The moment she stepped into the chamber, light cut into Shamo's eyes, and she had to screw them up, but once she opened them again, she saw everything clearly...

There were Temari, four sand ninjas, and two tall men in the room. One of them was standing and leaning on the table, looking down at a map and pointing something on it to the other man, who was himself sitting at the table.

The standing guy was dressed in all black, and had his face painted with strange red lines which made him ugly.

The second man was dressed more formally and classically, and had his red hair beautifully combed. His eyes were the same as Shamo's - green, and with black rings around... and he had a strange sign on his forehead - the hieroglyph for 'love' - 愛 ( Ai ).

The other cousins stepped in too, following Shamo. They all looked at the two men, and widened eyes.

"Hey, Mekano, doesn't that guy look just like our Shamo?" Kaen whispered to his elder cousin, pointing on the sitting man.

"No, he's uglier," Mekano whispered back.

Hearing this, Kaen couldn't help but chuckle.

Meanwhile, the men didn't even see the entered kids, they were still staring at the map and conversing.

"You see, their last hideout was spotted here, but when my group and I arrived there, it was all gone... Seems like they don't leave any trace behind," the black-clothed man told the other one, pointing him on a certain location on the map.

"Are you sure? Did you double-check? There should have been some clues..." the red-haired man fell in his thoughts.

"No I did_"

"Hey, you two, would you mind at least greeting your guests?! Where are your manners?!" Temari got angry at them.

The men startled and looked at her confusedly. Then the black-clothed man glanced at the children and widened eyes:

"Oh, they've already entered, eh?" and he grinned welcomingly, "Hello there, kids!"

Shamo was confused. She got awed seeing that their entrance had caused all this disturbance, so she slightly bowed and apologised:

"We're sorry for the intrusion, sirs. We just... we had a request to Lord Kazekage... It won't take long..." she innocently beamed.

"Sure, sure," the black-clothed man chuckled, and poked the red-haired man, "Hey, Gaara, kids want you. Pay heed to them, would you?"

Gaara, who was still confused and stupefied to be so suddenly interrupted, firstly glanced at the black-clothed man, Kankuro, and then looked at the children, freezing on place - that girl!

He was staring at Shamo, who watched him awedly, being abashed.

She looked so familiar...

And those green eyes... with black rings around... just like... just like his own!

But no, she actually had eyebrows.

He then felt awkward having this kind of thoughts.

"Man you're a Kazekage, tell them something. These guys came all the way to see you," Kankuro poked him again.

Gaara awoke and mumbled.

"Yeah... I'm listening..."

"And that's all?" Kankuro chuckled. "Oh goodness..."

But Shamo, on the other hand, found it sufficient.

"Excuse us, Lord Kazekage, we didn't mean to disturb you, but..." she looked down, as if hesitating, but then she directly spoke: "My little cousin, Kaen, told Lady Temari earlier that we were tourists... Now we must admit it is actually not true..."

Hearing this, Temari gasped. Shamo continued:

"The reason we're here in the west is because we couldn't anymore stay in the east where a war broke out... Our parents sent us here. Our nationality and identities should be kept secret. We're here on a mission. We need to find a man who, according to our parents' words, lives in a desert here in the west, and the only desert on the western continent is this one of the Land of Wind. As you are its residents, we're sure you know this desert like the back of your hand. So we would appreciate your help...

Apart from this mission of ours, we ran into another problem back in the Hidden Cloud Village - one of our cousins went missing... My sensory type cousin feels she's here in the desert as well... We desperately need your help, Lord Kazekage, I beg you!" she raised her voice, being all nervous. Tiny tears appeared in her eye.

The cousins widened eyes, hearing she had disclosed almost all of their hidden information!

Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were stupefied as well.

Then Kankuro glanced down at Gaara.

"Do you think this is their  work too?" he asked.

Gaara, hearing this, frowned, and looked up at Shamo.

"We also had several cases of people going missing," he said in his deep voice, "Throughout the Great Five Nations a lot of people are being kidnapped, and all the traces lead to our desert. We're currently searching for the criminals who apparently work in several groups".

"So you had the same experience as well?!" Shamo widened eyes.

"Yes," Gaara nodded. "However, if you could tell us about your mission you mentioned... That man who lives in the desert... If we find him first, it might give us some clues... Because no one resides this desert except the Hidden Sand villagers and rogue ninjas. If that man you're seeking is not familiar to us, then he's definitely a rogue ninja and finding him would be useful in that case".

"So you will help?" Shamo brightened.

Gaara slightly smiled.

"I guess we have no choice but to cooperate. We're dealing with the same problem".

"Oh, thank you so much!!!" Shamo's eyes sparkled with happiness.

The cousins beamed, as well as Temari and Kankuro.

"Now then," Gaara went directly on business, "What can you tell about that man you're looking for? Do you have any information?"

"Actually, the information parents disclosed to us is scarce," Shamo scratched her head, "They said he lives in a desert, and is a professional Sand Style user..."

"Ugh that won't help... A lot of people here in our village and rogue ninjas as well can use Sand Style..." Kankuro noted, "Even I do use it sometimes".

"Yeah, but pay heed, she said 'professional'," Temari crossed arms.

"I don't understand your point?" Kankuro puckered, guessing Temari was mocking him.

"Point is - you're a puppeteer, Kankuro, and thus mind what you're good at. Sand Style is not your specialty".

"Ugh you say I'm weak?!" Kankuro hit his fists to the table.

Temari chuckled.

"Cut it out Kankuro," Gaara frowned, "This is serious". Then he turned to Shamo: "That's all you know?"

"Um..." Shamo fell in her thoughts, and then modestly asked: "Excuse me for a moment". She turned to her cousins and whispered: "Should I tell them about the scroll? How do you think?"

"We have no choice," Mekano shrugged, "Maybe it will give them some clues. If we don't take risks we won't move forward at all".

"Agreed with Mekano on this one," Kaen cut in.

"Alright..." and Shamo turned back to Gaara: "Our mission was to deliver this scroll to that man... Parents asked us not to give it to anyone except the addressee himself... But if we don't find him then there's no point..." she shrugged, "Maybe it will help you somehow," and she took a little purple scroll out of her ninja tool bag, handing it to the Kazekage.

Gaara glanced down at the scroll which was sealed strongly with a special jutsu.

Kankuro also looked at it and raised eyebrow:

"What kind of seal is that?"

Gaara was in shock.

"It can't be..." he murmured.

"What is it, Gaara?" Temari got worried seeing her brother's troubled face.

"This seal..." Gaara touched the letters on the scroll, "The calligraphy... It is... hers..." he slightly raised his non-existent brows, having expression of a man who was about to burst in tears, finding something precious he had long lost.

Shamo was stupefied - what did he mean? Was he alright?

Kankuro and Temari gasped, guessing what Gaara meant.

"No way..." Kankuro murmured.

"What... What is it?" Shamo worriedly asked, feeling the scroll had caused trouble. "Is anything wrong?"

Gaara didn't answer her. He raised his hand, and tiny pieces of his sand rolled around the seal, slowly opening it.

Shamo gasped - so he could use Sand Style!

"Um, but shouldn't you first ask permission to these guys before opening that thing?" Kankuro asked to his brother.

Gaara gave no voice, just ran through the lines impatiently...

Please unlock the seal only if you're Gaara of the Sand, the Fifth Kazekage.

Seeing this, Gaara widened eyes, his hands trembling. He continued reading...

---

My dear Desert Rose,

I greet you from afar, my heart bouncing as I write down these lines, hoping that they will reach you someday.

I am sincerely sorry for not sending you letters until this very moment, but there was no messenger I could ever trust to deliver this letter to you I consider very dear to me. Only now I've found the one and only person I can entrust this letter to on this long and dangerous journey from the east to the west.

You may ask why didn't I send one of my siblings as a messenger to you, as I have total seven of them, and I love and trust all of them from the bottom of my heart... The thing is, my siblings are all leaders of certain departments in our village, and all of them are occupied so that they hardly ever have time even for their own families... It was impossible for them to embark on this long journey... This letter is very personal to me and so I entrusted it to only this one particular person...

My dear Gaara, if you're reading this letter now, then it means that the person I sent to the western continent already met you, and you are now acquainted with her. As she may have already told you, she is my daughter, my one and only child, from one and only man I ever loved and kept forever in my heart.

Yes, Gaara, she is your daughter... And she is indeed a cutie redhead just like you... Isn't she? Hehe...

Now you may get grieved and even angry, and ask why didn't I inform you earlier about this...

As I've already written, I'm terribly sorry, that I could not send any letters to you before... I could not afford this information to be disclosed to any third party, so I didn't trust any messengers... Our daughter is the future leader of our powerful Shin-Lin clan, and she possesses  the sacred Diyuma spirit  now - my and my siblings' powers combined, as you may already have noticed. Every eastern ninja knows about these powers so they aren't agitated, but there's another problem... Our daughter possesses also rare powers of sand and other powders' control, which here they named 'Colourful Sand'. This power is one of a kind and only our child has it. It hasn't been inherited by her Shin-Lin ancestors, so everyone here, including me, believes it's her father's heritage, your heritage, Gaara. Because of that rare power, she was being hunted here on our continent, but we managed to protect her so far. However, now they're hunting also for her father - you. But as nobody yet knows exactly who her father is and where he dwells, everything is fine and I'm relieved that you're safe. I want to keep you and your village safe, Gaara, my sweetheart, so I decided to hide this information from the world's eyes.

I am really so sorry, my Desert Rose... I know this is no excuse for not telling you about your child, but... I just didn't know what to do... I know you can't forgive me, and you don't have to...

But still I plea for one single thing - I beg you, take care of Shamo, our child... I sent her there to the west together with all of her cousins, my siblings' children, so all of them could be safe, and Shamo could train to get stronger and unleash her full potential... And what's more, you are there... I believe in you, Gaara...

A lot of people here are trying to capture Shamo, so I decided to send her there, to the west, for some time, knowing that the western area is a lot more peaceful... Here in the east, it's quite the opposite - a war broke out... Shamo and the children aren't safe here anymore. My siblings and I are defending our village together with our people, and Shamo, together with other children, wanted to join in and help us, but she isn't yet able to fully control her enormous and dangerous powers, so I was really worried about her. However, she is quite stubborn and impatient, also, really self-assured, so she didn't listen to me... So instead, I decided to send her and the children to the west so they wouldn't join the war of the east secretly, and I promised her she would meet you, her father, there. It drove her so much... Only after hearing that did she accept to travel there... The children were also really curious about her father so we managed to send them with her as well... I also told her that you, her father, would train her and make her a really strong shinobi, so then she could help us in battle... I know you won't deceive her, Gaara.

Oh, you can't even imagine how much she loves you, though she hasn't even seen you before... She often told me that she felt your presence within her sand, as if your will was fused in it... and then I remembered that night at the bonfire years ago, when we were still young, but already in love... You gifted me a gourd made of nature sand and filled up with your own sand, and told me to keep it forever on my thigh so whenever I was threatened on the core of my chakra on my belly, that sand would emerge and protect me, as it kept your own will in it, the will to protect me and help me reach my dreams and goals... When Shamo was still a little child, she took some of that sand, your sand, out of my gourd and fused it with her own sand, making it forever hers... So when I heard her words, I instantly recalled your speech and guessed Shamo was right... Your will has always been protecting her Gaara, no matter you weren't beside her and didn't even know about her, because of me... She always felt you, and I think, deep in her heart she knows you and has a tight bond with you, just like with me and my siblings, who possessed my Diyuma spirit parts before. However, unlike our Diyuma spirit bond, your bond with her is unique, it is sort of bond of sand, the one similar to yours with your mother's... That is at least how I see it.

Gaara, dear, I've told you everything about the situation here, and about our lovely child... What else? My feelings for you will never fade, my Desert Rose... I missed you so much... In times of snow (here we have lots of snow) I've always been thinking of you, watching that forever blooming white orchid, the one you gifted me that day... You remember? In that little sandy town, when we were young, and I was saddened and grieved because of my sisters' bitter words... You came up to me and beamed to me, gifting me that beautiful white orchid, and telling me that such a wonderful woman as I deserved that kind of majestic flower as a gift... And later you told me I resembled an orchid myself, mature, motherly flower, that was beautiful in its own unique way... Even now when I remember those words, they still touch me, and I hear them in my mind like a sweet melody...

I even remember your voice Gaara... It was so sweet, deep, manly... I bet it got even deeper and manlier now, hehe...

I remember you back as a youngster with cute red spiky hair and sparkling green eyes... I believe you would now turn into a brave, strong man, with valiant heart and kind soul...

I wonder how things are going by you, hun... I do receive words from Super Ocean Express ship owners about the western affairs, but as the Land of Wind is too far from water, there are scarce news about you and your village... I wish I could know more about what's going on over there... I'm eager to know more about how you are doing now... I hope everything is fine there by you, and I wish I could visit you, at least once see you again... If only we had peace on our land... I would gladly come over by Super Ocean Express and cuddle with you tightly after so many years...

Gaara, please take care of our sweet Shamo, and her young Shin-Lin cousins, at least for little time while I'm at war... Then perhaps we can meet again, someday... and lovingly embrace each other, just like in good old times...

I strongly ask you not to interfere in our battles here in the east. I did everything I did here so far to protect you and keep you safe, so please just stay in your village with your people and our daughter, and if you find time, train her... I beg you... My siblings and I will handle things here.

I think this is all I can fit in this scroll right now, with this little time I have. I wish I could speak to you face to face, and tell you so much more! Hear your manly voice once again, which would definitely be a lot sweeter and manlier by now... hehe...

I firmly believe we will meet again, so I keep bracing my heart.

Until then, I'll try to stay strong and patient, though my heart already dreams to fly across the ocean.

I love you, my cutie redhead...

Your Orchid,

Lao Shin

Address: Eastern Continent; Land of Dark Forests; Village Hidden in the Fir

Letter written and sealed by the Sacred Lady of the Hidden Fir Village, the Leader of Shin-Lin clan of the eastern shinobi.

---

Kankuro, Temari, sand ninjas and the children watched as Gaara was slowly going pale, even paler than usual. His eyes were widened, his expression - shocked, his hands - shaking, his mouth - trembling, and he definitely had goosebumps all over his skin.

What caused all of this? Apparently, the entire letter, but more importantly, one specific sentence...

"Yes, Gaara, she is your daughter... "

His eyes were fixed on this particular little sentence, and, more specifically, those two words at the bottom...

" your daughter... "

These words... Your... Daughter...

It was a shock.

A huge shock.

He was speechless.

"Gaara? Gaara what's the matter? You alright?" Temari ran up to him, being frightened seeing her brother's death-like face.

"Gaara?" Kankuro got worried as well, poking him.

Shamo and the children got confused and scared. They caused all this mess! What would they do now?! If Kazekage was left like this, they would surely have huge problems coming from these sand ninjas!

"Ah what happened? Are you alright?" Shamo watched Gaara, being terrified, "Is anything wrong? Please, Lord Kazekage! What's in that damn scroll? I would never let you open it if I knew that was coming!" she started quivering from worry and hysteria, "Oh god, curse it all!"

She was panicking. Now her cousins started worrying about her, Mekano and Kaen trying to hold her and calm her down. Nami grew nervous from all this mess and cuddled strongly to her brother's leg.

Worried Temari and Kankuro were watching Gaara, trying to wake him, sand ninjas were perplexed, and the cousins had a mess seeing panicked Shamo.

But then, Gaara took a deep breath and stood up.

His siblings got stupefied. Gaara slowly walked off his table and came up to Shamo who was still panicking and didn't even notice him.

The cousins, however, instantly spotted him and froze. Kaen poked Shamo. She glanced at him and when she saw him pointing forward, she looked up and saw the Kazekage right up to her nose. She felt so frightened she almost fell back.

"You... You alright, Lord Fifth?" she confusedly asked. "I'm so sorry!" she wiped off her tiny tear.

Hearing this, Gaara slightly smiled.

"There's no need for you to be sorry".

"Huh?" Shamo astonishedly stared up at him.

"You actually must be happy," Gaara said, slightly smiling.

"But... why?" Shamo got confused.

"Because, Shamo Shin, you have successfully completed your mission," Gaara beamed, "The scroll is delivered to its addressee".

"Wh... What?!" Shamo was dumbfounded, "What do you mean? Who's the addressee?"

"The man in front of you," Gaara replied in slight smile, as if in mood of having fun.

Hearing this, Shamo gasped.

"What?!" she stared at him, trembling, feeling all nervous, anxious, and shocked.

The Kazekage crossed his arms and declared in a serious tone:

"I am Gaara of the Sand, and I'm your father".

Hearing this, all the people presenting there - Temari, Kankuro, sand ninjas, Shamo and her cousins - all of them gasped in shock!