Suna no Mugetsu Re-ku

Moonless Lake

A tap on the shoulder from his former sensei made the young Kazekage turn his head to look at the man, and then his eyes direction Baki pointed. Gaara's eyes remained unblinking as he looked at the container of water strapped to his side, but then reached down with a pale hand to take a drink of water. The man stopped along with the two men who were with him, and he explained how much farther they needed to go into the desert to reach the place the frightened man mentioned.

"So we just need to keep heading to the West until the sun sets, and I'll see exactly what this Sands of the Moonless Lake looks like?" Gaara took a couple more sips, glad that Baki, and his two siblings had the habit of looking out for him, for there were still things that he needed to work upon. Those who were allowed the closest to the young Kazekage simply weren't just people who could be trusted with the safety of the young Shinobi, but also those who wouldn't let their tongues wag.

Soon the group arrived at a place in the desert where the sand became white for as far as the eye could see as they were up on an elevated area, but through out the sand was located specks of black sand running through in circular patterns. Gaara folded his arms and looked around the place, and noted there were no walls around the area. A shiver ran down his spine as his mind wondered what had made the circles in the area, and he turned to look at Baki.

"I honestly don't know. Truth be told this is the first time I've ever been to this area. It's not really a place we come to due to the fact none of the trade routes run through this place. I'm not quite sure why the previous Kazekage happened to be in this area either." The man shifted his foot letting the sand crunch under his head.

Gaara turned to look around, but then felt a wave of nausea hit him despite the fact Baki had made sure he drank plenty of water. A slight throb pounded at the back of his head, and his arms moved out of the position of crossing his chest. His pale thin hands slowly rose up to his head, much in the same manner he did when he dealt with the beast in his head. Baki visably flinched at the sight. "Lord Kazekage?" When no response came, he pushed again. "Gaara?"

"My head hurts."

Baki took a deep breath. "We can retreat if need be. You don't need to push yourself."

"It's not... it's different." Gaara let his mouth twist up, and his eyes were wide. The madness definitely wasn't coming on, as the feelings of loneliness didn't exist anymore. "Something though..." The sudden feeling of his foot sinking into the sand made Gaara's entire body snap backwards, and his hands moved as if he were going to lose his balance. Looking down he saw the sand swirling around his ankle, pulling him in. His hand reached down to try to stop the sand, but the pain in his head suddenly worsened, and he felt himself pulled to the ground. "Baki!"

The hope that his former sensei would get out of their vanished as he felt Baki's hands reach under his arm pits attempting to pull him out, but Gaara saw from the corner of his eye how the sand expanded to swallow up more. The sand was at his waist, and at Baki's ankles as he tried to pull the young Kazekage out. The urge to pull at the sand came, and yet with the major pulling of the whirlpool spread. Gaara saw that the others became trapped, and watched as they began to be sucked down in the pit.

Underneath the young Kazekage felt his feet come out into emptiness, but still felt the sand pulling, as well as his inability to control the sand. The sand was now at his chest area, and at Baki's waist, and looking to see if any of the others escaped was a waste of time. Gaara's sea foam green eyes wandered to the black parts of sand, and his mouth opened wide upon realization hitting him. "This isn't sand, or just any kind of sand. It's Iron Sand. This entire place has Iron Sand riddle through it."

Gaara felt his feet kicking out at the opening, and tried moving his own sand, but a sudden jolt through his head told him something was wrong, and whatever it was had some correlation to his powers and whether they would be able to use them. The sand crept up to his chin fast, and he felt his legs able to move, but nothing solid to stand in underneath. "I'm going to be dropped, and I won't be able to see what's below me. I'm not even sure..." Gaara glanced up and noticed the rings reforming at the end. "It's circling around, but..."

The young Kazekage's eyes snapped shut, and he felt Baki loose his grip on his thin frame. Gaara took a deep breath, and soon felt himself falling. "Open your eyes, damn it. You need to be able to see your surroundings so that you can use your sand."

Two sea foam green eyes snapped open as the ground lit by torch light rushed up at him. Gaara moved one hand down to bring up a sand, only to find his sand didn't respond anywhere near as fast, and a sudden surge of pain shot through his head. He hit the ground hard, and let out a gasp of air. His pale, thin hands clenched the ground below him, and found that his fall was softened by the fact he landed on sand. A jolt of pain shot through his head, and his stomach lurched up the water Baki made him drink.

His muscles hurt, and he turned to look up at the ceiling only to find this move wasn't in time, as the older man landed on top of him. Gaara felt his arm twist underneath Baki's body, and was sure he felt something snap. He didn't stop to pay attention to this, and simply pulled himself away as soon as Baki pushed himself up into a sitting position. Gaara's arm went to touch the arm his companion landed on, and gritted his teeth against the pain, and nausea.

The young Kazekage also felt panic setting in for some strange reason, and his mind remained a painful fog, and he choked on his own panic. "Lord Kazekage?"

These words from Baki made the panic surge forward. "Where? Where is he? Where's father?" His eyes darted up to look at Baki, and then looked around. "I messed up, messed up, messed up. He's going to be furious at me. I don't know what he's going to do. Where is father..."

"Lord Kazekage..." The sound of worry appeared in Baki's tone of voice.

A strangled sound came out of Gaara's throat. "Father..."

"I'm not your father." The sound of worry became replaced with sound of confusion.

"You saw father." Gaara staggered up, and then teetered on his feet. "I need to get out of here before father sees me. He told me he was going to give me one more chance, and I messed up. I know that it was best that I didn't hurt the people of Konaha, but he won't see it that way. I messed up, messed up, messed up. Temari and Kankuro aren't here to protect me. They're not here."

"Temari, Kankuro..."

"They're not here, Lord Kazekage..."

Gaara's eyes darted up to look Baki in the face. "Where is he? Where's father?"

"What are you..." Baki stopped short. "Lord Gaara, are you looking for the Lord Kazekage?"

"You..." The young shinobi looked up at the man, wondering why Baki was acting like he didn't see the Lord Kazekage despite the fact the man had called out for his father. "Is sensei in league with father? Is he supposed to be the one to punish me? So I can't trust him." Gaara took a step back from the fear eating away at him. "I don't want to kill him either."

"Why not? Aren't you afraid he's going to kill you?"

"Baki sensei is precious. I don't want to kill something precious to me again. Why do precious things always betray me?"

"Then your only option right now is to flee, and to get as far away from Lord Baki as possible."

Gaara swallowed, and turned on his heal, despite the fact his rational frame of mind would have reasoned him to stay. The panic wrenched his gut.