Devoted2charmed's Author's Note: Hey people! For those of you who are reading this and loving it, check out my story on devoted2charmed's profile "Golden". It has Usagi and Mizu! Also . . . REVIEW DAMN IT!

KurosunanoKazuo's Author's Note: Still no reviews? ya lazy bums... I review most of the stuff I read! Anyway, this chapter just shows the basic rundown of his back history, be on the lookout for the more descriptive version in the future!

Chapter 4: Realization

"We need to tell dad what happened," Usagi called over her shoulder to Mizu, who was just barely keeping up with her. They were hurrying down the street towards the Hokage Tower, trying to get home to tell Naruto and Gaara what they had seen. Following Aiko's trail after she was fairly certain she had lost Kazuo, Usagi had seen her teacher dart out of an alley between a bar and Kakashi's favorite bookshop, hurriedly fastening her long blue cloak about her shoulders and fleeing as fast as her feet would carry her. Moments later she'd seen Kazuo sprinting after her, and had immediately gone to find Mizu.

"What . . . what do you think . . . happened to Aiko-sensei?" Mizu stuttered.

"I don't know," Usagi panted, "but whatever it was, I bet Jiraiya-sensei had something to do with it!"

"What about . . . Kazuo-san?" Mizu gasped, "what . . . was he doing there . . .? And why . . . was she running from him?"

"That's why we have to tell dad!" Usagi called back.

--Meanwhile--

Kazuo was running after her and he yelled out after her "Aiko-san! Wait!"

He chased after her with all his might and even had to propel himself using iron sand on a number of occasions, but he ran and finally, after a few minute's worth of chasing her, he caught up to her, she was panting from all the running, but her face blushed red and she broke down when she was stopped by him, went down on her knees and cried "I can't believe it.... I was seen by Jiraiya.... How could I have not noticed him!?"

Kazuo then knelt down to see her face and said to her "He's experienced at things like that, unfortunately..."

Aiko then snapped her head around to look at Kazuo "And your Kazekage ordered you to pop my cherry!? What's the meaning behind that!?"

Kazuo then looked down and he sighed "Kazekage-sama... has put me on a mission.... it has nothing to do with.... well, with sex... If you don't mind talking to me about it.... then we can have this conversation now..."

--Meanwhile--

"Ugh, I'm beat!" Naruto said as he got out of the meeting with Gaara, and he noticed Usagi running towards him with Mizu not far behind "Little rabbit.... Mizu... What is it?"

Gaara, who was walking right next to Naruto asked "Has something happened between Kazuo and Aiko...?"

Usagi then yelled out "Jiraiya-sensei peeped in on Aiko-sensei's trick! She thinks Uncle Gaara's plotting against her love life!"

Naruto then turned to Gaara, "Gaara... What is the meaning behind all this?"

Gaara then sighed and explained. "It's no surprise that Kazuo and Aiko find each other attractive... I'm trying to get the two of them to date.... it had nothing to do with sex... unless they wanted it to go that far..."

Naruto had his eyes widen "You mean… you think!?"

Gaara nodded "Aiko may be the girl Kazuo will need to complete his mission...."

Usagi smiled mischievously as Mizu was still catching his breath and Naruto turned to his children now "Mizu, I need you to find Jiraiya and tell him to come here, otherwise, I'll send the ANBU, Usagi, I need you to find Temari and Shikamaru, and convince them to find Aiko and Kazuo... but if it looks like they're having a meaningful conversation, then leave them be until it ends, understood?"

Mizu nodded and walked slowly towards the exit to get the perv, Usagi nodded and said "Gotcha, Papa!"

Naruto then turned to Gaara and sighed "His mission, huh...? Why'd you give him that mission...?"

"Gaara responded "Loneliness.... is a curse.... You should understand that..."

Naruto nodded "Yeah... you're right..."

--Later--

"Shika-chan, if you don't stop being lazy I really will hurt you," Temari warned dangerously.

Across the training field Shikamaru sighed. He had hoped that having Matsuri there would make her a little more agreeable. No such luck. The presence of an audience seemed only to increase her desire to show off, and of course that meant when he didn't give her the fight she wanted he peaked her anger.

"Let's go home," Shikamaru half suggested, half pleaded. He really hadn't wanted to come out training today anyway, and leaving their son Shikashi with Ino and Choji just meant he'd owe the two of them another favor Ino would hold over his head forever.

"But we have a guest," Temari protested, swinging her fan again. Shikamaru was knocked back against a tree, and Matsuri giggled. Shikamaru resisted the urge to glare at her. She really wasn't helping. She seemed rather to enjoy watching him get his ass kicked by his wife.

"Aunt Temari!" called a voice from up in the air. All three of them looked up to see what looked like a blond bird circling the training field. Further inspection upon its landing revealed it to be Usagi, who stood at attention in front of Temari.

"Report!" snapped Temari. Her tone was serious, but her eyes danced with laughter at the familiar game.

"The Hokage wishes you and Uncle Shikamaru to find Aiko-sensei and Uncle Kazuo!" Usagi yelled back, her face set and serious like a soldier.

"What on earth for?" Temari asked, leaning more casually on her fan.

"Uncle Gaara wants Uncle Kazuo to pop Aiko-sensei's cherry." Usagi stated bluntly.

Temari's expression didn't change in the slightest. "And?"

Shikamaru's mouth dropped open. "What?!" he demanded, "why would Gaara want anything like that?!"

"Aiko-sensei is upset that Uncle Gaara is messing around with her love life," Usagi continued, "oh, and Grampa Jiraiya saw Aiko-sensei without all her clothes on."

"What?!" Shikamaru repeated.

"Let's go, Shika-chan," said Temari, walking leisurely across the training field, taking her husband by the arm, and leaving Usagi alone with Matsuri, dragging a very confused Shikamaru behind her.

--Meanwhile--

Kazuo and Aiko stood up now on the bridge where they were standing and Aiko had calmed down, Kazuo then said "Kazekage-sama... He never intended to mess with your love life... not even once... he's not that sort of man... He just... cares about me.... and didn't take you into consideration... I apologize for him..."

"Well maybe your Kazekage shouldn't assume so much!" Aiko snapped, a little angry. Almost immediately, though, she blushed and looked away, then down at her feet. "I'm sorry," she murmured shyly, "I just . . . I'm just a little, flustered, that's all. I don't like feeling as though I'm being used. Or feeling like people see me as some kind of whore."

Kazuo responded to her simply "If anyone called you something of that sort, Naruto-kun, Kazekage-sama, Usagi-chan, and everyone else who knows you would do everything in their power to knock the truth into them...." Kazuo then looked at her and said "Do you want to know.... what my mission is... and why it was given to me...?"

Aiko looked up at him, then down at her feet again, biting her lip. "Kazuo-san," she whispered, "what happened to you?"

Kazuo then said "I'll tell you.... but my past... isn't one for the faint of heart... It's not something I like to remember.... do you still... want to hear it...?"

"My past is not a happy one either, but from what Hinata told me, its nothing compared to yours," she whispered, looking up to meet his eyes, "please tell me, Kazuo-san."

Kazuo nodded and took a deep breath "Very well..." He then looked up to the sky as he remembered his past and it felt as though... it happened yesterday... "I was a normal student in the hidden Sand's Academy... I had my parents, and many pet scorpions... it was strange... but back then... they had always seemed to scare me...."

He then looked over at her and he said "It was the day of my graduation.... after I had passed the final exam and was granted my forehead protector, my parents went out shopping for a celebration dinner.... and I went home by myself...." he looked towards the river and his eyes sharpened now as hatred fueled his eyes.

"That's when HE showed up... a pale-skinned man.... with long black hair, eyes as yellow as the strongest venom... and a smile that made me stand speechless and motionless.... I was knocked out shortly after...."

He turned to face Aiko and he asked her "You know who he was, right...?"

Aiko was speechless herself and that's when Kazuo nodded "Orochimaru..."

Kazuo then looked down at the river again "I don't know how much later I woke up... but I do remember that I did wake up due to the whistling wind around the desert, and I was being carried by him in one arm... and to my left... there was the revered puppet master, Akasuna no Sasori... I was terrified and struggled to break free.... and my parents showed up shortly after... with hundreds of scorpions surrounding the three of us..."

Kazuo then started shedding a tear and he covered his face "They were both slaughtered... effortlessly... my parents.... died crying... and before I was given a chance to scream.... I was knocked out again..."

"My god," Aiko whispered.

Kazuo then pulled down one of his sleeves to show her a scar "This is one of many scars that they gave me... Orochimaru made me a part of an experiment... to see if other individuals could use iron sand....and Sasori was watching the whole thing... a simple hair from the puppet of the third Kazekage had enough DNA to give anyone the ability to control iron sand.... I was the only one who survived....."

Kazuo then responded "I spent years in a test tube.... just being experimented on... at first, I cried... then, I got angry.... then... I shut down..." Kazuo then sighed again and said "Ironically enough... that's where my name comes from..." he then created a small kunai out of Iron sand. "Kurosuna no Kazuo... The black sands are nothing more than the iron sand in my body..."

Kazuo faced Aiko again "After three long years of being an experiment... The lab was shut down... it must have been because Orochimaru left Akatsuki shortly after.... and they both left me there to die... I broke out of the test tube and screamed, I acted like a beast... destroying everything around me... And even then... I wasn't alone.... thousands of scorpions suddenly appeared.... but they were there to comfort me... they listened to my troubles, brought me food and water.... I had no idea where I was, so the lab was the only place I could stay..."

Kazuo then smiled as he wiped off his tears "I spent almost a year with the scorpions.... but then... Kazekage-sama found me.... at first, I thought he was nothing more than another threat, so I attacked him, and after he blocked my attack, I noticed the insignia he wore... and it was that of my former home...I then asked him 'What the hell do you want from me!? Why are you even here!?' He then responded 'You were lonely... weren't you, Kazuo...?' I was called by my name for the first time in years... I always felt like an experiment... a tool.... but someone still knew my name... and called me by it... He took me back to the Hidden sand and explained the foundations of my clan... and became my personal teacher about ninjutsu... and taught me how to control my Iron sand... I met Temari-san and Kankuro-kun shortly after... Kankuro always listened to what I had to say... and Temari taught me comedy, manners, and the summoning Jutsu... they were... no.... they ARE my family... can you understand that?"

"The family you are born into is not nearly as important as the one you make for yourself," Aiko whispered, "I . . . I know exactly what you mean, Kazuo-kun."

Kazuo nodded, then shed a tear of happiness now and smiled "Kazekage-sama gave me a mission in return for allowing me to change my name... My mission is... to find the one girl who will love me... and start a family for my own... He doesn't want loneliness to murder me and have me spend my days alone... He chose you because.... I dreamed about you..."

A single, solitary tear ran down Aiko's face, unnoticed by Kazuo, and landed in the dirt.

"Kazuo-kun . . . I'm so . . . so sorry . . ." she whispered. Her hands had balled into fists at her sides, her head bent and her eyes fixed on the ground.

"What's been done to you . . . can never be forgiven . . . I'm so sorry . . . but . . . why me?"

Kazuo then blushed and responded to her "Because.... you're... adorable...." he could barely look at her as he said that... "You're free-spirited... and you just... showed up in my dream.... my... night terror.... I envisioned you dead with my parents...."

He burst down crying now, and he sobbed as he could barely speak "I couldn't take it... I could barely sleep last night... just putting me there again is hell... but seeing you.... it's... it was too much! I couldn't handle it!"

"Kazuo-kun!" Aiko cried. Before he could protest, she'd wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her, "Kazuo-kun . . . I . . . I'm alright. I'm not going to die, I promise."

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "And I . . . I dreamed of you, too . . . Kazuo-kun . . ."

Kazuo then noticed her holding him and he felt strange... but not a bad strange... just a strange he had never felt before and he slowly held her back, his arms wrapped around her slowly and he asked as his eyes shut while holding her "Did you now...? and what.... exactly happened...?"

Aiko blushed and tried to pull away, but he held her fast. She instead settled for looking at her feet.

"Nothing, Kazuo-kun," she whispered, acutely embarrassed all of a sudden.

Kazuo nodded "I see..." he then looked at her and asked "Is it okay... if we stay like this... a bit longer...?" He asked as he refused to let her go... He didn't want to lose this feeling anytime soon...

Aiko blushed harder. "Oh . . . ok, Kazuo-kun . . .I mean, I . . ."

Aiko didn't get to finish her sentence. At that precise moment, Kazuo took hold of Aiko's chin, tilted her face to his, and kissed her.