A/N: Surprise! I've thrown this chapter in a little earlier than usual but the next one probably won't come until around the 9th... ish... I'm only a few chapters away from the end, but I'm not super solid on the ending I want. Thank you guys for sticking with me and please review, I enjoy feedback. Okay, back to the story...

-time passes-

Mai traveled from village to village, sending her gathered intel to the hidden sand village. She had a few more days and then she was cleared for a three day leave to do with her time as she pleased…

-gaara-

Gaara looked over his notes for the next council meeting without actually seeing. He had cleared Mai for a 3 day leave. It started that day but a sandstorm had violently swept in and he guessed it would delay her a full day. Sighing he put down his notes and got up to go find dinner before he sat down to finish more paperwork. As he entered the lobby that preceded his office he looked down in surprise. There lay Mai on the office chairs that littered the space. She breathed deeply and attempted to roll on her make shift bed but almost fell due to the small size of the chairs. Quickly Gaara caught her and carried her to his room. After he had laid her down he undressed and showered; trying to wash off the stress of the day. It was night before Mai awoke and Gaara was reading next to her as she opened her eyes. "Morning, or should I say night since that's technically what it is." Gaara said smirking.

"What time is it?"

"Around 10pm."

Mai sighed and closed her eyes. "You should have woken me up."

Gaara raised an eyebrow, "Only to have you fall asleep again? No, it was better for you to rest fully." Maii gave a slight twitch to her lip which signified a smile. Gaara had taken off her mask while she was sleeping.

"I need to shower." Mai said quietly with her eyes still closed. Gaara smiled with his eyes and got up from the bed.

"I missed you." He said as he moved to the small kitchen that was attached to his quarters.

"And I you." Mai said. She got up from the bed and grabbed a towel while she made her way to the shower. After having cleaned off Mai walked into the kitchen and watched amused as Gaara heated up left overs in the oven that he had. "I'm guessing Kankuro cooked those for you?"

Gaara smirked. "He finally realized that with my work hours it was hard to find time to eat and while I often take brakes in the middle of the night I am unwilling to wake the kitchen staff just for my needs. So he's started supplying me with the meals to feed myself later at night." Mai smiled and sat down at the small kitchen table.

"Your older brother knows you well."

Gaara looked over at Mai, "Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself."

Mai thought about her response for a moment before voicing it. "I don't think that is necessarily true. I think he knows what you're capable of and what he expects of you but ultimately no one knows you better than yourself."

Gaara pulled the warmed food out of the oven before replying. "You're partially right. However in the case of people sharing similar circumstances sometimes it takes another to show you the path that you should really be on."

Mai smiled and waited for the food to cool before she put any in her bowl. "I suppose you're right." The two ate quietly and shared their experiences with one another. They were both comfortable with each other in way that they couldn't be with others. They had shared some of their secrets with each other and with each passing day they started realizing how much they loved each other. After they had finished eating Mai got up to wash dishes when Gaara put a hand on her waist. "It can wait till later."

"It will be easier to finish now-" Mai was cut off when Gaara picked her up with a smirk. "But it doesn't have to be finished now…" Mai let out a small laugh as she and Gaara made it back to the bed…

It was morning next when Mai woke up and she was curled up against Gaara's chest. Yawning she looked up, "I thought you would have left for work by now."

"I took day since you came back." Mai raised an eyebrow and Gaara responded in turn. "I told them if anything urgent came up to let me know immediately but any mundane paperwork can be finished later."

Mai chuckled and closed her eyes again. "Is it terrible that I just want to stay in bed all day?"

Gaara smiled and laid back, half closing his eyes "No."

The three days of Mai's leave went by quickly and it wasn't long before she had to leave again. She stood on the tower roof as Gaara stood by her. Both were looking into the sky. "Things are about to happen." She said quietly.

Gaara nodded, "There's news that there's another war coming."

Mai grit her teeth and looked over to the red haired Kazakage. "Be careful." She said as she slipped into the wind.

"I will." Gaara replied and vanished into sand.

-Mai-

She ran quickly through the forests trying to make her way to the land of Samurai. There was news that Konoha had been devastated by Pein and that a shinobi council was being held for the 5 great nations. She had sent word to Gaara and the council as quickly as possible but she had never received a response. Unsure of what to do she decided to make her way to the site of the meeting to verify if her intel was correct…

-Weeks Later After the Kage Summit-

Mai looked at Gaara with sorrow clearly showing in her eyes. He didn't look at her; he simply kept his gaze on the jounin council. "We brought the accused Kazekagesama." The guard said holding her. Mai kept her face blank, her mask preventing any show of emotion. "So," one of the jounin spoke up, "we should get started with the charges that were brought against the accused Mai of the wandering squad, employed by the hidden village of the sand. It is said that you have served our village loyally for the past few years. However there are claims that you were seen communicating with the newly identified enemy of the allied shinobi force directly after the kage summit that you were not permitted to attend. What has come into question is whether you are a part of their complex information gathering system or not. If we, the council and Kazekage, are not satisfied with your answers during this informal trial you will be taken to the Intel squad and handed over to the interrogation team who will use any means necessary to gain the answers we need. Messenger birds have already been sent to the other hidden villages to inform them of this situation and the actions we are taking. Do you understand?" The jounin looked at her sternly and Mai simply nodded. She knew that they needed answers but that was something that she couldn't give them. She had sworn to her sensei, the man who had taught her everything and to whom she owed her life that she would never tell anyone about him. When she had fought him to get to Gaara she knew ultimately that he would respect her for choosing her own path but she would not betray him even if it meant she would lose everything. "We will start with why you were at the kage summit in the first place when you were never told of the meeting and you were never given orders to attend."

"I was traveling through various countries in order to gain information on the Akatsuki as ordered when I heard about the summit and an attack that was possibly going to take place at the summit. So, instead of coming back to the village I sent one of my messenger tattoos to inform you of my actions and I immediately went to there to warn all of the kage of the impending danger."

-Flashback Kage Summit-

Mai's heart pounded as she ran the hallways. She had heard battles throughout the large structure. It seemed as if the fight below had just finished and a new one had started in one of the upper floors. She ran quickly, hoping that she would get there in time to help the Kazekage fend off Sasuke and the other members of the Akatsukii. Just as she came into view of the meeting room she froze. Her eyes widened under her mask as she recognized the other masked presence in the room. "Master." She whispered, her thoughts going back to the final words of her sensei. As he finished his speech he turned and looked directly at Mai. "It was good seeing you again Mai." He said just before he disappeared in a spiral of air. Mai shook herself. Why had he?... She broke out of her revere as she felt samurai and shinobi start to approach her position. Not thinking she ran… it was what she knew best…

"Why didn't we ever receive your message if you sent it with one of you tattoos?" A council member all but yelled; breaking Mai from her memories.

"My tattoos are not infallible; I sent one of my faster birds but it is not well versed in fighting techniques. It would not be a stretch to assume it was intercepted before it got to you."

"That certainly could be a valid explanation but it could also be a well thought out lie. How would someone know the exact bird that was carrying your message to destroy it?... Continue, what happened once you got to the summit?"

"After traveling through the cold of the land of the samurai I reached the summit exhausted. However I continued into the tower and quickly realized that it had already been infiltrated. The lower levels were decimated and there was chakra left over from the known members of Taka, a branch of the akatsukii. I continued on to the upper floors and saw Madara give his declaration of war to the kage. After he disappeared I was apprehended by the Kazekage's guards and brought here to the sand in the sealed puppet of the jounin Kankuro." Kankuro almost winced at Mai's cold and unfeeling tone. She didn't even have a trace of her former warmth when she spoke of him. Both he and Temari had been trying to catch Mai's and Gaara's eyes the whole time but Mai kept her gaze on Gaara as if he were the only person she were speaking to. Gaara kept his gaze focused on the other jounin of the council.

Mai kept her posture stiff as she slightly rubbed her wrists against the chakra cuffs she had on. They were keeping a steady drain on her chakra and the drain increased whenever her chakra flared due to her emotions. She was trying to keep them tightly controlled but it wasn't as easy as it usually was for her. "From what has been said", the previous jounin continued, "before the enemy known as Madara left after having saved Sasuke Uchiha he spoke to you as if you were a friend. Give us your account of these events and an explanation of why he would have acted in that manner."

"As the masked man finished his declaration to the kage he noticed me at the edge of the room. Just before he disappeared he said, 'It was good seeing you again Mai'."

"Tell us why he would have said what he did." The jounin questioned. The rest of them were whispering and getting restless. They feared they had been harboring a traitor all this time.

"I will not." The council started talking angrily.

"Tell us the truth!"

"Traitor, what have you done!"

"Tell us!"

"Tell us!"

"Quiet." Gaara spoke softly. His voice could barely be heard over the yelling but all of the jounin silenced. "Tell us what your connection with Madara is or we will be forced to use harsher means to get the answers we need." The roar started up once more and Gaara kept his gaze away from Mai's.

"You're giving her a second chance?"

"Why, you can't simply ignore our laws just because she's been in your bed!"

"She's a traitor, give her to the interrogation team!"

"Silence! Let her speak!" Kankuro yelled glaring angrily at everyone, including his stubborn younger brother. Of course Gaara had to take the hardest route. It would have been easier to simply ask Mai these questions in the privacy of his office. When Mai felt cornered she put her fists up and started fighting and right now Gaara had cornered her. But whenever his brother got like this he never listened to either of his older siblings. It was the same way during the second chunin exams when assassination attempts were made. Kankuro held back a sigh… and his brother said he was the hard headed one.

"If I were an informant for Madara why would he blow my cover by acknowledging me? I will not say anything more about the incident."

Gaara looked at Mai for the first time since she had entered the room, "Yet he still said it was good to see you 'again', insinuating that you have met him before. But you will not say anything more about the matter. You have sentenced yourself to be guilty of withholding valuable information from your superiors."

"Do not ask of me what I cannot supply." Mai said quietly as she looked back at Gaara. "You have asked for something that I have promised to never again acknowledge." She straightened her posture and looked every council member in the eye. "I will however bring up the fact that I am not a citizen of Suna and reserve the right to leave without permission from the village's leaders. Holding me any longer is a violation of these rights."

Gaara didn't even blink he simply continued, "You forfeited those rights when you refused to cooperate and our village was put in danger. You will be taken to the information squad, if after a few days you still have not told of your relation to our enemy, Ibiki Morino and Inochi Yamanaka will have arrived and will be allowed to question you in any way they deem necessary. After you have given us the answers that we need you will be sentenced to imprisonment in our maximum security facility.

Mai bowed her head as she was led away to the basement and after a few more moments the meeting was adjourned. The end of the meeting saw the sand siblings and Baki in the Kazekage's office. "What did we just do?" Temari whispered sitting down. "We just sentenced our friend to a life of torture and imprisonment."

"No we didn't," Gaara said with an angry, betrayed look on his face. "If she had simply answered the questions she would be in here with us instead of being sent to interrogation."

"Why didn't we just question her here? We probably could have talked some sense into her but when we cornered her in front of the council-" Kankuro started and then was cut off by Gaara.

"If we had questioned her privately we would have been accused of giving a suspected traitor special treatment and they would have been right. If that had happened our loyalty to the Sand and the allied shinobi force would have been in question and we would also be down there with Mai."

"Dammit!" Kankuro yelled. "What does she have to hide? Why won't she tell us what's going on?"

Temari shook her head and stood to leave. "Gaara, listen to me! We could have easily talked to her without such consequences while we were still in the mountains but you were so hurt you didn't even try to listen. You guys don't see it! When are the only times when Mai has completely shut us out? - Whenever we ask about her village and the gap of time before she met us. The only other times she shut down is when she was about to leave for her missions we couldn't know about. And when has Mai ever broken a promise to us? Never. So why do you guys think she'll break her promise to someone else, even if it is that Madara guy. It might not be that she has something to hide, she simply has promised to never acknowledge it again." Temari shook her head as she walked out and roughly shut the door behind her.

Kankuro sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "She's right. Damn she's always been smarter than both of us. What are we going to do Gaara?"

Gaara didn't even look over toward his older brother as he said, "For once hope that Mai breaks her promises."

Kankuro sighed and walked out of the office nodding to the quiet Baki as he left. "Kazekage, do you require anything?" The older man asked. He remembered when Gaara was a loose cannon, wanting to kill everything and everyone. But the man before him now was every bit the fifth Kazekage of the Sand who was now preparing for the fourth and maybe the final shinobi war. Gaara stood proudly at his window and looked down at the village he had sworn to protect, even from himself. "No… Thank you Baki." Gaara said as Baki nodded and paused before leaving him to his thoughts. "I'm sorry Kazekagesama." Wearily Gaara ran a hand through his hair much like Kankuro had. "Was I not enough for you?" Gaara asked quietly, looking at the sky. "Was I not enough for you to want to give up your previous life of destruction?"

-Mai – A Few Days Later-

Mai hung her head. She had been through worse pain but the look in Gaara's eyes was by far the most agonizing part of the entire ordeal.' Why did Obito sensei give her away? Why would he acknowledge her when he made her promise to never acknowledge him?' Mai asked herself even though she already knew the answer… 'Because he knew this would happen. Because he knew it would cause chaos and discord.' Mai choked back a sob. Despite her revelation she still owed him everything.. Her life, her skills as a warrior… Mai's head jerked up as she heard a bang. Her guards had told her that the interrogators from the Leaf had arrived and would soon be down to question her. She bit the inside of her cheek as she waited for whom she assumed would be men dressed in the black outfits of the information squad of the leaf.

Suddenly Mai heard a rough scrape and both of her guards dropped to the ground unconscious as her cell was unlocked. A black clad figure quickly slid in and unchained her from the wall. "You don't have long. You have visitors coming to question you as I speak." "The only way out is the stair well." Mai whispered back fervently. The single stairwell that lead out of the basement was guarded by sand ninja and that was exactly where the Konoha shinobi were approaching from. "You think too small." Her savior said with a grin that Mai could see behind the black cloth that covered everything but her eyes. "Nao-!" A hand was pressed against Mai's mouth before she could finish in disbelief. "Quiet! Can you hold on?" Naoki asked as she motioned to her back. Mai nodded grimly and clambered onto the older girl's back. Mai was taller than Naoki but thinner. She hadn't realized how muscular the small medic nin was until now. "Don't make a sound." Naoki said and started crawling up the wall of the cell to the ceiling. Just as she reached the top Naoki held on with one hand to the wall and allowed her chakra to cover her other hand. She quietly cut a hole big enough for both girls and climbed through it. The floor above was fatefully empty and Mai stopped herself from sighing in relief. Naoki formed a few hand seals and quickly replaced and sealed the hole she had made. They continued the process until they made it to the ground floor. They had climbed through 5 of the basement floors and Mai couldn't sense weariness from Naoki at all. At the ground floor the older nin made a hole in the outer wall instead of the ceiling and both girls scrambled out into the night.

Naoki quickly grabbed a bag that had hidden behind a few garbage cans while she ran. She threw a cloak over herself and Mai who was still weakly clinging to her and started walking in a hobbled gait towards the exit to Suna. Suna was surrounded by a wall that was one of it's greatest defenses from enemy shinobi and the sand storms that ravaged the country of wind. However it also helped prevent any enemy from escaping easily. Naoki pulled down her cloth mask and rubbed dirt all over her face and hands. "Don't say a word." She warned Mai quietly. To the gate guards it looked like an elderly woman with a misshapen back was approaching them. They were a little wary but it wasn't uncommon for people to travel at night in the desert. The elderly especially suffered from the harsh sun. "Going home mam?" One of the guards asked as he held out her hand for a pass port. Naoki nodded, "Just got finished visiting my daughter and idiot son-in-law." She said harshly. Women of the sand were not known for being soft and those that made it to old age were a special breed of female. The other gate guard raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Safe travels." He said as she "hobbled" away from them. Naoki kept up appearances until she was sure she was out of sight and then started running at a steady pace. It wouldn't do for her to run out of energy. She had to rely on her stamina to get them both away from Suna so that the pursuit squad wouldn't be able to find them. Naoki ran steadily with scheduled breaks for a few days before she slipped through the boarder. A day's walk from the border she stopped and set Mai down for the first time since they'd left. The younger girl was pale and the majority of her wounds looked infected. Naoki treated her silently and swiftly; giving the rest of her energy to Mai.

"Why?" Mai finally asked quietly, "Why do this for me?" Naoki smiled tiredly. "I understand and… I am your friend. I too have a past that I once swore I would never speak of again. But now…" Naoki looked off into the distance, "I don't think I'll be able to keep that promise if I ever want to fully love Kankuro. He needs to know who I am, the good, the bad, and the ugly. To love someone else is to give them a piece of yourself. You don't get to pick what piece you give them… they do. You just offer them all of who you are and they can either accept you and take a piece of your soul or they can deny you. In the case of denial they still take a piece of your soul but instead of treasuring it they throw it away so it can never be returned. To love someone is a dangerous process but once complete you have to choose to never let it go." Mai looked up at Naoki bitterly, "You make it sound so easy but I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused." She said putting her head down. "Mai," Naoki said pulling Mai's chin up so that she looked her in the eyes, "I can see that you still need time but you need to decide if you truly love Gaara. He has already offered a piece of himself to you. Are you going to throw it away like Yashamaru? Or are you going to offer a piece of yourself in return?" "The answers he's asking for… the story is not mine to tell." Mai said sadly.

"If you are involved in it then it is your story to tell. If you are going to love Gaara you need to offer him what he has offered you. Anything less is spitting in his face. He told you of his past, didn't he?" Mai nodded her head as a single tear rolled down her face. Naoki wrapped the last of Mai's bandages and pulled a few things out of the sack before handing the rest to Mai. "You need time and both of you need a little space right now, not to mention the pursuit squad that's after us right now. Until you're ready, stay out of the country of wind." Mai nodded and threw the bag over her shoulder. "Thank you." She said, "I will be back."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Naoki said smiling. "Mai, be careful." Mai nodded and pulled her mask from the bag and put it over her face. She jumped and ran through the trees… never looking back.