Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Naruto or any of its trademarks, characters, places, etc.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has beared with me while I took forever to finally update. Because of this, I've decided that I'd post one chapter for every month I haven't updated between today and tomorrow; so 8 chapters.

English 101 classes are just that depressing, I swear.

Meanwhile, my plotter-ma-bobber says that there will be a total of 15 chapters; plus the epilogue.

My Favorite Harlequin

-4-

After Kankuro had left, Maiko decided to drop by the Gentleman's Club again in an attempt to pick up some more hours. If she wanted to eat for another week she would have to take on a bit more extra work and she was sure her uncle wouldn't mind the help. And he didn't. So she felt content with washing dishes from the bar while watching the performances. Glaring down the pretty princess in pink as she dazzled the many customers who flung their savings at the stage with each movement. Ai lived in an apartment on the other side of town, she lived just like Maiko even though she had the money to live in a nice stately home. Although, she was sure Ai's apartment didn't have monthly infestations of rats as her's did. Nor did she not have heating in the colder of months. Maybe that was where the line had been drawn.

As more money coated the stage, Maiko began to work even more furiously on the dishes, breaking one without noticing it. Daisuke who had come to get another set of glasses to clean noticed the suds inside of the sink were beginning to turn red and grabbed the glass from his niece's hands. There were numerous scratches from her nails and drops of blood soaking it. He then noticed all of the cuts on Maiko's hands and finally turned off the water.

"Maiko, calm down," Daisuke reprimanded her as he took her hands and cleaned them with a rag, "Look at what you're doing to yourself-and the china!" Maiko finally snapped from her thoughts and noticed herself the damage she had created.

"Uncle...I'm sorry...let me," she stuttered, ashamed of the mess she had created, "Take it out of my paycheck." Daisuke, although he felt sorry for his niece, also knew that she had to control herself. Ai wasn't worth breaking precious china over. He continued to clean Maiko's hands and reached for a first aid pack under the bar to bandage them.

"We'll have to," he admitted to her as he began to tightly wrap his nieces hands up, "While you're working here you have to let your anger go, you have to be professional."

"I'm...I'm so sorry Daisuke," she was at a loss for words herself. However, instead of taking all of the blame, she looked back at Ai as the pretty princess was taking a bow. She'd admit that she needed to control her anger, but she would never admit that her anger was her fault. Ai was the problem, Ai was the one who was causing her such grief. Ai had probably caused more problems in her own head than she had even caused through words.

When morning came Maiko cleaned her hands again and re-wrapped them with new bandages. While she had been much more content with sitting around moping for the rest of the day, she recalled the summons and dragged herself to the Kazekage's office with the letter Kankuro had given her the previous night. The kunoichi was quite sure that the summons had just been some small mistake that the Kazekage would be able to easily fix. That's what she hopped at least. When she finally arrived and entered the office, the Kazekage was hard at work once again with Kankuro standing with his arms crossed at his side.

The Kazekage looked up, "Yes, what is it?"

Maiko sucked in air in an attempt to hide her voice once again, and held out the letter, "I believe there's been some kind of mistake, I received this letter yesterday requesting me for a mission, but I'm not even suppose to be listed as an active shinobi."

Gaara reached over to the side of his desk and pulled a folder out from under his large stack, "Your file was never officially removed from the listings, it was just misplaced. So you have always been listed on active duty." Even though Gaara knew that was a lie, a lie Kankuro had begged him to make, he did not have the patience to sit and argue it all morning.

Admitting to the disorganization of his office was quite a ballsy thing to do, Maiko noted. However, she was quite sure that even this talk of her name never being removed from active duty seemed wrong. The kunoichi opened her mouth to argue but immediately closed it, realizing that the Kazekage could have been right, it had been quite a while and sometimes things went overlooked. She glanced over to the puppeteer by his side. At the same time, she was also worried that if she argued back Kankuro would know that she was the harlequin, she had mentioned that she quit her day job to him on one of their previous meetings. So instead, she stood up straight and replied, "I see...about the mission?"

"It's a simple, B-rank mission," the Kazekage expertly grabbed a paper from one of his piles without his eyes having ever left their focus on Maiko and read, "You are to exterminate a camp of rogue shinobi not far from the city's walls and take one alive for interrogation."

"You didn't just pick that randomly did you-"

"And Kankuro will be tagging along to assist you," the Kazekage finished.

Maiko's mouth was left agape. Having to take a mission was one thing, but having to watch her every action in order to keep Kankuro in the dark about her identity as the harlequin was another. Especially when she had to breathe in air to conceal her voice ever time she spoke. "What? I don't need help!"

"This isn't just a mission, but a test of your abilities as a shinobi," Gaara slid the paper into her file, "You will leave tonight with Kankuro, who will guide you to the position of the enemy camp. It shouldn't take you long to clear it out since there are only ten of them." The Kazekage then straightened his posture and clasped his hands together, "You are dismissed." The kunoichi decided that there was no point in arguing and simply left. She would need the time to pack and think of a plan while she waited for nightfall.

When the door to the Kazekage's office closed and the tense air of the room faded, Gaara turned to his brother who was still standing, cross-armed beside him, "You do realize that you owe me for this?"

Kankuro laughed, "Well, it is killing two birds with one stone, right? You don't have to deal with another set of rogue shinobi and I get to test this girl's abilities in action."

"Upon your return you will be taking care of all of my chores for the next week," the Kazekage declared in the most neutral, yet serious face he could muster, "and all of my paperwork."

"All that just to set up a mission?" the puppet master was sure he himself was also being duped somehow.

The red-head shook his head, "I don't particularly like having to lie for others. It's a good thing that she didn't question it either, I wasn't particularly planing to convince her that I hadn't just bullshited her."

The puppet master began to leave and prepare himself for the ensuing mission as well, "Well, I appreciated it Gaara...thanks."

Back at her apartment, Maiko was preparing her last meal before she would go to meet up with Kankuro at the city gates for the mission. While not the most exquisite supper, she decided to reheat her leftover squid and spinach from the previous night. It also wasn't that messy of a meal either, as she didn't have the time to spend cleaning up. The kunoichi sat cross-legged on the floor by her short dinner table with her Suna uniform already on, hair tied up to keep it out of her face, and only her tongue piercing still on. While she didn't have any specific plan of action, Maiko had written down some notes on what she might say in regards to certain questions Kankuro might throw at her in order to engage in small talk.

One she speculated was; What do you do for a living? To which she would answer, I'm a tailor. Which could lead to the question; What kinds of clothes have you made? or Have you ever designed anything for the Kazekage? and hopefully not; Have you ever designed anything for any performers? Maybe she shouldn't mention her occupation. Maybe she should say; I'm just a layabout. But then again, she'd have to get the money for her apartment somewhere... Maiko decided that she would simply ignore any questions.

A knock on her door scattered Maiko's thoughts, she was quite sure no one would have reason to visit her so late, even the landlord. He only extorted his tenants from nine to five. The kunoichi slowly set her knife and fork down and slowly paced towards the door. Maybe Kame had come to tell her that she was fired. Maybe it was Ai to check up on her self-worth and make sure it was still low. She slowly opened the door. Maybe it was the ghost of Isamu come tell her she would be greeted by the ghosts of mission's past, present, and future that night. Although she was quite sure that if it were him, he wouldn't come until it was much later.

No, it was Kankuro. She sucked in air, it was much too early for this, "Why are you here so early?"

"Well, I was wondering if you were ready. I thought we could start to make our way to the camp earlier so we could come up with a plan?" it was more of a statement than a question. Maiko, who had not expected Kankuro's visit, just stood there and stared at him. Kankuro wasn't sure how to take her staring however, and his stomach began grumbling when he noticed the food she had sitting on her table. With an embarrassed expression he asked, "You wouldn't mind it if I had some would you? I'm kinda hungry..."

For a minute more, she only stared. Kankuro was beginning to feel a bit unnerved by it, but then she snapped out of it and finally answered, "Sure..." The kunoichi turned around and walked back to her cabinets to grab another plate. Kankuro sat down across from her plate at the short dinner table, licking his lips hungrily. She sat a plate in front of him then returned to her plate.

As she silently ate the remainder of the squid and spinach from her plate Maiko kept her eyes fixated on her plate while her visitor began to eat. And then began to start spitting the food out. She sighed, that was probably a day's worth of food he would probably waste. "What's wrong with it?"

Kankuro realized that he had offended her and explained, "It's not what you think. The cooking's great but..." He picked out a piece of the green offender, "I'm partial to spinach. Actually, it's my least favorite food, ever."

Maiko continued to stare at him, not specifically at him per say, but the food. The food that she would not be eating tomorrow.

"Listen...tomorrow I'll make it up to you," he began, noticing her sorrow over the fallen food, "I'll take you to a barbeque tomorrow for dinner, my treat."

Maiko just sighed again and threw her emptied plate in the sink. It would be a long night.