The cavern's air felt heavier in the jagged corner where Juro sat, far from the main group. The central fire's light barely reached him, leaving most of his features swallowed in shadow. The smell of blood and burnt leather still lingered, clinging to the sandstone walls.
The echoes of the sand bandit leader's last bellow still lingered in the back of Temari's mind - raw, animal rage over the sight of his men lying dead at his feet.
She remembered the way his veins bulged, his voice cracking the air like a whip as he swore to bury them all. That same fury ugly, consuming, unreasoning; was now mirrored in a quieter, colder way as she stared at Juro.
Temari's shadow stretched long across the floor as she stepped into his space.
She didn't speak right away. The silence between them was a taut wire, pulling tighter with each heartbeat, broken only by the muffled sounds of scavenging behind her and the slow, rhythmic drip of water deeper in the bluff.
When she did speak, her tone was quiet, but it carried the weight of command.
"Stand up."
Juro looked up slowly, his eyes hooded, guarded. For a moment, he stayed seated, then pushed himself to his feet with deliberate slowness, like he was daring her to lose patience.
Temari's gaze never left his face.
"You were here the whole time."
He gave a single, slow blink.
"I was.", his voice was flat and unashamed.
"You saw what happened. You heard the fighting. You saw our people bleeding, chained… and you stayed in the shadows.", her voice was calm, but her jaw tightened with every word.
Juro's shoulders shifted, but his stance remained steady.
"If I'd jumped in without thinking, I would've been cut down before I could help anyone."
"That's your excuse!?", Temari stepped closer, her voice dropping to a near whisper, each word edged with frost.
"You froze while others fought and bled to get them out. You've trained with them for years, your comrades, fought and bled to save the prisoners. You watched. You waited. For what, Juro? The winning side to show itself!?"
His eyes flickered, not with shame, but something harder.
"And if I had fought? You think they'd trust me after walking together with these bandits? They already think I'm a traitor. I wasn't going to swing a blade only to have one of them putting one on my back."
Temari's fan creaked slightly in her grip, her knuckles white.
Temari's grip on her fan tightened until the wood creaked, her knuckles pale.
"You made your choice when you abandoned me and Maiku in that sandstorm. You left us to die, and now you stand here acting like you don't owe anyone anything.", she stated, her grip on the fan tightening until the wood creaked, her knuckles pale.
Juro's voice rose, sharp with his own anger.
"I don't owe anyone anything!"
Temari's face didn't flinch, but her eyes narrowed further, firelight glinting off the faint sheen of moisture in them."You survived by hiding behind people who'd slit your throat the second you stopped being useful."
"Better than dying in the sand with no one left to care," he shot back.
The words hung between them like a blade poised to drop.
Temari let the silence draw out before stepping back just slightly, though her gaze didn't soften, she felt a massive headache hitting her. She wanted to simply end his life here, but Suna was lacking in numbers and potential, at the same time, Juro' betrayal couldn't go unpunished, otherwise it would set a dangerous precedent not to mention that it would not quell the rage Temari and Maiku were experiencing.
She opened her mouth to continue - then froze.
Her eyes shifted past Juro, widening slightly despite her effort to hide it.
Juro immediately took notice of her sharp reaction.
"What is it?", he began to turn—
A flash of silver.
The world tilted. His vision spun. He didn't feel the pain until he realized he was already falling, the cavern spinning around him. Darkness swallowed the edges of his sight, and then there was nothing.
Behind him, Isan stood, one hand casually wiping blood from the curve of a blade he had just retrieved from the ground. His expression was calm, almost bored, as if ending a life was no different than cutting a rope.
"There's no need to waste time or words on a traitor.", Isan said, his voice low and steady.
Temari and the other trainees were stunned by his actions, some of them were already somewhat used to him by now, the ones that witnessed the slaughter he carried out earlier in the day against the bandits. As for Shira and Daiana, the two of them were the most used to Isan of all of them, after spending so much time together and bonding.