The minutes wore on and the girl wandered deeper into the forest. Very few of her memories were returning to her save ones of blood and killing that had obviously occurred most recently. Distraught, the girl was about to stop for a rest when someone…or something…passed through the trees above her head.

Hoping that it would be someone that she could follow out of the forest, the girl abandoned all thoughts of rest and jumped into the treetops to follow. There were three people ahead of her, two boys and a girl, or so it looked. She kept her distance from them, staying just close enough that she could see them, yet far enough away to not attract their attention. Soon the trio stopped short and the girl was forced to take cover in the thick branches of a nearby tree.

"Gaara, we need to stop for a few minutes," Said the only female in the group, a tall, blonde girl with a hard face. She was leaning on what looked like a giant fan. She turned to the smallest in the party, a young red-haired boy who was carrying a large gourd on his back. He stared back at her, his face expressionless and his sad, blue eyes seemingly bored. "Kankuro and I don't have your stamina."

"Yeah…just for a moment or two." The third person in the group, presumably Kankuro, added. He wore an entirely black outfit, with some sort of white, gauze-wrapped mummy on his back, and a black cat-eared headband hiding his hair.

"Fine, but we're not staying long." The red-haired boy, Gaara, replied. He didn't change his bored expression. The girl switched her gaze to him. Besides the gourd on his back, he wore baggy cargo pants, a black t-shirt with a net shirt underneath, and a white sash across his chest. The girl squinted as she looked at his face. He had a tattoo on his forehead, just under the tips of his red bangs, but she couldn't tell what it was of.

Eventually she stopped trying to find out. The strain she put on her eyes by squinting was causing her head to ache where it had been hit. With a soft, almost imperceptible sigh, she leaned back against the trunk of the tree she was in and watched the trio with interest; the red-haired one called Gaara in particular. There was something about him that drew her gaze, though she couldn't place her finger on it. He seemed lonely and sad about something, and yet he tried to hide it from the world. What is it that made him this way? The girl wondered as she tilted her head to the side. She looked at the boy's—Gaara's eyes, hoping to find an answer there. That was when she realized that he was looking back at her.

She started, almost lost her balance, and sat there gripping the tree wondering if she should run or not. After several moments of inner debate the girl decided to stay where she was. She was only one person and not too much of a threat; besides, she had no reason to be afraid—as far as she knew her companions were dead—who would notice if she was too?

With that thought in mind she continued to stare fearlessly into the boy's cold, yet sad blue eyes and he continued to stare back. Barely a minute of this had passed when the boy stood and leapt one tree branch closer to her. "Where are you going, Gaara?" The tall, blonde girl asked.

"I'll be back, Temari." Gaara replied, ignoring the question completely. He leapt to another tree branch and then another until he was out of his teammates' sight completely and right before the girl who'd been watching him. She stared up at him in silence, unsure of what to do.

"Um…" She managed before Gaara cut her off.

"What are you doing hiding in there?" Gaara asked as he continued to stare back at her. "If you're going to try to attack me then just do it. If not, go away before I kill you."

The girl rose from her sitting position on the tree branch and stood before him. She smiled despite Gaara's threat, and decided to ask for directions anyway. "I'm not here to attack you," She told him. "I'm lost."

"I won't help you." Gaara replied bluntly. Soon sand began to rise out of the top of the gourd on his back and float through the air towards the girl. It began to twine about her legs, up her torso, and finally around her shoulders. "I will kill you."

The sand tightened around the girl's body and lifted her off the ground and still she didn't flinch. Her expression remained in that soft, sad smile. "I'm not afraid to die." She said as she looked him straight in the eyes. "And I'm not afraid of you."

Gaara's eyes narrowed as her statement struck something within the deep reaches of his soul. "What did you say?"

"I said, 'I'm not afraid of you.'" The girl responded. Her tone was as soft and gentle as her crystal blue gaze. It was so unlike the tones of fear and hatred that he'd grown accustomed to since his childhood. Her voice echoed in his head, saying the simple phrase over and over again and Gaara's resolve to kill her faltered. Somehow, he could tell that she was telling the truth. No one had treated him that way in a long, long time.

The girl could feel the sand loosen around her and soon she stood on solid ground once again. "What is your name?" Gaara asked her.

"I-I don't remember." The girl answered. "I don't remember much of anything before waking up in this forest."

"Well, whoever you are," Gaara said coolly. "Go away. I don't want to find you following me anymore."