Gaara was seated in his office chair trying in vain to get some paperwork done as he anxiously awaited the results of the medical examinations from the morning. Ever since he lost his chakra Gaara sought out the services of the best medical ninja that Suna could offer. They would devise tests to conduct on him and on a weekly basis he would be examined. Always he'd hope that the check-up would yield some kind of results, thus far however the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on. As Gaara sank down exhaustedly in his seat he allowed himself a moment to wonder if this time something might come up.

"Hello Kazekage-sama can I come in?" Spoke the head nurse as she knocked on the door.

Gaara raised his head in response although his body remained in its sunken seated posture. "Uhhhh. Yeah."

The nurse burst in the door carrying with her a number of files which she slapped down on the table in front of Gaara. She stared at him for a moment and sighed.

"We still don't know why your Chakra is missing. All the tests have been inconclusive."

Gaara was not surprised. He simply nodded quietly without saying anything.

"Although", the nurse pursed her lips and glowered at Gaara "your bloods showed a ridiculously high alcohol level!"

"Yeah?" He replied groggily.

"You were drinking las night weren't you!"

"Mmhmm."

'How much did you have to drink?"

Gaara shrugged. "I needed to get through the night. Didn't want to go to sleep. Can't handle the dreams."

"You're the Kazekage for goodness sake! You can't be drinking like that! A sake or a glass of wine every once in a while is fine, but its quite obvious you went way overboard. You've drank an obscene amount and look at you now you are hungover! None of the previous Kazekage's ever acted so irresponsibly!" She shook her head. "I'm keeping quiet about this and I've ordered the other nurses to do the same but I'm afraid the word has already gotten out. Just because you've lost your chakra doesn't mean people don't still look up to you, don't let them down!"

After the nurse finished scolding Gaara, he meekly thanked her before she took her leave. When she left Gaara sighed heavily. After being scolded so badly he felt terrible about himself and the hill of paperwork in front of him now seemed like a mountain. However, he didn't want to let people down again so he dutifully completed his work despite the ear splitting headache and his raging upset stomach.


Later on that day Gaara went training with Shira. Normally Shira was pumped up and ready to give his disciple some pointers, however this time he eyed Gaara with a displeased expression.

"Thank you for coming Gaara-sama. Let's begin by sparring."

Gaara nodded and they both clasped their hands together before bowing down in a customary greeting before a sparring session.

"Three," Shira said, "two, one. BEGIN!"

Shira mercilessly rushed towards Gaara and sent a volley of punches his way which Gaara could only barely block. Normally he would be able to handle those kind of attacks much more easily, however because of his headache it was hard to focus on Shira's manoeuvres.

It was barely a moment before Shira had broken Gaara's guard. He sent his fist straight into Gaara's stomach winding him badly. Gaara staggered backwards and fell to the ground. Just holding himself back from vomiting was all he could manage.

"Get up Kazekagke-sama, round two!"

Gaara did as he was told without having enough time to recover and Shira went on the offensive immediately. Shira swept his foot at Gaara's legs and knocked the red-head out of his stance. Then before Gaara could hit the ground he received a mighty kick to his chest which sent him rolling across the training room floor.

"Get up! It's not like I kicked you hard enough to break your bones! The Kazekage I know would be able to handle something like this!"

Despite his body begging him not to Gaara heeded Shira's call and forced himself up through sheer will in spite of all his physical pain.

"Lets go!" Shira shouted as he once again rushed mercilessly towards Gaara and giving him a kick that sent him flying backwards.

Shira watched as Gaara tried and failed to get back on his feet. "I could tell from the moment I saw you walk in that you were hungover. You knew we had training today, and that this was the last time I'd be able to help you out before my mission! Training is over for today. I wish we could have parted on better terms Gaara-sama, but I've got to go."

With that Shira stomped out of the training hall leaving Gaara alone with his thoughts.

Gaara lay on the ground for a couple of minutes, trying to hold a stoic expression on his face despite a cacophony of emotion wanting to escape. Occasionally he would hit his fist against the floor. Finally he was able to shakily bring himself to a stand.

"I have to keep training!" He muttered as he set out to do a number of push-ups. His hangover and the beating he'd just received was made it very hard to do any kind of strength or resistance training and everything in Gaara's body told him to just take a rest. But Gaara ignored his bodies warning and kept on pushing himself up and down maintaining good form. Eventually his vision started to blur and his head felt foggy. Despite this he kept on going until he was no longer in the training room. Now once again he was in the grey world.

"Did I pass out?" He thought to himself. The intensity of the pain from the training session had dulled considerably. However now he was once again greeted by the icy cold air of this mysterious realm.

He remembered what he'd seen the last time that he was here. All those people, who were suffering in the realm. It terrified him and he'd started running away. He woke up and didn't want to go back here so the following night he drank to keep his mind off of things and to try to avoid sleeping.

"Maybe if I get out of here." He thought. "I'll get my Chakra back." And so he continued along the path that he had begun in his last dream. He ran back to the ocean away from the mysterious land of the dead. He hoped he would be able to get back on the ferry. It wasn't long before he returned to the drab bay he arrived in.

The ferryman was still there and he narrowed his ember eyes at the sight of Gaara storming up to him.

"I want to stop having these dreams! If you are the part of my consciousness that's making this happen then go away! Are you some repressed memory? Then stay that way! My life has gone into disarray since these dreams have begun. I want out!"

The ferryman sighed. "It's incredible. The level to which you humans deny what is staring in front of you. Are you seriously still trying to pretend that this all isn't real? What about that girl? Don't you want to save her?"

Dread swept over Gaara like a tidal wave. He fell to his knees.

The ferryman stroked his greasy beard. "Hmm. It's very easy to be brave when you have a lot of power. When you are strong things that are supposed to be dangerous, well they really aren't dangerous. But if you take a champion's power from him then you will see his true nature." He chuckled. "I was only forced to bring you here. I can take you back if you want. Then for the rest of your miserable human life you will not see this place again. After you die however, well that remains to be seen.

So what will it be mortal? Will I bring you back in full to the mortal realm? "

"No don't!" Gaara muttered almost inaudibly. "I really don't want to be here, but I can't just leave now." He shuddered as he whispered "I have to go face whatever is here."

"Hmm. Perhaps you are not so pathetic after all." The ferryman looked beyond Gaara for a moment and his eyes widened. "Ah, I see that girl is back. You should talk to her."

Gaara twisted his head around to look behind him. He shakily shifted position and got up, however his head remained perfectly level as he was fixated upon the green haired girl standing before him.

"It's you again Fuu."

Fuu ran up to Gaara and buried her head in his chest. She clung to him tightly grabbing the cloth on his back with all the strength in her hands. "You're back. Thank God." Her voice trembled. "I'm so glad to have a break from it all. This place is soul killing."

"I'm here now, I won't leave you." Gaara said as he placed a reassuring hand on her head.

Silence then ensued as the two basked in each other's presence

Gaara was the first to break it. "You're the only good thing in this place, you know that Fuu?"

"I should be the one saying that about you." Fuu said meekly as she clung still to Gaara's frame. "I hate being like this. I want to be strong like Shibuki told me to, but in this place what can I do?"

"If you stay strong then so can I." Gaara said. "I'm not dead yet. I'll get to the bottom of this whole place if it's the last thing I do."

"OK."

"Try to remember things. Think of the past! Think of the good memories we made. Do you remember when we met Fuu?"

"Yeah, during the Chunin exams." She smiled. "I only went there because I was hoping to make some friends. I didn't really care about becoming a Chunin or anything."

"Well you were successful in that regard. You befriended my disciples Matsuri, Yukata and Mikoshi, as well as the leaf Ninja like Neji. And…" Gaara began. "I am extremely glad to have met you myself." He pulled Fuu more tightly into his embrace and tears began to trickle from his eyes. "I'm not going to leave my good friend Fuu hanging! Not in a place like this!"

"Thank you." Fuu said. "I think I can last a while longer now." She pulled herself out from Gaara a tad bit, but not enough so they were no longer in each others arms. Her orange eyes stared deeply into Gaara. "You're like a candle. You light this place up." She smiled. This time the smile actually reached her eyes. "Shibuki told me an old proverb once. 'Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.' I'll think of you and use that as my candle in this dark place."

"I'll do the same with you." Gaara replied.

"I'm being dragged away again." Fuu said as she felt her physical form become ethereal and like the wind again. She brought her hand and held onto Gaara's hand for as long as she could.

The feeling of Fuu's touch was the last think Gaara felt of her before she once again dissipated back inland.

Gaara sighed. "I have no choice but to go." He stared out at the dunes and the vast dreaded emptiness that stretched out before him for miles on end. Intuitively he knew that whatever it was that brought him and Fuu to this place lay at the centre. He didn't know how long it would take to get there, and he knew that the horrors that awaited him were worse than anything he'd ever faced before. The thought of going there made Gaara feel a deep and primal fear. It was the fear that lay at the core of every human soul. The fear of death, the fear of darkness, the fear of evil. Every fiber of Gaara's being, every cell in his body told Gaara that he should stay away from the centre. To run far away. To leave this place and never come back. Gaara would have to disregard that instinct.

"So then." Said the ferryman from behind Gaara. "Since you're going to the centre of this place I should tell you a few things first."

Gaara was shocked. The ferryman was actually going to help him! For ages Gaara had tried to convince this mysterious spirit to tell him what was going on, but it was to no avail. The spirit didn't even say a word to him. "You're finally going to explain what's happening?"

"Yes." Replied the spirit. "When you go back to sleep and your mind drifts back to your Chakra here I will tell you. For now though, I can tell that you are waking up."

"Huh?" Was all Gaara could say before he realised that he was once again in the training hall lying on the ground.