It's sort of Ironic that just a few weeks previous to now, Sakura was actually thinking of how un-eventful and dull her life had become. Last week she and some other shinobi were sent on a scouting/ search and rescue mission to Suna. Apparently there was quite a number of disappearances happening around a certain area in the Suna desert. She was sent with Sai, Kiba, and Naruto. Once they arrived in Suna, they were pleasantly surprised when Temari and Gaara met up with them. There was no time wasted and they got right to expeditioning. The traveling time was short and uneventful, filled with conversations, and scouting strategies.

Once they arrived it was time to scope out the situation. They split up in teams of two to cover more ground the quickest. Sai was with Naruto, Kiba went with Temari, and She was with Gaara.

She and Gaara decided to take the deadly forest rout. She didn't even know there was such a place in Suna. It was beautiful and ominous. Gaara came up beside her and touched her side. "Be sure to stay close to me, this is the most dangerous place Suna has to offer. It's also like a Maze, so it would be easy for anyone to loose their way in here. " He spoke gently to her.

'That's a lovely thought'

"Ah, I see. Thanks for the warning." She gave him a small smile and they continued on their way, weaving in and out of the clusters of trees and stone structures that inhabited the place.

She was surprised that anything could grow in such a harsh sandy soil, but the trees were so tall and thick, that they blocked out most of the sunlight, casting tall shadows all around them. Even though it was still rather early in the morning it was so dark it seemed like night.

They seemed to be walking endlessly when suddenly an inky darkness closed in around her. She stopped in her tracks. "Gaara?" She called out softly to him. Only the cry of a crow answered her call. She reached out to where he was walking beside her only mere seconds ago. Her fingers closed through cold darkness. "Shit..." She cursed under her breath. She closed her eyes and listened.

drip... drip

'Water?' She thought as she walked towards the noise. She came to a stop as she gazed at a bright blue pool of liquid. It looked like an ordinary puddle of water that was illuminated by moonlight. She looked up, but there was nothing. No moon, no stars, just an empty darkness.

Sakura sighed. 'Now what?' she wondered to herself.

drip... drip

She looked back at the pool to see silver ripples forming. "What the hell?" She asked the pool. It remained silent. She knelt down to get a closer look. She looked at her reflection staring back at her. Not knowing what to make of the situation, she placed her hand in the water, and watched as it rippled into silver. In a blink of an eye, the pool grew in size, engulfing her into it's chilly water. She didn't have time to react, let alone think. She was spinning and sinking and suddenly, she got the sensation she was falling.

*Thud*

She landed on solid ground. "LAND!" she sang, relief in her voice. "And I can see too!"

"Would you get the hell off of me, brat!" A voice sounded from beneath her. She blinked, confused, and looked down to see that she had indeed landed on a young man.

"Oh!" She yelped as she quickly scampered off of him to stand a few feet away. "I'm sorry Sir, I didn't reali-" She stopped short, gawking at the young man with dark red hair.

His light hazel eyes stared back at her, wide with surprise.

"Y-...Yo...YOU!" She shrieked, pointing a finger at him accusingly. He just continued to stare at her, the surprise on his face being replaced by a mixture of confusion and irritation. He remained silent, watching her closely.

"You!" She pointed at him again. then pointed to the sky looking very confused."But I...Water? Sky? YOU?! What?... I don't understand..."

His eyes followed her every movement. When she stopped pacing and stood still to face him, he arched an eyebrow at her.

"Why are you here?" He finally spoke again.

"I uh... I don't know...I was in a forest, then it was all black, and I saw a puddle, so I touched it, and I fell here." She replied, faultering slightly as she ended her rambleing. She was beginning to question her sanity.

"A puddle like that?" He asked, boredly motioning to a puddle behind her. Her head snapped to where he was pointing and she jumped up with a "Ah-Ha! There you are, you little bugger!" and ran over to it. She knelt down and placed her hand in it...And nothing happened. Sakura gasped. She stood up and stepped in the puddle. Still, nothing happened. She grit her teeth in frustration as she jumped up and down. The only thing she succeeded in doing was getting her attire wet. She knew she most defiantly looked like a fool, but right now, she couldn't even find a reason to give a damn.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" The young man with red hair asked her, arching his eyebrows.

She turned swiftly to him, abandoning her assault on the puddle, and slowly walked towards him.

"You're supposed to be dead... We defeated you. Why are you here, Sasori of the Red Sand?" Her eyes widened as the realization of the situation dawned on her. She was trapped god knows where, and she just happened to land on a man she and Lady Chiyo supposedly killed 2 years ago.

He smirked at her. "I don't have to tell you anything, you brat." He finished with a grin.

Sakura's mouth fell agape with incredulity.

"Careful, you might catch a few flies if you keep that up." He mocked her.

Sakura threw quiet a few inappropriate words at him, and when he gave her no reaction, she decided to do something incredibly immature and childish...She kicked a pebble at him.

As the pebble bounced off his knee, his expression turned cold. "Watch your self Kunoichi I might just have to kill you."

His icy voice cut through her body like a blade, chilling her bones. She knew he wouldn't think twice about putting that threat into action if she provoked him further. But at times like this, she had the tendency to throw all common sense out the window.

"Yeah and that worked out soooooo well the first time didn't it!" She growled out at him through clenched teeth.

Sasori observed how the girl was clenching her fists, no doubt gathering a dangerous amount of chakra in those small hands of her's. She looked like she was seconds away from destroying something...'What a pain.' "I don't have time for silly games like this." He sighed boredly as he turned on his heels and walked away.

"W-Wait!" She gasped, jogging to catch up to his retreating form. He stopped abruptly and Sakura had to slide to a stop to prevent herself from slamming into him. "Where are we?" She asked him innocently.

'Mood swingy. Damn woman.' He thought before replying; "I don't know." He replied truthfully. in all honesty, he didn't have a clue either. He just suddenly appeared here not long before she did.

"You don't know?" Sakura mimicked him, he chose to ignore her as he started walking again. He heard her footsteps behind him. He turned his head slightly to look at her. She was about 2 paces behind him looking around.

"What are you doing?" He asked her finally. "I'm walking." She replied bluntly. Sasori took an abrupt turn to the left and when he heard her footsteps continue to fallow him, he stopped. She stopped when she was beside him. "What's the hold up?" She asked, looking at him.

"Why are you following me?"

"Why not?"

"..."

"I thought we could travel together. You don't mind do yo-"

"Yes, actually I do mind."

"Look, I'm lost, you're lost, so why don't we be lost together, as opposed to being lost, alone with no company."

"I'm not lost, and I happen to enjoy my own company, so scram."

"If you're not lost, then where are you going?"

"..."

"I rest my case"

"I told you to get lost..."

"And I decided to ignore you."

"Leave!"

"Make me!" she sneered.

When she blinked he was gone, and she felt her arms grabbed from behind, restricting her movement. She struggled slightly but he was too strong.

"You're really testing my patience, girl." He breathed into her ear. She shivered in his grasp, for more reasond then one. It was cold out, and if it was a different situation, she would have welcomed the extra body heat... 'Body heat!?' "You're human again!" She gasped, startling him, and she quickly spun around in his grasp and started poking and prodding his body. He shieded away from her touch and glared openly at her. "Yeah, what of it?" He bit back.

"Nothing, it just surprised me, that's all. What happened to your other body?"

"I don't know." He answered, still glaring at her. He watched as she stared back at him, then snapped her head to stare at something behind him. He cocked his head. "I hear water...it sounds like the ocean." She informed him.

Ch 2

It did sound like the Ocean. Sasori watched as Sakura bounded past him to go check out if there was, indeed an ocean. 'Maybe she'll jump in to try to go "home" and drowned herself." He thought hopefully as he followed bouncing female.

Sakura came to a halt as she neared a rocky ledge that peered over the thrashing water below. She sat down on the ledge and was just content with watching the waves crash against the rocks. She momentarily forgot about Sasori until she heard his footsteps approach behind her. Realizing that it would be too easy for him to just push her off, if he really wanted to, she scooted a bit further away from the ledge.

"And I thought you were the one who was so against company, yet here you are... You could have easily made your escape from me if you wanted to" Sakura smirked at him.

He scoffed at her.

"Oh lighten up, I was just messing with you." She said, raising an eyebrow at him, while he looked down at her with that same old bored expression.

"Oh look! A trail!" She announced excitingly as she swiftly got to her feet, and headed down the narrow winding trail. Not really having anything better to do, Sasori decided to follow her. She was quite entertaining he admitted to himself. After a while, the trail led them to a quiet cove on the beach. Sakura stared at it in wonder. The sun looked like it was about to set and the colors reflected beautifully in the water... 'The sun was setting? What the hell, it was still late morning!' She turned to her red haired companion who was standing beside her. "What time is it?" She asked

"Does it really matter? Jeeze, you're stuck somewhere you have no idea about, and you're worried about the time...How foolish." He replied

"But when I got transfered here, it was still morning in Suna."

"What does it matter now?" He bit back stubbornly.

"But when I got transferred here, it was still morning in Suna."

"What does it matter now?" He bit back stubbornly.

"Uhhhh...Yeah..." She replied, sounding exasperated.

"Well, enlighten me. I fail to see the importance." Sasori replied, smirking.

'You fail at everything!' Sakura thought. "The more we know about this place, the better chance we have at knowing where the hell it is, and finding a way to get out of it!" Sakura ranted, punctuating every word with hand motions.

"Why don't you jump in the ocean, and tell me what you find out." He sneered at her.

"Are you crazy? It's freezing! Why don't you drowned in a fucking lake!" She retaliated sharply.

"Ouch..." He said in mock hurt.

"What ever, look over there, it looks like a hut." Sakura said, pointing to something in the distance.

"Hmm" he mumbled as he walked behind the the bouncing female.

Sure enough, there was a cottage looking dwelling in the corner of the little cove. It looked abandoned. He watched Sakura hop in through the window and proceeded to follow her.

the cottage was small, with a bedroom/bathroom, kitchen, and a fireplace. It also had many windows. It was dusty, stale and smelled like the sea.

"It's beautiful..." He heard Sakura mutter. He turned to look at her. She was standing in front of the fire place, gazing out the window at the crashing waves at sea in the quickly fading light.

He had to admit. This place was a sight for sore eyes.

"We'll bunk here tonight." Sasori said, not taking his eyes off the rose haired Kunoichi in front of him.

"Hmmm"was all she said. She was very tired. Sasori walked away from her, and into the bedroom, where he noticed a problem. There was only one bed, and it was small... Oh well, I guess she would have to fend for herself, first come, first serve after all. He thought as he climbed under the covers.