Kankuro and Ino followed the river going upstream through the forest. If bodies were ending up in the river, they were probably being held somewhere near. Ino couldn't give a certain time of death on the bodies but she guessed they had died a few days prior, possibly the same night they had disappeared. Ino kept her eye on Kankuro for any odd behavior, every now and then pinching his arm when he got too focused. She feared he would be possessed again.

They had been patrolling for nearly 4 hours when they seen a large rock formation up ahead. Kankuro and Ino gave a silent understanding nod. As they thought, there was an opening in it to be a small cave. A vile stench drifted out that forced Ino to cover her nose and mouth. Kankuro pulled his shirt above his nose. It was a hundred times worse than anything she had every smelt. Ino pulled out her flashlight and the two crept inside where the stench got only stronger and flies buzzed around. It got darker and darker the further they went. Taking a misstep, Ino nearly tumbled out into sudden darkness before them but was pulled back into Kankuro's chest, his arm wrapped around her. Pointing the light at the ground to see what was before them, the ground was gone. Ino had nearly walked into a pit. The flashlight's beam slowly drifted further and under it's glow, they could see a mass grave of decomposing bodies.

"Oh my god" Ino swallowed the vomit threatening to spew.

"Damnit!" Kankuro looked away.

Water splashing below forced Kankuro to peer over the edge. Ino handed over her flashlight and he found a hole in the cave wall below that led into the river outside. Bodies were clogging the hole, rising and falling with the small tides. The bodies floating down river had been freeing themselves from the clogged hole and returning to the village.

"We were too late.." Ino knelt over in case.

"They were dead the moment they walked away. There's nothing else we can do here. Let's go" Kankuro helped her out of the cave. They sat by the river for a few minutes to gather themselves. Ino was about to splash the cold water onto her face before she looked back at the cave. The thought of those decaying bloating bodies in the river water had her quickly drying her hands with some leaves.

SNAP

Both ninja snapped their heads in the direction of the sound. Someone was approaching. Kankuro reached for a scroll, stepping back into the overgrown shrubbery. Ino hopped on a branch of the tree she had been under. Her steps were light and did not make a sound. She crouched as she watched, hiding behind the bulk of the tree.

A petite brunette appeared. She looked over at the shrubbery that Kankuro hid in.

"You can come out, Sand-Man. I know you are there" her accent was heavy as it swept through the trees as if carried by the wind.

Kankuro stepped out.

Her golden eyes were like honey but they did not radiate warmth, only fierce anger. "Like vermin you survived. Nevertheless, I welcome your fate to end by my hands just like the rest of the vermin."

"'Forest witch', is it? Luring innocent men to their death"

"I am Cio Sikora and I will claim your life as well. They weren't innocent just as you aren't"

"Sikora..?" Kankuro's eyes widened in shock. Ino was listening carefully from her hiding spot. "A Siren, ja. That explains a lot. Thought the Siren Clan had been exterminated?"

Cio glared. "Orochimaru massacred my clan but I walk free from his imprisonment. The Sikora will never die. I will rebuild my clan and no man shall dare put his hands on me or any woman again!"

"By murdering innocent civilians?"

"Does a bad man realize he is bad? Either you are ignorant to your crimes or you simply don't care. My clan has always protected our sisters from your pride and filth! I will do so with my last breath!"

"How fucking righteous of you. Where were the Sirens for the last 40 years? You only protected yourselves. You're murdering in the name of a delusional injustice."

"ENOUGH! What does an ignorant fool like you know about the world? You're all the same and all beg the same for your lives."

"Don't suppose you're going to play fair?" Kankuro cracked his knuckles.

Cio winked and got into her stance.

"Figures. You look the dirty type" Kankuro reached for a scroll behind his back. "Guess that makes two of us!" With his hand on the seal, black ink appeared on the scroll. In a pouf of smoke, a hooded puppet appeared, blocking it's master's figure from Cio.

Cio softly started humming as she walked, eyeing his puppet like a predator. With a sweet fluid voice, the woman's song swept through the trees, unheard by Ino's ears. Kankuro's movements relaxed and the hooded puppet's body fell limp to the ground. Cio approached Kankuro closely so she was face to face. She studied his face before leaning in and touching her lips against his into a small kiss. While she was distracted, Ino took the opportunity to quickly move to get in to a position to her benefit, right behind their target's back.

The brunette pulled back and continued to study Kankuro's blank face, her lips still moving to her song. She reached behind into her pouch for a kunai and struck with fast reflexes into Kankuro's face, slicing his skin open from ear to mouth. Her eyes widened to see another mouth under the torn flesh, unscratched by her kunai. Her eyes looked up to see a looming scorpion tail striking down at her. She jumped back just in the nick of time before it slammed into the ground, sending a small dust cloud into the air. Crow shed it's master disguise and shot through the dust, scythes flying from its chest at her. She struggled to dodge the scythes and shrieked as one sliced across her abdomen and upper arm. Scorpion and Crow stood as the dust started to settle. Cio quickly made hand signals, slamming both hands onto the forest ground. High pressured water cannons shot out of the ground at both puppets, Scorpion made a quick recovery while Crow's body disassembled to avoid the attack.

"Where are you, sand-man?! Show your face, you coward!" Cio looked around, trying to find the puppet's master. She squinted at the pain in her abdomen. Crow's limbs danced in a predatory circle above Cio. She made another series of hand signals and touched the ground, "Rush!"

The ground shook briefly before the entire forest's ground broke into high pressured water jets shooting in every direction. Ino almost lost her balance, giving her position away and quickly raced between the jets, narrowly being hit by several. Kankuro could not dodge fast enough from his hiding spot. Once the jets returned to the ground, Kankuro reached up from an uprooted tree and got back up. Scorpion was buried under two large thick trees.

"Shit." He glared back at Cio.

"Found you" Cio snarled.

Ino dropped from the trees with an unexpected series of punches and kicks at Cio. Cio blocked Ino's punches and managed to head-butt her. Ino stumbled back and with her palm on her forehead, Cio took advantage of the opening. Fast reflexes, Cio slid into a leg lock, bringing Ino down face first. Cio applied pressure to Ino's left leg until a pop was heard. Ino left out a cry and grabbed for a kunai. Cio released her and back flipped to safety out of reach of Ino as she swung with the kunai. Cio held on to her bleeding abdomen, dropping to one knee.

"Why are you doing this? What's the point?" Ino squinted from the pain, her voice hard.

"I am freeing these poor slaves. I liberate them from abuse and suffering. Why attack me, sister? Why can't you see that I am not the enemy"

"Not the enemy? You murdered their husbands and sons, brothers and fathers. People they love." Ino slowly stood. Her knee was hurting terribly but she wasn't going to back down. The women, the children, Kim, and Sara were all counting on them. She was their vengeance, their justice to come, their protector. She had to protect Kankuro. With her determination igniting her inner fire, she stood up straight, ignoring her aching knee.

"No, I killed abusers! I killed men who forced themselves on weak women, who raise their hand to the women who bare their children! Men are evil, greedy pigs. I won't be a victim again and I won't let another woman be forced upon! They are now free to be happy and don't need to be afraid any longer. Let him die and you too can live peacefully. I will protect us." Every word was full of conviction.

"Delusional bitch." Kankuro spat out the small amount of blood from his lip. He threw two small white ear plugs away from him, having fully heard Cio's words.

Cio turned to glared at Kankuro, "I've met hundreds of men like you. Don't think for a second you have done nothing to deserve death!"

"I am a Shinobi of the Sand. I've done horrible things but I don't regret any of it. I did it to protect my village, my siblings, my comrades, my friends. An honorable death is what any Shinobi can ask for. Bad news for you though; I'm not going to die by your hands, ja" Kankuro said through gritted teeth. His eyes made contact with Ino quickly before returning to Cio's. Ino jumped up from behind and kicked Cio with such force, it threw her into a tree. Before she could collapse to the ground, Crow's disassembled limbs pinned her body into the tree. Her scream shook the trees; every bird in the Bevia forest took flight. Ino and Kankuro covered their ears from the raucous scream that pierced the air. Blood poured from Cio's mouth as a limb pierced through her chest. Ino fell on to her behind, watching the life leave Cio's angry eyes. Kankuro pulled Crow's limbs back together and in a pouf of smoke, the puppet disappeared. The siren's body fell on to the ground with a thud.

As Kankuro helped a limping Ino out of the forest, her heart ached for the women waiting in the village for their return of news of their loved ones. They couldn't save any of them. Ino's knee gave out from under her.

"Get on my back" Kankuro knelt in front of her, motioning for her to get on.

"Kankuro, I'm fine" Ino protested, trying to walk on her wounded, swollen knee. Biting back the groan, she didn't get too far. Kankuro carried her the rest of the way to the village. She didn't protest any further. She accepted his kindness and help as she wrapped her arm around his neck.

"Cio really believed she was helping them.." Ino softly spoke next to his ear.

"Whatever Orochimaru had done to her, she was beyond reasoning. She lost her clan, people she loved, must of endured the unthinkable. She would of killed you too for standing in her way."

Kankuro was right. Survival was the basic human instinct. Cio killed thinking she was protecting captive women. She couldn't see past her own anguish. Ino rested her head on Kankuro's shoulder.

"Who were the Sirens? Did Orochimaru really kill them?"

"They were a clan who parted from the villages and exiled themselves. Younger generations haven't heard of them. They became something of a myth. Supposedly they were all beautiful women who lured men with their songs. Women can't hear it so they adopted the nickname of Sirens. Villages tried using them to help in their wars but they had refused. No one knew Orochimaru had killed them. It took a few years before news of their demise reached the villages."

Orochimaru's reach was unbelievable. Even after years of his death or disappearance, no one really knew, the devastation in his wake was still being felt. Like a ripple in a sea of blood.

"Orochimaru.. destroyer of lives" Ino whispered.

"Fitting nickname for him. He killed and wore my father's face, setting up our village to attack Konoha. He used us like puppets. We're still cleaning up after him and what he did to us" Ino could feel Kankuro tense under her.

'That's right. He had killed the Yondaime Kazekage and tried to start a war between Suna and Konoha' Ino thought back to the first time Team Ten had seen The Sand Siblings and their frightening brutality. Despite that, they were all still children when their father was murdered by that snake. Since then the Sand Siblings had indeed tried proving themselves as allies. Much to do with Gaara's respect of Naruto. Ino tightened her arms around Kankuro, "I am sorry about your father"

"It doesn't matter anymore... But thank you"

The villagers cried out when they shared that they had found the missing men. Kankuro had left Cio's bound and sealed body inside a buried Kuroari. Discussing on what to do next, the villagers agreed that the cave be sealed and memorial placed outside of it. They spent the next couple days helping the villagers till Ino's knee was well enough to travel again. Kankuro helped seal the cave with the surviving older sons and blocking the underwater hole while Ino helped with building the memorial sign. It would never be enough to bring peace to this village but Ino hoped they could find the strength to endure.

On their last day in Bevia, many of the villagers offered their gratitude to Ino and Kankuro. Kim and Sara approached and to Ino and Kankuro's surprise, Sara bowed her head, "Thank you. Nothing can replace our loved ones but our children are safe."

Ino bowed back. Kankuro nodded and they left with Kuroari behind them with Cio inside.