Author's Note:
Thank you guys for the comments and suggestions. About the OC friend for my OC, I'll try to fit it in, though I'm not sure where. I'm still working with all of my old work, and though I may change a word here or there, I'm trying to just stick with the original. I haven't looked at it in so long that it's surprising me as I look through it, and I don't even have a clue of what's around the corner. I'll let you all know when I finally get through the old writing and start new chapters, though the basic idea is still in mind.

Seemingly only minutes later, sun shone onto my face, causing me to stir and open my eyes. At first I was confused of my whereabouts, not realizing why I was not in my sleeping bag. Lifting my head, a flood of red came to my face when I realized I had fallen asleep leaning against Gaara.

The one who was the cause of my blush looked just as he had when I had last closed my eyes, staring up at the sky. When I moved, he looked down at me, his blue-green eyes meeting mine.

"Enjoy your sleep?" He questioned, and though I wasn't sure, it seemed as if his face had also turned a shade darker. I quickly discarded the thought and nodded my head, standing and stretching.

When I turned around, as our backs had been toward the camp, I found that the Kazekage's siblings were also up. The girl, Temari, noticed I had awoke and smirked at both myself and her youngest brother.

"Did you two sleep well?" She asked, and I automatically knew she had seen us while I had been sleeping, and while Gaara had likely been watching the stars. My face grew red again, bu before I could say anything Gaara walked swiftly through the now empty area and in the direction of the desert, speaking only three words in a harsh tone.

"It was nothing."

Though I couldn't quite explain it, his words hurt a bit, but all his sister did was roll her eyes and mutter, "Sure, sure, whatever you say," while chuckling a little. Kankuro, the middle child of the three, followed his older brother into the last trees we would be seeing on our journey. When Temari started walking, I took it as a cue to follow them.

Grabbing my bag, which was the last item in the clearing, I followed the sand ninja, careful to stay a good distance from the Kazekage. Because of this, though, I stayed closer to his sister, whose blonde hair was up in the same way I had seen it the first time we met: four ponytails, two on the bottom, and two on the top.

The thing that drew my attention was the large fan she was holding. On my various wanderings through small villages located in the Land of Wing, I had heard the fan could be a very deadly weapon. I must have been looking at it for some time, because eventually the wielder of the weapon opened it and spoke.

"Like my fan? I've had it since I was young, though when I was small I could barely lift it. I can't stand fighting wthout it; it's a part of me, I suppose."

"It looks powerful," I replied, noticing with the help of the monster inside of me small, vein-like chakra patterns in the weapon.

She smiled, as if remembering exactly how powerful it was, and once again it was quiet. The walk soon began to grow tiresome, and I let my gaze wander to occupy my mind with something interesting. The problem was, though, that my gaze always landed on the shinobi who carried with him a gourd of sand. I kept thinking about what my demon had said, and prayed to whatever god was out there that it was wrong. I also thought about the three words he had spoken so harshly, and tried to get my mind to realize it was nothing, so I should stop thinking about anything of the matter Temari had obviously been hinting about.

Of course, I could not look at her brother for more than a moment before she noticed, and another before she thought something of it.

"What do you think about my brother?" She asked curiously, lowering her voice so the two ahead of us wouldn't be able to hear, though judging my the slight shift in both of their heads, they were catching every word.

"Uhm..." I stalled, trying to think of something to say. "Well, his puppets kind of creep me out, I don't really know why, but they do. Other than that, I don't really know him, so I can't say I have any thoughts about him."

She sighed, and up ahead I could have sworn I felt a plan coming I most definately would not like.

"I wasn't talking about Kankuro, and you know I wasn't. But to make my question exact, I will put it this way. What do you think of my red haired brother, the one with the sand gourd?"

"Uhm..." was once again my brilliant response, struggling to say something that would not lead her to think more of what she likely already had forming in her head. "Well, hes, uh, the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, so he's, uh, powerful."

"Anything else?" She prompted, elbowing me slightly. I sighed, not wanting to say anything, especially if he could hear. But the distance between Gaara and Kankuro had further increased from myself and Temari, so I hoped they could no longer hear.

"He's... Well, he seems a bit withdrawn, as if someone talking to him is something new, at least me talking to him makes it seem that way. But he's kind, and well, he's just..." I couldn't find words to quite describe him the way I wanted to, so I ended up cutting off mid-sentence. Temari seemed to have gotten the answer she wanted, though, because she smiled, and I assumed if she was the skipping type she'd be skipping now.

I glanced nervously in front of me, wondering if they had heard any of what I had said. I hadn't muttered much, but to me it felt like a lot.

We hadn't walked very long through the slowly parting trees when it began to grow warmer, and soon we stood facing a sea of sand.

"As long as there are no sandstorms, we should be able to reach the village at least by nightfall tomorrow," Temari remarked. The four of us stood in a line, and thanks to the fan-wielder I stood between her and her youngest brother.

"Then let's move," the puppet master said, and immediately headed into the vast land. I followed behind him, as did Gaara and Temari.

Though I had been in the Land of Wind before, I had never really gone too far into the desert, so I was unprepared for sand that constantly flew into my eyes, the wind that whipped my hair around and caused it to knot, or the baking heat that caused me to move slow and tire easily.

The three sand siblings seemed perfectly at ease in the environment, which was to be expected as this is where they grew up. But as the heat sunk into my skin and wared the top of my head, it seemed to bake my brain and caused me to become light-headed. I stumbled along behind the others, but as the wind picked up it wasn't a refreshing breeze - simply warming currents that worsened my state. My vision began to blur and I stopped, unnoticed by the sand shinobi. In one swift movement I fell to the ground, my vision blacking out.

In the back of my mind, I heard a single shout, one most would think a kazekage would say in such a way, because it was not uncaring and far from powerful. "Kyuuen!"

"I told you she wasn't dressed right for the desert!"

"And I told you that you should have taken care of it!"

"Just because I am a girl does not mean I am automatically in charge of that type of thing."

"Okay, but seeing as you are both girls I thought you'd be the best to take care of it!"

"Could you two stop your arguing for one simple minute?"

"Well, I'm going to the small village not too far from here to get her clothes, seeing as I guess it's my job."

"All I-"

"I said, stop."

"Just because you're the Kazekage doesn't mean you can tell me what to do. I'm older than you, you know!"

"Whatever. Is she going to be okay?"

"You care about her, don't you?"

"She is going to be a sand ninja. I care about all of our shinobi."

"That's not it, and you know it."

"I'm not talking about this with you."

"Fine. But can I at least say one thing?"

"What."

"You have been acting differently since you met her."

"End of conversation. Now."

Whatever I was sleeping on, it was freezing. I sat up immediately, only to see a black sky and a small fire with two figures sitting around it. I rubbed my eyes, and a headache I hadn't noticed was there came into full focus. I pressed my palm to my temple, stood up, and walked toward the only source of light in sight.

WHen the two people noticed my footsteps, they turned to face me, the flames revealing the faces of Gaara and Kankuro. For a moment I wondered where Temari was, but seeing as neither of her brothers seemede worried, I assumed she was fine. Gaara's face, actually, showed what I figured was relief, though his emotions were often hard to depict.

"How do you feel?" He inquired as I say down, completing a triangle around the fire.

"Fine, I guess. But my head is throbbing. What happened?"

"You fainted. Temari went to the nearest village to retrieve some more desert-worthy clothes for you. We will be slightly later than planned on arriving in the Hidden Sand Village."

I bent my head, embarassed by all of this. "Sorry..." I mumbled, though I was doubtful they could understand what I said.

Gaara seemed as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't think of what it was to say. Eventually, he stood up, muttered a quick "I'm going for a walk," and left. I sighed, my eyes following him until the night swallowed him in black.

"Well, I'm going to sleep," Kankuro said, and he went off to his sleeping bag that had already been laid out, leaving me alone by the fire.

What's the deal with fainting? If an enemy attacked, we would both have been dead.

They wouldn't let me die. They'd protect me.

Would they? Are you sure about that? Isn't that what you said before, and you saw how that turned out. They turned on you, left you to die.

They wouldn't do that. If not because of me personally, they need shinobi.

You pesky humans and your trust. It will be the death of me.

The voice died away with a growl, and I sighed, hating the thing even more. They wouldn't let me die, would they? No, absolutely not... I think.

Though I had apparently slept several hours from when I had passed out earlier, I curled in a circle by the fire, not knowing where my sleeping bag was and not having the energy to look. I drifted to sleep with the middle sand sibling muttering something about a 'new puppet' followed by a laugh before snoring loudly.

When I woke, two figures lay soundly sleeping around a few flickering embers, and I noticed a blanket was draped over me. Not too far away, Gaara sat looking at the moon, and though I had no proof, something told me he was to thank for the blanket. I watched him a while longer before I laid back down, pulled the blanket around my shoulders, and went to sleep just as a pair of teal eyes turned to me.