Part 4 in the Obelisk Series:
Kingdom of Man, Kingdom of Beasts, Kingdom of Monsters, and Kigdom of Gods.

OBELISK:
KINGDOM OF GODS

Seek God in Lesser Forms
Consumption is sacred union
The Divine rots in your gut
And it will flower in your ruin

-Mantra of the Devourer
Matrimony of Teeth and Sinew

Sakura felt herself falling apart a little each morning. Dreaming was a strange sort of delight, but waking was no longer a safety. She was trapped between two dangerous worlds with no safe place to run to. Someone in the waking world wanted her dead, and had made more than one attempt on her life that she knew about. Jugo was easy to read, even if Yamato and Genma weren't. She could tell when things were bad because of them.

In addition to the fear of her murder, the ban on outgoing calls was still in effect, keeping her from contacting Karin or any of her other friends. Sakura had tried to get out and at one point she thought her messages would load from a point out in the far reaches of the orchard, but at the last minute her phone ran out of the will to search for a signal and gave up on her.

When Sakura asked Jugo about Karin he said she was fine and Suigetsu was doing a great job taking care of her. It wasn't enough to abate Sakura's fears. It had been weeks since she was taken in by Jugo's family, and she could feel the summer abating. It still had a good few weeks left, but she could feel the turning of each new day bring her closer to a colder season.

'It's the season for reaping now, love.'

Sakura dropped Madara's journal from her hands and stood up, holding her head. His voice had been in her head a moment ago, new and strong.

"Sakura?" Jugo was ever attentive, turning around from his own work to come to her side.

Sakura saw his desk where the story sat in paper across the keyboard of his laptop. She had started with her account of the Kingdom of Gods, having skipped over a portion of her dealings in the Kingdom of Monsters that she swore she would never tell anyone else, least of all Jugo.

"It's nothing, just another headache," Sakura lied with a smile.

"You're straining your eyes again. Put the journals down and treat yourself to a warm cloth over your eyes. I'll have one of the help bring it to us."

Sakura tipped and fall back down into her seat, wondering if she heard Jugo right. They had people come to help clean, but since when did his family keep people designated as 'the help?' "That's a bit excessive. I can rest on my own."

Juugo knelt down in front of her and took the book from it's spot on the floor to tuck under his arm. "You're pushing yourself again. You're trying too hard on this side and trying too hard on that side. Your friend is fine, you said you thought so yourself. I'm sure you'll find him soon."

Sakura felt the beginnings of a true headache beginning to bloom behind her eyes so she shut them and pretended to be tired. That wasn't hard to fake. She was always tired. She never rested. "It's been so long. It's not fair. I feel like I just got him back and he's spent more time lost to me than with me."

"I know."

"This curse isn't fair."

"I know."

"Nothing is fair."

"I know."

Sakura dropped her head onto her shoulder and sagged into the seat. Her joints didn't feel like the joints of a girl her age. The points of her body where she turned and and rotated upon felt like they belonged to an older woman, halfway done with her life and her body. She felt old, physically and mentally, like a crone.

"How old am I?" she whispered into her hands as she moves her fingers to cross over her lips. "I've been living twice as much as anyone else, at night and during the day. Does that still count as two years or four?"

Jugo chuckles, reaching up to pull her hands away from her face. She feels his fingers rubbing over the sharp edges of her knuckles until they feel soft again. "I don't think you're too old."

Sakura's chuckle turns sharp when she recognizes the lie in his words. He doesn't mean to, but he can't lie to her very well. His voice gave him away. "Do I really look that bad?"

Juugo's voice stuttered as he scrambled to come up with an excuse. He didn't need to, as Genma was the one to sweep in and provide a rescue. "Don't ask kids what they think, Sakura." He stalked over to Sakura's chair and leaned down to rest his hands on her shoulders, squeezing and kneading the skin there. He dropped down his face to kiss the side of her head. "You're stunning."

Sakura kept her eyes shut. "You just lie better."

Genma chuckled. "I just like my woman more mature."

"Cut that out," Yamato bit, stalking into the room and slamming the sliding door shut behind him. He narrowed his eyes at where Genma's hands still rested. "Don't tease her."

Genma chuckled, and it was a deep sound. "Who said I was teasing?"

"I do," Sakura mutter, cracking open an eye. She twisted her head to glare up at her friend before huffing and giving in. She didn't have the energy to shrug him off, or the motivation to. "You're too smooth to stay in one place so long. Remember?"

"She knows me so well. Maybe that's why we're such good friends," Genma laughs.

With a final kiss to her temple he straightens up and salutes to the others before leaving out the way Yamato came in. Jugo huffed a sigh but Yamato didn't seem to shift at all. His eyes were narrowed in Sakura's direction, watching her face and shoulders for signs of weariness. She knew he found some.

"I think I might go to bed early. I'm not feeling well."

"You went to bed early last nigh, too." Yamato offers a hand to help her up.

"There's little else for me to do here. Sit, read, eat, speak…pretend to be a fine lady in a noble house. There's nothing for me to do here, nowhere to go. But there I have a purpose…I have something I need to do."

"Won't you have your dinner first? It's still so early." Jugo follows close beside her out of their room and into the hallway.

It's too to be this cool, but in the mountains the air is sharp and cool on her face as it passes through the open windows in a wind. The cold is coming early, earlier than it's come before. Where did the summer go? Wasn't it too short?

"I don't want food."

Yamato grabbed her wrist before she could turn down the hall to her bedroom and tugged her towards the kitchen. She hissed at how he yanked on her wrist, but bit her lip when she remembered how she didn't want them knowing about how all her joints hurt her. It wasn't something she could heal in the sleeping world, it was the ailment of her true physical body.

"What are you doing?" Sakura hissed, glaring sideways at Jugo as he drew up parallel with them.

"You don't want something, but you need it. You're skipping meals again." Yamato pushed open the kitchen door for her and held it open for both her and Jugo. "You thought we wouldn't notice."

"If I eat when I'm not hungry it makes my stomach upset. I'm staying hydrated and taking vitamins. That should be enough."

"Not for me," Yamato says before tugging Sakura over to a seat at the counter.

Jugo already has a leftover lunch in the microwave being heated. Sakura grimaced at the plate of food, already tasting ash in her mouth. She knew what she ate would all taste the same. But they were also right about needing food. She would hate to, but Sakura knew that when the food came out of the microwave and cooled off in front of her setting, she'd have to eat it because it was the right thing to do.

'And you always do the right thing.'

Sakura jerked in her seat, but neither of the boys or Genma noticed. The voice in her head was teasing her more and more and it was getting harder to convince herself it was really her own dark self talking back to her and not a creation of the dreams.

When she closed her eyes she saw Sasori at the base of the ladder in the Kingdom of Monsters. She could stay and be happy, or do the right thing and go on. She saw Sai, struggling to give her that moment when she brings her sword across his neck. She saw too many painful things.

Jugo put the meal in front of her and Sakura picked up a fork and began eating, swallowing the ash tasting food like she deserved it because the voice in her head was laughing about all the choices she's made and all the hurt it's caused her. She made choices. She deserved this. She made hard decisions. She deserved this. She killed for this.

Sakura pretended she wasn't spiraling into psychosis and the boys let her be until her head hit the pillow.

Sakura mumbled something and felt grain on her lips. She flinched, reaching up to wipe her face, blinking awake. It was early morning, and there was a swelling sun cresting over the horizon visible through the thin fabric of her tent.

Oh yes, the journey.

"Morning doll-face."

Sakura's heart hammered like a hummingbird as she jerked upright and scooted away, backing up on the roll towards the edge of the tent. Sasori was sitting up on his own across the room, smirking wildly at her reaction. Gaara's roll was between them, but it remained neat and didn't look slept in.

Sakura blinked, reaching up and running a hand through the mess that was her hair. It was disorienting when first waking up in a dream, but she was remembering quickly what happened the last few nights.

Gaara had put together a caravan for the three of them, Sasori left Deidara behind to hunt down the god slayer, and the three of them set out into the desert looking for hawks. Or was it falcons? Their nesting ground was a marker for how Sasori could lead them all to where Sakura hoped she would find Sai.

"You look like you slept well. Can't say the same of my dear cousin, but I'd like to think the beauty sleep wouldn't help him much," Sasori teased, watching her with predatory eyes. "Least not when he's compared to me."

Sakura schooled her features into a perfect mask of passivity. "Have I overslept?"

Sasori hummed. "Not at all. I enjoy watching you sleep…almost as much as my cousin I would say. He was smart to stay out of the tent if he's just going to lie awake all night and be a spook about it."

"My presence is necessary to keep precious people safe from you, dear cousin," Gaara bit in, pushing the tent flap back and stomping in. His stare was withering. "You have a reputation."

Sasori was all snark and rakish in his smile. "And you have a temper. Quit your patronizing banter. You'll give the poor girl ideas she doesn't need about my flawless character and charming personality."

"Your personality makes me want to retch," Garra replies like it's a reflex, expression bland and eyes dull.

"No account for taste," Sasori hums. He looks up to Sakura as she rises. "Are you ready to leave?"

"It's better to get moving now before I decide I'd rather sleep the rest of the day away," Sakura mummers in response, not truly meaning to be heard. When she looks up Gaara is inches from her face, scrutinizing the shadows under her eyes. She glares at him until he takes a step back. "Did you not expect as much?" she tried to joke.

"If you need the extra rest-"

Sasori started to interject, but Sakura didn't hear the rest of his words as she pushed her way outside the tent and into the open desert in the light of a passed away night. She let the sun warm her before Sasori came up behind her and tugged her hood down over her head to shade her eyes and face with a chastising word. He kept fussing over her even as Gaara simmered in anger from the tent flap and warned his cousin to let the grown woman do as she pleased. Of course they had to trade insults after that.

Under the shade of her hood, Sakura started to walk off in the direction they had been heading yesterday when they finally sat down to prop the tent. There had only been one truly bad sandstorm that Gaara diverted around them, but they had to cover up when they slept for fear of being buried in their sleep by passing storms. Sometimes this meant they pitched tents, somethings they just propped up the tarp and huddled in.

After so many days of travel it was hard to remember what happened more.

"The ruins should be coming up soon, I'm sure of it this time," Sasori whispered into her ear after glancing sideways to see if Gaara was looking away and would miss the contact.

"You've not proved yourself the most reliable guide, Sasori." Sakura grinned out of the side of her mouth, glad that she was able to interact with this actor so normally. He still gave her butterflies, but she was able to keep them down for the most part. She was able to keep what was important in mind.

"I'm terrible, I'll admit, but you can't blame me for being distracted."

"Your cousin is right, you're horrible." But she didn't sound like she meant her words and they somehow made him smile all the more for it. Sakura tried her best to look away, to avoid his eyes and not make that contact, but she could feel him watching her, begging her to turn her eyes back on him and it was too quick a sin to worry about when she glanced backwards over her shoulder at him. His grin was rakish and she was as good as doomed.

"The Temple of the Maker of the Earth is where we need to go, but it's one of the oldest temples, no written record exists on it's location. How did you know about it, Sasori?" Gaara asked, pausing until Sasori and Sakura were level with him as they traversed the sandy desert. Every so often the grains under her feet would move her forward like on a horizontal escalator, but when she looked up to thank Gaara he was adamant about avoiding her eyes for the next good hour at least.

"How else did I ever make anything out of myself without a cushy throne to plant my ass in?" Sasori all but sneered, hiking his shoulders alongside Sakura, keeping his body in the center and blocking her from view.

"You are too old to be asking such questions."

"And you are too dense to be answering such questions." Sasori huffed loud. "What the desert takes, the desert will provide. Sunken cities in sand are found all the time by the right sort of people."

"Thieves and criminals."

"At least I'm king of my own people and not a nation stitched together from so many different hearts of disrespect. What a sad lot your god kings face."

"As if you would know."

Sasori hummed with a new swagger to his step as he increased his pace to pull forward ahead of Gaara and Sakura. "I only know that if I were so blessed with a curse like godhood I'd rid myself of it as soon as possible. It's not man's place to shape the heavens."

"When you were younger you thought much differently. I remember different words coming out of your mouth." Gaara smirked like a kid catching an adult in a lie. "To live forever is the only true expression of art imaginable, correct?"

Sasori glared with a bit less maturity in the set of his shoulders, moving them in agitation as he attempted to regain composure in front of Sakura. "We are not gods, we are not capable of perfection. True art, true knowledge, and true immortal life are not things for our mere hands to grasp. That should be left to the gods. We are born of dust To dust we should return."

"Is that why you didn't want to go with Deidara to hunt down the…the…?" Sakura waved her hand in the air as she fumbled in her mind with a word she could use to describe herself without giving her true identity away. Sasori still didn't know that she was like Gaara and had the mark from killing one of the bastard gods. With wide eyes she looked to Gaara, hoping he would have a word or name she could use.

"The girl god killer?" Sasori asked, interrupting her concentration on Gaara. He slowed his steps to fall back between her and the redhead.

"Yes, her. She was supposed to be in the palace but you never went with Deidara when he went of looking for that woman-er girl. You weren't worried for your friend?"

"Deidara? He can take care of himself." The suggestion almost made him laugh. "He wants to chase the ass of some power hungry wretch I'll not be the one to stop him. I have no interest in wasting my time on such people when there are far more interesting individuals."

"Sasori." Gaara's growl was a warning.

Sakura paused to climb over a stone in the sand and readjusted herself on the shifting ground. There were ruins under the sands that poked up every so often. The stones were becoming more and more frequent the further they advanced. She could see that soon there would be obelisks and towers perturbing out of the sand swells. Far off there was even what looked like a dome or roof of some kind. Egyptians weren't known for their domes though.

"These ruins, you said they were old, but you didn't mention who left them," Sakura breathed, glancing back at Gaara and Sasori. Her statement was as much for the one as the other.

"It's not the Temple of the Maker of the Earth, but this is one of the sister locations that we believed to have been built by the same people. It's structure is one we have not been able to duplicate," Gaara answered for her. "We are close."

Did that mean they were close to where Sai would be? It wasn't fair that she had worked so hard to bring him back and he was gone from her again. He was worse than a damsel in distress.

"Doesn't mean we're safe," Sasori added, pulling up the front of his head scarf over his mouth and nose. His eyes found Sakura's and sparkled in the way they would whenever he smiled. She could only guess that behind the fabric he was grinning at her. "Stay sharp."

"Get behind us, Sakura," Gaara murmured.

Sakura wrested with her pride before remembering the fact that Sasori only knew her as a historian from a far off land who was in it to save a friend. He didn't know she was a skilled fighter, and she didn't know if she wanted him to. If she had to she would fight, but apart from that, she would bite back her pride and let her friends lead the way and carve the path.

They drew closer to the bulk of the ruins and Sakura was a bit shocked to see it actually was a dome that curved out of the main structure. It was now on it's side and the dome was one third buried in sand and broken in parts like the holes in a taunt sail, but it was a dome none the less. No wonder they spoke of these places like they were holy sights. These ruins certinally came from another group of people.

"What do your stories tell you of this place?" Sakura asked in a hushed whisper, pulling her own hood down and scarf up. The air was cooler and thinner her, feeling dark in her lungs.

"Fairy tales are as outlandish as you would suspect," Gaara said.

Sasori glared over his shoulder before slowing once more. "The Temples were made from a people who fell from the sky. The came down in the body of their gods and in great agony their god gave up his or her, there is no conformed gender or sex to these gods, form to make earth out of the husk of this world's pit."

Sasori removed a peach from his robes and bit into it, deep and hard, holding his scarf back to show off how the juice dribbled down. He took another bite and swallowed before turning it around to show off the peach's pit.

"The old people did not believe in Set or Ra or Horus. They had no name for Isis or Nut or Osiris. Their gods were the first to touch this pit of a place and make it into desert and sea and green land. The body of their parent god was used to make the trees and rocky places. It's body melted into the oceans and gave us marine life. The children crafted all else after that."

"You only tell the sweet versions of the story," Gaara complained.

"The people who built this temple only believed the sweet version." Sasori took another bite from his peach.

"What's the other version?" Sakura asked, looking to Gaara.

Sakura has the feeling in her gut that Gaara wouldn't have opened his mouth and answered her if he had been any other person. But, she was a dreamer and he was one who had once dreamed, so he answered her as best he could.

"The sky is ruled by gods, both terrifying and unknowable. It is with great gladness that the stars are beyond our reach. In the days before form it was a war between gods and their hunger that augured with thundering authority the birth of our new world."

From behind Gaara Sasori made a dismissive sound and walked on ahead. Gaara ignored his cousin without trouble, focusing on schooling his voice into one that would make any storyteller proud.

"The stories say a monstrous being beyond comprehension died with her brood under the heel of it's coven brethren, plummeting to earth with lesser gods, in it's belly. Bastard born, these new gods slithered free from the carcass of their life giver and writhed across the globe, sinking into depressions of their own makings. In the air of the own melancholy, formed by their own expansive cognition, they were corralled, hunted, and worshiped in many different ages. These are the gods that grant god marks like the one on my back."

"It's not just a story then…" Sakura breathed, putting the pieces together in her mind.

Gaara shook his head.

Sakura stopped in her tracks, staring up at the looming dome ahead of her. "What waits in the Temple of the Maker of the Earth?" she asked with bated breath.

"He has many names."

"What, Gaara?" She stressed her question, feeling something pull in her gut.

"He is the gate of all the bastard gods, the knowing and guardian of space and decay. The gate of past, present, future, are all in him and he knows where the old paths scar our world, who walks them, and who will walk them, and who has always walked them. Of all the bastard gods, he is the least likely to be killed in his knowing. He knows where the oldest of the old have tread our humble fields, and why no one may be able to behold the sight of those who walk with such authority."

As if his words were not omen enough, the shredding cry of beasts crawling over stone and through sand from the ruins ahead of them made Sakura tense. Up ahead she saw Sasori crouch at the ready as a wall broke apart and revealed a mutated looking amalgamation of scorpion and lion.

Gaara's sand went up first and the battle began.

"To live in fantasy is to break your heart."

-milktea-chan

AN:/If you can, please leave me a review to let me know you're still on board with the story and still find it interesting. I love to hear back from you and know my work is reaching people. Thank you!

Side Note: I also have a A03 account where I'll begin to start uploading stuff *coughsmutcough* (I'm super lazy) that usually shows up on my tumblr... my A03 handle is Vesperchan and of course my tumblr id is vesperlionheart in case you wanted to know.