Author's Note: I have received a review noting that Sun's accent was difficult to decipher. Because I'm very nit-picky about story flow, I've decided to just put a small key to a Korean accent up here for each chapter where Sun plays a role. If you've not noticed any issue, then don't mind me up here, and just continue on to the story.

Sun's accent is light, and somewhat of a cross between Filipino and Japanese. Her L's and R's are switched in writing because they make the same sound in Korean, like in Japanese, and her F's have been replaced with P's, similar to a Filipino accent. Some of the words may come across frightening to read because of H's that have been added, but those are there purely for the sake of maintaining the integrity of the vowel the H follows. For example, the word "are". To just switch the R with an L would turn the word into "ale", which is an alcoholic beverage, thus rendering my sentence senseless. Adding the H allows the A to maintain it's integrity within the word. This works best when thinking of it phonetically, as "ah-le". Take out the HL, re-add your R, and there is your original word.

Example sentence decoding:
"Oh, I've been pine. The shop's been quiet ahrr day, so not much to do..."
Replace the P with F in "pine", remove the H and switch the R's with L's in "ahrr", and we have...
"Oh, I've been fine. The shop's been quiet all day, so not much to do..."
Ta-da! Our original sentence.

Also, this accent thing is rather phonetic, so if you sound it out it might be easier to understand.

Happy reading!

Chapter Three: Soldier Boy Comes Marching Home

Days turn into more weeks. Feral would stay a fox through most of the day, and would be a man by night, tutoring Miyako's voice in the abandoned neighborhood where they had both signed the contract. Feral was a strict and finicky teacher, but Miyako was a quick learner, and together they accomplished much. By the end of the first week, Miyako was able to cast and hold the disorienting, paralyzing genjutsu that Feral demanded she be able to, by lacing her voice with chakra. He taught her to activate the well of fox chakra he had implanted in her during their bonding ceremony, she learned that he had a well of human chakra in him from her. She learned to predict his voice, harmonize, cross voices with him. He pushed the limits of her voice until he deemed it versatile enough.

Her third week, he showed Miyako her first Guhimo.

He warned her ahead of time, so she would not drop the genjutsu. They were only visible to the human eye through that illusion world, after all, and a fox couldn't maintain that kind of genjutsu for too long on their own. That Guhimos were foxes who had passed a millennium, and who's tails split into nine. This made them lose their minds, and they would become warped shadows of their former selves, preying on human chakra, hearts, and livers. Their bodies were sealed, but an adept fox could call up a spirit from its slumbering body to do their bidding with fox chakra, in tandem with the genjutsu, only so long as they kept a tight grasp on it. A rampaging Guhimo was a force to be reckoned with. But Feral assured Miyako that one Guhimo was nothing for him, that he could control three on his own, and, with her help, hoped to someday control five between the two of them.

She was still horrified when she saw it, though.

Feral assured her that she'd become desensitized to them with time. Miyako told him that she feared he would turn into one. He'd only laughed.

"Miya-girl," he'd said, "That day is still a long way off. I'm only 273 years old." Here, he'd shrugged. "And not every fox turns into one. The elders didn't. And old NoEyes didn't."

Speaking of King Silver, over those weeks Miyako had noticed some uncharacteristic patches of mist hanging around. Sometimes she swore that they were in the shape of a fox. But she tried not to think about it too hard. In fact, she tried not to think about it at all.

By the end of the month, she could summon a Guhimo, with Feral's assistance. The mission-embargo her clan was holding turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it meant she could sleep in late after being up most of the night. She helped her father in the hospital on some days, her mother in the shop on others, and sometimes walked Haru to and from classes (little girl was still working on paper cuts… her attention span, as described by her grandfather, was that of a squirrel to the negative twentieth power). Miyako often took this time to sneak into the cactus room, to give them a bit of water and make sure the flowering ones were still looking nice. She wondered how the chuunin exams were going. How Gaara was doing. She would never realize how much she actually missed the sinister boy until she stepped into that room. She shouldn't, by all means. He had never even said "good morning" in return.

That was, until the morning he came back.

.::.

Walking Haru to her grandfather's office in the morning was a killer job for Miyako. Especially when it was a morning after a long training night with Feral. Her throat was almost throbbing from the effort she'd put forth, trying to give Feral more power, more volume. She was afraid she might lose it if they kept this up. But Haru never cared. She always just ran in, still pajama'd up, at seven-thirty in the morning and jumped onto Miyako's bed and on Miyako screaming about how Miyako needed to get her lazy butt awake and take her butt to the shower so they could get both their butts to Grandpa's special room.

It was why she was striding out to the shop, her hair freshly dried and perfectly set, with Haru holding her left hand and Feral trotting along with his little red leash clipped on to his little Suna collar at eight o'clock this morning. The only reason why.

Sun was reading a book when they entered the shop, only giving the girls a glance as they kicked off their slipper-sandals to exchange them for their ninja sandals. "Terephone prum youl glandpather," she said, "he's leceived crealance to terr us about how the chuunin exams went."

Miyako looked up, her expression curious. "How many pass?"

"Just one, prum Konoha. And the invasion was a pairuhle." Sun paused, and set down her book. "The Pourth Kazekage is dead."

Miyako's eyes widened with shock. "Wh-what?"

"The sound man, Olochimalu, kirred him. Tricked us." Sun went back to her book. "This news came a pew days ago. He tord youl pather as soon as he could. The lemaining genin should be alliving back today."

Miyako nodded. Their Kazekage… dead? Who would be in charge? She stood. Haru leaped up with far more enthusiasm. She obviously wasn't comprehending what was going on. "Who is in charge?"

"The ehrdel councir, por now."

Haru yanked on Miyako's arm. "Let's go!" She quickly darted behind Miyako, firmly placing both hands on Miyako's rear. "Move your butt Miyako!" The elder girl sighed, and allowed herself to be pushed along.

"I'll be back soon, Um-ma!" Miyako called over her shoulder as Haru pushed her out the door. Sun waved goodbye, nose still in her book, only looking up after her girls when the little bell chimed as the door closed.

.::.

Eight fifteen. Miyako was stretching and yawning outside of the Kazekage building, feeling like she had forgotten something. What could it be? It certainly wasn't Haru – she was her grandfather's problem, now. The cacti? No, she only watered them every three or four days. What – oh. Miyako rolled her eyes and shook out her shoulders to loosen them up. She had forgotten to say good morning to Gaara. Who wasn't here. Who hadn't been here. Another reason she hated the early mornings. She always forgot that he wasn't here, and it felt wrong to leave the Kazekage building without having said her good morning.

The wind picked up for a moment, rustled her clothing and tousled her hair and Feral's fur. The little fox himself was sitting politely on the end of his slack leash, looking spiffy in his leather Suna collar and miniature flak vest, unruffled by the early morning hours. Miyako hated him right now, but decided to take a leaf out of his book and nap for most of the day today in her favorite spot on the stockroom floor. And with this thought, she set off for home.

She had about two thirds of the way back home completed when she noticed the first of the genins returning with their jounin teachers. One of ten teams sent. She saw two more teams by the time she was halfway home, and another three by the time she was nearly a third of the way home. Six teams. Four more. She wondered if she would see the Sand Sibling team…

With only two streets left, it looked like she wasn't going to. She sighed and accepted defeat, and, naturally, this was when they came walking down the street, heading in the direction from which she came, their teacher following them. They looked especially ragged and tired. The skin on Gaara's forehead was split, even. She'd never seen the slightest sign of injury on him before… But now wasn't the time to ponder. She was going to get her ritual. "Good morning!" She called as she walked by.

He looked up at her, and Miyako knew something was different. The impassive, cold eyes were now staring, unsure, lukewarm. She found she couldn't look away, the difference in them was that startling.

Then he opened his mouth, and said, "Good morning."

Miyako was, frankly, shocked. Now she almost openly gaped. That wasn't something she was expecting.

But do you know what else she wasn't expecting? The light post.

Just two steps after he said it, Miyako collided with the metal post and stumbled backward from the force of hitting it. She turned and looked at it. Who had put this here? Maybe she should have been looking where she was going. Her eyes flickered over to the team of genin, the only other people in the area around who could have witnessed it, in the hopes that maybe they didn't see. Or hear how the post rang from its collision with her skull. No such luck. Kankuro was openly laughing, and Temari was sniggering at her. Gaara, though, looked confused and maybe a titch concerned. But his siblings were laughing still. Miyako felt her cheeks turn a dark red, and she quickly moved to the side and picked up her pace going back home, Feral bouncing along beside her in that way that she knew meant he was amused. Little jerk, wasn't he supposed to be on her side?

Miyako kept up her quick march the whole way home, breezed past her mother, ignoring her concerned questioning. She kicked off her sandals, and then marched up the stairs into the stockroom and plunked herself onto the patch of floor where the sunlight from the window was currently touching. Feral put a paw on her knee, giving her a big, amused foxy smile. She glared back and flopped onto her side. "Shut up, Feral," she snapped, "you don't get it. That's the first time he says something to me that isn't a death threat and I go and make a total moron out of myself."

Feral just wagged his tail and began panting. Miyako knew him, and his actions. He was laughing at her, too. She growled and covered her head with her arms, wrapping them around so her hands grasped the back of her head. "You're a jerk."

The fox continued to laugh, but eventually moved up closer to Miyako and stretched himself out flat on the floor. He was asleep before her, and Miyako, unable to stay upset with him, reached to him with her right hand and gently stroked his fur until she, too, fell asleep in the sunlight.

A few moments later, Buyo hopped up from the stairway, his bulky body making surprisingly little noise. He strode over and observed the two. Miyako, hand resting on Feral, who was frog-legged on the hardwood. He gave a little catty huff, and then stepped over Miyako's legs so he could wriggle under her arm and curl up against her chest. He stretched a paw forward and placed it gently on her cheek, then rested his chin on that extended leg, joining the other two in sleep.

.::.

A day and several hours later. Miyako was reluctantly dragging herself to the Kazekage building to pick up Haru. She had managed to avoid the task yesterday, and her father had volunteered to accompany Haru this morning when she refused (the first time Miyako had willingly missed her ritual), but she couldn't get out of it this time. Her father was working, and her mother was making some over-the-counter remedies. There was no one else to do it.

She slinked through the doors of the Kazekage building, clung to the wall, avoided all eye contact as she made her way up. She was irrationally fearful that somehow everyone here knew of her blunder. Or at least heard of it. Kankuro was something of a gossip, and Temari never missed the opportunity to latch on and spread a good tidbit.

On the floor where the elevator stopped (what was even the point of an elevator that didn't take you up the last few floors, anyway?) she got off and picked up Feral so she could easily cling to the wall and sneak through the hall. The door to Gaara's greenhouse was open, as it usually was when he was there. She swallowed hard, and took a deep breath. Do or die time. Her walk picked up speed, until she was moving just below the awkward trot-walk gait, and she rushed past the doorway.

"Wait."

Miyako stopped as though she was about to run into a wall. It was amazing how much a voice could change once it lost that I-really-really-really-want-to-kill-you tone. He sounded just like any kid his age, though maybe more unsure. And a bit lonely. She was standing in the doorway before she realized it. Feral was struggling to climb onto her shoulder, and she helped him get there. "Yes?"

He still looked rather impassive. Miyako figured that was partly because he had been for so long (also it might be hard to show certain emotions without eyebrows). But there was a softer edge to him, and a definite change in his aura. After all, she was holding eye contact with him and didn't feel as though she was in danger of being crushed at any second. And his eyes… they didn't look hard or wicked. It was entrancing, really.

His head tilted just the slightest bit, and she could see his brows knit a touch. Concern, maybe? "Are you all right… after…"

Miyako turned bright red and shifted her gaze to her sandals. "Yeah… only bruised my pride, is all."

"Is that why you didn't come this morning?"

She looked up again, eyes wide in surprise. "Y-you noticed?"

The corners of his mouth twitched up for a millisecond. If she had blinked, she would have missed it. "It's become a ritual, has it not? I'm very used to it."

Miyako felt herself start to grin. "Yeah, it has, hasn't it? I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it, kind of…"

It was quiet for a moment. A sort of half-awkward silence, before Gaara spoke again. "You're here to pick up your sister, correct? The fearless one?"

Miyako's brows furrowed. "Fearless?"

"She dropped something earlier this morning and it rolled into here, and she wasn't afraid to come in and get it despite my presence."

"She's more than a little oblivious, but I don't know if I'd call that fearlessness…"

"I would. And I believe that you are, too."

She almost choked. "Me? Oh, no no, I'm definitely not. I'm terrified of lots of things."

"Yet you're nearly as brave as my siblings when it comes to interacting with me. Or braver. During my worst, I could hardly feel your fear."

She rubbed her cheek self-consciously. A light blush was coming up in both. "I just never pushed my luck was all, did what I thought was safe…"

His head lowered into something of a small bow. "Regardless, in hindsight, I appreciate your gestures."

The silence settled over them again. Though it felt a little less awkward this time. But Feral shuffled on her shoulder and gave a small yap. Miyako sighed. "I should probably go… I still have to pick up Haru, after all…"

Gaara seemed to backtrack a bit in his mind. Miyako realized he was probably about to ask about Feral. "Of course… I've enjoyed this, though. And, if you ever have a moment, could we talk like this again?"

Miyako smiled. "You don't need to ask."

This time, the little twitch stayed. He looked nice with a smile on his features, even if it was a miniscule one. "What is your name? I forgot to ask it earlier."

She brushed a stray lock from the short side of her hair back. "I'm Miyako."

.:FINITE:.

Sorry this took so long. I got stuck for quite a while at the end. Hopefully it doesn't suck too bad and I actually still have readers.

Thank you very much to Eyp (ilu raily here have a nice surprise whenever you're on next), THEYCALLMESPITFI, Lieutenant Winter, blueanimefreak, windwolf1988, Vivid, and KeeLer Mimi for your reviews! It's thanks to you guys that I'm not losing interest in writing this.