Ghost in the Sand
Stirring the Pot

Two eyes watched as the Gold Dust traversed over the edges of the cavern. The others within the cavern looked down at floor where they sat. One of the men looked up at the man as he stood there with his arms crossed. "Kazekage... you should rest. There is no telling how many days you've used your Gold Dust to try and explore the area, and you're also injured."

The auburn haired man ignored the comment from the ANBU, but then teetered slightly. He took a deep breath and slid down against the wall. He closed his eyes trying to not remember what Orochimaru said to him before sealing him and his men into the cavern.

"I'd kill you, and use your Vanishing Facial Copy Technique if it weren't for the fragile nature of said technique. I'll simply use that mask you Suna shinobi are so fond of. If you manage to escape this sealed prison you'll find it's not just Konoha which has fallen."

Rasa's teeth ground together as he looked off into space. Sweat dripped down from his forehead despite the coolness of the cavern, and one hand went to his rib cage. His attention diverted to his ANBU as one spoke up. "Kazekage... your injury."

"I'm fine. The ones who don't look fine are the ANBU who are supposed to guard me at all times. Tend to your own injuries instead of worrying about me." The man looked over the ANBU and wondered if under the masks they wore were looks of disappointment from their Kazekage's harsh tone. "It can't be helped. They're not children, and really should be worrying more about their injuries. Particularly the ones I couldn't protect with the Gold Dust when the explosion occurred."

"Children..." The Kazekage looked at the wall. "I wonder what that man has in mind for Baki's group of genin." The man brushed off the guilty feeling from not referring to Baki's students as his own children. "What is exactly is that man's plans with Gaara? That child is completely unpredictable, and simply having him try to make a name for us by becoming a chunin was a major risk."

A sigh escaped his lips as he let his head tilt back as he waited for his chakra to replenish. "The only chance we had was Gaara, and Gaara not losing control during his matches. It's true the brat has more control over his sand, but he's never cared about doing what he's told." The man licked his lips, and then heard the sloshing sound of someone's water container. He looked up to see one of the men holding out his own flask for the Kazekage to take. "What are you doing?"

"Lord Kazekage? Isn't your flask almost out."

"Be concerned with yourself."

"You're the only one you can get us out of here Lord Kazekage."

"I'm not likely to be of any use getting use out. Our real hope lies with someone from the outside finding us. I doubt anyone suspects that we're missing." The man watched as a silence fell over the entire group.

"We may be the only ones who can help Suna though."

"Valid point." The Kazekage reached for his own flask and opened up the container and took a drink. "Can't wait for my chakra to replenish." The man stood up, and felt the tension from his ANBU increase. "As I said. Be concerned with yourselves and not what I'm doing."

He watched as his Gold Dust floated up to the ceiling, and all around the cavern probing for some kind of weakness.

M

Working with the Konoha shinobi wasn't to Baki's liking, and honestly caused him to have a foul mood. The faces of the Suna shinobi they met up with told him they weren't none to pleased with the situation, and he felt at least one of them questioned his judgment of trying to negotiate with the Konoha shinobi. He knew the Kazekage would be guessing his judgment as well should the manage to find him. "If we find them. If that man is dead then those three children are orphans. I'm not sure if they will care, particularly Gaara."

The shinobi of Suna continued to glare at Konoha shinobi. "How is tracking down the Lord Kazekage's location?"

"Nothing. None of the beasts we use for tracking were able to pick up any trace of the Kazekage. The trail's gone cold."

Baki felt his jaw tighten at this news. "This means time is running out. What ever supplies the Kazekage and his ANBU had are likely running out. If of course they are even alive."

The Konoha shinobi dressed in the strange garb looked at his companion. "Kakashi. Do you think your tracking beasts can catch onto the trail?"

"No. I don't believe the Suna shinobi are incorrect in saying the trail's gone cold. However..." The white haired man folded his arms. "... there are times I've used my ninken to find survivors under rubble. I can summon them if you don't mind."

Baki watched as the other Suna shinobi glared at the Konoha shinobi, and he barked out an order. "We don't have time to let our personal feelings get in the way. We need to take any opportunity we have to find the Kazekage we can."

The man folded his arms as he watched the man summon his eight dogs, and one of the Suna shinobi pulled out the item containing the Kazekage's scent. The eyebrow which was covered by the cloth covering his face rose up upon seeing the small teddy bear. "Where did you get that?"

The Suna shinobi looked at the man in a rather confused manner. "It's all we could find in the Forth Kazekage's office."

Baki took a deep breath. "You idiots were to afraid of the man to go into his personal living quarters, but you managed to find the one thing which will tick him off even more then you going into his personal living quarters. I can't imagine him wanting 'anyone' knowing he's held onto that thing, particularly since that 'thing' used to belong to Gaara of all people. Goodness knows I'm shocked he has anything from any of his children's childhood, let alone Gaara.

Another thought crossed his mind. "Then there is the fact someone may get the wrong idea if they didn't know he has children."

"Does the Kazekage have children?" Guy quickly spoke up rather quickly.

"Two. They're grown up now though."

Kakashi simply took the toy. "It's a bit problematic though, as the child's scent may still be on the item after all of this time. I don't think that's why you couldn't pick up the trail." The man let the dog sitting on top of the other dogs head sniff the item. "Do you have any problems Pakkun?"

"The child's scent is still there, but I've smelled it before so I can differentiate between that smell and that of the parent. I know what we're looking for. Not so sure about the others though as they weren't there."

Baki felt his eyebrow go up. "That dog knows Gaara's scent." The man cursed his luck. "That means they've likely figured out Gaara's related to the Kazekage. That's not something we're fond of sharing with people outside of the village." He watched as the man let the other dogs smell the item, before wrapping it carefully with a white cloth and sticking the item into his bag. "Sometimes I wonder if the problems we've had with Gaara over the years come down to our shinobi being idiots. Plenty have done idiotic things to set him off."

He didn't want to imagine the Kazekage's mood when the man was finally found.

M

The ANBU watched the Kazekage nervously knowing full well how stubborn the man could be. Each time the man used his Gold Dust it became harder for him to stand on his own two feet. Rasa had been rather blunt about the fact he wouldn't be able to get them out of their, but the harsh reality was every single person in the cave worried about Suna's fate and what Orochimaru had planned. The man of course couldn't last much longer, and they worried when he simply would fall to the ground unable to get up on his own.

Again Rasa's feet teetered which meant the man would lower himself to the ground to rest for a bit, but this time after teetering for a few seconds the man fell to the ground with a loud crash. "Kazekage!"

A few of the men rushed over despite the fact they knew a lecture about worrying about themselves might come from the man's lips. Instead a few chunks of dirt from the ceiling fell down around the man, and the men quickly reached under the man's arms and began to pull him away from the spot which looked like it would cave in. No verbal protest came from the man's mouth, but a groan did escape his lips. His eyes opened half-way as light began streaming down into the cavern.

From above they heard the words, "Lord Kazekage!"

Rasa let out a ragged breath before closing his eyes as a few shinobi jumped down. His eyes snapped open to see Baki, and next to him a couple of leaf ninja. "Why the hell did the Hokage decide to interfere with the business of Suna?"

The white haired shinobi stepped over with Baki to help Rasa to his feet. The annoyance at the interference read all over his face as he heard the voice of the white one next to his ear. "Apologies. This isn't an order from our third Hokage as he's dead. We couldn't let another village lose their kage as well."

Rasa felt himself pulled outside by the two men and sat down on rock while the shinobi worked on pulling out the rest of the ANBU. Baki sat down next to him and handed him a flask containing water, though for some reason the Kazekage wondered if he might not prefer sake. "Please tell me it wasn't Gaara wasn't the one to kill the Hokage. We need our relationship with Konoha to go well as we need access to that tract of land within the Land of Fire for food and water resources." The man let out a curse. "Scratch that. The fact the Hokage is dead isn't good news for us." The man swallowed. "Tell me. Where are they?"

"We don't know. Things were... a tad strange. I'll fill you in to the best of my ability once we get back to Suna."

"Did they have to send some of their shinobi?" Rasa's voice tensed from irritation.

"Besides the fact it's fully in their right to keep tabs on us at this point..." Baki took the flask Rasa handed to him back. "... if it weren't for those two Shinobi we wouldn't have gotten you out in time." He watched as the forth Kazekage turned to glare at him. "The white haired one provided ninken, and the second bashed down the rocks once we removed the five seals."

"There's something you're not telling me."

"I'll let you know once we get back."