Taiyo led Gaara and Sakura through the catacombs, his heavy black robe leaving a trail in the sand behind him only to be marred by their footprints. Sakura had presumed that the catacombs were excessively large based on what she had seen so far, but the path they were taking now was more like the tunnels she would expect from a catacomb.

The ground beneath them was sand again and the walls were made of stone like Turtle Rock. Sconces peppered the walls, tiny flames burning hotly and casting warmth down the corridors.

Sakura glanced over to Gaara beside her. His lips were pressed together in a thin line and she could see that he was on guard. His tenseness made her worry, too, and she bit her lip with apprehension.

They reached the end of the corridor and Taiyo opened the stone door, revealing a small room, hardly the size of Sakura's closet back at the palace. It was nondescript, sandy all around – no stone walls this time. And dead center was the monolith, looming so high up that its top disappeared into the sand above.

Taiyo stepped forward and pressed his palm to the writing near the bottom. "This," he said. "This is where the light comes from. It guides us to the Sun Goddess. Its will protects us from the elements."

Gaara brushed past Taiyo and skimmed his fingers along the stone. Sakura probed outward with her chakra. This time, she could feel it – the chakra in the stone. It was less viscous now, more like a burning light emanating from the monolith.

"Taiyo," Gaara said. "—sama," he added as an afterthought. "What does this text here at the bottom say?"

Behind them, Taiyo cleared his throat. "I do not know," he answered. "The writings there are from a different time. We longer use it. We no longer understand it."

"Is this its base?" Gaara asked. "How high up does it go?"

"I do not know."

Gaara circled the monolith, sliding his hand along the stone. "Sakura, do you think you could lift it?" he asked.

Sakura peered up at the top of the monolith, obscured by the sand above. "I don't know how big it is, but I imagine so," she replied. "But not with all that sand in the way."

"I can move the sand," he said.

"You cannot move it," Taiyo said. "It's much too large and there is too much sand in the way."

"If you don't mind my asking," Sakura began. "What are you going to do with it, Kazekage-sama? Why should we move it?"

"I want to have the historians take a look at it," he replied. "When we get back to the village I'm going to go through the archives and see what I can find on ancient civilizations in Suna. Until then, we should learn as much as we can while we're down here. We can come back for the monolith later."

"Taiyo," Sakura said. Gaara cleared his throat. "—sama, how many people live down here in these catacombs?"

The elder seemed to sense that Gaara and Sakura did not feel the amount of respect for him that he felt he deserved. He crossed his arms across his chest, his eyes hard as he appraised the two strangers. "You killed the Sun Goddess, attempted to steal our architecture, and now you're demanding more information from me?" he asked.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but Gaara beat her to it. "What is it that you wanted from us, Taiyo-sama?" he asked. "Why did you want to meet us?"

"You were strong enough to kill the beast," he said, his eyes still burning with contempt. "We assumed you were some sort of gods. And what you did with the sand… It's fascinating, to say the least. But with you here in front of me, I can see that you are human."

He paused and took in a shallow breath. He approached the monolith and pressed his hand against it. His face denoted a wistful nostalgia, but his posture was rigid and tense. "We had hoped that you could save us," he continued. "As I said before, we were scavengers before. The beast was what sustained us. It helped us carve out these catacombs and it provided food for us. But now it's dead. We recovered the nest, but until those eggs hatch we will have no food source."

"You have the nest?" Sakura asked. "Where is it? Is it near the living quarters?"

"We've stock piled a sufficient amount of food for now," Taiyo continued, ignoring Sakura's questions. "But what will we do once the food runs out and the Sun Gods have not hatched yet?"

"Where is the nest, Taiyo-sama?" Gaara asked.

Taiyo scowled. "Did you hear me?" he asked. "My people are going to starve—"

"We'll help you, Taiyo-sama, if you take us to the nest," Gaara said.

Taiyo uncrossed his arms. His face faltered as if he hadn't expected to be offered any help. "How could you possibly help me?" he asked, though his tone was softer now. "You Fireheads come down from the surface and think you can help. You cannot create food for us. You cannot give us sustainability."

"The nest, Taiyo," Gaara said through clenched teeth.

The gray haired man had his hands fisted in the material of his tunic and his face begun to grow red. "Listen here, Gaara of the Sand—"

Sakura pressed her palm to Taiyo's chest, her chakra already glowing as she pulsed it towards his heart and muscles. If he could only see what they could do with their chakra, perhaps he would see that they could, in fact, help him. Taiyo reach up to grab her arm, his fingers circling around her wrist to push her away. Sakura did not allow him to, though. She kept her hand firmly planted on his sternum, resisting his push without the aid of her chakra-enhanced strength.

"Get your hands off me—"

He silenced himself as he felt the relief in his lungs, the fatigue in his muscles dissipating. He had a slew of other health conditions in his old age, but Sakura focused on the more pressing ones.

"What are you doing to me, you witch?" Taiyo hissed.

"Helping you like you asked."

Taiyo jerked his body away from her, recoiling as if she had burned him. "You aren't gods. You're demons."

"Taiyo-sama, Sakura has practiced for many years to be able to heal you like that," Gaara explained patiently. Sakura was feeling none of that patience. "Her skills are sought after all over the world. She is the best medic you could find. I take great offense that you would refuse her help."

"This isn't natural," he said, his voice trembling now.

"Sakura," Gaara said quietly, beckoning her close with a wave of his hand. Sakura leaned in close so he could whisper in her ear. "We should leave now," he continued. "There is nothing we can do here and we've already intruded enough. We can come back later to collect the monolith. We can bring food and supplies with us."

Sakura nodded in understanding. They had disrupted the community in an irreparable way now and the only way to fix it was to civilize these people. They were killing themselves and they didn't even realize it.

"What are you two whisper—"

Before he could finish his question, Sarabi burst through the door behind him, panting and gasping for breath. "Taiyo-sama," she wheezed. "Toki-san is in trouble."

"What's going on?" Taiyo asked.

"I think he's dying," she whimpered. Sakura could see tears glistening on her cheeks. "He isn't moving very much and he's so sweaty. His skin looks translucent."

"Take me to him," Sakura commanded. If it was the work of the nest's poison, she would be able to reverse it before the effects were too severe. She could make sure to bring more antidotes with her when she returned.

Sarabi grabbed Sakura's hand and began dragging her toward the door, her fingers trembling as they clasped Sakura's. She must have truly been desperate to have accepted the help of a stranger so readily. Sakura glanced back toward Gaara to make sure he approved of this and saw that he was already following close behind.

"Wait a minute," Taiyo said, his voice raspy as he fought to regain control both of his thoughts and the situation.

But Sakura didn't have time to wait and it seemed that Sarabi understood that as well.

Again Sakura found herself traveling down the length of the catacombs, following twisting corridors. Sarabi kept her pace quick, not slowing down even as Sakura hesitated when they came to a series of doors in a long hallway – doors she could hear people talking and laughing from the other side.

They took one last sharp turn before they were standing in what appeared to be some sort of makeshift infirmary. Cots lined the perimeter of the sandy walls, each filled with a motionless figure of a person. In the corner was a pipe, rusted but Sakura could see water dripping from the ferrule. Below the pipe was a pile of bloodied rags.

But the smell was what hit Sakura the hardest. It smelled so strongly of death that Sakura suspected some of those cots contained corpses. She glanced behind her shoulder to see Gaara, and Taiyo a couple of steps behind him.

"Stay out here, Gaara-sama," she said. "This place is festering. You might get sick."

Gaara looked like he wanted to contest that, but before he had a chance Sarabi was dragging Sakura to a cot near the back of the room.

"Toki-san, one of the Fireheads is here to help you," she said to the man on the cot. He looked remarkably similar to the man who had been in the throne room with them, but then again almost everyone in the room had similar features – dark hair and darker milky eyes.

Sakura turned the man over onto his back. He was barely conscious and he was drenched in sweat. She recognized immediately the nest's poison. She pressed her palm to his chest and began clearing out the dangerous microbes in his lungs first.

"Sarabi," Sakura said, her voice authoritative now that she was back in her element. "The Sun Goddess' nest. I need to know where it is."

"There's no time for that!" she shrieked in response. "Toki is dying!"

Sakura shook her head, her hands still pressed against his chest. "I won't let him die. I'll stay here with him if you take Gaara-sama to where the nest is."

"But why?"

Again, Sakura shook her head. "Don't worry about it right now, just do it."

Sarabi glanced hesitantly between Sakura and Toki. "Okay," she said. "I'll take him to where we are keeping the nest."

Sakura didn't turn around to watch her leave with Gaara. If Toki's health was indicative of everyone else's, then she had a lot of work to do.

"Sakura."

Startled by the sound of her name, Sakura whirled around. Her hands were still pressed against her patient's chest as she let her eyes settle on Gaara's penetrating ones.

"Sakura, we need to leave now," he said. "We've been gone too long already. Temari will be wondering where I am."

"What about the nest?"

"Taiyo would not part with it, but I convinced him to move it to an isolated location," he replied. "Hopefully it won't affect anyone from that distance."

Sakura nodded in understanding. "Okay," he said. "But we will come back tomorrow, right? I worry their prolonged exposure to the nest has had devastating affects."

Gaara nodded. "Yes, we will come back."

"Let me finish this patient and then we can go."

She turned back to the patient on the cot and sent another surge of chakra into his lungs. After working on several of the people on cots, Sakura discovered that their exposure to the nest and ingestion of the beast's mucus had caused many of their respiratory systems to fail. Some of them could hardly suck in enough air to take a satisfying breath.

The fact that none of them had died from ingestion alone astounded her. Taiyo had claimed that they used the mucus as their only source of nutrition. She had checked their blood work, their overall health and found them to be malnourished, but not so much so that it would kill anyone.

Which raised more questions than it answered. It seemed that the mucus did contain nutrients in spite of its acidic properties. And inside their stomachs it was not exposed to light so the acidic affects were never produced.

But did that make it safe to ingest? Were all of the symptoms related purely to exposure to the nest?

She finished up with the patient in front of her and turned back to Gaara. "I'm really concerned about this," she said. "I don't think we should leave the nest here. It's killing them."

"They won't part with it, Sakura. I tried."

She sighed and stood up, dusting off her skirt. "Okay. Let's get out of here."

"Taiyo-sama," Gaara said, spinning to face the elder, who stood in the doorway watching the two of them with harsh scrutiny. "What would be the best way to go back to the surface without damaging the infrastructure here?"

"There is no direct path to the surface," he said. "You'll have to go back the way you came."

Sakura made a sound of annoyance with the back of her throat. "We don't know exactly how we got here."

"Sarabi-chan found you in the Cage," Taiyo said. "Perhaps you can get back that way."

"Can she show us the way back there?" Gaara asked. Taiyo glanced over at Sarabi, who was crouched down beside Toki's cot. She had remained there from the moment she returned from leading Gaara to the nest, her hands clenched tightly around his. Toki was hardly lucid, but Sakura hoped he would realize how dedicated Sarabi was to keeping him company.

"I will, yes," Sarabi said, her eyes still locked on Toki.

Everyone was silent for a moment, watching Sarabi muster the will to let go of Toki's hands. After a few moments, she stood up and turned to face Gaara and Sakura. "This way," she said.

"Why is called the Cage?" Sakura asked as Sarabi led them back through the twisting corridors.

"Because if you get lost in here, you are trapped," Sarabi answered. "Only the elders, me, and Daisuke-san are allowed inside the Cage. We are the only ones who can navigate it."

"Daisuke?"

"The man who was in the throne room with you," Sarabi replied. "He is Toki-san's older brother."

That explained the resemblance, Sakura thought. "And how are you able to navigate it?"

Sarabi turned to face them, a sly smirk adorning her features. "The monoliths speak to us," she said. "We can feel them guiding us through the darkness. There are four total and we can sense the directions of each of them."

Sakura glanced to Gaara to see what he made of this. If they could sense the chakra in the monoliths, could they also use their own chakra as well?

But Gaara merely watched Sarabi turn back around, his eyes low and narrow. Curious, Sakura followed his line of sight to Sarabi's ass, which was visible through her sheer black dress. With a roll of her eyes, Sakura leaned over toward him and smacked the back of his shoulder.

As expected, a disc of sand shot up to block her attack. Gaara, though, seemed surprised. His eyes darted over to Sakura, who was giving him a withering look. Gaara had the decency to avert his eyes, his cheeks stained pink. Sakura found this charming instead of perverted and she couldn't help the giggle that bloomed in the back of her throat.

"Can I ask you something, Sarabi?" Sakura asked after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

"Sure."

"Why do you call us Fireheads?"

"Because you have hair like fire."

Gaara huffed with amusement. "Perhaps we should bring some cherry blossoms back when we return, Sakura-san," he said. "Then they might call you Cherryhead."

Sarabi paused. "You're going to return?"

"Of course," Sakura said. "We're going to help you like we promised."

Sarabi grinned.

When they arrived back at the Cage, Sarabi grabbed onto Sakura's arm, her eyes more serious now than they had been before. "Sakura-san, thank you for helping Toki-san," she said. "And everyone else, too."

Sarabi pulled Sakura into a tight embrace. Somewhat awkwardly, Sakura patted her head. "I'm a medic," she said, unsure of this display of affection from a girl she had just met. "It's my job."

"I think I should like to have a job like that," Sarabi replied. "Maybe you can teach me how. When you come back."

"Maybe," Sakura said with a warm smile.

They stepped apart from one another and Gaara moved closer to Sakura to let her into his sand shield. He, too, gave Sarabi a smile before allowed his sand to encircle them. Sakura saw the look of astonishment on Sarabi's face just as the sand closed around them.

"Hold onto me," Gaara said. "I'll try to be more careful this time."

Obediently, Sakura latched her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his shoulder blade. She felt a lurch of movement as his sand wall shot them up through the Cage's high ceiling. Sakura clung tighter to him, disoriented by the movement and her lack of sight. She had no idea what direction was up or down – she was entirely dependent on Gaara's orientation.

Then they burst through the surface and Gaara's sand shield morphed into his sand platform, with both of them perched safely on top.

"Mm, that was much better," Gaara said.

"Yeah, definitely," Sakura agreed. "What now, Firehead-sama?"

Gaara laughed. "We're going back to the village, but don't tell Temari where we've been," he said. "She and Kankuro will not approve of what we did."

"So what are we supposed to tell them?"

"Just avoid the subject at all costs."

Sakura put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "That's not going to work, Gaara-sama," she said. "Temari is ruthless – you know that."

"Then just avoid her entirely."

"How am I going to avoid her entirely?" she demanded.

"Okay, fine, you're right," he conceded. "That won't work."

"We need to be able corroborate a story," Sakura said. She wasn't the scheming type, but something about having a secret between just her and the Kazekage was exhilarating – especially one on such a grand scale. They had found an underground society of people who lived off and worshiped that damn sand beast!

"What would Temari believe we would spend all morning doing together?"

Sakura tried to fight the incriminating blush that she felt heating up her face, but judging by the look on Gaara's face, she did not succeed.

"Why are you blushing?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not," she said, fully flustered. She certainly couldn't tell him what Temari thought they were secretly doing. "We could tell her we were sparring."

Gaara narrowed his eyes, but he didn't press her for more information. "Yes, I suppose Temari would believe that," he said.

"Really?"

"I have to stay sharp, don't I?" he asked. "Just because I'm the Kazekage doesn't mean I don't need practice."

"Really, though?" she pressed. "I don't think our fighting styles are all that suited for one another."

"All the more reason to spar with you."

Sakura frowned. She thought she might actually enjoy a spar with the Kazekage, but she didn't want to set herself up for disappointment by asking for one. She was sure she couldn't take him – not with his ultimate defense.

But as she wrapped her arms around his torso and let him fly her back to the village, she couldn't help but wonder if she could actually stand a chance against him.

"Where the hell have you two been all day?"

Sakura felt herself withering under Temari's scrutiny, but Gaara looked as poised as ever as they walked through the palace doors.

"We decided to have a lengthy sparring session," Gaara said. "You should know about that, shouldn't you? Is Shikamaru a good sparring partner?"

Temari's face reddened, but the scowl remained. "You have work to do, Gaara. You can't just leave the village for hours at a time."

"I know my work, Temari," Gaara argued. He cast a glance back in Sakura's direction. "I'm more than capable of getting everything done today. Sakura and Shikamaru will only be a here for a short time, though. Don't you think it's better to invest time in them while they are here?"

Temari looked to Sakura, who gave her an apathetic shrug. Temari narrowed her eyes. The two of them followed Gaara through the palace corridors to his office, their pace somewhat frenzied as they rushed to keep up with him.

"You two were sparring, were you?" Temari asked accusingly. "Who won?"

"I won," Sakura said.

Gaara stopped cold. He turned back around to look at her. "I won," he said, his voice brooking no room for argument.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at Gaara who narrowed his right back at her.

Temari stepped between them, jabbing an accusing finger at Gaara's chest. "I knew it," she seethed. "There is something going on between you two."

For the first time she could remember, Gaara's mouth fell open into a look of pure astonishment. His eyes flicked between Temari and Sakura. Sakura looked sheepish as she struggled to look Gaara in the eye.

"What on earth gave you that impression?" Gaara demanded.

"Your robe was in her bedroom!"

Gaara rolled his eyes.

"And you were gone with her all day," Temari continued. "Come on, sparring? I didn't feel your chakra all day. Where did you spar? Because it definitely wasn't in the courtyard."

"We went out to the desert, Temari," Gaara said. "Let it go. You're being ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous, Gaara, I'm looking out for you," Temari insisted.

Gaara pulled his chair out from under his desk and sat down, his gaze locked onto Temari's. "I appreciate your concern, Temari, but even if there were something going on between us, I could handle it."

Temari opened her mouth to speak again, but Gaara raised a hand to stop her. "No, don't say anything else," he said. "I shouldn't have wasted so much of the day sparring, so you can consider me sufficiently chided. Now go. I know you've got a meeting with the vendors at the academy in a few minutes."

Temari gave Gaara an irritated look, but turned to leave anyway. Sakura followed her, but not too closely. Temari's wrath was not something she wanted to be on the wrong side of.

"Sakura, stay."

Sakura winced at the sound of Gaara's voice, the stern inflection she knew he was using to intimidate her. She watched Temari flinch in front of her, but she merely kept walking until she had rounded the corner. When she was gone and Sakura had composed herself, she turned back around to face Gaara.

"You knew," he accused.

Sakura nodded. "I knew," she agreed. "I considered offering that as a potential alibi, but for obvious reasons I assumed you would reject that proposal."

To her surprise, he laughed. "I'm not so certain that I would have," he replied. "It seems Temari would certainly have believed it."

"It's what she believes anyway."

His eyes were fixed on her again. Sometimes he looked at her with a gaze that was sharp and penetrating and sometimes he looked at her with pure curiosity. This time it was a combination of both.

"Have you ever been to the Suna library, Sakura?" he asked.

Sakura shook her head mutely. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small plastic keycard. He slid it across the desk and nodded his head toward it, indicating she should pick it up.

"Here is a pass to get you into the restricted sections," he said. "I want you to go through the historical archives and see if you can scrounge up any details about what we found today."

Sakura narrowed her eyes warily as she pocketed the keycard. "No offense, Kazekage-sama, but wouldn't a Sand shinobi more versed in your village's history be better suited for this job?"

"I will meet with some of Suna's historians as soon as possible, but I'm afraid that can't be arranged until later," he said. He leaned forward, perching his elbows on his desk. "And I'm dying of curiosity now, my friend."

She was sure her eyes were entirely slit-like now. "Are you trying to butter me up so I'll do you this favor?"

He grinned as he leaned back in his chair. "I don't need to butter you up – you're here to work," he said. "But you are my friend and I'd appreciate your willingness to help me out here."

"How can I refuse, Kazekage-sama," she said, a little less dry than she'd been going for, "when you've asked so nicely."

His grin widened.

A/N: Merry Christmas, everybody! I haven't been writing much during the holidays so I'm sorry if I'm a little late with next week's chapter. I'll do my best to keep uploading on my regular schedule.