'I wonder what I should do.' Sasuke thought to himself. After five months of training in the sand he was ready to make his training harder, but without his parents or a sensei he had no idea where to go next in his training. Sweat rolled down his forehead and he crouched further into the cabinet he was in. He pulled at his ponytail, then set his hand down.

At this his usually impassive expression was momentarily traded for one of annoyance. More sweat accumulated at the base of his neck and he resisted the urge to wipe it away. Footsteps neared him and he pulled himself further into the darkness and waited. A door creaked to the side of him and a muffled voice was heard.

His thoughts were cut short as the cabinet door he was behind began to open. He watched it patiently as it slowly allowed light to pass through. It stopped creaking and hung still for a moment before…

"Nii-san! I found Nii-san!" Running could be heard as a group of young children rushed to the source of the voice. Sasuke got out of the dusty cabinet and patted himself off. Taking a quick swipe at his ponytail to make sure it was still in place, he looked down at the little girl who'd found him. She smiled at him and pulled him along to the dining room where the rest of the kids were waiting. He allowed it with a fleeting moment of something soft before annoyance covered it up.

It was childish, he knew it was, but he'd needed to appease Hana-san and her never ending lectures on spending time with the other orphans. If he'd wanted to, no one would have ever even found him. Due to his training, he was nearly the best in just about every game the kids could come up with, but then Hana-san would have begun wondering about him and even Sasuke knew a strange child just so happening to have ninja training suddenly appearing in a ninja village wouldn't turn out well for him.

After the girl had taken him into the room she let go and ran to Saburo. He picked her up and headed for the stairs.

"Alright you guys, it's time for bed." Hana appeared and began shooing the littler kids up the stairs.

Sasuke made his way to the room he shared with Kiato and Ryo. As he did, he began to think.

His whole life had been turned around. There was no one there to help him. Everything was crazy, even though he was getting used to it. But he didn't want to get used to it! He was getting nowhere in his training and he couldn't do anything about it. He was still far ahead of his classmates, but no one really cared. He found that he kind of liked building things in class and even received an extra class during recess from the teacher sometimes. That was the only good thing about school though. Everything just felt pointless.

'I don't want to become weak like some civilian! I need to get stronger! That way…' He stopped.

'Why?' A voice spoke up in his mind. 'Why should I train? What's the point? No one can find me here. No one knows me. No one cares. Do I even care?'

Sasuke pondered the thought.

If he stopped training, no one was going to make him start again obviously, Sasuke mused bitterly, but he wanted to get stronger. There wasn't any reason why he should. He wasn't in a ninja academy, so he couldn't become a Genin or a Chunin or anything else. Thoughts of his brother surfaced and he stopped for a moment. He didn't bother to think about anything to do with his brother...that man, anymore lately, but something he had said was appearing now.

'Get stronger,' He'd said, 'So that someday you can try to kill me.' Sasukes hand clenched at that.

'Kill him.' His mind was quiet for a while. 'Tch. He killed everyone! Of course I want to kill him! But if I'm too weak without a teacher... It's not like anyone is going to help me, I'm alone. That man had made sure of it.' He shook his head, angrily refusing to allow tears, and turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling.

'I don't care about him.' He thought harshly. 'I don't want anything to do with him!' He ignored the loneliness and hurt that threatened to take hold and drowned in the fury that overrode his emotions.

Guilt stirred in his chest and the faces of his family swam through his mind. What would they think of him? What would they do, knowing he was thinking about giving up the idea of avenging them? Would they be angry? Maybe. Not as if he could ask them now and it hadn't exactly come up while they were around oddly enough. That man seemed to think Sasuke would jump at it, but said man was also insane, so what could be gained from listening to him anyway?

'What should I do then?' Sasuke glared at the ceiling. 'How am I supposed to do anything here?!' Sasuke felt tears of frustration appear, but he ignored them. He wished more than anything that he'd just wake up already to find this was a dream or a misunderstanding. His eyes slid shut and he slept dreamlessly.

Sasuke finished his training disappointed and irritated. As he walked back to the orphanage he thought of how to make his training harder or interesting or just worth his time. At first the sand had been difficult, but he needed something new to help him get stronger. He'd already checked the library, even staying and listening through a lecture on various molds and fungus that glows in the moonlight. Still, none of the books helped. He didn't know how to begin on anything.

The problem was, he was doing his best, but he wasn't getting in enough training in the amount of time he had. With only several hours in the morning and possibly two in the evening, he was barely getting half the hours he used to. Kicking at some sand he glared at the ground, as though it held all the answers to his problems, yet tauntingly held them out of reach.

"Hello." A voice spoke near Sasuke as he passed an alley. Almost jumping out of his skin, he calmed himself and looked at Gaara.

"Hn." He waved back and headed towards him. After the first day that they'd hung out together, Sasuke had kept his word, albeit reluctantly, and returned to play. Then, they'd started hanging out together whenever they were both at the park. It'd been nearly two months, and they'd become somewhat tentatively friends.

"What are you doing?" Gaara was always quiet, Sasuke mused. It was one of the biggest things Sasuke liked about him, making it easier to be around, unlike the orphanage children and civilians he was forced to endure.

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing."

Gaara looked back at the ground and walked quietly beside him in amicable silence.

"So, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked boredly.

"Um…" Gaara looked confused. "…nothing, I guess."

"Where're you going then?" Sasuke asked.

"…nowhere." Gaara looked over at Sasuke mystified somewhat by his unnecessary questions.

"Aren't you going to go eat breakfast?" Sasuke wondered out loud.

"I have to wait 'til Uncle wakes up." Gaara answered blandly.

"Why don't you make it?" Sasuke remembered waking up early so he could surprise his parents with a breakfast he made, or waking up and his mother was gone on a mission so he had to make it for himself. He couldn't understand why someone his age wouldn't just make his own.

"Uh…I don't know." Gaara answered sounding mystified once again.

"Can you?" Sasuke looked incredulous.

"I'm not sure." Gaara said shaking his head. "Can you?"

Sasuke nodded shooting Gaara a withering look for having suggested otherwise.

"Really?" Gaara, generally impassive, looked slightly impressed.

"What? Of course." Sasuke shot back, offended.

"Ok." Gaara looked away again.

"You don't believe me?" Sasuke angrily accused irritated.

"I don't really..."

Sasuke cut him off, "Fine take me to your house. I'll show you. Anyone with half a brain can cook."

Gaara stared at him befuddled, before turning abruptly and going down an alley. Sasuke followed and soon they made it to a small building where Gaara opened the door and let Sasuke in. After taking off his shoes, Sasuke saw that he seemed to be in a doctors' office. In the back, the building looked more like a home though.

Gaara lead him to where the kitchen was and sat on a stool, leaving the light off. A small counter with a stove was against the wall and at the end a refrigerator stood humming. An island counter rested in the middle of the kitchen and a small pantry was placed on the other side.

"Uncle's asleep upstairs. He probably can't hear us." Gaara said quieter than usual. Sasuke nodded.

They opened the pantry and stared at the food.

"So…how do we start?" Gaara asked looking at the food.

"Well...what do you want to eat?" Sasuke answered searching the food for something he remembered how to make.

Gaara thought about it, then shrugged.

"Let's just make some rice and eggs then." Sasuke decided quietly. With a nod from Gaara, he pulled down a bag and put it on the counter.

He opened a drawer to look for the measuring cups in the near dark. Once he'd found them he turned to see Gaara watching him interested.

"Get the eggs." Sasuke directed. Really he just didn't want Gaara to watch over him the entire time. It was annoying...and creepy.

Gaara nodded and pulled open the fridge. Some milk fell from the door and they both stiffened. Realizing that the sound hadn't brought any unwanted attention, Gaara pulled out the eggs and shut the door.

"Just put them in the pan and stir them." Sasuke said quietly. Gaara nodded and pulled out a pan, accidently knocking over several in the dark.

"Hey!" Sasuke hissed as Gaara jumped. Sasuke rolled his eyes to himself and picked up a pot that'd landed near him. Pouring in the correct amount he placed it on the stove and turned on the burner. Gaara placed the pan on the stove next to the pot and stirred the eggs with his sand. Sasuke took a step back and slipped on something liquid. With a yelp he fell and grabbed onto something. Gaara turned startled and his sand came up in defense as he began to slip too. Sasuke panicked as small critters started to fall on him. Holding onto the cabinet door he pulled himself up. Smoke began filling his nose as he tried to breathe.

Sasuke worried momentarily about the smoke smell while metal banging could be heard as Gaara slipped again. Suddenly the light switched on.

'Wake up.' Yashamaru fought through the blur to look at his digital clock. Six-thirty-seven.

'A couple more minutes couldn't hurt.' He thought sleepily to the voice telling him to get up. He felt a chakra presence in the house, but recognized Gaara and relaxed.

'Glad he's home.' He thought warmly before drifting some more. A couple minutes later he heard the fridge. Something dropped on the floor and Yashamaru turned on his side about to get up, but he stopped as it got quiet.

'Probably just Gaara getting some milk.' He thought sleepily letting himself get pulled back into the bed by his sleepiness. 'I should get up and make breakfast.' His body refused to listen though and he laid on his bed contemplating how long it would take before he finally got up.

A crashing sounded from downstairs and Yashamaru jumped up. Stumbling over some forgotten items on the floor he lurched back onto the bed.

'What the…We better not be getting attacked.' His mind groaned as he sat back up and yawned. Guessing they probably weren't anyway he took his time getting proper clothes on. As he stepped down the stairs he heard a yelp and more crashing. Once he reached the bottom steps he smelt smoke and rushed to the light switch. As the electricity illuminated the scene before him, he was sure he'd fallen back asleep.

On the ground were two slightly guilty looking kids, one of which was Gaara and the other his new friend Sasuke. With them was a set of pans he'd had forever and a bag of rice spilling on Sasukes head onto the floor. By the fridge, the milk he'd picked up yesterday laid empty, having poured out onto the floor. The stove held a smoking pot and a pan full of…he wasn't sure yet. The pot was full of fire and pouring smoke as Yashamaru pulled it off, putting it in the sink to rinse as he turned off the stove. As he filled the pot with water he looked at the pan suspiciously and saw to his surprise it was full of eggs. Full eggs. Shell and all...and was that sand? Yashamaru peered closer at the pan. The pot began to overflow and he turned off the water.

"Okay," he started as he took in the damage. "Right, okay." He picked up a towel out of an upper cabinet and set it on the floor in hopes it would soak up the mess. He pulled out two more and gave them to the two kids at his feet. Sasuke immediately began drying himself off and tugged at his ponytail covered in milk. Gaara dried his hair and stood up waiting for his uncle to speak.

Yashamaru picked up the rice bag to stop it from dumping any further, then turned to the boys waiting on him.

"So…what happened?" He asked baffled.

"We were making breakfast." Gaara answered calmly, as though the breakfast hadn't made its way onto the floor.

"Oh." Yashamaru was surprised. Gaara didn't normally try to do anything he wasn't comfortable with. The last time Yashamaru checked, making breakfast wasn't on that list. He turned to Sasuke.

"I was…helping." Sasuke responded to the unasked question. "Gaara brought me."

Yashamaru nodded, pinching his arm behind his back. 'Okay, that hurt. So, not a dream.' Yashamaru half laughed then smiled kindly.

"Well, thank you two!" He said kindly, recognizing an opportunity. "Why don't you guys help me clean up? We'll make breakfast when we're done, okay?" They both nodded and set to work. Once the milk was cleaned up and the rice was reasonably off the floor, Yashamaru gave them each a task to complete as he set about making breakfast.

He smiled to himself as he watched Gaara and Sasuke jump into their assignments eagerly.

'They're so young.' The thought brushed through his mind and he turned back to his own assignment. They set the table and ate quietly. Afterwards Sasuke left to go back to the orphanage.

"So, Gaara," Yashamaru started as they cleaned the dishes. "How did Sasuke get here?"

"I saw him this morning and he came over. That's what friends do right?" Gaara looked to him for conformation. At Yashamarus' nod he smiled a little.

It was these smiles that lead Yashamaru to defend his nephew, even against the Kazekage. When Yashamaru had been called for and talked with the Kazekage two months ago, it'd taken everything out of him to not outright refuse the mission to kill the jinchuriki. After a heated debate with his brother in law though, he nearly lost. It was only after a moment, when he'd remembered Sasuke playing with Gaara, that he'd been able to convince the Kazekage that Gaara was changing. He was more in control now that he had a friend and he'd stopped getting incredibly upset when others rejected his attempts to communicate with them.

Shaking his head, Yashamaru smiled and looked at Gaara. There wasn't any need to think about that while he was here with his nephew.

Sasuke stepped out of the bathroom. Sadly, because he'd been late 'getting up' all the hot water had been used and he was late for breakfast. He grabbed his school bag irritated and ran out the door, skipping his trip to the library and making it to school five minutes early.

"Hey!" Ryo waved over to Sasuke as he sat down.

Ever since Kiato and Ryo had overreacted so badly to Gaara, Sasuke had unconsciously began avoiding his roommates even more than before. Unfortunately, they shared multiple classes and rooms. Sasuke looked up from his reading. Ryo wasn't actually too bad, Sasuke decided, far less annoying than he could be, even if he was the one always trying to join Sasuke and drag him around. It was really Kiato he disliked and his stupid arrogant attitude Sasuke decided.

"So, you wanna come play after school?"

Sasuke shook his head. He had things to do after school. Like walk around aimlessly looking for an answer to his training dilemma or really anything that wasn't that. Ryo looked disappointed, but smiled and went back to his desk as the teacher walked in.

"Now, before we begin, please pull out your homework from yesterday."

Sasuke groaned internally. Today was going to take forever.

Normally she was calm. Very level headed. Someone who could be looked to in a crisis, should she find herself in one. Today, well today she'd been woken up to water splashing her into consciousness. Today, she'd found all of her clothes dirty and now stank. Today she'd been late getting to the teams meet up, upon which she received a lecture from her sensei while her little snot nosed brother sat to the side smirking. Today…today she was about a hairs breath away from uprooting Gaaras' title as murderous sibling and slaughtering Kankuro into itty-bitty-tiny pieces. Then she'd dump the pieces out onto fire ant hills and watch as they dragged him off to supply the colonies for the next winter.

'Yes,' she decided evilly, 'That's exactly what I'm going to do. Now I just need let Gaara know, then find Kankuro…' As her plan to rid the world of annoying little pranksters by the name of Kankuro unfolded in her mind, she found herself walking quietly among a group of civilians and ninja looking at the wares for sale today. Interested in the garish tents and wondering what she could afford, she placed all earlier thoughts on hold and walked up to see what was for sale.

"Hello little lady!" A merchant selling beautiful fans and small pretty trinkets smiled at her, eager for a sale. She smiled back politely and passed the useless items to find something worth her attention. A darker brown tent, set up a little out of the way, held a man in dark colored clothing with a cloth over his eyes. She walked up quietly and poked around the merchandise. All sorts of interesting things were set up around the tent, from kunai to swords and scrolls on all kinds of things. This was almost certainly a tent set up for ninjas.

"Hey," A gruff voice spoke up from behind her. "Don't touch the merchandise! Not unless you plan to pay for it." The man with the cloth over his eyes sat up as he spoke to the kid behind her. He dropped the needles he'd been holding and apologized sheepishly. She stared at him a moment longer as he pulled at his ponytail and looked through the scrolls without touching them. Shifting her attention to the needles he'd abandoned she searched her pockets to make sure her own money was with her. With a start she found her pockets were empty.

"Excuse me." She nearly jumped thinking she'd been caught. The kid that'd entered earlier was standing in front of the creepy blind salesman trying to catch his attention.

"What?" He asked sitting up.

"Can I work for you?" Both she and the man were quiet. The man cleared his throat and sat straighter in his fold up chair.

"Now why would I let you do that?"

"So you could have help."

'Wow, the kid has guts.' Temari thought, a bubble of respect appearing.

"Oh? And why would I need help?"

"Cause your blind." Temari actually stumbled on something as she tried to process what the kid just said.

'Is he crazy? Guts! Ha, that kid's just stupid!' She watched apprehensively as she waited for the man to chop said kid into bits. The silence crawled on.

"Ha-ha!" The man began laughing. "You're lucky I'm feeling benevolent today, kid. Okay, what do you want me to pay you with?" He said pretending to think about it.

"This." The kid sat a small thin vest and some arm/leg bands.

"Oh…" He picked up the items and nodded. "Fine. I'm here for a week. You come in at around this time each day and do whatever I ask. Then, if I think you deserve it, they're yours." He put the items in a bag and set them to the side.

"Deal." The kid said. Temari watched shocked. The kid wasn't dead.

'Well…that's good.' She thought as she bumped into a set of swords. The swords crashed, tipping over some strange ball. That in turn rolled across the table and fell into a basket holding a set of sticks that of course went flying through the air and disturbed a display of glass wares. With dread, she watched as a bottle slowly tipped over and crashed onto the ground.

"Hey!" The man stood and directed his attention on her. "You!" She yelped and fell into a defensive stance.

"Are you going to pay for that?" He asked her.

"Um…yes?" She answered nervously.

"Good, 'cause that cost me a fortune." She swallowed remembering her lack of money.

"If you wait a sec…"

"Oh no! Pay now, I'm not an idiot."

"Well…I…I left my money at home and I just need…"

"You expect me to believe you're going to come back?" He looked skeptical.

"Yes!" She answered frustrated. "How much was it? I'll just go get it!"

He named a price and she paled.

"What! No one would ever pay that much for…for some, stupid bottle!" The man stood up and rose an eyebrow.

"I don't even have that much money!"

"Is that so? Well then I guess you're just going to have to work off your debt. You can start by cleaning up your mess."

Temari wanted to scream. After cleaning up the mess, she sat beside the kid who'd voluntarily started working for the Jerk.

"So, what are you trying to get?" She decided to start up a conversation.

"Chakra weights."

"Oh?" She said in surprise. It was strange that a civilian child would be trying to buy those and knew what they were.

"Hn."

'Wow, he's quite a talker.' Temari thought blandly.

"Well, my name's Temari. You?"

"Sasuke."

Temari blinked. 'That name sounds very familiar.'

"Have we met before?"

"No."

"Oh…Okay, so, what'd you need chakra weights for anyway?"

"Training."

"Oh? You go to the academy?"

"No."

Temari waited for the explanation. She scowled to the side once she realized there wouldn't be one.

'Now what?' After an hour or two had passed, Temari groaned.

"Hey! I'm not paying you two to chit-chat, get to work."

Temari openly glared at him, and once she remembered his lack of sight it only fueled her anger.

"What would you like us to do?" Sasuke asked politely. Temari clenched her teeth, but waited for a response.

"Uh…clean up I guess. Closing time's soon, so just finish up and go." Temari rolled her eyes and did as she'd been asked. Afterwards she walked as quickly as she could in the direction of her house.

A crashing sound filled the air and screams began to accumulate around a cloud of sand.

Gaara walked through the alley's. Most people stuck to the main road, so he didn't bother too many people when he used them. He let some sand flow to his hand and he twirled it absentmindedly. He thought of what had happened earlier in the morning. When he'd had Sasuke come over, he hadn't expected him to actually come.

In fact, Gaara thought confused, Sasuke never did anything he expected him to. He hung out with him at the park, voluntarily, talked to him even though Gaara didn't know what to say, and he never once called Gaara a monster or a demon. He acted like Gaara was normal. Which, was very not normal to Gaara.

Some kids were playing behind the buildings. After watching for a moment, Gaara turned to use a different alley, when suddenly a door slammed open.

Startled, a man looked at Gaara, then glared.

"Demon! Get out of here!" Another tall man stood in his way and blocked the alley he was trying to go through.

"I'm trying to…"

He heard a kid scream behind him. Looking back startled, the man decided it would be appropriate to throw something at him. To protect him, his sand activated and blocked the projectile. The man gasped in surprise, then yelled in fear. Gaara took a few steps backward and felt his sand activate again. Some of the kids had gotten brave and started throwing things at him as well.

"Go away, monster!" Gaara tried going back the way he came, but more people were blocking his path. His sand flew around him agitated by its' masters' fear.

'Don't be afraid! Let me see them! Let me take care of them! Let me tear them apart!' A voice laughed within his mind. He grabbed his head and shook.

'What's going on?! What are they doing? Why isn't everyone just leaving me alone?!'

"Just leave me alone!" A wave of sand crashed onto the crowd and their previous shouts turned to screams instantaneously.

The sand flew into the air and created a cloud of protection around him. Then he ran. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to go far.

"Done! We are done with this Kazekage! How many more people are going to have to die, before we finally realize this 'plan' of yours has failed?!" The council waited for the Kazekages' reply. After some silence, they were given their answer.

"He's getting better with his control." He said quietly.

"What?! That wasn't control! The villagers are getting fed up with this project as well, we need to protect our people."

A stifling pause accompanied those words as the full weight of them fell across the room.

"You're right." A collection of relief was released throughout the room. The Kazekage stood, ending all further instructions, and sent for the demon containers caretaker. He knew this mission couldn't be done by any other. This time, he'd wouldn't be suggesting though. It'd have to be a direct order. The Kazekage sighed and resisted the urge to hit his desk, by closing his eyes and waiting instead.

Sometimes, he thought as the door opened for Yashamaru, I hate my job.

Hello,

Happy Holidays! What ever it is you celebrate, I hope you enjoy it! Also, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, consider it my gift to you readers. :) I hope you enjoyed the little bit of interaction between Temari and Sasuke Raven, I promise there will be more later on. Can't say much more in case I spoil something though.

Salutations,

Anonymous

This Chapter has been edited since previous AN.

Anonymous