*Disclaimer* If you've heard of me before, you know I don't own Naruto. *sigh* or Gaara…

Lost and Found

1

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I can't move…! Gaara cried inwardly. Please…move! Do something! Move…

This went far beyond the horrors of what one would call hell. Hell would have been much better than this. Gaara's limbs, if that's what you would call them, were hard and smooth, exactly like the hard wood they were made of, and the joints of his new form were connected by little round balls which made for easy maneuvering for any child who wished to rip him apart. Not that that would have been any great issue since Gaara couldn't even feel any of his limbs.

And it wasn't even as if his skin, arms, and legs felt numb; at least with that you felt a soft electrifying tingle crawling over you that let you know it was numb, but with this there was simply…nothing. Gaara could feel no part of him. Not his hands, his fingertips, his mouth, his elbows…Even though Gaara wished with all his conscious being that he were able, deep down he knew it moving was an impossibility. How could one move without the assistance of blood, bones, and nerves?

Such must be the feelings, or non-feelings, of a puppet. If a puppet were to have a conscious state of mind, that is. Kankuro's and Sasori's puppets moved like they were people with active joints and thoughts, but without the aid of the puppeteer, the dolls would be nothing but scrap piles of…firewood. Sasori was a master at this inanimate manipulation--better than Kankuro even--and over the many years he'd spent living, devised a number of ways to expand the art of puppet making. Of course his favorite past time remained constructing puppets out of the flesh and bones of people, but the jutsu he'd used on Gaara was a new experimental one which he'd never told anyone about.

And that did not help Gaara's situation in the least.

Sakura Haruno had supposedly killed Sasori, but it was anyone's guess as to whether or not he'd made…back-ups.

He had.

Like a true Akatsuki artist, or any artist for that matter, Sasori never wanted his talent to go to waste. Or to die away.

And because of this Gaara was here, enclosed in a small box, buried far beneath the earth, trapped in silent darkness for the rest of eternity, unable to move, unable to speak, and unable to scream. His soul, trapped in the host of a lifeless doll. The doll was like a cage, a cell, a prison, binding Gaara's chakra with the grip of a thousand ton shackle, as was his mind and spirit, and the concoction of a reversal jutsu was one that not even Sasori himself had worked out. The replica had told Gaara himself before throwing him inside the tattered wooden box.

It would only be a matter of time before his sanity began to spin out of control, and Gaara knew it would be nothing like how it was years ago when he was a child. It would be gradual, maddening, suffocating, and insurmountably and indescribably lonely. Not even the Shukaku was there to keep him company, for it had been extracted from him months ago, and the reminder of this only served as a chronic regret that he had not died that day. Death would have been much more preferable to this.

This…was dying.

No one knew where Gaara was, what had happened, or even that Sasori's replica existed at all.

And what of the Sand Village?

More than half of Gaara's worries branched out of this thought, driving him closer and closer to insanity with every passing second. Temari, Kankuro, Baki, Matsuri…and what of the nin of Konoha? It wouldn't be long before the counsel of Sand enlisted a search party of investigators there. Gaara was the Kazekage and a sudden disappearance was definitely cause for alarm, so it would only be second nature to alert the allies of Suna.

Naruto would be upset, as would be his friends, especially when a year, two years, three years, had passed without anyone being any closer to his whereabouts. Sasori's replica might show up, but Gaara doubted very much that he would give any clue as to where he had buried him. What purpose would that serve?

Just the thought of Gaara suffering alone in the darkness beneath the ground like an abandoned corpse must serve for constant amusement. But in his state, Gaara couldn't even feel angry.

All he could feel…was desperation and suffering.

Even though the glass eyes wrenched inside the doll's head were purely for show, Gaara found that he could actually see out of them. But then again, what was the point of seeing when there was nothing to see?

Already it had been three days, or so Gaara assumed since there was no real way to tell time from where he was, and the predictions of his mental distress were beginning to come to fruition.

Help…Gaara thought roughly. I don't care who…at this point it doesn't even matter if I stay a doll forever…just…I need to get out of here. Anywhere is better than this!

Flashes of his past began assaulting him, creeping into his mind, torturing him…attacking him…

Before when Gaara's migraines where dominant, the sharp pain in his head would cast him into the barriers of his mind. Inside there was a maze submerged in an endless void of black with no way out, and in the center was, or had been, the Shukaku, barely contained within a great tea jar covered in seals, taunting and mocking Gaara, urging him to kill--to take lives.

But since the Shukaku was gone, there was no way back to that place…not that he wanted to relive those nightmares, but as time increased, heightening the uselessness and helplessness of the situation, Gaara found that his desires no longer mattered.

His nightmares were reliving themselves.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hinata coughed and sputtered, stumbling in the violent winds and bullet-like sand kicked up by an unexpected storm, and she could no longer see where she was going. In such a situation there was little her Byakugan could do for her, and even if she were to try to use it, the rushing sand would dig into her eyes, rendering her blind.

Hinata continued like this for what seemed like several hours, throat dry and consciousness fading, so it was an instant of pure luck when she happened to some across a sturdy cave carved into the side of a stone cliff.

She tripped inside, falling on her stomach, gasping and clutching her throat which was very pained from yelling the names of her teammates. The Leaf Village had been assigned to participate in the search for the missing Kazekage only half a week ago, and all of Konoha's best trackers had been gathered for the mission. Naruto, of course, had to come, since he and the Kazekage--Gaara he called him--were friends, and along with him he requested teammates Sakura and Lee.

There were three teams, and in every team there was a tracker. Shino went with Naruto, Lee, and Sakura. They were assigned to check the northern parts of Wind Country. Shino's father went with the other jonins who were assigned to the northeastern parts of Wind, and Hinata, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru were assigned to the western hemisphere. Neji and Hinata were prime candidates for the search mission because of their Byakugan. They even had some relatives at the main camp for back-up assistance.

There were a large number of areas to be checked and routes to be explored. Gaara hadn't disappeared that long ago, so the chances of him still being Wind Country were extremely good. All of Suna had been thoroughly inspected with no traces of their precious Kazekage. Teams had split into fours instead of the usual three, making the dispersion of pairs a possibility in case it ever became a need. Wind Country…was big. Well of course, it's a country.

Akamaru had picked up Gaara's scent hours after the four of them set out, but there were traces of two separate scents. Neji and Shikamaru went to track what they believed to be the enemy's scent while Kiba and Hinata, along with the hefty Akamaru, went to track Gaara's scent.

When the winds started to pick up, Kiba insisted they find a place of shelter, but before they knew it, sand started kicking up at furious rates, flying through the air, purging the two teammates apart. The sand was blinding--worse than a heavy fog--and even with the help of Hinata's Byakugan, they had not been able to keep from getting separated.

Hinata leaned against the cave wall, breathing heavily, and turned toward the cave's entrance to watch the violent sand pass by the entrance. She was deathly worried for Kiba and Akamaru, even Niisan and Shikamaru, but at least none of them were alone.

She was.

But at least she had shelter.

It was unfortunate, however, that Hinata had become so lost in the desert because of this unexpected storm, and if her Byakugan, which only extended across an expanse of half a dozen miles, was unable to detect anything within her limits, she was, for lack of a better term, screwed.

Hinata and Kiba had separated from the group early this morning, and it had been several hours since then, meaning there was plenty of time for the storm to die down.

Too bad it didn't.

It raged on all day, which was bad news for her team. The new sand layer would undoubtedly cover up the scent Akamaru had picked up, Hinata's included, so unless they found each other by chance, they wouldn't find each other at all.

Superb. Not only did they have the Kazekage to look for, but now two, possibly four, other Konoha nin. Things were not going well.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Hinata had little choice but to sleep. Once she tried to use her Byakugan and regretted it. Not only did she see nothing, but in the process, tired herself out immensely.

Sleeping recovered most of Hinata's strength enough to where she could walk, but she wasn't fully up to par. The winds were just dying down when she awoke, so Hinata thought it best to wait an hour longer for the area to become entirely visible.

When things were good and calm, the Hyuga emerged from the cave, glancing up into the sky. It was bright and sunny, making for a brilliant turn of luck, so the instant after looking down, activated her Byakugan.

Hinata searched in all directions, turning in a 360 degree motion, and saw nothing but endless miles of sand. "This is bad," Hinata mumbled to herself. Her throat had become less agonizing overnight, but it was still dry. If she didn't find water by this afternoon, she would be in trouble. Well, in more trouble.

Hinata had no idea which direction to go in, so she looked towards the sky for answers. There were hardly any clouds in the hemisphere, just a few cottony wisps and a bright glaring sun scorching down upon the earth.

So much hotter here than at home…Hinata thought silently.

A dark figure caught her eye and she saw a bird, a hawk it seemed, soaring overhead, circling something. The hawk was a little ways off from her, so she decided to follow it. It's not like she had anything better to go on.

When she'd reached the spot where overhead circled the bird, Hinata was very unsurprised to see nothing of interest. There were a few cacti, some rocks, things of that nature. Lots of dry sand…Hinata began missing the colors of Konoha. The wide ranges of the desert were beginning to feel incredibly lonely.

Hinata was eager to be on her way, but before going, activated her Byakugan just to be careful, and once again looked in all directions. Nothing but sand dunes. She sighed and shook her head, starting in a direction she hoped was east, and wound up tripping over a rock.

"O-Ow…" Hinata muttered, feeling quite stupid. Luckily no one had been around to see that.

Would she ever change?

Hinata rose to her knees, head pointing toward the ground, and parted her mouth slightly at what she saw. Tiny black speckles of…something stained on the pale, tan rocks buried in the sand. This was strange. It was obvious that these speckles were some sort of manmade liquid. A type of poison, perhaps? Certainly not poison from a desert creature. Being a professional healer, Hinata was exposed to every different kind of poison, therefore taught in the art of concocting remedies for these poisons.

She used her Byakugan and located similar speckles on a few cactus needles nearby.

Hinata closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as ever, straining her Byakugan to almost painful levels, then opened them, boring into the ground. There was something beneath the sand--far beneath. It was always difficult looking through solids, but Hinata managed to locate a small…rectangular shape in the ground. It would take some time, but she was sure she could dig it up within a half hour, maybe more.

It took forty five minutes. When Hinata saw the corner of a little brown box poking out of the sand, she swept the grains from around it and pulled the box out carefully. It was worn and made of particularly old wood, and not exactly rectangular, but more…coffin shaped.

Did some child come all the way out here to bury his pet or something?

The small wooden coffin was nailed shut, but Hinata easily removed the lid. When she peeked inside, she widened her eyes with curiosity at what was inside.

It was a…doll.

Very curious.

Hinata handled the doll with care, just in case it was old, which it didn't really seem like it was, and she turned it every which way, examining it. The doll was expertly made, that was more than certain, and the ruffled red hair on it's head was shockingly authentic. The clothes Hinata recognized as the white robes of a Kage, and underneath was the red outfit of a top ranking Jonin, body armor and all. The joints moved smoothly, and the little hands on the doll were very precise with skin color almost matching hers, only a bit darker. Then again, any skin color was darker when compared to a Hyuga's who's complexion was pale as sin.

Hinata saw that the doll's face was realistic too, with the perfect nose and lip shape of a human.

But what Hinata found most interesting were the eyes…

So…alive.

Did this have anything to do with the disappearance of the Kazekage? Hinata had never seen what the Kazekage looked like, but it was very possible that this doll was a likeness of him. And if that was the case, was this a sign or a message left by the culprit?

Hinata jumped out of the whole she'd dug and landed delicately on the soft sand. Standing to her feet, she glanced down at the doll with a sigh. The heiress couldn't explain it, but somehow the desert had suddenly become less…isolated.

"Well," Hinata creased her forehead at the strange doll, "do you want to pick the direction, or should I?"

//*******************************//A/N//******************************//

Pfft, coffin. Sasori has a mean sense of humor.

(wait, what the hell kind of A/N was this?)