Suna's library was so much more extravagant than Konoha's that Sakura almost forgot that she wasn't there to peruse, but to do the Kazekage's bidding. She let her fingers linger along the rich mahogany shelves as she passed, delicately skimming the pads of her fingers across the gilded, leather-bound books.

She craned her neck to look up at the high, vaulted ceiling – the mural of the sky that was painted at the top. It was lit from the perimeter with some kind of rope lighting and it almost looked like the real sky. Her feet clicked against the marble tiles as she walked forward, narrowly dodging a white column she nearly walked into while distracted by the ceiling.

It seemed so odd for Suna to have such elaborate buildings and décor while Konoha was relatively plain in comparison. She wondered if it was a difference in the founders of the villages that caused this – she couldn't imagine the Shodaime agreeing to build so superfluously.

But while she was here she was going to enjoy it. She padded her way through the stacks, soaking in the dark ambience. She found the door to the restricted sections hidden by the building codes, right where Gaara had told her it would be. She jammed her keycard into the scanner and watched as the sealed door swung open with a hiss.

The restricted section was no-nonsense compared to the rest of the library. The walls were a solid white, the floors linoleum. The shelves themselves were made of a dingy white plastic, lit only by the fluorescent bulbs that hung overhead.

Sakura bit back an annoyed groan. Of course she would be sequestered in the most drab room in all of Suna. She peered at the dusty shelves with mild distaste. Not only was she forced to spend the rest of the day under fluorescent lighting, but she had to spend it studying history (her least favorite subject!) – and it wasn't even her own village's!

Dutifully, she plucked a copy of "Becoming Suna: Sifting through the Past" and plopped herself down at the nondescript pine table.

A couple of hours of boring research left Sakura completely empty-handed. So far she had found nothing about the sand beast or the mysterious commune deep below the sand. The only thing slightly relevant she had found was a blurb in a history text about the uses of animal parts in ancient Suna tribes. There had been a mention of a slime like substance secreted from a snake, but Sakura didn't believe the situations were related.

So it was with mild disappointment and only a little bit of annoyance that Sakura found herself back outside Gaara's office, ready to give him the bad news.

She poised her hand to knock at his door, but she paused when she could hear voices on the other side. Not wanting to interrupt or eavesdrop, Sakura stepped back away from the door.

"Sakura-san, what are you doing here?"

Sakura turned to face Kankuro, who was ambling down the hallway toward her. His face was stern – a sharp contrast to his usual jovial attitude.

"Oh, I was just going to see if there's anything the Kazekage needs from me while I'm still here," she said. "Is something wrong, Kankuro-san?"

"Maybe," he said with uncertainty. "I need to speak with Gaara."

"He's speaking to someone—"

The door to Gaara's office burst open, revealing Hideki, who wore a fuming expression and had his fists clenched tightly at this sides. His eyes darted between Kankuro and Sakura, but Sakura couldn't help but notice the way his eyes lingered on her. He made a low growling sound with the back of his throat.

"Hideki, what's your problem?" Kankuro demanded, trying to peer over the man's shoulder to see Gaara.

"Forgive me, Kankuro-san," he said through clenched teeth. He offered no other explanation for his behavior before he stormed away, casting one last irritated look at Sakura.

Kankuro and Sakura both watched him leave with confusion. "Why'd he look at you like that?" Kankuro asked. Sakura merely shrugged in response. With a stony expression, Kankuro entered Gaara's office. Sakura filed in behind him, not wanting to be left out.

Gaara sat at his desk, his expression clouded as he stared down at the file open on his desk.

"What's the matter, Gaara?" Kankuro asked as he approached Gaara's desk.

Gaara glanced up at his brother, sparing a moment to give Sakura a glance as well. "Just a rough day," he answered. Sakura gave him a curious look, but he ignored it.

Kankuro, however, seemed to accept his answer. "I've just come back from the guard towers with Temari," he said. "We noticed some suspicious activity out toward Turtle Rock."

Gaara's eyes snapped back up to Kankuro's face. "What sort of activity?"

"We thought it might have been a pulse of chakra, but the signature is pretty weak," Kankuro answered. "We were unsure of what it was, but I didn't want to send a team to check it out until I'd talked to you first. That's where the beast is, right?"

Sakura glanced back to Gaara, watching his reaction carefully. He didn't need to hide what he was doing – he was the Kazekage, after all. Sakura wondered why he was being so secretive about everything going on at Turtle Rock.

"It is," Gaara replied. "But the beast is dead. Go ahead and send a team to check it out." Kankuro gave a curt nod to Gaara and flashed a smile in Sakura's direction before he made his way back out into the hall.

"Sakura-san," Gaara continued. "Have you made any progress in your research?"

Sakura shook her head. "Sorry, Kazekage-sama, I haven't found anything useful."

"Then what are you doing here?"

She narrowed her eyes, feeling a surge of that sassiness he seemed to dislike so much. He was pretty good at provoking it. "I spent hours in the library and I wasn't able to find any useful information," she said tersely. "Whatever people are living beneath the sand aren't in Suna's history books."

Gaara rested his chin on his palm and let out a weary sigh. "I had a feeling that would be the case," he said. "If that's true, then it means those people are either a protected indigenous group or illegal immigrants."

"I don't think they're immigrants, Kazekage-sama," Sakura said. It hardly made sense for them to be immigrants – they would surely have been noticed as they were traveling.

"I don't think so either," he replied. "But if they are a protected group, then we cannot legally interfere with their way of life."

"But they'll die down there without intervention!" Sakura exclaimed. "Especially now that we've destroyed their food source."

Gaara gave her a wry look as if he wanted to accuse solely her of destroying their food source, but he merely pressed his lips together instead.

"What should we do, Kazekage-sama?"

He looked up at her with surprise. "We? This is my problem, Sakura-san. Not yours."

Sakura shook her head again. "You foisted this problem on me, remember?" she asked. "Besides, I'll be damned if I'm going to leave them all there to die. Whether you like it or not, it's definitely my problem, too."

The corners of Gaara's mouth quirked into a smile. "It is easy to see why Naruto loves you so much, Sakura-san," he said. Sakura felt warmth bloom in her cheeks. "Let's wait until Kankuro's team returns to tell us what they found. Then we can come up with a plan."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, Kazekage-sama."

When Kankuro's team returned, it was with one addition in tow – a young, pale girl dressed in sheer black with her head turned skyward.

"Sarabi!" Sakura exclaimed, rushing to greet the girl as the team surrounding her approached the guard tower. She heard Gaara make a noise of disapproval beside her, but it didn't stop her from pulling the girl into a warm embrace.

Sarabi seemed surprised by the contact, but she smiled warmly at Sakura when she pulled away. "Fireheads," she greeted, giving Sakura and Gaara both pleasant smiles. "I knew you two would be behind this."

"Yotoi," Gaara said sharply. The man at the head of the shinobi team snapped to attention. "Report."

"When we arrived at Turtle Rock to investigate the strange chakra signature, we found this girl along with the sand beast's body," Yotoi replied. "She was trying to move the beast underneath the rock formation when we found her."

"I was just trying to get it out of the sun," Sarabi said.

Yotoi ignored her. "We surmised that the chakra must have been hers, but she does not appear to be a kunoichi, Kazekage-sama. We asked her to come back to Suna with us as we did not believe it a safe place for her to be alone." Yotoi's cheeks were splotchy and red as he spoke and Sakura noticed the way he and his entire team of shinobi kept their eyes anywhere but on Sarabi.

Sakura bit back a giggle as she eyed the nearly nude state of the poor girl.

"She agreed to come back with you?" Gaara asked.

"She agreed to come as long as she could speak to the Fireheads," Yotoi answered. "We did not know what that meant, but she mentioned Sakura-san by name. We told her that Sakura-san was currently in Suna and she willingly came with us."

"And here you are, just like they said," Sarabi said, still beaming.

"Sarabi, what were you doing above the surface?" Sakura asked. Gaara shot her a warning look, but she pressed on. "You could have been hurt, you know."

Gaara held up a hand to silence Sarabi before she could speak. "Sakura-san, take Sarabi to the infirmary and give her a full medical examination. You can ask her whatever questions you'd like there."

Sakura nodded and Sarabi sidled up closer to Sakura, holding onto her arm with slim fingers.

"Yotoi, you may return to your guard tower," Gaara continued.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama."

Sakura chewed her lip as she watched Gaara giving orders. He seemed on edge, likely because it seemed inevitable now that everyone would find out about the people under the sand. But why was he so worried about that, Sakura wondered.

With one last glance in Gaara's direction, she took Sarabi's hand in hers and led her through the palace to the infirmary.

Sarabi stared with open-mouthed wonder at the splendor of the palace as Sakura led her down the extravagant hallways. Sakura couldn't really blame her – even she found the palace to be unexpectedly gorgeous, and she hadn't grown up living underground in a cave.

"Everything here is so beautiful," Sarabi said with awe, craning her neck to look at the crown molding and gold trim that lined the ceiling. "Even the people."

Sakura cast her a curious glance. Truthfully, she found Sarabi to be one of the most beautiful people she had ever seen. She couldn't say the same for everyone down under the sand, but at least Sarabi had some good genes.

"You should see Konoha," Sakura said, thinking of Sasuke. "There's this family – the Uchiha clan. They are without a doubt the most gorgeous family in the world. Or, they were, rather…"

Picking up on the shift in Sakura's tone, Sarabi cocked her head and diverted the subject. "Konoha?" she asked. "Where is that?"

"A few days from here," Sakura answered. "It's where I'm from. In fact, I'll be headed back that way any day now."

Sarabi tsked as she traced her fingers along the seams in the rich wallpaper. "That's a real shame. I was hoping you could help me."

Sakura opened the door to the infirmary and led Sarabi inside to a private nook where she had set up a mini-office for herself. Sarabi jumped up onto the patient table, swinging her legs.

"Sarabi, why did you come to the surface? Why did you want to speak to me and Gaara?" Sakura asked.

"My people are dying down there," she answered, her face darkening. "Taiyo-sama does his best, but after you came down to visit us, I started to believe that he doesn't actually know what's best for us. I mean, you guys came from the surface and the sun didn't hurt you. And it hasn't hurt me either. So why did he keep up down in the darkness when we could have been up here looking for food?"

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and placed her hands on Sarabi's chest to send a surge of diagnostic chakra into her system. "It's not that simple, Sarabi. The sludge you were eating from the beast is acidic when exposed to bright light. It doesn't get exposed to light in your stomach, which is probably why you didn't experience any ill effects from it. But if any had been on your skin when you came up to the surface, it could have seriously hurt you."

Sarabi's gaze and was cold and critical when she looked up at Sakura's face, and Sakura felt the juxtaposition sharply. She had been so bright and cheerful when she arrived, but it seemed she took the matter of her people very seriously.

"We had no other food," she said tersely.

"I know," Sakura said soothingly. With her chakra, she probed at Sarabi's stomach, checking to see if any damage had been done after all those years of eating the sludge. She didn't notice any immediate effects, but she supposed that the sludge was relatively harmless when not exposed to sunlight.

But she could definitely see that Sarabi was malnourished, as Toki had been too.

"Are you hungry, Sarabi?" Sakura asked.

"I'm always hungry," she replied. Sakura reached into the drawer beside her a pulled out a protein bar. She passed it over to Sarabi, who eyed the colorful wrapper with a skeptical eye. "What is it?" she asked.

Sakura peeled back the end of the wrapper, revealing the chocolate inside. "It's food," she replied. "It's full of nutrition. It's really good for you and it tastes good, too."

Hesitantly, Sarabi broke off a small piece of the protein bar and chewed it slowly. Sakura watched as her expression shifted and she smiled as she swallowed, breaking off another piece of the bar.

"Do you like it?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Sarabi said. "It's so sweet! Can I have some more of these to take back to my people when I return?"

Sakura frowned. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Sarabi demanded. "How can you not know?"

"It isn't my place to offer you what isn't mine," Sakura said. "I'm just a foreign diplomat here. Gaara-sama is the one who can help you."

Sarabi continued to shovel pieces of the protein bar in her mouth, even as she spoke. "Well, let's go talk to Gaara-sama, then," she said.

"After I've examined you," Sakura said, feeling much like a patient mother. "I want to make sure you're in good health, just like I did for Toki-san."

"I feel fine," Sarabi insisted.

"I know you do," Sakura said, "but Gaara-sama gave me strict orders to give you a full medical examination. He just wants to make sure you're okay."

Sarabi finished the protein bar in silence, watching Sakura as she kept a steady stream of chakra flowing through her. Sakura wanted to say something to appease her, to assure her that Gaara did care about her and her people. She knew he wanted to help them and was trying to find the best way to do so.

But that wasn't something she knew how to explain to Sarabi, so instead they sat in tepid silence until Sakura had finished the examination.

Following Sarabi's examination, Sakura brought Sarabi back to Gaara's office only to find his door closed. They could hear hushed voices on the other side. Sakura was able to recognize Shikamaru's voice in there, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.

"We'll just have to wait until he's finished," Sakura said to Sarabi. "I'm not sure what he wants me to do with you."

"What do you mean? What would you do with me?"

Sakura was saved from having to answer this by Gaara's office door swinging open. Kankuro held it open, gesturing to the two of them that they should enter.

With some trepidation, because she wasn't all that comfortable with the current situation, Sakura entered the room to find several older men crowded around Gaara's desk. Temari and Shikamaru sat near the window, poring over some ancient looking scrolls.

It wasn't just Sakura who was nervous, though. Sarabi clung to Sakura's hand as they made their way toward the chairs in front of Gaara's desk.

"Sarabi, please have a seat," Gaara said, gesturing to the two empty chairs. "You too, Sakura-san."

Obediently, Sakura and Sarabi took their seats.

"How did her physical examination go?" Gaara asked Sakura.

"She appears to be in fairly good health given what she was sustaining herself on," Sakura replied. "She is showing symptoms of the poison, but nothing that can't be cured with a little vaccine. She is also malnourished – she'll need to be placed on a careful diet or start taking nutritional supplements. Her lack of exposure to the sun is also concerning here – it is likely that she will burn easily."

"I see," Gaara said. "Thank you, Sakura-san. You are dismissed."

Sakura's expression faltered. She certainly hadn't expected to be booted from the room – she felt a certain attachment to this predicament and she didn't like being excluded from it now.

But with all the people in the room with her, she didn't feel the same compulsion to argue with him. Instead, she rose gracefully to her feet and gave him a shallow bow. "Yes, Kazekage-sama," she said, though she couldn't resist throwing a nasty glare at him as she did so. He seemed amused by this for exactly one second – a wicked grin flitting across his features before quickly disappearing. It irritated Sakura to think that he enjoyed doing this to her.

"Why can't she stay here with me?" Sarabi asked, looking a little panicked.

"Don't worry, Sarabi," Sakura said reassuringly. "You are in good, albeit egomaniacal company."

The room seemed to freeze as everyone turned to look at Sakura, who had blatantly disrespected the Kazekage with a direct insult (though Sakura didn't feel it was unjust or excessive by any means). Regardless, she felt her cheeks bloom with heat as she avoided the appalled gazes of the men behind Gaara.

But to her surprise, Gaara laughed. It seemed real and genuine, his face contorted with unrepressed amusement in spite of the seriousness of the situation. His gaze fell squarely on Sakura and he smiled and Sakura felt her chest squeeze almost painfully because she was quite sure he had never smiled so widely at her before and it was disconcerting. And he certainly had not had a good reason to be smiling, because she had just insulted him, even if it was just a teasing jest.

"Get out, Sakura," he said, his eyes still glittering with amusement.

Sakura bowed again, this time a little lower. "Yes, Kazekage-sama," she said, and then swiftly made her exit.

A little pissed that she had been booted from all the action, Sakura wandered the palace halls. Everyone she knew in Suna was currently holed away in Gaara's office, so it was an extreme type of boredom she was dealing with here.

She contemplated going back to the library and trying to unearth some more of Suna's secrets regarding the mysterious people below the sand.

But that seemed like it would only exacerbate her boredom. Instead, she made her way back to the baths. She didn't know how much longer she would be in Suna (though she expected that Shikamaru's necessary presence with the monolith's strange markings would extend her stay), but she wanted to make the most of the luxurious baths that she could only take here in Suna.

So after grabbing her things from her room, she entered the bath, dipping a delicately maneuvered toe into the water. Finding the temperature satisfactory, she sank herself down into the heated water and sighed with relief.

The water was pleasant against her skin where the sand had been quite rough with her. She dunked her washcloth under the water and worked it into a lather. All of the desert's dirt and grime had done quite a number on her and she relished in the pleasant cleanliness the soap offered her – the sweet vanilla scent and the iridescent bubbles that clung to the water's surface.

There was a certain mental freedom offered by a nice relaxing bath. No other place offered the same amount of pensive tranquility and stress relief. There were many things to be concerned about now – the health and safety of the underground sand people, the nest and the inevitable beasts that would result from it, the mysterious chakra that seemed to have its own will.

But all Sakura could think about was the warmth that had spread through her when Gaara had smiled at her. There was something peculiar about Gaara and the frigid way he treated people. He had treated Sakura like that when she had first arrived – with a curtness, an arm's length approach. But it was with relative ease that he warmed up to her, laughed at her even.

She didn't know why, because she was sure she did nothing to contribute to his feelings in any way, but she felt pride in knowing that there was something about her that the Kazekage found amusing. After all, he had sought her out to bring her back to Turtle Rock. And she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she enjoyed being around him.

And Sarabi, too, now that she thought about it. Of course Sarabi was a different story, but Sakura found she enjoyed the young girl's company as well. Perhaps it was a bit silly of her, but Sakura mused that it would be quite pleasant to have a nice dinner with the two of them – just a friendly and casual outing.

The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to bring Sarabi back home with her. If she truly did want to learn how to be a medic, then maybe bringing her back to Konoha was a good idea. She could train with Tsunade, too. Maybe they could work out some sort of student exchange deal with someone else from Konoha.

Not wanting to get herself too worked up over the possibility, Sakura shifted her thoughts away from Sarabi and Gaara and Suna.

With a pang of homesickness, Sakura realized how much she missed Naruto. Even before her mission to Suna, she hadn't been able to spend too much time with him due to her busy schedule at the hospital and all the missions he had been taking. She missed him sorely now – she had a feeling he would like Sarabi (or at least the ample view of her).

She missed Ino, too, and the way she always had something snarky to say. If Gaara thought Sakura was sassy, he would have a hard time dealing with her blond counterpart. Ino was probably sitting in some swanky bar now, flirting and teasing and being the life of the party. Sakura wished she was there with her, chatting up some cute boy, letting him buy her drinks.

But she didn't have room to complain exactly. She sunk deeper into the water with a sigh, letting the bubbles come up to her chin. The water was so deliciously warm and the gentle lull of the water pouring from the faucet left her feeling relaxed and a little drowsy.

Sakura let her eyelids fall shut – they felt far too heavy for her to possibly hold them open much longer. It had been a long, exhausting day and this bath was much deserved. She let her head fall back against the marble and took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. She would definitely have to ask Tsunade about building a bathhouse like this one when she got back to Konoha. But for now, she would stay in this one for as long as they would let her.

A/N: Whoo! Halfway point! I'm several chapters into the sequel for this story and I would like a little bit of input from you guys. I've decided to include Sasuke in the sequel and I was wondering if y'all would like to have a little love triangle between the three of them or if you prefer Sasuke and Sakura's relationship to be strictly platonic. It wouldn't be heavy or anything. I mean, you'd really have to squint to see it. I just think it would be a good way to add more tension. If y'all don't like that idea I can come up with something else.