Disclaimer: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro are not mine, Amanda is however. Only I am allowed to drive her insane.

I stared open mouthed at where the stoic red head had been only moments before. Normal people don't just dissolve. There was something completely not right going on here. I looked over at Temari who was in turn, looking at me curiously.

"What's the matter, you look pale all of a sudden..." She put a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged, "Is it normal for people to just..." I couldn't even put the action into words, so I pointed at the ground where Gaara had been standing, "Do that?"

"Do what?"

I sighed, "To dissolve into sand like that? Am I the only one who finds it weird that people do that? I mean-Stop laughing at me!" Half way though my first sentence Kankuro seemed to find the situation hilarious and burst into a fit of laughter.

Temari threw Kankuro a dirty look before she returned her attention to me. I was now standing there, arms crossed, still looking just as confused.

"You really aren't from any where around here, are you?" She asked as she looked me over again.

"I told you, and sand man that I am not from around here, I don't even know where the hell here is! No one will tell me anything!" I stomped my foot and instantly realized I was acting much like a spoiled five year old who wasn't getting their way. I didn't really care anymore.

"Sunagakure in the country of wind." Kankuro said from behind me.

I turned, "Hey, can you speak English so I know what the hell 'soona gah curry' is?" Why did they keep on using words I didn't understand?

"Sunagakure is the Hidden Village of Sand. It's right in front of us beyond that gate. Gaara, our brother, is the Kazekage, or leader of our village. At least tell me you know what Ninja are, right?" Kankuro said. He sounded as though he was speaking to the five year old mentality I had just been showing.

I nodded, "Duh, they dress all in black, throw things, and kill with swords, right?" I silently prayed that we had the same explanation for a Ninja. I watched a lot of those badly dubbed movies from Japan and it was always the same.

Cat boy shook his head, "No. Me and Temari are Ninjas, as is Gaara and anyone in the village you see wearing this." He tapped the metal plate on the forehead of his hood. It looked like it had a crude looking hourglass etched into it. I noticed that Temari had one around her neck.

I scratched the back of my head, "Alright. So you all are ninja's, your brother is the leader of the whole lot of you, and you live in..." I couldn't remember how to pronounce the name of their village, "That village over there, and this is the country of the wind?"

Temari nodded and Kankuro shrugged, "You make is sound so complicated. Just come with us to the village and we'll hopefully get all this straightened out." Kankuro said as he started walking towards the village. I shrugged and followed him and Temari walked beside me. I tried to start conversation with her.

"So you're a ninja?"

She nodded.

"Have you killed people before?"

Again she nodded. I raised an eyebrow.

"How? You don't have a sword." I pointed out.

"I have kunai and shruiken, not to mention my battle fan. I don't need a stupid sword."

I had to suppress a laugh. Battle fan? Who the hell was she kidding, you can't kill anyone with a damn fan. Apparently she either could read my thoughts, or everyone doubted the power of the fan because she stopped me and pulled the big metal bar from her back. It slid open into a pale tan folding fan with purple circles. My eyes widened slightly, I didn't know you could get them that big. Looking at that thing she held so lightly in her hand made me realize something, she didn't need a stupid sword. I glanced over my shoulder to see Kankuro had stopped and had walked back towards us. He seemed to have found our exchange amusing.

"What about you, Cat Head?" I could tell already he didn't like his nickname. He glared at me and pulled the big bundle off his back. At first glance, it reminded me of the mummies they had at the museum in the city. It even had a tuft of hair sticking out of the top, "What, you mummify people?"

He shook his head, "Puppeteer. I control puppets with my chakra and use them as weapons. I'd show you, but I just want to go home, and it's a hassle wrapping them back up." He said as he slung the thing over his shoulder again.

I shrugged, "Alright, O' Fearless Leader. Lead on."

Kankuro rolled his eyes, but led us to the city gates. It only took about a half hour more of walking before we got there, and the two guards standing watch let us pass with no problems, although, they did give me some strange looks. I tried to ignore it and think only of following the person in front of me, Kankuro. We had only walked a little ways from the gate when Cat Head stopped us.

"Temari, take care of her. I have to go deal with some stuff before it gets too late." And with that, he was gone. This time, he just up and disappeared, unlike his brother, who dissolved.

"Normal, right?" I asked as I looked at Temari.

She nodded, "Yes, normal. Now, come with me, I need to get you cleaned up and a little less obvious here in the village."

I wasn't about to argue with her. I had noticed that more and more people were looking me over and seeming a little too curious for their own good. I followed the blonde before me to a decently sized building. It seemed like her home, because she slipped off her sandals and left the fan by the door. I slipped off my sneakers and followed her up a flight of stairs.

"There's a bath in there. Clean yourself up while I try to find something to fit you. You look about my size so it shouldn't be too hard." She said with a smile and I shrugged.

A bath sounded really nice right about now. I walked in and took stock of my surroundings. There was a deep Jacuzzi sized bath tub with all sorts of bath salts and other bottles lined up all around it. I silently praised god for the awesome bath bounty. It was like walking into the Hilton.

I turned on the tap and adjusted the water so it was just short of scalding hot. While the bath was running, I slipped out of my cut off jeans, shirt, and under things. I wasn't too worried about someone walking in. It was only me and Temari here after all.

As soon as the bath was full I slipped into the water and was surprised at how much sand rinsed off of me and floated to the bottom of the tub. First things first, I gotta wash my hair. I could feel it matted to my head after walking in the sun all day. I dunked my head under the water for almost a full minute before comming back up to find the shampoo. There were a few too many bottles to choose from, so I picked the bottle that smelled like my body spray at home. It was a ginger scented shampoo so it seemed more normal than the other fruity stuff. After I rinsed the suds out of my hair I scrubbed myself down with a luffa and winced when I got to my knees. I had forgotten about the cuts and scrapes there. I washed the rest of myself before coming back and rubbing some soap on my knees with my hands and cursed. The soap stung like a bitch.

There was a knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"It's Temari, I found some clothes for you."

"Come on in then." I said as I drew my knees up to my chest and kind of hugged my knees so not to be totally exposed to the other woman.

Temari walked it and closed the door quickly behind her and set the pile of clothing on the sink by the door.

"You find everything okay?" She asked as she leaned back against the closed door.

I nodded, "Yeah, I hope you don't mind, I used some of the ginger shampoo." I could feel my face reddening slightly.

She shook her head and smiled, "Nah, it's alright. It was part of a gift basket I got from some woman when I helped her with her spa. I never really was that big of a fan of ginger."

I nodded, I knew how that went, "It doesn't seem to be popular anywhere I go." I said with a slight laugh and looked at the clothes Temari had brought for me. She noticed my line of sight.

"I'll be waiting down stairs. When you're ready, we need to go see Gaara." She said and left before I could reply.

I sighed, I didn't want to get out of the bath, but the water was already beginning to cool so I might as well see what she brought me.

I stepped out of the water and wrapped a towel around me and stepped over to the clothes. They were black and red in color. Almost the exact same shade as my hair. Nifty. On top was a tank top-ish looking shirt. I picked it up and held it out at arms length. It was dark red in color with a fishnet pattern over the chest and around the neck. I pulled it on and looked at myself in the mirror. It actually looked pretty good on me. Next, the pants. Plain black pants. Nothing new there. I pulled those on and looked at the rest of the clothes she had brought me. There was a pair of red sandals with black soles, much like she had been wearing. Not bad, seemed to match everything else so I set those aside and picked though the few remaining things. There was a pair of gloves in the same red color as my shirt, they were fingerless and had little metal plates on the back of each one, but that didn't bother me. I pulled those on and looked at the last remaining article of clothing. It was a simple black bandana. I tied it around my head and knotted it in the back and looked at myself in the mirror. I felt out of place, but I sure as hell didn't look it anymore. I grabbed the pile of old clothes and walked out of the bathroom.

I headed down stairs and found Temari waiting for me by the door.

"Just leave your old clothes here, we'll deal with them later." She said impatiently.

I nodded and pulled on the sandals she had brought for me and followed her out the door.