A/N: Hey hey hey folks, back with a new chapter! Waaaay sooner than I expected actually. First off, I want to thank you all for reading! As well as all your reviews/alerts/favorites - they are VERY much appreciated. I love reading them, so by all means keep it up ;) Anyways, let's get to it - enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: The oh-so wonderful world of Naruto and its characters do not belong to me. The characters however, that you do not recognize, do. :)


I stood there as still as one could in the midst of violent winds - which really, wasn't still at all.

The young Kazekage that stood in front of me on the other hand, didn't find it all that difficult. He was the very vision of calm and stillness. The only things moving amidst this storm were his clothes. I wasn't even sure his hair was moving. In fact, it probably wasn't.

The grains of sand that stubbornly clung to my face and skin slowly began to lift from my body.

They hovered over my skin only for a moment before being violently taken by the wind. It was a beautiful process to watch, that I almost didn't mind that they clung to my skin so stubbornly.

I watched Gaara carefully as he continued to do this, the expression on his face completely placid. As if what he was doing was nothing to him - and I didn't doubt that it was. But truly, I knew that this sort of thing, it required a lot of concentration.

Controlling large bodies of sand was a lot less complicated than controlling one, single, grain of sand. For a novice, it was next to impossible. But for someone as advanced as Gaara seemed to be - it was cake. Strength was something I could tell came easily to him; and he had a lot of it. You don't become a Kage for no reason after all.

It wasn't until he gestured for me to follow him that he dropped my gaze.

So, he was helping me escape.

I didn't know what to think. The only thing I could muster up was confusion - but I wasn't about to reject his help. Not following him would have me lost in this storm for as long as it lasted, and that could very well be hours. By then, I'd be probably be nothing but a hump in a large body of sand.

Slowly, I followed him through the dome of sand that he created. A pathway through one of the worst sand storms I have ever witnessed in this village. Or at least...it looked like it was. I'm not going to lie, when the weather got temperamental out here, I had the tendency to stay inside and avoid it at all costs. And it was a good idea that I did too, I don't know if I would still be living here if every time I left the house I was bombarded by a barrage of sand to my mouth, eyes and ears. Believe me when I say, that that experience will not be missed.

Luckily for me, I didn't even need to cover my face anymore. The sand no longer touched me. I craned my neck above and watched as the sand hovered far over my head, always rising and falling - appearing as if the dome was going to give out and collapse at any given moment. But...it never did.

We continued walking for what seemed like several minutes. Not a single word exchanged, or a single glance spared. It was sort of difficult anyway, seeing as how I was walking directly behind him in a sand dome of his own creation. Though, it wasn't something I minded, as it gave me time to formulate answers to the inevitable questions that filled my mind.

Naturally, I wanted to know why he saved me. Yes, he's the Kazekage - but still. How did he find me? How did he even think or know to look out here? Was it a coincidence? The area of Suna I chose to train in was about as recluse a place you could ever think of. If I had somehow died out there, the potential of finding my body would be as close to zero as you could possibly get.

Or, perhaps I was getting a little too ahead of myself. Why would I even assume he was looking for me? He doesn't even know who I am. Well, he might, but I'm praying hard that he doesn't. That could be very bad for me. Especially in a village like Suna. When I was a kid growing up in Iwagakure, I was constantly reminded of their feud with Suna. The village people frequently spoke of Suna's cruelty and unorthodox way of handling missions. They were notorious for valuing a mission's completion over the very lives of their shinobi. Though, I can't say Iwa was really any better - whatever the Tsuchikage said, was set in stone. Even if it meant death.

But I have to admit, for the four years I've lived here, even though I've actively not participated in village politics and society (by choice), I've never once seen evidence of this alleged cruelty. Either I'm too much of a hermit to notice this stuff anyway, or things have seriously changed since Gaara took the reigns in this village. And I was hoping it was the latter rather than the the former.

I crashed into something hard, and boy, was it painful. It wasn't until all the profanities escaped my mouth did I realize that I had bumped into the young Kazekage himself. He had stopped walking, and me, completely occupied with my own thoughts, had thrown my face right into the giant gourd on his back. Which, with another glance looked as if it was as big as me.

"Uh, sorry! I hadn't realized we stopped." I apologized as I attempted to soothe my throbbing face. I was going to look like hell tomorrow.

"I stopped. It was you who didn't."

Embarrassment. That was all I could feel. As if my face wasn't red and inflamed enough, he just had to go and make it worse.

"Heh, sorry - again...Kazekage-sama, thank you for helping me out there, you're a lifesaver." I bowed respectfully.

He didn't respond, or even looked at me for that matter. What he did do though was finally drop the dome we were walking in. I was shocked to see that the storm that was raging not too long ago, had completely stopped. In fact, we weren't even in the outskirts of the village anymore...we were in town. More specifically, right in front of the Kazakage's office building.

Why would he take me here...?

The office building was located at the very center of the village. It was a spherical structure with dozens of windows that adorned the circumference of the structure. At the very center of the building itself, was the Wind symbol written in kanji on a circular slab at the center. It appeared as if the building was resting in a deep pit, as the outside of the structure was dug out. It resembled a castle and a mote - minus the water. It was beige, in every sense of the word. It was vast, sure, but it also wasn't particularly anything special to look at either. Beige.

I, myself have never stepped foot in it, or near it for that matter. I had no reason to, nor did I want to. You had better believe that I wanted to keep it that way.

My face became hot, and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure spiked a few points in the process. Wouldn't it have been more practical to bring me into the main area of the village instead of dragging me into the very center of it? Unless of course, he wanted to speak to me...and there's no better place for that than his very own office.

My jaw tightened as I took in the building before me.

On cue, as if sensing my discomfort, Gaara turned his face to the side and spoke, "Please, follow me."

Even his polite use of 'please' wasn't even enough to quell my nerves. As it shouldn't, because if it did, I'd be an idiot. Here I was, in possibly the worst place in the entire village (considering my circumstances), with the worst possible person.

This is exactly the sort of position Sasuke was talking about. A situation he definitely would not be able to get me out of. He could never get me out of this rut without revealing who he truly was - and I would never expect him too. Things didn't need to snowball anymore than they should.

Me, on the other hand, I was starting to regret letting Gaara help me. Sand in my mouth didn't sound so awful at the moment. In fact, it seemed pretty nice.

For a split second I thought about running.

But quickly thought against it. What if he truly didn't know who I was, and just wanted to have a little talk with me? I would just make the situation worse. At the same time, why else would he need to speak to me other than the fact that he knew who I was? I had so many questions, and in no way could I even begin to answer them all. Not on my own. I would just have to wait and find out, even if it caused me my life.

We walked through the threshold of the large building, and passed a pair of guards at the door. They respectfully greeted and bowed at their young leader, while Gaara barely nodded in return. Within several feet, we approached a long winding staircase that was pretty damn intimidating to look at. I can't even imagine how awful it was to climb it. Luckily for me, I was about to find out.

Goddamn, why didn't they build his office on the main floor?

By the time we reached the top of the staircase, I was huffing and puffing. Shinobi or not, those stairs were outrageous and should've been demolished a long time ago. For a few seconds I wondered how many people almost died venturing up them, including myself.

Gaara, however, didn't even break a sweat. Of course. There were a lot of things he could do I noticed, that didn't require a lot of effort. Life was so incredibly unfair.

Gaara waved off the guards at this office door, and they bowed and walked away. Well, that was a good sign I supposed - he didn't appear to need them. Unless, he was completely capable of handling the 'situation' on his own. Which, he probably was. I've never seen the Kazekage in a full out fight, but surely it didn't take much to realize what he was capable of.

We walked into his office, still as silent as ever. It was definitely a lot smaller than I imagined it, and not nearly as spectacular. But I supposed if the building itself wasn't all that jaw-dropping, the same could be said for the inside as well. Even the areas the Kazekage took temporary refuge in was nothing special.

Gaara removed his gourd from his back, and placed it against the wall directly behind his desk. Another good sign.

He quietly took a seat in his medium sized chair and looked at me expectantly, "Have a seat."

As I pulled out a chair to sit on, my eyes darted around the room quickly and as subtly as possible. Memorizing every design, possible exit and window I could use if it came to that. And by the way things were looking now, I wanted to be prepared.

I placed my hands in my lap close to my weapons and waited for him to speak.

For a while he didn't say a word, he just sat there with his eyes trained on mine. As if he was examining, reading me. It was uncomfortable, and I really didn't know where he got off just staring at people like that. Didn't he realize it was rude? Something told me he didn't care. He was the Kazekage after all, he could do whatever the hell he pleased. Even if it meant not having any manners. I suppose you could say he was immune to the rules of social interaction.

"What's your name?"

"Isaaru."

"Your full name."

"Esuna Isaaru."

A few seconds went by.

"You're related to the woman who runs the tea shop?"

"Yes, she's my aunt."

He nodded subtly. If he didn't believe me, he didn't show it.

I noticed he had a way of speaking that was very slow - almost lifeless - but to the point. It wasn't frightening no, but it had the right amount of intimidation that didn't allow for someone to take him lightly. He wanted the person he was addressing to know that age wasn't a factor here; and it worked. The odd dark contours around his eyes didn't make it any easier either.

"How long have you been living here?"

"About four years."

"Where were you before that?"

This is was the line of questioning I was hoping to avoid. Yes, I've answered these questions a hundred times over - but only to simple villagers. People who only wanted to know out of sheer curiosity, not because they were interrogating me. To be honest, I still didn't know if that was what was going on here.

"Uji, a small village east of this country." It was true, I did live in Uji before Suna so it wasn't necessarily a lie. But I'm sure he was trying to figure out the village in which I was birthed, and that - he was most definitely not going to get.

He made a sound, whether it was of satisfaction or skepticism I couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry, but with all due respect Kazekage-sama, what is with all these questions?" I was irritated now, because he still had not revealed anything about my visit here. The only thing he had managed to accomplish was make me uneasy. And I hated that feeling. For a control freak, it was a hard emotion to accept.

He didn't answer me, instead he chose to rise from his chair and turn his back on me. He was looking out one of the many windows he had in his office. I had to admit, from what I could see, it wasn't a bad view.

"Do you like it here?"

Okay so, not only did he turn his back on his guests, but he also ignored their questions too. I really wondered if he could possibly get any ruder. I had my moments yes, but, really? This was too much. Perhaps we could get to point already?

"Yes, yes I do." There was an impolite edge in my voice, "Why is this important?"

There was a long silence.

"...You, are probably wondering how I found you before."

Hmm yeah, you could say that question is pretty up there on my list! Goddamn, this guy was worse than Sasuke.

"You could say that."

He still continued to look out the window.

"I followed you."

Well there's something that never loses its creepiness.

"Ah, why...would you do that?"

This guy was really starting to scare me. I mean if I was uncomfortable before, then I was most certainly skeeved out now. His line of questioning made absolutely no sense, and still to this moment I had no idea why the heck I was sitting here.

"You know him," Gaara slowly turned his face to the side, "don't you?" It was more of a statement, rather than a question.

I felt all the color leave my face in that instant.

My mouth went dry, my heart was pounding hard against my chest and it was as if I could hear it pounding even harder in my ears. My palms were suddenly wet and trembling and the hairs at the back of my neck and arms, were standing on edge.

Everything that was happening right now, was everything a shinobi should not be doing. We were supposed to have all our emotions in check. Mask our emotions from our enemies so they can't use them as a weakness. Even the slightest outward feeling could be a bust. And here I was, breaking all the rules.

You have got to get a grip Isaaru, damn it, breathe.

My features glazed over, "Know who, sir?"

"He's living here in the village isn't he." Another statement.

"Kazekage-sama, I don't know what or who you're talking about."

Gaara seemingly sighed from his position at the window, turned around and took his seat at his desk again. This time he wasn't looking directly at me.

"You don't have to lie...I don't care about that. But you should know though," He looked up slowly, "there's very little in this village that I don't know about."

I didn't say a word. Even if I did know what to say, my mouth would never open anyway. I felt like I was going into shock.

"That's not why you're here," I relaxed a little, and he seemed to notice. He took my silence as a cue to to go on, "I was watching you train out there...it was, rather impressive."

"Thanks, I guess."

"I went out there with the intention to tell you to leave this village indefinitely." He looked at me intently, "I don't need to be held responsible for knowingly harboring Missing-Nin, as the consequences to this village are grave. We have good ties with Konoha, and we are on somewhat good terms with Iwa - so I'm sure you understand how this is serious."

Well, he knew I was from Iwagakure, that's for sure. His mention of my home wasn't by coincidence. And now more than ever I was sure he knew about Sasuke and I, there was no mistaking it. It wasn't a fluke.

"You are wanted internationally - especially after that stunt you two pulled seven years ago in Konoha." He wasn't joking, he really did know everything.

I chuckled humorlessly, "So I guess this is my cue to go ghost then, right?"

"I'm not so sure anymore."

He, wasn't sure anymore? "What do you mean?" I was confused. His actions should be easy: either throw us out on our asses and let the task forces outside the gates finish us off, or get rid of us here and now. He wasn't doing either, and I had no idea why. Besides that, he's already had a couple opportunities to do so. All of which he's thrown away thus far.

"I could have disposed of you yesterday," My thoughts exactly.

By this point, I had already accepted my fate. I realized very quickly that this wasn't going to turn out pretty. Gaara knew absolutely everything worth knowing about this situation so there was no hiding anything now. It was all just a waste a time. Everything that was going to happen from this point on was up to him. Gaara pulled the strings now.

"Then why didn't you?"

"I have other plans now."

Other plans?

Now it was just a matter of figuring out if these other plans were in my favor or not.

For some reason, I doubted that they were.