Gaara and his siblings were back from a mission that Baki had ordered. They were strolling around the village to the Kazekage mansion, taking their time to catch up with each other. It had been their first mission together ever since they became teacher interns at the Institute and they were enjoying whatever time they had away from desk work. The sand under their feet shifted as they took a step and the temperature of the village was as normal, beating down and sweltering. The desert wind blew by and rustled their clothes for a bit until it grew bored and traveled elsewhere. Somewhere in the distance they could hear children's laughter and the muffled kicking of a ball. Gaara's siblings were blabbering behind him as they walked.

"Kankuro, it's your turn to cook dinner. Stop trying to get out of it," Temari said irritated.

"But I've got work, jan," Kankuro said with a lazy wave of his hand. "Puppets don't make themselves."

"You know I have paperwork to finish and Gaara destroys the food whenever he tries to cook, no offense," Temari said hurriedly.

"None taken," Gaara replied, fully aware of his lack in cooking skills.

Kankuro thought it over. "Fine, but I'm not doing the laundry tomorrow."

Temari glowered at him. "You can't do that. It was your turn to cook in the first place."

She was practically growling and a black aura had surrounded her. Knowing the situation was going to get out of hand, Gaara picked up his pace and walked away from his siblings. He turned a corner and mentally sighed, a bit relieved to leave his siblings at it.

He was walking toward the old park he once spent his time at as a child. His expression didn't change as he surveyed the playground. The swing was still there; but someone had taken his place on it.

A girl around the age of 11 sat swinging half-heartedly on the seat of the swing. She was alone and staring as the kids in front of her played a sport. Seeing her reminded him of how he was when he was six. Alone and longing to be accepted. When he looked carefully, he saw that the girl was wearing clothes that were ragged and worn. Patches on patches were stitched on but it still had a rip through one of the pants legs. As he watched, the ball from the other children's game rolled over to the girl. She paused and stood. She picked it up and walked over to them. Gaara was anticipating screams of terror and the sound of running footsteps, but to his relief that didn't happen. The kids didn't seem to be scared of the girl and the stood their ground.

"Gaara, what are you doing?" his siblings had joined him at the park.

He stared at the girl for a moment longer before walking away. "It's nothing. Let's go back home."

After the ninjas vanished around the bend, the girl from before was pushed roughly to the ground by the boy in the front of the group.

"Who told you you could touch our ball, you freak?!" he spat. He kicked the girl hard in the gut and she grunted at the impact. "Outcasts like you should just crawl into a hole and die!"

After the little boy was done, he walked back over to his friends.

"The ball's all contaminated by dirty freak germs now," he grumbled as he held the soccer ball at arm's length. "It smells horrible!"

"Just leave it, Yoshiro! If you're not careful you'll catch a disease."

"You're right," the boy threw the ball over his shoulder and walked off with his playmates. "I'll ask my parents for a new one."

The kids all laughed and ran to a different playground. The ball from before rolled to a stop next to the battered girl and she pulled herself up into a sitting position. She picked up the ball and placed it on her lap.

The brown haired girl got to her feet and ran after the group of kids.

. . .

A crowd of little boys and girls ran passed the Sand Siblings chanting a song with shrieks of glee.

"The freak is dirty, smelly, and icky

Her teeth is all rotted

Her clothes ratty

Her eyes are red

And her hair is sticky!

She's not human, she's vermin!"

"What a foul song," Temari frowned. "What are they teaching kids nowadays?"

"It's probably one of those stories parents tell that scare kids into doing the right thing," Kankuro replied. "That song sounds like they're trying to tell the kids to maintain good hygiene."

"You might be right," Temari stared after the kids as they stopped in front of a candy stall.

Gaara had a feeling it wasn't a fable intended to teach the children a lesson. He scanned the mass of tiny heads for a certain girl and wasn't surprised to see that she wasn't incorporated in the collection of Suna offspring.

"Gaara."

The red head turned at the sound of his sister's voice. Her tone was slightly horrified and soft and he followed her gaze and it landed on the same girl from the playground standing a few feet away from them.

Her skinny form was excruciatingly painful to behold at this distance. Her eyes were sunken and her hair was matted. You could see every groove of rib and bone, her lips chapped and bruises blossoming on her pale, pale skin. She took a step forward, a leather soccer ball in her grasps, and realizing the shinobi's eyes on her, she paused abruptly and bowed low to the ground then hurriedly made her way by them.

"Damn..." Kankuro muttered under his breath. "How's she still alive?"

Temari shook her head, lost for words. The siblings watched as the girl approached the kids and tapped one on the shoulder. The boy faced the girl only to stumble back in shock. The girl lifted up the ball.

"You dropped this," her voice was frightened and small. She couldn't even look at them straight on.

The boy's surprise evolved into anger. He knocked the ball out of her hands. "Are you kidding me?!"

The girl's eyes enlarged as the rest of the kids noticed her and the boy clenched his fist. He stomped forward and she tripped over her feet as he loomed over her. The poor girl was shaking uncontrollably and had her arms up in front of her face for protection, her legs curled into her chest.

"Can't you take a hint!?" Yoshino shouted. "We don't want you around! You're nothing but a rat on the streets!"

"Oh ho..." Yoshino spun around to see Kankuro cracking his knuckles with shadows cast over his face. "You speak so highly of yourself, brat."

It was Yoshino's turn to cower. If facing a well-known shinobi wasn't enough to make him run from the scene screaming like a little girl, the appearance of two more was. The Sand Siblings watched him and his friends run crying to their mothers.

"Tsk..." Kankuro scowled after them.

There was the sound of scuffling and they saw that the young brunette was posed like a cat in the face of danger. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her legs were spread apart, still quivering. She gritted her teeth and it was as if she might hiss at them at any moment.

Kankuro reached out an arm. "Hey-"

The girl flinched and jumped back, still staring at them in distrust.

Kankuro hastily lowered his arm back to his side. "We won't hurt you." He promised.

She didn't look convinced. Before they could say or do anything, she scampered off down an alleyway, swallowed up in shadows.

"Let's go after her," Gaara jumped onto the roofs.

"Huh?!" Kankuro gawked at his brother. "And what're we going to do when we catch up?!"

Gaara was already in pursuit.

"Oi! Gaara!" Kankuro and Temari went after him.

"We can't just leave her like that," he said once they caught up.

"Gaara," Temari tried to reason with him. "She's too far gone. Her body's too malnourished."

Gaara kept silent for a few seconds. "We can always try."

"What's up with you today?" Kankuro queried. "We always pass homeless people on the streets. What makes this girl any different?"

The redhead glimpsed the shadow of the girl from the corner of his eye and he changed course. When he answered Kankuro his sister and brother both stared at their sibling.

"She reminds me of someone."

The trio were now right on top of the girl and they descended down to cut off her escape paths. Her eyes were wild with fear as she whipped around, looking like she wanted to hide under a rock.

"Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded, tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm sorry I looked at you! I won't do it again!"

"Calm down," Temari said as nicely as possible. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Gomenasai! Gomenasai!" she fell to her knees, bowing her head. "I won't do it again!"

Temari glanced at her brothers, beseeching for their help. "I'm not good with this sort of thing."

Kankuro stepped up after Gaara also appeared lost in a course of action. The brunette walked over to the girl and crouched down on one knee in front of her. He saw her recoil involuntarily at the sound of his footsteps.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Suzume," she whimpered.

"Well, then, Suzume. How about you join us for dinner?"

Her trembling stopped. "I'm sorry. I think I heard you wrong."

"I asked if you wanted dinner, jan."

Suzume finally lifted her head to look at the shinobi with teary, onyx eyes. She obviously had not expected this turn of events. "Dinner?" it sounded like she was testing the word on her tongue.

Kankuro smiled. "Yeah. Food and stuff."

She glanced at Temari and Gaara and they both tried to look less frightening than how they usually were.

"Why?" she directed the question at Kankuro. Her eyes were wide with wonder.

He scratched his cheek, closing one eye habitually. "Because you need to eat?"

As if coaxed out of hiding by the mention of eating, there was a loud growling that emitted from within Suzume's stomach. Her face turned bright red and Kankuro and Temari cracked a grin.

"Come on," Kankuro got to his feet and held out a hand for the girl. "Don't be shy, jan."

Suzume hesitated for a moment more before accepting his hand.