A/N: My first Naruto fanfic and a Midouri's Candy Shop Chronicle. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I do own Sachiko and Midouri and her Candy Shop. (copyand paste this

to each chapter if it's that important to you because I always forget to put this disclaim up for every chapter).

Chapter One: Shadow of the Day

The rough sand blew its hateful grains at her, cruelly pelting her fragile body. The wear and tear of the sand was becoming quite a nuisance to her as she shielded her eyes with a flick of the wrist. Black hair flew erratically in the piercing blowing wind. She trudged through the merciless sand one foot after the other. Surely she would get some more leg strength with this new found exercise. Surprisingly she laughed to herself at her joke. It was amazing her spirit wasn't drowned out by the sand, nor was her hope. The sand was tough to get through, but she was tougher.

The girl ignored her aching throat, screaming and begging for water. "Quench my thirst," she could hear a voice inside her hissing.

"Shut up," she snapped as she continued her trudge, "We'll be at Sand soon enough…"

"Very well," she could hear the voice snapping back. She sighed in spite of the pesky voice… It wasn't normal for people to talk to themselves; she had hoped people would not think her strange, though being from Cloud, she was probably already seen as strange to those in Sand… but still not a pariah and that was good enough for her. That was the small ray of hope for she clung to as her eyes spotted the Hidden Village of Sand standing tall amongst the ominous dunes of sand.

The Village of Sand was mainly known for being the home of the infamous Sabaku no Gaara, the hated devil of Sand. Though his father and his whole village despised him, he was in training to become Kazekage. He now was forced to go through ridiculous means of training for his future job. He sauntered through his village, making sure everything was as it should be.

Habit caused the redheaded boy to cross his arms and look to his village's gates. As if Shukaku gave him his nearly perfect eyesight, the redhead spotted a girl struggling but not quite giving in to the desert's unmerciful dry heat. Although the sun struck her and she was sweating the girl did not appear tan but rather pale instead. She walked alone to his village with no bodyguards. Gaara frowned wondering what she could possibly want there in Sand.

One of the guards turned to Gaara's father, "Kazekage-sama, do we grant her permission to enter?"

"Gaara can handle this one on his own," the malicious Kazekage said coldly, "Maybe it's the girl the Raikage sent over… Don't just stand there; leave."

With a flick of the hand Gaara let them both know he would take care of this himself as he approached the entrance. The guard returned to his assigned post to go back to what he was doing as the girl inched closer to Sand's gates and the Kazekage remained where he was to observe his unwanted son.

The dark blue haired girl nearly threw her head back in laughter as she approached Sand. The thought was unfathomable that she had walked all the way from Lightning Country to Sand all by herself. Many of Lightning Country's chunin warriors couldn't make the trip yet there she was, only a genin, and almost to the village's gates. Her people had been so cruel to her and intended to leave her for dead but she knew that her best means of revenge were to survive at all costs. A smile played about her lips as her mind flashed these thoughts in her now buzzing mind. They thought they could get rid of her so easily by sending her on this nearly impossible mission to Suna, but they were mistaken. As soon as she completed her mission she would be back to claim what was rightfully hers, the position of Raikage.

She took one last step to ensure she was across the border and in Sand territory. The redheaded boy stood there awaiting her arrival. The boy's very image was enough to send chills down even a jounin's spine. His flaming hair was a sight for a girl who had never seen red hair in her lifetime. His dark rimmed teal eyes were so full of hate she could feel it in her bones. It was he, Gaara of Sand; Demon of the Desert. Her skin seemed to tremble in his presence although she knew that she was just as dangerous and deadly as he was. Unlike he, she knew that she had made a vow to never let hers out unless the situation was threatening to her life.

She shook off her fears and thoughts that had taken hold of her mind, refusing to think of Gaara's murdering intent as she bowed low to him in respect. She smirked a bit to herself knowing that Chihoko could easily match Shukaku's strength if the time ever came to be so.

"State your mission," the young Kazekage-in-training requested.

"I have come a long way because I was ordered by the Raikage to stay in Sand and become a citizen temporarily until after the Chunin Exams and accompany the Kazekage's son to Konoha along with his siblings," she recited her orders exactly as she took in the sand's dusty scent, tickling her nose as it engulfed her sensory system.

"Cloud sent you," Gaara said, stoically. But he was a bit surprised to see they had sent this insubstantial girl to fight in the Chunin Exams.

"Obviously," she said in a somewhat smartass tone.

Gaara would regularly kill someone for a comment like that but seeing as his father was watching him and she was the daughter of the Raikage, he thought against it. He could still reply with a rude comment himself.

"I bet they'll be terribly disappointed to see you're still alive," he said offensively.

Her sultry eyes flickered up and she replied, "As is your village."

The redheaded boy stood back a bit and frowned. No one had spoken to him like this but he restrained himself as much as he could, "Where are your escorts?"

"I don't have any escorts… I was sent alone… It makes sense, considering I'm the only one to attend the chunin exams," she said, slightly agitated that she was forced to be like a parrot and repeat herself.

Gaara hesitated for a slight moment but gave signal to one of the guards to get her papers stating she had permission to be in Sand. "Follow me," Gaara said as he handed her an identification card that would grant her access in Sand. Gaara's father had disappeared to oversee the rest of Sand as he suspected his detested thing called a son had things under control.

After a short time of walking Gaara grew curious of the girl, "What's your name?" They both turned to each other concurrently, shady azure eyes meeting trite teal ones.

"I am Cloudishida Sachiko of Cloud and future Raikage."

Gaara turned to face her, their eyes meeting again. He seemed to be sizing her up and judging for himself if she was fit to be Raikage. She was slightly curvy for a young girl her age. She wore a pink tank top with a small hoodie. It probably rained a lot back at Cloud. She wore a short skirt with slits down the sides and black spankies underneath. She wore her Cloud sash around her waist. Her long black blue hair was tied into two pigtails with bangs falling over her panther like purple blue eyes. Several moments passed and finally, to her relief, he had no brazen reply and simply nodded.

The devil boy stopped in front of an enormous dark mansion that was more like a castle. "You will stay here…" Before Sachiko knew it they were standing atop a sand platform he created and were floating by an open window. The sand platform rose higher and dropped them on the balcony. "This is your room… We have servants so they can take care of you if you need something… Just don't cause any trouble," he warned her as he disappeared in a cloud of sand.

"Well that's real Sand Village hospitality for you," she muttered as she looked out from Sand Castle and admired the view.

XXX

Gaara had appeared in front of Temari in a puff of sand. "Gaara… You startle me every time," Temari said with a forced smile. Her brother was even too unsettling for her at times. "Did you need anything Gaara?"

"Yes… Look the Cloud girl up for me… I want to see her records and information," Gaara said in a low voice.

"Sure Gaara," Temari said, "I'll have them for you when father has you off training for the day."

Gaara nodded and disappeared once more in a puff of sand. He reappeared underneath a desert palm that sprouted at the border of Sand. His next job for the day was to patrol the border. It was quite boring considering no one dared come to Sand knowing he was there to kill them if they tried to cross Sand's borders. Out of habit, he crossed his arms and gazed out to the dunes of sand that mocked him for being so lonely.

"Future Raikage… That girl is foolish… But there's something strange about her… She seems to have strong blood lust as well… I can see it in her eyes… they are like mine."

There Gaara stood as the sun reached its highest point in the sky causing Gaara's figure to cast a dark malicious shadow across the sand. There he was, Sabaku no Gaara, the Shadow of the Day.

XXX

Sachiko wandered through the huge castle and soon found herself lost in the mansion. She had probably been wandering around in there for a couple hours. She finally reached a long corridor filled with portraits of the previous Kazekages. There was an open space for the next Kazekage. "Probably that redheaded brat," Sachiko muttered under her breath as she looked at the empty space.

"I'd watch what I'd say about Gaara," said a deep voice with a chuckle.

Sachiko whirled around to find a boy dressed in all black with the exception of some yellow and red symbol on his chest. "I, uh, didn't know anyone was here," Sachiko said nervously.

"Yeah that's what it seemed like," the boy laughed, "Anyway, I'm Gaara's brother, Kankuro."

"Oh so you're the other Sand Sibling," Sachiko said casually as she cleaned imaginary sand from underneath her fingernails.

"Don't worry Gaara's the only one who's kind of… creepy," Kankuro said with another hearty laugh, "But don't tell him I said that because it'll probably mean both our heads. So what's your name?"

Sachiko felt relieved that Kankuro was friendlier than Gaara. The last thing she wanted was to have trouble with her mission just because she couldn't make friends with any of the Sand Siblings. "I'm Cloudishida Sachiko… of Cloud and future Raikage."

"Future Raikage, huh?" He asked her as he put his arm against the wall with all the portraits to lean on it, "Looks like you'll be seeing more of Gaara then because I have a feeling he's gonna want to be the next Kazekage and I can tell you that no one else can compete against him if he wants something."

Sachiko gulped down and nodded, "I see."

"Frightened?" Sachiko knew Chihoko would have something to say.

"No are you," she thought back to her demon.

"Hardly."

XXX

"Gaara," Temari said as she walked up to her brother, "I finally found you."

"Hn," Gaara grunted as he gave her a hateful stare.

"Uh, here's the information you wanted on that Cloud girl," Temari said slightly nervously.

"Leave," Gaara hissed at her as he received the enveloped information.

Gaara didn't have to tell Temari twice as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As soon as Temari had gone Gaara opened up the envelope with the information and began to read aloud.

"Sachiko Cloudishida. Age, 13… Level, Genin… Clan, Cloudishida… Cloudishida clan is a fierce clan that's been around for thousands of years… Kekkai Genkai… Inazuma… Lightning Form… sharp increase of speed, sharp increase of strength, sharp increase of defense, lightning strike…" Gaara frowned as the rest of the paper had a huge red boldfaced print that read, "Classified."

"Why would the rest be classified," he asked himself as he decided it was time for his night shift. Gaara suddenly balled his fists up in anger. He felt the strongest lust for her blood but he knew he couldn't do that… Not now, at least.

A/N: Yay or Nay? REVIEW! XD

Sachiko: Of course yay! You finally put a fanfic with me in it! Though if I do recall correctly, Sasume-san from your death note fanfic was quite disappointed.

Author: Sasume-san was just a bit jealous and worried that I won't finish her fanfic but I will. I got to brainstorm some new ideas for it too…

Sachiko: Well I hope your readers like me as much as they like her…

Author: But Sachiko! You're so cool! Of course they will.

Chihoko: They're gonna hate her.

Sachiko: You stupid beast get back in my head! I didn't say you could come out!

Chihoko: Yes, but I don't listen to you dearie.

Author: You two are so weird… Well this is only the first chapter Sachiko-san! They don't really get to see your personality too much only that you're a bit of a smart ass.

Sachiko: (sweat drops) Nobody likes a smart ass…

Author: Eh, quit worrying! They'll like you…

Chihoko: Don't get your hopes up.

Sachiko: Well I hope they hate you Chihoko just as much as I do!

Author: BYYYYEEEE REAADERRSS! I have to go before Sachiko has to wrestle her demon and gets injured!