Gaara was sitting in his room meditating when his sister Temari walked in. "Uh hey Gaara," she said slightly awkward. Ever since their return from the Leaf Village Gaara had tried to form better relationships with his siblings. It was working for the most part however they were still slightly wary of him which was to be expected. "What is it that you need?" Gaara asked his sister. Temari rubbed the back of her neck grinning sheepishly "Well Baki was wondering if you could deliver this scroll to one of the outside villages in the Wind," Temari said handing him a scroll "There were said to be a lot of sandstorms recently so Baki thought it would be safer to send you." Gaara blinked before nodding standing up and walking past Temari in order to pack his things for the trip.

"And Gaara?" Temari asked causing Gaara to turn around and stare at her expectantly "be careful out there okay? you may be powerful but your still my little brother." Gaara stared at her in slight shock before his expression changed into a slight smile "I will," he said curtly before walking to his room to pack his things. As he was packing the essentials (food, water, vitamins) he couldn't help but stare. His bed was neat and looked like it hadn't been touched in years (which it probably hadn't seen as he didn't sleep) and had small cobwebs sticking out on it. Gaara's eyes widened slightly when he saw a small butterfly stuck in the web. Gaara walked over gently grabbing the butterfly in his hand before walking over to his window and releasing it.

"Uh, Gaara?" Gaara turned to see his brother Kankuro staring at him. It was obvious he had seen what he just did. Gaara looked at him with his usual stoic look. "Baki was wondering if you were ready to go?" Gaara nodded before following after his brother. They walked in silence not knowing what to say to one another until Kankuro broke it. "So uh nice weather we are having today," Kankuro said before immediately wincing at the awkwardness of that statement. "Yes it is...pleasant," Gaara stated causing Kankuro to sigh with relief. The two remained in a more comfortable silence after that.

When they finally arrived at the gate they were met by Temari and Baki who were obviously waiting for him. "I hope you finish this as soon as possible," Baki told him "we have much to discuss upon your return. Gaara nodded before turning to face his siblings "see you later," he told them. Kankuro gave him a crooked smile before ruffling his hair playfully "take care little bro," Gaara gave him a light smile. If Gaara was still the same person he once was he would have killed Kankuro for not only touching him but for calling him 'little bro' as well. "I will," Gaara said before turning off and walking into the harsh desert.

He had been walking for hours when he discovered a small crack in one of the rocks. Curious Gaara walked towards it. The rock looked fairly average but the crack, on the other hand, looked completely unnatural. Gaara gently ran his hand over the crack "it's warm," he said pulling his hand back a thoughtful look on his face. "It almost feels alive." Gaara went to run his hand over it again when he felt a strange pulling sensation coming from the crack. Silghtly paniced Gaara went to pull his hand back but found that he couldn't. Gaara was about to call his sand to crush the rock and hopefully the crack with it when he felt the tugging sensation tug him into the crack.

As he was falling through the crack he saw millions of shapes and colours. What was happening to him? When he finally landed he studied his suroundings before sighing with relief. it appeared the crack didn't take him anywhere. "It must have been a Genjustsu or something," he said rubbing his head before standing up. "You're wrong sand brat!" the cheerful voice of Shukaku said finally making himself known. Gaara frowned."What do you mean by that?" Gaara asked the tailed beast in his head. The beast snorte "That crack was a soft spot between the spirit world and the real world or one of them when you touched it it sensed your spiritual energy aka me and sucked ya right in!" he said in his normal sadistic voice. Gaara looked around "this does not looked like the spirit world nor does it have spirits are you sure you are correct?" Shukaku seemd to fume at that "I wasn't finished yet you ungratful brat! anyway once you got in the spirit world it sensed your puny human life force and spat you back out in another dimension!" shukaku growled.

Gaara couldn't help but let out a snort "and lets pretent that I actually believe you which I don't where do you suppose we are?" Shukaku seemed to think "Well given the energy signitures I can sense I would say we are in that puny benders universe" "Bender?" "Yeah the people hear have the ability to bend one element depending on where they live," Gaara frowned slightly suspicious "You're being odly helpful today." Shukakusniffed "Well excuse me if I don't want my host to go running around with out a clue and embarissing me in front of the other spirits, besides we share the same body whatever happens to you happens to me too."

Gaara nodded excepting his answer for now and began to walk. Their was no use standing here when he could at least try and get out of the desert before figuring out a way home. The heat from the sun barely bothere him considering he grew up in a desert. If anything deserts made him comfortable because of all the sand. Gaara frowned when he heard a loud roaring noise followed by shouting. Curious Gaara descided to investigate. Gaara closed one eye and sent his sand out to find out what was happening. It seemed that a group of people, male going by appearance were trying to drag a large animal through the desert while two more were trying to force a mussel on the large creature. Gaara canceled his jutsu opening his eye once more with a slight gleam. Although he had no desire to kill these men the fought of fighting always did excite him.

Without a word Gaara walked towards the group of men and the large creature. When the men finally noticed him they seemed to smirk. One man stepped forward obviously the leader and smirked down at him patronizingly "hey kid how about you give us everything you got and we forget about you interupting out business eh?" Gaara narrowed his eyes at the man "Business? this does not look like business to me it looks like kidnapping and it is my duty as a ninja to stop you." The men around him laughed "you stop us? if you hadn't noticed we outnumber you ten to on-" the man's eyes widened in horror when he noticed a giant wave of sand coming towards him and his men. "Sand Tsunami!" Gaara shouted sending the wave of sand towards them. The men tried to bend it away but were unsuccessful and were buried under the sand with just their heads sticking out. "Oh come on Gaara! Kill them! Kill them all! you saw what they were doing with that animal! they deserve it!" "No" Gaara told Shukaku as he walked towards the men "if what you've told me about these benders is true than their skills are barely above a civillians which means I will not kill them, i will not be that person anymore." Shukaku seemed to pout "Buzzkill you never let me have any fun!" he said before going deep in his mind to sulk.

Gaara stopped a couple of meters away from the men. "B-but how we tried to bend the sa-" "my sand is no ordinary sand," he told them "my sand is directly connected to me making it unbendable to anyone but myself," Gaara gave them a cold look "If I was the same person I was a month ago I would have killed all of you but as you can see I am not so I will let you live on one condition," Gaara glared at them "Never steal or try to hurt anyone again or I will find you and end your miserable lives." Gaara released the men causing them to scamper off. Gaara turned to face the creature they wre trying to smuggle and found himself licked by a giant tongue. Gaara flinched at the contact but gently petted the supposably gentle giant.

"You seem to have been out in the desert for a long time," Gaara said noting the small bits of stand stuck to the animals fur "are you firsty?" Gaara asked making a small bowl out of his sand before pouring some water on it. Gaara then layed it in front of the animal who drank quickly "Slowly," Gaara told the animal "You must savour it." The animal looked at him and seemed to nod before drinking much slowly. Gaara looked up and saw that the sun was starting to set. Living in the desert all his life Gaara knew it was about to get very cold. Gaaras gently grabbed the lead of the animal "Come it is getting dark and will be cold soon I believe I saw a cave a little away from here." Gaara led the animal to a cave large enough to fit both him and the animal. The animal once reaching the cave sat down and curled in a small bowl as Gaara got a small fire going. Gaara looked over at the animal and saw it was staring at him "Would you mind if I slept on your fur? it will be cold soon," Gaara asked wanting the animals permission first. The animal let out a small roar which Gaara assumed was a yes before it jumped up and wrapped around Gaara. Gaara gently ran his hand over the animals fur as it slept before staring out as look out. Gaara couldn't sleep because of Shukaku but he could at least be comfortable and warm it was going to be a long night after all.