"Gaara-sama said the beast was ancient," Sakura said before taking another sip of her tea. Across the table from her, Shikamaru frowned. Seated next to him was Kankuro, who also held a mug of hot tea cupped in his hands.
"Yes, that seems to be the case," Kankuro said.
Shikamaru gave him a dry look. "You told me yesterday you didn't know anything about that thing," he said. "So how could you know that it's ancient?"
Kankuro set down his mug and propped his elbows up on the table. The purple markings on his face were darker than usual. Sakura could see a sheen to them that indicated they were still wet. "There's a painting of that thing," Kankuro said. "It's been displayed in the palace for as long as anyone can remember."
"A painting?" Sakura asked.
"Yes," Kankuro said, "but not exactly of the beast. Though it's definitely in the painting."
"Where is it?" Shikamaru asked. "I want to see it."
"It's in Gaara's chambers. Above his bed."
Sakura blanched because that was a highly inappropriate place for anyone other than Gaara to be. She didn't even know where the Kazekage's chambers were.
"Do you think he would let us look at it?" Shikamaru asked, unfazed by the painting's location.
"You could always ask him," Kankuro said. "Worst he could do is say no."
Shikamaru scowled again. Sakura could tell he had woken up in a bad mood anyway, and his patience for Kankuro was thin at best. "I'm asking you if you think he will say no."
Kankuro merely shrugged in response, which seemed to agitate Shikamaru further.
"Where is Gaara-sama?" Sakura asked, trying to mitigate the tension between them. "I'll ask him."
"Probably still in his rooms," Kankuro answered.
This time Sakura scowled at him. "You're not being very helpful," she said. "Do you know of anyone who could tell us more about that beast?"
Kankuro tapped his chin with his forefinger, humming thoughtfully. It reminded Sakura of Naruto and suddenly she missed home again. "Ebizo-jiisama might know something," he said.
Sakura felt another pang of nostalgia thinking Ebizo's older sister Chiyo, who had passed away the last time Sakura had been in Suna. She blinked rapidly, surprised by the weight of emotions that came flooding back to her.
"Can we speak with him?" Shikamaru asked.
Again, Kankuro tapped his chin, twisting his lips up with uncertainty. "I suppose I could arrange that," he said. "Ebizo-jiisama doesn't live in the village anymore, but he lives nearby. I could have someone go fetch him for you."
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," Sakura said. She didn't want to pull the poor man from his home and drag him back to the village if it wasn't necessary.
"I'll arrange it, then" Kankuro said, picking up his mug and taking another sip.
Shikamaru leaned back in his chair. He seemed satisfied with Kankuro's answer. "Sakura," he said. "How much longer do you think it will take for you to create the antidote now that you have the egg?"
"I'm not exactly sure," she replied, "because I'll have to crack open the egg to see. I'll get working on it today and see what I can do. I was really hoping I could learn more about the creature before I had to open the egg."
Shikamaru scooted his chair away from the table and stood up. "Well the sooner you finish it, the sooner we can get back home," he said. It was a typical thing for Shikamaru to say, but Sakura knew him well enough to know it was a front.
"Oh, please," she drawled. "You don't want to go home. You want to stay here with Temari-san."
Shikamaru's face turned red all the way to the tips of his ears. "That's not—"
"Oh, yeah, he's definitely got the hots for my sister, doesn't he?" Kankura said to Sakura, an amused smirk on his face.
"I do not—"
"What are you guys doing here?"
Three sets of eyes turned to look at Temari standing in the doorway. Shikamaru's face reddened further, if that were even possible.
"Sakura-san, shouldn't you be working on the antidote?" Temari asked, hands on hips. "And Kankuro, you're supposed to be meeting with the daimyo today." Her eyes drifted to Shikamaru, but she said nothing to him.
"Actually," said Kankuro. Temari's eyes drifted back to her brother, heated by a glare now. "I'm helping to arrange a meeting with Ebizo-jiisama. I think he knows more about the beast."
"No," she said authoritatively. "Gaara would never approve of that—"
"Approve of what?"
Gaara emerged from behind Temari, side stepping her to join the others at the table. He plucked a grape from the tray in the center and popped it into his mouth.
"Kankuro wants to set up a meeting with Ebizo-jiisama," Temari replied.
Gaara looked over at his brother. "Why?"
"Sakura-san wants to know more about that worm beast," Kankuro said, "for the antidote."
His eyes flicked to Sakura, who felt unnerved by the attention, but he did her best not to show it. "I'd like to create the antidote without harming the egg," she said, answering his unasked question. "If I knew a little more about it, I might be able to come up with something."
"Why do you care about harming the egg?" Gaara asked.
Sakura faltered, unsure of how to answer that. She was just a naturally empathetic person – she didn't want to hurt a wild animal. Would it be rude to say that to the Kazekage?
"Well, I…"
"You presumed I would kill the beast, didn't you?" he continued. "I thought that's what you wanted me to do. Why do you feel differently about the egg?"
Sakura glanced to Shikamaru for help. She wasn't sure how to answer those questions, and the way Gaara had directed the questions toward her made it feel weirdly personal. Shikamaru was looking down into his lap, seemingly disinterested in the conversation. But Sakura knew he was listening.
"It's, like, a baby."
Gaara frowned, unappeased by her answer.
"Gaara-sama?" Sakura asked. He raised a brow. "Kankuro-san said there's a painting with one of those worm beasts in it. May I see it?"
He looked caught off guard by her question. He sent Kankuro a confused look before returning his attention to Sakura. "Do you think it would help you?" he asked. "It's just a painting."
"It's just that you mentioned that it was an ancient beast and I was wondering how you knew that," she said. "Is that because it's in the painting? Is it an old painting?"
Gaara looked uncomfortable now, but he didn't deny her request. "I will show you the painting," he said. He turned to Kankuro. "Don't bother Ebizo-jiisama. I already know he won't have much new information about the beast."
"Great," Temari said. "Kankuro, that means you can meet with the daimyo now. So you'd best get going. You don't want to keep him waiting."
Kankuro sent his sister a glare and shove his chair back away from the table. "You just love to spoil people's fun, don't you?"
"Not everyone's," she said with a haughty grin. Kankuro rolled his eyes as he shrugged past her.
"I wouldn't give Kankuro a hard time if I were you," Gaara said to Temari once Kankuro was out of earshot. "You know he'll tease you about Shikamaru."
"What?" Temari shrieked.
"What about me?" Shikamaru demanded. Both of them were now sporting equally red faces.
"Come on, Sakura-san," Gaara said, ignoring Temari's sputtering. "I'll show you the painting."
Sakura didn't quite know what to expect when she entered the Kazekage's private chambers. Given the luxurious décor of the rest of the palace, she had assumed they would be similarly extravagant. While she couldn't say that they were extravagant, they were by no means drab.
His bedroom in particular was very simply decorated. It was about the same size as her guest room, which surprised her. The floors were covered with plush carpeting. Golden sconces lined the walls. For furniture there was only a bed and a nightstand, though Sakura was certain she had never seen a bed so big before.
"Here it is," Gaara said, gesturing toward the massive painting that hung over his bed. Tentatively, Sakura approached it.
Its frame was large and golden, glinting in the light from the sconces on either side of it. The painting itself was a landscape of the desert. Sakura could see Suna's cityscape on the right side in the background. The forefront of the painting was close shot of a dune, a blur of sand spreading from its harsh peak.
In the background on the left side was a small wormlike creature. Sakura could hardly see it from where she stood. She craned her neck, her brow furrowed as she honed in on it. Did Kankuro really think this would be helpful?
"You may stand on the bed," Gaara said quietly, "if it would help you."
Sakura shook her head. "No, no," she said. "I don't—"
"It's fine," Gaara said, taking a step up onto the mattress. "See?"
Hesitantly, Sakura removed her sandals before she stepped up beside Gaara onto his bed. Now she could see it a bit more clearly – the beast that was definitely like the one they had encountered in the desert. It was floating above a distant dune, the tiniest brushstrokes serving as its glinting fins. Sakura reached her hand up to touch her fingertips to the creature's likeness, but a tiny wall of sand blocked her.
She recoiled, giving Gaara a confused look. He didn't have his gourd on his back, but she realized the sand was coming from underneath his bed. He must have kept some there for emergencies.
"You have a habit of touching things you aren't supposed to," he said.
Sakura did her best not to glare at him, but she could feel the annoyed look on her face in spite of her attempts to prevent it. "Sorry, Kazekage-sama," she said. "I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to touch it."
He stepped down off of the bed, but Sakura remained standing near his pillow. "The oils from your fingers will mess up the painting," he said. "But you may look at it for as long as you wish."
She returned her attention to the painting. She couldn't see why Kankuro would have thought it would be helpful to her.
"How old is this painting?" she asked. "And who painted it?"
"I don't know the answer to either of those question, unfortunately."
Sakura stepped down from the bed, fixing Gaara with a curious look. "Then how did you know that the beast is ancient?" she asked.
He looked conflicted for a moment, unsure of whether or not he wanted to share with her the answer to that question. Sakura waited patiently while he seemed to wrestle internally with the idea of telling her. Or perhaps he was fabricating a lie to tell her instead.
"That was the second time I encountered that beast," Gaara said finally. "The first time was many, many years ago. Before… before the extraction."
Sakura inhaled sharply, not quite a gasp, but close enough to it that Gaara caught her eye and gave her an inquisitive look. She didn't think talking to him about his kidnapping was such a good idea. Surely it was still a sore subject for him.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I was young. A child. I couldn't sleep and Yashamaru was nowhere to be found," he began. "I went out into the desert to take a walk. No one stopped me. I came across the beast in much the same way we did. It burst out of the ground, but it didn't attack me. I don't think there was a nest underneath it at the time. I suppose that explains why I wasn't poisoned back then."
Sakura sat down at the foot of his bed, listening with rapt attention. He sat down beside her before he continued.
"Shukaku talked to it," he said. "He knew it by name, though I can't remember what it was now."
"It's not a tailed beast, is it?" Sakura asked, surprised by this new piece of information.
Gaara shook his head. "I don't think so," he answered. "Shukaku said he had known that beast in the past, that it was ancient. That's how I knew."
"Do you think it's the same beast?" she asked. "Obviously they're able to reproduce. But if it's ancient, shouldn't there be many more of them around?"
"I'm not sure."
Sakura frowned as she digested these new puzzle pieces. "I wonder if Naruto would be able to speak with it," she mused. "You know, with the nine tails. Then maybe we could determine if it's the same beast."
Gaara seemed amused by this. Sakura thought she saw a spark of excitement in his eyes. "That's a bit outside the scope of your mission, don't you think?" he said. "I only need you to create an antidote."
"Oh, come on," she said with a smile. "You want to see Naruto. Admit it."
Gaara shook his head, though he wore an amused smile. "We don't need Naruto to speak with the beast," he said. "We are in the process of having it relocated."
Sakura's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "What? How?"
"There's a team of shinobi out there as we speak working on moving it to a hidden area of the desert – a place where no one will accidentally stumble across it," he answered. "They will be moving its nest and hoping it follows."
"I see," Sakura said, a little confused as to why he wouldn't choose to just kill the thing. "Kazekage-sama—"
"Sakura, please."
She looked down at her feet. "Gaara-sama," she amended. "What do you think of me damaging the egg? Do you think it's ethical for me to destroy it in order to create the antidote?"
"Is that why you've waited this long to crack it open?"
She nodded.
He pressed his lips together as he collected his thoughts. Sakura realized in that moment that she liked that about him – he waited until he was sure of what he would say before he opened his mouth to speak. The corners of her mouth quirked into a small smile as she waited for his answer.
"As shinobi I don't think we have a place setting ethical standards," he said. "But as far as the egg goes, I think cracking it open to create the antidote is a necessary evil. It might not be the most just choice, but is the right choice for Suna and Suna is my responsibility."
Sakura hummed in agreement. "I suppose you are right," she said. "If the poison were stronger… If it put people's lives at risk I would say breaking the egg is the right choice. But because the poison hasn't resulted in any fatalities, it feels wrong to take that creature's baby away."
"You have a big heart, Sakura," he said. She noticed he sometimes dropped the suffix from her name, and she wondered what moments he chose to do that in. "—to be so concerned for the beast that nearly killed you."
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "It didn't nearly kill me," she insisted.
"If I had not been there, it would have killed you."
She wanted to argue with him some more, but she was quite pleased that he had shared that story with her and engaged in her morality conversation. Those were not things he did as a Kazekage speaking to a foreign diplomat, but as a person merely speaking to another person.
"Well, then I guess I owe you," she said with a smile, placing her hand over his arm affectionately. "Thank you."
He stared at where her hand met his arm, a dark expression on his face. Quickly, Sakura pulled her hand away, a heated blush on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, Kazekage-sama."
"You're welcome, Sakura."
They stared at one another sheepishly, startled by their overlapping sentences. Too unsettled to continue looking at his face, she turned to look over her shoulder at the painting on the wall.
"I suppose I should get to work, then," she said.
Gaara said nothing and Sakura didn't have the courage to look over at him. It just occurred to Sakura that it was highly inappropriate for her to be alone with him in his bedroom. She could feel her cheeks growing even hotter, the fire burning all the way up to the tips of her ears.
"Sakura-san…" There was the suffix again. She ducked her head, allowing her hair to fall out from behind her ear and curtain her face. "Look at me," he said.
She furrowed her brow, hesitating to comply with his demand. She imagined if it had been Naruto, or Kakashi, or even Shikamaru that they would have grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn and look. But this was Gaara and he did not touch her.
"Look at me," repeated, this time with a softer tone.
Slowly, she raised her head and tucked her hair behind her ear, but she did not look at him just yet.
"Why is your face so red?" he asked. He sounded both accusatory and curious.
Sakura swallowed, choosing not to answer that intrusive question. She knew exactly why she was blushing. She was alone with Gaara, a man she had twice now thought of as handsome, in his bedroom no less. Though the nature of their conversation was innocuous, it was also personal and she felt a surge of affection for him, like they were finally friends.
She wondered about Naruto and what he would be doing if he were in her position. He certainly wouldn't be blushing – that much she knew. So whatever type of friendship her blond teammate shared with the Kazekage, it was not the same as hers.
But just what was the nature of this relationship now? Friends seemed like too close a term. They still barely knew one another. They didn't bond over similar experiences like Gaara did with Naruto. In fact, it seemed like their shared friendship with Naruto was the one thing that allowed them to have a relationship at all, if it could even be called that.
"Are you okay?"
Sakura looked at him this time, a little bolder now that she could properly think, even if she couldn't form the words she wanted to say to him.
"I'm fine, Kazekage-sama," she said. She watched his eyes narrow, and was both amused and a little terrified by it. "I have to go."
She didn't wait for his response before she fled from his chambers.
The heat in Sakura's cheeks stayed there the entire time she was working down in the labs. She couldn't quite say for sure why the interaction with Gaara had left her so unsettled, but she chose not to think about it.
Instead, she busied herself with that damn egg. She was going to have to compromise the embryo – this she knew. She felt better about it after speaking with Gaara, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to doing it.
It shouldn't have been so hard for a kunoichi. Death was a part of everyday life. If she couldn't handle her comrades dying (and she would definitely have to be able to do that), then she could handle a worm beast baby that hadn't even been born yet.
And she figured that if she was going to do it, she might as well do it right. Instead of using chakra or a syringe, she cracked the egg in much the same way she would have if she were making an omelet with it.
She shouldn't have been so horrified by the shell's contents. The embryo looked startlingly similar to the fully-grown sand beast – a tinier, veinier version of it, wrapped in a thin, organic tissue. Sakura could tell that it was already dead, likely because it hadn't been properly heated and spent too much time away from the nest. Sakura blinked rapidly to clear the swell of emotion in her chest.
She placed the embryo in a metal basin and set it aside so she could work with the albumen instead.
The substance was clear like an egg white would be, and just as viscous. Sakura could see by the visible fumes that floated above it that this liquid was the source of the poison.
She placed a few drops of the albumen inside a small dish and put it under her microscope so she could analyze the toxic microbes it contained. What she needed was something that could bind to these toxins and change the molecular structure so the toxins would be unable to enact their effects.
She didn't know how long she sat there, her face pressed to the microscope. Every so often she would pull away to scribble a note or two in her journal. She was happy with the progress she was making, though, especially after spending the first few days in Suna making hardly any at all.
Eventually, she came to a stopping point, unable to continue until she had tested the binds of the antidote and the poison. She arranged her tests in glass tubes and set them on her cubicle desk, ready to be checked in the morning.
She should have gone straight back to her rooms after that. It was early evening now, and there was nothing productive she could be doing. Exhausted as she was, though, she didn't feel like retiring just yet, so she made her way back to the window she had watched the storm through before.
It was clear now, and Gaara had been right: the view was beautiful from here. She let her forehead thunk against the glass as she watched the clouds float across the sky, grey wisps against navy. The cool colors of the sky contrasted weirdly against the warm tones of the sand, the desert beyond the courtyard. It unsettled Sakura a little, and she couldn't quite place why.
But after having been cooped up inside for so long, Sakura welcomed that unsettled feeling. In fact, she wanted to be closer to it. She glanced to her right, down the corridor that led to the baths. She could see the sky on the other end, peaking through the open entry.
Deciding a walk and some fresh air would do her some good, Sakura made her way down the corridor, out into the open air. The village gates were up ahead, but she chose instead to scale the wall and hop over into the wild deserts, hoping no one would see her. A Suna shinobi would likely stop her. That had been the theme of her trip so far.
Aimlessly, she wandered through the sands, careful to keep her wits about her and maintain a good idea of where she was in relation to the village. It certainly wouldn't do to get lost in the darkness of the desert. No one would ever find her out here.
Belatedly, she realized the dropped temperature of nightfall made it far too cold for the sleeveless vest and short skirt she wore, but she was a kunoichi. She could handle a little cold.
She wasn't really trying to get anywhere anyway. She settled down into the sand near the top of a dune, crossing her legs. The sand was pliant and still warm beneath her. She sank into it, enjoying the way it scratched her thighs and enveloped her. The sand wasn't really so bad, she decided, when it wasn't being whipped into her face by heavy winds.
With a contented sigh, she leaned back against the dune and gazed up into the darkening sky. The moon was just a sliver now, casting pale silvery light, however scant, over the desert. Suna was a beautiful place. She often forgot that, having only ever come here when taking in the beauty wasn't the most pressing thing she could be doing.
But now, with nothing to do but wait, she could relax and enjoy what Suna had to offer. Tomorrow, she thought, she would explore the village a bit more. Maybe she would ask Temari for that tour.
She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, though it didn't do much to stave off the cold. Her exhaustion was starting to set in now. Her eyelids felt heavy, but she couldn't bring herself to close them because the sky was such a beautiful shade of navy and the pinpricks of stars glittered above her head. It was entrancing, really, with nothing to hide her view. Perched so high up on the dune it almost felt as if she were floating in space.
Her fingers felt frigidly stiff as she tried to curl them. Using a little chakra to heat herself up, she sank back against the sand, staring blankly up at the sky. She wondered if Sasuke was looking at the sky, too. Maybe he saw the same stars see did. Maybe they were both looking at the moon right now.
It had been a long time since she'd thought of Sasuke. It was almost too painful to think about now. Almost, but out here on the dunes she felt a bit numb.
She closed her eyes, picturing his face, his aristocratic features that had been so marred by hatred the last time she had seen him she hardly recognized him. It seemed impossible now for him to come back to Konoha, for things to ever be normal.
She had always imagined she would do anything for him, follow him anywhere. Now she wasn't so sure. Now she was at peace lying back against the sand.
And for now, she didn't need anything else.
