A/N: Trying to make the Sakura/Inner Sakura thing work more smoothly. Let me know if I got it right this time.

"It's a three day trip."
"Let's get there in half a day!"
-Tenten and Rock Lee

Chapter 2

Stranger in a Strange Land

It took her two days to reach the edge of the forest. She passed through the fringes in an hour or two, as the trees became increasingly scrawnier and further apart until at last they disappeared into wide fields and rolling grass hills. She allowed herself a brief rest in the first flat field she came to, looking back at the shadows of the forest for a while, contemplating how unfamiliar and scary they appeared from the outside. Months later, this moment would flare up in her mind and burn itself into the backs of her eyes, this moment as she looked at a world she had grown up in from the peculiar position of a stranger. But for now, she only sighed, slung her pack back over her shoulders, and headed out into the flat lands.

It took her another night to reach the border shared by the Fire Country and the Wind Country. She could have run over it easily, undetected. After all, it was a vast stretch of land, and as a sign of friendship (and possibly paranoia) neither side kept it heavily guarded. But this was an official diplomatic mission, and doing anything that seemed even remotely covert could potentially throw kinks in the careful planning.

So she spent the extra hour or so finding the Leaf outpost, checking out in the registry with her name, rank, and purpose. The chunin on duty there smiled at her, and offered to let her use the shower in the back of the building. She was dirty, and hadn't bothered to change out of the outfit she'd worn through the rain storm, but she still had a way to go, and getting her spare outfit filthy was pointless. She politely declined, refilled her water bottle and food stock, and made for her last stop before the Hidden Sand village – the Wind country border post.

A Sand chunin eyed her as she entered the building. "Name and business?" he demanded.

She slung her pack to the ground, stretching tired leg muscles. "Haruno Sakura, Leaf Chunin. Diplomatic mission to Village of the Hidden Sand, by order of the Fifth Hokage." She gave him the official mission papers Tsunade had provided, signed and sealed properly. She let him rummage through her bag - is that necessary? she wondered privately - for suspicious packages, weapons other than those she registered in the official log, and anything else that might be considered contraband. Paranoid much? Sakura mused, although her face stayed calm and untroubled. Appearing upset at the search would convince them that she had something to hide.

At length, they finished, and the chunin who was apparently in charge of the post gave her an official pass, a blue arm bad with a simple swirl pattern stitched in. She smiled politely, wrapped it around her forearm, and went her merry way - but not before noticing that the Wind border post had about three times as many chunin and even a few genin than the Leaf post.

She ran all through the night until the green grassland petered into yellowing savannah grass, and then gave way to loose, barren sand. It was cold at night, but the running kept her warm. A few hours after the sun rose, though, she was forced to slow to a walk, and then to stop altogether. It was just too hot. She rigged a small sun shelter from the thin blanket packed in her chunin vest and laid as still as she could under it. In the end, though, there was nothing to do but sip her water bottle sparingly, and perform a cooling-jutsu normally reserved for fever patients. She slept through the hottest parts of the day, and when night fell and the temperature dropped abruptly, she packed up and started to run again. It was warm, and with any luck it would get her there before she had to spend another day lying in unbearable heat dreaming of ice cream and water fountains and tall shady trees.

Luck smiled on her at last, and she saw the ridge of sharp, almost unnatural mountains that she knew encircled the Hidden Sand village by moonset. Another hour brought her within sight of the narrow ravine that lead into the town. At the end of the passage she caught a glimpse of the village buildings: squatting, unadorned brown squares with small round portal windows. Nothing like the colorful, towering buildings of Konoha in their nest of verdant trees and running rivers. It was large, but the buildings were built to survive blasting winds and abrasive sandstorms. Decorative exteriors were wasted here.

By the first pale blush of sunrise, she was at the edge of the first ring of buildings. She paused uncertainly. Sakura knew full well that she had been watched as she made her way down the rocky passage, but no one had hailed or halted her. Maybe her Konoha forehead protector and the blue Wind Country pass on her arm had given her the right to pass unmolested. She was in the village – but now what? There was nothing that looked like an official check in point. Just analogous buildings, hunkered into the side of the mountains. A few shapes flitted silently around them in the early pre-dawn light, but otherwise the place seemed deserted, empty.

The rising heat at her back and feet prompted her to move forward anyway. She couldn't just stand around in the desert all day. There had to be an official building around her somewhere. She set off down one winding street, watching for signs of life. There were few, and those she saw seemed to move quickly away, vanishing into buildings and around corners. This is starting to creep me out, she thought, skin crawling. Not to mention it's getting hot out here. Doesn't anyone live in this place who can tell me where to find the Kazekage's office? Hell, Sakura grumped. Doesn't anybody live here at all? She flopped down on a doorstep, feeling an unpleasant sense of defeat. It was definitely getting hot. A trickle of sweat ran down her back, and she started seriously considering setting up her blanket-shelter right here in this doorway, ridiculous as it seemed.

"Bad place for a nap," a feminine voice chuckled directly above her. "You'll get sunstroke."

Sakura jumped to her feet and spun around, hand automatically moving to her kunai holster. But she relaxed almost immediately, recognizing the face. "Temari-san," she bowed politely. Finally, a human being. I was starting to worry I'd come on some ghost town. "Where is everyone?" she burst out, swiping at her forehead. The Sand nin shrugged.

"Inside, where it's cool. Only crazy people and shinobi on missions go out in the daytime around here. You came just as everyone was closing up shop and going home."

"I see," Sakura murmured, trying to stand straight and appear more like a shinobi on a mission and less like a crazy person. "I assume you've been observing me since I got here."

"A little before, actually," the blond admitted, jumping lightly down and spreading her oversized fan politely over both their heads to shield them from the intensifying sun. "Come, I'll take you to the Kazekage."

It wasn't far, thankfully. The Kazekage's office was one of the few double-storied buildings in the village, and Sakura entered the surprisingly cool building with a mental sigh of relief. She didn't know what kind of cooling system they had set up here, but it was blissful. Temari folded her fan up expertly and led her up a twisting stairwell to small room at the end of a hallway. "Wait in here," she instructed. "Have a seat. Drink some water," she gestured to a pitcher on the small stone table in the corner."

"Thanks," Sakura headed straight for the pitcher. "Is it always too hot to go outside in the day here?"

"No, it's just summer right now. It gets cooler later in the year. You chose a pretty rough time to visit Sand." Flipping a casual salute, the Sand shinobi sauntered out.

Sakura downed half a glass of the cool, sweet water before catching herself. You'll get stomach sick, the medical nin scolded herself, and forced herself to take small, continuous sips instead to re-hydrate her body at a healthier rate. She refilled her water canteen before taking another glass. It's always wise to be prepared. When the pitcher was empty, she went to work emptying the sand from the various cracks and folds of her bag, of her extra outfit, of her kunai holster, even her hair. Sand everywhere, she grated mentally. Fabulous. When that task was finally, painstakingly completed, she practiced sitting quietly on the floor, legs crossed and hands resting lightly on her thighs.

Half an hour later, she gave it up for pacing. Damn it! Sakura knew she was working herself into a fine old snit, but somehow she suddenly lacked the resources to care much. How long are they going to make me wait

"This is ridiculous!" She told the empty water pitcher. The pitcher did not deign to respond, which for some irrational reason only irked her more. She spread her hands at it in aggravation. "How busy could he possibly be?"

"Unfortunately, you were not the first of my obligations," a low voice rumbled from behind her, and she dropped her hands, refusing to spin around and stare in horror. Of course he would pick that moment to walk in. She had known it since the moment Tsunade had taken her into her office and handed her the official scrolls – it was just going to be that kind of mission.

Schooling her expression as quickly as she could, she turned calmly to face him, a polite smile halfway formed on her face.

The smile never made it all the way out. Instead, it chose to cower in the corner of her mind, and Sakura felt the urge to do the same as she finally caught sight of him.

She knew that face. It was different, more angular than she remembered, and he was definitely taller than he had been before. The gourd was gone, and the robes were a little different than she recalled. But the eyes that stared at her dispassionately were the same eerie jade, and if that didn't clinch it, the frightening blood red kanji on his forehead left no doubt. Gaara of the Desert, one of the nightmares that occasionally troubled her sleep, stood quietly in the doorway, arms folded, face expressionless, eyes fixed on her.

Tsunade had neglected to mention this little tidbit of information.