Disclaimer: I no own Naruto. And if I did, Gaara would be mine! MUAHAHAHA!

Hehehe. Sorry it's so late and just a filler. What can I say, I love to procrastinate. But I promise that they'll be some action in the next chapter. And I won't wait two weeks to put it out... I actually tried putting this out last Sunday, but stupid FanFiction wouldn't let me. This story, I've decided, needs to be rated right in between K+ to T, so just a warning now. It might rise to T later, but I think that it'll stay right there between those the chapters will get longer as we go. This short chapter thing is just a habit of mine for the beginnings of stories.

Also, I've got some good one-shots coming out soon, be on the look out for them, would ya? And don't forget to review this chapter! Enjoy.

Something has been taken

From deep inside of me

A secret I've kept locked away

No one can ever see...

--Easier To Run; Linkin Park

Forbidden Footsteps: On The Way

The journey to Suna was difficult to say the least. Nobody stopped Kagemi to ask where she was heading, and she knew her father wouldn’t come looking for her. And if he did, it wouldn’t last long. It was either Konoha or Suna she’d be heading to, both each an equal distance from her hometown, but she didn’t know the way to Konoha, so it was Suna she chose.

Kagemi was now on her own- completely dependent upon herself. She was finally free of her father. No one to look after, no more fights, and the thing she was most excited about: no more yelling fits where he lost his temper. He hadn’t always been mean to her, but ever since her stepmother and brother died, he’d lost it, taking it out on her whenever he was angry.

But now, she was free of her past, and with this thought, she began smiling more, and racing with her shadow when she was feeling especially happy. On her way to Suna, Kagemi stopped several times in different towns, and in one she stayed for almost a week and a half. Apparently the people there loved a good dancer, and she was rewarded with money to help her along on her journey. But after that week and a half, Kegemi had had enough.

So she chased after her dream again.

But as she was leaving a smaller town, Kagemi was faced with a hard obstacle. It was the Red Desert. She was presented with two choices: go across the desert and face dehydration and most likely death, or go around it with lots of little towns and double the distance. Kagemi chose the latter. Only miles away from Suna, and she had to double the distance! Wonderful…but if it meant surviving, then by all means, she’d take it.

As she walked to the next town, Kagemi sang an old slow song. Her strepmother always sang it whenever Kagemi couldn't sleep, and immediately she'd fall asleep. But this time when she sang it, the old magic called 'sleep time' didn't work. She didn'tfeel sleepy at all; she stayed awake completely. As she walked, she kept reminding herself that this was the biggest hurdle yet –making it alive to Suna- and that she was doing pretty well.

The desert wasn’t really red. It had the normal brown sand, but there was a red haze over the desert so that at sunset, the sun 'turned' a blood red color, illuminating the desert with it. As she walked, the brown grains of sand got stuck between her foot and sandal, and it stuck her, but sooner or later, she came not to notice it. Even though she wasn’t ‘officially’ in the desert, the sun was really beating down on her hard. A light breeze swept over the sands, blowing sharp pieces of grains into her eyes and swinging her hair around her head lightly. A hand immediately went up to aid her eyesand she stopped for a few minutesto get it out. Finally getting the sand out of her eyes, she continued watching for sandstorms and heading to the next town whilethe windblew her clothes around lazily still.

Kagemi’s clothes were designed for the high desert temperatures, just like everyone else’s, but it was still torture. Her clothes consisted of an ague-colored shirt that seemed to be draped over her body with one sleeve almost hanging off her shoulder, and black gauchos. The bottom of her shirt blew around her stomach where it ended at her naval and instead turned into fishnet that followed her stomach to her pants. Fishnet also hugged her arms after the shirt ended and it came down ¾ way. At least the top half of her body was cool…to an extent. And her sandals didn’t help the effort much either- being black and all. Sweat ran down her face in an effort to cool her off, creating salt buildups where the sun claimed the water before it reached the ground.

But, the torture was short lived; she only had to travel for five hours before she came to the next little village. Kagemi decided that she would do a performance just to get a little extra money even though she was tired. Even now, with her full moneybag, if she were to stay in a room for even one night, it would eat away at nearly half of her savings. So, finding a pub, she climbed onto the counter and brought her portable stereo up there with her and began her job.

After her performance, she gathered her bag and wandered the city until she found a decent-looking alley. No one ever said completing your dreams was going to be easy.

There's a reason why I didn't mention her eye color up there, and you'll see why later on. I'm not really sure what the desert that Suna is located on/in is called, so I just called it the Red Desert. hehehe. Still calling for any extra info you might have on the sand sibs. Thanks guys!

Review!