"Okay, so this stuff is called sand?" Kaeru asked, looking at Obito. The  Uchiha nodded his head as he looked at the silver-haired boy.

"Yes, Kaeru."

Kaeru nodded his head slightly as he turned his attention back to his feet, raising his eyebrow slightly as his foot once again sink deeper into the sand.

"This stuff is so cool..." Kaeru mumbled to himself as he walked ahead of the group, Kakashi standing near the Kazekage and then Shisui and Obito were no bringing up the rear.

"What's wrong with that child?" The Kazekage asked, glancing over at his brother. Kakashi was staring ahead at Kaeru, before he shrugged his shoulders lightly.

"I couldn't tell you." Kakashi said, and Obito glared at Kakashi from behind him.

"Kaeru isn't like most shinobi's. He went through more than most people can say they have, and he didn't get to experience most things that most children did." Obito said, and the Kazekage nodded before going back to being silent.

The rest of the trip was relatively silent, except for Kaeru's random outburst about the sand under his feet.

| × | × | × | × | × |

At the gates of Suna, Kakashi and the Kazekage passed Kaeru so that the Kazekage could make his way to his home without much interaction with villagers. Not that he wanted to avoid his villagers, he was just not an approachable man and he was quite tired.

Kaeru glanced around at all the things that Suna had to offer. From the sand buildings that surrounded him, to the villagers who were shopping and chatting to each other. But Kaeru, being the eager boy he was, glanced back at his sensei with a large smile on his face.

"Obito! Can I go look around? I'll meet you guys here in a hour or two?"

"That's fine. Just please, don't bother things." Obito said, and Kaeru nodded his head slightly before he took off running towards the middle of town. Kaeru was more than excited to get a chance to look around this village that held so many differences from the village he was used to. 

His dark eyes glanced around the village, watching groups of people chat, and some children play together. But it was at this moment that Kaeru noticed a little red-haired boy walking towards the group of children play, with a bright smile on his face. While Kaeru was too far away to hear what the little boy was saying, but he could see as the boys' face dropped, and a different little boy stood up and screamed at the redhead.

The smaller of the two boy coward away from the larger boy, the bright smile that was on the redhead's face falling.

"Go away! Nobody wants you here!" The larger boy said as he put his hands on the red-haired boy's shoulders and shoved him to the ground. Kaeru's eyes widened as he began to rush towards the scene, towards the little boy.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Kaeru shouted at the larger boy, shoving passed him to the red headed boy. He crouched down beside of him, still glaring back at the larger boy until the other kids ran off to do what they were previously doing.

Kaeru looked down at the little red haired boy was staring up at him, his eyes full of fear. "W-Who are you?" The little boy asked.

"I'm Kaeru! Who are you?" The silver-haired teen asked as he sat down in the sand beside of the boy.

"I'm... I'm Gaara."

"Well, hello there, Gaara!" Kaeru said as he extended his hand towards Gaara. The boy hesitantly took the boy's hand, and they shook hands.

"Where do you live? I'll take you back!" Kaeru said with a smile as he stood up, Gaara nodded and glanced around, before he pointed back in the direction that Kaeru had came from.

"That way." Gaara said, and Kaeru smiled.

"Okay! I have to go back that way anyways!"

| × | × | × | × | × |

"This is it!" Gaara said, smiling up at Kaeru. Kaeru nodded quickly as they walked inside and up a bunch of stairs to a top layer of the house hold.

"Kaeru?" Gaara asked as he came to a stop, and turned around to look at the Hatake.

"Yes?"

"Are you... are you my friend?" Gaara asked, and Kaeru began to nod his head quickly.

"Yes! Of course I am!" Kaeru said, and a smile formed over the little boys lips, before he rushed towards Kaeru and hugged the teen's leg.

"Thank you." Gaara whispered, and Kaeru nodded as he ruffled the boys hair.

"Kaeru?" Obito' voice said, and Kaeru looked up to see his sensei. The Hatake nodded quickly, smiling at his Sensei.

"Hi, Obito!" Kaeru said.

"What are you doing?"

"I brought Gaara home!" Kaeru said, pointing at the wide eyed little boy at his feet. Obito nodded his head.

"He must be one of the Kazekage's children." The Uchiha replied, and Gaara nodded slightly, still staying close to Kaeru.

"Okay, well, we're staying here until tomorrow morning because word came in of a sand storm-..."

"A SAND STORM?!"

"Yes, Kaeru. A sand storm. But it should pass by morning so it's nothing to be worried by. I'm going to by find Shisui now. Please behave yourself." Obito said with a joking manner on the last half of the sentence. Kaeru nodded quickly and watched as his sensei walked away from him, before he looked back down at Gaara.

"You have brothers and sisters?"

"I have one brother and one sister. Want to meet them?!"

"Sure!"

Gaara nodded his head quickly as he grabbed hold of Kaeru's hand and began to drag the larger boy down the hallway to an open doorway, which had no door to shut on the hinges. Inside the room was a blonde little girl with piggy tails, and a little boy with brown shaggy hair. Both of them were younger than Kaeru, but obviously older than Gaara.

When Kaeru and Gaara entered the room, Temari and Kankuro looked up at them and when they looked at Gaara, Kaeru couldn't help but notice the strange tint of fear in their eyes.

"W-Who's this Gaara?" Temari asked, and the boy smiled.

"This is Kaeru! We're friends!" Gaara said happily, as he sat down near his siblings, and Kaeru sat down near the boy. "That's Temari, and that's Kankuro!"

"Hello!" Kaeru said as he waved his hand quickly at the other two children who gave a smile and a wave back. But both of them glanced at their brother, back at Kaeru, before everyone started to go back to what they were doing before Kaeru and Gaara walked in.

| × | × | × | × | × |

A few hours had passed and Gaara was asleep on Kaeru's leg, leaving Kaeru to chat with Temari and Kankuro. But the two sand siblings were still slightly cautious of the teen, since he had actually decided to befriend their brother and wasn't afraid of him.

"Can I ask you guys a question?" Kaeru asked as he glanced down at the boy sleeping on his legs, and then back up to his siblings who nodded slowly.

"Why does everyone seem so frightened by Gaara?"

At this questions, the siblings froze slightly. Their eyes grew a look of fear, and they only glanced at their brother. But it was the sister, Temari, who was first to speak.

"They're not scared of Gaara.. They're scared of what's inside of Gaara."

"What do you mean?"

"Our father, he sealed a tailed beast into Gaara after he was born to protect the village. But it makes the villagers scared of him, because they never know when he could break."

"But maybe if they just tried to get to kno-..."

"No one will. Because they know he killed our mother, and because they know of the power that is inside of him."

"He killed your mother?" Kaeru asked quietly, and Kankuro nodded slightly as he sighed.

"Not on purpose. She died after she gave birth to Gaara. But the villagers found a way to blame Gaara for it. And ever since then, they've hated him."

Kaeru stayed silent and gently ran his fingers through Gaara's hair. It was true, Kaeru knew exactly how Gaara felt, minus the demon inside of him. Kaeru's mother also passed away giving birth to him, and he was hated and blamed for the death of his mother. Villagers in the leaf didn't care for Kaeru, and even less for his father. There was only a handful of people there for Kaeru, so Kaeru wanted to make sure he was there for Gaara as much as he could be.

With a sigh, Kaeru leaned back against the wall behind him, and closed his eyes. Not once did him or Gaara move through that night, and the sand siblings silently thanked the random Hatake.

For not giving up on their brother before he had a chance to prove himself.

| × | × | × | × | × |

A small red-haired boy was sitting next to a silver-haired teenager, the older one reading a book while the younger was looking at his companion's arm in wonder.

"What's this?" Gaara, the redhead, asked, pointing at the thin white lines which decorated most of Kaeru's skin. The Hatake sighed, his manner clearly showing how used he is to that question.

"Scars. It was long, long ago, so don't worry."

"Eh...?"

"Bad guys caught me, and I made them angry. That's why they hurt me. But it's alright now." Kaeru explained briefly, but Gaara's innocent confused gaze made him feels uneasy, "They don't bleed anymore, see? They no longer hurt me, it's fine."

Gaara, as clueless as he could be, shook his head. "I still don't get it, Kaeru. Bleed? Hurt? What do you mean?"

"... You don't know...?"

"I never got things like that..." Gaara trailed off, looking at the scars on Kaeru's arms, "I only don't feel good in my chest when someone glares at me. Is that what hurt means?"

"... Yeah. Your heart hurts."

"Heart?"

"The thing here," Kaeru tapped onto his chest, "that makes you feel something. Happy, sad, angry, love, hate..."

"Are those what people call feelings?"

"Yes. Well, it's hard to explain, you will eventually understand. When people do good things to you, you usually will feel happy. And when they do bad things, it makes you sad, or angry, simply to say."

"Ooh... What about hurt? How does that feel?"

Kaeru froze. So many ways to describe pain, but what can he say to a toddler?

"When someone hurt you, you just want it to stop. You wouldn't care how, you just want it to go away. And you will still remember it for a long time. The pain, you won't just forget it easily. Sometimes you want to scream, but some other times you just want to cry. I don't know how to explain it, Gaara. It's one of the worst feeling we can have."

"Okay... I wish I would never get hurt then. My heart hurts a lot already, I don't want my body to get hurt, too."

"It's no big difference. Only, if someone hurt you physically, they easily realize it. That can help them to heal you, or hurt you even more."

"I think that means getting hurt physically is worse?"

Kaeru shrugged, letting out a huff, "Who knows. By the way, about what you said earlier, Gaara... You never got hurt? Physically?"

"... Only my heart hurts..."

"But not your body? Not even once? I thought people don't like you... They never try to harm you?"

"They tried. But the sand just went floating and protect me. It's always like that. They hate me for it, I think. But it's cool, right?"

"... Yeah, it is." Kaeru muttered, before he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall behind him, "So unfair..." he whispered, his voice shaking slightly.

"Did you say something?"

"No," he chuckled bitterly, closing his eyes, "Nothing."

'And here I am, already tortured like this...' Kaeru recalled inwardly, gritting his teeth, ignoring Gaara's call to tell the kid what's the matter.

-World would never be fair, Kaeru.- A cheery, high-pitched voice stated in his mind.

'And here I thought you would never come back, Waru.'

-I'll never leave you alone, Kaeru! I'll be here, watching. But well, aside from that. What do you think about this little redhead? He never got hurt in his whole life, not even once. And you? So many times, you almost die, and no one care.-

'And?'

-Hey, you can teach him about it, about the pain! He would love to learn more, he's a curious child, isn't he?-

'Shut it.'

-Just a little, deep scratch on the neck. That's all I'll ask for.-

Kaeru's breath hitched, and his eyes were snapped open. Gaara flinched at the sudden movement, while Kaeru's eyes widened, his body started shaking as he gripped his wrist tightly.

"Gaara..." he called, his voice wavered, "Leave. Go, get away from me."

"Kaeru, what's wrong?"

"Just go! Just go before I did something bad!" he yelled in panic. Kaeru could feel it, the bloodlust running through his veins, asking for victims to torture.

And Gaara is just a child. An innocent, lonely, hated child.

He couldn't bring himself to try to harm even just a strand of Gaara's hair.

"You won't hurt me. You can't hurt me. It's alright."

Kaeru let out a soft growl, gripping his wrist even tighter.

-You got the blades, Kaeru. Shurikens, your left pocket. Kunais in your right pocket. Just pick one.-

'I'm not doing it.'

-Don't you want him to feel it? Just a little bit of pain? It won't take long, amd no one would blame you. Everyone hates him already.-

'That's exactly why I won't hurt him!'

-But Kaeru, he-...-

'JUST SHUT THE F*CK UP, WARU!!'

And then, silence. Not even a single whisper in his head, and Kaeru slowly looked up, to see Gaara standing a few feet away from him, his body shaking slightly, but he kept a brave face. The Hatake let out a deep breath, releasing his wrist, revealing new bruises around it. He scoffed at the injury, chuckling before he started laughing.

"I did it!" He yelled, "Finally!"

"... Kaeru...?"

"Don't worry, Gaara. It's alright now." he assured, "You can say... I have a monster in me. And he usually wants to hurt people for no reason. But rest assured, I can control it now!" he ended, grinning widely.

And at this, Gaara smiled.

| × | × | × | × | × |

"Woah, Kaeru! What was that?!" Shisui exclaimed as soon as he spotted his teammate, currently wrapping bandages around his left wrist.

Kaeru merely puffed out his cheeks, shrugging, "I almost lost control again this morning."

"Well, damn..."

"Ah, it's alright. No casualties."

"Thank Kami. By the way, you want to look around here? I mean, I heard Gaara's currently with his uncle or whatever?"

"Sure, why not?"

Shisui grinned, and with Kaeru behind him, they exited the building, and explored the village. But a voice suddenly startled them, and made them froze in their place.

"Oi, brats! Stop right there!"

Kaeru turned at Shisui, who gave him the same questioning look.

"Konoha brats! What the hell are you doing in my village?!" The voice belonged to an old woman, glaring as she stomped towards them.

"We were escorting the Kazekage back from Konohagakure." Shisui replied as formally as he could. Being an elite in his clan, he knows how to deal with things, most of the time.

"Are you related to the White Fang?" she asked, or interrogated, Kaeru, pointing at the silver-haired teen.

"I'm his son, Mam." Kaeru replied, smiling at the thought of someone knowing his Dad.

"Then tell him that I, Chiyo from Sunagakure, am going to kill him, slowly and painfully! I won't let him live, it's his fault I lost my family!"

Kaeru let out a deep breath, and bowed slightly. "I deeply apologize, Chiyo-san, but Sakumo Hatake is dead."

The woman narrowed her eyes, "How did he die?"

"He killed himself 9 years ago."

"Ha! He deserve it. But you've perked my interest. What's your name, both of you?"

"Kaeru Hatake."

"Shisui Uchiha."

"Son of White Fang, and an Uchiha. Quite peculiar. Is there anyone else from your village here?"

"My big brother, Kakashi Hatake, and our sensei, Obito Uchiha." Kaeru replied, "And who are you, Chiyo-san? From the looks of it, you're no ordinary villager."

"Some sharp eyes you got there. I am one of the counselors of this village, and I hate seeing outsiders!" Her strict gaze returned, "You've done your job, right?! Why don't you just get back to your village?"

Shisui smiled kindly, his Uchiha charm would have captivated anyone had this woman had no rage, "Well, we haven't receive any orders from our Sensei ever since our arrival. Besides, the Kazekage's children have taken a liking towards my friend here, so we might just have to delay our departure. Sorry to disappoint you, Chiyo-san."

"Don't take me wrong. I can tolerate smart children like you, but I despise the sight of headbands besides of the Sand's."

Kaeru gave Shisui a meaningful grin, before both genins took of their leaf headbands, "How about this?"

Chiyo narrowed her eyes at Kaeru, "You still resembles your father too much."

Kaeru shrugged, zipping up his turtleneck vest to cover the lower half of his face, "Does this helps?"

"Just leave me alone, brats."

"Thanks! I never thought you think of us that way!" Shisui cheered.

"It's not a compliment!"

"But shinobis kill while brats prank. I personally prefer the latter, Chiyo-san."

"Out of my sight now, you two."

The two chuckled, before walking past the woman but stopped just right behind her, "Done! Now you can't see us!"

"Get away! Leave before I report you to the Kazekage!"

Kaeru laughed, along with his teammate, "Hai, hai! See you later, then. Have a good day, Chiyo-san!" He said, before he left the woman, dragging the laughing Uchiha with him.

As they finally were no longer with her, the woman couldn't help but to chuckle a little.

"Well, this world definitely needs more amusing brats like that. Maybe they're annoying, but they're still good kids."

| × | × | × | × | × |

When the two of them were told that the Kazekage wants to meet them, Kakashi noted, neither Kaeru nor Shisui showed any change in their expression. Just mere "Oh." and "Alright!" as their replies.

It doesn't really matter, actually, it just bothers him, a bit.

"They don't look like much to me."

"Oh, believe me, Lord Kazekage, there's a reason why I have a lot of faith in them. They are our best prodigies." Obito replied in a cheerful manner, "I won't say they have no flaws, but well... just see it yourself."

Shisui bowed, followed by Kaeru, who kept his blank face for some reasons no one knows.

"Well, how can we help you, Kazekage-sama?"

"I want to know the extent of your skill. So..." he trailed off, a smug smirk slowly appeared on his face, "Show me the ability that you're proud of the most."

Shisui and Kaeru exchanged worried glances almost instantly, while the Kazekage only said, "Don't make me wait."

Shisui let out a deep breath, and closed his eyes, then opening them to reveal his Sharingan, red eyes with three black tomoes.

"Is this enough?" He asked, "If not, then look outside. It's raining."

Almost everyone turned their attention to the windows, and their eyes widened in shock. Outside, like Shisui had said, was raining heavily, dark clouds above the skies with droplets of water pouring down the village.

"Wha-..." They were left speechless. It's Sunagakure for crying out loud! A desert!

While they were distracted, Kaeru stared panicking. "Shisui, help me! What should I show them?!"

"I don't know! Jutsu, anything?!"

"They won't accept that! Something... Extraordinary, you know?!"

"Uh... Summons? You have any?"

Kaeru froze, before he snapped his fingers with a grin. "Genius, Shisui." He stated, before he pulled out something from his kunai pouch.

A scroll. A summoning scroll.

"Wait. Where the heck did you get something like that?!"

Kaeru shrugged, switching back to his usual self, no longer gloomy.

"I found it."

"How could you-... Ah. Just hurry up." Shisui stated, while he watched as one by one, the spectators returned their attention on them.

"So... Genjutsu?"

"Bingo!" Shisui exclaimed with a nod, cancelling the illusion, "What do you think?"

"And you did it without handsigns... Impressive." The Kazekage stated.

Shisui merely bowed, "Thank you." He said, before he gave Kaeru a meaningful look. The Kage now landed his gaze on the silver-haired boy, raising his eyebrow.

"Then this means it's your teammate's turn, right? Kaeru Hatake?"

Kaeru let out a sigh.

"Okay. I know what I'm going to do may not seem like much. But I hope you will understand. Better to be underestimated than the opposite, right?"

The Kazekage smiled in amusement. "I have to agree. Go on."

Kaeru gave him a salute, before he bit his thumb, and created some handsigns. Boar - Dog - Bird - Monkey - Ram.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" He yelled, slamming his palm on the ground.

There was a poof, and the smoke cleared, revealing giant vultures, startling almost everyone.

The vultures only glared at everyone there, their beaks and claws seemed to be ready to crush anyone's bones. Not to mention their hunched figure, and featherless head, which only gave them an even scarier look.

They differs in size and color, but the biggest one had black feathers with red  face and white beak, and he seemed to be the leader.

"Who dares to call us?" He growled, his voice could only be heard by Shisui and Kaeru. Meanwhile, the remaining of his group landed on the ground, around the two genins.

Shisui cringed, while Kaeru only stretched his hand out. "Well... My name is Kaeru Hatake. 13 years old, Konoha genin. Would you allow me be your summoner?"

The vulture tilted his head, examining the human before him. Kaeru, he noticed, has a small thin figure compared to his friend beside him. The only clue of his shinobi status was the headband around his neck, but behind the metal plate, he could see white bandages covering his skin. His wrist was also wrapped in bandages, and faint scars also scattered along his arms.

'What the heck is this?!' he wondered. Strange, he hardly ever seen a shinobi like that.

"I'll expect a lot from you." He replied, before he landed on the boy's arms. Surprisingly, his arm didn't break under the sudden additional weight, he stayed still ever so calmly.

"Woah! I bet you're just as strong as you look!" The young Hatake commented, grinning even wider, "Don't worry. I'll do better than what you expect." He stated, as he turned at the spectators.

"Is that enough for you?" He asked, ignoring their reaction. Obito was pinching the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, while Kakashi's eye twitched. Shisui was already snickering behind him.

And every other Suna shinobi looked as if they had just seen a ghost.

The Kazekage gave Kaeru an approving nod, before he stood up.

"Prepare all the documents for the alliance with Konoha."

With that, he turned around, and left he room.

| × | × | × | × | × |

About 30 minutes later, all the Konoha shinobis were gathered in their room, still freaking out.

"Since when did you have a summon?!" Obito demanded, obviously flabbergasted by the previous event.

"Since half an hour ago, more or less."

"I thought you were supposed to be transported to the summons's home!"

"To say it harshly, we are homeless. We travel all the time." The vultures' leader, Saiken, replied, resting on the window sill. He was the only one there, since the other vultures had left. He stayed with Kaeru, at first planning to discuss about the whole summoning things, but ended up caught in the interrogation.

"But-... Fine. Where did you get that scroll?"

"I'm curious as well, "Saiken commented, "It has been a really long time since we last seen our previous summoner. We thought the scroll was missing or hidden somewhere."

"I found it. In an alleyway around Akasen, half-buried, hidden beside a trashcan."

"How can you notice something like that?!"

"Cat." Kaeru replied, "I followed a black cat, and I saw the scroll."

"What are doing in Akasen?" This time, Kakashi was crossing his arms, annoyed. If anything bad happened, the Hokage would blame him, and that means more work.

"Uh... late night walks?"

At the answer, Shisui abruptly raised from his seat, with his hands up in a defeated manner.

"I'm done. I'm so done. In the near future, you will definitely drag me into some kind of illegal adventure, and I'll be waiting for that."

| × | × | × | × | × | 

Okay. Not much of plot development, but it's 4000 words. Good enough, right?

Yet again, I'm not that kind to give you a chapter full of fight scenes or whatever. Although, I'll say that it's coming soon.

What else to say? Ah, right. I'm not sure whether I should feel satisfied about this chapter or not, so tell me what you think. Drop a comment or two. And... vote?

Thanks for reading!