Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything associated with it whatsoever. Alas, and woe.

Written in the Dust

Chapter 4

Bone collapsed into itself with an audible crunch as the internal framework crumpled under the relentless external pressure. Blood was forced from it's boundaries within straining veins and arteries, oozing then gushing through every pore, out every orifice, leaking than spurting from rupturing capillaries into collapsing lungs, the walls squeezing against each other, squashing into bloody water the last of the delicate aveoli.

Then the air pressure changed. The body hung suspended in the humid, motionless air for a brief moment, and then plummeted to the damp grass with a wet squelch.

Karura sighed as her jutsu faded. Was this the best the Ame shinobi could offer? There were no significant chakra signatures in the vicinity detectable even to her jounin level senses. She closed her battle fan with a slight scowl, planted the solid end into the moist turf beside her and leaned on it, closing her eyes and making a face of disgust.

She had hoped to get some good practice in the form of rigorous combat before she took the jounin exams when they returned to Suna, but a this rate, she'd might as well be looking to pass an academy exam for all the challenge these nin provided. So much for her hope that she would find a shinobi trained by Hanzo himself to fight. Here at this distant point on the outskirts of the small country, it wasn't even raining.

This A rank mission held so much promise when read on paper: the Ame no Kuni, headed by a mentally unstable daimyo, the abundant battle veteran nin, the potential for jungle warfare, and the top secret papers holding critical information being carried by one skittish lard of a courier. Both she and Sunamaru had been eagerly anticipating this mission, but this utter lack of suitable challengers was almost annoying.

Her attunement to the wind allowed her to feel the spinning shuriken coming through the fronds before she even opened her eyes. She simply pivoted in place to dodge the projectiles and removed a kunai hidden in her sash to slash the attached wires meant to bind her to her fan, rendering her helplessly tied up. As if tying her up to her own battle fan to capture her was even possible.

She felt another vibration through the air. He wasn't that stupid… yes, he was.

Shifting her weight, she brought the heavy black fan up at angle, using all her strength as a kunoichi now that the weight altering seal was gone, and easily smashed the skull and brain of the assaulting shinobi, spattering juicy, fleshy shrapnel and bone chips onto the misty ground.

Her senses picked up his friend hiding in the nearby damp foliage at the edge of the clearing she stood in. A moment later and she knew he had retreated. Good choice.

She extended her senses with greater force. All unfamiliar chakra signatures were definitely fading. The enemy had given up entirely. Encounter concluded.

Karura looked down at her robe. The deep blue material didn't have so much as errant drop of blood thanks to her manipulations of the air around her. What a weak battle this had been.

Fixing the fan she had now grown into on to her back after a brief cleaning, she pooled chakra in her legs to vault through the verdant landscape towards the nearest familiar chakra signature. At least there were beautiful plants and fungi to look at here; the dense plant-life somewhat reminded her of her childhood. The rain forest was almost as nice as the Great Bamboo Forest back in Kusa, although she had the benefit of seeing that forest illuminated by sunlight while this jungle was darkened by endlessly dark grey skies.

"Karura-kun," her gruff sensei greeted as she materialized in the low mists. Kadomatsu-sensei, her genin cell teacher and squad leader even now, was still scanning with clear eyes for any returning enemies with half his senses and observing the still shuddering courier with the other. It was a good thing the weenie had a carriage and assistant to keep him coddled on this journey.

"I don't think there was a jounin in that group, sensei. Was that attack serious or a diversion?"

"Possibly a diversion. I sent Sunamaru-sama too scout ahead for ambushes and traps," he responded in the deep baritone that seemed so perfect for his heavy build. Her burly sensei didn't have mark on his standard issue sand uniform either.

Karura looked to the northern direction of the road to spot a brief puff of disturbed earth that meant a scuffle or trap detonation. Sunamaru was hogging all the fun. She supposed their other teammate, Yashamaru for this mission due to the client's… lack of physical fitness, was scouting the perimeter of the temporary stronghold the courier had insisted his carriage made. Karura took a second look at the quivering jowls of the collapsed courier. Was he having a heart attack?

Karura looked to the thick canopy of the trees a moment before Yashamaru descended.

"Nee-san?" he inquired, brown eyes everyone said looked exactly like her own checking her over her with gentle concern. Even in battle, he was so warm and kind. She smiled back easily.

"I don't have so much as a scratch, Yashamaru," she reassured him. "But our client…" she said with a tilted head and pointed look towards the lump on the grassy ground, accompanied by a hovering assistant waving a dispatch folder at him to cool him.

Yashamaru gave her another kind smile before going to the courier who answered his polite inquiries about the status of his health with a whimper.

Sunamaru appeared running lightly over the dewy grass before stopping in front of his sensei. His shinobi uniform, without a scratch, was stubbornly his own design rather than that of typical chuunin from Suna. Then again, so was hers.

"A few small traps. A genin could have seen them. We should get moving in case the survivors report to someone competent."

Their sensei nodded and walked towards the courier and Yashamaru as she raised an eyebrow at Sunamaru.

Even though he was still technically underneath the direction of their sensei, Sunamaru had gotten into the habit of leading a while ago. He even bossed around jounins to whom he had no work links, but they all heeded him. They wouldn't dare do otherwise. It helped that he knew what he was doing and listening to him was worthwhile.

He could be surprisingly thoughtful, as demonstrated by how he had thought to buy her an Iron Fan she could grow into so she would never have to replace it (given, she found out it was the Lady Kazekage who had pointed that out to him and suggested a scout record her okaa-san's height as a probable match, most likely because there was no way she would pay for a fan like that twice). Although, it bothered her on some level that he had such license and unrestrained authority but it followed given how the Kazekage's family behaved and was treated over all.

As she had spent more time studying other villages and countries, it became obvious that with the exception of the Hi no Kuni, with its village perched on a volcano in the middle of a forest, the Kages ruling above the law was normal. The Kage was strict but day-to-day life was perfectly livable. In fact, the Kazekage didn't even occasionally massacre any of the people groups in the Kaze no Kuni. Things could be much worse.

It explained why her okaa-san and the other refugees took their chances crossing the dessert to find a ninja village in the slim hope that it would take them in. Shinobi weren't exactly known for their charity, but Suna had reluctantly accepted them, and it's shinobi watched as diligently over the newly confirmed citizens as much as the native born people.

Just the way Sunamaru looked in the eyes when they were alone in their old hideout in the canyon, when he wanted to protect the village and do the honorable thing and the elders wanted to push their shady agendas… Of course, lately he'd been gripping about the horse-faced girls they'd been hinting he should marry.

The Kazekages married fairly young, apparently.

It certainly didn't help that old bags of bones were jumpy now that Akasuna no Sasori appeared to have turned missing-nin.

After loading up the courier and his charge (he hadn't been having a heart attack, he just soiled himself), the team made their way through the thick vegetation and perpetual mists to the martial outpost that marked the final leg of journey, checked in, then wound their way uneventfully from the mits into continuous bitter winds and to the manor house at the edge of Ame no Kuni and Tori no Kuni, the home of the nobleman who was to take the documents.

Karura carefully observed the staff and help scampering around the garden edged courtyard as they began to escort the waddling and huffing courier towards the ornate doors to the entry room. The estate marked the last cultivatable stretch of land before the land fouled to become the northern wind blasted waste of the Tsuchi no Kuni. The birds that were the nearby regions name sake were relegated to hiding in scrubby brush to escape the harsh winds and intermittent cold rain. The manor would be difficult to make solvent as an agricultural enterprise, but the rock of the lower steppes may have held mines of precious metal or a commodity like salt. The application submitted for hiring the Suna shinobi suggested old money rather than active trade.

The guards at the door halted them to check the verification of their identity and papers one final time before escorting them into the expansive room. The glint of ostentatious gold was bad enough, but the hovering, tittering women, in ornate silks and elaborate hairstyles was worse. Karura maintained a neutral expression, but secretly snarled at the looks they were sending her two teammates. Seeing Sunamaru and Yashamaru ogled that way bothered her (the giggling group seemed to pass on the middle-aged Kadomatsu-sensei, must be the turban… right), but for totally different reasons for each. The team had almost passed by the colorful collection of mindlessness when the girl wearing the most expensive gown choose to speak.

"You must be Sunamaru-sama." A measured purr from a honey sweet voice carefully crafted to tantalize male senses. It made Karura want to maim something. "I am Aisubeki-hime."

Oh, I bet you just are.

The girl looked demurely over a truly ornate fan modestly concealing her face except for her large doe-like eyes framed with ropes of pearls woven into her flower festooned hair. She was totally ignoring the rest of the team.

"I look forward to seeing you at dinner this evening. I hope your meeting with my otou-sama goes well." With that she delicately floated down the gilded hall surrounded by her tittering entourage.

Karura hoped the vein on her forehead wasn't standing out. Much. Although her uniform was perfectly acceptable for a kunoichi in the field, next to the nearly sparkling hime she looked she was in rags.

Borrowed rags.

Chewed by rats.

She was equally certain the weather and traveling had done a number on her own hair which felt like it was standing on end and pointing in so many directions it must look like she had been struck by a raiton jutsu.

She was proud of herself control at that moment, but nothing fooled Yashamaru. Her trusty brother was at her side in a moment.

"Don't worry, nee-san. If you had time to get that fancied up, you wouldn't be worth anything either."

The good-natured whisper below all but shinobi level hearing had her suppressing a snicker and lightly leaning into her brother to show gratitude for much needed support. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sunamaru notice the sibling interaction and regard it with an unreadable expression as the doorway was finally opened and their sensei lead the group into the meeting room. What was his problem?

A few hours later, Sunamaru wasn't the dealing with a girl in dangerous mood. It was Yashamaru.

"Nee-san!" he yelped desperately. "Don't throw your kunai in the manor! We'll never be able to pay the repair bill! Nee-san!"

The seething kunoichi was sporting dual handfuls of kunai. One between each set of calloused knuckles now that her brother had talked her into putting down her battle fan.

Of all the stupid, mindless, simpering little gold diggers!

Karura swallowed the words, knowing walls have ears, but brandishing lethal weapons only soothed her temper so much. The dinner following the successful delivering of the papers had been a farce. The fan wielding kunoichi knew shinobi were rarely treated to such an honor as they were usually treated like the bloodstained murderers they were: with aversion and barely concealed contempt. Which meant only one thing: the noblemen had his sights set on an alliance with the Kazekage and his hussy of a daughter was the avenue of choice. Karura would have given her some credit as they sat down to a lavish banquet if she had seemed at least slightly calculating, but no, she was an empty-headed, well trained, flirtation expert to the core. Watching her hang all over Sunamaru, since they just happened to be near each other since he was guest of honor, had Karura gripping her chopsticks a little too tightly. At least she was seated between her sensei and Yashamaru so she didn't have to pretend to make small talk with anyone.

Sunamaru was appropriately diplomatic and polite, nodding his shaggy head at the hime's prattling, and Karura resisted the urge to use her chopsticks to put a few more holes in the little ditz's head. All the air might escape and deflate her noggin.

When imagining cathartic murder got old, Karura instead began analyzing the dinning hall. Amidst the intricately carved woodwork, carefully inlaid precious metals, priceless wall scrolls, and finest silks, she could just detect the smallest cracks, a subtle sag in the roof support beams, and the slightest tilt to the foundation structure itself.

The building was beginning to collapse, and the noblemen and his household were trying to hide it. She pressed her sense of smell, and beneath the smell of perfume, incense, and savory food, she could just detect the decaying smell of rot. They must be really desperate to make a try a Sunamaru.

Was the whole mission a scam? The thought, along with her carefully screening of the nobles chatter and servants whispers had her slowly seeing red.

"It was a scam Yashamaru!" she barely managed to restrain the accusation to an intense whisper. "They want that little hime to get in Sunamaru's pants to get themselves out of debt! Their lord hates this aristocrat so much no one will help them! Didn't you listen to the whispers during that schmooze fest in there?"

"Yes, I did," he said, attempting to calm his sister with a gentle tone and open, up-raised hands. "But Sunamaru-sama and Kadomatsu-taichou weren't fooled for a minute, nee-san."

Karura glared at empty space. She would feel better if the other members of their team weren't still with the aristocrat and his gaudy little ornament of a daughter.

She and Sunamaru had gotten so close lately. As the pressures of being heir had begun to weigh on Sunamaru he had begun to come to her to vent. He would maintain the perfect persona all day, ever the ideal image of the heir before the council and other antagonists, then in front of her alone, he would crack.

He would talk about the pointlessness of village politics, rant about the infuriating daimyo who kept trying to bankrupt the village, rave about the idiocy of the people he was surrounded by who just followed status quo. Sometimes the ferocity of his occasional shrieks and shouts during those times worried her, the depth of his hatred trigging an internal reaction that made her begin to, slightly, worry about him. He always calmed down in the end though, and he had always been intense, but he didn't need more stress from a stupid, over primped hime when it's not going to happen!

A low growl escaped her throat and she substituted the multiple kunai for an equal number of senbon. They rolled between her knuckles better. If he couldn't show his feelings, she'd show them for him. That's what she could do for him as his friend if her own lowly position allowed for nothing else.

The door clicked open and a maid bowed through Sunamaru and their sensei. Karura slipped the senbon away and she and her brother lined up to hear the report. Their teammate and sensei looked far too grave to merely have warded off a poorly thought out marriage proposal or even suggestion of alliance.

"Kadomatsu-taichou?" Yashamaru ventured.

Her grim faced sensei made a signal and they grouped together to lower their voices for privacy and secrecy. He was always deadly serious and a martinet in all but the most extenuating of circumstances, but rarely did such a heaviness seem to follow him.

"We have a complication," he breathed, the lines of age on his face more starkly prominent than she had ever seen, even then the time when a hit with an explosive tag during a mission left a gaping hole in her back.

"The aristocrat has something he wants us to take back to Suna." The older man looked at his team with a desperate seriousness that had Karura looking to Sunamaru, who did not look back. "The noblemen's otou-san, the previous head of the household was given a certain teapot by a monk for safekeeping, a monk belonging to an order dedicated to exorcisms."

Karura felt a pulse of apprehension. Where was this leading?

"The fool blabbed the family had the artifact upon inheriting it in a ridiculous bid for power through intimidation. What he got was far more than his feeble mind could foresee. His lord has cut him off until he is rid of it." The near silent words fell past chapped lips. He paused.

"What is so significant about this teapot, taichou?" Whispered Yashamaru.

Their sensei and Sunamaru were both quiet, then Kadomatsu-sensei answered.

"Within it is sealed the Ichibi." Karura and Yashamaru gasped soundlessly.

All the citizens of Sunagakure knew of the evil monstrosity known as the Ichibi, the Shukaku. All the dangerous and vile aspects of the desert incarnate. The former jinchuuriki of the biju and his manipulation of iron particles from the grains of desert had inspired the unique jutsu of the Sandaime Kazekage who lead them. The last container and Ichibi both had been captured and hidden away by a supremely dedicated group of monks from a rival country, but no one from Suna had managed to uncover its location despite intensive searching and investigation.

It was known to be pure evil; a horror that had chakra dense enough and evil enough to physically crush frail civilians and make even the most stalwart shinobi mentally break.

Kadomatsu-sensei finished his explanation tonelessly.

"The otou-san was a good man but with a dolt for a son. The teapot was the sealing location for the Shukaku by the monk, and was to be kept in the vaults beneath this manor where the monk hoped the solid rock they are carved into in this isolated location would keep it safe. But the current head of the house actually thought spreading rumors of its location would bring him power. Now, he can't keep it, and no one he has appeared to want so much as go near it."

Her sensei paused to look meaningfully at her and her brother.

"He has begged Sunamaru-sama to take it to Sunagakure."

"Taichou," Yashamaru mumbled in profound horror.

Karura looked stunned at her childhood friend. The Ichibi! Shukaku! That kind of a burden… he didn't need another! And what would the council do upon finding out they had such a monster? Living, sentient, malevolent chakra? Her heart sank beyond the carpeted floor.

"Sunamaru-sama," her sensei nearly mouthed, "this is a decision for a member of the Kazekage's' family. I can only advise you."

Sunamaru gave the barest of harsh nods and Karura's mind churned wildly. This low rung noble was unfathomably, fatally stupid. The monk had probably watched every one his comrades die to entrap the Shukaku and seal it. It was probably trapped in a teapot simply because it was all they had with them. Or had left.

And that fool had bragged? Advertised the location of a biju? As if anyone would ever believe he controlled it. How far had the rumors spread since he'd opened his mouth? They would not be the last nin through here for certain. They couldn't leave the Ichibi to be found by a rival village or organization. Could not. And when the next squad came through to find their prize gone, chances were better than not this place would be razed to the ground after all available information was extracted to leave no trace for others to sift through for clues.

Karura shook her had once as Yashamaru grimaced at what was surely the same set of conclusions she had drawn. They couldn't even try to dispose of it. The people in this manor would tell those who followed after their team who taken the Shukaku. The common people here would never endure a shinobi's torture, and word would get back to Suna that their team had been granted free access to it. Even if they tried to take the teapot to get rid of it after razing the manor under pretense and claiming the Ichibi was never there, someone in the manor had enough brain power to ask for the Kazekage's son and his team to travel publicly to add the potential of diplomatic fall out if things turned bloody. If they tried to discard the thing their team would be caught.

As for destroying it? Damaging the seal would just release the demon. She couldn't completely suppress a shudder at the thought.

Karura turned sympathetically towards the dear friend who bore the burden of responsibility with a choice that was no choice. Then his eyes flicked to Karura, the wildness in them startling her internally.

"Karura-kun. I want a word alone." Toneless, and an order again but given the circumstances she didn't blame him. He turned to move into a smaller side room and didn't even look back to see if she followed. Karura made a slight a face at the fact he was taking her willingness to let him see her alone when he wanted to so lightly. Although she did it partly because she knew she was certainly the only real friend he had, since pretty much everyone else he knew was trying to manipulate him or depose him, that didn't mean he could flaunt it in front of Yashamaru and Kadomatsu-sensei like that.

Karura exchanged a look with her brother before treading soundlessly after Sunamaru on shinobi feet. The little side room was a comfortable sitting area with cushy chairs and pillows. Sunamaru however, stood as it surrounded by poisoned senbon.

As soon as she was within grasp, he pulled her towards him and threw his arms around her shoulders seeking comfort. Karura was shocked at the action, his much taller frame and broad shoulders heavy on her own smaller frame. He had never been this forward, during his awkward flirting as a genin.

"Karura," he breathed, leaving off the honorific completely to her astonishment, "there is no way to hide that chakra signature from Kazekage-sama. There are seals in place here, but we can't replicate them completely in transport."

He pulled back to look at her, on his familiar face a desperation that stood her hair on end.

"They will know the moment we attempt to transport such powerful seals through the wards at the gate."

She could only blink up at him; the tenseness running through his shoulders moved down his arms and he tightened his grip on her.

"They'll use try to use it. Those old fools will try. That stupid daimyo and his hatred for his own protectors, for all we are, will see it as an opportunity. We have to keep it from the council's control."

Shocked, Karura nodded. Anything other response seemed as though he might mentally break from the strain of it. He was pale, panting, sweating finely and vaguely disorientated. The illusion of unflappable ninja was cracking and falling away like clumps of brittle sand.

"Karura, I…" he trailed off, seemingly just then realizing how he was holding her. "Karura, I only trust you."

Her heart hit her throat. His entire manner was too mercurial, shifting chaotically from one emotion to the next. Despair, anger, and this one was… just what was this?

"Out of everyone, only you. Kadomatsu-sensei will report immediately to Kazekage-sama either way and he would never forgive me for leaving the Ichibi here."

"Karura…" he seemed to have a moment of internal warfare, and then gently loosened his hold to simply place his hands on her shoulders. He looked her right in her eyes. What he said next was with a conviction that left her more shocked than anything else that had occurred that evening.

"You are very precious to me." If it were possible, her eyebrows shot up even higher.

"Stay with me. Marry me. We'll take the jounin exam as soon as we get back and recover. We can get married right after." Karura felt the floor tilt beneath her feet. The room was spinning. It was a good thing he was holding her steady. The only good thing.

"I'll look like a hero for bringing back the Ichibi, and not even the council will object to you once you're a jounin with your skill, especially with the Iron Fan, even if you are a refugee from the camps."

Somewhere in the vertigo spawned Charybdis of her mind, Karura clamped on to an anchor hold of practical reasoning for decision making in this mad whirl of uncertainty.

Marry him???

She thought he was cute at times sure and he was her oldest friend outside of Yashamaru, but to marry him, call him husband and bear all the crushing pressures of the status of Lady Kazekage? Could she still help him if she had to deal with all that, too?

"Sunamaru-sama, how can I?" Karura whispered back. To his credit, he let her argue. She took a small comfort in that. He wasn't that far gone.

"I'm just a simple kunoichi, and by chance at that. I can't be the Kazekage's wife." She looked him in the eye willing him to understand. "That's too much for me."

"It isn't," he insisted almost desperately, his look slightly more manic that she wanted to face. Then he laughed derisively, "and you are far from simple." He sobered up. "You'll be taught, like you were taught to be a kunoichi. I... I just need you to be my back up. To be there for me. Karura you are the only women I can trust. It has to be you."

She hesitated. He was dangerously… off right now.

"I can only think about it, Sunamaru-sama. This is so terribly important, not just for you, but all of Sunagakure, my brother, Yasakani-sensei, everyone."

She took a deep, steadying breath, closing her eyes briefly to collect her thoughts, willing away the lavish room so far from home and the pressures that had come with entering it. "Let me think on it."

Sunamaru seemed content with that- for now. He moved his hands from her shoulders to her hips and placed his hitai-ite against hers. Exhaling, he breathed out the manic stress that had built up within him.

He pulled back to look at her again.

"You'll say yes to me," he murmured softly. "You will."


AN: In answer to my loyal (and only) reviewer laurelsblue:

It was a crush, but Sunamaru was such a jerk as a genin it was simply too much fun for her too use it against him and nothing came of it. She is still very dear to him because she was the first friend and only friend he ever had who was wiling to be his friend just because she could be.

Kadomatsu-sensei is an own character. Please don't use him without permission.

Translations:

Ame no Kuni: Rain Country

Hanzo: Leader of the Rain shinobi and a hero of renowned skill and ability. Probably named for a historical ninja of the same name.

Daimyo- civilian head honcho of the entire country

Kusa- Grass, as in the Grass Country

Hi no Kuni- Fire Country

Okaa-san- 'mother' spoken respectfully

Kaze no Kuni – Wind Country, within lies Sunagakure

Akasuna no Sasori – Sasori of the Red Sand. Sasori itself means 'scorpion'

Tori no Kuni – Bird Country

Tsuchi no Kuni – Earth Country

Otou-sama – 'otou-san' spoken with grandiose respect

raiton jutsu – lightening technique

Nee-san- 'sister' spoken respectfully

Ichibi- literally one-tail, one of the biju

Shukaku- name of the Ichibi, taking the form a tanuki (the Japanese raccoon dog)

Biju- tailed beasts of the Naruto universe composed of living chakra

Hitai-ite – a ninjas forehead protector, engraved the symbol of their country

-taichou suffix - Captain

-hime suffix – Lady or Princess, it is a general term for women of rank

Names:

Kadomatsu-Traditional Japanese New Year decoration made of bamboo

Aisubeki-hime: Literally 'Lovable Princess'

It is mildly alarming just how much reviewing, or a lack thereof, affects my enthusiasm for my hobby.