Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Nope, not one bit.

Desert Fox Redux

A story by Zaion Indulias

Prologue: Return to the Past

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

"Dammit." Sabaku no Temari muttered as she rolled out of bed and slammed her fist over the top of her alarm clock. Her hair hung loosely around her head, obscuring her face.

She shivered in the unseasonably cold air and turned, stepping towards where her closet should have been to grab the heavy fluffy robe her husband had gotten her for their anniversary that year.

"WHAH!" CRASH

Temari promptly tripped over a chair that should NOT have been where it was. As she clambered back to her feet she barely had time to take in the sight of her room – the room she had lived in as a teenager back in Sunagakure, not the one she had shared with her husband for the past five years – and screamed as over a decade's worth of unrealized memories flooded into her mind.

Sabaku no Temari promptly passed out, her body shutting down to allow her mind time to process the memories of her future life.

When Temari came to an indeterminate number of hours later she found that her room was already sweltering under the midday heat of Sunagakure. Shaking her head to clear the fog from her mind she silently thanked lady luck for sending her back to a day that she had had to herself, as no one had come looking for her and found her in the unfortunately compromising position of laying butt naked on her floor.

Shivering from having spent so long laying on the cold stone Temari pushed open the door to her bathroom and stepped in, heading straight for the tub and turning on the spigot. She slipped into the tub and sighed as the steaming hot water flowed over her body, which was still sore from the fall over her chair. As she leant back and closed her eyes she finally relaxed and allowed her self to accept what had happened.

He really did it. That bastard fox really did it. He managed to send me back before the world went to shit.

Temari's face frowned and a tear formed in her eye as she came to a second realization.

But…HE isn't mine anymore. And he won't be…not until our paths cross as they were always destined to…not until I can connect with him and use the seals the fox taught me.

Still crying lightly, Temari sank deeper into the steaming water of her tub. Only one more year to go and then she would have her first chance to get her husband back.

AN: I was originally intending to avoid any form of a 'redux fic', but after reading two Naruto fics that to varying degrees succeed amazingly at it, I finally formulated an idea that I actually liked and just couldn't let go. The two fics that inspired this were "Blonds Have More Fun" by EroSlackerMicha and "Once More with Feeling this Time" by gman319, both of which I hope you will check out.

Anyways, I'm sorry this was so short, but I chose to write a simple prologue to introduce this story. Next time, I promise there will be a much more substantial chapter. Until then have a "Jaa ne!" and a Happy Holidays from me to you.