Fumie woke a few hours later to her stomach grumbling. She got out of bed and walked across the hall. She quietly opened Temari's door to see if she was awake. She smiled to herself when she saw Temari snuggled up against Shikamaru's body with his arms wrapped protectively around her. She quietly closed the door and walked down the stairs.
"Now if I was a kitchen where would I be?" she muttered to herself.
"Are you hungry?" asked a quiet voice behind her. She jumped, turning to see Gaara standing behind her.
"How did you do that? I couldn't even sense you coming up behind me."
"I've always been able to mask my chakra well," he replied. He walked past her.
"Follow me. The kitchen is this way."
Fumie followed him. After passing through a few rooms she saw a dining table. He motioned for her to sit and he went through an archway to the kitchen. She watched him as he got some leftovers from the fridge and brought them out to her.
"If you want you can heat them but I enjoy them cold."
Fumie smiled. "That's ok. I haven't had a cold meal in a while. The cave wasn't really equipped for keeping food cold," she laughed.
"How did you come to live in a cave in the desert?"
"Well it's a long story. I have to start back in my childhood."
Gaara nodded. "I can spare some time."
"Well for as long as I can remember I traveled with different groups. Nomads, travelers, even rouge ninjas when I was older."
"What about your parents?"
Fumie frowned. "I don't know. I can't remember them and I don't even know their names."
A silence fell. "I'm sorry," offered Gaara.
"It's ok. You can't miss what you didn't know. Besides I had a lot of different parents, people who looked over me," she replied. "As I got a little older it became apparent I had a natural affinity to earth and I began learning how to be a ninja."
"How did you find out?"
Fumie bit her lip. "It's difficult to explain. I'll show you guys some time."
"How skilled as a ninja are you?"
"I'm pretty good," replied Fumie. "My attacks are really strong but as you might guess, some of my basics are shaky."
"If you want I can get Kankuro or Temari to help with that. You are welcome to become a ninja of Suna."
"That would be nice. Thank you." Another comfortable silence fell.
"So how did you get to the cave?" asked Gaara after a while.
"Well as I got older I started drawing the attention of the men. I was always an outspoken child and as I grew older it became much more pronounced so I didn't tolerate any funny business. I could get very violent if I wanted to. A lot of people didn't like it too much."
Gaara chuckled. "You and Temari could be sisters."
Fumie smiled. "We do get along really well. Anyway I got fed up with having to deal with the men as well as most of the people I was traveling with hating my personality so I left. I soon came to the desert. It seemed like a nice place. I could be myself. No one judging me. I soon found the cave and made myself at home."
"Why were you out in the sandstorm?"
"I had left the day before to gather food in the forest. I was coming home when I saw Temari lying in the sand. I couldn't just leave her there so I brought her back. She was exhausted. The sandstorm was pretty fierce, even I had a little trouble with it and I'm used to them. I think she had tried to use her chakra to get through the sandstorm quicker and ended up depleting her chakra. She slept for four days. I made sure she would drink and was able to mash up some food for her."
"What happened when she woke up?" asked Gaara.
"Well she was confused at first, thought I was an enemy when she first heard my voice, but I calmed her down. She was fine until she asked how long she had been there. She freaked out and tried to get up. I told her she wasn't leaving just yet. She was almost accepting that, but then she said his name." Fumie laughed. "She almost completely stood up. Shocked the hell out of me. She shouldn't have been able to stand up that quickly. Well I pushed her back down and told her she wasn't leaving. To be honest if she hadn't said Shikamaru's name we would still be in the cave. I saw how badly she wanted to get back knowing he was worried so I decided to help her back."
"They love each other very much," said Gaara.
Fumie smiled. After they had finished eating she looked at him again.
"What's up with the tattoo on your forehead?"
Gaara tensed. "It's a remnant from my past. I once only thought and cared about myself for reasons that I will not share with you at the moment. To be frank I don't trust you enough yet. Don't take offense."
Fumie shrugged. "No big deal. There were things I let out of my story too. I may have saved your sister but we still have a ways to go before we can talk about certain things in our lives."
Gaara nodded. "I'm glad you understand."
"What's not to understand? We only met today," replied Fumie. Suddenly she let out a huge yawn.
"You should get some rest," said Gaara clearing the table. When he came back she was still there.
"How do I get back to my room?" she asked. He smiled.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it." He led her out of the kitchen and back to her room.
"It was nice talking to you Gaara," said Fumie.
"You as well," he replied. Fumie closed her door and snuggled into her bed, ready for a good night's sleep.
AN:
