Chapter One

"Ria! Where are you?!" Tina's high voice called from the other side of the building. At that particular moment Ria was not interested in tearing herself away to speak with her.

"RIA!" The sketchbook was ripped from her fingers, a dark line crossing the sketch she was working on as it was pulled away.

"Tina!" Ria exclaimed in horror, glaring up at her friend.

"Ria!" Tina mocked, "I've been calling you for like, five minutes! We have to go back to class now you dope!" she enunciated the sentence by bopping her wayward friend over the head with her own sketchbook.

Ria pouted at her friend from her spot on her ground before standing up and snatching her sketchbook back; she quickly flipped it around and gasped when she saw the damage.

"TINA! You made me cut poor Gaara's head off you bugger!" She quickly flipped her pencil around and vigorously worked at the offending mark with her eraser.

Tina rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up her friend's shoulder bag. "C'mon Ria, we have to get to class or Mr. Gorodetsky is gonna make you stay after again."

Tina walked a few steps away; ready to round the building when she noticed her friend wasn't following. Glancing back she noticed Ria was still hurriedly working at her sketchbook, bits of eraser flying off the paper.

Sighing in exasperation Tina placed her hand on her hip and grinned towards her friend, "Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter if we have to stay after, AGAIN, but I was SO looking forward to seeing the new Naruto episode tonight…" she sighed dramatically, placing a hand on her chest and staring up into the sky, "Oh how I will miss seeing Sasuke gracing the screen tonight… but alas-" Tina wasn't able to finish her tirade as her wrist was snagged and she dragged after her friend who was now moving full force towards the classroom. Laughing Tina jogged lightly to keep up.

Both girls stumbled into the classroom panting lightly just as the bell finished ringing. Taking her bag from Tina, Ria wound her way through the oddly placed desks towards her own in the back right corner by the window. Just as she sat down their teacher, Mr. Gorodetsky strode into the classroom.

He grinned to everyone as he wound himself through the desks and placed his files on his own desk. Mr. Gorodetsky was a fun teacher, if you didn't make him mad. He had a different approach to teaching that inspired the students. For instance, instead of having the traditional classroom with his desk at the front of the room near the chalkboard he had it in the middle of the classroom with all of his students' desks around him in a kind of auditorium-like circle.

After a few minutes of rummaging around everyone was seated and Mr. Gorodetsky picked up the literature book and sat on the corner of his desk, a light smile on his face, "Well, are we ready to begin then?" he pointed looked at her and made a circle motion with his finger. Sighing to herself she took one last look at her newest sketch of Gaara before closing the sketchbook and tuning into the lecture.

A few hours later Ria breathed a sigh of relief as she passed through the gates of the school and headed towards home, her best friend Tina walking beside her.

"This is nice."

"What?" Ria asked, looking at her friend with a quizzical expression.

"Not having to stay late," Tina replied with a cheeky smile, her green eyes glittering with amusement. "I must say… my mom is going to be – Ow!" She said laughing while she rubbed her arm; "Mighty surprised to see me walking in on time" she finished.

"Oh be quiet, we don't ALWAYS have to stay late."

"Well, you do have to admit Ria, we do stay MOST of the time."

"Yeah… maybe. But not ALWAYS."

Giggling the girls waved to each other as they parted ways, Tina heading down the slope to the right and Ria trudging forward, up the hill. Reaching the top of the hill Ria panted and glanced back down, wiping at her brow.

Geez… I am never going to get used to this walk… She complained silently to herself as she rubbed her right thigh. Stretching her leg carefully Ria sighed and continued her walk home. It wasn't too far and she reached the small ranch style house within a few minutes. Moving through the white picket fence, yes, a picket fence – she couldn't get over it either, and walked to the front door. Grasping the handle her momentum was stopped as she walked into the door. "GAWD!" She complained as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, taking a step back.

Hissing silently she made comical choking actions in the air while she mumbled to herself about stupid siblings and atrociousness of locked doors. Fishing her key out of bag she unlocked the door and turned the handle, but once again ran into the door with her abused nose. "OW!! JAY-sus! What the heck…" Peering through the scant inch of space between the door and the doorjamb and saw the corner of the breakfast bar and the grinning face of her younger brother.

"STEVE! You had BEST move that furniture and let me in RIGHT NOW or I am going to beat your butt black and blue and hang you UPSIDE down in the bloody CLOSET by your bloody TOES you bloody BUGGER!" she screamed into the house, stamping her foot in indignation. Ever since they had moved into the new house her younger twin siblings had been playing countless pranks on her.

Her brother continued to grin at her, seemingly unmoved by her outrage. "You know sis," the ten year old sassed, his lisp lingering over his s's and his index finger wagging at her "You aren't from England or Britain."

"Why you little BRAT! Let me in RIGHT NOW! I'm going to KILL YOU!" Ria pushed on the door, leaning against it with all of her weight, shoving against the heavy antique furniture. As she pushed she was satisfied to hear a panicked little squeak and clomps of hurried footsteps. Slowly but surely Ria was able to push the door back and edge her way in.

Once she was in she slammed the door, smiling to herself as it echoed through the house, making sure her bratty little siblings heard it. "Where are you, you little terrors!" she called, removing her shoulder bag and setting it on the floor. Vaulting up the staircase taking two to three steps at a time, Ria reached the top in time to see the blur of one of her little brothers dart into the bathroom.

Baring her teeth in a savage grin Ria stalked down the hall and put herself in the doorway, spreading her feet and arms out to take up as much of the space as possible. "Where are you, you little gremlin?" she growled as she peeked around the bathroom.

Crouching down she quickly opened the cabinet doors under the sink to reveal her very shocked little brother Brian. Grabbing his ankle she quickly dragged him out from under the sink. It wasn't until he hit the tile floor that he started screeching and kicking out at her.

"Shut up, Mongrel." She quickly covered his small mouth with her hand and shifted her grip on his ankle to his upper arm.

A loud war cry sounded behind her a nanosecond before her Steve launched himself onto her back, nearly making her tumble and fall flat onto Brian. His small hands quickly covered her eyes and pulled her head back while he continued to scream his little head off.

"Ow! You BRAT!" Quickly she stood, still gripping Brian by the arm, she lifted him and let him dangle while her other hand released his mouth and reached back and snagged Steve's arm. As she backed up out of the bathroom Brian began to start screeching himself and kicking out at her trying to get himself loose from her iron grip.

While shaking and tugging Brian around with one arm she tugged on Steve, eventually being able to pull his upper body around her side, his thin legs painfully gripping her torso. She quickly gripped her arm around Steve's waist and pulled him away from her body hanging him upside down with his back against her leg before she quickly pulled Brian in and set him in the same position as his twin.

While wrangling with the twins she managed to get them both situated on her hips so that they couldn't kick her in the head, Steve had clocked her once already, or really put up much resistance. They were helpless.

"You are both SO going to DIE!" she yelled, jumping in place a few times to jar them a little bit. "Definitely hanging you guys in the closet by your toes!"

"That's not possible!" Steve protested, his blue eyes glaring out at her from his red face, his blond hair pointing towards the ground.

"Yes it is!" Ria argued, belittling herself long enough to stick her tongue out at him.

"Not-UH!" Brian chipped it, his matching face and eyes glaring at her from the other side, "Our toes would break off, dumb-dumb!"

"So be it!" Ria cackled, as she started moving towards the twins' bedroom. Just as she was about the enter their room, her mind already circulating on what items she could use to tie them with when a bang came from downstairs immediately followed by a loud gasp.

"RIA! BRIAN! STEVE! GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Ria and her brothers froze in unison at the sound of their very angry mother's voice downstairs. Ria uncharitably dropped her brothers on their heads, both of them yipping with pain. She bent down and pulled them to their feet by their collars, "Go let mom in right now!" she growled before shoving them towards the staircase.

Once released both boys took off down the stairs, their steps thundering through the house.

"Boys! What's going on? Why is my breakfast bar in front of this door?"

"Mom!" both boys cried in unison.

Ria started down the stairs in time to see her mother walk inside and the twins each hug her legs. Her mother was dressed for the weather; her light white pants were floaty and light, corresponding with her brown and white-stripped tank top. Her rich brown hair was styled around her pretty face, long dark lashes framing her cerulean blue eyes. Ria paused on the steps to tug at her own straight brown hair and contemplate her mother. They were often told they looked alike and at the moment Ria wasn't interested in being punished by a possible older version of herself.

"Ria, what is going on here?" her mother asked frowning at her while her hands busily patted her sons' backs.

"The little brats tried to lock me out of the house again" Ria complained. Remembering her nose she lifed a hand to rub the offended cartilage.

Her mother gasped lightly and moved her hands from the boys' back into their blond hair, pulling their heads back so they looked at her. "Did you try to lock your sister out AGAIN?"

They wisely stayed silent and just stared quietly up at their mother, blue eyes rounded and wide.

"What have I told you about these pranks boys? Stop it. Your sister has enough to do without your troublemaking." Her mother continued.

Rolling her eyes Ria moved down the last of the steps and scooped up her bag. Mom always uses the same lecture… it never helps. Can't she come up with something new?

Ria went upstairs and closed herself in her bedroom, tuning out the lecture echoing up from downstairs. She pulled open her bag and took her sketchbook out before tossing the bag onto her bed. Sitting at her desk she pushed some of the loose papers and the tidy grey laptop aside and opened her sketchbook.

She flipped through her sketchbook she paused occasionally to admire her various sketches along the way. Most of her sketches were various poses of Gaara although she did have some other characters in it like Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, Hinata, Chouji, Ino, Kakashi, and Naruto himself. Her favorite so far was a detailed sketch she'd colored in with marker of Gaara and Hinata standing on a balcony overlooking the desert. She paused at the drawing and sighed happily, running her fingers over the lines and colors. They were her favorite couple – not that she held any illusions about them getting together in the anime itself, but she liked to dream.

Moving on she found her current sketch, one of Gaara sitting on the ground with one leg lying down and curved around his front with the other up, his elbow propped on his knee and his other arm propped on his gourd which was lying half in his lap. She'd draped him in a floaty type of robe that was falling off of one shoulder baring his skin that she had every intention of eventually coloring red. She'd been working on the detail of the fabric by his shoulder when Tina had pulled the sketchbook from her, making a thick line across Gaara's neck.

Tilting her head she traced a finger over the faint line beheading her favorite Naruto character. "Poor Gaara" she murmured to herself before sighing. Taking her eyes off the sketch she reached of her tin of sketching pencils and quickly snatched one, ready to continue.

Ria wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been working on the sketch but she finally ripped her eyes away from her work when she couldn't see too well anymore. It was quite dark in her room. She turned and glanced at the clock near her bed, almost 8:30!

Reaching across her desk she tugged on the cord and let the lamplight illuminate her small, cluttered desk. Glancing down at her sketch again Ria let herself have a mental pat on the back. She'd managed to finish detailing the robe and gourd and had started defining Gaara's features. He was nearly completed in sketch form and was almost realistically glaring at her from the paper, seemingly angry that she had the audacity to put her pencil down when he wasn't done yet.

Yawning, Ria quickly stretched before standing and leaving her bedroom. She was hungry and Naruto was going to be on soon. Trotting down the stairs Ria heard her mother in the kitchen. Sauntering in behind her Ria went on her toes to give her mother a quick peck on the cheek.

"Oh, there you are sweetie. Finish your homework?"

Ria quickly turned away so her mother didn't see her expression, "Of course I did." Ria replied making a little face while she opened the refrigerator.

"Don't have a snack now Ria, I'll be done in a few seconds."

Closing the fridge door Ria turned and leant against it, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are you making anyways mom?"

"Spaghetti."

"Oh. All right. I can wait for that." It was her favorite dish. She pushed off the fridge and walked to the other side of the bar and took a seat on the stool. Propping her chin in her hands she watched her mother move around the kitchen.

"So how was school?" her mother asked, leaving the sink to go to the stove.

"Alright."

"How is Tina?"

"She's good. She's thinking about joining the tennis club."

"The tennis club? Does she even know how to play?"

Ria smirked to herself, "No. She wants to play so that Jeremy Boder can teach her how to swing."

Her mother laughed lightly and as she left the stove to open the cabinet and pull out four plates. "Is Jeremy Boder her boyfriend?"

"No, but she wants him to be."

The plates went down on the raised part of the counter in front of Ria with a soft ceramic clack.

"Do you have a boy you like honey?"

Ria shrugged her shoulders, dropping her arms onto the counter as she shifted on the stool. "Not really. They are all the same boys from last year, not really much of a difference."

"Oh. All right. DINNER'S READY!" her mother shouted so the twins could hear.

Sliding off her stool Ria grabbed a plate and quickly made herself a portion of spaghetti and bread and snagged a soda before trotting up the stairs, holding her bounty over her head to avoid the terrible duo as they rocketed down on either side of her.

After settling herself at her desk once again Ria carefully put her sketchbook aside and grabbed her remote to turn on her television, which was perched on a shelf in the upper corner of her room over her bed. She was about halfway through scarfing down her dinner when the episode started. Humming along with the opening theme she waited for the episode to begin. She'd already seen it before, in Japanese with subtitles, but this was the first time she'd be able to watch Naruto and Gaara go at it in English. She was pretty excited, while episode 78 wasn't her favorite of all time, it did rank.

Halfway through the episode Ria put her plate on the edge of her desk and grabbed her sketchbook, busily going to work while she left an ear cocked to the TV.

By the time of episode was over she'd finished detailing Gaara's eyes and hair. Grabbing her remote she clicked the TV off and yawned again. Leaning back in her chair she lifted the sketchbook up and held it out at arms length, staring back at the glaring Gaara. As she scrutinized the sketch she noticed a bit of dirt clinging to the picture. Frowning she straightened and wiped it away. As she straightened a thin stream of dirt dripped from the pages of her sketchbook and landed on her leg.

"What the…"

She turned the sketchbook over and flipped through the pages until she noticed more dirt. Shaking the book she made a small pile on her desk. Frowning she dipped her hand in the dirt and rubbed it between her fingers.

"How the… Wait a second…" Upon closer inspection she noticed that this wasn't the dirt that was on the school grounds where she had been sitting today, it was light colored sand. Turning her hand over in the lamplight she stared at the glittering specks of sand on her fingers. "How did I get sand… where did this sand come from?"

Looking back to the sketchbook in her hand she focused on the picture she'd drawn on that page. It was a detailed colored page of the Sand Village from an aerial perspective. She remembered drawing it the year before when they had run a special rerun of the series Dune on TV. It had reminded her of the Sand Village so she'd drawn it.

Looking away from the sketchbook she returned her gaze to her hand and the glittering sand still clinging to her fingers. Lost in confusion she tried to figure out how fine sand managed to get into her sketchbook and stay there until that very moment. When she turned and looked at her sketchbook again she barely had a moment to gasp before the thick column of sand that had risen from her picture darted out and gripped her tightly around the neck, choking off her air.

Immediately Ria put both hands to the sand, fighting futilely to remove its grip from her throat. She nearly panicked as her fingers seemed to slip through and around the sand with any effect whatsoever, it was an odd feeling to be choked by something so solid but that her hand could pass effortlessly through it. Every time she tried to break the connection the sand just reformed around her fingers and hand to combine again.

She thought her heart was going to stop when it yanked her towards her sketchbook, which she had dropped on her desk. Jerking back in her chair she braced her feet against the edge of the desk, fighting against the sand. Soon she was braced against her desk, gasping for breath, her chair crumpled beneath her the sand tightening dangerously against her throat. She was hardly aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Straightening her legs slowly she straightened backwards, arching her back towards the floor until her eyes could see the doorway. A pitiful, silent cry left her throat as she strained to get away from the sand.

Suddenly the sand slacked in its pulling and she fell onto the floor with a hard thump, the landing jarring the air from her lungs. A half a second after she landed the sand yanked her roughly, pulling her off the ground and into her sketch before she had a moment to register what was happening.

One moment she was staring wide-eyed at her sketch, fearful of slamming her head onto her desk and the next she was surrounded by an intense heat from the blaring sun and a rough wind whipped her hair around, sand skimming over her bare legs. In that brief moment she was suspended in the exact aerial spot and angle that she had chosen to draw her picture from. Her breath was taken away for a brief second as she stared at what seemed to be the living landscape of her imagination. Her heart gave a violent thud and then her stomach dropped as the sand seemed to disintegrate from her throat and she dropped.

It wasn't as far a drop as she would have thought and she had a curious moment in the air where she wondered – Am I there yet? But a small drop was good because the only thing that broke her fall was the sand dune. She hit the sand on its slope. The impact was painful and her entire right side seemed to be on fire, but she couldn't dwell on it because she was still moving. Rolling over and over down the slope of the sand towards the village. When she finally stopped rolling she pushed herself onto her back and gasped for air, painfully trying to fill her lungs. Her entire body ached. Her arms, her legs, her stomach, her back, her butt, and her head - even her hair seemed to pulse with pain!

After what felt like a lifetime Ria groggily rolled herself to her feet, her body protesting with every movement. Looking down at herself she found that she was finely coated in sand. It was everywhere. In her skin, her shoes, her skirt, her shirt, her hair, she even had to spit some out of her mouth.

Shaking her hands through her hair she looked up to survey her environment. She froze at the view. She was just a little bit closer to the village and her jaw dropped as her eyes slowly scaled the rough walls of the buildings in front of her. She HAD to be dreaming. There was just NO WAY…

After a few minutes of gaping her eyes finally drifted down again and noticed the three shocked figures standing a little way below her on a sand dune a bit shorter than the one she was standing on now. Her eyes widened as she registered the uniforms of the three sand Jonin ninja that seemed just as shocked to see her standing there as she was to be there in the first place.

"Oh no" she breathed in disbelief "This doesn't look good…" as several kunai appeared and pointed toward her.