The wind was nonexistent. Usually that would be alright, but when a breeze was desperately needed to cool one's self down, it was a bad thing. A very bad thing. Especially when one was in the desert traveling in scorching heat. Two lone figures could be seen walking through said desert, feeling the full effects of the heat (although one seemed to be far more adapted to it than the other).

A pink haired girl raised her arm and proceeded to rid her forehead of sweat with the back of her hand for the fifth time that day. She looked upwards towards the sky. Judging by the position of the sun, she assumed it was midday. The hot yellow sphere was beating down on them, adding more intense heat. It was their third day of traveling; they were to be at Suna by the end of the day. The girl looked towards her traveling companion. "Gaara, are all days going to be as hot as this?"

He turned his head slightly to look back at her. His pace had been a few steps in front of hers the entire trip. Which was perfectly alright with her because she hadn't the slightest idea where they were going. Sure she had been to Suna before, but there had always been someone else there to help get through the seemingly endless piles of sand. She was still sure it would be hard for her to find her way there alone. "Yes they are." There was a bored expression on his features.

Her green eyes were opened wide. "You're joking right?" Every day in Suna was going to be as hot as this? Suddenly a visit to Snow seemed very tempting. When he shook his head Sakura pouted, "Great."

"Stop doing that, it is not very becoming of a ninja to do so." Gaara told her harshly.

She frowned at him. After everything that had just happened a few days prior, he actually cared about that? She fought the urge to lash out at him or say a remark but at the same time she didn't want to enter Suna angry. So she swallowed down her anger and stuck her tongue out good naturedly at him. "So?"

A non-existent eyebrow rose on his face but he remained silent. Then he turned away and continued walking. She, of course, followed.

They were both silent until they reached the gates of Suna. For Sakura, she felt as if the gates were almost there to trap here. Those metal pillars mocked her, showed her how her fate was now sealed inside of them.

"Coming?" Gaara asked impatiently, snapping her back to reality from her train of thought. She nodded and walked with him past the guards, who nodded at her as she walked by.

Her eyes wandered as they walked through the city. It hadn't changed much since she came here last. A new building here and there, but nothing really that noticeable. When they pasted a wedding chapel she couldn't help but stare at it. It reminded her of promise she had made to herself. A promise that was now broken. Back when she was sixteen she had swore that she wouldn't get married until she was old enough to be sure of it and would only marry when she was absolutely ready to settle down with the one she loved. Well, she at eighteen she was barely an adult, she wasn't ready to settle down with someone by far, and she was pretty sure that what she felt for Gaara wasn't love.

She looked at the redhead. She wasn't completely sure what she felt for him. Sure she had feelings for him, but they weren't all of affection. She cared for him like a friend (which was what they would be eventually, she was confident about that) and of course he was easy on the eyes. But she didn't feel like she really liked him that way. And it was kind of frustrating, knowing that she was marrying someone she didn't have any romantic feelings for.

When she felt her fists clench she forced herself to stop thinking about this. After all, she would have plenty of time to sort out her emotions, or lack thereof, in the future. She sped up to walk beside Gaara, no longer needing him to lead her. "It's nice here." She told him.

He nodded at her then looked straight ahead once more. She sighed and looked down, he seemed hopeless. "We're here." Gaara's voice made her look up again. She saw that they were at his living quarters, his big living quarters. It was easy to call this building the nicest home in Suna. She must have been gawking because the next thing she heard him say was, "I'm glad you like it, now walk into it."

She quickly nodded and followed after him. Only when she walked through the door did she realize something: he said he was glad for her. The inside of the building was made to look even bigger than the outside. It was rather mesmerizing to look at, and she continued to stare until someone broke her from her trance. "So you're the one who has to be Gaara's wife."

She looked and saw Temari. "Yes, I guess I am."

"Well, at least it's you and not some random fan girl." The blond replied. Sakura and Temari weren't all that close, but they were comfortable enough around each other to have a normal conversation when one was in the other's city. This began after Sakura had saved Kankuro way back when.

"Hey Sakura." She turned to see Kankuro walking down a staircase towards them. "You packed light."

She shrugged. "I figured that I'd be here long enough to buy new stuff. Besides, it's not like I can't ever go back to visit."

"True enough. But I must apologize in advance for the inconvenience of having to marry my little bro over here." Kankurou jabbed Gaara playfully in the elbow.

Sakura laughed as Gaara shoved his brother off. But then Temari spoke up, "I'll show you to the room you'll be using Sakura."

"Alrighty," she followed Temari up a staircase, past a few hallways.

They stopped at one room at the end of a hallway. "Here it is." Temari opened the door. "The council wanted you and Gaara to share a room, but I knew that you might not want that."

Sakura walked into the room. It was quite big, and rather roomy. "It's...nice." she complimented.

"It's bare though." Temari added. "I thought I would leave room for you to make it more to your tastes."

Sakura smiled as she placed her bag on the bed. "Thanks. I'll shop around for more furniture in a while. But unfortunately tomorrow I have to go to the hospital."

"Yeah, you don't get much time to adapt to the new area." Temari laughed. "Anyways I have other duties for the day. Will you be alright by yourself for the rest of the day?"

The pink haired female nodded. "Yeah. I'll just explore the house or something."

"Alright see ya." Temari disappeared into the hallway.

Sakura sighed and looked around the room. Where to begin. She began to take out her clothes from her bag and arrange them in the dresser and closet. Then she took out all the other items she brought with her and began to put them in various places throughout the room. When that was finished, she decided to make a list of the furniture she would like in her room. Now, to find paper.

That might be in the kitchen. So she left the room. Now where would the kitchen be? She began to walk through several hallways, determined to find that room. After about half an hour, she stopped and looked around. She might as well admit it, she was now lost. Why did this place have to have so many rooms?

"Looking for something?" She spun around to see Kankuro looking at her with an amused expression on his face.

She wanted to scowl at him, but hey, he could help right now. "Yeah the kitchen. I need paper."

"Well we have that all over the house. But if you want, I'll lead you to the kitchen."

"Thanks."

"Alright then follow me." She followed him past a few hallways and a staircase. A minute later, they came to their destination. "Here we are."

"Thanks," she told him, "By the way, for future reference, how do I get to my room from here. And where was I before?"

"First, to get back to your room. Go up the left staircase, go up one hallway. Then make a left turn and follow that hallway." He replied. "And secondly, you were beside Gaara's bedroom."

"Really?" Wow, weird.

"Yep, but seeing as he barely sleeps, he rarely comes over there. So in case you get lost again, don't worry about him coming out and being pissed at you." Kankuro informed her. Then he began walking away, "Peace out."

After he left, she began to look around the drawers. Paper, paper, where could it be? Finally she found it in a drawer, along with a few writing utensils. Better take one of those as well. She selected a pen then shut the drawer. Now all she had to do was go back towards her room.

It was remarkably easy thanks to Kankurou's instructions. And in a matter of minutes she found herself back at her bedroom. Since the only hard surface in the room for her to write on was the top of the dresser, she began to make her list there. Let's see, a desk (with a chair obviously), a desk, lamp, beside table, and what the heck maybe a bean bag chair. Oh some paint would be good to; maybe she could make this room look a little homier. And of course there was the tooth brush. Before she knew it her list was completed and she was planning a full scale makeover for the room. Her excitement was growing just thinking about it.

But unfortunately, she couldn't do much about that now. So she left the list on top of the dresser and sat down on the bed. When she looked at her watch she found that it was only about five. So what to do now... Well she could always explore the house more. Yeah that sounds good, why not. She bounded off the bed and began exploring.

Her eyes wandered about in one room. This was the fourth study looking room she found. But this one appeared to be the most frequently used. There were shelves filled with scrolls and documents. Hey that was another thing she could put on her list: a bookshelf. She would need at least one of those.

"What are you doing?" she spun around to see Gaara staring at her suspiciously.

She shrugged; after all she was doing nothing wrong. "Exploring the house." She replied. She looked back to the room, "That your study?"

He nodded. "And I would appreciate it if you would step out to allow me to finish some work"

"Oh ok." She quickly stepped aside to let him pass by. "Oh Gaara."

He turned and looked at her. "Yes?"

"You have a nice house," she complimented.

He nodded, but for a fraction of a second she thought she saw surprise in his eyes. "Yes, I do." Then he shut the door.

She just stared at the door. That was rather rude of him. But, in his defence, maybe he wasn't used to receiving compliments. That was probably it. When she realized that she was still staring at the door, she walked away to look at more of the house. This time she made sure to avoid both Gaara's bedroom and his study.

Before she knew it, she was stifling a yawn and checking her watch. Holy cow it was eleven pm. Might as well get to bed, seeing as she'd have to do work tomorrow. She began to walk back towards her room. Fortunately, it only took her five minutes to find it this time.

Another bonus she had found to her room was that there was a bathroom right across the hall from her room. And since there weren't any other bedrooms nearby, it was easy for her to go to it and use for however long she liked. So she went in, slipped into her pyjamas and did all that other great getting-ready-for-bed stuff. Except of course brushing her teeth, seeing as she forgot that when she was packing. So for tonight her teeth went without being brushed.

When she was finally finished, she went back to her room and shut the door. Before she forgot, she wrote 'book case' on her list. Then she looked around her room. So this was her first night in the new house. Would she ever refer to it as 'home'? That, she wasn't too sure of. If she did that, then that would mean that she would have her allegiances with Suna, not Konoha. She felt herself being torn between her duty and her village. Until now she would have never guessed the two would be ever become separate.

And what of her life back in Konoha? Would she be able to keep some of it, or would it just fade away. She was pretty sure that her friends back there would remain her friends, but there were other things she was going to miss. Her spot where she used to be alone and think, the old park where she received her first kiss, the old training grounds, the ramen stand where she would meet up with Naruto... Would she eventually have places here that meant as much?

Her hand went up to stifle a yawn. It was all rather overwhelming. But maybe she should get some sleep on it. After shutting off the light and pulling the blind down on the window, she walked over to her bed and crawled in. She was out the second she pulled the covers up to her chin.