A sandy ocean unfolded in front of Haku. She had traveled for a long time and her feet ached, but she was not giving up. After enjoying a bowl of Ramen, Haku set out across the rest of the desert. Finally, just as night fell Haku reached a large entrance. Slowly, she followed the path until she found herself in a village.
"This must be the Sand Village Iruka spoke of once." She said to herself.
She continued onward through the village when a sound caught her attention. She followed it to its source. There she saw a young red haired boy with a goar one his back, who appeared to be her age, playing with stones. The boy looked up and Haku hid behind the corner of a building.
"Who's there?" The boy asked. "Come out I know you are there."
Haku stepped around the corner and approached the boy. "I'm Haku. Haku Namikaze." She said happily.
"I'm Gaara." The boy replied extending out two fingers. As it was custom Haku returned the gesture, clasping fingers with Gaara. She smiled kindly.
"I haven't seen you before. What are you doing here?" Gaara asked.
Haku looked sideways. "Well, I ran away from my village."
"why?"
"well…" She stuttered. "All of the village treats me like dirt and I don't know why. I couldn't stand it so I ran away."
"Oh, I see. A lot of my village does the same." Gaara replied.
"Hey, you wanna go do something?" Haku asked and Gaara nodded.
The pair ran around the village playing games such as tag, hide-and-seek, and even spared a little, but to Haku's disappointment didn't go well.
"Why does all that sand get in the way all the time?"
Gaara shrugged. "Dunno."
Dismissing this, the two sat on a bench talking. Haku's eyes grew heavy until she fell over onto Gaara asleep. Gaara smiled and giggled lightly.
"You are so strange but I feel like we have something great in common."
Gaara leaned over and fell to sleep as well.