"Why can't we find her!?" Naruto wailed in distress as his hands clenched his hair tightly in worry, ripping a few golden strands away from his scalp. His eyes, crazed with his building emotions, were bloodshot and puffy from nights of crying and lack of sleep.

He looked over to his superior, the silver haired Blitzen, who was looking intently out the window and into the snowy night.

"I can't believe she's really gone…" a blonde said quietly from her spot at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of apple cider in her hands. It was Vixen, returned home from a day of fun and romance when an overwhelming sense of danger had gripped her and made her run back home as fast as she could. She had burst through the doors, demanding to know what had happened, only to realize that Dancer, the baby of the family, the reindeer that she was closest to, had disappeared. "How could this…happen?" she cried, breaking down into tears for the second time that day.

"Ino…" the brunette haired teen next to her said in despair, not wanting to see the girl he liked in such a painful state. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her to his chest. She immediately clenched his shirt and used it to cover her tears while she bawled into his chest.

"Shi…kamaru…" she whimpered through her bouts of crying. She thought of continuing what she was going to say, but no longer found the strength to move her mouth as her sadness engulfed her.

Everyone had known right away that their beloved little sister had been in trouble, the bond connecting them all had shown them that. It seemed to only make things worse, knowing that she was out there, alone, petrified, and in pain. The connection made it easier to find each other and relate to each other, but it was so vague at moments, it only made their imaginations take off to the most horrible of things happening to their friend.

It only made them despair more.

Yamato got up from his chair and walked slowly over to Kakashi, his arms crossed over his chest to keep the others from seeing him trembling in worry. He observed his friend with concern. The silver haired man had been staring out the window the moment he had come back home after loosing the scent of Sakura. He had not eaten, he had not drank, he had not slept, he just stood there, all his concentration focused on finding even the smallest trace of her. The brunette haired man sighed, opening his mouth to speak.

"Shall I call them back, Kakashi?" he asked. He was referring to Prancer and Dasher, or rather, Neji and Sasuke.

"Yeah, it's getting dark out. They must be exhausted." the man replied in a monotone, his eyes never leaving the outside world.

Yamato nodded.

The moment the pang of danger had run through everyone, and the situation had been understood that Dancer was in danger, everyone had been on edge, but positive and hopeful once Blitzen bolted out of the door to go get her, but when he returned empty handed with a distraught look on his face, everything had shattered. Sasuke would not accept that they couldn't find her, and had demanded that they all go out and look for her. Blitzen had ordered them not to, saying that it was too risky sending everyone out to look for her at the same time. If another one got in danger and needed to be saved, it would be extremely difficult to make it to them if they were all focused on finding the one. Sasuke had gone into hysterics at this, throwing around the furniture and yelling at the top of his lungs.

He was suffering the most out of everyone. He blamed himself for her disappearance.

It was him who had been insensitive and telling everyone that it was impossible to find their master, and this had formed a rift between everyone. Dancer, with her loyal nature, found no way to coup with the situation than to go look for him again.

If he hadn't said anything, if he had just remained calm… Dancer might not have gone missing.

Blitzen immediately understood what was going through his subordinate's mind, and so he had allowed him to look for her. Whether he left to look as Dasher or Sasuke, he wasn't sure. All Kakashi knew was that it was causing his comrade more damage to stay inside than to be in the outside world, and so he had let him go, only he had ordered the pale eyed Prancer, who's calm and composed nature would help keep Dasher in line, to accompany him as he searched.

They had left in the early morning, and the sun was already hidden behind the horizon.

Yamato closed his eyes, focusing his orders onto the two deer outside.

"Come back, we'll call it a night. This is an order from both Donner and Blitzen." he thought to them loudly, making sure they heard him no matter how far away they were.

Once done, Donner stared out the window with his comrade, one very painful question on his mind.

"Do you think…it's happened again?" he dared ask, his voice breaking.

Kakashi looked to his good friend, his eyes filled with just as much pain as his companions were, "Pray to whoever is listening that it hasn't. I don't think these kids will be able to handle it yet."

"I'm going to start descending now! Make sure to hold on tight!" Sakura said loudly in order to be heard over the rushing wind. Gaara nodded, clenching her copper coat tighter, but being sure not to hurt her.

The red haired man was quite surprised, though they were flying at an insanely fast speed, he didn't feel the effects of the wind at all. He wasn't cold, his eyes weren't feeling the stinging of the wind, the force of the air wasn't trying to throw him off the deer's back… The only evidence he had that they were actually moving was the blur of lights below and the swaying of his hair with each gallop the deer made.

There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't explain, it was like a fluttering, yet a hesitance, and then he remembered what it was.

Excitement.

The next thing he knew Sakura, or Dancer as he recalled, was trotting on the snowy ground, slowing down and stopping a few meters away from a large house in what appeared to be a forest. His eyes widened as he took it in.

It was a beautiful house, appearing to be built out of marble, or something like it. It was a three story building with Victorian styled characteristics, with extremely large windows on every floor, and a wide oak door as the entrance. The walls were clean and reflective, the windows clear and allowed him to somewhat see inside the house. There were lights on from most of the rooms, which reflected out the windows and brightened the snowy world outside.

"Are you able to get down from here, or do you want me to lay down?" the deer asked politely.

"Hn." Gaara replied as he gently swung his leg over and slid off of her back. He landed on the white blanketed ground, but immediately fell onto his butt. He was surprised, for his body was much more stiff than he had thought it would be. The observation of his body was interrupted by a strange sound. It appeared to be coming from somewhere above.

He looked up.

Gaara's eyes widened as the large window on the top floor burst open, and a person leapt out. It was three stories above the ground, but he leapt as though it was the most natural thing in the world. His arms were extended above his head and out of the way, his legs bending to prepare for the landing, his silver hair flying around him as he fell…

"Sakura!" the male yelled loudly, relief and anger in his voice. He landed on the ground with a soft sound, his feet barely submerging in the deep white snow.

"Kakashi!" Sakura called back, her voice filled with overwhelming happiness, and just as much relief as the man's had been. Her hand was clutched to her chest, her leg taking a step forward in an attempt to run to her friend, but she held herself back.

Gaara shook his head. He wasn't quite used to her changing into human form so fast.

That's when he realized what she was wearing. His large T-shirt. That was it. No shoes, no shorts, just the T-shirt. He suddenly felt a wave of concern for her. Was she cold? Was she going to get sick?

"Where were you? Are you okay? How are your wounds?" Kakashi was asking quickly as he ran over to the his pink haired comrade. He was extending his arms to encase her in a tight hug when he froze, staring directly at Gaara, his black eyes going wide.

"You…"

Gaara started feeling incredibly uneasy as the older man kept looking at him, and all he knew how to do was get defensive, so he sent the silver haired man a threatening glare.

"Kakashi! She's back! Is she okay!?" came a multitude of voices followed by other people pouring out of the mansion at a high speed. Most of them, Gaara was surprised, were people that looked as young as he did, younger even, except for one older man, who looked to be in his mid twenties, with brunette hair. This man walked forward, holding the younger ones back, and walked up right next to Kakashi.

The two looked at each other for a brief moment, Kakashi nodding to the brunette, and then, they did something that shocked him even more than their appearance.

The silver haired Kakashi and the brunette bent down, and knelt before him.

"Welcome home, Master."

"What do you want?" Gaara snarled, his glare somewhat disguised by the red hair in his eyes.

He was talking to the blonde haired boy who had been staring at him for the past ten minutes, his eyes filled with wonder and mischievous glimmers. The blonde was sitting next to him on the couch, his legs crossed on the cushion, his hand supporting his head with the help of his arm on his knee.

The boy looked like a complete idiot, a completely dense idiot.

"You're really him, right." the boy asked, a wide goofy grin plastered on his face. He had no reason to ask, for he could feel it in his chest, but he was so overwhelmed with awe to remember that.

Gaara said nothing to him, instead he just looked at the ground, his hands clenching the fabric of his pants tightly in his discomfort. He wasn't used to having so many people stare at him without fear in their eyes.

He felt defenseless.

"I'm Cupid, by the way. Cupid! But you can call me Naruto." the blonde laughed gleefully, as his hand scratched the back of his head in such a way that made him look even more idiotic than before.

"You know, I was expecting him to look completely different. Like, a fat old man with no sense of fashion… You know?" a blonde haired girl whispered to the tired looking brunette next to her. The brunette was sitting in a comfortable chair, a bored look on his face, while the girl was sitting on the armrest of the boy's chair, her long hair pulled back into a high ponytail. "Now that I've actually seen him…he looks kinda hot… Right, Shika?"

The brunette called "Shika" let his eyes lock on Gaara for a moment, before he looked to the side, away from the blonde girl. "So troublesome…" he yawned, a slight flustered tone to his voice. He didn't exactly want the girl he liked to call another guy hot, even if that guy was their master.

A slight movement by Gaara's leg caught his attention. He knew what it was, but he looked down none the less, down to the sight of the sleeping pink haired girl. Her knees were held to her chest by her arms, though she had let one fall to the carpeted floor in her tiredness. Her eyes were shut sweetly, her face resting against the redheads leg like a pillow. He didn't find it uncomfortable or disturbing in the least, in fact, it felt almost normal, and he had gotten used to it by now.

Sakura never left his side.

From the moment the rest had found the two outside, Sakura had been by him. In the house, as he was sternly trying to refuse eating the food that was offered of him, as he sat down in the living room… she had stayed next to him with a soft smile on her face.

She must have been exhausted… Gaara had thought, as he remembered the ordeal in the forest that had happened only yesterday.

"Sorry to interrupt," Kakashi said politely, yet seriously, as he popped his head from around the corner, "I need to speak with you privately, Master." He glanced at the red haired boy with reassuring eyes.

"Hn." he replied as he stood up, slowly in order to keep Sakura from waking up at the movement. He quickly followed the man out of the room.

They had entered a spare bedroom on the second floor, away from all the others, for some privacy. Kakashi had allowed Gaara to enter first, as a sign of respect, but also a sign of reassurance. He didn't want Gaara to feel any more uncomfortable than he had to be. He didn't want him to feel cornered and pressured by all the new information. Kakashi wanted to remind the boy that he had a free will of his own, and that they weren't forcing him to do anything. The room was simple; a small bed posted against the wall, a closet off in a corner on the opposite wall, a dresser at the wall by the foot of the bed, and a wooden chair set next to the closet, only a few feet away from the door.

The redhead noticed this right away, and chose the chair over the bed.

The silver haired reindeer said nothing to this, and took his seat on the bed.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions that you would like answered." the silver haired man said from where he sat on the blanketed mattress.

"Hn." Gaara said stoicly, trying his hardest not to reveal how much he was freaking out inside.

"I am sorry that it took so long for us to locate you. We had… I had," Kakashi corrected, "never expected you yourself to be reincarnated. Perhaps that's why it was so difficult to locate you. You're overall essence is the same, but your human aura smells so different…"

"Is that all you wanted to talk about." Gaara asked in a monotone, but slightly irritated that the man was avoiding the topic that was bugging him.

He sighed, closing his eyes, only to reopen them with a serious look directed at his master.

"When Sakura returned home with you, it was the happiest I have ever seen her," he started seriously.

"But?" the red haired master inquired.

"I don't think she's realized that you could refuse to take the position." he said, eyes staring intently at Gaara. "She is the most loyal of your deer, but that doesn't mean that you are as loyal to her. You are her master, and you don't have to do anything you don't want to, even if others ask it of you."

"So you want me to take into account her sensitive feelings?" Gaara asked simply.

Kakashi noded. "If you're going to refuse, please, be gentle about it. Now, do you have any questions?"

"What do you mean by reincarnated?" Gaara asked after a moment of thought.

Kakashi smiled a bit, glad that he decided to ask a question. "Reindeer do not age, but when our resolve wavers and we replace faith with doubt, we are reincarnated so that the deer may come back and do the job assigned to them. Out of all of us, Yamato and I are the oldest and have never been reincarnated, being Donner and Blitzen. After us is Neji- Prancer, Shikamaru- Comet, Ino- Vixen, Sasuke- Dasher, Naruto- Cupid, and then Sakura- Dancer, being the youngest. The more the deer are reincarnated, the younger we refer them to be."

"I thought you said Dancer was the most loyal." Gaara questioned, catching the laps in information.

The silver haired man sighed, a distant look overcoming his eyes. "Dancer is a difficult case. She is your most loyal, there is no doubt about that, but she has been reincarnated twelve times, the most out of everyone else. However, this is not due to her losing faith."

Gaara tried to protest, not liking the contradictories of the story, but Kakashi cut him off.

"She is the only case that it has happened to, but with each instance of reincarnation, it was because of one thing…"

Gaara waited patiently for the answer.

"Dancer died."