-Temari-

"I can't believe he sent me to do what Gaara told him to do. Stupid Kankuro."

I grumbled to myself as I made my way back to Suna from Konoha. Tsunade had asked for Gaara's approval on something and Gaara'd asked Kankuro to deliver it, but Kankuro dumped it on me.

'At least I'll get to relax once I get back.'

I thought as I ran across the desert back to Suna. I stopped as I neared the gate. There was a figure lying in the sand. I walked closer and saw it was a girl around my age, but she looked pretty beat up. Her pants and shirt were caked in blood, but I couldn't tell if it belonged to her or not. Her face was covered in both dirt and blood. I noticed the sai strapped to her thighs and the katana strapped to her back, though its sheath was almost hidden by her mid-back length jet black hair. It looked like she'd been through a lot and I could tell she probably hadn't eaten in at least the past week. I moved closer and a wall of sand shot up and cut me off. I stumbled back in surprise and wound up falling on my ass.

"W-What the hell?"

I asked outloud to myself. Just who was this girl?

As I looked closer I saw she had dark circles around her eyes like Gaara has from when he had Shukaku inside him. I slowly stood up and cautiously made my way back over to the girl. She looked so fragile, so innocent.

'I can't just leave her here, she could die.'

I thought as I looked down at the girl. I sighed to myself before reaching out to her. I was shocked when the sand didn't react again, but I was grateful. I picked the girl up and slung her onto my back. My eyes widened when her arms automatically tightened around my neck, but it wasn't so tight that I couldn't breathe so I let it be. It was easier to carry her that way anyways. I made my way through the gates and headed for my house. Once I got there I went up the stairs and headed for the spare room at the end of the hall. I kicked open the door and laid the girl down on the bed. I heard her whine in her sleep and looked at her.

'I don't want to wake her, but I need to know if that's her blood or not.'

I thought to myself. After a while of debating, I decided to just let her sleep and find out for myself if the blood on her clothes belonged to her or not.

After finding that the blood didn't belong to the girl I sighed in relief, though it did make me wonder where it came from if not from her. I shrugged it off seeing as how I couldn't ask her at the moment and grabbed a set of my clothes and laid them on the bedside table, then I grabbed a rag and washed the blood and dirt from her face. I would have gotten the blood and dirt from the rest of her body, but I didn't know this girl and besides, Kankuro was expecting me to report to him so he could report back to Gaara. I sighed before tossing the towel in the hamper, closing the door, and heading out of the house towards the Kazekage building.

'I'm sure she'll be fine. By the looks of it, it doesn't seem like she's going to wake up any time soon.'

I thought as I walked down the street. I sighed as I tried to think of where the girl could have come from. Suna was a few days away from Konoha and the other villages surrounding us, but I had a feeling like that girl wasn't from anywhere near here. I sighed again as I walked into the Kazekage building. Kankuro looked up at me from the couch with a hopeful smile.

"So?"

He asked and I groaned.

-Kankuro-

Temari groaned once I asked her how it went.

"It was a long, drawn out process of trying to convince Lady Tsunade that Gaara really did agree to her proposal and that I'd have to see what he'd like to do about it once he gets better."

She said as she came and sat next to me.

"So then, she knows he agreed, but is waiting to hear what he wants to do about it once he gets better?"

I asked trying to understand it all before I went upstairs and told Gaara about the mission I didn't go on.

"I just said that didn't I?"

Temari snapped and I shrugged as I stood up.

"Whatever."

I said before walking up the stairs and heading for Gaara's office.

He was sitting behind the desk, working on a pile of paperwork that the Council had given him. We'd told them that he needed time to recover, but they just wouldn't listen. He looked up as soon as I opened the door.

"So? How was the mission?"

He asked as I walked further into the room.

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it a mission, but it went fine."

I said as I looked around before going over to the couch in the corner of the room and lying down.

"And what did Lady Tsunade say about my response?"

He asked, ignoring the paper work on his desk to debrief me on my 'mission'.

"She knows that you've agreed with her proposal, the only thing I had problems with was convincing her to wait until you got better before bothering you with anymore problems. She said she'd wait until you got better before asking you what you wanted to do about it."

I said and he nodded, then went back to his paper work.

"You know Gaara, Temari and I can take care of all of this. Why don't you go and rest."

I suggested and he looked up at me.

"No, this is the job of the Kazekage and that's me. Not you two."

He said and I sighed before standing up.

"Look, you're still recovering and you need your rest. I'll take care of this. At least go get something to eat. I bet you haven't had anything all day."

I said and when he didn't say anything in response I knew I was right.

"Fine. But if there's anything you don't understand, ask me."

He said as he stood up and headed for the door.

"Yeah, yeah."

I said and he shook his head at me before walking out of the room. I sighed at what I'd just volunteered myself to do, then sat down and read over the paper work on Gaara's desk.

'How in the world does he deal with all of this?'

I wondered as I signed the bottom of the paper and moved on to the next one.

-Gaara-

I sighed to myself as I walked down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Kankuro had been right when he'd said I hadn't had anything to eat all day, but I couldn't help it. The Council had given me so much paper work to deal with that I just couldn't get away. I walked into the kitchen to see Temari standing at the stove and I froze.

'Oh for the love of God tell me she's not planning on cooking anything.'

I thought before I heard her talking to herself.

"Even though I doubt she'll wake up, if she does I'm sure she'll be hungry. But, what would she want? Hell, I'm sure she wouldn't care if it was friggin' minced meat, so long as it was food."

She said and i crossed my arms and leaned against the doorjam.

"What in the world are you mumbling about to yourself?"

I asked and she jumped before turning around to face me.

"Gaara! What are you doing down here?"

She asked and I shrugged as I pushed off from the wall and headed towards the fridge. I was pretty sure there was still some miso soup left from the night Ino had come over.

"Kankuro told me what happened on his mission, said he'd take over, so I decided to get something to eat."

I said as I pulled out the bowl of miso soup.

"That's perfect!"

Temari yelled before taking the bowl of miso soup out of my hands and pouring it into a pot and heating it up on the stove. She then poured it into a bowl, grabbed a spoon, a glass of water, then headed for the door. I blinked a couple of times, trying to understand what just happened. When it dawned on me I ran after my sister.

"Temari! Give me back my miso soup!"

I yelled, but it didn't seem like she could hear me. I saw she was heading back to our house and I followed. I wanted that miso soup.

I got the our house only to see Temari was gone. I walked upstairs following her chakra and found her in the spare bedroom at the end of the hall.

'What the hell?'

I wondered as I walked closer. I opened the door only to stop when I saw my sister sitting in a chair next to the bed that had a girl lying in it. She looked to be about nineteen. Her jet black hair went down to her mid-back and framed her face. Her clothes were covered in a mix of dirt and blood, but I could tell the blood wasn't her own.

"Temari…."

I said and my sister turned to look at me in shock.

"Gaara, I can explain."

She started, but I cut her off as I walked further into the room.

"Who is she?"

I asked as I got closer.

"I don't know. I found her collapsed outside the gates of the village."

She said and I nodded, never taking my eyes off the girl. I smelled miso soup and looked at the bedside table to see the bowl of my stolen miso soup.

"So you took my soup to give to this girl?"

I asked and Temari looked up at me in shock.

"Oh, you wanted that? My bad."

She said and I sighed at my sister.

"It's fine, she can have it. When do you think she'll wake up?"

I asked and she shook her head as she stood up.

"I'm not sure. She's been asleep for a while now."

She said and I nodded.

"Gaara, do you think you could look after her for a little bit? I need to go out and get some things."

She said and was gone before I could even say anything in response.

I sighed before taking the seat by the bed that my sister had previously occupied.

'So much for getting some food and some rest.'

I thought as I looked over the girl again. Despite looking starved and being covered in dirt and blood, she was quite attractive. She had a slim waist and a nice figure, but there was something else. I felt that there was something in her chakra that made her different from everyone else, and yet, it reminded me of myself.

I heard her groan and looked up at her face. Her eyes opened and I stared into the most beautiful pair of turquoise eyes I'd ever seen.