Sorry about the poor spelling last time guys, I was up waaaay longer then I should have been.

'If this wind doesn't die down we may never find the village' Sakura thought to herself as her and her friends walked through a mild sandstorm. Their bodies covered by heavy cloaks which protected them from the whipping sands, her jade eyes covered by a set of goggles, although a deteriorating pair.

They had been asked to visit 'The village in the Sands' on the elder's requests. She, Naruto, and their father figure Kakashi had been walking for almost a week now and she was getting tired, they all were and if the storm didn't let up they may never make it.

Their job was simple, meet and make and appearance at the village, Naruto was to discuss some things between the villages, mostly joint issues they might have and be able to solve. Being like a father to Naruto and her Kakashi had joined them to become Naruto's voice of reason and advisor when debating, and to help Sakura cope with her mission.

She was to meet the Lord of Sands himself, Gaara, and attempt to get along with him. She had agreed to be a citizen of Naruto's village; the two were great friends since childhood. But Like her friend and father figure Sakura was a mutant, one that had more influential men of this time begging for her and the rest an immense amount of respect.

Sakura had the power to heal, to fix any injury, any illness with a caress of her hand. She had studied to be a doctor before the war and it so happen her passion to heal became her power as well. She had saved countless lives, many of which followed Naruto now and fixed once incurable diseases. She would be the first to admit she didn't fully understand her powers but they had been able to identify a source and a possible reason for it. She had been exposed to so much radiation she should be dead, however evolution works in odd ways and now her body absorbed radiation and converted it into an energy which the body could fuel a drastic healing process and her body could even use it to power her incredible super human strength. Able to shatter tree's with a single punch. Thankfully there was no lack of radiation to be found in this wasteland of a world they called home.

But the most disturbing part of her mission was that she had to consider courting him. In reality it was a mutual choice although he could try and try as he might to win her over but to no avail. She doubt any of this would happen or work out. Though, even more so for the Sand demon to actually go along with this, she was well aware of why they wanted her to do this, but this was 2023. Were it 200 years ago maybe she wouldn't protest but even though the world had ended human rights were still there. She would be damned before she let them make her decisions for her.

No, Sakura did not expect Gaara to actually go along with this, certainly she planned to meet him, if only once for the entire duration of this meeting but that was all she would push for. Besides she knew that in a place like this people would be sick, and she had made it her soul mission to heal anyone she found sick, regardless of who they were or what they had done. A regiment of when she had been a red cross worker.

The winds began to wind down now and she brushed a few strands from her face, surprised to see the village in sight now. Well at least she thought it was the village she saw through her dusty goggles, some dust from the cracks in her goggles had plastered to the glass making things a bit tricky to see. Naruto gave a happy yell to finally have their destination in sights and Kakashi told him to keep his voice down in case of mutated sand worms. In truth they were a type of snake but nobody really bothered to attempt a name change. Old movie names died hard.

Sakura pulled off her goggles and used her red shirt to try and clear the dust, the wind being gone provided clear sight for them until it came back again. It was then she noticed the sand moving ahead. Had Naruto really attracted a Sand worm so easily and soon? She tugged on her gloves, dropping her goggle's and shouted a warning. Kakashi had already seen it but Naruto had been taken off guard as they lept away from a sudden raw wave of sand. Directing her power to her legs she made a clean leap away. Her cloak rippling through the open air as she moved and slumped down again when she landed.

Kakashi had jumped the same way she had and was now shouting "It's not a sand worm! It's just sand waves, source unknown!" he shouted, breaking down his speech to technical terms as to get the point across fast.

This changed things, a Sand Worm was a problem but it could be identified and she cold presumably hit it. But this raised new questions: What was it? Could it be hit? Was it poisonous? How would it move? How did it detect prey? And Why weren't they warned about it?

"Naruto behind you!" she shouted seeing another wave coming at her friend from behind. He looked over at her and shouted back "Sakura look out!"

If she couldn't see it and he could then it had to be behind her. She did another jump and the wave crashed down in a dusty spray where she had been standing. Now blinded by dust she had no idea where it would strike next. She had to try and scare whatever it was below. Sand was a dense material when lying flat, and a blinding one when flying, but when loose it could be shaken, earthquakes in sand areas could swallow buildings. She'd have to shake things up a bit then.

Leaping into the air above the cloud she draw her power into her fist, being sure to ready her legs for a hard landing and protect her hand with the same power to ready for the shockwaves her arm would feel. "Jump!" she shouted and both men lept as her fist collided with the ground and shockwaves rippled through the ground.

On the other end the perpetrator of this attack, Gaara, shivered like he was the one feeling the shockwaves run through him and in a way he did. He had sent the sand to try and scare them off, he didn't care if people died, and he wanted them gone. This was his territory and he felt threatened by anyone with more influence than him. How hard cold they be to kill? He hadn't expected one of them to be capable of such leaps and evasions though. Whoever had just hit the ground had sent a shock wave that could even make it to him, shaking him to the core.

A huge part of him hated that. He was the boss around here, nobody else, if they could do that than they were a threat to him and his authority. Yet another part of him felt exhilarated. Not only did the idea of a person that's power make him feel threatened it made him feel alive. The idea of a challenge gave him a rush of energy. He want to meet this person, kill them, and relish in their blood. Then he could really feel powerful.

He watched the 3 figures collect themselves out in the desert, his eyes wide and a grin on his face that only meant death to the subject of his rush. After all, if taking a life was a duty of the gods, then what greater power is their then killing?