up. Mika was a very accepting person and, surprisingly, he found it very easy to talk to her since he had some instinct telling him that he should and to not worry since she wasn't going to judge him. The rest of the way out they talked occasionally, mostly Mika answering various questions about this place called New Jersey, and she took pictures of different things.

"So New Jersey is a state within your country and there are 50 states?" he asked, mostly to make sure he was getting it right in his head and she nodded, "Why is it new?"

"There's an island off the coast of England, which is another country across the ocean, called Jersey. When they colonized America, the settlers named this area New Jersey after 'Old Jersey'. Sort of." She answered patiently although Gaara could sense that he may be asking too many questions at this time which caused him to come to the decision that he'd stop for now and they continued on in silence for a bit.

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At one point after she came back from a short trek into the woods she saw Gaara perched on a large rock waiting for her to come back. He was looking out at the meadow before him with a very serene look on his face that spoke to her in a way that humans normally didn't. Mika couldn't help but take a few pictures of him before disturbing him.

"How did you get up there?" she found herself asking and he looked down at her and jumped down, landing with ease before her.

"I'm a shinobi. It's part of my training." He said then elaborated since he understood she might not initially understand and she smiled and nodded before they continued.

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After a short while they made it out to the parking area. She had to explain to him about cars after learning there weren't any where he was from. A lot of things seemed to be different there. Regardless Mika found that she enjoyed Gaara's company very much. He listened when she spoke and generally had a very calm presence. She unlocked her car and got him into it and climbed in her self.

As she sat down she looked at him and reached across him to buckle him in. It made him feel a bit ridiculous that he needed her to look out for him like that but he repressed it before she noticed and watched her buckle herself in before starting the car. It fascinated him a bit but he soon fell into conversation with her, something that shocked him and he told her so.

"I usually don't talk to people this much…unless I have to." Gaara admitted and looked at her as she nodded.

"I'm pretty much the same way. I have a small set of friends and that's about it." Mika stated and he found that he wanted to know more about her.

"What about you? I told you about me so tell me about you." He stated and she nodded.

"Well, I'm just about to turn 22. I was born and raised in New Jersey, here, and I'm an only child so I don't have any siblings like you do. Like you however both my parents are no longer with me, they died two years ago in an accident." Mika said and he saw her amber eyes cloud over a bit with sadness.

"I'm sorry." Gaara stated seriously and she nodded.

"Thank you. Anyway, I work as a freelance photographer. I don't work for anyone specific. I get commissioned by various people to go out and photograph something that they specify or I take random photos and see who wants to buy them. It's my hobby as well as my career at the moment. I also go to college a few times a week. I'm working towards an actual degree in photo journalism." She said and he nodded, "I live in a two bedroom house not far from here."

"Two bedroom?" He asked, wondering if she had a roommate or something.

"Yeah but I live with my two dogs. My ex used to live there but he left. It's a very sore subject. Umm…my dogs are Siberian Huskie and Grey Wolf mixes. They look very much like wolves except the male has blue eyes. They're also very pack oriented so you're gonna have to establish dominance over them if you want your stay to remain peaceful. The male's name is Mohegan by the way. He's gonna be the one with the mostly black coat. He's really a big baby once you get past the dominance thing. The female's name is Kisinaa. She's the light grey and white one with the mixed eyes. She's a sweetie once you get past the dominance thing." Mika explained and Gaara nodded then looked at her as they reached a stop light.

"What am I going to wear?" he asked and she looked at him.

"We're going to the store before home. Wal-Mart has everything. We'll get you some clothes there since I have to go food shopping anyway." Gaara's host stated and he looked at her slightly bothered by something, "What?"

"It's not very fair that you spend all your money on me. I feel a bit guilty." He admitted and she shook her head.

"Don't; it's a necessity that you get some clothes. I don't think you'd look very good in mine or that they'd fit you." She said and he chuckled a bit at the humor in the statement as the car turned the corner, "People might stare at you when we're in the store because of the whole eye thing. Maybe not but you never know."

"I'm used to that, but…what's a Wal-Mart?" he asked and she smiled a bit, amused at his almost childlike curiosity and cluelessness.

"You'll see. It's much easier than trying to explain it."

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He nodded as he stared out the window of the car and saw a few houses alongside the road. They were different from what he was used to but they looked like good homes. He looked past them at the hills that pushed up in the distance and was slightly mesmerized by the colors the autumn trees produced. This place was like none he had ever seen before.

"Towns here are more spread out than your village. We'll be in the more built up section in a minute or two." Mika stated as they passed through a tunnel, "Most of this county is farmland."

Gaara nodded as he watched the town spring up around them then die back down as they entered a heavily trafficked area. He saw a large building that he assumed was what Mika called a Wal-Mart since it had a big sign saying so and she pulled into it. She parked the car and unbuckled herself and he did as well after watching how she did it. She grabbed a few things out of her bag before shoving them in her pockets and got out of the car.

Mika walked inside the store and grabbed a cart as she watched him look around calmly, or at least he looked calm, examining things as he did.

Gaara as usual kept his calm façade up all the while thinking that this store was indescribable. It was huge. Many times bigger than any store he had ever heard off let alone seen. People were bustling around all over, and as expected a few of them stared a second or two before moving on. Looking around he saw signs hanging from the ceiling that pointed out where even more items lie. He felt slightly overwhelmed by all of this and yet amazed as well. Mika had stated that this place had everything and he was seriously starting to believe her. He had had his doubts earlier understandably, but those were long gone now.

Gaara continued examining things for awhile until she walked back up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The shinobi looked down at her as she looked up at him as if saying relax and he did nodding as they walked off towards the clothing section. It was going to take a while he realized since he didn't understand the sizes.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." She said after a few minutes and returned a bit later with a tape measurer, "Raise your arms."

He did and she measured his waist, chest, legs, and determined what his size should be. Gaara was finding that she fascinated him and that in some strange way he was enjoying her fretting over him. He followed her silently, still absorbing all this new information, as she handed things to him and went off into the dressing room when she told him.

She waited for him to come back out and smiled at him when he returned with what fit him and added them to the cart. After they got him fixed with clothes they walked into the food section of the store and Gaara followed her around as she got what food she would need. He was mostly silent, staring at different items and puzzling at the names on different foods.

"Pringles…ok…they look like potato chips. Coca Cola…soda…ok…" he thought while looking around until he heard her addressing him.

"Hm?" he asked since he wasn't sure what she just asked.

"What would you like for dinner?" Mika asked him and he shrugged, "Come on you have to have an opinion."

"Whatever you make will be fine I'm sure." He stated and she smiled and rolled her eyes as she nodded and got some food for their dinner before stopping and looking out into the store, "What is it?"

"I forgot to get something from the pets section. I'll be right back." She said and took off at a fast trot into the store and returned sometime later with a bag of dog treats, "They don't usually get these but it might make your introduction go a little smoother. No, don't close!"

She ran over to the butcher area before he closed and Gaara found himself pushing the cart over to her. He listened quietly as she talked to the group of men behind the counter. Apparently Mika knew them and they knew what she was asking for.

"Here you go Mika." The younger one said and handed her a pack of bones, "Saved 'em just for you."

"Thanks Tim." She said and took the pack and set it in the cart, "Ki and Mo will be very grateful."

The older man nodded and smiled before he remembered something and came back with a big box of wrapped meat. Mika looked at him strangely until he unwrapped one and showed it to her. The smile on her face perfectly displayed her delight as she spoke.

"I thought you didn't have any more venison, Randell." She said and took the box and Gaara set it in the cart for her.

"I was saving it for you and the pups and it kinda slipped my mind." The man stated as he cleaned off his hands with a rag, "Whose your friend?"

"Oh! Sorry guys. This is Gaara; he's an old friend of mine from way back. He's in between houses at the moment so he's staying with me. Gaara this is Tim and Randell." She said and the men nodded to each other, "And Mo and Ki aren't pups anymore."

"They'll always be little fuzzballs to me, Mika. I remember the day you brought Mohegan into the PetSmart only to have them kick you out." The one called Randell stated as the other, Tim, went to start closing up.

"Thank God you were there to help with that." Mika laughed and Randell nodded, "Well, we gotta get back to shopping so I can get home and cook dinner before my show starts."

They bid each other farewell and Gaara found himself asking a question that popped into his mind as they searched for ice cream.

"What is a PetSmart and why did they kick you out of it?"

"Huh? Oh a PetSmart is a store that is dedicated to pet supplies and pets. They sell all types of food, toys, care products, and are supposed to be able to help you take better care of your pet. They kicked me and Mo out because…well…people don't really like wolves here. They're afraid of them and Mohegan always looked a lot like a wolf even when he was a puppy. They kicked me out because they were convinced he'd try to eat the little dogs in the store or something." She said and shook her head and shrugged, "He only wanted to play with them. It pissed me off to see how they treated him so I haven't been back to a PetSmart since. Randell was there with his Huskie and helped me out a lot with Mohegan and then Kisinaa when I got her too."

Gaara nodded as he listened to her ramble about different things until they were done and checked out. He helped her load her car and got back in the car, buckling himself in much to her own surprise. Gaara apparently learned fast.

Author's Note: Yep, Wal-Mart. And I have a weakness for wolf/dog hybrids. In a way I suppose Mika is a lot like a very, very laid back Kiba…sort of.