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The original campsite, early nighttime...

"The fire should keep them away," Kankurou muttered as he tossed another stick on the campfire. Having done that, he returned to idly cleaning the blades he had retrieved from the dead drones. Karasu was by his side, awaiting patching. "Some of the dumber ones are attracted to light. But they're scared of fire. Just the smell of smoke is enough to keep them away. So we're told, at least."

From the other side of the campfire, Ino leaned forward and smirked. "You do realize that the smoke was the only reason we spotted you, right?"

"Yeah..." The Sand ninja grudgingly admitted.

All five ninjas had reconvened at the foot of the hill where the night's conflict had begun. Kankurou, under the watch of Ino and Choji, had had cleared out the fire-pit and relit the fire. Shikamaru, with Temari tailing him, had had retrieved team ten's travel packs from the crevice they had been stowed in before the fight. All five were now hunkered around the campfire, trying to recover from the evening's events. A token attempt to move Gaara had been thwarted by his sand shell, so he was left at the top of the hill, still completely unresponsive.

"So what did you do to Gaara," Temari asked again. "How long is he going to be like that?"

Ino shrugged. "I don't know. A few more hours, maybe. Depends on how hard he tries to break it. Shikamaru broke it in less than an hour when I tried it on him."

"The dreams weren't making any sense," the Chuunin said dismissively. "Too troublesome. I wanted them to end."

"He's dreaming?" Asked Temari, suddenly scared but seeming too tired to show it. "You mean Gaara is asleep?"

Kankurou looked stricken as well. "Doesn't the demon come out when he sleeps?"

"Relax," Ino muttered. "I took care of Chuka-kooka as well."

Shikamaru gave Ino a sidelong glance. "Huh?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Shukaku. Scary aura, big ego. Pretty talkative for a demon, though."

Kankurou stared at Ino. "You've met demons before?"

"More often than we'd like," Shikamaru muttered.

"How did you ‘take care' of him?" Temari skeptically demanded. "And for the last time, what did you do?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Yamanaka family secret. Ino?"

The kunoichi shrugged. "Won't hurt. It's not like they could use it." Ino turned to look at the Sand ninjas. "Dad calls it the Waking Dream. You lock a person out of their body's motor controls, then set up a feedback steam of phantom inputs to keep the mind occupied."

Kankurou continued staring at Ino. "Meh?"

"Look, it's complicated psych-stuff. You wouldn't understand even if I did explain it better," said Ino, dismissing the boy with a wave of her hand. "All you need to know is that I sacrificed my chakra to create a web keeping him from reality. After that, it's out of my control. The web will only break once he figures out what's going on and finds a way around things."

Shikamaru sighed. "Ino, that was more than they needed to know. There was no reason to tell them you're powerless."

"Like it matters?" Ino angrily retorted. "They agreed to a truce."

"And you actually trust them? Just stop letting things slip like that."

"Well," mused Temari. "It's good to know where we all stand."

"Yeah, like you trust us either," muttered Shikamaru, looking into the base of the fire.

The ninjas remained silent for a moment.

"You're sure Shukaku won't break your dream-thing," Kankurou prompted after a moment. "If he gets control, we're, uh, kinda screwed."

"Don't worry," Ino again reassured. "I wired it so any break in my web will catapult Gaara back into consciousness. He's locked between his mind and his mommy. Even if Shukaku breaks the technique, it'll only wake up Gaara." Ino chuckled to herself. "That poor demon had no idea what I could do to him in there. As soon as he did, he started screaming at me, yelling curses and all that... It was like listening to an angry kitten. I was almost embarrassed for the guy."

Temari cast Ino a sideways glance. "You must have some strange kittens in Konoha."

"There was nothing he could have done to her," Shikamaru informed. "It was all in Gaara's head. And Yamanakas are raised playing head games."

"So you're why I blacked out," accused Temari. "Did you try to do that to me as well?"

"No. That was a basic mind transfer that I blotched."

Kankurou snorted. "How do you manage to put down Gaara and his demon, but blotch something against someone like Temari?"

"Hey!" Indignantly barked Temari.

"Ino," Shikamaru said warningly.

"Hey, I wanna know," replied Kankurou. "We're spilling our guts to you, why can't you guys do the same?"

"No you're not," Shikamaru retorted. "You haven't said one thing since we sat down here."

Ino rolled her eyes. "I blotched it because I was trying it from too far away. Or maybe that I went through a ridge before I got to her. Something like that."

"Through a ridge?" Balked Temari. "You mean you couldn't even see me when you tried it."

"Well, if I were close enough to see you, I'd be close enough for you to see me. That would kind of defeat the whole purpose of spying on you, wouldn't it?"

"Then how'd you get Temari," Kankurou demanded. "Don't tell me you've got some sort of psychic awareness or something."

Ino laughed. "Yeah right. Shikamaru scouted ahead, getting just close enough to identify where you are. Then he found a safe vector for me to attack from and gave me the coordinates. I was supposed to pop into your head, find out who you were and what you were doing, then leave before you even realized I'm there."

Shikamaru sighed in resignation.

Temari smirked. "Well, points for being bold. You actually believed you could pull that off?"

"You can do a lot when you're with a good team," Ino replied.

Kankurou smirked. "And when you're with guys like that?" The Sand ninja idly pointed to Choji, who had been silent since the quintet had sat down.

Noticing the attention was getting, Choji sullenly looked up. "I'm fine," he said quietly, gingerly nursing the arm that the scourer had chewed on. "It's just... Just that I've never killed anyone before today. It's just hard to get over."

"You still haven't killed anyone," Shikamaru reprimanded.

"I don't know, that drone looked pretty dead to me," Kankurou joked.

Shikamaru spared Kankurou an annoyed glance. "You stomped on an insect, Choji. Nothing more. Just remember what she would have done to you."

Choji looked up and smiled weakly.

Noting the exchange, Temari narrowed her eyes slightly. "So, I take it you've seen what Regekion's swam leaves behind?"

"Yeah," answered Shikamaru, returning his gaze to the fire.

Temari waited for a moment, expecting Shikamaru to say more. "And?" She finally prompted.

"And we're here to kill her," Shikamaru finished.

Ino abruptly raised her hand "Uuuuh..."

"You're joking, right?" Asked Temari, amused. "You three, killing Regekion? Do you have any idea what that would be getting into?"

"No," Shikamaru humorlessly answered. "So enlighten us. That is why I let live, after all."

Kankurou snorted. "Yeah, your friend freaks out because he killed a bug during battle, but you would have executed us as captives."

"I would have," said Shikamaru, causing even his teammates to stare at him. "He is him," the Chuunin continued. "But I am me. This is my mission, and I would have."

"Riiight," interjected Ino, suddenly rather uncomfortable. "Lets get back to Regekion."

Temari, noting Shikamaru was still grimly staring at her and Kankurou, gladly accommodated Ino's request. "Regekion is a demon. One of the lesser Youma. Her swarms have been the chronic bane of the western lands."

"She's sort of a Youma," corrected Kankurou. Sounding more serious than before, the Sand ninja began fidgeting with one of his blades. "She can't be summoned, or use demonic chakra or any of that. She's more of a demon permanently incarnated as an insect aspect. Basically, she's a queen. And she sends out swarms of scourers, drones, and warriors to, well, do whatever she wants. Usually, that means ravage the land." The boy shrugged. "Demons seem to like doing that."

"Chronic?" Asked Shikamaru.

Temari sighed. "Like I said, she's one of the lesser Youma. She's been killed. Repeatedly. But she always seems to come back."

"At least her daughter does," Kankurou interjected. "She wanders, and she leaves eggs everywhere. You can kill her, but a new Regekion could eventually hatch out of any of those eggs she leaves behind."

"Ick," commented Ino. "So why don't you hunt down the eggs after you killed her?"

"They thought they did," Kankurou muttered. "They told us there was a huge hunt for anything she left behind at the end of her last attack. They scoured everything west of the Magoi Mountains. It was supposed to finish her off for good."

"They should have looked east of the mountains as well," Ino muttered under her breath.

"How long ago was that?" Asked Shikamaru, ignoring his teammate.

"About twenty years," answered Temari. "Baki was part of the hunt. It's how he lost his eye."

"Baka?" Asked Ino.

"Baki!" Kankurou angrily corrected. "Our sensei. The guy with the visard over half his face!"

Ino smirked, amused at the rise she had gotten out of Kankurou. "Sorry. His name never came up." Leaning over to Shikamaru, she whispered "What kind of parent would do that to their kid?"

"Visard?" Choji asked, finally taking an interest in the conversation.

"It's... A cloth mask," answered Temari, gesturing in front of her face. "Usually hangs from a headband. It's a veil for guys."

"Don't people wear those in Fire Country?" Kankurou asked incredulously.

"No," Shikamaru responded in a level voice. "Where we come from, exotic hoods are generally dismissed as stupid looking. Especially when they've got little ears on them."

Kankurou glared at Shikamaru.

"Unless its on a baby."

"I'm seriously about this close to kicking your ass, punk!"

"Kankurou..." Temari warned.

The hooded boy growled, then made a show of going back to cleaning off his blade.

"So where were we?" Asked Ino, still amused at how easily the Sand ninja could be riled up.

"Over our heads," Choji responded in a haunted tone. "Shikamaru, we can't hunt a demon. Not a whole swarm of them. We'll be killed."

"No, we won't."

"You only saw drones today," Temari quietly informed. "There are worse."

"How do you know that?" Ino blurted out. "You weren't even born when they last fought Regekion."

"We were briefed on it," Temari replied. "Don't they brief you on missions in Fire Country?"

"Not well enough," Choji muttered.

"So Baki told you all about his hunt," figured Shikamaru. "Good, that should help some."

"No, actually it won't," Kankurou contradicted. "Baki didn't send us on this mission. He was kind of busy trying to put the village back together."

Ino huffed. "Why? Your village wasn't the one being fought over?"

"Hey, we lost a Kazekage, okay!"

"And we lost a Hokage," Ino countered.

"Both of you, shut up. That's not helping any." Shikamaru closed his eyes and shook his head. "This is too troublesome..."

Silence followed Shikamaru's outburst.

Eventually, Choji spoke up. "So then, you got sent out here by... A council? You're out here alone?"

"Its not the first time we've had a mission without supervision," said Temari.

"To kill a Youma?" Choji finished. "They sent you to kill a Youma, alone..."

"They wanted to get rid of you, didn't they?"

Kankurou and Temari turned to Shikamaru.

"Rather, they wanted to get rid of him." Shikamaru gestured up the hill.

"Probably," Temari meekly conceded.

"Is there something I missed?" Asked Ino.

Shikamaru glanced at his teammate. "Gaara is not well liked by his village. He's rightly seen a major psycho. The Kazakage had been trying to kill him for the past six years. And Gaara's been doing some killing of his own for just as long."

"No way," blurted Ino. She looked to the Sand ninjas to refute Shikamaru's claims, but they were both looking meekly into the fire. "No..." Ino came to a realization. "And you sent me into his head!" She yelled, grabbing Shikamaru by his collar.

"It was the best way to take him out," argued Shikamaru as he flinched away. "If Lee couldn't beat him, there was no way we could have. Look at it this way, you one-upped your precious Sasuske."

Choji shook his head slowly. "Your village must be messed up."

"You don't know the half of it," Kankurou muttered under his breath. After a moment he abruptly looked up. "Well yours has got to be, too. Sending out rookie Gennin on a mission like this?"

"Well, they are occasionally crazy," Shikamaru confirmed, wearily straightening the collar of his flack jacket. "But they didn't send only Gennin on the mission."

Temari's face darkened as she recalled the last time he had adjusted his jacket. "Don't think I've forgotten about that stunt you pulled earlier," she warned.

Ino giggled. "Oh come on, if you didn't like low necklines you wouldn't be wearing that dress in the first place."

Kankurou ignored the girls' bickering. "So they gave you a command vest. So what?"

"How dumb are you?" Asked Choji with uncharacteristic harshness. "That's a Chuunin jacket! Shikamaru got promoted."

Kankurou stared at Shikamaru, then back at Choji. "How could he be promoted to Chuunin! Are you people nuts?"

"Occasionally," Shikamaru wryly repeated.

"How could they have decided to promote you?" Kankurou persisted. "It doesn't make sense."

Ino smiled. "Hey, it pays to give up."

Kankurou shook his head in disgust. "He's younger than me. He's a weakling. He's a punk. And they made him a Chuunin. I'm working in the wrong village."

"You're just now figuring that out? The village elders sent us on this mission so we'd die, after all..." Temari heaved a sigh, and then looked up at Shikamaru. "So you're really a Chuunin? And in charge of the mission? Even at your age?"

"Its not unheard of. And we were short on personnel... But they did put me in charge of my old team, so that's some consolation." Shikamaru shrugged. "But it won't last. Assuming we survive this, they'll be back with Asuma, and I'll be sent off on my own to do who knows what."

"Hey, don't say ‘if we survive,' Shikamaru," said Ino, rather indignantly. "Demons or not, I plan on living through this."

"Yeah," agreed Choji. "You'll get us through this."

"...Somehow," Shikamaru halfheartedly muttered.

"Yeah, well, we don't plan on dying either," Temari informed. "Regardless of how the feudal lords feel. So..." Temari glanced around the campsite. "I think we can at least agree not to get in each other's way. We could even coordinate this a bit."

"What?" Balked Kankurou. "We don't need their help!"

Temari closed her eyes. "Last time our village hunted Regekion, little brother, they sent out the entire ninja corps. Most of the Jounin, all the Anbu, and a big contingent of allies. We're good, but we're not that good."

"Then why did they only send you?" Asked Ino. "If Regekion is as scary as we think she is, and your village knows she's here, why send only you? Why not try to crush her?"

"'Cause like I said, our village has problems," Kankurou muttered.

"And this time, Regekion isn't one of them," finished Temari. "This time around, she's barely been in Wind Country. A few weeks ago, she crossed the border into Steppe Country, and has been going north from there ever since. Not our land, not our problem." Temari shrugged. "But a good way to get rid of a few unwanted reminders."

Ino glanced at Shikamaru, who was seemed to be thinking hard.

"How long ago did Regekion show up?" The Chuunin asked.

"Exactly two weeks and five days ago," answered Kankurou. "First sighting was an eye witness. A border patroller saw a swarm attack a watering hole."

All three Leaf ninjas looked up with concerned expressions on their faces.

Temari noted the reaction. "What?"

"We were assigned this mission because of something that happened three weeks ago." Choji answered. "Four weeks," he corrected, taking into account the time they had spent on the road.

"Eh?"

"Maybe even earlier," Ino added. "We weren't given an exact time for the attack, remember."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Temari.

"The mission we were sent on was to avenge a mining camp that had been ravaged. It was assumed that it had done by bandits, and that the people were just killed. We've since figured that the people were eaten by forces unknown. Now we know Regekion was behind it." Shikamaru paused and looked up at the Sand ninjas. "The ravaged camp was discovered four weeks ago. We've come across three other kill sites. One that's gotta be more than three weeks old, a fresh one three days ago, and today's attack. These attacks didn't start in Wind Country. And there isn't some clear pattern to them."

"That you've figured," Ino said hopefully. "There's got to be some pattern. She can't be everywhere."

"She can if she's got enough bugs," Kankurou muttered. "Damn. And I thought this was a pain before..."

"Damn troublesome," Shikamaru quietly agreed.

"So what do we do?" Choji asked.

The quintet went quiet, with all eyes on Shikamaru.

"Take a nap," Shikamaru said, making eye contact with Choji. "Ino, you too. I need to think about this for a bit."

"And us?" Asked Temari.

Kankurou glanced at his sister, surprised she was asking advice from the Leaf ninja. But the feeling was fleeting, since he couldn't think of any good reason not to.

"One of you needs to be awake to explain things to Gaara. Just keep him from going psycho on us. Other than that, I don't care what you do."

The Sand siblings glanced at each. Temari nodded, while Kankurou just shrugged.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered under his breath, as the others made ready for the night. "Just too damn troublesome..."

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The same, five hours later...

"Oooh..." Groaning softly, Gaara lurched forward. Before he even realized he had lost his balance, sand rushed around him and gently pushed him back up. Blinking rapidly, he looked around in wonder. "Night?"

"Gaara," a voice called out to him. "Are you okay?"

With the sand retreating back to its gourd, Gaara stood up on his own. "Temari?" He asked, finding her standing next to some brush. To his dismay, he noticed that she was anxiously fingering her fan. "What happened?"

Temari straightened her stance slightly. "You're sure it's you?" She asked again.

Gaara closed his eyes and nodded. "It's me," he muttered. "And I am unhurt." Gaara looked up again. "Why's it night? Where's Kankurou? Where's the Leaf ninja?"

Temari exhaled and relaxed, as much as she ever relaxed around her brother. "Kankurou is just down the hill. So are the Leaf ninjas."

"Ninjas?" Gaara asked.

"There was a team of them," Temari supplied. "C'mon, lets get you over to the fire. It's getting cold out here."

Gaara nodded and began slowly walking forward. Temari quietly fell into step beside him.

"I remember..." Gaara began, unsure of himself. "The Mori Plains. Baki was training me there. But then he..." Gaara trailed off. "He was younger. He tossed a ball at me. And then told me to try to kick it past him. To get it between the Kazik Gates." The boy trailed off again. "But that didn't happen. It..."

"It was just a dream," Temari informed. "It wasn't real. There's no need to worry about it."

Gaara slowed his pace. "But it doesn't make sense."

Temari sighed. "Dreams usually don't," she said, with a bit more emotion than earlier. "Look, one of the Leaf ninjas did something to mess with your head. But it's over. You don't need to worry about it anymore."

Gaara looked at his sister. "They're dead?"

Temari winced. "They're... Asleep. We sort of called a truce."

"Why?"

"They're going after Regekion as well," Temari replied. "Even if they're not from our village, we could use the help. Besides, they seemed to know a few things about the current situation that we didn't."

Gaara remained silent for a moment. "There were Leaf ninjas like me," he reluctantly stated. "Who did we encounter?"

"Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino. That was it. They were in the exam. Shikamaru was the kid I fought." Temari winced again at the memory. "Choji was the fat one. Ino was the blond girl that didn't make it past the prelims. She's also the one that... Got in your head."

Gaara grunted in acknowledgement.

Temari noted her brother's lack of reaction and allowed herself a small sigh of relief. As she made the final approach to the campsite, a pair of reflections caught her eye.

"They posted a guard."

"Ino and I were on the second watch," Temari informed. "Apparently they didn't trust me to do it alone."

The corner of Gaara's mouth turned up.

From the far end of the campsite, Ino glared intently at the approaching ninjas. Light from the fire reflected off her forehead protector and off a kunai, which she was idly twirling in her hand. But she said nothing.

"Most of us are tired," Temari began, carefully laying her fan on the ground. "Our talk with the Leaf ninjas was interrupted by some of Regekion's swarm. Just scourers and drones. None of us got hurt too bad, but..." Temari trailed off with a shrug. "You feel up to taking the rest of the night's watch?"

Gaara closed his eyes and nodded. "Off course."

"Thanks." With that, Temari laid down, curled up, and immediately fell asleep.

The remaining Sand ninja turned his gaze to Ino. The Leaf ninja was still staring at him.

"You may sleep, too, if you must."

"Thanks," Ino dryly replied. "But I'll pass."

Gaara tilted his head to the side. "You were in my head. You were the one I heard."

"Yeah. Most people don't notice me when I do that," Ino remarked. "But I guess you're used to dealing with other voices in there. No hard feelings, though, right?"

Gaara stared intently at Ino. "No," he answered at length. Ino ceased twirling the blade, discretely holding it at the ready. "I'm not used it." Abruptly breaking eye contact, Gaara turned away. Walking a few paces from the campfire, he crossed his arms and looked out over the night.

After remaining tense for a moment longer, Ino leaned back and continued her watch.

The rest of the night passed in silence.

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