I explained everything to him. The drought came first of course, being the thing that caused all this. It led to my mission, the first, failed one, and then this one. I told him all about the trial of Takeo and his team. I told him about my job at the hospital, even though that wasn't all that important. I just wanted to tell him everything. I wanted to tell him how much I missed him, but I didn't. It didn't seem right somehow, because he felt like he had just seen me the day before, and I haven't seen him for… for too long.

I tell him about my dreams, but not Gaara's. Those are not mine to tell. When I told Naruto about the dreams he finally responded, saying he had a similar experience, with a blue demon.

"But I guess that was real, wasn't it?" he asks. He has that look of extreme confusion on his face, where his eyes get all squinty and his lip juts out past his toes. "It seemed too crazy to be real."

I can sympathize, and I do. He tells me just to keep going, so I tell him the rest. I tell him about Luo, sort of. I tell him how he was my bodyguard, and how he saved my life that night we were attacked in my room. I tell him that I trusted Luo, and that he might have betrayed that trust, but nothing is certain.

Gaara snorts as this part, and I round on him angrily. "What? It's true; nothing is certain. Sure, we saw Luo back there – but that was just a fake. Anyone could have made a double of him and sent it there."

Gaara shrugs and keeps walking. Naruto is staring between Gaara and me. "What the heck is going on, you guys?" he asks again.

"Nothing." I say. Gaara shrugs again, and I continue my story. I tell Naruto about my students. He especially seems to like this part, and asks me what they're like.

I tell him about the murder last. How Takeo and Kimura were murdered, just when their trial was nearing a close. And how I was under suspicion, because I was the one they hurt.

"Well that's stupid." Naruto says. "You would never do something like that!"

I put an arm around his shoulders and laugh. "Well, sure, you know that. But people here don't know me like you do."

He shrugs. We've been walking for a long time now. The sun rose a few hours ago; it wouldn't be wise to continue any further today, and I tell Gaara so.

He looks back at me, then back out to the horizon impatiently. "There's something wrong in the city." he says. His impatience is written all over his body, in the tense line of his shoulders, his legs ready to run. But Naruto is tired, despite what he said earlier about feeling like he's rested a long time. He has rested a long time; it's true, too long. His muscles aren't used to moving anymore.

"We have to stop." I argue. "If we get there and we're exhausted, we'll be useless if we have to face an enemy."

Gaara looks at me then back out again. He makes a small, uncharacteristic noise of annoyance, almost inaudible. I'm pretty sure that Naruto missed it.

Naruto flops down in the sand, and I lay down beside him. Gaara sits down a little ways away, aloof. Seeing him withdraw like that hurts, even though it's not like we were close before. I don't know why it should hurt. For some reason I want to get up and stand beside him, and remind him of the time we ate noodles in my room. I want to tell him that yesterday as I watched the sun rising on his face I think I… I fell in love.

I shake my head and turn back to Naruto as I realize he's been talking and I haven't heard a word he said.

"-Because when I woke up this morning, when you woke me up, I felt great! Better than I've felt in a long time, but now… I just feel weak." He pouts. "I'm not used to feeling weak."

I pat his shoulder. "Well I am." I tell him, half joking, "And you get used to it."

Naruto looks at me with that old, intense look on his face. "You're not weak Sakura." he says. "You're really strong, and better than that – you're smart. There are lots of strong people in the world, but there aren't many as smart as you."

I snort. "Are you sure you're ok? You sound kind of crazy – not like you at all."

He blows air out loudly through his lips, up into his hair. "I'm just so tired…" He closes his eyes and within moments he is snoring loudly.

I look back at Gaara. He's still sitting with his back turned to us, looking in the direction of the city.

"What was she, do you think?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "You should rest." he tells me, and is silent. I shake my head at him, and turn my back to him. If he wants to be that way, fine. We don't have to talk. What good is talk anyway?

It's just that… I want to talk.

"Sakura I'm sorry. Can we please just talk?"

I sit up and face Luo. Wrong person; not the one I wanted to talk to. But he's here and... Naruto is still snoring loudly beside me, and Gaara is still sitting over there, with his back turned to me. He hasn't even reacted to Luo's appearance.

"You're still asleep." Luo tells me, knowing already what I'm thinking. "I'm not really here, not physically. But I really do want to talk, this is real enough."

"Fine then let's talk."

He smiles, his usual dazzling smile. No wonder I thought I was in love.

"Good."

I wait for him to explain himself, but he just keeps smiling. His smile slips a little as I wait. "I… I kind of figured you would have questions to ask me."

I can't help smiling at him. "Do you ever plan anything?"

He shrugs. "You do have questions, don't you? You wondering why I…"

"Yeah, I'm wondering why. I was wondering 'if' too for a while. I still am, a little."

He sighs. "I guess I didn't really give you much warning."

"Much warning? How about no warning at all? One minute you tell me you love me, the next minute you've murdered two people and left me all alone!"

He flinches under my outburst. "I know. I'm sorry! I just…" he turns to me and takes my hands in his. "I do love you, you know. And I was…I didn't really have a choice. I would have stayed if I had a choice."

"You always have a choice Luo."

"You're right. You're always right." He says, letting go of my hands and putting his head in his hands. He looks so sad and worn out, I just want to hug him. But I don't.

"I didn't kill Takeo and Kimura." he says, almost as an aside. 'Oh, by the way, I didn't murder those two people.'

"Neither did I." I say dryly, "But I was still suspected."

He shrugs. "What can you do?"

I nudge his shoulder with mine, feeling a wave of fondness for him. No matter what trouble it is he's gotten himself into, I still like Luo. Right now I feel less like a lover to him than a big sister, or his mother even. "So if you didn't kill them," I ask, "then who did?"

"I can't tell you that." he says, refusing to look me in the eye.

I sigh deeply. "We're not going to get anywhere like this."

"I know. I'm sorry." He apologizes again. "But I really can't tell you. I have an obligation, of a sort."

"Ok fine, let's move on. Now that 'if' has been ruled out, how about you tell me why." I suggest gently. "And maybe you could explain exactly what happened back there too."

"It's not over." he says quietly.

"I know." I answer. I feel like I've known for a long time, like the whole time I've been in this country my subconscious has been telling me that something is wrong. I guess this is it.

"It's because of him." Luo says, gesturing at Gaara with his chin. He doesn't look at me as he goes on. "I don't believe in him; too many of us don't. He can't be the Kazekage - the leader of our country. That man is a monster. How can he love our people when he doesn't even love his own family? A man who loves death like he does can't love a country the way our leader needs to."

"I… I…" I try to think of something to say, but nothing will come.

Luo turns and smiles at me. "I know you don't agree with me. You don't want to believe he's a monster because you love him."

I open my mouth to disagree, but he keeps talking.

"You don't have to lie to me anymore. It was my job to know you remember? I knew before you even admitted it."

"Psh." I push his shoulder playfully, despite the pain in my chest. "You're so full of yourself."

He shakes his head and smiles crookedly. He's upset. "Nah. If I was really full of myself I'd be telling you that you love me. As it is…"

"I'm sorry Luo." I say, faced with a sudden realization. This isn't real; it never was. "I don't love you."

"I know." He replies, and pats my hand, scrunched up in a fist on my knee. "I always knew, I just hoped… Well anyway, that's never going to happen now. I doubt there's much chance of us getting back together after all this."

I smile ruefully and shake my head. "I'm sorry it ended up like this."

"Me too." he agrees. I ruffle his hair with my hand, and he turns to me abruptly, to kiss me. I let him do so, feeling only the ghost of his touch before the dream fades away.

I sit up and look at Gaara's back. It's still daylight, and Naruto is still sleeping. I feel oddly light. Sort of free. I get up and stand behind Gaara, watching the horizon with him. For all the things I've found out here, in the desert, I thank it. For the peace I've finally gained.

"Are you ready to go?" Gaara asks.

"Of course." I answer, turning to glance at Naruto. "But I'm not the one we're waiting for."

He shrugs and turns back around.

"What do you think is waiting for you in the city, that you need to get back so quickly?"

He shrugs again. "I'm not sure. I just feel like something is wrong." We both fall quiet for a long time then, until he speaks again. "This isn't your battle you know."

"What do you mean?" I ask, obscurely offended that he would shrug me off too.

"It's my fight. You don't have to get involved."

I crouch down beside him; almost close enough to touch his shoulder, but not quite. "This is hardly just your fight anymore. I think if anything happens now, it's going to involve a lot of people. And I just happen to be one of them, so there's no stopping me now."

It might just have been my imagination, or my silly girlish hopes, but I'm pretty sure I saw Gaara smile.