Misa helped Sakura home that night and left her at the door, waving goodbye as she faded into the night with Setsuna. Sakura stared after them for a moment, wondering about their relationship, but mostly thinking about Setsuna's condition. He fascinated her; a medical anomaly – she couldn't wait to examine him.
She shook herself and let herself in to her apartment. It was eerily silent inside, especially compared to her apartment in Konoha. Konoha itself was a louder city than Suna; there were always bugs chirping, or birds calling, not to mention the constant buzzing of people and traffic at all hours of night and day. In Suna, Sakura had noticed, the most constant sound was the wind. In Konoha too, there was wind, but it wasn't the same at all. In Konoha the wind was tempered by the leaves it blew through, slowed by the thick, humid air. In Suna the wind was pure and its voice had a sharper edge to it.
Sakura stumbled forward as she realized she had been standing in the doorway, thinking about wind, for some time now. She couldn't hear it anymore from here anyway; this apartment was much more solidly built than her old one had been. The walls were too thick for any noise from the streets to filter in. She couldn't even hear her neighbours anymore.
She smiled as she fell into bed, after having peeled off her outer layer of clothing. How strange, she thought, to not hear her neighbours. How odd, not to be heard by them.
Last night the silence had kept her awake, but tonight she had no trouble falling into a deep sleep.