"I'm sorry," Temari said, once she had stopped laughing. "We assumed Seri would already have made you a slave to the hospital, so you wouldn't need a place to stay."

I stare at her in disbelief. Can she seriously be the one in charge of foreign affairs here?

She laughs again, though not as much. "Sorry. Seriously though, we have rooms for all of our guests in this building. Its part of my job to make sure you get to one. Well, more precisely it's the job of my assistant, but unfortunately I don't have one yet."

"Not many applicants?" I ask.

"None worth considering." she answers with a shrug. I roll my eyes at her. If she really needs help she should just hire someone, if only temporarily. Even if they're not great, it's better than nothing. She's just being silly, if you ask me.

"Anyway." She writes a quick note and hands it to me. "Just show this to someone in uniform out there and ask them for directions. I'll send someone to get you for the banquet tonight."

I thank her and leave. Outside I notice there are in fact several people standing about in uniform. All of them are busy except one. I approach her and ask her to direct me to my room. She takes me down a long hallway and points up a large flight of stairs.

"Up two flights of stairs to your left. The rooms are all numbered."

I thank her and she goes her way, and I go mine, up the stairs. Once I'm on the third floor everything is much quieter. There's no one here, and on my way down the hall to my room I pass only one couple walking the other way. I nod to them, figuring they must be ambassadors too, or something of the sort. They return my nod politely and continue on.

I reach my room and try the door; it is unlocked. I peer inside cautiously, wondering if it's supposed to be open. There's no one inside, so I walk into my new place.

It's nicer than my house in Konoha. When you walk in there's a nice elevated platform to leave your shoes and things, then down into the living room, which is nicely furnished. A bit too well for just one person, I'd say, but then, my living room doesn't even have a couch in it anymore. Off the living room are a bedroom and a kitchen. Yes, a kitchen. I guess I won't be getting room service everyday. The kitchen is nice, a little small, but I don't think they really expect anyone to use it much. I look into the bedroom, and see that through here there's a big bathroom, with a big tub in it. I wonder if it even works. It doesn't seem to me that here in the desert there would be much water to waste on such huge baths. The bathroom is a pleasing cream colour, all marble, and no doubt very expensive.

"This is nice." I say to myself as I walk back into the bedroom. The bed itself is very big and tall, and looks like it costs more than my entire house. Everything in this place looks very expensive, even the flowers.

Yes, there are flowers. I was so happy to see that. They're all over the room, in big vases and little vases and hanging over cupboards and things. I wonder who designed this room; they must be rather odd, to design this sort of room in the desert.

I shrug; the flowers are probably fake anyway, and I wouldn't fill the bath ever, to avoid wasting water. I sigh deeply, and jump onto the bed. The bed is perfect – not too soft, or too hard. I just hope that I'm not stealing it from a family of angry bears.

The room smells nice.

'There's a child hidden in the desert.'

I open my eyes to the blinding sun and immediately screw them shut again.

'No. You must wake up. You must find her.'

I stand slowly, my arms swinging heavily at my sides. Why do they feel so heavy?

I open my eyes again and look around. The desert again. Only this time it's perfectly flat, and the sand is so white the sun reflecting off it blinds me, and I have to close my eyes again.

I feel something tugging at me, and stumble forward blindly. My arms swing forward and drag my upper body forwards so that I can't walk straight and have to walk hunched over like an old woman. My arms feel strange; in fact, I can hardly feel them at all, except as a huge weight pulling down my shoulders.

But I keep moving forward. I don't know where I'm going; for all I know I could be going in circles, but I keep going anyway. I don't know why. My whole body feels sore and tired, and I just want to lie down, but I don't stop. I don't stop.

The sound of my feet shuffling across the hard packed sand is the only sound that accompanies me as I walk. And then without warning, I trip on something and fall on the ground. Once I'm on my stomach I don't move, simply lay my head on my arms and keep my eyes closed.

I hear crying.

I open my eyes carefully. The sun shines not quite so brightly somehow, and I manage to open them all the way, and look around. In the distance I think I can make out figures, but then I'm distracted by my arms.

My arms are made out of sand. They're grotesquely formed, completely unnatural. I start to scream, drowning out any other sounds.

I scream and scream, and I can't stop.