(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in the anime or manga. But if I did, Gaara is soooooooo mine…. But I do own Ami, Jason and Freddy, Hiroshi, Rin, and Acea. My friend came up with the idea for Kana, based off of herself ) and this is a semi-alternate universe. The pairings is GaaraXOC and other main charactersXOC.)

Ami skipped merrily to the Hokage's office, followed by her two dogs, Jason and Freddy. This would be her first day in Konoha. She had just transferred here from the Sand Village and today would be the day that she'd be introduced to the Hokage, the greatest ninja of the Fire Country.

A small smile crossed her face when she entered the room outside the Hokage's office.

She was promptly sent in, and was greeting warmly by a woman with long blonde hair pulled back in pigtails.

"Ami Suma, welcome to Konoha. I am Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, I hope that you're training here will go smoothly."

Ami smiled as she held out her visa and transfer papers for the Hokage to look at.

Walking over to her desk, Tsunade looked them over.

"I'll get someone here immediately to escort you through the village and get familiar with your new surroundings…."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled, and went back to looking at the papers.

"It says here that you have two team mates. An Acea Rukojou and a Hiroshi Ronin. Where are they?"

Ami tried to hide her smile, but knew that it would be pointless to hide anything from the older woman.

There was a loud commotion in the outer room and a young girl in her teens rushed in. Her long burgundy hair was in disarray and she tried to control her shallow breathing. She had a blank tank top like shirt, with black shorts and a brown apron-like covering over the front. She had brown shoulder pads and fingerless gloves that came almost to her elbows, that were also covered in the same brown fabric. She had boot-like shoes that came to her knees, the same color black as her shirt. Her headband was worn on top her of her head, like a certain pink haired ninja Tsunade knew.

Tsunade arched an eyebrow as she inspected her.

"Acea Rukojou, I presume?"

Acea forced a smile as she bowed.

"My apologizes for being late, Hokage-sama. I was…delayed."

She sent a death glare to Ami, who only smiled a little too innocently.

Flash back to this morning

Acea dosed in and out of consciousness, and hadn't even noticed Ami wake up, or turn off her alarm clock. When she finally did wake up, she was late for her meeting...

End flash back

"I see, well, then where is-"

A young man stepped into the room, his black unruly hair hung over his ruby eyes. He had long black pants and a dark jacket, with a leather collar, with the sand tribe symbol dangling from it around his neck. His headband shone through his jet-black bangs.

"-Hiroshi Ronin?" She finished as she rose to greet both of them.

"Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade smiled as she continued, "Like I was saying to your teammate, you will be escorted through Konoha with a guide. Ami, I'll be putting you with Kiba. He knows his way through Konoha pretty well. And you..."

She gestured towards Acea.

"You will go with Hiroshi. If I recall correctly, you have been here before."

He nodded, and Tsunade walked back to her desk.

"Alright then, your sensei should be arriving soon, and Kiba should be here by now..."

There was a loud thump coming from the outside room and a white dog came barreling in. Riding on top was a young man around their ages, with red fangs painted under each eye, his spiky brown hair sticking in all directions.

"Ah, thank you Kiba for coming so quickly."

Kiba smiled as he dismounted his dog.

"What can I do for you, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"I would like you to take one of our friends here and show them around Konoha."

Kiba looked a bit disappointed that he wasn't being given an A-class mission like he had been hoping, but agreed anyway.

"Okay, who am I taking?"

Tsunade pointed a slender finger at Ami.

"You'll be showing Ami here around. It looks like she has some dogs too, so I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about."

Kiba stared at Ami for a second; surprised he had not noticed her earlier. Walking over to her, he extended his arm, which she gladly took.

"So you have dogs?"

Ami blushed and pointed to where Jason and Freddy where peering curiously at the white dog.

"Come on Akamaru, let's show them some of the sites."

Akamaru yipped an affirmative and soon they were gone.

Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief as she sat back down at her office.

"That boy has so much energy, I hope your friend will be able to keep up."

Acea and Hiroshi exchanged glances.

"I think Kiba will be lucky if he can keep up with Ami." Hiroshi explained as he took Acea's arm.

"I'll show Acea around now, thanks again, Hokage-sama."

Acea and Hiroshi bowed as they turned to leave.

"Oh and one more thing."

They turned to the blonde Hokage.

"There will be one more sand team coming. They're from the capital so I don't know if you know them or not…"

Acea shrugged. There were a lot of Sand Ninja they didn't know.

As they left the building, Hiroshi leaned over to Acea and asked, "She turned off the alarm clock again?"

Acea nodded stiffly.

"Again."

She turned to her friend. Just about every girl in class at the Sand Academy had had a crush on him. The collar of his dark jacket covered a good portion of his neck, but Acea knew why. She smirked as she eyed the dragon tattoo that was curling around his shoulder and went down his back.

"Listen Acea, try not to get yourself in trouble here. You're new; try not to screw up okay? You can't afford having a bad rep here, especially with the distrust between the Sand and Leaf Tribes."

Acea rolled her eyes, trying to look annoyed, but really appreciated her friend's concern.

"And what about you? I seem to recall a certain someone assisting me in my trouble making… what happened to him? Did he go respectable?"

The look on Hiroshi's face was one that was mixed with annoyance and amusement. He stopped, and her looked her right in the eyes.

"Who said anything about going respectable…"

Acea felt her face warm at the comment, but also from the fact the Hiroshi was so close.

Something, or actually, someone knocked into her, and she started to fall, but Hiroshi caught her.

"Hey, watch it, loser!" she yelled.

Her eyes blazed with anger as she got up to see who had pushed her.

Standing not too far from her, with his arms crossed was a young man roughly her age with red hair, and a tattoo on his forehead that said love. His clothes were obviously that from a Sand Tribe, and the gourd he wore on his back had a belt with the Sand Tribe marking engraved on it.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the one who knocked into me, idiot."

The young man didn't budge, his turquoise eyes never leaving her's.

"Well you shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the road, you moron."

"Hey Gaara. What's up? Who's your new friend?"

The one called Gaara looked over Acea's shoulder and saw his friend, Naruto.

Hiroshi, who had been holding Acea back from punching Gaara, stepped in.

"This is Acea Rukojou and I'm Hiroshi Ronin, she and I just got here from the Sand Tribe."

The introductions were made, and they spent the next five minutes learning a few things about Gaara and Naruto.

"Well, now that that's over with, how about some ramen?"

Gaara rolled his eyes as he looked at his friend.

"One thing you should know about Naruto…. He's obsessed with ramen."

Naruto smiled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I like ramen… so what? You like…Wait, I don't know what you like Gaara."

Hiroshi laughed.

"Well then, let's go find some ramen. I'm starving."

Naruto jumped up and down, "Oo oo oo, I know the best place in town. Follow me!"

Rin Chika watched her young students from the roof of a building, as the gentle breeze blew threw her long black hair. There was a slight noise behind, but Rin had sensed the presence long before.

"You mask your presence well. But I think that even an arrogant ninja like you has a lot to learn about silent infiltration."

She didn't even bother to turn around to see who it was.

"Forgive me then, for not meeting your expectations."

Rin's eyes opened wide in shock. There was no way that voice belonged to just any ninja… Turning around, she was merely an inch away from a dark green vest. Looking up, all she saw was one eye; a leaf tribe headband covered the other. A mass of grey hair covered the man's head, and a mask covered the lower half of his face, and his eyes shone with a playful light.

"Kakashi Hatake?" (A/n: Come on, everyone knows Kakashi…)

His one visible eyebrow lifted slightly in surprise.

"You have the advantage then since you know my name, but I don't think I've met you before…"

"Rin Chika."

Kakashi made a slight bow.

"So what brings a Sand Ninja like you to Konoha?" he asked, leaning his back against the railing.

Rin pointed down to where Naruto, Gaara, Acea, and Hiroshi were all eating ramen at the ramen shop.

"There are two of my students there, Acea Rukojou, and Hiroshi Ronin. And I can't be sure where my youngest student got off to. We're here for training to help form better relations with the Leaf Tribe."

Kakashi nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer.

" My student Naruto is there too. I have two others, one training under the Hokage, and the other a redeemed missing-nin."

Rin looked up at the ninja before her, surprised that he would talk to her like this.

"I see. How long have you been their sensei?"

Kakashi seemed to get a far away look in his eye before turning to face Rin. His gaze caused a chill to run through her body. This confused and disturbed her greatly. This sensei seemed to have a very odd effect on her.

"Sometimes it seems like forever."

Rin stifled a laugh, something she almost never did, laughing that is. He looked at her a little surprised.

"I'm sorry did I say something funny?"

Rin shook her head.

"No, it's just that it goes the same for me."

"Oh" was all he said before turning around and looking at her. An awkward silence filled the air, until Rin cleared her throat.

"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you Kakashi Sensei…"

"Just Kakashi."

Rin smiled, "Alright, it was nice meeting you Kakashi. Till we meet again."

With that she disappeared in a cloud of dust. Kakashi watched in fascination as he saw the figure of Rin running on the ground over to where her students were eating their lunch. He considered jumping over there and beating her, but decided against it. There will be another time to prove his abilities.

Acea listened intently as Naruto babbled on about the different missions he and his team had been on with Kakashi. Gaara just sat quietly as Naruto rambled on and on. There was something very unsettling about that young man but she couldn't quite lay her finger on it. He turned his gaze and noticed her staring at him. She looked away quickly, feeling her heart start to race.

"Whatcha guys up to?"

The voice startled Acea and Hiroshi, but neither tried to show it.

"Hello Rin Sensei, when did you get here?" Hiroshi asked.

She smiled as she sat down next to him. Acea perked her head up from her ramen, and gave her sensei a quick nod of acknowledgement.

"Not too long ago. Who are these guys?"

Acea put down her chopsticks and said, "Gaara, Naruto, Rin Chika." And went back to her ramen.

The two boys bowed their heads.

There was the sound of throat clearing.

Turning around slowly on her stool, she was now face to face with the sophisticated sand ninja, Baki.

Like Kakashi, he had only one eye visible only with a two red marks under it, while his other one was behind a sheet hanging from his headband. And his eye was definitely not as kind as Kakashi's had been.

"And you are?"

He bowed. "I am Baki, former Sensei to Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou. Now I am the bodyguard of the new Kazekage."

"…."

"And you are?" He looked her over with an evaluating eye.

"Well Acea-chan, Hiroshi-san, I need to go, but I'll see you tomorrow. Meet me in the morning by the training field okay?"

They both nodded an affirmative. And with a bow to Baki, she walked away from them.

Kakashi stayed there on the roof for a while before turning to go back his group. Rin. That had been the name of a comrade he had had long ago. But this Rin was different, very different. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep her very far from his thoughts. She had insulted him by belittling his abilities; he'd just have to show her how talented he really was.

A gentle breeze blew through the village, but it grew stronger with each minute. Dark clouds covered the once clear skies, threatening to empty its contents on city. He watched as people hurried indoors from the impending rain.

Acea looked up and watched as the clouds began to gather. Hiroshi also noticed, and excused himself.

"Nice to meet you Naruto and Gaara."

Standing up he said, "Acea, would you like me to walk you back to your apartment?"

Acea looked from Hiroshi to her new friends and shook her head.

"Nah, I think I can find my way from here."

Hiroshi nodded and gave her a smile before poofing outside.

Gaara took care of the bill and they walked out onto the streets.

They had walked through the streets chatting (actually, Naruto was chatting, Acea and Gaara were listening)

Naruto stopped, and looked up as if just noticing the rain clouds.

"Uck, rain. We should probably find someplace to stay if it starts to rain."

"Well…. I need to go find my other teammate; it was great meeting you guys. I'll see you later."

She turned, and started walking the other way, hoping to beat the rain.

After she left, Naruto slung an arm over Gaara's shoulder.

"You like her, don't you?"

Gaara looked as surprised as Gaara could get, which wasn't very much, but you get the picture.

"What makes you think that?"

Naruto grinned mischievously as he patted his friend on the back.

"Come on, don't deny it. You paid for her dinner. You NEVER pay for anyone but yourself. You just need to learn more about her. Who knows, maybe you'll even get over the whole loving only yourself thing..."

There was no response, Gaara only continued walking, leaving Naruto behind.

"Hey, Gaara, wait up!" Naruto called out to him.

Gaara didn't falter as he continued walking, ignoring Naruto completely. A small splat echoed through the emptying streets, followed closely by another, and another, until it was pouring rain.

"Aw great," Naruto mumbled to himself, giving up on following Gaara and headed over to the first building he could find that would shelter him from the rain.

Gaara grumbled to himself as he also made his through the streets to find refuge. He waved good-bye to Naruto and headed towards the room he had rented in town.

A/N: Okay, there's chapter one. Yes, its kind of long, but for the first few chapters, I'll be introducing more characters and such. Stay tuned for more!