"Once you have learned to love, you have learned to live." - Anonymous

In the far east side of Sunagakure, a large, crowded market was built twenty years before I had been born. At first, it had started out as just one stand, selling pathetically dried-out fish delivered from Kirigakure. Unfortunately, by the time the fish had arrived, the desert air had shriveled them down to nothing.

Villagers eventually found this small stand and decided the seemingly forgotten area of their village was the perfect place to make money of their own. New stands were built with new varieties of items. People from all over the world would came (with permission of the guards, of course) to sell their belongings and buy Suna exclusive items, which included certain fruits, decorative rugs, handmade clothes, and other things that would easily peak someone's interest.

I pressed myself as close to Kankuro as possible, trying to stay out of the way of determined shoppers who felt no remorse about pushing people of all ages out of the way to get to their desired piece of clothing or perfectly crafted painting. He kept a strong arm around my shoulders, leading me in front of himself.

"The crowd will die down in an hour or so," he reassured me. "Its still early, so everyone is trying to be the first ones here."

I jumped at the sudden pressure on my leg. Glancing down, I saw that a small child, probably not a day older than four, had wrapped her arms around my leg. Her soft brown hair seemed to be in a mess as she tilted her head back to look up at me.

Cerulean eyes bored deep into mine with a childish flicker that seemed to be everlasting. Her tanned skin had been even more darkened by dust.

"Oh, sorry, lady!" she chirped, releasing me from her grip. "I'm going to find Mommy now!"

Just as fast as she came, she disappeared through the crowd of people in front of us.

"Do little kids normally just roam around unattended?" I inquired, peering back at Kankuro's amused smirk. "Hey, what're you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing," he lied, gently pressing on my back. "Keep going or all the good stuff will be gone."

We searched through stand after stand, fishing our way through piles of clothes and miscellaneous items. Many times, I was pushed out of the way from the shirt or skirt I had my eye on by women twice my size, both in height and width. At those times, an arm would reach around me, over their heads, and swiftly steal away the treasured object.

"I believe this is yours," Kankuro said with a boastful smile, handing it toward me.

"Thank you," I breathed, holding it close to me in fear of it being snatched by the glaring ladies.

"Anytime."

We found ourselves at an almost empty stand. It sold no clothes or house decorations or children's toys. It sold jewelry, but not the sumptuous kind.

"They were made by children of the village," the woman in the back explained. She wore a tanned turban, which was strange in this type of weather. The wind wasn't lashing about and the heat was beating down pretty painfully.

"I remember making these at the academy," Kankuro muttered, taking a small purple and turquoise stone bracelet around his fingers. "It was usually when lesson plans fell through and we had free time. They're supposed to grant wishes or something like that if you whisper it into the stones before putting it on. As long as you wear it, the gods put out their energy to make your wish come true and when it finally does, you pass it along to someone else."

The woman eyed him curiously. I couldn't see her smile, but the crinkles on her skin around her eyes gave it away. "Kankuro, boy, you've grown into a fine man. Much different than when Karura paraded you around the village only a few days after you were born."

They fell into a conversation of just how she knew him. Apparently, she had sold items to Karura many times and always cooed over his baby self when the proud mother brought him along.

I continued to look over the crafted jewelry, taking note of the unique shapes of the stones that had been laced together with some sort of thin, tight rope. I ran my fingers along the different shapes and colors of magenta, crimson, sapphire, until a certain one caught my attention.

It wasn't an extravagant one, not in the least. Russet-colored rocks were joined together, small strokes of green lashed about on both the surface and the rope. The rocks weren't all the same shape. Each one was different. One even looked somewhat like a face to me.

"Find one you like?" a voice asked in my ear, making me jump around as quickly as possible. Kankuro peered around me, squinting at the bracelet. "That crappy little thing?"

"It isn't crappy!" I defended, whipping myself back around to scoop it into my palm. "I like it better than all the others."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, you have horrible taste in these."

"Haketa! Kuro!"

We both turned to find Kasaji, Kyan, and Temari waving to us from over the crowd. I smiled, gripped my newly-bought belongings closer, and dove into the mass of people. When I finally found my way through, I tripped over my own feet, sending my head face-first into Kasaji's chest. He smelled like he'd just gotten out of the shower.

"Whoa there, sugarlips!" he teased, wrapping a strong arm around me. "I know I'm drop-dead handsome and all, but Kuro's your man, remember? Besides, I think Temmy here would get a bit jealous, wouldn't you, honeytits?" He smirked and winked in her direction.

"What did you just say?" Temari hissed, balling her hands into fists.

"Protect the precious cargo!" Kasaji yelled, throwing my body into Kyan, who clumsily caught me.

We watched the two wrestle a bit violently (Temari seemed to be the victor), until Kyan turned to me and asked, "Wh-Where's Kankuro?"

Kankuro! I'd forgotten about him amongst all the yelling, insults, and loud apologies.

I turned back around toward the jewelry stand. Standing on my tippy-toes, I gazed over the heads of the villagers, trying my hardest to spot the mess of brown hair. He had to be around somewhere.

"He probably got distracted and wandered off," Kasaji said from behind me, holding his shirt to his bleeding nose. "Poor guy has the attention span of a dead bird."

"Put your damn shirt back on," Temari growled, giving him the death glare she was most famous for.

"Oh, don't worry, my little bee," he cooed. "I'll be sure to turn all these wonderful ladies down when they rush me."

"Ugh!" she groaned, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I wish you'd never latched onto us. Kyan and I were doing just fine before you came along! Haketa, we're going back to the house. I think I've had about enough of this place as I can take. Are you coming?"

I shook my head, glancing back toward where I'd last saw Kankuro. "No, I'll come back later. I'm going to keep looking for him."

Kyan's delicate fingers laced around the bags I was carrying and she smiled hopefully at me. "I'll t-take these for you."

I thanked her and watched them walk off through the mob. Kasaji kept trying to snake an arm around Temari's waist, but every time he attempted, she'd slap him upside his head. That didn't stop him, though.

As I ventured longer and longer, more people seemed to crowd the streets. Scents of different foods filled my nostrils, some amazing and some not so amazing. Everything around me became louder and I began to feel very uncomfortable.

"Kankuro!" I called out, knowing he couldn't hear me over everyone else. I didn't give up, though. I kept calling his name.

My legs suddenly felt heavy. I slowed down and leaned against a wall of a high building, trying to regain the breath that had just been knocked out of me.

It was the way I shouted his name: frantic, terrified, alone. The tone of my own voice brought back the painful memories of waking up in the middle of the night in alarmed states of mind, thinking I had to find him, then realizing what had happened and that he was gone.

I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to force the feeling of nausea back down, and curled in on myself. Why was it hitting me so hard now? I thought those terrible emotions had been pushed away forever.

I gasped and pulled my hand away when something wet and warm splashed against my skin. Tears. Couldn't all this just stop once and for all?

I brought my hands up to my face, hiding my red cheeks and watered eyes from the rest of the world. I didn't care who saw me, or what they thought. Just as long as I couldn't see them, then maybe they wouldn't pay any attention to me.

My hands were abruptly yanked from my face and I was pulled into a very tight embrace. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes shut, knowing exactly who it was.

"Haketa, let's go home."

I didn't let go of Kankuro for a second the whole way back to the house. My hand became extremely warm in his, but nothing had ever felt so complete. The tears didn't stop, though, and I wasn't sure why.

The new bracelet he sported on his wrist sparked my interest. A cute little brown one with green lines.

Apparently, it wasn't too crappy for him.