"The seamstress is not going to like this," Gaara said as he climbed up onto Turtle Rock and inspected his Kage robe. Charred bits of fabric swayed teasingly in the breeze, blooming from the frayed hem like curls of smoke.

"You're lucky we managed to get most of that shit off you," Sakura said, kicking the robe with her toe.

"But more importantly, now I've only got one robe left."

Sakura glanced over her shoulder at the Kazekage, whose somber expression belied his jesting tone. Behind him the dunes loomed ominously against the grey sky.

"Come on," he said. "We've got to find the monolith again." He hopped down off the stone and into the sand, letting his feet sink in instead of using his chakra to create a buffer. For all his aversion to human touch, he probably quite enjoyed the feeling of sand against his skin, Sakura mused.

She, on the other hand, grimaced as the wind swept grains of sand against her face and legs and arms. It was too rough and too sharp and she wished for the billionth time that week that she was back home in Konoha where there was grass and dirt and fucking water.

With a sigh, she reared back her fist and smashed it into the ground with a precisely controlled burst of chakra. She had come more prepared this time – her chakra level was as high as it could be and she carried two headlamps and some more parchment paper in her pack.

The sand crumbled away, leaving behind a ten-foot deep tunnel, which Gaara wasted no time jumping into. She waited from him to widen the tunnel before she jumped in and landed beside him.

"Can you sense the monolith?" Gaara asked. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her shoulder and she wondered why this close proximity didn't seem to bother him. For a man who had rarely been touched by another human until well into his adolescence, he had a pretty cavalier attitude toward touching her.

She closed her eyes, feeling outward with her chakra. "Yes, I can feel it," she said. "It's fainter now than it was yesterday."

"I wonder if that's because you killed the beast."

Sakura said nothing but aimed another punch at the sand beneath them. The sand crumbled away, vanishing from under their feet. Darkness enveloped them and Sakura didn't need to look up to know Gaara had executed his sand shield to protect them from the falling sands as they slid down the length of the tunnel.

It was much cooler beneath the surface than it was in the hot sun, so it was with relief that Sakura wiped the sweat away from her forehead and stretched her head upward to pop her neck. There was no bright sun to sting her eyes, or whipping sands to scratch her cheek.

"You'll get arthritis if you keep doing that."

"That's a myth," she replied dryly. Anyone else might have earned a smack to the back of the head with a comment like that, but Sakura had antagonized him enough and she didn't need to be in any more trouble.

He didn't respond, but he lifted her elbow and guided her hand to the sand to her left near her rib cage. "Here," he said. She could sense the strange chakra of the monolith a fair distance away, but she had no idea how to pinpoint its exact location. Lucky for her, Gaara seemed to know where to go.

She reached back again and punched the sand where he had directed her to and then crawled along the tunnel she had created. She could feel Gaara close behind her still, but this time he was not touching her.

For a moment she felt a strong inclination to panic. Without Gaara the sand would crush her, and even if she were to manage to stay alive beneath the surface she would have no way of knowing which way was up. Her dependence on him was harrowing and she wished she had something he needed, too – something that would level their playing field.

Gaara stayed close behind her as she inched along her chain of tunnels, guiding her by placing her hand in the targets in the sand. Sakura didn't know whether she was crazy or dehydrated, but she was loathe to admit that she actually enjoyed the gentle way his fingers curled around her wrist, the way the length of his arm brushed against hers as he extended it to reach the sand.

The tunnel began to level out – Sakura presumed they were nearing the monolith as their path became more horizontal. She kept her pace, forcing herself to even out her breaths. She was beginning to feel claustrophobic and she hoped they would reach the monolith soon so she could have some space.

She paused when she came to the end of her most recent tunnel, waiting for Gaara to position her hand. She turned around to face him when she felt no movement from him, though she could feel the heat of his body against her back.

"Gaara-sama?"

"Hmm?"

She shivered, not expecting his face to be so close to hers. She felt the tip of her nose brush along his jaw and she recoiled at the touch, backing up into the sand.

"Be careful," he said, grabbing onto her elbow and pulling her back toward him. "Try not to move the sand around too much."

"Are we close?" she asked, annoyed by the tremor in her voice.

"I think so but I'm afraid I don't know what direction to go."

Sakura swallowed a dry lump in her throat. "Are we lost?" she asked, her voice a panicked whisper.

"No, we aren't lost," he said firmly, and she was comforted by the steady timbre of his voice. "I know how to return to the surface. But the strange chakra… it's all around us. It's not coming from a single direction."

Sakura slowed her breathing and pulsed her chakra outward, seeking the monolith's odd chakra. Instantly, she recoiled, sucking her chakra back into herself. He was right – it felt like it was surrounding them, thick and heavy. She sucked in a deep breath, but it felt as though she couldn't fill up her lungs properly.

"Why?" she asked, even though she knew Gaara couldn't possibly know the answer to that. "What's happening?"

"I don't know."

They were both still for one painful moment. Sakura was cycling through all the worst scenarios in her head, praying that whatever happened, Gaara would be able to get them through it. She would feel better if she could just breathe some fresh air, or see a chink of light from the sun.

She itched to punch another tunnel, to create more space around them so she could stretch her arms or stand on her tiptoes. The tunnel behind them had already caved around Gaara's sphere where there was hardly enough space for the two of them to stand comfortably. She could feel his breaths, his heartbeats. They were too close and Sakura swallowed again, trying her best not to feel affected by his nearness and the darkness and the way sand was pressing against her everywhere.

"Sakura," Gaara said. She felt him shift so that only their arms were touching. "Tell me how to create a healing salve for a burn."

Sakura's brow furrowed as her mind raced over the unexpected question. "Aloe is the main ingredient," she answered. "Start with aloe as a base – which I'm sure you could find plenty of out here in Suna."

"What else?"

She scowled in response. "You don't need to do that," she said. "I'm not freaking out."

"Your breathing is erratic," he argued. "Just talk about something until you've calmed down."

"I am calm," she insisted.

"So aloe, and then what?" he asked. "I've heard raw honey is good for burns. Would that work?"

"Yes, fine, raw honey," she snapped. "Raw honey and aloe and a little bit of healing chakra."

"Sakura."

A beat of silence.

"What?"

"Can you feel that?" he asked. "The chakra is moving."

She stilled, feeling outward with her chakra again. She could feel it all around her still, but instead of heavy and thick, it felt… oily and slippery, like it was settling into the sands around them, dripping through the cracks and crevices. She shuddered, disliking the way it felt.

"Are you okay, Sakura?"

"I'm fine, Gaara-sama."

Morbidly fascinated, Sakura probed the mysterious chakra with her own. She could feel it flowing like molasses around her. Slowly, it rolled over them, or through them, or around them, down into the sand below her feet.

"Follow the chakra," Gaara instructed.

Sakura contorted awkwardly as she aimed to punch the ground under her feet. But this time, instead of a tunnel, her punch exposed air – a harsh breeze that whipped around them as they began plummeting downwards toward…

Sakura screeched as she flailed her limbs, unprepared for the idea that there was possibly as space for her to fall into. Trickles of sand pelted her, getting into her eyes and mouth and nose. Blinded, she waved her arms around, seeking anything to stable herself with.

Then she felt a strong hand grasp her forearm, snatching her from the air and pulling her upwards.

With her free hand, Sakura, rubbed the sand from her eyes and looked up. Gaara was above her, hovering on his sand and holding her up so she didn't fall. Hesitantly, Sakura looked down below her dangling feet. She could see nothing but darkness, but she had a feeling a drop from this height would kill her. Something about the breeze – unnatural as it was so far beneath the sand – unsettled her.

Gaara swiftly pulled her up onto his sand. "Are you alright?" he asked. Sakura nodded as she reached into her pack and pulled out the headlamps. She passed one to Gaara and fastened the other over her head.

"How the hell is the possible?" Sakura murmured, more to herself than to her companion. She flicked on the switch of her lamp, casting a white glow over the sand. She looked up above her from where they had just fallen. There was sand above her, defying gravity, it seemed. She could see the hole she had punched and the stream of sand that trickled down from it.

But below her and around her… there was nothing but darkness. The white light of her headlamp dissipated into the darkness. Wherever they were, the space was so massive she couldn't see any walls of the floor from where she was.

"That chakra," Gaara said. Sakura glanced over at him, noting the confusion and frustration in his features. "It's gone."

"Where the hell are we?" Sakura asked.

"Let's find out," he said. Suddenly, his sand swooped downwards. Sakura shrieked and instinctively latched onto Gaara's arm, squeezing him as though her life depended on it. They sailed through the air – much quicker than Sakura assumed was safe. After all, they had no idea where they were or what was down here.

But with Gaara guiding them, his light casting a glow over the darkness, they found their way down to the floor, a wide expanse of sand that went on for as far as the light could go. Sakura stepped down off the sand platform, using Gaara's arm for support.

"Be careful," he said to her as she took several steps across the sand. "We don't know what's down here."

Sakura hummed her acknowledgement as she surveyed the area, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. She heard Gaara's footsteps behind her as he explored what was at her back.

"How is the sand supported?" Sakura asked. "Can you sense any chakra holding it up?"

Gaara's footsteps stopped. Sakura turned around to look at him, casting her headlamp's light over his pale features. He was silent, his eyes closed as she tried to sense whatever was in the sand.

"I can't sense any chakra but yours," he answered. "But that doesn't mean much. My own sand shield uses negligible chakra – no one would be able to sense it. We might be seeing that same mechanic at work here."

Sakura blinked in surprise. She hadn't known that about his sand shield.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"Stay close to me," he said, closing the distance between them. "I'm not sure I'd ever find you if we got separated in here. We should look around."

Sakura had a really bad feeling about this. She followed Gaara closely as they made their way across the sand. She had no sense of the direction they were moving in and she couldn't sense any chakra other than Gaara's. The complete isolation and darkness and emptiness bothered her immensely, but she gritted her teeth and ignored the way it made her brain feel slightly fuzzy.

Their pace was leisurely, but Gaara never veered from the straight path he was making through the sand. Sakura stuck close on his heels, feeling more claustrophobic now than she had when they had been cramped together in his sand shield. It felt strange to see nothing but darkness and emptiness in every direction.

Another gust of wind blew over them, rustling Sakura's hair and sending a shiver down her spine. It was cold down here and she could already feel goosebumps forming on her skin. The wind whistled and echoed around them, emphasizing the vastness of the titanic space around them.

After walking for what felt like an eternity, Gaara paused. Sakura bumped into him and then took a step back. Gaara's hand came up to steady her, but it paused just before reaching her arm. Sakura watched him expectantly.

"The chakra is back," he said. He turned sharply to his left and began walking again. "This way."

Sakura obediently followed him, trusting his judgment. She, too, reached out to feel the chakra signature, though. It was faint, but she could feel it getting closer as they continued along Gaara's path.

Within minutes, Sakura no longer had to probe with her chakra. She could feel it permeating the air around her. She suspected even a civilian with no knowledge of chakra would be able to sense the cloying energy that seemed to hum and vibrate in her bones.

Then she felt it – a familiar feeling of nausea and an itch in her muscles. She stopped moving and let her eyes and her light survey the sand. Gaara stopped, too, when he could no longer feel her walking behind him.

"What is it?" he asked.

Silently, Sakura pressed her hand against Gaara's back between his shoulders blades and sent a jolt of chakra into his system. She could sense it there, too – traces of the poison. She shrugged her pack off and reached inside to grab two syringes of the antidote she was grateful she had decided to bring along with her.

"The nest is near," she answered. "The poison is in both our systems."

She uncapped the first syringe and jammed it into her arm. "Here, give me your arm," she said. Gaara eyed her suspiciously before extending his arm to her. She noticed individual grains of sand hovering near his arm where she held the needle poised over him, but they did not block her path as she injected the antidote into his blood.

"Afraid of needles?" she asked, and though she usually would have added a teasing inflection to her tone, this time she was neutral, curious.

"No," he said with a glare. "But I'm not particularly fond of being pricked with them."

Sakura gave him a small smile as she tucked the empty syringes back into her pack and shrugged it back onto her shoulders.

A shrill peal of laughter rang out somewhere behind her, echoing through the darkness. Sakura whirled around and took a step back, her light vibrating against the sand as she looked for whatever had made the sound. She swallowed hard and then made herself be perfectly still so she could listen.

Silence settled around them. She could hear nothing but Gaara's steady breaths.

"Hello?" Gaara asked, raising his voice to carry through the expansive space.

Another giggle, dainty and feminine rang out in the darkness. Sakura took another step backwards, nearly stepping on Gaara's foot. She couldn't place the direction the noise was coming from and with the inkiness that obscured her vision she couldn't see a thing.

"Who's there?" Gaara called out.

"I didn't think you'd be able to get here," said an eerie voice behind them. Both Sakura and Gaara whirled around, but there was nothing but darkness.

"Where are we?" Gaara asked the mysterious voice.

"The catacombs."

Sakura's eyes darted around, seeking the source of the voice. Catacombs? But there were no walls, no tunnels, nothing. How could they be in catacombs when it felt like they were exactly nowhere? Were there bodies buried out here? Who used these catacombs and what was their purpose? Sakura took another step toward Gaara, seeking comfort from his nearness as she grappled with this strange new discovery.

"Who are you?" Gaara demanded. "Show yourself."

"Behind you."

They spun around again in tandem, but this time there was a girl there – fifteen or sixteen at most. Her skin was white as paper and she was dressed in a long black dress that covered her from the nape of her neck down to her feet, though it was so sheer Sakura could see that she was wearing absolutely nothing underneath. She had messy black hair that was piled on the top of her head and a shimmering black veil that covered the lower half of her face.

"We've been waiting for you," she said, her voice crystal clear now. "The elders said you wouldn't come, but I knew you would. After all, you killed the Sun Goddess."

Sakura and Gaara exchanged wary glances. "What Sun Goddess?" Gaara asked. "And who is 'we?'"

The girl giggled again, her dark, milky eyes sparkling with amusement. "You should know, shouldn't you?" she asked. "You killed her. Come now. I have to take you to see Taiyo-sama."

She darted off into the darkness. Gaara and Sakura hurried after her, desperate not to lose her in the massive space.

"What's your name?" Sakura asked once they had caught up with her.

"Sarabi."

"Where are you taking us, Sarabi?"

"To meet Taiyo-sama."

"Who is Taiyo?" Gaara asked.

Sarabi stopped cold and spun around to face them. "Taiyo-sama," she corrected, "is the elder in charge of the catacombs. He will be most pleased to see you." She turned back around and continued walking. Gaara and Sakura kept close to her as she navigated her way across the sand.

"Why—"

Sakura's question was cut off by Gaara grabbing her by the arm and shaking his head. "Save your questions," he said. "We need to focus on what we're seeing. It will be easy to get lost down here. Stay close to the girl and be careful."

Sakura nodded and focused all her attention on keeping up with Sarabi. They followed her for some time, the three of them padding along the sand with dull monotony. There was no variation in their path – nothing but blackness and sand and the white glow of their headlamps against Sarabi's back.

But eventually, the sands gave way to stone beneath their feet, reddish brown like Turtle Rock. Sakura nearly sighed with relief when her aching feet pressed into the firm stone. She didn't know taking steps on something solid could feel so relieving. Soon, the stone floor was joined by walls that towered high above them. Sakura craned her neck upward to see the ceiling, but it was too far away to see with her headlamp.

Sarabi led them down several corridors, turning and bending along the path until Sakura could hear voices up ahead in the distance. She saw a few sconces on the walls up ahead, casting warm but dim light over the corridor. Grateful for the chance to take off the tight headlamp that rubbed painfully against her temples, Sakura shoved her lamp back into her pack and then turned to Gaara to take his as well.

The corridor opened up into a large room made entirely of marble. It was big and empty, which Sakura presumed was intentional given the nature of the parts of the catacombs they had seen so far. In the center of the room sat a man high up on a marble throne, his eyes dark and milky like Sarabi's, but his hair a wispy gray.

Beside him was another man, younger and with black hair like Sarabi's. He caught Sakura's gaze and then leaned to whisper something into the older man's ear.

"Taiyo-sama," Sarabi said, her voice strong and sure. Her footsteps echoed against the marble as she led Sakura and Gaara up to the throne. "I've brought you the Fireheads."

Sakura and Gaara glanced at one another. Fireheads?

"Sarabi-chan, I hope I'm not hearing that you ventured up to the surface to bring these two down here to me," said the man on the throne.

"No. They found their way to the Cage on their own."

Taiyo leaned forward, his brow furrowed as he surveyed these two mysterious strangers. "Did they?" he asked.

"Taiyo-sama," Gaara said, stepping around Sarabi to present himself. "I am Gaara of the Sand. I am the Kazekage, leader of Suna. This is Sakura Haruno, medic nin and apprentice to the Hokage, from Konoha."

"Fireheads," Taiyo said, reclining back against his throne. "You brought the Sun Goddess to us and then you killed her. Explain."

"The Sun Goddess you refer to," Gaara said. "You are speaking of the snake-like beast that spits acid?"

"The Sun Goddess is not a beast!" Sarabi said fiercely.

"Sarabi-chan, quiet," said the dark haired man beside the throne, giving the young girl a disapproving look.

"The Sun Goddess blessed us with its… acid, as you say," Taiyo said. "It sustains us, gives us life. Or at least it did, until you killed her."

Sakura's eyes widened, confused by what Taiyo was saying. How could the beast's – the Sun Goddess – mucus be beneficial to them? As far as she knew, its properties were dangerous.

"It sustains you?" Gaara asked.

"It is our only source of nutrition," Taiyo replied. "In the ancient days, our people would scavenge the surface for food. But the surface is far too dangerous now. The sun is harmful and no one is allowed to leave the catacombs for that reason."

"You've been ingesting the mucus?" Sakura asked, aghast.

Taiyo's eyes settled on her for the first time and his gaze was harsh, but not unnervingly so. "We had no choice. There is no food down here."

Sakura shifted her gaze to Gaara. She was sure he hadn't expected to find catacombs under here – certainly not ones that housed living people. Technically these people were under his jurisdiction and he hadn't even realized they existed until now. She was suddenly glad she wasn't the Kazekage, because this seemed like it would cause some massive problems.

"Taiyo-sama, we're here to investigate a strange chakra signature we discovered out here," Gaara explained. "We were searching for it beneath the surface when we uncovered a monolith that seemed to be the source of the chakra. Do you know anything about this?"

"A monolith, you say?" Taiyo said, rising to his feet and slowly descending the steps down from the throne. "It was likely a relic from our people's past," he explained. "Back when we all lived above the surface, many temples and monuments were built to honor our warriors."

Taiyo walked the path from the throne to where Sakura and Gaara were standing, his breath labored and his steps slow. Sakura could see the frailty on him, the way his skin hung from his bones like crepe paper. She itched to reach out and let her healing chakra flow into him.

He paused in front of her and lifted his hand to her cheek. Sakura would have allowed the contact, but before his fingers touched her, a tiny circle of sand materialized to block its path.

"Tell me about that chakra, Taiyo," Gaara said.

Fascinated by the hovering sand, Taiyo cocked his head and touched the tip of his finger to the sand disk. "How are you doing this?" he asked. Gaara's sand dissipated under his touch.

"Taiyo," Gaara said sharply. The man looked up at him, his eyes settling a little darker. Sakura assumed he did not like to be addressed without the honorific. "I need to you to tell me about the chakra so I can determine whether or not it is a threat to my village."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Taiyo answered. "What is chakra?"

Gaara and Sakura exchanged glances again. It seemed they were not getting answers, but instead discovering new questions.

"I'm sure you've felt it before," Sakura said to the gray haired man. "It's like an energy force. It guided us here from the surface. We could sense it under the sand."

"Oh, the light," Taiyo said.

"Light?" Gaara asked. "It sheds no visible light."

"I think he meant a metaphorical light, Gaara-sama," Sakura said, though she couldn't know that for sure. Certain types of chakra seemed to glow in some cases, but in the case of this mysterious chakra that was not the case. "Is that what you meant, Taiyo?"

The elder's eyes narrowed on her. His eyes flicked over to Gaara before coming back to settle on her again. "You can show your companion the proper amount of respect," he said tersely. Behind her, Gaara scoffed. "You should show the same amount of respect to me. You are in my jurisdiction, aren't you?"

Sakura's face contorted with annoyance. "All of Suna is Gaara-sama's jurisdiction," she argued. "He has earned my respect and you have not."

Gaara grabbed her roughly by the shoulder and pulled her back until they were standing side by side. "I'm not interested in whose jurisdiction this is," Gaara said, his eyes focused intently on Taiyo. "I am only interested in the chakra. The light."

Taiyo's face was hardened now. Though he hadn't seemed exceptionally friendly to begin with, now Sakura could feel the waves of contempt roiling from his body. "Come with me," he said. "I will take you to the light."