A/N: I have the first three chapters completed for you already. So here's number two!
Oh, and "atamagaokashii" means 'insane'.

They also say that we shouldn't stray too far from what we know.
Of all people, I believe this more than anything.
But sometimes boundaries are preordained to be broken.

There are moments, as rare as they may come, when I grow self-conscious. I have the urge to suck my inner lip in between my teeth and press down, sometimes hard enough to draw blood. Somehow, the shock of pain and the taste of my old obsession stimulate my brain and I come to my senses and deliver whatever duty I am required to perform. However, this is a recent habit that I've developed from about the age of thirteen and onward, when I was less homicidal and deranged. It was also about the same time as when I decided I wished to pursue the same dream as Naruto and become respected and needed by my village as their leader.

And here I am, their leader, but also feeling a tad afraid. If the elder councilmen didn't want to go to Konoha, I fear my worries from last night about the villagers being unsatisfied with the decision might come true. So, I bite my sore lip, though it does not bleed, and I pace myself. I can do this, I think boldly.

I clear my throat. "Silence! Kazekage-sama is about to explain the meaning of this assembly!" One of my guards call out.

Near me, Kankurou nods his head and gives a small thumbs-up to support me. Temari merely smiles, though her eyes look far from happy. Why must smiles do that? Why can't they be straightforward, and used only when someone is amused?

I inhale and raise my voice to it's loudest over the heads of my people. "Citizens of Sunagakure," I start off with, "A great threat is approaching us, the threat of a heavy sandstorm that will bury us alive. To make matters worse, the rains are coming, and they will turn that sand to mud and encase us. So to prevent any deaths, the council and I have declared an emergency evacuation to Konohagakure within the next two weeks."

I hear the voices below rise in panic and distress, and the rumble of combined voices echo in my ears. Fighting off a headache, I speak once more.

"Now, Konoha has already given it's consent, and by tomorrow or the following day we will have an answer from the Hokage herself as to how we'll proceed with living arrangements for whatever time we're there." I pause, listening to more shouts, all of which resemble questions. "I understand your anguish and know this is difficult, but please, if you would send your qualms to any of the agents working in my quarters, I promise I'll try and answer them tomorrow at the same time. But in the meanwhile, start thinking about what you can pack and what you have to leave behind, because whether or not you like it, we are forced to leave else we will perish." I leave it at that. It sounds a tad harsh even to me, but I can't take it back.

I walk back to my bedroom and grab a water bottle from the small refrigerator near my dresser. An hour passes, and I gather the means to move to my office.

"Any complaints?" I communicate briskly with Temari, whom I find waiting for me.

"Not a single one," she replies almost brightly. "Seems your people trust you, after your concluding statement. They know you're only trying to protect them."

I sigh through my nose. "Sometimes I wonder."

She waves that aside. "Now then," she smiles sweetly, "Are you hungry? Lunch hour's passed, but I don't think you've eaten today. Maybe I could get someone to bring you something…"

"I'm not hungry," I tell her. It's nothing new; I'm never hungry. Temari gets angry with me about it, similar to how she does with my lack of sleep. She says I overwork myself and starve my body, and that's why I'm so thin. And I argue that I'm not too thin at all, and that she's thinking too much of Naruto's way of living: surrounded by food and building muscle in his stocky form. Personally, I don't think I'm built that way. I was a small child, a small pre-pubescent, and am a small teen. It can't be helped.

Temari scowls. "Dammit, Gaara, you're wasting away." I nearly smile to myself. She's so predictable. And her statement only proves my point further. "I'm getting you food and you're going to eat it, you hear me? You can't live on coffee."

But I love coffee. It's what kept me awake for so many years, and what tastes the best to me out of a lot of the things I've tried.

She exits the room, mumbling something about ordering some miso soup at the very least. To get my strength up or something. It's normally a soup eaten when someone is sick. I'm not sick, and yet Temari must think I am. I could be, although in a different way; I think the stress of the current situation is beginning to wear on me, despite my wishes.

"Here," my sister grunts, shoving a bowl in my hands. The spoon clanks around and nearly falls out of it as the contents slosh around. I smell the miso and can almost see the steam rise from the liquid. "Now that better be all gone by the time I get back. And no dumping it down the sink, you hear me?"

Like I would stoop to something so childish. Still, I assure her I won't and I take a seat at my desk. I slurp the soup timidly; it scorches my tongue, but tastes delicious at the moment, and I suddenly realize exactly how hungry I am.

The bowl of miso drained beside my signed papers, I reach for the drawer on my left hand side. I yank it out completely and stare for a long moment at the picture I have framed, laying with a few specks of dust on it, in the back of the drawer. It's a picture of my entire family minus myself; my mother, my father, my siblings, and my uncle. I don't know why I keep it; I despise two of the men in the photo, one for trying to make me a weapon and the other for betraying me. Still, seeing my mother with baby-faced versions of my siblings… it's a small comfort I have for times like these when something bad is about to happen. It occurs to me that this is an object I would hate to have destroyed, and should bring with me when we depart for the Leaf Village.

I shut the drawer seconds before Temari reenters and smirks. "You finished your soup! I'm proud of you."

I hold back a snort. 'It's nothing to be proud of,' I'm about to say, but I sense something in the blonde woman's aura. "Temari, you look like you have something important to say."

She falters, and I know I've hit home. She seats herself in the chair across from me. "Yeah, actually. Apparently, we got the hawk back already from Konoha; they sent their fastest one. The storm is going to hit sooner than we predicted, and they want us to leave a week in advance. Plus, there's this…" Temari takes out of the red sash around her middle a piece of parchment rolled into a scroll, the seal broken. "It's from Hokage Tsunade-sama," she says.

I take the scroll and unfurl it, my eyes scanning the writing. It reads:

Godaime Kazekage Gaara-san,

By now, I'm sure you know the predicament with the early arrival of the storm. I'm sure your people, when they find out, won't like coming here so soon, but tell them we have arranged for everyone to stay in our hotels, empty apartments, and even our abandoned clan houses, like the Uchihas'. For yourself and your siblings, I thought you might want to stay here in the Hokage mansion in one of my guest bedrooms, but after having a word with Kakashi, I wondered if you'd personally prefer to stay with your friend Naruto. Of 'course, it's entirely up to you, but he's already consented. He says he'd be honored to host you. Actually, I'm paraphrasing; his exact words were: 'Nani? Are you atamagaokashii, baa-chan?! He can't stay anywhere else, dattebayo! I'm not going to have Gaara in some foreign building with a bunch of no-fun adults. He'd go just as atamagaokashii as you're being!'

…I tried to convince him that you probably live in a building full of 'no-fun adults' already, but he insisted. Said it'd be better for you, although he can't 'save' your siblings from the same fate because his home is too small for that many people. And, I'm fond of the brat, so I let him have his way. Plus, I didn't want him sulking about it.

Anyway, that leaves a bit more room at the Hokage tower for all your councilmen, if they want to, which I'm sure they do. All in all, we have a place for everybody by alphabetical order and rank. We'll be crammed pretty tight, but it's nothing your people (or ours) can't handle.

Sincerely,
Godaime Hokage Tsunade

I both wanted to smile and frown in confusion after reading. When I look to Temari, I think I surprised her, because through feeling my face from the inside out, I ended up doing both. I quickly swipe both of the teeny emotions from my face, but the damage is done. Temari saw. And by the look in her dark teal orbs, I knew she was one of the people who read this scroll before me, and knew why I made such a face.

"Naruto must miss you," she says to begin with, a tiny all-knowing smirk reaching her lips. It shimmers brighter in her eyes. "He must care about you a lot to want to share his home," she continues. I think she's waiting for a reaction of some sort from me. I refuse to give her one. Losing interest in her teasing, she shrugs. "So, are you going to take him up on his offer?"

Honestly, I don't see how I can refuse. Naruto tends to be very persistent; and deep down – though I would never admit this outside of my own mind to anyone – I couldn't be more flattered or pleased. Flattered, because I felt wanted for the first real time in my life; and pleased, because I was secretly hoping to arrange to stay at Naruto's house. I wasn't about to request it by on my own, however, since I don't want to sound needy or inconvenience someone; least of all Naruto.

But after thinking of him for the first time in months last night while stargazing, I had a ghost of a thought: I don't really trust anyone in Konoha enough to stay in their quarters. I felt uncomfortable and unwanted, even though I tried to convince myself the latter was otherwise in this case. Hence, I came to the conclusion that I only would feel safe and comfortable if I was with the very person who helped change me and bring me back from death: Uzumaki Naruto himself. And the fact that he requested the precise thing I wanted only helped back up my resolve.

To answer Temari, I nod as I roll up the scroll in my hands. "I don't see why not."

She laughs. "I bet he'll just love that."

I wasn't so sure. He sounded eager enough in what Tsunade-sama had written, but when he and I had said goodbye… he had stuttered and flushed ever-so-slightly and was hesitant. I continually wonder why.

I simply shrug – a barely noticeable twitch of the shoulder – and hand back to my sister the scroll. "Have Kankurou alert the village," I demand. I'm suddenly too jittery to give another speech. I need to lie down.

"Sure thing," she nods. I watch Temari pace out of the room, taking my empty soup bowl with her, the spoon clinking around again. What an annoying noise.

I return to my room and decide to hop off the balcony again. My legs carry me to the rooftops near the section of the outer wall furthest from the gates and closest to the clouds I saw looming last night. They appear closer, and I scowl. It's because of those damn rains that we have to evacuate; if the sand would stay dry, we could easily dispose of it. But muddy sand… that's more difficult. We'll have to wait until it's separated and somewhat dry. Hopefully it doesn't compact quick enough to make sandstone, or else we'd really be in trouble.

Sighing to myself, I make my way over to Kankurou, who I notice is speaking with a guard at the watchtower stationed nearby. My brother waves, and the man turns around and bows briefly to me. I lift a hand in greeting and send the brunette of the two a look, asking with my eyes, 'what are you talking about?'

"No need to be concerned, Gaara," Kankurou shrugs. "We're not saying anything important, really. Just talking about what this move is going to do to our overall financial situation, and some of the problems certain families are going to have."

"On the contrary, that is very much my concern," I contradict. I fold my arms over my chest. "I realize the debt we're getting ourselves into both morally and financially, but it'll turn out fine. I'm not worried. I am worried, however, about the families. Most men will be out of work for a while, and some will be working overtime to visit regularly to see what the damage is." I hate having to speak so much at one time; I'm used to the silence between me and others, but this recent problem is causing me to say a lot more. Hopefully, when I stay with Naruto, he can talk for the both of us so I won't have to. For some reason, I know I'll slip up with my emotions if I say too much to him.

"That's very true, Kazekage-sama," the guard says. "I'm worried about my own family for the same reason. Since I normally stand watch, I have the feeling you'll need to send me."

I blink lethargically, a way of shrugging and showing my nonchalance. "I may or may not have to. It depends."

The man looks slightly more relaxed. Feeling I have nothing more to add, I leave to see if anything is awaiting me in my office.

- - -

Oddly, there wasn't much stress during the week before our departure. I was comforted by this fact, and I think everyone else around me was as well. It seemed as though the citizens of Sunagakure were ready to move things along, so the packing and preparation went on without a hitch. To put it lightly, I was pleased.

"Temari," I call. She appears behind me, and I'm surprised I hadn't noticed her there prior. "Are we ready to leave come morning?"

"Actually," she says, "The people want to leave at sunset so we can travel when it isn't so hot. It might be December, almost January, and the rains might be coming, but you know how hot it is in the desert anyway. So everyone wants to leave within the next few hours. They're collecting in the streets now."

Puzzled, I walk to the nearest window and peek out. My sister's right; as we speak there are hundreds of people herding together with their belongings on their backs. They look like pack mules readying for battle, since over half of them are certified shinobi, and a little over a quarter of them at chunnin rank or higher.

"Alright," I nod, "Then we'll leave at sunset."