Welcome to the return to the MABU universe. If you have not read the first installment of MABU (Water Runs Red), it isn't necessary, but I would recommend it (of course I would, I'm the Author). This book starts approximately one year into the time skip.

Disclaimer: While the idea of MABU is mine, the characters are not my creation as much as I wish they were. I do not own Naruto

Time Line / Spoilers: This takes place during the time skip and contains spoilers for events pre time skip as well as a few jus slightly post time skip. If the MABU universe does diverge from cannon (Manga) possibility, I will make note of it when it happens.

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual situations, Sex of a probably Hentai and Yaoi nature. Same basic warnings as Water Runs Red.

Beta by: HGirl69

---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Sand Stained Red – Chapter 1

The desert sun beat down on Izumo as he tried to find shelter. He had accomplished his mission, although he had been injured and used too much chakra. The information he had been sent to retrieve was in his memory, but if he didn't survive to report, the mission would be a failure. He couldn't risk writing it down incase an enemy found his corpse. Izumo was in trouble and without any backup, he couldn't think of a way out of this that didn't involve his death. He had to find a way to fulfill his mission, Konohagakure needed this information.

It had been a one-month mission that had turned into three long months of hiding and sneaking around the seedy underbelly of the country of Rain. He had been deep in enemy territory with most of Rain and all of Grass between him and his home of Fire. When things had gone bad, he had no choice but to run towards Wind. Even all these years after the wars, Rock would kill a leaf shinobi on sight. Better to make his break towards an Ally even if their territory was dangerous for someone not used to the desert.

He had gotten a few preliminary reports back to Leaf, but the majority of the information had only been obtained in the last week. He didn't know if Orochimaru had people after him or not. The Sound leader had men infiltrated through most of Rain and Grass and if rumors were to be believed, Sound even had secret treaties with Rock. He had tried to make his getaway from Rain a clean one. He didn't think he had left anyone alive that could have given away his identity, but with Sound it was wise to never underestimate them. The body count on this mission had far surpassed what he had expected.

He found a small depression in a rock face before he passed out from the heat and the unrelenting sun. It wasn't much shelter, but it was at least out of the unforgiving sun. He was out of water and had no idea how to find more in this inhospitable desert. If he could find a sand shinobi, he had a chance, even though the recently formed alliance was new, it was also strong. The new Kazekage was that strange red haired boy from the chuunin exams last year. Izumo didn't know the details, but somehow that loudmouthed brat that Iruka was so fond of had gotten through to the red haired killer and now there was a strong alliance between the two villages.

Oh well, inter-village politics was not going to help him now. His use of his family's blood jutsu had weakened him and dehydrated him. To make matters worse, he hadn't been able to pack survival supplies since his escape was hectic and unplanned. Starting off into the desert already dehydrated was near suicidal, but if he had stayed where he was, it would have meant signing his own death warrant. He closed his eyes, careful to breath through his nose and not his mouth in order to conserve water. Once the sun went down, if he was still alive, he would see if he could find water. Leaving his meager shelter right now would mean certain death from the desert sun.

He let himself drift into sleep. He was exhausted and knew he stood a good chance of never waking up, but it was a risk he had to take. He was simply too tired to not let his body sleep – not without taking some of the stimulants in his med kit and to take those while dehydrated would be reckless. He let himself drift off, trying not to think of anything. As he slipped into sleep, thoughts of his lover back in Konoha invaded his mind. Memories of Kotetsu stroking fingers through his hair and gently rubbing his shoulders lulled him into a relaxed state. His only regret was that he had spoken harshly to his lover before the mission. The fight they had three months ago seemed like nothing now that he was embracing his death.

He should have made up with the man instead of leaving on an S-class MABU classified mission with so many things unsaid. It was too late now for Izumo to tell Kotetsu how he felt. As the young operative closed his eyes, he only let himself think of the happy times. He wouldn't let himself think of the times Kotetsu had not been faithful, that didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that Izumo loved the man. If only he had been a little better at his job, he would be returning to his lover's arms and the critical information about Sound would not be lost upon his death. However, nothing could change the fact he was dying and more than likely would not wake up. He had failed his country, his village, his lover and his clan.

--------------

The air was cooler as Izumo sensed a presence near him. He heard a grunt and struggled to open his eyes. The dehydration made it hard to see as he squinted in the pale twilight. He had to be delirious. There was no sensible explanation for why there would be a man dressed up in a black cat suit standing in front of him. He had hoped that any hallucinations would be nice … possibly erotic … confusing was not on his request list.

"So leaf, you are still alive." The man dressed up like a cat grunted again, "Nagao, get some water into him. Gaara will be pissed if we leave this guy here to die." Suddenly one of the figures behind the man dressed like a cat moved and the rest of the figures seemed to become very busy.

Izumo could not say anything; his tongue felt as if it took the entirety of his mouth. He felt someone kneel next to him and support his head as a weak trickle of water was urged between his lips. He felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness, his mind not even able to process how the man dressed like a cat realized he was from Konoha. Soon everything was black again, but this time he had hopes of waking up alive.

--------------

When Izumo regained consciousness, he slowly became aware of the low hum of machinery and the antiseptic smell of a hospital. He didn't let any sign of waking up show. His chakra remained level, his breathing never changed and his heart rate remained as stable as he could keep it. As he became more conscious of his surroundings, he could tell he was in a small hospital room. The machinery hooked up to him seemed to be an IV drip and Izumo suspected there were pain killers in it based upon the out of body feeling he had. He could hear a lot of monitoring equipment, but nothing that would seem to indicate he was seriously injured. The wind was blowing wildly outside the window and he could hear the small sand particles hitting the glass. Yes, whatever the truth behind his hallucination was, he had definitely been found by Sand-nin.

He opened his eyes, first just a slit as he became used to the bright florescent of the hospital room. It took a few minutes to become used to the brightness, then he opened his eyes completely, looking around. He could hardly see anything outside the window; it appeared they were in the middle of a sandstorm. It had been years since Izumo had been in Sunagakure during a storm, but it was a sight few could forget. He didn't sense anyone close by, so he looked around the room.

Yes, he was definitely on pain meds still, and it was difficult to focus. His left leg was covered in bandages and he could feel a dull pain from it. He was on IV fluids as well. If he was in Sunagakure, and he was sure that he was, then he could assume that he was safe. Pushing the controls to bring the bed into a sitting position, he made himself comfortable and then pressed the nurse call button in his bedside. The sooner he got someone in here the sooner he could find out what had happened and see about returning to Konoha.

Not even a minute after pressing the button, a sand medic came rushing into the room, "Shinobi-san?"

He cut the young medic nin off mid-sentence, "Where am I? What is my condition? When can I speak to someone about getting out of here?" He felt himself struggling to stay focused on the man in front of him and his conversation.

The medic paused, "You are in the Suna hospital recovering from extreme exposure and dehydration. I will need to get your doctor to fill you in on your condition, but your leg was severely burned before Kankuro-san's group found you and brought you in."

Izumo nodded and started to reach for the bandaging on his leg as he struggled to focus. "I need to speak to someone; I have to get a message to Konohagakure. How long have I been unconscious?"

The medic-nin stepped forward, his hands reaching to stop Izumo from undoing the bandages. "You can't take those off yet; your leg is mostly an open wound and the risk of infection…"

Izumo stopped his hands from un-bandaging his leg as he cut off the medic-nin once again. "Please stop the painkillers. I can't have my mental capabilities impaired. I would like to be removed from the IV as soon as possible."

The medic-nin stood there, momentarily rendered speechless, "But, Shinobi-san, you are on so many pain meds that you shouldn't be conscious. The nature of your wound requires you to be on the pain medicine. Also we need the IV line incase of infection or any sudden change in your condition."

Izumo just frowned as he lay back in the bed; it was getting very hard to understand what was going on around him. All of his training in countering the effects of drugs was coming into play just to have this simple conversation. "Fine. I'll let it be, but may I please have some solid food and speak with whomever I need to about getting a message to my village?"

The medic-nin nodded as he left the room, promising that a nurse would be by soon. Once Izumo was alone again, he did a more careful inventory of the room. The IV stand had the saline drip but according to the writing on the bag, two different antibiotics had been added to the mix as well as a steroid. There was another small bag next to the saline bag which appeared to be an antifungal agent. The two more recognizable bags were two types of painkillers one of which was also an anti-inflammatory. He frowned, wishing that his medical knowledge came from training and not the after effects of too many missions gone poorly.

His leg had to be in bad shape for all those medicines to be pumped into him. He resisted the urge to peek under the bandages, accepting that perhaps the medic-nin hadn't been lying about the chance of infection. He didn't see a place in the room where his clothes could be stored. The room was missing the typical closet or dresser where his clothes could be hidden. In fact, it appeared from the marks on the floor that everything except the bed, the IV stand and the monitoring equipment had been removed from the room, based on the indents left on the floor.

It wasn't long before an older man walked in, obviously a doctor. Behind him was the man Izumo had seen in the desert, and evidently he had not been hallucinating when he thought the man was dressed up in a cat suit. Now that he was not on death's doorstep, he recognized the sand shinobi as one of the chuunin candidates from the last test he proctored -- Kankuro the brother of the Kazekage. The man's outfit did resemble a cat, but he knew it was really just the garb of a puppet master. He watched the two men enter his room and with a nod, he acknowledged their entrance, "Doctor-san, Kankuro-san."

Kankuro did not let the look of surprise pass his face that the man recognized him. He had after all recalled that this man was one of the chuunin examiners from the Chuunin test in Konoha. He didn't recall the man's name, but he knew who he was. The doctor on the other hand rushed up to the IV bags attached to Izumo. As the doctor looked over them, he shook his head, "Shinobi-san you should still be unconscious."

Izumo nodded, "My apologies, doctor. Would it be possible to please discontinue the pain medication?"

The man shook his head and started to describe in detail the nature of the wound on Izumo's leg. Evidently, his leg had not made it into the shelter when he passed out and had developed a third degree burn, which became infected by sand. They had to eviscerate the infected flesh and currently it was a painful open flesh wound.

Izumo nodded, "I understand it will be painful without the medication, but I am at an increased risk of dependency to at least the narcotic. If you could at least stop that one…"

The doctor nodded, evidently appeased by the compromise and disconnected one of the small bags from the IV stand

Kankuro stepped forward, "Not to be a prick, but who the hell are you, and what were you doing in wind country?"

Izumo smiled, the logical part of his brain suddenly thinking, perhaps he was being rather affected by the painkillers coursing through his body as he could barely concentrate on the sand-shinobi and that he had to resist his desire to comment on the cat suit. "Kamizuki Izumo, Chuunin of Konoha. Any more information than that I am not authorized to say. I was escaping from enemy-nin with my only escape route being your beautiful desert. Unfortunately, they didn't give me time to pack so I was all set to die when I was rescued it seems."

Kankuro paused as he looked at the chuunin. The tone was too nonchalant to be discussing his near death and the injuries he had obtained, both before and after the desert had had its way with the man. Remembering the man was on enough painkillers to keep a normal man unconscious, Kankuro just nodded. "We have sent word to Konoha that we recovered one of their Shinobi without any identifying items. I didn't think it was normal for a leaf-nin to be out without ID tags or his hitai-ate."

Izumo just shrugged and didn't offer any explanation. The other nin would know it meant that he was on an undercover assignment, but also it was obvious that Izumo could not say that that was the case. Instead, he switched the topic, "Did they send a response?"

Kankuro nodded, "They are sending a team to pick you up. I believe they had a good idea who they were missing. However, the return message didn't give any clue about your identity Kamizuki-san." He paused for a moment when Izumo nodded, "About the nature of some of your injuries…"

Izumo sat up a bit at the tone in the other nin's voice. The cold brush of worry temporarily cleared his head of the effects of the painkillers. "My injuries?" Kankuro exchanged a look with the doctor and suddenly Izumo had a good idea of what the problem was. "Ahh, yes injuries." Izumo leaned forward, ignoring the sheet falling to his abdomen as he leaned forward and lowered his voice, "Perhaps that information should not be shared with the team coming to retrieve me? After all a shinobi has to do what a shinobi has to do."

The doctor shook his head, "We are under obligation to fully report how we found you."

Kankuro nodded, "Yeah man, we aren't here to cover for you for anything."

Izumo frowned, "It is not covering; it is just that some information is more … restricted than other information. Then at least give the report only to the team's captain? " He was finding it hard to concentrate on the sand-nin or the room. Everything was getting very blurry, but he had to try and get the two to agree not to share the information before he let himself fall back into unconsciousness. "You … you must have ninja who are undercover, right?"

Kankuro and the doctor exchanged glances as the leaf-nin fell back into unconsciousness. The med-nin checked the vitals of his patient, "His body seems to respond to our medicines more like our elite forces do than how a chuunin should respond to such things."

Kankuro nodded, "Still don't explain why he was injured like some back alley whore." He frowned, "Fucking disgrace."

The doctor shook his head, "Perhaps the report should only be given to the team captain, it would appear something unusual has stumbled into our laps and we should make every effort to discover exactly what before we lose the opportunity."

Kankuro shrugged and muttered, "Whatever. Just don't do anything to put the alliance at risk, and you report directly to me." He then stalked out of the room as the doctor started to pull blood samples and do an extremely thorough examination of Izumo, determined to find out if there was anything unusual about the man that he could learn through medical science. Even amongst allies, a shinobi was never truly safe, but Izumo was much too injured to be able to do anything about the doctor's actions – or even to know about them. He slept on, oblivious and helpless.

---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing. For some reason this sequel has proved very hard to write, but the MABU trilogy wouldn't be complete without it. Vol 3 is well on it's way to being written, but this one has been the difficult one.

I would love to hear from people about what you think on this. I also promise I will keep my usual quick update schedule now that I have started this. Updates are scheduled for posting on Friday provided that works with my Beta. If I get ahead enough in chapters I will resume twice a week updates.