Chapter 2

After departing Atsuko-san's boat, I travelled for a week until I reached the Land of Water. I decided that it was best for me to only stay for a week in the smaller villages, and then for two weeks in the larger villages (like Sunagakure and Konohagakure).

From the Land of Water, I went to the Land of Rivers (and thus went to the Tanigakure-the Village Hidden in the Valley). It was a small quiet village, however, it lacked excitement, which was what I was essentially looking for on my journey. I then passed onto the Land of Wind, where I found myself in Sunagakure. The Kazekage governs Sunagakure, or Suna for short, the Village Hidden in the Sand. It lies within the desert, between various cliffs of rock. Every building in the village was made of clay, which I suppose was to help keep them cool from the Sun's harmful rays.

In the centre of the desert village was the Kazekage's office building. It was a circular building with the kanji for Wind painted on it's front and it had several windows that lined its sides. It was where I was being led to by a Suna shinobi in order to get permission to stay here for the next two weeks.

The administrator eyed me warily and mumbled something to the shinobi to his left. I thought I was going to see the Kazekage but was told that someone as important as the Kazekage doesn't deal with menial tasks, like a kunoichi from an "unknown" village requesting permission to stay in Suna. I rolled my eyes at this, for all they know, I could be lying and planning to blow up the whole of the village. Obviously, I wasn't, but you understand what I meant.

After some questions about my heritage and other standard questions, the administrator deemed me safe and stamped my request form. I was led to the hostel where I would be staying at for the following two weeks.

I sat my bag down and walked into the bathroom. There, I stared at myself in the mirror. My dark brown skin and lightly coloured curly hair obviously brought up some queries that the administrator felt the need to address. My look was native to the people in Kumogakure and with the Third Shinobi World War just finishing 6 years ago, it wasn't surprising that he felt suspicious.

Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, fought against Konohagakure in the last war and although both Kumo and Suna disliked Konoha, that didn't equate to an alliance between the two villages. Another example of mutual dislike was Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Rocks, and Suna. Iwagakure was the main opposition to Konoha in the last World War, however, Suna and Iwa both dislike each other due to their closeness in proximity. I wasn't too sure if there was any animosity between Suna and Kumo, however, it was clear that shinobi and people, in general, weren't going to be taking chances with foreigners.

People tended to be on guard towards anyone who was foreign, therefore I knew that I would have to take all of the strange looks and fearful expressions with a pinch of salt and just try to make the most of my time here. With that in mind, I stepped out of my room and headed out into town. My main objective was to find dinner as it was almost dark and I was worn out from my long days of travelling.

The streets were quiet with only the chatter of people from inside restaurants or the odd child running down the road towards home for dinner. One restaurant at the end of the street caught my attention because it was the only restaurant on the main street that didn't serve sushi, one of the foods that I wasn't a fan of. I walked inside and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.

It was obviously one of the more quieter restaurants, as fewer people frequented it and yet that was what I liked about it. The calm, yet mysterious nature of the restaurant was inviting and in a sense, it lured you in. When you enter it, there was a bar to the left with seats and then tables and chairs in the middle with booths to the right by the windows. Tall plants in pots were dotted around the shop, in corners and on tables, which was an unusual sight in the desert, which was so sparse of any greenery. I found that the plants only added to the atmosphere and thus, I embraced them.

I sat down at a booth and picked up the menu on the table. Since there was no sushi, and the restaurant mainly served meat, I was going to order my favourite dish.

"Excuse me? Are you ready to order?" A voice piped up on my left. Startled, I whipped my head around and placed my hand on one of my katanas on my back.

"Eeep! I'm sorry to have scared you! I didn't mean it at all!" The poor young waitress was sweating bullets while her hands waved about frantically. Honestly, the sweat was starting to drip onto the table and I was a little disgusted. But what can you do when you're a civilian and are almost held at knifepoint? Seeing her shock, I quickly apologised and said,

"I'm so sorry for that! I'm was day-dreaming so much that I forgot where I was and you just startled me, that's all! I really am sorry." By now, the waitress, whose nametag said Emi, had calmed down and wiped her forehead.

"Ok, so…" she breathed out, "welcome to the Niku to Arukōro, what would you like to eat and drink?" In response, I ordered some beef yakitori, a side of rice, and sake, a simple yet delicious dish.

Emi walked off and delivered my order to the kitchen. I turned and stared out of the window. A small group of kids of around 2 boys and 2 girls, probably around the age of 5, were playing ball games out in the street. They were all giggling and laughing as children do, however, I couldn't help but notice, that in a small alleyway near to the children, a child, smaller than the others, peered at them with shy wonder.

He had a mop of blazing red hair and bright turquoise eyes. He was small in stature, which I suppose, allowed him to hide and not be seen easily. From what I could see, it looked like he wanted to play with them, and yet something held him back. Gathering courage, he cautiously stepped forward into the slowly dimming street and shuffled towards the other children.

The interaction went a lot differently than I expected it to. Instead of welcoming him with happy shrieks of joy and gap-toothed smiles, the children stared, screamed and then ran off. The only trace of them being there at all was the small clouds of dirt they'd kicked up in their hurry and their ball.

"That's Gaara-san," Emi whispered beside me while placing my food down, "He's the son of Kazekage-sama."

"What's wrong with those children? Why don't they want to play with him?" I asked while she put down my sake bottle and small cup. She looked conflicted as if there was a reason, but she couldn't share it. Not with a stranger anyway.

I turned to face the boy, no Gaara and saw that he was slowly making his way down the street. Something stirred within me. A feeling of restlessness and the compelling desire to do something. I didn't truly understand it, but who was I to go against my emotions?

I turned to Emi, expecting to see her there next to me, however, instead she was walking out of the kitchen and back towards me with a takeaway bag and some food containers.

"I'll pack these up for you and place an extra pair of chopsticks in there, ok?" she gave me a glance and small smile while she completed her actions. I was confused by her actions until it dawned on me. She had somehow translated the emotions that I had felt, and that must have been present on my face, into the idea that I wanted to go after him.

I stood and gave her a small bow and said,

"Thank you Emi-san, I appreciate this. I'll be here for the next two weeks, so you'll be seeing a lot of me. I'm Ugoki Kitiara, and it was a pleasure to meet you." She gave a small wave in return and responded with,

"The pleasure is all mine Ugoki-san. Just before you go, would you like to meet up tomorrow morning, say about 11?" I gave a small startled look to this, which caused her to explain that,

"You're new around the village, you seem like a lovely person and I would love to show you around," I responded with an affirmation and turned onto the street. Gaara was gone, so I travelled in the direction I had seen him walking in. After turning the corner onto another road, I saw a flash of red disappearing around another corner.

A little while after the wild goose chase, well it wasn't that wild (only because he was walking slowly on 4-year old legs), we arrived at the back of a building. Gaara climbed up the ladder to the roof and after a few minutes, I followed. However, as soon as I got to the top, a quiet and quivering voice called out,

"Why are you following me? Have you come to make fun of me too? Why aren't you running away in fear?"

The small boy stood on the edge of the roof as tears glistened in his eyes and some of the sand around us rose menacingly. That was odd, but I couldn't pay attention to it as I had to focus on the nearly hysterical child in front of me. His fists were also clenched tightly. So tight, that they were vibrating, with fear or anger, I wasn't too sure. But what I was sure of is, that at that moment in time, that boy needed a friend. And after watching the encounter previously, I understood that he pretty much didn't have any.

I rolled the ball towards him and he glared at it, offended like it had personally attacked him or something of the sort.

"Come on, kick it back. You do know how to play football, don't you?" I said back teasingly. I had skirted around his questions because, in all honesty, I didn't have an answer to them. My reasoning was unexplainable, I didn't know the kid, and I was only in town for two weeks. I didn't have to bother him, and yet I did?

He just stared at me, and then the ball, and then me again. The tears that had dried up renewed themselves as rivulets began to run down his cheeks. He sobbed a little but kicked the ball back. We did this for a couple of time, with Gaara wiping his cheeks, eyes and nose (gross) in the process.

It was dark when we finished so we sat on the edge of the building to look at the stars. Although they were strewn haphazardly across the night sky, they were still beautiful. The scenic moment was broken by a small grumble, which turned into a louder gurgle.

I looked out of the corner of my eye towards the small boy next to me, who looked at me from the corner of his eye too. His cheeks began to flush red and he turned his face away from me. I started to chuckle, which then turned into full-blown laughter. It was just that he looked so adorable, all shy and everything, while his face blossomed into the colour of his hair.

I picked up the bag of now cold takeaway, opened it and said,

"Here, you can have the rice, while I have the yakitori, because sorry kid, I may like you, but yakitori is my favourite food and I've got to have it." He pulled a funny face and said a small thank you. We both said itadakimasu and dug into our meals.

Stomachs full, heart's content, we both sighed. My watch told me that it was nearing 10 pm and with that, I cleared up our take out, placed my sake into my bag -because I really couldn't drink that around a 4-year old- and got up.

"Will I see you again?" Gaara almost mumbled with his eyes lowered to the ground and his hands twisted up in his t-shirt, probably because he was afraid of the answer. I smiled and said yes, because I knew that most people in his life seemed to leave as soon as they came, leaving him in pain. Although I was leaving in two weeks, I wanted to make these the best two weeks of his life.

We decided to meet tomorrow, around 6 pm at Niku to Arukōro and set off on our journey to our respective homes/lodgings. I wanted to escort him back to his home, but he waved me off saying he was able to get home perfectly fine. So I turned around and started to walk off, only to realise that I had no clue where the hostel was.

Hey guys, so I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to meet/ interact with Gaara because I didn't want to change his nature and personality in Naruto. But then I figured out a way to make them interact and for him to still be the same Gaara we meet in the Chunin Exams arc.

This chapter is definitely longer than chapter 1, and I'm not too sure why, but I hope you liked it anyway. Next chapter, we'll hopefully be meeting the stranger I mentioned in the story description! If not, feel free to hit me through the screen because I slyly feel like I'm taking too long. Anyways, Niku to Arukōro, funnily enough, means meat and alcohol (or that's what the translator told me) because I couldn't think of a good restaurant name. Also, yakitori is just chargrilled skewers of meat. I want to clear up the idea with honorifics. Kitiara will use honorifics when speaking, so "Thank you, Emi-san," etc, but when she's doing a description "Emi walked to the kitchen," etc, then she won't do honorifics.

Also, please don't forget to comment, like, review, vote etc.

Love, LittleBlueLux