Sugar, Spice, and a handful of Sand

Chapter One: To Stand on the lid of a toilet is to be on the throne for once, to never climb off is to be on the throne forever.

Izzy sat smushed up against the other junk that was being traveled to suna, for the third day in a row. Somehow, Izzy felt like walking but every time she tried, she sank and screamed for help. It was just better to feel squished and do nothing to squish that feeling. It wouldn't matter, Izzy was being sent to a far off desert land to hang out with people she didn't even know and help out with a problem she didn't even care about. Okay, not caring was a bit strong, it wasn't that she didn't care, Izzy just didn't have any room left in her heart to care. It hurt now, thinking that she would never find love.

"I'm cursed to be lonely forever!" She cried out, dramatically of course. However, once she had, she flung out her arms to excentuate her deep sigh and found herself tumbling into the sand head first. There was no screaming this time, she was on her own, swimming in hot sand with no air and pressure crushing her back.

"Get up you pansy!" The cart puller snapped, grabbing her by the ankle and flinging, literally, her onto the back again. Izzy spat out the sand and put on a sour look. She had been drowning in the sand, or maybe that was exaggerating too much. Izzy looked to the sand and found that she had landed ontop of a sand dune made of mostly rock.

"I am a pansy…" She whimpered, "DOOMED TO BE LONELY FOR-"

"WE HEARD YA THE FIRST TIME!" The cart pullers and riders shouted. Izzy sighed inwardly again, realizing this is how people went inside. Sitting on a small slab of wood for miles on end, through a desert with no markers or interesting details, alone with no one to talk to (The cart people weren't exactly friendly) and starting to become a drama queen.

"Are we there yet?" She whined, throwing her head back. However, she recoiled and rubbed it as it throbbed, a small lump beginning to form. Izzy bumped her head into a copper pot. Huffing and puffing, she pulled her knees to her chest and cursed Sakura and Ino

"You'll be there before you know it!"

"Ya, the people there are so nice, and friendly!"

Yes, Izzy could see they were "Nice" and "Friendly" By the death glares they threw her way. I best keep quiet, Izzy thought to herself, Or else dinner with be me instead of on me. So Izzy let her mind wander silently, looking out onto the sand and suddenly her chest clenched up and she couldn't breathe. Tears began to flow down her face at all her failed romances. It was pathetic, how could she never get a decent boyfriend. Okay, so Sasuke was a decent boyfriend but they couldn't stop disagreeing and battling to find a romance.

Actually, Izzy found her relationship with Neji, Sasuke, and Shikamaru her favorites. She learned so much and found herself great friends with them after wards. Okay, so being their girlfriend sucked, but their friendship was easy and fun. Neji and her always spent time battling in random facts, and trying to outwit the other, which always made her laugh because it would end in them making up facts and bursting at the seems with giggles (Neji chuckled mostly). Izzy always played board games with Shikamaru, the only man who didn't have to cheat to always win. Their Sunday night board game challenges were the highlights of the end of her weekend. Sasuke was always just fun to be around, to the jealousy of Ino and Sakura. They hated he enjoyed Izzy's company when he couldn't stand theirs. But her heart still hurt even as she thought of this, because it still meant she was single, alone, and lonely.

"Are we there yet?" she groaned, more to herself but thankfully, she was answered with a loud thud and a "GET THE HELL OFF!" From the driver. Grinning ear to ear, Izzy grabbed her duffle and raced as fast as she could on the hard sand around and to the supposed 'gate' of sand. Oh, was it a gate of sand.

Izzy dropped her bag, eyes wide and jaw agap as she looked at the gigantic thing. It was a power to behold.

"Wow" She gasped, grasping for her bag handle. She finally focused enough to look up to a Ninja holding her duffle and looking down at her through half a veil.

"My name is Baki, I will take you to the Kazekage's tower, he is most interested to meet you" The man stated, and before Izzy could stop him, he flung her over his free shoulder and flew into the air towards the gate. If Izzy had stopped screaming for a second, which she did halfway there, she would notice his hand firmly pressed on her rear end. So when it became halfway to the tower, Izzy's face burst into a bright red of embarrassment. That didn't last long, because the minute he dropped her in a room, she planted the hardest, loudest smack across his face she could muster. Her hand vibrated afterwards, so she knew it had to hurt. She would have punched him but she was sure she would have broken her hand if she had.

"Don't. You. Ever… TOUCH… me. AGAIN!" She snarled through gritted teeth, face still flushed of embarrassment and anger.

"Ahem?"

.x.o.x.o. Sugar, Spice, and a Handful of sand .x.o.x.o.

"Ahem?" Gaara cleared his throat. The first impression is often correct and right on the spot, but in this instance, he was willing to let it fly and give her another chance. Whoever Izzy really was. Baki grumbled and marched from the room, slamming the door, leaving the two alone.

"Oh… I'm So-So Sorry… He…I…Uh" She stumbled across her words, the blush being the only red in her face now. Finally she sighed and put out her hand, "Hi, I'm Izzy and I usually don't slap people all the time" she winced a bit only to smile when Gaara took her hand and shook it.

Gaara finally got a good look at the girl and found himself amazed. Her smile was brilliant, her nose was cute and small, she had big, almond shapped blue eyes that seemed to glow even in reality, perfect pale pink lips and that choppy brown hair that swayed this way and that as she moved her head. He was enthralled, he was impressed, he was…smiling? He found a small glimmer of a smile on his lips at seeing her smile towards him and the giggle she had when he "smiled" back.

"My name is Gaara" He stated, his direct and husky voice as always, not loving and flowy as hers. However, she shivered, and he expected her to cringe, but she just smiled and did something no one did.

"That was so cool, do it again!" She cried, shaking his hand like a little child.

"What?" He asked, cocking his brow (Well, if he had one, it would be cocked). She shivered at his voice and smiled brighter and giggled a bit.

"How do you do that?"

"I…Do what?" He asked, furrowing his brows and slightly scrunching up his forehead as she shrugged.

"Make me shiver" She asked, tilting her head and laughing, "Oh, well, it doesn't matter… You guys said you had a problem. I'm not an engineer, but my father was. Maybe some of his traits are hereditary" Gaara scoffed but nodded.

"First, I'll show you your room, then dinner, then we can see… what skills you may have" Gaara couldn't help but let his eyes travel quickly over her body. For someone who wasn't ninja, she seemed in shape but not anorexic.

Izzy was a petite 5 foot 4, with a child's face that was adorable no matter what the mood. Then, she had round shoulders that had her tank-top straps sliding down all the time, and a large, but not robust chest, a flat stomach but she wasn't "Skinny" She had an average figure. Something that was strange for Suna. Most women were either Enormous from too much food, or skinny from not enough food. She seemed feed and Gaara could see her hips were very loved, by the way she put her hands on them. Her legs weren't toned, but they weren't busting at her pant legs, they were Nice. Izzy was a size 14 pants, Gaara guessed, knowing Temari was a 10 but the chef was a 18 and Izzy wasn't either, she was a healthy inbetween. Gaara couldn't help but like it: Izzy was something else, something normal but not.

"Cool!" she chirped, waking him up quickly before he would be considered staring. Not at her chest or anything, but just at her in general. It happened a lot, him analyzing people and sizing them up not for his own vanity, but for anything that he could find he liked about the person before getting to know them. Presences wasn't "necessary" but it was bonus points, in his head. Gaara, owning a lack of trust that most people had, learned that it was best to know the person would accept you before seeing if they actually will.

Gaara led the two of them down the tower and off into the main lobby. Waving a hand to one of the Secret Ninja's watching him, supposedly inconspicuously, Gaara led her down a hall and up a couple of stairs into their main household. His family at least. Gaara had to slow down every once in a while as Izzy would stop and ponder, she called her attitude "Making myself a mental map" Gaara just shook his head as she put a finger ontop of her baby nose, pursed her lips to the side and had a look of 'ponder' on her face. She even jumped alive and raced after him after doing so. He hoped it would help her not get lost.

Gaara unlocked the door from the tower into the house and allowed her into the main living room. Ofcourse Izzy was astondid but when they finally got to her room, she actually dropped her bag on the floor and gasped, running around like a kid in a candy store.

"Oh! So worth the 3 days on that small cart" She sighed, laying on the bed. Then Gaara witnessed her do something he had done many times before. Izzy put her hand over her chest where her heart lay underneath and squeeze as if trying to hold in the pain. "I'm not sure if its worth the heart ache, but I hope so" She whispered more to herself.

"Well, unpack, I will have Temari come get you in 20 minutes to take you to dinner" Gaara stated, watching her smile and nod in the room. He had work to finish up before he was allowed to eat, and he knew he wanted to stay with his siblings in their miniature parlor tonight to get to know Izzy. Gaara mentally told himself he had to, because Naruto himself had written Gaara a letter about Izzy and one Phrase rang through his mind like wild fire as he returned to his office.

Gaara, Izzy's no ninja or magical person like me and you, but, she's probably had as much heart ache as you. Her mother died while giving birth to her, her father died during a raid one year, her older brother left for a war in another country and Izzy's never seen him since, plus Izzy's probably tried every relationship with a guy here in Kohana there is. So, you two should get along great, but tell Kankuro to keep off. She hates make-up!

Gaara chuckled at the last line in the letter he still had in his Kazekage's pocket, before slipping it back and finishing up the last bit of paper work he had. Oh, Gaara intended to get to know her, they had so much in common. Gaara just hoped she wanted to know him too…

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Author's Notes: Hello my readers, sorry it took me a while to update, too much school junk and junk, haha!

Alright, down to business: If any of yal find funny quotes that really do not have any relivence to anything, please send them over via email or review. It doesn't matter if their famous or you thought them up yourself, I would love them.

Second: I love hearing from you all, knowing what you think or what you think I should add, any ideas you might have, or any questions you have. I will answer them all down here for you all to see.

Third: I AM SO TIRED OF HEROINES THAT ARE SKINNY/ANNEREXIC! They really annoy me and make me made, so Izzy isn't skinny, she's rather normal like you or me. She had some junk in her trunk, not alot but she has it. Izzy eats and runs alot (not to her liking) and tends to use a lot of energy so she's just normal. That is why Izzy is so, and now that I have answered that so, I am done... with this point.

Fourth: If you do not like me work, please do not spam up my email with your words. I understand you don't like it, but is it nessicary to gum up my email with large caps, harsh words and no critism. If you don't like it, but have critism that is HELPFULL! Let me say that again, HELPFULL Then feel free to write what you think and what you, yourself would change. However, I do no enjoy ignorance or those who see insulting anothers work and bashing it without giving a reason to it.

Now... I'm Done =)

With love,

The Author