Chapter 2

It was cold. Gaara wasn't dressed to be out at this time of night, but none the less he continued to trudge forwards. The wind bit at his neck, but there was nothing he could do about it. He hugged his bear closer to his chest and glanced around.

There were a dozen others around him, but all their features were obscured by their cloaks and desert scarves. One of the men was also carrying Naruto. He had the blond boy slung over his shoulder. Silently, Gaara wished Naruto would have just cooperated and not been such an annoyance for their captors. Maybe then he wouldn't have been knocked unconscious and Gaara wouldn't feel so alone.

When the group had first left Suna, they had rushed to put distance between themselves and the village. It had for the most part been a very uneventful journey. Only interrupted by Naruto and a group of shinobi that had been catching up to them. Unfortunately for the boys a small detachment of the sand people had stayed behind to draw attention and lead their pursuers in the wrong direction.

Since, the moon had climbed into the sky and began falling. Gaara had lost track of time and, oddly as well, his own personal demon had been silent for some time. But that was currently rather low on his list of priorities. For awhile now the red head's throat was dry. He had contemplating asking for water, but hadn't worked up the courage to ask one of the intimidating men, until now that is.

Turing his head to the closest of the sand people, he called out hoarsely, "Ma-may I have some water?" It didn't come out as loud as he had intended, but none the less, in the still desert air it was easily heard by all those around.

The specific man that he had been addressing looked down at him and for a moment Gaara feared he had upset him. But after a dramatic silence the cloaked man nodded and reached into his cloak. He momentarily produced a canteen, but before he passed it to the red head, he took a swig of his own.

Upon receiving the container, Gaara removed the cap and took a slow sip, unsure of what to expect. He was a little surprised when all that came out was water. He had been imagining something more sinister. Now with his fears alleviated he began consuming the clear liquid at a much faster rate, but as much as he drank, the container never seemed to lighten. Mystified, but not in the mood to ask anymore questions of his captors, he capped the canteen and returned it to the man with a light "Thank you."

"Of course." Came the reply and it made Gaara jump. It was the first time he had heard any of their voices. Up until this point they had all been so quiet, and when they had conversed, all he had been able to hear were muffled voices. So it had startled him to actually have the man next to him say something audible. And as with the contents of the canteen, Gaara had been expecting the man's voice to be… different. More threatening or evil, but it was so normal.

Shaking himself and continuing on route with the rest of the sand people Gaara didn't realize how much he had been demonizing those around him.

Excruciatingly slowly they continued. All around them dunes rose and fell as they pasted them by. Sand blew through the air on the breeze. Eventually the moon began to approach the horizon and the light of the sun began to take its place. At the same time, the temperature began rising dramatically. Abruptly, the man that was leading the group stop. Turning to everyone else, he began setting forth a new plan of action, "We have made good progress. Set up camp."

Reaction to their leader's orders was immediate. Everyone moved to complete whatever their given task was, though the man carrying Naruto and the one who had provided Gaara with water had stayed in place by their respective prisoners. But of all the activities, the one that drew Gaara's attention the most was two of the sand people moving to the side of a large sand dune. Standing below the crest, the men began running through hand signs, and a moment later a door formed before them.

Without any real acknowledgement by the others, everyone began converging on this new door, including Gaara. Upon entering, the red head found himself in a large excavated area. The walls, ceiling, and floor all appeared to have been converted from sand to stone. A dim light was emanating from the ceiling, but the boy couldn't recognize its source. Finally with the entrance of the last of the sand people, the doorway sealed itself shut, trapping them all inside.

Another change came rapidly after the entrance to this makeshift bunker. All the sand people who had been stoic up to this point began to regain traits one would see as normal. They began conversing openly and acting lively. Scarves were removed and faces revealed, though by this point Gaara wasn't surprised that they were just human.

The man carrying Naruto deposited the boy in the corner, leaving him heaped in what looked like a rather uncomfortable position. Turning to see what had become of his own shadow, he spotted him joining two other men on the floor. Playing cards having already been brought out to provide entertainment.

See that no one was paying specific attention to him anymore, Gaara moved to the corner that now hosted Naruto's body. Untangling the blond's body, Gaara found a piece of paper pressed into Naruto's forehead, but the squiggly lines that were held on the paper were foreign to him. Carefully removing the paper, the red head was instantly rewarded, as Naruto's eyes shot open. Unfortunately he also instantly drew attention to himself by shouting, "HEY!" It was followed by a look of extreme confusion as he found himself in an unknown location and position.

All eyes moved to the now awoken blond, and many were accompanied by grumbles of discontent at his return. But that was to be expected, Naruto really hadn't left a very good first impression of himself.

But since his outburst wasn't followed by anything, the attention of all those in the room returned to their own affairs. All that is, except for the one who Gaara had pinned the leader. He instead approached the two boys, squatting beside them.

Naruto looked upon the new face and at first failed the recognition test. He had brown hair, black eyes, and a face that look as though it hadn't been shaven in a week. But as the blond's senses all roused themselves and made the proper connections his mood darkened. "Hey, you're the guys that took us!"

The man seemed momentarily unimpressed by the boys intellect, but did give a response. "Ahh, ya we are. Though we really only wanted him, you just happened to be there." He replied as he pointed at Gaara.

Naruto was alarmed. If he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time then couldn't they have just let him go? But then he recalled the genin sqaud that the sand people had quickly slain upon entering Suna. "Wha- but you k-killed those other people there."

The leader nodded, "Pfff, that scum got what they deserved. Only good shinobi is a dead shinobi."

Naruto was about to start up an argument yet again, but Gaara spoke before him with his own question. "Why were you after me?" Unlike Naruto, Gaara's voice was meek. He was having a hard time controlling himself with this man, who he found unpleasant, being so close. The red head was also feeling a bit guilty. A part of him was blaming himself for Naruto's own predicament.

However, when the leader heard Gaara's question he faltered for a moment. He himself wasn't sure of that. He had been told to acquire the child and that's what he had done, but now thinking about it, he found that he didn't actually know what the significance of this boy was.

Naruto quickly picked up on this and burst out laughing, "You don't even know what you're doing. You idiot."

The leader didn't take well to the blond falling onto his side in mirth and reacted quickly and violently. Before either of the boys knew what had happened, a knife had been drawn and made its ways incredibly close to Naruto's stomach. His laughing hitched and the atmosphere in the room soured. Attention had once again been brought to their little corner.

"You shut your mouth. I don't know why you were brought along, but if you so much speak to me again Imma kill you just like those stinking shinobi. Got it?" he got a shaky nod from the frightened boy, making him grin viciously. "Good, now you two are going to stay over here, all alone for the rest of the day." Without waiting for a response he stood and walked away, rejoining the larger group of sand people.

Behind him he left a shaken Naruto. Pulling in on themselves, it truly dawned on both boys just what they had gotten into. As far as they could tell the worlds they had know before were gone and there didn't seem to be any hope of that changing anytime soon. Though both still held little bits of hope inside themselves, the attitude of the sand people seemed to say that they weren't worried about any retaliation or rescue effort.

"Hey Naruto." Gaara whispered, hoping to not provoke the ire of the sand people anymore.

"Ya?" the blond responded, just as softly and unsure.

"What are we going to do?" he questioned, but the boy next to him didn't respond. The silence of the normally outspoken boy frightened Gaara further. He had been hoping to feed off of his optimism, but unlike normally, there didn't seem to be any to be had.

And that's how they stayed for the time being. Silently waiting until the next act. The next stage in this sad little game would be. So from there little corner they observed the sand people as they played their games and had their discussion. It upset Naruto that the could seems normal from a distance, but that they were, in his mind, evil.

Eventually the activity began breaking up. It took the two boys a minute to notice what was causing the shift, but they soon were able to smell food. Each of the sand people pulled a sack from out of their cloaks and began to devour the contents with a nice side of water. The attractive aroma awakened the apatite of the two, but neither was dared to speak up about their own lack of sustenance.

At one point Naruto actually caught himself drooling at the prospect of eating something, and no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he didn't want any of 'those' people's food, his will weaken significantly when one of them stood and began approaching them. Thankfully it wasn't the leader.

"Hey boys, sorry to leave you around for so long. Here." He handed them a sack of their own and a canteen for them to share. Naruto didn't respond and posed defiantly, turning his head away from the man and ignoring his words. Gaara on the other hand, more or less froze when the man neared them.

With both his hands extended, but no one taking the goods offer, the man could only sigh as he released the containers and retreated back to his own comrades.

With the man gone, the two boys turned to the sack and canteen lying on the floor. Both were hesitant to accept the anything from the sand people, but neither of their bodies seemed to care as both cried out for them to take the food and water. Looking to each other, both silently hoped that this wasn't how their entire time in captivity would play out.