Thank you for the reviews, yet again! Arigato, Arigato!

Kie, so now this where it's gonna start getting interesting…. At least, I do hope so! Yep yep! Stick witha me please!

Disclaimer: No no, don't own!

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Gaara snuck out of the palace again, heading out one of the back roads into the city that surrounded the Palace. He wandered through alleyways, talking to the random passersby, asking about Sakura. When no one really gave him a clear answer eccept for that she usually ran with the orphans, Gaara stopped by a market stand to buy a snack. It was about noon when he reached one of the back alleys near the Senate Building. The sound of children's laughter reached his ears. Curious, Gaara turned the corner to find several children, ranging from 4 to 10 playing in the street. All of them were clothed in ragged clothes and were covered in dirt.

The orphans…He thought to himself, slightly distressed at the fact that in his own country, there were homeless, impoverished children.

He walked toward them. One of the children noticed him and looked up. The other children followed her lead. They began to scramble.

"Wait!" Gaara said, "I need to find Sakura!"

Only one child remained, the one that had seen Gaara first. She, as with the other children, wore dirty and torn clothing, and wore her hair up in two pigtails. Dirt was smeared across her small, determined face.

"What do you want with my big Sister?" she asked, clenching her hands into little fists, looking ready to fight if she had to.

Gaara looked stunned at the bravery of the young girl, but smiled in spite of it. He bowed before her.

"Forgive me, She and I are friends… have you seen her?" he said.

The girl looked at him suspiciously, but then extending her hand. Gaara took it and the little girl began to lead him around.

"My name is Moegi…" she said.

Gaara smiled again, in spite of himself.

"Hello Moegi… Where are you taking me?"

"To mine and Sakura's house…" she said simply.

She smiled back at him, her teeth beaming through the dirt and the grime on her face.

"So how long have ya known Sis?" she asked.

Gaara looked at her, recollecting his dream.

"It seems for a while now," he said.

Moegi lead him around a corner and down another alley.

"Sis has been talking about a man… not to me though, I'll hear her in her room sometimes talkin to herself about someone! Maybe it's you!" she giggled.

Gaara blushed slightly. It was only a few minutes later when Moegi released his hand and they stopped. The sight before Gaara was humbling and saddening at the same time. This was Moegi and Sakura's home, a small, rundown shack held together by scrap pieces of wood and other materials leaning up against the outer walls of the city. Moegi beamed up at him.

"Welcome home!" she said, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the house.

She opened the door with one hand, the doors hinges groaning and creaking with rust and looked around.

"Sis! Sis! A man is here for you!!" she yelled.

When there was no response, Moegi let go of Gaara's hand.

"Just a sec, I'll go look for her…"

With nothing more, she ran to the back room of the house. Gaara stood, looking around. Sadness gripped him. He couldn't believe that people live like this in his city. People lived like this and that they got by. His eye hardened slightly. The next meeting he would make sure that this was addressed. The sound of Moegi's bare feet padding back toward him snapped him out of his thought. She looked up at him, confused.

"She's not here," she said.

Gaara smiled at the child.

"I'll wait here then… Will you tell me about you and Sakura?" he asked.

Moegi smiled and took his hand again, leading him to some cushions on boxes. Gaara sat down and Moegi settled herself, cross-legged, onto one of the cushions on the floor.

"Welllll…." She began, "Sis may seem to be cold and heartless on the outside, but on the inside, she's really nice! She lost her parents just like me…"

Moegi looked down at her feet for a second, but then shook her head and looked up at Gaara again.

"Anyways, she steals for the other kids and I cause we don't have any money or food for ourselves. She tries her best to provide for all of us, but sometimes it's so hard cause she can't get anything, or cause there's just to many of us. It's really nice though when she can get food for us… the pain in our tummies goes away when we have food…" she said softly, then smiled, "And she won't take any food until we've all had some, even if it means that she goes hungry…"

Gaara's eyes widened. He didn't realize that things were so hard. That was why she was in the Palace. It was not because of greed, or because she was some common thief, it was because she needed to feed starving children. His throat tightened and tears shimmered in his eyes. The saddest part of all of this was that Moegi was obviously fairly content even thought she was an orphan and starving most of the time. Gaara lowered his head, feeling guilty that he had all of the luxuries that he did while the children starved.

"Hey, are you ok?" Moegi asked, moving to him.

Gaara looked up and nodded, trying to dry his eyes. Moegi hugged him then, leaning her head into him. She pulled her head back, looking at him.

"It's okay, it's really not bad… Sis has us and we have Sis…" she said in an innocent voice.

It was then when the door creaked open and in stepped Sakura, carrying what looked like a small bag of money.