Temari found The strange garden that had replaced the dead wastes to be every bit as eerie and unnatural as what came before it. She was a child of the desert after all.

However no one could deny that it was a priceless boon to Suna's economy. Now if they could just keep all the pesky foreign ninja's from sticking their nose in, to try to solve the mystery, confirm rumors, or sabotage Suna's recent good fortune.

Gaara had received regular reports from the patrols in the area, and Temari had been paying attention. The former center of the dead wastes had collapsed on itself, and was unnaturally soon overrun with verdant plant life. When reports of strange lights and other anomalies increased. She had requested permission to personally oversee the patrols for a time.

She had a feeling.

A feeling that was confirmed, when not one week after she had taken over, there was a chakra pulse from sector G6 calling for backup. With a few sharp hand signs she and two squads of shinobi were heading to the location immediately.

She halted beside her shinobi who appeared to be staring down some kind of statue, except it wasn't.

It was, in fact, a naked girl doing an excellent impression of being a statue.

The girl who continued to stand unnaturally still, smiling innocently, looked at her and began to glow.

No Seriously.

It was glowing.

Like some kind of demented Light bulb.

It was a good thing it was daytime, or that would be dangerously conspicuous. To give herself time to mentally adjust to strange glowing statue children, she barked for a report.

"I found her in a restricted area, and when I challenged, she did not respond. Just stared. I think she might just be insane. She seems harmless so far, but I didn't want to take any chances."

Insane made for a nice comfortable explanation, but it did not go with the fact that an apparantly naked glowing, twelve year old girl had somehow made it to the very center of a heavily patrolled shinobi territory.

She studied it carefully, and noticed to her somewhat combined releif and terror that the girl distinctly resembled Shikako Nara the last couple times they had met, aside from the coloring and fashion choices.

Sure the whole thing was unnatural and strange, but if Shikako was involved, it was par for the course, really.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" She demanded as she continued to study it, or her...

She had translucently pale skin even without the glowing which was thankfully dimming a bit, and silvery blonde hair, and pale gold eyes. like someone had washed all the color out of Shikako and stuck a light bulb inside.

And Shikako wore clothes. And Shikako didn't look at her with adoring innocence, followed by such bewildered confusion. She doubted Shikako had ever looked that YOUNG.

And Shikako wore clothes.

"Your not Shikako Nara." She accused, and instead of any normal, sane, reaction, the girl brightened (LITERALLY) and replied with relieved happiness. Like she hadn't known what she was before, which was fair, Temari had no idea what she was either... but she had some vague suspicions.

Then the girl proclaimed proudly that she existed, like it was an accomplishment. And the sinking feeling in her gut told her it probably was. Then she put the two concepts together and answered her question. She was Not Shikako and she was Existing.

Great.

She loved it when problems conjured themselves into existence just for her.

She wanted to sigh, but instead she relaxed slightly from her tense combat ready stance. She had the distinct feeling that this was not a problem she should fix by smashing.

Aside from a slight twitch of her fingers to a nonexistent kunai holster, when she was surrounded by ten hostile ninja, nothing in the girls stance or movement showed the ability or intention to attack.

Putting the circumstances together with her instincts, she finally asked, already having some idea of the answer. "Are you Gelel?"

After a beat of thoughtful silence it replied slowly."I was before, but now I am not."

"I am not Shikako Nara, and I am not Gelel."

Well shit.

The girl then looked almost indescribably sad

"Temari is Temari. Temari is a Shinobi, Temari is a Big Sister, Temari is Strong, and Fierce and Clever." She looked at Temari pleadingly "Temari, how do I become things that are not, Not Things?"

Temari set her fan down and let out a small huff of laughter. Man, that was a lot of blatant flattery and capital letters. She could just hear the capital letters.

Its not everyday strange baby spirit creatures come and start asking you existential questions...