In my dream I'm sitting on the ground, staring up at Gaara. He is sitting in a tree above me. We're in the desert though, with no other plant in sight, or any source of water to be seen. I wonder more at the tree than at Gaara.

"This child." he says, "It needs you…"

I shake my head, and look back at him. But it's no longer Gaara sitting in the tree. I'm beginning to doubt that he was ever there. In the tree now is a woman, wearing a long white robe that falls gracefully about her. Her hair is so long that it falls down past her back and brushes the ground.

"Who are you?" I ask.

She looks surprised, and then she smiles gently. She's so beautiful, nearly blinding really. "That doesn't matter," she says, "what matters is that you save the child."

I recognize her voice now. "You're the one who has been calling me. Why do you need me? I'm sure there's someone else…"

She frowns, and slides off the branch, floating gently down to the ground. "Don't say that; don't speak like that. You are the one I need, the one I want."

And then she kisses me, holding my face between her hands.

Or is it Gaara?

I wake up in darkness, a darkness too complete to be the usual dark of these days. I know that outside it is dark, and because of the storm there isn't even any light from streetlamps or the moon. I sigh and close my eyes. That's when I feel the other's presence.

I get out of bed silently, and reach for my weapons.

"Do you dream very often?"

When I recognize the voice I drop my knife and pad across the room to turn on my lamp. Gaara appears as the light flicks on. I stand and regard him with my hands on my hips.

"Don't you think that visiting me now is a little inappropriate, especially considering someone tried to kill me in the middle of the night just recently!"

He shrugs. "You didn't answer my question."

"Because I have absolutely no reason or obligation to!" I yell, feeling irrationally angry at him. It's just… how dare he come into my room in the middle of the night, knowing all that's happened, and act so smug? And after that dream he's the last person I want to see right now. So of course he asks me about my dreams.

"That is true." He admits, and my anger just sort of melts away. How strange. My anger isn't really the melting type.

"What do you want this time?" I ask, giving up. I figure I might as well just let him say his piece, and then maybe he'll leave. I wish he would just leave; I feel so damn awkward! Though I doubt he notices.

"I came to talk to you about the attack." He says.

I sigh, feeling how very tired I am. I walk over to my bed and sit on the edge, resting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. "What about it?"

"We're not pressing charges against you," he says, and he's about to say something else when I interrupt him.

"Press charges against me? Why the hell would you do that? I'm the one who was almost killed that night!"

He nods, still calm, refusing to get upset with me. I guess he really has grown up. "And that's one of the reasons we're leaving it at that. You do realize that woman was actually a citizen of my country, even if she was a traitor."

I nod. He may have grown up and matured, but he's just more infuriating now.

"And what you did to her… There were a lot of people who saw her that night, and many of them are ambassadors here, and they wonder how you could do that to a human being. How anyone could do such a thing."

I try to remember the woman's body, but I can't seem to form a clear image in my mind. All I can remember is that moment, right before I lost consciousness, the blood and Temari's voice. "Was it that bad?" I ask quietly.

Gaara shrugs. It figures that he would act that way; no doubt he's done much worse. "Let's just say we had a very hard time identifying her."

"But she's alive!"

"Yes, somehow she lived." He looks at me with such an intense look then that I almost look away. "You didn't intentionally keep her alive did you? For any reason?"

I shake my head violently. "No! Truthfully, I just wanted to kill her – to kill them all – after what they did to Luo."

Gaara looks away, suddenly interested in his feet. He clears his throat after a moment, which I find strange and somehow out of character. I don't know why exactly; it just seems weird. "I know how that feels." he says after a moment.

And I can't help but laugh a little. "You're the last person I ever expected to hear that from!"

He looks at me for a long while then, looking sort of confused. Then he turns away. "As soon as the storm lets up and we can go back to life as usual we will be proceeding with her trial, as well as Asano Takeo's trial."

For some reason the thought as Takeo's trial fills me with such sadness. I feel as though Gaara has clamped a fist around my heart with his words. "They don't have much of a chance do they?"

"Of course not." Gaara says bluntly. At least he's honest, right? At the moment I find it hard to appreciate his honesty. I just want to sleep now, and forget it.

"I've told Temari not to assign you another bodyguard."

I look up in surprise. "You did?"

He nods. "I didn't think you would want anyone else, and after your display… It's obvious that you can take care of yourself. So until Luo regains consciousness know that you are on your own."

"I won't get to see him until the storm ends will I?" I ask quietly.

Gaara doesn't answer.

"Do you remember, when we were young…?" I start to talk, but I don't finish my sentence, because I'm not exactly sure what it is I wanted to say.

Gaara waits.

I shake my head, stare at my toes as I curl and uncurl them. "No, never mind." I pull my knees up to my chin and stare at the wall. "Do you think our troubles are over?" I ask him.

"No."

I turn to look at him and, probably just a trick of the light; it looks like he's smiling. Then he turns his face away, and I'm not even sure of that.

"I'd like to ask for your participation in this matter, if you are still willing to give it." He says flatly. I'd say he sounds like a politician, but it's too obvious that he's not lying. "It isn't over yet, and since you've done so much already, maybe you'll see this through to the end."

But I wonder what that is.