Disclaimer: Don't own…

A/N: I finished this chapter… and guess what? I bought the last Tomb raider game (Anniversary) and decided upon deleting and rewriting the chapter. Shall I also say that inspiration has once again kicked in?

--Story--

The water felt so very refreshing, even though he had only just dried up from his previous swim. The male next to him groaned and rubbed his head, his fingers slightly covered with blood. The rock above him went unharmed.

"Heh… You suck." He tried to escape the water but was pulled back in for that remark.

The light is broken on the rocks in the water, yet there is no surface, just a long swim pleasantly cool after the hot surroundings from the other room. Then again taking a breath was just as cooling when they submerged. Sand everywhere, just as always, sticking to the wet clothing of the ninja. It was there where they went their own ways.

Again a cave, always a cave burying the secrets of man. An image of grey, yellow and gold, brown and white, with a very little red. A trail of blood sipped by the sand, a clear trail with lion prints staggering. Not too far beyond those trails was the body of the fresh kill, the body warm and the sand greedily drinking the blood. With a single finger Kakashi touches the body of 400 pounds. The lioness was burned and trampled.

What the hell?

Beyond his sight did his comrade move, searching for tracks that did not belong here. He had seen the lioness before his comrade did, made a mental note and moved on. The sand underneath his feet was silent but the moldy wall was not as it crumpled under his gentle touches. There were traces of lions mostly, in a place where it was unlikely for them to live.

Was it a castle or a home? The structure occupied the giant cave, from top to bottom. At one side the breaking walls of stone and rock that was the cave, the other side the beautiful walls, decorated with the same line of animals as well as other colorful signs, the building with a hint of Roman influence. Though the lines were slightly different from what they had seen before.

The wolf, bear and dinosaurs were completely left out, and a new animal just as nasty as the man next to the horse stood at the end of the line. He seemed to be holding a bow or something.

"Gay ass drawings, even I can do better then that." Snorting at his own comment the sounds of the black haired male died out. He must have been looking at the drawings too if he would make a remark like that.

The stone entrance seemed to have been decorated with curtains by the look of the remains draping from the stone.

The square room was small and destroyed, the only other exit a stairway. While climbing them Kakashi realized how tired he really was. Not exhausted thanks to years of training, but maybe… just maybe a good night rest would do them good.

Time to look for a safe place.

The marble floor cracked a little beneath his weight as he climbed the stairs. Even though walls, floor and ceiling were covered in dust and time he still quite enjoyed the decorations. Decorations of strong man battling powerful beasts, beats fighting each other and every now and the, that man sitting on the horse. A headless horse if he looked closer at it. And did the man have legs?

"What is this place?" Had it been his intention or not, Zabuza had scared the living crap out of him. He was this close to throwing a tantrum when the shirtless ninja grabbed him by his hand and led him further down the corridor. It made the Copy Ninja forget his intensions of throwing a hissy fit.

The arena held hundreds of seats, and was just as gorgeous, if not destroyed, as the rest of the building. Remembering Zabuza's question the slightly smaller ninja tried to explain.

"This is a colosseum, just like a circus only people used to kill each other. That over there, that balcony across the arena was where the emperor used to sit and watch. Did you know that if two men would fight he would determine if one would live or die by giving them ThaAA!?"

An arm was pushed around his waist while the other shut him up as he was pulled out of sight once again. He was slammed with his chest against the dusty wall, small bits and pieces breaking. Zabuza was pushing his body against his, and to be honest, the Jounin didn't mind at al. It took him all his self control not to giggle. "Hey… not now."

"You see him?" A muffled huh? from the Hatake who pushed a little away from the wall, staring into the distance. The man however disappeared soon, too soon for Kakashi to see who he was. Zabuza however seemed to be a little confused.

"What is it?"

"I think I saw a horse too…"

"How did he get a horse here? And… why a horse?"

"Let's follow him." Stealth and precision led them into the heart of the colosseum, where the battles of long ago were fought to entertain those who watched. Only the stone and sand knew about the bloodshed that happened centuries ago.

"No traces of men… only a horse…"

At the other side of the colosseum was the emperor's seat, high above the battles but visible to everyone who watched. He was the one who decided when one would live or die. "Really horrifying if you think about it."

"What is?" But when Kakashi remained silent as they climbed the wall, Zabuza knew better then to keep pushing.

"That looks cozy." The missing Nin pointed at a large chair as they passed by. "We should find a place to rest."

"What about the guy with the horse?"

"We should find a safe place to rest."

"What about this bed… chair… thing… whatever…"

"What time is it?"

"Don't really know…"

"How long did we sleep?"

"Don't know…"

"Where is that horse?"

"Dunno…"

A rather intelligent conversation.

There was no food in this dead place. But a good night's sleep had revitalized them both, even if Zabuza had slept shorter then his love.

The missing ninja had explored and broken his mind over the mystery man. There were many traces in the sand. Those of monkeys and big cats. And the traces of a single horse… but no human traces. There was nothing they could use in the arena. There were only two exits in this drought. Through the hallway they had entered, and a waterway hidden by many rows of colored curtains behind the emperor's seat.

Inhaling deeply the ninja had entered the water. The sounds had pretty much died out under water, a few weeds floating around without a goal. As they swam Kakashi had made several sounds for funzies, and his comrade had laughed at them.

The air on the other side was cooler then in the arena, with sounds of flames in the distance.

"Think there's something to eat here?"

Just before he could answer a cold cry echoed through the many corridors, bouncing off so many walls. In complete silence the two ninja climbed onto the dry while in the distance something galloped with enough sounds to wake the dead.

--TBC--