Chapter 2: Shifting Sands

Working with ninja while being a civilian yourself was an interesting experience few people could lay claim to. As far as shinobi circles were concerned, most of the people one worked with were ninja, even if their job was not specific to being a ninja. But this wasn't always the case, especially in the Hidden Sand. Considering their less than ideal economic situation, lots of people had left the village for greener pastures over the years, and that meant less potential candidates to become ninja. With the number of ninja going down, the Sand had few to waste on jobs shinobi weren't required for.

That was why the Kazekage's secretary, a bespectacled brunette with hazel eyes named Sohara, was not a ninja. Her family didn't have the means or the desire to trek across the desert to another country, so she had to find work around the village like many other civilians did. Thankfully, that was easy, since there was a ton of work to do, but not enough people to do it. Unfortunately, her impressive managerial skills had landed her an office job that kept her sequestered in a mostly bland sandstone chamber that served as the entrance to the Kazekage's personal room for work.

It was just a little too dull for the young woman's tastes. Aside from her wooden desk and a few tapestries, as well as the doors that led in and out, it was a pretty uninteresting space. The only thing that broke up the monotony was an open window that helped with some much needed circulation. The least the Kazekage could have done was put some more furniture in here. A potted plant maybe.

Sohara ignored the papers and forms on her desk for a moment to ponder whether or not the Kazekage would let her bring some of her own things in here. She had a picture or two she could hang up...

Before she could get too far into that line of thought, the secretary nearly jumped out of her chair as Baki's peerless Body Flicker skills planted him and his young charge smack in the center of the room.

Trying to calm her rapidly beating heart, Sohara snapped at the scary ninja before she really thought about it.

"Dammit, Baki, can you use the door?! What's the point of even teleporting in here like that?!"

Baki brushed some sand off of his person as the small blonde child next to him reeled in some sort of shock. He probably wasn't used to whatever Baki had just done. Said ninja didn't seem too concerned with the fright he had given Sohara.

"Technically, it's not teleporting. I just came in through the window."

Realizing that she had snapped at someone that usually gave her the creeps, Sohara tried to rebound into a greater degree of professionalism, though she didn't drop her gripe completely.

"W-well, the door is still a very viable and perfectly reasonable way to enter a room..."

"This is the top floor of the building. Entering through a window is much more efficient than climbing all those stairs."

Having shaken off the effects of Baki's nigh imperceptible speed, the small kid next to him agreed. "Yeah, he's kind of got a point. That was super fast."

Having never seen the boy next to Baki, and more importantly never seeing Baki with a kid in the first place, Sohara couldn't help but question exactly that. "So, uh, who is this?"

Unwilling to explain things to someone who didn't need to know, Baki ignored the question entirely.

"Someone you need to watch until I call for him. Do not let him out of your sight."

With that said, Baki brushed past the woman and pushed open the doors of the Kazekage's office, quickly closing the ornate slabs of wood behind him to maintain privacy within the room. Sure, there were plenty of seals to absorb sound and whatnot within the office, but closing the doors still seemed like a good idea.

Now that Baki was gone, the boy he had brought with him was at a loss. He had no clue how long this would take, and he was sure he could feel

the secretary's gaze on him, trying to peer through his long bangs that shielded his right eye from the world.

The young woman was indeed staring at him, but while he felt judgment, she was simply curious, sizing him up. She would hardly say she was 'close' to Baki, but she knew him well enough by now to know he wasn't very fond of kids. It was strange to see him with one of his own free will.

Of course, Sohara's analysis of her odd companion was rife with observations that troubled her. His brown and beige clothes, full of holes and tears and stained with who knows what, did little to hide a scrawny and malnourished figure. Long blonde hair, matted and unkempt, shielded half a face that was dirty and gaunt, despite the alert and cautious expression. As best as Sohara could tell, this kid seemed to have come right off the streets.

As the woman assessed the boy before her and said target of her gaze did his best to ignore it, the sandstone room was dominated by uncomfortable silence. The child shifted from foot to foot in his nervousness, doing his best to direct his half-veiled gaze anywhere but at the woman that was scrutinizing him. When the oblivious ditz finally noticed his discomfort, she decided that it would be better to try and put him at ease. If her assumption about his origins was right, it was no surprise that he was a little skittish under scrutiny.

"So, what's your name?"

She said it with a slight lilt in her voice, as one would expect while talking to a young child of five or six. Despite being that age, the boy she addressed cast the gaze of his one visible sapphire orb to the woman and glared at her. It wasn't overly intimidating, but the kid's distaste was still obvious.

"I don't know. Don't talk to me like that."

Perplexed by both his answer and the slight edge in his voice, the bespectacled secretary cocked an eyebrow at the young blond in front of her desk. Could she not find anyone nice, even in the form of a child? Well, he probably had understandable reasons for being a little prickly, so Sohara figured she would soldier on.

"Sorry… my name is Sohara. It's alright if you want to call me that."

The boy didn't make any response, but merely shifted his severe gaze away from the woman, seemingly uninterested in continuing the conversation.

While the reaction served to dishearten Sohara further, she was determined to make some sort of headway. This was actually the most interesting thing she'd been able to do all week.

"So, what are you doing with a creepy old guy like Baki? He's always saying how much he dislikes kids, so how come he's with you?"

When no response was forthcoming for several moments, Sohara pressed a little harder. "Pleeease? C'mon, you're much too cute to be acting like a grumpy old man: like Baki."

The mere thought of being similar to the mentioned Jonin seemed to drive an answer out of the boy. "He wants me to be a ninja or something. Don't know why he'd pick a kid off the streets for that though."

Sohara's brown eyes instantly took on the ridiculous watery gleam of pity and sadness. "Aw, I knew it! Is that why you're so thin? Hold on, I've got something for you!"

The nameless boy frowned as he watched Sohara rummage through her desk for something that he assumed was food. On one hand, he was certainly hungry, having not been filled overly much from the sole piece of bread he had stolen earlier. But on the other, he couldn't recall a single time an adult offered him food without some sort of ulterior motive that wasn't good for him.

"I don't really need it…"

Either not hearing his dissent or just ignoring it, Sohara finally located the bento she had brought to eat later that afternoon. Truth be told, she was already a little hungry herself, but she certainly wasn't the type of person to be stingy in a situation like this. She shoved the box towards the boy so quickly that her round glasses almost flew off of her face.

"Here! You need to eat this!"

The child actually leaned away from the proffered meal, which was surprising to the woman who offered it, for obvious reasons. If his body was any indication, he must have been starving.

"I don't want your lunch, lady. Stop it."

Deciding that maybe the kid was just shy or scared, Sohara decided to press on. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until I see you eat something! I could probably count your ribs if you didn't have a shirt on, and I probably shouldn't even count those tattered rags as a shirt in the first place!"

The two of them locked eyes, both willing their defiance in this matter to overcome their new acquaintance. If anyone had seen the moment, they simply would've thought that it was the world's most intense staring contest.

---

Baki knelt before the Kazekage, who had his hands intertwined underneath his chin and his elbows resting on his expensive marble desk. Without his usual hat atop his head, Rasa's mop of bloody red hair was clearly visible, framing the wrinkles around his aging eyes. Said wrinkles hadn't existed last year, but it was no surprise that the village leader had aged a little faster than usual with the way things had been going lately.

"You are late, Baki. I hope you have a good explanation for it."

The man's tone had a hint of irritability about it, which usually would have worried Baki. However, he was feeling very assured, confident that the Kazekage would overlook his tardiness when he presented his reasons.

"Yes Lord Kazekage, forgive me. But I believe you will be most interested in why I was late."

Raising an eyebrow at his Jonin subordinate's words, Rasa wondered what could be important enough to risk angering a Kage, especially a less than lenient one like himself. Still, he trusted Baki enough to hear him out.

"You'd better hope so. I have far too much paperwork to do today, and not enough time to waste on waiting around for scheduled meetings. So let's hear it."

Strangely, Baki almost seemed excited. In fact, it was obvious that the Sand Jonin was trying to suppress it. This was a rarity for the man, one which Rasa actually found a little unsettling.

"Lord Kazekage, I think I have found a solution to the village's most recent affliction. One that I discovered on the way here."

The redhead couldn't help but sigh as he was reminded of the village's 'most recent affliction'. It seemed to pertain to every aspect of his office, at this point. With Gaara's disappearance, many of the ninja that knew of the issue were worried about an angry Jinchuuriki returning in a few years to wreak havoc. It was a reasonable concern, considering the volatile state of his alienated son before the failed assassination attempt, never mind after it.

"If you are referring to what I think you are, than I truly doubt what you've found is really a solution."

If the Kazekage's disheartening words had any effect on Baki, it definitely didn't show. "Maybe not, Lord Kazekage. But I think what I've found -who I've found- may help alleviate the problem, and may be even more beneficial to the village than even having Gaara around to protect it."

Knowing that Baki was not even close to being a 'people person,' Rasa was actually quite interested in learning how someone had made such an impression on the Jonin.

"Your solution is a person? And you think he can somehow remedy our predicament? What could be better than having a Jinchuuriki to defend the village in these times of feeble military strength?"

"This child I have found, he has… promise. Potential to be a great shinobi, I can feel it! He's very young, and obviously has no experience in the shinobi arts, but even so his chakra is strong enough to manifest itself as an element. Beyond that, he has a strange special ability; it could be a Kekkei Genkai."

Rasa mulled over this analysis of the person Baki had found. He had labeled this person as a child, so the chakra manifestation was indeed impressive. However, what was most interesting to him was the mention of a Kekkei Genkai. It was well-known that one of the reasons the Sand was at a huge disadvantage should they ever go to war with the Leaf or any other village was that they lacked any powerful clan equal to that of the legendary Uchiha or Hyuuga. Sure, there were some small clans with bloodline traits within the Sand, but their abilities weren't powerful enough to truly set them apart from the rank and file.

"Wait: you said that perhaps this child has a Kekkei Genkai. You are not sure?"

Baki frowned, worried that the Kazekage would dismiss this whole thing if the child did not possess a bloodline trait. After all, the most promising thing about this boy, if he did indeed possess a Kekkei Genkai, was his ability to give birth to a powerful clan in the future, one that would bolster the village's strength immensely.

"He used some sort of ability unlike any jutsu I have seen to reduce a man in the streets into a near comatose state. I suppose it could have been a Genjutsu of some kind… but this child is no older than five or six. Even true shinobi prodigies have trouble grasping Genjutsu at that age, it just doesn't seem possible."

Rasa closed his eyes in deep thought, a state he maintained for many moments. When he finally opened them again, he wasted no time in speaking. "I would like to see this child for myself. Is he here?"

Baki nodded before moving towards the door to retrieve the child in question. "Yes, Lord Kazekage. I will bring him in imme-!"

The Jonin's words were cut off by a shriek from outside the office, probably from Sohara, judging by its overly annoying shrill pitch. It was unfortunate that the privacy seals around the office didn't block outside noises, though the reason this was the case was obvious.

With an irritable air about him, Baki shoved the door to the Kazekage's office open, eager to scold Sohara for being disruptive during a critical meeting; although the sight before him in the lobby may have justified the woman's reaction somewhat.

On the floor between Sohara's desk and the bare feet of the child Baki had rescued from the streets was an open bento box, its contents in a most unfortunate state. The food within -a rice ball, a meat bun, and a bowl of Miso soup with a lid on it- was completely engulfed in searing, radiant blue and green flames.

Seeing as how no one was making a move to stamp out the flame before it ignited something of actual importance, Baki cast a glare at the boy he knew was the cause of this. "Are you just going to let it burn, or are you going to put that out before you damage something?"

The addressed boy cocked an eyebrow at the man who had brought him here, momentarily unashamed. "I told her I didn't want any."

Sohara, clearly shaken, barely stuttered out an apology, though it was more to Baki than the kid who had crisped her lunch. "I'm s-s-sorry Baki... t-this is kinda my fault..."

Baki intensified his glare at the boy, ignoring Sohara completely. "Put it out. Now."

The accosted child glanced down at the burning bento box, little more than a pile of ashes at this point. "…I can't."

"What?"

What was visible of the child's face took on a noticeably downcast expression. "I can't put it out. I don't know how I started it. It was an accident, I didn't mean to burn her lunch. I'm sorry..."

Sohara seemed to calm down a little bit, as the boy who had reduced her lunch to something most definitely inedible did seem genuinely sorry about it. "I-i-it's fine… does that uh… happen regularly?"

At the mention of the frequency of these occurrences, the kid's mouth curved downward into a pained grimace. "You think I chose to be by myself?"

The boy's dejected response instantly turned Sohara's mood sullen. She realized immediately that she had asked a stupid question with an obvious answer.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean it like that. It was an accident! Actually, it's my fault for trying to force it on you, so I should be the one apologizing. Please don't feel sad."

She didn't expect her words to actually elicit any type of positive reaction from the boy, but surprisingly, his face was actually graced with a small, yet clearly grateful grin.

"If you say so... thank you, Sohara."

While Sohara beamed with joy at getting the boy to call her by name, the flames fizzled out as it ran out of bento to burn, solving that little crisis.

Feeling more than a little impatient, and no doubt aware that the Kazekage was feeling the same, Baki proceeded to usher the boy away from his moment of reconciliation, earning the Jonin a pout from the brunette who was ecstatic to see the somber boy smile, not that the expression persuaded Baki to let them share a few more moments.

Closing the door behind the two of them, Baki left Sohara to clean up the mess that had once been her lunch. Baki ushered the boy forward, making sure to push him to his knees in front of the esteemed Kazekage, which the kid seemed unwilling to do of his own accord.

After successfully getting into their positions of deference, many moments of silence filled the room. Baki could feel the Kazekage's critical gaze on his find, who had already grown bored enough to let his eyes roam. The sight of the Kazekage didn't seem to faze him at all.

After an even longer period of quiet, Baki himself grew somewhat nervous. The longer the Kazekage held his silence, the more he felt that he didn't approve of the Jonin's actions. But all silences must eventually come to an end, and perhaps it had seemed longer in his mind than it really was.

"This…boy? You think he has the potential to be something of worth?"

The tone of the Kazekage definitely had a disbelieving ring to it. But before Baki could try to assure him of this child's potential, the kid in question spoke for himself, with a small hint of distaste lacing his words.

"You trying to say something, gramps?"

Appalled, Baki barely refrained from outright punching this arrogant child. "You insolent brat! Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?!"

The blonde's one visible eye narrowed, genuinely considering the question at hand. "An old guy with a fancy desk and a rude attitude?"

Baki was about to lose his control and indeed smack the boy for his utmost disrespect, when a low chuckle from the Kazekage distracted the Sand Jonin from his anger. Extremely confused, Baki cast his half-veiled gaze over to his leader, whose mirth had already subsided.

"This child is either very foolish or very ignorant. Or a little of both perhaps…"

Baki felt a sudden spike of chakra from the boy next to him. It was of little consequence to a Jonin or Kage, but the sudden surge of anger-induced power was at least what one would expect of a Genin, which was impressive for a child of this age with no shinobi training. It was unfocused and therefore completely harmless, but with proper training Baki knew someone with this much raw potential could achieve great things.

"This wrinkled old dustbin is almost as fun as you are, Cyclops."

Rasa shook his head in amusement, willing to overlook the blatant disrespect because it was obvious the child didn't know any better. "I'm going to assume that you're just misinformed. Do you realize that I am the most powerful ninja in this village?"

The blond child didn't look impressed. "First I've heard of it."

"And how long have you been here?"

The six year old kid almost put some effort into figuring that out, but in the end he decided against it. "I wasn't really counting. Just trying to eat and all. But not that long, if you really want to know."

The village leader nodded knowingly, though he wondered if this child's brash attitude would serve him good or ill in the long run. "Well, that would explain your ignorance. I suppose you'll learn soon enough, under Baki's care."

The mentioned Jonin took note of the insinuation in the Kazekage's words. "So you are approving of him, Lord Kazekage?"

The red-haired Kage sighed tiredly, the weight of the world seemingly pressing down on his shoulders.

"I suppose I am. Even if he does not possess a Kekkei Genkai, you still need to find a third student to train alongside Temari and Kankuro. That being the case, it'd be better for you to take this child as a pupil as compared to the handful of other Academy children around here; at least this one seems to have greater than average potential."

Baki nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Lord Kazekage. I have a feeling that this child will not disappoint us. If he is already at this level now, without any training or conditioning whatsoever, imagine what he could be in a few years…"

Rasa waved a hand in dismissal. "Yes, well, we are in great need of strong ninja now that our trump card has fled into the desert. Begin training him immediately… and I want you to discover whether or not this child has a Kekkei Genkai as soon as possible. It could shift the course of his future drastically."

Baki could see the boy beside him roll his eyes (or eye, in this case) as if he were displeased with the fact that two strangers he barely knew were dictating his future. Then again, although it was troublesome for the boy, any increase in quality of living was a step up from where he had been, and one he was willing to tolerate.

Having nothing else left to say, Baki rose to his feet and bowed to the Kazekage, who was eyeing a stack of papers on his desk with dread. This meeting had been a good distraction from the more menial of his tasks for the day, even though the original purpose of it had been shoved aside by Baki's stroke of luck.

Baki ushered his young charge out of the office, and the kid seemed more than happy to leave. Sohara was just stepping back into the room, having left it to dispose of the pile of ash that had been her lunch.

"Over already? Did it go well?"

Baki leveled a very rare smile in her direction, something that did the opposite of reassure her. "Yes, it very much did. Needless to say, I think you'll be seeing far more of this boy in the future."

While Sohara was completely ignorant as to the purpose of the meeting Baki had just conducted with the Kazekage and how it pertained to this child, she was very much glad to hear this news. She was the type of person to get unreasonably invested in things unreasonably quickly.

"Oh, that is good news! Uh, well... if you actually want to see me again, that is..."

With that last bit obviously pointed at the kid, it was he who had to offer a response. Normally, he would have said that he wasn't looking forward to it. But so far, Sohara had been kind to him. Even though he had far more negative experiences with adults than positive ones, he supposed it was alright to give this woman a chance based on a first impression.

"I'd like to, Sohara."

Nearly squealing with joy at the prospect of making a new friend, child though he was, Sohara was about to proclaim exactly such feelings, only to be cut off by Baki.

"Alright, don't get too excited. He and I are going to be busy for quite some time."

Far more eager to begin teaching his new charge than he would ever admit, Baki placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and used the Body Flicker technique to take the two of them out the window and to the marketplace. If this child was going to be a student of his, he'd have to be dressed in far better than the rags the Jonin had found him in.

As for Sohara, she simply crossed her arms in dismay.

"What's with ninja and ignoring doors?"

---

The private residence of the Kazekage was always quiet. There were no shouts of an irritable mother trying to calm her bickering children. There was no father congratulating his son on accomplishing something important. There were no kids laughing or arguing or anything of the sort. It was the home of an incomplete family, one with a comatose mother and a father who was rarely ever there, leaving his two remaining children alone to futilely attempt to stave off the oppressive silence that was always present.

It was all too easy to be swallowed by that silence, to let it drag you down and sap your will to do anything, and it didn't help that the house was so damn big. Too many big rooms, too few people to occupy them.

Temari was currently feeling engulfed by all that silence, as she sat in the mostly barren room that would have been Gaara's one day in the not so far future. The bed had no sheets, and the walls had no furnishings, since no one was sleeping in it yet, but either way, it would have been Gaara's when the siblings' shinobi training started.

Considering recent events, that was of course no longer the case. Temari hadn't really been given the real details of Gaara's disappearance seeing as how she was just a nine year old child, but she had at least been told that he was gone. That news had hit a lot harder than she would have thought. She had never even really met Gaara: their father kept him apart from his siblings in some other residence, and they were never told where it was and weren't allowed to visit. She'd asked her father on one of the very rare occasions he was home why this was, but his answer had been vague. Something about 'matters too complicated for a child to understand.'

But even though Temari had never really known Gaara, she had wanted to. The prospect of a little brother that wasn't close to her age like Kankuro had been kind of exciting. She and Kankuro were too close in age to have any sort of doting sibling relationship: but the gap between her and Gaara would have been big enough to have that. She'd actually been looking forward to it.

So hearing that something had happened to him had seriously crippled her mood for the past week or so. It was made even worse by the fact that their shinobi training was supposed to begin in just a few days, meaning she would have been meeting Gaara soon had things not turned out the way they did. Part of her knew it would have been prudent to prepare for that somehow, but she lacked the will to do so right now. Even knowing that Baki, the Jonin who more or less watched over them these past few years, would be ruining their relaxing day to day lives very soon, Temari couldn't even find it in her to make use of her last few days of relative tranquility. It just felt wrong considering that Gaara was out in the desert alone somewhere, possibly already dead.

On the other hand, Kankuro was handling the whole situation a lot better, considering the fact that he never wanted to be around Gaara for any reason anyway. He had told his slightly older sister that she was crazy thinking that any type of relationship even close to that of a sibling could be attained with their youngest kin. The redhead was nothing but trouble, according to him.

Those words had earned her younger brother a huge lump on the back of his head, but the more she dwelt on them, the more Temari wondered why

they had been said in the first place. She was a smart girl for her age, and she knew Gaara had been dangerous, but it only seemed that way because someone always threatened him first. If just one person had treated him kindly, he would have been fine, right?

Maybe if she had been allowed near him sooner, things would be different today. She understood that Gaara had been prone to some violent outbursts, but their life as shinobi was the opportunity Temari had been waiting for to try and reach out to Gaara, and now it had been snatched away by some cruel twist of fate. That was why she didn't feel like doing anything today, or the whole week for that matter. Unlike someone she knew, she just couldn't help but feel depressed.

Unfortunately, life always seemed keen on forcing people to action when it was the last thing they wanted to do.

"Temari, Kankuro! Come to the living room!"

Temari recognized the voice of their guardian and soon-to-be sensei, prompting her to inwardly groan as she rose from the barren bed in this house's one barren bedroom. Stepping out into the hallway to see more dark sandstone walls and floors, Temari bumped into Kankuro, who was likewise emerging from his room.

"You have any idea what he wants, Temari? I thought our training wasn't supposed to start for a few more days at least."

The eldest blond sibling shot an irritated glare at her brother. She was in a more terse mood than usual, but the question would have irritated her regardless.

"How would I know before you, idiot?"

Since her insult was relatively standard fare, the eight year old Kankuro wasn't fazed by it. "Just wondering if you were going to pretend to know everything, like always."

With no time to really get into a spat, Temari pointedly ignored his retort in favor of continuing down the hallway. Admittedly, they were on worse terms than usual, mostly because of the issue with Gaara. Their conflicting views on the matter had put them at greater odds than their typical fare.

Putting the possibility of a fight behind them for now, Kankuro followed his sister down the hallway and into the living room, a space that sported a few couches and chairs, but little else. Despite being fully capable of getting more, their father was a man of few possessions. He wasn't home enough to feel that such rooms had too much empty space.

Of more interest was Baki, who they had naturally been expecting to see. But who was with him was a different matter entirely.

They both offered looks of confusion, but Temari was the more vocal of the two. "What the heck is this?"

Baki watched as the Kazekage's two remaining children both ignored him completely and cast their critical gazes at the blonde kid beside him, who was strangely attempting to hide himself from the other children behind Baki's legs. This was unusual, because from what the Sand Jonin had seen of the boy's personality so far, he was brash and sarcastic… not like the shy and demure child cowering by the adult's side. Perhaps he was less comfortable around people of his own age? Even the past hour in the marketplace, the boy now clad in nicer clothes hadn't seemed nervous in the least.

Either way, Baki decided it would be best to explain the situation before any of the younger children here made their own assumptions about it. The experienced ninja motioned towards his charge, who was doing an excellent job of seemingly shrinking himself behind the older ninja's legs.

"Temari, Kankuro, this is… well, I don't know who he is, but I do know what he'll be. Starting today, he is the third member of your trainee team, and consequentially, he will be staying here with the two of you."

The reaction to this news was immediate, and much to Baki's displeasure, definitely negative in nature, although Temari was once again more vocal about it. "What?! You can't be serious! So what, Gaara disappears and you just go out and find a replacement, just like that?! How could you?!"

Kankuro backed his sister up, but more passively. "Yeah, we don't need some nameless squirt just to fill the gap. Temari and I can be a fine ninja team by ourselves."

The young blonde stranger in the home frowned and scooted even further behind Baki's legs, who was ready to reprimand his young charges. "Neither of you two children have any say in the matter. Lord Kazekage has decided that this child is the best candidate to fill Gaara's position on the team. Whether or not you want him here is irrelevant."

Kankuro just frowned and muttered under his breath, but Temari seethed with obvious anger. However, neither of them were willing to say something stupid in front of Baki, who waved the two children off.

"Now you can do whatever you like for the rest of the day. Training starts tomorrow, so enjoy this last lax day while you can."

The Kazekage's children were more than willing to leave their unwanted guest behind and return to their rooms, at which point the object of their dissatisfaction stepped out from behind Baki's legs, none too happy with the reception.

"They hate me. I haven't even talked yet and they hate me."

Baki sighed, already foreseeing a difficult road ahead. "They are both dealing with big changes right now. Hopefully they'll calm down in a week or so, but until then, you'll just have to weather their unhappiness."

The kid scowled, and a potted plant on a table in the room burst into vivid blue flames. The occurrence was so sudden that even Baki jumped a little, although the boy who had most likely caused the phenomenon barely twitched as he looked back at the burning plant.

"Sorry."

Baki grabbed the burning vegetation and looked out the window before tossing it out into the sand. If someone didn't smother it, the sand would at least ensure that nothing else caught fire.

With one final sigh of exasperation, Baki returned to the boy and steered him down the hallway of the residence. "Let's just go find you a room with very few flammable objects..."