It was nearing midnight, but there was not a single star in the sky to be seen. The dense cover of clouds that had obscured the skies since morning still hung there, ominous and threatening the lands with a tumult of rain, rumbling occasionally with distant thunder, but the land's occupants were by no means convinced that such a tempest would take place. The air was too dry, the weather too bitterly cold. If anything fell from the sky, it was sure to be snow, unless one happened to inhabit Sunagakure no Sato, such as Sabaku no Gaara, who not only resided within the high walls that surrounded Sunagakure, but also happened to be the supreme ruler of said land. Being the Kazekage was no easy job, especially not at the age of seventeen, but it was a job that needed to be done, and Gaara had been the only one in line to assume the mantle of leadership after the passing of his father.

Now standing at the window to his office, gazing up through the thick glass at the threateningly dark skies, he not only anticipated a storm, he welcomed it. Living in the desert had its cons, and a scarcity of water was one of them. Though his people had never gone legitimately thirsty for any length of time, they had always had to take care of the amount they used every day to ensure there was enough to go around to last them until the rainfalls. This storm, though welcomed, was quite unseasonable. In the desert, if it rained at all, it was expected mostly in the springtime and occasionally in the summer and sometimes even into early fall. However, right now it was the dead of winter when most of the surrounding continents were blanketed in thick, white carpets of snow. Suna never expected rainfall in the winter, though their neighbors highly looked forward to the snowfalls, so the prelude to the tempest that was sure to take place was extremely peculiar.

Gaara only remembered rain occurring once in Suna in wintertime when he was a child and that had been but a pittance of rain for the lands. This was sure to be a downpour, and that was exceptionally unusual. It was for this reason he stood at his window, pondering over nature's unusual habits, such as rain falling in the middle of winter in the desert.

He was not entirely sure why, but he somehow sensed that the change in the weather pattern was not the only change about to take place. As he watched lightning veins dance through the pitch black night, briefly illuminating the clouds with an eerie glow, he wondered in the back of his mind if the change he sensed that was to come would be for the better or for the worse. Rain was always a blessing here in the desert, so perhaps whatever was to come would also be a boon of sorts. He would rather not have to deal with any more grief than had previously struck at his village. One of their long lived and respected elders had passed, having offered up her life for his in the time of dire need when he had recently been abducted by the heinous criminal organization the plagued their lands.

Akatsuki was what they called themselves, and they targeted beings like himself. Those beings were those of the ninja world that harbored a powerful and sometimes demonic spirit within their bodies; spirits capable of immense power and destruction. The Akatsuki sought those spirits, desiring to ensnare them and use them for their own gain against the peaceful nations of the world. Gaara had been unfortunate enough to have such a monster trapped within his body, and had been targeted by Akatsuki. They had succeeded in subduing him and taking him to a far off lair he could not recall and sucking the spirit straight from his body, taking his life as well.

Elder Chio had been the one to restore his life to him, but at a terrible price. Her family had long held the secret to a life transfer jutsu, and had kept it under safeguard for the continuation of the line. Chio had been the last of her family who had known the jutsu, and as she had died saving his life she had taken the secret with her to the grave. It was a tragedy that many had mourned for the following weeks, and only now, nearly two months later, had the people of Suna been able to move on from the terror and sorrow of the event. Gaara had spent more time than most of his followers mourning the loss, as it had been for his sake that Chio's life had been forfeit.

He sighed heavily, closing his green eyes against the outside world as he remembered the day they had buried Chio's body just outside the wall of the village. She had been well loved, yet only a very few privileged people had been permitted to attend the burial. Her brother, of course, Gaara and his siblings, and several good friends from Konohagakure no Sato who had come to aid Gaara in his time of need. The sun had set slowly that day, casting crimson shadows across the sand covered landscape. That would be a day Gaara would never forget, so long as he lived.

He sighed again, and lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose to fend off the oncoming migraine he could sense forming in the back of his mind. He needed to stop daydreaming; he still had too much work to do in too little time, and he did not need a headache on top of everything else. Slowly, he lowered his hand and opened his eyes to gaze outside as a light pattering started on the roof overhead. It was beginning to rain, just as he had expected… As he watched, the drops grew evidently in size and number until the light sprinkling that had started was a complete downpour that obscured anything two feet beyond the window into a black and grey blur.

Such a strange occurrence…and he knew there was still more to come. But for better or for worse, he could not be sure; that would soon be revealed to him time.

He turned his back to the window and moved across the room to his desk, seating himself in the high backed chair and drawing a stack of official documents towards him. Change was coming, he knew, but until it came, he still had things to take care of, much as he would like to throw every single paper on his desk into the trash and go to bed. With a heavy inward sigh, he pulled a pen from his chest pocket, and set to work as the rain continued to fall in sheets past the window and beyond, dousing the land in life giving water.

Farther off to the east, nearly four miles away from the stronghold of Gaara's home, there was trouble. Luckily for Gaara, that trouble did not concern him. At least…it did not concern him at the present time.

But as the rain poured down in Suna, it also showered another desolate area of land much less bountiful than that of the Hidden Village. Sungakure's population census was close to thirty thousand people; in this remote area of land, there were only three. Newcomers, bemused, disoriented, and not even a part of the world they now inhabited. These three aliens, all female, were just the beginning of the change that was to come. The change that for now was neither benign nor malignant, but rather a jumble of emotions as the strangers sat in the downpour that had overtaken the beaming sunshine of their previous world, struggling to comprehend just what had happened, and why…