Well, even though in the last chapter i said "WHERE IT ALL ENDED..." this isn't the last chapter. Lolz. HEY! I HEARD YOU SAY "NOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

The forest was deathly still and showed no sign of aany akatsuki member.

Her heart pounded faster and faster. The wind whipped across her face, her short hair streaming behind her. Her light, circumspect footsteps became a loud, roaring voice in her ear.

Her foot caught against a tree trunk root. She found herself falling. She hit the ground, hard. And before she knew it, he was there.

"I thought you had been disposed of," he murmured.

Girls would name you chick.

You fly like what I'm feeling

Get it out play tricks.

Addicted to my body

You dreamed of happy end

After all, why don't you understand?

She got up, puffing hard. "Where's Gaara!" she screamed. He didn't reply. He turned on his heels, and ran. "Wait!" she called after the enigma. She ran after him, feet thudding against the cold bristly grass.

He glanced behind his back, smirking. "He's leading me somewhere----I know it," she thought. They turned a sharp corner, and he disappeared.

Shut up get out of here; don't cry it jealous

I never thought of me and you my dear

Shut up get out of here; you've got to loose your fear

I know your mom will cheer you up my dear.

Shut up get out of here; why don't you disappear.

I never thought of me and you my dear.

Here we go again

She looked around and cursed. She paced a few steps and suddenly was hit with a wooden surface. Knocked against her was a puppet figure of...

"Gaara?"

The puppet danced around, merrily. Almost as if he was in a trance. She chased after him. His hand bobbed and his feet swayed. It was like he was in a dream. "Stop!" she cried. He turned around and opened his puppet-mouth. About 5 kunai knives shot up in the air. She jumped back, barely missing the blades.

Was this the real Gaara? Or a fraud created by him..?

Me and my cold angel

And you the fool for love

You look like George the second.

You were not good enough

Addicted to my body

You dreamed of happy end

After all, why don't you understand?

Shut up get out of here; don't cry it jealous tears

I never thought of me and you my dear

Shut up get out of here; you've got to loose your fear

I know your mom will cheer you up my dear.

Shut up get out of here; why don't you disappear.

I never thought of me and you my dear.

(Here we go again)

She clutched her throbbing chest. "Release," she huffed. Nothing occurred, except a fog of purple gas clouded the scene.

Poison…

She clamped her mouth shut. The Gaara puppet lay on the floor, no apparent chakra strings attached to it. She picked it up, and started to run out of the forest.

When she tumbled out of the bushes on the exterior side, she coughed and hacked. Her throat felt very sore and itchy.

Had she been inflicted with the poison?

She'd have to take her chances with the one puppet master she knew and Gaara's one brother…

…Kankuro.

The journey to the sand village was very perennial. And after all the chasing she did in the forest, she wanted to lie down and rest. But she was crossing the desert, and the sun beated angrily down at her.

In sight, she saw two troops of sand ninja, commandeered by Temari, stretching and doing excercises for the next mission. They were about a mile away. Her feet shuffled against the sizzling sand, and she felt very light-headed.

Temari saw her in sight, and gave a welcome wave. Sakura lifted her arm up to wave back, but she collapsed on the floor instead. Her thoughts droned out. Her vision went blurry. And the last thing she could faintly, inaudibly hear was Temari crying, "SAKURA!"

Sakura found herself sitting on a sickbed at the sand's hospital. Temari was next to Chiyo-baasama, talking to the doctors. When they saw she finally came to, a nurse came up to her. "Haruno Sakura of the Leaf Village, you have just survived a stroke, and you are dehydrated." The nurse informed her as she handed her a water bottle.

"We also found that you have some poison in your body. You might feel numb for a couple of days, but I think we removed enough of it to keep you alive,"

Sakura frowned, her temples scrunched up. "Oh…and Kankurou-sama has requested dinner with you," she added.

Kankurou…had requested dinner with me?

"Be at the central hall at 8:00," she said. Sakrua glanced at the digital watch sitting next to her sick bed. It read 6:52.

"How long have I been OUT?" she asked.

"About one day…"

"Oh no---!"

THAT MEANS TOMORROW I AM GOING TO BE SASORI'S!!!

"This young lad will escort you to the room you will be staying over in tonight," she pointed to a slender teenager boy with brown wavy locks of hair. He had his hands in his pockets, and his shirt was soaked in sweat.

As he took Sakura to her room, he would always avoid eye-contact with her or if she spoke to him, he looked away and shyly blushed. Wow, him and Hinata would have made a good couple Sakura giggled at her thought.

She entered her room. It was like a palace fit for a princess. The curtains were a crimson scarlet, and the matching king-sized bed and sofa set had golden swirls of embroidery.

How come Gaara didn't live here?

Two maids came into the room and handed Sakura a black, long sleeved dress and a pink ribbon to tie her hair up. "Wear these, mistress," one said. Sakura looked confused, but assured she would.

She slipped on the silky dress and it trailed down to her feet. She wore high-heeled boots and tied the ribbon on her head, the same way Ino had done it for her when they were little.

She was escorted by the same boy into the central hall. Kankurou was seated at the far end of the table, wearing a tuxedo. Temari was to the left of him, standing up, a worried expression on her face.

"Hello," Kankurou got up and bowed.

"Hey, whassup Kank," Sakura replied in a way the least bit appropriate.

Kankurou grinned and made a gesture for her to be seated. A pile of exquisite dishes lay on the table, steaming. Sakura caught some drool dribbling down and quickly wiped it with a napkin.

"I wanted to ask you something very important," he said, his voice steady. "Go ahead," Sakura said.

"I want to know why the mark of the red sands was on your back…" he said

Sakura dropped the fork and knife she was holding. "Look at this," he twiddled with his fingers and Kuroari, one of his puppets, poofed out. He showed Sakura the mark on Kuroari''s neck, which was a red scorpion on top of a yellow-ish sandy surface.

Sakura gasped. "It's a long story," she whined.

"Well then," Kankuro put down his fork and knife and pushed away his plate with a smirk, "…start talking,"

It's about time i wrote a long chapter, eh?

Since i worked extra hard on this, can you give me a review?

Please?